From a futuristic home in London to a barn conversion in the heart of the country
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/13/2024 - 18:39
State has exemptions under Clean Air Act to set vehicle emissions standards higher than federal limits
The US supreme court agreed on Friday to hear a bid by fuel producers to challenge California’s standards for vehicle emissions and electric cars under a federal air-pollution law in a major case testing the Democrat-governed state’s power to fight greenhouse gases.
The justices took up an appeal by a Valero Energy subsidiary and fuel industry groups over a lower court’s rejection of their challenge to a decision by Joe Biden’s administration to allow California to set its own regulations.
Continue reading...
12/13/2024 - 12:52
A new database of African hippo populations has revealed huge gaps in our knowledge of where the megaherbivores live and thrive, with populations fragmented and reliant on protected areas.
12/13/2024 - 09:00
‘No one really has the foggiest idea of what it will cost to develop nuclear in Australia,’ one expert says
The Coalition claims its nuclear policy is ‘visionary’ – but it needs to stand up to scrutiny
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The Coalition’s nuclear energy plan creates “a significant risk” for the stability of the nation’s grid, according to the peak body representing power generators and retailers.
Responding to the Friday release of modelling by Frontier Economics of the Coalition’s scheme to build seven nuclear power plants from the mid-2030s, the Australian Energy Council warned the estimates assumed a slower build out of renewable energy.
Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads
Continue reading...
12/13/2024 - 09:00
Experts and agencies have overwhelmingly deemed the plan not to be credible. And burning more coal and gas in the medium term only leads one way
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Let’s not waste time with niceties: the Coalition’s nuclear plan is a fantasy. The vision laid out on Friday by a quartet of opposition frontbenchers is not going to eventuate, regardless of the result of the next election.
That’s not because nuclear energy is necessarily a terrible idea, in a global sense. While waste is an issue, nuclear plants offer zero-emissions power and will be needed in places with fewer energy options. But the claims put forward by the opposition – that Australia needs nuclear, or could have it in the way the Coalition describes – do not stand up to scrutiny.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
12/13/2024 - 06:00
Chevron spent billions trying to destroy him after he won the largest pollution case in history. It’s time for Biden to end this nightmare
It’s a tale as old as time: an underdog fighting for what’s right, and a powerful giant doing everything it can to stop him. Yet in today’s America, the giants don’t lose – they rig the system to crush anyone who dares to challenge them.
That’s exactly what happened to Steven Donziger, a well-known human rights lawyer who stood up to oil giant Chevron. After helping Indigenous and farming communities in Ecuador secure a historic $9.5bn judgment against the company for decades of environmental destruction, Chevron retaliated with a vicious legal campaign designed not just to discredit him, but to ruin his life.
Jim McGovern is a congressman from Massachusetts
Continue reading...
12/13/2024 - 05:48
‘Clean power 2030’ plan will speed up planning and give energy secretary final say on major infrastructure projects
The UK will not face blackouts under Labour’s proposed shake-up of energy supply, Ed Miliband has said, as he unveiled plans to boost clean power by the end of the decade.
The energy secretary insisted the transition away from fossil fuels was “unstoppable.”
Continue reading...
12/13/2024 - 05:26
Find is ‘hopeful sign’ the species, one of world’s largest and rarest freshwater fish, is not at imminent risk of extinction
Six critically endangered Mekong giant catfish — one of the largest and rarest freshwater fish in the world — have been caught and released in Cambodia, reviving hopes for the survival of the species.
The underwater giants can grow up to 3 metres long and weigh up to 300kg. They are found only in south-east Asia’s Mekong River but in the past inhabited the entire 3,044-mile (4,900km)-long river all the way from its outlet in Vietnam to its northern reaches in China’s Yunnan province.
Continue reading...
12/13/2024 - 05:00
Amid Italian island’s worst drought, towns such as Troina are fighting for survival as supplies run dry and tensions rise
An ancient Sicilian proverb goes like this: “When water to two fountains flows, one will stay dry – that’s how it goes.” The residents of the small town of Troina in the heart of Sicily, struck by a long and unprecedented drought, perhaps understand its meaning better than anyone else. When authorities decreed that the little water left in their dam should be shared with the villages of another province, they took action, and, on 30 November, occupied the distribution centre of the reservoir, blocking access.
“It’s a war between the poor; we are aware of it,” says Salvatore Giamblanco, 66, owner of a bed and breakfast in Troina. “But we had no other choice. The dam is drying up. We have difficulty finding water for ourselves. I had to cancel numerous reservations due to the lack of water. If we also have to share what little we have with other towns, we will all be left dry.”
Continue reading...
12/13/2024 - 03:10
Action helps thwart advance of invasive yellow-legged hornet that can kill 50 bees a day and has devastated honeybee colonies in France and Italy
Rapid action against an invasive bee-killing hornet has stopped its spread in the UK despite suitable climate and habitat for the insect, a study has found.
Research led by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) looked at how suitable European countries were for the yellow-legged or Asian hornet to become established, and how they might have spread without action.
Continue reading...
