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London cannot bid for national clean air funding, mayor says
Sadiq Khan says capital will not be included in the chancellor’s £220m clean air fund despite having 40% of the most polluting roads in England and Wales
London cannot bid for a £220m clean air fund announced in the budget – despite being home to 40% of the most polluting roads in England and Wales, Sadiq Khan revealed on Thursday.
Giving evidence to the Commons joint inquiry into air quality, the mayor of London revealed he was lobbying the government to support a £515m London-based two-year diesel scrappage scheme.
Continue reading...Fracking firm wins extension to 'draconian' protest injunction
UK high court extends wide-ranging injunction sought by Ineos which prohibits campaigners from interfering unlawfully with their operations
A multinational firm has secured a long-term, sweeping injunction against anti-fracking protesters in a decision that has been condemned as “draconian and anti-democratic”.
On Thursday, a high court judge extended the wide-ranging injunction sought by petrochemicals giant Ineos, which covers all anti-fracking campaigners.
Continue reading...Images from a Warming Planet - the UK in pictures
The 2016 book by photojournalist Ashley Cooper documented the effects of climate change over 13 years and in more than 30 countries. Earlier this month, Cooper won the Green Apple award for environmental best practice at a ceremony at the UK House of Commons.
Cooper is planning to set up a website, I Commit, which aims to get citizens of the world to lower their carbon footprint and upload their own images of climate impacts. Here are his images of how extreme weather has affected the UK in recent years
Continue reading...Deep fat fryers may help form cooling clouds
Global firms accused of importing timber linked to Amazon massacre
Greenpeace alleges 12 companies continued to trade with Madeireira Cedro Arana after its founder was accused of ordering torture and murder
More than a dozen US and European companies have been importing timber from a Brazilian logging firm whose owner is implicated in one of the most brutal Amazonian massacres in recent memory, according to a Greenpeace investigation.
The first-world buyers allegedly continued trading with Madeireira Cedro Arana after police accused its founder, Valdelir João de Souza, of ordering the torture and murder of nine people in Colniza, Mato Grosso, on 19 April, claims the report by the NGO’s Unearthed investigative team.
Continue reading...Country diary: a couple of calls announce a whole flock of redwings
Sandy, Bedfordshire The migration of these winter thrushes may be less of a trickle and more of a flood than our ears tell us
A flock of redwings were playing sky rounders in the park, flying from tree to tree, first base to second, second to third, not landing but pressing on, as if going for a home run. They came near enough that I heard their calls. But only two or three called out of a flock of 50 or more.
These winter thrushes seep into our consciousness all through the autumn. However, their migration may be less of a trickle and more of a flood than our senses tell us. My mind flashed back to windless evenings over the previous few weeks, punctuated by the “seep” of a redwing, a voice from above that was so high, so clear and so bright that it might have been a star crying out. An answering note would ping out from another bird, a link between travellers in the blackness. And then, perhaps, another. It was thrilling to think that these few sounds in the dark were contact calls for a whole mute squadron.
Continue reading...With a few smart moves we can largely dissipate the gas crisis
How tech nerds can reinvent electricity before it’s too late
Here are 4 essential fixes for the National Energy Guarantee
Australia corporate solar market ready to boom, says New Energy Solar
BNEF: Turnbull’s NEG akin to joining gym and not lifting weights
CEFC targets energy hungry shopping centres, with $200m finance deal
Alinta dives back into coal with purchase of Loy Yang B
Australia facing climate disaster on its doorstep, government's white paper warns
Foreign policy paper says climate-related conflict and migration could put Australia’s economic interests under pressure
Climate change is creating a disaster on Australia’s doorstep, with environmental degradation and the demand for sustainable sources of food undermining stability in some countries, especially “fragile states”, according to the Australian government’s first foreign policy white paper in more than a decade.
The new white paper, released on Thursday, contains warnings over the disruptive effects of climate change in Australia’s immediate region, noting that many small island states will be “severely affected in the long term”, and the coming decade will see increased need for disaster relief.
Continue reading...First Australian corporate bulk-buy to deliver new 80MW wind farm
Why the nights are getting brighter – but not in a good way
Spread of light pollution is bad for the environment, animal life and humans, five-year study concludes
The world’s nights are getting alarmingly brighter – bad news for all sorts of creatures, humans included – as light pollution encroaches on darkness almost everywhere.
Satellite observations made by researchers during five consecutive Octobers show Earth’s artificially lit outdoor area grew by 2% a year from 2012 to 2016. So did nighttime brightness.
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