Environment news

• Councils should have a statutory duty to provide parks | Letters

  28-12-2017 18:28 via theguardian.com
  Kate Ashbrook says hard-pressed local authorities are having to exploit parks as venues for damaging commercial events; Hal Moggridge writes that urban pollution makes parks, with their purer air quality, more vital than ever; David Jolley says parks must be a statutory responsibility of local authoritiesYour correspondents set out the bleak prospects for public parks (Letters, 26 December). To combat austerity, local authorities are increasingly exploiting parks as venues for exclusive, damagin
  
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• Technology and cost reviews for renewable energy in Alaska: Sharing our experience and know-how

  28-12-2017 17:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Many of the more than 200 remote communities in Alaska are turning to renewable energy to reduce reliance on high-cost imported fuels, and to ensure more independent and reliable energy availability based on local sources. Alaska is home to a substantial fraction of the developed microgrids in the world. Incorporating grid-scale levels of renewably sourced generation, such as wind and solar power, has led to an unusual concentration of experience and expertise in the design, development, and ope
  
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• Algae on Greenland Ice Sheet Significantly Hasten Its Melting

  28-12-2017 17:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Naturally occurring algae on Greenland’s massive ice sheet absorb large amounts of the sun’s energy and speed up the melting of the ice sheet even more than black carbon and mineral dust, according to a new study.
  
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• Short-term exposure to low levels of air pollution linked with premature death among U.S. seniors

  28-12-2017 17:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  Short-term exposures to fine particulate air pollution and ozone—even at levels well below current national safety standards—were linked to higher risk of premature death among the elderly in the U.S. according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.The risk was even higher among elderly who were low-income, female, or Black.The study was published December 26, 2017 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
  
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• Charcoal remains could accelerate CO2 emissions after forest fires

  28-12-2017 15:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Charcoal remains after a forest fire help decompose fine roots in the soil, potentially accelerating CO2 emissions in boreal forests.
  
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• Failed satellite programmed with 'wrong co-ordinates'

  28-12-2017 13:58 via bbc.co.uk
  A multi-million pound weather satellite is lost after being programmed to take off from the wrong base.
  
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• Hurricanes and heatwaves: stark signs of climate change 'new normal'

  28-12-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  This year is set to be the third warmest on record in the US, as scientists say the fingerprints of climate change can be seen in numerous extreme weather eventsScientists say 2017 is set to be the third warmest year on record in the US as they look back on a year littered with stark signals of climate change.The year-to-date average temperature across the contiguous US has been 2.6F above the 20th century average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), placing
  
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• Forget Juicero, here are the tech gadgets we can actually get excited about in 2018

  28-12-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  If this year’s $120m juicing flop gave you reason to doubt in human ingenuity, take heart in these incredible inventions to come: from an artificial kidney to a breast pump you might actually want to use
  Silicon Valley lost a valiant soldier in 2017. Internet-connected juice maker Juicero, funded to the tune of $120m, drowned in schadenfreude after it was discovered that its pre-portioned $7 packets of fruit and veg could be squeezed just as effectively by hand. Never before has a company
  
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• Through the seasons: readers' best weather photographs in 2017

  28-12-2017 10:00 via theguardian.com
  As the year draws to a close, we celebrate the finest weather photos our readers’ have snapped this year – from January dawns to December snowfalls Continue reading...
  
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• Electric passenger jet revolution looms as E-Fan X project takes off

  28-12-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Battery-powered air taxis and bigger hybrid planes poised to change aviationTrains, ships and automobiles have all been swept along in recent years by the electric power revolution – and planes are next.Passenger jets are poised for an electric makeover that could fundamentally change the economics and environmental outlook of the aviation industry. Up until now the fact that the necessary batteries weigh two tonnes each has limited the switch from fossil fuels to a totally electric-powere
  
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• Ice will return but extinctions can't be reversed. We must act now

  28-12-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  We have to develop digital forecasts of species’ responses to climate change, design robust strategies to protect as many as possible, and help nature to adaptEach day increasingly dangerous hurricanes, wildfires, and floods betray the influence of climate change. We are appalled at the accruing losses of life and property. The arguments to address climate change at the recent UN climate conference in Bonn focused most often on these more concrete risks. However, the worst effects of clima
  
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• Country diary: a stone dog marked by time and tides

  28-12-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wrest Park, Bedfordshire The statue was pitted and scarred with marine fossils, drooling threads of spider web anchored to its teethEven before the stonemason struck soft rock with hard metal for the first time, he must have known that he was destined for imperfection. Three hundred years later, the evidence was plain to see on an animal sitting on the terrace of the big house, haughty, imperious and mildly deformed.The mason had chiselled a block of sediment from an ancient sea into a guard dog
  
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• Renewables generated triple the power of coal in 2017, UK figures show

  28-12-2017 06:07 via theguardian.com
  As the worst-polluting coal plants near the end of their life, the focus must turn to tackling gas dependency, says analysis firm British wind farms generated more electricity than coal plants on more than 75% of days this year, an analysis of energy figures has shown.Solar also outperformed coal more than half the time, the data provided by website MyGridGB revealed. Continue reading...
  
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• China's 'sponge cities' are turning streets green to combat flooding

  28-12-2017 04:00 via theguardian.com
  Replacing concrete pavements with wetlands, green rooftops and rain gardens means stormwater is absorbed back into the land, making water work for the city instead of against itA small part of Shanghai is turning greener, street by street. In the Lingang district, pavements are lined with trees, gardens and public squares full of plant beds. Between cranes and construction sites, plans display new buildings enveloped in the green and blue of parks, streams, and water features. Continue reading..
  
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• UK enjoyed 'greenest year for electricity ever' in 2017

  28-12-2017 03:19 via bbc.co.uk
  Renewables provided more electricity than coal for 90% of year, National Grid figures show.
  
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• From 'angry summer' to 'weird winter': 2017 was riddled with extreme weather | Amanda McKenzie

  28-12-2017 03:17 via theguardian.com
  Australia is the land of droughts and floods, but they are becoming more frequent and forceful. The window of opportunity to act on climate change is closingThe fingerprints of climate change can be traced across 2017, with extreme weather events witnessed around the world; from supercharged storms, hurricanes, floods and heatwaves through to bushfires. 2017 has seen it all.
  As the year draws to a close, it remains on track to become the third hottest year on record and the hottest in a non-El N
  
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• Blue tarantula

  28-12-2017 01:43 via bbc.co.uk
  With the help of local scientists, a multinational team discovers unknown species in Guyana.
  
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• 'Haywire' seasons lead to freak year for nature, says National Trust

  28-12-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Warmer weather has been good for some of the UK’s flora and fauna, while others have suffered or almost disappeared completely“Haywire” seasons caused by global warming are having a worrying effect on flora and fauna, a leading conservation charity has warned. In its annual wildlife and weather review, the National Trust said mixed-up seasons and warming seas in 2017 had led to a “freak” year for nature.Continue reading...
  
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