Environment news

• Glass, plastic, roof insulation, oyster shells: what Australian consumers found in garden soil products

  09-08-2024 17:00
  People who bought top dressing and potting mix from major retailers say poor regulation and a lack of labelling makes it impossible to trace the source of contaminationGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA simple back yard landscaping job became something more complicated for Steve Douglas when he discovered a top dressing applied to his lawn in the NSW southern highlands was littered with glass, plastic and other debris.“As I watered the lawn, or when
  
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• US landfills are major source of toxic PFAS pollution, study finds

  09-08-2024 14:00
  
  New research shows toxic ‘forever chemicals’ gas may escape landfills and threaten the environment Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that leach from landfills into groundwater are among the major pollution sources in the US, and remain a problem for which officials have yet to find an effective solution.Now new research has identified another route in which PFAS may escape landfills and threaten the environment at even higher levels: the air. Continue reading...
  
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• Running in America’s worst air: ‘like binging on a carton of cigarettes’

  09-08-2024 14:00
  For a writer and runner in Denver, Colorado, the city’s severe air pollution creates a daily dilemma: do something you love, or risk your health?Outdoor runners have always had a lot of data to juggle: their pace, heart-rate, mileage, route, calories, weather and much more. Though in recent years there’s been a new, considerably more ominous data point for alfresco athletes to monitor: the Air Quality Index (AQI).The index, which measures the level of air pollution at any given time
  
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• Are some of your household products killing insects and wildlife?

  09-08-2024 14:00
  Flea treatments for dogs, ant killer, washing-up liquid and herbicides may be partly to blame for decline in UKInsect numbers are in freefall and most people know that pesticide use in agriculture is partly to blame.But many domestic products including flea treatments for dogs, ant killer applications, washing-up liquid and herbicides can also contribute to the problem. Continue reading...
  
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• Bog ugly, but totally magnificent: peatlands are finally getting the respect they deserve | Sophie Yeo

  09-08-2024 12:00
  Scotland’s Flow Country is the first peatland to become a world heritage site. It’s time we cherished these biodiverse landscapes For centuries, peatlands have had a bad reputation. Possessing neither the majesty of the mountains nor the pastoral beauty of a meadow, they have been tarred as dangerous, ugly and useless. Travellers have long feared being swallowed into their murky depths: “If his foot slip … it is possible he may never more be heard of,” wrote the cl
  
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• Week in wildlife – in pictures: a soggy robin, a breaching whale and a coyote on the hunt

  09-08-2024 09:00
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Wildlife boosted by England’s nature-friendly farming schemes, study finds

  09-08-2024 08:00
  
  Areas where farmers provide good habitats show notable increase in butterflies, bees, bats and breeding birdsButterflies, bees and bats are among the wildlife being boosted by England’s nature-friendly farming schemes, new government research has found.Birds were among the chief beneficiaries of the strategy, particularly ones that largely feed on invertebrates. An average of 25% more breeding birds were found in areas with more eco-friendly schemes. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Every building sits on a thermal asset’: how networked geothermal power could change cities

  09-08-2024 08:00
  
  The ground is humming with geothermal energy that could heat or cool our homes – and now the big US utilities are starting to take noteAlong with earthworms, rocks, and the occasional skeleton, there is a massive battery right under your feet. Unlike a flammable lithium ion battery, though, this one is perfectly stable, free to use, and ripe for sustainable exploitation: the Earth itself.While temperatures above ground fluctuate throughout the year, the ground stays a stable temperature, m
  
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• Biomass power station produced four times emissions of UK coal plant, says report

  09-08-2024 07:00
  
  Drax received £22bn in subsidies despite being UK’s largest emitter in 2023, though company rejects ‘flawed’ researchThe Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report.The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed a
  
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• Beijing air pollution study could unlock solution to persistent smog

  09-08-2024 07:00
  
  Particle pollution in China’s capital has fallen by 60% in 10 years, but it remains six times higher than WHO guidelinesPhotographs of smog enveloping Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium became one of the defining images of the first decade of this century. China’s annual air pollution deaths reached 2.6 million people a year in 2005. At the time, Beijing was crowned smog capital of the world and concerns for the health of athletes overshadowed preparations for the 2008 Olympic
  
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• What lies beneath: the growing threat to the hidden network of cables that power the internet

  09-08-2024 01:55
  
  Last month large parts of Tonga were left without internet when an undersea cable was broken. It’s a scenario that is far more common than is understoodIt was the opening days of 2022, in the aftermath of a huge volcanic eruption, when Tonga went dark. The underwater eruption – 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima – sent tsunami waves across Tonga’s nearby archipelago and blanketed the island’s white coral sands in ash.The strength o
  
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