Environment news

• Mars landing: Photo shows Perseverance about to touch down

  19-02-2021 20:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nasa releases an astonishing image of its new Mars robot taken just moments before touchdown.
  
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• Yungblud 'honoured' to have David Bowie cover played on Mars

  19-02-2021 16:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nasa told the singer they would play his cover of David Bowie's Life On Mars as they landed
  
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• 'A world of sound opens up': how 10 minutes in nature reaps rewards

  19-02-2021 15:51
  
  Sir David Attenborough’s advice to spend quiet time in woodland is revelatory, once you get past the drone of the A40 Sir David Attenborough’s latest advice for restoring our damaged relationship with nature is reassuringly straightforward. “One of the simplest things that you should do if you get the chance, when you get the chance, is just naturally to stop,” he told the Call of the Wild podcast.I am wandering through Horsenden Wood in far West London, looking for a goo
  
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• US rejoins Paris accord: Biden's first act sets tone for ambitious approach

  19-02-2021 14:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Re-joining the Paris climate pact is a symbolic and practical first step for the Biden White House.
  
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• Dolphins have similar personality traits to humans, study finds

  19-02-2021 12:19
  
  Curiosity and sociability among traits found, despite dolphins having evolved separately for millions of yearsDolphins have developed a number of similar personality traits to humans, despite having evolved in vastly different environments, researchers have found.A study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, looked at 134 male and female bottlenose dolphins from eight facilities across the world, with each dolphin’s personality being assessed by staff at the facilities. The
  
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• 'California and Texas are warnings': blackouts show US deeply unprepared for the climate crisis

  19-02-2021 12:00
  
  Both states have faced widespread power outages after failing to plan for extreme weatherWhen California saw widespread power blackouts last year during wildfires and a summer “heat storm”, Republican lawmakers from Texas were quick to deride the coastal state’s energy policies. “California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity,” tweeted senator Ted Cruz during the record-breaking heatwave in August. Continue
  
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• Global heavy industry failing to align with Paris climate goals

  19-02-2021 11:07
  
  Only 14% of publicly listed companies in the steel, cement, aluminum, paper and mining sector are on track to meet the Paris Agreement's 2°C climate target, according to a report by the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), a global investor group supported by the UN. Still, some European companies offer hope, EURACTIV Germany reports.
  
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• Mars landings: How many landings on Mars?

  19-02-2021 11:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  With two missions to land on Mars in 2021, Laura Foster looks back at all the previous attempts.
  
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• 'It's cultural genocide': inside the fight to stop a pipeline on tribal lands

  19-02-2021 11:00
  
  The Line 3 route traverses land that Native American pipeline opponents say is protected by US treaties with Ojibwe nationsDressed in a ribbon skirt and mask, Tara Houska gazed down at the trickling waters of the Mississippi near its headwaters. The great American river that eventually flows into the Gulf of Mexico is just a stream in these parts of northern Minnesota.A pipeline will soon burrow underneath this part of the Mississippi and its surrounding wetlands. It is one of hundreds of water
  
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• WeTransfer turns to offsets to achieve carbon-neutral certification

  19-02-2021 10:49
  
  Digital file transferring service WeTransfer has confirmed it has achieved carbon neutral status, following a pledge to reduce emissions by 30% by 2025 that was set last year.
  
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• Banking giants unite with Prince of Wales on financial net-zero taskforce

  19-02-2021 10:40
  
  The Prince of Wales' Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) has announced that executives from the likes of Bank of America, BNP Paribas, NatWest and Lloyds have joined on as members of a new Financial Services Task Force aiming to create a net-zero investor sector.
  
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• How fires have spread to previously-untouched parts of the world

  19-02-2021 10:26
  
  Fires have always been a part of our natural world. But they’re moving to new ecosystems previously untouched by fire – and this is concerning scientistsWildfires are spreading to fuel-abundant regions of the world that used to be less prone to burning, according to a new analysis of 20 years of data by the Guardian.While the overall area of annual burn in the world has remained relatively static in this period, the research indicates a shifting regional fire pattern that is affectin
  
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• US makes official return to Paris climate pact

  19-02-2021 10:06
  
  World leaders expect Washington to prove commitment to accord after four years of inactionThe US is back in the Paris climate accord, just 107 days after it left.While Friday’s return is heavily symbolic, world leaders say they expect the US to prove its seriousness after four years of being mostly absent. They are especially keen to hear an announcement from Washington in the coming months on the US’s goal for cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2030. Continue reading...
  
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• Spacewatch: Hope spacecraft sends back pictures of Mars volcanoes

  19-02-2021 07:00
  
  Hope mission is to study Martian atmosphere to help understand how water has been lostThe first photograph of Mars taken by the Emirates Mars Mission’s Hope spacecraft has been released by the UAE Space Agency and Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre .Captured at 20:36 GMT on 10 February 2021, one day after the Hope probe successfully entered orbit around the red planet, the image shows sunlight creeping over the giant volcanoes of the Tharsis region.Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: uprooting a tree is the ultimate assault on nature

  19-02-2021 06:30
  
  Stamford, Lincolnshire: Making the decision to fell a tree, however responsible and necessary, comes with a strange devastationFour large trees lie within our boundary. They’re a comforting part of our number, filling views with a nature we appreciate but take for granted. All cast their shadow signatures, have voices when in leaf and asway, and carry many passengers, from squirrels to sparrowhawks.This one, a 12-metre silver birch split mid-height into a hand of branches, has been a fine
  
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• Foot-and-mouth outbreak's parallels with Covid pandemic

  19-02-2021 02:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Twenty years on from the start of the foot-and-mouth crisis, the Covid parallels appear stark.
  
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• Key questions about Nasa's next Mars rover

  19-02-2021 02:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  We answer some common questions about the American Perseverance rover mission to Mars.
  
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• UK to launch 'high risk' science agency

  19-02-2021 02:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The new agency will help "cement the UK's position as a science superpower", the government says.
  
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• Perseverance rover in 'great shape' after landing

  19-02-2021 01:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Perseverance, a six-wheeled robot, survives hair-raising, seven-minute descent to the Red Planet's surface.
  
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• The dentist who helped a koala to walk

  19-02-2021 01:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jon Doulman built a unique prosthetic after hearing about Triumph, a koala born without a foot.
  
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• Climate Change: How much did it cost US economy in 2020?

  19-02-2021 01:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Last year saw a record numbers of costly extreme weather events.
  
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• Climate Change: How much did it cost the US economy in 2020?

  19-02-2021 01:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Last year saw a record numbers of extreme weather events costing billions of dollars in damages.
  
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