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We gather and publish a wide range of links to nature related news from 400 sources, including government, councils, environmental groups, companies and media outlets. We cover many nature related topics including; conservation, rejuvenation, wildlife, agriculture and food, energy and mining, climate change, business, politics, transport, weather, technology, science, health, education, art and more. You can 'Follow by Email' to receive a daily update in your inbox, or 'Like' us on Facebook. If you have an idea for a story please let us know. johnrm26466@hotmail.com
Next blog will be Wednesday, there is not a lot of action at the moment as you can imagine. I think I will post every 2nd day for a while until local activity picks up.

Have a Happy New Year!!
Monday, 31st December 2012


AUSTRALIA


Two beaches in Sydney's north remain closed after a shark "nudged" a surfer and left a dent in his surfboard.
www.abc.net.au/news


A Victorian who went trekking in NSW's Blue Mountains with only potatoes and naan bread has copped a fine for being under-prepared.
au.news.yahoo.com/sa


A man diving for abalone has drowned off the coast off Western Australia, police have confirmed.
au.news.yahoo.com/sa


Did you know that everything, including you and me has a resonant frequency?
www.abc.net.au/radionational


Far from needing more farmland over coming decades, we will need less, an optimistic new study has suggested.

A million camphor laurel trees have spread throughout the Bellinger valley in northern New South Wales. 
www.abc.net.au/radionational/


Writer and poet Mark Tredinnick from the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, gives an artist's response to climate change, how to deal with the grief, the denial and the guilt.
www.abc.net.au/radionational/



INTERNATIONAL


New Caledonia is being warned to prepare for the arrival of a powerful cyclone on Wednesday.
www.abc.net.au/news


The death toll from Tropical Storm Wukong which hit the central Philippines on Christmas Day has risen to 20.
www.abc.net.au/news


The Australian Government has rejected calls to send a customs vessel to monitor Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.
www.abc.net.au/news


The Mars rover Curiosity is set to take on a big New Year adventure as it heads out to a nearby Martian mountain in February for a year-long trip.
Sunday, 30th December 2012


SOUTH AUSTRALIA


Some food companies who are investing in gene engineering have not done full independent environmental impact assessments. These companies have been trying to make crops that are insect and weed resistant but this could have far reaching and damaging side effects.
sagfin.wordpress.com/

The hunt for South Australia's mineral riches grows with a record number of licences issued by the State Government. There are now 977 active exploration licences, exceeding the previous record of 965 set before the global financial crisis.
www.adelaidenow.com.au

Dust that cakes their walls, covers cars and has clogged airconditioners is causing a storm among western suburbs residents surrounding the St Clair housing development.

The Ag Excellence Sustainability Awards are open to any farmer driven grower group in SA that can demonstrate that they meet and exceed the criteria of the awards.
www.kinrm.sa.gov.au

The public, particularly those in rural communities are being reminded of the dangers of powerlines on farming properties.
www.dmitre.sa.gov.au

Across the next 2 weeks the Wilderness Society of SA will be posting some incredible photos of their next campaign region - The Simpson Desert to showcase it's natural beauty.

www.facebook.com/media



AUSTRALIA


The Australian Greens are concerned that John Singleton and his long-time friend Gina Rinehart are teaming up to push for a significant say in Fairfax Media.  www.theage.com.au

The Federal Government has estimated that a transformation of Australia's energy sector will require investment of $100 billion in renewable energy over the period to 2050.

It took a pair of feral cats just four days to gobble an entire population of native pale field rats in a conservation enclosure on the edge of Arnhem Land.
www.theage.com.au

Two rare and valuable birds stolen from a wildlife park over Christmas have been recovered from a Sydney backyard.
au.news.yahoo.com/sa

A new study has shown that some media outlets are unfair and unbalanced in their reporting of climate change and climate change policy.

www.independentaustralia.net/

In many urban areas, use of herbicides is either unwanted or prohibited and replaced with flame weeding. The influence of dose and treatment interval of flame weed control was studied on Lolium perenne.
invasivespecies.org.au 

A Federal Australian Government decision to reinstate the use of diuron on weeds in water bodies is not enough to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
invasivespecies.org.au

The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation’s National Weeds and Productivity Research Program is currently developing a Seed Persistence Tool Kit.
www.nynrm.sa.gov.au

This Radiolab explores stories of cross-species communication. When we gaze into the eyes of a wild animal, or even a beloved pet, can we ever really know what they might be thinking?

Tim Paris describes his work searching for the brain’s method of constructing models and our ability to make predictions.


