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Midwinter is for hibernation and the chance to make different kinds of connections

“Disconnect from the internet for at least two hours a day and treat your own thoughts like a garden through which you are strolling,” was the advice offered by the novelist Ian McEwan to younger writers after being made a Companion of Honour in December. The capacity to be curious about mental processes – while simultaneously experiencing them – is an important one for an author seeking to describe the human condition. But anyone who values self-awareness will be used to noticing how their mind works and wondering why.

“Only connect” was the maxim of another famous novelist, EM Forster. Forster used the characters in his novels to put flesh on his arguments against the emotionally repressive code of the time. But McEwan’s recommendation to disconnect should not be understood as a repudiation of Forster’s humanism. He was not warning writers off paying attention to other people’s minds and ideas – but drawing attention to the need to spend time with our own. In a world of permanent connection, in which attention has been commodified, switching off and away from the outside world is arguably harder than ever before.

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EEX’s European carbon volumes ticked up 6% in 2023 compared to the previous year, with strong emissions certificate sales for Germany's domestic nEHS scheme accounting for the bulk of the growth, though the more lucrative secondary trade saw declines as futures dealings slumped by over one-fifth.

WWF has launched a roadmap for regenerative agriculture in England with steps for expanding nature markets including ramping up biodiversity net gain requirements.

‘We need to move so much faster’ to battle climate crisis, warns the Rev Canon Nick Davies, as locals assess damage

Standing at the top of Tewkesbury Abbey tower, the Rev Canon Nick Davies is talking about the flood.

But this is no sermon; the vicar is not reading from the Book of Genesis. He is discussing the flood waters before his very eyes, stretching far into the distance and besieging the medieval market town once again.

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The UK needs to finish developing an environmental footprint indicator to help demonstrate how it is tackling distressing deforestation levels, a group of UK politicians has said.

For the second year in a row, a man with vast experience of the oil industry will head COP negotiations.

An automaker-led team competing in a global motorsport championship for electric cars will offset emissions from its 2023 season through the purchase of carbon credits from a biotech company developing meat alternatives registered under Iceland-based International Carbon Registry.

The diversion of ships around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid attacks in the Red Sea will substantially increase emissions compared to the usual Suez Canal route, but the impact on EUA demand from the shipping sector is not likely to be significant in 2024 due to its gradual phasing into to the EU ETS, experts told Carbon Pulse.

Mukhtar Babayev is named president-in-waiting of UN climate summit to be held in November

Cop29, the next round of UN talks to tackle the climate crisis, will be led by another veteran of the oil and gas industry.

Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s ecology and natural resources minister, has been appointed the president-in-waiting for the Cop29 climate talks when they take place in the country in November.

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Simon Wood says he nearly fell of his chair when the transatlantic visitor landed in his garden.

Other families have spread on to the finest beaches – but how often do you travel an inner-city waterway and happen upon ‘bats, bats, bats, and more bats’?

• This is part of a series in which great Australian writers tell us about their summers away from the beach

My son and I drive 10 minutes from home to the venerable Fairfield Park boathouse. We study a list of river-faring craft and choose a two-seater kayak. He likes sitting at the front, he tells me, so he can pretend he’s alone. I like sitting at the back so I can watch him grow before my eyes.

On the river we make a show of synchronised paddling but, when we’re out of sight, we let ourselves drift downstream. Eucalypts overhang the water and we float through reflections of twisting branches, making them ripple. Ducks come and race us. Parrots skitter through the trees that line the banks. Only the appearance of a bridge connecting the Eastern Freeway reminds us we’re mere kilometres from Melbourne’s city centre.

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China’s State Council on Friday approved regulations for the national emissions trading scheme, adding bureaucratic clout to the scheme, which so far only has been formally backed at ministerial level.

Analysis shows that our ideas of the colours of the planets Neptune and Uranus have been wrong.

European carbon experienced a relatively stable morning on Friday as traders kept an eye on forecasts for colder weather and gas price support, while waiting for US-based investment funds to start their day.

In order to coordinate the implementation of the Agroforestry action, including the advising to the seedling production at community lever, the establishment of Agroforestry System, the training to SHF and other stakeholders and supervise local and international partnership, FAO Mozambique intends to recruit an Agroforestry and Carbon Trading Specialist to support the implementation of these component.

Cost of sugar surges to highest level since 2011 after extreme dry spell in India and severe drought in Thailand threaten crops

The climate crisis has been previously identified as a threat to coffee and beer, and its impact could now be stretching to another of life’s joys: dessert.

The global cost of sugar has surged to its highest level since 2011 following concerns of overproduction rates from India, which has experienced an extreme dry spell that has threatened crops, and Thailand, which is facing a severe drought. The two countries are the largest exporters of sugar, after Brazil.

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Azerbaijan's environment minister, who worked for 26 years at the country's state oil and gas firm, has been appointed as the president-designate of COP29, due to be held in November in Baku.

Sentiment in China's national carbon market is being reset after the market concluded the second compliance period at the end of 2023, with participants expecting more policy updates to be announced later this year.

Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions fell to the lowest level since around 1950, as a weak economy and high prices caused energy-intensive industry to lower production and coal power fell.

The post Drop in coal power sends German emissions to lowest level in 70 years appeared first on RenewEconomy.