Environment news

• Trump climate plan will break law by worsening pollution, states say

  31-10-2018 23:05 via theguardian.com
  Fourteen states oppose EPA’s effort to replace Obama measure and encourage more efficient coal plants
  Environmentally minded US states say the Trump administration’s biggest climate change rollback could increase pollution, violating federal law, according to a preview of how they will fight the federal government.The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to replace Barack Obama’s clean power plan, a rule that would have hastened the US shift away from electricity produced
  
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• Coal report says Australian exports have peaked and are in 'terminal long-term decline'

  31-10-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Report says high prices have pushed global energy markets more quickly towards cheaper and cleaner alternativesThe Australian coal export industry has peaked and entered a “terminal long-term decline”, says a new report that argues high prices have pushed global energy markets more quickly towards cheaper and cleaner alternatives.The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis report, which focuses on the outlook for the New South Wales coal industry, argues record export p
  
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• Five countries hold 70% of world's last wildernesses, map reveals

  31-10-2018 19:00 via theguardian.com
  First map of Earth’s intact ecosystems shows just five nations are responsible for most of them – but it will require global action to protect themJust five countries hold 70% of the world’s remaining untouched wilderness areas and urgent international action is needed to protect them, according to new research.Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have for the first time produced a global map that sets out which countrie
  
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• The Guardian view on Brazil’s new president: a global danger | Editorial

  31-10-2018 18:48 via theguardian.com
  The EU – and Britain – ought to act to save the planet from Jair Bolsonaro, whose policies will accelerate climate change, not curb itIt is depressing to think that for the first time since the return of democracy in 1985 Brazilians have elected a far-right president of the republic. Jair Bolsonaro, a seven-term lawmaker and former army captain, represents a clear and present danger not only to his country but to the planet. At home he has defended dictatorship and torture and joked
  
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• Kepler: Nasa's telescope that found new worlds has been retired

  31-10-2018 17:57 via bbc.co.uk
  Nasa's Kepler telescope, which has been looking for inhabitable worlds, has run out of fuel and will look no more.
  
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• 15 environmental protesters arrested at civil disobedience campaign in London

  31-10-2018 17:53 via theguardian.com
  More than 1,000 campaigners blocked roads around Parliament Square calling for action on the climate emergencyFifteen environmental protesters, who blocked the roads outside the Houses of Parliament in the first stage of an “escalating campaign of civil disobedience” have been arrested.More than 1,000 people from the newly formed Extinction Rebellion group issued a declaration of rebellion in London’s Parliament Square on Wednesday in an effort to draw attention to the unfoldin
  
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• Hawaii top court approves controversial Thirty Meter Telescope

  31-10-2018 16:55 via bbc.co.uk
  Construction had halted in 2015 amid protests from native Hawaiians who consider the land sacred.
  
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• World's longest DNA sequence decoded

  31-10-2018 16:47 via bbc.co.uk
  A team of UK scientists have claimed the record for decoding the world's longest DNA sequence.
  
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• Bolsonaro’s election is catastrophic news for Brazil’s indigenous tribes | Fiona Watson

  31-10-2018 15:25 via theguardian.com
  During his campaign, he pledged to take away their territory. His victory will embolden the brutal mining and logging gangsBrazil has just elected as its president a far-right nationalist with authoritarian tendencies and fascist inclinations. The country’s 900,000-strong indigenous people are among the many minority groups Jair Bolsonaro has frequently targeted with vitriolic hostility. “It’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry wasn’t as efficient as the Americans, who ex
  
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• Glasgow's major roads, railways and hospitals at risk from climate change – study

  31-10-2018 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Storms, flooding and heatwaves could severely impact the city by 2050, an in-depth study revealsVital roads, bridges, rail lines and hospitals in the Glasgow area are at significant risk of being damaged or closed by climate change, a major study has found.The study, thought to be the most in-depth carried out for any city region in the UK, said that by 2050 the area will be hit by far more powerful storms, by regular heatwaves and by heavy winter flooding, affecting up to 1.8 million
  
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• Plastics pacts, Mission Possible pledges and the Autumn Budget: Top 10 sustainability stories of October 2018

  31-10-2018 13:06
  As October comes to a close and we begin to dust off our old Halloween costumes, edie rounds up some of the top sustainability stories and standout pieces of content from the last 31 days - from new collaborative commitments to plastic and Mission Possible pledges to the green economy measures outlined in this year's Budget.
  
