Environment news

• ‘Not acceptable in a democracy’: UN expert condemns lengthy Just Stop Oil sentences

  19-07-2024 19:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Michel Forst, UN special rapporteur, joins growing chorus of voices criticising jail terms handed to five defendantsThe lengthy multi-year sentences handed to Just Stop Oil activists are “not acceptable in a democracy”, a UN special rapporteur has said, as the government faced growing pressure to reverse the previous administration’s “hardline anti-protest” approach.Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur for environmental defenders, joined a growing chorus of voice
  
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• You may find Just Stop Oil annoying. You may dislike their tactics. But they do not belong in prison | Chris Packham and Dale Vince

  19-07-2024 17:23 via theguardian.com
  These protesters are shouting ‘fire’ while the world burns. A society that locks them up cannot be called democraticThere’s a crisis in our prisons. Keir Starmer says it is “shocking”. Our jails are so full, police chiefs are warning it may soon be impossible to maintain even the most basic law and order. So here’s a radical proposal. Let’s stop locking up our truth tellers. The people who are shouting “fire” because there’s a fire. Whe
  
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• Ten effective habits to adopt if you’re an eco-enthusiast | Abigail Austin

  19-07-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Regenerative farmers, philosophers, scientists and more offer their insights, from feeding your dog to finding your ‘enough’Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprintGot a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected]“What is one habit all eco-enthusiasts should adopt?” After a year of asking this on my podcast, The Eco Enthusiast, I&rs
  
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• ‘Cutest animal in Australia’: keeping watch over greater gliders in a forest targeted for logging

  19-07-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Den trees used by the endangered species are off-limits to loggers so campaigners – among them former Treasury head Ken Henry and MP Sophie Scamps – register them to save themGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastGreater glider spotting is a meditative thing, says Bulga local Steve Fredericks.“A bad night of glider spotting is better than a good night of television. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Some absolute gems’: £1.5m appeal to save rewilding haven Strawberry Hill

  19-07-2024 15:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Crowdfunding aims to protect central England’s largest area of scrubland in heart of intensively farmed BedfordshireWhen new rules in the 1980s encouraged farmers to “set aside” some arable fields from crop-growing to reduce EU-wide overproduction, Hugh White rebelled.“He said: ‘If you don’t want my corn, I’ll put the whole lot in set-aside,’” remembers the farmer’s son, Graham White. And so in 1988, cultivation ceased abruptly on all 1
  
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• Week in wildlife – in pictures: warthog drama, a fox at the museum and our rarest whale

  19-07-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Eco homes near the sea for sale in Great Britain – in pictures

  19-07-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  From a Grand Designs-style property nestled underground to a remote timber-framed home on a hillside Continue reading...
  
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• Solar power becoming standard even in UK’s soggy summer

  19-07-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Previously the idea was to sell electricity back to the grid, now the object is to power all of a household’s needsWhen solar panels were first sold in large numbers and heavily subsidised by the UK government using feed-in tariffs, which paid householders generously for every kilowatt they produced, prospective installers were obliged to tell customers how much electricity they were expected to generate each month, based on the average hours of sunshine. This was a guide to how many years
  
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• Six million people at risk from extreme heat in England, campaign group warns

  19-07-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Friends of the Earth says older people and young children are most at risk in heat-vulnerable neighbourhoodsInadequate climate protections mean at least 6 million lives are at risk from extreme heat in England, an analysis has found.A report by the campaign group Friends of the Earth found older people and young children were the most high-risk groups for heatwaves, with 1.7 million under-5s and 4.3 million people over 65 living in the most heat-vulnerable neighbourhoods in England. Continue rea
  
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• Protest is the wellspring of democracy – that’s why Labour must repeal the Tories’ draconian laws | George Monbiot

  19-07-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The pernicious, oppressive era of arresting people for holding signs or merely walking down the street must come to an end How do you know when protest tactics are working? When governments ban them. The oppressive laws introduced by the previous government – the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 – are a tick list of effective political engagement. Everything from locking on and digging tunnels to actions on roads, at airports, oil refineries
  
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• DIY artificial reefs are boosting fish numbers in Yemen. But there’s a catch

  19-07-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Fishers have revived a traditional practice of building ‘scrap’ reefs to attract fish but are using plastic and tyres instead of rocks and branches, and not everyone is happyThe roar of the waves on the shore in Mokha mean the Yemeni men have to shout to each other as they load their supplies into the fishing boats docked at the small landing site on the beach. Alongside their nets, fuel canisters and food, the men add firewood, metal frames and old car tyres.“Farmers have past
  
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• A record sentence for a Zoom call, arrests for those holding signs outside. This is a blight on British democracy | George Monbiot

  19-07-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  The right to protest is the wellspring of democracy – that’s why Labour must repeal the Tories’ draconian lawsHow do you know when protest tactics are working? When governments ban them. The oppressive laws introduced by the previous government – the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 – are a tick list of effective political engagement. Everything from locking on and digging tunnels to actions on roads, at airports, oil refin
  
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• Country diary: There’s reason to love the unpopular cranefly | Phil Gates

  19-07-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Deerness Valley, County Durham: So many of these insects succumb to the rolled-up newspaper, but they are worth a closer lookAn old pasture with a few sheep, bordered on two sides by woodland, is usually unremarkable, but not today. A flock of starlings, 80-strong, erupts from spiky, olive-green rushes around the poorly drained margin, and for one angelic moment, their translucent primary wing feathers flash gold in the early morning sunlight. They circle, glide past us, land and are lost from v
  
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