Environment news

• Fields medal: UK refugee's major maths award stolen

  01-08-2018 23:12 via bbc.co.uk
  The Cambridge professor loses his 14-carat gold medal in Brazil minutes after receiving it.
  
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• Sweden's highest point set to lose title as glacier melts

  01-08-2018 19:32
  Glacier on the southern tip of Kebnekaise mountain shrinks due to record Arctic temperaturesSweden’s highest peak, a glacier on the southern tip of the Kebnekaise mountain, is melting due to record hot Arctic temperatures and is no longer the nation’s tallest point, scientists said on Wednesday. “I’ve never seen this much melted snow on the southern peak as I did this summer,” said Gunhild Rosqvist, a Stockholm University geography professor. Related: Extreme global
  
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• Fair trade cocaine wouldn’t delight dealers | Brief letters

  01-08-2018 18:57
  Middle-class cocaine use | Black photographers in Vogue | Maya Angelou and Rudyard Kipling | The Silk Roads | Whale-dolphin hybridAll cocaine use, regardless of class – in fact all illicit drug use, regardless of class – causes misery through the supply chain (Middle-class cocaine use fuels misery, says Met chief, 1 August). Worse, it lines the pockets of some of the nastiest people on the planet. The answer, of course, is to treat adults as adults and legalise, regulate and con
  
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• Last year was warmest ever that didn't feature an El Niño, report finds

  01-08-2018 18:08
  State of the climate report found 2017 was the third warmest with a record high sea level and destructive coral bleachingLast year was the warmest ever recorded on Earth that didn’t feature an El Niño, a periodic climatic event that warms the Pacific Ocean, according to the annual state of the climate report by 500 climate scientists from around the world, overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and released by the American Meteorological Society.Relat
  
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• Retailers likely to face backlash for failing to curb plastic use, survey finds

  01-08-2018 18:01
  Findings come as part of a pledge by the owners of Canary Wharf in London to become world’s first plastic-free commercial centreRetailers are likely to face a consumer backlash if they fail to take action to curb plastic use, according to a survey by the owners of Canary Wharf in London.The operators of Canary Wharf are pledging to become the world’s first plastic-free commercial centre, in partnership with the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). Continue reading...
  
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• UK farmers allowed to take more water from rivers as heatwave continues

  01-08-2018 17:47
  Environment secretary holds drought summit with farmers to address series issues of crop failure and lack of fodder for animals
  Farmers will be allowed to take up more groundwater to irrigate parched crops during the ongoing heatwave, after a “drought summit” between farming leaders and the environment secretary, Michael Gove.Farmers have suffered in the heat, with crops wilting or failing to reach their full size, and livestock running short of grass and fodder. Prices on some foods
  
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• Levi Strauss commits to 100% renewables and science-based targets

  01-08-2018 16:51
  After receiving the stamp of approval from the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) for its carbon reduction aims, fashion brand Levi Strauss has unveiled a revamped sustainability strategy that will see the company commit to sourcing 100% renewable power for its operations by 2025.
  
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• How Greenland scorched its underside

  01-08-2018 16:10 via bbc.co.uk
  The world's largest island ran over Iceland's volcanic hotspot and has the rocky scar to prove it.
  
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• Dengue fever outbreak stopped by special mosquitoes

  01-08-2018 15:00 via bbc.co.uk
  An Australian city has been successfully protected from the mosquito-borne disease, researchers say.
  
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• Iceland launches plastic-free chewing gum in UK first

  01-08-2018 14:23
  Frozen food giant Iceland has today (August 1) launched a range of plastic-free chewing gum, making it the first supermarket in the UK to offer a biodegradable alternative.
  
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• Should businesses communicate negative contributions to the Global Goals?

  01-08-2018 13:54
  EXCLUSIVE: As more companies pledge to support and report on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), should businesses also examine and communicate negative contributions to the Global Goals?
  
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• Fire and water: July's global weather extremes – in pictures

  01-08-2018 10:26
  Heatwaves are setting temperature records; Europe suffered its deadliest wildfire in more than a century; 90 large fires in the western US have destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of at least 37,000 people; flood-inducing downpours have pounded parts of Asia. This year’s summer weather is more extreme because of human-caused climate change, scientists say Continue reading...
  
