The Guardian

IPPR analysis says capital will eventually need to phase out diesel cars and buses in order to meet EU air pollution targets

Diesel vehicles must be banned from London if the UK is to meet its air pollution targets, a thinktank warned on Monday.

Cars, vans and buses using diesel fuel are the leading cause of air pollution in the capital, and although steps are being taken to discourage their use, through the congestion charge and clean air zones, this will not be enough to clear the air, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found in a new report.

From parrots in the snow and penguins waddling through the forest to dinosaur-like reptiles, a new three-part part series from the BBC’s Natural History Unit, narrated by actor Sam Neill, showcases the island chain’s rich and intriguing wildlife that has resulted from 80 million years of isolation.

• Episode one airs on Tuesday 19 July at 9pm on BBC Two.

Area made up of four archaeological sites and three wetland marshes in southern Iraq was once ravaged by Saddam Hussein

Unesco has named Iraqi marshlands once ravaged by dictator Saddam Hussein as a world heritage site, a bright spot for a country where jihadists have repeatedly sought to wipe out history.

The area named “is made up of seven sites: three archaeological sites and four wetland marsh areas in southern Iraq,” Unesco said.

The fossil fuel industry copied Big Tobacco’s racketeering playbook. They’re following the same path to court, where tobacco lost

Investigative journalism has uncovered a “web of denial” in which polluting industries pay “independent” groups to disseminate misinformation to the public and policymakers. The same groups and tactics were employed first by the tobacco industry, then fossil fuel companies. Big Tobacco has been to court and lost; now it’s Big Oil’s turn. Political leaders are choosing sides in this war.

Research by Inside Climate News revealed that Exxon did top notch climate science research in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which revealed the dangers its products posed via climate change. Soon thereafter, Exxon launched misinformation campaigns by funding “think tanks” and front groups to manufacture doubt about climate science and the expert consensus on human-caused global warming.

The Amazon is the driest it has been at the start of the dry season since 2002 — and that probably means the rainforest is in for a particularly nasty wildfire season, reports Mongabay

Conditions created by the strong El Niño event that warmed up Pacific waters in 2015 and early 2016 altered rainfall patterns around the world. In the Amazon basin, that meant reduced rainfall during the wet season, plunging some parts of the region into severe drought.

According to NASA, the Amazon is the driest it’s been at the start of the dry season since 2002 — and that probably means the rainforest is in for a particularly nasty wildfire season, according to Doug Morton, an Earth scientist with the U.S. agency and a co-creator of the Amazon fire forecast, which uses climate observations and active fire detections by NASA satellites to predict fire season severity.

Climate change envoy singles out both countries for subsidising the fossil fuel industry and says the UK has lost its position as a climate leader

Ban Ki-moon’s climate change envoy has accused the UK and Germany of backtracking on the spirit of the Paris climate deal by financing the fossil fuel industry through subsidies.

Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and UN special envoy on climate change and El Niño, said she had to speak out after Germany promised compensation for coal power and the UK provided tax breaks for oil and gas.

The Bass Rock, East Lothian As more offshore wind farms are built, the scientists want to know how high the birds fly before diving down to fish

Just over a mile off the coast of Scotland, within sight of the Forth Railway Bridge, is a truly wild place. The Bass Rock, 100m at its highest point, is white with guano and ringed with a halo of constantly honking seabirds. This is the largest colony of gannets on a single island on Earth, with up to 250,000 crowding into its three hectares in summer.

Scientists from Leeds University are studying their foraging habits. Crucially, as more offshore wind farms are built, they want to know how high the birds fly before diving down to fish.

