Environment news

• Gorse badly damaged by harsh winter: Country diary 100 years ago

  14-05-2017 23:30
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 17 May 1917Our Cornish driver said today that here they had had “two winters in one, and that a bad one.” Certainly one does not remember ever to have seen gorse so badly damaged. One thinks of gorse and ling as the hardiest of hardy shrubs, yet here there are great tracts of whin quite sandbrown, and the green, young shoots of the ling are only beginning to prevail over the dead surface. If you beat a bush of ling you have the queer
  
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• Secrets of the shiny yellow buttercup

  14-05-2017 22:30
  
  When it comes to attracting pollinators, buttercup petals hold all the aces. They even provide their guests with heatingDo you like butter? Hold a buttercup under your chin and folklore says if there is a yellow reflection on your skin it means you do. But the real reason the flowers seem to shine with an intense glittering yellow is nothing to do with butter but about advertising the plants to insect pollinators from a great distance.Buttercups get their bright colour from yellow pigments in th
  
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• Grey plaque scheme highlights NO2 pollution in London

  14-05-2017 19:18
  
  London’s Choking initiative aims to draw attention to areas where nitrogen dioxide pollution threatens public healthThey take their inspiration from the well-known signs linking people from the past with the buildings they once inhabited, but the symbols now appearing across London are to highlight a different connection.In the past week, grey plaques – direct copies of the English Heritage blue plaques identifying the homes of the dead and famous – have been put up on building
  
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• April cold weather could cause a shortage of British fruit, say farmers

  14-05-2017 16:19
  
  National Farmers’ Union warns of ‘waiting game’ on apples, pears and plums after last month’s Arctic blastCold weather in April could lead to a shortage of British apples, pears and plums, farmers have warned.Alison Capper, chairman of the National Farmers’ Union horticulture board, said she feared her own apple harvest, which includes varieties such as Gala, Braeburn and Red Windsor apples, could drop by 70-80% as a result of the cold snap. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump is deleting climate change, one site at a time

  14-05-2017 09:00
  
  The administration has taken a hatchet to climate change language across government websites. Here are several of the more egregious examplesDuring inauguration day on 20 January, as Donald Trump was adding “American carnage” to the presidential lexicon, the new administration also took a hammer to official recognition that climate change exists and poses a threat to the US. Continue reading...
  
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• We wouldn’t need price caps if the Tories hadn’t cut energy-saving schemes

  14-05-2017 08:00
  
  Restricting charges, no matter how desirable, is a temporary measure. The lost opportunities for insulation and renewal would have been permanentHow much should people pay for the essential service of heating and powering their homes? Last week, politicians tried to outbid one another with how much they would save you. Up to £100 off for two thirds of people, said the Tories. We’ll raise you, with a £1,000 ceiling for everyone, said Labour.Vested interests across the energy wor
  
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• The eco guide to green lawns

  14-05-2017 07:00
  
  Manicured grass comes at a heavy cost in terms of pollution from pesticides. We need better legislation, and wildflowers happily mixed with the turfAs contenders for the 12th Britain’s Best Lawn competition will know, with a great lawn comes great responsibility. Despite the fact that the winner receives a lithium-ion-battery, self-propelled lawnmower (far more eco than a petrol version), lawn-keeping typically involves a shed-load of pesticides and herbicides.The Mormon temple in LA let i
  
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• Peril of the deep – the killer poison that lingers unseen in British waters

  14-05-2017 01:05
  
  The discovery of alarming levels of PCBs, a type of chemical banned 40 years ago, has led scientists to call for an urgent clean-upThe body of Lulu the killer whale was found on jagged rocks on the Isle of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides last year. A member of the only pod found in British waters, she died after getting entangled in fishing lines.It was a sad discovery, especially as a postmortem revealed Lulu had never had a calf. But a recent autopsy also revealed something else that is alarming m
  
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• Time is running out for Madagascar – evolution’s last, and greatest, laboratory

  14-05-2017 01:04
  
  Kew scientists warn that unique plants on Madagascar are at risk of extinctionIt is a unique evolutionary hotspot home to thousands of plants found nowhere else on Earth. However, Madagascar’s special trees, palms and orchids – which provide habitats and food for dozens of species of rare lemur and other animals – are now facing catastrophic destruction caused by land clearances, climate change and spreading agriculture, scientists will warn this week.Thousands of plant species
  
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• Race is on to rid UK waters of PCBs after toxic pollutants found in killer whale

  14-05-2017 01:03
  
  Scientists say more must be done to eliminate the chemicals, which have a devastating impact on marine life and can end up in the food chainThe body of Lulu the killer whale was found on jagged rocks on the Isle of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides. A member of the only pod found in British waters, she had died last year after getting entangled in fishing lines.It was a sad discovery, especially as a post-mortem revealed Lulu had never produced a calf. But the recent autopsy also revealed something el
  
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• Can riverbank wildlife cope with another summer of drought?

  14-05-2017 01:03
  
  Water levels are low after a dry winter and mammals and birds could be at risk Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, famous for its abbey, the Wars of the Roses battle in 1471 and the floods that ravaged the town in 2007, might seem an unlikely place to look for evidence of impending drought. But stroll along the riverbank at Abbey Mill Gate and the signs are there: the mud is cracked and dry, the reeds brown and withering, and the water is starting to form pools. Continue reading...
  
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