Environment news

• Huge Antarctic iceberg headed towards South Georgia breaks in two

  18-12-2020 21:50
  
  Researchers fear iceberg may disrupt underwater ecosystems and block penguins looking for foodStrong currents have taken hold of a massive Antarctic iceberg that is on a collision course with South Georgia island, causing it to shift direction and lose a major chunk of mass, a scientist tracking its journey said on Friday.As the iceberg, dubbed A68A, approached the western shelf edge of the south Atlantic island this week, it encountered strong currents, causing it to pivot nearly 180 degrees, a
  
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• Climate change: 2021 will be cooler but still in top six warmest

  18-12-2020 20:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Next year will be slightly cooler thanks to La Niña, but will still be one of the hottest on record.
  
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• Sustainable Business Covered podcast: The Christmas 2020 special episode

  18-12-2020 17:33
  
  Episode 95 of edie's Sustainable Business Covered podcast is now streaming, providing exclusive festive interviews about sustainability storytelling, conscious consumerinsm and the green recovery movement.
  
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• In numbers: What is the environmental impact of Christmas?

  18-12-2020 15:02
  
  Christmas is said to be the most wonderful time of the year - but it's also the most wasteful. With less than a week left until the big day, edie rounds up some of the most shocking environmental statistics for the season.
  
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• Wood burners triple harmful indoor air pollution, study finds

  18-12-2020 14:18
  
  Exclusive: Burners should be sold with health warnings, say scientists who found tiny particles flooding into roomsWood burners triple the level of harmful pollution particles inside homes and should be sold with a health warning, scientists have warned, and they advise people not to use them around elderly people or children.The tiny particles “flood” into the room when the burner doors are opened for refuelling, their study showed. Furthermore, people who load wood in twice or more
  
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• OneWeb satellite company launches into new era

  18-12-2020 13:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The broadband network owned by UK taxpayers and an Indian conglomerate sends up 36 new satellites.
  
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• Christmas star: Planets set to align in the night sky

  18-12-2020 13:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jupiter and Saturn - the Solar System's largest planets - are set to cross paths in the night sky.
  
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• How to save the planet? Richard Curtis says it involves pensions, actually

  18-12-2020 13:22
  
  Director of much-loved Christmas film wants people to be aware of what investments may financeHis romcom Love Actually is frequently voted the nation’s favourite Christmas film but Richard Curtis’s latest festive offering aims to shock viewers into action, as well as make them laugh.The screenwriter and director has launched a short tongue-in-cheek film that aims to raise awareness of how people’s pension cash may be financing industries that are “destroying the planet&rd
  
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• #SustyTalk: BELU Water's Natalie Campbell on purpose-led business

  18-12-2020 11:49
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with an exclusive interview with Natalie Campbell, who became co-CEO of BELU Water earlier this year.
  
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• Global decarbonisation efforts need to be five times greater to reach 1.5C pathway

  18-12-2020 11:30
  
  Global efforts to combat the climate crisis will need to be five times greater than current levles, with new research warning that the rate that carbon emissions are decoupled from economic growth slowed in 2019.
  
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• Pirate hunters of the Po: the nightly fight to clear Italy delta of poachers

  18-12-2020 11:00
  
  Under cover of nightfall, groups of local volunteers board tiny boats to track down the fish mafia and protect the ecosystem
  During the day Denny Covezzi works in a fishing equipment shop and Andrea Mocchi at at a factory. But at sunset they don heavy grey uniforms and set out on their small boat to patrol the river.They’re looking for anything suspicious: nets, traps, perhaps a van parked by the bank. They hear a rumble in the bushes, and Covezzi moves the boat closer to check: nothing. &
  
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• Pirate hunters of the Po: how locals sick of poachers decided to fight back

  18-12-2020 11:00
  
  As night falls in Italy’s largest delta, volunteers board tiny boats to track down the elusive fish mafia plundering the watersDuring the day Denny Covezzi works in a fishing equipment shop and Andrea Mocchi at at a factory. But at sunset they don heavy grey uniforms and set out on their small boat to patrol the river.They’re looking for anything suspicious: nets, traps, perhaps a van parked by the bank. They hear a rumble in the bushes, and Covezzi moves the boat closer to check: no
  
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• Experience: I lived as a wild turkey

  18-12-2020 11:00
  
  My aim was to become indistinguishable from the rest of the flock, but I felt they saw me as the village idiotI started adopting young animals while still a child myself. Many were orphaned newborns, meaning I mothered a variety of creatures – raccoon, squirrel, fox, bobcat, whatever came my way. I felt the animals preferred my company to that of members of their own species, and many even slept in my bed. At the time, I thought I’d discovered a sort of magic; but after years of stud
  
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• Chris Packham: ‘I read Brave New World at 13 – I found it terrifying but empowering'

  18-12-2020 11:00
  
  The naturalist, TV presenter and writer on overpopulation, the one book he failed to finish and an underrated novel about a woman watching a snailThe book I am currently reading
  I’ve just finished Dale Vince’s Manifesto. He’s the person behind green energy company Ecotricity, and he’s keen to encourage people to secure a happier, safer, healthier and more sustainable future. The book that changed my life
  I read Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World when I was 13 and I fou
  
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• UK's oil and gas sector outlines net-zero vision, but remains reluctant to downsize

  18-12-2020 10:54
  
  The watchdog for the UK's oil and gas industry has published a strategy designed to align businesses with the 2050 net-zero target, but green groups want more done to cap production and increase investment in renewables.
  
