Environment news

• Silver savers: how car colour cuts pollution

  29-06-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  White and silver cars are cooler than dark ones and need less air conditioning, so fuel is saved and air pollution reducedDriving a silver or white car is good for the climate. A study a few years ago showed that the interiors of silver and white cars were cooler than black cars. That’s because light colours reflect about 60% of sunlight and make the car’s interior cooler. That in turn means it’s less likely the car’s air conditioner will be turned on, saving fuel and pol
  
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• The Guardian view on tackling our plastics problem: don’t bottle it | Editorial

  29-06-2017 21:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Annual consumption of plastic bottles is set to top half a trillion by 2021. We cannot afford this addictionInvention is the mother of necessity, warned Thorstein Veblen. So packaged water is now seen as essential by many, and a million plastic bottles are produced every minute worldwide, as the Guardian series Bottling it has revealed. In the UK, consumers pay up to 1,000 times more than they do for tap water for a potentially less safe product. But the true cost is not to our pockets. Most of
  
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• How pesticides threaten bee populations

  29-06-2017 20:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Bees are dying out in winter because of the pesticides used to protect crops.
  
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• Large-scale study 'shows neonic pesticides harm bees'

  29-06-2017 20:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The largest study to-date on neonicotinoid pesticides concludes they harm honeybees and wild bees.
  
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• Tasmania trials artificial shy albatross nests to help seabird fight extinction

  29-06-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists say threatened seabird is vulnerable to the environmental effects of rising air temperatures and warming oceans caused by climate changeTasmanian scientists will trial a new tactic this spring to help the shy albatross fight extinction: constructing artificial nests. Conservationists hope the nests will boost the population of the threatened seabird, which they believe is vulnerable to the environmental effects of climate change. Continue reading...
  
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• Pesticides damage survival of bee colonies, landmark study shows

  29-06-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The world’s largest ever field trial demonstrates widely used insecticides harm both honeybees and wild bees, increasing calls for a banWidely used insecticides damage the survival of honeybee colonies, the world’s largest ever field trial has shown for the first time, as well as harming wild bees.
  The farm-based research, along with a second new study, also suggests widespread contamination of entire landscapes and a toxic “cocktail effect” from multiple pesticides.Conti
  
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• Farmers join fight against Adani coalmine over environmental concerns

  29-06-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  More than 2,000 farmers and agriculture leaders express concern proposed Carmichael coalmine could affect groundwater, biodiversity and climate changeA group of Australian farmers have joined the large coalition of groups fighting against Adani’s giant Carmichael coalmine, after they became concerned about the affects the mine would have on groundwater, biodiversity, rural communities and climate change.Farmers for Climate Action – a group of more than 2,000 farmers and agriculture l
  
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• Climate change set to worsen inequality in US if greenhouse gases aren't reduced

  29-06-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  New research shows that by 2100 the economic loss from warming temperatures will be on par with the Great Recession, with states in the south most affectedClimate change is likely to worsen existing inequalities in the US, with the poorest areas of the country poised to lose as much as 20% of their income by the end of the century if greenhouse gases are not significantly reduced. Related: A third of the world now faces deadly heatwaves as result of climate changeContinue reading...
  
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• Winter's not coming: Game of Thrones' Jon Snow worried over lack of it

  29-06-2017 19:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Kit Harington describes a ‘very sad irony’ as the HBO show films in locations where ice is shrinking, even as his character fears the approaching winterHis character Jon Snow may fret about the arrival of winter, but Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington has said he was instead confronted by “terrifying” evidence of global warming while filming the HBO show.Harington said it was a “very sad irony” to film in locations with diminishing ice for scenes where the ar
  
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• Stop exporting plastic waste to China to boost recycling at home, say experts

  29-06-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Governments must end incentives that see plastic waste shipped abroad, where it is often buried or burned, rather than being turned back into bottles at home, say industry leadersGovernments must stop exporting so much plastic waste to countries such as China and keep more in-country to be recycled into bottles to tackle the waste crisis, industry insiders say.A day after the Guardian revealed that a million plastic bottles are bought every minute across the world, experts aiming to provide a cl
  
