Environment news

• Pupils find out results of ISS space seeds experiment

  02-11-2016 23:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Thousands of school children have been helping to carry out experiments to see whether seeds that have been in space grow as well as those that have stayed on Earth.
  
  Read more

• New South Wales unveils plan to reach zero emissions by 2050

  02-11-2016 22:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Ambitious proposals for tackling climate change set out by Coalition ministers, which may set it at odds with federal governmentThe New South Wales government has launched an ambitious climate change policy that could see the state achieve zero emissions by 2050.On Thursday NSW’s environment minister, Mark Speakman, released draft plans for the NSW climate change policy framework, setting out the “aspirational goal” of zero emissions by the middle of the century. The government
  
  Read more

• Militants attack oil pipeline in Niger Delta

  02-11-2016 22:34
  By Tife Owolabi and Alexis Akwagyiram YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Militants in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta oil hub attacked a pipeline operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the state oil company said on Wednesday, a day after regional leaders put a series of demands to the president. Community leaders from the Niger Delta, which is the source of most of the OPEC member's oil, met President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday and asked him to pull the army out of the oil hub
  
  Read more

• Direct Action paying polluters to avoid clearing land they would never have cleared – report

  02-11-2016 21:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Green Institute report says centrepiece of Coalition’s emissions reductions scheme shouldn’t count as real abatement Australia’s “Direct Action” policy aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions is paying polluters millions of dollars to avoid pollution they probably would not have emitted anyway, according to in-depth analysis.The centrepiece of the government’s Direct Action scheme, introduced by the former prime minister Tony Abbott, is the emissions reduct
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Lake Eyre from the air – in pictures

  02-11-2016 21:05 via theguardian.com
  
  These stunning aerial photos capture the extraordinary colours and painterly flows of Kati Thanda – aka Lake Eyre – in central Australia. The images by Adam Williams, Luke Austin, Ignacio Palacios and Paul Hoelen of the Light Collective depict a remote and pristine landscape few will ever see. They were taken for a new book and exhibition, which opens on Thursday at the Depot Gallery in SydneyContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Oil prices tumble 3 percent on record U.S. crude build

  02-11-2016 20:07
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled 3 percent on Wednesday after a record weekly build in U.S. crude inventories stoked investor worries about a global supply glut, days after analysts estimated higher monthly OPEC crude output. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories rose 14.4 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 28, far more than the 1.0 million barrels analysts had expected. It was the biggest weekly rise in U.S. crude stocks since rec
  
  Read more

• Rock shelter used by speedy early Australians

  02-11-2016 19:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The swiftness with which the first Aboriginal settlers spread across Australia is underlined by the discovery of an ancient rock shelter north of Adelaide.
  
  Read more

• Tim Peake schools seed experiment results released

  02-11-2016 19:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The results of a mass schools experiment led by Tim Peake have been released.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• DNA clues to how chipmunk earned its stripes

  02-11-2016 19:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New research suggests chipmunks and a type of mouse evolved stripes early in their evolution, which may have given them an advantage in outwitting predators.
  
  Read more

• Militants attack NNPC pipeline in Niger Delta - military

  02-11-2016 18:54
  YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Militants in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta oil hub attacked a pipeline operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the military and a witness said on Wednesday. The Batan flow station, around Ekweregbene, was attacked, a military spokesman said, while Sheriff Mulade, a witness, said it had taken place at around 1200 GMT. The flow station is located in a creek between the southern city of Warri and the Forcados oil terminal, which last week resumed crude
  
  Read more

• Toxic air is killing thousands of us – Theresa May must act fast | Emma Howard

  02-11-2016 18:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Government plans to tackle air pollution are officially wholly inadequate. If industry were incentivised to help clean it up, we could all be winnersThe verdict is in and the government is guilty. In a landmark ruling, the high court has ruled that the plans to cut fatal air pollution are not only inadequate, but also illegal. To anyone who has seen these plans, the verdict is not surprising.“If there was a toxin in our water system that we knew was killing thousands of people every year,
  
  Read more

• Climate change: Australia falling behind rest of world on emissions cuts, says report

