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'World's oldest wine' found in 8,000-year-old jars in Georgia

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-14 08:47
Pottery found near Tbilisi shows wine-making was taking place 8,000 years ago, scientists say.
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Labour vows to factor climate change risk into economic forecasts

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-14 08:29

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell to say ‘overwhelming challenge of climate change’ must be addressed from very centre of government

The risk posed by climate change would be factored into projections from the government’s independent economic forecaster if Labour took office, the shadow chancellor will announce on Tuesday.

John McDonnell will highlight the human and economic costs of manmade climate change, calling it the “greatest single public challenge” and say the government should include the fiscal risks posed by global warming in future forecasts.

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'Tobacco at a cancer summit': Trump coal push savaged at climate conference

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-14 07:40

The US administration’s attempt to portray fossil fuels as vital to reducing poverty and saving US jobs is ridiculed in Bonn

The Trump team was heckled and interrupted by a protest song at the UN’s climate change summit in Bonn on Monday after using its only official appearance to say fossil fuels were vital to reducing poverty around the world and to saving jobs in the US.

While Donald Trump’s special adviser on energy and environment, David Banks, said cutting emissions was a US priority, “energy security, economic prosperity are higher priorities”, he said. “The president has a responsibility to protect jobs and industry across the country.”

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Antarctica's warm underbelly revealed

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-14 00:08
Scientists make the most detailed map yet of the heat rising under the ice sheet from rocks below.
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On climate and global leadership, it's America Last until 2020 | Dana Nuccitelli

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 21:00

America is deeply divided, but climate-denying Republicans are losing their grip on power

Five months ago, Trump quickly cemented his legacy as the country’s worst-ever president by inexplicably starting the process to withdraw from the Paris climate accords. With even war-torn Syria now signing the agreement, the leadership of every world country has announced its intent to tackle the existential threat posed by human-caused climate change, except the United States.

It's the US vs. the rest of the world, as Syria agrees to sign Paris climate accord https://t.co/Q1tkxuiHas pic.twitter.com/hnV2wHmLHL

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Share your photos and stories of how you are avoiding plastic

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 20:32

With a growing number of UK food and drink outlets ditching drinking straws and plastic bottles, we’d like to hear your tips for reducing plastic consumption

Pret A Manger announced in October the installation of taps dispensing free filtered water in some of its stores in an attempt to reduce the company’s use of plastic.

A growing number of food and drink outlets are taking action to ditch plastic amid deepening concern about its effect on the environment, with drinking straws and bottles among items being phased out.

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From the Everglades to Kilimanjaro, climate change is destroying world wonders

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 19:47

Number of natural world heritage sites at serious risk from global warming has doubled in three years, says the IUCN, including the Great Barrier Reef and spectacular karst caves in Europe

From the Everglades in the US to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, climate change is destroying the many of the greatest wonders of the natural world.

A new report on Monday from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reveals that the number of natural world heritage sites being damaged and at risk from global warming has almost doubled to 62 in the past three years.

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Fossil fuel emissions hit record high after unexpected growth: Global Carbon Budget 2017

The Conversation - Mon, 2017-11-13 18:52
After three years in which global carbon emissions scarcely rose, 2017 has seen them climb by 2%, as the long-anticipated peak in global emissions remains elusive. Pep Canadell, CSIRO Scientist, and Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Corinne Le Quéré, Professor, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia Glen Peters, Research Director, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo Robbie Andrew, Senior Researcher, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo Rob Jackson, Chair, Department of Earth System Science, and Chair of the Global Carbon Project, globalcarbonproject.org, Stanford University Vanessa Haverd, Senior research scientist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Fossil fuel burning set to hit record high in 2017, scientists warn

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 18:30

The rise would end three years of flat carbon emissions – a ‘huge leap backward’ say some scientists, while others say the longer term trend is more hopeful

The burning of fossil fuels around the world is set to hit a record high in 2017, climate scientists have warned, following three years of flat growth that raised hopes that a peak in global emissions had been reached.

The expected jump in the carbon emissions that drive global warming is a “giant leap backwards for humankind”, according to some scientists. However, other experts said they were not alarmed, saying fluctuations in emissions are to be expected and that big polluters such as China are acting to cut emissions.

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First CO2 rise in four years puts pressure on Paris targets

BBC - Mon, 2017-11-13 18:30
Uptick in coal use in China sees global CO2 emissions projected to rise after years of little or no growth.
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Draft Savanna Fire Management methods released for consultation

Department of the Environment - Mon, 2017-11-13 15:52
The two draft savanna fire management methods have been released for public consultation. Consultation period closes 27 November 2017.
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Country diary: starlings dot the lighthouse roof like currants on a bun

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 15:30

St Mary’s Island, Northumberland Children with fluorescent nets peer into plastic buckets; their cries of excitement echoed by the piping of seabirds

Heading south on the coastal path, we leave Old Hartley village, drawn magnetically by St Mary’s Island with its tall white lighthouse. The sea is a muted grey, with two vast container ships at rest near its meeting with a paler sky.

The footpath skirts a tufty hillock where a kestrel hovers over rough grass, fenced off from the path by chestnut paling. I catch the medicinal scent of mugwort, its glaucous leaves curling and turning winter brown. The scrubby clifftops are a tangle of rose briars and brambles, safe thickets for stonechat and wren. Amongst the windblown tussocks are seedheads of wild carrot, yarrow and knapweed, with late flowers of red clover.

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Know your NEM: Queensland poll – what are the odds?

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 14:17
Queensland energy politics has something for everyone – including a new coal plant – but bookmakers are backing the state Labor. Meanwhile, on the NEM...
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Wind turbine collapse under investigation at Antarctic research centre

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 14:09
One of two wind turbines that help to power Australia's Mawson research station in Antarctica has partially collapsed.
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Sugar vs solar, round 2: 60MW Qld project stalls after opposition from cane farmers

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 13:42
ESCO Pacific's proposed 60MW Mirani Solar Farm has failed to win approval from the local council, after strong opposition from local sugar can growers.
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Climate change spurs Medibank fossil fuel divestment

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 13:41
Medibank’s announcement it will divest tens of millions of dollars from fossil fuels due to the ‘health effects of climate change’ has been welcomed by environmental finance group Market Forces.
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South Australia’s new power plant ready before summer

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 13:39
South Australia now has access to an additional 276 MW of electricity generation, with the state’s new power plant installed in time for the warmer summer months.
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Wind farm researchers found to have no human ethics approval

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 12:13
A new research paper into the health impacts of wind farms has raised serious concerns over academic credibility.
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Medibank drops fossil-fuel investments worth tens of millions of dollars

The Guardian - Mon, 2017-11-13 11:26

Australia’s largest private health insurer says it ‘acknowledges the science of climate change and the impacts on human health’

Australia’s largest private health insurer, Medibank, will shed tens of millions of dollars in fossil-fuel investments because of the effects of climate change on human health.

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange before its annual general meeting in Melbourne on Monday, its chair, Elizabeth Alexander, said the company would move to low-carbon investments “in line with our commitment to the health and wellbeing of our customers”.

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Qld Labor ups ante on renewables – more ambition, new technology

RenewEconomy - Mon, 2017-11-13 11:24
Labor commits to "at least" 50% renewables by 2030, and promises $50m for first large scale solar tower and storage plant. Premier hails technologies that can power Queensland 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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