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Theresa May urged to persuade Trump not to quit Paris climate accord
Theresa May is facing calls from Britain’s leading environment and development groups to use her influence to persuade Donald Trump that the US must remain committed to the Paris climate change agreement.
In a strongly worded letter, the heads of Oxfam, the RSPB, Greenpeace, WWF, Christian Aid, Cafod and other groups have called on the prime minister to “pick up the phone” to the US president to warn him of the consequences of leaving the Paris accord, something Trump pledged to do within 100 days of coming to power, a timeline that passed last week.
Continue reading...Government set to be taken back to court over air pollution plans
Environment lawyers are expected to take the government back to court over its controversial plans to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis. They say the proposals are so weak they flout ministers’ obligation to protect public health.
The government published its plans to cut levels of diesel fumes, nitrogen oxides and particulates in the atmosphere on Friday – after being forced by judges to act on the crisis. Medical experts say toxic air is responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths every year.
Continue reading...Nearly 400 birds killed after flying into Texas skyscraper in storm
Nashville and Blackburnian warblers among birds of more than 20 species that hit American National Building, possibly after mistaking lights for moon or sun
Nearly 400 migratory birds of brilliant plumage were killed when they smashed into an office tower in Texas while flying in a storm, officials said on Friday.
Related: Twitterstorm: why British birdsong is vital to music
Continue reading...Sidmouth wages war on scavenger seagulls with £80 feeding fines
Feeding the gulls in this part of East Devon can now bring a hefty financial penalty. Will it stop the problem?
Perry King takes a break from cleaning windows in the seaside resort of Sidmouth. “Some of the seagulls do look fat,” he muses. “You look at them and think, that’s a chip bird.”
In this part of East Devon, however, the days of seagulls surviving on a diet of chips, doughnuts, ice-cream and pasties may be coming to an end. Last week the district council became the first in the country to attempt to control the birds’ fondness for junk food through financial sanction. Anyone found deliberately feeding the seagulls in five Devon seaside towns can now be fined £80 under a public spaces protection order.
Continue reading...The end of wild elephants? Why we must not let Africa become one giant food farm | Erik Solheim
The world’s rapid population rise risks turning Africa into one giant farm with no room for wildlife. We need to think again, says the head of UN Environment
Elephants are in big trouble. Even if we beat poaching and illegal trade, their potential doom has been sealed in projections for population growth, and has already been priced into the commonly accepted solutions to how we humans plan to feed ourselves well into the century – by looking to Africa to be our next big breadbasket.
Africa is home to 1.2 billion people, but by 2050 that number is likely to double, and may well double again by the end of the century to reach well over 4 billion. Globally, we may exceed 11 billion souls. This is of course a cause for celebration and a testament to the huge strides we’ve made in public health. We’ve all but beaten polio and yellow fever, mother and child mortality has plummeted, and we’re making headway in the fight against malaria.
Continue reading...Fun and games among the gulls
River Teifi, Cardigan They plunged into the water to emerge with twigs, which they threw in the air and caught like children
Above Pont y Cleifion, tidal reaches of the river Teifi run wide between banks of feathery, blond phragmites. White mist clung to the water as I walked along the southern bank, the sky an unsullied blue. Upriver the sun rose through thinning vapours. Gilded streamers followed the draining tide as it swirled through whirlpools under the bridge. The morning world glistened.
A school of gulls occupied mud-banks opposite Rosehill marsh. Some people like warblers; others finches; there are raptor enthusiasts. My preferences are for Laridae and Corvidae – gulls and crows, both of which get a bad press. I find them endlessly fascinating.
Continue reading...Waste - the resource, the barriers, and the possibilities
Air pollution plan: sacrificing the nation's health to save an election campaign
Penalising UK drivers in the heat of an election campaign promises a political car crash, so the government has hit the brakes and slammed clean air policy into reverse
For seven years, people in Britain have been forced to hold their breath and wait for a comprehensive plan to tackle the nation’s toxic air crisis. After a series of humiliating defeats in the courts, Friday’s government plan was meant to finally deliver.
