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Country diary: a hidden well recalls a seventh-century massacre
Pentrefelin, Gwynedd Swirling sands made for a journey as perilous as the doctrinal disputes of the dark ages
The minor road climbs steeply to debouch on a rushy pasture between Mynydd Ednyfed and Bryn Braich y Saint. The views from up here are of startling breadth and loveliness. To the south the land falls away to where Afonnydd Glaslyn and Dwyryd spill into Tremadog Bay.
Over on the southern shore, yews surround the clas (Celtic Christian monastic settlement) of Llanfihangel-y-Traethau.
Continue reading...Marchers across the world demand justic for wildlife
Paula Kahumbu: The Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions brings people in cities across the world together to demand action to save threatened wildlife from extinction
Today, 7 October 2017, thousands of people are gathering in more than 100 cities all over the world to show solidarity with wildlife in the Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions. This year’s theme ‘Justice for All’ draws attention to the dire threat to these species as a result of international wildlife crime.
In my home city Nairobi, the planning for this march has involved tens of organizations, including NGOs, local and national government agencies, universities, schools, companies, diplomatic embassies and local communities. More than 100 young volunteers have helped with preparations and will be present on the day to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Continue reading...Most Australians oppose Adani mine, poll shows, amid national protests
Thousands of people gather at 40 locations across the country on Saturday as part of the Stop Adani Alliance
New polling shows the majority of Australians oppose Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine going ahead, and an even bigger number are against Queensland allowing the company to receive a $1bn federal loan.
The polling, commissioned by the Stop Adani Alliance, was released on Saturday as thousands of people are expected to attend rallies at dozens of locations around the country, expressing their opposition to the project.
Continue reading...Sniffer spaniels get the doggone weeds
Sense of Place: Charlie Veron's Great Barrier Reef
Sense of Place: Charlie Veron's Great Barrier Reef
Clumsy tumblers: Giant panda cubs play at the Toronto Zoo
Inconvenient facts about livestock farming | Letters
George Monbiot’s fear of the few remaining British farmers (Goodbye – and good riddance – to livestock farming, 4 October) reached new levels when he wrote that the “rich mosaic of rainforest and other habitats that once covered our hills has been erased” and blamed us for the tectonic drift that moved Britain from the equator towards the Arctic, perhaps 300m years ago. In the rest of his article he mixed unrelated science from all over the globe with the peculiar claims of noted eccentrics, and suggested that we should plough unsuitable land to grow soya, which will not grow in this climate, to produce artificial meat in urban factories.
He didn’t mention inconvenient features of the British ruminant livestock industry, such as the fact that most feed that animals get other than grass is made up of byproducts of the human food industry such as brewers’ grains, sugar beet and fruit-juice pulp, most of which would have to go to landfill if cows and sheep did not recycle it. Without the income from this form of recycling, the price of food in the shop would increase. We do need to moderate excessive meat consumption, and we do need to act on climate change, but this article sows confusion that will delay necessary change.
Huw Jones
St Clears, Carmarthenshire
Wayne Lotter obituary
When he was offered a leading role in the documentary The Ivory Game (2016) by its producer, Leonardo DiCaprio, the conservationist Wayne Lotter modestly gave the credit instead to his wildlife rangers, who led the way in tracking down one of Africa’s most notorious poachers, thought to be responsible for 10,000 elephants’ deaths. Lotter preferred to be in the background, while the spotlight fell on the cause for which he fought: saving the dwindling populations of Africa’s wild elephants, through practical, dogged, on-the-ground tracking of poachers and protection of their prey.
Lotter has been shot dead in Dar es Salaam, aged 51. Although the identity of his killers is not known, the murder may have been connected to one of the criminal groups involved in wildlife killing and ivory trafficking in Tanzania. These groups have turned what used to be small-scale ivory poaching into a highly organised international criminal enterprise that exists mainly to service Chinese demand for ivory and other rare animal products. “The more you go after them, the more situations where there is confrontation between poachers and rangers will take place,” Lotter said last year. “There are going to be risks.”
Continue reading...Your bag for life doesn't have to carry a food poisoning risk. Here's what to do
Environmental health officers are urging consumers not to switch back to plastic following recent warnings that raw foods can spread harmful bacteria. So how can you keep your reusable bags hygienic?
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) is urging consumers to continue to shop for food with reusable “bags for life”, fearing that worries about the food poisoning risks could trigger a backlash and even a resurgence in the use of thin plastic bags.
