The Guardian
Specieswatch: leathery sea squirt, the knobbly invader from Korea
In Korea they are eaten steamed, but in Britain, where they arrived in 1952, they are seen as a menace
Seaside trippers gazing into harbours over the bank holiday might have wondered about the rather ugly creatures, about 16cm long, commonly seen attached to rocks, ropes and the hulls of boats. This is an invasive species known as the leathery sea squirt, Styela clava.
Styela clava arrived in Southampton in 1952 on the hulls of warships returning from the Korean war and from there, they spread around the UK’s coasts.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson's words on UK battery sector 'not matched by action'
Open letter calls for changes to policies sector says threatens to hold green economy back
Boris Johnson’s support for Britain’s “world leading” battery sector risks being undermined by government policy, according to the industry.
A coalition of trade groups and technology firms have written an open letter to the Guardian that calls for urgent changes to policies they say threaten to hold the sector back.
Continue reading...A record hot summer burned the first fruit of my apple tree – and left a bad taste in my mouth | Anthony N Castle
We grow things, invest, make decisions today to benefit the future. But has the climate emergency put an end to that?
There is an apple in my imagination, a memory. I can still picture the first moment I saw it in the scorching dusk, the first fruit of a tree my partner and I had planted just two years before. The sapling had taken root in the loamy clay of our garden and grown upwards over two hot summers and two dry winters. Now, it was bearing fruit, not yet ripe, and rough to the touch, but an apple nonetheless. The first of many.
We had planted the tree for the children we didn’t yet have, knowing it could come to bear fruit as they grew. It was an investment in our environment for the good of our children, an investment in their future, but we found that apple among the stones of the garden bed not long after. It had fallen, burned on the branch, scorched on one side.
Continue reading...Great Barrier Reef expert panel says Peter Ridd misrepresenting science
Panel head Ian Chubb compares ‘roadshow of Dr Ridd’ to tobacco industry strategy defending smoking
An expert panel led by the former chief scientist Ian Chubb has warned ministers that controversial scientist Peter Ridd is misrepresenting robust science about the plight of the Great Barrier Reef, and compared his claims to the strategy used by the tobacco industry to raise doubt about the impact of smoking.
The warning, in a letter to the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, and the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, follows Ridd launching a lecture tour in which he has repeated his claim that farmland pollution does not significantly damage the natural wonder.
Continue reading...Near-total ban imposed on sending wild African elephants to zoos
Cites, the global wildlife trade regulator, approves ‘momentous’ decision after EU adds loophole
The regulator of global wildlife trade has decided to impose a near-total ban on sending African elephants captured from the wild to zoos.
After a heated debate at a meeting of parties to the convention on international trade in endangered species (Cites) in Geneva on Tuesday, the member countries approved a proposed text after a revision by the European Union included some exceptions to the ban.
Continue reading...Government rhetoric on green energy needs to be matched by action
Innovation is transforming the way we generate and consume power, with future energy needs being met through subsidy-free renewables balanced by on-site battery storage.
The government has set out strong ambitions for the UK to be a world leader in flexible generation, most recently through the plans for a new Smart Export Guarantee.
Continue reading...Brazilian Amazon deforestation surges to break August records
1,114.8 sq km cut down this month, the same area as Hong Kong – on top of damage from fires
Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest August level since the current monitoring system began in 2015, underscoring concerns about the weakening of forest protection under President Jair Bolsonaro.
The world’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink lost 1,114.8 sq km (430 sq miles) – equivalent to the area of Hong Kong – in the first 26 days of this month, according to preliminary data from the government’s satellite monitoring agency. The data does not include damage caused by fires currently sweeping parts of the Amazon.
Continue reading...Tell us how you have been affected by the Amazon fires
We want to hear from people living or working on the frontline of the fires destroying forests in Brazil, Bolivia and across the region
Smoke from wildfires burning in the Amazon shrouded São Paulo in darkness earlier this month. The clouds covering the megacity, almost 2,000 miles from the fires, made it impossible for residents and the rest of the world to ignore the destruction taking place.
As international leaders, environmental groups and activists condemn Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro for weakening rainforest protections, we want to hear from those who have witnessed and been directly affected by these fires – in the Amazon and across the region.
Continue reading...Melbourne school's bin ban forces students to reuse containers or take garbage home
Melbourne Girls’ College principal says she wants parents to buy items with less packaging
A Melbourne selective girls’ school is removing its rubbish bins and will force students to pack reusable lunch containers or take their rubbish home from next week.
Melbourne Girls’ College principal Karen Money hopes the move will encourage families to think more sustainably about school lunches and buy items with less packaging.
