Environment news

• 'No real appetite': former farmers chief lashes ministers over climate link to drought

  27-08-2018 23:21 via theguardian.com
  Brent Finlay, former president of the National Farmers’ Federation, says Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce are the latest who are failing the bushThe former president of the National Farmers’ Federation, Brent Finlay, has accused politicians of “jumping in front of the cameras” while shirking effective policy work on drought and climate change.As Scott Morrison and his special drought envoy, Barnaby Joyce, toured south-west Queensland on Tuesday, Finlay described the forme
  
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• Weatherwatch: climate change raises flood risks for river communities

  27-08-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  People living near waterways must choose between moving away or building ever-larger flood defencesMost of our oldest towns and cities are on rivers, often in the upper part of the estuary where ships could easily come in on the rising tide. They were founded in an era where boats were the easiest and sometimes the only form of long distance transport. Towns also developed at either end of important bridges.The risks of being on the river and being exposed to flooding or storm surges were outwei
  
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• Yemen cholera epidemic 'controlled' by computer predictions

  27-08-2018 22:21 via bbc.co.uk
  Cases are slashed thanks to a new system that predicts where outbreaks will occur.
  
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• Air pollution causes ‘huge’ reduction in intelligence, study reveals

  27-08-2018 21:10 via theguardian.com
  Impact of high levels of toxic air ‘is equivalent to having lost a year of education’Air pollution causes a “huge” reduction in intelligence, according to new research, indicating that the damage to society of toxic air is far deeper than the well-known impacts on physical health.The research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It found that high pollution levels led to significant drops in test
  
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• Drought policy must reflect climate change, says former farmers chief

  27-08-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Ex-president of the National Farmers’ Federation says politicians have failed ‘to do grunt work’ needed by membersThe former president of the National Farmers’ Federation, Brent Finlay, has accused politicians of “jumping in front of the cameras” while shirking effective policy work on drought and climate change.As Scott Morrison and his special drought envoy, Barnaby Joyce, toured south-west Queensland on Tuesday, Finlay described the former deputy prime mini
  
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• Nefarious porpoise: frisky dolphin prompts Brittany bathing ban

  27-08-2018 18:27 via theguardian.com
  Local mayor forbids people to go in the sea after creature tried to rub against swimmers A mayor on France’s Brittany coast took the rare step of banning swimming for several days after a solitary frisky dolphin tried to get too close to bathers.Roger Lars decided last week that it was safest to ban swimming and diving on the coast near Landévennec, where the over-friendly dolphin had been spotted. Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change will make hundreds of millions more people nutrient deficient

  27-08-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Crops grown in a high CO2 atmosphere are less nutritious, containing less protein, zinc and ironRising levels of carbon dioxide could make crops less nutritious and damage the health of hundreds of millions of people, research has revealed, with those living in some of the world’s poorest regions likely to be hardest hit.Previous research has shown that many food crops become less nutritious when grown under the CO2 levels expected by 2050, with reductions of protein, iron and zinc estimat
  
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• UK summer 'wind drought' puts green revolution into reverse

  27-08-2018 14:09 via theguardian.com
  Windfarms fall short in heatwave, but 2018 was still UK’s second greenest summerBritain’s long heatwave threw the country’s green energy revolution into reverse and pushed up carbon emissions this summer, leading experts to stress the need for a diverse energy mix. The summer of 2017 was lauded as the “greenest ever” for electricity generation, thanks to a growing number of windfarms and solar installations edging out coal and gas power stations. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump’s Dirty Power Plan is much worse for kids’ health than for climate change | Dana Nuccitelli

  27-08-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Some of the reporting of the climate impacts of the Dirty Power Plan has been inaccurateLast October, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the agency would repeal the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. But because the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant and the Obama EPA correctly concluded that it poses a threat to public welfare via climate change, the EPA is legally obligated to do something to address that threat. That meant they need
  
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• Uprooted: old tree transplants for China's new cities – in pictures

  27-08-2018 09:00 via theguardian.com
  China is reconstructing nature alongside rapid urbanisation. Yan Wang Preston photographed the uprooted trees that have been moved to new cities Continue reading...
  
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• If we want strong climate action, we need to get the moderate Liberals on board | Erwin Jackson

  27-08-2018 08:57 via theguardian.com
  Let’s bring the less conservative parts of the party closer to where most Australians and business have already arrived
  The inability of the federal Coalition to do more on climate change is not simply a failure of politics. It is partly a reflection on those of us who want more action to cut emissions. The political events over the last week have again reinforced the need for business and civil society to work with and strengthen the moderates in the Liberal party to deliver more effectiv
  
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• Fall of the 'Frack Master': apostle who briefed parliament lands in Texas jail

  27-08-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  MPs and outlets including the Guardian listened to Chris Faulkner on fracking. He is now under arrest for fraudThe self-appointed evangelist of the Texas fracking boom launched into a jargon-laced monologue, prompting the chairman of the UK parliament’s Welsh affairs committee to request he speak in plain English. Related: UK fracking push could fuel global plastics crisis, say campaignersContinue reading...
  
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• Country diary: walking the wild expanse of Teifi Marshes

  27-08-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Aberteifi/Cardigan, Ceredigion: Ducks doze on the mud-banks, while Canada geese argumentatively cruise the creeks of the main channelShimmering through a blend of August afternoon heat haze and the swirling movement of reeds in the strong westerly wind, the wild expanse of Teifi Marshes was sunlit and inviting. The flooding tide in the river and the open arc of the sky were uniformly blue, with white fair-weather clouds reflected in the still water of the more protected pools.Before this area wa
  
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• What is 'primitive technology' and why do we love it?

  27-08-2018 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Why are millions of people watching videos of men in woods demonstrating "primitive technology"?
  
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