SBS World News Australia

With the direst environmental warnings yet still ringing in their ears, nations gathered in Poland for a UN summit aimed at heading off the "urgent threat" of runaway climate change.

The Newcastle Herald

BHP will not have to pay more than $100 million to “retrospectively” rehabilitate the majority of its massive Mt Arthur open cut coal mine near Muswellbrook after a Land and Environment Court decision on Friday affecting 13 other major Hunter coal mines.

The Conversation

International leaders and policymakers gathering in Katowice, Poland, for the 24th annual round of UN climate talks know that they have plenty of work to do.

Independent Australia

As their State burns, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has counselled Queenslanders to obey bushfire warnings.

The Australian Financial Review

It is three years since more than 150 heads of state gathered in Paris to negotiate a climate pact that, for the first time, covered the whole world. The landmark deal — following tortuous talks — was celebrated as a triumph not only for the environment, but also for global co-operation.

The Newcastle Herald

World Fisheries Day, celebrated on November 21, is a day to focus on the sustainability of this most important food resource. More than two-thirds of the world's fisheries have been overfished and more than one third are in a state of decline because of loss of essential fish habitats, pollution, and global warming.

The Australian Financial Review

Top energy industry leaders have come out firing against what they say is an extraordinary and dangerous over-reach of power by the federal government in proposed legislation to force asset sales, developed with unprecedented secrecy and haste.

Food Processing

By the middle of next year, 2019, Pernod Ricard Winemakers will be sourcing all of its electricity from renewable sources.

Reneweconomy

New analysis from BloombergNEF (BNEF) shows that the rising cost of coal power generation in Australia’s is the primary – yet often overlooked – cause of the recent doubling of power prices on the National Electricity Market (NEM).

Manufacturers’ Monthly

The University of Queensland is set to be the first major university in the world to offset 100 per cent of its electricity usage through its own renewable energy asset.

Architecture and Design

The Banksia Foundation has awarded it the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) the NFP and NGO Award for its Green Star certification initiative.

The Daily Telegraph

Climate change is expected to have a negative impact on the health and welfare of people, farm animals and wildlife, but it will also affect companion animals.

The Conversation

Have you thought about adopting a new pet for Christmas?

ABC News

With fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, the recent death of a pregnant tiger and two unborn cubs in a poacher's snare was particularly devastating.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Feral horses constitute a "key threatening process" that pushes dozens of species at risk closer to extinction, according to an independent scientific panel set up by the Berejiklian government.

ABC News

Authorities in the Houthi-held Yemeni capital Sanaa are sterilising water supplies at wells, distribution networks and houses to help stem the world's worst outbreak of cholera.

Food & Beverage

In Russia, approximately 70 per cent of drinking water comes from surface, while the rest comes from groundwater. Twenty-five per cent of the world’s fresh water is located in Russian territories.

The Canberra Times

There's been a spate of thefts of discarded cans and bottles, with victims claiming thieves just take the stuff they've stolen to recycling depots to get the 10 cents an item.

The Sydney Morning Herald

The ACT is set to join growing global efforts to use courts to press for urgent action to curb greenhouse gas emissions, with Climate Minister Shane Rattenbury seeking legal advice on how to lower litigation barriers.

Government News

Australian governments need to boost spending on infectious disease warning systems, doctors warn in a major report.

The West Australian

Protesters descended on City Beach today to rally against the State Government’s decision to approve gas fracking in parts of WA’s north.

Yahoo!7 News

Thousands of people marched in Berlin and Cologne on Saturday calling for Germany to abandon coal-powered electricity generation, on the eve of a major climate conference in Poland.

Yahoo!7 News

With the direst warnings yet of impending environmental disaster still ringing in their ears, representatives from nearly 200 nations gather Sunday in Poland to firm up their plan to prevent catastrophic climate change.

The Australian Financial Review

Buenos Aires |The G20 nations have sent mixed messages on trade by agreeing to reform the World Trade Organisation while dropping any reference to the need to fight protectionism in order to appease the United States.

Ten Daily

Make no mistake -- the decisions we make today will profoundly impact the lives of communities here and abroad far into the future.

The Sydney Morning Herald

In the not so far-off future, if your home is flooded by extreme rain or razed by an unseasonable bushfire, the first people to turn up on your property after the emergency crews could be bearing legal documents.

The Australian Financial Review

If you want to know where natural gas prices are heading, maybe it's time to check out the sun.

ABC News

Scientists studying Tasmania's endangered maugean skate believe urgent action is needed to help the species survive in Macquarie Harbour, which hosts the only surviving population of the ancient fish.

Yahoo!7 News

A group of fishermen have been lambasted online after a gargantuan black marlin died when they reeled in the 650kg beast.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Taronga Zoo has welcomed the birth of two baby echidnas, just the second time the zoo has successfully bred the mammals in more than 30 years.

The Advertiser

PRESSURE is mounting for a longer snapper closure to protect the popular species from overfishing during their spawning season.

The Guardian

The bushfire emergency in central Queensland flared up on Sunday evening with residents in the path of the massive Deepwater blaze told to leave immediately.

News.com.au

A 21-year-old man has tragically died after a tree fell on him while he was helping fight out-of-control fires in Queensland.

SBS World News Australia

As COP 24 – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – begins in Katowice, Poland, on Monday, China is struggling to contain toxic levels of smog.

The Age

One of the worst industrial fires in Victoria’s recent history is under investigation by police and the coroner amid concerns it was deliberately lit to destroy evidence the building was being used to illegally store hundreds of barrels of dangerous waste chemicals.

The Guardian

The ban on single-use plastic bags by Australia’s two largest supermarkets prevented the introduction of an estimated 1.5 billion bags into the environment, and the retail industry is hopeful this is only the beginning.

