Environment news

• Fears grow over danger of flooding around the UK as inquiry is shelved

  30-07-2016 22:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts warn that time is running out to prevent similar devastation caused by last year’s floods as National Flood Resilience Review is delayedOn Boxing Day last year, Colette Jones was warned by neighbours that flood water was pouring across parkland near her house in Bury, Greater Manchester. The river Irwell had burst its banks as torrential rain swept the area. Within an hour, her house and hundreds of others nearby were inundated. Colette and her husband, Graham, had to struggle thro
  
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• Britain’s energy dilemma: if not nuclear power, then what?

  30-07-2016 20:47 via theguardian.com
  
  The delay to the construction of the controversial Hinkley point plant raises a question: what else can provide baseload power without polluting?Britain faces a problem in coping with its complex energy demands. It needs to provide extra energy to meet rising demands for power in coming decades but at a reasonable cost – while also reducing carbon emissions by considerable levels in order to meet its climate change commitments. This is not an easy combination to achieve. However, Hinkley P
  
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• 'Ayahuasca is changing global environmental consciousness'

  30-07-2016 16:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Interview with US scientist Dennis McKenna on powerful Amazon hallucinogen, plant intelligence and environmental crisesAyahuasca, as it has come to be known internationally, is a plant medicine that has been used in the Amazon for centuries for healing and spiritual purposes. Renowned for the often extraordinary visions it induces - not to mention the deep vomiting - it is made from an Amazonian vine known to western science as Banisteriopsis caapi and usually at least one other plant.Over the l
  
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• May had objections to Hinkley Point, says Cable

  30-07-2016 14:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Theresa May had "objections" to a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point during the days of the coalition, says the then Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable.
  
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• Mysterious purple orb discovered by marine scientists in California – video

  30-07-2016 13:45 via theguardian.com
  
  The marine scientists on the Ocean Exploration Trust’s research vessel, E/V Nautilus, find what is likely to be a variant of sea slug 5,000ft below the sea off Santa Barbara, California in a video published online on 25 July. The researchers have sent a sample of the purple orb to the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology for DNA analysisVideo courtesy of Ocean Exploration Trust. See the full video hereContinue reading...
  
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• New species of Pacific beaked whale confirmed

  30-07-2016 13:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers confirm that as yet unnamed whale sighted by Japanese fishermen was previously unknown to scienceScientists have confirmed that a mysterious, unnamed species of beaked whale roams the northern Pacific Ocean. Sightings of the creature, which has a bulbous head and a beak like a porpoise, had been reported by Japanese fishermen, who call them karasu or ravens, but it was previously unknown to science. It has yet to be given a formal scientific name.“Clearly this species is very r
  
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• Plastic bag use plummets in England since 5p charge

  30-07-2016 13:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Shoppers in England are on target to use six billion fewer plastic bags in the first year since a 5p charge for them was introduced, government data suggests.
  
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• Foul-smelling corpse flower finally blooms in New York – video

  30-07-2016 12:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Visitors flock to the New York Botanical Garden on Friday to witness one of the world’s largest and smelliest flowers – Amorphophallus titanum, also known as the corpse flower – bloom. The rare blooming began Thursday afternoon after more than 10 years of growth. The bloom at its peak only lasts about 24 to 36 hours Continue reading...
  
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• Scientists fight crab for mysterious purple orb discovered in California deep

  30-07-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  E/V Nautilus team find likely sea slug 5,000ft below sea off Santa BarbaraAnalysis reveals foot and proboscis, making it ‘a gastropod of some kind’More than 5,000ft below the surface of the ocean, in a canyon off the coast of southern California, the purple, globular creature appeared to glow under the submersible’s lights. Related: Sea sponge the size of a minivan discovered in ocean depths off HawaiiContinue reading...
  
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• South Yorkshire town in tap water alert over high bacteria levels

  30-07-2016 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands of people in Thorne and village of Moorends, near Doncaster, told not to use tap water while utility firm investigatesThousands of people in a South Yorkshire town have been warned not to use tap water for drinking or cooking after high levels of bacteria were detected. The former Labour leader Ed Miliband said he was concerned over the situation affecting 3,600 properties in parts of Thorne, near Doncaster, and the neighbouring village of Moorends, which is in his constituency.Continu
  
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• Lettuce towers and office block farms - is this the future?

  30-07-2016 10:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Towers of lettuce and pak choi, or a three-storey farm in an office building - could this be the future of farming?
  
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• Why not invest in your local chippy? It could be a source of renewable energy

  30-07-2016 07:59 via theguardian.com
  
  As negative interest rates loom, savers are scouting around for alternatives. A new investment promises 8% returns – from recycled cooking oilNext Thursday the Bank of England is widely expected to make its first rate cut since March 2009, taking the base rate from 0.5% to just 0.25%, while NatWest has warned customers that negative interest rates could be on the horizon. For savers fed up with lousy returns, and willing to take much more risk with their money, are renewable energy schemes
  
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• Fruit and veg straight from the field

  30-07-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Hay-on-Wye, Powys Market town enjoys a renaissance of home produce picked the day before with no chilled storage in sightJoe at the market garden called 100% Hay is always smiley, but this market day morning he’s looking especially chirpy. The sun is shining, customers are queuing, and the full bounty of summer is weighing heavy on his stall.Laid out beside his year-round staples – potatoes, garlic, onions and chard – are boxes of summer fruit: red and yellow raspberries, deep
  
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• China General Nuclear says respects Britain's decision to review Hinkley project

  30-07-2016 05:08
  China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) on Saturday said it respects the decision of the new British government to review a nuclear power project in which it would hold a major stake, according to a statement on the company's official microblog. "We understand, given the importance of the Hinkley Point C programme to England's future energy security, that the new British Government has expressed a need for time to familiarise itself with the programme. CGN understands and respects this," the comp
  
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• New Yorkers flock to foul flower

  30-07-2016 03:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A rare, and extremely pungent. 'corpse flower' has bloomed in New York Botanical Garden.
  
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• Drop in little terns numbers concerns RSPB

  30-07-2016 01:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The RSPB is concerned after the number of little terns nesting in the UK's biggest colony dropped by almost half.
  
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• England's plastic bag usage drops 85% since 5p charge introduced

  30-07-2016 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Number of single-use bags handed out dropped to 500m in first six months since charge, compared with 7bn the previous yearThe number of single-use plastic bags used by shoppers in England has plummeted by more than 85% after the introduction of a 5p charge last October, early figures suggest.More than 7bn bags were handed out by seven main supermarkets in the year before the charge, but this figure plummeted to slightly more than 500m in the first six months after the charge was introduced, the
  
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