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Exclusive: Freedom of information request reveals ‘disgraceful’ amount of taxpayers’ money used to battle ClientEarth over illegally poor air pollution plans

The government spent £370,000 of taxpayers’ money unsuccessfully fighting court claims that its plans to tackle air pollution were illegally poor, a freedom of information request has revealed.

The money was spent battling two actions brought by environmental lawyers ClientEarth and included more than £90,000 in costs paid to the group after it won on both occasions. Critics said the government’s expenditure was “disgraceful” and should have been spent on cutting pollution.

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From today the most polluting vehicles on London roads will face a ‘toxicity’ fee. It’s a vital first step towards cleaning up the UK’s dangerously dirty air

A report released last week by international experts shows pollution to have caused more deaths in the UK than in many other countries in western Europe. Air pollution is largely invisible, so it is hard to grasp how much damage it is doing to our health. But studies like the Lancet commission on pollution make it clear that poor air quality increases not only the likelihood of developing a range of respiratory illnesses, but also the frequency and severity of bouts of those illnesses.

Like many GPs, I see this “double hit” in the children and adolescents who come to surgery every day. Preschool children who live near main roads have an increased risk of developing wheeze triggered by viral colds – a condition we call “preschool wheeze”. Exposure to traffic pollution also increases the chance of a child developing asthma. For preschool wheezers and children with asthma, high pollution days can then trigger episodes of severe wheezing, especially when pollution has not been dispersed by the wind.

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British Beekeepers Association survey reveals worrying drop in honey yield, with 62% of beekeepers saying neonicotinoids are to blame

Beekeepers have raised concerns over the future of honeybees as an annual survey showed a “steady decline” in the honey crop.

The survey by the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) revealed beekeepers in England produced an average of 11.8kg (26 lb) of honey per hive this year, down 1kg on last year.

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A new study finds that Americans are willing to pay an extra $15 per month on energy bills to tackle climate change.

According to a new study published by Yale scientists in Environmental Research Letters, Americans are willing to pay a carbon tax that would increase their household energy bills by $15 per month, or about 15%, on average. This result is consistent with a survey from last year that also found Americans are willing to pay an average of $15 to $20 per month to combat climate change. Another recent Yale survey found that overall, 78% of registered American voters support taxing and/or regulating carbon pollution, including 67% of Republicans and 60% of conservative Republicans.

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A Regulation Impact Statement for consultation on a National phase out of PFOS – Ratification of the Stockholm Convention amendments on PFOS is now available from the Department’s website for comment.

Most filming was done in the wild – including armoured octopuses and hypnotic cuttlefish – but some crucial behaviour had to be captured in lab conditions

Footage of captive wildlife inserted into the BBC’s Blue Planet 2 series remains “totally true to nature”, according to the makers of the flagship show that reveals new insights into life in the oceans.

An octopus that armours itself with shells and rocks, fish that use sign language and tools and dazzling cuttlefish that appear to hypnotise their prey are among the new spectacles uncovered by the series, which starts later this week.

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Epping Forest For centuries commoners were allowed to lop the beeches here for firewood. Now this ancient pollard is big enough to create its own microclimates

Centuries of sunlight have solidified into this beech’s massive presence, which creates its own woodland world. I stand beneath the grandeur of its shaded columns in veneration. But it was not always this way. This great beast was made to bend to the will of generations of commoners, lopped for the humblest of produce, a 10-yearly crop of firewood. It was a labourer, a working tree.

Until the mid 19th century, that is, when cropping ceased. Today, 20 poles, each the size of a mature tree, thrust skywards from the lumpen head of this ancient pollard. And around its great girth, in its crevices and creases, the microclimate changes with the compass. Dominating the trunk’s north-west curve, like a coral outcrop, the bracket fungus Perenniporia fraxinea fans out dramatically in three layers more than 120cm wide. For 20 years I’ve watched this veteran grow so large that its soft, skin-coloured underbelly is now punctured by a million tiny spore-producing pores.

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The Coalition's proposed National Energy Guarantee is not a policy at all, just the idea of one. And attractive as it may be on a notional level, it is a long way short of being "workable" or even remotely effective. Here are 30 reasons why it should be approached with caution.

Bertrand Piccard wants to show governments 1,000 innovations that together will make it possible to reduce energy consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions by half.

NEG design could have immediate impact on large-scale renewable energy projects, particularly those looking to by-pass control of big gen-tailers" and go "merchant".

Genex Power is pleased to provide an update in relation to the development of the 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro project at Kidston.

This plan to provide a plan is almost the worst outcome possible for investment certainty. If more detail doesn't emerge soon, it could be as bad for renewables as the Abbott years.

Victorian Labor's VRET of 40% renewable energy by 2025 passes Legislative Council, without a single show of support from Liberal or National parties.

We sharpen up the knives for a home butchering session; country kids become super sleuths at a science camp; and Lyn Wearing hand-rears poddy lambs on Elabe Station.

The great naturalist tells our science editor David Shukman why he'll never tire of his work.

Enova Energy has won "Best of the Best" Regional Sustainability Award, which recognises outstanding achievements of an organisation who has come up with an original and successful initiative in regional or rural areas of New South Wales

The integration of advanced energy storage and software with hydroelectric generation is seen to be a world's first hybridized system of its kind to provide ancillary services.

The eight-year study finds infant sea creatures will be especially harmed by more acidic oceans.

A report backed by the Australian Automobile Association found some new cars were pumping out seven times the legal limits of some noxious emissions in to the atmosphere.

Historical data from studies on museum bird specimens, combined with current research, gives us a picture of the long-term harm from air pollution

There is growing evidence about the lifelong harm from air pollution. The air that we breathe as children can stunt our lung growth, potentially causing problems later in adult life. Air pollution breathed decades ago has been shown to shorten lives in the UK today. However, investigating these lifelong impacts is hampered by a lack of historic measurements.

Can the natural environment help us? Starting with lichens in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris in 1886, biomonitoring has helped to track air pollution. In a new twist, researchers in the US have constructed a 135-year history of pollution in America’s rust belt by studying soot in the feathers of museum bird specimens. Tests on 1,347 birds showed that air pollution between 1880 and 1920 was worse than we thought. The birds also revealed useful data for climate modellers. It appears that soot pollution started to decrease around 1910, earlier than thought; with dips in the great depression and a rise for the second world war.

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