Low dam levels and the drought lead New South Wales government to act
Sydney’s desalination plant was likely to be switched on this weekend because of falling dam levels and the drought, the New South Wales resources minister said.
The plant is turned on when water storages drop below 60%.
Continue reading...Five mayors warn their towns could run out of water within weeks and call for their needs to be prioritised over irrigators
The mayors of several western New South Wales councils have warned their townships face major water crises within weeks and have urged the state government to impose a one-month embargo on irrigators pumping from the upper part of the Darling River system.
Continue reading...The next 15 megacities #9: Known as ‘the city of a hundred lakes’ until most got paved over, Wuhan has a flooding problem. Can permeable pavements and artificial wetlands soak it up?
Take a stroll down the central Chinese city’s Fan Lake Road or Fruit Lake Street and despite their names you won’t see any large bodies of water – unless it has been raining very hard, that is.
Wuhan was once known as “the city of a hundred lakes”. It had 127 lakes in its central area alone in the 1980s, but decades of rapid urbanisation mean only around 30 survive.
Continue reading...Subsidies for coal, oil and gas are not falling despite EU pledges to tackle climate change
The UK leads the European Union in giving subsidies to fossil fuels, according to a report from the European commission. It found €12bn (£10.5bn) a year in support for fossil fuels in the UK, significantly more than the €8.3bn spent on renewable energy.
The commission report warned that the total subsidies for coal, oil and gas across the EU remained at the same level as 2008. This is despite both the EU and G20 having long pledged to phase out the subsidies, which hamper the rapid transition to clean energy needed to fight climate change.
Continue reading...The violent Manaro Voui volcano forced the people of Vanuatu’s Ambae island to flee their home numerous times over the last year. After living in makeshift camps on surrounding islands, the displaced residents are now anxious to return to their ash-covered homes, even if the danger has not yet passed
Continue reading...Experts predict up to 1,500 individual private flights in and out of airfields serving Swiss ski resort for World Economic Forum
David Attenborough might have urged world leaders at Davos to take urgent action on climate change, but it appears no one was listening. As he spoke, experts predicted up to 1,500 individual private jets will fly to and from airfields serving the Swiss ski resort this week.
Political and business leaders and lobbyists are opting for bigger, more expensive aircrafts, according to analysis by the Air Charter Service, which found the number of private jet flights grew by 11% last year.
Continue reading...The pace of ice loss has increased four-fold since 2003 as enormous glaciers are depositing ever larger chunks of ice into the Atlantic ocean, where it melts, causing sea levels to rise
Greenland is melting faster than scientists previously thought, with the pace of ice loss increasing four-fold since 2003, new research has found.
Enormous glaciers in Greenland are depositing ever larger chunks of ice into the Atlantic ocean, where it melts. But scientists have found that the largest ice loss in the decade from 2003 actually occurred in the southwest region of the island, which is largely glacier-free.
Continue reading...The rare celestial event was visible across the northern hemisphere
Super blood wolf moon: lunar eclipse stargazers battle cold and clouds
Continue reading...Scientists say a drastic cut in meat consumption is needed, but this requires political will
It has been known for a while that the amount of animal products being eaten is bad for both the welfare of animals and the environment. People cannot consume 12.9bn eggs in the UK each year without breaking a few.
But the extent of the damage, and the amount by which people need to cut back, is now becoming clearer. On Wednesday, the Lancet medical journal published a study that calls for dramatic changes to food production and the human diet, in order to avoid “catastrophic damage to the planet”.
Continue reading...Ocean Ramsey, a shark researcher, came face-to-face with what could be one of the largest great whites ever recorded
Two shark researchers who came face to face with what could be one of the largest great whites ever recorded are using their encounter as an opportunity to push for legislation that would protect sharks in Hawaii.
Ocean Ramsey, a shark researcher and conservationist, told the Associated Press that she encountered the 20ft (6m) shark Tuesday near a dead sperm whale off Oahu. The event was documented and shared on social media by her fiance and business partner, Juan Oliphant.
Continue reading...Elon Musk says he has no choice but to reduce electric car manufacturer’s headcount
Tesla is cutting more than 3,000 jobs, or 7% of its workforce, after experiencing a year its founder, Elon Musk, said was both its most challenging and most successful.
