Environment news

• WWF vows to 'do more' after human rights abuse reports

  25-11-2020 19:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The conservation charity is accused of working with guards who allegedly tortured and killed people.
  
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• Spending review 'undermines UK green vision'

  25-11-2020 19:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK chancellor's spending review is accused of undermining the prime minister’s “green” vision.
  
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• Two polar bears come sniffing in the Arctic night: Esther Horvath's best photograph

  25-11-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘I heard from the ship that two bears were walking directly towards us. I told the scientists to pack up. When they said no, I showed no mercy’In the autumn of 2019, I joined an expedition to the Arctic. We set sail from Tromsø, Norway, on 20 September, on the Polarstern icebreaker. There were 100 people on board – 60 scientists and 40 crew – but the ship was big enough that it never felt crowded. There were people you didn’t see for days.The plan was to find
  
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• The Cerrado: how Brazil’s vital ‘water tank’ went from forest to soy fields

  25-11-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Cerrado savannah has become an agricultural powerhouse, but wildlife, forests and local communities have paid the priceRevealed: UK supermarket and fast food chicken linked to deforestation in BrazilHow can we stop using soya linked to deforestation?It took just a few decades for Brazilian agriculture to transform its tropical savannah hinterlands – the Cerrado – into an agricultural powerhouse.Farmers and the growing agribusiness sector celebrated rising sales of soya and beef,
  
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• Revealed: UK supermarket and fast food chicken linked to deforestation in Brazil

  25-11-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Tesco, Lidl, Asda, McDonald’s and Nando’s all source chicken fed on soya from Cerrado tropical biome regionHow can we stop using soya linked to deforestation?The Cerrado: how Brazil’s vital ‘water tank’ went from forest to fields for soyaSupermarkets and fast food outlets are selling chicken fed on imported soya linked to thousands of forest fires and at least 300 sq miles (800 sq km) of tree clearance in the Brazilian Cerrado, a joint cross-border investigation has
  
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• How can we stop using soya linked to deforestation?

  25-11-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From feeding insects to chickens to tracking produce, a range of options aim to curb appetite for soya that harms the environmentRevealed: UK supermarket and fast food chicken linked to deforestation in BrazilThe Cerrado: how Brazil’s vital ‘water tank’ went from forest to fields for soyaNearly all soya is used by the farming sector as a livestock feed for chickens, pigs and other animals. The biggest users are chicken producers; soya makes up around a quarter of the diet of bi
  
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• How is the green economy reacting to the Spending Review and National Infrastructure Strategy?

  25-11-2020 15:44
  
  Green groups have dubbed the Spending Review a "missed opportunity" for the green recovery movement and net-zero transition, urging more new investment and clarity on climate requirements for the national investment bank.
  
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• National Infrastructure Strategy: Government to deliver 'revolution' tied to net-zero

  25-11-2020 15:38
  
  The Government has launched its long-awaited National Infrastructure Strategy, detailing how transport, industry, energy and the built environment will be transformed to reach net-zero, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak using his spending review to confirm a £12bn commitment to the net-zero transition in 2021-2022.
  
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• Boris Johnson’s 'jet zero' green flight goal dismissed as a gimmick

  25-11-2020 13:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts says technology alone will not get close to solving aviation’s emissions problemsBoris Johnson’s “jet zero” goal of a commercial transatlantic flight producing no carbon emissions by 2025 is a “gimmick”, according to experts, who say technology alone cannot solve the impact of global aviation on the climate crisis.Such a flight would not be impossible, the experts said, but could only be a one-off and would encourage the view that other measures such a
  
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• Boris Johnson’s 'jet zero' carbon flight goal dismissed as a gimmick

  25-11-2020 13:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts says technology alone will not get close to solving aviation’s emissions problemsBoris Johnson’s “jet zero” goal of a commercial transatlantic flight producing no carbon emissions by 2025 is a “gimmick”, according to experts, who say technology alone cannot solve the impact of global aviation on the climate crisis.Such a flight is not impossible, the experts said, but could only be a oneoff and would encourage the view that other measures such as taxin
  
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• SLS: Nasa 'megarocket' assembly begins in Florida

  25-11-2020 12:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nasa has stacked the first pieces of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
  
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• Meet the South Poll cow: the healthier, naturally raised cattle of the future?

