The Guardian
Fight to save huge humpback whale stranded on NSW beach
Rescuers will try to refloat the 9m-long juvenile, which weighs up to 18 tonnes, at Sawtell on Saturday morning
Rescuers are working to save a young humpback whale that washed onto a beach on the New South Wales mid-north coast on Friday. The animal, which is nine metres long and weighs around 18 tonnes, would remain beached at least until the high tide arrives in the evening, experts said.
Beachgoers spotted the whale in the surf at Sawtell Beach south of Coffs Harbour early on Friday and it washed closer to shore at about 7am.
Continue reading...Let's expose everyday climate denial. Here's how
Trump’s climate stance is blatant and extreme but just as damaging is the daily denial that goes unchallenged, from airport expansion to pub patio heaters. A first step to change is to call it out #DailyClimateDenial
You know things are bad when it takes Donald Trump pulling the US out of the Paris agreement for climate change to be discussed during the UK election. His climate denial is of the extreme and obvious variety: pages were removed from the Environmental Protection Agency website explaining its causes and consequences when he came into office.
Equally if not more damaging, however, is the daily climate denial that passes mostly unremarked all around us. The Institute of Directors recently proposed not one, but two new airport runways for London in a report called Let’s push things forward. It made no mention of the effect on rising emissions and a better title might have been “Let’s push things over the edge”. The oil company BP’s irony free sponsorship of the British Museum’s Sunken Cities exhibition merely highlighted how removed climate now is from our everyday cultural imagination.
Alan Finkel’s emissions target breaks Australia’s Paris commitments
Chief scientist’s report flies in the face of previous recommendations on reducing electricity emissions
Less than two weeks ago, Alan Finkel told the Senate his landmark report would help Australia meet the commitments it made in Paris to reduce its economy-wide emissions by 28% below 2005 levels by 2030.
But his recommendations on the future of the National Electricity Market, released today, appear to fly in the face of those very commitments.
Continue reading...Sticky solution: aphids' honeydew suits the bees
Langstone, Hampshire Bees scouting the hawthorn unrolled their tongues to mop up the sticky fluid excreted by the greenfly
Since mid May the hawthorn next to my kitchen window has been covered with greenfly. The leaves and stems are plastered with clusters of the sap-sucking insects and a dandruff of white cast skins, which the sub-adults moult as they mature.
Reproducing asexually by parthenogenesis, these aphids give birth to live offspring born with the embryos of the next generation inside their bodies. Nymphs reach sexual maturity in as little as five days, and a reproductively active adult can produce up to 12 genetic copies of itself a day.
Continue reading...Finkel review anticipates lower power prices, but weak electricity emissions target
Report by the chief scientist, Alan Finkel, models a clean energy target that would reduce electricity emissions by 28% on 2005 levels
Australia’s chief scientist says a new clean energy target will deliver lower power prices to consumers than the status quo, but his report also models a scheme with a low target for emissions reduction from the electricity sector.
In his much anticipated review of the national electricity market, Alan Finkel has examined a scheme with an emissions reduction target of 28% on 2005 levels by 2030, rather than the reductions of 60% that some experts say would be necessary for Australia to meet its whole-of-economy pollution reduction target under the Paris climate accord.
Continue reading...Leading Indigenous lawyer hits back at Marcia Langton over Adani
Tony McAvoy says traditional owners are ‘proud and independent’ and are not being used by anti-mining activists to block the $16bn mine
One of Australia’s leading native title lawyers has spoken publicly for the first time as a traditional owner fighting to stop the Adani mine, a campaign he said was driven by “proud and independent people” who were among the best-informed Indigenous litigants in the country.
Tony McAvoy, who became Australia’s first Indigenous silk in 2015, said the Wangan and Jagalingou people were keenly aware of how their priorities differed from environmentalist allies in a battle to preserve their Queensland country from one of the world’s largest proposed coalmines.
Continue reading...The Paris climate agreement, Nicaragua and Donald Trump | Letters
We welcome your excellent coverage of President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement (Anger at US as Trump rejects climate accord, 2 June). However, there are references to the US joining Syria and Nicaragua in rejecting the agreement. Presented out of context, this comparison is flawed. Syria didn’t sign because of the catastrophic civil war. Nicaragua refused to sign because it believes the agreement is too weak to address the enormity of the consequences of climate change, particularly in vulnerable developing countries.
Paul Oquist, Nicaraguan representative to the Paris talks, pointed out that the Paris carbon reduction targets are non-binding and even if fully met would lead to a catastrophic three-degree temperature rise. Oquist also highlighted the lack of political will and ambition on the part of the largest polluters, their failure to accept historical responsibility for global warming, and the lack of financial resources for technological transfer, adaptation, and compensation for losses and damages. He went on to say: “The Paris Agreement will not solve global warming problems but merely postpone them.”
Continue reading...Brazilian tribal leader tours Europe to plead for help to stop killings and land grabs
Guarani-Kaiowá leader Ladio Veron is seeking international support to end violence against indigenous people and environmental destruction under the Temer administration, reports Mongabay
Ladio Veron, leader of Brazil’s indigenous Guarani-Kaiowá people, is touring Europe and making a desperate international appeal to halt attacks and killings, land theft and environmental destruction that his people say have become a hallmark of Brazil’s Temer administration.
The Guarani-Kaiowá is fighting for recognition of their indigenous land rights in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in southwest Brazil, bordering Paraguay. After decades of violent territorial disputes with cattle ranchers, soy and sugar cane farmers, Veron hopes to galvanize support and build an international network of allies that will put pressure on Temer and the agribusiness lobby-dominated National Congress back home.
