Environment news

• 'You've thrown our budget a little out of whack', Trump tells Puerto Rico – video

  03-10-2017 22:38 via theguardian.com
  Donald Trump has made his first visit to Puerto Rico since the US territory was pummelled by Hurricane Maria nearly two weeks ago. Shortly after landing in San Juan, the president praised his administration’s response, said the island’s leaders should be “very proud” of the low official death toll – and appeared to complain at the cost of the recovery effort. The island’s 3.4 million residents are still largely without electricity, communications and access to
  
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• Challenges of rural entrepreneurship | Letters

  03-10-2017 19:25 via theguardian.com
  The service industries on which the agricultural sector depends need to modernise the range and quality of the services they provide, writes Dr Jessica Cross. Plus Jason Downes sees strikes as an opportunity to embrace flexibilityAfter nearly three decades of working in the mining industry and financial sector, I traded my stiletto heels for wellies and went sheep farming. It immediately became apparent that the traditional business model of farming was unsustainable; the reliance on EU subsidie
  
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• China’s emissions trading scheme puts Australian companies on notice

  03-10-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  The launch of China’s national carbon market could also harm the competitiveness of Australian productsFor a brief and shining moment in 2012, Australia was at the global forefront of climate change action, as one of the first countries to implement a carbon pricing mechanism. It lasted only two years, and was repealed amid much fanfare by the Abbott government in July 2014. During its time, Australian companies and industries exposed to the carbon pricing mechanism took a long hard look a
  
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• Australian cities to have 50C summer days by 2040, study says

  03-10-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Researchers say Sydney and Melbourne would have unprecedented temperatures even if Paris target metEven if the Paris agreement to limit the global temperature rise to below 2C is met, summer heatwaves in major Australian cities are likely to reach highs of 50C by 2040, a study published on Wednesday warns.Researchers led by the Australian National University in Canberra used observational data and simulated climate models to assess future extreme weather events in New South Wales and Victoria. T
  
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• ‘Wildlife selfies’ aren’t cute. They encourage cruelty and animal suffering | Steve McIvor

  03-10-2017 17:35 via theguardian.com
  Booming tourist demand for snaps with wild creatures now extends to even remote places such as the Amazon – with devastating consequencesIt’s hard to avoid them. They’re everywhere you look – Facebook, Instagram and Tinder have millions of them. Selfies of people posing with wild animals have become a social media trend. Tigers drugged up to the eyeballs are particularly popular among tourists in Thailand, but a new investigation by my team at World Animal Protection has
  
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• NREL, Johns Hopkins SAIS Develop Method to Quantify Life Cycle Land Use of Electricity from Natural Gas

  03-10-2017 17:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  A case study of the Barnett Shale region in Texas, where hydraulic fracturing was first implemented, for the first time provides quantifiable information on the life cycle land use of generating electricity from natural gas based on physical measurements instead of using assumptions and averages that were previously used for evaluation.Researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SA
  
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• Five plants and animals we don't want any more of

  03-10-2017 16:50 via bbc.co.uk
  They may not be household names, but, according to experts, they pose risks to the environment.
  
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• Scottish government bans fracking after public opposition

  03-10-2017 16:08 via theguardian.com
  Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse says allowing unconventional extraction of coal and gas would put climate goals at riskThe Scottish government has banned fracking after a consultation found overwhelming public opposition and little economic justification for the industry.
  Paul Wheelhouse, the Scottish energy minister, told MSPs that allowing fracking would undermine the government’s ambitions to deeply cut climate emissions, and would lead to unjustifiable environmental damage.Continue rea
  
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• University of Saskatchewan hydrologist Howard Wheater to advise on U.S. national water future

  03-10-2017 15:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  The panel of leading water science experts is charged with identifying America’s highest-priority water science and resource challenges over the next 25 years, and making recommendations on the strategic water science and research opportunities to address those challenges. It will report its finding in 2018.“The loss of life and $180-billion damage from Hurricane Harvey is a wake-up call to the U.S. for the need to better manage water-related threats, including risks from climate cha
  
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• HS2 protester spends night under digger in effort to stop demolition

  03-10-2017 14:20 via theguardian.com
  Occupation by Sarah Green, 62, later joined by other protesters, is intended to be part of rolling campaign along rail link’s routeA 62-year-old environmental protester has spent more than 20 hours underneath a large digger as part of a new campaign to block the construction of the controversial HS2 high speed rail link.Sarah Green, a member of the Green party and a businesswoman in Hillingdon, started her protest under the digger, which is to be used for preparatory demolition work, in pa
  
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• Hindu festival chokes Indian waterways with flowers and idol debris

  03-10-2017 13:23 via theguardian.com
  Environmentalists say holy ceremonies such as 10-day Durga Puja overwhelming already polluted Yamuna riverSections of a major river in Delhi are choking with plastic, flowers and debris after an annual Hindu festival in which hundreds of idols were immersed in Indian waterways. Related: Murder most foul: polluted Indian river reported dead despite 'living entity' statusContinue reading...
  
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• Exclusive: footage shows young elephants being captured in Zimbabwe for Chinese zoos

  03-10-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Rare footage of the capture of wild young elephants in Zimbabwe shows rough treatment of the calves as they are sedated and taken awayThe Guardian has been given exclusive footage which shows the capture of young, wild elephants in Zimbabwe in preparation, it is believed, for their legal sale to Chinese zoos.In the early morning of 8 August, five elephants were caught in Hwange national park by officials at Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks). Continue reading...
  
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• Einstein's waves win Nobel Prize in physics

  03-10-2017 11:54 via bbc.co.uk
  The 2017 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to three scientists for the detection of gravitational waves.
  
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• Prehistoric reptile's last meal revealed

  03-10-2017 11:13 via bbc.co.uk
  The fossil of a marine reptile from 199 million years ago gives clues to the diet of baby reptiles.
  
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• Campaign urges people to recycle dead batteries

  03-10-2017 07:45 via theguardian.com
  Major high street retailers back drive to encourage recycling after poll shows more than half throw batteries away in the binMajor high street retailers have joined forces to encourage people to recycle their used household batteries as a new poll revealed that more than half of respondents admitted they throw them in the bin. Asda, B&Q, Currys PC World, Marks & Spencer and Morrisons are all backing the drive to make it easier for consumers to recycle dead batteries and avoid millions en
  
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• Catholic church to make record divestment from fossil fuels

  03-10-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  More than 40 Catholic institutions will make largest ever faith-based divestment, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of AssisiMore than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.The sum involved has not been disclosed but the volume of divesting groups is four times higher than a previous church record, and adds to a global divestment movement, led by investors worth $5.5t
  
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• Country diary: the house martins have taken their song and departed

  03-10-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Claxton, Norfolk When the amount of aerial plankton in the atmosphere drops, the birds head for AfricaIn natural history, it is easy to notice a first for the year, but to be mindful of the last is more difficult. I know that the house martins are gone, yet their going from our village entailed an unremarkable dwindling of sights and sounds, but slowly, like a loss of moisture in a puddle.I did have one memorable sighting last week in the Yare valley. Over Blackwater, about 40 were pooled above
  
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• Beaver kit spotted on recent survey in Knapdale Forest

  03-10-2017 02:31 via bbc.co.uk
  Only one of four groups of Beavers in Argyll is showing signs of successful breeding.
  
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