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Threatened seabirds begin to recover on Macquarie Island after pests eliminated
Five years after the last rabbit was killed, endangered birds such as the black-browed albatross are growing in numbers
Eight species of threatened seabird have begun to recover on Macquarie Island, signalling a possible end to 130 years of death and destruction on the sub-Antarctic outpost.
The island has been formally declared pest-free, five years after the last rabbit was killed.
Continue reading...Obama puts Arctic Ocean off limits for drilling in last-ditch barrier to Trump
US Department of the Interior says ‘fragile and unique’ Arctic ecosystem at risk if drilling allowed, possibly by pro-fossil fuels Trump administration
Barack Obama’s administration has ruled out drilling for oil and gas in the pristine Arctic Ocean, throwing up a last-ditch barrier to the pro-fossil fuels agenda of incoming president Donald Trump.
The US Department of the Interior said that the “fragile and unique” Arctic ecosystem would face “significant risks” if drilling were allowed in the Chukchi or Beaufort Seas, which lie off Alaska. It added that the high costs of exploration, combined with a low oil price, would probably deter fossil fuel companies anyway.
Continue reading...Poor nations pledge deep emissions cuts at Marrakech summit
Bangladesh and Ethiopia among 48 countries to pledge tougher carbon targets and a switch to 100% renewable energy
Some of the world’s poorest countries have pledged to dramatically cut their carbon emissions and rapidly move to 100% renewable power, as the UN climate summit in Marrakech drew to a close on Friday.
The announcement followed a final declaration by nearly 200 nations affirming their “highest political commitment” to combatting climate change, in a thinly-coded warning to the incoming US president, Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Live Q&A: Elephants are disappearing, so how can we save them?
The survival of elephants depends on what humans do now. Join us on Tuesday 22 November from 1-2.30pm to discuss how to save this threatened species
3.56pm GMT
We know that elephant populations are collapsing at a frightening rate and that the driving forces behind this collapse are a global appetite for ivory and, just as worryingly, human/elephant conflict for space and resources.
Earlier this year, the world’s governments agreed to recommend the closure of domestic ivory markets. This is a serious step towards the eventual complete shutting down of the ivory trade, but now new questions are arising:
Continue reading...World's poorest countries to aim for 100% green energy
Not so warped
Sumatran orangutans in rehab – in pictures
Members of the critically endangered species are cared for and nursed back to health before their release at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme’s rehabilitation centre in Kuta Mbelin, North Sumatra, Indonesia
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A pheasant that sports Donald Trump’s hairdo, a line of baboons and a ‘teddy bear’ bee and among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Global green movement prepares to fight Trump on climate change
Election of a climate sceptic as US president sparks outpouring of donations and a surge in planned protests and court challenges
The global green movement is preparing for the fight of its life against efforts by Donald Trump to rollback action on climate change, with a surge in fundraising, planned court challenges and a succession of protests.
Environmental activists said the election of a climate change denier as US president, along with the prospect of former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and various oil billionaires holding senior posts, has prompted an “outpouring” of donations.
Continue reading...UK should retain carbon price floor to support coal phase-out – report
Policy Exchange paper argues government should stick with carbon price floor until coal is fully forced off the grid, reports BusinessGreen
Policy Exchange has become the latest organisation to call for the retention of the UK’s carbon price floor ahead of next week’s autumn statement, arguing changes to the policy would seriously undermine the government’s efforts to phase out coal power by 2025.
The influential thinktank joins the CBI and trade body Energy UK in arguing the levy should be kept in place, despite lobbying from some industry groups calling for it to be axed.
Continue reading...150 years of global warming in a minute-long symphony – video
Sometimes, a tune can say so much more than an image or words. Here, we turn almost 150 years of global temperatures into music. The higher the temperature, the higher the pitch of the note. And the louder the note, the more carbon there is in the atmosphere
Continue reading...Conquering the Cent Cols Challenge in the Pyrenees: from despair to defiance
Oliver Duggan recounts the geographical, physical and mental rollercoaster of cycling 100 mountain passes in 10 days across southern France and Spain
The col de la Core is not a famous climb – in cycling, or any other sport. There are no champions’ names spray painted on the ground, no monuments at the top to riders past or present. It has no especially beautiful scenery or harsh gradients. It is a simple, two-lane road, and on a Saturday morning last month, it nearly killed me.
Continue reading...Could gas from grass rival fracking to heat UK homes?
Britain’s first ‘green gas mill’ will convert grass into biomethane to heat more than 4,000 homes and is set to come online in 2018
The grass is always greener than the gas on the other side, according to a British businessman who claims grasslands could provide enough gas to heat all of the UK’s homes.
Dale Vince, the chairman of renewable energy company Ecotricity, is investing £10m in the first of a generation of what he calls ‘green gas mills’ that he says could compete against gas from fracking.
Continue reading...Great Barrier Reef: third fatality in a week as British tourist dies on dive
The man in his 60s is the third person to die on the reef this week, after two French tourists apparently had heart attacks on Wednesday
A British man has died while diving on the Great Barrier Reef, the third death in three days among visitors to Australia’s popular natural tourist attraction.
The 60-year-old man was found without a breathing device during a tandem scuba dive at Agincourt reef, 100km north of Cairns, on Friday.
Continue reading...Champions of high-altitude flight
Lake Manasarovar, Tibet Bar-headed geese are popular with British fanciers, but better to think of them here, readying for their lofty migration over the Himalayas
From the roof of Chiu monastery, perched high on its rocky hill, the water of Lake Manasarovar was cobalt, the surrounding hills rich ochre, luminous in the sunlight of a late autumn afternoon. With a shoreline 55 miles (90km) long, and at an altitude of more than 4,500 metres (15,000ft), this is one of the highest and largest bodies of freshwater in the world. Its name translates from the Sanskrit as “mind’s lake”; the mind in question being that of the Hindu creator Brahma, and in the thin air there is something ethereal about it, something unworldly. It is a sacred site of pilgrimage for a quarter of the world, not just Hindus but Buddhists too, as well as the lesser known Tibetan religion of Bon and India’s Jains.
Continue reading...75th anniversary of the sinking of HMAS Sydney II and HSK Kormoran
Peggy Whitson: Blast off to the ISS for oldest woman in space
Swiss try to give away nuclear plants, but find no takers
Supermoon floods warn of crisis facing Donald Trump
Tesla shareholders approve SolarCity acquisition
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