Environment news

• Buzz Aldrin 'in good spirits' after South Pole evacuation

  01-12-2016 23:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, is evacuated from the South Pole after falling ill.
  
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• Exploring the fate of the Earth's storehouse of carbon

  01-12-2016 22:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study predicts that warming temperatures will contribute to the release into the atmosphere of carbon that has long been locked up securely in the coldest reaches of our planet.Soil and climate expert Katherine Todd-Brown, a scientist at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is an author of the paper, published in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Nature, which draws upon data collected through 49 separate field experiments around the world.The rese
  
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• Europe ministers debate space future

  01-12-2016 21:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Europe's research ministers negotiate over funding for the space station and a rover that would land on Mars to search for life.
  
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• Oil soars, Brent hits 16-month high after OPEC output deal

  01-12-2016 21:03
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged 4 percent on Thursday, with Brent crude at its highest in about 16 months, extending gains after OPEC and Russia agreed to restrict output to reduce the global supply glut more quickly. The deal also included OPEC's first coordinated action in 15 years with non-member Russia. "It remains to be seen how well they stick to the plan, but if OPEC hadn't come to an agreement the probability is that oil prices would have fallen to $40 a ba
  
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• Increasing tornado outbreaks — Is climate change responsible?

  01-12-2016 20:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms kill people and damage property every year. Estimated U.S. insured losses due to severe thunderstorms in the first half of 2016 were $8.5 billion. The largest U.S. impacts of tornadoes result from tornado outbreaks, sequences of tornadoes that occur in close succession. Last spring a research team led by Michael Tippett, associate professor of applied physics and applied mathematics at Columbia Engineering, published a study showing that the
  
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• Two-thirds of Australians think reef crisis is 'national emergency' – poll

  01-12-2016 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Overwhelming majority of people agree the government should legislate to stop chemicals polluting the Great Barrier ReefMore than two-thirds of Australians think the condition of the Great Barrier Reef should be declared a “national emergency” and support much stronger measures to protect it than are now being considered.The results came as the government released its report on the reef to Unesco, which was a condition of the reef being excluded from the UN body’s “world
  
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• Don’t call Sheffield tree campaigners fanatics | Letters

  01-12-2016 19:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Tree campaign groups across Sheffield have been at pains to garner expert inputs to substantiate their very clear arguments against the Sheffield chainsaw massacre (Letters, 29 November). The Woodland Trust is a longstanding critic of the Sheffield “Streets Ahead” programme and its epic and disastrous plans for street tree “management”. Equally, the Sheffield Wildlife Trust has not been shy about its deep reservations. More recently, the Arboricultural Association has fel
  
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• This is the most dangerous time for our planet | Stephen Hawking

  01-12-2016 19:28 via theguardian.com
  
  We can’t go on ignoring inequality, because we have the means to destroy our world but not to escape itAs a theoretical physicist based in Cambridge, I have lived my life in an extraordinarily privileged bubble. Cambridge is an unusual town, centred around one of the world’s great universities. Within that town, the scientific community that I became part of in my 20s is even more rarefied.And within that scientific community, the small group of international theoretical physicists w
  
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• Hull's Siemens factory produces first batch of wind turbine blades

  01-12-2016 19:27 via theguardian.com
  
  New £310m plant hailed as positive ‘perfect storm’ for port area with one of Britain’s highest unemployment ratesA new £310m factory in Hull that makes wind turbine blades has been hailed by ministers as proof that manufacturing has a “glittering” future in the UK.
  The first batch of 75-metre blades have emerged from the plant, part of a vast “green port” built by Siemens and partners at docks that used to export Yorkshire coal.Continue readi
  
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• Oil prices soar after OPEC output deal, Brent hits 16-month high

  01-12-2016 19:14
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged more than 4 percent on Thursday, with Brent crude at its highest in about 16 months, extending gains after OPEC and Russia agreed to restrict output to reduce the global supply glut more quickly. The deal also included OPEC's first coordinated action in 15 years with non-member Russia. "It remains to be seen how well they stick to the plan, but if OPEC hadn't come to an agreement the probability is that oil prices would have fallen t
  
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• Space station supply craft 'burned up'

  01-12-2016 19:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Russian space agency confirms the loss of an unmanned cargo ship heading for the International Space Station.
  
