Environment news

• Plastic-eating caterpillar could munch waste, scientists say

  24-04-2017 20:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A caterpillar that munches on plastic bags could hold the key to tackling plastic waste, say scientists.
  
  Read more

• Government accused of 'running scared' of diesel drivers in delay of clean air plan

  24-04-2017 19:31
  
  Politicians and environmental groups say ministers have failed to tackle air pollution crisis and are hiding behind election purdah rulesThe government has been accused of “running scared” of diesel drivers and attempting to bully judges over its last-minute bid to delay the publication of its clean air plan.Politicians and environmental groups said ministers were “hiding behind the election” to justify delaying publication of the government’s long awaited proposals
  
  Read more

• Trump calls record-breaking astronaut Peggy Whitson

  24-04-2017 19:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  'Better you than me,' jokes US president as astronaut Peggy Whitson reveals drinking recycled urine.
  
  Read more

• 2017 Goldman environmental prize recipients – in pictures

  24-04-2017 18:57
  
  The Goldman environmental prize honours the achievements of grassroots activists in six continents, recognising their sustained efforts to protect natural habitats often at great personal risk Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Government seeks clear air plan delay

  24-04-2017 18:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK government may face legal action after seeking to delay publishing its plan to tackle air pollution until after the general election.
  
  Read more

• Black entrepreneurs are the driving force behind urban farming in Boston | Letters

  24-04-2017 17:44
  
  Mel King, Glynn Lloyd and Klare Shaw are among those who should be credited, writes Dave Madan, founding board member of the Urban Farming InstituteBoston is more than our complicated history with racism, but your article on urban farming (Is Boston the next urban farming paradise?, 16 April) unintentionally perpetuates the image of a city stuck in the past, entirely ignoring the innovative black entrepreneurs who founded and lead Boston’s urban farming sector.Boston’s most famous ac
  
  Read more

• Government accused of bullying judges over bid to delay clean air plan

  24-04-2017 17:35
  
  Labour and Greens say government has failed to tackle air pollution crisis and is cajoling judges to let them miss deadline to comply with election purdah rules Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• What should we do with our rubbish-strewn roadside verges? Treasure them | Patrick Barkham

  24-04-2017 17:01
  
  Major road embankments are a refuge for more than 800 species of flora. We should care for them with that in mindIn a ditch by a burger van on the A142 near Ely, Cambridgeshire, lives one of our rarest plants. It is the last natural home of fen ragwort, which shows its yellow flowers each summer despite being assailed by discarded coffee cups and the occasional burning car.It’s the rarest of many plants for which roadside verges have become a last refuge. The fact that rubbish-strewn verge
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Munch inspired by 'screaming clouds'

  24-04-2017 16:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A new theory may explain the background to one of the most famous works of art ever produced.
  
  Read more

• This spring, fight for our precious planet and join the climate march | Eve Ensler

  24-04-2017 16:18
  
  The same forces that are crushing women are destroying the planet. They must be defeated, and the march is an important next step in that battle
  It doesn’t matter how many winters I endure, I am never less astounded by the arrival of spring. Suddenly, green shoots and the hint of daffodil yellow start breaking through the muddy earth. Birds sing. The air is sweet. It’s a time of renewal – one that is so desperately needed for our planet and our politics.The Earth, our mother, i
  
  Read more

• Adani coalmine at heightened risk of becoming a stranded asset, report says

  24-04-2017 16:01
  
  Carmichael project likely to be ‘cash flow negative’ for the majority its operating life, according to Institute for Energy Economics and Financial AnalysisThe risk of the controversial Adani Carmichael coalmine becoming a stranded asset has increased in the last 12 months, according to a new report.The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), says the Carmichael project is likely to be “cash flow negative” for the majority its operating life, even w
  
  Read more

• Japan to exceed bluefin tuna quota amid warnings of commercial extinction

  24-04-2017 14:19
  
  Conservationists call on Japan to abide by fishing agreements after reports annual quota will be exceeded two months earlyConservation groups have called on Japan to abide by international agreements to curb catches of Pacific bluefin tuna after reports said the country was poised to exceed an annual quota two months early – adding to pressure on stocks that have already reached dangerously low levels.Japan, by far the world’s biggest consumer of Pacific bluefin, has caused “gr
  
  Read more

• Fashion Revolution Week: Spotlight turns to supplier transparency as reports reveal slow progress

  24-04-2017 14:02
  
  At the start of a week dedicated to generating awareness over sustainability issues in the fashion sector, a flurry of new reports have demanded greater transparency to help improve working conditions and wages in the clothing supply chain.
  
