Risk of fire ants spreading at ‘another level’ after detection in Oakey, Queensland, says chair of NSW Farmers’ biosecurity committee
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Fire ants have reached the Murray Darling Basin, with experts warning the latest detection of the rafting super pest should be “ringing alarm bells” at the highest levels of government.
The extremely invasive insect was discovered west of the Great Dividing Range in Oakey, Queensland, 120km from Brisbane, on Tuesday. A team from the National Fire Ant Eradication Program was at the site by Wednesday morning, with emergency measures put in place by Thursday.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/22/2024 - 01:23
04/22/2024 - 00:00
Scheme is part of effort to reduce ‘staggering’ quantities of textiles going to landfill or incinerator
Instead of throwing stained, ripped and misshapen clothing in the bin, Britons are being asked to stick the dregs of their wardrobe in the post in a trial aimed at tackling the “staggering” quantity of textiles sent to landfill or are incinerated each year.
A third of consumers do not know what to do with tops, dresses and trousers that can no longer be worn, figures show, with a similar number admitting to putting such items in their household waste bin.
Continue reading...
04/21/2024 - 21:00
Europeans are dying from hot weather 30% more than they did two decades ago, report finds
Scorching weather has baked Europe in more days of “extreme heat stress” than its scientists have ever seen.
Heat-trapping pollutants that clog the atmosphere helped push temperatures in Europe last year to the highest or second-highest levels ever recorded, according to the EU’s Earth-watching service Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Continue reading...
04/21/2024 - 19:00
Norway’s KLP and the UK’s LGIM among those who say they have concerns over energy giant’s carbon transition goals
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Woodside Energy is facing the prospect of an overwhelming protest vote against its climate plans when shareholders meet on Wednesday, as global investors pick apart the emissions strategy of Australia’s biggest oil and gas company.
Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, and Britain’s biggest asset manager, LGIM, are the latest investors to disclose they will vote against Woodside’s climate report, citing concerns over its carbon transition plans.
Continue reading...
Google Maps to show most fuel-efficient route and may prompt Australians to try greener alternatives
04/21/2024 - 18:25
The map app will soon advise users in Sydney and Melbourne on public transport or walking alternatives to their driving plan
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Google Maps will politely pester Australian travellers to take public transport or walk to their destination in one of several green changes coming to the service.
Users who still intend to drive to their destination will be shown the most fuel-efficient route and electric vehicle drivers will be able to search for nearby charging stations.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...
04/21/2024 - 18:01
Resolution Foundation calls for fourfold increase in renewable power investment to reduce pressure on household bills
A permanent shift to higher interest rates could add billions of pounds to the UK’s renewable energy transition, a leading thinktank has warned.
Borrowing costs have soared since the easing of pandemic lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the world’s leading central banks raised interest rates to tackle inflation – pushing up the costs of investment in infrastructure across advanced economies including for green power generation schemes.
Continue reading...
04/21/2024 - 05:18
Officials urge municipalities to begin emergency planning after major rivers and reservoirs threaten to overflow
Major rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province are threatening to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people.
Calling the situation “grim”, local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are hitting water levels in a rare spike that only has a one-in-50 chance of happening in any given year, the state broadcaster CCTV news said on Sunday.
Continue reading...
04/21/2024 - 05:00
Restaurants are serving more unusual cuts of meat, with animal heads staring up at diners to teach them about their food
Offal has become a staple on restaurant menus across the UK, with cheaper cuts attracting chefs with sustainability goals and tight budgets, boosted by the influence of nose-to-tail pioneers such as Fergus Henderson at St John in London. Now many are going further, creating dishes with animal heads staring at diners from their plates.
At Fowl in central London, which describes itself as a “beak-to-feet chicken restaurant”, the Sunday roast comes complete with chicken claws. At Manteca in Shoreditch, east London, you might find half a pig’s head, clearly identifiable, on your table. Newly opened Camille in Borough Market, south London serves a chicken-neck sausage, including the bird’s head.
Continue reading...
04/21/2024 - 05:00
Louisiana State University allowed Shell to influence studies after a $25m donation and sought funds from other fossil fuel firms
This story is co-published with the Lens, a non-profit newsroom in New Orleans
For $5m, Louisiana’s flagship university will let an oil company weigh in on faculty research activities. Or, for $100,000, a corporation can participate in a research study, with “robust” reviewing powers and access to all resulting intellectual property.
Those are the conditions outlined in a boilerplate document that Louisiana State University’s fundraising arm circulated to oil majors and chemical companies affiliated with the Louisiana Chemical Association, an industry lobbying group, according to emails disclosed in response to a public records request by the Lens.
Continue reading...
04/21/2024 - 04:00
Campaigners call for the whole regulatory system to be replaced after Observer analysis finds watchdog spent more than £25m with consultancies
The water industry regulator has spent £26.7m on business consultants in the past five years, including several companies that have simultaneously worked for private water firms, the Observer can reveal.
The findings prompted environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey to call for Ofwat to be abolished as fellow campaigners said there appeared to be no dividing line between “those who are meant to enforce the law and those who routinely break it”.
Continue reading...
