The Guardian
The right language to protect the natural world | Letters
George Monbiot’s call to reconsider how we name things (Forget ‘the environment’. Fight for our living planet, 9 August) is a timely contribution to a confusing world. But one word that both he and the majority of online contributors have ignored is “prosperity”. That, after all, is why humans engage in economic activity: they believe it will make things better. There is, however, a fundamental problem with the way we have arranged our economic affairs. By treating the natural world as an infinite thing, “external” to the economy (except as a never-ending supply of resources) we have built a massive endeavour to take natural resources and make them into things that are then disposed of, generally after a fairly brief period of human enjoyment.
Everyone I speak to readily accepts that under this system the planet must eventually “run out”, but they cannot see an alternative to “prosperity”. The conversation we need to have is not how we name things but how we do things.
Continue reading...Monsanto continued selling PCBs for years despite knowing health risks, archives reveal
Company refutes legal analysis of documents suggesting it ignored risk to human health and environment long after pollutants’ lethal effects were known
Monsanto continued to produce and sell toxic industrial chemicals known as PCBs for eight years after learning that they posed hazards to public health and the environment, according to legal analysis of documents put online in a vast searchable archive.
More than 20,000 internal memos, minuted meetings, letters and other documents have been published in the new archive, many for the first time.
Continue reading...‘Indigenous peoples are the best guardians of world's biodiversity’
Interview with UN Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
Today is the United Nations’ (UN) International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, numbering an estimated 370 million in 90 countries and speaking roughly 7,000 languages. To mark it, the Guardian interviews Kankanaey Igorot woman Victoria Tauli-Corpuz about the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which she calls “historic” and was adopted 10 years ago.
Tauli-Corpuz, from the Philippines, was Chair of the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues when the Declaration was adopted, and is currently the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this interview, conducted via email, she explains why the Declaration is so important, argues that governments are failing to implement it, and claims that the struggle for indigenous rights “surpasses” other great social movements of the past:
Continue reading...Flash floods hit east coast of England
East Riding of Yorkshire and north-east Lincolnshire among areas hardest-hit with severe downpours expected to slowly move south
Heavy rain has brought flooding to a stretch of the east coast of England, and further severe downpours are expected.
Flash flooding hit towns and villages in the East Riding of Yorkshire and north-east Lincolnshire. There was 3ft (1 metre) of standing water in parts of Withernsea and further flooding in the Grimsby and Immingham areas.
Continue reading...Purple streaks of thistles garnish the sodden fields
Wenlock Edge Rain hardens summer’s lushness and the vivid knapweed seems loaded with the uncanniness of the season
On the windmill meadow, above a green rind of grasses and below their fidgety seedheads in the rain is the dotty purpling of knapweed.
The jet stream divides August in Europe. As the south swelters in life-threatening temperatures, this side of the shower curtain is cool, wet and, after Lammas Day, thistly.
Continue reading...Glencore's Wandoan coalmine wins approval from Queensland government
Decision enrages environmental groups, with Lock the Gate calling it a ‘very dark day for farming’ in the state
Glencore’s multibillion-dollar Wandoan coalmine proposal has been granted mining leases years after it was shelved amid falling commodity prices and a ramped-up global response to climate change.
On Tuesday Queensland’s natural resources and mines minister, Dr Anthony Lynham, approved three 27-year leases covering 30,000 hectares for the first stage of its $7bn mine near Roma.
Continue reading...Bristol zoo gives rare spiders a leg-up with breeding programme
More than 1,000 of the endangered species, which come from one island off Portugal, have hatched in captivity in a world first
In what is believed to be a world first, one of the rarest spiders has been bred in captivity at Bristol Zoo Gardens. More than 1,000 Desertas wolf spiderlings, classed as critically endangered, have hatched. Keepers hand-reared some from tiny eggs as they are so precious. At birth, they measure 4mm across, but they will grow to 12cm, with a 4cm body.
The species is found in a single valley on Deserta Grande, one of the Desertas islands near Madeira, Portugal. There are about 4,000 adults left in the wild and it is hoped that some of the spiderlings can be returned to their home.
