Environment news

• 'Oldest known drawing' found on tiny rock in South Africa

  12-09-2018 22:43 via bbc.co.uk
  Etched with an "ochre crayon", the 73,000 year old drawing looks a little like a modern-day hashtag.
  
  Read more

• US activists launch climate change initiatives in absence of federal leadership

  12-09-2018 21:34 via theguardian.com
  US states, cities and businesses forge ahead with strategies to cut carbon emissions to 24% below 2005 levels by 2025 despite Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris accordAmerica’s governors, mayors and CEOs are forging ahead with climate change initiatives despite the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and commitment to reviving the coal industry. But a report published today sets out a roadmap that could quicken that pace and cut carbon emissions to 24% bel
  
  Read more

• Transport emissions continue to rise as Australia lags behind other nations

  12-09-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: inaction on pollution standards leads to 63% rise in transport-related carbon emissions since 1990, report findsAustralia is lagging behind other developed nations in the race to curb greenhouse gas emissions from transport, according to a new report.The report from the Climate Council, due to be released on Thursday, finds that Australia’s transport-related emissions have continued to rise because of policy inaction. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Smarty pants: Robot trousers could keep the elderly mobile

  12-09-2018 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Artificial muscles could assist mobility as people age.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Gove’s farming shake-up is a missed opportunity for health and harmony | Catherine Broomfield

  12-09-2018 17:07 via theguardian.com
  We need to break the link between corporate interests and agriculture. Mixed, sustainable farming is the way forwardMichael Gove’s agriculture bill – the first such legislation since 1947 – is not before time. It sets out to replace the existing agriculture subsidy systems, based on direct payment for acres owned, to a system that links payments directly to farmers’ delivery of vital environmental outcomes. This has to be a move in the right direction for the environment,
  
  Read more

• Gove’s farming bill is more chaff than wheat | Catherine Broomfield

  12-09-2018 17:07 via theguardian.com
  We need to break the link between corporate interests and agriculture. Mixed, sustainable farming is the way forwardMichael Gove’s agriculture bill – the first such legislation since 1947 – is not before time. It sets out to replace the existing agriculture subsidy systems, based on direct payment for acres owned, to a system that links payments directly to farmers’ delivery of vital environmental outcomes. This has to be a move in the right direction for the environment,
  
  Read more

• Warming oceans are changing the world's rainfall | John Abraham

  12-09-2018 16:44 via theguardian.com
  A new study finds that warming in the Atlantic Ocean is changing rain patterns in the Amazon
  Global warming means truly global warming. The atmosphere, the oceans, and the ground are all warming. As a result, ice is melting, seas are rising, storms are getting more severe, and droughts are getting worse. But these things are not happening in isolation. The tricky thing about the climate is that things are connected all across the globe. And those connections are revealing changes that may not be
  
  Read more

• Lyft offsetting all its emissions as it pushes for 100% renewable energy

  12-09-2018 16:26
  Ridesharing firm Lyft has announced that it is a "fully carbon-neutral company", while also agreeing to meet its entire electricity demand through renewable sources.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Single use plastic bottles banned from half marathon in London

  12-09-2018 16:25 via theguardian.com
  Runners will not be able to refill bottles, with water distributed in pouches made from seaweed insteadThe capital’s first marathon event pledging to be completely free of “single use” plastic drinks bottles is to take place in north-west London.The Harrow half marathon on Sunday 16 September will be the first time that London has staged a single use plastic-free running event. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The strange science of melting ice sheets: three things you didn't know

  12-09-2018 16:14 via theguardian.com
  Melting ice sheets are a major cause of sea level rise, but they might not work in the way you expectGlobal average sea level is currently rising at a rate of about 3mm per year. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• High ice and hard truth: the poets taking on climate change

  12-09-2018 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Greenland poet Aka Niviana’s way of life is disappearing as her country thaws, while the subsequent meltwater threatens Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and her fellow Marshall Islanders thousands of miles away. Their joint trip to the melting glaciers inspired a climate call to armsHigh up on a melting Greenland glacier, at the end of this summer from climate hell,two young women shout a poem above the roar of the wind. Aka Niviana, grew up on the northern coast of Greenland; as its ice inexorably th
  
