The Guardian
Disappearing Lake Powell underlines drought crisis facing Colorado river
As water levels plummet to 45% in America’s second-largest reservoir, new islands appear – and fears grow for a waterway that serves 40 million people
The Colorado river and its tributaries took a hundred million years or two to carve the Glen Canyon out of the pink and scarlet sandstone which marks out the American southwest.
Its myriad gorges, sheer cliffs and towering spires remained a largely hidden secret. Prehistoric peoples farmed part of the canyon and Navajo Indian communities built camps close to the river, but few modern Americans ventured there besides explorers until the canyon disappeared under a man-made wonder, the vast Lake Powell, with the construction of Glen Canyon dam half a century ago.
Continue reading...Antarctic ice shelf will fall apart, says Nasa – video
A climate change poem for today: Extinction by Jackie Kay
UK poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy curates a series of 20 original poems by various authors on the theme of climate change
We closed the borders, folks, we nailed it.
No trees, no plants, no immigrants.
Continue reading...Sellafield nuclear waste storage safety limit relaxed following accident
Amount of radioactive waste that can be kept in tanks allowed to breach legal limits to help cope with backlog caused by an accident in November 2013
Safety limits on the storage of some of the world’s most dangerous nuclear wastes at Sellafield in Cumbria have been relaxed after an accident knocked out a treatment plant.
The government’s safety watchdog, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), has permitted the private company that runs Sellafield to breach legal restrictions on the amount of hot, high-level radioactive waste that can be kept in tanks. The limits are likely to be exceeded by up to 350 tonnes between April 2014 and July 2016.
Continue reading...Don’t panic! How to escape a swarm of bees
Towns in southern England are being beset by noisy hordes of honeybees in search of new homes. Here’s what to do if you get caught by the buzz
“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams,” said Henry David Thoreau, who clearly knew what he was talking about. Swarms of honeybees have appeared in Salisbury, Marlborough and Chichester, and the growing fashion for amateur beekeeping may be to blame. So, are middle-class novices not looking after their hives properly, causing their bees to go rogue?
A swarm happens when a hive becomes overcrowded, a new queen appears and the old queen and a gang of around 20,000 go on the run. They head for temporary lodgings while scout bees look for somewhere safe to settle.
Continue reading...England's water voles in desperate decline
Invasive American mink is wiping out species once found abundant in English waterways, analysis by Canal and River Trust show
English waterways could lose one of their most charismatic and once widespread residents as water voles succumb to the invasive American mink, records released by the Canal and River Trust show.
Between 1970 and 1999, water voles were found on 269 of the 2,000 miles of waterways managed by the trust. But since the turn of the century, their range dropped by almost 50% to 141 miles.
Continue reading...India's Asiatic lion population rising
Census finds 27% increase in number of endangered lions found in their only habitat in the world – the Gir forest of Gujarat
Wildlife experts have welcomed census figures showing India’s population of endangered Asiatic lions has increased in the last five years in the western state of Gujarat.
Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel said officials counted 523 lions, up 27% from the last census conducted in 2010 in Gir sanctuary, the last habitat for the big cats globally.
Continue reading...Starfish suffer mysterious and gruesome demise along west coast
The cause of the most deadly sea star epidemic in recorded history remains unclear, but experts believe it may be a poorly understood ‘wasting’ disease
It is a gruesome death. First the legs shrivel up, followed by lesions. Then the legs inch away and finally detach. The victim continues to deteriorate until it is nothing but a plot of sticky goo.
This is the thoroughly unpleasant way by which scores of sea stars, also known as starfish, have perished along the North American west coast in the most deadly epidemic to hit the iconic echinoderms in recorded history.
Continue reading...Will Tesla's home battery really transform our energy infrastructure?
Powerwall leads the way in solving the problem of energy storage, but the $3,000-plus price raises questions about its economic viability
“The goal is complete transformation of the entire energy infrastructure of the world,” Tesla founder Elon Musk told reporters as he launched the electric car company’s new home power storage battery on Thursday.
