Environment news

• Oil ends down, then rises after settlement on big draw

  21-06-2016 23:43
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled lower on Tuesday on profit taking after a two-day rally, then rose in post-settlement trade after data showing a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude stockpiles. Crude inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels for the week ended June 17, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said. Gasoline prices rose after Royal Dutch Shell Plc shut its gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit at the 316,600 barrel per day (bpd) Deer Park, T
  
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• Australians have spent almost $8bn on rooftop solar since 2007, says report

  21-06-2016 22:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Solar Citizens says since the 2012-13 financial year, rooftop solar owners have saved about $1bn on their household bills each yearAustralian households and small businesses have invested more than $1bn a year in rooftop solar over the past five years, spending a total of almost $8bn since 2007, new calculations show.In its latest State of Solar report, Solar Citizens – which campaigns for, and represents the interests of, solar owners – has for the first time estimated Au
  
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• Oil settles down, bounces off session lows with gasoline

  21-06-2016 21:57
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Tuesday on more speculation over Britain's future in the European Union, then pared losses to settle off session lows as a U.S. refinery outage triggered a rebound in gasoline prices. Royal Dutch Shell Plc shut its gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit at the 316,600 barrel per day (bpd) Deer Park, Texas refinery. Crude futures pared losses as gasoline rebounded.
  
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• Climate change: poll finds support for strong action at highest level since 2008

  21-06-2016 21:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Galaxy polling finds only 17% of voters think the Coalition has a credible climate plan and only 20% think Labor doesSupport for strong action on climate change is at its highest level since 2008, with much sought after uncommitted voters showing the strongest support, according to Galaxy polling commissioned by the Climate Institute.Despite that, voters were dissatisfied with both Labor and Coalition policies, with only 17% saying the Coalition had a credible climate plan and only 20% saying La
  
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• U.S. says Venezuela guilty of oil sector 'malpractice'

  21-06-2016 21:29
  By Hugh Bronstein and Juliana Castilla BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Venezuela has badly mismanaged its vast oil resources, a senior U.S. diplomat told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday in which he said a change in government could quickly turn the OPEC member's fortunes around. Tensions have been high between Washington and Venezuela, where the president is facing a possible recall referendum amid rioting and looting prompted by food shortages. Output from Venezuela, which sits atop the world's big
  
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• Trader Joe's reaches settlement over Clean Air Act violation claims

  21-06-2016 21:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Grocery chain agrees to reduce leakage of hydrochlorofluorocarbons and pay $500,000 fine after US officials claim it did not promptly repair refrigeratorsTrader Joe’s agreed on Tuesday to reduce its stores’ greenhouse gas emissions and pay a $500,000 penalty to settle claims from the federal government that the grocery chain had violated the Clean Air Act.US officials alleged that the company did not promptly repair leaks of a hydrochlorofluorocarbon that the chain used as a coolant
  
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• Rosneft's Sechin says not talking to Chinese or Indian companies about privatisation

  21-06-2016 20:06
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Igor Sechin, the head of Russia's top oil producer Rosneft, told Rossiya-24 TV on Tuesday that the company has not held any talks with either Chinese or Indian companies about the state company's privatisation. He also called for selling the 19.5 percent stake, which the government plans to divest as part of a wider privatisation, to a strategic investor rather than on the stock market. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Susan Fenton)
  
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• Carbon dioxide hits record highs in Southern hemisphere

  21-06-2016 20:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Last month, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) as measured at Amsterdam Island, in the southern Indian Ocean, for the first time exceeded the symbolic value of 400 ppm, or 0.04%. The CO2 concentrations recorded at the Amsterdam Island research station are the lowest in the world (excluding seasonal cycles), due to the island's remoteness from anthropogenic sources. The 400 ppm threshold was already crossed in the Northern hemisphere during the 2012/2013 winter. In additio
  
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• Nigerian militants say no plan for Delta ceasefire

