Environment news

• Hundreds of whales die in mass stranding on New Zealand beach

  09-02-2017 23:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Urgent plea issued for locals to drop work and school commitments and head to the remote beach to save surviving whales Hundreds of whales have died overnight on a New Zealand beach after a mass stranding thought to be the largest in decades. The Department of Conservation discovered 416 pilot whales had beached themselves at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay at the top of the south island, with more than 70% perishing by the time dawn broke on Friday. Continue reading...
  
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• More than 700 protest against government in Nigerian capital

  09-02-2017 21:46
  By Abraham Terngu ABUJA (Reuters) - More than 700 people took to the streets in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday to protest against the government's economic policy in a sign of mounting public anger in the oil producer grappling with recession. Africa's largest economy is mired in its first recession for 25 years as low oil prices have hammered public finances and foreign reserves while driving up annual inflation to almost 20 percent. President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in 2015 on ple
  
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• Extreme heat brings health, fire and power cut warnings across south-eastern Australia

  09-02-2017 21:27 via theguardian.com
  
  States from South Australia to Queensland prepare for temperatures above 40C as parliamentary inquiry examines power supply crisisAuthorities have warned of health risks, catastrophic bushfire danger and possible power cuts as southern and eastern Australia faces several days of extreme heat.Temperatures are tipped to rise as high as 48C in some parts of New South Wales, with total fires bans and extreme or severe fire danger warnings in place across most of the state. Continue reading...
  
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• UCI, NASA reveal new details of Greenland ice loss

  09-02-2017 21:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Less than a year after the first research flight kicked off NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland campaign, data from the new program are providing a dramatic increase in knowledge of how Greenland’s ice sheet is melting from below. Two new research papers in the journal Oceanography, including one by UCI Earth system scientist Mathieu Morlighem, use OMG observations to document how meltwater and ocean currents are interacting along Greenland’s west coast and to improve seafloor maps
  
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• Newly engineered material can cool roofs, structures with zero energy consumption

  09-02-2017 21:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  A team of University of Colorado Boulder engineers has developed a scalable manufactured metamaterial — an engineered material with extraordinary properties not found in nature — to act as a kind of air conditioning system for structures. It has the ability to cool objects even under direct sunlight with zero energy and water consumption.
  
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• MRI pioneer and Nobel laureate Sir Peter Mansfield dies

  09-02-2017 20:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Professor Sir Peter Mansfield, the son of a gas fitter, left school at 15 but won the Nobel prize.
  
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• Fiat Chrysler CEO complains about emissions rules 'mess' in Europe

  09-02-2017 20:28
  TURIN (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne complained on Thursday about emissions regulations in the European Union, saying that the single market was meant "to avoid this mess". "Bad rules are also applied in a different way in every country, creating the worst solution that could be invented," Marchionne said. FCA faces a U.S. criminal investigation for alleged emissions manipulation and German accusations that it, like VW, used "defeat devices" to confound nitrogen oxide (NOx) test
  
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• Not enough charging points for electric cars; fracking in Scotland economically marginal | Letters

  09-02-2017 20:01 via theguardian.com
  
  While it is good news for the environment that UK sales of electric cars are rising (Report, 7 February) this trend is unlikely to really take off while we have such a disjointed and shortsighted policy regarding electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.Boris Johnson sold the London-wide charging network to a French company that now runs the system as Source London. It has started to charge for charging, at rates that are unviable for many drivers, especially those with hybrid vehicles, whe
  
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• Health fund HCF divests from fossil fuels, saying industry harms members

  09-02-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In Australia-first move, private fund to pull $20m out of fossil fuel companies in acknowledgement climate change harms health HCF has become the first Australian private health fund to divest from fossil fuels, having decided that the industry harms the health and wellbeing of its members, pulling about $20m out of fossil fuel companies in Australia and overseas.In a letter to the campaign group Market Forces dated 15 December 2016, HCF said it would be divesting from fossil fuels on the same g
  
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• Egypt's AMOC to make secondary share offering in Cairo and offer GDRs in London

