Environment news

• Sanjeev Gupta: Coal power is no longer cheaper – and we'll prove it

  22-07-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  The British billionaire investing in South Australia believes renewables are the future of energy, because it makes economic sense The British billionaire who rescued the Whyalla steelworks from administration and is spending more than $2bn on clean energy and green steel developments in regional South Australia says most Australians are yet to grasp that solar power is now a cheaper option than new coal-fired electricity.Sanjeev Gupta, an industrialist whose family-owned GFG Alliance group of c
  
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• Cashless future far from certain | Letters

  22-07-2018 19:43 via theguardian.com
  Cash will continue to be a universal form of payment, says Tim Halford, and Hilary Chivall warns against society being totally dependent on electricity for online transactionsCash is dying, contactless is king – we’ve heard it so many times. Voices in the payment industry and the media are quick to decry the end of cash payments. Talk of the cashless society (Brett Scott, 19 July) is ubiquitous. In their enthusiasm, many forget that a cashless future is far from certain.Your article
  
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• Goiat the bear may be expelled from Pyrenees over horse killings

  22-07-2018 13:27 via theguardian.com
  Brown bear’s fate could be worse still after he riles farmers with attacks on livestockAfter two years of roaming and a string of attacks on horses, sheep and goats, Goiat the brown bear could soon find himself declared ursus non gratus in the Pyrenees. Or worse.Goiat, who is thought to be between 12 and 14 years old, was brought to Catalonia from his native Slovenia in June 2016 as part of an EU project to consolidate the bear population in the mountains that straddle Spain and France. Co
  
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• Science-based buildings and plastic-waste football kits: This week's top 5 sustainability success stories

  22-07-2018 10:15
  As part of our Mission Possible campaign, edie brings you this weekly round-up of five of the best sustainability success stories of the week from across the globe.
  
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• Wave of plastic hits Dominican Republic

  22-07-2018 09:51 via bbc.co.uk
  This was the scene on a beach in the Dominican Republic after a storm.
  
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• The big heatwave: from Algeria to the Arctic. But what’s the cause?

  22-07-2018 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Our hemisphere is having a baking summer – and it’s not just down to climate changeLast week, authorities in Sweden took an unusual step. They issued an appeal for international aid to help them tackle an epidemic of wildfires that has spread across the nation over the past few days.After months without rain, followed by weeks of soaring temperatures, the nation’s forests had become tinderboxes. Continue reading...
  
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• Protection for dolphins and seabirds ‘weaker under Brexit plans’

  22-07-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Michael Gove’s plan does not oblige fishing industry to eliminate bycatch, whereboats accidentally net sea speciesProtection for dolphins and seabirds will be weaker under government plans for Brexit than if Britain stayed in the EU, according to a new analysis by environmental groups.Under the EU’s Seabird Plan of Action, the fishing industry is obliged to eliminate “bycatch”, where boats accidentally catch seabirds, dolphins and other species. Under laws set out in envi
  
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• Italy’s farmers turn to cow dung to save beloved olive trees

  22-07-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  As disease threatens the olive oil industry in Puglia, scientists hope to revive a traditional remedyCiccio Manelli, 81, who owns hundreds of ancient olive trees in the southern Italian province of Brindisi, burst into tears when contemplating the prospect of his precious trees being uprooted.“My life is being destroyed,” he said. “An infected olive tree was found on another farmer’s land and now they want to come and uproot mine, even if they’re not sick. I grew up
  
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• 'Cruel blow for pensioners': Labor promises to undo Coalition's energy plan

  22-07-2018 04:02 via theguardian.com
  Shorten and Burney vow to restore supplement under threat for new welfare recipientsLabor says it will reverse the Coalition’s plan to axe the clean energy supplement, which is worth hundreds of dollars a year, for those who went onto welfare after September 2016. While Labor has consistently opposed the as-yet unlegislated measure, on Sunday the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and the shadow human services minister, Linda Burney, promised that if the supplement was cut, Labor would resto
  
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• Have you been affected by the drought in Australia?

  22-07-2018 02:54 via theguardian.com
  We’d like to hear from people who’ve been affected by the drought in New South Wales and other states in east Australia. Share your experiencesA record dry spell has caused the worst drought in 100 years in parts of eastern Australia. Farmers with livestock in parts of New South Wales have been some of the most affected as low rainfall and a dry winter have depleted the grass needed to feed livestock. Farmers are having to buy expensive feed to keep animals alive and the extra costs
  
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• Labour pledges to reinstate Agricultural Wages Board

  22-07-2018 01:04 via theguardian.com
  Jeremy Corbyn to announce policy that aims to raise rural workers’ living standards in areas of high inequalityLabour has pledged to improve the pay and conditions of rural workers in England by reinstating the Agricultural Wages Board, which was abolished five years ago.Jeremy Corbyn will announce the policy on Sunday at the annual Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset, which commemorates the history of trade unionism and agricultural workers’ struggle for fair pay. Continue reading.
  
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• Two new peacock spiders identified in Western Australia

  22-07-2018 00:14 via theguardian.com
  Biologist Jürgen Otto and colleagues have named two species of the extraordinarily colourful dancing spidersIt is only a few millimetres in size, performs a dance as part of a courtship ritual and has striking coloured markings on its back that “look like a pharaoh’s headdress”.But when biologist Jürgen Otto first spotted the peacock spider species he has named Maratus unicup, he didn’t immediately recognise how special it was. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Double wrap it for convenience': excessive plastic packaging - in pictures

  22-07-2018 00:07 via theguardian.com
  We asked, you answered – and there was no shortage of examples of excessive plastic packaging across Australia shared via Guardian WitnessWaste crisis: spot the excessive plastic packaging – in picturesContinue reading...
  
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