Environment news

• Grey squirrel spotted in Manchester suburb: Country diary 100 years ago:

  09-10-2016 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 13 October 1916The appearance of the American grey squirrel in a Withington garden might well cause surprise, but the lady who reports it evidently knows this animal, which is rather larger than our familiar red squirrel, is grey in colour, and lacks ear-tufts. She wonders if it had escaped from confinement. I do not expect so; it is more likely that it has been intentionally released in one of the Manchester parks, or possibly at Belle Vue. Man
  
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• How can we know when the air we are breathing is harmful?

  09-10-2016 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  In response to public concern, small, relatively inexpensive air pollution sensors are coming on to the market. But tests show that they can be inaccurate. Is there an alternative?If only we could see the air pollution around us we could identify the culprits and avoid exposure. From an early age we are taught not to drink dirty water or eat mouldy food but we have less opportunity to avoid harmful air. In a re-run of autumn 2010, this September’s warm weather caused unusually late summert
  
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• Reindeer to be culled in Russia’s far north due to anthrax outbreak

  09-10-2016 20:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Governor of the Yamal-Nenets region confirms cull after melting permafrost awakens ‘zombie infection’A governor in Russia’s far north has said the reindeer population will be reduced by 100,000 after an anthrax outbreak, but scientists have said twice as many need to be culled.
  Reindeer herding is an important industry and livelihood for indigenous peoples in the Yamal-Nenets region. Its governor, Dmitry Kobylkin, told state news agency RIA Novosti that about 100,000 reindeer w
  
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• Baby rhino steals show in BBC interview

  09-10-2016 18:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Aspinall Foundation's Port Lympne wildlife park in Kent has praised the arrival of two critically endangered black rhino calves in Tanzania.
  
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• Iranian, Iraqi oil ministers will not attend Istanbul talks - sources

  09-10-2016 17:01
  The oil ministers of Iran and Iraq will not attend informal talks between OPEC and non-OPEC producers in Turkey this week, sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday. OPEC sources and the Russian energy minister had said on Thursday that ministers from the two countries would be among representatives of OPEC states at the meeting in Istanbul, which is hosting the World Energy Congress. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Sept. 28 a deal to limit crude production
  
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• Factbox - Hurricane Matthew leaves nearly 2.2 million in U.S. Southeast powerless

  09-10-2016 15:24
  Almost 2.2 million homes and businesses were without power Sunday morning after Hurricane Matthew pummelled the U.S. Atlantic Southeast coast over the weekend, according to local electric companies. Matthew, the first major hurricane to hit the United States in more than 10 years, lashed Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina with heavy rain and wind, after killing almost 900 people in Haiti as it swept north through the Caribbean. The remnants of the storm, still packing winds of 75 miles p
  
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• John Abbott obituary

  09-10-2016 15:23 via theguardian.com
  
  My friend John Abbott, who has died of cancer aged 63, was a talented mathematician and liberal-minded individual who improved the air that we breathe. John was the first (in 2005) to understand that nitrogen dioxide concentrations were not decreasing as expected. A decade later, this is now widely known and understood, with diesel cars being particularly high emitters, and has led to a revision of the vehicle emission standards in Europe.John was born and brought up in Bishop’s Stortford,
  
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• Rising sea levels could reduce several UK mountains to hills

  09-10-2016 14:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Some peaks that are just a few centimetres above minimum height required by OS face being downgraded amid advancing seas Rising sea levels could topple the proud status of some British mountains, reducing them to the status of mere hills. Those in greatest danger of demotion include a peak in the Yorkshire Dales that was only reclassified as a mountain a few weeks ago.The Ordnance Survey (OS) uses mean sea level as the starting point for measuring the absolute height of mountains, which must be
  
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• World Bank says Paris climate goals at risk from new coal schemes

  09-10-2016 13:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Jim Yong Kim says slowing down growth in coal-fired power stations is essential in order to reduce emissionsSlowing down construction of coal-fired power stations will be vital to hit globally agreed climate change goals, the World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, said as he outlined a five-point plan to flesh out last year’s Paris agreement to reduce CO2 emissions.Speaking at a climate ministerial meeting in Washington during the bank’s annual meeting, he said there was no prospect of
  
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• No casualties reported after China refinery blast

  09-10-2016 11:52
  BEIJING (Reuters) - Equipment at an oil refinery in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing caught fire and exploded on Sunday, state media said, in the country's latest industrial accident. The explosion occurred at around 1:50 p.m. at the Jinlingshihua Nanjing Refinery, a subsidiary of Sinopec Group, the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that no casualties had yet been reported. Xinhua said fire fighters had been dispatched to battle the flames and pictures carried by state media showed thi
  
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• Iraq's oil minister wants country to increase output in 2017

  09-10-2016 10:22
  Iraq's oil minister has urged oil and natural gas producers operating in the country to continue increasing output next year, the oil ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Jabar al-Luaibi's comments came as OPEC nations are trying to implement an agreement to curb oil output for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, in order to push up crude prices. The ministry's statement quoted remarks Luaibi made to a meeting of Iraq oil industry executives in the southern oil city of Basra to re
  
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• Carmichael mine to be given 'essential' status in sign of Palaszczuk support

  09-10-2016 10:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Queensland government poised to declare mine ‘critical infrastructure’ to speed remaining approvals processThe Queensland government is poised to declare Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal project “critical infrastructure”, a rare step that will elevate its status to an operation that is “essential to [the] state’s economic and community wellbeing”. The Palazsczuk government appears to be bolstering its visible signs of support for the controversial
  
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• Can agroecology feed the world and save the planet?

