Environment news

• UK to build record-breaking solar planes

  16-07-2018 22:16 via bbc.co.uk
  The lightweight Zephyr aircraft could be used in communications and remote sensing.
  
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• Is your paddling pool a cool oasis – or a giant puddle of infection?

  16-07-2018 17:36
  Standing water breeds biting horseflies – and it’s just one of the ways your paddling pool may be contaminated, say expertsName: Paddling poolsAge: Hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. Continue reading...
  
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• Rights not “fortress conservation” key to save planet, says UN expert

  16-07-2018 17:00
  Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples calls for a new, rights-based approach to conservation The United Nations Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, has released a report highly critical of the global conservation movement and calling for indigenous peoples and other local communities to have a greater say in protecting the world’s forests. Titled Cornered by Protected Areas and co-authored with the US-based NGO Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the repo
  
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• Apple launches $300m fund to build 1GW of supply chain solar capacity

  16-07-2018 16:15
  Tech giant Apple has announced that it has partnered with its key suppliers to jointly invest $300m (£228m) in solar power projects, as it strives to drive the uptake of renewable energy across its supply chains.
  
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• Majority of UK consumers prefer products made using renewable energy

  16-07-2018 15:42
  Almost three-quarters of UK consumers would purchase products from companies powered by renewable energy rather than firms that don't, according to new research conducted on behalf of offshore wind specialists Ørsted.
  
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• UK politicians 'failing to rise to the challenge of climate change'

  16-07-2018 13:45
  Government’s top climate adviser warns policymakers will be judged harshly by future generations if they don’t act nowThe government’s official climate change adviser says politicians and policymakers are failing to rise to the challenge of a rapidly warming planet and will be judged harshly by future generations unless they act now.Lord Deben, chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), said “anyone who read the news” could see mounting evidence of alar
  
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• Ikea to ban plastic straws in all its UK stores and restaurants by October 2018

  16-07-2018 13:23
  Global furniture retailer Ikea has announced (July 16) that it will stop selling packs of single-use plastic straws in its UK and Ireland stores later this year, as part of its commitment to eliminate all single-use plastics from its global product range by 2020.
  
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• Feeling hot, hot, hot? Tell us your experiences of heat in your city

  16-07-2018 12:53
  Temperatures across the globe have broken records – and rising temperatures have serious implications for cities. What’s happening where you live?Whether summer in your city is present or past, there is a good chance you weathered record-breaking temperatures this year. A heatwave swept the planet, and it was not simply one hot summer: the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that all 18 years of the 21st century are among the 19 warmest on record, and 2016 was th
  
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• Morrisons trials in-store deposit return system for plastic bottles

  16-07-2018 12:19
  Supermarket giant Morrisons has launched a trial of an in-store deposit return scheme for plastic bottles, in a bid to minimise its plastic output and encourage customers to recycle.
  
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• Comprehensive study: carbon taxes won't hamper the economy | Dana Nuccitelli

  16-07-2018 12:00
  But global warming will.
  Eleven teams participated in a recent Stanford Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) project, examining the economic and environmental impacts of a carbon tax. The studies included “revenue recycling,” in which the funds generated from a carbon tax are returned to taxpayers either through regular household rebate checks (similar to the Citizens’ Climate Lobby [CCL] and Climate Leadership Council [CLC] proposals) or by offsetting income taxes (similar to the appro
  
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• Tell us: how has air pollution affected your life?

  16-07-2018 11:25
  We want to hear from readers directly affected by rising air pollution in the UK – share your experiences below
  Air pollution is invisible, toxic and, according to the World Health Organisation, a global public health emergency. In the UK an estimated 40,000 premature deaths are caused by a combination of illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide, primarily from diesel traffic, and particulate matter, according to the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal college of Paediatrics and Child Heal
  
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• Two tarantulas may be on loose after babies found in Derbyshire car park

  16-07-2018 10:40
  Baby spiders were abandoned in pots and RSPCA says witness saw parents scuttling awayTwo tarantulas may be on the loose in a village after three of their babies were found abandoned in a car park.The RSPCA said it had rescued the baby Brazilian bird-eating spiders after they were found discarded in pots in Derbyshire. Continue reading...
  
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• Is UK science and innovation up for the climate challenge?

  16-07-2018 08:05
  The government has shaken up the UK research system. But fossil fuels, not low-carbon technologies, still seem to be in the driving seat.A new report by Richard Jones and James Wilsdon invites us to question the biomedical bubble - the slow but steady concentration of research and development (R&D) resources in the hands of biomedical science.A provocative case, it’s already generated some discussion. Here, I want to pick up a point that might be easily missed amongst fights over the r
  
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• Arundel road scheme 'could harm ancient woodland'

  16-07-2018 07:48 via bbc.co.uk
  Road builders planning a bypass in Sussex have been urged to find a way that doesn't cause damage to ancient woodland.
  
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• Waste incineration set to overtake recycling in England, Greens warn

  16-07-2018 07:01
  Amount of rubbish burned by local authorities triples while household recycling rates stallEngland is on the brink of burning more of its rubbish in incinerators than it recycles for the first time, according to a new analysis.The amount of waste managed by local authorities and sent to incinerators, or energy-from-waste plants, tripled between 2010-11 and 2016-17. By contrast, household recycling rates have stalled since 2013. Continue reading...
  
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• Wonderful cell-building habits of the leafcutter bee: Country diary archive, 19 July 1918

  16-07-2018 07:00
  19 July 1918 Clean-edged oblongs and circles cut from leaves are used to build the cells of their nests On two or three occasions I have referred to the wonderfully neat work of the leaf-cutter bee, and I have just received some Marechal Niel rose leaves from Rock Ferry from which clean-edged oblongs and circles have been nibbled out. The leaf-cutter bees are not unlike our honey bees to look at, but their habits are very different. The pieces cut from the leaves are used to build the cells of t
  
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• Country diary: I looked into the eyes of Britain's most savage killer

  16-07-2018 06:30
  Aigas, Highlands: The weasel may be tiny, but this fierce predator can dispatch and drag off a full-grown rabbit 25 times its size – and has a stare that even humans can find unnervingIf I asked you to name Britain’s most savage wildlife killer, you might say fox or peregrine or goshawk, or perhaps even the golden eagle or the Scottish wildcat if you knew about such exciting rarities. But I think you would be wrong. Savage and killers they all are, no question, but in my book none co
  
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