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• Fire breaks out at Eni's Sannazzaro refinery

  01-12-2016 18:35
  ROME/MILAN (Reuters) - A fire broke out at Eni's Sannazzaro De' Burgundi oil refinery in northern Italy on Thursday afternoon, the oil major said, adding there were no reported injuries. Eni, Italy's biggest refiner, said in a statement the fire had started at around 4.00 pm in the so-called EST plant at the refinery. "The fire is currently being extinguished," Eni said.
  
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• 'Diet is global food policy's elephant in the room'

  01-12-2016 18:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Global food policy needs to shift way from focusing on feeding people enough calories to nourishing people, say leading food experts.
  
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• London mayor issues pollution warnings at bus stops and tube stations

  01-12-2016 18:21 via theguardian.com
  
  UK capital experiences high pollution levels on Thursday with warnings telling people to avoid strenuous exerciseAir quality alerts have been issued at bus stops, tube stations and roadsides across London because of high pollution levels, said a spokeswoman for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The alerts will notify Londoners on Thursday evening during their commute home from work. Continue reading...
  
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• Sutton Hoo bitumen links Syria with Anglo-Saxon England

  01-12-2016 18:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Analysis of black organic fragments found in the Sutton Hoo boat burial reveals they are bitumen from Syria.
  
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• BP approves $9 billion Mad Dog project in Gulf, a first since spill

  01-12-2016 18:06
  By Jessica Resnick-Ault LONDON (Reuters) - Oil major BP has approved a $9-billion (7.14 billion pound) investment in its Mad Dog project in the Gulf of Mexico, its first major new platform in the region since a 2010 explosion at its Macondo well led to the worst offshore disaster in U.S. history. The platform is the first BP-operated project that the company has sanctioned in the Gulf of Mexico since the April 2010 spill at its Macondo well, the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history.
  
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• Crystalline: art from the Arctic, space and beyond - in pictures

  01-12-2016 17:49 via theguardian.com
  
  From an Arctic expedition to working in a studio in the school of biology and environmental science at University College Dublin, artist Siobhan McDonald collaborates with researchers to broach subjects at the edges of current scientific knowledgeCrystalline, curated by Helen Carey, will open at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, on 26January 2017Continue reading...
  
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• Contact lost with ISS supply craft

  01-12-2016 17:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Russian space agency Roscosmos says it has lost contact with an unmanned cargo ship heading for the International Space Station.
  
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• VIDEO: The skills you need to become a sustainability leader

  01-12-2016 17:21
  
  What makes a great sustainability leader? Here, edie rounds up all of our 'sustainability skills' videos filmed over the past month, and brings you a final episode on how to effectively lead your company's CSR strategy - marking the start of our Sustainability Leadership Month.
  
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• BP says approves Mad Dog oil field extension in Gulf of Mexico

  01-12-2016 16:41
  Oil major BP has approved a $9-billion (7.13 billion pound) investment to expand its Mad Dog oil field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the company said, adding to just a handful of investment decisions it has taken this year amid weak oil prices. The Mad Dog Phase 2 project will start producing oil in late 2021 and will have the capacity to pump up to 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) from up to 14 wells, BP said. A leaner design of the expanded Mad Dog, which is located around 190 miles south of New Or
  
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• Chris Grayling defends Heathrow air quality data

  01-12-2016 16:29
  
  Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has defended the Government's air pollution data on Heathrow proposed third runway amid claims from green campaigners that "outdated" and "contradictory" figures are being manipulated to force through the Airport's expansion.
  
