The Guardian
Country diary: strange spiders and help from the web
Crook, County Durham Within a day of uploading a picture of what I thought was one species of harvestman, I was told it was a more interesting alien
We may be living in a golden age for natural historians. The old naturalists’ field clubs, rooted in the Victorian passion for collecting and sharing knowledge of flora and fauna, may be in decline, but, thanks to social media, it has never been easier to correspond with a helpful expert when you need one.
Post a picture of, say, an unfamiliar spider on the internet and it’s likely that someone out there will identify it for you.
Continue reading...Melbourne's Yarra river deadliest for drowning deaths in Australia
Men in late 20s and early 30s with alcohol or drugs in their system the most frequent victims of fatal river drowning
Risk-taking young men who drown trying to swim Melbourne’s Yarra river are making it the deadliest inland river per metre in Australia.
New data shows alcohol, drugs, tourists and young men who dare each other to swim the river are contributing to regular drownings.
Continue reading...The day we witnessed wildlife rangers being gunned down in Congo
When two Dutch journalists travelled to the DRC to report on illegal gold mining in the vast Okapi wildlife reserve, they ended up running for their lives
Conflict is never far away in the Democratic Republic of Congo – a country rich in natural resources such as gold, diamonds, coltan and tin – and the country is on the brink of a new civil war. Tensions have been rising since December, when President Joseph Kabila postponed the elections.
Continue reading...Why factory farming is not just cruel – but also a threat to all life on the planet
It’s time the world woke up to the real impact of modern, industrial farming, says Philip Lymbery, author of Farmageddon and the Deadzone
The world desperately needs joined-up action on industrial farming if it is to avoid catastrophic impacts on life on earth, according to the head of one of the world’s most highly regarded animal campaign groups.
Philip Lymbery, chief executive of Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and the author of Farmageddon and more recently Deadzone, said: “Every day there is a new confirmation of how destructive, inefficient, wasteful, cruel and unhealthy the industrial agriculture machine is. We need a total rethink of our food and farming systems before it’s too late.”
Continue reading...Fukushima operator can restart nuclear reactors at world's biggest plant
Tepco, still struggling to decommission Fukushima Daiichi, gets initial approval to start two reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been given initial approval to restart reactors at another atomic facility, marking the first step towards the firm’s return to nuclear power generation more than six years after the March 2011 triple meltdown.
Japan’s nuclear regulator on Wednesday approved an application from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) to restart two reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa – the world’s biggest nuclear power plant – even as the utility struggles to decommission Fukushima Daiichi.
Continue reading...The pioneering vets who save rhinos left for dead by poachers – in pictures
South Africa’s rising poaching problem has seen a shocking 6,115 rhinos killed in the last nine years. Saving the Survivors’ ground-breaking initiative sees a small team of vets race to the scene to try and treat the animals before it’s too late
Continue reading...Revealed: every Londoner breathing dangerous levels of toxic air particle
Exclusive: Every area of the capital breaches global standards for PM2.5 pollution particles, with most areas exceeding levels by at least 50%
The scale of London’s air pollution crisis was laid bare on Wednesday, with new figures showing that every person in the capital is breathing air that exceeds global guidelines for one of the most dangerous toxic particles.
The research, based on the latest updated London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, shows that every area in the capital exceeds World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for a damaging type of particle known as PM2.5.
Continue reading...Time to shine: Solar power is fastest-growing source of new energy
Renewables accounted for two-thirds of new power added to world’s grids last year, says International Energy Agency
Solar power was the fastest-growing source of new energy worldwide last year, outstripping the growth in all other forms of power generation for the first time and leading experts to hail a “new era”.
Renewable energy accounted for two-thirds of new power added to the world’s grids in 2016, the International Energy Agency said, but the group found solar was the technology that shone brightest.
Continue reading...Country diary: huge jellyfish shipwrecked on the sands
Morfa Harlech, Gwynedd They have drifted on ocean currents for 500m years, pulsing gently towards landfall
The wave smudges out something written in the sand with a stick. I imagine it as a spell cast to charm ashore those lost at sea. And so it does, as tides ebb and flow, stranding the barrel jellyfish. These extraordinary creatures, also known as dustbin-lid jellyfish because of their size and shape, have been shipwrecked after an epic voyage.
Rhizostoma pulmo or R octopus is the largest jellyfish in British waters (they can grow to nearly 90cm in diameter) and is harvested around Wales for high-value medical-grade collagen. It feeds on plankton and its sting does not injure humans any more than do nettles; it is fed upon by leatherback turtles and sunfish.
Continue reading...Sydney waste-power incinerator plans halved amid pollution and health fears
Plant’s operator seeks approval for a phased development in the face of residents’ opposition and concerns over air quality
Plans for the world’s biggest waste-to-energy plant in Sydney’s west have been cut in half, in an effort to address concerns from health and environmental authorities, and residents.
The Next Generation, a company owned by one of the largest waste operators in Australia – Ian Malouf, founder of Dial A Dump – has lodged new documents seeking a phased development of the plant.
