Environment news

• Trouble in paradise: Lord Howe Island divided over plan to exterminate rats

  08-02-2016 23:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Rodents are threatening the unique natural environment of Australia’s sparsely populated Lord Howe Island. But a plan to eradicate the pests by dropping 42 tonnes of poisoned cereal is splitting the close-knit community in halfDescribed by the UN as “an area of spectacular and scenic landscapes”, Lord Howe Island is nothing if not dramatic. Formed from an inferno of underwater volcanoes more than six million years ago, the 10km long crescent-shaped island sits in a bath of turq
  
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• Global initiative introduces first proposal to reduce airplane pollution

  08-02-2016 23:52 via theguardian.com
  
  International Civil Aviation Organisation plan of 4% fuel reduction of new aircraft starting in 2028 not enough to halt emissions, environmental groups sayGovernments proposed for the first time on Monday to reduce climate pollution from airplanes, plugging one of the biggest loopholes in last December’s landmark Paris agreement.
  The global initiative was a first attempt to halt carbon emissions from air travel – one of the fastest growing sources of climate pollution.Continue readin
  
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• Shark nets used at most beaches do not protect swimmers, research suggests

  08-02-2016 23:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists tell ABC’s Four Corners that nets are not effective barriers and that a bigger shark population does not increase attacksThe shark nets used at most beaches might make you feel safer, but they do nothing to reduce your chance of being attacked, according to a new analysis of data.The data, compiled over half a century by Laurie Laurenson from Deakin University, was presented on ABC’s Four Corners program on Monday night. Continue reading...
  
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• Stormy weather and the power of a closeup | Letters

  08-02-2016 20:20 via theguardian.com
  
  While I am sorry to see the photo archive move to London (Letters, 6 February) I find it ironic that Bradford council is happy to do to Ilkley what London does to it. It has closed our Manor House Museum, taken the exhibits to Bradford and proposes selling the building, which was originally bequeathed to the people of Ilkley, presumably keeping the proceeds. They too can be accused of “metropolitan cultural fascism”.
  Tim Jerram
  IlkleyIt is time the BMA found an alternative for the te
  
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• Oil falls for third day as concerns about growing glut deepen

  08-02-2016 20:07
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell for a third straight session on Monday, with U.S. prices piercing $30 a barrel again, as lingering concerns about oversupply deepened after a Saudi-Venezuela meeting at the weekend showed few signs of coordination to boost prices. No tangible signs emerged from a meeting on Sunday between Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi and his Venezuelan counterpart that OPEC and non-OPEC suppliers were ready to meet to discuss the price slum
  
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• US Forest Service stretched to breaking point after record year for wildfires

  08-02-2016 20:02 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Climate change is real and it is with us,’ says top government official after 10.1m acres of forest went up in flames in 2015, costing 65% of the agency’s budgetThe US Forest Service has warned it is at the “tipping point” of a crisis in dealing with escalating wildfires and diseases that are ravaging America’s increasingly fragile forest ecosystems.Related: New research finds that global warming is intensifying wildfires | John AbrahamContinue reading...
  
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• Government denies blackout risk as Rugeley coal plant unveils closure plan

  08-02-2016 19:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Engie to shut Staffordshire power station this summer, putting 150 jobs in doubt and raising fresh concern over outagesThe government has issued a fresh denial that the UK is at risk of blackouts after one of the country’s biggest coal power stations announced plans to close.The French company Engie said it would shut its Rugeley power station in the summer, putting 150 jobs in doubt and affecting 190 contractors. Continue reading...
  
