Environment news

• Corbyn vows to end 'greed-is-good' capitalism in UK

  25-09-2018 23:30
  In conference speech Labour leader to lay out plans to change direction of economyJeremy Corbyn will on Wednesday attack the “greed-is-good” capitalism that he claims has resulted in large swaths of the UK being left behind, promising a raft of new policies including a “green jobs revolution” that will create 400,000 new positions.The Labour leader will attempt to reset the theme of the Labour conference which has so far been dominated by deep divisions over its Brexit st
  
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• Specieswatch: basking sharks still a mystery despite being largest fish in British waters

  25-09-2018 22:30
  More research is needed to help conserve the poorly-understood basking sharkSurprisingly little is known about the largest fish in British waters, the basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus; for example, where does it go in winter? Even its name is misleading. When this 10-metre (33ft) giant is on the surface, it is not sunbathing but swimming gently along with its metre-wide mouth open, filtering tons of water to harvest the plankton.These sharks used to be hunted for their large oil-filled livers,
  
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• Inside Unilever's plastics packaging strategy

  25-09-2018 21:13
  EXCLUSIVE: Unilever's chief R&D officer David Blanchard has outlined the company's three-pillar approach to improving the recyclability of its product packaging, focusing on "less", "better" and "no plastics" solutions.
  
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• Celebrating World Green Building Week: Live edie webinar takes place TOMORROW

  25-09-2018 21:01
  Representatives from the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Landsec and EDF Energy will be discussing how businesses can make 'net-zero' buildings the new normal in a live edie webinar on Thursday (27 September).
  
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• Arlene Foster: Martin McGuinness knew of 'cash for ash' warnings

  25-09-2018 20:41
  DUP leader claims then deputy first minister was aware of concerns about energy scheme Arlene Foster, the Democratic Unionist party leader, has claimed Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness knew of warnings about a botched green energy scheme that cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds.A public inquiry into the “cash for ash” scandal heard evidence from Foster on Tuesday that she had told the late deputy first minister about a note from a whistleblower that claimed peo
  
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• Don’t ban dogs from nature reserves | Letters

  25-09-2018 19:31
  Conversation can be turned into conservation, says Phil Brown. Plus Rob Yorke on the need for honesty about trade-offs between land use and diet choicesChris Packham is wrong to propose banning dogs from nature reserves (Two hundred ways to save British wildlife, Opinion, 19 September). In fact, the enactment of such a measure would actually exacerbate the problem of dogs and nature by depriving the largest single group of green-space users in Britain, namely dog walkers, from access to countrys
  
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• Four anti-fracking activists face prison over protest

  25-09-2018 18:57
  Men who stopped lorries to become first campaigners to be jailed for a protest in UK since 1932Four anti-fracking activists face being the first environmental campaigners to be jailed for a protest in the UK since 1932.Simon Roscoe Blevins, 26, Richard Loizou, 31 and Richard Roberts, 36, were told by a judge to expect custodial sentences after being convicted of causing a public nuisance by a jury at Preston crown court in August. Another defendant, Julian Brock, 47, pleaded guilty so did not fa
  
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• Pret a Manger sued in US for labelling products containing pesticides as 'natural'

  25-09-2018 17:24
  Lawsuit argues that customers are being misled after tests found traces of glyphosate in bread productsTwo lawsuits have been filed against the sandwich company Pret a Manger in the US, claiming it deceptively labelled and marketed breads as “natural” when they contained glyphosate.The “false and misleading” practice suits come after it emerged that a teenager who was severely allergic to sesame died at London’s Heathrow airport in 2016, after eating an unlabelled P
  
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• Nations halt funding to UN environment programme as outcry over chief grows

  25-09-2018 16:50
  Two countries have frozen funding after a draft internal UN audit raised concerns over Erik Solheim’s frequent flying and expensesTwo countries have halted their funding to the UN Environment programme following sharp criticism of its leader’s frequent flying in a draft internal audit.The audit also said Erik Solheim, a former Norwegian environment minister, had “no regard for abiding by the set regulations and rules” and had claimed unjustified expenses. Now, Denmark and
  
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• Hong Kong restaurants take shark fin off the menu – in pictures

  25-09-2018 16:29
  Conservationists have welcomed the decision by Maxim’s, one of Hong Kong’s biggest restaurant chains, to ban shark fin at all of its outlets from January 2020 Continue reading...
  
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• Beluga whale sighted in Thames estuary off Gravesend

  25-09-2018 16:26
  Experts say animal may have been forced 1,000 miles south of its usual habitat by stormsA beluga whale has been sighted off Gravesend in the Thames estuary, more than 1,000 miles from its usual habitat in the Arctic.The ghostly white whale was videoed and photographed coming up for air on Tuesday lunchtime. Whale experts said the animal appeared lost but seemed to be swimming strongly. Continue reading...
  
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• Is being vegan better for the environment?

  25-09-2018 16:20 via bbc.co.uk
  An increasing number of people are choosing the plant-based diet.
  
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• Rising oil prices fuel fears of damage to global economy

  25-09-2018 14:06
  Experts warn emerging markets could suffer as crude prices hit four-year high of $82The global economy could be damaged if oil prices return to $100 (£76) a barrel, experts have warned, after crude prices hit a four-year high of $82.Some market watchers have predicted prices between $90 and $100 by the year’s end after Opec last weekend rebuffed Donald Trump’s demands for the oil cartel to rein in prices by expanding production. Continue reading...
  
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• Labour commits to 2050 net-zero emissions target

  25-09-2018 13:46
  Labour will commit itself to a net-zero target of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, as part of the Party's pledge to become "by far the greenest Government ever".
  
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• RE100 members outperforming peers on key financial indicators

  25-09-2018 13:39
  Companies committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity through the RE100 initiative are outperforming their peers in relation to net profit margins and earnings before tax, a new report from The Climate Group has found.
  
