Environment news

• Transport after coronavirus: how will we fly, drive, commute and ride?

  08-05-2020 22:00
  
  Social distancing rules will ‘kill cities’, experts warn – and the future of mass transit hangs in the balanceThis is the second feature in our Life after lockdown series, which looks at how Covid-19 could change Australia for goodBefore the pandemic struck, Sara Blazey made the same three-hour commute to work, three days a week, for the better part of 12 years. The 63-year-old family lawyer from the Blue Mountains works for a domestic violence legal advice hotline in Parramatt
  
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• UK garden centres prepare for sales surge to end lockdown disaster

  08-05-2020 20:00
  
  Welsh plan to reopen stores offers hope for UK-wide industry closed in prime sales seasonGarden centres are preparing for a massive surge in plant and flower sales that could help salvage a catastrophic year for the horticulture industry.The UK’s 2,000 garden centres and nurseries were forced to close in March because, unlike DIY chains such as B&Q and Homebase, they were not granted “essential” retailer status. The shutdown came at a critical time of year, with 70% of sale
  
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• Potentially fatal bouts of heat and humidity on the rise, study finds

  08-05-2020 20:00
  
  Scientists identify thousands of extreme events, suggesting stark warnings about global heating are already coming to passIntolerable bouts of extreme humidity and heat which could threaten human survival are on the rise across the world, suggesting that worst-case scenario warnings about the consequences of global heating are already occurring, a new study has revealed. Related: One billion people will live in insufferable heat within 50 years – studyContinue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on birdsong: a fragile joy | Editorial

  08-05-2020 19:25
  
  The chance to put biodiversity and the environment at the heart of recovery from the pandemic should not be squanderedOne night in April, birdwatchers from around Britain stepped outside their doors and listened intently to something most of them had never experienced before: the fluting, mysterious, melancholy cry of the common scoter on the wing.Flocks of these dusky sea ducks were beating their way over Britain on their long migratory journey towards their Arctic breeding grounds, easily audi
  
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• Kraftwerk’s vision of computer love | Brief letters

  08-05-2020 17:35
  
  Florian Schneider obituary | Insects | Cuckoos are back | San Serriffe | Love Island Florian Schneider’s music was uncannily prophetic as well as transcendent (Obituary, 7 May). For instance, Kraftwerk’s beautiful Computer Love predicted how, in the future, intimacy would increasingly occur through technology. Of course, during the present emergency, the closest many lovers come to being together is by using a virtual medium.
  Joe McCarthy
  Dublin• On a recent essential car journe
  
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• Scientists obtain 'lucky' image of Jupiter

  08-05-2020 14:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Hawaii-based Gemini telescope produces a super-sharp picture of the gas giant in the infrared.
  
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• Sea levels could rise more than a metre by 2100, experts say

  08-05-2020 12:16
  
  Oceans rising faster than previously thought, according to survey of 100 specialistsSea-level rise is faster than previously believed and could exceed 1 metre by the end of the century unless global emissions are reduced, according to a survey of more than 100 specialists.Based on new knowledge of climate sensitivity and polar ice melt, the experts say coastal cities should prepare for an impact that will hit sooner than predicted by the United Nations and could reach as high as 5 metres by 2300
  
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• Country diary: the bumblebees' low drone has replaced the hum of traffic

  08-05-2020 06:30
  
  Marshwood Vale, Dorset: It began in March, when the buff-tailed queens emerged from hibernation, zigzagging from bloom to bloomIn the garden on a bright morning, with sunshine lancing the cherry blossom, my eye is drawn to the fat glitter of a queen bumblebee gathering nectar in the golden bowl of a tree peony flower. A black, almost velvety, body and rich orange-tipped rump indicate that this is a red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). Her wings shine as if newly waxed, while her tongue bris
  
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• Trouble brewing for tea producers as coronavirus lockdown hits harvests

  08-05-2020 04:26
  
  India’s ‘champagne of teas’ among those affected as country’s tea board estimates output could drop 9%, amid strain in China and Sri LankaCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageTrouble is brewing for the world’s tea producers as the coronavirus lockdown shut down the harvest in several important regions, including the picking of India’s “champagne of teas”.Despite forecasts of increased demand from drinkers stuck at home
  
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• Some landscapes show resistance to ash dieback

  08-05-2020 01:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Certain habitats can help dampen the spread of ash dieback, which threatens ash trees.
  
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