The National Geographic Photo Ark is a travelling exhibition of photographer Joel Sartore’s quest to create a photo archive of biodiversity around the world. So far, Sartore has captured studio portraits of more than 6,000 species – a number that he hopes to double.

On 1 July, the ark will open at Melbourne zoo – the first time it has been exhibited in the southern hemisphere. More than 50 portraits will be on display, including many of Australian endangered animals being protected by programs at the zoo itself. These captions have been edited from text supplied by Melbourne zoo.

• The National Geographic Photo Ark exhibition is open at Melbourne Zoo from 1 July until 1 October

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Source: Guardian Climate Change

Green co-leader Caroline Lucas says she hopes to build a cross-party coalition to stop bottle wastage, while other correspondents offer their thoughts on protecting the environment

The Guardian’s coverage of the global plastic bottle crisis (Surge in plastic bottle use sparks global alert, 29 June) has been powerful and compelling. Like so many of the environmental challenges we face, this issue has been largely ignored in the mainstream, which has led us to the extraordinary situation where we have one million bottles being bought every minute globally. Britain’s contribution to this problem is significant. We use a staggering 38.5m plastic bottles each day, accounting for roughly 40% of the litter found in our environment along with cans. We’ve all read in horror the stories of whales’ stomachs filled with plastic waste, and we’ve all seen bottles littering our local communities.

The government must take responsibility for this growing crisis. One easy step forward would be to introduce a bottle deposit scheme. Such systems were commonplace in the UK until the 1980s, and are used in 11 other European countries. The concept is simple: you pay a small deposit on bottles and take them back to the shop you bought them from after use for recycling. The Scottish government has taken a major step towards introducing such a scheme – now the Tories must follow suit. We should also be ensuring that it’s easier for people to refill water bottles in shops and other businesses. This week has shown that the government is far more pliant towards the will of parliament than previously, and I’m hoping to build a cross-party coalition on this issue in the coming weeks so that Britain becomes a world leader in tackling plastic bottle pollution.
Caroline Lucas MP
Co-leader, Green party of England and Wales

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Source: Guardian Climate Change

Europe’s consumption of products such as beef, soy and palm oil could increase its contribution to global deforestation by more than a quarter by 2030, analysis shows

Europe’s contribution to global deforestation may rise by more than a quarter by 2030, despite a pledge to halt such practices by the end of this decade, according to a leaked draft EU analysis.

An estimated 13m hectares (Mha) of the world’s forestland is lost each year, a figure projected to spiral in the next 30 years with the Amazon, Greater Mekong and Borneo bearing the brunt of tree clearances.

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Source: Guardian Climate Change

Administration moves to ‘unleash’ US fossil fuels by rewriting Obama-era plan that banned drilling along Atlantic seaboard and large parts of the Arctic Ocean

Environmentalists have condemned Donald Trump as a “threat to every ocean and coastline in the country”, after the president pushed forward plans to expand oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans as part of what he called a new era of “American energy dominance”.

The Trump administration has taken the first steps to rewrite a five-year plan, put in place under Barack Obama, that banned drilling along the Atlantic seaboard and in large swaths of the Arctic. The interior department is opening a 45-day public comment period for a new plan that it says will help grow the economy.

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Source: Guardian Climate Change

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Source: Guardian Climate Change

This weekend’s roundup of circular economy related stories includes the “Netflix for fashion”, new biodegradable tyres and much more…

A wheel with no air designed to last as long as the vehicle, a tread that can be “replenished” by a 3D printer with the same performance as a conventional thread, and a tyre that is connected and communicates with the rest of the vehicle. Michelin’s 100% biodegradable concept tyre is about vision and imagination, how dramatic could its hypothetical impact be?

“What if we lived in a world where we didn’t own anything? I’m not talking about giving away all of our possessions and living in a yurt. I mean what if we could still enjoy all of the latest gadgets and appliances we love, and the clothing and furniture we need, but we just paid to use them instead of bought and owned them outright?” Read Nick Lazaridis’ piece about the circular economy and HP’s Instant Ink example on the Huffington Post.

Are algorithms the future of designing and distributing clothing? Fast Company examine the “Netflix of fashion”, a company called Stitch Fix, which connects with customers who fill out a detailed questionnaire about their size, clothing fits, styles, colours and are then part of an online subscription service based on needs. Stitch Fix has to grown to over 5700 employees and has been profitable since 2014, the implications and opportunities to recapture clothing is as yet untapped, but the subscription nature of the service does offer opportunities not afforded to physical retailers.

There are also a number of incumbent fashion industry players aiming to shift their business models with a focus on reducing leakage of material into natural systems and the potential to design a different system. Earlier this week, Sustainable Brands highlighted Stella McCartney, C&A and WRAP as examples.

Launch Forth, a maker community and platform born out of Local Motors (the company credited with creating the first 3D printed car), has unveiled a new kind of innovation platform engaging with a 70,000 strong group of “solvers”. The Lead of that project, Elle Shelley, recently addresses the NewCo Shift Forum, and they’ve published a transcript of her talk here.

The post Circulate on Fridays: Biodegradable tyres, the future of fashion and more! appeared first on Circulate.

Source: Circulate News RSS

In the UK and abroad, the political events of the past year prove that politicians are willing to gamble with the health, prosperity, and fate of our food systems.

One of the many things that the past year of political turmoil on both sides of the Atlantic has revealed, is that governments have a questionable relationship with food. As the UK inches towards the completion of Brexit negotiations, and the Trump administration in the US unleashes its budget proposal, a strange kind of disconnect has become apparent: those negotiating their nations’ futures seem not to recognise that a chunk of its security and prosperity depends on how well they manage its food.

In the UK that trend became clear well before Brexit struck, when during the negotiations many pointed out a lack of meaningful discussion about what the split would actually mean for farmers. It didn’t matter enough to be a priority. Until suddenly it did–when we realised we’d have to plug the hole left behind by the European migrants that currently make up roughly 20% of the UK’s agricultural workforce, and who would exit if we ultimately back away from free movement.

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Source: Guardian Climate Change

Heatwaves that saw deadly forest fires in Portugal and soaring temperatures in England were made up to 10 times more likely by global warming, say scientists

Human-caused climate change dramatically increased the likelihood of the extreme heatwave that saw deadly forest fires blazing in Portugal and Spain, new research has shown.

Much of western Europe sweltered earlier in June, and the severe heat in England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland was also made significantly more likely by global warming. Such temperatures will become the norm by 2050, the scientists warned, unless action is taken to rapidly cut carbon emissions.

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Source: Guardian Climate Change

As Trump reneges on climate change commitments, progressive businesses are implementing the measures themselves

When the US president, Donald Trump, announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, one might have anticipated a hearty cheer from industry around the world relieved that business as usual could continue.

Instead the opposite has happened. Across the United States, the business community is taking it upon itself to implement the measures needed to address climate change. And in Australia an increasing number of major companies are publicly stating their commitment to addressing climate change, even as the federal government drags its heels on implementing policies to address the crisis. Companies around the world – from small family-run enterprises to Fortune 500 firms – are not only calling for action on climate change but also putting their money where their mouth is.

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Source: Guardian Climate Change