Environment news

• Nigeria militants say readying fighters to hit 'enemy' in Niger Delta

  06-01-2017 23:53
  A Nigerian militant group, which has claimed a wave of attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta, said on Friday that it had asked its fighters to prepare to fight the "enemy" as authorities were not ready for dialogue. The Niger Delta Avengers had declared a ceasefire last year after staging major attacks on oil facilities crippling the OPEC member's oil output in a fight for more oil revenues to give dialogue with authorities a chance. The government has been holding talks for more than six
  
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• China pollution: 'It can be completely dark'

  06-01-2017 23:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A look at life inside China's most polluted city. Shijiazhuang is currently underneath a thick layer of toxic smog.
  
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• Bat-friendly tequila, research play role in species recovery

  06-01-2017 22:03
  
  Wildlife officials say it might be time for a toast now that a once-rare bat important to the pollination of plants used to produce tequila is making a comeback. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday ...
  
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• 'Elephants are not the only victims': the lament of China's ivory lovers

  06-01-2017 22:00
  
  For years China’s ivory carvers and collectors have been blamed for elephant poaching. Now their government is banning the ivory trade. How do they see their future? In a tiny workshop at his home in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, 84-year-old Au Yue-Shung shows me an ivory carving he has been working on for months. Measuring just 5x10 inches, Nine Sages in Mount Xiang depicts the 9th-century poet Bai Juyi and eight of his peers in full creative flow in Henan province, far from the imper
  
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• Alone, China's ban on ivory could make life worse for elephants

  06-01-2017 22:00
  
  China has ordered all its legal ivory carvers and traders to get of the business by the end of the year. But it will have to do more if it really wants to stop poachingChina’s ban on ivory trading and processing has been hailed as a monumental step on the path to saving elephants from extinction. But if China does not simultaneously tackle its much larger illegal trade in ivory, the ban could perversely make it more lucrative for the poaching gangs who massacre Africa’s elephants and
  
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• New towns and garden cities as answers to Britain’s housing crisis | Letters

  06-01-2017 20:08
  
  I read with great interest the various contributions in G2 (5 January) on garden cities, towns or villages of tomorrow. The plea in the first article, by Owen Hatherley, was for a new town that “doesn’t look planned by developers but for the public good”. This is what I found in the new town I have lived in for almost 60 years. When I moved to Crawley in 1957 it was to a new town designated 10 years earlier which was growing rapidly. The main characteristic of such new towns of
  
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• 'Larsen C' iceberg about to break off Antarctic shelf – video

  06-01-2017 20:05
  
  Scientists predict that a giant iceberg is about to break off from the Antarctic shelf after the sudden expansion of a rift which has been growing steadily for a decade. Several ice shelves have cracked up around northern parts of Antarctica in recent years, including the Larsen B that disintegrated in 2002Giant iceberg poised to break off from Antarctic shelfContinue reading...
  
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• Oil edges up; strong dollar, OPEC doubts make buyers cautious

  06-01-2017 19:32
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil rose slightly on Friday as investors bought futures ahead of the weekend, but a strong U.S. dollar limited gains, as did lingering doubts about whether all OPEC producers would cut output in line with an agreement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 26 cents at $54.02 a barrel, after trading between $53.32 and $54.32.
  
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• Obama admin blocks seismic surveys in Atlantic Ocean

  06-01-2017 19:07
  The Obama administration on Friday rejected requests by energy companies to conduct seismic surveys in the Atlantic Ocean to map potential drilling sites for oil and natural gas. The Interior Department ...
  
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• Brixton Road breaches annual air pollution limit in five days

  06-01-2017 18:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A south London road breaches its EU annual air pollution limit for 2017 in just five days.
  
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• London breaches air pollution limit for all 2017

  06-01-2017 17:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  Days into the 2017 pollution limits on the Brixton Road in Lambeth, South London, has already breached EU pollution limits for NO2 for the entire year. Meanwhile UK sales of diesel cars - one of the main causes of NO2 pollution - reached record levels in 2016, reflecting the government's failure to tackle the problem in spite of numerous court orders.
  
