Environment news

• Music to our ears: sustainability headlines Womadelaide festival

  13-03-2017 23:47 via theguardian.com
  
  From encouraging bike riding and compostable plates to better recycling, organisers have diverted 98% of waste from landfill – and they want to do moreFor all the good vibes and communal spirit, when it comes to environmental sustainability there isn’t a great deal to celebrate about the average music festival. As anyone who has gazed upon the aftermath of one can attest, these orgies of consumption typically leave in their wake a trail of plastic cups and dumped tents strewn about a
  
  Read more

• Switzerland could generate more energy out of used wood

  13-03-2017 20:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Switzerland is not fully exploiting a significant source of clean energy: 173,000 tonnes of used wood could be re-used producing valuable heat and power energy today, in addition to the 644,000 tonnes of used wood already being used. This was the conclusion reached by a nationwide survey conducted by the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) among 567 companies in the construction, waste management and transport sectors.
  
  Read more

• Looking for 'fingerprints' at the intersection of weather and climate

  13-03-2017 20:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists have found the seasonal “fingerprints” of Arctic sea ice, El Nino, and other climate phenomena in a new study that probes the global interactions between weather and climate.
  
  Read more

• Plants Might Have Saved Earth From Permanent Ice Age

  13-03-2017 20:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  In the last 800,000 years, Earth has chilled and thawed its way through eight ice ages, each lasting tens of thousands of years. But why? Why didn’t Earth just freeze the one time and stay that way?
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• NT gas pipeline approval puts fracking moratorium in question

  13-03-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pipeline from Tennant Creek to Mount Isa could bring coal seam gas from the Territory into the eastern states market amid power crisisAn $800m gas pipeline from the Northern Territory to Queensland is one step closer after the federal government granted environmental approval for construction.The approval, which carries conditions to protect the native death adder snake, had not been expected by the NT government for several weeks, and follows Malcolm Turnbull’s statement that his governme
  
  Read more

• New research urges a rethink on global energy subsidies

  13-03-2017 19:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  The hidden toll that subsidies for electricity, fossil fuels, and transport have on social welfare, economic growth and technological innovation needs to be exposed through better research says a new paper in Ecological Economics by Benjamin K Sovacool.Energy subsidies, which have mostly supported fossil fuels and nuclear power over the previous half century, have historically kept energy prices artificially low, compared to market rates. But they come at a high cost to governments and
  
  Read more

• Why do we love Love Actually? | Brief letters

  13-03-2017 19:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Sharp intake of breath on reading Chitra Ramaswamy’s statement that Pembrokeshire is the only coastal national park (Last Night’s TV, G2, 8 March). True, it is the only fully coastal one, but here in North Yorkshire we have the best national treasure of all in a park with heather moors, beautiful villages nestling in valleys, heritage and craftspeople aplenty as well as a delightful varied coastline.
  Felicity Brown
  Nether Poppleton, North Yorkshire• Why is Richard Curt
  
  Read more

• Throwaway culture has spread packaging waste worldwide | Waste packaging

  13-03-2017 17:43 via theguardian.com
  Packaging – much of it single-use food wrapping – has created a rubbish problem that now pollutes every corner of the world. Manufacturers got us into this mess, but it’s up to us to dig ourselves out – and here’s how In 2003, I was told by a restaurant owner on a Thai island that local fishermen used to wrap their lunch in banana leaves, which they would then casually toss overboard when done. That was OK, because the leaves decayed and the fish ate the scraps. But
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Dartmouth Study Finds Increased Water Availability from Climate Change May Release More Nutrients into Soil in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica

  13-03-2017 17:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  As climate change continues to impact the Antarctic, glacier melt and permafrost thaw are likely to make more liquid water available to soil and aquatic ecosystems in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, potentially providing a more nutrient-rich environment for life, according to a Dartmouth study recently published in Antarctic Science. (A pdf of the study is available upon request).With an average annual air temperature of -2.2 F and an average precipitation of 3-50 mm per year, the McMurdo Dry
  
  Read more

• Vicious circle of drought and forest loss in the Amazon

  13-03-2017 15:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Logging that happens today and potential future rainfall reductions in the Amazon could push the region into a vicious dieback circle. If dry seasons intensify with human-caused climate change, the risk for self-amplified forest loss would increase even more, an international team of scientists finds. If however there is a great variety of tree species in a forest patch, according to the study this can significantly strengthen the chance of survival. To detect such non-linear behavior, the resea
  
  Read more

• Tesco unveils online supplier food waste 'hotline'

  13-03-2017 15:13
  
  Tesco has today (13 March) launched an innovative online food waste 'hotline' to help the retailer work directly with suppliers and producers to identify and prevent potential supply chain food waste.
  
  Read more

• Agencies team up to accelerate Earth system prediction

  13-03-2017 14:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Accurately predicting the weather - at short and long time scales - is among the most complex and important challenges faced by science. Protecting the nation’s security and economic well-being will increasingly rely on improved skill in forecasting weather, weather-driven events like floods and droughts, and long-term shifts in weather, ocean and sea-ice patterns.
  
