Environment news

• Scott Pruitt is out but his impact on the environment will be felt for years

  05-07-2018 23:44
  Pruitt’s actions at the EPA have left a demoralized agency where staff fear their ability to protect public health is diminishedScott Pruitt, who has finally stepped down as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency after a long-rumbling corruption scandal, rose to public prominence on the back of a series of increasingly outlandish ethical controversies. Related: Scott Pruitt resigns: Trump's scandal-ridden EPA chief steps downContinue reading...
  
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• Pollutionwatch: smoke from wildfires causes pollution over large distances

  05-07-2018 22:30
  Impact of moorland fires in the UK is far-reaching as air pollution hits eight on 10-point scaleThe moorland fires around Manchester have been exceptional for the UK in terms of their size and proximity to big cities. Close to the fires people were advised to stay indoors with windows closed, but the impact spread much further; 27 June was an especially bad day, with smoke from Saddleworth Moor covering much of Greater Manchester, causing air pollution to reach eight on the government’s 10
  
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• Scott Pruitt resigns: Trump's scandal-ridden EPA chief steps down

  05-07-2018 22:13
  Donald Trump announces Pruitt’s departure on Twitter and praises him for doing an ‘outstanding job’Scott Pruitt, the hugely controversial administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has resigned.Donald Trump tweeted that Pruitt had done an “outstanding job”, in announcing his departure. He further posted that Pruitt’s deputy Andrew Wheeler would take over as acting administrator from Monday. Continue reading...
  
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• Suspected rhino poachers killed by lions at South African reserve

  05-07-2018 20:30
  Remains of two or three people found near pride with an axe – commonly used to remove horn At least two rhino poachers were eaten by lions on a South African game farm, according to the reserve’s owner. A ranger taking guests on a safari drive at the Sibuya game reserve in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday afternoon discovered human remains near a pride of lions. Continue reading...
  
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• Hidden in plain sight: what the recycling crisis really looks like

  05-07-2018 20:00
  The recycling industry is in crisis, yet for most Australians it’s out of mind beyond the rattle of the recycling bin pickups each week. So what does this crisis really look like? Guardian Australia visited three processing sites to find out what happens to bins once they leave the kerbThe recycling industry has been in crisis mode in Australia since January when China, which previously bought 50% of the recycling we collect, implemented a ban that cut out 99% of what we used to sell.Recyc
  
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• Global temperature rises could be double those predicted by climate modelling

  05-07-2018 20:00
  Researchers say sea levels could also rise by six metres or more even if 2 degree target of Paris accord metTemperature rises as a result of global warming could eventually be double what has been projected by climate models, according to an international team of researchers from 17 countries.Sea levels could also rise by six metres or more even if the world does meet the 2 degree target of the Paris accord. Continue reading...
  
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• Travellers in Nigeria on the road to ruin | Brief letters

  05-07-2018 18:50
  Brexit | Periods | Butterflies | Morris MinorsIf, as Shahmir Sanni says (Report, 5 July), £0.7m would have made all the difference to the Brexit referendum result, can we reasonably project that the £9m the government spent on sending remain leaflets to every household in the country but which was not counted in the campaign expenditure would have made 14 times all the difference to the result?
  Ian Holton
  Tunbridge Wells, Kent• I am delighted that women are now free to mention t
  
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• Tidal power to the people | Letters

  05-07-2018 18:50
  Alicia Hull on tidal energy being more efficient than nuclear, Liam O’Keeffe underlines its benefits, and Sue Roaf shines a light on solarIn his letter, Jim Waterton (30 June) protests too much. If tidal energy cannot be allowed without the possibility and costs of storage being certain, how is it that nuclear has been allowed when the costs and feasibility of storing the used fuel for countless lifetimes is equally unknown and likely to be much higher?He describes
  
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• Research sheds light on mystery of how spiders 'take flight'

  05-07-2018 17:00
  Arachnids may use natural electric fields to help them stay airborne for up to hundreds of miles, scientists sayIn October 1832 a young naturalist named Charles Darwin watched with delight as hundreds of tiny spiders dangling from short silk threads floated on to HMS Beagle as the ship made for Buenos Aires.Darwin reasoned that the spiders must have flown at least 60 miles before reaching the vessel. But even as he marvelled at their aerial antics, a debate was under way as to how spiders became
  
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• Shell would support UK bringing forward petrol ban from 2040

  05-07-2018 16:04
  CEO says earlier date would ease investment decisions and shift consumer attitudesShell, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies, has backed calls for the UK to bring forward its 2040 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales.
  Ben van Beurden, chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch group, said he welcomed the idea of bringing forward the ban, as it would provide clarity and make it easier for companies like Shell to make investment decisions and also shift consumer attitudes. Continue re
  
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• Red list research finds 26,000 global species under extinction threat

  05-07-2018 15:46
  IUCN fears planet is entering sixth wave of extinctions with research from Australia revealing more risks to reptilesMore than 26,000 of the world’s species are now threatened, according to the latest red list assessment of the natural world, adding to fears the planet is entering a sixth wave of extinctions.
  New research, particularly in Australia, has widened the scope of the annual stocktake, which is compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and reveale
  
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• Call to turn oil rigs into nature reserves

  05-07-2018 15:28 via bbc.co.uk
  Controversial survey suggests oil platforms can act like offshore reefs and encourage wildlife.
  