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• Meet the new US entrepreneurs farming seaweed for food and fuel

  29-06-2017 18:53 via theguardian.com
  
  As the world grows and the climate changes, there’s been fresh interest in seaweed – and a new breed of farmers are exploring how best to harness the humble plant’s benefits
  Michael Graham reaches into a bright blue tub of bubbling water and pulls out a handful of a dark brown curly substance. It’s slippery to the touch, smells like the sea, and tastes a bit like salty kale.It’s live seaweed, and Graham – a kelp biologist and the creator of Monterey Bay Seawee
  
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• Grow Heathrow runway protest community given 14 days to leave site

  29-06-2017 17:12 via theguardian.com
  
  High court orders 20 residents must leave the community garden that was set up on a formerly derelict site to protest the airport expansionA community project set up to protest against a third runway at Heathrow has been given 14 days to leave its home by the high court.Grow Heathrow took over a derelict garden centre in Sipson in 2010 and turned it into a community garden as part of action in protest at the plans for the runway. About 20 people live at the site and from their base they have bec
  
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• We need to talk about plastic bottles - video

  29-06-2017 15:30 via theguardian.com
  
  A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and despite the rise in recycling culture over the past few decades, just 7% of those collected last year were turned into new bottles. Most end up in landfill or in the ocean and by 2050 plastic waste is estimated to outweigh all the fish in the sea Continue reading...
  
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• If you drop plastic in the ocean, where does it end up?

  29-06-2017 15:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Modelling shows that ocean currents can concentrate slow-degrading debris in certain parts of the world’s oceans, leading to so-called ‘garbage patches’It is estimated that between four and 12m metric tonnes of plastic makes its way into the ocean each year. This figure is only likely to rise, and a 2016 report predicted that by 2050 the amount of plastic in the sea will outweigh the amount of fish.A normal plastic bottle takes about 450 years to break down completely, so the c
  
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• Merkel to put climate change at centre of G20 talks after Trump's Paris pullout

  29-06-2017 14:10 via theguardian.com
  
  German chancellor says Trump administration’s decision to quit Paris climate agreement means EU must show leadership on issueTackling climate change will be one of the central tasks of the upcoming Hamburg G20 summit of the world’s largest economies, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said on Thursday, following the US withdrawal from the Paris climate pact. Merkel, who will host the gathering of global leaders in the northern port city, said the climate change scepticism of the T
  
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• Merkel vows to put climate change at centre of G20 talks

  29-06-2017 13:40 via theguardian.com
  
  German chancellor says Trump administration’s decision to quit Paris climate agreement means EU must show leadership on issueTackling climate change will be one of the central tasks of the upcoming Hamburg G20 summit of the world’s largest economies, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said on Thursday, following the US withdrawal from the Paris climate pact. Merkel, who will host the gathering of global leaders in the northern port city, said the climate change scepticism of the T
  
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• Could a money-back scheme clean up the UK's plastic bottle plague?

  29-06-2017 11:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Deposit return schemes for plastic bottles have been shown to cut litter and increase recycling in many countries – but not everyone agrees they’re a good ideaMore than 4m plastic bottles a week could be prevented from littering streets and marine environments in Britain if authorities adopted the kind of deposit-return schemes that operate in at least a dozen other countries, according to new evidence.
  A report for the last parliament that was never published suggests there could be
  
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• Banks should disclose lending to companies with carbon-related risks, says report

  29-06-2017 08:32 via theguardian.com
  
  International climate task force says companies should disclose all of their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissionsBanks should disclose lending to companies with carbon-related risks, according to recommendations in a new report by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.The TCFD report – part of a G20 initiative led by governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg – outlines how companies should disclose climat
  
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• Failure to update building regulations could triple heatwave deaths by 2040

  29-06-2017 08:01 via theguardian.com
  
  The government has rejected advice to approve the new regulations that ensure homes, hospitals and schools do not overheat as the number of deadly heatwaves rises with climate changeThe government must reverse its opposition to new building regulations that ensure homes, hospitals and schools do not overheat as the number of deadly heatwaves rises, according to its official climate change advisers.The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recommended the new regulations in 2015 but ministers rejecte
  
