Environment news

• Denmark to build 'first energy island' in North Sea

  04-02-2021 21:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The ambitious and costly artificial island will provide energy for three million households.
  
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• Noise pollution 'drowns out ocean soundscape'

  04-02-2021 20:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Overwhelming evidence shows noise pollution from human activity is damaging the ocean, scientists say.
  
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• Cacophony of human noise is hurting marine life, scientists warn

  04-02-2021 20:00
  
  Major assessment concludes that ocean soundscape is being drowned out by human activityA natural ocean soundscape is fundamental to healthy marine life but is being drowned out by an increasingly loud cacophony of noise from human activities, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the issue.The damage caused by noise is as harmful as overfishing, pollution and the climate crisis, the scientists said, but is being dangerously overlooked. The good news, they said, is that noise can be
  
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• Cacophony of human noise is hurting all marine life, scientists warn

  04-02-2021 20:00
  
  Major assessment concludes that ocean soundscape is being drowned out by human activityA natural ocean soundscape is fundamental to healthy marine life but is being drowned out by an increasingly loud cacophony of noise from human activities, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the issue.The damage caused by noise is as harmful as overfishing, pollution and the climate crisis, the scientists said, but is being dangerously overlooked. The good news, they said, is that noise can be
  
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• Plans for a Cumbrian coalmine illustrate the Tory dilemma: green policies or jobs? | Gaby Hinsliff

  04-02-2021 18:57
  
  Ministers’ refusal to stop a mine being dug in a marginal seat shows a tension between the environment and ‘levelling up’Something is stirring deep beneath the earth. Or rather, someone. The veteran eco- warrior Daniel “Swampy” Hooper, alongside his teenage son, the daughter of a Scottish laird raised on an off-grid island and an undisclosed number of other protesters have spent weeks secretly excavating a honeycomb of underground tunnels beneath Euston Square Garde
  
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• Government support needed to 'mainstream' green jobs, say IEMA and CISL leads

  04-02-2021 18:20
  
  To deliver its vision of having two million people in green jobs by 2030, the UK Government will need to develop a joined-up strategy and a body with "teeth" to close the skills gap and create the roles of the future.
  
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• Global heating to blame for threat of deadly flood in Peru, study says

  04-02-2021 17:00
  
  Research showing severe flood threat caused by global heating could set legal precedent in climate litigationHuman-caused global heating is directly responsible for the threat of a devastating flood in Peru that is the subject of a lawsuit against the German energy company RWE, according to groundbreaking new research.The study establishes links from human-made greenhouse gas emissions to the substantial risk of a dangerous outburst flood from Lake Palcacocha, high in the Peruvian Andes. The res
  
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• Global heating to blame for threat of deadly flood in Peru, study finds

  04-02-2021 17:00
  
  Research showing severe flood threat caused by global heating may set legal precedent in climate litigationHuman-caused global heating is directly responsible for the threat of a devastating flood in Peru that is the subject of a lawsuit against the German energy company RWE, according to groundbreaking new research.The study establishes links from human-made greenhouse gas emissions to the substantial risk of a dangerous outburst flood from Lake Palcacocha, high in the Peruvian Andes. The resul
  
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• Denmark strikes deal on £25bn artificial wind energy island

  04-02-2021 16:37
  
  Thanks to an inter-party agreement, the clean energy hub in the North Sea is set to be the largest construction project in Danish historyDenmark’s government has agreed to take a majority stake in a £25bn artificial “energy island”, which is to be built 50 miles (80km) offshore, in the middle of the North Sea.The island to the west of the Jutland peninsula will initially have an area of 120,000 sq metres – the size of 18 football pitches – and in its first pha
  
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• Future perfect: 15 easy February gardening tasks – to ensure a gorgeous spring and summer

  04-02-2021 16:07
  
  No matter the size of your planting space, you can lay the groundwork now for a beautiful display in the warmer months
  Gardening in February is all about enjoying signs of spring and getting ready for the growing season. Whether you have a single window ledge, a balcony or a whole garden to play with, there is plenty to do – even in British weather – to prepare. Continue reading...
  
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• Biodiversity loss: Agriculture 'threatening 86% of at-risk species', says major UN-backed report

  04-02-2021 13:07
  
  Global food systems are the world's biggest driver of nature loss and urgent systemic change to address this will result in an uptick of plant-based diets, according to a major new report.
  
