Environment news

• Climate change: Self-enhancing effect cannot be explained by soil animals

  21-12-2017 22:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  When the soil warms up, it releases more carbon dioxide (CO2) – an effect that further fuels climate change. Until now, it had been assumed that the reason for this was mainly due to the presence of small soil animals and microorganisms that would eat and breathe more in warmer temperatures. However, a new study in Nature Climate Change has shown that this is not the case. Quite the contrary: If warmth is accompanied by drought, the soil animals eat even less. In order to improve
  
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• Origins of photosynthesis in plants dated to 1.25 billion years ago

  21-12-2017 21:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  The world’s oldest algae fossils are a billion years old, according to a new analysis by earth scientists at McGill University. Based on this finding, the researchers also estimate that the basis for photosynthesis in today’s plants was set in place 1.25 billion years ago.
  
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• Mixing State of Black Carbon from Biomass Burning Differs Evidently in Different Combustion Phase

  21-12-2017 21:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  As a short-lived climate forcer, black carbon aerosols in the atmosphere play a vital role in climate change by absorbing solar radiation and altering the formation, lifespan and albedo of clouds. It also provides "seed" for haze formation in urban/regional scale. In northern China, open biomass burning (OBB), such as straw burning after harvesting, is one of important sources of refractory black carbon (rBC). OBB emits both soot particles and substantial amount of semi-volatile organic matters,
  
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• Can computers help us synthesize new materials?

  21-12-2017 21:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Last month, three MIT materials scientists and their colleagues published a paper describing a new artificial-intelligence system that can pore through scientific papers and extract “recipes” for producing particular types of materials.
  
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• Devastating climate change could lead to 1m migrants a year entering EU by 2100

  21-12-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Researchers plotted temperature rises against the number of asylum applications and are predicting that as the southern hemisphere heats up the number of people migrating to the EU each year will tripleClimate change will drive a huge increase in the number of migrants seeking asylum in Europe if current trends continue, according to a new study.The number of migrants attempting to settle in Europe each year will triple by the end of the century based on current climate trends alone, independent
  
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• Nearly 20,000 badgers culled in attempt to reduce bovine TB

  21-12-2017 18:40 via theguardian.com
  Almost twice as many badgers have been killed this autumn, after massive expansion of the cull zonesNearly 20,000 badgers were culled this autumn as part of the government’s attempt to reduce bovine TB in cattle, in what critics called the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory.The 19,274 dead badgers is almost twice as many as last year after 11 new cull zones were added to a swath of the West Country worst-hit by bovine TB. While some badgers were trapped before bein
  
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• Diverting aid to fund waste collection will save lives and clean the ocean, says charity

  21-12-2017 16:21 via theguardian.com
  UK government should make 100-fold increase in the amount of aid spent on dealing with plastic waste, says TearfundThe British government should divert hundreds of millions of pounds from its aid budget to help developing countries clear up their waste and reduce marine plastic pollution, a charity has said.
  The development charity Tearfund is in talks with senior government figures, and hopes to persuade ministers to increase the spending on waste and rubbish collection in the developing world
  
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• Climate Change Has Doubled Snowfall Around North America's Highest Peak

  21-12-2017 15:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  The amount of snow falling in Alaska’s Denali National Park, home to North America’s tallest mountain, has more than doubled over the past 150 years, according to a new study.
  
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• London urged to address 'laughable' recycling rates

  21-12-2017 14:26
  The London Assembly has called on Sadiq Khan to take a lead in increasing the capital's recycling rates, as damning figures highlight the sheer scale of the problem.
  
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• Sustainable Business Covered podcast: LandSec and Costa get into the Christmas community spirit

  21-12-2017 14:07
  LandSec invites edie to its Community Employment Awards to discuss job growth and community engagement, while Costa covers 10 years of its Foundation work to boost social aspects in developing countries.
  
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• Study opens window on meltwater from icebergs

  21-12-2017 14:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  Surface water conditions in Greenland’s fjords and in the northern Atlantic Ocean are dictated by what’s going on deep below the surface next to the massive Greenland Ice Sheet, UO-led research has found.Breakaway icebergs, according to research findings appearing online Dec. 4 ahead of publication in the journal Nature Geoscience, are the biggest source of freshwater entering the ocean in key areas around Greenland. And the timing and location of meltwater are important factors that
  
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• Continued Emissions May Cause Global North-to-South Shift in Wind Power By End of Century

  21-12-2017 14:03 via feedproxy.google.com
   In the next century, wind resources may decrease in many regions of the Northern Hemisphere and could sharply increase in some hotspot regions down south, according to a study by University of Colorado Boulder researchers. The first-of-its-kind study predicting how global wind power may shift with climate change appears today in Nature Geoscience.
  
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• Keith Briffa obituary

  21-12-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  My friend and colleague, Keith Briffa, who has died aged 64, was a climate scientist whose influential work helped drive the international acceptance of global warming as being due to human agency.His scientific investigations ranged widely but his most influential and sustained contributions lay in decoding the complex climatic signals encrypted by annual tree rings and thereby positioning the science of dendro-climatology on rigorously tested foundations. Continue reading...
  
