Environment news

• Global banks reduce lending to dirtiest fossil fuel companies by billions in 2016

  21-06-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  World’s largest banks lent $87bn to oil, coal and LNG companies in 2016 – a 22% drop from a collective $111bn worth of lending in 2015The world’s biggest banks reduced their lending last year by billions of dollars to some of the most carbon-intensive sectors of the fossil fuel industry, marking a potential seismic shift against coal lending, according to a new report.The report, Banking on Climate Change: Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2017, has tracked the lending decisions
  
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• 'Ocean Elders' urge Malcolm Turnbull to reject Adani coalmine

  21-06-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Prominent oceanographers and global leaders write to Australian prime minister and Queensland premierA group of prominent oceanographers and global leaders headed by renowned marine biologist Dr Sylvia Earle has written to the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, urging him to reject the proposed Adani Carmichael coalmine, which it says will have a devastating impact on the Great Barrier Reef.The letter from the group Ocean Elders argues that if it goes ahead, the coalmine will damage in
  
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• Worried about climate change? I blame men | Brief letters

  21-06-2017 19:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate change | Inflammatory language | Plagiarism | The cryptic crossword | North-south divideNormally I would write to complain about such a gendered phrase as “man-made” (Opinion, 17 June). In the case of “man-made climate change” however, I’m inclined to let it pass. On balance it seems likely that rather more men than women do bear responsibility for the changes which are leading our planet to fry. “Anthropogenic” is a much more elegant word though
  
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• Scientists rescue ice from melting Bolivian glacier – before it disappears

  21-06-2017 18:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Samples from Illimani mountain will be taken to Antarctica for preservationResearchers say global warming is rapidly melting the glaciers of the AndesA team of international scientists are transporting samples of ice from a melting glacier in Bolivia to Antarctica, for study and preservation before the glacier disappears.The international “Ice Memory” expedition of 15 scientists took samples from the glacier on Illimani mountain in the Andes and will store them in Antarctica at the F
  
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• Top global banks still lend billions to extract fossil fuels

  21-06-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis of world’s lenders reveals many claim green credentials while still financing fuels like tar sands, oil and coalSome of the world’s top banks are continuing to lend tens of billions for extracting the most carbon-intensive fossil fuels, according to a report of top lenders.Finance provided for these fossil fuels – tar sands and other unconventional oil and gas, as well as coal and liquefied natural gas – amounted to $87bn for the top 37 banks in 2016. That repres
  
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• Queen's Speech: Plan aims to secure space sector

  21-06-2017 16:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A government plan to protect the UK's £13.7bn space industry has been laid out in the Queen's Speech.
  
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• Al Gore: battle against climate change is like fight against slavery

  21-06-2017 15:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Former US vice-president says green revolution is bigger than industrial revolution and happening at faster pace than digital revolutionThe fight against global warming is one of humanity’s great moral movements, alongside the abolition of slavery, the defeat of apartheid, votes for women and gay rights, according to the former US vice-president and climate campaigner, Al Gore.The battle to halt climate change can be won, he said, because the green revolution delivering clean energy is bot
  
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• To lead on climate, leave the ivy tower | Ralien Bekkers, Hillary Aidun, Emily Wier, Geoffrey Supran

  21-06-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  On behalf of students and alumni from all Ivy-Plus universities, we call on our institutions to join the “We Are Still In” coalition
  America’s top universities expend considerable efforts to lead in the rankings, but last week they fell short—missing a critical opportunity to show moral leadership on climate change. If top schools want to lead on climate action, they should join the “We Are Still In” coalition, a collection of states, cities, businesses, and u
  
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• One girl's mission: can Lakshmi find clean water in Bangalore? – video

  21-06-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Once known as the City of Lakes, urban sprawl has destroyed 85% of Bangalore’s fresh water and pollution has ruined much of the rest. Can Lakshmi and her mother find clean water today?This film is a collaboration with the International Reporting Program at the University of British Columbia. More stories in this series:Can former Farc guerrilas adjust to civilian life in Cali?Too fast, too soon: how China’s growth led to the Tianjin disasterContinue reading...
  
