"Electric cars: 'Greater push needed to drive sales'"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51282666

"Northern Ireland will not hit ambitious climate change targets unless it acts now to boost sales of electric vehicles, an industry body has warned.

In 2019, only 427 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) were sold here, up just 165 on 2015, BBC News NI can reveal.

This is despite the fact that they will be the only type of new cars on sale in 15 years.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the government must quickly spell out its plans."

"More than 50,000 urban trees to be planted in England"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51415270

"More than 50,000 trees are to be planted in urban areas of England as 13 projects have been given the go ahead.

The government's Urban Tree Challenge Fund will see each scheme receive a share from a £10m pot.

Recipients include projects in Cornwall, London, Manchester and the north-east of England.

Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers said the trees would help fight climate change and connect urban-dwellers with nature.

The announcement comes days after Ms Villiers was tackled by critics who said many more news trees were needed than those proposed.

Quizzing her in parliament, Shadow Environment Secretary Dr Alan Whitehead said the government was missing its target of planting 11 million trees by 2050 by 71%.

But Ms Villiers said she was determined to "massively" step up planting."

"Harry and Meghan attend JP Morgan event in Miami"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51421246

The BBC article glosses over their travel arrangements, but the Daily Mail article is a little more forthright:

"It is not clear how Harry and Meghan - who were widely criticized for taking private jets last year after preaching about climate change publicly - traveled to Florida.

JPMorgan's private Gulfstream jet had flown to Vancouver Airport in Canada, near to where the couple have been living since quitting royal life.

It then left at at 12.10pm Wednesday and landed in Palm Beach at 8.03pm. Harry and Meghan stayed at Serena Williams' home in Palm Beach during the appearance.

It is unclear if they were on that jet. Palm Beach is around 80 miles north of Miami. "

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7978959/Prince-Harry-Meghan-make-keynote-speech-exclusive-JPMorgan-event-Miami.html

"Why is there less snow on Scotland's mountains this year?"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-51279607

Some attempt at balance, but still trying to blame "climate change". As a hillwalker on the Scottish hills in all seasons, my take is that the weather is variable in all seasons and from year to year. Last May I was snowed off the difficult Rum Cuillin ridge - a scramble - which I had decided to climb in May to try to improve my chances of good weather while minimising the risk of midges. Last winter was long and cold. This winter has been mild. It's weather.

Meanwhile in the REAL WORLD H & M put the UK on the map
Harry Wokesex and Meghan Kartrashian find their own level

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/02/07/friday-funny-manntastic-claims-require-manntastic-evidence/

Apparently Mann has no evidence to support his Hockey Stick. Who knew?

"Whitehaven coal mine approval to be reviewed by judge"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-51413610

"The lawfulness of a decision to allow Cumbria's first deep coal mine in 30 years is to be considered by a judge.

Campaign group Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole (KCCH) has been granted permission for a judicial review of Cumbria County Council's approval.

The group is challenging permission for a coking coal mine at St Bees and a processing plant on the former Marchon chemical works site in Whitehaven.

The county council said it could not comment while the review was pending.

West Cumbria Mining, which submitted the plans, also declined to comment.

The authority's development control and regulation committee voted unanimously to give the site planning permission in March last year.

The decision was ratified in October despite the authority being warned it had failed to consider the greenhouse gas emissions of the mining operations, solicitors for the campaigners said.

In November the government declined to intervene, a decision Westmorland and Lonsdale Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron called "a kick in the teeth in the fight to tackle climate change"."

"Do Scotland's farmers have a problem with climate change?"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51416640

"Do Scotland's farmers have a problem coming to terms with the realities of climate change?

At the annual farmers' union conference in Glasgow, the issue was a thread which ran through the two days.

With the appointment last year of a climate change policy officer, it appears the union see this as a top priority.

But the tone and language used at the conference suggests there's a way to go.

In his "state of the union" address, NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick twice used the word "hoax" in talking about climate change."

"Third time unlucky for Gilston Hill wind farm scheme"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-51413472

"Plans for a wind farm in the Scottish borders have been rejected for a third time over "environmental harm" fears.

Proposals to put up turbines north west of Gilston Farm, near Heriot, first surfaced almost a decade ago.

It was initially refused by a Scottish government reporter - but revised plans later gained approval in February 2019.

However, the Court of Session quashed that decision and it was ordered to be re-determined. A reporter has now concluded the scheme should be refused."

"What if the whole world went vegan?"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment

"Veganuary – when many people go vegan for a month – is over. But what would happen if everyone in the world went vegan - not just for a month, but for good? What impact would that have in terms of climate change and the environment?"

