Environment news

• 'Nothing to do with threatened species': Coalition accused of overstating spending

  14-02-2018 23:00 via theguardian.com
  Labor, Greens and environment groups call for urgent review of funding for species conservation‘Absolute scandal’: how does restoring a ship help endangered species?
  Labor has accused the federal government of overstating its spending on threatened species projects and the Greens have called for an urgent auditor general’s review of all threatened species expenditure by the Department of the Environment and Energy.It comes after the Guardian revealed the government was claiming
  
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• World weatherwatch: from drifts in Paris to drought in Cape Town

  14-02-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  The French capital’s heaviest snowfall since 1987 caused major disruption, even closing the Eiffel Tower for daysSix inches (15cm) of snow blanketed the city of Paris, France, last week in what was the heaviest snowfall event since 1987. Although a picturesque scene, it caused major disruption, with the Eiffel Tower being closed for multiple days due to the inability to salt the walkways without risking structural damage. Additionally, breaking a previous snowfall record set in 1957, Mosco
  
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• Quantum computers 'one step closer'

  14-02-2018 20:25 via bbc.co.uk
  Quantum computing has taken a step forward with the recent development of a silicon-based programmable quantum processor.
  
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• AI does grunt work on China's pig farms

  14-02-2018 18:19 via bbc.co.uk
  Alibaba rolls out a system that analyses pig squeals and coughs to improve pork production.
  
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• Marine scientists urge protection for endangered shellfish reefs

  14-02-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Shellfish reefs, formed by oysters or mussels in or near estuaries, have declined by up 99% since British colonisationMarine scientists are lobbying the federal government to ensure protection for Australia’s most endangered – but least known – ocean ecosystem.Shellfish reefs, formed by millions of oysters or mussels clustering together in or near the mouths of estuaries, have declined by up 99% since British colonisation.Continue reading...
  
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• Labor shouldn't toughen its stance on Adani coalmine, CFMEU head warns

  14-02-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Tony Maher says there is no point in winning the Melbourne seat of Batman while losing seats in central QueenslandThe mining union says there is no need for Labor to toughen its stance on the controversial Adani coalmine, warning there is no point in winning the Melbourne seat of Batman while losing seats in central Queensland.The CFMEU’s national president, Tony Maher, told Guardian Australia if federal Labor took the hardline stance against the Adani coal project it was currently telegra
  
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• How Labor's energy spending spree has electrified the South Australian election

  14-02-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Labor’s energy spend may be the most popular thing an unpopular government has done
  During last week’s campaigning for the South Australian election, Labor promised to install free solar panels and Tesla batteries in 50,000 homes, earmarked $8.7m in funding for pumped-hydro storage and announced a new solar farm and another big battery.
  That renewable energy should take centre stage in the campaign should come as no surprise. The battle lines were drawn in 2016, when a statewide blac
  
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• Decline in krill threatens Antarctic wildlife, from whales to penguins

  14-02-2018 14:42 via theguardian.com
  Climate change and industrial-scale fishing is impacting the krill population with a potentially disastrous impact on larger predators, say scientistsFirst images of creatures from Antarctic depths revealedThe Antarctic, one of the world’s last great wildernesses and home to animals such as whales, penguins and leopard seals, is being threatened by the plight of an animal just a few centimetres long, according to scientists.Researchers and environmental campaigners warn that a combination
  
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• ESOS Phase 2: edie launches free business guide to compliance

  14-02-2018 14:15
  Organisations that qualify for the UK Government's Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) now have access to a comprehensive 'edie explains' guide which breaks down all of the key information required to comply with the Scheme.
  
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• BBC vows to 'lead the way' with single-use plastics ban by 2020

  14-02-2018 13:41
  The BBC has announced it will launch a new "three-step plan" to remove single-use plastics from its operations by 2020.
  
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• Crypto-currency craze 'hinders search for alien life'

  14-02-2018 12:43 via bbc.co.uk
  A scientist says the search for alien intelligence has been hit by a shortage of computer hardware.
  
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• MPs form group to raise profile of electric and driverless vehicle agenda

  14-02-2018 12:41
  A new cross-party group of politicians has been set up to to raise awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of electric and driverless vehicles.
  
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• A gold mine swallowed their village. This Amazon tribe is here to take it back

  14-02-2018 11:51 via theguardian.com
  In 1996, Osvaldo Wuaru and his family arrived on the outskirts of the vast Munduruku Amazon Territory with a crucial mission: set up a village to hold back the invasion of pariwat (non-indigenous) gold miners. Twenty-one years later, it has all but failed, reports Climate Home NewsNamed Watch Post (the Portuguese acronym is PV), the village has been swallowed by the heavy equipment of hundreds of illegal gold miners (called garimpeiros). What was once a few huts hidden in the Amazon forest now r
  
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• Underwater photographer of the year 2018 winners - in pictures

  14-02-2018 10:59 via theguardian.com
  German photographer Tobias Friedrich has been named this year’s winner for his ‘perfectly lit and composed’ panorama of a wreck off the coast of Egypt, while British winner Grant Thomas captured a couple of affectionate swans Continue reading...
  
