Environment news

• Penguin catastrophe leads to demands for protection in Antarctica

  12-10-2017 22:58 via theguardian.com
  After failure of Adélie penguins to breed, WWF calls for measures to ensure they do not face competition from fishing fleets for food Only two Adélie penguin chicks from a colony of more than 18,000 breeding pairs have survived the Antarctic summer due to unusually extensive sea ice, prompting environmental campaigners to call for a new protected marine area.The penguins in Terre Adélie in eastern Antarctica, which only reproduce on ice-free land, suffered a catastrophic bre
  
  Read more

• Woman with dementia feared taken by crocodile in Queensland

  12-10-2017 22:25 via theguardian.com
  Police find clothes and human remains after Anne Cameron, 79, went missing near a nursing home in Port Douglas on TuesdayForensic testing is being conducted on “biological matter” found near clothing and a walking stick after a dementia sufferer went missing from a far north Queensland nursing home.Anne Cameron, 79, was last seen near a nursing home at Craiglie, Port Douglas, on Tuesday afternoon. Police fear Cameron, who only been at the facility for a few weeks, may have been taken
  
  Read more

• Proof that sustainable meat and dairy farming can work | Letters

  12-10-2017 19:35 via theguardian.com
  David Finlay writes that his experiment in sustainable and ethical meat and dairy farming shows that it is achievableI had just got back into the house from milking the cows when I read the discussion (Letters, 7 October) on George Monbiot’s latest contribution to the debate about the future of our food production system. While George is a fundamentalist, I must confess I agree with much of what he says! The problem is that, as an extremist fundamentalist, he just goes too far. Here on our
  
  Read more

• Study Casts Doubt on Warming Implications of Brown Carbon Aerosol from Wildfires

  12-10-2017 19:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  As devastating wildfires continue to rage in the western U.S. and Canada, a team of environmental engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered that light-absorbing organic particulate matter, also known as brown carbon aerosol, in wildfire smoke loses its ability to absorb sunlight the longer it remains in the atmosphere.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Byproducts from biofuel focus of PNNL and WSU partnership

  12-10-2017 19:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created a continuous thermo-chemical process that produces useful biocrude from algae. The process takes just minutes and PNNL is working with a company which has licensed the technology to build a pilot plant using the technology.
  
  Read more

• Combination of El Niño and 2016 Ecuador Earthquake Likely Worsened Zika Outbreak

  12-10-2017 19:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  A Zika virus outbreak in coastal Ecuador in 2016 was likely worsened by a strong El Niño and a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck the region in April, according to a new study.
  
  Read more

• New airplane biofuels plan would 'destroy rainforests', warn campaigners

  12-10-2017 19:17 via theguardian.com
  Plan to accelerate production of biofuels for passenger planes would lead to clearing of rainforests to produce ‘vast’ amount of necessary cropsA new plan to accelerate production of biofuels for passenger planes has drawn stinging criticism from environmentalists who argue that most of the world’s rainforests might have to be cleared to produce the necessary crops.Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, with an 8% leap reported in Europe las
  
  Read more

• You say tomato, retailers say waste: research finds produce problem

  12-10-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Researcher reveals up to 86.7% of edible tomatoes are thrown away, underlining Australia’s costly food waste cultureUp to 87% of undamaged, edible tomatoes harvested from a commercial Queensland farm were rejected and wasted based on appearance, a study has found, highlighting the problem of food wastage.Tara McKenzie, an environmental scientist at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said that at every point in the supply chain, edible tomatoes that were slightly odd-shaped or marked or
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Almost 90% of edible tomatoes thrown away based on appearance – research

  12-10-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Up to 86.7% of harvest rejected, environmental scientist says – underlining Australia’s costly food waste cultureUp to 87% of undamaged, edible tomatoes harvested from a commercial Queensland farm were rejected and wasted based on appearance, a study has found, highlighting the problem of food wastage.Tara McKenzie, an environmental scientist at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said that at every point in the supply chain, edible tomatoes that were slightly odd-shaped or marked
  
  Read more

• Climate change predicted to reduce size, stature of dominant Midwest plant, collaborative study finds

  12-10-2017 18:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  The economically important big bluestem grass — a dominant prairie grass and a major forage grass for cattle — is predicted to reduce its growth and stature by up to 60 percent percent in the next 75 years because of climate change, according to a study involving Kansas State University researchers.
  
