Feed aggregator
Energy incumbents are going on a ‘gorging spree’
Australia adds 107MW rooftop solar in October as 2017 heads for record year
Bittern numbers in UK at record high, says RSPB
Booming of male bitterns reveals presence of at least 164 of the heron-like waders living in British wetlands, says charity
Populations of the bittern, a wetland bird that was facing extinction in the UK in the late 1990s, are at a record high, conservationists report.
Resident numbers of “Britain’s loudest bird” increased in 2017, and experts – using the foghorn-like booming call of the males to survey the species – have counted at least 164 birds at 71 sites.
Continue reading...Good news for fish and flows in the Lower Darling
Local Commonwealth Environmental Water engagement officers appointed
JinkoSolar claims record 23.5% efficiency for PERC solar cell
What it's like spending a year in space
DP Energy trumps Gupta with 1.1GW of wind, solar and storage
'Zombie' star survived going supernova
Australia's emissions rising as world 'flat-lines' - Climate Council report
Islands lost to the waves: how rising seas washed away part of Micronesia's 19th-century history
Blue Planet II: Eel suffers toxic shock in underwater lake
Narcissi bobbing in the slipstream of traffic | Brief letters
I’ve not seen any wasps either, now that you mention it (Letters, 4 November). What I have seen are the first daffodils of the spring – in November, when autumn hasn’t properly happened yet. Oaks and ashes are still holding their green leaves. I expect winter-flowering cherry, winter camellias, winter iris and daffs “January” and “February Gold” to make early appearances (and to be reported on the letters page as prodigious), but along the grass verges of the North Circular Road, seeded with spring bulbs, dainty, yellow and orange narcissi bobbed in the slipstream of the traffic on 3 November. Is there now a worrying decline in seasons?
Ilona Jesnick
London
• The real tragedy of the closure of the post office in Seer Green, Buckinghamshire (Letters, 4 November) is that there will no longer be the facility in the village for its inhabitants to draw their pensions and benefits. Many who do not drive, such as my brother, rely on this service to collect the money that they live off. It is also a vital asset in providing other postal services, as well as newspapers, cards, stationary and confectionary.
Elizabeth Rawlins
Newcastle upon Tyne
'Butterfly child' given life-saving skin
Europe's carmakers face 30% emission cuts target
New proposals to limit CO2 from passenger cars and vans by 2030 would meet climate goals, but campaigners say regulations fall short
The European commission has unveiled new proposals for limits on carbon dioxide emissions from passenger cars and vans, which would compel manufacturers to cut emissions from their vehicles by nearly a third from 2030.
But the proposals will not require manufacturers to make a fixed quota of their fleet run on electricity, as some campaigners had hoped.
Continue reading...Politicians and activists gather for COP23 Bonn climate talks - in pictures
The world’s nations are meeting in Bonn, Germany, for the 23rd annual “conference of the parties” (COP) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which aims to prevent dangerous global warming. This year, Fiji plays president and meeting the Paris climate goals are top of the agenda
Continue reading...Sheep 'trained to recognise celebrities' in Cambridge study
Don't dump your potatoes – use these easy recipes for your freezer
We are binning nearly half of the fresh spuds we buy. But stashing some in the freezer can save time and make for extra-crunchy roasties
Proof, as if more proof were needed, that Britain is heading to hell in a handcart, comes with the news that we waste nearly half the potatoes we buy, throwing a shameful 2.7m potential roasties or jackets in the bin every day.
The blame could be laid at the door of supermarkets, who insist on selling spuds in vast, plastic-wrapped quantities; decant them into a cool, dark place unless using immediately. And don’t be put off if they start sprouting in the gloom; simply cut off any unnerving proboscises or green patches, before cooking.
Continue reading...Germany's dirty coalmines become the focus for a new wave of direct action
Not far from the UN climate talks taking place in Bonn, activists frustrated with slow progress by governments are turning up the heat at the Hambach opencast mine, highlighting Germany’s failure to live up to its green pledges
A giant black mark on Germany’s environmental record is scarred on the land an hour’s drive from the venue of this year’s UN climate talks in Bonn.
Stretching 85 kilometres wide and 400 metres deep, the opencast coalmine near Hambach forest is the biggest hole in Europe and one of the biggest single sources of carbon on the continent.
Continue reading...