Environment news

• Republican lawmaker pitches carbon tax in defiance of party stance

  23-07-2018 23:56
  Representative Carlos Curbelo has proposed a tax on carbon dioxide emissions but Republicans are expected to block itA Republican lawmaker has proposed the US introduce a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, in a departure from the party’s decade-long hostility toward any measure aimed at addressing climate change.Carlos Curbelo of Florida, considered a moderate GOP member of Congress, said a carbon tax would avoid “saddling young Americans with a crushing environmental debt” and e
  
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• Rising temperatures linked to increased suicide rates

  23-07-2018 17:00
  Scientists warn the impact of climate change may be as large as economic recessions, which are known to increase self-harmRising temperatures are linked to increasing rates of suicide, according to a large new study. The researchers warn that the impact of climate change on suicides may be as significant as economic recessions, which are known to increase rates of self-harm.
  The links between mental health and global warming have not been widely researched but the new work analysed temperature a
  
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• Dr Seuss's Lorax 'inspired by orange Kenyan monkeys'

  23-07-2018 17:00
  Moustachioed animals’ relationship with whistling thorn acacia trees resembles that of the Lorax with truffulas, researchers say“I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees,” says the eponymous hairy hero of Dr Seuss’s children’s book after he climbs out of the stump of a truffula tree. An irate orange figure with a bristling moustache, the Lorax is an environmental activist who wastes no time in berating the axe-wielding Once-ler, a shady money-grabbing interloper who la
  
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• Mastercard has 'bold' science-based target approved

  23-07-2018 14:49
  Mastercard has become the first payments industry firm to gain approval for science-based targets, as the company aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% by 2025.
  
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• EY to remove 7.7 million single-use plastic items from its UK offices

  23-07-2018 14:33
  Financial services provider EY has outlined plans to reduce its consumption of single-use plastic items by more than 7.7 million pieces, by offering all staff reusable cups and bottles for personal use.
  
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• Hyperloop test pod sets speed record

  23-07-2018 14:15 via bbc.co.uk
  German engineering students set a record as their pod hits 457km/h in a hyperloop tunnel test.
  
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• UK electric car drivers face paying more to charge at peak times

  23-07-2018 13:59
  Ofgem outlines measures to ensure more drivers can use the electricity networkBritish electric car drivers face having to pay more to power their car if they refuse to shift their charging to off-peak times, in a move designed to lessen their burden on the electricity network.There are currently 160,000 plug-in cars on UK roads but rapid growth means their impact on the energy system must be managed carefully, said energy regulator Ofgem. Continue reading...
  
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• Luxury sector unites to create roadmap for sustainability

  23-07-2018 13:44
  Major luxury firms such as Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and Chanel have developed a sustainable roadmap to help the sector address the challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss and rising economic inequality.
  
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• EY to remove 7.7 million single-use plastic items from UK offices

  23-07-2018 13:44
  Financial services provider EY has outlined plans to reduce its consumption of single-use plastic items by more than 7.7 million pieces, by offering all staff reusable cups and bottles for personal use.
  
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• UK Government plots course for additional offshore wind capacity

  23-07-2018 13:13
  The UK Government has unveiled plans to add between 1GW to 2GW of renewable wind power annually throughout the 2020s, after Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry outlined the next wave of Contract for Difference (CfD) auctions.
  
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• Starbucks is banning straws – but is it really a big win for the environment?

  23-07-2018 13:00
  The coffee giant has announced that it is phasing out straws. But are the new lids it’s introducing actually any better? This month, Starbucks joined a growing movement to ban single-use plastic straws, announcing it would eliminate the items from its stores by 2020. In their place, the company will be introducing strawless lids, which have a sippable protrusion. It will also make alternative-material straws available. Starbucks already has strawless lids available in more than 8,000 of it
  
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• Garden photographer of the year: macro winners – in pictures

  23-07-2018 13:00
  International photographic competition, which runs in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, awards special prize for the best close-up images Continue reading...
  
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• Scientists detect a human fingerprint in the atmosphere's seasonal cycles | John Abraham

  23-07-2018 12:00
  In the troposphere, scientists detected a human-caused signal in the seasonal cycle
  We know that humans are causing Earth’s climate to change. It used to be that “climate change” mostly referred to increasing temperatures near the Earth’s surface, but increasingly, climate change has come to mean so much more. It means warming oceans, melting ice, changing weather patterns, increased storms, and warming in other places.A recent study has just been published that finds &ls
  
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• Belgian nude beach blocked on fears sexual activity could spook wildlife

  23-07-2018 11:54
  Wildlife agency says ‘subsidiary activities’ in the dunes would scare off rare larkThe Belgian Naturism Federation has come to the defence of its burgeoning membership after the Flemish wildlife agency blocked an application for a second nudist beach in the country on the grounds that bathers’ “subsidiary activities” would pose a threat to a rare bird.Attempts to gain designated naturist status for a quiet spot near Westende, about 12 miles south of the popular seas
  
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• Darwin comes to town: how cities are creating new species

  23-07-2018 08:30
  From the nut-cracking crows of Sendai to ‘Turdus urbanicus’ (the new urban blackbird), animals are changing their behaviour and evolution in cities – and in dramatic and surprising waysOn the eve of the Euro 2016 final between France and Portugal, ground staff at the gigantic Stade de France in Paris had left the stadium’s lights on, for security reasons. Attracted by the blinding floodlights, thousands upon thousands of migrating Silver Y moths descended into the empty a
  
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• War on Waste returns: Craig Reucassel dishes dirt on recycling crisis

  23-07-2018 07:46
  Host of ABC sleeper hit of 2017 reflects achievements of season one, and what still needs to changeWho would have thought a show about garbage could be so compelling? The success of last year’s sleeper hit War on Waste was a happy surprise to its presenter, Craig Reucassel, and the team behind the ABC TV show – not least because of how responsive audiences were to many of its suggestions. Sales of reusable coffee cups shot up, worm farm suppliers struggled to keep up with demand and
  
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• ‘We’ve suffered enough’: Durham locals fight new open-cast coal mine

  23-07-2018 07:30
  The Banks Group mine is going ahead despite fears it will devastate the local environmentFrom the end of her garden June Davison can see and hear the heavy machinery stripping away the valley. Soon there will be explosions and dust to add to the 12 hour thrum of engines as the coal is stripped from below the earth.After 40 years of local opposition that has helped keep this area of the Derwent valley in County Durham untouched, open-cast mining has begun between the villages of Dipton, Leadgate
  
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• Recycled packaging 'may end up in landfill', warns watchdog

  23-07-2018 01:05 via bbc.co.uk
  There is no guarantee that the products you recycle are actually recycled, the UK watchdog warns.
  
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• UK's plastic waste may be dumped overseas instead of recycled

  23-07-2018 01:01
  Millions of tons of plastic sent abroad for recycling may be being dumped in landfillMillions of tons of waste plastic from British businesses and homes may be ending up in landfill sites across the world, the government’s spending watchdog has warned.Huge amounts of packaging waste is being sent overseas on the basis that it will be recycled and turned into new products. However, concerns have been raised that in reality much of it is being dumped in sites from Turkey to Malaysia. Continu
  
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• Earth's resources consumed in ever greater destructive volumes

  23-07-2018 01:01
  Study says the date by which we consume a year’s worth of resources is arriving fasterHumanity is devouring our planet’s resources in increasingly destructive volumes, according to a new study that reveals we have consumed a year’s worth of carbon, food, water, fibre, land and timber in a record 212 days.As a result, the Earth Overshoot Day – which marks the point at which consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate – has moved forward two days to 1 Aug
  
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