Environment news

• Getting to net zero isn't all pain and expense - there are huge opportunities for Australia | Warren Entsch

  06-03-2021 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The warming of the planet is not some arbitrary political concept one either subscribes to or doesn’t — it is a scientific reality that we have to deal withOpponents of net zero emissions targets and the policies required to get there like to frame their arguments around the political ideology of climate change. Left versus right, cities versus regions and so on. But the warming of the planet is not some arbitrary political concept one either subscribes to or doesn’t — it
  
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• A history of the hedgerow and a love letter to weeds: the best books to celebrate spring

  06-03-2021 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Whether you are after a novel or informative non-fiction, hope and renewal are in the air at last, writes Lia LeendertzSpring is on its way. Daylight hours will lengthen over the next few weeks and soon we will find ourselves standing outside at 5.30pm and saying: “It’s light!” Birdsong will increase, blossom will burst out across the countryside and our gardens, and everything will start to feel a little more hopeful. This is a good time to immerse yourself in a book about the
  
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• Oyster shells will give your soil a balanced boost | Alys Fowler

  06-03-2021 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The shells – either fresh or in the form of grit – perform magic by regulating the soil’s environmentI love oysters – not the insides, which my stomach decidedly can’t tolerate, but the shells. I sprinkle them here, there and everywhere in my garden because they perform a certain magic by regulating the soil’s environment.Oyster shell can be used as an alternative to lime. Both are composed of calcium carbonate, which is an alkali, and therefore raises the pH
  
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• Plastic-free bathroom treats you can easily recycle

  06-03-2021 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Since we’re all pumping our way through it by the gallon, I was delighted to discover hand washes sold in fizzy drink-style cansBritish people are mostly onboard with kitchen recycling, but we’re less diligent in the bathroom, where, depressingly, about half our packaging gets chucked straight into the bin to end its days in landfill. Today, there are myriad more eco-responsible shampoos, conditioners, bath and shower gels – from luxury brands such as Aveda, Biolage and Davines
  
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• Eco-homes become hot property in UK's zero-carbon ‘paradigm shift’

  06-03-2021 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Smart, low-carbon homes were once the preserve of one-off grand designs – now there are up to 30,000 projects in the pipeline
  Instead of parking spaces, it’s flowerbeds and vegetable planters that line the car-free street of Solar Avenue in Leeds, where rows of 60 low-energy homes form a little oasis along a bend in the River Aire, a short walk from the city centre.Built in a factory across the road, these terrace houses are made from super-airtight timber panels stuffed full of wood
  
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• Cows might fly: Ireland to jet calves to Europe to cut travel time

  06-03-2021 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Expanding dairy herds have seen surplus male calves shipped to the continent for veal, but there is unease over welfare conditions
  Irish authorities have announced plans to fly unweaned dairy calves from Ireland to other EU destinations from May, in an effort to address growing unease about the length of the journeys made by thousands of animals shipped each year to mainland Europe.The Irish government has been subject to sustained scrutiny over live calf exports and the decision to experiment w
  
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• Hypothermia, paradoxical undressing and the Dyatlov Pass

  06-03-2021 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Feeling strangely hot, some hypothermia victims remove layers of clothes before dying from the coldThe mysterious deaths of nine Russian hikers in Dyatlov Pass in 1959 has spawned many outlandish theories and a bad horror movie. Some of the victims had traumatic injuries. New research suggests these may have been caused by a slab avalanche that battered rather than just burying them.This theory does not account for why some victims died of hypothermia having fled almost naked from the campsite a
  
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• Country diary: a natural amphitheatre allows birds to perform

  06-03-2021 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Knotbury, Staffordshire: A snatch of robin song, the cry of a raven a mile off, and the mating calls of red grouse punctuate an otherwise still, wintry dayAfter the long snow-lined and sunless days, the world seemed suddenly released. The airwaves were full of reports of record temperatures, friends’ first sightings of butterflies and pictures of daffodils. Here, however, over the hill from Flash – England’s highest village (461m) – there may have been sunshine but the la
  
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