In Brazil, Maria do Soccoro Silva is leading Amazonian forest people against alleged land-grabbing, corruption and pollutionA warning voice on the telephone, a home intrusion, a punch in the face, a pistol barrel prodded against the ear.The intimidation of Maria do Socorro Silva has come in many forms since she began defending her Amazonian home against the world’s biggest alumina refinery and its local government backers. Continue reading...
St Dominic, Tamar Valley: This year’s exceptional cherry harvest has seen our feathered friends gorge on maturing fruitAbundant fruit reflects the sun as we pick cherries in the cool of evening. The spreading trees in James and Mary’s orchard of traditional varieties provide oases of shade among dried-up grasses and help protect the shallow roots from drought; despite the hot weather, rustling leaves remain fresh and bright green.A few weeks ago, pigeons and jackdaws flocked here to gorge on maturing fruit, breaking off new shoots and littering the ground with wizened stones. Since these birds left for alternative venues and feasts of ripening grain, the remaining fruit has become plump and juicy, tasting sweet and slightly tart, as delicious as that of ancestor trees. These were common in the valley’s widespread orchards during the 18th and 19th centuries, with only a few surviving until the 1980s. Continue reading...
Wildlife officials say cub is gaining weight after receiving severe burns to her pawsAn orphaned bear cub burned by a Colorado wildfire is healing and gaining weight.Wildlife officials have said the bear no longer has to wear bandages on her feet, which were severely burned in a fire north of Durango in June. Continue reading...
The dry and hot summer of 1911 drove Londoners to paddle in the Serpentine while, in the north, mills closed for lack of powerThe long hot summer of 1911 is credited with changing fashions, with women shedding whalebone corsets and brassieres becoming the rage. Edwardian aristocrats are said to have taken up nude tennis at their country estates, although at the ever more crowded seaside resorts men and women still used bathing machines towed into the sea. The sexes were kept segregated in case any flesh was exposed. Continue reading...
There have been a number of bird attacks reported, including one man persecuted by seagulls each morning and another man who reacted violently to having his chips stolenName: Seagull rage.Prevalence: High in coastal areas. Continue reading...
Charity had argued the government was in breach of international obligations under the Paris agreementEnvironmental campaigners have lost their high court challenge against the government over its policy for tackling climate change.The charity Plan B Earth brought legal action against the government’s stance on the 2050 carbon target, set out under the Climate Change Act 2008. Continue reading...
by Denise Hruby in Ãœberlingen, Germany on (#3V8M2)
Birds bred in captivity led on three-week migration south from Germany by human ‘foster parents’Leaning out of an ultralight aircraft, Corinna Esterer turns toward a flock of peculiar black birds soaring just a few metres away. “Come, come ibis,†she yells through her megaphone. Drawn by Esterer’s voice, the birds dart to the aircraft, and follow it to a field overlooking Lake Constance in southern Germany. Once on the ground, the ibis flock to Esterer. To the birds, the young woman is their parent.For more than 300 years, the northern bald ibis has been extinct in the wild in central Europe, with small populations surviving only in zoos. But recently, it has celebrated a slow but steady comeback thanks to human foster parents who have shown the birds how to migrate south by leading the way in ultralight aircraft.
A newly discovered bandy bandy snake species, jumping sweetfish and baby tarantulas in Derbyshire are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...
Abnormally hot temperatures continue to wreak devastation across northern and central parts of the continentFarmers across northern and central Europe are facing crop failure and bankruptcy as one of the most intense regional droughts in recent memory strengthens its grip.States of emergency have been declared in Latvia and Lithuania, while the sun continues to bake Swedish fields that have received only 12% of their normal rainfall. Continue reading...
by Frances Perraudin North of England reporter on (#3V81A)
United Utilities submits drought applications for Lake Ullswater, Lake Windermere and Ennerdale WaterA water company has asked for permission to take more water from some of the Lake District’s most famous lakes, as the UK experiences its driest summer for decades.United Utilities, which supplies water to north-west England, has submitted three drought applications to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to extract water from Ullswater, Windermere and Ennerdale Water. Continue reading...
