Environment news

• Early sightings hold promise for butterfly spotters

  06-07-2017 22:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Last summer was the fourth worst since scientific monitoring began in 1976, but let’s be delighted and count these small blessings
  I don’t want to jinx it so I’m only whispering but, shhh, we may be blessed with a half-decent butterfly summer. Last week, I saw a purple emperor, tipsy on sap from an old oak, lurching around a meadow on a deeply overcast day that normally only brings out the ringlets and meadow browns.Like most of our 59 native butterflies, the midsummer-loving p
  
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• Mercury mission: BepiColombo gets ready to launch

  06-07-2017 20:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A mission to Mercury is getting closer to the launch pad.
  
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• Changes in conservation planning can benefit vulnerable mammals

  06-07-2017 19:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  Right now, a prairie dog in Colorado is busy increasing soil carbon retention, increasing water infiltration, and clipping vegetation that will help maintain local grasslands and provide nutritious forage for large herbivores like cattle and bison. And, somewhere in Mexico, a pollinating bat is ensuring agave plants make good tequila.
  
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• 'Weedy' fish species to take over our future oceans

  06-07-2017 19:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  University of Adelaide researchers have for the first time demonstrated that the ocean acidification expected in the future will reduce fish diversity significantly, with small ‘weedy’ species dominating marine environments. 
  
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• British strawberries could cost 50% more because of Brexit, MPs told

  06-07-2017 19:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Prospect of seasonal labour crisis prompts calls for introducing new scheme to ensure UK farms have enough workers to pick fruit and vegThe price of British strawberries could rise by 50% if ministers fail to plug growing gaps in seasonal labour which are expected to get worse after Brexit, MPs have heard.The prospect of a £3 punnet of strawberries was raised by MPs as they called for a new seasonal agricultural workers scheme to be introduced by next year – or sooner – to stop
  
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• Hong Kong authorities seize 'record' ivory haul

  06-07-2017 17:18 via theguardian.com
  
  World’s ‘largest ever’ seizure of 7.2 tonnes of ivory has street value of £7m, officials sayAuthorities in Hong Kong have announced what they say is the world’s largest ever seizure of about 7.2 tonnes of ivory tusks with an estimated street value close to HK$72m (£7m).If the size of the haul is verified, it will replace the current record held by Singapore for a seizure of 7.138 tonnes of ivory tusks in 2002.Continue reading...
  
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• The Tories promised CCTV in slaughterhouses. Now they must deliver | Chas Newkey-Burden

  06-07-2017 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Theresa May says she cares about animal welfare – she can prove it by honouring the pledge made in the Conservative manifesto“We all have a high regard for animal welfare,” said Theresa May during yesterday’s prime minister’s questions. A curious comment from someone who, during the general election campaign, said: “Personally, I’ve always been in favour of fox hunting.”Thankfully, the beleaguered PM has abandoned her pledge to allow a free vote on
  
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• Hinkley Point C: UK censured for failing to consult German public

  06-07-2017 16:27 via theguardian.com
  
  British government failed to abide by Aarhus convention that says major projects must consult citizens on environmental impactsThe UK has been censured by an international committee for its failure to notify the German public of the potential environmental impacts of Hinkley Point C, the new nuclear power station being built in Somerset, south-west England.In a political embarrassment for the government, the verdict found that the UK had not complied with the Aarhus convention, an international
  
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• Exceptionally rare 'pale tiger' photographed in the wild

  06-07-2017 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Animal spotted by photographer in jungles of southern India may be the fairest known tiger living outside captivityA rare “pale tiger”, whose fur conservationists say could be the fairest of any in the wild, has been photographed in southern India.“It is the palest tiger I have ever seen on the record or heard about in literature,” said Belinda Wright, the founder of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. Continue reading...
  
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• France to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040

  06-07-2017 15:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Move by Emmanuel Macron’s government comes a day after Volvo said it would only make fully electric or hybrid cars from 2019 France will end sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 as part of an ambitious plan to meet its targets under the Paris climate accord, Emmanuel Macron’s government has announced.The announcement comes a day after Volvo said it would only make fully electric or hybrid cars from 2019 onwards, a decision hailed as the beginning of the end for the internal co
  
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• Hot new imagery of wintering bats suggests a group behavior for battling white-nose syndrome

  06-07-2017 15:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  Hot new imagery from temperature-sensing cameras suggests that bats who warm up from hibernation together throughout the winter may be better at surviving white nose syndrome, a disease caused by a cold-loving fungus ravaging insect-eating bat populations in the United States and Canada. The study by researchers with Massey University in New Zealand and the USGS was published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.  
  
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• BepiColombo: Joint Mercury mission ready for 'pizza oven'

  06-07-2017 14:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Europe and Japan say their joint space mission is ready to face the inferno of working at Mercury.
  
