Environment news

• More people heading to court to spur action on climate change, study finds

  23-05-2017 19:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Study by UN and Columbia finds ‘proliferation’ of cases instigated by citizens
  Lion’s share of court cases are in US but number also growing around the world
  Governments around the world are increasingly being challenged in court to do more to combat the threat of climate change, with litigation ranging from a group’s attempt to stop an airport runway in Austria to a Pakistani farmer suing his government over its failure to adapt to rising temperatures, a new study has fo
  
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• How plastic took over the world in 50 years | Letters

  23-05-2017 19:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Plastic was the disruptive technology of its day but now we know the mess will never be cleared up, writes Professor John Holford. Plus letters from Chris Gee and Harold ForbesIs anyone cheered by your report of the extent and intensity of plastic pollution (38 million pieces of plastic waste found on uninhabited South Pacific island, 16 May)? The plastics industry, perhaps? It is, after all, a sign of how much they have changed the world. I recall my first encounte
  
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• 'My worst nightmares are coming true': last major primeval forest in Europe on 'brink of collapse'

  23-05-2017 16:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Polish government is accused of pushing Białowieża forest ecosystem to point of no return with state-sanctioned logging in Unesco world heritage siteScientists and environmental campaigners have accused the Polish government of bringing the ecosystem of the Białowieża forest in north-eastern Poland to the “brink of collapse”, one year after a revised forest management plan permitted the trebling of state logging activity and removed a ban on logging in old growth
  
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• Why is Latin America so obsessed with mega dams?

  23-05-2017 12:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Protests against Latin America’s pursuit of hydropower are increasing as the environmental costs mount up. Is the end of the region’s mega dams in sight?Leia este artigo em portuguêsLeer este artículo en españolThe rains had been monumental throughout April 2014. By early May, the operators of the 219 MW Cachoeira Caldeirão dam being built in Brazil’s remote Amapá state knew that levels on the Araguari river were dangerously high. If some water
  
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• ¿Por qué la obsesión de Latinoamérica por las represas?

  23-05-2017 12:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Son símbolos de orgullo nacional, pero dado el aumento en las protestas y los costos medioambientales ahora se cuestiona el futuro de las mega represasLeia este artigo em portuguêsRead this article in EnglishDurante abril de 2014, las lluvias fueron monumentales. Para principios de mayo, los operadores de la represa de 219 MW Cachoeira Caldeirão, que estaba construyéndose en el remoto estado de Amapá en Brasil, sabían que los niveles del río Aragua
  
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• UK bathing water ranks next from last in EU beach table

  23-05-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  20 sites fail safe bathing criteria stoking fears UK will once more be ‘dirty man of Europe’ after BrexitThe UK is second bottom in a league table ranking EU countries on the quality of their bathing water, stoking fears that the “dirty man of Europe” could be on his way home after Brexit.96.4% of British beaches were found safe to swim in last year, but 20 sites failed the assessment in the annual survey by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) released on Tuesday. Onl
  
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• Australian Conservation Foundation vows to pursue all avenues to stop Adani loan

  23-05-2017 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental group warns it will take legal action against Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility directors if funding granted for rail lineThe Australian Conservation Foundation has warned it will pursue all avenues, including possible legal action, to stop a concessional loan being granted to a rail line associated with the controversial Adani coalmine.
  The ACF’s president, prominent businessman Geoff Cousins, told Guardian Australia on Tuesday the environmental group would “p
  
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• Tourmalet to tarte aux pommes: savouring the French Pyrenees by bike

  23-05-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  If Tour De France climbs without time pressure or panniers sounds appealing, investigate this bespoke cycling holiday in the French Pyrenees What kind of cyclist are you? A superfit obsessive with high-end equipment, up for the toughest races? Or a potterer along county lanes, limiting yourself to 20 miles a day, treating cycling as a gentle route to the next pub? If you’re somewhere in between – but fitness can vary considerably, because you are time-poor – then this trip coul
  
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• Too fast, too soon: how China's growth led to the Tianjin disaster

  23-05-2017 08:15 via theguardian.com
  
  The 2015 warehouse explosion in Tianjin was one of the worst manmade disasters in Chinese history – and exposed the darker side of rapid urbanisationThis article is a project of UBC’s International Reporting ProgramIt was almost midnight on a summer Wednesday in 2015 when Hu Xiumin was jolted awake by a loud noise. Her apartment building in the affluent Harbour City development was shaking violently. She ran from the bedroom to find her husband standing in the study, looking out of t
  
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• Trump treading water over climate change deal, says deputy UN chief

  23-05-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Amina Mohammed says president seems to be avoiding making decision on whether US will renege on historic agreement The UN’s deputy secretary general has accused President Donald Trump of “treading water” over a decision on the future of the Paris climate change agreement, on which the fate of millions of people depend.
  Amina Mohammed told the Guardian she was hopeful the US would not renege on the deal signed last year, but that Trump appeared to be avoiding a public declaratio
  
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• Hunting for moths in the night garden

  23-05-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Allendale, Northumberland I linger, hoping to see a flicker of wings before leaving the trap to work its magicThe night garden is brilliantly lit by the full moon of the moth trap’s bulb. Shadows are thrown deep into the drystone walls and the hawthorn branches show bright against the dark fields. Shading my eyes against the UV light, I linger, hoping to see a flicker of wings before shutting the door and leaving the trap to work its magic.
  Once a week I record which species are drawn to t
  
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• Herd knowledge

  23-05-2017 03:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  As a warming climate threatens traditional food supplies in the Arctic, one rural Alaskan village is flying in hundreds of reindeer by cargo plane. James Cook went to find out why.
  
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• The DNA detective

  23-05-2017 03:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A man abandoned as a baby 61 years ago traced his family using a DNA detective. But what do they do?
  
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• Family, air quality and a strong business case: the coal executives defecting to green energy

  23-05-2017 01:30 via theguardian.com
  
  They were the masters of the fossil fuels industry. Now three former top executives are building the clean energy economyAustralian clean energy activists might have recognised some strangely familiar faces joining their ranks of late – those of their greatest adversaries in the coal industry.Coal sector executives have been quietly switching sides to chase the lucrative profits up for grabs in green energy and – welcome or not – the experience they bring could prove vital to t
  
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• Dakota Access pipeline and a feeder line leaked more than 100 gallons in March

  23-05-2017 00:28 via theguardian.com
  
  There were two leaks – one because of a leaky part, the other after an above-ground valve failed – as crews prepared disputed $3.8bn pipeline for operationThe Dakota Access pipeline and a feeder line leaked more than 100 gallons of oil in North Dakota in separate incidents in March as crews prepared the disputed $3.8bn pipeline for operation. Related: Dakota Access pipeline has first leak before it's fully operationalContinue reading...
  
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