Environment news

• Study finds shark fins & meat contain high levels of neurotoxins linked to Alzheimer's disease

  29-08-2016 23:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  In a new study, University of Miami (UM) scientists found high concentrations of toxins linked to neurodegenerative diseases in the fins and muscles of 10 species of sharks. The research team suggests that restricting consumption of sharks can have positive health benefits for consumers and for shark conservation, since several of the sharks analyzed in the study are threatened with extinction due to overfishing.Fins and muscle tissue samples were collected from 10 shark species found in the Atl
  
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• More Than 300 Reindeer Killed By Lightning: Here's Why

  29-08-2016 23:12
  
  More than 300 wild reindeer were killed after being struck by lightning in Norway, in what government officials say was an unusually deadly event. It's not uncommon for wildlife to be killed by lightning strikes, but what made this storm so deadly? Most lightning deaths that occur in groups are due to the ground current, John Jensenius, a lightning safety expert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Verge.
  
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• Oil down 1 percent, pressured by glut, dollar, Nigeria outlook

  29-08-2016 22:41
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled down more than 1 percent on Monday, snapping two consecutive days of gains, on renewed concerns about an oil glut, a stronger dollar and expectations that Nigerian rebels will stop hampering that country's crude output.
  
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• The Sound of a Healthy Reef

  29-08-2016 22:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will help researchers understand the ways that marine animal larvae use sound as a cue to settle on coral reefs. The study, published on August 23rd in the online journal Scientific Reports, has determined that sounds created by adult fish and invertebrates may not travel far enough for larvae —which hatch in open ocean—to hear them, meaning that the larvae might rely on other means to home in on a reef system.
  
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• North Dakota oil pipeline protesters stand their ground: 'This is sacred land'

  29-08-2016 22:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Pipeline’s planned route takes it close to Standing Rock Sioux reservation and Cannon Ball, which could endanger drinking water and threaten sacred sitesThe Cannonball river flows into the mighty Missouri about 50 miles due south of Bismarck, North Dakota.At its confluence, a protest encampment – really a series of camps, on both sides of the Cannonball, strewn with kitchens and canteens, portable toilets, stabling for horses, sweat lodges and tall teepees, and stands selling indigen
  
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• ‘We’re not going home’: inside the North Dakota oil pipeline protest – video

  29-08-2016 22:13 via theguardian.com
  
  There is a battle under way near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, over plans for a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline. The North Dakota Access pipeline will run just outside the formal boundary of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, and tribal members fear it will pollute local drinking water and disturb sacred sitesFaces of the North Dakota pipeline protest: ‘Sacred land is who we are’Continue reading...
  
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• Shell to sell certain Gulf of Mexico assets to EnVen Energy

  29-08-2016 22:05
  (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it has agreed to sell certain assets in the Gulf of Mexico to independent oil and gas company EnVen Energy Corp for $425 million, plus royalty interests. Houston-based EnVen plans to buy the Brutus/Glider assets, which include a subsea production system, and the deal is expected to close in October. (Reporting by Vishaka George in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
  
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• Oil down on glut, dollar; Nigeria rebels add to bearish outlook

  29-08-2016 21:34
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled down more than 1 percent on Monday, snapping two consecutive days of gains, on caution over galloping Middle East crude output and a firmer dollar boosted by speculation of a U.S. rate hike by year-end. A pledge by Nigerian rebels to end hostilities against their oil industry also appeared to pave the way for more crude exports from Africa's No. 1 producer, which experienced numerous pipeline blow-ups and other disruptions to output earl
  
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• Shell Deer Park FCCU to shut Sept 12 for overhaul -sources

  29-08-2016 20:31
  HOUSTON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to shut the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit for a planned overhaul at the its joint-venture 285,500 barrel per day (bpd) Deer Park, Texas refinery by Sept. 12, said sources familiar with plant operations on Monday. The overhaul of the 70,000 bpd FCCU is expected to last through at least the end of October, the sources said. The Gerbitol unit, which reduces air pollution and another unit will also be shut along with the cat cracke
  
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• Early human ancestor Lucy 'died falling out of a tree'

  29-08-2016 20:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New evidence suggests that the famous fossilised human ancestor dubbed 'Lucy' by scientists may have died falling from a great height - probably from a tree.
  
