Environment news

• All nature flourishes along the hedgerows: Country diary 100 years ago

  02-10-2016 23:30
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 7 October 1916Surrey, October 5
  A warm sun, as of the latter days of August, broke through this morning and brought summer along the hedgerows. Almost before the dew had dried, a dragon-fly, green and gold, was searching over the tops of the bushes, where almost innumerable insects were on the wing, appearing suddenly as if from nowhere. Thrushes had been singing, but not loudly, for a long while, but they stopped just as a few larks rose out of
  
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• Medical staff in dark about policies to mitigate health risks of climate change, study says

  02-10-2016 21:40
  
  While some states have begun developing climate and health policies, 65% said they were not aware of any such policiesAustralian health professionals overwhelmingly say they don’t know of any policies that deal with the health implications of climate change, despite the World Health Organisation saying “climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century”.The results come from the first national snapshot of the knowledge and views of doctors, nurses, heal
  
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• Hydrogen cars and electrolysers: the dawn of Australia's hydrogen economy?

  02-10-2016 21:40
  
  Two large-scale hydrogen facilities in the ACT could mark a turning point in the use of clean tech for transport and heatingThe hydrogen economy has been a long time coming. The use of hydrogen as a replacement energy source for oil and gas has been talked about since the early 1970s when the term was first coined by an engineer at General Motors in the US.It still hasn’t really arrived. And doubters remain. They point to the heavy infrastructure needed to support the technology, the huge
  
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• Countries fail to agree on complete ban to protect African lions from global trade

  02-10-2016 21:23
  
  The 182 countries at the Johannesburg summit did reach a compromise banning only the trade in bones, teeth and claws from wild lionsAn attempt to ban all international trade in African lions, from trophy heads to bones, has failed at a global wildlife summit. Related: Cecil the lion's legacy: death brings new hope for his grandcubsContinue reading...
  
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• World's nations agree elephant ivory markets must close

  02-10-2016 21:00
  
  With poachers killing an elephant every 15 minutes on average, the pressure to shut down the legal trade in ivory is intensifying Legal ivory markets across the globe must be urgently closed in order to combat the elephant poaching crisis, according to an agreement struck by 182 nations on Sunday. The decision is significant in intensifying the pressure on countries that still host such markets, which conservationists say provide cover for criminals to launder illegal ivory.Continue reading...
  
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• Agrichemicals and ever more intensive farming will not feed the world | Felicity Lawrence

  02-10-2016 18:25
  
  Our food production system is broken, with steep losses in biodiversity. The answer is not more chemicals from a few increasingly dominant companiesBritish farmers growing wheat typically treat each crop over its growing cycle with four fungicides, three herbicides, one insecticide and one chemical to control molluscs. They buy seed that has been precoated with chemicals against insects. They spray the land with weedkiller before planting, and again after.They apply chemical growth regulators th
  
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• India ratifies Paris climate change agreement

  02-10-2016 17:41
  
  NEW DELHI (AP) — India, which accounts for about 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, ratified the Paris climate change agreement Sunday at the United Nations, officials said.
  
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• Call to close ivory markets agreed at Cites conference

  02-10-2016 17:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Delegates at a UN wildlife conference in South Africa endorse calls for the closure of all domestic ivory markets.
  
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• African grey parrot has global summit to thank for protected status

  02-10-2016 15:45
  
  Convention in Johannesburg votes to end all international trade in popular pet birds whose populations have plummeted The loquacious African grey parrot, one of the most illegally trafficked birds in the world, has been talking itself towards extinction for years thanks to its reputation as a gregarious and long-living pet. On Sunday it was given extra protection after a global wildlife summit agreed a ban on the international trade. Continue reading...
  
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• Five things to talk about when you’re bored with the US election | Arwa Mahdawi

  02-10-2016 15:00
  
  Try chatting about pumpkin spiced lattes and fantasy football if you’ve had enough of the presidential candidatesThere are only 36 days left until the US election, and already America is tired. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 59% of Americans were already exhausted by the amount of election coverage in June, when D-day was four months away. As the election draws nearer and the media hysteria mounts, levels of fatigue are hovering around the “please induce a coma and wake m
  
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• Global trade in wild African Grey Parrot banned, U.N. meeting rules

  02-10-2016 14:38
  By Tanisha Heiberg JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The United Nations has banned global trade in wild African Grey Parrots, prized for their ability to imitate human speech, to help counter a decline in numbers caused by trafficking and the loss of forests. "Inclusion in Appendix I is in the best interests of the conservation of the species as it faces both habitat loss and rampant illegal and unsustainable trade for the international pet trade," said vice president and head of the Wildlife Conservatio
  
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• UN wildlife conference bans trade in African grey parrot

  02-10-2016 13:13
  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A U.N. wildlife conference has approved a ban on international trade in wild populations of the African grey parrot, which is heavily sought after as a pet because of its ability to mimic words.
  
