Environment news

• 100 years ago: tireless swifts climb, dive and glide

  18-06-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 21 June 1917Surrey
  The soil responds quickly now to every genial touch. Meadows and clover fields which, after they had been cut and the hay gathered, appeared brown and sere two days ago were this morning, after a spell of rain, as green almost as in spring. The foot sank among rich young leaves and blades along the ditch side below, where wild pink roses have opened as if by some quick stroke or call. On the very top of flowering brambles yell
  
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• A weird encounter in deepest Amazonia

  18-06-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  With its unusual name and even more unusual habits, the hoatzin is a clear frontrunner for the title of the world’s most bizarre birdWe left Romero Rainforest Lodge just before sunrise, heading down the Manú River and into the unknown. The sickly-sweet scent of uvos – a mango-like fruit – wafted across the murky waters, hanging heavy in the humid air. As dawn broke, birds started to appear out of nowhere. Flocks of sand-coloured nighthawks lived up to their name, hawking
  
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• Weather system revamp hopes to bring sunshine to US economy

  18-06-2017 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  New legislation requires NOAA to improve weather research and forecasting, boosting industries from farming and airlines and improving the public warning systemFarmers have been obsessed with weather for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks and Babylonians sought guidance on planting and harvest by surveying the sky for patterns in clouds and stars and by communing with gods – through prayers and animal sacrifices. Modern-day farmers, such as Steve Pitstick, a fifth-generation farmer in Illi
  
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• How experts use weather data to improve forecasts, saving lives and money – video

  18-06-2017 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Thanks to new legislation, NOAA will be able to boost its ability to predict major weather-related events, such as hurricanes, droughts, floods and wildfires – and improved forecasts could have significant business impacts Continue reading...
  
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• Dead Zone review – a call to change our way of farming

  18-06-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Philip Lymbery, head of Compassion in World Farming, argues cogently for the end of factory farming to save species on the edge of extinction“In the blink of an evolutionary eye,” Philip Lymbery writes, “one particular species has gone from newcomer to the dominant force shaping the planet: us.”Lymbery is head of the leading animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming, and he approaches the conundrum of “how should we live our lives” from the persp
  
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• Inflatable whales used as training tool

  18-06-2017 10:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Volunteer rescuers have been learning how to save marine creatures when they wash up on the beach.
  
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• Navigating Norfolk’s hidden creeks and salt marshes – in a 1950s whelk boat

  18-06-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With an ex-Marine at the helm, a new sailing adventure in north Norfolk offers the chance to enter a watery wilderness and get up close to seals and birdlifeWe’re sailing across a sandy-coloured sea. Seals pop up around our little crab boat and then vanish, like a game of Whac-A-Mole. Further ahead, a group lie motionless on the water, as if levitating. It takes me a moment to realise that the sea is so shallow they are resting on a submerged sand bank.The boat’s depth gauge reads 4f
  
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• The eco guide to fair trade lite

  18-06-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Sainsbury’s has launched a new ‘Fairly Traded’ tea range. Well and good, but the fear is they may seek to swerve Fairtrade’s tough regulationsWe know the drill. An appealing product gets listed by a major retailer, becomes well loved by consumers only for that retailer to replace it with an own-brand version.Sainsbury’s says its new system is up to date, focusing more on climate change Continue reading...
  
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• Coal to stay in energy mix for foreseeable future, says Barnaby Joyce

  18-06-2017 04:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Deputy prime minister says lights would ‘go out’ if coal was phased out and doesn’t rule out the government funding new coal-fired power plantBarnaby Joyce says coal-fired power needs to remain in Australia’s energy mix for the foreseeable future and he has not ruled out the Turnbull government either indemnifying or funding a new power plant.
  In an interview with the ABC on Sunday morning as the government is considering its response to the Finkel review of the national
  
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• Trump's divided desert: Wildlife at the border wall

  18-06-2017 02:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Science reporter Victoria Gill joins researchers in Arizona to find out how President Trump's wall could affect endangered desert wildlife.
  
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• Desert wall?

  18-06-2017 02:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Science reporter Victoria Gill joins researchers in Arizona to find out how President Trump's wall could affect endangered desert wildlife.
  
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• Five robots that are changing everything

  18-06-2017 01:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nasa chief engineer Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu on the robots that are changing the world.
  
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• Divided desert: Wildlife and Trump's wall

  18-06-2017 01:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How President Trump's "great wall" on US-Mexico border could affect endangered desert wildlife.
  
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