Environment news

• EPA head Scott Pruitt says global warming may help 'humans flourish'

  07-02-2018 19:28 via theguardian.com
  EPA administrator says ‘There are assumptions made that because the climate is warming that necessarily is a bad thing’Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has suggested that global warming may be beneficial to humans, in his latest departure from mainstream climate science.Pruitt, who has previously erred by denying that carbon dioxide is a key driver of climate change, has again caused consternation among scientists by suggesting that warming temperatures
  
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• Protect hedgehogs by restoring hedgerows | Letters

  07-02-2018 19:00 via theguardian.com
  The most recent Countryside Survey revealed a loss of 91,000 miles of managed hedgerow between 1984 and 2007 in Britain, writes Emma MarringtonYour report (7 February) highlights the shocking decline in hedgehog populations – as high as 97% since the 1950s, particularly in rural areas. It can’t just be coincidence that our countryside hedgerows, the favourite bolthole of the discerning hedgehog, have seen a similar decline over that period.Aerial photographs from 1940 show an almost
  
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• Churches warn firms over pay, gender and climate change

  07-02-2018 18:28 via theguardian.com
  Slash CEO income, bring more women on board and go low carbon, Church Investors Group tells companiesThe Church Investors Group has warned some of Britain’s biggest companies it intends to take a hard line over failings on executive pay, gender diversity and climate change in the forthcoming annual meeting season.The group, which represents church organisations with combined investment assets of about £17bn, has told companies listed on the FTSE 350 index it will refuse to re-elect d
  
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• Tourism is the Australian industry least prepared for climate change, report says

  07-02-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Beaches, wildlife, the Great Barrier Reef, unspoilt natural wilderness and national parks all considered threatenedTourism is Australia’s most vulnerable and least prepared industry to deal with climate change despite the fact it is already feeling its effects, according to an advocacy group report. The report by the Climate Council, based on 200 source documents and articles, says while tourism is growing at an extraordinary pace – an 8% jump in visitors last financial year –
  
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• Climate change: Tourism is Australia's least prepared industry, report says

  07-02-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Beaches, wildlife, the Great Barrier Reef, unspoilt natural wilderness and national parks all considered threatened by climate change Tourism is Australia’s most vulnerable and least prepared industry to deal with climate change despite the fact it is already feeling its effects, according to an advocacy group report. The report by the Climate Council, based on 200 source documents and articles, says while tourism is growing at an extraordinary pace – an 8% jump in visitors last fina
  
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• Shell shock: why crayfish replicants are taking over

  07-02-2018 17:51 via theguardian.com
  Marbled crayfish have developed the ability to self-clone – and now a million-strong crustacean army exists in waters stretching from Europe to JapanName: Marbled crayfish. Marmorkrebs in German.Age: Potentially infinite. Continue reading...
  
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• Eurostar plans to halve its use of plastics within two years

  07-02-2018 16:45 via theguardian.com
  Train operator also pledges to reduce food waste as part of new environmental targets Eurostar has unveiled a new 10-point plan to cut carbon emissions and reduce waste over the next three years, highlighting the reduced carbon footprint of high-speed rail for short-haul journeys.Among its pledges are reducing its use of plastics by 50% by 2020 – including the millions of plastic bottles handed out to passengers every year. It will also work with its catering partners to reduce food and ot
  
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• Mutant, all-female crayfish spreading rapidly through Europe can clone itself

  07-02-2018 15:22 via theguardian.com
  Genome study finds the invasive clonal freshwater crayfish is descended from a single female and reproduces without malesA voracious pest that mutated in a German aquarium and is marching around the world without the need for sexual reproduction may sound like science fiction, but a genetic study has revealed that a rapidly spreading all-female army of crayfish is descended from a single female and reproduces without any males.The clonal freshwater crayfish is regarded as an invasive species whi
  
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• Cheddar Man: DNA shows early Briton had dark skin

  07-02-2018 14:57 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists put a face to Cheddar Man, Britain's oldest complete skeleton from 10,000 years ago.
  
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• BP set to 'embrace low-carbon world' with $500m investment

  07-02-2018 13:36
  BP has pledged to invest $500m into low-carbon solutions after posting a strong financial performance in 2017.
  
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• Borneo orangutan found riddled with gunshots in latest attack

  07-02-2018 13:27 via theguardian.com
  Indonesian authorities say male orangutan was found with 130 airgun pellets and machete wounds in the second known killing this year The body of a Borneo orangutan has been found riddled with some 130 airgun pellets, Indonesian authorities have said, the second known killing this year.
  The male orangutan, which also showed signs of machete wounds, was found by villagers in Borneo’s East Kutai district this week, police said, adding that an autopsy had been carried out.Continue reading...
  
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• ISO 14001: edie launches updated practical guide to implementation

  07-02-2018 13:13
  Organisations and professionals with an interest in the ISO 14001 environmental management system standard now have access to an updated, comprehensive 'edie explains' guide which breaks down all of the key information required to gain certification.
  
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• Best in glass – can the return of the milkround help squash our plastic problem?

  07-02-2018 13:03 via theguardian.com
  Glass bottle deliveries have gone up by 25% in the past two years as the British public rediscovers the joy of a fresh pint on the doorstep. We’ve got Blue Planet II to thank, says one Devon milkmanJust before dawn breaks, as a blackbird sings in the drizzle, I join third-generation milkman, Stuart Bruckner, 42, on the last leg of his Devon milkround. I have never met him before, but three times a week he delivers my four pints of red-top semi-skimmed under the cover of darkness in time fo
  
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• Parliament rubber-stamps EU carbon market reform

  07-02-2018 11:42
  European lawmakers voted in favour of a deal to reform the EU's carbon market after 2020 on Tuesday (6 February), as well as bolstering prices in the bloc's flagship tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
  
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• Edinburgh and SOAS fulfil university divestment pledges

  07-02-2018 10:52
  SOAS University of London has fulfilled a pledge to divest from fossil fuels within three years, in the same week that the University of Edinburgh became the largest university endowment fund to completely to divest away from coal, oil and gas.
  
