Environment news

• Scientists solve mystery of ancient 'tree of life'

  15-05-2024 18:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The iconic trees evolved on Madagascar 21 million years ago and later spread to other countries.
  
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• ‘Someone is going to die’: MPs warned of E coli risk to swimmers in English waters

  15-05-2024 18:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Clean river campaigner says pollution poses threat as Labour MP calls for water industry to be taken into public ownershipA clean river campaigner has warned of a serious risk someone will die from swimming in English rivers and seas because of the level of E coli from water pollution.Charles Watson of River Action, speaking on Wednesday as the bathing water season officially opened, said that with warm weather approaching and half-term in a week, thousands of children and families would be taki
  
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• Canada wildfires: huge queues on highway as thousands evacuate oil town – video

  15-05-2024 17:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Footage on social media showed roads full of cars evacuating the suburbs of Fort Mcmurray in the western Canadian province of Alberta. A growing blaze threatened the city and its surroundings, which experienced devastating fires in 2016. Local officials have ordered thousands to evacuate as the fire grows in size and strength, with winds fanning the flames. 'We’re seeing extreme fire behaviour. Smoke columns are developing and the skies are covered in smoke. Firefighters have been pulled f
  
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• Serious risk a swimmer will die from pollution in English waters, MPs told

  15-05-2024 17:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Clean river campaigner says level of E coli poses a threat as bathing water season officially opensA clean river campaigner has warned of a serious risk someone will die from swimming in English rivers and seas because of the level of E coli from water pollution.Charles Watson of River Action, speaking on Wednesday as the bathing water season officially opened, said that with warm weather approaching and half-term in a week, thousands of children and families would be taking to rivers, lakes and
  
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• Devon residents told to boil tap water over risk of parasitic disease

  15-05-2024 16:12 via theguardian.com
  
  South West Water has detected ‘small traces’ of parasite in drinking supply that can cause diarrhoea-type diseaseBoil your tap water before you drink it, residents in Devon have been told, after 22 cases of a parasitic disease were confirmed.South West Water has detected what it calls “small traces” of a parasite that can cause a diarrhoea-type disease in the drinking supply around the town of Brixham. Continue reading...
  
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• The village that fell into a river: Sim Chi Yin’s best photograph

  15-05-2024 16:11 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘One woman heard tree branches snapping and jumped out of bed – just in time to see her mattress float away as the back half of her house melted into the darkness’I started my Shifting Sands series seven years ago to look at how the world is running out of usable sand. It’s the next big resource crisis. I’m from Singapore, the world’s biggest importer of sand per capita, due to the scale of its land reclamation. That was the starting point of what I had initia
  
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• I swapped my south LA lawn for a verdant microfarm - now I feed the neighborhood

  15-05-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Read more from the DIY Climate Changers, a new series on everyday people’s creative solutions to the climate crisisBeverly Lofton’s home in south Los Angeles used to have a water-guzzling grass lawn. Today, it’s a verdant microfarm that uses solar power and recycled water to grow carrots, beets, potatoes and more, with the bounty distributed to her neighbors. The 67-year-old’s switch was a bold move in a city ruled by cars and concrete, and where the impact of extreme hea
  
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• The 1.5C global heating target was always a dream, but its demise doesn't signal doom for climate action | Bill McKibben

  15-05-2024 14:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Missing a target doesn’t mean the sense of emergency should fade. What it must do is stop politicians dithering – and fastI remember the first time I heard the 1.5C target. It was in a room at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009. With the expectation of a binding agreement slipping away and negotiations failing, some of us activists joined delegates from vulnerable African and island nations in chanting “1.5 to stay alive”. It was a frank recognition that the 2C goal the
  
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• Water industry should be brought into public ownership, says MP Clive Lewis

  15-05-2024 13:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Labour MP says privatisation is a failure and industry incapable of building infrastructure to deal with effects of climate breakdownThe privatisation of the water industry has failed and it should be brought into public ownership, the Labour MP Clive Lewis has said.In an early day motion laid before parliament, Lewis said the industry had proved it was not capable of building the infrastructure required to deal with the impact of climate breakdown, including increased flooding and droughts. Con
  
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• Four kids left: The Thai school swallowed by the sea – video

  15-05-2024 12:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s Continue reading...
  
