Environment news

• VicForests allowed to resume logging despite risk of ‘irreversible damage’ in fire-hit Gippsland

  07-12-2020 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Letters sent to the forestry agency advised logging in bushfire-affected areas should apply the ‘precautionary principle’ to consider threatened species Victoria’s publicly-owned forestry agency has been allowed to restart logging in bushfire-ravaged east Gippsland despite a warning from a regulator there was a risk of “serious and irreversible damage” to the state’s biodiversity.Documents released under freedom of information laws show the state’s conse
  
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• Environment Agency faces questions over works on protected river

  07-12-2020 17:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Local wildlife trust says work has devastated Herefordshire river but landowner says EA asked him to do it Environment agency officials were under pressure on Monday to explain what consent they gave to carry out extensive work on the banks of a protected river in England.Officials from the EA, Natural England and the Forestry Commission moved in last week to stop the work along the River Lugg outside Kingsland, near Leominster in Herefordshire. Continue reading...
  
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• IEA: Energy efficiency improvements for 2020 'the weakest in a decade'

  07-12-2020 17:02
  
  Despite nations investing in retrofitting and businesses looking to make energy savings amid lockdown restrictions, global progress on energy efficiency has slowed in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
  
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• Natural History Museum targets carbon neutrality by 2035

  07-12-2020 15:56
  
  London's Natural History Museum has outlined new climate targets, stating that there is "not any time to waste" in the transition to net-zero.
  
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• Mother of girl who died after asthma attack ‘knew nothing’ about pollution risk

  07-12-2020 15:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Rosamund Kissi-Debrah ‘would have moved house’ if aware of pollution threat to her daughterThe mother of a nine-year-old girl who died after an acute asthma attack said she would have moved house immediately had she been told of the link between air pollution and her daughter’s condition.Rosamund Kissi-Debrah told the inner south London coroner that she knew nothing about nitrogen dioxide or air pollution during her daughter’s life. Continue reading...
  
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• Mother of asthma death girl ‘knew nothing’ about toxic air in London

  07-12-2020 15:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Rosamund Kissi-Debrah ‘would have moved house’ if aware of level of pollution threat to her daughterThe mother of a nine-year-old girl who died after an acute asthma attack said she would have moved house immediately had she been told of the link between air pollution and her daughter’s condition.Rosamund Kissi-Debrah told the inner south London coroner that she knew nothing about nitrogen dioxide or air pollution during her daughter’s life. Continue reading...
  
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• Walkers turns to beer-based carbon capture for low-carbon potatoes

  07-12-2020 13:28
  
  Crisp brand Walkers is scaling up efforts to repurpose potato peelings and captured carbon for use as fertiliser - a system which can reduce emissions associated with potato growing by 70%.
  
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• UK's first electric vehicle forecourt opens to drivers in Essex

  07-12-2020 12:53
  
  The UK's first "electric forecourt", featuring rapid electric vehicle (EV) chargers, battery storage and onsite renewable generation, has opened to the public in Essex.
  
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• Glencore sets 2050 net-zero target, but won't divest from coal

  07-12-2020 11:23
  
  Swiss multinational mining and materials giant Glencore has set new climate targets headlined by a 2050 net-zero vision, covering all scopes.
  
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• Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé named top plastic polluters for third year in a row

  07-12-2020 10:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Companies accused of “zero progress” on reducing plastic waste, with Coca-Cola ranked No 1 for most littered productsCoca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé have been accused of “zero progress” on reducing plastic waste, after being named the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year in a row.Coca-Cola was ranked the world’s No 1 plastic polluter by Break Free From Plastic in its annual audit, after its beverage bottles were the most frequently found disca
  
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• Snow may not settle in most of UK by end of century, study suggests

  07-12-2020 08:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate crisis likely to cause warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers, says Met OfficeSnowball fights and sledging could be at risk because by the end of the century snow will not settle on the ground in much of the UK due to the climate crisis, Met Office analysis has suggested.Detailed projections suggest traditional winter activities such as building snowmen could disappear if global greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced. Continue reading...
  
