Environment news

• 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
  
  Read more

• Latin America labels ultra-processed foods. Will the US follow?

  21-05-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In 2010, Mexico led the way, followed by Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina and ColombiaWhat are those weird ingredients in our favorite packaged foods?Candy lines every inch of the mercado de dulces in Mexico City’s historic center. Tantalizing strawberry-flavored chocolates and Tajín-covered mango gummies pack the narrow aisles of the meandering marketplace. But many of the colorful packages are somewhat dampened by black stop signs printed on their fronts. Alongside dreamy
  
  Read more

• ‘It’s a barbarity’: why are hundreds of families asking to be moved away from this Dominican Republic goldmine?

  21-05-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Communities around the Pueblo Viejo mine complain of serious health problems and a diminished environment and have spent years campaigning to be relocatedIn the shadow of El Llagal, a tailings dam that holds waste from one of the world’s largest goldmines in the Dominican Republic, sits the home of Casilda Lima. The roof is corrugated iron and the walls are wood, painted pink and yellow. A sign reads “God bless this home”.Outside,the 114-metre-tall grey wall of the dam looms la
  
  Read more

• ‘The fear has properly set in’: how it feels to watch my home town disappear into the sea

  21-05-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Inverbervie, on the north-east coast of Scotland, faces an existential threat, with storms carving away metres of shoreline. Can anything be done to save what is left?A decade ago, on my friend’s birthday, we took a huge tent and stayed the night at our local campsite. We laughed as we put the tent up where the grass met the shingle beach, the sunshine glistening on the water, the sound of the waves scraping the stones. I remember a night of ghost stories, teenage gossip and chasing each o
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• UK’s new dangerous cycling offence will achieve pretty much nothing | Peter Walker

  21-05-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Move reflects wider state of politics around active travel – arguing around the margins and doing little to change lives for betterIn the six days since a law to prosecute dangerous cyclists was announced, somewhere close to 30 people will have been killed on UK roads, none of them struck by bikes. About 500 more will have suffered serious, potentially life-changing injuries, with pretty much all connected to motor vehicles.Again, going on the statistical averages, over those same six days
  
  Read more

• UK’s new dangerous cycling offence will achieve pretty much nothing

  21-05-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Move reflects wider state of politics around active travel – arguing around the margins and doing little to change lives for betterIn the six days since a law to prosecute dangerous cyclists was announced, somewhere close to 30 people will have been killed on UK roads, none of them struck by bikes. About 500 more will have suffered serious, potentially life-changing injuries, with pretty much all connected to motor vehicles.Again, going on the statistical averages, over those same six days
  
  Read more

• Top oil firms’ climate pledges failing on almost every metric, report finds

  21-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Oil Change International says plans do not stand up to scrutiny and describes US fossil-fuel corporations as ‘the worst of the worst’ Major oil companies have in recent years made splashy climate pledges to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and take on the climate crisis, but a new report suggests those plans do not stand up to scrutiny.The research and advocacy group Oil Change International examined climate plans from the eight largest US and European-based international oil and g
  
  Read more

• ‘Moai designs are getting lost’: extreme weather chips away at Easter Island statues

  21-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts call for conservation action as the features on Rapa Nui’s famous monoliths are eroded by fire and rainThe Ahu Tahai moai, on the east side of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is an impressive 4.5 metres high. Carved from a soft volcanic rock, the statue looks out solemnly over the island, with its back to the bay.The Tahai (“where the sun sets”) and the island’s other thousand or so moai were erected roughly between 1100 and 1700 as a representation of Rapa
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Country diary: The agony and ecstasy of the curlew song | Mark Cocker

  21-05-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Hollinsclough, Staffordshire: A fox has forced a pair into the air as it snuffles for eggs, and they treat us to remarkable array of vocalisationsIn 40 years of attending to nature in print, I’ve almost never written about curlew sounds. I wonder if this is because they are most completely heard when we are unattending. You hear them unconsciously, as I do as I sit at my desk. Or as we wander a moor or shoreline, and we intuit the voice as being intrinsic to the setting. Curlew sounds live
  
  Read more

• Migratory freshwater fish populations ‘down by more than 80% since 1970’

  21-05-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Catastrophic’ global decline due to dams, mining, diverting water and pollution threatens humans and ecosystems, study warns Migratory fish populations have crashed by more than 80% since 1970, new findings show.Populations are declining in all regions of the world, but it is happening fastest in South America and the Caribbean, where abundance of these species has dropped by 91% over the past 50 years. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Where is the German cockroach actually from? We tested its DNA to trace its true origins