But instead ministers hit the brakes and slammed the policy into reverse – the farcical new strategy has even less detail than the one already ruled illegal. What was the impassable roadblock in the way of finally starting to cut the 23,000 early deaths diesel pollution causes every year? Nothing but pure political expediency.
Continue reading...Could towing icebergs to hot places solve the world’s water shortages?
The idea of towing an iceberg from Antarctica to the UAE sounds fantastical, but might not be entirely beyond the realms of plausibility
Who is doing what?
A firm in Abu Dhabi has floated plans to tow icebergs from Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates to solve the country’s fresh water shortage. An iceberg holding 20bn gallons of fresh water could meet the needs of a million people for five years, but first it would have to be hauled across 10,000km of open ocean to the coast of Fujairah, a feat that could take a year. In a promotional animation released by the firm, a giant, flat-topped iceberg is towed into the Persian Gulf bearing penguins and polar bears, which double as a tourist attraction. There are no polar bears in Antarctica.
How bad is the water shortage problem?
The pace of development in UAE is such that groundwater supplies are predicted to run dry in the next 15 years. A typical Emirati uses 500 litres of water per day, about 80% more than the global average. Dozens of desalination plants provide nearly all of the country’s drinking water, but the plants are expensive and require huge amounts of electricity to strip the salt from seawater. Globally, the UN warns that within two decades, 600 million children will live in regions enduring extreme water scarcity.
Eating insects, noise versus nature, and a toxic air plan – 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
An albino orangutan, a wolverine and an oleander hawk moth are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...India launches 'invaluable' South Asia satellite
Air quality: Diesel scrappage scheme being considered
UK's new air pollution plan dismissed as 'weak' and 'woefully inadequate'
Lawyers who forced ministers to deliver new proposals to tackle toxic air crisis say government is not taking responsibility for public health emergency
The government’s new plan to tackle the UK’s toxic air crisis is “much weaker than hoped for”, according to the environmental lawyers that forced ministers to deliver the proposals.
James Thornton, chief executive of ClientEarth, said the government was “passing the buck” to local authorities and said he failed to see how the central proposal – clean air zones for urban areas – would be effective without charges to deter the most polluting vehicles.
Continue reading...Eat insects and fake meat to cut impact of livestock on the planet – study
Changes in diet are vital to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation caused by the world’s growing appetite for meat, say scientists
Insects and imitation meat are the best alternatives to real meat in tackling the huge and growing environmental impact of livestock on the planet, new research has shown.
The world’s appetite for meat is rising fast as incomes grow but the resulting greenhouse gas emissions, already 12% of the total, are also soaring and taming global warming will be impossible unless the trend is reversed. Rising demand is also leading to more of the world’s natural areas being converted to farmland, a key factor in the mass extinction of species currently unfolding.
Continue reading...Medical scientists report on the impact climate change is having on health | John Abraham
A new report breaks down climate impacts on health by US region
As a climate scientist, I spend time and energy studying how fast the Earth is warming and what is causing the warming. This knowledge helps us predict what the future will look like. But, what most people are interested in is, “how will it affect me?”
Some impacts we are pretty clear about, like the impacts related to sea level rise, increased storms and heavy precipitation, and increased drought and heat waves – particularly the impacts these events have on the economy. But climate change will affect us personally as well (by personally, I mean our physical person).
Tierra parda y estéril: la sequía histórica de Bolivia – en imágenes
Durante la peor sequía de Bolivia en 25 años, el fotógrafo Marcelo Pérez visitó los reservorios que abastecen de agua potable a las ciudades más grandes, y encontró un paisaje inhóspito y árido
Continue reading...Brown and barren land: Bolivia's historic drought – in pictures
During Bolivia’s worst drought in 25 years, photographer Marcelo Perez visited the reservoirs that supply drinking water to its biggest cities, to find a stark and arid landscape
Pigeon related to dodo found on Australian mainland for first time
The Nicobar pigeon, which is native to islands in Indian and Pacific oceans, was found by Indigenous rangers near Broome
A rainbow-coloured pigeon native to islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans has been found on the Australian mainland for the first time, by Indigenous rangers working near Broome.
The Nicobar pigeon, Caloenas nicobarica, the closest living relative to the dodo, is named for India’s Nicobar Islands, more than 4,000km north of Broome.
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