Environment news

• Edible bandages for bears' burnt paws

  25-01-2018 23:46 via bbc.co.uk
  After two bears are injured in California wildfires, a creative solution to get them back on their feet.
  
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• 2018 Environmental Performance Index: Air quality top public health threat

  25-01-2018 21:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  The 2018 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) finds that air quality is the leading environmental threat to public health. Now in its twentieth year, the biennial report is produced by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. The tenth EPI report ranks 180 countries on 24 performance indicators across 10 issue categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality. Switzerland leads the world in sustainability, followed by
  
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• Think Of Honeybees As 'Livestock' Not Wildlife, Argue Experts

  25-01-2018 20:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  The ‘die-off’ events occurring in honeybee colonies that are bred and farmed like livestock must not be confused with the conservation crisis of dramatic declines in thousands of wild pollinator species, say Cambridge researchers.
  
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• Tiny Particles Have Outsize Impact On Storm Clouds, Precipitation

  25-01-2018 20:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tiny particles fuel powerful storms and influence weather much more than has been appreciated, according to a study in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Science.
  
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• Mosquitoes remember human smells, but also swats

  25-01-2018 20:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  Your grandmother’s insistence that you receive more bug bites because you’re ‘sweeter’ may not be that far-fetched after all, according to pioneering research from Virginia Tech scientists.
  
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• Oceanic plastic trash conveys disease to coral reefs

  25-01-2018 20:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  For coral reefs, the threat of climate change and bleaching are bad enough. An international research group led by Cornell University has found that plastic trash – ubiquitous throughout the world’s oceans – intensifies disease for coral, adding to reef peril, according to a new study in the journal Science, Jan. 26.
  
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• Modern humans left Africa much earlier

  25-01-2018 20:05 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers identify the remains of the earliest known modern humans to have left Africa.
  
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• Billions of pieces of plastic on coral reefs send disease soaring, research reveals

  25-01-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  A major new study estimates 11bn pieces of plastic contaminate vital reefs and result in infections: ‘It’s like getting gangrene,’ scientists warnBillions of pieces of plastic pollution are snagged on coral reefs, sending disease rates soaring, new research has revealed. The discovery compounds the damage being done to a vital habitat that already faces an existential threat from the warming caused by climate change.Scientists examined 125,000 corals across the Asia-Pacific reg
  
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• How To Save a Town From Rising Waters

  25-01-2018 19:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  The only land route that connects Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, to the rest of the continental United States is Island Road, a thin, four-mile stretch of pavement that lies inches above sea level and immediately drops off into open water on either side. Even on a calm day, salt water laps over the road’s tenuous boundaries and splashes the concrete.
  
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• Nearly Half of California's Vegetation at Risk From Climate Stress

  25-01-2018 19:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  Current levels of greenhouse gas emissions are putting nearly half of California’s natural vegetation at risk from climate stress, with transformative implications for the state’s landscape and the people and animals that depend on it, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis. However, cutting emissions so that global temperatures increase by no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) could reduce those impacts by half, with about a
  
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• Air pollution will damage UK health for ‘many years', court told

  25-01-2018 19:27 via theguardian.com
  Government is being sued for third time to act quickly on illegal levels of toxic airAir pollution will continue to take a heavy toll on people’s health for many years to come unless the UK government is forced once again to improve its action plan, the high court has been told.
  Ministers have already had two previous plans declared illegal but environmental lawyers ClientEarth argue that even the latest plan fails to cut widespread illegal levels of pollution in the “shortest possib
  
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• Phosphorus Pollution Reaching Dangerous Levels Worldwide, New Study Finds

  25-01-2018 19:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Man-made phosphorus pollution is reaching dangerously high levels in freshwater basins around the world, according to new research.
  
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• Missing in Action

  25-01-2018 19:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Once abundant in Southern California, the foothill yellow-legged frog inexplicably vanished from the region sometime between the late 1960s and early 1970s. The reasons behind its rapid extinction have been an ecological mystery.
  
