Environment news

• Oliver Schmidt jailed for seven years for Volkswagen emissions scam

  06-12-2017 23:08 via theguardian.com
  Judge in Detroit imposes $400,000 fine on former VW executiveGerman was arrested trying to return home from holiday in FloridaA senior Volkswagen executive was sentenced to seven years in a prison by a US court on Wednesday after being found guilty of concealing software used to evade pollution limits on nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles.Oliver Schmidt, a German national who was the general manager in charge of VW’s environmental and engineering office in Michigan, had pleaded guilty to his p
  
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• Quantifying the Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Crop Cultivation

  06-12-2017 22:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  "Climate-smart” crop cultivation, characterized by a low greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint, low synthetic nitrogen consumption, and simultaneously high yields (Figure 1), is an approach in agriculture for implementing the Paris Agreement as part of mitigating climate change. The GHG footprint is an index used to indicate the climate change impact potential exerted by crop production. It is therefore crucial to accurately quantify the GHG footprints of crop cultivation systems. However, severe
  
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• Farthest monster black hole found

  06-12-2017 22:17 via bbc.co.uk
  Astronomers discover the most distant "supermassive" black hole known to science.
  
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• Clean Energy: Experts Outline How Governments Can Successfully Invest Before It's Too Late

  06-12-2017 22:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  Governments need to give technical experts more autonomy and hold their nerve to provide more long-term stability when investing in clean energy, argue researchers in climate change and innovation policy in a new paper published today.
  
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• Researchers Model Optimal Amount of Rainfall for Plants

  06-12-2017 22:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers have determined what could be considered a “Goldilocks” climate for rainfall use by plants: not too wet and not too dry. 
  
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• Satellite Tracking Provides Clues About South Atlantic Sea Turtles' 'Lost Years'

  06-12-2017 22:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  A University of Central Florida biologist whose groundbreaking work tracking the movements of sea turtle yearlings in the North Atlantic Ocean attracted international attention has completed a similar study in the South Atlantic with surprising results.
  
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• Decades-Past Logging Still Threatens Spotted Owls in National Forests

  06-12-2017 22:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Logging of the largest trees in the Sierra Nevada’s national forests ended in the early 1990s after agreements were struck to protect species’ habitat.
  
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• ShakeAlert System Continues Progress toward Public Use

  06-12-2017 22:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  A decade after beginning work on an earthquake early warning system, scientists and engineers are fine-tuning a U.S. West Coast prototype that could be in limited public use in 2018.
  
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• A closer look at '3.67m-year-old' skeleton

  06-12-2017 21:20 via bbc.co.uk
  It took 20 years to excavate, clean and put together Little Foot, found in caves north of Johannesburg.
  
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• Google's 'superhuman' DeepMind AI claims chess crown

  06-12-2017 19:55 via bbc.co.uk
  An algorithm developed by the DeepMind team claims victory against a world-beating AI chess program.
  
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• Switch to electric transport will not lead to surge in power demand | Letters

  06-12-2017 19:53 via theguardian.com
  Andrew Warren of the British Energy Efficiency Federation says that Rolls-Royce’s calls for public subsidies are unwarrantedYou report that the defence firm Rolls-Royce has been lobbying for government funds to assist it to diversify into building nuclear reactors (Millions on offer to develop small nuclear plants, 4 December). It is arguing that the switch to electric transport will “drive up future demand”.The National Grid concludes that, provided that vehicle recharging is
  
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• African apiarists know all about healthy bees | Letters

  06-12-2017 19:53 via theguardian.com
  Tim Evans says that UK beekeepers should swap their frame hives for top-bar hives if they want to avoid chemical interventions and sugar feedingThe photograph accompanying your piece (How Liberia’s killer bees are helping to rebuild livelihoods, 4 December) shows a Liberian beekeeper holding curved comb from a top-bar hive, not the oblong combs of the frame hives generally used in the UK. Top-bar hives, traditional in Africa, allow bees to build comb in the shape they wish, and to str
  
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• Traffic pollution putting unborn babies' health at risk, warn experts

  06-12-2017 19:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  Traffic pollution, but not traffic noise, linked to low birth weightAir pollution from road traffic is having a detrimental impact upon babies’ health in London, before they are born, finds a study.
  
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• Freezing trees, finding answers

  06-12-2017 19:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers study impact of ice storms, climate change
  
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• New species discovered in Malaysian rainforest during unprecedented, top-to-bottom survey

  06-12-2017 19:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  California Academy of Sciences team joins Malaysian colleagues to survey region’s rich biodiversity; data to support UNESCO nomination.
  
