Environment news

• Human cells grown in monkey embryos spark ethical debate

  15-04-2021 21:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists confirm they have made "chimera" embryos from long-tailed macaques and humans.
  
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• Man sentenced for shooting protected elephant seal dead on California coast

  15-04-2021 20:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Jordan Gerbich, 30, will serve three months in federal prison and pay a $1,000 fine for killing the animal A man has been sentenced to three months in federal prison for shooting a protected northern elephant seal to death on the central California coast.Armed with a .45-caliber handgun and a flashlight, on the night of 2 September 2019 Jordan Gerbich, 30, opened fire on an elephant seal at a popular viewing area where the giant aquatic mammals haul out along the shore near the Monterey Bay nati
  
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• Whitest-ever paint could help cool heating Earth, study shows

  15-04-2021 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  New paint reflects 98% of sunlight as well as radiating infrared heat into space, reducing need for air conditioningThe whitest-ever paint has been produced by academic researchers, with the aim of boosting the cooling of buildings and tackling the climate crisis.The new paint reflects 98% of sunlight as well as radiating infrared heat through the atmosphere into space. In tests, it cooled surfaces by 4.5C below the ambient temperature, even in strong sunlight. The researchers said the paint cou
  
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• Save the queen, save the hive: how to live in harmony with bees

  15-04-2021 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Bees are precious and critical to our food supply. So how should you handle an unexpected swarm?Beyond the towering city centres, Australia’s inner-city suburbs still harbour slivers of greenery. My Brisbane backyard is no exception. A magnificent poinciana tree stands in the corner. From my kitchen window I look out over its gnarly branches, protruding from a solid trunk. Related: Bees bounce back after Australia’s black summer: ‘Any life is good life’Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Enormous sum of money’: $40m windfall from NSW environmental offsets sparks calls for inquiry

  15-04-2021 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Consultants from a company that advised government on western Sydney development bought land in the area and profited from taxpayer-funded offsetsEnvironmental consultants from a company that advised governments on major developments in New South Wales have made windfall gains of millions of dollars by selling what’s known as conservation offsets for those very same developments to the state and federal governments, a Guardian investigation can reveal.In theory, offsets allow developers to
  
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• China 'can save $1.6 trillion by scrapping coal', report says

  15-04-2021 16:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Beijing must close 588 coal-fired power plants in a decade to meet climate pledges, experts say.
  
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• Google Earth time-lapses show a changing planet

  15-04-2021 15:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Satellite images collected over 37 years are combined to show how Earth in a new way.
  
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• Jurassic Coast cliff collapses in biggest UK rockfall for 60 years

  15-04-2021 14:14 via theguardian.com
  
  People urged to stay away after thousands of tonnes falls to Dorset beach in massive chunksA huge section of a cliff on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset has collapsed on to a beach below and into the sea in the biggest UK rockfall in 60 years.The rockfall happened just west of the south coast seaside town of Weymouth and Dorset council said more cliff was expected to be lost, with people being urged to stay away from the area. Parts of the coastal path were cordoned off. Continue reading...
  
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• Heineken targets carbon-neutral value chain by 2040

  15-04-2021 12:44
  
  Global brewer Heineken has unveiled a new corporate strategy to become carbon-neutral across its operations by 2030 and then across its entire value chain by 2040.
  
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• Coldplay, ClientEarth and children's media: Pop culture giants strive to boost environmental engagement

  15-04-2021 12:44
  
  Several big names in music, including Coldplay and Alt-J, have launched new playlists designed to spark environmental action, in the same week that new children's climate engagement schemes were launched by broadcasters and authors.
  
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• How Texas’s zombie oil wells are creating an environmental disaster zone

  15-04-2021 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands of abandoned oil wells dot the Permian Basin in west Texas and New Mexico, endangering humans and wildlife. With oil costs plummeting, they’re likely to proliferate. Who is going to cover the cleanup costs? When Laura Briggs and her husband finally found their dream home in west Texas, they knew they’d be sharing space with the oil industry. The Pecos county ranch’s previous owner, local attorney Windel “Hoot” Gibson, died there when a rickety old pumpjack
  
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• Mars and PepsiCo launch new supply chain climate programme

  15-04-2021 11:20
  
  Food and beverage giants Mars, PepsiCo and McCormick have teamed up to launch a new coalition aimed at encouraging suppliers to reduce carbon emissions in alignment with climate science.
  
