Environment news

• Weatherwatch: scientists develop 'speed breeding' to feed rising population

  02-01-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Researchers are developing a system to enable six harvests a year of staple food crops that can survive climate changeScientists are engaged in a race against time to breed staple crops that can both survive climate change and yield bigger harvests. Their aim is to feed a growing population in a warming world.The method used for centuries of growing one crop a year in variable weather conditions and then selecting the seeds from the best plants is no longer viable in fast-changing climatic condi
  
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• A Fossil Fuel Technology That Doesn't Pollute

  02-01-2018 21:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  Engineers at The Ohio State University are developing technologies that have the potential to economically convert fossil fuels and biomass into useful products including electricity without emitting carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
  
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• AI early diagnosis could save heart and cancer patients

  02-01-2018 20:05 via bbc.co.uk
  The systems will save billions of pounds by enabling the diseases to be picked up much earlier.
  
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• Pret a Manger doubles discount for bringing reusable coffee cups

  02-01-2018 19:46 via theguardian.com
  Chain will now knock 50p off prices in bid to help change customers’ habits, with the UK discarding an estimated 2.5bn coffee cups every yearCustomers who bring reusable cups to Pret a Manger will be given a 50p discount on hot drinks after the company introduced the measure and said it was hoping to change people’s habits and reduce waste.The sandwich chain has been offering 25p discounts to customers using reusable cups since 2017, alongside Costa and Starbucks. CEO Clive Schlee sa
  
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• Rubbish already building up at UK recycling plants due to China import ban

  02-01-2018 18:33 via theguardian.com
  Plastic that would have been imported to China will cause chaos for councils as it mounts up, warn industry expertsA ban on imports of millions of tonnes of plastic waste by the Chinese government is already causing a build up of rubbish at recycling plants around the UK and will bring chaos for councils in the weeks ahead, according to industry experts.Simon Ellin, chief executive of the UK Recycling Association, said his members had already seen some lower grade plastics piling up at their yar
  
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• Researchers discover higher environmental impact from cookstove emissions

  02-01-2018 17:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Cookstoves are a central part of millions of homes throughout Asia: families often use readily available and cheap biofuels — such as crop chaff or dung — to prepare the food needed to survive.
  
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• Greens should take a lesson from Donald Trump. Here’s why | Patrick Barkham

  02-01-2018 17:26 via theguardian.com
  Alpha males think caring about the environment is too ‘feminine’, research shows. So let’s make saving the planet a bit more machoThere’s a problem species, carelessly roaming the planet – consuming, polluting or trashing everything in its wake. No, not simply Homo sapiens: more precisely, the males of the species.Studies consistently show a gender gap in attitudes towards Mother Earth. Women, social scientists tell us, are more willing to take action to help the en
  
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• Integrated storage and renewables tipped to be worth $23bn by 2026

  02-01-2018 17:06
  The global energy storage and renewables integration (ESRI) will be worth more than $23bn by 2026, according to new analysis from clean energy researchers.
  
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• Keep global warming under 1.5C or 'quarter of planet could become arid'

  02-01-2018 16:51 via theguardian.com
  A global temperature rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels could see many regions facing an increased threat of drought and wildfires, study suggests More than a quarter of the planet’s surface could become significantly drier if global temperatures rise 2C above pre-industrial levels, scientists predict.The study, which is one of the most detailed assessments to date of future aridity, suggests that many regions could face an increased threat of drought and wildfires. Continue reading...
  
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• Solving a problem like waste recycling

  02-01-2018 16:41 via bbc.co.uk
  The BBC's Dan Johnson visited a plant in Southwark to see how they're dealing with recycling build-up.
  
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• Curbing Climate Change

  02-01-2018 15:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  Humans may be the dominant cause of global temperature rise, but they may also be a crucial factor in helping to reduce it, according to a new study that for the first time builds a novel model to measure the effects of behavior on climate.
  
