Environment news

• Net-Zero Live 2020 preview: 8 things not to be missed at next week's virtual event

  02-11-2020 20:16
  
  With just a week to go until Net-Zero Live 2020, hosted in association with EDF Energy, edie previews some moments from the virtual conference that readers will not want to miss out on.
  
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• Net-Zero Live 2020 preview: 8 things not to be missed

  02-11-2020 20:16
  
  With just a week to go until Net-Zero Live 2020, hosted in association with EDF Energy, edie previews some moments from the virtual conference that readers will not want to miss out on.
  
  Read more

• Treat artificial light like other forms of pollution, say scientists

  02-11-2020 18:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Impact of human illumination has grown to point of systemic disruption, researchers find
  Artificial light should be treated like other forms of pollution because its impact on the natural world has widened to the point of systemic disruption, research says.Human illumination of the planet is growing in range and intensity by about 2% a year, creating a problem that can be compared to climate change, according to a team of biologists from the University of Exeter. Continue reading...
  
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• Businesses making eco-friendly claims to be vetted by watchdog

  02-11-2020 18:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Competition and Markets Authority says rising demand may lead to ‘greenwashing’Companies that market their products or services as eco-friendly are to be scrutinised by the UK competition watchdog to make sure they live up to the claim and do not mislead consumers.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was concerned that a rise in demand for green goods could encourage some businesses to make misleading claims about the environmental impact of what they are selling. Cont
  
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• Businesses making eco-friendly claims to be vetted by UK watchdog

  02-11-2020 18:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Competition and Markets Authority says rise in demand for green goods may tempt firms into misleading consumersCompanies that market their products or services as eco-friendly are to be scrutinised by the UK competition watchdog to make sure they live up to the claim and do not mislead consumers.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was concerned that a rise in demand for green goods could encourage some businesses to make misleading claims about the environmental impact of what th
  
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• Race to save 100 whales in Sri Lanka's biggest mass beaching

  02-11-2020 18:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Navy joins forces with rescuers and volunteers in effort to push pilot whales back into oceanRescuers and volunteers were racing to save about 100 pilot whales stranded on Sri Lanka’s western coast in the country’s biggest mass beaching.The short-finned pilot whales began beaching at Panadura, 15 miles (25km) south of Colombo, shortly before dusk. Within an hour their numbers swelled to about 100, a local police chief, Sanjaya Irasinghe, said. Continue reading...
  
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• The EU has put plant-based burgers back on the menu | Alicia Kennedy

  02-11-2020 18:06 via theguardian.com
  
  The decision to allow meat and dairy words to be used on vegetarian food suggests diets are changing for the betterIt’s no longer obvious that one’s burger must come from an animal – and this has people in the industrial livestock world scared.In recent years, both the United States and European Union have seen cases brought by advocates of animal-flesh meat against plant-based meat, which can be made of anything from genetically modified soy protein to oyster mushrooms. What i
  
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• The Estée Lauder Companies reaches net-zero operational emissions, 100% renewable electricity

  02-11-2020 17:00
  
  The Estée Lauder Companies has announced that it is now operating as a net-zero carbon business and using renewable electricity to meet 100% of its demand globally.
  
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• EDF on net-zero, green spending and energy innovations

  02-11-2020 16:57
  
  To kickstart edie's Net Zero November, headline sponsors EDF discuss why the net-zero transition is so important to them, and how businesses can use low-carbon solutions to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.
  
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• Oxford: The soggy view from UK's oldest rain record

  02-11-2020 16:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Like the country as a whole, Oxford's Radcliffe weather station recorded an extremely wet October.
  
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• Climate crisis breaks open generational rifts in US families

  02-11-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A sense of despair and outrage among young people over global heating is being met with indifference and dismissal among some older relativesThe climate crisis lingers in the back of Gemma Gutierrez’s mind, a gnawing anxiety that blossoms fully when she reads about wildfires, flooding or other climate-related disasters. It’s a nagging concern that clouds how the 16-year-old sees her future.“I have a sense of dread,” says Gutierrez, who lives with her parents in Milwaukee.
  
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• Natural Capital Committee: Environment Bill updates must stop businesses destroying nature

  02-11-2020 15:38
  
  The UK Government must "urgently" help large businesses to value the natural resources in their value chains and to promote conservation and restoration at scale, the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) has concluded.
  
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• Durham University Prof Carlos Frenk's prize a 'huge honour'

  02-11-2020 14:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Prof Carlos Frenk is one of the originators of a theory on dark matter and galaxies.
  
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• Can business models act as carbon sinks to reach net-zero?

