Environment news

• Ready, steady, bloom! Botanists wait for rare cactus to open for one night only

  15-02-2021 19:31
  
  Experts in Cambridge are on night vigil as the moonflower is about to blossom in a UK first – and you can join them via live streamCambridge botanists are eagerly waiting for a rare and unusual cactus called the moonflower to bloom for what is thought to be the first time in the UK, an event that begins at sunset and is over by the time the sun rises the following day.Experts at Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden (CUBG) have been on night watch for several days, even setting up a
  
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• Wildlife trade drives alarming decline in some species, says study

  15-02-2021 17:00
  
  Animals traded for pet industry, bushmeat, traditional medicine, ivory and lab use declined locally by up to 99.9%
  Wildlife populations decline by an average of 62% in areas where species are traded, pushing some closer to extinction, according to a new report.The first analysis to quantify the impact of the legal and illegal wildlife trade looked at 133 land-based species and found the most endangered – which typically have smaller populations – are most at risk, with average declin
  
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• Just three weeks left to register for edie's online energy efficiency masterclass

  15-02-2021 15:38
  
  The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's (BEIS) head of industry and carbon capture and storage has been confirmed as a speaker for edie's next online masterclass, taking place on 10 March.
  
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• High-altitude birds evolved thicker 'jackets'

  15-02-2021 15:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Himalayan songbirds in colder, more elevated environments have feathers with more fluffy down.
  
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• Himani, snow leopard whose seven cubs helped conservation efforts, dies aged 17

  15-02-2021 15:15
  
  New Jersey zoo says ‘superstar’ big cat will be missed‘Incredible mother’ came from Tennessee in 2003A snow leopard which gained widespread attention for giving birth to seven cubs, contributing to efforts to protect her species, has died at 17 years old, a New Jersey zoo said on Sunday.Himani reared four litters of cubs at a time when snow leopard breeding success was at a low point, according to a statement from Cape May County Zoo which also said the cat was “pea
  
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• Jaguar to switch to fully electric vehicle portfolio by 2025

  15-02-2021 14:14
  
  Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will stop producing petrol and diesel vehicles under its Jaguar brand by 2025 and switch to electric-only models, as part of a sweeping new business strategy.
  
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• Report: Real estate sector's inaction on climate change could increase costs by $2.5trn

  15-02-2021 13:33
  
  Globally, real estate firms could rack up $2.5trn of additional costs in the future unless they accelerate action to decarbonise buildings and to boost climate adaptation and resilience this decade.
  
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• UK oil major backs new waste-to-jet-fuel plant

  15-02-2021 12:48
  
  Essar Oil UK Limited, which produces more than 16% of the UK's transport fuels, has announced a new joint project to bring a waste-to-jet-fuel plant online near Liverpool.
  
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• What will the next decade bring? Here are 20 predictions from trend forecasters | Emily Segal

  15-02-2021 12:18
  
  Like all predictions, these should be taken with a grain of salt ...At the beginning of every year, trend forecasters the world over put together expensive reports predicting what the future will bring. As a trend forecaster myself, I’ve read literally hundreds of predictions in the past few weeks made by the likes of McKinsey, WGSN and countless others so that you don’t have to. So, what do these professional speculators of the future think the next few years hold?Many of the themes
  
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• ‘Am I going to regret it?': forever chemicals dilemma for breastfeeding mothers

  15-02-2021 12:05
  
  Many health experts and advocates say breastfeeding is the best choice for babies but the threat of passing on contamination from PFAS is prompting new questions Maryann Jacobs’ heart was pounding as she opened her letterbox one snowy morning last year in Hoosick Falls, a small town in upstate New York bordering Vermont and Massachusetts.Inside was an envelope from the New York state department of health which she knew would reveal the results from a second round of testing for several che
  
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• Mexico was once a climate leader – now it's betting big on coal

  15-02-2021 12:00
  
  As the climate crisis worsens, Andrés Manuel López Obrador plans to buy nearly 2m tons of thermal coal from small producersThe men on the midnight shift smoked cigarettes and cracked jokes in the glow of their helmet lights as they prepared to go underground. They were loading safety equipment and coils of pipe onto wheelbarrows, in readiness for a second shift due to start working later that week.“We’re reactivating the industry,” said Arturo Rivera Wong, who had
  
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• US cold snap: Why is Texas seeing Arctic temperatures?

  15-02-2021 11:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Freezing temperatures have been recorded across the usually hot southern US state.
  