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• Vanishing Joshua trees: climate change will ravage US national parks, study says

  25-09-2018 12:00
  Park lands have warmed twice as fast as the rest of the countryAmerica’s national parks have warmed twice as fast as the US average and could see some of the worst effects of climate change, according to a new study.Most of Joshua Tree national park could become uninhabitable for its eponymous trees, glaciers will continue to melt away at Glacier national park, and many other of America’s most treasured beauty spots could be rendered virtually unrecognizable by climate change, Patric
  
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• Porsche ditches diesel as it gears up for an electric future

  25-09-2018 11:51
  Porsche has announced that it will cease to offer diesel versions of any of its vehicle models, citing a falling share in diesel sales and increased demand for hybrid and all-electric modes of transport.
  
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• Portugal shipwreck is 'discovery of a decade'

  25-09-2018 11:32 via bbc.co.uk
  A 400-year-old-shipwreck has been found off the coast of Portugal.
  
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• Scotland continues to beat rest of UK in reducing emissions

  25-09-2018 11:31
  Scotland is outperforming the rest of the UK on reducing greenhouse gas emissions but needs fresh measures to meet its own recently introduced targets, according to parliament's climate change watchdog.
  
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• Yellowstone grizzlies safe from hunting as judge returns them to protected list

  25-09-2018 10:00
  Ruling cancels indefinitely a controversial sport hunt of grizzlies in Wyoming and Idaho In a ruling hailed as historic for wildlife conservation in America, a US judge ordered Monday that the world-famous grizzly bears living in and around Yellowstone national park be returned to the endangered species list. The move means that a controversial sport hunt of grizzlies in Wyoming and Idaho – outside the boundaries of the park – will be canceled indefinitely, extending protections agai
  
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• What happens when you buy a house in a disaster zone – and no one told you?

  25-09-2018 10:00
  In many states, laws don’t require sellers to disclose that a property is in a flood or wildfire area, leaving homeowners with unexpected damage and lossesThe house on Weber Hill Road is almost a year gone, but it still haunts Emilie Hayes. Thirteen years ago, when she and her husband Steve bought the Missouri property in a foreclosure sale, Hayes vaguely knew that it was in a 100-year floodplain. But the purchase put her children in public schools ranked among the top in the state, and th
  
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• Red Hook: the hip New York enclave caught between gentrification and climate change

  25-09-2018 10:00
  Residents of the transforming Brooklyn neighborhood, a peninsula surrounded by water, saw a grim look at its future on the city’s floodplain after Hurricane Sandy in 2012
  The party at Bait & Tackle didn’t look like a funeral. The bar was packed with people double-fisting drinks and dancing. But every now and then you caught someone go quiet, stare at the ceiling, take a deep breath and sigh, eyes glimmering.“It’s a lot to take in,” said a woman to a friend stand
  
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• 14 days' jail for killing 406 wedge-tailed eagles 'inadequate', animal groups say

  25-09-2018 09:12
  Murray James Silvester plead guilty to poisoning eagles over two years at Victorian propertyAnimal welfare groups have criticised a two-week jail sentence imposed against a man who killed 406 wedge-tailed eagles in Victoria as too lenient.Farmhand Murray James Silvester was sentenced at Sale magistrates court on Monday after pleading guilty to poisoning the birds and hiding their carcases over two years while working at a property in Tubbut in East Gippsland. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: lost in wonder in the underwater jungle

  25-09-2018 06:30
  Baston Fen, Lincolnshire: The verdant bioabundance of the Counter Drain overwhelms my plant identification abilitiesThe width of a cricket pitch and 2km long, Baston Fen is a needle of grazing marsh along the southern side of the River Glen. This fragment is lost amid vast flat acres of arable land in the north-west of the fens. My expectations of a wildlife-rich experience are low, but surprises await.The ruler-straight Counter Drain running along the southern side of the reserve has crystal-cl
  
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• Australia's native species' future remains vulnerable, law council says

  25-09-2018 04:56
  Submission to Senate inquiry urges reforms to ensure international obligations to protect biodiversity are metThe Law Council of Australia is concerned Australia’s system of environment laws was failing to meet international obligations to protect its biodiversity.In a submission to the Senate inquiry into the high rate of fauna extinctions, the council’s environment and planning law committee has called for reforms to reverse the decline in native species. Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change kills Antarctica's ancient moss beds

  25-09-2018 02:32 via bbc.co.uk
  Climate change is killing Antarctic's mosses, hardy plants growing at the bottom of the planet for centuries.
  
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• Quiz: Test your knowledge of evolution

  25-09-2018 02:02 via bbc.co.uk
  There are many myths and misunderstandings about evolution - how much do you know?
  
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• UK business giants commit to 'world-first' Roadmap to halve food waste

  25-09-2018 02:01
  Some of the UK's largest supermarkets, hospitality firms and food and drink manufacturers have committed to a "world-first" initiative from WRAP to halve food waste by measuring and acting on wastage levels across a "farm-to-fork" approach.
  
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• India's solar power ambitions

  25-09-2018 01:09 via bbc.co.uk
  India has big solar ambitions, but could recent policy uncertainties cast a shadow on its plans?
  
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• UK grocers pledge to halve food waste from 'farm to fork' by 2030

  25-09-2018 01:01
  Roadmap outlines steps firms must take to reduce waste at every stage of supply chainLarge supermarkets and manufacturers are signing up to efforts to drive down the UK’s annual £20bn food waste bill by committing to halving waste from “farm to fork” by 2030.A roadmap being published on Tuesday by the government’s waste reduction body, Wrap, and the food and grocery charity IGD sets a series of milestones for businesses to reduce waste at every stage of the supply c
  
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