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• New runway will be built at Heathrow or Gatwick by 2030, MPs told

  08-02-2016 19:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Transport secretary insists government has made progress on expansion issue as Heathrow chief reveals concern over ‘worrying’ timeline
  A new runway will be built at Heathrow or Gatwick by 2030 and the work being done now is vital to make sure the decision is legally watertight, the transport secretary has told sceptical MPs.Questioned by the Commons transport select committee on Monday, Patrick McLoughlin insisted that the government had made progress on the issue of airport capacity
  
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• Oil falls with glut in focus after hopes for producer deal fade

  08-02-2016 18:04
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices were down 2 percent on Monday as supply overhang concerns grew after a Saudi-Venezuela meeting at the weekend showed few signs of coordination to boost prices. No tangible signs emerged from a meeting on Sunday between Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi and his Venezuelan counterpart that OPEC and non-OPEC suppliers were ready to meet to discuss the price slump. After a flurry of diplomacy over the last two weeks about a possible prod
  
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• Drone-fighting eagles – a reminder of nature’s superpowers | Patrick Barkham

  08-02-2016 17:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Scotland Yard is looking at using eagles to take down unmanned flying objects – yet another argument for preserving all species, in case they might prove useful laterIf we ever needed persuading that animals are smarter than technology, we should take heed of the drone-fighting eagles. Scotland Yard is examining the deployment of bald eagles by Dutch police after a private security firm demonstrated how the mighty birds can deftly pluck a drone out of the sky.The drone featured in the vide
  
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• What does the Wolf say?

  08-02-2016 17:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  The largest ever study of howling in the 'canid' family of species -- which includes wolves, jackals and domestic dogs -- has shown that the various species and subspecies have distinguishing repertoires of howling, or "vocal fingerprints": different types of howls are used with varying regularity depending on the canid species. Researchers used computer algorithms for the first time to analyse howling, distilling over 2,000 different howls into 21 howl types based on pitch and fluctuation,
  
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• Sea-level rise 'could last twice as long as human history'

  08-02-2016 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Research warns of the long timescale of climate change impacts unless urgent action is taken to cut emissions drastically Huge sea-level rises caused by climate change will last far longer than the entire history of human civilisation to date, according to new research, unless the brief window of opportunity of the next few decades is used to cut carbon emissions drastically.Even if global warming is capped at governments’ target of 2C - which is already seen as difficult - 20% of the worl
  
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• It's not just water that's poisoning our kids; it's also our collapsing democracy | Raffi Cavoukian

  08-02-2016 16:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Governments must show that they understand what environmentalism and democracy demand: transparency, accountability and stewardshipWhat in the water is going on in North America?
  In Flint, Michigan, people were unknowingly forced to drink lead-contaminated water for months after Governor Snyder’s administration decided to save money by changing families’ water source from treated Detroit municipal water to the polluted Flint River. The river water contained a variety of biological an
  
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• Petition urges UK government to ban plastic microbeads

  08-02-2016 16:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Greenpeace petition calling for UK to follow US and ban use of microbeads in cosmetics has collected more than 140,000 signatures, reports ENDSThe UK government is being urged to ban the use of plastic microbeads in cosmetics.More than 140,000 people have backed a petition launched by Greenpeace UK just three weeks ago, saying the UK should follow the US in forbidding the use of “these wholly unnecessary bits of plastic”.Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Astronomical costs’ is no justification for jailing the Heathrow 13 protesters | Andrew Simms

  08-02-2016 16:17 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s a perverse system that punishes peaceful activists while rewarding those who caused the banks to fail - economic sins that cost millions more than the inconvenience of a group of climate campaigners With rare certainty we now know in advance the actual day on which an important climate threshold will be passed. It’s not a new temperature rise, or the calving of another Manhattan-sized chunk of glacial ice in Greenland, but the likely jailing on 24 February of 13 climate campaign
  
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• Ikea quietly stops selling solar panels to UK householders

  08-02-2016 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  World’s largest furniture retailer is keen to trumpet its green credentials but is no longer selling solar after drastic cuts to government subsidiesIkea has quietly stopped selling solar panels to UK householders after the government signalled a drastic cut in solar subsidies and just two years after a media-friendly national launch.The world’s biggest furniture retailer expanded the solar offering to all its 17 UK stores in 2013-14 following a successful pilot at its Lakeside store
  
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• Philippines' foreign minister resigns over health issues

  08-02-2016 14:07
  Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Monday accepted the resignation of foreign minister Albert del Rosario, who helped spearhead the country's vigorous challenge to China's territorial claims in the South China Sea. "President Aquino has accepted the resignation of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario effective 7 March 2016," the presidential communications secretary, Herminio Coloma, told reporters. "The president is kind enough to allow me to step down so I can fully address certain
  
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• Leopard enters Indian school and injures three people before capture

  08-02-2016 14:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Big cat wanders into grounds of private school in Bangalore before being shot with a tranquilliser dartThree people have been injured during an attempt to capture a leopard that wandered into a school in southern India. A crowd of onlookers, including TV news crews, watched the chase, which lasted several hours before the big cat was shot with a tranquilliser dart. Continue reading...
  
