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Activists sue Russia over âweakâ climate policy
Russian constitutional court is considering claim, which activists hope will raise awareness about emissions
A group of activists are fighting for the right to scrutinise Russiaâs climate policies, and in particular its enormous methane emissions, in court.
Russiaâs constitutional court is considering a claim brought by 18 individuals and the NGO Ecodefense that insufficient action by the Russian state to cut national greenhouse gas emissions is violating their rights to life, health and a healthy environment.
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Net zero U-turns will hit UK infrastructure, say government advisers
Sir John Armitt urges ministers to act swiftly or risk impeding growth and jeopardising climate targets
Rishi Sunakâs U-turns over net zero have delayed progress on vital infrastructure that is needed for economic growth, the governmentâs advisers have said.
Sir John Armitt, the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), said good progress had been made on renewable energy in the past five years, but changes to key policies, including postponing a scheme to boost heat pump takeup, had created uncertainty and delay.
The government will fail to meet its targets on heat pump rollout.
The promised lifting of a ban on new onshore windfarms has not gone far enough.
Massive investment is needed in the electricity grid.
There is no proper plan for rail in the north and Midlands now that the northern leg of HS2 has been cancelled, severely inhibiting economic growth in those regions.
Water bills will need to go up to fix the sewage crisis, and more reservoirs are needed to avoid drought, while water companies have done too little to staunch leaks.
The UK lacks a coherent strategy on flooding, with more than 900,000 properties at risk of river or sea flooding and 910,000 at risk of surface water flooding.
Good progress has been made on the rollout of gigabit broadband around the country.
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Climate disruption to UK seasons causes problems for migratory birds
Early springs mean food for young of arrivals from west Africa has already disappeared; this year they face the opposite problem
Migratory birds, especially those long-distance travellers that winter in sub-Saharan Africa, are struggling with the effects of climate change. Specifically, the trend towards earlier springs is causing problems, because when they arrive at their usual time â between mid-April and early May â natureâs calendar has shifted forwards and spring is almost over.
This is a particular problem for three species that travel from west Africa to breed in British oakwoods: the wood warbler, the redstart and the pied flycatcher. This trio feed their young on oak moth caterpillars, but when spring comes early these have already emerged and are beginning to pupate, so the chicks starve.
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The search for the perfect wetsuit: is there one that doesnât harm the planet?
Neoprene is made from toxic chemicals, hard to recycle and, with 400,000 tonnes made a year, a growing problem. So can surfers and swimmers find green wetsuits?
I have been hesitating for months. The wetsuit I swim in every week to keep me toasty warm in the winter and safe from jellyfish stings in the summer is riddled with holes. Yet I canât bring myself to buy a new one because Iâve learned that comfortable, flexible and insulating neoprene is manufactured using some of the most toxic chemicals on the planet.
Neoprene, a synthetic foamed rubber, is made from the petrochemical compound chloroprene. Exposure to chloroprene emissions, produced during the manufacturing process, may increase the risk of cancer, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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âItâs unbelievable the difference a path has madeâ: how volunteers are building a cycle network a yard at a time
The Strawberry Line network of paths in Somerset has found a way to speed up planning permission and harness the goodwill of the community
In the past two years, multiple sections of a hoped-for 76-mile rural cycling and walking route spanning Somerset have sprouted up around the small town of Shepton Mallet, seemingly every few weeks.
These new routes are popular. One 300-metre section of path in the heart of the town, for example, uses one of Historic Railway Estatesâ bridges for the first time for a cycle route (an organisation usually more given to infilling its structures).
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Country diary: Cherry blossom has given way to apple blossom | Virginia Spiers
St Dominic, Tamar Valley: Few insects are about, but we hope the variable and staggered blossoming times will help pollination
In this cool, damp May, greenery washes across the land, clouding memories of wintry mud and rain. Along the lanes near home, fresh leaves of woody growth on flailed hedge banks merge with bluebells, stitchwort and an array of unfurling ferns â lady, male, buckler and scaly male. These are succeeded by soft shield, hartâs-tongue, and the latest to emerge â the hard fern, reminiscent of pale green fish skeletons.
In the orchard of local and historic fruit varieties â planted, maintained and documented by my brother-in-law and sister â the froth of cherry blossom has faded among the orange-tinged leaves of tall trees, whose broad trunks are encrusted in lichens. James and Mary are uncertain as to whether it has been pollinated yet, but are encouraged to find fruit on the Morwellham and grey cattern pears.
