Environment news

• River Dee's pearl mussels get a helping hand – or gill

  13-08-2016 23:48 via theguardian.com
  
  They were hunted to near-extinction. Now a £3.5m project aims to let the Scottish molluscs flourish againThe sun shines on clear river water running through a valley in the Cairngorms, bringing the stones on the river bed into colourful focus. Here and there are dark shadows, half-buried clusters of dull black shells, lined and gouged by decades of shifting water and gravel: the pearl mussels of the river Dee. Related: Fundraising drive aims to save seabird paradise off ScotlandContinue re
  
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• Large cruise ship voyage through Arctic ice rekindles rows

  13-08-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners say Crystal Serenity trip puts at risk very environment tourists are travelling to see in Northwest PassageA decision to proceed with plans to sail the first huge cruise liner through the Northwest Passage on Tuesday with 1,000 passengers on board has rekindled rows with environmentalists about the Arctic.The wildlife charity WWF has accused Crystal Cruises of putting at risk “the very thing that tourists would come to see” – a pristine wilderness and home to endang
  
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• White waterlilies combine purity with a hint of danger

  13-08-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  South Uist They exist in two worlds, coming to flower in the sunshine and open air while rooted in the murky waters of the lochIt’s a scene worthy of the grounds around the most cultured of stately homes. An expanse of tranquil water faithfully reflecting back the glorious blue of a cloudless summer sky while a spread of white waterlilies rests serenely on its surface. Yet this is no planned garden but just one of the many lochs and lochans on the moorland and rough grazing which, for a sh
  
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• From the rich black soil of the Liverpool Plains springs hope for coalmine-free future

  13-08-2016 02:44 via theguardian.com
  
  New South Wales government couches its words carefully, but community hopes the end of BHP mine also spells the end of the Shenhua Watermark mineOne of Australia’s biggest mining battles could be drawing to a close, with the enormous Shenhua Watermark coalmine looking set to be stopped by the state government after relentless community pressure.In a major victory for the uneasy coalition of environmentalists, farmers and conservative politicians and commentators, the New South Wales govern
  
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• Venezuela minister to visit oil-producing nations in effort on oil prices

  13-08-2016 01:54
  Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino on Saturday will begin a tour of OPEC and non-OPEC countries as part of an effort to reach consensus among oil-producing countries on a strategy for boosting crude prices, President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday. Cash-strapped Venezuela has for months sought to rally producers toward an agreement to limit production as a way of controlling a global supply glut, but major oil exporters appear more focused on preserving market share than raising prices. "To
  
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• Axing clean energy supplement has barely caused a ripple, but it should | Lenore Taylor

  13-08-2016 01:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Although the amounts appear insignificant, the cuts in payments to new welfare recipients will hit hard for the most disadvantaged Australians For many people, $4.40 a week is a small sum – trivial even. A cup of coffee on the way to work, the parking change in the car console.But for those Australians set to lose between $4.40 and $7.05 a week in one of the 45th parliament’s first legislative acts, many of them living below the poverty line, those small sums will make the dire choic
  
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