Environment news

• Ants show 'lazy' approach may be best for digging

  20-08-2018 19:34 via bbc.co.uk
  A new study on ants and robots has shown that having more workers is not necessarily better when working in confined spaces.
  
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• Capitalism alone cannot reverse climate change | Letters

  20-08-2018 18:42 via theguardian.com
  A free-market approach won’t rescue the world from climate change, argue Richard Vernon and Dave Hunter, while Nicholas Falk says the UK can learn from China. Philip Steadman offers ideas for keeping cities coolLarry Elliott rightly directs our attention to the impending perils of climate change and to some of the impediments to their avoidance (Capitalism can crack climate change. But it must take risks, 16 August). His suggested solution “that the world needs to wage war again
  
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• How did Kay Longstaff survive 10 hours at sea after falling overboard?

  20-08-2018 18:16 via theguardian.com
  The British tourist was rescued after falling from a cruise ship into the AdriaticIf you are going to fall from a cruise ship into open water, there are worse places to do so than the Adriatic Sea at the height of summer. The temperature of the stretch of water that separates Italy from the Balkan peninsula is above 20C (68F) in August and minimal wind means that the sea tends to be calm.Kay Longstaff said she fell from an aft deck on the Venice-bound Norwegian Star around midnight on Saturday a
  
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• RSPB under fire over parking charge plans in Anglesey reserve

  20-08-2018 17:58 via theguardian.com
  Locals say wildlife charity acting like a ‘corporate monstrosity’ over £5-a-day feeThe RSPB has been accused of acting like a “corporate monstrosity” for attempting to impose parking charges at one of north Wales’ most scenic birdwatching locations.The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds plans to charge £5 a day for peak season visits to the South Stack reserve in Anglesey, despite renting the 780 acres of public land for just £7. Continue re
  
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• Aldi begins black plastics phase-out as part of packaging overhaul

  20-08-2018 17:43
  Discount chain Aldi is switching a range of its fresh produce packaging from hard-to-recycle black plastic to clear, recyclable alternatives, in a move that is set to save around 265 tonnes of plastic a year.
  
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• In numbers: the UK public's attitudes towards climate change

  20-08-2018 17:42
  In late July, environmental law firm ClientEarth and YouGov surveyed more than 2,000 UK adults on attitudes across a spectrum of climate-related questions. With the survey released on Monday (20 August), edie rounds-up the relevant facts and figures.
  
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• Kay Longstaff was lucky. Most people who fall off ships are never seen again | Gwyn Topham

  20-08-2018 16:36 via theguardian.com
  An average of one person a month is lost to the sea from cruise ships. This rescue is little short of miraculousEven when life is a cruise, we are just a guard rail away from a rude awakening. For British passenger Kay Longstaff, the fall from the back of the Norwegian Star cruise ship has had an unexpectedly happy ending: rescued after 10 hours’ floating in the comparatively warm and balmy Adriatic sea. The circumstances of her initial plunge have yet to be established, and while theories
  
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• Finance firms 'slowest' TCFD signatories to report climate impacts

  20-08-2018 15:58
  Financial services firms that have committed to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures' (TCFD) recommendations tend to be less transparent in disclosing their climate impacts than TCFD signatories from other industries, a new study has revealed.
  
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• Deal to sell non-stun-slaughtered lambs to Saudis condemned

  20-08-2018 15:27 via theguardian.com
  Fears UK export deal signals it will become normal to lower standards to secure trade dealsSenior politicians and animal welfare groups have condemned the government over a deal that allows meat from lambs slaughtered without being stunned to be exported to Saudi Arabia.They say the deal, estimated by the government to be worth £25m over the next five years, shows a shameful disregard for animal welfare and signals that after Brexit it will become acceptable to lower standards to secure tr
  
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• Food waste: alarming rise will see 66 tonnes thrown away every second

  20-08-2018 15:17 via theguardian.com
  New analysis warns food loss is set to increase by a third by 2030 unless urgent action is takenThe amount of food that is wasted each year will rise by a third by 2030, when 2.1bn tonnes will either be lost or thrown away, equivalent to 66 tonnes per second, according to new analysis.The report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) warns that the global response to food waste is fragmented and inadequate, and that the problem is growing at an alarming rate. Continue reading...
  
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• 2018 bird photographer of the year – in pictures

  20-08-2018 14:18 via theguardian.com
  Pedro Jarque Krebs from Peru scoops the top prize of £5,000 for his vibrant image of American Flamingos preening Continue reading...
  
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• 'Unprecedented' public support for tax reforms to tackle plastic waste

  20-08-2018 13:32
  An unprecedented number of respondents to a UK Government consultation examining plastic waste have called for the implementation of increased rates of tax on virgin plastics, coupled with tax breaks for manufacturers using post-consumer recycled (PCR) content.
  
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• Landsec hints at energy storage to bolster Britain's biggest shopping centre solar array

  20-08-2018 12:34
  The UK's largest commercial property developer, Landsec, has revealed that it is sourcing 22% less grid electricity for its White Rose shopping centre in Leeds after installing a 2,902-panel solar array on the roof.
  
