Environment news

• New species of grass snake identified in England

  07-08-2017 21:17 via theguardian.com
  Recognition of barred grass snake as distinct species different to common cousin increases native total to fourEngland is home to four kinds of wild snake, not three as was previously believed, according to scientists.
  The barred grass snake, Natrix helvetica, is now recognised as a species in its own right distinct from the common or eastern grass snake (Natrix natrix). Continue reading...
  
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• Meat-loving creatures that attacked Australian teen's legs identified – video

  07-08-2017 20:32 via theguardian.com
  The meat-loving marine creatures that feasted on the legs of a Melbourne teenager have been identified as sea fleas, lysianassid amphipods. Marine biologist Dr Genefor Walker-Smith says they are small, scavenging crustaceans that usually feeds on dead fish or sea birds.Australian teen just ‘unfortunate’ to be attacked by meat-loving sea fleasContinue reading...
  
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• Time to face up to the electric car revolution | Letters

  07-08-2017 19:52 via theguardian.com
  We should beware of myths about electric vehicles, says David Bricknell; but John Richards still worries about the environmental impact of their batteriesYour editorial perpetuates a number of myths about electric vehicles (Car drivers are heading into a future far from their dreams, 7 August). You say “Tesla has just started selling its first electric car aimed squarely at the middle classes”, reinforcing the views recently posted online by fossil fuel lobby groups that EVs are only
  
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• It’s not just the ‘sea lice’ – other flesh-eating sea creatures lurk in the deep

  07-08-2017 18:22 via theguardian.com
  Carnivorous amphipods feasted on the legs of one unlucky Australian teenager, but they are not the only watery beasts with a taste for human flesh. Which ones should we really be afraid of?Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, some mystery lice chow down on a boy’s legs in Australia. Sam Kanizay had been paddling at a Melbourne beach. Half an hour later, the 16-year-old reeled when the sand he thought was covering his legs turned out to be eating his flesh, leading to
  
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• RSPB hails natterjack toad 'baby boom' at Lodge reserve

  07-08-2017 17:59 via bbc.co.uk
  Thousands of the "rare" tadpoles have been spotted at a reserve despite adverse breeding conditions.
  
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• US federal department is censoring use of term 'climate change', emails reveal

  07-08-2017 17:43 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: series of emails show staff at Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service advised to reference ‘weather extremes’ insteadStaff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference “weather extremes” instead.A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit th
  
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• Rare pine marten caught on camera in Yorkshire for first time in 35 years

  07-08-2017 17:25 via theguardian.com
  Sighting of animal follows four-year project on the North York Moors carried out in partnership with Forestry CommissionOne of England’s rarest animals has been caught on camera after a four-year stakeout by wildlife experts.A male pine marten, last seen alive in Yorkshire about 35 years ago, was captured on a wildlife camera in the North York Moors, the Forestry Commission said. Continue reading...
  
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• New grass snake identified in the UK

  07-08-2017 16:03 via bbc.co.uk
  There are now four species of wild snake native to the UK, not three as scientists first thought.
  
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• Emojis help software spot emotion and sarcasm

  07-08-2017 14:15 via bbc.co.uk
  The algorithm learned to recognise sarcasm, allowing it to spot hate speech faster than humans.
  
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• How an ancient well is bringing northern Namibia water – until funds dry up

  07-08-2017 13:53 via theguardian.com
  A vast acquifer could quench the region’s thirst for hundreds of years, but investment is in short supply in this drought-prone nationWhen water first flowed from the new community pump in Eenhana this spring, some locals were slow to celebrate. Groundwater has a tainted reputation in this fast-developing, northern Namibian town. Many people in the area still rely on hand-dug wells that double up as watering holes for cattle.“It was not like those wild west movies, where they strike
  
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• Rare pine marten captured on camera in North Yorkshire

  07-08-2017 13:42 via bbc.co.uk
  The first record of a pine marten living in Yorkshire for about 35 years
  
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• Tesco to end sales of 5p carrier bags

  07-08-2017 13:14 via theguardian.com
  Supermarket to stop selling ‘single-use’ bags but will offer customers ‘bags for life’ costing 10p The UK’s largest retailer is to stop selling “single use” 5p carrier bags in its UK stores from the end of the month, instead offering shoppers reusable “bags for life” costing 10p.The move by Tesco follows a 10-week trial in Aberdeen, Dundee and Norwich, which led to a 25% cut in bag sales as shoppers either brought their own or switched to the
  
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• Tesla drivers claim Model S distance record of 670 miles on one charge

  07-08-2017 13:13 via theguardian.com
  Elon Musk congratulates Italian owners club, which claims new distance record while consuming equivalent of only eight litres of petrol Five members of the Italian Tesla owners club claim to have set a new distance record, travelling 670 miles on a single charge in a Tesla Model S.
  The feat, which they say beats the previous record set in Belgium in June by 110 miles, used a longest-range Tesla Model S 100D and required the five drivers to employ so-called “hypermiling” techniques, w
  
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• Fossil fuel subsidies are a staggering $5 tn per year | John Abraham

