The Guardian
Uttarayan: concerns over bird fatalities during kite festival in India
Many birds get injured or killed as thousands take to the terraces to fly kites to celebrate Makar Sankranti on 14 January, marking the arrival of spring
Kites will fill the skies in many parts of India on Wednesday for the festival of Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan, celebrating the onset of spring, but conservationists will be fearing the worst as they brace for another year of avian fatalities.
The Jivdaya Charitable Trust (JCT), an animal welfare NGO, attended to 2,394 injured birds in Ahmedabad, the heartland of the kite flying festival, in the Indian state of Gujarat around this time last year. Of these, 490 died.
Continue reading...Hebei's steel cities and China's pollution crisis – in pictures
China’s Hebei Province has some of the worst air pollution in the country and the area’s vast steel industry is a key focus of government efforts to improve air quality. Lu Guang’s stark images capture the industrial landscapes of some of Hebei’s most polluted cities
- Audio slideshow: Lu Guang’s The Polluted Landscape
Why you really should (but really can't) eat horsemeat
An overabundance of wild horses in the American west is driving us to the brink of an environmental disaster – and the most sensible solution may be adding them to the menu
In 2013, in the wake of the horsemeat scandal that gripped Europe, a number of envelope-pushing, high-end restaurants decided to try to introduce horsemeat to the modern American palate. The result was disastrous.
Philadelphia chef Peter McAndrews, owner of upscale Italian restaurant Monsu, was sent graphic images of horses being slaughtered and even received bomb threats after he announced he would serve horsemeat in his dining room. He publicly declared that the intimidation tactics from horse advocates that had convinced other restaurants not to serve horse would not change his menu. But a visit from the FDA to all five of his restaurants did. The agency’s inspectors advised that he “stay away from it,” he told Eater Philadelphia. “I felt like I had the FBI of the food world on me.”
Continue reading...Leave fossil fuels buried to prevent climate change, study urges
New research is first to identify which reserves must not be burned to keep global temperature rise under 2C, including over 90% of US and Australian coal and almost all Canadian tar sands
• George Monbiot: Why leaving fossil fuels in the ground is good for everyone
Vast amounts of oil in the Middle East, coal in the US, Australia and China and many other fossil fuel reserves will have to be left in the ground to prevent dangerous climate change, according to the first analysis to identify which existing reserves cannot be burned.
The new work reveals the profound geopolitical and economic implications of tackling global warming for both countries and major companies that are reliant on fossil fuel wealth. It shows trillions of dollars of known and extractable coal, oil and gas, including most Canadian tar sands, all Arctic oil and gas and much potential shale gas, cannot be exploited if the global temperature rise is to be kept under the 2C safety limit agreed by the world’s nations. Currently, the world is heading for a catastrophic 5C of warming and the deadline to seal a global climate deal comes in December at a crunch UN summit in Paris.
Continue reading...Brown bears, wolves and lynx numbers rising in Europe
Land-sharing model of conservation is helping large predators thrive in the wild – and even the British countryside could support big carnivores, study finds
The forests – and suburbs – of Europe are echoing with the growls, howls and silent padding of large predators according to a new study which shows that brown bears, wolves and lynx are thriving on a crowded continent.
Despite fears that large carnivores are doomed to extinction because of rising human populations and overconsumption, a study published in Science has found that large predator populations are stable or rising in Europe.
Continue reading...Fishing quotas defy scientists’ advice
Britain’s fishermen will be allowed to increase their catch of cod and other key fish species next year after late-night wrangling between EU ministers in Brussels resulted in a new set of fishing quotas that flout scientific advice.
The quota for cod catches for 2015 will increase by 5% on last year, though scientific advice suggested that it should be cut by 20%.
Continue reading...Belo Monte, Brazil: The tribes living in the shadow of a megadam
Next year the Belo Monte dam will flood vast swathes of Amazon rainforest. Indian tribes living on the river have lost their fight to halt the project – now they await the floods that threaten their entire way of life
By the Great Bend of the Xingu river in the depths of Amazonia, the Juruna tribe is being drowned by what seems at first sight to be a flood of TV game-show prizes.
There’s a shiny new motorboat moored by the old canoe, the latest four-wheel drive parked beside a chicken coop, satellite dishes outside every home and wide-screen plasma TVs inside.
Continue reading...World set for climate disaster, say activists, as Lima talks falter
Proposals too weak to keep global warming to the agreed limit of two degrees above pre-industrial levels
Frustrated climate campaigners have claimed that the world was on course for an unsustainable four-degree rise in temperatures, as two weeks of negotiations for a climate change agreement headed for an unsatisfying conclusion.
The proposals, still under discussion on Saturday, a day after the talks were scheduled to end, were too weak to keep global warming to the agreed limit of two degrees above preindustrial levels, setting the world on course to a climate disaster, according to developing countries at the summit.
Continue reading...Greenpeace apologises to people of Peru over Nazca lines stunt
Culture ministry says it will press charges against activists for damage to world heritage site as UN climate talks began in Lima
Greenpeace has apologised to the people of Peru after the government accused the environmentalists of damaging ancient earth markings in the country’s coastal desert by leaving footprints in the ground during a publicity stunt meant to send a message to the UN climate talks delegates in Lima.
A spokesman for Greenpeace said: “Without reservation Greenpeace apologises to the people of Peru for the offence caused by our recent activity laying a message of hope at the site of the historic Nazca lines. We are deeply sorry for this.
Continue reading...Full scale of plastic in the world's oceans revealed for first time
Over five trillion pieces of plastic are floating in our oceans says most comprehensive study to date on plastic pollution around the world
• Microplastic deposits found deep in world’s oceans
More than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world’s oceans, causing damage throughout the food chain, new research has found.
