Around The Web

Why are scientists worried about freezing temperatures in winter, is the beast from the east a freak event – and what is the polar vortex?

Q: Snow in winter. That feels reassuringly normal. Does this mean the climate has fixed itself?

A: Unfortunately not. In fact, many scientists are concerned this is a prelude to more extreme and less predictable weather.

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In the last five years, there has been an average of 32,000 excess winter deaths in the UK.

After lengthy negotiations and record deaths of defenders on the continent, sources say a deal is very likely to be reached

Latin American countries are poised to agree the world’s first legally binding convention to protect environmental defenders at a conference in Costa Rica.

Land activists and indigenous people were killed in record numbers on the continent last year, with more than two nature protectors murdered every week.

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Mayor announces ‘strong measures’ to tackle pollution in Italy’s traffic-clogged capital

Rome, one of Europe’s most traffic-clogged cities and home to thousands of ancient outdoor monuments threatened by pollution, plans to ban diesel cars from the centre by 2024, its mayor has said.

Virginia Raggi announced the decision on her Facebook page on Tuesday, saying: “If we want to intervene seriously, we have to have the courage to adopt strong measures”.

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Analysis from EU’s scientific risk assessors finds neonicotinoids pose a serious danger to all bees, making total field ban highly likely

The world’s most widely used insecticides pose a serious danger to both honeybees and wild bees, according to a major new assessment from the European Union’s scientific risk assessors.

The conclusion, based on analysis of more than 1,500 studies, makes it highly likely that the neonicotinoid pesticides will be banned from all fields across the EU when nations vote on the issue next month.

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The scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his work with graphene worries about research funding.

The prime minister’s attack focuses on Labor’s policy shift on Carmichael mine and renews attempts to paint Labor leader as ‘not fair dinkum’

Malcolm Turnbull has blasted Bill Shorten for going “snorkelling” on the Great Barrier Reef courtesy of the Australian Conservation Foundation, and for selling blue-collar jobs down the river “to get Green votes” in the Batman byelection.

The prime minister went on the political offensive against Shorten after the businessman and environmentalist Geoff Cousins revealed a series of conversations with the Labor leader over the past three months about stopping the controversial Adani coal project in Queensland.

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Pyramid teabags made from a plant-based material will go on sale next week, with company’s other teabags set to follow suit by end of 2018

The UK’s biggest tea brand is switching to fully biodegradable tea bags free from synthetic materials to cut down on plastic pollution caused by the nation’s favourite hot drink.

The first of the new eco-friendly pyramid teabags from PG tips – made from a plant-based material that is 100% renewable and biodegradable – will go on sale in UK supermarkets next week, it was announced on Wednesday.

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There is no logic in wrapping perishable food in indestructible plastic, say campaigners hailing today’s launch in Amsterdam

Today the world’s first plastic-free aisle was launched in Amsterdam by environmental campaign group A Plastic Planet and Dutch supermarket Ekoplaza. The aisle enables shoppers to choose from 700 everyday products that are free from plastic packaging. Before the end of the year, Ekoplaza plans to roll the plastic-free aisle out across each of its 74 stores.

Plastic packaging has no place in food and drink. There is no logical basis for wrapping something as perishable as food with something as indestructible as plastic. With recycled plastics today accounting for just 6% of total plastics demand in Europe, it’s clear that we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic problem. Food and drink plastic packaging does not belong in a circular economy given that it is difficult to reclaim, is easily contaminated, and all too often proves valueless.

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Campaigners hail progress as Amsterdam store offers dedicated aisle of more than 700 products, with plans for a national roll-out

• Letter: Plastic-free aisle is an example for others to follow
  

Shoppers in the Netherlands will get the chance to visit Europe’s first plastic-free supermarket aisle on Wednesday in what campaigners claim is an turning point in the war on plastic pollution.

The store in Amsterdam will open its doors at 11am when shoppers will be able to choose from more than 700 plastic-free products, all available in one aisle.

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Sahara snow and volcanic colours are among the images captured by Nasa and the ESA last month

Rare snowfall in north-west Algeria, on the edge of the Sahara desert. Despite the desert at times being one of the hottest places on Earth, the snow was reported to be up to 40cm thick in some places. Although temperatures plummet during the night, snowfall is very unusual in the Sahara because the air is so dry. It is only the third time in nearly 40 years that this part of the desert has seen snow.

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Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: The chaffinch’s chest is dawn-lit, his head grey, the heraldry of his flash-feathers signalling the breeding season to come

For a brief moment, a cock chaffinch owns the world: a handful of seeds on a metre-square of concrete at the cold end of February. Watch the fighter’s forward shuffle, pushing towards the ropes of his entitlement; the eye-contact with invisible opponents. In a scattering of wild bird food, harvested somewhere else, bagged for the supermarket and broadcast here to rekindle a bond between person and bird, he asserts his antique right to gleanings.

He selects a seed the way a waller lifts the perfect stone to fill a gap. The precision instrument of his beak applies just enough pressure along the ridges to split its seam, then he rolls it crosswise to crack and separate the case, which he drops. This empty husk is the chaff, and the chaffinch’s skill is in the threshing of each grain, the winnowing that separates the germ of life from the box it comes in. Chaffinch do not eat the chaff but create it, a litter cast for others; I suppose the bird’s name comes from its foraging the rubbish of harvest. The chaffinch swallows the seed, and the future of wheat, maize, millet or oat plants becomes the future chaffinch.

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South Korean steel giant POSCO signs lithium off-take and downstream processing deal with ASX listed miner Pilbara Minerals.

The recent results from market heavies provide some insights into the massive cost - to customers - of the incumbents holding onto their market share. 

Xenophon's SA Best predicts 90% renewables in the state by 2030. Although it is not a target, the rush to embrace renewables in South Australia highlights how state-based Liberal Party and the Federal Coalition are being left behind.

SA BEST wants to meet and exceed the Paris commitment, deploy distributed energy, storage and energy management, boost competition, and legislate for power market transparency.

EPYC's proposed 54-turbine Jupiter Wind Farm near Tarago rejected again by state planners, as “fundamentally unsuitable” for the site and surrounds.

Green Switch Australia floats plans to build 47MW solar farm in Wagga Wagga suburb of Gregadoo, in the heart of the electorate of new Nationals leader.

LONGI Solar has achieved a record 23.6% conversion efficiency with its monocrystalline PERC solar cells.

Victoria’s largest energy efficiency expert upgrades to include Solar Energy.