Environment | The Guardian

St Dogmael’s, Pembrokeshire I could hear the haunting call of a curlew – faintly, distantly, yet it still had a power to arrest and hold my attention. It bubbled up as though from the water itself, swelled to a crescendo and gently died awayWalking along the estuary-side path on an ebb-tide, I kept an ear tuned for our “wet-footed god of the horizons”, scanned with my glass the shimmer around margins of emerging sand-banks for the bird whose curved-beak silhouette is as distinctive as its voice. These river-mouths of western Wales – Teifi, Dyfi, Mawddach, Dwyryd – have a startling textural beauty. Their swirling diurnal intricacy, their light-infused and tide-sculpted Celtic designs of water and sand were once a favourite wintering ground of the curlew.The haunting call of this largest of British waders, here and in its breeding grounds on commons and wetlands around the higher hills, is surely the most redolent sound of our relict wild country. WH Hudson described it seeming as if “uttered by some filmy being, half spirit and half bird”. Here on the Teifi I could hear one faintly, distantly, yet it still had a power to arrest and hold my attention. It bubbled up as though from the water itself, swelled to a crescendo and gently died away. Continue reading...

Federal review understood to recommend expanding areas permitted for commercial fishing which experts say will be ‘terrible for the environment’Australia’s leading marine scientists are appealing to the federal government to reject a review expected to recommend a significant reduction in the size of ocean sanctuaries and an expansion of areas permitted for commercial fishing.

The oil industry targeted business-friendly Democrats in the legislature to kill parts of a bill mandating a 50% reduction in gasoline use in the state by 2030The oil industry spent more than $10m lobbying state lawmakers in a massive push to kill California climate change legislation last year, new disclosures have revealed.Much of the money spent by big oil was targeted at a specific piece of legislation, SB-350, that would have mandated a 50% reduction in gasoline use in the state by 2030 in addition other climate change initiatives. Continue reading...

Two agencies’ survey via land, sea and air will hopefully help improve weather forecasts and models that predict the longer-term impact of climate changeAmerica’s two leading climate science agencies are conducting an unprecedented survey via land, sea and air to investigate the current El Niño event and better understand its impact on weather systems that have brought both parched and soaking conditions to North America.

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...

Toxic toads, a feeding wolf and rare Grevy’s zebras are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Volkswagen delays annual shareholder meeting and results as it tries to establish the cost of the emissions affairVolkswagen has postponed the release of its financial results and annual meeting with shareholders because of the diesel emissions scandal.The German carmaker said it was still trying to establish the cost of the emissions affair, which could run into tens of billions of euros. Continue reading...

Invisible pollution kills up to 9,000 people a year in the capital. But under government plans, from school gates to shopping streets, Londoners will be breathing dangerous air until 2025. What more can be done?“In the morning, this traffic island is packed with children and pushchairs and they are about a metre from all the exhausts,” says Shazia Ali-Webber. She is walking her three boys to school in Hackney, the eldest of whom, Zain, is eight and asthmatic.Crossing choked Mare Street, where the heavy traffic grinds slowly past, is her biggest concern. “Children’s lung development is affected by air pollution: they have smaller lungs for life,” she says. “The government’s new plan says pollution will not fall to legal levels till 2025. But I don’t have time to wait: Zain will be 18 by then. They are condemning a generation of children to ill-health.” Continue reading...

Sakurajima volcano erupts sending plumes of smoke and lightning-like flashes into the sky and burning lava down its slopes. Japan’s meteorological agency said the volcano, on the southern island of Kyushu, erupted at about 7pm local time (10am GMT). There were no immediate reports of injuries but entry to the area was banned and the existing no-go zone around the crater was increased to a 1.2-mile radius. Photograph: APRead: Sakurajima volcano in Japan erupts Continue reading...

More than quarter of population face food shortages as country hit by severe drought, with cattle dying and crops destroyedZimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has declared a state of disaster in rural areas hit by a severe drought, as more than a quarter of the population face food shortages.

Box of imperfect in-season vegetables will feed a family of four for a week and costs £3.50 – 30% less than standard linesThe UK’s first supermarket ‘wonky vegetable’ box goes on sale on Friday, containing enough ugly potatoes and knobbly carrots to feed a family of four for an entire week for just £3.50.The Asda box is filled with in-season winter vegetables and salad ingredients at a price that is 30% cheaper than standard lines. Continue reading...

