Environment news

• Weatherwatch: better forecasting of bitter cold would save lives

  13-11-2020 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Extreme cold events such as the ‘beast from the east’ can be predicted by studying polar windsIn February 2018, the “beast from the east” brought snow and temperatures as low as -14C to the UK. A new study shows that such cold events result in hundreds of excess deaths in the UK, peaking between three and five weeks after the polar winds slacken.Extreme cold events like the beast from the east occur roughly once every two years and are triggered by a weakening of the wind
  
  Read more

• Green giants: the massive projects that could make Australia a clean energy superpower

  13-11-2020 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Asian Renewable Energy Hub would have an energy content equivalent to 40% of Australia’s overall electricity generationThe world’s largest power station is planned for a vast piece of desert about half the size of greater suburban Sydney in Australia’s remote north-west.Called the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, its size is difficult to conceptualise. If built in full, there will be 1,600 giant wind turbines and a 78 sq km array of solar panels a couple of hundred kilometres ea
  
  Read more

• Net-Zero Navigators podcast: Meet Velux's vice-president for sustainability, Ingrid Reumert

  13-11-2020 16:28
  
  To mark Net-Zero November, edie is publishing a mini series of podcasts interviewing the trendsetters and trailblazers in the net-zero movement. Up next: Velux's VP for global communications, sustainability & public affairs, Ingrid Reumert.
  
  Read more

• New Sentinel satellites to check the pulse of Earth

  13-11-2020 15:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  More satellites are ordered for the EU project that monitors the state of the planet.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Mutated strain of coronavirus may 'jump back and forth'

  13-11-2020 14:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A new coronavirus strain could potentially leap to other animals, such as mice and voles, says expert.
  
  Read more

• Mutated coronavirus may 'jump back and forth' between animals

  13-11-2020 14:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The virus could potentially leap to other animals, such as mice and voles, as well as mink, says expert.
  
  Read more

• Black Friday emissions boom predicted

  13-11-2020 13:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Climate change: why Black Friday needs patience
  
  Read more

• Nasa's giant SLS rocket: a guide

  13-11-2020 13:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nasa's huge next-generation rocket is undergoing tests ahead of its maiden flight in 2021.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• #SustyTalk: Global Returns Project's Yan Swiderski on the next generation of climate finance

  13-11-2020 13:22
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with the Global Returns Project's co-founder Yan Swiderski discussing how the finance sector is responding to climate change.
  
  Read more

• Tiny Atlantic island takes giant leap towards protecting world's oceans

  13-11-2020 12:03 via theguardian.com
  
  UK overseas territory Tristan da Cunha’s new marine protected area will be fourth largest sanctuary of its kindA community of 250 people on one of the most remote inhabited islands on Earth has made a significant contribution to marine wildlife conservation by banning bottom-trawling fishing, deep-sea mining and other harmful activities from its waters.The government of Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic archipelago in the south Atlantic and part of the UK’s overseas territories, has annou
  
  Read more

• Majority of local authorities have declared climate emergencies

  13-11-2020 11:35
  
  Almost two years on from when the first council in the UK declared a climate emergency and responded with ambitious decarbonisation plans, a new mapping tool has unveiled that nearly three-quarters of local councils have made similar declarations, with more than half of those committing to reach net-zero.
  
  Read more

• Nasa's new 'megarocket' set for critical tests

  13-11-2020 11:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The agency's Moon rocket is entering the final stages of testing ahead of its maiden flight in 2021.
  
  Read more

• Tesco to co-create three UK solar farms

  13-11-2020 11:07
  
  Tesco has confirmed a new partnership with a renewable energy investor that will facilitate the creation of three solar farms in the UK that will generate clean power equivalent to powering 44,800 homes.
  
  Read more

• City to Sea: 8 in 10 food-to-go giants failing to tackle single-use plastic

  13-11-2020 11:02
  
  A survey of 20 of the UK's largest food-to-go outlets has found that more than eight in ten have introduced no policies on removing single-use plastic from consumer-facing operations this year.
  