INTERNATIONAL



The Japanese whaling fleet, carrying armed Coast Guard officers, was on the move on Friday, local news reports said. The factory ship Nisshin Maru, two harpoon ships, and another that has acted as security vessel for the fleet were heading out in Japan's Inland Sea, according to Kyodo news.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has exempted the oil and gas industry from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to allow the disposal of waste brine and hydrocarbon-containing fluids into drinking water aquifers deep underground. 

Jakarta is sinking by up to 10 centimetres a year and Indonesia's national disaster centre says with oceans rising, large parts of the city, including the airport, will be inundated by 2030. Flooding and high tides are already causing problems for some residents in the city of 10 million people.

Japan's government plans to establish a variety of sources for electricity generation within ten years, including a review of the plan to exit nuclear power set by the previous administration.

Rather than merely focus on the imprecise nature of climate modeling, the media should take some time to elaborate on the complexity of computer models and shed light on why they are imprecise. What about global warming — a phenomenon that may cause entire coastlines to go under water and whole countries to disappear — doesn’t warrant communication?
Solar-powered lamp-post provides ray of light for Mali. An Italian architect has transformed life in the Mali village of Sanogola by designing a portable, locally manufactured light. www.ecowho.com/news
Poisoned rats and mice are spreading toxic chemicals into the ecosystem despite widespread pressure from US federal regulators, wildlife officials and environmentalists to remove the most harmful rodenticides from store shelves. www.sfgate.com/science

LG Electronics has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. EPA to formalize its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions for its US operations 50 percent by 2020.www.environmentalleader.com
Cutting of trees for firewood to cure tobacco over the last few decades has been a major driver of deforestation and worsening extreme weather in Tanzania’s central western Tabora region, experts say.www.trust.org/alertnet
In pictures: The amazing wildlife of Africa

Best Space Pictures of 2012: Editor's Picks
Saturday, 29th December 2012


SOUTH AUSTRALIA


The South Australian No-Till Farmers Association has been successful in gaining funding from State Natural Resource Management boards to send farmers to its Viterra 15th annual SANTFA conference.
www.stockjournal.com.au/news

The South Australian Museum says the introduction of wind farms has led to greater discoveries of the pygmy bluetongue lizard in the State's mid-north.
www.abc.net.au/rural

Harvest is almost complete across the state with many farmers relatively happy with how it has gone.
www.abc.net.au/rural

Landholders within the Southern Mallee BushBids boundary, with areas of native vegetation on their property, are invited to apply for funding for native vegetation management.

S.A. country show dates for 2013.
www.sacountryshows.com



AUSTRALIA


The Co-ordinator of the Northern Territory Frog and Reptile Watch, says more native species in the NT will become extinct, if stronger action isn't taken to control cane toads.

Leighton Holdings has won a $923 million contract to help build onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities at Blaydin Point in Darwin, as well as a four-year $280 million operations and maintenance contract for the same project.

The ocean temperature off the west coast of Australia has risen by five degrees and it's killing off large numbers of valuable seafood stocks.

The race is on for livestock importers buying cattle from Australia to meet the Federal Governments animal welfare standards.

Antarctica may be the most pristine place on earth, but that doesn't mean it's free of pollution. The abandoned Wilkes Station is littered with junk and a nearby dump contains all manner of nasties.

Monash University's Animal Gene Storage and Resource Centre has been on ice since 2006. The frozen animal bank needs roughly $100,000 annually to keep running and for now, like many of the animals in its collection, sits on the brink of extinction.

Bats are amazing creatures. They’ve been around for at least 65 million years, and in that time have become one of the most abundant and widespread mammals on earth.


INTERNATIONAL


GravityLight is a revolutionary new approach to storing energy and creating illumination. It takes only 3 seconds to lift the weight which powers GravityLight, creating 30 minutes of light on its descent. For free.

Japanese whaling vessels have reportedly departed for the Southern Ocean on their annual hunt.

British scientists who were attempting to drill beneath Antarctica in a search for undiscovered life have called off their mission.

2014 Honda Accord Plug-In Becomes First Vehicle to Meet California's SULEV20.

Potentially Dangerous Asteroid Now Confirmed to Miss Earth in 2040, Says NASA.
Friday, 28th December 2012


SOUTH AUSTRALIA


Community members are being urged to dispose of fishing tackle safely after another dolphin in Whyalla has been entangled in fishing line recently.
www.epnrm.sa.gov.au/

The Chairman of the Australian Council of National Trusts, Dr Graeme Blackman OAM, announced the top places in Australia nominated as being most at risk under the 2012 ‘Our Heritage at Risk' program.
www.nationaltrust.org.au

On a recent working bee with Prospect Hill Bushland Group, Ben Simon made an exciting find. Glycine latrobeana, commonly known as Clover Glycine is a National (EPBC listed) and State vulnerable species.

