Environment

Radium Hill, a former minesite in South Australia which operated from 1906 until 1961. It was Australia’s first uranium mine, years before the country’s next major mines at Rum Jungle in the Northern Territory (opened in 1950), and the Mary Kathleen mine in Queensland (1958).

Nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear power have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–1973 debate over French nuclear testing in the Pacific and the 1976–1977 debate about uranium mining in Australia.

Several groups specifically concerned with nuclear issues were established in the mid-1970s, including the Movement Against Uranium Mining and Campaign Against Nuclear Energy (CANE), cooperating with other environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and the Australian Conservation Foundation. The movement suffered a setback in 1983 when the newly elected Labor Government failed to implement its stated policy of stopping uranium mining. But by the late 1980s, the price of uranium had fallen, the costs of nuclear power had risen, and the anti-nuclear movement seemed to have won its case; CANE was disbanded in 1988. (Full article…)

• … that Wanjira Mathai aims to continue the work of her mother, Nobel Peace Prize–winning environmentalist Wangari Maathai, by restoring 12.6 million acres (5.1 million hectares) of Kenyan land by 2030?
• … that “Look at the world” is a 1996 choral harvest anthem with text and music by John Rutter, written for CPRE “on the theme of the environment and our responsibility towards it”?
• … that ecological speciation can give rise to new species by the way animals interact with their environment and each other?
• … that the Siuro railway station, located in the Finnish town of Nokia, was proclaimed a nationally significant built cultural environment by the Finnish Heritage Agency?
• … that the marine worm Neanthes arenaceodentata is both an environmental monitor and a caring father?
• … that Nicola Griffith’s Slow River, described as a lesbian romance, features a “sophisticated depiction of environmental management”?
• … that to preserve the surrounding natural environment, Tsunoshima Bridge curves to avoid an island?
• … that the Doctor Who story Planet of Giants was inspired by Rachel Carson’s 1962 environmental science book Silent Spring?

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged between the biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Burning fossil fuels leads to the addition of extra carbon into the cycle over what naturally occurs and is a major cause of climate change.

• • April 21: European Union to reduce carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 2030
  • November 27: Wikinews interviews Craig Farquharson, Liberal Democrat candidate for 2020 Groom by-election
  • November 26: Wikinews interviews Sandra Jephcott, Sustainable Australia candidate for 2020 Groom by-election
  • December 12: Greta Thunberg named 2019 Time Person of the Year

Robert Sterling Yard in Yosemite National Park, 1920

Robert Sterling Yard (February 1, 1861 – May 17, 1945) was an American writer, journalist, and wilderness activist. Born in Haverstraw, New York, Yard graduated from Princeton University and spent the first twenty years of his career in the editing and publishing business. In 1915, he was recruited by his friend Stephen Mather to help publicize the need for an independent national park agency. Their numerous publications were part of a movement that resulted in legislative support for a National Park Service (NPS) in 1916. Yard served as head of the National Parks Educational Committee for several years after its conception, but tension within the NPS led him to concentrate on non-government initiatives. He became executive secretary of the National Parks Association in 1919.

Yard worked to promote the national parks as well as educate Americans about their use. Creating high standards based on aesthetic ideals for park selection, he also opposed commercialism and industrialization of what he called “America’s masterpieces”. These standards subsequently caused discord with his peers. After helping to establish a relationship between the NPA and the United States Forest Service, Yard later became involved in the protection of wilderness areas. In 1935, he became one of the eight founding members of The Wilderness Society and acted as its first president from 1937 until his death eight years later. Yard is now considered an important figure in the modern wilderness movement. (Full article…)

Logo of the California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is the “clean air agency” of the government of California. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board, CARB is a department within the cabinet-level California Environmental Protection Agency.

The stated goals of CARB include attaining and maintaining healthy air quality; protecting the public from exposure to toxic air contaminants; and providing innovative approaches for complying with air pollution rules and regulations. CARB has also been instrumental in driving innovation throughout the global automotive industry through programs such as its ZEV mandate. (Full article…)