It was hoped bike-hire schemes would cut pollution and congestion but it seems some users just want to ride and dumpIt has been billed as a hi-tech bike-sharing boom that entrepreneurs hope will make them rich while simultaneously transforming China’s traffic-clogged cities.But, occasionally, dreams can turn sour. Continue reading...
Rockland, Norfolk It’s not uncommon to see two fight over fruit for minutes on end, each lunging alternately at the otherOur neighbours grow apples commercially and their five acres supply both the community in autumn and the thrushes during winter. Recently I fulfilled a long-held promise to erect a hide and watch the birds among the windfalls there. First I had to gather several barrowfuls of my own, which was itself a memorable exercise. While I raked the wasp-mined Bramleys my boots mulched down the flesh, sending up a sweet foetor and leaving geometrically patterned cakes of apple mud underfoot.Once I’d tipped 100lb of fruit in a sunlit heap by the hide, I retired to steep the whole scene in silence, before returning next day. Continue reading...
Economists and energy analysts question environmental and economic case for Matt Canavan’s coal pushResearch touted by the resources minister that reportedly suggests Australia can rely on coal to meet emissions reduction has been attacked by experts and appears to have been misreported.The Australian reported on Tuesday that research conducted by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science – and commissioned by Matt Canavan, the federal minister for resources – showed Australia could cut its emissions by 27% if it replaced its existing coal power stations with the more efficient “ultra-supercritical†technology. Continue reading...
Beijing’s chief climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, talks down fears that joint leadership shown by China and the US will be reversed under new presidentChina’s chief climate negotiator has attempted to calm fears that Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House will spell disaster for the fight against climate change.
Leonie the shark astounds researchers by producing live hatchlings after being separated from her mate in 2012A leopard shark in an Australian aquarium has reproduced asexually after being separated from her mate.It is the first reported case of a shark switching from sexual to asexual or parthenogenetic reproduction and only the third reported case among all vertebrate species. Continue reading...
Personal trainer Debbie Urquhart says she was running on a bush track when a two-metre-tall ‘big boy’ came out of nowhereA towering male kangaroo hit a Melbourne jogger “like a damn truck†in an attack that left her scratched, bleeding and needing emergency surgery.Debbie Urquhart, a personal trainer, said the “big boy†who came out of nowhere and knocked her down was two metres tall. Continue reading...
A video posted by Kim Joiner to Facebook shows an enormous alligator crossing in front of a group of tourists waiting with their smartphones ready Continue reading...
Report shows of 748 marine animals caught in 2015-16, 86% were threatened, protected or species not intended to be targeted by shark netsNine bottlenose dolphins, four common dolphins and one dolphin that was so decomposed that it could not be identified were caught in shark nets across 51 New South Wales beaches, according to the latest report on NSW’s controversial shark-meshing program.The report showed 748 marine animals became entangled in the nets in 2015-16.
Aircraft are gradually becoming more fuel efficient, but that’s not happening fast enough to keep up with the boom in flyingThe world’s airline industry adds to climate change. It burns the equivalent of more than 5m barrels of oil a day, adding up to around 2.5% of all carbon dioxide pollution, in addition to nitrogen oxides, soot and water vapour, which place an even bigger burden on the world’s climate.Aircraft are gradually becoming more fuel efficient, but that’s not happening fast enough to keep up with the huge boom in flying – since the 1970s, global air traffic has doubled in size roughly every 15 years. Flying is still cheap and budget airlines make it even more attractive, partly thanks to an international agreement reached in 1944 that prohibits tax on aviation fuel for international flights. Continue reading...
Scientists to be removed from Halley VI Research Station amid fears facility could slide into encroaching ice fissureThe British research base which first discovered the hole in the ozone layer is to close for the winter amid concerns it could fall into a giant ice chasm.Scientists will be removed from the Halley VI research station, which is run by the British Antarctic Survey and is situated on an ice shelf, between March and November as a “precautionary measure†because of fears it could slide into an encroaching fissure. Continue reading...
Prince Charles has been signed up by the publishers to write an expert’s book. But maybe readers nowadays prefer spoofsMy twins are “studying†Jack and the Beanstalk, and I’ve just packed them off to school with my battered copy of Ladybird’s Well-Loved Tales.I’ve collected a few old Ladybirds from car boot sales because they are beautiful and nostalgic, hailing from a time when truths were simpler and there was faith in the future. My favourite is The Story of Newspapers, a Ladybird Achievements Book that is testimony to the speed of terrifying technical obsolescence – and welcome progress. A drawing of a newsroom where all 14 journalists are men shows the past wasn’t always lovely. Continue reading...
