Xeros planning to roll out plastic bead technology in the Americas and Europe
Xeros, a British technology group that specialises in “waterless” washing machines, has announced plans to raise £40m from shareholders for its further development.
The group, which floated on London’s Aim market in March 2014 when it raised £27.6m, said the funds will help it maintain momentum as it rolls out its commercial laundry business in the Americas and Europe.
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Source: Guardian Environment
Coal mining company denies issuing misleading statements but agrees to amend future risk reports, following eight-year investigation, reports Business Green
Coal giant Peabody Energy has agreed to change the way it reports the risks posed to investors by climate change, ending an eight-year investigation by the New York attorney general.
Peabody and attorney general Eric Schneiderman confirmed they had reached an agreement on Monday, after the company was accused of issuing misleading statements on the risks it could face from tightening climate change laws.
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Source: Guardian Environment
The farcical investigation of the pollution case I exposed in a Devon river highlights how budget cuts have left the agency incapable of enforcement
It could scarcely have been a starker case. The river I came across in Devon six weeks ago, and described in the Guardian, was so polluted that I could smell it from 50 metres away. Farm slurry pouring into the water, from a pipe that I traced back to a dairy farm, had wiped out almost all the life in the stretch of River Culm I explored.
All that now grew on the riverbed were long, feathery growths of sewage fungus. An expert on freshwater pollution I consulted told me that the extent of these growths showed the poisoning of the river was “chronic and severe”.
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Source: Guardian Environment
In their most recent “Food Futures’ report, a study that assessed 15 topics in the UK food system “from farm to fork”, WRAP argue that there is a significant opportunity for the food sector to take advantage of 21st century trends to become a more effective, healthy, environmentally secure and profitable sector.
WRAP’s chief executive, Liz Goodwin, was quoted as saying “In the next 10 years, we will be faced with challenges around feeding a growing population and nutritional system. Our ‘Food Futures’ report highlights how governments, businesses and we, as consumers, can turn these challenges into opportunities”.
The report’s recommendations include:
The future of the food system in the UK, Europe and globally is a hot topic. In the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s recent Growth Within report, food was one of three sectors analysed in detail. Last week, at the Disruptive Innovation Festival, the report’s project lead, Ashima Sukhdev, presented key findings and answered questions for a live online audience. The recording of that event is available for a limited time.
Source: Food Futures
Licensed under CC – credit Flickr user: 16:9clue
The post WRAP Argues For More Flexible and Intelligent Food Sector appeared first on Circulate.
Source: Circulate News RSS
Insect can bite with 50 times more force than its body weight, helping it to chew through tough materials such as wood
The cockroach packs a powerful bite, thanks to jaws that can grind five times stronger than a human, or with 50 times more force than its body weight, researchers said.
Faced with tough materials such as wood, they activate muscle fibres in their jaw to boost their bite to cope with repetitive, heavy-duty tasks, a study in the journal Plos One said on Wednesday.
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Source: Guardian Environment
Butterflies are full of surprises and this year they have saved their biggest until last: in the midst of an awful November, subtropical butterflies have been spotted on England’s south coast. The remarkable appearance of the long-tailed blue, a butterfly happiest in the heat of Africa or Australia, raises a mystery: will these insects simply die this winter?
Until recently, the long-tailed blue, or Lampides boeticus, very occasionally arrived in hot summers: notably in 1945, and 1990 when it pitched up in Gillespie Park, north London. In 2013, however, there was an unprecedented invasion. Summer arrivals laid eggs on everlasting peas (ironically a garden plant gone wild, imported from Italy) and in October offspring emerged: 109 were counted. This year it’s happened again. But the emergence of a British born generation has been delayed by the gloomy autumn. If it stays mild and the rain stops, more could yet hatch.
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Source: Guardian Environment
In recent, soon to be published work, we show that the coral reefs of the Egyptian Sinai are the most valuable in the world, generating fine sand beaches, calm water and fabulous opportunities for world-class snorkelling and diving, all within a short flight from Europe.
The tragedy of recent events (Report, 11 November) is complex and manifold. Of course there is the loss of innocent life. And there is also the loss of critical foreign exchange to Egypt, and of employment and income locally.
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Source: Guardian Environment
Australia Institute calculations show average annual emissions from burning coal from Adani’s proposed mine would be more than many countries and big cities
Coal from Adani’s proposed $16bn Carmichael project will create annual emissions similar to those from countries like Malaysia and Austria and more than New York City, according to calculations designed to highlight the scale of the mine’s environmental impacts.
Related: Conservation group challenges approval of Carmichael coalmine as ‘illegal’
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Source: Guardian Environment
To thrive, the threatened beast needs more holes in our back gardens. Let’s make it our national symbol, and start digging for a prickly victory
Last night the MP for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, Oliver Colvile, stood up in parliament and made an impassioned speech in defence of the hedgehog. He suggested that in order to protect it, we should make it the national symbol of the UK.
The speech was met with some wonderful responses, including a quote that was new to me, the Pashtun saying that “in every happy home is a hedgehog”, along with more predictable references to Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and William Shakespeare. This is the first discussion in parliament to take place since 1566 – and it is the first time I have been given a mention in Hansard – though being labelled as eccentric might take some living down.
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Source: Guardian Environment
RSPB and Wildlife Trusts economists say cuts to environment department equal 57% in real terms over course of two parliaments
The UK’s environment department is facing the largest cuts to its resources budget of any government department since 2009, according to an analysis by two of the country’s largest wildlife charities.
The Treasury and the departments for the environment, transport and local government and communities have agreed to average annual cuts of 8% in their operating costs, a total of 30% over the next four years, the chancellor, George Osborne, announced on Monday.
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Source: Guardian Environment