Environment news

• Pollutionwatch: a smog warning from 1948

  22-11-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  70 years ago a six-day fog enveloped London, but its message did not hit homeAir pollution history is littered with early warnings that were not heeded. November 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of one of these. On Friday 26 November 1948, a dense fog developed in London. It lasted six days. Football matches were cancelled and transport disrupted. Traffic convoys were formed to follow trams, each guided by a conductor with a torch. Initially, conductors walked alongside buses but this became impo
  
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• Humans 'off the hook' for African mammal extinction

  22-11-2018 20:00 via bbc.co.uk
  New research disputes a theory that early humans helped wipe out many large mammals that once roamed Africa.
  
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• South African community wins court battle over mining rights

  22-11-2018 18:53 via theguardian.com
  High court orders government to get prior community consent before granting mining rights in PondolandEnvironmental activists in South Africa have won a landmark legal victory after the high court ordered the government to get prior community consent before granting mining rights.The judgment represents a major victory for campaigners in Xolobeni, a community in Pondoland, who have been involved in a protracted and sometimes violent struggle against a proposed titanium mine. Continue reading...
  
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• Woodside applies to build big-polluting LNG plant – with no emissions plan

  22-11-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Western Australian Browse project could emit more than 200m tonnes of CO2Oil and gas giant Woodside Petroleum has applied for environmental approval to build one of Australia’s biggest emitting industrial developments – a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant 425km north of Broome – without a plan to reduce or offset its greenhouse gas pollution.Documents submitted to the federal government for the long-mooted $28bn Browse LNG project show the offshore part of the development alone
  
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• ‘Everyone wants employment’: Morwell waits for 'white knight' in divided election

  22-11-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Locals say jobs are their priority in the Victoria election: but does the town’s future lie in renewables or its coal-fired heyday?When Andy McCarthy moved to the Latrobe Valley to start a solar power business eight years ago, he was tentative about what he said about renewable energy. Even the idea of renewables was threatening for many locals, an emotional topic for a region dependent on coal for generations. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Immoral': groups fight National Trust's wild boar cull

  22-11-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Animal activists say Stourhead cull is misguided, with only one recent boar injury in the UKSix animal rights groups have strongly criticised plans by the National Trust to cull wild boar on one of its most renowned estates as “misguided and immoral”.The groups, which include Animal Aid and Born Free, have written to the chair of the National Trust, Tim Parker, asking him to halt the cull at Stourhead in Wiltshire. Continue reading...
  
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• Scottish Courts to trial gamification in staff behaviour change scheme

  22-11-2018 16:36
  The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has partnered with facilities management provider Atalian Servest to trial a six-month behaviour change pilot aimed at reducing environmental impacts and boosting employee wellbeing.
  
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• Taking place next week: edie's stakeholder engagement masterclass

  22-11-2018 15:30
  Sustainability professionals seeking to develop the skills needed to understand and engage with a range of stakeholders to optimise approaches to sustainability have less than one week left to register for a free, online masterclass taking place on Wednesday 28 November.
  
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• Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

  22-11-2018 14:38 via bbc.co.uk
  The ritual burial could be linked to a huge previously undiscovered Iron Age settlement.
  
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• 'We can't get arrested quick enough': life inside Extinction Rebellion - video

  22-11-2018 13:36 via theguardian.com
  The inside story of Extinction Rebellion, the direct action group that paralysed central London to protest against what it see as the government's inaction on climate change. After a week of protests, Extinction Rebellion blocked five bridges over the Thames, and police made 82 arrests. This is how it happened, and why it’s going to happen again. Continue reading...
  
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• Good to Earth: the Lavazza 2019 calendar – in pictures

  22-11-2018 13:36 via theguardian.com
  Photographer Ami Vitale’s images of six nature art installations around the world aim to spread good news about efforts to protect the environment Continue reading...
  
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• South Korea closes dog slaughterhouse amid activist pressure

  22-11-2018 12:24 via theguardian.com
  Animal rights groups hope closure of complex will lead to ban on dog meat consumptionSouth Korean officials have begun dismantling the country’s largest canine slaughterhouse complex, as animal rights activists push to end the custom of eating dog meat.About 1 million dogs are eaten each year in South Korea, often as a summertime delicacy. The greasy red meat is believed to increase energy. Continue reading...
  
