Environment news

• Florence sparks pollution fears after excrement-filled 'hog lagoons' overflow

  19-09-2018 18:15 via theguardian.com
  Pig waste pits and toxic coal ash pose threat to rivers and homes in North and South CarolinaAs residents in the Carolinas continued to deal with the fallout from Hurricane Florence, fears have grown over the storm’s longer-term pollution risks – from pig excrement and toxic coal ash potentially seeping into rivers and into people’s homes.Officials said 13 “hog lagoons” – pits filled with pig waste – had overflowed in North Carolina due to the storm, wit
  
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• UBS: UK investors 'more cautious' on sustainable finance than global peers

  19-09-2018 15:14
  A new report from UBS has found that UK investors have been more cautious to integrate sustainable financial products into their portfolios, largely due to the uncertainties of Brexit.
  
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• We can cut air pollution drastically right now. Here’s how | John Vidal

  19-09-2018 14:38 via theguardian.com
  Initiatives such as car-free days in major cities show that our toxic air can be cleaned, and make bolder action thinkableI write this from St Martin’s, one of the largest Scilly islands, where in five days spent among the 120-odd inhabitants I have seen only three moving cars, two tractors and a few boats. With 28 miles of Atlantic ocean in one direction between it and Cornwall, and just a few rocks before the US coastline in the other, St Martin’s has some of the cleanest air in th
  
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• Want to cut air pollution? Get rid of your car | John Vidal

  19-09-2018 14:38 via theguardian.com
  Governments must accept the stark fact that cars must be removed from the street altogetherI write this from St Martin’s, one of the largest of the Isles of Scilly, where in five days spent among its 120-odd inhabitants I have seen only three moving cars, two tractors and a few boats. With 28 miles of Atlantic ocean in one direction between it and Cornwall, and just a few rocks before the Canadian coastline in the other, St Martin’s has some of the cleanest air in the world. Related:
  
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• One year on: What has Mars' new $1bn sustainability strategy achieved so far?

  19-09-2018 14:08
  Food and drink giant Mars has revealed the progress it has made towards the aims of its new $1bn Sustainable in a Generation Strategy, which notably saw the company adopt science-based emissions targets last year.
  
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• How to cook the perfect French apple tart | Felicity Cloake

  19-09-2018 13:00 via theguardian.com
  A properly appley bake with just the right balance of gooeyness and crunch‘If you look closely,” wrote the late, lamented Lyonnais chef Paul Bocuse, “France is not hexagonal but round, like a tart” – proof that, if you’re a culinary genius, you can say just about anything and people will lap it up. Bocuse is right, however, that, despite its obviously polygonal shape, France is the home of perfect, and often perfectly round, tarts: even the meanest bakery seem
  
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• Crucial antibiotics still used on US farms despite public health fears

  19-09-2018 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Tests at meat packing plants show no reduction in drugs, a year after new rules to clamp down on overuseAntibiotics crucial to human medicine are still being used in “unacceptable” quantities on US livestock farms, despite rules brought in last year to curb their use and combat the spread of deadly superbugs.Tests on thousands of meat samples by the US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) show that powerful antibiotics classified as “critically important” to human he
  
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• Lord Deben: Businesses must avoid 'knee-jerk' plastic phase-outs

  19-09-2018 12:21
  Committee on Climate Change chairman Lord Deben has urged companies to avoid making "knee-jerk" decisions on plastics packaging, warning that "reactionary" choices to consumer demands could lead to unintended environmental consequences.
  
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• Asda installs Formula One technology to drive refrigeration energy savings

  19-09-2018 12:09
  Supermarket Asda will install technology inspired by Formula One racing across stores, in a move that could reduce refrigeration energy consumption by 17% while lowering carbon emissions.
  