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• High-vis, low-conflict: Kampala gets its first Critical Mass cycle ride

  07-02-2018 08:30 via theguardian.com
  Uganda’s first ever Critical Mass is missing the air of protest normally found in Europe or the US. This may be for the best in a country where dissent is often quashed with rubber bullets and tear gas“Do you know what is going on here today?” I ask Annette, the banana seller I’m buying a quick breakfast from. She doesn’t, so I explain that people are gathering here to ride bicycles together. We’re standing on Luwum street in central Kampala, looking out at a
  
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• Transport becomes nation's biggest polluter as UK emissions drop 5%

  07-02-2018 08:19
  New figures have revealed that the UK's emissions fell by 5% in 2016, but campaigners have called for stronger action in the transport sector where emissions continued to steadily rise.
  
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• Organic food and drink sales rise to record levels in the UK

  07-02-2018 07:30 via theguardian.com
  In a sixth year of consecutive growth, organic sales rose by 6% to a record £2.2bn, driven largely by independent outlets and home deliveriesSales of organic food and drink in the UK rose by 6% last year to a record £2.2bn, fuelled by strong growth through independent outlets and home delivery which outpaced sales in rival supermarkets. Almost 30% of all organic sales now take place online or on the high street, according to a new report from Soil Association, the trade body which li
  
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• Plastic bottle scheme that could help clean the oceans

  07-02-2018 07:04 via bbc.co.uk
  As the scale of plastic pollution in the world's oceans becomes ever more apparent, could bottle deposit schemes help turn the tide?
  
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• Hedgehog numbers plummet by half in UK countryside since 2000

  07-02-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Longterm decline is blamed on loss of hedgerows and insect prey but urban hedgehogs may offer a glimmer of hope, says a new reportThe number of hedgehogs living in the British countryside has plummeted by more than half since 2000, according to a new report.The popular but prickly character topped a vote in 2013 to nominate a national species for Britain, but it has suffered as hedgerows are lost and the invertebrates it feasts on diminish. However, the survey offers a glimmer of hope as losses
  
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• Instagram feed shows everyday extinction - in pictures

  07-02-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Photographer Sean Gallagher has set up a new Instagram feed called Everyday Extinction. Featuring work from 25 wildlife photographers, photojournalists and scientists, the project aims to highlight species extinction and celebrate biodiversityWarning: this gallery contains some graphic images Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: a preserved horse chestnut seems a ruin among ruins

  07-02-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: Planted to enhance the landscape around a medieval monastery, this tree has been saved from natural disintegration through pruning and loppingThe big old horse chestnut at Wenlock Priory has been pruned. I expect it’s to do with reducing the great limbs of its crown to prevent the tree falling apart in gales. The amputations have an odd symmetry and, although the idea is for new growth to reshape the tree, it looks now like a ruin among the ruins of the medieval m
  
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• NSW court to hear 'landmark' challenge to coalmine over climate change impact

  07-02-2018 06:01 via theguardian.com
  Case brought by group from Hunter Valley town, which it says has been devastated by Peabody Energy’s Wilpinjong mine In what is described as a landmark case, a New South Wales court will be asked to overturn a decision to extend the life of a coalmine on the grounds the state government failed to properly consider the impact on the climate.
  The case is brought by a community group from the tiny Hunter Valley village of Wollar, which it says has been devastated by the development and gradua
  
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• Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy rocket launches successfully

  07-02-2018 06:01 via bbc.co.uk
  The world's most powerful rocket successfully lifts clear of its pad on historic maiden flight.
  
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• What Cape Town can learn from Australia’s millennium drought

  07-02-2018 02:02 via theguardian.com
  As Day Zero looms and the South African city gets set to run out of water, experts say lessons learned during Melbourne’s brush with a similar fate may help avert a global crisis In December 2017, Seona Candy drove through the vineyards of the Franschhoek Valley near Cape Town towards the banks of the Sonderend river. In the late 1970s, the waterway was dammed to create the biggest reservoir in South Africa’s Western Cape. Behind the thick walls of the Theewaterskloof dam lay the cap
  
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• Hedgehog numbers 'down by half', warn wildlife groups

  07-02-2018 01:44 via bbc.co.uk
  Hedgehogs are continuing to decline in the UK, particularly in rural areas, according to a new report.
  
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• UK 'could adopt' Norway bottle recycling system

  07-02-2018 01:41 via bbc.co.uk
  A Scandinavian deposit-based system for recycling bottles is thought likely to be adopted in the UK.
  
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• Scientists capture exploding beetles' amazing escapes from toads' stomachs

  07-02-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Bombardier beetles observed causing audible toxic explosions inside toads stomachs causing them to vomit their lunch to freedomThe toad’s reaction to the explosion deep in its stomach is not instantaneous. But in time the body shakes, the mouth opens, and the culprit is expelled: a mucus-covered beetle that will live to fight another day.Japanese scientists captured footage of the great escape during lab tests that pitted the walking powder kegs that are bombardier beetles against hungry t
  
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• The story of Elon Musk rocket launch

  07-02-2018 00:47 via bbc.co.uk
  The rocket's payload is Elon Musk's own Tesla, and two of the three rocket segments have landed.
  
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