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California distributes 856k offsets to close out the year, as 2019 total halves
Are vegetables vegan? Organic agriculture's dirty little secret
Even if you avoid industrial farm produce it’s likely that your veggies will have been grown with the help of manure and other animal products
Will Bonsall is a homesteader and 45-year vegan living in rural Maine with a message for Americans – your vegetables are “very un-vegan”.
Related: A birthday candle in a banana: why fruit is by far the most offensive vegan dessert
Continue reading...Barge loaded with 2,000 litres of diesel sinks in the Galápagos – video
A barge carrying 2,000 litres of diesel has sunk at a dock on San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos archipelago. The incident occurred as workers attempted to load a container on a barge with the crane and both somehow tipped, destabilising the vessel which turned on its side. Barge workers began to jump into the water to escape the sinking vessel. A clean-up operation has begun and environmental impact is unclear
Continue reading...Heartbreaking and heartwarming: animals rescued from Australia's bushfires devastation
The saving of fire-threatened animals from koalas to kangaroos reflects some of the small acts of heroism occurring during the fires
As Australia’s bushfire crisis continues, millions of hectares have been lost, with a tragic impact on wildlife and flora.
Among the destruction, the efforts of volunteer firefighters, residents and animal rescuers have stood out, with small acts of heroism that have saved many animal lives. A few have become emblematic images of this year’s terrible fire season.
Continue reading...Measuring the cost of an invasive tree killer
Wrong way, go back: a proposed new tax on electric vehicles is a bad idea
Letter: David Bellamy obituary
I once had the good fortune to work with David Bellamy . I was directing a BBC children’s multifaith programme called Umbrella and we decided to do a programme on death – not the easiest topic for children.
David agreed to take part and suggested we film the piece in Hamsterley Forest, near his home in County Durham. When we played the edited tape into the studio recording, the children taking part were enraptured as he linked the life cycle of the trees with that of human beings.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson under fire for not planning to visit flood-hit areas
Lib Dem MP for Bath hits out at PM after rivers burst their banks across southern England
Boris Johnson has been criticised for not visiting flood-stricken communities at Christmas after it emerged he had no immediate plans to travel to areas hit by heavy rain.
Families may be forced to spend the festive period away from their homes after rivers burst their banks in Kent, Cornwall, Sussex and Norfolk. The Met Office has 54 flood warnings and 141 flood alerts in place across the UK, including in the north of England and the Midlands, with some likely to remain active until Christmas Eve as more rain is forecast.
Continue reading...Road runoff pollution damages London's rivers, study finds
Mayor Sadiq Khan calls for government action to protect the capital’s waterways
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called on the government to provide more funding to clean up the pollution blighting London’s rivers, after a study highlighted the toxic effects on water from driving in the capital’s most congested areas.
The River Brent in west London and the River Lea in the east, at 18 miles and 42 miles respectively, are worst affected by pollution from roads. Concern over pollution has concentrated on toxic air, which is killing and shortening the lives of tens of thousands of people every year, but road pollution is also damaging the water supply.
Continue reading...Net zero carbon neighbourhood to be built in south Wales
Residents of Parc Hadau in Pontardawe will generate more clean energy than they can use
One of the world’s first net zero carbon neighbourhoods will be constructed in Wales after Neath Port Talbot council approved the development of 35 homes able to generate more clean energy than they use.
Development of the £8m project in Pontardawe in south Wales is expected to begin this spring. The residents of Parc Hadau will pay no energy bills because the development will use a mixture of renewable energy technologies to generate enough clean electricity to power its homes over the year.
Continue reading...Inventing sign language for space
People and pets rescued in flood-hit England – in pictures
Heavy rain and flooding cause chaos in parts of Norfolk, Sussex and Kent
Continue reading...Lewis stone circle has star-shaped lightning strike
Towns and villages across southern England flooded – video
Boris Johnson was urged to overhaul the system for deciding where flood-defence funding is spent and launch an emergency response unit as nearly 100 flood warnings were put in place across England on Sunday. ‘Catastrophic’ damage was caused during flooding in November in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire
Continue reading...World 'faces 80% calorie increase by end of century'
PM urged to overhaul flood defence funding or risk ‘catastrophe’
Regional leaders call on Boris Johnson to act as Kent and East Sussex are hit by flooding
Boris Johnson must overhaul the system for deciding where flood-defence funding is spent and launch an emergency response unit to prevent a repeat of the “catastrophic” damage caused by the November floods, leading politicians have said.
Nearly 100 flood warnings were in place across much of England on Sunday, hampering the Christmas getaway, with towns and villages deluged in Kent and East Sussex.
Continue reading...'Shovel ready': Spanish firm to put $500m into Australian wind and solar farm
Energy giant Iberdrola predicts renewables will take ‘much more relevant position’ in Australia in coming years – and hopes to develop further projects
Spanish energy giant Iberdrola says it has decided to invest $500m in a wind and solar farm in South Australia as the first of a series of renewable power projects it hopes to develop in Australia.
Iberdrola’s head of renewables, Xabier Viteri, said that in the new year the company would also probably increase its target for renewable energy from the “ambitious” target of 10GW by 2022.
Continue reading...The humming of Christmas beetles was once a sign of the season. Where have they gone? | Jeff Sparrow
It’s an emotional time to be an entomologist, as ecological diversity that once existed slips away
How many Christmas beetles have you seen this year?
The insects – a genus containing some 35 separate species – traditionally appear in summer. Many settlers saw the scarabs, shimmering in festive red and green, as embodying the European holiday tradition.
Continue reading...Australia has changed its historic data on carbon emissions: what happened?
Exclusive: Labor accuses Scott Morrison of using adjustments to Australia’s soil carbon data as an excuse not to act on climate change
Australia’s official greenhouse gas records have been adjusted such that emissions are now significantly higher than previously believed for the years when Labor was in power, and no longer rise each year since the Coalition repealed the carbon price.
The revisions, made clear in data published during the recent UN climate conference in Madrid, have allowed Scott Morrison to start claiming that emissions are now lower than when the Coalition was elected in 2013 and in any year when Labor was last in government.
Continue reading...Starliner spacecraft returns early after failed mission
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