Environment news

• 'All good here': Titan sub's last messages before implosion

  16-09-2024 21:07 via bbc.com
  
  Two-week public inquiry sees last communication before deep-sea disaster near wreck of Titanic last year.
  
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• Death toll reaches 16 as ‘dramatic’ flooding in central Europe continues

  16-09-2024 19:24
  
  Czech Republic, Poland and Austria fear worst may yet be to come as thousands are evacuated to higher groundThe death toll from torrential rain and flooding in central and eastern Europe has risen to at least 16, with several more people missing, as authorities reported deaths in the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria and warned the worst may be to come.The number of victims in Poland rose to five after a surgeon returning from work drowned in the south-western town of Nysa, where the hospital w
  
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• Europe beats the US for walkable, livable cities, study shows

  16-09-2024 17:53
  
  Cities such as Zurich and Dublin found to have key services accessible within 15 minutes for more than 95% of residentsWhen Luke Harris takes his daughter to the doctor, he strolls down well-kept streets with “smooth sidewalks and curb cuts [ramps] for strollers at every intersection”. If the weather looks rough or he feels a little lazy, he hops on a tram for a couple of stops.Harris’s trips to the paediatrician are pretty unremarkable for fellow residents of Zurich, Switzerla
  
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• The environment was meant to be ‘back on the priority list’ under Labor. Instead, we’ve seen a familiar story | Adam Morton

  16-09-2024 17:00
  There have been moments of modest progress, but the Albanese government has not lived up to its early rhetoricGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIt wasn’t supposed to be like this. Back in the heady new government days of July 2022, Tanya Plibersek told the National Press Club that change was coming for environmental protection in Australia after a decade of disaster and neglect.Releasing the five-yearly state of the environment report, which the previous Coalition
  
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• Criticism of sacred site decision shows we have learned nothing from Juukan Gorge | Calla Wahlquist

  16-09-2024 17:00
  Cultural protection order has been framed as a push to curry favour with inner-city seats, ignoring grassroots campaigns from Indigenous and non-Indigenous localsSign up for the Rural Network email newsletterJoin the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the communityAmong the concerns listed by the 2,000 farmers who converged on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra last week was the protection of prime agricultural land from renewable energy developments.It has become a common refr
  
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• Climate scientists troubled by damage from floods ravaging central Europe

  16-09-2024 13:03
  
  Experts unsurprised at intensity of extreme weather but say damage wreaked shows how unprepared world isEurope floods – latest updatesPicturesque towns across central Europe are inundated by dirty flood water after heavy weekend rains turned tranquil streams into raging rivers that wreaked havoc on infrastructure.The floods have killed at least 15 people and destroyed buildings from Austria to Romania. The destruction comes after devastating floods around the world last week when entire vi
  
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• Storm Boris batters central Europe – in pictures

  16-09-2024 12:23
  
  Storm Boris has caused several deaths, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes across Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia Europe floods – latest updates Continue reading...
  
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• The Stakes: how JD Vance's home town has won millions in climate investment that he calls a 'green scam'

  16-09-2024 12:00
  Locals called it a ‘miracle’ when the steel plant in JD Vance’s home town got $500m for an upgrade. But Trump’s running mate calls shifting the US to cleaner energy a ‘green scam’A hulking steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, is the city’s economic heartbeat as well as a keystone origin story of JD Vance, the hometown senator now running to be Donald Trump’s vice-president.Its future, however, may hinge upon $500m in funding from landmark climate legis
  
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• If Trump and Vance win the election, this is what’s at stake

  16-09-2024 12:00
  
  Locals called it a ‘miracle’ when the steel plant in JD Vance’s home town got $500m for an upgrade. But Trump’s running mate calls shifting the US to cleaner energy a ‘green scam’A hulking steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, is the city’s economic heartbeat as well as a keystone origin story of JD Vance, the hometown senator now running to be Donald Trump’s vice-president.Its future, however, may hinge upon $500m in funding from landmark climate legis
  
