The Guardian
UK government urged not to bury nuclear waste under national parks
Conservation groups speak out as fears grow of Lake District being eyed as possible site
The National Trust and 18 other conservation groups have urged ministers to rule out burying nuclear waste below national parks as fears grow that the Lake District is being eyed as a potential site.
In January, the government restarted its attempt to find a community willing to host such a facility after a previous search collapsed five years ago. Ministers have refused to exclude national parks from the process.
Continue reading...Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions climb again amid climate policy vacuum
Climate Analytics says that on current trends, emissions will race way past the Paris agreement target
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, fuelled by the expansion in gas exports and production, according to new figures published by the Department of Environment and Energy.
The government quietly published its quarterly emissions figures on Friday afternoon, a public holiday in Victoria and the day of the release of the interim royal commission report into the banking sector.
Continue reading...Eggshell and copper tape do not protect veg from slugs and snails
Gardeners using methods like these to protect against gastropods are wasting their time, study shows
Environmentally friendly gardeners who attempt to deter slugs and snails from devouring their vegetables with eggshells or copper tape are wasting their time, according to a study by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Gastropods inflicted the same damage to lettuces protected with five natural methods – eggshells, copper tape, horticultural grit, pine bark mulch and wool pellets – as they did to lettuces left untreated.
Continue reading...Orca 'apocalypse': half of killer whales doomed to die from pollution
Banned PCB chemicals are still severely harming the animals – but Arctic could be a refuge
At least half of the world’s killer whale populations are doomed to extinction due to toxic and persistent pollution of the oceans, according to a major new study.
Although the poisonous chemicals, PCBs, have been banned for decades, they are still leaking into the seas. They become concentrated up the food chain; as a result, killer whales, the top predators, are the most contaminated animals on the planet. Worse, their fat-rich milk passes on very high doses to their newborn calves.
Continue reading...Environmental activists airbrushed from protest history | Letter
The fracking protesters who were sentenced to over a year in prison this week are to be saluted (Anti-fracking protesters are jailed in landmark decision, 27 September). Unfortunately, the soundbite used by their lawyer, and reported by the Guardian, that “there has been no environmental protester sentenced to jail since 1932”, is simply not true.
We were among the seven campaigners first sentenced to 28 days’ imprisonment in 1993 for protesting against the building of the M3 through Twyford Down. These direct action protests at Twyford Down from 1992 to 1995 kickstarted the modern-day environmental direct action movement from which today’s fracking protests have emerged.
Continue reading...Jailed anti-fracking activists release defiant video message
After receiving a custodial sentence, the three men promise they will win battle against fracking
Three environmental activists jailed for their part in an anti-fracking protest have released a video message promising they will win the battle against fracking.
The men became the first to receive a custodial sentence for environmental protests against shale gas extraction this week. Simon Roscoe Blevins, 26, and Richard Roberts, 36, were given 16 months in prison and Richard Loizou, 31, was sentenced to 15 months in jail on Wednesday after being convicted of causing a public nuisance by a jury at Preston crown court in August.
Continue reading...Under-fire UN environment chief forced back to HQ
Erik Solheim, under pressure over frequent flying and rule-breaking, has also now recused himself over wife’s job
The UN’s environment chief, under fire over huge travel expenses and rule-breaking, has been forced leave the UN general assembly in New York early and return to his Nairobi headquarters to deal with the growing crisis.
The problems for Erik Solheim, Norwegian head of the UN Environment Programme (Unep), include the Netherlands becoming the latest nation to withhold millions of dollars in funding until the issues are resolved.
Continue reading...Seattle sea cucumber poachers reeled in $1.5m
Washington man faces prison for role in years-long operation to poach and sell 250,000lb of poorly understood creature
A Seattle-area fish processor who hoped to cash in on China’s appetite for sea cucumber faces years in prison for his role in a $1.5m poaching scheme that rocked an already unstable fishery.
Federal prosecutors claim Hoon Namkoong led a years-long operation to poach and sell sea cucumbers as regulators were cutting the struggling Washington state fishery. Dozens of divers are also implicated in the poaching ring. Namkoong bought at least 250,000lb of stolen sea cucumber taken illegally from waters once rich with the echinoderms.
Continue reading...Eye on the Tiger: the world’s largest ever exhibition of tiger photography – in pictures
London show brings together powerful and moving images from the world’s top wildlife photographers to raise awareness of the plight of these critically endangered cats
- The exhibition runs on select days at the Royal Albert Hall until 14 Oct.
UK's first air-filtering bus launches in Southampton
Bus will clean up air pollution as it drives around the city, using a filtration system on the roof
One of the UK’s largest bus and rail operators has launched the country’s first air filtering bus in an effort to tackle air pollution.
The Go-Ahead Group unveiled the Bluestar bus in Southampton on Thursday claiming that the new filtration system attached to the top of the vehicle will clean the air as it moves around the city.
Continue reading...UK could use Brexit to avoid EU ban on antibiotics overuse in farming
Government may let farmers give antibiotics to healthy animals despite fears it could lead to resistance
UK farmers could be allowed to use powerful antibiotics in ways soon to be banned by the European Union, after the government was accused of using Brexit to avoid implementing tougher rules on animal health.
