Environment | The Guardian

Originally published in the Guardian on 4 February 1967MACHYNLLETH: Foxes, unlike most creatures, are noisiest in midwinter. Here they usually begin calling about a week before Christmas and go on till early February. Their normal cry is often described as a bark. But foxes are not dogs and their call sounds to me more like a honking, a strangely vibrant, rather eerie owk-owk-owk-owk. This is repeated about every half-minute for several minutes at a time, it is a far-travelling call; so when you hear it the fox may be much farther off than you suppose. But foxes will cry close to houses. One night a fox called for ten minutes just outside our garden, a loud, wild, exciting sound.We mostly hear our foxes in the early part of the evening. But they must call on and off all night, for if I wake I occasionally hear one. On morning this week there was a fox in full voice in broad daylight but that does not happen very often. So the mating season passes. And soon, come wind, come weather, the young foxes will be born safe and warm in their burrows. But not safe for long, many of them, when the spade and terrier brigade arrives. Still, not all will be discovered, for though thousands will be killed plenty will survive to send their lovely cries through the nights of next midwinter. So let us rejoice. For the fox is, as Hudson once said, “good to meet in any green place.” Continue reading...

Under a new French scheme cars are labelled according to the pollution that they emit. This allows the worst offenders to be banned when necessaryLast week Paris suffered its fourth smog of the winter and tried a new idea to protect its residents from the worst effects. Like many European cities, the Paris region has a well-established system of emergency actions that escalate if smog persists. Initial steps include health warnings, reduced speed limits and restrictions on lorries in the city centre. Final steps include cheaper public (€3.80 for a day pass), and bans on half of cars, using an odd/even number plate system.Related: The UK’s deadly air pollution can be cured: here's how Continue reading...

RETs are the only policy tool left to shift Australia’s electricity sector away from fossil fuels, RepuTex modelling showsState-based renewable energy targets are becoming essential drivers of Australia’s carbon reduction framework and, based on current policy settings, will be vital for Australia to meet its 2030 emissions targets, according to a report by the energy consultancy RepuTex.The finding comes amid attacks on state-based renewable energy targets by the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and his ministers, who have called for them to be scrapped. Continue reading...

President Trump wants Perdue to lead the agriculture department – but the head of a global agribusiness could favor big ag over many family farmersAfter keeping the rural voters who put him in office on edge until the last moment, President Trump nominated Sonny Perdue, a former Georgia governor now heading a global agribusiness trading company – Perdue Partners LLC – to be his agricultural secretary. The night following Trump’s announcement, Perdue took the stage at the Bipartisan Inaugural Gala Celebrating American Agriculture and promised to “make American agriculture great again”.The good news is that Perdue clears a bar far too few Trump cabinet nominees seem to meet – he has experience in government and management, as well as knowledge about the department he’s been selected to lead. This is a relief, given the breadth of authority of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), an agency of nearly 100,000 employees with an annual budget over $140m. The bad news is, Perdue also has a great deal in common with other cabinet nominees: a whole lot of money, close ties to big industry and a track record that bodes poorly for the interests of the broader constituency of the USDA: the American people. Continue reading...

Some in Whitehall are urging the prince to challenge US president’s pledge to abandon 2015 UN climate change dealDonald Trump’s state visit to Britain this year was never likely to fit the mould of previous trips undertaken by his predecessors, from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. The US president’s rumoured wish to play nine holes on the Queen’s private golf course at Balmoral and the question of how he might explain his 2012 tweet defending the sale of topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge made sure of that.But the tour is now looking even more likely to generate controversy as Prince Charles emerged as a possible challenger to the president’s views on climate change and faith issues. Continue reading...

Demand for hide, used to make traditional ejiao, has raised the price and rate of slaughter of donkeys, endangering the livelihoods of those who rely on themThis trade is threatening livelihoods and communities – we need to act nowThousands of donkeys in developing countries are being killed and their skins sold to China for use in traditional medicine, reveals a report published today by the Donkey Sanctuary.Demand for donkey hide, which is boiled to produce gelatine – the key ingredient in a medicine called ejiao – has raised the price and the rate of slaughter of the animals, threatening the livelihoods of poor communities who rely on the them.

