Environment news

• In defence of dowsing to detect water | Letters

  27-11-2017 20:04 via theguardian.com
  Guardian readers share their stories on the success of dowsingRe your article “Water firms admit they still use ‘medieval’ dowsing rods” (22 November): in the 1950s, our family lived on a farm in an isolated part of northern Somerset. The farmer submitted an application for planning permission to build two new houses in a field, including details of water supply and drainage (there were no mains services at all). He had already walked over the field with his L-shaped birc
  
  Read more

• Dark Ocean Bacteria Discovered to Play Large Role in Carbon Capture

  27-11-2017 19:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  Marine bacteria that live in the dark depths of the ocean play a newly discovered and significant role in the global carbon cycle, according to a new study published in Science.
  
  Read more

• Fear of Sharks Influences Seaweed Growth on Fijian Coral Reefs

  27-11-2017 19:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  Fishes’ fear of sharks helps shape shallow reef habitats in the Pacific, according to new research by a scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.
  
  Read more

• How bats keep an ear on their prey

  27-11-2017 19:15 via bbc.co.uk
  A structure that allows sound information to be processed extremely fast has been identified in bats' brains.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Controversial glyphosate weedkiller wins new five-year lease in Europe

  27-11-2017 18:42 via theguardian.com
  EU votes to reauthorise the pesticide, ending a bitterly fought battle that saw 1.3 million people sign a petition calling for a banGlyphosate, the key ingredient in the world’s bestselling weedkiller, has won a new five-year lease in Europe, closing the most bitterly fought pesticide relicensing battle of recent times. The herbicide’s license had been due to run out in less than three weeks, raising the prospect of Monsanto’s Roundup disappearing from store shelves and, potent
  
  Read more

• Cooperation key to saving Coral Triangle's green turtles

  27-11-2017 18:38 via theguardian.com
  The Philippines is taking the lead in creating a transnational network of safe havens for green turtles in one of the species’ most important habitats
  Conservationists recently took a major step forward in their efforts to protect green turtles in the Coral Triangle with the establishment of a ‘turtle corridor’ in the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape, which encompasses the territorial waters of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia and is one of the biodiversity hotspots of the Coral T
  
  Read more

• Floods Are Necessary for Maintaining Healthy River Ecosystems

  27-11-2017 17:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  Flooding rivers can wreak havoc on homes and roads but are necessary for healthy ecosystems, research at Oregon State University suggests.
  
  Read more

• Industrial Strategy: Green business reaction

  27-11-2017 17:53
  The green business community has broadly praised the UK's newly-launched Industrial Strategy for recognising clean energy as a top priority for British industry.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Carbon Capture is Helped by Oil Revenue, But it May Not Be Enough

  27-11-2017 17:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  The oil industry incentivises the development of carbon-capturing tech, but researchers say this will not reduce emissions to low enough levels.
  
  Read more

• UBC Study Finds Family-Friendly Overpasses are Needed to Help Grizzly Bears

  27-11-2017 17:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers have determined how female grizzly bears keep their cubs safe while crossing the Trans-Canada Highway.
  
  Read more

• 'Lost' 99% of Ocean Microplastics to be Identified With Dye?

  27-11-2017 17:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  Smallest microplastics in oceans – which go largely undetected - identified more effectively with innovative and cheap new method, developed by University of Warwick researchersNew method can detect microplastics as small as the width of a human hair, using a fluorescent dye
  
  Read more

• Return of the Native Wild Turkey—Setting Sustainable Harvest Targets When Information is Limited

  27-11-2017 17:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  As American families sit down for the traditional turkey dinner this Thanksgiving, some will be giving thanks for a wild bird that is truly free range. Meleagris gallopavo, the wild turkey, has steadily gained in popularity with hunters since successful restoration efforts put it back on the table in the around the new millenium, bucking the trend of declining participation in hunting throughout the United States. The distinguished native bird is now second in popularity only to white
  
  Read more

• Soil Researchers Quantify an Important, Underappreciated Factor in Carbon Release to the Atmosphere

  27-11-2017 17:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Soil plays a critical role in global carbon cycling, in part because soil organic matter stores three times more carbon than the atmosphere. Now biogeochemist Marco Keiluweit at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues elsewhere for the first time provide evidence that anaerobic microsites play a much larger role in stabilizing carbon in soils than previously thought.
  
