Environment news

• 100 years ago: Abundant signs of summer bird life

  15-05-2016 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 15 May 1916Garden warbler and blackcap were singing side by side in the wood, where the thick foliage now makes it difficult to see the songsters; these two, in these northern counties, where the nightingale is so rare, are undoubtedly our sweetest singers. In the dense vegetation which fringed the mere sedge warblers trilled, chattered, and purred, and the more sombre reed warblers crooned contentedly. In one of those deep hollows the result of
  
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• Discoverer of Neptune's rings dies

  15-05-2016 23:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Andre Brahic, one of the people who discovered the rings of Neptune, has died aged 73, his publisher says.
  
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• Natalie Bennett to step down as Green party leader

  15-05-2016 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘I’m not a lifelong politician,’ says Bennett, as speculation begins over successor, with Caroline Lucas a likely strong contenderNatalie Bennett is to step down as leader of the Greens this summer, after saying she believed she had established her party as a national force while acknowledging that she was not a “spin-trained, lifelong politician”.She will remain leader until the end of August when her second two-year term expires, but said she was making the announ
  
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• Florida woman taken to hospital with shark attached to her arm

  15-05-2016 22:44 via theguardian.com
  
  23-year-old bitten by 2ft nurse shark which refuses to let goOcean Rescue captain: ‘I have never seen anything like it'News reports on Sunday said a 23-year-old woman was bitten by a small nurse shark in Boca Raton.The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that the woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance with the 2ft shark still attached to her arm. Continue reading...
  
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• Return of the lamprey – ancient, ugly and swimming up British rivers

  15-05-2016 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, is most likely to be seen in British rivers at this time of year as the adults swim upstream to spawn.They are remarkable creatures but good looks are not one of their attributes. They resemble a cross between a fish and an eel and have a permanently open mouth with a great number of teeth. They also have some nasty parasitic habits. Continue reading...
  
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• Continuing collapse of Antarctic ice shelves will effect us all

  15-05-2016 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  A terrifying incident rocked the Argentine Matienzo base on the Antarctic Peninsula in 1995. The base was built on an island surrounded by a thick shelf of ice called Larsen A. Ten soldiers manning the base noticed strange pools of melted water appearing on the ice surface, followed by gurgling noises as water drained through cracks in the ice, whilst far below came deep rumbling sounds. Shortly after, a monstrous collapse shook the base as the whole of Larsen A suffered a colossal implosion and
  
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• California town swarmed by angry bees safe again, says expert

  15-05-2016 22:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Two dogs were killed and several people stung in Concord
  ‘They were all over my hair – I had to shake it out,’ says resident
  A bee expert says a northern California neighborhood overtaken by a swarm of aggressive bees, which are suspected of killing two dogs and stinging several people, is considerably safer after the insects made it back to their cluster. “These bees are a little off the wall. We’ve been having Africanized bees moving into California for quite a fe
  
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• Norway's wealth fund to sue Volkswagen over emissions scandal

  15-05-2016 21:58
  (Reuters) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Sunday it plans to join the class-action lawsuits filed against Volkswagen AG over the German automaker's emissions scandal. "Norges Bank Investment Management intends to join a legal action against Volkswagen arising out of that the company provided incorrect emissions data," Marthe Skaar, the fund's spokeswoman, said in a statement emailed to Reuters. As an investor, it is our responsibility to safeguard the fund's holdin
  
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• Shell says Nigerian pipeline repair 'not straightforward' - paper

  15-05-2016 18:07
  Royal Dutch Shell does not know when its Nigerian Forcados oil terminal will reopen as the repairs to an underwater pipeline damaged by a blast are not straightforward, its country head was quoted as saying on Sunday. Shell shut the 250,000 barrel a day terminal in February after an attack on an underwater pipeline claimed by a militant group, part of a wave of attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta in the past three months. Shell had initially declined to give details about the incident.
  
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• Eastbourne: the sunniest town in Britain – or the smoggiest?

  15-05-2016 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The East Sussex seaside resort is one of the UK’s most sunkissed spots – but it’s up there with London in terms of pollutionName: Eastbourne.Appearance: Seasidey. Continue reading...
  