Langstone, Hampshire: Crab spiders are ambush predators rather than web-spinners, and bees can often be their unsuspecting victimsI was cutting a bunch of antirrhinums when I noticed a dark shadow inside one of the nose-like flower capsules. When I pinched open the lobed petals, I was surprised to discover an entombed common carder bee. Honeybees often struggle to enter and exit these snap-jawed blooms, as they don’t have enough heft to cause the flower lip to open, but portly bumblebees have no trouble thrusting their bodies into the gullet of the flower and wriggling out backwards, so this pollinator’s demise was something of a mystery. Continue reading...
Households as well as factories in the UK are pushing volatile chemicals into the air, helping to create those long-lasting hazesThe recent hot weather has allowed us to enjoy life outdoors – afternoons in the park, evenings in the garden – but it comes with a downside. Summer smog has enveloped the UK, with southern England the worst affected. In south-east England air pollution was moderate or high on the government’s information system for 17 consecutive days. This was the longest run of summer smog for seven years.Across Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside, smoke from moorland fires added to the air pollution cocktail. Continue reading...
It was a coal town, predicted to be wiped out by the closure of two ageing power plants. Now Port Augusta has 13 renewable projects in trainThe largest solar farm in the southern hemisphere lies on arid land at the foot of the Flinders Ranges, more than 300km north of Adelaide. If that sounds remote, it doesn’t do justice to how removed local residents feel from what currently qualifies as debate in Canberra.As government MPs and national newspapers thundered over whether taxpayers should underwrite new coal-fired power, mauling advice from government agencies as they went, residents of South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf region have been left to ponder why decision-makers weren’t paying attention to what is happening in their backyard. Continue reading...
Man believed to be in his 50s seen swinging an axe to fell a tree in Brazilian forestRemarkable footage has been released of an uncontacted indigenous man who has lived alone in an Amazon forest for at least 22 years.Semi-naked and swinging an axe vigorously as he fells a tree, the man, believed to be in his 50s, has never been filmed so clearly before and appears to be in excellent health. Continue reading...
Renewable energy installations will no longer benefit from feed-in tariff, ministers confirmThe renewables industry and green groups have accused ministers of striking a major blow against household solar power after the government said a green energy subsidy scheme would end next year without a replacement.The closure of the feed-in tariff (FIT) to new applicants from next April marks the final chapter for the scheme, which has encouraged more than 800,000 households to install solar panels since it was launched in 2010. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Smithers Consumer affairs correspondent on (#3V5G1)
Morrisons leads league table of supermarkets analysed for the proportion of their packaging that can be recycledAlmost a third of plastic packaging used by UK supermarkets is either non-recyclable through standard collection schemes or difficult to recycle, according to a new analysis by a consumer group.
Planning commission finds ‘uncertainty’ around the massive project’s emissionsA plan for a massive waste-to-energy incinerator in western Sydney has been blocked, after the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission ruled there was “uncertainty†over human health and environmental impacts.The plant – the largest planned in the southern hemisphere – would have burned 552,500 tonnes of waste every year, generating enough electricity to power 100,000 homes. Continue reading...
Stanhope, Weardale: A watchful heron awaits his moment as the fish introduced to this former industrial landscape gorge on a rich supply of damselfly nymphsIn the heat of yet another cloudless summer afternoon the still air in Ashes quarry wobbled in the heat haze. Blasting, hewing and hauling of limestone ended here 60 years ago. Since then nature has reclaimed this peaceful mile-long scar in the fellside; today the loudest sound came from chirruping grasshoppers.The prolonged drought is unlikely to dry up the flooded quarry floor, an olive-green oasis surrounded by parched, yellowing grasses growing in the thin veneer of soil on rock scree. Standing on the edge of the squelchy bog, among cotton grass shedding its gossamer seeds and head-tall reed mace, I listened to the croak of moorhens hidden in channels among the forests of water horsetail, and also heard a strange plopping sound. Continue reading...
