The Guardian
GDT nature photographer of the year 2018 – in pictures
Winning images from the prestigious annual competition held by the Society of German Wildlife Photographers (Gesellschaft Deutscher Tierfotografen – GDT) which showcases talent from within the EU. This year’s winner is German photographer Maximilian Hornisch with his image of a golden eagle
Continue reading...UK must secure billions in investment to meet climate targets, MPs warn
Influential committee says collapse in low-carbon investment is endangering jobs and threatening climate commitments
Investment in the UK’s low-carbon economy has fallen dramatically, endangering jobs and putting in doubt the government’s commitments on climate change, an influential committee of MPs has warned.
Funds going into renewable energy, the mainstay of the low-carbon economy, fell more than 50% in 2017, having dropped by 10% in 2016, bringing annual investment in the sector to its lowest since the financial crisis in 2008.
Continue reading...One man's race to capture the Rocky Mountains glaciers before they vanish
Garrett Fisher spent much of his summer in 2015 flying over places like Yellowstone taking stunning pictures of retreating glaciers
After hearing that the glaciers of the Rocky Mountains are rapidly vanishing, financial consultant Garrett Fisher took a novel course of action – he flew a light aircraft, built in 1949, low and alone over the mountains in order to photograph them.
Fisher spent much of his summer in 2015 flying over places such as Yellowstone, Glacier National Park and Grand Teton National Park, taking stunning pictures of retreating glaciers for a new book.
Continue reading...New labelling helps UK shoppers avoid plastic packaging
Iceland is among the first supermarkets to introduce the new ‘trust mark’ that shows shoppers which food packaging has no hidden plastic in it
A new plastic-free “trust mark” is being introduced today, allowing shoppers to see at a glance whether products use plastic in their packaging.
The label will be prominently displayed on food and drink products, making it easier for consumers to choose greener alternatives.
Continue reading...Glyphosate shown to disrupt microbiome 'at safe levels', study claims
Study on rats said to show that the chemical, found in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, poses ‘a significant public health concern’
A chemical found in the world’s most widely used weedkiller can have disrupting effects on sexual development, genes and beneficial gut bacteria at doses considered safe, according to a wide-ranging pilot study in rats.
Glyphosate is the core ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and levels found in the human bloodstream have spiked by more than a 1,000% in the last two decades.
Continue reading...Leaked report warns Cambodia's biggest dam could 'literally kill' Mekong river
Government-commissioned report says proposed site at Sambor reach is the ‘worst possible place’ for hydropower due to impact on wildlife
A Chinese-backed plan to build Cambodia’s biggest dam could “literally kill” the Mekong river, according to a confidential assessment seen by the Guardian which says that the proposed site at Sambor is the “worst possible place” for hydropower.
The report, which was commissioned by the government in Phnom Penh, has been kept secret since it was submitted last year, prompting concerns that ministers are inclined to push ahead regardless of the dire impact it predicts on river dolphins and one of the world’s largest migrations of freshwater fish.
Wind power overtakes nuclear for first time in UK across a quarter
News of milestone comes as MPs say policy changes have caused collapse in investment in renewables
Britain’s windfarms provided more electricity than its eight nuclear power stations in the first three months of 2018, marking the first time wind has overtaken nuclear across a quarter.
The renewable energy industry hailed the milestone as a sign the UK was well on its way to an electricity system powered by cheap, domestic green energy.
Continue reading...Country diary: cool weather has prolonged flowering in the orchard
Kit Hill and Metherell, Tamar Valley: This pear tree remains spectacular, with creamy blossom on wide-spreading branches
At dawn, birdsong floats up from shrubby undergrowth towards the cold summit of Kit Hill. Mist lies in the lowest valleys and, like the scattered enclaves of yellow oilseed rape and plastic-covered maize plantings, appears luminous among the pale greens and blues of the expansive patchwork of fields and woods.
The first cuckoo call of the season impels a brief runabout in honour of family tradition to ensure another year of liveliness – although my predecessors would have had no need to come uphill and away from the valley to hear this bird. The sound of melodeon, trombone, drum and bells echoes around the monumental mine-stack as the Cornish Wreckers dance morris in celebration of May and of “winter gone away”.
Continue reading...Plantwatch: glyphosate is only way to manage Japanese knotweed
Japanese knotweed is said to cost UK economy £170m a year, but so far only solution is controversial glyphosate-based herbicide
Japanese knotweed is a thug of a plant capable of growing a foot a week at this time of year; it spreads rapidly from underground rhizomes; erodes riverbanks, leading to flooding; smothers other plants; blocks drains and wreaks such havoc on homes and gardens that it blights property prices. It is estimated that controlling Japanese knotweed costs the UK economy about £170m each year. An entire industry has been built on trying to control the plant, using at least 15 different active control methods. There is, however, no impartial study of how effective any of these treatments are.
Scientists at Swansea University recently concluded the world’s largest field trial over five years on tackling Japanese knotweed. Their depressing assessment is that eradicating the plant using weedkillers is useless, and so too are physical methods such as covering up and cutting down knotweed.
Continue reading...Batteries included in energy storage ideas | Letters
The WWF has been oversimplistic in its argument that no further gas-fired power stations are needed (Report, 14 May). The forecast increase in annual renewable electricity production is only just sufficient to balance the closure of coal-fired electricity generation and the fall in nuclear generation resulting from the retirement of many of our nuclear power stations (most of which are already working beyond their design lives). However, this does not mean more no more gas generation capacity is needed. Electricity demand varies, and renewables are intermittent. There has to be enough capacity to meet demand at all times.
While pump storage systems and batteries are able to store enough energy to cope with short-term variations in demand and the availability of renewable generation, it would not be environmentally friendly, efficient or cost-effective to use such systems to store energy from summer to winter, or even to store enough to survive a long midwinter period of high pressure over the North Sea.
