Environment news

• Josh Frydenberg in final phase of talks with states over national energy guarantee

  14-06-2018 23:28
  A new technical document on the Neg’s design will be distributed ahead of Coag energy council meeting on 10 AugustThe energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, will speak to his state counterparts on Friday as the Energy Security Board finalises the design principles for the national energy guarantee (Neg) and a critical meeting of the Coag energy council looms.Members of the Energy Security Board – the architects of the Neg – met on Thursday to sign off on a new technical document tha
  
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• Inside the AEF, the climate denial group hosting Tony Abbott as guest speaker

  14-06-2018 20:00
  The Australian Environment Foundation has secured a former prime minister to speak. But what does it actually do?Securing a former prime minister to speak at your organisation is no doubt a coup for many groups.Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy recently got Kevin Rudd. Australia’s Nelson Mandela Day committee has snaffled Julia Gillard for their next annual lecture. Continue reading...
  
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• Human activity making mammals more nocturnal, study finds

  14-06-2018 20:00
  Research involving 62 species found mammals spent relatively less time being active during the day when humans were nearbyHuman disturbance is turning mammals into night owls, with species becoming more nocturnal when people are around, research has revealed.The study, encompassing 62 species from around the globe, found that when humans were nearby, mammals spent relatively less time being active during the day and were more active at night - even among those already classed as nocturnal.Contin
  
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• Great Barrier Reef: four rivers are most responsible for pollution

  14-06-2018 20:00
  Burdekin, Fitzroy, Tully and Daintree rivers in Queensland pose greatest risk, researchers findFour rivers are most responsible for polluting the Great Barrier Reef, according to research that scientists hope will help governments better target efforts to reduce damage to the reef from land use.The Burdekin, Fitzroy, Tully and Daintree rivers in Queensland posed the greatest risk to the reef, the study led by The Nature Conservancy and the University of Queensland found.Continue reading...
  
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• Who’s to blame for the ecological apocalypse? | Letters

  14-06-2018 19:09
  Readers respond to Chris Packham’s recent observations on environmental destruction, and to the suggestion that one positive step would be for us to give up our petsIf we’ve normalised the ecological damage we are doing to our country, as Chris Packham suggests, it’s only because as individuals we feel helpless (Packham: ‘We are presiding over ecological apocalypse’, 11 June). As it is, the signs are extraordinary, and not just the absence of iconic species like but
  
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• Gene therapy reverses rat's paralysis

  14-06-2018 19:08 via bbc.co.uk
  Experts say the findings could be life-changing for millions of patients.
  
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• Prehistoric frogs in amber surface after 99 million years

  14-06-2018 16:58 via bbc.co.uk
  Frogs trapped in amber for 99 million years give clues to lost world. The four fossils were found in Myanmar.
  
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• Stephen Hawking's words will be beamed into space

  14-06-2018 15:20 via bbc.co.uk
  The words of the renowned physicist have been set to music by composer Vangelis.
  
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• EU raises 2030 renewable energy target, outlines palm oil phase out

  14-06-2018 13:57
  Negotiators from the European Parliament and Member States have this morning (June 14) struck a deal to raise the target for the proportion of energy it will source from renewables by 2030 to 32%, up from the previous 27% goal.
  
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• EU Withdrawal Bill: MPs vote to 'give teeth' to post-Brexit green watchdog

  14-06-2018 13:29
  MPs have voted in favour of an amendment which promises legislation on environmental principles and a new post-Brexit watchdog, but green campaigners have expressed concern over a watering down of current standards.
  
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• Dozens of top European banks to trial new green mortgages

  14-06-2018 12:37
  European banking giants including BNP Paribas, ING Bank and AXA have joined forces to launch a new green mortgage scheme which focuses on helping consumers drive energy efficiency.
  
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• The legal fight to leave the dirtiest fossil fuels in the ground | John Abraham

  14-06-2018 12:00
  Enbridge wants to build a new tar sands pipeline
  Tar sands are the dirtiest fossil fuels. These are low-quality heavy tar-like oils that are mined from sand or rock. Much of the mining occurs in Alberta Canada, but it is also mined elsewhere, in lesser quantities.Tar sands are the worst. Not only are they really hard to get out of the ground, requiring enormous amounts of energy; not only are they difficult to transport and to refine; not only are they more polluting than regular oils; they even
  
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• EU raises renewable energy targets to 32% by 2030

  14-06-2018 11:31
  UK called for 30% as green groups say increase does not go far enoughThe EU is raising its target for the amount of energy it consumes from renewable sources, in a deal lauded by the bloc’s climate chief as a hard-won victory for the switch to clean energy.Energy ministers agreed a binding renewable energy target of 32% by 2030, up from the previous goal of 27%, but fell short of the hopes of some countries and green groups for a more ambitious share. Continue reading...
  
