Feed aggregator

Foreign secretary confirms government’s pledge, despite absence from manifesto

A total ban on ivory sales in the UK could still be introduced by the British government, foreign secretary Boris Johnson has said, signalling a possible U-turn that has been welcomed by conservationists.

In their 2015 manifesto the Conservatives promised to “press for a total ban on ivory sales”. But the pledge was quietly taken out of this year’s Tory manifesto, sparking anger among conservation organisations, which say that by allowing the trade to continue, the UK is fuelling elephant poaching.

Continue reading...

A white humpback whale, known as Migaloo, was spotted swimming off Australia’s Gold Coast on Tuesday. The whale was making its annual migration towards the Great Barrier Reef. Up to 5,000 humpbacks migrate north up Australia’s east coast between April and August each year from waters in the Antarctic to feed and breed in warm tropical waters

• Humpback whales charge a pod of killer whales in Monterey Bay – video
  

Continue reading...

China teleports first object from the ground to satellite

The scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reported that the Earth is already in the stages of the sixth mass extinction, which will see the world’s wildlife and plants die out. The research found that species, including those which are not endangered, had reduced in number due to habitation shrinkage, hunting, pollution and climate change

• Earth’s sixth mass extinction event under way, scientists warn
  

Continue reading...

We will have to wait until the second half of the century for fusion reactors to start generating electricity, experts have announced.

The good news is that we are using our tumble driers less, the bad news we are chucking our unwanted clothes in the bin rather than recycling them

The carbon footprint of the UK clothing sector is worsening, a new report reveals, driven by the ongoing popularity of cheap and cheerful “fast fashion” and a shortage of sustainable raw materials.

Although the amount of clothing being sent to landfill has fallen by 14% from 350,000 tonnes in 2012 to 300,000 in 2016 a staggering one-quarter is still binned rather than recycled. That is down from 31% four years ago.

Continue reading...

On Pormpuraaw beach on the west coast of Cape York peninsula, plastic fishing nets have been washing up on shore – some kilometres long. Killing hundreds of species of marine life, the ‘ghost nets’ threaten a valuable food source for the local community. So Pormpuraaw artists are fighting back, gathering other refuse from a local tip dubbed ‘Bunnings’ and weaving it through the nets to create stunning large-scale sculptures of ocean-dwelling totems. The art, which carries on tradition and raises awareness of the plight of local animals, also provides a valuable export industry. The film-maker David Varga spent time with the artists involved. Watch his full-length video here

Continue reading...

The Trocaz pigeon is a vital seed-disperser in one of the world’s rarest forest ecosystems, but its taste for cabbage has put it in direct competition with humans. Guess who wins?

As we hike through the cool, low-canopied forest along a levada – a centuries-old water canal carved out of the mountainside – our guide talks effusively of a pigeon.

It’s the “guardian of the forest” the guide with MB Tours tells me and the other hikers. Known as the Trocaz pigeon, or alternatively the laurel pigeon or the long-toed pigeon, it’s only found here: on the Portuguese island of Madeira. We halt under an ancient laurel tree and the guide explains that the endemic pigeon is vital to Madeira because it disperses many of the plants found in this unique forest ecosystem: the laurisilva.

Continue reading...

While butterflies are ubiquitous from stationery to fashion, we have forgotten how to appreciate these humble, hungry, miraculous creatures

• Patrick Barkham is a Guardian writer

Butterflies are ubiquitous in our culture, via dresses, prints, cards and tattoos, but the humble caterpillar is surely overdue a revival. Whenever I’ve paused by a sizeable nettle patch this year, I’ve found them – writhing balls of black peacock caterpillars and black-and-fluorescent-lime small tortoiseshells. Less conspicuous are red admirals, which neatly stitch together two sides of nettle leaf and live inside a little tent.

I’ve seen Twitter pictures of freshly flailed nettle patches that had harboured hundreds of caterpillars, which will now never become butterflies. Enhanced caterpillar-consciousness would halt such destruction.

Continue reading...

AEMO boss Audrey Zibelman cautious about level of storage required for new wind and solar farms, but keen to push forward with energy market reforms. "We don't want to waste this crisis," she said.

A whale appears to play with a pod of dolphins off the coast of Western Australia.

Acting prime minister Barnaby Joyce begins construction of 20MW White Rock solar farm, as first turbines from neighbouring 175MW wind farm starts production.

West Sussex Over a few short weeks the peregrine chicks have grown from ungainly youngsters into aerobats like their parents

The piercing calls coming from above, high up on the chalk cliff, reveal that there are still peregrine falcons at home. Four chicks have fledged, and over the course of a few short weeks I’ve been watching them grow from ungainly youngsters, flapping in short, clumsy flights across the cliff face, to become stronger aerobats like their parents. The mother soars overhead, her tail fanned out, and slowly banks and turns back towards the cliff, calling again, the sun catching her grey and white face. The young birds – brown with heavily streaked breasts – answer, their voices sounding more like squeaks than the piercing shrieks of the adult.

In the past week, both parents have been enticing the chicks to follow them by carrying prey in their talons, which they give to the young mid-air. When they all leave the nest site, probably some time in the next few weeks, the adults will teach them how to hunt live prey – birds in flight – over the Downs.

Continue reading...

Fossil fuels once had little to fear from renewable energy, but that’s no longer the case.

Erdoğan says other G20 countries have a “problem” with Paris and “are not renewing their full support.”

It is amazing how much is happening, even in Australia. There may yet be hope for Australia to become a low-carbon, successful 21st century economy!

South Australia company develops systems to use anaerobic digestion technology to turn waste plastics into energy and fertiliser.

Queensland becomes latest states to commit to target of zero net emissions by 2050, putting further pressure on federal government’s unambitious climate goals.

The Tesla big battery storage array in South Australia signals a major pivot point for Australia's energy future, but the response of conservatives shows they are not having a bar of it, and their renewable energy target remains 100 per cent ignorance.

Custodians of world heritage-listed sites should aim to keep global temperature increases to just 1.5C, UN agency says

Countries with responsibility over world heritage-listed coral reefs should adopt ambitious climate change targets, aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would keep global temperature increases to just 1.5C, the UN agency responsible for overseeing world heritage sites has said.

At a meeting of Unesco’s world heritage committee in Krakow, Poland, a decision was adopted that clarified and strengthened the responsibility of countries that have custodianship over world-heritage listed coral reefs.

Continue reading...