  02-11-2016 18:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate Council questions Australia’s ability to meet Paris Agreement pledge and predicts it will face pressure from world leaders at meeting next weekAustralia is lagging behind other countries on tackling climate change after signing the historic Paris Agreement last year, a new report shows.The Climate Council’s new report, “Towards Morocco: tracking global climate progress since Paris,” questions Australia’s ability to meet its 2030 emissions reduction target. C
  
  Read more

• Study highlights a new threat to bees worldwide

  02-11-2016 17:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Particularly under threat are honey bees, which are as vital to our food systems as the crops they pollinate, and which are prone to a range of emergent diseases including Moku and Deformed wing virus (DWV).The Moku virus was identified through a collaboration of institutes with complementary expertise.Purnima Pachori of the Platforms & Pipelines Group at the Earlham Institute (EI) carried out the bioinformatics work of separating out host and viral genetic material, whic
  
  Read more

• Why do we punish Dakota pipeline protesters but exonerate the Bundys? | Ladonna Bravebill Allard

  02-11-2016 17:38 via theguardian.com
  
  The Bundy militia fought for their right to make money. We want to protect our sacred lands – but the state is treating us with violence and hostility Related: A million people 'check in' at Standing Rock on Facebook to support Dakota pipeline protesters Sometime in the early summer when the Sacred Stone Camp was just a handful of tents and the Dakota Access machines had not yet come to our side of the Missouri river, I got an email from a woman who said her husband was Cliven Bundy and th
  
  Read more

• Diesel vehicles face charges after UK government loses air pollution case

  02-11-2016 17:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Ministers now bound to implement new measures to cut toxic air quickly after high court ruling that current plans are so poor they are illegal Drivers of polluting diesel vehicles could soon be charged to enter many city centres across Britain, after the government accepted in the high court on Wednesday that its current plans to tackle the nation’s air pollution crisis were so poor they broke the law.The humiliating legal defeat is the second in 18 months and ends years of inadequate acti
  
  Read more

• Oil prices slide three percent on record U.S. crude stock build

  02-11-2016 17:23
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled 3 percent on Wednesday after a record weekly build in U.S. crude inventories stoked investor worries about a global supply glut, days after analysts estimated higher monthly OPEC crude output. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories rose 14.4 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 28, far more than the 1.0 billion barrels analysts had expected. It was the biggest weekly rise in U.S. crude stocks, passing
  
  Read more

• John Ainslie obituary

  02-11-2016 17:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Youth worker and community minister who became an anti-nuclear campaignerIn 1992, when the first submarine armed with Trident nuclear missiles arrived on the Clyde near Glasgow, John Ainslie was in a canoe. Along with a flotilla of other protesters, he was buzzing the huge dark boat as it cut through the cold water. He had just been appointed as the coordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (SCND), and he was arrested by the Ministry of Defence police.John, who has died of can
  
  Read more

• Controlling plant regeneration systems may drive the future of agriculture

  02-11-2016 16:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  The ability to self-repair damaged tissue is one of the key features that define living organisms. Plants in particular are regeneration champions, a quality that has been used for centuries in horticultural techniques such as grafting. Belgian scientists from VIB and Ghent University have now discovered a key protein complex that controls plant tissue repair. Understanding this mechanism is of great agricultural importance: crops and edible plants might be cultivated more efficiently and made m
  
  Read more

• UK coal-powered electricity projected to fall by record amount

  02-11-2016 16:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Data points to unprecedented decline of two-thirds this year due to doubling of carbon tax and low gas priceThe amount of electricity generated from UK coal power stations is on track to fall by two-thirds this year, a decline which analysts said was so steep and fast it was unprecedented globally.Climate change thinktank Sandbag said the drop was due to a doubling in the price of a carbon tax and the lower price of gas. The group has written to the chancellor, Philip Hammond, urging him not to
  
  Read more

• 'Paris Agreement-proof' buildings needed to curtail soaring emissions

  02-11-2016 16:12
  
  Energy demand from the building sector will double by mid-century without widespread adoption of low-carbon technologies and a significant improvement in building and appliance efficiencies, new analysis has found.
  
