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Regulator for England lacks powers to deal with what the public accounts committee calls an ‘out-of-control plague’
The Environment Agency is too weak to tackle an “out-of-control plague” of waste dumping, a powerful group of MPs has said.
The public accounts committee (PAC) said the EA had gaps in its powers and intelligence gathering which meant it was not set up to deal effectively with the rise in waste dumping.
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US, top carbon emitter in history, has ‘a lot of responsibility’ for causing ‘substantial’ harm globally, scientist says
The US has caused an eye-watering $10tn in global damages to the world over the past three decades through its vast planet-heating emissions, with a quarter of this economic pain inflicted upon itself, new research has found.
By being the largest carbon emitter in history, the US has caused greater harm to worldwide economic growth than any other country, ahead of China, now the world’s largest emitter that is responsible for $9tn in GDP damage since 1990, according to the findings of the paper.
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A long-running experiment in Colorado provides an ‘alarming’ view of how rapidly unchecked global heating could transform fragile ecosystems
Every summer, people descend on the wildflower capital of Colorado to see grasslands flush with corn lilies, aspen sunflowers and sub-alpine larkspur. In January 1991, scientists set up a unique experiment in these Rocky Mountain meadows. It was one of the first (and longest running) to work out how the changing climate would affect an ecosystem.
At the time, it was believed a temperature increase could lead to longer, lusher grasses. But instead of flourishing, the grasses and wildflowers started to disappear, replaced by sage brush. The experimental meadows morphed into a desert-like scrubland. Even the fungi in the soils were transformed by heat.
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Constituents’ frustration with Richard Tice reflects growing problem for party and its leaders’ climate-sceptic stance
“The worst part of it was the smell,” says Audrey Crook, 58. A full-time carer who lives with her 20-year-old son, Crook woke up at 11pm one night to find a foot of flood water on the ground floor of her home. “It was like black water. It had sewage and everything in it, it was absolutely disgusting.”
Crook’s home – along with more than 30 others on Wyberton West Road and Park Road in Boston, Lincolnshire – was flooded in January last year when heavy rain swept across the region, raising river levels and exceeding flood defences.
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GB Energy’s Jürgen Maier says production could bring economic benefits and give supply chains ‘time to transition’ to renewables
The head of the UK’s national green energy champion has joined other high-profile renewable energy leaders in making the case for more North Sea oil and gas production as the government braces for an energy cost crisis.
The GB Energy boss, Jürgen Maier, used a social media post on LinkedIn to reject the claim that more North Sea oil and gas could help to bring down energy costs, which have soared as the war in Iran has escalated.
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The report also recommends government do more to make tech companies liable for ‘psychosocial harms’
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Australia’s climate change and energy “information ecosystem” is fuelling conflict in communities, with misinformation and disinformation confusing the public, slowing renewable energy projects and undermining policy responses to the climate crisis, a cross-party Senate inquiry has concluded.
The inquiry’s final report, released on Tuesday evening, recommended the government do more to make tech companies liable for “psychosocial harms” spread on their platforms.
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Hove, East Sussex: Loading it up with many different species – oak, elder, hazel, willow and birch – has turned it into a thriving ecosystem
In the garden, the log pile is a whole world. I hear frogs croaking from within it, I watch wrens foraging for insects. It’s a mixture of different species: apple from neighbours who were cutting a tree down, walnut from a pollarded giant at the allotment, hawthorn lost to a storm.
There’s also oak, elder, hazel, willow and birch. I stop tree surgeons and ask if I can take a log or two, replacing the sadness of another felled tree with the hope of the life its dead wood will support. I like taking new logs home for my log pile.
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As species vanish and the unique ecosystem radically changes, Ukrainian scientists can only wait until it is safe to properly assess the damage
In the embattled harbours of Odesa, a scientific vessel lists in its mooring. No one has been able to take a look at the damage to the Boris Alexander from Russian drones and shelling that have hit the port city over the past four years of war in Ukraine. It is too dangerous, just as no one has been able to fully monitor the damage the war is doing to the Black Sea.
“We can only wait,” says Dr Jaroslav Slobodnik, the director of the Environmental Institute, headquartered in the Slovak Republic. “The biodiversity landscape is completely altered. A number of species seem to have disappeared, but we need more data. Data which the war makes it impossible to collect.”
