Environment news

• Artemis: Nasa picks astronauts for new Moon missions

  09-12-2020 22:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nasa has announced 18 astronauts who will travel to the Moon under the agency's Artemis programme.
  
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• Honey bees use animal poo to repel giant hornet attacks

  09-12-2020 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Newly discovered strategy in Asian bees repels killer hornets that can massacre whole hivesAsian honey bees paste pellets of animal poo on to their nests to repel attacks by giant killer hornets, scientists have revealed.The attacks can involve dozens of the heavily armoured hornets and lead to the “mass slaughter” of thousands of bees, the researchers said, after which the hornets carry off the bee larvae to feed their own offspring. But in a continuing evolutionary arms race, the b
  
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• Girl's asthma death a 'canary' warning for London pollution, inquest told

  09-12-2020 17:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Expert says Ella Kissi-Debrah, nine, faced ‘exquisite’ risk and criticises lack of efforts to tackle toxic airA young girl who suffered a fatal asthma attack thought to have been triggered by dangerous levels of air pollutants was a “canary” signalling the risk to other Londoners, an inquest has heard.Ella Kissi-Debrah died aged nine in February 2013 having suffered numerous seizures and being taken to hospital almost 30 times in the previous three years. Continue reading
  
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• Human-made objects to outweigh living things

  09-12-2020 17:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The mass of human-made objects will for the first time likely exceed that of living things in 2020.
  
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• Human-made materials now outweigh Earth's entire biomass – study

  09-12-2020 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks and asphalt greater than mass of living matter on planet, paper saysThe giant human footprint stamped across the world in 2020 is greater than the impact on the planet of all other living things, research suggests.The amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined, the study estimates. Continue reading...
  
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• Gap targets 100% sustainably sourced cotton by 2025

  09-12-2020 16:42
  
  Fashion giant Gap Inc has pledged to only source cotton which is certified as sustainable within five years, through the US Cotton Trust Protocol.
  
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• Canary Wharf Group targets net-zero by 2030

  09-12-2020 16:00
  
  London-based property giant Canary Wharf Group (CWG) has outlined plans for reaching net-zero by 2030, including new commitments on electric vehicles and heat.
  
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• Heat Strategy: Government urged to spend £65bn on energy-efficient homes by 2035

  09-12-2020 15:52
  
  Representatives from more than 200 businesses, housing associations, local authorities and trade bodies are urging Ministers to ensure that the upcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy mobilises enough finance to address "major" barriers to decarbonisation.
  
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• Bison recovering but 31 other species now extinct, says red list

  09-12-2020 15:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Three frog and one shark species have vanished, and Amazonian dolphin and oak trees are threatenedEurope’s biggest land mammal, the European bison, is beginning to recover in numbers thanks to conservation efforts and breeding programmes, according to an update on threatened species.By the early years of the last century, the once abundant European bison could be found only in captivity in a few places, and it was only after the second world war that animals were reintroduced into the wild
  
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• Bison recovering but 31 other species now extinct, finds red list

  09-12-2020 15:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Three frog and one shark species have vanished, while Amazonian dolphin and oak trees threatenedEurope’s biggest land mammal, the European bison, is beginning to recover in numbers thanks to conservation efforts and breeding programmes that have rescued the iconic species from near oblivion, according to an update of the world’s threatened species.By the early years of the last century, the once abundant European bison was found only in captivity in a few places, and it was only afte
  
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• The Wolf Dividing Norway: the hunter v the environmentalist

  09-12-2020 13:08 via theguardian.com
  
  With unique access to remote communities in the snow-capped landscape of Norway, this film follows characters on either side of a fierce debate on whether to cull the wolf population. For decades the topic has split political parties, families and communities across the country, with environmentalists world-wide criticising Norway for how it handles its tiny population of critically endangered wolves. Here, a group of hunters await news from the government on whether their yearly hunt will be pe
  
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• The Wolf Dividing Norway: the hunter v the environmentalist – video

  09-12-2020 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With unique access to remote communities in the snow-capped landscape of Norway, this film follows characters on either side of a fierce debate on whether to cull the wolf population. For decades the topic has split political parties, families and communities across the country, with environmentalists world-wide criticising Norway for how it handles its tiny population of critically endangered wolves.  Here, a group of hunters await news from the government on whether their yearly hunt
  
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• McDonald's to finance three major new renewable energy projects in the US

  09-12-2020 12:50
  
  McDonald's has completed new virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) for two major wind farms and a large portfolio of solar projects across three US states.
  
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• New report details how businesses can help achieve SDG 12: Responsible Production and Consumption

  09-12-2020 12:17
  
  edie has launched its latest SDG Spotlight report, looking at how businesses can transform to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) post-lockdown, with the latest focusing on Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption.
  
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• UN: Green Covid-19 recovery will put world on track to meet Paris Agreement

  09-12-2020 12:04
  
  While Covid-19 lockdown restrictions have resulted in falling carbon emissions, they will rebound and the world will warm by more than 3C this century without a coordinated and ambitious global green recovery approach.
  
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• Climate change: Global 'elite' will need to slash high-carbon lifestyles

  09-12-2020 11:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The world's wealthiest will need to limit emissions if the world is to avoid dangerous warming.
  