Continue reading...The Tories must seize this chance to make UK homes energy efficient
Politicians may debate the merits of a cap on energy bills but making our leaky houses energy efficient is the solution that all political parties should unite behind
As the letters began to fall off the slogan behind Theresa May during her leader’s speech at the Conservative party conference, it was hard not to see symbolism. Not just of a premiership under threat, but also of a signature policy falling apart within hours of being announced.
The cap on energy bills was a pledge in the Conservative manifesto and the prime minister promised to introduce the legislation to make it happen. The Conservatives had at first dismissed an energy price cap as a reckless intervention in the market that would kill competition. But by the 2017 election the policy had been adopted by Theresa May and there was cross-party support.
Continue reading...How will Brexit affect British wildlife?
The EU offered protection to everything from the harbour porpoise to hen harriers. Now, the future of UK conservation law is uncertain
As an EU member state, British wildlife has been protected under two important pieces of European legislation: the habitats directive and the birds directive. These have required the UK government to establish and manage sites for the protection of vulnerable and rare animals, birds, plants, habitats and other species. In the UK, there are 271 special protection areas for birds (SPAs) and 658 special areas of conservation for other species and habitats (SACs). The future of nature conservation law after Brexit, when EU directives will no longer apply to Britain, is unknown.
Continue reading...Britain's wildlife needs urgent new protections ahead of Brexit, say MPs
EU laws that have protected hundreds of conservation sites and the species that live in them for decades could be watered down or lost with the EU withdrawal bill
Hundreds of treasured wildlife habitats across the UK that have been protected for decades by the European Union must be urgently maintained and preserved with a new environment act, MPs and campaigners say.
Continue reading...Butterfly swarm shows up on Denver radar system
EU rules out tax on plastic products to reduce waste
EU opts for public awareness campaign on the impacts of plastics on the environment saying a tax would not be sustainable
The EU has ruled out penalties on single-use plastic products, in favour of raising public awareness of the damage consumer plastics are doing to the world’s oceans.
Frans Timmermans, vice president of the European commission, said a tax would “not be sustainable”, but that changing the way plastic was produced and used could work. “The only sustainable method is to create recyclable plastic and take out microplastics. You can’t take out microplastics with a tax. You need to make sure things are reused, and not put in the ocean.”
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A lost leopard, a wounded rhino and a sunbathing iguana are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Climate change in the Caribbean – learning lessons from Irma and Maria
Increasingly unfamiliar and unpredictable weather events mean that business as usual is not an option for these islands to survive
As a Caribbean climate scientist, I am often asked to speak about how climate change affects small islands. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, one of two category five storms to batter the eastern Caribbean in just a week, three words resonate in my mind.
The first word is “unfamiliar”. Scientific analysis shows that the climate of the Caribbean region is already changing in ways that seem to signal the emergence of a new climate regime. Irma and Maria fit this pattern all too well. At no point in the historical records dating back to the late 1800s have two category five storms made landfall in the small Caribbean island chain of the eastern Antilles in a single year.
Continue reading...Ican director: I thought Nobel peace prize win was a prank – video
Beatrice Fihn, the executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican), says she initially thought the announcement of the award was a prank. Speaking on Friday at Ican’s head office in Geneva, Switzerland, Fihn describes the prize as a surprise and an honour
Continue reading...Peru urged to ban oil firms from isolated indigenous peoples' land
Indigenous leaders say operations in the remote Amazon violate rights and risk fatal epidemics
There are more indigenous peoples living in “isolation” in Peru than any country in the world except Brazil. All live in the Amazon - the majority in poorly-protected reserves, or areas where reserves have been proposed but never established, or “protected natural areas” such as national parks.
For years indigenous federations and other civil society organisations in Peru and abroad have worked for the territories of indigenous peoples in “isolation” to be made off-limits, citing Peruvian and international laws, emphasising their rights to self-determination, and stressing their vulnerability to contact because of their lack of immunological defences and the risk of epidemics and fatalities. The biggest dangers - in terms of outsiders entering their territories, exploiting resources and/or actively seeking contact - are oil and gas companies, loggers and logging roads, narco-traffickers, evangelical missionaries, Catholic priests, artisanal miners and highways.
Sadiq Khan asks car manufacturers to give funds towards tackling London’s toxic air
Mayor has written to BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen urging them to contribute funding to help combat UK pollution as they have done in Germany
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has written to three leading car manufacturers asking them to contribute to the fund set up to tackle the capital’s air pollution crisis.
Khan has accused BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen of “double standards” after it emerged they had paid £223m to the German government’s Sustainable Mobility Fund for Cities earlier this year, but have given nothing to the UK.
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