Feed aggregator

Hundreds of arachnophiles flock to La Junta to watch the creatures emerge in droves and look for love on the plains

Love is in the air on the Colorado plains – the kind that makes your heart beat a bit faster, quickens your step and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

It’s tarantula mating season, when male spiders scurry out of their burrows in search of a mate, and hundreds of arachnophiles flock to the small farming town of La Junta to watch them emerge in droves.

Continue reading...

Importing Brazilian iron briquettes made with green hydrogen could reduce carbon emissions by 80% and help the EU’s industry meet its climate target for 2030 while avoiding a social bloodbath, according to the European steel industry association.

Article 6 is meant to create a UN carbon crediting and trading system, but it can also support adaptation and the overarching New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) financing target at COP29, experts have told Carbon Pulse.

A UK waste-to-energy operator is set to launch a new carbon measurement technology across its operational facilities by the end of the year, it announced on Thursday.

A huge REDD project in Kenya is fighting for survival after credit prices crashed in the wake of an investigation by the standard body Verra into allegations of sexual impropriety and improper employment practices.

A Brazilian fertiliser producer that utilises enhanced rock weathering (ERW) to sequester CO2 has renegotiated loans with its two largest creditors, according to a press release.

Nature was the painter’s ultimate muse, and he would have admired those seeking to protect it

• Nadya Tolokonnikova is the creator of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot and former political prisoner

I woke up to a call from Vincent van Gogh today. He told me he wants the Just Stop Oil protesters who threw soup on his Sunflowers to be released immediately. I nodded and promised to do everything I could to ensure Phoebe and Anna would be freed soon. Our conversation continued. “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” Van Gogh remarked. “We must try and keep courage alive.”

He sounded upset about the sentence given the other day to Just Stop Oil activists – two years in jail for Phoebe Plummer, 23; 20 months for Anna Holland, 22. I sympathise with him. He seemed crestfallen that two young women were being thrown behind bars because a judge deified him and his painting, which, in Van Gogh’s mind, was not meant to be venerated, but instead inspire young artists and activists to do exactly what Phoebe and Anna had done – to push the boundaries of life and art even further, and raise uncomfortable questions.

Nadya Tolokonnikova is the creator of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot and former political prisoner

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Continue reading...

Researchers have identified previously-unmapped high marine biodiversity areas off the coast of Mozambique, paving the way for expanding the national network of marine protected areas (MPAs) and key biodiversity areas (KBAs).

Nature markets took centre stage on Tuesday at the European Parliament's environment (ENVI) committee meeting, with an EU biodiversity negotiator sharing concerns raised by some MEPs about the role of biodiversity credits in plugging the nature finance gap.

European carbon prices extended their recent lows on Thursday morning in choppy trading but were little changed at midday as traders nervously waited for directional signals, while energy prices were also flat.

BusinessEurope, an umbrella group representing national employer’s organisations, has called on policymakers to “reconsider” the planned phase out of free allowances under the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), saying Europe should “be prepared” in case its new carbon border tariff scheme fails to deliver.

Nature is a significant topic for stakeholders in government-related investments, with its risks often overlooked by bond markets, consultants AXA Climate said in a report this week.

Europe’s industry needs greater electrification to compete with the likes of China and the US, according to research published on Thursday.

A UK-based startup has developed a method to break down waste plastics at the atomic level, which it said could support global efforts in advancing chemical recycling.

A second asteroid hit Earth around the same time causing a "catastrophic" event.

Study uncovers vivid and poignant accounts of reefs as high as houses off countries including UK, France and Ireland

Only a handful of natural oyster reefs measuring at most a few square metres cling on precariously along European coasts after being wiped out by overfishing, dredging and pollution.

A study led by British scientists has discovered how extensive they once were, with reefs as high as a house covering at least 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) from Norway to the Mediterranean, an area larger than Northern Ireland.

Continue reading...

A major trading house in Japan has launched a system that can standardise and digitalise the work needed for creating domestically issued carbon offsets from forestry projects. 

Heavily forested Laos has issued a decree to "define principles" around cooperation in multilateral carbon market projects, a state-run newspaper said Thursday.

Australian energy gentailer Origin announced on Thursday it would shelve a hydrogen development project due to a lack of certainty, while Woodside Energy continues to register new carbon credit projects.

Modern pharmaceuticals have revolutionised disease prevention and treatment. But eventually, the chemicals can end up in rivers, oceans and soils. Lauren T. May, Senior Lecturer and Group Leader, Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University Manuela Jorg, Research Fellow & Lab Head in Medicinal Chemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Monash University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.