Australians tried to do the right thing by recycling but corporations shifted responsibility and set us up to failThe announcement by China earlier this year that they would no longer purchase Australia’s contaminated waste plunged the local recycling industry into a crisis from which it has yet to recover.But the consequences for public trust might be even more severe. Continue reading...
In central-western New South Wales some families on the land are facing ruin as the rain stays away“It’s a pretty tough old time,†says Coonabarabran farmer Ambrose Doolan. “But if you’re working with your family and everyone is looking out for each other, you count your blessings.†In the central-west region of New South Wales, farmers continue to battle a crippling drought that many locals are calling the worst since 1902. In Warrumbungle shire, where sharp peaks fall away to once fertile farmland, the small town of Coonabarabran is running out of water. The town dam has fallen to 23% of its capacity and residents are living with level-six water restrictions. There are real fears the town will run dry. Continue reading...
Doctors urge ministers to act as 1,320 killed by asthma in England and Wales last yearA record number of people are dying of asthma, and experts have warned growing air pollution and a lack of basic care could be to blame.In England and Wales 1,320 people died of asthma last year, a sharp rise of more than 25% over a decade, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
Government-owned company has back-pedalled on its pledge to cycle-proof the line, say campaigners, locking out cyclists for generations to comeThe company building the HS2 high speed rail line is accused of watering down commitments on cycle crossings along the route, in a move campaigners say will endanger lives and lock out cycling for generations to come.The government-owned company, HS2 Ltd, was accused of back-pedalling on its legally-binding assurance that it would “cycle-proof†phase 1 of HS2, from London to the West Midlands, earlier this year by Cycling UK, the national cycling charity. The assurances, which became legally binding when they were incorporated into the High Speed Rail Act, stated HS2 Ltd would have a dialogue with the Cycle Proofing Working Group (CPWG), a government advisory body, with the assumption that they would include high quality design standards. Continue reading...
New research has identified the species of shark currently found in hotter parts of the world that could migrate to UK waters by 2050 as the oceans warm Continue reading...
The Cornwall community achieved this status last December, by uniting against straws, bottles, takeaway boxes and disposable forks. Now 330 other towns aim to follow themEmily Kavanaugh is standing in her skincare-product shop, Pure Nuff Stuff, on Chapel Street. The narrow lane leads down towards the Jubilee pool, the triangular lido that juts like a ship’s prow into the sea from Penzance. “Here, try one,†Kavanaugh says, handing me a piece of packing material. The little white cloud looks and feels like a polystyrene packing “peanutâ€, but, Kavanaugh assures me, “it tastes exactly like a communion waferâ€. After a wary nibble, I pop the whole thing in and notch it up as a snack.Kavanaugh’s packaging is made not of plastic but corn starch. If eating it feels like an act of faith, it is because there is a growing fervour in this Cornish seaside town. Last year, Penzance became the first town in Britain to receive “plastic-free†status from Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). The former single-issue movement, founded in Cornwall in 1990, has become a national marine conservation charity with plastics in its sights. But, rather than target shopping bags or plastic-lined coffee cups, SAS is attempting to unite whole communities against single-use plastic of all types, including straws, bottles, packaging, takeaway boxes, cotton buds, clingfilm and forks. Continue reading...
Sweden worst hit as hot, dry summer sparks unusual number of fires, with at least 11 in the far northAt least 11 wildfires are raging inside the Arctic Circle as the hot, dry summer turns an abnormally wide area of Europe into a tinderbox.The worst affected country, Sweden, has called for emergency assistance from its partners in the European Union to help fight the blazes, which have broken out across a wide range of its territory and prompted the evacuations of four communities. Continue reading...