  Read more

• Wales creates £6.5m circular economy fund for SMEs

  13-03-2017 12:45
  
  The Welsh Government has unveiled a £6.5m fund to help SMEs make the transformation towards a circular economy.
  
  Read more

• National Grid exploring the potential of Artificial Intelligence to optimise renewables

  13-03-2017 12:39
  
  The National Grid has confirmed that it is in the "earliest stages" of discussions exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which could potentially maximise the use of renewable energy by predicting peaks in demand across the UK.
  
  Read more

• District heating task force launched by industry

  13-03-2017 11:48
  
  A new task force has today (13 March) been launched by the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) to deliver a subsidy-free heat network market with strong protections for consumers.
  
  Read more

• Water retail competition savings will be 'more than expected'

  13-03-2017 11:03
  
  Water consultancy Waterscan has suggested savings returned to large multi-site customers in the competitive non-domestic water market will be "more than expected".
  
  Read more

• Turnbull under pressure as gas supply takes centre stage in power crisis

  13-03-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Competition watchdog will urge companies to sell to the domestic market, as South Australia reveals its plan to head off further power cutsThe head of Australia’s competition watchdog will urge gas companies to support the domestic market to ensure struggling manufacturers don’t go to the wall, as the Turnbull government mulls options for boosting domestic gas supply to head off forecast shortages.The chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, will outl
  
  Read more

• The west’s throwaway culture has spread waste worldwide | Waste packaging

  13-03-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Packaging – much of it single-use food wrapping – has created a rubbish problem that now pollutes every corner of the world. Manufacturers got us into this mess, but it’s up to us to dig ourselves out – and here’s how In 2003, I was told by a restaurant owner on a Thai island that local fishermen used to wrap their lunch in banana leaves, which they would then casually toss overboard when done. That was OK, because the leaves decayed and the fish ate the scraps. But
  
  Read more

• The fossil fuel industry's invisible colonization of academia | Benjamin Franta and Geoffrey Supran

  13-03-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Corporate capture of academic research by the fossil fuel industry is an elephant in the room and a threat to tackling climate change.On February 16, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center hosted a film screening of the “Rational Middle Energy Series.” The university promoted the event as “Finding Energy’s Rational Middle” and described the film’s motivation as “a need and desire for a balanced discussion about today’s energy issues.&rdqu
  
  Read more

• Boaty McBoatface to go on its first Antarctic mission

  13-03-2017 08:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Robot submarine, named after competition, will collect data from depths of Southern OceanA small yellow robot submarine, called Boaty McBoatface after a competition to name a new polar research ship backfired, is being sent on its first Antarctic mission.Boaty, which has arguably one of the most famous names in recent maritime history, is a new type of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), which will be able travel under ice, reach depths of 6,000 metres, and transmit the data it collects to rese
  
  Read more

• Battery-makers on Turnbull's Tesla chat: 'Give Australian companies a fair go'

  13-03-2017 08:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Industry wants more support from federal government now prime minister has ‘taken interest in the tweets of an American billionaire’ Malcolm Turnbull should encourage Australia’s battery energy storage industry now he has “taken interest in the tweets of an American billionaire”, Zen Energy chairman Ross Garnaut says.Garnaut was referring to Elon Musk, the billionaire co-founder of electric car giant Tesla, who tweeted that Tesla could solve the power shortage issue
  
  Read more

• White Bear: at home with the polars – in pictures

  13-03-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  What do zoos give polar bears to liven up their enclosures? Car tyres, fake seals, painted icebergs, yachts, airplanes – and even skyscrapers. Sheng-Wen Lo travelled arond Europe and China photographing them all Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Warning: living in a city could seriously damage your health | Florence Williams

  13-03-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  More people than ever live in urban environments, where dirty air, noise and stress must be tackledI recently spent some time walking around Washington DC, where I live, with an aethalometer sticking out of my shirt collar. I carried the device, which measures air pollution, around with me like a pet monkey as I walked in a city park, drove on the city’s circular beltway and picked up my kids from school. It was sadly eye-opening because it confirmed what I have long suspected: my city is
  
  Read more

• Low sunshine throws light on a complex past

  13-03-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Llanon, Ceredigion The paths retain their sense of age, hinting at centuries of daily journeys from homestead to field and backBetween the village of Llanon and the sea lies an area of flat land perhaps a kilometre wide, bordered to north and south by minor rivers. On the large scale maps of the area it is labelled Morfa Esgob – which translates roughly as Bishop’s Land. In contrast to the steep, thin-soiled hill pastures inland it is a favoured spot. Well-drained and quick to warm i
  
  Read more

• Costa fires up 'zero-energy' coffee roastery

  13-03-2017 01:20
  
  Costa coffee has today (13 March) turned on the lights at its new £38m roastery, a facility which the company claims is "one of the most sustainable industrial buildings in the world".
  
  Read more

• Costa fires up ultra-sustainable coffee roastery

  13-03-2017 01:20
  
  Costa coffee has today (13 March) turned on the lights at its new £38m roastery, a facility which the company claims is "one of the most sustainable industrial buildings in the world".
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!