Environment news

• Revealed: how a US public university courted the gas industry despite climate impacts

  19-12-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  McNeese State University in Louisiana building a liquefied natural gas center, prompting fears of ‘corporate capture’One of Louisiana’s top public universities has prompted concerns about “corporate capture” over its expanding relationship with the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, despite environmental warnings about pollution and prolonging fossil fuel use.As the US’s LNG boom gained momentum in south-west Louisiana, McNeese State University courted the
  
  Read more

• Bird flu sweeps through zoos with ‘grave implications’ for endangered animals

  19-12-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Call for additional precautions as captive species including lions, tigers and cheetahs are killed by virusDozens of rare animals including tigers, lions and cheetahs are dying as bird flu infiltrates zoos, with potentially “grave implications” for endangered species, researchers have warned.As a growing number of zoos report animal deaths, scientists are concerned that infected wild birds landing in enclosures could be spreading it among captive animals. In the US, a cheetah, mounta
  
  Read more

• Biden declares tougher 2035 emissions targets weeks before Trump return

  19-12-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  President formally files new plans under Paris agreement and hails ‘boldest climate agenda in American history’Joe Biden has announced tougher targets on the US’s carbon dioxide emissions for the next decade, in a defiant final gesture intended as a “capstone” on his legacy on the climate.With just weeks to go before Donald Trump enters the White House, the Biden administration is formally filing new plans under the Paris agreement – the global climate treaty
  
  Read more

• Just four fines issued for wood-burning complaints in a year in England

  19-12-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Law around illegal wood burning in smoke-control areas is not being enforced, campaigners sayOnly four fines out of 5,600 complaints have been issued for illegal burning of wood in smoke-control areas from September 2023 to August 2024 in England, data has revealed.The new data, from freedom of information requests submitted by the campaign group Mums for Lungs, shows that the law around illegal wood burning is not being enforced in England, campaigners said. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Country diary: A boggy, treacherous, wonderfully unwelcome place | Mark Cocker

  19-12-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wincle, Cheshire: These woods have so much to lure in the unsuspecting naturalist, but the fallen trees are a warning – we enter at our own riskThe woods that run down off Wincle Minn form one of the most wildlife-rich, if unwelcoming, places I know in the Peak District. From the north-south oriented ridge (the Minn) descend 10 nameless brooks that all trend south-eastwards. These have incised a long, rippling hem of steep-sided gullies, clothed in a mix of oak, ash, alder, birch and
  
  Read more

• Toadstool with teeth and ghostly palm among plant and fungus finds of 2024

  19-12-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists race to discover new species before destruction of natural world drives them to extinctionFrom a toadstool with teeth to a vine smelling of marzipan and a flower that has cheated its way out of having to photosynthesise, a weird and wonderful host of new plant and fungus species have been discovered in 2024.Other plants given scientific names for the first time include beautiful new orchids, a ghostly palm and a hairy plant that appears to have stolen a gene from an unrelated family.
  
  Read more

• Time to be shellfish: why the UK should go back to feasting on oysters and mussels

  19-12-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Popular in Victorian times, they are sustainable, a good source of protein and brilliant for biodiversity, say those championing the bivalvesA splash of white wine, a handful of basil leaves and a few minutes preparation are all it takes to transform mussels that 24 hours ago were filtering seawater off the south Devon coast, into a delicious starter.At the training kitchen in London’s oldest fish market, Billingsgate, in Poplar, we learn that fresh mussels require two vital preparation st
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!