  09-02-2017 19:46
  By Ehab Farouk and Abdel Rahman Adel ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt's Alexandria Mineral Oils Co (AMOC) plans a secondary offering of 10-20 percent of its shares on the Cairo stock market and will also issue 10 percent as global depositary receipts in London, its chairman said. The oil company first floated on the Cairo exchange in 2005 and around 20 percent of its shares are currently listed there. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's office said in January that Egypt plans to list shares in s
  
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• Trump to meet Canada's Trudeau on Monday for talks on trade

  09-02-2017 19:43
  President Donald Trump will host Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, the White House said on Thursday, a meeting in which trade and a major crude oil pipeline are likely to be on the agenda. The meeting will be the first for the two men since Trump won last November's election. Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and is keen to avoid becoming the target of protectionist measures.
  
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• Eastern forces strike base in central Libya as rival groups clash in Tripoli

  09-02-2017 19:24
  Eastern Libyan forces attacked an air base in the central region of Jufra on Thursday, killing at least two people according to a force spokesman and a medical source, hours after factional fighting flared in the capital Tripoli. A U.N.-engineered Government of National Accord (GNA) that was installed in Tripoli last year has struggled to assert its authority over various armed groups in the capital alone, let alone elsewhere in sprawling, oil-producing Libya. The eastern-based Libyan National A
  
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• Winter migration of monarch butterflies to Mexico drops after one-year recovery

  09-02-2017 19:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts say decline to coverage of only 7.19 acres of forest could be due to late winter storms last year that knocked down more than 100 acres of treesThe number of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico dropped by 27% this year, reversing last year’s recovery from historically low numbers, according to a study by government and independent experts released Thursday.The experts say the decline could be due to late winter storms last year that blew down more than 100 acres (40 hectares) o
  
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• Blast at French nuclear plant does not pose contamination risk, say experts

  09-02-2017 18:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities say fire in turbine hall was outside nuclear zones of Flamanville power station near CherbourgAuthorities have said there is no risk of contamination from an explosion that occurred at EDF’s Flamanville nuclear plant in northern France.EDF said the blast at 9.40am on Thursday was caused by a fire in the turbine hall, which is outside the nuclear zones of the power station, located 15 miles west of the port of Cherbourg. Five people were treated for smoke inhalation.Continue rea
  
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• Venezuela falls behind on oil-for-loan deals with China, Russia

  09-02-2017 18:11
  By Marianna Parraga and Brian Ellsworth HOUSTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, has fallen months behind on shipments of crude and fuel under oil-for-loan deals with China and Russia, according to internal company documents reviewed by Reuters. The delayed shipments to such crucial political allies and trading partners - which together have extended Venezuela at least $55 billion (£43.9 billion) in credit - provide new insight into PDVSA's operational failures
  
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• Orphaned dik-dik raised by keepers

  09-02-2017 17:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  He's only 19cm (7.4 in) tall and has been named Thanos.
  
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• EU must shut all coal plants by 2030 to meet Paris climate pledges, study says

  09-02-2017 16:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Europe will vastly overshoot its carbon emissions target for coal unless it closes all 300 power stations, says thinktank Climate AnalyticsThe European Union will “vastly overshoot” its Paris climate pledges unless its coal emissions are completely phased out within 15 years, a stress test of the industry has found.Coal’s use is falling by about 1% a year in Europe but still generates a quarter of the continent’s power – and a fifth of its greenhouse gas emissions.
  
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• France nuclear plant explosion: no risk of contamination, say experts

  09-02-2017 16:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities say fire in turbine hall was outside nuclear zones of Flamanville power station near CherbourgThere is no risk of contamination after an explosion occurred at EDF’s Flamanville nuclear plant in northern France, authorities have said.EDF said the blast at 9.40am on Thursday was caused by a fire in the turbine hall, which is outside the nuclear zones of the power station, located 15 miles west of the port of Cherbourg. Five people were treated for smoke inhalation.Continue readin
  
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• EU plans more legal action against governments soft on car emissions cheating

  09-02-2017 16:30
  By Alissa de Carbonnel BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union plans more legal action soon against governments that have failed to police emissions test cheating by carmakers in the wake of the Volkswagen diesel scandal, a top official said on Thursday. In a bid to prevent a rerun of the VW scandal, the European Commission has proposed an overhaul of rules on how vehicles are licensed and tested across the bloc. A draft bill, which would bolster EU oversight, won the backing of the European Par
  
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• Dakota Access Pipeline: Construction completion under way

  09-02-2017 16:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Cheyenne River Sioux file a legal challenge asking a federal judge to stall the project.
  
