Residents tell of close encounters with the blood-sucking creatures which are spreading because of high rain and humidity
Relentless rainfall has sparked a leech invasion in New South Wales, with no reprieve in sight for already damp dwellings.
The blood-sucking creatures have been attracted into suburban areas, where higher than normal rainfall and humidity are providing suitable conditions to feed.
Continue reading...Unwanted lockdown goldfish pose a triple threat to native species in UK waterways, study reveals
If that lockdown goldfish is starting to lose its lustre, think twice before throwing it in the river or canal – the creatures may look innocent but their voracious appetite, tolerance for cold and have-a-go habits compared with native species can be catastrophic for local wildlife.
New research shows that goldfish consume much more than comparable fish in UK waters, eat more than other invasive fish and are also much more willing to aggressively take on other competing species.
Continue reading...Time is running out to save 58 resident species, Butterfly Conservation warns
Half of Britain’s butterfly species are now listed as threatened with extinction after five more joined the new “red list” of endangered butterflies.
The increase in the number of species listed as “vulnerable” from nine in 2011 to 16 today is a warning that time is running out to save the 58 resident species, according to Butterfly Conservation, which compiled the red list from scientific monitoring data according to the criteria set out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Continue reading...Experts say 35% rise in acreage covered by migratory insects my reflect adaptation to changing climate
Mexican experts have said that 35% more monarch
butterflies arrived this year to spend the winter in mountaintop forests, compared with the previous season.
Experts say the rise may reflect the butterflies’ ability to adapt to more extreme bouts of heat or drought by varying the date when they leave Mexico.
Continue reading...Team admit Gillyflower is not the first but hope it encourages a more sustainable approach to golfing
The views are spectacular, taking in a lovely Cornish river, a ruined castle and the rooftops of an ancient town while the golf is pleasantly challenging, with tight fairways and undulating greens.
But what makes Gillyflower golf course in Lostwithiel different is that every square metre of non-playing surface will be used to grow fruit and vegetables or encourage flora and fauna.
Continue reading...Analysis: The presence of cooler water can have wider-ranging impacts on global weather patterns
It’s not the first time recently that chilly conditions have gripped parts of southern South America in the lead-up to the southern hemisphere winter. Over the past couple of days, an area of low pressure has positioned itself just south-east of the continent and allowed cold air to filter northwards into southern Chile and Argentina. This process will continue over the coming days with temperatures 5-10 degrees below normal in Argentina from Thursday.
In fact, the western side of South America, including farther north into Peru, has experienced almost perpetually cool conditions of late linked to an ongoing La Niña event in the Pacific Ocean. During these events, which usually occur every few years, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the south-eastern Pacific cool significantly as colder waters from the deep upwell to the surface. Current observations suggest SSTs just off the coast of Peru are between 1.5 and 3.5C colder than normal and they have been cooler than normal since last autumn. The presence of cooler water has an often moderating impact on temperatures in South America but can have wider-ranging impacts on global weather patterns too.
Continue reading...Soaring temperatures in subcontinent, which have caused widespread suffering, would be extraordinarily rare without global heating
The heatwave scorching India and Pakistan has been made 30 times more likely by the climate crisis, according to scientists. Extreme temperatures and low rainfall since mid-March have caused widespread suffering, including deaths, crop losses, forest fires, and cuts to power and water supplies.
The study is the latest to show the already severe impacts of global heating on millions of people, even though the global average temperature has risen only 1.2C above pre-industrial levels to date. If it rises to 2C, heatwaves as intense as the current one would be expected as often as every five years in India and Pakistan, the scientists estimated.
Continue reading...Caroline Dennett tells staff in video she made decision because of ‘double-talk on climate’
A senior safety consultant has quit working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil fuel producer in a bombshell public video of causing “extreme harms” to the environment.
Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others in the oil and gas industry to “walk away while there’s still time”.
Continue reading...Loving county judge and top official, Skeet Lee Jones, 71, is alleged to have taken stray cattle and sold them
A senior county official in west Texas has been arrested over cattle rustling in a case that has stirred up anger in the tiny community of Loving.
Skeet Lee Jones, 71, a judge and chief elected official in the county, faces three counts of theft of livestock worth less than $150,000 and one of engaging in organised criminal activity after his arrest on Friday, the sheriff of neighbouring Winkler county, Darin Mitchell, said on Sunday.
Continue reading...Michael Lewis calls for substanstial government intervention to help people deal with costs
Consumers will have to cope with extraordinarily high fuel bills for at least another 18 months, the boss of Britain’s biggest energy supplier has said.
Michael Lewis, the chief executive of E.ON UK, called for “very substantial” government intervention to help people with escalating fuel bills, one of the biggest factors in the cost-of-living crisis.
