Environment news

• What is cryptoart, how much does it cost and can you hang it on your wall?

  04-03-2021 20:36 via theguardian.com
  
  When is a meme worth $600,000? When technology has created a ‘unique’ version that can’t be owned by anyone else
  Pat, I keep hearing references to cryptoart which are all very … cryptic. What is this thing?Hey Lucy! So you might have heard of it in context of the $US600,000 Nyan Cat gif or the more recent Kings of Leon NFT Album, both of which are examples of cryptoart. Cryptoart is a way of making digital art unique, and therefore – according to some people &ndash
  
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• The Guardian view on climate and the budget: Sunak fails the green test | Editorial

  04-03-2021 19:37 via theguardian.com
  
  By failing to plan for a low-carbon recovery, the chancellor has revealed his lack of visionThe absence of green measures was not the only sense in which this week’s budget was a missed opportunity. The failure to address social care was another sign that the government is far more interested in short-term point-scoring than forward planning. But it is hugely disappointing that the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, did not choose to make the environment a big theme of this pandemic budget, all the
  
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• Lab-grown wood could be future of furniture

  04-03-2021 18:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  American scientists are working on a plan to "grow" wood in a laboratory without sunlight or soil.
  
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• Food waste: Amount thrown away totals 900 million tonnes

  04-03-2021 16:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Every year, 23 million truckloads of food go straight into the waste bin, according to the UN.
  
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• UK found guilty of dirty air breach by EU court

  04-03-2021 15:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK is found guilty of “systematically and persistently” breaching air pollution limits.
  
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• People wasting almost 1bn tonnes of food a year, UN report reveals

  04-03-2021 15:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Food discarded in homes is 74kg per person each year, with problem affecting rich and poor countriesPeople waste almost a billion tonnes of food a year, a UN report has revealed. It is the most comprehensive assessment to date and found waste was about double the previous best estimate.The food discarded in homes alone was 74kg per person each year on average around the world, the UN found. In the UK, which has some of the best data, the edible waste represents about eight meals per household ea
  
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• International climate scientists join call to halt Leeds Bradford airport expansion

  04-03-2021 14:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Academics write to Robert Jenrick predicting dire consequences for climate crisis if plans go aheadLeading international climate scientists are among more than 200 academics who have written to the government calling on it to halt what they say would be an ecologically destructive expansion of Leeds Bradford airport.Almost 250 professors, academics and researchers from Leeds University, including two of the lead authors of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) repor
  
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• 'A new world of discovery': readers' photos of their local wildlife

  04-03-2021 14:45 via theguardian.com
  
  We asked UK readers to send in photos of the natural world near them from the last few weeksYou can send in your recent wildlife photos hereYou can see our previous selection of 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 frogs in Cardiff to lichen in Brighton, UK readers have been sharing pictures and stories of their local flora and fauna. Continu
  
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• Spring into action: 15 easy March gardening tasks to prepare for the growing season

  04-03-2021 13:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Now is the time to feed your vegetable patch, start seedlings on the windowsill and work out whether you planted enough bulbsSpring doesn’t officially arrive until 20 March, but our gardens are already starting to wake up: from frogspawn lacing ponds to crocuses poking through the grass. Now is the time to get busy with plans for the growing year ahead. Continue reading...
  
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• New report details how businesses can help deliver sustainable cities and communities post-Covid-19

  04-03-2021 13:12
  
  edie has launched its latest SDG Spotlight report, looking at how businesses can transform to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) post-lockdown, with the latest focusing on Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
  
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• UK has broken air pollution limits for a decade, EU court finds

  04-03-2021 12:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Levels of nitrogen dioxide, mostly from diesel vehicles, remain illegally high in 75% of urban areasThe UK has “systematically and persistently” broken legal limits on toxic air pollution for a decade, the court of justice of the EU (CJEU) has ruled.Levels of nitrogen dioxide, mostly from diesel vehicles, remain illegally high in 75% of urban areas and on Thursday the court said the UK had failed to tackle the problem in the shortest possible time, as required by law. Continue readin
  
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• Coty partners with LanzaTech to use captured carbon in perfumes

  04-03-2021 12:45
  
  US-based beauty giant Coty has forged a partnership with LanzaTech, whereby carbon captured using the firm's technology will be used to manufacture fragrance ingredients.
  