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 21 July 1916

I had no intention of commenting upon a highly sensational account of a “Lady’s Thrill” which appeared in one of the papers, but when it was copied into several others I felt that it was time to protest. The account stated that a lady, when bathing at Bull Bay, in Anglesey, was chased by a ferocious “sea lion.” The sea lion, which we may see diving, swimming, and catching fish which are thrown to it in the fine tank at Belle Vue, is commercially the most important of the fur-bearing seals; it inhabits the Pacific – and the Pacific only. Seal hunters do not care much about bathing in icy seas, but even if they did I doubt if the sea lion would attack a man in the water.

What apparently did happen at Bull Bay was that a grey seal reared its head out of the water and looked at the lady when she was bathing. Perhaps it yawned and showed its teeth, for they do not, as a rule, “project over the sides.” Possibly, too, seeing something with which it was unfamiliar in the water, and not suspecting the presence of a human being so far from the shore, it swam nearer for closer inspection. At any rate, there is no recorded instance that I know of, of the timid grey seal swimming after and attacking any bather.

“Although I found the remains of this ancient settlement fascinating, I was constantly distracted by the array of birds along the beach”

From the way the bird was moving, it was obvious she was distressed. One wing held out at an awkward angle, tail fanned, she piped loudly to attract my attention. But I knew that despite appearances, this ringed plover was not injured, but using all her wiles to lure me away from her nest.

Moments later, we found the object of her concern: a tiny chick, so well hidden amongst the stones and pebbles we almost trod on it, before beating a hasty retreat.

• Officials say a dead whale keeps floating to the southern coast
  
• The humpback whale’s body has already been towed back to sea twice

Officials say a dead whale that keeps floating to the southern California coast after being towed out to sea may have returned to the shoreline again.

Encinitas lifeguards say a whale body that came ashore Saturday at Grandview beach had been decaying in the water for about two weeks, KABC-TV reports.

Yew Tree Heath, New Forest Below me, the heath drops steadily away through hectares of heather, with patches of grey-green gorse and burgeoning bracken

To seek a commanding view of Yew Tree Heath, I climb a wartime relic. In 1939, an anti-aircraft battery was set up here, with a control centre whose mound offers me the view that I’m after. The tree-line has etched the horizon for millennia. It still does where the chimneys of Marchwood’s industry have not intruded with jagged fingers of concrete, and huge metallic structures are not rearing over it like an alien army poised to attack.

Below me, the heath drops steadily away through hectares of heather, with patches of grey-green gorse and burgeoning bracken, segmented by gritty footpaths. Nearby, two bronze age burial mounds have watched over this ground from long before it was heathland.

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

Haunting images taken by photographer Keow Wee Loong, who with two friends sneaked into the ‘exclusion zone to explore four towns that were abandoned after the 2011 nuclear disaster

Three endangered Persian leopard cubs are intended to reintroduce the species to the Sochi area but new plans for a ski trail put the future of the reserve and the animals at risk

Three Persian leopard cubs have been released into the Sochi area of Russia’s western Caucasus, a day after Unesco threatened to deem the area a “world heritage site in danger” because of a planned ski resort expansion.

Persian leopards once prowled across the Caucasus mountains in great numbers but poaching, poisoning and human encroachment wiped out the species in Russia, in the early 20th century.

New environment minister, Andrea Leadsom, faces problem of paying the retrospective fines on top of dealing with the end of EU farming subsidies

British taxpayers will still be paying fines to the EU over the mishandling of farming subsidies after the country has left the bloc, the National Audit Office warned on Friday.

At least £660m has already been paid in fines, owing to delays in implementing the rules of the common agricultural policy in the six years to 2013. More fines will follow for the intervening years, as they are levied retrospectively, and leaving the EU does not absolve the UK from responsibility.

A Bengal tiger with her cubs, osprey chicks and a forest lit up by thousands of fireflies are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

Free-market red tape slashers are pitched against ministers backing a clean, green economy as the UK’s best long term bet. But who will win out?

The cast has changed following Theresa May’s reshuffle, but the play remains the same. It’s a struggle pitching free-market red tape slashers against those backing a clean, green economy as the UK’s best long term bet. The big question is whether this performance will have a different ending.

