The Guardian
Climate change to drive migration from island homes sooner than thought
Low-lying atolls around the world will be overtaken by sea-level rises within a few decades, according to a new study
Hundreds of thousands of people will be forced from their homes on low-lying islands in the next few decades by sea-level rises and the contamination of fresh drinking water sources, scientists have warned.
A study by researchers at the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Deltares Institute in the Netherlands and Hawaii University has found that many small islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans will be uninhabitable for humans by the middle of this century. That is much earlier than previously thought.
Continue reading...America's best scientists stood up to the Trump administration | John Abraham
Over 600 NAS members called out ‘the Trump Administration’s denigration of scientific expertise’
Anyone who has read this column over the past five years knows that I tend to be unfettered in my criticism of people who lie and distort climate science to further their political ideologies. At the same time, I believe that the majority of climate sceptics are not willfully wishing to damage this precious Earth that we call home. I believe that there are common areas we can all agree on to take meaningful action to protect the Earth’s environment and build a new energy future; even for people who do not understand climate change or climate science.
But with the election of Donald Trump and his ushering in people who are openly hostile to the planet and future generations, my position has been strained (to say the least). We have had more than a year to observe President Trump’s efforts to roll back Obama-era regulations on pollution from coal plants, weaken pollution standards for motor vehicles, become the only country in the world to reject the Paris climate accord, and gut our climate science budget so that we become blind to what is actually happening.
Hey millennials, don’t fall for Shell’s pop star PR | Graham Readfearn
Royal Dutch Shell wants to cut its own climate emissions in half by 2050 - a target wiped out by burning one month’s worth of their fossil fuels
If you’re a millennial, the global oil and gas company Shell will have been most pleased if you’d seen one their #makethefuture music videos.
Twice now Shell have lined up superstars including Jennifer Hudson, Pixie Lott and Yemi Alade to sing about solar panels, hydrogen cars, clean cooking stoves and lights powered by a bag of rocks and gravity.
Continue reading...UK needs 6,000 shale gas wells to fill 50% of imports, study says
Friends of the Earth says countryside would be industrialised with a new well fracked daily until 2035
More than 6,000 shale gas wells would be needed to replace half the UK’s gas imports over a 15-year period, according to a new report.
The nascent UK fracking industry has argued that growing reliance on gas from Norway and Qatar necessitates developing home-produced supplies in addition to North Sea output.
Continue reading...Foreign Office climate staff cut by 25% under Boris Johnson
Exclusive: The prime minister says the UK leads the world on climate action, but Foreign Office officials dedicated to the issue have plunged since 2016
The number of full-time officials dedicated to climate change in the Foreign Office has dropped by almost 25% in the two years since Boris Johnson became foreign secretary, according to data released under freedom of information (FoI) rules.
Johnson has also failed to mention climate change in any official speech since he took the office, in marked contrast to his two predecessors.
Continue reading...Country diary: a toad dressed to a-wooing go
Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: Toads can control their skin tone and this soft yellowishness showed it was ready to ‘a-wooing go’
“How could a purse / squeeze under the rickety door and sit, / full of satisfaction, in a man’s house?” wrote the poet Norman MacCaig in Toad. This toad, a soft yellow-brown and ornamentally purse-like, had come through the back door somehow and was squatting defiantly on quarry tiles. It was seeking asylum from an extraordinarily brilliant morning, unfamiliar heat and ultraviolet light that the weather forecast said was moderate but to toadskin was extreme radiation. It did not seem full of satisfaction to me but then Bufo bufo’s narrowing eyes with horizontal pupils and that broad enigmatic smile may be mistaken for smugness.
The place in the toad’s head that myth says contains a jewel is hidden by an inscrutable mask that is somewhere between divine and reprobate. The bulging paratoid glands on its head, the warty skin excrescences that secrete toxins, and the sumo stance, all suggest repulsion but its soft yellowishness is the colour of fading daffs, with hints of celandine, primrose, agate and potting sand. Toads can control their skin tone and this was being dressed to “a-wooing go”.
Continue reading...Specieswatch: conservation effort is under way to save our mountain hares
Spring is risky for mountain hares; to avoid predators, they have to time their change from white to brown carefully
Britain’s mountain hare Lepus timidus should presently be turning from white to grey-brown with a blue tinge as the breeding season starts. Spring is a dangerous time; the snow disappears and adults need to blend in to avoid hungry eagles or a fox.
