Environment news

• TOXIC TAX Motorists face rush-hour bans and pollution taxes as part of the Government's war on 'dirty' roads

  25-07-2017 23:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  MOTORISTS face rush-hour bans and pollution taxes in up to 17 towns and cities across the UK as the Government vows to clean up the ‘dirtiest roads’ in Britain.Environment Secretary Michael Gove will pave the way for local authorities to slap yet more tax on drivers as part of his radical blueprint.His plans reveal that air pollution needs to be addressed on 81 roads – 33 of which are outside London such as the A360 in Sheffield or A35 in Southampton.Nitrogen dio
  
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• Britain to ban sale of all diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040

  25-07-2017 23:38
  Plans follow French commitment to take polluting vehicles off the road owing to effect of poor air quality on people’s healthAs part of a government strategy to improve air quality, Britain is to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 amid fears that rising levels of nitrogen oxide pose a major risk to public health.The commitment, which follows a similar pledge in France, is part of the government’s much-anticipated clean air plan, which has been at the heart of a pro
  
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• A new model yields insights into glaciers' retreats and advances

  25-07-2017 21:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  A University of Alaska Fairbanks study looking at the physics of tidewater glaciers has yielded new insights into what drives their retreat-and-advance cycles and the role that climate plays in these cycles.
  
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• NASA's Infrared View of Powerful Storms Surrounding Typhoon Noru's Eye

  25-07-2017 20:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Cyclone Noru and gathered infrared data on the cloud top temperatures which gave forecasters an idea of the powerful thunderstorms circling the eye.
  
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• Climate Change is Killing Us Right Now

  25-07-2017 20:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  A young, fit US soldier is marching in a Middle Eastern desert, under a blazing summer sun. He’s wearing insulated clothing and lugging more than 100 pounds of gear, and thus sweating profusely as his body attempts to regulate the heat. But it’s 108 degrees out and humid, too much for him bear. The brain is one of the first organs affected by heat, so his judgment becomes impaired; he does not recognize the severity of his situation. Just as his organs begin to fail, he passes out. H
  
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• Mega-farms’ devastating effects go far beyond the chicken shed | Letters

  25-07-2017 20:01
  Ben McCarthy of Plantlife, Ruth Borthwick of the creative writing charity Arvon, Minette Batters of the NFU, Graeme Willis of the CPRE, Tracy Worcester of Farms not Factories and Gwyn Jones of RUMA respond to reports on the increase in intensive factory farming of poultry, pigs and cattle in the UKThe “unnoticed” expansion of mega-farms raises serious concerns about farm animal welfare and our food system (Mega-farms transforming UK countryside, 18 July). Even less visible is the air
  
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• Solar energy and moonshine politics | Brief letters

  25-07-2017 20:00
  Energy policy | Civil partnerships | Codeword puzzles | Dramatic accents | Irritating BBC presentersDid I invent the solar panels scheme which paid a generous feed-in tariff to install panels on your roof? I think I may also have imagined a green deal which was so advantageous that nobody much took it up. I fear this new initiative (UK ‘on verge of clean energy revolution’, 25 July) is going to place a similar strain on my mental faculties when it vanishes without trace under the lab
  
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• Astronaut shares 'burrito of awesomeness' aurora video

  25-07-2017 18:23 via bbc.co.uk
  Nasa's Jack Fischer gives his take on this aurora time-lapse from the International Space Station.
  
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• Google enters race for nuclear fusion technology

  25-07-2017 17:38
  The tech giant and a leading US fusion company develop a new computer algorithm that significantly speeds up progress towards clean, limitless energyGoogle and a leading nuclear fusion company have developed a new computer algorithm which has significantly speeded up experiments on plasmas, the ultra-hot balls of gas at the heart of the energy technology.
  Tri Alpha Energy, which is backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has raised over $500m (£383m) in investment. It has worked with Go
  
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• Vote in the Observer Ethical Awards 2017

  25-07-2017 16:04
  Vote in the Observer Ethical Awards, now in their 11th year. You can vote in as many or as few categories as you like using the form below. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump proposes scrapping Obama-era fracking rule on water pollution

  25-07-2017 13:31
  Bureau of Land Management says it is moving to discard 2015 regulation as it duplicates state rules and ‘imposes unjustified costs’ on oil and gas industryThe Trump administration has proposed scrapping an Obama-era rule that aimed to ensure fracking for oil and gas does not pollute water supplies.Related: Pennsylvania nuns oppose fracking gas pipeline through 'holy' landContinue reading...
  
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• Bill Nye: 'You can shoot the messenger but climate is still changing'

  25-07-2017 12:00
  The acclaimed scientist and television star talks about his new book and the damaging effects of ignoring the planet’s changing climate“Excuse me, but gigawatt is pronounced ‘gigg-uh-watts’,” Bill Nye said in 1985. “You say it with a hard ‘g’.”He was a 32-year-old engineer living in Seattle who called into the live sketch comedy TV show Almost Live! to correct the show’s host, Ross Shafer, who mispronounced the word “gigawatt&rdqu
  
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• Commissioner accused of 'cronyism' as his force stops policing fracking protests

  25-07-2017 11:59
  North Wales’ Arfon Jones, a former anti-fracking activist, had queried why his force was helping Lancashire policeThe North Wales police and crime commissioner has been accused of “cronyism” after his force withdrew from policing anti-fracking protests following his intervention.Arfon Jones, a member of Plaid Cymru and former police inspector, was an anti-fracking campaigner before being elected to the police and crime commissioner job last year.Continue reading...
  
