The Guardian
Cape York property with tree-clearing plans given part of $4m reef funding
Conservationists say planned clearing would make sediment problems on the reef – which funding is designed to prevent – much worse
A property in Queensland with one of the biggest tree-clearing proposals in Australia, and which is specifically identified by experts as a risk to Great Barrier Reef water quality, is one of the beneficiaries of a $4m federal government reef water quality program.
Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Andrew Picone said that it showed the federal government “isn’t taking its reef commitments seriously” since the proposed clearing would exacerbate the very problem the funding is meant to mitigate.
Continue reading...World’s great forests could lose half of all wildlife as planet warms – report
From the Amazon to Africa, WWF report predicts catastrophic losses of as much as 60% of plants and 50% of animals by the end of the century
The world’s greatest forests could lose more than half of their plant species by the end of the century unless nations ramp up efforts to tackle climate change, according to a new report on the impacts of global warming on biodiversity hotspots.
Mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds are also likely to disappear on a catastrophic scale in the Amazon and other naturally rich ecosysterms in Africa, Asia, North America and Australia if temperatures rise by more than 1.5C, concludes the study by WWF, the University of East Anglia and the James Cook University.
Continue reading...Green Investment Bank sell-off process 'deeply regrettable', say MPs
Committee says government should have got stronger commitments on bank’s future
MPs have accused the government of a “deeply regrettable” failure to put in place strong guarantees that the UK’s green investment bank will continue to support renewable energy after its privatisation.
The public accounts committee said it was unclear whether the bank would continue to support the government’s energy policy or climate change goals, because the bank’s new owner is not legally bound to stick to its green aims.
Continue reading...Green Investment Bank: why did ministers dodge the real problem? | Nils Pratley
Government should have got binding commitments a private owner would continue to invest
The government’s £1.6bn sale last year of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) to the Australian financial outfit Macquariewas a shambles, it was argued here at the time, and now the public accounts committee agrees. The rough summary of its report runs as follows: in their eagerness to trim a few quid from the national debt ministers accepted a few airy pledges from Macquarie about future investment and called them commitments.
The MPs’ verdict makes a nonsense of the government’s claim that a sale would deliver “the best of both worlds” – value for money and a new owner that would definitely use GIB to support UK energy policy and invest in low-carbon infrastructure. The price tag looks OK since the Treasury made a profit of £186m, but the boast about Macquarie’s good intentions has been exposed as an exercise in hopeful assumptions. The Aussie financiers may decide to play ball, but, if they don’t, there is little the government will be able to do.
Continue reading...Birdwatch: beguiling song of the serin
The liquid tinkling of this tiny finch adds to the springtime chorus in Spain but can we expect to see the bird in Britain?
Under a fiercely blue sky, the sun shines down on groves of oranges and almond blossom. I am in the mountain village of Sella, in Spain’s Alicante province, enjoying a sneak preview of spring – a month or more before it arrives in Britain.
The migrant birds are not yet back, but half a dozen different butterflies are on the wing and birdsong fills the air. The scratchy sound of Sardinian warblers, the metallic song of the black redstart, and, from every little bush and tree, the liquid tinkling of serins.
Continue reading...UK farmers to be given first ever targets on soil health
New bill will be first step by ministers to protect and restore soil as fears grow over a future soil fertility crisis
A new bill will be brought before parliament this year mandating, for the first time, measures and targets to preserve and improve the health of the UK’s soils, amid growing concern that we are sleepwalking into a crisis of soil fertility that could destroy our ability to feed ourselves.
The UN has warned that the world’s soils face exhaustion and depletion, with an estimated 60 harvests left before they are too degraded to feed the planet, and a 2014 study in the UK found matters are not much better, estimating 100 harvests remaining.
Continue reading...Extreme winter weather becoming more common as Arctic warms, study finds
Scientists found a strong link between high temperatures near the pole and unusually heavy snowfall and frigid weather farther south.
The sort of severe winter weather that has rattled parts of the US and UK is becoming more common as the Arctic warms, with scientists finding a strong link between high temperatures near the pole and unusually heavy snowfall and frigid weather further south.
A sharp increase in temperatures across the Arctic since the early 1990s has coincided with an uptick in abnormally cold snaps in winter, particularly in the eastern US, according to new research that analyzed temperature data from 1950 onwards.
