Environment news

• Frozen 'space sperm' passes fertility test

  22-05-2017 22:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Viable mouse sperm stored in space gives hope for sperm banks on the Moon, a Japanese team says.
  
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• Will coal seam gas save Narrabri, or destroy it? – video

  22-05-2017 22:17 via theguardian.com
  
  In the first of a series of videos on critical issues confronting regional Australia, Gabrielle Chan investigates the proposed Narrabri gas project in New South Wales. The oil and gas company Santos proposes 850 wells in the Pilliga and some locals see the opportunity for jobs. But others warn of the potential damage to the land and the water supply. Now it’s up the NSW government to decideIn Narrabri, everyone has a stake in the farming v mining fight Continue reading...
  
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• CSG's last stand? In Narrabri everyone has a stake in the farming v mining fight

  22-05-2017 22:16 via theguardian.com
  
  In the first of a series of investigations into issues facing regional Australia, we report on how locals in a north-western New South Wales town are bracing to learn the fate of the state’s last coal seam gas project Country towns are, by their nature, conservative. Change happens slowly and traditions are not discarded easily.The conservative thinker Edmund Burke wrote that we must act as trustees of the world – what he called “temporary possessors and life renters”, ra
  
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• Lean-burn physiology gives Sherpas peak-performance

  22-05-2017 21:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nepalese mountain guides have a physiology that uses oxygen more efficiently lowlanders.
  
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• Winters of death and discontent under the Tories | Letters

  22-05-2017 20:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Readers react to Theresa May’s threatened withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance and point out the increased number of deaths in custody or due to cold or air pollution in the years since she became home secretaryEight letters on the inheritance issue (20 May) but the real problem for most pensioners in the here and now is the threat to withdraw the winter fuel allowance from all but the very poorest pensioners (those on pension credit who actually apply for it – the Tories are
  
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• White House proposes slashing funds to clean up toxic sites despite EPA's pleas

  22-05-2017 20:23 via theguardian.com
  
  EPA plan to focus on hazardous areas that pollute air and water, often near low-income communities and minorities, was dashed by president’s budget proposalEnvironmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt’s vow to shift the agency back towards the “vital” work of dealing with toxic sites that pollute air and water has been dashed by a White House budget plan that would slash funding for the clean-ups.Donald Trump’s 2018 budget plan proposes severe cuts to clean-up
  
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• Al Gore at Cannes: 'Trump cannot stop the solutions to the climate crisis'

  22-05-2017 20:10 via theguardian.com
  
  The former US vice-president and environmental activist said there was hope in the fight against climate change – but the world and the US had to actAl Gore believes that Donald Trump will not halt the momentum of the climate movement even if he withdraws the US from the Paris agreement.Speaking at a press engagement for his new documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, the former US vice-president and environmental activist said that he was confident Trump would commit to the hi
  
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• Children should be taught to look death in the face – or the feathers | Patrick Barkham

  22-05-2017 19:15 via theguardian.com
  
  For birds it’s fledging season, which gives us the ideal opportunity to educate our own young on this sticky subject – if only we were less squeamishEvery evening, when the traffic dies down, blackbirds perch in all the high trees in my neighbourhood and fill the air with an uplifting, life-affirming symphony.And then, an abrupt change of note – chink-chink-chink – as repetitious as a car alarm, as parents desperately protect their nests from the magpies, jays and cats th
  
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• Tax plastic drinking straws, firm says

  22-05-2017 16:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A waste disposal firm claims that plastic drinking straws are "the ultimate in human wastefulness".
  
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• Why would Theresa May ditch a pledge to ban ivory trading?

  22-05-2017 16:10 via theguardian.com
  
  The Tories’ manifesto has dropped a promise to outlaw the trade. Protecting wildlife should be a priority, not an optionStrange news: Theresa May has decided to drop a Tory pledge to push for a total ban on ivory trading (only the sale of ivory items produced after 1947 is prohibited). Why would she do that? Doesn’t she need votes? I thought nearly everyone loved elephants – who votes for helping to wipe them out? Apparently, wealthy antiques dealers. Lady (Victoria) Borwick, t
  
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• Two dead whales at Felixstowe and Orford

  22-05-2017 14:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One is up a river estuary, the other is awaiting removal from a beach.
  
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• 'Brexit virus': an EU-plot to sabotage the great British breakfast

  22-05-2017 13:46 via theguardian.com
  
  A strain of hepatitis E carried by some continental pigs has been given a topical nickname. So, do we need to vote leave on bacon?Name: the Brexit virus.Also known as: hepatitis E (HEV). Continue reading...
  
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• Green party outlines plan for 'caring Britain' in manifesto launch

  22-05-2017 13:45 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Green Guarantee’ centres on opposition to hard Brexit and aims to woo young voters with pledge to axe university tuition feesGeneral election 2017 – live updates
  The Green party has launched an election manifesto for what it calls a “confident and caring Britain”, centred on proposals including a universal basic income, opposition to a hard Brexit and an appeal to young voters.Introducing the 23-page document, the party’s co-leader, Caroline Lucas, said young
  
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• The moment a sea lion pulls a girl underwater

  22-05-2017 12:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Experts warn against getting too close to wild animals after a sea lion pulls a young girl underwater.
  
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• The moment a sea lion pulls a girl under water

  22-05-2017 12:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Experts warn against getting too close to wild animals after a sea lion pulls a young girl under water.
  