  21-06-2016 20:01
  By Tife Owolabi and Felix Onuah YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - The Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group that has claimed responsibility for attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria's southern energy hub, said on Tuesday it never agreed a ceasefire with the government. Government officials told Reuters a one-month ceasefire had been agreed last week after talks between the oil minister, community groups and state governors in the Niger Delta, the source of most of Nigeria's crude oil. Militan
  
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• Death, rivalry, tension – that’s my garden mid-afternoon | Tim Dowling

  21-06-2016 19:32 via theguardian.com
  
  There isn’t much tranquillity where I live right now. The cat’s on the prowl and the dog’s become a rabid vermin hunterHave you seen my fat balls?” said my wife. She was pointing out of the window into the garden at her newly installed bird feeder, which brings the total to four. There is one devoted to peanuts and one specifically for the sunflower hearts, which are meant to attract goldfinches. And now the fat balls. Her new hobby may have tipped over into obsession.&ld
  
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• How Brexit could damage our health | Christopher Birt

  21-06-2016 19:31 via theguardian.com
  We would lose drug research and health service funding as well as free treatment in Europe, and we’d have no external arbiters of food, air and water quality. This is dangerousMuch of the EU debate is conducted at the level of insults and unsupported claims and assertions. But, if we care to look, there are many areas where it is not difficult to identify the effects of Brexit. Health and health services are one such area – and Brexit could be devastating.European health insurance ca
  
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• ICAP offers to sell London oil desks to clear Tullett deal

  21-06-2016 19:24
  (Reuters) - ICAP Plc has offered to sell its London-based oil desks to help address competition concerns regarding the merger of its global hybrid voice broking business with Tullett Prebon Plc , Britain's competition watchdog said on Tuesday. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said two weeks back the proposed merger would be referred for an in-depth phase 2 investigation unless the companies were able to address its concerns about an overlap in voice/hybrid broking of oil products. The
  
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• California's last nuclear plant to close amid longstanding earthquake concerns

  21-06-2016 19:21 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Historic’ agreement between the state’s largest utility company and environmental groups follows safety debates over proximity to seismic faultsCalifornia’s last nuclear power plant will close by 2025 under an accord announced Tuesday, ending three decades of safety debates that helped fuel the national anti-nuclear power movement. The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co (PG&E), and environmental groups reached an agreement to replace product
  
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• Rosneft's Sechin values company at up to $130 billion

  21-06-2016 19:18
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Igor Sechin, the head of Russia's top oil producer Rosneft , has valued the company at between $56 billion (38.18 billion pound) and $130 billion, he told state Rossiya-24 TV channel. The Russian government plans to sell a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft as part of its wider privatisation. "There is a corridor: from $56 billion (based on its) current share price to $130 billion (based on its) fundamental value," Sechin said. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Susan Fen
  
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• King of sting - the scientist who reviews the stings of insects

  21-06-2016 18:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Justin Schmidt sampled the stinging power of ants, bees and wasps. His reviews – from ‘blinding, fierce’ to ‘hot and smoky’ – have now been published in their entiretyEver wondered what it’s like to be stung by an artistic wasp? (This being an actual insect species of the order Hymenoptera, as opposed to a Turner-nominated waspish type with a vendetta.) “Pure, then messy, then corrosive,” according to entomologist Justin Schmidt, otherwise kn
  
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• Centuries-old African soil technique could combat climate change - scientists

  21-06-2016 18:45
  By Kieran Guilbert DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A farming technique practised for centuries in West Africa, which transforms nutrient-poor rainforest soil into fertile farmland, could combat climate change and revolutionise farming across the continent, researchers said on Tuesday. Adding kitchen waste and charcoal to tropical soil can turn it into fertile, black soil which traps carbon and reduces emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, according to a study carried out by the
  
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• How China can ramp up wind power

  21-06-2016 18:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  China has an opportunity to massively increase its use of wind power -- if it properly integrates wind into its existing power system, according to a new study. The research forecasts that wind power could provide 26 percent of China's projected electricity demand by 2030, up from 3 percent in 2015.The study forecasts that wind power could provide 26 percent of China's projected electricity demand by 2030, up from 3 percent in 2015. Such a change would be a substantial gain in the global transit
  
