The Guardian
The village that took on the frackers
It’s early February and the mood at the anti-fracking camp in the embattled village of Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, is one of cautious optimism. The camp, a collection of makeshift wooden buildings in a muddy field outside town, has been running since December 2016, but it’s only in the last five months that demonstrations against the fracking company Third Energy have flared up, leading to an extraordinary police presence around the village, more than 80 arrests and – just a couple of weeks ago – an apparent victory for the protesters.
I’m in the company of Observer photographer Gary Calton, who has been documenting events here for six months. Calton, who lives eight miles away, has pictures of protesters boarding lorries, lying down at the gates to the site and facing off against battalions of police. He has also captured more intimate moments, the protesters running through drills, chatting, sleeping and – a key activity on the freezing day I visit – simply keeping warm as they wait for the next chapter in the fracking saga to unfold.
Continue reading...Should we give up half of the Earth to wildlife?
Populations of all kinds of wildlife are declining at alarming speed. One radical solution is to make 50% of the planet a nature reserve
The orangutan is one of our planet’s most distinctive and intelligent creatures. It has been observed using primitive tools, such as the branch of a tree, to hunt food, and is capable of complex social behaviour. Orangutans also played a special role in humanity’s own intellectual history when, in the 19th century, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, co-developers of the theory of natural selection, used observations of them to hone their ideas about evolution.
But humanity has not repaid orangutans with kindness. The numbers of these distinctive, red-maned primates are now plummeting thanks to our destruction of their habitats and illegal hunting of the species. Last week, an international study revealed that its population in Borneo, the animal’s last main stronghold, now stands at between 70,000 and 100,000, less than half of what it was in 1995. “I expected to see a fairly steep decline, but I did not anticipate it would be this large,” said one of the study’s co-authors, Serge Wich of Liverpool John Moores University.
Continue reading...No record of some threatened species in area government says it's protecting them
Experts say growling grass frog and southern brown bandicoot not likely to be found at Endeavour Fern Gully
Experts have cast doubt on government claims the Coalition is funding a conservation project in Victoria’s Endeavour Fern Gully to benefit threatened species – because the listed species are unlikely to occur in the area.
Endeavour Fern Gully is a 27-hectare (65 acre) rainforest property on the Mornington Peninsula. The environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, says the government had funded a broad Green Army project that “improves habitat through weed control and promotes greater conservation awareness of native vegetation in remnant bushland at Endeavour Fern Gully”.
Continue reading...Want to monitor air pollution? Test a pigeon
Feral pigeons are exposed to the same environmental factors as humans, so help explore the affect of contaminants, say researchers
Pigeons might be seen as the scourge of cities, but researchers say they could help us explore both the levels and impacts of a host of toxins in the air, from lead to pesticides.
Scientists say feral pigeons are a valuable way of probing contaminants in environment, since they are exposed to the same air, water, food and other factors as humans, and don’t venture far from home.
Continue reading...For and against students getting the crops in | Letters
In the agricultural sector there is a shortfall of 4,300 jobs with a tiny proportion of the population working on farms. Yet Aileen Hammond (Letters, 15 February) demands that 2.28 million students in higher education descend on to the farms of this country every summer and winter. I’m afraid a few second homes she wants to be made available isn’t going to be quite enough to house these students.
I spent my vacations from university volunteering, getting work experience, writing dissertations – all of which has allowed me to contribute to the common good. There are also lots of other important and meaningful seasonal jobs that depend on the student vacation workforce. Forced labour of students on to farms would play havoc with these sectors and merely shift the labour problem elsewhere.
Continue reading...Agro-forestry as a huge opportunity for UK | Letters
John Vidal is absolutely correct in identifying the multiple benefits of agro-forestry (A eureka moment – we’re finally planting trees again, 13 February) but these benefits need to also be unleashed in the developed world, not only in Africa, Asia and South America.
Currently 9% of EU agricultural land is given over to agro-forestry, meaning it is not merely a fringe activity. The UK’s largest agro-forestry holding is just to the south of Peterborough, where Steve Briggs farms 125 acres of organic oats with strips of apple trees across; reducing wind erosion of the soil, increasing water retention and improving biodiversity – eg most bird species have increased by 20-50% with barn owls up 400%.
