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Officially extinct butterfly ‘making a comeback’ in UK
Large tortoiseshells breeding at Knepp, Sussex, after being officially extinct in Britain for half a century
An elusive butterfly that has been officially extinct in Britain for more than half a century has been discovered breeding on the rewilded estate of Knepp in West Sussex.
The large tortoiseshell mysteriously vanished more than 50 years ago but this week male and female butterflies – much larger than the small tortoiseshell and without its white patterning – have been spotted at Knepp for the first time.
Continue reading...Flooding in the Maitland region of NSW, Australia – in pictures
Dramatic aerial images of how flooding has transformed the area after torrential rainfall over recent weeks
Continue reading...Price of offshore wind power falls to cheapest ever level in UK
Contract price is nearly 6% lower than previous auction in 2019, which could ease pressure on energy bills
The price of offshore wind power in the UK has fallen to an all-time low, which could ease the pressure on future household energy bills.
Following the biggest ever UK renewables auction, the government said on Thursday the contract price for windfarms was nearly 6% lower than the previous auction, despite the rising cost of materials to build windfarms.
Continue reading...‘Nowhere is free from noise’: deep-sea mining threat to marine mammals
Scientists call for limits on mining as study finds noise pollution could travel for hundreds of miles and from surface to sea bed
Noise pollution from proposed deep-sea mining could radiate through the ocean for hundreds of kilometres, scientists predict, creating a “cylinder of sound” from the surface to the sea bed.
An analysis by scientists from Oceans Initiative in the US, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan, Curtin University in Australia and the University of Hawaii, published in the journal Science, has found that noise from one mine alone could travel 500km (more than 300 miles) in gentle weather conditions.
Continue reading...Not all heroes wear capes! Who is worthy of being plonked on a postage stamp? | First Dog on the Moon
Whither the larrikin?!! Where is that iconic laconic fellow with cheeky disdain for authority?
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Microplastics detected in meat, milk and blood of farm animals
Particles found in supermarket products and on Dutch farms, but human health impacts unknown
Microplastic contamination has been reported in beef and pork for the first time, as well as in the blood of cows and pigs on farms.
Scientists at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA) in the Netherlands found the particles in three-quarters of meat and milk products tested and every blood sample in their pilot study.
Continue reading...Vast group of southern fin whales filmed feeding in Antarctica, sparking hope of recovery
Scientists say numbers of world’s second-largest animal have slowly improved since 1970s whaling ban but sightings in Antarctic feeding grounds are rare
For the first time since whaling was banned, up to 150 southern fin whales have been filmed feeding together in a “thrilling” Antarctic spectacle, hailed by scientists as a sign of hope for the world’s second-biggest animal.
The ocean giants are second only to blue whales in length, with slender bodies that help them glide through the water at high speed.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on the global food crisis: no time to lose | Editorial
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a desperate situation. Famine is not inevitable – but action must be swift
Hunger is stalking the world. Seven years ago, the United Nations vowed to eradicate it by 2030. Yet the number of people affected globally reached 828 million last year, and an unprecedented number – 345 million – are currently experiencing acute food insecurity, the UN has warned.
Covid-19 and the climate emergency had seen that tally rise from 135 million people before the pandemic to 276 million by early this year, reflecting a 55% increase in the Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index since May 2020. “We thought it couldn’t get any worse,” said David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme.
Continue reading...EV incentives focused on urban centres leave rural Australians stranded with fossil fuels
Regional residents at risk of being ‘last people in the world’ driving petrol cars due to misconception electric vehicle batteries lack range, study suggests
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People living in regional areas are at risk of becoming the “last people in the world” left driving petrol cars because incentives for electric vehicles have been targeted towards city drivers.
Most EVs on the market are likely to have the battery range needed for those living long distances from urban centres, however Australian policy is currently geared only towards encouraging uptake among citydwellers, new research from the Australian National University has found.
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Continue reading...UK dairy farmers warn of price rises amid chronic staff shortages
Industry calls for roles to be added to job shortage list as eight in 10 report serious problems finding qualified workers
Dairy farmers are warning that a chronic shortage of workers is hitting milk production and further fuelling food price inflation, and are calling for urgent action to stop the situation getting worse.
Eight in 10 farm owners looking for workers said they had received very few or zero applications from people with the right experience or qualifications, in response to a survey by Arla Foods, the UK’s largest dairy co-operative.
Continue reading...Proposed EA chair refuses to divest in firm chosen for government project
Alan Lovell says he sees no conflict of interest in Environment Agency role and having shares in Progressive Energy
The prospective new chair of the Environment Agency is refusing to divest his shareholding in a hydrogen and carbon capture company chosen for a major government project.
