Environment news

• 'Leader to laggard': the backlash to Australia’s planned marine park cutbacks

  21-03-2018 23:57
  Conservation groups produce analysis showing protection for 35m hectares of ocean will be downgradedMore than 35m hectares of “no-take” ocean will be stripped from Australia’s marine parks if plans released by the government go ahead, according to analysis commissioned by conservation groups.The environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, released plans for 44 marine parks on Tuesday, claiming a “more balanced and scientific evidence-based approach to ocean protection”.
  
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• Australia's birds are not being protected by environmental laws, report says

  21-03-2018 22:31
  BirdLife says loopholes, exemptions, omissions and powers open to politicisation have been exploitedSome of Australia’s favourite birds are threatened with extinction and Australia’s environmental laws are failing to protect them, a new report by BirdLife Australia has found.
  The report identified in the existing laws a slew of loopholes, exemptions, omissions and discretionary powers open to politicisation, each of which have been exploited to allow the decline of birds including th
  
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• Weatherwatch: Arctic ice sheet engages combat submarines

  21-03-2018 22:30
  Uneven ice that scatters sonar tests the US and British navies during ICEX military exercisesThe attack submarine HMS Trenchant has joined US submarines in the Arctic for ICEX 2018, military exercises involving practice with dummy torpedo attacks and navigation and surfacing through the ice cover. The ice sheet provides almost perfect concealment for submarines but brings problems too. While the upper surface of the ice is smooth the underside is ridged with keels extending downwards for many me
  
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• Murray-Darling system under strain as orchard plantings increase 41%

  21-03-2018 20:39
  Farmers and others in Mildura region are warning trees could be left to wither and dieA huge expansion of irrigated crops in the Mildura region of the lower Murray is threatening to overtake the water available in the river, and has set the scene for a disaster if drought conditions return.A 16-day heatwave that hit the region this summer exposed the vulnerability of the Sunraysia and western New South Wales regions. During that time, the Murray-Darling basin’s water managers scrambled to
  
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• Bulgarians rush to save a phalanx of distressed, frozen storks

  21-03-2018 19:33
  Villagers come to the rescue after icy wings ground hundreds of migrating birdsWhat would you do if you encountered scores of distressed storks covered in ice lying in a snow-covered field? In Bulgaria, people have been taking them home.A cold snap in the north-east of the country has stranded hundreds of the migrating birds this week, covering their wings in ice and grounding them. Continue reading...
  
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• This is just fracking by another name | Letters

  21-03-2018 18:35
  By declaring all sources of oil and gas in limestone and sandstone as ‘conventional’, writes Kathryn McWhirter, the government and oil companies are hoping the controversy over fracking will go awayThe threat that you refer to (National parks land faces new oil threat, campaigners warn, 16 March) actually looms over a great swathe of south-east England, not just national parks. And the plethora of promised wells will not be “conventional” as your article states – at
  
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• The Guardian view on disappearing rhinos: protect other species to protect ourselves | Editorial

  21-03-2018 18:19
  Animal populations are being wiped out without us even noticing. Can the death of a single creature help prompt us to safeguard others?A 45-year-old died this week after an unremarkable life, yet earned the headlines usually reserved for the great, the good or the especially wicked. Sudan was notable only as the last of his kind: a male northern white rhino, kept in captivity for his own protection. Now the survival of the subspecies rests upon his daughter and granddaughter, and the hope that a
  
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• NSW Labor refuses to approve forestry agreements based on 'out-of-date' science

  21-03-2018 18:00
  In wake of Guardian Australia report, Penny Sharpe says regional forest agreements must include climate change as a considerationNSW Labor has demanded that climate change be on the table as part of a full scientific assessment of the state’s regional forest agreements (RFAs), which are set to expire over the next two years.Penny Sharpe, opposition environment spokeswoman, said NSW Labor would not sign off on proposed extensions because the government “knows the science underpinning
  
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• Flooding and heavy rains rise 50% worldwide in a decade, figures show

  21-03-2018 18:00
  Such extreme weather events are now happening four times more than in 1980, according to a European science paperGlobal floods and extreme rainfall events have surged by more than 50% this decade, and are now occurring at a rate four times higher than in 1980, according to a new report.Other extreme climatological events such as storms, droughts and heatwaves have increased by more than a third this decade and are being recorded twice as frequently as in 1980, the paper by the European Academies
  
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• Are businesses thinking about the SDGs when targeting plastics?

  21-03-2018 17:40
  The recent wave of pledges against single-use plastic could lead to unintended consequences due to a lack of cross-sector alignment that is failing to examine the role of packaging in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  
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• Europe faces 'biodiversity oblivion' after collapse in French birds, experts warn

  21-03-2018 16:31
  Authors of report linking intensive farming and pesticides to bird declines say Europe’s farmland risks becoming a desert that ultimately imperils all humansThe “catastrophic” decline in French farmland birds signals a wider biodiversity crisis in Europe which ultimately imperils all humans, leading scientists have told the Guardian.A dramatic fall in farmland birds such as skylarks, whitethroats and yellowhammers in France was revealed by two studies this week, with the spread
  
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• Tell us: what actions will you be taking for Earth Hour?

  21-03-2018 15:07
  We want to hear from people around the world switching things off and getting involved in Earth Hour 2018
  Global organisers of Earth Hour, a grass roots movement for the environment asking people to switch off electricity for an hour on 24 March, say they hope to energise millions of people and that “every action counts”. Continue reading...
  
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• Mid-sized UK firms urged not to miss out on commercial benefits of green investment

  21-03-2018 13:09
  The majority of senior managers at mid-sized UK businesses do not plan to increase investment on green initiatives over the next five years, despite many having benefitted commercially from taking environmentally responsible actions.
  