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• Leeds and London to host new green finance research hubs

  15-02-2021 11:10
  
  A new government-backed body dedicated to green finance research is set to launch in April, with physical "hubs" in Leeds and London.
  
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• Goldman Sachs issues first sustainability bond, priced at $800m

  15-02-2021 10:35
  
  US-based finance giant Goldman Sachs has issued its inaugural sustainability bond, priced at $800m, as it strives to mobilise $750bn in green finance by 2030.
  
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• The inselbergs of Egypt's White desert – in pictures

  15-02-2021 09:00
  
  The unusual rock formations are scattered across the landscape of Egypt’s White desert, about 300 miles from Cairo Continue reading...
  
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• How the Morrison government is working to save the environment (mainly from those pesky environmentalists) | First Dog on the Moon

  15-02-2021 08:03
  
  The environment doesn’t need bureaucrats and inner city do-gooders knitting gluten-free leg warmers for houseless wallabies!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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• The hedger’s work reveals last spring's nests: Country diary, 17 February 1921

  15-02-2021 07:00
  
  17 February 1921 One was a chaffinch’s set well up in the arm of a blackthorn, the foundation laid cunningly in a niche The hedger has finished his work before nesting days; his heavy steel bill cleared out spaces here and there where a nest of last spring showed almost as sound as when it was built. One was a chaffinch’s set well up in the arm of a blackthorn that had not been cut back for some years. The foundation was laid cunningly in a niche where the crook of other branches str
  
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• Four years at sea, now just metres from shore: 'living hell' of stranded UAE ship

  15-02-2021 07:00
  
  Five seafarers are stuck in limbo on a beached tanker after a long, terrifying ordeal of abandonmentTourists are more accustomed to seeing kite surfers or kayaks off the idyllic coast of Umm Al Quwain, in the United Arab Emirates. But today they have gathered on sun loungers to sip coffee and gaze at the unusual sight of a 5,000-ton oil tanker grounded on the sand.For the crew inside the Panama-flagged MT Iba, however, being grounded on the beach marks another harrowing chapter in an almost four
  
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• Country diary: a battle to protect birdsong and biodiversity

  15-02-2021 06:30
  
  Otley, West Yorkshire: A planned development of 550 homes and a major new road could permanently damage local wildlifeAs the days build and brighten, so does the background texture of birdsong, which gathers vibrancy with every passing week. It was subtle at first; a new vitality in the sound of robins and wrens, noticeable not long after new year. But in more recent weeks, blackbirds, goldfinches, curlews, song thrushes and skylarks have entered the fray, threading new colours into the overall
  
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• Researchers rethink life in a cold climate after Antarctic find

  15-02-2021 06:00
  
  Scientists surprised by marine organisms on boulder on sea floor beneath 900 metres of ice shelfThe accidental discovery of marine organisms on a boulder on the sea floor beneath 900 metres (3,000ft) of Antarctic ice shelf has led scientists to rethink the limits of life on Earth. Researchers stumbled on the life-bearing rock after sinking a borehole through nearly a kilometre of the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf on the south-eastern Weddell Sea to obtain a sediment core from the seabed. Continue rea
  
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• Rare pink flannel flowers bloom in Australia – in pictures

  15-02-2021 02:48
  
  The blossoms grow in eastern Australia, from the Blue Mountains to north-eastern Victoria. Their seeds can lay dormant for years, requiring exactly the right conditions to germinate – a year after bushfire followed by rainfallDust bowls and deluges: the harsh beauty of South Australia Continue reading...
  
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• Bill Gates: ‘Carbon neutrality in a decade is a fairytale. Why peddle fantasies?’

  15-02-2021 02:30
  
  After putting $100m into Covid research, the billionaire is taking on the climate crisis. And first he has some bones to pick with his fellow campaigners...Read an exclusive extract from Gates’ new bookBill Gates appears via video conference – Microsoft Teams, not Zoom, obviously – from his office in Seattle, a large space with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Washington. It’s a gloomy day outside and Gates is, somewhat eccentrically, positioned a long way from t
  
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• Bill Gates: Solving Covid easy compared with climate

  15-02-2021 01:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Solving global warming would be “the most amazing thing humanity has done”, says the billionaire.
  
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• Computer says go: Taking orders from an AI boss

  15-02-2021 01:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  As artificial intelligence systems get more prevalent, some of us already have computers as managers.
  
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• HS2: Aerial footage shows what London to Birmingham route looks like now

  15-02-2021 01:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Take a flight along phase one of the high-speed rail network – from London to Birmingham.
  
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