Alan Lovell stood down as a director of Progressive Energy last month, according to Companies House records, two days after being announced as the preferred candidate for the role running England’s environmental watchdog.
Continue reading...Conservatives blame the energy crisis on net zero climate goals – but what is really going on? | Temperature Check
A range of factors is behind the rise in electricity prices, but net zero isn’t one of them
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Energy markets and electricity systems are complicated beasts at the best of times, but throw in war, extreme weather, policy dysfunction and a pandemic and the picture gets even murkier.
However, some of Australia’s conservative commentators seem to think there is one thing to blame for the country’s rising electricity prices and the threat of power outages: it’s all the fault of “net zero”.
Continue reading...More than 15m bees destroyed in NSW to contain deadly varroa mite parasite
Hives along state’s central and mid-north coasts and in north-west destroyed as bee lockdown continues
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More than 15 million bees have been euthanised across 31 infected premises in New South Wales as the fight to contain the varroa mite continues.
Bees from 1,533 hives have been destroyed between the NSW central and mid-north coasts, as well as at Narrabri in the state’s north-west, the state’s agriculture minister, Dugald Saunders, said. “It’s a significant number of bees,” he said.
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Continue reading...Scientists puzzled by toads squatting in dormouse nests high in trees
University of Cambridge researchers find amphibians dwelling as high as 3 metres above ground
Scientists hunting for dormice have been surprised to find toads sleeping in their nest boxes, high up in the trees.
A study has for the first time revealed the frequency with which the common toad nests and breeds in the trees.
Continue reading...North Wales’ ancient felled Pontfadog oak returns in five cloned saplings
A 2013 storm toppled the tree that had stood in the Ceiriog valley for 1,200 years – but now it lives on
On a stormy night in April 2013, a resounding crack echoed around a valley in north-east Wales and when day broke a melancholy sight met the eyes of villagers.
The mighty Pontfadog oak, a glorious tree that had stood sentinel over the Ceiriog valley for 1,200 years, had been toppled, and a heap of broken branches, decayed wood, lichens and fungi lying among the spring flowers.
Continue reading...‘Putin rubbing hands with glee’ after EU votes to class gas and nuclear as green
Parliament backs plan to classify some projects as clean power investments
The European parliament has backed plans to label gas and nuclear energy as “green”, rejecting appeals from Ukraine and climate activists that the proposals are a gift to Vladimir Putin.
One senior MEP said the vote was a “dark day for the climate”, while experts said the EU had set a dangerous precedent for countries to follow.
Continue reading...Global dismay as supreme court ruling leaves Biden’s climate policy in tatters
Biden’s election was billed as heralding a ‘climate presidency’ but congressional and judicial roadblocks mean he has little to show
Joe Biden’s election triggered a global surge in optimism that the climate crisis would, finally, be decisively confronted. But the US supreme court’s decision last week to curtail America’s ability to cut planet-heating emissions has proved the latest blow to a faltering effort by Biden on climate that is now in danger of becoming largely moribund.
The supreme court’s ruling that the US government could not use its existing powers to phase out coal-fired power generation without “clear congressional authorization” quickly ricocheted around the world among those now accustomed to looking on in dismay at America’s seemingly endless stumbles in addressing global heating.
Continue reading...NSW flooding continues – in pictures
Prime minister Anthony Albanese visits flood-affected areas of Sydney
Continue reading...Northern Ireland turning Republic into a ‘toilet’ for excess manure pollution
Officials investigate irregularities in poultry and pig waste exports to Ireland, as ammonia risks turning soil into a ‘wasteland’
Ireland has become a “toilet” for cross-border pollution, say campaigners, as officials investigate allegations around the movement of animal manure from Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland has the highest stocking density of livestock in the UK, with 25 million poultry birds, and intensive pig numbers at a 10-year high. But the disposal of animal waste and increasing levels of pollution may now halt the expansion of its multi-billion pound export-driven industry.
Continue reading...Just Stop Oil campaigners glue themselves to Da Vinci copy in Royal Academy
Protesters from the coalition have staged disruptions at major British museums five times in the past week
Five supporters of the Just Stop Oil coalition have glued themselves to a 500-year-old depiction of The Last Supper in London’s Royal Academy, the fifth time in a week that it has disrupted a major British art institution.
The activists struck just before noon, supergluing their hands to the frame of the 3-metre-long painting – a reproduction of the Leonardo da Vinci original attributed to his pupil, Giampietrino.
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