The Guardian
Country diary: mushrooms work their magic amid the drizzle
Dolebury Warren, Somerset In an iron age hill fort once ruled by rabbits, waxcaps speckle the ground with luminous colour
This shapely hill has steep sides, the sheep-walked turf trodden into neat pleats along the contours. On the ridge, upstanding stony ribs encircle a heart of deeper soil – the iron age hill fort, the Dolebury. In medieval times, when rabbits were tender creatures, a protective warren was built up here, completing the modern name for the place. Nowadays the rabbits look after themselves and the place is often deserted, especially on a ditchwater-dull day like this.
We had come to hunt waxcaps, glistening mushrooms in parrot shades of red, orange, yellow and green. In this peaceful soil their mycelium spreads undisturbed beneath thyme and tormentil (Potentilla erecta). We have been here before, quartering their favourite corners, luckless, only to look back and see them hiding behind a tussock, shining as brightly as lights on a Christmas tree.
Continue reading...Beautiful light projections on the Tasman Glacier highlight impact of climate change – video
A short film shot by Heath Patterson captures photographer Vaughan Brookfield and Tom Lynch's journey to a New Zealand glacier equipped with hundreds of kilograms of gear and a light projector. Their plan was to project images on to the rapidly receding Tasman Glacier. Brookfield says: 'We want to remind people of the effects humans are having on the environment'
Three quarters of councils collect general waste once a fortnight
With pressure to boost recycling and cut costs, landfill waste in England is collected less frequently – with six councils collecting it once in three weeks
More than three quarters of English councils now pick up household rubbish which cannot be recycled or composted just once a fortnight, a survey reveals.
With councils under pressure to boost recycling and cut costs, some have gone further, with six local authorities picking up residual household waste only once every three weeks.
Continue reading...Country diary 1917: ducks float like toy birds in the early haze
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 13 October 1917
Surrey, October 11
This morning was chill. Wild duck were on a broad stretch of backwater which has come from the river overflow in the low marsh; they floated like toy birds in the early haze. After a while they flew, skimming the ripples closely enough to make scattered particles shimmer in the rising sun, their green-grey and chestnut plumage throwing out a show of different colours in the flight. They settled among the tall reeds along the river bank, with lapwing playing overhead, then came out to rest for a long time on the water again. Mist was still white along the hedgerow, frosting haws and the now crimson “winter pears” on wild rose bushes, which are rich in yellow leaf. Up in the spinney a greenfinch went from bough to bough of a thorn, high and low, his feathers now dull in shade, now almost the colour of young lime leaves where the sun struck through. Alighting on a branch, the sound of a long, sweet note satisfied the ear, then, as his wings just opened, a faint twitter was hardly heard. Flying off a little, he always came back to the spreading thorn again.
Related: How to access the Guardian and Observer digital archive
Continue reading...Pollutionwatch: log fires are cosy, but their days may be numbered
It is no surprise the mayor of London wants to ban wood burning: even new stoves are much more polluting than the exhaust of a heavy goods vehicle
Browse through the home style magazines in your newsagent’s or watch Channel 4’s Grand Designs and you will see beautifully decorated living rooms complete with a roaring fire. Wood burning has become very fashionable and, let’s face it, a log fire is cosy.
Natural gas central heating largely banished solid fuel and brought huge improvements in our urban air. For two decades the UK’s official energy statistics said that home wood burning was too small to be quantified, but under the radar it has been making a return. A 2016 government survey found that 7.5% of UK homes burned wood making up 30% of UK particle emissions. In London, one home in 12 burns wood, but this accounts for more than a quarter of the particle pollution produced in the capital. It is no surprise that the mayor of London, Sadiq Kahn, has called for powers to address this problem.
Continue reading...Tasmanian shy albatross embrace artificial nests in bid to boost population
Birds reproduce only on three remote islands in Bass Straight and are listed as ‘vulnerable’ with just 1,500 breeding pairs remaining
The Tasmanian shy albatross has embraced the idea of settling down in an artificial, specially constructed nest, according to scientists who are trying to boost the population of the endangered seabird.
A trial of the nests was announced in June to help the breeding success of the endangered species, which biologists believe are vulnerable to the environmental effects of climate change.
Fatal extraction: how demand for hippos’ teeth is threatening them with extinction
The black market’s insatiable demand for ivory has turned poachers’ attention away from well-protected elephants to more vulnerable hippos
It seems almost incomprehensible that the desire for an ivory ornament or piece of jewellery justifies the slaughter of a majestic elephant, but as their populations continue to crash, the ever-hungry black market has become creative in order to satisfy its greed. Now, ivory hunters are setting their sights on everything from arctic narwhals to fossil mammoths. But one unexpected victim of this barbaric practice is the humble hippopotamus. A new study says that a rise in demand for hippos’ teeth is threatening the mammal with extinction.
