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American Ornithological Society to change names referencing people or deemed offensive for ones that better describe species

A new rule from the American Ornithological Society (AOS) will cause reverberations around the birding world, and create new names for hundreds of species. The society says it has engaged in conversations with the community of birders, and will focus on first renaming the 70 to 80 species in the US and Canada that are named after people – or have names deemed offensive or exclusionary. Their efforts will start in 2024.

This means Anna’s hummingbird, named after an Italian duchess, and Lewis’s woodpecker, named after explorer Meriwether Lewis, will change. The society drew particular attention to undoing birds whose names are tied to historical wrongs – as in the case of Townsend’s warbler, named after John Kirk Townsend, who robbed Indigenous graves of skulls in the 1800s. This isn’t the first effort in renaming; in 2020, the society changed the name of a bird that once referred to a Confederate army general, John P McCown, to the thick-billed longspur.

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The suspended Kariba REDD project is financially stable for at least 12 months, according to the founder of Carbon Green Investments (CGI), the organisation that developed and runs the huge Zimbabwean avoided deforestation project, while stating that allegations of financial malpractice and illegal activities are groundless. 

South Australia sets stunning new record of 86.7 per cent wind and solar over month of October, while Australia's main grid reaches new peak of 45.1 per cent renewables over the month.

The post Wind and solar meet stunning 87 pct of South Australia’s demand over month of October appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The US EPA approvals process for state primacy over carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) as well as direct air capture (DAC) are preventing their installation, potentially condemning fossil fuel power plants, US Senators told a committee hearing on Thursday.

EU ETS emissions from heavy industry are set to fall 7% in 2023 compared to a year earlier due to waning output particularly among steel and chemicals firms, analysis said in a report on Thursday that represented a substantial writing down of expectations set out earlier in the year.

When Australia’s government and opposition argue over how to get to net zero emissions, nuclear power is the flashpoint. The argument against nuclear is stronger, but not for the obvious reason. Reuben Finighan, PhD candidate at the LSE and Research Fellow at the Superpower Institute, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Any plan to dam or extract water from some of Australia’s last wild rivers must carefully consider the consequences. Prawn, mud crab and barramundi fisheries could suffer in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Éva Plagányi, Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Laura Blamey, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Michele Burford, Professor - Australian Rivers Institute, and Dean - Research Infrastructure, Griffith University Robert Kenyon, Marine Ecologist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) should focus on simplifying its integrity guidance for carbon credit buyers if the stakeholder initiative wants to drive demand, an offtake investor told a webinar conference on Thursday.

The director of the Washington Department of Ecology (ECY) Laura Watson announced the agency's preliminary decision to pursue linking its cap-and-trade regulation with the broader WCI market on Thursday.

A twice-weekly summary of our biodiversity news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. All articles in this edition are free to read (no subscription required).

A Berlin-based venture capital firm has released its approach to assessing biodiversity impact, although there are gaps in the methodology with some major drivers of biodiversity loss not addressed.

A trio of Republican senators will introduce legislation Thursday to implement a carbon adjustment fee on imported products that result in heavy GHG pollution, a move sponsors say targets countries without comparable environmental standards, particularly China.

Taxes and levies on fossil fuel production, shipping, and aviation will be an important alternative source of income for a global climate-related loss and damage fund, in addition to developed country government donations to developing nations facing the worst impacts, said a spokesperson for a legal non-profit ahead of a crunch meeting to set up the UN vehicle.

Amid ‘scary outside time’ and cursed early Christmas promotions, there will at least be some good days for drying the washing

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies is. Well, wonder no more because at any given moment a magpie is planning an attack on you, talons out, sharp beak at the ready, protective instincts in full flight. Luckily, cowering publicly in fear of a bird is just one of the many joys of the current season! Join me in celebrating the annual experiences of spring.

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An ongoing carbon pricing instrument review in Malaysia is expected to be completed by next year, and will help the government choose between establishing a carbon tax or an emissions trading system to accelerate decarbonisation, local media reported Thursday.

European carbon prices plunged to a ten-month low on Thursday morning amid renewed and aggressive selling and despite a strong auction result, as the market appears to be taking on board the scale of bearish fundamentals, while energy prices also fell back for the fourth time in the last five days.

UN meteorological body finds health experts have access to heat warning services in only half of affected countries

The climate crisis threatens to roll back decades of progress towards better health and governments are ill-prepared to stop it, the World Meteorological Organization has said.

Three-quarters of national weather agencies send climate data to their country’s health officials but less than one in four health ministries use the information to protect people from risks such as extreme heat, the report found.

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Experts at Royal Horticultural Society conference argue for change of focus as many saplings are dying

Tree establishment should replace tree planting in government targets, experts have said.

Billions of pounds of taxpayer money could be being wasted planting trees that end up dying because government tree targets are focused on planting rather than survival, they argued, amid concern that saplings were dying because they are often neglected.

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Finnish firm Kuva Space has raised €16.6 million ($17.6 mln) towards its goal of observing the condition of “any material” on the planet through launching 100 satellites by 2030.

A system-wide revamp is needed to ensure high-integrity and equitable outcomes from nature markets, according to the CEO of a new project development firm looking at both carbon and biodiversity credits.