Environment news

• EPA seeks to scrap rule protecting drinking water for third of Americans

  27-06-2017 21:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental Protection Agency and army propose ending clean water rule to hold ‘substantive re-evaluation’ of which bodies of water should be protectedThe Environmental Protection Agency is poised to dismantle the federal clean water rule, which protects waterways that provide drinking water for about a third of the US population.The EPA, with the US army, has proposed scrapping the rule in order to conduct a “substantive re-evaluation” of which rivers, streams, wetland
  
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• Viewsnight: 'Scientific research not immune to sexism'

  27-06-2017 20:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Journalist Angela Saini argues that it's easy for prejudice to affect scientific research.
  
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• Viewsnight: 'Scientific research isn't immune to sexism'

  27-06-2017 20:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Journalist Angela Saini argues that it's easy for prejudice to affect scientific research.
  
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• Socialism: the trick the Tories have been missing | Brief letters

  27-06-2017 20:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Rich-poor balance | Right to buy | Royal windfall | Turnip oil | Refined Soho | Grey squirrels as pestsQuoted in your feature (How the Tory election machine fell apart, G2, 27 June) Paul Goodman of the ConservativeHome website thinks young voters were not aware that “socialism is a threat”. He also thinks the Tories “need something to shift the balance between rich and poor”. Wouldn’t that be, er, socialism?
  Joseph Oldaker
  Nuneaton, Warwickshire• Lynsey Hanley
  
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• Ozone hole recovery threatened by rise of paint stripper chemical

  27-06-2017 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The restoration of the ozone hole, which blocks harmful radiation, will be delayed by decades if fast-rising emissions of dichloromethane are not curbed
  The restoration of the globe’s protective shield of ozone will be delayed by decades if fast-rising emissions of a chemical used in paint stripper are not curbed, new research has revealed.
  Atmospheric levels of the chemical have doubled in the last decade and its use is not restricted by the Montreal protocol that successfully outlawed th
  
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• Torus nuclear fusion project gets Brexit funding pledge

  27-06-2017 16:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The government pledges to pay its "fair share" towards an EU backed nuclear project after Brexit.
  
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• World's first floating windfarm to take shape off coast of Scotland

  27-06-2017 15:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Turbines for £200m Hywind project will be towed from Norway across North Sea and moored to seabed off north-east ScotlandThe world’s first floating windfarm has taken to the seas in a sign that a technology once confined to research and development drawing boards is finally ready to unlock expanses of ocean for generating renewable power.After two turbines were floated this week, five now bob gently in the deep waters of a fjord on the western coast of Norway ready to be tugged acros
  
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• Red-faced encounter: rare new species of parrot discovered in Mexico

  27-06-2017 13:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Ornithologists stress importance of conserving the blue-winged Amazon parrot, with no more than 100 of the birds thought to be in existenceMiguel Gómez Garza was on his final expedition to the Yucatán Peninsula to gather information for his book Parrots of Mexico when it happened. He heard a group of parrots in the distance, but their call was like none on record. So he loitered by a tree full of pods that parrots like for lunch, hoping they would come and feed.The wait was worth i
  
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• Saving big cats

  27-06-2017 11:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Amy Dickman has had some close shaves with big cats and humans while working with cheetahs and lions.
  
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• Africa agriculture pioneer wins 2017 World Food Prize

  27-06-2017 11:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina wins the prestigious World Food Prize for his work to boost yields and farm incomes.
  
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• Our fear of sharks is tinged with subconscious guilt | Philip Hoare

  27-06-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A blue shark sparked panic at a Spanish beach but our irreconcilable attitudes to the sea ought to worry us moreA shark on a Spanish beach is a vividly terrifying image. The holiday idyll threatened by a sharp-finned deputation from the deep. This is no “snakes on a plane” fantasy. Potential disaster looms. There are children out there, for God’s sake. In a resort where the sand may be raked daily, and where a margarita is never more than a few euros away, such disruptive visio
  
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• Dutch companies set up giant bread bins to help cities tackle rat scourge

  27-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Businesses in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam are getting involved in efforts to collect waste bread and turn it into biogas and fertiliserOnce upon a time, you would throw your old bread to the birds. But in the Netherlands, where an excess of crumbs is feeding a growing scourge of rats, people are starting to turn to massive bread bins instead. Rather than ending up in the street or the dump, collected bread waste is taken to anaerobic digesters and turned into biogas or made into fertilise
  
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• Plastic debris inundates remote UK coasts endangering wildlife

  27-06-2017 07:55 via theguardian.com
  
  A Greenpeace research expedition into plastic waste finds devastating pollution on Scottish beaches and seabird coloniesPlastic bottles and packaging are overrunning some of the UK’s most beautiful beaches and remote coastline, endangering iconic wildlife from basking sharks to puffins.A Greenpeace research ship has spent the past two months touring the Scottish coast and islands assessing the impact of plastic waste. Continue reading...
  
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• Ocean plastic pollution in Scotland – in pictures

  27-06-2017 07:55 via theguardian.com
  
  A Greenpeace expedition around Scottish coastlines has found plastic in the feeding grounds of basking sharks, in the habitats of puffins, seals and whales, and in the nests and beaks of seabirds Continue reading...
  
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• Vulnerable ‘chokepoints’ threaten global food supply, warns report

  27-06-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Fourteen critical bottlenecks, from roads to ports to shipping lanes, are increasingly at risk from climate change, say analystsIncreasingly vulnerable “chokepoints” are threatening the security of the global food supply, according to a new report. It identifies 14 critical locations, including the Suez canal, Black Sea ports and Brazil’s road network, almost all of which are already hit by frequent disruptions.With climate change bringing more incidents of extreme weather, ana
  
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• My owl nest box has finally attracted a tenant

  27-06-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Allendale, Northumberland Every now and then I hear the peep of what sounds like a single owlet, but I can’t be sureIt can take a while for owls to accept a nest box. My homemade wooden one was built to a chimney design from the RSPB website and set on a sycamore branch at the recommended 45-degree angle. My garden has a plentiful supply of voles, which are owls’ main prey. I have waited five years for one to move in.
  For the past couple of weeks, the signs had been there: hysterical
  
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• Chimps' strength secrets explained

  27-06-2017 00:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The greater strength of chimpanzees, relative to humans, may have been explained by American scientists.
  
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