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Ed Miliband to lead UK negotiations at Cop29 climate summit

The Guardian - Mon, 2024-07-15 15:00

Senior climate figures welcome move after Conservative government largely left the role to junior ministers

Ed Miliband is to take personal control of the UK’s negotiations at vital international climate talks, in stark contrast to his Tory predecessors.

The energy security and net zero secretary will attend Cop29, this year’s UN climate summit, in Azerbaijan this November to head the UK’s delegation and meet political leaders from around the world.

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Lost area of Welsh rainforest to be returned to ancient glory

The Guardian - Mon, 2024-07-15 14:00

Site in Pembrokeshire currently grazed by sheep will be planted with a range of species and reconnect to Celtic past

A lost piece of Celtic rainforest in the far south-west of Wales is to be restored to its ancient glory, weaving around standing stones and an abandoned, tumbling-down farmhouse with a waterwheel.

The 59-hectare (146-acre) site in Pembrokeshire will be planted with species such as oak, small-leaf lime and wild service (Sorbus torminalis) and should support an abundance of mosses, liverworts, lichens and ferns as well as providing a home for animals and other plant life.

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Idiotfruit and tree kangaroos: here’s why the ancient rainforests of Queensland’s Wet Tropics are so distinctive

The Conversation - Mon, 2024-07-15 10:11
Australia’s ancient Wet Tropics are enormously rich in species. But these tight-knit ecosystems might be at risk from cascading extinctions Seamus Doherty, PhD student, Flinders University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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No room for nuclear power, unless the Coalition switches off your solar

The Conversation - Mon, 2024-07-15 06:12
The only way to make nuclear power work in Australia is to unplug cheap renewables. Stop exporting electricity from rooftop solar system. Forget feed-in tarrifs. Everyone use baseload nuclear first. Bill Grace, Adjunct Professor, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, The University of Western Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Outfoxed: the ‘smart’ ferals are adapting to Australian cities, and wreaking havoc in the bush

The Guardian - Mon, 2024-07-15 01:00

It’s not entirely clear if fox numbers are on the rise in urban areas, but research shows they are learning to avoid hazards such as dogs and poisonous baits

Alex Abbey’s security camera captured something moving through an alley behind his home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs a few weeks ago. When he watched the 2am footage the next day, he was surprised to see a red fox on the screen.

“It’s unusual. It’s the first time I have seen one in Potts Point,” he says.

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Record-breaking heatwave shifts east as millions of Americans under heat alert

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-07-14 23:53

Over 245 million Americans are expected to experience 90F temperatures early this week, with some as high as 105F

A heatwave that impacted the US west coast over the past week is now moving east into the midwest and south-east, as millions of Americans have been under a heat alert at some point in the past week.

“Numerous near record-tying/breaking high temperatures are possible over the central High Plains and Southeast Sunday, and along much of the East Coast by Monday,” reported the National Weather Service.

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Chicken industry must halt expansion to stop ‘environmental scandal’ in River Severn

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-07-14 15:00

Campaigners warn of same ‘tragic events’ as in River Wye if planners ignore pollution risks of intensive production

The chicken industry is facing calls to halt the expansion of intensive production in the River Severn catchment, with campaigners warning that the river is at risk from the same pollution that has blighted the River Wye.

An outcry over the ecological plight of the Wye has effectively halted the proliferation of intensive poultry units across the catchment. Campaigners say that the pollution threat is being transported “from one catchment to the other”.

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Adani’s Queensland coalmine a threat to important wetland, Indigenous groups and scientists say

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-07-14 06:00

Letter urges environment minister to investigate alleged breaches at Doongmabulla Springs

There is growing concern that a culturally significant and nationally important wetland is under threat from Adani’s controversial coalmine in Queensland, with an Indigenous group demanding the government investigate alleged breaches of the conditions that protect the site.

Scientists say drops in water levels in bores around the Doongmabulla Springs have been detected hundreds of times since mining started, and allege hydrocarbons associated with coal have been found in bores and the springs themselves.

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Labour’s ‘rooftop revolution’ to deliver solar power to millions of UK homes

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-07-14 04:14

Ed Miliband sets new rules on solar panels and approves three giant solar farms as Labour seeks to end years of Tory inaction

Keir Starmer’s new Labour government today unveils plans for a “rooftop revolution” that will see millions more homes fitted with solar panels in order to bring down domestic energy bills and tackle the climate crisis.

The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, also took the hugely controversial decision this weekend to approve three massive solar farms in the east of England that had been blocked by Tory ministers.

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Artist punches holes in UN climate report six hours a day for Dutch installation

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-07-14 01:02

Johannes-Harm Hovinga has to take painkillers to complete 20-day artistic protest at Museum Arnhem

Every day for the last two weeks, Johannes-Harm Hovinga has sat at a raised table in Museum Arnhem, using a two-hole page puncher to systematically perforate the 7,705-page sixth assessment report produced by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

He has printed it out on coloured paper and the result is a vibrant heap piling up at the artist’s feet.

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After Hurricane Beryl’s destruction, climate scientists fear for what’s next

The Guardian - Sun, 2024-07-14 00:00

Experts say devastating hurricane so early in season is ‘big wake-up call’ – and predict even more powerful storms

The poignancy was unmistakable: prognosticators at Colorado State University amended their already miserable seasonal tropical cyclone forecast on Monday precisely as Hurricane Beryl was filling Houston’s streets with floodwater and knocking out power to more than 2m homes and businesses.

“A likely harbinger of a hyperactive season” was how CSU researchers characterized Beryl, which set numerous records on the way to its Texas landfall, including the earliest category 5 hurricane, strongest ever June storm, and most powerful to strike the southern Windward Islands.

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London’s Science Museum forced to cut ties with oil giant – and faces pressure over other sponsors

The Guardian - Sat, 2024-07-13 22:28

Campaigners welcome ‘seismic shift’ and urge museum bosses to review links with other fossil fuel sponsors

The Science Museum has been forced to cut ties with oil giant Equinor over its sponsor’s environmental record, the Observer can reveal.

Equinor has sponsored the museum’s interactive “WonderLab” since 2016, but the relationship is now coming to close, a move that will be seen as a major victory for climate change campaigners.

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