The Guardian
Josh Frydenberg urged to step in to save national park from NSW brumby plan
Conservationists say federal environment minister has obligation to protect areas of national significance
Conservationists have called on the federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, to intervene to protect the Kosciuszko national park from brumbies after a New South Wales bill was passed giving heritage protection to the feral horses.
The Australian Conservation Foundation says the federal government has an obligation under national environment law to protect areas of national significance, including the national heritage-listed Australian Alps national parks and reserves.
Continue reading...Weatherwatch: June is not as moderate as its reputation
June, generally considered a ‘moderate’ month, surprised us last year with searing heat and teeming rain
June is usually thought of as a rather moderate month, weather-wise. Heatwaves tend to happen in July and August, and although there were famous falls of snow in parts of England on 2 June 1975, such events are mercifully very rare.
Occasionally June will surprise us. Last year, the month started with unsettled conditions and heavy rain. But from the middle of the month temperatures began to rise, with very warm air from continental Europe bringing temperatures above 30C every day from the 17th to 21st, reaching a peak of 34.5C (94.1F) at Heathrow Airport on the 21st, the highest June temperature since the long hot summer of 1976. That helped push the average temperature up for the month, so that, despite a return to cooler, fresher weather, this was the equal fifth warmest June in the UK since records began in 1910.
Continue reading...Microplastics in our mussels: the sea is feeding human garbage back to us
Shellfish are the natural filter systems of our seas, mechanisms of purity. So, to discover in a report released on World Oceans Day that mussels bought from UK supermarkets were infested with microplastic seems like a final irony in the terrible story of the plasticisation of the sea. According to the study by the University of Hull and Brunel University London, 70 particles of microplastic were found in every 100 grams of mussels.
There’s a vital disconnection here – highlighted by the bottled water you drink to wash down your moules-frites, and the fact that 89% of ocean trash comes from single-use plastic. No sea is immune from this plague, nor any ocean creature, from the modest mussel or zooplankton to the great whales.
Continue reading...Heathrow and the ‘aviation mafia’ | Letters
The battle to construct a third runway has been going on for much longer than your estimate of 31 years (Editorial, 6 June). It first gained government approval as long ago as 1946 but was abandoned by the incoming government in 1952. Since then there have been further attempts and in 2009 it once again gained parliamentary approval. This was overturned by the coalition government one year later when David Cameron declared: “No ifs, no buts, no third runway.” This might have been the end of the matter but the ‘aviation mafia’ is nothing if not persistent and never gives up.
Philip Sherwood
Author, Heathrow: 2000 Years of History, Harlington, Middlesex
• There is one vital element of the Heathrow runway debate that has not been aired this time (again) and is surely the central point. In the 1970s, an energy study warned us of the finite nature of oil-based transport. According to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in 2016, there are 1.3tn barrels of proven oil reserves left in the world’s major fields, which at present rates of consumption should last 40 years. So if it takes 20-30 years to build the third runway, that means just 10 years of use. And that does not take into account current population expansion rates and the likelihood of greater demand on oil reserves over the next 30 years. A third runway at Heathrow is utterly futile and pointless. Air travel in its current form is dying. We need new solutions, new energy sources – not tired out old arguments.
Nigel Cubbage
Merstham, Surrey
Spotlight on plastics, Heathrow expansion and Everest – 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
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Foraging wood ducks, an adder taking a dip and a fearless baby rabbit are among this week’s pick on images from the natural world
Continue reading...Heathrow third runway protesters vow to go on hunger strike
Activists to escalate action in opposition to environmental impact of proposed expansion
Activists opposed to the government’s Heathrow expansion plans have vowed to escalate their protests in the coming weeks to avoid what they say would be an “environmental catastrophe”.
The warning follows a week of direct action in which eight people have been arrested as environmental opposition to the a third runway proposal grows.
Continue reading...Sadiq Khan plans to extend London's ultra-low emission zone
Scheme will cover North and South Circular roads, as well as capital’s centre, in 2021
Sadiq Khan has unveiled details of his plan to introduce an “ultra-low emission zone” covering a huge swath of London in the next few years.
The scheme, which will see the most polluting vehicles charged for entering the centre of the capital from April next year, will be extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads in 2021.
Continue reading...It's time for Ireland to deliver a credible climate plan | Peter Thorne
A recent Citizens’ Assembly ballot shows that there is a huge public appetite for strong action on emissions
Last week the Irish Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that Ireland will miss its 2020 international emissions target by a wide margin. The goal is 20% cuts on 2005 levels; in reality we’re on track for 1%.
Continue reading...Plastic bag ban: What are the alternatives? – video
By the end of June, most of Australia’s major supermarkets will have stopped handing out single-use plastic bags.
Woolworths, Coles, and the Queensland and Western Australian governments are all phasing out lightweight plastic shopping bags, potentially preventing billions of bags from finding their way into landfill or oceans.
But what is and isn’t being phased out? What are the alternatives, and how effective will the policy be?
Continue reading...Tourists to Med told to ditch plastic to avoid huge rise in beach litter
Summer tourists cause a 40% spike in plastic marine litter in the region, new figures reveal
Tourists are being urged to reduce their use of plastic as new figures reveal holidaymakers cause a 40% spike in marine litter in the Mediterranean each summer.
Nearly all the waste created by the surge in tourism over the summer months in countries like Italy, France and Turkey is plastic litter, says WWF in a new report.