Continue reading...Borneo's orangutans, drone deliveries and Antarctic wildlife – 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
Spyhopping humpback whales and ‘frost flowers’ are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Golden eagle suspected of being killed and dumped at sea near Edinburgh
GPS data from the endangered young eagle, that was tagged by environmentalist Chris Packham, stopped transmitting before randomly restarting out at sea
A young golden eagle may have been illegally killed near Edinburgh and dumped at sea after its satellite tag inexplicably stopped transmitting and then restarted in the North Sea.
The golden eagle was tagged by broadcaster and environmentalist Chris Packham and the campaign group Raptor Persecution UK at a nest in the Scottish Borders last summer, and named Fred, after the landowner’s grandson.
Continue reading...Does cycling really damage men's sexual organs? | Jessica Brown
New research refutes the theory that pressure from saddles can cause erectile dysfunction, and says cycling could actually improve performance in older men
Few doubt that cycling helps you get healthy. One study last year found cyclists are less likely to develop heart disease or cancer, and a 2011 review showed it improves fitness and leads to longer lives. But there’s an area of men’s health that has been the subject of a persistent question: does time spent in the saddle lead to problems in the sack?
In recent years, scientists have linked cycling with several male health problems, including erectile dysfunction, which they speculate is caused by the saddle decreasing blood flow to the penis. In one study, Norwegian researchers gathered data from 160 men after they took part in a long-distance bike tour. They found that one in five suffered with numbness to the penis that lasted up to a week after the tour, and 13% developed erectile dysfunction that lasted more than a week in most cases.
Dutch cow poo overload causes an environmental stink
Dairy farms in the Netherlands are producing so much dung they can’t get rid of it safely. Now the WWF is calling for a 40% cut in herd numbers to protect the environment
There is a dirty stench emanating from the Dutch dairy sector. The industry is, by most measures, hugely successful: despite the small size of the country, it is the fifth largest exporter of dairy and has a much-touted reputation as the tiny country that feeds the world.
But there’s a catch: the nation’s 1.8 million cows are producing so much manure that there isn’t enough space to get rid of it safely.
Continue reading...Country diary: the biggest hare I’ve ever seen sat boldly on its arse
Bleaklow, Derbyshire: They hunker down, escaping the wind and wary of predators, waiting for the hour after dark to feed
Brilliant sunshine and a covering of snow had transformed Bleaklow into the Arctic, the sky azure overhead with hints of turquoise on the horizon, bruising to mauve as the day wore on. Approaching Barrow Stones, the moors a glittering sweep of blue-white, nothing stirred but the bitter wind that curled around my neck. The wind had sculpted extravagant shapes from the snow: translucent fins of névé or else, where it eddied, sinuous arcs and twists. Soft spindrift filled the groughs between peat hags fringed with icicles. The same wind, I reflected, has done much the same to Barrow Stones, albeit over millennia rather than days, scouring a crowd of abstract heads nodding in the sun.
The snow had recorded more than the wind’s passage. From time to time we came across a busy intersection of animal tracks, a meandering series of triangles made by grouse, the delicate feet of mice and voles, like sutures, stitching the lightest trace of time through the snow’s surface. There were the unmistakable prints of mountain hares, also known more prettily as blue hares, forepaws offset and hitting the ground behind the back legs. Different animals had shared the same path for a while before looping off individually in a new direction. Then the prints would disappear altogether until we encountered a new group. Mountain hares don’t have extensive ranges.