Continue reading...Paris climate deal: US tells diplomats to dodge foreign officials' questions
Secretary of state Rex Tillerson directs staff to make clear US wants to help other countries use fossil fuels, diplomatic cable shows
US diplomats should sidestep questions from foreign governments on what it would take for the Trump administration to re-engage in the global Paris climate agreement, according to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters.
The cable, sent by the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, to embassies on Friday, also said diplomats should make clear the United States wants to help other countries use fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Dam it! How beavers could save Britain from flooding
Since their trial reintroduction in Devon, the animal’s engineering skills have reduced floodwater and created a paradise for local wildlife. Should we bring them back for good?
At a secret location in the rolling pasture of west Devon lies a marshy patch of farmland protected by £35,000-worth of solar-powered electric fencing. This isn’t to keep people out but to restrain the tree-chomping, river-damming residents of these three hectares. Outside the fence is a typical small valley, with a trickle of a stream, willow thickets and pasture grazed by cattle. Inside the enclosure, the tiny stream has been blocked by 13 dams, creating pools and half-metre-wide canals. These have been built by Britain’s newest wild mammal, the beaver, which uses its waterways like we do – to transport goods. And as the beavers have coppiced trees, the willow thicket has been replaced with sunny glades of wild flowers – marsh thistles, watermint, meadowsweet – which dance with dragonflies and butterflies.
“The beavers have transformed this little trickle of a stream into a remarkable, primeval wetland,” says Mark Elliott, lead beaver project officer of Devon Wildlife Trust, which released two beavers here in 2011. “This is what the landscape would have looked like before we started farming, and it’s only six years old. That’s the amazing thing.”
Continue reading...打压盗猎盗伐，别小看了旅游业的本事
当野生动植物的存亡关系到当地居民切身利益时，他们就会成为野生动植物的最佳保护者，约翰·斯坎伦写到。
随着全球游客人数不断增长，旅行者们钟情于探索地方文化和观赏野生动植物，寻求更为丰富、更新奇的个人体验，以野生动植物为基础的旅游业正在全球范围内迅速升温。而这也促使我几年前决定从法律事业的苦海中暂时抽身，申请了6个月的无薪假期，和妹妹一起背上行囊走上了南美之旅。欣赏亚马逊雨林、伊瓜苏瀑布、马丘比丘等地的自然美景，了解保护这些美景的当地人，改变了我的一生。
联合国世界旅游组织估计，全球7%的旅游与野生动植物旅游相关，并以每年3%的速度增长，而且增长率在世界遗产地等地区还要高得多。世界自然基金会的一份报告显示，全球自然遗产中有93%支持娱乐和旅游活动，91%提供就业机会。据说在伯利兹城，超过50%的人口以珊瑚礁相关的旅游和渔业为生。
Continue reading...Sandpipers are already on their way south
Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex The sun is slowly dropping towards the horizon and the air is cooling. The sandpipers are still feeding, making the most of this important stopover site on their route
Ripples flow across the golden grass as the stems bend back and forth in the breeze. A pair of common blue butterflies – the male sky blue, the female rusty brown – dance over the field. It’s quiet, apart from the tinkling of parties of goldfinches flying over, and the relentless buzz of crickets and grasshoppers rising up from the ground alongside the footpath.
I follow the track around the field and into the woods, and walk uphill to the Hanger, the viewpoint that looks out over the pools and channels of the brooks. Two young grey herons battle over the fishing rights to their small pool, raising the crests on their heads, holding their wings wide and barking sharp “frarnk” calls. Finally one gives way and heaves itself into the air, flapping slowly into the distance.
Continue reading...Australian teen just 'unfortunate' to be attacked by meat-loving sea fleas
It’s safe to go back in the water, says marine biologist who identified the miniature attackers as lysianassid amphipods
The “meat-loving” marine creature that ate at the legs of a Melbourne teenager has been identified as a flesh-eating sea flea, known as a lysianassid amphipod.