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During the second world war, farmers received forecasts in code and railway announcers were banned from blaming delays on fog or snow
Data security is not just a modern issue. The BBC stopped its daily weather forecasts as soon as the second world war started. They had been a feature of the radio schedule since 1923 but continuing them would have given vital weather intelligence to the Germans.
In particular, the forecast provided information about when skies would be clear, what winds were blowing and when storms were expected, all of which would be helpful for the Luftwaffe when planning bombing raids.
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Small farmers and community-led conservation groups are trying to protect one of the biggest semi-arid forests in the world – under threat from expanding agriculture, wildfires and the ‘logging mafia’
Jorge Luna stands in a piece of Argentina’s Gran Chaco forest that he calls his own. Birds sing as he surveys skyscraping molle trees, known as pepper trees, palo santo and algarrobo, or carob trees. “It’s good wood,” says Luna, 55. “I was about to cut them down.”
Selling timber promises quick and easy money in the sprawling ecosystem that covers parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. But it comes at a steep price, contributing to rampant deforestation and irreversible damage to the forest.
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Rizik od razvoja rane kardiovaskularne bolesti ili smrti od kardiovaskularne bolesti do 28. godine bio je oko 4,6 puta veći među osobama rođenim od majki koje su imale abrupciju posteljice tijekom trudnoće, pokazala je nova studija.
Znanstvenici su otkrili kvantitativnog biomarkera u cerebrospinalnoj tekućini koji može pomoći liječnicima da preciznije dijagnosticiraju Parkinsonovu bolest i demenciju s Lewy tjelešcima.
Teške infekcije povećavaju rizik od demencije neovisno o drugim koegzistirajućim bolestima, tvrdi nova studija. Međutim, nije jasno objašnjava li se ta povezanost drugim koegzistirajućim, nezaraznim bolestima koje predisponiraju ljude i za infekcije i za demenciju.
Nova studija pokazuje da osjećaj dubokog sna nije određen isključivo aktivnošću mozga sporih valova. Umjesto toga, imerzivno sanjanje koje dolazi s povećanjem aktivnosti mozga slične budnosti dovodi do većeg osjećaja dubokog sna.
Rezultati nove studije pokazuju da povećanja unosa kalcija ili mliječnih proizvoda može pomoći u smanjenju vjerojatnosti za razvoj metaboličkog sindroma. Metabolički sindrom je stanje u kojem se nekoliko metaboličkih čimbenika javlja zajedno, uključujući abdominalnu pretilost, visoki krvni tlak, povišeni šećer u krvi natašte, visoke trigliceride i nizak kolesterol lipoproteina visoke gustoće (HDL). Kada se ovi čimbenici grupiraju, značajno povećavaju rizik od srčanih bolesti i dijabetesa tipa 2.
Život u područjima s dosljedno višim razinama buke od prometa povezan je sa značajno većim rizikom od većih neželjenih srčanih događaja u usporedbi sa životom u mirnijim područjima, tvrdi nova studija. Smatra se, da bi provedba strategija za smanjenje izloženosti buci prometa s cesta, željeznica i zrakoplovnih koridora mogla biti novi cilj urbanističkog planiranja i poboljšanja zdravlja srca zajednica.
Prema rezultatima istraživanja provedenog u SAD-u, mjeseci s nižim temperaturama imaju znatno veće stope smrtnosti od srčanih udara, moždanih udara i koronarne bolesti srca nego blaži mjeseci. No, i toplije temperature također su bile povezane s porastom kardiovaskularnih smrtnih slučajeva, ali po umjerenijoj stopi.
Djeca koja žive s pretilošću, ali ne pokazuju znakove metaboličkih komplikacija, i dalje imaju značajno povećan rizik od razvoja dijabetesa tipa 2, visokog krvnog tlaka i abnormalnih razina lipida u krvi kasnije u životu, pokazuje nova studija. Jednako tako, pokazalo se, da ta djeca imaju velike koristi od liječenja pretilosti.
Čvršći, manje kuhani krumpir može ponuditi jednostavnu prehrambenu strategiju za smanjenje skokova šećera u krvi, ali čini se da su koristi kratkotrajne i specifične za populaciju, tvrdi nova studija.
Viši krvni tlak tijekom mlade odrasle dobi vjerojatno je povezan s većim rizikom od bolesti srca i bubrega kasnije u životu, što naglašava važnost održavanja zdravog krvnog tlaka u mlađoj dobi, ukazuje nova studija.