  Read more

• ACT-America Aims to Tell Four-Season Greenhouse Gas Story

  12-10-2017 18:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA scientists are once again on the hunt for greenhouse gases in the sky.
  
  Read more

• Tropical Storm Ophelia Appears as a Comma in NASA Imagery

  12-10-2017 18:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  Infrared imagery from NASA’s Aqua satellite showed powerful thunderstorms around the center of Tropical Storm Ophelia with a band of thunderstorms stretching to the southwest, giving the storm the appearance of a comma.
  
  Read more

• Climate change may accelerate infectious disease outbreaks

  12-10-2017 18:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  Aside from inflicting devastating natural disasters on often vulnerable communities, climate change can also spur outbreaks of infectious diseases like Zika , malaria and dengue fever, according to a new study by researchers at the University of  Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
  
  Read more

• Geologic evidence is the forerunner of ominous prospects for a warming earth

  12-10-2017 17:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  While strong seasonal hurricanes have devastated many of the Caribbean and Bahamian islands this year, geologic studies on several of these islands illustrate that more extreme conditions existed in the past. A new analysis published in Marine Geology shows that the limestone islands of the Bahamas and Bermuda experienced climate changes that were even more extreme than historical events. In the interest of our future world, scientists must seek to understand the complexities
  
  Read more

• Supermarkets must stop using plastic packaging, says former Asda boss

  12-10-2017 17:08 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Consumers do not want plastic-polluted oceans so supermarkets and packaging industry have to work together, says Andy ClarkeThe former boss of Asda is calling for supermarkets to stop using plastic packaging saying billions of pounds of investment in recycling has failed to resolve the world’s plastic proliferation crisis.
  Andy Clarke, CEO of one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains for six years, said the only solution was for retailers to reject plastic entirely in fa
  
  Read more

• Is Climate Change Affecting Northern California's Devastating Fires?

  12-10-2017 16:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  On Monday I woke to the terrifying smell of smoke. From my home south of San Francisco, I could see the entire Bay Area covered in a thick layer, obscuring the sun.
  
  Read more

• Beyond Biodiversity: A New Way of Looking at How Species Interconnect

  12-10-2017 16:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  In 1966, an ecologist at the University of Washington named Robert Paine removed all the ochre starfish from a short stretch of Pacific shoreline on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. The absence of the predator had a dramatic effect on its ecosystem. In less than a year, a diverse tidal environment collapsed into a monoculture of mussels because the starfish was no longer around to eat them.
  
  Read more

• New Drug Hope for Patients with Rare Bone Cancer

  12-10-2017 16:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  Patients with a rare bone cancer of the skull and spine – chordoma – could be helped by existing drugs, suggest scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, University College London Cancer Institute and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust. In the largest genomics study of chordoma to date, published today (12 October) in Nature Communications, scientists show that a group of chordoma patients have mutations in genes that are the target of existing dru
  
  Read more

• Electricity consumers 'to fund nuclear weapons through Hinkley Point C'

  12-10-2017 15:58 via theguardian.com
  Scientists tell MPs government is using expensive power project to cross-subsidise military by maintaining nuclear skillsThe government is using the “extremely expensive” Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to cross-subsidise Britain’s nuclear weapon arsenal, according to senior scientists.In evidence submitted to the influential public accounts committee (PAC), which is currently investigating the nuclear plant deal, scientists from Sussex University state that the costs of
  
  Read more

• Researchers explore ways to remove antibiotics polluting lakes and rivers

  12-10-2017 15:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  Pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, are an increasingly common pollutant in water systems, said Catherine Hui Niu, associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.
  
  Read more

• Lakehead University and IISD Experimental Lakes Area team up to safeguard Canada's fresh water

  12-10-2017 15:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  Officials from Lakehead University and the International Institute for Sustainable Development Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) have signed a five-year memorandum of understanding to foster collaboration between the two organizations.
  
