Around The Web

Antarctica loses three trillion tonnes of ice in 25 years

BBC - Thu, 2018-06-14 03:01
Satellites observing the White Continent detect a jump in the rate of ice being lost to the ocean.
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Antarctic ice melting faster than ever, studies show

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-06-14 03:00

Rate of melt has accelerated threefold in last five years and could contribute 25cm to sea-level rises without urgent action

Ice in the Antarctic is melting at a record-breaking rate and the subsequent sea rises could have catastrophic consequences for cities around the world, according to two new studies.

A report led by scientists in the UK and US found the rate of melting from the Antarctic ice sheet has accelerated threefold in the last five years and is now vanishing faster than at any previously recorded time.

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Let’s go with the grain of tidal power | Brief letters

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-06-14 02:43
Fictional Leros | Tidal power in the 18th century | Feast | AA salute | Interpreters v translators

Further to your travel feature on the Greek island of Leros (9 June), may I recommend to your readers Four’s Destiny: A Wartime Greek Tragedy by Michael Powell, a fictionalised account centring on Leros. Powell weaves a clever, powerful story around some fascinating wartime history. We follow four young men, one each from England, Germany, Italy and Greece, as the second world war changes their lives and destinies.
Ruth Samuels
Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire

• Re the proposed Swansea Bay tidal power lagoon (Letters, 11 June), the tidal-powered grain mill on the River Lea at Bromley-by-Bow in London was economic from the 1700s to the 1930s – and without the super-efficient bearings common in today’s machinery. Such small-scale hydro-powered generators (tidal and river) should be all over the country – they’d provide work and be far less expensive than nuclear. But some city slickers won’t be so able to extract their rent from localised generation so it won’t be approved by UK’s present government.
Robin Le Mare
Allithwaite, Cumbria

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UK rebuffed over Galileo sat-nav procurement

BBC - Thu, 2018-06-14 02:36
Delegations to the European Space Agency vote to procure another batch of spacecraft, despite British calls to delay.
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Doug Ford’s disastrous agenda can be derailed by a massive grassroots movement | Martin Lukacs

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-06-14 01:45

The right-wing triumph in Ontario shows the left needs a new populism – backed by street protest and a bold NDP

The guardians of respectable opinion forecast that Doug Ford would never become Ontario’s Premier. Now that he has, they are suggesting his reign might be orderly and painless.

While agreeing with his basic agenda, the Globe & Mail is crossing its fingers that Ford “moves slowly on the public-service layoffs and program cuts…to avoid strikes and social discord.”

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What paddleboarding through plastic taught me about our disposables problem

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-06-14 00:49

My daughter and I spent a weekend scouring the Salcombe estuary for discarded plastics. What we found proves that a throwaway culture is simply not sustainable

One My Little Pony, two crabbing buckets, five balloons, six balls, seven straws, nine shoes, a dozen coffee cups, 20 carrier bags, 205 plastic bottles and lids, polystyrene and a huge amount of rope. That is just a fraction of what my six-year-old daughter, Ella, and I collected over the course of two days last weekend, as we paddleboarded around the Salcombe-Kingsbridge estuary in south Devon, scouring the foreshores of every creek and cove for 22 miles.

Within seconds of setting off from South Sands beach by the mouth of the estuary, we spotted a clear plastic carrier bag floating in the shallows. Marine wildlife could easily have mistaken it for a jellyfish. Ella grabbed it with a litter picker as we paddled past.

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Rise in global carbon emissions a 'big step backwards', says BP

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-06-13 23:30

Coal rebound and slowing efficiency gains in 2017 suggest Paris goals may be missed, says oil firm

The renewed upward march of global carbon emissions is worrying and a big step backwards in the fight against climate change, according to BP.

Emissions rose 1.6% in 2017 after flatlining for the previous three years, which the British oil firm said was a reminder the world was not on track to hit the goals of the Paris climate deal.

