Environment news

• Court: US agency acted reasonably to protect seals

  24-10-2016 23:08
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An appeals court panel on Monday ruled that a federal agency acted reasonably in proposing to list a certain population of bearded seals threatened by sea ice loss.
  
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• USGS: Oklahoma quake likely caused by wastewater disposal

  24-10-2016 23:06
  FAIRVIEW, Okla. (AP) — The third-largest earthquake in Oklahoma was likely triggered by underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production, the U.S. Geological Survey found in a report issued Monday.
  
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• Oil dips on Buzzard restart, Iraq; U.S. crude tests below $50

  24-10-2016 22:23
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Monday, with U.S. crude briefly falling below $50 per barrel, on news of the impending restart of Britain's Buzzard oilfield and Iraq's wish to be exempted from OPEC production cuts. Iraq's oil minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) wanted to be exempt from output curbs as it needed more money to fight Islamic State militants. OPEC hopes to remove about 70
  
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• How Britain's retailers can solve the Syrian refugee supply chain quandary

  24-10-2016 22:04
  
  The shock revelation that Syrian refugee children have been found making clothes for a number of British fashion brands serves to highlight the desperate need for more robust procedures and increased collaboration among businesses to drive truly sustainable and ethical supply chains.
  
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• Taking an EVA with the Mars 160 Crew

  24-10-2016 21:28
  
  The Mars Society is conducting an ambitious two-phase Mars 160 Twin Desert-Arctic Analog mission to study how seven crewmembers could live, work and perform science on a true mission to Mars. Mars 160 crewmember Annalea Beattie is chronicling the mission, which will spend 80 days at the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah desert before venturing far north to Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island, Canada in summer 2017.
  
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• Blast at Total's Gonfreville refinery injures five

  24-10-2016 20:12
  French oil and gas company Total said on Monday that a gas leak at its 247,000 barrels-per-day Gonfreville refinery in Normandy had caused an explosion that injured five workers. The blast in northern France occurred during a scheduled maintenance work on a gas compressor, Total said, adding that emergency services were on site to contain the gas leak and fire. "There is no risk of it spreading within or outside the site," Total said in a statement.
  
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• Amazon Study Reveals that Rainstorms Transport Atmospheric Particles Essential for Cloud Formation

  24-10-2016 20:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Understanding how tiny particles emitted by cars and factories affect Earth's climate requires accurate climate modeling and the ability to quantify the effects of these pollutant particles vs. particles naturally present in the atmosphere. One large uncertainty is what Earth was like before these industrial-era emissions began. In a paper just published in Nature, scientists collaborating on the GoAmazon study describe how they tracked particles in the largely pris
  
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• Paris pathway paved with risk and opportunity for business, says CDP chief

  24-10-2016 20:00
  
  EXCLUSIVE: "A story of risk and opportunity" is emerging for businesses that are yet to modify their operational plans to account for climate change and drive the transition to a "well-below two degrees" world, the chief executive of global disclosure organisation CDP has claimed.
  
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• Alan Jones launches Great Barrier Reef site after criticising 'global warming hoax'

  24-10-2016 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Australian radio hosts broadcasts show critical of climate ‘alarmists’ from Cairns before launching the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef website A new Great Barrier Reef conservation site has been launched by the Australian broadcaster Alan Jones, who has declared that climate change was a hoax and said the reef was “fine”. Experts, including the federal government, agree that climate change is the biggest threat facing the reef. Continue reading...
  
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• Russia, Qatar, OPEC discuss possible action to shore up oil market

  24-10-2016 19:27
  By Katya Golubkova and Shadia Nasralla VIENNA (Reuters) - Energy ministers from Russia and Qatar along with OPEC's secretary general discussed possible joint action to stabilise the oil market, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said ahead of OPEC's meeting next month aiming to cement a deal agreed in Algiers. Russia is the world's largest oil producer but not a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its budget has been hit by low oil prices, the same as for man
  
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• BEIS compromises on renewable heat support, announces new heat network funding

  24-10-2016 19:22
  
  The Government is seemingly beginning to take heed of advice to focus on delivering low-carbon heating systems, with two new announcements which could effectively reduce emissions in towns and cities and begin to restore investor confidence in the neglected sector.
  
