Environment news

• Amazon fires: Humans make rainforest more flammable

  29-06-2016 23:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Human disturbances are putting the Amazon rainforest at greater risk of fire, say researchers.
  
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• UN committee may again consider listing Great Barrier Reef as 'in danger'

  29-06-2016 22:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Lawyers, scientists and NGOs urge the UN to force Australia to do more to protect the world heritage site The Great Barrier Reef could be considered again for an “in danger” listing by the United Nations World Heritage Committee following the devastating bleaching this year, the Guardian can reveal.The news came as a group of prominent lawyers, scientists and NGOs wrote to the committee, urging it to ask Australia to do more to protect the reef. Continue reading...
  
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• Oil up 4 percent on U.S. crude draw; Brent back above $50

  29-06-2016 22:21
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged 4 percent on Wednesday, with Brent settling above the psychological $50 a barrel mark, after a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories. "We played on that curve to widen out and it was good for us," said Tariq Zahir, crude spreads trader for Tyche Capital Advisors in New York.
  
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• BP receives its first Venezuelan crude cargo under swap deal

  29-06-2016 22:05
  Britain's BP Plc this month received a Venezuelan crude cargo from state-run PDVSA, according to Thomson Reuters trade flows data, the first since the companies agreed on a swap arrangement to settle pending payments for U.S. oil shipments. BP and China Oil won a tender launched by PDVSA in March to be supplied with U.S. and African light oil during the second quarter of this year. After cash-strapped PDVSA did not make payments on time, BP in May halted further discharges of cargoes of U.S. cru
  
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• What do Apple and Patagonia have in common? Making money from solar

  29-06-2016 21:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Businesses typically put solar panels on their roofs to support clean energy and cut emissions, but a small group of them are branching out to earn profits from selling solar electricityWhat does it mean when the solar panels on your roof were purchased by a clothing company? Maybe that you are part of a significant shift in the economics of solar.Many businesses put solar panels on their roofs to show support for a cleaner source of electricity, cut carbon emissions and perhaps even lower their
  
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• Closing in on Jupiter: 7 Fun Facts About Juno's Mission

  29-06-2016 19:47
  
  NASA's Juno spacecraft will reach Jupiter Monday (July 4) after a five-year journey through deep space. The probe will study the structure and evolution of the solar system's largest planet from orbit, taking measurements for more than a year despite Jupiter's intense radiation environment. One is to learn how much water is inside Jupiter, which should yield insights about the amounts of water that were present in the solar system's early days.
  
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• Mars' Atmosphere Was Likely More Oxygen-Rich Long Ago

  29-06-2016 19:46
  
  Ancient Mars was even more Earth-like than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. NASA's Curiosity rover has detected high concentrations of manganese oxide minerals in Red Planet rocks, suggesting that the Martian atmosphere contained more oxygen billions of years ago than it does today, researchers said. "The only ways on Earth that we know how to make these manganese materials involve atmospheric oxygen or microbes," study lead author Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos Nat
  
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• Controversial chemical in Roundup weedkiller escapes immediate ban

  29-06-2016 19:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Glyphosate, key ingredient in Monsanto’s bestselling herbicide, has European licence extended for 18 months despite warnings it is ‘probably carcinogenic’ The European commission has given a last-minute reprieve to glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s bestselling Roundup weedkiller, just hours before it faced a recall from shops across the continent.A row over the health risks posed by the substance has divided scientists, governments and international agencies, a
  
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• New cameras keep electronic eye on Western wildfires

  29-06-2016 19:29
  
  ELDORADO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. (AP) — As the summer wildfire season heats up in the West, a growing network of online cameras installed on forested mountaintops is changing the way crews fight fires by allowing early detection that triggers quicker, cheaper and more tactical suppression.
  
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• Saved by the sun

  29-06-2016 19:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new twist on the use of renewable energy is saving children's lives in Africa. The innovation--a solar powered oxygen delivery system--is providing concentrated oxygen in hospital for children suffering from severe pneumonia.The device created by Dr. Michael Hawkes, an assistant professor in the University of Alberta's Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, is the focus of a recently published study in The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and is already in u
  
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• Amazon fires: how we make rainforest more flammable

  29-06-2016 19:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Human disturbances are making the Amazon rainforest 'more flammable' say researchers.
  
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• Climate change is disrupting seasonal behaviour of Britain's wildlife

  29-06-2016 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Global warming is causing breeding and migration cycles of related plants and animals to fall out of sync with potential impacts on entire ecosystems, research showsClimate change is disrupting the seasonal behaviour of Britain’s plants and animals, with rising temperatures having an impact on species at different levels of the food chain, new research shows.
  The result could be widespread “desynchronisation” between species and their phenological events – seasonal biolog
  
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• Grand Canyon visitors may face citation for picking up deer

  29-06-2016 18:38
  GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Grand Canyon officials say they'll likely cite visitors who thought they were rescuing a baby deer by wrapping it in a T-shirt and bringing it to rangers — another instance of well-meaning tourists putting wildlife at risk.
  