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• Shell and Exxon's secret 1980s climate change warnings | Benjamin Franta

  19-09-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Newly found documents from the 1980s show that fossil fuel companies privately predicted the global damage that would be caused by their products.
  One day in 1961, an American economist named Daniel Ellsberg stumbled across a piece of paper with apocalyptic implications. Ellsberg, who was advising the US government on its secret nuclear war plans, had discovered a document that contained an official estimate of the death toll in a preemptive “first strike” on China and the Soviet Uni
  
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• Bipartisan inquiry recommends Australia ban domestic ivory trade

  19-09-2018 09:28 via theguardian.com
  Senator who kicked off inquiry says Australia contributes to rhinoceros and elephant poaching by providing a marketA bipartisan parliamentary committee has recommended a national ban on the domestic trade of elephant ivory and rhino horn.Australia’s environment minister, Melissa Price, is considering the recommendations from a Senate inquiry examining the trade before she attends an international wildlife trade conference in London next month. Continue reading...
  
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• Long hot summer means we should enjoy spectacular autumn colour

  19-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Plenty of sunshine is needed to bring out the intense reds and yellows from the leaves, and this year we’re set for a dazzling displayAutumn colour is perhaps the most striking of nature’s seasonal displays, but the vividness of the annual spectacle is largely dependent on good environmental conditions. This year, following a fine summer and with an Indian summer predicted, we look to be on course for a dazzling display that could trump recent years and extend well into November.Shor
  
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• Chris Packham launches People's Manifesto for Wildlife

  19-09-2018 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Initiative lays out practical steps we can all take to help halt destruction of species and habitats in BritainReplanting hedgerows, including birdboxes on all new-build homes, rewilding uplands and an end to seal culling: these are among demands of the People’s Manifesto for Wildlife, a new initiative aimed at halting the drastic decline in British wildlife.The manifesto has been drawn up by the naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham, with the aid of 17 independent experts and scientist
  
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• Microplastics can spread via flying insects, research shows

  19-09-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  ‘Shocking’ study reveals plastic contaminates our skies as well as the oceans, say scientistsMicroplastic can escape from polluted waters via flying insects, new research has revealed, contaminating new environments and threatening birds and other creatures that eat the insects.Scientists fed microplastics to mosquito larvae, which live in water, but found that the particles remained inside the animals as they transformed into flying adults. Other recent research found that half of t
  
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• Large blue butterfly enjoys best UK summer on record

  19-09-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Hot weather and conservation drive help once-extinct insect make dramatic comebackA previously extinct butterfly, the large blue, has enjoyed its best UK summer on record thanks to the lovely weather and a determined conservation effort on hills in the West Country of England.The large blue, a popular specimen among Victorian collectors, was declared extinct in Britain in the 1970s but has since made a dramatic comeback. Continue reading...
  
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• RemoveDebris: UK satellite nets 'space junk'

  19-09-2018 02:04 via bbc.co.uk
  A British satellite successfully deploys a net in orbit to demonstrate how to capture space debris.
  
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• Why do we hate wasps and love bees?

  19-09-2018 02:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Both are as ecologically useful, say scientists, and the same effort must be made to protect them.
  
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• One week left to register for edie's green buildings webinar

  19-09-2018 02:01
  Sustainability and energy representatives from the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Landsec and EDF Energy are all set to feature in a live edie webinar focused on green buildings, taking place 27 September.
  
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• The satellite that can clean up space rubbish from Earth's orbit

  19-09-2018 01:54 via bbc.co.uk
  It's part of a plan to clean up the millions of pieces of rubbish floating in Earth's orbit.
  
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• Tech giants fail to distance themselves from fight against new EU climate targets

  19-09-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Leaked document shows BusinessEurope group would oppose more ambitious goalsCompanies including Facebook, Google and Microsoft have failed to distance themselves from a lobby group’s proposal to fight any effort by the EU to set more ambitious climate change goals.A leaked document shows that BusinessEurope, Europe’s biggest business lobbying group, will urge members to oppose any moves by the European Commission to ratchet up the bloc’s 2030 targets for clean energy, carbon cu
  
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• Air pollution linked to much greater risk of dementia

  19-09-2018 00:30 via theguardian.com
  Risk in over-50s increases by 40% where highest nitrogen oxide levels exist, study showsAir pollution may increase the chance of developing dementia, a study has suggested, in fresh evidence that the health of people of all ages is at risk from breathing dirty air.People over 50 in areas with the highest levels of nitrogen oxide in the air showed a 40% greater risk of developing dementia than those with the least NOx pollution, according to the research, based on data from London. Continue readi
  
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