Green-powered boat prepares for round-the-world voyage
Vessel aiming to be the ‘Solar Impulse of the seas’ will be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen during its six-year voyage Dubbed the “Solar Impulse of the seas”, the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen hopes to make its own historic trip around the world. A water-borne answer […]
UK must move now on carbon capture to save consumers billions, says report
Kickstarting the carbon capture and storage industry with a state-backed company will deliver the clean electricity needed to meet climate targets more cheaply than Hinkley Point C, says government advisory group The UK must immediately kickstart an industry to capture and bury carbon emissions in order to save consumers billions a year from the cost […]
The bats at home in our attic
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales Our loft has become a maternity roost from which the brown long-eared bats emerge at dusk to scour the surrounding area for incautious insects Nearly a century ago, someone bought part of the pasture at the end of the lane and built the house we’ve lived in for about a quarter of […]
人口70亿的世界，如何保护野生动植物?
关于如何保护濒危物种，世界正站在一个十字路口，9月份两次至关重要的全球性会议就这一紧迫问题展开讨论。翻译：奇芳(中外对话/chinadialogue) 消费者和收藏家们都想得到各种稀罕物：鲟鱼子、蛇皮手袋、鲨鱼肉和鱼翅、野生的雪莲球茎、珍贵的红木家具、质量上乘的沉香油，以及珍稀的鸟类、爬行动物、仙人掌和兰花这些动植物活体。但他们极少会停下来想想这些东西的来源。要知道，如今世界上有70多亿人每天都在通过药物、食品、衣服、家具、香料和奢侈品等各种方式消耗着生物多样性。人们对于取自自然的产品的需求不断增加，野生物种面临的压力也在不断增大。 人类从自然获取资源的能力是无限的，现代交通的范围更是无疆的。世界每年的国际旅客人数多达11亿人次，每天有10万个航班，每年的集装箱数量多达5亿个，合法的和非法的野生动植物产品可以被运到世界任何角落。扩大全球贸易、促进发展与保护野生动植物之间的矛盾愈演愈烈，有时他们的目标看起来甚至是南辕北辙。 Continue reading… Source: Guardian Environment
Energy storage: how an abandoned goldmine will be converted into a world first
Australia has no plan for managing disused mines but a company has a novel solution for producing renewable energy Gold was discovered on the Copperfield river in north-western Queensland in 1907. As men flocked to find their fortune, a small township was established and named for the state’s then premier, William Kidston. For close to […]
Night owls start their call: Country diary 100 years ago:
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 16 September 1916 The wood is alive now in the evening, while the moon is still almost at its best. As night comes on and the west yellows among the clouds, brown owls begin to call. Everything else is very still; the cattle move noiselessly in the meadow […]
Cuts to renewables agency will hurt Australia's global R&D ranking, says report
Australia had been a big investor in fossil fuels and a low one in renewables, according to International Energy Agency data, but Arena grants changed that Australia has consistently led the world with its funding of fossil fuel research and consistently lagged other nations when it comes to developing renewable energy, according analysis by the […]
The polluting effect of wear and tear in brakes and tyres
Some wear-particles from brakes and tyres are small enough to be inhaled, and the increase in wear-particles can outweigh the benefits of improvements in exhaust emissions One in six MOT failures is due to brake or tyre problems. These wear as we drive, as does the surface of roads. Most of the wear material ends […]
Adani's Carmichael coalmine proves environment laws 'too weak' – report
No consequences for the company if its mine causes greater environmental damage to threatened habitats than expected, says study Australia’s environmental laws are too weak, a new report argues, citing the Carmichael coalmine as an example. Even what the environment minister has described as the “strictest” environmental conditions on the development allow the destruction of […]
Bill calls for Fort Sumter, site of civil war's beginning, to become national park
Tim Scott, first black US senator from deep south since Reconstruction, introduces measure to create country’s 60th national park Tim Scott, the first black US senator from the deep south since Reconstruction, is proposing that the site where the civil war began be raised in status to that of a national park. Related: In age […]