SA Water, in concert with Nature Foundation SA, recently installed temporary irrigation infrastructure to deliver donated environmental water to seedlings on Clarks Floodplain.

The Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management (NRM) Board invites the community to provide feedback on its draft 2013 - 2016 Business Plan.
www.nynrm.sa.gov.au

Natural Resources, SA Murray-Darling Basin (NR SA MDB) have recently received $115,000 which will be put towards the continuation of their Climate Change Vulnerability Project.

A new 4WD day tour and an alternative morning walk with breakfast included have been added to the list of activities which Rawnsley Park offers its guests. 
www.rawnsleypark.com.au

River Murray Weekly Flow Report



AUSTRALIA



The Bureau of Meteorology has issued severe thunderstorm warnings that cover much of Queensland.
www.abc.net.au/news

Conservationists are predicting the NSW state government will be punished by voters at the 2015 election if it does not back down on plans to allow hunting in national parks.

A pair of South American macaws stolen from a wildlife park in Sydney's west may have been targeted as Christmas presents or for the illegal exotic bird trade, keepers say.

Alarming figures emerging out of the agriculture sector have prompted a wheat belt farmer to form a nationwide discussion group to put faming issues back on the 'political menu'.

Farmers are being warned of surging rabbit numbers. The Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre says good seasons and growing resistance to biological controls have boosted rabbit populations.

New figures out this week show Australia's farmers and miners lifted primary exports more than nine per cent in the 2011-2012 financial year, to nearly $200 billion.

Sooner or later Australians may have to decide which wildlife they allow to go extinct. Making choices between icons like the koala, bilby, Tasmanian Devil and hairy-nosed wombat might seem horrible, says ecologist Dr Michael McCarthy of CEED and The University of Melbourne – but at present levels of national conservation funding, it is more or less inevitable.
ceed.edu.au

One of the most invasive weeds ever imported into Australia promised to deliver one of our first industries, a food source in drought, and a patch of colour in the garden.
www.abc.net.au/rural

Market forces is a new project starting in 2013. It will enable the community to shift investment out of environmentally harmful projects, and into those that protect and enhance the environment.

For more than a year, hunters have scoured windy hills and tussock flats through sub-Antarctic cold and still there is no sign. The wildlife paradise Macquarie Island looks to have been saved from the rabbit.



INTERNATIONAL



Sea Shepherd Challenges Denmark at the European Commission.

Sea Shepherd Invites Concerned Nations to Witness Activities in Southern Ocean.

California sold all of the carbon permits in its first auction in part due to an administrative error by Edison International that caused the company to bid for twice as many allowances as were for sale.

Rescuers say there is little chance of saving a large finback whale that has beached itself in New York City.

An amazing 3.8 billion-pixel image taken from above Mount Everest Base Camp has been stitched together by filmmaker and mountain climber David Breashears, allowing internet users to zoom in and view the mountain in stunning detail.
www.theage.com.au

A study published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds light on the long-term effects of drought on the Amazon rainforest.

Fishing, pollution and other human activities along the Yangtze River in China are driving yet another species of freshwater cetacean to the brink of extinction.

A team of researchers from University of JaƩn in Spain have developed a way to turn paper waste into bricks.

A damning report by safety experts has revealed that staff at Sellafield, Britain's most important nuclear site, did "not have the level of capability required to respond to nuclear emergencies effectively.

A nine-year study led by researcher Linda Deegan points to the damage that human-caused nutrients inflict on salt marshes along the U.S. East Coast. 

Another climate change study is projecting declines in runoff in many parts of the U.S. West, a scenario that would put more pressure on the region’s water supplies. 

Fifty years after publication of "Silent Spring," the use of pesticides remains contentious, and it is ever more evident the biologist understood how serious the threats were.

When an acrid blanket of gray smog settled over India’s capital last month, environmentalists warned of health hazards, India’s Supreme Court promised action and state officials struggled to understand why the air had suddenly gone so bad. 

The world’s largest corporate user of renewable energy, plans to sell clean power in Japan.

The U.K., which had the wettest summer in 100 years, added solar power to a list of technologies deemed crucial to meeting renewable-energy and carbon-reduction targets.

The UAE’s Masdar looks to create renewable energy from desert fog.