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• Walk the North Kent Marshes – while the solitude lasts

  21-12-2017 12:56 via theguardian.com
  The Hoo peninsula between the Thames and Medway estuaries has a rough-edged beauty, a landscape rich in history and a thriving bird reserve – but this sanctuary near London is under threat from developmentHope and loss have begun to bleed into each other, for me, out here on the North Kent Marshes. I spent a year walking this landscape for my book, On the Marshes, rediscovering its beauty and learning about its fragility. So now I take people out walking and just hope they get it.The marsh
  
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• Sustainable cotton fund reached 600,000 farmers in past year

  21-12-2017 12:55
  More than 600,000 farmers have benefited from a Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) fund thanks to an almost doubled membership size of in the past year.
  
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• All UK police forces should adopt Welsh approach to videos of dangerous driving

  21-12-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Camera footage of road traffic offences can be uploaded onto the Welsh police website Operation Snap Head to your favoured social media platform and at some point you’ll come across footage or photos of poor and illegal behaviour on the UK’s roads. Among the inevitable comments of outrage and armchair verdicts will inevitably be a discussion about whether the police saw this footage, and if so what action they took.But with 45 police forces operating across the UK, the biggest proble
  
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• A small number of farms are responsible for the majority of antibiotic use

  21-12-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Research shows antibiotic use is uneven between farms, making behaviour change a tantalising prospectA small number of the UK’s dairy farms account for an outsized proportion of antibiotic use, according to new research, suggesting that closer scrutiny of antibiotic prescribing practices could help bring down their use.A study published in the BMJ publication Vet Record found some farms were using “extremely high levels” of antibiotics in their cattle. While most of the dairy f
  
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• Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

  21-12-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly WattHinkley Point, on the Somerset coast, is the biggest building site in Europe. Here, on 430 acres of muddy fields scattered with towering cranes and bright yellow diggers, the first new nuclear power station in the UK since 1995 is slowly taking sh
  
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• Country diary: venerable beech hosts a swarm of microscopic life

  21-12-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Mini-ponds have formed in the surface roots of an ancient tree and provide an environment for minute organisms to thriveThe beech that stands at the end of the stepping stones across Waskerley beck is an elephantine presence, dwarfing surrounding trees. The scarred grey bark of its bole has the colour and texture of pachyderm skin. Its moss-covered surface roots seem to be melting into the earth under the massive burden they support. Over decades they have grown and coalesced, creating hollows b
  
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• Electricity target so weak it would require 'taking every car away' to meet Paris deal – Greens

  21-12-2017 04:18 via theguardian.com
  Adam Bandt says analysis of emissions targets for electricity sector ‘shows the cost of caving in to the climate deniers’The Turnbull government’s proposed emissions targets for the electricity sector would mean every car would need to be taken off the roads immediately, or every cow would need to be taken off farms from next year, for Australia to reach the targets it committed to as part of the Paris agreement, according to analysis conducted by the Greens.While neither measu
  
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• Fungal disease poses global threat to snakes

  21-12-2017 02:48 via bbc.co.uk
  Snake populations worldwide may already be infected with a potentially deadly disease, say scientists.
  
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• Chocolate poisoning risk to dogs at Christmas

  21-12-2017 02:23 via bbc.co.uk
  Chocolate poisoning is a risk to the family dog over the festive season, vets are warning.
  
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• India unveils anti-smog cannon in fight against Delhi pollution

  21-12-2017 01:38 via theguardian.com
  The cannon blasts water droplets at high speed to flush out air pollutants, but environmentalists say it doesn’t tackle the root cause of the problemIndia has unveiled a new weapon against air pollution – an “anti-smog gun” which authorities hope will clear the skies above New Delhi but which environmentalists say amounts to a band-aid solution.
  The cannon’s Indian manufacturers say the fine droplets of water it ejects at high speed can flush out deadly airborne pol
  
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• Losing the wilderness: a 10th has gone since 1992 – and gone for good

  21-12-2017 01:14 via theguardian.com
  A new study warns if the degradation rate continues, all wilderness areas will be at risk over the next 50 years The world’s last great wildernesses are shrinking at an alarming rate. In the past two decades, 10% of the earth’s wilderness has been lost due to human pressure, a mapping study by the University of Queensland has found. Over the course of human history, there has been a major degradation of 52% of the earth’s ecosystems, while the remaining 48% is being increasingl
  
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• Snowy Hydro 2.0 is viable but will cost billions more than predicted, study says

  21-12-2017 01:08 via theguardian.com
  Malcolm Turnbull’s spokesman praises move as a ‘nation-building project’ after report shows it to be financially feasibleA feasibility study into the proposed expansion of the Snowy Hydro scheme has given the project the green light, but says it will cost billions of dollars more than predicted.The study, supported by Malcolm Turnbull, found the proposed expansion was both technically and financially feasible, and that Snowy Hydro would be able to finance the project itself. Co
  
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• Weak energy target threatens 27GW of renewable projects

  21-12-2017 00:03 via theguardian.com
  The 2020 renewables target is already set to be exceeded by projects now under constructionWeak targets suggested for the proposed national energy guarantee will threaten a massive 27 gigawatts of renewable energy projects proposed for development across Australia.Were they to go ahead, these projects would produce as much capacity as 17 Hazelwood power stations and mean half of Australia’s electricity was supplied by renewables. Continue reading...
  
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