Environment news

• Cairngorms estate goes back on sale after criticism of ‘green laird’ owner

  24-07-2024 20:09
  
  Campaigners say sudden sale suggests Abrdn’s use of Scottish countryside was ‘get-rich-quick scheme’A Scottish estate that became a lightning rod for disputes over wealthy “green lairds” buying up the Highlands has been unexpectedly put up for sale.The Far Ralia estate in the Cairngorms has gone on the market for £12m, three years after it was bought for £7.5m by an investment trust run by Standard Life, now Abrdn, as a way to offset carbon emissions fro
  
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• Butterfly weed or butterfly bush: can you identify these 10 plants?

  24-07-2024 18:00
  Some elements are more telling than others – see how familiar you are with common US plantsThis article is a collaboration with Brooklyn Botanic GardenAfter realizing I couldn’t name most of the plants in my neighborhood, I downloaded a plant identification app. It was a great way to connect with my surroundings.“Plant identification starts when we examine the parts of the plants we can see,” said Barbara Kurland, director of learning and partnerships at Brooklyn Botanic
  
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• Monday was hottest recorded day on Earth: ‘Uncharted territory’

  24-07-2024 17:57
  
  Data shows that the global surface air temperature reached 62.87F compared with 62.76F on Sunday.World temperature reached the hottest levels ever measured on Monday, beating the record that was set just one day before, data suggests.Provisional data published on Wednesday by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which holds data that stretches back to 1940, shows that the global surface air temperature reached 62.87F (17.15C), compared with 62.76F (17.09C) on Sunday. Continue reading...
  
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• Tree bark plays vital role in removing methane from atmosphere, study finds

  24-07-2024 17:28
  Researchers uncover ‘remarkable new way in which trees provide a vital climate service’ by reducing emissionsMicrobes in the bark of trees play a vital role in removing methane from the atmosphere, scientists have discovered.The greenhouse gas is a product of agriculture and the burning of fossil fuels and is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. However, it remains in the atmosphere for a shorter time. Continue reading...
  
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• How a plant identification app helped me find happiness and satisfaction

  24-07-2024 17:09
  I’m no expert, but knowing my neighborhood’s trees and flowers by name makes me feel groundedEighteen months ago, I adopted a dog. Now I’m out on the streets of Brooklyn with my hound mix for at least an hour a day, strolling and wrestling discarded chicken bones from her jaws. You notice a lot when you visit the same few blocks over and over: which avenues are the quietest, or when the rusty scaffolding around a nearby building vanishes overnight.Most of all, I love to admire
  
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• Rare fossils reveal secrets of mammal evolution

  24-07-2024 17:02 via bbc.com
  
  The fossils hold clues as to how mammals that lived in the shadow of dinosaurs evolved to dominate the world.
  
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• ‘This used to be a beautiful place’: how the US became the world’s biggest fossil fuel state

  24-07-2024 17:00
  No country has ever in history produced as much oil and gas as the US does now and Louisiana is ground zero‘Inexcusable’: should climate hypocrites get the petrostates label?Revealed: wealthy western countries lead in global oil and gas expansionTo witness how the United States has become the world’s unchallenged oil and gas behemoth is to contemplate the scene from John Allaire’s home, situated on a small spit of coastal land on the fraying, pancake-flat western flank of
  
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• The US’s quiet rise to the world’s biggest fossil fuel state

  24-07-2024 17:00
  Residents in western Louisiana say giant liquified natural gas plants are making their home a sacrifice zoneTo witness how the United States has become the world’s unchallenged oil and gas behemoth is to contemplate the scene from John Allaire’s home, situated on a small spit of coastal land on the fraying, pancake-flat western flank of Louisiana.Allaire’s looming neighbor, barely a mile east across a ship channel that has been pushed into the Gulf of Mexico, is a hulking liqui
  
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• ‘They’re waiting till we die of cancer’: 10 years on, Mexico’s worst mining disaster still poisons lives

  24-07-2024 15:00
  
  In the desert town of Ures, everyone lives under a shadow of ongoing sickness and hardship stemming from a waste spill in 2014. But they are losing hope of seeing justiceJust outside Ures, a desert town in north-west Mexico, a copse of palo verde trees blooms around a concrete compound. It is unpainted, unfinished and overgrown. Inside, plasterboard walls have crumbled to the floor between scattered mounds of horse manure. But outside, clusters of bright yellow flowers hang around the grey walls
  
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• ‘High quality, low price and dizzying variety’: how the Chinese switched to electric cars

  24-07-2024 15:00
  
  The country has long been the world’s biggest market – but the government’s interest is more geopolitical than environmentalWhen Kenzi, an advertising worker in Shanghai, bought an electric vehicle in November she wasn’t even thinking about the environmental benefits. She had read Elon Musk’s biography and thought the Tesla 3 looked good. She also knew that if she bought an EV she could bypass the long wait and cost of getting licence plates, which are rationed by t
  