“This is actually within the power of humanity to do. It is not impossible.” Electricity storage is the “missing link” in weaning the economy off fossil fuels, said the entrepreneur with characteristic understatement.
Continue reading...One in six of world's species faces extinction due to climate change – study
New analysis reveals likely impact of global warming on plants and animals if we fail to take action, and comes ahead of crunch climate talks in Paris
In pictures: Animals and plants that could be lost because of climate change
One in six of the planet’s species will be lost forever to extinction if world leaders fail to take action on climate change, according to a new analysis.
The stark warning on the scale of global warming’s impact on animals and plants comes just months before nearly 200 governments meet for UN climate talks in Paris in an attempt to forge a global deal on cutting carbon emissions.
Continue reading...Shell lobbied to undermine EU renewables targets, documents reveal
Weak renewable energy goals for 2030 originated with Shell pitch for gas as a key technology for Europe to cut its carbon emissions in an affordable way
Shell successfully lobbied to undermine European renewable energy targets ahead of a key agreement on emissions cuts reached in October last year, newly released documents reveal.
At the time of the emissions deal, the European commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, said: “This package is very good news for our fight against climate change.” He added: “No player in the world is as ambitious as the EU.”
Continue reading...At home with the world's last male northern white rhinoceros
With rhino numbers collapsed due to poaching for their horns, a lot rides on one pampered animal in the Kenyan savannah doing his best to further the species
Mohamed Doyo seems to have a dream job. Every evening, he patrols the Kenyan savannah, glimpsing lions chasing down darting Thomson’s gazelles, hearing the calls of red-chested cuckoos and, when there is a full moon, seeing the majestic, snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya in the distance.
But Doyo can scarcely stop to admire the extraordinary views because he and a large squad of rangers perform an extraordinary job: they must keep poachers away from one of the rarest species on earth, including the star attraction at the 135 sq mile conservancy, Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino.
Continue reading...Guardian Live: Freeing the Arctic 30
Greenpeace activists Frank Hewetson, Alex Harris and Phil Ball spent 100 days in a Russian prison after protesting against Arctic oil exploration. At a Guardian Members’ event they told the dramatic story of their imprisonment and release
By all accounts, the violent storming of Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise ship by Russian commandos in September 2013 and the subsequent jailing of the 30 activists and journalists on board, facing a 15-year sentence for piracy, was a terrifying and devastating experience.
At a Guardian Live event, activists Frank Hewetson, Alex Harris and Phil Ball (in the audience), were joined by Ben Stewart – Greenpeace’s head of media at the time and author of a new book describing the events, Don’t Trust, Don’t Fear, Don’t Beg.
Continue reading...A 40-metre fatberg? That’s not even London’s worst …
You can run but you can’t hide … or flush your toilet. Yep, it’s the return of the fatberg, a monstrous blob of congealed fat, waste, and wet wipes coming soon to asewer near you. Especially if you happen to live in west London. This week’s culprit is a 40-metre bruiser removed from under the leafy streets of Chelsea and weighing as much as five Porsches. The latest fatberg was so big-boned it broke a 70-year-old sewer pipe, leaving Thames Water with a £400,000 repair bill.
It wasn’t even the area’s worst. In 2013, “Britain’s biggest berg”, weighing 15 tonnes and as long as a double-decker bus, was found in Kingston upon Thames, and last year a fatberg the size of a Boeing 747 was discovered under the streets of Shepherd’s Bush. It’s only a matter of time before a fatberg as mighty as the Titanic herself bursts out of the manholes on High Street Ken and starts ransacking the place, Slimer-from-Ghostbusters style.
Continue reading...Earth Day quiz: tried the Google Doodle version? Now try the Guardian's
• Join the Guardian's climate campaign, Keep it in the Ground
Which year was the first Earth Day?
1960
1970
1980
Who founded the first Earth Day in the US?
Gaylord Nelson
Al Gore
Amory Lovins
When did Margaret Thatcher first warn in a Royal Society speech about the dangers of global warming?
