Environment news

• Climate change: Earthquake 'hack' reveals scale of ocean warming

  17-09-2020 20:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Using sound waves from underwater earthquakes, researchers can more accurately measure sea temperatures.
  
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• The Guardian view on animal welfare: keep it up | Editorial

  17-09-2020 20:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Hard-won protections for both humans and livestock are under threat – and worth fighting for Hunting, scientific experimentation, entertainment, the keeping of pets, farming, fishing, habitat destruction: there is no one story about the way that humans use animals – and cause them to suffer. So far, the UN reported this week, our collective efforts to protect wildlife globally have not succeeded. All 20 of the Aichi biodiversity targets agreed in Japan a decade ago have been missed.B
  
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• Dear America, we too have seen red skies in Australia and we can tell you what happens next | Brigid Delaney

  17-09-2020 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  We also faced the gross insult to our intelligence, told it was not man-made climate change that was to blame for the firesDear America,We too have seen the orange afternoon sky, and felt the soft, strange sensation of soot falling like rain, and watched the edges of the curtains glow in an amber haze long after nightfall. Continue reading...
  
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• At a Senate reef inquiry, we saw politicians flaunt arrogance and ignorance | Ian Chubb, Geoff Garrett and Ove Hoegh-Gulberg

  17-09-2020 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  It is beyond regrettable when scientific evidence is ignored or diminished because it doesn’t fit apparently predetermined views We were recently invited to attend a Senate inquiry into the impact of water quality on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).The inquiry was established in September 2019 to report in October 2020, and was tasked with inquiring into regulation of farming practices that impact on water quality outcomes in the GBR. It follows moves by the Queensland state government to cla
  
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• 'Unfathomable destruction': thousands of rare wildflowers wiped out in Nevada

  17-09-2020 18:24 via theguardian.com
  
  About 40% of the Tiehm’s buckwheat population destroyed, amid fierce dispute over proposed lithium and boron mine nearbyNestled among the slopes of Nevada’s Silver Peak Range are six patches of Tiehm’s buckwheat, a rare flowering plant found nowhere else in the world. Only an estimated 42,000 plants remain on 10 acres. But over the weekend, conservationists discovered that 40% of the total population had been destroyed. Related: Chinese fishing armada plundered waters around Ga
  
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• 'Hypocrisy': Consumer goods giants accused of covert lobbying against stronger plastics legislation

  17-09-2020 15:16
  
  Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Danone are among ten major food & beverage and consumer goods firms facing accusations of covertly lobbying against stronger plastics-related legislation, in spite of their public commitments to tackle plastics pollution.
  
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• Why forest fires in Siberia, Russia threaten us all

  17-09-2020 13:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists say wildfires in Siberia, Russia, have been releasing record amounts of greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming.
  
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• Chinese fishing armada plundered waters around Galápagos, data shows

  17-09-2020 13:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Hundreds of vessels caught logging 73,000 hours of fishing in just one month in new analysisA vast fishing armada of Chinese vessels just off the Galápagos Islands logged an astounding 73,000 hours of fishing during just one month as it pulled up thousands of tonnes of squid and fish, a new report based on data analysis has found.The discovery of the giant flotilla off the archipelago that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution stirred controversy and outrage in Ecuador and a
  
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• Shocking state of English rivers revealed as all of them fail pollution tests

  17-09-2020 12:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Data reveals just 14% of good ecological standard and none of good chemical standard
  All English rivers have failed to meet quality tests for pollution amid concerns over the scale of sewage discharges and agricultural and industrial chemicals entering the water system.Data published on Thursday reveals just 14% of English rivers are of good ecological standard, a rating that suggests they are as close to their natural state as possible. Continue reading...
  
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• Nespresso targets carbon neutrality by 2022

  17-09-2020 12:10
  
  Nespresso has outlined plans to reduce supply chain emissions, invest in insetting at coffee farms and purchase carbon offsets to reach carbon neutrality by 2022.
  
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• Shoots and leaves: the shotgun scientist who hunts moving trees

  17-09-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As forests evolve in the face of climate crisis, some surprising methods are being used to track how species migrate Angelica Patterson is on the lookout, shotgun in hand, as she hikes through New York state’s Black Rock Forest. She focuses on her target high up in the canopy, then bang – a branch falls to the ground. “I can’t climb trees, building scaffolding is expensive, and using a slingshot requires a lot of skill,” she says. “A shotgun is an efficient, c
  
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• Tesco partners with food sharing app Olio to tackle waste from stores

  17-09-2020 11:38
  
  Surplus food from every Tesco store in the UK will soon be listed on food sharing app Olio, in a drive to reduce waste and help those in need.
  
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• Green Finance Institute assembles businesses for zero-carbon heat taskforce

  17-09-2020 11:06
  
  The Green Finance Institute has convened representatives of dozens of businesses alongside experts from local authorities, policy and science for a new taskforce tasked with decarbonising heating systems in the UK.
  
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• Arup, Spirax-Sarco and Bolt outline ambitious climate targets

  17-09-2020 10:46
  
  Engineering firms Arup and Spirax-Sarco Engineering have unveiled new net-zero carbon targets, with Arup targeting net-zero emissions by 2030 and Spirax-Sarco aiming for 2040, while mobility platform Bolt aims to become carbon negative by the end of the year.
  
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• 'We can do it!': EU chief announces 55% emissions reduction target for 2030

  17-09-2020 10:26
  
  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has confirmed plans to target a 55% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as part of a broader European Green Deal programme aimed at reaching "climate neutrality" by mid-century.
  
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• 'You got it': how bird flu turned one US farmer's life upside down

  17-09-2020 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Greg Langmo’s decades-old business was among those hit when a lethal strain decimated poultry barns across AmericaIn April 2015, Greg Langmo’s five turkey farms teemed with toms, hens and chicks. His family’s decades-old business in Meeker county, Minnesota, was thriving, and the hundreds of thousands of birds he bred and sold each year were healthy.And then, late one evening, Langmo’s phone rang. Birds in one of his barns, usually active, were sitting, unable to make the
  
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• Device to curb microplastic emissions wins James Dyson award

  17-09-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Tyre attachment designed by four students aims to reduce road transport pollutionA device that captures microplastic particles from tyres as they are emitted – and could help reduce the devastating pollution they cause – has won its designers a James Dyson award.The Tyre Collective, a group of masters students from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, scooped the UK prize of the international competition with their solution for the growing environmental scourge of ty
  
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• Brazil's Pantanal wetlands on fire - in pictures

  17-09-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Number of fires in world’s biggest tropical wetlands more than doubled in first half of 2020 compared with last year Continue reading...
  
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• 'Boring' research reveals what lies beneath Glasgow

  17-09-2020 01:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Renewable energy study looks into the secrets of the rocks on which the city's east end stands.
  
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