Environment news

• Weatherwatch: overheating cities take steps to cool down

  09-04-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Light-coloured roads and rooftop gardens are planning measures being employed to combat rising urban temperaturesWith summer still apparently a long way off, it seems premature to be worrying about heatwaves but they are becoming as great a threat to life as winter cold. Predictions are that, in summer, most European cities could become as much as 10C hotter by the end of this century, testing the old and very young who both have trouble regulating body temperature.Related: Urban heat islands: c
  
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• Six Virunga park rangers killed in DRC wildlife sanctuary

  09-04-2018 20:27 via theguardian.com
  Latest ambush is worst attack to date at Virunga national park, home to world’s largest population of mountain gorillasFive rangers and a driver were killed in an ambush in the Virunga national park in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday.
  A sixth ranger was injured in the attack that took place in the central section of the vast reserve, known globally for its population of rare mountain gorillas.Continue reading...
  
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• Tree clearing not urban sprawl wiping out koalas in Queensland, WWF says

  09-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Analysis shows 94% of the 5,000 estimated koala deaths due to habitat loss from 2012 to 2016 occurred outside the state’s heavily developed south-eastEnvironmentalists estimate that tree clearing in regional and rural Queensland is now 15 times more destructive to the state’s koala populations than urban sprawl.Development, and the loss of koala habitat for housing and infrastructure, was considered a key reason why the koala was added to the “vulnerable” species list in
  
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• 'It's our lifeblood': the Murray-Darling and the fight for Indigenous water rights

  09-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Securing rights to cultural flows would provide employment and skills for Indigenous communities along river system• Murray-Darling: when the river runs dry
  When the water levels of the Darling river fall, local elders in Wilcannia, New South Wales, say, the crime rate spikes, particularly juvenile crime. It seems like an odd correlation until the elders explain just how important the river is to their everyday lives. Continue reading...
  
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• £22 entry is good value for Monet | Brief letters

  09-04-2018 19:06 via theguardian.com
  Barbara Mandell | National Gallery entrance fees | Quakers and the truth | Butterflies in the 60s | Tom LehrerThe claim that “no woman was trusted to read the news in the UK until Angela Rippon in 1975” (Freedom of speech, G2, 9 April) is inaccurate. Barbara Mandell read the midday news on ITV in 1955. However, the underlying point of the article – the notion that the female voice lacks authority reflects an embedded prejudice against women – is surely correct. It is born
  
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• Tasmanian devil cancers targeted by human drugs

  09-04-2018 18:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Cambridge University researchers find human cancer drugs could halt the extinction of the marsupial.
  
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• Finger bone points to early human exodus

  09-04-2018 17:47 via bbc.co.uk
  A fossil find from Saudi Arabia adds to growing evidence that modern humans left Africa earlier than supposed.
  
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• ‘Our territory is our life’: one struggle against mining in Ecuador

  09-04-2018 17:20 via theguardian.com
  The A’I Cofan in the Amazon fight back against small-scale miners invading their land and new, large-scale concessions upriverThree A’I Cofan men were staring down at a pit of rocks, dead foliage and filthy water where two gold-panners were working. Beyond was a sluice and hoses running down to the rushing, green waters of the River Aguarico. To the right, there was mud, more rocks, more equipment, a makeshift tent and camp. Behind, to the left, a Hyundai excavator and a track runnin
  
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• Heathrow third runway noise would affect 2.2m people, analysis finds

  09-04-2018 16:51 via theguardian.com
  Official files show government expects 973,000 households to face increased daytime noiseMore than 2 million people would be exposed to additional aircraft noise if Heathrow builds a third runway, according to a government analysis.Ministers have argued that Britain’s biggest airport will affect fewer people with noise in future, due to quieter planes. But government calculations suggest a new runway would still have a negative impact on nearly a million households, or 2.2 million people.
  
