Environment news

• Carmichael project: Visiting Australia's controversial Adani mine

  29-11-2018 23:04 via bbc.co.uk
  The BBC's Vineet Khare visited the controversial Carmichael project by Indian energy giant Adani.
  
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• Why rising seas will force coastal residents to move – or spend

  29-11-2018 20:30
  In the fourth part of our series looking at the climate report Trump tried to bury over Thanksgiving, we examine how sea-level rise will reshape the populationPart 1: how air pollution kills
  Part 2: why some pollution action is far better than nonePart 3: why water will be the next battleground The Trump administration published a major report on climate change the day after Thanksgiving. We will explore the key findings each day this week.Donald Trump doesn’t believe his own government&rs
  
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• Scientists discover spider species that feeds its young milk

  29-11-2018 20:00
  Spider milk containing four times the protein of cow’s milk is secreted by mothers, scientists in China findThe ability of mothers to produce milk for their babies is commonly considered a unique feature of mammals, but now scientists have discovered a species of spider that also nurses its young.Spider mothers were observed feeding a milk-like substance to their spiderlings and continuing to look after them almost into adulthood. Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change: Can 12 billion tonnes of carbon be sucked from the air?

  29-11-2018 19:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Is it remotely feasible to remove 12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air?
  
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• Tokyo Olympics venues ‘built with wood from threatened rainforests’

  29-11-2018 18:36
  Use of tropical plywood from Malaysia and Indonesia risks destruction of orangutan habitat, say NGOsWood from threatened south-east Asian rainforests has been used to build venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, according to complaints filed with organisers.At least 134,000 large sheets of tropical plywood from Malaysia and Indonesia have been used as concrete moulds to build stadiums, causing what campaigners say is irreversible harm to precious biodiversity reserves. Continue reading...
  
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• Stunning aerial images of Western Australia's salt lakes – in pictures

  29-11-2018 18:00
  Leah Kennedy is an artist and photographer based in Perth who has spent the past year taking aerial photos for a series called Salis. ‘Salis is latin for salt,’ she says. ‘There is a duality to salt it has both negative and positive connotations.’ The abstract beauty of the images is in stark contrast to the huge environmental problems that salinisation causes. More images from the Salis body of work can be found here
  • Look after the soil, save the Earth: farming in
  
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• Queensland flying fox species decimated by record heatwave

  29-11-2018 18:00
  ‘As far as we know, [the spectacled flying fox] has never suffered heat deaths before,’ ecologist saysThousands of threatened flying foxes have dropped dead due to heat stress brought on by extreme temperatures in far north Queensland this week.Conservationists and wildlife volunteers estimate more than 4,000 have perished this week during the record heatwave, which has seen temperatures in Cairns reach all-time highs of 42.6C. Continue reading...
  
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• A way to combat noisy phone users | Brief letters

  29-11-2018 17:40
  Democracies | Swallowing objects | Phone monsters | Pollution | Steve BellAung San Suu Kyi’s fall from grace tells us something about ourselves. We fetishise democracy. This is folly. All too often, democracies have resorted to rendition, torture, cyberwarfare, assassination, terrorism and war. We’ve got to start practising what we preach.
  Yugo Kovach
  Winterborne Houghton, Dorset• Your letters about swallowing Lego (29 November) reminded me of a true story of nearly 80 years ago
  
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• China urged to lead way in efforts to save life on Earth

  29-11-2018 16:13
  Delegates at UN biodiversity conference turn to Beijing to avoid point of no returnChina must play a leading role if the world is to draw up a new and more effective strategy to halt the collapse of life on Earth, according to senior delegates at the close of this week’s UN biodiversity conference.With the US absent, Europe distracted and Brazil tilting away from global cooperation, the onus has shifted towards Beijing, the diplomats said after two weeks of slow-moving talks on how to main
  
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• Past four years hottest on record, data shows

  29-11-2018 12:10
  World running out of time to combat climate change, warns meteorological organisationGlobal temperatures have continued to rise in the past 10 months, with 2018 expected to be the fourth warmest year on record.Average temperatures around the world so far this year were nearly 1C (33.8F) above pre-industrial levels. Extreme weather has affected all continents, while the melting of sea ice and glaciers and rises in sea levels continue. The past four years have been the hottest on record, and the 2
  
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• What's Trump hiding in the climate report? That global warming’s effects are here | Ken Kimmell and Brenda Ekwurzel

  29-11-2018 12:00
  The administration tried to bury the assessment, but as residents flee wildfires and wade through flooded streets, let’s hope decision-makers get the messageTalk about cognitive dissonance. Just two days before 13 federal agencies released a report laying out the devastating human and economic toll that climate change already is taking in the United States, Donald Trump tweeted: “Whatever happened to global warming?” The tweet was based on a spurt of cold weather in the north-e
  
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• CDSB: European corporates failing to track climate change impacts

  29-11-2018 11:40
  Less than half (44%) of European corporates are currently tracking how climate challenges will affect their business models in the future or disclosing the full extent of their environmental impacts.
  