  Read more

• Lord Deben: Green regulatory oversight crucial to soften 'damaging' Brexit

  27-11-2017 17:08
  EXCLUSIVE: Ensuring parliamentary oversight and independent environmental regulation should be the main priorities during Brexit talks to limit the "damaging" impacts of the UK's EU departure, according to the prominent environmental peer Lord Deben.
  
  Read more

• Lord Deben: Green regulatory oversight critical to soften 'damaging' Brexit

  27-11-2017 17:08
  EXCLUSIVE: Ensuring parliamentary scrutiny and independent environmental regulation should be the main priorities during Brexit talks to limit the "damaging" impacts of the UK's departure, according to the prominent environmental peer Lord Deben.
  
  Read more

• Clean air target 'could be met more quickly'

  27-11-2017 17:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Targets for reducing illegal levels of NO2 pollution from vehicles will be achieved more quickly than the government expects, a study says.
  
  Read more

• EU settles dispute over major weedkiller glyphosate

  27-11-2017 16:31 via bbc.co.uk
  The EU will renew glyphosate's licence for five years, despite some health concerns.
  
  Read more

• Indian police use elephants to evict illegal settlers

  27-11-2017 16:04 via theguardian.com
  Animals were used in protected forest area in Assam, where authorities want to demolish about 1,000 bamboo and tin hutsIndian police have taken the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in a protected forest area in the country’s remote north-east. Related: More than 1,000 people killed in India as human and wildlife habitats collideContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Off and running

  27-11-2017 15:43 via bbc.co.uk
  World land-speed record-holder Andy Green describes the performance of his new new car - Bloodhound SSC.
  
  Read more

• Spinning Biomass into Gold

  27-11-2017 14:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  There’s a century-old adage coined by the paper industry that claims “you can make anything from lignin except a profit.”Art Ragauskas has heard this maxim countless times during his career, and it gets him a little riled up every time he hears it. As the UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Biorefining, Ragauskas is channeling that ire into proving that the old saying’s time has come and gone.
  
  Read more

• Serene Sirens: USGS Sea Cow Science

  27-11-2017 14:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  A USGS video about manatees reveals that while the animals may act like the cows of the sea, they also have more than a bit of the magical siren or mermaid about them. 
  
  Read more

• Industrial Strategy launched: Clean growth at core of UK's vision for economic prosperity

  27-11-2017 14:18
  Business Secretary Greg Clark has today (27 November) launched the UK's much-anticipated Industrial Strategy, which sets out a vision for clean technology and innovation to play a key role in boosting the UK's long-term economic prospects.
  
  Read more

• MPs to scrutinise Government's green finance strategy

  27-11-2017 13:43
  MPs have launched a wide-ranging investigation looking at how the UK Government aims to fulfil its pledge to become a "world leader" in green finance.
  
  Read more

• Industrial Strategy: Clean growth at core of UK's vision for economic prosperity

  27-11-2017 12:47
  Business Secretary Greg Clark has today (27 November) launched the UK's much-anticipated Industrial Strategy, which sets out a vision for clean technology and innovation to play a key role in boosting the UK's long-term economic prospects.
  
  Read more

• American leaders should read their official climate science report | John Abraham

  27-11-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  The United States Global Change Research Program report paints a bleak picture of the consequences of climate denial
  The United States Global Change Research Program recently released a report on the science of climate change and its causes. The report is available for anyone to read; it was prepared by top scientists, and it gives an overview of the most up to date science.If you want to understand climate change and a single document that summarizes what we know, this is your chance. This repo
  
