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From LNG to drilling in Alaska, here’s everything you need to know about Trump’s energy and climate executive orders
Through a flurry of executive orders, a newly inaugurated Donald Trump has made clear his support for the ascendancy of fossil fuels, the dismantling of support for cleaner energy and the United States’ exit from the fight to contain the escalating climate crisis.
“We will drill, baby, drill,” the president said in his inaugural address on Monday. “We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have – the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it. We’re going to use it.”
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International research team based findings on 300m records from MOT data to estimate failure rates of all cars
Battery cars on Britain’s roads are lasting as long as petrol and diesel cars, according to a study that has found a rapid improvement in electric vehicle reliability.
An international team of researchers has estimated that an electric car will have a lifespan of 18.4 years, compared with 18.7 years for petrol cars and 16.8 years for diesels, according to a peer-reviewed study published on Friday in the journal Nature Energy. The findings were based on 300m records from compulsory annual MOT tests of roadworthiness.
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Fridays for Future organiser warns conspiracy theories are increasingly taking hold despite effects of global heating
The rise in extreme weather is not generating political support for climate action, Germany’s best-known climate activist has warned, as conspiracy theories increasingly circle after disasters made worse by global heating.
“Like many, I did buy into the idea that big catastrophes would do something to politics,” said Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Future Germany. “I bought into that – and I’m glad about it – because I was naively believing there was a democratic responsibility that would live through coalition changes and climate changes.”
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First there was Moo Deng, then there was Pesto the Penguin – but have you met Sydney's Putricia, the corpse flower? To the scientific community, the Botanic Gardens of Sydney’s corpse flower is known as Amorphophallus titanum, which translates to 'large, deformed penis'. But online, the rare endangered plant has taken a life of its own.
It’s the first time a corpse flower has bloomed in the Royal Botanic Garden in 15 years – and when they do blossom, they last just 24 to 48 hours
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Birdwatch survey comes as concerns grow over infection risks posed by garden bird feeders
People are being urged to spend an hour this weekend counting the birds in their garden, park or local green space for the world’s largest survey of garden wildlife.
More than 9m birds were counted last year by 600,000 participants in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, providing a vital snapshot of how wild birds are faring.
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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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From Europe to Canada, Africa, China and Brazil, most countries appear to have doubled down on their commitment to tackle crisis
World leaders, senior ministers and key figures in climate diplomacy have, one by one, reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris agreement this week, in response to the order by Donald Trump to withdraw the US from the pact.
The prospect of the world keeping temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as the treaty calls for, was damaged by the incoming US president’s move. Hopes of meeting the target were already fast receding, and last year was the first to consistently breach the 1.5C limit, but the goal will be measured over years or even decades and stringent cuts to emissions now could still make a difference.
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Scottish researchers find childhood pollution a likely factor, but association with mid-life air quality less clear
Researchers in Scotland have found patterns in health data that suggest that air pollution breathed by children may affect their chances of getting dementia in later life.
The first clue that air pollution may affect brain health was discovered about 20 years ago, when researchers found brain changes in pet dogs in chronically polluted Mexico City.
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President claims to be ‘putting people over fish’ but critics say order could derail years of carefully crafted water policy
It didn’t take long for Donald Trump to reignite the California water wars he waged in his first term.
On his first day in office, Trump directed the secretary of commerce and the secretary of the interior to develop a new plan that will “route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta to other parts of the state for use by the people there who desperately need a reliable water supply”.
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The original cotton totes have a ‘disarmingly short’ life cycle – so demand is high for a more environmentally friendly version
This year’s It bag isn’t made by any of the usual designers. And if this bag could talk, it wouldn’t say “calf leather” so much as “wash me at 40C”. What’s more, in an ideal world, you would never want to buy another again.
The “forever tote” is big business. Usually made from calico, an unbleached cotton designed to be reused, it’s similar to the cotton bags you have balled up at the bottom of a drawer, except it’s sturdy, with a reinforced base and handles, sometimes a pocket, often coloured (Yves Klein blue seems especially popular), and always conspicuously branded with logos. Demand is high.
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