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Australia: Coalition scraps Climate Commission, dispensing with Tim Flannery
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on September 19th, 2013
Guardian: The Coalition's decision to abolish the Climate Commission, which provides information to the public on the impact of climate change, is "dismaying" and deprives Australians of their right to independent information, according to Tim Flannery, the body's chief commissioner.
The commission, which was established in 2011, has compiled 27 reports on various aspects of climate change. Its most recent major report, The Critical Decade, warned that the world must "virtually decarbonise in the next 30...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australia: Coalition scraps Climate Commission, dispensing with Tim FlanneryAustralia: NSW bushfires this week a taste of things to come
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on September 11th, 2013
Guardian: New South Wales and Victoria have been warned to expect a fierce bushfire season, with the head of a government-funded research body warning that bushfire prospects are "as bad as we've seen in quite some time'.
Dr Richard Thornton, chief executive of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, told Guardian Australia that the fires that have raged in NSW this week are "unusually early' but are consistent with a heightened risk of bushfires in the state over the coming months....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: NSW bushfires this week a taste of things to comeAustralia: Tourism council makes pre-election plea for Great Barrier Reef
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on September 4th, 2013
Guardian: The peak body for Queensland's tourism industry has urged the Coalition, if it wins the election, not to be swayed by mining lobbyists looking to industrialise the Great Barrier Reef.
Daniel Gschwind, the chief executive of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, told Guardian Australia there was concern for the reef over the growth of coal ports and increased chemical run-off. He said the council was also worried about the prospects of job losses in tourism.
"The health of the reef is of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Tourism council makes pre-election plea for Great Barrier ReefTasmania hopes foreign zoo breeding program will help save devils
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on June 24th, 2013
Guardian: About 20 Tasmanian devils will be sent to overseas zoos in an ambitious escalation of the battle against a deadly facial tumour disease that has ravaged the marsupials.
The Tasmanian government has launched a pilot project that will see up to three zoos in New Zealand and two in the US take about 20 devils to be exhibited to visitors.
Should the project prove successful, up to 100 devils will be dispersed to zoos across Europe, North America and Japan.
The move follows the recent breeding...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tasmania hopes foreign zoo breeding program will help save devilsAustralia has huge deposits of shale gas – but it won’t come cheap
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on June 5th, 2013
Guardian: Australia could be sitting on more than 1,000tn cubic feet of untapped shale gas, but effective environmental regulations and a fall in costs are needed before this resource can be fully exploited, according to a new report.
The Australian Council of Learned Academies study found that while Australia had huge deposits of gas, it would "not be cheap gas in most circumstances' and would have a slightly higher rate of carbon emissions than standard gas, albeit significantly less than coal-fired power....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia has huge deposits of shale gas – but it won’t come cheap