Environment news

• 50 years ago: The sound of the fox honk

  29-01-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Originally published in the Guardian on 4 February 1967MACHYNLLETH: Foxes, unlike most creatures, are noisiest in midwinter. Here they usually begin calling about a week before Christmas and go on till early February. Their normal cry is often described as a bark. But foxes are not dogs and their call sounds to me more like a honking, a strangely vibrant, rather eerie owk-owk-owk-owk. This is repeated about every half-minute for several minutes at a time, it is a far-travelling call; so when you
  
  Read more

• Paris tries something different in the fight against smog

  29-01-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Under a new French scheme cars are labelled according to the pollution that they emit. This allows the worst offenders to be banned when necessaryLast week Paris suffered its fourth smog of the winter and tried a new idea to protect its residents from the worst effects. Like many European cities, the Paris region has a well-established system of emergency actions that escalate if smog persists. Initial steps include health warnings, reduced speed limits and restrictions on lorries in the city ce
  
  Read more

• State renewable energy targets 'will be vital to meet emissions goals'

  29-01-2017 20:02 via theguardian.com
  
  RETs are the only policy tool left to shift Australia’s electricity sector away from fossil fuels, RepuTex modelling showsState-based renewable energy targets are becoming essential drivers of Australia’s carbon reduction framework and, based on current policy settings, will be vital for Australia to meet its 2030 emissions targets, according to a report by the energy consultancy RepuTex.The finding comes amid attacks on state-based renewable energy targets by the prime minister, Mal
  
  Read more

• Russia's Lukoil hopes for Iran oilfield development decision this year

  29-01-2017 18:30
  Lukoil , Russia's No.2 oil producer, hopes to reach a decision on developing two new oilfields in Iran and wants to expand its operations further in the Middle East this year, a senior executive said on Sunday. Lukoil is talking with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) on taking part in development of the Abe Timur and Mansuri fields in central-western Iran, said Gati al-Jebouri, vice president and head of upstream operations in the Middle East. Lukoil signed several memorandum of understand
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Amazon Reef: First images of new coral system

  29-01-2017 17:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Huge coral system reef where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean was discovered last year.
  
  Read more

• Researchers seek evidence on gardens and well-being

  29-01-2017 16:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A project aims to investigate the social case for gardens and what impact they have on well-being.
  
  Read more

• Prince Charles may raise climate change during Trump's visit to Britain

  29-01-2017 13:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Royal sources say prince will not lecture US president but does not rule out addressing topic if they meetPrince Charles will not lecture Donald Trump over his policy on climate change during the US president’s state visit to Britain later this year, but has not ruled out addressing the topic altogether, according to royal sources.Charles is being urged by some in Whitehall to challenge Trump’s pledge to abandon the United Nations climate change deal signed in Paris in 2015, as part
  
  Read more

• Chinese medicine fuelling rise in donkey slaughter for global skin trade

  29-01-2017 13:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Demand for hide, used to make traditional ejiao, has raised the price and rate of slaughter of donkeys, endangering the livelihoods of those who rely on themThis trade is threatening livelihoods and communities – we need to act nowThousands of donkeys in developing countries are being killed and their skins sold to China for use in traditional medicine, reveals a report published today by the Donkey Sanctuary.Demand for donkey hide, which is boiled to produce gelatine – the key ingre
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The eco guide to responsible travel

  29-01-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A few intrepid tour operators are determined to reduce the harm we do to the planet with our holidaysI love an untapped resource (as opposed to a very overstressed one). The responsible travel movement is perfect. It takes the huge global travel industry (1.2 billion people holidaying abroad in 2015) and shapes it into a force for good, rather than one that trashes local host communities, siphoning profits to rich countries.It’s untapped partly because we’re encouraged to think like
  
  Read more

• Trump’s America, where even park employees have become enemies of the state | Sarah Kendzior

  29-01-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Brutal policies accompanied by suppression of the facts are sure signs of an autocracyLast Tuesday, for a few hours, Badlands National Park defied presidential orders. “Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years #climate,” it tweeted. The account went on to discuss ocean acidity, carbon dioxide and the founding mission of the century-old National Parks Service, which included an obligation to “leave [the parks] uni
  
  Read more

• Have we learned the lessons from the history of London fogs? | Christine L Corton

  29-01-2017 01:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Writers and artists were inspired by the pea-soupers but smog cost thousands of livesLondoners are being warned not to breathe too deeply when they go outside. A toxic fog is hanging over the streets, threatening the health and wellbeing of the capital. It is small consolation to know that this has been the state of the city’s air for more than 200 years.London is in a natural basin surrounded by hills and its air generally holds moisture because of the river running through it, so it has
  
  Read more

• Smog in the cities: the truth about Britain’s dirty air

  29-01-2017 01:03 via theguardian.com
  
  As London pollution hits a five-year high, will we see a return to the carpets of fog?Last Sunday evening, the air over London achieved a remarkable quality. As winds died and a freezing stillness gripped the city, levels of nitrogen oxides and particles of soot slowly built up in the air until they reached maximum measurable levels at 24 different locations across the capital. It was a degree of pollution that had never been recorded in London since the government introduced its current methods
  
  Read more

• Is chlorinated chicken about to hit our shelves after new US trade deal?

  29-01-2017 01:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Consumers could be exposed to American farming practices banned by the EUThose of us who want to eat safe, healthy food awoke to a nightmare on Tuesday, a chilling interview on Radio 4’s Today programme. Bob Young, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, made it crystal clear that any US trade deal struck by Theresa May would be contingent on the UK public stomaching imports of US foods that it has previously rejected: beef from cattle implanted with growth hormones, chlori
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!