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Tory windfarm policy threatens cheap energy in UK, commission finds

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-04-25 14:00

Wind is ‘increasingly the cheapest form of electricity’, says industry group, urging Tories to reassess ban on subsidised onshore windfarms

Conservative opposition to windfarms risks the UK missing out on one of the cheapest sources of electricity, according to the head of a Shell-funded industry group.

Adair Turner, chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, said wind and solar power costs had fallen dramatically globally and urged the government to rethink its ban on subsidised onshore windfarms.

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Can plastic roads help save the planet?

BBC - Tue, 2017-04-25 10:11
A start-up company is persuading local councils in the UK to turn local plastic waste into roads.
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Brexit university ‘brain drain’ warning

BBC - Tue, 2017-04-25 09:54
Academic staff from EU countries should be urgently guaranteed a right to stay, say MPs.
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Machine learning

BBC - Tue, 2017-04-25 09:52
Many people are unsure about what machine learning is, but the chances are they are using it every day.
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Conservationists call for moratorium on logging to save endangered Leadbeater’s possum

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-04-25 08:16

Victorian government asked to ‘completely prohibit logging’ on more than 100,000 hectares of the state’s mountain ash forest

Conservationists have called for a moratorium on logging more than 100,000 hectares of Victoria’s remaining native forest estate to protect the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum.

Environmental Justice Australia, acting on behalf of volunteer organisation Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum, wrote to the Victorian environment minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, on Monday requesting she implement an interim conservation order to “completely prohibit logging within the critical habitat of the Leadbeater’s possum” in order to ensure the survival of the species, which is at risk of dying out within the next 40 years.

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Plastic-eating caterpillar could munch waste, scientists say

BBC - Tue, 2017-04-25 04:06
A caterpillar that munches on plastic bags could hold the key to tackling plastic waste, say scientists.
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Trump calls record-breaking astronaut Peggy Whitson

BBC - Tue, 2017-04-25 03:13
'Better you than me,' jokes US president as astronaut Peggy Whitson reveals drinking recycled urine.
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2017 Goldman environmental prize recipients – in pictures

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-04-25 02:30

The Goldman prize honours the achievements of grassroots environmental activists in six continents, recognising their sustained efforts to protect natural habitats often at great personal risk

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Munch inspired by 'screaming clouds'

BBC - Tue, 2017-04-25 00:37
A new theory may explain the background to one of the most famous works of art ever produced.
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Adani coalmine at heightened risk of becoming a stranded asset, report says

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-04-25 00:01

Carmichael project likely to be ‘cash flow negative’ for the majority its operating life, according to Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis

The risk of the controversial Adani Carmichael coalmine becoming a stranded asset has increased in the last 12 months, according to a new report.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), says the Carmichael project is likely to be “cash flow negative” for the majority its operating life, even with concessional loans.

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'Life improved when I left London': readers on tackling air pollution

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-04-24 21:11

We asked readers to tell us what action they are taking against air pollution. Here’s what some of them said

About 40 million people in the UK are living with illegal air pollution levels, according to analysis commissioned by the Labour party.

Earlier this month the Guardian reported thousands of children across England and Wales are exposed to illegal levels of air pollution from diesel traffic, putting the health of young children at risk in the long term.

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Government seeks clear air plan delay

BBC - Mon, 2017-04-24 20:16
The UK government may face legal action after seeking to delay publishing its plan to tackle air pollution until after the general election.
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Ministers under fire over bid to delay publication of air pollution plan

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-04-24 20:06

Campaigners attack government request to be allowed to breach Monday deadline to publish air quality plan

The government is facing renewed pressure after a last-minute attempt to delay the publication of its plan to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis.

Ministers were under a court direction to produce tougher draft measures to tackle illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution, which is largely caused by diesel traffic, by 4pm on Monday. The government’s original plans had been dismissed by judges as so poor as to be unlawful.

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Turning everyday noise into art

ABC Environment - Mon, 2017-04-24 19:15
Lawrence English and Philip Samartzis base their musical practice on the engagement with the sounds of everyday life and turn it into art.
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Consumers being misled by labelling on 'organic' beauty products, report shows

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-04-24 14:45

Many brands use the word organic on labels when their products are not certified as such, warns Soil Association

The makers of many “organic” beauty products have been accused of confusing and meaningless labelling, according to a new survey in which 76% of consumers admitted they felt misled.

According to the Soil Association’s recent market report, sales of organic health and beauty products swelled by more than 20% in 2016, with the market now worth about £61.2m in the UK.

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Know your NEM: The calm before reform

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-04-24 14:41
Australia's energy market is in a holding pattern while we wait for court decisions, the full Finkel Report, policy announcements, auction process developments and legislation to set the path forward.
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Solar juggernaut marches on as costs continue to fall

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-04-24 14:36
Deutsch Bank becomes latest to revise up its near-term global solar forecast, off the back of further reduction in costs and a potential post-Trump “gold rush” in the US market.
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First steps on the stone road to Banbury

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-04-24 14:30

Stamford, Lincolnshire Discovering that a footpath named the Jurassic Way not only glanced my door but set off from it, I decided to walk it piecemeal

It took 10 years of living here before I looked hard at my town’s Ordnance Survey map. There, like most who neglect study of their closest ground, I saw my daily familiar articulated in a diagrammatic, unfamiliar way. Here notable historic echoes inscribed alongside its present. And I discovered that a footpath named the Jurassic Way not only glanced my door but set off from it, travelling 88 miles from this old Lincolnshire town to the unlikely end of Banbury, traversing a ridge-seam of limestone that gave Stamford its stone and the route its name. Drawn, it presents like a diagonal scratch across the belly of England.

With spring here I decided to walk it piecemeal, beginning today with the first mile. With the town’s spires to my back I cross the floodplain of the meadow, joining the bank of the Welland. Its banks are plump with green, the water still but for the odd ripple from a surfacing fish. The path is a balding in the grass.

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Could South Australia be the nation’s hydrogen state, too?

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-04-24 14:18
SA might soon add a new clean feather to its cap, announcing plans to go heavily into the hydrogen industry.
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Honour for environmental activist farmer, 83, surrounded by mines on three sides

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-04-24 14:01

For 30 years anti-pollution campaigner Wendy Bowman has stood firm against mining giants, supporting other landowners under pressure to sell

Each morning just after dawn, if you stop at the top of the hill that separates the town of Singleton from the tiny village of Camberwell in New South Wales, says Wendy Bowman, “you’ll see this brown scud across the sky”.

“It doesn’t go over the ridges; it stays in the valley, going up and down all the time.” She mimes a slow sieving motion: up, down.

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