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• Church offers its spires as beacons for those without fast broadband

  15-05-2016 17:21 via theguardian.com
  
  C of E creating guidelines so 10,000 rural churches may be used to provide wireless internet access to help meet PM’s vowThe medieval church spires of rural England are to bring superfast broadband to the remotest of dwellings, with the Church of England offering their use as communication towers.David Cameron pledged in November that every home in the UK would have access to fast broadband by 2020, but has since then been accused of watering down the plan. Connecting the final 5% of homes
  
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• Shell creates green energy division to invest in wind power

  15-05-2016 17:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Insiders say oil firm’s New Energies renewables arm could grow very big, but not for a decade or moreShell, Europe’s largest oil company, has established a separate division, New Energies, to invest in renewable and low-carbon power.The move emerged days after experts at Chatham House warned international oil companies they must transform their business or face a “short, brutal” end within 10 years. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘The messy limbo that is neither town nor country’

  15-05-2016 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Woodland, parkland, marsh and mountain all have their protectors. But who will stand up for our unloved, wildlife-rich in-between spaces?A whitethroat launches into the sky to deliver his scratchy song, before parachuting down to his hidden nest along the banks of a canal. A cluster of marsh orchids push their way through the surface of a disused tennis court in the shadow of Newcastle United’s football stadium. And the walls and gravestones of a rain-lashed Cornish churchyard are encruste
  
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• The eco guide to naked cosmetics | Lucy Siegle

  15-05-2016 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Minimal packaging, no synthetic preservatives – but are ‘naked’ cosmetics any good?In my continued effort to experiment with green living, I’m trying naked cosmetics. I’ve traded in over-engineered pump-action pots for slices of soap wrapped in paper, and chunks of “solid” shampoo in reusable tins.I’d have liked to have spread my experiment around various brands, but when it comes to solid beauty there’s only one serious player on the high st
  
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• Rare whale found on Australian beach believed to be evolutionary throwback

  15-05-2016 05:08 via theguardian.com
  
  South Australian Museum researchers confounded by mysterious teeth previously unseen in beaked whalesScientists believe they have an uncovered an evolutionary throwback in a rare deep ocean whale that washed ashore on a South Australian beach.The beaked whale, found dead on Waitpinga beach in February, confounded examiners from the South Australian Museum who discovered two mysterious teeth previously unseen in that family of deep diving mammals. Continue reading...
  
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• Scientists use people power to find disease-resistant ash trees

  15-05-2016 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Walkers and other members of the public will be asked to help create new generation of healthy plantsA £1.2m project to recruit thousands of walkers and other members of the public to help save Britain’s ash trees is to be launched on Monday.The aim of the AshTag project is to use “citizen science” to pinpoint trees that are resistant to ash dieback disease. Cuttings from these resilient trees could then be used to create a new, healthy generation of ash trees that could
  
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• Down to the last three: can science save northern white rhino from extinction?

  15-05-2016 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  International project will use IVF and stem-cell technology in an attempt to resurrect the speciesUnder the watchful eyes of a group of heavily armed guards, three rhinos graze on the grassland of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Most of the world knows that the rhinoceros is threatened, but the status of these animals is in another league. They are the planet’s last three northern white rhinos. None is capable of breeding. The northern white, which once roamed Africa in its thousands,
  
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• Britain accused of undermining tougher EU limits on killer air pollution

  15-05-2016 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Environment minister Rory Stewart told Tory MEPs to support ‘get-out clause’The British government has been accused of trying to secretly undermine new EU air pollution targets in favour of big business, as leaked papers reveal that Tory MEPs were told to support a “get-out clause” in proposed laws.Legislation designed to force member states to strictly limit emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ammonia by 2030 is being scrutinised in Brussels. Continue readi
  
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• 15 years on, our love affair with food is deepening...so are our problems

  15-05-2016 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  15 years on, our love affair with food is deepening...so are our problemsIn the 15 years since the launch of Observer Food Monthly, the British food scene has changed beyond recognition. Artisan coffee shops are now a feature of many high streets; gastropubs, not just white-linen dining establishments, are awarded Michelin stars. Supermarket shelves are stacked with foods catering for most intolerances. Review sites such as Trip Advisor have democratised the experience of eating out, while the p
  
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• In the timeless Yorkshire moors of my childhood, the frackers are poised to start drilling

  15-05-2016 01:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Villages in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, hope a landmark ruling this week will save them from the disruption of the shale revolutionKirby Misperton, like many other villages in North Yorkshire, has enjoyed its obscurity for centuries. At this time of year, it has all the characteristic features of rural Ryedale: the medieval church that stands among the last of the cherry tree blossom, the poignant war memorial cross that stands at the tiny roundabout, the cottages with their neat front gardens bla
  
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