Environment news

• How hats were placed atop the Easter Island statues

  18-06-2018 21:10 via bbc.co.uk
  It took only small teams using ramps and ropes to cap the giant statues of Rapa Nui, a new study says.
  
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• Endangered Australian parrot relies on government deal with German charity

  18-06-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Western ground parrot needs millions spent on it, but volunteers say the Coalition is trying to shift costs to not-for-profitsThe Turnbull government helped broker a $200,000 agreement for a German not-for-profit to fund conservation work for a critically endangered Australian parrot, bolstering criticism it is shifting the cost of protecting threatened species to community and philanthropic organisations.The western ground parrot is one of only three ground nesting parrots found in Australia an
  
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• Why we should care about the vanishing of the swifts | Patrick Barkham

  18-06-2018 17:01 via theguardian.com
  Summer is a shadow of its former self with so few of these miraculous birds around. Their loss must be fiercely foughtIt is the most miraculous bird, the ultimate winged messenger, exploring our globe, spending its life on the breeze. Sickle-shaped wings silhouetted against the sky, the swift is the fastest of all birds in level flight and remains entirely airborne for 10 months, or more, feeding, sleeping and mating on the wing. These long-lived creatures can clock up 4 million miles, commuting
  
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• Swifts are in tragic decline. There should be a march on Westminster | Patrick Barkham

  18-06-2018 17:01 via theguardian.com
  Summer is a shadow of its former self with so few of these miraculous birds around. Their loss must be fiercely foughtIt is the most miraculous bird, the ultimate winged messenger, exploring our globe, spending its life on the breeze. Sickle-shaped wings silhouetted against the sky, the swift is the fastest of all birds in level flight and remains entirely airborne for 10 months, or more, feeding, sleeping and mating on the wing. These long-lived creatures can clock up four million miles, commut
  
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• 'Dumpling-shaped' space rock comes into view

  18-06-2018 14:27 via bbc.co.uk
  A Japanese space probe has been sending back images as it approaches its target, the asteroid Ryugu.
  
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• Volvo to use 25% recycled plastic in new vehicles

  18-06-2018 13:55
  After recently pledging to ban single-use plastics across its premises and events by the end of next year, Swedish carmaker Volvo has announced a new target of using at least 25% recycled plastic in all new vehicles it produces by 2025.
  
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• Five of the best: Faraday Battery Challenge grant winners

  18-06-2018 13:55
  With the Government announcing £22m of funding for a host of "world-leading" battery storage projects, edie takes a look at five of the winning programmes that could accelerate the UK's burgeoning low-carbon economy.
  
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• Business appetite for tackling food waste could lead to international rollout for Neighbourly

  18-06-2018 12:52
  EXCLUSIVE: As businesses push to create ever-more holistic approaches to their role in tackling food waste and social issues, social platform Neighbourly is on the brink of an international rollout driven not by the enterprise itself, but by its clients.
  
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• Business appetite for food waste could lead to international rollout for Neighbourly

  18-06-2018 12:52
  EXCLUSIVE: As businesses push to create ever-more holistic approaches to their role in tackling food waste and social issues, social platform Neighbourly is on the brink of an international rollout driven not by the enterprise itself, but by its clients.
  
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• EU countries 'off target' on carbon emissions: report

  18-06-2018 12:12
  Most European nations are set to miss their carbon reduction pledges made as part of the Paris Agreement, according to a new ranking of "good", "bad" and "ugly" countries published today (18 June) by Europe's leading NGO coalition on climate change.
  
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• Should we be worried about surging Antarctic ice melt and sea level rise? | Dana Nuccitelli

  18-06-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Short answer: maybe
  There’s recently been a spate of sea level rise denial in the conservative media, but in reality, sea level rise is accelerating and melting ice is playing an increasingly large role. In the first half of the 20th Century, average global sea level rose by about 1.4 millimeters per year (mm/yr). Since 1993, that rate has more than doubled to 3.2 mm/yr. And since 2012, it’s jumped to 4.5 mm/yr. Continue reading...
  
