Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Program portrayed efforts to wean Australia off fossil fuels as morally bankrupt, trashing rainforests and enslaving Australia to China Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Children sieve mud, workers drop down claustrophobic hand-cut mine shafts, men grimace while others carve out rock with chisels in bare feet to recover cobalt “for our renewable green dream”. These were the dramatic scenes from the Democratic Republic of Congo in a “special investigation” from Channel Seven’s Spotlight program, aired in prime-time on Sunday evening. Continue reading...

The government’s plan to de-link gas and electricity prices will have a modest effect – more promising are plans on EVs and heat pumps Why are UK electricity prices linked to gas – and what does it mean for bills? It’s a holy grail of UK energy policy – de-linking gas and electricity prices. After all, we’ve been told endlessly that one reason why our energy bills are so high is because “gas sets the price of electricity”. And here it comes: “decisive action” from the government to “break the link”. So, tell us, by how much can we expect bills to fall? Energy secretary Ed Miliband and colleagues didn’t offer even a tentative answer. The big announcement was a prediction-free zone on bills for two reasons. Continue reading...

Actor, who has publicly objected to plans to fast-track project near his farm, says he has received personal abuse The actor Sam Neill says he has received threats of violence from supporters of a controversial goldmine that could be opened several kilometres away from his farm in New Zealand’s Central Otago district, after he publicly objected to the government’s plans to fast-track the mine. The Australian mining company Santana Minerals is pushing to expedite a 85-hectare (210-acre) open-cast goldmine, called Bendigo-Ophir, in the Dunstan mountains, an area described as “outstanding natural landscape” by the Central Otago district council. Continue reading...

The country is seeing an increase in human-wildlife conflict as the number of megafauna, including rhinos and tigers, grows. But there are efforts to tackle the problem around Chitwan national park through education and training The tourists lining the steep embankment buzzed with excitement, phones out, snapping away in the twilight as a wild Indian rhinoceros grazed below the Nepali village of Sauraha. Climbing to the main street, the rhino ambled down the middle of the road. Local people warned tourists to give it plenty of space. All manner of wheeled vehicles slowed, then passed. The rhino turned its horn at a cyclist passing too close, triggering gasps from the assembled crowd. A manager uses torchlight to guide a wild Indian rhinoceros through the grounds of his hotel in Sauraha Continue reading...