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• China slams South China Sea case as court set to rule

  29-06-2016 18:36
  By Ben Blanchard and Anthony Deutsch BEIJING/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday an arbitration court hearing the dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea had no jurisdiction in the case and that Beijing would not accept any forced dispute resolution. The Philippines has asked the Netherlands-based court to rule in a case that pits China against several South Asian countries with overlapping claims. China has not taken part in the proceedings and rejects the c
  
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• Oil jumps nearly 3 percent on U.S. crude draw, fading Brexit fears

  29-06-2016 18:18
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped nearly 3 percent on Wednesday after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected weekly drawdown in crude inventories, adding fuel to an existing rally on fading concerns over Britain's exit from the European Union. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude stockpiles fell 4.1 million barrels in the week to June 24, the sixth consecutive week of drawdowns. The American Petroleum Institute trade group reported a 3.9 mill
  
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• Siemens raises synergy target for Dresser-Rand, Rolls Energy units

  29-06-2016 17:35
  German industrial group Siemens has raised its synergies target for the benefits of combining Dresser-Rand and Rolls-Royce Energy with its own compressor and turbine business serving the oil and gas industry to about 365 million euros (300.33 million pound) from about 200 million euros originally. "We're getting traction on synergies even in a challenging marketplace," Chris Rossi, chief executive of Dresser-Rand, told analysts in a presentation monitored by Reuters via webcast. Siemens said Dre
  
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• Brian Moss obituary

  29-06-2016 17:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental scientist who worked on lake restoration globally as well as in the UK, most notably on the Norfolk BroadsLakes are the jewels in the landscape of Britain, yet have also been the dumping grounds for wastes and pollutants. The environmental scientist Brian Moss, who has died aged 72, knew this well and spent his life achieving the ecological understanding that has underpinned the management and restoration of freshwater environments in the UK and around the world. But it was his pas
  
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• Hague arbitration court to rule in South China Sea case on July 12

  29-06-2016 17:16
  An arbitration court hearing the dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea will deliver its decision on July 12, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The Philippines has asked the Netherlands-based court to rule in the case, which pits China against several South Asian countries with overlapping claims. China has not taken part in the proceedings and rejects the court's jurisdiction in the matter.
  
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• Thanks to CO2 emissions, the smell of the sea is changing

  29-06-2016 17:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Changes to ocean pH mean that some organisms struggle to make shells. Now, the ability to detect crucial chemical signals is also being altered for some species What if the way things smell started to change? What if food inexplicably lost its aroma and your house no longer had its familiar homely scent? It would certainly be off-putting, but you’d probably manage. However, many animals depend on their sense of smell much more than we do, so they would probably be affected much more acutel
  
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• Leadsom: Energy policy will not change due to Brexit

  29-06-2016 16:55
  
  The UK's energy policy will not change as a result of the vote to leave European Union, energy minister Andrea Leadsom has said.
  
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• Floating Solar: A Win-Win for Drought-Stricken Lakes in U.S.

  29-06-2016 16:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Colorado River’s two great reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, are in retreat. Multi-year droughts and chronic overuse have taken their toll, to be sure, but vast quantities of water are also lost to evaporation. What if the same scorching sun that causes so much of this water loss were harnessed for electric power? Installing floating solar photovoltaic arrays, sometimes called “floatovoltaics,” on a portion of these two reservoirs in the southwestern Uni
  
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• Oil edges up further as Brexit shock fades; U.S. drawdown seen

  29-06-2016 16:15
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose for the second straight day on Wednesday as concerns over Britain's exit from the European Union faded and impending data was expected to show a sixth weekly draw in U.S. crude stockpiles. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release weekly oil supply-demand data at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT). The American Petroleum Institute trade group indicated on Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories fell by nearly 4 million barrels in the week
  
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• UK coal power station in breach of EU air pollution law

  29-06-2016 16:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Defra and the Welsh government are likely to have to pay European commission’s legal costs for breaching air pollution rules at Aberthaw power station, reports ENDSThe UK breached EU law by allowing a coal-fired power station to emit too much air pollution, the court of justice (CJEU) has said.In a reasoned opinion, published on 28 June, the CJEU said the UK’s defence of how it regulated Aberthaw power station did not stack up and it should be forced to pay legal costs. Continue read
  
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• UKGBC to create sustainable exemplar for built environment through headquarters retrofit

  29-06-2016 15:15
  
  The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has unveiled the blueprints for the refurbishment of its London headquarters, which attempts to outline the feasibility of sustainable initiatives in the built environment.
  
