Environment news

• Government faces growing pressure over Heathrow third runway

  15-06-2018 18:18 via theguardian.com
  Government faces criticism from its own advisors over failure to mention emissions targets as campaigners enter second week of hunger strikeThe government is coming under growing pressure from environmentalists and its own advisers over its support for a new runway at Heathrow.The Committee on Climate Change [CCC] has expressed its “surprise” that there was no mention of the government’s legal obligations to reduce greenhouse gases when it announced it was backing Heathrow expa
  
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• Delhi's toxic air, Antarctic ice melt and plastic solutions – green news roundup

  15-06-2018 17:58 via theguardian.com
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• Can Scotland save its wildcats from extinction?

  15-06-2018 17:52 via theguardian.com
  The secretive mammals are fast disappearing from the Highlands but last-ditch efforts to save them are fraught with challengesSet deep in mixed woodland of Scots pine and birch, near the banks of the river Beauly in Inverness-shire, several huge, concealed pens contain two breeding pairs of Scottish wildcat. Wildcats mate from January to March, and their high, anguished breeding calls through the dark winter nights are thought to have inspired tales of the Cat Sith, a spectral feline of Celtic l
  
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• What a load of crocs!

  15-06-2018 16:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Wade Kelly's drone captured dozens of the reptiles on camera this week, sunbathing by the Daly River in Australia.
  
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• Pressure review – David Haig takes us into the eye of the D-day storm

  15-06-2018 15:56 via theguardian.com
  Ambassadors theatre, London
  The actor-playwright finds rich drama in the interaction of war and weather in a show with a powerful contemporary resonance“How can the weather ever be boring?” asks the hero of David Haig’s fascinating play. Admittedly the character is a meteorologist but he has a point: other countries have a climate whereas we in Britain have weather. But finally catching up with Haig’s much-travelled play, first seen in Edinburgh in 2014, I was struck by h
  
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• Stars turn out for Stephen Hawking memorial at Westminster Abbey

  15-06-2018 15:51 via bbc.co.uk
  All corners of society attend a London service to pay tribute to the great Cambridge physicist.
  
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• Delhi's air pollution is now so bad it is literally off the chart

  15-06-2018 15:39 via theguardian.com
  Dust storms come months before the start of city’s traditional ‘pollution season’Smog more toxic than can be measured by monitoring devices has blanketed the Indian capital this week, months before the start of Delhi’s traditional “pollution season”.A thick haze was visible across the city from Tuesday and some government pollution monitors have recorded concentrations of 999 – the highest they can measure – as dust storms kicked up in nearby Rajas
  
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• Sustainable Business Covered podcast: edie Live, sustainability superheroes and the World Cup

  15-06-2018 15:30
  Episode 43 of the Sustainable Business Covered podcast sees edie reflect on its flagship event in Birmingham - featuring interviews from the likes of Futerra, Global Action Plan and Adnams - before the team are quizzed on the sustainability of the FIFA 2018 World Cup.
  
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• Sustainable Business Covered podcast: edie Live review, susty superheroes and a World Cup quiz

  15-06-2018 15:30
  Episode 43 of the Sustainable Business Covered podcast sees edie reflect on its flagship event in Birmingham - featuring interviews from the likes of Futerra, Global Action Plan and Adnams - before the team are quizzed on the sustainability of the FIFA 2018 World Cup.
  
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• On the Mission Possible sofa with UK GBC's Alastair Mant and the EIC's Matthew Farrow

  15-06-2018 15:05
  The fourth episode of our new sustainable business chat show sees the UK Green Building Council's (UK GBC) head of industry engagement Alastair Mant joined by the Environmental Industries Commission's (EIC) executive director Matthew Farrow to discuss the role of collaboration.
  
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• Work starts to upgrade Large Hadron Collider

  15-06-2018 14:26 via bbc.co.uk
  Improvements to the world's biggest particle smasher are designed to uncover new physics.
  
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• McDonald's to ban plastic straws in all its UK restaurants

  15-06-2018 12:41
  Following a successful trial of paper and biodegradable alternatives, McDonald's has announced that it will begin phasing out plastic straws in all its UK and Ireland restaurants by the end of this year.
  
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• Ikea gets stamp of approval for 80% science-based emissions target

  15-06-2018 12:01
  The Ikea Group has had its target of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its stores and operations by 80% by 2030 approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
  
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• What if Canada had spent $200bn on wind energy instead of oil?

  15-06-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
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• What if Canada had backed wind energy instead of the oil sands?

  15-06-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
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• First Nations look to buy equity in pipeline to have say in project's future

  15-06-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Despite high-profile protests some indigenous Canadians believe only way to mitigate environmental impacts is through ownershipAfter Justin Trudeau’s surprise announcement that the Canadian government would nationalize a contentious pipeline, indigenous protestors have been among the most vocal in their opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, arguing that the project trespasses on their territory and poses a risk to the environment. Protests led by First Nations have a
  
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• Ten ways to cut down on plastics at home

  15-06-2018 11:55 via bbc.co.uk
  Author and activist Will McCallum gives us his top tips for eliminating plastics from our everyday lives.
  
