Environment news

• Residents battle Amazon fires in Brazil's Porto Velho – video

  17-08-2020 20:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Residents in the Brazilian city of Porto Velho city were battling blazes spreading in the dry brush on 16 August, as firefighters arrived at the remote jungle location to fight the fires that continue to threaten the Amazon.Smoke could be seen billowing as the fire edged closer to a farmer's home in an area of the Amazon rainforest in Rondônia state.'We are poor, my salary is just to feed my family. The fire comes to end everything in a fraction of seconds,' local resident Rosalino De
  
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• Trump withdraws nomination of controversial attorney for top environment post

  17-08-2020 19:56 via theguardian.com
  
  William Perry Pendley, who was nominated to lead the Bureau of Land Management, has claimed climate change doesn’t exist In a rare acknowledgement of defeat, Donald Trump has withdrawn his nomination of a highly controversial figure for a top environment post.William Perry Pendley is a conservative attorney and longtime opponent of public lands and wildlife protections who had been put forward to lead the Bureau of Land Management. It oversees 240m acres of public land and is charged with
  
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• Microplastic particles now discoverable in human organs

  17-08-2020 17:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Tiny plastics have polluted the entire planet and researchers expect to find them in human tissueMicroplastic and nanoplastic particles are now discoverable in human organs thanks to a new technique.Microplastics have polluted the entire planet, from Arctic snow and Alpine soils to the deepest oceans. People are also known to consume them via food and water, and to breathe them in, but the potential impact on human health is not yet known. Continue reading...
  
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• Report: Europe recorded record solar output amid Covid-19 lockdowns

  17-08-2020 16:26
  
  Solar output in Europe hit a record high of 47.6TWh in the second quarter of 2020, new analysis from EnAppSys has shown.
  
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• The algorithms that make big decisions about your life

  17-08-2020 16:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  From insurance and healthcare to social media and policing, algorithms are used all around us.
  
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• US chickens 'literally sitting in each other's waste' says RSPCA

  17-08-2020 16:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Chlorination of hens and use of pig sow stalls among disparities highlighted by charity ahead of post-Brexit trade talks
  US hens have half the living space of UK birds and are dipped in chlorinated water after slaughter to kill bacteria growing on them as a result of the birds “literally sitting in each other’s waste”, according to a new video being launched today by the RSPCA.Aiming to highlight the welfare differences between US and UK farm animals as trade talks resume betwe
  
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• SSE vows to produce 'Just Transition' plans to bolster science-based climate targets

  17-08-2020 14:27
  
  SSE has become the first UK energy firm to commit to developing 'Just Transition' plans, which will protect affected workers and communities as it aligns with the UK's net-zero target.
  
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• 'Highest temperature on Earth' as Death Valley, US hits 54.4C

  17-08-2020 14:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A reading of 130F (54.4C) recorded in Death Valley could be the highest reliable recording ever.
  
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• Microplastic particles found in human organs by US scientists

  17-08-2020 13:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers find pollutants in all samples of lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys examinedMicroplastic and nanoplastic particles have been discovered in human organs for the first time. The researchers found the tiny plastic pieces in all 47 samples of lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys they examined.Microplastic pollution has affected the entire planet, from Arctic snow and Alpine soils to the deepest oceans. The particles can harbour toxic chemicals and harmful microbes and are known to harm some m
  
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• Scientists unlock Alpine trees' molecular defence

  17-08-2020 13:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers say they have found a way to resist the spread of a disease threatening forests.
  
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• Extreme weather just devastated 10m acres in the midwest. Expect more of this | Art Cullen

  17-08-2020 12:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Unless we contain carbon, our food supply will be under threat. By 2050, US corn yields could decline by 30% I know a stiff wind. They call this place Storm Lake, after all. But until recently most Iowans had never heard of a “derecho”. They have now. Last Monday, a derecho tore 770 miles from Nebraska to Indiana and left a path of destruction up to 50 miles wide over 10m acres of prime cropland. It blew 113 miles per hour at the Quad Cities on the Mississippi River. Related: Two dea
  
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• Bird photographer of the year 2020 – in pictures

  17-08-2020 12:02 via theguardian.com
  
  The Bird Photographer of the Year 2020 competition received more than 15,000 entries. Here is a selection of some of the very best Continue reading...
  
