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Is it possible to live without plastic? Readers' tips for for tip-free living
We asked you to recommend the best ways to reduce your plastic consumption and avoid excess waste. Here’s what some of you said
For 70 years, the world’s plastic usage has grown inexorably from humble beginnings to a position where humanity now produce roughly its own weight in plastic every year.
But is there a turning point in view? Guardian revelations about the scale of plastic waste and the threat it poses has finally prompted the authorities to take the issue seriously. Michael Gove is considering a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles, Sadiq Khan is looking at new water fountains to contain the plastic proliferation, and now Theresa May has set out her own plastic-free stall.
Continue reading...Nearly 1m tonnes every year: supermarkets shamed for plastic packaging
Exclusive: Guardian investigation unwraps truth about supermarket plastics after big brands refuse to divulge packaging secrets
Britain’s leading supermarkets create more than 800,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste every year, according to an investigation by the Guardian which reveals how top chains keep details of their plastic footprint secret.
As concern over the scale of unnecessary plastic waste grows, the Guardian asked Britain’s eight leading supermarkets to explain how much plastic packaging they sell to consumers and whether they would commit to a plastic-free aisle in their stores.
UK firm contracts to service satellites
Plan to remove hen harrier chicks and raise them in captivity dismissed as 'nonsense'
Conservationists say government scheme, aimed at placating grouse moor land owners who object to the birds breeding on their land, will not boost numbers of the endangered birds
Controversial government plans to remove chicks from the nests of one of England’s rarest birds and rear them in captivity have been criticised as “nonsense” by conservationists.
Hen harrier chicks or eggs will be removed from nests in northern England and hand-reared in captivity before being reintroduced into the wild, under the terms of a two-year licence issued by Natural England, the government’s conservation watchdog.
Continue reading...Scott Pruitt insincerely asked what's Earth's ideal temperature. Scientists answer | Dana Nuccitelli
In short, from a practical standpoint, as little additional warming as possible
In an interview with Reuters last week, Trump’s EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said,
The climate is changing. That’s not the debate. The debate is how do we know what the ideal surface temperature is in 2100?
Continue reading...Heathrow to unveil shorter third runway plan in bid to cut costs
Proposal sees 300 metres cut from runway in effort to help reduce costs to £15bn, but opponents say move changes forecasted economic benefits
Heathrow is to unveil proposals for a shorter, cheaper third runway in a public consultation to help push its expansion plans through.
The airport will propose cutting 300 metres from the length of the northwestern runway, a scheme approved by the government following the Airports Commission process, in an attempt to cut costs.
Continue reading...UK to miss legal climate targets without urgent action, official advisers warn
Vague ambitions, such as banning new petrol cars by 2040, must be turned into solid plans, says the Committee on Climate Change
The UK will miss its legally binding carbon targets without urgent government action, official advisers have warned.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said vague ambitions, such as banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, must be turned into solid plans and new policies, such as planting more trees, are needed.
Continue reading...New carbon neutral certification fees
Country diary: ancient enclave where walkers usually roam
Cadson Bury, Lynher Valley: Early farmers and their animals were protected from marauders and wild creatures lurking in the dense woodland below
Just below the summit a shaggy-coated cow with long, curving horns gazes into the greyness of this dull afternoon. The sound of rushing water carries up from the river, now swollen with run-off from Redmoor and Tresellern Marshes, the Withey Brook and other boggy headstreams on the eastern side of Bodmin Moor, as well as little tributaries from intermediate waterlogged land.
Up here, on this precipitous hill, topped with defensive earthworks of ditch and rampart, a dozen or so highland cattle of varying age (owned by the Crago family of the nearby Cadson Farm) mooch about, graze and thrive on heather and the coarser vegetation that would otherwise smother this iron age hill-fort and the adjoining hillside. Yellow gorse flowers and the silver bark of birch gleam in the murk and, below, in the Lynher Valley and on the Newton Ferrers estate, the leafless tree canopy (dominated by lichen-encrusted alder and oak) is tinged pale green and purple. Inside the eastern entrance, the encampment of some six acres is a spongy oval space of trampled bracken and mossy turf. This enclave was once a secure area for early farmers, where they and their animals were relatively protected from marauders and wild creatures lurking in the dense woodland below.
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