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A 40-metre fatberg? That’s not even London’s worst …

The Guardian - Thu, 2015-04-23 03:31
Huge lumps of congealed fat, waste and wet wipes are blocking sewage systems around the world, from west London to Melbourne

You can run but you can’t hide … or flush your toilet. Yep, it’s the return of the fatberg, a monstrous blob of congealed fat, waste, and wet wipes coming soon to asewer near you. Especially if you happen to live in west London. This week’s culprit is a 40-metre bruiser removed from under the leafy streets of Chelsea and weighing as much as five Porsches. The latest fatberg was so big-boned it broke a 70-year-old sewer pipe, leaving Thames Water with a £400,000 repair bill.

It wasn’t even the area’s worst. In 2013, “Britain’s biggest berg”, weighing 15 tonnes and as long as a double-decker bus, was found in Kingston upon Thames, and last year a fatberg the size of a Boeing 747 was discovered under the streets of Shepherd’s Bush. It’s only a matter of time before a fatberg as mighty as the Titanic herself bursts out of the manholes on High Street Ken and starts ransacking the place, Slimer-from-Ghostbusters style.

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Categories: Around The Web

Earth Day quiz: tried the Google Doodle version? Now try the Guardian's

The Guardian - Wed, 2015-04-22 19:55
This year's Earth Day comes just months before a landmark UN climate summit, is marked by a Google Doodle

Join the Guardian's climate campaign, Keep it in the Ground

Which year was the first Earth Day?

1960

1970

1980

Who founded the first Earth Day in the US?

Gaylord Nelson

Al Gore

Amory Lovins

When did Margaret Thatcher first warn in a Royal Society speech about the dangers of global warming?

1981

1985

1988

What level of warming do international negotiators regard as the threshold for dangerous climate change?

1C

2C

3C

Which pair won a Nobel prize in 2007 for their efforts to tackle climate change?

Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri

David Cameron and Rajendra Pachauri

Yvo de Boer and Rajendra Pachauri

How much of proven fossil fuel reserves need to stay under the ground to stay below 2C?

Around two thirds to three quarters

Around a tenth

Around a third

In which European city is a major UN climate summit being held in November and December this year?

Bonn

Geneva

Paris

The UN climate science panel said with what % certainty that climate change is manmade?

75%

85%

95%

Who was the author of an influential 2006 report on the economics of climate change?

Stanislav Stern

Nicholas Stern

Todd Stern

Which two charitable organisations is the Guardian asking to divest from fossil fuels?

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust

The Ford Foundation and J. Paul Getty Trust

The Church Commissioners for England and W.K. Kellogg Foundation

4 and above.

Thanks for taking part. Have you joined the Guardian climate change campaign, Keep it in the Ground? <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/mar/16/keep-it-in-the-ground-guardian-climate-change-campaign">Join more than 180,000 people here</a>

7 and above.

Thanks for taking part. Have you joined the Guardian climate change campaign, Keep it in the Ground? <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/mar/16/keep-it-in-the-ground-guardian-climate-change-campaign">Join more than 180,000 people here</a>

10 and above.

Thanks for taking part. Have you joined the Guardian climate change campaign, Keep it in the Ground? <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/mar/16/keep-it-in-the-ground-guardian-climate-change-campaign">Join more than 180,000 people here</a>

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Categories: Around The Web

Leadbeater's Possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri)

Department of the Environment - Wed, 2015-04-22 15:05
The Minister has agreed to transfer the Leadbeater's Possum from the endangered to the critically endangered category under the EPBC Act and approved the conservation advice.
Categories: Around The Web

Conservationists turn tiny New Zealand island into bold wildlife experiment

The Guardian - Wed, 2015-04-22 07:00

Big things are happening on Rotoroa, a new sanctuary for endangered species that aims to create a whole new ecosystem


Rotoroa Island, off the coast of New Zealand is tiny, at just 82 hectares (200 acres), but don’t let its diminutiveness fool you: big things are happening here. Over the past few years the island has become the site of a quiet, but grand, conservation experiment. What would happen if you populated an island with a whole suite of endangered species, some of which were never found there to begin with? And what would happen if you didn’t fence the island off and keep pesky humans out, but let people – school groups even – tramp through the grounds?

Across most of our planet, truly wild, unmanaged places are a thing of the past.

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Categories: Around The Web

Britain's beekeepers told to be alert for arrival of Asian hornets

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-04-21 23:04

Vespa velutina, which preys on honey bees, is already spreading rapidly across mainland Europe and could pose a serious risk to the UK’s apiculture

Beekeepers have been told to be alert for invading hornets that have killed six people in France and could pose to serious risk to Britain’s honey bees.

The Asian hornet, which preys on honey bees, is spreading rapidly across France and other parts of mainland Europe, and there are fears its arrival in Britain is only a matter of time – particularly in light of the unusually warm spring weather.

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World's mountain of electrical waste reaches new peak of 42m tonnes

The Guardian - Sun, 2015-04-19 12:54

The biggest per-capita tallies were in countries known for green awareness, such as Norway and Denmark, with Britain fifth and US ninth on the UN report’s list

A record amount of electrical and electronic waste was discarded around the world in 2014, with the biggest per-capita tallies in countries that pride themselves on environmental consciousness, a report said.

Last year, 41.8m tonnes of so-called e-waste – mostly fridges, washing machines and other domestic appliances at the end of their life – was dumped, the UN report said.

