Environment news

• Winners, losers among fish when landscape undergoes change

  21-02-2017 22:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  As humans build roads, construct buildings and develop land for agriculture, freshwater ecosystems respond - but not always in the ways one might expect.
  
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• EPA head: US doesn't have to choose between environment and jobs – video

  21-02-2017 22:35 via theguardian.com
  
  The new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, told agency staff on Tuesday that the US should not have to choose between the economy and the environment. ‘I believe that we as a nation can be both pro-energy and jobs, and pro-environment. We don’t have to choose between the two,’ Pruitt said in his first speech to EPA workers since he was confirmed as administrator last week Continue reading...
  
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• Over time, nuisance flooding can cost more than extreme, infrequent events

  21-02-2017 21:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Global climate change is being felt in many coastal communities of the United States, not always in the form of big weather disasters but as a steady drip, drip, drip of nuisance flooding.
  
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• Colorado River Flows to Keep Shrinking as Climate Warms

  21-02-2017 20:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  Warming in the 21st century reduced Colorado River flows by at least 0.5 million acre-feet, about the amount of water used by 2 million people for one year, according to new research from the University of Arizona and Colorado State University.
  
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• Aerosol study to look at great unknown in climate science

  21-02-2017 20:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Australian scientists seek to understand how non-carbon aerosolised particles affect global temperaturesAustralian scientists are studying air pollution and cloud formation in Antarctica in an effort to understand how non-carbon aerosolised particles impact on global temperatures.It’s the first comprehensive study of the composition and concentration of aerosols in the Antarctic sea ice area, a region that influences cloud formation and weather patterns for much of the southern hemisphere.
  
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• Farmers deliver stark warning over access to EU seasonal workers

  21-02-2017 19:37 via theguardian.com
  
  NFU president says food will ‘rot in the fields’ unless government guarantees access to workforceFarmers have warned that food will “rot in the fields” and Britain will be unable to produce what it eats if the government cannot guarantee that growers will continue to have access to tens of thousands of EU workers after Brexit.Meurig Raymond, president of the National Farmers’ Union, told the body’s annual conference in Birmingham that farmers and food processo
  
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• Meet the frog that can sit on a thumbnail

  21-02-2017 19:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Seven new species of night frog have been discovered in India, including four miniature forms.
  
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• Farmers deliver stark warning over losing access to EU seasonal workers

  21-02-2017 19:18 via theguardian.com
  
  NFU president says ‘food will rot in fields and Britain will lose ability to produce its own food’ unless government guarantees access to workforceFarmers have warned that food will “rot in the fields” and Britain will be unable to produce what it eats if the government cannot guarantee that growers will continue to have access to tens of thousands of EU workers post-Brexit.Meurig Raymond, president of the National Farmers Union, told the body’s annual conference in
  
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• New URI professor examining effects of climate change on coral reefs, shellfish

  21-02-2017 19:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  The newest professor in the University of Rhode Island’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences, Hollie Putnam, thinks some corals and shellfish might have good enough “memories” to buffer the changes in ocean chemistry that are resulting from global climate change.A native of Minnesota who earned a doctorate at the University of Hawaii, Putnam is studying how a wide variety of marine organisms are responding to changes in their environment. Focusing on reef-building cora
  
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• Raising the steaks: the Seattle startup crowdfunding sustainable beef

  21-02-2017 18:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Cow Crowd works directly with ranchers across the US, cutting out the middleman and giving farmers an alternative to selling calves to factory farmsIf crowdsourcing makes you think of fundraising campaigns for smartwatches and wine coolers rather than sustainable food, you’re not alone. But a new Seattle-based startup called Crowd Cow is hoping to change that.Crowd Cow works like most crowdfunding campaigns. Every few days, the company hosts an “event” on its website featuring
  
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• Researcher Unveils Tool for Cleaner Long Island Sound

  21-02-2017 17:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new model released this week by UConn ecologist Jamie Vaudrey pinpoints sources of nitrogen pollution along Long Island Sound, and shows municipalities what they might do to alleviate it. Vaudrey presented her research Feb. 19 at the AAAS annual meeting in Boston.Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean bordered by Connecticut to the north, New York City to the west, and Long Island to the south. The Sound is home to dozens of species of birds, 170 species of fish, and m
  
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• MORE WARM-DWELLING ANIMALS AND PLANTS AS A RESULT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

  21-02-2017 17:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  Since 1980, populations of warm-dwelling species in Germany have increased. The trend is particularly strong among warm-dwelling terrestrial species, as shown by the most comprehensive study across ecosystems in this regard to date. The most obvious increases occurred among warm-dwelling birds, butterflies, beetles, soil organisms and lichens according to the study published recently in the scientific journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution” led by Senckenberg scientists. Thus, it ap
  
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• New ACT programme seeks to assess transformative business models

  21-02-2017 17:30
  
  New methodologies to quantify the preparation of companies in the utilities, transport and retail sectors in shifting towards a low-carbon economy look set to be deployed, after year-long pilot projects highlighted the needs of these sectors.
  
