The state government is aware of koala welfare problems but says it has ‘no cost-effective’ solutions
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Thousands of koalas are being displaced each year as blue gum plantations are cut down in Victoria, worsening overcrowding in nearby forests and exacerbating the risk of injury and death during bushfires.
An estimated 42,500 koalas live in blue gum plantations in south-west Victoria, data shows. Between 8,000 and 10,000 hectares of plantation are harvested each year, making thousands of koalas homeless.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/10/2025 - 15:00
05/10/2025 - 15:00
Forestry Corporation says suggestion that it can be compared to a criminal bikie gang is ‘ridiculous’
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A former magistrate and one of Australia’s most experienced scientists have launched an extraordinary attack on the New South Wales government’s logging agency, describing it as effectively a “criminal organisation” that should be shut down after a string of court convictions.
Prof David Heilpern, a NSW magistrate between 1998 and 2020 and now the dean of law at Southern Cross University, said the state’s Forestry Corporation should be “disbanded” as it was was no longer fit for purpose.
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05/10/2025 - 10:00
On the remote Channel Islands, a draw for researchers and divers, preservation has transformed the ecosystem
Just 14 miles (23km) off the southern California coast lies a vast underwater paradise.
Giant sea bass the size of grizzly bears and schools of sardines glide together through swirling strands of golden kelp, whose long stalks preside over a world exploding with life and color. Playful harbor seals dance into the depths of undulating pink, green and orange plants, alongside spiny crustaceans and vibrant sea stars that embrace the volcanic rock that slopes to the sandy seafloor.
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05/10/2025 - 06:00
There is an appetite in this country for policy that will change lives. What is more fundamental than the water we use and bills we pay?
Clive Lewis is the Labour MP for Norwich South
In the wake of a brutal set of local election results, MPs from across the Labour party are trying to establish what went wrong. To me, it’s very clear that this was no fluke: it was the entirely foreseeable outcome of my party’s approach to Reform UK. And as the party moves forward and prepares to face Reform at future elections, it’s key that we learn the right lessons.
From flip-flopping on climate commitments to framing disabled people as part of the undeserving poor, Labour thus far hasn’t challenged Reform’s worldview – it has legitimatised it. However, there are some perhaps surprising areas where Labour isn’t copying Reform: public ownership of water for one.
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05/10/2025 - 01:00
Sap-sucking insects top list of queries to gardening charity after causing significant harm to plants
Aphids are plaguing gardeners this spring due to the warm weather, with higher numbers of the rose-killing bugs expected to thrive in the UK as a result of climate breakdown.
The sap-sucking insects have topped the ranking of gardener queries to the Royal Horticultural Society, with many of its 600,000 members having complained of dozens of aphids on their acers, roses and honeysuckle plants.
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05/09/2025 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 10 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00127-4
The false promise of deep-sea mining
05/09/2025 - 12:22
Scientists have discovered fossil evidence of an endangered, living tropical tree species. The unprecedented find was made in Brunei, a country on the large island of Borneo, and reveals a critical piece of the ancient history of Asia's rainforests, highlighting the urgent need for conservation in the region, according to researchers.
05/09/2025 - 11:21
In a new study, researchers are investigating the interaction of major global change drivers on insects.
05/09/2025 - 08:15
Findings show for first time how plastic chemicals throw off the body’s internal clock by up to 17 minutes
Chemicals in everyday plastics may disrupt the body’s natural 24-hour sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythm in a way similar to coffee, which increases the risk of sleep disorders, diabetes, immune problems and cancer, new in vitro research shows.
The study looked at chemicals extracted from a PVC medical feeding tube and a polyurethane hydration pouch, like those used by long-distance runners. PVC and polyurethanes are also used in everything from kids toys to food packaging to furniture.
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05/09/2025 - 04:49
Many saw the beloved tree that Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham cut down as a part of north-east England’s DNA
“It was just a tree,” said a mystified Adam Carruthers, one of the two men who illegally cut down the tree at Sycamore Gap in the early hours of a stormy night nearly two years ago. “It was almost as if someone had been murdered.”
Carruthers was right about the reaction to the felling. Many likened its loss to that of a good friend or relative. Its destruction prompted feelings of sadness, grief and then blind fury. Some people wept.
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