Environment news

• Weatherwatch: climate change means lots of birdsong, even in November

  28-11-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Unlike other birds, robins have always sung throughout the season, but now other species are joining them due to their warming environment
  The Victorian humorist and poet Thomas Hood took a dim view of the penultimate month of the year: “No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! – November!”If he meant no bird song, then, when he was writing, during the cooler climatic interlude known as the Little Ice Age, he would have been spot-on.Continue reading...
  
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• River departed 'before Indus civilisation emergence'

  28-11-2017 21:35 via bbc.co.uk
  One of the world's earliest urban civilisations thrived in the absence of a big Himalayan river, a new study finds.
  
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• Great Barrier Reef: scientists identify potential life support system

  28-11-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Researchers say ‘source reefs’ could produce larvae and help repair damage by bleaching and starfishA group of “source” reefs have been identified that could form the basis of a life support system for the Great Barrier Reef, helping repair damage by bleaching, starfish and other disturbances.Researchers from the University of Queensland, CSIRO, Australian Institute of Marine Science and the University of Sheffield searched the Great Barrier Reef for ideal areas that coul
  
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• RemoveDebris: Space junk mission prepares for launch

  28-11-2017 19:32 via bbc.co.uk
  A spacecraft that will test the best methods to clean up space debris is nearing completion.
  
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• Disrupting sensitive soils could make climate change worse, Stanford researchers find

  28-11-2017 19:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  Nearly a third of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere annually can be traced back to bacteria living in the soil, where they break down plant and animal matter for energy.
  
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• Recycling air pollution to make art

  28-11-2017 19:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  On a break from his studies in the MIT Media Lab, Anirudh Sharma SM ’14 traveled home to Mumbai, India. While there, he noticed that throughout the day his T-shirts were gradually accumulating something that resembled dirt.
  
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• Brazilian Ethanol Can Replace 13.7% of World's Crude Oil Consumption

  28-11-2017 18:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  Expansion of sugarcane cultivation in Brazil for ethanol production in areas not under environmental protection or reserved for food production could potentially replace up to 13.7% of world crude oil consumption and reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by as much as 5.6% by 2045.
  
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• NREL Develops Switchable Solar Window

  28-11-2017 18:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Thermochromic windows capable of converting sunlight into electricity at a high efficiency have been developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
  
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• NIAID Scientists Link Cases of Unexplained Anaphylaxis to Red Meat Allergy

  28-11-2017 18:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  While rare, some people experience recurrent episodes of anaphylaxis—a life-threatening allergic reaction that causes symptoms such as the constriction of airways and a dangerous drop in blood pressure—for which the triggers are never identified. Recently, researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that some patients’ seemingly inexplicable anaphylaxis was actually caused by an uncommon alle
  
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• MEPs vote for stronger EU efficiency and renewable energy targets

  28-11-2017 18:13
  MEPs voted on Tuesday (28 November) in favour of increasing efficiency and renewable energy targets, in a decisive morning for EU energy and climate policy that provoked both jubilation and disappointment.
  
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• Where Corn Is King, the Stirrings of a Renaissance in Small Grains

  28-11-2017 18:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  To the untrained eye, Jeremy Gustafson’s 1,600-acre farm looks like all the others spread out across Iowa. Gazing at his conventional corn and soybean fields during a visit in June, I was hard-pressed to say where his neighbor’s tightly planted row crops ended and Gustafson’s began.
  
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• Solar Trade Association names Chris Hewett as new chief

  28-11-2017 18:07
  Chris Hewett has been handed the role of chief executive of the Solar Trade Association (STA).
  
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• Clean Sweep For Agriculture

  28-11-2017 18:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  Agricultural research and development features prominently under “Clean Growth”, one of the four Grand Challenges of the government’s new “Industrial Strategy: building a Britain fit for the future”, announced today.
  
