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Eclipse in Africa: 'Ring of Fire' eclipse wows stargazers
SpaceX rocket: Explosion at Kennedy Space Center ahead of launch
Halogen spotlights to be phased out across Europe
New European ruling bans any new orders on GU10 spotlights and PAR30 floodlights, which can waste up to 10 times more energy than LEDs
Energy-gobbling halogen spotlights will be phased out across Europe from Thursday, in a boost for super-efficient LEDs ahead of a wider halogen bulb ban in 2018.
Directional halogen bulbs already in stores can still be sold after today but no new retailer orders will be possible for the spotlights, which can waste up to 10 times more energy than LEDs.
Continue reading...Rare stick insects breed at Bristol Zoo
Hawaii under threat: the environment Obama has called to protect – in pictures
The US president was in Honolulu on Wednesday to tell an audience of Pacific island leaders that ‘No nation … is immune from a changing climate.’ Last week Obama created the world’s largest marine reserve by quadrupling in size the biodiverse Papahānaumokuākea national monument. He will visit Midway Atoll, part of the protected area, on Thursday
Continue reading...Obama makes climate change personal with call for action in home state Hawaii
US president delivers two major speeches on climate change, on in Nevada, pleading with politicians to act in the interest of future generations
Barack Obama has issued perhaps his most personal plea yet to overcome the existential threat posed by climate change.
The US president gave two major speeches on climate change in the space of a day, one in Nevada and another in Hawaii, after Air Force One managed to safely dodge two hurricanes lurking in the Pacific.
Continue reading...Fuel economy: just two cars deliver advertised mileage, tests show
Thousands of models are 30% worse on average when measuring miles per gallon in real-world conditions, according to comprehensive new data
Just two cars deliver their advertised fuel economy when on the road, with the thousands of other models 30% worse on average in the real world, according to comprehensive new data.
Some cars, such as the Fiat 500 and Ford Fiesta, gave barely half the mileage advertised.
Continue reading...Kenya's elephants at home in the Samburu national reserve – in pictures
Though Kenya’s elephant population is stable and poaching is relatively under control, across Africa savannah elephants are increasingly under threat
Saving Africa’s elephants: ‘Can you imagine them no longer existing?’
Continue reading...Korean palm oil firm accused of illegal forest burning in Indonesia
Some of the world’s biggest buyers have stopped trading with Korindo after the emergence of footage claiming to show illegal burning in Papua province
A Korean palm oil company has been dropped by buyers after footage emerged that allegedly shows the illegal burning of vast tracts of tropical forest on lands it holds concessions for in Indonesia.
Some of the world’s biggest palm oil trading producers including Wilmar, Musim Mas and IOI have stopped using palm oil sourced from Korindo, much of which is destined to meet European demand.
Continue reading...Martin George obituary
Our father, Martin George, who has died aged 86, championed the conservation of the Norfolk Broads. He was one of the last great naturalists of his generation.
His achievements were many and varied, those around him recalling his enthusiasm and energy as new sites and species were found. He put several initiatives in place, including the Hoveton Great Broad nature trail, which he designed and implemented. He led the Nature Conservancy’s ground-breaking 1965 report on Broadland, which alerted the public and government to its ecological challenges, and played significant roles in the subsequent establishment of the Broads Authority and launch of the Broads grazing marsh conservation scheme, the forerunner of national agri-environment payments to farmers.
Continue reading...Stranger in his own land: how to be green when you believe in Donald Trump
Mike Scadd loves the waters of Louisiana more than anything in the world. A vote for Clinton would help protect them. But there’s something more important to him and others than clean water: pride in his people
Sometimes you have to go a long, long way to discover truths that are distinctly close to home. Over the last five years, I’ve done just that – left my home in liberal Berkeley, California, and traveled to the bayous of Tea Party Louisiana to find another America that, as Donald Trump’s presidential bid has made all too clear, couldn’t be closer to home for us all. From those travels, let me offer a kind of real-life parable about a man I came to admire who sums up many of the contradictions of our distinctly Trumpian world.
So come along with me now, as I turn right on Gumbo Street, left on Jambalaya, pass Sauce Piquant Lane, and scattering a cluster of feral cats, park on Crawfish Street, opposite a yellow wooden home by the edge of waters issuing into Bayou Corne, Louisiana. The street is deserted, lawns are high, and branches of satsuma and grapefruit trees hang low with unpicked fruit. Walking toward me along his driveway is Mike Schaff, a tall, powerfully built, balding man in an orange and red striped T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. He’s wearing tan-rimmed glasses and giving a friendly wave.
Continue reading...Arctic sea ice will miss record low despite major melt, experts say
Though Arctic sea ice started the summer at record lows, it is unlikely to set a new record annual minimum, reports Climate Central
As the sun begins its seasonal descent in the Arctic sky and temperatures drop, the summer melt of sea ice is slowing down. In the next few weeks, the span of the Arctic Ocean covered by ice will reach its annual low.
But despite beginning the summer at unprecedentedly low levels, this year’s minimum won’t break the stunning record of 2012, experts say, thanks to cloudy weather that slowed the rate of melt.
Continue reading...Senate calls on Coalition to rule out financing Adani's Carmichael coalmine
Greens motion also calls on government to rule out publicly funding any of the mine’s associated infrastructure
The government is under increasing pressure to rule out public funding for Adani’s Carmichael coalmine, after the Senate passed a Greens motion calling on the Coalition to rule out financing the mine or any associated infrastructure.
The government did not oppose the motion, so it was carried without a formal count on Thursday.
Continue reading...Saving Africa's elephants: 'Can you imagine them no longer existing?'
Across Africa, poaching is on the rise. Progress is being made here and there, but the battle to save the largest animals on the Earth is far from being won
In the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya, when the fierce heat of the sun has softened into a gentle evening glow, David Daballen and I climb into a jeep to find some elephants.
As we drive through the savannah, Daballen, a conservationist at Save the Elephants, points out family groups and individuals within them. “These are the Butterflies, this group is Storms, here are the Spices,” he says. We have been looking out for Cinnamon, the Spices’ matriarch, and suddenly there she is: around 50 years old, huge and tuskless, having been born without any precious ivory. Close to her is Habiba, who was orphaned along with seven siblings when poachers killed their mother in 2011. The orphans were adopted by Cinnamon and the rest of the Spices.
New gold rush: mining for woolly mammoths in Siberia – in pictures
‘Ethical ivory’ from the extinct animal is in high demand as elephants fall out of favour in China. Photographer Amos Chapple followed the tuskers in the Russian wilderness searching to uncover the lucrative remains
Continue reading...Zoo news: this month’s animal antics from round the globe – in pictures
A collection of zoological wonders from August 2016, featuring a head-bopping sea-lion called Ronan, long-lived sharks and lobsters that bag up their poo
Thousands of UK churches ditch fossil fuel electricity
Majority of the Salvation Army’s sites, third of Quaker meeting houses, and 2,000 churches belonging to 16 Catholic dioceses switch to renewable energy
More than 3,500 churches across Britain have moved their electricity supply to renewables, or are planning to do so, according to data released on Thursday.
Those switching away from fossil fuels include the majority of the Salvation Army’s sites, about a third of Quaker meeting houses, and about 2,000 churches belonging to 16 Catholic dioceses which are running entirely on renewable energy.
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