Thursday, 27th December 2012



SOUTH AUSTRALIA



The Adelaide Oval redevelopment has claimed an avenue of historic century-old white cedar trees to make way for car parks. The state's most powerful planning body has upheld a State Government push to axe the 105-year-old trees lining a pedestrian avenue north of the oval.
www.adelaidenow.com.au/news


Riverland stonefruit growers are facing a difficult season with low prices and oversupply despite producing high quality fruit.
www.riverlandweekly.com.au


The Wine Grape Council of South Australia plans to meet with other horticulture industry bodies to discuss a proposal to introduce legislation that in the worst case scenario, would see landowners forced to remove dead fruit trees.
www.riverlandweekly.com.au


The core business of councils has traditionally been roads, rates and rubbish - but from January 1 they also must put in a concerted effort to get and keep South Australians healthy.www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/
A new Natural Resources Centre was officially opened recently in Clare to service the Northern and Yorke NRM Region.

Wombats in the Murraylands desperately need all our help. The Natural History Society of SA manage one of the largest populations of Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats in privately owned reserves with nearly 2,000 warrens.
http://www.nathist.on.net 

Production recently resumed at the the Murray Zircon mineral sands mine at Mindarie in what the State Government is hailing a milestone event.

www.murrayvalleystandard.com.au


The Aleppo pines in The Lane at Penneshaw have been granted a temporary reprieve.
www.theislanderonline.com.au


Useful advice from the Bird Care & Conservation Society if you find a distressed or injured bird.

http://www.birdcare.asn.au/


The latest issue of Sustainable Engineering Australia digital magazine is now live.
www.engineersaustralia.org.au




AUSTRALIA



The Greens have announced a party platform portraying many of their core beliefs as ''aims and principles'' rather than explicit policies, presenting a smaller target to critics in a federal election year.
www.theage.com.au



A massive gas-fired power project planned for the brown-coal-dominated Latrobe Valley has been put on ice by its proponents who cite a collapse in energy demand from consumers.www.theage.com.au/


The Federal Government is standing by its commitment to set up a Wheat Industry Advisory Taskforce and is taking nominations from growers and industry.
www.abc.net.au/rural


Cloud seeding is ploughing ahead in the Snowy Mountains with independent scientific evaluation showing increased snowfall events can also produce additional water to enhance electricity generation and downstream flows for irrigators and the environment.

www.farmweekly.com.au/news


Experts have called on Australian governments to do more to control the growing problem of electronic waste.
www.efarming.com.au/News



Grafting has few expert practitioners left in Australia, and some fear it could be a dying art. But this skill is vital in fruit orchards, as well as vineyards and flower production.

Rohan Anderson has turned his back on materialism and consumerism. Living on one acre in country Victoria, he grows as much of his food as he can. He harvests fruit and vegetables in season and preserves them for the rest of the year.
www.abc.net.au/rural

Time seems to stand still in the forests of Old Growth, a stunning new book compiled by Peter McConchie and featuring the work of 16 photographers.
www.wilderness.org.au/articles/



With more than eleven thousand separate beaches, we are truly spoiled for choice. But who would stick their neck out and dare to name the best beach in Australia?
www.abc.net.au/rural


Indigenous insights into Australia’s landscape are being documented by the CSIRO.

www.australiangeographic.com.au


THE Australian Professional Rodeo Association (APRA) holds animal welfare clinics in every state to ensure the welfare of competition animals is paramount, says rodeo administrator Steve Hilton.
www.farmweekly.com.au




INTERNATIONAL



Everywhere, trees are dying. The boreal forests of Canada and Russia are being devoured by beetles. Drought-tolerant pines are disappearing in Greece. In North Africa, Atlas cedars are shrivelling. Wet and dry tropical forests in Asia are collapsing. Australian eucalyptus forests are burning. The Amazon basin has just been hit by two severe droughts. And it's predicted that trees in the American Southwest may be gone by the end of this century.
www.smh.com.au/environment

Biofuel is coming to Saudi Arabia. After much success in neighbor Egypt in low income areas, Saudi Arabia hopes that a new joint venture will help spur the renewable energy source for the Gulf Kingdom.
www.greenprophet.com


In the midst of a global poaching and wildlife trade crisis, WCS reports significant progress in protection of Tigers in three separate landscapes. 
www.wcs.org/news


Toyota Motor Corporation launched in Japan the redesigned Crown Royal and Crown Athlete sedans; production of a new hybrid version of the sedan will begin in late January 2013.
www.greencarcongress.com


Rhinos and elephants have a range of remarkable behaviours and adaptations, many of which we are only just learning.
www.bbc.co.uk/nature