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• Australian shareholders should be told climate risk to profits, says thinktank

  28-11-2017 18:01 via theguardian.com
  Centre for Policy Development urges companies to adopt standardised analysis of climate’s impact on businessAustralian companies need to start developing sophisticated scenario-based analyses of climate risks, and incorporating them into their business outlooks so shareholders know how climate change will affect profitability, a thinktank has said.However, the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) said companies needed to do so in a standardised way, so investors and regulators were able to
  
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• Teenage brains 'not wired for high stakes'

  28-11-2017 17:47 via bbc.co.uk
  Developing brain circuits shape how adolescents approach their goals, say US psychologists.
  
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• UK will be 'pretty close' to reaching fifth carbon budget, says Climate Change Minister

  28-11-2017 17:33
  Climate Change Minister Claire Perry today confirmed the Government will look to provide support for onshore wind, as she faced a grilling from MPs over the UK's ability to achieve its mid-term decarbonisation goals.
  
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• Turning emissions into fuel

  28-11-2017 15:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  MIT researchers have developed a new system that could potentially be used for converting power plant emissions of carbon dioxide into useful fuels for cars, trucks, and planes, as well as into chemical feedstocks for a wide variety of products.
  
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• The Amazon effect: how deforestation is starving São Paulo of water

  28-11-2017 12:54 via theguardian.com
  A drought two years ago triggered fighting, looting and official ‘states of calamity’ across the metropolis, with the army preparing to send in troops. Now, new warnings suggest it could happen again – and point to a surprising culpritSão Paulo could face more devastating water shortages if farmers continue to clear the Amazon forest, warns the utility chief who recently steered the biggest city in the Americas from the edge of drought catastrophe.Jerson Kelman, presiden
  
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• New waste-to-energy park could power 10% of London homes

  28-11-2017 12:37
  A London-based waste firm has revealed plans to build a £500m low-carbon energy park which could help power up to 10% of London's households by converting residual waste into green electricity.
  
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• Shell doubles up on green spending and vows to halve carbon footprint

  28-11-2017 12:18 via theguardian.com
  Anglo-Dutch giant to spend $2bn on wind power, biofuels and electric cars as it bows to shareholder pressure by setting new company climate change targetShell has doubled its spending on clean power and bowed to shareholder pressure by promising to halve the carbon footprint of the energy it sells by 2050, as the oil giant said it was stepping up its ambitions on green energy.The Anglo Dutch firm is increasing capital expenditure for its new energies division, to $1bn-$2bn (£750m to £
  
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• Satellite eye on Earth: October – in pictures

  28-11-2017 12:10 via theguardian.com
  Atmospheric rivers, salt lakes and autumn leaf colour are among the images captured by Nasa and the ESA last monthPeak autumn leaf colour in north-central Maine, New England, US. The familiar reds and golds typically appear earliest on deciduous trees and shrubs at higher latitudes and elevations, such as here in the mountains of Baxter state park, and take a few weeks before they reach foliage at the coast. Continue reading...
  
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• Stella McCartney and Ellen MaCarthur present roadmap for circular fashion industry

  28-11-2017 11:04
  The sheer scale of textile waste caused by the clothing industry has been laid bare in a damning report co-launched today (28 November) by Dame Ellen MacArthur and fashion designer Stella McCartney.
  
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• Russia loses contact with new weather satellite

  28-11-2017 10:52 via bbc.co.uk
  The Meteor satellite was found not to be on its planned orbit, hours after launch from a new base.
  
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• British tourists film moment crocodile lunges at them - video

  28-11-2017 09:15 via theguardian.com
  A crocodile attack in Australia that left a British tourist with a leg wound was captured on camera. In the footage, posted to Facebook by Ally Bullifent, a crocodile can be seen jumping out of the water towards the woman. The attack took place on Monday as the woman walked along the edge of a creek in Cape Tribulation, in the far north of Queensland. Continue reading...
  
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• Green cabs: is London ready for electric taxis?

  28-11-2017 08:31 via theguardian.com
  London follows cities such as Amsterdam and Bangalore by introducing electric taxis next year, but some see problems on the road aheadWhen John Dowd drives along the streets of London, schoolboys offer fist bumps and people wind down their windows to talk.This 48-year-old from Sudbury, north-west London, isn’t part of some reality television show: he’s test-driving a new, electric version of the black cab. Continue reading...
  
