Environment news

• Scott Pruitt hails era of environmental deregulation in speech at coal mine

  13-04-2017 21:50 via theguardian.com
  
  EPA administrator declared an end to the government’s ‘war’ on coal in a speech to miners – an agenda that has been bitterly opposed by agency staff
  Scott Pruitt, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, heralded a new era of environmental deregulation on Thursday, in a speech at a coal mine that was fined last year for contaminating local waterways with toxic materials.
  Pruitt said the new “back to basics” agenda for the EPA would focus on
  
  Read more

• Saturn moon 'able to support life'

  13-04-2017 20:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Enceladus has the conditions, including a key energy source, to enable microbes to exist, Nasa says.
  
  Read more

• Is this the beginning of the end for neoliberalism? | Letters

  13-04-2017 19:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Your editorial on the French elections (11 April), with its encouraging mention of the rise of the higher tax and spend candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, failed to mention possibly his biggest electoral draw: the fact that he is a leftwing protectionist. Prior to the 2012 election, polls showed that over 80% of French across the political spectrum thought that free trade had a negative impact on employment. So it’s not just immigration that is fuelling ever-broadening support for Marine
  
  Read more

• Scottish islands hold out for government U-turn on windfarm subsidies

  13-04-2017 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Hopes that ministers will make special case for Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland after visit by business secretary Ministers are believed to be on the verge of a U-turn on their manifesto pledge to halt the spread of subsidised onshore windfarms – on remote Scottish islands, at least.The business secretary, Greg Clark, visited the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles on Monday to discuss the possibility of government support for turbines off the mainland. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Young midwestern farmers want to grow sustainable food – but they need help

  13-04-2017 17:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Midwestern states are the second leading producers of crops and livestock behind California. But young farmers are leaving, put off by high land prices and startup costsOn a recent chilly afternoon, Natasha Hegmann, 28, and her husband, Pete Kerns, 27, tended the fire of a giant copper boiler holding some 250 gallons of maple sap. The sap had flowed into the boiler overnight through a series of pipes from nearby trees. Turning the gooey sap into syrup will take days.A native Iowan, Hegmann worke
  
  Read more

• Giant whale shark caught on camera by US divers

  13-04-2017 17:37 via bbc.co.uk
  Diver Keith Brock and his wife capture a rare close-up video of the shark off the east coast of the United States.
  
  Read more

• Whale’s eye view reveals feeding habits in Antarctica – video

  13-04-2017 16:09 via theguardian.com
  
  The World Wildlife Fund released this footage filmed in March 2017 that shows the view from a camera attached to a whale in Antarctica. Scientists used suction cups to attach cameras to humpback and minke whales, revealing new feeding habits and their social lives. The data gathered will be used to protect whales and their ecosystemsContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Reports reiterate value of strong policy signals in clean energy revolution

  13-04-2017 15:02
  
  As new research indicates that the global decarbonisation process can be kick-started by a small group of countries with the right policy incentives, a separate study has found that the UK Government can now deliver 1GW of new onshore wind subsidy-free.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• How can Peru prepare to withstand more devastating floods and landslides?

  13-04-2017 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After record rains caused $3bn worth of damage, Peru must build infrastructure to prepare for any more extreme climate events in the futureLeer este artículo en españolFor most Peruvians, this year’s floods have been the worst in living memory. Ten times the usual amount of rain has fallen on Peru’s coast, swelling rivers which caused widespread flooding, and triggering huge landslides which tore through shanty towns.More than 100 people have died, nearly 158,000 are di
  
  Read more

• Three innovations that will accelerate climate action, according to Google's 'captain of moonshots'

  13-04-2017 14:47
  
  The head of advanced technology firm 'X' - formerly called 'Google X' - has stressed that climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the planet, but one that offers businesses a key opportunity to scale-up clean technologies and green innovations to transition to a low-carbon economy.
  
  Read more

• Arizona Sky Village's residents have one rule: 'Turn off your goddamned lights'

  13-04-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Nearly every house in this rural 450-acre development of stargazers is equipped with its own domed observatory, and outdoor lights are strictly forbidden. Does it also hold answers for combatting America’s problem with light pollution?Take a nighttime drive into Arizona Sky Village, in a remote valley in south-east Arizona, and the only thing you can see clearly are the millions of stars twinkling overhead. Beyond the light show, the sky is a deep inky black, and the ground below is nothin
  
  Read more

• Walmart kickstarts energy storage project to 'increase reliance' on renewables

  13-04-2017 12:39
  
  American retail giant Walmart has penned a deal to combine energy storage systems with on-site renewables, in order to balance energy generation at numerous Southern California stores.
  