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• Fin whales sometimes seen in North Sea | Brief letters

  24-10-2016 18:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Fin whales | Weighing passengers | Traffic | Quakers | Angela CarterIn the report on the stranding of a fin whale on Holkham Beach (Rare fin whale washed up on Norfolk beach, 22 October), Dr Ben Garrod of Anglia Ruskin University states that “you never get [fin whales] in the North Sea”. I certainly saw one six miles off Hartlepool in about 1978. There was flat calm and hot sun, and there were great rafts of seabirds. The whale jumped clear of the water six or seven times, mostl
  
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• Oil down as Iraq says no cuts; Wall St, Cushing draw limit loss

  24-10-2016 18:18
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday after Iraq said it wanted to be exempt from an OPEC production cut, though prices drew some support from a rally in Wall Street shares and a draw in crude inventories at the U.S. storage hub of Cushing, Oklahoma. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced plans last month to cut output to boost prices, but has not yet given details on how it will reach the target. Iraqi oil minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said o
  
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• Pope Francis's edict on climate change has fallen on closed ears, study finds

  24-10-2016 17:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Hailed as a significant call for action, the pope’s encyclical has not had the anticipated rallying effect on public opinion, researchers have foundThe pope’s call for action on climate change has fallen on closed ears, research suggests.A study by researchers in the US has found that right-leaning Catholics who had heard of the pope’s message were less concerned about climate change and its effects on the poor than those who had not, and had a dimmer view of the pope’s c
  
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• Scientists Untangle Chemistry of Frankincense to Develop 'Perfume'

  24-10-2016 17:44
  
  "They are contained in extremely low amounts" — less than 100 parts per million in the essential oil for the most potent molecule, study leader Nicolas Baldovini, a chemist at the Institute de Chimie de Nice in France, wrote in an email to Live Science. The scent comes from the resin of gum trees of the genus Boswellia, and it was burned as incense in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The oldest archaeological evidence for frankincense use dates back to the late fourth millennium B.C. Frankin
  
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• Oxygen Shift May Be Key to Resetting Biological Clock

  24-10-2016 17:08
  
  A small shift in the oxygen levels in the air could act as a "reset" button for the biological clock, according to a new study in mice. Mice in the study that were exposed to a brief dip in the levels of oxygen in the air that they were breathing adjusted more quickly to a new circadian rhythm than mice that received steady levels of oxygen, the researchers found. In other words, the dip in oxygen levels seemed to help the animals adjust to the mouse equivalent of jet lag, according to the study
  
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• Russian energy minister says confident on OPEC cooperation deal

  24-10-2016 17:06
  VIENNA (Reuters) - Russia's energy minister said on Monday he was confident his country would reach an agreement with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC) to cooperate on oil markets after OPEC announced it was planning a production cap. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told a joint news conference after a meeting with OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo that both sides had discussed the issue and he was confident they would bear fruit. The talks in Vienna wer
  
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• Russia, Qatar, OPEC SecGen discuss possible joint actions on oil market

  24-10-2016 17:02
  VIENNA (Reuters) - Energy ministers from Russia and Qatar along with the OPEC secretary general discussed oil markets and mechanisms of possible joint actions at their meeting on Monday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters. Following talks with OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo, Novak said that oil supply was still higher than demand and there was a risk that it would grow further in winter as demand is traditionally lower during this period of a year. (Reporting by Kat
  
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• Meet Snooty: The World's Oldest Manatee Living in Captivity

  24-10-2016 16:42
  
  Sixty-eight may not seem that old, but for Snooty the manatee, it's a world record. Snooty is now the world's oldest manatee living in captivity, the Guinness World Records recently announced. The sea cow was brought to South Florida Museum as an 11-month-old calf in 1949.
  