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• Food deals are the forgotten bread and butter issues of Brexit | Julian Baggini

  18-06-2018 10:22 via theguardian.com
  Trade negotiations with the EU have descended into a political circus – yet the quality of what we eat is too important to overlookRulers, wrote the Roman poet Juvenal, survive by providing the people with bread and circuses. His observation has acquired a twisted relevance in recent years. Brexit has become a political circus without the laughs while the duty to provide bread has become criminally neglected. These two aberrations are deeply connected.Food policy has been a central concern
  
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• Samsung to source 100% renewable energy in Europe, US and China

  18-06-2018 10:15
  Consumer technology giant Samsung Electronics has announced that it will source all the energy it uses for its factories, office buildings and operational facilities in Europe, the US and China from renewable sources by 2020, making it the first electronics manufacturing company in Asia to commit to 100% green energy.
  
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• Renault pledges €1bn of funding for EV research and manufacturing

  18-06-2018 09:15
  French carmaker Renault has announced that it will pour more than €1bn of funding into electric vehicle (EV) research, design and manufacturing at four of its plants by 2022.
  
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• UK pension funds get green light to dump fossil fuel investments

  18-06-2018 08:26 via theguardian.com
  Government directive means trustees will be able to push harder for green investmentsManagers of the £1.5tn invested in Britain’sworkplace pension schemes are to be given new powers to dump shares in oil, gas and coal companies in favour of long-term investment in green and “social impact” opportunities.
  Government proposals published on Monday are designed to give pension fund trustees more confidence to divest from environmentally damaging fossil fuels and put their cas
  
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• Money for old socks: John Lewis to buy back clothes to cut waste

  18-06-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Retailer offers incentive to send back worn and unwanted items instead of binning themJohn Lewis is to buy back worn and unwanted clothing from its customers – including underwear and old socks – in a UK industry first that aims to reduce the 300,000 tonnes of fashion waste going into landfill each year. Customers can arrange through an app to have any unwanted clothing that they bought from John Lewis collected from their home, and they will be paid for each item regardless of its c
  
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• Flooding from sea level rise threatens over 300,000 US coastal homes – study

  18-06-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Climate change study predicts ‘staggering impact’ of swelling oceans on coastal communities within next 30 yearsSea level rise driven by climate change is set to pose an existential crisis to many US coastal communities, with new research finding that as many as 311,000 homes face being flooded every two weeks within the next 30 years.The swelling oceans are forecast repeatedly to soak coastal residences collectively worth $120bn by 2045 if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t sever
  
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• Deciding the viper's fate: country diary archive, 21 June 1918

  18-06-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  21 June 1918 No doubt the viper is useful to the farmer, but it is also a danger to his children, his dogs, and even his sheep Amongst the heather stems and grass I found the cast skins or sloughs of two harmless ring snakes. They were not lying on the grass, but were firmly jammed between the stiff bents; indeed, it was not possible to release them without injury, though as they lay there each transparent scale showed distinctly; except at the head, the skin was perfect. “Cast” skin
  
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• Are we running out of water?

  18-06-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  As the world’s water needs grow so is concern that we’re rapidly using up supplies. How worried should we be? Water seems the most renewable of all the Earth’s resources. It falls from the sky as rain, it surrounds us in the oceans that cover nearly three-quarters of the planet’s surface, and in the polar ice caps and mountain glaciers. It is the source of life on Earth and quite possibly beyond – the discovery of traces of water on Mars aroused excitement because i
  
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• Country diary: bottlenose dolphin attack shatters Flipper illusions

  18-06-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Chanonry Point, Moray Firth: These cetaceans kill their porpoise cousins. Do they see them as competition for food? Or are they just killing for sport?There are occasions when nature shatters our cosy assumptions. Last week we were watching the bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) on the Moray Firth, much loved by tourists because they come so close to shore. They flip and leap, roll and dive, singly or in pods of a dozen or more, only a few yards from camera-clicking visitors thronging the
  
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• Hong Kong's fish are eating plastic - and people could be too

  18-06-2018 02:15 via bbc.co.uk
  A lot of Hong Kong's fish contains tiny bits of plastic that could end up on your plate.
  
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