Environment news

• Week in wildlife in pictures: a sea lion takeover, an unlucky caiman and a hungry gull

  29-08-2024 21:14 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• After wood pellet reporting failures, it’s time for a proper review of Drax’s subsidies | Nils Pratley

  29-08-2024 19:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Before biomass firm is promised a penny extra from billpayers, Ed Miliband should commission a review of its business modelA finding that you submitted dodgy data to the regulator on where your wood pellets come from sounds like very bad news if, like the biomass power generator Drax, you are the lucky recipient of £500m-plus of subsidies every year and are trying to keep the handouts flowing beyond their scheduled end date of 2027.But shares in Drax did not collapse on Thursday. City anal
  
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• One solution to animal sewage: chicken poo can be turned into fertiliser | Letter

  29-08-2024 18:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The process uses heat and enzymes, produces no emissions or smells and there is no waste, writes Dave BriantFeargal Sharkey (Privatised water firms are imperilling our health and poisoning our rivers. Act now: flood the streets with rage, 21 August) didn’t mention animal sewage, in the form of runoff and leakage from farm and field, that also makes its way into our rivers. As far as chicken manure is a problem (it is), there is a solution.There is a recycling plant in Crickheath, Shropshir
  
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• Winter’s unseasonal warmth and clear skies are glorious – but a forbidding sign of danger to come | Paul Daley

  29-08-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  After the polar blast of a few weeks back, we have opened our eyes to the luminous full bloom of premature springGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThese unseasonal late-winter days of warmth and clear skies, of the sudden necessity of shorts and T-shirts for the morning dog-walk, are at once glorious and somewhat disconcerting.Spring – the season of renewal, of awakening, of birth and perhaps re-birth – demands to be celebrated. But somehow this year, all of
  
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• Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year 2024 – in pictures

  29-08-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  A drone image of two humpback whales ‘bubble-net feeding’ by Western Australian photographer Scott Portelli has taken out the top prize in the 2024 Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year competition. This is a cooperative hunting strategy used by humpbacks that allows as many of them as possible to feed in a short time. It is widely believed the whales developed this feeding method after they were hunted to near extinction. The image was chosen from 1,856 entries and t
  
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• New Orleans solar panel program turns eateries into hurricane shelters

  29-08-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  City-wide initiative gives restaurants free solar panels to ‘support the community’ during storms and power outagesAs a restaurant owner in New Orleans, Shaka Gerel is no stranger to hurricanes.Afrodisiac, the Jamaican Creole fusion food truck he started with his wife Caron, served jerk chicken and crawfish etouffee, rain or shine, for years. When particularly bad storms took out the city’s power, the couple sometimes used their bright purple truck’s generator to offer th
  
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• UK may unveil tougher emissions targets at Cop29 climate summit

  29-08-2024 13:47 via theguardian.com
  Campaigners hail Labour’s ‘proactive approach’ after series of policy U-turns under ConservativesUK politics live – latest updatesBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK government is considering making further commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, likely to be announced at the UN climate summit this year.It is hoped the plan will help kickstart global ambitions on cutting emissions and encourage other countries to follow suit. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Like doomsday’: why have salmon deserted Norway’s rivers – and will they ever return?

  29-08-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  North Atlantic populations are at a historic low, and this year 33 of the country’s rivers were closedduring the fishing season as salmon farming and the climate crisis threaten the fish’s future“What is Norway without the fjords and the mountains?” asks Ann-Britt Bogen from her candlelit kitchen, the wild Gaula River flowing by outside the window, the hillside covered by low-lying cloud. For centuries, the river, which runs 153km (95 miles) from the mountains near the Sw
  
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• How Exxon chases billions in US subsidies for a ‘climate solution’ that helps it drill more oil

  29-08-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Climate experts raise red flags as oil giant spends millions lobbying while touting ‘underperforming’ carbon captureWhen the oil giant ExxonMobil sponsored an event at the re-energizing Democratic national convention (DNC) in Chicago last week, it was disrupted by climate activists outraged that big oil was invited on to an influential political platform. “Exxon lies, people die,” protesters shouted before being evicted.The event included a “fireside chat” wit
  
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• Hundreds of thousands of dead fish blanket Greece tourist port after flooding – video

  29-08-2024 10:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Greek authorities have started collecting hundreds of thousands of dead fish that poured into a tourist port in the central city of Volos this week after being displaced from their usual freshwater habitats during flooding last year. “It spans kilometres,” the city council member Stelios Limnios told Reuters. “It’s not just along the coast, but also in the centre of the Pagasetic Gulf,” he said, referring to the area offshore Volos whose coast is lined with holiday
  
