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Xi Jinping to address world leaders at UN biodiversity summit – live
Leaders prepare to discuss the destruction of the natural world as the international community negotiates a set of targets for the next decade
Damian Carrington
Follow the UN's biodiversity summit at @guardian live blog, with @phoeb0 and @pgreenfielduk
7h
Greenland's ice melting faster than at any time in past 12,000 years
Increased loss of ice could trigger sea level rise of up to 10cm by end of century
Johnson's pledges on the environment are worthless. Worse is how cynical they are | George Monbiot
At this years UN biodiversity summit public anger cannot be extinguished, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
Damian Carrington
Johnson's pledges on the environment are worthless. Worse is how cynical they are, says @GeorgeMonbiot
-Pledges are made to distract and placate us - but at this year’s UN biodiversity summit, public anger cannot be extinguished
10h
40% of world’s plant species at risk of extinction
Race against time to save plants and fungi that underpin life on Earth, global study shows
Obituary: Professor Martin Williams | Imperial News | Imperial College London
Professor Frank Kelly pays tribute to the late Professor Martin Williams of the Environmental Research Group.
Damian Carrington
Very sad news
Air pollution expert Prof Martin Williams has died
Among his many, many accomplishments, he led the team that made the first ‘real-world’ measurements of vehicle emissions
He was also very generous with his time to hacks like me
15h
40% of world’s plant species at risk of extinction
Race against time to save plants and fungi that underpin life on Earth, global study shows
Damian Carrington
THIS: Two in five of world’s plant species at risk of extinction
- Global analysis reports a race against time to save the plants and fungi that underpin all life on Earth
@KewScience
Story by me
17h
How our warmer oceans are contributing to climate breakdown
A more stable ocean sounds idyllic, but it creates a dangerous feedback loop for our warming planet
Damian Carrington
How our warmer oceans are contributing to climate breakdown
- A more stable ocean sounds idyllic, but it creates a dangerous feedback loop for our warming planet
By John Abraham
32h
New super-enzyme eats plastic bottles six times faster
Breakthrough that builds on plastic-eating bugs first discovered by Japan in 2016 promises to enable full recycling
1
Damian Carrington
Some good news...
New super-enzyme eats plastic bottles six times faster
- Plastic pollution has contaminated the planet but the breakthrough promises to enable full recycling
Story by me
52h
World fails to meet a single target to stop destruction of nature – UN report
‘Humanity at a crossroads’ after a decade in which all of the 2010 Aichi goals to protect wildlife and ecosystems have been missed
Damian Carrington
ICYM - World fails to meet a single one of 20 targets to stop destruction of nature – UN report
59h
World leaders pledge to halt Earth’s destruction ahead of UN summit
France, Germany and UK among more than 60 countries promising to put wildlife and climate at heart of post-Covid recovery plans
Damian Carrington
World leaders pledge to halt Earth’s destruction ahead of UN summit
- France, Germany and UK among more than 60 countries promising to put wildlife and climate at heart of post-Covid recovery plans (but not US, China or Brazil)
Story by @pgreenfielduk
59h
Imperial pays tribute to eminent ecologist Georgina Mace | Imperial News | Imperial College London
Georgina Mace, former director of Imperial’s NERC Centre for Population Biology, passed away on 19 September 2020.
Damian Carrington
So I am back at work after a long break....
but I did see the terrible news of the death of biodiversity expert Prof Georgina Mace - she was so brilliant, generous and had so much more to give
59h
Littering unpunished by many councils in England and Wales
Campaigners want penalties to rise to £1,000 after FOI data reveals lack of punitive action
Children raised in greener areas have higher IQ, study finds
Research also found lower levels of difficult behaviour in rich and poor neighbourhoods
Anthropogenic CO2 increase is unprecedented
Even in earlier warm periods there were pulse-like releases of CO2 to the atmosphere. Today's anthropogenic CO2 rise, however, is more than six times larger and almost ten times faster than previous jumps in the CO2 concentration.
Damian Carrington
Rise in CO2 due to human activities is more than six times larger and almost 10 times faster than natural jumps in CO2 concentration seen in ice core data
#ClimateEmergency
40d
Heatwaves are an invisible killer – and the UK is woefully unprepared
Extreme heat could kill 5,000 people each year in the UK by the 2050s.
UN fund pays Indonesia for forest protection as deforestation spikes
Campaigners accuse the Green Climate Fund of letting governments game the UN's Redd+ forest protection scheme, as Indonesia is awarded $103m
Human consumption of the Earth's resources declined in 2020
Covid-19 led to 9.3% reduction in humanity’s ecological footprint compared with same period last year
Damian Carrington
Human consumption of the Earth's resources declined in 2020
- but call is for called for further progress to be made “by design not by [covid] disaster”
By @amistlin
#EarthOvershootDay
41d
Greenland's melting ice sheet – in pictures
New research has found Greenland lost more than a million tonnes of ice every minute in 2019, a trend which could result in a catastrophic sea level rise
Revealed: how the gas industry is waging war against climate action
In a nationwide blitz, gas companies and their allies fight climate efforts that they consider an existential threat to their business
We may have just seen the world's highest recorded temperature ever. Has that sunk in?
Death Valley’s forbidding landscape registered a preliminary high temperature of 129.9F on 16 August. Don’t look away
Damian Carrington
ICYM - We may have just seen the world's highest recorded temperature ever. Has that sunk in?
by @bhensonweather
41d