Continue reading...The week in plastic - in pictures
This week marked World Environment day and World Ocean day, both of which highlighted plastic global pollution as the most urgent problem facing our planet. So as a parody of our popular Week in wildlife gallery, from dead pelicans to trapped turtles and garbage-eating cows, we bring you ... the Week in plastic.
Continue reading...Power from the sun for maritime warning lights - archive, 8 June 1961
8 June 1961: A light-buoy, or beacon, which derives its power from the sun is being developed with some success
A striking mark of faith in the British climate has been made by the engineers of Trinity House, who are developing with success a form of light-buoy or beacon which derives its power from the sun.
Continue reading...Yellowstone boss: Trump officials forced me out over wildlife advocacy
Dan Wenk is being used as an example to undermine culture of conservation, say former park service workers
The superintendent of Yellowstone national park says he has been forced out of his job by the Trump administration over his wildlife advocacy.
“It’s a hell of a way to be treated at the end of four decades spent trying to do my best for the park service and places like Yellowstone, but that’s how these guys are,” said Dan Wenk, referring to the US interior department. “Throughout my career, I’ve not encountered anything like this, ever.”
Continue reading...Pollutionwatch: May brought high levels of damaging ozone
Ground-level ozone can damage wheat, mung and soya bean crops, and is harmful to breathe
We often think of ozone as a stratosphere pollutant, where it does a useful job blocking harmful ultraviolet radiation, but it is harmful to breathe and damages our crops, too. In a typical May, UK air pollution can reach between four and six on the government’s 10-point scale for a week or so. May 2018 was the hottest since records began in 1919. This brought air pollution problems to the whole of the UK except eastern Scotland. Air pollution reached level 4 or above on 30 days during the month and ozone was one of the main culprits.
Continue reading...Domestic tourism to Great Barrier Reef falls in wake of coral bleaching
Reef no longer among top 10 reasons for Australians to visit Cairns, says survey
The lure of the Great Barrier Reef to Australian tourists has “fallen dramatically” since the onset of successive coral bleaching events in 2016, according to a new report that reveals fewer domestic visitors are heading to north Queensland to visit the natural wonder.
The report, by the Centre for Tourism and Regional Opportunities at Central Queensland University, says towns should now develop “new tourism experiences” to compensate for lost visitors and the likelihood of further damage to the climate-threatened reef.
Continue reading...Move to renewables a 'good thing', Nationals' David Littleproud says
Agriculture minister says climate is changing and Australia must ‘use the best science available’
The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, says the climate is changing and the transition in the energy market – with renewables displacing traditional power generation sources – is “exciting, not only for the environment but for the hip pocket”.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, the Queensland National said the climate had been changing “since we first tilled the soil in Australia” and he does not care whether the change is due to human activity or not.
Continue reading...Sisters act: Mexican nuns on mission to save salamanders – video
A community of Mexican nuns have formed an unlikely partnership with British conservationists to save an endangered amphibian species. Achoques once thrived in Pátzcuaro, Mexico’s third largest lake, but they are now close to extinction due to introduced fish species and deforestation. The nuns, who use the lizard-like animal to create a special cough medicine, have been breeding them in their convent. The sisters are part of an official breeding network that includes Chester zoo in the UK and the Michoacana University of Mexico
Continue reading...Pesticide use in the UK’s intensive agriculture | Letters
Guy Smith of the National Farmers’ Union says (Letters, 4 June) that there has been “no intensification of agriculture in the UK for 25 years”, and that government figures show pesticide use has been “significantly reduced”. No they don’t. Government figures show the number of active substances – the actual chemicals applied to three major UK crops (wheat, onions and potatoes) – have increased between six and 18 times (that is, between 600% and 1,800%) from the 1970s to 2014. And as recent Guardian investigations have found, there has been a significant growth in large-scale pig and poultry production, and recently you revealed the arrival, albeit just a few at the moment, of US-style beef lots in the UK (Report, 30 May). UK dairy herds have been getting ever larger over recent years, with the growth of dairy systems where the cows are kept indoors all their life, with feed brought to them, and no grazing on grass. These are all undesirable trends for English farmers, squeezed by rising costs and falling prices, and as we face government policy that rightly wants us to compete on the world market on the basis of high animal welfare, high environmental standards and high quality.
Peter Melchett
Policy director, Soil Association
• Guy Smith of the National Farmers’ Union tells only half the story when he says pesticide use in the UK has been significantly reduced. What he is referring to is the weight of pesticides, and on that point alone he is correct. In 1990 the weight of active substances applied was 34,500 tonnes compared to 17,1800 tones in 2015. But weight is not the significant factor. Toxicity is. Many of the pesticides on the market now are more toxic than they used to be and so farmers apply less weight of pesticides to do the same job.
Continue reading...Tiny shrimp could influence global climate changes | John Abraham
Researchers find the daily migrations of brine shrimp is strong enough to mix ocean waters
When we think of global warming and climate change, most of us ignore the impacts that animals have on the environment. Climate affects animals, but is the reverse true? Can animals affect the climate?
I don’t know how to answer that question definitively, but I was fortunate enough to read a very recent paper from a top fluid dynamics research team from Stanford. The team, led by Dr. John Dabiri, is well known for their work on bio-inspired flow. Part of what they study is the influence of living organisms on fluid flow, especially flow of water in the oceans.
Continue reading...