Environment news

• Swedish postage stamp celebrates work of Greta Thunberg

  13-01-2021 17:02
  
  Illustration of activist is part of a series highlighting government’s environmental quality goalsThe environmental activist Greta Thunberg has been featured on a new Swedish postage stamp, in recognition of her work to “preserve Sweden’s unique nature for future generations”.Thunberg, who turned 18 on 3 January, is pictured standing on a rocky cliff top wearing a yellow raincoat, with swifts flying around her, as part of a set by the artist and illustrator Henning Trollb
  
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• LEON debuts 'carbon-neutral' burgers and fries

  13-01-2021 16:32
  
  Fast-food chain LEON has measured the carbon footprint of some of its most popular menu items and is offsetting the equivalent emissions by investing in forests.
  
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• TSB and Aviva Investors plot pathway to net-zero carbon

  13-01-2021 15:36
  
  Major retail bank TSB has unveiled its plans to reach net-zero by 2030, after cutting operational emissions by 66% during 2020. At the same time, Aviva Investors has revealed its plans to decarbonise its real assets portfolio.
  
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• Wanted: UK bison rangers, no previous experience expected

  13-01-2021 15:27
  
  Project using large beasts to help restore woodland offers unprecedented job opportunityCan you handle a beast as heavy as a small car, that can hurdle high fences from a standing start, and is a peaceful bulldozer for biodiversity?If you’re not intimidated by the weightiest wild land mammal in Europe, you could become Britain’s first ever bison ranger. Continue reading...
  
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• Turkey drought: Istanbul could run out of water in 45 days

  13-01-2021 13:31
  
  Water at critically low levels across Turkey after lack of rainfall leads to most severe drought in a decade
  Major cities across Turkey face running out of water in the next few months, with warnings Istanbul has less than 45 days of water left.Poor rainfall has led to the country’s most severe drought in a decade and left the megacity of 17 million people with critically low levels of water, according to Turkey’s chamber of chemical engineers. The Ankara mayor, Mansur Yavaş, sa
  
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• Banks urged to set time-bound targets to tackle deforestation

  13-01-2021 10:35
  
  A new report has outlined how banks can take proactive steps to improve traceability and accountability of contributions to deforestation, as part of a first step to accelerating action towards a forest-restorative economy.
  
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• In numbers: How Covid-19 has impacted renewable energy workers

  13-01-2021 10:29
  
  A survey of 16,000 energy professionals across 166 countries has provided a global snapshot of the ways in which the pandemic has affected salaries, industry growth and career plans. Here, edie rounds up the key takeaways.
  
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• Government to limit UK business exposure to Xinjiang human rights issues

  13-01-2021 09:48
  
  The UK Government has unveiled a new package of measures aimed at ensuring that British organisations aren't benefitting from human rights violations linked to the abuse of the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
  
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• UK carbon trading scheme 'leaves many questions unanswered'

  13-01-2021 09:00
  
  As the UK takes its first steps away from the EU, there are still plenty of open questions about how it will align with Europe on climate policy, and in particular, with the EU's flagship emissions trading scheme (ETS).
  
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• Philippines' Taal volcano, one year on – in pictures

  13-01-2021 08:00
  
  When Taal volcano, a popular tourist site in Batangas, erupted a year ago 5,000 people fled the island. It’s still considered dangerous. The government bans former residents from returning but some still live there in tents Continue reading...
  
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• Birdwatch: the Kentish plover – once a scarce migrant, now a real rarity

  13-01-2021 07:00
  
  One of these compact little waders has been hanging around my patch for a year, but it’s not easy to spotSome rare birds stay put for just a few hours; others stick around for months, or even years. But that doesn’t always make them easy to see.Since a Kentish plover was first found in Somerset on Boxing Day 2019, it has been seen occasionally on Stert Island, opposite my coastal patch. It disappeared for the summer, then returned in October to spend the winter with a flock of ringed
  
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• Country diary: monarchs of the canal make a modest midweek treat

  13-01-2021 06:30
  
  Airedale, West Yorkshire: Goosanders add some colour to the drab palette of the Leeds-Liverpool canal and lift the spiritsWe’ve had one or two blazing frosts, but in the main our winter landscapes have been the colour of mud. The Leeds-Liverpool canal reflects a boiled-linen sky through a filter called murk or glum or urgh. We take our brightness where we can find it.Mainly it’s in the brave whites of the birds in the woods: the backsides of bullfinches and jays, the flashing wings o
  
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• Top scientists warn of 'ghastly future of mass extinction' and climate disruption

  13-01-2021 06:01
  
  Sobering new report says world is failing to grasp the extent of threats posed by biodiversity loss and the climate crisis
  The planet is facing a “ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climate-disruption upheavals” that threaten human survival because of ignorance and inaction, according to an international group of scientists, who warn people still haven’t grasped the urgency of the biodiversity and climate crises.The 17 experts, including Prof Paul Ehrlich f
  
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• Watch this male seahorse give birth to an army of offspring – video

  13-01-2021 01:34
  
  A White's seahorse father has been filmed giving birth to dozens of babies ... yes, father. Seahorse females deposit their eggs into a pouch in the front of the males, where the eggs are fertilised.More than 100 seahorse babies have been born in a Sydney aquarium as part of a captive breeding program to help save the endangered White's seahorse. The breeding program is a collaboration between Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, Fisheries NSW and the University of Technology Sydney.https://www.th
  
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• Male seahorse gives birth to an army of offspring – video

  13-01-2021 01:34
  
  A male White's seahorse has been filmed giving birth to dozens of babies ... yes, a father giving birth. Seahorse females deposit their eggs into a pouch in the front of the males, where the eggs are fertilised.More than 100 seahorse babies have been born in a Sydney aquarium as part of a captive breeding program to help save the endangered White's seahorse. The breeding program is a collaboration between Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, Fisheries NSW and the University of Technology Sydney C
  
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• National Trust aims to save Yorkshire abbey from climate-linked flooding

  13-01-2021 01:01
  
  A £2.5m scheme in the Skell Valley hopes to protect Fountains Abbey and the city of RiponFountains Abbey, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, was originally set up by 13 Benedictine monks seeking refuge from the more extravagant, rowdy monks in York. Eight hundred years later, the abbey ruins and its gardens face another threat: the climate crisis.The Skell Valley, where the ruins stand, has been flooded several times in recent years, raising fears that the UK’s largest monastic ruins are a
  
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• David Attenborough hologram to front tour guide phone app

  13-01-2021 01:01
  
  Augmented reality app lets people visit UK green spaces with ‘Attenborough in your pocket’ Sir David Attenborough is to front a new app that will allow mobile phone users to enlist the presenter as a virtual tour guide who will appear in holographic videos when they visit sights across the UK.The 94-year-old will be the centrepiece of a new augmented reality app, which will be released alongside the BBC’s next landmark natural history TV series, The Green Planet, which launches
  
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