Environment news

• Soyuz rocket reaches ISS in record time

  14-10-2020 20:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The trip took just three hours and three minutes – half the usual journey time.
  
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• Greener play areas boost children’s immune systems, research finds

  14-10-2020 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Autoimmune diseases are rising fast but first experimental study shows nature could helpChildren whose outdoor play areas were transformed from gravel yards to mini-forests showed improved immune systems within a month, research has shown.The scientists believe this is because the children had developed significantly more diverse microbes on their skin and in their guts than the children whose playgrounds were not upgraded. Continue reading...
  
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• Rewild to mitigate the climate crisis, urge leading scientists

  14-10-2020 19:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Restoring degraded natural lands highly effective for carbon storage and avoiding species extinctionsRestoring natural landscapes damaged by human exploitation can be one of the most effective and cheapest ways to combat the climate crisis while also boosting dwindling wildlife populations, a scientific study finds.If a third of the planet’s most degraded areas were restored, and protection was thrown around areas still in good condition, that would store carbon equating to half of all hum
  
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• BHP bosses defend company's decision to stay in gas and oil 'for the medium term'

  14-10-2020 18:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Chairman Ken MacKenzie tells AGM that fossil fuels will be part of the energy mix for decadesBHP management has batted away shareholder criticism of the miner’s intention to continue investing in gas despite claiming it will dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.Speaking at BHP’s Australian annual meeting on Wednesday evening, chairman Ken MacKenzie also addressed the fallout from rival Rio Tinto’s decision to blow up 46,000-year-old rock shelter
  
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• ‘It’s a silent killer’: fears of legionella grow amid pandemic

  14-10-2020 16:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Legionella in water is sickening and sometimes killing Americans, with the current reopening of buildings prompting fresh concerns This story is co-published with Ensia Before her 73-year-old mom contracted legionnaires’ disease at a nursing home earlier this year, Monique Barlow knew little about the deadly pneumonia and the waterborne pathogen that causes it.“Until then, I didn’t give it much thought,” says Barlow. “I didn’t even really know what it was.&rdq
  
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• Capgemini: EU must invest in high-impact climate technologies through green recovery funding

  14-10-2020 15:40
  
  The EU must allocate portions of its €750bn Covid-19 recovery fund to emerging, innovative technologies which decarbonise energy, the built environment, industry, transport and the agri-food sector if it is to meet its net-zero goal by 2050, new analysis has found.
  
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• Google reveals Mineral crop-inspecting robots

  14-10-2020 15:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The project will analyse every leaf on every crop, helping farmers tend the fields.
  
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• 'Together We Can': edie unveils first wave of speakers for flagship Sustainability Leaders Forum 2021

  14-10-2020 13:27
  
  Coca-Cola, Heineken, Ikea, ING, Sky, Willmott Dixon and Zalando are among the headline brands that will be featuring at edie's biggest event of the year – the Sustainability Leaders Forum – which will take place as a global, virtual event on 2-4 February 2021.
  
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• PepsiCo funnels millions into recycled plastics, solar power and low-emission vehicles

  14-10-2020 12:54
  
  PepsiCo has revealed that it has invested $200m of the $1bn raised through its green bond in procuring recycled plastics, as it designs packaging with more recycled content in line with its 2025 sustainability targets.
  
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• Europe steps up contributions to Artemis Moon plan

  14-10-2020 12:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Thales Alenia Space will build Europe's two major contributions to the Lunar Gateway space station.
  
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• SDG Spotlight report: How can businesses promote green industry, innovation and infrastructure?

  14-10-2020 11:48
  
  edie has launched its latest SDG Spotlight report, looking at how businesses can transform operations, services, supply chains and strategies to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) post-lockdown, with the latest focusing on Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
  
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• Temperatures of deepest ocean rising quicker than previously thought

  14-10-2020 11:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Warming ocean contributes to sea level rise and to more extreme weather such as hurricanesEven the pitch black, nearly freezing waters at the bottom of the ocean – far from where humans live and burn fossil fuels – are slowly warming, according to a study of a decade of hourly measurements.The temperatures are rising quicker than previously thought, as recorded at stations at four different depths in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Uruguay. Between 2009 and 2019, the water there
  
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• SDG Spotlight report: How can businesses promote sustainable industry, innovation and infrastructure post-lockdown?