As London pollution hits a five-year high, will we see a return to the carpets of fog?Last Sunday evening, the air over London achieved a remarkable quality. As winds died and a freezing stillness gripped the city, levels of nitrogen oxides and particles of soot slowly built up in the air until they reached maximum measurable levels at 24 different locations across the capital. It was a degree of pollution that had never been recorded in London since the government introduced its current methods and scales for recording air quality, the Daily Air Quality Index, in 2012.“What we recorded was a very intense pollution event over London – in common with several other areas of western Europe,” said air pollution expert Gary Fuller, of King’s College London. “We had not seen anything like it here for the past five years.” Continue reading...

A few intrepid tour operators are determined to reduce the harm we do to the planet with our holidaysI love an untapped resource (as opposed to a very overstressed one). The responsible travel movement is perfect. It takes the huge global travel industry (1.2 billion people holidaying abroad in 2015) and shapes it into a force for good, rather than one that trashes local host communities, siphoning profits to rich countries.It’s untapped partly because we’re encouraged to think like travel consumers (obsessed with injustices such as single-person supplements) and not as citizens of the world. But a few tour operators are determined to change us. Continue reading...

Writers and artists were inspired by the pea-soupers but smog cost thousands of livesLondoners are being warned not to breathe too deeply when they go outside. A toxic fog is hanging over the streets, threatening the health and wellbeing of the capital. It is small consolation to know that this has been the state of the city’s air for more than 200 years.London is in a natural basin surrounded by hills and its air generally holds moisture because of the river running through it, so it has always had a natural fog problem. Continue reading...

Consumers could be exposed to American farming practices banned by the EUThose of us who want to eat safe, healthy food awoke to a nightmare on Tuesday, a chilling interview on Radio 4’s Today programme. Bob Young, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, made it crystal clear that any US trade deal struck by Theresa May would be contingent on the UK public stomaching imports of US foods that it has previously rejected: beef from cattle implanted with growth hormones, chlorine-washed chicken, and unlabelled genetically modified (GM) foods.Wiping the sleep from our eyes, we hoped it was just a bad dream, but the grim reality worsened. Martin Haworth, director of strategy at the National Farmers Union (NFU), was up next. Surely our own farmers, who have worked for decades to stricter EU standards shaped by consumers’ demand for safe, natural food, would reiterate their commitment to keeping them? Not a bit of it. Haworth’s only concern was that if such controversial American products were allowed into the country, British farmers should be able to use the same production techniques to ensure “an even playing field”. Do you find it credible that British farmers could beat the US’s vast industrial feedlots, hi-tech poultry plants and vast GM prairies at their own game? No matter, the NFU does. Continue reading...

The woman in charge of UK’s largest power station admits they must do more to change attitudesWhile the lack of female chief executives in the UK is a problem, the lack of female engineers is an even bigger concern, as Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax group, knows only too well. The head of the UK’s largest power station is grappling with the question of how to attract more women into the energy sector.Thompson says the six places available on the Drax apprenticeship scheme this year attracted just two female applicants compared with 76 men. The education is partly to blame, she says, but energy companies also need to do much more to change girls’ perceptions. Continue reading...

NYC-based Lemonade hopes to reverse the poor reputation of insurance companies by using tech and behavioral science to appeal to younger customersWith its complex rules, fine print and lengthy processes, it’s little wonder that the $1.2tn insurance industry has a poor reputation for trust and customer service. In a recent global survey from accounting firm EY, consumers ranked insurance below banks, car manufacturers, online shopping sites and supermarkets for trustworthiness.

