Environment news

• Algae Growth Reduces Reflectivity, Enhances Greenland Ice Sheet Melting

  20-12-2017 22:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  New research shows algae growing on the Greenland ice sheet, the Earth’s second-largest ice sheet, significantly reduce the surface reflectivity of the ice sheet’s bare ice area and contribute more to its melting than dust or black carbon. The new findings could influence scientists’ understanding of ice sheet melting and projections of future sea level rise, according to the study’s authors.
  
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• Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge now has a $1bn price tag on it | Kim Heacox

  20-12-2017 19:38 via theguardian.com
  Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski believes this refuge could generate vast sums of money once it’s opened to oil leasing. That would be a tragedy
  Years ago, camping in Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge, I watched a herd of caribou – 100,000 bulls, cows and their three-week-old calves – braid over the tundra, moving to a rhythm as old as the wind.“Not many places like this left today,” said my friend Jeff, sitting next to me above an ice-fringed river. Cont
  
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• Sea turtle found tangled in floating cocaine bales

  20-12-2017 19:02 via bbc.co.uk
  The US Coast Guard tries to save the animal tangled in line connecting bales of cocaine in the Pacific.
  
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• Thousands of tonnes of dangerous mining waste dumped in wrong place

  20-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Northern Territory government insists no report about resulting combustion and emissions exists, despite investigating McArthur river mineAn Australian mine owned by the global trading firm Glencore mistakenly dumped 63 truckloads of dangerous waste material in the wrong place, where it combusted and sent sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.The scale of the incident, which occurred at the remote McArthur river zinc-lead mine in Australia’s north, was kept out of the public eye. The Norther
  
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• Researchers Identify Nontraditional Sites for Future Solar Farms

  20-12-2017 17:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  Equivalent of 183,000 football fields of nonagricultural land identified in study aiming to ease competition between farmers, conservationists, and energy companies.
  
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• Pesticides and Poor Nutrition Damage Animal Health

  20-12-2017 17:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  The combined effects of pesticides and a lack of nutrition form a deadly one-two punch, new research from biologists at the University of California San Diego has shown for the first time.
  
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• China Announces Details of New Carbon Trading Market

  20-12-2017 17:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  China has released plans to create the world’s largest carbon emissions trading scheme, several news outlets reported. The market will initially be focused on the power sector, which produced almost half of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions last year, and will encompass 1,700 energy suppliers producing more than 3 billion tons of CO2 annually, according to Reuters.
  
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• Texas A&M Team Making Models To Predict Droughts

  20-12-2017 17:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  Drought-predicting computer models are not made just so that scientists can say “I told you so” when your favorite lake runs low. From agriculture, to infrastructure, to tourism — major sectors of the economy need a heads-up on what weather conditions are coming down the pipe.
  
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• Warming Seas Double Snowfall Around North America's Tallest Peaks

  20-12-2017 17:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Snowfall on a major summit in North America’s highest mountain range has more than doubled since the beginning of the Industrial Age, according to a study from Dartmouth College, the University of Maine, and the University of New Hampshire.
  
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• Research finds North Atlantic Oscillation synchronises tree reproduction across Europe

  20-12-2017 17:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Research by the University of Liverpool has found a strong correlation between the North Atlantic Oscillation and synchronised tree reproduction across Europe, supporting the idea that this phenomenon plays a greater role in large scale masting, the process whereby forest trees produce large numbers of seeds in the same year.
  
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• Polluted woods: leaves contaminate soil with hydrocarbon

  20-12-2017 17:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  In the Autumn leaves fall and apparently contaminate soil. It happens in the Italian woods where remediation is required by law for heavy hydrocarbon concentration greater than 50 milligrams per kilo.
  