ETI says technology is 10 times dearer than other low carbon power sources and UK should prioritise tidal streamAn embryonic industry trying to harness the UK’s waves to generate clean electricity has been dealt a significant blow by a warning that the technology is too costly.Wave power devices being tested in Cornwall and at Orkney are 10 times more expensive than other sources of low carbon power and need a radical rethink, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) said. Continue reading...
Police checks last week found only one in 50 vehicles stopped had sticker despite them being available since JulyDrivers in Paris must display an anti-pollution sticker in their vehicles or face fines in the latest attempt by the French authorities to improve air quality.The sticker scheme, which became mandatory on Monday, includes cars, lorries, motorcycles and scooters, and bans some vehicles from the city during weekdays. Continue reading...
Huge demands for water present complicated challenges, but leaders will not resolve these kinds of interconnected risks without a systems approachProducing electricity from coal, gas and oil is a surprisingly thirsty business. The United States needs around 731,920 million litres a day (161,000m gallons) to produce and burn the nearly 900m tonnes of coal it uses each year to generate just a third of the nation’s electricity.In India, plans to produce 500 gigawatts of coal-fired electricity by 2040, will require at least 58bn cubic metres per year (pdf). And in China, about 15% of national water withdrawals are used for coal mining, processing, ash control, and for cooling of its coal-fired power plants. Continue reading...
Norway’s two-day city centre ban angers motorists who were encouraged to buy diesel vehicles in 2006Oslo will ban diesel cars from the road for at least two days this week to combat rising air pollution, angering some motorists after they were urged to buy diesel cars a few years ago.The ban will go into effect on Tuesday on municipal roads but will not apply on the national motorways that criss-cross the Norwegian capital. Better atmospheric conditions are expected on Thursday. Motorists violating the ban will be fined 1,500 kroner (£174). Continue reading...
Tourism in Montenegro is booming, but the approval of plans for a new ‘eco-resort’ has led to protests from conservationists who fear it will threaten a stunning national parkLike its Adriatic neighbour Croatia, Montenegro is a rapidly-growing travel destination: in 2016 there were nearly 1.5 million visits from international tourists – up 6.9% on 2015. But although the country is known for eco-tourism and as a “soft adventure†hotspot, tourism development hasn’t been without controversy.Despite local concern and protests, many concrete resorts have sprung up. In coastal Budva, for example, international developers were recently given permission to convert a second world war concentration camp on Mamula island into a luxury resort. Continue reading...
Australia’s environment minister says government ‘deeply disappointed’ after Sea Shepherd photos show minke whale killing in Antarctic sanctuaryAustralia’s federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has criticised Japan following the release of photographs allegedly showing the slaughtering of protected whales inside Australia’s Antarctic whale sanctuary.Frydenberg’s statement came as conservationists called for tougher action from Australia. Continue reading...
Sharp rise in discarded electronic goods is generating millions of tonnes of hazardous waste, putting pressure on valuable resources, study showsAsia’s mountains of hazardous electronic trash, or e-waste, are growing rapidly, new research reveals, with China leading the way.A record 16m tonnes of electronic trash, containing both toxic and valuable materials, were generated in a single year – up 63% in five years, new analysis looking at 12 countries in east and south-east Asia shows. Continue reading...
Cardigan Bay, Ceredigion Made up of rounded cobbles graded in size, this ‘causeway’ looks beguilingly like the work of our ancestorsThe amount of ice on the narrow footpath came as a surprise. Hidden from the sun on the south side of the valley, it had probably accumulated over a number of days – along with the layered, crusted frost on the nearby vegetation. Few people seemed to have walked this stretch of the Wales coast path recently; a fox crossing the track ahead and a briefly perched buzzard both seemed shocked to see me.As I reached the footbridge above the beach at Wallog, I folded away my heavily used Ordnance Survey map and consulted its nautical equivalent. While OS maps provide only scant information about the space beyond the coast, admiralty charts give detailed data on the underwater landscape – in this case the geological oddity that is Sarn Wallog.
