Environment news

• EPA inspector general to investigate Scott Pruitt's security detail on trips

  19-04-2018 22:09 via theguardian.com
  Latest in a string of investigations into Pruitt’s travel spendingTrips included Disneyland and attendance at sporting gamesThe Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general will investigate agency administrator Scott Pruitt’s use of his official security detail on recent personal trips, the latest in a string of congressional, White House and internal investigations into his spending on security and travel. The investigation comes at the request of Democratic senator She
  
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• UK weather: Why this isn't a heatwave... yet

  19-04-2018 22:02 via bbc.co.uk
  People across the UK have been enjoying unusually warm weather, but when can we call it a heatwave?
  
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• Westminster artist’s reputation 'sullied by London grime'

  19-04-2018 20:51 via theguardian.com
  Conservators unearth truth about Daniel Maclise, whose status was sullied when his murals turned murkyAlmost 150 years after he died, ending his life exhausted and depressed at apparent failure, the Irish artist Daniel Maclise has been vindicated: it was London filth, not his technique, which tarnished his reputation and the surface of his two masterpieces, the biggest paintings in the Palace of Westminster. Related: Relief for Dickens museum as experts say portrait of writer's wife is genuineCo
  
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• Bajau people 'evolved bigger spleens' for free-diving

  19-04-2018 20:49 via bbc.co.uk
  In an example of human natural selection, Asia's Bajau people have evolved bigger spleens for diving.
  
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• Birders everywhere are playing their part | Letters

  19-04-2018 19:17 via theguardian.com
  It’s not just Chris Packham who has helped birdwatching become mainstream, writes Jennifer M JonesIt was encouraging to read your item on birding becoming mainstream (Shortcuts, G2, 19 April). While Chris Packham and the ’watches teams have indeed contributed to this, please do not ascribe this emerging enthusiasm to just one source. Other TV naturalists, including Iolo Williams and Mike Dilger, have done much to encourage and enlighten young people about wildlife issues. Organisatio
  
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• Poison project

  19-04-2018 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientist Vladimir Uglev has no doubt the agent that poisoned the Skripals was made in Russia.
  
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• Grubs up: Carrefour offers Spanish shoppers insect-based snacks

  19-04-2018 17:50 via theguardian.com
  Supermarket chain’s new range includes spicy chilli buffalo worms and smoked cricketsDespite being a country that guards its culinary traditions more jealously than most - the recipe for the perfect tortilla proves enduringly divisive, and woe betide the anglosajón celebrity chef who dares pollute a paella with chorizo - Spain could be set to swell the ranks of the two billion people on the planet who regularly eat insects.Or so the supermarket giant Carrefour is hoping. Continue re
  
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• Mondelez calls for 'brave' collaboration to bring cocoa supply chain out of poverty

  19-04-2018 16:09
  EXCLUSIVE: The head of Mondelez's Cocoa Life sourcing programme has called on the cocoa industry to "be brave" when exploring new ways to enhance supply chain practices that ensure cocoa is sourced sustainably while bringing smallholder farmers out of poverty.
  
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• Sustainable Business Covered podcast: The £1bn eco-community and Patagonia's climate action movie

  19-04-2018 15:31
  This episode of the edie podcast takes listeners on a whirlwind tour of Eddington, a new 150-hectare, sustainable community developed by the University of Cambridge, as well as a trip to the cinema to talk brand purpose and climate activism with Patagonia's general manager Ryan Gellert.
  
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• Theresa May outlines plan to ban plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds

  19-04-2018 15:19
  Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that a consultation will take place later this year to prepare England for a national ban on plastic straws, drink stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds.
  