  Read more

• Hurricane Florence: North Carolina fears possible environmental disaster

  12-09-2018 15:53 via theguardian.com
  Waste from hog manure pits, coal ash dumps and other industrial sites could wash into homes and contaminate drinking waterHurricane Florence could cause an environmental disaster in North Carolina, where waste from hog manure pits, coal ash dumps and other industrial sites could wash into homes and threaten drinking water supplies.Preparations are also being made at half a dozen nuclear power plants that stand in the path of the 500-mile-wide hurricane, which is barreling toward the US east coas
  
  Read more

• 'Massive error': farmers say post-Brexit funding plan risks food scares

  12-09-2018 15:14 via theguardian.com
  Gove’s agriculture bill prioritises environmental issues over food production, says head of NFUFood production in the UK will be put at risk without government commitments to safeguard farmers after Brexit, and food scares could be the result, the head of the UK’s biggest farming organisation has warned as ministers announced the biggest shake-up to farming in decades.The agriculture bill was hailed by Michael Gove, environment minister, as a “historic moment” heralding a
  
  Read more

• JLR boss warns Brexit could 'destroy' company's electric vision

  12-09-2018 13:07
  Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) chief executive has issued a stark warning to Theresa May that a hard Brexit could cost his firm more than £1.2bn a year and "destroy" investment in electric vehicle (EV) production.
  
  Read more

• Iceland ditches plastic for pre-packed bananas

  12-09-2018 12:57
  Frozen food retailer Iceland is switching the packaging for its pre-packed bananas from plastic to a paper band that is 100% recyclable and made from recycled paper, in a move that will save 10 million plastic bags from being used by the company annually.
  
  Read more

• North Carolina didn't like science on sea levels … so passed a law against it

  12-09-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  In 2012, the state whose low-lying coast lies in the path of Hurricane Florence reacted to a prediction of catastrophically rising seas by banning policies based on such forecastsWhen North Carolina got bad news about what its coast could look like thanks to climate change, it chose to ignore it. Related: Hurricane Florence: over 1m ordered to evacuate in Virginia and CarolinasContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• EU climate law could cause 'catastrophic' deforestation

  12-09-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  World’s carbon sinks are at risk because the law will count energy from burning trees as carbon neutral, say climate scientists Senior climate scientists say that the world’s carbon sinks could be facing a grave threat from a wholly unexpected source: the EU’s renewable energy directive.The climate law could suck in as much imported wood as Europe harvests each year because it will count energy created from the burning of whole trees as “carbon neutral”, according t
  
  Read more

• Urgent greenhouse gas removal plan could see UK hit 'net zero' target - report

  12-09-2018 11:38
  Tree-planting, restoring wetlands and using chemicals to take carbon dioxide from the air will all be needed to reduce the UK's greenhouse gases in line with government plans, scientists have said.
  
  Read more

• SUEZ calls for extended producer responsibility system to spark 'waste revolution'

  12-09-2018 11:27
  Waste and resource management firm SUEZ has called on the UK Government to extend its existing Producer Responsibility Obligation (PRO) framework and raise the cost of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) to accelerate the shift to a circular economy.
  
  Read more

• Urgent greenhouse gas removal plan could see UK hit 'net zero' target - repor

  12-09-2018 11:26
  Tree-planting, restoring wetlands and using chemicals to take carbon dioxide from the air will all be needed to reduce the UK's greenhouse gases in line with government plans, scientists have said.
  
  Read more

• Pro-whaling nations block South Atlantic whale sanctuary

  12-09-2018 11:04 via theguardian.com
  Supporters of the new sanctuary say it would have addressed conservation issues beyond whaling, such as ship strikesA proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic was defeated at a meeting in Brazil of the International Whaling Commission, amid a clash between countries that think whales can be hunted sustainably and others that want more conservation measures.Pro-whaling nations, including Japan, Korea, Norway and Russia, argued the science didn’t support the case for a sanc
  
  Read more

• State and federal investigation launched into Adani's Carmichael water drilling