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• Spice of life: how turmeric became the 'new gold' for Sri Lanka villagers

  07-12-2020 08:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Turmeric is synonymous with Sri Lankan cuisine and an import ban is helping boost production after the ravages of civil warIn Sri Lankan cuisine, a pinch of turmeric brings the gold colour to sodhi, the mildly spiced coconut soup eaten with the island’s carbohydrate-rich foods.Turmeric is valued in every Sri Lankan kitchen for its subtle flavour, distinct yellow colour and powerful aroma. In ayurvedic medicine, this humble spice is hailed for its values as an anti-inflammatory. Continue re
  
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• Tree of the week: ‘I’d tie myself to this Norway maple rather than see it cut down’

  07-12-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Despite living in the area for 36 years, it was only in lockdown that June Hicks paid full attention to the majestic tree nearbyOne of the few joys of a year dominated by Covid-19 has been how many of us have discovered an appreciation for nature. Particularly in towns and cities, people such as June Hicks, a 68-year-old retired maths lecturer, have used lockdown as an opportunity to explore their local area and, consequently, have begun to notice things they once took for granted.“I&rsquo
  
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• Not to be sneezed at: how 3D printing is supersizing the tiny world of pollen

  07-12-2020 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Project allows students, scientists and even fashion designers to create giant models of pollen grains from around the world
  As a former secondary school science teacher, Oliver Wilson knows the challenges of communicating big, complex issues. Now, the palaeoecologist is reaching global audiences with a project that brings to life the microscopic world of pollen by producing giant 3D-printed models from high-quality scans of pollen grains.“Being able to identify pollen is important for man
  
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• Factory-farmed salmon: does it make sense to grow fish in indoor tanks?

  07-12-2020 07:15 via theguardian.com
  
  US inland farms offer an alternative to diminishing wild Atlantic stocks, but the price tag is bigger carbon emissionsThe state of Maine once had one of North America’s great wild Atlantic salmon runs, now destroyed by polluting paper, textile, and saw mills and the construction of hundreds of dams for open-pen salmon farming.
  But a new kind of salmon farming – inland rather than offshore – is supposed to solve all those problems and more, providing jobs and putting an end to e
  
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• Country diary: trolling for butterflies under a bridge

  07-12-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: I enter a secret world, hidden and immersed in darkness, with just the trickle of the stream, to find 10 curious creaturesFor fear my behaviour might seem odd, I wait, sitting casually on the side of the bridge until the last group of walkers has moved on. Only then do I jump down the three-foot drop, landing with a splash into the ankle-deep stream. Crouching low, I move under the bridge, my torch lighting the gloom.I enter a secret world, hidden and immersed in dark
  
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• Lab-grown chicken tastes like chicken – but the feeling when eating it is more complicated | Naima Brown

  07-12-2020 05:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Naima Brown’s encounter with a lab-grown chicken nugget reminded her of a Happy Meal – but she’s less certain about what it means for the future of food“Clean”, “cultured”, “no-kill” – these are just a few of the monikers that have been applied to San Francisco-based food start up Just Inc’s lab-grown chicken nuggets.The product has just been approved for sale to consumers in Singapore – a world first. But the company’
  
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• Lab-grown chicken tastes like chicken – but the feeling when eating it is more complicated

  07-12-2020 05:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Naima Brown’s encounter with a lab-grown chicken nugget reminded her of a Happy Meal – but she’s less certain about what it means for the future of food“Clean”, “cultured”, “no-kill” – these are just a few of the monikers that have been applied to San Francisco-based food start up Just Inc’s lab-grown chicken nuggets.The product has just been approved for sale to consumers in Singapore – a world first. But the company’
  
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• Beer and crisps used to help tackle climate change

  07-12-2020 03:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Crisps firm Walkers will make fertiliser by mixing potato waste with CO2 from beer fermentation.
  
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• Climate change threatens 'most Alps glaciers'

  07-12-2020 01:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  By 2100, 92% of glaciers including popular ski resorts could be lost, Aberystwyth University says.
  
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• Coca-Cola's largest European bottler targets net-zero by 2040

  07-12-2020 01:02
  
  Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has committed to reducing net emissions across its value chain by 30% by 2030, before bringing them to net-zero by 2040.
  
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• UK's first all-electric car charging forecourt opens in Essex

  07-12-2020 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Clean energy firm Gridserve has plans for more than 100 such sites over next five yearsBritain’s first all-electric car charging forecourt is set to open for business in Braintree, Essex, to charge electric vehicles with 100% renewable energy.From Monday, the super-fast electric forecourt will deliver 350KW of charging power, or enough to add 200 miles of driving range, within 20 minutes, to up to 36 cars at a time. Continue reading...
  
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