Environment news

• South Africa's Wild Coast under threat of mining – photo essay

  19-08-2018 22:08 via theguardian.com
  Thom Pierce photographed the people of Xolobeni, who have campaigned for decades to stop titanium mining on their landXolobeni is a cluster of rural communities on the eastern coast of South Africa. Tourists know the beautiful and rugged area as the Wild Coast. The people of Xolobeni are mostly self-sufficient, living off the land and fishing in the sea, and often only travelling the two hours to the closest shops once a month to buy sugar, oil and other basic provisions. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Conserving oil no longer necessary for US, says Trump administration

  19-08-2018 21:12 via theguardian.com
  New policy threatens to undermine decades of campaigns for efficient cars and other conservation programsConserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the US, the Trump administration has declared in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for efficient cars and other conservation programs.Related: California vows to 'fight this stupidity' as EPA moves to scrap clean car rulesContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Beards, prayers and steam rollers: Sunday's top images

  19-08-2018 17:37 via theguardian.com
  Our picture editors choose the best photos from the past 24 hours Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Fears for environment in Spain as pigs outnumber people

  19-08-2018 14:04 via theguardian.com
  Official figures show there are 50m pigs to 46.5m humans in country famed for its porkThere are more pigs in Spain than humans for the first time, according to figures released by the country’s environment ministry, with 50 million pigs to 46.5 million humans.The figures show an increase of about 9 million animals since 2013 and there are growing concerns about the environmental impact of an industry that produced more than 4m tonnes of pork products and generated €6bn (£5.4bn)
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The poachers and the treasures of the deep: diving for abalone in South Africa

  19-08-2018 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The seafood delicacy can sell for £420 a plate in China. As demand outstrips legal supply, divers from the poor suburbs of Cape Town are making up the shortfallA muscular, bald man moved through the kelp, hunting forbidden shellfish. His scuba rig bubbled and hissed. He was nearly 100 metres from the seashore and 20 metres below the surface, which was grey and flat like a lake. The water was clear, giving far range of sight. Below him the seafloor spread out until it blurred into nothingne
  
  Read more

• Plastic pollution: 'Stop flushing contact lenses down the loo'

  19-08-2018 12:35 via bbc.co.uk
  Flushing daily disposable lenses down the toilet is increasing the threat from plastics, say experts.
  
  Read more

• How Guatemala is sliding into chaos in the fight for land and water

  19-08-2018 10:00 via theguardian.com
  A farmers’ leader shot in the back is one of 18 activists killed this year, targeted for opposing evictions, logging and miningAt 9am on 9 May, Luis Arturo Marroquín walked out of a shop in the main square of the small town of San Luis Jilotepéque in central Guatemala. Eyewitnesses say a black Toyota Hilux pick-up then drove up and, in full view of passersby, two men wearing hoods shot Marroquín repeatedly in the back.The vehicle sped off but was identified and, within
  
  Read more

• Australia's clean energy plan and Carlsberg's waterfall-powered pub: The sustainability success stories of the week

  19-08-2018 09:00
  As part of our Mission Possible campaign, edie brings you this weekly round-up of five of the best sustainability success stories of the week from across the globe.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Paul Nicklen: ‘If we lose the ice, we lose the entire ecosystem’

  19-08-2018 08:30 via theguardian.com
  The photographer has been documenting life at the poles for years. He is determined to safeguard these fragile habitatsWhen he was four years old, Paul Nicklen’s family moved to Kimmirut on Baffin Island, northern Canada; a village so remote that supplies are delivered once a year, by boat. The Nicklens were one of only two non-Inuit families in the tiny community, and with no telephone, radio or TV, Paul’s childhood was spent on the ice, in the company of native fishermen and in awe
  
  Read more

• It’s the end of the Earth as we know it. Read all about it! | Lucy Siegle

  19-08-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Continued emissions could reach a tipping point that will drive the planet into an irreversible, self-reinforcing hothouse stateAchieving “cut through” is a nightmare for climate change science. It’s notoriously hard to get the mainstream engaged by changes in the concentration of an atmospheric gas, even if they’re life-or-death matters. So hats off to the crack team of Earth scientists, led by climate change professor Will Steffen, whose peer-reviewed report on how emis
  
  Read more

• Victorian Labor offers half-priced solar panels for homeowners in $1.24bn pledge

  19-08-2018 04:24 via theguardian.com
  Daniel Andrews says owner-occupiers will have access to more than $4,000 each to install panelsVictorian owner-occupiers will get half-priced solar panels for their homes with no upfront cost under a $1.24bn election promise by the state Labor government.The premier, Daniel Andrews, unveiled the plan in suburban Moorabbin on Sunday, promising that 650,000 homeowners over 10 years will get access to more than $4,000 each to install panels, paying back half over four years with their savings. Cont
  
  Read more

• World Orangutan Day: palm oil awareness still key, activists say – video

  19-08-2018 03:44 via theguardian.com
  Palm oil plantations continue to threaten this endangered species. Global standards for minimising consumption of palm oil varies wildly from country to country. Australian conservation groups have been pushing for legislation to mandate the labelling of palm oil on food ingredient lists for almost a decade. Currently, generic terms such as ‘vegetable oil’ or 'vegetable fats’ can be used instead. The EU enforced palm oil labelling in 2014 and is now trying to pass a ban on usin
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!