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• Stress Test: New Study Finds Seals are Stressed-Out by Sharks

  06-12-2017 19:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers test the effects predators have on their prey’s cortisol levels in the wild
  
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• More-severe climate model predictions could be the most accurate: study

  06-12-2017 18:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  The climate models that project greater amounts of warming this century are the ones that best align with observations of the current climate, according to a new paper from Carnegie’s Patrick Brown and Ken Caldeira published by Nature.  Their findings suggest that the models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, on average, may be underestimating future warming.Climate model simulations are used to predict how much warming should be expected for any given increas
  
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• Iter nuclear fusion project reaches key halfway milestone

  06-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  After a series of set backs the international project is back on track, say scientists, giving tentative hope for a major new source of clean power by 2025An international project to generate energy from nuclear fusion has reached a key milestone, with half of the infrastructure required now built.Bernard Bigot, the director-general of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter), the main facility of which is based in southern France, said the completion of half of the project me
  
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• Is this the end of the road for Adani’s Australian megamine?

  06-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Australian and Chinese banks have turned it down, and analysts say Adani’s failure to secure funding for the Carmichael mine leaves it high and dryAdani’s operations in Australia appear to be hanging on by a thread, as activists prove effective at undermining the company’s chances of getting the finance it needs.China seems to have ruled out funding for the mine, which means it’s not just Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine that is under threat, but also its existi
  
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• Liza Dracup's best photograph: a barn owl hit by a lorry

  06-12-2017 17:42 via theguardian.com
  ‘At first, I kept quiet about my method. I liked to hear people guess. But I actually used a scanner’The label attached to this barn owl says: “Found dead on front of lorry, on run from Edinburgh to Bradford on 1 November 1974.” Because the owl had kept so many of its feathers, it probably hit the lorry later in the journey, nearer to Bradford. It’s part of the natural sciences collection of Bradford Museums. You could walk past the building and never know it was th
  
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• Little Foot skeleton unveiled in South Africa

  06-12-2017 16:39 via bbc.co.uk
  One of the oldest and most complete skeletons of our ancestors is unveiled in South Africa.
  
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• London air pollution cancels positive health effects of exercise in over-60s

  06-12-2017 16:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  Exposure to air pollution on city streets is enough to counter the beneficial health effects of exercise in older adults, according to new research.
  
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• Korean energy firm to rescue UK's Moorside nuclear power project

  06-12-2017 15:45 via theguardian.com
  State-owned Kepco expected to be revealed as preferred bidder to build reactors in Cumbria
  A state-owned South Korean energy firm will be confirmed this week as the white knight for a troubled nuclear power station planned in north-west England, in a significant boost for the UK government’s nuclear ambitions.Kepco will be declared the preferred bidder for the NuGeneration consortium, which looked doomed earlier this year after the Japanese owner Toshiba was hit by writedowns and the event
  
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• Feeling green: the brands bringing social consciousness into fashion

  06-12-2017 15:01 via theguardian.com
  A group of established and emerging brands are pushing the boundaries on the British high street and beyond to create timeless pieces with accessible pricesEco-Age founder Livia Firth and entrepreneur Miroslava Duma were on hand this week in London to celebrate Bottletop – a fashion brand that has built a business out of making luxury handbags from waste drinks cans – now opening its first flagship store on London’s Regent Street. Bottletop is unusual, not because it makes bags
  
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• UN signals 'end' of throwaway plastic

  06-12-2017 14:38 via bbc.co.uk
  The end of the era of throwaway plastic has been signalled by UN environment ministers meeting in Kenya.
  
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• Environmental crusaders risk their lives to save Philippine paradise

  06-12-2017 13:36 via theguardian.com
  A small group of civilian para-enforcers is taking the protection of Palawan’s threatened rainforest from illegal loggers into their own handsTata gives hand signals for his men to drop to the rainforest floor as the searing whine of a chainsaw fades, their mission to save a critically endangered piece of paradise in the Philippines suddenly on hold. Former paramilitary leader Efren “Tata” Balladares has been leading the other flip flop-wearing environmental crusaders up and do
  
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• An orangutan stole my camera and took close-up selfies – in pictures

  06-12-2017 12:42 via theguardian.com
  Wildlife photographer Ian Wood has been capturing great apes in the wild for decades, but when a young orangutan discovered his hidden camera on a recent Borneo trip he got some truly unexpected results One of the challenges of wildlife photography is trying to come up with ways to take images that haven’t been shot before. Through my conservation work with orangutans I’ve had numerous opportunities to photograph these great apes over the last couple of decades, but on a recent annua
  
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• Are developing nations the ideal testing ground for circular economy practices?

