NT town’s drinking water is contaminated by foam from air force base but federal government is resisting calls to fund testsThe Northern Territory government and the Katherine mayor have called for locals to be given the same blood testing and support provided to other communities impacted by Defence’s firefighting foam contamination scandal.Drinking water in the town of Katherine, in the territory’s top end, has been contaminated by the decades-long use of toxic firefighting foam at the nearby Tindal air force base. Continue reading...
Readers respond to George Monbiot’s recent article and news that the US Department of Agriculture is censoring use of term ‘climate change’George Monbiot’s call to reconsider how we name things (Forget ‘the environment’. Fight for our living planet, 9 August) is a timely contribution to a confusing world. But one word that both he and the majority of online contributors have ignored is “prosperityâ€. That, after all, is why humans engage in economic activity: they believe it will make things better. There is, however, a fundamental problem with the way we have arranged our economic affairs. By treating the natural world as an infinite thing, “external†to the economy (except as a never-ending supply of resources) we have built a massive endeavour to take natural resources and make them into things that are then disposed of, generally after a fairly brief period of human enjoyment.Everyone I speak to readily accepts that under this system the planet must eventually “run outâ€, but they cannot see an alternative to “prosperityâ€. The conversation we need to have is not how we name things but how we do things. Continue reading...
East Riding of Yorkshire and north-east Lincolnshire among areas hardest hit, with severe downpours expectedA month’s worth of rain was set to fall on the UK on Wednesday as severe downpours brought flooding to large parts of the country. Flash flooding hit towns and villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire and north-east Lincolnshire. There was a metre (3ft) of standing water in parts of Withernsea, and further flooding in the Grimsby and Immingham areas.The Humberside fire and rescue service said it responded to calls on Tuesday evening from Bridlington to Hull, and from towns south of the river Humber. Grimsby Town’s League Cup football match with Derby County had to be abandoned on Tuesday night because of the heavy rain. Continue reading...
Move follows NFU criticism of practice and consumer calls for genuine labellingSupermarket chain Morrisons has pledged to support real British farmers by not adopting brands using fake farm names after a backlash by the National Farmers’ Union and concerns by shoppers.Morrisons announced its intention after a 70% of adults said in a survey by the company they objected to the use of fictitious farm brands and only wanted genuine place or farm names on packaging and branding. Continue reading...
Wildlife officials say something must be done to end animal’s months-long rampage that has left villagers living in fearAn elephant that has killed 15 people in eastern India over a months-long rampage could be shot within days if it is not brought under control, an official has said.Wildlife rangers and hunters assembled in Jharkhand on Wednesday after another victim was trampled to death on Tuesday evening, said the state’s chief forest and wildlife conservator, LR Singh. Continue reading...
AquaBounty salmon was approved for sale in Canada in 2016, paving the way for it to become the first genetically engineered animal to enter the food supplyCanadian supermarkets have become the first in the world to stock genetically modified fish, and about five tonnes of GM salmon have been sold in the country in recent months.The sales figure was revealed in the most recent earnings report of the US-based AquaBounty Technologies, whose hybrid Atlantic salmon – which contains a gene from a Chinook salmon and a gene from the ocean pout – has been at the heart of a heated debate over transgenic animals as food. Continue reading...
Interview with UN Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous PeoplesToday is the United Nations’ (UN) International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, numbering an estimated 370 million in 90 countries and speaking roughly 7,000 languages. To mark it, the Guardian interviews Kankanaey Igorot woman Victoria Tauli-Corpuz about the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which she calls “historic†and was adopted 10 years ago.Tauli-Corpuz, from the Philippines, was Chair of the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues when the Declaration was adopted, and is currently the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this interview, conducted via email, she explains why the Declaration is so important, argues that governments are failing to implement it, and claims that the struggle for indigenous rights “surpasses†other great social movements of the past: Continue reading...
Turnbull has directed the power companies to help people lowering their bills. Only an empowered consumer is able to navigate market options effectively
Wenlock Edge Rain hardens summer’s lushness and the vivid knapweed seems loaded with the uncanniness of the seasonOn the windmill meadow, above a green rind of grasses and below their fidgety seedheads in the rain is the dotty purpling of knapweed.The jet stream divides August in Europe. As the south swelters in life-threatening temperatures, this side of the shower curtain is cool, wet and, after Lammas Day, thistly. Continue reading...