New rules aimed at curbing overuse of the drugs are being brought in by the European commission, but they will not come into effect before the Brexit cut-off date in March. The Guardian understands that government animal health experts have been advising vets and farmers they will therefore not have to implement the change.
Continue reading...World 'nowhere near on track' to avoid warming beyond 1.5C target
Key UN report says limiting temperature rise would require enormous, immediate transformation in human activity
The world’s governments are “nowhere near on track” to meet their commitment to avoid global warming of more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial period, according to an author of a key UN report that will outline the dangers of breaching this limit.
A massive, immediate transformation in the way the world’s population generates energy, uses transportation and grows food will be required to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C and the forthcoming analysis is set to lay bare how remote this possibility is.
Continue reading...Don't post crisp packets, Royal Mail begs anti-plastic protesters
Firm wants #PacketInWalkers campaigners to use envelopes instead of posting used packets with label attached
A social media campaign asking crisp manufacturers to make their packaging recyclable has led to Royal Mail issuing a plea to members of the public to put crisp packets in an envelope before posting them.
The #PacketInWalkers campaign was launched on 21 September, asking people to use “a pen, paper, and some sellotape” to send used Walkers’ crisp packets back to the Leicester-based crisp manufacturer. The campaign page says: “It won’t cost a penny as we can use Walkers’ own Freepost address. Imagine the scenes in Walkers HQ when hundreds of packets are delivered each day.”
Continue reading...Anti-fracking activists jailed for Blackpool Cuadrilla protest
Three campaigners are thought to be first to be jailed for UK environmental action since 1932
Three anti-fracking activists are thought to have become the first environmental campaigners to be jailed for a protest in the UK since 1932.
Simon Roscoe Blevins, 26, and Richard Roberts, 36, were sentenced to 16 months in prison and Richard Loizou, 31, to 15 months on Wednesday after being convicted of causing a public nuisance by a jury at Preston crown court in August. Another defendant, Julian Brock, 47, was given a 12-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to the same offence.
Continue reading...Beluga whale spotted again in Thames amid concerns for its safety
Footage shows whale feeding near Gravesend, as ecologists ask public to stay away
Fresh sightings of a beluga whale in the Thames have been confirmed, amid growing concern about its safety.
Unconfirmed footage of the whale was posted just after 9.30am on Wednesday. The RSPCA cast doubt on the first report, saying it was impossible to identify the creature from the video. But later its acting chief inspector, Clare Dew, who is at the scene, confirmed subsequent sightings. “The beluga is back and we are monitoring the situation,” a spokeswoman said.
Continue reading...Air pollution fears fuel fight against new London cruise ship terminal
The River Thames has become a ‘wild west’ unbound by new laws to clean up the city’s roads, say campaigners
A huge new cruise ship terminal planned for the River Thames would lead to a surge in dangerous levels of air pollution in the heart of the capital with unknown health consequences for hundreds of thousands of people, campaigners have warned.
Under the proposals, which have been given planning permission, up to 55 giant cruise ships would dock in London every year. Each ship would need to run its diesel engines round the clock to power onboard facilities, generating the same amount of toxic NO2 emissions as almost 700 continuously running lorries.
Continue reading...Back from the brink: the global effort to save coral from climate change
Underwater nurseries offer glimmer of hope for endangered ecosystems, encouraging growth of coral fragments on fibreglass structures anchored to the seabed
As an ocean early warning system, coral reefs have been sounding the alarm for years. They have been bleached white by marine heatwaves and killed off en masse by a combination of factors including pollution, overfishing, acidification and climate change.
But now scientists in Florida, and other tropical locations worldwide, are attempting to stop the rot by creating coral “nurseries” in which young populations can be raised in controlled conditions before being planted on denuded reefs.
Continue reading...New research shows the world’s ice is doing something not seen before | John Abraham
Do you know how an ice sheet can move? You’ll find out below.
In this warming world, some parts of the planet are warming much faster than others. The warming is causing large ice bodies to start to melt and move rapidly, in some cases sliding into the ocean.
This movement is the topic of a very new scientific study that was just published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The Arctic is warming much faster than other parts of the planet and the ice there is showing the signs of rapid warming. This fact has serious consequences. First, melting ice can cause sea levels to rise and inundate coastal areas – it also makes storms like hurricanes and typhoons more destructive. Melting ice also causes a feedback loop, which can cause more future warming and then more ice loss.
Continue reading...Great Barrier Reef scientists told to focus on projects to make government look good
Emails tabled in Senate inquiry recommended ‘trade-offs’ to Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Great Barrier Reef scientists were told they would need to make “trade-offs” to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, including focusing on projects that would look good for the government and encourage more corporate donations, emails tabled in the Senate reveal.
The documents, including cabinet briefing notes, contain significant new details about the workings of the foundation and the government decision to award it a $443m grant, including:
Continue reading...Slow-moving justice: tortoise recovered seven years after Perth zoo theft
Discovery comes as zoo faces scrutiny after a meerkat was stolen, and later recovered
Police in Western Australia have located a critically endangered tortoise that was stolen from Perth zoo seven years ago.
The discovery comes as the zoo faces intense scrutiny of its security measures, after last week’s theft, and subsequent recovery, of a baby meerkat.
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