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Cricket's summer song making a comeback
Country Breakfast Features Sat 29th July
EU court orders Poland to stop logging in Białowieża forest
European Union’s top court orders an immediate halt to large-scale logging in the Unesco-listed ancient forest
The European Union’s top court has ordered Poland to immediately halt large-scale logging in an ancient protected forest, one of many cases that has pitted the nationalist, eurosceptic government in Warsaw against the bloc.
The EU’s executive commission earlier this year sued Poland at the European court of justice (ECJ) over logging in the Białowieża forest, a Unesco World Heritage site.
Continue reading...Observer Ethical Awards 2017: terms and conditions
Terms and conditions relating to nominating in the awards
The Observer Ethical Awards 2017 (the “Awards”) consist of 7 separate categories (each an “Award Category”), which are each governed in accordance with the general terms and conditions, and the award category-specific terms and conditions (collectively, “Terms and Conditions”), specified below. The Award Categories are as follows:
a) Young green leaders;
Continue reading...Chlorinated chicken, air pollution plans and alien species – green news roundup
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...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A swimming jaguar, a new species of frog, and a racoon are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Ultimate bogs: how saving peatlands could help save the planet
They are one of the harshest environments on the planet and also one of the most important in terms of carbon storage. New research hopes to reveal the role these threatened bogs could play in the climate change story
Randy Kolka hands me a fist-sized clump of brownish-black material pulled up by an auger from a bog. It’s the color and texture of moist chocolate cake. When I look closely I can see filaments of plant material. This hunk of peat, pulled from two meters (7ft) below the surface, is about 8,000 years old. I’m holding plants that lived and died before the Egyptians constructed the pyramids and before humans invented the wheel. In my hand is history. And carbon gold.
Continue reading...Millions of small scale fishers facing economic exclusion
A summit in Bali last week sought new strategies to help small scale fishers access global markets in an effort to alleviate poverty and improve sustainability
Experts gathered in Bali last week to address the growing plight of small scale fishers, who are being excluded from key global markets, as policy makers tighten fisheries regulations in a bid to improve transparency and sustainability.
Hosted by Indonesia based fisheries NGO MDPI with support from the Walton Family Foundation, Wageningen University and USAID Oceans, the thinktank brought together professionals from across the sector.
Continue reading...Brexit likely to create a rise in UK megafarms
Smaller farms may be squeezed out if farmers switch to vast, intensive facilities due to the pressures the industry faces from leaving the EU, say farmers and campaigners
Leaving the EU is likely to lead to an increase in the number of megafarms dominating the British countryside, campaigners and farmers agree, with far-reaching effects for farms, consumers and those who live in the countryside.
The huge intensive farms, in which as many as 1.7 million animals may be kept on a single holding, are an increasingly common, but controversial, feature of UK agriculture. The pressures of Brexit on farming are likely to cause more farmers to move to such facilities in order to lower the costs of meat production, and may squeeze smaller more traditional farms out of the market, potentially changing the UK’s landscape forever.
Continue reading...Secrets of the world's toughest creatures revealed
For richer, for poorer … a tenth of all wedding food is thrown away
Couples splash out an average of £3,245 on food but end up throwing about £500-worth away
Continue reading...NSW govt approves 275MW of new solar farms for state
Just how quickly can Tesla kill the petrol car?
Environment Ministers to consider national battery recycling scheme
China heading for 230GW of solar by 2020
Bream sunbathe in Ælfgifu’s river
Northamptonshire Canute’s queen would have known these fish but not the now local mink – or the roses that are taking over Denmark’s dunes
The broad river Nene is ponded by a substantial weir to the south-east of Northampton. The deep water is still, clear and, at present, sunlit. The northern side of the river supports extensive patches of lily pads; they blast out green as the sun sparks and flashes between them.
The open water to the south side is occupied by great herds of bream – big fish with pointed fins, vertically flattened bodies and jutting scaled heads.
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