Environment news

• Coal mine plan quashed by High Court

  13-09-2024 17:35 via bbc.com
  
  A High Court judge rules the decision to give permission for the mine was "legally flawed".
  
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• High court blocks Cumbria plan for UK’s first new deep coalmine in 30 years

  13-09-2024 14:16
  
  Court rules against West Cumbria Mining’s fossil fuel development in Whitehaven The UK’s first new deep coalmine in 30 years will not be allowed to go ahead after a ruling in the high court.On Friday morning, Justice Holgate ruled that plans to build the facility in Whitehaven, Cumbria, would not proceed, in what campaigners called a “victory for the environment”.The headline and body text of this article were updated on 13 September 2024 to clarify that the Cumbria devel
  
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• ‘Democrats are losing’: a battle on EVs could cost Kamala Harris votes in Michigan

  13-09-2024 14:00
  
  Trump promises to end electric vehicle mandate. Harris has been silent, risking swing state autoworkers’ critical votesAs the critical swing state of Michigan hangs in the balance, experts warn that Democrats’ poor messaging over the shift to electric vehicles could lose them the state in November’s election.“I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now,” Donald Trump
  
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• How national parks failed nature – and how to fix them

  13-09-2024 13:30
  The image of huge, glorious landscapes, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state, is far from realityEngland’s national parks overseen by ‘bloated’, mostly white male boardsWhat do you think of when you think of a national park? Is it a wide area of glorious natural beauty, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state? Or is it a wide area mostly farmed by private landowners, in which nature is faring worse than outside its boundaries, and largel
  
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• England’s national parks overseen by ‘bloated’, mostly white male boards

  13-09-2024 13:30
  Exclusive: Campaigners call for overhaul as Guardian investigation shows nature rarely on agendaHow national parks failed nature – and how to fix themThe boards that oversee England’s national parks are bloated, dominated by men and are severely lacking in diversity, a Guardian analysis has found. The analysis also found that farmers outnumber conservation experts by two to one, nature is rarely on the agenda at board meetings and only one national park can account for the ownership
  
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• Absolutely wasted: the inner-city garden using food scraps to create top grade soil

  13-09-2024 12:00
  An urban compost project has fostered an ingenious way to turn all kinds of waste food into fertiliser‘Let’s start in the front garden!” With the delirious energy of a zany scientist showing off his lab, Anthony Ussher, 42, takes me around the compartmentalised space that makes up the garden of James Brine House, a four-storey block of flats in east London. He pushes the fluffy seeds of a salsify plant into my hand while talking me through the street-facing section of the
  
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• Pedalling perils: five dangers every UK cyclist needs to watch out for

  13-09-2024 11:36
  The hazards of urban roads are familiar to many: from drivers itching to get in front, to corner cutters and e-bike dabblersMore or less anyone who has ridden a bike, particularly in a town or city, has a mental list of the types of road users or situations you really need to look out for. The more you cycle, the longer and more entrenched this list becomes, to the extent that you can almost sense a familiar peril lurking a good minute or two’s pedalling distance away.Below are some exampl
  
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• How scientists debunked one of conservation’s most influential statistics

  13-09-2024 10:43
  
  The factoid about biodiversity and Indigenous peoples spread around the world, but scientists say bad data can undermine the very causes it claims to supportThe statistic seemed to crop up everywhere. Versions were cited at UN negotiations, on protest banners, in 186 peer-reviewed scientific papers – even by the film-maker James Cameron, while promoting his Avatar films. Exact wording varied, but the claim was this: that 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity is protected by Indig
  
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• Wild at Art 2024 winners: Australia’s threatened species through the eyes of children – in pictures

  13-09-2024 09:00
  
  Nearly 5,000 primary school students took part in the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Wild at Art competition, which invites children to create an artwork depicting one of the country’s threatened native animals or plants‘A symbol of our nation’: waratah among 20 more species added to Australia’s threatened wildlife listGet our weekend culture and lifestyle email Continue reading...
  
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• Week in wildlife in pictures: a rebellious kingfisher, golfing bobcats and a sex-mad marsupial

  13-09-2024 09:00
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• More than 80% of EU marine protected areas are ineffective, study shows

  13-09-2024 08:00
  
  Activities such as mining, dredging and bottom trawling in most MPAs mean conservation targets will be missed, say researchersMost of Europe’s marine protected areas, set up to safeguard species and habitats, will not meet conservation targets as they provide only “marginal” protection against industrial activities such as dredging, mining and bottom trawling, a study has revealed.Low levels of protection in 86% of marine protected areas (MPAs) have left the EU far from reachin
  
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• Enemy at the gate? The West Australian turns its guns on Labor to back the mining giants | Weekly Beast

  13-09-2024 08:00
  The newspaper owned by billionaire Kerry Stokes has not been shy about attacking environmental reforms – but are readers getting the full picture?Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastKerry Stokes’ West Australian has not been shy about its support of mining and resources industries.Last year an opinion piece by the Woodside chief executive, Meg O’Neill, spruiking the fossil fuel company’s interest
  
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• ‘The system is the problem, not people’: how a radical food group spread round the world

  13-09-2024 07:00
  
  Incredible Edible’s guerrilla gardening movement encourages people to take food-growing – and more – into their own handsPam Warhurst insists she’s no anarchist. Nevertheless, the founder of Incredible Edible, a food-focused guerrilla gardening movement, wants the state to get out of people’s way.“The biggest obstacle is the inability of people in elected positions to cede power to the grassroots,” she says. Continue reading...
  
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• Butterfly thieves handed $200,000 fine

  13-09-2024 03:48 via bbc.com
  
  Two Italian men were arrested at a Sri Lankan wildlife park after they were found with hundreds of protected insects.
  
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• Frayed cables and yellow pillows: how to fix, reuse or ditch 12 confusing kinds of household clutter

  13-09-2024 00:00
  Different parts of Australia have different laws on recycling but there are also services to fix many common objectsGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailThe mantra “buy once, buy well” never feels more relevant than when you’re faced with mounting piles of household clutter. It’s hard to know what to do with things that might not be worth fixing (thanks to this era of built-in-obsolescence), can’t really be donated (remember the rule: if you wouldn’t giv
  
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