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Iâve seen how deadly floods are devastating Europe â we are not prepared for whatâs next
In this weekâs Down to Earth newsletter: what the Guardianâs Sirin Kale saw when reporting on environmental disasters in Germany, Belgium and the UK
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This is an extract of this weekâs Down to Earth newsletter, to get more exclusive environmental journalism in your inbox every Thursday sign up here
Itâs common to think about the climate crisis as something that will happen in the future, in the global south.
Brutal heatwaves and submerged cities: what a 3C world would look like
I understand climate scientistsâ despair â but stubborn optimism may be our only hope | Christiana Figueres
What are the most powerful climate actions you can take? The expert view
Fast fashion is wasteful, and thrifting is flawed. The solution: swap!
Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of almost 2m cars, researchers say
âItâs unbelievable the difference a path has madeâ: how volunteers are building a cycle network a yard at a time
âThe stakes could not be higherâ: world is on edge of climate abyss, UN warns
Four kids left: The Thai school swallowed by the sea
âIt just didnât workâ: how businesses are struggling with reuseable packaging
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Hot sauce and a muster dog: on the ground at Beef2024, the southern hemisphereâs biggest cattle industry expo
Emissions, sustainability and windfarms are front of mind at Rockhamptonâs Beef Week celebrations
Itâs not your typical industry conference.
Sure, there are some people wearing suits, and a lot of lanyards swinging around necks. There are seminars (35 on the 140-page program, with 125 speakers); international guests (617 from 35 countries); long lunches and even longer dinners.
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The village that fell into a river: Sim Chi Yinâs best photograph
âOne woman heard tree branches snapping and jumped out of bed â just in time to see her mattress float away as the back half of her house melted into the darknessâ
I started my Shifting Sands series seven years ago to look at how the world is running out of usable sand. Itâs the next big resource crisis. Iâm from Singapore, the worldâs biggest importer of sand per capita, due to the scale of its land reclamation. That was the starting point of what I had initially mapped out as a global project, investigating the extraction of and uses of sand, its consequences and alternatives.
I photographed in Singapore, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is experiencing rapid erosion due to large-scale sand mining and China damming the river upstream. I went to a number of villages with researchers. We went to the commune of Hiep Phuoc, southeast of Saigon, where this picture was made, just five days after a number of villagers â including tea-seller Nguyen Thi Hong, 45, who appears in this image â had lost their homes.
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Four kids left: The Thai school swallowed by the sea â video
Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s
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How do you follow My Octopus Teacher? With crocodiles, otters and a new book
Oscar-winning film-maker Craig Foster on his first octopus encounter, the price of fame and his new video book about the power of connecting with animals
When the film My Octopus Teacher aired on Netflix in 2020 it was a huge overnight success, going on to win an Oscar the following year for best documentary. The simple but touching tale of the tender bond between film-maker Craig Foster and his young undersea companion had audiences spellbound worldwide. Some, like Sir Richard Branson, even gave up eating octopus after watching the film.
Yet for Foster himself, the overnight fame was emotionally debilitating. âYouâre working on this little story that you think a few people might be interested in and suddenly youâre in front of 100 million people,â he says. âI didnât think it would affect me so much, but it was very difficult. Terrifying, to be honest.â
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Hydrogen, solar and batteries â did the 2024 federal budget deliver on clean economy investment? | Tennant Reed
Laborâs Future Made in Australia policy has enough money to move the needle. What matters is implementation â and readiness to adjust course if needed
Business groups such as ours, alongside investors, unions and climate campaigners, have been calling out for a big push on clean economy investment.
So what should we make of the 2024-25 budget and have those calls been answered?
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The 1.5C global heating target was always a dream, but its demise doesn't signal doom for climate action | Bill McKibben
Missing a target doesnât mean the sense of emergency should fade. What it must do is stop politicians dithering â and fast
I remember the first time I heard the 1.5C target. It was in a room at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009. With the expectation of a binding agreement slipping away and negotiations failing, some of us activists joined delegates from vulnerable African and island nations in chanting â1.5 to stay aliveâ. It was a frank recognition that the 2C goal the climate diplomats were endlessly talking about â though not pursuing â was insufficient to deal with the increasingly clear realities of climate science.
Since then, three things have happened.