Continue reading...Pittsburgh and Paris join over 200 cities and states rejecting Trump on climate | Dana Nuccitelli
Local and international efforts might be enough to limit the damage Trump’s scorched Earth approach
I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris
So said Donald Trump in a speech justifying his irrational, historically irresponsible decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris international climate treaty. Of course, 75% of Pittsburgh residents voted for Hillary Clinton, and many city residents have since written about the outdatedness and absurdity of Trump’s invocation of Pittsburgh, which aims to be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2035. In fact, Pittsburgh joined 210 other “climate cities” representing 54 million Americans (17% of the national population), pledging:
Continue reading...Shark bites teacher in Devon surfing incident
Rich Thomson was surfing off Bantham beach in south Devon when a metre-long shark bit his hand
It won’t go down as a great tale of derring-do on the high seas and it is very unlikely that a film or book deal will follow. But a teacher from Devon has a salty story to tell after an episode in which a “small shark” drew blood while he was surfing in south-west England.
Rich Thomson, 30, a chemistry teacher at Kingsbridge community college, was off Bantham beach in south Devon when he said he felt something grab him by the leg.
Continue reading...New Danish triennial looks at nature throughout history – in pictures
Large-scale installations across Aarhus city depict nature, and man’s relationship with it, in three categories: the past, present and future – from a structure highlighting bee decline to a reflection on light pollution
• ARoS Art Museum’s triennial The Garden – End of Times, Beginning of Times runs until 30 July; The Past section runs until 10 Sept
Continue reading...‘There is so much out there’: Kenya’s plastic bag battle – in pictures
Plastic bags are an infamous problem in Nairobi. They clog its waterways and litter its streets. The Kenyan government is attempting to ban their use from August – with implications for businesses from supermarkets to recyclers.
Continue reading...Barefoot among the barrel-rolling damselflies
Sandy Bedfordshire As the damsels flew upstream I began to wade with the fishes, it felt like a release, liberation even
Walking barefoot through a field of long grass, I poked into a molehill with my big toe. Its summit was like toasted breadcrumbs and the dislodged granules rolled down the slopes as loose scree.
My rotating foot waggled deeper, finding darker, damp, earth that held firm. The moisture suggested that this molehill was an eruption from the night before; the toes told what the eyes could only surmise.
Continue reading...Stormy waters: the salmon farmer trying to limit fishing and save the ocean
Unlikely environmentalist Frances Bender is taking legal action against Tasmanian government for failing to protect the environment
There’s trouble brewing in Tasmania’s waterways once again.
In the 1980s, protests over the proposed Franklin River hydroelectric dam threw the Apple Isle’s conservation plight onto the national stage. This time, it is the state’s salmon farming industry that is under a cloud. The relatively young industry is worth over $700m a year and now outpaces all other farming activities on the island but environmental campaigners are worried about its impact on the region’s pristine waters.
Continue reading...Australia's carbon emissions rise in off-season for first time in a decade
Exclusive: On the eve of the long-awaited Finkel review, analysis shows Australia’s emissions rose sharply in the first quarter of 2017
Australia’s carbon emissions jumped at the start of 2017, the first time they have risen in the first few months of a year for more than a decade, according to projections produced exclusively for the Guardian.
Emissions in the first three months of the year normally drop compared with the previous quarter, driven by seasonal factors and holidays. But in something not seen in since 2005, emissions rose in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the last quarter of 2016 by 1.54m tonnes of CO2, according to the study by consultants NDEVR Environmental. The rise was driven by increases in emissions from electricity generation.
Continue reading...In Utah, federal land opponent reverses stance on drilling near Zion national park
In a change of tone, Utah governor Gary Herbert has backpedaled and asked the federal government not to allow oil and gas drilling around the famous park
When Utah governor Gary Herbert changed his mind last week and decided oil and gas companies should not be allowed to drill near Zion national park, it seemed like a remarkable change of tone.
The Republican has been a staunch advocate for rolling back public land protections and had earlier endorsed the idea of drilling near the 229 sq mile park. In February, he signed a resolution urging Donald Trump to rescind national monument status for the 1.3m acres known as Bears Ears in south-eastern Utah. Doing so would allow expansion of current leases for oil and gas development and grazing.
Continue reading...Thank you: with your help, we raised $50,000 to cover America's public lands
In just 31 hours, Guardian US exceeded its target to support a new series on the threat to America’s public lands. We’d like to thank you for your generosity
We would like to extend a huge thank you to the more than 1,000 Guardian readers who made contributions to support This Land is Your Land, our series on the threat to America’s public lands. We launched our fundraising campaign on Monday morning, and hit our $50,000 goal at 1pm Tuesday, just 31 hours after the launch. When this article was published we had exceeded our goal by 20%, with $60,166 pledged. More than 1,000 readers have contributed.
Continue reading...Winds of change: gusts across Europe help set renewable power record
Nuclear, wind and solar power in UK generate more electricity than gas and coal combined for first time ever
The windy weather across Europe in the past 24 hours may have been a curse for summer picnics, but it has set records for renewable power.
Related: 'Spectacular' drop in renewable energy costs leads to record global boost
Continue reading...Whiskey, with a peacock chaser: bird smashes up US liquor store – video
A peacock which found its way into a Californian liquor store causes hundreds of dollars of damage before an animal control officer and the store manager are able to capture it
Continue reading...How can humans and elephants better coexist?
The human-elephant conflict plays a huge role in the rapid decline elephant numbers. A panel of experts share ideas on how to mitigate this problem
We need conservation (not just fighting the illegal wildlife trade which has captured the limelight more recently) to be far higher up the political agenda. For example, we in the UK could be much more effectively linking overseas aid (budget of £12bn this year) to poverty relief, sustainable development and environmental protection, ecosystem services and conservation priorities. Will Travers, president, Born Free Foundation
Continue reading...