  Read more

• Sadiq Khan urged to explore plastic bottle return scheme

  13-04-2017 12:30
  
  The London Assembly Environment Committee (LAEC) has called on the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to fulfil his promise of becoming the 'greenest Mayor London has ever had' by exploring the viability of a return scheme for plastic bottles, with a view to a city-wide trial.
  
  Read more

• How much could commuter cycling increase in your part of England?

  13-04-2017 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  New tool maps the potential increase in bike journeys under different scenarios – from routes avoiding hills to adopting e-bikes – revealing health benefits and informing future investmentChances are you live in a place where less than one in 20 commuters regularly cycle to work. Sometimes people assume this is because England is too hilly, or that most home-to-work distances are too far to cycle. Hilliness and distance do matter. However, new research has found that this is only par
  
  Read more

• The death of diesel: has the one-time wonder fuel become the new asbestos?

  13-04-2017 09:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Diesel was the dream fuel, promoted by governments and the car industry as a cheaper way to save the planet. Then the cracks started to appearA shopper at a supermarket asks for a plastic bag, only to have his head slammed into the checkout counter by the “green police” (“You picked the wrong day to mess with the ecosystem, plastic boy”). Another man attracts a spotlight from a green police helicopter for a “compost infraction” as he’s about to bin an or
  
  Read more

• Your dinner's in the washing machine … the designer pioneering a cooking revolution

  13-04-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  For steak, click ‘synthetics’. For veg, click ‘cotton’. Meet the Israeli bringing a new dimension to boil in the bag cuisineA sprinkle of washing powder, a dash of fabric conditioner and a good slug of teriyaki sauce? Next time you load the washing machine, you might be adding some extra ingredients, if Israeli design student Iftach Gazit’s idea catches on. In response to our increasingly energy-conscious, time-poor existence, he has come up with a plan for boil-in-
  
  Read more

• Women's Institute urges supermarkets to do more to cut food waste

  13-04-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  First WI report on food waste finds confusion persists over ‘best before’ and ‘sell by’ dates, with supermarkets potentially contributing to the problemThe Women’s Institute is urging supermarkets to do more to help consumers reduce their domestic food waste, after a survey of its own membership revealed widespread confusion about “best before” and “use by” labelling on packaging.Its new analysis of products on supermarket shelves found that
  
  Read more

• ‘I liked elephant heart. It was soft and very tasty’

  13-04-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  For 40 years I hunted elephants and other big game in the forests of Rwanda. This is how I became an ex-poacher
  I was born in Kinigi, in Rwanda’s Musanze district, about 65 years ago, and it is still my home. I come from the Batwa community; we are very short people. There are about 400 of us, which makes us the smallest tribe in Rwanda.
  We lived in the forests long before the government took them over, and we were known as their keepers. They meant everything to us. I did not even know wh
  
  Read more

• Chiffchaffs warm to the theme of spring

  13-04-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Sandy, Bedfordshire Climate change has boosted the songbirds’ advance northwards, and they seem to fill every copseIn the rising chorus over the past few weeks, one migratory bird has stood out as insistent, persistent, and more variable in its simple song than most books would have us believe. Chiffchaffs are on the up; climate change has warmed their advance northwards, and here in the south they seem to be filling every copse, every patch of scrubland. They are often heard, but far less
  
  Read more

• Cool roofs: beating the midday sun with a slap of white paint

  13-04-2017 05:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Reflecting the sun saves a building’s energy but it can also affect surrounding temperatures and offset carbon emissions There’s no shortage of measures that homeowners and businesses can take to lessen their environmental footprint – from better insulation and double glazing, to easing up on air-con usage and swapping in LED lights.One part of the house that seems to be attracting more than its fair share of attention is the roof. Replacing a standard roof with a lovingly cult
  
  Read more

• London's plastic water bottle waste is out of control, mayor warned

  13-04-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Committee calls for deposit return scheme and free refill stations after finding capital hooked on bottled water but not recyclingThe amount of waste from single-use plastic bottles in London has risen out of control, according to a report from the London assembly environment committee.It calls on the mayor to consider introducing a deposit return scheme and to provide free tap water as an alternative. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• London's plastic water bottle waste is out of control, mayor is told

  13-04-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Committee calls for deposit return scheme and free refill stations after finding capital hooked on bottled water but not recyclingThe amount of waste from single-use plastic bottles in London has risen out of control, according to a report from the London assembly environment committee.It calls on the mayor to consider introducing a deposit return scheme and to provide free tap water as an alternative. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!