The Guardian
Pollutionwatch: European air-quality map exposes dangers
From diesel-stricken Paris to coal-reliant Poland, study of pollution hotspots underlines need for reform
The European Environment Agency has shed fresh light on the continent’s air quality. Following the prevailing winds from west to east there is a clear gradient, with the cleanest air in the countries first in line for fresh Atlantic winds.
Geography has an impact too: the Alps and Apennines trap air pollution in Italy’s Po Valley, making it one of the worst-hit areas.
Continue reading...Offshore windfarms 'can provide more electricity than the world needs'
Supplies from turbines will prove to be the next great energy revolution, IAE predicts
Erecting wind turbines on the world’s best offshore sites could provide more than enough clean energy to meet global electricity demand, according to a report.
A detailed study of the world’s coastlines has found that offshore windfarms alone could provide more electricity than the world needs – even if they are only built in windy regions in shallow waters near the shore.
Continue reading...Coral cover around popular Great Barrier Reef islands has almost halved
Scientists shocked by data showing loss of hard corals at 100 locations across Whitsundays, Magnetic Island, Keppel Islands and Palm Islands
Coral coverage around some of the most popular tourist islands on the Great Barrier Reef has dropped by almost half in the last 18 years, according to a new study.
Scientists said they were “shocked” after analysing data from monitoring dives between 1999 and 2017 at 100 different locations across the Whitsunday Islands, Magnetic Island, Keppel Islands and Palm Islands.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion begin legal challenge against protest ban
Lawyers for climate group in high court to fight police order stopping London protests
Lawyers for Extinction Rebellion are in the high court on Thursday to challenge a police order that last week effectively banned its supporters from assembling anywhere in London.
The order issued by the Metropolitan police last Monday under section 14 of the Public Order Act said XR activists “must cease their protest(s) within London”, in what was seen as an attempt to curtail the group’s two-week “October uprising”.
Continue reading...Grandmothers go underwater to uncover population of lethal sea snakes – video
A group of women in Noumea who swim and snorkel up to 3km five days a week have uncovered a large population of venomous sea snakes in the Baie des Citrons where scientists once believed they were rare. The citizen scientists, aged in their 60s and 70s, call themselves 'the fantastic grandmothers’. They swim with the 1.5-long lethal greater sea snakes, documenting the local population with cameras to take note of their breeding habits and share them with experts
Continue reading...Snorkelling grandmothers uncover large population of venomous sea snakes in Noumea
Women’s photography of greater sea snake, once believed to be an anomaly in the Baie des Citrons, help scientists understand the ecosystem
A group of snorkelling grandmothers who swim up to 3km five days a week have uncovered a large population of venomous sea snakes in a bay in Noumea where scientists once believed they were rare.
Claire Goiran from the University of New Caledonia and Professor Rick Shine from Australia’s Macquarie University were studying a small harmless species known as the turtle‐headed sea snake located in the Baie des Citrons, but would occasionally encounter the 1.5 metre-long venomous greater sea snake, also known as the olive-headed sea snake.
Continue reading...'So they knew': Ocasio-Cortez questions Exxon scientist on climate crisis denial – video
House Democrats on Wednesday laid out evidence that the oil behemoth ExxonMobil had known since the 1970s about the potential for a climate crisis and intentionally sowed doubt about it. One of those testifying was Martin Hoffert, a scientist consultant for Exxon Research and Engineering in the 1980s. Responding to the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hoffert testified that in 1982, Exxon scientists predicted how carbon dioxide levels would rise and heat the planet as humans burned more fossil fuels
Continue reading...Amazon rainforest 'close to irreversible tipping point'
Forecast suggests rainforest could stop producing enough rain to sustain itself by 2021
Soaring deforestation coupled with the destructive policies of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, could push the Amazon rainforest dangerously to an irreversible “tipping point” within two years, a prominent economist has said.
After this point the rainforest would stop producing enough rain to sustain itself and start slowly degrading into a drier savannah, releasing billions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, which would exacerbate global heating and disrupt weather across South America.
Continue reading...Retailers move to reassure consumers over chicken safety after drug seizure
A shipment of Chinese antibiotics, headed for a Northern Ireland poultry farm, has sparked an investigation into food security
Retailers and the poultry industry have attempted to reassure consumers on the safety of chicken, after a seizure of Chinese antibiotics suspected to be destined for unregulated use on a poultry farm in Northern Ireland.
The County Tyrone farm suspected of trying to source the antibiotics is now at the centre of an investigation by the Northern Ireland Department of Health. It sends chickens to the processing company Moy Park, a major supplier to UK retailers including Tesco, Ocado and Sainsbury’s.
Investigators have not confirmed publicly whether this is an isolated incident or whether poultry containing antibiotic residues could have been entering the retail food chain for an extended period.
The antibiotic seized is believed to have been amoxicillin, which is approved for use as a veterinary medicine in the UK, but is supposed to be administered only under veterinary supervision. It may not be used as a growth promoter, a practice banned in the EU since 2006. The widespread use of antibiotics in farming is leading to the development of germs that are resistant to even the strongest antibiotics used in human health.
Food industry analysts said the financial incentives to use low doses of antibiotics as a way of boosting growth rates were enormous.
“If you administer growth-promoting antibiotics and get a 10% reduction in feed costs, that is a substantial boost to your profit margin. It’s also unfair competition to honest farmers and a risk to public health through the development of germs that are resistant to antibiotics,” said Erik Millstone, professor of science policy at the University of Sussex.
