Environment news

• Dust particles in livestock facilities: Sweat the small stuff

  19-07-2017 21:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  A beam of sunlight streams into your living room, illuminating a Milky Way of dust particles hanging in the air. Although the air looks thick, those visible dust particles are so big that they can’t reach the smallest branches of the respiratory tree in your lungs. It’s the dust we can’t see—smaller than 2.5 microns, called PM 2.5—that can cause allergies and other respiratory problems.
  
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• Conserve intact forest landscapes to maximize biodiversity, reduce extinction risk

  19-07-2017 21:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new global analysis of forest habitat loss and wildlife extinction risk published today in the journal Nature shows that species most at risk live in areas just beginning to see the impacts of human activities such as hunting, mining, logging and ranching.
  
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• Plastic pollution risks 'near permanent contamination of natural environment'

  19-07-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  First global analysis of all mass–produced plastics has found humans have produced 8.3bn tonnes since the 1950s with the majority ending up in landfill or oceansHumans have produced 8.3bn tonnes of plastic since the 1950s with the majority ending up in landfill or polluting the world’s continents and oceans, according to a new report.The first global analysis of all mass–produced plastics has found that it has outstripped most other man-made materials, threatening a “near
  
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• Fresh legal challenge looms over Adani mine risk to endangered finch

  19-07-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Australian Conservation Foundation asks environment and energy minister to revoke Carmichael mine approvalA fresh legal challenge could be brewing for Adani’s planned Carmichael coalmine. New advice has found the federal environment minister’s approval of the mine may have been unlawful in light of new scientific evidence of its impacts on the endangered black-throated finch.As a result, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has asked the federal minister for the environment a
  
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• UK threatens to return radioactive waste to EU without nuclear deal

  19-07-2017 19:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Brexit department warns EU counterparts it will ‘return waste to its country of origin’ if an agreement on nuclear cooperation cannot be reachedBritain has warned the EU that it could return boatloads of radioactive waste back to the continent if the Brexit talks fail to deliver an agreement on nuclear regulation.
  In what is being taken in Brussels as a thinly veiled threat, a paper setting out the UK position for the negotiations stresses the right “to return radioactive waste
  
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• Treated hydraulic fracturing wastewater may pollute area water sources for years

  19-07-2017 19:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Given Pennsylvania’s abundant natural resources, it’s no surprise that the Commonwealth has become a mecca for hydraulic fracturing. Researchers, however, have recently discovered that releasing millions of gallons of treated hydraulic fracturing wastewater each year into area surface waters may have longer-lasting effects than originally thought.
  
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• UK rhino eggs 'could save last northern whites'

  19-07-2017 19:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A UK zoo is taking part in a radical plan to save the world's last northern white rhinos from extinction.
  
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• RSPB loses legal fight against £2bn offshore windfarm in Scotland

  19-07-2017 18:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Neart na Gaoithe project on east coast likely to go ahead after long-running court battle despite claim it threatens seabirds A £2bn offshore windfarm in Scotland looks set to go ahead after the RSPB lost a long-running legal challenge against the plans, which the conservationists said threatened puffins, gannets and kittiwakes.The Scottish government gave its consent to four major windfarms in the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay in 2014, but the RSPB launched a judicial review, saying
  
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• Pennsylvania nuns oppose fracking gas pipeline through 'holy' land

  19-07-2017 18:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Catholic order builds chapel in middle of cornfield in attempt to use religious freedom protections to block Atlantic Sunrise pipelineCatholic nuns in Pennsylvania are resisting plans to build a $3bn pipeline for gas obtained by fracking through its land by creating a rudimentary chapel along the proposed route and launching a legal challenge, citing religious freedom.The Adorers of the Blood of Christ order has filed a complaint against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a bid t
  
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• NASA Spots a Diminished, but Drenching Ex-Tropical Cyclone Don

  19-07-2017 17:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tropical Storm Don didn't live long before it weakened to a remnant low pressure area in the North Atlantic Ocean. Before it weakened NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of the storm on its approach to the Windward Islands. The GPM satellite analyzed the storm's rainfall as it developed and moderate to heavy rainfall is expected to accompany the remnants in the Windward Islands on July 19.
  
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• Pangolins at 'huge risk' as study reveals dramatic increases in hunting across Central Africa

  19-07-2017 17:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  The hunting of pangolins, the world’s most illegally traded mammal, has increased by 150 percent in Central African forests from 1970s to 2014, according to a new study led by the University of Sussex.
  
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• New USGS Filter Removes Phosphorus from Waste Water

  19-07-2017 15:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  A tabletop water filter demo designed to remove phosphorus from waste water has in five-years grown into a fully functional water treatment system capable of filtering more than 100-thousand gallons per day.Designed by a small U.S. Geological Survey team, this cost-effective and environmentally friendly water filter system uses discarded mining byproducts, called mine drainage ochre, as the primary filtering agent to remove phosphorus from municipal and agricultural waste waters.
  
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• Sea temperature changes contributing to droughts

  19-07-2017 14:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  Fluctuations in sea surface temperature are a factor in causing persistent droughts in North America and around the Mediterranean, new research suggests. 
  
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• Cornwall flooding: footage shows elderly couple's dramatic rescue – video

  19-07-2017 12:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Footage has been released showing the dramatic rescue of an elderly couple trapped by Tuesday’s flash flooding in the Cornish village of Coverack. Six people were trapped in a house in the village due to the flood but no injuries were reported.Warning of more UK floods after helicopter rescues in CornwallDrone footage courtesy of BBC Radio Cornwall Rescue footage courtesy of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Continue reading...
  
