The sale of gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, trimmers, chain saws and other yard equipment may soon be illegal in California in response to growing concern over air and noise pollution.
The San Joaquin Valley has received a specially addressed message from the Union of Concerned Scientists about what it thinks people across the region should be doing about looming water shortages, worsening air quality and generally more volatile weather in the years ahead.
The air quality in Melbourne's suburbs drops to the worst possible rating of hazardous this morning, as smoke from bushfires in East Gippsland and the north-east continues to blanket the state.
