Environment | The Guardian

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 23 December 1916Surrey, December 21

$145 wildlife warning devices are designed to scare devils off road and have limited resale valueThieves in Tasmania are stealing electronic fence posts designed to save the lives of endangered Tasmanian devils.The thefts have bewildered the manufacturers, who say the $145 wildlife warning devices serve no purpose other than deterring wildlife and have limited resale value. Continue reading...

Greg Hunt suggested funds from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation could be used to build a new power station for the struggling plantA ministerial intervention aimed at using Clean Energy Finance Corporation funds to support a fossil-fuel electricity generator for the struggling Alcoa aluminium smelter could be unlawful, according to the Greens.Federal industry minister Greg Hunt and his Victorian counterpart, Wade Noonan, have left for New York to discuss with senior leaders of Alcoa how to support the struggling smelter in Portland, Victoria. Continue reading...

American scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Center unwittingly film the mysterious ghost shark for the first time, as they survey the depths of the ocean off the coast of California and Hawaii. Also known as chimaeras, the creatures are related to sharks and rays

Autonomous buses are likely to be better for passengers and the environment, but not everyone is excitedClunking, dreary and seemingly always late – the humble bus struggles to catch hold of the imagination in the way of the charming trundle of trams or the power and rhythm of the train, butthe latest smart technologies promise to rejuvenate this long-maligned form of transport.Gone will be the days of waiting an eternity at stops only for three buses to arrive at once, languishing in traffic as more agile cars cut out in front, and blaming overly-relaxed bus drivers for a late arrival to work. Continue reading...

Coal power station closures have put UK in danger of National Grid failing to meet demand over winter months, says reportBritain could be facing nationwide festive blackouts next winter unless radical changes are made to the UK’s electricity network, MPs have warned.A report called Electric Shock: Will The Christmas Lights Go Out Next Winter? has been published by the British Infrastructure Group (BIG) of MPs, chaired by Grant Shapps. Continue reading...

Encountering a peacock in the wild is a surreal experience. Just one of the sightings among a wealth of exotic and unfamiliar birds at the Uttar Pradesh Bird FestivalThere was a flash of the richest blue, as the bird emerged from the forest and strutted across the path in front of us. Instantly recognisable, yet at the same time oddly unfamiliar, it lifted its neck and flicked an enormously long tail, before melting into the vegetation, never to be seen again.Encountering a peacock in the wild, in its native India, is a surreal experience. I regularly see them in the grounds of Bath Spa University’s Corsham Court, where they strut around as if they own the place. Yet now I was watching them in the fields and forests of India’s most populous state, home to the second Uttar Pradesh Bird Festival. Continue reading...

Patrick Barkham is rightly worried about the impacts of urbanisation on our wildlife (Notebook, 13 December). London is home to more than 13,000 species of fauna, flora and fungi, but we are expected to accommodate a population increase equivalent to the size of Leeds by 2050, and building density can only go so far before our needs override those of others we share our city with. While flowering buddleia, dashing parakeets and curious foxes demonstrate adaptability to this brave new world, there are many more species that simply can’t cope – with higher density we’ll lose precious diversity. The London assembly is currently looking at how new housing can do more to conserve wildlife, and we’re encouraged by Mayor Khan’s talk of “good growth” as he sets out his early plans for the capital. We need real commitment to making room for nature and, importantly, room for London to breathe.

Motion censuring Arlene Foster over energy scheme allegations could force her to resign, triggering Stormont electionsA vote of no confidence will be held in the Northern Ireland assembly, which could force the region’s first minister to step down and trigger fresh elections to the devolved parliament in Belfast.The Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) has won cross-party support for its motion censuring Arlene Foster over allegations about a scandal that is estimated will cost taxpayers £400m. Continue reading...

There’s good news and bad, it’s a bit of an ethical pick and mixThis is a glorious time of year for confectionary lovers, and in a few days time I’ll embark on my annual mission to hoover up boxed chocolates with customary enthusiasm.

