The Guardian
The 'miracle pill': how cycling could save the NHS
Cycling can make people healthy and live longer, and cut public health costs, so why can’t it be prescribed to the nation?
Imagine if a team of scientists devised a drug which massively reduced people’s chances of developing cancer or heart disease, cutting their overall likelihood of dying early by 40%. This would be front page news worldwide, a Nobel prize as good as in the post.
That drug is already here, albeit administered in a slightly different way: it’s called cycling to work. One of the more puzzling political questions is why it is so rarely prescribed on a population-wide level.
Continue reading...The eco guide to ancient grains
Selective breeding gives the highest yield, but potentially at a price. It’s time to go back to our roots
If you find the whole business of organic too tame, there’s always landrace crops, which are positively subversive. Landrace crop varieties (sometimes known as folk crops) are ancient versions of the standardised crops we rely on today. Genetically variable, these biodiverse cultivars are allowed to grow at will and to cross pollinate. Farmers collect the seeds from successful crops and these become the parents of next year’s varieties. Simple.
If this sounds primitive (it is in fact Neolithic), it makes much more sense than modern agriculture, which is reliant on selective breeds that are addicted to fertilisers. The idea is that the selective breeds give the highest yield when conditions are good. This is a terrible strategy in an era of climate change when conditions are not ideal. Modern agriculture has wiped out almost all original genetic diversity. Ancient cultivars of wheat are used for straw or shoved into seed banks. Proponents of the Real Green Movement want them released into the soil.
Continue reading...Meet the latest recruit to the UK flood defence team: the beaver
Beavers could be put to work building dams to stop a village from flooding in the Forest of Dean, in what would be the first such scheme on government land.
The Forestry Commission has been an enthusiastic advocate for the release of a family of beavers into a large fenced area surrounding Greathough brook above the village of Lydbrook, on land owned by the commission.
Continue reading...Paws for thought: drivers warned to look out for animal stowaways
Warning comes after koala found clinging to axle of vehicle in Australia and three kittens survive 311-mile trip from Netherlands to UK under car bonnet
Motorists are being urged to be vigilant after two reports of animals becoming trapped under vehicles on opposite sides of the world.
In Australia, a koala survived a 16km (10 mile) trip clinging to the axle of a four-wheel drive vehicle before the driver stopped and heard the cries of the traumatised animal.
Continue reading...Chris Boardman: 'Energy gel? I'd rather have a sandwich'
The former cycling world champion and Manchester’s first walking and cycling commissioner on riding safely, favourite rides and why he won’t use Strava
So, you’re the first cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester. How come?
Because Andy Burnham [the mayor of Greater Manchester] phoned and asked me. I was quite taken aback, because do I have any qualifications? No. But I was taken with his enthusiasm. From the first few seconds it was pretty scary because I have been on the other side of the fence campaigning and lobbying [as British Cycling’s policy advisor] and saying what should be done, and then someone else says “go on, then” – you’re in a difficult position if you don’t want to be a hypocrite.
Continue reading...Nine of the best bikes for all budgets
Whether you’re commuting, touring or competing we’ve sourced the perfect bikes, from entry-level through mid-range to high spec
6KU Detroit, £325
UK legal claims grow over exposure at work to toxic diesel fumes
Unions warn effects of exposure to diesel pollution is ticking time bomb for business, likening situation to ‘early days of asbestos’
Legal claims over exposure to diesel exhaust fumes at work are growing as unions warn toxic air in the workplace is a ticking time bomb on a par with asbestos.
Royal Mail and at least one local authority are among major employers who are being sued over their alleged failure to protect staff from the damaging health effects of diesel pollution from vehicles. More cases are lined up, according to lawyers and unions involved in supporting workers.
Continue reading...Gear up: 10 of the best pieces of cycle clothing and accessories for men – in pictures
From tops with sweat wicking, to jeans with extra stretch and shorts with reinforcement, we pick the best pieces for cyclists who don’t relish arriving to work crumpled, clammy – or in Lycra
• link here to gallery of women’s clothes
Continue reading...Ride in style: our pick of women's cycling fashion – in pictures
Increasingly, cycle brands are speeding beyond traditional performance wear into clothes that look everyday but have technical tweaks for riding. Tops are sweat wicking, jeans have extra stretch and shorts are reinforced around the inner thigh, and they look good too
• See our pick of men’s clothes and accessories
Continue reading...UK's largest 'disco soup' attracts 1,000 people to London market
Hundreds of volunteers gather to prepare soup as part of global movement to inspire action against food waste
Visitors to a community food market and bar in south London on Friday were presented with an unusual combination of pleasures: a soup disco.