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• Fire at French nuclear power plant takes reactor off grid, operator says no associated nuclear risk

  09-02-2017 16:10
  A fire caused an explosion at the Flamanville nuclear power plant in northwest France on Thursday, leading the operator EDF to take a reactor offline, but there was no risk to the reactor, EDF and a local official said on Thursday. The state-owned firm said a fire in the turbine hall caused the explosion in a "non-nuclear" part of the power station. The fire was brought under control, and reactor number 1 was disconnected from the grid, EDF said, adding that although there were no injuries, five
  
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• Explosion at Flamanville nuclear plant in northern France

  09-02-2017 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities say no risk of contamination after blast in engine room at facility 15 miles west of CherbourgThere is no risk of contamination after an explosion occurred at EDF’s Flamanville nuclear plant in northern France, authorities have said.EDF said the blast at 9.40am on Thursday was caused by a fire in the turbine hall, which is outside the nuclear zones of the power station, located 15 miles west of the port of Cherbourg. Five people were treated for smoke inhalation.Continue readin
  
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• Total on hunt for deals after outperforming rivals

  09-02-2017 15:58
  By Bate Felix PARIS (Reuters) - French oil company Total is on the hunt to buy assets from struggling rivals, it said on Thursday, as it reported some of the biggest profits in the industry for last year and raised its dividend. Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said Total was reaping the benefit of cutting costs more quickly than competitors following the start of an oil price rout in 2014, and of focusing on projects with lower production costs. Total said it made an adjusted net profit of $8.2
  
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• 'Dogs mirror owners' personalities'

  09-02-2017 15:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dogs mirror the personalities of their human companions, according to research.
  
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• Oil up after gasoline stock draw, but market bloated

  09-02-2017 15:52
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday after an unexpected draw in U.S. gasoline inventories pointed to higher demand in the world's biggest oil market, although bloated crude supplies meant that fuel markets remain under pressure. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday gasoline inventories fell by 869,000 barrels last week to 256.2 million barrels, versus analyst expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel gain. U.S. bank Goldman Sachs said h
  
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• UK unlikely to remain in EU carbon market - EU policymaker 

  09-02-2017 15:50
  By Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is unlikely to remain in Europe's carbon market following its exit from the European Union, the European Parliament's lead carbon policymaker said on Thursday. Britain has a legally binding target to cut emissions of harmful greenhouse gases, such as those produced by fossil-fuel-based power plants, by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. Leaving the scheme would raise questions about how Britain plans to meet its targets.
  
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• Real-time feedback helps save energy and water

  09-02-2017 15:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Those who take long showers use a great deal of water and energy. Yet people who enjoy taking long showers do not usually realize to what extent they are damaging the environment. However, if a clever measuring system shows current consumption, this immediately leads to increased efficiency. The consumption information available on the display is incentive enough to reduce water and energy consumption when showering on average by 22 per cent. This was shown by a study conducted by the Universiti
  
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• Unraveling the Myriad Causes Of North India's Pollution Pall

  09-02-2017 14:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  A brown cloud of air pollution now frequently shrouds much of northern India. It’s a growing regional health and environmental problem, and scientists are working to understand its many causes, which range from the burning of agricultural waste to auto emissions.
  
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• Earth's Best Defense Against Killer Asteroids Needs Cash

  09-02-2017 14:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Ed Rivero-Valentin grew up in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, less than 15 minutes away from the jungle home of a 1,000-foot-wide radio telescope. When he was four or five, his parents brought him to the observatory for the first time. He saw the telescope’s mesh dish, resting inside a huge sinkhole in the soft rock formations that shape the region. If he had walked around the Arecibo radio telescope’s dish, he would have clocked more than a mile.
  
