Environment news

• Holden Commodore: first foreign model ‘missed opportunity’ to be hybrid

  09-02-2018 22:33 via theguardian.com
  Environmentalists say car could have been powerful statement to promote electric cars in AustraliaThe new Holden Commodore – the first to be made overseas – is a “missed opportunity” to launch a high-profile electric or hybrid car in Australia, according to pro-renewables groups. The 2018 Commodore has been launched after the last operational Holden plant in Australia, in Elizabeth, South Australia, closed on 20 October last year.Continue reading...
  
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• Bolivia's lonely frog: Scientists race to find mate for Romeo

  09-02-2018 18:25 via bbc.co.uk
  Romeo, a 10-year-old Sehuencas water frog, has been given a dating profile as part of the search.
  
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• Federal penalties against polluters at lowest level in a decade under Trump

  09-02-2018 17:54 via theguardian.com
  Figures released by the EPA show that 115 crime cases were opened in 2017, down from a peak of nearly 400 in 2009The Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement activity against polluters has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, with the first year of the Trump administration seeing a sharp drop in fines for companies that break environmental rules.Figures released by the EPA show that 115 environmental crime cases were opened in the 2017 financial year, down from a peak of nearly 400
  
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• Runways, rockets and Russell’s teapot | Brief letters

  09-02-2018 17:35 via theguardian.com
  Stonehenge tunnel | Ants and acid | Lost from the Guardian | Yorkshire pudding | Elon MuskWould it be possible to have a free gamble on which major public work will be completed first: the Stonehenge tunnel or Heathrow’s third runway (First proposals for Stonehenge’s £1.6bn road tunnel revealed, 8 February)?
  David Prothero
  Harlington, Bedfordshire• Morwenna Ferrier (The faddy eater, G2, 8 February) ascribes the flavour of ants to “the varying levels of ascorbic acid
  
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• Lack of migrant workers left food rotting in UK fields last year, data reveals

  09-02-2018 15:46 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Brexit fears and falling pound left fruit and vegetable farms short of more than 4,000 workers, with senior MPs warning of a ‘crisis’Fruit and vegetable farms across the UK were left short of thousands of migrant workers in 2017, leaving some produce to rot in the fields and farmers suffering big losses. Continue reading...
  
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• Ozone layer, farm antibiotics and mutant crayfish – green news roundup

  09-02-2018 15:17 via theguardian.com
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• Asteroid set for 'close' 43,300 mile flight past Earth on Friday

  09-02-2018 15:05 via bbc.co.uk
  The asteroid, up to 40m in size and only discovered five days ago, passes by on Friday.
  
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• Getting a grip

  09-02-2018 15:04 via bbc.co.uk
  The Bloodhound supersonic car aims to run in South Africa this October, and there is a lot to prepare.
  
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• Patagonia's new digital platform connects environmental activism community

  09-02-2018 14:12
  American clothing firm Patagonia has launched a new digital platform which connects customers with local environmental groups to encourage grassroots activism.
  
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• AT&T strikes major wind power deal

  09-02-2018 12:54
  The world's largest telecoms company AT&T has announced the largest corporate renewable energy purchases in the US with a deal to buy 520MW of wind power.
  
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• Report: Majority of UK SMEs struggling to embed sustainability

  09-02-2018 12:01
  Almost three-quarters of UK SMEs are struggling to embed sustainability practices, citing costs issues and unfavourable government policies as major stumbling blocks, according to a new report.
  
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• War on the wildest places: US bill may open pristine lands to development

  09-02-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Wilderness study areas are more wild and untouched than national parks. But a Republican proposal threatens this unique terrain, environmentalists say
  The Big Snowy Mountains wilderness study area in Montana represents 91,000 acres of the wildest land left in America. Viewed from a limestone bluff high in a timbered gulch, no houses are visible. No transmission lines or roads interrupting the expanse of green. No smoke curling up from cabin stovepipes. Continue reading...
  
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• Morrisons follows rivals in pledge to phase out single-use plastic bags

  09-02-2018 11:34
  Morrisons has become the last of the big four UK supermarket chains to commit to remove 5p single-use plastic carrier bags from its stores.
  
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• Water retail market reaches 100,000 milestone

  09-02-2018 10:14
  More than 100,000 supply points have switched water retailer in the first 10 months of the market, according to figures released by the market operator - MOSL.
  
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• The bird market of Kabul – in pictures

  09-02-2018 09:33 via theguardian.com
  A visit to the narrow lane of Ka Faroshi bird market brings comfort to war-weary Afghans Continue reading...
  
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• Revealed: Trudeau government welcomed oil lobby help for US pipeline push

  09-02-2018 08:52 via theguardian.com
  Canadian government viewed Trump’s election as “positive news” for Keystone XL and energy industryThe Trudeau government treated Donald Trump’s election as “positive news” for Canada’s energy industry and welcomed the help of Canada’s main corporate oil group in lobbying the US administration, documents show.
  Meetings conducted by senior government officials with TransCanada and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) reveal an one-s
  
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• International Garden Photographer of the Year – in pictures

  09-02-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The International Garden Photographer of the Year is one of the world’s premier competitions specialising in botanical photography. There are 11 main categories and numerous special awards including Young Garden Photographer of the Year, and the mobile-only category Gardens on the Go. It is run in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where the winning pictures will be exhibited, followed by a rolling programme of touring exhibitions in the UK and abroad Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: rare encounter with a Dartford warbler

  09-02-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Sinah Common, Hayling Island, Hampshire: Despite years of dedicated gorse-scanning this was the first time I’d seen one of these secretive little birds on my patchThe gorse thicket was ablaze with flower, but the heady coconut-suncream scent of the golden blossom was at odds with the biting wind and overcast sky. As a shower began to fall like a haze of iron filings, I decided to take shelter behind one of the well-preserved anti-aircraft gun emplacements – a relic from the second wo
  
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• Power switch

  09-02-2018 01:24 via bbc.co.uk
  Wind and solar energy are expected to account for more than half of Tamil Nadu's power by 2027.
  
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• Dippy the diplodocus starts UK tour in Dorchester

  09-02-2018 01:20 via bbc.co.uk
  The 70ft-long (21m) dinosaur replica only just squeezed into its new home in Dorset.
  
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• Potato plastics

  09-02-2018 01:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Better recycling and compostable materials could be an answer to our plastic pollution problem.
  
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• National governments neglecting development needs of cities: report

  09-02-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Only one quarter of the world’s governments have urban development policies and most are not enough to make cities sustainable National governments around the world are neglecting the needs of their major cities with non-existent or inadequate development policies, a new report has found.National governments are key to making cities more sustainable, because cities are limited in the policy measures they can take for themselves, the report points out. However, only a quarter of the world&r
  
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• Coffee cups from coffee beans and reusable rockets: the best green innovations of the week

  09-02-2018 01:01
  In a week of big corporate pledges, edie rounds up the low-carbon and resource-efficient innovations that could shape the future.
  
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