Unlike brown hares and rabbits the mountain hare is a true native species, but is increasingly threatened by climate change as it has to climb higher to find a suitable habitat. There are mountain hares as far south as Derbyshire and on the Pennine Hills, where they have been introduced, but their true home is in alpine Scotland.
Continue reading...What future for British fishing? | Letters
We agree with Polly Toynbee that fishing is “deep-dyed in the national identity” (Opinion, 23 April). The UK is in the middle of some of the best fishing grounds in the world. Where she is wrong is in making two assertions: firstly, that taking back control of our waters “is not going to happen, because it can’t”; and secondly, that the problem is that UK skippers sold their quotas to foreigners.
On the first, actually it can. The United Nations convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS) awards sovereign rights over and responsibilities for the natural resources to coastal states in their own exclusive economic zones. That will be us on Brexit, and there are a couple of pre-packed examples of the benefits in the EEZs of our near north-east Atlantic neighbours. Iceland catches 90% of the seafood resource in its EEZ and Norway some 85%. For us, under the rules in the common fisheries policy, we catch 40%, which is absurd. It certainly can change, and according to the prime minister and DexEU and Defra, it will change. It will be a negotiation, but if, as Polly says, the referendum was actually won on fishing sentiment, then public support will see the negotiations move in the right direction.
Continue reading...Dame Daphne Sheldrick obituary
Elephant babies like coconut oil. This discovery has saved the life of hundreds of orphaned, unweaned elephants, left behind when their mothers were killed, victims of the ivory wars that have catastrophically reduced elephant populations across Africa.
The discovery came after two decades of efforts by the renowned conservationist Daphne Sheldrick, who has died aged 83. She devoted most of her life to rescuing young elephants and releasing them back into the wild.
Continue reading...Why there are more gym supplements in a London fatberg than cocaine and MDMA
Substances used to aid muscle-building and weight loss made up more than half of the pharmaceuticals found in the capital’s sewers. What does this tell us about modern life?
Along with the flushed debris and the thriving bacteria – the wet wipes, condoms, and sanitary towels; the listeria and E coli – that have congealed within the giant fatbergs in the sewers under central London, are chemicals found in banned gym supplements. In fact, they were discovered in greater quantities than drugs such as cocaine and MDMA.
In tonight’s Fatberg Autopsy: Secrets of the Sewers, on Channel 4, samples from a giant block were examined to see what it contained. Caused by people pouring cooking oil down the drain – which then congeals with items that should not be flushed, such as wet wipes – fatbergs are an increasing problem for water companies, particularly in urban areas. But the examination of fatbergs’ chemical content also provides a picture of the way we live. The scientists who did the analysis discovered numerous predictable substances, such as paracetamol, prescription medications and substances used in skin creams. But more surprising was the amount of hordenine and ostarine – described by the programme-makers as often being found in gym supplements, which made up more than half of the pharmaceuticals found.
Continue reading...Record levels of plastic discovered in Arctic sea ice
Samples taken from five locations found concentrations of more than 12,000 microplastic particles per litre of sea ice
Scientists have found a record amount of plastic trapped in Arctic sea ice, raising concern about the impact on marine life and human health.
Up to 12,000 pieces of microplastic particles were found per litre of sea ice in core samples taken from five regions on trips to the Arctic Ocean – as many as three times higher than levels in previous studies.
Continue reading...Hard Brexit would mean more and cheaper British fish – but there's a catch
Exclusive: Taking back control of UK waters would lower the price of British-caught fish, new analysis shows – but most of the fish we eat is imported
A hard Brexit that banned EU fishermen from UK waters would lead to many more fish being landed by British boats and a corresponding drop in prices, according to new economic analysis.
But there’s a catch. Two-thirds of the fish UK consumers eat are imported from overseas, and the costs of those would rise, due to the trade barriers resulting from a hard Brexit. Moreover, the fall in the price of UK fish would lead to a drop in earnings for UK fishermen. Overall, the analysis shows closing the UK’s sea borders would be a “lose-lose situation” for both UK and EU consumers and fishing industries.