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• Healthier Air due to the Low Emission Zone

  20-12-2017 17:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Low Emission Zone in Leipzig was established in March 2011, allowing only access of Diesel vehicles of Euro4 and higher with few exceptions. The ban of older vehicles and subsequent modernization of the car fleet resulted in slightly reduced PM10 and PM2.5 mass concentrations. However, the mass concentration of black carbon (soot particles) emitted mainly from Diesel vehicles decreased by 60% at the street site. These particles are believed to be most dangerous due to their carcinogenic trac
  
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• Landlords to contribute to energy efficiency

  20-12-2017 17:09
  The government is proposing to force private landlords to contribute towards measures to improve their properties' energy efficiency.
  
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• Gove: UK would not compromise with US on food standards

  20-12-2017 15:31 via theguardian.com
  Environment secretary sets up possible clash in future US trade talks over retaining EU regulations post-BrexitBritain could block a post-Brexit trade deal with the US if it included the sale of chlorine-washed chickens, currently banned by the EU, Michael Gove has said. While the environment secretary evaded the question of whether he would veto a trade deal in order to protect consumers, he insisted Britain would not waiver on animal welfare standards built up by the EU over decades. Continue
  
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• Siting Solar, Sparing Prime Agricultural Lands

  20-12-2017 15:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  Unconventional spaces could be put to use generating renewable energy while sparing lands that could be better used to grow food, sequester carbon and protect wildlife and watersheds, says a study led by the University of California, Davis.
  
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• Anti-bird tree spikes: we love cars so much, we destroy nature for them | Patrick Barkham

  20-12-2017 15:17 via theguardian.com
  It’s a somewhat trivial incident, but revealing of a wider shame – British society continues to be built around the car, no matter the costThere’s a world where fearsome beasts roar through every village, town and city, every hour of the day. These creatures kill hundreds of children and adults every year. They belch toxic gases that hasten death in many thousands. And yet we genuflect to their shiny bodies – so much so that we ban birds from trees to stop their droppings
  
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• Using science to wrap oddly-shaped gifts

  20-12-2017 14:39 via bbc.co.uk
  Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Hannah Fry offer a scientist's guide
  
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• Globe had 3rd warmest year to date and 5th warmest November on record

  20-12-2017 14:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  With a warm start to the year and only one month remaining, the globe remains on track to go down as the third warmest year in the 138-year climate record.   So, let's get straight to the data and dive deeper into NOAA’s monthly analysis to see how the planet fared for November, the season and the year to date:
  
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• France bans fracking and oil extraction in all of its territories

  20-12-2017 12:27 via theguardian.com
  French parliamentarians have passed a law banning fossil fuel extraction. President Macron says he wants France to lead the world with switch to renewablesFrance’s parliament has passed into law a ban on producing oil and gas by 2040, a largely symbolic gesture as the country is 99% dependent on hydrocarbon imports. In Tuesday’s vote by show of hands, only the rightwing Republicans party opposed, while leftwing lawmakers abstained.Continue reading...
  
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• Japan’s inaction on illegal ivory exports threatens Chinese ban, report says

  20-12-2017 12:11 via theguardian.com
  Monitoring network Traffic says smuggling of undocumented ivory into China could undermine enforcement of imminent banJapan’s failure to prevent illegal ivory exports could undermine China’s forthcoming ban on its domestic ivory trade, conservation groups have warned.Inaction by Japan’s government has allowed the smuggling of large quantities of undocumented ivory overseas, mainly to China, according to a report released in Tokyo on Wednesday by the wildlife trade monitoring ne
  
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• Christmas jeer: Rome's 'Spelacchio' tree attracts ridicule – video

  20-12-2017 11:23 via theguardian.com
  Rome's new Christmas tree is being ridiculed by residents of the Italian capital after it began losing its pine needles. The sickly tree has been compared to a toilet brush and is nicknamed 'Spelacchio', meaning mangy or balding. The city hall has promised to investigate why the tree was brought over from Austria in such bad shape  Continue reading...
  
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• Vandals damage ancient dinosaur footprint in Australia

  20-12-2017 11:16 via bbc.co.uk
  Vandals 'took a hammer or rock' to a 115 million year old fossil, breaking off sections of its toes.
  
