Environment news

• Shakedown in Oklahoma: To Cut the Number of Bigger Earthquakes, Inject Less Saltwater

  05-01-2018 21:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  In Oklahoma, reducing the amount of saltwater (highly brackish water produced during oil and gas recovery) pumped into the ground seems to be decreasing the number of small fluid-triggered earthquakes.
  
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• Reduce waste, recycle more, and stop the burning | Letters

  05-01-2018 19:26 via theguardian.com
  Jenny Jones says the UK must respond proactively to news that China has banned imports of millions of tons of plastic wasteThis could be the year we start burning more of our waste than recycling it (China’s plastic waste ban ‘creates a crisis for UK local authorities’, 3 January). There are already three English regions where incineration (energy from waste) has become the most likely way for councils to dispose of our waste and the amount that we recycle has flatlined in all
  
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• Dogs, cats, robins and ducking the question | Brief letters

  05-01-2018 19:25 via theguardian.com
  Jeremy Hunt | Guardian cleans up | Top tabloid | Robin’s nest | Risque place namesPolly Toynbee’s article (The Tories knew there would be an NHS winter crisis but did nothing, theguardian.com, 3 January) notes that Jeremy Hunt “sent out a civil servant, Prof Keith Willett, director of acute care [to be interviewed on the radio], because he couldn’t be asked the crucial political question”. Is “couldn’t be asked” another of the Guardian’s famo
  
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• South-east England at risk of water shortages this summer, officials warn

  05-01-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  A year of unusually dry weather means parts of England are facing summer drought with groundwater and some reservoirs well below normalA year of dry weather, only slightly alleviated by recent storms, has left much of south-east England facing drought this summer.
  Groundwater and some reservoir levels are well below normal and only above-average rainfall in the next three months will refill them, officials warned on Friday. One water company, Southern Water, has applied for a drought permit to a
  
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• Radical ecologists v Big Agriculture: the rival factions fighting for the future of farming

  05-01-2018 17:53 via theguardian.com
  The Oxford Farming Conference and its upstart sibling, the Oxford Real Farming Conference, seem poles apart. But faced with big changes, from Brexit to the future of meat itself, a united front may be the best optionIt’s a brisk five minute stroll up the high street to get from the Oxford Farming Conference to its upstart younger sibling the Oxford Real Farming Conference – but a much longer mental leap.Stately, careful and well-connected, the OFC has been going for 80 years. Sponsor
  
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• UK government spells out plan to shut down coal plants

  05-01-2018 15:34 via theguardian.com
  Government unveils phase-out plan, with one of eight remaining power stations to stop generating electricity this yearOne of the UK’s eight remaining coal power stations is expected to cease generating electricity this year, the government has said as it laid out new rules that will force all the plants to close by 2025.The coal phase-out is one of the Conservative party’s flagship green policies, and the long-awaited implementation plan comes ahead of a speech by Theresa May on the
  
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• Rice U.'s one-step catalyst turns nitrates into water and air

  05-01-2018 15:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Engineers at Rice University’s Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Center have found a catalyst that cleans toxic nitrates from drinking water by converting them into air and water.
  
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• Finding the Tipping Point for Sleep

  05-01-2018 15:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  Sleep is essential for many aspects of normal life, but how we actually fall asleep remains a mystery.
  
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• Inattentional Blindness: Why Drivers May Fail to See Motorcycles in Plain Sight

  05-01-2018 15:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  The disproportionately high number of motorcycle-related traffic accidents may be linked to the way the human brain processes—or fails to process—information, according to new research published in Human Factors, “Allocating Attention to Detect Motorcycles: The Role of Inattentional Blindness.” The study examines how the phenomenon of inattentional blindness, or a person’s failure to notice an unexpected object located in plain sight, might explain the prevalen
  
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• Weighing Massive Stars in Nearby Galaxy Reveals Excess of Heavyweights

  05-01-2018 14:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  An international team of astronomers has revealed an 'astonishing' overabundance of massive stars in a neighbouring galaxy.
  
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• Quarter of British honey contaminated with bee-harming pesticides, research reveals

  05-01-2018 12:59 via theguardian.com
  Although the contamination rate has fallen from a half since a partial EU ban the insecticides remain in the farmed environment posing a serious risk to beesAlmost a quarter of British honey samples remain contaminated after a partial ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, new research has revealed.
  The contamination rate has fallen – it was more than half before the ban – but the study shows that the potent insecticides remain prevalent in the farmed environment and still pose a serious r
  
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• Florida iguanas falling from trees

  05-01-2018 12:59 via bbc.co.uk
  They're not dead, just chilling in cool temperatures in the US.
  
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• Will a 25p charge change Britain's throwaway coffee cup culture?

