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Britain breaks coal-free power record over Easter weekend
New Jersey board grants subsidies to three nuclear facilities
Climate activists stage 'die-in' at Natural History Museum
Police say than 1,000 arrests made in eight days of Extinction Rebellion protests
Scores of environmental activists lay on the floor at the Natural History Museum in London as part of the eighth day of protests by Extinction Rebellion, which have brought chaos to the capital.
As many as 100 of the group’s protesters participated in the “die-in” on Monday afternoon to raise awareness of the mass extinction of species.
Continue reading...Polly Higgins, lawyer who fought for recognition of 'ecocide', dies aged 50
Campaigner and barrister attempted to create a law to criminalise ecological damage
Polly Higgins, one of the most inspiring figures in the green movement, has died aged 50.
Higgins, a British barrister, led a decade-long campaign for “ecocide” to be recognised as a crime against humanity. She sold her house and gave up a high-paying job so she could dedicate herself to attempting to create a law that would make corporate executives and government ministers criminally liable for the damage they do to ecosystems.
Continue reading...Water buybacks dominate PM's day on the campaign trail
The magic of mushrooms
Westpac taps NSW solar farm in shift to 100% renewables
Westpac becomes 4th Australian company – 3rd major bank – to sign up to global RE100 movement, starting with major solar offtake deal with 120MW Bomen Solar Farm.
The post Westpac taps NSW solar farm in shift to 100% renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Police clear Extinction Rebellion protesters from Waterloo Bridge
Arrests made after police urge activists to move to Marble Arch, where Greta Thunberg spoke to protesters on Sunday
Police have cleared the remaining Extinction Rebellion activists from Waterloo Bridge in London, despite earlier calls on social media for people that were willing to be arrested to “go there and save it”.
The roads around Parliament Square were cleared of protesters earlier on Sunday, with the northbound carriageway of Waterloo Bridge reopened to traffic by the evening. On Sunday night, police continued their operations, moving to remove the last activists, who had glued themselves to the bridge and to each other.
Continue reading...The zero-waste revolution: how a new wave of shops could end excess packaging
Shops that minimise the environmental impact of our consumer habits are springing up across Britain. Could they help us avert catastrophe?
The smell in Natural Weigh, a zero-waste shop that opened a year ago in Crickhowell in mid-Wales, is lovely. The shop – filled with pasta, grains, seeds and dried fruit served from hoppers to avoid plastic packaging; washing-up liquid and laundry products that customers pump into their battered old squeezy bottles; fair-trade coffee and chocolate, plus an array of environmentally friendly products, such as bamboo toothbrush holders, plastic-free dental floss and vegan leather snack pouches – looks lovely. The little town itself, which prides itself on having the best high street in Britain, is lovely, too. I am captivated.
Natural Weigh is part of a quiet revolution. Over the past two years, well over 100 of these stores have sprung up across the UK. Precise numbers are hard to come by, but some in the business say there are almost 200, many in environmental hotspots such as Brighton, Bath, Bristol and north-east London, but also in plenty of other less obviously fertile areas. Zero-wasters are in touch with each other on Facebook, and have their own bible in Bea Johnson’s book Zero Waste Home.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion: protesters to offer to 'pause' climate action
London demonstrators will offer to vacate most sites if mayor meets some demands
Climate change protesters who have stopped traffic in a series of peaceful demonstrations across London will offer to vacate some sites in exchange for the mayor, Sadiq Khan, acting on some of their demands.
Extinction Rebellion (XR) said it would “pause” its demonstrations in an attempt to achieve its political aims as it enters the second week of its campaign to have the government declare a climate emergency, reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2025 and establish a citizens’ assembly to devise an emergency plan of action.
Continue reading...SpaceX capsule suffers 'anomaly' during tests in Florida
Cheaper to own Tesla Model 3 than Toyota Camry, says report
US analysis suggests total cost of ownership of Tesla Model 3 over three years less than that of the very popular (and cheaper upfront) Toyota Camry.
The post Cheaper to own Tesla Model 3 than Toyota Camry, says report appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia’s hottest rooftop solar suburbs – and the millions still missing out
Clean Energy Council reveals which Australian suburbs are embracing rooftop solar the most enthusiastically, while a separate report reminds us that apartment dwellers are still missing the party.
The post Australia’s hottest rooftop solar suburbs – and the millions still missing out appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Aston Martin electric sportscar now ready for production
Aston Martin unveils the fully electric Rapide E sports car at the Shanghai Motor Show, ready to start its production.
The post Aston Martin electric sportscar now ready for production appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Slow burn? The long road to a zero-emissions UK
It is the near future. You wake in a house warmed by a heat pump that extracts energy from deep below the ground and delivers it to your home. (Your gas boiler was outlawed years ago.) You rise and make yourself a cup of tea – from water boiled on a hydrogen-burning kitchen stove. Then you head to work – in a robot-driven electric car directed by central control network to avoid traffic jams.
At midday, you pause for lunch: a sandwich made of meat grown in a laboratory. At the end of the day, you are taken home by a robot car – through countryside festooned with solar panels and turbines.
Continue reading...A zero-emissions UK is a huge task. But the benefits will also be huge
Major action is needed to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. But it will make Britain’s economy cleaner, smarter and more efficient. We must not delay
Britain needs to reach, by no later than 2050, net zero emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This means any greenhouse gases we release must be balanced by the removal of an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.
The 2050 deadline represents our fair share of international responsibility for implementing the Paris agreement on climate change and meeting its goal of holding the rise in average global temperature to well below 2C – and pursuing best efforts to limit warming to no more than 1.5C.
Continue reading...Stroud, the gentle Cotswold town that spawned a radical protest
It is a quiet Good Friday on Stroud’s steep, sun-dappled high street. There are none of the usual stalls spilling out of the centuries-old Shambles indoor market, and the schools are closed for the Easter holidays.
But the Cotswold town’s independent cafes are bustling with tanned and exhausted Extinction Rebellion Stroudies, who have spent the week bringing parts of London to a standstill and focusing minds on the threats posed by climate breakdown.
Continue reading...Battle to save frogs from global killer disease
Frogs, salamanders, and toads across the world are now under attack from a widening range of interacting pathogens that threaten to devastate global amphibian populations.
That is the stark warning of leading zoological experts who will gather this week in London in a bid to establish an emergency plan to save these endangered creatures. “The world’s amphibians are facing a new crisis, one that is caused by attacks by multiple pathogens,” said Professor Trent Garner of the Zoological Society of London, which is hosting the conference. “We desperately need to devise strategies that can protect them.”
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion protests: police start to clear Oxford Circus
Met police draft in 200 extra officers to deal with Extinction Rebellion campaign in London
Officers have begun to clear protesters from Oxford Circus as the Metropolitan police try to restore normality to parts of London where Extinction Rebellion members have been campaigning against climate change.
Crowds clapped and cheered as activists who were chained to the road at Oxford Circus were lifted into police vans.
Continue reading...Police drag climate change activists near Regent Street in London - video
As Extinction Rebellion protesters and police tussle for control of Oxford Circus, video has emerged of officers dragging two participants along the ground near Regent Street on Friday. The Met has come under increasing pressure to crack down on the demonstrators who have blocked transport networks in the capital in recent days. Extinction Rebellion has called for non-violent civil disobedience to oblige the British government to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025 and stop what they call a global climate crisis.
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