Farming families confirm rival offer to Gina Rinehart's bid for S Kidman and Co
Offer from mining magnate Rinehart and Chinese partner bettered by four-family consortium bidding $386m for Australia’s largest private landholding A quartet of Australian grazier families has offered a $386m bid for the S Kidman and Co land sale, bettering an offer from mining boss Gina Rinehart and her Chinese partner Shanghai CRED. Tom Brinkworth, Sterling […]
Foreign invaders infiltrate Britain’s ancient woodlands
Trees are coming under attack from beetles and moths that are infesting imported timber In July 2013, a large, strangely shaped beetle emerged from the fabric of a wooden chair that had just been bought in the UK. The inch-long creature had developed inside the chair’s wooden frame before it ate its way to the […]
Ecuador’s Yasuni park: where oil vies with tourism for the rainforest
The Sani people face a choice between encouraging ecotourism to their rainforest – one of the world’s most biodiverse – and allowing in the oil companies Fernando was sitting on his veranda listening to the whoops and whistles of the jungle. Our visit was a surprise, but the old man was soon answering my questions, […]
The eco guide to televisions
How highly should we rate the energy ratings? It’s not very rock’n’roll, but I’ve always loved an energy rating. A third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from Energy Using Products (EUPs) in offices and industry and also, significantly, in our own homes, too. The ones we control can really help to reduce that […]
Josh Frydenberg to work with Port Melville operators over struck-down approval
Environment and energy minister drawn into controversial Northern Territory development after approval without environmental assessment was overturned The federal environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, will work with the operators of a controversial oil and gas port after a court overturned a decision to approve it without an environmental impact assessment. However it is unlikely […]
Inside big pharma's fight to block recreational marijuana
Pharma and alcohol companies have been quietly bankrolling the opposition to legal marijuana, raising questions about threats to market share Marijuana legalization will unleash misery on Arizona, according to a wave of television ads that started rolling out across the state last month. Replete with ominous music, the advertisements feature lawmakers and teachers who paint […]
Four in 10 UK councils exceed air pollution limits, figures show
Ministers reveal 169 local authorities breached annual legal limits on nitrogen oxide, linked to lung disease, last year Four in 10 of Britain’s local authorities breached legal air quality limits last year, largely due to heavy road traffic, government records reveal. Ministers have admitted that 169 local authorities were found to have gone over annual […]
A three-bed house with £500 energy bills? How you too can slash your costs
With gas and electricity bills burning an ever larger hole in people’s pockets, it makes sense to consider every possible solution. We talk to the homeowners who have seriously cut their energy costs The overnight low in West Kirby on the Wirrall was around 5C last night. Yet in Colin Usher’s home the temperature is […]
Lonely and mysterious, this is the other Borrowdale
Borrowdale, Lake District Borrowdale is thriving following an era of being successfully farmed by generations of Westmorland hill farmers Several faces, mottled black and white, glance up as I alight from the car. On seeing no dog, these Rough Fells – burly ewes with horns – return to grazing the open fell, unalarmed. Following the […]
Approval of Port Melville supply base near Darwin quashed by federal court
Exercise of power by former minister Greg Hunt was ‘uncertain’, says ruling, as activists celebrate ‘massive win’ for environment The decision to approve a $130m marine supply base at Port Melville north of Darwin has been overturned by the federal court. The ruling quashes a decision by a delegate of the former federal environment minister […]