Around The Web

Fungi have long supported and enriched life on our planet. They must be protected as fiercely as animals and plants

As you read these words, fungi are changing the way that life happens, as they have done for more than a billion years. They are eating rock, making soil, digesting pollutants, nourishing and killing plants, surviving in space, inducing visions, producing food, making medicines, manipulating animal behaviour, and influencing the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Fungi make up one of life’s kingdoms – as broad and busy a category as “animals” or “plants” – and provide a key to understanding our planet. Yet fungi have received only a small fraction of the attention they deserve. The best estimate suggests that there are between 2.2m and 3.8m species of fungi on the Earth – as many as 10 times the estimated number of plant species – meaning that, at most, a mere 8% of all fungal species have been described. Of these, only 358 have had their conservation priority assessed on the IUCN red list of threatened species, compared with 76,000 species of animal and 44,000 species of plant. Fungi, in other words, represent a meagre 0.2% of our global conservation priorities.

Continue reading...

Samples of pork and poultry showed high levels of salmonella and E coli in new study

Pork and poultry with “unacceptable” levels of salmonella and E coli are reaching supermarket shelves in the US, according to the preliminary findings of a study that may confirm the fears of campaigners currently fighting to ensure the UK’s agriculture bill will protect domestic food standards and consumers.

The agriculture bill 2019–21 will return to the House of Commons on Monday, and will include an amendment from the House of Lords calling for all food imports to be produced to domestic standards.

Continue reading...

Count Us In urges actions such as eating local, making clothes last or buying an electric car

If a billion people around the world were to take a few small steps and make them into permanent lifestyle changes, global greenhouse gas emissions could be significantly reduced, a new campaign argues.

These actions can be as simple as eating local food, forgoing meat at some meals, and wearing clothes to last instead of throwing them away after a few outings.

Continue reading...

What this year's science Nobel Prizes showed us about the darkest mysteries of the Universe.

A letter signed by hundreds of scientists calls for global action to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Speculators increased their net California Carbon Allowance (CCA) length by the largest amount since early February over the past week, as compliance entities reduced their allowance holdings, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

A confluence of factors in mid-August led the California grid operator to issuing rolling blackouts to cope with rising electricity demand amid a heat wave, with resource planning for clean energy contributing, a preliminary report found.

UK carbon market consultancy Redshaw Advisors has hired a seasoned offset project developer, aiming to bolster its offering in voluntary offsetting and corporate climate strategies.

The European Commission will consider including six Western Balkan nations in the EU ETS before the countries formally join the 27-nation bloc, according to a new investment agenda for the EU accession candidates. 

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including a ‘most wanted’ bear and a lost elephant seal

Continue reading...

US-based Nodal Exchange plans to list next month the first-ever physically-delivered Renewable Identification Number (RINs) futures and options contracts for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), as it grows its suite of environmental products, bourse partner IncubEx announced Friday.

£2bn scheme risks becoming ‘postcode lottery’ without government action, says expert

Householders trying to apply for the government’s £5,000 Green Homes Grants to make energy improvements have described how it is nearly impossible to find an accredited installer to do the work.

Homeowners in Cornwall have been pointed towards installers as far away as Scotland, Manchester and south Wales – who understandably, are not interested in quoting for their work.

Continue reading...

A business group is challenging Virginia’s finalised cap-and-trade regulation as it claims the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) did not follow correct procedure when adopting changes earlier this year.

EUAs dipped below €26 for the first time this week as the market continued to be tested by heightened auction supply and worries about new government coronavirus clampdowns.

UK-based EU ETS trading accounts will be cut off from the end of this year due to Brexit, the British government confirmed this week, while any holders of Kyoto Protocol credits will lose access to those units for several months.

Survey comes as ‘ritual slaughter’ legal case moves through European courts and Polish government proposes restrictions

Nine out of 10 EU citizens want their governments to ban the slaughter of animals that have not been stunned, according to a poll published today.

The results of the survey, carried out for the animal welfare campaign group Eurogroup for Animals, will feed into a cross-Europe debate about so-called “ritual slaughter” – the killing of animals in line with rules of religions such as Judaism and Islam for kosher and halal meat, respectively.

Continue reading...

Clean energy and sustainable food supplies will be the planet’s most pressing issues over the next 30 years

“Experts” have had a raised profile during the Covid-19 pandemic, standing – albeit somewhat embarrassed – alongside Boris Johnson during his press conferences. In coping with health-related matters, scientific advice is crucial. We will also need optimally applied science in meeting other global challenges: developing affordable clean energy, feeding the world and preserving the environment.

The UK has for centuries punched above its weight in science and invention. It’s crucial to sustain our standing in a more competitive world: if we don’t get smarter, we’ll get poorer. Enough of our brightest and best must opt for science, engineering and technology, as millions do each year in east Asia.

Continue reading...

Australian carbon credit issuances slowed to just over 250,000 units this week, while a UN impasse over the future of the CDM could have major impacts on Australia’s voluntary emissions market.

Increasing numbers of people are discovering the pleasures of the turning of the seasons

The path above the pool garden at Knightshayes in Devon is one of the best vantage points on the estate to take in the colours.

As October marches on, the reds, yellows, purples and russets are beginning to deepen in hue and, when the clouds roll away, they gleam in the sunshine.

Continue reading...