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• The 'Floating Hills' of Pluto (Photo)

  08-02-2016 13:47
  
  Mini-mountains of water-ice creep across Pluto's surface, carried slowly along by the dwarf planet's nitrogen-ice glaciers, a newly released photo suggests. The image, which was captured by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic Pluto flyby last July, shows that the vast Sputnik Planum region within the dwarf planet's famous "heart" is studded with chains and clusters of water-ice hills. "Because water ice is less dense than nitrogen-dominated ice, scientists believe these water-ice
  
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• Universe's 'Dark Ages' May Come to Light with Moon Orbiter

  08-02-2016 13:46
  
  A proposed spacecraft would orbit the moon, sheltering in its shadow to gaze uninterrupted into the early days of the universe. The Dark Ages Radio Explorer (DARE) mission would dodge Earth's noisy, disruptive environment to peer back into the universe's dark ages and cosmic dawn — the mysterious epoch just as the first stars and galaxies began to shine — with a little help from the moon. "The moon, in this case, is just a big blocking disk," said Jack Burns, director of the Lunar Un
  
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• Oil prices slide, supply overhang in focus

  08-02-2016 13:20
  By Ahmad Ghaddar LONDON (Reuters) - Crude oil prices fell on Monday because of lingering concerns over a supply overhang and after a Saudi-Venezuela meeting showed few signs that steps would be taken to boost prices. Global benchmark Brent futures were down 68 cents at $33.38 at 1212 GMT, while U.S. crude futures lost 81 cents to $30.08. "There’s still a lot of concerns about the state of the crude oil stocks in the United States," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix.
  
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• Disease may wipe out the world's bananas

  08-02-2016 13:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  Bananas are at the sharp end of industrial agriculture's chemical war on pests and pathogens, writes Angelina Sanderson Bellamy. But even 60 pesticide sprays a year isn't enough to keep the diseases at bay. It's time to seek new solutions with little or no use of chemicals, working with nature, growing diverse crops on the same land - and breaking the dominance of the banana multinationals.
  
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• Liz Goodwin to step down as WRAP chief executive

  08-02-2016 13:03
  
  Liz Goodwin will step down as chief executive of the UK Government's Waste & Resources Action Plan (WRAP) later this year, after nine years in the role.
  
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• World's largest investor: We want companies with long-term sustainability plan

  08-02-2016 12:53
  
  The chief executive of the world's largest investment firm, Blackrock, has called for companies to build environmental, social and governance (ESG) management into their business models, calling it a sign of 'operational excellence'.
  
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• Go Green Week: Universities champion sustainable behaviour change

  08-02-2016 12:36
  
  Universities across the country are switching off appliances, sending excess clothing to charity shops and cycling to seminars as part of national 'Go Green Week' - a week dedicated to raising awareness on tackling climate issues.
  
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• No climate conspiracy: NOAA temperature adjustments bring data closer to pristine | Dana Nuccitelli

  08-02-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A new study finds that NOAA temperature adjustments are doing exactly what they’re supposed to
  Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) has embarked upon a witch-hunt against climate scientists at NOAA, accusing them of conspiring to fudge global temperature data. However, a new study has found that the adjustments NOAA makes to the raw temperature data bring them closer to measurements from a reference network of pristinely-located temperature stations. Continue reading...
  