  21-05-2024 02:38 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s likely the urban pest first emerged from its native lands about 1,200 years ago. As global trade accelerated, the hitchhikers made their way more rapidly around the worldGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastGerman cockroaches thrive in buildings all over the world. They’re one of the most common cockroach species, causing trouble for people both here and overseas. But in nature, they’re nowhere to be found.Just how this urban pest evolve
  
  Read more

• Rare and ‘unusual’ deep-sea anglerfish washes up on Oregon beach for first time ever

  20-05-2024 21:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Species, with only a few dozen seen by humans since first discovered, usually lives in darkness up to 3,300ft below sea levelOregon beachgoers stumbled across a rare find over the weekend, after a deep-sea anglerfish washed up from the ocean depths.The discovery marked the first time this creature, which typically dwells in the darkness up to 3,300ft below sea level, was seen on Oregon shores according to the local Seaside Aquarium, which posted about it on Facebook. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• More than third of Amazon rainforest struggling to recover from drought, study finds

  20-05-2024 21:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Critical slowing down’ of recovery raises concern over forest’s resilience to ecosystem collapseMore than a third of the Amazon rainforest is struggling to recover from drought, according to a new study that warns of a “critical slowing down” of this globally important ecosystem.The signs of weakening resilience raise concerns that the world’s greatest tropical forest – and biggest terrestrial carbon sink – is degrading towards a point of no retur
  
  Read more

• Eagles shifting flight paths to avoid Ukraine conflict, scientists find

  20-05-2024 17:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Vulnerable birds deviating from migratory routes by up to 155 miles, which could affect breedingEagles that have migratory routes through Ukraine have shifted their flight paths to avoid areas affected by the conflict, researchers have found.GPS data has revealed that greater spotted eagles not only made large detours after the invasion began, but also curtailed pitstops to rest and refuel, or avoided making them altogether. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Voter views on animal welfare are changing – and taking the live sheep export trade with them | Gabrielle Chan

  20-05-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Labor says it will phase out the practice by 2028 – 10 years after it first announced the policy. But farm advocates say the timeline is ‘radical’Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletterJoin the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the communityOne of the great contrasts that has struck me on city visits is the rise of dog culture.Massive pet warehouses with owners and their dogs waiting outside to buy dog clothes, fancy food, treats, leads, collars, beds, blanke
  
  Read more

• Microplastics found in every human testicle in study

  20-05-2024 16:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists say discovery may be linked to decades-long decline in sperm counts in men around the worldMicroplastics have been found in human testicles, with researchers saying the discovery might be linked to declining sperm counts in men.The scientists tested 23 human testes, as well as 47 testes from pet dogs. They found microplastic pollution in every sample. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• I invented a pedal-powered home office. Now I exercise – and save energy – at my desk

  20-05-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Read more from the DIY Climate Changers, a new series on everyday people’s creative solutions to the climate crisisJim Gregory, 59, loves to cycle. More than a decade before the work-from-home revolution, the Iowa business owner was grappling with a conundrum now faced by many: how to stay active while spending so much of his day at the computer.Jim wondered if he could combine the joy of cycling with a desire to reduce his energy consumption. Thus was born the PedalPC, a machine built fro
  
  Read more

• Fish deaths in England’s rivers rise tenfold in four years

  20-05-2024 15:08 via theguardian.com
  
  More than 216,000 fish died in 2022-2023, when England recorded a 54% increase in sewage spillsMass deaths of fish in England’s rivers have increased almost tenfold since 2020, with fears sewage pollution is exterminating life in the country’s waterways.Environment Agency (EA) data from the past four years shows an alarming rise in the number of fish deaths linked to sewage pollution, with figures escalating from 26,690 in 2020-2021 to 216,135 in 2023-2024. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Britain’s public parks are a green lifeline – stop fencing them off for the summer | Rebecca Tamás

  20-05-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  These spaces are crucial for our wellbeing, but cash-strapped councils are being forced to treat them as revenue earnersMy local green space, Brockwell Park in Brixton and Herne Hill, south London, is an oasis of calm in the busy city. Friends catch up in the walled garden, where wisteria trails over pillars and roses and bluebells explode from the earth. In the community garden, local people work together to grow vegetables and run sessions to connect nature-deprived children to the land.In the
  
  Read more

• The Bezos Earth fund has pumped billions into climate and nature projects. So why are experts uneasy?

