Environment news

• Winter swimming has been my greatest discovery of this coronavirus pandemic | Alison Rourke

  02-07-2020 19:30
  
  Getting into the ocean every morning has been a reminder of what a tiny speck I am on this planetI’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little freaked out the first time I saw a shark on my swim out of Sydney’s Manly Beach. Time almost stood still as the sleek figure weaved below me. Disbelieving, I thought: “That looks like a shark.” No one around me in the water even blinked an eye, and the baby grey nurse drifted off into the deep blue.I have been a swimmer all of my
  
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• Ocean swimming has been my greatest discovery of the coronavirus pandemic | Alison Rourke

  02-07-2020 19:30
  
  Getting into the ocean every morning has been a reminder of what a tiny speck I am on this planetI’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little freaked out the first time I saw a shark on my swim out of Sydney’s Manly Beach. Time almost stood still as the sleek figure weaved below me. Disbelieving, I thought: “That looks like a shark.” No one around me in the water even blinked an eye, and the baby grey nurse drifted off into the deep blue.I have been a swimmer all of my
  
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• Ocean swimming has been my greatest discovery of the coronavirus pandemic

  02-07-2020 19:30
  
  Getting into the ocean every morning has been a reminder of what a tiny speck I am on this planetI’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little freaked out the first time I saw a shark on my swim out of Sydney’s Manly Beach. Time almost stood still as the sleek figure weaved below me. Disbelieving, I thought: “That looks like a shark.” No one around me in the water even blinked an eye, and the baby grey nurse drifted off into the deep blue.I have been a swimmer all of my
  
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• The Guardian view on France's green wave: seizing the moment | Editorial

  02-07-2020 19:27
  
  The march of Europe Ecology is yet another example of how parties of the environment are steadily acquiring power and influence across the continentLyon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux; Besançon, Poitiers and Tours: the list of powerful cities that turned green, after France’s municipal elections last weekend, was long and impressive. Marseille has been a conservative fiefdom for decades. But a leftwing alliance propelled Michèle Rubirola, the candidate of Europe Ecology – Fra
  
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• Boris 'the Builder' Johnson has found a new scapegoat: the humble newt | Jules Howard

  02-07-2020 18:06
  
  The PM says counting these protected amphibians is a barrier to economic recovery. But there’s room in the pond for bothFirst, I should lay down my cards and show my hand. My name is Jules, and I am a card-carrying fan of newts. I have a pond. I once ran an amphibian helpline for people with questions about newts. I have worn a newt costume at family events. I can’t stress this enough: I genuinely like newts.Earlier this week, newts featured in Johnson’s Build, build, build spe
  
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• Coronavirus: Testing sewage an 'easy win'

  02-07-2020 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Wastewater analysis could provide localised Covid-19 test results much earlier than at present.
  
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• Canadian sparrows ditch their old song for catchier tune

  02-07-2020 17:00
  
  Study finds British Columbia birds’ dropped-end note of call has spread across countryIf you consider Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep to be the ultimate catchy tune, think again: the white-throated sparrows of British Columbia have devised a new song that has gone viral across Canada.For years, the small songbird’s traditional descending whistle featured a three-note ending. But researchers have tracked how a unique two-note-ending version of the male bird’s call has rapidly spread 3
  
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• Kleenex debuts plastic-free tissue boxes as Mr Muscle unveils 100% 'ocean-bound' plastic bottle

  02-07-2020 16:25
  
  Kleenex will remove the plastic opening from all tissue boxes by August 2020, parent firm Kimberly-Clark has announced in the same week that SC Johnson unveiled a Mr Muscle bottle made from 100% recycled plastic content.
  
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• $10bn of precious metals dumped each year in electronic waste, says UN

  02-07-2020 16:01
  
  A fast growing mountain of toxic e-waste is polluting the planet and damaging health, says new reportAt least $10bn (£7.9bn) worth of gold, platinum and other precious metals are dumped every year in the growing mountain of electronic waste that is polluting the planet, according to a new UN report.A record 54m tonnes of “e-waste” was generated worldwide in 2019, up 21% in five years, the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor report found. The 2019 figure is equivalent to 7.3kg for
  
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• Revealed: raw sewage poured into Olympic Park wildlife haven

  02-07-2020 16:00
  
  Thames Water overflow pipe pumped waste for 1,000 hours into London wetlands last yearExclusive: water firms discharged raw sewage into England’s rivers 200,000 times in 2019Raw sewage was discharged for more than 1,000 hours from a Thames Water overflow pipe into an environmental wetland at the Olympic Park last year, the Guardian can reveal.The combined sewer overflow (CSO) at Mulberry Court pumped untreated waste 91 times into the waterway that feeds into the River Lea. To April this ye
  
