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Bloodhound car tested ahead of 1,000mph record attempt

BBC - Fri, 2017-10-27 02:07
The 'world's fastest car' goes through its first public tests ahead of a land speed record attempt.
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Sea levels to rise 1.3m unless coal power ends by 2050, report says

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-10-26 21:00

University of Melbourne paper combines latest understanding on Antarctica and current emissions projection scenarios

Coastal cities around the world could be devastated by 1.3m of sea level rise this century unless coal-generated electricity is virtually eliminated by 2050, according to a new paper that combines the latest understanding of Antarctica’s contribution to sea level rise and the latest emissions projection scenarios.

It confirms again that significant sea level rise is inevitable and requires rapid adaptation. But, on a more positive note, the work reveals the majority of that rise – driven by newly recognised processes on Antarctica – could be avoided if the world fulfils its commitment made in Paris to keep global warming to “well below 2C”.

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Ciwem environmental photographer of the year 2017 winners – in pictures

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-10-26 20:34

The winner of the 10th annual environmental photographer of the year competition is Quoc Nguyen Linh Vinh, from Vietnam, for his poignant image of a young girl and her mother, surrounded by filth, danger and pollution, making their living by collecting waste

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Revealed: oil giants pay billions less tax in Canada than abroad

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-10-26 20:00

Data shows companies made much higher payments to developing countries in 2016 than to Canadian, provincial governments

Canada taxes its oil and gas companies at a fraction of the rate they are taxed abroad, including by countries ranked among the world’s most corrupt, according to an analysis of public data by the Guardian.

The low rate that oil companies pay in Canada represents billions of dollars in potential revenue lost, which an industry expert who looked at the data says is a worrying sign that the country may be “a kind of tax haven for our own companies.”

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Fit UK fishing boats with monitoring technology after Brexit, campaigners urge

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-10-26 19:36

The EU currently sets fishing catch limits in order to maintain fish stocks. The WWF is concerned that poor management post-Brexit could result in over-fishing

All of the UK’s fishing fleet should be fitted with electronic monitoring technology after Brexit in order to protect fish stocks from poor management and potentially illegal landings of fish, campaigners have urged.

Remote monitoring technology, including closed circuit television, is now widely available for fishing vessels, but is often not deployed. A study by WWF, the environmental group, has found numerous examples of fishermen obstructing physical monitoring by independent observers.

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Australian ministers write to China to confirm approval of Carmichael mine

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-10-26 16:41

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary says Adani may have requested letter to help secure Chinese funding

Senior Turnbull government ministers have written a formal letter to China’s government to confirm that the controversial Adani Carmichael coal project in Queensland has passed all necessary environmental approvals.

Frances Adamson, the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told senators on Thursday that Adani may have requested the letter to help it secure funding from the Chinese.

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Ancient skull 'oldest tsunami victim'

BBC - Thu, 2017-10-26 16:34
The person is likely to have died in Papua New Guinea about 6,000 years ago, scientists say.
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Country diary: in the slow lane of an old Roman road

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-10-26 14:30

A14, Huntingdonshire: Taken at a chariot’s pace the highway reveals its pockets of wilderness and unexpected beauty

Two thousand years after the Romans cut an urban vein through rural Huntingdonshire, naming it Via Devana (Chester Street), the road is scheduled to shift its course. I decided to follow the old highway at a chariot’s pace, stopping often to seek out the oddities and glimpses of character you invariably find in the slow lane.

My first layby, outside Godmanchester, was jammed with a bumper-to-tail trio of container lorries. A weather-battered and lichen-encrusted fence divided us from a bank of blackthorn bushes bursting with unpickable sloes, and hawthorns with shrunken berries.

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China does not need any new coal fired generation

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-10-26 13:48
BNEF report says China needs no new coal generation, has $300bn of potential stranded assets, and needs reform to address curtailment issues for wind and solar.
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Why NEG may kill new renewable projects, even those with finance in place

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-10-26 13:44
After initially seeing the NEG as a possible win for consumers and the environment, I now see it as an almost certain disaster for prices, reliability and emissions.
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SunPower, AES team up for major solar + storage project on Hawaii

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-10-26 13:18
SunPower and AES join forces to build 28MW solar with a 20MW, 5-hour battery storage system on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i.
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Redflow battery plant under construction in Thailand

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-10-26 13:11
Redflow says Thai factory will be rolling out zinc-bromine flow batteries by end 2017, after work on the plant started this week.
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ACT eyes electric vehicle target, after ‘nation-leading’ renewables success

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-10-26 13:10
Report recommends ACT electric vehicle target to "clearly guide" market, and incentives for EV uptake, in next-round climate policy.
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Peter Garrett: Back on centre stage to fight Adani, push for 100% renewables

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-10-26 13:08
Peter Garrett, the frontman for Midnight Oil is back on centre stage, promising to fight Adani and push for 100 per cent renewables, and challenging Labor on its equivalence on coal. Will he have more impact as a popular public figure than he did inside the Labor machine?
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Game 1 of US baseball world series breaks heat record

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-10-26 11:15
This is what climate change looks like: first game of baseball world series played in 103°F heat. The average for this time of year is 75°F.
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How the river Ganges was taken to London

BBC - Thu, 2017-10-26 10:54
Neil MacGregor explains how an extraordinary journey was made possible by the largest silver objects ever produced.
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Bloodhound supersonic car set for first public runs

BBC - Thu, 2017-10-26 10:46
The British-led Bloodhound vehicle is scheduled to conduct some slow-speed trials in Newquay, Cornwall.
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Amid devastation, Tesla begins restoring power in Puerto Rico

RenewEconomy - Thu, 2017-10-26 10:45
Current estimates suggest 80% of Puerto Rico is still without power, but thanks to Elon Musk’s efforts at least one children’s hospital has been able to turn the lights on.
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Why hot weather records continue to tumble worldwide

The Conversation - Thu, 2017-10-26 08:11
In an unchanging climate, we would expect record-breaking temperatures to get rarer as the observation record grows longer. But in the real world the opposite is true - because we are driving up temperatures. Andrew King, Climate Extremes Research Fellow, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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National Park Service wants to sharply raise entry fees at most popular parks

The Guardian - Thu, 2017-10-26 08:11

Visitors to popular parks, including Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Zion, could see fees double or triple to address backlog of maintenance and infrastructure costs

The National Park Service is considering a steep increase in entrance fees at 17 of its most popular parks, mostly in the American west, to address a backlog of maintenance and infrastructure projects.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion and other national parks would be charged $70 per vehicle, up from the fee of $30 for a weekly pass. At others, the hike is nearly triple, from $25 to $70.

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