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• It’s easy to blame petrostates – but self-proclaimed ‘climate leaders’ like the US and UK are driving the crisis | Tessa Khan

  24-07-2024 13:30
  
  In thrall to the oil and gas industries, wealthy nations are backing calamitous projects. But the tide is turningTessa Khan is executive director of the climate action organisation UpliftIt is a delusion to believe that the world’s climate is being pushed to the brink solely by undemocratic petrostates such as Russia and Saudi Arabia. The truth is that about half of all planned oil and gas developments between now and 2050 will be sanctioned by wealthy governments that position themselves
  
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• Revealed: Tories failed to do impact check before approving banned pesticide

  24-07-2024 12:37
  Exclusive: UK campaigners say it is ‘unacceptable’ no nature assessments were made on bee-killing Cruiser SBThe Conservative government did not carry out a legally required assessment of how greenlighting the use of a banned pesticide, described as a “death blow to wildlife”, would affect some of the most important nature sites, documents have revealed.The previous government gave emergency approval this year for sugar beet farmers to use Cruiser SB for the fourth year in
  
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• Wealthy countries lead in new oil and gas expansion, threatening 12bn tonnes of emissions

  24-07-2024 12:00
  
  The US and the UK among countries with low dependence on fossil fuels criticized for ‘hypocrisy’ on climate pledges‘Inexcusable’: should climate hypocrites get the petrostates label?A surge in new oil and gas production in 2024 threatens to unleash nearly 12bn tonnes of planet-heating emissions, with the world’s wealthiest countries – such as the US and the UK – leading a stampede of fossil fuel expansion in spite of their climate commitments, new data s
  
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• Revealed: wealthy western countries lead in global oil and gas expansion

  24-07-2024 12:00
  The US and the UK among countries with low dependence on fossil fuels criticized for ‘hypocrisy’ on climate pledges‘Inexcusable’: should climate hypocrites get the petrostates label?A surge in new oil and gas production in 2024 threatens to unleash nearly 12bn tonnes of planet-heating emissions, with the world’s wealthiest countries – such as the US and the UK – leading a stampede of fossil fuel expansion in spite of their climate commitments, new data s
  
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• Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth, scientists find

  24-07-2024 11:00
  Reptile’s teeth found to have covering that helps keep serrated edges razor sharp and resistant to wearWith their huge size, venomous bite and the fantastical connotations of their name, Komodo dragons seem like the stuff of legend.Now, that status has been elevated further: scientists have discovered that their teeth are coated with a layer of iron that helps keep their serrated edges razor sharp. Continue reading...
  
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• The CFFMEU unequivocally condemns koala habitat destruction! | First Dog on the Moon

  24-07-2024 08:14
  
  There is power in a (nonhuman) unionSign 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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• Hydrothermal eruption in Yellowstone National Park sends sightseers fleeing

  24-07-2024 07:43
  
  Video posted online shows people running away to escape the explosion at Biscuit Basin, which is now closed to visitorsA surprise hydrothermal explosion in Yellowstone national park has sent sightseers running for safety, after steam and dark-coloured rock and dirt shot up high into the sky.The eruption happened around 10am local time on Tuesday in Biscuit Basin, a collection of hot springs a couple miles north of the famous Old Faithful Geyser. Continue reading...
  
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• Scientists call for greater study of glacier geoengineering options

  24-07-2024 07:00
  Report says serious research needed into risks and benefits as melting could cause devastating sea level riseWe need to seriously consider geoengineering projects to save our glaciers or face catastrophic sea level rise, scientists say in a report.Antarctica and Greenland’s ice sheets are melting fast and even if we manage to reduce carbon emissions and limit global heating to 2C, it is not clear if that will be enough to prevent ice sheet collapse. But geoengineering glaciers may be a way
  
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• Extreme wealth has a deadening effect on the super-rich – and that threatens us all | George Monbiot

  24-07-2024 07:00
  
  In a kayak off the Devon coast I witnessed the kind of entitled mindlessness that has ravaged society, and our planet On a calm and beautiful morning off the coast of south Devon last week, I was watching a small pod of dolphins from my kayak. I had spotted them from half a mile away, feeding and playing on the surface. They were heading my way, so I sat on the water and waited.But from round the headland, at top speed, came a giant twin-engined maritime wankpanzer. Though the dolphins were high
  
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• Country diary: Life is hanging on at this heavenly crossroads | Paul Evans

  24-07-2024 06:30
  
  The Marches, a border: In such a grim year for insects, there are at least soldier beetles and a delicate troop of mayflies to speak ofTo contemplate is to find a space for observation. To muse is to stand open-mouthed. Inspiration is an inward breath. From a footbridge looking downstream, the Afon Ceiriog hurries towards its destiny at waters-meet with the Dee. On a straightish reach at Pont-y-blew, water the colour of dark ale between the deep green corridor of alder trees is a borde
  
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