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• CDP: European corporates failing to track climate change impacts

  29-11-2018 11:40
  Less than half (44%) of European corporates are currently tracking how climate challenges will affect their business models in the future or disclosing the full extent of their environmental impacts.
  
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• Paul Polman to step down as Unilever chief executive

  29-11-2018 11:07
  Unilever's chief executive Paul Polman, who has been synonymous with corporate sustainability leadership over the last decade, will retire from the consumer goods giant at the end of 2018.
  
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• Climate change: Last four years are 'world's hottest'

  29-11-2018 11:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Twenty of the warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years, say the World Meteorological Organization.
  
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• BT 'within touching distance' of 100% renewables target

  29-11-2018 10:56
  Telecoms giant BT has posted an update on its progress towards sourcing 100% renewable electricity by 2020, after signing two new clean power deals.
  
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• Big-name businesses collaborate to form task group for net-zero buildings

  29-11-2018 10:45
  A number of the biggest companies within the UK's built environment sector, including JLL, Landsec and Wilmott Dixon, have jointly formed a new task group aimed at creating an industry-led framework for net-zero buildings.
  
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• New EU plan comes out fighting for 'climate neutrality' by 2050

  29-11-2018 10:11
  The European Commission has unveiled its much-anticipated plan for a "climate-neutral Europe" on Wednesday (28 November), in an effort to show EU countries how to stick to the goals of the Paris Agreement and endorse a shared long-term strategy.
  
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• Berta Cáceres murder trial plagued by allegations of cover-ups set to end

  29-11-2018 08:00
  Verdict against eight men accused in the murder of Honduran indigenous environmentalist will be handed down on ThursdayThe verdict against eight men accused over the murder of Honduran indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres will be handed down on Thursday after a controversial five-week trial plagued by allegations of negligence and cover-ups.Cáceres – who won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize – was shot dead in March 2016, after a long battle against the internat
  
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• Boa constrictor on the loose in Lincolnshire

  29-11-2018 07:27
  Police have warned people not to approach the snake, which escaped from its owner’s home in BostonA boa constrictor has been reported missing from a house in Lincolnshire.Police have warned the public not to approach the snake, which has a white tail and grey, black and brown spots. Continue reading...
  
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• Great British Beach Clean attracts record number of volunteers

  29-11-2018 07:01
  Charity warns against complacency as levels of plastic remain ‘shocking’Record numbers of volunteers turned out this year to help clear litter from the UK’s beaches, in the 25th annual Great British Beach Clean.But the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), which organises the event, warned there were still shocking amounts of plastic litter on UK beaches, despite a 16% decrease compared with last year. It said the average of 16 glass and plastic bottles and drinks cans retrieved o
  
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• Stella McCartney to launch UN charter for sustainable fashion

  29-11-2018 07:00
  Designer aiming to make business case for why brands should tackle climate changeStella McCartney is to announce a United Nations fashion industry charter for climate action, which will be launched at next month’s climate talks in Poland.The designer hopes the charter will “ring some alarm bells” while making a business case for sustainable fashion, setting out a path for collective action to enable low-carbon production methods to be scaled up, improving economic viability. Ot
  
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• Adani to begin work 'immediately' on self-financed mine, but hurdles remain

  29-11-2018 06:21
  Despite announcement construction is to begin within weeks, Guardian Australia has confirmed regulatory approvals are still needed The Indian mining giant Adani has announced it will self-finance its controversial Queensland coal mine project and says major works are due to start “imminently”.Adani has made a string of announcements in recent months that indicated the company would scale back its mine, rail and port plans plans, having been unable to find an outside investor. Continu
  
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• Climate change: 'It is a global issue we are all failing'

  29-11-2018 05:22 via bbc.co.uk
  UN chief Antonio Guterres warns the rise of nationalism is hurting efforts to tackle global warming.
  
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• The Romanian forest that's disappearing

  29-11-2018 03:28 via bbc.co.uk
  Why one of Europe's last great beech forests is facing the chop.
  
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• Australia's summer outlook: soaring temperatures and bushfire risk

  29-11-2018 03:19
  Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) forecast for the season warns an El Niño could bring dangerous, dry conditionsSummer temperatures are forecast to soar above their usual average, while the chances of more bushfires and an El Niño developing are on the rise.The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest outlook for summer warns that most of Australia has an 80% chance of higher-than-normal temperatures between December and February. Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change already a health emergency, say experts

  29-11-2018 00:30
  Deadly heatwaves and spread of diseases affect people’s health today – reportPeople’s health is being damaged today by climate change through effects ranging from deadly heatwaves in Europe to rising dengue fever in the tropics, according to a report.Billions of hours of farmwork has been lost during high temperatures and global warming has damaged the ability to grow crops, it said. Continue reading...
  
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