Environment news

• Oil higher as OPEC delivers on output cuts, dollar dives

  31-01-2017 23:24
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday on a weak U.S. dollar and news that the world's top producers cut production this month more than forecasters had expected. "This is very high, a good number," an OPEC source said of the January compliance estimate. The currency tumbled against rivals on Tuesday and was on course for its worst January in three decades after comments from U.S. President Donald Trump and his trade adviser.
  
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• Air pollution may lead to dementia in older women

  31-01-2017 23:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tiny air pollution particles — the type that mainly comes from power plants and automobiles — may greatly increase the chance of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, according to USC-led research.Scientists and engineers found that older women who live in places with fine particulate matter exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard are 81 percent more at risk for global cognitive decline and 92 percent more likely to develop dementia, includin
  
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• Oil up as OPEC cuts output, dollar dives

  31-01-2017 21:32
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday on a weak U.S. dollar and news that the world's top producers cut production this month more than forecasters had expected. "This is very high, a good number," an OPEC source said of the January compliance estimate. Prices pared gains slightly after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said oil prices will not reach "levels desired" by Iraq before the end of 2018 or 2019.
  
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• Tesla moves beyond electric cars with new California battery farm

  31-01-2017 20:18 via theguardian.com
  
  The project is part of Elon Musk’s plan to help transform the power gridFrom the road, the close to 400 white industrial boxes packed into 1.5 acres of barren land in Ontario, California, a little more than 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles, look like standard electrical equipment. They’re surrounded by a metal fence, stand on concrete pads and sit under long electrical lines. Related: US advances on clean energy with first offshore wind farmContinue reading...
  
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• Indigenous federation sues Peru over new national park

  31-01-2017 19:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Oil and gas concession overlaps 1.3m hectare “protected area” inhabited by indigenous peoples in “isolation”One of the almost 100 resolutions adopted by the World Conservation Congress (WCC) held in Hawai’i in September 2016 was that “protected areas” such as national parks should be “no go” for mining, oil and gas operations, agriculture, dams, roads and pipelines. Another resolution was that indigenous peoples’ territories overlapped
  
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• Wind is Canada's largest source of new electricity generation for more than a decade

  31-01-2017 19:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  OTTAWA – Canada’s wind energy industry had another year of strong growth in 2016, adding 702 MW of new capacity through the commissioning of 21 projects in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Sixteen of these projects are owned, at least in part, by aboriginal or local communities, or municipal governments. Canada now has 11,898 MW of installed wind generation capacity, enough to supply six percent of Canada’s electricity demand and meet the annual electricity needs
  
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• Exxon boosts capital budget but takes $2 billion charge from XTO deal

  31-01-2017 18:26
  By Ernest Scheyder HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp boosted its 2017 capital budget on Tuesday by about 14 percent on a bet that crude prices have stabilized, but posted its lowest quarterly profit since 1999 as it took a $2 billion charge from the purchase of natural gas producer XTO Energy. The world's largest publicly traded oil producer wrote down more than $2 billion from its 2009 buyout of natural gas producer XTO Energy, a deal worth roughly $30 billion at the time. The writedown is a
  
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• Meet the ex-policeman who saves seahorses

  31-01-2017 18:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Paul Ferber, an ex-British policeman who lives on Koh Seh in the Gulf of Thailand, tells World Service how he catches illegal fishermen plundering Cambodia's ecosystem.
  
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• 'Startling' dinosaur protein discovery

  31-01-2017 17:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ancient proteins dating back 195 million years have been found inside a dinosaur bone.
  
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• Businesses must lead Britain's resource revolution, claims Defra minister

  31-01-2017 16:59
  
  The UK's ambition to become one of the most resource-efficient economies in the world must be led by private-sector innovation, according to Defra Resource Minister Therese Coffey.
  
