Environment news

• Sir Richard Branson: Virgin Orbit hopes for rocket flight this weekend

  20-05-2020 20:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UK businessman Sir Richard Branson is looking to Saturday to debut one of his new space systems.
  
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• Leaked Covid-19 commission report calls for Australian taxpayers to underwrite gas industry expansion

  20-05-2020 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: The report does not consider alternatives to gas, or mention climate change and the financial risk of investing in fossil fuel as emissions are cutAustralian taxpayers should underwrite a massive expansion of the domestic gas industry – including helping open new fields and build hundreds of kilometres of pipelines – according to a group advising on Covid-19 recovery.A leaked draft report by a manufacturing taskforce advising the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (
  
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• Changing the way food is grown and paid for | Letters

  20-05-2020 18:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Conditions for seasonal workers have gotten worse and worse, writes Jenny Tillyard, and the market needs to be rebalanced. Plus letters from Jo Steranka and Tim O’MalleyPrince Charles’s bumbling remarks should kickstart a re-examination of how fruit and vegetables are grown in rich countries, including ours (Coronavirus latest: a senior royal wants us to *checks notes* work harder, 19 May). Supermarkets want to keep the price of fresh produce at an affordable level. So they pay farme
  
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• Michigan dam failures force thousands to flee flooding – video

  20-05-2020 18:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Rapidly rising water overwhelmed dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people in central Michigan, where flooding struck communities along rain-swollen waterways and the governor said downtown could be 'under approximately nine feet of water' by WednesdayMichigan: thousands evacuated after 'catastrophic' dam failures Continue reading...
  
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• 'It’s a terrible way to go for £9 an hour': fear at meat plant after three coronavirus deaths

  20-05-2020 17:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Family of worker at a South Yorkshire food processor with multiple Covid-19 cases and three deaths have criticised treatment of staffCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe South Yorkshire meat processing plant where three workers have died from coronavirus has been criticised for failing to adequately protect workers.Three workers at a Cranswick food processing facility in Wombwell, Barnsley, which supplies UK supermarkets, are confirmed to have died after testing
  
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• 'A terrible way to go for £9 an hour': fear at meat plant after three coronavirus deaths

  20-05-2020 17:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Family of worker at a South Yorkshire food processor with multiple Covid-19 cases and three deaths have criticised treatment of staffCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe South Yorkshire meat processing plant where three workers have died from coronavirus has been criticised for failing to adequately protect workers.Three workers at a Cranswick food processing facility in Wombwell, Barnsley, which supplies UK supermarkets, are confirmed to have died after testing
  
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• Government to introduce 'carbon threshold' for Capacity Market

  20-05-2020 16:20
  
  The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has outlined reforms to the Capacity Market auction system which will enable demand-side response technologies to bid for 15-year contracts while adding a carbon emissions limit to spur an increase of low-carbon assets offered contracts.
  
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• Sir David Attenborough backs new conservation crisis fund

  20-05-2020 15:43
  
  Sir David Attenborough has called on nations and citizens to refocus on nature in a way that "respects rather than exploits" as a response to Covid-19, as the non-profit organisation he represents unveils a new $1m 'conservation crisis' fund.
  
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• A proposed mine in Alaska will endanger brown bears – and much more

  20-05-2020 15:09 via theguardian.com
  
  The world’s most productive salmon fishery and a stronghold for the state’s bears are under threat from an open-pit gold and copper mineTowering over the average human and weighing as much as a grand piano, the bears found in south-west Alaska are considered among the best in the world to observe as they pad around in a largely untouched wilderness of soaring mountains, pristine rivers and rocky beaches.About a third of Alaska’s 30,000 brown bears are found on the Alaska Penins
  
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• Sir David Attenborough backs new conservation crisis find

  20-05-2020 15:07
  
  Sir David Attenborough has called on nations and citizens to refocus on nature in a way that "respects rather than exploits" as a response to Covid-19, as the non-profit organisation he represents unveils a new $1m 'conservation crisis' fund.
  
