The Guardian
Microplastics in water not harmful to humans, says WHO report
Experts find no proof minuscule particles are a threat to health but say more research is needed
Microplastics are increasingly found in drinking water, but there is no evidence so far that this poses a risk to humans, according to a new assessment by the World Health Organization.
However, the United Nations body warned against complacency because more research is needed to fully understand how plastic spreads into the environment and works its way through human bodies.
Continue reading...Six sentences of hope: Defining a unifying vision in the face of the climate crisis | Richard Flanagan
A sense of futility haunts us all, so I sought to distill in as few words as possible what could be done by us as a people. Writing them, I felt my despair lift
In 1971, the Liberal Billy McMahon – routinely judged the worst Australian prime minister ever, an achievement not to be underestimated in a nation where the worst routinely rule – created a new portfolio: Environment, Arts and Aboriginal Affairs. Nobody wanted the job: given it, Peter Howson observed that he was responsible for “trees, boongs and poofters.”
What’s changed with our conservative rulers over the last half century? On the evidence of the shame the prime minister, Scott Morrison, visited on all Australians last week at the Pacific Islands Forum, not very much. There he successfully pressured Pacific leaders to remove from the final forum communique and climate change statement all references to coal, to limiting warming to less than 1.5C, and to setting out a plan for net zero emissions by 2050.
Continue reading...Will 30p plastic bags end our habit for good – or is it time for more extreme measures?
Morrisons is trialling a higher charge for single-use bags, but experts says all non-essential plastic must be phased out
It is a fairly hefty price hike, but it could pay off. Morrisons is increasing the price of its plastic bags to 30p, having already upped them to 20p earlier this year. The supermarket is trialling the charge in some of its Welsh stores, with money being “reinvested in plastic reduction programmes”, says a spokeswoman.
The 5p charge for single-use plastic bags that was introduced in Wales in 2011, then Northern Ireland and Scotland before England finally caught up in 2015, has been considered a success. The seven main supermarkets in England gave out 6bn fewer bags between in the first six months of the charge than in the corresponding period a year before. However, last year supermarkets sold 1.18bn of the thicker “bags for life”, prompting fears people were using these as single-use bags instead. The Environmental Investigation Agency has said bags for life should cost £1, rather than the 10p many supermarkets still charge.
Continue reading...Los Angeles to build world's largest wildlife bridge across 10-lane freeway
An $87m corridor will extend over Highway 101 to reconnect the ecosystem and possibly save mountain lions from extinction
Engineers in southern California are hard at work designing the biggest wildlife corridor in the world, to extend over US Highway 101 to the north-west of Los Angeles.
The corridor will connect different parts of the Santa Monica Mountain chain, which is crucial to the future of mountain lions – but it will help other species as well. The $87m bridge has entered its final design phase and is on track to open in 2023.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion protests had public support, Met officer tells court
London protests were disruptive but made rational case, officer tells court where three activists are on trial
A senior Scotland Yard officer giving evidence at the first group trial of Extinction Rebellion activists behind mass protests in central London said the demonstrators had provoked “soul searching” and proved articulate and rational as they made their case.
The protests, in April this year, had found support even among the public facing severe disruption from the demonstrations, he said.
Continue reading...Morrisons moves to end killing of male calves at birth
UK supermarket guarantees market for unwanted offspring of dairy cows on suppliers’ farms that might otherwise be slaughtered immediately
Morrisons is guaranteeing a market for all male calves born on its dairy suppliers’ farms in a bid to stop them being killed at birth.
A Guardian investigation last year revealed an estimated 95,000 male dairy calves were being slaughtered on-farm as farmers couldn’t afford to keep them, in a practice known as the dairy industry’s “dirty secret”.
The retailer’s new policy – coming into force in October – ensures they are neither shot or exported. Instead farmers will be required to rear the calves to a certain weight until 15–40 days of age, at which point they will be bought by the beef-rearing company Buitelaar.
Related: Dairy’s ‘dirty secret’: it's still cheaper to kill male calves than to rear them
Continue reading...Sir Simon Gourlay obituary
In 1958, my father-in-law, Simon Gourlay, who has died aged 85, bought 200 acres of pasture and started farming near Knighton, on the English-Welsh border. He converted the dilapidated house and surrounding farmland into a warm family home and later developed the five-acre garden, which was subsequently opened to the public for the National Garden Scheme.
In the late 1970s, he joined the National Farmers’ Union as a delegate and he rose to become NFU president in 1986. During his five-year term of office, he was a moderniser and actively promoted women in farming. He was knighted in 1989 for services to farming.
Continue reading...A world of ice and fire: life with the Nenets – in pictures
For thousands of years the Nenets people have migrated with their reindeer herds across the Yamal Peninsula in the Russian Arctic. In October 2016, Alegra Ally travelled to north-west Siberia to join a family and document their way of life as autumn turned to winter
New Path – A Window on Nenets Life by Alegra Ally is published by Schilt
Continue reading...Tracking the melt in Greenland's ice sheet – in pictures
Team of NYU scientists study shifting landscape of country one member calls ‘the end of the planet’
Continue reading...Revealed: emails raise ethical questions over Trump official's role in gas project
Documents obtained by the Guardian suggest interior secretary is promoting effort tied to his former firm
The US interior secretary, David Bernhardt, is promoting a fossil fuel project for which his former employer, a lobbying firm, is a paid advocate, e-mails obtained by the Guardian suggest.
