The Guardian
Dave Eggers: why we should listen to teenagers speak about climate crisis
As the International Congress of Youth Voices kicks off in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Guardian invited young delegates to write about their fight against the climate crisis
Teenagers speak with a directness and a moral clarity that is desperately rare in our elected leaders, and perhaps in the adult species as a whole. That’s why we created the International Congress of Youth Voices. It’s an annual gathering of young writers and activists, ages 16 to 22, who speak and live with urgency.
The first conference was last summer in San Francisco, where almost a hundred delegates from twenty-six countries gathered, and were mentored by the likes of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Khaled Hosseini, and congressman John Lewis. One of our most inspiring young delegates in that first conference was 15-year-old Salvador Góomez-Colón from Puerto Rico, who created his own non-profit to help the island’s recovery after Hurricane Maria.
Continue reading...‘Greta effect’ leads to boom in children’s environmental books
The 16-year-old climate change activist has galvanised young people to read more about saving the planet
Some seek to convey the wonder of endangered animals while others give tips on how to tackle waste or tell tales of inspirational environmental activists.
All are part of what children’s publishers are calling “the Greta Thunberg effect”: a boom in books aimed at empowering young people to save the planet.
Continue reading...New chicks raise hope for hen harrier survival … but shooters take aim
A row has broken out between conservation groups over the wellbeing of one of Britain’s most critically endangered birds of prey: the hen harrier. The dispute reveals a basic divide between experts on how to save the birds from eradication in Britain.
Natural England announces on Sunday that 2019 has been a record year for breeding success in England. A total of 15 nests had 12 successful breeding pairs and produced 47 chicks – improving on the previous high point of 46 set in 2006, news that was hailed “as a positive result” by the organisation.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion: hitting a nerve at Australia's climate flashpoint
The amorphous climate action group has fired up activists and opponents alike as it tries to shut down Brisbane
The Extinction Rebellion protesters think you should be angry. They want politicians and opinion columnists to be angry. The more people they upset stopping traffic in the Brisbane city centre – the louder the car horns, the more vicious the insults – the more certain it is they’ll be back.
“It’s not an enjoyable experience, we don’t take pleasure in doing it,” says Emma Dorge, an activist arrested in Brisbane on Tuesday, during a day of mass civil disobedience that shut down Australia’s third-largest city.
Continue reading...Nuclear energy inquiry: is Angus Taylor's move logical or just for the backbench?
Minister says the debate is different this time around, but critics say it’s best left to experts rather than ‘energy illiterate MPs’
Political arguments about nuclear power in Australia are not new, but the energy minister, Angus Taylor, says this time is different.
Announcing a parliamentary inquiry into what would be necessary to develop a nuclear energy industry, Taylor suggested people should no longer be thinking of the large-scale plants that had dominated the global industry since the 1950s. The future of nuclear, if it had one, was small.
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg takes climate fight to Germany’s threatened Hambach Forest
Greta Thunberg started her long journey to climate summits in the Americas by joining a treetop protest in Germany’s Hambach forest, where environmentalists have been fighting for years to stop the ancient woodland being torn up for open-cast coal mining.
The battle to save the last remaining oak and hornbeam trees reflects the young activist’s entwined fights to protect the natural world from human exploitation and to halt carbon emissions.
Continue reading...Suspected 'pollution incident' turns River Frome tributary blue
Environment Agency analysing Somerset stream but says there are no reports of dead wildlife
A mysterious substance that has turned a tributary of a river in the West Country bright blue is being investigated by the Environment Agency.
Tests are being carried out on the River Frome in Somerset this weekend after the water turned a luminous colour. The Environment Agency said it was treating it as a suspected “pollution incident” but there were no reports of dead wildlife.
Continue reading...Just a flutter? Why this butterfly summer is so fragile
Suddenly, painted ladies are everywhere. From roadside verges and patches of waste ground to the flowerbeds in my Somerset garden, I am seeing dozens of these attractive black, white and orange butterflies, as they flit from flower to flower, feeding hungrily on nectar.
They’re not the only butterflies currently on the wing. As the last meadow browns, pale and faded from the sun, straggle along the hedgerows, I’m seeing newly minted gatekeepers and common blues wherever I go. And, on a recent visit to my coastal patch, I came across two exquisite little butterflies, brown argus and small heath: the latter the 21st species of butterfly I have recorded there in less than five years.
Continue reading...'It makes me angry': is this the end for America's Joshua trees?
Even with major efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, 80% of the trees’ habitat will be whittled away by the end of the century
Joshua trees have dotted the Mojave desert for 2.5m years, but even if humans take urgent action to combat the climate crisis, their decimation is all but ensured by the end of this century, a study has found.
Only .02% of the tree’s current habitat in Joshua Tree national park would remain viable amid unmitigated climate change, according to research published in the journal Ecosphere. Even in a best-case scenario, with major efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, 80% of the trees’ habitat will be whittled away.
Continue reading...'We were burying 10 children a year': how toilets are saving lives in Madagascar
One village in the country has seen the tragic consequences of poor sanitation. Now it has come together to turn things around
The sisters were buried in their favourite clothes: Patricia in a white dress and Mirana in plimsolls, a skirt and a blouse. Patricia was three and loved her Barbie. Not the Barbies that most girls in the village play with – dolls made from bamboo sticks, with grass “hair” tied in elastic bands – but a real one, with a pink plastic face. Her father, Augustin Randrianasolo, now 62, had bought it a few years earlier from the market for 200 Malagasy ariary (then worth 50p), a lot of money in the early 80s.