Continue reading...UK parliament to remove single-use plastics from Westminster
Almost all single use plastics, including coffee cups, bags and water bottles will be replaced with compostable or reusable versions by 2019
The UK parliament has unveiled a package of measures to “virtually eliminate” single-use plastics from Westminster in the next year.
The move will see a range of items – from coffee cups to straws, plastic bags to water bottles – removed from the parliamentary estate, to be replaced by compostable or reuseable options by 2019.
Continue reading...London considering car-free days in bid to tackle air pollution
City Hall sources say mayor is hoping to introduce separate car-free days in each borough this year, with ‘more ambitious plans’ for 2019
London is considering introducing car-free days in an attempt to tackle the city’s air pollution crisis that experts say is responsible for thousands of early deaths each year.
Officials at City Hall were due to meet on Tuesday to examine how best to roll out a ban across specific areas of the capital on different days this year - with “more ambitious plans” in the pipeline for 2019.
Continue reading...Timor-Leste's incredible marine life – in pictures
Situated in the heart of the ‘coral triangle’, this young nation boasts some of the most biodiverse waters in the world. As it emerges from years of unrest, it now faces the challenge of protecting its coasts, and the communities that rely on them, in the face of growing development
Continue reading...More of the Great Australian Bight opened to oil and gas
Government releases new acreages for offshore exploration as protesters oppose drilling
The government has released a new acreage for offshore oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight that green groups says should have been kept off limits after it was cancelled by BP.
The permit is one of two that BP cancelled after the company abandoned its plans for oil and gas drilling in the bight in 2016. Its remaining two permits were sold to the Norwegian oil and gas multinational Statoil.
Continue reading...Country diary: this cute creature is a cold killer
Aigas, Highlands: The pine marten brought a touch of night in its sharp black muzzle and in the big silent dark-stockinged feet
For more than 90 minutes we’d sat until cold air quieted the wood and the day thinned into the long shadows of the trees. By 10.30pm we were centred in an arc of artificial lamp glow. There was just the sound of a last robin across the loch, its spindly song an analogue for the vanishing day.
The silent theatricality of the moment was thus complete when the creature strolled into our vision without the merest hint of drama. Its step was sprightly, its acceptance of the lamp instantaneous. It brought a touch of night in its sharp black muzzle and in the big silent dark-stockinged feet – and every now and then it paused from eating to stare hard at its own route through the trees, reassuring itself of solitude – but otherwise we were all at ease with the mutual encounter. For 10 minutes there were no sounds but the crunch of nut and the click of camera.
Continue reading...Millennials are making frozen food hot again, but can they stop killing everything else?
Frozen food is the latest industry millennials have been credited with saving. But it’s too late for gum, soap and thongs
Frozen food is super hot right now. According to David Palmer, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, sales volumes have grown for the first time in five years. And millennials are largely responsible for this, spending 9% more per shopping trip for frozen foods last year than other groups, according to Reuters.
So why are millennials, a supposedly foodie generation, buying so many frozen meals? Well, largely because it’s convenient. “The average millennial doesn’t have time to make a full meal with fresh meat and produce, a Euromonitor analyst explained. “More and more they’re seeing these products as viable options.”
Continue reading...Almost half of Australian big business moving to renewables
Climate Council says capacity of firms to generate solar power has doubled in less than two years
Almost half of Australia’s large businesses are actively transitioning to cheaper renewable energy, including many going off the grid by building their own generators and battery storage, as power bills threaten their bottom line.
A new report by the Climate Council details the increased speed of a business-led transition to renewables as power bills have increased.
Continue reading...Investors urge fossil fuel firms to shun Trump's Arctic drilling plans
Oil extraction in Alaskan wilderness area would be an ‘irresponsible business decision’, trillion-dollar investors say
Investors managing more than $2.5tn have warned oil firms and banks to shun moves by the US president, Donald Trump, to open the Arctic national wildlife refuge (ANWR) to drilling.
Companies extracting oil and gas from the wilderness area in Alaska would face “enormous reputational risk and public backlash”, the investors say in a letter sent on Monday to 100 fossil fuel companies and the banks that finance them.
Continue reading...Banning plastic bags can be a lifesaver | Brief letters
While “other East African nations are considering following suit” (Nairobi feels the force of world’s most draconian plastic bag ban, 26 April), Rwanda banned plastic bags in 2008. Plastic bags can trap pools of water which host mosquitos so their ban helps fight malaria.
Alex Morton
London
• In Saturday’s Feast Ottolenghi’s tamarind recipes all call for added sugar, honey or syrup. Meera Sodha adds two tablespoons of palm sugar to her aubergines. My old-fashioned Indian recipe books don’t add sugar at all. Even the Anna Jones lettuce recipes advise a method to make them “sweet”. Is this the way to address an obese nation?
Deborah van der Beek
Chippenham, Wiltshire
'My partner convinced me of the facts': readers on changing their opinion on climate change
We asked you to tell us about the time you crossed from one side of the debate to the other
I first thought it was fake as I used to watch Fox News with my family. In 2015 I met my partner Stephen who knew that the facts of climate change couldn’t be ignored. He took it upon himself to try to convince me. We started watching documentaries on the subject on Netflix. The first documentary that caught my attention was Cowspiracy directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. This documentary really hit home and I even wrote an essay on it. Then came What the Health by the same directors. After we watched the movie Stephen and I turned to an all plant-based diet. We have our ups and downs on staying true to our new lifestyle change, but we always keep in mind that for every burger we don’t eat that is 660 gallons of water that we are saving for others in need. I was lucky enough that Stephen took the time and saw that if I could see the issues I would see that the facts are true.