The Guardian
Coca-Cola most common source of packaging pollution on UK beaches – study
Soft-drink brand’s products make up nearly 12% of litter found, says Surfers Against Sewage
Coca-Cola bottles and cans are the most commonly found items of packaging pollution on British beaches, making up nearly 12% of all litter, research by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS)has found.
The results came from a series of 229 beach cleans organised by the anti-pollution campaigning group in April, which found close to 50,000 pieces of waste. About 20,000 of these carried identifiable brands, of which Coca-Cola was the leader, followed by Walkers crisps, Cadbury’s, McDonald’s and Nestlé.
Continue reading...Germany’s AfD attacks Greta Thunberg as it embraces climate denial
Rightwing populists to launch attack on climate science in vote drive before EU elections
Germany’s rightwing populists are embracing climate change denial as the latest topic with which to boost their electoral support, teaming up with scientists who claim hysteria is driving the global warming debate and ridiculing the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg as “mentally challenged” and a fraud.
The Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD) is expected to launch its biggest attack yet on mainstream climate science at a symposium in parliament on Tuesday supported by a prominent climate change denial body linked by researchers to prominent conservative groups in the US.
Continue reading...UN agency meets to tackle pollution and emissions by ships
International Maritime Organization aims to halve global emissions by 2050
This week is the 74th meeting of the marine environmental protection committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and it represents one of the best hopes of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from a large and growing sector.
Continue reading...'Lunch on the go' habit generates 11bn items of packaging waste a year
More people in UK are eating lunch on the go, report finds, in turn generating more waste
Britain’s growing “lunch on the go” habit is generating nearly 11bn items of packaging waste a year, much of which is not recycled, a survey has found.
Workers are buying takeaway and fast food lunches more than they did five years ago, according to research from the environmental charity Hubbub, generating 10.7bn separate items of waste over a year, the charity estimates, from sandwich boxes to crisp packets and napkins.
Continue reading...Patience exhausted: drivers who sit with engines idling could face instant fines
Calls for change to rules that state parked drivers have to be warned twice, with a minute’s grace in between
Drivers who repeatedly leave their engines running while parked could receive instant fines under proposals being considered by the government to give local authorities more power to reduce pollution.
Councils have been calling for tougher laws to help tackle idling, with officers unable to impose penalties unless drivers ignore an initial warning and remain stationary for at least another minute.
Continue reading...Mismanaged waste 'kills up to a million people a year globally'
Report says plastics adding to death tolls in the developing world from easily prevented diseases
Mismanaged waste is causing hundreds of thousands of people to die each year in the developing world from easily preventable causes, and plastic waste is adding a new and dangerous dimension to the problem, a report has found.
Municipal waste frequently goes uncollected in poorer countries and its buildup fuels the spread of disease. Between 400,000 and 1 million people are dying as a result of such mismanaged waste, according to the charity Tearfund.
Continue reading...Chris Packham festival appearance cancelled after death threats
Springwatch presenter will no longer attend Dogstival after ongoing protests from shooting community
A festival appearance by broadcaster and wildlife presenter Chris Packham has been cancelled because of ongoing protests over his campaign against shooting birds.
Organisers of the Dogstival event in the New Forest said they were concerned about safety of the public after death threats received by Packham.
Continue reading...Holy and unholy waters: a tale of two Indian rivers
While the Ganges is sacred but heavily polluted, the Chambal’s ‘cursed’ but pristine waters have proved a blessing for locals
Cold-blooded gharials, a crocodile-like species unique to south Asia, catch the last of the day’s warmth as a setting sun paints the sky crimson above the Chambal river.
Two jackals and a jungle cat scuttle up thorny ravines that box in the expansive blue water, while the orange-beaked Indian skimmer bird glides overhead.
Continue reading...PM's claim Coalition saved reef from nonexistent 'endangered list' condemned as 'ridiculous'
Scott Morrison says government took reef ‘off the endangered list’ – despite no such list existing
Scott Morrison has credited his government as having “saved” the Great Barrier Reef, a claim rejected as “ridiculous” by scientists, environment groups and the Queensland government.
At the Liberal party’s campaign launch in Melbourne on Sunday, Morrison thanked past environment ministers Greg Hunt and Josh Frydenberg for their work on reef issues.
Continue reading...Grub's up: roasted crickets to go on sale at London food chain
Part of Abokado’s spring menu, insects claimed to be healthy and sustainable food source
It brings a whole new meaning to grabbing some grub for lunch. Roasted crickets are to go on sale this week at outlets of a London snack brand – the first time in the UK edible insects will appear on the regular daily menu at a takeaway food chain.
The crunchy whole crickets, from Eat Grub, will be available in Abokado shops across London from Tuesday as part of the chain’s new spring menu. The sweet chilli and lime-flavoured snack will join its customisable range of toppings for fresh salads, poke bowls and hotpots, and also be available as bagged snacks alongside nuts, edamame and popcorn.