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• How do we fix air pollution? It's simple but it needs political will

  06-01-2017 17:24
  
  We know diesel vehicles are the key culprit, but when it comes to both long-term solutions and emergency measures the govenment has been asleep at the wheelCutting toxic levels of city air pollution to safer levels is simple, but not easy – it requires resolve. Yet, despite the key culprit in the UK being well known – diesel vehicles – the government has been asleep at the wheel for years.
  Levels of nitrogen dioxide have been illegally high across much of the UK since 2010. In
  
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• Oil prices fall on doubts over OPEC production cut compliance

  06-01-2017 16:17
  By Libby George LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday, reversing earlier gains, on concerns that not all OPEC producers will cut output in line with an agreement reached in November, and a stronger U.S. dollar. Brent crude futures , the benchmark for international oil prices, were trading at $57.75 per barrel at 1443 GMT, down 14 cents from the previous close after trading as much as 58 cents higher earlier in the day. In the United States, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were
  
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• Air pollution, owl cafes and 25 years of UK wind power – green news roundup

  06-01-2017 16:06
  
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• Exclusive: Iran capitalises on OPEC oil cut to sell millions of barrels - sources

  06-01-2017 15:26
  By Jonathan Saul LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has sold more than 13 million barrels of oil that it had long held on tankers at sea, capitalising on an OPEC output cut deal from which it is exempted to regain market share and court new buyers, according to industry sources and data. In the past three months, Tehran has sold almost half the oil it had held in floating storage, which had tied up many of its tankers as it struggled to offload stocks in an oversupplied global market. The amount of Iranian
  
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• Artificial Intelligence to drive new UK demand response initiative

  06-01-2017 14:54
  
  Innovative energy start-up Upside Energy has joined forces with a leading specialist university in a demand response project that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to reduce the UK's reliance on reserve capacity provided by traditional power stations.
  
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• Giant iceberg poised to break off from Antarctic shelf

  06-01-2017 13:38
  
  Predicted to be one of the largest break-offs ever recorded, separation of iceberg could trigger breakup of most northern major ice shelf, Larsen C A giant iceberg, with an area equivalent to Trinidad and Tobago, is poised to break off from the Antarctic shelf. Related: British Antarctic research station to be moved due to deep crack in the iceContinue reading...
  
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• Air filtering scarfs and AI cars: The best green innovations of CES 2017

  06-01-2017 13:36
  
  As the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas closes its doors for the year, edie rounds-up the fleeting but mesmerising green innovations that could thrive in a low-carbon economy.
  
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• Shell battles Nigerian communities in high-stakes London lawsuit

  06-01-2017 12:56
  By Karolin Schaps and Libby George LONDON (Reuters) - A court in London will decide in coming weeks whether Royal Dutch Shell can face trial in the UK over oil spill allegations in Nigeria, a decision some legal experts predict could attract more cases against multinationals in Britain. The High Court will judge whether members from two communities, Bille and Ogale in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region, can sue the Anglo-Dutch company in British courts. The communities say Nigerian courts are unfit
  
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• London breaches annual air pollution limits in five days

  06-01-2017 12:46
  
  London has been handed another "shameful reminder" of its toxic air pollution levels as the capital breaches the annual legal limit within five days of 2017.
  
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• Oil prices edge up on OPEC hopes, but doubts linger

  06-01-2017 12:06
  By Libby George LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher by mid-morning on Friday as signs of output cuts by OPEC members met with lingering concern that other producers could try to shirk their share of planned decreases aimed at curbing global oversupply. Brent crude futures , the benchmark for international oil prices, were trading at $57.34 per barrel at 1033 GMT, up 45 cents from the previous close. In the United States, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $54.19 a barrel,
  
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• The Sustainable Business Covered podcast: Episode 17 - A New Year's Revolution for the green economy

  06-01-2017 12:03
  
  The edie editorial team returns from the festive break to bring you this very special first podcast episode of 2017, with sustainability leadership expert Alexandra Stubbings coming into the studio to provide us with plenty of reasons to feel positive and optimistic about the year ahead.
  