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• Captain Cook's Notes Describe Now-Vanishing Arctic Ice Wall

  01-12-2016 16:22
  
  The meticulous records of Capt. James Cook, the intrepid British explorer famous for exploring Australia and the Hawaiian islands, have found a new and modern-day value: Helping climate change scientists understand the extent of sea ice loss in the icy Canadian Arctic, according to a new study. Notes, charts and maps created by Cook and his crew during an Arctic expedition in August 1778 carefully documented the position and thickness of the ice barring the explorers' way. Cook never found that
  
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• Scientists Pinpoint How to Calm Oklahoma's Human-Made Quakes

  01-12-2016 16:20
  
  Human-induced earthquakes have rattled Oklahoma in recent years, a state known more for its wide-open plains than havoc-wreaking temblors. This water is pumped as part of the oil and gas production process in Oklahoma and other states in the central and eastern United States. Injecting wastewater from oil and gas extraction into underground wells has occurred for decades in Oklahoma without raising concern over induced seismicity, but in 2009, the rate and volume of injection massively increased
  
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• EU on track to meet 2020 renewable energy target, report shows

  01-12-2016 16:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Energy and climate targets are ‘well within reach’ but the transport sector is lagging behind EU countries are on track to meet their 2020 targets for renewable energy and emissions cuts but could fall short of ambitious longer-term goals, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Thursday.“The EU’s 2020 targets on energy and climate are now well within reach,” EEA executive director Hans Bruyninckx said. Continue reading...
  
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• Oil prices jump more than 2 percent after OPEC output deal

  01-12-2016 15:55
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Thursday, building on big gains made after OPEC and Russia agreed to restrict output, even as analysts warned other producers were likely to top up supply. "OPEC, it seems, has gone for the most bullish option," said Tamas Varga, analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates. "OPEC has done its best to stabilise the market in the $50-$60 price range, but if they fail to deliver in the coming months, make no mistake
  
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• Exclusive - Barclays to close down energy business within Macro trading division: memo

  01-12-2016 15:40
  Barclays will close the energy business within its 'Macro' trading division, the bank said in an internal memo on Thursday obtained by Reuters, in a move that will affect dozens of jobs at the British lender. The energy business is responsible for the sale and trading of energy-related products, largely derivatives such as oil futures contracts, and sits within the 'Macro' division that also trades foreign exchange and interest rate products. "This is the right decision for Macro and the broader
  
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• Big food faces annihilation unless it moves with millennials on health

  01-12-2016 15:29 via theguardian.com
  
  The food industry in the US and around the world is scrambling to adapt to a younger generation’s appetite for fresher, healthier foodsA college student in the 1980s may have been content living off instant noodles for dinner. Nowadays, a twentysomething is as likely to pick up a piece of wild salmon with quinoa and a fresh rocket salad from their local grocery store on any given night.
  It’s a shift that’s having ripple effects throughout the food industry as manufacturers and
  
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• US businesses push against Trump's attempts to dismiss climate change

  01-12-2016 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmentally friendly groups at Companies vs Climate Change said they will work to make sure Trump won’t undo all the progress the country has madeFrom his claim that global warming was a gigantic hoax masterminded by China to his promise to pull the United States out of the landmark Paris agreement, Donald Trump’s surprise election win was widely decried by those who feared that recent progress in tackling climate change was about to come undone. Related: Donald Trump presidency
  
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• Buzz Aldrin evacuated from South Pole

  01-12-2016 14:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, is evacuated from the South Pole after falling ill.
  