The chief executive of the electric car manufacturer told staff on Friday that “the road ahead is very difficult” because its products were not yet affordable for most people and it was up against a big incumbent industry.
Continue reading...Vedanta Resources in fresh appeal to have water contamination claim brought by 1,800 people heard in Zambia
A British mining company has appealed to the supreme court to prevent 1,800 Zambian villagers bringing a pollution case involving its subsidiary from being tried in the UK.
Lawyers for Vedanta Resources told Britain’s highest court that the case – brought by villagers who allege that their land and livelihoods were destroyed by water contamination from Vedanta-owned Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) – should be heard in Zambia instead.
Continue reading...Paris agreement for the sea recommended as rates of plastic pollution to skyrocket
A new global agreement to protect the seas should be a priority for the government to stop our seas becoming a “sewer”, according to a cross-party group of MPs.
Plastic pollution is set to treble in the next decade, the environmental audit committee warned, while overfishing is denuding vital marine habitats of fish, and climate change is causing harmful warming of the oceans as well as deoxygenation and acidification.
Continue reading...‘Planetary health diet’ would prevent millions of deaths a year and avoid climate change
The first science-based diet that tackles both the poor food eaten by billions of people and averts global environmental catastrophe has been devised. It requires huge cuts in red meat-eating in western countries and radical changes across the world.
The “planetary health diet” was created by an international commission seeking to draw up guidelines that provide nutritious food to the world’s fast-growing population. At the same time, the diet addresses the major role of farming – especially livestock – in driving climate change, the destruction of wildlife and the pollution of rivers and oceans.
Continue reading...The next 15 megacities #6: New facilities by the Sabarmati will provide Ahmedabad with much-needed public space, but at what cost?
As the sun dips below the horizon, young lovers make themselves more comfortable on benches overlooking the Sabarmati river. Walkers stroll along the concrete promenades, and mothers enjoy a moment of respite under newly planted saplings while their children play in the adjoining gardens.
Few Ahmedabad residents could have imagined this scene a couple of decades ago. Back then the Gujarati city’s tidal river banks were lined with slum housing – precariously constructed on land polluted by industrial effluent and untreated sewage, and home to some of the most marginalised communities in the city.
Continue reading...Scientists say it may still technically be possible to limit warming to 1.5C if drastic action is taken now
Climate change could be kept in check if a phaseout of all fossil fuel infrastructure were to begin immediately, according to research.
It shows that meeting the internationally agreed aspiration of keeping global warming to less than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is still possible. The scientists say it is therefore the choices being made by global society, not physics, which is the obstacle to meeting the goal.
Continue reading...Cast your ballot to help determine Australia’s best regional, remote and metropolitan beaches. You can vote once per category.
Beaches have been categorised according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics remoteness region they are within. Can’t see your favourite? Suggest it below - if enough nominations are received, we will add it to the list
Continue reading...What tickles your fancy when land meets sea? Brad Farmer recommends choosing your ‘best beach’ discerningly
• Vote for Australia’s best beaches
• Open thread: tell us about your favourite beach
As a child, a day at the beach was pure bliss and the salty, splashing, bucket and spade days went on to form the greatest of lasting memories. Now, as an adult, each time I go to the beach – any beach – the ephemeral experience on this thin strip of sand where land meets sea still fascinates and delights me as a celebration of the senses.
I have my favourites of course, many from those carefree, halcyon days as a sun-kissed kid. But are they the “best” beaches of Australia’s honour roll of 11,761 beaches and does it really matter?
Continue reading...Soaring temperatures bring tales of eight-legged invaders as huge numbers of communal species spin invisible webs in the sky
Summer in south-east Brazil has brought soaring temperatures and some disconcerting eight-legged visitors.
Residents in a rural area of southern Minas Gerais state have reported skies “raining spiders”, a phenomenon which experts say is typical in the region during hot, humid weather.
Continue reading...Mikołaj Golachowski describes plan as ‘evil’ and warns of environmental consequences
Conservationists have branded plans by the Polish government to cull almost the entire wild boar population of the country as “pointless, counterproductive and evil”.
In a move to tackle an epidemic of African swine fever, the Polish government has ordered a series of hunts, beginning this weekend, with the aim of killing the vast majority of the country’s population of around 200,000 wild boar.
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