A tiny town in southern Greenland is fighting for its future. Behind it sits one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium. Should a controversial mine get the green light?It is a beautiful morning on the southern tip of Greenland; the sun is high in a cloudless sky, but there is a tang of cold in the air. A crowd of Spanish tourists in red parkas has gathered at the small jetty in Narsaq, to watch boatmen who have just returned from hunting a minke whale in the open sea. From the shoreline, the Spaniards watch the men below busy themselves, slicing the whale meat into slippery rectangular chunks. They work swiftly, as if cleaning up the scene of an emergency, deferring to one young man in orange overalls. As word spreads that a catch has landed, local people arrive with carrier bags and choose from the cuts laid out on the bloodstained floor of the little boats bobbing in the water. The bags are slung on handheld scales; today, whale meat costs 80 Danish kroner a kilo, about £9. A woman pushes a wheelbarrow down the jetty, loaded with what looks like a ribcage.The whale hunter is a symbolic figure in Greenland but the flurry the Spaniards are observing is humdrum, devoid of ceremony. Sebu Kaspersen, the hunter in orange overalls, explains that there was a calm sea and they could see a lot of whales; they shot one with a rifle and then fired a harpoon to finish it off. It is, he says, the second minke whale he has killed this year, the limit of his quota. His living largely comes from fishing halibut, and hunting seals for their skin; mostly, he works alone, without a crew. Continue reading...

Strathnairn, Highlands Looking at siskins so close is a delight. I can never decide if their plumage is yellow-green or lime-greenMy study is separate from the house, in the 0.4 hectare garden, and I find there are three main distractions when I try to write there during daylight. (Though not the Toad’s Hole engraving by the door, which so intrigues visitors – it’s a family joke, dating back to a time when I used to work away a lot and write home signing myself “Toad”).

The well, which is owned by Total, was the subject of a £1m fine after another leak in 2012Questions need to be asked about safety and protection of the environment, campaigners have said, after a leak in a North Sea well being drilled by the oil and gas firm Total.The company may be forced to temporarily abandon part of the well owing to a gas leak beneath the seabed, which has restricted access to the wellhead at its Elgin B platform. Continue reading...

In trial aimed at cutting air pollution, diesel motorists parking in Marylebone will pay an additional 50%, or £2.45 extra an hourWestminster will become the first council in the UK to charge drivers of diesel cars extra money to park as town halls across London battle air pollution.The charge will be introduced for a trial period from April. Drivers of diesel-powered cars and vans will pay an additional 50%, which at current rates would be an extra £2.45 an hour to park on the street in Marylebone, one of the most polluted areas of the borough. 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...

Analysts say exit from EU atomic treaty is ‘lose-lose’ that will raise costs and safety questions at plants such as Hinkley Point CBritain’s first nuclear power station in two decades will be delayed by a government decision to quit Europe’s atomic power treaty, experts have warned.Ministers revealed on Thursday that Brexit would involve the UK leaving Euratom, which promotes research into nuclear power and uniform safety standards. Continue reading...

A baboon squaring up to a leopard, white-tailed eagles, and a cauliflower jellyfish are among this week’s pick of animals from the natural world Continue reading...

Too comfortable in their separate silos, activists on the left need to learn that the only way to fight a unified rightwing agenda is to unify in responseDonald Trump is the fossil fuel industry’s puppet, and he’s spent the first few days of his administration doing its bidding. A former ExxonMobil executive is en route to become the country’s top diplomat, and the Centers for Disease Control has cancelled a long-planned conference to discuss the impacts of climate change on public health. And now, thanks to a presidential memorandum, the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines have been brought back from the dead.Related: Resurrection of Keystone and DAPL cements America's climate antagonism Continue reading...

Participants in the world’s biggest wildlife survey this weekend could see droves of charismatic waxwings arriving from Scandinavia, says RSPBUnusual migrant birds could be seen in UK gardens in the cold snap, experts said as they urged people to take part in the world’s biggest wildlife survey.More than half a million people are expected to take part in this year’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which is taking place over three days for the first time. Continue reading...

For nine years under Canada’s previous government, science suffered harsh restrictions. Now US scientists may be facing a similar fateCanadian scientists – who were muzzled for nearly a decade by the country’s previous Conservative government – have been making contact with their counterparts in the US to offer their support and solidarity amid mounting fears that Donald Trump’s presidency will seek to suppress climate science.For nine years, scientists with Canada’s federal government grappled with what many described as an all out assault on science. Continue reading...

