Feed aggregator

Domesticated creatures feature heavily in contemporary contributions to Guardian column compared to diaries of 1920s

In the early 1920s, the British countryside was a place where blackbirds sang, rabbits scurried and the summer skies were animated by swallows and house martins. A century on, blackbirds still sing and ancient oaks stand proud but the landscape is dominated by sheep, cows and dogs – according to Guardian country diarists.

A study of the most-featured species in the Country Diary column from 2021-24 and a century earlier reveals a surprising dominance of domesticated creatures in the mind’s eye of the contemporary contributors.

Continue reading...

Phoebe Plummer, 23, receives two-year prison term while Anna Holland, 22, given 20-month sentence over incident

Two Just Stop Oil activists have been jailed for throwing tomato soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers after one of them told a judge she would “accept whatever sentences I receive with a smile”.

Phoebe Plummer, 23, was sentenced to two years in prison for causing an estimated £10,000 worth of damage to the artwork’s frame at the National Gallery in London in 2022. Her codefendant, Anna Holland, 22, received 20 months for the same offence, but will serve only half in custody.

Continue reading...

Governments face a complex task in setting the price of ITMOs while still staying on track to meet their own climate goals, according to two NGOs, which have teamed up to release a “Ministry Playbook” guide to selling the international carbon credits.

European carbon prices eased lower on Friday morning during relatively quiet trade, after they had dropped after the Thursday settlement following a dramatic fall in TTF gas, while UKAs struggled again following heavy losses seen during the previous session.

The European Parliament has decided not to oppose a hydropower project on the Danube that could threaten protected areas (PAs) and the survival of critically endangered species, according to a group of environmental organisations.

The association has had to run spot checks on farms using its label amid welfare concerns.

Laos, which is chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, held an event Thursday to consult on Article 6, while it also hosted a meeting of ASEAN energy ministers.

Taiwan's environment ministry has released a set of operational guidelines for companies to declare carbon neutrality that includes the proper use of offsets, in the hope of avoiding corporate greenwashing.

Findings come amid growing concerns about overuse of medicines in farm animals and rise of superbugs

None of the UK’s large supermarket chains are ensuring their suppliers use antibiotics in the most responsible way, an assessment by campaigners has found, despite heightened concerns about their overuse in farm animals.

Supermarkets play an important role in the fight against superbugs, because most of the world’s antibiotics are used on livestock and retailers can enforce strict standards on the farm suppliers they use. Resistant bacteria known as superbugs are rapidly developing, posing an increasing risk to human health.

Continue reading...

Rail services and roads disrupted in parts of England and Wales with further downpours forecast

The Environment Agency has warned drivers their cars can be swept away in just 30cm (12in) of water as more than 60 flood warnings were issued in England after heavy rain overnight, with further downpours to come.

Flooding disrupted rail services in England and Wales on Thursday morning and caused the M5 motorway to be closed in both directions in Gloucestershire.

Continue reading...

The Chinese emissions market saw more fluctuations over the past week, with the permit price climbing back to the 100 yuan ($14.26) level amid growing compliance demand.

Three-quarters plan to invest solely in continued fossil fuel production between now and 2030, research shows

North Sea oil and gas companies are failing to switch their investments to renewable energy, research has shown.

Three-quarters of the offshore oil and gas companies operating in the UK plan to invest solely in continued fossil fuel production between now and the end of the decade, according to data compiled by the analyst company Rystad.

Continue reading...

Australia has pledged more cash towards creating its own supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with funding of A$36.8 million ($25.3 mln) coming from Canberra and ground zero for jet-zero Queensland.

Parts of England were struck by flash floods after more than a month’s rain fell in 24 hours. Heavy rainfall in Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and London caused widespread travel disruption and damage to properties

Continue reading...

At the spate of voluntary carbon events scattered in high-rises across New York this week, one topic persisted: how does the market evolve into the trustworthy, functioning, and effective global climate finance driver and unleash the billions of corporate dollars needed for net zero.

A non-profit in Pakistan is endeavouring to get the much-needed carbon finance into the country heavily impacted by climate change, despite the lack of clear pathways for offset projects to scale.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

Continue reading...

We should be celebrating the revival of the bluefin tuna – but a ravenous fishing industry, backed by government and ‘science’, is already licking its lips

Over the past three weeks, I’ve been watching one of the greatest natural spectacles on Earth, here in south Devon. At a certain station of the tide, within a few metres of the coast, the sea erupts with monsters. They can travel at 45mph. They grow to 2.5 metres (8ft 2in) in length and 600kg in weight. They herd smaller fish – saury and garfish in this case – against the surface, then accelerate into the shoal so fast that they overshoot sometimes 2 or 3 metres into the air. Bluefin tuna. They are here, on our southern coasts, right now.

When I’ve mentioned this on social media, some people refuse to believe me: you must be seeing dolphins, they say. Yes, I often see dolphins too, and it’s not hard to spot the difference. They don’t believe it because we have forgotten that our coastal waters were once among the richest on Earth. Bluefin and longfin tuna were common here. So were several species of whale, including sperm, fin, humpback and Atlantic grey, and a wide range of large sharks. Halibut the size of barn doors hunted the coastal shallows. Cod reached almost 2 metres in length, haddock nearly a metre, turbot were the size of tabletops, oysters as big as dinner plates, shoals of herring and mackerel were miles long.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

Why are so many settler Australians haunted by this almost mythical bird? Why?

• Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published
• Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints

Continue reading...

Signs of this potential La Niña are emerging fairly late. But new research may help make predictions earlier. Mandy Freund, Lecturer, Climate Science Geography, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.