Bill McKibben is the founder of Third Act, which organizes people over 60 for action on climate and democracy
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Is the Coalition planning to overtake Labor and tax rich inner-city EV drivers? | Paul Karp
The commonwealth had state electrical vehicle taxes struck down in court. Now reform is stuck in the slow lane
Tax reform is hard. It creates winners and losers.
But there are some taxes that seek to correct unfairness and share the load more evenly.
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The climate crisis is no laughing matter, no matter what those on Radio 4âs Today programme think | Bill McGuire
As a scientist, Iâm faced with indifference and a failure to understand the reality of the climate crisis every day. We must wake people up
- Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL
Do you find climate breakdown funny? Do you think itâs a laughing matter that we are on track to bequeath to our children and their children a planet changed for the worse beyond all recognition? I donât â and Iâm sure the presenters of Radio 4âs Today programme donât either. But I couldnât help feeling we were having a bit of a Donât Look Up moment yesterday, hearing them brush off predictions by top climate scientists that our world will end up at least 2.5C hotter as depressing and âgloomyâ. This is not to say that laughter and grim news shouldnât or canât go together. I work with comedians to help get the climate crisis message across, but we use humour to aid understanding and to help cope, not to denigrate and mock.
The truth is that most people, including many professional journalists, and most politicians, donât really âgetâ climate breakdown. Partly this reflects a heads-in-the-sand attitude, but mainly it flags a poor understanding of just how bad things are set to get.
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Homegrown goodness: why we should all be eating more broad beans
Tesco is on a mission to get the nation to eat more legumes. Seasonal foodie Gem Morson and clinical nutritionist Nishtha Patel explain why theyâre on board
Go back in time as far as the iron age, and youâd find our ancestors eating broad beans. For centuries, the legumes were a crucial part of the British diet, until they fell out of fashion. Recently, however, theyâve been cropping up in an increasing number of recipes from some of the countryâs most exciting chefs and food influencers.
Gem Morson, AKA the Mother Cooker, is on a mission to help us eat more seasonally. âBroad beans are a fantastic ingredient,â she says. âTheyâre packed with protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals, plus theyâre grown in Britain. And because theyâre available when theyâre in season, they taste so much better, too.â
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The humble chickpea is having a moment â hereâs why theyâre here to stay
Tinned chickpeas are flying off the shelves at Tesco. Vegan influencer Christina Soteriou and child nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed explain why â and share their tips for recipes and moreish snacks
âChickpeas are flying off the shelves, so our priority is making sure theyâre always available when customers want them,â says Ashley Wainaina, Tescoâs canned pulses buyer. âWeâve even changed our stocking system to make it more efficient, so we can keep up with demand.â
As the UKâs largest food retailer, Tesco is helping customers make better choices when they shop by highlighting better foods, such as snacks containing under 100 calories or foods that are high in fibre or low in sugar, through its Better Baskets campaign. Chickpeas are loaded with protein and fibre, theyâre filling, a third of a tin counts as one of your five a day, and they can be cooked in a plethora of different ways. Theyâve been eaten for millennia across the Middle East, India and the Mediterranean, and their popularity has soared here recently, too.
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âWeâre doing it by stealthâ: how Tesco is reformulating its much-loved meals to be healthier
We went behind the scenes at Tescoâs test kitchen to find out how the supermarket is making products more affordable, inspiring, relevant and above all â healthier
How can we improve the health of our nation? Thatâs the question troubling everyone from politicians and public health experts, to parents and supermarket bosses. But while information about health and nutrition is more widely available than ever, weâre not getting any healthier.
Rates of obesity among children are particularly concerning, with a sharp rise during the pandemic â which has dropped slightly, but is still higher than pre-pandemic levels. Now, just under a quarter of children in England are living with obesity by the time they leave primary school, which experts predict will put immense strain on the NHS in the coming decades.
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From ready-meal lovers to at-home chefs: how Tesco is improving the nationâs nutrition
Whether itâs campaigns that promote hassle-free recipes, or initiatives that encourage shoppers to eat more veg, Tesco is taking action to make healthier diets accessible and affordable to all
Our health is so often measured in figures; whether itâs a number on the scales, a score on our blood pressure monitor or our body mass index. With such a focus on personal responsibility, these metrics often only succeed in making people feel bad about themselves.
