The Guardian
Once-common ash trees and antelope added to red list of endangered species – in pictures
North American ash trees, that face extinction due to an invasive beetle, and African antelope join the latest IUCN list that includes 25,000 species at risk of extinction
Continue reading...Red list: ash trees and antelopes on the brink of extinction
Scientists warn once-common species are disappearing faster than they can be counted as North America’s ash trees join IUCN’s list of endangered species due to threat of an invasive beetle
Native ash trees, abundant across North America, are on the brink of extinction as an invasive beetle ravages forests, according to the new red list of threatened species from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The list now includes more than 25,000 species at risk of extinction and the scientists warn that species, such as the American ashes and five African antelopes, that were thought to be safe, are now disappearing faster than they can be counted.
Continue reading...Cyclist set to finish record-breaking 'around the world in 80 days' cycle a day early
British athlete Mark Beaumont is expected to complete his world tour on Monday after 79 days in the saddle, smashing the previous record of 123 days
Endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont is expected to arrive in Paris on Monday 18 September, 79 days after setting off on his attempt to cycle around the world in 80 days.
The Guardian joined Beaumont in Lisbon on Wednesday, where he arrived on an overnight flight from Halifax in Canada to start the final leg of his record-breaking challenge. Despite cycling an average of 240 miles over 16 hours every day since 2 July, he looked fresh and sounded upbeat as we ticked off more miles on our way to the Spanish border. Yet he admitted the ride has taken its toll on him, both mentally and physically.
Continue reading...Shark hunt: Sea Shepherd activists bring Timor-Leste police to Chinese-owned boat
Environmental activist group says it is detaining vessels for Timorese police after Chinese-owned fleet allegedly targeted sharks
The ocean activist group Sea Shepherd says it has delivered armed Timor-Leste police on to a Chinese-owned fishing vessel in a dawn raid and is detaining the vessels for the police after it was found targeting sharks.
Following a two-week hunt for the Pingtan Marine Enterprises fleet, the Sea Shepherd boat M/Y Ocean Warrior found the vessels 150km south of Timor-Leste, allegedly fishing with gill nets anchored to the bottom of the sea, which would suggest they were targeting bottom-dwellers such as sharks.
Continue reading...Exodus begins as swifts muster for migration
Sandy, Bedfordshire A leave-taking of Britain is playing out in the skies as swifts and martins fuel up for their epic journey
Through these last weeks of summer, the autumn migration has played out in the skies, though it goes largely unnoticed by most below. A trickle of an exodus began over the bank holiday with three dark specks, way, way up in the blue. Specks, yes, but you could see, from the wings curved like taut bows, that they were unmistakably swifts.
Hatched on northern ledges they had become citizens of heaven. They deviated on insect-chasing sallies in all directions, but were overall tracking south-west.
Continue reading...Rare white giraffes spotted in Kenya conservation area
A pair of giraffes with leucism, a condition that inhibits pigmentation in skin cells, have been filmed by conservationists for the first time
A pair of rare white giraffes have been spotted in Kenya, to the delight of local residents and conservationists.
The reticulated giraffes, a mother and child, suffer from a genetic condition called leucism, which inhibits pigmentation in skin cells. Unlike albinism, animals with leucism continue to produce dark pigment in their soft tissue, which explains the white giraffes’ dark eyes and other colouring.
Continue reading...Asia's glaciers to shrink by a third by 2100, threatening water supply of millions
High mountains of Asia hold biggest store of frozen water outside the poles and feed many of the world’s great rivers, including the Ganges
Asia’s mountain glaciers will lose at least a third of their mass through global warming by the century’s end, with dire consequences for millions of people who rely on them for fresh water, researchers have said.
This is a best-case scenario, based on the assumption that the world manages to limit average global warming to 1.5C (2.7F) over pre-industrial levels, a team wrote in the journal Nature.
Continue reading...New 'real world' diesel tests fail to prevent rush hour pollution peak
Exclusive: new tests are intended to close loopholes but cars can still emit excess fumes in slow traffic, data shows
New “real world” emissions tests fail to prevent high levels of pollution from diesel cars during rush hour, according to new data.
Diesel vehicles are the main cause of the UK’s widespread levels of illegal air pollution, with the VW cheating scandal exposing the fact that virtually all diesel cars emitted far more toxic fumes than in official laboratory based tests. Since 1 September, new models must now be tested on real roads, but the new data shows even this does not prevent high levels of fumes in slow traffic, when pollution is at its worst for drivers and other road users.
Continue reading...End the secrecy over badger cull zones | Letters
Thousands more badgers are to be killed in new and extended government-licensed control zones (Huge rise in badger culling will see up to 33,500 animals shot, 12 September).
The government believes badger killing will eliminate bovine tuberculosis but won’t publish details of the zones, arguing public safety might be compromised. However, much of the killing takes place on land to which the citizen has some access. Disclosure would equip citizens to make informed judgments about their safety and that of their pets and about whether the shooting and trapping in their own backyard is legal or not. They could then engage in legitimate protest about the systematic killing of our native wildlife – in short, ensuring licence holders and the government can be held to account.
Continue reading...Flannels not fatbergs! The eco-friendly alternatives to wet wipes
Images of melting icebergs have long proved inspirational to environmentalists and politicians seeking to mitigate the threat of man-made climate change. So why is it that images of giant fatbergs clogging our sewers can’t seem to stop people flushing wet wipes down the loo?