Investigators will take samples from sperm whale in attempt to explain spate of strandings off east coast of UKTests are to be carried out on a sperm whale that died after washing up on a Norfolk beach in an attempt to explain a spate of recent deaths.

Scientists name species of tarantula discovered near Folsom prison in honour of country music legendIt is big, hairy, and if one sinks its fangs in you it will burn, burn, burn like a ring of fire.Scientists have named a newly discovered species of tarantula after country music legend Johnny Cash. Continue reading...

The International Garden Photographer of the Year competition announces its winners today. Here’s a selection from their Greening the City category, showcasing the relationship between cities and nature around the world Continue reading...

Airport’s chief executive is not frustrated by the third runway impasse, he insists, but ‘working on being a good neighbour’If not quite digging a third runway, Heathrow was at least expecting by now to know whether the government would allow it. But if the airport’s chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, feels like banging his head on Westminster’s walls after years of its sputtering process, he’s not showing it.“Like Alan B’Stard,” he remarks, as he adopts the pose of Rik Mayall’s fictional MP beside parliament. Holland-Kaye is not averse to a bit of Union Jack-waving in the cause of business and has a certain floppy-haired, statesmanlike bearing. But otherwise, he appears disappointingly decent, or a particularly well disguised b’stard, declaring that Heathrow must be a good neighbour, clean up its act, and push diversity and opportunity. Continue reading...

Horsey Gap, Norfolk Close to us is one of the very last newborns, eyes without focus, white fur still slick and wetScaling the dune, we are smacked in the face by the wind, but we recover, and smile because we are not too late. They are still here. The beach below is busy with grey seals, and my quick count reveals about 30 from our vantage point.Here, as every year, the cows come ashore to pup on the sandy beach between November and early February. Close to us is one of the very last newborns; eyes dark liquid and without focus, white fur still slick and wet, a shock of blood on its back. The placenta lies on the sand like an inert purple jellyfish. The mother sniffs at her pup casually, raising that Roman nose which earned the species its scientific name, Halichoerus grypus, based on the Greek for “hooked-nose sea-pig”. Continue reading...

An adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown told residents near the leak that the final phase to intercept the ruptured well should start Monday.A California official outlined a plan Thursday to cap the massive Los Angeles-area gas leak by the end of next week.

The 73 companies posed too much of a social or environmental risk to the $794bn fund, the annual report said, as it steps up its divestmentsNorway’s huge sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, has sold out of 73 companies in the past year because their social or environmental policies could hurt profitability.

The severely underweight and dehydrated pup was taken to SeaWorld’s animal rescue center, and experts are cautiously optimistic about her recoveryA starving sea lion has been rescued after finding its way into the booth of a fancy San Diego restaurant.Experts at SeaWorld were called Thursday morning to The Marine Room, an oceanfront restaurant in La Jolla. Continue reading...

Sydney woman posts video on Facebook of spider crawling through her Italian-style packaged salad greens bought at WoolworthsAs meat production depletes the world’s resources and compounds the changing climate, eating insects and other creepy crawlies might well be in all our futures. But one Australian woman came closer than the rest of us when she brought home a sizeable spider in her bag of salad greens.Zoe Perry posted the video of the huntsman shifting around within the “Italian style salad” bag – with the on-screen caption “Jesus” – to Woolworths’ Facebook page on Thursday night.

People living along Callide creek near Biloela told to consider evacuation as severe weather warning issued for regions between Bundaberg and ProserpineFlood-prone residents along Callide creek in central Queensland have been told to consider evacuating their homes as water is released from a nearby dam.The Banana shire council issued the warning after SunWater began releases from the Callide dam, near Biloela, after heavy rainfall in the area, and amid forecasts for more over the next 24 hours. Continue reading...

Woolworths is being accused of being a little too fresh after a video was posted to Facebook showing a big live huntsman spider trapped inside a sealed bag of salad. Zoe Perry posted the clip to Facebook, captioning it: ‘Shopping as per usual for Italian style salad mix ... get it home ... Mum goes to open the packet and we are greeted by ...’ This unwelcome addition to the salad mix is another blow to Woolworths, who had to recall some pre-packaged lettuce yesterday after a link to salmonella was discovered Continue reading...

