Environment news

• Albatrosses in decline from fishing and environmental change

  21-11-2017 19:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  The populations of wandering, black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses have halved over the last 35 years on sub-antarctic Bird Island according to a new study published today (20 November) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  
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• In bee decline, fungicides emerge as improbable villain

  21-11-2017 19:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  When a Cornell-led team of scientists analyzed two dozen environmental factors to understand bumblebee population declines and range contractions, they expected to find stressors like changes in land use, geography or insecticides.
  
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• Stanford researchers test public receptiveness to different wind energy turbines

  21-11-2017 19:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  With global carbon emissions on the rise, wind power continues to be an attractive option for states and countries looking to limit fossil fuel use and increase renewable energy. Wind already accounts for over 5 percent of electricity generation in the United States. However, a number of issues plague the low-carbon energy source, such as complaints from nearby residents about noise and the killing of hundreds of thousands of birds and bats each year that collide with turbine blades.
  
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• Turtles & Technology Advance Understanding of Lung Abnormality

  21-11-2017 19:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  A study of an unusual snapping turtle with one lung found shared characteristics with humans born with one lung who survive beyond infancy. Digital 3D anatomical models created by Emma Schachner, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology & Anatomy at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, made the detailed research possible. The work is published in the December 2017 issue of The Journal of Anatomy, the cover of which features an image of the study’s 3D models.
  
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• Three studies from UTA's clear lab detect harmful pathogenic bacteria in Texas groundwater near natural gas extraction sites

  21-11-2017 19:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  Three new research studies from the University of Texas at Arlington have found harmful pathogenic bacteria in Texas groundwater near unconventional natural gas extraction sites.
  
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• Professor studies evolution of climate change activism

  21-11-2017 18:58 via feedproxy.google.com
  Climate change is a topic that is debated, doubted and covered by news outlets across the world. Luis Hestres, in the Department of Communication at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), is researching the evolution of climate change activism and how advocacy groups use digital platforms to mobilize.
  
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• Turnbull government uses modelling to pressure states on energy policy

  21-11-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Modelling suggests household power bills between 2020 and 2030 would be $120 a year lower, in today’s dollars, under policyThe Turnbull government has deployed new modelling on the national energy guarantee in an effort to step up pressure on state governments to sign up to its policy at a meeting of energy ministers on Friday.A summary of the modelling, circulated by the government in advance of the talks with the states, suggests household power bills between 2020 and 2030 would be &ldqu
  
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• Queensland land-clearing shown in aerial and satellite images

  21-11-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Google Earth reveals a property on which hundreds of hectares of previously untouched forest have been clearedThe tree-clearing explosion occurring in Queensland, usually reported in seemingly impossibly large numbers of hectares or square kilometres, is now being documented using publicly available satellite and aerial photography, revealing the graphic disfigurement of the remaining untouched bushland there. Related: For the love of Queensland, this land clearing has got to stop | Lyndon Schne
  
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• UK environment department using 1,400 disposable coffee cups a day

  21-11-2017 17:49 via theguardian.com
  Figures show more than 2.5m cups were purchased in the past five years despite pledges by the environment secretary to tackle growing plastic waste More than 2.5m disposable cups have been purchased by the UK’s environment department for use in its restaurants and cafes over the past five years – equivalent to nearly 1,400 a day. The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesman, Tim Farron, said the revelation, obtained through a freedom of information request, showed Michael Gove
  
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• Drug-driving cases dropped over forensics

  21-11-2017 17:35 via bbc.co.uk
  Thousands more cases - including violent and sexual crimes - could be affected by "manipulated" tests.
  
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• NASA Links Port-City Sea Levels to Regional Ice Melt

  21-11-2017 17:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new NASA tool links changes in sea level in 293 global port cities to specific regions of melting land ice, such as southern Greenland and the Antarctic Peninsula. It is intended to help coastal planners prepare for rising seas in the decades to come.
  
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• Could looming new energy efficiency standards spark a green rental market?

  21-11-2017 16:33
  The impending creation of a new energy efficiency regulation for UK properties could trigger the emergence of a green rental market, a leading credit rating agency has claimed.
  
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• Russian nuclear facility denies it is source of high radioactivity levels

  21-11-2017 16:05 via theguardian.com
  Greenpeace calls for investigation after levels of ruthenium-106 in atmosphere near Urals site found to be 986 times normA secretive Russian nuclear facility has denied it was behind high atmospheric concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106, after Russia’s meteorological service confirmed levels several hundred times the norm were found in several locations in the country during tests in late September.Greenpeace has called for an investigation into a potential cover-up of a
  
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• Researcher seeks to protect where the wild things walk

  21-11-2017 14:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  UBC research is paving the way for a route that will serve as a pilot project to protect green space and allow wildlife to move throughout the Okanagan Valley.Kelowna was identified in the 2016 Stats Canada census as one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada. With growth comes development and UBC Professor Lael Parrott says the region is in danger of fragmenting low-elevation ecosystems and losing the habitat and movement routes needed by wildlife, especially on the east side of Okanagan Lake.
  
