Environment news

• Space diamonds 'came from lost planet'

  17-04-2018 22:43 via bbc.co.uk
  The space rock that exploded in 2008 seems to have come from the early Solar System.
  
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• Turnbull's national energy guarantee could have 'no meaningful emission reduction'

  17-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Research says additional 9,271MW of wind and solar required to deliver the Neg emissions reduction targetThe Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee will deliver no meaningful emissions reductions in its own right unless the proposed 2030 target for Australia’s electricity sector is made more ambitious, according to new research.Data on renewables compiled by Green Energy Markets and funded by the progressive activist group GetUp indicates the capacity of renewable projects n
  
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• The great Australian garbage map: 75% of beach rubbish made of plastic

  17-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Data compiled from rubbish collected by volunteers aims to encourage industry to control plastic pollution at the sourceAustralians are battling against a tide of millions of pieces of discarded plastic debris at beach clean-up events all across the continent, according to two years of data analysed by Guardian Australia.Some 2,651,613 pieces of debris were collected from beaches and recorded in a database during 2016 and 2017, with about three-quarters of items made from plastics. Continue read
  
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• Amazon coral reef would be ruined by planned oil drilling, scientists say

  17-04-2018 19:29 via theguardian.com
  The 56,000 sq km reef is thought to contain dozens of undiscovered species, in an area where a French company intents to drill for oilScientists aboard a Greenpeace ship have discovered a massive and unique coral reef near the mouth of the Amazon, in an area where the French company Total intends to drill for oil.The 1,000km long and 56,000 sq km Amazon coral reef is a biome thought to contain dozens of undiscovered species that environmentalists say would be irreparably damaged if drilling for
  
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• Accelerating the shift: New edie report explores low-carbon vehicle game-changers

  17-04-2018 19:11
  With Britain's electric vehicle (EV) revolution continuing to gather pace, edie has today (18 April) launched a new insight report which investigates some of the game-changing developments which are driving green mobility.
  
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• ​C​ould eating rare-breed animals save them from extinction?

  17-04-2018 18:31 via theguardian.com
  Tucking in to less popular meats could help preserve those breeds, according to a farming charity. Here are six varieties it thinks might benefitWhen you think about Britain’s endangered animals, hedgehogs, small tortoiseshell butterflies and puffins may spring to mind. But rare breeds of farm animals and horses face extinction, too.The Rare Breed Survival Trust (RBST) published a list of endangered breeds this week. At a critical point are vaynol cattle, with only 12 breeding females rema
  
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• Porpoise plucked from shallow waters

  17-04-2018 18:03 via bbc.co.uk
  The young female porpoise had become stranded at Grange burn near to Grangemouth.
  
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• I kept all my plastic for a year – the 4,490 items forced me to rethink

  17-04-2018 17:39 via theguardian.com
  Daniel Webb accrued a mountain of plastic – including many packets of Hula Hoops – and made it into a mural, now on display at Dreamland in Margate. We are overproducing and overconsuming, he says, and recycling is not the answerWe all know, in theory, that we ought to use less plastic. We’ve all been distressed by the sight of Blue Planet II’s hawksbill turtle entangled in a plastic sack, and felt chastened as we’ve totted up our weekly tally of disposable coffee c
  
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• Murdered land activist adds to rising death toll in Brazil's Amazon

  17-04-2018 16:50 via theguardian.com
  Anti-palm oil campaigner Nazildo dos Santos Brito is the third victim in four weeks as land conflicts increase in the country’s Pará stateBrazil’s Amazonian state of Pará has added to its reputation as a killing ground for land activists with the murder of an anti-palm oil campaigner.Nazildo dos Santos Brito – a leader of a Quilombo Afro-Brazilian community formed by runaway slaves – was killed at the weekend. It was the third assassination in four weeks in
  
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• Murdered indigenous land activist adds to rising death toll in Brazil's Amazon

  17-04-2018 16:50 via theguardian.com
  Anti-palm oil campaigner Nazildo dos Santos Brito is the third victim in four weeks as land conflicts increase in the country’s Pará stateBrazil’s Amazonian state of Pará has added to its reputation as a killing ground for land activists with the murder of an anti-palm oil campaigner.Nazildo dos Santos Brito – a leader of a Quilombo Afro-Brazilian community formed by runaway slaves – was killed at the weekend. It was the third assassination in four weeks in
  
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• Warming climate to nearly double demand for cooling appliances

  17-04-2018 16:04 via theguardian.com
  Researchers predict energy use for air conditioners and refrigeration to jump 90% on 2017 levelsA burgeoning middle class and a warming world will result in energy demand for cooling overtaking that for heating by the middle of the century, researchers have predicted.Energy use for air conditioning, refrigeration and other cooling appliances will jump 90% on 2017 levels, experts estimated, posing a challenge for energy grids and efforts to curb climate change.Continue reading...
  
