Rivers and streams, not stinking drains please

By Sw4n4ge

Here’s a topic very close to our hearts. We’ve experienced at first hand, the inconsistency, unfairness and impotence of token gestures by responsible authorities who are afraid or unwilling to tackle the real culprits and instead pick on easy targets. In our case, small, self-builders. The issue in question is river pollution by raw sewage.…

No Words

By Sw4n4ge

Tried today to measure river flow rate to scope hydro power feasibility. Got messy…

Former Australia PM Scott Morrison defends coal industry amid catastrophic blazes

By Sw4n4ge

Scott Morrison, Australian Prime Minister continues to defend the nation’s reliance on the coal industry and its emissions targets in the wake of catastrophic wildfires. He returned from holiday amid much criticism earlier this week to a continued spread of infernos across the country. He seeks to put distance between climate change and the ongoing fires. “Australia is taking…

As Wildfires Scorch Australia’s Lands, It’s Oceans Fair Even Worse

By Sw4n4ge

Over recent decades, the rate of ocean warming off Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost state and a gateway to the South Pole, has climbed to nearly four times the global average, oceanographers say. One of the first victims of this change is the ocean kelp. More than 95 per cent of the giant kelp – which provides…

Commercial Fishing and Plastic in the Ocean

By Sw4n4ge

If you are really serious about wanting to stop plastic from polluting the oceans, you should be prepared to stop eating fish. ©WIRED Once plastics are in the ocean, there’s no easy way to remove them. Rather than biodegrade, plastics simply shred into ever tinier parts that end up entering the marine food chain and…

Climate change: Study underpins key idea in Antarctic ice loss

By Sw4n4ge

BBC Science correspondent Jonathan Amos, reports that a new study has found the diminishing thickness of ice shelves is matched almost exactly by an immediate acceleration in the glaciers feeding in behind them. It means we can’t rely on a lag in the system to delay the rise in sea-levels as shelves melt in a…

The Tyranny of Time Poverty

By Sw4n4ge

The headlong obsession with corporate and economic growth, creates societies of time-impoverished individuals who can easily lose any holistic sense of their place in the environment. In the Western world, the progress of society is measured by capital flows and commercial growth. These financial goals are often put ahead of life values. The pace of…

Bees on The Brink

By Sw4n4ge

Many species of bee are on the brink of extinction in parts of the UK – and some types have been lost entirely, a report has found. Climate change, habitat loss, pollution and disease are threatening the pollinators, the analysis of 228 species concluded. It discovered that 17 species were regionally extinct – including the Great Yellow Bumblebee, the Potter…

Was The Fracking Ban a Cynical Election Ploy?

By Sw4n4ge

The Conservative Party has been accused of using a fracking ‘ban’ as an ‘election ploy’ after admitting the suspension may only be temporary. The Government is facing growing calls for a permanent ban, as Labour raised concerns the apparent U-turn was only a part time measure in the run up to the election next month. Our future…