Environment news

• How the next election determines our climate future – Australian politics live podcast

  01-11-2018 21:09 via theguardian.com
  Katharine Murphy talks to Kelly O’Shanassy, chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation, about why the next federal election will be a poll on climate change. Is the current environment ripe for winning hearts and minds on climate change? How can we transition Australia’s coal communities into a renewable future? And can we get it done before it’s too late?Continue reading...
  
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• 'It's a ghost page': EPA site's climate change section may be gone for good

  01-11-2018 20:32 via theguardian.com
  Material that said humans were warming the planet was taken down last year for an ‘update’
  More than a year after the US Environmental Protection Agency took down information on climate change from its website for an “update”, it now seems uncertain whether it will ever reappear.In April last year, the EPA replaced its online climate change section with a holding page that said the content was being updated to “reflect the agency’s new direction under Presiden
  
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• 'Precious little': Democrats lack robust climate change plan despite global crisis

  01-11-2018 19:26 via theguardian.com
  Party wary of wading into tough political fight on environment even though Democrats could retake House in midterms
  Democrats don’t have a plan to address climate change comprehensively – or even to a significant degree – if they regain control of the US government in the near future, despite criticizing Republicans as the party of pollution.After failing to get conservatives on board to limit planet-warming gases through legislation or regulation, Democratic leaders in Washing
  
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• The Guardian view on vegans: a dietary challenge | Editorial

  01-11-2018 19:24 via theguardian.com
  A huge reduction in meat-eating is called for. No wonder carnivores are feeling defensiveVeganism, once widely seen as an alternative, if not an extreme, lifestyle, is now in the mainstream. Exactly how many people in the UK have eliminated animal products including dairy and honey from their diets is uncertain. One recent survey suggested there could be as many as 3.5 million vegans in the UK. The Vegan Society offers the much lower figure of 600,000 vegans, which still represents a fourfold in
  
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• Electric food – magic bullet or magical thinking? | Letters

  01-11-2018 19:17 via theguardian.com
  Readers are divided over whether food made using electricity can ease the ecological burden the world population places on our planetGeorge Monbiot makes a strong case for how our ecosystem might survive (Electric food – the new sci-fi diet that could save our planet, 31 October). He thinks it is imperative that we eliminate meat in favour of plant-based agriculture. He also wants us to explore the possibility of using electricity instead of photosynthesis to convert sunlight into food. Si
  
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• Hornets, billionaires and other ‘migrants’ | Brief letters

  01-11-2018 19:15 via theguardian.com
  Hornets | Migrants | US immigrants | Viktor Orbàn | DishwashersMark Cocker (Country diary, 30 October) enthusiastically describes European hornets mingling with other insects. I hope he is aware of the recent invasion into this country from Europe of the very similar, but slightly smaller Asian hornet. This dangerous insect, originally from China and becoming common in France, kills other insects and predates on honeybees. It has destroyed many colonies in France and is a threat to our na
  
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• Researchers: CCS key for zero-emission cement

  01-11-2018 17:04
  The construction sector can cut polluting emissions up to 80% by applying efficiency measures along the whole value chain, according to new research. If combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, emissions could even be brought down to zero by 2050, they argue.
  
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• Campaign set up to oppose spaceport in Sutherland

  01-11-2018 16:39 via bbc.co.uk
  Some crofters have concerns about the impact the site would have on the environment and their rights.
  
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• 'More and more' Tories turning against fracking, says MP

  01-11-2018 14:49 via theguardian.com
  Lee Rowley says many colleagues have concerns as opposition builds to loosening of planning rulesA growing number of Tory MPs are turning against fracking, according to one MP with a drilling site in his constituency.Lee Rowley, who chairs the new all-party parliamentary group looking into the impact of shale gas, told the Guardian he was seeing increasing numbers of colleagues with worries about hydraulic fracturing. Continue reading...
  
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• DNA project to decode 'all complex life' on Earth

  01-11-2018 13:33 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists set out to read the DNA of 1.5 million species, starting a "new chapter in biology".
  
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• Soyuz rocket: 'Faulty sensor' led to launch failure

  01-11-2018 13:23 via bbc.co.uk
  Russian officials have been looking into why the rocket’s booster malfunctioned during a launch last month.
  
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• Coral: Palau to ban sunscreen products to protect reefs

  01-11-2018 13:04 via bbc.co.uk
  The Pacific island nation becomes the first country to impose a widespread ban on sunscreen products.
  