Continue reading...Warmshowers: why free hospitality for bike tourists is a priceless experience | Joshua Cunningham
The global network of 85,000 members runs on goodwill and a ‘pay it forward’ philosophy, allowing riders to navigate the lonely and sometimes testing side of cycle touring and connect with kindred spirits
Imagine you’re nearing the end of another long day in the saddle, partway through your latest cycling tour. Your panniers feel heavy and your tyres sticky as you drag your bike over the final climb of the day. You pull your map out and wrestle with the foreign characters on the paper, trying to match them with those on the road sign ahead.
Continue reading...Country diary: the buzz of springtime
Ferry Meadows, Peterborough: The sun is shining and tiny furrow bees join other species feeding on pollen and nectar
Spring arrives on many small wings. During the winter insects could be accused of having resorted to being life in the undergrowth, but the freezing easterlies have passed and the gentle warmth of the sun releases the bees and flies from their deep slumbers to again become life in the air.
Related: Ferry Meadows, Peterborough: Floodplains that should remain just that
Continue reading...£10m a year needed to ensure England's soil is fit for farming, report warns
Soil erosion and water pollution caused by poor farming practices mean land could become too poor to sustain food crops by the end of the century
England must invest £10m a year to ensure its soil is productive enough to continue to grow food by the end of the century, a new report warns.
Continue reading...Weatherwatch: Underwater robots feed data to meteorologists
While recording sounds from whales and other marine life in remote areas, these machines collect information that can improve forecasting
Is it a bird? Is it a fish? No, it’s a robot. Scientists are deploying silent gliding robots to swoosh beneath the ocean waves, recording the singing of whales, clicks of dolphins, pitter-pattering of raindrops, humming of ship motors and crashing of waves during a storm.
These new torpedo-shaped robots are remotely controlled by pilots, using satellite to communicate. They are about the same size as a small person and can dive to depths of 1,000 metres (330 feet) and travel the seas for months at a time.
Continue reading...'Wake-up call': microplastics found in Great Australian Bight sediment
Exclusive: Scientists say governments and corporations need to ‘legislate and incentivise’ to tackle ocean plastics
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Plastic has been found in ocean-floor sediments 2km below the surface in one of Australia’s most precious and isolated marine environments.
CSIRO scientists discovered the microplastic pieces while analysing samples taken hundreds of kilometres offshore at the bottom of the Great Australian Bight – a so-called “pristine” biodiversity hotspot and marine treasure.
Continue reading...Graphene 'a game-changer' in making building with concrete greener
Form of carbon incorporated into concrete created stronger, more water-resistant composite material that could reduce emissions
The novel “supermaterial” graphene could hold the key to making one of the oldest building materials greener, new scientific research suggests.
Graphene has been incorporated into traditional concrete production by scientists at the University of Exeter, developing a composite material which is more than twice as strong and four times more water-resistant than existing concretes.
Continue reading...Pruitt promised polluters EPA will value their profits over American lives | Dana Nuccitelli
Pruitt is one of TIME’s 100 most influential people for his efforts to maximize polluters’ profits
TIME magazine announced last week that Trump’s EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is among their 100 most influential people of 2018. George W. Bush’s former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman delivered the scathing explanation:
If his actions continue in the same direction, during Pruitt’s term at the EPA the environment will be threatened instead of protected, and human health endangered instead of preserved, all with no long-term benefit to the economy.
Continue reading...World’s newest great ape threatened by Chinese dam
The discovery of a new great ape species – the Tapanuli orangutan – has not stopped a Chinese state-run hydropower company from clearing forest for a planned dam. Conservationists fear this will be the beginning of the end for a species only known for six months.
Last November scientists made a jaw-dropping announcement: they’d discovered a new great ape hiding in plain sight, only the eighth inhabiting our planet.
The Tapanuli orangutan survives in northern Sumatra and it is already the most endangered great ape in the world; researchers estimate less than 800 individuals survive. But the discovery hasn’t stopped a Chinese state-run company, Sinohydro, from moving ahead with clearing forest for a large dam project smack in the middle of the orangutan population. According to several orangutan experts, Sinohyrdo’s dam represents an immediate and existential threat to the Tapanuli orangutan.