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• Anti-foxhunting protester arrested as May arrives in Wrexham

  22-05-2017 12:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Man tackled and pulled away by police as he moved towards prime minister’s car arriving for launch of Welsh Conservative manifesto An anti-foxhunting protester has been arrested as the prime minister’s car arrived in Wrexham before the launch of the Welsh Conservative manifesto. The man, who told reporters his name was Connor, waved a black flag and yelled: “This is a fascist state, Theresa May’s police state.” He was then dragged to the ground by police as May&rsqu
  
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• All three chicks at Cairngorms osprey nest die

  22-05-2017 12:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The nest in the Cairngorms in which three osprey chicks had hatched now appears to have been abandoned.
  
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• Trump's Fox News deputy national security advisor fooled him with climate fake news | Dana Nuccitelli

  22-05-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  What does it say about the Trump administration that the president was fooled by a dumb, long-debunked climate myth?
  As Politico reported, Trump’s deputy national security adviser, KT McFarland, gave him a fake 1970s Time magazine cover warning of a coming ice age. The Photoshopped magazine cover circulated around the internet several years ago, but was debunked in 2013. Four years later, McFarland put the fake document in Trump’s hands, and he reportedly “quickly got lathered
  
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• My month with chemtrails conspiracy theorists

  22-05-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Tammi Riedl and her partner believe ‘chemtrails’ are damaging our health. They prove conspiracies have gone mainstream – and aren’t just for the right wingStanding between beds of golden beets and elephant garlic in the garden of Lincoln Hills, a small organic farm in Placer County, California, Tammi Riedl looks up and points to a stripe of white haze running across a cloudless blue sky.“See that?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. “What do you think that
  
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• My month with California’s conspiracy theorist farmers

  22-05-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Tammi Riedl and her partner believe ‘chemtrails’ are damaging our health. They prove conspiracies have gone mainstream – and aren’t just for the right wingStanding between beds of golden beets and elephant garlic in the garden of Lincoln Hills, a small organic farm in Placer County, California, Tammi Riedl looks up and points to a stripe of white haze running across a cloudless blue sky.“See that?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. “What do you think that
  
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• Environmentalism used to be about defending the wild – not any more | Mark Boyle

  22-05-2017 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  We’re domesticating areas instead of protecting them. Living without technology I’ve found my place in the natural world – and this path could be our salvationMost of us find it easier to imagine a world without pine martens, honeybees, otters and wolves than one without social media, lattes, cheap flights and dishwashers. Even environmentalism, which was once motivated by a love of the natural world, now seems more concerned with finding slightly less destructive ways of enabl
  
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• Could citizens’ wealth funds halt the dominance of the financial elite?

  22-05-2017 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Conservative manifesto pledges to create ‘Future Britain’ wealth funds, and a shale gas fund is under discussion at the Treasury. Is the UK finally waking up to the opportunity such schemes offer for tackling inequality?
  Tucked away in the Conservative Party manifesto, and largely unremarked, is a promise to create a number of UK sovereign wealth funds, to be called “Future Britain Funds”.This builds on last year’s proposal in a Treasury Consultation Paper to cr
  
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• Sea lion drags girl into the water - video

  22-05-2017 09:08 via theguardian.com
  
  A young girl was dragged into the water by a sea lion at Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf in Richmond, western Canada. The sea lion can be seen latching on to the girl’s dress with its teeth before forcefully pulling her into the water. The child was rescued by a bystander and, although visibly shaken, neither sustained injuries.California sea lion grabs girl from dock and pulls her underwaterContinue reading...
  
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• Adani rail line to Abbot Point not a priority, says Infrastructure Australia

  22-05-2017 07:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Agency says it has not received a submission on the rail line from Queensland government and has not conducted any cost-benefit analysisInfrastructure Australia has not identified a proposed rail line linking the controversial Adani coalmine with the Abbot Point port as a priority, and it has not consulted the body which is expected to stump up a concessional loan.
  The chief executive of Infrastructure Australia, Philip Davies, told a Senate estimates hearing on Monday that the rail line –
  
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• Greens to unveil plans for universal basic income in manifesto launch

  22-05-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Party will promise to scrap Trident to help fund NHS, promise a final Brexit referendum and scrap all existing student loan debts at Monday’s launchPeople could get a universal basic income and a shorter working week under plans proposed by the Green party on Monday.Launching the manifesto, Caroline Lucas, the party’s co-leader, said the proposals were “big, bold ideas to create a confident and caring country we can all be proud of”. Continue reading...
  
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• Lancashire's poster-place for the access revolution

  22-05-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Clougha Pike, Forest of Bowland Once forbidding and forbidden, ringfenced for shooting, this is still a secret, silent placeFind a big map and you’ll see there’s a monstrous, heart-shaped blank in the middle of north-west England. You’ve passed it probably, but the big roads skirt it with such circuitous subtlety you don’t notice you’re orbiting something. For years, unless you paid to shoot things, it might well have remained more a brooding feeling than a sight, i
  
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• Brexit barriers 'would harm science', say universities

  22-05-2017 03:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Make science and research a priority in Brexit talks, says Russell Group.
  
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• Reproductive rebels

  22-05-2017 01:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Contraception wasn’t just socially groundbreaking - it also changed the professional landscape.
  
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