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California politician likes climate change because 'our enemies' live in hot places
Republican assembly candidate stands by his belief that global warming is a good thing because it will negatively affect ‘our enemies in desert climates’
Randy Voepel is a big fan of climate change because America’s “enemies are on the equator” and a warmer climate will make their lives worse.
Voepel, a Republican running unopposed to be a California assemblyman, told a reporter in 2007 that he likes global warming because of the harm it will bring to certain nations and because “warmer weather gives the region warm days in November”, the Voice of San Diego reported at the time.
Continue reading...Florida measure calls itself pro-solar but critics say it's 'a wolf in sheep's clothing'
The amendment, backed by $20m from large energy utilities, has been described by Al Gore and environmentalists as a dishonest attempt to trick consumers
Climate change may have been largely ignored during the presidential election but it will be on the ballot on 8 November, with Florida voters deciding on a measure backed by large utilities that could effectively snuff out the solar industry in the state.
The measure, known as amendment 1, has been criticized as “fundamentally dishonest” for superficially appearing to be pro-solar. However, renewable energy experts warn that it would remove the incentive for homeowners to get rooftop solar panels, devastating the solar industry in America’s sunshine state.
Continue reading...A Big Country
Canada military probes mysterious Arctic pinging noise
Asian hornet outbreak contained, says Defra
Officials have destroyed an Asian hornet nest in Gloucestershire after the invasive species was spotted there, posing a threat to the UK’s honeybees
An Asian hornet outbreak has been contained, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has said. The first sightings of the pest in the mainland UK were reported in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, in September.
Inspectors from the National Bee Unit destroyed the nest and although two dead hornets were found in North Somerset no further sightings have been reported.
Continue reading...Paris agreement, air pollution and your carbon footprint – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A sleeping dormouse, baby marine iguana and a frilled dragon are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Widnes earthworm Dave wriggles into record books
Oil firms announce $1bn green fund as Paris climate deal comes into force
Analysts criticise fund – which focuses on cutting the impact of fossil fuels but will not support renewable energy - calling it a ‘drop in the ocean’
A $1bn fund to invest in cutting the climate change impact of fossil fuels has been announced by 10 of the world’s biggest oil companies, on the day the global Paris climate change agreement comes into force.
But analysts called the sum a “drop in the ocean” which showed the companies were not serious in tackling global warming.
Continue reading...Scientists apply for GM wheat trial in UK
Dakota Access: women on frontlines tell of violent arrests and police abuse – video
The Native American women leading the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline say they have faced police abuse and mistreatment in jail. North Dakota’s militarized law enforcement has left many of them traumatized. ‘They came with their guns, their weapons and violence and put it on a peaceful people,’ says Lauren Howland, a member of the San Carlos and Jicarilla Apache tribes and Navajo Nation
Continue reading...Measuring Arctic ice melt from from the sky – in pictures
Since 2010, Dr Thomas Krumpen from Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research has been flying above northern Greenland towards North Pole to measure ice thickness. By lowering a small torpedo from the aircraft towards the sea ice scientists are able to to obtain data from inaccessible areas helping to build a clearer picture ice health
Continue reading...Paris climate deal enters force as focus shifts to action
Inventor Sir James Dyson sets up college to tackle skills shortage
The Paris climate agreement is now official
Environment groups hail ‘momentous occasion’ but warn governments need to cut carbon emissions more steeply to avoid dangerous global warming
The significance of the Paris agreement coming into force today is easy to miss: it may seem like an anti-climax, given the travails that led up to its signing last December.
But the moment is of huge importance. This is the first time that a legally-binding agreement, signed by all of the world’s functioning governments, has laid down a commitment to limit the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with the goal of preventing global warming exceeding 2C above pre-industrial levels.
Continue reading...Few geese graze the murky marsh edge
Dyfi estuary, Wales A single egret, starkly white against the muted greys and browns of the saltings, flapped slowly up from the bed of a creek
From my vantage point on the southern side of the Dyfi estuary it was clear that my plan for the day had been compromised. The salt marsh, with its almost fractally complex pattern of creeks, pools and drains, is often host in late autumn to large groups of geese grazing contentedly within easy reach of the seawall.
On this visit those few geese visible through the pervasive anticyclonic murk were strung out along the seaward edge of the marsh, distant and difficult to approach. As if by compensation a single egret, starkly white against the muted greys and browns of the saltings, flapped slowly up from the bed of a creek just in front of me.
Continue reading...The twisted arguments about energy supply and security
Energy storage one of Australia’s “big opportunities:” Finkel
Deutsche Bank sees South Australia at 95% renewables by 2025
Paris climate change agreement enters into force
Environment groups hail ‘momentous occasion’ but warn governments need to cut carbon emissions more steeply to avoid dangerous global warming
The Paris agreement on climate change enters into force on Friday, marking the first time that governments have agreed legally binding limits to global temperature rises.
The passage of the accord – the fruit of more than two decades of often tortuous international negotiations on combating climate change – was hailed by nations and observers around the world.
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