Clean Energy Council calls for a national, legislated scheme to funnel benefits of hosting renewables projects back to local councils
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Organised campaigns against wind and solar energy have proved “extremely effective” in undermining community support for renewable energy but enthusiasm for electric vehicles has jumped following Donald Trump’s attack on Iran, according to a detailed snapshot of Australian attitudes to the clean energy transition.
The survey found levels of “deep support” for clean technologies were highest for home batteries and rooftop solar and also improving for major infrastructure projects such as transmission lines, which have been a target for critics of renewables.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
Australians value batteries and EVs, but renewables industry must earn trust of regions, summit told
07/29/2026 - 10:00
07/29/2026 - 10:00
Authorities say local transmission of H5 bird flu virus among South Australian birds signals ‘shift in the situation’
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Australia has entered a new phase in dealing with the incursion of deadly H5N1 bird flu, with authorities confirming on Wednesday that local transmission of the highly virulent strain had taken place.
“We have had what is suggestive of local transmission for the first time,” Julie Collins, the federal minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry, said on Wednesday afternoon, after 11 new suspected detections were reported in South Australian birds.
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07/29/2026 - 09:35
What once felt exceptional now arrives with grim regularity all over the continent, and it will only get worse
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Spain has changed immeasurably since I arrived here 10 years ago to begin work as the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent.
Over that time, the push for Catalan independence has exploded, sputtered and faded out; the Covid pandemic has hit with unimaginable ferocity, before seeming to linger for a face-masked eternity; and Podemos and Ciudadanos – the two upstart parties that once seemed likely to alter the Spanish political landscape irrevocably – have risen and fallen.
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07/29/2026 - 09:17
Repeated heatwaves and strong winds alarm experts, who warn blazes are becoming harder to quell
Three Greek firefighters have died while tackling wildfires on the island of Crete and in the south of the mainland, the Greek fire department has said, as extreme heat hinders efforts to control blazes ravaging southern Europe.
The arc of brutal fires, which runs from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean, and from the Scottish Highlands to the south of Spain, has alarmed experts because many of the fires have been out of control and burning close to towns and cities.
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07/29/2026 - 08:00
Growing number of studies assessing whether heat training can help people prepare for scorching temperatures
Even as summer temperatures soar, the sauna trend is booming, with some venues touting them as a way to beat the heat. But while experts have urged caution about sweating it out in hot weather, a growing number of studies are considering whether heat training could help people prepare for heatwaves.
With parts of the UK experiencing their fourth heatwave of the year, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued heat health alerts across much of England. The warnings follow an unprecedented summer, with western Europe experiencing its hottest June on record.
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07/29/2026 - 07:00
Environment Agency names seven regions affected by unusually hot and dry weather and shortage of water
Half of England is officially in drought, with July set to be the driest on record after winter floods, the Environment Agency has said.
The “flash drought” developed quickly because of unusually low rainfall and high temperatures.
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07/29/2026 - 06:22
Exclusive: British garden staple becomes plant most frequently reported as suffering in heat, charity reports
With their lush foliage and blooms that turn pink, purple or blue depending on the soil, hydrangeas are a firm favourite in Britain.
The shrubs bloom throughout summer and have historically thrived in the mild, damp British climate. But hotter summers and heatwaves such as the one hitting parts of England this week are putting the flower at risk in the south of the country, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has said.
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07/29/2026 - 06:00
Findings can inform conversations about global climate reparations and financing for mitigations, researchers say
Caribbean nations suffered $53.2bn (£40bn) of damage from climate-fuelled disasters between 2000 and 2024, research into the cost of the climate crisis to developing small islands has found.
The figure is more than 90% of the total $57bn in economic damage caused by floods, storms and drought across 39 developing island nations in the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, according to a study by development thinktank ODI Global.
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07/29/2026 - 05:00
Ryder Williams, 16, saved a boy from drowning in Santa Cruz, California – the first rescue of his career
A rookie, teenage California lifeguard who saved a young boy from drowning amid massive waves – while a bystander recorded dramatic video – has spent his whole life preparing for such a moment, according to his father.
Ryder Williams, 16, said he refused to let go of the child because he knew the boy would almost certainly die if he did, the lifeguard’s father, Shane, recounted on Tuesday, three days after the pulse-pounding rescue.
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07/29/2026 - 04:00
Five years ago, I wrote an open letter asking climate scientists to speak out against fossil fuels. Now governments are in retreat, it is surely time to act
France and Spain race to contain huge wildfires before fresh heatwave begins
Such is the astonishing scale of the wildfires burning at the gates of Bordeaux and Madrid, that if they had happened 20 – even 10 – years back, they may well have shocked the world into taking action on the climate crisis. But like the proverbial frog in a pot of slowly heating water, we have become inured; not only to the ever more devastating impacts of climate breakdown, but increasingly to the actions needed to bring global heating to heel.
Even as more than 35,000 wildfires rage across the surface of our world, and as we continue to rewind our planet’s climate so it resembles hotter episodes from its distant past, governments and trading blocs are very deliberately turning away from climate action.
Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London and author of The Fate of the World: a History and Future of the Climate Crisis
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