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California proposes members of new offset committee after long delay
POLL: Analysts cut EU carbon price views again as bearish clouds darken
Aeolus: Weather forecasts start using space laser data
US Carbon Pricing Roundup for week ending Jan. 10, 2020
Wolf moon: Full moon and lunar eclipse delight skywatchers
Factcheck: are national parks 'locked up' and more vulnerable to bushfires?
The myth that not enough has been done to manage bushland to mitigate bushfire risk has persisted
As disastrous bushfires continue to grip much of the country, causing loss of lives and homes, claims persist that not enough has been done to manage bushland to mitigate fire risk.
One frequent claim is that the “locking up” of national parks has somehow contributed to the increased bushfire risk this season, rather than prolonged dry and hot weather and the influence of climate change.
Continue reading...California’s ARB narrows offset investigation at Michigan farm
The week in wildlife – in pictures
The pick of the best flora and fauna photos from around the world, including long-eared owls and an injured koala
Continue reading...EU Midday Market Report
Greta Thunberg tells world leaders to end fossil fuel ‘madness’
Failure to end investment ‘would be a betrayal against life itself’, say climate activists
- Greta Thunberg and others: ‘At Davos, we will tell the tycoons to dismantle the fossil fuel economy’
Greta Thunberg and fellow youth climate campaigners are demanding that global leaders immediately end the “madness” of huge ongoing investments in fossil fuel exploration and enormous subsidies for coal, oil and gas use.
The 21 young activists are also calling on the political and business leaders who will be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos to ensure investment funds dump their holdings in fossil fuel companies.
Continue reading...Woodland at risk as Harrogate Spring Water plans expansion
Company wants to build on 1.6-hectare area of Rotary Wood in Pinewoods forest
One of Britain’s best-known bottled water companies is proposing to extend its bottling plant, which would lead to the loss of huge areas of woodland in a Yorkshire spa town.
Harrogate Spring Water wants to expand its operations and build on a 1.6-hectare (four-acre) area of woodland.
Continue reading...CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Jan. 10, 2020
Plant life 'expanding over the Himalayas'
The great dismantling of America's national parks is under way | Jonathan B Jarvis and Destry Jarvis
In this waking nightmare, the Trump administration has filled the parks department with anti-public land sycophants
- We’re expanding our public lands project this year. Help us raise $1.5m to support our groundbreaking reporting on the environment and much more in 2020.
Under this administration, nothing is sacred as we watch the nation’s crown jewels being recut for the rings of robber barons.
For more than 100 years, professional management of our national parks has been respected under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Yes, they have different priorities, the Democrats often expanding the system and the Republicans historically focused on building facilities in the parks for expanding visitation. But the career public servants of the National Park Service (NPS), charged with stewarding America’s most important places, such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and the Statue of Liberty, were left to do their jobs.
Continue reading...America's public lands are in danger – and in 2020 we'll report from the frontlines
Amid mounting threats posed by privatization, energy extraction and climate change, we’re devoting new resources to our public lands journalism
Public lands are facing threats like never before. Seasoned superintendents have been shuffled around the country to force their retirement. Ancient cacti are being plowed up to make way for a border wall. Mention of climate change has been suppressed.
These attacks are outlined by none other than Jon Jarvis, the head of the National Park Service under Barack Obama, in a Guardian op-ed co-authored with his brother, Destry. “These are not random actions,” the Jarvises conclude. “This is a systematic dismantling of a beloved institution.”
Continue reading...Falling emissions could ease pressure on Korean CO2 prices -analysts
Cashmere country: the perils of making the world's finest fabric
In the freezing and windswept Changthang Plateau, nestled between the Himalayas and the Karakoram mountains, traditional goat herders practise an arduous and dying trade
At an altitude of 5,100m (17,000ft), where winter temperatures can fall to -40C, it is hard to believe anyone or anything can survive. The vast ice desert of the Changthang plateau, situated between the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges, is the highest permanently inhabited plateau in the world and home to an extremely hardy and rare breed of goat: the Changra.
The altitude, freezing temperatures and harsh bitter winds in this unforgiving mountainous region stimulate the growth of the goats’ supersoft undercoat. The fibres measure a mere 8-10 microns in width, making it about 10 times finer than human hair and eight times warmer than sheep wool. This luxurious fibre is known the world over as pashmina, the softest and most expensive type of cashmere wool in the world.
Continue reading...Blair attacks nuclear power privatisation - archive, 10 January 1985
10 January 1989: As well as cost, Labour’s energy spokesman warns about the risk of nuclear accidents
Tony Blair, Labour’s energy spokesman, yesterday launched a new assault against the flotation of the electricity industry by declaring that the sale of nuclear power will be “the most expensive mistake in the history of privatisation”.
Speaking on the eve of the Electricity Bill starting its committee stage in parliament and today’s long awaited Department of Energy publication of the ‘licences’, Mr Blair added that the Government faces “a potential bill running into billions of pounds”.
Continue reading...Fire in the sky: Mallacoota's horrific New Year's Eve through the eyes of a local – in pictures
Photographer and resident of Mallacoota Rachael Mounsey has documented the horrors of the fire that hit Mallacoota on New Year’s Eve, destroying an estimated 100 houses. People were forced to seek refuge on the beach and holidaymakers were told to get in the water if the raging fires got too close. Later the navy would organise mass evacuations. Mounsey sent her children to safety but chose to stay behind and document the plight of the town and its people
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