Australia & Oceania

"Salvage crews have resumed pumping fuel from a stricken cargo ship listing badly on a reef off the northern coast of New Zealand."

"Australia's carbon tax is set to become law after the lower house of Parliament passed the government's historic but controversial set of bills to establish the world's most broadly based carbon pricing scheme."

"TAURANGA, New Zealand -- Rough weather has jostled a cargo ship stuck off New Zealand's coast and worsened its oil leak fivefold to make it the country's worst-ever maritime environmental disaster, the government said Tuesday."

"Two Australian retirees invoke the 'father of modern science' in their fight against the hegemony of settled climate science. But their arguments - and the advisors supporting them - draw from a deep history of climate science denial and distortion."

Douglas Fischer reports for The Daily Climate August 16, 2011.

"'The science is clear -- our planet is warming. That warming is caused by carbon pollution, by human activity, and we need to cut carbon pollution,' said Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Sunday, announcing Australia's first price on carbon emissions."

"At least 1,060 new species were discovered on the island of New Guinea from 1998 to 2008, but unsustainable logging and plantation agriculture are putting many of these creatures at risk, finds a new study by the global conservation organization WWF."

"Every gum tree contains a koala, or so most Australians assume. But complacency could be killing off the emblematic native animal, according to scientists, who want it listed as an endangered species."

"[Australian] taxpayers spend about 11 times more encouraging the use of fossil fuels than on climate change programs - and the sum is growing."

Rescuers struggled to reach victims trapped beneath rubble in the aftermath of a February 22 magnitude 6.3 earthquake that killed at least 75 people in Christchurch, New Zealand. Several hundred more are still missing.