The Guardian
The week in wildlife – in pictures
Swarming mayflies, a black-naped monarch and beached whales are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...The Barrier Reef is in danger – but it’s still one of the world’s great sights
Anyone in the Cairns tourism industry who might be feeling a sense of panic about the largest destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef since divers first strapped on snorkels is not letting it show.
The north-eastern Australian city – a global holiday destination where the natural wonder’s name festoons everything from the signs greeting airport arrivals to the local casino – is celebrating a storming tourist trade over the last 12 months.
Continue reading...Curiosity rewarded in a New Forest clearing
Knightwood Inclosure, New Forest This clearance was done so long ago that many of the stumps dotting the area are punctured with holes made by wood-boring larvae
We crossed the ditch together into the clear-felled area of this inclosure. At once, she dropped at my feet and disappeared into the heather. She didn’t budge as I gently pulled the stems apart to find her, and no doubt would have been more active on a warmer and less overcast day.
The common heath moth Ematurga atomaria atomaria comes in a variety of colours. This female is the dark form; her wings, barely two centimetres in span, are crossed by ragged black lines set against a weave of tawny scales. No doubt her pheromones are already wafting on the breeze, inviting suitors to come and mate.
Continue reading...Seven climate records set so far in 2016
From soaring temperatures in Alaska and India to Arctic sea ice melting and CO2 concentrations rising, this year is smashing records around the world
1) Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate that by September could see it beat the record low set in 2012. The maximum extent of sea ice in winter was at a record low, and the extent in May was the lowest for that month ever, by more than 500,000 sq km.
Continue reading...Shattered records show climate change is an emergency today, scientists warn
Unprecedented temperature levels mean more heatwaves, flooding, wildfires and hurricanes as experts say global warming is here and affecting us now
May was the 13th month in a row to break temperature records according to figures published this week that are the latest in 2016’s string of incredible climate records which scientists have described as a bombshell and an emergency.
Related: Seven climate records set so far in 2016
Continue reading...Green news roundup: Russian wildfires, microbeads ban and hot May
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 sculpture controlled by bees: Wolfgang Buttress's Hive
Its 170,000 pieces of aluminium are a hive-like structure of latticework, controlled by the vibrations of honeybees in a hive at Kew that is connected to the sculpture
“My approach to a sculpture seeks to frame nature so one can experience it more intimately,” says British artist Wolfgang Buttress, whose 17-metre high Hive installation opens at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, in London on Saturday. “I want visitors to feel enveloped, wrapped-up and involved in the experience, rather than adopting the position of an external observer.”
Related: How much do you know about bees? - quiz
Continue reading...Wildfires burn in western states of US – video
Wildfires caused by high summer temperatures rage in Arizona, California and New Mexico. Communities have been evacuated with more on standby should the fires spread. Firefighting aircraft are leading the battle against the flames, dropping water over burning forest areas
Continue reading...Rogue crocodiles: Indigenous councils want more power 'before a human life is taken'
Mayors in Queensland’s far north call for council rangers to be able to capture problem crocodiles rather than wait for state wildlife officers to take action
Rogue crocodiles are terrorising communities in Queensland’s far north and Indigenous councils are pleading for greater powers to deal with them before someone is killed.
They want the state government to give their rangers the authority to capture and relocate problem crocodiles from local waterways.
Continue reading...Unique underwater caves link Mexico's Caribbean coast to the jungle – in pictures
The Mexican government is planning a marine reserve extending 200 miles out from the Caribbean coast on the Yucatán peninsula. However a network of caves connecting the sea to the jungle will remain outside of the reserve. Environmentalists are calling for this unique ecosystem to be protected too to safeguard its future and that of the wider reserve
Continue reading...Journey into a wild Derbyshire canyon
Chee Dale, Derbyshire Every so often, looming out of the mist, I’d encounter the massive arch of a viaduct, like Inca ruins lost in the jungle
Grike is a northern English word, probably of Norse origin, used most commonly for the solution fissures that characterise limestone pavements, and therefore not often heard in upland Derbyshire, which has almost none. But I can’t help thinking of Chee Dale as a colossal grike. The familiar version offers protection to juicy plants from the ever-voracious sheep and Chee Dale does something similar.
Above Litton, early in the morning, a mower had already cut a field for silage, leaving it shorn and lemony. Down in the valley, just beyond the line of pretty terraced cottages at Blackwell Mill, I entered a different world, a canyon thrumming with vegetation, primeval and unkempt. It had rained overnight, and the surface of the Wye was steaming, mist billowing off the river and soaking the leaves of the overhanging ash and elm. At first I walked through drifts of ramsons, still flowering, still pungent, but as the tight walls of the valley closed in, I found myself waist deep in butterburs, my trousers soaked in seconds as I pushed through, vast black slugs reclining on their rhubarb-like leaves.
