Environment news

• Donegal: Ministers shocked at peat slide devastation

  20-11-2020 21:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ministers visited the scene of a huge peat slide on the Tyrone Donegal border.
  
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• New rules for Arctic shipping 'a missed opportunity'

  20-11-2020 21:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Environmental groups say new regulations on ships carrying polluting oils in the Arctic don't go far enough.
  
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• Independents' day: why safe Coalition seats are facing grassroots challenges

  20-11-2020 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Inspired by the success of Helen Haines and Zali Steggall, a new generation of independents are sizing up Liberal and National MPs Australia’s independent movement is gaining traction. Inspired by the success of Warringah’s Zali Steggall and Indi’s Helen Haines in 2019, the next federal election could see up to a dozen safe Coalition seats facing serious, well-organised challenges.The motivations vary: the lack of action on climate change, the tenor of modern politics, mining b
  
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• The Guardian view on the ‘spy cops’ inquiry: secrets and liars | Editorial

  20-11-2020 19:23 via theguardian.com
  
  The undercover policing inquiry was on shaky ground before it started, and victims are right to be concerned
  The abuse carried out by undercover “spy cops” working in two police units over 40 years took many forms. The deception practised by at least 20 officers who had sexual relationships with their targets – mostly women, at least three of whom had children as a result – was a gross breach of the women’s human rights, as the force acknowledged when it apologised
  
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• Climate pledge on gas boilers for 2023 'vanishes'

  20-11-2020 18:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A government promise to ban gas boilers from new homes by 2023 has been withdrawn from its website.
  
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• ‘Suffocating closeness’: US judge condemns ‘appalling conditions’ on industrial farms

  20-11-2020 17:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Pork giant Smithfield has settled with North Carolina residents who sued over stench, flies and truck traffic from Kinlaw FarmsA US judge has issued a blistering condemnation of industrial farming practices. The judgment comes as one US meat giant finally settles after a six-year legal battle with plaintiffs who sued the company over the stench, flies, buzzards and truck traffic coming from its industrial swine farms in North Carolina.J Harvie Wilkinson III, one of the judges in a case that pitt
  
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• Microplastic pollution found near summit of Mount Everest

  20-11-2020 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Humans now known to have polluted Earth from deepest ocean to highest peakMicroplastic pollution has been discovered in snow close to the peak of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. With plastic debris revealed in 2018 at the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench, it is now clear that humanity’s litter has polluted the entire planet.The tiny plastic fibres were found within a few hundred metres of the top of the 8,850-metre mountain, at a spot known as the balcony. Micr
  
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• Podback: Coffee brands join forces on UK pod recycling scheme

  20-11-2020 15:46
  
  Brands such as Nespresso, Nescafé Dolce Gusto and Tassimo have launched a new recycling initiative that aims to get the coffee sector collaborating on a simplistic way to enable consumers to recycle coffee pods in the UK.
  
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• Net-zero by 2050: Canada tables first climate legislation in more than a decade

  20-11-2020 15:17
  
  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tabled a bill which would legally bind the nation to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
  
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• OneWeb satellite internet company is officially reborn

  20-11-2020 14:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Now owned jointly by UK taxpayers and an Indian conglomerate, OneWeb formally emerges from bankruptcy.
  
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• Net-Zero Navigators podcast: Meet Dentsu International's chief sustainability officer Anna Lungley

  20-11-2020 14:28
  
  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: Dentsu International's CSO Anna Lungley.
  
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• Pressure grows on Boris Johnson over UK carbon emissions plan

  20-11-2020 13:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate experts say UK should aim to cut emissions by more than 70% as crucial summit loomsBoris Johnson is facing a fresh test of his green commitments as the UK prepares to submit its national plan on future carbon emissions, before crucial UN climate negotiations.Pressure is growing on the prime minister to come up with an ambitious national target – known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC) – on cutting emissions substantially by 2030, because the UK will host the postp
  
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• UK to support 'Paris Agreement on plastics'

  20-11-2020 11:38
  
  The UK Minister for Pacific and the Environment, Zac Goldsmith, has revealed that the UK is willing to discuss a new global treaty to tackle plastics pollution, which has been supported by more than two-thirds of UN member states.
  
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• SSE unveils 'just transition' strategy to benefit communities during net-zero transition

  20-11-2020 11:11
  
  Energy giant SSE has issued a public "Just Transition" plan, which lays out steps to protect workers and communities as the business and the UK moves towards net-zero emissions.
  
