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Beijing set to become world's busiest aviation hub with new mega-airport

The Guardian - Fri, 2011-09-09 03:57
Proposals for giant third airport could mean 120 million passengers pass through Chinese capital a year

Beijing is moving to overtake London as the world's busiest aviation hub with the construction of a third airport that could have as many as nine runways.

The new mega-project – part of a huge expansion of China's airline industry – has alarmed environmental groups, who warn aircraft will increasingly contribute to the country's already dire pollution problems and high greenhouse gas emissions.

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Underground river 'Rio Hamza' discovered 4km beneath the Amazon

The Guardian - Fri, 2011-08-26 19:44
Scientists estimate the subterranean river may be 6,000km long and hundreds of times wider than the Amazon

Covering more than 7 million square kilometres in South America, the Amazon basin is one of the biggest and most impressive river systems in the world. But it turns out we have only known half the story until now.

Brazilian scientists have found a new river in the Amazon basin – around 4km underneath the Amazon river. The Rio Hamza, named after the head of the team of researchers who found the groundwater flow, appears to be as long as the Amazon river but up to hundreds of times wider.

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Planet Earth is home to 8.7 million species, scientists estimate

The Guardian - Wed, 2011-08-24 07:00
Latest bid to count and catalogue the living world is billed as the most accurate yet, but only a tiny proportion is known to science

Damian Carrington: Counting the Earth's living riches is a landmark moment

Humans share the planet with as many as 8.7 million different forms of life, according to what is being billed as the most accurate estimate yet of life on Earth.

Researchers who have analysed the hierarchical categorisation of life on Earth to estimate how many undiscovered species exist say the diversity of life is not equally divided between land and ocean. Three-quarters of the 8.7m species – the majority of which are insects – are on land; only one-quarter, 2.2m, are in the deep, even though 70% of the Earth's surface is water.

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North sea oil spill 'worst for a decade'

The Guardian - Tue, 2011-08-16 00:47
The government estimates oil leak could involve more than 1,300 barrels but claims it has been greatly reduced

The flow of oil from the worst spill in UK waters in the past decade, at one of Shell's North Sea platforms, has been "greatly reduced" but not yet stopped completely, the government said on Monday.

Conservationists warned that the leak could harm bird life in the area, at a delicate time in their development, as the oil company worked to minimise the damage.

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19th century cyclists paved the way for modern motorists' roads | Carlton Reid

The Guardian - Mon, 2011-08-15 16:00
Car drivers assume the roads were built for them, but it was cyclists who first lobbied for flat roads more than 100 years ago

Wooden hobbyhorses evolved into velocipedes; velocipedes evolved into safety bicycles; safety bicycles evolved into automobiles.

It's well known that the automotive industry grew from seeds planted in the fertile soil that was the late 19th century bicycle market. And to many motorists it's back in the 19th century that bicycles belong. Cars are deemed to be modern; bicycles are Victorian.

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Aung San Suu Kyi: China's dam project in Burma is dangerous and divisive

The Guardian - Fri, 2011-08-12 20:56
The leader of Burma's pro-democracy opposition joins chorus of alarm over China's plan to build dams on Irrawaddy river

Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's pro-democracy opposition, has called for a halt to a massive Chinese hydropower project on the Irrawaddy river that has alarmed environmentalists and added to a long-running conflict between tribal militias and the government in Rangoon.

The Nobel laureate stepped into the fray on Thursday with a personal statement calling for greater protection for Burma's most important river, which is threatened by logging, pollution and the construction of a cascade of at least seven dams, a project managed by China Power Investment.

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Is it a cyclist's right to 'take the lane'? | Laura Laker

The Guardian - Mon, 2011-08-01 22:43
Riding in an assertive position in the middle of the lane is recommended as safe practice in certain situations – but it can provoke hostile reactions from other road users

Ask any urban cyclist about "taking the lane", and even if they haven't heard of the term, they have probably done it. Although widely regarded as safe practice, this often gets negative responses from other road users. So who is right?

"Taking the lane" or taking "primary position" is essentially riding in the centre of the lane. Cyclists do it a) when passing parked cars whose doors may suddenly open; b) to prevent traffic overtaking dangerously in narrow roads and c) when manoeuvring or turning.