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• Number of companies requesting supplier environment data jumps by a quarter

  20-05-2020 13:01
  
  The number of companies calling on their supplier to disclose environmental data to CDP has increased by 24% in a year, with more than 150 organisations now taking proactive steps to gain more understanding of the environmental impacts of their supply chains.
  
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• EU pledges to spend €20bn a year on boosting biodiversity

  20-05-2020 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  New strategy to protect nature includes far-reaching habitat protections, and restrictions on pesticide use – but campaigners warn enforcement is keyThe European Commission has committed to protecting 30% of the EU’s land and oceans by 2030 as part of the European Green Deal, in a plan tentatively welcomed by environment groups who warned far-reaching ambitions must not only exist “on paper”.The 10-year plan, published on Wednesday, includes commitments to reduce the use
  
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• EU pledges to raise €20bn a year to boost biodiversity

  20-05-2020 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  New strategy to protect nature includes far-reaching habitat protections, and restrictions on pesticide use – but campaigners warn enforcement is keyThe European Commission has committed to protecting 30% of the EU’s land and oceans by 2030 as part of the European Green Deal, in a plan tentatively welcomed by environment groups who warned far-reaching ambitions must not only exist “on paper”.The 10-year plan, published on Wednesday, includes commitments to reduce the use
  
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• Conde Nast to become carbon-neutral by 2030

  20-05-2020 12:03
  
  Global fashion media company Conde Nast, which owns brands including Vogue and GQ, has committed to becoming a carbon-neutral company by 2030 while committing to educate its audience on the climate emergency.
  
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• Nasa: Doug Loverro steps down days before crewed launch

  20-05-2020 11:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Doug Loverro steps down the week before the US's first crewed launch to orbit in almost a decade.
  
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• Business Barometer: Energy managers focused on data and technology for low-carbon plans

  20-05-2020 11:34
  
  EXCLUSIVE: Energy managers are hoping to focus on data optimisation and smart technologies such as Artificial Intelligence to accelerate low-carbon plans, although financials barriers do remain, according to edie's new barometer survey report, published today (20 May).
  
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• Antarctic algal blooms: 'Green snow' mapped from space

  20-05-2020 11:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UK scientists create the first wide-area maps of microscopic algae growing in coastal Antarctica.
  
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• He opposed public lands and wildlife protections. Trump gave him a top environment job

  20-05-2020 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Under the leadership of William Perry Pendley, the Bureau of Land Management is failing to fulfill its most basic duties of safeguarding America’s public lands, his critics say In July 2017, William Perry Pendley, a crusading conservative attorney, delivered a speech to a group of rightwing activists in North Carolina in which he was completely candid about his ideological commitments.He accused “the media” of selling “their soul to the greens”.And after criticizing
  
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• He joked about killing endangered species. Trump gave him a top environment job

  20-05-2020 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Under the leadership of William Perry Pendley, the Bureau of Land Management is failing to fulfill its most basic duties of safeguarding America’s public lands, his critics say In July 2017, William Perry Pendley, a crusading conservative attorney, delivered a speech to a group of rightwing activists in North Carolina in which he was completely candid about his ideological commitments.He accused “the media” of selling “their soul to the greens”.And after criticizing
  
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• Tropical cyclones have become more destructive over past 40 years, data shows

  20-05-2020 09:15 via theguardian.com
  
  US study identifies statistically significant trend in line with climate scientists’ predictionsTropical cyclones have become more intense around the globe in the past four decades, with more destructive storms forming more often, according to a study that further confirms the theory that warming oceans would drive more dangerous cyclones.Analysis of satellite records from 1979 to 2017 found a clear rise in the most destructive cyclones – also known as hurricanes or typhoons –
  
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• Soundscape: relax to the sounds of British wildlife

  20-05-2020 08:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Our interactive takes you on an audiovisual journey through a lush forest across the course of a dayAs the coronavirus crisis and lockdown still thwart most of our social plans, many of us are looking to escape feelings of cabin fever and the perennial cycle of bad news by reconnecting with nature.Perhaps you are taking more notice of your natural surroundings these days, or you have seen animals move into the spaces that humans have vacated. Continue reading...
  
