Environment news

• Night owls start their call: Country diary 100 years ago:

  11-09-2016 23:30
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 16 September 1916The wood is alive now in the evening, while the moon is still almost at its best. As night comes on and the west yellows among the clouds, brown owls begin to call. Everything else is very still; the cattle move noiselessly in the meadow yonder, the sheep lie together under the green oaks. Then a breeze comes, the boughs rustle, moving clouds obscure the light, and the owls start their call. One begins with “Hoo-hoo,&rdquo
  
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• Cuts to renewables agency will hurt Australia's global R&D ranking, says report

  11-09-2016 22:50
  
  Australia had been a big investor in fossil fuels and a low one in renewables, according to International Energy Agency data, but Arena grants changed thatAustralia has consistently led the world with its funding of fossil fuel research and consistently lagged other nations when it comes to developing renewable energy, according analysis by the Australia Institute.The only time in Australia’s recent history that research and development for renewables outstripped R&D for fossil fuels w
  
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• The polluting effect of wear and tear in brakes and tyres

  11-09-2016 22:30
  
  Some wear-particles from brakes and tyres are small enough to be inhaled, and the increase in wear-particles can outweigh the benefits of improvements in exhaust emissionsOne in six MOT failures is due to brake or tyre problems. These wear as we drive, as does the surface of roads. Most of the wear material ends up as dust at the kerb or gets washed into drains but some wear-particles are small enough to be inhaled, and contribute to our air pollution. These particles are rich in transition meta
  
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• Adani's Carmichael coalmine proves environment laws 'too weak' – report

  11-09-2016 22:15
  
  No consequences for the company if its mine causes greater environmental damage to threatened habitats than expected, says study
  Australia’s environmental laws are too weak, a new report argues, citing the Carmichael coalmine as an example. Even what the environment minister has described as the “strictest” environmental conditions on the development allow the destruction of endangered species habitats, the degradation of ecologically and culturally significant water bodies, as
  
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• Call to halt Great Australian Bight oil drilling amid faulty equipment fears

  11-09-2016 20:00
  
  Exclusive: MPs and activists want BP’s exploration licences to be suspended over ‘very critical safety issue’ identified by US regulatorsOil rigs poised to begin drilling in the Great Australian Bight could use faulty equipment that US regulators say is very likely to cause a “catastrophic incident” like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.With no assurances the faulty equipment can be avoided in the Bight drilling, and safety plans that probably
  
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• Ban on domestic ivory trade passes at international summit

  11-09-2016 19:10
  
  Not legally binding but may stem trade and poachingNearly one third of Africa’s savannah elephants killed between 2007 and 2014Ban negotiations spurred feudNations and environment groups have agreed to shut down the domestic ivory trade, despite the resolution nearly being derailed by objections from countries including Japan and South Africa.Related: Push for ban on domestic ivory trade spurs feud at international summitContinue reading...
  
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• Shell begins production at world's deepest underwater oilfield

  11-09-2016 18:15
  
  First oil pumped from Stones field in Gulf of Mexico more than 1.8 miles beneath sea surfaceRoyal Dutch Shell has started production at the world’s deepest underwater oil and gas field, 1.8 miles beneath the sea surface in the Gulf of Mexico. The first oil pumped from the Stones field, 200 miles south of New Orleans, comes after billions of dollars of investment from Shell over the last three years.Continue reading...
  
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• Shell begins production at world's deepest underwater oil field

  11-09-2016 18:15
  
  First oil pumped from Stones field in Gulf of Mexico more than 1.8 miles beneath sea surfaceRoyal Dutch Shell has started production at the world’s deepest underwater oil and gas field, 1.8 miles beneath the sea surface in the Gulf of Mexico. The first oil pumped from the Stones field, 200 miles south of New Orleans, comes after billions of dollars of investment from Shell over the last three years.Continue reading...
  