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• Hot queen conch seeks cool mates: Florida’s new ‘speed dating’ service to save endangered shellfish

  16-09-2024 12:00
  Soaring sea temperatures have made the celebrated gastropod lethargic and infertile, so scientists are helping the threatened species to reproduceOf the many novel initiatives dreamed up by scientists to protect threatened species from the ravages of record ocean temperatures, Florida’s new “speed dating for shellfish” programme might be about the most extraordinary.Researchers are acting as matchmakers for the queen conch, a mollusc with iconic status in the Florida Keys, by r
  
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• Is pollution in England’s rivers really getting worse? There’s more good news than you might think | Michelle Jackson

  16-09-2024 11:00
  
  River wildlife is on the up and there’s little evidence that storm overflows are being used more often. But protest is still vitalPublic outrage over river pollution has been heartening to see. Over the past few years, stories about sewage contamination in rivers have captured public attention, and prompted campaigns and protests, such as the forthcoming River Action UK march for clean water on 26 October in London. It is important to protect our rivers because they are biodiversity hotspo
  
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• Did you know climate change made the entire Earth wobble for nine days! What? | First Dog on the Moon

  16-09-2024 08:34
  
  Is there anything climate change cannot do?! Sign 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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• How the west’s wellness industry is driving Ethiopia’s frankincense trees towards extinction

  16-09-2024 08:00
  
  As rich westerners fuel demand for the ancient fragrance, a lucrative race for the resin is killing the trees but leaving little of the trade’s profit for those gathering itIn a corner of Covent Garden, well-heeled Londoners and tourists browse the range of frankincense products sold by a leading cosmetics brand while they drink a complimentary rose and berry tea. Amid the aromatic resin sheathed under glass, shoppers can buy “age-defying” serums, creams and essences, and table
  
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• UK to appoint nature envoy for first time

  16-09-2024 07:00
  Exclusive: Labour will also boost environmental efforts by reestablishing climate role cut by Rishi SunakThe UK government is planning to appoint a special envoy for nature for the first time, as the foreign secretary, David Lammy, seeks to put the UK at the centre of global efforts to tackle the world’s ecological crises, the Guardian has learned.Labour will also appoint a new climate envoy, after the Tories abolished the post over a year ago, a move that dismayed foreign governments and
  
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• David Lammy to appoint UK’s first special envoy for nature

  16-09-2024 07:00
  
  Exclusive: Labour will also boost environmental efforts by reestablishing climate role cut by Rishi SunakThe UK government is planning to appoint a special envoy for nature for the first time, as the foreign secretary, David Lammy, seeks to put the UK at the centre of global efforts to tackle the world’s ecological crises, the Guardian has learned.Labour will also appoint a new climate envoy, after the Tories abolished the post over a year ago, a move that dismayed foreign governments and
  
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• Country diary: Field names bring tales of history and change to life | Kate Blincoe

  16-09-2024 06:30
  
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: An artist’s map of the farm breathes new life into intriguing monikers such as Pi Field (3.14 acres) and Woodcock WoodA juvenile gull, a lesser black-back, sits on the roof of the stable block, emitting a repetitive, plaintive call. It rings out around the entire yard like an alarm. Starlings gather on the telephone wires and the swallows are still here, just. Swifts are long gone, though.A local artist has helped create a map of the farm, with illustrations tha
  
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• Rare smelly penguin wins New Zealand bird of the year contest

  16-09-2024 02:40
  
  The hoiho, which means ‘noise shouter’, triumphed in a year free from the usual scandals surrounding the competitionOne of the world’s rarest penguins has been crowned New Zealand’s bird of the year, in an unusually sedate year for the competition, free from the foreign interference and voting scandals of previous events.The endangered yellow-eyed penguin, or hoiho, is the largest of New Zealand’s mainland penguin species and is distinctive for the pale yellow band
  
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