The Guardian
Victorian recycling firm warns of landfill crisis if it goes under
SKM Recycling says its collapse could mean 400,000 tonnes a year more waste sent to landfill
A major recycling company feared to be at risk of going into administration has warned up to 400,000 tonnes of glass, paper, plastic and metals could be sent to landfill each year if it goes under.
Victoria-based SKM Recycling issued the warning in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into the waste management crisis that has grown since China introduced an effective ban on most imported recyclable materials in 2017.
Continue reading...Why we're tackling the Etape du Tour despite our breast cancer
Our conditions have forced us to temper our expectations, but my friend and I won’t let them stop us pursuing what we love
A breakaway is a cycling term that refers to an individual or a small group of cyclists who have successfully opened a gap ahead of the peloton, the main group of cyclists. On 21 July, two of us are plotting a breakaway from the disease that hangs over our daily lives by tackling one of the most challenging amateur cycling events.
The Etape du Tour, which has been running since 1993, is a chance for amateur cyclists to test their mettle on a stage of the Tour de France, riding on the same routes and under the same conditions as the professionals.
Continue reading...Britons urged to help record influx of painted lady butterflies
High numbers have reached UK in past six weeks and many of their offspring will emerge during Big Butterfly Count
Wildlife lovers are being urged to help record the greatest influx of painted lady butterflies for a decade as part of the world’s largest butterfly survey.
Unusually high numbers of the migratory butterfly have flown into Britain from continental Europe in the last six weeks and some of their offspring will emerge during the Big Butterfly Count, which starts on Friday.
Continue reading...Crown backs down and ‘refines’ plans for offshore wind auction
Tender process for seabed use made more transparent after warnings from energy firms
The Queen’s property manager has bowed to criticism over its plans for the biggest offshore wind auction in a decade by agreeing to fairer terms for renewable energy companies.
The Crown Estate, which holds the rights to seabeds around the British Isles, told windfarm developers on Thursday that it has “refined” its controversial plans for the upcoming tender to make it more affordable to develop renewable energy.
Continue reading...Campaign to save Kenya's wild animals – archive, 19 July 1961
19 July 1961 Conservationist pioneer Mervyn Cowie works tirelessly to set up national parks, despite opposition from the British colonial territories
Nairobi, July 18
One of the little jokes of the last Kenya Parliament was the way Mervyn Cowie, a nominated member, was often referred to as “the Member for Wild Animals.” In this Parliament there is no place for the director of Kenya’s National Parks. Yet the plight of his wild animals is worse today than he has ever known before.
The immediate causes are those afflicting every farmer – the unprecedented devastation of grazing by army-worm and two years of terrible drought. But there is an even larger danger in the background: the indifference of African politicians to game preservation and the prospect that after independence they may let this greatest of East Africa’s tourist attractions vanish through neglect.
Continue reading...Pollutionwatch: soot study shows harm from open waste burning
Not only carbon dioxide but also soot released from fires has impact on global warming, study finds
The focus on plastics in our oceans has highlighted the global problem of waste disposal. Household bin collection and the recycling, composting, burying or incinerating of our rubbish are key functions of a modern city. But in low-income countries about 90% of waste ends up in open dumps or is burned in the open air.
Obviously, burning waste creates carbon dioxide and the smoke contains health-harmful particles, but it also contains tiny black particles of soot which have a huge short-term climate impact. Researchers from London’s King’s and Imperial colleges burned small samples of rubbish and measured the smoke. Soot amounts were greatest when the rubbish contained two plastics: polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate (more commonly abbreviated to PET and often used to make drinks bottles). Burning waste containing textiles, many of these being plastic, also contributed to high soot releases.
Continue reading...Great Barrier Reef authority urges 'fastest possible action' on emissions
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says ‘further loss of coral is inevitable’
The federal agency that manages the Great Barrier Reef has made an unprecedented call for urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, warning only the “strongest and fastest possible action” will reduce the risks to the natural wonder.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has published a climate position statement that says the reef is already damaged from warming oceans and it is “critical” global temperature rises remain within 1.5 degrees.
Continue reading...UK energy-saving efforts collapse after government subsidy cuts
Only 10,000 upgrades such as loft insulation happen each month compared with 65,000 in 2014, report shows
Efforts to end fuel poverty and energy waste by making the UK’s draughty homes more efficient have collapsed by almost 85%, according to new government data.
The report, published on Thursday, shows that the number of energy efficiency upgrades undertaken each month has fallen to 10,000 on average for the six months to the end of May. This compares with an average of 65,000 a month in 2014.
Continue reading...Police call for tougher sentences to deter Extinction Rebellion
Met says it is working with CPS on more than 900 cases from environmental protests
Police have accused Extinction Rebellion of causing “high level” disruption and called for courts to pass sentences big enough to deter them from causing fresh chaos, as the environmental group braces itself for mass prosecutions of its activists.
Laurence Taylor, the deputy assistant commissioner in charge of protest policing for the Metropolitan force, said last April’s mass civil disobedience, when thousands of activists occupied four sites across London, saw 90 of the people being arrested only to be released and rejoin the protests. Taylor said police were talking to the government about tougher and clearer powers.
Continue reading...Southern Water must pay for its pollution spills, watchdog told
Environmental groups condemn cutting of company’s fine from £37.7m to £3m
Environmental groups are demanding one of Britain’s biggest water companies be made to pay tens of millions of pounds to restore the damage to habitats and wildlife caused by thousands of pollution spills into the rivers and beaches across the south-east of England.
As details of the scale of the criminal inquiry into the allegedly deliberate misreporting of data and cover-up of thousands of pollution spills by Southern Water emerge, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are calling on the regulator, Ofwat, to review a penalty of £126m imposed on the company last month.
