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London's Oxford Street to be pedestrianised by 2020

Mayor of London announces plan to ban vehicles from major shopping street as part of his commitment to tackle air pollution

Oxford Street will be pedestrianised by 2020, the mayor of London’s office has announced.

The central London shopping hub is one of the busiest in the capital and is visited by more than 4 million people each week.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Pacific ​​islands nations consider world's first treaty to ban fossil fuels

Treaty under consideration by 14 countries would ban new coalmines and embraces 1.5C target set at Paris climate talks

The world’s first international treaty that bans or phases out fossil fuels is being considered by leaders of developing Pacific islands nations after a summit in the Solomon Islands this week.

The leaders of 14 countries agreed to consider a proposed Pacific climate treaty, which would bind signatories to targets for renewable energy and ban new or the expansion of coalmines, at the annual leaders’ summit of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).

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Source: Guardian Environment

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From field to fork: the six stages of wasting food

Americans chuck out two tonnes of food a second – be it at the farm for being ‘ugly’ or at the table because we’re too finicky

Every second, an amount of food equal to the weight of a sedan car is thrown away in the US – about 60m tonnes a year. It starts at the farm. The potato that grew to the size of a brick. The watermelon with the brown slasher marks on the rind. The cauliflower stained yellow in the sun. The peach that lost its blush before harvest. Any of those minor imperfections – none of which affect taste or quality or shelf life – can doom a crop right there. If the grower decides the supermarkets – or ultimately the consumer – will reject it, those fruits and vegetables never make it off the farm.

Then there are the packing warehouses, where a specific count must be maintained for each plastic clamshell or box – and any strawberry or plum that does not make it is junked, if it can’t immediately be sold for juice or jam.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Post-Brexit farming subsidies must protect nature, 84 groups say

Protection for birds, wildlife and waterways should come top of the list when any new payments for farmers are considered, NGOs tell new government

New subsidies paid to farmers under a post-Brexit government must be linked closely to environmental responsibilities, a large group of political and civil society organisations has urged.

Protection for birds, wildlife, waterways and other natural goods should come top of the list when any new payments are considered, wrote 84 food, farming and conservation specialists in a letter to Oliver Letwin and Theresa May on Thursday.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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GPS tags reveal the secret life of urban seagulls

Pioneering study of four herring gulls nesting in St Ives, Cornwall, found they spent most of their time foraging for food outside of town

The summer holidays are nigh and with them, no doubt, will come stories of seagulls on the rampage, stealing ice cream and chips and launching attacks on people and pets.

But a ground-breaking study that tracked the movement of herring gulls nesting in the Cornish resort of St Ives suggested they spent little time scavenging for goodies or scraps on the streets.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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From nightfall to dawn, the garden is the snail's domain

Sandy, Bedfordshire What language did its tentacles speak? They appeared to be directionless conductors, randomly sampling the air

At nightfall, garden snails began to come out of the woodpile. I found one spiralling up a twig, stretching out its wet elephant skin. Another swung its body to the side, as if it was having a touch of slug envy, and was trying to dislodge its bulky encumbrance of a shell. One was sliding up the patio window and I went indoors to view it from beneath.

Pressed smooth against the glass, the muscles of its body (technically, its foot) rippled as waves might lap over a shallow, sandy beach, each wave a pulse of movement. Any slight change in direction caused the twisting part of the foot to crease, creating a filmy cellophane effect. What language did its tentacles speak? They appeared to be directionless conductors, randomly sampling the air, out of synch with each other, having no bearing on the animal’s purposeful course.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Euro 2016 moths take wing from Paris and head to Britain

Thousands of Silver Y moths, like those that pestered Ronaldo during the Euro 2016 final, headed for UK shores

Last seen swarming the Stade de France in Paris, the moths that flapped around the injured Cristiano Ronaldo during the Euro 2016 final are on their way to Britain.

Thousands of the Silver Y moths – Autographa gamma – are winging their way from the continent to Britain, and while they will not match the many millions that swarmed as far north as Shetland in 1996, experts are predicting a strong year. “It’s looking like it’s going to be an above average year, providing the conditions are right and there’s a southerly wind,” said Zoe Randle, a surveys officer at the charity Butterfly Conservation.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Something to really miss about David Cameron | Brief letters

Oil beneath South China Sea | A Bristolian and EU passport | Urinals on planes | Names for recessions | Mrs Cameron’s diary

The background issue that makes the dispute over the South China Sea so hot (Report, 13 July) is that the various countries are squabbling over the oil underneath it. Since we need to keep 80% of known fossil fuel reserves in the ground, how about proposing an agreement to leave all that oil unextracted no matter which country gets it? The various countries might agree to that, not knowing which one the sacrifice will fall on. With that agreement in place, they might be much less concerned over which country gets to be the nominal owner of the oil that won’t be extracted.
Richard Stallman
Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Nick Markovits’s faith in Nicola Sturgeon is touching (Letters, 12 July), but why come all the way to Scotland? Instead, just call for an immediate referendum over the issue of independence for south-west England, ignore the cool response of the EU itself, fudge currency issues and other essential matters and head off into the bright future with your new Bristolian and EU passport. Alternatively, just be glad you’re not having to brace yourself for a third referendum in three years and even greater isolation.
Jean McGowan
Glasgow

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Source: Guardian Environment

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Theresa May must step up efforts to green the UK's energy supply, says UN

Generating more electricity from renewable sources will benefit the poor and boost jobs and the economy at a time of uncertainty, says UN’s top energy official

Theresa May’s government must increase its commitment to greening the country’s energy supply, despite the “distraction and disruption” caused by the referendum, the top energy official of the United Nations has urged.

Rachel Kyte, chief executive of the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative, and special representative of the UN secretary-general, said generating more energy from cleaner sources would boost jobs and the economy at a time of uncertainty, and help poorer people the most.

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Source: Guardian Environment

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