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• Trump plan to shrink ocean monuments threatens vital ecosystems, experts warn

  02-01-2018 13:05 via theguardian.com
  Ryan Zinke has recommended three major marine monuments be reduced to allow greater commercial fishing, prompting anguish from environmental groupsThe Trump administration’s plan to shrink four land-based national monuments has provoked howls of anguish from environmental groups, Native American tribes and some businesses, such as the outdoors company Patagonia. Related: In America and beyond, the spirit behind public lands is at risk | Hansjörg WyssContinue reading...
  
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• New Year Honours 2018: Sustainability champions make Queen's list

  02-01-2018 12:49
  The 2018 New Year Honours list has recognised the outstanding achievements of a number of senior figures across the UK's green economy.
  
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• UK enjoys 'greenest year ever' in 2017

  02-01-2018 12:30
  Britain achieved its 'greenest year ever' in 2017 thanks to 13 new records across the clean energy sector, according to analysis from WWF.
  
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• Heathrow increases environmental charges for aircrafts

  02-01-2018 12:20
  Heathrow Airport has announced that it is increasing its environmental charges for aircrafts by 7%, as part of a move to incentivise airlines to deploy cleaner and newer aircrafts to lower emissions and noise pollution.
  
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• 2017 was the hottest year on record without an El Niño, thanks to global warming | Dana Nuccitelli

  02-01-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Climate scientists predicted the rapid rise in global surface temperatures that we’re now seeing2017 was the second-hottest year on record according to Nasa data, and was the hottest year without the short-term warming influence of an El Niño event: Continue reading...
  
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• New Year Honours 2018: Sustainability champions on Queen's list

  02-01-2018 11:49
  The 2018 New Year Honours list has recognised the achievements of a number of top figures across the UK's green economy.
  
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• Electric van trials helped deliver Christmas presents to Londoners

  02-01-2018 11:24
  Electric vans helped deliver an average of 80,000 parcels a week across London during the Christmas period, as the city's Mayor Sadiq Khan continues to combat rising air pollution in the capital.
  
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• 'Snake egg' mystery leaves experts scrambling after Australian school's discovery

  02-01-2018 09:27 via theguardian.com
  Wildlife rescuers retrieve 43 eggs believed to be from of one of the world’s most venomous snakes from school’s sandpitIt’s a mystery as hard to grab hold of as the slippery serpents supposedly at its centre: were the 43 unidentified eggs found in a sandpit at a school on the New South Wales mid-north coast snakes, or something less sinister?Snake social media went into meltdown on Tuesday when reports emerged that wildlife rescuers had been called in to remove a dozen mystery
  
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• The gene editing tech that uses 'molecular scissors'

  02-01-2018 08:37 via bbc.co.uk
  In 2012 a form of gene editing was discovered, it is called CRISPR Cas9. It uses "molecular scissors" to alter a very specific strand of DNA.
  
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• Mussel power: Bid to save rare shellfish in Wales

  02-01-2018 07:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Young freshwater pearl mussels are being grown at a fishery in Powys
  
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• Country diary: a visual rhyme of craftsmanship and nature

  02-01-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Grassington, Upper Wharfedale The stark geometry of the bone-white boundary walls complements the outcrops and escarpments around Grass WoodThe weakest of the year’s sunlight falls on the barn-studded latticework of dry stone walls just outside Grassington. I stop to admire the skill they must have required: the Great Scar Limestone that underlies much of Upper Wharfedale comes from the fields in big, irregular chunks, too dense for a chipping hammer, and the resulting walls are completed
  
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• Dozens of snake eggs found in Australian school sandpit

  02-01-2018 02:14 via theguardian.com
  Wildlife rescuers retrieve 43 eggs thought to be from of one of the world’s most poisonous snakes, the eastern brownStudents at a school on the New South Wales mid-north coast have learned a valuable lesson: sandpits make great snake nests.Wildlife rescuers were shocked when a call to remove about a dozen eggs from a sandpit at a school near the coastal town of Laurieton, 350km north of Sydney, became rather more dramatic. Continue reading...
  
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