A station in Victoria’s south-west would reduce the smelter’s vulnerability to outages and could access Clean Energy Finance Corporation funds, Hunt saysA new power station for Victoria’s south-west are among offers being made to Alcoa in a bid to save jobs at the struggling Portland aluminium smelter.Federal and Victorian industry ministers Greg Hunt and Wade Noonan will fly to New York on Monday to meet with senior global leaders of Alcoa in a bid to secure a future for the struggling smelter. Continue reading...

Supermarkets prepare for 10 million people to spend £894m in a dayIt is being dubbed “frenzied Friday” and is set to be the busiest food shopping day of the year in the UK, with an estimated 10 million people expected to hit supermarket aisles on 23 December. Continue reading...

Actor and environmental activist tells UN awards ceremony that truth about climate change has spread like ‘wildfire’ despite prominent science deniersTackling climate change is the “biggest economic opportunity” in the history of the US no matter who holds political office, the Hollywood star and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio said on Friday.

Dispute over major tourist attraction and conservation area is tearing local communities apart“There’s, like, 50 people on the way up, so take your photos,” said a young American man, shirtless, his face daubed with paint, as he came striding through the forest towards the look-out. The view was spectacular: lush tropical foliage clinging to the sheer rock-face of a canyon plunging several 100 feet to a series of stunning turquoisey pools where tourists could be spotted swimming.This was Semuc Champey, a must-visit on the Central American backpacker circuit and increasingly one of Guatemala’s most well-known tourist destinations. “Hidden”, “unique” and “natural paradise” are all thrown around to describe it. Lonely Planet calls Semuc “arguably the loveliest spot in the country”, while CNN dubbed the River Cahabón, which flows under the pools, the world’s “third best river for travellers” after the Amazon and Zambezi.

关闭全球合法象牙交易市场对拯救大象具有重要意义，但要彻底根除偷猎大象和非法象牙消费，我们必须对非法象牙贸易宣战。 (翻译：金艳/chinadialogue)

Defra says H5N8 strain found at farm near Louth housing 5,000 birds, with protection zone now in place around facilityA bird flu outbreak has been confirmed at a turkey farm housing more than 5,000 birds in Lincolnshire.

Ministers claim soaring number is a success in effort to cut bovine TB in England but charities question cull’s effectivenessThe number of animals shot in England’s controversial badger cull soared to more than 10,000 this autumn, as part of the government’s attempt to cut tuberculosis (TB) in cattle.Ministers claimed the result as a success but a leading scientist said there was “no basis” for suggesting the cull was effective, while wildlife charities said badgers were being used as a scapegoat for failures in the intensive livestock industry. Continue reading...

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...

Feeding Bryde’s whales, fighting seals and a Harry Potter spider are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Patrick Muhayirwa was trapped in an ambush while patrolling to protect gorillas in Africa’s oldest national park

Improved light, ventilation and heat control can boost workers’ productivity by thousands of dollars a year and reduce instances of sick building syndromePeople working in green buildings think better in the office and sleep better when they get home, a new study has revealed.

Scientists stepped outside their comfort zones to protest the attacks they face from the incoming administration

A pipeline to bring gas to Europe from central Asia has attracted companies with historic connections to cartels and the mafia, says Bankwatch reportEurope’s development banks are proposing some of their biggest investments – currently more than $6.8bn (£5.5bn) – for a gas pipeline being built by several firms with historic links to cartels, corruption and the mafia, according to a new report (pdf).The 3,500km “southern gas corridor” project is seen as an energy security safeguard by EU leaders, and should begin ferrying gas to Europe from Azerbaijan by 2020. Continue reading...

Company owned by Centrica gave $20,000 to TPPF, praised by new US energy secretary for opposing ‘hysteria of global warming’British Gas’s parent company, Centrica, has given tens of thousands of dollars to a US thinktank that denies climate change and is backed by Donald Trump’s energy secretary.Direct Energy, a US energy company wholly owned by Centrica, donated $20,000 to the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) in 2010, according to tax filings. Continue reading...

