Environment news

• G7 summit will be a political fistfight for European members

  07-06-2018 23:34 via theguardian.com
  Theresa May lands in Quebec for G7 with US sanctions and EU trade tariffs loomingTheresa May landed in Quebec on Thursday, swapping bruising rows with cabinet colleagues over Brexit for what could also be bruising confrontations between the US president Donald Trump and the other G7 members over tariffs and foreign policy. The 44th meeting of the G7 group of the world’s seven richest countries is taking place deep in rural Quebec in eastern Canada. The venue is a vast ski-and-golf resort t
  
  Read more

• Pollutionwatch: May brought high levels of damaging ozone

  07-06-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Ground-level ozone can damage wheat, mung and soya bean crops, and is harmful to breatheWe often think of ozone as a stratosphere pollutant, where it does a useful job blocking harmful ultraviolet radiation, but it is harmful to breathe and damages our crops, too. In a typical May, UK air pollution can reach between four and six on the government’s 10-point scale for a week or so. May 2018 was the hottest since records began in 1919. This brought air pollution problems to the whole of the
  
  Read more

• Curiosity rover sees seasonal Mars methane swing

  07-06-2018 20:27 via bbc.co.uk
  Methane on the Red Planet waxes and wanes with the seasons - another clue in the search for life.
  
  Read more

• Move to renewables a 'good thing', says Nationals' agriculture minister

  07-06-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  David Littleproud says climate is changing and Australia must ‘use the best science available’The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, says the climate is changing and the transition in the energy market – with renewables displacing traditional power generation sources – is “exciting, not only for the environment but for the hip pocket”.In an interview with Guardian Australia, the Queensland National said the climate had been changing “since we first
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Move to renewables a 'good thing', Nationals' David Littleproud says

  07-06-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Agriculture minister says climate is changing and Australia must ‘use the best science available’The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, says the climate is changing and the transition in the energy market – with renewables displacing traditional power generation sources – is “exciting, not only for the environment but for the hip pocket”.In an interview with Guardian Australia, the Queensland National said the climate had been changing “since we fi
  
  Read more

• Domestic tourism to Great Barrier Reef falls in wake of coral bleaching

  07-06-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Reef no longer among top 10 reasons for Australians to visit Cairns, says survey
  The lure of the Great Barrier Reef to Australian tourists has “fallen dramatically” since the onset of successive coral bleaching events in 2016, according to a new report that reveals fewer domestic visitors are heading to north Queensland to visit the natural wonder.The report, by the Centre for Tourism and Regional Opportunities at Central Queensland University, says towns should now develop “ne
  
  Read more

• Sisters act: Meet the nuns helping to save one of the world's rarest amphibians – video

  07-06-2018 19:37 via theguardian.com
  A community of Mexican nuns have formed an unlikely partnership with British conservationists to save an endangered amphibian species. Achoques once thrived in Pátzcuaro, Mexico’s third largest lake, but they are now close to extinction due to introduced fish species and deforestation.  The nuns, who use the lizard-like animal to create a special cough medicine, have been breeding them in their convent. The sisters are part of an official breeding network that includes Chester
  
  Read more

• Sheffield tree protesters get suspended sentences

  07-06-2018 19:28 via theguardian.com
  Simon Crump, Benoit Compin and Fran Grace walk free after contempt of court ruling relating to city tree fellingThree tree campaigners have avoided jail after being found in contempt of court for demonstrating against tree-felling work in Sheffield.Simon Crump, Benoit Benz Compin, and Fran Grace were taken to court by the city’s council as part of a long-running dispute over the city’s plans to fell up to 17,000 trees. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Oldest 'footprints' found in China

  07-06-2018 19:19 via bbc.co.uk
  The oldest known "footprints" left by an animal have been uncovered in China.
  
