The Guardian
Drought-stricken farmers challenge Coalition's climate change stance in TV ad
‘We need to stick to the Paris agreement, we need to stop burning coal and we need to commit to more renewable energy,’ Longreach farmer says
“This drought has really hit our family hard,” says Longreach farmer Jody Brown. “Climate change is making the droughts more severe.”
Those two sentences are the opening lines to a new advertisement challenging the federal government’s stance on climate change and the drought in Australia’s eastern states.
Continue reading...Off Tanzania, in one of the world’s richest seas, why is the catch getting smaller?
In Dar-es-Salaam, local fishermen are being squeezed out by illegal boats with explosives which take much of the catch, killing coral reef and putting an eco-system at risk
Fishing boat XTK191, known as Home Boy, returned to Kivukoni fish market in downtown Dar es Salaam at dawn one day last week. The 15 young men on board the old dhow dropped anchor and heaved their catch over the side for others to run it across the beach to where hundreds of traders milled.
Within an hour of landing in eastern Africa’s largest fish market, Home Boy’s fish, crabs, prawn, lobsters, tuna, squid and shark pups were being sold in impromptu auctions, along with the catches of several dozen other boats.
Continue reading...Writers’ wilderness haven split over Brecon Beacons phone mast plan
Its monks left more than a century ago but the whitewashed stone walls of the monastery in Capel-y-ffin stand proud. Outside, a large, well-preserved statue of the Virgin Mary welcomes visitors to the venerable Victorian building, which has now been converted into self-catering apartments in great demand when the crowds flock to nearby Hay-on-Wye for its celebrated literary festival.
Since the monks’ departure, little has changed in this picturesque Welsh hamlet of a few houses, a chapel and a scattering of farms. Nestling in the foothills of the Black Mountains, it is a place of moss and bracken, stone walls and brooks, and has the lingering solemnity of an untended churchyard.
Continue reading...Europe's meat and dairy production must halve by 2050, expert warns
Policymakers, farmers and consumers face ‘deeply uncomfortable choices’, says author of report advising urgent reduction of unsustainable livestock sector
Europe’s animal farming sector has exceeded safe bounds for greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient flows and biodiversity loss, and urgently needs to be scaled back, according to a major report.
Pressure on livestock farmers is set to intensify this century as global population and income growth raises demand for meat-based products beyond the planet’s capacity to supply it.
Continue reading...Former IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri to stand trial on sexual harassment charges
Delhi court decides there is enough evidence to charge Pachauri with harassing a female colleague
The former chairman of a United Nations climate change panel has been ordered stand trial on charges of sexual abuse and harassment of a female colleague.
A Delhi court on Friday said there was prime facie evidence to charge Rajendra Pachauri, 78, with sexual harassment and two offences of intending to outrage the modesty of a woman.
Continue reading...'Gel-like' see-through fish discovered 7.5km down on Pacific ocean floor
Scientists have been surprised to find three new kinds of snailfish thriving deep in the Atacama trench
Scientists have discovered three new species of “hardcore” fish living in one of the deepest parts of the ocean, the see-through, scale-free creatures perfectly adapted to conditions that would instantly kill most life on Earth.
An international team of researchers used state-of-the-art underwater cameras to find the new fish at the bottom of the Atacama trench in the eastern Pacific ocean at a depth of 7,500 metres (24,600 feet) – and were surprised at their abundance in such an inhospitable environment.
Continue reading...Australia urges Japan to remain in IWC after its bid to lift whaling ban rejected
Japan hints it may leave International Whaling Commission after attempt to resume commercial hunting voted down
Australia has encouraged Japan to remain within the International Whaling Commission after the country’s attempt to lift a 33-year ban on commercial whaling failed to win enough votes.
Japan’s so-called “way forward” proposal for the IWC to start a “sustainable whaling” program lost by 41 votes to 27 on a tense final morning of the IWC meeting in Florianópolis, Brazil.
Continue reading...Two councils warned after failing to meet air pollution deadline
Government criticised after alerting Southampton and Derby to ‘serious consequences’
The government has warned two councils of “serious consequences” after they failed to meet the deadline for dealing with air pollution.
In 2015, five local authorities with some of the worst pollution outside London – Derby, Southampton, Leeds, Nottingham and Birmingham – were ordered to produce proposals to tackle air pollution by 15 September.
Continue reading...Japan's attempt to overturn commercial whaling ban fails
Anti-whaling nations defeat proposals that would have allowed for the return of hunts
An attempt to overturn the decades-old global ban on commercial whaling has failed, to the relief of conservationists.
Anti-whaling nations defeated by a decisive margin proposals from the Japanese government that would have allowed for the return of whale hunts.