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• Who wins from nature’s genetic bounty? The billions at stake in a global ‘biopiracy’ battle

  29-08-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As multinationals and researchers harvest rare organisms around the world, anger is rising in the global south over the unpaid use of lucrative genetic codes found on their landEven in the warm summer sun, the stagnant puddles and harsh rock faces of Ribblehead quarry in North Yorkshire feel like an unlikely frontier of the AI industrial revolution. Standing next to a waterfall that bursts out from the fractured rock, Bupe Mwambingu reaches into the green sludge behind the cascade and emerges wi
  
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• Beavers transform Devon’s River Otter – but their return across England and Wales has stalled

  29-08-2024 08:39 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Beaver bombing’ – covertly releasing them in wild – on rise as the Wildlife Trusts call for more planned releasesOn a winding country lane in a secret location in east Devon, just a few metres from the side of the road, an inconspicuous pile of logs, twigs, sticks and leaves has been crammed over the rushing River Otter.Passersby would not give this messy mound a second thought, but closer inspection reveals a very deliberate quality to its construction, in the form of n
  
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• Dam in Blue Mountains closed after elevated levels of PFAS chemicals detected

  29-08-2024 07:06 via theguardian.com
  WaterNSW says closure a ‘precautionary measure’ and water supplied from filtration plant to local communities is safe and meets guidelinesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWaterNSW has temporarily closed a dam in the Blue Mountains after tests detected elevated levels of PFAS chemicals in untreated water.The state’s water agency said it had disconnected Medlow Dam from the region’s water supply
  
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• Butterflywatch: large white caterpillars thrive on perennial kale

  29-08-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  In one of the worst summers for butterflies I’ve fed a burgeoning population of the dreaded ‘cabbage white’I returned home from a week’s holiday to find my lush patch of perennial kale turned into pale skeletons. Everywhere I looked, large white caterpillars were marching, searching for more leaves. They even devoured my wild rocket.This is the dreaded “cabbage white” loathed by many gardeners. The caterpillars of the similar-looking small white feed on brassi
  
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• Beavers transform Devon’s River Otter – but how did they get there?

  29-08-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Beaver bombing’ – covertly releasing them in wild – on rise as the Wildlife Trusts call for more planned releasesOn a winding country lane in a secret location in east Devon, just a few metres from the side of the road, an inconspicuous pile of logs, twigs, sticks and leaves has been crammed over the rushing River Otter.Passersby would not give this messy mound a second thought, but closer inspection reveals a very deliberate quality to its construction, in the form of n
  
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• Watch out for Ashley but never fear Yvonne

  29-08-2024 04:52 via bbc.com
  
  With the next storm season starting on 1 September, a new list of names has been announced - including Ashley, Bert and Conall.
  
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• Baby boom prompts call to boost wild beaver population

  29-08-2024 04:27 via bbc.com
  
  A leading conservation group wants the government to give the go-ahead to bringing back beavers in the wild.
  
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• Greece tourist port flooded with hundreds of thousands of dead fish

  29-08-2024 02:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities in Volos say affected area spans kilometres and could cause environmental disaster for other speciesGreek authorities have started collecting hundreds of thousands of dead fish that poured into a tourist port in the central city of Volos this week after being displaced from their usual freshwater habitats during flooding last year.The floating carcasses created a silvery blanket across the port and a stench that alarmed residents and authorities who raced to scoop them up before the
  
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• 'Windiest part of the UK' could power nearly 500,000 homes

  29-08-2024 01:22 via bbc.com
  
  The islands are the windiest part of the UK, which means it will be rare for the turbines not to be spinning.
  
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• Manatee mum and calf charm wildlife photo judges

  29-08-2024 01:11 via bbc.com
  
  The photo is among several highly commended in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest
  
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• Young wildlife photographer of the year 2024 – preview

  29-08-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Selected from almost 60,000 entries from 117 countries and territories, the winners of the 60th competition will be announced on 8 October. The 100 winning images will be on display at the Natural History Museum in London from 11 October Continue reading...
  
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• Wildlife photographer of the year 2024 – preview

  29-08-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Selected from almost 60,000 entries from 117 countries and territories, the winners of the 60th competition will be announced on 8 October. The 100 winning images will be on display at the Natural History Museum in London from 11 October [This article’s headline was amended on 29 August 2024 as an earlier version referred to the young wildlife photographer of the year.] Continue reading...
  
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