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• Bear bile and snakeskin boots: illegal goods seized at Heathrow – in pictures

  20-12-2017 10:52 via theguardian.com
  The UK Border Force at Heathrow airport seizes illegal goods including taxidermied endangered species, ivory carvings and herbal medicines. The government agency is a world leader in identifying and preventing the unlawful trade in endangered animals and plant materialContinue reading...
  
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• Dolphin pod living year-round off coast of England

  20-12-2017 10:50 via bbc.co.uk
  A pod of 28 bottlenose dolphins is found to be permanently living off the south-west coast of England.
  
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• Bottlenose dolphins giving England the fins up all year round, research shows

  20-12-2017 08:01 via theguardian.com
  A group of 28 bottlenose dolphins has been identified that live in the shallow waters around St Ives in Cornwall, but sometimes travel to Devon and DorsetEngland’s only resident population of bottlenose dolphins has been identified by researchers. Experts analysed thousands of sightings and photographs from the south west of England between 2007 and 2016. They identified 98 individual bottlenose dolphins and were able to define a distinct group of 28 that were resident throughout the year.
  
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• 'This is a generation challenging their parents on the environment': how schools are taking on plastic waste

  20-12-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  BBC’s Blue Planet has done much to raise awareness of the damage done by plastic. In the UK, schools are finding creative ways to work towards change“We are at a unique stage in our history,” David Attenborough said to the audience in the final episode of Blue Planet II. “Never before have we had such an awareness of what we’re doing to the planet. And never before have we had the power to do something about it.” The most watched programme of 2017 has done muc
  
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• Our selective blindness is lethal to the living world | George Monbiot

  20-12-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Each generation is normalising the erosion of our environment, and the devastating losses to fragile ecosystems mount upWhat you see is not what others see. We inhabit parallel worlds of perception, bounded by our interests and experience. What is obvious to some is invisible to others. I might find myself standing, transfixed, by the roadside, watching a sparrowhawk hunting among the bushes, astonished that other people could ignore it. But they might just as well be wondering how I could have
  
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• Marks & Spencer is first supermarket to publish data on antibiotics in supply chain

  20-12-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: medical campaigners wanting to preserve antibiotics for human use praise supermarket for reducing their use in production of meat, eggs and dairyMarks & Spencer has become the first supermarket chain in the UK to publish details of the use of antibiotics in its farm supply chain, in a step towards reducing the use of vital human medicines in livestock-rearing.On Wednesday, the company disclosed on its web site information on the quantities of antibiotics used on livestock by the f
  
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• Country diary: Cornwall enjoys a midwinter glow

  20-12-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  St Dominic, Tamar Valley In wooded valleys sunbeams filter through the trees, illuminating moss, picking out a spiral of gnats, side-lighting a flock of sheepInterludes and flashes of sunshine bring sparkle and colour to the drab midwinter landscape around home. Before streaks of orange brilliance mark the sunrise, a blackbird chortles and pitches into the remains of ripe fruits on the Kousa dogwood; blooms of the camellia Cornish Snow glow beside dark foliage and yellow spikes of fragrant mahon
  
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• Loud orgies of Mexican fish could deafen dolphins, say scientists

  20-12-2017 03:21 via theguardian.com
  Mating call of the Gulf corvina, which is under threat from overfishing, sounds like ‘a really loud machine gun’ A species of Mexican fish amasses in reproductive orgies so loud they can deafen other sea animals, awed scientists have said, calling for preservation of the “spectacle” threatened by overfishing.
  An individual spawning Gulf corvina, say the researchers, utters a mating call resembling “a really loud machine gun” with multiple rapid sound pulses. C
  
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• Some clownfish have no personality, Australian study finds

  20-12-2017 00:22 via theguardian.com
  Researchers say some of the fish also known as anemonefish display individual personalities but others act more as a groupSome species of clownfish have absolutely no personality, a study by Australian researchers has found.Research by the University of Wollongong and Southern Cross University analysed the behavioural patterns of two species of subtropical clownfish, or anemonefish: Amphiprion mccullochi, which is endemic to a shallow lagoon on Lord Howe island, off the coast of New South Wales;
  
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