  Read more

• Bomb-Sniffing Bionic Plants Could Look for Pollution

  02-11-2016 16:02
  
  Bionic plants that can detect explosives in real time could be the future of environmental monitoring and urban farming, researchers said in a new study. The spinach plants have carbon-nanotube-based nanoparticles in their leaves that give off infrared light and are sensitive to the presence of nitroaromatics, key components of several explosives, the scientists said. If these chemicals are present in groundwater, they are absorbed by the roots and transported to the leaves, where they cause the
  
  Read more

• Adapting to climate change – a major challenge for forests

  02-11-2016 15:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Climate change means that trees germinating today will be living in a much-altered climate by the time they reach middle age. The expected changes are likely to hit them hard and threaten key forest functions in the decades ahead. However, appropriate management shall enable to increase the forest habitat's adaptability. This is shown by the results of the Forests and Climate Change research programme conducted by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment FOEN and the Swiss Federal Institute
  
  Read more

• Oil down for fourth day on chance of huge U.S. crude build

  02-11-2016 15:11
  By Barani Krishnan and Ahmad Ghaddar NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell for a fourth straight day on Wednesday, hitting five-week lows, as jittery investors awaited U.S. government data on crude stockpiles after a stunning build reported by a trade group that underlined the market's oversupply. The American Petroleum Institute (API) said after Tuesday's market settlement that crude stockpiles rose by 9.3 million barrels in the week to Oct. 28, more than nine times the amount expected by
  
  Read more

• Indigenous rights are key to preserving forests, climate change study finds

  02-11-2016 14:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Leaving forests in communal hands cuts carbon emissions from deforestation, helps communities and offers long-term economic benefits: ‘Everyone wins’The world’s indigenous communities need to be given a bigger role in climate stabilisation, according to a new study that shows at least a quarter of forest carbon is stored on communal land, particularly in Brazil.The research by a group of academic institutions and environmental NGOs is the most comprehensive effort yet to quanti
  
  Read more

• Circular economy can unlock £4bn 'hidden' UK waste mine, says Veolia

  02-11-2016 14:35
  
  Companies located in "strategically important" sectors in the UK are currently sitting on a £4bn "hidden mine" that can only be unlocked by transitioning to a circular economy that turns waste into a monetary and valuable resource, a new report from waste specialists Veolia has found.
  
  Read more

• Circular economy can unlock £4bn 'hidden' UK reuse mine, says Veolia

  02-11-2016 14:35
  
  Companies located in "strategically important" sectors in the UK are currently sitting on a £4bn "hidden mine" that can only be unlocked by transitioning to a circular economy that turns waste into a monetary and valuable resource, a new report from waste specialists Veolia has found.
  
  Read more

• Greenpeace calls for London diesel scrappage scheme

  02-11-2016 14:00
  
  On the same day that environmental law firm ClientEarth won an historic air quality court battle with the Government, a new report supported by Greenpeace has called for urgent action to phase out diesel vehicles from London's roads to ensure air pollution is brought down to safe levels.
  
  Read more

• Toll rises to 17 in Pakistan oil tanker fire, many more feared dead

  02-11-2016 13:00
  By Gul Yusufzai QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani firefighters were battling on Wednesday to douse a fire still raging more than a day after a series of explosions on a decommissioned oil tanker, with the death toll rising to 17, and more than 20 workers missing, officials said. Tuesday's initial blast occurred as workers were welding near a fuel tank in a shipbreaking yard in Gaddani, 45 km (28 miles) northwest of the southern port city of Karachi, said Zulfiqar Bokhari, a local administra
  
  Read more

• Green group wins air pollution court battle

  02-11-2016 12:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Campaigners have won the latest battle in legal action against the UK Government over levels of air pollution.
  
