Environment news

• What a dump! Why ‘wild toileting’ has become a big pandemic problem

  24-02-2021 16:42
  
  The number of people doing their business alfresco has shot up. But what else can you do when nature calls and there aren’t any public loos?Name: Wild toileting.Age: Dates back to Homo erectus. Urinating and defecating are part of the human condition – “I shit, therefore I am” (“Coshito, ergo sum”), as Descartes almost said – and was undomesticated until the Mesopotamians invented toilets almost 4,500 years ago.
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• #SustyTalk: Virgin Media's Katie Buchanan on net-zero targets and social sustainability

  24-02-2021 15:25
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with an exclusive discussion with Virgin Media's head of sustainability Katie Buchanan, following the launch of a new Meaningful Connections sustainability strategy.
  
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• Arctic ice loss forces polar bears to use four times as much energy to survive - study

  24-02-2021 14:50
  
  Other apex predators, such as narwhals, suffer similarly as unique adaptations become less suitedPolar bears and narwhals are using up to four times as much energy to survive because of major ice loss in the Arctic, according to an analysis.Once perfectly evolved for polar life, apex predators are struggling as their habitats shrink and unique adaptations become less suited to an increasingly ice-free Arctic, researchers say. Continue reading...
  
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• Cattle stranded at sea for two months are likely dead or ‘suffering hell’

  24-02-2021 13:13
  
  Two livestock ships have been refused entry to multiple countries on health grounds since leaving Spain in December One of two livestock ships at sea since mid-December with thousands of cattle on board is now at the Spanish port of Cartagena, but the fate of its cargo is unclear.The two vessels left from different ports in Spain before Christmas to deliver their cargoes of animals, but were each refused entry by various countries including Turkey and Libya, owing to suspected outbreaks onboard
  
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• Food and drink businesses meet carbon reduction goals five years early

  24-02-2021 12:52
  
  The UK's food and drinks sector has collectively slashed carbon emissions by 55% since 1990, surpassing a target set for 2025.
  
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• Hot houses: the race to save bats from overheating as temperatures rise

  24-02-2021 11:30
  
  Chimneys for bat boxes and a flying fox heat stress forecaster are among efforts to prevent deaths from effects of climate crisisSteve Latour and his wife were enjoying their usual early morning coffee in the sun outside their lake house in the Kootenay region of British Columbia when they heard noises coming from the bat box attached to the side of the house. Every summer, about 150 Yuma myotis bats return to the box, using it as a maternity colony to give birth to pups and take care of them un
  
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• 'Tired of getting slapped in the face': older Black farmers see little hope in Biden's agriculture pick

  24-02-2021 11:00
  
  Black farmers have been disregarded by the USDA for years. Will anything change in Tom Vilsack’s second stint?James “Bill” McGill has been a farmer for 40 of his 76 years. He can’t remember the year his 320-acre farm was put up for sale by the same man from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) he’d gone to for a loan to help him keep it. He can sum up the loss succinctly: “The government took it away. It has always been that way for us.” Related: 'I'l
  
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• Will the 2021 Budget help the UK deliver a green recovery?

  24-02-2021 10:17
  
  Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his second Budget on 3 March. But, faced with the challenge of supporting the economy as the UK completes its lockdown exit roadmap, will the Budget deliver an appropriate response to the climate and nature emergencies?
  
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• Will next week's Budget help the UK deliver a green recovery?

  24-02-2021 10:17
  
  Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his second Budget next week. But, faced with the challenge of supporting the economy as the UK completes its lockdown exit roadmap, will the Budget deliver an appropriate response to the climate and nature emergencies?
  
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• 'Outdoors is the best place to be': readers' photos of their local wildlife

  24-02-2021 09:54
  
  We asked UK readers to send in photos of the natural world near them this month You can send in your wildlife photos hereLiving with the coronavirus pandemic has meant many people are having to stay closer to home, but one benefit is having more time to take notice of the natural world around us. From barn owls in Norfolk to snowdrops in Glasgow, UK readers have been sharing pictures and stories of their local flora and fauna. Continue reading...
  
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• UK can create 200,000 jobs through clean technology drive

  24-02-2021 09:33
  
  The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) has claimed that the UK can reach 100% renewable electricity in the next 11 years, with clean technology uptake set to create 200,000 new jobs provided the Government can deliver enabling policies.
  