Boy, 10, was surfing off Port Stephens when picture-taking father realised son was on collision course with possible great whiteA man photographing his 10-year-old son surfing captured more than either of them bargained for when he snapped the boy sharing a wave with a shark.Chris Hasson was taking pictures of Eden off Samurai beach, Port Stephens, eastern Australia, this week when he realised that he had photographed a twisting shark – thought to be a great white - just below the surface on an apparent collision course with his son. Continue reading...

MPs from across the political spectrum say the UK prime minister must urge the US president to remain in the global Paris agreementPrime minister Theresa May must challenge President Donald Trump’s “contempt” for environmental protection and urge him to remain in the global agreement to fight climate change, according to MPs from across the UK’s political parties.May will meet Trump on Friday in Washington DC and has been warned by MPs that the US president’s approach to global warming could determine whether or not people around the world suffer the worst impacts of climate change, such as severe floods, storms and heatwaves. Continue reading...

Old Hall Marshes, Essex: Outside the seawall the sombre estuarine mud is densely carved into curled knollsA tongue of land borrowed from the mouth of the Blackwater estuary. Inside the mile-long V of grassy banks that exclude the sea the tamed land is riven by the contorted veins of once-tidal channels, now filled with freshwater. Today they are frozen into wide, snaking sheets of white. The khaki reeds that fringe the ice blend into fields of dead grass dotted with the greener humps of ancient yellow meadow ant hills.

Researcher says new coal plants aimed at reducing emissions would cost $62b, while the cost using renewables would be $24-$34bnA plan for new coal power plants, which government ministers say could reduce emissions from coal-generated electricity by 27%, would cost more than $60bn, a new analysis has found.Achieving the same reduction using only renewable energy would cost just half as much – between $24bn and $34bn – the report found. Continue reading...

Statement of claim lodged at federal court alleges that a general manager said company calculated it was cheaper to pay fines than comply with regulationsOrigin Energy has had a deliberate policy of ignoring coal seam gas wells that have been leaking and an offshore gas well that has potentially been leaking for more than a decade, a corporate whistleblower has alleged.The claims, filed in a revised statement of claim to the federal court and denied by Origin Energy, suggest Origin also failed to properly measure the amount of gas it was producing and therefore underpaid its royalties to the Queensland government – something the whistleblower says senior management were alerted to but also ignored. Continue reading...

Environmental Protection Agency spokesman says employees are anxious after Trump team placed a hold on the release of work and edited websiteFears that Donald Trump’s presidency will suppress climate science at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are causing widespread unease, with a spokesman for the administration admitting staff are experiencing “tension and stress” over the transition.

Tribe says Donald Trump’s executive order instructing the Army corps of engineers to approve project is not backed by ‘proper consultation’The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has called Donald Trump’s decision to push forward the controversial Dakota Access pipeline “utterly alarming”, and warned the president that rushing through the project would break federal law.

My friend Martin Alder, who has died aged 69 from an embolism, was a driving force in building the renewable energy industry in Britain.Martin led the renewable energy committee of the Association of Electricity Producers from 1992 until 2014, by which time it had become Energy UK. He also served as the association’s vice-chair, supporting renewable energy interests on the board alongside representatives from the largest British electricity companies. He steered this broad church of member companies towards policies that have increased the proportion of UK electricity provided from renewable energy from 2% in 1992 to more than 25% today. Continue reading...

The name of my friend, Margaret Bowdery, who has died aged 83, will be forever linked with the public footpaths of east Berkshire.When she moved to Maidenhead in 1964 the paths were in a dire state. An officer from the former Berkshire county council told her that they were not needed and should not be maintained. Margaret was indignant and swiftly called a public meeting to form the East Berkshire Ramblers’ Group, with herself as footpath secretary. Continue reading...

Accused has ‘no memory’ of shotgun killings in Spanish olive groveTwo forest rangers have been shot dead in the Spanish region of Catalonia after approaching a hunter reportedly carrying an unlicensed shotgun.The rangers, who worked for the region’s agriculture department, were on a routine mission on Saturday when they met a hunter in an olive grove and asked to see his firearms licence, according to Roger Cole, from the International Rangers Federation. Continue reading...