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• Solar power and blockchain: BMW and Rio Tinto make major moves on sustainable aluminium

  04-02-2021 12:29
  
  BMW has announced plans to begin sourcing aluminium produced using solar-powered manufacturing, in the same week that Rio Tinto launched a new blockchain-based sustainability standard for the material.
  
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• Images reveal length of Moon golf shot

  04-02-2021 11:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astronaut Alan Shepard famously claimed he hit his ball "miles and miles and miles" on the Moon in 1971 - 50 years on modern technology reveals how far he really hit it.
  
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• Rich countries must update financial vows to tackle climate crisis, says UN

  04-02-2021 10:40
  
  Patricia Espinosa says fulfilling $100bn-a-year promise must be top priority to support developing worldRich countries must step up with fresh financial commitments to help the developing world tackle the climate crisis, the UN’s climate chief has said.Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, said fulfilling pledges of financial assistance made a decade ago must be the top priority before vital climate talks – Cop26 – later this y
  
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• Whitbread issues green bonds totalling £550m

  04-02-2021 10:08
  
  Hospitality giant Whitbread, which owns brands including Premier Inn, has priced two major green bonds at £300m and £250m respectively.
  
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• Avantium targets net-zero operations and shoots for fossil-free chemicals sector

  04-02-2021 09:46
  
  Chemicals firm Avantium has vowed to become a net-zero and fully circular business by 2030, as part of a new sustainability strategy aiming to make the entire sector fossil-fuel-free by 2050.
  
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• Yak politics: Tibetans’ vegetarian dilemma amid China meat boom

  04-02-2021 08:00
  
  While China pushes for more industrialised farms, Buddhist monks urge now-sedentary nomads to embrace vegetarianism
  Former free-roaming nomads now mostly resettled in rows of sun-baked block houses in Tibet are facing a struggle for their identity, their spiritual and cultural practices – and even their stomachs.These yak-tending herders have always eaten meat. In addition to the milk, butter and cheese they derived from yaks, meat was a necessity in their harsh lives.But a movement spurre
  
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• Make oil firms install electric car chargers in petrol stations, says thinktank

  04-02-2021 07:01
  
  Proposals to accelerate electric car rollout also call for grants towards buying secondhand electric vehiclesOil companies should be required to install rapid chargers for electric cars in all their petrol stations above a certain size by 2023 in order to speed up the rollout of vehicles with zero tailpipe emissions, according to thinktank Bright Blue.Bright Blue’s report also calls for a reversal in cuts to government grants for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), a new grant to help low in
  
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• Top climate scientist warns PM over 'contemptuous' Cumbria coal mine plan

  04-02-2021 07:00
  
  Exclusive: James Hansen calls on Johnson to stop support for fossil fuels in letter ahead of UN climate summitRead Hansen’s full letter hereBoris Johnson’s decision to press ahead with a new coalmine in Cumbria shows “contemptuous disregard for the future of young people” and will lead to “ignominy and humiliation”, one of the world’s foremost climate voices has warned, in a stark message to the prime minister ahead of the UN Cop26 climate summit later t
  
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• California hit by flooding after storm brings heavy rain

  04-02-2021 07:00
  
  Some areas had more than 300mm of rain in three days and one person killed in floodsWhen you think of California, you usually conjure up images of a pleasant, comfortable climate. However, last Thursday, it was anything but comfortable. A storm system brought flooding to parts of the Golden State, with some areas having in excess of 300mm of rain in three days. As a result, Highway 1 along the Pacific coast was washed away in places, with one person killed in floods. In the Sierra Nevada mountai
  
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• Country diary: dazzled by the dance of the sanderlings

  04-02-2021 06:30
  
  Tyrella Beach, County Down: Running back and forth as the waves come ashore, the wading birds may look comical, but it’s all part of their clever feeding strategy Those dots of waders will be kettled up the beach as the tide rises, but my time is short. So I hoist the scope and set off into an early morning sun that’s gauzed by a membrane of cloud. In front of me, the ribbed sand stretches into a haze of silver and taupe. The sea is so far out that it could be a mirage. To the south-
  
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• Climate change: Boris Johnson 'risks humiliation' over coal mine

  04-02-2021 06:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A leading scientist warns Boris Johnson digging for coal undermines the UK's climate change efforts.
  
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• Sainsbury's outlines science-based targets to slash emissions on the path to net-zero

  04-02-2021 01:02
  
  Sainsbury's has unveiled a new ambition to reduce emissions from its supply chain by 30% by 2030, as it strives to become a net-zero business by 2040.
  
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