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• Heed lessons of 2008 crisis, experts warn global leaders

  20-05-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Call to avoid more inequality and climate breakdown when coronavirus crisis endsGlobal leaders must heed the lessons of the financial crisis of 2008 when they look to repair the damage from the coronavirus pandemic, leading experts have warned, to avoid entrenching disastrous social, health and environmental inequalities and hastening climate breakdown.The 2008 global financial crisis and recession marked the last time the world experienced a convulsion comparable in scale to the coronavirus cri
  
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• Is the Coalition's gas nirvana just an attempt to have its fossil fuel cake and eat it too? | Katharine Murphy

  20-05-2020 07:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Ten years ago politicians used to talk up the virtues of gas as a transitional fuel. But that was 10 years agoTen years ago, when Australia’s climate and energy botch-up was still in its infancy, politicians and their advisers used to talk up the virtues of gas as a transitional fuel, and they used to talk about carbon capture and storage (CCS) as technology that governments needed to invest in to drive the transition to low-emissions economies.The great botch-up is now well past infancy,
  
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• Coronavirus fallout to slow global growth in renewable energy

  20-05-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pace will slow for first time in 20 years with fewer windfarms and solar plants being built but rebound possible in 2021The global growth of renewable energy will slow for the first time in 20 years due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which will “hurt but not halt” the rise of clean energy.The world’s energy watchdog has warned that developers will build fewer wind farms and solar energy projects this year compared with a record roll out of renewables in 2019. Contin
  
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• Country diary: why did the snail tiptoe across the road?

  20-05-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Crook, County Durham: Rain makes for an easy journey, but dry and dusty asphalt is a different matterForty-nine early morning lockdown walks, and I’d only been rained on twice. Today balanced the account a little, with raindrops hammering on my umbrella. Not a day for lingering, with a cold wind and scudding grey clouds, but ahead, crossing the asphalt of the lane, was a fellow traveller, almost luminous in the gloom: a white-lipped snail, Cepaea hortensis.Cepaea shells come in several col
  
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• Millions of Americans lack access to quality parks, report reveals

  20-05-2020 06:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Low-income households and people of color in cities are least likely to live near decent green spacesYears of patchy investment in public parks has left 100 million Americans, including 27 million children, without access to decent nearby green spaces during the coronavirus lockdown, a new report reveals.Local parks have been a godsend to many people during the pandemic as schools, gyms and walking trails have closed to minimize physical contact and curtail the spread of the virus. Continue read
  
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• Social distancing: When extreme weather and coronavirus collide

  20-05-2020 04:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  People displaced by extreme weather are forced to break Covid-19 social distancing safety guidelines.
  
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• Government taskforce sets out tools to unlock £65bn investment into green housing

  20-05-2020 02:01
  
  The UK Government's Green Finance Institute (GFI) has found that scaling up green retrofitting of the UK's existing housing stock would require investments of up to £65bn while supporting the economic recovery, as the Green Alliance calls for policy amendments to retrofitting in the UK.
  
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• Climate change: Top 10 tips to reduce carbon footprint revealed

  20-05-2020 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A report lists some of the best ways people can tackle their own contribution to climate change.
  
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• Rare UK wildlife thriving in lockdown, reveals National Trust

  20-05-2020 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Orca, cuckoo and peregrine falcon some of species enjoying breathing space of quieter worldFirst came the goats. During the first days of lockdown the bearded, ghostly white creatures wandered down from their north Wales clifftop home into the town of Llandudno and made headlines around the globe.Now the National Trust is reporting that emboldened wildlife, from raptors and warblers to badgers, otters and even orcas, appear to be enjoying the disappearance of humans from its gardens, castles and
  
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