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• UK drives into e-vehicle fast lane with 11% sales rise

  19-04-2018 15:16 via theguardian.com
  Electric vehicles’ share of new UK registrations rises to 2%, still falling far short of Norway’s 48%Sales of electric cars in the UK have risen 11% on last year, putting the country in the premier league of those ditching petrol and diesel engines, though it is still miles behind Norway and China.An analysis of the latest global sales of electric vehicles found that nearly half the vehicles registered in Norway in the first three months of 2018 were electric (48%), compared to just
  
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• Tesla factory to be investigated over safety concerns

  19-04-2018 13:02 via theguardian.com
  California base faces claims of unreported injuries as it struggles to roll out Model 3Tesla is facing an investigation by Californian safety regulators into reports of serious injuries at its factory in Fremont, California, where it is struggling to scale up production of its Model 3 mass-market electric car.The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration said on Wednesday it had begun an inspection on Tuesday, a day after the news website Reveal alleged that Tesla failed to disclo
  
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• 'Very angry badger' causes part of Scottish castle to be closed to public

  19-04-2018 12:25 via theguardian.com
  Animal has now left but work to repair the damage it caused has left cellar tunnel at Craignethan Castle closed to visitorsParts of a Scottish castle remain closed to the public after a “very angry badger” took up residence. The cellar tunnel at Craignethan Castle was initially closed last week after the animal arrived, and remains closed while the damage it caused is repaired.It is thought the animal had become lost, and staff tried to lure it out with cat food and honey. Continue r
  
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• 'Very angry badger' causes part of Scottish castle to be closed

  19-04-2018 12:25 via theguardian.com
  Repairs to masonry damaged by intruder put Craignethan’s cellar tunnel out of bounds to publicParts of a Scottish castle remain closed to the public after a “very angry badger” took up residence. The cellar tunnel at Craignethan Castle, in South Lanarkshire, was initially closed last week after the animal arrived, and remains closed while the damage it caused is repaired.It is thought the animal had become lost, and staff tried to lure it out with cat food and honey. Continue r
  
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• Plastic straw and cotton bud ban proposed

  19-04-2018 12:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Plan for a ban in England is announced as Commonwealth leaders are urged to tackle plastic waste.
  
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• Independent British festivals commit to banning plastic bottles and straws by 2021

  19-04-2018 11:43 via theguardian.com
  The Drastic on Plastic initiative will target single-use plastics, including drinks and toiletry bottles, straws, food trays, cable ties and glitterMore than 60 independent British music festivals have committed to ban single-use plastic from their sites by 2021. The Drastic on Plastic initiative, led by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), will lead to the removal of plastic drinks bottles, plastic straws, glitter, plastic food trays, cable ties and toiletry bottles from festival sit
  
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• Country diary: primroses are so much more than pretty flowers

  19-04-2018 11:26 via theguardian.com
  Saltwell Gill, Durham city: A swathe of wildlings in a wood was a spectacle to make the spirits soar after a long, cold winterThis meandering stream, a mile south of the city centre, has carved a small, steep-sided, wooded valley through soft alluvial soil, providing a refuge for flora and fauna that have long since been displaced by surrounding agriculture. Had I not strayed from the footpath around the fields and explored its slopes I might never have stumbled upon a hidden, isolated populatio
  
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• Nasa's Tess: Planet-hunting satellite lifts off

  19-04-2018 10:42 via bbc.co.uk
  Nasa's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Tess) searches for new planets.
  
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• Australia's largest python in captivity gets a weigh-in – video

  19-04-2018 10:30 via theguardian.com
  'Monster' is the largest reticulated python in captivity in Australia. Getting her on the the scales for a weigh-in required a number of handlers, and caution. In December she bit one of her handlers on the hand.  Continue reading...
  
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• OVO launches domestic V2G electric vehicle charger

  19-04-2018 10:04
  Customers of Ovo Energy who own electric vehicles (EVs) "will never need to pay for a mile of driving again," following the launch of a new vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging technology by the supplier.
  