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• Blaming 2020 for our misery obscures the reasons why this year was wretched | Lea Ypi

  09-12-2020 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With crises like Covid, it’s comforting to point the finger away from ourselves – but we don’t learn by doing so“It’s the last I’ve got, love,” said the man selling Christmas trees in our local market when I asked to see a larger specimen. “It’s 2020, you know. People want to see the end of it.”This was mid-November. Like many people, I started the countdown to the end of the year some time in mid-July. I panicked when I read reports fr
  
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• What would a climate-friendly UK mean for you?

  09-12-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Electric cars, the end of gas boilers, green jobs, more trees and less meat are all part of government advisers’ net zero planEnding UK’s climate emissions ‘affordable’, say official advisersA cleaner, greener future is set out in a detailed new route map towards ending the UK’s climate emissions by 2050 from the Climate Change Committee, the government’s official advisers.“These stretching targets will see climate policies increasingly overlap with ever
  
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• Birdwatch: the merlin – my best ever view of our smallest falcon

  09-12-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I had resigned myself to brief glimpses but he landed, and lingered, nearbyI don’t usually take binoculars on my early-morning bike ride; if I did, I would stop too often to get any benefit. But after a swift circuit around the levels, I picked them up and headed down the lane behind my home to look for a stonechat I’d seen the day before.The stonechat had moved on; possibly because of the presence of a male merlin – the first I’d seen here in Somerset for a decade. I fir
  
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• Country diary: the jackdaws lengthen ‘jack’ calls in excitement or anxiety

  09-12-2020 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Sandy, Bedfordshire: Round and round circled the crows, an audience looking for an event
  Walls, windows and a mid-morning cuppa break were no defence against a rising rush of sound that demanded investigation. The hiss and swish, like a battering hailstorm but on a blue-sky day, arose from somewhere out of doors. It flushed us out into the back garden – a mistake. A dozen or so jackdaws zipped over, and they were heading for the main action, towards a swell that came from over the other si
  
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• Climate change: Low-carbon revolution 'cheaper than thought'

  09-12-2020 02:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK can make major cuts to carbon emissions more cheaply than previously thought.
  
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• Until recently, pressure on Australia to drop carryover credits had little impact. But times change | Richard Denniss

  09-12-2020 01:53 via theguardian.com
  
  As Australia worries about the growing influence of China, we need the help of Europe and the US more than everPolitical pressure makes the impossible inevitable. Unfortunately, so much has been written about how democracy is broken, that it can seem churlish to point out that sometimes it works just as it is designed to: slowly, imperfectly and then suddenly. Take, for example, Scott Morrison’s backflip on using so-called “carryover credits” to meet Australia’s Paris cli
  
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• 'A game-changer': UK's green economy leaders react to the Sixth Carbon Budget

  09-12-2020 01:15
  
  Green groups and trade bodies have broadly welcomed the Climate Change Committee's Sixth Carbon Budget, headlined by a recommendation to cut annual emissions by 78% by 2035. But they want to see the Government act rapidly and boldly to prove it can deliver.
  
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• Sixth Carbon Budget: UK will need to cut emissions by 78% by 2035 to meet net-zero

  09-12-2020 01:02
  
  Under the original Climate Change Act, the UK Pledged to cut net emissions by 80% by 2050. Now, it will need to deliver a 78% reduction by 2035 if it is to meet its long-term net-zero commitment.
  
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• The woman behind China's Chang'e-5 Moon mission

  09-12-2020 01:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Zhou Chengyu, 24, has been lauded on social media for her work as the project's youngest commander.
  
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• Sexy beasts: animals with 'charisma' get lion's share of EU conservation funds

  09-12-2020 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis shows invertebrates are overlooked in favour of mammals and birds despite vital role in healthy ecosystemsMoney made available for wildlife conservation by the EU is based on a popularity contest, with vertebrates getting nearly 500 times more funding for each species than invertebrates, according to a new report.Brown bears, wolves, bitterns and Eurasian lynxes are the Hollywood stars of European conservation and receive almost the same amount as all invertebrates put together, accordi
  
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• Secretive ‘gold rush’ for deep-sea mining dominated by handful of firms

  09-12-2020 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Greenpeace report warns against granting licenses to ‘deeply destructive’ industry with opaque oversight, and calls for global ocean treatyPrivate mining firms and arms companies are exerting a hidden and unhealthy influence on the fate of the deep-sea bed, according to a new report highlighting the threats facing the world’s biggest intact ecosystem.An investigation by Greenpeace found a handful of corporations in Europe and North America are increasingly dominating exploratio
  
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• Deep-sea ‘gold rush’: secretive plans to carve up the seabed decried

  09-12-2020 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Greenpeace report warns against granting licences to ‘deeply destructive’ industry with opaque oversight, and calls for global ocean treatyPrivate mining firms and arms companies are exerting a hidden and unhealthy influence on the fate of the deep-sea bed, according to a new report highlighting the threats facing the world’s biggest intact ecosystem.An investigation by Greenpeace found a handful of corporations in Europe and North America are increasingly dominating exploratio
  
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