The Guardian
Canberra turns over a new leaf: autumn hues in the capital – in pictures
It’s that time of year in Australia’s capital when a chill hangs in the air, wooly jumpers come out of the wardrobe and deciduous trees put on their annual colour show. Photographer Mike Bowers documents the change of season in Canberra
Continue reading...Police warn against vigilante action against duckling hit-and-run driver
Driver’s details shared on social media after allegedly running over ducklings at roundabout as other drivers waited for them to cross
Police have urged the public against any vigilante actions after the registration of a driver who allegedly ran over a brood of ducklings was published online.
Staffordshire police confirmed it is investigating a Facebook post which claimed that at least three ducklings were killed on Friday at a roundabout in Trentham near Stoke-on-Trent. The post claimed they were killed by the driver of a white transit van who allegedly ignored other drivers who were waiting for the ducks to cross the road.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on swallows and swifts: nature’s messengers | Editorial
Migrant birds carry information around the globe. When their arrival is delayed, we should worry
Swifts are back in UK skies, putting an end to the annual hiatus when nature seems to hold its breath, awaiting successive waves of migrant birds whose twittering is the soundscape of summer. But these are worrying times. The swift has joined that traditional herald of summer, the cuckoo, on the RSPB’s latest red list of endangered species, following a 58% fall in their numbers since 1995.
Billions of birds are disappearing, according to a report released this month. “Birds truly are the canary in the coalmine as indicators for the health of our planet, given their sensitivity to ecosystem changes, their ubiquity around the planet, and how well studied they are,” said Patricia Zurita, of BirdLife International.
Continue reading...This ‘super reserve’ is not just for the birds. It could change the landscape of Britain | Stephen Moss
The creation of a “super nature reserve” in Somerset is a gamechanger for wildlife conservation. But the real question is: what happens next?
“Build it, and they will come”, to paraphrase the 1980s feelgood movie Field of Dreams. And they have. Since former peat diggings were transformed into the Avalon Marshes 30 years ago, a host of new species have colonised these watery flatlands. Cranes, bitterns, spoonbills, glossy ibises and three kinds of elegant, snow-white egrets – little, cattle and great white – are now a regular sight here.
Continue reading...Meet the plant detective helping gardeners and fighting crime
Cataloguing biodiversity is just one part of the job for the scientists at the National Herbarium of NSW, whose forensic skills are putting Australia’s plants under the microscope
Every morning a pile of envelopes full of promise and possibility lands on Andrew Orme’s desk.
In his case, promise and possibility means unidentified organic material waiting to be inspected, identified and preserved for the future.
Continue reading...New Zealand’s promised action on climate is nothing more than a tottering baby’s first steps | Sue Bradford
Instead of taking on vested interests in the agriculture and corporate sectors, the government continues to take the line of least resistance
On the campaign trail during New Zealand’s 2017 election, Labour leader Jacinda Ardern talked about climate change as her generation’s “nuclear-free” moment. She went on to become prime minister, taking Labour to a second-term victory in 2020 with an outright majority, unusual in New Zealand’s proportional representation system.
Her preface to this week’s budget talks about “making investments to secure our future” and says it “makes the greatest strides in climate action by any government to date”.
Continue reading...How London’s new Elizabeth line has created a sanctuary for birds
Millions of tonnes of earth from the Crossrail project has been used to create a nature habitat on the Wallasea Island, Essex stretch of the link
London’s new Elizabeth line will allow commuters to start taking high-speed trains under the city this week, on part of a 73-mile route that stretches from Reading in the west to Shenfield in the east. They will not be the first travellers to enjoy the benefits of the new line, however.
On Wallasea Island in Essex, thousands of birds have already taken advantage of the £19bn rail project – on a mosaic of lagoons, islands, and bays that have been created out of 3.5m tonnes of earth that were dug up during construction of its new stations and 13 miles of twin tunnels.
Continue reading...More than $1bn of Coalition’s climate funding could go to fossil fuel projects, analysis finds
‘Clean’ hydrogen and carbon capture and storage head list of funding pledges since net zero promise
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The Coalition has announced more than $1bn in climate funding that could go to fossil fuel developments since setting a target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 last year, an analysis has found.
The bulk of the funding promised during the election campaign has been to develop “clean” hydrogen – a term often used to refer to hydrogen made with gas, a fossil fuel – and carbon capture and storage (CCS), which has had little success to date but oil and gas executives say will need to play a massive role if the world is to slash emissions.
$50m in the budget for a “future gas infrastructure investment framework”.
$20m for CarbonNet, a project that aims to capture and store carbon dioxide in an offshore reservoir in Gippsland in Victoria.
$66m in the budget for a “patent box” tax concession for “low emissions technology innovations”.
$200m for clean hydrogen and “low emissions technology partnerships” with Japan and South Korea.
Continue reading...Dugongs and sea turtles at risk after Queensland floods wipe out seagrass, study shows
Researchers say sediment from floodwaters reduced exposure to sunlight and smothered seagrass the animals rely on for food
Catastrophic floods earlier this year wiped out one of the largest and most important seagrass meadows in eastern Australia, increasing the risk that dugongs and sea turtles will become stranded, according to researchers.