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• Eels Consume Their Own Bones to Survive Migration

  24-10-2016 16:27
  
  To survive an arduous swim thousands of miles long without eating anything on the way, European eels apparently lose a significant amount of bone in a way that keeps them alive and moving, a new study finds. This finding could yield insights that will help scientists prevent or reverse human bone loss, the researchers said. In order to spawn, European eels (Anguilla anguilla) undertake a 3,000-mile-long (5,000 kilometers) migration from European freshwaters across the Atlantic Ocean to the Sarga
  
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• Climate Change Impairs the Survival Instincts of Fish and Can Make Them Swim Towards Predators

  24-10-2016 16:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  Climate change is disrupting the sensory systems of fish and can even make them swim towards predators, instead of away from them, a paper by marine biologists at the University of Exeter says.Research into the impact of rising CO2 has shown it can disrupt the senses of fish including their smell, hearing and vision.
  
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• Foreign firms to increase spending on Iraqi oil fields in Basra - SOC executive

  24-10-2016 15:55
  Foreign oil companies will increase their investments to increase output in Basra, the main producing region of Iraq, state-owned South Oil Company Deputy Director General Salah Mahdi told Reuters on Monday. The companies that operate in southern Iraq are BP , Shell , Lukoil , Exxon , Eni , CNPC and Petronas . Iraq's oil ministry has just launched a new round of bidding to develop 12 small to medium-sized oil fields straddling three provinces - four in Basra, five in Misan and three in the Centr
  
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• Why Are Thousands of 'Scrotum Frogs' Dying Off in South America?

  24-10-2016 15:00
  
  More than 10,000 endangered frogs and other water-dwelling animals living near a lake in South America were found mysteriously dead this month, according to reports from Peru’s wildlife and forestry service Serfor, leaving many people to wonder what could have caused this bizarre die-off. The Titicaca water frog (Telmatobius culeus), also known as the "scrotum frog" for its loose skin, is one of the most critically endangered frogs in the world. This evolutionary adaptation also makes the
  
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• UK government boosts local air quality with £3m in funding

  24-10-2016 14:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Annual funding for local air quality management in England has been restored to previous levels, reversing a chronic decline, reports ENDS UK
  The government has stumped up £3m to fund English local authorities’ work to monitor and improve air quality.The air quality grant for 2016/17 was announced on 6 October and is six times greater than the amount allocated for the current financial year. It is the first funding round to be managed by DEFRA and the Department for Transport’s
  
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• Tea value network delivering supply chain sustainability in Malawi

  24-10-2016 14:52
  
  A multi-stakeholder coalition including Tesco, Marks & Spencer (M&S), and Unilever has made significant progress towards achieving a competitive Malawian tea sector where workers earn a living wage and smallholders earn a living income by 2020.
  
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• BP General Council Bondy to leave at year end

  24-10-2016 14:09
  BP's General Council Rupert Bondy will step down at the end of the year after eight years in office during which he oversaw the legal battles surrounding the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a company spokesman said on Monday. Bondy, an executive team member, will join health and home products manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser as senior vice-president general council and company secretary.
  
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• Oil prices fall as Iraq resists joining output cut

  24-10-2016 13:39
  By Ahmad Ghaddar LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday as Iraq said it wanted to be exempt from an OPEC deal to cut production, though losses were capped by Iran saying it would encourage other members to join an output freeze. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 37 cents at $50.48. Falah al-Amiri, head of Iraqi state oil marketer SOMO, added that Iraq's market share had been compromised by the wars it has fought since the 1980s.
  
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• BEIS adds £4m to Plug-In Van grant to encourage electric fleets

  24-10-2016 13:38
  
  Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark has announced that the Government has opened up a £4m avenue for businesses to switch their large trucks and vans to electric models through the Plug-In Van grant.
  
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• UK Government adds £4m to Plug-In Van grant

  24-10-2016 13:24
  
  Business and Energy secretary Greg Clark has announced that the government has opened-up a £4m avenue for businesses to switch large trucks and vans to an electric model, through the Plug-In Van grant.
  
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• Live Q&A: How can the environment and development sectors work together to achieve the SDGs?

