Environment news

• How training dogs to chase bears might just save a grizzly or two

  23-05-2023 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Karelian bear dogs are being used to scare wild bears from human settlements and reduce human-wildlife conflictThe dog is moving through the grasses of the open meadow, closely followed by bear biologist Carrie Hunt, who is observing his reactions as he sees the grizzly bear carcass for the first time. “Find it,” says Hunt, encouraging the two-month-old puppy. The puppy’s ears and tail are up as he approaches the bear cautiously, but with the confidence that Hunt is looking for
  
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• Press for success: four tips from readers on the best ways to sell secondhand clothes

  03-05-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Price and cleanliness are key to recycling fashion – and friends, charities, theatre groups and even museums will take quality castoffsSelling your clothes isn’t just great for the environment, it also helps free up space in your wardrobe (for more secondhand clothes).When asked for tips for selling unwanted clothing, Guardian readers suggest online marketplaces including Facebook, Vinted and eBay. But first, consider selling or giving to friends who might be the same size. Continue
  
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• No Mow May: councils urge Britons to put away lawnmowers

  03-05-2024 15:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Forty local authorities will leave some grass verges and parks uncut as part of annual wildlife-friendly eventOnce upon a time, an unkempt front lawn could have landed you in trouble with the neighbours. But now, councils are telling UK households to put away their lawnmower for No Mow May.The one-month celebration of unmown gardens and parks was started in 2019 by the nature charity Plantlife, which encourages people to let grass and wildflowers grow and identify any interesting plants that spr
  
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• Britain’s climate action plan unlawful, high court rules

  03-05-2024 12:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental campaign groups took joint action against decision to approve carbon budget delivery planThe UK government’s climate action plan is unlawful, the high court has ruled, as there is not enough evidence that there are sufficient policies in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, will now be expected to draw up a revised plan within 12 months. This must ensure that the UK achieves its legally binding carbon budgets and its pledge to cut em
  
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• Week in wildlife – in pictures: a giant hamster, a mustachoied deer and a zebra on the run

  03-05-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Week in wildlife – in pictures: a giant hamster, a mustachioed deer and a zebra on the run

  03-05-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Northumbrian Water told to publish raw sewage discharge data it tried to hide

  03-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Appeal tribunal orders firm to share details on hundreds of thousands of tonnes of outflows into North Sea A water company that tried to keep secret details of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of raw sewage discharges into the sea has been ordered by an appeal tribunal to release the data in the public interest.Northumbrian Water has repeatedly refused to release details about the scale of raw sewage discharges into the North Sea from an outflow at its pumping station in Whitburn, after a campaig
  
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• Cool solution: how ice-cream saved drought-hit farmers in India

  03-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As the climate crisis forces people to abandon their land in Rajasthan, a new industry has sprung up in the desert state, with thousands of gaily decorated vans setting off to sell ice-cream across the countryThe parched villages of Gangapur in the desert state of Rajasthan have a new season in their calendar. Between November and February, car workshops along the town’s dusty mile-long market open before sunrise, cylindrical stainless-steel food containers are put on display, and traders
  
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• Belgian insurer urges politicians to strengthen low emission zones

  03-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Mutualités Libres among 140 health and environment experts calling for more clean air measuresOne of Belgium’s mutual health insurers has been taking a closer look at the country’s three low emission zones.Dr Luk Bruyneel, a health and economics expert at Mutualités Libres, explained: “As a health insurance fund, we have to protect the health of our members. As air pollution is a major health risk, we want to contribute evidence to the debate. Health insurance dat
  
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• Australia’s best new sustainable homes of 2024 – in pictures

  03-05-2024 02:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A pocket-sized city terrace extension and a multigenerational riverside property inspired by a country shed are among the innovative dwellings shortlisted in the sustainability category of the Houses awards, Australia’s premier residential design prize. This year’s five-panel jury noted a number of new sustainable design trends, including a move towards net-zero housing, abodes that accommodate adult children, innovative multi-use spaces for working from home, a growing appreciation
  
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• Country diary: Ribbons, rituals and common rights – this pageant is now 575 years old | Nicola Chester

  03-05-2024 01:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Hungerford, Berkshire: Behind all the top hats and ales, Hocktide is more than just a re-enactment of local folkloreThe knobbly pollarded street trees along Hungerford’s broad rural high street are maypoled with ribbons. It’s quietish, as usual. But at intervals, a small crowd in top hats, carrying oranges, baskets and beribboned poles of yellow and blue flowers, emerges from each house and enters another in turn.The pebbledashed frontage of two cottages conceals the two halves of a
  
