Environment news

• The Guardian view on Germany's Greens: opportunity knocks | Editorial

  16-02-2021 19:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Election year could deliver the best result in the party’s 40-year history, and send a message on climate targets from Europe’s most powerful state
  Pre-pandemic, Europe’s green parties were on a roll. In France last summer, supporters hailed a “green wave” after regional polls handed the Europe Ecology party control of showcase cities such as Lyon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux. Austria’s Greens are the surprise junior partners in a conservative-led coalition govern
  
  Read more

• US poultry plant workers complain of intimidation after fatal chemical leak

  16-02-2021 19:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Foundation Food Group allegedly asked workers to sign blank sheets of paper, and impeded compensation and healthcare claimsMeat plant workers who were injured and displaced after a fatal accident in the US last month are alleged to have been intimidated and offered limited medical care.A liquid nitrogen leak at a Foundation Food Group poultry plant in Gainesville, Georgia, killed six people in January and hospitalised at least 11 others. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• 'Development should stop': serious flaws in offsets plan for new western Sydney airport

  16-02-2021 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The site chosen to offset the massive Badgerys Creek project was already earmarked for protection. Experts accuse the government of ‘double-dipping’There are serious flaws in the environmental offsets being used to compensate for the new western Sydney airport now under construction in Badgerys Creek, a Guardian Australia investigation has found. All up, 1,780ha of bushland will be razed to make way for the new travel hub – an area bigger than the Adelaide CBD. Continue reading
  
  Read more

• AI used to 'predict the next coronavirus'

  16-02-2021 17:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists use AI to tackle the puzzle of where a new coronavirus could emerge.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Purpose-led products: Ocado launches a dedicated aisle for B-Corp brands

  16-02-2021 15:25
  
  Online supermarket Ocado has launched a dedicated virtual 'aisle' showcasing products from B-Corp certified brands, as customers increasingly look for more sustainable groceries.
  
  Read more

• Wood burning at home now biggest cause of UK particle pollution

  16-02-2021 12:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Fires used by just 8% of population but cause triple the particle pollution of traffic, data showsDomestic wood burning has become the single biggest source of small particle air pollution in the UK, producing three times more than road traffic, government data shows.Just 8% of the population cause this pollution by burning wood indoors, according to a separate government-commissioned report. It found almost half of those burning indoors were affluent and many chose a fire for aesthetic reasons,
  
  Read more

• #SustyTalk​: National Grid's Duncan Burt on COP26 preparations

  16-02-2021 12:23
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with an exclusive discussion with National Grid Group's director for COP26, Duncan Burt.
  
  Read more

• 'Journey to Tomorrow': IHG outlines plans for green recovery from Covid-19

  16-02-2021 11:41
  
  IHG Hotels & Resorts has outlined plans to reduce emissions in line with climate science, deliver zero-carbon new buildings, improve water stewardship and remove single-use packaging as the hospitality sector recovers from the financial hit of Covid-19.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Coventry unveils plans to host battery Gigafactory by 2025

  16-02-2021 11:03
  
  Coventry City Council has partnered with a local airport to develop plans for a major battery Gigafactory that would help to scale up the local electric vehicle (EV) and energy sectors.
  
  Read more

• Nestle and Mondelēz among chocolate giants facing child slavery lawsuit over supply chain practices

  16-02-2021 09:05
  
  A human rights firm has filed a lawsuit against major chocolate companies Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Mars, Olam, Hershey and Mondelēz, following allegations of child slave labour in their cocoa supply chains.
  
  Read more

• Nestlé and Mondelēz among chocolate giants facing child slavery lawsuit over supply chain practices

  16-02-2021 09:05
  
  A human rights firm has filed a lawsuit against major chocolate companies Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Mars, Olam, Hershey and Mondelēz, following allegations of child slave labour in their cocoa supply chains.
  
  Read more

• How heat is radically altering Americans' lives before they're even born – video

  16-02-2021 09:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Even before a child is born in the US, their race plays a huge part in how they'll experience heat and pollution. It starts with America's history of racist housing policies that segregated families of color into undesirable neighborhoods – and we can actually see the effects of those policies today: lots of pavement, little green space, and ultimately more heat. Meanwhile, in areas where white families live, the neighborhoods tend to have a lot more trees and shade, which leads to le
  
  Read more

• Degrees of racism: how heat is radically altering Americans' lives before they're even born – video

  16-02-2021 09:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Even before a child is born in the US, their race plays a huge part in how they'll experience heat and pollution. It starts with America's history of racist housing policies that segregated families of color into undesirable neighborhoods – and we can actually see the effects of those policies today: lots of pavement, little green space, and ultimately more heat. Meanwhile, in areas where white families live, the neighborhoods tend to have a lot more trees and shade, which leads to le
  
  Read more

• The life-altering effects heat is having on American children

  16-02-2021 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Global heating takes a disproportionate toll on Black and Latino children – and the danger begins before they’re even bornJoe Biden has vowed to uproot what he describes as the systemic racism that has caused certain communities “disproportionate harm from climate change and environmental contaminants for decades”.The need for this is increasingly clear. The roots of systemic racism run so stubbornly deep in the US, recent research has revealed, that global heating harms
  
  Read more

• Weatherwatch: Namibia is full of climate surprises

  16-02-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A cool ocean current and a high capital bring surprising variety to a country of vast desertsKnown in colonial times as German South West Africa, the name Namibia derives from a word meaning “vast place”. This aptly describes a country more than three times the size of the UK, yet with fewer than 2.5 million inhabitants.Much of Namibia is either desert or semi-desert, with very low rainfall. The capital (and largest city), Windhoek, gets about 360mm (roughly 14 inches) of rain a year
  
  Read more

• Country diary: trees with deep-rooted emotional significance

  16-02-2021 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Buxton, Derbyshire: A sparse treeline, nicknamed ‘cowboys and Indians’, has been special to me since my childhood. In fact, it has become a cherished fixtureWhat is it about certain trees that so moves people? On the debit side of this relationship, I know one friend who, when a beloved wooded play area was clear-felled for development, suffered a teenage breakdown that shaped his adult life. The 1990s protests over Newbury bypass also spring to mind, because one heroic figure known
  
  Read more

• How Congo-Brazzaville's shark population came under threat

  16-02-2021 01:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The shark population off Congo-Brazzaville is threatened as desperate fishermen search deeper waters.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!