Environment news

• Why are ferocious wildfires plaguing southern California?

  07-12-2017 23:12 via theguardian.com
  A combination of short and longer-term events have conspired to spark a ring of fires that have dotted the Los Angeles areaThe exhausted firefighters battling fires that have menaced Los Angeles wouldn’t normally expect to be dealing with such ferocious conflagrations with Christmas just a few weeks away. Related: California wildfires: winds pose ‘extreme danger’ for Los AngelesContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Narwhal escape: Whales freeze and flee when frightened

  07-12-2017 21:08 via bbc.co.uk
  Narwhals show a "costly" response to threats, raising concerns over how they will respond to increased human contact.
  
  Read more

• Researchers establish long-sought source of ocean methane

  07-12-2017 21:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  An abundant enzyme in marine microbes may be responsible for production of the greenhouse gas.  Industrial and agricultural activities produce large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Many bacteria also produce methane as a byproduct of their metabolism. Some of this naturally released methane comes from the ocean, a phenomenon that has long puzzled scientists because there are no known methane-producing organisms living near the ocean’s surf
  
  Read more

• Edible packaging and ocean-plastic shoes: Six of the best innovations to solve the plastics problem

  07-12-2017 19:50
  Following this week's inspiring webinar on how businesses are helping to solve the plastics problem, edie has rounded up some of the ground-breaking innovations being explored by companies across the globe as we look to tackle the perils of plastic pollution, once and for all.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• US firm picks UK for weather satellites

  07-12-2017 19:36 via bbc.co.uk
  Orbital Micro Systems' demonstration weather satellite should pave the way for a network in the sky.
  
  Read more

• Patagonia files claim against Trump over removing Bears Ears protections

  07-12-2017 19:32 via theguardian.com
  The company says Donald Trump is exceeding the powers of his office by enacting the largest removal of protection from federal lands in historyA trail run that began years ago in the desert of Utah has brought outdoor retailer Patagonia to an unexpected – and considerably less scenic – crossroads, at a federal courthouse in Washington DC. Related: Trump slashes size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments in UtahContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• The brush-turkey is an Aussie battler – and it needs your help | Alicia Burns

  07-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Brush turkeys are often the last holdouts against gentrification. But they still face peril in urban environments and researchers are enlisting citizen scientists to understand how they can better survive It’s hard not to look at the brush turkey as the avian archetype of the Aussie battler – persisting and thriving, even though the odds are stacked against it. These birds’ work ethic in the face of almost impossible living conditions, environmental hardship and sometimes outri
  
  Read more

• Climate change is the story you missed in 2017. And the media is to blame | Lisa Hymas

  07-12-2017 15:32 via theguardian.com
  Some of Trump’s tweets generate more national coverage than devastating disasters. As the weather gets worse, we need journalism to get better
  Which story did you hear more about this year – how climate change makes disasters like hurricanes worse, or how President Donald Trump threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans? If you answered the latter, you have plenty of company. Academic Jennifer Good analyzed two weeks of hurricane coverage during the height of hurricane season on eight major
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Transportation Replaces Power in U.S. as Top Source of CO2 Emissions

  07-12-2017 15:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  Power plants have been the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States for more than 40 years. But according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, transportation has now claimed the top spot.
  
  Read more

• Power from mini nuclear plants 'would cost more than from large ones'

  07-12-2017 15:06 via theguardian.com
  UK government study finds electricity would be nearly one-third pricier than it would from plants such as Hinkley Point CElectricity from the first mini nuclear power stations in Britain would be likely to be more expensive than from large atomic plants such as Hinkley Point C, according to a government study.Power from small modular reactors (SMRs) would cost nearly one-third more than conventional large ones in 2031, the report found, because of reduced economies of scale and the costs of depl
  
  Read more

• Successful Nigerian business-NGO partnerships rooted in collaboration

  07-12-2017 14:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  What’s the key ingredient to successful partnerships? York University Development Studies Professor Uwafiokun Idemudia reviewed existing research on an unorthodox union between a non-governmental organization (NGO) and an oil company with a history of spills in Nigeria. He found that collaboration was beneficial even when innate creative tensions exist, and to reach sustainable targets, the company needs to align its overall strategy with the goals of the partnership.
  
  Read more

• New screening technique will allow crop breeders to develop drought resistant varieties faster

  07-12-2017 14:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  Chithra Karunakaran and Karen Tanino’s team developed a simple non-destructive method to screen hundreds of wheat leaf samples in a day, reducing the time and cost associated with traditional breeding programs to select varieties for drought tolerance. Their findings were published in the November issue of Physiologia Plantarum.“Developing these types of tools better enables physiologists to complement breeding programs,” said Tanino, a professor of plant sciences at the Univer
  
  Read more

• Researchers find 'oldest ever eye' in fossil

  07-12-2017 13:31 via bbc.co.uk
  The remains of the extinct sea creature include an early form of the eye seen in many of today's animals.
  
