Environment news

• Country Diary 100 years ago: The red-breasted bullfinch does a flit

  12-02-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 17 February 1917Surrey
  The vane above the old church tower moves uneasily a point, and scarcely more, from east towards the south. It is not much, but just enough this morning to make the top of the frosty earth crumble as you walk across a field which was ploughed weeks ago, to show cart tracks along the border way, and, what is more, to set the birds in movement and in voice over the hedgerows and among the trees. When snow not long since lay
  
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• When smog hits the headlines

  12-02-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  January’s smog broke recent records, but while glib comparisons with Beijing can result in action, they are also misleadingNewspaper headlines in January told us that London’s air pollution was worse than Beijing. BBC journalist Joseph D’Urso likened this to the heatwave weather stories each summer that say Brighton is hotter than Barcelona. Brighton is not normally as warm as Barcelona. Comparing particle pollution, London was worse than Beijing for four smoggy days, from 20 t
  
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• Turnbull government was told wind energy wasn't to blame for SA blackout – politics live

  12-02-2017 22:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Freedom of information documents show the prime minister’s department received advice the day before Malcolm Turnbull launched a full-scale attack on the level of renewables in the state 9.11pm GMTGood morning blogans, Here we stand, looking towards the second parliamentary sitting week. There are floods in the west of the state and bushfires in the east and the major political parties are bickering over energy policy.A coalition of business, energy, investor, climate and welfare groups ha
  
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• Why we need to map all Earth’s critters, quick | Letters

  12-02-2017 21:07 via theguardian.com
  
  This is the great age of cartography, says Lois Parshley’s timely reminder of the importance of understanding landscapes (The long read, 7 February), and mapping everything from sediment-laden ocean floors to patterns of disease outbreaks in earthquake-hit locations. Related: Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life by Edward O Wilson – reviewContinue reading...
  
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• Energy policy: no room for partisan politics, 18 groups tell government

  12-02-2017 20:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Joint statement says years of finger-pointing have destroyed investor confidence in Australia’s energy sectorA coalition of business, energy, investor, climate and welfare groups has issued a sharply worded wake-up call on the energy debate, declaring “finger pointing” and 10 years of partisan politics have destroyed investor confidence in Australia’s energy sector, “worsening reliability risks”.
  The joint statement from 18 groups ranging from the Business Cou
  
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• Microfibers are polluting our food chain. This laundry bag can stop that

  12-02-2017 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Two German inventors created a laundry bag to prevent shedding microfibers ending up in oceans. Now, Patagonia will start selling it to customersFor the past three years, Alexander Nolte and Oliver Spies, surfing buddies and co-owners of Langbrett, a German retailer with four stores that sells surf gear and outdoor apparel, have been haunted by news reports connecting many of the products they sell to an emerging but serious environmental threat: microfiber pollution. Synthetic textiles, such as
  
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• UK offshore wind 'will lower energy bills' more than nuclear

  12-02-2017 14:30 via theguardian.com
  
  RenewableUK chief says windfarms could offer cheaper prices than rates government agreed with new nuclear power stations Offshore windfarms could provide cheaper power than Britain’s new wave of nuclear power stations, a leading figure in the wind industry has claimed.Speaking to the the Guardian, Hugh McNeal, the chief executive of trade body RenewableUK, said he expected that offshore windfarms would secure a deal with the government lower than the £92.50 per megawatt hour agreed w
  
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• Eyewitness: Farewell Spit, New Zealand

  12-02-2017 12:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Photographs from the Eyewitness series Continue reading...
  