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• Swap gas boilers for hydrogen or miss emission targets, UK told

  22-11-2018 12:17 via theguardian.com
  Households need electric and hydrogen hybrid boilers sooner rather than later, climate advisers warnMillions of gas boilers will need to be replaced with hydrogen alternatives and coupled with electric heating devices if Britain is to hit its carbon targets at the lowest cost, according to the government’s climate advisers.In a report on the role hydrogen could play in the energy system, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) spelt out the huge but necessary cost the country faces to switch
  
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• 'He's like Al Capone': turkey on the loose ruffles feathers in Rhode Island town

  22-11-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Officials captured two of three birds that took up residence in Johnston – but one is wreaking havoc on the once-quiet townAt the beginning, the turkey was a mere curiosity.It had arrived in the town of Johnston, Rhode Island, in May, along with two other birds, and taken up residence outside town hall. Continue reading...
  
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• Major businesses call for cost-effective European market for renewables

  22-11-2018 11:51
  A host of major businesses have penned a declaration calling on governments to set enabling policies that incentivise and increases opportunities to source renewable electricity through onsite installations and power purchase agreements (PPAs).
  
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• CCC boss Chris Stark: Now is the time to kick-start a hydrogen revolution

  22-11-2018 11:41
  EXCLUSIVE: The publication of new scientific research into hydrogen - compounded by falling technology costs - has set the UK's business and policy spheres up for a "hydrogen revolution", the Committee on Climate Change's (CCC) chief executive Chris Stark has claimed.
  
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• TODAY AT 1PM: Sustainable manufacturing webinar featuring Mondelēz & Quorn Foods

  22-11-2018 11:34
  Sustainability and energy representatives from Mondelēz International and Quorn Foods are among the speaker line-up for edie's live one-hour webinar on 22 November, which will explore the challenges and opportunities facing low-carbon, resource-efficient manufacturing.
  
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• Climate change: Warming gas concentrations at new record high

  22-11-2018 10:43 via bbc.co.uk
  The gases that are driving up temperatures reached a new high in 2017 with no sign of a reversal in the trend.
  
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• Report: Tyres and synthetic clothes 'big cause of microplastic pollution'

  22-11-2018 10:10
  Vehicle tyres and synthetic clothing are the two leading contributors to microplastic pollution from UK households, according to a new report from Friends of the Earth.
  
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• Climate-heating greenhouse gases at record levels, says UN

  22-11-2018 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are far above pre-industrial levelsThe main greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change have all reached record levels, the UN’s meteorology experts have reported.Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are now far above pre-industrial levels, with no sign of a reversal of the upward trend, a World Meteorological Organization report says. Continue reading...
  
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• California wildfires: smoke spreads to New York, 3,000 miles away

  22-11-2018 08:37 via theguardian.com
  Haze envelopes Washington DC and other east coast citiesArnold Schwarzenegger visits firefighters in CaliforniaThe US east coast has been provided a firsthand reminder of the deadly California wildfires after smoke swept across the country and caused a haze to envelop the eastern seaboard, including Washington DC and New York City.Hazy skies were reported in several places on the east coast from smoke wafting from 3,000 miles further west, where wildfires in California have killed more than 80 p
  
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• Bill Shorten chooses to be the grown-up on energy as Coalition's toddlers have a tantrum

  22-11-2018 08:18 via theguardian.com
  Scott Morrison and his offsiders are competing for the title of biggest numpty as Labor offers sensible solutionsOn climate and energy policy, Labor never learns from its mistakes, Scott Morrison told us on Thursday, apparently limbering up for another heart-warming election season of who can be the biggest numpty.The prime minister is wrong about that. The evidence tells us Labor does learn from its mistakes, and in climate and energy the ALP have become shape shifters in order to keep doggedly
  
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• US trade deal would flood Britain with 'cheap, inhumanely produced' bacon

  22-11-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Trade deal would open door to meat containing banned growth promoters, from pigs kept in conditions banned in UK, industry leaders warnThe US meat lobby is “salivating” at the prospect of flooding the UK with bacon and pork produced using practices that are currently illegal in the UK, a top food expert has warned.Gestation crates and the chemical growth hormone ractopamine – both banned in the UK – are regularly used in the US pig industry, which achieves the lowest cost
  
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• Growth hormones and gestation crates: the bacon we'll buy with a US trade deal

  22-11-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Trade deal would open door to meat containing banned growth promoters, from pigs kept in conditions banned in UK, industry leaders warnThe US meat lobby is “salivating” at the prospect of flooding the UK with bacon and pork produced using practices that would currently be illegal in the UK, a top food expert has warned.Gestation crates and the chemical growth hormone ractopamine – both banned in the UK – are regularly used in the US pig industry, which achieves the lowest
  
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• Tyres and synthetic clothes 'big cause of microplastic pollution'

