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New watchdog to protect environment after Brexit, Gove says

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-10 22:31

Independent body will be backed by law requiring ministers to ‘have regard to’ core principles

A new environmental watchdog to maintain standards and hold ministers to account is to be set up under plans for a green Brexit, the government has announced.

Measures from improving air and water quality and protecting endangered species are currently overseen by the European commission and underpinned by green principles across the EU, such as “the polluter pays”.

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Hun migrations 'linked to deadly Justinian Plague'

BBC - Thu, 2018-05-10 22:17
Scientists find a deadly plague may have been spread to Europe and western Asia by the Huns.
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Maasai herders driven off land to make way for luxury safaris, report says

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-10 20:00

Tanzanian government accused of putting indigenous people at risk in order to grant foreign tourists access to Serengeti wildlife

The Tanzanian government is putting foreign safari companies ahead of Maasai herding communities as environmental tensions grow on the fringes of the Serengeti national park, according to a new investigation.

Hundreds of homes have been burned and tens of thousands of people driven from ancestral land in Loliondo in the Ngorongoro district in recent years to benefit high-end tourists and a Middle Eastern royal family, says the report by the California-based thinktank the Oakland Institute.

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Chinese CO2 verifiers under pressure as disgruntled traders, consultants join fray

Carbon Pulse - Thu, 2018-05-10 19:28
The delay of China’s national emissions trading programme has forced a number of carbon specialist firms to refocus their business, sparking a price war in the emissions verification industry.
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China spends CDM cash to help ease natural gas shortage

Carbon Pulse - Thu, 2018-05-10 19:21
China’s CDM Fund has approved a 65 million yuan ($10 mln) loan to a Shanghai-based natural gas project in a bid to ramp up supply of natural gas seen as crucial to help bring down coal consumption and cut CO2 emissions.
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'The best bat experience in Britain': Cambridge's nocturnal punting safaris

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-10 16:00

A trip following bats along the river Cam has become one of the hottest tickets in town – and raised money for their protection

It’s an impossibly idyllic early summer evening on the Backs of Cambridge. A blackbird flutes as a man pressure-washes a table outside a hotel. Mating flies drift on the breeze, alongside a whiff of marijuana. A student lies flat on the riverbank, feet in the water.

Punting on the river Cam has stopped for the night but one boat slips into the gathering dusk: the Bat Punt Safari.

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Daylight robbery: grey squirrels stealing millions of pounds of bird seed a year

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-10 16:00

New video analysis reveals the furry thieves are looting up to half the seed put out in feeders, leaving gardeners and birds short-changed

Daylight robbery worth millions of pounds is taking place in gardens across the country with grey squirrels raiding bird feeders on a huge scale, new research has revealed.

The crimes were caught on video camera by scientists, who said grey squirrels are also known to raid birds’ nests for eggs and chicks. So people putting out food for birds are inadvertently supporting a species that harms them.

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Trimmed CEFC budget signals end of renewables boom

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-10 15:02
Modest CEFC budget drawdown - after a stellar 2017/18 - is yet another sign that the investment boom in large scale wind and solar is coming to an end.
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South Australia’s second big battery suffers another delay

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-10 14:48
Delays in South Australia's second big battery, and in Victoria projects, underline the remarkable achievement of building Tesla big battery in just 100 days.
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Country diary: the pond is a hive of activity

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-10 14:30

Sandy, Bedfordshire: I lean forward and the skater darts away in a series of fitful starts. A water measurer beneath my gaze stays put at the pond’s edge

A pond skater’s feet feel prey landing on the drumskin-tight surface of the water. Just how can this skater skate on thin “ice” while a fly the size of its eye falls through? Though the fly tries to drag its legs free, surface tension binds it to a sheet of elastic glue.

I lean forward and the skater darts away in a series of fitful starts. A water measurer beneath my gaze stays put at the pond’s edge. An aquatic stick insect, Hydrometra stagnorum could easily be mistaken for a strand of dark human hair. My eyes are just a handspan away, so I can observe the detail of alternating light and dark strips along its abdomen, which remind me of a ruler. However, it gets its name from the way it walks over the surface with a measured tread.

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Pumped hydro slowly starts to put its head up

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-10 14:14
NSW is getting excited about pumped hydro, but many projects will only get up if supported by analysts such as Rosie Scenario and Phil Wright.
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California mandates solar PV on all new residential buildings

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-10 13:50
California Energy Commission has, as predicted, mandated rooftop solar PV installations on all new residential buildings from 2020.
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The stunning hypocrisy of US automakers

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-10 13:48
After the auto bailout, Ford, GM and Chrysler pledged to support stricter fuel standards. Now, they are working with President Trump to weaken those rules.
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Bonn morning brief: Bangkok climate session is on

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-10 13:44
Difficult progress in Bonn has prompted the UN to schedule a long-anticipated extra session for climate talks in the Thai capital.
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Volcano erupts at end of man's garden

BBC - Thu, 2018-05-10 13:34
This Hawaii resident had a surprise when he returned home after fleeing the Kilauea eruption.
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SolarEdge announces first quarter 2018 financial results

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-10 13:30
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc., a global leader in PV inverters, power optimizers, and module-level monitoring services, today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018.
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Was Donald Trump right to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal?

ABC Environment - Thu, 2018-05-10 13:30
The US President's announcement this week was hardly surprising - but was it the right move?
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Love bites on hairy bums: wombats' sex lives revealed

The Guardian - Thu, 2018-05-10 12:16

Researchers hope that insights into reproductive behaviour will help save endangered species

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A whiskery love bite on a hairy bum. It may sound like a perturbing form of foreplay but scientists believe it could help save critically endangered wombat populations in Australia’s north.

Scientists have spent two wombat breeding seasons seeking to better understand the sex lives of vulnerable southern hairy-nosed wombats, using 24-hour infrared cameras and urine samples.

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Good signage in national parks can save lives. Here's how to do it right

The Conversation - Thu, 2018-05-10 12:15
New research shows what type of signs are most effective at communicating safety messages in national parks - and what not to do. Pascal Scherrer, Senior Lecturer, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross University Betty Weiler, Professor, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Infigen looks to add big battery to Lake Bonney wind farm

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2018-05-10 09:41
Infigen cites success of Tesla big battery in proposal for 25MW/52MWh battery addition to its Lake Bonney wind farm.
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