A spokesperson for the British Poultry Council, of which Moy Park is a member, said consumers could be reassured that antibiotic residues would not be present in chicken meat.
“The UK has an effective statutory veterinary residue surveillance scheme in accordance with EC legislation. There are strict regulations governing withdrawal period (how much time passes between when an animal is last treated with antibiotics and when it leaves the farm) that ensures that there are no residues in the meat,” said the spokesperson.
It is understood that steps have been taken to ensure that the chickens at the farm at the centre of the investigation will not enter the food chain. Moy Park also said in a statement that the poultry industry in Northern Ireland was subject to a testing programme by government vets. “All test results across our supply farms have been negative,” said a spokesperson.
MEPs block move to weaken EU rules on bee-harming pesticides
Sixteen states and European commission had lobbied against planned guidance
The European parliament has vetoed a move by member states and the European commission to weaken EU rules protecting bee colonies from toxic pesticides.
MEPs blocked revised legislation that was said to ignore the risk to bee larvae from long-term exposure to chemicals, known as chronic toxicity.
Continue reading...Climate activists on how they think the crisis should be reported – video
The Guardian recently pledged to give the climate crisis the attention it demands. We believe it is important that our readers have a say in how the Guardian and the wider industry reports on the crisis, so we asked young people at the forefront of the fight to share their views
Snail fail: Australia turns back Mercedes-Benz cars after escargot cargo found
Biosecurity officers shell-shocked after finding 30 snails never before detected in Australia
Nine-hundred Mercedes-Benz cars have been turned away at the Australian border after dozens of rare and exotic snails were found hiding inside their shipments.
More than 30 heath snails (Xerolenta obvia), which have never before been detected in Australia, were found by the Department of Agriculture in shipments of the luxury German car.
Continue reading...Plan for fracking 'years behind schedule' and has cost taxpayer £32m
Spending watchdog finds that only three wells have been dug, despite aim to have 20 by 2020
The government’s plan to establish fracking across the UK is years behind schedule and has cost the taxpayer at least £32m so far, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.
An investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) said the shale gas industry has launched only three wells in three years, even though the plan was to establish 20 by the middle of next year.
Continue reading...Wildlife corridors to save Borneo elephants – in pictures
Malaysia and Indonesia are home to the oldest jungles in the world and produce more than 85% of the world’s palm oil. However, cultivation and production of the oil have caused deforestation, pollution, land degradation and human-wildlife conflict.
Deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia has endangered the Borneo elephant, which depends on forest connectivity to survive, by isolating it from large foraging grounds. Now, some plantations are working with WWF-Malaysia to create ecological corridors to enable the animals to travel between forest patches
Continue reading...Pumpkin waste in UK predicted to hit scary heights this Halloween
More than 8m squashes likely to be binned after annual lantern carving, study shows
Britons are expected to generate record levels of food waste over Halloween this year.
More than 8m pumpkins – equivalent to more than 18,000 tonnes of edible pumpkin flesh – will be heading for the bin because the majority of consumers will not eat it.
Continue reading...First 100% electric black cab for 120 years launches in London
Converted Nissan van called the Dynamo licensed to help clean up capital’s ‘filthy air’
The launch of a fully electric black cab for London has been hailed by the mayor for helping clean up the capital’s polluted air.
The Dynamo, a taxi converted from a Nissan electric van in a Coventry factory, is the first 100% electric taxi on the streets of London since 1899. Its predecessor, the Bersey, failed to take off at a time when most cabs were horse-drawn.
Continue reading...Sad mystery of elastic bands found on remote Cornish island solved
Seabird conservationists perplexed by discoveries on Mullion island work out depressing explanation
There isn’t a lot to Mullion island, a jagged outcrop of volcanic rock that rises out of a crystal-clear sea just off the Cornish coast. Nobody lives on the island and visitors need a permit to land.
So when conservationists who occasionally paddle across on kayaks to carry out seabird surveys began spotting brightly coloured elastic bands – thousands of them – there was a little bit of head-scratching.
Continue reading...Australia’s hopes to expand coal exports in south-east Asia ‘delusional’, experts say
Region’s expected increase in coal-fired power plants could turn out to be ‘more fizz than boom’ as construction rates fall markedly
The number of new coal-fired power plants starting construction across south-east Asia has fallen markedly over the past two years as Australia has increasingly looked to the region to expand its thermal coal exports.
Analysis by US-based climate research and advocacy group Global Energy Monitor found work on only 1.5 gigawatts of new coal generation – equivalent to one large Australian plant – began in the region in the six months to June, all of it in Indonesia.
Continue reading...Drought-hit farmers ask government to help pay council rates and offer exit packages
National Farmers’ Federation sends a list of demands for immediate drought response to the commonwealth
Farmers have sent a list of key demands for immediate drought response to government, including a call for the commonwealth to pay council rates for affected businesses and to offer exit packages for those wanting to leave the land.
Releasing its national drought policy on Wednesday, the National Farmers’ Federation will outline its priorities for a new national framework, while also listing a set of demands for farmers affected by the current drought.
Continue reading...A crude awakening for modern art world | Letter
The demonstration entitled Crude Truth by Extinction Rebellion at the National Portrait Gallery should be recognised as an art work of considerable significance and beauty in itself (Fake oil spilled in art gallery protest over BP sponsorship, 21 October).
It is in fact a group portrait of three semi-nude demonstrators which brings together issues of the vulnerability of flesh with the socio-political significance of oil and its corrosive influence in our world, in the best tradition of the event art and happenings of the 1960s. It is the Three Graces of our time.
Continue reading...