Scientists from James Cook University monitored the health of seagrass meadows across 2,300 square kilometres of Hervey Bay and the Great Sandy Strait in southern Queensland.
Continue reading...Global heating is cutting sleep across the world, study finds
Data shows people finding it harder to sleep, especially women and older people, with serious health impacts
Rising temperatures driven by the climate crisis are cutting the sleep of people across the world, the largest study to date has found.
Good sleep is critical to health and wellbeing. But global heating is increasing night-time temperatures, even faster than in the day, making it harder to sleep. The analysis revealed that the average global citizen is already losing 44 hours of sleep a year, leading to 11 nights with less than seven hours’ sleep, a standard benchmark of sufficient sleep.
Continue reading...Ancient forest found at bottom of huge sinkhole in China
Scientists believe site in Guangxi with trees up to 40 metres tall may contain undiscovered species
An ancient forest has been found at the bottom of a giant sinkhole in China, with trees up to 40 metres (130ft) tall.
Scientists believe it could contain undiscovered plant and animal species.
Continue reading...Glowworms bred in captivity to be released in southern England
More than 500 larvae will be released in Hampshire and Cornwall as part of a four-year project to revive the declining species
They once lit up summer nights, people read by their luminescence and they’ve been celebrated by everyone from William Shakespeare to Crowfoot, a 19th-century North American chief.
But glowworms have had their lights dimmed by a cult of tidiness in the countryside, the loss of wild meadows and light pollution.
Continue reading...Hard-right Tories push to delay environmental land management scheme
Scheme to pay farmers for nature stewardship is seen by some as one of the few positive Brexit dividends
The government’s plans to pay farmers for their stewardship of nature could be delayed or scrapped, it is feared, as hard-right Conservative MPs join the campaign against the environmental land management scheme (Elms).
The rollout of Elms, seen by some as one of the few positive Brexit dividends, is due to begin this year, with more standards beginning incrementally between 2023 and 2025.
Continue reading...‘Sleeping through extinction’: China urged to end delays to Cop15 summit
Covid lockdowns in host country frustrate scientists as no date in sight for key UN conservation conference after two years of delays
China has been urged to name a date for a key UN nature summit this year, amid growing frustration with Beijing and concerns among experts that we are “sleeping through this cataclysmic climate extinction”.
After two years of delays, governments had been scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, for Cop15 in late April to negotiate this decade’s targets to halt and reverse the rampant destruction of ecosystems and wildlife crucial to human civilisation. It had been hoped the summit would be a “Paris moment” for biodiversity, with China holding the presidency for a major UN environmental agreement for the first time.
Continue reading...Abbott enriched shareholders as faulty plant needed repairs, records show
Economists condemn ‘rot’ in system after manufacturer issued billions in stock buybacks despite problems at Michigan factory
A deadly bacteria outbreak in baby formula and an ongoing formula shortage stem from issues some economists characterize as “rot” in the nation’s economic system: prioritization of shareholder wealth and consolidation.
The embattled baby formula producer Abbott used windfall profits to enrich investors instead of replacing failing equipment that was likely injecting the dangerous bacteria into its infant nutritional products, financial records and whistleblower documents show.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including an injured bird, hungry jackals and a rescued dolphin
Continue reading...‘Ella’s law’ bill seeks to establish right to clean air in UK
Jenny Jones says bill, named after girl who died of asthma, treats pollution as matter of social justice
A new clean air law is starting out in parliament after the Green party peer Jenny Jones won first place in the House of Lords ballot for private members’ bills.
Named Ella’s law, as a tribute to nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah who died from asthma induced by air pollution, the bill would establish a right to clean air and set up a commission to oversee government actions and progress. It would also join policies on indoor and outdoor air pollution with actions to combat our climate emergency, and include annual reviews of the latest science.
Continue reading...UK nuclear power stations’ decommissioning cost soars to £23.5bn
Failures in government’s investment strategy mean taxpayer has contributed £10.7bn in just two years
The cost of decommissioning the UK’s seven ageing nuclear power stations has nearly doubled to £23.5bn and is likely to rise further, the public accounts committee has said.
The soaring costs of safely decommissioning the advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs), including Dungeness B, Hunstanton B and Hinkley B, are being loaded on to the taxpayer, their report said.
Continue reading...Australia’s greenhouse pollution from coal higher per person than any other developed country, data shows
Despite the growth of renewable energy, Australia’s per capita coal emissions of 4.04 tonnes a year is nearly four times the global average
Australia had the highest levels of greenhouse gas pollution from coal per person than any other developed country in 2021, according to new data.
But the data shows per capita greenhouse gas emissions from coal fell sharply last year, with a surge in solar and wind energy seeing per capita rates drop well below the average of the previous five years.
Continue reading...Egg prices could rise for UK consumers as farmers cut flock numbers
Fewer laying birds are being placed on farms as producers respond to poor retail profit margins
Consumers could be hit with higher egg prices as UK farmers reduce their flock numbers, in response to escalating costs and insufficient profit margins.
The numbers of chicks being placed by egg producers in April was down 15% year on year, according to the latest government figures.
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