Environment news

• Exomoons: on the hunt for distant worlds

  03-07-2018 20:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers have found that moons in distant solar systems may be the most plentiful habitats in the galaxy.
  
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• Is this the end of the yellow all-in-one recycling bin?

  03-07-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Commingled bins cause contamination. Is it time to go for separate bins for glass and paper?It was supposed to be the more efficient solution. Now as governments and local councils search for answers to Australia’s unfolding recycling crisis, the household yellow bin has emerged as both the prime culprit and a potential remedy. The recycling industry has been in crisis mode since the beginning of the year. On 1 January, China stopped accepting 99% of Australia’s exported recycling du
  
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• Electricity sector won't bear brunt of Paris emissions reduction, energy analyst warns

  03-07-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  RepuTex says the national energy guarantee leaves shortfall of close to 500m tonnes of carbon pollutionA leading energy market analyst has warned that parts of the economy other than electricity will bear the brunt of Australia’s emissions reduction effort under the Paris agreement – a development that will inevitably drive up the costs of abatement for high-emitting energy, materials and industrial companies.Continue reading...
  
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• Scott Pruitt video: mother confronts EPA boss and urges him to quit

  03-07-2018 18:51 via theguardian.com
  Kristin Mink approached head of US Environmental Protection Agency while holding her son and listed reasons he should resign“Hi! I just wanted to urge you to resign,” the schoolteacher Kristin Mink said as she approached Scott Pruitt at a Washington DC restaurant on Monday, apparently unfazed by Pruitt’s lunch partner and two security guards.“This is my son,” Mink told the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency while holding her two-year-old in her arms.Cont
  
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• Pesticides are good for profits, not for people | Letters

  03-07-2018 18:08 via theguardian.com
  It’s time to clean up agriculture and adopt a non-chemical farming policy, says Georgina DownsSo the head of Syngenta, the world’s biggest pesticide maker, urges the continued use of pesticides in agriculture (Pesticide maker says curbs would lead to food crisis in 10 years, 18 June). This is hardly breaking news. Can anybody really be surprised at such a stance from any of the companies that produce these chemicals when their primary concern is to protect profits and to keep pestici
  
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• Why school trips to abattoirs are essential

  03-07-2018 16:58 via theguardian.com
  Countryfile presenter Tom Heap is right to call for school visits to slaughterhouses. It is time children learned the truth about food productionIf the slaughterhouses had glass walls, would anyone still buy their meat?As a vegan, I support Countryfile presenter Tom Heap’s call for children to be taken on school trips to abattoirs. Why not – if you think the truth about what you eat is so horrific it must be kept secret, doesn’t that mean you are helping to cover up something y
  
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• Report: UK set to 'dramatically' miss 2030 energy efficiency targets for homes

  03-07-2018 15:52
  The UK will not meet its 2030 goals to boost energy efficiency in its housing stock until the end of the century, new research from think tank IPPR has concluded.
  
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• So long, suckers! Japan mourns killing of World Cup psychic octopus

  03-07-2018 15:30 via theguardian.com
  Rabio the oracle cephalopod’s demise, who predicted three results, blamed for Japan’s exitDespite correctly predicting the results of Japan’s first three World Cup group matches in Russia, Rabio the “psychic” octopus was unlikely to have foreseen an event of far greater consequence: its own death.One Twitter user speculated that Rabio’s “murder” had condemned Japan to their heartbreaking last-gasp defeat against Belgium on Monday, denying them a pl
  
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• BT, Microsoft and Nokia team up to combat human trafficking in supply chains

  03-07-2018 15:18
  Communication and technology giants BT, Microsoft and Nokia are part of a group of organisations that have partnered with the United Nations (UN) to develop technologies that help tackle modern slavery and human trafficking in supply chains.
  
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• Court action to save young from climate bill

  03-07-2018 14:25 via bbc.co.uk
  Legal bid argues UK is discriminating against next generation by failing to cut CO2 emissions fast enough.
  
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• Iceland tests customer appetite for tackling plastic waste with paper bag trials

  03-07-2018 13:31
  Frozen food giant Iceland has this week launched a paper bag trial, in a bid to reduce its plastics output and find out whether customers are willing to ditch plastic carrier bags at the checkout.
  