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• UK wildlife hospitals report ‘busiest year ever’ as lockdown turns focus to nature

  18-12-2020 10:34
  
  Pandemic cuts funding and volunteer numbers but rising awareness means more people are rescuing injured animalsWildlife hospitals across the UK are reporting their busiest year ever, with hedgehogs, pigeons, bats and birds of prey among a growing number of animals brought into centres for treatment.The rise in admissions is part of a wider trend of increasing awareness of habitat loss and the threats to the natural world, but experts also point to the Covid-19 lockdown as a significant factor in
  
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• Lloyds of London finally agrees to divest from coal

  18-12-2020 10:30
  
  Insurance giant Lloyds of London has promised to end investment in coal, oil sands and fossil fuel exploration in the Arctic, following years a pressure from climate campaigner.
  
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• A memorable year: readers reveal their silver linings

  18-12-2020 08:00
  
  From rediscovering nature in 2020 to getting to grips with Zoom, readers tell us what they gained in a year when so much was lostCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIt was a year to forget, but one we will always remember. But though so much was lost, 2020 was the year when we discovered new things about ourselves, our collective kindness, resilience, compassion, invention and humour, as Guardian readers make clear in their reflections on the silver linings of the y
  
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• Urgent action needed to measure air pollution worldwide

  18-12-2020 07:00
  
  Beijing has shown how regular objective monitoring can lead to big improvements in air qualityJust before the 2008 Olympics, a machine on the roof of the US embassy in Beijing began to tweet air pollution measurements to the world. The numbers that appeared each hour were often shocking but they demonstrated the power of objective measurement. The resulting response has led to huge improvements in air quality for much of the vast Chinese population.Globally, particle pollution contributed to an
  
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• 2020 was a poisonous sea snake lurking in the foam-covered, storm-lashed beaches of a year | First Dog on the Moon

  18-12-2020 06:56
  
  It’s the Seabirds for Climate Justice end of year review!Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: treading through the wet dregs of a hard year

  18-12-2020 06:30
  
  Ramsley Moor, Derbyshire: Vibrant crowberries are a cheering sight on a sodden and difficult climbProgress was painfully slow, so I leaned on my stick for a breather. On the skyline, about 1,000 yards to the east, someone was standing beside the old medieval cross on Fox Lane. They would be having an easier time of it, I thought, on a good path. I was surrounded by huge clumps of molinia, or purple moor grass, picking my tedious way between them along deep troughs that December’s rain had
  
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• World leaders deserve to know about Australia's abysmal climate change policy, so I wrote to them | Bob Carr

  18-12-2020 02:35
  
  Australia’s leaders are playing with climate policy, pitching a nationalist and populist message to their baseAustralia ends the year as one of the only developed countries not committed to net zero emissions by 2050.To this, prime minister Scott Morrison is adding another distinction. Australia is about to become the only developed country with a parliamentary committee charged with persuading corporates not to move beyond carbon. Continue reading...
  
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• I wrote to other countries about Australia's obstinance on climate change. Their pressure might save us | Bob Carr

  18-12-2020 02:35
  
  They deserve to know that Australia’s leaders are playing with climate policy, pitching a nationalist and populist message to their baseAustralia ends the year as one of the only developed countries not committed to net zero emissions by 2050.To this, prime minister Scott Morrison is adding another distinction. Australia is about to become the only developed country with a parliamentary committee charged with persuading corporates not to move beyond carbon. Continue reading...
  
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• Sea turtle filmed defending itself from tiger shark attack off WA coast – video

  18-12-2020 02:32
  
  A flatback sea turtle has been filmed defending itself from a tiger shark attack off the Western Australia coast. A team of researchers at Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute and Western Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation & Attractions captured the vision after mounting a camera on the turtle's shell during a project at Roebuck Bay. Despite the mismatch in size, the turtle uses aggressive biting lunges at the shark before making a hasty escape to safety&
  
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• Sea turtle defends itself from tiger shark attack off Western Australia coast – video

  18-12-2020 02:32
  
  A flatback sea turtle has been filmed defending itself from a tiger shark attack off the Western Australia coast. A team of researchers at Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute and Western Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation & Attractions captured the vision after mounting a camera on the turtle's shell during a project at Roebuck Bay. Despite the mismatch in size, the turtle uses aggressive biting lunges at the shark before making a hasty escape to safety&
  
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• Electric cars will leave hole in tax revenues, says Treasury

  18-12-2020 02:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Treasury says taxes must rise or services cut to compensate for the loss of fuel tax income.
  
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• Wildfire smoke may spread infectious disease

  18-12-2020 01:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Smoke from wildfires could be a surprising new route for the spread of microbes, experts believe.
  
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