The Guardian
Upto 381 new species discovered in the Amazon – in pictures
A strong-beaked bird named after Barack Obama, a fire-tailed titi monkey and a new pink river dolphin are among species recorded by the Living Amazon Initiative of the WWF Network
Continue reading...Better energy efficiency measures could cut UK costs by £7.5bn
Government must incentivise households to make energy saving improvements to improve air quality and warm homes
More efficient use of energy in the UK would save as much power as could be generated by six new nuclear reactors and shave £7.5bn from energy costs, experts have calculated.
But to achieve such savings would require substantial changes to government policy because there are few incentives for households to carry out the necessary measures, such as insulation, which can take 20 years to pay for themselves via bill savings.
Continue reading...Plucky duck: highest-flying fowl's Himalayan exploits revealed
Scientists have tracked the ruddy shelduck to 6,800 metres, making it the first duck known to fly at extreme high altitudes
A high-flying species of duck reaches altitudes of up to 6,800 metres (22,000ft) to cross the Himalayas, research from a British university has revealed.
Scientists from the University of Exeter used satellite tracking to find out how ruddy shelducks – which are a similar size to mallards – find their way through the mountain range.
Continue reading...Barnaby Joyce: 'We have to keep Liddell power station going' – video
Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce speaks to reporters in Canberra on AGL’s plan to close its Liddell power station in 2022
Continue reading...Plastic fibres found in tap water around the world, study reveals
Exclusive: Tests show billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic particles, with 83% of samples found to be polluted
Microplastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, leading to calls from scientists for urgent research on the implications for health.
Scores of tap water samples from more than a dozen nations were analysed by scientists for an investigation by Orb Media, who shared the findings with the Guardian. Overall, 83% of the samples were contaminated with plastic fibres.
Continue reading...Warming planet is hazard to fish through increased salinity and algal blooms
Prymnesium parvum has wreaked calamitous damage on angling spots in Norfolk, making it an economic and environmental threat
Many effects of global warming appear gradually but can cause sudden and devastating changes. A rise in sea levels is one; it makes estuaries and lagoons slightly more saline, which in the case of the Norfolk Broads, suddenly threatened a big attraction, angling.
This is because tiny “golden” algae called Prymnesium parvum, which thrive in slightly saline or mineral rich water, can turn toxic, suffocating the fish by destroying their gills.
Continue reading...Denying Hurricane Harvey’s climate links only worsens future suffering | Dana Nuccitelli
The variables in the climate change formula are mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. Denying the problem loads up on the suffering.
Human-caused climate change amplified the damages and suffering associated with Hurricane Harvey in several different ways. First, sea level rise caused by global warming increased the storm surge and therefore the coastal inundation and flooding from the storm. Second, the warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, which intensifies extreme precipitation events like the record-shattering rainfall associated with Harvey. Third, warmer ocean waters essentially act as hurricane fuel, which may have made Harvey more intense than it would otherwise have been.
There are other possible human factors at play about which we have less certainty. For example, it’s possible that Harvey stalled off the coast of Texas because of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns associated with human-caused global warming. As climate scientist Michael Mann notes, his research has shown that these sorts of stationary summer weather patterns tend to happen more often in a hotter world, but we can’t yet say if that happened in Harvey’s case.
Continue reading...Cruise ships showed contempt for customers by breaking clean air pledge, report says
German environment group says industry has not tried to cut pollution over the past year and reneged on a promise to install soot filters
The world’s cruise ships have done virtually nothing to reduce their pollution over the past year, with some still emitting as much particulate matter as 1m cars a day, a report says.
The annual survey of 63 ships, conducted by the German environment group Nabu, refused to recommend a single one for adequately reducing its environmental impact in 2017.
Continue reading...Assault by midges is the price you pay for this shimmering landscape
Abriachan, Highlands In places, the canopy of thistle, ling, scabious and soft rush was sunk in a near-weightless empire of silk
Aside from the slurry of S-sounds tipped out by a roadside burn, there was nothing at this spot but the early morning hush of the moor. Yet the silence seemed only to emphasise all the internal noise generated in me by an assault from midges. They started as a loose-meshed veil about my hands and face but soon thickened into a maddening private halo.
They particularly wanted my wrists – I have 23 bites there as I type – and I could invert my binoculars to watch the 2mm beasts, with their pin-thin heads and barred bodies, at their work. How can something so easily turned to a smudge on a notebook page puncture human skin?
Continue reading...Free school fruit contains multiple pesticides, report shows
Government experts say adverse health effects are unlikely, but campaigners argue the primary school scheme should switch to organic as a precaution
The free fruit and vegetables provided by the government to millions of young schoolchildren usually contain the residues of multiple pesticides, according to official tests collated in a new report.
In the last decade, residues of of 123 pesticides were found, while apples and bananas given out recently in schools contained more residues than those sold in supermarkets.
Continue reading...Scotland plans deposit return scheme for bottles and cans
Under the programme, based on schemes in Scandinavia, customers would pay a surcharge that would be reimbursed when they return to the shop
The Scottish government is planning to introduce a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans.
Customers would pay a surcharge when purchasing bottles or cans under the programme, which will be refunded when they return them to a shop.