The performance directed by David Cameron was full of good lines - “the greenest government ever” – but the reviews, even by him, were poor: “cut the green crap”.

Toxic fumes may be the primary cause of skin ageing in polluted cities such as London, New York and Beijing, scientists say

Air pollution is prematurely ageing the faces of city dwellers by accelerating wrinkles and age spots, according to emerging scientific research.

The effects of toxic fumes on skin are being seen in both western cities, such as London and New York, as well as in more visibly polluted Asian cities and in some cases may be the primary cause of ageing. The pollution is also being linked to worsening skin conditions such as eczema and hives.

New study shows humans are influence the growth patterns of plants, but it’s not as simple as ‘greener is better’

The Earth’s climate is changing – in fact, it always changes. But in the current context of human influence, scientists try to decipher how much of the change is natural compared to human-induced.

One clear way humans influence the Earth is through the biosystem. For instance, farming changes the biosystem. By removing natural growth and planting annual crops that are harvested, we change the system in a way that could in turn affect other parts of the Earth system. In addition, the use of nitrogen based fertilizers can increase growth rate and lead to a greening of areas that are subject to fertilization.

Ex-ministers and environmental groups condemn decision to axe ministry as downgrading action to tackle climate change

The abolition of the Department for Energy and Climate Change has been condemned by former ministers as a major setback to British efforts to combat global warming.
Decc was closed in a series of sweeping changes to the government unveiled by the new prime minister, Theresa May, on Thursday. Its functions, which include representing the UK at international climate talks, responsibility for meeting carbon targets and levying subsidies for green energy, have been transferred to a beefed-up business department led by Greg Clark.

But Ed Davey, who served as Liberal Democrat secretary of state at Decc between 2012 and 2015, criticised the decision.
“This is a major setback for the UK’s climate change efforts. Greg Clark may be nice and he may even be green, but by downgrading the Whitehall status of climate change, Theresa May has hit low carbon investor confidence yet again,” he told the Guardian.
His view was echoed by Ed Miliband, the department’s first secretary of state when it was created in 2008 by Labour, who tweeted that the move was: “Plain stupid. Climate not even mentioned in new dept title. Matters because depts shape priorities, shape outcomes.”
Many environmental groups strongly criticised the decision as downgrading action on climate only months after more than 170 countries signed the Paris climate deal in New York. The UK is under pressure to ratify the agreement, both as part of the EU and domestically.
“This is shocking news. Less than a day into the job and it appears that the new prime minister has already downgraded action to tackle climate change, one of the biggest threats we face,” said Craig Bennett, the CEO of Friends of the Earth.
ClientEarth, a group of environment lawyers who won a court battle against the government last year on air pollution, said the closure sent the wrong signals to the world.
“At a time when the challenge of climate change becomes ever more pressing, the government has scrapped the department devoted to tackling it. This is a statement of disregard for one of the most challenging economic, social and environmental issues humans have ever faced,” said its chief executive, James Thornton.
“It sends a terrible signal at the worst possible time, undermining efforts to secure a clean, safe energy future.”
Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP and chair of the energy and climate change committee, said he was astonished by the abolition of Decc, as it came after government policy changes had already created uncertainty for investors.
Catherine Bearder, a Liberal Democrat MEP, said: “Scrapping Decc sends a terrible signal to the world. [It is] yet another concession to Tory Brexiteers and a blow to moderate, outward-looking Britain.”
The Green party said the axing of Decc was deeply worrying and long-time energy policy observers said it was a sign that energy and climate were slipping down the agenda, and that merging them with other departments before had failed to produce clear policy.
The New Economics Foundation thinktank said: “This reshuffle risks dropping climate change from the policy agenda altogether.” John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace, said: “Although, some might say ‘what’s in a name’, there is a very real worry that the progress made on tackling climate change could be relegated to the bottom of the intray.”