Environment news

• EPA fans struggling coal industry by rolling back pollution regulations

  18-07-2018 23:35
  Acting administrator said the ease of Obama-era rules, which pushes back deadline to close ash dumps, saves $30m annually
  The Trump administration on Wednesday eased rules for handling toxic coal ash from more than 400 US coal-fired power plants after utilities pushed back against regulations adopted under former president Barack Obama. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acting administrator Andrew Wheeler said the changes would save utilities roughly $30m annually.Continue reading...
  
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• 'You count your blessings': farm families battling drought – photo essay

  18-07-2018 20:00
  In central-western New South Wales, farmers are facing a crippling drought many are calling the worst since 1902“It’s a pretty tough old time,” says Coonabarabran farmer Ambrose Doolan. “But if you’re working with your family and everyone is looking out for each other, you count your blessings.” In the central-west region of New South Wales, farmers continue to battle a crippling drought that many locals are calling the worst since 1902. In Warrumbungle shire,
  
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• Recycling: how corporate Australia played us for mugs | Jeff Sparrow

  18-07-2018 20:00
  Australians tried to do the right thing by recycling but corporations shifted responsibility and set us up to failThe announcement by China earlier this year that they would no longer purchase Australia’s contaminated waste plunged the local recycling industry into a crisis from which it has yet to recover. But the consequences for public trust might be even more severe. Continue reading...
  
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• It's not recycling, it's collecting: how Australians were sucked into the crisis | Jeff Sparrow

  18-07-2018 20:00
  Australians tried to do the right thing by recycling but then we discovered we’d been played for mugsThe announcement by China earlier this year that they would no longer purchase Australia’s contaminated waste plunged the local recycling industry into a crisis from which it has yet to recover. But the consequences for public trust might be even more severe. Continue reading...
  
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• 'It's dire': farmers battle their worst drought in 100 years – photo essay

  18-07-2018 20:00
  In central-western New South Wales some families on the land are facing ruin as the rain stays away“It’s a pretty tough old time,” says Coonabarabran farmer Ambrose Doolan. “But if you’re working with your family and everyone is looking out for each other, you count your blessings.” In the central-west region of New South Wales, farmers continue to battle a crippling drought that many locals are calling the worst since 1902. In Warrumbungle shire, where sharp
  
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• Going on a bear hunt: the animal activists signing up to 'shoot' grizzlies

  18-07-2018 19:05
  Activist group Shoot’em with a Camera seeks to infiltrate a bear hunt by acquiring licenses they don’t intend to use
  Jane Goodall, the renowned conservationist, and a group of wildlife activists are some of the unexpected entrants in a lottery to hunt up to 22 grizzly bears near Yellowstone national park. Related: Alarmed conservationists call for urgent action to fix 'America's wildlife crisis'Continue reading...
  
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• Asthma deaths rise 25% amid growing air pollution crisis

  18-07-2018 19:04
  Doctors urge ministers to act as 1,320 killed by asthma in England and Wales last year A record number of people are dying of asthma, and experts have warned growing air pollution and a lack of basic care could be to blame.In England and Wales 1,320 people died of asthma last year, a sharp rise of more than 25% over a decade, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.Continue reading...
  
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• HS2 accused of breaching cycle crossing commitments along high speed route

  18-07-2018 14:36
  Government-owned company has back-pedalled on its pledge to cycle-proof the line, say campaigners, locking out cyclists for generations to comeThe company building the HS2 high speed rail line is accused of watering down commitments on cycle crossings along the route, in a move campaigners say will endanger lives and lock out cycling for generations to come.The government-owned company, HS2 Ltd, was accused of back-pedalling on its legally-binding assurance that it would “cycle-proof&rdquo
  
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• Ten species of shark coming to the UK as waters warm – in pictures

  18-07-2018 14:08
  New research has identified the species of shark currently found in hotter parts of the world that could migrate to UK waters by 2050 as the oceans warmContinue reading...
  
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• How Coca-Cola is engaging policymakers and the public to combat plastics pollution

  18-07-2018 14:06
  EXCLUSIVE: The head of sustainability at the world's largest independent Coca-Cola bottler believes the next 12 months are a "great opportunity" to influence policy to reform Producer Responsibility Obligations and implement an effective, nationwide deposit return system for plastics.
  
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• Ecuador's colonial past 'written in soil'

  18-07-2018 13:25 via bbc.co.uk
  The impact of European settlers on the country is preserved in a detailed soil record, researchers have found.
  
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• One week left to register for edie's Power Hour SDG webinar

  18-07-2018 13:24
  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 next Thursday on 26 July.
  
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• Meat and dairy firms 'majorly overlooked climate culprits'

  18-07-2018 13:22
  The livestock sector could consume up to 80% of the planet's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 if the growth of the global meat and dairy industry continues.
  
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• 30-minute masterclass: Seven tips to influence the board on a sustainability strategy

  18-07-2018 13:17
  During a 30-minute masterclass webinar hosted by edie last week, Cranfield University's module leader for Managing Corporate Responsibility, Rosina Watson, outlined the key skills needed to promote a sustainability strategy at board level. Here, edie rounds up the key points.
  
