Environment news

• New approach promises early warnings of soggy summers

  18-12-2017 23:17 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers develop a new technique to give a more accurate advance forecast for summer weather.
  
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• Warmer, wetter climate could mean stronger, more intense storms

  18-12-2017 21:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  How would today’s weather patterns look in a warmer, wetter atmosphere – an expected shift portended by climate change?Colorado State University researcher Kristen Rasmussen offers new insight into this question – specifically, how thunderstorms would be different in a warmer world.
  
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• Interstellar object may hold 'alien' water

  18-12-2017 19:46 via bbc.co.uk
  The first known interstellar asteroid may hold water from another star system in its interior, according to a study.
  
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• Ofcom to investigate BBC climate change interview

  18-12-2017 19:20 via bbc.co.uk
  It's the regulator's first investigation since taking over responsibility for BBC standards.
  
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• Using gold nanoparticles to destroy viruses

  18-12-2017 18:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  HIV, dengue, papillomavirus, herpes and Ebola – these are just some of the many viruses that kill millions of people every year, mostly children in developing countries. While drugs can be used against some viruses, there is currently no broad-spectrum treatment that is effective against several at the same time, in the same way that broad-spectrum antibiotics fight a range of bacteria. But researchers at EPFL's Supramolecular Nano-Materials and Interfaces Laboratory – Cons
  
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• Port of Newcastle chairman's comments on coal are basically a call for help | Michael McGowan

  18-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Roy Green made headlines when he said that the ‘long-term outlook for coal is a threat to the port’It has been called a “seismic shift” in the move away from coal investment. The beginning, in fact, of a “post-coal regional economy”. But the statement by the incoming chairman of the Port of Newcastle that the world’s largest coal export terminal must “urgently” diversify is closer to a call for help than a declaration of intent.Continue readi
  
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• New catalyst meets challenge of cleaning exhaust from modern engines

  18-12-2017 16:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  As cars become more fuel-efficient, less heat is wasted in the exhaust, which makes it harder to clean up the pollutants that are emitted. But researchers have recently created a catalyst capable of reducing pollutants at the lower temperatures expected in advanced engines. Their work, published this week in Science magazine, a leading peer-reviewed research journal, presents a new way to create a more powerful catalyst while using smaller amounts of platinum, the most expensive component of emi
  
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• Penguin tourism

  18-12-2017 16:17 via bbc.co.uk
  Reports of a tourist flight over Antarctica highlight China's growing interest in the poles.
  
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• Technique Could Help the Nation's Coal Plants Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

  18-12-2017 16:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Carbon capture could help the nation’s coal plants reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yet economic challenges are part of the reason the technology isn’t widely used today. That could change if power plants could turn captured carbon into a usable product.
  
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• Bowhead whales come to Cumberland Sound in Nunavut to exfoliate

  18-12-2017 14:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  Aerial drone footage of bowhead whales in Canada’s Arctic has revealed that the large mammals moult and use rocks to rub off dead skin.The footage provides one answer to the mystery of why whales return to Cumberland Sound, Nunavut, every summer, and helps explain some unusual behaviour that has been noted historically by Inuit and commercial whalers living and working in the area.
  
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• Are You Dreaming of a White Christmas?

  18-12-2017 14:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  For those of you dreaming of a white Christmas, you can find places that have the best chance of being a winter wonderland according to weather history. The “Historical Probability of a White Christmas” map shows the climatological probability of at least 1 inch of snow being on the ground on December 25 in the contiguous United States. On the map, dark gray shows places where the probability is less than 10 percent, while white shows probabilities greater than 90 percent.
  
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• Philippe Joubert: Policy frameworks will define climate action in 2018

  18-12-2017 13:08
  The concept that markets can direct themselves without government guidance is a "fallacy" and policymakers must use 2018 to create the regulatory frameworks that enable businesses to thrive on a low-carbon pathway.
  
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• UK plan to tackle plastic waste threat

  18-12-2017 13:06 via bbc.co.uk
  A four-point plan for tackling plastic waste has been outlined by the Environment Secretary Michael Gove.
  
