Environment news

• The new forest wars: 'This is something we didn't expect' – video

  19-03-2018 22:26 via theguardian.com
  Twenty years ago the regional forest agreements were introduced to protect native forests and deliver 'ecologically sustainable forest management'. Now, with the RFAs set to be renewed, conservationists say ancient forests are being destroyed, while the timber industry says its operating under strict codes. It's the return of the forest wars Continue reading...
  
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• London air pollution activists 'prepared to go to prison' to force action

  19-03-2018 18:09 via theguardian.com
  Group of campaigners arrested after spray painting mayor’s offices as part of a series of direct action protests over of the capital’s illegal air pollutionAir pollution protesters say they are prepared to go to prison as they step up their campaign against the poisonous air that kills tens of thousands of people in the UK each year.
  A group of campaigners including pensioners and young parents, were arrested on Monday after targeting the offices of London mayor Sadiq Khan, spraying
  
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• Energy market commission says electricity grid increasingly unstable

  19-03-2018 18:01 via theguardian.com
  Instability attributed to changes in power mix that can leave grid at mercy of the weatherThe Australian Energy Market Commission says the national electricity grid is becoming more unstable, with 11 incidents in 2016-17, up from seven the year before and four the year before that.The instability is attributed to changes in the power generation mix, with thermal, synchronous generators leaving the system in favour of more renewable capacity, which can leave the grid at the mercy of the weather.
  
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• Regional forest agreement renewals spark fresh forest wars

  19-03-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  RFAs were meant to protect forests and create a sustainable timber industry, but as renewals approach both sides are readying for battle For more than 30 years Jill Redwood has fought to save the ancient old growth forests of East Gippsland in Victoria. Living alone, isolated and self-sufficient on a small rural property in the Brodribb river valley alongside the Snowy river national park, Redwood, the coordinator of the East Gippsland Environment Centre, says there have been endless attempts to
  
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• After 20 years of uneasy peace, the forest wars are back

  19-03-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Agreements meant to protect forests and create a sustainable timber industry are about to expire, and both sides are preparing for new conflictFor more than 30 years Jill Redwood has fought to save the ancient old growth forests of East Gippsland in Victoria. Living alone, isolated and self-sufficient on a small rural property in the Brodribb river valley alongside the Snowy river national park, Redwood, the coordinator of the East Gippsland Environment Centre, says there have been endless attem
  
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• Climate change soon to cause movement of 140m people, World Bank warns

  19-03-2018 17:44 via theguardian.com
  Tens of millions in three regions of the developing world expected to migrate before 2050 unless environment is improvedClimate change will result in a massive movement of people inside countries and across borders, creating “hotspots” where tens of millions pour into already crowded slums, according to the World Bank.More than 140 million people in just three regions of the developing world are likely to migrate within their native countries between now and 2050, the first report on
  
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• Climate change soon to cause mass movement, World Bank warns

  19-03-2018 17:44 via theguardian.com
  140m people in three regions expected to migrate before 2050 unless environment is improvedClimate change will result in a massive movement of people inside countries and across borders, creating “hotspots” where tens of millions pour into already crowded slums, according to the World Bank.More than 140 million people in just three regions of the developing world are likely to migrate within their native countries between now and 2050, the first report on the subject has found.Contin
  
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• Macular degeneration: 'I've been given my sight back'

  19-03-2018 17:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Two patients have had pioneering stem cell therapy to restore their vision.
  
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• Rare poison

  19-03-2018 14:09 via bbc.co.uk
  Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned by Novichok nerve agents, the PM says. So what are they?
  
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• West End rolls out mobile coffee cup recycling points

  19-03-2018 14:05
  Westminster street sweepers will become mobile coffee cup recycling points in a new scheme aimed at driving resource efficiency in the capital.
  
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• CDP: Gap between corporate awareness and action on climate risks

  19-03-2018 13:15
  New research from non-profit CDP has revealed a disconnect in the business sphere between awareness of climate risks and actions to tackle them.
  
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• London ranked as global leader in green finance movement

  19-03-2018 13:12
  London has been ranked as the best financial hub in the world for green financing offerings, with a new report predicting that the market for green offers will grow "substantially in size and quality".
  
