The Guardian
Trump regrets 'bizarre mistake' of Paris climate pullout, Branson claims
- Virgin chief tells audience in Brooklyn Trump’s decision is ‘very, very strange’
- ‘I get the feeling the president is regretting what he did’
Donald Trump regrets the “bizarre mistake” of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement, Sir Richard Branson has said. The British billionaire also urged the president to help phase out the ailing US coal industry.
Related: Donald Trump offers hand of friendship to Emmanuel Macron on Paris visit
Continue reading...From Myanmar to Mumbai: your images of plastic waste around the world
Readers document the rising environmental crisis of plastic waste, as the planet struggles to cope with a million plastic bottles being sold every minute
Waiting for the gorse to burst
Bratley View, New Forest The distinct click had been a seed pod twisting and firing its tiny black seeds into the distance
Click. The sound is distinct. A black speck flashes across my vision. I straighten up and think about the two. There can be no doubt what they were, but I am sensorially confused. Which had I actually experienced first? The click, or the speck?
At that moment, I had been adjusting the settings on my camera to try to catch the pink of the clump of common centaury that was looking radiant at the edge of an parched path. I give up on that for the time being, and linger by the gorse bushes in the hope that there will be a repeat performance, and I will solve the puzzle. Though I wait, and later walk some distance through an extensive gorse brake following a route marked out by the ponies, the plants refuse an encore.
Government’s letter to conservation groups has ominous implications | Lenore Taylor
New reporting rules seem to represent a big win for the campaign by the mining sector and conservative politicians to stifle environmental advocacy
The environment department has recently begun sending letters to conservation groups registered as eligible for tax deductible donations, as they do every year. But this year the correspondence is different, in a disturbing way.
In the past the groups, which include all the big names such as the Australian Conservation Society, The Wilderness Society, Lock the Gate, Greenpeace etc, as well as small local conservation organisations, were simply asked to reveal the total expenditure from their public fund. This year they have also been asked to break down their expenditure into the amounts spent on “on ground environmental remediation”, “campaign and advocacy”, “research” and other administration.
Continue reading...Guardian readers making Britain beautiful again | Letters
In our village, we have seen both the potential and the limitations of people-led efforts to tackle litter (Letters, 13 July). The parish council and the local transition village group have worked together to both inform people about the wider environmental problems of litter, especially plastic, and to develop a network of individuals who have undertaken to keep specific roads or areas free of litter. Volunteers were provided with good-quality litter pickers (available from the Keep Britain Tidy campaign) and gloves, and a map was put up in the parish office showing the areas covered.
The results have been fantastic: lots of volunteers mean that most of the village is litter-free most of the time. I am sure that Wendy Harvey’s hope that the sight of people picking up litter raises awareness and discourages (but doesn’t stop) others from dropping litter. A campaign at the local secondary school, has undoubtedly contributed as well.
Continue reading...Electric cars, mass extinction, and a swimming elephant – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...Have you spotted a butterfly in the UK? Share your photographs
If you’ve spotted a butterfly in the UK, and have been lucky enough to take a photograph of it, we’d like you to share your experience with us
More than three quarters of the UK’s butterflies have declined in the last 40 years, but some reports say this is an unusually good year for butterflies.
Related: World’s largest butterfly survey aims to assess apparent spike in British numbers
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Eurasian wolf cubs, a wreathed hornbill and an elephant crossing the road are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...'Truly unique': lioness adopts and nurses leopard cub
No wild cat has ever been observed nursing a cub from another species – the event may be the result of the Tanzanian lioness having lost her own litter
A lioness has been spotted nursing a tiny leopard cub in Tanzania, the first time a wild cat is known to have adopted a cub from another species.
The five-year old lioness, called Nosikitok is closely monitored by conservationists in the Ngorongoro conservation area and is known to have had a litter of her own in mid to late June.
Continue reading...Exclusiva: investigaciones revelan que, en todo el mundo, están asesinando más que nunca a los defensores del medio ambiente
Cada semana muere por causas violentas una media de cuatro ecologistas, guardas forestales y dirigentes indígenas, y en todo el mundo crece la sensación de que “cualquiera puede matar a los defensores del medio ambiente sin sufrir las consecuencias”
El año pasado fue el más peligroso de la historia para las personas que defienden las tierras de su comunidad, los recursos naturales y la fauna; las últimas investigaciones revelan que cada semana mueren asesinados casi cuatro defensores del medio ambiente en todo el mundo.
En 2016 murieron 200 ecologistas, guardas forestales y dirigentes indígenas que intentaban defender sus tierras, según el grupo de vigilancia Global Witness, más del doble de los asesinados hace cinco años.
Continue reading...World’s largest butterfly survey aims to assess apparent spike in British numbers
Annual Big Butterfly Count urges wildlife lovers to help assess whether the insects are really returning to gardens this summer
Clouds of butterflies have been sighted in southern Britain this summer but wildlife lovers are being urged to help scientifically assess whether our insects are really bouncing back by joining the world’s largest butterfly survey.
Continue reading...Woolworths and Coles to phase out single-use plastic bags
Australia’s two largest supermarket chains say they will stop using lightweight plastic bags and will offer reusable bags instead
Single-use plastic bags will phased out from Woolworths and Coles stores across Australia.
