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David Blackburn says we need decentralised energy sources; David Lowry on nuclear not being zero-carbon technology; plus letters from David Hayes and Fred Starr

I wholeheartedly agree with much of your editorial (14 September), as the economics of new nuclear is weaker than ever at a time when renewables are coming in cheaper year on year. You point out the crisis in the funding of renewables and we could not agree more. The UK desperately needs to reboot financial support for decentralised energy in order to maximise long-term benefits for all. Councils, in particular, are calling for the restoration of feed-in tariffs and other support that has been instrumental in the creation of innovative, local, low-carbon energy schemes, Passivhaus-accredited buildings, and energy efficiency programmes for dealing with the scourge of fuel poverty.

While the dramatic cost reductions in offshore wind are to be welcomed, it has to be joined with renewed support for decentralised energy projects, approval for tidal energy schemes and the resumption of support for solar and onshore wind. The government must see that the energy landscape has changed dramatically. An energy review and reboot is urgently required.
Cllr David Blackburn
Vice-chair, UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Authorities

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Anna Jones says that, through selling its cocoa cheaply, Africa is exporting its wealth overseas; while Sue Banford claims that the soya moratorium in the Amazon has done nothing to halt deforestation

Only the final paragraph in your article on cocoa farming causing deforestation in Ivory Coast (Forests pay price for world’s taste for cocoa, 14 September) mentioned the most fundamental thing – the farmer’s livelihood, or lack of it. The low value of his (or more likely her) crop is undoubtedly the cause of this problem. But cocoa farming could also provide the solution.

Recently, I was in Ivory Coast for the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Abidjan. It united many different parties – governments, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), private sector agribusiness like Syngenta, Bayer and OCP, Rabobank and the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They are united in one firm belief: that agriculture holds the key to unlocking Africa’s economic potential – 41 million smallholders on a fertile continent that grows every crop imaginable.

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Mail on Sunday criticised by Ipso for article claiming global warming data had been exaggerated to win Paris climate change agreement

Claims in the Mail on Sunday that global warming data had been exaggerated in order to secure the Paris climate change agreement have been criticised by the UK’s press regulator.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation censured the newspaper for publishing a story in early February that was flawed in key aspects. The news story suggested that data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), one of the world’s gold-standard sources of weather and climate research, had been treated in such a way as to suggest greater warming than had really occurred.

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Conservationist and champion of Afghanistan’s people and culture and promoter of literacy in rural communities

Nancy Hatch Dupree, who has died aged 89, was an American archivist, writer and champion of Afghanistan’s culture and its people, who defied communists, fundamentalists, warlords and foreign invaders over nearly five decades in Kabul.

Her most important legacy is an archive documenting some of the darkest periods of Afghan history: turbulent years of civil war and Taliban rule that many would happily have let slide into obscurity. The documents are housed in the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University, established in 2006 and one of the city’s most impressive post-Taliban buildings, inspired by traditional architecture and a reflection of Nancy and her husband Louis Dupree’s love of Afghan culture.

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Some flies see six times faster than us, catching prey in mid-air in less than a second.

Cycling can make people healthy and live longer, and cut public health costs, so why can’t it be prescribed to the nation?

Imagine if a team of scientists devised a drug which massively reduced people’s chances of developing cancer or heart disease, cutting their overall likelihood of dying early by 40%. This would be front page news worldwide, a Nobel prize as good as in the post.

That drug is already here, albeit administered in a slightly different way: it’s called cycling to work. One of the more puzzling political questions is why it is so rarely prescribed on a population-wide level.

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Selective breeding gives the highest yield, but potentially at a price. It’s time to go back to our roots

If you find the whole business of organic too tame, there’s always landrace crops, which are positively subversive. Landrace crop varieties (sometimes known as folk crops) are ancient versions of the standardised crops we rely on today. Genetically variable, these biodiverse cultivars are allowed to grow at will and to cross pollinate. Farmers collect the seeds from successful crops and these become the parents of next year’s varieties. Simple.

If this sounds primitive (it is in fact Neolithic), it makes much more sense than modern agriculture, which is reliant on selective breeds that are addicted to fertilisers. The idea is that the selective breeds give the highest yield when conditions are good. This is a terrible strategy in an era of climate change when conditions are not ideal. Modern agriculture has wiped out almost all original genetic diversity. Ancient cultivars of wheat are used for straw or shoved into seed banks. Proponents of the Real Green Movement want them released into the soil.

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Reports say the US will no longer withdraw from the Paris deal or will change its approach.

Future Tense highlights several innovative projects designed to help build fish farming systems that are green, clean and more efficient.

How tiny creatures with small brains outwit us so easily.

Villagers in the Forest of Dean back plans to release a beaver family to protect their homes by damming waterways

Beavers could be put to work building dams to stop a village from flooding in the Forest of Dean, in what would be the first such scheme on government land.

The Forestry Commission has been an enthusiastic advocate for the release of a family of beavers into a large fenced area surrounding Greathough brook above the village of Lydbrook, on land owned by the commission.

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Warning comes after koala found clinging to axle of vehicle in Australia and three kittens survive 311-mile trip from Netherlands to UK under car bonnet

Motorists are being urged to be vigilant after two reports of animals becoming trapped under vehicles on opposite sides of the world.

In Australia, a koala survived a 16km (10 mile) trip clinging to the axle of a four-wheel drive vehicle before the driver stopped and heard the cries of the traumatised animal.

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She survived a 16km (10-mile) car journey, clinging to the axle of a four-wheel drive near Adelaide.

A happy ending for a family of hippos.

The former cycling world champion and Manchester’s first walking and cycling commissioner on riding safely, favourite rides and why he won’t use Strava

So, you’re the first cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester. How come?

Because Andy Burnham [the mayor of Greater Manchester] phoned and asked me. I was quite taken aback, because do I have any qualifications? No. But I was taken with his enthusiasm. From the first few seconds it was pretty scary because I have been on the other side of the fence campaigning and lobbying [as British Cycling’s policy advisor] and saying what should be done, and then someone else says “go on, then” – you’re in a difficult position if you don’t want to be a hypocrite.

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Whether you’re commuting, touring or competing we’ve sourced the perfect bikes, from entry-level through mid-range to high spec

6KU Detroit, £325

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Unions warn effects of exposure to diesel pollution is ticking time bomb for business, likening situation to ‘early days of asbestos’

Legal claims over exposure to diesel exhaust fumes at work are growing as unions warn toxic air in the workplace is a ticking time bomb on a par with asbestos.

Royal Mail and at least one local authority are among major employers who are being sued over their alleged failure to protect staff from the damaging health effects of diesel pollution from vehicles. More cases are lined up, according to lawyers and unions involved in supporting workers.

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The changes in summer ice cover are seeing loss of wildlife, and new claims for territory and resources.

Rather than hours, the C-ion cell recharges in just minutes.

From tops with sweat wicking, to jeans with extra stretch and shorts with reinforcement, we pick the best pieces for cyclists who don’t relish arriving to work crumpled, clammy – or in Lycra

• link here to gallery of women’s clothes

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