"Armed ecoguards funded by WWF 'beat up Congo tribespeople'
Exclusive: Inquiry into $21.4m conservation project reports ‘credible’ evidence of abuse"

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/07/armed-ecoguards-funded-by-wwf-beat-up-congo-tribespeople

"Armed ecoguards partly funded by the conservation group WWF to protect wildlife in the Republic of the Congo beat up and intimidated hundreds of Baka pygmies living deep in the rainforests, an investigation into a landmark global conservation project has heard.

A team of investigators sent to northern Congo by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to assess allegations of human rights abuses gathered “credible” evidence from different sources that hunter-gatherer Baka tribespeople living close to a proposed national park had been subjected to violence and physical abuse from the guards over years, according to a leaked draft of the report.

The allegations, reported to the UN last year, included Baka tribespeople being beaten by the ecoguards, the criminalisation and illegal imprisonment of Baka men, summary evictions from the forest, the burning and destruction of property, and the confiscation of food."

"Can the aviation industry really go carbon neutral by 2050?
Given the take-off in passenger numbers, critics have dubbed the Net Zero pledge as greenwash. It is plausible ... but only just"

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/07/can-the-aviation-industry-really-go-carbon-neutral-by-2050

"UK unprepared for COP 26 conference, warn climate leaders
Former UN climate envoy joins list of experts frustrated at Britain’s lack of leadership"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/07/mary-robinson-attacks-unhelpful-uk-over-cop-26-climate-talks

"Antarctica logs hottest temperature on record with a reading of 18.3C
A new record set so soon after the previous record of 17.5C in March 2015 is a sign warming in Antarctica is happening much faster than global average"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/07/antarctica-logs-hottest-temperature-on-record-with-a-reading-of-183c

But..."The lowest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica – and anywhere on Earth – was at the Russian Vostok station, when temperatures dropped to -89.2C on 21 July 1983."

"He said the temperature record at Esperanza was one of the longest-running on the whole continent."

But..."In a tweet on Friday, Argentina’s meteorological agency disclosed the record – the highest logged at the base since records there began in 1961." So that's a whole 58 years....

https://nypost.com/2020/02/07/antarctica-reports-hottest-temperature-on-record/

"Modern ark: designs for the new climate reality – in pictures
Floating villages and an ‘amphibious house’ are among some of the solutions as architecture adapts to the growing problem of urban flooding

• Sea Change: Flood Resilient Architecture for the 21st Century is at the Roca London Gallery, until 16 May"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2020/feb/06/modern-ark-designs-for-the-new-climate-reality-in-pictures

"Poorer households may get help on energy bills
By Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51403935

"Households struggling with energy bills may get help from a government review of clean technology funding.

At the moment, an annual levy is imposed on gas and electricity bills to fund renewables such as offshore wind.

The burden falls disproportionately on the poorest in society, and it will get worse as the UK expands clean energy to tackle climate change.

The BBC has been told the government may shift the cost onto tax payers to avoid anger at climate policies.

A government spokesperson said: "We are definitely considering the way that costs are distributed."

Currently about £10bn a year is being invested to support clean technology. Consumers pay about £5.5bn of that total through a levy on bills, which is about £186 of a typical energy bill.

They added: “The Treasury is looking at the costs of transition to net zero emissions by 2050.

"This will include how costs may be distributed across different groups to create a fair balance of contributions.”

Centrica, which owns British Gas, estimates that more than £20bn a year will be needed over a decade to fund the transition to a zero-carbon economy."

At last an acknowledgement of an inconvenient truth which I believe they have tried hard to hide.

First it was global warming, then climate change, then climate crisis, and now it appears it's climate chaos:

"Climate change: Loss of bumblebees driven by 'climate chaos'"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51375600

"Bumblebee declines are already more severe than previously thought, said lead researcher Peter Soroye of the University of Ottawa in Canada. "We've linked this to climate change - and more specifically to the extreme temperatures and the climate chaos that climate change is producing," he said."

A little over 2 years ago, the BBC had this article:

"Pesticides linked to bee deaths found in most honey samples
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41512791

"However, the impact of neonics on pollinators such as bees has long been a troubling subject for scientists around the world. Successive studies have shown a connection between the use of the products and a decline in both the numbers and health of bees.

Earlier this year, the most comprehensive field study to date concluded that the pesticides harm honey bees and wild bees.

This new study looks at the prevalence of neonicotinoids in 198 honey samples gathered on every continent (except Antarctica).

The survey found at least one example of these chemicals in 75% of the honey, from all parts of the globe. Concentrations were highest in North America, Asia and Europe."

But the new study doesn't look at pesticides, it would seem - no, it's all the fault of "climate chaos". The science is settled (or not, as the case may be).