The Guardian
'Elusive and cryptic lizard': hunt on in Melbourne for endangered grassland earless dragon
Newly discovered species could soon be the first reptile on the Australian mainland to be declared extinct
A newly reclassified species of lizard that is native to areas now paved by Melbourne’s suburbs could become the first reptile on mainland Australia to be declared extinct.
A taxonomic survey of the grassland earless dragon, published in the Royal Society Open Science journal this week, discovered that the species classified as Tympanocryptis pinguicolla was in fact four species – one of which has not been seen since 1969.
Continue reading...Burrow action: female crickets more attracted to older males – study
Mature crickets better at luring females – but struggle to live up to expectation
The sweet singing charms of an old male appear to be irresistible to a younger female – if you are a field cricket in a Spanish meadow.
Researchers studying wild crickets have found older males are better than younger, more immature rivals at attracting females back to their burrows with their song.
Continue reading...Labour pledges to put climate emergency on school curriculum
Angela Rayner says a Labour government would make it a core element at primary school
Labour has pledged to make the global climate emergency a core element of the school curriculum from primary school onwards, in response to demands by young people taking part in a series of school climate strikes.
As young activists around the world prepare for another day of strike action on Friday, Labour’s shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said a Labour government would ensure that the climate crisis was an educational priority and that all young people were taught about its ecological and social impact.
Continue reading...Pollutionwatch: the fight for clean air at the school gates
Parents across Europe take action as air pollution found to restrict children’s lung growth
Almost every week our newspapers report new studies on the damage that air pollution does to our health and especially to children. For example, last November, researchers revealed reduced lung growth in children who lived in the most polluted parts of east London.
In March 2018, a group of Belgian parents took action. Instead of going for coffee on a Friday morning, they closed the road outside their children’s school. They named their movement Filter-Café-Filtre. Over the next two weeks, another 42 schools joined in. Now parents and teachers in 21 cities meet each Friday morning. With hazard tape from DIY shops, banners and musical instruments, they close about 76 schools. Children play in the street and the parents drink coffee together to demand traffic-free zones, better walking and cycling routes and public transport so children do not have to be driven to school.
Continue reading...‘We need everyone’: Greta Thunberg calls on adults to join climate strikes
A general strike globally on 20 September could be a ‘turning point in our history’, say young activists
Greta Thunberg and leading youth strikers for climate action from across the world have called for all adults to join a global general strike on 20 September.
They are asking citizens to walk out of work just ahead of a crucial UN summit at which nations are being urged to declare much stronger ambition to tackle the climate emergency.
Continue reading...Wildlife and biodiversity are not the same | Letter
Congratulations for making serious and important decisions about your use of climate crisis terminology (18 May). With one big exception: the use of “wildlife” rather than “biodiversity”. “Wildlife” used to mean “animals” (far from all living diversity), and has morphed into some sort of general term for things in nature reserves. It is those cute things Sir David watches from behind trees. In contrast, biodiversity is straightforward. It is the diversity of life – all the things we need to look after, from elephants to bacteria, and from ecosystems to molecular DNA diversity.
Emeritus Professor John Bolton
University of Cape Town
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
Continue reading...'I feel empowered and scared': pupils speak before climate strike
We asked children around the world to tell us why they will be taking part in Friday’s climate strikes. Here’s what they said
I’m taking part on Friday because adults, and especially politicians, have not done enough to save our future. We have to get them to listen to us and believe what scientists have to say. I’m participating in a strike located in Tampere. We will get together on Sori Square (Sorin Aukio) and march to the central marketplace (Keskustori). I think the earth needs this climate strike movement. And we need it too, because it’s our future that is in danger. I’m so happy to see the youth rise and demand back a planet where we can live. Elina, 14, Finland
Continue reading...CFMEU warns Adani coalmine 'risks selling out local jobs' and threatens water
Queensland premier under more pressure as union fears the promise of jobs and prosperity is a myth
The CFMEU has warned the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, against rushing to have Adani’s Carmichael coalmine approved, saying it “risks selling out local jobs” and threatens water security in central Queensland.
The state’s environment department and coordinator general met Adani representatives on Thursday for talks about the outstanding environmental approvals required for the project to proceed.
Continue reading...Humans causing shrinking of nature as larger animals die off
Average size of wild animals predicted to fall by a quarter in 100 years through extinctions
Humanity’s ongoing destruction of wildlife will lead to a shrinking of nature, with the average body size of animals falling by a quarter, a study predicts.
The researchers estimate that more than 1,000 larger species of mammals and birds will go extinct in the next century, from rhinos to eagles. They say this could lead to the collapse of ecosystems that humans rely on for food and clean water.
Continue reading...Marlin jumps into boat, seriously injuring two men off NSW north coast
100kg fish lands in brothers’ five-metre vessel north of Coffs Harbour, slicing man’s arm open
A large marlin weighing up to 100kg jumped into a small boat off the New South Wales coast, seriously injuring two brothers, with one of them suffering a fracture when his arm was sliced open.
The marlin breached and landed in the brothers’ boat off Wooli, north of Coffs Harbour, at midday on Thursday.
Continue reading...Galilee Basin mine next to Adani put on hold amid doubts over future of thermal coal
MacMines Austasia abandon plans, raising questions about basin’s viability as a source of Queensland employment
The backer of a massive coal proposal in the Galilee Basin, adjacent to Adani’s Carmichael mine site, has quietly abandoned its plans amid growing doubts about the long-term profitability of Australian thermal coal exports.