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• The green Van Gogh cleaning up the cityscape

  28-11-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  Daan Roosegaarde, the Dutch inventor behind smog-filtering towers and anti-smog bikes, is on a mission to clean the air in the world’s most polluted citiesWhen Daan Roosegaarde wanted to pump Oxford Street air into a London museum to demonstrate the life-limiting effects of pollution, health and safety officers refused to give him permission. Related: Anti-smog bikes: could pedal power clean China's polluted air?Continue reading...
  
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• "Cities have become machines that kill people": the Dutch inventor fighting smog

  28-11-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  Daan Roosegaarde, the artist and inventor behind smog-filtering towers and bikes, is on a mission to clean the air in the world’s most polluted citiesWhen Daan Roosegaarde wanted to pump Oxford Street air into a London museum to demonstrate the life-limiting effects of pollution, health and safety officers refused to give him permission. Related: Anti-smog bikes: could pedal power clean China's polluted air?Continue reading...
  
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• British tourists film moment crocodile lunged out of Australian creek at them

  28-11-2017 07:21 via theguardian.com
  Woman treated in hospital after saltwater crocodile leaps from water in Far North Queensland and injures herA crocodile attack that left a British tourist with a leg wound has been captured on camera in Australia. In the footage, posted to Facebook by Ally Bullifent, a crocodile can be seen jumping out of the water towards the women as they scream.The attack took place on Monday as the woman walked along the edge of a creek in Cape Tribulation, far north Queensland.Continue reading...
  
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• Stella McCartney calls for overhaul of 'incredibly wasteful' fashion industry

  28-11-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  UK fashion designer backs Ellen MacArthur foundation campaign to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050 Clothes must be designed differently, worn for longer and recycled as much as possible to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.Fashion designer Stella McCartney condemned her industry as “incredibly wasteful and harmful to the environment” as she joined
  
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• Amnesty calls for criminal investigation into Shell over alleged complicity in murder and torture in Nigeria

  28-11-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Rights group publishes full evidence review, including statements alleging Shell managed undercover police unit in 1990s after its operations ended in OgonilandAmnesty International is calling for a criminal investigation into the oil giant Shell regarding allegations it was complicit in human rights abuses carried out by the Nigerian military.A review of thousands of internal company documents and witness statements published on Tuesday points to the Anglo-Dutch organisation’s alleged inv
  
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• Country diary: ringing the changes in the bird population

  28-11-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Bedgebury Pinetum, Kent Checked and weighed by surer hands than mine, I felt the hollow-boned weightlessness of a blue tit in the cup of my palmThere’s something extraordinary about holding a bird in the palm of your hand. For me, out bird-ringing with volunteers from the British Trust for Ornithology one brisk November morning, it was a blue tit. It had been checked and weighed by surer hands than mine and then placed delicately in the cup of my palm. A familiar bird transformed by such p
  
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• Graphic Japanese whaling footage released after five-year legal battle – video

  28-11-2017 06:15 via theguardian.com
  WARNING: this footage may distress some readers.Footage released by activist group Sea Shepherd shows Japanese fishermen harpooning whales in the Southern ocean before dragging them, still alive, along the side of the vessel. The publication of the video follows a five-year legal battle with the Australian government to make the images public. The footage was filmed in 2008 by Australian customs officials and requests from Sea Shepherd in 2012 for the film were denied by the government amid fear
  
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• Bird pulled from brink of extinction facing poisoning threat

  28-11-2017 03:19 via bbc.co.uk
  The red kite is still at risk from poisoning despite the success of conservation schemes, say scientists.
  
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• Energy storage: edie launches free business guide to battery technology

  28-11-2017 00:22
  Organisations seeking to capitalise on the benefits of energy storage now have access to a new edie Explains guide which breaks down everything you need to know about the technology.
  
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