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• Oil prices head higher after surge on OPEC output deal

  01-12-2016 14:24
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose $1 a barrel on Thursday, building on big gains made after OPEC and Russia agreed to restrict production, even as analysts warned other producers were likely to top up supply. "OPEC, it seems, has gone for the most bullish option," said Tamas Varga, analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates. "OPEC has done its best to stabilise the market in the $50-$60 price range, but if they fail to deliver in the coming months, make no mistake, oi
  
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• Obama funds dirty energy projects around the world | The daily briefing

  01-12-2016 14:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Communities feel effects of US-funded developments; abortion activists challenge state laws; senators seek declassification of files on Russia and electionThrough the US Export-Import Bank, Barack Obama’s administration has spent nearly $34bn supporting 70 fossil fuel projects around the world, work by Columbia Journalism School and the Guardian has revealed. Guardian reporters have spent time at American-backed projects in India, South Africa and Australia to document the sickness, upheav
  
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• Is there evidence the Tasmanian tiger still exists? – video report

  01-12-2016 14:12 via theguardian.com
  
  The last Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, is said to have died in 1936 and was declared extinct in 1986. The Thylacine Awareness Group claims there have been 5,000 reported sightings of thylacines in the past 80 years, however, they do acknowledge video evidence is ambiguous Footage courtesy of Thylacine Awareness Group YouTube channelTasmanian tiger sightings: ‘I represent 3,000 people who have been told they’re nuts’
  Continue reading...
  
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• Great Barrier Reef progress report: We have to do better on water quality, says Australia

  01-12-2016 14:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Efforts to curb tree clearing have failed, the government admits in its update to Unesco on work to save the world heritage siteAustralia needs to work faster on lifting water quality to save the Great Barrier Reef, according to its first progress report to Unesco since the world heritage site was spared an “in-danger” listing.The report admitted that a key plank of Australia’s conservation plan – land-clearing reforms in Queensland to staunch water pollution – had
  
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• Ravenous 14-Foot Python Caught with 3 Deer in Its Gut

  01-12-2016 13:42
  
  A Burmese python in the Everglades with a penchant for venison gulped down three whole deer — one doe and two fawns — before wildlife officials captured and euthanized it, a new study reveals. The gustatory feat sets a record: It's the first invasive Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) caught with three deer in its gut, said study co-lead author Scott Boback, an associate professor of biology at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. The python probably attacked and ate the deer a
  
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• Trump's environment plans could spark opposition

  01-12-2016 13:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Proposals by the Trump administration to roll back US environmental regulations could mobilise opposition, say analysts.
  
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• Christmas deliveries go green as major retailers embrace renewable lorry fuel

  01-12-2016 13:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Waitrose, John Lewis and Argos among the first users of a new biomethane fuel for gas-powered trucks, reports BusinessGreenGas-powered lorries laden with Christmas parcels are set to have a lighter carbon impact this season thanks to the launch today of a new renewable fuel from CNG Fuels.
  Retailers including John Lewis, Argos and Waitrose have already confirmed some of their long-distance lorries will run on the green gas – a renewable biomethane fuel derived from food waste – which
  
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• Wildlife on your doorstep: share your December photos

  01-12-2016 13:08 via theguardian.com
  
  As the northern hemisphere prepares for cold winter months, and the southern hemisphere gets ready for sunny spells, what sort of wildlife will you discover?
  The temperatures are dropping fast in the northern hemisphere as December signals the start of the winter months ahead. While we’re getting ready for wintry weather, the southern hemisphere will be trying to adapt to the summer heatwaves and plenty of sunshine. So what sort of wildlife will we all discover on our doorsteps? We’d
  
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• Obama's dirty secret: the fossil fuel projects the US littered around the world

  01-12-2016 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Through the Export-Import Bank, the Obama administration has spent nearly $34bn on dirty energy plants in countries from India to Australia to South AfricaSeemingly little connects a community in India plagued by toxic water, a looming air pollution crisis in South Africa and a new fracking boom that is pockmarking Australia. And yet there is a common thread: American taxpayer money.Through the US Export-Import Bank, Barack Obama’s administration has spent nearly $34bn supporting 70 fossil
  
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• States and regions putting Paris goals within reach, but only in the short-term

  01-12-2016 12:46
  
  States and regions including California, Rio De Janeiro, Wales and Scotland are implementing "exemplary" near-term ambitions to place a 2C-world within reach, although a lack of long-term targets could stunt progress after 2030.
  