  24-10-2016 13:21 via theguardian.com
  
  How can two separate sectors collaborate and align efforts to achieve the global goals? Join us from 2-3.30pm BST on Thursday 27 October to discuss Traditionally, the environment and the development sectors have worked separately, but the era of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change calls for a shift in approach.In ratifying the Paris Agreement, countries have pledged to limit the increase in average global temperature to below two degrees Celsius abo
  
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• Russian energy minister says cooperation with OPEC intensifying

  24-10-2016 13:12
  By Katya Golubkova and Shadia Nasralla VIENNA (Reuters) - A short-term cap in oil output would reduce market volatility, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday at a meeting with OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo, as both are looking at ways to stabilise prices. Russia is the world's largest oil producer but not a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its budget has been hit by low oil prices, the same as for many OPEC nations. Novak, in Vienna
  
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• What does peace in Colombia have to do with the environment?

  24-10-2016 12:53 via theguardian.com
  
  With the conflict finally over, the Colombian government must turn its attention to protecting biodiversity and natural resourcesLeer este artículo en españolAfter 52 years of war, the government finalised a peace accord to cease conflict and construct stable and long lasting peace in Colombia. After four years of negotiations and almost 300 pages, the accord delves into different key points for the ceasefire, the guerrilla demobilisation, the integral rural reform, transitional ju
  
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• 'New era of climate change reality' as emissions hit symbolic threshold

  24-10-2016 12:29 via theguardian.com
  
  CO2 in the atmosphere is expected to be above 400 parts per million on average over 2016 and will not dip below that mark for generations, UN saysThe world is in a new era of “climate change reality”, with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reaching a symbolic threshold which it will not fall below for many generations, scientists have said.In 2015, for the first time, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were at 400 parts per million (ppm) on average across the year as a whole, the
  
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• Industry leaders unite to develop deforestation guidance

  24-10-2016 12:24
  
  Mars, L'Oreal and Tetra Pak are among a host of international businesses that have come together to form a new cross-sector initiative to help tackle deforestation and develop better climate change accounting methods.
  
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• Russian Energy Minister to discuss oil market with OPEC Secretary General

  24-10-2016 12:11
  VIENNA (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday he plans to discuss the situation on the oil market with OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo. Speaking in Vienna, Novak said Russia was a responsible player on the oil market and an agreement in OPEC will allow talks to resume between producers inside and outside the cartel. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; writing by Polina Devitt; editing by Jack Stubbs)
  
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• 'The atmosphere is being radicalized' by climate change | Dana Nuccitelli

  24-10-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  To paraphrase Donald Trump, this is radical atmospheric change and Republicans won’t even mention the words
  Climate change’s impacts on extreme weather and society are becoming increasingly clear and undeniable. While we are making progress in solving the problem, we’re still moving too slowly, and one of the two political parties governing the world’s strongest superpower continues to deny the science. This led astrophysicist Katie Mack to make the following suggestion,
  
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• Murder of Brazil official marks new low in war on Amazon environmentalists

  24-10-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Luiz Alberto Araújo, a local government official in Pará state, was gunned down in front of his family: ‘It sends a message that no one is untouchable’It was just after sunset in Altamira, a small town nestled on a curve of the Xingu river in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, when Luiz Alberto Araújo, the secretary for the environment on the city council, arrived home with his family. Continue reading...
  
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• Oil prices under pressure as Iraq resists joining output cut

  24-10-2016 11:38
  By Ahmad Ghaddar LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices came under pressure on Monday as Iraq said it wanted to be exempt from an OPEC deal to cut production, though losses were capped by Iran saying it would encourage other members to join an output freeze. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 5 cents at $50.80. Falah al-Amiri, head of Iraq state oil marketer SOMO, added that Iraq's market share had been compromised by the wars it has fought since the 1980s.
  
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• CO2 levels mark 'new era' in the world's changing climate

  24-10-2016 11:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  2016 is likely to be the first year in recorded history in which levels of CO2 in the atmosphere remain above the symbolically important threshold of 400 parts per million.
  
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• Eyewitness: Isle of Noss, UK

  24-10-2016 08:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Photographs from the Eyewitness series Continue reading...
  