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Escaping Silos – Paul Gilding Secured as Key Note speaker for SSEE 2011 Conference

Newsletters National - Mon, 2011-07-11 08:27
Escaping Silos – Paul Gilding Secured as Key Note speaker for SSEE 2011 Conference
Categories: Newsletters National

Britain's richest man to build giant Arctic iron ore mine

The Guardian - Tue, 2011-07-05 03:13
Lakshmi Mittal's 'mega-mine' is believed to be the largest mineral extraction project in the region but threatens unique wildlife

Britain's richest man is planning a giant new opencast mine 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle in a bid to extract a potential $23bn (£14bn) worth of iron ore.

The "mega-mine" – which includes a 150km railway line and two new ports – is believed to be the largest mineral extraction project in the Arctic and highlights the huge commercial potential of the far north as global warming makes industrial development in the region easier.

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Green groups bitterly divided over future of Chagos islanders | Fred Pearce

The Guardian - Sat, 2011-05-21 03:00
Email correspondence seen by the Guardian reveals prominent groups vehemently oppose returning Chagossians home

An American environment group with strong links to the US government is privately opposing proposals by leading British environmental scientists for some of the exiled inhabitants of the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean to be allowed to return home.

The islanders were ejected by Britain 40 years ago to make way for the giant US base at the Diego Garcia atoll. Last year, the British government announced the creation of the world's largest marine protected area round most of the Chagos islands – with the likely exception of Diego Garcia.

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SSEE invites members to comment on Strategic Plan

Newsletters National - Thu, 2011-05-19 08:08
SSEE invites members to comment on Strategic Plan
Categories: Newsletters National

Let's talk dolphin!

The Guardian - Tue, 2011-05-17 05:00
It started out as the dream of a maverick 60s scientist, but new experiments mean we may soon be able to converse with dolphins

The vision was set out in Life magazine in 1961 by Dr John C Lilly, an American physiologist, who was pictured at his laboratory in white shirt-sleeves with a microphone pressed against the blowhole of a young dolphin called Elvar.

Lilly was partial to hallucinogenic drugs and championed the recreational use of isolation chambers meant for sensory deprivation studies, but he also held a rare passion for dolphins. He devoted much of his life – and no fewer than five books – to the animals and dreamed one day of creating a common language we might use to converse with them. He even sketched designs for an aquatic lounge, where pods and people could meet for a natter.

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The US evangelicals who believe environmentalism is a 'native evil' | Leo Hickman

The Guardian - Thu, 2011-05-05 23:55
The Cornwall Alliance, a prominent group of religious thinkers in the US, explains why it urges followers to 'resist the Green Dragon'

Watching from afar how the environmental debate plays out in the US can be perplexing for many onlookers. Arguably, nowhere is the so-called "culture war" between left and right so heavily fought.

What is often not fully absorbed by onlookers, though, is the underlying role that religious doctrine – or "pulpit power" - plays in the environmental debate in the US. On the one hand, you have the "Creation Care" movement which is prevalent in some quarters of the Christian Church. On the other, particularly among evangelicals, you often see a vitriolic reaction aimed towards environmentalism.

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Chernobyl nuclear disaster – in pictures

The Guardian - Tue, 2011-04-26 23:43
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion on 26 April, 1986, few were prepared to endure the massive radiation levels and document the disaster, but Russian photographer Igor Kostin did.

In the years that followed, he continued to monitor the political and personal stories of those impacted by the disaster, publishing a book of photos called Chernobyl: Confessions of a Reporter. His images of a deformed boy even led to adoption of the 'Chernobyl Child' in UK.

Here is a selection of his finest photographs Continue reading...
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Deepwater Horizon and the Gulf oil spill - the key questions answered

The Guardian - Wed, 2011-04-20 17:00
One year after the fire and explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, we round up the main points so far

Why was there an explosion and fire on Deepwater Horizon oil rig?

According to BP's September 2010 report, the accident started with a "well integrity failure". This was followed by a loss of control of the pressure of the fluid in the well. The "blowout preventer", a device which should automatically seal the well in the event of such a loss of control, failed to engage. Hydrocarbons shot up the well at an uncontrollable rate and ignited, causing a series of explosions on the rig.