  Read more

• Bitcoin mining consumes more electricity a year than Ireland

  27-11-2017 11:39 via theguardian.com
  Network’s estimated power use also exceeds that of 19 other European countries, consuming more than five times output of continent’s largest windfarmBitcoin’s “mining” network uses more electricity in a year than the whole of Ireland, according to statistics released as the currency broke $9,000 for the first time.According to Digiconomist the estimated power use of the bitcoin network, which is responsible for verifying transactions made with the cryptocurrency, is
  
  Read more

• More than 100 reindeer killed by freight trains in Norwegian 'bloodbath'

  27-11-2017 11:37 via theguardian.com
  Sixty-five animals died on railway track on Saturday while further 41 killed last week during winter migrationMore than 100 reindeer have been killed by freight trains in northern Norway in the past days in what has been called a “bloodbath”.One train killed 65 deer on a track on Saturday while 41 died between Wednesday and Friday, the public broadcaster NRK reported late on Sunday. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• More than 100 reindeer killed by freight trains in Norway 'bloodbath'

  27-11-2017 11:37 via theguardian.com
  Sixty-five animals died on railway track on Saturday while further 41 killed last week during winter migrationMore than 100 reindeer have been killed by freight trains in northern Norway in the past days in what has been called a senseless tragedy.One train killed 65 deer on a track on Saturday while 41 died between Wednesday and Friday, the public broadcaster NRK reported late on Sunday. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Balkan hydropower projects soar by 300% putting wildlife at risk, research shows

  27-11-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  More than a third of about 2,800 planned new dams are in protected areas, threatening rivers and biodiversityHydropower constructions have rocketed by 300% across the western Balkans in the last two years, according to a new analysis, sparking fears of disappearing mountain rivers and biodiversity loss.About 2,800 new dams are now in the pipeline across a zone stretching from Slovenia to Greece, 37% of which are set to be built in protected areas such as national parks or Natura 2000 sites. Cont
  
  Read more

• How to get the most out of cycling in winter | Peter Walker

  27-11-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Cycling has its challenges as the nights draw in and the frosts arrive – but it can also be more rewarding and straightforward than one might think The nights have well and truly drawn in, and for many Britons the frosts have arrived. Time to pack away the bike for a few months?Don’t be tempted. Cycling, particularly bike commuting, can bring its challenges in winter. But it’s compellingly rewarding, and can be much more straightforward than many would think. Continue reading..
  
  Read more

• Scientists warn Lake Victoria is dying

  27-11-2017 07:26 via bbc.co.uk
  Biodiversity in Lake Victoria has fallen by 50% since the 1980s.
  
  Read more

• Country diary: herding wild ponies from hill to homestead

  27-11-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Brendon Common, Exmoor The ponies have been part of Exmoor’s bleak uplands for hundreds, probably thousands, of yearsWhen the first of the herd appeared on the horizon over Withycombe Ridge, the horse I was riding began to tremble. Excitement pulsed up the reins and I could feel his heartbeat thumping through the saddle. He stared transfixed, head high, pink nostrils flared, as the feral ponies flickered into view, their dark brown coats almost plum-coloured next to the dun moorland. They
  
  Read more

• ‘Their own media megaphone’: what do the Koch brothers want from Time?

  27-11-2017 06:29 via theguardian.com
  The company’s decline is readily apparent – but if the billionaire brothers’ other interests are a guide, their investment will be about more than moneyThat Charles and David Koch are putting $650m into Meredith Corp’s purchase of Time would ordinarily be cause for great soul-searching in media. But then, these are not ordinary times.Meredith’s Koch-backed deal with Time – which owns, in addition to Time magazine, titles including People, Fortune and Sports Il
  
  Read more

• Fears for world's rarest penguin as population plummets

  27-11-2017 05:06 via theguardian.com
  Commercial fishing blamed for the crash in numbers of yellow-eyed penguin on a sanctuary island in New ZealandAlmost half the breeding population of the world’s most endangered penguin species, the yellow-eyed penguin, has disappeared in one part of New Zealand and conservation groups believe commercial fishing is to blame.The yellow-eyed penguin is endemic to New Zealand’s South Island and sub-Antarctic islands, where there are just 1,600 to 1,800 left in the wild, down from nearly
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!