Thankfully, the tide is turning, and more people are realising that an environment which encourages the over-consumption of unhealthy convenience foods is a major contributing factor to poor health. Overcoming this requires more support than the individualistic approach would have us believe.
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Swallow, swift and house martin populations have nearly halved, finds UK bird survey
Reduction in insect numbers contributes to drop, and there are declines across more than a third of bird species surveyed
Swallows, swifts and house martins were once a common sight over UK towns and cities, dextrously catching insects on the wing. But these spring and summer visitors are becoming increasingly rare, according to the definitive survey of the countryâs birds.
Populations of these insect-eating birds have dropped by 40% or more in the past decade, according to the latest Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) report.
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Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of 43,000 cars, researchers say
Free-roaming animals reintroduced in Romaniaâs Čarcu mountains are stimulating plant growth and securing carbon stored in the soil while grazing
A herd of 170 bison reintroduced to Romaniaâs Čarcu mountains could help store CO2 emissions equivalent to removing 43,000 US cars from the road for a year, research has found, demonstrating how the animals can help mitigate some effects of the climate crisis.
European bison disappeared from Romania more than 200 years ago, but Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania reintroduced the species to the southern Carpathian mountains in 2014. Since then, more than 100 bison have been given new homes in the Čarcu mountains, growing to more than 170 animals today, one of the largest free-roaming populations in Europe. The landscape holds the potential for 350-450 bison.
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Global wildlife crime causing âuntold harmâ, UN report finds
More than 4,000 species are targeted by traffickers, with illegal trade active in 80% of countries, says Office on Drugs and Crime
More than 4,000 species around the world are being targeted by wildlife traffickers, causing âuntold harm upon natureâ, a UN report has warned.
Wildlife crime is driven by demand for medicine, pets, bushmeat, ornamental plants and trophies. Out of all the mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians seized, 40% were on the red list of threatened or near-threatened species, the report found.
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Cruise ship arrives at New York City harbor with dead whale caught on bow
The 44ft-long whale corpse was an endangered sei whale, which will now be examined to determine how it died
A cruise ship has journeyed into New York Cityâs harbor bearing a gruesome cargo in the form of a huge, dead whale sprawled across its bow.
The incident happened on Saturday, according to local US media reports, and the event is being held by some as further evidence of the unfortunate impact on sea life that large vessels can have.
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Ice dives, walrus snaps and whale encounters: the man telling extreme stories of an Arctic at risk
Andreas B. Heide has been shortlisted for a Shackleton award for his work in the far north, getting up close to nature to connect people emotionally with a fragile ecosystem
To say the images of Andreas B. Heide during his working day are dramatic is an understatement: a freediver deep underwater in a black wetsuit, his lean silhouette enhanced by powerful bladed fins, looking up towards a group of orcas; or standing on an ice sheet next to a small sailboat in the Arctic, amid a sea full of dangerous looking ice floes in poor visibility.
But for the marine biologist and adventurer, plunging into freezing waters with orcas or embarking on a 4,500-mile sailing expedition from the Arctic north to the UK and back, documenting whale behaviour and their dramatic encounters with polar bears, whales and walruses, is all part and parcel of storytelling that he hopes can ultimately change human behaviour. He works with scientists and conservationists, photographers and drone pilots, to underline the importance of conservation in the extreme north, under challenging conditions.
The crew land at the Sjuøyane, Svalbard 2023, wearing a rifle for polar bear protection. From left: Zimbabwean sailor Tawanda Chikasha; Andreas B. Heide; Spanish marine biotechnologist Almu Alvarez; and Norwegian photographer Tord Karlsen. Photograph: Tord Karlsen/Barba
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Scaling up: the app thatâs transforming lives in South African fishing communities
Abalobi provides a real-time marketplace for fishers to sell their catch, while also monitoring fish populations, and the tech could go global
The 59-year-old Wilfred Poggenpoel is a fisher from Lambertâs Bay, a picturesque town 170 miles north of Cape Town thatâs popular with surfers and home to 17,000 breeding pairs of Cape gannets. Five years ago, he made the decision to join a virtual marketplace called Abalobi, which enables fishers such as him to sell their catch directly to restaurants, retailers and consumers using a custom-built app.
