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Latest data puts Britain near bottom of Europe’s league table for bathing water quality

Swimmers itching to take advantage of the easing of lockdown to have their first sea bathes or wild swims of the summer should pick their spot wisely: only two-thirds of the UK’s bathing waters are of excellent quality, according to the latest data, putting Britain near the bottom of Europe’s league table for bathing water quality.

Most of the rest of the UK’s beaches were of good or sufficient quality last year, with fewer than one in 20 judged to be poor, in the annual survey by the European Environment Agency.

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Project proponents have delivered another 635,000 carbon offsets to Australia’s Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), taking the fund total past 55 million, while the Clean Energy Regulator issued another 270,000 units last week.

Countries to use high-resolution images to monitor health of marine resources

Commonwealth countries are to gain free access to satellite technology that will help them monitor and protect their endangered coral reefs from threats such as climate breakdown, overfishing and pollution.

Commonwealth countries hold nearly half of the world’s remaining tropical coral reefs, with 47 out of the 54 member countries having a coastline. Nearly half of them are islands or groups of islands, which face particular threats from the climate crisis, and for whom coral reefs are often vital protections against storms as well as fish nurseries and tourist attractions.

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Bright plumage linked to aggression when squabbling with rivals

The pinkest flamingos are also the most aggressive when it comes to squabbling over food, scientists have found.

Research from the University of Exeter also suggests bright pink plumage to be an indicator of good health in lesser flamingos.

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As climate change increases the frequency and scale of bushfires, our models suggest the habitats in Victoria's Central Highlands may be hard to come by. Craig Nitschke, Associate Professor - Forest and Landscape Dynamics, University of Melbourne Andrew Robinson, Managing Director for Biosecurity Risk Research, University of Melbourne Melissa Fedrigo, Remote Sensing Scientist and Ecological Modeller, University of Melbourne Patrick Baker, ARC Future Fellow and Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, University of Melbourne Raphael Trouve, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Ecosystem And Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Researchers say aerial photographs taken during a heatwave identify Roman forts and roads in Wales.

Hannah McSorley’s videos prove a big hit online and lead to deal with influencer agency

“TikTok tadpole influencer” is not a career path that Hannah McSorley would have been told about at school. In lockdown, however, with her GSCEs on hold, the 17-year-old has turned a time-honoured pastime – collecting frogspawn – into a potentially lucrative online empire.

McSorley’s hypnotic daily videos of her tens of thousands of tadpoles have attracted 535,000 followers on TikTok as @.baby.frogs, leading to a deal with a US influencer agency.

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Failure to consider dirty air as a factor in higher death toll among ethnic minorities wholly irresponsible, say critics

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The failure to consider air pollution as a factor in the higher rates of coronavirus deaths among minority ethnic groups is “astonishing” and “wholly irresponsible”, according to critics of a Public Health England review.

The PHE report released on Tuesday confirmed the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from ethnic minorities but did not mention air pollution. Minorities in the UK, US and elsewhere are known to generally experience higher levels of air pollution, and there is growing evidence around the world linking exposure to dirty air exposure to increased coronavirus infections and deaths.

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The US stimulus programme looks to have been a success: one that has political as well as economic consequences

The political obituaries of Donald Trump were all prepared. At the end of a week that has seen American cities convulsed by protests over the killing of George Floyd, the president would be faced with an increase in unemployment worse than anything seen in the Great Depression.

Well, it didn’t turn out like that. The US economy actually created 2.5 million jobs in May and the unemployment rate went down rather than up. The consensus among analysts was that it would shed 7.5 million jobs, a colossally wrong call. And a deeply significant one.

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Green stimulus focusing on solar, batteries and electric buses could revitalise Australian manufacturing and create more than 100,000 new jobs.

The post Green stimulus could unlock 100,000+ new Australian jobs, if Morrison would embrace it appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A 50-year-old man has died after being bitten by a shark while surfing at Casuarina Beach near Kingscliff in the NSW northern rivers region

A 50-year-old man has died after being bitten by a shark while surfing near Kingscliff in northern NSW.

A Surf Life Saving NSW spokesman told Guardian Australia the man died while surfing at Salt Beach at about 10.30am on Sunday morning.

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Government spending on clean energy would deliver 100,000 new jobs, EY assessment finds

Stimulus programs backing clean energy as a path out of recession would create nearly three times as many jobs for every dollar spent on fossil fuel developments, according to a financial consultancy analysis.

The assessment by professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY) says a government focus on renewable energy and climate-friendly projects to drive the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic could create more than 100,000 direct jobs across the country while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

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Round one winners of $50.4m Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund include microgrids for indigenous communities, farmers, regional towns and industrial parks.

The post Microgrid feasibility funding awarded to 17 projects in first round of federal scheme appeared first on RenewEconomy.

An expedition of top UK botanists into previously unexplored rainforest in Colombia found rare species.

A ban on constructing with timber is one of the more misguided responses to Grenfell

You don’t have to be an expert in construction to know that wood burns. You might also recall that parts of London were destroyed in the Great Fire because they were made largely of wood, after which they were rebuilt in brick and stone. So it will seem a reasonable reaction to the Grenfell disaster that the government banned timber (along with other combustible materials) from the exterior of residential buildings more than 18 metres high.

This ban started in 2018, with the promise to review it. Now it is proposing both to continue and extend it so that it covers buildings more than 11 metres high, and uses such as hotels as well as blocks of flats (in England only – Scotland and Wales have slightly different arrangements). Better, you will probably think, to be safe than sorry. But there’s a cost to this caution, which is that it will impede one of the most promising recent innovations in building.

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Pandemic hunting scientists warn of a 'perfect storm' for new diseases to emerge from wildlife.

Administration opening areas off New England coast up to commercial fishing, a move experts say will hurt the environment

Donald Trump is easing protections for a large marine monument off the coast of New England, opening it to commercial fishing.

But ocean experts caution that the rollback to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine national monument will hurt the environment and won’t help fishermen who are struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic and economic downturn to find buyers for what they already catch. 

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Experts say abundance of both common and rare species cause for celebration and concern

Record-breaking sunshine has encouraged midsummer butterflies to emerge unusually early, with dozens of species appearing a month before their usual flight season.

Butterflies that usually fill meadows and woods in July, including the ringlet, the marbled white, dark green fritillary and the silver-washed fritillary have been widely spotted during the sunniest spring since records began in 1929.

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There are concerns coronavirus might be starting to spread in parts of England again.

Over $500bn is going to high-carbon industries undermining goals of Cop26 climate talks

The failure of governments and central banks to set out a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis is threatening to derail vital UN climate talks aimed at staving off global catastrophe, campaigners have warned.

On Friday, the UK and the UN attempted to revive the stalled Cop26 climate talks, with a coalition of businesses committing to a Race for Zero, signing up to reduce their emissions to net zero by mid-century. Close to 1,000 businesses have joined the campaign, including household names such as Rolls-Royce and the food and drink majors Nestlé and Diageo.

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