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• Blow to fracking firms as UK insists on financial checks

  25-01-2018 19:10 via theguardian.com
  Companies seeking exploration rights need to prove they can bear clean-up costs as business secretary tightens consent rulesFracking companies must undergo financial health checks if they want to win a green light for their operations, the business secretary has said, as the industry faces another barrier to exploration in the UK. The decision comes after a Barclays-backed company hoping to be the first to frack in the UK for seven years suffered a blow when business secretary Greg Clark said he
  
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• BBC to air major nature series written and directed by women

  25-01-2018 18:59 via theguardian.com
  Anne Sommerfield, a director of Animals With Cameras, says ‘we were just the best candidates’
  BBC One will break new ground next week by broadcasting its first major natural history series written and directed entirely by women.The programme, Animals With Cameras, also features a diverse cast: its meerkats, chimps, cheetahs and penguins all turn camera operators to capture unprecedented footage that will help scientists understand and protect threatened species. Continue reading...
  
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• Boris Johnson 'is descendant' of mummified Basel woman

  25-01-2018 18:53 via bbc.co.uk
  A Swiss woman who died in 1787 after contracting syphilis is identified as an ancestor of the politician.
  
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• Naked veggies and a ringing rebuke | Brief letters

  25-01-2018 18:45 via theguardian.com
  Kettle’s Yard loan scheme | Plastic packaging | Books on shelves | Bayeux tapestry | Bell-ringingIt is true that we no longer lend out the Ben Nicholsons and Alfred Wallises that Harland Walshaw was lucky enough to choose from as a student (Letters, 24 January), but we do still invite students in to Kettle’s Yard to choose a work of art, which for a small deposit and a modest fee they can hang on their walls for the year. And there are some beautiful works to choose from. We do love
  
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• Boris Johnson: Mummy is distant ancestor

  25-01-2018 18:32 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers have taken two years to identify a lady who lived 230 years ago.
  
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• Are you a mosquito magnet? Swatting really can deter them, study shows

  25-01-2018 18:07 via theguardian.com
  Researchers have discovered why mosquitoes prefer some people over others – and how a swat teaches them to avoid youResearchers have found a solution for those plagued by mosquitoes: thrash about, and the insects will learn to give you a wide berth.While it has long been known that mosquitoes favour some individuals over others – and can shift those preferences when availability is scarce – it was not clear what was behind the switch. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Doomsday clock' ticked forward 30 seconds to 2 minutes to midnight

  25-01-2018 17:54 via theguardian.com
  In the face of nuclear weapons and climate change, scientists moved the clock forward, putting much of the blame on the Trump administrationThe risk to global civilisation is as high today as it has ever been in the face of twin threats, nuclear weapons and climate change, a group of leading scientists has announced, putting a significant share of the blame on the Trump administration.
  The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved its symbolic Doomsday Clock forward 30 seconds, to two minutes to m
  
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• Northern smart grid project could deliver £500m energy savings

  25-01-2018 16:50
  Northern Powergrid has launched an £83 million smart grid programme to future-proof its network in preparation for the rapid growth of low-carbon technologies.
  
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• Reality bites: Trump's fear of sharks leads to surge in charity donations

  25-01-2018 15:20 via theguardian.com
  Marine charities say they are benefitting from Stormy Daniels’ claim Trump is terrified of sharksDonald Trump’s reported fear of sharks appears to have led to a flood of donations to animal welfare charities.Trump revealed his dislike of sharks on Twitter in 2013, saying they were “last on my list – other than perhaps the losers and haters of the world!” Continue reading...
  
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• Record Jump in 2014-2016 Temps Largest Since 1900

  25-01-2018 14:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Global surface temperatures surged by a record amount from 2014 to 2016, boosting the total amount of warming since the start of the last century by more than 25 percent in just three years, according to new University of Arizona-led research.
  
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• Most UK bat species 'recovering or stable'

  25-01-2018 14:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Volunteer data on the country's 18 resident bat species suggests a positive outlook for the animals.
  
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• 'I used to see them as a bunch of rioters': Brazil's radical farmers | Ignacio Amigo

  25-01-2018 13:02 via theguardian.com
  Landless workers who occupied disused and degraded farmland were finally given plots – and have transformed them into fields of bounty through agroforestryPhotographs by Ignacio AmigoOne day in 2005 Zaqueu Miguel was driving his bus through the outskirts of the city of Ribeirão Preto, in south-east Brazil, when he noticed a group of people camped near a rural property. He discovered that the camp was called Mario Lago, and that the people there were demanding the expropriation of th
  
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• What does the future role look like for the sustainability manager?

  25-01-2018 11:44
  Sustainability leaders from AkzoNobel, Asda, Rolls Royce and Taylor Wimpey gave their thoughts on the future role of the sustainability manager during an action-packed first morning of the edie Sustainability Leaders Forum.
  