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• Spring equinox 2018: it's official, winter is over – despite the snow

  21-03-2018 12:18
  It may not feel like spring has arrived, but the days are getting longer and the sun has crossed the celestial equatorWith patches of snow still covering the ground in parts of Britain, it may not seem like the first day of spring. But as of 4.15am Tuesday morning, winter was officially over for another year.The spring, or vernal, equinox marks the point in space and time when the sun moves across the celestial equator, an imaginary circle projected into the sky above the real equator.Continue r
  
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• UK offshore wind sector unveils 30GW vision by 2030

  21-03-2018 12:08
  The offshore wind sector has unveiled plans to double its generation output by 2030.
  
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• This is Mission Possible: edie's sustainable business campaign has officially begun

  21-03-2018 12:00
  Today (21 March) marks the official launch of Mission Possible - edie's brand new campaign which seeks to empower and inspire sustainability, energy and resource efficiency professionals to achieve a sustainable future, today.
  
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• Sustainable Business Covered podcast: Solar, storage and sustainability reports

  21-03-2018 10:15
  This bumper episode of the edie podcast includes a behind-the-scenes tour of the largest solar installation in the Higher Education sector, plus interviews with sustainability and energy experts from Compass Group, Beyond Business, Pets at Home, LandSec and M&S.
  
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• Spring equinox 2018: winter is officially over – despite the snow

  21-03-2018 09:19
  It may not feel like spring has arrived, but the days are getting longer and the sun has crossed the celestial equatorWith patches of snow still covering the ground in parts of Britain, it may not seem like the first day of spring. But as of 4.15am Tuesday morning, winter was officially over for another year.The spring, or vernal, equinox marks the point in space and time when the sun moves across the celestial equator, an imaginary circle projected into the sky above the real equator.Continue r
  
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• We have monetised the end of the world | First Dog on the Moon

  21-03-2018 08:15
  That male northern white rhino won’t be the last of the lasts, as right now humanity is surfing into the sixth mass extinctionSign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are publishedGet all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...
  
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• Loopholes in Queensland's new land-clearing laws 'would allow broadscale razing'

  21-03-2018 08:01
  Environmental Defenders Office to urge Palaszczuk government to amend proposed lawsThe Queensland Environmental Defenders Office says proposed new land-clearing laws in the state leave significant loopholes that would allow broadscale clearing to continue unchecked. The group will on Thursday lodge a submission urging the Palaszczuk government to amend its proposed vegetation management laws. Continue reading...
  
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• The dysfunctional megacity: why Dhaka is bursting at the sewers

  21-03-2018 08:00
  Cities can be dense without being overpopulated. But in the world’s most crowded city, the drains can’t cope – creating a grim new jobAfter decades cleaning the sewers of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s crowded capital, Sujon Lal Routh has seen plenty of misery. But the tragedy of 2008 was the worst. After a day of heavy rainfall left the streets flooded – as usual – seven workers were assigned to clear a blocked manhole in Rampura, in the centre of the city. Normally, cl
  
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• Cyclone Marcus: Turnbull sends thoughts five days after storm hit Darwin

  21-03-2018 06:09
  PM phones Michael Gunner after lack of contact with Northern Territory contrasted with Monday’s visit to bushfire-ravaged town of TathraMalcolm Turnbull has sent his thoughts to Darwin, in a phone call to the chief minister five days after Cyclone Marcus tore through the city.The prime minister contacted the Northern Territory chief minister, Michael Gunner, on Wednesday morning, speaking for about three to four minutes. They mainly discussed the federally funded Australian defence force p
  
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• A judge asks basic questions about climate change. We answer them

  21-03-2018 06:00
  California judge William Alsup put out a list of questions for a climate change ‘tutorial’ in a global warming caseContinue reading...
  
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• Turning cities into sponges: how Chinese ancient wisdom is taking on climate change

  21-03-2018 05:41
  Landscape architect Kongjian Yu is making ‘friends with water’ to mitigate extreme weather events in modern metropolisesHow does a city cope with extreme weather? These days, urban planning that doesn’t factor in some sort of catastrophic weather event is like trying to build something in a fictional utopia. For Kongjian Yu, one of the world’s leading landscape architects, the answer to coping with extreme weather events actually lies in the past. Yu is the founder and de
  
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• Narrabri gas project fire risk unacceptable, firefighters say

  21-03-2018 02:59
  The Santos project would be exempt from complete fire bans and allowed to flare gas, even in catastrophic fire weatherFirefighters with decades of experience working around the bushfire-prone Pilliga forest say Santos’s controversial Narrabri gas project will create an unacceptable fire risk to workers at the site, as well as to surrounding properties.Those firefighters, who have also opposed the project on other environmental grounds, say fires in the area can be so fast and ferocious tha
  
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• New plant list to help deter garden deer

  21-03-2018 02:25 via bbc.co.uk
  The public is being asked to report damage to garden plants from visiting wild deer.
  
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• Ocean plastic could triple in decade

  21-03-2018 02:21 via bbc.co.uk
  But there are opportunities to cash in on the "ocean economy", a major report for the UK government says.
  
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• 'Catastrophe' as France's bird population collapses due to pesticides

  21-03-2018 01:50
  Dozens of species have seen their numbers decline, in some cases by two-thirds, because insects they feed on have disappearedBird populations across the French countryside have fallen by a third over the last decade and a half, researchers have said.
  Dozens of species have seen their numbers decline, in some cases by two-thirds, the scientists said in a pair of studies – one national in scope and the other covering a large agricultural region in central France. Continue reading...
  
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• Triceratops may have had horns to attract mates

  21-03-2018 01:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Dinosaurs may have evolved horns and frills to attract a mate, according to a new study.
  
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