Continue reading...Amazon rainforest fires: an environmental catastrophe – in pictures
Fires are raging across the world’s largest tropical rainforest as farmers, land-grabbers and loggers torch trees and clear land for crops or grazing. According to Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research, the number of fires detected by satellite in the Amazon region this month is the highest since 2010. Bowing to international pressure and a global outcry over the destruction of a vital resource in the fight against climate change, president Jair Bolsonaro authorised the deployment of Brazil’s armed forces to help combat blazes, with warplane dumping water on burning tracts of Amazon. Critics say the large number of fires this year has been stoked by Bolsonaro’s encouragement of farmers, loggers and ranchers to speed up efforts to strip away forest
Continue reading...Sydney Anglican and Catholic schools system won't back student climate strike
Sydney Catholic Schools spokesman says ‘the best way for young people to really make a difference is to receive a quality education’
Sydney Catholic and Anglican churches say they will not follow the example of the Uniting church, which has granted support to the school climate strike movement and given students support to attend the marches.
Students across the country are planning to walk out of school on Friday 20 September, to protest government inaction on the climate crisis. Thousands of Australian students participated in two previous strikes, which have since grown into a global movement of millions.
Continue reading...Countries vote to ban trade in endangered otters coveted as pets
Two species to be classed as most at risk after ownership craze fuelled by social media
A trade ban is looming for two endangered otter species after 100 countries voted to increase protections following a social media-fuelled craze for acquiring the mammals as pets.
A majority of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) voted to place the smooth-coated otter on the treaty’s most endangered list on Sunday. On Monday, they voted to do the same for the Asian small-clawed otter.
Continue reading...Underground line to heat up London homes during winter
Scheme to pipe ‘waste heat’ from tube into hundreds of Islington homes and businesses
The sweltering temperatures on the tube’s Northern line will soon begin keeping homes in Islington, north London, cosy through the colder months, under a scheme to harness the heat from the underground.
By the end of the year the project will pipe heat from the underground into hundreds of homes and businesses that are part of a heating scheme in the borough.
Continue reading...Latest fracking tremor believed to be UK’s biggest yet
Houses shake as 2.9-magnitude quake recorded near Cuadrilla’s site near Blackpool on Monday
A large tremor that caused houses to shake has been triggered by the UK’s only active fracking site, amid rising alarm about the controversial practice.
The 2.9-magnitude quake, recorded near Cuadrilla’s site near Blackpool on Monday morning, is believed to be the biggest fracking-related tremor seen in Britain.
Continue reading...Ban petrol and diesel cars from Scottish cities, says coalition
Climate crisis group says Scottish government urgently needs to speed up response
A coalition of climate campaigners and business groups have called for a ban on all petrol and diesel vehicles in Scottish cities as part of a multibillion-pound strategy to cut carbon emissions.
The climate emergency response group, a coalition of 19 environment groups, civic institutions, companies and business groups, said the Scottish government had to significantly speed up and strengthen its responses to the threats posed by global heating.
Continue reading...Cuba drastically reforms fishing laws to protect coral reef, sharks and rays
Reforms will oblige Cuba to work more closely with its US neighbours – in spite of US President Trump’s frosty attitude
Cuba has introduced sweeping reforms of its fishing laws in a move seen as smoothing the way for possible collaboration with the US on protecting their shared ocean, despite Donald Trump’s policy of reversing a thaw in relations.
The move is the first time the text of an environmental law in Cuba specifies the need for scientific research, which experts say will mean greater reliance on state-of-the-art US technology.
Continue reading...Brazilian warplanes dump water on Amazon fires as outcry mounts
G7 leaders stepped up presure on president Jair Bolsonaro to tackle destruction of precious rainforest
Brazilian warplanes have begun dumping water on burning forest in the Amazon state of Rondonia, responding to an outcry over the destruction of the world’s largest tropical rain forest.
President Jair Bolsonaro authorised military operations in seven states on Sunday to combat raging fires in the Amazon, responding to requests for assistance from their local governments, a spokeswoman for his office said.
Continue reading...Venomous brown recluse spider removed from woman’s left ear
Spider did not bite Kansas City woman Susie Torres, who woke up hearing a ‘bunch of swooshing and water in my ear’
A Kansas City woman woke one morning this week thinking she had water in her left ear. It turned out to be a highly venomous brown recluse spider.
Related: Experience: I was nearly killed by a spider bite
Continue reading...Great Australian Bight oil industry would need decades of subsidies, report warns
Australia Institute argues that South Australia would receive few benefits and would be exposed to huge risks
The South Australian government needs to prepare itself for decades of subsidies if it wants to develop an offshore oil and gas industry in the Great Australian Bight, according to a new report.
Analysis by the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute draws on industry modelling to argue South Australia is unlikely to receive any noticeable benefit from tax payments as a result of oil and gas production in the Bight, with the benefits mostly flowing to the commonwealth. It says in the exploration phase, production would be minimal, paying no royalties or taxes.
Continue reading...Let’s just burn all household waste | Letters
Westminster councillor Tim Mitchell draws attention to a key issue in the plastics recycling debate: contamination by “wrong items”, such as the compostable bags now becoming widely used by the Guardian, Waitrose and others (Letters, 24 August).
As he says, just one or two such bags can contaminate an entire batch and even I, a former journalist working in the plastics sector, find it hard to be certain of the exact composition of many of the bags I receive.
Continue reading...