Kohler: How the collapsing US$ will damage CopenhagenFor Australia, an international emissions trading scheme in Copenhagen may prove an economic disaster, thanks to a dropping US dollar a and rising Aussie dollar. It’s happening around the world and it’s making a Copenhagen deal unlikely.
Environment
The good oil on palm oil
The UK advertising regulator has banned an ad by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council claiming that palm oil is ‘sustainable’ and contributes to ‘the alleviation of poverty, especially amongst rural populations’, reports Andrew Bartlett.
Can sexing up science save the planet?
The ABC has a great analysis on the Timor Sea oil spill and how the mainstream media only started paying attention once the leaking rig burst into flames. Endangered marine life? Pah. Big explosions?! Now you’re talking! Does the environmental movement need to start finding sexier angles to sell journos on their causes?
PHOTO GALLERY: The world’s dirtiest events
All public events tend to make a bit of a mess, but some are worse than others. Newsweek looks at some of the biggest garbage-generating events on the planet, including NASCAR, Glastonbury and the Olympics.
Is Clive James a climate change sceptic because he’s a senile old sucker?
Clive James may have praised the need for scepticism with climate change, but that just proves him as a old sucker, not a sceptic, writes George Monbiot. Do old people think more positively about climate change effects because they are closer to death?
How saving the Amazon went out of fashion
Time was, you couldn’t turn on a TV or open a magazine without seeing some do-gooder celebrity ranting about the Amazon rainforest. So why don’t we hear about it anymore? Did we save it? Er, no, says Brendan Borrell, but the issue is about to become fashionable again.
One in five mammals now face extinction
A fifth of the world’s mammals and a third of amphibians are now threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s 2009 “Red List”. 800 Australian animal and plant species are now on the list.
Copenhagen is coming, lower your expectations
With the Copenhagen climate change conference just five weeks away and national leaders and scientists already disagreeing, it looks like a global plan for climate change and emissions targets is unlikely, writes David Spratt.
PHOTO GALLERY: Sperm whale nibbles on a giant squid
That rarely seen creature of the sea, a giant squid, can be viewed hanging out the side of a sperm whale’s mouth, half eaten. Previously it could only be assumed that whales ate squids because of the sucker wounds left by tentacles.
One world, one phone charger
Why does every single mobile phone have a different charger? Not only is it annoying, making and delivering replacement chargers has a huge carbon footprint. The UN’s Telecommunication Union is finally creating a universal charger — and it could cut C02 emissions by 24m tons a year.
Reform the food industry — for the sake of the planet
The food industry’s solution of more choice increases profits, but does nothing for obesity. The more on offer, the more we buy, the more we waist and the more we waste, writes Dr Rosemary Stanton.
PHOTO GALLERY: The green automobiles of the future
The next generation of eco-friendly autos was on display at the recent Tokyo Motor Show, featuring not just electric cars, but lean and green electric motorbikes, scooters and even unicycles.
Reality check: you can afford locally-grown fresh food
Stop blaming the supermarket ogliopoly for buying packaged, processed food from big corporations, says Phillip O’Neal: most Australians can afford and access fresh, locally-produced fare — they’re just too lazy.
Toyota invents its own climate-cooling flower
Manufacturing the Toyota Prius produces more CO2 than normal cars, so the company came up with a novel solution: engineer a new species of flower to plant around factories that reduces the temperature and the energy needed for cooling, thus offsetting the carbon emissions.
The story behind the grieving chimps photo
You’ve probably seen the National Geographic photo that went viral this week, of a dead chimpanze being wheeled past her mournful chimp friends. Photographer Monica Szczupider explains what went on beyond the lens.
Halloween: the most wasteful holiday ever?
While Christmas is always criticised for its consumerism, Halloween is really far more wasteful and consumer-oriented, says HuffPo. Check out their spine-chilling round-up of American Halloween excess.
Another leak in the Timor Sea
Another environmental disaster has hit the Timor Sea, with gas leaking from the Puffin oil field, about 50km from the West Atlas rig that continues to discharge oil.
PHOTO GALLERY: The secret view of surfers: inside the wave
Just in case you were underestimating the power of the ocean, here’s an incredible collection of photos taken by surfers, some taken from inside breaking waves, others underwater after surfers have wiped out. Surfs up!
Will Timor Sea oil slick be curtains for bluefin tuna?
The already-devastated Southern bluefin tuna population could be sunk for good by the recent Montara oil spill.