  14-10-2020 11:00
  
  edie has launched its latest SDG Spotlight report, looking at how businesses can transform operations, services, supply chains and strategies to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the latest focusing on Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
  
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• Ikea unveils national buy-back scheme for used furniture in drive to become 'fully circular'

  14-10-2020 10:40
  
  Ikea will start buying back customers' used furniture at stores across the UK and Ireland next month, in an effort to discourage "excessive consumption" and become a "fully circular" business by 2030.
  
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• Lawmakers vote to exclude fossil fuels from EU recovery fund

  14-10-2020 10:20
  
  The environment committee in the European Parliament has voted to exclude fossil fuels from support under the EU's €750bn recovery fund intended to boost the bloc's economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
  
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• Coronavirus: Patient has sudden permanent hearing loss

  14-10-2020 09:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UK doctors say it is the first such case they have seen linked to the pandemic coronavirus.
  
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• US West Coast fires: Is Trump right to blame forest management?

  14-10-2020 09:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Is poor management of forests to blame for deadly fires in the United States?
  
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• The invisible hand of the market won't protect our food or fields | Sue Pritchard

  14-10-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The defeat of the agriculture bill is a blow to the many who believe Britain could lead the world in sustainable farmingIn a world of polarised debates, there is a broad, non-partisan consensus on the issue of trade and standards. So it was disappointing – even if predictable – that the government whipped against amendments to protect UK food standards in the agriculture bill, which returned to the House of Commons this week. The key amendment was defeated last night by 332 votes to
  
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• Grub's up: why maggot meals are a hit on one UK chicken farm

  14-10-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Birds greet their food with ‘scratch dances’ and productivity is up. Could insects be an alternative to deforestation-linked soy?Photography by Anthony CullenIt’s 10am and the hens are getting excited and bustling around. Jo and Charles Mear are approaching the hutches carrying blue crates and the birds, heads popping up, know what’s inside: black soldier fly larvae or maggots.Watching chickens peck around for maggots should be utterly normal. Insects are a natural part o
  
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• Canada's last intact ice shelf broke off. It took our research station with it

  14-10-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers studying the area in the Arctic for years describe the day of the calving event – and where they go from hereIn August, Adrienne White – an ice analyst at the Canadian Ice Service who monitors the Canadian Arctic for changes in sea ice – was reviewing satellite imagery when she spotted something remarkable. The enormous Milne ice shelf, which was the last intact ice shelf in Canada and which White had studied closely before as a PhD student, was dissolving. Continue
  
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• Wildlife photographer of the year 2020 winners – in pictures

  14-10-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Sergey Gorshkov’s image of an Amur Tiger hugging an ancient Mancurian fir tree has won the prestigious wildlife photographer of the year 2020 award. The intimate moment, in which the tigress is marking her territory, will feature alongside other category winners in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum from Friday 16 October. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: a young wood pigeon learns a life lesson

  14-10-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Sandy, Bedfordshire: The hapless bird was one step away from being as dead as a dodo. It was time to teach it to be more waryWhen the chorus stopped, one voice kept going. On and on, through the dog days of summer and into autumn, it sang with monotonous intent. It was still singing that morning. The breeding season was over, but nobody had told the wood pigeons to stop.Proof of their enduring fecundity was perched on the back of a garden chair. A messy fledgling wore its adolescence in sprigs o
  
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• Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its corals since 1995

  14-10-2020 03:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Every type of coral has declined since 1995 because of climate change, an Australian study finds.
  
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• New Shepard: Jeff Bezos' rocket tests Nasa Moon landing tech

  14-10-2020 03:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The New Shepard rocket carried technology designed to return humans to the Moon in four years.
  
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• 2021 will be 'a critical window' for creating a sustainable future, major report warns

  14-10-2020 02:02
  
  The decisions taken by businesses, investors and the government in the UK over the next six to 18 months will either lock us into unsustainable systems or bring about a resilient future with intersectional benefits for the environment and society, a major new report argues.
  
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