Campaigners hoped case would pave way for lawsuits to be brought against corporations for actions abroadThe high court has ruled that tens of thousands of Nigerians affected by oil pollution cannot proceed with a legal challenge in the UK against Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary.The ruling is a blow for campaigners who called the ruling an “outrage”. They had hoped the case would set an important precedent on jurisdiction, paving the way for other cases to be brought against UK-based corporations for their actions abroad. Continue reading...

Jenny Hockey, 70, and Freda Brayshaw, 72, say they are relieved but angry after prosecutors drop public order chargesTwo pensioners who were arrested after a standoff with police over the controversial chopping down of trees in Sheffield have said they feel “relief, grief and anger” after prosecutors dropped the case against them.Jenny Hockey, a 70-year-old retired university professor, and Freda Brayshaw, a 72-year-old retired teacher, were held for eight hours in police cells following a dawn raid on their quiet residential street in November. Continue reading...

A campaign by locals and farming businesses to halt a large opencast mine highlights a far wider conflict over South Africa’s continued addiction to coalOn the horizon are the mountains, verdant rainforest on their well-watered, shaded southern slopes and arid scrub on the dry reverse slopes. Then there is the plain, studded with baobab trees and outcrops. Finally there is the river Limpopo. Beyond is another country: troubled, restive Zimbabwe.But here in the far north-east of South Africa, there is tension, too. In the Soutpansberg range and on the flat lands beyond, an improbable coalition of local farmers, villagers, big agricultural businessmen and activists are fighting to halt the development of a large opencast mine which, they say, would cause massive harm to the region. Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire Nothing seemed to have changed here in months. The stubble of skeleton stems appeared not so much dormant as deadOn one side of a straight farm track, winter held about 2.5m plants in a state of suspense. The land had been tilled and drilled in November, and vestigial warmth in the soil had tempted the first narrow leaves to rise 10cm high in a matter of days. Two months – and numerous visits– later, there was still a green baize, but the leaves stood no taller.My Scots-Irish ancestor was a coulter, a maker of plough blades. He might have marvelled at the idea of winter wheat. Here was a crop that sprouted in autumn, then needed months in the outdoor fridge to trigger further growth. And it would have its heads up even before spring arrived. I had paced out the length and breadth of this field to estimate this colossal number of plants. Surely here was a miracle – a plant that could grow, slow, then throw out ears of corn under the warming sun of spring? Continue reading...

OLED pioneer Andrew Holmes says science and technology are ‘just as important cultures as the arts’An Australian chemist who stumbled across a light-emitting plastic that could revolutionise solar technology and create printable football-field-sized televisions, says his appointment as a companion of the Order of Australia should be seen as an award for all Australian scientists.Andrew Holmes is a professor at the Bio21 Institute and the University of Melbourne, and president of the Australian Academy of Sciences. Continue reading...

Wilderness Society has funds to launch SkyScout craft in Queensland and NSW – and wants a third for Western AustraliaConservationists are raising funds to launch a drone program across three Australian states, aiming to catch farmers conducting broadscale clearing and to share the images with the world. Continue reading...

Rupture of 138,600 gallons is ‘not a major disaster’ but environmental advocates say it highlights their fears about the Keystone XL and Dakota Access projectsJust a day after Donald Trump signed executive orders to revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects, a pipeline rupture spilled 138,600 gallons of diesel fuel in northern Iowa.Magellan Midstream Partners, an Oklahoma company with more than 10,000 miles of oil and ammonium pipeline, acknowledged that the spill began Wednesday morning in Worth County, Iowa, and said it was “unsure of the cause of the incident at this time”. Continue reading...

Square Mile teams up with Network Rail, coffee chains and employers in effort to prevent 5m cups a year ending up in landfillA scheme to boost disposable coffee cup recycling has been launched in the City of London in an attempt to prevent 5m cups a year from the Square Mile ending up in landfill.The City of London Corporation, in conjunction with Network Rail, coffee chains and some employers, are introducing dedicated coffee cup recycling facilities in offices, shops and streets. Continue reading...