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• The Sustainable Business Covered podcast: Episode 17 - A New Year's Resolution for the green economy

  06-01-2017 12:03
  
  The edie editorial team returns from the festive break to bring you this very special first podcast episode of 2017, with sustainability leadership expert Alexandra Stubbings coming into the studio to provide us with plenty of reasons to feel positive and optimistic about the year ahead.
  
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• UK Green Building Council aims to foster collaboration through new Innovation Lab

  06-01-2017 12:00
  
  The UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) has introduced a "radical new approach" to inspiring innovation in the built environment, after launching its first Innovation Lab that will offer workshops and collaborative opportunities to develop new solutions in the construction industry.
  
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• Prepare for reanimation of the zombie myth ‘no global warming since 2016’ | Dana Nuccitelli

  06-01-2017 12:00
  
  Pushback will be needed against an impending swarm of climate zombie mythsClimate myths are like zombies – you shoot them through the heart, walk away thinking they’re dead, and then they pop back up behind you and try once again to eat your brain. So it is with Stage 1 climate denial and the myth that the Earth isn’t warming. It’s so persistent that it’s related to the 5th, 9th, and 49th-most popular myths in the Skeptical Science database. Climate deniers have bee
  
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• Forensic science standards 'at significant risk'

  06-01-2017 11:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The quality of forensic science work in England and Wales is putting the integrity of the criminal justice system at risk, the regulator warns.
  
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• London breaches annual air pollution limit for 2017 in just five days

  06-01-2017 11:03
  
  Brixton Road in Lambeth has already broken legal limits for toxic air for the entire year, with many other sites across the capital set to followLondon has breached its annual air pollution limits just five days into 2017, a “shameful reminder of the severity of London’s air pollution”, according to campaigners.By law, hourly levels of toxic nitrogen dioxide must not be more than 200 micrograms per cubic metre more than 18 times in a whole year, but late on Thursday this limit
  
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• UK wind power overtakes coal for first time

  06-01-2017 10:54
  
  Green groups hail analysis showing collapse in coal due to power station closures and rising carbon taxesWindfarms across the UK generated more electricity in 2016 than coal power plants for the first time, according to an analyst’s estimates.Three major coal power stations closed last year, causing coal electricity generation to plummet to 9.2%, down from 22.6% in 2015. Wind power provided 11.5% of generation in 2016, slightly down from 12% in 2015. Continue reading...
  
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• China cementing global dominance of renewable energy and technology

  06-01-2017 10:00
  
  It now owns five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing firms and the largest wind-turbine manufacturerChina is cementing its global dominance of renewable energy and supporting technologies, aggressively investing in them both at home and around the globe, leaving countries including the US, UK and Australia at risk of missing the growing market.A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Ieefa) found China’s dominance in renewables is rapid
  
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• Notorious bird egg thief on the run in Brazil

  06-01-2017 09:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A notorious egg thief is on the run after stealing bird eggs worth up to £5,000, after authorities in Brazil lost track of him.
  
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• Oil prices dip on lingering doubts of supply cut commitments

  06-01-2017 09:09
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Friday over lingering doubts that some producers might not implement announced production cuts in an attempt to curb global oversupply. Brent crude futures, the benchmark for international oil prices, were trading at $56.76 per barrel at 0756 GMT, down 13 cents from their close the previous day. In the United States, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $53.65 a barrel, 11 cents below their last settlement.
  
