Environment news

• Cop29: Deal hanging in the balance after new draft texts published

  23-11-2024 23:32
  The latest version of the texts has finally been published and now there is growing optimism that a deal may actually be doneMarching in silence with their arms crossed high, activists from around the world protested the draft deal at the Cop29 venue last night.“Pay up or shut up!” the campaign group Demand Climate Justice said in a post on social media. Continue reading...
  
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• Row over who will pay $1tn climate fund drags Cop29 talks past the deadline

  23-11-2024 19:53
  
  Rich countries resist increasing their contributions to poor countries that are bearing the brunt of global heatingTalks on a new trillion-dollar global deal to tackle the climate crisis dragged on late into Saturday night, as rich and poor countries fought over how much cash was needed, and who should pay.Rich countries want to offer only about $300bn out of the $1.3tn a year needed from their own coffers, with the rest to come from other sources including potential new taxes and private invest
  
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• Cop29: carbon trading rules approved as talks overrun into the night

  23-11-2024 19:05
  
  Deal paves the way for country-to-country carbon trading and creation of regulated global market to meet Paris targetsMarching in silence with their arms crossed high, activists from around the world protested the draft deal at the Cop29 venue last night.“Pay up or shut up!” the campaign group Demand Climate Justice said in a post on social media. Continue reading...
  
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• Cop29 live: Saudi Arabia accusation ‘risks placing entire Cop in jeopardy’, expert says

  23-11-2024 16:11
  
  Saudi Arabian delegate has been accused of directly making changes to an official Cop29 negotiating textMarching in silence with their arms crossed high, activists from around the world protested the draft deal at the Cop29 venue last night.“Pay up or shut up!” the campaign group Demand Climate Justice said in a post on social media. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I couldn’t admit I was afraid’: biologist Tina Morris on her fight to save the bald eagle

  23-11-2024 15:00
  
  America’s majestic national bird was close to extinction when Tina Morris, a young researcher, was asked to help bring three chicks to adulthood. First, she had to conquer a fear of heightsIt was a daunting task, with little likelihood of success. An adventurous but anxious graduate researcher without any experience of looking after birds was dispatched to the wilds of upstate New York to become a human eagle mother: feeding, teaching – and keeping alive – three helpless eagle
  
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• Cop29 live: groups representing vulnerable nations walk out of meeting as fears grow over talks

  23-11-2024 14:52
  Alliance of Small Island States andLeast Developed Countries said they want a guaranteed 30% of climate finance, and then walked out of meetingMarching in silence with their arms crossed high, activists from around the world protested the draft deal at the Cop29 venue last night.“Pay up or shut up!” the campaign group Demand Climate Justice said in a post on social media. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Sitting with their head in their hands’: farm equipment suppliers fear for impact of budget

  23-11-2024 14:00
  Traders at a big machinery show say inheritance tax changes affecting the rural economy have had an immediate impact on businessA shiny new tractor is pulling a huge orange trailer, while a commentator explains how best to manoeuvre it to tip grain, watched by a group of farmers wrapped up warmly in wellies, coats and bobble hats, some holding spaniels on leads.Others are checking out the latest models of combine harvesters and crop sprayers, parked on snowy ground at the Midlands Machinery Show
  
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• ‘Disaster is about caring. I’m not selfish any more’ – This is climate breakdown

  23-11-2024 13:00
  
  We are used to seasonal droughts in the Karoo. But this did not stop. This is Sybil’s storyLocation Sutherland, South AfricaDisaster Southern Africa drought, 2015-2023Isabella Visagie, known to everyone in her life as Sybil, is a 57-year-old sheep farmer, wife and mother from the Karoo, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. In 2015 a drought began that would bring the community in which she lived to its knees. The province has been locked in a drought since then. The climate crisi
  
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• ‘Catastrophic’ marine heatwaves are killing sealife and causing mass disruption to UK fisheries

  23-11-2024 13:00
  
  Targeted research must be launched urgently to save sea creatures and plant life, oceanography centre warnsBritain is facing a future of increasingly catastrophic marine heatwaves that could destroy shellfish colonies and fisheries and have devastating impacts on communities around the coast of the UK.That is the stark conclusion of a new report by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), based in Southampton, which is pressing for the launch of a targeted research programme as a matter of urgenc
  
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• Young country diary: Spotted! A black squirrel outside my school kitchen | Noah

