Environment news

• Pollutionwatch: summer's deadly wildfires cause pollution worldwide

  30-08-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Widespread wildfires have taken lives and destroyed habitats as well as causing air pollutionWildfires are spanning the northern hemisphere. Local impacts have been severe; notably the loss of habitat and life, including the tragic deaths in Greece. Smoke has caused air pollution problems in nearby cities, exposing millions of people. Moorland fires affected air pollution in Manchester. Cities on the west coast of the US and Canada, including Seattle and Vancouver, issued pollution alerts as for
  
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• Pests to eat more crops in warmer world

  30-08-2018 21:42 via bbc.co.uk
  Insect crop damage could result in the loss of two loaves out of every 12 by the century's end.
  
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• Hayabusa-2: Japan sets date for spacecraft's asteroid touchdown

  30-08-2018 20:52 via bbc.co.uk
  Japan's space agency sets dates for its plan to explore the surface of an asteroid with robots.
  
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• Gene-editing hope for muscular dystrophy

  30-08-2018 20:26 via bbc.co.uk
  The technique was used to restore a protein that people with the condition are unable to make.
  
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• Power companies hit back at minister, saying policy vacuum led to steep bills

  30-08-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Australian Energy Council CEO rubbishes Angus Taylor’s claim market misconduct behind high power billsPower companies have blasted back at the new energy minister Angus Taylor, declaring the main reason electricity prices are high for Australian consumers is a decade-long vacuum in energy policy – not misconduct in the market.Sarah McNamara, the chief executive of the Australian Energy Council, a group representing Australia’s major gas and electricity companies, told Guardian
  
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• Crop losses to pests will soar as climate warms, study warns

  30-08-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Rising temperatures make insects eat and breed more, leading to food losses growing world population cannot afford, say scientistsRising global temperatures mean pests will devour far more of the world’s crops, according to the first global analysis of the subject, even if climate change is restricted to the international target of 2C.Increasing heat boosts both the number and appetite of insects, and researchers project they will destroy almost 50% more wheat than they do today with a 2C
  
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• UK plastic bag charge set to double to 10p

  30-08-2018 18:45
  The Government has confirmed that it will launch a consultation on whether the nation's current charge for single-use plastic carrier bags should be doubled to 10p and rolled out to every shop in the country.
  
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• Plastic bags: Charge could rise to 10p and be extended to smaller shops

  30-08-2018 18:39 via bbc.co.uk
  All shops in England would have to implement the charge under proposals announced by the PM.
  
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• UK Government to invest £56m in South African battery storage project

  30-08-2018 18:23
  Theresa May has revealed that the UK Government will invest £56m into a South African battery storage project to help the nation bolster its renewable power generation output.
  
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• Paul Rankin obituary

  30-08-2018 17:08 via theguardian.com
  Paul Rankin, my dad, who has died aged 72, was a research physicist and an adventurer. He worked for the electronics company Philips for 36 years, and filed more than 40 patents in that time. He was an innovator, with projects in the favelas in Brazil, the wastes of Mali, the temples of Thailand and the peaks of Peru.He visited more than 70 countries in his lifetime. After retirement he became involved in research into pangolins in Namibia, helping to track and understand these creatures, someti
  
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• Climate change: local efforts won't be enough to undo Trump's inaction, study says

  30-08-2018 16:01 via theguardian.com
  The onus still falls on national governments to cut emissions to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, Yale researchers sayIndividual cities, regions and businesses across the globe are banding together determinedly to confront climate change - but their emissions reductions are relatively small and don’t fully compensate for a recalcitrant US under the Trump administration, a new study has found.A cavalcade of city mayors, regional government representatives and business executiv
  
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• Littleport seal with fishing hook in eye found and treated

  30-08-2018 14:54 via bbc.co.uk
  The "distressed" seal was pictured with a fishing hook in the edge of its eye on Sunday.
  
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• Calls for Government to 'urgently' stabilise UK solar sector amid subsidy closures

  30-08-2018 12:52
  More than 200 stakeholders in the UK's solar sector, including energy companies, NGOs and city leaders, have called on the Government to continue an export tariff once the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme ends next March.
  
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• 'It saved our business': Italy's farmers turn low into high with cannabis

  30-08-2018 12:10 via theguardian.com
  Hemp cultivation for non-pharmaceutical could help revert desiccation of farm landItalian farmers are in crisis as low prices of wheat, desiccated land and big companies importing grain take their toll. But some have found a solution: growing cannabis.Hemp cultivation has been legal in Italy since 2016, and over the last few years the amount of land dedicated to the plant has increased from 400 hectares (1,000 acres) in 2013 to 4,000 hectares today. Continue reading...
  