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• City of thirst: one girl's daily hunt for clean water in Bangalore – video

  21-06-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Once known as the ‘city of lakes’, urban sprawl has destroyed 85% of Bangalore’s rivers and lakes, while pollution has ruined much of what remains. Like many residents, Lakshmi and her mother struggle to find clean water Continue reading...
  
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• Land restoration in Ethiopia: 'This place was abandoned ... This is incredible to me'

  21-06-2017 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  A project to restore the land in Tigray, Ethiopia has created opportunities for livelihoods for young people who had been leaving in drovesEthiopia is suffering from severe drought, but there is water in Gergera. 20 years of restoring its hills and river valley has brought life back to this area of the Tigray region in the country’s far north.The work has been painstaking, complex and multidimensional and continues to this day. But the hard-won results offer up two key lessons. We know now
  
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• Chief scientist defends electricity market review against claims of political motivation

  21-06-2017 08:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Alan Finkel insists his review was independent and says building a new coal-fired power plant would not have long-term impacts on Australia’s electricity marketAustralia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel, has defended his review into the electricity market against accusations its content was politically motivated.Speaking to the press club in Canberra on Wednesday, Finkel said also if the federal government incentivised a new coal-fired power plant to be built, it would not have long-te
  
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• This new disease could devastate our wildlife. Watch the Tories do nothing | George Monbiot

  21-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Michael Gove has attacked the two main pillars protecting ecosystems in Britain – and his obsession with deregulation is putting these islands at riskThe less you care, the better you will do. This has long been the promise of conservative politics on both sides of the Atlantic. People who couldn’t give a tinker’s cuss about the consequences of their actions are elevated to the highest levels of government. Their role is to trash what lesser mortals value.This describes th
  
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• Heatwaves are national emergencies and the public need to know

  21-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lethal risks of extreme weather are under-reported and government must stop cutting public awareness fundsHundreds of people across the UK are likely to be killed by a natural disaster this week, but their deaths will not be the subject of ministerial statements or newspaper reports, even though a failure of government policy is partly responsible.The heatwave conditions are causing preventable deaths partly because large swaths of the population wrongly believe that extremely hot days are becom
  
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• Major publishers move to defend Greenpeace in dispute with logging firm

  21-06-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Firms including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins have spoken out about timber company’s ‘dangerous’ moves to quash campaigners’ claims The world’s biggest book publishers have been dragged into a bitter dispute between a US logging company and environmental campaigners Greenpeace. It follows legal action taken by the logging company, Resolute Forest Products, which campaigners and publishers fear has implications for freedom of speech.The dispute centres on cl
  
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• Domestic appliances guzzle far more energy than advertised – EU survey

  21-06-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  In echo of ‘defeat device’ scandals, one TV increased energy consumption by 47% when tested in real-world viewingTVs, dishwashers and fridge freezers have been found to guzzle up to twice as much energy as advertised on their energy labels, in a wide-ranging EU product survey.When tested under real-world conditions, the €400,000, 18-month investigation found widespread overshooting of the goods’ colour-coded A-G energy classes, due to the outmoded and selective test format
  
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• The once busy Tamar settles down to summer

  21-06-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Calstock, Tamar Valley In the woods, leaves obscure all but glimpses of the ebbing riverDogwoods, covered in flowers with cream bracts, shine from the prevailing green of Cotehele’s valley garden and in the woods leaves obscure all but glimpses of the ebbing river. Flag iris, water dropwort and reeds slow the flow of the Danescombe tributary into the Tamar and opposite this little delta, beyond the swirling current, two swans feed on the mud bank where “point stuff” – fal
  
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• Why suitcases rock and fall over - puzzle solved

  21-06-2017 02:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists crack the problem of why two-wheeled suitcases can rock from side-to-side and turn over.
  
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