Feed aggregator
With particles, size really matters
Engineers call them nano-particles, and close to congested roads and busy airports, we inhale them in astonishing numbers
In 1996, the Scottish scientist Anthony Seaton put forward a new theory about the health problems from modern air pollution. Throughout our evolution, we have always lived with dusts, but Seaton suggested that the problems from modern air pollution were due to the sheer number of tiny pollution particles that we are now exposed to.
Related: Time for the oil industry to snuff out its flares
Continue reading...The eco guide to prison labour
The world’s biggest companies, from Starbucks to Victoria’s Secret, use prisoners to work on their products. Is it helpful work experience or sheer exploitation?
We are all, at heart, ethical consumers. I’ve never met anyone actively looking for a dose of slave labour with their teabags, window frames or underwear.
71% of companies surveyed in 2015 believed their supply chains might contain some form of slavery
Continue reading...Salmon farmers ‘put wild fish at risk’ in fight to kill off sea lice
Salmon farmers have been accused of playing dirty by using fish caught in the wild to clean lice from Scottish fish farms. Marine conservation experts say that shipping tonnes of English-caught wrasse a year – to tackle lice infestations in salmon pens north of the border – is endangering natural stocks. English anglers have also warned wrasse is becoming harder and harder to find in local waters.
However, salmon farmers have rejected the charge. They say the use of wrasse as a “cleaner” fish is part of a long-term plan to replace chemicals – which are currently administered to pens to control lice infestations – with sustainable, biological controls.
Continue reading...A goat's dream job?
All the colours of the machair
South Uist The dominant hue will change gradually, as first one then another wildflower species comes to the fore on land left to lie fallow
The continuation of traditional crofting methods ensures that the island’s machair is still celebrated for the spectacular profusion of wildflowers that occurs in the summer. Yellows, whites, purples and blues are all present, though the dominant hue will change gradually, as first one then another species comes to the fore on the land left to lie fallow. But where, after their period of rest, different areas are put back under cultivation, there are other changes in colour.
This spring the grassland down at the end of the track that reaches the sea came under the plough, its green replaced by an expanse of pale open ground. Stretches of machair ready for planting are nothing like prepared fields seen elsewhere in Britain.
Continue reading...Beached whale on New South Wales coast to be euthanised
Marine mammal experts make ‘really tough decision’ after rough sea conditions hinder rescue attempts
• Australian volunteers help keep animal breathing – video
A juvenile humpback whale that has been beached on the New South Wales mid-north coast for more than a day will be euthanised.
Rough sea conditions had put a hold on attempts to rescue the whale on Sataurday.
Finkel’s canny energy blueprint has a fundamental flaw
Ominous signs for Larson C ice shelf
Vagrant, immigrant, stopover, stay
Understory: a life with trees
The greening of Singapore
The greening of Singapore
A Big Country June 10, 2017
Renewable power boost, climate denial and spiders – 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 stalking tiger, playful long-eared owl chicks and a rare dormouse are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Fiendishly complex
What happens in the team car during a cycling race?
A directeur sportif must juggle route navigation, team communication, tactics and technical backup – all while driving at high speed. Amy Sedghi hitches a ride on the women’s Tour de Yorkshire to see how it’s done
“I need a bike change”. The urgent call comes after about 45km.
Another rider has hit Audrey Cordon-Ragot’s rear wheel in women’s Tour de Yorkshire and the radio crackles with her call for a replacement to be brought forwards. The Wiggle High5 team’s directeur sportif, Donna Rae Szalinski, has her foot on the accelerator and a hand on the horn, beeping a warning at the other support cars as she zips up the right hand side at 70kmh to deliver a new bike.
Continue reading...The Finkel review: Politics over science – video
The highly anticipated Finkel review on the future of the national electricity market was released on Friday. Its weak emissions target breaks Australia’s Paris commitments, but the review may well end the deadlock on carbon emissions that has plagued politics for over a decade
Continue reading...