Mirana died seven years after her sister, in the early 90s; she was two and a half. “Not yet old enough to really speak,” says her older sister, Odile, who is now 35. “She was the most beautiful of all of us,” she continues. “She had the nicest hair, the most beautiful face. She looked like my dad.”
Continue reading...Giant river animals on verge of extinction, report warns
Populations of great freshwater species, from catfish to stingrays, have plunged by 97% since 1970
Populations of the great beasts that once dominated the world’s rivers and lakes have crashed in the last 50 years, according to the first comprehensive study.
Some freshwater megafauna have already been declared extinct, such as the Yangtze dolphin, and many more are now on the brink, from the Mekong giant catfish and stingray to India’s gharial crocodiles to the European sturgeon. Just three Chinese giant softshell turtles are known to survive and all are male. Across Europe, North Africa and Asia, populations have plunged by 97% since 1970.
Continue reading...Fatbergs: 'flushable' wet wipes are creating an environmental catastrophe – video
Fatbergs, caused by an entangled mess of wet wipes 'mortared together' by fats, oils and grease to form rock-hard material, are creating a 'real problem with blockages in the pipes', according to Sydney Water's Peter Hadfield. At a single Sydney Water site at Malabar, six dry tonnes of wipes are collected every day. 'People might think it's OK just to pour a little bit of oil down their sink or to flush a couple of wipes during the day but when you've got 5 million people living in your city, collectively that causes a major problem,' says Hadfield, who is part of the 'Keep Wipes out of Pipes' action group. The Guardian went along to Malabar to take a look.
Continue reading...Weatherwatch: when will the timber industry wake up to reality?
A new report shows that too few companies are taking steps to understand the complex relationship between climate change, deforestation and their business
Wood should be the easiest of sustainable products to produce, use and monitor. In the battle against climate change trees take up carbon from the atmosphere; forests store water and then produce rain by releasing moisture to form clouds. Using wood for building or furniture stores the carbon for generations. Wood products are becoming ever more important, for example replacing plastic bags with paper ones.
Related: Tree planting 'has mind-blowing potential' to tackle climate crisis
Continue reading...The week in widlife – in pictures
This week, wild elephants, baby baboons and sharks that glow in the dark
Continue reading...Cancer Town: Rev William Barber visits Reserve, Louisiana
The Guardian invited the civil rights leader to the community on the banks of the Mississippi River where the people face the highest risk of cancer due to airborne toxins in the United States. Lending his support to their struggle, he said: 'When you poison the air … it is a form of idolatry. It is to worship money and to worship profit over people'
Continue reading...Australia will ban export of recyclable waste 'as soon as practicable', PM vows
State environment ministers will consult industry to develop a timeline to improve the recycling system
The prime minister has vowed to do more to tackle plastic waste in the world’s oceans, saying the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres will be banned.
Scott Morrison said only about 12% of materials are properly recycled in Australia and he wanted that to change. With state and territory leaders, he has laid out a plan for environment ministers to improve the recycling system.
Continue reading...Berlin's bumbling beekeepers leave swarms without homes
Inexperienced hobbyists force bees to search often in vain for suitable habitats across the city
Humans are not the only ones in Berlin struggling to find accommodation. A beekeeping boom has led to swarms of bees increasingly forming novel new hives using anything from motorbikes to balconies in the German capital.
Germany’s beekeeping association has been forced to dispatch a growing band of swarm-catchers – or schwarmfänger – reachable via telephone hotlines, to deal with a deluge of incidents in which thousands of bees cluster round objects while scout bees go in search of suitable homes, such as a tree hollow, more often than not in vain.
Continue reading...Trump administration authorizes 'cyanide bombs' to kill wild animals
The poison-filled, spring-loaded traps, called M-44s, are used by Wildlife Services for the benefit of farmers and ranchers
The Trump administration has reauthorized government officials to use controversial poison devices – dubbed “cyanide bombs” by critics – to kill coyotes, foxes and other animals across the US.
The spring-loaded traps, called M-44s, are filled with sodium cyanide and are most frequently deployed by Wildlife Services, a federal agency in the US Department of Agriculture that kills vast numbers of wild animals each year, primarily for the benefit of private farmers and ranchers.
Continue reading...Scientists discover why two shark species emit green glow
Previously undiscovered group of molecules found to be behind phenomenon
The secret behind the eerie glow of two shark species has been revealed in a study which sheds light on the origin and possible advantages of their fluorescent green bodies.
Chain catsharks and swell sharks are deep-dwelling and live in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific respectively, where they hide among rocks and rubble. While at first glance they appear to be in various shades of brown, recent studies have shown that under blue light they glow green. Crucially, only blue light penetrates the depths of the ocean.
Continue reading...Scientists produce 'Atomik' vodka from Chernobyl grain
Alcohol is free of radioactivity and could help economic recovery in region
What do you call vodka produced from grain grown in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster 33 years ago?
Atomik, of course.
Continue reading...