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• Fluorescence method detects mercury contamination in fish

  21-02-2017 17:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers from the University of Burgos (Spain) have developed a fluorescent polymer that lights up in contact with mercury that may be present in fish. High levels of the metal were detected in samples of swordfish and tuna. According to the conclusions of another Spanish study, mercury exposure is linked to reduced foetal and placental growth in pregnant women.The presence of the toxic metal mercury in the environment comes from natural sources, however, in the last decades industrial waste
  
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• Bao Bao the giant panda leaves Washington zoo for new home in China

  21-02-2017 17:18 via theguardian.com
  
  The three-year-old giant panda left the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Tuesday to take a 16-hour non-stop to China to join a panda breeding program thereBao Bao, a three-year-old giant panda who has called the Smithsonian’s national zoo in Washington home since her birth in 2013, left this morning for a one-way trip to China to join a panda breeding program.The Chinese ambassador to Washington, Cui Tiankai, was at the zoo to receive the panda, who will travel with a keeper and veterinari
  
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• Selenium deficiency promoted by climate change

  21-02-2017 16:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  As a result of climate change, concentrations of the trace element selenium in soils are likely to decrease. Because the selenium content of crops may also be reduced, the risk of selenium deficiency could be increased in many regions of the world. This was shown by a recent study which used data-mining to model the global distribution of selenium.Selenium is an essential micronutrient obtained from dietary sources such as cereals. The selenium content of foodstuffs largely depends on concentrat
  
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• Giant anteater and jaguar in rare battle – camera-trap video

  21-02-2017 15:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Camera -trap footage shows a giant anteater going toe-to-toe with a jaguar in the Gurupi Biological Reserve in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The video was filmed by the Brazilian National Research Centre for Carnivore Conservation in September 2016 as part of a survey on jaguars ‘Insane’ camera trap video captures rare battle in the Amazon
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• Businesses call for SDGs to act as a pillar for long-term environmental policy

  21-02-2017 15:29
  
  More than 60 organisations have called on the UK Government to place the spirit and aims of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the heart of the proposed 25 Year Environment Plan to foster natural capital valuation and increase business prosperity.
  
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• Our technology can clean up air pollution hotspots | Letter

  21-02-2017 15:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Professor Lewis’s analysis of ways to tackle air pollution (10 ways to beat air pollution: how effective are they?, theguardian.com, 15 February) is disappointingly dismissive of technology that can work in bus shelters or other pollution hotspots. While these solutions can’t clean an entire atmosphere, there are places where they can make a huge difference and it would be shortsighted to sweep them aside.Tests at King’s College London have independently verified that our techn
  
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• Unprecedented Arctic weather has scientists on edge

  21-02-2017 14:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Sea ice on track for lowest maximum amount on record.
  
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• Save the Bees? There's an App for That

  21-02-2017 14:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  New mobile app to help farmers protect pollinators.
  
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• Thousands of spills at US oil and gas fracking sites

  21-02-2017 14:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Up to 16% of hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells spill liquids each year, according to new data.
  
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• Russia increases involvement in Libya by signing oil deal

  21-02-2017 13:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Libyan national oil corporation says contract with Rosneft to redevelop oilfields lays groundwork for further investment Russia has significantly boosted its involvement in Libya by signing a potentially major contract to help redevelop Libyan oilfields. The head of the Libyan national oil corporation (NOC) signed a cooperation agreement with Rosneft, the Russian oil giant, which NOC said on Tuesday “lays the groundwork for investment by Rosneft in Libya’s oil sector”.Continue
  
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• Flexibility needed 'urgently' to avoid spiralling renewable costs

  21-02-2017 13:43
  
  The Government needs to "act urgently" to deliver a more flexible power system and avoid "spiralling" costs from the integration of renewables, the UK Energy Research Centre has warned.
  
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• Lemur facial recognition tool developed

  21-02-2017 13:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A method that can identify individual lemurs could improve the way the endangered species is tracked.
  
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• HSBC revamps deforestation policy after Greenpeace investigation

  21-02-2017 13:02
  
  HSBC has launched a new zero-deforestation policy following a Greenpeace investigation which linked the banking corporation to organisations that have been destroying Indonesia's rainforests.
  
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• Hospital saves dehydrated baby hippo at Cincinnati Zoo

  21-02-2017 12:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Cincinnati Zoo's premature baby hippo Fiona needed urgent treatment for dehydration.
  
