Environment news

• ‘Better than medication’: prescribing nature works, project shows

  04-09-2024 18:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Scheme helping people in England connect with nature led to better mental health, report findsA major scheme helping people in England connect with nature led to big improvements in mental health, a report has found.The prescribing of activities in nature to tackle mental ill health has benefited thousands of people across England, a government-backed project has shown. Continue reading...
  
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• A wild dog catches a wildebeest: Jonathan Scott’s best photograph

  04-09-2024 16:07 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘I followed the hunt from a distance with my knee on the steering wheel – focusing manually while trying not to hit an anthill or go down a warthog burrow’My wife Angie and I have spent much of our careers as photographers focusing on big cats in the Maasai Mara reserve in Kenya, but when each of us won Wildlife Photographer of the Year it was with pictures of different species. Angie’s winner was of elephants looking at a heron. Mine was this, which was taken in 1987, be
  
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• Europe’s farming lobbies recognise need to eat less meat in shared vision report

  04-09-2024 13:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Dialogue with green groups results in agreement on ‘urgent, ambitious and feasible’ reforms in agricultureEurope’s food and farming lobbies have recognised the need to eat less meat after hammering out a shared vision for the future of agriculture with green groups and other stakeholders.The wide-ranging report calls for “urgent, ambitious and feasible” change in farm and food systems and acknowledges that Europeans eat more animal protein than scientists recommend.
  
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• Forgotten epidemic: with over 280 million birds dead how is the avian flu outbreak evolving?

  04-09-2024 11:08 via theguardian.com
  
  New data reveals the virus has spread to endangered species in Antarctica – yet the H5N1’s risk to biodiversity, farming and human health is little exploredWith at least 280 million birds dead since October 2021, the highly infectious H5N1 strain of avian flu has devastated poultry and caused the biggest sudden drop of the world’s wild bird population in decades. The millions of wild birds killed includes tens of thousands of endangered and endemic species – and tens of t
  
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• A sorry Saga as our home insurance rockets to an astronomical £4,730

  04-09-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Last year it was £440 and nothing has changed but we can’t get a reason for the huge increaseLast year our home insurance policy with Saga cost £440. This year’s quote was for an astronomical £4,730.Its representative was astonished by the increase, stating that in “over 25 years in the business I have never seen an increase like that”. However, despite him going back to the underwriter, it remained. Continue reading...
  
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• Specieswatch: No sting in the tail to the pest-munching book scorpion

  04-09-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Hunter of book lice, ants, mites, clothes moths and bed bug larvae recently found to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria tooThe book scorpion, Chelifer cancroides, is a tiny beast but it is hard to think of another creature that is such a friend to humankind. It eats book lice, ants, mites, clothes moths and bed bug larvae – pests that most people would not welcome in their homes.Although looking like a scorpion it kills its prey with venom stored in its claws, not its tail, and is closer t
  
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• Country diary: Hornets and wasps are welcome here | Nicola Chester

  04-09-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Inkpen, Berkshire: They’re in the apple trees and nesting in the loft. But as the pest control man says, ‘If you can live with them, do’The apple harvest from our two trees, one rosy, one green, is carried out with great care and respect for the wasps and hornets that share it. My daughter twists off a lollipop-red discovery that nestles against its half-scooped-out neighbour and the hornet inside. More docile than wasps, the caramel-and-amber hornet carries off a piece of
  
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• Sewage in Scotland’s rivers and beaches far more widespread than realised

  04-09-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands of undisclosed sewage overflow incidents mean Scotland needs tougher regulations, says watchdog Sewage pollution of Scotland’s rivers and beaches is far more widespread than realised because ministers have failed to take the problem seriously, an environment watchdog has found.Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) said there were thousands of sewage overflow incidents last year, and that nearly half of the country’s storm overflows released sewage more than 50 times. Conti
  
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• ‘Typhoons have prevented me going to school’: The children behind South Korea’s landmark climate win

  04-09-2024 02:16 via theguardian.com
  Hannah Kim, eight, and Jeah Han, 12, are part of a group of activists that won a four-year fight to tackle climate inaction. For them, it is just the beginningHannah Kim, eight, was just starting primary school when she joined the “baby climate litigation” to force South Korea’s government to protect the rights of future generations against the dangers of the climate crisis.Now, with high school still some way off, she is toasting success after winning her part in a four-year l
  
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• Let’s be honest: Australia’s claim to have cut climate pollution isn’t as good as it seems | Adam Morton

  04-09-2024 00:50 via theguardian.com
  Take renewable energy out of the equation and there isn’t much else expected to reduce fossil fuel use this side of 2030Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAustralia has a problem with greenhouse gas emissions – a bigger problem than the political debate concedes.Late last week, as Australians endured record August warmth and global heating-fuelled extreme rain, the federal government released data that suggest heat-trapping gases across most of t
  
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