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• Oil prices edge up more after Brexit shock; Norway strike threat supports

  29-06-2016 14:35
  By Julia Payne LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose more on Wednesday as traders moved money back into markets hit by the initial shock of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, while a potential oil workers strike in Norway and a crisis in Venezuela's oil sector also provided support. "Right now, post Brexit, different asset classes are highly correlated and the bounce back in oil price reflects the broader move we seen in equities and FX markets," said Harry Tchilinguirian, global head of commodit
  
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• Cameron urged to ratify climate deal before quitting as PM

  29-06-2016 14:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Prime Minister David Cameron is being urged to ratify the Paris climate agreement before leaving office.
  
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• Automated amphibian teaches us to walk

  29-06-2016 14:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists in Switzerland have created a robotic salamander that mimics the gait of the ancient amphibian in great detail.
  
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• Humans artificially drive evolution of new species

  29-06-2016 14:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Species across the world are rapidly going extinct due to human activities, but humans are also causing rapid evolution and the emergence of new species. A new study published today summarises the causes of manmade speciation, and discusses why newly evolved species cannot simply replace extinct wild species. The study was led by the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen. 
  
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• Amber Rudd: Post-Brexit Britain will not step back from climate leadership

  29-06-2016 14:05
  
  Energy Secretary Amber Rudd made a surprise appearance at the Business and Climate Summit in London today (29 June) to insist that the UK will not "turn its back" on the global battle to mitigate climate change, despite the nation voting to leave the European Union (EU) last week.
  
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• Fill Good Inc – are we close to a refill revolution?

  29-06-2016 13:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Recycling plastic costs councils – and us – millions every year. It’s time refilling old bottles hit the mainstreamWhile Boris Johnson is busy reducing the size of Europe, his father, Stanley, is appealing to Europe to help us reduce the amount of rubbish we create.This month, Environmentalists for Europe, the cross-party group co-chaired by Johnson senior, called on the EU to ban non-returnable bottles. Instead, the group said, consumers should be charged a 20p deposit, r
  
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• Traders charter ships to store oil as refinery maintenance crimps demand

  29-06-2016 12:57
  Two trading houses, including commodities group Glencore, have chartered at least four tankers to store oil off Singapore, taking advantage of cheap freight and crude ahead of the refinery maintenance season that typically crimps demand. ST Shipping, Glencore's shipping arm, booked the 300,133 deadweight tonne (dwt) Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Plata Glory for a month at $22,000 (£16,438) per day and has the option to extend at $26,000 and $29,000 per day for the second and third month,
  
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• Ikea chief: Business and governments must go all in for a carbon-free 21st century

  29-06-2016 12:54
  
  The chief sustainability officer of the world's biggest furniture retailer has called on global governments to galvanise the low-carbon movement, primarily through carbon pricing, to enable companies to unlock the "tremendous" business opportunities that lie ahead.
  
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• Scotland's fishing industry welcomes decision to leave the EU

  29-06-2016 12:49 via theguardian.com
  
  EU departure offers a chance to banish past overfishing and incoherent regulation, says head of industry group, despite warnings exit could hurt fisheriesScottish fishermen’s representatives were adamant on Tuesday that Brexit would be good news for the 5,000 strong fleet, despite warnings that the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s departure from the EU could hurt fisheries.Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said that leaving the EU would g
  
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• What were the bees doing in the grape hyacinths?

  29-06-2016 12:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsRecently I watched one dark brown (almost black) bee being closely escorted by six light brown bees, which stayed within a few inches of the dark bee while it enjoyed some grape hyacinths. Were they protecting a queen or was there some other reason?Jill Bennett, St Albans, Herts Continue reading...
  
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• How will leaving the European Union affect our food? | Tim Lang

  29-06-2016 12:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Whoever leads negotiations on leaving the EU faces big choices - any new food policies must have health, the environment and justice at their heart Food barely featured in the referendum, but years of jibes about Eurocrats controlling our food standards, and myths about bent bananas, left their mark. Food politics will now come to the fore in ways most consumers might not like. This was predicted by the few studies which bothered to look at this vital area of UK life. The academic reports on Bre
  
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• Leaving the EU 'will make it harder for UK to tackle climate change'

  29-06-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate and energy secretary says while decision to leave will make UK’s role harder, the government’s commitment remains the same Brexit will make it harder for Britain to play its role in tackling climate change, the UK energy and climate secretary has said.But Amber Rudd said that the UK remained committed to action on global warming and Whitehall sources have told the Guardian that on Thursday she will approve a world-leading carbon target for 2032. Continue reading...
  
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• Leaving EU will make it harder for UK to tackle climate change, says minister

  29-06-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate and energy secretary says while decision to leave will make UK’s role harder, the government’s commitment remains the same Brexit will make it harder for Britain to play its role in tackling climate change, the UK energy and climate secretary has said.But Amber Rudd said that the UK remained committed to action on global warming and Whitehall sources have told the Guardian that on Thursday she will approve a world-leading carbon target for 2032. Continue reading...
  
