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Draft Motion for a Resolution prepared for the EU Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, March 2016
Draft Motion prepared by Rapporteurs Pavel Poc (Socialists and Democrats Group), Kateřina Konečná on behalf of the European United Left and Nordic Green Left group, Bas Eickhout of the Greens / European Free Alliance Group, Piernicola Pedicini of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group, Mark Demesmaeker, Sirpa Pietikäinen and Frédérique Ries. This draft Motion was carried forward for the vote in a Parliamentary Plenary Session in April 2016.
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Nature Watch Poisons Beware Glyphosate: EU draft Motion, March 2016
Group says people in rural areas have to walk on roads without pavement, which can be very dangerous
Give people the right to walk around the edges of privately owned fields, say campaigners seeking to open up more paths in the countryside in England and Wales.
Slow Ways, a group advocating for more access to the countryside, said people in rural areas often have to walk on roads that do not have pavements, which can be extremely dangerous.
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Number hits record level but rate of growth slows as installers face delays to government funding
The UK installed a record number of public electric car chargers in 2024, although the rate of growth slowed as installers contended with delays to government funding.
Numbers rose by more than a third to reach 73,421 by 20 December, according to Zapmap, whose data the government uses. The increase of 19,600 was nearly equivalent to the total number of chargers at the end of 2020.
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Belief in a supposed US government plot linked to aircraft condensation trails has been boosted by confusion over proposals to geoengineer a response to the climate crisis
A conspiracy theory that airplanes are leaving nefarious “chemtrails” in their wake due to a sinister government plot has been given fresh impetus in the US amid a swirl of concerns and confusion about proposals to geoengineer a response to the climate crisis.
State legislation to ban what some lawmakers call chemtrails has been pushed forward in Tennessee and, most recently, Florida. Meanwhile, Robert F Kennedy, who has expressed interest in the conspiracy theory on social media and his podcast, is set to be at the heart of Donald Trump’s new administration following his nomination as health secretary.
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Grey seals are growing in numbers on England’s east coast as a result of environmental safe havens and cleaner North Sea waters
It is a cold winter’s day to be lying on a beach, but the seal pup suckling from its mother doesn’t mind. A few metres away, a pregnant seal is burrowing into the sand, trying to get comfortable, while a third seal, which has just given birth, is touching noses with her newborn pup.
The shoreline – a mass of seals and their white pups – is one of Britain’s greatest wildlife success stories: a grey seal colony on the east Norfolk coast.
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Strips of native plants on as little as 10% of farmland can reduce soil erosion by up to 95%
Between two corn fields in central Iowa, Lee Tesdell walks through a corridor of native prairie grasses and wildflowers. Crickets trill as dickcissels, small brown birds with yellow chests, pop out of the dewy ground cover.
“There’s a lot of life out here, and it’s one of the reasons I like it, especially in these late summer days,” Tesdell said.
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A rise in the number of remarriages and a baby boom in the years since 2004 gave hope to survivors and helped them cope with the tragedy
It was Mahyuddin’s mother who had pestered him to go out on Sunday morning, 20 years ago. Dozens of relatives were visiting their small coastal village in Indonesia for a wedding party, but a powerful earthquake had struck just before 8am. Buildings in some areas had collapsed. He should go and check on his employer’s office to see if they needed help, his mother said.
As he drove into town, he found chaos and panic. The road was heavy with traffic: cars, motorbikes, trucks, all rushing in the same direction. People were running, shouting that water was coming.
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In this week’s Down To Earth newsletter: These essential features – chosen by the Guardian’s Long Reads editors, cover everything from dirty water and sentient trees to how to find hope in a climate crisis
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This year the Guardian Long Read series celebrates its 10th anniversary. Since we launched in 2014, we’ve run more than 1,000 pieces, on everything from Algerian sheep fighting to the trials and tribulations of Durex’s chief condom guy. Over the years, we’ve also run plenty of great environment stories, and for this special edition of Down to Earth we want to highlight a few of our favourites from the archive.
Below we’ve picked 10 of our favourite climate pieces to dig into over the Christmas break – but first, this week’s most important reads.
