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ICAO names advisory board for CORSIA aviation offset scheme
EU Market: Energy price surge lifts EUAs to two-week high
LCFS Market: California prices slide heading into compliance deadline
Helicopter crushes flowers as crowds flock to 'super bloom'
Park officials say many wildflower tourists have been well-behaved, but some have ignored pleas to stay on trails
In one of the most famous literary descriptions of wildflowers, the English poet William Wordsworth wrote in the early 19th century of happily gazing upon a host of daffodils “fluttering and dancing in the breeze”. In 21st-century California, wildflowers dancing in the breeze are being trampled by helicopter.
As thousands of sightseers descend on southern California parks for a springtime “super bloom”, officials reported on Wednesday that a couple in a helicopter landed in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, crushing the delicate plants. They proceeded to walk around, further inflicting harm. As soon as they were approached by law enforcement officers, they scurried back into their aircraft and zoomed away.
Continue reading...California grants 620,000 offset credits as total supply swells to 152 mln
Forest carbon trading plan 'common sense': David Littleproud
Richard di Natale calls for an approach 'based on science, not on the politics of the day'
California legislature advances offset aggregation proposal
'Common sense': Littleproud backs Victoria plan to curb logging to earn carbon credits
Minister breaks ranks on forest policy amid fears for beekeeping industry and the knock-on impacts on farmers
The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, is breaking ranks on federal forest policy and backing a long-stalled proposal for Victoria to earn carbon credits by winding back logging and better conserving its native forests.
The minister cites concerns over the future of the Australian beekeeping industry and the knock-on impacts for farmers for his support, saying: “It seems as though it is common sense.”
Continue reading...BRIEFING: Proposed pre-linkage Swiss ETS rule changes include holding limits, high price floor
What is a waterless barrier and how could it slow cane toads?
The last straw: European parliament votes to ban single-use plastics
Vote by MEPs paves way for law to come into force by 2021 across EU
The European parliament has voted to ban single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic waste that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans.
The vote by MEPs paves the way for a ban on single-use plastics to come into force by 2021 in all EU member states. The UK would have to follow the rules if it took part in and extended the Brexit transition period because of delays in finding a new arrangement with the EU.
Continue reading...Improving Britain’s geological mapping | Letter
David Nowell (Letters, 23 March) suggests that the Environment Agency should put pressure on the British Geological Survey (BGS) to improve the quality of geological mapping. Mr Nowell will be pleased to hear that there is no need for them to do this as the BGS is already working with the Environment Agency to update our geological maps in areas where groundwater resources are vulnerable to over-abstraction and/or pollution.
As new data and new requirements arise, we recognise that in some areas the existing geological interpretations become out of date. A case in point is the area to the north of Holderness (referred to in Mr Nowell’s letter), where modern imagery highlights geological structures that would not have been apparent during the original 1800s survey. This is an area important for groundwater and we are currently working with the Environment Agency to improve the geological understanding of the area to help the better management and protection of water resources. In fact, our geologists are currently “in the field” re-mapping this area.
Continue reading...Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mike Lee talk 'Green New Deal'
US-China soy trade war could destroy 13 million hectares of rainforest
Study suggests Brazil likely to rush to fill China’s sudden soy shortfall by boosting farming
The Amazon rainforest could be the greatest casualty of the trade war between the United States and China, warns a new study showing how deforestation pressures have surged as a result of the geopolitical jolt in global soy markets.
Up to 13m hectares of forest and savannah – an area the size of Greece – would have to be cleared if Brazil and other exporters were to fill the huge shortfall in soy supply to China that has suddenly appeared since Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs, according to the paper published in Nature.
US exports of the commodity, primarily used to feed livestock, to China plummeted by 50% last year, which the authors say is an unusually sharp level of decline between two trading partners outside wartime.
Cull invasive mammals to save island species, experts urge
Move ‘would save 10% of all endangered birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles’
Nearly 10% of the world’s bird, mammal, amphibian and reptile species currently on the brink of extinction could be saved by killing invasive mammals such as cats and rats on 169 islands, according to a new study.
Islands comprise just 5.3% of the Earth’s landmass yet have experienced 75% of known bird, mammal, amphibian and reptile extinctions since 1500. More than a third of species currently classified as “critically endangered” on the IUCN Red List are found on islands, with many particularly vulnerable to just eight species – including feral pigs, dogs, goats and mongooses – introduced by humans.
Continue reading...Air pollution linked to psychotic experiences in young people
Teens living in dirty air 70% more likely to have symptoms such as paranoia, study finds
Young people living with higher levels of air pollution are significantly more likely to have psychotic experiences, according to the first study of the issue.
Researchers analysed the experiences of more than 2,000 17-year-olds across England and Wales and found that those in places with higher levels of nitrogen oxides had a 70% higher chance of symptoms such as hearing voices or intense paranoia.
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