Continue reading...Plastic tax: coffee cups and food packaging could face levy
Phllip Hammond accused of delaying action after he announces consultation
Everyday single-use plastic items such as disposable coffee cups, takeaway boxes and polystyrene packaging could be hit with charges akin to the 5p levy on plastic bags, the government has warned.
The Treasury said it was looking at changes to taxation and new levies to tackle plastic waste, but campaigners and politicians accused the government of delaying action.
Continue reading...Third Heathrow runway would be bad for the whole UK | Letters
We are writing to you regarding Heathrow and the hidden costs that we believe need to be explored.
Lots of promises have been made to lots of people in different parts of the country about the extra domestic routes they can expect if a third Heathrow runway is built. It’s all part of a divide-and-rule strategy which glosses over the health impacts of worsening noise and air pollution in south and west London while cheerily talking up the prospects of improved internal connections from an expanded hub airport.
Continue reading...Rain or shine: new solar cell captures energy from raindrops
New device is designed to prevent power output plummeting when the sun isn’t shining – but practical application is still some years off
A solar panel that can generate electricity from falling raindrops has been invented, enabling power to flow even when skies cloud over or the sun has set.
Solar power installation is soaring globally thanks to costs plunging 90% in the past decade, making it the cheapest electricity in many parts of the world. But the power output can plummet under grey skies and researchers are working to squeeze even more electricity from panels.
Continue reading...Krill fishing poses serious threat to Antarctic ecosystem, report warns
Greenpeace finds industrial fishing taking place in the feeding grounds of whales and penguins, with vessels involved in oil spills and accidents
Industrial fishing for krill in the pristine waters around Antarctica is threatening the future of one of the world’s last great wildernesses, according to a new report.
The study by Greenpeace analysed the movements of krill fishing vessels in the region and found they were increasingly operating “in the immediate vicinity of penguin colonies and whale feeding grounds”.
Continue reading...Country diary: a woodland walk to the dawn chorus
Wiggonholt Common, West Sussex: The nuthatch hops around, searching the ground, before launching high into a tree above me, where it starts to sing
Dawn passes barely perceptibly in the damp darkness of the wood. Rain is falling, dripping through the canopy, forming thin, cold cascades of droplets pattering on the mud below. I turn a corner and stop – a nuthatch is drinking from a pool on the track, raising its pointed bill to gulp down the water. With its black eye-stripe, blue-grey back and bright orange underparts, the bird is a flash of colour in the grey woodland.
When it has finished drinking, the nuthatch hops around, searching the ground, before launching high into a tree above me, where it starts to sing, trilling loudly. It interrupts its song now and again to hammer the bark with its bill, digging up grubs and insects. After swallowing, it sings again, my presence barely disturbing its routine.
Continue reading...Greens electric car push: end sale of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030
Tax on luxury fossil fuel cars to fund expansion of Australia’s charging network
The Greens have proposed introducing mandatory fuel efficiency standards, ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and imposing a four-year 17% tax on luxury petrol and diesel cars as part of an electric vehicle policy announced on Tuesday.
Under the proposal Australia would adopt a mandatory fuel efficiency standard of 105g of CO2 a kilometre by 2022, three years earlier than a proposal being considered by the federal government.
Continue reading...Microplastic pollution in oceans is far worse than feared, say scientists
A study reveals highest microplastic pollution levels ever recorded in a river in Manchester, UK and shows that billions of particles flooded into the sea from rivers in the area in just one year
The number of tiny plastic pieces polluting the world’s oceans is vastly greater than thought, new research indicates.
The work reveals the highest microplastic pollution yet discovered anywhere in the world in a river near Manchester in the UK. It also shows that the major floods in the area in 2015-16 flushed more than 40bn pieces of microplastic into the sea.
Continue reading...Burning coal may have caused Earth’s worst mass extinction | Dana Nuccitelli
New geological research from Utah suggests the end-Permian extinction was mainly caused by burning coal, ignited by magma
Earth has so far gone through five mass extinction events – scientists are worried we’re on course to trigger a sixth – and the deadliest one happened 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian geologic period. In this event, coined “the Great Dying,” over 90% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species went extinct. It took about 10 million years for life on Earth to recover from this catastrophic event.