  09-10-2016 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As agricultural production across the world is increasingly threatened by climate change and overpopulation, some farmers are exploring radical alternatives like agroecology – which might just be the answer to global hungerYou wouldn’t necessarily know it, but right now Africa is facing a food crisis. With Brexit, global terror attacks, the war in Syria and the seemingly endless string of sporting fixtures vying for our collective attention in 2016 so far, the fact that up to 50 mill
  
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• Iraq's oil minister calls for increasing oil output in 2017

  09-10-2016 08:46
  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi has called on local and foreign companies operating in Iraq to continue increasing oil and natural gas output in 2017, the oil ministry said in a statement released on Sunday. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Susan Fenton)
  
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• Sand tiger sharks: far friendlier than you think

  09-10-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  They are thought to be solitary, but new research shows one shark species to be intensely socialThey have a reputation for being sinister loners, creatures that swim the seas in solitary silence before pouncing on unsuspecting prey. Think of the deadly predator in Jaws and you have the perfect stereotype of a shark.But scientists in the United States, using a novel tagging procedure, have discovered that some shark species are really finny networkers who like to spend their time mixing and chill
  
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• The eco guide to unleaded playgrounds

  09-10-2016 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Beware toxic lead paint on climbing frames and seesawsEveryone assumes that lead poisoning is no longer a real risk, and that the horror story of lead-laced water in Flint, Michigan, would mean that the only safe amount is no lead at all.Yet lead is still in use and that means we run the risk of exposure. In the UK we still subscribe to 40-year-old legislation that permits some concentrations of lead (products must contain less than 2,500 parts per 1,000,000). Continue reading...
  
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• Drones to monitor shark activity off Western Australia coastline

  09-10-2016 05:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Three-month surveillance trial will stream live pictures to surf lifesavers at metropolitan and regional beachesA three-month trial of drone surveillance will be used at West Australian beaches to monitor shark activity and potentially spot other dangers such as rips and schools of bait fish, which attract the predators.Under the trial, $88,000 will be provided for a small drone equipped with a high-definition camera to stream live pictures back to Surf Life Saving WA operators at metropolitan a
  
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• The natural wonder that holds the key to the origins of life – and warns of its destruction

  09-10-2016 04:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Stromatolite-building bacteria once ruled the Earth, then changed its climate so much they nearly became extinct. Michael Slezak visits the world’s largest surviving colony in Hamelin pool, Western AustraliaJust shy of the westernmost tip of the Australian continent lies a pool that provides an unparalleled window into the origins of life on Earth. In its warm, briny waters a biological process takes place that began just as the continents were starting to form.It is this very process that
  
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• The Australian coastline that reveals a glimpse of early life on Earth – video

  09-10-2016 04:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Hamelin pool contains the world’s largest collection of active stromatolites – stony mounds of sand and calcium carbonate stuck together with a kind of biological glue, which emerge from the water as the tide goes out. Studying stromatolites today promises an insight into how life began as well as what the Earth was like 3.7bn years ago Continue reading...
  
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• Distinct vibrations

  09-10-2016 01:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ten years ago an earthquake detected in North Korea turned out to be the country's first ever nuclear test. Seismologist Mika McKinnon explains how scientists tell the difference.
  
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• Wildcats, foxes, squirrels or bats? Britain asked to vote for its favourite mammal

  09-10-2016 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  The Royal Society of Biology is inviting the public to pick the animal closest to its heart, to raise awareness of threats to wildlifeBritons have been asked to name their favourite mammal. A Royal Society of Biology (RSB) poll, launched on Sunday, will seek to pinpoint which non-domestic creature – found within our shores and coastal waters – is closest to the nation’s heart. Candidates include the water vole, highland wildcat, fox, bottlenose dolphin, red squirrel and so
  
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• Africa must not become one big game park | Patrick Bergin

  09-10-2016 01:02 via theguardian.com
  
  African wildlife is threatened as never before but the will to enforce conservation must come from within the continentAround the world, people are looking to the recent meeting in Johannesburg of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to help end the elephant and rhino poaching crisis. This hope is misplaced.The convention is, by definition, about legal trade in endangered species. It determines what species of animals and plants can be traded by law-abiding nations and cit
  
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