The Guardian

The New York Times magazine blames ‘human nature,’ but the true culprits have already been fingered

Last week’s issue of the New York Times magazine was devoted to a single story by Nathaniel Rich that explored how close we came to an international climate agreement in 1989, and why we failed. The piece is worth reading – it’s a well-told, mostly accurate, and very informative story about a key decade in climate science and policy history. But sadly, it explicitly excuses the key players responsible for our continued failure.

10 August 1918 A marbled butterfly is on the ragwort, wild clematis trails down from an overhanging thorn, a finch settles on the marl

Surrey
Flowers are abundant on the scarred sides of huge chalk-pits, sometimes hundreds of feet high, hewed in past years. Purple and yellow grown above grey flints turn to a maze of colour when a summer mist comes from the south. Then the sun pierces through, and you see and hear bees along the snapdragons and on thistles. A marbled butterfly is on the ragwort, wild clematis trails down from an overhanging thorn, a finch settles on the marl. A stone falls with perceptible sound, rain has so loosened the sheer sides of the cliff. Above and beyond the topmost edge there is heather with more bees; away over the down “fingers and thumbs” are in full bloom; a little lower great circles in the grass – “fairy rings” – are deep green; a subdued low comes from the meadow. Imagination tells you that at dusk these broad, still places will, as of old, be peopled with gnomes.

Developers made proposals for 35,000 homes in protected parts of England in 2017

Applications to build an additional 35,000 homes on green belt land were submitted last year, taking the total number proposed for construction on protected land to a record 460,000.

Connecting citizens with science projects around Australia

Environmental scientists are increasingly calling on private citizens to help them with their research and collect data

The eastern bristlebird emits a high, sliding whistle, often in the middle of the dawn chorus, and frequently in a way that makes it hard to pick out.

The small brown native songbird is endangered, with only about 2,500 left in Australia and 40 in Queensland, but because the bird is so shy, it is difficult for conservationists to monitor them. To make things more difficult when people approach, the bristlebird stops singing.

We noted your report (July 9) on Chinese enterprises’ “production and use” of CFC-11. The Chinese government’s position on ozone layer protection is consistent and clear. We attach great importance to and conscientiously implement relevant international environmental conventions. Production and use of ozone depleting substances (ODSs) that are not permissible in the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer is illegal and subject to legal action as soon as detected.

China’s policy is zero tolerance against illicit conduct involving ODSs, including CFC-11. In line with this policy, the competent government agency in China took the relevant media reports seriously, and launched a joint inspection with local authorities on 19 polyurethane foam producers and a business cluster. In 12 of the enterprises under investigation no sales or use of CFC‑11 has been found. In one enterprise where CFC-11 was detected in its composite polyether materials, the local authorities have taken enforcement measures according to the law; the remaining six are under further investigation.

Forty-year study shows loss of invertebrates, with repercussions for larger animals

One of the longest-running studies of streams in the world – the minute study of 14 brooks that tumble through a remote Welsh mountain landscape – has exposed a troubling loss of riverine wildlife.

Ecologists working on the Llyn Brianne Observatory project in mid Wales, which has been in operation for almost 40 years, have flagged up the disappearance and decline of invertebrates from the streams.

Petition calls on snacks firm to end use of plastic in the 11 million packets a day produced at Leicester factory

The UK’s biggest crisp brand, Walkers, will come under pressure this week to explain why it is helping to fuel the plastic waste littering the streets and seas by producing more than 7,000 non-recyclable crisp packets every minute.

A new analysis carried out by campaign organisation 38 Degrees has found that Walkers is set to produce an additional 28bn plastic crisp packets by 2025 – the date by which the company has pledged to make its crisp packets 100% recyclable, compostable or biodegradable.

Wildlife in most of the lawless high seas faces an existential threat from fishing, shipping and the military. Next month, a landmark UN conference could finally bring hope

The leatherback turtle is one of our planet’s most distinctive creatures. It can live for decades and grow to weigh up to two tonnes. It is the largest living reptile on Earth and its evolutionary roots reach back more than 100 million years.

“Leatherbacks are living fossils,” says oceanographer Professor Callum Roberts, of York University. “But they are not flourishing. In fact, they are being wiped out at an extraordinary rate, particularly in the Pacific Ocean, where their numbers have declined by 97% over the past three decades. They are now critically endangered there.”

Shadow environment minister says researchers would be forced to apply to private foundation for taxpayer funds

The shadow environment minister Tony Burke has slammed the “completely unprecedented” grant of $444m to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation claiming the not-for-profit group “doesn’t yet know what it’s going to do with the money”.