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EU lawmakers likely to set clean energy goals above 30% -Arias Canete

Carbon Pulse - Wed, 2018-06-13 22:50
EU lawmakers are on course to set 2030 renewables and energy efficiency goals of above 30% later today, Europe’s climate chief Miguel Arias Canete said Wednesday.
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How Horizon Power are developing their microgrid capability

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-06-13 21:14
The battery – which is capable of generating 2 MW of power for one hour – will be used to optimise spinning reserve and is expected to save hundreds of thousands in maintenance and fuel costs in the process.
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Raccoon hailed a hero after Minnesota skyscraper climb

BBC - Wed, 2018-06-13 21:01
The internet has been transfixed as it scaled a 23-floor Minnesota building for nearly a day.
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British man disqualified for £7m carbon trading tax evasion

Carbon Pulse - Wed, 2018-06-13 20:58
A British man has received a maximum 15-year disqualified order for his role in a £7 million tax fraud involving emissions allowances.
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Lightsource BP turns site on Australia residential solar and battery market

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-06-13 20:44
Light source BP has unveiled plans to offer no-deposit rooftop solar and battery storage packages to Australian households.
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China offers glimmer of hope for carbon offset developers

Carbon Pulse - Wed, 2018-06-13 20:04
China climate officials are eager to include offsets in the national emissions trading scheme as a means to fund forestry and renewable energy projects, according to a senior official, offering a glimmer of hope for beleaguered developers.
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Chepstow celebrates plastic-free status with plastic banner

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-06-13 19:50

Councillor calls for sign to be removed from battlements saying it is ‘beyond irony’

A historic town in south Wales has been criticised for celebrating becoming a plastic-free community by hanging a banner made of plastic from a 13th-century gateway.

Chepstow fixed the large banner to the battlements of its town gate after being granted plastic-free status by the green charity Surfers Against Sewage.

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Michael Gove appoints UK 'tree champion'

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-06-13 19:50

Sir William Worsley is tasked with stopping the unnecessary felling of trees and support plans to plant 11 million trees

The environment secretary, Michael Gove, has appointed a “tree champion” to stop the unnecessary felling of trees and boost planting rates.

Sir William Worsley, chairman of the National Forest Company which oversees the National Forest, has been appointed to support government promises to plant 11 million trees, plus a further 1 million in towns and cities. The move, part of the pledges in the government’s 25-year environment plan, comes after a controversial tree-felling programme in Sheffield.

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Mass slaughter of wedge-tailed eagles could have Australia-wide consequences

The Conversation - Wed, 2018-06-13 16:16
The poisoning of dozens of wedge-tailed hawks in Victoria could affect the entire wild population. Simon Cherriman, Ornithology, Murdoch University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Are solar panels a middle-class purchase? This survey says yes

The Conversation - Wed, 2018-06-13 15:11
Households that are most likely to go solar are those that can afford solar panels, but aren't so rich that they don't have to worry about their electricity bill at all, says a survey of 8,000 homes. Adam McHugh, Honorary Research Associate, Murdoch University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Fifth of Britain’s wild mammals ‘at high risk of extinction’

The Guardian - Wed, 2018-06-13 15:01

Species including the wildcat and black rat may be lost within a decade while others such as deer are thriving, analysis shows

The wildcat and mouse-eared bat are on the brink, but deer are spreading and otters bouncing back, according to a comprehensive analysis.

At least one in five wild mammals in Britain faces a high risk of extinction within a decade and overall populations are falling, according to the most comprehensive analysis to date.

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Could Australia follow Cuba and become living museum of petrol cars?

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-06-13 14:43
An increasingly change-averse political right wing is driving transport to the front line of Australia's climate wars. Can Labor get their policy act together and stop us from becoming another Cuba, a living museum for petrol and diesel cars?
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Investors to make hay from sunshine

RenewEconomy - Wed, 2018-06-13 14:40
Investors are about to get unparalleled access to the best clean technology start-ups in Australia thanks to a new angel investment group launched by EnergyLab.
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