Environment news

• Climate change: Electric trucks 'can compete with diesel ones'

  08-04-2021 22:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Heavy goods vehicles powered by batteries can compete with diesel ones, say researchers.
  
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• Crypto Climate Accord aims for 100% renewables and net-zero digital currency by 2040

  08-04-2021 21:20
  
  A new global accord has been set up to align the swelling cryptocurrency market with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement by ensuring that blockchain and energy-intensive currency mining systems are powered by renewables and reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
  
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• Banks should invest in nature to fight climate crisis, says Prince William

  08-04-2021 20:21
  
  Duke tells IMF and World Bank event that investment in reforestation and cleaner oceans must be stepped upBanks can help to turn the tide in the battle against climate breakdown by investing more in nature, the Duke of Cambridge has said.Prince William told a joint International Monetary Fund and World Bank event on the climate emergency that there needed to be a marked stepping-up of investment in projects such as reforestation and cleaner oceans. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on peat: keep it in the ground | Editorial

  08-04-2021 19:44
  
  A target for phasing out its use in gardens was missed last year, and campaigners are right to demand actionPeatlands are a type of wetlands ecosystem comprised of unrotted plant material. Covering 3% of the earth’s land surface and ranging from a shallow surface layer to more than 8 metres deep, they are the world’s largest carbon store, holding 550 gigatonnes of carbon – 42% of all carbon sequestered in the ground. In Europe, where they are concentrated in the north and east,
  
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• Deep sea mining to help make electric vehicles

  08-04-2021 18:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Many companies want to exploit deep sea minerals but campaigners warn it could damage fragile ecosystems.
  
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• Rare blood clots - what you need to know

  08-04-2021 18:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  We take a look at why these unusual clots happen and when they occur.
  
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• Third of Antarctic ice shelves ‘will collapse amid 4C global heating’

  08-04-2021 17:38
  
  ‘Unimaginable amounts’ of water will flow into oceans if that temperature rise occurs and ice buffers vanish, warn UK scientistsMore than a third of the vast floating platforms of ice surrounding Antarctica could be at risk of collapsing and releasing “unimaginable amounts” of water into the sea if global temperatures reach 4C above pre-industrial levels, UK scientists say.Researchers from the University of Reading said that limiting the temperature rise to 2C could halve
  
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• Venice’s ban on cruise ships is a vital step towards saving the city from disaster | Neal E Robbins

  08-04-2021 17:15
  
  The Italian government has finally taken action to help avert an environmental catastrophe in this fragile lagoonIf anywhere offers an example of how the battle to save heritage and the environment has shifted during the pandemic, it’s Venice.A world heritage site in a lagoon, a city that Charles Dickens once described as “beyond the fancy of the wildest dreamer. Opium couldn’t build such a place…” has been riven by a struggle over its future, pitting residents and
  
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• Secrets of gorilla communication laid bare

  08-04-2021 17:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists reveal how male gorillas tell others how big and strong they are by chest beating.
  
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• UPS invests in electric aircraft for zero-emission deliveries

  08-04-2021 14:52
  
  Logistics giant UPS had unveiled plans to purchase electric aircraft models to assist with time-sensitive deliveries while limiting emissions associated with transportation.
  
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• Undercover footage shows ‘gratuitous cruelty’ at Spanish animal testing facility

  08-04-2021 13:36
  
  Campaigners call for the closure of the Madrid research firm, after whistleblower video allegedly captures unacceptable treatmentUndercover footage of “gratuitous cruelty and abuse” allegedly taken in an animal testing facility in Spain – which has previously secured funding from the EU and Spanish authorities for projects – has been published, amid calls for the centre’s closure.Madrid-based contract research organisation Vivotecnia conducts experiments on a range
  
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• Ropeless fishing tech could help save rare whale, say scientists

  08-04-2021 12:43
  
  Virtual buoys and time triggered traps reduce risk to endangered North Atlantic right whale, but reactions among fishers in US and Canada are mixedRopes that spring to the water’s surface when summoned and virtual buoys could hold the key to saving one of the world’s most endangered whale species, scientists and conservation groups have said.As the North Atlantic right whale nears the brink of extinction – amid reports of whales tangled in metres of thick fishing lines and find
  
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• RouteZero: Climate Group launches new initiative to decarbonise road transport

  08-04-2021 12:39
  
  International non-profit the Climate Group had partnered with the UN High-Level Climate Champions to launch a new initiative aimed at getting businesses, cities and regions to completely decarbonise all forms of road transport.
  