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• Demand for cooling predicted to outstrip heating as Earth warms

  17-04-2018 13:34 via theguardian.com
  Energy use for air conditioning, refrigeration and other cooling appliances expected to jump 90% on 2017 levelsA burgeoning middle class and a warming world will result in energy demand for cooling overtaking that for heating by the middle of the century, researchers have predicted.Energy use for air conditioning, refrigeration and other cooling appliances will jump 90% on 2017 levels, experts estimated, posing a challenge for energy grids and efforts to curb climate change.Continue reading...
  
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• Procter & Gamble sets new package of 2030 sustainability goals

  17-04-2018 13:18
  The owner of household brands such as Ariel, Gillette, Fairy, Pampers and Head & Shoulders has unveiled a new suite of 2030 sustainability targets, having achieved many of its goals for 2020.
  
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• P&G sets new package of 2030 sustainability goals

  17-04-2018 13:18
  The owner of household brands such as Ariel, Gillette, Fairy, Pampers and Head & Shoulders has unveiled a new suite of 2030 sustainability targets, having achieved many of its goals for 2020.
  
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• BP's low-carbon strategy comes under fire

  17-04-2018 12:48
  BP's new sustainability strategy to level-out increases to emissions during a period of business growth has been labelled as "too small" an effort to reduce the company's exposure to climate risk.
  
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• To lead on climate, countries must commit to zero emissions | Isabella Lövin

  17-04-2018 12:34 via theguardian.com
  The UK’s climate laws forged a path for others to follow. But as progressive nations commit to zero emissions, it must reclaim its leading role, writes Sweden’s deputy prime ministerWhat does it mean for a nation to be a “climate leader” in 2018?
  At the very least, it must mean having a firm plan in place to deliver your nation’s fair share of the Paris agreement. During that stunning fortnight in December 2015, 195 governments freely and willingly committed not onl
  
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• UK to review climate target raising hopes of a zero emissions pledge

  17-04-2018 12:33 via theguardian.com
  The government pledged in 2016 to enshrine a zero target in law to meet its Paris commitments, but has yet to pass any legislationThe UK is to review its long-term target to cut climate emissions as part of global efforts to curb rising temperatures, the government has announced. The announcement by clean growth minister Claire Perry during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) raises the possibility the UK could implement a target to reduce emissions to “net zero” by
  
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• More than 100 corporates have science-based targets approved

  17-04-2018 12:30
  L'Oréal and Electrolux are among the latest businesses to have their emission reduction goals approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
  
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• Bialowieza forest: Poland broke EU law by logging

  17-04-2018 11:52 via bbc.co.uk
  Poland violated EU law by ordering large-scale logging in Bialowieza forest, Europe's top court says.
  
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• Kids ask Nasa astronaut about going to space

  17-04-2018 11:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Karen Nyberg, who's been to space twice, answers questions from primary school children.
  
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• National energy guarantee will 'lock in' poor climate outcomes, ACT says

  17-04-2018 10:55 via theguardian.com
  ACT will push for improvements as federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg urges states and territories to get behind schemeThe Australian Capital Territory says the national energy guarantee will “lock in poor outcomes for the climate, for renewable energy, for states and territories who are pursuing strong climate actions and, ultimately, for electricity consumers” – but will push for improvements at a critical meeting this Friday.As the federal energy minister, Josh Frydenber
  
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• Poland violated EU laws by logging in Białowieża forest, court rules

  17-04-2018 10:29 via theguardian.com
  Polish government had said logging was necessary to protect trees from outbreak of bark beetles in one of continent’s last pristine forestsThe European Union’s highest court has ruled that Poland violated environmental laws with its massive logging of trees in one of Europe’s last pristine forests. The ruling on Tuesday by the European Court of Justice said that in increasing logging in the Białowieża forest, Poland failed to fulfil its obligations to protect natural
  
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• Philippines sends in riot police to lock down 'cesspool' Boracay

  17-04-2018 10:27 via theguardian.com
  ‘Crowd dispersal unit’ among measures to keep out tourists during six-month shutdownThe Philippines is to deploy hundreds of riot police to the holiday island Boracay to keep out tourists and head off potential protests ahead of its six-month closure to visitors.Rodrigo Duterte has described the tiny central island and its white-sand beach as a “cesspool”. The Philippine president ordered visitors to be kept away from 26 April to enable facilities to treat raw sewage to b
  
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• Little penguins return to ocean after being treated for injuries – video

  17-04-2018 08:58 via theguardian.com
  After spending two months at a wildlife hospital, five little penguins are back in the ocean after being released from a Sydney beach. The birds, Footsie, Margaret, Collin, Bondi and Nigel, said goodbye to their Taronga Zoo handlers and swam away at Manly's Shelly Beach on Tuesday morning. They were rescued from as far as Newcastle, Maroubra and Bondi.  Continue reading...
  
