Environment news

• Country diary 1917: nectar sipping hawk-moths

  24-09-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 28 September 1917Though the Food Controller may consider that the supply of fresh-water fish is not of great importance, the cormorants evidently hold a different opinion. There were two busily sampling what they could catch on one of the Delamere meres; they thought a big, lazy bream well worth diving for. Was it this idea which attracted a passing shag – the smaller and much rarer green cormorant – to see what it could find on the
  
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• Park problematical people on podiums | Letters

  24-09-2017 20:13 via theguardian.com
  Weddings | Online shopping | Statue parks | Lawrence of Arabia | Bearded titsThe important thing about weddings (Lose the wedding butterflies, 22 September) is not to confuse them with  marriage. The latter is when two people (of whatever gender) show their love and commitment to each other by signing a register – all that is legally required. Weddings are where a horrendous amount of money is squandered on a load of overpriced tat accompanied by meaningless flummery, at the
  
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• Australia failing to meet Paris targets and more renewables needed, report says

  24-09-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Australia Institute report says 66-75% renewable energy target by 2030 needed to meet its commitmentsWith the Coalition still hamstrung by internal divide over a clean energy target, a new report shows Australia is in danger of not meeting its Paris agreement commitments unless it acts soon.A report by the Australia Institute’s climate and energy program examined the government’s own modelling of the nation’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and found Australia could e
  
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• Unpalatable truths about laboratory-grown food | Letters

  24-09-2017 19:46 via theguardian.com
  Synthetic meat and fish can’t, on their own, provide an answer to climate change, argues Iain Climie, while David Ridge envisages technical problems in taking the technology out of the lab, and onto people’s platesSynthetic meat and fish (Is ‘Frankenfish’ the start of a food revolution?, G2, 21 September) could have huge benefits – although there are cheaper and simpler ways to improve food supplies, including better livestock practices, conservation plus caref
  
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• The winners of 2017's Insight Astronomy Photographer award

  24-09-2017 14:59 via bbc.co.uk
  Judges has to choose between 3,800 entries from all over the world.
  
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• A four-step plan to keep Labour’s revolution rolling | Neal Lawson

  24-09-2017 12:50 via theguardian.com
  Corbyn is hugely popular but the spirit of our age is digital and collaborative. Pluralism and progressive alliances are vital if the party is to own the futureNo one saw the Labour revolution coming. Not even Jeremy Corbyn. From nowhere new life was breathed into an old party. But with the Tories digging in for a long haul to the next election, next week in Brighton Labour has a choice: to stick or twist.What makes Corbyn special is that he has stuck with everything he ever believed in. But his
  
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• Why India's farmers want to conserve indigenous heirloom rice

  24-09-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  India was once home to 100,000 rice varieties, but high-yield, less hardy hybrids have taken over encouraging farmers to safeguard more resistant strainsIndia is rice country: the cereal provides daily sustenance for more than 60% of the population. Half a century ago, it was home to more than 100,000 rice varieties, encompassing a stunning diversity in taste, nutrition, pest-resistance and, crucially in this age of climate change and natural disasters, adaptability to a range of conditions.Toda
  
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• How killer flies have the fastest vision of any animal

  24-09-2017 09:14 via bbc.co.uk
  Some flies see six times faster than us, catching prey in mid-air in less than a second.
  
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• Liberal MPs did not stand in Abbott's way on renewables target, Greg Hunt says

  24-09-2017 07:34 via theguardian.com
  Health minister responds to Abbott’s hint that his party kept him from scrapping the RET, saying 33,000GwH was the minimum the Senate would acceptTony Abbott wasn’t kept from reducing the renewable energy target by his colleagues while he was leader, one of his former ministers has claimed, despite the former prime minister appearing to point the finger at his own party.Abbott reignited the Coalition’s energy debate last week, by going on the attack against any further move by
  
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• The eco guide to cleaning products

  24-09-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Let’s banish bleach – it really isn’t a healthy way to clean the loo, and there are perfectly good green alternativesIt seems obvious that exposure to powerful cleaning products, including bleach, isn’t ideal, but now there’s powerful evidence of just how harmful they can be.Using them just once a week could increase a person’s chances of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by nearly a third, according to a recent 30-year study from Harvard
  
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• 'I fell from the top of the jungle to save an eagle'

  24-09-2017 01:21 via bbc.co.uk
  Alexander Blanco's conservation work is helping to save the world's most powerful eagle.
  
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• How did that get there? Plastic chunks on Arctic ice show how far pollution has spread

  24-09-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Discovery by UK scientists prompts fear that melting ice will allow more plastic to be released into the central Arctic Ocean – with huge effects on wildlifeA British-led expedition has discovered sizeable chunks of polystyrene lying on remote frozen ice floes in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.The depressing find, only 1,000 miles from the north pole, is the first made in an area that was previously inaccessible to scientists because of sea ice. It is one of the most northerly sightings of
  
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