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• Sadiq Khan: government must pay drivers £3,500 to scrap their polluting diesel cars

  12-02-2017 08:05 via theguardian.com
  
  London mayor says £500m plan could help tackle growing crisis over poor air quality in the capitalLondon’s air is so polluted that motorists should be given up to £3,500 to persuade them to scrap their old diesel cars and vans and replace them with cleaner vehicles, according to the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.The nitrogen dioxide emitted by diesel cars is a key contributor to London’s poor air quality, which is so bad that City Hall now advises the public to avoid
  
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• Sadiq Khan: government must pay drivers £3,500 to scrap diesel cars

  12-02-2017 08:05 via theguardian.com
  
  London mayor says £500m plan could help tackle growing crisis over poor air quality in the capitalLondon’s air is so polluted that motorists should be given up to £3,500 to persuade them to scrap their old diesel cars and vans and replace them with cleaner vehicles, according to the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.The nitrogen dioxide emitted by diesel cars is a key contributor to London’s poor air quality, which is so bad that City Hall now advises the public to avoid
  
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• Humans causing climate to change 170 times faster than natural forces

  12-02-2017 07:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers develop mathematical equation to determine impact of people’s intense activity on earth For the first time, researchers have developed a mathematical equation to describe the impact of human activity on the earth, finding people are causing the climate to change 170 times faster than natural forces.The equation was developed in conjunction with Professor Will Steffen, a climate change expert and researcher at the Australian National University, and was published in the journal,
  
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• The eco guide to a happier, greener workplace

  12-02-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Natural lighting or at least LEDs will improve your mood, and there are other positive steps to take to make the office a more world-friendly environmentIf you’re dreading the start of the working week tomorrow can I just check it’s not the lighting? A 1990s study showed plentiful natural light to be a top determinant of job satisfaction.If you can’t get near a window at least press for LEDs (they have a life of up to 60,000 hours in comparison to 6,000 hours for a fluorescent
  
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• Hundreds of whales in second New Zealand stranding able to swim free

  12-02-2017 06:55
  By Harry Pearl SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand conservation authorities said 240 pilot whales that were stranded overnight at a remote bay which only days earlier had a larger beaching refloated themselves on Sunday and were swimming offshore. "We had 240 whales strand yesterday in the afternoon and we were fearful we were going to end up with 240 dead whales this morning," Herb Christophers, a Department of Conservation spokesman said. "But they self-rescued, in other words the tide came in and
  
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• New Zealand whales: Hundreds refloat on high tide at Farewell Spit

  12-02-2017 03:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  More than 200 whales that became stranded at Farewell Spit on Saturday are freed by the tide.
  
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• More than 330 pilot whales die in New Zealand mass stranding

  12-02-2017 02:48 via theguardian.com
  
  On Sunday 220 remain stranded on remote coastline off South Island with 100 returned to sea with the help of volunteers Almost 600 pilot whales have beached themselves off a remote coastline in New Zealand over the past few days in a mass stranding, leaving rescuers struggling to save them.By Sunday about 335 of the whales were dead, 220 remain stranded, and 100 were back at sea, the Department of Conservation said. Continue reading...
  
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• Hope for end to New Zealand whale strandings after 350 die

  12-02-2017 02:48 via theguardian.com
  
  About 650 pilot whales beached themselves at top of South Island, with 350 dying but others either swimming away or refloated by volunteersRescuers working to save hundreds of beached whales in New Zealand finally had some good news when more than 200 swam back out to sea on Sunday.
  More than 650 pilot whales had beached themselves along Farewell Spit at top of South Island in two separate mass strandings. About 350 whales died, including 20 that were euthanised. Another 100 were refloated by vo
  
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• Bolivia begins fumigation against locust plague

  12-02-2017 02:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Chemical spraying began in Santa Cruz department, the eastern grain region of the country.
  
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• Could a £400bn plan to refreeze the Arctic before the ice melts really work?

  12-02-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Temperatures are now so high at the north pole that scientists are contemplating radical schemes to avoid catastrophePhysicist Steven Desch has come up with a novel solution to the problems that now beset the Arctic. He and a team of colleagues from Arizona State University want to replenish the region’s shrinking sea ice – by building 10 million wind-powered pumps over the Arctic ice cap. In winter, these would be used to pump water to the surface of the ice where it would freeze, t
  
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