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• After 6 years of working on climate at Harvard, I implore it to show the courage to divest

  29-06-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Despite pressure from students and staff, Harvard leaders have refused to divest
  One morning in the summer of 2014, I found myself in the city of Tacloban in the Philippines. The city and surrounding area had been devastated less than a year earlier by Super Typhoon Yolanda. Thousands had been killed; bodies were found for months afterwards.As part of an international research collaboration, I was interviewing government officials and others throughout the Philippines to assess how to improve pr
  
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• Hinkley nuclear project not impacted by Brexit - minister

  29-06-2016 11:30
  A project to build two new nuclear reactors at EDF Energy's Hinkley Point site in Britain will not be influenced by the outcome of Britain's vote last week to leave the European Union, energy minister Andrea Leadsom told lawmakers on Wednesday. "I don't believe the Austrian challenge to Hinkley has any merit ... and I do not believe (the project) will be influenced by the results of the referendum," Leadsom told an energy and climate change committee hearing. Austria has launched legal action ag
  
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• ‘Devastated’: scientists too late to captive breed mammal lost to climate change

  29-06-2016 10:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Australian conservationists spent five months obtaining permissions and planning for a captive breeding programme for the Bramble Cay melomys. But when they arrived on the rodent’s tiny, low-lying island, they discovered they were too late.
  The Bramble Cay melomys has become more famous in extinction than it ever was in life. A mouse-like rodent, the melomys amazingly survived on a 3.6 hectare grass-covered cay (a low-lying island in a coral reef) in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef li
  
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• What resource efficiency innovations are needed today for the circular economy of the future?

  29-06-2016 09:40
  
  The development of offsite construction solutions, the Internet of Things, and robotics and automation will prove crucial in utilising the untapped potential of waste-to-resource innovations and addressing the challenges involved in recovering valuable materials, according to a new report from the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN).
  
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• Tragic lack of leadership puts red hot climate change out in the cold

  29-06-2016 07:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Environment and climate groups publish final scorecards rating main political parties as Australians prepare to voteIf ever there was going to be a climate change election, surely this was going to be it.As May came and the election date was announced, the implications of the global Paris agreement between more than 190 countries just months earlier were still resonating – the world was moving away from fossil fuels and the challenge to keep global warming well below 2C was agreed. Continu
  
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• Tragic lack of leadership put red hot climate change out in the cold

  29-06-2016 07:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Environment and climate groups publish final scorecards rating main political parties as Australians prepare to voteIf ever there was going to be a climate change election, surely this was going to be it.As May came and the election date was announced, the implications of the global Paris agreement between more than 190 countries just months earlier were still resonating – the world was moving away from fossil fuels and the challenge to keep global warming well below 2C was agreed. Continu
  
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• UK light pollution 'causing spring to come a week earlier'

  29-06-2016 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Report is the first to examine the impact of artificial night-lighting on the seasonal behaviour of plants on a national scaleLight pollution is causing spring to come at least a week earlier in the UK, a new study has revealed.
  The report, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that budburst in trees occurs up to 7.5 days earlier in brighter areas, with later-budding species being more affected.Continue reading...
  
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• The heifers are in their new quarters

  29-06-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  St Dominic, Tamar Valley A handsome South Devon bull has now joined them, so the cycle will continueA herd of South Devon cattle again graces the fields opposite home. For 30 years the land, with distinctive beech trees on a hedge and an old, freestanding oak, was used mainly for a succession of cereal crops, with annual and ever dearer costs of ploughing, sowing, spraying to control weeds and moulds, and harvesting by combine and straw baler. Marauding pigeons from nearby woods were shot and on
  
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• So what will the Coalition, Labor and the Greens do about climate change? A video explainer

  29-06-2016 05:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Lenore Taylor explains what each of the major parties plan to tackle the problem of greenhouse emissions. While the Coalition is planning to review its plans after Saturday’s general election, Labor is promising two new emissions trading schemes and the Greens have are advocating that Australia source 90% of its power from renewable sources by 2030 Continue reading...
  
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• California land officials sign off on closing nuclear plant

  29-06-2016 02:48
  
  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California land officials dropped their longstanding environmental objections to the state's last nuclear power plant and signed off Tuesday on a deal to close the Central Coast facility nearly 20 years ahead of its previously planned termination.
  
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• Oil prices rise on Norway strike threat; Brexit shock fades

  29-06-2016 02:33
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil rose early on Wednesday as financial traders poured money back into commodities following the initial shock of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, and as a potential strike in Norway and crisis in Venezuela threatened to cut supply. International Brent crude futures were trading at $48.76 per barrel at 0019 GMT, up 18 cents from their last settlement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 30 cents at $48.15 a barrel.
  
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