Environment news

• Theresa May urged to persuade Trump not to quit Paris climate accord

  06-05-2017 21:36 via theguardian.com
  
  US president prepares to undermine historic deal on climate changeTheresa May is facing calls from Britain’s leading environment and development groups to use her influence to persuade Donald Trump that the US must remain committed to the Paris climate change agreement.In a strongly worded letter, the heads of Oxfam, the RSPB, Greenpeace, WWF, Christian Aid, Cafod and other groups have called on the prime minister to “pick up the phone” to the US president to warn him of the co
  
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• Government set to be taken back to court over air pollution plans

  06-05-2017 21:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Ministers’ latest proposals, published on Friday after high court intervention, criticised by climate groups calling for stronger action on illegal pollution levelsEnvironment lawyers are expected to take the government back to court over its controversial plans to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis. They say the proposals are so weak they flout ministers’ obligation to protect public health.The government published its plans to cut levels of diesel fumes, nitrogen oxides and
  
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• Nearly 400 birds killed after flying into Texas skyscraper in storm

  06-05-2017 20:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Nashville and Blackburnian warblers among birds of more than 20 species that hit American National Building, possibly after mistaking lights for moon or sunNearly 400 migratory birds of brilliant plumage were killed when they smashed into an office tower in Texas while flying in a storm, officials said on Friday.Related: Twitterstorm: why British birdsong is vital to musicContinue reading...
  
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• Sidmouth wages war on scavenger seagulls with £80 feeding fines

  06-05-2017 20:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Feeding the gulls in this part of East Devon can now bring a hefty financial penalty. Will it stop the problem?Perry King takes a break from cleaning windows in the seaside resort of Sidmouth. “Some of the seagulls do look fat,” he muses. “You look at them and think, that’s a chip bird.”In this part of East Devon, however, the days of seagulls surviving on a diet of chips, doughnuts, ice-cream and pasties may be coming to an end. Last week the district council becam
  
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• Brexit and energy: does ‘taking back control’ mean losing power?

  06-05-2017 16:59 via theguardian.com
  
  The prospect of departure from the EU has thrown several key power projects – from emissions trading and undersea cables to nuclear research – into questionThe Brexit spotlight swung last week away from the familiar cast of bankers quitting the City and coffee-shop chains worried about recruiting staff to the fate of the energy industry tasked with powering the economy when the UK leaves the EU.The loudest warnings came from MPs, peers, engineers and the industry itself over the impa
  
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• The end of wild elephants? Why we must not let Africa become one giant food farm | Erik Solheim

  06-05-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The world’s rapid population rise risks turning Africa into one giant farm with no room for wildlife. We need to think again, says the head of UN Environment
  Elephants are in big trouble. Even if we beat poaching and illegal trade, their potential doom has been sealed in projections for population growth, and has already been priced into the commonly accepted solutions to how we humans plan to feed ourselves well into the century – by looking to Africa to be our next big breadbasket.
  
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• Fun and games among the gulls

  06-05-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  River Teifi, Cardigan They plunged into the water to emerge with twigs, which they threw in the air and caught like childrenAbove Pont y Cleifion, tidal reaches of the river Teifi run wide between banks of feathery, blond phragmites. White mist clung to the water as I walked along the southern bank, the sky an unsullied blue. Upriver the sun rose through thinning vapours. Gilded streamers followed the draining tide as it swirled through whirlpools under the bridge. The morning world glistened.
  A
  
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