Woolworth Group announced on Friday morning that stores Australia-wide would phased out the use of plastic bags by July 2018.
Continue reading...Jewel-bright lizards look at home on one British isle
Ventnor Botanic Garden, Isle of Wight A balmy microclimate and a scrubland habitat support Britain’s oldest colony of wall lizards
In mainland Britain the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) is considered an alien species, and concerns have been raised that competition from this robust and agile continental reptile may be hastening the decline of our rare native sand lizard (Lacerta agilis).
The Isle of Wight colony is the longest established population of wall lizards in Britain and a celebrated part of the island’s fauna, though its origin is hotly debated. It is believed that in the 1920s there were deliberate releases of the reptile, though local legend has it that they are descendants of survivors from a shipwreck off Bonchurch.
Continue reading...Clean energy target: how the states might make it work
Victoria and South Australia have suggested a states-led initiative if the federal government continues to stall on a clean energy target. Could it work?
Australian states exasperated by federal government inaction on the key Finkel review recommendation of a clean energy target have indicated they might band together and go it alone if the federal Coalition does not provide the required leadership.
Before Friday’s meeting of energy ministers, for which the federal government refused to put a CET on the agenda, Labor-led Victoria and South Australia called for consideration of a linked-up state-based scheme, and urged Coalition-led NSW to join up. Given recent comments by the NSW energy minister, Don Harwin, who indicated support for the CET, such a move seems plausible.
Continue reading...Biofuels need 'to be improved for battle against climate change'
Royal Academy of Engineering report backs increased use of biofuels but warns that some have been as polluting as fossil fuels
Biofuel use needs to increase to help fight climate change as liquid fuels will be needed by aircraft and ships for many decades to come, finds a new report requested by the UK government.
The Royal Academy of Engineering report says, however, that some biofuels, such as diesel made from food crops, have led to more emissions than those produced by the fossil fuels they were meant to replace. Instead, the report says, rising biofuel production should make more use of waste, such as used cooking oil and timber.
Continue reading...Evermore: ravens can plan for the future, scientists say
Swedish experiment shows the notoriously brilliant bird has capacity to think ahead, an ability previously documented only in humans and great apes
Scientists from Sweden say ravens are able to think about the future, showing a general planning ability previously documented only in people and great apes.
Researchers Can Kabadayi and Mathias Osvath, of Lund University, tested five captive ravens in two tasks they do not do in the wild: using tools and bartering with humans. The results were published on Thursday by the journal Science.
5,665 gates, 4,862 stiles, 1,054 bridges: but who maintains the Yorkshire dales?
‘I’ll still be doing this on a mobility scooter,’ says one of 100 volunteers who survey national park’s 1,628 miles of paths
One of the many reasons Sally Williams loves the Yorkshire dales national park is because its dramatic landscape has been marked by centuries of human activity. “It’s not like you get in America – a huge area of undiscovered land that nobody has ever trodden on,” she says, standing near the entrance to an old limestone quarry. “It’s an area where people have lived and worked for centuries, and you can see the evidence of that all over the countryside.”
The 67-year-old former librarian is one of an army of nearly 100 volunteers who, every summer, undertake a survey of the park’s 1,628 miles (2,620km) of public rights of way. The volunteers, mainly local retirees, walk every single path and bridleway, ensuring that the park’s “infrastructure” – including its 5,665 gates, 4,862 stiles, 4,399 signposts and 1,054 bridges – is accessible, undamaged and safe.
Continue reading...EU calls for immediate ban on logging in Poland's Białowieża forest
EU asks court to protect one of Europe’s last primeval woodlands after the Polish government tripled logging operations at the Unesco world heritage site last year
Europe’s last major parcel of primeval woodland could be set for a reprieve after the EU asked the European court to authorise an immediate ban on logging in Poland’s Białowieża forest.
Around 80,000 cubic metres of forest have been cleared since the Polish government tripled logging operations around the Unesco world heritage site last year.
Continue reading...Electric cars to account for all new vehicle sales in Europe by 2035
Falling battery costs to drive sales but European carmakers will lose out to rivals in the US and Asia, forecasts Dutch bank
All new cars sold in Europe will be electric within less than two decades, driven by government support, falling battery costs and economies of scale, a Dutch bank has predicted.
However, ING warned that with battery-powered vehicles accounting for 100% of registrations in 2035 across the continent, European carmakers would lose out to their rivals in the US and Asia who already lead on battery production.
Continue reading...The Canadian company mining hills of silver – and the people dying to stop it
In Guatemala, one of the world’s largest silver deposits reaps millions for its Canadian owners but for local farmers the price is their land and even their lives
Deep underground, buried in the lush hills of southern Guatemala, lies a veritable treasure trove: silver, tonnes of it, one of the largest deposits in the world.
But it’s above ground where the really dangerous activity goes on. On a dusty highway, about 50 peasant farmers stand praying in a circle, a makeshift roadblock intended to stop trucks reaching the mine. They have already been violently dispersed by police teargas. Now they fear the army might move in.
Continue reading...