Latest environment news
Stalled southerly buster draws out another sweltering day for Sydney
Peter Hannam 7:36 PM A much-anticipated cool change took its time making it to Sydney, dragging out another unseasonably hot day.
'Bad news for the planet' as temperatures heat up
![The planet is racing towards another global heat record.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/3/n/y/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl7bmf.11u395.png/1448519041808.jpg)
Peter Hannam 1:37 AM The past five years have been the hottest on record.
Expert questions 'smart' drumlines for sharks
![A bull shark, which is notorious around the Ballina area.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/a/8/f/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl7psj.11u395.png/1448439304209.jpg)
Lucy Cormack GPS buoys will allow sharks to be hooked, tagged and released. But experts have raised concerns.
Paris 2015: Australians back deeper carbon cuts as climate summit looms
![Australian environment ambassador Peter Woolcott speaking in Melbourne on Tuesday. He will lead Australia's negotiating team at the Paris climate negotiations, starting next week.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/6/s/6/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl6qx5.11u395.png/1448367328324.jpg)
Tom Arup Australia will head to the Paris climate summit next week with majority public support for adopting deeper cuts to greenhouse gas emissions if it helps reach a global deal to tackle the problem, according to a new poll by the Lowy Institute.
Make surfers pay for shark protection
![shark generic](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/z/2/r/w/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl8gvh.png/1448528488695.jpg)
Rory Callinan 8:01 PM Surfers should bear the cost of shark protection measures by having to purchase shark repellent devices, a scientist has told a symposium on shark management.
Little relief for commuters as Sydney's temperatures soar again
![La Perouse beach - one place to be on this hot day.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/5/r/u/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl8a1f.png/1448515266601.jpg)
Peter Hannam 4:21 PM Many of Sydney's commuters are in for a sweltering journey to and from work today as temperatures soar towards the high 30s ahead a late afternoon cool change.
'Biggest risk' to Paris climate talks on track to being resolved: Hunt
![Environment Minister Greg Hunt during question time on Wednesday.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/7/w/c/q/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl7kkq.png/1448430327895.jpg)
Nicole Hasham The world has averted a major threat to success at the Paris climate summit because richer countries are on track to meet a goal of spending US$100 billion a year helping poorer countries tackle climate change, Environment Minister Greg Hunt says.
Beaches to offer best place to beat a return of Sydney's heat
![Sydney in late spring: a final burst of heat before summer officially kicks off.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/5/r/w/2/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl7cib.png/1448477309145.jpg)
Peter Hannam The beaches will be the place to head to as Sydney's last major burst of heat for spring moves through the city, sending temperatures into the high 30s and triggering a total fire ban..
World's largest polluters to meet on first day of Paris climate talks
![President Barack Obama to kick off the Paris climate summit with a meeting with leaders from other big polluting nations.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/7/5/d/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl78tf.png/1448417955266.jpg)
Justin Sink President Barack Obama will meet with the leaders of China and India on the opening day of talks in Paris to reach an international climate agreement, a symbolic gesture that the White House says underscores the commitment of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases to tackle rising global temperatures.
New study adds to debunking of global warming 'pause'
![Warming pause was never really a thing.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/z/6/p/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl77fd.png/1448403402514.jpg)
Chris Mooney Scientists fell prey to the 'pause' narrative because of a 'seepage' of arguments by climate change doubters into the scientific literature, new research finds.
El Nino leaves crocodiles high and dry
![Large saltwater crocodiles sitting out the build-up to the wet season in a Paperbark Swamp at Kapalga Causeway in Eastern Kakadu.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/6/b/j/b/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl6iya.png/1448347457888.jpg)
Lucy Cormack "They're not eating, they've got no fresh water, they've just got to sit it out." Crocodiles in Kakadu National Park have been left high and dry.
'You're the Voice': the message Australian women are taking to Paris climate talks
![Founder of the climate action group 1 Million Women, Natalie Isaacs (right), and singer Deni Hines. They have worked on a new recording of a song (You're The Voice) which will they will be taking to the Paris climate conference on behalf of Australian women.
23rd November 2015
Photo: Wolter Peeters
The Sydney Morning Herald](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/6/b/u/p/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl6b4o.png/1448371072155.jpg)
Deborah Snow An Australian women's climate movement has created an "utterly inspiring" call to action ahead of the Paris climate summit.
Mysterious Siberian craters may have an underwater analogue, scientists say
![The appearance of numerous large craters in the permafrost has been attributed, at least by some, to the venting of large pockets of methane gas.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/z/y/b/a/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl7114.png/1448355151741.jpg)
Chris Mooney The idea that climate change could destabilise methane hydrates, which contain enormous amounts of methane, has been frequently evoked as a kind of doomsday climate scenario. But researchers say their results do not support such alarmism.
Hunt says climate change action at Paris talks a 'deeply personal goal'
![Environment Minister Greg Hunt.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/6/z/n/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl6xm2.png/1448426626978.jpg)
Nicole Hasham Clinching a global deal in Paris to keep global warming below two degrees is a "deeply personal goal" and climate change inaction is "not an option", Environment Minister Greg Hunt is expected to say on Wednesday.