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• Publisher Springer Nature reaches carbon neutrality

  08-04-2021 12:39
  
  Global research publisher Springer Nature Group has today (8 April) confirmed that it has reached carbon-neutral status for emissions associated with its offices and business travel.
  
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• Sea-level rise is creating ‘ghost forests’ on an American coast | Emily Ury

  08-04-2021 12:25
  
  In coastal North Carolina, evidence of forest die-off is everywhere. Nearly every roadside ditch I pass is lined with dead or dying treesTrekking out to my research sites near North Carolina’s Alligator River national wildlife refuge, I slog through knee-deep water on a section of trail that is completely submerged. Permanent flooding has become commonplace on this low-lying peninsula, nestled behind North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The trees growing in the water are small and stunted.
  
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• UK's marine natural capital assets valued at £211bn

  08-04-2021 11:08
  
  The UK's marine assets, which include renewable energy production, tourism attraction, sustainable fishing and carbon sequestration, have reached a value of £211bn, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
  
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• Climate campaigners call for halt to regional UK airports expansion

  08-04-2021 10:37
  
  Ministers must consider cumulative impact of proposals ‘likely to compromise’ emissions targets
  The government must intervene to stop the planned expansion of a number of small airports around the country if it is to meet legally binding environmental targets and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis, campaigners have said.Seven regional hubs have devised plans to expand their operations despite fierce opposition from climate scientists and locals who argue the proposals are
  
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• British Army to switch on first solar farm as part of net-zero aspiration

  08-04-2021 10:34
  
  The British Army is progressing with the first of four solar photovoltaic farms, which will save more than £1m in energy costs and help the Army reach net-zero emissions by 2045.
  
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• Snared: catching poachers to save Italy’s songbirds

  08-04-2021 08:30
  
  With five million birds a year illegally caught in Italy, activists in Brescia are teaming up with local police to trap the huntersAfter two hours of scouring the mountains of Brescia, Stefania Travaglia finally finds what she is looking for. Among the remote farmhouses of an alpine hamlet, a spring-net trap is partially hidden behind a grassy embankment and a few trees. Tangled in the wire mesh, an exhausted fieldfare thrush sits silent and unmoving.Travaglia sets to work quickly and quietly, h
  
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• New EPA chief Michael Regan relishes ‘clean slate’ after chaos of Trump era

  08-04-2021 08:00
  
  The first black man to lead the EPA in half a century has a job on his hands at an agency reeling from setbacks – but he’s confident he can meet the challengeMichael Regan has perhaps the most fiendishly challenging job within Joe Biden’s administration. As the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Regan not only has to grapple with the unfolding cataclysm of the climate crisis, he must do so at the helm of a traumatized, shrunken institution still reeling from the chaos
  
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• Weatherwatch: why Atlantic Portugal has a ‘Mediterranean climate’

  08-04-2021 07:00
  
  Dry, sunny summers and cooler, wetter winters are moderated by the long coastline
  Despite not being on the Mediterranean, Portugal has what is termed a Mediterranean climate: warm (sometimes very hot), dry and sunny summers and cooler, wetter winters. Unlike countries further east, however, its climate is also affected by its long coastline facing the Atlantic Ocean, which moderates the average temperatures in both summer and winter.As you might expect, heat and sunshine increase from north to s
  
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• Surfers Against Sewage launches long-term plastic waste clean-up

  08-04-2021 07:00
  
  Charity urges public to join Million Mile Beach Clean, created to mark emergence from UK lockdownThe public is being urged to clear plastic and litter from their local beaches, rivers and parks as part of a million-mile clean-up to mark the emergence from lockdown.Surfers Against Sewage, which is launching the scheme, said it wanted to reconnect people with nature and help promote physical and mental wellbeing. Continue reading...
  
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• Study says bitcoin could derail China's climate change targets

  08-04-2021 06:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Bitcoin emissions in China exceed the total emissions of the Czech Republic and Qatar, study says.
  
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• Country diary: sticks, moss and dog hair – the nest-building has begun

  08-04-2021 06:30
  
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: April is the busiest month for our chimney-dwelling jackdaws, but there is also a sad beauty to an abandoned blackbird’s nestA handful of sticks in the fireplace: someone placing kindling, someone casting fortunes, someone marking a spot? The sticks, about 50cm long, are mostly ash, knobbly and without buds, dead wood gathered according to a standard: they measure the same length, diameter and straightness. There is something conscious about the selection of stick
  
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