The Guardian
From firestorms to dinner with Trump: Guardian Australia's best news photos of the year
Labor lost the election, Australia was hit by a punishing drought and the nation mourned Bob Hawke
Continue reading...How fake daylight and lots of sand and patience helped save the spoonie
The spoon-billed sandpiper has been brought back from the brink after a conservation programme in Gloucestershire
After eight years, conservationists have succeeded in helping spoon-billed sandpipers hatch chicks at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust headquarters in Gloucestershire.
The birds belong to the world’s only captive flock of spoon-billed sandpipers, considered to be among the rarest of waders, and highly threatened. About 200 or so birds are thought to be left in the wild.
Continue reading...‘I feel born again’: recovering from trauma, one tree at a time
Trees for Life, one of four charities chosen for our climate appeal, runs projects that offer ‘eco-therapy’ to its volunteers
• Please donate to our appeal here
Paul Valencia Palaçios has walked for two hours from the east end of Glasgow to Govan to describe what it is like to plant a tree.
The 39-year-old asylum seeker from El Salvador sits in the offices of Govan Community Project – a charity that provides everything from English lessons to legal advice for refugees – and beams.
Continue reading...BBC put presenter on a plane to interview Greta Thunberg
Sarah Sands, editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, admits it ‘felt awkward’
Putting a presenter on a flight to Sweden to meet climate activist Greta Thunberg “felt awkward”, the editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme has admitted.
The 16-year-old campaigner, who was a guest editor on a special edition of the show, avoids air travel because of its environmental impact.
Continue reading...Chinese company approved to run water mining operation in drought-stricken Queensland
Joyful View to operate facility as nearby residents placed on water restrictions and communities face risk of running dry
A Chinese-owned company has been granted approval to run a 96m litre a year commercial water mining operation in severely drought-hit southern Queensland, where locals are on water rations and communities at imminent risk of running dry.
Last week the Southern Downs regional council approved a development application for the company, Joyful View Garden Real Estate Development Resort Pty Ltd, to operate a water extraction and distribution facility at Cherrabah, a large property at Elbow Valley near the Queensland-New South Wales border.
Continue reading...Revealed: microplastic pollution is raining down on city dwellers
Exclusive: London has highest level yet recorded but health impacts of breathing particles are unknown
Microplastic pollution is raining down on city dwellers, with research revealing that London has the highest levels yet recorded.
The health impacts of breathing or consuming the tiny plastic particles are unknown, and experts say urgent research is needed to assess the risks.
Continue reading...'Mother Nature recovers amazingly fast': reviving Ukraine's rich wetlands
In the Danube delta, removing dams and bringing back native species have restored ecosystems
A battered old military truck and rusting Belarusian tractor are perched on the edge of degraded wetland in the heart of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. They have been hastily deployed in a desperate attempt to save an excavator from being swallowed by the squelching earth beside the obsolete Soviet dam it is trying to demolish.
In the 1970s, 11 earth dams were built on the Sarata and Kogilnik rivers as a crude alternative to footbridges to access the area’s aquifers.
Continue reading...Australian miners hit by lowest thermal coal price in more than a decade
Drop comes as usage in Europe and the US declines and China tightens use of imported coal
Australian coal exporters have experienced the biggest annual drop in thermal coal prices in more than a decade during 2019, raising doubts about industry projections that demand will continue to grow.
The spot price of thermal coal, which is burned to generate electricity, was US$66.20 ($95) last week, down more than a third from US$100.73 ($145) a year earlier.
Continue reading...Inquiry ordered into insufficient insurance for flood-hit homes
Environment secretary seeks another review, as flood victims promised further £1m
Ministers have ordered yet another review into why some flood-hit homes cannot get insurance and promised another £1m to help those affected after around 100 homes were hit over Christmas.
Theresa Villiers, the environment secretary, said she was commissioning an inquiry into why some flooded communities were unable to get sufficient insurance, despite an agreement between insurers and the government in 2015 that was supposed to mean everyone would have access to affordable cover.
Continue reading...UK weather 'attracts migrant species but threatens native ones'
National Trust reports influx of species in 2019 but says climate is putting native wildlife at risk
Volatile weather led to an influx of exciting migrant species in 2019 but is putting pressure on some homegrown flora and fauna, according to an annual audit of the UK’s environment.
Many unusual birds and butterflies ended up on UK soil over the past 12 months, whisked in by high winds or attracted by unseasonably hot spells, and there was good news for native grey seals, dragonflies and wildflowers, the survey from the National Trust reveals.
Continue reading...'This is the farming of the future': the rise of hydroponic food labs
Needing no soil or sun, an underground farm in Liverpool challenges traditional methods
Beautifully arranged rows of bok choi, parsley, tarragon and basil alongside dozens of variety of lettuce grow together in harmony under the pink glow of an LED light in a former sugar factory.