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• Adidas sold one million pairs of ocean plastic trainers in 2017

  19-03-2018 12:29
  Sportswear giant Adidas has revealed that it sold more than one million pairs of trainers made from 95% ocean plastic last year.
  
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• John Kelly shut down Pruitt’s climate denial ‘red team,’ but they have a Plan B | Dana Nuccitelli

  19-03-2018 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Let fossil fuel-funded think tanks make their case, then ignore itIn 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant, which means that if it poses a threat to public health or welfare, the EPA must regulate it under the Clean Air Act. In 2009, the EPA completed its review of the climate science literature and correctly concluded in its Endangerment Finding that carbon pollution poses such a threat via climate change. That document is the foundation for all government cli
  
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• My advice after a year without tech: rewild yourself | Mark Boyle

  19-03-2018 09:00 via theguardian.com
  We can’t all go and live in the woods, of course. But if we resist debt, resist gadgets, and reconnect with nature, the world might just changeHaving once been an early adopter of tech, I was an unlikely early rejector. But it has now been over a year since I have phoned my family or friends, logged on to antisocial media, sent a text message, checked email, browsed online, took a photograph or listened to electronic music. Living and working on a smallholding without electricity, fossil f
  
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• Water shortages could affect 5bn people by 2050, UN report warns

  19-03-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Conflict and civilisational threats likely unless action is taken to reduce the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservoirsMore than 5 billion people could suffer water shortages by 2050 due to climate change, increased demand and polluted supplies, according to a UN report on the state of the world’s water.The comprehensive annual study warns of conflict and civilisational threats unless actions are taken to reduce the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservo
  
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• Is the way we think about overpopulation racist? | Fred Pearce

  19-03-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Half the world lives in urban areas, yet environmental concerns about megacities often focus on developing economies. But consumption is as important as populationIt is just 50 years since the publication of Paul Ehrlich’s book The Population Bomb galvanised the global discussion on overpopulation. Published in 1968, his million-selling Malthusian polemic suggested that over-breeding poor countries were killing the planet. And it began in a megacity: India’s capital, Delhi. Related:
  
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• Is the way we think about overpopulation racist?

  19-03-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Half the world lives in urban areas, yet environmental concerns about megacities often focus on developing economies. But consumption is as important as populationIt is just 50 years since the publication of Paul Ehrlich’s book The Population Bomb galvanised the global discussion on overpopulation. Published in 1968, his million-selling Malthusian polemic suggested that over-breeding poor countries were killing the planet. And it began in a megacity: India’s capital, Delhi. Related:
  
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• Country diary: beavers adjust to the first proper Highland winter in years

  19-03-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Aigas, Beauly, Inverness-shire They had to hurry to cache enough food before the ice took over, an underwater stash of nutritious bark kept fresh for winter snackingI think we’d almost forgotten about ice. A decade of mild winters had pressed delete in our recent memory banks, banished ice to the Winter Olympics or perhaps to nostalgia – something that happened back then. Well, this Highland winter was having none of it. It rampaged in with sharp teeth in November, bit hard and hasn&
  
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• Wild quolls take bait of cane-toad sausages, offering hope for species

  19-03-2018 06:19 via theguardian.com
  Wildlife managers hope taste aversion technique can help safeguard the endangered northern quollScientists are a step closer to stopping the devastating march of toxic cane toads across northern Australia, as the introduced species continues to decimate what is left of the native quoll populations. Field trials of a technique used to turn quolls off the taste of toads has yielded positive results, which were published in this month’s Austral Ecology journal. Continue reading...
  
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• Taking place TUESDAY: edie's webinar on delivering 'smart grid of the future'

  19-03-2018 01:01
  Taking place tomorrow 20 March at 11am (BST), the hour-long webinar will explore how clean technologies and innovations such as battery storage and demand response can drive efficiency, cut costs and enhance energy strategies.
  
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• Taking place TOMORROW: edie's webinar on delivering 'smart grid of the future'

  19-03-2018 01:01
  Taking place tomorrow 20 March at 11am (BST), the hour-long webinar will explore how clean technologies and innovations such as battery storage and demand response can drive efficiency, cut costs and enhance energy strategies.
  
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