Breaking Waves: Ocean News

So long as oil and gas companies remain wedded to self-interest, the push against them isn’t going away Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Australia’s south-west is suffering through a historic dry stretch. Perth had the lowest rainfall on record in the six months to March, and trees in eucalyptus forests and scrubland across a 1,000 kilometre stretch are dying in shocking and spectacular fashion, with spillover effects through the ecosystems that rely on them. The climate signal – the impact of rising atmospheric greenhouse gases, largely due to the burning of fossil fuels – in this part of the world has been clear for a while. Winter rainfall has fallen up to 20% since the 1970s in what scientists have for years described as one of the earliest examples of the climate crisis having a measurable influence. Continue reading...

Year in, year out, there's a good chance someone in politics has suggested nuclear power as an answer to Australia's energy problems. Guardian Australia's Matilda Boseley explains why. Modern-day nuclear energy is climate friendly compared with coal and gas. But going nuclear isn't practical for Australia – and it's an idea that's more than likely coming directly from the Coalition's 'delaying action on climate change' handbook Dutton’s blast of radioactive rhetoric on nuclear power leaves facts in the dust Continue reading...

RHS Wisley garden manager says composting at home saves money and creates habitat for hedgehogs and invertebrates Get rid of your green waste bin if you want to make your soil more healthy and save money, a Royal Horticultural Society expert has said. Sheila Das, a garden manager at the charity’s Wisley site, removed her garden waste bin “some years ago” in order to recycle nutrients into her garden soil, she told the RHS spring conference. She said: “I thought, why am I sending my stuff away? This [the grass cuttings and plant trimmings] is gold dust!” Start composting. The RHS recommends that where space is limited, consider using a “Dalek” bin made from recycled plastic or a HotBin. Make use of fallen leaves. These can be used as leaf mould which is a useful mulch, soil improver, and potting compost ingredient. Collect fallen leaves from lawns and paths in autumn, place them in a jute leaf sack, old compost bag or bin bag, and in about two years you will have a bag of leaf mould, often referred to as “black gold”. This can be shared with other gardeners around you if you don’t have the space to keep it all. Felled trees and waste wood can be used to make mulch. Many arborists have mobile chippers and will be happy to leave you the wood chips. Woodchippers are also available for hire. Wood chips can be used as a surface for informal paths or as a mulch around established plants. Matchstick mulching. With hand shears or a hedge trimmer, cut the old stems of grasses or herbaceous perennials into matchstick-length sections and spread them evenly around plants as a layer of mulch. Use logs to create pathways, borders, seats and create homes for wildlife. Continue reading...

Some crops completely wiped out and dramatic falls in yields being predicted in county which reflects crisis in rest of UK With his farm almost entirely surrounded by the banks of the River Severn in north Shropshire, Ed Tate is used to flooding on his land – but this year, the sheer level of rainfall is the worst he has ever seen. He points to a field where about 20% of wheat crops have failed as they have been covered with rainwater that has pooled in muddy puddles, in areas that would usually be a sea of green by now. Continue reading...