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• How do you follow My Octopus Teacher? With crocodiles, otters and a new book

  15-05-2024 12:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Oscar-winning film-maker Craig Foster on his first octopus encounter, the price of fame and his new video book about the power of connecting with animalsWhen the film My Octopus Teacher aired on Netflix in 2020 it was a huge overnight success, going on to win an Oscar the following year for best documentary. The simple but touching tale of the tender bond between film-maker Craig Foster and his young undersea companion had audiences spellbound worldwide. Some, like Sir Richard Branson, even gave
  
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• Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of almost 2m cars, researchers say

  15-05-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Free-roaming animals reintroduced in Romania’s Țarcu mountains are stimulating plant growth and securing carbon stored in the soil while grazingA herd of 170 bison reintroduced to Romania’s Țarcu mountains could help store CO2 emissions equivalent to removing almost 2m cars from the road for a year, research has found, demonstrating how the animals help mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis.European bison disappeared from Romania more than 200 years ago, but Rewi
  
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• Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of 43,000 cars, researchers say

  15-05-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Free-roaming animals reintroduced in Romania’s Țarcu mountains are stimulating plant growth and securing carbon stored in the soil while grazingA herd of 170 bison reintroduced to Romania’s Țarcu mountains could help store CO2 emissions equivalent to removing 43,000 US cars from the road for a year, research has found, demonstrating how the animals can help mitigate some effects of the climate crisis.European bison disappeared from Romania more than 200 years ago, but Rewil
  
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• Plantwatch: Britain’s volunteer naturalists provide vital knowledge

  15-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The practice of recording firsthand observations about nature goes back centuries and provides an invaluable resourceBritain has a long tradition of volunteer naturalists dating back 250 years to the Rev Gilbert White in Selborne, Hampshire, best known for his classic book The Natural History of Selborne (1789).In recent times, Rosemary Parslow has detailed the plants of the Isles of Scilly, many found nowhere else in Britain thanks to the sub-tropical climate of the islands. Continue reading...
  
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• MPs and peers urge Sunak to U-turn on oil and gas extraction plans

  15-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Cross-party group of 50 calls on prime minister to appoint climate envoy and back Beyond Oil and Gas AllianceA cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged Rishi Sunak to make a U-turn on his oil and gas extraction plans as part of a broader plea to increase efforts to address the climate crisis.The 50 politicians, including three Conservatives, wrote to the prime minister calling for the UK to regain its international leadership on the crisis by ending the licensing of new oil and gas fields, a
  
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• Country diary: Explosive but elusive, what a bird the Cetti’s warbler is | Derek Niemann

  15-05-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Sandy, Bedfordshire: These notorious skulkers have something to shout about – they’re thriving when so many others are in declineSo many woods have had feet of drowned clay for so long. Even now, some Wildlife Trust reserves are closed to visitors, spring flowering with no one to see it. Every sticky wood is a little quag, a lot of mire.In our nearest woodland, the six-month flood has largely sunk into the more permeable alluvial silt, leaving a puddled floor. It looks secure enough
  
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• The China-linked EV battery mega factory dividing a US township

  15-05-2024 02:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Plans for a sprawling factory in rural Michigan making batteries for electric cars offer an economic lifeline, but for some residents there is a big problem: the parent company is in ChinaSet among green rolling hills and tall pines, Lori Brock’s storybook farm encapsulates northern Michigan. A five-day-old mare bucks around a pen, while small black pigs roam through a barn and donkeys graze in fields bordered by white fences.It is a bucolic way of life in Green Township, but one that Broc
  
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• Untreated sewage illegally pumped into Windermere

  15-05-2024 01:06 via bbc.com
  
  Millions of litres of raw sewage was pumped into one of the UK's most famous lakes after a fault.
  
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• UK has competitive edge on a third of green products, thinktank finds

  15-05-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  With companies well placed to build the most crucial goods, such as electric trains, the UK has a head start in achieving net zero, it claimsThe UK has a competitive advantage over the rest of the world in a third of green products and services, giving it a head start in the race to achieve net zero, according to an upbeat report by a left of centre thinktank.Firms are well placed to manufacture many of the most crucial green products – from electric trains to heat pump components –
  
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