Continue reading...Baby elephant rescued from lake in India – video
An elephant calf was coaxed out of Dipor Bil, northern India, after it became separated from its mother. Officials managed to encourage the elephant out of the lake and into the safety of the forest, although it had yet to be reunited with its mother
Continue reading...Shelves of shame: are these the worst recycling offenders in supermarkets?
Craig Curtis, the new president of the Recycling Association, is staring with exasperation at the aisle full of salad leaves. He presses a bag of rocket.
“Do you hear that?” he says, as the plastic crackles. “That’s laminated. One sort of plastic on the outside, and a totally different sort on the other.” He shakes his head at the supermarket display. “You can’t recycle it. It just goes into waste. If these things were made from one polymer, we could recycle all of it.”
Continue reading...Octopus farming is ‘unethical and a threat to the food chain’
Plans to create octopus farms in coastal waters round the world have been denounced by an international group of researchers. They say the move is ethically inexcusable and environmentally dangerous, and have called on private companies, academic institutions and governments to block funding for these ventures.
The researchers say that farming octopuses would require the catching of vast amounts of fish and shellfish to feed them, putting further pressure on the planet’s already threatened marine livestock.
Continue reading...Melbourne zoo hatches plan to save southern corroboree frog
Containers holding more than 1,600 of endangered species’ eggs placed in remote areas of Mt Kosciuszko national park
A few days before the United Nations released a report warning that 1 million species, including 40% of all amphibians, could become extinct within decades, staff from Melbourne zoo were nursing chilled containers of frogs’ eggs to be taken to remote areas of sphagnum bog in the Mt Kosciuszko national park.
The containers held 1,673 fertilised eggs of the critically endangered southern corroboree frog, a species near the top of Australia’s extinction watchlist.
Continue reading...As English fans get set to cross Europe, anger rises at football’s carbon bootprint
Controversy has erupted over the environmental impact of football fans travelling across Europe in coming weeks – to watch English sides play each other hundreds of miles from home.
Campaigners say staging games between Liverpool and Tottenham in Madrid and Arsenal and Chelsea in Baku, in Azerbaijan, will trigger the release of thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide from planes carrying supporters to the Champions League and Europa League finals.
Continue reading...Matt Hancock launches study into 'deadly poison' of air pollution
Review will assess impact of dirty air on health and will support NHS efforts to go green
The health secretary has described polluted air as a “slow and deadly poison” and warned of a growing national health emergency.
Matt Hancock has commissioned a review of the impact of dirty air on health, including updated estimates of the number of new cases of illness that could be caused by air pollution by 2035.
Continue reading...‘Climate emergency’ edict in UK to shape decision on Heathrow expansion review
Britain’s net zero by 2050 goal may have impact on whether existing policies are reassessed
Britain’s move to “net zero” carbon and the declaration of a climate emergency in parliament will be “given careful consideration” in deciding whether to grant a review of Heathrow airport’s expansion, the government has said.
The new approach falls well short of any commitment to review Heathrow’s expansion, but means the decision on whether to grant campaigners’ request for a review will include the net zero target and the climate emergency among its criteria.
Continue reading...'Give a kiwi a good sniff': perfumer recreates the odour of birds for major exhibition – video
As part of Te Papa, a new $12m immersive nature exhibition at New Zealand's national museum, perfumer Francesco van Eerd has distilled the unusually strong scents of the country's native birds. 'I just love smells,' he says. The exhibition, Te Taiao Nature, amounts to the biggest ever investment in a museum exhibition in the country – and also includes a life-like recreation of the now extinct giant Haast eagle and moa bird.
Continue reading...Nearly all the world's countries sign deal to prevent plastic waste – except US
Deal will improve handling of plastic waste and prevent it from getting washed or dumped into oceans and rivers, UN says
Almost all the world’s countries have agreed on a deal to improve the way they deal with plastic waste and prevent so much of it from getting washed or dumped into oceans and rivers – with the glaring exception of the United States, the United Nations announced on Friday afternoon.
A “legally binding framework” that affects thousands of types of plastic waste emerged at the end of a two-week meeting of UN-backed conventions on plastic waste and toxic, hazardous chemicals that threaten the planet’s seas and creatures.
Continue reading...What we should do to save the world’s oceans | Letters
George Monbiot wants the world to stop eating fish (Journal, 9 May). However, considering over a billion people rely on fish as part of their diet, many of them in poorer parts of the world, simply cutting fish out – even if it were possible – would deprive millions of people of an essential protein source and vital source of income. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) provides an international benchmark for sustainable fishing that ensures certified fisheries safeguard fish stocks and our oceans.
Monbiot criticises the MSC for certifying unsustainable fisheries. But his examples include a tuna fishery that has nearly eradicated shark finning in its fishery. The steps taken by this certified fishery have helped to secure livelihoods for a suite of small-island developing nations, and they have contributed to the protection of important species, including sharks.
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