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• Heathrow protest by climate activists causes delays on M4

  21-02-2017 11:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners chain themselves to a vehicle, blocking motorway tunnel leading to airport and causing lengthy delaysClimate activists protesting against Heathrow’s planned third runway caused lengthy delays on the M4 by blocking a tunnel leading to the airport.Campaigners for Rising Up used three cars to close the tunnel leading from the motorway to Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 3 at about 8.25am on Tuesday. Three protesters chained themselves to one of the vehicles, which had a banner reading:
  
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• What future for E numbers after Brexit?

  21-02-2017 11:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How Brexit might create complications for the way food in the UK is labelled.
  
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• ‘Insane’ camera trap video captures rare battle in the Amazon

  21-02-2017 09:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Without camera traps we would never be privy to two endangered species sparring in the remote Amazon rainforest.
  As darkness descended over the Peruvian Amazon in 2006, my wife and I listened spellbound while our guide told us the grisly story of the jaguar and giant anteater.Eyewitnesses, our guide insisted, had found the two foes dead together, embracing like lovers but in mutual destruction – the jaguar’s jaw still drooped around the anteater’s neck where it had pierced its
  
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• UK should consider new 2025 recycling targets, claims EIC

  21-02-2017 08:30
  
  The UK should consult on new recycling targets for 2025 to boost investor confidence in the waste sector, according to a new report from the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC).
  
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• EDF faces £1m a day bill to keep French nuclear reactor offline

  21-02-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Prolonged closure at Flamanville plant after fire damage piles further financial pressure on state-owned energy firmThe prolonged closure of a major French atomic reactor after an explosion this month probably costs EDF at least £1m a day, according to experts.The nuclear plant operator, which will spend £18bn building the UK’s first new nuclear power station in a generation, shut unit 1 at its Flamanville plant after a fire broke out in the turbine hall.Continue reading...
  
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• Cardiff v Cambridge: can the Welsh capital steal the crown of Britain's top cycling city?

  21-02-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Cardiff’s ambitious new cycling strategy aims to double the number of trips taken by bike, part of its ultimate goal to become Europe’s most liveable capital. But Cambridge, the reigning champ of cycling, won’t be beaten easilyIf Cardiff and Cambridge were in a race to become the UK’s top cycling city, the latter would, predictably, be in the lead as Cardiff’s red dragon puffs along behind – realising, deep down, that it’s got some training to do.You cou
  
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• Glimpse of a landscape fashioned by birds

  21-02-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Blackwater Carr, Norfolk Once you are attuned to this avian tree propagation, it becomes a pleasure to find other instancesAlthough I am in my 50s I still take a child’s pleasure in climbing trees. This particular ascent, however, had purpose, because a hawthorn formerly trapped under a sallow thicket has been steadily freed by felling operations. One last large willow branch had to be severed before my overtopped bush could move into the sunlit uplands of the open glade that I have create
  
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• Trump's potential science adviser William Happer: hanging around with conspiracy theorists | Graham Readfearn

  21-02-2017 05:14 via theguardian.com
  
  The Princeton atomic physicist is no climate scientist – and he’s pushing the same old denier mythsWilliam Happer is a physicist at Princeton University – one of those US academic institutions with brand recognition for academic excellence that travels the globe.Happer is well known for his contrarian views (that’s the polite term) on human-caused climate change. Continue reading...
  
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• Arena to give EnergyAustralia grant to investigate pumped hydro storage project

  21-02-2017 04:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Malcolm Turnbull says technology ‘mature and cost-effective’ as Australian Renewable Energy Agency grant announcedThe Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) has approved a $450,000 grant to EnergyAustralia to investigate a pumped hydro energy storage project off South Australia as the state’s energy mix continues to cause a political storm.The grant will cover a feasibility study into a Spencer Gulf project that the company says has a capacity to produce about 100 megawatts
  
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• Pope says indigenous people must have final say about their land

  21-02-2017 02:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Francis echoes growing body of international law and standards on the right to ‘prior and informed consent’In the 15th century papal bulls promoted and provided legal justification for the conquest and theft of indigenous peoples’ lands and resources worldwide - the consequences of which are still being felt today. The right to conquest in one such bull, the Romanus Pontifex, issued in the 1450s when Nicholas V was the Pope, was granted in perpetuity.How times have changed. Las
  
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• The Canberra Coal Club ignores what most people know: the future will be clean and smart | Peter Lewis

  21-02-2017 01:36 via theguardian.com
  
  The dirty and dumb antics and the anti-renewables rhetoric being amped up by our politicians is out of step with majority thinking on energyWhen Treasurer Scott Morrison clomped into parliament with his pet piece of coal after South Australia’s electricity network collapsed in the face of extreme weather he was indulging in more than a tacky piece of political theatre. As Barnaby Joyce fondled the fossil, the Turnbull government was signing up to the Coal Club’s most audacious attack
  
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