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• World's first floating offshore wind farm in Scotland.

  25-07-2017 11:28 via bbc.co.uk
  Each wind turbine is taller than Big Ben and the farm can power 20,000 homes.
  
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• Post-Brexit trade deals 'threaten UK's animal welfare standards'

  25-07-2017 08:37
  House of Lords report warns farmers will be pressured by imports from countries that use cheaper methods to produce food “Overwhelming” support in the UK for high animal welfare standards is under threat from Brexit, an influential parliamentary committee has said.The report from the House of Lords warns the standards of UK producers could be put under pressure by demands from other countries to allow an influx of cheap and lower-standard food as part of trade deals.Continue reading.
  
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• Here’s why every capitalist should connect with nature | Patrick Barkham

  25-07-2017 08:00
  I’ll tell you what others won’t. An appreciation of the natural world could save you – and us – a lot of money• Patrick Barkham is a Guardian columnistA third of people can’t identify a barn owl and three quarters don’t recognise a hawthorn tree. One in six have never had the pleasure of seeing a toad. And 13% say they haven’t visited the countryside for more than two years.The findings of a new survey are unsurprising but they remind us that, inste
  
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• UK's animal welfare standards 'threatened by post-Brexit trade deals'

  25-07-2017 07:30
  House of Lords report warns farmers will be pressured by imports from countries that use cheaper methods to produce food “Overwhelming” support in the UK for high animal welfare standards is under threat from Brexit, an influential parliamentary committee has said.The report from the House of Lords warns the standards of UK producers could be put under pressure by demands from other countries to allow an influx of cheap and lower-standard food as part of trade deals.Continue reading.
  
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• Alien species invasions and global warming a 'deadly duo', warn scientists

  25-07-2017 07:30
  Foreign animals and plants can cause huge damage, with the march of Argentine ants in the UK a new example of how climate change is boosting the threat Invasions by alien species and global warming form a “deadly duo”, scientists have warned, with the march of Argentine ants in the UK a new example. The public are being asked to be on alert for invaders such as the raccoon dog and Asian hornet, as eradication can be near impossible after a species becomes established.As trade and hum
  
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• Dozens of Laotian elephants 'illegally sold to Chinese zoos'

  25-07-2017 07:00
  Laos accused of breaching Cites treaty to protect endangered species and China of encouraging trade in live animals
  Dozens of elephants from Laos are being illegally bought by China to be displayed in zoos and safari parks across the country, according to wildlife investigator and film-maker Karl Ammann.According to Ammann, so-called captive elephants in Laos sell for about £23,000 before being walked across the border into China by handlers or “mahouts” near the border town of
  
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• A plant to make a man as merry as a cricket

  25-07-2017 06:30
  Allendale, Northumberland The melancholy thistle’s heads are magenta shaving brushes lighted on by hoverflies and beesThe garden is all heat and light on this summer afternoon, pulsing and multilayered with insect sounds and constant movement. Wild flowers jostle with the cultivated, in varieties chosen for their nectar and pollen. Bumblebees wiggle up into the blue throats of viper’s bugloss, hoverflies taste scabious, dabbing with their tongues, soldier beetles clamber over wild ca
  
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• The Guardian Essential Report, 25 July results

  25-07-2017 04:06
  This report summarises the results of a weekly poll conducted by Essential Research with data provided by Your Source. Some questions are repeated regularly (such as political preference and leadership approval), while others are unique to each week and reflect current media and social issues Continue reading...
  
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• 'Out of control': saltwater crocodile attacks terrorise Solomon Islands

  25-07-2017 03:55
  Steps to control protected reptiles have seen 40 killed this year and could bring an end to the ban on exporting their skins
  A growing number of crocodile attacks is forcing police in the Solomon Islands to shoot the animals and to consider lifting a 30-year ban on exporting their valuable skins in order to control the population. There have been more than 10 crocodile attacks on people this year, as well as dozens of assaults on livestock and domestic animals around the Solomon Islands, which i
  
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• Time, not material goods, 'raises happiness'

  25-07-2017 02:42 via bbc.co.uk
  Contentment comes from paying others to take on chores such as cleaning and cooking, a study says.
  
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• Religious leaders occupy environment minister's office to protest Carmichael coalmine

  25-07-2017 02:34
  Rabbi, Uniting church reverend, former Catholic priest and Buddhist leader call for Frydenberg to withdraw support for mineReligious leaders from several faiths have occupied the electorate office of Josh Frydenberg today, demanding the federal environment minister withdraw his support for Adani’s Carmichael mine, and vowing to stay there until he does so.Related: Fresh legal challenge looms over Adani mine risk to endangered finchContinue reading...
  
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• Extreme El Niño events more frequent even if warming limited to 1.5C – report

  25-07-2017 01:25
  Modelling suggests Australia would face more frequent drought-inducing weather events beyond any climate stabilisationExtreme El Niño events that can cause crippling drought in Australia are likely to be far more frequent even if the world pulls off mission improbable and limits global warming to 1.5C.International scientists have released new modelling that projects drought-causing El Niño events, which pull rainfall away from Australia, will continue increasing in frequency well
  
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• China set to launch an 'unhackable' internet communication

  25-07-2017 01:13 via bbc.co.uk
  China might not have the lead in research but its application of secure networks is leading the way.
  
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• Greenland ice sheet: How do you go the toilet?

  25-07-2017 00:00 via bbc.co.uk
  There's one question the BBC's science editor keeps being asked about life on the ice.
  
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