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• Niger Delta Avengers says halted hostilities in Nigerian Delta

  29-08-2016 19:58
  A Nigerian militant group, which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the southern Niger Delta energy hub in the last few months, said on Monday that it had halted hostilities. The statement by the Niger Delta Avengers comes just over a week after the militant group said it was ready for a ceasefire and talks with the government. "We have listened carefully and halted hostilities in the Niger Delta," said the Avengers in the statement, presented as an "
  
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• SOS: save our swimming lessons | Patrick Barkham

  29-08-2016 19:39 via theguardian.com
  
  It has to be the best form of exercise – life-saving and a supreme pleasure. So why are so many British schools failing to provide tuition despite their national curriculum obligations?One of the joys of this summer has been watching my four-year-old twins learn to swim: from as water-resistant as cats to as playful as porpoises in six weeks. They are fortunate because their granny is a swimming teacher. And she’s got time on her hands – having just been made redundant.She lost
  
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• Niger Delta Avengers say halted hostilities in Nigerian Delta

  29-08-2016 19:31
  LAGOS (Reuters) - The Niger Delta Avengers militant group, which has carried out a series of attacks on oil and gas installations in Nigeria's Delta energy hub in the last few months, said on Monday it had halted hostilities. In a statement on its website addressed to Nigeria's president, the group said it expected "a genuine and positive attitude to restructuring and self-determination for every component unit of Nigeria". (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by David Clarke)
  
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• Oil down nearly 2 percent on surging OPEC output, strong dollar

  29-08-2016 17:54
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly 2 percent on Monday, snapping two consecutive days of gains, on caution over galloping Middle East crude output and a stronger dollar boosted by speculation of a U.S. rate hike by the year-end. Iraq, which has exported more crude from its southern ports in August, will continue ramping up output, its oil minister said on Saturday. Top exporter Saudi Arabia has kept output at around record levels this month.
  
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• Statoil expects 'loads of' M&A deals coming up, strategy chief says

  29-08-2016 17:52
  John Knight, Statoil's executive vice-president for global strategy and business development, told Reuters on the sidelines of the ONS oil conference in Stavanger, Norway on Monday: ** "Absolutely, I think there are loads of deals out there," he said when asked whether he expects more deals coming up ** Says: "If you look at the acquisition and divestment markets for upstream oil and gas on a global basis over the last five years, they have been falling to all-time lows... but there are a number
  
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• UTA study finds air contamination near fracking sites result of operational inefficiencies

  29-08-2016 17:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Chemists at the University of Texas at Arlington have published a new study that indicates that highly variable contamination events registered in and around unconventional oil and gas developments are the result of operational inefficiencies and not inherent to the extraction process itself.The study, published today as "Point source attribution of ambient contamination events near unconventional oil and gas development" in Science of the Total Environment, found highly variable levels of
  
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• New York governor sparks anger after killing threatened shark

  29-08-2016 16:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists criticise Andrew Cuomo after he tweets photos of himself next to thresher shark caught during fishing tripThe New York state governor, Andrew Cuomo, and his news anchor brother Chris have been criticised by conservationists and constituents after posing beside a threatened shark they killed on a fishing trip.
  The governor tweeted two photos of himself and friends standing next to the bloodied shark as it hung from a marina-side gantry. Continue reading...
  
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• Reindeer killed in Norway lightning storm

  29-08-2016 15:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  More than 300 reindeer have been killed in a lightning storm on a mountain plateau in Norway.
  
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• Holoscenes: Lars Jan's 3,500-gallon warning to humanity

  29-08-2016 15:03 via theguardian.com
  
  The LA artist is putting performers in a slowly flooding plastic box as part of London’s Burning festival – but it’s an omen of greater disasters to comeEyes on the prize: the must-see art and design of autumn 2016For years the Los Angeles-based artist Lars Jan was haunted by an image he just couldn’t shake: “A man is turning the pages of a newspaper and slowly the room fills with water. Rather than reacting like there’s anything out of the ordinary, he just k
  
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• UK government could approve Hinkley Point but delay Essex project

  29-08-2016 14:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Decision on the Bradwell reactor could be stalled to allow a discussion about its effect on British security, potentially endangering the deal with ChinaThe government is considering a proposal to detach development of the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant from an agreement allowing China to build a reactor in Essex.The proposal is one of the options under consideration after Theresa May delayed approving the £18bn Hinkley Point project last month, according to a report in the Times (&poun
  
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• Storms in Mexico Kill Millions of Monarchs

  29-08-2016 14:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  While international efforts are under way to help keep dwindling populations of monarch butterflies from disappearing, scientists are raising concerns about how severe weather and a loss of forest habitat at their wintering grounds in Mexico are affecting them.Every year, monarchs embark on an epic multigenerational migration that takes them thousands of miles from Canada and the U.S. in search of sites in California and in Mexico. The fir trees in the southern regions offer the shelte
  
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• The Anthropocene epoch: scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age

  29-08-2016 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts say humanity’s impact on Earth now so profound that the Holocene must give way to epoch defined by nuclear bomb tests, plastic pollution and domesticated chickenHumanity’s impact on the Earth is now so profound that a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – needs to be declared, according to an official expert group who presented the recommendation to the International Geological Congress in Cape Town on Monday.The new epoch should begin about 1950, the experts
  