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• UK Government injects £3m into vehicle-to-grid trials

  25-01-2018 11:23
  A consortium of energy firms and network operators has received a £3m funding injection from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to develop the first large-scale UK trial of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging infrastructure.
  
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• Communities offered £1m a year to host nuclear waste dump

  25-01-2018 11:20 via theguardian.com
  New search for communities willing to host underground site for thousands of yearsLocal communities around England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be offered £1m a year to volunteer to host an underground nuclear waste disposal facility for thousands of years, as part of a rebooted government programme.
  The financial incentive is one way the government hopes to encourage communities to host the £12bn facility, after previous efforts failed in 2013 when Cumbria county council rejecte
  
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• David Yarrow's best photograph: a wolf on the prowl in a wild west saloon

  25-01-2018 09:29 via theguardian.com
  ‘I asked the barman if he minded me bringing a wolf into the bar. “What’ll he have?” he said’I have always felt a visceral pull towards ghost towns. I find abandonment and decay much more evocative than growth and prosperity. Virginia City, an abandoned mining town in Montana, was perfect.It was the dead of winter in 2015 and snow was thick on the ground. We had been working all day on a couple of set pieces in temperatures of -20C with a large crew, a mountain lion
  
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• Water firms back national scheme to cut plastic bottle use

  25-01-2018 08:42
  The water industry has launched a national scheme today (25 January) to cut plastic bottle use by tens of millions each year, while increasing the availability of free drinking water.
  
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• Planet rumbles

  25-01-2018 08:03 via bbc.co.uk
  The seismic region has seen lots of activity in recent weeks, but is there anything to worry about?
  
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• Why beetles are the most important organisms on the planet | Richard Jones

  25-01-2018 07:45 via theguardian.com
  From the minuscule to the mighty, tree-dwellers to pond-swimmers, millions of beetle species reveal a wealth of information about the world we live inContinue reading...
  
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• Plastic waste: network of water refill points aims to tackle problem

  25-01-2018 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Free refill points and fountains will be set up in shops, cafes and high streets in every English town and cityConsumers will be encouraged to refill their water bottles free of charge in tens of thousands of shops, cafes, businesses and water fountains in England under plans announced by the water industry.The national scheme aims to fight the growing scourge of waste created by single-use plastic by preventing the use of tens of millions of plastic bottles every year, as well as increasing the
  
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• New network of water refill points aims to reduce England's plastic waste

  25-01-2018 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Free refill points and fountains will be set up in shops, cafes and high streets in every English town and city, under plans announced by the water industryConsumers will be encouraged to refill their water bottles free of charge in tens of thousands of shops, cafes, businesses and water fountains in England under plans announced by the water industry.The national scheme aims to fight the growing scourge of waste created by single-use plastic by preventing the use of tens of millions of plastic
  
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• Scientists calculate carbon emissions of your sandwich

  25-01-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  All-day breakfast filling identified as worst offender It’s a staple of the British diet and a popular choice for a quick and easy lunch. But new research reveals the carbon footprint of the humble sandwich could be fuelling harmful greenhouse emissions.The worst offender is revealed as the ready-made “all-day breakfast” sandwich, crammed with egg, bacon and sausage.Continue reading...
  
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• Hyperlocal heroes: meet the chefs growing their own

  25-01-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Stockport’s Sam Buckley is part of a wave of Noma-inspired gourmets swapping gastro-science for gardening and and sourcing produce from within a few miles – or metres – of their restaurantsThere are plenty of tools you might expect to see in a chef’s hand: a knife, a blender, a blowtorch. But Sam Buckley, the 34-year-old chef-owner at Stockport’s Where the Light Gets In, is standing in a small field in nearby Marple, holding a rake.It is January and so this patch of
  
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• Country diary: a mighty poplar brought down by old age and the revenge of the wind

  25-01-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Sandy, Bedfordshire: At the tree’s base, an autopsy of its last seconds was written in splits, snaps, rips and a broken heartWhen the last storm whipped through our valley it brought down the tallest tree on the river. An old Lombardy poplar, a spire without a church, it belonged to an age when planting poplars was popular. They were the leylandii of their day, for they shot up as fast as rockets and looked like them too. They were often grown in rows as windbreaks, though nobody much thou
  
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• App shows water refill stations to tackle plastic waste

  25-01-2018 04:13 via bbc.co.uk
  Thousands of water stations are being installed to tackle plastic use - with users able to find them via an app.
  
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