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I am the river and the river is me
Fantasy art: the future of energy and water technology - in pictures
They look like designs from the pages of a futurist’s notepad, but the concepts below are all finalists in the biennial public art contest held by the Land Art Generator Initiative (Lagi).
These ideas illustrate the possibility of marrying aesthetics with renewable energy and water technology and educate the public about the challenges of addressing climate change and feeding a growing population.
Santa Monica, a beach town west of Los Angeles, is the setting for this year’s competition. The theme is clean water, to acknowledge California’s fifth year of serious drought. The winners will be announced on 6 October.
Cash prizes are $15,000 for first place and $4,000 for second place. While winning doesn’t guarantee that the concept will be brought to life, Lagi works with city governments and local businesses to try and turn the more feasible projects into reality.
Continue reading...Latin America's largest Ramsar Site facing 586 km transmission line
Indigenous peoples in Peru’s Amazon demand to be consulted about electricity project that would cut through their territories
Indigenous peoples in Peru are demanding to be consulted about a proposed electricity transmission line that would run for approximately 586 kms through the Amazon. The stated aim of the line is to connect Iquitos in Peru’s northeast, often described as the world’s largest city or town without road or rail access, to the national grid.
Doing so would mean crossing the territories of numerous indigenous peoples, including the Achuars, Kandozis, Kichwas, Kukamas-Kukamirias and Urarinas. Representative organisations are expressing serious concern about the project’s potential impacts and say they have not been consulted about it despite the government’s obligation to do so under Peruvian and international law.
Continue reading...Obama: US and China have joined Paris climate pact – video
President Barack Obama announces that the US and China have formally joined the Paris agreement to curb climate-warming emissions. Speaking on the eve of the G20 summit in Hangzhou on Saturday, he says he believes history would judge today’s announcement as a ‘pivotal’ moment in the fight against climate change
Continue reading...Paris climate deal: where US and China have led, others must quickly follow
Saturday’s joint declaration by world’s two biggest emitters is vital but not enough to bring agreement into force
The decision by China and the US, the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, to ratify the landmark Paris accord on climate change heralds a new era of global cooperation on limiting emissions.
Only a few years ago, such a commitment looked like a pipe dream. Today, with the two most powerful nations on board, the United Nations can celebrate a victory on this world-changing issue that has been more than 20 years in the making.
Continue reading...Amazing sea creatures made of glass – in pictures
Father and son team Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka created perfect reproductions of invertebrate marine life in glass in their studio in Germany in the 19th century. Cornell University acquired a collection of 570 items in 1885, and a selection of these can be seen at an exhibition at the Corning Museum of Glass. Fragile Legacy: The Marine Invertebrate Glass Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka runs until 8 January
Continue reading...Breakthrough as US and China agree to ratify Paris climate change deal
Campaigners hail key moment in battle against global warming as presidents Obama and Xi announce deal on eve of G20 summit in Hangzhou
The United States and China, the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, have announced they will formally ratify the Paris climate change agreement in a move campaigners immediately hailed as a significant advance in the battle against global warming.
Speaking on Saturday, on the eve of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, US president, Barack Obama, confirmed the long-awaited move, the result of weeks of intense negotiations by Chinese and American officials.
Continue reading...The 20 photographs of the week
The aftermath of the Italian earthquake, the continuing refugee crisis in Europe, the Burning Man festival – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week
Continue reading...Protected lands and endangered species aren't properly safeguarded, report says
Some of the most biodiverse ecosystems are not being protected and the management of many protected areas is deficient, a progress report warns
The world is edging towards a major conservation target for protected land and oceans, but there are concerns over how safeguarded areas are managed and whether they are effectively protecting endangered species, according to a new report.
Nearly 15% of the Earth’s land, covering around 20m sq km, is contained in national parks or other protected areas. This figure has flatlined over the past year, largely because of improved data collection, but is close to an internationally-agreed goal to protect 17% of the land surface by 2020.
Continue reading...How to converse with a raven
Fishguard I am of the opinion that you can have as satisfying and varied a conversation with these dark and gleaming bright birds as you can with the majority of humankind
The first hatch of small heath butterflies dipped and darted along the path to Garn Fawr’s rocky summit, their open wings a delicate Indian orange, eye-markings prominent, their undersides muted umber and silver. Here and there, wings folded, they settled on flowers of potentilla and heather in crevices among basaltic columns.
I scrambled to the top, the view suddenly taking in Strumble lighthouse and the Rosslare ferry thrumming past behind. As soon as I was at rest, sandwiches to hand and my back to the Ordnance Survey pillar, the first raven appeared, closely followed by her mate once he’d chased away some upstart from this year’s brood.
Continue reading...China ratifies Paris climate agreement
Beyond the coal rush part 2: The age of coal
Plastic microbeads expected to be banned by end of 2017
Modern day orchidelirium
Gaping chasm between Coalition's climate mantra and the real debate | Lenore Taylor
Like the emperor with no clothes, Josh Frydenberg is continuing the grand parade, insisting that Australia is making a successful transition
Almost every group with a financial, intellectual or ethical interest in salvaging a workable climate policy is now deep in an urgent debate about how Australia can break a decade of policy paralysis. Everyone except the Turnbull government, that is.
The debate, involving big business, small business, investors, the government’s own independent climate advisers, academics, environmentalists, the welfare lobby and the unions, is predicated on the obvious conclusion that our policy – as it stands – cannot deliver the cuts to greenhouse emissions that are domestically necessary and which Australia has promised internationally.
Continue reading...New images of Jupiter
A Big Country
How a microbead ban could help solve a massive problem – video
A poll from Greenpeace found that almost two thirds of people in the UK think microbeads should be banned. The beads are already banned in the US, but are still common in Britain. They’re a threat to marine life and potentially to humans, but the poll also found that most people don’t actually know what they are
Continue reading...UK government to ban microbeads from cosmetics by end of 2017
Found in beauty products, tiny pieces of plastic which can harm marine life will be banned from sale in the UK from the end of 2017, government will announce
Tiny pieces of plastic in personal beauty products, that end up in the oceans and are swallowed by marine life, will be banned from sale in the UK by the end of 2017, the government is to announce on Saturday.
The move comes just days after MPs called for a ban on so-called microbeads, and sees the UK following in the footsteps of the US, which has banned them beginning in mid-2017. More than 357,000 people signed a petition calling for a UK ban, and environment groups welcomed the news of the ban.
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