Continue reading...'You've thrown our budget a little out of whack', Trump tells Puerto Rico – video
Donald Trump has made his first visit to Puerto Rico since the US territory was pummelled by Hurricane Maria nearly two weeks ago. Shortly after landing in San Juan, the president praised his administration’s response, said the island’s leaders should be “very proud” of the low official death toll – and appeared to complain at the cost of the recovery effort. The island’s 3.4 million residents are still largely without electricity, communications and access to clean drinking water and food
Puerto Rico: Trump praises 'great job we've done' in visit to stricken island
Continue reading...Challenges of rural entrepreneurship | Letters
After nearly three decades of working in the mining industry and financial sector, I traded my stiletto heels for wellies and went sheep farming. It immediately became apparent that the traditional business model of farming was unsustainable; the reliance on EU subsidies, the volatile and seasonal price of lamb subject to the big supermarkets importing cheap meat, and a wool price that barely covered the cost of shearing. So I applied my City of London background to diversifying my business. From my farm, I now ship locally and internationally a range of luxury wool bedding made from the fleeces of much of the UK’s Southdown pedigreed flock. I also offer disabled-accessible self-catering accommodation for a working farm experience.
The problem with this business model is its dependency on three sectors, whose services I am finding totally inadequate and antiquated, to the point where my entrepreneurial initiative is being undermined.
Continue reading...Scottish government bans fracking after public opposition
Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse says allowing unconventional extraction of coal and gas would put climate goals at risk
The Scottish government has banned fracking after a consultation found overwhelming public opposition and little economic justification for the industry.
Paul Wheelhouse, the Scottish energy minister, told MSPs that allowing fracking would undermine the government’s ambitions to deeply cut Scotland’s climate emissions, and would lead to unjustifiable environmental damage.
Continue reading...Exclusive: footage shows young elephants being captured in Zimbabwe for Chinese zoos
Rare footage of the capture of wild young elephants in Zimbabwe shows rough treatment of the calves as they are sedated and taken away
The Guardian has been given exclusive footage which shows the capture of young, wild elephants in Zimbabwe in preparation, it is believed, for their legal sale to Chinese zoos.
In the early morning of 8 August, five elephants were caught in Hwange national park by officials at Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks).
Continue reading...Campaign urges people to recycle dead batteries
Major high street retailers back drive to encourage recycling after poll shows more than half throw batteries away in the bin
Major high street retailers have joined forces to encourage people to recycle their used household batteries as a new poll revealed that more than half of respondents admitted they throw them in the bin.
Asda, B&Q, Currys PC World, Marks & Spencer and Morrisons are all backing the drive to make it easier for consumers to recycle dead batteries and avoid millions ending up in landfill every year and wreaking environmental havoc.
Continue reading...Catholic church to make record divestment from fossil fuels
More than 40 Catholic institutions will make largest ever faith-based divestment, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi
More than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.
The sum involved has not been disclosed but the volume of divesting groups is four times higher than a previous church record, and adds to a global divestment movement, led by investors worth $5.5tn.
Continue reading...Country diary: the house martins have taken their song and departed
Claxton, Norfolk When the amount of aerial plankton in the atmosphere drops, the birds head for Africa
In natural history, it is easy to notice a first for the year, but to be mindful of the last is more difficult. I know that the house martins are gone, yet their going from our village entailed an unremarkable dwindling of sights and sounds, but slowly, like a loss of moisture in a puddle.
I did have one memorable sighting last week in the Yare valley. Over Blackwater, about 40 were pooled above a poplar plantation and in and out of their midst swirled a single lost swift. The martins were smaller, busier, each one with a swept-back wing silhouette, which, depending on the way it turned, was shaped like a broad smile, or frown.
Continue reading...Slinging mud: inside (and outside) the UK's biggest fracking site
As horizontal drilling starts in Lancashire this month, the Guardian talks to protesters and staff at the Cuadrilla well
Mike Hill, sitting in his living room a few miles from a fracking site outside Blackpool, is brandishing a government letter brushing aside his concerns about the industry. “You, Theresa May, overruled democracy to force fracking on the residents of Fylde,” he says, referring to his own letter to the prime minister, in which he urges her to heed experts’ calls for tighter shale gas regulations.
“And then you won’t pay attention, the slightest attention, to anybody in regards fracking regulation, fracking monitoring, public health risks, risks to indigenous industries,” says the chartered engineer, who used to work in the oil and gas sector.
Continue reading...Michael Gove calls for views on setting up plastic bottle deposit return scheme
Environment secretary says working group will look at how a deposit return scheme could help reduce plastic waste in England
A deposit return scheme aimed at slashing plastic pollution has moved significantly closer after environment secretary Michael Gove said he would work with the industry to see how a scheme can be implemented in England.
Gove, speaking at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, announced a four-week call for views to inform how a deposit return scheme (DRS) would be designed. The government’s working group on the issue will also consider DRS for metal and glass containers.
Continue reading...Wildscreen's Witness the Wild open-air exhibition – in pictures
Bristol’s open-air arts trail sees large-scale images of ocean life by some of the world’s leading wildlife photographers come to the city’s suburbs, to raise awareness of the species and their fight for survival