The government is determined to work with the car industry to increase take-up, boost jobs and hit emissions targets
• Cheaper loans on table to drive UK motorists to electric, plus cuts in EV fines for firms
The push to electric vehicles is not about a culture war. It is a simple choice. Do we set UK industry up to take advantage of the changes that are coming? Or do we sit it out, allowing our competitors to lap us while we decide whether to change our tyres or not?
The previous government, including the current leader of the opposition, might have been content to play politics with people’s jobs by delaying the deadline for ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. But this government is not.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/01/2024 - 02:00
12/01/2024 - 01:00
Nature is going to solve the problem by eliminating the modern human
In response to Ashish Ghadiali’s story last week (“Yes, there is a lot of greenwashing, but Cop summits are our best chance of averting climate breakdown”, Comment, last week), nearly 70 years ago Gilbert Plass coined the term “climate change” in a paper in the journal Tellus.
Most of that 70 years has been spent arguing over the reality of climate change, an argument by vested interests that continues to this day. Meanwhile, global warming has continued to rise due to the burning of fossil fuels. Now, polar ice caps and glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, causing sea level rises and threatening the survival of over half the world’s population living on islands and in coastal zones near sea level.
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11/30/2024 - 22:02
PM overruled negotiations between environment minister and the Greens after speaking with WA premier last week
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Anthony Albanese insists Labor’s plans to establish a national environmental watchdog are still on the table after he quashed a deal with the Greens in parliament’s final sitting week.
Last-minute negotiations between the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and the Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, were overruled by the prime minister on Tuesday after he spoke with the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook.
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11/30/2024 - 21:12
Woman weaves through traffic at 80km/h before fleeing from snake in car barefoot and attempting to flag down passing motorists
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Victoria police have carried out one of the “more bizarre welfare checks” after a deadly tiger snake slithered up a driver’s leg as she was travelling at 80km/h on a major freeway.
Police said they were called to Monash Freeway near the Toorak Rd exit in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs on Saturday morning after receiving reports of a barefoot woman trying to flag down passing traffic.
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11/30/2024 - 14:00
Items such as coffee cups and bin liners are wrongly labelled ‘compostable’, leading to calls for governments to impose standards
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“Massive amounts” of plastic contamination is getting into food and garden waste through user error and misleading “biodegradable” labelling, waste industry experts have warned.
Leading figures at some of Australia’s largest waste companies are calling for the government to standardise certification of compostable products, as many bin liners, compostable coffee cups and other material labelled “compostable” or “biodegradable” do not break down into organic matter.
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11/30/2024 - 08:00
Some in the US are reconsidering children, with fears over reproductive healthcare and the climate crisis front of mind
Chris Peterson wasn’t surprised that Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. But he was surprised by how quickly he and his wife started asking one another: should we try to have another baby before a possible nationwide abortion ban takes effect? Or should we give up on having a second child?
Peterson and his wife, who live in North Carolina, are thousands of dollars in debt because their first child needed to spend weeks in the hospital after being born prematurely. They had wanted to pay off that debt and wait a few years before having a second baby. But now, reproductive rights are again in the balance – Trump has said he would veto a nationwide abortion ban, but his allies are emboldened to push through more restrictions.
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11/30/2024 - 07:00
Findings highlight how built environment in low-income neighborhoods presents multiple PFAS exposure routes
New research aimed at identifying which US neighborhoods face increased exposure to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” found those living near “superfund” sites and other major industrial polluters, or in areas with limited access to fresh food, generally have higher levels of the dangerous compounds in their blood.
The study looked at hundreds of people living in southern California and found those who do not live within a half mile of a grocery store have 14% higher levels of PFOA and PFOS – two common PFAS compounds – in their blood than those who do.
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11/30/2024 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 30 November 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00095-1
Achieving at-scale seascape restoration by optimising cross-habitat facilitative processes
11/29/2024 - 12:35
Government puts forward £1.98bn in funding over three years, an increase of about 40% on last pledge
The UK has increased its contribution to the World Bank, in a move that will boost prospects for climate finance.
Next week, at a meeting in Seoul of the International Development Association (IDA) – the body that funds the World Bank’s support for low-income countries – the UK will put forward £1.98bn in funding over three years, an increase of about 40% on the previous pledge.
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11/29/2024 - 10:35
Campaigners say news that Walleys Quarry in Silverdale has been told to close has given them ‘huge relief, just elation’
A landfill site in Staffordshire which has plagued residents with noxious fumes for years has been told to permanently shut down, with local campaigners hailing the news as “absolutely amazing”.
The Environment Agency said it had brought the closure of Walleys Quarry forward after “exhausting other enforcement options”, and said it had to stop accepting new waste from Friday.
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