  20-05-2024 09:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Jeff Bezos’s $10bn climate and biodiversity fund has garnered glittering prizes, but concerns have been voiced over the influence it can buy – and its interest in carbon offsetsLate last month, the coronation of Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren Sánchez as environmental royalty was complete. At Conservation International’s glitzy annual gala in New York, with Harrison Ford, Jacinda Ardern and Shailene Woodley looking on, the couple were given the global visionary award f
  
  Read more

• ‘Free Bella’: campaigners fight to save lonely beluga whale from Seoul mall

  20-05-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Five years after her last companion died and the aquarium’s owner pledged to free her, Bella still languishes in a tiny tank amid shopsIn the heart of Seoul, amid the luxury shops at the foot of the world’s sixth-tallest skyscraper, a lone beluga whale named Bella swims aimlessly in a tiny, lifeless tank, where she has been trapped for a decade.Her plight is urgent, with campaigners racing to rescue her from the bare tank in a glitzy shopping centre in South Korea’s capital bef
  
  Read more

• Scotland’s vulnerable marine life not properly protected, campaigners warn

  20-05-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scottish government accused of missing deadlines to take action on overfishing and effects of climate breakdownFragile and damaged marine life around Scotland’s coasts is not being properly protected because ministers in Edinburgh have broken their promises, environment campaigners have warned.Prominent charities including the Marine Conservation Society and the National Trust for Scotland accuse the Scottish government of repeatedly missing its deadlines to protect vulnerable marine life
  
  Read more

• Country diary: How extraordinary to see with an insect’s eye | Kate Blincoe

  20-05-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: Algae is red, nettles are blue – this is all perfectly normal for creatures who, unlike humans, can see biofluorescenceIt was a long time coming, but spring is here at the farm. The swallows are back, the annual bluebell open day completed, and the infertile but broody goose is tending her surrogate goslings.Now, as night falls, I gather with a group of people for a walk with a difference. We’re handed ultraviolet torches. I switch mine on and I’m su
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on net zero: a bank-led green transition won’t work for Britain | Editorial

  19-05-2024 18:30 via theguardian.com
  
  A state industrial strategy is needed to reduce carbon output, produce cleaner growth and redistribute jobs around the UKTheresa May and Boris Johnson both argued for levelling up and for a state-supported green transition undergirded by an industrial strategy. Neither delivered and their successor, Rishi Sunak, has repudiated their legacy as prime minister. He looks to the City to deliver growth, with banks determining the rate of investment to meet the challenge of the climate emergency. This
  
  Read more

• Wealthy residents of Chicago may live 30 years longer than poorer ones. Can a new mayor help close the gap?

  19-05-2024 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Brandon Johnson promised to tackle the city’s legacy of environmental racism, with communities of color facing disproportionate climate risks On the campaign trail, Brandon Johnson often talked about the asthma he suffered growing up just west of Chicago, connecting it to industrial pollution.“For too long our communities have been seen as dumping grounds for waste and materials that no one seems to know what to do with,” the then mayoral candidate said at an event in the major
  
  Read more

• Can Chicago’s mayor tackle environmental racism in one of the most segregated US cities?

  19-05-2024 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Brandon Johnson promised to address the city’s longstanding inequities – advocates want to make the most of the momentOn the campaign trail, Brandon Johnson often talked about the asthma he suffered growing up just west of Chicago, connecting it to industrial pollution.“For too long our communities have been seen as dumping grounds for waste and materials that no one seems to know what to do with,” the then mayoral candidate said at an event in the majority-Hispanic neigh
  
  Read more

• Ships in some UK port cities create more air pollution than cars

  19-05-2024 17:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Milford Haven, Southampton and Immingham top the list for emissions of gases and particulatesShips calling at the UK’s most-polluted ports produce more nitrogen oxides than all the cars registered in the same cities or regions, analysis has shown.A report from Transport & Environment (T&E) said that ships were continuing to discharge huge quantities of air pollutants at ports, with Milford Haven, Southampton and Immingham topping the list for emissions of harmful sulphur oxides and
  
  Read more

• Why are bodies of water so calming?

  19-05-2024 15:01 via theguardian.com
  
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhy are bodies of water so calming? In my experience, this is true whether they are placid or tempestuous. Mary Vogel, VancouverPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to [email protected]. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Young pigeon fanciers: meet the new kids on the flock

  19-05-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pigeons are friendly, acrobatic and affordable, and these days they are winning the hearts of more and more youthful pigeoneersWhen Boris the fantail arrived in Callum Percy’s life in 2020, the 29-year-old trainee teacher was immediately smitten. Boris had been discovered by a family friend in a dishevelled state after what looked like a run-in with a sparrow hawk, its blond-white tail as fluffy as a cumulus cloud.
  “We called him Boris after the prime minister as his feathers were al
  
  Read more

• UK rail faces fight to stay on track as climate crisis erodes routes

  19-05-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Britain’s railways are spending billions on bolstering the tracks against geological movements caused by extreme weather. But technology and new infrastructure will not save every serviceUnder the chalk cliffs east of Folkestone sits the Warren, a coastal wilderness largely owned by the railway, hosting a nature trail for walkers, as well as the Victorian rail line that runs on to Dover.It is also, problematically for Network Rail, an active landslide. “Our monitoring here,” sa
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!