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Critics of UK low-traffic schemes told that 25,000 filters already existed
Researchers find road blocks that we’d already accepted before introduction of divisive low-traffic neighbourhoods
At least 25,000 traffic filters similar to those found in low-traffic neighbourhoods already exist across the UK, research has shown, with campaigners saying it proves both the efficacy of such schemes and the futility of demands to scrap them.
Dozens have been built in cities over the last year by councils seeking to boost walking and cycling levels during the coronavirus pandemic, prompting a sometimes frenzied level of debate.
Continue reading...Powercor proposes 20 big batteries for Victoria renewable energy zones
Victoria network proposes 20 big batteries and multiple syncons it says will fast-track new wind and solar and lessen need for new transmission lines.
The post Powercor proposes 20 big batteries for Victoria renewable energy zones appeared first on RenewEconomy.
John Kerry: US climate envoy criticised for optimism on clean tech
Carbon Trader and Originator, Infinite Solutions – London
Half of emissions cuts will come from future tech, says John Kerry
US climate envoy says people will not have to give up quality of life to achieve some of net zero goals
The US climate envoy, John Kerry, has said 50% of the carbon reductions needed to get to net zero will come from technologies that have not yet been invented, and said people “don’t have to give up a quality of life” in order to cut emissions.
He said Americans would “not necessarily” have to eat less meat, because of research being done into the way cattle are herded and fed in order to reduce methane emissions.
Continue reading...Why the landmark Bretton Woods deal is as relevant today as in 1944 | Larry Elliott
Countries came together early and decisively to fix a broken global system. The same ambition is needed today
War was still raging in Europe and Asia when delegates from 44 countries met at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire in July 1944. Three weeks of negotiations produced two new global institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and a different economic mindset.
Related: The Guardian view on the IMF and World Bank: back a global Green New Deal | Editorial
Continue reading...Carbon Offset Originator, STX Group – NYC
Senior ESG & Climate Analyst/Advisor, Kukua – London
The secret of how Amundsen beat Scott in race to south pole? A diet of raw penguin
Starving and trapped by ice, the Norwegian’s crew had discovered how to beat scurvy on an earlier voyage. The benefits proved crucial
Thirteen years before he became the first person ever to reach the south pole in 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen experienced his first merciless taste of winter in the Antarctic. Stuck onboard the Belgian expedition ship Belgica, which was grounded in pack ice, he and the rest of the crew contracted scurvy and faced certain death.
That is when, according to a new book published later this month, Amundsen started eating raw penguin meat – and discovered a secret that would later give him a huge advantage over Captain Robert Falcon Scott in the race to the south pole.
Continue reading...Could ‘engineered’ coral save the planet’s reefs from destruction?
London Zoo’s latest exhibition shows how scientists hope to halt the devastation caused by overheated oceans
This weekend, conservationists will put the final touches to a giant artificial reef they are assembling at London zoo. Samples of the planet’s most spectacular corals – vivid green branching coral, yellow scroll, blue ridge and many more species – will be added to the giant tank along with fish that thrive in their presence: blue tang, clownfish and many others.
The scene will then be set for Monday’s opening of the zoo’s new gallery, Tiny Giants, which is dedicated to the minuscule invertebrate creatures that sustain life across the planet. The coral reef tank and its seven-metre wide window will form the core of the exhibition.
Continue reading...There’s a time and a place for trees – don’t transplant them for our amusement | Rowan Moore
Making an exhibition out of living things rather defeats any environmental message they are supposed to convey
A gaggle of oak saplings has gathered outside Tate Modern. They were grown by the British artists Ackroyd & Harvey from acorns from the trees that the German artist Joseph Beuys had planted in the city of Kassel in the 1980s, in a “social sculpture” called 7000 Oaks. This temporary installation, the official blurb says, creates “a place for gathering and for rethinking our connections with nature”.
It takes its place alongside the forthcoming four-week appearance of 400 trees in the courtyard of Somerset House, by the designer Es Devlin for the London Design Biennale, which is also meant to make us reflect on nature and the environment. Plus, there’s a temporary wooded hill planned for Marble Arch and the different-but-related craze for putting trees high up on multistorey apartment buildings in Shanghai, Milan and Quito.
Continue reading...Shutting down nuclear and coal – can Germany keep the lights on?
Can a large industrialised society like Germany run securely and smoothly on a power system largely fed by wind and solar? The question is not if, but how.
The post Shutting down nuclear and coal – can Germany keep the lights on? appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Adani admits breaching environmental conditions for Carmichael coalmine
Exclusive: Mining company says it ‘self-reported’ wildlife spotter should have been present when land was cleared but says no environmental harm was done
Adani has admitted breaching its environmental conditions for the Carmichael coalmine again – clearing an area surrounded by potential koala habitat without a promised wildlife safeguard.
Guardian Australia has confirmed the federal environment department is investigating an “allegation of non-compliance” related to land-clearing at a quarry being used primarily to provide material for the construction of Adani’s rail line.
Continue reading...It’s on our plates and in our poo, but are microplastics a health risk?
The omnipresent plastic is rife in dust, rice, placentas and tap water, but experts say it’s hard to untangle whether it’s harmful to humans
As much as the idea might be unpalatable, all of our diets are now likely to include tiny servings of plastic.
The places where microplastics and plastic fibres have been found is beginning to read like a supermarket shopping list.
Continue reading...Blue cushion sea stars, short-nosed snakes and sea slugs: 21 days beneath the Timor sea – in pictures
In April, documentary photographer and film-maker Conor Ashleigh walked the gangplank of the research vessel Falkor (RV Falkor) in Darwin to begin a 21-day journey as part of an expedition with the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Having never spent more than a day or two at sea, Ashleigh felt as though he were heading into the unknown. There he discovered intriguing creatures in a seascape of vibrant colours in the pristine waters of Ashmore Marine Park in the Timor sea
Continue reading...Divers remove 200lb of trash from Lake Tahoe in one day – video
Scuba divers removed about 200lb of garbage from California’s Lake Tahoe on Friday. The dive was part of a six-month effort to rid the lake of fishing rods, tyres, aluminium cans, beer bottles and other rubbish accumulating underwater.
The team plans to look for rubbish along the entire 72 miles (115 km) of shoreline in what could be the largest trash cleanup in the lake’s history, said Colin West, founder of Clean up the Lake, the non-profit organising the project. The team includes 10 divers, as well as support kayaks and jet skis
Continue reading...A starfish is born: hope for key species hit by gruesome disease
US team succeeds in captive breeding of sunflower sea stars and aims to reintroduce them to the wild
Scientists in a San Juan Island laboratory in Washington state have successfully raised sunflower sea stars, or starfish, in captivity for the first time, in an effort to help save these charismatic ocean creatures from extinction.
Sunflower sea stars, whose colours vary widely, can grow as big as a bicycle wheel and have about 20 legs. They were once abundant in coastal waters from Alaska to Mexico, but since 2013, nearly 6 billion of these now critically endangered animals have died from a gruesome wasting disease linked to warming seas. Populations have plummeted by more than 90%.
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