Splintered continents help keep a lid on global warming
Every so often Earth’s volcanoes come to life in spectacular fashion. Geologists have uncovered ten of these dramatic magma-spewing episodes to date. At least four are thought to be behind mass extinction events, including Earth’s most devastating extinction at the end of the Permian period around 250 million years ago. But strangely life on Earth […]
Australian insurers keep customers in the dark about climate risks, report finds
A WWF study shows Australian insurers tell customers far less than overseas insurers about the risks climate change could pose to their businesses Australians are in the dark about the risks climate change poses for the local insurance industry because Australian insurers don’t disclose enough information, a new report claims. Related: Turnbull government selling Australia […]
Los Angeles considers officially 'drought shaming' water violators
City considers new measures against those who use more water than they should, including publicly naming and shaming perpetrators Drought-stricken Los Angeles is weighing new ways to crack down on residents who use more than their fair share of dwindling water supplies. For the first time in many years, such water hogs could be publicly […]
Joe Henson obituary
Farmer who fought to save rare breeds and educate the public about the importance of maintaining animal diversity During the 1960s and 1970s most farmers were going headlong down the route of intensive agriculture. But Joe Henson, who has died aged 82, stood out from the crowd. His passionate championing of rare breeds – initially […]
Rescuers free humpback whale trapped in fishing line off California
Teams with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and SeaWorld combine forces to rid animal of most of fishing line Rescuers on Saturday managed to free a humpback whale that was entangled in hundreds of feet of fishing line, and it swam away southwards. Related: Rescuers work to free humpback whale from fishing line off […]
Labor says Australia must 'tell story of Pacific to world' at Paris climate talks
Climate change impact on Pacific nations is a focus for government and opposition ahead of COP21 where 190 nations will discuss a global climate accord Australia should “tell the story of the Pacific to the world” when global leaders sit down to climate change talks in Paris at the end of this month, Labor has […]
The Cabaret of Plants: Botany and the Imagination by Richard Mabey review – a hymn to flower power
Written with a poet’s eye, this remarkable summation of a lifetime’s study of plants is a rhapsodic labour of love To vegetate is an odd verb, sometimes even an unpleasant one. But Richard Mabey’s great book is positively fuelled by the curious green energy of its contradictory meanings. To vegetate: to grow and cover the […]
Pacific: The Ocean of the Future by Simon Winchester review – does salvation lie in the world’s ‘dominant entity’?
Simon Winchester argues that our destiny will be dictated by the Pacific’s vast expanses Will the Pacific save us? In his biography of an ocean, Simon Winchester finds an optimistic note among all the doom we humans trail in our wake. This enormous body of water, which covers roughly a third of the planet’s surface, […]
Coalition asks miners and coal seam gas firms to respect farmers' 'moral rights'
Turnbull government ministers say farmers’ right to determine what happens on their land should not be trumped by laws that give companies access The Coalition government is asking miners and coal seam gas companies to recognise that the “moral right” of farmers to determine what happens on their land overrides companies’ legal right to explore […]
Swimming with humpback whales to be trialled at WA's Ningaloo marine park
Trial a bid to increase ecotourism at famous marine park where 20,000 people swim with whale sharks each year Related: Swimming with whales: a frolic in the wild or an accident waiting to happen? Swimming with humpback whales will be allowed at Western Australia’s famous Ningaloo marine park next year as part of a bid […]