Environment news

• NASA Catches Tropical Depression Pilar Hugging and Soaking Mexico's Coast

  25-09-2017 23:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tropical Storm Pilar formed near the southwestern coast of Mexico on Saturday, Sept. 23 and continued hugging the coast when NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites passed overhead. Pilar weakened to a tropical depression during the late morning on Sept. 25.
  
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• Antarctic Glacier Loses Chunk of Ice Four Times the Size of Manhattan

  25-09-2017 23:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  A section of ice more than 100 square miles in size — four times as large as Manhattan — has broken off the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica. It is the fifth major calving, or ice loss, event on the glacier since 2000.
  
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• Consumers can help defend land rights | Letters

  25-09-2017 19:43 via theguardian.com
  We should use our collective purchasing power to send a clear message to businesses threatening communities across the globe, says Ruth ChambersJohn Vidal shines a light on communities across Africa, Latin America and Asia fighting to protect their land, water and livelihoods (Land defenders call on UN to act against violence by state-funded and corporate groups, theguardian.com, 21 September). The efforts of these land rights defenders benefit us all. The forests and land they fight to protect
  
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• Satellites the size of a shoebox

  25-09-2017 17:55 via bbc.co.uk
  US firm Planet Labs makes satellites you could hold in your hands, and has more in orbit than anyone else.
  
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• Why Buddhist ‘fangsheng’ mercy release rituals can be more cruel than kind

  25-09-2017 17:32 via theguardian.com
  The case of two London Buddhists fined for releasing crustaceans into the sea has thrown the spotlight on a ritual that involves hundreds of millions of wild animals – and a huge industry built around their capture and supplyIt was intended as a Buddhist act of mercy and compassion, but ended in a criminal conviction and significant environmental risk. The release of hundreds of alien lobsters and crabs into the sea off Brighton has highlighted the perils of a ritual that takes kindness to
  
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• Panda's habitat 'shrinking and becoming more fragmented'

  25-09-2017 17:08 via bbc.co.uk
  Despite signs that numbers of giant pandas are rising, suitable habitat has shrunk, satellite data shows.
  
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• Australia to create national space agency

  25-09-2017 16:19 via bbc.co.uk
  The country is one of the few major developed nations not to have a dedicated agency.
  
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• David Attenborough on the scourge of the oceans: 'I remember being told plastic doesn't decay, it's wonderful'

  25-09-2017 16:00 via theguardian.com
  His sequel to The Blue Planet will focus not only on the marvels of sea life but also the threats to it. The naturalist explains why plastic pollution, climate change and overpopulation are problems too urgent to be left to ecologistsDavid Attenborough vividly remembers, nearly 80 years on, his first encounter with one of the worst scourges of the planet. He was a schoolboy. “I remember my headmaster, who was also my science master, saying: ‘Boys, we’ve entered a new era! We&rs
  
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• Globe sees 2nd warmest year to date, 3rd warmest August on record

  25-09-2017 15:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  The final days of August signaled summer’s end for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. So, how did this summer compare to others?  For the entire globe, both August and the season (June, July and August) each went down as the third warmest on record. But depending on where you live, the summer you experienced may have felt warmer or cooler than normal.    
  
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• Emerging Disease Further Jeopardizes North American Frogs

  25-09-2017 15:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  A deadly amphibian disease called severe Perkinsea infections, or SPI, is the cause of many large-scale frog die-offs in the United States, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.Frogs and salamanders are currently among the most threatened groups of animals on the planet. The two most common frog diseases, chytridiomycosis and ranavirus infection, are linked to frog population declines worldwide. The new study suggests that that SPI is the third most common infectious disease of
  
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• Minister’s call for cyclists to behave is more headline-grabbing hypocrisy

  25-09-2017 12:12 via theguardian.com
  A Highway Code prompt aimed solely at cyclists – not to the road users that caused more than 99% of deaths on UK roads last year – has nothing to do with improving safety On Friday, transport minister Jesse Norman wrote to cycling leaders asking them to remind their members to follow the Highway Code. The letter came less than 48 hours after the announcement of a review on whether the law should be changed to tackle dangerous cycling.Continue reading...
  