  12-09-2018 09:25 via theguardian.com
  Adani says bores at planned mine site were within its permits and were for monitoringThe Australian government will investigate allegations Adani has drilled illegal groundwater bores at its Carmichael mine site.Environment group Coast and Country has said it obtained aerial footage showing dewatering bores that were sunk without approval. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Public must tell Network Rail to stop tree felling, says charity

  12-09-2018 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The Woodland Trust is asking people to make their voices heard over rail company’s plans to cut down thousands of treesThe Woodland Trust is calling on the public to raise its voice over the management of the trees along Network Rail lines to stop thousands being cut down without good reason.Dr Nick Atkinson, senior conservation advisor for the trust, says the rail company must be held to account for the way it manages the millions of trees along its routes and that concerns had been raise
  
  Read more

• Urgent greenhouse gas removal plan could see UK hit 'net zero' target – report

  12-09-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Tree-planting, restoring wetlands and use of chemicals to remove CO2 from air needed, as well as cutting new emissions, say scientistsTree-planting, restoring wetlands and using chemicals to take carbon dioxide from the air will all be needed to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gases in line with government plans, scientists have said.If these measures are taken urgently, they could make enough of a contribution to make the UK “net zero” in terms of carbon emissions by 2050. However,
  
  Read more

• Climate change activists defy Trump’s inaction with their own summit

  12-09-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Leaders of US states, cities and businesses will convene in San Francisco to fight environment crisis, and rebuke Trump’s stanceSenior figures representing US states, cities and businesses rebelling against Donald Trump’s denial of climate change are swarming San Francisco this week to proclaim their own efforts to meet US commitments to cut greenhouse gases.The two-day Global Climate Action Summit beginning Thursday will also feature diplomats and mayors from around the world. As we
  
  Read more

• Climate change driving up malnutrition rates in Pacific, UN warns

  12-09-2018 06:35 via theguardian.com
  Climate-sensitive region the only in the world where rate of undernourishment has risen over the past 12 yearsClimate change is making people hungry – with nearly 100 million people across the world needing humanitarian food aid because of climate shocks last year – and a growing number of people are malnourished across the Pacific, a new United Nations report says.Last week, the Pacific Islands Forum stated formally that climate change represented the “single greatest threat t
  
  Read more

• Country diary: the hedgerows are transformed, as if by magic

  12-09-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: They are common, we are hedged in by them and yet the hawthorn has such a powerful link with imaginations of the pastSoft weather, sun and rain, cool and moody in the quiet byways: this is meteorological autumn and the hawthorns have gone through a metamorphosis; the lanes are full of bright red berries.Now it is no longer the “may tree” and the hermaphrodite sex magic of spring blossom has spent all summer creating fruit, these trees and bushes are lighting
  
  Read more

• 'Nature-based' greenhouse gas removal to limit UK climate change

  12-09-2018 01:49 via bbc.co.uk
  Millions of acres of trees and energy crops will be needed to help the UK become carbon neutral by 2050, say scientists
  
  Read more

• The secret life of fungi: Ten fascinating facts

  12-09-2018 01:48 via bbc.co.uk
  The first major assessment of the state of the fungi kingdom says they are vital for life on Earth.
  
  Read more

• New edible mushrooms among thousands of recently discovered fungi

  12-09-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Fungi are vital to life on Earth but little studied – new species of mould were found on baby-carrier backpack and an oil paintingNew species of porcini, chanterelle and portobello mushrooms were among 2,000 new species of fungi discovered in 2017, which scientists say shows how little is known about the organisms.More than £30bn of edible fungi are sold each year, according to the State of the World’s Fungi report published on Wednesday by scientists at the Royal Botanic Garde
  
  Read more

• Big farmers to see funding cut post-Brexit after Gove shakeup

  12-09-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Payments under EU’s CAP will be replaced by subsidies based on environmental protectionsThe UK’s biggest landowners will see the payments they receive from the public purse fall sharply from 2021 in what would be the biggest shake-up of farming for decades.From 2021, a new system rewarding farmers for the public goods they provide will be phased in until 2027 when the last payments based on the amount of land farmed will be made. In place of the £3bn a year farmers currently re
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!