  22-11-2018 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Up to 32,000 tonnes of microplastics enter British waterways each year, says Friends of the EarthVehicle tyres and synthetic clothing are the two leading contributors to microplastic pollution from UK households, according to a new report from Friends of the Earth.The report estimates that between 9,000 and 32,000 tonnes of microplastic pollution enter British waterways each year from just four sources. The two leading sources are tyre abrasion, with between 7,000 and 19,000 tonnes entering surf
  
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• Country diary: red kites shoot the breeze

  22-11-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Sandy, Bedfordshire: I see it micro-steering with its fingertips, the outermost primary feathers making constant tiny adjustmentsThough starlings are our reliable neighbourhood watch, they sound no alarms and make no fuss when the kites come. Those birds of prey are clearly guilty of hanging around, yet the sky police fail to send out distress flares of shrieking individuals to send the intruders flapping, as they would for a sparrowhawk. The starling flock keeps to its beat from A to B, no dist
  
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• NSW dust storm: spike in reports of breathing difficulties as 'hazardous' front descends on Sydney

  22-11-2018 06:03 via theguardian.com
  City’s skyline changes colour as line of dust more than 500km long sweeps eastA thick line of dust that has smothered much of New South Wales and Sydney has caused air quality to reach a “hazardous” level with another wave of dust set to come, leading to a spike in calls for help from people with breathing difficulties.Strong winds from a low pressure system have whipped up masses of dirt across the drought-stricken state, which headed towards the coast on Thursday.Continue rea
  
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• Bill Shorten unveils $15bn energy plan to help tackle climate 'disaster'

  22-11-2018 05:51 via theguardian.com
  Labor leader says he will top up Clean Energy Finance Corporation and unveils $5bn fund to modernise infrastructureBill Shorten has unveiled a $15bn program for driving the transformation in Australia’s energy system to low-emissions sources, declaring climate change is no longer an emergency, “it’s a disaster”.The Labor leader unveiled the energy policy reboot on Thursday, repeating an invitation for the Coalition to embrace the national energy guarantee it ditched durin
  
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• High risk

  22-11-2018 02:55 via bbc.co.uk
  Our reliance on technology means a violent storm on the Sun could have serious effects.
  
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• Climate change: Prince launches 'waste to wealth' summit

  22-11-2018 02:33 via bbc.co.uk
  A summit in London will aim to look at neglected forms of waste - including duvets.
  
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• Climate change: How your duvet can help the environment

  22-11-2018 02:33 via bbc.co.uk
  A summit in London will aim to look at neglected forms of waste - including duvets.
  
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• NSW dust storm: health warning as front descends on Sydney

  22-11-2018 01:18 via theguardian.com
  City’s skyline changes colour as line of dust more than 500km long sweeps eastSydney’s sky was beginning to change colour on Thursday morning as a thick line of dust stretching almost the entire length of New South Wales reached the city.Strong winds from a low pressure system whipped up masses of dirt across the drought-stricken state, which is steadily heading to the coast. Continue reading...
  
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• UK businesses target resource revolution through 'waste to wealth' commitment

  22-11-2018 01:01
  A group of more than 40 major businesses including Unilever, Sky, Iceland and PwC have signed a new "waste to wealth" commitment that aims to double the UK's resource productivity by 2030.
  
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• UK businesses target resource productivity through 'waste to wealth' commitment

  22-11-2018 01:01
  A group of more than 40 major businesses including Unilever, Sky, Iceland and PwC have signed a new "waste to wealth" commitment that aims to double the UK's resource productivity by 2030.
  
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• UK advised to look at hydrogen heating to hit 2050 emissions targets

  22-11-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Swapping gas boilers for mix of electric and hydrogen may also be cheapest way, says reportMillions of gas boilers will need to be replaced with hydrogen alternatives and coupled with electric heating devices if Britain is to hit its carbon targets at the lowest cost, according to the government’s climate advisers.In a report on the role hydrogen could play in the energy system, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) spelt out the huge but necessary cost the country faces to switch to green
  
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• Bamboo house: easy to build, sustainable Cubo wins top prize

  22-11-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Earl Forlales awarded £50,000 for trying to address chronic housing shortage in the PhilippinesThe creator of a house made of bamboo that can be put together in four hours to solve the chronic shortage of affordable accommodation in the Philippines has won a £50,000 top prize to develop cities for the future. Earl Forlales, 23, a graduate in material science engineering, took inspiration from the bamboo hut his grandparents lived in outside Manilla.Forlales was awarded first prize by
  
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