  Read more

• Respecting women’s rights and the planet key to family planning | Letters

  07-06-2018 19:12 via theguardian.com
  Arthur Erken from the United Nations Population Fund and Robin Maynard from Population Matters respond to a Guardian editorial on family planningI read with interest your editorial (One child, two children or too many? Planning families is not easy, 4 June). The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) strongly agrees that “crude attempts to raise and lower birthrates are unlikely to produce sustainable solutions”. Instead, they are more likely to violate internationally agreed hu
  
  Read more

• 'Plastic is not cool' – is fashion finally cleaning up its act?

  07-06-2018 18:30 via theguardian.com
  As World Oceans Day approaches, Lucy Yeomans, Net-a-Porter’s chief executive, is leading the way in tackling fashion’s addiction to the ‘plastic drug’. But there’s a long way to goIn April, at a Net-a-Porter event where the online retailer’s trends for this autumn were presented, one of the most popular accessories was not a leather handbag by Gucci or a leopard-print, high-vamp shoe, but the black Net-a-Porter.com-branded “keep” cups that the coff
  
  Read more

• Report: Switching to EVs could save £325m in health costs

  07-06-2018 17:30
  If every new car in 2019 were electric it would help save more than £325m in health costs in the first year, according to new analysis which found that the health impact costs of diesel cars are far higher than petrol or electric counterparts.
  
  Read more

• Report: Switching one million journeys from diesel to EVs could save UK £360m in health costs

  07-06-2018 17:30
  Swapping one million urban car journeys from a diesel to electric vehicle (EV) could save more than £360m in UK health costs annually, according to new analysis which found that the health impact costs of diesel cars are far higher than petrol or electric counterparts.
  
  Read more

• Key 'step forward' in cutting cost of removing CO2 from air

  07-06-2018 17:10 via bbc.co.uk
  A Canadian firm says new technology has dramatically cut the cost of removing carbon from the air.
  
  Read more

• Ikea commits to phase out single-use plastic products by 2020

  07-06-2018 13:33 via theguardian.com
  Global retailer with 363 stores says it wants to help customers live more sustainablyIkea is to phase out all single-use plastic products from its stores and restaurants by 2020 amid growing concern about the effects of plastic on the environment.Ikea said plastic straws, plates, cups, freezer bags, bin bags, and plastic-coated paper plates and cups would all be phased out and where possible replaced by alternatives.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Ikea to ban single-use plastics, targets 'climate-positive' status under new strategy

  07-06-2018 13:28
  Removing all single-use plastics products from its range globally, eliminating more greenhouse gas emissions than its value chain emits, and generating more renewables than it consumes are all headline goals of Ikea's updated People and Planet Positive strategy.
  
  Read more

• World Green Building Council calls for net-zero building sector by 2030

  07-06-2018 12:40
  The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) has called on the built environment sector to set ambitious targets that eliminate carbon emissions for building portfolios by 2030, in order to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement.
  
  Read more

• European Commission hopes for big science funding uplift

  07-06-2018 12:30 via bbc.co.uk
  The European Commission sets out how it wants to spend €100bn (£87bn) on science in the next EU budget.
  
  Read more

• £8m compliance fees to boost electronics recycling

  07-06-2018 12:12
  More than £8m generated through compliance fees from the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) will be used to fund projects that increase the reuse and recycling of electronic items, the Joint Trade Association (JTA) has confirmed.
  
  Read more

• Tiny shrimp could influence global climate changes | John Abraham

  07-06-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Researchers find the daily migrations of brine shrimp is strong enough to mix ocean waters
  When we think of global warming and climate change, most of us ignore the impacts that animals have on the environment. Climate affects animals, but is the reverse true? Can animals affect the climate?I don’t know how to answer that question definitively, but I was fortunate enough to read a very recent paper from a top fluid dynamics research team from Stanford. The team, led by Dr. John Dabiri, is
  
  Read more

• The pipeline is surely in some people's best interest. But it's not what's best for Canada | David Suzuki

  07-06-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  There’s a lot of fear around abandoning an industry that has been an economic driver for decades – yet the rest of the world is moving onToday, I will gratefully accept an honorary degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. This is special to me, as it’s where I spent some of my early years as a scientist and kicked off my career in broadcasting.The university is in the heart of Canada’s oil country, and the degree has stirred controversy. But it has little to do
  