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• 'Y'alright love': crow welcomes tourists to Yorkshire castle – video

  05-07-2018 14:44
  A pied crow's hearty greeting at Knaresborough Castle in North Yorkshire has been captured on film by two visitors. Lisa and Mark Brooks heard the bird chattering inside the castle grounds and started filming.'I found it absolutely hilarious. It must be a local, it has a proper Yorkshire accent. We were there for 15 minutes and it switched between saying ‘darling’ and ‘love’. Other people started coming over and were just in shock,' says Lisa Brooks. 
  Crows are from
  
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• Baltic Sea oxygen levels at '1,500-year low due to human activity'

  05-07-2018 14:15
  Nutrient run-off from agriculture and urban sewage are likely to be to blame, scientists sayThe coastal waters of the Baltic have been starved of oxygen to a level unseen in at least 1,500 years largely as a result of modern human activity, scientists say. Nutrient run-off from agriculture and urban sewage are thought to be to blame.“Dead zones” – areas of sea, typically near the bottom, with a dearth of oxygen – are caused by a rise in nutrients in the water that boosts
  
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• Yes! We have no bananas: Why the song may come true again

  05-07-2018 14:12 via bbc.co.uk
  The wild banana that might save the world's banana crop may itself go extinct, scientists have revealed.
  
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• Two amputations a week: the cost of working in a US meat plant

  05-07-2018 13:00
  As unions warn of serious injuries, plans to take speed limits off the lines at pig plants are causing anxietyAmputations, fractured fingers, second-degree burns and head trauma are just some of the serious injuries suffered by US meat plant workers every week, according to data seen by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.US meat workers are already three times more likely to suffer serious injury than the average American worker, and pork and beef workers nearly seven times
  
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• Researchers race to make bioplastics from straw and food waste

  05-07-2018 12:24
  Scientists looking to replace oil as the source of the world’s plastic are harnessing everything from wood-eating bugs to chicory New bioplastics are being made in laboratories from straw, wood chips and food waste, with researchers aiming to replace oil as the source of the world’s plastic.
  The new approaches include genetically modifying bacteria to eat wood and produce useful chemicals. But the bioplastics are currently significantly more expensive to make than fossil fuel-based p
  
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• UK vows to play hard-ball with EU over fishing waters

  05-07-2018 11:27
  The UK outlined plans to overhaul its fishing policy on Wednesday, insisting that it would decide unilaterally how much access to give to EU boats after it leaves the bloc next March.
  
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• Ecotricity launches UK's first vegan-certified electricity tariff

  05-07-2018 11:16
  Green electricity company Ecotricity has launched a new "vegan-certified" electricity tariff, in a bid to encourage other power suppliers to stop generating power from meat and dairy industry by-products.
  
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• Native Americans seek to rename Yellowstone peak honoring massacre perpetrator

  05-07-2018 11:00
  Activists also target valley named for advocate of extermination, amid nationwide fight to reject legacy of racism Continue reading...
  
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• Cranswick launches redistribution programme to combat food poverty in Hull

  05-07-2018 10:25
  Major premium food supplier Cranswick has launched a new collaborative initiative which will see it use a food sharing app to "go beyond redistribution" in its bid to combat food waste and hunger issues in Hull.
  
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• Queensland coal push grows as Turnbull tries to land energy guarantee

  05-07-2018 08:56
  LNP conference to hear calls for new coal power station and end to renewable subsidiesA Queensland-led coal push is intensifying as the Turnbull government attempts to land the national energy guarantee, with the looming weekend state LNP conference set to deal with several motions calling for a new coal-fired power station and an end to renewable subsidies.Several of the state’s branches have endorsed the LNP push for the federal government to build “high energy, low emissions coal-
  
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• Adani coal port faces possible 'stop order' after traditional owners object

  05-07-2018 07:41
  Exclusive: Queensland government must rule on application to cease work around Abbot Point coal terminalSupport our independent journalism with a monthly or one-off contribution
  Adani is facing the prospect of being ordered to cease work in the vicinity of its Abbot Point coal terminal and planned rail corridor, after Juru traditional owners applied for a “stop order” to protect sacred sites.Guardian Australia understands the application was lodged with the Queensland Department of A
  
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• Country diary: A daddy-longlegs and its eggs have a narrow escape

  05-07-2018 06:30
  Crook, County Durham: Pholcus has a reputation for preying on other spiders, by entering their webs and vibrating, imitating struggles of a snared flyWhen I leaned the steps against the conservatory wall and climbed, my brush loaded with paint, it could so easily have ended in tragedy.
  A daddy-longlegs spider, Pholcus phalangioides, hanging upside down in her flimsy web, came within an inch of being submerged in a tide of Apricot Blush emulsion. Continue reading...
  
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• Sentinel satellite exposes sulphur dioxide pollution

  05-07-2018 03:37 via bbc.co.uk
  Europe's Sentinel satellite tasked with tracking dirty air maps the major emissions of sulphur dioxide.
  
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• Polluters exposed by new eye in the sky satellite

  05-07-2018 03:37 via bbc.co.uk
  Europe's Sentinel satellite tasked with tracking dirty air maps the major emissions of sulphur dioxide.
  
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• Nowhere to hide

  05-07-2018 03:37 via bbc.co.uk
  Europe's Sentinel satellite tasked with tracking dirty air maps the major emissions of sulphur dioxide.
  
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• Fake chews? New Zealand MP fears 'existential threat' of synthetic burgers

  05-07-2018 02:37
  The Impossible Burger, being served on Air New Zealand, has also drawn the ire of acting prime minister Winston PetersA veggie burger that “bleeds” fake blood has been accused of posing an “existential threat” to New Zealand’s beef industry, amid a growing row over synthetic meat.The Impossible Burger, which is being served on the national carrier Air New Zealand, has drawn the ire of the acting prime minister Winston Peters, who has said he is “utterly oppose
  
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