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• Primark's Global Sourcing Map emphasises the importance of brand transparency

  14-02-2018 10:28
  Primark's decision to publish a Global Sourcing Map to its website is part of an ongoing journey of supply chain transparency, and a reflection that there is a greater appetite amongst retailers to collaborate on societal and environmental issues.
  
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• Valentines Day: Chocolates driving deforestation across the globe, report claims

  14-02-2018 10:09
  A box of chocolates may not be the most environmentally friendly way to show your love this Valentine's Day, a report published today claims.
  
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• Valentines Day: Chocolates driving deforestation across the globe

  14-02-2018 10:09
  A box of chocolates may not be the most environmentally friendly way to show your love this Valentine's Day, a report published today claims.
  
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• Thailand’s Maya Bay, location for The Beach, to close to tourists

  14-02-2018 07:30 via theguardian.com
  The bucket-list beach on the island of Koh Phi Phi Leh became famous when it featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, but environmental concerns mean it will close to tourists from JuneIt is one of the world’s most famous beaches, thanks to its starring role in Danny Boyle’s film of Alex Garland’s bestselling novel, and is often referred to simply as “the beach”. However, this summer Maya Bay, on the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi Leh, will be closed to tourists as auth
  
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• Foie gras and badger culling would be banned under Labour proposals

  14-02-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Other animal welfare proposals include mandatory CCTV in abattoirs and post-Brexit safeguardsFoie gras and badger culling would be banned under new animal welfare measures proposed by the Labour party, in a move described by activists as “the beginning of the end of cruel factory farming”.The practice of force-feeding geese and ducks in order to fatten up their livers is widely considered cruel and inhumane, leading Labour to advocate an end to imports of the delicacy in a new policy
  
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• 'Evolution in real time': silent crickets still singing for a mate

  14-02-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Scientists are fascinated that Hawaiian crickets still perform their vigorous mating call, despite having evolved to lose their song to avoid a deadly new parasiteMale field crickets traditionally attract a mate by “singing” – creating a sound by rhythmically scraping their wings back and forth.In Hawaii, however, their song attracts a less welcome female: parasitic flies, whose larvae devour and kill the crickets from the inside out. Continue reading...
  
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• Kenya's 'Erin Brockovich' defies harassment to bring anti-pollution case to courts

  14-02-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Phyllis Omido is leading a landmark class action demanding a clean-up and compensation from a lead-smelting factory accused of poisoning local residents - including her own sonEight years after her baby was lead-poisoned through breast milk, Kenya’s most prominent anti-pollution campaigner is set to finally get her day in court in a case that the UN hopes will prove a landmark for environmental defenders across Africa.Phyllis Omido has been threatened by thugs, arrested by police and force
  
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• Country diary: new snow lay on wings of fungi

  14-02-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: The one-step-forward-two-steps-back dance between winter and spring had time yet but many of the animals and plants had notOvernight snow left anonymous gifts. Frost and a chill wind through the trees hardened what remained of the snowfall as the weather moved on, to leave a scattering of unopened envelopes. Snow on fungi: there was something very symbolic about these two kinds of ephemeral structures. The Armilaria fungi living in the rotten stump of a tree may have be
  
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• Queensland accepts court block on New Acland coalmine expansion

  14-02-2018 04:40 via theguardian.com
  The state government refuses to provide an environmental licence to allow New Hope to expand mining to the Darling Downs The Queensland government has accepted a landmark land and environment court ruling from last year and refused to provide an environmental licence to the New Acland coalmine extension.Following the longest case in the court’s history, a judge last year recommended against New Hope’s plans to expand the mine into prime agricultural land on Queensland’s Darling
  
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• German cities to trial free public transport to cut pollution

  14-02-2018 01:26 via theguardian.com
  Plan to be tested in five cities in effort to meet EU air pollution targets and avoid big fines“Car nation” Germany has surprised neighbours with a radical proposal to reduce road traffic by making public transport free, as Berlin scrambles to meet EU air pollution targets and avoid big fines.The move comes just over two years after Volkswagen’s devastating “dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal unleashed a wave of anger at the auto industry, a keystone of German p
  
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• Valentine's Day chocolates may not be the greenest way to show your love

  14-02-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  New report links the growing global demand for cocoa to deforestation in Asia and Africa A box of chocolates may not be the most environmentally friendly way to show your love this Valentine’s Day, a report published today claims.The cocoa in chocolate products is probably driving deforestation across the globe, according to new research by the environmental campaigning organisation Mighty Earth. Continue reading...
  
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• Nursing in nature: Matabele ants observed treating injured comrades

  14-02-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  The social insects have been seen cleaning wounds and possibly administering antibiotics to prevent infectionWhen the battle is done the victors head home, their march broken only to gather the wounded, who are hauled back to base for life-saving treatment.Not a heroic scene from the second world war, but the daily grind for African Matabele ants, which leave their nests in the hundreds to launch raids on feeding termites – and risk life and limb in the process. Continue reading...
  
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