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• Texas freeze casts renewable energy as next battle line in US culture wars

  24-02-2021 09:00
  
  Conservatives have blamed the state’s power fiasco on solar and wind even though they account for a fraction of supplyThe frigid winter storm and power failure that left millions of people in Texas shivering in darkness has been used to stoke what is becoming a growing front in America’s culture wars – renewable energy. Continue reading...
  
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• To stop climate disaster, make ecocide an international crime. It's the only way | Jojo Mehta and Julia Jackson

  24-02-2021 08:16
  
  Outlawing ecocide would hold governments and corporations accountable for environmental negligence. We can’t wait
  The Paris agreement is failing. Yet there is new hope for preserving a livable planet: the growing global campaign to criminalize ecocide can address the root causes of the climate crisis and safeguard our planet – the common home of all humanity and, indeed, all life on Earth.Nearly five years after the negotiation of the landmark Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas
  
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• Greggs targets carbon neutrality and improved diversity through new sustainability pledges

  24-02-2021 08:01
  
  Food retailer Greggs has unveiled a new set of sustainability commitments that will see it become a carbon-neutral business, use 100% renewable energy, reduce packaging waste by a quarter and improve workforce diversity.
  
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• All's fair in love and the suburban bird-feeding wars | Peter White

  24-02-2021 08:00
  
  Once upon a time, our garden was a popular feeding site for birds of all sizes. Then our neighbour lured them away, and my wife is hatching a retaliation planWe all know about the classic seeds of neighbourhood strife: unruly children and dogs; light-blocking trees and hedges; full-throated motorbikes arriving and departing when right-thinking folk are trying to sleep. What I hadn’t realised until recently was that the apparently gentle practice of feeding the birdies could unleash dark fe
  
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• The thylacine that wasn't even though we wish it was | First Dog on the Moon

  24-02-2021 07:10
  
  Many folk believe they are still out there and look for them regularlySign 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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• Specieswatch: the green tiger beetle, a ferocious heathland predator

  24-02-2021 07:00
  
  One of Britain’s fastest insects, Cicindela campestris, is small but deadlyThe wanted poster at the edge of the restored heathland made the green tiger beetle Cicindela campestris seem quite menacing, like an outlaw on the run. Perhaps if you are an ant, spider or caterpillar living in the same habitat this might well be your view. The beetle is described as a ferocious predator. To catch its lunch it has sharp teeth set in large sickle shaped jaws, and being one of Britain’s fastest
  
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• Feed your moths and hide your trousers: the expert guide to making clothes last forever

  24-02-2021 07:00
  
  Orsola de Castro is a fashion designer who became a re-use revolutionary. Now she has written a book to help people care for their clothes – and the planetThere is a rip in the armpit of Orsola de Castro’s jumper. She raises her hand high in the air so I can see it: a slash of pale skin peeks from tomato-red wool. This “memory hole”, as De Castro describes it, tells the story of the jumper’s long life. It was owned by her cousin, then her daughter. “It is very
  
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• Feed your moths and hide your trousers: the expert guide to making clothes last for ever

  24-02-2021 07:00
  
  Orsola de Castro is a fashion designer who became a re-use revolutionary. Now she has written a book to help people care for their clothes – and the planetThere is a rip in the armpit of Orsola de Castro’s jumper. She raises her hand high in the air so I can see it: a slash of pale skin peeks from tomato-red wool. This “memory hole”, as De Castro describes it, tells the story of the jumper’s long life. It was owned by her cousin, then her daughter. “It is very
  
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• Most pheasants sold for food 'contain lead shot'

  24-02-2021 01:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists say a pledge by shooting groups to phase out lead shot has had no detectable effect.
  
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• Walker Swamp: The mission to restore an Australian wetland

  24-02-2021 01:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Walker Swamp had been destroyed by 150 years of farming - now it is replenished and welcoming life.
  
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• Virgin Media targets net-zero carbon operations for 2025

  24-02-2021 01:01
  
  Virgin Media has committed to achieve net-zero operations by the end of 2025 and to transition its entire fleet to electric vehicles by 2030, as part of a sweeping new sustainability strategy.
  
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• Budget 2021: Chancellor must 'make finance green', say campaigners

  24-02-2021 01:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Campaigners call for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to make system changes including a carbon emissions tax.
  
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