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• LSD May Help Reveal What Makes Music Meaningful

  31-01-2017 16:48
  There's a good chance that there's a song that is particularly meaningful to you, and a new small study from Switzerland may explain what makes things we experience, including music, meaningful. In the study, researchers asked people to take the drug lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, and then were able to pinpoint how people's brains ascribed meaning to specific factors, such as songs, in their environment. It turns out that this connection to meaning may involve certain areas of the brain tha
  
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• Honduras elites blamed for violence against environmental activists

  31-01-2017 16:41 via theguardian.com
  
  After the murder of at least 123 activists since 2009 military coup, the Global Witness group points to involvement of politicians and business mogulsHigh-ranking politicians and business tycoons are implicated in a wave of violence against environmental activists in Honduras, according to an investigation by the anti-corruption group Global Witness, which says the country’s elites are using criminal methods to terrorize communities with impunity.
  At least 123 land and environmental activi
  
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• A Better Way to Farm Algae

  31-01-2017 16:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists have long known of the potential of microalgae to aid in the production of biofuels and other valuable chemicals. However, the difficulty and significant cost of growing microalgae have in some ways stalled further development of this promising technology. Bendy Estime, a biomedical and chemical engineering Ph.D. candidate, has devoted his research to this area, and developed a new technology for energy efficient cultivation and harvesting of microalgae.Estime’s resear
  
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• Oil prices rise as OPEC cuts output as promised

  31-01-2017 16:20
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday after news OPEC oil production has fallen sharply this month, pointing to a strong start by the exporter group in implementing its first supply cut deal in eight years. A Reuters survey showed on Tuesday crude oil supply from the 11 OPEC members with production targets averaged 30.01 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, versus 31.17 million in December. "This is very high, a good number," an OPEC source said of the January
  
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• Storing Solar Power Increases Energy Consumption and Emissions, Study Finds

  31-01-2017 16:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Homes with solar panels do not require on-site storage to reap the biggest economic and environmental benefits of solar energy, according to research from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. In fact, storing solar energy for nighttime use actually increases both energy consumption and emissions compared with sending excess solar energy directly to the utility grid.In a paper published in Nature Energy on Jan. 30, researchers assessed the trade-offs
  
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• World Bank quashes fossil fuel funding claims

  31-01-2017 16:00
  
  The World Bank has criticised what it believes are "grossly misrepresented" findings from the Bank Information Center (BIC), which has claimed that up to $5bn in intended low-carbon funds have instead been used to introduce tax breaks for fossil fuel developments in developing countries.
  
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• 'Tinder for orangutans': Dutch zoo to let female choose mate on a tablet

  31-01-2017 15:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Orangutan Samboja will be shown males on a touchscreen in experiment aimed at learning more about mating choicesA Dutch zoo hopes to increase the breeding chances of a female orangutan by seeing if she will choose a preferred mate on a touchscreen before they are introduced.In a four-year experiment it has called “Tinder for orangutans”, the Apenheul primate park in Apeldoorn will show Samboja, an 11-year-old female, pictures of possible partners from an international great ape breed
  
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• Challenges, opportunities and priorities: Sustainability leaders answer the big questions

  31-01-2017 15:49
  
  What is the biggest challenge facing sustainability professionals? What makes an effective CSR leader? And what should be at the top of your list of priorities for 2017? Last week's Sustainability Leaders Forum was the perfect opportunity to find out...
  
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• Air pollution crisis ‘plagues’ UK, finds UN human rights expert

  31-01-2017 15:49 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Silent pandemic’ of air pollution affects UK children and no indication current protection against toxic waste will be retained after BrexitAir pollution is a crisis that “plagues” the UK, particularly children, according to the UN’s special rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes.
  Baskut Tuncak, who was appointed by the UN human rights council and completed a 15-day mission to the UK on Tuesday, said there was an “urgent need for political will by the
  
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• Colorado's wildfire-stricken forests showing limited recovery

  31-01-2017 15:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  Colorado forests stricken by wildfire are not regenerating as well as expected and may partially transform into grasslands and shrublands in coming decades, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study.
  
