Climate Change & Environment
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Mining Bitcoin Uses More Energy than Denmark

Extracting a dollar's worth of cryptocurrency such as bitcoin from the deep Web consumes three times more energy than digging up a dollar's worth of gold, researchers said Monday.

There are now hundreds of virtual currencies and an unknown number of server farms around the world running around the clock to unearth them, more than half of them in China, according to a recent report from the University of Cambridge.

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Wind Farm 'Predator' Effect Hits Ecosystems

Wind farms act as a top "predator" in some ecosystems, harming birds at the top of the food chain and triggering a knock-on effect overlooked by green energy advocates, scientists said Monday.

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World's Rarest Plants, Vital Crops Can't be Banked

International efforts to save some of the world's rarest and economically important plants from climate change are doomed to fail because their seeds cannot be stored, researchers warned Friday.

As the planet heats and mankind continues to decimate natural habitats, scientists concede that the only way to save some types of vegetation is in seed banks -- giant repositories of thousands of species preserved for future generations.

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Palestinian 'Birdman' Watches Out over West Bank

As the sun rises over the mountains behind the Dead Sea, Anton Khalilieh squints into a telescope and scans the skies.

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Economy Depends on Environment, WWF Warns Brazil's Bolsonaro

If Brazil's far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro wants to make good on his promise to reboot the economy, he should stop his attacks on the environment, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

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Thousands evacuated as Typhoon Yutu strikes Philippines

Typhoon Yutu slammed into the Philippines Tuesday with fierce winds that sheared off roofs and snapped trees, after thousands were evacuated ahead of the powerful storm's arrival.

Cutting a path just south of last month's Typhoon Mangkhut, which killed dozens, the new storm tore across the Philippines' most populous island, dumping heavy rain along the way.

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Strong but Deep Quake Rattles New Zealand's North Island

A strong but deep earthquake struck New Zealand's North Island on Tuesday afternoon, causing Parliament to be briefly suspended as a precaution.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries, and authorities said there was no risk of a tsunami.

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Air Pollution Kills 600,000 Children Each Year, Says WHO

Exposure to toxic air both indoors and out kills some 600,000 children under the age of 15 each year, the World Health Organization warned Monday.

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Japan Launches Environment Monitoring Satellite

Japan's space agency on Monday launched a rocket carrying a satellite that will monitor greenhouse gases, as well as the first satellite built entirely in the United Arab Emirates.

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EU Air Quality Slowly Improving but Still Deadly

Air pollution is slowly easing in EU countries but still causes nearly half a million early deaths each year, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in its annual report published Monday.

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