  05-01-2018 12:31 via theguardian.com
  On a busy Guildford high street reaction to the proposed ‘latte levy’ is mixed. While many welcome the move to change peoples’ habits, for some, already feeling the squeeze of a weak pound, the 25p hit is too highTurn any corner in the busy town centre of Guildford on a weekday morning, and someone is carrying a disposable cup bearing the logo of one of the major chains.
  Each minute in the UK about 500 of these used coffee cups are thrown away. Every year consumers use and disp
  
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• Starbucks trials 5p charge on disposable cups

  05-01-2018 12:24
  In response to a group of MPs calling for a 25p 'latte levy' on disposable paper coffee cups, Starbucks has revealed that it will trial a 5p charge across select London stores.
  
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• Giant curtain erected in Peru in bid to reveal secrets of the cloud forest

  05-01-2018 12:20 via theguardian.com
  Global warming is predicted to push clouds higher in the sky. One scientist hopes to understand the future of our forests by suspending a vast fog-catching mesh in the Peruvian jungle
  What will happen if climate change pushes clouds higher into the sky, as models predict? One ecosystem that will be seriously affected will be cloud forests – tropical jungles persistently bathed in fog.Until now, little research had been done on the likely impacts of rising clouds, but one scientist is plann
  
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• Trial of laser beams to scare sea eagles from lambs

  05-01-2018 12:12 via bbc.co.uk
  The beams will be shone on a hillside to see if they scare the birds away from sheep flocks.
  
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• 'Like thunder in the ground': Texans fear link between quakes and fracking waste

  05-01-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Wastewater injection, a byproduct of fracking, is the likely culprit behind a surge of earthquakes in northern Texas – and residents want accountabilityAn earthquake, Cathy Wallace says, feels like “a rumble – it’s like thunder in the ground coming towards your house like a train and you can hear it and feel it coming”.Wallace is not based in California, or in any of the US’s well-known seismic hot-spots. She lives in north Texas, historically one of the count
  
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• Diesels suffer as UK low-carbon car sales soar in 2017

  05-01-2018 12:00
  New figures show that a record number of electric and hybrid cars were registered in Britain last year, as sales for diesel cars continued to decline amid taxes and pollution fears.
  
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• Braer: The huge oil spill that Shetland survived

  05-01-2018 11:33 via bbc.co.uk
  On 5 January 1993 an oil tanker ran aground off Shetland spilling 85,000 tonnes of crude oil.
  
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• UK strengthens green finance links in India

  05-01-2018 11:15
  The UK's development finance institution has announced the formation of an independent solar and wind generation company that will focus on developing renewable capacity across India and other South Asia nations.
  
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• H&M launches sportswear range made from recycled polyester

  05-01-2018 09:27
  Clothing giant H&M has unveiled a new sportswear collection for women that is predominately made from recycled polyester, bringing the company closer to its goal of becoming truly circular by 2030.
  
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• First fall in car sales since 2011 blamed on fears over diesel ban

  05-01-2018 08:51 via theguardian.com
  Industry says government has created uncertainty over an eventual ban on diesel cars, with sales dropping 17% in 2017UK car sales declined in 2017 after five years of rapid growth, with the industry blaming government for a collapse in consumer confidence in diesel vehicles.Total sales for last year were 2.54m new vehicles, a decline of 5.6% on 2016, with diesel sales dropping 17%. Despite the decline, 2017 sales remained near the highest on record. Continue reading...
  
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• Latte levy: MPs call for systems overhaul to recycle all disposable coffee cups

  05-01-2018 08:12
  The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has called for all single-use coffee cups to be recycled by 2023, as a new report claims there is "no excuse" for the UK Government's reluctance to address coffee cup waste and that voluntary approaches from retailers are "not working".
  
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• Cardiff University scientists' drugs test breakthrough

  05-01-2018 07:38 via bbc.co.uk
  After 10 years, a team at Cardiff University helps identify a process to speed up drug development.
  
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• MPs call for 25p charge on takeaway coffee cups ahead of possible ban

  05-01-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  In UK 2.5bn disposable cups are thrown away each year, of which less than 0.25% are recycled, according to environmental audit committee reportMPs are calling for a 25p charge on takeaway coffee in a move that could see disposable cups banned in five years time.In the UK 2.5bn takeaway coffee cups are used and thrown away each year – enough to stretch around the world five-and-a-half-times. The UK produces 30,000 tonnes of coffee cup waste each year, according to a report published by MPs
  
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• Country diary: the thatch is buzzing with sleepy flies

  05-01-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  West Charleton, Devon Here, at fly-level, is a forest of reed stalks: row after row of hollow stems to crawl intoThe low buzz gives them away. The thatched roof I’m working on, perched on a hillside above the pigeon-grey Kingsbridge estuary in Devon, is full of insects. I have replaced the ridge; the final job is to clean down the roof. I flick away the off-cut strands of new wheat, bright yellow against the grey-brown old thatch, and “dress” the roof with the thatcher’s
  
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• 'Latte levy' of 25p urged by MPs in bid to cut cup waste

  05-01-2018 01:09 via bbc.co.uk
  The UK throws away 2.5 billion non-recyclable coffee cups every year, MPs say.
  
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