The Guardian
Elon Musk: 'We need a revolt against the fossil fuel industry'
Tesla chief says educating the public on climate issues is essential in countering oil and gas lobby’s influence over big political decisions, reports Edie.net
Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk has accused politicians of bowing to the “unrelenting and enormous” lobbying power of the fossil fuel industry, warning that a global “revolt” may be needed to accelerate the transition to more sustainable energy and transport systems.
Speaking at the World Energy Innovation Forum at the Tesla Factory in California on Wednesday, Musk claimed that traditional vehicles and energy sources will continue to hold a competitive edge against greener alternatives due to the vast amounts of subsidies they receive.
Continue reading...Oil firms have 10 years to change strategy or face 'short, brutish end'
Business models employed by multinationals such as Shell and BP are no longer fit for purpose, warns energy expert
International oil companies such as Shell and BP must completely change their business model or face a “nasty, brutish and short” end within 10 years, one of Britain’s most influential energy experts has warned.
Paul Stephens, a fellow at Chatham House thinktank, said in a research paper the oil “majors” were no longer fit for purpose – hit by low crude prices, tightening climate change regulations and their own wrongheaded strategies.
Continue reading...How safe does protected status keep the world's national parks?
Protected areas and habitats are being downgraded and delisted so often, to accommodate mining, logging or population growth, the problem even has its own acronym. Environment 360 reports
It’s the saddest truism in wildlife conservation: When politicians announce that they are setting aside precious habitat “in perpetuity”, what they really mean is until somebody else wants the land.
Protected areas now get reopened so often under the pressure of population and economic growth that the trend has spawned an acronym, PADDD, for “protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement.” There’s also a web site, PADDDtracker.org, jointly maintained by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Conservation International.
Continue reading...When in drought: the California farmers who don’t water their crops
Dry farming forgoes modern irrigation and, farmers say, produces much tastier crops. In a drought-stricken state, should others follow suit?
There’s something different about Will Bucklin’s grape vines. At first it’s hard to notice, but a drive through northern California’s Sonoma Valley, past waves of green, manicured vineyards, makes it clear. The black ribbon of PVC irrigation pipe that typically threads the vines is curiously absent here – because Will doesn’t water his crops.
Bucklin’s Old Hill Ranch, purchased by his stepfather Otto Teller in 1980, claims to be the oldest-rooted vineyard in the area. Teller fell in love with the vineyard because it was one of the few that still “dry-farmed”. Dry farming is a method that bypasses artificial irrigation, relying instead on seasonal rainfall and working the soil in such a way that it holds on to water for the drier months.
Continue reading...The world's top 10 reptiles – in pictures
Komodo dragon tops poll, compiled by scientists using Wikipedia page view data, that reveals our favourite reptiles are also among the scariest
Continue reading...Benefits of cycling and walking 'outweigh air pollution risk' in cities
Study finds only 1% of cities in world have such high levels of pollution that the activities could prove detrimental to health
The health benefits of cycling and walking outweigh the harm from inhaling air loaded with traffic fumes in all but the world’s most polluted cities, according to a study.
An international team of researchers who have modelled the effects say only 1% of cities in the world have such high levels of air pollution that cycling or walking could make a person’s health worse.
Continue reading...US ceases efforts to end global trade of polar bear parts
- US Fish and Wildlife Services to shift focus to climate change’s effects on bears
- Canada had opposed ban as threats to hunting economy and Inuit practices
The US government has quietly dropped its campaign for an international ban in the trade of polar bear parts, which would have given the practice the same outlaw status as the elephant ivory market.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has spent several years attempting to ban the overseas trade of polar bear skins, teeth, paws and other parts from Canada, which permits the hunting of the Arctic predators.
Continue reading...Donald Trump's election would derail Paris climate deal, warns its architect
A climate change denier as US president would dramatically threaten global action to cut carbon emissions, says ex-French foreign minister Laurent Fabius
The election of Donald Trump would derail the landmark agreement on climate change reached in Paris last December, the architect of the accord has warned.
Trump is now virtually certain to be the Republican candidate for president and has said “I am not a great believer in manmade climate change”, leading to fears he would attempt to unpick the historic agreement if he became president.
Continue reading...Killer whales: drone footage off the Western Australian coast – video
Two young aerial photographers filmed a pod of orcas off Bremer Bay on the south coast of Western Australia. Jampal Williamson said the orcas moved so fast they were difficult to film. Williamson and his friend Michael Goetze are using drones to capture different perspectives of WA for their aerial photography project, Salty Wings
Continue reading...Heathrow expansion opportunity squandered, MPs say
Transport secretary urged to commit to timetable in light of Airports Commission report backing third runway
Delaying a decision on a third runway has “squandered the opportunity” to act on evidence and expand Heathrow, a cross-party committee of MPs said as it called on the government to commit to a clear timetable.
The Commons transport select committee described ministerial claims of progress in the decision-making process as “illusory” and demanded that the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, make clear what the outstanding areas of contention were.