  02-11-2020 13:21
  
  To kickstart edie's Net-Zero November, carpet manufacturer Interface's regional sustainability manager and innovation partner Jon Khoo reflects on the company's own ambitious Climate Takeback strategy, as well as discussing how business mindsets and models can "act like carbon sinks" to transform corporates into zero-impact organisations.
  
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• Gillette to halve virgin plastic use and emissions by 2030

  02-11-2020 12:45
  
  Personal care brand Gillette has committed to halving the amount of virgin, fossil-based plastics it uses by 2030 and to halve its absolute emissions within the same timeframe.
  
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• Business groups call on Prime Minister to set Paris Agreement commitment by end of year

  02-11-2020 11:27
  
  A number of green business groups have called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the UK Government to set a substantial commitment to the Paris Agreement that is aligned to the nation's own net-zero target.
  
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• 6 in 10 UK SMEs believe net-zero and the green recovery is good for business

  02-11-2020 11:23
  
  Almost two-thirds (61%) of small and medium-sized businesses in Britain believe that the move to a greener economy post-Covid-19 presents positive opportunities, a new poll of more than 500 SMEs has found.
  
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• 'Regeneration' is too often an unfair fight between local people and global finance | Anna Minton

  02-11-2020 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  On Tuesday a London council decides over a 20-storey tower in Brixton – a tale familiar to cities from Manchester to Sydney Taylor McWilliam, the Texan property developer, friend of Prince Harry and DJ, has been no stranger to gentrification battles since he bought large swaths of Brixton, in south London, with the backing of a New York hedge fund.One of the most multicultural and vibrant parts of London, Brixton has been at the heart of the UK’s gentrification struggles for more tha
  
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• Sustainability Leaders Awards: Entry deadline extended to THIS FRIDAY

  02-11-2020 09:20
  
  The deadline for entering the UK's largest and most prestigious sustainable business awards scheme - edie's Sustainability Leaders Awards 2021 - has been extended by one week to this Friday, 6 November.
  
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• Rotten river: life on one of the world’s most polluted waterways – photo essay

  02-11-2020 08:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Indonesia’s Citarum is relied upon by millions, but decades of pollution have choked it with chemicals and rubbishWords and pictures by Andrea Carrubba in DayeuhkolotThe smell is the first thing that hits you on the banks of the Citarum River in West Java, Indonesia. The odour is dense: rubbish rotting in hot sun mixed in with an acrid tone of chemical waste. Some 9 million people live in close contact with the river, where levels of faecal coliform bacteria are more than 5,000 times manda
  
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• Tree of the week: An American elm that survives all the more safely in its isolation

  02-11-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This tree stands on Massachusetts farmland, 95 miles from the nearest town and safe from the ravages of Dutch elm diseaseJeff Kaufman, a retired doctor from Massachusetts, has made a point of visiting the same American elm for nearly two decades. Why? “This tree is a survivor,” he says. “Like many old American elms, it’s located in an isolated place where Dutch elm disease couldn’t get to it.”The elm, which Kaufman estimates to be about 150 years old, stands i
  
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• 'In the sun they'd cook': is the US south-west getting too hot for farm animals?

  02-11-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As temperatures rise, farmers are being forced to adapt, experimenting with new breeds and cooling methodsClimate Countdown: The US is set to exit the Paris climate agreement on 4 November. Read more about what’s at stakeSouth-west of Phoenix, Arizona, in the hottest desert in North America, Beth and Tim Wilson use sprinklers to cool their 300 pigs. Nearby, the Adams Natural Meats bison ranch employs shaders and misters. North of the city, chicken farmer Dave Jordan says he cannot put his
  
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• 'In the sun they'd cook': farm animals at risk as US south-west heats

  02-11-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As temperatures rise, farmers are being forced to adapt, experimenting with new breeds and cooling methodsClimate Countdown: The US is set to exit the Paris climate agreement on 4 November. Read more about what’s at stakeSouth-west of Phoenix, Arizona, in the hottest desert in North America, Beth and Tim Wilson use sprinklers to cool their 300 pigs. Nearby, the Adams Natural Meats bison ranch employs shaders and misters. North of the city, chicken farmer Dave Jordan says he cannot put his
  
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• Country diary: bad weather leaves thatchers with the short straw

  02-11-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Buckland in the Moor, Devon: An unpromising wheat harvest results in scruffy raw material for thatchers this year, but looks aren’t everything It began life as a cow shed. The low building at the edge of St Peter’s Church in Buckland in the Moor looks unremarkable enough – rough granite walls, a simple roof of Devon wheat – yet it is believed to be the only surviving thatched vestry in the country.I am here to repair the roof. The church treasurer, Patrick Watson, shows m
  
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• Could Scotland ever be 'the Saudi Arabia of renewables'?

  02-11-2020 01:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Not for the first time, politicians highlight Scotland's potential to generate renewable energy.
  
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