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• The Anthropocene epoch could inaugurate even more marvellous eras of evolution | Martin Rees

  29-08-2016 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The darkest prognosis is that bio, cyber or environmental catastrophes could foreclose humanity’s potential. But there is an optimistic optionOn Christmas Eve 1968, the Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders took a photograph of the view outside the window as his spaceship orbited the moon. The now iconic Earthrise image shows our half-moon blue planet under a decoration of clouds rising from the blackness of space over the lunar surface.The picture encapsulated Earth’s precariousness in
  
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• World first for Shetlands in tidal power breakthrough

  29-08-2016 13:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Nova Innovation deploys first fully operational array of tidal power turbines in the Bluemull SoundA power company in Shetland has claimed a breakthrough in the race to develop viable offshore tidal stations after successfully feeding electricity to local homes.Nova Innovation said it had deployed the world’s first fully operational array of tidal power turbines in the Bluemull Sound between the islands of Unst and Yell in the north of Shetland, where the North Sea meets the Atlantic.Conti
  
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• Iraqi government, Kurds to start talks about oil dispute - Iraqi spokesman

  29-08-2016 13:34
  The Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional authorities in northern Iraq will discuss a dispute on oil revenue sharing during bilateral talks on Monday, a government spokesman said. The oil issue will be among the topics to be discussed in Baghdad by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Iraq's oil ministry said on Friday it would consider selling crude through Iran should talks with the autonomous Kurdish region about oi
  
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• New wind tunnel reveals bird flight secrets

  29-08-2016 13:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers at Stanford University have designed a unique bird tunnel to observe how tiny birds fly.
  
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• China's Parliament proposes new environmental tax benefits - Xinhua

  29-08-2016 13:22
  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Parliament has proposed increasing tax benefits for companies that cut pollution by more than the national standard, state media Xinhua reported on Monday, the latest effort by Beijing to curb the country's emissions. If passed by the National People's Congress, China's top legislator, companies that reduce emissions to half of the national requirement would only pay half the taxes levied for air, water and soil pollution. No other details were given. (Reporting by Be
  
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• California has urged President Obama and Congress to tax carbon pollution | Dana Nuccitelli

  29-08-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The California state government passed AJR 43, urging the national government to pass a revenue-neutral carbon tax
  Last week, the California state senate passed Assembly Joint Resolution 43, urging the federal government to pass a revenue-neutral carbon tax:WHEREAS, A national carbon tax would make the United States a leader in mitigating climate change and the advancing clean energy technologies of the 21st Century, and would incentivize other countries to enact similar carbon taxes, thereby re
  
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• Statoil sees more Aker-BP type-deals in Norway oil sector

  29-08-2016 11:59
  John Knight, Statoil's executive vice-president for global strategy and business development, told the ONS oil conference in Stavanger on Monday: ** Expects more deals in the Norwegian oil sector like the merger between BP's Norwegian business and that of Norwegian oil firm Det norske and its top owner, holding company Aker , earlier this year. ** Says: "Some large, traditional players of the last 50 years have already left ... Just this year we had one of the largest (BP) changing its business
  
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• Small tortoiseshell butterfly numbers have plummeted across UK

  29-08-2016 11:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists fear this year’s cool spring and slow start to summer have taken their toll on one of UK’s best-loved butterfliesConservationists are warning of the decline of one of the UK’s best-loved butterflies. Numbers of the small tortoiseshell – which is one of the most recognisable and widespread in the country – appear to have plummeted this summer.Continue reading...
  
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• Oil falls towards $49 on high output, strong dollar

  29-08-2016 11:33
  By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell towards $49 a barrel on Monday, pressured by high output from Middle East OPEC members and as a stronger U.S. dollar weighed on commodities. Iraq, which has exported more crude from its southern ports in August, will continue ramping up output, its oil minister said on Saturday. Brent crude was 62 cents lower at $49.30 a barrel at 0904 GMT.
  
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• Shetland turbines at Bluemull Sound connected to grid

  29-08-2016 11:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Turbines installed off the coast of Shetland could herald a "new era" in tidal energy, according to the company running the project.
  
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• Life on Mars: Moment Nasa crew emerges from year-long trial

  29-08-2016 10:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A Nasa team has emerged from a Mars simulation in Hawaii, where they lived in near isolation for a year.
  