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• Scotland launches consultation on fracking

  31-01-2017 15:40
  Scotland has launched a consultation on whether to allow unconventional oil and gas extraction such as fracking, its government said on Tuesday, with a vote expected at the end of the year. Substantial amounts of shale gas are estimated to be trapped in underground rocks and the British government wants to exploit it to help offset declining North Sea oil and gas output. "The Scottish Government has a very important decision to make in determining the future of unconventional oil and gas," Paul
  
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• Republicans move to sell off 3.3m acres of national land, sparking rallies

  31-01-2017 14:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Land totaling the size of Connecticut has been targeted in a new bill in the Republican House, uniting hunters and conservationists in oppositionNow that Republicans have quietly drawn a path to give away much of Americans’ public land, US representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah has introduced what the Wilderness Society is calling “step two” in the GOP’s plan to offload federal lands.The new piece of legislation would direct the secretary of the interior to immediately sel
  
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• Bill would sell off 3.3m acres of national land, unnerving outdoor enthusiasts

  31-01-2017 14:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Land totaling the size of Connecticut has been targeted in a new bill in the Republican House, uniting hunters and conservationists in oppositionNow that Republicans have quietly drawn a path to give away much of Americans’ public land, US representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah has introduced what the Wilderness Society is calling “step two” in the GOP’s plan to offload federal lands.The new piece of legislation would direct the secretary of the interior to immediately sel
  
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• New ocean observations improve understanding of motion

  31-01-2017 14:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  Oceanographers commonly calculate large scale surface ocean circulation from satellite sea level information using a concept called “geostrophy,” which describes the relationship between oceanic surface flows and sea level gradient. Conversely, researchers rely on data from in-water current meters to measure smaller scale motion. New research led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa oceanographer Bo Qiu has determined from observational data the length scale at which using sea
  
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• Britain to have closest possible nuclear ties post-Brexit, says minister

  31-01-2017 14:20
  Britain will maintain the closest possible nuclear cooperation with the European Union after it leaves the bloc and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), Britain's Brexit minister David Davis said on Tuesday. Presenting a new law to parliament to trigger the formal divorce procedure with the bloc, Davis told lawmakers: "Our aims are clear, we will maintain the closest possible nuclear cooperation with the European Union, that relationship could take a number of different forms and will
  
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• London set for largest oil company listing since 2014 price crash

  31-01-2017 14:12
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Diversified Gas & Oil, a conventional gas producer in the United States, is set to list on London's junior AIM market on Friday and raise $50 million, the biggest oil and gas flotation since oil prices started to fall in mid-2014. Diversified, which produces 4,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day mainly in the U.S. states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, said it will pay shareholders 40 percent of operating cashflow as dividend by June 30. The flotation, bringi
  
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• Bay of Bengal: depleted fish stocks and huge dead zone signal tipping point

  31-01-2017 14:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Long treated as a bottomless resource pit, over-exploitation of the ocean, pollution and rising sea levels are having a catastrophic impact on life in the bayThe Bay of Bengal’s basin contains some of the most populous regions of the earth. No less than a quarter of the world’s population is concentrated in the eight countries that border the bay1. Approximately 200 million people live along the Bay of Bengal’s coasts and of these a major proportion are partially or wholly depe
  
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• Businesses agree to £1.5m pay-out over environmental law breaches

  31-01-2017 13:33
  
  Six companies, including Heineken UK, food producers Filippo Berio and Anglian Water services, have all agreed to six-figure payments to an array of charities, after breaching UK environmental laws.
  
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• Businesses agree £1.5m payout over environmental law breaches

  31-01-2017 13:33
  
  Drinks firm Heineken UK, food producer Filippo Berio and utility company Anglian Water Services are among six businesses that have agreed to six-figure charity payments after breaching environmental laws.
  
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• Fresh clashes near South Sudan's oil hub of Malakal

  31-01-2017 13:27
  By Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - Fresh clashes broke out around South Sudan's second-largest city of Malakal on Tuesday, a rebel spokesman and a government official said, the latest turn in the struggle for the capital of the oil-producing Upper Nile region. The United Nations said Malakal, on the banks of the White Nile near the country's northern border with Sudan, was largely deserted after civilians fled the fighting. "The rebels had been trying to provoke the SPLA all this time because the SP
  
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• Oil steady as rising U.S. output offsets OPEC-led cuts

  31-01-2017 13:04
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Tuesday as rising U.S. drilling activity helped undermine efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output to try to prop up the market. Brent crude oil was up 10 cents a barrel at $55.33 by 1155 GMT. U.S. light crude was down 10 cents a barrel at $52.53.
  
