The Guardian
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...It's an agile predator, but a gruesome fate often awaits the dung fly
Wolsingham, Weardale Adult dung flies chew hoverflies like hotdogs, but many fall victim to an insect-eating fungus
Cattle had been sheltering in the lee of the hedge and had spattered the footpath with fresh cowpats. We had to be careful where we put our feet, but the male dung flies, Scathophaga stercoraria, sitting in the centre of these discs of ordure, had no such reservations; these were their courtship arenas. Each suitor, resplendent in golden hairs that glowed in the early morning sunlight, was waiting for the arrival of females – usually found to be in short supply.
Dung flies’ behaviour and their sex lives have intrigued evolutionary biologists. Males vary in size and females tend to choose the largest mates available on the cowpat, with multiple mating being the norm. It’s a situation where large males, which tend to be more fecund, should prosper.
Continue reading...We have a stark choice: protect the global commons or give in to special interests
A year since the pope’s clarion call to climate action, Australia must declare a moratorium on new coal, oil and gas mines and end fossil fuel subsidies
• Divesting from fossil fuels: open letter from religious leaders in full
Few papal proclamations have reverberated more strongly throughout the world than Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’. The anniversary of this clarion call to protect the environment comes as Australia’s election is in full swing and, in terms of its message, the contrast could not be greater.
Released exactly a year ago, the encyclical was part of a deluge of statements from the major faith traditions in the leadup to the Paris climate agreement.
Continue reading...Catholic orders take their lead from the pope and divest from fossil fuels
Exclusive: Four Australian Catholic orders are jointly and publicly divesting from coal, oil and gas: ‘We believe the Gospel asks no less of us’
• Divesting from fossil fuels: open letter from religious leaders in full
Four Australian Catholic organisations have announced they are completely divesting from coal, oil and gas in what they say is the first joint Catholic divestment anywhere in the world.
The move comes as prominent Jewish rabbis, Muslim clerics, Anglican bishops and other religious leaders call on the Australian government to protect the Great Barrier Reef, stop approving coalmines and remove subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, in an open letter published by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Grandpa’s name lives on at Johnny’s Bank | Letters
I, too, used to walk up Piggies Lonnen (Letters, 13 June) with my sisters on our way from Lemington to Walbottle, to see my Grandpa, Johnny McSwine. We were allowed to help feed his pigs and clean out their pigsties. Though the lonnen was near the “piggery”, it had nothing to do with Grandpa’s pigs, who never left their sties. On a memorable visit he took us to see the sow and her piglets cosseted under a heat lamp in the biggest of the three sties. The pigs were fed on scraps and meal which was weighed out in the “flower house”, – so called because that was where mounds of freshly cut blue scabious would be bunched and boxed ready for market. Around the tea table at his house, I would hear about the Bull family who lived in the village, but I don’t think had bulls. My grandfather died in 1963 but his name, or his father’s, lives on – “Johnny’s Bank” is the road that ran past the market garden up to Walbottle Stores. The market garden continued until my Uncle Fred retired.
Judith McSwaine
Newcastle upon Tyne
• The street names of south-west Scotland are evidence of a culture shared with north-east England, at least in their alleyways. For example, Jenny’s Loaning in Castle Douglas clearly matches the lonnens of Northumberland, while Friars Vennel in Dumfries would fit in well in Durham.
Steven Edgar
Bristol
'Bright spots' offer fresh hope for survival of coral reefs
Experts identify areas where coral reefs are flourishing against the odds despite overfishing and environmental pressure
Surprising “bright spots” where coral reefs are flourishing against the odds despite overfishing and environmental pressure have given new hope to conservationists.
Experts believe they could shine a light on better ways to protect embattled coral reefs affected by climate change, overfishing and pollution.
Continue reading...Attack of the Euro-moths: should Britain’s farmers be afraid?
As if Brexit and football violence weren’t enough to make us miserable about Europe, it seems that the UK is now experiencing an invasion of “Euro-moths”. Tens of millions of small but potentially lethal diamondback moths are crossing the North Sea, come to devastate our cabbages and cauliflowers.
The first signs of the invasion came last Saturday night, when observers reported a two-mile long cloud of moths near the Herefordshire market town of Leominster. As one witness reported: “It was like driving through rain.”
Continue reading...Diesel cars in London increase despite air pollution warnings
Figures show the numbers of licenced diesels rose by 29% from 2012-15, despite warnings over their contribution to illegal levels of air pollution
Diesel vehicles have taken a record share of the market on London roads in recent years, despite warnings blaming them for contributing to the capital’s illegal levels of air pollution.
Sadiq Khan, the new mayor of London, has been lobbying for a diesel scrappage scheme, a policy that was backed by his predecessor, Boris Johnson, as a way of tackling the illegal high nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels caused by diesels.