Turnbull's climate commitment to be undermined by more CSIRO cuts
![All at sea: further cuts loom for CSIRO's key climate research division.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/u/s/t/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl6jsy.png/1448361551192.jpg)
Peter Hannam Some of Australia's leading climate research programs are under threat even as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull prepares to address world leaders at next week's global climate summit in Paris.
These are the last of their kind
![Nola has died, leaving just three northern white rhinoceros left on Earth.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/5/z/p/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl5ije.png/1448343666977.jpg)
There are now just three northern white rhinos left in the world. These three.
Spiderweb hundreds of metres long
![Tiny spiders leave a trail hundreds through Memphis grass over hundreds of metres.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/6/7/e/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl64dm.png/1448323833694.png)
 The latest viral spider news is horrifying at face value. Residents of North Memphis, Tennessee, were treated to an unexpectedly white Thanksgiving when a spider web at least half a mile long (about 800 metres) appeared on the grass.
Extreme weather tied to 600,000 deaths, $2.6T bill over two decades
![Most of Indonesia's provinces are in the midst of a serious drought with this year's El Nino playing a role.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/g/v/z/d/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl64y4.png/1448312681197.jpg)
Nick Cumming-Bruce ​Weather-related disasters in the past two decades have killed more than 600,000 people and inflicted economic losses estimated at trillions of dollars, the United Nations said Monday, warning that the frequency and impact of such events was set to rise.
Mild weather for Sydney before the mercury starts to climb again
![Thursday will see temperatures ranging from 34 degrees in the city to 38 in the west.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/5/r/w/f/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl5cnq.png/1448278277898.jpg)
Peter Hannam Sydney's break from late-spring heat will be short-lived with temperatures set to rise by Thursday.
Prince Charles links climate change to war in Syria, terrorism
![Climate warnings: Prince Charles and COP15 president Connie Hedegaard at the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/7/k/c/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl62c3.png/1448421591985.jpg)
Michael Holden Prince Charles has pointed to the world's failure to tackle climate change as a root cause of the civil war in Syria, terrorism and the refugee crisis engulfing Europe.
Rare stick insect to go international to save its species
![A vibrant green juvenile Lord Howe Island stick insect.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/5/r/s/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl5ch7.png/1448257862507.jpg)
Bridie Smith Hundreds of precious Lord Howe Island stick insect eggs will be sent overseas as part of a captive breeding program for the critically endangered Australian insect - which until 2001 was thought extinct.
Climate change a risk to retirement savings
![MON00-Collett](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/3/4/p/s/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl3wu4.png/1447364158904.jpg)
John Collett When you consider the range of investments most people have, it's the returns from retirement savings that are likely to feel the heat of climate change the most.
RAAF masters Antarctica
![Globemaster on ice: An RAAF heavy-lift aircraft takes on a "patient" in a med-evac exercise.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/4/s/g/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl4sea.png/1448149847731.jpg)
Andrew Darby, Wilkins Runway, Antarctica Plane fills gap in Australian polar capacity, adding heavy-lift capacity and reach.
Plea to reverse Rio Tinto's 'original sin' on coalmine
![Premier Mike Baird visits the town of Bulga with Planning Minister Rob Stokes in April 2015.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/4/l/6/m/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gkwxta.png/1448168168015.jpg)
Peter Hannam Premier Mike Baird has been called on to prevent Rio Tinto from destroying endangered woodland that it promised to conserve.
Deforestation threatens majority of Amazon tree species
![Brazil nuts being loaded for export at Rio Branco city harbour, in Acre State, Brazil.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/4/j/5/7/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl4h9x.png/1448077395305.jpg)
Nicholas St Fleur By comparing maps of projected deforestation with data collected in the forest, researchers have determined the status of more than 15,000 Amazonian trees species.
Scientists use taxidermy decoys to catch rare native cranes
![Ecologist Inka Veltheim waits in a hide for the notoriously shy brolgas to land.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/1/x/t/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl1xwk.png/1448058800376.jpg)
Bridie Smith "They just happened to have two dead brolgas in their freezer that had died of natural causes so they were kind enough to provide them."
THE MOTLEY FOOL
Is your portfolio ready for climate change?
![Tesla is a luxury vehicle now, but electric vehicles are likely to be commonplace in the future.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/u/c/q/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl464y.png/1448364272389.jpg)
Scott Phillips The threat of climate change is also a threat for your portfolio, even if you don't believe in the science.
Sydney weather: Fryday heatwave to challenge records
![Sydney is expecting a scorcher until the end of the week.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/1/i/i/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl3hbs.png/1448014189013.jpg)
Kate Aubusson and Eryk Bagshaw Sydney is set for a scorcher as temperature records look set to tumble.
From the city to the beach, who wants clothes when Sydney sweats?
![Heat haze on the Great Western Highway.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/4/5/a/m/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl3w4v.png/1448027463435.jpg)
Lucy Cormack Clothes came off, sunscreen slapped on – it was only 9am on Friday and Sydney was starting to sweat.
Blowing hot or cool depends on where you're at
![Reporter Catherine Armitage stays at a cool 36 degrees on the infrared camera.](/web/20151126142548im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/4/0/x/z/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gl3xa0.png/1448009481464.jpg)
Catherine Armitage If you really want to know how hot you are, try getting around the city with an expert in urban microclimates with an infrared camera and a hand held weather station.