Review extended to content on agency’s website, including details of scientific evidence of climate change and that manmade carbon emissions are to blameThe Trump administration is mandating that any studies or data from scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency undergo review by political appointees before they can be released to the public.The communications director for Donald Trump’s transition team at the EPA, Doug Ericksen, said on Wednesday the review also extends to content on the federal agency’s website, including details of scientific evidence showing that the Earth’s climate is warming and manmade carbon emissions are to blame. Continue reading...

Proposal for 800-space car park approved after four-hour meeting, but plans face fierce opposition from residents and opposition councillorsA proposal to create a park-and-ride site on water meadows on the edge of Bath has been backed by the city’s Conservative cabinet despite claims that the project would put its world heritage status at risk.Related: Bath park and ride project will ruin historic landscape, say critics Continue reading...

A day after three climate-related tweets sent out by Badlands National Park were deleted, other park accounts have sent out tweets that appear to defy TrumpThe National Park Service employees’ Twitter campaign against Donald Trump spread to other parks on Wednesday, with tweets on climate change and a reminder that Japanese Americans were forcibly interned in camps and parks during the second world war.A day after three climate-related tweets sent out by Badlands National Park were deleted, other park accounts have sent out tweets that appear to defy Trump. One, by Redwood national park in California, notes that redwood groves are nature’s number one carbon sink, which capture greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Continue reading...

Greenpeace activists scale a crane in Washington on Wednesday and unveil a banner which reads ‘Resist’. The protest comes a day after president Donald Trump signed executive orders to allow the construction of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines

We cannot pollute our way to prosperity. If President Trump doesn’t own up to that, he will face a backlashFor those who still insist fossil fuels are the future, the Trump administration represents a new day for some old ideas. In an early sign of things to come, the president showed his faith in big oil when he signed documents Tuesday pressuring federal agencies to support construction of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines. Each of these projects faced enormous protests and was put on hold by the Obama administration because of legitimate environmental and due process concerns.Congressional Republicans frequently howled at far less heavy-handed exercises of executive power under the previous administration. Today, they applaud Trump’s move on the mistaken premise that these pipelines are good investments. Not only will these projects not create long-lasting jobs – as CNBC, not exactly an anti-corporate mouthpiece, has noted: “Pipelines do not require much labor to operate in the long term” – they will further delay the inevitable transition to clean, renewable energy our economy needs and the American people demand.

Company predicts 100-fold rise in number of electric cars, but says fossil fuels will still account for 75% of energy mix in 2035Global demand for oil will still be growing in 2035 even with an enormous growth in electric cars in the next two decades, with numbers on the road rising from 1m to 100m, BP has predicted.The oil and gas giant predicted that despite electric cars spreading rapidly and renewable energy recording exceptional growth, oil demand would still rise because of rising prosperity in the developing world. BP said electric cars would not be a “gamechanger” for the oil industry.

Luxury group Kering says snakes will be raised in the ‘best conditions’ before they are turned into shoes, bags and beltsFrom Balenciaga’s £845-a-pair high-top black python trainers for men to a full-length trenchcoat sported by Rihanna, snakeskin – or python in particular – is having something of a fashion moment.Demand for the luxury patterned leather is riding so high that Kering – the company behind big brands including Gucci, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen – has built its own python farm. Continue reading...

In today’s pass notes: the Twitter feed of the South Dakota park defied the Trump administration by posting facts about global warming. Was it an ex-employee or a rogue one?Name: Badlands national park.Location: South Dakota, United States. Continue reading...

Ordered indoors after flu outbreaks, hens are in danger of losing free range status if not allowed outside by end of FebruaryUK egg producers have warned that the future of the premium free range sector is at risk should the eggs lose their prized status because of the ongoing threat of bird flu.Flocks of free range hens are being housed indoors because of the bird flu outbreak and if they are unable to go back outside by the end of February the eggs will be downgraded to “barn produced”, the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has said. Continue reading...

Donald Trump’s revival of the Dakota Access pipeline is a stunning twist of fate, but the tribe and its supporters say now is the time to show strength