Environment news

• Eight of 18 water firms fail to meet targets on tackling leaks

  31-07-2018 21:38
  UK’s driest start to summer and freeze-thaw after cold snap in February and March blamed for problemsWater companies have been urged to “raise the bar” on tackling leaks during talks with Michael Gove, the environment secretary, after once again failing to meet targets.The firms insisted they would do more and are planning “ambitious” new goals to reduce leakage by at least a further 15%. Continue reading...
  
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• Unsurvivable heatwaves could strike heart of China by end of century

  31-07-2018 17:28
  The most populous region of the biggest polluter on Earth – China’s northern plain – will become uninhabitable in places if climate change is not curbedThe deadliest place on the planet for extreme future heatwaves will be the north China plain, one of the most densely populated regions in the world and the most important food-producing area in the huge nation.New scientific research shows that humid heatwaves that kill even healthy people within hours will strike the area repe
  
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• Shark abducted in pram from Texas aquarium is returned

  31-07-2018 16:54
  Miss Helen, a female grey horn shark, had been driven away from San Antonio aquarium in a pickup truckA shark abducted from a petting tank at a Texas aquarium and smuggled out in a pram has been found and returned.The female grey horn shark, known as Miss Helen, was grabbed from the open pool in San Antonio aquarium by two men and a woman, then wrapped in a wet blanket. Continue reading...
  
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• More than 100 MPs back calls for net-zero emissions target

  31-07-2018 13:37
  More than 100 MPs have now signed a letter calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to establish a net-zero emissions target for 2050.
  
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• BT teams up with Unseen to launch modern slavery reporting app

  31-07-2018 13:37
  Communications giant BT has partnered with anti-trafficking charity Unseen to launch an app that lets users report concerns in confidence of potential cases of modern slavery.
  
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• Soggy 2017 was fifth warmest year in UK record

  31-07-2018 12:52 via bbc.co.uk
  Despite a wet summer, 2017 was one of the warmest years according to Met Office records dating back to 1910.
  
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• Government and transport industry launch £20m fund for low-carbon innovations

  31-07-2018 12:35
  The UK Government and Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) have announced that the next phase of their joint £1bn investment aimed at spurring the development of low-carbon vehicle technologies will open next week.
  
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• Don't call it a wholphin: first sighting of rare whale-dolphin hybrid

  31-07-2018 12:26
  Scientists have identified a creature that they believe to be a hybrid of a melon-headed whale and a rough-toothed dolphinScientists are touting the first sighting of a hybrid between a melon-headed whale and a rough-toothed dolphin in the ocean off Hawaii. But don’t call it a “wholphin,” they say.The melon-headed whale is one of the various species that’s called a whale but is technically a dolphin. Continue reading...
  
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• Government 'coasting on climate change' after fall in clean energy investment

  31-07-2018 12:00
  Members of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) have criticised the Government for "relying on past successes" towards tackling climate change, after a damning report revealed that clean energy investment in the UK fell by 56% last year.
  
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• Investors commit to tackle deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado savanna

  31-07-2018 10:00
  A string of big-name investment corporations including Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM), APG and Robeco have pledged (31 July) to act to prevent deforestation in Brazil's tropical savanna.
  
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• Climate change denial won’t even benefit oil companies soon | Phil McDuff

  31-07-2018 10:00
  The damage caused by our addiction to burning fossil fuels will be so widespread that nobody stands to gainThe year 2018 is on track to be the fourth warmest on record, beaten only by 2016, 2015 and 2017. In other words, we have had the warmest four-year run since we started measuring. According to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), June 2018 is the 402nd consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average. The UK’s Environmental Audit C
  
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• Allow nuclear waste disposal under national parks, say MPs

  31-07-2018 07:01
  Safest site should be chosen regardless of location, committee says – but opponents call idea ‘outrageous’Highly radioactive nuclear waste could be permanently buried under national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), under government plans backed by a committee of MPs.Deep geological burial is seen as the only permanent solution for nuclear waste that will remain radioactive for many thousands of years and is currently stored at surface sites across the UK.
  