Experts sayBernhardt is probably violating ethics guidelines issued by the Trump administration with the stated goal of “draining the swamp”. Based on these rules, Bernhardt should be recused from specific issues involving a former client for at least two years.
Continue reading...Two tigers seized from traffickers every week, report finds
Closure of tiger farms among urgent steps needed to protect species, wildlife summit hears
Two illegally smuggled tigers per week are being seized by officials, according to a report, but this represents only a tiny fraction of those being killed.
The report, by the wildlife trade experts Traffic, was released at a summit of 183 countries under the Convention in the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), where many delegates have called for stronger action.
Continue reading...Why carbon offsetting is not the panacea Harry and Meghan might think it is
Elton John has attacked the criticism of the use of private jets by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – reportedly four journeys in 11 days – by saying he not only paid for the plane, but also paid to offset its giant carbon emissions. “We ensured their flight was carbon neutral,” he tweeted.
The world of carbon offsetting flights – where you can pay to have the equivalent of your emissions ‘cancelled out’ by projects that lower or remove emissions, such as reforestation or renewable energy – is not clearcut. While some argue it is better than doing nothing, others say it allows frequent flyers to assuage their guilt and the aviation industry to grow.
Continue reading...Australia taking six years to list threatened habitats under environment laws
Senate inquiry hears that major threats to wildlife are not being recognised because of environment department budget cuts
Australia is taking at least six years to list habitats as threatened under national environment laws, an inquiry examining the country’s extinction crisis has heard.
The Humane Society International (HSI) also said that potential major threats to Australia’s wildlife are going unexamined because “we’re not even spending the meagre funds required” to look into them.
Continue reading...Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 – in pictures
A beached fin whale being circled by sharks and eastern grey kangaroos in a snowstorm are among the standout images in the 2019 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year awards
• The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 is on at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney until 20 October 2019 and the South Australian Museum until 10 November
• The week in wildlife – in pictures
South Africa gets go-ahead to increase black rhino trophy hunting
Conservation groups split on impact of move agreed at international wildlife summit
South Africa has won permission to almost double the number of black rhinos that can be killed as trophies after arguing the money raised will support conservation of the critically endangered species.
The decision was made at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) after receiving support from some African nations and opposition from others.
Continue reading...August rainfall brings UK wheat harvest to ‘shuddering halt’
National Farmers’ Union says only farms in south-east England able to start harvest
August’s wet weather has brought this year’s wheat harvest to a “shuddering halt”, the deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union has said.
Guy Smith said farmers outside the south-east of England had been left unable start their harvest their crop because of heavy rainfall this month.
Continue reading...Revenge of the clothes moths: as numbers boom, can they be stopped?
They destroy sweaters, carpets and even wall insulation – and their population has tripled in five years. But there are ways to quell these insatiable insects
When Janine Christley moved into her new house, she thought buying woollen carpets would be the sustainable option. She had the stairs and two floors of her cottage carpeted, at a cost of thousands of pounds. Then the moths moved in. She first noticed them about four years ago, just a few at first. But then they started devouring the carpets, creating big bare patches. Gradually, Christley has had to rip them up and replace them with synthetic carpet. “I’ve still got woollen carpet in my room and the front room, but there are big holes where they’ve eaten it away,” she says. To a family of moths, it turns out, a wool-carpeted house is essentially an all-you-can-eat restaurant.
“Of course, they’re into clothes as well,” she says. They have eaten woollen jackets and gorged on the bags of wool she keeps for felting projects – as well as the finished crafts themselves. She has avoided chemical controls, but clothes regularly go into the freezer in an attempt to kill the moths’ eggs. “I’m constantly checking where they might be,” says Christley. “I go into the wardrobe and shake all my clothes regularly because they like to be dark and undisturbed. I check under furniture, swat any I can find. I’m always jumping up to try to catch them; I see them flying around. I’m encouraging spiders in my house now; they’ve got lots of cobwebs and I’m trying to get them to catch the moths.” It has been frustrating – and expensive. “And it’s all been a waste of time.”
Continue reading...Campaigners demand end to fish tethering 'torture' in Taiwan
Animal welfare groups highlight practice that forces a fish’s gills open and prolongs its suffocation to keep it fresh for longer
All photographs by Jo-Anne McArthur in Taipei/The Guardian
Campaigners in Taiwan are calling for an end to the centuries-old practice of fish tethering – which sees live fish tied into a crescent shape to entice buyers – claiming the custom “is a form of torture” and contravenes animal welfare standards.
Fish tethering is popular in Taiwan, where it is believed that “bow fish” stay fresher for longer if they are bent into a curve and sprinkled with water to keep them alive. They remain this way until they are purchased, which can be up to 10 hours after they were caught, say activists.
Continue reading...Brazil to open long-distance hiking trail in Atlantic forest – in pictures
Inspired by long-distance tracks such as Canada’s 15,000-mile Great Trail, a proposed 4,970-mile trans-Brazil hiking trail would provide a continuous coastal corridor from its southern border with Uruguay to its northern frontier with French Guiana
Continue reading...No sex please we're British (stick insects)
Phasmids hailing from New Zealand become asexual after arriving in the UK
A New Zealand stick insect that migrated to the UK more than seven decades ago has given up having sex and become asexual, prompting biologists to wonder about the use of sex at all – especially in Britain.
The Clitarchus hookeri is native to New Zealand but migrated to the UK sometime between 1910 and 1935, catching a ride on shiploads of New Zealand plants that were transported to the sub-tropical Tresco Abbey Garden on the Scilly Isles islands off the coast of Cornwall.
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