Environment news

• Whitehall’s ‘potty’ plan to keep NI lights on if no Brexit deal

  11-07-2018 21:06 via theguardian.com
  Flotilla of barges with energy generators would be sent to Northern Ireland if UK crashes out of the EUA flotilla of barges would be sent to the coast of Northern Ireland with energy generators after Brexit to keep the region’s lights on in the event of no deal, according to reports on Wednesday.The scheme, which has been described as “potty” by business leaders in Northern Ireland, is said to be part of contingency planning by Whitehall mandarins in case the UK crashes out of
  
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• Coal seam gas: NSW licences effectively extended indefinitely due to legal loophole

  11-07-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Gladys Berejiklian’s government accused of allowing companies to conduct ‘production by stealth’Licences needed for coal seam gas exploration in New South Wales have been effectively extended indefinitely past their expiry date, due to a legal loophole.Gas exploration – both conventional and coal seam gas – in the state requires a petroleum exploration tenement. Analysis of the NSW government’s tenements database shows 14 titles listed under “current tit
  
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• Heatwave seems to make manmade climate change real for Americans

  11-07-2018 19:08 via theguardian.com
  The record-breaking high temperatures across much of North America appear to be shaping people’s thinking, a survey findsThe warm temperatures that have scorched much of the US appear to be influencing Americans’ acceptance of climate science, with a new poll finding a record level of public confidence that the world is warming due to human activity. Related: Planet at its hottest in 115,000 years thanks to climate change, experts sayContinue reading...
  
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• Charles Gimingham obituary

  11-07-2018 18:52 via theguardian.com
  Leading expert on heather and moorland landscapes who was a dedicated environmentalistTravel north through the uplands of Britain in August and you enter the world heartland of the purple, heather-quilted landscape known as moorland. Its principal plant, ling heather, known scientifically as Calluna vulgaris, and the fire and grazing management that governs its growth and distinctive appeal, was the subject of Charles Gimingham’s pioneering research and quiet advocacy. Based at the Univers
  
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• Sir David Attenborough: Getting UK polar ship ready for big day

  11-07-2018 18:30 via bbc.co.uk
  Watch the 10,000-tonne hull of Britain's new polar ship being moved into position for launch.
  
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• UK must adapt to climate change now | Letters

  11-07-2018 18:09 via theguardian.com
  Alastair Chisholm urges the UK government to strengthen its national adaptation policy; Robert McCartney writes that China produces twice the CO2 as the USYour editorial warning that extreme events are likely to become a new and dangerous normal (The heatwave in Britain is part of a large and dangerous pattern, 10 July) highlights that what the UK can most effectively do in response is to plan to adapt. While decarbonisation across our economy and society is vital and the UK must improve its com
  
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• Climate captains and sustainability strikers: Virgin Media unveils football-themed sustainability report

  11-07-2018 17:13
  With the nation waiting with bated breath for England to tackle Croatia tonight (July 11) in the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, telecoms giant Virgin Media has released a new sustainability report utilising football themes to engage key stakeholders with its latest efforts.
  
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• 'We can build a real time machine'

  11-07-2018 16:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Travelling in time might sound like fantasy, but some physicists think it might really be possible.
  
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• Turn the clock back

  11-07-2018 16:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Travelling in time might sound like fantasy, but some physicists think it might really be possible.
  
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• Michael Gove vows to safeguard environmental standards post-Brexit

  11-07-2018 14:57
  Following the shock resignations of both Boris Johnson and David Davies over the Prime Minister's Chequers proposals, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has re-affirmed that environmental standards will not "slip lower" than those of the European Union (EU) post-Brexit.
  
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• Speaker line-up confirmed for edie's SDG 'Power Hour' webinar

  11-07-2018 14:39
  Sustainability experts from BT, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD) and DNV GL are all set to feature in a live edie webinar focused on business engagement with the SDGs, taking place on 26 July.
  
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• London, New York and Paris to spearhead new electric vehicle accelerator

  11-07-2018 12:20
  The Climate Group and C40 Cities have launched a new initiative to "massively accelerate" the adoption of electric vehicles (EV), with cities including London, New York and Paris all agreeing to support the new programme.
  