  Read more

• The scientist who paints lost worlds

  07-12-2017 13:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Dr Julian Hume draws extinct animals with scientific accuracy
  
  Read more

• David Davis’s ignorance: now that’s what I call health and safety madness | Polly Toynbee

  07-12-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Austerity has already driven a coach and horses through environmental standards – and we haven’t even got to the Brexit cliff edge yetAre you still reeling from yesterday’s shock revelation that the government has done no Brexit impact assessments on anything – zilch, nothing? That doesn’t mean the information doesn’t exist, only that David Davis has gone out of his way to not ask for it.Away from Westminster, every anxious industry and professional body is sc
  
  Read more

• UK can deliver 12GW of battery storage with stronger policies, report finds

  07-12-2017 11:20
  A new report estimates that 12GW of subsidy-free battery deployment could be possible in the UK by 2021, despite only 0.6 GW of capacity being installed and operational so far, but only if the Government learns from past failings in the solar market.
  
  Read more

• UK banking performance at odds with Government's green finance leadership ambitions

  07-12-2017 09:12
  The UK Government's ambition to promote the UK as a global leader of green finance post-Brexit is already at risk, with a new report finding that French banks have shown "marked leadership in green banking" because of innovative new legislation.
  
  Read more

• WRAP names new Courtauld 2025 signatories as focus shifts to consumer waste

  07-12-2017 08:12
  WRAP has announced the names of the 24 new signatories to its flagship Courtauld Commitment 2025 to boost sustainability in the food and drink sector, with a first-year review outlining plans to tackle consumer food waste in 2018.
  
  Read more

• Employee engagement programme records one million positive actions

  07-12-2017 08:04
  More than one million positive actions have been recorded by an employee engagement project which encourages workforces to carry out behaviours that boost sustainability and wellbeing.
  
  Read more

• 'We're fighting for our way of life': Republican tax bill presents grave threat to Alaska's tribal groups

  07-12-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The Senate tax bill could prise open the vast Arctic national wildlife refuge to oil and gas drilling, and the Gwich’in fear they could be erased from their home For tribal people in northern Alaska, a Republican tax overhaul that was hastily cobbled together in congressional backrooms 3,000 miles away has raised fears that their entire way of life could be erased from this frigid corner of the US.The Senate’s tax bill may land a decisive blow in a 30-year environmental battle over t
  
  Read more

• 'Are you kidding me?' Actors denounce the ibis in Australian bird of the year poll – video

  07-12-2017 07:33 via theguardian.com
  There was not a lot of love for the ibis on the red carpet for the 2017 Aacta awards in Sydney on Wednesday. Nominees were asked to cast their votes in the Australian bird of the year poll – and passions ran high.
  • Lion blitzes Aacta awards as Russell Crowe comments cut from broadcast Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Chinese ban on plastic waste imports could see UK pollution rise

  07-12-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Chinese restrictions from January will hit UK recycling efforts and risk plastic waste being stockpiled or ending up in landfill, warn industry leadersA ban on imports of millions of tonnes of plastic waste by the Chinese government from January could see an end to collection of some plastic in the UK and increase the risk of environmental pollution, according to key figures in the industry.Recycling companies say the imminent restrictions by China – the world’s biggest market for ho
  
  Read more

• Country diary: brief encounter with a woodcock in the wildwood

  07-12-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Bishop Auckland, Durham Gnarled, leafless branches reach out like those menacing trees in Arthur Rackham’s fairytale illustrations
  The flow of Coundon burn is constricted by farmland and by a tunnel under a road and disused railway embankment for much of its course, but once inside Auckland park it remains free to meander for the final half-mile before joining the river Gaunless, close to its confluence with the Wear. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Birds of a feather: BirdLife Australia's 2018 calendar – in pictures

  07-12-2017 03:10 via theguardian.com
  The annual calendar features stunning shots of the red-tailed black cockatoo and the red-capped robin, as well as the shy and unobtrusive painted button-quail, and the crested shrike-tit, which is heard more often than it’s seen • Vote for Australia bird of the year 2017 Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Birds of a feather: Australian BirdLife's 2018 calendar – in pictures

  07-12-2017 03:10 via theguardian.com
  The annual calendar features stunning shots of the red-tailed black cockatoo and the red-capped robin, as well as the shy and unobtrusive painted button-quail, and the crested shrike-tit, which is heard more often than it’s seen • Vote for Australia bird of the year 2017 Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• How to solve the plastics problem: Live edie webinar takes place TODAY

  07-12-2017 01:01
  Interface, P&G, Surfdome and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation complete an all-star line-up of circular economy experts for edie's live, interactive webinar focused on plastic packaging sustainability - taking place today (Thursday 7 December) at 2pm.
  
  Read more

• How to solve the plastics problem: Live edie webinar takes place AT 2PM TODAY

  07-12-2017 01:01
  Interface, P&G, Surfdome and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation complete an all-star line-up of circular economy experts for edie's live, interactive webinar focused on plastic packaging sustainability - taking place today (Thursday 7 December) at 2pm.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!