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• Oil down 2 percent on Brexit profit-taking, pares losses on Nigeria

  21-06-2016 18:20
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell 2 percent on Tuesday as investors took profit from a two-day rally fuelled by speculation Britain will stay in the European Union, paring some losses after rebels sabotaging Nigeria's crude exports denied a one-month ceasefire agreement. The Niger Delta Avengers' denial comes after government officials earlier told Reuters a one-month ceasefire had been agreed last week following talks between the oil minister, community groups and state go
  
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• Newcastle's most buzzing night spot? A cowpat on Town Moor

  21-06-2016 17:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Bafta-winning wildlife soundman Chris Watson – once a punk rocker with Cabaret Voltaire – has used tiny microphones to record dung flies and Newcastle United fans in his year-long project to create an audio portrait of the cityOf all the improbable animal noises Chris Watson has recorded over the years – limpets grazing, cod purring, a single ant walking, Kenyan hippos chuckling, the pitter-patter of Northumbrian caterpillar excrement falling from a tree – none is more en
  
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• Road signs could warn Londoners of air pollution episodes, says Sadiq Khan

  21-06-2016 16:44 via theguardian.com
  
  London mayor has told TfL to develop system of alerts and signs to increase awareness of air quality blackspots, BusinessGreen reports Roadside signposts and online alerts could be used to inform Londoners of air pollution hotspots and periods of poor air quality, under proposals announced today by the capital’s new Mayor Sadiq Kahn.Londoners should be much better informed when air pollution reaches dangerous levels in the UK capital, Kahn said, announcing he has directed Transport for Lon
  
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• Member states slash EU emissions by 24%

  21-06-2016 16:23
  
  Ahead of the European Union (EU) referendum date later this week, new figures have revealed that total EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have plummeted to record lows, with the UK accounting for a significant proportion of the overall reductions.
  
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• Major member states slash EU emissions by 24%

  21-06-2016 16:23
  
  Ahead of the European Union (EU) referendum date later this week, new figures have revealed that total EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have plummeted to record lows, with the UK accounting for a significant proportion of the overall reductions.
  
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• Nigeria agrees one-month ceasefire with Delta militants, officials say

  21-06-2016 16:11
  By Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has agreed a one-month ceasefire with militants behind recent attacks on oil facilities in its southern Niger Delta, a petroleum ministry official said on Tuesday, as efforts continue to end the unrest that has pushed crude output to 30-year lows. Militants say they want a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region. The ministry official said the Niger Delta Avengers, who have claimed responsibility for most attacks in th
  
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• Oil slips after rally as market turns cautious

  21-06-2016 15:53
  By Libby George LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday after a two-day rally abated and trade remained volatile, due in part to a vote later this week in Britain that will determine whether the country leaves the European Union. A one-month ceasefire between the government and Nigerian militants whose attacks have curtailed the country's crude oil exports also added a bearish signal to a market that had firmed on the back of supply disruptions. Brent crude August futures were down $1.04 a
  
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• Cars buck downward trend of EU carbon emissions

  21-06-2016 15:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Total greenhouse gas emissions fell by 24% between 1990 and 2014 but road transport emissions rose by 17%, European Environment Agency data showsRoad transport has bucked a downward trend in European greenhouse gas emissions, growing by 17% between 1990 and 2014, at the same time that emissions from other sectors fell by almost a quarter.Cars, vans and lorries reported the biggest absolute increase of any sector in CO2 emissions over the last 25 years, growing by 124 megatonnes (Mt), European En
  
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• REA to support ultra-low emission vehicles through new sector group

  21-06-2016 15:20
  
  The Renewable Energy Association (REA) has unveiled a new sector group to represent members across the transport, energy and technology sectors as part of a wider effort to deliver a sustainable transition to low-emission vehicle uptake in the UK.
  