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• India to ratify Paris climate change agreement at UN

  02-10-2016 13:13
  
  Narendra Modi has committed that by 2030 at least 40% of country’s electricity will be generated from non-fossil sourcesIndia will ratify the Paris climate change agreement at the United Nations, an environment ministry official said.Narendra Modi’s cabinet had given its approval on Wednesday to ratify the Paris agreement on Sunday, coinciding with the birth anniversary of India’s independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, who believed in a minimum carbon footprint. Continue reading..
  
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• India set to ratify Paris climate change agreement at UN

  02-10-2016 12:37
  
  NEW DELHI (AP) — India will ratify the Paris climate change agreement at the United Nations on Sunday, an Environment Ministry official said.
  
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• Pope pays homage to tiny Catholic flock in Muslim Azerbaijan

  02-10-2016 12:05
  By Philip Pullella and Nailia Bagirova BAKU (Reuters) - Pope Francis said a Mass on Sunday for the miniscule Catholic community in Shi'ite Muslim Azerbaijan, urging the "precious little flock" to keep the faith and paying tribute to those persecuted during the Soviet era. Many of them are foreigners, including staff from embassies and domestic workers and some in the oil and gas industries. Go ahead without fear", Francis said, praising them for being a close-knit and vibrant "community on the p
  
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• Coronal loops arch above the Sun in Nasa images

  02-10-2016 10:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory captures a magnificent display of coronal loops above an area with strong magnetic fields.
  
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• Arab coalition says targets Houthi forces after ship attack

  02-10-2016 08:43
  Arab coalition forces have launched operations against militia boats of Yemen's Houthi group that struck a civilian logistics ship on a humanitarian voyage in a strategic Red Sea shipping lane, the Saudi-led alliance said. The vessel, an Australian-built high speed logistics catamaran under lease to the United Arab Emirates military, was attacked by Houthi fighters near the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen's southern coast on Saturday. In a statement late on Saturday, the coalition said the vessel
  
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• Butterfish is a big problem for little puffins

  02-10-2016 08:00
  
  Warmer seas have attracted a new fish to the Maine coast – but puffin chicks can’t stomach itEastern Egg Rock is a freezing speck of island that clings to the coast of Maine, north of Boston. It is fringed with a few bushes, has little soil and no supplies of fresh water. Yet this unprepossessing, seven-acre scrap of wave-washed granite is a site of major ecological interest. Thanks to research carried out here, scientists are gleaning invaluable – and alarming – data abo
  
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• Shark attacks: Coalition deploys extra drumlines but doubts about effectiveness remain

  02-10-2016 07:00
  
  Strategy, which helps track and monitor sharks without baiting or killing them, will be prioritised on north coastUp to 100 extra “smart” drumlines will be rolled out along the New South Wales coastline to keep swimmers safe from sharks, the New South Wales government has announced.The controversial shark management strategy helps authorities track and monitor sharks without baiting or killing them, and the rollout announced on Sunday will be prioritised on the NSW north coast follow
  
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• South Australian blackout: Josh Frydenberg says renewable energy not to blame

  02-10-2016 05:45
  
  But energy minister says states are pursuing ‘ridiculously high and unrealistic’ targets and calls for wider debateEarly inquiries into South Australia’s blackout say it was not caused or exacerbated by the state’s dependency on renewable energy, the federal energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, has said, calling for a “real debate” on the issue regardless.Extreme weather in South Australia has included widespread flooding and a severe storm last week saw more tha
  
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• After Revenant … Leonardo DiCaprio stars as eco-warrior in climate battle

  02-10-2016 01:05
  
  Obama and the pope feature in documentary, Before the Flood, that hopes to influence presidential electionHe struggled through the frozen wastes of North America in his Oscar-winning performance in The Revenant. Now Leonardo DiCaprio is starring in a different role – taking his powerful new eco-documentary to the White House, in the hope it can help restart President Obama’s battle against global warming.It’s an issue of importance to both men. Obama, who appears in the documen
  
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• The Observer view on the power of the big four supermarkets | Observer editorial

  02-10-2016 01:04
  
  Consumers need to know that their food will not harm them, animals or the environmentIn the 1840s, the Rochdale Pioneers set up their own shops to provide honest food at fair prices at a time when people had little money and bread was often bulked out with chalk, milk diluted with water and tea had ingredients not related in any way to tea leaves. Today, standards are much improved. The supermarket, the invention of the 1960s, provides huge choice at relatively cheap prices for consumers who are
  
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• How can we put the taste back into British food?

  02-10-2016 00:04
  
  Fresh local produce has been replaced by cheap, bland, industrial-farmed food as supermarkets slash prices. What will it take to bring change?Four strawberries, picked an hour earlier, sit on a saucer on the dining-room table of Lindsey Lodge Farm, a 40-acre farm growing fruit and vegetables in Suffolk. It is June and these strawberries are the first of the English season. Andrew Sturgeon, a farmer for 30 years, smiles, certain of the quality. The aroma is heady, the taste is of strawberries as
  
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