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• Russia denies nuclear accident after radioactive traces found

  21-11-2017 13:57 via bbc.co.uk
  The weather service says the levels of a radioactive isotope were nearly 1,000 times normal levels.
  
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• Poland faces €100,000-a-day fines over illegal logging in Białowieża forest

  21-11-2017 12:21 via theguardian.com
  Poland is given two weeks to end its destruction of the Unesco-protected forest in a landmark ruling by the European court of justicePoland has been given two weeks to stop illegal deforestation in the Unesco-protected Białowieża forest or face fines of at least €100,000 a day.In a precedent-setting ruling that will echo across the EU, the European court of justice ordered Poland to show it was acting lawfully in the ancient woodland, or face a €36.5m (£32m) annual pena
  
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• Corporates risk $941bn due to deforestation failure, CDP warns

  21-11-2017 12:09
  The business community is risking up to $941bn on commodities linked to deforestation, according to research, but the vast majority of corporates are reportedly failing to take action.
  
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• Global support group launched to ease water pressures related to urbanisation

  21-11-2017 11:48
  The United Nations has convened a host of organisations including the World Water Council (WWC) and the Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) to create frameworks that enable cities to overcome political, financial, technological and behavioural barriers associated with water.
  
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• BNEF: Energy storage market to double six times by 2030

  21-11-2017 10:55
  The global energy storage market looks to mirror the rapid growth the solar industry experienced between 2000 and 2015, with a new Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) report predicting that the energy storage market will double six times by 2030.
  
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• Bialowieza forest: EU threatens Poland with fine over logging

  21-11-2017 10:49 via bbc.co.uk
  Europe's top court says Poland must prove it has stopped logging in Bialowieza forest or face fines.
  
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• The consensus is clear: there is no upside to a nuclear Brexit | Clare Moody

  21-11-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  This government must heed the warnings – leaving the treaty on nuclear energy, safety and research is complicated and the potential consequences disastrous Cabinet resignations, a government with no majority in the Commons, a make-or break-budget for the chancellor and a fast-approaching Brexit negotiating deadline means it is easy for issues to slip out of the public consciousness. Against this backdrop, Euratom and the UK’s future nuclear safeguarding regime risk being forgotten.As
  
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• Humpback dolphins offer gifts in rare courtship ritual – video

  21-11-2017 07:27 via theguardian.com
  Humpback dolphins in Western Australia have been observed gifting sea sponges to potential mates in a courtship behaviour that researchers say is very rare.  'It highlights that there's another species out there that's quite socially complex, more than we previously recognised,' says Dr Simon Allen, lead researcher from the University of Western Australia. 'They are thinking animals' Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: kingfisher inspires myth

  21-11-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Holme, Norfolk Myths and misconceptions surround this diminutive bird, which can hide in plain sight despite its dazzling plumageIt’s funny how kingfishers, the boldest-coloured birds in Britain, have inspired so much confusion. The commonest example concerns their size. Many people seeing one for the first time are flabbergasted at its smallness.A recent encounter reminded me just how sparrow-like they are. For 20 minutes, I’d sat before a pool scanning the middle distance for harri
  
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• The ibis was here first. Now it's just doing what it needs to do to survive | Erin Lennox

  21-11-2017 04:09 via theguardian.com
  I’m happy to get on board with the grassroots movement in support of this much maligned bird. Here’s whyVote for Australia’s bird of the year (not necessarily the ibis) Knowing I’m a bird lover, my mother once tried to describe to me a particularly “majestic” bird she had seen in her neighbourhood. When, eventually, she produced a picture of the Australian white ibis, I roared with laughter. Somehow, she had missed the memo. But without having been exposed to
  
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• Russia reports radioactivity 986 times the norm after nuclear accident claim

  21-11-2017 02:59 via theguardian.com
  Moscow says ‘extremely high’ levels of ruthenium-106 discovered as Greenpeace urges inquiry into possible cover-upRussia’s meteorological service has confirmed “extremely high” concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106 were found in several parts of the country in late September, confirming European reports about the contamination this month.
  “Probes of radioactive aerosols from monitoring stations Argayash and Novogorny were found to contain rad
  
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