Environment news

• Last year's El Nino waves battered California shore to unprecedented degree

  24-02-2017 23:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  Last winter’s El Niño may have felt weak to residents of Southern California, but it was one of the most powerful weather events of the last 145 years, scientists say.If severe El Niño events become more common in the future, as some studies suggest, the California coast -- home to more than 25 million people -- may become increasingly vulnerable to coastal hazards, independently of projected sea level rise.
  
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• Scientific team develops nano-sized hydrogen storage system to increase efficiency

  24-02-2017 20:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  Lawrence Livermore scientists have collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of researchers, including colleagues from Sandia National Laboratories(link is external), to develop an efficient hydrogen storage system that could be a boon for hydrogen-powered vehicles.
  
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• We need a recipe to save the red squirrel | Brief letters

  24-02-2017 19:34
  
  Squirrel cull | Housebuilding | PPE and LSE | More leftovers | La La LandThe easiest way to protect the red squirrel (Report, 24 February) is for us to eat the grey ones. The latter are too plentiful and should be easy to trap. Many of us have no problem eating rabbits, so the greys could be a cheap addition to our diet. The bird population would also benefit from a cull of these pests. So, Delia, could we please have a recipe for écureuil à la bourguignonne?
  Donald Blow
  Kirkcaldy,
  
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• 'Good vibration' hand pumps boost Africa's water security

  24-02-2017 18:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The simple up-and-down motion of hand pumps could help scientists secure a key water source for 200 million people in Africa.
  
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• Study to focus on pollution potential of oil and gas wastewater spread on roads

  24-02-2017 17:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  Understanding the environmental impact of using oil and gas wastewater as a road treatment may lead to safer water resources and stricter government regulations, according to Penn State researchers.William Burgos, professor of environmental engineering, and Lara Fowler, senior lecturer at Penn State Law and assistant director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, will study this impact through research funded by the United States Geological Society.“In the northwest corner of Pe
  
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• Surf champion Kelly Slater calls for daily shark cull on Réunion

  24-02-2017 17:36
  
  France accused of not doing enough to counter threat of aggressive bull sharks after eighth person in six years is killedTwo of the world’s top surfers have urged France to launch a major cull of sharks in the waters off Réunion after the eighth fatal attack since 2011.Kelly Slater, crowned world champion 11 times, and Jeremy Flores, who grew up on the island, accused French authorities of not doing enough to counter the threat of aggressive bull sharks, described by local surfers a
  
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• Major Gold Mine Project in the Amazon Temporarily Suspended

  24-02-2017 17:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  A Brazilian judge temporarily suspended plans to open what would be the largest gold mine in the Brazilian Amazon this week, saying the Canadian company behind the project illegally obtained land and did not adequately address concerns from indigenous communities, according to news reports.
  
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• NASA's Webb Telescope Team Prepares For Earsplitting Acoustic Test

  24-02-2017 17:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Inside NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland the James Webb Space Telescope team completed the environmental portion of vibration testing and prepared for the acoustic test on the telescope. 
  
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• NASA Eyes Pineapple Express Soaking California

  24-02-2017 17:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA has estimated rainfall from the Pineapple Express over the coastal regions southwestern Oregon and northern California from the series of storms in February, 2017.The West Coast is once again feeling the effects of the "Pineapple Express." Back in early January one of these "atmospheric river" events, which taps into tropical moisture from as far away as the Hawaiian Islands, brought heavy rains from Washington state and Oregon all the way down to southern California. This second time aroun
  
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• Thinking 'Glocally' About Water Scarcity: Why We Need to Act Now

  24-02-2017 16:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  What if walking three hours to get water was a first-world problem?
  
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• Cosmic blast from the past

  24-02-2017 16:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  Three decades ago, a massive stellar explosion sent shockwaves not only through space but also through the astronomical community. SN 1987A was the closest observed supernova to Earth since the invention of the telescope and has become by far the best studied of all time, revolutionising our understanding of the explosive death of massive stars.
  
