Environment news

• Pollutionwatch: bicycles take over City of London rush hour

  12-04-2018 22:30
  Traffic has fallen by 40% in the City since 1999 – good news for air pollution and people’s fitnessCity workers are swapping their pinstripe suits for cycle helmets and hi-vis jackets. Since 1999, total traffic in the City of London has fallen by 40% and bicycles are now the dominant vehicle during the rush hour. This is good news for air pollution in an area that breaches EU limit values for nitrogen dioxide, but an increase in active travel has many other benefits: less road traffi
  
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• EPA aide says he was forced out after questioning Scott Pruitt's spending

  12-04-2018 20:38
  Kevin Chmielewski told lawmakers he faced retaliation after pushing against outsized spending demands from EPA chief and his top aidesA high-ranking political staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency has told lawmakers he faced retaliation after pushing back against outsized spending demands from administrator Scott Pruitt and his top aides.House and Senate Democrats sent letters on Thursday to Donald Trump and Pruitt describing a meeting they had with Kevin Chmielewski, who was recently p
  
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• No plan to protect Queensland's green-haired turtle from extinction

  12-04-2018 20:00
  The Mary river turtle is just one of many endangered Australian reptile species which have fallen between the conservation cracksThe Australian government does not have a plan to save an endangered Australian turtle species that received global attention on Thursday for its green mohawk and its ability to breathe through its genitals.The Mary river turtle, found only in that one river in Queensland, attracted worldwide headlines as one of the standout species on a new list of the most vulnerable
  
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• 'Cash-for-ash' inquiry: Arlene Foster says she regrets spiralling costs

  12-04-2018 18:45
  DUP leader says she believes Sinn Féin protests over RHI costs were an excuse to bring down power-sharing executiveNorthern Ireland’s former first minister Arlene Foster has told the inquiry into the green energy scheme that resulted in the collapse of the power-sharing government that she deeply regretted its spiralling costs.The renewable heat incentive (RHI) programme was championed by Foster when she was the devolved enterprise minister but its costs ran into hundreds of million
  
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• Why some cancers are 'born to be bad'

  12-04-2018 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Breakthrough explains why some cancers are far more deadly than others.
  
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• New satellite to spot planet-warming industrial methane leaks

  12-04-2018 17:15
  Multimillion dollar project will scan and make public methane leaks from oil and gas plants that are a major contributor to global warmingMethane leaking from oil and gas facilities around the world – a major contributor to global warming – is set to be spotted from space. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has announced it aims to launch a satellite called MethaneSAT by 2021 to scan the globe and make major leaks public. That information will then enable governments to force actio
  
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• Russian spy poisoning: Nerve agent inspectors back UK

  12-04-2018 16:48 via bbc.co.uk
  The international chemical weapons watchdog confirms the UK's analysis of the nerve agent in Salisbury.
  
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• World's first electrified road for charging vehicles opens in Sweden

  12-04-2018 14:40
  Stretch of road outside Stockholm transfers energy from two tracks of rail in the road, recharging the batteries of electric cars and trucksThe world’s first electrified road that recharges the batteries of cars and trucks driving on it has been opened in Sweden.About 2km (1.2 miles) of electric rail has been embedded in a public road near Stockholm, but the government’s roads agency has already drafted a national map for future expansion. Continue reading...
  
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• Pret launches reusable bottle range to slash consumer plastics waste

  12-04-2018 13:08
  Pret A Manger has unveiled a new range of reusable bottles to help reduce the amount of plastic used by customers.
  
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• Gulf Stream, green Brexit and punk-haired turtles – green news roundup

  12-04-2018 12:17
  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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• BP and Google set to embrace battery boon

  12-04-2018 11:50
  Major oil firm BP will work with Tesla to run a battery storage pilot at one of its windfarm projects in South Dakota, while Google has revealed it is "investigating" battery projects for later this year.
  
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• Apple powers all global facilities with 100% clean energy

  12-04-2018 11:50
  Tech giant Apple has announced that all of its global facilities is powered with 100% renewable energy.
  
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• Unforgettable underwater photography - in pictures

  12-04-2018 11:36
  A new book published by the Natural History Museum showcases some of the most memorable underwater photographs taken over the last few decades in its annual wildlife photographer of the year competition. The stories behind the pictures - about both the behaviour and the photographers’ experiences - are often as interesting as the pictures themselves Continue reading...
  
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• States threaten to call off energy deal if renewables undermined

  12-04-2018 10:19
  Queensland and Victoria hedge bets about national energy guarantee, saying they won’t compromise on keeping strong renewables targets The Queensland and Victorian governments are hedging their bets about the Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee ahead of the circulation of key design details expected during the next 48 hours.
  Queensland’s energy minister, Anthony Lynham, said on Thursday the state was still reviewing the stakeholder submissions to the Energy Security
  
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• Green Brexit unlikely despite government claims, report concludes

  12-04-2018 07:01
  Environmental standards are at risk across the board, from wildlife and habitats to water and air quality, a risk assessment showsGovernment promises of a green Brexit have been cast into doubt by a new study that warns of declining protections for water, birds and habitats once Britain leaves the European Union.The risk assessment – commissioned by Friends of the Earth – found standards are likely to weaken in every sector of environment policy, from chemicals and food safety to air
  
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• The Brazilian villagers turning plastic pollution into profit

  12-04-2018 07:00
  After plastic waste contributed to deadly floods in Recife, one neighbourhood took action. Now people can earn a living by cleaning up the river in a scheme being imitated around the worldMaria das Gracas started collecting her plastic bottles after she saw the body of her neighbour floating past her house, carried along with the pollution that helped cause the deadly floods.She stores them by the front door of her one-story home, which sits on the litter-strewn banks of the Tejipió river
  
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• Country diary: these little birds do bang on

  12-04-2018 06:30
  Sandy, Bedfordshire: While some birds plunder the scales for melody, the house sparrows strike a percussive noteThe most familiar and enigmatic garden birds have been feeding on nothing again. Six beaks probed the branches of the winter-bare rose bush, four beaks descended to peck at the ground beneath, one beak washed her meal down with a sip from the pond. Every day they return and every day I scan the soil, and interrogate the impervious hide of the rose, for anything edible, in vain. Do the
  
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• Court rejects challenge to salmon farm near Tasmanian world heritage area

  12-04-2018 05:03
  Environmentalists plan to appeal decision as fish farm on Tasmania’s east coast gets green lightLegal action by environmentalists against a controversial salmon farm on Tasmania’s east coast has been dismissed in the federal court.In 2017 the Bob Brown Foundation and tourism businesses owned by the millionaire environmentalist Graeme Wood challenged the decision by the federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, to approve Tassal’s 28-pen fish farm in Okehampton bay, near a
  
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• Rolls-Royce and Boeing invest in UK space engine

  12-04-2018 01:25 via bbc.co.uk
  Boeing and Rolls-Royce are investing in the UK company developing a revolutionary propulsion system.
  
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• Secrets of the sea bed: Hunt for Stone Age site in North Sea

  12-04-2018 01:23 via bbc.co.uk
  UK and Belgian scientists explore the seabed off Norfolk after prehistoric finds.
  
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• Past in focus

  12-04-2018 01:13 via bbc.co.uk
  Ancient DNA from human remains has helped construct a new narrative for human history.
  
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• Isolated lakes found beneath Canadian ice sheet

  12-04-2018 01:05 via bbc.co.uk
  Two lakes discovered beneath an Arctic ice sheet may help us to learn about Europa's subsurface ocean.
  
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