The Guardian

Calls for state governments to invest in long-term recycling and sustainable waste solutions
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The body representing Australian councils is urging the federal government to take seriously China’s effective ban on accepting shipments of plastic for recycling, warning it should not ignore potential implications for trade between the two countries.

The Australian Local Government Association is calling on state governments to stop treating hundreds of millions of dollars in landfill levies collected when rubbish was dumped as general revenue, and to instead invest it in long-term recycling and other sustainable waste solutions.

• Latest in a string of investigations into Pruitt’s travel spending
  
• Trips included Disneyland and attendance at sporting games

The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general will investigate agency administrator Scott Pruitt’s use of his official security detail on recent personal trips, the latest in a string of congressional, White House and internal investigations into his spending on security and travel.

The investigation comes at the request of Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse, he announced on Thursday, a month after he asked Inspector General Arthur Elkins to look into Pruitt’s “unprecedented use” of his taxpayer-funded security detail documented in six weeks of obtained schedules and travel logs.

It was encouraging to read your item on birding becoming mainstream (Shortcuts, G2, 19 April). While Chris Packham and the ’watches teams have indeed contributed to this, please do not ascribe this emerging enthusiasm to just one source. Other TV naturalists, including Iolo Williams and Mike Dilger, have done much to encourage and enlighten young people about wildlife issues. Organisations such as the British Trust for Ornithology and RSPB provide excellent opportunities for youngsters to realise that birding can be fun. Local RSPB reserves and groups, Wildlife Trusts and talented individuals are also playing a part. We need these youngsters to care for the future and should be grateful to all those, often working hard behind the scenes, who are enabling this. Many an older birder will express gratitude to one enthusiastic mentor who set them on the road to a lifetime of birdwatching. Long may this continue and not just rely on charismatic TV presenters.
Dr Jennifer M Jones
Liverpool

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Electric vehicles’ share of new UK registrations rises to 2%, still falling far short of Norway’s 48%

Sales of electric cars in the UK have risen 11% on last year, putting the country in the premier league of those ditching petrol and diesel engines, though it is still miles behind Norway and China.

An analysis of the latest global sales of electric vehicles found that nearly half the vehicles registered in Norway in the first three months of 2018 were electric (48%), compared to just over a third (35%) during the same period in 2017. The vehicles are run almost exclusively off the nation’s hydropower resource, underlining Norway’s claim as the world leader.

Repairs to masonry damaged by intruder put Craignethan’s cellar tunnel out of bounds to public

Parts of a Scottish castle remain closed to the public after a “very angry badger” took up residence. The cellar tunnel at Craignethan Castle, in South Lanarkshire, was initially closed last week after the animal arrived, and remains closed while the damage it caused is repaired.

It is thought the animal had become lost, and staff tried to lure it out with cat food and honey.

Saltwell Gill, Durham city: A swathe of wildlings in a wood was a spectacle to make the spirits soar after a long, cold winter

This meandering stream, a mile south of the city centre, has carved a small, steep-sided, wooded valley through soft alluvial soil, providing a refuge for flora and fauna that have long since been displaced by surrounding agriculture. Had I not strayed from the footpath around the fields and explored its slopes I might never have stumbled upon a hidden, isolated population of wild primroses (Primula vulgaris). They were growing in an unharvested hazel coppice that, judging by the diameter of the trunks, had been forgotten for several decades.

Context counts for a lot in the aesthetic impact of wild flowers. A primrose transplanted into a garden is a pretty flower. Finding this swathe of wildlings in such a classic, albeit semi-natural, habitat, soon to be followed by the promise of bluebells, was much more: a spectacle to make the spirits soar after a long, cold winter.

'Monster' is the largest reticulated python in captivity in Australia. Getting her on the the scales for a weigh-in required a number of handlers, and caution. In December she bit one of her handlers on the hand. 

Researchers from South Australia’s Flinders University demonstrate how a polymer can act like a sponge to remove crude oil and diesel from seawater. The lead researcher, Dr Justin Chalker, says it has the potential to be a cheap and sustainable recovery tool in areas affected by oil spills. 'Our goal is for this to be used globally,' he says. 'It is inexpensive, and we have an eye for it to be used in parts of the world such as the Amazon Basin in Ecuador and the Niger Delta that don’t have access to solutions to oil spills.'

• Researchers create super sponge that mops up oil spills

Scientists have chronicled the 'mass mortality' of corals on the Great Barrier Reef, in a new report that says 30% of the reef’s corals died in a catastrophic nine-month marine heatwave

The study, published in Nature and led by Prof Terry Hughes, the director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, examined the link between the level of heat exposure, subsequent coral bleaching and ultimately coral death

Campaign draws up eight principles to guide people who want to be healthier and reduce their environmental impact

Eating less meat has long been advocated for our health and that of the planet, but the choices we make within that advice can be just as important, according to a new report.