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• The cost-effective technology that can clean up oil spills – video

  19-04-2018 09:38 via theguardian.com
  Researchers from South Australia’s Flinders University demonstrate how a polymer can act like a sponge to remove crude oil and diesel from seawater. The lead researcher, Dr Justin Chalker, says it has the potential to be a cheap and sustainable recovery tool in areas affected by oil spills. 'Our goal is for this to be used globally,' he says. 'It is inexpensive, and we have an eye for it to be used in parts of the world such as the Amazon Basin in Ecuador and the Niger Delta that don&rsquo
  
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• Last caribou to roam lower 48 US states all but extinct: 'The herd is functionally lost'

  19-04-2018 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Experts fear only three of South Selkirk herd, which moves from Canada into Idaho and Washington, survived winter – all femaleThe last remaining herd of caribou to roam the contiguous United States is believed to be on the brink of disappearing, after an aerial count suggested that only three members survived the winter – all of them female.The South Selkirk herd were once part of a larger population of southern mountain caribou whose habitat spanned much of the Pacific Northwest. Bu
  
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• Great Barrier Reef: 30% of coral died in catastrophic 2016 heatwave – video

  19-04-2018 08:53 via theguardian.com
  Scientists have chronicled the 'mass mortality' of corals on the Great Barrier Reef, in a new report that says 30% of the reef’s corals died in a catastrophic nine-month marine heatwaveThe study, published in Nature and led by Prof Terry Hughes, the director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, examined the link between the level of heat exposure, subsequent coral bleaching and ultimately coral death Continue reading...
  
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• New guidance to help consumers make better meat choices

  19-04-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Campaign draws up eight principles to guide people who want to be healthier and reduce their environmental impactEating less meat has long been advocated for our health and that of the planet, but the choices we make within that advice can be just as important, according to a new report.Choosing lamb, for instance, means the animal is almost certain to have been grass-fed and free range, as sheep are not factory farmed in the same way as pigs or chickens. Meat from pasture-fed animals also tends
  
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• Researchers create super sponge that mops up oil spills

  19-04-2018 06:49 via theguardian.com
  Australian scientists say new polymer can remove crude oil and diesel from seawater• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon Oil spills could be soaked up by a new floating substance that combines waste from the petroleum industry and cooking oil, according to new research led by South Australia’s Flinders University.The new polymer, made from sulphur and canola cooking oil, acted like a sponge to remove crude oil and diesel from seawater, according to a new
  
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• Japan's renewable energy puzzle: solar push threatens environment

  19-04-2018 06:08 via theguardian.com
  As the country rushes to cut carbon emissions by 26%, campaigners worry that forests and wildlife are being trampledThe tens of thousands of solar panels resting on the surface of the Yamakura dam reservoir have finally begun to earn their keep.
  This floating solar farm in Chiba prefecture is the biggest of its kind in Japan – and one of the largest in the world – covering 180,000 square metres, or roughly equivalent to 25 Wembley stadium pitches.Continue reading...
  
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• Researchers forced to sell chocolates to save Queensland 'punk' turtle from extinction

  19-04-2018 03:12 via theguardian.com
  Recovery plan for threatened Mary river turtle and other species drafted in 2013 but never approved
  • Sign up to receive the top stories every morningConservationists trying to save the Mary river turtle have had to resort to selling turtle chocolates and soliciting donations from the United Arab Emirates to try to help save the endangered reptile from extinction.And a Mary river catchment committee that developed a recovery plan for the turtle and four other Mary River species has been wai
  
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• Planet-hunter launches from Florida

  19-04-2018 02:22 via bbc.co.uk
  The US space agency's Tess satellite lifts off on a mission to find thousands of new worlds.
  
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• 100 Women: 'Record number' of Nepalese women climbing Everest this season

  19-04-2018 00:55 via bbc.co.uk
  A record number of Nepalese women are climbing Mount Everest this spring season, officials tell the BBC.
  
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• Last of the wild asses back from the brink

  19-04-2018 00:50 via bbc.co.uk
  Wild equines are being reintroduced to the grasslands of Kazakhstan where they once roamed in large numbers.
  
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