Environment news

• Warm colours on the down: Guardian country diary 100 years ago

  13-08-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 18 August 1917From a Southern County, 16 August
  A wind which sets thistle-down flying across the lane shakes the wheat sheaves lightly; you can hear ever so slight a singing as it searches between the stooks and in the hollow of the straws. On this upland a waggon is at work and children are gleaning – leasing, as we call it here; – not so many of them, as years ago, for there is no water-mill by the river where a small sack could be
  
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• Electric cars are not the solution

  13-08-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  If we really want to tackle particle pollution we need carbon-free electricity and, even better, walk or cycle over short distancesWill our streets be pollution free when the last petrol and diesel cars are sold in the UK in just over two decades time? Sadly not. This is for two main reasons. First, we will still have diesel lorries and buses. Second, electric cars still release particle pollution into the air from wearing tyres, brakes and road surfaces. Already more particle pollution comes fr
  
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• Rare white moose captured on film in Sweden

  13-08-2017 18:40 via bbc.co.uk
  It's one of just 100 in Sweden.
  
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• Rise of electric car solves little if driven by fossil fuels, warns windfarm boss

  13-08-2017 18:39 via theguardian.com
  Dong Energy boss says falling price of renewables means they must power the electric car revolution or the environment will gain only a pyrrhic victoryThe rise of electric cars will be a pyrrhic victory for the environment if they are powered by fossil fuels instead of renewables, according to the UK boss of the world’s biggest offshore windfarm developer.
  Matthew Wright, the new managing director of Dong Energy UK, said the cost of windfarms at sea had fallen so much that the big issue fa
  
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• Bowland Beth: The Life of an English Hen Harrier review – a clarion call for wild birds

  13-08-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Film director David Cobham’s book about the short life and death of a famous bird of prey highlights major issues in UK conservationAnyone who grew up in the 1970s will recall the alluring power of David Cobham’s family film Tarka the Otter, his adaptation of Henry Williamson’s famous tale of triumph and tragedy on the river. Bowland Beth has echoes of Tarka in Cobham’s eagerness to tell the life story of a famous bird of prey shot in 2012. The subtext is that both hen ha
  
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• Radical millennials are a climate force to be reckoned with | Geoff Dembicki

  13-08-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  The window for hope is closing rapidly for the planet. But young activists are demonstrating their power at the ballot box to push for a different futureGeoff Dembicki is the author of Are We Screwed? How a New Generation is Fighting to Survive Climate ChangeIf progressives can’t take back control of the White House and Congress from climate change deniers in the next three years, it’s conceivable that humankind could be screwed. But evidence is mounting that a new political force is
  
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• We love little critters when the real world gets too wild | Liam Williams

  13-08-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  The excitement generated by the sighting of a pine marten reveals our contradictory attitude towards animalsLast week, a 25-second, low-quality video of a pine marten sniffing the ground caused a flurry of excitement in the media. My initial reaction to this story – as to all such ostensibly low-consequence, fauna-based stories – was: WHY IS THERE SO MUCH EXPOSURE BEING GIVEN TO THIS GLORIFIED RAT WHEN THERE IS REAL HUMAN SUFFERING AND INJUSTICE GOING ON IN THIS WORLD? Then, when I&r
  
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• Tanzania's ghost safari: how western aid contributed to the decline of a wildlife haven

  13-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Lions, elephants and hippos have vanished from Kilombero valley after UK- and US-funded projects helped turn a once-thriving habitat into farmland, teak, and sugar plantations
  The long road from Dar es Salaam brings you through sparsely wooded hills and fields to the narrow northern neck of the Kilombero valley. There’s a bend in the road, then the land opens out, suddenly, in front of you. Along the west side lie the steep-faced Udzungwa mountains, one of the last pristine rainforests in
  
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• The eco guide to optimism

  13-08-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  OK, the Sixth Mass Extinction may be upon us, but there are still some reasons to be cheerfulLet’s begin with the bad news. First, Earth Overshoot Day – the point at which the world consumes more natural resources than the planet can renew throughout the year – shifted forward this year to 2 August, putting humanity in the red for longer.We are starting to unlink greenhouse gas emissions from production and consumption Continue reading...
  
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• 'Impressive' Perseid meteor shower seen over UK

  13-08-2017 03:26 via bbc.co.uk
  Stargazers say the display of hundreds of shooting stars has been visible in parts of the UK.
  
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• New coal plants have a role in Australia's energy future, Josh Frydenberg says

  13-08-2017 02:50 via theguardian.com
  Energy minister’s comments on market intervention leave open the possibility of government support of coal-fired powerNew high-efficiency low-emission (HELE) coal-fired power plants have a role in the energy mix and the government is prepared to intervene in the market, Josh Frydenberg has said.The energy and environment minister told Sky News on Sunday that new coal plants “need to be considered” alongside other sources of baseload power, and the government could intervene if
  
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• The war on food waste has a new weapon: a £99 fridge camera

  13-08-2017 01:04 via theguardian.com
  Phone app offers households savings for a fraction of the cost of a top-of-the-range smart fridgeThe world’s first wireless fridge camera goes on sale in the UK next month aimed at helping households slash food waste by being able to check exactly what they have in their refrigerator at any time.As well as taking selfies to be sent to the user, the Smarter FridgeCam and app will also monitor use-by dates and send out automatic top-up reminders to buy more milk, for example. It will also en
  
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• Scientists discover 91 volcanoes below Antarctic ice sheet

  13-08-2017 00:11 via theguardian.com
  This is in addition to 47 already known about and eruption would melt more ice in region affected by climate changeScientists have uncovered the largest volcanic region on Earth – two kilometres below the surface of the vast ice sheet that covers west Antarctica.The project, by Edinburgh University researchers, has revealed almost 100 volcanoes – with the highest as tall as the Eiger, which stands at almost 4,000 metres in Switzerland. Continue reading...
  
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