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• EDF Energy to install 1,500 V2G chargers across UK

  31-10-2018 13:06
  EDF Energy will deploy up to 1,500 Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) chargers across the UK which will help businesses generate revenue from electric vehicles (EVs) through energy storage and flexibility.
  
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• SC Johnson boss: Business collaboration on plastic 'just the tip of the iceberg'

  31-10-2018 12:14
  EXCLUSIVE: Consumer goods giant SC Johnson's boss has praised the ambition of the organisations to have pledged to create a "new normal" for plastic packaging under the newly-launched New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, while urging them to take action on plastics beyond their commitments.
  
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• Apple unveils 'greenest Mac ever'

  31-10-2018 12:11
  Apple has this week launched its latest MacBook product has been hailed as the 'greenest ever' by the tech giant.
  
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• Why I’m turning from law-maker to law-breaker to try to save the planet | Molly Scott Cato

  31-10-2018 12:07 via theguardian.com
  Direct action and civil disobedience is now needed to force governments to see that our survival as a species is at risk
  • Molly Scott Cato is Green party MEP for South West EnglandOn Wednesday I will join hundreds of others in Parliament Square to assert that we will not stand idly by in the face of climate breakdown and ecological crisis. We will affirm a commitment to engage in non-violent but illegal activities to try and force urgent action. Collectively we have signed a declaration to
  
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• Scotland's cities can unlock £1bn circular economy boon, says report

  31-10-2018 11:24
  First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scotland's largest cities to transform waste processes and operations to capture a £1bn economic growth opportunity highlighted by a new Zero Waste Scotland report, released today (31 October).
  
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• Just Eat expands trials of seaweed-based sauce sachets to replace single-use plastics

  31-10-2018 10:14
  Online food ordering firm Just Eat is expanding a trial of replacing single-use plastic sauce sachets with a seaweed-based alternative to 10 London restaurants for the next eight weeks.
  
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• Beijing's skyline: with and without air pollution – in pictures

  31-10-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Images from the Chinese capital show the city’s pollution levels rising in October 2018In 2012, more than 1 million people reportedly died from air pollution in China, according to the World Health Organization, with winter smog proving a particular problem in the country’s densely populated capital, Beijing. Continue reading...
  
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• Clean Energy Finance Corporation signals it may accelerate reinvestment

  31-10-2018 07:18 via theguardian.com
  Steven Skala flags potential asset recycling to ensure there is ‘no significant constraint’ on investment capacityThe Clean Energy Finance Corporation has signalled it may accelerate reinvestment in clean energy projects to help plug gaps in the market.In the CEFC’s annual report, tabled in federal parliament on Wednesday, the chairman of the organisation, the investment banker and company director Steven Skala, flagged potential asset recycling to ensure there is “no sig
  
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• 'It's a long fight': the communities devastated by Brazil's dam collapse – podcast

  31-10-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Three years after the country’s worst environmental disaster, in which 19 people died, Lucy Lamble hears how Letícia Oliveira is still campaigning for justice for the people affectedWhen Letícia Oliveira was growing up near Mariana in eastern Minas Gerais, the local economy revolved around mining. She had always been interested by the impact of dams on communities, and was at a meeting on the threats they pose when news broke that the Fundão dam had collapsed, unleashi
  
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• Electric food – the new sci-fi diet that could save our planet | George Monbiot

  31-10-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Growing food without plants or animals sounds like science fiction. But it could stop environmental destructionIt’s not about “them”, it’s about us. The horrific rate of biological annihilation reported this week – 60% of the Earth’s vertebrate wildlife gone since 1970 – is driven primarily by the food industry. Farming and fishing are the major causes of the collapse of both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Meat – consumed in greater quantities
  
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• Air-cleaning technology fitted at Marylebone Station

  31-10-2018 01:02
  BNP Paribas, Chiltern Railways and advertising firm JCDecaux have teamed up with Danish startup Airlabs to showcase cutting-edge air filter technology at London's Marylebone Station today (31 October).
  
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