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Loving Blue Planet? Go one better and take a real submarine trip to the deep
The unknowable expanse of the oceans has become a little more familiar after Blue Planet II. Now it is set to become more familiar still to tourists with enough cash to spare.
The BBC series is the most-watched show of 2017, with 14.1 million viewers tuning in for unseen wonders like cannibalistic Humboldt squid, methane belching from the ocean floor and an underwater lake of brine. Scenes like these are beyond the view of anyone except TV crews, scientists and explorers – but not for much longer. Submarine tourism is riding a wave of interest that is likely to swell as the series continues.
Continue reading...Venus and Jupiter conjunction: Sky-watchers await dawn display
Alternative US group honouring Paris climate accord demands 'seat at the table'
The America’s Pledge group claims to represent US majority opinion on carbon emissions, despite Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement
The United Nations should give a “seat at the table” to a powerful group of US states, cities, tribes and businesses that are committed to taking action on climate change, Michael Bloomberg has urged.
In an apparent bid to circumvent US president Donald Trump’s moves to withdraw from the Paris accord, the billionaire philanthropist also said the world body should accept an alternative set of US climate commitments alongside national pledges to reduce carbon emissions.
Continue reading...Kenya's plastic waste to a boat
US groups honouring Paris climate pledges despite Trump
US states, cities and businesses signed up to ‘America’s pledge’ to combat global warning have a combined economic power equal to the world’s third-biggest economy
The US states, cities and businesses that have signed up to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite president Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw from the Paris agreement would, if put together, have the clout of the world’s third biggest economy, after the US and China.
To date, 20 US states and more than 50 of its largest cities, along with more than 60 of the biggest businesses in the US, have committed to emissions reduction goals.
Continue reading...The eco guide to using your money
Switch to an ethical bank account and invest in renewable energy, not fossil fuels
Giving to charity, while highly recommended, does not make you an activist. It makes you a charity donor. Great in its own right, but move your bank account and then you’re edging into activist territory. As motivation, read a new report from Christian Aid that unpicks the global banking industry, zeroing in on the Big Four, which hold almost all of our money. What emerges is a picture of a system rife with dysfunction.
Despite the falling costs for renewables and their increasingly swift take-up, your money, via private banks, still primarily bankrolls fossil fuels. If this continues, by 2050 the global economy will have invested $23tn into fossil fuels, sinking the targets of the globally agreed Paris Agreement, our best hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change.
Continue reading...Controlling Indonesian peatland fires
Earworms from planet earth
Al Gore: 'I tried my best' but Trump can't be educated on climate change
At UN climate talks in Bonn, Gore is heading an unofficial group trying to stop climate change – in the face of scepticism from Trump administration officials
Al Gore has accused Donald Trump of surrounding himself “with the absolute worst of climate deniers” and said he has given up attempting to persuade the president to reverse his dismantling of policies combatting global warming.
However, both Gore, the former US vice-president, and Jerry Brown, governor of California, told the Guardian they were confident the US will regain its leadership position on climate change if Trump is defeated in the next presidential election.
Continue reading...Trump environment nominee struggles to answer basic climate questions – video
Kathleen Hartnett White struggles to answer basic questions posed by the Senate committee on environment and public works on Thursday. Hartnett White, Trump’s nominee for the environmental quality council chair, had difficulty answering questions from Senators Ben Cardin and Sheldon Whitehouse on green house emissions and climate science
Continue reading...Emissions trading and refrigerated truck engines under scrutiny | Letters
While the EU is extolling its “climate leadership” at the UN climate talks in Bonn, in Brussels it has just agreed to prolong its emissions trading system – providing big polluters with billions of euros in subsidies.
Some EU member states could use a sizable chunk of these funds to carry on burning fossil fuels, with Poland, for instance, looking to prolong the lifespan of its ageing coal infrastructure. Using emissions trading revenues to extend the life of coal-fired power plants is extremely irresponsible and works directly against efforts to halt catastrophic climate change.
Continue reading...US switches focus of its Bonn event from clean energy to fossil fuels
One of US’s only public events, originally billed as promoting clean energy, has since been changed to favour coal and nuclear power
The US has changed the focus of one of its few public events at the Bonn climate talks to emphasise coal and nuclear power, in a sign of the Trump administration’s goals at the talks.
An event next Monday, opening the second week of the ongoing UN negotiations, was originally billed as promoting clean energy. However, it has since been changed to emphasise coal and nuclear power.
Continue reading...The latest from Bonn, Delhi smog and a small victory for bees – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...Scale of 'nitrate timebomb' revealed
The week in wildlife – in pictures
Pintail ducks, an elephant seal pup and an osprey in action are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Antarctic base comes out of deep freeze
Seahorses found living in River Thames in London
Donald Trump cannot halt US climate progress, former Obama adviser says
Paul Bodnar believes US president has ability to hamper progress towards a lower carbon economy – but that market forces will ultimately stop him
Donald Trump could slow down US progress towards a lower carbon economy, but he will be unable to halt it because businesses and local governments have committed to a low-carbon path, a former climate negotiator for the US has said.
Through measures such as slapping import tariffs on solar products, scrapping incentives to renewable energy and promoting coal power, the US president could try to alter the economics of pursuing low-carbon energy.
Continue reading...Direct democracy can offer a third way in the climate fight | John Gibbons
With political agreement making slow progress and direct action becoming more dangerous, we must find alternatives
In the medieval legend made famous by the brothers Grimm, the German town of Hamelin is besieged by a plague of rats, until the mysterious pied piper appears and agrees, for a fee, to rid them of the infestation. The mayor then reneges on payment and the piper exacts a savage revenge on the town’s ingrates by luring away their children, who are never seen again.
The tale could also be an allegory for today’s grim intergenerational smash-and-grab – the global economy. As environmentalist Paul Hawken put it: “We have an economy where we steal the future, sell it in the present, and call it GDP.”
Continue reading...The stereo cycles of Sicily: Palermo teens pump up the velo – in pictures
Bici Palermo Tuning – a group of teenagers from the Sicilian capital – spend anything up to €1,300 customising their bikes with car batteries and multiple speakers to develop thunderous sound systems. The police are not impressed
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