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Categories: Around The Web

Queensland Coral Fishery

Department of the Environment - Thu, 2015-04-16 13:44
Application on ecological sustainability - comments open from 20 April 2015 until 18 May 2015
Categories: Around The Web

Queensland Coral Fishery

Department of the Environment - Thu, 2015-04-16 13:44
Application on ecological sustainability - comments open from 20 April 2015 until 18 May 2015
Categories: Around The Web

Robot reveals inside Fukushima nuclear reactor – video

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-04-14 17:27
The view inside one of the wrecked nuclear reactors at Fukushima filmed by a robot. The robot collected temperature, radiation data and images before it became stuck and lost connection. Pictures lit by a lamp on the robot showed steam wafting around the chamber and debris that looked like small rocks and metal parts. Three nuclear reactors went into meltdown after an earthquake triggered a tsunami four years ago Continue reading...
Categories: Around The Web

Out of plaice: popular UK fish at risk from rising temperatures

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-04-14 01:00

Study predicts dinner favourites plaice and lemon sole facing severe depletion and rapid warming of North Sea already forcing haddock out of British waters

Some of the UK’s most popular fish may be driven from the North Sea, and the UK’s dinner plates, by rising temperatures, scientists warned on Monday.

Fishmonger favourites plaice, lemon sole and haddock are being pushed out of their traditional feeding grounds by rapidly warming sea temperatures. The waters of the North Sea have warmed by 1.3C in the past 30 years, four times faster than the global average. Since the 1980s landings of cold-adapted species have halved.

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Abstract submissions closing soon, plus EESA Tindo tour

Newsletters S.A. - Mon, 2015-04-13 11:05
Abstract submissions closing soon, plus EESA Tindo tour
Categories: Newsletters S.A.

Revised plan to tackle feral cat threat released for comment

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2015-04-10 12:09
Have your say on how best to reduce the impact of feral cats on threatened species. Consultation period closes 8 July 2015.
Categories: Around The Web

New style of UK electricity pylon launches

The Guardian - Fri, 2015-04-10 02:49

National Grid begins construction on T-pylons, designed to have less impact on the landscape, in Nottinghamshire

They’ve marched tirelessly across the country for the last century, a 90,000-strong army of steel sentinels carrying electricity across hill and vale, gracefully suspended from their spindly frames. But now, the classic British pylon is facing extinction, thanks to a newcomer on the block: the whiter-than-white T-pylon, unveiled this week by the National Grid.

Designed by the Danish architecture and engineering firm Bystrup, the new pylon looks a bit like a ski lift mast adorned with two dangly diamond earrings, which hold three cables either side of the central pole.

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Categories: Around The Web

Permafrost 'carbon bomb' may be more of a slow burn, say scientists

The Guardian - Fri, 2015-04-10 01:48

Carbon dioxide from thawing Arctic permafrost is likely to be released gradually, rather than in a catastrophic eruption as previously predicted - but impact of emissions will still be great, new research suggests

The ‘carbon bomb’ stored in the thawing Arctic permafrost may be released in a slow leak as global warming takes hold, rather than an eruption, according to new research.

Scientists at the US Geological Survey (USGS) found previous predictions of a catastrophic release of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere as permafrost thaws may have been overstated.

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Categories: Around The Web

Daily Express weather warning: beware a shower of extreme inaccuracy

The Guardian - Thu, 2015-04-09 17:00

Easter 80F heatwave? Or 10 inches of snow? Why are we offered such absurd predictions from the Daily Express? It’s time for a real weather report ...

There is bullshit, utter bullshit and Daily Express headlines. Reading the paper on Wednesday 1 April, I hadn’t the faintest idea which stories were supposed to be serious and which were April fools.

As the website expressbingo.org.uk points out, the paper has only about 12 front pages:

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Categories: Around The Web

New and updated threatened species listings and new Conservation Advices

Department of the Environment - Thu, 2015-04-09 16:39
The Minister has recently listed three species as threatened, transferred a species and approved conservation advices for two listed species.
Categories: Around The Web

New energy storage plant could 'revolutionise' renewable sector

The Guardian - Thu, 2015-04-09 02:54

Flywheel plant being built in Ireland with potentially unlimited storage capability could solve the problem of clean energy supply shortfalls when there is insufficient sun or wind

Foundations for an energy storage plant in Ireland that could “revolutionise” the integration of renewable power into electricity supplies will be laid within weeks.

The plant will use a motor-generated flywheel to harness kinetic energy from the grid at times of over-supply. This will then be released from submerged turbines at times of supply shortfalls.

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Categories: Around The Web

April seminar features opportunities under the Emissions Reduction Fund

Newsletters QLD - Tue, 2015-04-07 19:10
April seminar features opportunities under the Emissions Reduction Fund
Categories: Newsletters QLD

Captain deliberately sank illegal fishing vessel, claim Sea Shepherd rescuers

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-04-07 17:17

Conservationist group’s four-month pursuit of Thunder ended off west Africa, with the captain cheering and applauding as the boat went down, say rescue crew

After one of the longest aquatic pursuits in history, a vessel wanted for illegal fishing lies wrecked nearly 4km beneath the water off west Africa.

The vessel, Thunder, had been stalked by the Bob Barker, operated by the conservationist group Sea Shepherd, since 17 December. The two ships played a game of cat and mouse for 110 days, across 10,260 nautical miles through the Southern, Indian and Atlantic oceans, before the pursuit came to an end in the waters off São Tomé on Monday evening.

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Fukushima disaster radiation detected off Canada's coast

The Guardian - Tue, 2015-04-07 10:46

Trace amounts of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 detected in samples collected off the coast of Ucluelet, a small town on Vancouver Island in British Columbia

Radiation from Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has for the first time been detected along a North American shoreline, though at levels too low to pose a significant threat to human or marine life, scientists said.

Trace amounts of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 were detected in samples collected on 19 February off the coast of Ucluelet, a small town on Vancouver Island in Canada’s British Columbia, said Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Ken Buesseler.

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