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How nuclear apologists mislead the world over radiation | Helen Caldicott

The Guardian - Mon, 2011-04-11 21:10
George Monbiot and others at best misinform and at worst distort evidence of the dangers of atomic energy

Soon after the Fukushima accident last month, I stated publicly that a nuclear event of this size and catastrophic potential could present a medical problem of very large dimensions. Events have proven this observation to be true despite the nuclear industry's campaign about the "minimal" health effects of so-called low-level radiation. That billions of its dollars are at stake if the Fukushima event causes the "nuclear renaissance" to slow down appears to be evident from the industry's attacks on its critics, even in the face of an unresolved and escalating disaster at the reactor complex at Fukushima.

Proponents of nuclear power – including George Monbiot, who has had a mysterious road-to-Damascus conversion to its supposedly benign effects – accuse me and others who call attention to the potential serious medical consequences of the accident of "cherry-picking" data and overstating the health effects of radiation from the radioactive fuel in the destroyed reactors and their cooling pools. Yet by reassuring the public that things aren't too bad, Monbiot and others at best misinform, and at worst misrepresent or distort, the scientific evidence of the harmful effects of radiation exposure – and they play a predictable shoot-the-messenger game in the process.

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Tesla sues Top Gear over 'faked' electric car race

The Guardian - Wed, 2011-03-30 20:43
Car-maker to sue BBC for libel and malicious falsehood as faked race continues to be shown uncorrected on repeats and DVD

Electric sports car maker Tesla Motors is sueing the BBC's Top Gear TV programme for allegedly faking a scene showing the company's Roadster car running out of electricity and slowing to a halt in a race.

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Mark Kennedy: Confessions of an undercover cop

The Guardian - Sat, 2011-03-26 10:03
After seven years spent living as an environmental activist, Mark Stone was revealed to be policeman Mark Kennedy. He talks to Simon Hattenstone about life on the outside, with no job, no friends and no idea who he really is

There are two distinct images of Mark Kennedy that have emerged in the press. The first is a long-haired, unshaven, multi-earringed rebel – that is Kennedy the undercover cop in his role as eco-activist "Mark Stone". The second is a man with short hair, swept to the side, clean-shaven, so spruce you can almost smell the soap – the "real" Mark Kennedy, returned from life undercover.

Today, it takes me a while to recognise him. He could be a composite – the hair is longer and unkempt, the face unshaven, tattoos are on display under his rolled-up sleeve. He seems to be morphing back into the eco-activist before my eyes.

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What is the Kyoto protocol and has it made any difference?

The Guardian - Fri, 2011-03-11 20:45
The impact of this agreement between nations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be modest

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The Kyoto protocol was the first agreement between nations to mandate country-by-country reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions. Kyoto emerged from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was signed by nearly all nations at the 1992 mega-meeting popularly known as the Earth Summit. The framework pledges to stabilize greenhouse-gas concentrations "at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system". To put teeth into that pledge, a new treaty was needed, one with binding targets for greenhouse-gas reductions. That treaty was finalized in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, after years of negotiations, and it went into force in 2005. Nearly all nations have now ratified the treaty, with the notable exception of the United States. Developing countries, including China and India, weren't mandated to reduce emissions, given that they'd contributed a relatively small share of the current century-plus build-up of CO2.

Under Kyoto, industrialised nations pledged to cut their yearly emissions of carbon, as measured in six greenhouse gases, by varying amounts, averaging 5.2%, by 2012 as compared to 1990. That equates to a 29% cut in the values that would have otherwise occurred. However, the protocol didn't become international law until more than halfway through the 1990–2012 period. By that point, global emissions had risen substantially. Some countries and regions, including the European Union, were on track by 2011 to meet or exceed their Kyoto goals, but other large nations were falling woefully short. And the two biggest emitters of all – the United States and China – churned out more than enough extra greenhouse gas to erase all the reductions made by other countries during the Kyoto period. Worldwide, emissions soared by nearly 40% from 1990 to 2009, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

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SSEE National Newsletter No. 2

Newsletters National - Mon, 2011-03-07 03:51
SSEE National Newsletter No. 2
Categories: Newsletters National

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