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Tiny particles including tyre dust found in ice cores stretching back 50 years, showing global plastic contamination
Nanoplastic pollution has been detected in polar regions for the first time, indicating that the tiny particles are now pervasive around the world.
The nanoparticles are smaller and more toxic than microplastics, which have already been found across the globe, but the impact of both on people’s health is unknown.
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Morrison government hails engineering milestone but researchers raise concerns and say it could increase emissions
Australia will export its first load of liquefied hydrogen made from coal in an engineering milestone which researchers say could also lock in a new fossil fuel industry and increase the country’s carbon emissions.
Under the $500m Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) pilot project, hydrogen will be made in Victoria’s LaTrobe valley from brown coal and transported aboard a purpose-built ship to Japan, where it will be burned in coal-fired power plants.
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The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including beluga whales, a ‘snow fairy’ and two egrets hitching a lift
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Government considers scrapping scheme that pays for energy efficiency measures for poorer households
More than 30,000 jobs would be put at risk if the government were to scrap the energy bill levy that pays for home insulation improvements for poor households, the industry has warned.
Ministers are mooting an end to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), a £1bn levy on energy bills that pays for energy efficiency measures for people on low incomes. The energy price cap is expected to rise by about £700 to £2,000 for the average household bill in April, after a surge in gas prices.
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Stunning images from the 10th year of the worldwide Ocean Art underwater photo competition. Thousands of entries from 81 countries were judged with the winners including nine taken in Australia
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Some rightwingers claim renewables have increased costs, but Energy UK blames over-reliance on gas
Energy companies want the government to implement policies to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the industry’s leader has said, despite claims from some on the political right that high energy prices should spark a rethink.
Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of Energy UK, which represents the industry, said: “The government should press on with net zero policies. That’s something they still need to do. We are missing the carbon budgets.”
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Stamford, Lincolnshire: It’s the coldest night in winter. I almost enjoy the sense of it working its way inside me
It’s the coldest night of the winter. Just hours ago, the world was agleam with wet cold, now – with the dark – it’s solid cold. Things that rustled now rattle, and the grass is in a beautiful rigour of felty frost. It catches the moonlight and sparkles, a miracle that turns the colourless and drab suddenly starkly beautiful under the light of the dark.
Clear winter nights like this are wonderful for stars. That, and to just go out and feel the cold and its tight silence around you. I stand and breathe deep, exhaling stiff, granular steam. And I start to feel it as it works its way in. Fingers, feet, nose. Then deeper, like an alarm of rising volume. Stand still enough for long enough and it takes hold of your core, a sickly pain, that – left long enough – will stop your life.
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The deal to build an electric car battery plant near Blyth will bring up to 3,000 jobs to the area by 2028
The UK government will invest £100m in Britishvolt as the car battery manufacturing startup seeks to build Britain’s first large-scale “gigafactory” in the north-east of England.
The government’s Automotive Transformation Fund will invest alongside asset management company Abrdn and its majority-owned property investment arm, Tritax, to fund a sale and leaseback deal for the huge building that will house the electric car battery factory, near Blyth in Northumberland.
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With meat consumption twice the global average, citizens of EU27 have to reconcile environmental concerns and culinary traditions
A row over meat consumption in Spain over the last month is just the most recent eruption of the debate all over Europe, as the continent grapples with making its famous cuisines more sustainable.
Food is inextricably intertwined with national identity for countries in continental Europe; a good steak, with perfect fritesstacked beside it; a plate of wafer thin carpaccio, drizzled with dressing or plain old olive oil; wurst, served with good mustard; jamón ibérico laced with creamy white fat.
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Exclusive: Officers say cuts and operational decisions have made England’s regulator ‘toothless’
Staff at England’s Environment Agency say it has been cut back to such an extent that they cannot do their jobs and the regulator is no longer a deterrent to polluters.
Three officers at the EA have described to the Guardian and Ends Report how they are increasingly unable to hold polluters to account or improve the environment as a result of the body’s policies.
Continue reading...They can refer customers to a free online NHS service that runs a programme to get people into shape.
Hard-to-reach groups – from rough sleepers to fairground workers – are being targeted in a final vaccine push.
People with conditions that mean the vaccine does not work fear the removal of self-isolation rules.
NHS chiefs are worried pressures on the NHS may deter people coming forward with symptoms.
A microchip has been implanted into her eye to tackle dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
It's the most significant drop since the Omicron wave hit the country in December, the figures suggest.
South African scientists say their research was not taken more seriously because it was from Africa.
The death toll, worst in poorer countries and among the under-fives, needs urgent action, experts say.
They mistreated a vulnerable 54-year-old man they were employed to look after on a seaside break.
People are being advised to remain indoors to escape the dangerous ash and gases in the air.
In partnership with Conservation International, chefs in Hawaiʻi are cooking up creative ways to control invasive species populations.
Editor's note: News about conservation and the environment is made every day, but some of it can fly under the radar. In a recurring feature, Conservation News shares three stories from the past week that you should know about.