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• Violent attacks against environmental journalists on the rise, report finds

  03-05-2024 00:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Unesco joint research dating back 15 years found violence and intimidation against about 750 reporters and 44 murdersMore than 70% of environmental journalists have been attacked for their work since 2009, according to a Unesco report, which warns of rising threats against those covering the climate crisis.At least 749 environmental journalists have faced violence and intimidation in the last 15 years, the UN body found. It said that 44 reporters were murdered between 2009 and 2023 but that resu
  
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• Pier pressure: more than 1,000 sea lions assemble at San Francisco dockside

  02-05-2024 22:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Tourists delighted as pinnipeds congregate at city’s Pier 39, apparently attracted by feast of anchoviesMore than 1,000 sea lions have gathered at San Francisco’s Pier 39 this spring, the largest herd in at least 15 years.Mounds of floppy, delightfully ungraceful marine mammals have plopped themselves on to rafts along the city’s pier, displaying themselves to the thousands of tourists who pass by the area each day. Continue reading...
  
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• Sunak to allow oil and gas exploration at sites intended for offshore wind

  02-05-2024 21:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: decision to grant licences condemned by critics as a stunt that shows Tories are ‘playing politics with climate’Fossil fuel companies will be allowed to explore for oil and gas under offshore wind-power sites for the first time, the government will announce on Friday, in a move that campaigners said is further proof that ministers are abandoning the climate agenda.The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates North Sea oil and gas production, will confirm that
  
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• How to have a sustainable wedding: six tips for a greener ‘I do’

  02-05-2024 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From excessive travel to food waste, weddings can have a huge carbon footprint. Here’s how to plan an eco-friendly celebrationA wedding is a couple’s big day. Unfortunately, it can also have a big carbon footprint.The average American wedding creates around 60 metric tons of CO2 – the carbon equivalent of 71 round-trip flights from New York to LA. You’d need to plant roughly 60 trees and let them grow for 100 years to sequester that amount of carbon dioxide from the atmos
  
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• Big River Watch: public to monitor UK and Irish rivers for pollution

  02-05-2024 12:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Rivers Trust is asking citizen scientists to record observations of local waterways on free appPeople in Britain and Ireland are being asked to monitor their local rivers for pollution so a leading water charity can measure the scale of the sewage crisis.The Rivers Trust is this week launching the Big River Watch, asking people to record observations of their local rivers on a free app. The results will be made available through an interactive dashboard, and will help the organisation, as well a
  
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• ‘On every roof something is possible’: how sponge cities could change the way we handle rain

  02-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Amsterdam is home to 45,000 sq metres of ‘blue-green’ roofs, which absorb rainwater and allow it to be used by building residents to water plants and flush toiletsYou might visit Amsterdam for its canals, and who could blame you, really. But the truly interesting waterways aren’t under your feet – they’re above your head.Beautiful green roofs have popped up all over the world: specially selected plants growing on structures designed to manage the extra weight of bio
  
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• Methane emissions from gas flaring being hidden from satellite monitors

  02-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Use of enclosed combustors leaves regulators heavily reliant on oil and gas companies’ own flaring dataOil and gas equipment intended to cut methane emissions is preventing scientists from accurately detecting greenhouse gases and pollutants, a satellite image investigation has revealed.Energy companies operating in countries such as the US, UK, Germany and Norway appear to have installed technology that could stop researchers from identifying methane, carbon dioxide emissions and pollutan
  
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• Chimps are dying of the common cold. Is great ape tourism to blame?

  02-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Viruses that cause mild sniffles in humans are devastating populations of chimpanzees and gorillas. In some ape communities, it’s a bigger killer than habitat loss or poachingThere was something wrong with the chimpanzees. For weeks, a community of 205 animals in Uganda’s Kibale national park had been coughing, sneezing and looking generally miserable. But no one could say for sure what ailed them, even as the animals began to die.Necropsies can help to identify a cause of death, but
  
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• Chimps are dying of human sniffles. Is great ape tourism to blame?