  Read more

• Dublin bike-share scheme faces funding crisis

  02-11-2016 12:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Expansion plans for the Irish capital’s successful scheme have been placed on hold while organisers seek new ways to cover basic operating costs When Dublin launched its first bike-share scheme in 2009, sceptics said every last pair of wheels would end up stolen or floating in the river Liffey.Instead, Dublinbikes was embraced with such fervor that subscriptions immediately surpassed expectations, usage rates topped international rankings and the no-nonsense bikes – three gears with
  
  Read more

• When will Venice sink? You asked Google – here’s the answer | Jonathan Buckley

  02-11-2016 12:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Every day millions of internet users ask Google life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the commonest queriesEvery winter, it seems, we see pictures in the press and on TV of St Mark’s Square looking like a lake. People wading through thigh-high water. Boats bobbing outside the famous cafes. Venice is sinking rapidly, these images imply.The pictures are misleading, however. St Mark’s Square does indeed get flooded, dozens of times every year,
  
  Read more

• Poo power: Dutch dairy industry launches €150m biogas project

  02-11-2016 11:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Will a scheme to turn cow manure into biogas help the Netherlands lose its reputation as the ‘bad guy’ of Europe when it comes to agricultural emissions?
  The air smells fruity, slightly alcoholic. Against the strong hum of machinery, 175 cows are eating hay. As their dung drops to the slatted floor, a machine sweeps it through and it runs underneath the barn to a futuristic dome outside.The Heegs’ 75-hectare family farm in remote Friesland, in the north-west of the Netherlands,
  
  Read more

• ClientEarth wins air pollution case against UK Government in High Court

  02-11-2016 11:14
  
  Environmental law firm ClientEarth has today (2 November) won its High Court case against the UK Government over its failure to tackle illegal air quality levels across the country.
  
  Read more

• Barack Obama is the first climate president | John Abraham

  02-11-2016 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A look back over last 8 years shows that a president really does matterMy how far we’ve come in less than 8 years. We have seen happen what those of us in the climate and energy fields knew could happen. The USA has become a world leader on climate change, dramatically increased our production of clean and renewable fuels, reduced our emissions of greenhouse gases, signed major international agreements to continue progress into the future, and have done so without cost increases or power d
  
  Read more

• Baby rhino takes first bath

  02-11-2016 11:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A newborn rhino, born at Blank Park Zoo in the US city of Des Moines, has been taking her first bath.
  
  Read more

• High court rules UK government plans to tackle air pollution are illegal

  02-11-2016 10:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Court rules for second time in 18 months that the government is not doing enough to combat the national air pollution crisisThe government’s plan for tackling the UK’s air pollution crisis has been judged illegally poor at the high court, marking the second time in 18 months ministers have lost in court on the issue.The defeat is a humiliation for ministers who by law must cut the illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide suffered by dozens of towns and cities in the “shortest possibl
  
  Read more

• Exclusive - Oil CEOs to unveil renewable energy fund in new climate push

  02-11-2016 10:17
  By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - Top oil companies including Saudi Aramco and Shell will join forces to set up an investment fund to develop technologies to cut carbon emissions and promote renewable energy, sources said on Wednesday. The chief executives of seven oil and gas companies -- BP , Eni , Repsol , Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil and Total -- will announce details of the fund and other steps to reduce greenhouse gases in London on Friday.
  
  Read more

• E.ON teams up with Edinburgh City Council to reduce public building energy costs

  02-11-2016 09:00
  
  A £2.1m partnership between E.ON's energy efficiency business and Edinburgh City Council is set to reduce on-site energy costs by 24% at nine public buildings, as part of the city's overarching aim to reduce carbon emissions by more than 40% by 2020.
  
  Read more

• MPs call for 'radical' flood defence overhaul to protect businesses

  02-11-2016 08:00
  
  MPs are urging the Government to overhaul its flood protection system to help reduce the long-term flood risks for UK businesses and communities.
  
