Environment news

• NSW's largest windfarm highlights power of community investment | Simon Holmes à Court

  19-01-2018 22:53 via theguardian.com
  The Sapphire Wind Farm in northern NSW has invited the locals to invest in it – the first such co-investment project in AustraliaIn the early days of windfarming, carpetbaggers almost ruined it for everyone.Opportunists scoured regional Australia looking for prospective project sites. Farmers were pressured to sign up to leases and planning applications were rushed through. As soon as the permit was in hand, the developer would flip the project and start again. Continue reading...
  
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• Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching has started early, biologist says

  19-01-2018 22:00 via theguardian.com
  Photographs show only localised bleaching but there is concern it has come so early in the seasonWarm water has already begun bleaching coral on the Great Barrier Reef, weeks ahead of the period with highest forecast risk. Satellite data suggest widespread bleaching is possible by March.Selina Ward, a coral reef biologist from the University of Queensland, has photographed the bleaching, which she said appeared to be very localised so far, but was concerning because of how early in the season it
  
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• Trump is 'obsessed' and 'terrified' of sharks – but his fears are excessive

  19-01-2018 19:02 via theguardian.com
  You are more likely to die from a bicycle accident, lightning strike, mauling by alligator or bear, than by a shark attackThe president of the United States does not like sharks.Related: Stormy Daniels on Trump: pajamas, unprotected sex and … scary sharksContinue reading...
  
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• Nissan unveils energy storage and solar solution for UK homes

  19-01-2018 16:32
  Car giant Nissan has launched an "all-in-one" energy solution for UK homes, combining solar panels with an energy storage system.
  
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• 1m more smart meters which hinder switching could be rolled out

  19-01-2018 16:29 via theguardian.com
  Government extends deadline for installation of older model despite interoperability issuesMore than 1m extra first generation smart meters will be fitted in homes because the government has extended a deadline for their installation, despite being criticised because they can “go dumb” when customers switch energy suppliers. Related: Energy firms say price cap on bills could hit UK roll-out of smart metersContinue reading...
  
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• Methane from Indian Livestock Adds to Global Warming

  19-01-2018 15:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  Methane produced by India’s livestock population, considered the world’s largest, can significantly raise global temperatures, says a new study designed to help predict climate change linked to greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions from farm animals.
  
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• Reviled Animals Could Be Our Powerful Allies

  19-01-2018 15:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Animal carnivores living in and around human habitation are declining at an unprecedented rate – but they may provide crucial benefits to human societies.
  
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• Greenpeace: New Coca-Cola global plastics plan 'dodges the main issue'

  19-01-2018 15:50
  Coca-Cola has launched a new global plan to address its plastics impact, but Greenpeace has condemned the soft drinks giant for failing to reduce the number of single-use plastics bottles it produces.
  
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• Climate Change Affects Fish Reproductive Phenology in Plateau Area: Study

  19-01-2018 15:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  Climate change has threatened the global environment and biodiversity, particularly the aquatic ecosystems as well as the development of human ecosociety. The Tibetan Plateau is the region possessing the richest water resources in Asia but highly affected by the global climate change.
  
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• Mining weather data from Civil War-era Navy logbooks

  19-01-2018 15:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new grant will let a University of Washington-based project add a new fleet to its quest to learn more about past climate from the records of long-gone mariners. The UW is among the winners of the 2017 “Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives” awards, announced earlier this month by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Library and Information Resources.             
  
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• USGS Scientist Mobilizes with Recon Team to Learn from Mexico's Earthquake Early Warning System

  19-01-2018 15:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  A few weeks after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck central Mexico on Sept. 19, 2017 — leaving hundreds dead and dozens of buildings destroyed — USGS seismologist Elizabeth Cochran and a team of experts mobilized to Mexico City to assess the performance of the Mexico Seismic Warning System (Sistema de Alerta Sísmica Mexicano or SASMEX)  and the public’s perception of the alerts.
  
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• The man risking his life to save pink dolphins

  19-01-2018 15:05 via bbc.co.uk
  Fernando Trujillo works in dangerous areas of the Amazon to save the rare species.
  
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• Hundreds of MPs call on supermarkets to scrap plastic packaging

  19-01-2018 14:48 via theguardian.com
  Cross-party group of 200 MPs have written to the major supermarkets, as pressure grows over the huge amounts of plastic waste they generateTwo hundred cross-party MPs are calling on heads of the major supermarkets to eliminate plastic packaging from their products by 2023.The MPs, who are from seven political parties, have written to Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Waitrose, Aldi, Lidl, Budgens and Marks & Spencer urging them to scrap plastic packaging. Continue reading...
  
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• Nasa removes US astronaut from ISS mission

  19-01-2018 14:22 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeanette Epps would have been the first African-American astronaut on the space station crew.
  