Rombalds Moor, West Yorkshire: We can’t blame the heatwave for this desiccated landscape – we’ve spent decades deliberately drying out our peatland habitatsThe moors are a tinderbox. Parched and crisped by weeks of dry summer heat, the heather is a burnt brown-to-burgundy, the moorland grass yellowed. The bracken looks all right – still a deep pea-green (it takes a lot to bother bracken) – but finger-wide cracks have opened in the colourless peat of the footpath. It’s early morning; the day hasn’t yet been fully cranked up, and the broken sky is a messy palette of blues and greys. A loose flock of a dozen meadow pipits forages for caterpillars. Continue reading...
Major hurdles to Carmichael mine remain despite comments by Karan Adani that the company has ‘completed financing’Adani says its Carmichael coalmine remains contingent on a loan to build a rail line to the Galilee Basin – comments that analysts believe will ramp up pressure on the Australian government to further subsidise the project.Karan Adani, the son of company boss Gautam Adani, and the head of the conglomerate’s ports business, told India’s Economic Times the company had “completed financing on the mine†and that it had received all necessary approvals. Continue reading...
Satellite imagery shows hundreds of glaciers shrinking as average annual temperature rises 3.6C in 70 yearsHundreds of glaciers in Canada’s high Arctic are shrinking and many are at risk of disappearing completely, an unprecedented inventory of glaciers in the country’s northernmost island has revealed.Using satellite imagery, researchers catalogued more than 1,700 glaciers in northern Ellesmere Island and traced how they had changed between 1999 and 2015. Continue reading...
Phosphate fertilisers are causing dangerous levels of pollution in waterways that harm aquatic plants and animalsMuch of the environment is awash with fertilisers, boosting thuggish weeds such as stinging nettles that swamp other wild plants. Nitrate is a big villain in this onslaught, but far less notice is taken of phosphate.
Former head of Clean Energy Finance Corporation says governments should not support Neg in current stateOliver Yates, the former head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, says state and territory governments should not sign on to the Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee until such time as it contains meaningful emissions reductions.Yates, a respected industry player now active in the renewables sector, and a board member of the Smart Energy Council – a solar group critical of the Neg – told Guardian Australia the Turnbull government’s policy “doesn’t do anything other than create a stable emissions profile for existing coal-fired power stations.†Continue reading...
The tide towards annihilation can be turned if the political will is there, writes CND general secretary Kate HudsonAs your article on nuclear weapons states (All you wanted to know about nuclear war but were too afraid to ask, 16 July), the use of a nuclear weapons is now more likely than at any time since the cold war. Billions are being spent on modernising superpower nuclear arsenals. The old “deterrence†myth – that they will never be used – is still being deployed, but at the same time Trump is unveiling plans for new “usable†nuclear weapons, and outlining more scenarios in which to use them.With Trump’s tearing up of the Iran nuclear deal, the dangers of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East are increasing. The possibility of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula hangs on a thread – a return to threat and counter-threat is an ever-present danger, with potentially catastrophic consequences. But this tide towards annihilation can be turned if the political will is there. Maybe we can’t expect that from the trigger-happy US president, but we should demand it from our own government. Continue reading...
United Utilities, imposing ban on 7m households, is second worst for leaking pipesThe water company ordering a hosepipe ban on 7m households in the north-west of England has the second-worst record for leaking pipes of any supplier, industry data shows.The temporary use ban being imposed by United Utilities from 5 August has led to calls for water firms to do more to tackle leakage on their networks. Continue reading...
As hunters hold immense clout in the Trump administration and most of the council’s members are advocates of the sport, critics worry the board will protect their hobby, not the animalsDonald Trump has called big-game trophy hunting a “horror showâ€, despite his own sons’ participation in elephant and leopard hunts, and in 2017 he formed an advisory board to steer US policy on the issue. Continue reading...
