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"The Critical Decade: Global Action Building on Climate Change presents an overview of progress in international action on climate change since August 2012, with a particular focus on China and the US. The report also considers progress in Australia, as it is one of the 20 countries contributing most of the world's emissions. Since the Climate Commission's international report in August 2012 (The Critical Decade: International Action on Climate Change), there has been significant progress in many countries across the globe."

"It is important to distinguish between genuine local concerns and the increasingly professional anti-wind activists whose strategy seems designed to confuse and inflame the debate on wind energy. In Australia, some anti-wind groups promote bogus science, claiming a litany of medical ailments attributable to turbines. "

"Many times in human history governments have tried to write policies based around future technologies and missed identifying the transformational keys. In the 1970s, for example, few if any horizon-scanning policies on communications predicted the internet or mobile phones. Yet scientists are increasingly unified in the need to develop new technologies to address the critical problems now facing us in fields such as energy and climate change."

"StudentCam is C-SPAN Television Network's annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation. Students in grades 6-12 were asked to create a short (5-7 minute) video documentary on a topic related to the competition theme, "A Message to the U.S. Congress - What's the most important issue the U.S. Congress should consider in 2014?" "

"A ham and cheese sandwich, muesli bar and milk popper might seem the typical combo for a school lunch box. But the differences in the overall nutritional value can be huge, depending on the brands. Consumer group Choice has applied the algorithm for the healthy food star rating system - controversially removed by Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash - to children's lunch box staples, giving them the star ratings that could appear on packaged foods from July. ''We found big nutritional differences between similar-looking products, and this is critical when it comes to kids' food,'' said Choice campaign manager Angela Cartwright. ''Eat it every day, and it can add up quickly.''"

"Concern over fracking in that area has made Gasland and Gas-land 2, by filmmaker Josh Fox, among the most prominent documentaries of recent years. The films have been widely praised by critics and cited by anti-fracking activists, though some experts question their science. Either way, no one disputes that fracking uses vast amounts of water, which is necessarily polluted by the process. There is debate over its impact on how water tables are affected by the broken rock and some even argue - without significant evidence so far - that it is to blame for causing earthquakes."

Clean Energy Week is Australia's biggest event for the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry, incorporating ATRAA (Australia's largest solar event), a huge trade exhibition, two awards programs and a clean energy debate on the 2013 conference theme of 'rethinking energy'. Hosted by the Clean Energy Council, Australia's peak industry body, the week delivers the latest news on policy initiatives and technology developments, as well as the opportunity to make valuable new contacts and close critical business deals. After drawing more than 2500 local and international delegates to Sydney for the 2012 event, Clean Energy Week is set to be even bigger when it comes to Brisbane from July 24 - 26 in 2013.

We have selected a cohort of research higher degree students from across the University of Melbourne to share ideas on the meaning of sustainability and to develop strategies for better researching and practising it. This creates a critical mass of future leaders, each of whom will then take the interdisciplinary experience and spread it more widely across our society's sustainability endeavours.

The results of the government's first reverse auction of carbon-cutting projects have been released. Where is the money going? The government will spend A$660 of its A$2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund on contracts set to reduce emissions by some 447 million tonnes, more than half of it in "carbon farming" projects to lock up carbon in vegetation. Federal environment minister Greg Hunt described the outcome as a "stunning result" for Australia, pointing out that the average price of A$13.95 per tonne of carbon is cheaper than the previous government's carbon pricing scheme. But critics have pointed to the lack of involvement so far from industry sectors that were covered by the previous carbon tax, and the fact that the new scheme is paid for by taxpayers rather than the businesses creating the pollution. Here are the numbers:"

At Global Footprint Network our programs are designed to influence decision makers at all levels of society and to create a critical mass of powerful institutions using the Footprint to put an end to ecological overshoot and get our economies back into balance. An excellent glossary of sustainability terms.

"When extreme weather events occur the Climate Commission is consistently asked questions about the link to climate change. This report unpacks our current knowledge about different types of extreme weather events: extreme temperatures, rainfall, drought, bushfires, storm surges, cyclones and storms."

From the Australian Climate Commission comes this page chock-full of infographics related to Solar Energy as it relates to the Australian context