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• Who’s afraid of the big bad escaped wolf? Not me | Patrick Barkham

  19-01-2018 13:22 via theguardian.com
  The panic about Torak the Berkshire escapee shows that facts cannot compete with our hoary old horror stories“Rottweiler slipped his lead near school,” was the first hysterical headline. “Rottweiler on the loose after ESCAPING from owner near Middleton family home,” was another, as Rover, a much-loved 12-year-old pet, roamed a few miles from a village with distant royal connections.“Armed police were scrambled to track down the beast and a primary school was placed
  
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• Government to carry out major environmental assessment of UK seas

  19-01-2018 13:08 via theguardian.com
  Defra prioritises post-Brexit fisheries plan and protection of UK’s coldwater reefs, promising data will be made publicly available onlineAn assessment of the seas around the UK will carried out by the government and made available online, the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has promised, with a view to cleaning up and improving the inshore environment.Thérèse Coffey, a Defra minister, said that by the end of this year “a major assessment of how
  
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• Regent's Park cycle route plans at risk of being cut back

  19-01-2018 12:38 via theguardian.com
  Last-minute opposition by Westminster city council to park gate closures could leave the new superhighway ‘dead’, says former London cycling commissioner Plans to close the outer circle of Regent’s Park to rat-running motor traffic are being “significantly watered down” to shutting just two gates – down from four – and to shorter periods, in only the morning and evening peak, it has been revealed.Although still in discussion, plans for the road, which wi
  
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• Santander invests £28.5m in UK battery storage firm

  19-01-2018 11:07
  Banking firm Santander has become one of the first senior debt lenders to provide financial support to the energy storage sector, after backing an independent UK battery developer with a £28.5m funding investment.
  
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• 'A rabbit always has to run': Spanish rangers fear for lives after double murder

  19-01-2018 10:30 via theguardian.com
  The killing of two rangers in Catalonia marks a chilling turning point for colleagues facing up to increasing violence towards Europe’s wildlife defendersOn a hill above the olive trees and dun scrublands of western Catalonia, two rusty iron silhouettes maintain a still and silent vigil. One peers out over the land through a pair of binoculars; the other kneels and holds a bird forever on the cusp of release.At their feet is a simple plaque: “In memory and recognition of Xavier Ribes
  
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• Evian aims for 100% recycled plastic bottles by 2025

  19-01-2018 09:54
  French bottled water company Evian is the latest in a long line of brands to signal its intention to steer away from plastic waste, after announcing plans to produce bottles made from 100% recycled plastic by 2025.
  
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• Costa and Cranswick reinforce plastic waste efforts

  19-01-2018 08:34
  Major coffee chain Costa and food manufacturer Cranswick have become the latest companies to make commitments to slash the amount of plastics used in their operations.
  
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• Kenya forest death: activists blame EU for ignoring human rights warnings

  19-01-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  EU criticised for its ‘poor response’ after an indigenous herder is killed during a forced eviction for a water conservation project it funds
  The European Union has been accused of a fatally slow response to human rights warnings after the killing of an indigenous man at one of the projects it funds in Kenya. Continue reading...
  
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• I’m 73 and a grandmother. Fracking has turned me into an activist | Gillian Kelly

  19-01-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Until last year I’d never been in a protest. Now I’m due in court for trying to stop this destructive industry ruining our landscapeI am a 73-year-old grandmother. On a sunny day in the middle of July I found myself sitting in the central reservation of the A583 outside Cuadrilla’s fracking site near Blackpool, one arm locked into a steel tube within a brightly coloured wooden box and surrounded by police. I was not alone. Locked into a neighbouring box was my partner, Paul, an
  
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• Coral reefs 'at make or break point', UN environment head says

  19-01-2018 06:59 via theguardian.com
  Erik Solheim cites ‘huge decline’ in world’s reefs but says shift from coal and new awareness of plastic pollution are good newsThe battle to save the world’s coral reefs is at “make or break point”, and countries that host them have a special responsibility to take a leadership role by limiting greenhouse gas emissions, plastic pollution and impacts from agriculture, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) has said.Speaking to the Guardian
  
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• Country diary: sweet smells along the Steel City riverbank

  19-01-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Sheffield, South Yorkshire: Conservationists are using hidden cameras, DNA testing and a sense of smell, to follow the lives of the city’s otter populationA dank winter’s day in the Steel City did not hold obvious promise of the transformative power of nature. But not far from where a gaggle of office workers were enjoying a fag break, a friendly conservation volunteer called Paul ushered me down a ladder to an otherwise inaccessible spot on the banks of the river Don. I found myself
  
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• Scapa Flow microplastics levels 'similar to Forth and Clyde'

  19-01-2018 02:50 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers at Heriot-Watt University took more than 100 sediment samples from 13 Orkney beaches.
  
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• Hope for threatened 'little tiger cat'

  19-01-2018 02:25 via bbc.co.uk
  Habitat fragmentation is a bigger threat to Chile's wildcat than human persecution, say conservationists.
  
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