Stanage, Derbyshire On a bleak night, with a folk memory of wolves and belief in evil spirits, who wouldn’t need protection?The long flowing line of Stanage Edge is, for rock climbers, one of the world’s great crags, segmented, like a gritstone worm, into various buttresses and features, each of them named, each providing many different routes to the top, each of those – and there are hundreds – also named.I am at a buttress at the crag’s southern end known, paradoxically, as Apparent North, near a short tough climb called Hamper’s Hang. I am shrinking inside my jacket against a dismal wet day. I thought I knew this place, having been here as a climber scores of times, but my understanding of it has just been turned on its head. Continue reading...

Prominent environmental NGOs suspend partnership with April after peatland drainage canal discovered on Pedang Island, IndonesiaThe construction of a 3km canal in Indonesia has led Greenpeace and WWF to suspend its partnership with one of Indonesia’s biggest pulp and paper companies.Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (Rapp), a subsidiary of Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (April), dug the canal through thick peat forest on the island of Pedang, just off the east coast of Sumatra. Continue reading...

With Trump set to have a ‘chilling effect’ on environmental policy, 20,000 Earth and space scientists met in California to face up to a new responsibilityThey argued about moon-plasma interactions, joked about polar bears, and waxed nostalgic for sturdy sea ice.But few of the 20,000 Earth and climate scientists meeting in San Francisco this week had much to say about the president-elect, Donald Trump – though his incoming administration loomed over much of the conference. Continue reading...

The emerging biofuel industry is casting the net wide to find solutions to two environmental problems: reducing waste and increasing fuel productionIn a world of dwindling resources, waste is one thing in no danger of running out. Each Australian generates more than 2,000kg of waste per year, and around half of that ends up in landfill. But at least some of that waste could be turned into a resource that is both in demand and in decline: fuel.

One non-profit leader compared Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state to choosing the CEO of a tobacco company for surgeon generalEnvironmental groups have called Donald Trump’s choice of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state “unfathomable” and “an epic mistake” and accused the president-elect of creating “a government of, by, and for the oil and gas industry”.

Exclusive: Warning against sale of seafood from environmentally destructive fishing fleets operating with slave-like conditionsGreenpeace has warned that Australia’s weak labelling laws may be allowing the sale of seafood from environmentally destructive and unethical fishing fleets in south-east Asia.The group has released the results of a 12-month investigation of Thailand’s ghost fishing fleet, a collection of refrigerated vessels, or reefers, notorious for causing damage to fragile ecosystems and subjecting vulnerable migrant labour to slave-like conditions. Continue reading...

Critics say the president-elect’s picks represent ‘unprecedented’ influence from the fossil fuel industry. Their statements do little to dispel the notionAs Donald Trump assembles his cabinet, one consistent theme has emerged: many of his nominees have expressed doubt about the science of human-caused climate change.

Choice of former Texas governor to lead energy department is a potentially encouraging sign for those alarmed by Trump’s nomination of climate deniersEnvironmental activists in Texas have stories to tell about Rick Perry, who was governor of the state for 14 years. Jim Marston, the Texas head of the Environmental Defense Fund, remembers when Perry, seemingly out of the blue, signed an executive order fast-tracking coal plant air permits in October 2005.

Environmentalists should be alert but not pessimistic over the impact of Trump’s presidency, says the leading climate economistThe impact of Donald Trump’s presidency on the environment may not be as catastrophic as some fear, says leading climate economist Lord Nicholas Stern.The cross-bench peer said that while it was difficult to predict what Trump would do in office, those worried that Trump’s leadership spelled disaster for the planet should focus on the good things he has said on climate change rather than dwelling on the bad. Continue reading...

When thick smog recently hit, Londoners were advised to avoid exercise, while Parisians got free public transport. Which is the best solution?