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• BBC Radio 4 broke accuracy rules in Nigel Lawson climate change interview

  09-04-2018 16:40 via theguardian.com
  Ofcom says controversial claims, including on the frequency of extreme weather events, went unchallengedBBC Radio 4 broke accuracy rules by failing to sufficiently challenge the climate change denier Nigel Lawson’s controversial claims in an interview, the broadcasting watchdog has ruled.Lord Lawson appeared on a Radio 4 programme last summer denying the concept of climate change, which prompted complaints from the Green party and the prominent scientists Brian Cox and Jim Al-Khalili, who
  
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• Let grieving wife of dead environmentalist leave Iran, son pleads

  09-04-2018 16:09 via theguardian.com
  Maryam Mombeini, whose husband died in custody in mysterious circumstances, must be allowed to join her family in Canada, son saysThe son of an Iranian-Canadian environmentalist who died in a Tehran prison under mysterious circumstances has called on Iran to allow his grieving mother to leave the country.Maryam Mombeini, 55, was stopped last month by the security guards at Tehran’s international airport just before boarding a flight to Canada with her two sons after the death in custody of
  
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• Belgrade's 'tiny head' Gagarin statue causes dismay

  09-04-2018 15:36 via bbc.co.uk
  Serbian social media users mock city's tribute to the first man in space.
  
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• Plans for Welsh nuclear power plant delayed by concerns over seabirds

  09-04-2018 14:57 via theguardian.com
  Next stage of planning process for Anglesey site postponed as effect on tern colonies is assessed Plans for a nuclear power station on the Welsh island of Anglesey have been delayed by concerns over the plant’s impact on colonies of protected seabirds.The proposed twin reactors at Wylfa were given the green light by the UK’s nuclear regulator in December, with backers hoping to win financial support from the government. The Welsh plant would have a capacity of 3GW, similar to the 3.2
  
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• VIDEO: How Landsec is achieving a sustainable future for the built environment

  09-04-2018 14:48
  This brand new series of video interviews showcases the sustainability superheroes who are achieving 'Mission Possible' for their business. First up: Landsec's head of sustainability Caroline Hill explains how the property developer is working to achieve a sustainable future for the built environment.
  
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• NEW VIDEO SERIES: How Landsec is achieving a sustainable future for the built environment

  09-04-2018 14:48
  This brand new series of video interviews showcases the sustainability superheroes who are achieving 'Mission Possible' for their business. First up: Landsec's head of sustainability Caroline Hill explains how the property developer is working to achieve a sustainable future for the built environment.
  
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• 100 years of chemical weapons

  09-04-2018 14:35 via bbc.co.uk
  From chlorine to novichok, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon takes us through the history of chemical weapons.
  
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• BBC climate change interview breached broadcasting standards

  09-04-2018 14:29 via bbc.co.uk
  The media watchdog says the ex-chancellor was "not sufficiently challenged" during a radio interview.
  
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• BBC Radio 4 broke impartiality rules in Nigel Lawson climate change interview

  09-04-2018 14:10 via theguardian.com
  Ofcom says interviewer failed to challenge controversial claims including that there had been no increase in extreme weather eventsBBC Radio 4 broke impartiality rules by failing to sufficiently challenge climate change denier Nigel Lawson’s controversial claims in an interview, the broadcasting watchdog has ruled.Lord Lawson appeared on a Radio 4 programme last summer denying the concept of climate change, which prompted complaints from the Green party, and prominent scientists Brian Cox
  
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• Peugeot and Vauxhall owner PSA forms electric vehicle business unit

  09-04-2018 13:57
  French car manufacturing giant Groupe PSA has created a new EV-focused business section as part of the company's plan to offer electric models across its entire portfolio by 2025.
  
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• UK's struggle and Mexico's rise: Seven surprising stats about global clean energy investment

  09-04-2018 13:41
  A new report from UN Environment and Bloomberg New Energy Finance has outlined the global trends of renewable energy investment, which grew by 2% last year. edie dives through the data to bring seven surprising statistics.
  
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• UK's struggle and Mexico's rise: Seven surprising statistics from investment into renewables

  09-04-2018 13:41
  A new report from UN Environment and Bloomberg New Energy Finance has outlined the global trends of renewable energy investment, which grew by 2% last year. edie dives through the data to bring seven surprising statistics.
  