  25-11-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Most US cattle are bred to be require grain rations and antibiotics but the small-framed red cow thrives on a grass-only diet – with benefits to the environmentMissouri rancher Greg Judy spots a six-month-old South Poll heifer calf in his herd that is a prime example of what he calls a “good doing cow”. A cow that will “do good” on grass alone. Related: 'In the sun they'd cook': is the US south-west getting too hot for farm animals?Continue reading...
  
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• BEIS, Lego Group and Anglian Water confirmed among latest wave of speakers for Sustainability Leaders Forum

  25-11-2020 11:27
  
  The chief executive of Anglian Water, Peter Simpson, and Minister for Business Energy and Clean Growth Kwasi Kwarteng are among the latest headline speakers that will feature at edie's biggest event of the year - the Sustainability Leaders Forum - which takes place as a global, virtual event on 2-4 February 2021.
  
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• Japan Tobacco International commits to net-zero by 2030

  25-11-2020 09:26
  
  Japan Tobacco International (JTI UK) has committed to reaching net-zero emissions in the next decade by procuring 100% renewable energy, transitioning its UK fleet to electric vehicles (EV) and diverting waste from landfill.
  
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• Net-zero pensions 'could deliver £1trn for UK's green recovery'

  25-11-2020 09:25
  
  By re-allocating a proportion of state pensions to low-carbon energy and transport, and giving seniors access to these sectors for free, the UK Government could unlock £1trn for the net-zero transition.
  
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• Is it a bird? Is it a bee? No, it's a lizard pollinating South Africa's 'hidden flower'

  25-11-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  How a chance encounter with a ‘weird plant’ in the Drakensberg mountains led to a startling discoveryTowards the end of 2017, PhD candidate Ruth Cozien and her husband Dr Timo van der Niet were attending a citizen science workshop high up in South Africa’s Drakensberg mountains when they stumbled across “this weird plant with green flowers hidden beneath its leaves, a really strong scent and enough nectar to drown an insect”, Cozien recalls.While many people might h
  
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• The Indian school where students pay for lessons with plastic waste

  25-11-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Villagers once burned the toxic waste as fuel, but a pioneering couple’s radical education model uses it much more creatively
  Every morning, students in Assam’s Pamohi village go to school clutching a bag of plastic waste, in exchange for which they will get their day’s lessons.Akshar School, founded by Mazin Mukhtar, 32, and his wife Parmita Sarma, 30, has turned its pupils into ecowarriors by waiving school fees and helping to stop local people burning used plastic. Continue
  
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• The Morrison government has abrogated responsibility for acting on the climate crisis to the states | John Hewson

  25-11-2020 04:54 via theguardian.com
  
  It has fallen to the states to lead with more realistic targets, strategies and attempted policy responsesA colleague commented to me recently, “Where would we be without the states leading and driving the response to Covid-19?”It made me think. To cut through all the spin, point scoring and blame shifting. Sure, there was the National cabinet and Scott Morrison’s attempt to forge a national, collaborative response, but so much of the heavy lifting was actually done by the stat
  
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• Bin-shaming: the fine line between recycling education and community alienation

  25-11-2020 02:28 via theguardian.com
  
  A Sydney council has been criticised for inspecting recycling bins and tagging those that don’t comply with rulesAn eastern Sydney council has come under fire for a program in which staff inspect residents’ garbage bins and leave notes with information on how they can better recycle.In Australia, where all household recycling is collected in one bin, contamination is a huge problem, when a few non-recyclable products can cause entire trucks’ worth of goods to go to landfill. Co
  
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• Bin-shaming in Australia: the fine line between recycling education and community alienation

  25-11-2020 02:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Randwick council criticised for inspecting recycling bins and tagging those that don’t comply with rulesAn eastern Sydney council has come under fire for a program in which staff inspect residents’ garbage bins and leave notes with information on how they can better recycle.In Australia, where all household recycling is collected in one bin, contamination is a huge problem, when a few non-recyclable products can cause entire trucks’ worth of goods to go to landfill. Continue re
  
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• How sunshine can make the railways greener

  25-11-2020 02:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The railways in the UK, Australia and India getting power from the sun in different ways.
  
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• Why Bhutan's Sakteng wildlife sanctuary is disputed by China

  25-11-2020 01:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tiny Bhutan is feeling the squeeze as its giant neighbours China and India vie for territory.
  
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