Environment news

• Winter reigns over the land: Country diary 100 years ago

  22-01-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 30 January 1917The biting east wind played on the swaying wires beside the road, striking notes now melancholy moans, now high-pitched screams; it swept across the mere, lashing white foam from the wavelets; it drove floating ice fragments into the rushes and reeds, scrunching and churning them against the ice-discs which clung to each stalwart stem. The western shore was caked with ice, each grass stem which had caught the splashing waters deep
  
  Read more

• Barnaby Joyce won't rule out dumping Renewable Energy Target

  22-01-2017 22:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Deputy prime minister criticises ‘romantic’ targets set by states as some Coalition MPs call to ditch RET if US pulls out of Paris climate dealBarnaby Joyce has refused to commit the government to maintain the Renewable Energy Target, after a report that conservative Coalition MPs want to ditch it if the United States pulls out of the Paris climate agreement.The deputy prime minister ruled out pulling out of the Paris agreement, but criticised “romantic” renewable targets
  
  Read more

• The long-tailed tit – successful, adaptable, sociable, and oh so cute

  22-01-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  This tiny ball of fluff with an impossibly long tail, has almost doubled in numbers since the 1980sA brief, high-pitched “see-see-see” sound, followed by the appearance of half-a-dozen tiny balls of fluff, each attached to what looks like a protruding stick. Then, more calls, as these flying lollipops flit from one tree to the next, pause, grab an invisible insect, and then move rapidly on.Encountering a flock of long-tailed tits on a frosty January day is always a delight. Few other
  
  Read more

• Hypothermia: why most deaths are preventable

  22-01-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  New research into the cold weather killer suggests health authorities need to start taking action much earlier in the seasonEarlier this month the cold snap across Europe claimed more than 60 lives. In Poland temperatures fell to below -30°C in some regions and 10 people died of the cold on 8 January alone. Meanwhile in Greece and Turkey refugees and homeless people suffered greatly in the unseasonably heavy snow. The sad thing is that almost all of these deaths were preventable.
  Every winte
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Ministers laud strong start to OPEC, non-OPEC oil output cuts

  22-01-2017 15:38
  By Rania El Gamal and Vladimir Soldatkin VIENNA (Reuters) - OPEC and non-OPEC countries have made a strong start to lowering their oil output under the first such pact in more than a decade, energy ministers said on Sunday as producers look to reduce oversupply and support prices. "The deal is a success ...All the countries are sticking to the deal ...(the) results are above expectations," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said after the first meeting of a committee set up to monitor the d
  
  Read more

• Russia's Novak says sees oil price at $50-$60 in 2017 - TASS

  22-01-2017 14:34
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak sees global oil prices at between $50 and $60 (£40.4 and £48.5) per barrel in 2017, TASS news agency quoted him as saying on Sunday. According to Interfax news agency, Novak also said that countries involved in a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers could reduce their output by more than 1.7 million barrels per day by the end of January. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Jason Neely)
  
  Read more

• Israel's Modiin Energy plans to buy North Sea drilling rights

  22-01-2017 14:25
  Modiin Energy said on Sunday it signed a letter of intent to buy 25 percent of the oil drilling rights in a site in shallow North Sea waters in British territory. Modiin will pay the seller, who was not identified, $175,000 (£141,460) to cover previous expenses, Modiin said in a statement. Modiin will pay a third of the costs associated with the first drill in the site.
  
  Read more

• 60mph speed limit for M1 under consideration to combat air pollution

  22-01-2017 14:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Highways England plans to introduce Britain’s first pollution-linked speed limits to help reduce smog over SheffieldA proposal to impose Britain’s first pollution-linked speed limits in order to help ease smog over Sheffield is being considered by Highways England.A 60mph speed limit at rush-hour when vehicle numbers are highest where the M1 runs close to schools and homes in the city could help address air quality concerns, a report commissioned by the agency found.Continue reading.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Russia's Novak says oil output deal results above expectations

  22-01-2017 13:57
  Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday a pact between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers to lower output beginning this month was proving a success and delivering results that were above expectations. "The deal is a success ...All the countries are sticking to the deal ...(the) results are above expectations," Novak said. Novak said the monitoring could include collecting data on exports of oil and oil products.
  