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• After Shell deal, Chrysaor in the market for more North Sea assets

  31-01-2017 12:58
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Chrysaor, which has just bought much of Shell's UK North Sea assets for up to $3.8 billion, said it was in the market for more North Sea deals to expand its newly acquired position as one of the basin's biggest independent producers. Overnight, Chrysaor became one of the largest oil and gas producers in Britain with output of 115,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, snapping up more than half of Shell's British production capacity, including the Buzzard fie
  
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• Proposed Space Mission Would Use the Moon to Help Search for Exploding Stars

  31-01-2017 12:41
  
  LOX would take advantage of the relatively quiet lunar environment, where the significant sources of background noise that would plague such an instrument orbiting the Earth would be absent or well understood. In addition, LOX would effectively use the moon as a reference object to better determine the location of the supernovas it discovers. If the mission flies, it would be the first dedicated astrophysics mission to the moon, according to the scientists who are making the proposal.
  
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• Meteorite Studies Reveal Surprises About Earth's Formation

  31-01-2017 12:41
  
  Two studies published Wednesday (Jan. 25) in the journal Nature suggest that Earth's main building blocks were rocks similar to meteorites known as enstatite chondrites, and that the planet got most of its water gradually during the formation process, rather than in one big burst toward the end. "The results presented in these papers lead to the troubling conclusion that the meteorites in our collection are not particularly good examples of Earth's building blocks," Richard Carlson, a geochemist
  
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• Analysts weigh OPEC price boost against hit from U.S. shale

  31-01-2017 12:06
  Oil markets are starting to tighten, prompting industry analysts to raise their 2017 price forecasts, but they remain cautious that rising U.S. production could offset any major price gains from OPEC'S output deal. Brent crude futures will average $58.01 a barrel in 2017, according to a Reuters poll of 31 analysts and economists. The current forecast is slightly higher than the $57.43 forecast in the previous survey.  It is the second consecutive monthly poll in which analysts have raised t
  
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• Trump's copying the Bush censorship playbook. Scientists aren't standing for it | Dana Nuccitelli

  31-01-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Trump Administration keeps trying to go after scientists, and being forced to retreat
  During the George W. Bush Administration, political appointees censored climate science reports from government agencies, and mostly got away with it by gagging the scientists. A survey found that nearly half of 1,600 government scientists at seven agencies ranging from NASA to the EPA had been warned against using terms like “global warming” in reports or speeches, throughout Bush’s eight
  
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• Trump is copying the Bush censorship playbook. Scientists aren't standing for it | Dana Nuccitelli

  31-01-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Trump Administration keeps trying to go after scientists, and being forced to retreat
  As President George W. Bush said, “Fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me ... You can’t get fooled again!”During the his Administration, political appointees censored climate science reports from government agencies, and mostly got away with it by gagging the scientists. A survey found that nearly half of 1,600 government scientists at seven agencies ranging from NASA to the EPA
  
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• Judge in environmental activist's trial says climate change is matter of debate

  31-01-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Controversial statements angered environmentalists who insist courts have an obligation to recognize the science about manmade climate changeA Washington state judge has sparked outrage for remarks questioning the existence of climate change and the role of humans in global warming.During the high-profile trial of Ken Ward, a climate activist facing 30 years in prison for shutting down an oil pipeline, Judge Michael E Rickert said: “I don’t know what everybody’s beliefs are on
  
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• OPEC achieves 82 percent of pledged oil output cut in January-Reuters survey

  31-01-2017 11:46
  By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC's oil output is set to fall by more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) this month, a Reuters survey found on Tuesday, pointing to a strong start by the exporter group in implementing its first supply cut deal in eight years. Supply from the 11 OPEC members with production targets under the deal in January has averaged 30.01 million bpd, according to the survey based on shipping data and information from industry sources, down from 31.17 million bpd in Dec
  
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• Closed-loop carbon: Where does CO2 fit within a low-carbon economy?

  31-01-2017 11:25
  
  EXCLUSIVE: Businesses need to stop "demonising" carbon and should instead treat it as a valuable raw material that can enhance product specifications and cut key environmental footprints if treated correctly, a sustainability expert has said.
  
