New research claims psychological traits could help explain why climate science deniers often make contradictory arguments

Sometimes, climate science deniers will tell you that we can’t predict global temperatures in the future. Sometimes, they’ll say we’re heading for an ice age.

Occasionally, contrarians will say that no single weather event can prove human-caused global warming. But then they’ll point to somewhere that’s cold, claiming this disproves climate change.

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Source: Guardian Environment

Biological farming, conservation planning and water recycling are part of a concerted push to make the milk industry more ‘carbon confident’

It was a soil bacteria course in New Zealand that convinced Reggie Davis to change his farming methods.

The fourth-generation Victorian dairy farmer had become increasingly concerned by the costs, chemicals and time involved in the use of nitrate fertilisers to maintain – what was considered to be – high-quality pasture for his dairy herd.

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Source: Guardian Environment

Bank of England governor says more investment in green technologies could help escape low-inflation low-growth trap

The Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, has thrown his weight behind the fledgling market in green investments to help cut carbon emissions and boost global economic growth. Carney used a speech in Berlin on Thursday to highlight green finance as an opportunity to boost financial stability while also tackling climate change.

He said more of the $100 tn (£76tn) held by big global investment firms could be channelled into green bonds to help finance initiatives such as water or renewable power projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Last year, $42bn of green bonds were sold worldwide.

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Source: Guardian Environment

Soil’s potential to soak up planet-warning carbon dioxide has been overestimated by as much as 40%, say scientists

Hopes that large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide could be buried in soils appear to be grossly misplaced, with new research finding that the ground will soak up far less carbon over the coming century than previously thought.

Radiocarbon dating of soils, when combined with previous models of carbon uptake, has shown the widely assumed potential for carbon sequestration to combat climate change has been overestimated by as much as 40%.

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Source: Guardian Environment

The animal was either poisoned or died naturally before beheading, a spokesman said, days after headless body of herd’s dominant male discovered at reserve

Spanish authorities are investigating the death of a second European bison, which was found decapitated just days after staff discovered the headless body of the herd’s dominant male.

The death of the bison was similar to that of Sauron, the 660kg (1,455lb) male whose decapitated body was found nearly a week earlier at the reserve.

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Source: Guardian Environment

A group of Wisconsin nuns in the 1930s proved that positive personality traits can add years to your life. Being disagreeable, on the other hand, can be deadly

On this day in 1930, the Mother Superior of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sent a letter asking every member of the sisterhood to write an autobiography. She offered few further instructions, and so left it up to each member of the order to decide how to describe the most important episodes of their lives. Some nuns chose to insert emotional details about how their experiences had affected them. Others recounted only bald facts.

Seven decades later, researchers at the University of Kentucky found that these differences were strong predictors of how long the 180 nuns in their study lived. The more the sisters couched their accounts of personal responses to major life events in positivity, the greater their longevity.

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Source: Guardian Environment

The official first day of autumn occurs when the sun aligns directly with the Earth’s equator, creating a day and night of equal length

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Source: Guardian Environment

Marine experts say jellyfish-like creatures that have washed up in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands can inflict a very painful and potentially fatal sting

Marine experts have warned beachgoers to avoid jellyfish-like portuguese man o’war that have washed up in south-west England, as they can inflict a very painful and potentially fatal sting.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said it had verified half a dozen photos submitted by members of the public from beaches in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands, but the oceanic creatures could soon appear across a much wider area based on previous strandings.

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Source: Guardian Environment

Duke of Cambridge tells audience at a conservation charity event in London that he is not prepared to be part of a generation that lets the species disappear from the wild

Prince William says he fears the African elephant will have disappeared from the wild due to poaching by the time Princess Charlotte turns 25.

The prince told the audience of campaigners and policymakers at Time For Change – an event organised by the conservation charity Tusk, of which he is a patron – that he was “not prepared to be part of a generation that lets these iconic species disappear from the wild”.

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Source: Guardian Environment