Continue reading...Ofwat has a duty to protect our rivers | Letters
As river, fishery and wildlife organisations, we are concerned by Ofwat’s proposal to levy a reduced penalty on Southern Water for “improper practices … including at senior management levels, to present a false picture of compliance”, by the “deliberate misreporting of data” on significant pollution incidents, and the failure to have “adequate systems of planning, governance and internal controls in place to be able to manage its wastewater treatment works; to accurately report information about the performance of these works; and to properly carry out its general statutory duties as a sewerage undertaker”.
We are particularly disappointed that the rivers and environments that have been affected will not receive any compensation for the damage to the habitat of fish and other wildlife caused by the company. Reducing the fine from £37.7m to £3m in return for allowing Southern Water an opportunity to give customers a rebate is in our opinion the wrong option. It is the environment and the aquatic life in the watercourses that were deliberately polluted by Southern Water in an attempt to remain within the terms of their permitted consents and to avoid incurring penalties.
Continue reading...IUCN red list reveals wildlife destruction from treetop to ocean floor
Latest list shows extinction now threatens a third of all assessed species, from monkeys to rhino rays
From the tops of trees to the depths of the oceans, humanity’s destruction of wildlife is continuing to drive many species towards extinction, with the latest “red list” showing that a third of all species assessed are under threat.
The razing of habitats and hunting for bushmeat has now driven seven primates into decline, while overfishing has pushed two families of extraordinary rays to the brink. Pollution, dams and over-abstraction of freshwater are responsible for serious declines in river wildlife from Mexico to Japan, while illegal logging is ravaging Madagascar’s rosewoods, and disease is decimating the American elm.
Continue reading...Release of non-native game birds in UK to be challenged in court
Wild Justice plans legal action over environmental impact of shooting industry’s release of 50m non-native birds each year
The legality of releasing 50 million non-native pheasants and partridges into the British countryside each year is to be challenged in the courts by a new crowdfunded campaign.
The government should be forced to carry out environmental assessments of the impact of the shooting industry’s release of game birds into the wild each year, according to Wild Justice, a campaign group led by environmentalists Mark Avery, Ruth Tingay and Chris Packham.
Continue reading...Locations of 50 new London water fountains revealed
Work starts on first wave of 100 fountains to be installed in drive to cut single-use plastics
The locations of the first 50 of a £5m wave of public water fountains earmarked for the capital have been announced.
The first of the new fountains – which people are encouraged to use to refill their own bottles – are being installed from this week, predominantly in tube and mainline train stations, shopping centres, markets and recreation grounds. Designed to withstand outdoor temperatures and all weathers, the fountains are attached to the mains water supply and feature a distinctive design with a giant blue “waterdrop” to make them easy to spot.
Continue reading...Environmental damage of tourism comes under MPs’ spotlight
Inquiry to address problems including aviation emissions and traffic in UK and abroad
Holidaymakers’ responsibility for foul beaches, overcrowding, traffic, aeroplane emissions and other environmental impacts will come under parliamentary scrutiny.
The inquiry into the environmental cost of tourism and transport will consider whether the UK government should play a greater role in offsetting the waste and damage caused by the tens of millions of Britons who go on holiday overseas each year.
Continue reading...Vast clouds of flying ants deceive weather satellites
Experts believe false readings occurred because radar interpreted insects as raindrops
Huge swarms of flying ants that hit England’s south coast were mistaken by weather satellites in space for clouds of rain.
The Met Office’s radar captured what it described as “insect clutter” over the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and Dorset on Wednesday morning. They were also spotted in East Sussex and Kent.
Continue reading...Manmade Antarctic snowstorm 'could save coastal cities from rising seas'
Blowing trillions of tonnes of snow on to ice sheet could halt its collapse, researchers say
Spraying trillions of tons of snow over west Antarctica could halt the ice sheet’s collapse and save coastal cities across the world from sea level rise, according to a new study.
The colossal geoengineering project would need energy from at least 12,000 wind turbines to power giant seawater pumps and snow cannons, and would destroy a unique natural reserve. The scientists are not advocating for such a project, but said its apparent “absurdity” reflects the extraordinary scale of threat from rising sea level.
Continue reading...'Overwhelming joy': birth of California condor chicks marks soaring comeback
The birds, whose numbers once dropped to just 22 in the wild in the early 1980s, have two new chicks: Nos 1,000 and 1,001
Nestled among the red-rock cliffs of Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, California condor chicks No 1,000 and 1,001 blinked into this world. Their birth signalled success for a decades-long program to bring North America’s largest bird back from the brink of extinction.
As a result of hunting, diminishing food and dwindling territory, the number of birds in the wild numbered just 22 in the early 1980s. Lead poisoning was also a major killer, caused by inadvertently ingesting bullets that hunters left inside dead animals that the enormous birds, which have a wingspan of 9.5 feet and weigh up to 25lbs, scavenged for food.
Continue reading...Offshore wind auction could raise millions for Queen
Crown Estate holds rights to seabeds around British Isles for wind and wave power
The Queen’s property managers will this week set out terms for the world’s biggest offshore wind auction in a decade.
Industry experts expect the complex bidding process to raise record sums, which could increase energy bills and hand a windfall to the crown – potentially generating hundreds of millions for the Queen.
Continue reading...Trump drilling leases could create more climate pollution than EU does in a year
US has offered close to 378m acres of public lands and waters for oil and gas leasing since Trump took office through April 2019
Donald Trump’s leases of public lands and waters for oil and gas drilling could lead to the production of more climate-warming pollution than the entire European Union contributes in a year, according to a new report.
The Wilderness Society estimates heat-trapping emissions from extracting and burning those fossil fuels could range between 854m and 4.7bn metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, depending on how much development companies pursue.
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