Environment news

• The return of the giant hogweed: Country diary 50 years ago

  25-06-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Originally published in the Guardian on 1 July 1967MACHYNLLETH: When a friend wrote recently and added a PS, “How’s that plant?” I knew that he meant the giant hogweed I described in this diary a year ago and which brought in more letters than anything I have ever mentioned. Last year’s plants duly disappeared but this year one has come up in a different place. It sowed itself at a path edge and for several weeks looked harmless enough. But suddenly it stretched out huge
  
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• The return of the giant hogweed: Country diary 100 years ago

  25-06-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Originally published in the Guardian on 1 July 1967MACHYNLLETH: When a friend wrote recently and added a PS, “How’s that plant?” I knew that he meant the giant hogweed I described in this diary a year ago and which brought in more letters than anything I have ever mentioned. Last year’s plants duly disappeared but this year one has come up in a different place. It sowed itself at a path edge and for several weeks looked harmless enough. But suddenly it stretched out huge
  
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• Blue shark captured after Mallorca beach panic

  25-06-2017 18:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Shark was first spotted close to beaches at Cala Major and Can Pastilla, then discovered to have serious head woundA blue shark whose presence in shallow waters off the coast of Mallorca caused panic over the weekend and led to the evacuation of beaches on the Balearic island, has been captured.
  The animal was first spotted on Saturday as it swam close to the beaches at Cala Major and Can Pastilla, near the Mallorcan capital of Palma. Pictures showed the shark gliding through the water a few met
  
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• As Trump moves to privatize America's national parks, visitor costs may rise

  25-06-2017 15:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Some are concerned that the proposed privatization of some public park services would drive up costs for visitors and fail to raise enough for repairsAmerica’s national parks need a staggering $11.5bn worth of overdue road and infrastructure repairs. But with the proposed National Park Service budget slashed by almost $400m, the Trump administration says it will turn to privatizing public park services to address those deferred maintenance costs.“I don’t want to be in the busin
  
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• The Seabird’s Cry by Adam Nicolson review – gritty, poetic and soaring

  25-06-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A beautiful exploration of 10 species of seabirds – and the threats they faceAdam Nicolson says this “paean to the beauty of life on the wing” began when he read a Seamus Heaney lecture exploring French philosopher Simone Weil’s aphorism: “Obedience to the force of gravity. The greatest sin.” It says everything about this gorgeous book: a poetic, soaring exploration of 10 species of seabirds: gull, guillemot, gannet and so on – which revels in the way th
  
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• The eco guide to performance wear

  25-06-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  You’d expect mountain climbers to be great champions of the environment, but their high-performance clothing is a chemical nightmareThere’s a long-standing rivalry between surfers and climbers as to who is the greenest. For my money, surfers have the edge. They’ve influenced environmentalism at large, making their issues – sewage and plastic – ours.Greenpeace has found noxious chemicals in the air around outdoor clothing shops Continue reading...
  
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• Crisis in Britain’s coastal villages as local fishing communities fight for survival

  25-06-2017 01:05 via theguardian.com
  
  As tourists pour in, global forces push local fishermen outIt is hard to think of a more faithful depiction of the English fishing village than the scene that greets the visitor to Porthleven in Cornwall: the early summer sun glints off the water, holidaymakers throng the quayside restaurants, enjoying the fresh fish unloaded by the fishermen toiling in their boats.Yet some argue that things are not what they seem. They say that none of the fish sold at the restaurants or cafés offering &
  
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• 'Rewilding' Australia: not only do we need the outback, the outback needs us

  25-06-2017 00:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Even in vast natural ecosystems, the fate and condition of nature lies in the hands of the people who live on, know, respect and manage that landOnly a small number of vast natural landscapes remain on Earth – wild regions where ecological processes function normally and movements of wildlife remain largely unfettered by the fragmentation of habitats. These few places include the Amazon basin, the boreal forests of Canada, tundra of Siberia, the Sahara Desert, and the Australian Outback. I
  
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