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• Allow nuclear waste disposal in national parks, say MPs

  31-07-2018 07:01
  Safest site should be chosen regardless of location, committee says – but opponents call idea ‘outrageous’Highly radioactive nuclear waste could be permanently buried under national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), under government plans backed by a committee of MPs.Deep geological burial is seen as the only permanent solution for nuclear waste that will remain radioactive for many thousands of years and is currently stored at surface sites across the UK.
  
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• 2017 UK's fifth warmest year on record, says Met Office

  31-07-2018 07:01
  Average temperature in past decade is 0.8C hotter and ‘notably wetter’ than the 30 years leading up to 1990Last year was the fifth warmest on record for the UK, showing a clear warming trend above the long-term average, despite a wet summer last year and cold winter.The average temperature over the past decade, since 2008, was 0.8C above the 30 year average to 1990. Summers over that period have also been “notably wetter”, the Met Office said, in its fourth annual State o
  
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• As California burns, many fear the future of extreme fire has arrived

  31-07-2018 07:00
  Experts say the state’s increasingly ferocious wildfires are not an aberration – they are the new realityRoger Gray has lived in his suburban subdivision in a quiet California city for 30 years. On Thursday, it was struck by a jaw-dropping geophysical phenomenon.Gray had defied orders to evacuate Redding, in the far north of the state, which was threatened by the fast-growing Carr fire outside town. He and his neighbors wanted to defend their homes. A Navy veteran, Gray worked 10 hou
  
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• Timor-Leste a mecca for whales, but they face threats | Johnny Langenheim

  31-07-2018 06:00
  One third of all cetacean species are found in the waters off Timor-Leste, but measures are needed to protect themOlive Andrews believes Timor Leste could be one of the best destinations in the world for whale watching. The research scientist with a particular interest in cetaceans drew this conclusion when she joined a survey team assessing the coastal waters north of Timor-Leste in October 2016. “I’ve never seen such a biomass of cetaceans in such a small geography,” she says
  
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• Timor Leste a Mecca for whales but they face threats

  31-07-2018 06:00
  One third of all cetacean species are found in the waters off Timor Leste, but measures are needed to protect them. Olive Andrews believes Timor Leste could be one of the best destinations in the world for whale watching. Andrews - a research scientist with a particular interest in cetaceans - drew this conclusion when she joined a survey team assessing the coastal waters north of Timor Leste in October 2016. “I’ve never seen such a biomass of cetaceans in such a small geography,&rdq
  
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• Livestock treatment may offer solution to antibiotics crisis, say scientists

  31-07-2018 02:01
  Dosing animals with antibodies from their own immune systems could prevent illness and reduce the need for antibiotics Using animals’ own immune systems may provide a way to reduce the overuse of antibiotics in farming, replacing the drugs with cheap farm byproducts and cutting the growing risk of resistance to common medicines, new research has suggested.Natural antibodies, produced by the immune system without previous infection, in animals and humans, can protect the body against harmfu
  
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• Cup innovations, blockchain trials and the Sustainability Leaders Awards: Top 10 sustainability stories of July 2018

  31-07-2018 02:01
  Aside from the never-ending heatwave, it was a month of climate-positive pledges, battery storage boons and the official launch of edie's 2019 Sustainability Leaders Awards. Take a look back at July's biggest sustainability stories in this round-up.
  
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• Coffee cup innovations, blockchain trials and the Sustainability Leaders Awards: Top 10 sustainability stories of July 2018

  31-07-2018 02:01
  Aside from the never-ending heatwave, it was a month of climate-positive pledges, battery storage boons and the official launch of edie's 2019 Sustainability Leaders Awards. Take a look back at July's biggest sustainability stories in this round-up.
  
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• Largest king penguin colony shrinks 90% in 30 years

  31-07-2018 01:17 via bbc.co.uk
  The world's largest colony, in the Indian Ocean, has shrunk 90% over 30 years, research suggests.
  
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