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• Scotland smashes onshore wind record

  09-04-2018 13:08
  Experts have hailed the "incredible amount" of power produced by Scotland's onshore wind turbines in the first quarter of 2018, which is up 44% on the first three months of last year.
  
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• French police fire teargas to expel anti-capitalist squatters

  09-04-2018 12:26 via theguardian.com
  Officers start to remove activists from site of abandoned airport plan in Notre-Dame-des-LandesFrench police have used teargas in an attempt to clear anti-capitalist squatters from the site of an abandoned airport project.About 2,500 riot police made a pre-dawn raid in Notre-Dame-des-Landes to evict about 250 activists. Continue reading...
  
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• Bin chickens: the grotesque glory of the urban ibis – in pictures

  09-04-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Tip turkey, dumpster chook, rubbish raptor – the Australian white ibis goes by many unflattering names. But it is a true urban success story, scavenging to survive in cities across Australia as wetlands have been lost. Wildlife photographer Rick Stevens captured them in SydneySee the rest of our Australian cities week series here Continue reading...
  
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• Northumbrian Water goes 100% renewable through green deal with Orsted

  09-04-2018 11:23
  Northumbrian Water will power all 1,858 of its sites using renewable electricity for the next four years after signing a deal with Danish energy supplier Orsted.
  
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• Cement industry urged to reduce 'invisible' global emissions

  09-04-2018 10:31 via theguardian.com
  Report warns carbon footprint of heavy emitter cement companies must be reduced sharply in order to meet Paris climate goals Greenhouse gas emissions from cement production must be reduced sharply if the world is to meet the climate change goals set out in the Paris agreement, a new report has suggested.Making cement and concrete, which is the most consumed product in the world after water, entails substantial emissions of carbon dioxide, from the chemical processes involved. While manufacturers
  
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• Big increase in Antarctic snowfall

  09-04-2018 10:00 via bbc.co.uk
  The annual extra now compared with the early 1800s has a water volume twice that of the Dead Sea.
  
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• Caught in the crossfire: little dodo nears extinction

  09-04-2018 09:40 via theguardian.com
  Illegal pigeon hunting across Samoa is risking the extinction of the country’s national bird: the little dodo or manumea. Will this little-known island pigeon suffer the same fate as its namesake?Nearly two hundred years after the extinction of the dodo, Sir William Jardin – a Scottish naturalist and bird-aficionado – described another odd, bulky, island pigeon. From the island of Samoa, this one was distinguished by a massive, curving bill that sported tooth-like serrations on
  
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• The edible solutions to the plastic-packaging crisis

  09-04-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  A UK startup making water containers from seaweed is one of many businesses thinking of food-based answers to the global problem of plastic. Can they catch on?Who hasn’t occasionally considered whether you could just chomp on your water bottle once you have finished drinking from it? That is a reality with Ooho water pouches – from Skipping Rocks Lab, a UK-based “sustainable packaging” startup – made from seaweed for an esoteric post-beverage snack.Of course, eating
  
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• Country diary: a two-handed comic treecreeper act bursts out of the trees

  09-04-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Airedale, West Yorkshire: Shy birds break cover in spring. What we call personality is really a calculation of risk and needThe little grebe jackknifes out of sight almost before I have time to register that it’s there: a flash of chestnut cheek, a plop, and a fading pattern of concentric ripples on the water. The bird books invariably characterise Tachybaptus ruficollis as “shy” or “secretive”, and it’s not hard to see why – but in reality, these things
  
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• Linc Energy guilty of causing serious environmental harm

  09-04-2018 05:19 via theguardian.com
  Water in Queensland’s Darling Downs was polluted so much it was unfit for stock, court hearsA failed Queensland energy company has been found guilty of causing serious environmental harm by polluting the Darling Downs with hazardous contaminants despite warnings from scientists.Linc Energy has been on trial for weeks at Brisbane district court, where the jury was told that toxic gas leaked from its operations between 2007 and 2013. Continue reading...
  
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