Environment news

• Whale spotted in New York's East river thought to be a humpback

  31-12-2016 20:49
  
  NYPD posts photo of whale swimming near mayor’s mansionAnother humpback took up residence in Hudson river last monthA large whale, believed to be a humpback, has been spotted in the East river in New York City.Related: Big oil v orcas: Canadians fight pipeline that threatens killer whales on the brinkContinue reading...
  
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• Something in the woodshed: odes to our earthly origins – in pictures

  31-12-2016 18:00
  
  Greek graphic designer Meni Chatzipanagiotou, who has been immersed in nature since she was a child, crafts her scenic illustrations of starry mountainscapes on wood rather than on paper. “The natural colour and smell of the wood brings me closer to nature,” she says. “I enjoy thinking about the wood’s structure, how it can be transformed into something else and hold additional purpose and meaning.” At the intersection of science, fantasy and fiction, and made with
  
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• Nigeria's Buhari says will pursue peace in restive Niger Delta in 2017

  31-12-2016 16:27
  Nigeria's government will seek a lasting peace settlement with militants in the oil-producing southern Niger Delta region in 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a New Year's message on Saturday. Attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria's energy hub, coupled with low oil prices, helped push Africa's biggest economy into recession - the first in 25 years - in the second quarter. Attacks by militants, who want a greater share of the country's energy wealth to go the impoverished oil-producing swam
  
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• The year of living dangerously: Conservationist Terry Tempest Williams steps up to the BLM

  31-12-2016 16:00
  
  A longtime advocate for public lands, Terry Tempest Williams has been at the forefront of fighting for conservation. This year, she stepped into the firing lineOne cold day last February, Terry Tempest Williams, a prominent environmental author and advocate, stepped into Utah’s Salt Palace to begin her unlikely career in the energy industry.Salt Palace, Salt Lake City’s largest convention center, was hosting a federal oil and gas lease sale, at which the Bureau of Land Management (BL
  
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• Obama leaves 'phenomenal legacy' of protecting historic and natural land

  31-12-2016 14:30
  
  The president designated large landscapes as well as places significant to landmark social movements, highlighting ‘under-told parts of American history’This week, Barack Obama added two more regions to the US’s collection of national monuments, in a final push to protect the country’s historic and natural landscapes before he leaves office. Obama has used the law more than any previous president since the Antiquities Act was enacted in 1906. Related: Barack Obama designa
  
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• Grey end to this dark year

  31-12-2016 06:30
  
  Cricieth, North Wales There was no horizon, no distinction in the grey tonality, no dividing line between sea and skyA drab December greyness. I scrunched eastwards along the shingle, heading towards Black Rock. Foamy salients threatened to swamp my boots. My little terrier Phoebe darted in and out of the wavelets to retrieve sticks.
  Here and there I paused to watch a raft of scoter (Melanitta nigra) offshore. Their dark shapes pulsed up and down on a smooth swell. Continue reading...
  
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• Saving loggerhead turtles: the annual sacrifice to preserve an ancient journey

  31-12-2016 04:27
  
  Each summer for 40 years Nev and Bev McLachlan have camped on a remote Queensland beach to monitor and tag nesting sea turtles. Melissa Davey joins them on their missionIt’s about 7pm at the remote Wreck Rock beach within Deepwater national park in Queensland and Nev and Bev McLachlan are starting the night watch.
  For the past 40 years the husband and wife have been travelling from their home on the Sunshine Coast to a tiny campsite about 140km north of Bundaberg, their enormous caravan fu
  
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• Coming up

  31-12-2016 01:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  From a majestic natural spectacle to a high-octane technological thrill ride, here's our guide to the big science events of 2017.
  
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• BBC series uses robot creatures to document secret lives of animals

  31-12-2016 01:01
  
  Spy in the Wild uses camouflaged cameras to capture unprecedented footage of wildlife in five-part showWhat does a newly hatched crocodile see while it is being transported to water between its mother’s jaws? How should a wild dog pup behave if it wants to be accepted by an approaching pack of adults?These and other questions will be answered in a new BBC wildlife series screening this week, in which the stars of the show are not only the animals being filmed, but the animatronic “sp
  
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