Oxford University Museum: For 70 years, researchers have been watching ‘particularly hideous’ young swifts turn into long-winged angelsThis glorious structure is a place rich in history. As we walked through the galleries our guide paused to show us the great oak door behind which Bishop Wilberforce confronted “Darwin’s bulldogâ€, Thomas Huxley, in their famous debate on evolution. We, however, were intent on a more modest fraction of the building’s past. For it was here in 1947 that the ecologists Elizabeth and David Lack noticed how breeding swifts were vanishing into air vents in the roof’s slate-covered tower. Continue reading...
CSIRO says lack of consumer awareness is ‘number one issue’ affecting recyclingAustralians have to boost their recycling of lithium-ion batteries, a new CSIRO report has found.Consumers only recycle 2% of our lithium-ion batteries, and an estimated $813m to $3bn worth of valuable components is in landfill. The commonly-used rechargeable batteries are used in mobile phones, laptops, household appliances and, increasingly, electric vehicles. Continue reading...
Fossil fuels increased share of energy supply investment last year – the first time since 2014The world’s energy watchdog has sounded the alarm over a “worrying†pause in the shift to clean energy after global investment in renewables fell 7% to $318bn (£240bn) last year.The International Energy Agency said the decline is set to continue into 2018, threatening energy security, climate change and air pollution goals. Continue reading...
This week marks the annual stocktake of the crown’s swans on the River Thames, known as swan upping. The process of counting the swans on the river and identifying them as belonging to the Queen or one of the two City livery companies that also have rights to them – has been carried out since the 12th century, when the birds were so prized for their meat that all wild swans in England were appropriated as property of the crown. The pomp, finery and techniques of swan upping would be familiar to the villagers who looked on centuries ago Continue reading...
Model predicts population of UK’s tallest bird could double within 50 years after its return to the east of England following a 400-year absenceCommon cranes which recolonised eastern England less than 40 years ago after a 400-year absence are now here to stay, research has found.There could be as many as 275 breeding pairs of the UK’s tallest bird within 50 years, scientists at the University of Exeter, the RSPB and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) predict. Continue reading...
Researchers say the western barred bandicoot was actually five species and those ‘reintroduced’ would never have lived in SAAn endangered Australian bandicoot that was reintroduced to the Australian mainland is now believed to be one of five distinct species, and researchers say it may have been a mistake to introduce it to South Australia.Scientists working for the Western Australian Museum have published research that concludes that what has been known as the western barred bandicoot is in fact five distinct species – four of which had become extinct by the 1940s as a result of agriculture and introduced predators. The species were closely related but occurred in different parts of Australia. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#3V0DC)
United Utilities says 7 million customers will be affected by first ban since 2012Millions of households in the north-west of England will face the first hosepipe ban in the country since 2012 after the UK’s longest heatwave in more than 40 years.The water company United Utilities said 7 million customers would be affected by the ban, which is due to come into force on 5 August. Continue reading...
Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples calls for a new, rights-based approach to conservationThe United Nations Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, has released a report highly critical of the global conservation movement and calling for indigenous peoples and other local communities to have a greater say in protecting the world’s forests. Titled Cornered by Protected Areas and co-authored with the US-based NGO Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the report is an explicit condemnation of “fortress conservation.â€What exactly is meant by that? It is “the idea that to protect forests and biodiversity, ecosystems need to function in isolation, devoid of people,†the Rapporteur told the Guardian. “This model - favoured by governments for over a century - ignores the growing body of evidence that forests thrive when Indigenous Peoples remain on their customary lands and have legally recognised rights to manage and protect them.â€
by Matthew Taylor Environment correspondent on (#3TYZF)
Government’s top climate adviser warns policymakers will be judged harshly by future generations if they don’t act nowThe government’s official climate change adviser says politicians and policymakers are failing to rise to the challenge of a rapidly warming planet and will be judged harshly by future generations unless they act now.Lord Deben, chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), said “anyone who read the news†could see mounting evidence of alarming trends – from melting polar ice to record heatwaves and rising sea levels. He called on politicians to “make the connections†between these events and act with more urgency.
Environment | The Guardian