  Read more

• 10 weird and wonderful derailleurs – and how they changed cycling

  07-06-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  From the birth of cyclotourisme to moon landings and the rise of 1990s mountain biking these mechanical marvels have played a small but crucial roleIf your bike has gears, the chances are it also has derailleurs. These mechanical marvels which move the chain when you move up or down a gear may be a small part of the bicycle, but the myriad designs reveal a lot about the history of cycling. Over the nearly 40 years I’ve spent working in bike shops, I have collected about 1,400 rear deraille
  
  Read more

• ‘Sexy plants’ on track to replace harmful pesticides to protect crops

  07-06-2018 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Researchers are genetically engineering plants to produce the sex pheromones of insects, which then frustrate the pests’ attempts to mate“Sexy plants” are on the way to replacing many harmful pesticides, scientists say, by producing the sex pheromones of insects which then frustrate pests’ attempts to mate.Scientists have already genetically engineered a plant to produce the sex pheromones of moths and are now optimising that, as well as working on new pheromones such as
  
  Read more

• Country diary: an old bird cherry tree that supports a profusion of new life

  07-06-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wolsingham, Durham: There are aphids, hoverflies, spiders and beetles, but where are the small ermine moth caterpillars?
  Five years ago we rounded a bend in the Weardale Way footpath and discovered that the sombre plantation of Scots pine that we had known for forty years had been clear-felled. The ground flora and insect life has become more diverse with every passing year, but the most conspicuous beneficiary has been a single tree, an old bird cherry (Prunus padus).It stands in what was a sma
  
  Read more

• More than 100 wedge-tailed eagles found dead on Victorian farm

  07-06-2018 05:27 via theguardian.com
  The eagles – and four other protected species – are alleged to have been poisonedMore than 100 wedge-tailed eagles have been found on a farm in eastern Victoria, prompting a criminal investigation.Officers from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) found the carcasses on a property at Tubbut, which is on the edge of the Snowy River national park near the New South Wales border in East Gippsland. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Brumby law ‘turns Australia into global laughing stock’

  07-06-2018 02:38 via theguardian.com
  Environment groups condemn legislation protecting feral horses in national parkAustralia has become a “global laughing stock” after the New South Wales parliament passed legislation to protect the heritage of feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park, environment groups say.The Berejiklian government, with support from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party and the Christian Democrats, passed the Kosciuszko wild horse heritage bill 2018 through the NSW Legislative Council late on
  
  Read more

• Preaching against plastic: Indonesia's religious leaders join fight to cut waste

  07-06-2018 02:26 via theguardian.com
  Nation’s two largest Islamic organisations will call on network of 100 million followers to reduce plastic waste and reuse bags
  Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest marine polluters, has decided to get religious – literally – about reducing plastic waste. Related: Antarctica: plastic contamination reaches Earth's last wildernessContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Human planet

  07-06-2018 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin believe humans are not on an inevitable course to self-destruction.
  
  Read more

• A manifesto to save Planet Earth (and ourselves)

  07-06-2018 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin believe humans are not on an inevitable course to self-destruction.
  
  Read more

• Meet the nuns helping save a sacred species from extinction

  07-06-2018 01:24 via bbc.co.uk
  The axolotl - a salamander unique to Mexico - has almost been wiped out by pollution and over-fishing.
  
  Read more

• Academic Peter Ridd not sacked for his climate views, university says

  07-06-2018 01:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘We defend Peter’s right to make statements … until we are blue in the face,’ says deputy vice chancellorA James Cook University boss says media reports about its sacking of controversial marine scientist Peter Ridd are “misleading and untrue” and that his academic freedom had always been upheld.
  In an exclusive interview with Guardian Australia, deputy vice chancellor Prof Iain Gordon said he was frustrated at reports claiming Ridd was sacked for his fringe
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!