Decision enrages environmental groups, with Lock the Gate calling it a ‘very dark day for farming’ in the stateGlencore’s multibillion-dollar Wandoan coalmine proposal has been granted mining leases years after it was shelved amid falling commodity prices and a ramped-up global response to climate change.On Tuesday Queensland’s natural resources and mines minister, Dr Anthony Lynham, approved three 27-year leases covering 30,000 hectares for the first stage of its $7bn mine near Roma. Continue reading...
More than 1,000 of the endangered species, which come from one island off Portugal, have hatched in captivity in a world firstIn what is believed to be a world first, one of the rarest spiders has been bred in captivity at Bristol Zoo Gardens. More than 1,000 Desertas wolf spiderlings, classed as critically endangered, have hatched. Keepers hand-reared some from tiny eggs as they are so precious. At birth, they measure 4mm across, but they will grow to 12cm, with a 4cm body.The species is found in a single valley on Deserta Grande, one of the Desertas islands near Madeira, Portugal. There are about 4,000 adults left in the wild and it is hoped that some of the spiderlings can be returned to their home. Continue reading...
Secretary of state Rex Tillerson directs staff to make clear US wants to help other countries use fossil fuels, diplomatic cable showsUS diplomats should sidestep questions from foreign governments on what it would take for the Trump administration to re-engage in the global Paris climate agreement, according to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters.
Since their trial reintroduction in Devon, the animal’s engineering skills have reduced floodwater and created a paradise for local wildlife. Should we bring them back for good?At a secret location in the rolling pasture of west Devon lies a marshy patch of farmland protected by £35,000-worth of solar-powered electric fencing. This isn’t to keep people out but to restrain the tree-chomping, river-damming residents of these three hectares. Outside the fence is a typical small valley, with a trickle of a stream, willow thickets and pasture grazed by cattle. Inside the enclosure, the tiny stream has been blocked by 13 dams, creating pools and half-metre-wide canals. These have been built by Britain’s newest wild mammal, the beaver, which uses its waterways like we do – to transport goods. And as the beavers have coppiced trees, the willow thicket has been replaced with sunny glades of wild flowers – marsh thistles, watermint, meadowsweet – which dance with dragonflies and butterflies.“The beavers have transformed this little trickle of a stream into a remarkable, primeval wetland,†says Mark Elliott, lead beaver project officer of Devon Wildlife Trust, which released two beavers here in 2011. “This is what the landscape would have looked like before we started farming, and it’s only six years old. That’s the amazing thing.†Continue reading...
Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex The sun is slowly dropping towards the horizon and the air is cooling. The sandpipers are still feeding, making the most of this important stopover site on their routeRipples flow across the golden grass as the stems bend back and forth in the breeze. A pair of common blue butterflies – the male sky blue, the female rusty brown – dance over the field. It’s quiet, apart from the tinkling of parties of goldfinches flying over, and the relentless buzz of crickets and grasshoppers rising up from the ground alongside the footpath.I follow the track around the field and into the woods, and walk uphill to the Hanger, the viewpoint that looks out over the pools and channels of the brooks. Two young grey herons battle over the fishing rights to their small pool, raising the crests on their heads, holding their wings wide and barking sharp “frarnk†calls. Finally one gives way and heaves itself into the air, flapping slowly into the distance. Continue reading...
It’s safe to go back in the water, says marine biologist who identified the miniature attackers as lysianassid amphipodsThe “meat-loving†marine creature that ate at the legs of a Melbourne teenager has been identified as a flesh-eating sea flea, known as a lysianassid amphipod.Marine biologist Dr Genefor Walker-Smith said the creatures, which left 16-year-old Sam Kanizay with significant bleeding from his legs, were a small, scavenging crustacean that usually fed on dead fish or sea birds. Continue reading...
Global warming helping spread of micro-algae, forcing the closure of several beaches including popular Teresitas at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.Tourists have been warned to avoid blooms of toxic micro-algae that have been proliferating in hot weather in the sea off Spain’s Canary Islands.
Recognition of barred grass snake as distinct species different to common cousin increases native total to fourEngland is home to four kinds of wild snake, not three as was previously believed, according to scientists.