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• UK firms 'cannot afford to ignore' £14bn green fleet opportunity

  18-12-2017 12:57
  UK businesses could make annual fuel savings of around £14bn if all of Britain's vans and HGVs switched to electric alternatives, according to a new report from Hitachi Capital.
  
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• Scientists have beaten down the best climate denial argument | Dana Nuccitelli

  18-12-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Clouds don’t act as a climate thermostat, and they’re not going to save us from global warming
  Climate deniers have come up with a lot of arguments about why we shouldn’t worry about global warming – about 200 of them – but most are quite poor, contradictory, and easily debunked by consulting the peer-reviewed scientific literature. The cleverest climate contrarians settle on the least implausible argument – that equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS – ho
  
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• Trump will drop climate change from US National Security Strategy

  18-12-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  President to outline new approach in unprecedented White House speechObama administration added climate to list of threats to US interestsThe Trump administration will drop climate change from a list of global threats in a new National Security Strategy the president is due to unveil on Monday. Related: Trump says he is not planning to fire Mueller as Republican attacks increaseContinue reading...
  
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• Trump will drop climate change from National Security Strategy

  18-12-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  President to outline new approach in unprecedented White House speechObama administration added climate to list of threats to US interestsThe Trump administration will drop climate change from a list of global threats in a new National Security Strategy the president is due to unveil on Monday.Related: Trump says he is not planning to fire Mueller as Republican attacks increaseContinue reading...
  
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• Trump drops climate change from national security strategy

  18-12-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  President outlined new approach in unprecedented White House speechObama administration added climate to list of threats to US interestsThe Trump administration has dropped climate change from a list of global threats in a new national security strategy the president unveiled on Monday.Related: Trump says he is not planning to fire Mueller as Republican attacks increaseContinue reading...
  
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• Barclays updates green bonds to capture 'compelling' economic opportunity

  18-12-2017 10:01
  Barclays has signified its shift towards a low-carbon economy, by announcing a set of green finance products that will help promote sustainability in the UK and across the globe.
  
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• Global coal consumption forecast to slow

  18-12-2017 09:14 via theguardian.com
  International Energy Authority says burning of fossil fuel is falling fast, driven by drop-off in use by EU, China and USEvery major country in the world except India reduced its consumption of coal last year, with demand for the dirty fuel forecast to stagnate for the next half decade, according to official forecasts. The International Energy Authority said 5.3bn tonnes of coal equivalent were burnt in 2016, down 1.9% on the year before and 4.2% on 2014, the fastest decline since 1990-1992, whe
  
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• Boost for fossil fuel divestment as UK eases pension rules

  18-12-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: pension schemes will be free to dump fossil fuel investments after government drops ‘best returns’ legal rules The government is to allow Britain’s £2tn workplace pension schemes to dump their shares in oil, gas and coal companies more easily, empowering them to take investment decisions to fight climate change.Until now, pension schemes have been hamstrung by “fiduciary duties” that effectively require schemes to seek the best returns irrespective
  
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• Country diary: tractors to the rescue on Three Peaks' icy inclines

  18-12-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Newby Head, Yorkshire Dales When heavy snow blocks the roads, farmer Rodney Beresford goes out to clear the wayTiny snow devil vortices dance across the scene outside Newby Head Farm, 1,400ft high in Yorkshire’s Three Peaks region. But the snow that tinsels the windbreak of Douglas firs does not stir. Neither does the mound of pink rock salt by the roadside; it is already half-frozen. Sheep farmer Rodney Beresford has to dig hard as he fills the hopper behind his 150hp Deutz tractor. Conti
  
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• Adani scraps $2bn deal to outsource Carmichael coalmine operation

  18-12-2017 00:53 via theguardian.com
  Decision to end Downer EDI agreement follows Palaszczuk government’s blocking of federal loan for the Queensland project Adani has scrapped a $2bn agreement to outsource the operation of its controversial Queensland coalmine after the state government killed off a taxpayer-funded loan.The Indian miner says it will now develop and operate the Carmichael project on an owner-operator basis after reaching an agreement with contractor Downer EDI to abandon their deal, which was reportedly worth
  
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