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• Maldives urges rich countries to rapidly ratify Paris climate agreement

  21-06-2016 15:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Environment and energy minister of small island state, one of the countries most at risk of global warming impacts, says ‘no time to waste’ on Paris dealRich countries must ratify the climate change agreement reached in Paris last December, one of the world’s most at-risk nations has warned.Thoriq Ibrahim, environment and energy minister of the Maldives, told the Guardian that there was “no time to waste”, in ratifying the agreement that was reached more than six mo
  
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• Tim Peake: 'I saw flames outside the window'

  21-06-2016 14:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  British astronaut Tim Peake describes his dramatic journey home to Earth from the International Space Station.
  
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• London's green building sector threatened by quantity over quality approach

  21-06-2016 14:19
  
  The global rise in green buildings is providing proof that cites shouldn't be "trapped and weighed down by aging infrastructure", with a new whitepaper suggesting that London should mirror Paris's strategies in order to become the global leader on green buildings.
  
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• Threats to habitat connectivity as sea waters inundate coastal areas

  21-06-2016 14:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  By the year 2100, sea levels might rise as much as 2.5 meters above their current levels, which would seriously threaten coastal cities and other low-lying areas. In turn, this would force animals to migrate farther inland in search of higher ground. But accelerated urbanization, such as the rapidly expanding Piedmont area that stretches from Atlanta to eastern North Carolina, could cut off their escape routes and create climate-induced extinctions.
  
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• Peake: 'I would return to space in a heartbeat'

  21-06-2016 13:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tim Peake says he would go back into space "in a heartbeat" after his six-month mission to the space station.
  
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• Oil prices slip after rally as market turns cautious

  21-06-2016 13:14
  By Libby George LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday after a strong two-day rally abated amid volatility fed in part by a vote later this week in Britain that will determine whether the country will leave the European Union. Brent crude August futures were trading at $50.05 at 1100 GMT, down 60 cents a barrel. Two opinion polls released on Monday suggested support for Britain staying in the European Union had recovered some ground following the murder of a pro-EU lawmaker last week, alt
  
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• Iceland's fishing industry 'better off outside' EU

  21-06-2016 13:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Iceland's fishing minister says the country would "never join the European Union" because the industry is thriving outside the bloc.
  
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• Nigeria agrees one-month ceasefire with Delta militants, official says

  21-06-2016 12:33
  ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has agreed a one-month ceasefire with militants including the Niger Delta Avengers in the oil-producing southern region, a petroleum ministry official said on Tuesday. Militant groups including the Avengers, who have claimed responsibility for a string of attacks on oil and gas facilities in recent weeks, could not immediately be reached for comment. They say they want a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region. ...
  
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• Lidl makes ethical fruit and veg pledge to support British suppliers

  21-06-2016 12:26
  
  German discount retailer Lidl has today (21 June) announced a commitment to the National Farmers' Union (NFU) Fruit and Vegetable Pledge, underlining the importance of maintaining long-term, sustainable relationships with its British farmers and suppliers.
  
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• Brexit-on-sea: Why do voters on Essex's protected coast want out of Europe?

  21-06-2016 11:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Residents in the Ukip stronghold of Clacton-on-Sea are rightly proud of their clean beaches, fresh air and wildlife. Would they still vote leave if they knew the things they love about their town are thanks to EU membership?Audrey James and and Mary Chivers, skirts hitched and shoes off, are paddling with their grandchildren by the pier at Clacton-on-Sea. A huge offshore windfarm spins in the distance and all around them are clean beaches, clear water and protected nature reserves. But Groyne 41
  
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• The weight of light: how gravity is illuminating sub-Saharan Africa – video

  21-06-2016 10:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Off-grid communities such as those in sub-Saharan Africa can pay thousands of times as much as the rest of us for their energy. Designer Jim Reeves has developed a simple, low-cost gear-train and generator that uses a descending weight to power a perpetual light source. Children can do their homework and study, families and friends can eat together and interact after dark adding new dimensions and possibilities to their lives Continue reading...
  