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• The Mail's censure shows which media outlets are biased on climate change | Dana Nuccitelli

  25-09-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Right-wing media outlets like Breitbart, Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh echoed the Mail’s “significantly misleading” and now censured climate story
  Back in February, the conservative UK tabloid Mail on Sunday ran an error-riddled piece by David Rose attacking Noaa climate scientists, who had published data and a paper showing that there was never a global warming pause. The attack was based on an interview with former Noaa scientist John Bates, who subsequently admitted about his
  
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• Is Bali volcano about to erupt?

  25-09-2017 10:21 via bbc.co.uk
  Mount Agung on Bali is an active volcano that may be about to erupt for the first time in 54 years.
  
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• Climate experts criticise Scotland's greenhouse emissions cuts strategy

  25-09-2017 09:23 via theguardian.com
  Committee on Climate Change says policies needed to reach 2050 goal of 90% reduction are too weak and ill thought outClimate experts have warned the Scottish government its ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions lack credibility and risk stalling unless its strategies improve dramatically.The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said the devolved government had so far led the UK in its efforts to cut emissions, reducing its actual CO2 emissions by 38% by 2015 compared with 35% at UK level.
  
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• What would an entirely flood-proof city look like?

  25-09-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  The wetter the better. From sponge cities in China to ‘berms with benefits’ in New Jersey and floating container classrooms in the slums of Dhaka, we look at a range of projects that treat storm water as a resource rather than a hazardThey call it “pave, pipe, and pump”: the mentality that has dominated urban development for over a century.Along with the explosion of the motorcar in the early 20th century came paved surfaces. Rainwater – instead of being sucked up b
  
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• Red admiral thrives in butterfly count while whites show decline

  25-09-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  A record 60,000 people took part in the Big Butterfly Count but each participant saw on average only 11 butterflies, the lowest since the count began in 2010 Summer’s washout failed to dampen the prospects for the red admiral, one of the UK’s most popular butterflies, whose numbers rose by 75% compared with last year, according to the annual Big Butterfly Count.Other butterfly species were less fortunate, however, with declines seen across the three common species of white butterflie
  
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• Country diary: late summer flowers draw a frenzy of insects

  25-09-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Allendale, Northumberland I count 50 butterflies working the double row of sedums spilling their sticky scent onto the early morning airThere’s an urgency to the swallows’ flight as they hurtle low over the field, snatching flies that the restless cattle have disturbed. With a late brood just fledged from the barn, they have a keen need for food. There’s also a sense of limited time in the frenzy of bees and butterflies rummaging through late flowers within the walled enclosure
  
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• Quitting coal: a health benefit equivalent to quitting tobacco, alcohol and fast-food | Jonathan Patz

  25-09-2017 04:20 via theguardian.com
  The Turnbull government needs to stop playing politics with Australians’ health and end its addiction to coal
  Imagine, for a moment, that climate change was not synonymous with doomsday scenarios, but rather presented an opportunity to radically transform society for the better. This is not an attempt to downplay the seriousness of the risks facing our climate. Rather, it is about reframing the choice we face, away from the prospect of bleak minimalism often associated with a low-carbon fu
  
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• Scottish Power says UK will need to boost capacity

  25-09-2017 01:28 via bbc.co.uk
  Scottish Power says electric cars and a shift to electric heating could mean a big rise in demand for electricity.
  
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• Red admiral butterfly sightings at their highest UK level since 2010

  25-09-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Numbers soar to 73,000 during three-week survey after mild winter and warm springThe number of red admirals in Britain soared over the summer despite the soggy conditions, according to conservationists who said public sightings of the butterflies had risen to their highest since 2010.
  Results from the Big Butterfly Count show that sightings of red admirals reached 73,000 over the three-week survey, a rise of 75% on 2016, and as many as were counted in the past three years put together.Continue r
  
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• Portuguese children to crowdfund European climate change case

  25-09-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Group from region hit by deadly forest fires to sue 47 countries alleging failure to tackle climate change threatens their right to lifePortuguese schoolchildren from the area struck by the country’s worst forest fires are seeking crowdfunding to sue 47 European countries, alleging that the states’ failure to tackle climate change threatens their right to life.The children, from the Leiria region of central Portugal, where fires this summer killed more than 60 people and left hundred
  
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