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• New venture offers UK businesses free battery storage installations

  14-06-2018 10:12
  Medium and large energy users in the UK private sector have been offered access to battery storage installations, at no extra cost, under a new joint venture.
  
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• Big Oil CEOs needed a climate change reality check. The Pope delivered | Bill McKibben

  14-06-2018 10:00
  At a gathering of fossil fuel executives at the Vatican, Pope Francis spoke much-needed common sense about climate changeYou kind of expect popes to talk about spiritual stuff, kind of the way you expect chefs to discuss spices or tree surgeons to make small talk about overhanging limbs.Which is why it was so interesting this week to hear Pope Francis break down the climate debate in very practical and very canny terms, displaying far more mathematical insight than your average world leader and
  
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• Businesses team with UN to plot course for 'healthy' oceans

  14-06-2018 09:15
  Oil and gas firm Total, insurance giant Gard AS and Norwegian cargo firm Nor-Shipping are among the six corporations which will lead a new United Nations (UN) initiative to help the private sector tackle ocean issues including overfishing, marine litter and acidification.
  
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• 'We burned the forest': the indigenous Chileans fighting loggers with arson

  14-06-2018 09:01
  Chile’s Mapuche people are resorting to increasingly radical tactics to reclaim their ancestral land from exploitive industriesIt is late autumn in southern Chile, and in the region of Araucanía, the leaves have turned copper and gold. But on the road to the mist-shrouded town of Lumaco, the hills are covered with rows of charred pines.“We burned these forests as an act of legitimate resistance against the extractive industries that have oppressed the Mapuche people,” sa
  
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• Recycled plastic could supply three-quarters of UK demand, report finds

  14-06-2018 07:01
  Circular economy could recycle more plastic and meet industry demand for raw materials, finds Green Alliance researchPlastic recycled in the UK could supply nearly three-quarters of domestic demand for products and packaging if the government took action to build the industry, a new report said on Thursday.The UK consumes 3.3m tonnes of plastic annually, the report says, but exports two-thirds to be recycled. It is only able to recycle 9% domestically.Continue reading...
  
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• One new species of 'micro-moth' found in Britain every year

  14-06-2018 07:00
  Experts say almost 30 species of pyralid moths have flown in or been transported via the horticultural tradeContinue reading...
  
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• Mars Opportunity: Rover 'should ride out storm'

  14-06-2018 06:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Nasa says it is concerned but hopeful that a veteran robot rover can survive a big dust storm.
  
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• Country diary: buzzard and crows meet in aerial combat

  14-06-2018 06:30
  Sandy, Bedfordshire: The smaller birds lunged and jabbed with mute jibes that might have said: ‘Egg thief! Chick killer! Get out of our territory!’All through the spring, mewling cries of raptors have scolded out of thin air. On clear-sky days such as this the buzzard is complainer-in-chief, condemned by nature to speak only in a minor key. Even in the exaltation of soaring, the uplift of raised wings is accompanied by a downbeat of dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, the buzzard demonstr
  
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• Einstein's travel diaries reveal racist stereotypes

  14-06-2018 03:09 via bbc.co.uk
  Xenophobic comments are found in private journals from the physicist's 1920s tour of Asia.
  
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• Saiga antelopes: the Ice Age survivors now in peril

  14-06-2018 01:12 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists hope to save the saiga, a Central Asian antelope which survived the Ice Age, but is now in peril.
  
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• Antarctic ice sheets: Four things you need to know

  14-06-2018 01:12 via bbc.co.uk
  With Antarctica shedding ice at an accelerating rate, here's what you need to know about continent's ice sheet.
  
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• People in Manchester 'exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution'

  14-06-2018 01:01
  Report finds life expectancy in region reduced by average of six months due to pollutionDangerous levels of air pollution are having a devastating impact on the health of people living in Greater Manchester and costing the regional economy £1bn every year, according to a new study.The report found that toxic air is reducing life expectancy in the region by an average six months and, over the next century, estimates “1.6 million life years” will be lost unless action is taken. C
  
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