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Extinction Rebellion: what do they want - and is it realistic?

BBC - Wed, 2019-04-17 02:58
The UK needs to move to net zero CO2 emissions by 2025 say protestors but how hard would that be to achieve?
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'I'm terrified': Extinction Rebellion activists on why they are protesting

The Guardian - Wed, 2019-04-17 02:55

People taking part in protests in London and Edinburgh explain their reasons for doing so

Nathan, who was into his second day of protest, was sitting in the road in Piccadilly Circus in front of a large “rebel for life” banner laid across the ground. He was wearing boots stained blue with spray chalk.

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Plastic technology for natural recycling | Letters

The Guardian - Wed, 2019-04-17 02:55
Michael Stephen of the says Europe and the US should follow the lead of countries that have embraced oxo-biodegradation

Your article (Plastic plague: tiny particles can reach anywhere on the planet, say scientists, 16 April) says that “about 335m tonnes of plastic is produced each year, and while it degrades extremely slowly it can be broken into smaller and smaller pieces”. It adds that these pieces are now being blown around the world by the wind.

Perhaps one day there will be no plastic, but until then a way must be found to make it become biodegradable much more quickly, so that it can be recycled back into nature by naturally occurring bacteria and fungi.

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Greta Thunberg's emotional speech to EU leaders – video

The Guardian - Wed, 2019-04-17 02:52

A sometimes tearful Greta Thunberg criticised EU leaders in Strasbourg for not taking the threat posed by climate change seriously enough. The 16-year-old activist said: 'If our house was falling apart our leaders wouldn’t go on like we do today ... if our house was falling apart you wouldn’t hold three emergency Brexit summits and no emergency summit regarding the breakdown of the climate and the environment.'

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Pennsylvania environmental board approves cap-and-trade petition

Carbon Pulse - Wed, 2019-04-17 02:42
Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB) on Tuesday approved a green group-led petition to introduce an economy-wide cap-and-trade programme in the state, but the proposal still has several more hurdles to clear before becoming a viable ETS.
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The history of plastic in the sea

BBC - Wed, 2019-04-17 02:12
A metal box which has been dragged around the ocean first discovered a plastic bag sixty years ago.
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Early ocean plastic litter traced to 1960s

BBC - Wed, 2019-04-17 01:48
Scientists "accidentally" record the history of ocean plastic, including what may have been the first plastic bag to be fished out of the ocean.
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Forget Brexit and focus on climate change, Greta Thunberg tells EU

The Guardian - Wed, 2019-04-17 01:07

Teenager who started school climate strike movement addresses MEPs in Strasbourg

The teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has chided EU leaders for holding three emergency summits on Brexit and none on the threat posed by climate change.

In a clarion call to Europe’s political leaders ahead of European parliament elections in May, the founder of the school strike movement said if politicians were serious about tackling climate change they would not spend all their time “talking about taxes or Brexit”.

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Six-decade plankton study charts rise of ocean plastic waste

The Guardian - Wed, 2019-04-17 01:00

Handwritten journals from 50s show how plastic problem has grown to global emergency

A trove of data showing when the Atlantic began choking with plastic has been uncovered in the handwritten logbooks of a little-known but doggedly persistent plankton study dating back to the middle of the last century.

From fishing twine found in the ocean in the 50s, then a first carrier bag in 1965, it reflects how the marine refuse problem grew from small, largely ignored incidents to become a matter of global concern.

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Extinction Rebellion London protest: Arrests top 120

BBC - Tue, 2019-04-16 22:22
Extinction Rebellion campaigners enter their second day of blocking traffic in central London.
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Microplastics found in 'pristine' Pyrenees mountains

BBC - Tue, 2019-04-16 21:26
Scientists from Scotland and France spent five months monitoring the secluded site in the Pyrenees.
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James Cook University professor Peter Ridd's sacking ruled unlawful

The Guardian - Tue, 2019-04-16 20:34

Physics head dismissed after criticising scientific research about climate change impact on the Great Barrier Reef

James Cook University is considering its legal options after the federal circuit court ruled it had unlawfully sacked a professor who had criticised scientific research about the climate change impact on the Great Barrier Reef.

Peter Ridd, who was the head of the physics department at the institution from 2009 until 2016, took legal action against his dismissal.

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This scientist thinks she has the key to curb climate change: super plants

The Guardian - Tue, 2019-04-16 20:00

Dr Joanne Chory hopes that genetic modifications to enhance plants’ natural carbon-fixing traits could play a key role – but knows that time is short, for her and the planet

If this were a film about humanity’s last hope before climate change wiped us out, Hollywood would be accused of flagrant typecasting. That’s because Dr Joanne Chory is too perfect for the role to be believable.

The esteemed scientist – who has long banged the climate drum and now leads a project that could lower the Earth’s temperature – is perhaps the world’s leading botanist and is on the cusp of something so big that it could truly change our planet.

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Pioneering golden eagle found poisoned in Yellowstone

The Guardian - Tue, 2019-04-16 20:00

As bird is found with large amounts of lead in its body, a biologist asks ‘Is Yellowstone as protected as we once thought?’

The pioneering golden eagle took to the skies above Yellowstone national park in the fall and flew north, to areas where humans were hunting game. A few months later it returned to the park and was found on the ground, dead.

Scientists performing a necropsy on the creature, the first to be tagged with a radio transmitter in the park, made an unhappy discovery: it had been poisoned by lead. They are now raising concerns over whether US national parks are as safe for wildlife as they seem.

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Japan cuts GHG emissions for fourth year in row

Carbon Pulse - Tue, 2019-04-16 18:17
Japan’s FY2017 greenhouse gas emissions fell 1.2% year-on-year, the environment ministry said Tuesday, meaning the country has achieved nearly a third of its Paris Agreement obligations.
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More than 100 people arrested in London climate change protests

The Guardian - Tue, 2019-04-16 17:14

Disruption in capital by Extinction Rebellion demonstrators continues into second day

Police have arrested more than 100 environmental protesters as the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations that brought chaos to central London enters their second day.

Thousands of people blocked four well-known landmarks on Monday – Waterloo Bridge, Marble Arch, Parliament Square and Oxford Circus – to demand urgent action over the escalating climate crisis.

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Why climate change will dull autumn leaf displays

The Conversation - Tue, 2019-04-16 16:04
Record-breaking summer heat might mean trees delay and mute their autumn hues. Matthew Brookhouse, Senior lecturer, Australian National University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Hazelwood market analysis stacks up – consumers were well and truly “done over”

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2019-04-16 15:41

As more coal generators don their cloaks and ride into the sunset we must make sure their owners do not keep making off with the family silver.

The post Hazelwood market analysis stacks up – consumers were well and truly “done over” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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How WA cleantech startup Sunovate got their big break

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2019-04-16 15:11

Climate-KIC Australia is now accepting applications for ClimateLaunchpad 2019.

The post How WA cleantech startup Sunovate got their big break appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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Confusion, uncertainty grips market as marginal loss factors changed again

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2019-04-16 14:42

More confusion and uncertainty for wind and solar farms as AEMO admits errors and makes revisions to key marginal loss factors.

The post Confusion, uncertainty grips market as marginal loss factors changed again appeared first on RenewEconomy.

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