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• Mastercard issues $600m sustainability bond to help finance net-zero transition

  04-03-2021 11:52
  
  Mastercard has issued a $600m sustainability bond and is planning to use proceeds to further its alignment with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and deliver its 2050 net-zero pledge.
  
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• US takes step towards 2050 net-zero target with sweeping climate bill

  04-03-2021 11:19
  
  A wide-ranging climate bill has been introduced to the US House of Representatives this week that, if passed, will commit the nation to net-zero by 2050.
  
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• EIB spent €890m on fossil gas since phase out pledge, activists say

  04-03-2021 10:55
  
  The European Investment Bank (EIB) has invested €890m in gas projects since it pledged to phase out investments into fossil fuels by 2022, contradicting the bank's "gas is over" narrative, activists say.
  
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• EIB spent €890 million on fossil gas since phase out pledge, activists say

  04-03-2021 10:55
  
  The European Investment Bank (EIB) has invested €890 million in gas projects since it pledged to phase out investments into fossil fuels by 2022, contradicting the bank's "gas is over" narrative, activists say.
  
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• Turning plagues of locusts into chicken feed – in pictures

  04-03-2021 10:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The biggest swarms of the insects in a generation have devastated crops and grazing across Africa but are now being turned into sustainable, high-protein animal fodder and fertiliserPhotographs by Baz Ratner Continue reading...
  
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• We can't contact Woodland Trust after root and branch cyber-attack

  04-03-2021 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  I applied for a grant under its MOREwoods scheme to fund planting, and have heard nothingI am hoping you will be able to uncover what is happening at the Woodland Trust, an organisation which featured very positively in your paper recently. Its MOREwoods scheme helps fund woodland planting schemes that involve more than 500 trees.I successfully applied for a grant in November, and was supposed to start planting this March. However, I’ve heard nothing for three months and have been unable t
  
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• Climate change: Will China take a 'great leap' to a greener economy?

  04-03-2021 08:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A new five-year plan may signal a switch from fossil fuels, but economic worries could limit change.
  
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• ‘There’s no excuse for this’: thousands in Mississippi city still without water weeks after storms

  04-03-2021 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In Jackson, where 80% of residents are Black, the cold led to breakages in the city’s ageing pipes, leaving thousands of its residents without running waterAs the sound of rainwater droplets crescendoed around him, Rodrick Readus stood by his front door and took a moment to reflect on the many indignities of the past fortnight.“It’s just the simple fact you can’t wash your hands,” he said. “You can’t take a bath. Every time I touch something I know I&rsq
  
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• TV tonight: how science could reverse the climate crisis

  04-03-2021 07:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists offer up their ideas about how we could reduce global warming. Plus the ins and outs of planning for holidays this year. Here’s what to watch this evening Continue reading...
  
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• Europe's unusually warm week breaks temperature records

  04-03-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Mild end to February saw Germany record sharpest temperature rise in a week, going from -23.8C to 18.1C Europe experienced well above normal temperatures last week, with the cold conditions at the start of February all but a distant memory. The mild and very dry conditions developed thanks to an extensive area of high pressure, combined with south to south-westerly winds from Morocco and Algeria. A number of all-time February temperature records were broken, most notably in Sweden where 16.8C wa
  
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• 'Catastrophic': UK has lost 90% of seagrass meadows, study finds

  04-03-2021 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists say restoring the lush habitats would boost wildlife, protect coasts and store carbonThe UK has lost more than 90% of the lush seagrass meadows that once surrounded the nation, research has found.Scientists described the decline as catastrophic, but the latest analysis also shows where the flowering plants could be restored. A resurgence of seagrass meadows would rapidly absorb the carbon dioxide that drives the climate crisis and provide habitats for hundreds of millions of fish, fro
  
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• Then and now: A 'megadrought' in California

  04-03-2021 02:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  See how extreme weather has affected an vital reservoir in California.
  
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• Life discovered deep beneath an Antarctic ice sheet 'shouldn't be there'

  04-03-2021 01:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Researchers hoping to collect mud samples deep beneath an Antarctic ice sheet were amazed to discover small creatures living in the dark, freezing water.
  
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