  Read more

• Aim Higher: Business can 'pioneer' climate agenda by targeting 1.5C pathway

  12-10-2017 15:05
  Government and business commitments to align practices with a 1.5C pathway are "practically non-existent", but companies have the chance to become "true pioneers" of the climate movement by raising ambitions, a new report from the Carbon Trust claims.
  
  Read more

• Ozone layer recovery could be delayed by 30 years

  12-10-2017 15:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Rising global emissions of some chemicals could slow the progress made in healing the ozone layer.
  
  Read more

• UK climate change masterplan – the grownups have finally won

  12-10-2017 14:32 via theguardian.com
  Government’s clean growth strategy unequivocally states that tackling climate change and a prosperous economy go hand in handThe grownups have finally won and everyone in the UK, from those in cold homes to those on polluted streets and in flooded towns, will benefit. The most important aspect of the UK government’s new clean growth strategy is its unequivocal statement that tackling climate change and a prosperous economy are one and the same thing.This has been clear to many for so
  
  Read more

• Reaction round-up: What does the green economy make of the Clean Growth Strategy?

  12-10-2017 14:00
  The Government has pledged numerous multi-billion-pound investments to drive down carbon emissions across the economy as part of the Clean Growth Strategy, but does it "breathe new life" into the low-carbon sector or do the details "fall short"?
  
  Read more

• From CCS to zero waste: Clean Growth Strategy to slash emissions and boost economic growth

  12-10-2017 12:41
  The Government has unveiled its highly-anticipated Clean Growth Strategy, detailing how multi-billion-pound investments into low-carbon innovations and household energy-efficiency will push the UK towards its future carbon budgets.
  
  Read more

• Draughty homes targeted in UK climate change masterplan

  12-10-2017 11:50 via theguardian.com
  Ministers publish long-delayed blueprint for hitting target of cutting emissions by 57% in next 15 yearsThe UK’s draughtiest homes will be insulated and upgraded by 2035 to save families as much as £300 a year on their energy bills, under the government’s climate change masterplan.The long-delayed blueprint for how the UK will hit its binding target of cutting emissions by 57% by 2032 majors on support for everything from low-carbon power, energy savings and electric vehicles t
  
  Read more

• Oxford aims for world’s first zero emissions zone with petrol car ban

  12-10-2017 11:38 via theguardian.com
  Oxford council plans to start phasing out polluting vehicles including taxis, cars and buses from city centre area in 2020Polluting vehicles could be banned from Oxford city centre under plans to bring in what officials believe would be the world’s first zero emissions zone. The proposals aim to slash air pollution in the historic university city, which has seen levels of the harmful pollutant nitrogen dioxide plateau above legal limits in some areas.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Consistency and communication key to realising London's electric vehicle vision

  12-10-2017 11:13
  The pledges made by the Mayor of London to transform the city into a zero-emissions capital need to be backed by policy guidance that brings car manufacturers, network operators and innovators together to ensure that the capital isn't littered with "white elephants" and "stranded assets".
  
  Read more

• Clean Growth Plan could see stamp duty incentive for homeowners

  12-10-2017 11:05 via bbc.co.uk
  The changes are part of the Clean Growth Plan to reduce the UK's greenhouse emissions.
  
  Read more

• Finding Nemo? We may be losing him, says climate study

  12-10-2017 07:26 via theguardian.com
  Clownfish under threat from warming ocean waters, which are damaging the anemones that serve as its homeThe clownfish, the colourful swimmer propelled to fame by the 2003 film Finding Nemo, is under threat from warming ocean waters wreaking havoc with sea anemones, the structures that serve as its home, a study has found.Closely related to corals, sea anemones are invertebrate marine creatures that live in symbiosis with algae, which provide them with food, oxygen and colour. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• 'Boar War': the Forest of Dean pixies fighting against the cull of wild pigs

  12-10-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Activists claim the boar should be welcomed in Gloucestershire – and they are determined to sabotage marksmen targeting pigs roaming ancient woodland Drew Pratten admits it can be a little unnerving to suddenly come upon a wild boar in the forest. “They are very big. When they growl at you it’s primal. You get the sort of feeling deep in your stomach that you get when you hear a lion roar. But these animals don’t want to hurt anyone. If you slowly back away they are fine.
  