Marine biologist Dr Genefor Walker-Smith said the creatures, which left 16-year-old Sam Kanizay with significant bleeding from his legs, were a small, scavenging crustacean that usually fed on dead fish or sea birds.
Continue reading...New species of grass snake discovered in England
Recognition of barred grass snake as distinct species different to common cousin increases native total to four
England is home to four kinds of wild snake, not three as was previously believed, according to scientists.
The barred grass snake, Natrix helvetica, is now recognised as a species in its own right distinct from the common or eastern grass snake (Natrix natrix).
Continue reading...Meat-loving creatures that attacked Australian teen's legs identified – video
The meat-loving marine creatures that feasted on the legs of a Melbourne teenager have been identified as sea fleas, lysianassid amphipods. Marine biologist Dr Genefor Walker-Smith says they are small, scavenging crustaceans that usually feeds on dead fish or sea birds.
Continue reading...Time to face up to the electric car revolution | Letters
Your editorial perpetuates a number of myths about electric vehicles (Car drivers are heading into a future far from their dreams, 7 August). You say “Tesla has just started selling its first electric car aimed squarely at the middle classes”, reinforcing the views recently posted online by fossil fuel lobby groups that EVs are only for the rich while being subsidised by the poorer. The Tesla 3 is directly cost competitive with similar cars with internal combustion engines and cheaper when including running costs, and there is now a growing second-hand market.
You say Tesla sales are “a remarkable figure for a machine with a fairly short range and a very limited number of specialised charging stations”. The Tesla 3 has an EPA rated range of 310 miles – this is not a “fairly short range”.
Continue reading...It’s not just the ‘sea lice’ – other flesh-eating sea creatures lurk in the deep
Carnivorous amphipods feasted on the legs of one unlucky Australian teenager, but they are not the only watery beasts with a taste for human flesh. Which ones should we really be afraid of?
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, some mystery lice chow down on a boy’s legs in Australia. Sam Kanizay had been paddling at a Melbourne beach. Half an hour later, the 16-year-old reeled when the sand he thought was covering his legs turned out to be eating his flesh, leading to unstoppable bleeding.
Related: Tiny 'meat-loving' marine creatures 'eat' teenager's legs at Melbourne beach
Continue reading...USDA has begun censoring use of the term 'climate change', emails reveal
Exclusive: series of emails show staff at Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service advised to reference ‘weather extremes’ instead
Staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference “weather extremes” instead.
A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation, show that the incoming Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change.
Continue reading...Tesco to end sales of 5p carrier bags
Supermarket to stop selling ‘single-use’ bags but will offer customers ‘bags for life’ costing 10p
The UK’s largest retailer is to stop selling “single use” 5p carrier bags in its UK stores from the end of the month, instead offering shoppers reusable “bags for life” costing 10p.
The move by Tesco follows a 10-week trial in Aberdeen, Dundee and Norwich, which led to a 25% cut in bag sales as shoppers either brought their own or switched to the bags for life.
Continue reading...Fossil fuel subsidies are a staggering $5 tn per year | John Abraham
A new study finds 6.5% of global GDP goes to subsidizing dirty fossil fuels
Fossil fuels have two major problems that paint a dim picture for their future energy dominance. These problems are inter-related but still should be discussed separately. First, they cause climate change. We know that, we’ve known it for decades, and we know that continued use of fossil fuels will cause enormous worldwide economic and social consequences.
Second, fossil fuels are expensive. Much of their costs are hidden, however, as subsidies. If people knew how large their subsidies were, there would be a backlash against them from so-called financial conservatives.
Continue reading...From Baidoa, Somalia: 'We have no hope'
The worst drought in 40 years has a cruel grip on Somalia. A struggling young government and militant violence have compounded to bring crisis to 6.7 million lives. The town of Baidoa is facing some of the harshest conditions. Surrounded by territory controlled by al-Shabaab militants and amid ongoing attacks, 160,000 people have had to leave their farms and are surviving in camps where hunger, thirst and cholera await them
All photographs by Peter Caton/Mercy Corps
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