Data collected by scientists from the US, France, Chile, Australia and New Zealand suggests a minimum of 5.25tn plastic particles in the oceans, most of them “micro plastics” measuring less than 5mm.
Continue reading...World’s largest cave in Vietnam threatened by cable car
Vietnamese are protesting plans to build a cable car through remote Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park that could carry 1,000 visitors an hour to Son Doong cave
Plans for a cable car in Vietnam’s Unesco-listed Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park would open up the world’s largest cave to mass tourism. But Vietnamese are protesting the project, and experts warn the environmental impact could be devastating.
Quang Binh province announced in October that resort developer Sun Group would build a $212m (£135m) cable car system through the national park, which occupies a remote, mountainous swathe of central Vietnam. The 10.6km route would connect Son Doong Cave, so large it could house an entire 40-story building, with other caves in the area as part of a planned “tourism, service and resort complex”.
Continue reading...Eating less meat essential to curb climate change, says report
Global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than transport but fear of a consumer backlash is preventing action, says Chatham House report
Curbing the world’s huge and increasing appetite for meat is essential to avoid devastating climate change, according to a new report. But governments and green campaigners are doing nothing to tackle the issue due to fears of a consumer backlash, warns the analysis from the thinktank Chatham House.
The global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined, but a worldwide survey by Ipsos MORI in the report finds twice as many people think transport is the bigger contributor to global warming.
World's largest rat poisoning project aims to rid South Georgia of its rodents
Eradication effort to protect the island’s wildlife from millions of invasive rats, which will feed on the brains of live seabird chicks, starts in 2015
Conservationists are undertaking a final push to wipe out millions of rats from South Georgia once and for all, in a bid to protect the island’s wildlife.
Described as the world’s largest rodent eradication project, the UK-led effort will see three helicopters dropping 95 tonnes of the poison Brodifacoum on the British overseas territory next year.
Continue reading...Toiletry chemicals linked to testicular cancer and male infertility cost EU millions, report says
Nordic Council calls on EU to ban damaging compounds found in household products that cost millions due to their harmful impact on male reproductive health
The hormone-mimicking chemicals used routinely in toiletries, cosmetics, medicines, plastics and pesticides cause hundreds of millions of euros of damage to EU citizens every year, according to the first estimate of their economic impact.
The endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs) are thought to be particularly harmful to male reproductive health and can cause testicular cancer, infertility, deformation of the penis and undescended testicles.
Continue reading...Great white sharks: 10 myths debunked
Every time you enter the ocean, anywhere on Earth with a temperate or subtropical climate, you cross into the domain of the great white shark. But almost everything the average human thinks he or she knows about these sharks – other than the fact that they are big and dangerous – is wrong. We unpick 10 of the most tenacious myths
Continue reading...Consumers offered cash for old gadgets in new recycling scheme
Over 50 companies, including Samsung, Dell, Sky and B&Q, have signed up to UK government-backed plan to refurbish and resell unwanted electrical goods
Consumers will be urged to trade in their unwanted electrical gadgets at retailers in return for cash – with the products to be refurbished and resold – as part of a national initiative unveiled on Tuesday.
The government-backed plan to improve the disposal of electric waste is supported by 51 companies and organisations including Samsung, Dell, Sky, B&Q, and the owner of Argos and Homebase.
Continue reading...Meet the Republicans in Congress who don't believe climate change is real
On Tuesday, the Senate will vote to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. With Republicans now in control of both chambers in Congress, here’s a round-up of some of the most prominent climate sceptics (and deniers) in the GOP
It’s much easier to list Republicans in Congress who think climate change is real than it is to list Republicans who don’t, because there are so few members of the former group. Earlier this year, Politifact went looking for congressional Republicans who had not expressed scepticism about climate change and came up with a list of eight (out of 278).
But with the GOP taking over the Senate next year – and with the Senate set to vote on approving the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday – the question again arises of what, exactly, prominent Republicans think about the evidence that humans are changing the climate.
Continue reading...US windfarm company sues to block release of data about bird deaths
Information is sought by the Associated Press as part of an investigation into deaths of protected species at Pacificorp facilities and the government’s reluctance to prosecute
A company that operates at least 13 wind-energy facilities across three states is suing in federal court to block the US government from releasing information to the Associated Press about how many birds are found dead at its facilities.
Pacificorp of Portland, Oregon, is seeking an injunction in US district court in Utah to prevent the Interior Department from releasing information it considers confidential. The Obama administration has said it planned to turn over the material to the Associated Press, which sought it from the Interior Department in March 2013 under the US Freedom of Information Act. The government concluded that the industry’s concerns were “insufficiently convincing” to keep the files secret.
Continue reading...How the world uses coal – interactive
China and the US have agreed a historic deal to cut carbon emissions – but both countries are still huge consumers and producers of coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Drag the slider below to see how coal use has changed in the past few decades – and click the ‘future’ button to see what’s to come. Data: EIA
Continue reading...Gamekeeper sentenced for poisoning birds as judge warns landowners
RSPB described killing of 11 birds of prey by Allen Lambert at Stody estate in Norfolk as worst case ever detected in England
A judge has warned Britain’s rural aristocracy that they must take responsibility for the actions of their employees after a gamekeeper was sentenced for poisoning birds of prey.
The RSPB described the killing of 11 birds of prey by Allen Lambert, former gamekeeper at the Stody estate near Holt in Norfolk, as the worst case of bird poisoning ever detected in England.
Continue reading...