Environment news

• New bone test could rewrite British history, say scientists

  01-01-2025 17:00 via bbc.com
  
  Researchers say new DNA research could shed new light on what history books say about ancient Britain.
  
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• Infrastructure neglect and poverty lead to parasites in the Mississippi Delta

  01-01-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  New research suggests parasitic infections in US south are far more widespread than previously acknowledgedFor years, Marecitta Dorsey’s four children – ages seven to 14 – suffered regular bouts of nausea, vomiting and sore stomachs. Their unexplained symptoms were bad enough to keep them out of school a few days each month.“My eldest would tell me, ‘I feel like my tummy’s burning,’” recalled Dorsey. “Every week I was taking at least one kid
  
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• Chunky European snails may be coming to Australia, with their crazy sexual practices – but all in good time

  01-01-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Farmers seek permission to import live molluscs so they can breed the sexually remarkable hermaphrodites and sell them to restaurantsMore summer essentialsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFrankly, the process has been going at a snail’s pace.In 2019 the Australian government began a risk analysis on bringing European molluscs into the country for breeding and, eventually, eating.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...
  
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• At Extinction Rebellion, we aimed for UK net zero in 2025. That won't happen – so here’s what to do instead | Rupert Read

  01-01-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With the climate crisis hitting Britain, we must build resilience at a local level by rewilding, saving water and fighting floodsImagine, for a moment, if 2025 was the year that the UK achieved its legally binding targets of reducing dangerous carbon emissions to zero. Imagine if the Extinction Rebellions of 2019 had achieved their goal, and the government had bowed to the pressure of climate activism to meet this target. In this counterfactual reality, the world would be much saner than our own
  
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• Belgium becomes first EU country to ban sale of disposable vapes

  01-01-2025 13:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Products banned on health and environmental grounds, while Milan outlaws outdoor smoking Belgium has become the EU first country to ban the sale of disposable vapes in an effort to stop young people from becoming addicted to nicotine and to protect the environment.The sale of disposable electronic cigarettes is banned in Belgium on health and environmental grounds from 1 January. A ban on outdoor smoking in Milan came into force on the same day, as EU countries discuss tighter controls on tobacc
  
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• UK government hires ‘nudge unit’ to help dispel heat pump myths

  01-01-2025 11:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Behaviour experts say misinformation shared in media and by other stakeholders is impeding uptakeExperts from a “nudge unit” have been hired to help ministers fight misinformation about heat pumps in to try to encourage take-up of the devices.The appliances run on electricity instead of gas and are regarded as a way of decarbonising homes at scale. A target of installing 600,00 a year by 2028 is part of a drive to achieve Britain’scommitment to reach net zero by 2050. Continue
  
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• ‘Live sick or flee’: pollution fears for El Salvador’s rivers as mining ban lifted

  01-01-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The landmark prohibition on mining in 2017, a world first, has been reversed by authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele but the move has met fierce resistance from environmentalistsVidalina Morales realised that something was wrong with the water where she lived in 2004. A toxic red stain spreading through the San Sebastián River in the department of Cabañas in El Salvador seemed to contaminate the environment and worried residents.As part of a campaign to protect her home and the enviro
  
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• Sweden begins wolf hunt as it aims to halve endangered animal’s population

  01-01-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Five entire families can be killed, totalling 30 wolves, in move campaigners say is illegal under EU lawSweden’s wolf hunt starts on Thursday, with the country aiming to halve the population of the endangered predator.The Swedish government has given the green light for five entire wolf families, a total of 30 wolves, to be killed in a hunt campaigners say is illegal under EU law. Under the Berne convention, protected species cannot be caused to have their populations fall under a sustaina
  
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• Sturgeons caught around British coast raise hopes of return to UK rivers

  01-01-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Slow-growing fish became extinct as a breeding species in Britain in 1950s but rewilding schemes aim to lure it backThe European sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, is a fish that has been around since the time of the dinosaurs and looks it. Specimens are armour plated and big, up to six metres in length. Once abundant in British waters, sturgeon became extinct as a breeding species in the 1950s but there is now a concerted effort to reintroduce it by “rewilding” rivers.Hopes are high becaus
  
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• Country diary: Our new year resolution? Be like the dunnock | Phil Gates

  01-01-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Witton-le-Wear, County Durham: A chance encounter with this fine, unobtrusive bird reminds us that there is wisdom in stillnessOn this frosty morning we have been standing still for so long that our feet are numb. We’re trying to be unobtrusive – a word often used to describe the bird that’s making the dead grasses shake. Eventually, the dunnock hops into view, climbing a swaying stem, intent on reaching dangling clusters of stinging nettle seeds. It’s so close that we co
  
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• Phew! Turtle doves shoot ban triggers bird species recovery

  01-01-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Western European population has risen 25% with ban and some UK sites have seen promising increasesThere are signs of hope for the turtle dove, one of the most endangered birds that has been plummeting towards extinction in Britain.After a temporary ban on the annual shoot of the migratory birds as they pass through France, Spain and Portugal, which began in 2021, there has been a remarkable 25% increase in its western European population, which includes the 2,000 individuals clinging on in Engla
  
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• Phew, turtle doves: ban on annual shoot raises hopes for endangered bird

  01-01-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Western European population has risen 25% with ban and some UK sites have seen promising increasesThere are signs of hope for the turtle dove, one of the most endangered birds that has been plummeting towards extinction in Britain.After a temporary ban on the annual shoot of the migratory birds as they pass through France, Spain and Portugal, which began in 2021, there has been a remarkable 25% increase in its western European population, which includes the 2,000 individuals clinging on in Engla
  
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• Could bike lanes reshape car-crazy Los Angeles?

  01-01-2025 03:42 via bbc.com
  
  LA is trying to expand its cycling network ahead of the 2028 Olympics, but some are skeptical.
  
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