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Electric avenues: UK streets to get more car charging points
Chris Grayling to unveil plans to increase take-up of ultra-low emission vehicles
Plans to install hundreds of thousands of additional charging points for electric vehicles are to be announced by the transport secretary.
Chris Grayling will unveil proposals aimed at making it easier to recharge electric vehicles than refuel those running on petrol or diesel, in an attempt to increase the take-up of ultra-low emission vehicles.
Continue reading...We need a bank of DNA from dirt and water to protect Australia's environment
Leadbeater's possum: conservations say draft report proves endangered status
Forestry industry and Barnaby Joyce have been pushing to downgrade species’ status
Conservation groups say the Leadbeater’s possum should retain its conservation status as a critically endangered Australian species, based on new advice from the government’s scientific advisory body.
In a draft consultation document, the threatened species scientific committee says the Victorian possum meets at least one of the criteria to make it eligible for listing as critically endangered.
Continue reading...China looking to buy stake in UK nuclear plants, say reports
Chinese state-run firm eyeing up multibillion-pound deal for majority share in eight sites
The Chinese government has emerged as a potential buyer of a multibillion-pound stake in Britain’s nuclear power plants.
The talks will reignite debate about China’s involvement in the UK nuclear power industry. Two years ago, the government paused approval for the £18bn Hinkley Point C project because of security concerns over China’s stake.
Continue reading...The case for and against Natural England | Letters
George Monbiot (4 July) should be assured that Natural England retains its strong voice for nature, along with its statutory role and driving mission to protect and enhance the country’s wildlife, geology, habitats and landscapes. Our independence from government is firmly set out in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, which gives Natural England the powers to ensure that the natural environment is conserved, enhanced and managed for the benefit of present and future generations.
Like all public bodies we have met the challenge of reduced budgets by reducing our reliance on public funding and instead increasingly working in partnership with organisations and individuals that share our commitment to the natural world – such as the Back from the Brink partnership that has helped save 20 species from the threat of extinction. Furthermore, in recent years we have made great progress in creating the world’s longest continuous coastal footpath and helped establish a “blue belt” of 50 marine conservation zones around England, with more in the pipeline. With the publication of the government’s 25-year plan for the environment, Natural England has a key role to play in delivering this ambitious agenda to leave the environment in a better state.
James Cross
Chief executive, Natural England
New UK renewables ‘could be cheaper than existing gas plants by 2030’
Mother Nature and the Holy Father
Meet the creatures that thrive in the dark
The pale-throated sloth, from the northern Amazon forests, has evolved in an unusual way to survive the dangers of swinging through trees in total darkness. The nocturnal bear-like creature has developed a sense of smell so sensitive it can tell whether branches nearby are emitting whiffs of sap or not.
“That allows them to swing only on to branches that are healthy,” said Professor Geoff Boxshall of the Natural History Museum in London. “They can avoid grabbing one that is sapless and dead, which might break, causing them to fall out of a tree and injure themselves. Thus they can swing safely through forests in complete darkness.”
Continue reading...Banning plastic may not be good for the future
Waste crisis: spot the excessive plastic packaging – in pictures
Australia is drowning in a tsunami of plastic pollution and excessive packaging is one of the culprits. Boomerang Alliance asked supporters to send in pictures of the worst examples
Continue reading...Plastic packaging pictures – send us your best worst examples
Reducing and recycling our plastic waste will help the plastic crisis, but it won’t solve the problem. Corporations must take responsibility for the problems they are creating
Australia’s oceans, beaches and nature reserves are drowning in plastic pollution and excessive packaging is one of the culprits. While reducing our plastic consumption and recycling the waste will help, it won’t solve the problem. Corporations must take responsibility for the problem they are creating.
So this weekend we want to invite readers to snap and send us pictures of excessive plastic packaging. Apples in tubes, bananas in bags, and plastic in plastic in plastic. Send it through and we’ll publish the worst examples next week.
Continue reading...Exoskeleton that allows humans to work and play for longer
National Trust buys two wildflower sites to protect wildlife
The £2.15m deal will protect 460 acres of nature-rich farmland in the Peak District
Hundreds of acres of flower-rich farmland have been bought by the National Trust to throw a lifeline to declining wildlife.
The £2.15 million deal to buy 186 hectares (460 acres) of land in the Peak District – an area equivalent to 260 football pitches – is the biggest farmland acquisition by the Trust since it bought Trevose Head in Cornwall in 2016.
Continue reading...'In the days around Ella's death, there were big spikes in air pollution'
Rosamund Kissi-Debrah believes poor air quality in London contributed to her daughter’s death
The evening before she died, Ella Kissi-Debrah picked the outfit she wanted to wear to her primary school disco the following day: new jeans and a checked top. Her mother laid them out next to her school uniform, but a few hours later the nine-year-old suffered an acute asthma attack. She never made it to the party.
“We ended up burying her in the clothes instead,” said her mother, Rosamund. “I didn’t know whether it was the right thing to do, but it felt right at the time.”
Country diary: wiggling wonder of the common woodlouse
Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: We relish the new vocabulary that comes with these terrestrial isopods – and how to tell the difference between males and females
It’s not every day a woodlouse expert comes to tea. My children made a mad dash to hunt under logs in the garden to supply Beth, a soil scientist who studied woodlice at university, with specimens so she could show us how to tell males from females.
Earworms from planet earth IV
Lithium boom for Western Australia
Adani says it could start works at Abbot Point without traditional owners' input
Exclusive: new construction work at coal terminal scheduled to begin as Juru group of traditional owners seeks stop order
Adani says it will proceed with new construction work at its Abbot Point coal terminal with or without the involvement of Juru local traditional owners, amid an escalating dispute about the protection of sacred sites.
On Thursday a group of traditional owners, Juru Enterprises Ltd, lodged an application for a stop order that could force Adani to cease work in the vicinity of Abbot Point and along part of the proposed rail link to the Carmichael mine.
Continue reading...Is it a panther? Is it a puma? No, just a cat and a huge claws of frustration
Rangers are sick of mistaken panther sightings, which detract from the fight against feral cats
A large cat in Western Australia that was mistaken for a panther is the latest in a long line of mythical big cat sightings that wildlife rangers say are unhelpful.
The large black feline – estimated to be 50% larger than a house cat – was spotted in the town of Coorow, 275km north of Perth, in late June, and reported to wildlife authorities as a potential panther or big cat.
Continue reading...Sustainability Analyst/Associate, Cap-Op Energy – Calgary
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