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• UN agency seeks to end rift on new aircraft emission rules

  08-02-2016 11:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Europe and US try to bridge differences to come up with the world’s first carbon dioxide emissions standards for aircraft Europe and the United States tried to bridge differences over emissions standards for aircraft on Sunday as global aviation leaders prepared to adopt new rules that could affect Boeing Co and Airbus Group’s production of the largest jetliners and freighters. Proposals being debated in Montreal by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the United Nat
  
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• Mark Ruffalo to David Cameron: fracking an ‘enormous mistake’ – video

  08-02-2016 11:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Actor Mark Ruffalo calls on the UK prime minister to abandon his push on fracking and leave fossil fuels in the ground. A prominent opponent of fracking in the US, Oscar-nominated Ruffalo addresses David Cameron in a video message, telling him he is making an enormous ‘legacy mistake’ in supporting the controversial process of extracting gas by hydraulic fracturing. Ruffalo makes his comments in an interview with Friends of the EarthContinue reading...
  
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• Crude oil slips as Saudi, Venezuela meeting yields little

  08-02-2016 11:17
  By Ahmad Ghaddar LONDON (Reuters) - Crude oil prices eased in thin trade on Monday as a meeting between OPEC producers Saudi Arabia and Venezuela showed little indication that steps would be taken to boost prices. Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi discussed cooperation between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other oil producers to stabilise the global oil market with his Venezuelan counterpart on Sunday, but there was no sign any agreement had b
  
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• Pictures of the day: 8 February 2016

  08-02-2016 09:40
  
  A duck with a Jedward hairdo, Chinese New Year and the Super Bowl
  
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• Sadiq Kahn unveils plan for London 'clean energy revolution'

  08-02-2016 08:49
  
  Labour's London Mayor candidate Sadiq Khan has outlined his ambition to ignite a 'clean energy revolution' in the capital, pledging to be the 'greenest mayor ever'.
  
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• CSIRO climate cuts attack a national treasure when we need it most

  08-02-2016 08:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Chief executive Larry Marshall is right that we need to invest in adaptation, but this requires a proper understanding of how the climate will changeThe decision to gut Australia’s government science agency of climate research may seem hard to fathom. But let’s pause from the hyperventilation of the past week and ask whether there is an underlying logic.Could the shift from studying how climate changes, to studying ways of mitigating and adapting to climate change, be a good thing? C
  
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• Welsh Environment Bill ups business requirements for recyclable waste

  08-02-2016 08:19
  
  New legislation has passed in Wales looking to cap the amount of waste materials sent to Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities in the country, as the Welsh Assembly looks to ramp up businesses' recycling efforts.
  
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• Feel the buzz: the album recorded by 40,000 bees

  08-02-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  He’s drummed with Spiritualized and Julian Cope. Now Kev Bales has joined up with Wolfgang Buttress and a beehive – to create a transcendental drone symphony“We had a joke in the studio that they were the best band members we’ve ever had,” laughs Kev Bales when describing the recording of Be’s One album. Bales may have spent the last 30 years drumming with the likes of Spiritualized, Soulsavers and Julian Cope, but the musicians he’s referring to here ar
  
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• Energy efficient housing to get $250m boost from Clean Energy Finance Corporation

  08-02-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The agency, which the government is still seeking to abolish, will fund up to 1,000 homes for low-income earnersThe Turnbull government will announce $250m in loans for energy efficient public housing on Tuesday, funded by an agency it is still seeking to abolish.
  The $250m will be provided by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to community housing providers to fund up to 1,000 new energy efficient homes for low-income earners. Continue reading...
  
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• Half of windfarm complaints about turbines yet to be built: commissioner

  08-02-2016 07:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Andrew Dyer says 50% of complaints relate to seven future facilities and include noise, economic and health fears Approximately half of all complaints made to Australia’s windfarm commissioner relate to turbines that have not yet been built, the man tasked with the job has said.Andrew Dyer was appointed as the country’s first windfarm commissioner in October and started in the role the following month. Since November he has received complaints relating to 12 wind farms, affecting 42
  
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• Crude oil rises in holiday-constrained trade

  08-02-2016 07:34
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Crude oil futures rose on Monday in thin trade as many Asian markets were on holiday for Lunar New Year, with few trading cues expected until Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gives testimony to lawmakers later in the week. "The strength we saw in the middle of last week has not been completely overturned but the direction has reversed," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. The market is looking forward to Yellen's testimony on We
  