News.com.au

The G20 summit is meant to focus on issues such as labour, infrastructure, , climate and commerce. But as it began, those themes seemed like afterthoughts.

The West Australian

Greenhouse gas emissions have risen to their highest level in seven years even as the Federal Government maintains it will reach its international commitments to slice them “in a canter”.

Yahoo!7 News

Scientists monitoring the Earth's climate and environment have delivered a cascade of grim news this year, adding a sense of urgency to UN talks starting next week in Poland on how best to draw down the greenhouse gases that drive global warming.

The Newcastle Herald

He called for “more learning in schools and less activism in schools”.

The Herald Sun

Climate scientist Judith Curry completes her review of the evidence on sea level rises:

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Coalition government under Scott Morrison appears to have forgotten the first rule of holes: when you’re in one, stop digging. It’s far too early to describe the Morrison government as terminal; the six months or so till a mooted May federal election is a long time in politics. But the government seems content to write off the message from Liberal voters in Wentworth and Victoria, particularly on climate change, because they do not represent its ‘base’. God only knows where the Liberal base is if it isn’t located in blue ribbon Liberal seats, but who are we to argue?

News.com.au

IKEA, the world's biggest furniture group, has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its production by 80 per cent in absolute terms by 2030 from their levels two years ago.

The Sydney Morning Herald

The world’s largest onshore wind turbines are slated to hit Australia first but the company behind the giant machines has warned that inadequate electricity infrastructure means new renewable power could be going to waste.

News.com.au

Heed the warming. Climate change is no longer something to fear in the distant future — it’s already here.

ABC News

Both the bushfires and the heatwave ravaging parts of Queensland have been described as extraordinary and abnormal.

ABC News

Researchers have warned lawn lovers that their green grass obsession could have a significant impact on the environment.

News.com.au

Consecutive earthquakes measuring 7.0 and 5.7 have shattered highways and rocked buildings in Anchorage, Alaska and the surrounding area, sending people running into the streets and briefly triggering a tsunami warning for islands and coastal areas south of the city.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Sorry, Instagrammers. You are ruining Wyoming. Last week, the Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board asked visitors to stop geotagging photographs on social media in an effort to protect the state's pristine forests and remote lakes. Explaining the campaign, Brian Modena, a tourism-board member, suggested the landscape was under threat from visitors drawn by the beautiful vistas on Instagram.

ABC News

Most petrol and diesel cars have been banned from the heart of Madrid as the city tries to improve the air quality in one of Europe's most polluted capitals.

ABC News

After international scorn was heaped on its Christmas tree, Lismore City Council successfully turned a joke into an iconic symbol of the town's Christmas spirit.

News.com.au

Incredible scenes are unfolding in Australia’s capital cities where thousands of students have skipped school in protest against the Morrison Government’s lack of action on climate change.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is resisting calls to stop the Adani coal mine if he wins the next election, in a position that clears the way for third-party activists to launch a blitz against Labor MPs in marginal seats.

The Australian

Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price will lead Australia’s delegation to Poland this month despite Scott Morrison’s assurance his government would “not spend money on global climate conferences and all that nonsense”.

The Conversation

Humans have cut down half the trees on Earth since the dawn of agriculture – over 3 trillion of them. This huge loss holds the potential for massive reforestation today, which would protect local environments from soil loss, flash flooding and desertification and take up large quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Despite these advantages, reforestation gets very little attention in our fight against climate change.

The Guardian

I’m six years out of school, nearly graduated from university, and I’ve never seen a protest like this

The Australian Financial Review

Robert Menzies' Liberal Party is splintering. The pragmatic Party of Government designed by Menzies has been in power in Canberra for almost two-thirds of its 74-year history, but it's now in a "mess", as one senior minister put it.

Ten Daily

On Thursday afternoon, Queensland firefighters were battling an extraordinary 130 blazes across the state.

The Conversation

At the COP24 conference in Poland, countries are aiming to finalise the implementation plan for the 2015 Paris Agreement. The task has extra gravity in the wake of the recent IPCC report declaring that we have just 12 years to take the action needed to limit global warming to that infamous 1.5ᵒC target.

The Conversation

Low energy efficiency is already a major problem for petrol and diesel vehicles. Typically, only 20% of the overall well-to-wheel energy is actually used to power these vehicles. The other 80% is lost through oil extraction, refinement, transport, evaporation, and engine heat. This low energy efficiency is the primary reason why fossil fuel vehicles are emissions-intensive, and relatively expensive to run.

The Conversation

The story of Knickers the giant steer has gone viral on social media over the past week. Admittedly, the pictures show him towering over a herd of young Wagyu steers, with Wagyu being one of the smaller cattle breeds, which even enhances his size.

Cosmos

A new study reveals a species of jumping spider in which newly hatched young are entirely dependent on a maternally excreted milk-like substance. Suckling continues for 40 days – well beyond the point at which the young can forage for themselves.

Cosmos

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) off the coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island have been caught on film tricking fish into becoming their lunch.

The Conversation

Orchids are famed for their beautiful and alluring flowers – and the great lengths to which people will go to experience them in the wild. Among Australian orchids, evocative names such as The Butterfly Orchid, The Queen of Sheeba, and Cleopatra’s Needles conjure up images of rare and beautiful flowers.

ABC News

A mysterious ripple of seismic waves has travelled thousands of kilometres across the globe, tripping sensors throughout Africa, Canada, New Zealand, and Hawaii, seemingly without being felt by a single person.

The Australian Financial Review

A bendable phone, with a processor that works close to the speed of light and components that can mostly be recycled, is one possibility resulting from an Australian Research Council grant being used by ANU PhD student Ankur Sharma

News.com.au

While Queensland is being smashed by scorching temperatures and wild bushfires a tropical cyclone may be quietly brewing.