  07-08-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  A new study finds 6.5% of global GDP goes to subsidizing dirty fossil fuels
  Fossil fuels have two major problems that paint a dim picture for their future energy dominance. These problems are inter-related but still should be discussed separately. First, they cause climate change. We know that, we’ve known it for decades, and we know that continued use of fossil fuels will cause enormous worldwide economic and social consequences.Second, fossil fuels are expensive. Much of their costs are
  
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• From Baidoa, Somalia: 'We have no hope' – in pictures

  07-08-2017 11:17 via theguardian.com
  The worst drought in 40 years has a cruel grip on Somalia. A struggling young government and militant violence have compounded to bring crisis to 6.7 million lives. The town of Baidoa is facing some of the harshest conditions. Surrounded by territory controlled by al-Shabaab militants and amid ongoing attacks, 160,000 people have had to leave their farms and are surviving in camps where hunger, thirst and cholera await themAll photographs by Peter Caton/Mercy Corps Continue reading...
  
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• From Baidoa, Somalia: 'We have no hope'

  07-08-2017 11:17 via theguardian.com
  The worst drought in 40 years has a cruel grip on Somalia. A struggling young government and militant violence have compounded to bring crisis to 6.7 million lives. The town of Baidoa is facing some of the harshest conditions. Surrounded by territory controlled by al-Shabaab militants and amid ongoing attacks, 160,000 people have had to leave their farms and are surviving in camps where hunger, thirst and cholera await themAll photographs by Peter Caton/Mercy Corps Continue reading...
  
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• Diesel has to die – there is no reverse gear on this

  07-08-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  Daimler says diesel is worth fighting for but there is no comeback for the toxic technology and the fight must now be to save livesWhen the story of Volkswagen’s cheating on diesel emissions tests broke nearly two years ago, a number of reporters asked me if this spelled the end for diesel cars. My response was a confident, dismissive “no”. While dieselgate would cast a long shadow, there was no reason to write off diesel cars, at least in the short term. After all, the technol
  
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• Tibet's fragile ecosystem is in danger. China must change its flawed environmental policy | Lobsang Sangay

  07-08-2017 08:16 via theguardian.com
  Rising temperatures on the roof of the world make Tibet both a driver and amplifier of global warming. China’s unchecked mining and dam building has to be reigned inDr Lobsang Sangay is president of the Central Tibetan AdministrationAs Australia continues to battle a water crisis and the challenges facing the world’s driest inhabited continent, Tibet on the other hand is Asia’s water tower, its principal rainmaker and the largest source of fresh water, feeding over a billion li
  
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• Glasto to Passo Di Giau: did festival fitness help me cycle Maratona dles Dolomites?

  07-08-2017 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Music, crowds, death, and stunning scenery. Peter Kimpton finds alternative forms of motivation to help survive this tough, mountainous one-day rideIf there’s one question you might expect to be pondering while tackling one of the toughest one-day cycling events, it is certainly not: what is the meaning of love?Struggling up the penultimate big climb, the Passo Giau – 10km averaging almost 10% gradient to 2,236m, and having already tackled five peaks before it, my thoughts were far m
  
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• Burning policy puts pressure on recycling targets

  07-08-2017 07:02 via bbc.co.uk
  A rash of new incinerators could make it impossible for the UK to meet future recycling targets.
  
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• For my eyes only – baring all on a Pennine ramble

  07-08-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Dark Peak, Derbyshire Even avowed outdoor evangelists should be allowed to keep one or two places to themselvesI am not going to tell you where I am writing about. It is one of those places of personal sanctity that has, miraculously, escaped the popular attention I am fully aware it deserves. Even avowed outdoor evangelists should be allowed to keep one or two of these places to ourselves.I discovered it a few years ago, but had not gone back since. On a searing day this spring, after two excru
  
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• 'Sea lice' feast on fresh meat in Australia after teenager left bloodied – video

  07-08-2017 04:25 via theguardian.com
  A Melbourne teenager went for a swim at the beach and came out of the water looking like a slasher film extra. His father Jarrod Kanizay returned to the beach with a pool net full of meat and captured the creatures he says were responsible Continue reading...
  
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• Tiny 'meat-loving' marine creatures 'eat' teenager's legs at Melbourne beach

  07-08-2017 03:14 via theguardian.com
  Experts left stunned by possible sea lice bites after Sam Kanizay emerged from the beach at Brighton with severe bleeding A Melbourne teenager says his legs were covered in blood after they were eaten by tiny marine creatures at a Victorian beach. When Sam Kanizay, 16, felt sore after football on Saturday, he decided to soak his legs at Dendy Street beach in Brighton.Continue reading...
  
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• Developing sensors to help Japan's farmers

  07-08-2017 01:39 via bbc.co.uk
  Lisa Kikuchi of SenSprout tells the BBC how she is developing soil moisture sensors to help Japan's farmers.
  
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• Ziplines not pipelines: A family's treetop pipeline protest

  07-08-2017 01:12 via bbc.co.uk
  It's ziplines versus a Sunoco pipeline in one Pennsylvania family's backyard.
  
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