Environment news

• Country diary 1917: ducks float like toy birds in the early haze

  08-10-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 13 October 1917Surrey, October 11
  This morning was chill. Wild duck were on a broad stretch of backwater which has come from the river overflow in the low marsh; they floated like toy birds in the early haze. After a while they flew, skimming the ripples closely enough to make scattered particles shimmer in the rising sun, their green-grey and chestnut plumage throwing out a show of different colours in the flight. They settled among the tall re
  
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• Pollutionwatch: log fires are cosy, but their days may be numbered

  08-10-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  It is no surprise the mayor of London wants to ban wood burning: even new stoves are much more polluting than the exhaust of a heavy goods vehicleBrowse through the home style magazines in your newsagent’s or watch Channel 4’s Grand Designs and you will see beautifully decorated living rooms complete with a roaring fire. Wood burning has become very fashionable and, let’s face it, a log fire is cosy.Natural gas central heating largely banished solid fuel and brought huge improv
  
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• Tasmanian shy albatross embrace artificial nests in bid to boost population

  08-10-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Birds reproduce only on three remote islands in Bass Straight and are listed as ‘vulnerable’ with just 1,500 breeding pairs remainingThe Tasmanian shy albatross has embraced the idea of settling down in an artificial, specially constructed nest, according to scientists who are trying to boost the population of the endangered seabird.
  A trial of the nests was announced in June to help the breeding success of the endangered species, which biologists believe are vulnerable to the enviro
  
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• Shorten to call for electricity market overhaul to favour consumers over generators

  08-10-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Opposition leader hints at big changes under a future Labor government and says households should be encouraged to generate their own power The Labor leader Bill Shorten has called for significant changes to the rules governing the national electricity market, saying they are biased in favour of big energy generators to the detriment of households.He said the national electricity market (NEM) rules are designed to help the big companies recoup the money they spent on purchasing government assets
  
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• Fatal extraction: how demand for hippos’ teeth is threatening them with extinction

  08-10-2017 16:00 via theguardian.com
  The black market’s insatiable demand for ivory has turned poachers’ attention away from well-protected elephants to more vulnerable hippos
  It seems almost incomprehensible that the desire for an ivory ornament or piece of jewellery justifies the slaughter of a majestic elephant, but as their populations continue to crash, the ever-hungry black market has become creative in order to satisfy its greed. Now, ivory hunters are setting their sights on everything from arctic narwhals to fo
  
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• Strange and beautiful things under a microscope – in pictures

  08-10-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  A competition, now in its 43rd year, dedicated to showcasing the beautiful and bizarre as seen under a light microscope attracted over 2,000 entries from 88 countries. Here’s a selection of the winning and commended images from the 2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography CompetitionContinue reading...
  
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• The eco guide to disposing of litter | Lucy Siegle

  08-10-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  It’s time the responsibility for recycling was laid firmly at the door of the packaging manufacturersLitter brings out an urge in me to ban everything. Under my regime, straws would be outlawed. Plastic drinks bottles – only 57% of which find their way into recycling – would be verboten. But top of the list of banned items would be wacky recycling surveys.The latest, from Business Waste, highlights the craziest eco blunders found in the nation’s recycling bins. The list i
  
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• Australia's solar challenge begins

  08-10-2017 06:14 via bbc.co.uk
  Teams from around the world are competing on solar cars in an epic transcontinental race.
  
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• It’s chic to save the elephant, but what about the world? | Lucy Siegle

  08-10-2017 01:04 via theguardian.com
  This poshest of enviro-crusades fails to question why animals are facing extinctionWhen Michael Gove teased the announcement of an environmental victory on the Today programme last week, I wondered if he had solved climate change.But no… of course it was elephants. A partial ban on the UK’s domestic ivory trade, missing since the manifesto, was back on the table, he revealed. Gove tipped his hat to former environment secretary and major landowner Owen Paterson for championing the el
  
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• Electric cars key to driving change in UK’s energy supply industry

  08-10-2017 00:08 via theguardian.com
  The ability to make vehicle batteries part of the national grid will become reality next year, forcing utility firms to rethink their relationship with customersYou drive home and plug in your electric car, telling an app how many miles you need the next day. As you eat dinner, relax and sleep, your energy supplier takes control of your battery, using it to buy power when it’s cheap, selling it back later when high demand pushes prices up.The company offers national and local power grids s
  
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