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• Eastern Libyan commander's forces seize key oil ports

  11-09-2016 17:43
  Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman for Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), said its fighters seized control of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf and Brega, but still faced resistance at the port of Zueitina and around the nearby town of Ajdabiya. The attacks on Libya's major oil ports by Haftar, who opposes the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), pushes the North African state towards a broader battle over its oil resources and disrupts attempts to restart production.
  
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• Everyone loses out when corporate governance falls by the wayside

  11-09-2016 17:01
  
  Companies that put shareholders first disregard their impact on others, as the Deepwater Horizon disaster demonstrates“An ordinary day ended as the biggest manmade ecological disaster in history,” says one of the taglines. Trailers for disaster movie Deepwater Horizon, based on the April 2010 disaster, which will be released later this month, quickly shift from sickly sweet family scenes of Mark Wahlberg bidding farewell to his wife and daughter as he goes off to work on a huge oil d
  
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• Eyewitness: London, UK

  11-09-2016 16:06
  
  Photographs from the Eyewitness series Continue reading...
  
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• Eastern Libyan commander's forces seize two key oil ports

  11-09-2016 14:02
  Ahmed al-Masmari, a spokesman for Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), said LNA fighters seized control of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf and Brega, but still faced resistance at the port of Zueitina and around the nearby town of Ajdabiya. The attacks on Libya's major oil ports by Haftar, who opposes the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), pushes the North African state towards a broader battle over its oil resources and disrupts attempts to restart production.
  
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• Forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander claim control over key oil ports

  11-09-2016 12:19
  BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar took control of key oil ports in Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Brega on Sunday, said Ahmed al-Masmari, a spokesman for the forces. But an official from the force that previously controlled the ports, the Petrol Facilities Guard, said there was still fighting at Ras Lanuf. Masmari said clashes were continuing at another oil port, Zueitina, and around the nearby town of Ajdabiya. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing
  
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• Libyan forces loyal to eastern commander attack oil ports - witness

  11-09-2016 11:40
  Forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar launched attacks at ports in Libya's oil crescent on Sunday and clashed with guards who control the terminals, a guards spokesman and a resident said. Petrol Facilities Guard (PFG) spokesman Ali al-Hassi said Haftar's forces had attacked at Zueitina, Ras Lanuf, and Es Sider ports, as well as the nearby town of Ajdabiya, and clashes were continuing. A port engineer confirmed that Haftar's forces had entered the oil ports of Ras Lanuf and El
  
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• Fasten your seat belt – turbulence is on the rise

  11-09-2016 09:30
  
  Severe turbulence, which recently forced the emergency landing of a transatlantic flight, is on the rise. But why and what can be done?United Airlines Flight 880 was carrying more than 200 passengers from Houston, Texas, to London’s Heathrow airport two weeks ago when it was battered by turbulence that threw people on to the cabin ceiling. Twenty-three people were injured. “We were flying along as smooth as can be and then were just slapped massively from the top as if someone had to
  
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• The eco guide to grocery swaps

  11-09-2016 07:00
  
  Replace food items you buy with greener ones. What could be simpler?The eco swap is the most bite-sized of all sustainable lifestyle actions. You simply replace items in your diet with those that have less impact, in terms of CO2 emissions, land use and change of land use – normally deforestation, and, critically, lower water consumption.The Soil Association recommends carefully pinpointed swaps this month (it’s national awareness month for organic produce this September). If 24 mill
  
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• Balmy September ushers in season of mellow fruitfulness – with added slugs

  11-09-2016 01:05
  
  Apple trees are laden, vines are healthy, and in Norfolk the harvest is in. But with bees still in shocking decline, all is not rosyOn a balmy evening last week in north Wales, the bats were flitting about, the blackberries were as large as grapes, the little winberries on the Berwyn hills were as sweet as sugar and the rowan trees were bowed down with berries. It was nearly as warm at 9pm in Chirk as it was in Lagos.Welcome to early autumn 2016. After a very wet and notably mild winter, a soggy
  
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