Food retailers in UK and Europe aiming to cut plastic packaging by ditching stickers on fruits and vegetables, instead using hi-tech ‘natural branding’The humble fruit sticker may seem an unlikely cause for environmental concern but removing it from produce could create huge savings in plastic, energy and CO2 emissions.
Creating a sustainable community is about more than solar energy and recycled water, says the Green Building CouncilWith murder rates double, and robbery rates three times, the state average, the Sydney suburb of Blacktown is not an obvious choice as a world leader of sustainable living.But, in 2016, a new master-planned estate in the suburb became the first residential community in New South Wales to be awarded a top, six-star Green Star community rating by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). Continue reading...
In the past, extreme weather and disastrous harvests have proved socially divisive. We have been warned, say climate researchersIn the winter of 1432-33 people in Scotland “had to use fire to melt the wine before drinking it†ran a line in the research about the coldest decade of winters in the last 1,000 years.
Overwhelming majority believe they are living with the effects of warming and 46% say coal-fired power should be phased outNinety per cent of people living in rural and regional Australia believe they are already experiencing the impacts of climate change and 46% believe coal-fired power stations should be phased out, according to a new study.A poll of 2,000 people conducted by the Climate Institute found that 82% of respondents in rural and regional Australia and 81% of those in capital cities were concerned about increased droughts, flooding and destruction of the Great Barrier Reef due to climate change, and 78% of all respondents were concerned there would be more bushfires. Continue reading...
You report (Tidal lagoon power is ‘reliable and affordable’, 13 January) that the Swansea Bay scheme “would be the first of its kind in the worldâ€. In France, the Rance estuary plant has been operating since 1966. In Canada, in the Bay of Fundy, which has the highest tides in the world, the plant at Annapolis Royal has been operating since being opened by Prince Charles in 1984. However, the French have no firm plans for more such plants and the Canadians have abandoned them altogether. In Canada, a major consideration has been the devastating impact on fish stocks.It seems to me that the major objective of the proposal might be to extract taxpayer funding for no useful purpose, and the government needs to study the proposals very carefully to ensure we do not end up with a number of very large white elephants in the Severn estuary.
Countryside campaigners fear ministers are set to weaken green belt protection in order to meet housebuilding targetsThe number of homes being planned on green belt land in England has increased to more than 360,000, according to countryside campaigners, who fear ministers are poised to weaken protections to meet ambitious building targets.The assessment by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) found that the number of homes planned on sites previously meant to block urban sprawl has risen from 81,000 in 2012 to 362,346, with the largest number slated for development in the north-west and east of England.
New supplier hopes to sign up 40,000 single variable tariff customers in first year, two months after collapse of GB Energy UKThe ranks of the 40-plus energy companies jostling for householders’ business will swell on Monday with the launch of a new supplier that delivers electricity from windfarms.Fischer Energy hopes to sign up 40,000 customers in the first year to its single variable tariff, with renewable power bought from Denmark’s Dong Energy. Continue reading...
Amount of electronic waste up 63% in five years, with China’s more than doubling, United Nations University report findsLevels of electronic waste are rising sharply across Asia, as higher incomes mean hundreds of millions of people can afford smartphones and other gadgets, according to a UN study.The amount of e-waste in Asia has risen by 63% in five years, a report by United Nations University said, warning of the need to improve recycling and disposal methods across the region to prevent serious environmental and health consequences. Continue reading...
by Michael Patrick Welch in Baton Rouge on (#28Z30)
Louisiana residents are starting to get involved in environmental issues and are making themselves heard about the disputed Bayou Bridge pipelineScott Eustis did not stop smiling for hours. The coastal wetland specialist with the Gulf Restoration Network was attending a public hearing in Baton Rouge. Its subject was a pipeline extension that would run directly through the Atchafalaya Basin, the world’s largest natural swamp. Eustis was surprised to be joined by more than 400 others.“This is like 50 times the amount of people we have at most of these meetings,†said Eustis, adding that the proposed pipeline was “the biggest and baddest I’ve seen in my careerâ€. Continue reading...
Anti-whaling campaign group alleges it photographed Japanese whalers carrying out a slaughter inside Australia’s Antarctic whale sanctuaryAnti-whaling campaign group Sea Shepherd says it has photographed Japanese whalers carrying out a slaughter inside Australia’s Antarctic whale sanctuary, the same day the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was in Australia on a state visit.In the first documented killing since the international court of justice ruled Japan’s Antarctic whaling illegal in 2014, Sea Shepherd released photographs of what it says is a dead minke on the deck of the whaler Nisshin Maru at 11.34am on Sunday. Continue reading...
