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Chandrayaan, Aditya-L1, Gaganyaan: The year India reached the Moon - and aimed for the Sun
In search of the buff-breasted buttonquail – the one Australian bird that has never been photographed
Finding the elusive species in far north Queensland is a unique challenge for birders. But the search demands extraordinary enthusiasm
For 100 years, the night parrot was the undisputed mystery bird of Australian ornithology. Until the discovery and subsequent study of a tiny population in Queensland’s far west in 2013, two specimens found by the side of remote outback roads in 1990 and 2006, also in Queensland, were the only hard evidence of its continued existence.
With the parrot now present and accounted for, there remains one Australian bird that has never been photographed: the buff-breasted buttonquail.
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Continue reading...No climate for cricket: how global warming is putting the heat on NZ’s summer game
'Ecology on steroids': how Australia's First Nations managed Australia's ecosystems
London Ulez averts more air pollution than that caused by capital’s airports, report shows
Air quality improvements 2019-2022 from lowering vehicle emissions came even before scheme’s expansion to whole of city
More toxic air pollution has been averted by London’s ultra-low emission zones than is produced by the capital’s airports or its river and rail transport combined, according to a new analysis of the effects of the Ulez.
The report showed that improvements in air quality between 2019 and 2022 from lowering motor vehicle pollution – even before the expansion of the Ulez throughout the capital since August – rivalled the potential savings from entirely cleaning up London’s aviation or industrial and commercial heat and power generation.
Continue reading...This is how our 21st-century peasants’ revolt took on the royals over rewilding – and won | Joel Scott-Halkes
When we started out, we didn’t dare dream it would lead to this: expanded rainforest, a beaver release, and rewilding at Balmoral
Sid Rawle, the 1960s peace campaigner and infamous “King of the Hippies”, once remarked that if land ownership in Britain were to be divided equally, we would each get about an acre. Surprisingly, this thought experiment would just about hold true today.
The UK measures 60m acres in total and is home to around 67 million of us. There is something rather beguiling about such extreme egalitarianism – impractical though it might be. One person, one vote, one acre. But there’s also something about it that rather helps clarify the mind should you ever find yourself, as I have done recently, trying to reform the mind-bogglingly large amounts of land owned by the British royal family.
Continue reading...Recycling: Plans for electrical goods to be included in UK collections
The fish that eats piranhas for breakfast
World's tallest wooden wind turbine starts turning
Retailers to pay for consumers’ e-waste recycling from 2026 under UK plans
Households will be able to drop off cables and other electrical waste in-store or have home collections, says Defra
British households will benefit from improved routes for recycling electronic goods from 2026, under government plans to have producers and retailers pay for household and in-store collections.
Consumers would be able to have electrical waste (e-waste) – from cables to toasters and power tools – collected from their homes or drop items off during a weekly shop, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said in a consultation published on Thursday. The ambition is for retailers, rather than the taxpayer, to pick up the tab for these new ways of disposing of defunct, often toxic products safely. The measures are due to come into force in two years’ time.
Continue reading...Zero onshore wind plans submitted in England since de facto ban was ‘lifted’
Exclusive: Developers still unwilling to put forward schemes despite change to planning rules in September
No new plans for onshore wind have been accepted in England since the government claimed it had “lifted” the de facto ban, new analysis reveals.
Renewable energy organisations warned at the time that this was likely. Despite the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, having changed planning rules introduced in 2015 by the then prime minister, David Cameron, to stop onshore wind projects being blocked by a single objection, they still face higher barriers than every other form of infrastructure, including waste incinerators.
Continue reading...I collect roo poo – and our research could save many marsupial lives | Angela Russell
Monitoring what comes out of an animal is a vital part of keeping an eye on its health
I thought convincing my husband of the merits of my returning to study just as he had retired would be a tricky sell. So his enthusiasm for the idea caught me by surprise.
He helpfully suggested several interesting topics: sea turtles, dugongs and coral reefs. If it involved a boat in a warm climate, he was behind me 100%.
Continue reading...California ARB tempers last offset issuance in 2023, total credit allotment up nearly 20% on the year
'Foul and loathsome’ or jewels of the natural world? The complicated history of human-frog relations
No more hot air: Australian climate activism and political satire – in pictures
Successive Australian governments have kicked the can down the road when it comes to the climate crisis – and colourful activism has followed them every step of the way
Continue reading...‘We have a responsibility’: the older women suing Switzerland to demand climate action
Switzerland’s KlimaSeniorinnen are taking the government to the European court of human rights for doing too little to tackle the climate crisis
The women, mostly in their 70s, strode up the mountain with dogged grace. Clacking their hiking poles against sun-cooked rocks, they set sure feet on shaky stones and held hands to cross slippery streams. They knew the heat and strain were a threat to their health – they were perhaps uniquely aware of the risks – but they did not plan to let it limit their lives.
“I’m a mountain climber,” said 73-year-old Pia Hollenstein, brushing away the hand I offered to help her down a big rock. “I can manage.”
Continue reading...Climate change: Seasonal shifts causing 'chaos' for UK nature
Renewable energy drive for indigenous groups in Colombia
2023’s costliest climate disasters show poor lose out in ‘global postcode lottery’
Countries less able to rebuild or who have contributed least to climate crisis suffer worst, research reveals
A list of the 20 costliest climate disasters of 2023 has revealed a “global postcode lottery stacked against the poor”, according to an analysis.
The research by the charity Christian Aid found that devastating wildfires and floods are hitting those who can least afford to rebuild, and the countries that have contributed least to the climate crisis by burning far fewer fossil fuels than wealthy nations, which have faced fewer climate disasters.
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