Environment news

• Airlander 10: World's longest aircraft hits highest altitude

  14-06-2017 22:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The world's longest aircraft reached its highest altitude on its fourth test flight.
  
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• Air pollution is killing wildlife and people | Letters

  14-06-2017 21:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Measures to cut air pollution need to be extended beyond urban areas, say representatives of six wildlife organisations. Plus Dr Richard Carter warns that avoiding main roads won’t protect you from small particulatesOn National Clean Air Day, Thursday 15 June, we’re calling for action to cut air pollution which threatens our native wildlife (Nature needs fresh air too, 2 June). The UK government’s air quality consultation, closing on 15 June, focuses on “tackling nitrogen
  
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• Dams could 'permanently damage Amazon'

  14-06-2017 19:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists warn that hydroelectric dams in the Amazon could have a significant impact on the environment.
  
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• Ancient bird like 'a kangaroo-sized flying turkey'

  14-06-2017 18:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New details on an early megapode bird that lived alongside Australia's extinct giant marsupials.
  
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• EPA: air pollution rule should be delayed – despite its effect on children

  14-06-2017 18:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges postponing Obama administration measure might have ‘disproportionate’ effect on young peopleThe Environmental Protection Agency has proposed delaying a federal air pollution rule for two years, despite acknowledging that children will be disproportionately harmed by the decision.The regulator plans to suspend standards aimed at preventing leaks from the oil and gas industry while it reconsiders the rule, which was introduced in June 2016 u
  
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• Juncker rejects US climate deal re-negotiation

  14-06-2017 17:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says the EU will not re-negotiate the Paris climate agreement.
  
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• ‘Plankton explosion’ turns Istanbul’s Bosphorus turquoise

  14-06-2017 15:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Transformation of the usually blue waters of the Bosphorusas is not caused by pollution, say scientistsA sudden change in the colour of the Bosphorus Strait that divides the continents of Europe and Asia in Turkey’s largest city Istanbul has surprised residents, with scientists putting it down to a surge in a species of plankton across the Black Sea.
  The sudden transformation of the usually blue waters of the Bosphorus to a milky turquoise since the weekend had alarmed some residents. Cont
  
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• 'Bottled nature' helps ease dental pain

  14-06-2017 15:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Taking a walk along a virtual-reality beach helps ease dental patients' discomfort, a study finds.
  
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• Thames Water given maximum £8.5m fine for missing leak target

  14-06-2017 12:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Penalty for ‘unacceptable’ water leaks comes three months after the company received a record fine for an untreated sewage leakThames Water will pay a £8.5m penalty after failing to meet its target to cut water leakage from its pipes. Ofwat, which regulates the privatised water industry, called the failure “unacceptable” and said the penalty was the maximum possible.Leaks from Thames Water’s network rose by 5% in the last year, or 35m litres per day. In May, t
  
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• New research may resolve a climate ‘conundrum’ across the history of human civilization | Dana Nuccitelli

  14-06-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The new study also confirms the planet is warming 20 times faster than Earth’s fastest natural climate changeEarth’s last ice age ended about 12,000 years ago. The warmer and more stable climate the followed allowed for the development of agriculture and the rise of human civilization. This important period encompassing the past 12,000 years is referred to as the Holocene geological epoch. It also created a “conundrum” for climate scientists, because global temperatures s
  
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• Climate change study in Canada's Hudson Bay thwarted by climate change

  14-06-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Warm temperatures create perilous ice conditions off Newfoundland, trapping fishing boats and tankers: ‘It’s not something you would expect to see there’Scientists in Canada have been forced to abandon an expedition to the Hudson Bay to research the impact of climate change, after warming temperatures created perilous ice conditions off the coast of Newfoundland.
  In late May, 40 scientists from five Canadian universities set off from Quebec City on the icebreaker and Arctic res
  
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• Fatal crocodile attacks rising in Northern Territory, data shows

  14-06-2017 09:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Report shows 14 people died following attacks between 2005 and 2014, compared with 10 deaths in the 33 years to 2004The number of people being killed by crocodiles in the Top End is on the rise, new data shows.A study by the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, Royal Darwin Hospital and the Menzies School of Health Research has found croc-related deaths have jumped since hunting was outlawed in 1971. Continue reading...
  
