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Meat tax ‘inevitable’ to beat climate and health crises, says report
‘Sin taxes’ to reverse the rapid global growth in meat eating are likely in five to 10 years, according to a report for investors managing over $4tn
“Sin taxes” on meat to reduce its huge impact on climate change and human health look inevitable, according to analysts for investors managing over $4tn of assets.
The global livestock industry causes 15% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and meat consumption is rising around the world, but dangerous climate change cannot be avoided unless this is radically curbed. Furthermore, many people already eat far too much meat, seriously damaging their health and incurring huge costs. Livestock also drive other problems, such as water pollution and antibiotic resistance.
Continue reading...Country diary: even reduced to bare bones the bat's magic remains
Welburn, North Yorkshire With a tiny paintbrush and tweezers I salvage a skeleton: the tiny skull, the whisker-fine finger bones
I found it at the top of the field in July, after the barley harvest. A little body, wings folded and face scrunched. It was snagged on a scaffold of stubble like a miniature sky burial, overlooking a vista it must have known well until the previous night, when, somehow, all its knowing became nothing. Reflexively, I picked it up. In my hand, with its sky-tickling energy surrendered to gravity and its ultrasound din silenced, its dead weight might not have been there at all.
We were leaving on holiday next morning and in the frenzy of packing I almost forgot it. I should have taken measurements and got past a generic identification Myotis (mouse-eared bats). Instead, I hurriedly sealed the little corpse in a margarine tub with a perforated lid, along with a splash of water to prevent mummification, and left it on a shady sill in the garden.
Continue reading...The 'utopian' currency Bitcoin is a potentially catastrophic energy guzzler
Bird keepers at Sydney's Taronga zoo name their favourite Australian birds – video
As the result of the bird of the year poll is made public, Taronga keepers Brendan Host, Lille Madden, Ashleigh Page, Mark Domenici, Leanne Golebiowski and Michael Shiels select their favourites
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Zibelman: Resisting energy transition like trying to resist internet
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Flinders’ renewable frontier
Construction begins at Kennedy wind, solar and battery storage hub
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North Atlantic right whales on the brink of extinction, officials say
Fishing nets and lack of food blamed for pushing number of the world’s most endangered marine animal to just 450
Officials with the US federal government say it is time to consider the possibility that endangered right whales could become extinct unless new steps are taken to protect them.
North Atlantic right whales are among the rarest marine mammals in the world, and they have endured a deadly year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said there are only about 450 of the whales left and 17 of them have died so far in 2017.
Continue reading...Mt Hope installed as 'UK's highest peak'
Conspiracy theories and celebrity endorsements: how bird of the year played out online
The white ibis provoked strong feelings on Twitter throughout the three-week campaign, and the result was never going to please everyone
The three-week campaign to select Australia’s bird of the year has been bitterly fought out on social media, and Monday’s result provoked another round of celebration and recriminations.
Swooping in with an incredible 19,926 votes, of a total of almost 150,000, the Australian magpie took the title, having quietly gained ground over the white ibis (19,083), which had a commanding early lead.
Continue reading...Teenage refugees go bush and crowdfunding saves a fish
Wales is second best household waste recycler in the world
Eco-friendly policies place country second to Germany but England lags far behind other countries according to new research
Wales ranks second in the world for recycling household waste but England lags far behind other European countries, according to new research.
Policies brought in by the Welsh government and a target to be zero waste by 2050 have driven the country up the league table to come in just under Germany. With recycling rates of 63.8% for municipal solid waste, which includes household plastic and other packaging, Wales is set to become the world leader for recycling by next year, according to a report from the environmental analysts Eunomia.
Continue reading...Magpie edges out white ibis and kookaburra as Australian bird of the year
They were the only three species to get more than 10,000 votes out of the 150,000 received before the poll closed on Saturday
The Australian magpie has been crowned Australian bird of the year for 2017, upsetting the early favourite, the white ibis, and getting 13.3% of the vote.
The magpie got 19,926 votes, followed by the Australian white ibis with 19,083 votes and the laughing kookaburra with 10,953 votes.
Continue reading...Magpies: how I learnt to grudgingly admire – and then love – the bird of the year | Paul Daley
They’re feared for their fierce protection of sovereignty and dive-bombing trespassers, but all is forgiven listening to a pair magpies warbling in a gumtree
Anodyne eastern suburbs Melbourne seemed less dangerous than any other place in the world when I was a primary school kid.
There was the creek with its tadpoles, turtles and occasional foxes. There was, inevitably, a local haunted house. And there was the path.
Continue reading...The mighty ibis did not win Australian bird of the year but it's still a winner | John Martin
It fell short of victory by a few hundred votes. For a bin chicken, that’s something to celebrate
What happened? Am I missing something, do people actually “like” ibis? I know they didn’t win, but hell, they came second – that’s a win for the bin chicken, surely?!
I like ibis, and I’ve occasionally met people who admit to liking ibis, but overwhelmingly I hear and read comments from people expressing that they do not like ibis. Despite this, the Australian white ibis has become an icon – to individuals, music, documentaries and government. It’s revered by our modern society like its cousin the Sacred Ibis was in ancient Egypt as the god Thoth. Of course, in this instance my interpretation of the word “revered” includes being the butt of many, many jokes and even more memes.
Continue reading...Country diary 1917: warmth from the sun brings out winter wildlife
15 December 1917 Larks ran along the edge of the river backwater pecking off the gnats and insects
SURREY
A quick break this morning of white frost set the birds vigorously at search over the fields. Larks ran along the edge of the river backwater pecking off the gnats and insects that came out so soon as a slight warmth from the sun set a watery sparkle on blades of grass. These small flying things, which now crawl, appear as magnified a little in the pale yellow light. Moving slowly, they drop from a thin stalk, a bird runs, and at once you understand that his work has been done. A flock of young chaffinches come and perch on the hedge-top, a few rising into the air and returning as though uncertain where exactly they would find a meal. Presently all go straight to the manure pound some distance away.