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• Serene cycling, more variety and new lanes: my Bike Blog hopes for 2017

  06-01-2017 08:00
  
  A late list of new year resolutions include a return to mountain biking and a position in the commuting slow laneNew year resolutions are, of course, traditionally made before 1 January, not nearly a week into 2017. But I shall disregard convention – below are my cycling-related hopes for the current year.
  Some are personal, some more general. I should also stress that these aren’t my sole hopes for humanity, just some specific Bike Blog-based ones. New bike lanes would be great, but
  
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• Inside Glanrhyd, the first solar 'eco hamlet' in Wales

  06-01-2017 08:00
  
  Residents of the new eco hamlet in Pembrokeshire can expect greatly reduced fuel bills and shared use of an electric carMost of the houses in the Welsh village of Glanrhyd are of traditional construction – walls made out of hefty local stone, roofs of grey slate. They can get chilly when the winter winds whistle through the gaps. The six houses that make up the “eco hamlet” of Pentre Solar look and feel very different. They are built using light, bright timber sourced from a ne
  
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• Diesel cars emit 10 times more toxic pollution than trucks and buses, data shows

  06-01-2017 07:01
  
  Stricter EU emissions testing for large vehicles means modern diesel cars produce 10 times more NOx per litre of fuelModern diesel cars produce 10 times more toxic air pollution than heavy trucks and buses, new European data has revealed.The stark difference in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) is due to the much stricter testing applied to large vehicles in the EU, according to the researchers behind a new report. They say the same strict measures must be applied to cars. Continue reading...
  
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• Diesel cars are 10 times more toxic than trucks and buses, data shows

  06-01-2017 07:01
  
  Stricter EU emissions testing for large vehicles means modern diesel cars produce 10 times more NOx per litre of fuelModern diesel cars produce 10 times more toxic air pollution than heavy trucks and buses, new European data has revealed.The stark difference in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) is due to the much stricter testing applied to large vehicles in the EU, according to the researchers behind a new report. They say the same strict measures must be applied to cars. Continue reading...
  
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• All the twists, trims and turns of a good hedge lay

  06-01-2017 06:30
  
  Stoke Abbott, Dorset Every limb is a puzzle, whether to remove or keep, how to split, where to interlaceThunk! The billhook bites deep and splits the hazel slantwise. With a heave and a twist on the trunk, the young tree shakes its embryonic catkins against the sky and swishes down to lie lengthwise with the others. Then begins the business of trimming the prone sapling and weaving it in so it becomes both hedge and living fence.Hedge laying is an ancient craft. Small tree trunks are sliced with
  
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• Oil steady after Saudis, Abu Dhabi cut supplies

  06-01-2017 03:44
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices were steady on Friday as the start of supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi supported the market, but doubts that all producers will implement output reductions agreed in a landmark deal last year kept markets from rising further. Brent crude futures, the benchmark for international oil prices, were trading at $56.85 per barrel at 0238 GMT, down 4 cents from their close the previous day. In the United States, West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
  
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• Green prawn imports suspended amid white spot disease outbreak

  06-01-2017 03:30
  
  Australian government sanctions a major importer after virus detected in Queensland, says Barnaby JoyceThe importation of green prawns into Australia will be suspended after an outbreak of white spot disease in Queensland, the federal agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, has announced.The federal government had taken action against a major prawn importer on Friday after the disease was detected in Queensland, Joyce said. The virus is highly contagious and lethal, killing prawns quickly. It has t
  
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• Huge Antarctic iceberg poised to break away

  06-01-2017 01:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One of the 10 largest icebergs ever recorded is ready to break away from Antarctica, scientists say.
  
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• Tiger snake bites father and son in their Melbourne home

  06-01-2017 01:46
  
  Matt Horn bitten twice after he found 11-year-old Braeden, who has autism, playing with the reptileA Melbourne father and his 11-year-old autistic son have been bitten by a tiger snake that slithered into their suburban home.Matt Horn was bitten twice as he tried to protect his son, Braeden, who had been bitten while playing with the snake in the hallway of their Diamond Creek home. Continue reading...
  
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• Oil steady after gains on Saudi output cuts

  06-01-2017 01:39
  Oil prices were little changed on Friday after gaining nearly 1 percent the day before on news that Saudi Arabia had cut production to meet OPEC's agreement to reduce output. Saudi Arabia has been curbing oil output in January by at least 486,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 10.058 million bpd, fully implementing OPEC's agreement to slow production, according to a Gulf source familiar with Saudi oil policy.
  
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