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• Labor grills Coalition over foreign donations and electricity prices – politics live

  14-06-2017 08:45 via theguardian.com
  
  A fraught and frank Coalition meeting on energy sees Tony Abbott try to dominate discussion as Chinese donations hit the headlines again. Follow the day live …7.45am BSTTony Abbott says China produces 20 times the emissions of Australia. His characterisation of the party room debate was MPs wanted lower power prices and a continuing role for coal.The mood of last night was one of robust common sense.7.42am BSTOf his altercation with Craig Laundy, Tony Abbott says there was a moment of mut
  
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• 'Gorilla moms': The women rescuing Congo's endangered primates

  14-06-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  NGOs are working with local women and rape survivors in the DRC to conserve habitat for bonobos, gorillas and chimpanzees, and care for orphaned babiesOngoing violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has taken a heavy toll on the country’s women. Shocking levels of sexual violence have given the country a label as the “most dangerous place to be a woman”. Civil strife, along with bushmeat hunting and human encroachment, also threatens its wildlife – especial
  
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• The pipeline feeding billions to Putin ... evading sanctions on the way

  14-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Nord Stream 2 will transport gas from Russia to Europe, endangering habitats, fuelling climate change and funding Putin’s regime for decadesTough western sanctions on Russia may be squeezing the economy – but that’s only half the story. The other half you can understand better by attending a public hearing into a project that will finance the Putin regime for another 50 years.The project is called Nord Stream 2. It involves piping gas directly from Russia to Germany through the
  
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• Satellite Eye on Earth: May 2017 – in pictures

  14-06-2017 07:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Vesuvius in Italy and volcanoes in northern Tanzania, lights going out in Syria, and flooding in Sri Lanka are among images captured by Nasa and the ESA this monthA vertical view of Vesuvius in southern Italy, taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet from the International Space Station. The Proxima mission is named after the closest star to the sun, continuing a tradition of naming missions with French astronauts after stars and constellations. The mission is part of th
  
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• Side street routes to avoid city pollution can cut exposure by half

  14-06-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Clean air signposts and online walking maps to sidestep diesel fumes would benefit public health, finds studyTaking a side street route when walking through a city cuts a person’s air pollution exposure by half, according to a new study.Signposting these clean air routes and providing online maps would keep people away from heavily polluted main streets and would benefit their health, the researchers said. In fact the UK group behind the research have developed a new interactive map of Lon
  
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• 'If we stopped poaching tomorrow, elephants would still be in big trouble'

  14-06-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Ivory poaching is the most immediate, urgent threat to Africa’s elephants. But even if that can be tackled, they will have to fight humans for land, food and waterIt is the dead of night. The day’s red-dust heat has given way to a cooling breeze. A hundred frogs chirp urgently. Tim and his crew are preparing for another stealth raid. Their mission is highly dangerous and now there’s a new threat: armed men are following them.This is the scene repeated nightly on the eastern fri
  
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• Malcolm Turnbull: ‘one-liners’ have not helped Australia’s energy security – question time live

  14-06-2017 06:50 via theguardian.com
  
  A fraught and frank Coalition meeting on energy sees Tony Abbott try to dominate discussion as Chinese donations hit the headlines again. Follow the day live …5.50am BSTLabor to Peter Dutton: Can the minister please advise the House whether any coalition MPs have made representations about immigration matters to the department, or the minister on behalf of the Liberal or National Party donors? If so, will he advise the House which Coalition MPs have made these recommendations? Dutton says
  
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• Mining bees create a theatre of enchantments

  14-06-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire There is in them a curious combination of industry and decadence, fun and devotionThere’s something Elizabethan about the ashy mining bees. The females are 10mm long, black with a bluish reflection, a ruff of grey hair, a further grey ring around the thorax and a furry white facial mask. The males are smaller, squatter and less strikingly marked.
  Andrena cineraria is one of 67 species in Britain and Ireland belonging to the mining bee genus. They are hairy little s
  
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• Climate politics comes back to haunt Coalition with divided party room meeting – politics live

  14-06-2017 03:20 via theguardian.com
  
  A fraught and frank meeting saw Tony Abbott try to dominate discussion, setting the scene for an energy debate that could damage the Turnbull government. Follow the day live … 2.20am BSTBen Doherty reports the Australian government has settled a class action with more than 1,900 Manus Island detainees and will pay damages believed to be in excess of $100m.The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed nor finally agreed upon by a judge. But Guardian Australia understands that the com
  
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