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Can you make a 10-year malt whisky in weeks? The chemistry says yes
BHP opposes Minerals Council of Australia's war on activist rights
Exclusive: Miner separates itself from call for environmental groups to be restricted to using 10% of funding for advocacy
BHP has said it will not support the Minerals Council’s bid to strip environmental groups of their ability to advocate for policy change.
The surprising move comes amid increasing pressure on Australia’s biggest miner to distance itself from the Minerals Council, which has taken a hardline position against any form of credible action on climate change. The government will soon table a bill aimed at limiting the ability of any charity to use donations raised from overseas on advocacy in Australia.
Continue reading...Farmers must stop antibiotics use in animals due to human health risk, warns WHO
Overuse of antibiotics in animals is contributing to growing drug resistance in humans with serious health implications, says global health body
Farmers must be prevented from using powerful antibiotics on animals reared for food, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned, because of the serious risks to human health that result.
New guidelines from the global body suggest farmers should stop using any antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in animals that are otherwise healthy, a common practice in some parts of the world, including Asia and the US. Such routine use is banned in Europe, though campaigners fear the rules are sometimes flouted.
Continue reading...Paris climate accord: Syria 'to sign up', isolating US
Delhi smog declared public health emergency – video
A public health emergency has been declared in Delhi as a choking blanket of smog descended on one of the world’s most polluted capital cities.
The declaration from the Indian Medical Association came as the US embassy website said levels of the fine pollutants known as PM2.5 that are most harmful to health reached 703 on the air quality index – well over double the threshold of 300 that authorities class as hazardous
Continue reading...Syria signs Paris climate agreement and leaves US isolated
Syria’s decision means America will be the only country outside the landmark deal if it follows through with Donald Trump’s vow to leave
Syria has decided to sign the Paris agreement on climate change, the world’s final functioning state to do so. The surprise decision, taken amid a brutal civil war in the country, will leave the US as the only country outside the agreement if it follows through on President Donald Trump’s vow to leave.
The landmark 2015 agreement requires global governments to limit temperature rises to no more than 2C, which scientists say is the threshold of safety, beyond which the ravages of global warming are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.
Continue reading...What are your experiences of Delhi's pollution crisis?
Heavy smog has led doctors to declare a state of emergency in one of India’s largest cities
A public health emergency has been declared in Delhi as a choking blanket of smog descended on the world’s most polluted capital city.
“We have declared a state of public health emergency in Delhi since pollution is at an alarming level,” Krishan Kumar Aggarwal, head of the Indian Medical Association, told AFP.
Continue reading...UK government sued for third time over deadly air pollution
Ministers accused of ‘stubborn failure’ to tackle widespread and illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year
The UK government is being sued for a third time over the widespread illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year.
Environmental lawyers ClientEarth have already defeated ministers twice in court, forcing a new pollution plan to be drawn up in July. But ClientEarth believes even the latest strategy does not meet the legal requirement of banishing toxic air in the “shortest possible time”, as EU law requires.
Continue reading...Banning bikes from Oxford Street is a disaster for London cycling
Plans to pedestrianise one of the capital’s busiest cycling roads send the troubling message that cyclists and pedestrians can’t co-exist in an 80ft-wide street
Sadiq Khan’s proposal to ban cyclists from Oxford Street, published on Monday, is an unqualified disaster for cycling in London, perhaps the single biggest blow it has suffered in years. And he’s sending an even more dangerous signal to the rest of the country.
More than 2,000 cyclists a day, according to Department for Transport figures, use the first section proposed for pedestrianisation next year, between Selfridges and Oxford Circus. More than 5,000 a day use the section between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road, which is proposed to be pedestrianised in 2019.
The British Wildlife Photography awards 2017 - in pictures
Daniel Trim’s airport-roosting pied wagtail has won the 2017 competition, which celebrates the work of amateur and professional photographers and the beauty and diversity of British wildlife. Winning images are chosen from thousands of entries, including film and junior categories.
More than 100 images are on show at the Mall Galleries in London, before touring nationally, and a book of the images is also available
Continue reading...Church of England should lead on climate change by divesting from ExxonMobil | Letter
As Church of England clergy, we have a strong interest in the ethics of investments made by the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board on our behalf.
This week, governments from around the world will meet in Bonn for the next round of UN climate talks. The Paris climate change agreement, which was signed by 195 countries in December 2015, included a commitment to hold the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2C … and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels”.
Continue reading...Bishops urge Church of England to divest from ExxonMobil over climate change
Group says church should show ‘moral leadership’ in light of claims that the oil giant misled the public over the risks of global warming
The Church of England should “show moral leadership” and immediately sell its investments in the oil giant ExxonMobil, according to a group of bishops and other clergy.
ExxonMobil is accused of misleading the public for decades over the dangers of climate change – the oil company denies the allegations – and has funded climate change denial, making its presence in the church’s £7.9bn investment fund of particular concern, the group argues. Investment funds worth more than $5tn have already committed to divest from fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Natural gas emissions will blow Europe's carbon budget at current levels
Governments have been underestimating methane emissions from gas and must phase out the fossil fuel, along with coal and oil, by 2035 to keep within Paris climate targets, a major study shows
Governments have drastically underestimated methane emissions from natural gas and will miss the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 2C unless they urgently scale down its use, a major new study has found.
Continue reading...Country diary: angling spot regular with a taste for unwanted catch
Rockland St Mary, Norfolk The fisherman rewarded the well-fed and fearless heron – a regular at the angling spot – with a small perch
There were two catchers of fish at the water’s edge. There was the old boy who told me he had been coming here for 50 years and then there was the grey heron that has acquired a deep familiarity with people. I often it see as I drive through the neighbouring village of Bramerton, where it stands by the pond right at the roadside.
Today, it was on Rockland staithe, where it kept a companionable distance from its human neighbour. Both faced towards the tide-swollen water and, while both were fish-focused, only one was doing the catching. He told me that the heron had been a regular at the spot for about 10 years and, over that time, had acquired the courage to pace within touching distance of his pitch. On winter mornings, when the ground is frozen and pickings are slim, the bird stands on an adjacent telegraph pole and croaks his disapproval. Apparently, the fishermen have taken this as a sign of its hunger and they toss it parts of their unwanted catch.
Continue reading...Will Tasmania be the ‘battery of the nation’?
Chile solar auction sets new record low for solar PV
Is this the end for big wind and big solar in Australia?
Fossil of 'our earliest ancestors' found in Dorset
Graphs of the Day: A really bad day for so-called “reliable” coal
Understanding the “Emissions Gap” in 5 Charts
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