Environmentalists criticise appointment of Derrick O’Keeffe, who spent past four years as Australia manager of Murphy OilEnvironmentalists have criticised the offshore oil regulator for appointing a recent head of the Australian arm of a major oil company to a senior position, saying the move is “like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse”.Derrick O’Keeffe spent the past four years as country manager in Australia for Murphy Oil, which under his watch entered into a joint-venture with Santos to explore for oil in the Great Australian Bight. Continue reading...

Report alleges exposure of human rights abuses including trafficking and labour exploitation has simply prompted move to more remote watersAn international crackdown on human rights abuses in the Thai fishing industry has resulted in vessels travelling thousands of miles further into remote and lawless waters, where trafficked men continue to be beaten and sold at sea, a 12-month Greenpeace investigation alleges.According to the report, published on Thursday, seafood caught by such vessels is largely illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) and has entered the supply chains of multiple companies producing food for global export, including to the UK, in clear violation of international labour, supply and fishing codes. Continue reading...

Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, is also world’s oldest-known breeding bird in the wild and has had a few dozen chicksWisdom the albatross, the world’s oldest-known breeding bird in the wild, has laid an egg at 66 years of age after returning to a wildlife refuge in the Pacific Ocean, US wildlife officials have said.

Ministers accused of ignoring scientists’ recommendations as UK fleets allowed to catch more cod, haddock and soleBritish fishing fleets will be allowed to catch greater quantities of cod, haddock and sole next year, after Europe’s ministers approved a new fishing quota that will cheer fish and chip shops but has alarmed scientists concerned over dwindling stocks.The European Union’s fisheries council reached an agreement in the early hours of Wednesday morning, in what may be one of the last such quota divisions in which the UK takes part if supporters of a hard Brexit have their way. Continue reading...

Diesel filters cost £1,000 to replace so many garages exploit legal loophole by removing filter letting cars pump out toxic particlesThe rogue practice of removing vital pollution filters from the exhausts of diesel vehicles has suffered a blow with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for the first time banning an advert for the service.However the number of filterless cars on UK roads, pumping out high levels of toxic particles, remains unknown and air pollution campaigners say the government must investigate and then crack down on the shady practice. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire I like these muddy colours in the landscape, but the buzzard sees them far more intenselyA buzzard perches on the high branch of a leafless tree. With its back to me, it looks out on the same scene, but do we see the same thing? I see through the trees to fields chemically enhanced with the vivid greens of new crops. The old landscape under this December sky is a brown study: a mood induced by hedges, ash keys, muddy paths, the woods bare and misty-headed with reddish and purple-brown buds. The subtlety of these colours has a deepening beauty as winter thickens across the land.This buzzard is a harlequin of browns, greys and whites, and it has been suggested that because of this plumage, colour is relatively unimportant to these predators. I’m always impressed when I see buzzards soaring and they catch the light in the silvery feathers under their wings and their markings glow like bronze and polished wood. But this display is for the benefit of other buzzards, not for me.

Bank of England chief joins with Michael Bloomberg calling for disclosure to help capital manage risks and seize opportunities in global warming fightThe governor of the Bank of England has warned that the fight against climate change will be jeopardised unless companies with big carbon footprints come clean about their exposure to global warming risks.Writing in today’s Guardian, Mark Carney says a new set of guidelines drawn up over the past year should be implemented so that investors can allocate capital to those companies with the best ideas to hit the target of keeping the rise in global temperature to less than 2C. Continue reading...

The 20 megawatt plant in Barcaldine is one of first in the country to be funded by Australian Renewable Energy AgencyQueensland’s largest operating solar farm has plugged into the national electricity grid and is set to generate enough power for almost 10,000 households by the end of 2016.The Barcaldine remote community solar farm, in the state’s central west outback, connected to the national electricity market on Wednesday, more than a month ahead of schedule. Continue reading...