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Palmer Newbould obituary
My former colleague Palmer Newbould, who has died aged 87, was a champion of scientific nature conservation, an innovative university teacher and a generous, warm-hearted man with broad interests.
His nature conservation work was based mainly in Northern Ireland, where wide-ranging conservation legislation was introduced only in 1965. Palmer served on two statutory committees in the 1970s – the Nature Reserves Committee and Ulster Countryside Committee – before becoming chairman of the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside in 1989, for which he was appointed OBE. He was also a Northern Ireland representative on the UK’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee and served on Ireland’s Nuclear Energy Board.
Continue reading...Wind turbine collisions killing hundreds of UK bats each month, study finds
Research suggests ecological impact assessments carried out for windfarms are not adequately predicting bat activity or risks
Hundreds of bats are being killed in collisions with wind turbines in the UK each month, despite ecological impact assessments predicting that many windfarms were unlikely to affect such animals, according to a new study.
All UK species of bats are protected by law, and ecological impact assessments - carried out before construction of windfarms or other sites - should weigh up the risks for local habitats and wildlife. But new research suggests that such assessments are simply not up to scratch.
Continue reading...Southern Hemisphere recovered faster from dino strike
Tax meat and dairy to cut emissions and save lives, study urges
Surcharges of 40% on beef and 20% on milk would compensate for climate damage and deter people from consuming as much unhealthy food
Climate taxes on meat and milk would lead to huge and vital cuts in carbon emissions as well as saving half a million lives a year via healthier diets, according to the first global analysis of the issue.
Surcharges of 40% on beef and 20% on milk would account for the damage their production causes people via climate change, an Oxford University team has calculated. These taxes would then deter people from consuming as much of these foods, reducing both emissions and illness, the team said.
Continue reading...Share your photographs from wetlands around the UK
As the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust celebrates its 70th birthday we would like to see your pictures from around the country – in all seasons
Almost 70 years ago to the day Peter Scott – son of Antarctic explorer Captain Scott – opened Slimbridge, the first of nine Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) centres across the UK.
Related: David Attenborough unveils UK's newest nature reserve in east London
Continue reading...UN climate talks open under shadow of US elections
Marrakech summit buoyed by gathering momentum but threatened by the possibility of climate change denier Donald Trump entering the White House
UN talks to implement the landmark Paris climate pact opened in Marrakech on Monday, buoyed by gathering momentum but threatened by the spectre of climate change denier Donald Trump in the White House.
Diplomats from 196 nations are meeting in Morocco to flesh out the planet-saving plan inked in the French capital last December.
Continue reading...Key meeting to weigh Mars crash report
President Trump would Make America Deplorable Again | Dana Nuccitelli
From science denial to xenophobia to misogyny, Trump brings out the worst in Americans, and wants to reverse 50 years of progress
In September, Hillary Clinton came under fire for suggesting that half of Donald Trump’s supporters belonged in “a basket of deplorables” consisting of “the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic – you name it.”
Labeling people in such a disparaging manner is not a constructive approach. However, research has shown it’s true that Donald Trump brings out the worst characteristics in Americans. Only about half of Trump supporters think global warming is real, and twice as many Republicans are unsure about the evidence as they were a year ago. Hostility towards women and racial resentment correlate with Trump support almost as strongly as party affiliation. Xenophobia, misogyny, and denial of science and facts are the defining characteristics of Donald Trump’s candidacy.
Continue reading...Lancashire readers on the Cuadrilla fracking decision one month on
We asked readers living in the area to share their thoughts with us, one month on after Lancashire council’s rejection of a fracking site was overturned
I felt so strongly about the Cuadrilla proposal that I demonstrated outside Lancashire County Council in Preston on two occasions when the council were voting on the applications.
Anything to declare? Arrested Australian hands over bag containing baby koala
‘The officers cautiously unzipped the bag and found this gorgeous boy,’ Queensland police say of Alfred the joey
A woman taken into custody by Queensland police has stunned officers by handing over a baby koala she had been secretly carrying inside a zipped canvas bag.
The East Brisbane woman, 50, was asked if she had anything to declare after her arrest on unrelated matters by officers on patrol in the city’s south on Sunday night. She produced the bag, saying it contained a joey.
Continue reading...Great Barrier Reef authority a 'shell of its former self', says Queensland minister
Environment minister Steven Miles calls on federal government to fast-track extra $1.65m for agency tasked with protecting the reef
Queensland’s environment minister has flagged concerns that the agency tasked with protecting the Great Barrier Reef is running as a “shell of its former self” amid the underfunding of a cornerstone program.
Steven Miles called on the federal government to fast-track an extra $1.65m for the main “on-water” management program for the reef, which had seen no increase to its funding since 2008.
Continue reading...Rugged men build rugged walls in a rugged landscape
The Chevin, Otley, West Yorkshire Dry stone walls intrigue because there is a hint of the impossible about them. They stand as if by sleight of hand, artificial but organic
A gentle, mysterious, monosyllabic presence, Alan Dickinson was, to my childhood imagination, less a man and more a wildling from some semi-mythical moorland tribe. He looked as rugged as Almscliff Crag and smelled of woodchip and weather. I viewed him with quiet awe.
The husband of Andrea, my childminder, Alan was of farming stock, and his occupation was building dry stone walls. He has shaped my image of this trade ever since: inscrutable men stacking stones in windswept, lonely places where walls define the landscape.
Continue reading...Climate change at the Great Barrier Reef is intergenerational theft. That's why my son is part of this story | Naomi Klein
By including Toma in my film at the Great Barrier Reef I want to show how environmental disasters are creating a lonely world for our children
The short film I’ve made with the Guardian stars my son, Toma, aged four years and five months. That’s a little scary for me to write, since, up until this moment, my husband, Avi, and I have been pretty careful about protecting him from public exposure. No matter how damn cute we think he’s being, absolutely no tweeting is allowed.
So I want to explain how I decided to introduce him to you in this very public way.
Naomi Klein at the Great Barrier Reef: what have we left for our children? – video
Exclusive: In Under the Surface, a special Guardian film, the award-winning writer and environmental campaigner Naomi Klein travels to the Great Barrier Reef with her son, Toma, to see the impact of coral bleaching caused by climate change. In a personal but also universal story, Klein tells how she wants him to bear witness. ‘Just in case, amid the coral that is still alive, he can find something beautiful to connect with, something he can carry with him as he navigates life on a warmer, harsher planet than the one I grew up on. Because climate change is already here – and kids are on the frontlines’
Extra footage supplied by David Hannan
• Naomi Klein: Climate change is intergenerational theft. That’s why my son is part of this story
• Help us continue to cover the stories that matter. Support the Guardian with a monthly or one-off contribution
• Great Barrier Reef: a catastrophe laid bare
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