Environment news

• The Guardian view on politics and the environment: we demand better | Editorial

  16-09-2020 20:27 via theguardian.com
  
  The British public are way ahead of the government in their ideas for a fairer, greener country. Time for Downing Street to listen Earlier this month, a dance troupe on an ITV light entertainment show created one of the most complained-about television moments of the past decade. In their performance, the dancers of Diversity reflected the carnage of Covid, deep-seated inequalities and, most of all, racism. They recreated the murder of George Floyd, then took the knee in solidarity with the Blac
  
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• Plastic pollution: Washed clothing's synthetic mountain of 'fluff'

  16-09-2020 20:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists calculate how many tiny fibres our polyester and nylon garments lose in the wash.
  
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• The megafires and pandemic expose the lies that frustrate action on climate change | Tim Flannery

  16-09-2020 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  If there was a moment of true emergency in the fight to preserve our climate, it is nowThis is part of a series of essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020I was in Melbourne in late January, watching as more and more people donned face masks to protect themselves against the bushfire smoke that had thickened the air for weeks and that was causing hundreds of deaths. Turning on the news, I was surprised to see footage of crowds in China similarly masked, but for a very di
  
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• The Green Recovery: can I still eat meat if I care about the environment? – video

  16-09-2020 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The average Australian eats half a kilogram of meat every week. But meat production has a huge impact on the environment – it’s responsible for almost 10% of Australia’s carbon emissions. So can we still eat meat if we care about the environment? Experts say yes, but with some caveats. And there are things that industry and governments should be doing to make meat production more sustainable, too • How Australia can ditch coal (without ditching jobs) – video
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• Carbon prices to climb 50% over next decade following raised EU climate targets

  16-09-2020 17:30
  
  Carbon prices across the European Union (EU) could increase by more than 50% over the next decade, with the bloc's proposed 55% reduction in emissions set to shape renewables and fossil fuel markets in the long-run, according to new analysis from the Refinitiv Carbon Research team.
  
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• Charities urge Boris Johnson to create 'new era for nature' post-Covid-19

  16-09-2020 16:47
  
  The National Trust, WWF and RSBP are among the 27 major charities urging Boris Johnson to promise to set ambitious targets for the conservation and restoration of UK nature at the UN biodiversity summit in Kunming later this month.
  
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• BT joins calls to accelerate climate action through 1.5C Business Playbook

  16-09-2020 16:47
  
  BT has joined the likes of Ikea and Ericsson in supporting the 1.5C Business Playbook, calling for renewed efforts from corporates and policymakers to halve emissions by 2030 as part of a "race to zero".
  
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• The climate crisis is a national security threat to the US. We already see the effects | Sherri Goodman and Kate Guy

  16-09-2020 15:15 via theguardian.com
  
  National security leaders view climate change as a ‘threat multiplier’ that makes the homeland vulnerable Climate change is not a distant problem for future generations to worry about. Instead, the dangers of climate change are touching the lives of more Americans with each passing day. As the historic wildfires, hurricanes, floods, heatwaves and storms hitting the country this summer demonstrate, these crises are getting more frequent and more intense as the global temperature rises
  
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• Just 0.5% of global GDP needed to reach net-zero by 2050, report finds

  16-09-2020 12:58
  
  By scaling up energy efficiency efforts and deploying renewable energy generation capacity far more rapidly, the world could "technically and economically" transition to net-zero by 2050 for the cost of less than 1% of global GDP annually through to mid-century.
  
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• Mark Carney: Climate considerations must be 'embedded' in every financial decision for a truly green recovery

  16-09-2020 12:14
  
  Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has outlined his vision for financing a green economic recovery for Covid-19 in the UK, calling for measures to ensure that every financial decision made by the private sector takes climate into account.
  
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• Birds 'falling out of the sky' in mass die-off in south-western US

  16-09-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Wildfires and climate crisis cited as possible causes for the deaths of thousands of migrating species heading south for the winterThousands of migrating birds have inexplicably died in south-western US in what ornithologists have described as a national tragedy that is likely to be related to the climate crisis.Flycatchers, swallows and warblers are among the species “falling out of the sky” as part of a mass die-off across New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and farther north into
  
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• Plug-in hybrids are a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'

  16-09-2020 11:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Although marketed as a green option, the cars cause more polluting than is claimed, campaigners say.
  
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• 'Why wait for it?' How to predict a pandemic

  16-09-2020 10:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Strides are being made towards an open access atlas that could predict where dangerous animal-borne viruses will next appear
  How do you predict where a deadly tropical disease such as Ebola, possibly the most virulent in the world, will appear next? Since it first emerged in a small town on the edge of a Congolese forest, it has broken out in seven other African countries, often thousands of miles apart.Sometimes it has spilled out of remote rainforest and then disappeared for years. Other times
  
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• Extinction Rebellion is showing Britain what real democracy could look like | George Monbiot

  16-09-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The protest movement’s call for meaningful participation highlights the failings of dysfunctional Westminster politicsIt’s good entertainment, but that’s all it is. Seeing Boris Johnson ritually dismembered in parliament might make us feel better, but nothing changes. He still has an 80-seat majority, though less than 30% of the electorate voted for the Conservatives. We are reduced, for five long years, to spectators.Our system allows the victorious government a mandate to do
  
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• County diary: a perfect warm, windless morning on the fell tops | Country diary

  16-09-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Pikestone Fell, County Durham: Clouds bubble up on the horizon, bringing a welcome breeze as we rest against the wall at the Elephant TreesThere are precious few September mornings as perfect as this on the fell tops: windless and warm, with, after heavy rain, crystal-clear views over most of the dale. Ahead of us, across the moor, is a grove of old beech trees known locally as the Elephant Trees.Alongside the stony track, thistle seedheads had burst, filling the air with thistledown, aerial pla
  
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• Experts call for new era for wildlife in UK

  16-09-2020 04:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Conservation experts urge the prime minister to take a lead on reversing the decline in nature.
  
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• Iceland joins campaigners to call for better corporate reporting on plastics

  16-09-2020 02:01
  
  Retailer Iceland had today (16 September) joined forces with Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, A Plastic Planet and Surfers Against Sewage in calling for corporates to better disclose their plastics consumption.
  
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• UK Space Agency funds tech for orbital awareness

  16-09-2020 01:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Grants will promote ideas to detect, characterise and track the millions of objects moving overhead.
  
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