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UK mining firm in court over claims it mistreated environmental activists
Peruvian lawsuit in London claims Xstrata should be liable for alleged police violence against demonstrators near Tintaya mine
A UK-registered mining company, which is now part of Glencore, is facing claims in a London court that it hired security forces to mistreat environmental activists protesting about a copper mine in Peru.
Two demonstrators died and others were left with serious injuries following the confrontations which lasted for several days during May 2012 on a remote hillside in the Andes, the court has been told.
Continue reading...World 'very likely' heading for three degrees of warming by 2100 — UN report
Citizen scientists count nearly 2 million birds and reveal a possible kookaburra decline
Pacific Islanders call for Australia not to fund Adani coalmine
Caritas says thousands face threats to their wellbeing, livelihoods and ‘their very existence’ due to rising sea levels
Pacific Islanders whose homes face eradication by rising sea levels have called on Australia to not fund the Adani Carmichael coalmine, as a new report reveals the worsening impact of climate change across Oceania.
Residents of the endangered islands have described their forced displacement as like “having your heart ripped out of your chest” as they called on the Australian government to do more to combat climate change.
Continue reading...Satellite eye on Earth: September 2017 - in pictures
Algal blooms, hurricanes and volcano fields are among the images captured by Nasa and the ESA last month
A potentially harmful algal bloom covered more than 700 square miles in the western basin of Lake Erie in late September, turning the lake bright green and alarming residents and local officials. Blooms tend to thrive in Lake Erie during summer, sustained by warm water temperatures and nutrients from farm runoff. This year, the bloom had been ongoing since mid-July.
Continue reading...Moves to curb democratic fracking protests in the UK 'extremely worrying'
Green MP Caroline Lucas criticises attempts by chemicals multinational Ineos to impose a sweeping injunction against anti-fracking campaigners
The chemicals multinational Ineos is facing criticism for seeking to curb democratic protests against fracking in a move described by Green MP Caroline Lucas as “extremely worrying”.
On Tuesday Ineos began its latest legal move to impose a sweeping injunction against all campaigners protesting over its fracking operations.
Continue reading...UK's Halley Antarctic base set for second closure
Cod and haddock 'may vanish' from Scotland's west coast
Emissions gap remains 'alarmingly high' says UN
UN warns of 'unacceptable' greenhouse gas emissions gap
Report reveals large gap between government pledges and the reductions needed to prevent dangerous global warming
There is still a large gap between the pledges by governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the reductions scientists say are needed to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, the UN has said.
Current plans from national governments, and pledges made by private sector companies and local authorities across the world, would lead to temperature rises of as much as 3C or more by the end of this century, far outstripping the goal set under the 2015 Paris agreement to hold warming to 2C or less, which scientists say is the limit of safety.
Continue reading...World greenhouse gas levels made unprecedented leap in 2016
Country diary: one spider to make a song and dance about
Río Almonte, Extremadura, Spain Camel-haired legs, gleaming black eyes and the largest pair of spider jaws you’ve seen in your life – a tarantula
There were all sorts of exciting birds overhead, including vultures in elegant spirals and clusters of crag martins spooked up by a hunting sparrowhawk. Yet the group’s attention had been called to an insignificant hole in the bare ground by the picnic table.
The hole was 4cm across and had an untidy circlet of dead grasses arranged in a silk-knotted perimeter. By sheer chance I had just read about the occupant and how it could be lured into view with a grass stem drooped into the burrow entrance like a fishing line. Sure enough, within seconds, book learning was turned into startling experience.
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