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How ancestors of living birds survived asteroid strike
How ancestors of living birds survived asteroid strike
What the government is doing to address the air pollution problem | Letter from Michael Gove MP, environment secretary
You write that “the main contributor to the air quality crisis … is road transport” (Editorial, 23 May). Road transport contributes 34% of nitrogen dioxide emissions and 12% of particulate matter emissions. The majority of air pollution comes from other sources. In particular, domestic burning contributes 38% of primary particulate matter – the most damaging pollutant to human health, according to the World Health Organisation.
You write that our clean air strategy “purported to tackle a public health crisis by getting families to open their windows more often because ‘air pollution inside the home can often be higher than outside’.” Those 11 words are taken from almost 40,000 in the document, which sets out action on domestic fuel, farming, ports, aviation and in other areas.
Continue reading...Clothes moths’ part in the circle of life | Brief letters
You report (24 May) that Pauline Pennant, a UK citizen living overseas, pays UK taxes through her pension, earned after 30 years working with the NHS, yet is no longer entitled to free healthcare. If she is no longer entitled to this because she lives overseas, then why does she still pay UK tax on her pension and what, or who, is this deducted tax being used for?
Lin Aldridge
Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire
• Once again we read that a woman “had fallen pregnant” (Landmark conviction for forced marriage, 23 May). Since the word “fall” generally indicates a failure of some kind, isn’t it time to replace this antiquated and somewhat sexist expression with the more factual “had become pregnant”?
Dr Brigid Purcell
Norwich
Sweden scraps EUA cancellation plan, to spend Vattenfall sale cash on innovation instead
New Jersey governor endorses energy package, including contentious nuclear bill
Ben & Jerry’s customers scoop up REDD credits in retail offsetting initiative
Manager Carbon Offsets, Beschaffung und Lieferantenbe, ClimatePartner – Munich
Head of Sales – International, First Climate Markets – Bad Vilbel, Germany
China announces tender system to push down wind power costs
Farne Island puffin population drop sparks concern
Farne Island puffin population drop sparks concern
Air pollution worse inside London classrooms than outside, study finds
Exclusive: study of schools in capital finds dangerous levels of fine particulate pollution within classrooms, putting children at risk
Children in London schools are being exposed to higher levels of damaging air pollution inside the classroom than outside, putting them at risk of lifelong health problems, a new study has revealed.
Related: Clean-air campaigners call for ban on school run to cut pollution
Continue reading...'We can't see a future': group takes EU to court over climate change
Litigants from eight countries claim EU institutions are not protecting fundamental rights
Lawyers acting for a group including a French lavender farmer and members of the indigenous Sami community in Sweden have launched legal action against the EU’s institutions for failing to adequately protect them against climate change.
A case is being pursued in the Luxembourg-based general court, Europe’s second highest, against the European parliament and the council of the European Union for allowing overly high greenhouse gas emissions to continue until 2030.
Continue reading...Scotland draft climate change bill sets 90%-by-2050 emission reduction target
Holyrood says ‘net-zero’ carbon emissions are ultimate aim but climate campaigners say target is disappointing
New targets will set Scotland on course to become one of the first countries in the world to achieve a 100% reduction in carbon emissions, the Scottish government has claimed.
The draft climate change bill, published on Thursday morning, sets a target of a 90% reduction by 2050 – which the UK Committee on Climate Change states is currently “at the limit of feasibility” – with the aim of achieving 100% reduction, or “net-zero”, as soon as possible after that date.
Transforming suburbia
'It’s wrong to stink up other people’s lives': fighting the manure lagoons of North Carolina
Pigs outstripped people in Duplin county long ago - but now the residents are fighting back
Two poles that once hoisted a clothes line stand rusting and unused in Elsie Herring’s back garden in eastern North Carolina. Herring lives next door to a field where pig manure is sprayed and the drifting faecal matter wasn’t kind to her drying clothes.
“The clothes would stink so you’d wash them again and again until they fell apart,” said Herring, whose family has lived in Wallace since her grandfather, a freed slave, purchased land in the 1890s.
Continue reading...Revealed: majority of politicians on key EU farming panel have industry links
Most MEPs on the influential agriculture committee have business ties, new research shows, raising concerns about conflicts of interest
Most of the politicians on the European parliament’s influential agriculture committee have business or personal links to the farming sector they are charged with regulating, research reveals.
The key EU panel oversees some of the most important agricultural decisions in European politics. Its MEPs negotiated the last common agricultural policy (CAP) settlement with 28 nation states and the European commission. The CAP sets subsidy rates for farmers across the continent – accounting for almost 40% of the EU’s overall budget in 2017, or €59bn (£51.5bn).
Continue reading...NZ Market: NZUs drop to 7-wk lows in slow trade
SK Market: Korean CO2 extends highs as compliance rush builds momentum
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