Environment news

• Will sharks survive? Australian scientists fear for apex predators without more protections

  30-01-2021 20:00
  
  Australia’s spike in shark deaths bears no correlation to how they are doing globally due to overfishing, scientists sayAbout four years ago, Colin Simpfendorfer was diving on reefs in Indonesia’s picture-perfect Raja Ampat region when he noticed the distinct absence of something.“It’s a beautiful place to dive. We would have expected to see grey reef sharks and white tips,” says the veteran scientist. “But you don’t see sharks for days on end.” Co
  
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• Planned coalmine would create 'more emissions than any other in UK'

  30-01-2021 19:31
  
  Committee on Climate Change says new mine in Cumbria gives ‘negative impression of UK’s climate priorities’Approved plans for a new coalmine in Cumbria will produce more emissions than any of the others open in the UK, a climate group has warned.The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) made the claim in a letter to communities secretary Robert Jenrick after he decided not to call in the plans for an inquiry earlier this month. Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change: Minister rapped for allowing Cumbria coal mine

  30-01-2021 16:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The government's climate change advisors say it will compromise the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets.
  
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• How I found the special joy of nature in cities | Alice Vincent

  30-01-2021 16:00
  
  You have to look – and sometimes very closely – but discovering small patches of woodland or flowers bursting through concrete makes me appreciate nature all the moreOne Friday morning last October, when we still could, I drove down from Brixton in south London to Somerset. It was one of those autumn days people anticipate in the midst of a sticky summer, with pillowy mist and low-lying sun trying to get through it. Even hurtling down the M3 was gorgeous; trees filling in the shade c
  
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• Animals of the far north – in pictures

  30-01-2021 10:00
  
  The BBC series Stormborn, which is narrated by Ewan McGregor and begins tonight, charts the breeding seasons of reindeer, seals, otters and foxes across Scotland, Norway and Iceland Continue reading...
  
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• Welsh council admits it should not have approved vast poultry farm

  30-01-2021 08:30
  
  Permission for 110,000-chicken farm in ‘poultry capital of Wales’ withdrawn after legal challenge brought by local pressure groupA local authority has admitted it should not have granted planning permission for a vast broiler unit in the “poultry capital of Wales” after campaigners crowdfunded a judicial review.Powys county council opposed the legal challenge, brought by activists from Sustainable Food Knighton (SFK). Knighton is a small market town near the border with E
  
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• Dizzying pace of Biden's climate action sounds death knell for era of denialism

  30-01-2021 08:30
  
  Analysis: The new president has framed the challenge of global heating as an opportunity for US jobs, saying: ‘We have to be bold’For a landmark moment in the global effort to stave off catastrophic climate change, Joe Biden’s “climate day” at the White House was rather low-key. The US president bumped elbows with his newly appointed climate tsar, John Kerry, who he called his “best buddy”, then gave a short speech before perfunctorily signing a small st
  
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• HS2: Could the pandemic kill off the rail project?

  30-01-2021 07:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Covid-19 has intensified the debate among environmental groups about the benefits of the project.
  
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• Country diary: a resonant raven kronk is heard through the leafless canopy

  30-01-2021 06:30
  
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: Answering with a clicking noise draws a response from the ravens, maybe they thought they knew who the sound belonged toThere’s something about the reappearance of snowdrops that feels superstitious. On the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century, the numbers didn’t seem to add up to anything auspicious compared to the everyday tragedies of Covid and climate. The augury of circumstance felt like a bygone curiosity.So why summon owls? Blowing through th
  
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