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• Melting Sea Ice May Be Speeding Nature's Clock in the Arctic

  24-02-2017 16:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  Spring is coming sooner to some plant species in the low Arctic of Greenland, while other species are delaying their emergence amid warming winters. The changes are associated with diminishing sea ice cover, according to a study published in the journalBiology Letters and led by the University of California, Davis.The timing of seasonal events, such as first spring growth, flower bud formation and blooming, make up a plant’s phenology — the window of time it has to grow, pr
  
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• Manhattan-Sized Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica

  24-02-2017 16:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier lost another large chunk of ice at the end of January. The section of ice that broke off the glacier on the western coast of Antarctica was roughly the size of Manhattan. It was 10 times smaller than the piece the same glacier sloughed in July 2015.
  
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• Revealed: thousands of children at London schools breathe toxic air

  24-02-2017 16:01
  
  Exclusive: 802 schools, nurseries and colleges are in areas where levels of nitrogen dioxide breach EU legal limitsTens of thousands of children at more than 800 schools, nurseries and colleges in London are being exposed to illegal levels of air pollution that risk causing lifelong health problems, the Guardian can disclose.A study identifies 802 educational institutions where pupils as young as three are being exposed to levels of nitrogen dioxide that breach EU legal limits and which the gove
  
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• I want children – but my fears for the future of the planet fill me with doubt

  24-02-2017 15:59
  
  I am profoundly worried about climate change, resource scarcity and populism – but I can’t shake the yearning I have when I look at my sister’s children. Annalisa Barbieri advises a readerMy partner of the last seven years and I have always been fairly ambivalent about the idea of having children. However, over the last couple of years, notably since the birth of my youngest nephew, I have found myself wavering. My sister emigrated before she had children and I now feel a profo
  
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• Drastic cooling in North Atlantic beyond worst fears, scientists warn

  24-02-2017 15:51
  
  Climatologists say Labrador Sea could cool within a decade before end of this century, leading to unprecedented disruption, reports Climate News NetworkFor thousands of years, parts of northwest Europe have enjoyed a climate about 5C warmer than many other regions on the same latitude. But new scientific analysis suggests that that could change much sooner and much faster than thought possible.
  Climatologists who have looked again at the possibility of major climate change in and around the Atla
  
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• Scientists: Warming temperatures could trigger starvation, extinctions in deep oceans by 2100

  24-02-2017 14:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers from 20 of the world’s leading oceanographic research centers today warned that the world’s largest habitat – the deep ocean floor – may face starvation and sweeping ecological change by the year 2100.
  
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• Welsh oak could be the first British winner of European Tree of the Year

  24-02-2017 14:16
  
  Shortly before the close of voting the Brimmon oak, for which a bypass was relocated, is close behind a Polish oak and a Czech lime treeIt is old, squat, and bent a bypass. Now an ancient oak saved from being destroyed by a new road has become the first British tree with a cracking chance of winning the European Tree of the Year competition.The Brimmon oak led the contest in the early stages, polling more than 10,000 votes. Three days before the end of the voting period, the Welsh tree was in th
  
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• Minister to enshrine protection for research independence

  24-02-2017 13:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The government is to enshrine into law the idea that there should be no political interference in research funding.
  
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• Green industry pours scorn on House of Lords electricity market paper

  24-02-2017 12:43
  
  A new House of Lords report which finds that Government support for low-carbon technologies has led to rising prices for electricity consumers has been labelled "confused" and "misconceived" by sections of the green community.
  
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• New Study Helps Explain How Garbage Patches Form in the World's Oceans

  24-02-2017 12:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study on how ocean currents transport floating marine debris is helping to explain how garbage patches form in the world’s oceans. Researchers from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and colleagues developed a mathematical model that simulates the motion of small spherical objects floating at the ocean surface. 
  
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• OMG measurements of Greenland give us a glimpse of future sea rise | John Abraham

  24-02-2017 12:00
  
  The Oceans Melting Greenland project is taking important measurements to determine how fast sea levels will rise
  If you meet a group of climate scientists, and ask them how much sea levels will rise by say the year 2100, you will get a wide range of answers. But, those with most expertise in sea level rise will tell you perhaps 1 meter (a little over three feet). Then, they will immediately say, “but there is a lot of uncertainty on this estimate.” It doesn’t mean they aren&rsq
  
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• Councils benefit from multi-million pound clean air funding pot

  24-02-2017 11:59
  
  Councils from Nottingham, East Herts and Bristol and South Gloucestershire are amongst those to benefit from this year's £3.7m Air Quality Grant programme, aimed at assisting local authorities in enhancing air quality levels in their areas.
  