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• 'We feel like hermit crabs': Myanmar's climate dispossessed

  01-11-2018 12:31 via theguardian.com
  In the coastal town of Khindan, the catastrophic effect of rising sea levels is all too apparentOn a stiflingly hot morning, Daw Mya Htay rolls up her longyi, a Burmese sarong, ready to wade into the sea.“The well used to be the centre of our village,” Mya Htay says, grasping the side of a cement water well. But it no longer holds fresh water. Continue reading...
  
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• Glasgow unveils ambition to become Scotland's first 'circular city'

  01-11-2018 11:07
  Glasgow City Council has this week outlined a plan to become Scotland's first "circular city", by reducing its domestic and commercial waste footprint and implementing measures to encourage reuse and recycling.
  
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• Minor earthquakes emerge as major threat to UK fracking

  01-11-2018 10:57 via theguardian.com
  Protests and court cases have failed but the government’s rules on tremors could wreck shale gas economicsProtests, legal challenges and planning rejections have failed to stop the return of fracking in Britain, but the government’s regulations on earthquakes are fast emerging as the biggest threat to the nascent shale gas industry.The energy company Cuadrilla has been forced to stop work twice in four days – on Friday last week and on Monday – due to minor earthquakes oc
  
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• No legal barriers to cross-border electricity trading in no-deal Brexit scenario

  01-11-2018 09:34
  National Grid has given assurances there will be no legal barriers to continued cross-border electricity trading in the case of a no-deal Brexit.
  
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• Perfume giant Firmenich unveils approved science-based targets

  01-11-2018 08:28
  Perfume company Firmenich has had a goal to reduce Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 39% approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
  
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• Who belongs in the Everyday Cycling Hall of Fame?

  01-11-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  As a new road cycling pantheon is launched, we ask who should be honoured for their efforts to promote cycling for all. Add your suggestions in the comments and we’ll select some of the best in a future postThe world of mountain biking has had a hall of fame since 1988. Road cycling has a few of them, including a UK-centric one from British Cycling – and now a new international one from Rouleur magazine launching on Thursday. But, to the best of my knowledge, transportation cycling h
  
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• Whale watching

  01-11-2018 07:04 via bbc.co.uk
  UK scientists demonstrate the practicality of identifying and counting whales from orbit.
  
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• Energy minister Angus Taylor to meet electricity CEOs and demand ‘fairer deal’

  01-11-2018 07:02 via theguardian.com
  More than 30 CEOS invited to talks as Coalition intent on regulatory changesThe energy minister, Angus Taylor, will meet chief executives of Australia’s major power companies in Sydney next week as part of the Morrison government’s ongoing jawboning exercise to bring power prices down before voters go to the polls.More than 30 chief executives have been invited to attend the talks next Wednesday, with the government intent on regulatory changes such as introducing a default market of
  
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• Tiny frog takes giant leap for the world's endangered species

  01-11-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Humans have proven adept at wiping out vast numbers of animals. Can we atone by saving species through captivity breeding?When 200 captive-bred frogs were set free in an ancestral swampland in South Africa recently, their simple homecoming ceremony gave scientists several reasons to cheer loudly.The tiny Pickersgill’s reed frogs – each the size of an adult thumbnail – were making history of a kind, by hopping one step further away from the abyss of extinction. Continue reading.
  
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• Democrats have no broad climate plan even as they prepare to win the House

  01-11-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The party is wary of wading into a tough political fight, despite an intensifying environmental crisis
  Democrats don’t have a plan to address climate change comprehensively – or even to a significant degree – if they regain control of the US government in the near future, despite criticizing Republicans as the party of pollution.After failing to get conservatives on board to limit planet-warming gases through legislation or regulation, Democratic leaders in Washington are now w
  
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• Climate change: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

  01-11-2018 01:32 via bbc.co.uk
  The Earth is far more sensitive to fossil fuel emissions than previously thought, a study says.
  
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• Big thaw

  01-11-2018 01:26 via bbc.co.uk
  Melting Arctic sea ice may be about to open up the Northwest Passage to cargo shipping.
  
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• Government snubs MPs' calls for mandatory climate-risk reporting

  01-11-2018 01:01
  Ministers have rejected recommendations from MPs to introduce mandatory climate-related financial disclosures for large firms and asset owners.
  
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