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• Oil slips as rising U.S. output offsets OPEC-led cuts

  31-01-2017 10:22
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as rising U.S. drilling activity undermined efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market. Brent crude oil was down 20 cents a barrel at $55.03 by 0900 GMT. U.S. light crude was down 30 cents a barrel at $52.33.
  
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• UK energy supplier SSE loses another 50,000 customers

  31-01-2017 08:25
  Britain's second-biggest energy supplier SSE continued losing customers in the third quarter of its financial year, while still and wet weather meant output from its renewable energy plants fell 20 percent year on year, it said on Tuesday. SSE, which has frozen household energy prices this winter, said it lost another 50,000 customer accounts in the three months to Dec. 31, leaving a total of 8.08 million, in line with customer losses seen earlier in the year. SSE said renewable energy productio
  
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• MEPs in bid to force UK to meet environmental regulations after Brexit

  31-01-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Leaked European parliament document says exit deal would be voted down if UK failed to commit to EU air pollution ceilingsBritain would be forced to abide by key EU environmental regulations by a pan-European court as part of any Brexit deal, according to a leaked document detailing the negotiating red lines being drawn up by the European parliament.Drafted by MEPs, the paper says the UK should not be allowed to damage the wider European environment after its withdrawal from the EU by unilateral
  
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• EU set to meet green energy goal; UK trails - document

  31-01-2017 07:41
  The European Union is on track to meet its goal for renewables to supply up 20 percent of its energy by 2020, the EU executive said in a report seen by Reuters, although Britain, Ireland and Luxembourg are lagging behind. In a stock take on the bloc's climate targets, due to be published on Wednesday, the European Commission saw renewables accounting for 16.4 percent of overall consumption in 2015. Fearing President Donald Trump will pull the United States out of a global pact to cut emissions,
  
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• Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi ship, launch ballistic missile

  31-01-2017 07:13
  The armed Houthi movement attacked a Saudi warship off the western coast of Yemen on Monday, causing an explosion that killed two crew members and injured three others, Saudi state news agency SPA reported. Separately, the Houthis said they launched a ballistic missile at a Saudi-led coalition military base on the Red Sea island of Zuqar between Yemen and Eritrea on Tuesday morning, according to the group's official news channel al-Masira. The attacks signal an escalation to weeks of combat on Y
  
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• Malaria drugs fail for first time on patients in UK

  31-01-2017 07:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The drug combination was unable to cure four patients, who had all visited Africa, doctors say.
  
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• Daft, beautiful birds protected for the pot

  31-01-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Redcastle, the Black Isle There are dozens of them waiting in the undergrowth to fly up, panic-stricken, as we passWhen we reach the turn for Gallowhill Wood the horses know we’re going home and pick up the pace. It has been a long day for them, these heavyset highlands – so low to the ground and dressed in such thick fur coats. But not so long they haven’t the energy to feign fright when we round a bend to find tripods lurking between the trees, with plastic bellies and wooden
  
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• Oil prices fall as rising U.S. output offsets OPEC-led cuts

  31-01-2017 06:24
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday as rising U.S. drilling activity offset efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.10 per barrel at 0516 GMT, down 13 cents from their last close. Since their January peak, Brent has lost over 5.6 percent in value.
  
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• Tasmanian Tree Projects: an intimate portrait from an impossible perspective

  31-01-2017 05:43 via theguardian.com
  
  The Tree Projects team spent 67 days documenting one eucalyptus regnans in the Styx valley of Tasmania. Using a combination of tree-climbing and elaborate arboreal rigging techniques, they produced an intimate portrait from an impossible perspective of one of the world’s largest individual flowering trees, which goes by several common names. These photos document the process that resulted in an extraordinary ultra high-definition photograph. Continue reading...
  
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• Tasmanian Tree Project: an intimate portrait from an impossible perspective

  31-01-2017 05:43 via theguardian.com
  
  The Tree Projects team spent 67 days documenting one Eucalyptus regnans in the Styx valley of Tasmania. Using a combination of tree-climbing and elaborate arboreal rigging techniques, they produced an intimate portrait from an impossible perspective of one of the world’s largest individual flowering trees, which goes by several common names. These photos document the process that resulted in an extraordinary ultra high-definition photograph. Continue reading...
  
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