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• Russian mining firm puts Trump's face on its asbestos products

  11-07-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  As US officials decide against banning product, producer Uralasbest puts Trump ‘seal of approval’ on palletsDonald Trump’s environmental policies may have caused controversy in the US but the president’s stance has managed to get him a literal stamp of approval from a Russian mining company.Uralasbest, one of the world’s largest producers and sellers of asbestos, has taken to adorning pallets of its product with a seal of Trump’s face, along with the words &ld
  
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• How collaborating with WWF helped Thai Union drive sustainability sector-wide

  11-07-2018 11:15
  EXCLUSIVE: More corporations should consider partnering with public-sector organisations if they wish to go beyond improving their own sustainability strategies to drive industry-wide improvements, according to Thai Union's award-winning global director of sustainable development, Darian McBain.
  
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• Government 'distorted figures', says Tidal Lagoon Power

  11-07-2018 11:09
  The developer behind plans to build a £1.3bn tidal lagoon plant in Swansea Bay has accused the government of distorting figures used to justify its decision not to back the scheme.
  
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• End coal mining in the UK, environmentalists urge government

  11-07-2018 10:37 via theguardian.com
  Environmentalists have written to ministers, asking them to reform the planning system so that all future coal mines are automatically refusedEnvironmentalists have urged the government to kill off new coal mines in the UK, by reforming the planning system to block their development. Friends of the Earth, along with the RSPB, WWF and a group of academics, said ministers should build on their international climate change leadership against coal by taking stronger action at home. Continue reading.
  
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• From the UK to Vietnam: Five things you probably didn't know about global renewables investment

  11-07-2018 10:12
  Global investment into renewable energy for the first six months of 2018 is down 1% compared to the previous year, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) report. Here, edie dives into the data to bring you five of the most important trends shaping the world market.
  
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• Heatwave uncovers submerged history

  11-07-2018 10:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Weeks of dry weather cause water levels at Spelga Dam to drop, exposing a hidden history.
  
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• Ancient bones reveal forgotten history of whales

  11-07-2018 08:52 via bbc.co.uk
  Old whale bones suggest the origins of whale hunting may go back to the days of the Roman Empire.
  
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• Country diary: echoes of hard labour in Hardy Country

  11-07-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Portland, Dorset: The gentle greens and yellows of our last visit are now bleached and tarnished, tall grasses faded to blond, wood spurge dried to rustA stone archway, framing sea and sky. The threshold to another world, a world unsuspected by visitors hurrying over the windswept plateau to the Bill, Portland’s beak-like southern tip.Under the eye of Rufus Castle, we wander down between spindly ivy-sashed trees and warm, lichened walls bright with valerian, to the cove where shuttered bea
  
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• Major sewage pollution incidents increase

  11-07-2018 01:45 via bbc.co.uk
  Rivers overall are getting cleaner, but water firms still need to do better, the Environment Agency says.
  
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• On board the flying lab testing UK wildfire smoke

  11-07-2018 01:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Victoria Gill joins scientists trying to find out how wildfires affect the air we breathe.
  
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• Romans had whaling industry, archaeological excavation suggests

  11-07-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Ancient whale bones have been found on three Roman fish processing sites close to the Strait of GibraltarAncient bones found around the Strait of Gibraltar suggest that the Romans might have had a thriving whaling industry, researchers have claimed.
  The bones, dating to the first few centuries AD or earlier, belong to grey whales and North Atlantic right whales – coastal migratory species that are no longer found in European waters. Continue reading...
  
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• Romans had whale industry, archeological excavation suggests

  11-07-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Ancient whale bones have been found on three Roman fish processing sites close to the Strait of GibraltarAncient bones found around the Strait of Gibraltar suggest that the Romans might have had a thriving whaling industry, researchers have claimed.
  The bones, dating to the first few centuries AD or earlier, belong to grey whales and North Atlantic right whales – coastal migratory species that are no longer found in European waters. Continue reading...
  
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• Romans had whale industry, archaeological excavation suggests

  11-07-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Ancient whale bones have been found on three Roman fish processing sites close to the Strait of GibraltarAncient bones found around the Strait of Gibraltar suggest that the Romans might have had a thriving whaling industry, researchers have claimed.
  The bones, dating to the first few centuries AD or earlier, belong to grey whales and North Atlantic right whales – coastal migratory species that are no longer found in European waters. Continue reading...
  
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