1981
1985
1988
What level of warming do international negotiators regard as the threshold for dangerous climate change?
1C
2C
3C
Which pair won a Nobel prize in 2007 for their efforts to tackle climate change?
Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri
David Cameron and Rajendra Pachauri
Yvo de Boer and Rajendra Pachauri
How much of proven fossil fuel reserves need to stay under the ground to stay below 2C?
Around two thirds to three quarters
Around a tenth
Around a third
In which European city is a major UN climate summit being held in November and December this year?
Bonn
Geneva
Paris
The UN climate science panel said with what % certainty that climate change is manmade?
75%
85%
95%
Who was the author of an influential 2006 report on the economics of climate change?
Stanislav Stern
Nicholas Stern
Todd Stern
Which two charitable organisations is the Guardian asking to divest from fossil fuels?
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust
The Ford Foundation and J. Paul Getty Trust
The Church Commissioners for England and W.K. Kellogg Foundation
4 and above.
Thanks for taking part. Have you joined the Guardian climate change campaign, Keep it in the Ground? <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/mar/16/keep-it-in-the-ground-guardian-climate-change-campaign">Join more than 180,000 people here</a>
7 and above.
Thanks for taking part. Have you joined the Guardian climate change campaign, Keep it in the Ground? <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/mar/16/keep-it-in-the-ground-guardian-climate-change-campaign">Join more than 180,000 people here</a>
10 and above.
Thanks for taking part. Have you joined the Guardian climate change campaign, Keep it in the Ground? <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2015/mar/16/keep-it-in-the-ground-guardian-climate-change-campaign">Join more than 180,000 people here</a>
Continue reading...Conservationists turn tiny New Zealand island into bold wildlife experiment
Big things are happening on Rotoroa, a new sanctuary for endangered species that aims to create a whole new ecosystem
Rotoroa Island, off the coast of New Zealand is tiny, at just 82 hectares (200 acres), but don’t let its diminutiveness fool you: big things are happening here. Over the past few years the island has become the site of a quiet, but grand, conservation experiment. What would happen if you populated an island with a whole suite of endangered species, some of which were never found there to begin with? And what would happen if you didn’t fence the island off and keep pesky humans out, but let people – school groups even – tramp through the grounds?
Across most of our planet, truly wild, unmanaged places are a thing of the past.
Continue reading...Britain's beekeepers told to be alert for arrival of Asian hornets
Vespa velutina, which preys on honey bees, is already spreading rapidly across mainland Europe and could pose a serious risk to the UK’s apiculture
Beekeepers have been told to be alert for invading hornets that have killed six people in France and could pose to serious risk to Britain’s honey bees.
The Asian hornet, which preys on honey bees, is spreading rapidly across France and other parts of mainland Europe, and there are fears its arrival in Britain is only a matter of time – particularly in light of the unusually warm spring weather.
Continue reading...World's mountain of electrical waste reaches new peak of 42m tonnes
The biggest per-capita tallies were in countries known for green awareness, such as Norway and Denmark, with Britain fifth and US ninth on the UN report’s list
A record amount of electrical and electronic waste was discarded around the world in 2014, with the biggest per-capita tallies in countries that pride themselves on environmental consciousness, a report said.
Last year, 41.8m tonnes of so-called e-waste – mostly fridges, washing machines and other domestic appliances at the end of their life – was dumped, the UN report said.
Continue reading...Robot reveals inside Fukushima nuclear reactor – video
Out of plaice: popular UK fish at risk from rising temperatures
Study predicts dinner favourites plaice and lemon sole facing severe depletion and rapid warming of North Sea already forcing haddock out of British waters
Some of the UK’s most popular fish may be driven from the North Sea, and the UK’s dinner plates, by rising temperatures, scientists warned on Monday.
Fishmonger favourites plaice, lemon sole and haddock are being pushed out of their traditional feeding grounds by rapidly warming sea temperatures. The waters of the North Sea have warmed by 1.3C in the past 30 years, four times faster than the global average. Since the 1980s landings of cold-adapted species have halved.
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