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• Summer weather is getting 'stuck' due to Arctic warming

  20-08-2018 12:23 via theguardian.com
  Rising arctic temperatures mean we face a future of ‘extreme extremes’ where sunny days become heatwaves and rain becomes floods, study saysSummer weather patterns are increasingly likely to stall in Europe, North America and parts of Asia, according to a new climate study that explains why Arctic warming is making heatwaves elsewhere more persistent and dangerous. Rising temperatures in the Arctic have slowed the circulation of the jet stream and other giant planetary winds, says th
  
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• Business condemns Turnbull's shift on emissions and 'extreme intervention'

  20-08-2018 11:41 via theguardian.com
  Super funds and business lobby groups criticise ‘ad hoc’ changes for destroying certaintyAustralia’s superannuation funds and business groups have reacted angrily to Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to dump emissions reduction targets from his national energy guarantee.The Business Council of Australia (BCA), the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Australian Industry Group, all censured the government on Monday, saying the move had destroyed any sense of poli
  
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• Unintended consequences: Could the plastics phase-out lead to sustainability peril for businesses?

  20-08-2018 11:15
  EXCLUSIVE: With the war on plastic becoming one of the hottest topics in the sustainability sphere, corporates rushing to make plastic-reduction pledges in a bid to appease customers are at risk of making changes which could lead to unintended consequences.
  
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• Myth, mystery and the tide of change: Jasmin Vardimon's Medusa – in pictures

  20-08-2018 11:00 via theguardian.com
  In her new show, the choreographer Jasmin Vardimon uses the Greek myth of Medusa to explore womanhood and our ecological future. Tristram Kenton photographed the rehearsals in Sitges Continue reading...
  
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• Turnbull just showed what happens when 'ideology and idiocy take charge of energy policy' | Erwin Jackson

  20-08-2018 10:25 via theguardian.com
  The PM had seemed to recognise that you can’t have an energy policy without a plan to cut emissions. No longer A note to our prime minister: you can’t have an energy policy that assumes that climate change does not exist. By dumping the commitment to take emissions targets to the federal parliament the PM is signalling climate change is not real. This leaves the rest of us paying the price for another political capitulation on cleaning up our power sector.Some parts of the government
  
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• Malcolm Turnbull's emissions backflip sends signal that climate change is not real | Erwin Jackson

  20-08-2018 09:28 via theguardian.com
  The PM had seemed to recognise that you can’t have an energy policy without a plan to cut emissions. No longer A note to our prime minister: you can’t have an energy policy that assumes that climate change does not exist. By dumping the commitment to take emissions targets to the federal parliament the PM is signalling climate change is not real. This leaves the rest of us paying the price for another political capitulation on cleaning up our power sector.Some parts of the government
  
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• Anti-pollution activists stage protest at Volkswagen's UK headquarters

  20-08-2018 09:06 via theguardian.com
  Campaigners and doctors set up ‘sick bays’ to highlight diesel emissions health risks Doctors and anti-pollution activists have blockaded the UK headquarters of Volkswagen as the campaign to highlight the country’s air pollution crisis gathers pace.Hundreds of staff were prevented from getting into VW’s head office in Milton Keynes by doctors and other medics who, with Greenpeace activists, set up “sick bays” at entrances to highlight the damage VW diesel vehi
  
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• Jewels in the Night Sea exhibition - in pictures

  20-08-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Ryo Minemizu, one of Japan’s emerging stars in the field of marine life photography and the 2017 winner of the Nikkei National Geographic photography prize, captures the beauty and complexity of plankton that drift in our planet’s oceans and other bodies of water in meticulous detail Continue reading...
  
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• The Liberal party is self-destructing over energy. Here's what you need to know

  20-08-2018 07:14 via theguardian.com
  Confused about the policy acrobatics? Checked out of the emissions debate? Christopher Knaus gets you up to speed“It’s a very fluid situation.”That’s how one of the government’s own senators, Jim Molan, described the Coalition’s energy policy on Monday. Continue reading...
  
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• Young birds pipe their first notes - Country diary, 24 August 1918

  20-08-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  24 August 1918 A thrush warbled in an apple-tree almost bare of fruit, while swallows sang a few notes between short pauses while they flew first up and down the laneSurrey
  At daybreak, when the full moonlight was absorbed in the stronger beams of the sun and not a streak of cloud was visible, young birds began to pipe their first notes. A thrush warbled in an apple-tree almost bare of fruit, not much louder than the wren among the thorns. Swallows, pleasantest of all, sang a few notes between s
  
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• Politicians must set aside blinkered ideologies in the climate end-game | David Spratt and Ian Dunlop

  20-08-2018 03:33 via theguardian.com
  The rapidly disintegrating ‘agreement’ to the Neg yet again sees the Coalition refusing to face up to the threat of climate change Humanity has a big decision to make very soon about its future on warming planet, but the federal Coalition is still in denial that human-induced climate change even exists, let alone that the climate endgame is upon us.The national energy guarantee (Neg) is the latest manifestation of that denial. A third-rate complex, over-engineered policy that will mo
  
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• Unlikely survival

  20-08-2018 01:12 via bbc.co.uk
  A reef near a polluted port raises hopes for the conservation of other endangered coral.
  
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