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• Nick Hurd gives backing to UK cities 2050 clean energy shift

  01-12-2016 12:44
  
  The UK's Climate Change Minister Nick Hurd has joined major businesses in signalling support for the commitment of UK cities and local authorities to shift towards 100% clean energy by 2050.
  
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• Rolls-Royce to cut another 800 jobs at marine unit

  01-12-2016 12:31
  British engineering company Rolls-Royce said it would cut a further 800 jobs in its marine business to save an extra 50 million pounds a year, responding to weak demand from shipping and energy customers. The marine business, which depends on oil and gas-related customers for about 60 percent of its business and currently employs about 4,800 people with its main operations in Norway, has seen weak demand for new equipment and lower maintenance revenues as customers use their vessels less. Rolls-
  
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• Government prepares for green transport revolution with EV and sustainable aviation frameworks

  01-12-2016 12:11
  
  British transport is set for a significant low-carbon boost with several new Government consultations and funding schemed announced over the past few days in a bid to drive a green transport overhaul.
  
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• Oil price rally likely short-lived as OPEC deal not enough to reduce glut

  01-12-2016 11:18
  (Reuters) - The oil price rally sparked by an OPEC-Russia deal to cut output is likely to be short-lived, say traders in Asia, because the agreement may only draw more supplies from storage tanks and more crude shipments from the United States. "The cut by OPEC will be largely offset by increases in U.S. production where the rig count has already increased," said India Oil Corp's Director of Finance A K Sharma. If there is any impact, it will be short term." Higher oil prices and lower productio
  
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• Oil prices hold gains after surge on OPEC output deal

  01-12-2016 10:58
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Crude oil prices steadied around $50 a barrel on Thursday, holding onto big gains made after OPEC and Russia agreed to restrict production, even as analysts warned other producers were likely to top up supply. "OPEC has agreed to an historic production cut," analysts at AB Bernstein said. An additional cut of 0.6 million bpd from non-OPEC countries could significantly add to what has been announced by OPEC." Benchmark Brent crude for February was up 20 c
  
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• Nicolas Cage to star in climate change disaster movie

  01-12-2016 10:58 via theguardian.com
  
  The actor will take the lead in The Humanity Bureau, set in 2030 when global warming has destroyed much of the Earth’s hottest regionsNicolas Cage is to take the lead in a new sci-fi movie depicting a world ravaged by climate change. The film, called The Humanity Project, takes place in 2030, when much of the midwest of America has been rendered uninhabitable. The government agency of the title exiles people felt to be unproductive and banishes them to a colony, New Eden. Cage plays a case
  
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• Oil prices surge, trading volume records smashed as OPEC and Russia agree output cut

  01-12-2016 09:11
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An agreement between oil producer club OPEC and Russia to produce less to drain a global glut sent prices soaring in record trading volumes on Thursday, even as analysts warned other producers will likely top up supply. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)agreed on Wednesday its first oil output reduction since 2008 after de-facto leader Saudi Arabia accepted "a big hit" and dropped a demand that arch-rival Iran also slash output
  
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• 'My works seek to merge the poetic and the scientific'

  01-12-2016 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Artist Siobhan McDonald explains how seismology, climate change and a doomed Arctic expedition have shaped her latest exhibition, Crystalline We live in an era in which humans have become the dominant force of change on the planet. First proclaimed at the turn of the millennium by the climate scientist Paul Crutzen, the Anthropocene asserts that since the Industrial Revolution, humans have altered the environment so extensively as to create a new geological epoch. Continue reading...
  
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• UK health body proposes removal of speed bumps to cut air pollution

  01-12-2016 08:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Variable speed limits, removal of speed bumps and ‘no idling’ zones near schools among Nice recommendations Speed bumps should be removed, speed limits made variable on England’s motorways, sometimes dropping as low as 50mph, and a congestion charge considered in more cities to cut air pollution and save lives, health experts have said.
  The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) released a series of recommendations on Thursday which it said would “promot
  
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