Environment news

• ‘Natural noise’: disturbed by loud sex next door? Just imagine it’s birdsong

  26-10-2020 17:40 via theguardian.com
  
  When a resident complained that her neighbour’s lovemaking kept her awake each night, Manchester city council had an unexpected responseName: Natural noise.Age: Hard to say. Since the beginning of time, I suppose. The big bang must have been naturally noisy.Appearance: Noise that is natural. Stop being so thick.What are we talking? Birdsong? That would count and people would rather enjoy it, but this natural noise is perhaps less welcome.Planes, trains, traffic? Some might see it as worse
  
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• Thousands of waterbirds flock to Australia's Lake Cowal – in pictures

  26-10-2020 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  At approximately 21km long, Lake Cowal is the largest natural inland lake in New South Wales. After years of drought it began filling in March this year, and native and migratory waterbirds started returning to its wetlands. Above-average rainfall throughout the winter months have now filled the ephemeral lake to 40% of its surface area Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year 2020 – in pictures Continue reading...
  
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• Water on the Moon could sustain a lunar base

  26-10-2020 17:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The "unambiguous detection of water" will boost Nasa's hopes of establishing a lunar base.
  
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• What makes a Sustainability Leaders Awards winner? Our judges reveal their top tips for success

  26-10-2020 16:31
  
  With less than a week until the 2021 Sustainability Leaders Awards entry deadlines, our judges are sharing their top tips for crafting a winning entry.
  
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• What makes a Sustainability Leaders Awards winner? Our 2021 judges reveal their top tips for success

  26-10-2020 16:31
  
  With less than a week until the 2021 Sustainability Leaders Awards entry deadlines, our judges are sharing their top tips for crafting a winning entry.
  
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• 'From barley to bar': AB InBev pilots blockchain to boost transparency and traceability

  26-10-2020 16:06
  
  The world's largest brewer is piloting blockchain technology to trace barley throughout its European supply chains and to provide customers with more sustainability-related information.
  
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• #SustyTalk: Quorn CEO Marco Bertacca on plant-based diets and carbon labelling

  26-10-2020 14:20
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with Quorn Foods' chief executive officer discussing the importance of purpose-led business post-Covid-19 and the future of carbon labelling for groceries.
  
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• We're so nature-deprived that even footage of wilderness lifts our spirits | Adrienne Matei

  26-10-2020 14:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Around 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. Simulated nature is better than none - but it’s not nature
  A recent study has determined that watching nature programming on TV or via a virtual-reality headset reduces feelings of sadness and boredom. According to researchers from the University of Exeter, scenes of nature soothe us – whether they are real video footage of a coral reef, to use the study’s example, or even just computer-generated graph
  
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• Japan to legislate for 2050 net-zero target

  26-10-2020 14:10
  
  Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has vowed to enshrine a 2050 net-zero target in national law, major news outlets across the globe are reporting.
  
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• Why Biden calls Trump a 'climate arsonist' – video explainer

  26-10-2020 13:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Humanity is said to have just 10 years left to start seriously tackling the climate crisis before passing the point of no return with multiple-degree temperature increases, rising sea levels and increasingly disastrous wildfires, hurricanes, floods and droughts predicted.Scientists say the US is far off the path of what is necessary for the nation and the world to avoid catastrophic global heating, particularly as in the past four years Donald Trump has shredded environmental protections for Ame
  
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• Wall of the wild: animals on the US-Mexico border – in pictures

  26-10-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Mexican photographer Alejandro Prieto has captured the diverse wildlife threatened by Donald Trump’s barrier, winning a number of awards, including the Fritz Pölking prize, with his project Border Wall Continue reading...
  
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• 'The way I am is an outrage': the Indigenous Brazilian musicians taking back a burning country

  26-10-2020 11:50 via theguardian.com
  
  A vibrant underground of rap, metal, folk and more is thriving among Brazil’s embattled tribes, who are standing up to Bolsonaro’s environment policiesAs Brazil’s world-acclaimed biodiversity turns to ashes, President Jair Bolsonaro has praised the country as an environmental role model. “It is not only in environmental preservation that the country stands out,” the far-right leader affirmed in a UN speech on 22 September. “In the humanitarian and human rights
  
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• Climate change: 'Dangerous and dirty' used cars sold to Africa

  26-10-2020 10:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Millions of polluting and unsafe used cars from rich nations are exported to Africa and Asia.
  