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• Mark Ruffalo tells Cameron his UK fracking push is an 'enormous mistake'

  08-02-2016 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Actor records video message to the UK prime minister accusing him of going back on his word by failing to respect public opposition to fracking David Cameron is making an enormous “legacy mistake” by going all-out for fracking in the UK, the actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo has warned.The actor, who is famous for his role as the Hulk in the Avenger films and who stars in Spotlight about the Boston Globe’s investigation into Catholic child abuse, is a prominent anti
  
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• The living paths of the dead

  08-02-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Rydal, Lake District The trees watch stiffly, the path a tunnel through their motionless squabble of branches, bare as picked bones. Coffins passed this way, for burial in consecrated ground in Grasmere.Winter on a fellside path, just a path between here and there. But there seems to be a disagreement in terms with this path, and those like it: the method of conveyance, or the thing being conveyed. Coffin Trail, or Corpse Road.Dread names spread branch-like from these old pathways, through folkl
  
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• Fire on Mexico Pemex platform kills three workers, now under control

  08-02-2016 05:46
  Three workers were killed and at least seven injured when a fire broke out on a Pemex oil processing platform in the Gulf of Mexico, but the latest in a string of incidents is now under control, the Mexican oil giant said via Twitter on Sunday. A spokesman for Pemex said oil continued to be pumped but that the company was still evaluating any impact on production. The fire occurred on the offshore Abkatun A Permanente processing platform in Mexico's oil-rich Bay of Campeche where a fire claimed
  
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• Solar microgrids and batteries could prevent another Black Saturday bushfire

  08-02-2016 05:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Smaller sustainable energy systems are a better option than trying to maintain ageing Australian energy infrastructure, say expertsOn 7 February, Australia solemnly marked the anniversary of an electrical fault. It was on this date in 2009 that Melbourne endured its hottest conditions on record – a sweltering 46.4C.Continue reading...
  
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• Shell reports restarting a unit at Scotford, Alberta, facility

  08-02-2016 02:21
  (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell reported restarting an unspecified unit at its Scotford, Alberta, facility on Sunday, according to a community alerting system. There will be intermittent flaring for the next 12 hours, the message added. The Scotford facility houses a 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery and a 255,000 barrel-per-day oil sands upgrader. (Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)
  
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• Crude oil slips after Saudi, Venezuela meeting on prices yields little

  08-02-2016 01:49
  Crude oil futures were mixed in early Asian trade on Monday after a meeting between OPEC producers Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to discuss coordination on prices ended with few signs there would be steps taken to boost prices. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark was down 9 cents at $33.97 at 0039 GMT. U.S. crude futures were down 2 cents at $30.87.
  
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• Water rights 'threaten' Spanish wetland

  08-02-2016 01:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One of Europe's most important wetland areas is under threat say environmentalists as Spain and Catalonia argue about the future of the Ebro river.
  
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• VIDEO: "Mr Cameron, you're making an enormous mistake" - Mark Ruffalo slams PM over UK fracking plans

  08-02-2016 01:01
  
  Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo has sent a passionate plea to UK Prime Minister David Cameron to stop fracking in the UK and instead embrace the global renewable energy revolution.
  
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• Mark Ruffalo tells David Cameron to abandon fracking

  08-02-2016 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Oscar-nominated Hollywood actor tells PM he is making a ‘legacy mistake’ by supporting shale gas industry Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo has called on David Cameron to abandon fracking and leave fossil fuels in the ground.A prominent opponent of fracking in the US, Ruffalo told the prime minister he was making “a legacy mistake” in supporting the controversial process of extracting gas by hydraulic fracturing. Continue reading...
  
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• Chipotle needs more than a mass shutdown to regain trust

  08-02-2016 00:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The popular restaurant chain will close tomorrow to discuss food handling with its workers. But should a business that claims to serve ‘food with integrity’ do more to recover from a contamination crisis?On Monday, Chipotle will shut down all of its stores to convene a company-wide meeting on food safety. This is a bold and smart step to addressing the recent health crisis facing the company. But this needs to be just the beginning of recommitment to the values that made Chipotle so
  
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