  Read more

• One month until edie Live 2017 - get your ticket now

  24-04-2017 13:58
  
  With just one month to go until doors open for edie Live 2017 we take a look at why it is the destination event for sustainability and energy managers.
  
  Read more

• Major firms implore G20 to act on climate-disclosure risks

  24-04-2017 13:41
  
  The chief executives of 27 global businesses, including HSBC, Unilever and PwC, have called on G20 governments to adopt recommendations that call on companies to disclose climate-related financial risks.
  
  Read more

• Author Kuki Gallmann shot by raiders on her ranch in Kenya

  24-04-2017 13:36
  
  Conservationist, whose memoir I Dreamed of Africa became a Hollywood film, left critically wounded after armed men ransacked a lodge on her estateAuthor and conservationist Kuki Gallmann, whose memoir I Dreamed of Africa was turned into a Hollywood film starring Kim Basinger, has been shot by raiders at her ranch in Kenya.The 73-year-old is reported to have suffered extensive internal injuries and is in “a stable, but critical” condition. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• 'Life improved when I left London': readers on tackling air pollution

  24-04-2017 13:11
  
  We asked readers to tell us what action they are taking against air pollution. Here’s what some of them said
  About 40 million people in the UK are living with illegal air pollution levels, according to analysis commissioned by the Labour party.
  Earlier this month the Guardian reported thousands of children across England and Wales are exposed to illegal levels of air pollution from diesel traffic, putting the health of young children at risk in the long term.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Trash talk: how beautiful, progressive Lviv became overrun with rubbish

  24-04-2017 13:06
  
  The Ukrainian city of Lviv – long noted for its Habsburg-era buildings and vibrant cafes – is in the throes of a trash crisis. Who is really to blame?An enchanting city in western Ukraine, Lviv has gained a pleasant reputation for its rugged, Habsburg-era beauty and vibrant cafe scene. More recently, however, it has become known for something entirely different: heaping piles of trash.For months, Lviv has struggled to properly dispose of the several hundred tonnes of waste it produce
  
  Read more

• Energy efficiency must be Industrial Strategy priority, engineers say

  24-04-2017 12:09
  
  The engineering industry has today (24 April) called for the Government's Industrial Strategy to prioritise energy efficiency to ensure limited energy costs for businesses.
  
  Read more

• Ministers under fire over bid to delay publication of air pollution plan

  24-04-2017 12:06
  
  Campaigners attack government request to be allowed to breach Monday deadline to publish air quality planThe government is facing renewed pressure after a last-minute attempt to delay the publication of its plan to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis.Ministers were under a court direction to produce tougher draft measures to tackle illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution, which is largely caused by diesel traffic, by 4pm on Monday. The government’s original plans had been dismi
  
  Read more

• Ding ding! All aboard the ex-Lib Dem minister's solar-powered bus

  24-04-2017 11:09
  
  Norman Baker ditched the ‘constant battle’ of working with Theresa May to run the Big Lemon – the Brighton eco-firm launching a green bus routeVince Cable and Ed Davey, the former business and energy secretaries respectively, are among the Liberal Democrats that lost their seats in 2015 who are plotting their way back to parliament in this general election.But an erstwhile colleague has rejected the opportunity to regain his seat in Lewes in East Sussex. Norman Baker, the forme
  
  Read more

• EV batteries and robotics first in line for BEIS £1bn innovation fund

  24-04-2017 09:25
  
  The UK Government has unveiled a £1bn investment fund for cutting-edge technologies such as self-driving vehicles, artificial intelligence (AI) and batteries for clean and flexible energy storage.
  
