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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...SENG Vic-Tas Newsletter November 2017
'As close as the US gets to Egypt’s pyramids': how Chaco Canyon is endangered by drilling
Irreplaceable cultural resources in New Mexico are among those areas targeted for expedited drilling – and conservationists say it’s ‘like losing pages and chapters of that history book’
In Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, it is still possible to wander the maze of rooms of an ancestral Puebloan village erected roughly 1,000 years ago.
Visitors use the same staircases and duck through the same T-shaped doorways as residents did at the time. A jigsaw puzzle of rocks form walls that stand several feet thick and multiple stories tall. Where rooftops are gone, windows now let in glimpses of sky. It’s a simultaneous experience of vast space and marvelous connection.
Continue reading...Air pollution crisis in New Delhi
The seven megatrends that could beat global warming: 'There is reason for hope'
Until recently the battle to avert catastrophic climate change – floods, droughts, famine, mass migrations – seemed to be lost. But with the tipping point just years away, the tide is finally turning, thanks to innovations ranging from cheap renewables to lab-grown meat and electric airplanes
‘Everybody gets paralysed by bad news because they feel helpless,” says Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who delivered the landmark Paris climate change agreement. “It is so in our personal lives, in our national lives and in our planetary life.”
But it is becoming increasingly clear that it does not need to be all bad news: a series of fast-moving global megatrends, spurred by trillion-dollar investments, indicates that humanity might be able to avert the worst impacts of global warming. From trends already at full steam, including renewable energy, to those just now hitting the big time, such as mass-market electric cars, to those just emerging, such as plant-based alternatives to meat, these trends show that greenhouse gas emissions can be halted.
Continue reading...Australia might water down illegal logging laws – here's why it's a bad idea
Nearly half of all fresh potatoes thrown away daily by UK households
Figures show nearly 3 million potatoes a day are wasted, at a cost of £230m a year
Nearly half of the edible fresh potatoes bought by UK householders each day are thrown away - nearly 2.7 million of them per day, and at a “staggering” annual cost of £230m, figures show.
The humble spud is the second most wasted food in the UK, behind bread, according to new official figures released on Wednesday. The new research was offered in support of a government campaign to encourage consumers to reduce their domestic food waste.
Continue reading...We need to talk about rooftop solar
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