Environment news

• Nobel laureate joins another exclusive club

  08-06-2018 23:30 via bbc.co.uk
  Dr Richard Henderson is made a Companion of Honour in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
  
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• Weatherwatch: June is not as moderate as its reputation

  08-06-2018 22:30
  June, generally considered a ‘moderate’ month, surprised us last year with searing heat and teeming rainJune is usually thought of as a rather moderate month, weather-wise. Heatwaves tend to happen in July and August, and although there were famous falls of snow in parts of England on 2 June 1975, such events are mercifully very rare.Occasionally June will surprise us. Last year, the month started with unsettled conditions and heavy rain. But from the middle of the month temperatures
  
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• Could an emoji save your life?

  08-06-2018 20:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists are campaigning for a new emoji which they feel could be vital during earthquakes.
  
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• Oxford Street – and its traffic – will make or break Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty | Christian Wolmar

  08-06-2018 18:33
  Westminster council has blocked plans for pedestrianisation. The mayor must fight back to safeguard London’s future
  Westminster city council’s decision to block the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street threatens to undermine Sadiq Khan’s hopes of a legacy that will be remembered for decades. Khan is now facing the biggest test of his mayoralty. If he allows the scheme to fall by the wayside, his tenure will be seen as a failure and London will be left with a shabby, polluted stre
  
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• Microplastics in our mussels: the sea is feeding human garbage back to us

  08-06-2018 18:28
  A new report found the seafood contains an alarming amount of plastic – and in fact no sea creature is immune. It’s as if the ocean is wreaking its revengeShellfish are the natural filter systems of our seas, mechanisms of purity. So, to discover in a report released on World Oceans Day that mussels bought from UK supermarkets were infested with microplastic seems like a final irony in the terrible story of the plasticisation of the sea. According to the study by the University of Hu
  
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• Heathrow and the ‘aviation mafia’ | Letters

  08-06-2018 17:36
  Readers look at past battles over the third runway and its likely future impactThe battle to construct a third runway has been going on for much longer than your estimate of 31 years (Editorial, 6 June). It first gained government approval as long ago as 1946 but was abandoned by the incoming government in 1952. Since then there have been further attempts and in 2009 it once again gained parliamentary approval. This was overturned by the coalition government one year later when David Cameron dec
  
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• £5m Lottery grant to help FareShare divert 25,000 tonnes of food from landfill annually

  08-06-2018 17:34
  Food redistribution charity FareShare claims that the £5m of National Lottery funding it has been awarded this week will enable it to almost double the amount of food it redistributes and diverts from landfill.
  
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• Plastic and cotton found in UK's wild mussels

  08-06-2018 15:47 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists warn material including strands of underwear could be found in the seafood.
  
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• Hunting for life's chemistry on Mars

  08-06-2018 14:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Nasa says organic matter suggests there might have been life on the planet.
  
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• Britain’s nuclear U-turn puts us in a very lonely club | Fred Pearce

  08-06-2018 13:30
  Pumping £5bn into a new plant in north Wales as a way to fight climate change is a solution at odds with the rest of the worldFor once, ministers have put their money where their mouth is – into taking another stab at nuclear power. This week the business secretary, Greg Clark, announced plans to pump £5bn into a new nuclear power station at Wylfa in north Wales. It was a reversal of a longstanding Conservative policy not to underwrite nuclear construction. So why the sudden en
  
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• Plastic and other waste found in British mussels

  08-06-2018 13:29 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists say more work is needed to understand the health effects of consuming the seafood.
  
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• Carlsberg exploring energy storage to supplement onsite generation

  08-06-2018 13:11
  EXCLUSIVE: Carlsberg's director of environment and utilities, Adam Pawelas, has revealed that the global brewer is in the "early stages" of exploring integration methods for energy storage to support onsite generation.
  
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• Paradigm shift: How 'unsatisfied customers' are driving M&S's sustainability progress

  08-06-2018 12:52
  With Marks & Spencer (M&S) publishing the latest update to its Plan A sustainability strategy this week, the retailer's director of sustainable business Mike Barry explains how mounting consumer pressures have helped to accelerate progress towards delivering sustainable products and packaging.
  
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• World Oceans Day: How businesses are tackling the plastics problem

  08-06-2018 12:11
  Today (June 8) marks World Oceans Day, and businesses around the globe have announced new initiatives aimed at curbing the amount of plastics seeping into the oceans. Here, edie rounds up some of the best new business-led programmes.
  
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• Heathrow third runway protesters vow to step up campaign

  08-06-2018 12:01
  Activists to escalate action in opposition to environmental impact of proposed expansion Activists opposed to the government’s Heathrow expansion plans have vowed to escalate their protests in the coming weeks to avoid what they say would be an “environmental catastrophe”.The warning follows a week of direct action in which eight people have been arrested as environmental opposition to the a third runway proposal grows. Continue reading...
  
