Environment news

• The adaptable caterpillar: Country diary 100 years ago

  30-07-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 3 August 1917A caterpillar sent to me for identification had been place in a cardboard box surrounded by corrugated paper, and marked, “Do not crush”; nevertheless, the post office had done its best, and when I unwrapped the paper no caterpillar was visible in the smashed box. I was puzzled by its absence until I noticed a hard lump on the corrugated paper; the lava, released from the box, had employed its leisure by spinning a cocoo
  
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• Heavy rain brings flooding and loss of life

  30-07-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  From New Zealand to India and North America, wet weather has brought misery to tens of thousands of people After wet winter weather across New Zealand, the South Island has suffered from a deluge of flooding in the past week. Severe storms caused widespread flash flooding and landslides, which led to a state of emergency being declared across the affected areas; including Canterbury and the island’s largest city, Christchurch. In the worst affected locations, about 200mm of rain fell in on
  
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• Electric cars are pollution shifters: we will need huge investment in generation capacity | Letters

  30-07-2017 20:44 via theguardian.com
  Household vehicle charging will be the equivalent of running an electric shower for hours on end, argues Colin ReadThere seems to be little understanding of the simple fact that electric vehicles (EV) are, in the main, pollution shifters – from tailpipe to power generation facility (Ban from 2040 on diesel and petrol car sales, 26 July). The electricity generation and transmission system is already tested to its limits during a harsh winter. Only if objections disappeared to the mass build
  
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• Asparagus for all, OK, but let the dames go first | Letters

  30-07-2017 20:40 via theguardian.com
  Vince Cable, collaborator | Food bank delicacies | Women in business | Subeditors | Podcasts | Tiny carnivoresVince Cable (Progressive MPs must fight Corbyn’s hard line on the EU, 28 July) criticises the Labour leader for collaborating with the right, and references Ramsay MacDonald “propping up a Conservative-dominated government committed to austerity”. Remind me again what Vince Cable and Nick Clegg were doing between 2010 and 2015.
  Gerry Wyld
  Slough, Berkshire• Re
  
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• Bike blog: five thoughts on the RideLondon 100-mile cycle

  30-07-2017 17:28 via theguardian.com
  As the capital’s annual cycling marathon enters its fifth year, it is smaller and safer but still predominantly maleThis year’s RideLondon was the fifth time the event that now bills itself as the world’s biggest weekend of cycling has taken place.And as has become a tradition, here are my first thoughts – typed in the press centre, still in my bike gear – about the 100-mile event. As ever, feel free to disagree/add your own observations below. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Ditch plastic straws' – experts and campaigners on how to cut plastic waste

  30-07-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  From Lily Cole to Dame Ellen MacArthur – experts and campaigners on what more needs to be done to reduce plastic wastePlastic packaging peeves: share your photos with usMarks & Spencer has redesigned and repackaged more than 140 best-selling products to cut plastic use, saving 75 tonnes of packaging a year in the process.But are retailers and manufacturers doing enough? What more could and should they be doing? We asked a range of packaging experts and campaigners. Here’s what th
  
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• Observer Ethical Awards 2017: key facts

  30-07-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  All the key dates and contact info for the Observer Ethical Awards 2017
  • Read more about this year’s categoriesLaunch30 July 2017 Continue reading...
  
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• A sparkling encounter: swimming with dwarf minke whales

  30-07-2017 04:42 via theguardian.com
  She went with low expectations and a healthy dose of scepticism, but diving with dwarf minke whales in Queensland surprised and delighted Elle Hunt It’s a rare – and foolhardy – tourism operator that talks in guarantees. Your satisfaction is staked on forces outside their control and their TripAdvisor review hangs in the balance – it’s in their interests to manage your expectations. This is never truer than when what’s being marketed is proximity to wild anima
  
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• As the UK plans to phase out petrol cars, is Australia being left behind?

  30-07-2017 03:15 via theguardian.com
  Britain has joined France and India in trying to ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars, but some say Australia’s size makes the transition too difficultIt is only a matter of time until every Australian car is all-electric. But while other countries are speeding up the transition, with plans to ban petrol cars within a couple of decades, Australia is stuck debating even modest cuts to vehicle emissions, let alone policies to encourage zero-emissions cars.But as the UK, France, India and o
  
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• The Observer Ethical Awards 2017: categories | Lucy Siegle

  30-07-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  Details of this year’s Observer Ethical Awards categories
  • The ethical experts judging your nominations Continue reading...
  
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• The Observer Ethical Awards 2017: about | Lucy Siegle

  30-07-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  Ethical living columnist and awards founder Lucy Siegle on the 11th Observer Ethical AwardsIn the 10 years since An Inconvenient Truth, the Observer Ethical Awards have highlighted that change is not only desirable but possible too. Now in our 11th year, we want you to help unearth the new crop of talent working to make a better world.Activists like to say that the real job is to prepare the world for huge change, but we’re celebrating some of the positive shifts: away from a fossil fuel e
  
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• Observer Ethical Awards 2017: judges

  30-07-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  The ethical experts judging your nominations
  • Read about this year’s categoriesLucy founded the Observer Ethical Awardsin 2005. She writes the Observer Magazine’s Ethical Living column specialising in ethical fashion. She is author of To Die For (Harper Collins, 2011) and executive producer of the Netflix documentary The True Cost (available on Netflix). Continue reading...
  
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• Al Gore: 'The rich have subverted all reason'

  30-07-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  With the sequel to his blockbuster documentary An Inconvenient Truth about to be released, Al Gore tells Carole Cadwalladr how his role at the forefront of the fight against climate change consumes his lifeIn the ballroom of a conference centre in Denver, Colorado, 972 people from 42 countries have come together to talk about climate change. It is March 2017, six weeks since Trump’s inauguration; eight weeks before Trump will announce to the world that he is withdrawing America from the Pa
  
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