These fatty underground tumours, comprised largely of wipes, nappies and cooking grease, have proliferated, backing up plumbing systems as far afield as New York City, San Francisco and Sydney. This month, a 130-tonne fatberg stretching the length of two football pitches was revealed during a routine inspection of the ageing sewage pipes beneath Whitechapel, in east London. Weighing about the same as a medium-sized jetliner, the fatberg is among the largest ever found and, left unchecked, could have sent a deluge of raw sewage on to the streets of London. Thames Water’s sewer chief Matt Rimmer described it as “a total monster” that would take three weeks to clear with shovels and high-powered water jets.
Continue reading...London's most polluted schools to be given air-quality audits
Mayor Sadiq Khan announces first 50 schools to undergo audits to help identify measures to minimise the impact of pollution on children
The most polluted schools in London are to be audited as part of the mayor’s drive to clean up toxic air across the capital.
Earlier this year a Guardian investigation revealed that hundreds of thousands of children are being exposed to illegal levels of damaging air pollution from diesel vehicles at schools and nurseries.
Continue reading...Chocolate industry drives rainforest disaster in Ivory Coast
Exclusive: As global demand for chocolate booms, ‘dirty’ beans from deforested national parks have entered big business supply chains
- ‘Once this was all trees, but they burned them to plant cocoa’: the ruin of West Africa’s rainforest
The world’s chocolate industry is driving deforestation on a devastating scale in West Africa, the Guardian can reveal.
Cocoa traders who sell to Mars, Nestlé, Mondelez and other big brands buy beans grown illegally inside protected areas in the Ivory Coast, where rainforest cover has been reduced by more than 80% since 1960.
Continue reading...UK cities expected to get millions of pounds for green energy projects
Ministers are thought to be planning to offer £3m for initiatives such as solar panels on social housing
Green energy projects run by cities and local authorities around the UK stand to receive millions of pounds of government support, providing another fillip for renewable power just a day after the subsidised price of windfarms hit a record low.
The Guardian understands that ministers this autumn will offer more than £3m to help local leaders build low carbon initiatives, such as installing solar panels on social housing.
Continue reading...UK apple growers' labour shortage 'pushing them towards cliff edge'
Industry body warns over need for seasonal workers after Brexit as growers face 20% shortfall in supply of labour
UK apple growers are in the grip of a 20% shortfall in the supply of seasonal labour, pushing them towards “a cliff edge” as Brexit nears, the industry has warned.
At the start of the annual British apple harvesting season with more than 20 indigenous varieties going on sale in supermarkets, the main trade body for both apples and pears says worries about future labour availability are at the top of its lobbying agenda.
Continue reading...Campaigners challenge injunction against anti-fracking protesters
Lawyers for two anti-fracking campaigners argue in high court that injunction obtained by Ineos curtail’s protester rights
The legality of a wide-ranging injunction obtained against anti-fracking protesters by a multinational firm is to be examined in a three-day court hearing.
Two campaigners have launched a legal challenge against the injunction obtained by Ineos, the petrochemicals giant. Joe Corré, the son of the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, and Joe Boyd, say it is draconian, oppressive and dramatically curtails protesters’ rights.
Continue reading...Third of Earth's soil is acutely degraded due to agriculture
Fertile soil is being lost at rate of 24bn tonnes a year through intensive farming as demand for food increases, says UN-backed study
A third of the planet’s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24bn tonnes a year, according to a new United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture.
The alarming decline, which is forecast to continue as demand for food and productive land increases, will add to the risks of conflicts such as those seen in Sudan and Chad unless remedial actions are implemented, warns the institution behind the report.
Continue reading...Vast fatberg blocks London sewage system – video
CCTV footage from under Whitechapel in east London shows a fatberg that weighs as much as 11 double decker buses and is the length of two football pitches blocking the sewer. It is mostly made up of fat, wet wipes and nappies, and is expected to take three weeks to clear
Continue reading...'Total monster': fatberg blocks London sewage system
Thames Water must break up congealed mass of fat, wet wipes and nappies to prevent raw sewage flooding streets
A fatberg weighing the same as 11 double decker buses and stretching the length of two football pitches is blocking a section of London’s ageing sewage network.
The congealed mass of fat, wet wipes and nappies is one of the biggest ever found and would have risked raw sewage flooding on to the streets in Whitechapel, east London, had it not been discovered during a routine inspection earlier this month.
Continue reading...Trump promised to hire the best people. He keeps hiring the worst. NASA is next | Dana Nuccitelli
Trump’s NASA nominee Jim Bridenstine is a climate denier who wants to end the agency’s climate research
According to 2016 election exit polls, only 38% of voters considered Donald Trump qualified to be president. 17% of those who thought him unqualified voted for Trump anyway, perhaps because he promised that as a wealthy businessman, he would be able to hire the best people to advise him. That was a claim his daughter Ivanka explicitly made in her speech at the Republican National Convention:
Continue reading...Brazil investigates reports of massacre among Amazonian tribe by gold miners
Eight to 10 members of a remote indigenous group were allegedly killed by men working for illegal prospectors in Javari Valley
Brazilian authorities are investigating reports of a massacre of up to 10 people from an isolated tribe in the Amazon by illegal gold miners.
The killings, alleged to have taken place in Javari Valley, are claimed to have been carried out by men working for gold prospectors who dredge illegally in the region’s rivers.
Continue reading...