  Read more

• Oil market to balance even with increased drilling - Qatar minister

  22-01-2017 13:50
  VIENNA (Reuters) - Qatar Energy Minister Mohammed Al-Sada said on Sunday that even with an increase in drilling rigs, the oil market is likely to reach a balance as producers implement agreed output cuts. "I think with increasing demand eventually shale oil will all be catered for," Al-Sada told reporters. Al-Sada said demand is healthy, with expected growth in line with last year's rise of around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd). OPEC and non-OPEC producers have agreed to lower output by almos
  
  Read more

• OPEC, non-OPEC monitoring committee to meet next after March 17 - Kuwait

  22-01-2017 13:27
  VIENNA (Reuters) - A committee set up to monitor oil output cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC producers will meet next after March 17 in Kuwait, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouq told reporters following the committee's first meeting in Vienna on Sunday. A third meeting of the monitoring committee will be held ahead of OPEC's May meeting, Al-Marzouq said. Producers also agreed to form a technical committee to assist the five-member monitoring committee. The output cuts are aimed at reducing oversupp
  
  Read more

• Ministers positive on OPEC, non-OPEC oil output cuts

  22-01-2017 12:01
  By Rania El Gamal and Vladimir Soldatkin VIENNA (Reuters) - Energy ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC countries meeting in Vienna on Sunday have struck a positive note regarding their agreement to cut oil output as a committee set to monitor compliance with the deal meets for the first time. Kuwaiti oil minister Essam Al-Marzouq, who chairs the five-member compliance committee, said it would examine how to best monitor compliance and what level of compliance would be acceptable. The other members
  
  Read more

• OPEC, non-OPEC producers meet to discuss compliance with oil cut deal

  22-01-2017 10:51
  By Rania El Gamal and Vladimir Soldatkin VIENNA (Reuters) - A committee of OPEC and non-OPEC countries responsible for monitoring compliance with a global agreement to reduce oil output is set to meet for the first time in Vienna on Sunday. The committee is expected to discuss how to best monitor compliance with the deal reached late last year as well as what level of compliance would be acceptable, Kuwaiti oil minister Essam Al-Marzouq said in Vienna on Saturday.
  
  Read more

• Saudi's Falih says output cuts set to lower oil inventories

  22-01-2017 10:50
  VIENNA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers were complying with their pledge to lower oil output and that global oil inventories could be taken back to their five-year average by mid-year with full compliance. "There is no reason for us to suddenly come into January and say we need a bigger reduction or a longer period. Will this change in the second quarter? Possible, but (that's) improbable today," he told reporters ahead
  
  Read more

• Utopian ideas on climate change will get us precisely nowhere

  22-01-2017 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Consumption - of cars, flights and more - is how most people measure progress, and campaigners must concentrate on reducing the harm this does. Back-to-nature idealism will surely failUrging people to stop consuming stuff in order to slow the rate of climate change is a gambit that is doomed to fail. It would be helpful if shoppers put off buying a suit or installing a new kitchen, but it’s not going to happen. Demonising those who fly to Barcelona for a long weekend is another tactic that
  
  Read more

• Bringing a breath of fresh air to the UK’s polluted cities

  22-01-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A weekend of creative events in central London aims to raise awareness of poor urban air qualityFeaturing a sturdy leather head-strap and mask, two large tubes and a transparent backpack containing a small potted plant, designer Chih Chiu’s response to crowded, polluted cities is stark.“My initial idea was to separate an individual from the public space,” he says. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The eco guide to saving the whale

  22-01-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The whale plays a crucial role in maintaining the health of the oceans, which means that these days it’s more a matter of the giant creatures saving usWhen the whalers of the mid-19th century harpooned the planet’s biggest marine mammals into near-oblivion, at least they took copious notes. These are now being used to better understand ocean science: if you enjoy a bit of historical ecology, you’ll find them atwhaling.oldweather.org.I wish whaling was all historical, but right
  
  Read more

• UK scientists bid to solve mystery deaths of hundreds of baby southern right whales

  22-01-2017 01:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Two-year project aims to learn why carcasses have washed up on Argentina’s coastResearchers are to launch an investigation into the unexplained deaths of hundreds of young southern right whales, one of the planet’s most vulnerable marine species.The £740,000 project – jointly funded by Defra, the UK environment department, and the EU – will involve researchers tagging whales and calves, tracking them by satellite and identifying individuals by taking DNA samples. Th
  
  Read more

• All change in the aisles to entice us to eat more veg

  22-01-2017 01:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists to give supermarkets a makeover to cut meat consumptionBritish shoppers are to become the subject of an experiment aimed at making them eat their greens. In a bold move to rebalance the contents of supermarket trolleys, Oxford academics have teamed up with supermarket chiefs to persuade consumers to buy less meat.The project, in which Sainsbury’s is a key collaborator, is being funded as part of a £5m Wellcome Trust programme, Our Planet, our Health, which aims to improve
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!