We should beware of myths about electric vehicles, says David Bricknell; but John Richards still worries about the environmental impact of their batteriesYour editorial perpetuates a number of myths about electric vehicles (Car drivers are heading into a future far from their dreams, 7 August). You say “Tesla has just started selling its first electric car aimed squarely at the middle classesâ€, reinforcing the views recently posted online by fossil fuel lobby groups that EVs are only for the rich while being subsidised by the poorer. The Tesla 3 is directly cost competitive with similar cars with internal combustion engines and cheaper when including running costs, and there is now a growing second-hand market.You say Tesla sales are “a remarkable figure for a machine with a fairly short range and a very limited number of specialised charging stationsâ€. The Tesla 3 has an EPA rated range of 310 miles – this is not a “fairly short rangeâ€. Continue reading...
Carnivorous amphipods feasted on the legs of one unlucky Australian teenager, but they are not the only watery beasts with a taste for human flesh. Which ones should we really be afraid of?Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, some mystery lice chow down on a boy’s legs in Australia. Sam Kanizay had been paddling at a Melbourne beach. Half an hour later, the 16-year-old reeled when the sand he thought was covering his legs turned out to be eating his flesh, leading to unstoppable bleeding.Related: Tiny 'meat-loving' marine creatures 'eat' teenager's legs at Melbourne beach Continue reading...
Exclusive: series of emails show staff at Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service advised to reference ‘weather extremes’ insteadStaff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference “weather extremes†instead.A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation, show that the incoming Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change. Continue reading...
Sighting of animal follows four-year project on the North York Moors carried out in partnership with Forestry CommissionOne of England’s rarest animals has been caught on camera after a four-year stakeout by wildlife experts.A male pine marten was captured on a wildlife camera in the North York Moors, the Forestry Commission said. Pine martens were last seen alive in Yorkshire about 35 years ago.
by Jon Henley European affairs correspondent on (#2YKCN)
Fifteen volunteers held on suspicion of lighting or reporting non-existent wildfires in Italian region in bonus payments scamFifteen volunteer firefighters have been arrested in Sicily on suspicion of starting wildfires and reporting non-existent blazes so they could earn €10 (£9) an hour for putting them out.Police in Ragusa province, in the south of the Mediterranean island, said the fire department became suspicious when it emerged that the auxiliary brigade had responded to 120 incidents compared with just 40 tackled by other volunteer teams over the same period. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Smithers Consumer affairs correspondent on (#2YK4D)
Supermarket to stop selling ‘single-use’ bags but will offer customers ‘bags for life’ costing 10pThe UK’s largest retailer is to stop selling “single use†5p carrier bags in its UK stores from the end of the month, instead offering shoppers reusable “bags for life†costing 10p.The move by Tesco follows a 10-week trial in Aberdeen, Dundee and Norwich, which led to a 25% cut in bag sales as shoppers either brought their own or switched to the bags for life. Continue reading...
Daimler says diesel is worth fighting for but there is no comeback for the toxic technology and the fight must now be to save livesWhen the story of Volkswagen’s cheating on diesel emissions tests broke nearly two years ago, a number of reporters asked me if this spelled the end for diesel cars. My response was a confident, dismissive “noâ€. While dieselgate would cast a long shadow, there was no reason to write off diesel cars, at least in the short term. After all, the technology does exist to make clean diesel cars. It’s just a question of improving the existing regulations and enforcing them better.
Dark Peak, Derbyshire Even avowed outdoor evangelists should be allowed to keep one or two places to themselvesI am not going to tell you where I am writing about. It is one of those places of personal sanctity that has, miraculously, escaped the popular attention I am fully aware it deserves. Even avowed outdoor evangelists should be allowed to keep one or two of these places to ourselves.I discovered it a few years ago, but had not gone back since. On a searing day this spring, after two excruciating hours inching through Manchester traffic, it flashed back into my head on my journey over the Pennines. Craving the mini-rebirth of a soak in wild water, I fled my car and marched up to it in my work clothes. There it shone, almost landscaped in its perfection, the porter-coloured beck tumbling down in bright cascades over exquisite water-smoothed shelves of rock. The cool pool at the bottom was treacle-dark and deep enough for submersion; water from heaven. Continue reading...