Appearing on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday Burke questioned the appropriateness of conditions on the federal funding, which he said would allow the foundation to lobby the mining industry for sponsorship but force researchers to apply to the private foundation to get taxpayer funds.

Lump-sum payments of up to $12,000 just the beginning of long-term response, says PM

Farmers will receive immediate additional financial support to help them and their communities fight one of the worst droughts of the past century.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will return to Trangie in central NSW on Sunday to announce the $190m new package that will also provide mental health services.

Scrap ‘smorgasbord’ of plastics used in packaging, town hall chiefs tell manufacturers

Only a third of the plastic in packaging pots and trays for food can be recycled, local authorities have said.

Town hall chiefs urged manufacturers to scrap the “smorgasbord” of plastics used to package foods from fruit and vegetables to yoghurt, margarine and microwave meals to help cut waste and increase recycling.

Environmentalists say lifting the restriction poses a grave threat to pollinating insects

The Trump administration has rescinded an Obama-era ban on the use of pesticides linked to declining bee populations and the cultivation of genetically modified crops in dozens of national wildlife refuges where farming is permitted.

Environmentalists, who had sued to bring about the two-year-old ban, said on Friday that lifting the restriction poses a grave threat to pollinating insects and other sensitive creatures relying on toxic-free habitats afforded by wildlife refuges.

From ground level, the drought affecting regional Australia looks like a brown dustbowl, but from the air it is transformed into a heartbreaking story of shapes and textures as the land cracks open under a blazing sun

• Australia’s drought crisis and farmers’ stories of anxiety, fear and resilience

John Armitt is absolutely right to highlight the growing importance of a national, highly visible electric chargepoint network. As he will know, in the UK there are already around 14,000 public chargepoints, of which at least 1,300 are rapid chargers, forming one of the larger networks of rapid chargepoints in Europe. New legislation will enable further swift growth and ensure the UK’s infrastructure network is easier to use and still more reliable for electric vehicle drivers. And the government’s recently launched Road to Zero strategy envisages a further massive expansion of electric and low emission vehicle charging infrastructure. It includes a consultation on proposals for chargepoints to be installed with all newly built homes in England, where possible. We are also looking at how far new lamp-posts can include on-street charging infrastructure, and will be providing guidance to local authorities to support this.

The move to zero emission vehicles is the biggest automotive technology change since the invention of the combustion engine. I and my colleagues are seeking to ensure the UK is and remains at the forefront of this revolution.
Jesse Norman MP
Minister for electric vehicles

A quarter of a million roosting gannets in Yorkshire, an orca whale mother keeps her dead calf afloat and Norwegian reindeer seek cool in busy road tunnels – it’s the week in wildlife

Bank helped create reserve for endangered primates, but has since funded studies used to approve dam that would flood newly created habitat

Less than a year after it helped to create one of the planet’s most important chimpanzee sanctuaries, the World Bank is accused of backing a dam project that could flood the newly protected habitat.

The 6,426 square-kilomet re Moyen-Bafing national park was established by the government of Guinea last November with the support of the International Finance Corporation , the private sector lending arm of the World Bank.

Human carbon pollution is melting the Arctic, but aerosol pollution is slowing it down

The Arctic is one of the “canaries in the coal mine” for climate change. Long ago, scientists predicted it would warm quicker than other parts of the planet, and they were right. Currently, the Arctic is among the fastest-warming places on the planet. Part of the reason is that as the Arctic warms, ice melts and ocean water is uncovered. The ocean is darker than ice so it in turn absorbs more sunlight and increases its warming. This is a feedback loop.

Another reason is that the Arctic doesn’t get that much sunlight so increased energy from the atmosphere has a bigger influence there than it would have elsewhere.

Study shows correlation between levels of exposure to fine particulate matter and chamber enlargement seen in early stages of heart failure

Air pollution is linked to changes in the structure of the heart of the sort seen in early stages of heart failure, say researchers.

The finding could help explain the increased number of deaths seen in areas with high levels of dirty air. For example, a report last year revealed that people in the UK are 64 times more likely to die from the effect of air pollution than people living in Sweden. Such premature deaths can be linked to a number of causes including respiratory problems, stroke and coronary artery disease.

The Australian fairy wren can master the meaning of a few key ‘words’ by listening to other species

Birds can learn a second language by listening to the tweets and chirps of other birds, helping them to find out when a predator is approaching, scientists have found.

Wild animals are known to listen to each other for clues about lurking predators, effectively eavesdropping on other species’ chatter. Birds, for example, can learn to flee when neighbours cluck the equivalent of “hawk!” — or, more precisely, emit a distress call.