Environment news

• Successful environmental projects benefit nature and people, study finds

  12-08-2024 21:00
  
  ‘Integrated’ work to help biodiversity and tackle climate crisis can also benefit humanity, says Dr Trisha GopalakrishnaRestoring and protecting the world’s forests is crucial if humanity is to stop the worst effects of climate breakdown and halt the extinction of rare species.Researchers have been concerned, however, that actions to capture carbon, restore biodiversity and find ways to support the livelihoods of the people who live near and in the forests might be at odds. Con
  
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• Reservoir of liquid water found deep in Martian rocks

  12-08-2024 21:00 via bbc.com
  
  Studies of quakes detected from the planet's surface found it in the planet's rocky outer crust.
  
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• The Guardian view on nature-friendly farming: England’s green subsidies are working | Editorial

  12-08-2024 19:25
  Wildlife has benefited from the post-Brexit farm payments system, strengthening the case for an extensionCreating the right habitats with public money is helping to stop nature’s decline or even reverse it. That’s the good news from Natural England, which reports more butterflies, bees, bats and birds whizzing around the countryside after the promotion of nature-friendly farming schemes. The body, which advises the government on biodiversity, published research earlier this month sho
  
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• Heat aggravated by carbon pollution killed 50,000 in Europe last year – study

  12-08-2024 17:00
  
  Continent is warming at much faster rate than other parts of world, leading to fires, drought and health problemsHot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people in Europe last year, with the continent warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world, research has found.The findings come as wildfires tore through forests outside Athens, as France issued excessive heat warnings for large swathes of the country, and the UK baked through what the Met Office expects wi
  
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• ‘We’re still in the 1970s with cement’: Norway plant to blaze carbon-free concrete trail

  12-08-2024 13:06
  If successful, projects like Heidelberg Materials’ plant in Brevik could help the industry to a third of its carbon savings by 2050 Shining bright among the hulking grey towers and tangled, dust-dulled pipes, at the mouth of a fjord two hours south-west of Oslo, stands a slim metal tube that may soon be hailed as a milestone in the energy transition.The 100 metre-tall structure was erected in August with millimetre precision to trap carbon dioxide that spews out of a sprawling cement plant
  
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• I swam in the Thames last week. Yes, it is full of sewage – but it is also a beautiful river | Nell Frizzell

  12-08-2024 12:00
  
  The Thames is often treated badly: pumped with effluent by water companies and viewed as just a geographical gap or dividing line. It is worth remembering its magicPull on your effluent suits and ring the sewage bell because, friends, Thames Water is being fined. Or at least it might be. The industry regulator, Ofwat, finally said out loud what we have all known for some time: that the privatised water company has been pumping raw sewage into our waterways for years. As a consequence, the compan
  
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• ‘They encouraged us to insulate our home. Now it’s unmortgageable’

  12-08-2024 10:00
  
  Householders are angered by the discovery they cannot remortgage or sell their homes after installing spray-foam insulation to cut energy useJim Bunce thought he was doing the right thing for his purse and the planet: in 2022, as fuel costs soared, he and his wife decided to improve the energy efficiency of their house.They discovered that the government had endorsed spray-foam insulation, a quick and unobtrusive technique by which liquid foam is spray-gunned into roof spaces and walls. The
  
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• Weather tracker: Storm Debby leaves power cuts and flooding in its wake

  12-08-2024 08:47
  Meanwhile, a tropical disturbance in the Atlantic is likely to develop into a named storm within daysStorm Debby, which initially struck Florida as a hurricane, caused widespread destruction as it moved up the east coast, leaving many without power and dealing with severe flooding.The storm brought significant damage across Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, with power outages affecting large areas days after the storm’s passage. In Steuben County in New York, heavy rain triggered f
  
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• Pantanal waterway project would destroy a ‘paradise on Earth’, scientists warn

  12-08-2024 08:00
  
  The South American wetland, which falls within Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, would be vulnerable to biome loss and increased wildfires‘Losing Noah’s Ark’: Brazil’s plan to turn the Pantanal into waterway threatens world’s biggest wetlandDozens of scientists are sounding the alarm that carving a commercial waterway through the world’s largest wetlands could spell the “end of an entire biome”, and leave hundreds of thousands of hectares of land to be
  
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• ‘Losing Noah’s Ark’: Brazil’s plan to turn the Pantanal into waterway threatens world’s biggest wetland

  12-08-2024 08:00
  
  Hidrovia project to dredge Paraguay River and build ports may destroy vast biodiversity and refuge of jaguars, giant otters and armadillos – and an age-old riverine way of lifePantanal waterway project would destroy a ‘paradise on Earth’, scientists warnAs the evening sky turns violet, the animals of the Pantanal gather near the water. Capybaras swim in tight formation, roseate spoonbills add smudges of pink to the riverbanks, the rumble of a jaguar pulsates from the forest.Thi
  
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• ‘When it’s sunny, we get the barbecue out’: urban gardeners transform foul alleys into verdant havens

  12-08-2024 07:00
  Flowers, herbs and community spirit all flourishing in garden ginnels reclaimed from once-rubbish-strewn alleys“Every builder or workman that comes here says ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’,” Fiona Mitchell, says, standing in what was once a disused alleyway in Levenshulme, in Manchester, and is now a thriving community garden.Mitchell, 50, who works at a university, and Jackie Austin, 75, a retired lollipop lady, transformed this alley during lockdown. Continue
  
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• Pushing the boundaries: Indian women in a man’s world – in pictures

  12-08-2024 07:00
  A Thousand Thorns is a project by photographer Deepti Asthana documenting women’s changing aspirations in rural India through the story of two young female forest guards in Rajasthan’s Thar desert. Theirs is a scenario playing out in millions of homes – of the fight for equality and independence in a deeply patriarchal society Continue reading...
  
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• Higher compensation proposed for poor water service

  12-08-2024 01:34 via bbc.com
  
  Water companies that miss standards should pay customers more compensation, the government proposes.
  
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