Continue reading...Global water shortages to deliver 'severe hit' to economies, World Bank warns
The Middle East, north Africa, central Asia and south Asia due to suffer biggest economic hit from water scarcity as climate change takes hold, report finds
Water shortages will deliver a “severe hit” to the economies of the Middle East, central Asia, and Africa by the middle of the century, taking double digits off their GDP, the World Bank warned on Tuesday.
By 2050, growing demand for cities and for agriculture would put water in short supply in regions where it is now plentiful – and worsen shortages across a vast swath of Africa and Asia, spurring conflict and migration, the bank said.
Continue reading...The time has come to turn up the heat on those who are wrecking planet Earth | Bill McKibben
Break free and join the biggest global action against fossil fuel companies the world has ever seen
An interesting question is, what are you waiting for?
Global warming is the biggest problem we’ve ever faced as a civilisation — certainly you want to act to slow it down, but perhaps you’ve been waiting for just the right moment.
Continue reading...Climate protesters invade UK's largest opencast coalmine
Hundreds of activists take control of vast site and bring operations to a halt as part of a coordinated global direct action against fossil fuel companies
Hundreds of environmental activists have invaded the UK’s largest opencast coalmine and halted operations across the vast site.
Dressed in red boiler suits, groups of protesters crossed barbed wire fences to gain access to Ffos-y-fran mine near Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. Some chained themselves to machinery, others lay across access roads.
Continue reading...Mammal on Victorian beach thought to be rare dwarf sperm whale
The 2.42-metre whale washed up on Lake Tyers beach and authorities suspect it could be rare species spotted only 17 times since records began in Australia
A rare dwarf sperm whale that has been spotted only 17 times since records began in Australia may have washed up on a Victorian beach, local authorities have said.
The 2.42-metre whale died after becoming stranded on Lake Tyers beach in Gippsland, about 330km east of Melbourne, on Saturday.
Continue reading...Blocking highs and jet stream kinks
New studies suggest that the weather in far off Greenland, one of the fastest warming parts of the Earth, is affecting the rainfall patterns in Britain. This is linked to the extremely wet summers of 2007 and 2012.
Sheffield University, checking data back to 1851, found that since the 1980s there has been an increase in the number of summer high pressure blocking systems that become anchored over this vast island ice sheet. The result has been to drag warm air over Greenland causing melting on a much-increased scale.
Continue reading...Feast of cat shown on eagle cam scares feline owners: 'Nature isn't pretty'
Footage from a live web camera nest shows bald eagles serving up a cat to eaglets – but the Audubon Society determines dead cat was not preyed upon
Cat owners have been warned of the dangers their feline companions face when venturing outdoors after video emerged of bald eagles feasting on the body of a dead cat near Pittsburgh.
Footage from a live web camera mounted at the Hays bald eagle nest, located a few miles from the center of Pittsburgh, showed the eagles serving up the cat to hungry eaglets. Concerned cat owners bombarded the local Audubon Society about why the eagles had preyed upon the cat.
Continue reading...Benjamin Law explores 'Tang: treasures from the Silk Road capital'
While Europe was deep in the Dark Ages, Asia’s Tang Empire was the richest and most powerful political unit in the world. Benjamin Law looks at treasures from the golden age of China alongside latest art world innovations at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Pure Land: inside the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang (2012/16), created by Sarah Kenderdine and Jeffrey Shaw at City University Hong Kong in partnership with the Dunhuang Academy. Installed for Tang: 唐 treasures from the Silk Road capital by the Laboratory for Innovation in Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums, University of New South Wales
Unchecked pollution and bad food ‘killing thousands in UK’
Thousands of people are dying each year because of the government’s failure to tackle food poisoning, health and safety breaches and pollution, a thinktank is warning.
A new report from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) claims that lax regulation and weak enforcement are failing to hold businesses in check and are tantamount to state-facilitated “social murder”.
Continue reading...Britain's best places to take off on a butterfly safari
The purple emperor and chequered skipper await, whether you just fancy a flutter or metamorphose into a full-blown spotter
The purple emperor butterfly, a rather eccentric 1950s schoolmaster called Ian Heslop once declared, is the ultimate “big game”. A renowned collector, he boasted of catching as many emperors as he had shot elephants (four) but said that no exotic African beast gave him “so much joy as the seeing of my first emperor safely in the net”.
It is no longer acceptable to shoot elephants or catch purple emperors but Heslop was on to something – the overlooked adrenal pleasure of a butterfly safari. Chasing butterflies, to photograph or simply to enjoy, may seem like a whimsical pastime but can be surprisingly thrilling.
Continue reading...Has the Chernobyl disaster affected the number of nuclear plants built?
Thirty years on from one of the worst radiation leaks in history, several countries have moved to phase out nuclear energy production altogether, and experts say another accident would kill the industry
Related: Chernobyl nuclear disaster 30th anniversary – in pictures
This week marks 30 years since an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine led to a huge leak of radiation across eastern Europe.
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