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• Is Boris Johnson's Ten Point Plan enough to reach net-zero?

  20-11-2020 10:24
  
  Businesses, green groups and entire sectors welcomed the far-reaching announcement from the UK Government to issue a Ten Point Plan that would put the nation on the road to net-zero, but already analysis suggests that more is required to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
  
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• How communities are divided over low-traffic neighbourhoods

  20-11-2020 09:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Closing roads to cars promotes safety and neighbourhood spirit, but measures can also deepen divides between residentsTell us about your experiences of reducing traffic and creating green neighbourhoodsSo you want to set up a low-traffic neighbourhood? Here’s where to startMythbusters: eight common objections to LTNs – and why they are wrongIn Poole, 41-year-old teacher Kate Salter said a low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) had transformed her community. Salter was involved in proposing
  
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• Cruise ship 2.0: setting sail into the new normal – photo essay

  20-11-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In the midst of the pandemic, cruise ships are back with swab tests, socially distanced mini-golf – and the same old environmental damage. Can the bubble stay intact?Italians are warm people but we have put aside, for a while, the handshakes and hugs that are our dearest habits. We are on the MSC Grandiosa, the major first cruise ship to depart since lockdown began in Europe.It’s 16 August 2020, the day after an Italian ministerial decree that allowed cruises to restart, and the Gran
  
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• Cruise ship 2.0: island hopping in the new normal – photo essay

  20-11-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In the midst of the pandemic, cruise ships are back with swab tests, socially distanced mini-golf – and the same old environmental damage. Can the bubble stay intact?Italians are warm people but we have put aside, for a while, the handshakes and hugs that are our dearest habits. We are on the MSC Grandiosa, the major first cruise ship to depart since lockdown began in Europe.It’s 16 August 2020, the day after an Italian ministerial decree that allowed cruises to restart, and the Gran
  
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• National Trust steps in to rescue rare English lichen

  20-11-2020 08:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Ancient lungwort translocated from fallen oak to nearby trees in trust’s largest-ever moveJust as an art gallery would protect its collection of fine and rare paintings, the National Trust is attempting to save one of England’s rarest lichens.The lungwort, a survivor of the ancient wildwood that grew in Britain after the last ice age, has been painstakingly transferred from a fallen oak to nearby trees. Continue reading...
  
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• So you want to set up a low-traffic neighbourhood? Here’s where to start

  20-11-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our guide to everything from getting council approval to winning over the critics
  Birdsong and community: coming round to low-traffic neighbourhoods Read more in our Green Streets series
  For all the attention low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) are getting, they are very simple things. Strategic “point closures” allow vehicle access to all addresses in a neighbourhood, but reduce through traffic. They can be done with planters, or lockable bollards, or a combination of both. Continue r
  
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• Birdsong and community: coming round to low-traffic neighbourhoods

  20-11-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Closing roads to cars can spark opposition and discussion but also creates peace, safety and neighbourhood spiritTell us about your experiences of reducing traffic and creating green neighbourhoodsSo you want to set up a low-traffic neighbourhood? Here’s where to startMythbusters: eight common objections to LTNs – and why they are wrongIn Poole, 41-year-old teacher Kate Salter said a low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) had transformed her community. Salter was involved in proposing the m
  
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• Country diary: the farming year begins with a bang for the ewes

  20-11-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Tebay, Cumbria: Blissfully unaware of the consequences of the vet’s visit earlier in the year, these vasectomised males pursue the yows, nudging and sniffing them to see if they would be receptive to mating
  The new farming year started with a bang on Guy Fawkes night after we loosed seven tups among the yows on our upland farm on the edge of the Howgill Fells. My son and I had spent hours discussing the genetic makeup and breeding record of our 11 rams, matching the ones we like best to gr
  
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• Garnier launches shampoo bars with reduced environmental impact

  20-11-2020 06:00
  
  L'Oreal brand Garnier is launching a new range of shampoo bars, packaged in 100% recyclable materials, that offer a 25% reduction in environmental impact compared to liquid shampoos.
  
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• Global map of bees created in conservation first

  20-11-2020 01:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The data will help protect vital pollinators and could lead to new bee discoveries, say scientists.
  
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• The Caribbean islands poisoned by a carcinogenic pesticide

  20-11-2020 01:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  On Martinique and Guadeloupe a pesticide has poisoned the soil and water and caused many cases of prostate cancer.
  
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• Covid vaccine update: When will one be ready?

  20-11-2020 00:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Hopes are rising that an effective vaccine against Covid-19 will be available soon.
  
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