CO2 emissions from new North Sea drilling sites would match 30 years’ worth from UK households
Ghosts of the landscape: how folklore and songs are a key to rewilding Finland’s reindeer
‘You won’t find the real criminals here’: a Just Stop Oil activist in jail at Christmas
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Environmental groups are also petitioning Biden to protect Sáttítla, Kw’tsán and Chuckwalla in California
Hidden amid a vast expanse of snow-brushed pines in northern California is a rare, half-million-year-old volcano called Sáttítla. Thousands of years ago, its flows created crystalline mountains of obsidian and dim grey bands of pumice rock, which from a bird’s-eye view look like ripples of taffy.
“When you’re there, you really do feel like you’re in another world, or on the moon or even another planet,” said Brandi McDaniels, a member of the Pit River Tribe in northern California, whose ancestral homelands encompass the area. “The way it glistens and twinkles – deep black, but shiny like diamonds.”
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Scientists search for a variety to withstand the climate crisis as high temperatures and drought can stress trees
The climate crisis is increasingly affecting agriculture in the United States, including the production of Christmas trees.
Like all crops, Christmas trees are vulnerable to a changing climate, as the United States continues to experience warmer temperatures, more frequent and severe heat, increased rainfall, droughts, wildfires and hurricanes, as a result of global warming and the climate crisis – primarily driven by humans’ burning of fossil fuels.
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Subsidence affecting many new builds, raising questions about sustainability of skyscrapers in coastal areas
Miami’s oceanfront skyscrapers are sinking. In 2021 the devastating collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Miami’s Surfside resulted in the loss of 98 lives, and prompted closer inspection of the city’s high-rise shoreline. Now a study has identified unexpected levels of subsidence among many of Miami’s high-rise buildings, including prominent luxury properties such as the Porsche Design Tower, Trump Tower III and Trump International Beach Resort.
Using satellite data gathered between 2016 and 2023, researchers observed between 2cm and 8cm of sinking of buildings along Miami’s beachfront area. One beachfront – Sunny Isles Beach – recorded continuous subsidence in more than 70% of its new builds. The findings, published in Earth and Space Science, show the majority of affected buildings were recently constructed high-rises. Which means it is possible the subsidence is a consequence of their own construction. The combination of hefty high-rise buildings, vibration from construction, groundwater movement and tidal flows are potentially triggering the subsidence, with the worst-affected areas being those with a sandy layered limestone underlying them.
Continue reading...The animals - including a Bengal tiger, cougars and bobcats - have died of the virus over the past several weeks.
A law creating a Patient Safety Commissioner post was passed last year - but no-one has yet been found to take it on.
The system checks patients' ECG heart traces for subtle early warning signs.
Any alcohol that the mother drinks can pass into her breastmilk, the NHS advises.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine issues a "safety flash" about the dangers to children.
The number of lung of transplants could rise as a new machine keeps organs alive outside the body.
Susannah Morgan was warned surgery to remove a benign tumour could leave her with a crooked smile.
Hospitals say they often struggle to recover costs, particularly when patients return overseas.
Jamie Lonsdale made a donor plea on Facebook and was delighted when Lauren Lane answered the call.
NHS England medical director warns hospitals under strain after sharp rise in flu cases.
Alarm bells screamed for nature in 2024. But amid the gloom, quiet victories emerged, as ordinary people made extraordinary progress for nature.
It was a year of rough seas for the world’s oceans. But that didn’t stop conservationists and communities from working to protect the seas. Here are highlights from the year.
Conservation International researchers in Peru have uncovered a wealth of wildlife, including species new to science.
As 2024 comes to a close, global temperatures are at an all-time high — topping the previous hottest-year on record: 2023. Yet amid this backdrop, research consistently shows nature is a powerful climate ally.
“Invest in one woman, and that ripples out to her family, her community and beyond. It changes people’s lives.”
In southern Africa, grasses can beat the heat better than trees, according to Conservation International research.
An unheralded breakthrough at the recent UN biodiversity conference highlights the often-overlooked connection between our health and the planet’s, a Conservation International expert says.
A recent study on climate solutions downplays nature’s potential, two Conservation International experts say.
A new study found that seaweed forests may play a bigger role in fighting climate change than previously thought — absorbing as much climate-warming carbon as the Amazon rainforest. But not all seaweed forests are created equal.
For the conscientious consumer, finding the perfect present can be a challenge. Not to worry, Conservation International's 2024 gift guide has you covered.
