Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Even average use of nitrogen fertilisers cut flower numbers fivefold and halved pollinating insects Using high levels of common fertilisers on grassland halves pollinator numbers and drastically reduces the number of flowers, research from the world’s longest-running ecological experiment has found. Increasing the amount of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus doused on agricultural grassland reduced flower numbers fivefold and halved the number of pollinating insects, according to the paper by the University of Sussex and Rothamsted Research. Continue reading...

Federal government aims to encourage power-intensive producers to switch to renewables by 2036 Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese says smelters will close and cost many jobs without their newly announced aluminium production incentive, which opposition leader Peter Dutton has labelled a “con job”. The mining industry welcomed $2bn in federal funding to incentivise power-intensive aluminium producers to switch to renewables by 2036, with Rio Tinto calling it a “critical piece in helping future-proof the industry”. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

This blog is now closed Australian billionaires Anthony Pratt and Gina Rinehart praise Trump in US newspaper ads ahead of inauguration Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Lambie says Labor doing ‘a fair bit of clean up’ from nine years of Coalition Asked about polling showing Peter Dutton had drawn level to Anthony Albanese as preferred PM, and whether this could be attributed to Dutton’s stance on law and order, Jacqui Lambie responded: It hasn’t got any worse or better, I can assure you. You didn’t get much out of him after nine years, but if people want to fall back into that and go, well, you know, Labor’s had three years and that’s all we’re going to give them, and you want to go back to the good old days – which I wouldn’t say were the good old days under the Liberal National party – then be my guest. It’s not just about the last three years in government, it’s probably about the last 10. So have a look at who had control of that for nine years beforehand. Because quite frankly, I think Labor’s doing a fair bit of clean up. Labor’s also put a lot of things in which you will not see coming to fruition until the next three years. Continue reading...

Volunteers who leave water in the desert describe rising fears of vigilantes and climate peril It was a blustery day in the Sonoran desert as a group of humanitarian aid volunteers hiked through a vast dusty canyon to leave gallons of bottled water and canned beans in locations where exhausted migrants could find them. Empty plastic bottles, rusty cans and footprints heading north were among the signs of human activity strewn between the towering saguaro and senita cacti, in an isolated section of the Organ Pipe Cactus national monument – about 20 miles (32km) north of the US-Mexico border. Continue reading...