Water infused with nutrients trickles on to the green towers, keeping the rosettes hydrated and fed. This is a technically advanced indoor vertical farm buried deep in a basement at a former Tate & Lyle warehouse and now the Liverpool Life Sciences UTC.
Continue reading...Rising temperatures could imperil future of Boxing Day Test cricket, report warns
Event may need to be played at night or in shoulder season as climate crisis exposes players and fans to unprecedented levels of extreme heat
The Melbourne Boxing Day Test may have to be played at night or moved away from Christmas to November or March as the number of extreme heat days rises over coming decades, a new report says.
The analysis by the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub says the climate crisis is already disrupting Australian cricket, citing the cancellation of club matches on hot days and the abandonment of a Big Bash game in Canberra after bushfire smoke reduced air quality and visibility.
Continue reading...Trawlers return to Pacific fishing area in rare environmental success story
With stocks rebounding, regulators have reopened a groundfish habitat off the west coast – with environmentalists’ support
A rare environmental success story is unfolding in waters off the US west coast.
After years of fear and uncertainty, bottom trawler fishermen – those who use nets to catch rockfish, bocaccio, sole, Pacific Ocean perch and other deep-dwelling fish – are making a comeback here, reinventing themselves as a sustainable industry less than two decades after authorities closed huge stretches of the Pacific Ocean because of the species’ depletion.
Continue reading...More US voters than ever care about climate – but will they go to the polls?
New poll shows climate and environment the top priority for 14% of voters, raising prospect of large turnout for green issues
A growing share of voters list climate and the environment as their top priority, according to a new poll from the Environmental Voter Project.
Of the registered voters surveyed, 14% named “addressing climate change and protecting the environment” their No 1 priority over all other issues, compared with 2% to 6% before the 2016 presidential election.
Continue reading...Specieswatch: the strange and amazing common starfish
The creatures have thrived for 450 million years and possess some remarkable characteristics
The common starfish, Asterias rubens, is inedible, useless as bait and has zero commercial value. Such is the damning verdict of shoreline anglers on a species that has been thriving for 450 million years. After winter storms they are often seen stranded on beaches but otherwise in summer are found by delighted children in rock pools around British coasts. Also known as sea stars because of their five arms, specimens are usually orange or brown and grow to 10 to 30cm (11.8 inches) across, although sometimes larger depending on the food supply.
They are strange creatures, spiny on top and able to move around on small bumpy tubes on their underside. They have cells that “smell” prey and detect light. Chop them up and each piece will regrow into new starfish provided a part of the central core remains in each piece. But perhaps their most remarkable feature is the ability to turn their stomachs inside out through the mouth to absorb prey and then suck the stomach back into the body.
Continue reading...Flood defence strategy needs a radical rethink | Letters
The call by leaders from the north and Midlands for an overhaul of how flood defence activity is funded and organised (Report, 23 December) will strike a chord with many across the country. Currently, 1m homes in the UK have a higher than 1% chance of flooding in any given year, and recent months have shown the devastating impact of flooding on households and businesses.
Looking beyond what the effective emergency response is, we must do more to plan how to adapt to climate change and not continue with the current cycle of reactive funding that typically follows floods.
Continue reading...2020 set to be year of the electric car, say industry analysts
Mini, Vauxhall Corsa and Fiat 5oo will join rapidly expanding European EV market
Europe’s carmakers are gearing up to make 2020 the year of the electric car, according to automotive analysts, with a wave of new models launching as the world’s biggest manufacturers scramble to lower the carbon dioxide emissions of their products.
Previous electric models have mostly been targeted at niche markets, but 2020 will see the launch of flagship electric models with familiar names, such as the Mini, the Vauxhall Corsa and the Fiat 500.
Continue reading...Are vegetables vegan? Organic agriculture's dirty little secret
Even if you avoid industrial farm produce it’s likely that your veggies will have been grown with the help of manure and other animal products
Will Bonsall is a homesteader and 45-year vegan living in rural Maine with a message for Americans – your vegetables are “very un-vegan”.
Related: A birthday candle in a banana: why fruit is by far the most offensive vegan dessert
Continue reading...Barge loaded with 2,000 litres of diesel sinks in the Galápagos – video
A barge carrying 2,000 litres of diesel has sunk at a dock on San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos archipelago. The incident occurred as workers attempted to load a container on a barge with the crane and both somehow tipped, destabilising the vessel which turned on its side. Barge workers began to jump into the water to escape the sinking vessel. A clean-up operation has begun and environmental impact is unclear
Continue reading...Heartbreaking and heartwarming: animals rescued from Australia's bushfires devastation
The saving of fire-threatened animals from koalas to kangaroos reflects some of the small acts of heroism occurring during the fires
As Australia’s bushfire crisis continues, millions of hectares have been lost, with a tragic impact on wildlife and flora.
Among the destruction, the efforts of volunteer firefighters, residents and animal rescuers have stood out, with small acts of heroism that have saved many animal lives. A few have become emblematic images of this year’s terrible fire season.
Continue reading...