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• LHC double heavy particle to shine light on strong force

  06-07-2017 14:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists have detected a new particle at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern
  
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• Krill hotspot fuels incredible biodiversity in Antarctic region

  06-07-2017 14:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  There are so many Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean that the combined mass of these tiny aquatic organisms is more than that of the world’s 7.5 billion human inhabitants.Scientists have long known about this important zooplankton species, but they haven’t been certain why particular regions or “hotspots” in the Southern Ocean are so productive.
  
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• Drowning baby possums? Hatred of invasive species has gone too far | Jules Howard

  06-07-2017 12:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Non-native animals present serious conservation problems, but spectacle killings, such as in a New Zealand school, are outdated and outright questionable• Jules Howard is a zoologistOne can understand New Zealand’s apparent frustration with invasive Australian brushtail possums. One can conjure up genuine sadness for the damage the possums cause through their unwavering appetite for birds’ eggs and one can feel real concern for the plight of the native species being edged out. L
  
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• What Nottinghamshire’s bee-eaters tell us about conservation and big business

  06-07-2017 11:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Exotic migrants to the UK have set up home in a quarry owned by a sand mining company – an industry that is destroying wildlife habitats worldwideAt the end of June some exotic migrants flew into the country who have been enthusiastically welcomed by the Daily Mail. Following a hazardous journey from southern Europe a gang of seven bee-eaters have set up home in a desolate quarry in Nottinghamshire. But while their presence is an inspiring example of the benefits of free movement, their ch
  
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• Manchester Mobike review – better than London's Boris bikes

  06-07-2017 11:45 via theguardian.com
  
  A week after the Chinese bike sharing scheme hit Manchester, the Guardian’s North of England editor Helen Pidd is already hookedI was sceptical about Manchester’s new hire bikes, fearing they would all end up at the bottom of the Ship Canal.Yet just a week after Chinese firm Mobike plonked 1,000 silver and orange two-wheelers on the streets of Manchester and Salford, I’m already a convert. Yes, there have been a few glitches with the app (you’re supposed to be able to res
  
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• Baby pygmy hippo takes a tumble at Chile zoo debut

  06-07-2017 09:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A two-week-old pygmy hippopotamus steps out under the care of its mum, at an animal park in Santiago.
  
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• Badger bovine TB vaccinations resume but cull numbers still set to rise

  06-07-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Charities have obtained supplies of the vaccine following a shortage last year but the government’s vaccination programme won’t resume until 2018Wildlife charities have resumed vaccinating badgers against bovine TB after a global shortage of the vaccine caused it to be suspended last year.But more badgers than ever before are set to be culled this summer as Wales follows England in introducing a targeted cull in a bid to reduce bovine TB. Continue reading...
  
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• The dark side of wildlife tourism: thousands of Asian elephants held in cruel conditions

  06-07-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Elephants are being exploited to entertain tourists in south-east Asia, and kept in harsh conditions, says a new report from an animal rights NGO Thousands of elephants being used for entertainment across Asia are kept in cruel, abusive conditions fuelled by the growing tourism industry, World Animal Protection has found.Three out of four elephants surveyed in south-east Asia’s popular tourist destinations are living in harsh conditions where they are being used for rides, with mostly stee
  
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• Naomi Klein: how power profits from disaster

  06-07-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After a crisis, private contractors move in and suck up funding for work done badly, if at all – then those billions get cut from government budgets. Like Grenfell Tower, Hurricane Katrina revealed a disdain for the poor. By Naomi KleinThere have been times in my reporting from disaster zones when I have had the unsettling feeling that I was seeing not just a crisis in the here and now, but getting a glimpse of the future – a preview of where the road we are all on is headed, unless
  
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• A storm, then strong scents, steam and snails

  06-07-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Egglestone, Teesdale For some, rain came as a blessed relief after days of drought and the downpour coaxed snails out to grazeThe storm faded away to a distant rumble of thunder over the hills, taking with it the sticky heat of the past few days and leaving us shivering, in wet clothes, under a sheltering oak.As we emerged, so did the insects. I watched a shield bug ease itself around the edge of a leaf back into the light, picking a path between wobbling water droplets. Spiders abseiled between
  
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• BepiColombo: 'Last chance to see' Mercury mission

  06-07-2017 04:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The European and Japanese space agencies put the finishing touches to their Mercury satellites.
  
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• Elephant tourism is 'fuelling cruelty'

  06-07-2017 04:15 via bbc.co.uk
  Rising numbers of people want selfies riding elephants, or washing them, or patting their trunks, but according to a study carried out by World Animal Protection across Asia, many are kept in "severely cruel" conditions.
  
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• Is it safe to reuse your water bottle?

  06-07-2017 02:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The BBC's Jan Bruck has you covered.
  
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• Is washing our clothes polluting the marine environment?

  06-07-2017 02:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Our clothing and laundry are polluting the marine environment, UK research reveals.
  
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• How washing our clothes is polluting oceans

  06-07-2017 02:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Our clothing and laundry are polluting the marine environment, UK research reveals.
  
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• Dirty laundry: Are your clothes polluting the ocean?

  06-07-2017 01:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Our clothing and laundry are polluting the marine environment, UK research reveals.
  
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