âI get a better price and I can sell more species now,â he says. âIâve bought a 60-horsepower motor that Iâd never have been able to afford before. Iâve bought a second boat.â He joined, he says, because he didnât want to spend all day walking around town in the sun trying to sell fish. âMy quality of life has improved. Iâve even been able to help some old people in the community.â
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âIâm happy weâre not killing them any moreâ: Irelandâs last basking shark hunter on the return of the giants
For 30 years, Brian McNeill hunted the worldâs second-biggest fish from small boats off the wild west coast of Ireland. Now the species has made a recovery so rapid it has astounded scientists
The ambush was simple. A spotter on a hill would scan the sea and when he saw the big black fins approach, he would shout down to the boatmen. They would ready their nets and quickly row out to the kill zone.
When a shark got tangled in the mesh, Brian McNeill would wait a minute or two while it struggled, then steady himself and raise his harpoon. This was the crucial moment. The creature would be diving and thrashing, desperate to escape. If the blade hit the gills blood would spurt, clouding the water. The trick was to hit a small spot between the vertebrae.
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The stream of plastic pollution: could a global treaty help us turn off the tap? â podcast
Guardian Seascapes reporter Karen McVeigh tells Madeleine Finlay about a recent trip to the GalĂĄpagos Islands, where mounds of plastic waste are washing up and causing problems for endemic species. Tackling this kind of waste and the overproduction of plastic were the topics on the table in Ottawa this week, as countries met to negotiate a global plastics treaty. But is progress too slow to address this pervasive problem?
Read more about Karen McVeighâs trip to the GalĂĄpagos Islands
Follow all the reporting from the Guardianâs Seascapes team
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Canada wildfires: huge queues on highway as thousands evacuate oil town â video
Footage on social media showed roads full of cars evacuating the suburbs of Fort McMurray in the western Canadian province of Alberta. A growing blaze threatened the city and its surroundings, which experienced devastating fires in 2016. Local officials have ordered thousands to evacuate as the fire grows in size and strength, with winds fanning the flames. 'Weâre seeing extreme fire behaviour. Smoke columns are developing and the skies are covered in smoke. Firefighters have been pulled from the fire line for safety reasons,' Josee St-Onge of Alberta Wildfire told reporters
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Baby skates on verge of extinction in Tasmania hatched by scientists â video
The ancient fish were successfully hatched by scientists in Tasmania using two adults and 50 eggs. The Maugean skate is thought to be found only in the vast harbour on the stateâs west coast. Numbers have fallen sharply due to the impact of salmon farms, hydro power stations altering upstream river flows, gillnet fishing and rising harbour temperatures due to the climate crisis, studies have found
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Eco-brutalism: when angular concrete meets the wonder of nature â in pictures
On her @brutalistplants Instagram page, Olivia Broome collects photographs that combine the angular shapes of raw concrete with the greenery of the natural world. âI really enjoy the aesthetic of eco-brutalism and tropical modernism,â she says. âI love mezzanines and ziggurats, and when you pair them with plants it softens them up. Brutalism can be this quite harsh, austere architecture style, but with nature involved, it balances it all out.â Now collected in a book, the images bring together buildings from across the globe, from Hong Kong to Sri Lanka, London to Mexico. âItâs a pleasant movement that people can get behind, especially in smaller spaces and modern cities â itâs nice to fill them with plants and nature.â
⢠Brutalist Plants (Hoxton Mini Press, £20) will be published on Thursday
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Week in wildlife â in pictures: an eel gets a shock, bees take Manhattan and a possum on the pitch
The best of this weekâs wildlife photographs from around the world
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âWhen he is older there will be no rainâ: how southern Madagascar is coping in a climate crisis
The island nation is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, as changing weather patterns bring more dry spells and unpredictable rainy seasons. Sean Smith travelled to the south to meet those affected and to report on the ways they are trying to prepare for an altered future
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Week in wildlife â in pictures: a giant hamster, a mustachioed deer and a zebra on the run
The best of this weekâs wildlife photographs from around the world
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Australiaâs best new sustainable homes of 2024 â in pictures
A pocket-sized city terrace extension and a multigenerational riverside property inspired by a country shed are among the innovative dwellings shortlisted in the sustainability category of the Houses awards, Australiaâs premier residential design prize. This yearâs five-panel jury noted a number of new sustainable design trends, including a move towards net-zero housing, abodes that accommodate adult children, innovative multi-use spaces for working from home, a growing appreciation for restoring dated dwellings and inspired designs for downsizers and elderly occupants.
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