  23-11-2024 12:01
  
  Hitchin, Hertfordshire: One minute I was smelling my favourite pudding, the next I was worrying what the squirrel had in its clawsIt was a beautiful morning and as I was walking into school, I smelled our delicious food – apple crumble (my favourite pudding!) – being cooked. There was a chill in the air and the dew on the grass reflected the morning light.Then I noticed something scampering towards the kitchen – a black squirrel. It was holding something in its claws, probably
  
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• Young country diary: Conkers on the ground, spiders in the boat | Betsy

  23-11-2024 12:00
  
  The Essex waterways: There’s lots of nature near my Pop’s canal boat, and there’s some inside it as wellI wander through a secret passageway to the canal, past ivy-wound fence panels and pebbles crunching under my feet. The pathway used to be overgrown but it’s clearer now that chilly autumn has arrived.As I walk along the path, I notice the ruby red leaves, grasp some of the last blackberries and enjoy the bitterness on my tongue. Further along I see the familiar horse c
  
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• ‘It’s not drought - it’s looting’: the Spanish villages where people are forced to buy back their own drinking water

  23-11-2024 12:00
  
  Spain is increasingly either parched or flooded – and one group is profiting from these extremes: the water-grabbing multinational companies forcing angry citizens to pay for it in bottlesAfter catastrophic floods engulfed Valencia last month, killing more than 200 people, it might seem counterintuitive to think about water shortages. But as the torrents of filthy water swept through towns and villages, people were left without electricity, food supplies – and drinking water. “
  
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• Huge election year worldwide sees weakening commitment to act on climate crisis

  23-11-2024 12:00
  
  Among sweeping rightwing electoral victories across the globe, the ‘big loser of the elections has been climate’An unprecedented year of elections around the world has underscored a sobering trend – in many countries the commitment to act on the climate crisis has either stalled or is eroding, even as disasters and record temperatures continue to mount.So far 2024, called the “biggest election year in human history” by the United Nations with around half the world&r
  
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• First grey seal pup of the season born on Suffolk coast

  23-11-2024 11:00
  
  Fourth consecutive year that seals have bred at Orford Ness, where more than 130 pups were born last seasonThe first grey seal pup of the season has been born at a remote shingle spit that was once a cold war weapons-testing site.The birth at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast marks the fourth consecutive year of seals breeding there, which began in 2021 after a reduction in visitor access because of the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...
  
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• Cop29 live: rich nations to raise climate finance offer to $300bn as Thunberg warns summit ‘about to agree to death sentence’

  23-11-2024 10:29
  The talks in Azerbaijan have seen nations at odds over how much money developed countries should provide to poorer onesMarching in silence with their arms crossed high, activists from around the world protested the draft deal at the Cop29 venue last night.“Pay up or shut up!” the campaign group Demand Climate Justice said in a post on social media. Continue reading...
  
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• Slovenian girl, 12, saves project aiming to reintroduce cicadas to New Forest

  23-11-2024 07:00
  
  Conservationists failed to capture elusive insects this summer, so Kristina Kenda offered to step inWhen British conservationists flew to Slovenia this summer hoping to catch enough singing cicadas to reintroduce the species to the New Forest, the grasshopper-sized insects proved impossible to locate, flying elusively at great height between trees.Now a 12-year-old girl has offered to save the Species Recovery Trust’s reintroduction project. Kristina Kenda, the daughter of the Airbnb hosts
  
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• ‘Protect the climate for whom?’: Palestinians highlight Gaza at Cop29

  23-11-2024 06:00
  
  Advocates and officials argue that consequences of Israeli siege are inextricably linked to tackling the climate crisisAs countries negotiate over climate finance, Palestinian officials and advocates have come to Cop29 in Baku to highlight global heating’s intersection with another crisis: Israel’s siege on Gaza.“The Cop [meetings] are very keen to protect the environment, but for whom?” said Ahmed Abu Thaher, director of projects and international relations at Palestine&
  
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• China's giant sinkholes are a tourist hit - but ancient forests inside are at risk

  23-11-2024 02:22 via bbc.com
  
  These caves were unexplored for thousands of years, protected by swirling mists and terrifying tales.
  
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• ‘It looked as good as new’: readers share their tips for repairing household items

  23-11-2024 00:00
  
  From YouTube video guides to sourcing parts, here are some ways to extend the life of your appliances and sentimental itemsChange by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprintGot a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected] of the best ways we can reduce our household’s carbon footprint is to repair things instead of throwing them away. But it’s also a
  
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