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• Fire and water: July's global weather extremes - in pictures

  01-08-2018 10:26
  Heatwaves are setting temperature records; Europe suffered its deadliest wildfire in more than a century; 90 large fires in the western US have destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of at least 37,000 people; flood-inducing downpours have pounded parts of Asia. This year’s summer weather is more extreme because of human-caused climate change, scientists say Continue reading...
  
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• Sustainable shopping: How are UK supermarkets tackling plastic pollution?

  01-08-2018 10:20
  Whether it's products containing microbeads, items sold in unnecessary single-use packaging, or consumers opting for plastic bags at the checkout, Britain's supermarkets are at the epicentre of the plastics problem. Here, edie examines the new actions retailers are taking to reduce avoidable plastic waste.
  
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• Energy guarantee to drive slight renewables increase, but emissions will also rise

  01-08-2018 10:12
  Energy Security Board issues final advice in bid to convince states to endorse Turnbull’s policyThe Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee will drive a slight increase in the share of renewables in the electricity market compared to a scenario where the policy isn’t implemented.But emissions will also rise over the life of the scheme before pollution falls again towards the end of the decade to 2030. Continue reading...
  
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• Woolworths sticks with plastic bag ban, despite Coles reversal

  01-08-2018 09:12
  Greenpeace say Coles decision to continue providing free reusable plastic bags is irresponsible
  Woolworths says there will be no change to its free plastic bag ban and that most customers have embraced the change, despite Coles reversing its own ban on Wednesday.
  Coles banned single-use plastic bags on 1 July and told customers they would have to pay 15c for thicker, reusable bags. But then it began handing out the thicker bags for free in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Austra
  
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• The startup making shirts out of cow poo

  01-08-2018 08:51
  Cow waste is a global environmental issue. Jalila Essaïdi and Dutch farmers are tackling the problem by transforming manure into materialsWould you buy a shirt that has been through the back end of a cow? This could be a future fabric choice according to one Dutch startup, which is extracting cellulose from cowpats to make “manure couture”.Jalila Essaïdi believes that a non-vegan future will involve recycling cow manure into cellulose fibre, bioplastics, chemical concentrat
  
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• Was this the scorcher that finally ended climate denial? | Michael McCarthy

  01-08-2018 07:00
  The blazing summer of 2018 has led to a shift in tone from some rightwing sceptics who can no longer deny the obviousIt’s not always easy to recognise a historical tipping point when you see one, but I believe I spotted one when I walked into my local newsagent last Wednesday and saw the front page of the Sun. Over a map of the world which was coloured bright scarlet, the splash headline screamed: “THE WORLD’S ON FIRE”.Britain’s biggest-selling daily newspaper was n
  
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• Surrounded by fire, California politicians question links to climate change

  01-08-2018 07:00
  As Carr fire claims lives and homes in pro-Trump area, local residents reject science: ‘It’s bull’At a public meeting not far from the California town of Redding last year, the US congressman Doug LaMalfa said that he “didn’t buy” human-made climate change. “I think there’s a lot of bad science behind what people are calling global warming,” he said on another occasion.Continue reading...
  
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• Trial to test if GM fed salmon are more nutritious

  01-08-2018 06:35 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers are feeding genetically modified crops to farmed salmon to see if it boosts their nutritional value.
  
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• Salmon fed genetically modified plants in nutrition trial

  01-08-2018 06:30 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers are feeding farmed salmon a genetically modified plant to see if it boosts omega-3 levels.
  
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• Plastic bags: Australia anger over Coles 'caving in to tantrums'

  01-08-2018 04:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Social media users turn on supermarket giant Coles for "caving in" to "tantrums" over reusable bags.
  
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• ACT under pressure to 'succumb to politics' of energy guarantee, minister says

  01-08-2018 03:55
  Shane Rattenbury says territory still has ‘significant’ concerns about the NegThe ACT’s climate change minister, Shane Rattenbury, says the territory is under intense pressure to “succumb to the politics” of reaching agreement on the national energy guarantee, even though it doubts the change is in the national interest.In a candid assessment of the backroom dynamics of the energy deal, Rattenbury said the territory continued to have significant substantive concerns
  
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• Earth Overshoot Day: How businesses can 'move the date' to create a sustainable future

  01-08-2018 02:01
  Today (1 August) marks Earth Overshoot Day, the date when humanity consumes more from nature than the planet can renew in a year. The urgent need to "move to the date" back is clear and edie explains how businesses can help by reinvigorating approaches to corporate sustainability.
  
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