Environment news

• Butterflywatch: mixed blessings of a long winter

  30-03-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Interrupted hibernation can play havoc with the caterpillar population with the consequences seen in butterfly numbers later in the yearA long, hard winter is no bad thing for butterflies. Researchers are discovering that milder winters wreak more havoc, disrupting the hibernation of many of our 59 native species, most of which endure the coldest months as caterpillars.So this late spring may be a blessing in disguise, although erratic pulses of cold weather could spell disaster for some species
  
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• Sorry, Matt Canavan, no one believes coal magic means everyone wins | Katharine Murphy

  30-03-2018 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Empathy is fine from politicians, but truth is better because these communities aren’t stupidMatt Canavan has an economics degree, graduating from the University of Queensland with first class honours. The Nationals senator and federal minister for resources worked at the Productivity Commission before he entered politics, first as a staffer for his colleague and friend Barnaby Joyce, before being elected to the Senate himself.
  The economic pointy head backstory makes Canavan an unconventi
  
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• Row erupts between Italy's Parma ham makers and activists over pig welfare

  30-03-2018 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Parma ham industry accuses animal welfare groups of a smear campaign following the release of ‘grim’ images of pigs kept in filthy and barren conditionsImages of pigs in filthy pens and barren conditions have sparked a row between animal welfare activists and the makers of Italy’s Parma ham.
  The campaigners have released footage that they claim exposes barren living conditions with no stimulation, and injured animals with abscesses and hernias being left without adequate treatm
  
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• London’s air pollution is criminal. That’s why at 71 I’m risking prison | Genny Scherer

  30-03-2018 12:34 via theguardian.com
  I’m standing up with protesters to draw attention to this crisis – I can’t watch while fellow citizens die because of our filthy airFor more than 50 years I have loved living in London: but I am now more and more worried about the pollution. I’m worried about the pollution in the water, the pollution in the ground, and the pollution in the air from the busy arterial roads and airports. It’s affecting me and it will affect the crops on my allotment. I have a bike, bu
  
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• ‘We have to organize like the NRA’: outdoor industry takes on Trump

  30-03-2018 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Brands including Patagonia and the North Face have presented a unified front in fighting for America’s public lands Continue reading...
  
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• Higgs factory a 'must for big physics'

  30-03-2018 10:38 via bbc.co.uk
  The head of America's leading particle physics lab says a "factory" to make the Higgs boson will speed up discoveries.
  
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• The Wood by John Lewis-Stempel review – a fortress against agribusiness

  30-03-2018 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Pheasants, pigs, sparrowhawks and holly share a handful of acres in this heartfelt and evocative diary of a year among the trees
  “A wood should not be a museum,” says John Lewis-Stempel. For four years he managed Cockshutt Wood in south-west Herefordshire, three and a half acres of deciduous and coniferous woodland “with a secluded pool where the winter moon lives”. This is his diary of his final year there.Such small woods play a vital role in the life of
  
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• Wild spring flowers in Europe: readers’ travel tips

  30-03-2018 07:30 via theguardian.com
  Red and yellow and pink and green … readers recommend wild beauty spots across the continent for enjoying blooms and blossom in a rainbow of coloursThe colour, diversity of floral species and health of pollinating insect communities remain, for now, in rude health in the southern Carpathians of Romania. The scattered village of Magura lies along a ridge just north of Bran Castle and showcases a simpler agrarian lifestyle not common in Britain since the 1930s. Viper’s bugloss, yellow
  
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• Country diary: my crash course in fencing

  30-03-2018 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Allendale, Northumberland: Our neighbouring farmer has a mixture of stock. What’s good for keeping cows away from our property, won’t deter the sheepAs the noise begins, a curlew flies off, calling in alarm. Deep thuds resonate through the earth and I can feel them through my feet as I stand on the gravel path. A fencing machine with a hydraulic hammer is ramming a heavy-duty post into the field just outside my garden. These “strainers” will have wire strung between them
  
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• Mumbai beach goes from dump to turtle hatchery in two years

  30-03-2018 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings spotted after cleanup of Versova beach by Afroz Shah and volunteersHatchlings from a vulnerable turtle species have been spotted for the first time in decades on a Mumbai beach that was rejuvenated in the past two years by a massive volunteer cleanup operation.At least 80 Olive Ridley turtles have made their way into the Arabian Sea from nests on the southern end of Versova beach in the past week, protected from wild dogs and birds of prey by volunteers who slept o
  
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• Has Germany hit the jackpot of recycling? The jury's still out

  30-03-2018 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Bottle and can return scheme, which UK hopes to emulate, is not a pure win for environmentAt a drinks retailer on the outskirts of Hamburg, a father holds up his three-year-old son to help him push an empty plastic water bottle into a hole on a large grey machine.With a whirring sound, the apparatus pulls the bottle out of the child’s hand, juggles it on an assembly line to scan the barcode, then sucks the container even deeper into its belly and eventually shreds it with a satisfying crun
  
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• China's space lab set for fiery re-entry

  30-03-2018 01:36 via bbc.co.uk
  Experts say the defunct orbiting Tiangong-1 module should fall out of the sky this weekend.
  
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• Russian protesters kick up a stink about landfill – but not against Putin

  30-03-2018 01:31 via theguardian.com
  President seen as potential saviour as people direct rage over toxic dumps towards local officialsThe stench from the Yadrovo landfill is bearable only when it is downwind. When the breeze shifts, the fumes become overpowering, a mix of petrol fumes and a noxious sulphur smell that powers its way into your nose and down your throat.For decades, it was a local dump viewed as a minor nuisance. But six months ago, dozens of trucks each day began hauling in garbage from Moscow. Levels of hydrogen su
  
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