Environment news

• Guy Fawkes Night caused pollution spike across England and South Wales

  12-11-2020 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  High levels of firework chemicals recorded despite Covid ban on organised displaysWith organised firework displays banned because of Covid restrictions, people marked Guy Fawkes Night in their own gardens. The clear, still night on 5 November was ideal for being outside, but it was bad for air pollution. Smoke was slow to clear, and in many places it lingered until the following morning. Particle pollution across the Midlands reached the maximum UK index value of 10. London and cities in Yorkshi
  
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• Unilever on the circular economy and the net-positive debate: What happened on Day Three of Net-Zero Live 2020?

  12-11-2020 18:20
  
  The third and final day of edie's Net-Zero Live 2020 saw hundreds of sustainability and resource experts gathering with the shared aim of accelerating ambition and action. Here, we round up the key takeaways.
  
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• UK bird flu outbreaks prompt tough new restrictions on farms

  12-11-2020 16:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Farmers found to be breaching new biosecurity rules face unlimited fines or three month prison sentencePoultry keepers across England, Scotland and Wales are facing tough new lockdown-style measures on their farms to control the spread of bird flu.It follows outbreaks of a “highly pathogenic” H5N8 strain of bird flu in Cheshire, Devon, Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire over the past two weeks. The outbreaks have been found in wild bird populations and two broiler chicken farms, where
  
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• Anne-Marie Trevelyan: What we know about COP26's 'international adaptation' champion

  12-11-2020 15:35
  
  The UK Government has appointed Conservative MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan to the role of International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26. But as the first woman appointed to a senior role for the crucial climate summit, Trevelyan has a patchy history on climate action.
  
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• Europe moves ahead with Ariel exoplanet mission

  12-11-2020 14:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The green light is given to the near-billion-euro space observatory that will study far-off worlds.
  
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• 'We won': Indigenous group in Canada scoops up billion dollar seafood firm

  12-11-2020 14:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Clearwater Seafoods deal gives Mi’kmaq control of lucrative ocean stretch, as tensions remain high over First Nation fishing rightsFor generations, Indigenous peoples in Canada have watched, often in frustration, as commercial industries profit from the land and waters their ancestors once harvested. This week, however, excitement replaced irritation as a group of First Nations announced plans to scoop up one of the largest seafood companies in North America.Early this week, leaders of the
  
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• 'We won': Indigenous group in Canada scoops up billion dollar seafood company

  12-11-2020 14:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Clearwater Seafoods deal gives Mi’kmaq control of lucrative ocean stretch, as tensions remain high over First Nation fishing rightsFor generations, Indigenous peoples in Canada have watched, often in frustration, as commercial industries profit from the land and waters their ancestors once harvested. This week, however, excitement replaced irritation as a group of First Nations announced plans to scoop up one of the largest seafood companies in North America.Early this week, leaders of the
  
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• Green Jobs Taskforce: Government vows to create two million jobs in low-carbon and nature sectors

  12-11-2020 13:47
  
  Following pressure from business groups and NGOs, the UK Government has launched a Green Jobs Taskforce to help unemployed people and those in transitioning industries into new, skilled jobs.
  
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• Covid: Car use down as second lockdown takes effect

  12-11-2020 13:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  But the roads are much busier than during the first lockdown, new government figures show.
  
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• Report: Only 1% of global climate finance helps water-stressed communities

  12-11-2020 12:17
  
  Of the $73bn of international climate funding provided in 2018, less than 1% was allocated to help the world's poorest people access water and sanitation, a major new report from WaterAid reveals.
  
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• Ribena redesigns plastic labels in bid for 'bottle-to-bottle' recycling

  12-11-2020 11:34
  
  Soft drinks giant Ribena has redesigned the sleeves on its plastic bottles, in a move it claims will improve recycling rates and prevent downcycling.
  
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• Scorching Tucson bucks US trend to put climate justice at centre of plans

  12-11-2020 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Key goals include powering city buildings on renewables and curbing urban sprawlIt was another scorching summer this year in Tucson, Arizona, the second hottest city in the United States, where even plants adapted to the desert’s harsh conditions wilted amid record-breaking temperatures and scant rainfall.This summer was the state’s hottest on record, and in August the city clocked four days that were 43C (110F) or hotter and 26 that were over 37C (99F). Tucson temperatures are on av
  
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• Rolls-Royce unveils plans to build 16 mini nuclear plants in the UK

  12-11-2020 10:56
  
  Rolls-Royce is pushing for the UK government to provide a multi-billion-pound pot for its plans to build 16 small nuclear reactors across the country.
  
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• 'No time to waste': Boris Johnson to set out 10-point plan to boost net-zero commitment

  12-11-2020 10:32
  
  Prime Minister Boris Johnson has issued a global rallying call on nations to put forward raised ambitions to tackle the climate emergency as part of a year-long run-up to COP26, with the UK set to publish a 10-point plan to boost green jobs and reach net-zero imminently.
  
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• Lord Deben: 'Climate change is the symptom, not the disease'

  12-11-2020 10:26
  
  EXCLUSIVE: Committee on Climate Change chairman Lord Deben used his keynote speech at edie's Net-Zero Live to deliver a rousing speech on the intersections between climate change, nature loss and public health.
  
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• Lord Deben at Net-Zero Live: 'Climate change is the symptom, not the disease'

  12-11-2020 10:26
  
  Committee on Climate Change chairman Lord Deben used his keynote speech at edie's Net-Zero Live to deliver a rousing speech on the intersections between climate change, nature loss and public health.
  
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• Dry run: the wet farming experiment that could sow seeds for future crops

  12-11-2020 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Cambridgeshire project trials plants that thrive in more extreme weather, including sphagnum moss and bulrushA road deeply rutted by tractors and trucks winds its way across the Fens in Cambridgeshire, a flat, expansive landscape where trees are the exception, not the rule, and ditches rather than hedges divide the fields. This is England’s breadbasket, a huge food-producing region where the rich, dark soil nurtures potatoes, carrots, sugar beet and wheat.In among these intensively farmed
  
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• Reaching UK net zero target cheaper than we thought, says climate adviser

  12-11-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Chris Stark says cost is surprisingly low but criticises government for absence of a planReaching net zero carbon emissions in the UK is likely to be much easier and cheaper than previously thought, and can be designed in such a way as to quickly improve the lives of millions of people, a senior adviser to the government has said.Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, the UK’s independent statutory adviser, said costs had come down rapidly in recent
  
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• Country diary: all thoughts turn to birds in flight

  12-11-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: Flight gives birds something more than mobility; it gives them an enhanced way of beingThere are wild energies in the air: wraiths of Atlantic weathers twisting and unthreading the sky, warping through trees, poking into thickets.Galvanised and illuminated by these energies are birds. A parcel of linnets unwraps into a field, a blue tit pole dances on a briar, blackbirds and redwings scuffle into hawthorns, long-tailed tits flick around high boughs. A covey of partridge
  
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• The burning scar: Inside the destruction of Asia’s last rainforests

  12-11-2020 01:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Exclusive: A forensic investigation finds evidence of deliberate burning in Papua's palm oil plantations.
  
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• Renewables and restoration: Water sector outlines net-zero routemap for 2030

  12-11-2020 01:01
  
  The UK's major water companies will unveil a Routemap detailing how solar installations, electric vehicles and biomethane production will enable the sector to reach net-zero emissions by 2030.
  
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