Environment news

• The cat's whiskers: new way of counting lions could boost conservation efforts

  20-06-2020 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists say current methods of estimating lion numbers could be drastically wrong, with serious consequences for the big catsFrom widescreen high-definition wildlife documentaries to food brands, royal crests, sporting teams and Disney movies, the lion is one of the most appropriated and revered animals on the planet.But this reverence sits in contrast to the falling numbers of the living, breathing muscular cats in Africa. Continue reading...
  
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• Chief scientist joins calls for Australia to dramatically boost energy efficiency

  20-06-2020 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Alan Finkel calls saving electricity the ‘best form of generation’ as groups push for efficiency measures to lead economic recovery Australia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel, has warned the country is not doing enough to lift energy efficiency, and described measures to save electricity as the “best form of energy generation you could possibly ever hope to have”.Speaking in his role as chair of a panel advising the Morrison government on a low emissions technology st
  
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• 'Tipping point': Greta Thunberg hails Black Lives Matter protests – video

  20-06-2020 16:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Reflecting on the protests that have swept the globe in recent weeks, the Swedish climate activist told the BBC: 'It feels like we have passed some kind of social tipping point where people are starting to realise that we cannot keep looking away from these things. We cannot keep sweeping these things under the carpet, these injustices.''Tipping point': Greta Thunberg hails Black Lives Matter protests Continue reading...
  
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• Why lockdown silence was golden for science

  20-06-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From acoustic engineers in Britain to marine biologists in Canada, researchers made the most of the drastic drop in noise from human activityOne of the few upsides of lockdown was that, if a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square, you had a chance of hearing it. City dwellers across the globe delighted in the silence, the freedom from the incessant rumble of traffic, and the joy of birdsong. How cleaner the air seemed, and how splendid the blue skies without their usual grid of aeroplane contrails!
  
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• ‘It's like pea soup’: poultry farms turn Wye into wildlife death trap

  20-06-2020 15:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Phosphate-rich runoff from free-range chickens is causing the spread of algal blooms that devastate the river’s ecosystemThe beauty of the River Wye has been acclaimed for centuries. “If you have never navigated the Wye, you have seen nothing,” wrote the travel writer William Gilpin 250 years ago. And its reputation still makes it a magnet for visitors who regularly vote it one of the country’s most beautiful rivers.But conservationists have warned that the Wye, which mea
  
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• Mariana Trench: Don Walsh's son repeats historic ocean dive

  20-06-2020 14:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sixty years after his father did it first, Kelly Walsh dives to the deepest point in Earth's oceans.
  
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• 'Tipping point': Greta Thunberg hails Black Lives Matter protests

  20-06-2020 13:36 via theguardian.com
  
  People are realising ‘we cannot keep looking away from these things’, says climate activistGreta Thunberg has said the Black Lives Matter protests show society has reached a tipping point where injustice can no longer be ignored, but that she believes a “green recovery plan” from the coronavirus pandemic will not be enough to solve the climate crisis.Reflecting on the protests that have swept the globe in recent weeks, the Swedish climate activist told the BBC: “It
  
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• Last chance for the Persian leopard: the fight to save Iraqi Kurdistan’s forests

  20-06-2020 10:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Minefields left over from the Iran-Iraq war are one of the last bastions against illegal logging and poachingIn the spring, the Pirmagrun mountain, one of the world’s last refuges for the endangered Persian leopard, towers over the surrounding countryside in Iraqi Kurdistan, its rocky snow-capped peaks fading into an ancient oak forest that starts out sparsely before running into narrow, densely-wooded valleys.As recently as the 1980s, the forest covered the slopes of the mountain –
  
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• Britain beyond lockdown: could the country be healthier?

  20-06-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As the economy grinds back into life, Jonathan Watts goes on the road to find out if there is a lasting appetite for changeIn a near-deserted plaza near Birmingham’s Bull Ring shopping centre, local artist Diane Wiltshire considers the imminent return of traffic and pollution after lockdown with a feeling close to dread.Wiltshire suffers chemical sensitivity – severe intolerance to pollutants, which give her breathing problems, affect her eyesight and disrupt her digestion. Doctors a
  
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• Greta Thunberg: Climate change 'as urgent' as coronavirus

  20-06-2020 07:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Greta Thunberg says the world needs to treat climate change with similar urgency to Covid-19.
  
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• Climate change: Sport heading for a fall as temperatures rise

  20-06-2020 07:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A new analysis says global sport faces major disruption from climate change in coming decades.
  
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• Researchers capture drone footage of African 'tree lions' in conservation study – video

  20-06-2020 06:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Researcher Alexander Braczkowski spent a year monitoring and filming lions in the Queen Elizabeth conservation area in Uganda.In just-published results, Braczkowski found the area’s lions are in a precarious state, with the home ranges of males much larger than previously estimated – suggesting they are having to travel farther to find food.Braczkowski got a special permit to use aerial photography and slowly got the lions used to the drones over time. The result has been v
  
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