Environment news

• Methane ice dunes found on Pluto by Nasa spacecraft

  31-05-2018 23:18 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists say they have found evidence of dunes of frozen methane on Pluto.
  
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• Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth

  31-05-2018 20:00
  Biggest analysis to date reveals huge footprint of livestock - it provides just 18% of calories but takes up 83% of farmlandAvoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet, according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet.The new research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to th
  
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• Does Brexit offer the chance for UK to push climate action to new heights?

  31-05-2018 16:56
  Despite mounting fears over the potential threats Brexit poses to the UK's green economy, industry leaders have claimed that leaving the EU could provide the nation with opportunities to innovate in order to remain a global leader in the sustainability sphere.
  
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• Mountain gorilla population rises above 1,000

  31-05-2018 16:52
  New total represents an increase of 25% since 2010 in its central African heartlandIt is one of the most recognisable animals in the world and one of the most endangered, but a new census reveals the surviving mountain gorilla population has now risen above 1,000.This represents a rise of 25% since 2010 in its heartland of the Virunga Massif in central Africa. It also marks success for intensive conservation work in a region riven by armed conflict, and where six park guards were murdered in Apr
  
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• Tourists told to stay away from Indian city of Shimla due to water crisis

  31-05-2018 16:43
  Residents use social media to beg holidaymakers to avoid area as supply runs dryResidents of the picturesque Indian hill station Shimla are begging tourists to stay away amid a severe drinking water shortage that is being compared to Cape Town’s water crisis.The Himalayan city was the former summer capital of the British Raj and continues to be popular with Indians fleeing scorching summers on the Gangetic plain. Water supplies have been critically low for at least the past three years but
  
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• Animals farmed: big beef, 'salmon-safe' and small abattoirs

  31-05-2018 15:52
  Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the web It’s clear that the radical ideas of conservation agriculture are gaining traction everywhere – it’s incredibly exciting to watch. An article from Down to Earth looks at its spread in Malawi, while another discusses no-till in the US. Continue reading...
  
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• Romania breaks up alleged €25m illegal logging ring

  31-05-2018 15:00
  Security forces launch raids linked to deforestation in the Carpathian mountains, home to some of Europe’s last virgin forestRomania’s security forces have mounted a series of raids to break up an alleged €25m illegal logging ring, in what is believed to be the largest operation of its kind yet seen in Europe.
  Officers from Romania’s Directorate for Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) swooped on 23 addresses – including factories owned by the Aust
  
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• London launches EV taskforce as vehicle demand swells

  31-05-2018 14:47
  London Mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a taskforce aimed at boosting electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure in the city, just days after car sharing firm Zipcar introduced more than 300 Volkswagen e-Golfs to its platform to create the UK's largest pool of publicly available shared EVs.
  
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• Plastic fragment found stuck in dead harp seal's stomach

  31-05-2018 14:08 via bbc.co.uk
  The fragment found inside the harp seal found on Skye may have caused a range of health problems, scientists say.
  
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• Tell us how you are rewilding or improving nature in your area

  31-05-2018 12:50
  We’d like to hear about – and see pictures of – the small things you are doing to encourage nature where you liveNaturalist Patrick Barkham wrote in the Guardian this week about the principles of rewilding – stepping back and allowing natural processes to occur, and encouraging wild plants and insects. Related: How to rewild your garden: ditch chemicals and decorate the concreteContinue reading...
  
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• Planning permission given for Scotland's largest solar project

  31-05-2018 10:23
  The Scottish government has granted planning permission for the country's largest solar PV project.
  
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• Humans v birds: poorly managed urban growth squeezes biodiversity

  31-05-2018 10:12
  Melbourne bird survey supports research suggesting native species thrive better if planning includes environmental reserves, rather than backyardsThe outskirts of Melbourne are a maze of newly-paved culs-de-sac. Freestanding homes twist in on each other, filling the footprint of their small street blocks. On the other side of the road, short wooden stakes have been tied with fluorescent tape to mark out the next development.Continue reading...
  
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• 'Chronic inaction': call for planning overhaul as population growth threatens biodiversity

  31-05-2018 10:12
  Melbourne bird species decreased in proportion to density of human occupation The outskirts of Melbourne are a maze of newly-paved culs-de-sac. Freestanding homes twist in on each other, filling the footprint of their small street blocks. On the other side of the road, short wooden stakes have been tied with fluorescent tape to mark out the next development.Continue reading...
  
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• SEAT installs air-cleaning pavement at Barcelona plant after surpassing emissions goal

  31-05-2018 10:00
  After hitting its key environmental goals two years ahead of schedule, Spanish car manufacturer SEAT has installed 4,000sqm of air-cleaning paving slabs at its Martorell plant in Barcelona.
  
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• Margaret Atwood: women will bear brunt of dystopian climate future

  31-05-2018 09:39
  Booker prize-winning author predicts climate reality will not be far from scenarios imagined in her post-apocalyptic fictionClimate change will bring a dystopian future reminiscent of one of her “speculative fictions”, with women bearing the brunt of brutal repression, hunger and war, the Booker prize-winning author Margaret Atwood is to warn.“This isn’t climate change – it’s everything change,” she will tell an audience at the British Library this week.
  