  06-12-2017 12:28
  As UN ministers look set to create a taskforce to eradicate the 'ocean Armageddon' of plastic waste and foster growth of closed-loop systems, a new Chatham House briefing paper suggests that the circular economy would enable developing nations to "leapfrog" to more sustainable frameworks.
  
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• US government report finds steady and persistent global warming | John Abraham

  06-12-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  All of nature’s thermometers indicate a rapid rise in global temperatures.
  The US Global Change Research Program recently released a Climate Science Special Report. It is clearly written – an authoritative summary of the science, and easy to understand.The first main chapter deals with changes to the climate and focuses much attention on global temperatures. When most people think of climate change, they think of the global temperature – specifically the temperature of the air
  
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• BMW electric car ad banned over misleading 'clean car' claims

  06-12-2017 11:46 via theguardian.com
  Ruling by advertising watchdog could have knock on effect on other electric car advertisingThe car company BMW has been censured by the UK’s advertising watchdog for claiming an electric car equipped with a small petrol engine was “clean” and “zero emissions”, in a ruling that could have a knock-on effect on other electric car advertising.The advertising was published in the form of a Facebook post that used testimonials from real customers to extol the virtues of t
  
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• Household recycling rates stagnate with UK set to miss 2020 target

  06-12-2017 11:45
  Experts are warning that the UK will miss out on its 2020 target for household recycling as the latest figures show that current rates in England have stagnated at under 45%.
  
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• Power networks pledge to deliver £17bn of smart grid benefits

  06-12-2017 10:53
  Electricity network operators will today (6 December) pledge to deliver £17 billion of energy system benefits by 2050 through the creation of a smarter, more flexible power grid.
  
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• Waste and renewables sectors call on UK to realise integrated energy system opportunity

  06-12-2017 10:12
  Fulfiling the "significant opportunity" offered by the integration of readily available low-carbon technologies across the UK's energy system will require greater collaboration between the public and private sector.
  
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• Building for 2050: Can the Government's low-carbon housing venture deliver homes fit for the future?

  06-12-2017 09:46
  With the UK housebuilding sector under the spotlight at both at a national level and in the sustainability agenda, edie caught up with Aecom's regional director to discuss how the firm's latest research project aims to help developers deliver lost-cost, low-carbon housing across the country.
  
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• Storks with unhealthy appetites: mapping how animals interact with cities

  06-12-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  New technology allows us to map the movements of animals in stunning detail and show how urban areas are affecting them. Cities present opportunities to some but are a threat to many others. These seven maps – extracted from Where the Animals Go by James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti – offer a glimpse into the lives of animals trying to make their way in our increasingly urbanised world Continue reading...
  
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• Follow that stork! How animals move through cities – mapped

  06-12-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  New technology allows us to map the movements of animals in stunning detail. These seven maps from Where the Animals Go offer a glimpse into the lives of animals trying to make their way in our increasingly urbanised world Continue reading...
  
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• Follow that stork! How animals interact with cities – mapped

  06-12-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  New technology allows us to map the movements of animals in stunning detail. These seven maps from Where the Animals Go offer a glimpse into the lives of animals trying to make their way in our increasingly urbanised world Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: Sleeping Beauty knew a thing or two about spindle's tempting lipstick berries

  06-12-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire This shrub and its toxic fruit have a minor but magical part in ancient woodlandShocking pink in a winter hedge, as if blown from some forever summer place, it is a colour out of season. And yet the spindle berries are perfectly at home in wood margins and hedges on the limestone of Wenlock Edge. It seems the spindle tree – which can grow six metres (20ft) tall but is usually a shrub – has a minor but magical part in ancient woodland and here associates with
  
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• Traffic fumes in city streets 'largely wipe out exercise benefits for over-60s'

  06-12-2017 00:30 via theguardian.com
  Groundbreaking study reinforces urgent need to reduce emissions, and advises over-60s to avoid polluted air by walking in parks and green spaces The over-60s should stick to green spaces and parks when they go for a walk and avoid the city streets, according to a groundbreaking study that says air pollution from traffic fumes largely wipes out the health benefit from the exercise.Walking is often recommended for older people, but the study from Imperial College London and Duke University in the
  
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• Air pollution harm to unborn babies may be global health catastrophe, warn doctors

  06-12-2017 00:30 via theguardian.com
  New UK research links toxic air to low birth weight that can cause lifelong damage to health, raising fears that millions of babies worldwide are being harmedAir pollution significantly increases the risk of low birth weight in babies, leading to lifelong damage to health, according to a large new study. The research was conducted in London, UK, but its implications for many millions of women in cities around the world with far worse air pollution are “something approaching a public health
  
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