Greens’ Jeremy Buckingham says Coalition government frightened of public scrutiny following allegations of water theft in Murray-Darling basinWater regulations due to be reviewed and updated on 1 September have been postponed for another year by the New South Wales government following the controversy over allegations of water theft in the Barwon-Darling region of the Murray-Darling basin.The Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham accused the NSW Coalition of running scared over the recent scrutiny of state water management following the Four Corners program.
Country that produces almost half the world’s avocados contemplates the unthinkable as dietary staple becomes too costly for ordinary MexicansThe growing global appetite for avocados has been blamed for a litany of sorrows, from self-inflicted stab wounds to stopping young people from buying their own homes.But in Mexico, the world’s biggest producer, what used to be a dietary staple is now too expensive for many ordinary consumers. And, now the country where the avocado is believe to have originated is considering the unthinkable: importing avocados from abroad. Continue reading...
Infected larvae are exploding in Lincolnshire – and the virus is spreading …Name: Zombie caterpillars.Age: Not very old, and dead before their time, after a tragic life in which their bodies were taken over by a malign force. Continue reading...
Seafood eaters consume up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic a year. Scary, isn’t it?I’m officially declaring this the Summer of Plastic. With the rising tide of plastic waste – 38.5 million plastic bottles a day in the UK alone and production set to quadruple by 2050 – the plastic pollution crisis in our oceans has become the breakout issue.Activists are stepping it up from quiet beach cleans to strident zero-tolerance campaigns. In terms of severity, Surfers Against Sewage (sas.org.uk) rates plastic pollution up there with climate change. Its campaign, Wasteland, urges us to boycott throwaway plastics now. Meanwhile, Greenpeace continues to hound soft-drinks brands, mapping their alarming use of plastic and abject failure to take responsibility. Continue reading...
It was a damp day on Denbies Hillside in the North Downs, but is the outlook now better for the insect?By any standards, it was a poor day to count butterflies. Denbies Hillside, on the south-facing flank of the North Downs – supposedly a summer haven for lepidopterists – was swept by wind and heavy showers. Butterflies, like humans, take a poor view of such conditions and had made themselves scarce.Such are the discomforts of involvement in the Big Butterfly Count. The national survey has seen thousands of members of the British public counting butterfly species across the nation. It has been a damp and cold process on occasion. Continue reading...
In a new occasional series, Guardian journalists discuss their careers and achievements. Here Felicity Lawrence considers her role as special correspondentFelicity Lawrence has reported on some of the most challenging issues facing the modern world, from corporate power – especially in the food system – to migration, the re-emergence of slavery, climate change, and global tax avoidance.She was recently awarded the coveted Orwell prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils, for her latest piece on migrant gangwork in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, and its human and political consequences. Continue reading...
Talsarnau, Gwynedd Not another person was visible in this elemental landscape. But there was activity on the waters of Llyn y DywarchenBeyond the water-lily lake of Llyn Tecwyn Isaf, in Snowdonia national park, the farm road zigzags steeply to Caerwych, from whence a splashy path slips round beneath Y Gyrn to climb into a region of marshy flats where bog asphodel and creeping spearwort flower. Recent waymarking lures you on through terrain problematical in mist to the bronze age trackway.A short, gentle, ascent leads to Bryn Cader Faner’s corona of outward-pointing rocks atop a grassy bluff. It’s one of the most beautiful bronze age monuments in Britain. Continue reading...
NFU says UK produces only 60% of its own food and must increase production to avoid food insecurity after leaving EUBritain must increase home-grown food production and build stronger supply chains to face Brexit uncertainties, the National Farmers Union has said.In an annual calculation to draw attention to the UK’s decline in food self-sufficiency, the NFU said the national larder would be bare this Sunday if Britain opted for a cliff-edge departure from Europe and imports became unavailable. Continue reading...
Frozen bodies of couple who vanished 75 years ago among those uncovered recently as global warming forces ice to retreatSwiss police say hundreds of bodies of mountaineers who have gone missing in the Alps in the past century could emerge in coming years as global warming forces the country’s glaciers to retreat.Related: Extreme weather deaths in Europe 'could increase 50-fold by next century' Continue reading...
by Jon Henley European affairs correspondent on (#2YC1B)
Authorities in 11 countries warn residents and tourists to take precautions amid region’s most intense heatwave – nicknamed Lucifer – since 2003Eleven southern and central European countries have issued extreme heat warnings amid a brutal heatwave nicknamed Lucifer, with residents and tourists urged to take precautions and scientists warning worse could be still to come.Authorities in countries including Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia are on red alert, the European forecasters’ network Meteoalarm said, and swaths of southern Spain and France are on amber. Continue reading...
