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Renewables offer cheaper and smarter options than fossil fuels across the energy spectrum. The answers are with us already.

The post We’re smart enough to solve climate challenge with technologies we already have appeared first on RenewEconomy.

How bird feeding could disrupt an ecological balance just beyond our windowsills and gardens.

Polystyrene cups will also be banned but campaigners say action to cut plastic waste is ‘snail-paced’

Single-use plastic plates and cutlery, and polystyrene cups will be banned in England under government plans, as it seeks to reduce the plastic polluting the environment.

A public consultation will launch in the autumn and the ban could be in place in a couple of years. The move was welcomed by campaigners, but they said overall progress on cutting plastic waste was “snail-paced”, with the EU having banned these items and others in July.

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

*PREMIUM LISTING – Reporting to the GHG Program Director and under supervision of the Vice President of GHG Operations, the GHG Project Manager’s primary role is to help manage the processes required for the timely and successful generation of Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and Renewable Fuel Standard RIN credits across CalBio’s portfolio of projects.

The office that oversees US spy agencies could not establish how the coronavirus pandemic began.

California and Quebec regulated entities sold futures and options positions last week ahead of the Q3 WCI auction results publication that far exceeded traders' expectations, with financial firms adding to their length over that period, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

They say a tiny island off Greenland's coast was discovered by luck during a recent expedition.

California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices continued to set new all-time highs on the secondary market on Friday morning after the Q3 auction exceeded expectations this week, with more than 20 million call options now in the money.

Activists tour financial institutions to highlight firms they believe to be culpable in climate crisis

Extinction Rebellion protesters poured red paint over the entrances of City institutions as they marched through London’s financial district in a protest against the ‘“blood money” on which they say the UK economy is built.

In what appeared to be the biggest mobilisation so far this week by the environmental protest group, several thousand demonstrators took a tour of the City, stopping off at the banks and law firms they saw as most culpable in the climate crisis.

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A summary of legislative and regulatory action on carbon pricing, clean fuel standards, and clean energy at the US subnational and federal level this week, including developments in California and Pennsylvania.

Agency scientists say management silences and harasses them to appease chemical industry

Whistleblowers say the US Environmental Protection Agency has been falsifying dangerous new chemicals’ risk assessments in an effort to make the compounds appear safe and quickly approve them for commercial use.

Over the past five years, the EPA has not rejected any new chemicals submitted by industry despite agency scientists flagging dozens of compounds for high toxicity. Four EPA whistleblowers and industry watchdogs say a revolving door between the agency and chemical companies is to blame, and that the program’s management has been “captured by industry”. The charges are supported by emails, documents and additional records that were provided to the Guardian.

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The Guardian’s new nature series Young Country Diary has been a hit since its launch in June – now we need more writers

Do you know any 8-14s who would like to write the natural world, whether its bird or bee or nettle or tree? Or are you a teacher who wants to encourage their class into taking notice of wildlife?

We are looking for new submissions to the Guardian’s new nature series Young Country Diary, which launched in June. YCD is an offshoot of the Country Diary – the oldest newspaper column in the world – which runs every day and is written by our team of “diarists” all over the UK.

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Signs of mid-September are already here, which experts predict could create spectacular autumnal colours

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is rolling in earlier than usual across parts of the south and south-east of England due to the soggy and sunny summer, according to forestry experts.

Ripening blackberries, sweetening chestnuts and burgeoning forest fruits – typically seasonal hallmarks of autumn normally seen from mid-September – are all evident, said Forestry England, which manages publicly owned forests.

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Carbon prices jumped to their highest in nearly two months early on Friday, targeting their July record as traders positioned themselves ahead of a week of reduced auctions and as gas prices rose amid forecasts of hurricanes in the US Gulf.

Public urged to report dying or dead animals as fears grow that form of myxomatosis has crossed over from rabbits

More than 1,100 hares have been recorded as dying of a new “viral cocktail” since 2018 as fears grow that a form of myxomatosis has jumped from rabbits.

People are being urged to report dying or dead hares to scientists who are seeking to discover the cause of so many unexplained deaths in the hare population, with a spike in sickness occurring each autumn.

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The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a slow loris, a pink lady mollusc and Lake Titicaca frog

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For too long we’ve been shortsighted, mistaking our cleverness for wisdom. Now, it’s time for politics to take a longer view

Shortly before he died in 2007, the celebrated American novelist, iconoclast and second world war veteran Kurt Vonnegut gave a final interview. “My country is in ruins,” he said. “I’m a fish in a poisoned fishbowl.” Vonnegut was 84, and sounded razor sharp as he spoke about inequality and political shortsightedness, adding that in the history of the United States “one thing that no cabinet has ever had is a Secretary of the Future, and there are no plans at all for my children and grandchildren.”

“Why should I care about future generations?” asked the comedian Groucho Marx. “What have they ever done for me?”

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Number rising by 15,000 each week, with fewer staff at abattoirs and meat-processing plants, says NPA

Britain’s pig producers are warning that as many as 70,000 extra animals are stranded on UK farms as a result of shortages of workers at abattoirs and meat-processing plants.

The excess numbers of pigs on UK farms is growing by 15,000 each week, with about a quarter fewer pigs leaving for slaughter than would be expected in normal times, according to the industry trade body the National Pig Association (NPA).

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The Deputy Managing Director, Forest & Carbon Investing is part of the NatureVest leadership team and oversees the development and execution of The Nature Conservancy’s Forest Investing strategy and portfolio. They will originate and manage numerous projects across multiple geographies in coordination with Global Strategy and Regional Leadership colleagues, and oversee a team of deal leads and forestry specialists.