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• Newcastle port expansion plans scrapped due to weak demand for coal

  31-05-2018 09:28
  Green groups welcome decision as a sign of a larger trend away from fossil fuels towards renewables• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon Plans to expand a coal port in Newcastle, New South Wales, have been scrapped by the developer because demand for coal has not increased enough to support the project.Port Waratah Coal Services said on Thursday it would allow its lease for the T4 terminal to lapse when it expired next year because the capacity of existing term
  
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• Mind your beeswax: global price surge leaves bearded Australians in a tangle

  31-05-2018 09:24
  Australia is one of the few countries in the world where hives are free of the debilitating varroa miteThe soaring price of Australian beeswax could be bad news for local beard owners – and good news for scammers – as demand for high-quality beeswax heats up. New uses for the wax – from cosmetics to food wraps – and the comparative health of Australia’s bees have driven the export price of Australian beeswax up in the global marketplace.Continue reading...
  
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• Rise of the ultra-cyclists: a new breed of riders go the distance

  31-05-2018 08:30
  With no spectators, no bags of freebies and no medals, the 400km London-Wales-London ride provides a welcome antidote to overblown sportives“Cycling far?” asks a woman in the bakery as a group of us queues for coffee and sausage rolls, as well as an all-important receipt to prove we passed through Tewkesbury.Increasing numbers of cyclists are getting bored with 100-mile sportives and looking for something else Continue reading...
  
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• Industrial-scale beef production is a sign of crisis in Britain’s farming | Felicity Lawrence

  31-05-2018 08:00
  Most farmers make a loss and rely on Brussels subsidies. Before it’s too late we must decide the kind of meat we want to eatPens of bare earth in serried rows, stretching across fields as barren as an urban car park, packed with cattle being intensively fed – this is the vision we have of the over-industrialised, disease-prone, polluting and crueller side of American feedlot beef production. However, as the Guardian revealed this week, this has become a feature of the British landsca
  
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• Abbott's wind commissioner has been a boon for renewables, climate body says

  31-05-2018 07:12
  Climate Change Authority report says position should be expanded to include solar and other large-scale renewablesThe role of Australia’s windfarm commissioner has been a success and should be expanded to include solar and other large-scale renewables, a report by the Climate Change Authority has recommended.It says the post, set up under the former prime minister Tony Abbott to handle complaints and investigate potential risks, has actually facilitated the uptake of wind energy by helping
  
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• Reprieve for Abbott's booby after Christmas Island mining expansion ruled out

  31-05-2018 07:05
  Coalition says phosphate exploration would have had unacceptable impact on endangered seabirdThe Turnbull government has knocked back a controversial phosphate exploration proposal on Christmas Island “because it is likely to have significant and unacceptable impacts on matters protected under national environment law”.Phosphate Resources Limited – the owners of a phosphate mine on Christmas Island – had proposed to clear 6.83ha of land and undertake exploration drilling
  
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• The British countryside is being killed by herbicides and insecticides – can anything save it?

  31-05-2018 07:00
  From orchids and moths to hedgehogs and toads, our wildflowers and wildlife are dying out. Making the meadows safe again is a huge challenge – but there are glimmers of hopeIn June 2011 I took a long drive up the A1, the Great North Road. At Scotch Corner I turned for Barnard Castle. The villages were well kept, the countryside was green, the fields dotted with sheep. Everything was normal. Or so I thought.Beyond Barnard Castle I took a narrow lane into part of Upper Teesdale and suddenly
  
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• How to have a zero waste kitchen: tips from Jamie Oliver, Tom Kerridge, Skye Gyngell and more

  31-05-2018 07:00
  Restaurants have a daily battle against wasting food. We asked top chefs for their home hacks that will save you money and give your cooking a flavour boostAccording to the campaigning waste charity Wrap, UK households bin 5m tonnes of edible food every year. That is 1.1m tonnes less than in 2007, a drop that, in CO2 terms, is equivalent to taking 2.2m cars off the road each year. But, clearly, there is still a lot that could be done to inspire us to use the ingredients we buy with greater dilig
  
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• How chopping off their horns helps save rhinos from poachers

  31-05-2018 07:00
  Violent but bloodless, dehorning is considered a necessary evil by anti-poaching campaigners in South AfricaArmed with a dart gun in a helicopter hovering above Somkhanda game reserve in South Africa, the vet Dr Mike Toft has just shot a powerful cocktail of drugs into the massive white rhino below.The 2,000kg (315st) bull starts to stagger and sinks slowly to its knees as the drugs take effect. Though immobilised, the rhino is conscious. So, once it has been moved into the right position by a t
  
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• Country diary: summer's lagging in the woods

  31-05-2018 06:30
  Comins Coch, Ceredigion: Meadow grasses and flowers have grown in abundance, but the trees have been slow to greenIn the pasture beside the lane, dandelions have already set seed, their spherical heads intact and waiting for the right gust of wind to break the seeds free and disperse them across the village like invading paratroopers. The meadow grasses and wild flowers have grown rapidly in confused abundance, but the crown of the oak tree across the field remains more defined by the framework
  
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