Continue reading...Pollutionwatch: ice resurfacing machines can cause poisoning
The machines that ensure smooth ice for athletes can be responsible for air pollution
Watch the live streams from the Winter Olympics and you will see the ice rink resurfacing machines that ensure smooth ice for the athletes. Running any engine indoors is a bad idea, especially in a room full of thousands of spectators and heavily breathing ice-hockey players or skaters. The first case of air pollution problems from ice resurfacers was reported in 1975 when 15 children became ill from carbon monoxide poisoning at a Seattle rink. Nitrogen dioxide was added to the list of concerns when concentrations in the average Finnish rink were found to be more than three times World Health Organisation guidelines. Practical solutions include exhaust clean-up equipment, better ventilation, warming up the resurfacing machine outside and opening the ice rink doors to get faster air changes. Even so, accidents can and do happen. In 2011 two ice hockey players were hospitalised after training in a rink where the ventilation system had failed. A yellow haze had been seen in the cold air that settled over the ice. Thirty one people became ill, some of whom began to cough up blood several days later. The advent of new electric-powered machines offers the best long-term solution to this problem.
Continue reading...Cleaning products a big source of urban air pollution, say scientists
Research shows paints, perfumes, sprays and other synthetic items contribute to high levels of ‘volatile organic compounds’ in air
Household cleaners, paints and perfumes have become substantial sources of urban air pollution as strict controls on vehicles have reduced road traffic emissions, scientists say.
Researchers in the US looked at levels of synthetic “volatile organic compounds”, or VOCs, in roadside air in Los Angeles and found that as much came from industrial and household products refined from petroleum as from vehicle exhaust pipes.
Continue reading...Dramatic decline in Borneo's orangutan population as 150,000 lost in 16 years
Fresh efforts needed to protect critically endangered animals from hunters and habitat loss as population more than halves
Hunting and killing have driven a dramatic decline in the orangutan population on Borneo where nearly 150,000 animals have been lost from the island’s forests in 16 years, conservationists warn.
Related: Borneo orangutan found riddled with gunshots in latest attack
Continue reading...South Korea's Ahn Hee-Jung on coal trade: after Paris 'everything should change'
Australia sells South Korea $6bn of coal a year, so Canberra unease over the governor’s anti-coal message is unsurprising
For a South Korean presidential hopeful, Ahn Hee-Jung is not what you would expect.
Continue reading...US tribe fights use of treated sewage to make snow on holy peaks
The Hopi tribe is taking on an Arizona ski resort over its use of artificial snow: ‘People compare it to baptizing a baby with reclaimed water’
To the Hopi tribe, the San Francisco Peaks are sacred. The cluster of mountains rise dramatically from grasslands and ponderosa forests in northern Arizona, and the Hopi say they are home to spiritual beings called kachinas, believed to bring the rain and snow to their reservation.
But the tribe has been allowed to move forward with a lawsuit against a local ski resort over what the tribe deems to be a desecration of the holy mountains: spraying artificial snow made from treated sewage.
Continue reading...Ammonia emissions rise in UK, as other air pollutant levels fall
Levels of powerful air pollutant rose by 3.2% from 2015 to 2016 according to government statistics
Emissions of ammonia have been on the rise in the UK, new statistics from the government show, even while the amount of other pollutants entering the atmosphere has fallen.
Levels of the powerful air pollutant rose by 3.2% from 2015 to 2016, the latest year for which statistics are available, according to a report published by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Thursday morning. The rise came despite an overall fall of 10% in ammonia emissions since 1980.
Continue reading...Balearics launch pioneering plan to phase out emissions
Green manifesto for 2050 includes measures for transport and clean energy but could put islands on a path to confrontation with Madrid
The Balearic islands’ government has launched a pioneering plan to phase out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, potentially setting itself on a collision course with the Spanish government.
Under the green manifesto, new diesel cars will be taken off the car market in Ibiza, Majorca, Menorca and Formentera from 2025 – the same year that all street and road lighting will be replaced by LEDs.
Continue reading...News network climate reporting soared in 2017 thanks to Trump | Dana Nuccitelli
But the networks need to improve reporting on climate events unrelated to Trump
In 2016, US TV network news coverage of climate change plummeted. News coverage was focused on the presidential election, but the corporate broadcast networks didn’t air a single segment informing viewers how a win by Trump or Hillary Clinton could affect climate change or climate policy. That followed a slight drop in news coverage of climate change in 2015, despite that year being full of critical events like the Paris climate accords, Clean Power Plan, and record-breaking heat.
The good news is that the annual analysis done by Media Matters for America found that in 2017, network news coverage of climate change soared.
Continue reading...