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The final image sent by doomed Japanese Hitomi satellite
Satellite eye on Earth: June 2016 – in pictures
The impact of India’s drought, a remote volcanic eruption and an oasis in the Sahara and were among the images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites last month
Stagnant lakes stretch east-west across the upper reaches of the Volga river delta in southern Russia. The lakes are trapped by sandy mounds, left behind after the Caspian Sea’s level rose then fell in the wake of the last ice age.
Continue reading...Gone fishing: Gannet makes record breaking 1,700-mile trip
Week-long foraging trip from the Channel Islands to Scandinavian waters and back is the longest recorded for the species, conservationists say
A gannet has returned home after a fishing trip of almost 1,700 miles (2,700 km), the longest recorded for the species, conservationists said.
Cosmo, a northern gannet which lives on Alderney in the Channel Islands, made the foraging trip up the English Channel, across the North Sea and into Scandinavian waters - and back - in less than a week.
Continue reading...Giant panda cub tries to find his feet
EU boiler energy label confusion set to continue
Rightwing MEPs vote to slow down the introduction of the new rules that could delay simple, colour-coded system until 2030
Householders in Europe buying a new boiler could face confusing energy labels until as late as 2030, after rightwing MEPs voted to slow down an introduction of the new rules in the European parliament on Wednesday.
The current labelling system means a product rated at A+ may be the least efficient appliance in its class due to the introduction of A+++ labels, prompting a European commission proposal to replace the grading with a simpler A-G format.
Continue reading...Climate scientists are under attack from frivolous lawsuits | Lauren Kurtz
Climate Science Legal Defense Fund is forced to defend climate scientists against constant frivolous lawsuits
Today’s climate scientists have a lot more to worry about than peer review. Organizations with perverse financial incentives harass scientists with lawsuit after lawsuit, obstructing research and seeking to embarrass them with disclosures of private information.
On June 14th, an Arizona court ruled that thousands of emails from two prominent climate scientists must be turned over to the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E), a group that disputes the 97% expert consensus on human-caused climate change and argues against action to confront it. E&E and its attorneys are funded by Peabody Coal, Arch Coal, and Alpha Natural Resources, coal corporations with billions of dollars in revenue.
Bornean orangutan declared ‘critically endangered’ as forests shrink
Mongabay: New IUCN assessment shows hunting and habitat loss are the biggest drivers, with experts warning ‘conservation is failing’
The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is now critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This change means that both species of orangutan now face an “extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.”
“This is full acknowledgement of what has been clear for a long time: orangutan conservation is failing,” Andrew Marshall, one of the authors of the assessment, told Mongabay. Regardless of any positive outcomes of past conservation efforts, they have not achieved the only meaningful goal: a stable or increasing population.
Continue reading...Bob Katter raises funding for Galilee basin railway in talks with Turnbull
Katter says he raised the issue in negotiating his support for a possible minority Coalition government, but says it would be ‘unacceptable’ for Indian miner Adani to own it
Bob Katter has canvassed federal funding for the Galilee basin railway in talks with Malcolm Turnbull but says it would be “totally unacceptable” for the Indian coalminer Adani to own it.
Katter said he raised the issue as a factor of his support for a possible minority Coalition government with Turnbull in Brisbane on Thursday but “we’ve done no deals”.
Continue reading...Cautious green light for fracking
Fracking 'will break UK climate targets unless rules are made stricter'
Government advisers also say more action would be needed to cut emissions in other areas to cope with full-scale fracking
Shale gas production will break the UK’s climate change targets unless there is stricter regulation now, according to the government’s official advisers.
More action to cut carbon emissions in other areas would also be needed to cope with full-scale fracking, despite the government already struggling to meet existing commitments.
UN: Global fish consumption per capita hits record high
Conservation heartbreak for endangered bird
Australia wind energy industry turns a corner – thanks to states
A green tunnel through wetland's swaying reeds
Witton-Le-Wear, Durham Vegetation towers above my head and I hear reed warblers delivering their incessant songs like gossips
With the easy grace of a circus trapeze artist the reed bunting delivers his five-note scratchy song with gusto from the top of his swaying reed stem, issuing a confident challenge to any who doubt that this is his territory.
Related: Country diary: A regional dialect may be the way to a reed warbler's heart
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