EU pledges £9m to help Britain turn niche market mainstreamNever mind hygge, the new Danish buzzword is folkeligt and it’s going to give Britain’s organic food industry a Scandi makeover.Organic supremos in both nations are drawing up plans for a charm offensive after securing €10.4m (£9m) from the EU to turbocharge industry growth. Britons spend only a tiny portion of their food budget on organics, and the marketing push aims to bring them into line with the Danes, who are the world’s biggest consumers of organic food and drink. Continue reading...
America’s national parks are facing multiple threats, despite being central to the frontier nation’s sense of itselfAutumn in the North Cascades National Park and soggy clouds cling to the peaks of the mountains that inspired the musings of Beat poets such as Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg 60 years ago. Sitting on a carpet of pine needles in the forest below, protected from the rain by a canopy of vine maple leaves, is a group of 10-year-olds listening to a naturalist hoping to spark a similar love of the outdoors in a new generation.This is one of 59 national parks which range across the United States, from the depths of the Grand Canyon in Arizona to the turrets of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. All – plus hundreds of monuments and historic sites – are run by the National Park Service (NPS), which celebrated its centenary last year. The parks were created so that America’s natural wonders would be accessible to everyone, rather than sold off to the highest bidder. Writer Wallace Stegner called them America’s best idea: “Absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.†Continue reading...
The go-ahead for the Swansea Bay project could help end fossil fuel reliance. But ministers have pulled the plug on other inventive schemesBritain’s west coast is facing a revolutionary change. If renewable energy advocates get their way, swaths of shoreline will soon be peppered with giant barrages designed to turn the power of the sea into electricity for our homes and factories. These tidal lagoons could supply more than 10% of the nation’s electricity, it is claimed.Last week former energy minister Charles Hendry published a review that strongly backed the construction of a £1.3 billion prototype lagoon in Swansea Bay. The trial project was a “no regrets optionâ€, Hendry concluded. Continue reading...
Global research group will trace Totten glacier’s history back to last ice age, in hope of predicting future melting patternsIn East Antarctica, 3,000km south of the West Australian town of Albany, an ice shelf the size of California is melting from below.The concerning trend was confirmed by Australian scientists in December, who reported that warming ocean temperatures were causing the rapid melt of the end of the Totten glacier, which is holding back enough ice to create a global sea rise of between 3.5 metres and six metres. Continue reading...
East coast residents have derided the severe storm warnings as ‘a load of rubbish’Police and Environment Agency officials today defended their decision to warn tens of thousands of people living near the east coast of England to leave their homes because they were at risk of flooding.Thousands were evacuated on Friday after the Environment Agency issued 17 severe weather warnings – which warn of danger to life – with people living in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex told they were most at risk. Continue reading...
The outdoor industry is leading the fight to protect America’s public lands from being developed for gas and oilUtah, a state rich in epic landscapes and national parks, is becoming ground zero for a fight between the $646bn outdoor industry and state lawmakers over public land management.At a trade show for outdoor clothing and gear makers in Salt Lake City this week, two prominent figures from the industry called on their peers to move the semi-annual event out of the state unless Utah leaders stop supporting efforts by Republicans in Congress to transfer or sell federal land to states. Utah governor Gary Herbert was also called out for challenging a federal law that allowed President Obama to create the new, 1.4m-acre Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah last month. Continue reading...
With former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson poised to lead US foreign policy, activists like Peter Willcox, skipper of the Rainbow Warrior, are needed more than ever. But are they losing their nerve?Dawn was breaking when the campaigners used slingshots to fire ropes on to the rig. But as they began to scale the Prirazlomnaya, aiming to unfurl a banner denouncing Russia’s attempts to drill for oil in the Arctic, their hopes of another successful Greenpeace “action†swiftly faded. They had been anticipating high-pressure hoses that sprayed freezing seawater at intruders. They weren’t prepared for balaclava-wearing soldiers shooting at their inflatable boats.One soldier grabbed the rope used by one of the climbers, slamming her body repeatedly against the rig. They captured two other activists. Then the Russians demanded to board the Greenpeace ship. But the Arctic Sunrise’s captain, Peter Willcox, fearing his boat would be seized, resisted. Continue reading...