  02-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Viruses that cause the common cold in humans are devastating populations of chimpanzees and gorillas. In some ape communities, it’s a bigger killer than habitat loss or poachingThere was something wrong with the chimpanzees. For weeks, a community of 205 animals in Uganda’s Kibale national park had been coughing, sneezing and looking generally miserable. But no one could say for sure what ailed them, even as the animals began to die.Necropsies can help to identify a cause of death, b
  
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• Country diary: The beach tree yearns to be back on land | Sara Hudston

  02-05-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Porlock Weir, Somerset: Once part of a horse paddock, this sessile oak now has been left stranded by the retreating coast, and endures hard coastal wintersSessile oaks are emblematic of the south-west, where they grow mossed and twisted in the region’s acidic soil and plenteous rain. Their Latin name, Quercus petraea, means “oak of rocky places” and they thrive in the shallow clitter of Exmoor’s steep, misty hillsides.Sessile means immovably fixed in position, and refers
  
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• The vast new whaling ‘mother ship’ that Japan hopes will revive a shrinking industry

  02-05-2024 02:32 via theguardian.com
  
  A new $47m vessel is preparing for its maiden voyage in coastal waters, but there are fears the Kangei Maru could one day mean a return to hunting in the Southern OceanThe dish of the day has the appearance and consistency of steak. But the item on the menu at Nisshin Maru in Shimonoseki isn’t brisket or rib-eye – it is a prime cut of the restaurant’s speciality: whale meat.Every few minutes, chefs in the open kitchen produce another plate of cetacean delicacies – raw sas
  
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• Tory hopeful for London mayor joins anti-Ulez Facebook group rife with Islamophobia

  01-05-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Susan Hall became member a day after an exposé about its contents – much of which is directed at Sadiq KhanTory staff running network of anti-Ulez Facebook groups riddled with racism and abuseSusan Hall, the Tory candidate for London mayor, has joined a Facebook group which contains Islamophobic hate speech and abusive comments about her opponent Sadiq Khan, the day after an exposé about its contents.Khan told the Guardian these revelations “could have a direct impact o
  
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• Fewer wildfires, great biodiversity: what is the secret to the success of Mexico’s forests?

  01-05-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  More than half of the country’s forestry is in community and Indigenous hands – and from CO2 absorption to reducing poverty the results are impressiveDexter Melchor Matías works in the Zapotec Indigenous town of Ixtlán de Juárez, about 1,600ft (490 metres) above the wide Oaxaca valley in Mexico, where community forestry has become a way of life. Like him, about 10 million people across the country live in and make a living from forests, with half of that populati
  
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• All we wanted was to protect the River Wye from pollution. Now we’re stuck in a catch-22 | Oliver Bullough

  01-05-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  To protect our local river we had to prove it was being used for swimming. But that, bizarrely, is the reason we were rejectedThe state of Britain’s rivers is incredibly depressing: the water companies dump too much sewage, the farmers dump too much muck, and the regulators are too cowed and underfunded to do their job and stop them.It wasn’t always this way. As a child I used to swim in the River Wye and I remember the clouds of mayflies in the summer, as well as huge leaping salmon
  
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• Blue-green algae get a bad press – but we owe a debt of gratitude

  01-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  While some cyanobacteria are among the deadliest organisms in the world, others help us flourishBlue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, come in many forms and have generally got a bad press, mainly because five of the 2,000 identified species can produce some of the deadliest toxins known to science.At the same time, they are among the oldest organisms in the world, dating back 2.1bn years, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: I am, it turns out, being watched | Phil Gates

  01-05-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Stanhope, Weardale: This old quarry is so full of life now that among the jackdaws and nesting blue tits is something else that eludes meSounds of ringing picks and hammers, clattering rockfalls, squealing railway wagon wheels on iron tracks: a cacophony that, a century ago, carried on the wind into the centre of the town, a mile downhill. Then, Ashes quarry employed 200 men who sent 136,000 tonnes of limestone annually to the Consett iron and steelworks, 10 miles distant across bleak Penni
  
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• Rapidly rising levels of TFA ‘forever chemical’ alarm experts

  01-05-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Trifluoroacetic acid found in drinking water and rain is thought to damage fertility and child developmentRapidly rising levels of TFA, a class of “forever chemical” thought to damage fertility and child development, are being found in drinking water, blood and rain, causing alarm among experts.TFA, or trifluoroacetic acid, is a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), a group of human-made chemicals used widely in consumer products that do not break down for thousands of y
  
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• Scientists work to make healthier white bread

  01-05-2024 01:25 via bbc.com
  
  The research aimed at lovers of white bread has been funded by the government to improve the health benefits of UK food.
  
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• ‘There is despair’: fears for Scotland’s green policies as power-sharing ends

  30-04-2024 19:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate groups and Greens co-leader say climate policies risk being sidelined or buried by SNPFrom the collapse of its ambitious climate target to cut carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, to the mothballing of a world-leading deposit return scheme, the much-heralded environmental objectives of the Scottish government appear to be falling apart.As political opponents gather to exploit the fallout from Humza Yousaf’s departure, amid admissions he mishandled his Green party coalition partners, mo
  
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