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• Sinking land, poisoned water: the dark side of California's mega farms

  18-07-2018 12:00
  The floor of the Central Valley is slumping, and there is arsenic in the tap water. Now it seems the two problems are connected
  Isabel Solorio can see the water treatment plant from her garden across the street. Built to filter out the arsenic in drinking water, it hasn’t been active since 2007 – it shut down six months after opening when the California town of Lanare went into debt trying to keep up with maintenance costs.Related: ‘Nothing to worry about. The water is fine&rsq
  
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• How Penzance became Britain's first ever plastic-free town

  18-07-2018 12:00
  The Cornwall community achieved this status last December, by uniting against straws, bottles, takeaway boxes and disposable forks. Now 330 other towns aim to follow themEmily Kavanaugh is standing in her skincare-product shop, Pure Nuff Stuff, on Chapel Street. The narrow lane leads down towards the Jubilee pool, the triangular lido that juts like a ship’s prow into the sea from Penzance. “Here, try one,” Kavanaugh says, handing me a piece of packing material. The little white
  
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• Unlocking the Internet of Things revolution: edie launches free guide for businesses

  18-07-2018 10:23
  Organisations seeking to capitalise on the sustainability benefits offered by the Internet of Things (IoT) now have access to a new edie Explains guide which breaks down everything you need to know about deploying IoT technology across your operations.
  
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• Wildfires rage in Arctic Circle as Sweden calls for help

  18-07-2018 08:30
  Sweden worst hit as hot, dry summer sparks unusual amount of fires, with at least 11 in the far northAt least 11 wildfires are raging inside the Arctic Circle as the hot, dry summer turns an abnormally wide area of Europe into a tinderbox.The worst affected country, Sweden, has called for emergency assistance from its partners in the European Union to help fight the blazes, which have broken out across a wide range of its territory and prompted the evacuations of four communities. Continue readi
  
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• Sweden calls for help as Arctic Circle hit by wildfires

  18-07-2018 08:30
  Sweden worst hit as hot, dry summer sparks unusual amount of fires, with at least 11 in the far northAt least 11 wildfires are raging inside the Arctic Circle as the hot, dry summer turns an abnormally wide area of Europe into a tinderbox.The worst affected country, Sweden, has called for emergency assistance from its partners in the European Union to help fight the blazes, which have broken out across a wide range of its territory and prompted the evacuations of four communities. Continue readi
  
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• A whale of a time in Cornwall: all aboard a marine wildlife cruise

  18-07-2018 07:30
  Spotting whales, porpoises, dolphins, and a rare ocean sunfish, underlines why a UK coastal cruise is a revelation – and conservation so vitalMore UK marine trips“Ahoy there!” came the cry, jolting us out of sun-induced drowsiness as the propeller roared to life and the boat headed towards the horizon. “Whale ahead!”We’d been scanning flat expanses of azure water off southern Cornwall for a couple of hours in sweltering heat that had seemingly sent the sea to
  
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• How many hippos are too many? Proposed cull raises questions

  18-07-2018 07:00
  By resurrecting a proposal to allow trophy hunters to shoot 250 hippos annually, Zambia stirs controversy. The hippo — really? That’s the common response when tour guides in Africa tantalize travelers with this question: “What’s the most dangerous animal on the continent?” Lion? Rhino? Elephant? No, no, no. Eventually, the tour guide delivers the answer with a twinkle in their eye: the hippo, yes, that water-loving, one-tonne mammalian oddity. Despite their hefty an
  
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• Country diary: the heather is a burnt burgundy, the grass yellowed

  18-07-2018 06:30
  Rombalds Moor, West Yorkshire: We can’t blame the heatwave for this desiccated landscape – we’ve spent decades deliberately drying out our peatland habitatsThe moors are a tinderbox. Parched and crisped by weeks of dry summer heat, the heather is a burnt brown-to-burgundy, the moorland grass yellowed. The bracken looks all right – still a deep pea-green (it takes a lot to bother bracken) – but finger-wide cracks have opened in the colourless peat of the footpath. It
  
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• Welcome to the Meghalayan Age - a new phase in history

  18-07-2018 04:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Geologists classify the last 4,200 years as being a distinct age in the story of our planet.
  
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• Adani says it still needs a loan for rail line if coalmine is to go ahead

  18-07-2018 04:01
  Major hurdles to Carmichael mine remain despite comments by Karan Adani that the company has ‘completed financing’ Adani says its Carmichael coalmine remains contingent on a loan to build a rail line to the Galilee Basin – comments that analysts believe will ramp up pressure on the Australian government to further subsidise the project.Karan Adani, the son of company boss Gautam Adani, and the head of the conglomerate’s ports business, told India’s Economic Times th
  
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• The real cabbage soup diet: What Britons ate down the ages

  18-07-2018 01:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Ancient Britons were eating dairy, peas, cabbage and oats, according to gunk trapped in their teeth.
  
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• Are young people going cool on cars?

  18-07-2018 01:34 via bbc.co.uk
  More and more young people are living without the car. Will the government change its road-building plans?
  
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• Canada's high Arctic glaciers at risk of disappearing completely, study finds

  18-07-2018 00:54
  Satellite imagery shows hundreds of glaciers shrinking as average annual temperature rises 3.6C in 70 years Hundreds of glaciers in Canada’s high Arctic are shrinking and many are at risk of disappearing completely, an unprecedented inventory of glaciers in the country’s northernmost island has revealed. Using satellite imagery, researchers catalogued more than 1,700 glaciers in northern Ellesmere Island and traced how they had changed between 1999 and 2015.Continue reading...
  
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