A new study finds that global warming will curb economic growth even in most wealthy countriesA new study published in Nature by scientists at Stanford and UC Berkeley has made waves for its finding that thus far we have dramatically underestimated the damage human-caused climate change will do to the global economy.By looking at data from 160 countries across the 50-year period from 1960 to 2010, the authors found that an average local temperature of 13°C (55°F) is economically optimal, particularly for agricultural productivity. That temperature roughly reflects the current climate in many wealthy countries like the USA, Japan, France, and China. Continue reading...

An environmental activist explains how a grassroots campaign has stalled the building of a dam in CambodiaIt was 2013 and I was swimming down a peaceful river in the Areng Valley in Cambodia, where many siamese crocodiles live. Further down the river young activists, who had earlier that year been shot at by the police during political protests, filmed me as I talked in Khmer about the natural beauty of the area – and all that stood to be lost by building a hydropower dam there.Days later this video went viral in the country and kickstarted our campaign to save the Areng Valley from destruction. At this point there was little environmental activism in Cambodia. Prominent anti-logging activist Chut Wutty had been murdered one year earlier and the big international environmental NGOs were really inactive. Brave, effective civil society in Cambodia was either dead, in jail or didn’t dare move.

Michael Roche attacks ‘professional anti-gas activists’ for exploiting suicide of coal seam gas opponent George BenderAn outspoken farmer’s recent suicide has been hijacked by some politicians, activists and journalists, Queensland’s peak mining body says.The Queensland Resources Council chief executive, Michael Roche, released a statement on Tuesday afternoon remembering late Chinchilla farmer George Bender, who vocally opposed coal seam gas before his death earlier this month. Continue reading...

Opposition leader says ‘I don’t understand what happened to the Malcolm Turnbull of 2009’ and says country missing out on renewables opportunitiesThe right wing of the Coalition is forcing Australians to “pledge loyalty” to coal and in the process missing out on investment opportunities in renewable energy, the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said.Shorten addressed reporters on Tuesday, explaining the constraints that the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, was facing from the right of his own party. Continue reading...

History suggests food shoppers only change eating habits in short-term, hence muted reaction from food firms at processed meat and cancer linksSupermarkets and food suppliers, already under fierce pressure over the amount of sugar in the nation’s food, could have done without more revelations about the health consequences of the food we eat. Continue reading...

There is a disconnect between sustainability and consumer understanding and action. How much is this harming progress towards better practice?Palm oil is the most-used vegetable oil in the world, accounting for some 65% of all vegetable oil traded, and is found in everything from washing powder to breakfast cereals. Global production has doubled over the past decade and is set to double again by 2020.But oil palm trees only grow in tropical areas, and vast monocrops are rapidly destroying virgin rainforests and peatland. Ecosystem collapse, air pollution and species extinction have followed. Continue reading...

Government seeks to lift a ban on shale gas drilling in drinking water protection zones, key wildlife sites and under national parks. Without these strong rules, fracking should not be allowed in this country

Mudford, Somerset This roof was made in the local tradition. Its “undercoats” (the original layer of thatch) are probably about 400 years oldThe thatcher had almost finished his work on the roof of my friend’s house in the village, a few miles from Yeovil, and told me about his trade as he cleared up among heaps of straw. He was working with combed wheat-reed, he said, wheat being the traditional thatching material in Somerset.In the old days, the straw was just a by-product of cereal production. But that was when stooks of corn were built by hand, before the coming of combine harvesters and the mechanical baling up of straw. Now the wheat reed for thatching must be grown specifically for the purpose. He was using an old variety called Widgeon, grown locally at Ilminster; others were Huntsman and Victor. The ideal length was three feet, and a workable minimum would be twenty-seven inches. Continue reading...

Cutting subsidies in renewables is shortsighted and counterproductive. These industries are Britain’s future and must receive full government backingLast week there was dismay as the future of Britain’s nuclear sector was subcontracted to France and China. Now, as the impact of the cuts in subsidies for green energy hits home, the country’s future as a leader in renewable technologies risks going the same way as the nuclear expertise that used to be world-beating. Along with it could go its admired position as an effective voice in the climate-change negotiations. In Bonn last week, as diplomats met for the final round of pre-Paris talks, there was bewilderment at the abrupt change in direction. Suddenly the UK, so recently at the forefront of negotiations within the EU, driving through ambitious targets for carbon reduction, looks like a country that isn’t taking climate change seriously.The government says it just wants to keep energy bills down, and it is true that there is a case for tackling them. It is also true that the subsidies for solar favour wealthier homes, those with suitable roof space to fit solar panels; it would be fairer to spend more on making homes warmer. All the same, the impact on bills of the complex support structure that provides a stable price framework for the new technologies required to green the energy supply and incentivise providers has been greatly exaggerated. By the government’s own estimates, the planned cut in solar subsidies by an industry-destroying 87% will save the average household 50p a year. Meanwhile, energy costs have been blamed for the crisis in the British steel industry too. Yet it is dumping, and Treasury reluctance to challenge EU rules on state support for energy-intensive industries, that has done the real harm to workers in towns like Redcar and Scunthorpe. Continue reading...

Twenty ‘listening stations’ will be installed at beaches to provide real-time tracking data on tagged sharks, and eco-friendly nets will be rolled outIn-water sonar technology that warns when a shark is nearby and new “shark listening” devices will be enlisted by the New South Wales government to try to combat shark attacks this summer.A five-year $16m program has been announced by the minister for primary industries, Niall Blair, in a year when there have been 13 attacks on the north coast of the state alone and one fatality. Last year there were three attacks in the same area. Continue reading...