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World's deepest waters becoming 'ultimate sink' for plastic waste
Scientists say it is likely no marine ecosystems are left that are not affected by pollution
The world’s deepest ocean trenches are becoming “the ultimate sink” for plastic waste, according to a study that reveals contamination of animals even in these dark, remote regions of the planet.
For the first time, scientists found microplastic ingestion by organisms in the Mariana trench and five other areas with a depth of more than 6,000 metres, prompting them to conclude “it is highly likely there are no marine ecosystems left that are not impacted by plastic pollution”.
Continue reading...Janet Laurence makes us see the forest and the trees
Climate Policy Associate, The Nature Conservancy – Arlington, VA
ABC Open: Night fishing with Dad
TCI to hold first stakeholder meeting in April on regional carbon pricing programme -source
Specieswatch: farmers fight to save Britain's disappearing earthworms
Song thrush and soil fertility under threat from decline of surface-dwelling worms
There are three types of earthworm: those that live on the surface, others that feed and dwell in the soil, while a third group makes deep burrows and comes to the surface to feed on dead leaves.
All are vital to the soil health, providing nutrients and drainage, so it is concerning when they are scarce or absent on farmland.
Continue reading...Industry calls for more detail on Government's electric vehicle strategy
Emissions drop leads BASF to more ambitious CO2 neutrality goal
UK beats winter temperature record again
EU Market: EUAs lift off recent lows but stay lodged below €20, 200-DMA
We can 'rewild' swathes of Australia by focusing on what makes it unique
Analysts slash EUA forecast for 2019 by 26% as bullish consensus shaken
Pennsylvania lawmakers consider carve-out of nuclear generation in RPS
Why we can’t help but see the whale in the forest as an omen
The dead humpback whale lying in an Amazon rainforest clearing distils our knowledge that human actions have changed the climate and polluted the oceans
There could scarcely be a sadder image of nature in chaos. A young humpback whale lies flat out in a forest clearing made by its own bulk. If it had sunk in the sea, this whale would be food for hagfish and cookiecutter sharks. Instead its yellowed, sagging blubber has been pecked at by birds. What baffling force could have thrown this giant ocean mammal into the Amazon rainforest?
It’s the kind of prodigious sight that previous ages would have interpreted as an omen – and we still can’t resist seeing it that way. The sheer out-of-placeness of this poor juvenile stranded in death without the sea in sight is even more disconcerting than a pod of whales washed up on a beach or a lone cetacean in the Thames. It shows how the medieval cosmology of the four elements lodges in our imaginations: how has a creature of the water ended up on the earth? Or to put it in the more contemporary language of conspiracy theories: this dead sea mammal is very fishy. Perhaps it was taken by aliens to be probed, then dumped here. Maybe it was airlifted by the deep state for reasons of its own.
Continue reading...Undercover footage of violence at dairy farm prompts RSPCA investigation
Film appears to show cows and calves being punched, beaten and dragged across the floor
The RSPCA is investigating a British farm, after undercover footage which appears to show dairy cows and calves being force fed, punched and beaten was released by an animal rights group.
The footage, taken on a farm in Buckinghamshire, appears to show workers beating and swearing at dairy cows. Later in the footage, workers appear to drag young calves across the floor, and at one point appear to be force-feeding a young calf, as well as beating it. At one point a cow appears to be attempting to tend to a still-born calf.
Continue reading...UK utility Drax reports 36% fall in 2018 coal power output
Burnham criticised over exemption for private cars from clean air charge
Greater Manchester mayor says this part of levy would disproportionately affect poor
The mayor of Greater Manchester has been accused of a “cop-out” after a decision to exempt private cars from a daily charge under which polluting vehicles will pay up to £100 a day to use roads in the region.
Andy Burnham asked the government for £116m to implement Greater Manchester’s plan, which includes a clean air zone designed to drastically reduce harmful levels of nitrogen dioxide by 2024.
Continue reading...Humpback whale found washed ashore in Brazil
Whale discovered at Marajó Island should have been in Antarctica at this time of year
A young humpback whale has been found dead after being washed ashore on a remote swamp in the Amazon River.
The humpback whale should have migrated thousands of miles to Antarctica by this time of year, but members of the conservation group Bicho D’Água said they found it at Marajó Island in Brazil’s north-east.
Continue reading...Tell us what you are doing to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions
We’d like to hear about the action you and yours have taken to reduce greenhouse gases
It’s the crisis that we just can’t seem to tame: the ominous rise of global temperatures, aggravated by the burning of fossil fuels and the release of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases.
But not everyone is belching out emissions like there is no tomorrow. Communities, cities, even whole countries are taking unilateral action to cut emissions - and we want to hear about them...
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