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• MP calls for crackdown on raw sewage discharges in English rivers

  02-07-2020 16:00
  
  Tory Philip Dunne says he wants to ‘introduce water firms to polluter pays’ principle and launches private member’s billExclusive: water firms discharged raw sewage into England’s rivers 200,000 times in 2019A fresh attempt to change the law to stop water companies from releasing raw sewage into rivers has been launched by a senior Conservative MP.Philip Dunne, the chair of the environmental audit committee, is seeking in a private member’s bill to place a duty on w
  
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• UK gives go-ahead to giant windfarm project off Norfolk coast

  02-07-2020 15:19
  
  1.8GW Vanguard project gets greenlight, with approval on 2.4GW Hornsea 3 expected in autumn The construction of two giant offshore windfarms is poised to go ahead off the Norfolk coast in what the renewable energy industry claims could provide a “huge boost” to the UK economy.The business secretary, Alok Sharma, gave the green light on Wednesday evening to the Norfolk Vanguard project and said he was “minded to approve” the Hornsea 3 proposal later this year. Continue rea
  
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• Pension funds covering £3trn pressured on fossil fuel investments and net-zero alignment

  02-07-2020 14:52
  
  Comic Relief co-founder Richard Curtis has launched a new campaign pressuring UK pension funds to halve the emissions of their portfolios by 2030 and bring them to net-zero by 2050.
  
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• Nasa Mars rover: Perseverance launch pushed back again

  02-07-2020 13:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The launch of Nasa's Mars rover Perseverance is delayed again to 30 July at the earliest.
  
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• edie launches brand new Sustainable Investment Digital Conference for September

  02-07-2020 12:56
  
  edie is launching its first bespoke sustainability conference focused on green finance, with experts from ING, BlackRock and BNP Paribas set to discuss investment and the green recovery at the Sustainable Investment Digital Conference on 7-8 September 2020.
  
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• Amazon fires at 13-year high for June

  02-07-2020 12:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  This early peak indicates a potentially devastating dry season ahead - perhaps even worse than 2019.
  
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• One Young World: Business giants invest £500k in SDG-aligned innovations

  02-07-2020 12:37
  
  AstraZeneca, Deloitte and BP are among a cohort big-name businesses to have jointly unveiled £500,000 of grant funding for young innovators working on projects driving progress towards the aims of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  
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• Yorkshire Water and Birds Eye to support carbon-capturing 'pop up rainforest'

  02-07-2020 11:55
  
  A new business collaboration in the Humber region looks set to create a "pop up rainforest" that will help farmers plant a diverse range of cover crops that will capture carbon, reduce flooding risk and improve soil health.
  
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• IPPR and REA: Up to 1.6 million new jobs could be created though green Covid-19 recovery

  02-07-2020 11:27
  
  A green recovery package prioritising jobs in energy efficiency and public transport could create 1.6 million new jobs in the UK, new IPPR research has concluded.
  
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• Invest in the green economy and we'll recover from the Covid-19 crisis | Joseph Stiglitz

  02-07-2020 11:09
  
  We must target public spending on green, labour intensive projects which have far more bang for their bucks than tax cutsAlthough it seems like ancient history, it hasn’t been that long since economies around the world began to close down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Early in the crisis, most people anticipated a quick V-shaped recovery, on the assumption that the economy merely needed a short timeout. After two months of tender loving care and heaps of money, it would pick up whe
  
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• Phil Evans: Briton to take top weather satellite agency job

  02-07-2020 10:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Phil Evans, formerly at the UK Met Office, will be the new director general of Eumetsat.
  
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• 20 UK retailers to jointly plot course to net-zero ahead of national deadline

  02-07-2020 09:01
  
  Boots, Next and Marks & Spencer (M&S) are among the 20 major retailers who have this week pledged to jointly develop a net-zero roadmap for the retail sector, with a target more ambitious than the national 2050 requirement.
  
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• Revealed: development banks funding industrial livestock farms around the world

  02-07-2020 09:00
  
  Investigation uncovers finance worth $2.6bn pumped into meat and dairy industries, despite warnings of links to climate catastrophe Two of the world’s leading development banks have pumped billions of dollars into the global livestock sector, despite warnings that reducing meat and dairy consumption is essential for tackling the climate crisis.The International Finance Corporation (IFC) – the commercial lending arm of the World Bank – and the European Bank for Reconstruction an
  
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