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• 12th Dead Sea Scrolls Cave Found in Israel

  09-02-2017 14:26
  
  A cave that held Dead Sea Scrolls before they were stolen in the mid-20th century has been discovered near Qumran. Inside the cave, archaeologists found a blank scroll along with the remains of jars, cloth and a leather strap. The researchers said they believe these items were used to bind, wrap and hold the scrolls.
  
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• Decoding Ocean Signals

  09-02-2017 14:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  Geographer Tim DeVries and colleagues determine why the ocean has absorbed more carbon over the past decade. 
  
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• Game of Thrones star in Greenland for Google Street View

  09-02-2017 13:46 via theguardian.com
  
  GoT’s Jaime Lannister has shown little love for the far north, unlike the man who plays him, Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who has been collecting street view imagery for Google in southern Greenland to highlight the impact of climate change• Discover Machu Picchu from your sofa Continue reading...
  
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• Explosion at EDF's Flamanville nuclear plant in northern France

  09-02-2017 13:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities say no risk of contamination after blast at plant run by EDF 15 miles west of CherbourgAn explosion has occurred at EDF’s Flamanville nuclear plant in northern France, causing minor injuries but no risk of contamination, authorities have said.The blast took place in the engine room at the Flamanville plant, which lies 15 miles west of the port of Cherbourg and just across from the Channel Islands. Continue reading...
  
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• Clive Lewis steps down as BEIS Shadow Secretary as MPs approve Brexit bill

  09-02-2017 13:11
  
  Labour MP Clive Lewis has stepped down from his role as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Shadow Secretary due to opposition to the Government's approved bill to withdraw the UK from the European Union (EU).
  
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• Clive Lewis resigns as BEIS Shadow Secretary as MPs approve Brexit bill

  09-02-2017 13:11
  
  Labour MP Clive Lewis has stepped down from his role as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Shadow Secretary due to opposition to the Government's approved bill to withdraw the UK from the European Union (EU).
  
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• Trump's wall puts wildlife at risk

  09-02-2017 13:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Building the wall that Donald Trump has ordered on January 25th, as one of his first actions as US president, will put on risk more than 50 animal species that share the ecosystem along the border between the United States and Mexico, scientists from various countries have warned. Since 2006, 1,100 kilometers of barriers covering more than 30 per cent of the border between the countries have been built. The newest executive order commands the “immediate construction of a physical wall
  
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• Fire at Flamanville takes reactor off grid, 'no associated nuclear risk'

  09-02-2017 12:53
  A fire caused an explosion at EDF's Flamanville nuclear power plant in northern France on Thursday, leading the utility to take a reactor offline, but there was no associated nuclear risk, EDF and a local government official said on Thursday. State-owned EDF said in a statement a fire in a machine room caused the explosion in a "non-nuclear" part of the power station. It added that the fire had been brought under control by its team there and that reactor number 1 had been disconnected from the
  
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• New support for British spaceports

  09-02-2017 12:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Plans to launch satellites - and even people - from the UK get a boost from government.
  
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• EU to take more legal action against nations soft on carmakers

  09-02-2017 12:23
  Brussels will soon take more legal action against governments who have failed to crack down on car industry cheating, Europe's industry commissioner said on Thursday, accusing them of obstructing the European Union's own efforts. Speaking to European Parliament, Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska urged lawmakers to back her draft proposal to overhaul rules on authorising new vehicles to prevent a re-run of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.
  
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• EU must phase out coal by 2030 to meet Paris goals, report claims

  09-02-2017 12:21
  
  The last European coal plant must be closed by 2030 if the continent is to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, a new report from non-profit institute Climate Analytics has stated.
  
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• Explosion at Flamanville nuclear plant in western France

  09-02-2017 12:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Government official says there is no nuclear risk but reports suggest five people may have been slightly injured in blastAn explosion has occurred at EDF’s Flamanville nuclear plant in France but there is no nuclear risk, a local government official said. Ouest-France newspaper said there may be some injuries and M6 radio said five people had been slightly injured, but neither report could be independently verified.Continue reading...
  
