Environment news

• Voters split on whether Coalition should build new coal plants or stop closures

  15-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Poll shows strong support for energy efficiency measures despite divide on generatorsVoters are divided on whether the government should intervene to stop coal power stations closing, or subsidise the construction of new coal plants, but strongly back energy efficiency measures, a new poll has found.The YouGov Galaxy poll, released on Monday, found that 42% want the government to intervene to keep existing coal electricity generators open compared with 33% who oppose it.Continue reading...
  
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• 'Plastic is literally everywhere': the epidemic attacking Australia's oceans

  15-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘It never breaks down and goes away,’ say scientists struggling to understand the impact of widespread pollutionWhile heading down the Brisbane river, Jim Hinds once pulled aboard a drunken half-naked man just seconds from “going down for the last time”.
  But on this day, like most other days for Hinds, it’s back to the horribly predictable as he launches his boat into the Nerang river on Queensland’s Gold Coast.Continue reading...
  
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• Hurricane-hit islands need debt relief | Letters

  15-04-2018 19:01 via theguardian.com
  Those who have contributed the most to climate change are the real debtors so it is unfair that small island states be indebted as a result, write Keith Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada, and Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda. Plus a coalition of organisations calls on Theresa May to apologise for the UK’s anti-gay legacyThis week we will meet with fellow Commonwealth heads of government in Windsor. One of the most pressing challenges facing smaller Commonwealth g
  
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• Iain Reddish obituary

  15-04-2018 18:59 via theguardian.com
  My friend Iain Reddish, who has died aged 72, had a varied career in which he was a parliamentary aide, teacher, public relations officer and sports executive before settling down to be an international environmental lobbyist with Greenpeace for more than a decade.He joined Greenpeace in 1995, moving to its Amsterdam headquarters, and worked on various projects, including the Save the Whale campaign. By the time he left in 2007, he had visited 149 cities in 38 countries. His final role was as Eu
  
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• UK government criticised for 'shocking' inaction on insulating draughty homes

  15-04-2018 16:15 via theguardian.com
  Citizens Advice says silence on energy efficiency plans will mean households lose outThe government’s failure to take action on insulating draughty homes has been criticised by the statutory body for energy consumers. Related: Smart systems key to future of cheaper and cleaner energy supplyContinue reading...
  
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• Who’d like to live under the sea?

  15-04-2018 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Plenty of people, according to Phil Nuytten, the man who has designed and plans to build a city beneath the wavesPhil Nuytten first decided he wanted to spend his life underwater when he was six years old. It was 1947. The Second World War had only recently ended. Nuytten’s dad had scored a job at Boeing, and the firm’s office in Vancouver Harbour was just a short walk away from the family home. Every now and then Nuytten would waltz down to the harbour unaccompanied, sneak out to th
  
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• Hidden plastics: just when you thought it was safe to dunk a teabag

  15-04-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Five surprising objects that contain plastic – with toxic implications for the environmentLast Tuesday, Waitrose announced plans to remove all disposable coffee cups from their stores by autumn of this year – customers will have to bring a reusable one of their own. Despite their cardboard appearance, coffee cups are actually lined with polyethylene and are hard to recycle. The cups gradually break down to form microplastics, which make their way into our waterways and food supply. C
  
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• As public pressure grows, Clipper is latest brand to end use of plastic in teabags

  15-04-2018 07:04 via theguardian.com
  Firm joins PG Tips in dropping synthetic sealants as other major producers look to make bags 100% biodegradableThe UK’s longest-established Fairtrade tea brand has become the latest to ditch synthetic sealants in its teabags, amid mounting consumer pressure on manufacturers to help cut down on plastic pollution.Clipper Teas – which champions the unbleached teabag – hopes to introduce a new, fully biodegradable bag free of polypropylene, a sealant used across the industry to ens
  
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