Continue reading...Whaling, extreme weather and a poem for climate change – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Europe’s farmers on red alert as deadly African swine fever spreads to Belgium
Whaling vote: Australia tells Japan it has lost argument for killings
Climate change means Hurricane Florence will dump 50% more rain
EU climate law could cause ‘catastrophic’ deforestation
Public must tell Network Rail to stop tree felling, says charity
New edible mushrooms among thousands of recently discovered fungi
Urgent greenhouse gas removal plan could see UK hit ‘net zero’ target – report
Air pollution is ‘biggest environmental health risk’ in Europe
Global hunger levels rising due to extreme weather, UN warns
Global demand for fossil fuels will peak in 2023, says thinktank
Continue reading...Europe's farmers on red alert as deadly African swine fever spreads to Belgium
Calls for a mass cull of wild boars to protect pork industry after disease is found in two animals in Gaume
An outbreak of African swine fever terrorising pig farmers in Europe has dramatically escalated with the confirmation that the deadly infectious disease has spread to Belgium.
The discovery of the highly contagious disease in two wild boars found dead near the town of Étalle, in Gaume, has sparked calls for a mass cull of that species to protect western Europe’s pork industry.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A cuddly lion and a rescued baby gibbon are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Record numbers expected for annual British beach clean
Thousands of volunteers will help remove plastic and other litter from beaches this weekend
Record numbers of volunteers are anticipated this weekend to help clear litter from the UK’s beaches, in the 25th annual Great British Beach Clean organised by a leading marine charity.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has been running the four-day beach cleaning event for the last 24 years and expects the 2018 event to beat all previous records. Originally a modest citizen science project, it has become the largest and most longstanding beach litter survey in the UK, with all items recorded according to an internationally agreed methodology.
Continue reading...Whaling vote: Australia tells Japan it has lost argument for killings
Country’s commissioner makes impassioned case against a business that no longer has a ‘social licence’
There is no longer a “social licence” for countries to kill whales for profit, Australia has told the International Whaling Commission in Brazil.
In an impassioned intervention, Australia’s IWC commissioner, Dr Nick Gales, told the key meeting that Japan’s proposal to lift a 30-year ban on commercial whaling was a “business proposition” that Australians reject.
Continue reading...'One of the boys': lost narwhal finds new home with band of beluga whales
Researchers in Quebec discovered the narwhal, over 100km outside its typical range, was playing with the whales
Whale researchers in Quebec’s St Lawrence River are celebrating a remarkable discovery: a juvenile narwhal far from its arctic home, that appears to have been adopted by a band of beluga whales.
The narwhal, more than 1,000km outside its typical range, was filmed by a drone swimming and playing with dozens of belugas that were treating it as one of their own.
Continue reading...My fear for a future of climate change | Letters
At last, protest marches against global warming, the most relevant issue of our time (Report, 8 September). I am over 90 years old and cannot join one but wish I could. All other questions fade into second place: Brexit, the gap between rich and poor, even the wars of the Middle East. We are not even reaching the 2% per annum target and even 0.2% would be too high. We are faced with escalating catastophies: rising sea levels, floods, forest fires. I have had a long and happy life but what am I leaving my great-grandchildren? I feel impotent. No one seems to question the effects of jet aircraft, of rockets to outer space or the ever-escalating increase in traffic. As I carefully recycle my rubbish and take pride in my excellent compost heap, I realise how paltry my efforts are.
Anthea Hardy
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
Continue reading...Westminster council's actions show it puts cars first, not people
Council’s successful legal challenge to Cycle Superhighway 11 follows scrapping of pedestrianisation of Oxford Street
A legal challenge by Westminster city council to block a major cycle route in London has succeeded on a procedural point, in a move that could send Transport for London back to the drawing board and set safety improvements to one of London’s most dangerous junctions back by months.
The council’s successful judicial review of Cycle Superhighway 11 (CS11), which was due to run from Swiss Cottage to Portland Place, is the latest of its blocks to cycling, walking and road safety improvements. Following the scrapping of the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, the review has cemented Westminster’s reputation as the car-is-king borough of London.
Continue reading...Huge increase in badger cull will see up to 42,000 shot
Ministers expand England’s culling area by 70% to try to curb TB in cattle as scientists dispute programme’s effectiveness
The controversial badger cull in England has been hugely expanded into 10 new areas, with up to 42,000 animals now due to be shot in an attempt to curb tuberculosis in cattle, up from 32,500 last year.
The farming minister George Eustice claimed the cull is starting to show results in Gloucestershire and Somerset, with drops in tuberculosis incidence, but did not highlight a rise seen in Dorset.
Continue reading...A road full of bottlenecks: Dutch cycle path is made of plastic waste
First path entirely made of recycled bottles, cups and packaging opens in Zwolle
The world’s first plastic bicycle path made of recycled bottles, cups and packaging has opened in the Netherlands, as part of a pilot that could see similar roads open up across the country.
The 30-metre path, made of recycled plastic equivalent to more than 218,000 plastic cups, is expected to be three times as durable as an asphalt alternative.
Continue reading...Turnbull will be asked to give evidence at $444m Great Barrier Reef grant inquiry
Former PM’s decision to resign from parliament means he could be compelled to appear if he refuses invitation
Malcolm Turnbull will be asked to appear before an inquiry examining a $443.8m grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
The Senate inquiry’s chair, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, said on Thursday the committee had resolved to write to the former prime minister and request he give evidence at a future hearing.
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