Environment news

• The top 10 threats to the most biodiverse place on planet Earth

  11-03-2017 22:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Manu national park in Peru threatened by roads, oil/gas operations, narco trade, goldmining, logging and ‘human safaris’ Just under half of Unesco’s World Heritage sites are under threat, the WWF asserts. Sites deemed threatened include the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Pantanal in Brazil and the Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo – and 111 others. But what about the Manu national park in Peru’s Amazon, which Unesco calls the most biodi
  
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• Shell’s sale of dirty tar sands assets cleans up debt and spruces image

  11-03-2017 16:59 via theguardian.com
  
  But campaigners remain unconvinced by firm’s shift towards cleaner energyWhen Shell sold most of its Canadian tar sands operations last week, the Anglo-Dutch oil company took a modest step towards making good on its promise to be part of the solution on global warming, rather than the problem.Tar sands are reviled by climate change campaigners as one of the dirtiest forms of energy. The sands are a glutinous, bitumen-addled mix when extracted from the ground and a huge amount of energy is
  
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• Gaggle of Cambridge University students criticise geese-cull plans

  11-03-2017 13:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Rapidly growing Canada goose population is health hazard but quarter of King’s students sign petition to spare the birdsIt’s been an exacerbating week for Philip Isaac, domus bursar at King’s College, Cambridge University. It all started with an impassioned letter from students which, invoking the words of Gandhi, called for the peaceful coexistence of scholars and geese. It was only a matter of time before the press got wind of the petition. Journalists flocked to cover the st
  
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• Environment said to face a dark future as EPA begins its radical shakeup

  11-03-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Trump administration’s zeal for deregulation seen by environmentalists as a recipe for fossil fuel cronyism, runaway climate change and toxic water crisesScott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, caused conniptions among scientists this week by claiming that carbon dioxide isn’t the primary catalyst of global warming. Conservative groups and industry, on the other hand, heard hints that a cherished goal may be within reach.
  In 2009 the EPA determined that gr
  
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• Conservatives cheer EPA cuts that activists fear 'will be borne by lungs'

  11-03-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Trump administration’s zeal for deregulation seen by environmentalists as a recipe for fossil fuel cronyism, runaway climate change and toxic water crisesScott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, caused conniptions among scientists this week by claiming that carbon dioxide isn’t the primary catalyst of global warming. Conservative groups and industry, on the other hand, heard hints that a cherished goal may be within reach.
  In 2009 the EPA determined that gr
  
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• Panic on the machair as a predator approaches

  11-03-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  South Uist Though we cannot see the hunters their presence is signalled by the waders that suddenly rise in flocksFar in the distance the craggy peaks of Skye have been rendered Alpine-like by the overnight snow. Away to the north the high hills of Harris also bear a covering, and even South Uist’s less lofty heights have a dusting of white. There is a hint of warmth in the morning sun, but what makes this a glorious day to be outside is the complete absence of wind, for with even a light
  
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• Electric solution for Mexico's roads

  11-03-2017 02:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Hector Ruiz has made it his mission to convert cars in Mexico City to run on electricity.
  
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• Video captures moment plastic enters food chain

  11-03-2017 01:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A video captures the moment plankton ingest a plastic microfibre.
  
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