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National parks to rethink plan to hike entrance fees after widespread anger
Public comment period saw more than 100,000 messages, many condemning proposal to raise fees as high as $70
The Department of the Interior said on Tuesday that it planned to revise a controversial proposal to drastically increase entrance fees at some of the most popular national parks in the country.
The interior department press secretary, Heather Swift, said the Trump administration decided to rethink its proposal after Americans flooded the National Park Service (NPS) with more than 100,000 comments, many of them sharply critical of the proposed surge pricing scheme.
Continue reading...Conservationists use astronomy software to save species
Fracking firm says first horizontal well at Lancashire is complete
Protesters mock announcement by Cuadrilla as they start three-month protest at Lancashire site
The first large-scale fracking in Britain has moved a step closer after an energy firm said it had completed drilling the UK’s first horizontal well at a site in Lancashire.
Cuadrilla said the development was a “major milestone” towards the first shale gas exploration in the UK since 2011, when work was halted after it triggered a minor earthquake. The company said it hoped to begin fracking at its site on Preston New Road, near Blackpool, in the summer, pending government approval.
Continue reading...Antarctica 'gives ground to the ocean'
Scientists examine threats to food security if we meet the Paris climate targets | John Abraham
Even with aggressive climate policies to limit global warming, food security in some areas will be threatened
We have delayed action for so long on handling climate change, we now can no longer can “will it happen?” Rather we have to ask “how bad will it be?” and “what can be done about it?” As our society thinks about what we should do to reduce our carbon pollution and the consequences of electing science-denying politicians, scientists are actively studying the pros and cons of various emission reductions.
Readers of this column have certainly heard about temperature targets such as 1.5°C or 2°C. These targets refer to allowable temperature increases over pre-industrial temperatures. If humans take action to hit a 1.5°C target, it means we are committed to keeping the human-caused global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Similarly for a 2°C target.
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Meet the latest organisation to achieve carbon neutral certification
New Australian wind farms reach nearly 50% capacity factor
Genex gets development approval for next 270MW stage of Kidston solar
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Country diary: spring's dramatic upwelling of life
Claxton, Norfolk: The birds, wildflowers and insects burst into action; it’s what the great environmentalist Roger Deakin called ‘opening time in nature’s great saloon’
At last those winter rains have ended and the sun shone here for two full days. Suddenly it is time for cock pheasants, flushed crimson with testosterone, to fight long tail-twisting battles; for wild violets to flower quietly over our meadow-lawn; for goldfinches to strip spider thread from the back wall to bind their nests; for hairy-footed summer-bees to zip among the rosemary blooms, and for buff-tailed and early bumblebee queens to truffle the green hellebore heads in a last garden before the marsh. They’re all part of that dramatic upwelling of life which Roger Deakin once called “opening time in nature’s great saloon”.
Continue reading...Statement on the passing of Terry Effeney
2.75 GW! JinkoSolar acquires largest solar panel deal in history
Coalition back-bench’s crazy last gasp attempt to save coal
Invitation to comment on listing assessment for Philotheca sporadica (Kogan waxflower) - 2018
Invitation to comment on listing assessment for Philotheca sporadica (Kogan waxflower) - 2018
'Send in the drones' to protect soil
Dinosaur tracks on Skye 'globally important'
UK to tighten laws on 'abhorrent' ivory trade
Defra consultation on proposals received more than 70,000 responses, 88% in favour
A UK ban on ivory sales, which the government claims will be the toughest in Europe and one of the strictest in the world, is to be introduced after the proposals were overwhelmingly backed in a public consultation.
The ban makes exemptions only for musical instruments containing a small percentage of ivory, some antiques, and museum objects.
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