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Six things we know about the plastic bag charge in England
It’s been six months since the 5p charge was introduced for single-use plastic bags. So what have we learned?
It is six months since the introduction of the 5p charge for single-use plastic carrier bags in England, the last part of the UK to implement a charge. Here are six things we have learned since then:
Tigers declared extinct in Cambodia
Conservationists say Indochine tigers are ‘functionally extinct’ as they launch action plan for reintroduction
Tigers are “functionally extinct” in Cambodia, conservationists conceded for the first time on Wednesday, as they launched a bold action plan to reintroduce the big cats to the kingdom’s forests.
Cambodia’s dry forests used to be home to scores of Indochinese tigers but the WWF said intensive poaching of both tigers and their prey had devastated the numbers of the big cats.
Safeguard Mechanism Draft Emissions Intensity Benchmark Guidelines
Safeguard Mechanism Draft Emissions Intensity Benchmark Guidelines
Pig hearts kept alive in baboons for more than two years
Natural Temperate Grassland of the South Eastern Highlands listed in the critically endangered category
Can you make your heart stronger?
Polar bears losing weight as Arctic sea ice melts, Canadian study finds
Between 1984 and 2009 the weight of female bears in Ontario fell by over 10% while climate change meant they had 30 fewer days a year to hunt seal on ice
Three decades of melting sea ice has led to significant weight loss among the world’s southernmost population of polar bears, new data from Canadian researchers suggests.
“It’s a red flag,” said Martyn Obbard, a scientist with the Ontario provincial government and co-author of a recently published study in the journal Arctic Science.
Continue reading...Ancient 'Kite Runner' carried its young attached to its body by threads
Emissions Reduction Fund Video: opportunities to participate
Emissions Reduction Fund Video: opportunities to participate
Human sacrifice may have helped build and sustain social class systems
Limiting catch of one type of fish could help save coral reefs, research finds
Study finds protecting a single type of herbivorous fish could be crucial to the recovery of reefs from damage related to climate change
Limiting the take of just one type of fish could protect coral reefs around the world from the most serious immediate impacts of climate change, researchers have found.
Studying Caribbean coral reefs, Peter Mumby and colleagues from the University of Queensland found that enforcing a rule limiting the fishing of a single type of herbivorous fish – parrotfish – would allow coral reefs there to continue to grow, despite bleaching and other impacts associated with climate change.
Continue reading...Europe faces €253bn nuclear waste bill
Disposal and decommissioning of plants in EU’s 16 nuclear nations outstrips available funds by €120bn, European commission study reveals
Europe is facing a €253bn bill for nuclear waste management and plant decommissioning which outstrips available funds by €120bn, according to a major stock-take of the industry by the European commission.
The sum breaks down into €123bn for the decommissioning of old reactors and €130bn for the management of spent fuel, radioactive waste and deep geological disposal processes.
Continue reading...Planned gas pipeline alongside Indian Point nuclear plant stirs meltdown fears
Leak in pipeline being built by energy giant Spectra could lead to shutdown – or worse – at the New York state power station, experts say
Across a narrow swath cut by bulldozers and chainsaws through the woods of Westchester County, New York, triangular yellow flags are clotheslined between pairs of trees. The flags trace the eventual path of the gas pipeline that the energy giant Spectra is building through the area, escorted at times by police and harried by local residents worried by its proximity to a decaying nuclear power plant.
If that pipeline leaks or breaks, say experts, its contents could detonate and destroy the switchyard that sits 400ft from the gas line. Entergy, which runs the Indian Point power station, said the plant could be quickly shut down in such an event. Nuclear engineer Paul Blanch is not so sure. Blanch, who has previously consulted for Entergy and now assists an organization calling for the pipeline to be stopped, said that assertion is a best-case scenario. In the worst case, he said, the reactors could melt down. And he believes Entergy and Spectra have not fully considered that worst-case scenario.
Continue reading...Building capacity locally is key to protecting and restoring the Tar-Ru Lands
Smoking while pregnant changes baby's DNA, mounting evidence shows
Mild UK winter boosts sightings of smaller garden birds
Long-tailed tit returns to the top 10 most commonly seen garden birds for the first time in seven years, results from the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch show
A mild winter has boosted the number of small birds visiting UK gardens, with the long-tailed tit returning to the top 10 most commonly seen species for the first time in seven years, according to results from the world’s largest garden wildlife survey.
Recorded sightings of the tiny, sociable tit rose by 44% on 2015 figures and the species was seen in more than a quarter of participants’ gardens. Other small garden bird species that are thought to have benefitted from the warmer weather include the great tit and coal tit.
Continue reading...Two-faced alien planet has solid and liquid surfaces
'Hobbits' disappeared when modern humans arrived
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