Continue reading...EU trade deal must protect the Amazon | Letters
The proposal to open up the Renca reserve in the Amazon for exploitation by large mining companies would be catastrophic for the earth’s climate, for biodiversity and for local indigenous communities. At the same time, the European Union is negotiating a new trade agreement with Mercosur, the Latin America regional trade bloc, of which Brazil currently holds the presidency. This is a vital opportunity for the EU to use our trade muscle to make clear that the Amazon is not for sale and that minerals extracted from a protected reserve will never find their way onto European markets.
World Trade Organisation rules also make clear that trading parties have a legitimate right to ban imports if it is “necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health”. I have written to trade commissioner Malmström stating my clear view that the Renca reserve is necessary to protect human life and demanding that she excludes its products from the free trade deal. I will be urging my MEP colleagues to vote against the deal if it does not include this guarantee.
Molly Scott Cato MEP
Green, South West England
Outrageous beards and a lantern festival: today's unmissable photos
A selection of the day’s best images including demonstrating Ronald McDonalds in London, high dives in Texas and a beer holding world record in Germany
Continue reading...Stranded family lifted to safety from flooded Texas home - video
Helicopter crew rescue two children and their mother from their flooded home in Houston after tropical storm Harvey caused devastating flooding last week. The storm, one of the costliest to hit the US, has displaced more than 1 million people, resulted in at least 44 deaths and damaged 185,000 homes in Houston alone
- Drone footage shows flooding in Houston, Texas – video
- Harvey recovery bill expected to exceed the $120bn required after Katrina
Wildlife on your doorstep: share your September photos
As the seasons begin to change in most places, we would like to see and hear about the wildlife you’ve discovered in your area
Wherever you are in the world and however professional or amateur your photography set up, we would like to see your images of the wildlife living near you.
If you’re short of inspiration, have a look at some of the amazing images shared by readers around the world last month via GuardianWitness here. We regularly print readers’ best images in the Guardian newspaper and will let you know if your image should feature.
Carbon tax could wipe out polluters' profits in pursuit of Paris targets
To achieve climate agreement’s limit of 2C rise, pricing will have to increase to more than $100 a tonne, says Schroders
More than $1.5tn (£1.2tn) in company profits worldwide could be erased by taxes required to meet the Paris climate agreement, according to analysis by Schroders.
In a stark warning to investors to back more sustainable companies, the fund management group said total earnings of 12,500 global companies could fall by 20% were the world to limit itself to the 2C temperature rise target agreed in Paris through higher taxes. Schroders found prices in emissions trading would need to rise to “well over” $100 a tonne of CO2e from current levels, about $5, to encourage the move away from fossil fuels on the scale that was needed.
Continue reading...'We'd rather die than lose': villagers in Indonesia fight for a land rights revolution
A small community on the island of Sumatra is at the heart of a battle for traditional territories that could finally resolve the muddled and exploitative system of laws governing land ownership in Indonesia
It is cold and late on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Huddled around a map, a group of elders are planning their battle strategy. In a milestone victory last year, they were promised rights to the land their village has controlled for generations, but today they have had bad news. The local inspector wants to slice off a piece of the forest where they harvest benzoin – a substance like frankincense – and give it to a large pulp company. They see this as a betrayal.
The elders debate in a mix of languages – Batak and bahasa Indonesia – while sipping tea and planning how they will resume the fight the next day. For years now, almost every day has involved this kind of planning.
Continue reading...Sparrowhawks play hard to get
Ecclesall Wood, Sheffield A close-up look at these birds – which have evolved to be invisible in domains such as this – was proving elusive
A new noise stopped me dead in my tracks; a sort of pulse-quickening, primitive shriek, more banshee wail than bird call. Through the still-bare March treetops I saw the source of the sound barrel straight overhead – my first thrilling glimpse of sparrowhawk in this neck of Ecclesall Wood, near my home.
In the long light of a clear May evening came a second sighting, not far from the first; a revelatory 10 minutes of spectacular aerobatics in the full view of Ecclesall Road South, the bird’s fluidity of movement spellbinding.
Continue reading...100 years ago: woolly bear caterpillars obey the law
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 4 September 1917
September 3
“Woolly bears,” in a fearful hurry, race across the road; they look as if they meant business or feared the wheel of passing vehicle or heedless boot. But the caterpillar knows nothing of danger, but merely acts as heredity has taught it; it must obey laws or go under in the struggle. Most insects need a wide distribution, for too restricted a feeding area may bring famine or degeneration; in one or other of their stages insects must get to a distance from congested districts or from ravaged food-plants. Naturally this distribution or migration takes place with many insects when, in their perfect stage, they are provided with wings, but some moths are slow-flying and lethargic, too busy with nectar-sipping and egg-laying to travel far, and in these the caterpillars make the journeys, getting over as much ground as they can before they find it necessary to spin cocoons.
Related: Why gardeners should protect caterpillars
Continue reading...Freedom for Miss Simpson, the penguin found 2,000km from home
A Snares penguin from islands south of New Zealand is found wounded on a Tasmanian beach. Nine months’ nursing later, she tastes the open sea again
Just before dawn on a still morning in autumn a crowd of people gathers on a beach in southern Tasmania. They watch in tense silence as a small animal shuffles across the sand. This animal, a penguin, has been the focus of nine months of care, liaison and cooperation to get to this moment – she is being released and sent back out into her world. I am privileged to be included in the farewell crew, and share the jubilation and anxiety of the people around me, all of us hoping that she will remember her path home.