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• Government pension scheme begins ditching oil and gas investments

  24-02-2017 11:21
  
  National Employment Savings Trust to move investments into new climate change fund and scale back shares in firms such as Shell and ExxonMobil
  A giant pension scheme with more than 4 million members is shifting almost 10% of its investments into a new climate change fund designed to move people’s money out of fossil fuels and into renewable energy.
  Nest (National Employment Savings Trust), a publicly owned scheme set up by the government, said it was moving £130m into the fund becaus
  
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• Tesla pushes for three more Gigafactories

  24-02-2017 10:43
  
  Disruptive car manufacturer and self-proclaimed "integrated sustainable energy company" Tesla has revealed that it hopes to finalise locations for at least two new Gigafactories by the end of 2017, with the possibility of adding a third being discussed.
  
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• Commercial building energy efficiency guidance delivers 'vital clarity' for business

  24-02-2017 09:00
  
  This week's publication of the Government's guidance about the new minimum efficiency standard for privately rented commercial buildings has been welcomed by the industry for providing "vital clarity" to businesses.
  
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• Government intervention has led to higher energy bills, claims Lords report

  24-02-2017 08:47
  
  Committee urges new energy commission that would prioritise low energy bills and security rather than low carbon emissionsMinisters should establish a new energy commission to spur on construction of power stations because successive governments have failed to encourage enough fresh power capacity in the UK, according to a House of Lords report.Subsidy-backed growth in renewable energy projects, such as windfarms, has deterred the construction of new conventional power plants, the economic affai
  
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• Craig Kelly backs Abbott on renewable energy target and immigration

  24-02-2017 08:25
  
  Liberal MP calls for RET to be frozen and immigration to be explicitly linked to issue of housing affordabilityThe chairman of the Turnbull government’s backbench environment and energy committee has backed Tony Abbott’s call to wind back the renewable energy target, and cut the immigration rate to boost housing affordability.
  The Liberal MP Craig Kelly told Guardian Australia on Friday the RET needed to be frozen where it is at the moment, and the government needed to explicitly lin
  
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• Greenhouse PR certified as sustainable business

  24-02-2017 08:15
  
  Greenhouse PR has become one of the first sustainability-focused UK consultancies to gain certification as a B Corporation thanks to a distinguished social and environmental performance.
  
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• Low-carbon policy 'less vital than low energy bills and security'

  24-02-2017 08:10
  
  Lords seek new commission to spur on power station construction and end ‘low emissions priority that harms consumers’Ministers should establish a new energy commission to spur on construction of power stations because successive governments have failed to encourage enough fresh power capacity in the UK, according to a House of Lords report.Subsidy-backed growth in renewable energy projects, such as windfarms, has deterred the construction of new conventional power plants, the economi
  
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• Red squirrels: 5,000 volunteers sought to save species – and help kill invasive greys

  24-02-2017 07:01
  
  Wildlife Trusts’ biggest-ever recruitment drive will see volunteers monitor populations, educate children – and bludgeon grey squirrels to deathAn army of 5,000 volunteers is being sought to save the red squirrel from extinction by monitoring populations, educating children – and bludgeoning grey squirrels to death.The Wildlife Trusts’ biggest-ever recruitment drive is focused on areas of northern England, north Wales and Northern Ireland where invasive grey squirrels fir
  
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• Australia's 'biggest ever' antivenom dose saves boy bitten by funnel web spider

  24-02-2017 04:48
  
  NSW central coast schoolboy, aged 10, was given 12 vials of antivenom after he was bitten by a male spider hiding in a shoeA 10-year-old NSW central coast boy is lucky to be alive after a deadly funnel web spider bite necessitated what is believed to be the largest dose of antivenom administered in Australian history.Matthew Mitchell was rushed to Gosford hospital after he was bitten on the finger by the male funnel web, which was hiding inside a shoe, on Monday. Continue reading...
  
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• Great Barrier Reef could face another big coral bleaching event this year

  24-02-2017 04:44
  
  New report to UN world heritage committee criticises Australia’s lack of planning in dealing with effects of climate changeThe Great Barrier Reef faces an “elevated and imminent risk” of more widespread coral bleaching this year, the reef authority has warned the Queensland government.An alert from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says more of the reef is showing built-up heat stress than this time last year, just before its worst-ever bleaching event killed off a q
  
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