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Solar plane lands in New York City

A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said.  The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website.  Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...
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Global investment in renewable energy hit a record in 2015

The 10th Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment also showed that investment in developing nations exceeded that in developed countries.  In another first, more new renewables capacity than fossil-fuel generation came online during 2015.  But it warned that much more had to be done to avoid dangerous climate change.  The assessment, produced by the Frankfurt School-Unep Collaborating Centre for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, showed that the developing world committed a total of US$156bn (up 19% on 2014 levels) in renewables (excluding large hydro) while developed nations invested US$130bn (down 8% from 2014 levels).  "A large element in this turnaround was China, which lifted its investment by 17% to US$102.9bn, or 36% of the world total," the report observed.  However, other developing nations also contributed as six of the top 10 investors were developing nations. In the foreword, UN secretary-general Ban...
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Global average temperatures in 2015 likely to be the warmest on record, according WMO

Data until the end of October showed this year's temperatures running "well above" any previous 12 month period.  The researchers say the five year period from 2011 to 2015 was also the warmest on record.  The rise, they state, was due to a combination of a strong El Nino and human-induced global warming.  The WMO said their preliminary estimate, based on data from January to October, showed that the global average surface temperature for 2015 was 0.73 degrees C above the 1961-1990 average.  Their scientists also found that global temperatures were approximately 1 degree C above the 1880-1899 period, mirroring a recent finding by the UK Met Office.The record-breaking five year period from 2011 to 2015 was 0.57C above the average for 1961-1990. The WMO said that levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached new highs. In the northern hemisphere, the spring of 2015 saw the three-month global average concentration of CO2 cross the 400 parts per million...
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Puffins are among four UK bird species at risk of extinction, global conservation database

Puffins Atlantic puffins, European turtle doves, Slavonian grebes and pochards are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species for birds.  This means the number of UK species on the critical list has doubled to eight.  Puffins are vulnerable to pollution and declining food sources, ecologists say.  Another 14 UK species are considered to be "near threatened".  Martin Harper, conservation director with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), said the "global wave of extinction is now lapping at our shores".  "The erosion of the UK's wildlife is staggering and this is reinforced when you talk about puffin and turtle dove now facing the same level of extinction threat as African elephant and lion, and being more endangered than the humpback whale," he said.Although the Atlantic puffin population is still in the millions, fewer young birds are surviving to breed. Turtle dove Reasons...
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Cactus species are under threat, a global study has said

CACTUS Conservationists voiced concern, saying the level of threat to cacti was much greater than previously thought.  The plants are a vital component of arid ecosystems, providing a source of food and water for many animals.  The results of the assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature appear in Nature Plants journal.  According to the study, 31% of the world's 1,480 cactus species were under pressure from human activity, such as illegal trading, agriculture and aquaculture as well as land-use change.  "The results of this assessment come as a shock to us," said lead author Barbara Goettsch, co-chairwoman of the IUCN's Cactus and Succulent Plant Specialist Group. "We did not expect cacti to be so highly threatened and for illegal  trade to be such an important driver of their decline."  The assessment reported that the illegal trade of live plants and seeds for the horticultural industry and private collections, as well a...
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