Experts say the huge mammal stranded on Hunstanton beach died, despite the tide refloating it

A sperm whale is stranded on a beach in Hunstanton, Norfolk, the sixth to wash up on British shores in recent weeks. One bystander, who discovered the male whale early on Thursday morning, says its condition is rapidly deteriorating. Due to its size and weight, rescuers are unable to help the whale. Experts say the chance that the whale could survive is slim Continue reading...

Tagged male bird from nature reserve near Forfar spotted on a beach in west Africa after 18 monthsAn osprey that went missing from a Scottish nature reserve for more than 18 months has been found almost 3,000 miles away – on a beach in Senegal.The three-year-old male bird, known as Blue YD, was tagged with a lightweight satellite tracker in July 2012 at a Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) reserve near Forfar.

The Leap Manifesto is an unashamedly radical plan to convert the world to 100% renewable energy, fast. And you can be a part of itLeap day is coming up at the end of the month – remember this one?“Thirty days hath September,

Consumers assured that electricity supplies for this winter will remain unaffected by closure of most of Fiddler’s Ferry near ManchesterThe UK government and the electricity regulator moved on Thursday to reassure consumers that they will not face blackouts as the result of the closure of most of a major coal power plant.Operator SSE said the closure of three out of four generation units at the 2GW Fiddler’s Ferry near Manchester, which has made financial losses for two years, was likely to take place on 1 April. Continue reading...

A congressional committee hearing into the crisis of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan, on Wednesday prompted Democrats from the state to brand the issue a ‘national embarrassment’. The director of the Michigan department of environment quality, Keith Creagh, told the hearing that ‘government at all levels should have done more’, while Democrat Brenda Lawrence stated that more should have been done to ensure a safe environment for residents Continue reading...

These distinctive and noisy birds come in hundreds of varieties – you can find about 50 types in Costa Rica, each with tiny beating wings and bright plumage Continue reading...

VW paying price with sharp drop in sales in January after what was a record-breaking year for the new car marketVolkswagen sales fell sharply in the UK in January following a customer backlash over the diesel emissions scandal that has rocked the German car maker.Sales of new Volkswagen-branded cars fell by 14% year-on-year last month, reducing the company’s market share in the UK, which has previously been one of its most successful markets. Continue reading...

An MIT lab has produced a device the size of a stamp that harvests energy from bending movements. Commercialising it could be a breakthrough for wearablesInside a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sangtae Kim has been tinkering with a paper-thin device the size of a stamp. Kim is interested in harvesting energy from humans (though not the kind that turns people into batteries in the movie, The Matrix). He wants to harness motions, such as walking and running, to power sensors and wearable gadgets.

4 February 1957: Cherished by locals, the amenity in Glamorganshire is said to be a product of far-sighted planning and silvicultural experimentation

WorkSafe Victoria charges Hazelwood Power Corporation with Occupational Health and Safety Act breaches over fire which covered town of Morwell in ashThe company responsible for managing the Hazelwood mine in Victoria’s La Trobe Valley has been charged with 10 offences following a devastating mine fire which burned for 45 days and left surrounding suburbs choked by ash.The fire began on 9 February 2014 after embers from surrounding bushfires entered the mine. The nearby town of Morwell was among the worst affected, left blanketed in ash, and residents were exposed to toxic carbon monoxide. It was the largest and longest-running mine fire in the history of Victoria. Continue reading...

The big cat, known as ‘El Jefe’, has been living in 25 miles south of downtown Tucson – half a century after the last verified US jaguar was killed by a hunterThe only known wild jaguar in the United States is seen roaming around a creek and other parts of a mountain range just south of Tucson, Arizona in the first publicly released video of the big cat.Related: Eastern Cougar extinct, no longer needs protection, says US conservation agency Continue reading...

Footage of the only known jaguar living wild in the US is captured on remote sensor cameras. The video, filmed by Conservation CATalyst and the Center for Biological Diversity in the Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona, provides a glimpse into the secretive life of the big cat, who has recently been named ‘El Jefe’ by local students Continue reading...