  Read more

• World heritage status for Scottish peat bogs could help UK hit net zero goals

  13-11-2020 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Hopes rise that the Flow Country, the world’s largest carbon store, could become first peatland to win the statusAndrew Coupar has crouched down by a small pool, its surface peppered with the small stalks of bogbean. In autumn its dark green oval leaves echo the muted browns, greens and ochres of the surrounding peatland.In spring, however, the bogbean’s pink-fringed white flowers put on a remarkable display, carpeting the cluster of pools that mirror the blue skies and light clouds
  
  Read more

• Tangled sharks and reefs under nets – 2020's most powerful ocean photos

  13-11-2020 10:30 via theguardian.com
  
  From fishing gear to shrinking ice – finalists in the conservation category of the inaugural Ocean Photography Awards focused on the destructive impact of humans on the sea. The winner will be announced on 19 November Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• 'We packed long underwear and never wore it': Arctic scientists shocked at warming

  13-11-2020 10:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Couple finds areas that once required ice-breaking ship have become open waterWhen the Arctic researchers Jacqueline Grebmeier and Lee Cooper made their annual scientific pilgrimage to frigid seas off Alaska last month, what they found was startling.Areas that were previously accessible at that time of the year only with an ice-breaking ship had become open, wavy water.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Council efforts to tackle climate crisis 'hampered by UK government'

  13-11-2020 09:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Swingeing cuts and lack of support hinder meaningful action, says Green councillor The woman behind the first climate emergency declaration by a UK council says swingeing cuts and a lack of support from central government have hampered local authority attempts to tackle the escalating problem.Bristol Green party councillor Carla Denyer proposed the UK’s first climate emergency motion two years ago, committing the city council to go carbon neutral by 2030. Since then three-quarters of local
  
  Read more

• Governments urged to go beyond net zero climate targets

  13-11-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Leading scientists and campaigners say cutting emissions alone is not enough
  Leading scientists, academics and campaigners have called on governments and businesses to go beyond “net zero” in their efforts to tackle the escalating climate and ecological crisis.The former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the leading climate scientist Michael Mann are among a group of prominent environmentalists calling for the “restoration of the climate” by removing “huge
  
  Read more

• Country diary: starlings put on a show, but not for Instagram

  13-11-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Slapton Ley, Devon: I wanted to be away from the chatter and the bright, intrusive screens held up between world and eyeAgnès Varda said that we all carry landscapes. As I stood alone on a small stone bridge, clouds shedding their pinks in the dimpsey and the valley clotting to iron blue-black, thousands of starlings came to roost in the reeds around me.Here below France Woods, at the back of the Ley, I was well away from other people. I know full well that they too come to the reserve to
  
  Read more

• Ma Jun: China has started to 'walk the walk' on climate crisis

  13-11-2020 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  US dropped the environmental ball under Trump, but Biden victory means the two countries can work together for a green recovery, says campaignerMa Jun experienced a strange role reversal during Donald Trump’s presidency. Over more than two decades as one of China’s top environmental campaigners, American encouragement for Beijing to cut carbon emissions and temper the damage of rapid industrialisation had been part of the background music. Ma never imagined he would see the US renege
  
  Read more

• The five best road trips in WA, NT and SA – according to someone who's done them all

  13-11-2020 04:25 via theguardian.com
  
  After spending six months on the road in central and Western Australia, Farrin Foster shares her favourite routes, from short trips to something more ambitious On the first day of our six-month road trip, we had a car accident.Our plan had been to head north from our home town of Adelaide, reach Darwin and turn left. Eventually we wanted to trace the whole western coast, returning via the Nullarbor. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Melbourne's livestreamed peregrine falcon chicks take flight – video

  13-11-2020 03:49 via theguardian.com
  
  The three nestlings who hatched atop a Melbourne skyscraper have taken to the air for the first time. As Victoria endured one of the world's longest Covid-19 lockdowns, thousands of Melburnians watched the live feed of the nesting box, and the peregrine falcons became one of the city's favourite families. The three fledglings took flight from Collins Street in the early hours, six weeks after they hatched in front of their adoring viewersMelbourne on tenterhooks as peregrine falcon chicks prepar
  
  Read more

• Fact-checking the US and China on climate and environment

  13-11-2020 01:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  We fact-check US and Chinese claims about CO2 emissions, plastic waste and illegal timber.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!