Choosing lamb, for instance, means the animal is almost certain to have been grass-fed and free range, as sheep are not factory farmed in the same way as pigs or chickens. Meat from pasture-fed animals also tends to have higher levels of “good” fats, which are healthier.

Recovery plan for threatened Mary river turtle and other species drafted in 2013 but never approved
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Conservationists trying to save the Mary river turtle have had to resort to selling turtle chocolates and soliciting donations from the United Arab Emirates to try to help save the endangered reptile from extinction.

And a Mary river catchment committee that developed a recovery plan for the turtle and four other Mary River species has been waiting years for the federal government to approve the finished plan, which is in draft form and awaiting official sign-off.

Consultation to start later this year as Theresa May continues drive against plastic waste

Cotton buds, plastic drinking straws and other single-use plastics could be banned from sale in England next year in the next phase of the campaign to try to halt the pollution of the world’s rivers and oceans.

Theresa May hopes to use the announcement to encourage the Commonwealth heads of government to join the fight as the meeting opens formally on Thursday. “The Commonwealth is a unique organisation with a huge diversity of wildlife, and environments – so it is vital we act now,” the prime minister will say, urging all Commonwealth countries to participate.

Research shows people with healthy diets rich in fruit and vegetables are the most wasteful and calls for better education for consumers

Americans waste about a pound of food per person each day, with people who have healthier diets rich in fruit and vegetables the most wasteful, research has found.

Report chronicles ‘mass mortality’, the extent and severity of which has shocked scientists
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Scientists have chronicled the “mass mortality” of corals on the Great Barrier Reef, in a new report that says 30% of the reef’s corals died in a catastrophic nine-month marine heatwave.

The study, published in Nature and led by Prof Terry Hughes, the director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, examined the link between the level of heat exposure, subsequent coral bleaching and ultimately coral death.

They may be duff at identifying birds and flowers, but some young people are at least showing an interest. So here are our tips for experiencing the best of British nature

If, like me, you are a fiftysomething trying to cope with the modern world, you will be pleased to hear that millennials are struggling, too. As well as being unable to do mental arithmetic, ironing and spelling, they are also – according to a recent Bupa survey – unable to identify birds and wild flowers.

Despite this, there has been a surge in interest among some millennials, with the organisation A Focus on Nature encouraging a new generation of young people to connect with the natural world.

‘Outrageous financial demands will have serious repercussions across the renewables sector’

Labour has accused the government of holding back clean energy projects in the UK by allowing energy networks to impose “outrageous” charges on renewables developers.

This week, two of the six companies that run the country’s local electricity grids began making green energy firms pay for an estimate of how much it will cost to connect their solar and windfarms.

Exclusive: Plans for a network of hydropower plants in three countries would cause ‘chain reaction’ for endangered species, report warns

Nearly one in 10 of Europe’s fish species will be pushed to the brink of extinction by a constellation of hydropower plants planned in the western Balkans, new research has found.

Eleven endemic species would be wiped out, seven more would be critically endangered, four types of sturgeon would be devastated and the number of endangered species would double to 24, according to the University of Graz report.

Two new island fish farms given the go-ahead in spite of Scottish parliamentary report warning of possible environmental impacts

Two new salmon farms are to be built off the Scottish island of Skye after receiving permission from the Highland council, despite opposition from residents over the possible environmental impacts and a lack of guarantees the farms will remain organic.

The two sites on the north-east of the island are among the first to be approved since MSPs warned that the continued expansion of the industry could cause “irrecoverable damage” to the environment.

Authorities grant whalers a quota to hunt the endangered fin whale this summer after a two-year pause

Icelandic fishermen will resume their hunt for the endangered fin whale this year after a two-year pause and have set a target of 191 kills for the season.

An apparent loosening of Japanese regulations on Icelandic exports had made the resumption of the hunting commercially viable again, the country’s only fin whaling company, Hvalur, announced.

At twice the size of a regulation basketball court, the enormous replica will be used to work out an ambitious water-diversion plan

Scientists working to stop rising seawater damaging the fragile ecosystems of the Louisiana coastline have unveiled a massive new weapon: an enormous replica of the lower Mississippi delta.

At some 10,800 sq ft, the model is more than twice the size of a regulation basketball court. Housed at Louisiana State University’s center for river studies, the “Lower Mississippi River Physical Model” will help experts work out how best to enact a state plan to fight coastal erosion.