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Boy, 11, dies and four other children injured after car crashes into Melbourne school
Australia’s pandemic plans were ‘grossly inadequate’, an inquiry has found. What lessons can be learned?
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Bowen derides Coalition’s ‘nuclear fantasy’
Chris Bowen, minister for climate change and energy, is speaking on ABC Radio National this morning.
If I was the energy minister of another country, I would consider the opportunities that I had in that country – but a country saying to Australia, with our excellent renewable resources, that we should go down the nuclear road when we have no nuclear industry, no nuclear expertise of the scale that we would need for a nuclear power industry, is like us going to Finland or Scandinavia and saying, “Listen, we know [you have] a lot of snow, but you should really try beach surfing.” It just doesn’t make any sense.
We have to play to our strengths in Australia, and we have the best renewable resources in the world, and the opposition wants to stop us using them, and in turn, keep coal in the system for longer. They’re quite explicit about that while we wait for this nuclear fantasy to come on board. That would be terrible for emissions and fatal for energy reliability.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/28/2024 - 12:31
Escaped blue-throated macaws, named Lily and Margot, were tracked down after numerous sightings
London zoo’s “critically endangered” missing parrots have been found 60 miles away behind afamily’s garden in Cambridgeshire.
The escaped birds were tracked down after numerous sightings from local residents, and were eventually found in the back garden of a family in Buckden. They flew away once more before being traced to a field and public footpath in nearby Brampton.
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10/28/2024 - 12:23
Once abundant, the massive, colorful clam is now locally extinct in many regions, with a critical drop in population due to overfishing and climate change.
10/28/2024 - 10:00
The mammals were once common across Europe but urban development has pushed them towards extinction
Hedgehogs are now listed as “near threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list after a decline in numbers of at least 30% over the past decade across much of their range.
While hedgehogs were once common across Europe, and were until now listed as of “least concern” on the red list, they are being pushed towards extinction by urban development, intensive farming and roads, which have fragmented their habitat.
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10/28/2024 - 05:30
Second Trump term would restore climate denialism to an Oval Office efficiently dismantling protections
The climate crisis may appear peripheral in the US presidential election but a victory for Donald Trump will, more than any other issue, have profound consequences for people around a rapidly heating world, experts have warned.
During his push for the White House, Trump has called climate change a “hoax” and “one of the great scams of all time” while vowing to delete spending on clean energy, abolish “insane” incentives for Americans to drive electric cars, scrap various environmental rules and unleash a “drill, baby, drill” wave of new oil and gas.
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10/28/2024 - 04:00
Carbon dioxide concentration has increased by more than 10% in just two decades, reports World Meteorological Organization
The concentration of planet-heating pollutants clogging the atmosphere hit record levels in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said.
It found carbon dioxide is accumulating faster than at any time in human history, with concentrations having risen by more than 10% in just two decades.
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10/28/2024 - 03:00
The harm to babies and mothers is one of the warnings being sent to Cop29 decision-makers by leading scientists
Miscarriages, premature babies and harm to mothers caused by the climate crisis are a “blind spot” in action plans, according to a report aimed at the decision-makers who will attend the Cop29 summit in November.
Potential collapse of the Amazon rainforest, vital Atlantic Ocean currents and essential infrastructure in cities are also among the dangers cited by an international group of 80 leading scientists from 45 countries. The report collects the latest insights from physical and social science to inform the negotiations at the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan.
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10/28/2024 - 02:43
Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility alleges Santos’s plan to reach net zero by 2040 is ‘little more than a series of speculations’
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A world-first greenwashing case that seeks to hold oil and gas company Santos accountable for its net zero commitments began in the federal court today, brought by one of its own shareholders, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR).
The organisation claims Santos did not have a proper basis for saying it had a clear pathway to reduce emissions by 26% to 30% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2040, which constituted misleading or deceptive conduct in breach of Australian corporate and consumer laws.
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10/28/2024 - 01:00
GMB raises safety concerns amid rumours of budget cuts across sites and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Rachel Reeves has been urged not to carry out mooted funding cuts for nuclear sites including Sellafield amid safety concerns, as it emerged that the number of incidents where workers narrowly avoided harm had increased at the Cumbrian site.
The GMB union has written to Reeves, the chancellor, before Wednesday’s budget to raise safety concerns after rumours emerged that the budget for the taxpayer-owned Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) could be reduced, which could result in cuts at nuclear sites including Sellafield and Dounreay in Scotland.
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10/28/2024 - 00:00
Study says harmful gases linked to heart and lung disease shave nearly two years off a person’s life
Gas stoves kill 40,000 Europeans each year by pumping pollutants into their lungs, a report has found, a death toll twice as high as that from car crashes.
The cookers spew harmful gases linked to heart and lung disease but experts warn there is little public awareness of their dangers. On average, using a gas stove shaves nearly two years off a person’s life, according to a study of households in the EU and UK.
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