Environment news

• Coronavirus: Is there any evidence for lab release theory?

  16-04-2020 23:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News examines allegations that the coronavirus was accidentally released from a lab.
  
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• Climate change: US megadrought 'already under way'

  16-04-2020 20:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A drought as bad as any in recorded history may be under way in the US.
  
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• Scientists trial cloud brightening equipment to shade and cool Great Barrier Reef

  16-04-2020 19:30
  
  Exclusive: experiment uses a modified turbine to spray trillions of nano-sized salt crystals into the air from a bargeScientists have carried out a trial of prototype cloud brightening equipment on the Great Barrier Reef they hope could be scaled up to shade and cool corals and protect them from bleaching caused by rising global temperatures.The experiment used a modified turbine with 100 high-pressure nozzles to spray trillions of nano-sized ocean salt crystals into the air from the back of a b
  
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• Can cloud-brightening help save the Great Barrier Reef? Trials have begun – video

  16-04-2020 19:30
  
  Teams of Australian marine scientists have tested a technique they hope may give the Great Barrier Reef respite from coral bleaching caused by global heating. The experiment used a modified turbine with 100 high-pressure nozzles to spray trillions of nano-sized ocean salt crystals into the air from the back of a barge. The researchers hope the tiny salt crystals will mix with low-altitude clouds, making them brighter and reflecting more sunlight away from the ocean surface. Daniel Harrison of So
  
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• Farmers’ union ‘optimistic’ UK workers will rescue the harvest

  16-04-2020 19:15
  
  As farms struggle under Covid-19, NFU says furloughed workers keen to join paid ‘land army’ The leader of the UK’s biggest farming organisation is “optimistic” that British workers will come forward to rescue the harvest and keep the nation fed, instead of relying on flying in overseas workers.“A lot of signs are optimistic and we have really positive news,” said Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union. “We are hearing peopl
  
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• The Covid-19 pandemic shows we must transform the global food system | Jan Dutkiewicz, Astra Taylor and Troy Vettese

  16-04-2020 14:35
  
  Our global, profit-driven, meat-centered food system is making us sick. We need a radical rethinkIt was bats. Or pangolins. To hear common narratives about the origins of Covid-19, there is a simple causal relationship between China’s consumption of wild animals and the coronavirus ravaging the globe.Dr Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top epidemiologist, told Fox: “It boggles my mind how when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human-animal interface, th
  
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• UK cities postpone clean air zone plans due to Covid-19 crisis

  16-04-2020 14:27
  
  Pollution-busting clean air zones in cities have been postponed, as authorities tackle coronavirusCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe introduction of pollution-busting clean air zones in cities has been postponed by the coronavirus crisis, as authorities combat the outbreak.Clean air zones (CAZs), in which the dirtiest vehicles are deterred from urban centres by charges, were due to be implemented in Birmingham, Leeds and Bath this year, but have now been delaye
  
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• Ban on plastic straws in England pushed back to October 2020

  16-04-2020 13:47
  
  The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has pushed back the ban on plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds set to come into force later this month to October 2020, to the dismay of campaigners.
  
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• #SustyTalk: Kier Group's Jo Gilroy on communicating sustainability through and beyond Covid-19

  16-04-2020 13:24
  
  Our series of at-home video interviews continues with episode three featuring Jo Gilroy, head of sustainability and environment at Kier Group, who discusses how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting sustainability communications and engagement, now and in the future.
  
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• Net-zero: Is the UK's gas grid ready to go green?

  16-04-2020 12:49
  
  In a week where plans were unveiled for a nationwide roll-out of farming greenhouses heated by wastewater, the UK's major gas operators have teamed up to launch a programme aimed at delivering the world's first zero-carbon gas grid.
  
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• Name that song - it's the perfect time to learn to identify birds

  16-04-2020 12:30
  
  Now there’s no traffic noise to drown out their sounds, it’s a perfect time to learn how to distinguish birds by their songsAs our cities, and even parts of the countryside, have fallen eerily silent, with traffic and aircraft a distant memory, many of us have started to notice a new sound: birdsong.Now that spring has well and truly sprung, this is the ideal time to get to know your local birds. Spotting them is one way to identify common species, but why not try learning their song
  
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• Europe's Cheops telescope begins study of far-off worlds

  16-04-2020 11:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Europe's newest space telescope starts its study and characterisation of distant planets.
  
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• Coronavirus: New UK wind capacity to fall 20% this year

  16-04-2020 11:16
  
  Disruption caused by the coronavirus could see the UK's installed capacity of wind energy in 2020 shrink by 20%, according to analysts GlobalData.
  
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• Animals Farmed: pig virus, wildlife trade in China, and the 'poultry capital' of Wales

  16-04-2020 11:00
  
  Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the webPigs and poultry are likely to be safe from Covid-19, according to German scientists, whose study showed that while fruit bats and ferrets were susceptible to infection, pigs and chickens were not. Coronaviruses have devastated farm animals in the past. Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) killed nearly 25,000 piglets in China in 2016–17.
  A new outb
  
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• Royal Dutch Shell commits to net-zero emissions by 2050

  16-04-2020 10:53
  
  One of the world's largest emitters, Royal Dutch Shell, is set to announce plans to become a net-zero emissions business by 2050 at the latest at its Responsible Investment Annual Briefing today (16 April).
  
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• UK school and hospital caterers vow to cut meat served by 20%

  16-04-2020 09:00
  
  Public sector pledge said to target removal of 9m kg of meat a year from UK mealsPublic sector caterers serving billions of meals a year in schools, universities, hospitals and care homes have pledged to cut the amount of meat they serve by 20%.The caterers’ meals are eaten by a quarter of the UK population and the groups said their action was aimed at reducing environmental impact and improving the healthiness of meals. Industry experts called the move unprecedented. Continue reading...
  
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• Biggest cosmic mystery 'step closer' to solution

  16-04-2020 07:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New experimental findings could help us solve one of the biggest mysteries about the Universe.
  
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• Country diary: wandering deer share our self-isolation enclave

  16-04-2020 06:30
  
  St Dominic, Tamar valley: Woken at dawn by the sound of a cock pheasant’s crowing call and vigorous wing flapping, I look down on three roeDeer roam through the garden most nights, leaving their prints and grazing choice leaves of daylilies, Hemerocallis, among swathes of poisonous monkshood. The first sighting was at dusk, when two bounded downhill through shadowy fruit trees, white rumps prominent in the fading light. More recently, woken at dawn by the sound of a cock pheasant’s c
  
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• Coronavirus: Fears of spike in poaching as pandemic poverty strikes

  16-04-2020 02:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Conservation groups say poaching is on the rise as tourism income dries up at wildlife reserves.
  
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• Almost half of UK's carbon emissions not accounted for under net-zero target, report warns

  16-04-2020 02:02
  
  The UK's net-zero target is failing to account for emissions from overseas manufacturing of products imported into the country, a figure which a new report from WWF claims accounts for 46% of the UK's annual carbon footprint.
  
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• Katharine the great white shark re-emerges after evading trackers

  16-04-2020 00:33
  
  Shark with its own Twitter account disappeared for over a year14ft predator tracked by satellite 200 miles off Virginia coastKatharine, a 14ft great white shark with a worldwide fan base, has re-emerged on a satellite tracking system researchers used to follow her movements.The rediscovery comes as surprise to the team, as Katharine disappeared from radar more than a year ago, causing alarm among her many followers. Continue reading...
  
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