Airedale, West Yorkshire A book from a century ago tells me when I might hear the ‘spring’ songs of each common songbirdThe robin has uncorked its spring song. This one – a male, I suspect, giving it some welly in the upper reaches of a bare horse chestnut – is the loudest, the fullest, I’ve heard so far.
As the protest against the Carmichael project – Australia’s largest proposed coalmine – moves beyond the courts and into the realm of civil disobedience, activists have a clear warning: ‘If you’re in bed with Adani, you’re a target’Across Australia a secretive network of activists are laying the groundwork for what they expect will be the biggest environmental protest movement in the country’s history.Of course this won’t materialise if Adani and the rest of the miners proposing to open up one of the world’s biggest coalfields walk away from Queensland’s Galilee basin first. Continue reading...
Police and military working to protect residents on east coast as snow disrupts travel in Scotland and the northThousands of people along England’s east coast are facing evacuation from their homes as life-threatening floods were expected to hit towns and villages at high tide on Friday night, while in Scotland and northern England snow has caused transport disruption.Police, the fire service and the army were called out to protect residents along the east coast with those in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex most at risk. Continue reading...
Wholesale cost rose 50% in 2016 as fish farmers from Scotland to Norway and Chile tried to tackle parasite problemYou may never have heard of Lepeophtheirus salmonis, and you’re unlikely to have spotted one, because they are usually less than 1.5cm long, but the humble sea louse is creating waves that are about to wash on to your dinner plate.Balanced on blinis, tucked into bagels or crafted into sushi, salmon has become an everyday luxury in the UK. But fans of seafood may be forced to take it off the menu as prices are expected to soar because of a surge in sea lice hitting production. 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...
Police say they are not ‘crying wolf’ in asking residents in Jaywick, Mistley and West Mersea to leave homes immediatelyEssex police have insisted they are not “crying wolf†in urging residents in the coastal communities of Jaywick, Mistley and West Mersea to evacuate their homes immediately before expected severe flooding on Friday night.By early afternoon evacuees were beginning to arrive at emergency “rest centres†in Clacton and West Mersea. Continue reading...
Carmaker’s shares fall as French prosecutors launch inquiry just a day after US authorities charged Fiat ChryslerFrench prosecutors have announced they will investigate Renault over suspected “cheating†in emissions tests of diesel motors, causing shares in the carmaker to fall.Following a massive emissions scandal involving Volkswagen, independent French experts found dangerously high levels of emissions from diesel engines of several carmakers, including Renault, the Paris prosecutors office said on Friday.
Greenpeace study estimates air pollution kills more than 1 million Indians each year and cuts country’s GDP by 3%Not a single city in northern India meets international air quality standards, according to a Greenpeace report that estimates air pollution kills more than 1 million Indians each year and takes 3% off the country’s GDP.The report released this week also shows that levels of the most dangerous airborne pollutants grew by 13% in India between 2010 and 2015 but fell at least 15% over the same period in China, the US and Europe. Continue reading...
Langstone, Hampshire As the sparrowhawk swoops, corvids explode into the air like a firework starburstIt is the hour before sunset and the paddock is bathed in liquid gold light. Heavy rain and frost melt have saturated the soil and the turf is pockmarked with hoofprint craters. The horses’ coats and feathered fetlocks are caked with mud the colour of wet concrete. Huddling round an old tractor tyre stuffed with hay, they jostle each other for the best stalks.Related: Birdwatch: Sparrowhawk Continue reading...
Actor Jane Fonda criticises Justin Trudeau while speaking in Edmonton on Wednesday, saying the Canadian prime minister ‘betrayed’ what he committed to in the Paris climate talks. Fonda says people should not be fooled by ‘good-looking liberals’ such as Trudeau, who disappointed her by approving pipelines from the Alberta oil sands
Canadian prime minister ‘betrayed’ what he committed to in Paris climate talks and ‘disappointed’ her by approving oil pipelines, political activist and actor saidActor Jane Fonda has said that people should not be fooled by “good-looking liberals†such as the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who “disappointed†her by approving pipelines from the Alberta oil sands.Fonda said after touring the oil sands area that environmentalists everywhere were impressed by Trudeau at the Paris climate conference in late 2015. Continue reading...
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