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• Climate denial is like The Matrix; more Republicans are choosing the red pill | Dana Nuccitelli

  19-07-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The wall of Republican climate denial is starting to crack; who will be the Neo that accelerates the process?
  Trump’s EPA administrator Scott Pruitt wants to hold televised ‘Red Team/Blue Team’ climate science ‘debates.’ The idea is that a ‘Red Team’ of scientists will challenge the mainstream findings of ‘Blue Team’ scientists. That may sound familiar, because it’s exactly how the peer-review process works. But climate deniers have los
  
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• Warning of more UK floods after helicopter rescues in Cornwall

  19-07-2017 10:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Flooding in Cornish coastal village of Coverack described as horrendous, and further deluges possible further northMuch of England and Wales has been warned to prepare for more stormy weather and localised flooding after several people in Cornwall had to be rescued from flash floods overnight.Heavy rain and thunderstorms caused “devastating” flooding in the coastal village of Coverack in Cornwall on Tuesday, with about 50 homes and businesses affected. Met Office forecasters put in p
  
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• Brilliant display as giant Australian cuttlefish mass off South Australia – video

  19-07-2017 10:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Every winter thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish gather to breed in a stretch of shallow, rocky water off Point Lowly in South Australia. The phenomenon, known as an aggregation, is the only known instance of cuttlefish gathering in such large numbers – it is estimated there can be more than 150,000 in a 10km stretch of water – and has become a tourist as well as scientific attraction. This video, taken by mpaynecreative.tv, captures male cuttlefish as they display their brighte
  
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• We need more environmental activists to save our green spaces | Patrick Barkham

  19-07-2017 08:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Cuts have decimated council funding for parks but, as a new report shows, there is a great green blob of people who want to get involved – let’s use themLike many people who care about the environment, I’m sometimes guilty of assuming that others don’t care enough to take grassroots action. My prejudices are shared by 64% of environmental activists, who think other people don’t join them because “they believe someone else will take care of it”. But we ar
  
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• Electric cars may stall without a battery revolution

  19-07-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Car companies are committing to an electric future, but the success of the sector depends on better batteriesAll around the world, countries are sounding the death knell for the internal combustion engine. Earlier this month, France announced that it wanted to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040, joining India (2030) and Norway (2025) in envisioning an all-electric future. Car-makers are racing to meet demand, with Volvo promising that from 2019, all of its new models will feature an
  
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• Eager beavers experts at recreating wildlife-rich wetlands, study reveals

  19-07-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Four re-introduced beavers in Scotland engineered a network of dams, canals and ponds that left the landscape ‘unrecognisable’ from the original drained pastureThe extraordinary ability of eager beavers to engineer degraded land into wildlife-rich wetlands has been revealed by a new study in Scotland.Scientists studied the work of a group of four re-introduced beavers over a decade and found their water engineering prowess created almost 200m of dams, 500m of canals and an acre of po
  
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• MH370 search maps shed light on remote depths of Indian Ocean

  19-07-2017 07:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Australian team failed to find missing Malaysia Airlines plane but images show ocean floor’s mountains, rift valleys and shipwrecks in unprecedented detailDetailed ocean-floor maps made during the unsuccessful search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, released by Australia on Wednesday, could help increase the knowledge of rich fisheries and the prehistoric movement of the earth’s southern continents. Related: Why hasn't MH370 been found?Continue reading...
  
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• Third-hottest June puts 2017 on track to make hat-trick of hottest years

  19-07-2017 07:12 via theguardian.com
  
  June 2017 was beaten only by June in 2015 and 2016, leaving experts with little hope for limiting warming to 1.5C or even 2CLast month was the third-hottest June on record globally, temperature data suggest, confirming 2017 will almost certainly make a hat-trick of annual climate records, with 2015, 2016 and 2017 being the three hottest years since records began.The figures also cement estimations that warming is now at levels not seen for 115,000 years, and leave some experts with little hope f
  
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• Sustainable British cod on the menu after stocks recover

  19-07-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  A recovery from near total collapse has led North Sea cod stocks to be labelled as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council for the first time in 20 yearsFish and chip lovers can now enjoy North Sea cod with a clear conscience, after the fishery was awarded sustainable status by the Marine Stewardship Council on Wednesday.Stocks of cod in the North Sea were once one of the world’s great fisheries but plummeted by 84% between the early 1970s and 2006. They came perilously close to the
  
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• Cornwall crackles in the summer sun

  19-07-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Trevone to Padstow, Cornwall From higher land the ocean appears even more azure, like the sky now streaked with cirrusBeneath the clearing sky, people gravitate from car park and cafe towards the life-guarded beach. By Roundhole Point, kayakers paddle and huddle around their instructor, and further west, low tide reveals the expanse of sand in Harlyn Bay. Close to the shore alexanders along a track are clustered with an abundance of little stripy snails along the bare stems and among the umbels
  
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• Australian local councils lead the way in tackling climate change as federal policy stalls

  19-07-2017 02:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Thirty-five councils pledge to switch renewable energy, maximise public transport use and develop more climate-resilient communitiesLocal councils across Australia are taking climate action into their own hands as climate policy paralysis plagues the federal government. Thirty-five have pledged to switch to renewable energy, build sustainable transport, and develop greener, efficient and more climate-resilient communities. Continue reading...
  
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• How did dogs become our best friends? New evidence

  19-07-2017 01:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dogs were tamed from a single wolf population between 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, a study suggests.
  
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