Environment news

• The Guardian view on wild salmon: falling numbers point to a deeper malaise | Editorial

  15-10-2024 20:01
  These remarkable fish need clean rivers to breed in. Their decline highlights the collapse of environmental regulationThe collapse in the number of wild salmon in England and Wales is deeply dismaying. These fish are widely regarded as wonders of the natural world because of their extraordinary life cycle. This takes them thousands of miles out into the North Atlantic Ocean, before they return to our rivers – swimming and leaping upstream – to spawn.Climate change and failures of mar
  
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• Where will space exploration take us in the next 50 years?

  15-10-2024 16:11 via bbc.com
  
  Day trips to the Moon, living on Mars, space elevators… when it comes to the future of space exploration, some possibilities might be closer than we think!
  
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• A US university has a new requirement to graduate: take a climate change course

  15-10-2024 14:00
  
  UC San Diego has added an innovative prerequisite to ‘prepare students for the future they really will encounter’Melani Callicott, a human biology major at the University of California, San Diego, thinks about the climate crisis all the time. She discusses it with family and friends because of the intensity of hurricanes like Milton and Helene, which have ravaged the southern US, she says. “It just seems like it’s affecting more people every day.”That’s one re
  
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• ‘The sea came in and took it all away’: the Colombian beach resort facing a ‘public calamity’

  15-10-2024 13:00
  In the past 10 years, Palomino’s coastline has receded between 47 and 50 metres, threatening the livelihoods of restaurateurs, hoteliers and all those who work in the resort One night in February, Antonio Villamizar was woken up suddenly in the small hours by a phone call. “Hurry up, your restaurant is being swept away,” he was warned. He jumped out of bed and rushed with his sons to his beachfront restaurant, only to find that it had gone.The rising seas had destroyed the two-
  
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• Cost of dealing with PFAS problem sites ‘frightening’, says Environment Agency

  15-10-2024 13:00
  
  Exclusive: EA warns it lacks budget to tackle England’s rising number of potential ‘forever chemicals’ locationsThe number of sites identified as potentially having been polluted with banned cancer-causing “forever chemicals” in England is on the rise, and the Environment Agency (EA) says it does not have the budget to deal with them.A former RAF airfield in Cambridgeshire and a fire service college in the Cotswolds have joined a chemicals plant in Lancashire and a
  
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• Mysterious gooey blobs washed up on Canada beaches baffle experts

  15-10-2024 11:54
  
  Residents and marine scientists unable to identify pale masses, as myriad theories are blown out of the waterThey are slimy on the outside, firm and spongy on the inside and surprisingly combustible. And in recent months, they have been washing up on the shores of Newfoundland.The depths of the Atlantic have long held mysteries, but the riddle of the mysterious white “blobs” spotted on the beaches of the eastern Canadian province has baffled both residents and marine scientists. Cont
  
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• Google to buy nuclear power for AI datacentres in ‘world first’ deal

  15-10-2024 09:52
  
  Tech company orders six or seven small nuclear reactors from California’s Kairos PowerBusiness live – latest updatesGoogle has signed a “world first” deal to buy energy from a fleet of mini nuclear reactors to generate the power needed for the rise in use of artificial intelligence.The US tech corporation has ordered six or seven small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from California’s Kairos Power, with the first due to be completed by 2030 and the remainder by 2035. Contin
  
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• Foul smells and survival along the Caspian Sea – in pictures

  15-10-2024 08:00
  
  As he travels along the Iranian coast, Khashayar Javanmardi photographs rusting ships, blazing wetland fires – and humans struggling to stay aliveContinue reading...
  
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• About 80% of countries fail to submit plans to preserve nature ahead of global summit

  15-10-2024 08:00
  Countries promised to save 30% of land and sea for nature - but as their deadline approaches, only 24 have followed through with a planMore than 80% of countries have failed to submit plans to meet a UN agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, new analysis has found.Nearly two years ago, the world struck a once-in-a-decade deal in Montreal, Canada, that included targets to protect 30% of land and sea for nature, reform billions of dollars on environmentally harmful subsidie
  
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• Burning rubbish now UK’s dirtiest form of power

  15-10-2024 06:45 via bbc.com
  
  Nearly half of waste is now burned for energy, but BBC analysis finds it is as dirty as coal.
  
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• Country diary: The magic and mayhem of a sky full of waders | Mark Cocker

  15-10-2024 06:30
  
  Snettisham, Norfolk: Early starts don’t get rewarded more handsomely than this, the sight of hundreds of thousands of birds bringing the air to lifeThe high-tide roost at this RSPB reserve is among the most spectacular events in all English nature. On the morning of my visit, it involved thousands of oystercatchers and bar-tailed godwits with tens of thousands of red knots, who, by this season, have turned to the white-and-grey of winter plumage.Yet in the earliest post-dawn sunlight they
  
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• What happens to the world if forests stop absorbing carbon? Ask Finland

  15-10-2024 06:00
  
  Natural sinks of forests and peat were key to Finland’s ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2035. But now, the land has started emitting more greenhouse gases than it storesRead more: Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?Tiina Sanila-Aikio cannot remember a summer this warm. The months of midnight sun around Inari, in Finnish Lapland, have been hot and dry. Conifer needles on the branch-tips are orange when they should be a deep green.
  
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• UK ‘risks repeat of surging energy bills’ amid continued reliance on gas

  15-10-2024 01:01
  
  Energy crisis panel warns country is ‘dangerously unprepared’ and must shift away from gas quicklyBritain is at risk of experiencing a repeat of the sharp increase in energy costs which has fuelled the continuing cost of living crisis because it relies too heavily on gas, according to an expert panel of industry leaders.The Energy Crisis Commission has warned that the UK is still “dangerously underprepared” for another crisis because it continues to rely on gas for its po
  
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• New evidence says gas exports damage the climate even more than coal. It’s time Australia took serious action | Adam Morton

  15-10-2024 00:36
  A US study estimates the total climate pollution from LNG was 33% greater than that from coal over a 20-year period. This should have major ramifications for emissions policyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe claim that Australian gas exports are “clean” and needed to drive the transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions has become an article of faith for significant parts of the country’s industry, media and political classes – often repea
  
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• Only one-third of Europe’s surface water qualifies as good or better, study finds

  15-10-2024 00:01
  
  Data compiled by EEA shows quality of water bodies falls far short of target first set for 2015 and since extended to 2027Only about one-third of Europe’s surface water is in good health or better, a report has found, despite an EU target first set for 2015 to bring all bodies of water up to good quality.About 37% of Europe’s surface waters qualified as having at least a good ecological status and 29% a good chemical status in 2021, according to data from 19 member countries compiled
  
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