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• ASOS launches circular fashion training programme

  03-07-2018 12:59
  Online fashion retailer ASOS has this week launched a new sustainable fashion training programme for designers, in a bid to minimise the environmental impact of its operations and stock more closed-loop clothing and accessories.
  
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• Australia needs tighter ivory sale laws to protect elephants, parliamentary committee hears

  03-07-2018 10:53 via theguardian.com
  Parliament looking at whether Australia’s regulations allow poached ivory and horns to be passed off as antiquesAustralia’s failure to regulate the sale of elephant ivory and rhino horns could be contributing to the demise of the animals, a parliamentary committee has heard.The committee is looking into the country’s regulations and whether they allow newly-poached ivory and horns to be passed off as antiques. Continue reading...
  
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• Large chicken mega-farms are how we'll feed the UK, says poultry industry head

  03-07-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  British consumers eat chicken twice a week. Are large farms the only way forward?Britain will need to build more mega-farms to keep it supplied with chicken, according to the head of the UK’s influential poultry lobby. But the biggest threat to UK consumers, he believes, comes from cheap imported meat – “chlorinated chicken” – produced to lower standards as a result of post-Brexit trade deals.Continue reading...
  
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• Chicken mega-farms are how we'll feed the UK, says poultry industry head

  03-07-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  British consumers eat chicken twice a week. Are large farms the only way forward?Britain will need to build more mega-farms to keep it supplied with chicken, according to the head of the UK’s influential poultry lobby. But the biggest threat to UK consumers, he believes, comes from cheap imported meat – “chlorinated chicken” – produced to lower standards as a result of post-Brexit trade deals.Continue reading...
  
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• Most of Europe's rivers and lakes fail water quality tests – report

  03-07-2018 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Only 40% of waterways surveyed were in a good ecological state – with England one of the worst offendersThe vast majority of Europe’s rivers, lakes and estuaries have failed to meet minimum ecological standards for habitat degradation and pollution, according to a damning new report.Only 40% of surface water bodies surveyed by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) were found to be in a good ecological state, despite EU laws and biodiversity protocols. Continue reading...
  
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• The Himalayan state that declared war on plastic bags | Amrit Dhillon

  03-07-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Swapping bags for banana leaves – and cloth sacks – the tiny Indian state of Sikkim has transformed shoppers’ habits. Can Mumbai follow its example?As a boy growing up in Sikkim, the Indian state nestled below the Himalayas, Rajendra Gurung remembers how, before leaving the house to go shopping, his parents would always ask each other: “Have you got the bag?” Back then, no shopkeeper used plastic bags. Families took their own, made of cloth. Meat, fish and cheese ca
  
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• Sonic doom: how noise pollution kills thousands each year

  03-07-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  From heart disease to type 2 diabetes, noise is having dire effects on people’s health. So who is most at risk, what can be done about it – and can you protect yourself?Shortly after I sat down to read up on the auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health in the Lancet, the drilling began – an angry, jagged, intermittent frenzy of metal on plaster. Our downstairs neighbours have been refurbishing their flat for the past eight weeks or so, removing ceilings, party walls
  
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• Country diary: a swift blast of beetle mania

  03-07-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Raveningham, Norfolk: Soon my yellow shirt is smothered in tiny black dots, and across the field there must be millions of pollen beetles“Just passionate about life” is how Jake Fiennes, manager at this Yare valley estate, defines his approach to his job. It is also the phrase he uses to dodge my question about whether he’s a farmer or an environmentalist. For him the two are inextricably fused.After haring across the valley on his tipoff, I find him combining both roles as he
  
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• Government must embed SDGs into Brexit strategy, report urges

  03-07-2018 02:01
  The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be placed at the heart of the UK's Brexit strategy, according to a new report stating that government policy is performing inadequately across three-quarters of the targets listed under goals.
  
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• New koala gene map could help prevent extinction

  03-07-2018 01:02 via theguardian.com
  The research could be used to cure chlamydia in the marsupial, which can cause infertilityThe first comprehensive genetic map of the koala has unearthed valuable new information about the world-famous marsupial that scientists say will bolster efforts to save them from possible extinction.A consortium of 54 scientists from around the world came up with the genetic blueprint which sheds light on the marsupial’s diet as well as the population decline it has suffered as a result of urbanisati
  
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