The ABC reported this morning that the proponents of the $7bn China Stone mine had withdrawn their application for a mining lease in March.
Continue reading...Republicans give platform to climate science deniers while planet burns
GOP members used a House hearing on endangered species to peddle the line that more carbon in the atmosphere is a good thing
The climate crisis has become a top issue among Democrats running for president. But many Republican lawmakers are still resistant to the science showing global heating is a serious, manmade problem.
When Democrats in control of the House scheduled a hearing for international scientists to explain their warnings that humans are critically wounding biodiversity on Wednesday, conservative members of Congress called on career climate science deniers to testify alongside them.
Continue reading...Budj Bim Indigenous eel trap site on verge of world heritage listing
Aquaculture network in Victoria, maintained over 6,600 years, faces final step in recognition process
A 6,600-year-old, highly sophisticated aquaculture system developed by the Gunditjmara people will be formally considered for a place on the Unesco world heritage list and, if successful, would become the first Australian site listed exclusively for its Aboriginal cultural value.
Known as the Budj Bim cultural landscape, the site in south-west Victoria is home to a long dormant volcano, which was the source of the Tyrendarra lava flow.
Continue reading...Air pollution, ill health and the need for a 21st-century Model T Ford | Letters
The harmful effects of air pollution during early life deserve greater attention (Air pollution damages ‘every organ in the body’, 18 May). Ongoing research in the US has reported that exposure during pregnancy to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a constituent of diesel exhaust, is linked to developmental delay at three years, an IQ reduction of 4-5 points at five years, increased anxiety, depression and inattention at six to seven years, a reduction in surface white matter in the brain at eight years, and delayed self-regulatory behaviour which became most significant at 11 years. These data are “preliminary” only in the sense that they have not yet been replicated. Benzo-a-pyrene (BaP) is the only PAH routinely monitored by the EU. Due to the rapid growth in the sale of diesel vehicles since 2000, levels of BaP at traffic-monitoring sites has increased by 52%.
These findings have huge implications for public health, educational attainment and the high level of mental health problems currently afflicting schoolchildren in the UK. It is beyond belief that the government’s only response is a vague commitment to halve the number of people exposed to levels above the WHO limit for small particulates by 2025. This is not even a target; it is an aspiration that is legally unenforceable.
Dr Robin Russell-Jones Scientific adviser, Geraint Davies MP Chair, all-party parliamentary group on air pollution
White stork pair could become first to breed in wild in UK for centuries
Birds brooding three eggs due to hatch in June are part of a rewilding project
White storks nesting on top of an ancient oak tree could become the first wild pair to successfully breed in Britain for hundreds of years.
The enormous birds are brooding three eggs on the rewilded Knepp estate, in Sussex, as part of a project to reintroduce the species to south-east England.
Continue reading...EU ignoring climate crisis with livestock farm subsidies, campaigners warn
Billions of euros spent on supporting climate-intensive meat and dairy farms, which have shown no drop in emissions since 2010
The EU is disregarding the climate emergency by continuing to give out billions of euros in subsidies to climate-intensive livestock farms at the same time as promising to cut emissions, say campaigners.
Under the Paris climate agreement, the EU and its member states have committed to reduce emissions in the European Union by at least 40% by 2030. The EU’s farming sector has shown no decline in emissions since 2010, with meat and dairy estimated to be responsible for 12-17% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Continue reading...Much shorter working weeks needed to tackle climate crisis – study
UK workers must move to nine-hour week if carbon levels do not change, says thinktank
People across Europe will need to work drastically fewer hours to avoid disastrous climate heating unless there is a radical decarbonising of the economy, according to a new study.
The research, from thinktank Autonomy, shows that workers in the UK would need to move to nine-hour weeks to keep the country on track to avoid more than 2C of heating at current carbon intensity levels. Similar reductions were found to be necessary in Sweden and Germany.
Continue reading...Floods in 2009 and 2015 were worst in Cumbria for centuries – study
Analysis in north-west England linked to evidence of UK’s vulnerability to climate crisis
The floods of 2009 and 2015 in north-west England were the worst for more than 550 years, according to groundbreaking analysis of lake sediment in the region.
Residents have long suspected that the devastating floods were the worst in living memory, but this confirmation – from an analysis of lake sediment layers – provides a unique window on to the history of flooding in one of the wettest parts of England, and reveals the global climate crisis.
Continue reading...Plastic straws, cotton buds and drink stirrers to be banned in England
Government confirms ban on sale and use of items from April next year
Plastic straws and drink stirrers, and cotton buds with plastic stems will be banned from sale and use in England from next April, the government has confirmed.
The move, which has been in the offing for more than a year, is hoped to vastly reduce the litter and other environmental impacts of the nearly 5bn plastic straws currently used each year in the UK, along with more than 300m plastic stirrers and close to 2bn cotton buds with plastic stems.
Continue reading...'We'd love tariffs to stay forever': garlic growers profit in Trump's trade war
While many farmers suffer through the trade war with China, US garlic growers benefit because they rely on domestic sales
Unlike millions of other US farmers, garlic growers are profiting from the trade war with China and have cheered Donald Trump’s latest economic attack accordingly.
Sales of California-grown garlic are now increasing after decades of losing ground to cheaper Chinese imports. Sales are poised to get even better as Chinese garlic faces even higher tariffs, with no end to the trade war in sight.
Continue reading...