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• Morrisons planning to ditch plastic 'bags for life'

  17-08-2020 11:52
  
  After removing 5p single-use carrier bags and trialling paper options, Morrisons is hoping to remove plastic 'bags for life' from all of its checkouts, should trials of alternatives prove successful.
  
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• UK facing worst wheat harvest since 1980s, says farmers' union

  17-08-2020 11:18 via theguardian.com
  
  NFU predicts yields could be down by a third as extreme weather hits crops
  The UK’s wheat harvest is likely to be down markedly this year, according to the National Farmers’ Union, capping a tumultuous year for British farming after consecutive seasons of extreme weather.Yields could be down by about a third, with the worst harvest since the 1980s predicted, the farmers’ organisation said. Continue reading...
  
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• Defra selects local authorities to spearhead innovative nature restoration projects

  17-08-2020 11:15
  
  Local authorities in Cornwall, Buckinghamshire, Greater Manchester, Cumbria and Northumberland have been selected to trial place-based nature restoration strategies, which, if successful, could be replicated across the UK.
  
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• From farm to factory: the unstoppable rise of American chicken

  17-08-2020 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  How industrial chicken farming transformed an ‘alternative’ meat to the most consumed meat in the USA century ago, Americans would not recognise our modern hunger for chicken. The year-long market for tender but relatively bland chicken meat is a newish phenomenon, and without it the idea of chicken cutlets, $5 rotisseries, or the McNugget would be a fantasy.How did America go from thinking of chicken as an “alternative” meat to consuming it more than any other meat? Cont
  
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• Tree of the week: the beloved 250-year-old wild pear being cut down for HS2

  17-08-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Cubbington pear tree is the second-largest in the country, a local landmark and was England’s tree of the year in 2015. Yet, despite years of protests, it is being felled for a railway lineOn a recent visit to see the Cubbington pear tree, Anne Langley was sad to see that the woods around it in Warwickshire had been blocked off to visitors and a sign erected warning against trespassing. “It’s tragic,” she says. “There were people patrolling the fence when I went
  
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• Considering air con? That’s how much the UK’s climate has changed already

  17-08-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  My kids are growing up in an England where sweltering conditions are no longer freakish – no wonder they think pumping in cold air is reasonableI don’t think I had a single conversation about air conditioning until 2005, when a burst of August weather that we would now consider a respite felt like the mouth of hell.Sitting in a pub living some Smiths lyrics (gasping, dying, but somehow still alive), a lugubrious friend who took delight only from grim irony said: “If this carrie
  
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• Country diary: the ravishing dishevelment of tall herbs

  17-08-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Rowberrow Warren, Somerset: Hemp-agrimony, the Miss Havisham of this vegetation type, is my favourite – and Flo the horse loves it tooThe flowering plants lining the track through the forest are now up to my elbows, and I’m riding a horse. This is the tall herb community – the most voluptuous and ravishing of our vegetation types, recalling an unruly Gertrude Jekyll border. Plants of edges, fringes and clearings, they flourish where they find damp soil and sunlight, growing vig
  
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• The return of Extinction Rebellion – podcast

  17-08-2020 04:00 via theguardian.com
  
  When Extinction Rebellion began holding protests two years ago, the movement could not have predicted its rapid growth or the public support it received. But missteps and the Covid-19 shutdown meant the group lost momentum. Now, it is planning a series of new actions in the autumnExtinction Rebellion (XR) has grown rapidly since it was set up in the UK in 2018. Its early protests had a carnival atmosphere and its demands were simple: the government should, above all else, be truthful about the e
  
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• Resale, repair and environmental labelling: Selfridges accelerates efforts to sustainably 'reinvent retail'

  17-08-2020 02:03
  
  Selfridges has outlined a string of new commitments and pilot projects around sustainable materials sourcing, environmental communications and resource-efficient business models like repair, resale and rental.
  
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