The government’s new strategy does not go far enough in recognising fewer vehicles, not just cleaner ones, are the answerWith more and more of the world’s population living in cities, we need to get urban transport right. That means making sure that people and goods can move around easily and cheaply. It also means ensuring that city transport systems don’t damage people’s health, as diesel and to a lesser extent petrol are currently doing in London and other UK cities.
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#2YBTS)
Prof Frank Kelly says fewer not cleaner vehicles are needed, plus more cycling and walking and better transit systemsCars must be driven out of cities to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis, not just replaced with electric vehicles, according to the UK government’s top adviser.Prof Frank Kelly said that while electric vehicles emit no exhaust fumes, they still produce large amounts of tiny pollution particles from brake and tyre dust, for which the government already accepts there is no safe limit. Continue reading...
Figures reveal trend of increasing emissions since the carbon tax was repealed in 2014 and cast doubt on whether Australia can meet cuts in Paris agreementAustralia’s greenhouse gas emissions are rising to the highest figures seen in years, according to official government figures, increasing 1.6% in the last quarter and 1% in the past year.The country’s emissions in the year to March 2017 are the highest on record at 550.3m tonnes of CO equivalent when emissions from land use change are excluded – a sector where the government says its figures have a high degree of uncertainty. Continue reading...
Green Alliance calls for making retailers take back bottles and cans to significantly reduce plastic pollution in seasPlastic marine litter could be cut significantly if the government adopted a bottle deposit scheme as part of five key actions to tackle pollution of the oceans, a green thinktank has said.The single most effective action to reduce plastic pollution in the seas would be a container return scheme along the lines of those run in large parts of Europe, north America and Australia, according to a new analysis by Green Alliance. In such schemes, a small tax is added to recyclable and reusable containers at the point of sale, which consumers can reclaim by returning them. Continue reading...
Plymouth, Devon A busy harbour is not a place you’d expect to find much in the way of wildlife, so that bubble trail in the water is intriguingThis is a place of arrivals and departures, a centuries-old harbour where few stop for long. From hosting the steamships and trans-Atlantic liners of the past to today’s colossal cross-channel ferries, Plymouth’s historic Millbay dock has served the comings and goings of countless travellers.On work lunch breaks I regularly walk beside the innermost basin, now transformed into a marina as part of the area’s regeneration. Solid harbour walls designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel provide shelter for luxury yachts neatly berthed along wooden pontoons. Continue reading...
Dedicated searches have revealed a rare butterfly back in its former Kent stronghold and gaining other territoriesBritain’s most charismatic and elusive butterfly, the purple emperor, has a habit of turning up unannounced. This powerful, treetop, butterfly lives at low densities in the landscape but has been spotted in many new places thanks to the combination of a fine mid-summer and some astonishingly thorough searches by devotees.Related: Interesting times for lepidopterists Continue reading...
Government research finds drastic drop in people backing drilling for shale gas since the study was launched in 2012Public support for fracking has reached a record low, according to the latest government research.A survey by the Business and Energy Department showed just 16% supported the controversial process of shale gas extraction, down from 21% last year and the lowest since the study was launched five years ago. Continue reading...
The interoceanic canal and its ‘murky legal framework’ was also criticized by former model Bianca Jagger, who called the canal ‘an insane project’Nicaragua’s former revolutionary leaders have led a campaign of harassment and persecution against communities opposing the construction of a controversial canal that threatens the homes and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people, according to Amnesty International.Plans to construct a $50bn shipping canal 175 miles long and 500 yards wide have provoked a mix of anger, fear and defiance not witnessed since the civil war between the Sandinista government and US-backed Contra rebels ended in 1988. Continue reading...
Mussels among materials tested in pilot project to see if small artificial reefs can protect beaches from North Sea stormsThe humble mussel, that much-loved staple of Belgian cuisine, has been deployed by scientists in an innovative attempt to save the country’s storm-battered beaches.Small artificial reefs of mussels, algae and tube worms have been built off the Belgian coast to test whether eco-friendly barriers can protect Flemish beaches from storms brewing in the North Sea.