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• Two-thirds of Brits sceptical of sustainability-related business communications

  15-04-2021 10:46
  
  Two-thirds of adults in the UK say they are wary of business communications relating to environmental and social purpose because they feel most brands are not yet 'walking the talk'.
  
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• Report: China's carbon neutrality goal only achievable with major coal phase-out

  15-04-2021 10:46
  
  If China is to meet its 2060 ambition of carbon neutrality, announced last year, it must shut hundreds of gigawatts of coal generation and reform emissions trading as a priority, a new report has revealed.
  
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• Sir David Attenborough's new doc: 'Humans are intruders'

  15-04-2021 07:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sir David Attenborough fronts a new documentary on lockdown's effect on the natural world.
  
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• Arctic air sweeps across Europe, bringing record low temperatures

  15-04-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Significant snowfall in parts of continent and Slovenia has its coldest April night with -20.6C recordedBitterly cold Arctic air swept southwards last week to affect large parts of Europe. While cold weather is not unusual in April, this spell brought significant snowfall and record low temperatures to parts of the continent. Slovenia had its coldest night for April, with -20.6C recorded at Novi Vasi na Blokah, beating the previous record set in 1956. The low temperatures also had a considerable
  
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• Country diary: a hospital visit, a motorway verge and the first swallow

  15-04-2021 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  St Dominic, Tamar Valley: The journey home is slow, but the view is a haze of primrose, celandine and alexandersThe inexorable tide of verdure flashes alongside the A388 and Expressway, skirting Plymouth, as I make one of my regular trips to Derriford hospital. The haze of fresh hawthorn, pale yellow fluffiness of pussy willow catkins, and abundant white blossom on blackthorn are luminous, still unsullied by traffic fumes.After treatment from caring, gentle professionals, against a background of
  
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• Oil firm CEOs’ pay is an incentive to resist climate action, study finds

  15-04-2021 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lucrative pay and share options linked to continued extraction of fossil fuels by ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BPLucrative pay and share options have created an incentive for oil company executives to resist climate action, according to a study that casts doubt on recent net-zero commitments by BP and Shell.Compensation packages for CEOs, often in excess of $10m (£7.2m), are linked to continued extraction of fossil fuels, exploration of new fields and the promotion of strong market deman
  
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• Oil firm bosses’ pay ‘incentivises them to undermine climate action’

  15-04-2021 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lucrative pay and share options linked to continued extraction of fossil fuels by ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BPLucrative pay and share options have created an incentive for oil company executives to resist climate action, according to a study that casts doubt on recent net-zero commitments by BP and Shell.Compensation packages for CEOs, often in excess of $10m (£7.2m), are linked to continued extraction of fossil fuels, exploration of new fields and the promotion of strong market deman
  
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• Just 3% of world’s ecosystems remain intact, study suggests

  15-04-2021 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pristine areas in the Amazon and Siberia may expand with animal reintroductions, scientists sayJust 3% of the world’s land remains ecologically intact with healthy populations of all its original animals and undisturbed habitat, a study suggests.These fragments of wilderness undamaged by human activities are mainly in parts of the Amazon and Congo tropical forests, east Siberian and northern Canadian forests and tundra, and the Sahara. Invasive alien species including cats, foxes, rabbits,
  
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• Failure is not an option. Australia must radically scale up its climate targets now | Will Steffen for the Conversation

  15-04-2021 02:38 via theguardian.com
  
  To contribute fairly to keeping warming well below 2C, we have to cut emissions by 75% this decade – a daunting but achievable taskIn May 2011, almost precisely a decade ago, the government-appointed Climate Commission released its inaugural report. Titled The Critical Decade, the report’s final section warned that to keep global temperature rises to 2C this century, “the decade between now and 2020 is critical”.As the report noted, if greenhouse gas emissions peaked arou
  
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