  Read more

• Walmart to cut one billion tonnes of supply chain emissions by 2030

  24-04-2017 09:15
  
  The world's largest retailer has launched a sustainability platform which aims to slash one billion tonnes of emissions from its supply chain by 2030, as the company's latest CSR report reveals that 40 million tonnes of CO2 emissions have been avoided in the past decade.
  
  Read more

• Consumers being misled by labelling on 'organic' beauty products, report shows

  24-04-2017 06:45
  
  Many brands use the word organic on labels when their products are not certified as such, warns Soil AssociationThe makers of many “organic” beauty products have been accused of confusing and meaningless labelling, according to a new survey in which 76% of consumers admitted they felt misled.According to the Soil Association’s recent market report, sales of organic health and beauty products swelled by more than 20% in 2016, with the market now worth about £61.2m in the U
  
  Read more

• First steps on the stone road to Banbury

  24-04-2017 06:30
  
  Stamford, Lincolnshire Discovering that a footpath named the Jurassic Way not only glanced my door but set off from it, I decided to walk it piecemealIt took 10 years of living here before I looked hard at my town’s Ordnance Survey map. There, like most who neglect study of their closest ground, I saw my daily familiar articulated in a diagrammatic, unfamiliar way. Here notable historic echoes inscribed alongside its present. And I discovered that a footpath named the Jurassic Way not only
  
  Read more

• Honour for environmental activist farmer, 83, surrounded by mines on three sides

  24-04-2017 06:01
  
  For 30 years anti-pollution campaigner Wendy Bowman has stood firm against mining giants, supporting other landowners under pressure to sell Each morning just after dawn, if you stop at the top of the hill that separates the town of Singleton from the tiny village of Camberwell in New South Wales, says Wendy Bowman, “you’ll see this brown scud across the sky”.“It doesn’t go over the ridges; it stays in the valley, going up and down all the time.” She mimes a s
  
  Read more

• From Congo child soldier to award-winning wildlife ranger – a life in danger

  24-04-2017 06:01
  
  Forced into the militia as a child in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rodrigue Katembo has now been awarded a Goldman prize for risking his life fighting to protect his country’s wildlifeAs an enforced child soldier, Rodrigue Katembo saw his little brother die and had to carry the news to his mother. Now 41, he remains on the frontline – but today he protects the extraordinary wildlife in the national parks of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from armed militias.
  It is except
  
  Read more

• Radio Monsoon aims to ensure safety reigns among fishermen in south India | Nicola Slawson

  24-04-2017 06:00
  
  With the rainy season approaching in Kerala state, a radio station is providing a low-tech forecast service to encourage 30,000 families to fish more safelyFor the fisherfolk of India’s southern state of Kerala, risking life and limb is part of everyday life.As fish stocks deplete in coastal waters because of overfishing and climate change, fishermen have no option but to venture ever further out to sea on small boats, flimsy canoes and catamarans. These modest craft are prone to accidents
  
  Read more

• Australian activist Wendy Bowman wins Goldman environmental prize – video

  24-04-2017 06:00
  
  Wendy Bowman, an 83-year-old farmer, has been given the Goldman environmental prize, awarded across six global regions for grassroots work. For three decades Bowman has fought the march of open-cut coalmines across the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, and helped organise her community to protect agricultural land and water • Honour for activist farmer, 83, surrounded by mines on three sides Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Ex-child soldier wins environment prize

  24-04-2017 05:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An ex-child soldier who has spent years risking his life to fight illegal mining and wildlife poaching in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been given a prestigious award that honours 'environmental defenders' around the world.
  
  Read more

• Road verges 'last refuge' for plants - conservation charity

  24-04-2017 01:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Roadsides are often littered with rubbish and weeds but they are havens for rare flowers.
  
  Read more

• UK's rarest plants are at risk of extinction, charity warns

  24-04-2017 01:06
  
  Campaign group Plantlife unveils list of top 10 endangered species and calls for better management of road verges that have become habitats of Britain’s floraSome of the UK’s rarest plants are at risk of extinction unless action is taken to look after the road verges that have become their final refuge, a charity has warned.Species such as fen ragwort and wood calamint are now only found on road verges, with fen ragwort hanging on in just one native spot near a burger van on the A142
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!