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• Our Place review – damning indictment of Britons’ ecological complacency

  17-04-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Mark Cocker delivers a blistering attack on the country’s collective failure to protect its landscape and wildlifeAt the beginning of Our Place, Mark Cocker sets out his vision of the kind of book he’s trying to write. Springing out of his attempts to steward five acres of sodden fenland in the floodplain of the river Yare in Norfolk, he says he wants to compose a work that interweaves “an autobiographical narrative of place and a historical exploration of how and why the Briti
  
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• Country diary: wild violets are an absolute joy, to us and the bees

  17-04-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Claxton, Norfolk: Intense blue spikes have covered half the lawn – but we can claim little credit for thisThis spring I’ve been amused by our wild violets, which have spread suddenly across one half of the lawn. For anyone who has never met them, they are an absolute joy. Each flowering spike bears an asymmetrical corolla that comprises five petals of the most intense purple. Down the throat of the central spur is a delicious little nectary that bees apparently find irresistible. If
  
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• More than 95% of world's population breathe dangerous air, major study finds

  17-04-2018 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Poorest are hardest hit with many developing countries falling behind on cleaning up toxic air pollutionMore than 95% of the world’s population breathe unsafe air and the burden is falling hardest on the poorest communities, with the gap between the most polluted and least polluted countries rising rapidly, a comprehensive study of global air pollution has found.Cities are home to an increasing majority of the world’s people, exposing billions to unsafe air, particularly in developin
  
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• Don't believe the hype on natural gas. It's a fossil fuel just like coal | Fiona Stanley, Graeme Pearman & Richard Yin

  17-04-2018 05:55 via theguardian.com
  The scale of growth of Australia’s natural gas industry is inconsistent with our Paris commitments
  Australia is currently aggressively developing its natural gas resource. By the end of 2018, it is likely to overtake Qatar as the world’s largest liquified natural gas (LNG) exporter.Western Australia is leading the way on developing gas with the premier, Mark McGowan, calling for the state to be a global LNG hub. Recently businessman Andrew Forrest announced a radical plan to create a
  
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• The first person on Mars 'should be a woman'

  17-04-2018 03:02 via bbc.co.uk
  A senior Nasa engineer has said the first person to set foot on Mars should be a woman.
  
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• Northern Territory lifts fracking ban, opening up 700,000 sq km to gas exploration

  17-04-2018 02:24 via theguardian.com
  First exploration fracking expected next year but national parks and conservation areas will be protected
  The Northern Territory government has lifted a ban on hydraulic fracturing of onshore gas that will open up more than half of the territory’s land mass to the controversial practice.The first exploration fracking by petroleum companies is expected to occur early next year after the implementation of a regulatory regime and new laws, which the government insists will be strict. Continue
  
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• TUESDAY AT 2PM: Live behaviour change webinar featuring Tesco and RBS

  17-04-2018 02:01
  Taking place today (17 April) at 2pm (BST), the one-hour webinar session will see experts from Tesco, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and EDF Energy provide their top tips on driving staff engagement on energy and sustainability.
  
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• TODAY AT 2PM: Live behaviour change webinar featuring Tesco and RBS

  17-04-2018 02:01
  Taking place today (17 April) at 2pm (BST), the one-hour webinar session will see experts from Tesco, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and EDF Energy provide their top tips on driving staff engagement on energy and sustainability.
  
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• Taking place TODAY: edie's webinar on driving employee engagement

  17-04-2018 02:01
  Taking place today (17 April) at 2pm (BST), the one-hour webinar session will see experts from Tesco, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and EDF Energy provide their top tips on driving staff engagement on energy and sustainability.
  
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• Reality Check

  17-04-2018 02:01 via bbc.co.uk
  It's not as easy to recycle your takeaway coffee cup as people may have thought.
  
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• The way some pigs are reared is 'upsetting and wrong', say shoppers

  17-04-2018 01:02 via theguardian.com
  Most people willing to swap to supermarkets trying to improve farming standards, survey findsShoppers around the world overwhelmingly support high animal welfare standards for pigs, and most would also be prepared to change their supermarket habits in response, an international survey on pork consumption has found.Seven out of 10 people questioned said they found the manner in which pigs are reared for slaughter on some factory farms “upsetting”, “wrong” or “shockin
  
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