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• The Bristol refill-reuse bottle campaign that is spreading across Europe

  29-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Natalie Fee left a job in television to focus on reducing plastic pollution. Her latest project, Refill, aims to make reusing a plastic bottle simpler than buying a new one and it’s catching on in cities from Bath to BonnScrambling down the muddy riverbank, Natalie Fee frowns as she looks out across the River Avon. Three weeks earlier she had spent a day with other volunteers collecting hundreds of plastic bottles that were littering the river as it made its way to the sea. Now a new tide
  
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• The Amazon's new danger: Brazil sets sights on palm oil

  29-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Brazil’s ambition to become a palm oil giant could have devastating social and environmental impacts if the move is not carefully managed, say expertsJorge Antonini takes a palm kernel in his hands and slices it open. Squeezing it between his fingers, the kernel oozes the oily liquid found in hundreds of everyday products, from cakes to chocolate spread.
  The scientist is standing on a government-owned farm near the Brazilian capital of Brasília. Here, he and a small group of colleag
  
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• How to live without plastic bottles ...

  29-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our dependence on plastic has to end as we contribute to an estimated 12m tonnes entering our oceans, polluting marine life, every yearStaying hydrated is good for our health. But contributing to the ever growing mound of waste plastic is not only bad for the planet, but for our wellbeing too.The global demand for plastic bottles, spurred on by the drinks industry, is wreaking havoc on the environment. Every year, about half a trillion new bottles are produced, and many billions end up in landfi
  
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• How to live without plastic bottles...

  29-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our dependence on plastic has to end as we contribute to an estimated 12m tonnes entering our oceans, polluting marine life, every yearStaying hydrated is good for our health. But contributing to the ever growing mound of waste plastic is not only bad for the planet, but for our wellbeing too.The global demand for plastic bottles, spurred on by the drinks industry, is wreaking havoc on the environment. Every year, about half a trillion new bottles are produced, and many billions end up in landfi
  
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• Eco-murderers in go-go dresses – in pictures

  29-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Go-Go Gang are a bunch of dancing militants on a mission to save the planet through kidnappings – and killer moves. Find out more in this taste of Murder a Go-Go, photographer Matt Henry’s fictional mashup of eco-action and 1960s exploitation cinema Continue reading...
  
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• Orchids thrive on the other side of the chasm

  29-06-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Goat Island, East Devon After trotting through coastal scrub, the path abruptly writhes and plunges into dark shadow
  A hot day on the South West Coast Path between Axmouth and Lyme Regis. The quivering air smells warmly of bracken. Gorse pods snap sharply, flinging their seeds into the tangled undergrowth.After trotting easily through coastal scrub, the path abruptly writhes and plunges into the dark shadow of the chasm. This is the undercliff, a wooded no-man’s land between clifftop and s
  
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• Inmarsat's European short-haul wifi spacecraft launches

  29-06-2017 02:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK's biggest space company takes the next step in its project to boost wifi in planes over Europe.
  
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• Inmarsat's European short-haul wi-fi spacecraft launches

  29-06-2017 02:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK's biggest space company takes the next step in its project to boost wi-fi in planes over Europe.
  
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• How to eavesdrop on urban bats with smart sensors

  29-06-2017 02:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  For the first time, urban bats are being monitored in real time using smart sensors at a London park.
  
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• UK CO2 and energy costs 'set to rise'

  29-06-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Household energy bills and carbon emissions will rise unless ministers devise new policies to save power, a report says.
  
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• Unleashing the power of moss to clean cities

  29-06-2017 01:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A team of German designers has reinvented the tree to clean up urban air pollution. Using the natural power of moss, they hope to make city air safer to breathe.
  
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• Designers reinvent the tree to beat air pollution

  29-06-2017 01:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A team of German designers has reinvented the tree to clean up urban air pollution. Using the natural power of moss, they hope to make city air safer to breathe.
  
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