Climate change and environmental degradation are among the gravest threats to humanity, says a new report.
The story:The World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risk Report this year finds that the top five long-term risks to our world are all environmental — with climate action failure, extreme weather and biodiversity loss ranking as the most severe. Risks were gathered from surveys with approximately 1,000 experts and leaders, Ashira Morris reports for World War Zero. Though climate change has already arrived “in the form of droughts, fires, floods, resource scarcity and species loss, among other impacts,” current climate commitments are not sufficient to meet the challenge, according to the report.
The big picture: “The World Economic Forum finds public and private-sector leaders in broad agreement … decisive climate action cannot wait,” Conservation International CEO M. Sanjayan told World War Zero. “To date, the industrialized world has consistently failed to make good on their climate promises. As we look ahead to COP27,” — the international climate negotiations set for later this year in Egypt — “governments, companies and financial institutions must not only increase their own decarbonization ambitions — they must make fairness a priority [for] communities on the frontlines of climate change.”
Read more here.
Russia’s frozen lands contain vast amounts of carbon, which is being released as the permafrost melts.
The story:In northeastern Russia’s boreal forests, where permafrost can be a kilometer deep, annual temperatures have risen by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since the Industrial Revolution — twice the global average, Joshua Yaffa writes for The New Yorker. Climate change, exacerbated by deforestation and wildfires, is melting the permafrost. As it thaws, once-frozen organic matter — everything from woolly mammoth remains to tree stumps — is releasing “a constant belch of carbon dioxide and methane,” writes Yaffa. This fuels a dangerous feedback loop: Greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere lead to higher temperatures, which in turn contribute to further melting these frozen soils.
The big picture:“Irrecoverable carbon” refers to the vast stores of carbon in nature that are vulnerable to release from human activity and, if lost, could not be restored by 2050 — when the world must reach net-zero emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Due in part to its massive land area, Russia contains the most irrecoverable carbon of any country, with high concentrations in its boreal peatlands and forests, according a recent studyby Conservation International, which mapped irrecoverable carbon around the world — providing policymakers with the clearest view yet on the areas that most need to be protected.
One mountainous region, the East Russian taiga in the southeast corner of the county, contains 2 percent of Earth’s irrecoverable carbon — and the last Siberian tiger range — making it a priority for protection, experts say.
Read more here.
Companies that supply the world’s commodities are also driving deforestation, according to a new report.
The story:Protecting forests is critical to limiting climate change, yet a third of the 350 companies most involved in commodities such as soy, beef and palm oil lack policies to ensure their products do not contribute to deforestation, reports Simon Jessop for Reuters. According to Global Canopy’s annual “Forest 500” report, 93 of the world's 150 leading financial institutions — providing US$ 5.5 trillion in finance — do not have a deforestation policy covering their lending to companies in key commodity supply chains.
The big picture:Each year, large swaths of tropical forests are destroyed to make room for palm oil, cattle, soy and other commodity-driven agriculture. But this destruction of nature comes at a climate cost; tropical deforestation accounts for 8 percentof annual emissions, equivalent to those released by the entire European Union.
In November, at the UN global climate summit known as COP26, more than 100 countries — accounting for about 86 percent of the world’s forests — committed to stop deforestation on their lands by the end of this decade. In addition, more than 30 financial institutions pledged to eliminate deforestation driven by agriculture from their portfolios and increase investments in nature-based solutions by 2025.
“The new political space created at COP26 can pave the way for stronger and more broadly applicable legal frameworks … but these proposals could be strengthened, and must be enforced, with clear accountability and penalties for breaches,” according to the “Forest 500” report.
Read more here.
Vanessa Bauza is the editorial director at Conservation International. Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for email updates here. Donate to Conservation International here.
Cover image: Alder Fire in Yellowstone National Park (© Mike Lewelling, National Park Service)
In case you missed it: Carbon offsets are helping protect mangroves and support local communities in Colombia, a vacuum could help pull genetic information for wildlife from the sky and more.
The UN climate talks (COP26) yielded key climate commitments. Our experts weigh in on the main takeaways — plus needed next steps.
Earth is teetering perilously close to a tipping point — but it’s not too late to bring us back from the edge, says Conservation International’s Chief Scientist Johan Rockström in a new Netflix film.
In case you missed it: Solar and wind power gain traction as global coal consumption plummets, violence and extreme weather pushed millions from their homes last year, and a growing number of people care about protecting nature.
Learn how Indonesia has taken incredible steps to protect these fascinating — and valuable — creatures.
In a historic announcement, the global civil aviation industry has paved the way for airlines to help neutralize their climate footprint by protecting nature.
In case you missed it: Pope Francis is imploring people to protect nature, the world’s largest coral reef is facing mass die-offs and restoring one-third of the Earth’s most degraded ecosystems is crucial to slowing climate change.
In case you missed it: Global greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly rising as countries ease COVID-19 restrictions, plastic pollution is growing across national parks in the western United States, and new research revealed that heat and air pollution could cause birthing problems for pregnant women, especially for Black mothers.