  Read more

• Natural measures must be key to UK flood protection, MPs urge

  02-11-2016 07:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Report also criticises government’s plans and funding and calls for Environment Agency to be stripped of responsibility for flooding Natural ways of stopping floods, such as tree planting and putting logs in rivers to slow water flow must be a key part of protecting the nation as climate change intensifies rain storms, according to a report from MPs.The cross-party committee criticised the government for its limited plans and insufficient funding, and called for the Environment Agency to b
  
  Read more

• Make central London diesel-free to solve air pollution crisis – report

  02-11-2016 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  IPPR study on delivering clean air in the capital comes as the high court is due to rule on the UK government’s air quality planRidding inner London of virtually all diesel vehicles would solve the capital’s air pollution crisis, according to research published as the high court is due to rule on the government’s air quality plan. Illegal levels of air pollution cause about 9,500 early deaths a year in London and a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)
  
  Read more

• The harlequin ladybird is a clever little devil

  02-11-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Used to control crop pests, this beetle also has a frightening appetite for other ladybirds and the eggs of butterfliesTricked out in Halloween orange and black, a harlequin moves awkwardly through a micro woodland of moss on the concrete as if it were wandering through an alien world, which in some respects it is. This is Harmonia axyridis succinea, a beetle that began its global travels somewhere in eastern Asia between Kazakhstan and Japan.Because its larva has an ins
  
  Read more

• Oil extends losses after report shows surprise U.S. stocks build

  02-11-2016 04:58
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Crude oil prices fell for a fourth day on Wednesday, as jittery investors awaited official U.S. stockpile figures later in the day after industry data showed a surprise build in inventories, underlining a persistent global glut. The American Petroleum Institute said crude stockpiles rose by 9.3 million barrels in the week to Oct. 28, more than nine times the amount expected by analysts polled by Reuters.
  
  Read more

• Factbox - On the sunny side: Southeast Asian nations push into solar

  02-11-2016 04:21
  Indonesia and Vietnam are looking to join Thailand in blazing a trail for solar power in Southeast Asia, introducing targets to fire up green energy generation as a landmark global agreement to curb pollution is set to take effect this week. Annual solar power production in the region will expand to 13 gigawatts (GW) in 2025 from around 1.6 GW in 2014 under a business as usual scenario, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has said. If countries adopt the right mix of support polici
  
  Read more

• Indonesia, Vietnam look to blaze trail for solar in Southeast Asia

  02-11-2016 04:12
  By Florence Tan and Wilda Asmarini SINGAPORE/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia and Vietnam are looking to join Thailand in blazing a trail for solar power in Southeast Asia, introducing targets to fire up green energy generation as a landmark global agreement to curb pollution is set to take effect. Indonesia and Vietnam aim to each have annual solar power capacity of at least 5 gigawatts (GW) from 2020, up from close to nothing now, officials from both governments told Reuters.
  
  Read more

• Oil drilling caused killer earthquake in boomtime California, scientists suspect

  02-11-2016 02:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Long Beach quake of 1933 in which up to 120 people died when is among several suspected of being linked with early extraction methodsSeveral damaging Los Angeles-area earthquakes of the 1920s and 1930s, including the deadliest ever in southern California, may have been brought on by oil production during the region’s drilling boom of that era, US government scientists have reported.The findings of a possible link between oil extraction and seismic events in the LA basin do not apply to mod
  
  Read more

• MPs call for major reform of flood risk management

  02-11-2016 02:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Radical plans to overhaul the system of managing flood risk are called for by the Commons environment and rural affairs committee.
  
  Read more

• Project aims to end 'ambiguity' of plant-based medicine

  02-11-2016 02:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A team of scientists at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew embarks on the mammoth task of creating a single database of the world's medicinal plant species.
  
  Read more

• Oil prices fall for fourth day after stockpile build

  02-11-2016 01:41
  Crude oil prices fell for a fourth day on Wednesday, with jittery investors awaiting official U.S. stockpile figures later in the day after less comprehensive industry data showed a surprise build in inventories. The American Petroleum Institute (API) said crude stockpiles increased by 9.3 million barrels in the week to Oct. 28, more than nine times the amount expected by analysts polled by Reuters. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 28 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $46.39 by 0014 GMT
  
  Read more

• Saudi Aramco CEO expects oil price rise in 1st-half 2017

  02-11-2016 00:09
  By Reem Shamseddine RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco expects oil prices to rebound in the first half of 2017 and for demand to remain healthy following two years of painfully low prices, the state-owned producer's Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said on Tuesday. "The gap between supply and demand is closing ... Our anticipation now is that it will be balanced by the first half of 2017," Nasser told a conference. "That will see an adjustment upwards in terms of prices." Nasser also said that p
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!