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• Whistleblower: ‘I knew people would misuse this.’ They did - to attack climate science | Dana Nuccitelli

  09-02-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Fake news propagates through the conservative media to the halls of Congress where science is under attack
  This weekend, conservative media outlets launched an attack on climate scientists with a manufactured scandal. The fake news originated from an accusation made by former NOAA scientist John Bates about a 2015 paper by some of his NOAA colleagues. The technical term to describe the accusation is ‘a giant nothingburger,’ as Bates clarified in an interview with E&E News:The iss
  
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• Ivory is not beautiful, it’s barbaric | Nicky Campbell

  09-02-2017 11:42 via theguardian.com
  
  I grew up with a piano in my bedroom, but now the thought of ivory fills me with revulsion. The UK needs to impose a total ban on the trade of elephant tusksGrowing up in our two up, two down terraced house on the Southside of Edinburgh, I shared my bedroom with a cherished family heirloom – my granny’s mini-grand. This beautiful piano had been to the other side of the world and back. It ended up taking up half my room and a whole lot of my life. I taught myself to play on it, bashin
  
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• Oil up on U.S. gasoline stocks, but market bloated

  09-02-2017 10:54
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday, supported by an unexpected draw in U.S. gasoline inventories, although bloated crude supplies meant that fuel markets remain under pressure. U.S. light crude was 50 cents higher at $52.84 a barrel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday gasoline inventories fell by 869,000 barrels last week to 256.2 million barrels, versus analyst expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel gain.
  
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• Waitrose showcases 500-mile biomethane truck fleet

  09-02-2017 10:04
  
  Waitrose is operating a new commercial vehicle fleet that runs on compressed natural gas (CNG) biomethane fuel in order to lower transport emissions and boost the driving range of its low-carbon freight fleet.
  
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• Total on hunt for acquisitions as cost cuts lift profit

  09-02-2017 09:49
  By Bate Felix PARIS (Reuters) - French oil company Total is on the hunt to buy assets from struggling rivals, it said on Thursday, after reporting better than expected fourth quarter net profit thanks to cost cuts, and raising its dividend. Adjusted net profit climbed 16 percent year-on-year to $2.4 billion (2 billion pounds) , beating analysts' average forecast of $2.3 billion, while the quarterly dividend was set at 0.62 euros per share, up from 0.61 euros in the previous three quarters. CEO P
  
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• Tesco's plan bee: spilt supermarket sugar to help feed hungry honey bees

  09-02-2017 09:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Discarded sugar from split bags plus leftovers from in-store bakeries heads to Cornish beekeepers as winter nectar shortage hits speciesWaste sugar routinely thrown away by supermarkets is being collected to help feed stricken bees in Britain struggling to get enough nectar to feed themselves.Related: Pesticides stop bees buzzing and releasing pollen, says studyContinue reading...
  
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• Scott Morrison brings coal to question time: what fresh idiocy is this? | Katharine Murphy

  09-02-2017 09:18 via theguardian.com
  
  What a bunch of clowns, hamming it up – while out in the real world an ominous and oppressive heat just won’t let upThere is no way you can write the sentence, “The treasurer of Australia, Scott Morrison, came to question time with a lump of coal on Thursday,” and have that sentence seem anything other than the ravings of a psychedelic trip, so let’s just say it and be done with it.
  Scott Morrison brought coal into the House of Representatives. A nice big hunk of bl
  
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• Third year's a charm for Primark's sustainable cotton initiative

  09-02-2017 09:00
  
  High street retailer Primark has helped rural female farmers in India increase average profits by 247% through the third year of its Sustainable Cotton Programme.
  
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• Get a job with Adani and infiltrate coal project, activists urge supporters

  09-02-2017 08:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Galilee Blockade, which opposes the $16bn Carmichael mine, urges followers to apply for jobs with the Indian company A civil disobedience campaign targeting Adani’s controversial Queensland coal project has asked almost 12,000 supporters to sign up for a job with the miner.The Galilee Blockade is working on infiltrating Adani and related companies to gain sources of information to help its plans for “direct action”. Continue reading...
  
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