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Banning bikes from Oxford Street is a disaster for London cycling

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-07 21:37

Plans to pedestrianise one of the capital’s busiest cycling roads send the troubling message that cyclists and pedestrians can’t co-exist in an 80ft-wide street

Sadiq Khan’s proposal to ban cyclists from Oxford Street, published on Monday, is an unqualified disaster for cycling in London, perhaps the single biggest blow it has suffered in years. And he’s sending an even more dangerous signal to the rest of the country.

More than 2,000 cyclists a day, according to Department for Transport figures, use the first section proposed for pedestrianisation next year, between Selfridges and Oxford Circus. More than 5,000 a day use the section between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road, which is proposed to be pedestrianised in 2019.

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The British Wildlife Photography awards 2017 - in pictures

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-07 20:55

Daniel Trim’s airport-roosting pied wagtail has won the 2017 competition, which celebrates the work of amateur and professional photographers and the beauty and diversity of British wildlife. Winning images are chosen from thousands of entries, including film and junior categories.

More than 100 images are on show at the Mall Galleries in London, before touring nationally, and a book of the images is also available

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Church of England should lead on climate change by divesting from ExxonMobil | Letter

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-07 17:00
Anglican clergy, including five bishops, broadcaster Richard Coles and Olivia Graham, call on the church to support the aims of the Paris climate agreement by divesting from fossil fuel companies

As Church of England clergy, we have a strong interest in the ethics of investments made by the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board on our behalf.

This week, governments from around the world will meet in Bonn for the next round of UN climate talks. The Paris climate change agreement, which was signed by 195 countries in December 2015, included a commitment to hold the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2C … and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels”.

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Bishops urge Church of England to divest from ExxonMobil over climate change

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-07 17:00

Group says church should show ‘moral leadership’ in light of claims that the oil giant misled the public over the risks of global warming

The Church of England should “show moral leadership” and immediately sell its investments in the oil giant ExxonMobil, according to a group of bishops and other clergy.

ExxonMobil is accused of misleading the public for decades over the dangers of climate change – the oil company denies the allegations – and has funded climate change denial, making its presence in the church’s £7.9bn investment fund of particular concern, the group argues. Investment funds worth more than $5tn have already committed to divest from fossil fuels.

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Natural gas emissions will blow Europe's carbon budget at current levels

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-07 16:30

Governments have been underestimating methane emissions from gas and must phase out the fossil fuel, along with coal and oil, by 2035 to keep within Paris climate targets, a major study shows

Governments have drastically underestimated methane emissions from natural gas and will miss the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 2C unless they urgently scale down its use, a major new study has found.

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Country diary: angling spot regular with a taste for unwanted catch

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-07 15:30

Rockland St Mary, Norfolk The fisherman rewarded the well-fed and fearless heron – a regular at the angling spot – with a small perch

There were two catchers of fish at the water’s edge. There was the old boy who told me he had been coming here for 50 years and then there was the grey heron that has acquired a deep familiarity with people. I often it see as I drive through the neighbouring village of Bramerton, where it stands by the pond right at the roadside.

Today, it was on Rockland staithe, where it kept a companionable distance from its human neighbour. Both faced towards the tide-swollen water and, while both were fish-focused, only one was doing the catching. He told me that the heron had been a regular at the spot for about 10 years and, over that time, had acquired the courage to pace within touching distance of his pitch. On winter mornings, when the ground is frozen and pickings are slim, the bird stands on an adjacent telegraph pole and croaks his disapproval. Apparently, the fishermen have taken this as a sign of its hunger and they toss it parts of their unwanted catch.

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Will Tasmania be the ‘battery of the nation’?

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-07 13:11
Tasmania itself doesn’t need more centralised energy storage. Tasmania’s problem is lack of renewable generation.
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Chile solar auction sets new record low for solar PV

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-07 12:33
Chile energy auction attracts record low bid for solar, with average prices for renewables down 75% since its first auction in 2015.
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Is this the end for big wind and big solar in Australia?

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-07 12:32
All eyes are on Victoria and the corporate sector for the future of large-scale renewables in Australia. With the renewable energy target now largely met, there is little else on offer for the pipeline of 20GW of wind and solar projects.
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Fossil of 'our earliest ancestors' found in Dorset

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-07 12:28
Teeth of the oldest mammals related to humans have been discovered on the Jurassic coast of Dorset.
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Graphs of the Day: A really bad day for so-called “reliable” coal

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-07 12:15
Multiple fault with multiple coal generators on Monday highlight the perils of relying on "baseload" coal to keep the lights on.
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Understanding the “Emissions Gap” in 5 Charts

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-07 12:09
Five charts that help explain the 2017 emissions gap report from UNEP.
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Five things that should happen at the Bonn climate talks but probably won’t

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-07 12:08
This year's climate talks in Bonn is not expected to be a deal-clinching, make-or-break one like Paris in 2015 or Copenhagen in 2009, but that doesn’t make it insignificant.
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Gibbons saved from pet trade have baby

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-07 11:57
Rescued pet apes in Indonesia are being returned to the wild, but traders are still "flouting the law".
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Albany Wave Energy Project activities underway

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2017-11-07 11:11
Carnegie Clean Energy has now commenced the Albany project design and development activities.
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Gibbons rescued from pet trade have baby in the wild

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-07 11:10
A gibbon is the first of its species born in the wild to parents rescued from the illegal pet trade.
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Human-elephant conflict destroying lives in India

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-07 10:36
Elephants are looking for food in villages in India's forests, with deadly consequences.
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Sustainable shopping: how to rock white sneakers without eco-guilt

The Conversation - Tue, 2017-11-07 05:22
Iconic Stan Smiths can be styled with almost anything, but most white sneakers are costly to the environment. Lucky for us, there are many sustainable alternatives that are just as cool. Lisa Heinze, PhD candidate Sustainability, Fashion & Everyday Life, University of Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
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Bonn climate talks will aim to meet goals laid out in Paris, says UN

The Guardian - Tue, 2017-11-07 03:34

Delegates ‘do not have the luxury of lots of philosophical discussions’ but must focus on advancing the pledges set out in the Paris agreement

The UN hopes to create an “operating manual” for implementing the Paris agreement on climate change, with talks in the next two weeks in Bonn.

“We want to advance further, faster, together to meet the goals set out in the Paris agreement,” said Patricia Espinosa, the UN’s chief official on the climate, at the opening of the talks. “We need an operating manual for the Paris agreement. This has to be the launchpad for the next level of ambition on climate change action, because we know the pledges [to cut emissions] made so far are not enough to take us to [meeting the Paris goals].”

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'I inject myself with snake venom'

BBC - Tue, 2017-11-07 01:21
Steve Ludlow has been injecting himself with venom for more than 30 years
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