Scientists have proposed a number of possible culprits responsible for this mass extinction, including an asteroid impact, mercury poisoning, a collapse of the ozone layer, and acid rain. Heavy volcanic activity in Siberia was suspected to play a key role in the end-Permian event.
Continue reading...Country diary: the first farmers did not go in for squared-off plots
Chew Valley, Somerset: these unruly fields are what we call ‘ancient countryside’ and its pattern may go back to neolithic times
When we first visited Folly Farm some 30 years ago this 250-acre plot was up for sale. Gates were hanging from their hinges, the hedges were rampant and the pastures were waist-deep in flowers; the 20th century did not appear to have happened yet, nor even the 19th.
These unruly fields were carved from the land, not drawn by a ruler – the first farmers did not go in for squared-off corners as they hacked into the wildwood. The landscape historian Oliver Rackham called this “ancient countryside” (as opposed to the regular fields of “planned countryside” formed by the enclosures) and its pattern may go back as far as the neolithic period.
Continue reading...Saving the yellow-eyed penguin – a photo essay
Photographer Murdo Macleod visits New Zealand’s South Island where conservationists are seeking to protect the endangered yellow-eyed penguin from predation, disease and habitat destruction
At the end of the day, having avoided being bitten on the flipper by a barracouta or chewed by a shark, a shy yellow-eyed penguin prepares to come ashore and make its bed in the bush. Emerging from the surf, he scans the apparently empty sandy strip with his beady eye for signs of danger. Though he is a swift swimmer, he is fettered by his stumpy legs when ashore. But he grows confident as he comes close to the dense brush.
Then the unexpected happens: eight dark figures spring from three different locations and sprint toward the hoiho – or “little shouter” as the yellow-eyed penguin is known in Māori. He has been bushwhacked like this before and offers only token resistance. “Oh no, not again!” he may have thought.
Continue reading...Garden bird feeders help spread disease among wild birds
Some previously rare illnesses are becoming epidemics in some bird populations, scientists say
Garden bird feeders are contributing to the spread of serious diseases among wild birds, scientists have warned, causing previously rare illnesses to become epidemics in some populations.
Poor garden feeder hygiene, droppings accumulations and stale food are promoting the transmission of illnesses between garden birds as the animals repeatedly congregate in the same location, coming into contact with species they would not usually interact with in the wild.
Continue reading...Saving the albatross: 'The war is against plastic and they are casualties on the frontline'
Following his shocking photographs of dead albatross chicks and the diet of plastic that killed them, Chris Jordan’s new film is a call to action to repair our broken relationship with planet Earth
We are living in a plastic age and the solutions may seem glaringly obvious, so why aren’t all 7.6 billion of us already doing things differently? Shocking statistics don’t guarantee effective change. So what’s the alternative? American photographer and filmmaker Chris Jordan believes the focus should be on forcing people to have a stronger emotional engagement with the problems plastic causes. His famous photographs of dead albatross chicks and the colourful plastic they have ingested serve as a blunt reminder that the planet is in a state of emergency.
While making his feature-length film Albatross, Jordan considered Picasso’s approach: “The role of the artist is to respect you, help you connect more deeply, and then leave it up to you to decide how to behave.”
Continue reading...Country diary 1918: golden-green willow branches
16 March 1918: lighted by early sunshine, the great willows show the first extended view of spring
Surrey, March 14
Great willows, tall and broad almost as beeches, stand about the lane which leads from the river bank up to the scarred downs. Lighted by early sunshine they show the first extended view of spring. Long, delicate branches droop yards. All are golden-green; they fill the eye with new colour as they wave in a strong wind, while larks soar toward the sky and a chaffinch sings lightly on the straggling bramble. This, too, is speckled with young shoots; the quicks are budded on their southern side; lords and ladies away in the spinney have leaves that lap across hazel roots where the woodman has been at work; even the moss upon felled ash trees is fresher. Flowers are more abundant on the primroses; these last keep their bloom a long time. A clump marked in a quiet corner of the wood in mid-February still bears the same flowers – intervening frosts have scarcely touched the edge of their petals.
Related: 100 years ago: Rabbits burrow into willow tree
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