Australian ocean's 'plastic soup' recipe: 37.9 billion bits of plastic

Lucy Cormack   Government, environment and community groups will meet at a senate inquiry on Thursday to tackle the 34.9 billion pieces of visible plastic in Australian waters.

Have your say over major mining and other projects

Peter Hannam   People affected by major developments are to be given more say in the project under revised guidelines for consultative committees.

Massive Portland smelter risks closure

Ben Schneiders and Tom Arup   Alcoa’s Portland smelter - Victoria's largest user of electricity - is losing money and risks closure

CSIRO sea-ice expert

Major conferences to 'expose' CSIRO climate cutbacks, scientists say

Peter Hannam   The CSIRO's plans to dismantle most of its climate monitoring and modelling capability will be in the international spotlight at a series of conferences in coming months that had been intended to showcase Australia's world-leading research, senior scientists say.

Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research

Global temperatures leap higher in January, smashing records

Peter Hannam   El Nino assists January to have the biggest increase over the previous record for any month in a more than a century of records

CSIRO climate science cuts demand a co-ordinated response, Antarctic expert says

Peter Hannam   Plans by the CSIRO to unleash deep cuts on climate science programs have created a "policy vacuum" that demands a co-ordinated effort by the Turnbull government to fill, two senior officials say.

CSIRO's gravitation waves contribution came from unit now axed

Peter Hannam   CSIRO executives are being accused of claiming credit for achievements of a science unit it has recently axed, amid on-going job cuts at the agency.

PR war over fires in Tasmania's world heritage area takes to the air

Adam Morton   Not for the first time, a war is being fought over Tasmania's world heritage wilderness. As fire burns across the state, this time it is being fought from the air.

CSIRO chief Larry Marshall points his ship into a scientific storm

Peter Hannam   Scientists are calling for CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall to change his mind and not slash key climate researchers by half.

AGL pleads guilty to 11 breaches of political donation disclosure laws

Peter Hannam   Energy giant AGL has pleaded guilty to 11 counts of breaking political disclosure laws after a probe prompted by anti-coal gas activists.

Australian bushfires on the rise, new research finds

Tom Arup   The number of bushfires in Australia is on the rise - up 40 per cent since 2007 - local scientists have found as part of research to try develop a system for firefighters to help them forecast where they might breakout.

Shenhua coalmine given go-ahead to destroy koala habitat

Fergus Hunter   The proposed Shenhua Watermark coal mine in northern New South Wales will be allowed to relocate 262 koalas and destroy their natural habitat, the Land and Environment Court has ruled.

ACT's waterways 'dirtiest in the country'

Katie Burgess   Lake Tuggeranong is choking on beer cans, bottle lids and straws, but they're not the main culprit.

Long-awaited plan to save Leadbeater's Possum pushes for 20 to 50 year turnaround

Tom Arup   A long-awaited national plan to save Victoria's animal emblem, the Leadbeater's possum, will push to turn around the creature's rapidly declining numbers in the next 20 to 50 years by better protecting its habitat and tighter controls on logging.

'A predetermined outcome for radicals in the National Party'

Sean Nicholls   The state's peak environment groups have pulled out of negotiations with the NSW government over proposed land clearing and biodiversity laws, declaring talks have been hijacked by "radicals" in the Nationals.

Town won't go cold turkey even as wild birds terrorise residents

Lisa W. Foderaro   In some neighbourhoods of Hillsdale, a placid borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, they are seemingly everywhere - waddling by the dozen in the road, perched on car roofs, pecking at the tyres of delivery trucks.

Canberrans have Australia's largest ecological footprint

Clare Colley   Canberrans are the biggest consumers in the country needing an average of 8.9 hectares each to support their cashed-up lifestyles - three and a half times the world average - the latest ACT State of the Environment Report reveals.

Coca-Cola lids find a home in bellies of birds

Lucy Cormack   Take a look inside the stomach of a shearwater bird on Lord Howe Island and you will find a few treasures from brands like Penfolds, Coca-Cola and more.

East Gippsland logging faces fresh court challenge over endangered species protection

Tom Arup   Victoria's native logging regime is facing a new legal challenge, this time over an alleged failure to properly survey and protect habitat for endangered species in East Gippsland.

Chris the sheep's record-breaking fleece to go on display

Katie Burgess   Chris the sheep's record-breaking fleece will go on display at the RSPCA before moving to the National Museum of Australia.

Stewards told not to report dogs' true injuries: inquiry

Natalie O'Brien   "A deliberate policy to euphemistically describe injuries," commissioner tells racing boss.

Skier photographs rare snow leopard on Indian mountainside

Megan Levy   An Australian skier captured on camera the "amazing" moment an endangered snow leopard leapt across his path on a mountainside in India.

Odd creature washed up at Swansea identified as pike eel

Tim Connell   A creature apparently photographed at Swansea has confused and slightly frightened locals since it washed up on social media on Monday.

What's eating Sydney's pantries?

Lucy Cormack   While you have been enjoying the warmer weather, so have Sydney's moths. And they are probably lurking in your pantry.

Coke's can plan labelled a 'joke'

Lucy Cormack   40 million cans and bottles are littered across NSW every summer. And environmentalists and the industry are at are at war over how to fix the problem.

Canberra sizzles as mercury climbs

Natasha Boddy   Canberrans spent much of Valentine's Day looking for ways to cool off and beat the heat as the capital sizzled.

Unlawful and secret surgery on animals sparks call for inquiry

Natalie O'Brien   Unlawful surgical procedures on live animals have been carried out at an unnamed Sydney medical facility in breach of the state laws on animal research, sparking calls for a parliamentary inquiry.

How 150,000 penguins were wiped out

Kim Arlington   Freeze-dried chicks, abandoned eggs, in "heartbreaking" scene

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CSIRO climate cuts 'devastating', almost 3000 scientists tell Turnbull

Peter Hannam   Almost 3000 scientists from nearly 60 nations have appealed to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and other Australian leaders to halt CSIRO's plans to halve the number of researchers working on climate monitoring and modelling.

NSW why won't you clean up your own waste?

Lucy Cormack   The Environment Protection Authority is investigating 10 waste companies and three rail yards after they were found to be transporting tonnes of waste interstate by rail.