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• Hubbub launches second waste-cleaning boat made from recycled plastics

  30-08-2018 12:03
  Environmental charity Hubbub has launched its second waste-cleaning boat made from recycled plastic today (30 August), with funding jointly provided by Tideway and Starbuck's 5p paper cup surcharge.
  
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• The fight to save clean water on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation

  30-08-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Native American leaders in Montana believe the Keystone oil pipeline puts them in grave danger - but they are up against powerful business interests
  Lance Four Star drives west at 70mph using his knees to work the steering wheel as he watches Montana Senator Jon Tester’s Indian Country Facebook town hall on his wife’s smartphone, the video starting and stopping as the cellular signal goes in and out on the 40-mile drive from the middle of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation to its borde
  
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• Emails while commuting 'should count as work'

  30-08-2018 11:50 via bbc.co.uk
  Wider access to wi-fi on trains and the use of mobile phones has extended the working day, a study says.
  
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• SSE issues second green bond to fund renewable sector

  30-08-2018 11:04
  SSE has issued a second green bond worth €650m, confirming the big six supplier as the largest issuer of green bonds from the UK corporate sector.
  
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• Where the animals go: wildlife tracking secrets revealed

  30-08-2018 08:01 via theguardian.com
  Award-winning geographer Dr James Cheshire and designer Oliver Uberti take us to the forefront of the animal tracking revolution, mapping the movements of animals on land, sky and sea – from Peru’s elusive jaguars to ant activity in a colonyThe elephants who crossed the railroad Continue reading...
  
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• Local climate efforts won't be enough to undo Trump's inaction, study says

  30-08-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The onus still falls on national governments to cut emissions to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, Yale researchers sayIndividual cities, regions and businesses across the globe are banding together determinedly to confront climate change - but their emissions reductions are relatively small and don’t fully compensate for a recalcitrant US under the Trump administration, a new study has found.A cavalcade of city mayors, regional government representatives and business executiv
  
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• How the US fracking boom almost fell apart

  30-08-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The wild tale of America’s energy revolution, and the cowboy who made and lost billions on shale. By Bethany McLeanBetween 2006 and 2015, the energy world was turned upside-down by an epic development in the oil industry few had foreseen. From the low point, in 2006, when it imported 60% of its oil, the US became an oil powerhouse – eclipsing both Saudi Arabia and Russia – and by the end of 2015, was the world’s largest producer of natural gas.This remarkable transformati
  
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• How America's 'most reckless' billionaire created the fracking boom

  30-08-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The wild tale of America’s energy revolution, and the cowboy who made and lost billions on shale. By Bethany McLeanBetween 2006 and 2015, the energy world was turned upside-down by an epic development in the oil industry few had foreseen. From the low point, in 2006, when it imported 60% of its oil, the US became an oil powerhouse – eclipsing both Saudi Arabia and Russia – and by the end of 2015, was the world’s largest producer of natural gas.This remarkable transformati
  
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• Angus Taylor signals further taxpayer investment in existing coal and gas

  30-08-2018 03:30 via theguardian.com
  New energy minister says government still committed to energy-market interventions if neededThe new energy minister, Angus Taylor, says he’s not a sceptic about climate science, just the economics of green schemes, and he’s declared renewables are “in my blood” and have an important role in the energy system.
  But while overtly backing solar and hydro, but not wind – a technology he’s long opposed – Taylor has also signalled he wants to encourage new inve
  
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• Lucozade to trial edible drinks sachets to reduce single-use plastic at sports events

  30-08-2018 02:01
  Beverage giant Lucozade Ribena Suntory is set to trial edible drinks sachets made from seaweed at two sports events next month, in an effort to gauge the consumer appetite for plastic-free alternatives to single-use bottles and pouches.
  
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• Emissions commitments from business and authorities 'insufficient' to meet Paris goals

  30-08-2018 01:02
  Even if the 2,175 companies and 8,419 cities, states and regions to have made emission-cutting commitments achieve their pledges in full, the result will not be sufficient to realise a 2C trajectory in line with the Paris Agreement.
  
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• Dyson to expand Wiltshire facility to boost electric-car tests

  30-08-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Tech company invests £200m in Hullavington site to double vehicle-testing capacitySir James Dyson, the billionaire inventor and Brexit backer, has unveiled expansion plans to accommodate more than 2,000 workers at his Wiltshire research facility, more than doubling capacity for electric-vehicle testing.Coming despite severe warnings over lost jobs and investment from no-deal Brexit, his technology company is spending about £200m to expand the testing facility on a former second world
  
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