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• Heathrow third runway protesters vow to go on hunger strike

  08-06-2018 12:01
  Activists to escalate action in opposition to environmental impact of proposed expansion Activists opposed to the government’s Heathrow expansion plans have vowed to escalate their protests in the coming weeks to avoid what they say would be an “environmental catastrophe”.The warning follows a week of direct action in which eight people have been arrested as environmental opposition to the a third runway proposal grows. Continue reading...
  
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• Sadiq Khan unveils plans for London ultra-low emission zone

  08-06-2018 11:00
  Mayor will extend charge in centre for most polluting vehicles to ring road in 2021Sadiq Khan has unveiled details of his plan to introduce an “ultra-low emission zone” covering a swath of London in the next few years.The scheme, which will see the most polluting vehicles charged for entering the centre of the capital from April next year, will be extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads in 2021. Continue reading...
  
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• Sadiq Khan plans to extend London's ultra-low emission zone

  08-06-2018 11:00
  Scheme will cover North and South Circular roads, as well as capital’s centre, in 2021Sadiq Khan has unveiled details of his plan to introduce an “ultra-low emission zone” covering a huge swath of London in the next few years.The scheme, which will see the most polluting vehicles charged for entering the centre of the capital from April next year, will be extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads in 2021. Continue reading...
  
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• It's time for Ireland to deliver a credible climate plan | Peter Thorne

  08-06-2018 08:30
  A recent Citizens’ Assembly ballot shows that there is a huge public appetite for strong action on emissionsLast week the Irish Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that Ireland will miss its 2020 international emissions target by a wide margin. The goal is 20% cuts on 2005 levels; in reality we’re on track for 1%.Continue reading...
  
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• Plastic bag ban: What are the alternatives? – video

  08-06-2018 07:49
  By the end of June, most of Australia’s major supermarkets will have stopped handing out single-use plastic bags.Woolworths, Coles, and the Queensland and Western Australian governments are all phasing out lightweight plastic shopping bags, potentially preventing billions of bags from finding their way into landfill or oceans.But what is and isn’t being phased out? What are the alternatives, and how effective will the policy be?  Continue reading...
  
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• Tourists to Med told to ditch plastic to avoid huge rise in beach litter

  08-06-2018 07:30
  Summer tourists cause a 40% spike in plastic marine litter in the region, new figures revealTourists are being urged to reduce their use of plastic as new figures reveal holidaymakers cause a 40% spike in marine litter in the Mediterranean each summer.Nearly all the waste created by the surge in tourism over the summer months in countries like Italy, France and Turkey is plastic litter, says WWF in a new report. Continue reading...
  
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• The week in plastic - in pictures

  08-06-2018 07:00
  This week marked World Environment day and World Ocean day, both of which highlighted plastic global pollution as the most urgent problem facing our planet. So as a parody of our popular Week in wildlife gallery, from dead pelicans to trapped turtles and garbage-eating cows, we bring you ... the Week in plastic.Continue reading...
  
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• The best way to save the planet? Drop meat and dairy | George Monbiot

  08-06-2018 07:00
  Farming livestock for food threatens all life on earth, and ‘free-range’ steak is the worst of allWhether human beings survive this century and the next, whether other lifeforms can live alongside us: more than anything, this depends on the way we eat. We can cut our consumption of everything else almost to zero and still we will drive living systems to collapse, unless we change our diets.All the evidence now points in one direction: the crucial shift is from an animal- to a plant-b
  
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• Coal comfort: Queensland budget to benefit from surging mining royalties

  08-06-2018 06:31
  Windfall of $1bn shows state remains reliant on resources even amid renewables pushSurging coal prices will help to underwrite the upcoming Queensland budget. The state is expected to announce it has earned about $1bn more than initially forecast from royalties.
  The windfall will help the Palaszczuk Labor government pay for infrastructure spending and handouts in next week’s budget, and will likely speed up the state’s projected return to surplus.Continue reading...
  
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• Yellowstone boss: Trump officials forced me out over wildlife advocacy

  08-06-2018 02:16
  Dan Wenk is being used as an example to undermine culture of conservation, say former park service workersThe superintendent of Yellowstone national park says he has been forced out of his job by the Trump administration over his wildlife advocacy.“It’s a hell of a way to be treated at the end of four decades spent trying to do my best for the park service and places like Yellowstone, but that’s how these guys are,” said Dan Wenk, referring to the US interior department.
  
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• Sunken data centres and 'sexy' plants: the best green innovations of the week

  08-06-2018 02:01
  A number of eye-catching and potentially transformational innovations have emerged that could help businesses and nations deliver on resource efficiency, low-carbon transitions and combat climate change. Here, edie rounds-up six of the best.
  
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