In many ways, it takes a lot of effort to kill an elephant. They are legally well protected in most countries where they range and international regulations are clear. Also, smuggling large tusks internationally is highly conspicuous. Hippos offer a cheaper and, in many ways, “easier” ivory option. The simple truth is that they are not high on the priority list of the international conservation community. Find a group of wild-living African elephants and, often, they will either be tracked with radio collars or will be the focus of long-term conservation research, intensive ecotourism or determined law-enforcement efforts. Not so with hippos. Unlike their famous savannah cousins, they don’t come with a protective human entourage, meaning poachers can take their time. Additionally, they are not protected especially well at either a national or international level.
Continue reading...Strange and beautiful things under a microscope – in pictures
A competition, now in its 43rd year, dedicated to showcasing the beautiful and bizarre as seen under a light microscope attracted over 2,000 entries from 88 countries. Here’s a selection of the winning and commended images from the 2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition
Continue reading...The eco guide to disposing of litter | Lucy Siegle
It’s time the responsibility for recycling was laid firmly at the door of the packaging manufacturers
Litter brings out an urge in me to ban everything. Under my regime, straws would be outlawed. Plastic drinks bottles – only 57% of which find their way into recycling – would be verboten. But top of the list of banned items would be wacky recycling surveys.
The latest, from Business Waste, highlights the craziest eco blunders found in the nation’s recycling bins. The list includes a car door, 1,000 Greenpeace badges (oh, the irony!) and a full Christmas dinner including plates, tablecloth, crackers and pudding.
Continue reading...Rescue of the olive ridley sea turtle
Dawn on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast and the dark figure of a man at the water’s edge gradually becomes distinct under a pinkening sky. I switch off my torch. Jairo Quiros Rosales and I are the only people to be seen on this broad black beach, the volcanic sands of which stretch north for several miles. Jairo is beckoning, so I hurry down to him, scanning the beach and murky shoreline. As the light grows, I make out the funereal vultures flecking the distance, and assorted mutts appear from the gloom to sniff the night from the sands.
And then I see them: about 100 metres further up the beach, like strange, regularly humped stones, hundreds of olive ridley sea turtles are making their way from the ocean on to the beach to lay their eggs. This is the arribada. It means “the arrival” in Spanish, and I have been waiting more than a month to see it.
Continue reading...Trump EPA plan will roll back Obama standards on power plant emissions
- Measures expected soon are part of promise to revive coal industry
- Ex-EPA chief: ‘This administration has no intention of following the law’
The Trump administration is moving to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s attempt to slow global warming, seeking to ease restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Related: Walruses face 'death sentence' as Trump administration fails to list them as endangered
Continue reading...Feeding grain to farm animals wastes more than $1bn a year, data shows
We need to address the huge hidden costs of industrial farming, such as wasted food and calories, as well as the impacts to health and the environment, say campaigners
Our habit of feeding human foods , such as grain and soya, to farm animals will cost us $1,323bn (£1bn) a year by 2050 globally, according to environmental campaigners.
The hidden costs of the industrial farming system are vast, and urgently need to be brought into clear focus, Peter Stevenson of Compassion in World Farming told the Extinction and Livestock conference in London. “There’s a worrying disconnect between the retail price of food and the true cost of production. As a result, food produced at great environmental cost can appear to be cheaper than more sustainably produced alternatives.”
Country diary: a hidden well recalls a seventh-century massacre
Pentrefelin, Gwynedd Swirling sands made for a journey as perilous as the doctrinal disputes of the dark ages
The minor road climbs steeply to debouch on a rushy pasture between Mynydd Ednyfed and Bryn Braich y Saint. The views from up here are of startling breadth and loveliness. To the south the land falls away to where Afonnydd Glaslyn and Dwyryd spill into Tremadog Bay.
Over on the southern shore, yews surround the clas (Celtic Christian monastic settlement) of Llanfihangel-y-Traethau.
Continue reading...Marchers across the world demand justic for wildlife
Paula Kahumbu: The Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions brings people in cities across the world together to demand action to save threatened wildlife from extinction
Today, 7 October 2017, thousands of people are gathering in more than 100 cities all over the world to show solidarity with wildlife in the Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions. This year’s theme ‘Justice for All’ draws attention to the dire threat to these species as a result of international wildlife crime.
