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Project Manager, Environment & Climate Change, Canadian Standards Association – Toronto
Managing Consultant (Energy), Navigant – Abu Dhabi
Environment Advisor, Energy & Carbon Management, Metropolitan Police – London
Deputy Directors, EU Exit Energy and Climate Change Programme, BEIS – London
Manager/Senior Associate, Sustainability & Climate Change Consulting, PwC – London
Policy Associate, Pacific Forest Trust – San Francisco
CP Daily: Thursday June 7, 2018
Political differences hindering introduction of Washington DC carbon tax
Pollutionwatch: May brought high levels of damaging ozone
Ground-level ozone can damage wheat, mung and soya bean crops, and is harmful to breathe
We often think of ozone as a stratosphere pollutant, where it does a useful job blocking harmful ultraviolet radiation, but it is harmful to breathe and damages our crops, too. In a typical May, UK air pollution can reach between four and six on the government’s 10-point scale for a week or so. May 2018 was the hottest since records began in 1919. This brought air pollution problems to the whole of the UK except eastern Scotland. Air pollution reached level 4 or above on 30 days during the month and ozone was one of the main culprits.
Continue reading...BRIEFING – Purchase power: How companies use green certificates to boost their climate credentials
Curiosity rover sees seasonal Mars methane swing
Domestic tourism to Great Barrier Reef falls in wake of coral bleaching
Reef no longer among top 10 reasons for Australians to visit Cairns, says survey
The lure of the Great Barrier Reef to Australian tourists has “fallen dramatically” since the onset of successive coral bleaching events in 2016, according to a new report that reveals fewer domestic visitors are heading to north Queensland to visit the natural wonder.
The report, by the Centre for Tourism and Regional Opportunities at Central Queensland University, says towns should now develop “new tourism experiences” to compensate for lost visitors and the likelihood of further damage to the climate-threatened reef.
Continue reading...Move to renewables a 'good thing', Nationals' David Littleproud says
Agriculture minister says climate is changing and Australia must ‘use the best science available’
The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, says the climate is changing and the transition in the energy market – with renewables displacing traditional power generation sources – is “exciting, not only for the environment but for the hip pocket”.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, the Queensland National said the climate had been changing “since we first tilled the soil in Australia” and he does not care whether the change is due to human activity or not.
Continue reading...Sisters act: Mexican nuns on mission to save salamanders – video
A community of Mexican nuns have formed an unlikely partnership with British conservationists to save an endangered amphibian species. Achoques once thrived in Pátzcuaro, Mexico’s third largest lake, but they are now close to extinction due to introduced fish species and deforestation. The nuns, who use the lizard-like animal to create a special cough medicine, have been breeding them in their convent. The sisters are part of an official breeding network that includes Chester zoo in the UK and the Michoacana University of Mexico
Continue reading...EU Market: EUAs stay lodged near €16 despite another strong auction
Oldest 'footprints' found in China
Pesticide use in the UK’s intensive agriculture | Letters
Guy Smith of the National Farmers’ Union says (Letters, 4 June) that there has been “no intensification of agriculture in the UK for 25 years”, and that government figures show pesticide use has been “significantly reduced”. No they don’t. Government figures show the number of active substances – the actual chemicals applied to three major UK crops (wheat, onions and potatoes) – have increased between six and 18 times (that is, between 600% and 1,800%) from the 1970s to 2014. And as recent Guardian investigations have found, there has been a significant growth in large-scale pig and poultry production, and recently you revealed the arrival, albeit just a few at the moment, of US-style beef lots in the UK (Report, 30 May). UK dairy herds have been getting ever larger over recent years, with the growth of dairy systems where the cows are kept indoors all their life, with feed brought to them, and no grazing on grass. These are all undesirable trends for English farmers, squeezed by rising costs and falling prices, and as we face government policy that rightly wants us to compete on the world market on the basis of high animal welfare, high environmental standards and high quality.
Peter Melchett
Policy director, Soil Association
• Guy Smith of the National Farmers’ Union tells only half the story when he says pesticide use in the UK has been significantly reduced. What he is referring to is the weight of pesticides, and on that point alone he is correct. In 1990 the weight of active substances applied was 34,500 tonnes compared to 17,1800 tones in 2015. But weight is not the significant factor. Toxicity is. Many of the pesticides on the market now are more toxic than they used to be and so farmers apply less weight of pesticides to do the same job.
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