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• The Kolkata dump that's permanently on fire: 'Most people die by 50'

  24-10-2016 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands of people live on and around the Dhapa landfill in India, where 4,000 tonnes of waste are dumped each day. Many make a living processing the city’s rubbish amid severe pollution, fires – and even dead bodies. So what is life like for its residents?From Kartik Dhara’s home, the trucks at the top of the garbage mountain look like the toys he sees city children playing with on his rounds of Kolkata. A garbage truck driver in the eastern Indian city, Dhara can’t aff
  
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• Hinkley C shows the value of social science in the most toxic public debates

  24-10-2016 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Social science can help explain why people disagree over controversial technologies and – most importantly – surface hidden assumptionsIt’s been another turbulent month in the long-running saga over the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Having looked as if she might be contemplating a rethink, Theresa May unveiled an apparently decisive approval just before the Conservative Party conference. But with longstanding issues still unaddressed – and new problems emerging e
  
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• Industrial scars: The environmental cost of consumption – in pictures

  24-10-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental artist J Henry Fair captures the beauty and destruction of industrial sites to illustrate the hidden impacts of the things we buy – the polluted air, destroyed habitats and the invisible carbon heating the planet Continue reading...
  
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• 'Beauty and horror' in the industrially scarred landscapes of south Wales

  24-10-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  John Vidal takes to the skies with US photographer J Henry Fair on an aerial toxic tour of south Wales The small Cessna plane banks steeply and J Henry Fair of Charleston, South Carolina, hangs his camera out of the small window to film straight down the chimneys of the Lafarge Tarmac cement plant in Aberthaw, south Wales.“Man, look at the gunk coming out of that guy. He’s burning rubber as fuel! That’s really environmental, huh?” he shouts as the 25-knot, force six wind
  
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• Sustainability Leaders Awards 2017: Shortlist of finalists revealed

  24-10-2016 07:50
  
  edie is delighted to announce the shortlist of finalists for the 2017 Sustainability Leaders Awards, which recognise the incredible people, initiatives and products that are helping to deliver excellence within the green economy.
  
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• Landscape photographer of the year awards – in pictures

  24-10-2016 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  A selection of prizewinning images from the Take a View 2016 photography awards Continue reading...
  
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• Petrol cars allowed to exceed pollution limits by 50% under draft EU laws

  24-10-2016 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Car industry successfully lobbied for loopholes to dilute EU laws limiting toxic particulates emissions for new cars, the Guardian has learnedNew European cars with petrol engines will be allowed to overshoot a limit on toxic particulates emissions by 50% under a draft EU regulation backed by the UK and most other EU states.Campaigners say that a simple €25 (£22) filter could drastically cut the pollution, but the Guardian has learned that car-makers have instead mounted a successful
  
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• A storybook world growing from a medieval quarry

  24-10-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Barnack Hills and Holes, Cambridgeshire The quarrying has left a strange, toy landscape of ridges and valleys not a kilometre square. Nature has taken it backHills and Holes. A name like that, it had to be a manufactured place for kids and dog walkers, I thought. On hearing what locals called it – Hills and Hollows – I decided to look closer at the funny space on the edge of this village near Stamford. Turns out it was manufactured, but not by anyone we knew. The place with the playg
  
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• Environment group named in WikiLeaks email release responds to attacks

  24-10-2016 05:50 via theguardian.com
  
  The low-profile Australian group Sunrise Project hits back at coal lobby after being criticised over funding sources shown in hacked US Democratic emails
  The head of a usually quiet environmental group in Australia has hit back against News Corp and coal lobby attacks after hacked emails revealed it was partly funded from overseas. Two emails forwarded to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta – and published by WikiLeaks – show that one of the funders of the Sunrise
  
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• Victoria's Hazelwood power station to close, French media reports say

  24-10-2016 04:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Utility company Engie say no decision has been made regarding the future of Australia’s most polluting coal-fired power plant despite reports in Les EchosFrench utility Engie has decided to close down Victoria’s coal-fired Hazelwood power station – Australia’s most polluting – at a meeting between the board and executives last week, according to a report in the French newspaper Les Echos. However the company told Guardian Australia that no decision had been taken so
  
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