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• Our message to Japan: Africa's elephants need your support

  29-08-2016 10:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Paula Kahumbu: Elephant diplomacy is helping to get Japan on board in efforts towards a global ban on ivory trade The global coalition for a total ban on the trade in ivory is taking shape. In Africa calls for the ban are led by the 29 nation African Elephant Coalition (AEC). In the consumer countries, both the US President Obama and China’s President Xi have made commitments to close the domestic markets which will have a huge impact on demand. To be sure, progress towards building the co
  
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• Greg Hunt's approval of Adani's Queensland mine upheld by federal court

  29-08-2016 10:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Former environment minister entitled to find any assessment of resulting carbon pollution on the Great Barrier Reef was ‘speculative’, court saysThe federal court has upheld the commonwealth approval of Adani’s Queensland mine, ruling that former environment minister Greg Hunt was entitled to find any assessment of resulting carbon pollution on the Great Barrier Reef was “speculative”.The court on Monday dismissed a challenge by the Australian Conservation Foundatio
  
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• Coca-Cola hits global water replenishment goal five years early

  29-08-2016 10:00
  
  Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola has become the first Fortune 500 Company to replenish all of the water it uses globally back to nature and communities.
  
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• Oil prices fall over 1 percent on rising Iraq output, strong dollar

  29-08-2016 08:59
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices fell over 1 percent on Monday after the U.S. dollar jumped, with markets pressured as Iraq's production rose and as Iran said it would only cooperate in talks to freeze output if fellow exporters recognised its right to fully regain market share. Brent crude futures were trading at $49.22 per barrel at 0644 GMT, down 70 cents, or 1.4 percent, from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 75 cents, or 1.6 percent
  
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• Climate sceptic MP appointed chair of environment and energy committee

  29-08-2016 08:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Liberal Craig Kelly will lead backbench committee that provides advice and feedback on legislation and policies The climate sceptic Liberal MP Craig Kelly has been appointed chairman of the backbench environment and energy committee, with National party MP Kevin Hogan as secretary.The committee will provide feedback on legislation and policies relating to the environment and energy, including to the minister, Josh Frydenberg.Continue reading...
  
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• Japan promises Kenya aid to fund development, power generation

  29-08-2016 07:55
  Japan will give Kenya 1 billion yen (7.45 million pounds) in aid to spur economic and social development, and will extend an as yet unspecified amount for a geothermal power project, the leaders of the two countries said. Resource-poor Japan has long been keen on tapping Africa's vast natural resources, even more so since dependence on oil and natural gas imports jumped after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster shut almost all its nuclear reactors. "Japan will extend grant aid for economic and s
  
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• Climate change predicted to halve coffee-growing area that supports 120m people

  29-08-2016 06:55 via theguardian.com
  
  More than 120 million of the world’s poorest depend on the coffee economy, a report says, and their livelihoods are already suffering from temperature risesClimate change is going to halve the area suitable for coffee production and impact the livelihoods of more than 120 million of the world’s poorest people who rely on the coffee economy, according to a new report by the Climate Institute, commissioned by Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand.The report findings follow stark warnin
  
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• Lessons from a meadow brown butterfly

  29-08-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Crewe Green, Cheshire This one has had a lucky escape; with more than half of its wings gone, it’s surprising it can fly at all. Butterflies may look ethereal and fragile, but they are survivorsA flock of starlings lift up from the damp grass and swerve in the harebell blue sky as I cycle by. It’s a mellow morning with a hint of a breeze. Ox-eye daisies and buttercups adorn the hedgerows, nodding their heads. There are big clouds of feathery white meadowsweet; I can smell its marzipa
  
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• Zika virus: Singapore confirms 41 locally transmitted cases

  29-08-2016 05:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Singapore has confirmed 41 cases of the Zika virus in people who had not travelled to Zika-affected areas, meaning the virus has spread locally.
  
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• Oil prices fall on rising Iraq output, doubt over producer talks

  29-08-2016 03:54
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about 1 percent on Monday as Iraq's production rose and Iran said it would only cooperate in producer talks to freeze output if fellow exporters recognised its right to fully regain market share. International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $49.40 per barrel at 0145 GMT, down 52 cents, or 1.0 percent, from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 58 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $47.06 a barre
  
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• Oil prices fall on rising Iraq output, doubt over producer talk prospects

  29-08-2016 02:55
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices fell early on Monday as output from Iraq rose and as Iran said it would only cooperate in upcoming producer talks to freeze output if fellow exporters recognised its right to fully regain market share. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 43 cents at $47.21 a barrel. Traders said the price falls were a result of climbing output from the Middle East, where oil exports from Iraq's southern ports have averaged 3.205 million
  
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• Wood fuel plan to cut plane CO2 branded as 'pipe dream'

  29-08-2016 02:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Proponents say new, greener jet fuels made from waste wood could significantly reduce airline CO2 emissions but environmentalists say it's a "pipe dream".
  
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