  Read more

• Country diary: solitary wasp's embrace means the end of the road

  12-10-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Sandy, Bedfordshire The fly’s head tipped back a little, eyes the colour of a tired strawberry, its legs frozen, as if in ecstasySitting down at the wheel of the car I found my view through the windscreen partially obscured by two large insects having sex. At least, this was how things looked from the driver’s seat. A solitary wasp had mounted its mate and wrapped its forelegs fondly around its neck. It had managed to anchor the both of them to the sloping glass with its rear feet.Th
  
  Read more

• Country diary: olitary wasp's embrace means the end of the road

  12-10-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Sandy, Bedfordshire The fly’s head tipped back a little, eyes the colour of a tired strawberry, its legs frozen, as if in ecstasySitting down at the wheel of the car I found my view through the windscreen partially obscured by two large insects having sex. At least, this was how things looked from the driver’s seat. A solitary wasp had mounted its mate and wrapped its forelegs fondly around its neck. It had managed to anchor the both of them to the sloping glass with its rear feet.Th
  
  Read more

• Australian desert reaches peak budgie as thousands dazzle wildlife photographer

  12-10-2017 06:26 via theguardian.com
  Steven Pearce captures up to 10,000 birds swooping for a drink at an outback water hole in rare display he describes as a marvel of agility A wildlife photographer has captured stunning images of budgerigars in a murmuration of up to 10,000 birds near a water hole outside Alice Springs.Steven Pearce said the display was rare, unique and relatively short-lived – lasting for only about 10 minutes. Pearce was able to shoot dozens of photos displaying the birds’ agility and dazzling spla
  
  Read more

• Abbot Point coal terminal: Westpac may not refinance Adani loan

  12-10-2017 03:51 via theguardian.com
  Report reveals Adani needs to refinance $2bn of loans for Abbot Point coal terminal, which is more than it paid for it in 2011Adani’s financing for its proposed Carmichael coalmine could face a further hurdle, with Westpac appearing to indicate it will not refinance its existing loan to Adani’s coal terminal at Abbot Point.A recent report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Ieefa) revealed Adani needed to refinance more than $2bn worth of loans for its Abbot
  
  Read more

• Fossil fuels win billions in public money after Paris climate deal, angry campaigners claim

  12-10-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Coal, oil and gas finance from major development banks totalled $5bn in year after historic climate pact, according to estimatesBillions of dollars of public money was sunk in new fossil fuel projects by the world’s major development banks in the year after the Paris climate change deal was agreed, according to campaigners who are calling for the banks to halt their financing of coal, oil and gas.The new analysis also reveals that some of the taxpayers’ money given to coal and gas pr
  
  Read more

• Scientists to visit hidden Antarctic ecosystem after giant iceberg calving

  12-10-2017 00:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  A team of scientists, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), is planning an urgent mission to investigate a mysterious marine ecosystem that’s been hidden beneath an Antarctic ice shelf for up to 120,000 years.  The researchers want to discover how this marine ecosystem will respond to environmental change in a climate-sensitive region.
  
  Read more

• The Perfect STORM

  12-10-2017 00:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Colorado River tumbles through varied landscapes, draining watersheds from seven western states. This 1,450-mile-long system is a critical water supply for agriculture, industry and municipalities from Denver to Tijuana.
  
  Read more

• Will metal supplies limit battery expansion?

  12-10-2017 00:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  The dramatic rise in production of electric vehicles, coupled with expected growth in the use of grid-connected battery systems for storing electricity from renewable sources, raises a crucial question: Are there enough raw materials to enable significantly increased production of lithium-ion batteries, which are the dominant type of rechargeable batteries on the market?
  
  Read more

• Making renewable power more viable for the grid

  12-10-2017 00:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  Wind and solar power are increasingly popular sources for renewable energy. But intermittency issues keep them from connecting widely to the U.S. grid: They require energy-storage systems that, at the cheapest, run about $100 per kilowatt hour and function only in certain locations.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!