Environment news

• Asia’s Harry Potter obsession poses threat to owls

  12-08-2017 22:44 via theguardian.com
  From Indonesia to India, wild birds are being sold as pets to families who want their own Hedwig. Ecologists call for protection to help species surviveThe Harry Potter phenomenon has broken publishing and cinema box-office records and spawned a series of lucrative theme parks. But wildlife experts are sounding the alarm over a sad downside to JK Rowling’s tales of the troubled young wizard. The illegal trade in owls has jumped in the far east over the past decade and researchers fear it c
  
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• Grouse shooting: half a million reasons why time’s up for this appalling Victorian ‘sport’ | Mark Avery

  12-08-2017 21:55 via theguardian.com
  Some 500,000 birds will have been shot by the end of another inglorious season as a select few continue to trample on the interests of the rest of usAfter 150 years of being treated as a quaint rural pastime, grouse shooting is now under the microscope – unless it reforms it is doomed, and it may drag other country sports down with it.On Saturday, the start of the grouse shooting season, the social media hashtag #inglorious12th was trending, and a social media message, “I want to see
  
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• Protesters call for end to grouse shooting on Glorious Twelfth

  12-08-2017 16:46 via theguardian.com
  Thousands turn out in London and on Yorkshire moors as campaigners call for end to ‘killing for the psychopathic joy of it’
  Thousands of people have taken to the streets of central London to protest against the start of Britain’s grouse shooting season.Animal rights supporters are campaigning to end the sport, which would be their biggest breakthrough since MPs voted to ban fox hunting in 2004. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump is the past. Clean energy is the future for America and the planet | Rahwa Ghirmatzion and Mark Ruffalo

  12-08-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Across America, families, businesses, churches and other community groups are turning their back on fossil fuels – for good. There is no going back nowPresident Donald Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the historic Paris climate agreement and turn his back on the other 194 nations that signed it leaves him isolated on the world stage. But Trump is also isolated from the very Americans he purports to lead, and here lies hope. Across America, families, businesses, churches, instit
  
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• Elephants unchained: 'The day has gone by when this was entertainment'

  12-08-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  As our understanding of the minds of our fellow species improves, will we increasingly look back at the way we have treated them in horror and repulsion?Photographs by Karine AignerWater streams off the edges of her giant ears, runs in rivulets down the wrinkles of her slate-grey skin. She presses her whole head into the hose’s force, the spray welling into her mouth. As she drinks, she rubs her skin against the steel fence, her eyelids drooping luxuriously, her trunk relaxing. If ever I&r
  
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• 'Don't talk about the goat wars': how a feral herd divided a Devon village

  12-08-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  A herd of feral goats living in a beauty spot outside Lynton have sparked hate mail, death threats, even a murder inquiry. William Atkins reportsIn the Crown Hotel in Lynton, they tell a gruesome tale about the Valley of Rocks. One June night in 1995, a chef, raging drunk, snatched up a meat cleaver and, announcing he was going to kill someone, vanished into the night. Early next morning, on the clifftop path that leads from the north Devon village to the valley, a dog-walker came upon a 300-yar
  
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• Should homeowners warm to EDF Energy’s free solar panel system?

  12-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Those who sign up to the pilot scheme will be bound to buy the energy it generates for 20 yearsIf you want solar photovoltaic panels on your home but don’t have the money for them, EDF Energy is offering to install a free system – complete with storage batteries – if you agree to buy the subsidised power it generates for 20 years.The French-owned energy giant is looking for 100 homes to trial its Sunplug scheme, which is being offered in conjunction with established solar
  
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• A rare jewel of a beetle emerges from the Ouse ooze

  12-08-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  River Ouse, North Yorkshire Once so prolific it was turned into sequins, the endangered tansy beetle is clinging on at its Yorkshire hang-outSequins are a popular way to bring ethereal pizzazz to an outfit. But back before synthetic bling was mass produced in every shade of fabulous, the source of such dazzle could be ethically dubious but more iridescent still. For Victorian fashionistas a statement collar or cape might have been adorned with the wingcases of thousands of tansy beetles. Related
  
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• World Elephant Day is a reminder of our moral duty to care for nature

  12-08-2017 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Paula Kahumbu: Ending ivory trafficking should be at the heart of a new vision for Africa’s development
  Today a life-sized ice sculpture of an African elephant will be placed in Union Square in Downtown Manhattan. Over the course of the day, this massive ice sculpture will gradually melt, symbolizing the alarming rate in which African elephants are continuing to disappear at the hands of poachers. The event is one of many being organised across the world on 12 August to celebrate World Ele
  
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• Perseid meteor shower to be seen over UK

  12-08-2017 04:40 via bbc.co.uk
  A 'decent display' of hundreds of shooting stars is expected across the skies.
  
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• Perseid meteor shower set to peak at weekend

  12-08-2017 04:40 via bbc.co.uk
  Stargazers will get the opportunity to spot shooting stars during the annual Perseid meteor shower.
  
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