Environment news

• Microplastics discovered blowing ashore in sea breezes

  12-05-2020 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Finding could help solve mystery of where plastic goes after it leaks into the sea Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of mismanaged waste could be blowing ashore on the ocean breeze every year, according to scientists who have discovered microplastics in sea spray.The study, by researchers at the University of Strathclyde and the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées at the University of Toulouse, found tiny plastic fragments in sea spray, suggesting they are being ejected by the sea in bubbles.
  
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• Seven top tips to engage on sustainability during a global pandemic

  12-05-2020 18:49
  
  edie recently hosted an afternoon of back-to-back online events exploring best-practice advice into communicating, engaging and reporting on sustainability. Against a backdrop of a global pandemic, panellists outlined their thoughts on how businesses can keep sustainability high up the corporate agenda.
  
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• Coronavirus shows us it’s time to rethink everything. Let's start with education | George Monbiot

  12-05-2020 17:04 via theguardian.com
  
  The pandemic is a tough lesson in the workings of the natural world – and proves how vital a knowledge of ecology really isImagine mentioning William Shakespeare to a university graduate and discovering they had never heard of him. You would be incredulous. But it’s common and acceptable not to know what an arthropod is, or a vertebrate, or to be unable to explain the difference between an insect and spider. No one is embarrassed when a “well-educated” person cannot provi
  
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• English national parks ask people not to rush back to beauty spots

  12-05-2020 14:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities fear communities could be overrun by visitors after easing of lockdownCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNational park authorities in England are telling people not to “rush back”, amid fears rural communities living inside the beauty spots could be overrun by visitors.People should “stay local” and think twice before driving to parks, despite lockdown restrictions easing in England, said Kevin Bishop, the national parks officer
  
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• Mission Possible: edie launches new sustainable business report for the retail sector

  12-05-2020 12:59
  
  edie has published a new Mission Possible report today (12 May) outlining the key drives, challenges and opportunities facing sustainable businesses in the UK retail sector.
  
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• Mitie signs up to RE100 following EP100 and EV100 commitments

  12-05-2020 12:19
  
  Mitie has become the first facilities management firm to sign up to all three of the Climate Group's initiatives, after committing to source 100% renewables as part of the RE100 platform and having already signed up to the EV100 and EP100 initiatives.
  
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• Severn Trent rolls out 350 electric vehicle charging point at UK facilities

  12-05-2020 11:34
  
  The UK's second-biggest water company, Severn Trent, is installing more than 350 electric vehicle (EV) charge points across its sites, as part of its commitment to covert 100% of its transport fleet to electric by 2030.
  
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• Our Iranian lockdown: how coronavirus changed one couple’s life

  12-05-2020 11:24 via theguardian.com
  
  A rare glimpse into the lives of a young couple in lockdown in Iran. Filmed over several weeks in quarantine, Sara and Mohammad Reza attempt to process the devastating loss of a family member to Covid-19. The news of coronavirus spreading in Tehran is the backdrop to their lives indoors, they see the outside world from their window, neighbours setting off fireworks and street musicians playing for spare change. As they approach Persian new year, usually a time of family reunion, the couple find
  
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• Climate change: Study pours cold water on oil company net zero claims

  12-05-2020 10:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Doubt is cast on claims fossil fuel companies are curbing their CO2 in line with net zero targets.
  
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• ‘It’s like nothing else’: insect swarms on Cyprus reveal incredible journeys

  12-05-2020 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The Mediterranean island swirls with colour every spring as millions of tiny creatures take a break on their epic migration from the Middle East to EuropeFor eight hours a day, from March until May, research biologist Will Hawkes surveys huge swarms of insects landing on the Karpaz Peninsula on the north-east corner of Cyprus. “This place is a migratory hotspot for millions of painted lady butterflies, drone fly hoverflies, seven-spot ladybirds and vagrant emperor dragonflies – it&rs
  
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• India's carbon emissions fall for first time in four decades

  12-05-2020 08:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The fall in the carbon dioxide emissions is not just due to the country's coronavirus lockdown.
  
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• Long journey home: the stranded sailboats in a race to beat the hurricanes

  12-05-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Covid-19 has marooned people living on small boats worldwide. Now hundreds of anxious sailors are preparing to make dangerous voyages home across the AtlanticCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWith a 3,600-mile non-stop solo sail across the Atlantic ahead of him, Garry Crothers is a little anxious. But he has to get moving before the hurricane season. “I’m in a bad place here, I don’t have any choice,” he says.Like many living aboard their s
  
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• BBC sports commentator narrates Australia's penguin parade in lockdown voiceover – video

  12-05-2020 02:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Andrew Cotter narrates the nightly walk of the fairy penguins of Victoria's Phillip Island as a high-stakes, long-distance race. ‘There’s the defending champion, wearing his familiar navy blue and white. Great waddling style,’ Cotter says as one penguin hits the lead. Cotter has become one of the pandemic’s viral hits after commentating the antics of his labradors, Olive and Mabel, in videos posted to Twitter.  His latest video is in collaboration with Visit Victoria
  
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• Jack Mundey was an Australian hero who saved Sydney from the bulldozers and shaped a generation of activists | Wendy Bacon

  12-05-2020 02:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Through his pioneering role in the green bans movement, the union leader brought environmental concerns to the mainstreamThe environmental and social justice activist Jack Mundey died at the age of 90 in Sydney this week. Unusually for a lifelong radical, he has been remembered by many as a true Australian hero.Mundey has been widely celebrated for his internationally pioneering role in the green bans movement of the early 1970s. He was secretary of the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federat
  
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• Oil and gas giants overstating net-zero ambitions, study finds

  12-05-2020 02:01
  
  Recent announcements from European oil and gas majors such as Total, Shell and BP to commit to net-zero aren't actually aligned to the required, science-based cuts to emissions to reach net-zero or the 1.5C target of the Paris Agreement, new research has found.
  
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