Volunteers and customers at Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant and Castle gathered to chop vegetables and tear basil leaves from their stalks while professional chefs directed them and DJs from the nightclub Ministry of Sound spun records in the background.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Rescued Sumatran orangutans, a stranded manatee, and brown bears near Ljubljana, Slovenia, are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Overfishing of North Sea may reduce after MEPs vote on fishing quotas
Defra welcomes European vote which aims to secure long-term sustainability of North Sea fish stocks
The European parliament has voted on a series of measures likely to reduce overfishing in the North Sea which will affect the UK’s fishing fleet until Brexit takes effect and potentially beyond.
The vote ensures that there will be limits to fishing quotas so that they cannot exceed levels regarded as sustainable by scientists. The outcome had been in doubt as MEPs voted on Thursday, but several amendments aimed at watering down the proposals were rejected.
Continue reading...The idea that climate scientists are in it for the cash has deep ideological roots
Author and academic Nancy MacLean says cynicism about the motives of public servants, including government-backed climate scientists, can be traced to a group of neoliberals and their ‘toxic’ ideas
You’ll have heard that line of argument about cancer scientists, right?
The one where they’re just in it for the government grant money and that they don’t really want to find a cure, because if they did they’d be out of a job?
Continue reading...On the vastness of the moor a stumpy gritstone shows the way
Redmires, Sheffield Scored by wind and rain there is something square-jawed about the stone known as Stump John
The Head Stone stands, like a muted version of Easter Island’s moai, on grouse moors west of Sheffield, looking down on traffic hurrying along the A57. A fractured block of gritstone seamed and scored by wind and rain, there is something square-jawed about it, although it has other names: Stump John, for John Priestley of Overstones Farm, a place literally “over stones”, on the far side of Stanage; and Cock Crowing Stone, possibly for the male grouse that advertise their wares from its summit.
Related: Farewell to an ancient landmark
Continue reading...Miner supplying Mt Piper power station seeks urgent hearing over invalid licence
Centennial Coal, whose licence was ruled invalid after its Springvale mine was found to be polluting Sydney’s water, wants matter resolved in two weeks
The miner that supplies Energy Australia’s Mount Piper coal power station with coal has sought an urgently expedited court hearing to establish how it can continue to operate without a valid licence.
But Centennial Coal did so without making a formal application for an early hearing and without evidence supporting the need for it, leaving the judge appearing sceptical of the claim.
Continue reading...EU report on weedkiller safety copied text from Monsanto study
Exclusive: EU’s food safety watchdog recommended that glyphosate was safe but pages of report were identical to application from pesticide maker
The European food safety authority (Efsa) based a recommendation that a chemical linked to cancer was safe for public use on an EU report that copied and pasted analyses from a Monsanto study, the Guardian can reveal.
Glyphosate is the core ingredient in Monsanto’s $4.75bn (£3.5bn) a year RoundUp weedkiller brand and a battle over its relicensing has split EU countries, with a final decision on its authorisation expected in early November.
Continue reading...US people of color still more likely to be exposed to pollution than white people
New federal government-funded study finds exposure to a key air pollutant is significantly influenced by race, far more than by income, age or education
People of color are still far more likely to suffer from harmful air pollution than white people across the US and this disparity has barely improved in recent years, despite overall improvements in air quality, a new federal government-funded study has found.
Related: London’s black communities disproportionately exposed to air pollution – study
Continue reading...The role of renewables in the UK energy mix | Letters
Your excellent editorial on the reducing cost of offshore wind power (13 September) is timely in identifying the increasingly futile case for new nuclear build. It does, however, repeat the fallacy that nuclear power “is a zero-carbon technology”. The carbon emissions involved in building such immense structures, in mining and transporting uranium, and in the transport, reprocessing and storage of waste, contribute to a considerable carbon burden. Estimates vary considerably, but studies suggest that the emissions from nuclear generation could be one-10th of those of fossil fuels, but twice those of wind power.
Furthermore, the need for a continuous supply is of only limited use when consumption patterns become distorted by, for example, the increased need to charge electric vehicles overnight, as your leader identifies. What is needed now, alongside continued investment in the latest generation of renewable production, is increased investment into a wide range of storage technologies, and further research and investment into the production of renewable heat.
Continue reading...MPs to reopen inquiry into plastic bottle use
New inquiry will look into the viability of deposit schemes and taxes as ways to reduce impact of plastic waste on the environment
MPs are to mount a new inquiry into plastic bottles amid growing calls for a deposit scheme to reduce the impact of plastic waste in the ocean.
The investigation will also examine whether charges or taxes should be put on single-use plastic bottles and takeaway coffee cups to reduce their contribution to litter.
Continue reading...Strange eel: mystery of the Texas eyeless sea beast solved
Scary-looking fish found on a Texas beach after Hurricane Harvey is identified as a fangtooth snake-eel with the help of social media
The mystery of an eyeless fanged sea monster washed ashore by Hurricane Harvey has been solved by social media.
Preeti Desai, a science communicator, found the sinister-looking fish on a beach in Texas City after the storm, and asked Twitter users to help identify it.
Continue reading...