Continue reading...What would a global warming increase of 1.5C be like?
The Paris climate conference set the ambitious goal of finding ways to limit global warming to 1.5C, rather than the previous threshold of 2C. But what would be the difference? And how realistic is such a target? Environment 360 reports
How ambitious is the world? The Paris climate conference last December astounded many by pledging not just to keep warming “well below two degrees celsius,” but also to “pursue efforts” to limit warming to 1.5C. That raised a hugely important question: What’s the difference between a two-degree world and a 1.5-degree world?
Given we are already at one degree above pre-industrial levels, halting at 1.5C would look to be at least twice as hard as the two-degree option.
Continue reading...EU to investigate Poland over logging in ancient forest
European Union launches infringement procedure against Poland over tree-clearing in the Białowieża forest, a protected Unesco World Heritage site
The European Union on Thursday launched an investigation into Polish logging in its ancient Białowieża forest, a protected Unesco World Heritage site which includes some of Europe’s last primeval woodland.
“The commission has launched an infringement procedure against Poland ... the commission is in contact with the Polish authorities to make sure that any measures are in line with EU law,” a spokesman said.
Continue reading...Brexit voters almost twice as likely to disbelieve in manmade climate change
Poll shows Brexiters are also more likely to think media exaggerates agreement on climate science, distrust scientists and oppose windfarms
British people backing a leave vote in the EU referendum are almost twice as likely to believe that climate change does not have a human cause, according to a new poll.
Continue reading...For a clean, secure energy future the UK must stay part of Europe's vision | Michael Grubb
The UK could play a great role in the creation of Europe’s integrated single energy market – and reap its share of the significant benefits
Energy is the lifeblood of society. It heats our homes, powers our industry and entertainment, and fuels our transport. It has become yet another punchbag in the UK referendum campaign, with claims and counterclaims about costs. But there is a simple and very positive story to be told.
Some 65 years ago, after the devastation of world war two, the European Coal and Steel Community provided the vision, the coordination, and the investment that fuelled an unparalleled period of growth and stability in Europe. It laid the foundations for what then became the European Communities, the EEC and then the European Union. But ironically the energy sector got left behind.
Continue reading...Sea eagle reintroduced to Isle of Mull - photo essay
The sea eagle, also known as the white-tailed eagle, was driven to extinction in Britain earlier this century. Now, thanks to a reintroduction programme by Scottish Natural Heritage and the RSPB, it has returned one of its former haunts, the Inner Hebrides island of Mull in Scotland
Continue reading...Eight pilot whales dead in mass stranding in Indonesia
Hundreds of fishermen and officials rescued 24 of the whales after their pod swam ashore in Probolinggo, East Java
Eight pilot whales have died after a mass stranding on the coast of Indonesia’s main island of Java that sparked a major rescue operation, an official said Thursday.
Thirty-two of the short-finned pilot whales came ashore during high tide early Wednesday in Probolinggo, East Java province.
Continue reading...Antarctic CO2 hits 400ppm for first time in 4m years
Climate Central: The last monitoring station in the world without a 400 parts per million reading has now reached it, NOAA confirms
We’re officially living in a new world.
Carbon dioxide has been steadily rising since the start of the Industrial Revolution, setting a new high year after year. There’s a notable new entry to the record books. The last station on Earth without a 400 parts per million (ppm) reading has reached it.
Continue reading...New rules to regulate Europe's hormone-disrupting chemicals
European commission launches world’s first system for classifying and banning endocrine disruptors against a barrage of criticism
The European commission has launched the world’s first system for classifying and banning endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), against a barrage of criticism from scientists, NGOs, industry and consumer groups.
Endocrines are hormone-altering chemicals common in everyday substances from paint to pesticides that have been linked to an array of illnesses including cancer, infertility, obesity, diabetes, birth defects and reproductive problems.
Continue reading...Russia significantly under-reporting wildfires, figures show
Greenpeace analysis of satellite data reveals 3.5m hectares have burned this year, while government statistics claim only 669,000 hectares
Forest wildfires rampaging across Russia are being significantly under-reported by authorities, according to analysis of satellite data.
Climate change is making wildfires much more likely in Russia, but regional officials have been reluctant to report the true extent of the problem, and campaigners are warning that the harm to forests, property and human lives could rise.
Continue reading...