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• HP extends cartridge recycling scheme to 68 countries

  26-10-2020 10:42
  
  Printing and technology giant HP has extended its recycling scheme to 68 countries and territories after collecting more than 875,000 used printer ink cartridges.
  
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• Nine insect-eating bird species in Amazon in sharp decline, scientists find

  26-10-2020 10:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Paper suggests climate crisis reducing insects in lowlands and central jungle, as fruit-eaters not affectedBird species are in decline even in the remote parts of the Amazon, far from human interference, a study shows.Scientists have found a sharp decline in nine insect-eating bird species in the lowlands of the central jungle in the space of a few decades. No equivalent decline was found among fruit-eating birds. This, they said, indicated that the climate crisis and its effect on insect popula
  
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• Sustainability Leaders Awards entries are closing THIS FRIDAY

  26-10-2020 10:15
  
  edie readers have until Friday (30 October) to enter the UK's largest and most prestigious sustainable business awards scheme, which gives organisations and individuals the opportunity to be recognised and celebrated for leading on sustainability, energy and climate action.
  
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• Fantastic beasts in the real world and where to find them

  26-10-2020 10:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  London's Natural History Museum is set to stage one of the most ambitious exhibitions in its history.
  
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• The explosive problem of 'zombie' batteries

  26-10-2020 09:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Batteries that power mobile phones and other devices are causing fires because they are not disposed of properly.
  
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• ‘We do not get a chance at happiness’: the Bangladeshi fishermen caught by debt

  26-10-2020 08:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Hilsa fishermen must borrow to buy equipment but have to sell their catch at a low price to moneylenders – creating a generational debt trapKalam Sheikh’s life revolves around the few months when he goes in search of Bangladesh’s prized hilsa fish. When he gets a good catch, he can make enough money to live on for the rest of the year. He can pay off some of his debts and even improve his home.But this fragile annual cycle has been broken this year, with bad catches bookended b
  
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• It's your regular Arctic death-spiral update with Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin | First Dog on the Moon

  26-10-2020 08:03 via theguardian.com
  
  This just in blah blah blah disaster disaster who is even listening any more? Hello?!Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...
  
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• Tree of the week: ‘They say this oak was used for hangings’

  26-10-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A sinister rumour is attached to this noble tree in Nottingham, but for the city’s young adults with disabilities, it represents something much more joyousSince Ian Jenkins started as a support worker at the Martin Jackaman Centre, a social care centre for adults with disabilities in Aspley, Nottingham, he has been enraptured by the 30-metre (100ft)-high oak tree that overlooks it. “It definitely stands out,” he says. “It’s so tall and striking that it literally ove
  
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• ‘Zombie batteries’ causing hundreds of waste fires, experts warn

  26-10-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Industry urges people not to throw out dead batteries with household rubbish or recycling“Zombie batteries” are causing hundreds of fires a year at waste and recycling sites, industry experts have warned. They are urging people to ensure dead batteries are not thrown away in household rubbish or recycling.Batteries discarded with general waste are likely to be crushed or punctured during collection and processing, according to the Environmental Services Association (Esa). Some types,
  
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• Fruitless search for the long-leaved sundew: Country diary, 26 October 1970

  26-10-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  26 October 1970 It is not, perhaps, a sensible time of year to look for the red sundew as red and gold are now the dominant colours in the bogKESWICK: I wonder if most people realise how many hours one can spend in the countryside and see little, how many miles walk and only find expected things? Yesterday was, for me, mostly a day of expected things. There has been a kingfisher on Derwentwater lately but I have not seen it, nor have I seen the immature golden eagle rumour offers and yesterday &
  
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• Revealed: the full extent of Trump’s ‘meat cleaver’ assault on US wilderness

  26-10-2020 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After four years of Trump, protected places such as national monuments and wildlife refuges have opened to oil drilling, new maps show – with more on the way Continue reading...
  
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• Natural Capital Committee: UK failing on promise to leave nature better for the next generation

  26-10-2020 01:01
  
  The quality of the UK's soil, freshwater and marine habitats has declined in recent years, meaning that the Government is likely to fail to meet its long-term environmental promises without a step-change in action.
  
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