In my home city Nairobi, the planning for this march has involved tens of organizations, including NGOs, local and national government agencies, universities, schools, companies, diplomatic embassies and local communities. More than 100 young volunteers have helped with preparations and will be present on the day to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Continue reading...Most Australians oppose Adani mine, poll shows, amid national protests
Thousands of people gather at 40 locations across the country on Saturday as part of the Stop Adani Alliance
New polling shows the majority of Australians oppose Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine going ahead, and an even bigger number are against Queensland allowing the company to receive a $1bn federal loan.
The polling, commissioned by the Stop Adani Alliance, was released on Saturday as thousands of people are expected to attend rallies at dozens of locations around the country, expressing their opposition to the project.
Continue reading...Inconvenient facts about livestock farming | Letters
George Monbiot’s fear of the few remaining British farmers (Goodbye – and good riddance – to livestock farming, 4 October) reached new levels when he wrote that the “rich mosaic of rainforest and other habitats that once covered our hills has been erased” and blamed us for the tectonic drift that moved Britain from the equator towards the Arctic, perhaps 300m years ago. In the rest of his article he mixed unrelated science from all over the globe with the peculiar claims of noted eccentrics, and suggested that we should plough unsuitable land to grow soya, which will not grow in this climate, to produce artificial meat in urban factories.
He didn’t mention inconvenient features of the British ruminant livestock industry, such as the fact that most feed that animals get other than grass is made up of byproducts of the human food industry such as brewers’ grains, sugar beet and fruit-juice pulp, most of which would have to go to landfill if cows and sheep did not recycle it. Without the income from this form of recycling, the price of food in the shop would increase. We do need to moderate excessive meat consumption, and we do need to act on climate change, but this article sows confusion that will delay necessary change.
Huw Jones
St Clears, Carmarthenshire
Wayne Lotter obituary
When he was offered a leading role in the documentary The Ivory Game (2016) by its producer, Leonardo DiCaprio, the conservationist Wayne Lotter modestly gave the credit instead to his wildlife rangers, who led the way in tracking down one of Africa’s most notorious poachers, thought to be responsible for 10,000 elephants’ deaths. Lotter preferred to be in the background, while the spotlight fell on the cause for which he fought: saving the dwindling populations of Africa’s wild elephants, through practical, dogged, on-the-ground tracking of poachers and protection of their prey.
Lotter has been shot dead in Dar es Salaam, aged 51. Although the identity of his killers is not known, the murder may have been connected to one of the criminal groups involved in wildlife killing and ivory trafficking in Tanzania. These groups have turned what used to be small-scale ivory poaching into a highly organised international criminal enterprise that exists mainly to service Chinese demand for ivory and other rare animal products. “The more you go after them, the more situations where there is confrontation between poachers and rangers will take place,” Lotter said last year. “There are going to be risks.”
Continue reading...Your bag for life doesn't have to carry a food poisoning risk. Here's what to do
Environmental health officers are urging consumers not to switch back to plastic following recent warnings that raw foods can spread harmful bacteria. So how can you keep your reusable bags hygienic?
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) is urging consumers to continue to shop for food with reusable “bags for life”, fearing that worries about the food poisoning risks could trigger a backlash and even a resurgence in the use of thin plastic bags.
Continue reading...The Tories must seize this chance to make UK homes energy efficient
Politicians may debate the merits of a cap on energy bills but making our leaky houses energy efficient is the solution that all political parties should unite behind
As the letters began to fall off the slogan behind Theresa May during her leader’s speech at the Conservative party conference, it was hard not to see symbolism. Not just of a premiership under threat, but also of a signature policy falling apart within hours of being announced.
The cap on energy bills was a pledge in the Conservative manifesto and the prime minister promised to introduce the legislation to make it happen. The Conservatives had at first dismissed an energy price cap as a reckless intervention in the market that would kill competition. But by the 2017 election the policy had been adopted by Theresa May and there was cross-party support.
Continue reading...How will Brexit affect British wildlife?
The EU offered protection to everything from the harbour porpoise to hen harriers. Now, the future of UK conservation law is uncertain
As an EU member state, British wildlife has been protected under two important pieces of European legislation: the habitats directive and the birds directive. These have required the UK government to establish and manage sites for the protection of vulnerable and rare animals, birds, plants, habitats and other species. In the UK, there are 271 special protection areas for birds (SPAs) and 658 special areas of conservation for other species and habitats (SACs). The future of nature conservation law after Brexit, when EU directives will no longer apply to Britain, is unknown.
Continue reading...