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• China plans energy-sector technology capacity boost over next decade

  21-06-2016 09:33
  By Kathy Chen BEIJING (Reuters) - China wants to boost its domestic capacity to produce cutting-edge energy technologies in the next decade to challenge international energy majors in areas like offshore oil and gas exploration and building state-of-the-art thermal power plants. A new catalogue, released this week by three ministries including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), proposes increasing China's energy independence by 2025. The report also seeks export opportunities
  
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• Nigel Farage butterfly spotting? Our politicians could use some wild reinvention | Patrick Barkham

  21-06-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  We might better identify with MPs if they communed with nature. Even the Ukip leader might seem less loathsomeBarack Obama spent the weekend in Yosemite national park, and made me realise how rarely we see western politicians beyond the built environment. He was the first sitting president since JFK to visit Yosemite and, for all his sincerity on climate change, his trip is so late in his presidency that it appears legacy-building rather than agenda-setting.Obama has the great statesperson&rsquo
  
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• My first encounter with a pine marten

  21-06-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Aigas, Highlands The pine marten undulated through the trees in such soft eel-like loops that one could imagine it was an animal lacking in boneFor all their recent spread– they now skirt the edges of several Scottish cities and pop up occasionally even in England as far south as Shropshire – pine martens are still rare and hard to see. Aigas field study centre, with its dedicated hides and long-established feeding programme, must be one of the best places in the country to see them.
  
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• China punishes officials over sewage in first environmental case of its kind

  21-06-2016 06:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Landmark victory in ‘war on pollution’ as court rules that local government agency allowed company to produce dye without proper safeguardsChinese prosecutors have successfully sued a county environmental agency for inadequately punishing a sewage firm that produced dye without appropriate safeguards – the first such public interest case against a government department. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China’s top prosecutor, said prosecutors had successfully pro
  
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• Oil prices fall for first time in three days

  21-06-2016 05:01
  Oil prices fell in Asian trade after a strong two-day rally that was fed by easing concerns Britain would leave the European Union after a referendum this week, allowing market participants to focus on supply issues. Two opinion polls released on Monday suggested support for Britain staying in the European Union had recovered some ground following the murder of a pro-EU lawmaker last week, although a third survey found backers for a "Brexit" ahead by a whisker. While concerns over a British exit
  
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• In search of the elusive Ninu bilby out in the middle of nowhere | First Dog on the Moon

  21-06-2016 03:55 via theguardian.com
  
  I looked at Kiwirrkurra on the map – it was quite a ways out – and assumed I was going to die in the desert alone or be eaten by saltwater crocodiles and packs of wild dingodilesI look out the window of the plane - the earth is red and flat with interesting bumps, I am enormously excited. I have wanted to get my hands into this red dirt my whole life – why have I waited?It was a Tuesday like any other, when suddenly, sliding into my DMs was a man identifying himself only as &ld
  
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• Poisonous tropical lionfish could be spreading through Mediterranean

  21-06-2016 03:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Voracious predactor with stings that has been known to kill humans is spotted in waters off Turkey and Cyprus The lionfish – a tropical creature with poisonous barbs and a painful sting that can kill humans in rare cases – may be spreading through the Mediterranean, a conservation group has warned.The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (UICN) said the fish had been spotted in waters around Turkey and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean. Continue reading...
  
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• Garbage in, energy out: creating biofuel from plastic waste

  21-06-2016 02:46 via theguardian.com
  
  An Australian startup has found a way to transform end-of-life plastics into bio-crude fuel. But is this a sustainable solution or just pollution displacement?At first glance, the polystyrene container buried amid the beach detritus was unremarkable. Closer inspection however yielded something jarring about this discarded filet-o-fish box. Discovered by locals cleaning up in the wake of a storm last month on a South Australian beach, the polystyrene-based clamshell container bore a stylistically
  
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• New crop varieties 'can't keep up with global warming'

  21-06-2016 02:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Temperatures around the world are rising faster than scientists can develop varieties that can cope with a warmer world, according to a new study.
  
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