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• Frydenberg tells states conservative Liberals won't get their way on emissions cuts

  15-06-2018 11:42 via theguardian.com
  Environment minister says he won’t back-end load target as some in his party demandJosh Frydenberg has told his state and territory counterparts the emissions reduction trajectory in the national energy guarantee will be steady over 10 years, not back-end loaded as some of his conservative party room opponents have demanded.Frydenberg, the federal energy minister, was clear during a phone hook-up on Friday that Canberra wanted least-cost abatement in the electricity sector, and that meant
  
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• Looking back at Standing Rock - in pictures

  15-06-2018 11:41 via theguardian.com
  Photographer Josué Rivas spent seven months documenting the Native American community that came together to protest against the controversial Dakota pipeline. The work has been published in the book Standing Strong, which has won the 2018 FotoEvidence Book award with World Press Photo. Continue reading...
  
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• McDonald's to switch to paper straws in UK after customer campaign

  15-06-2018 11:26 via theguardian.com
  Fast-food chain, which uses 1.8m straws a day, says plastic straws will go by 2019McDonald’s will end the use of plastic straws in its British restaurants next year, after nearly half a million people called on the company to ditch them.The decision by the US fast-food chain to switch from plastic to paper straws follows a trial at a number of outlets in the past two months. The firm uses around 1.8m straws a day in the UK. Continue reading...
  
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• Macquarie offers £500m of green loans

  15-06-2018 11:06
  Macquarie is offering £500m of green financing to renewable energy, energy efficiency and other environmentally-friendly projects, as part of a new £2bn loan facility.
  
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• Kilauea volcano: Molten lava meets the sea

  15-06-2018 11:00 via bbc.co.uk
  The Kilauea volcano has been pouring lava into the ocean off Hawaii, causing a hydrochloric acid mist.
  
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• EDF Energy to pay £350,000 smart-meter penalty

  15-06-2018 10:35 via theguardian.com
  Company fails to meet annual target of fitting smart meters in customers’ homes
  EDF Energy has agreed to pay out £350,000 for failing to fit enough smart meters in customers’ houses, the first time an energy supplier has been penalised for missing domestic smart meter targets.Every large energy supplier has an annual target for rolling out smart meters, which provide consumers with real-time electricity usage data and automate readings, with a government goal of all households
  
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• Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin visits the cat-proof fence! | First Dog on the Moon

  15-06-2018 08:50 via theguardian.com
  The government occasionally tosses money at these things but it isn’t interested in results, just the kudosSign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...
  
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• The magical wilderness farm: raising cows among the weeds at Knepp

  15-06-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  You can’t make money from letting cows run wild, right? When Patrick Barkham got access to the sums at a pioneering Sussex farm, he was in for a surprise.Orange tip butterflies jink over grassland and a buzzard mews high on a thermal. Blackthorns burst with bridal white blossom and sallow leaves of peppermint green unfurl. The exhilaration in this corner of West Sussex is not, however, simply the thrilling explosion of spring. The land is bursting with an unusual abundance of life; rampant
  
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• Anti-pollution skincare: can a cream really help you 'face the city'?

  15-06-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The booming market for products for ‘urban skin’ reflects anxieties about the health impacts of living in cities – but is it all just a marketing gimmick?Fiona Westerhout talks about her skin as though she is giving directions in a familiar neighbourhood: oily around the T-zone, dry cheeks, sensitive with the occasional breakout.Westerhout, 29, had just started blogging about skincare when she and her partner moved from Perth in Western Australia to Shanghai in May 2016. There
  
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• Country diary: a powder puff of black feathers swirls down the stream

  15-06-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Hermitage Stream, Langstone, Hampshire: One agitated moorhen was corralling four skittish chicks on the far bank, while the other frantically zigzagged after a fifth
  As we walked alongside the Hermitage Stream, we noticed a day-old moorhen chick bobbing upside down beneath the replica wooden mill wheel, its oversized feet splayed to the sky. Without a second thought, my father climbed over the railings and plunged into the water, scooping up the limp body. The chick appeared lifeless, but as he
  
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• Leaked UN draft report warns of urgent need to cut global warming

  15-06-2018 05:39 via theguardian.com
  IPCC says ‘rapid and far-reaching’ measures required to combat climate changeThe world is on track to exceed 1.5C of warming unless countries rapidly implement “far-reaching” actions to reduce carbon emissions, according to a draft UN report leaked to Reuters.The final draft report from the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) was due for publication in October. It is the guiding scientific document for what countries must do to combat climate chang
  
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• Ocean plastic credit cards and solar-powered robots: The best green innovations of the week

  15-06-2018 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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