Continue reading...PM Scott Morrison has been dumped by electorate fed up with inaction on emissions and eager for change
When Scott Morrison won Australia’s federal election in 2019, it seemed like the country would never emerge from the climate wars that had begun a decade earlier.
Morrison had taken the prime ministership late in 2018 after conservatives in the ruling Liberal-National Coalition deposed Malcolm Turnbull, in part, for his attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia’s energy sector.
Continue reading...Temperatures between 20 and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east, with Washington set to hit 96F (35.5C)
Dozens of states across the US began the weekend grappling with historically high spring temperatures, as a blistering heatwave that has scorched the country’s south and west moves east.
The early arrival of sweltering weather, before what’s expected to be another hot, dry summer, is forecast to break or tie roughly 130 heat records for this time of year, with temperatures between 20F and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east.
Continue reading...Earthworm native to east Asia and known for its large appetite poses threat to forest ecosystems, scientists say
An invasive worm species known for its “voracious appetite” and ability to jump a foot in the air is raising alarm in California, where scientists have expressed concerns about the threat the worms pose to forest ecosystems.
The Amynthas agrestis, also known as the Asian jumping worm, Alabama jumper or crazy snake worm, have been spotted in California in recent months. The earthworm is native to east Asia, particularly to Japan and the Korean peninsula. However, in recent years the worms made their way to North America via various landscape plants that have been imported from the region.
Continue reading...‘Extraordinarily hot’ in central and southern areas, say meteorologists, with forecast of 40C in Andalucía
Parts of Spain are experiencing their hottest May since records began, as a mass of hot, dry air blows in from Africa, bringing with it dusty skies and temperatures of more than 40C (104F).
Spain’s state meteorological agency, Aemet, has warned of a weekend heatwave of an “extraordinary intensity”, with temperatures between 10C and 15C above the seasonal average and more akin to high summer than mid-May.
Continue reading...Analysis: Another week of extremes with peaks pushing 40C in Spain and a rare subtropical cyclone in Uruguay and Brazil
Unseasonably high temperatures have been affecting both Iberia and France over recent days. Temperatures have been about 10-15C above average thanks to a southerly flow of very warm and dry air from north Africa.
On 17 May, temperatures across much of Spain, as well as southern and central France, widely exceeded 30C. A top temperature of 35.5C was recorded in the southern Spanish province of Huelva, with a provisional high of 32.9C recorded in the French commune of Montélimar. La Hague near the Channel hit 26.6C, beating the May record for this location set 100 years ago.
Continue reading...Documents indicate PM’s changes to foreign policy speech coincided with environment agreement in trade talks
Scott Morrison softened his defiant language on climate action in a foreign policy speech in June 2021, shortly after officials appeared to have finalised the environment-related parts of the Australia-UK free trade agreement, documents obtained under freedom of information laws reveal.
The timing is outlined in government documents obtained by Guardian Australia, alongside draft talking points denying climate policy was causing any delays to the trade negotiations.
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Continue reading...The ban on wheat exports highlights the effect a rapidly warming planet has on food security – and livelihoods
It was his buffaloes that he was first worried about. As temperatures in the small village of Baras, deep in the Indian state of Punjab, began to soar to unseasonably hot levels in April, farmer Hardeep Singh Uppal noticed that his two buffaloes, essential for his family’s livelihood, became feverish and unwell.
A few weeks later and the buffaloes now seem fine, flicking their tails leisurely as an icy breeze blows down from an air conditioning unit, a luxury that once sat in Uppal’s parents house but now has been installed in an otherwise run-down cowshed, running all day at great expense. “The vet told me I need to keep them cool in this heatwave otherwise they will die so this is the only way,” said Uppal.
Continue reading...Scientists believe site in Guangxi with trees up to 40 metres tall may contain undiscovered species
An ancient forest has been found at the bottom of a giant sinkhole in China, with trees up to 40 metres (130ft) tall.
Scientists believe it could contain undiscovered plant and animal species.
Continue reading...Covid lockdowns in host country frustrate scientists as no date in sight for key UN conservation conference after two years of delays
China has been urged to name a date for a key UN nature summit this year, amid growing frustration with Beijing and concerns among experts that we are “sleepwalking through this cataclysmic climate extinction”.
After two years of delays, governments had been scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, for Cop15 in late April to negotiate this decade’s targets to halt and reverse the rampant destruction of ecosystems and wildlife crucial to human civilisation. It had been hoped the summit would be a “Paris moment” for biodiversity, with China holding the presidency for a major UN environmental agreement for the first time.
Continue reading...Poor seed harvests have led to empty shelves at supermarkets in France and global shortages
Climate change and rising costs are causing supermarkets in France to run out of dijon mustard, raising questions over whether the shortage could spread to other countries.
French mustard producers said seed production in 2021 was down 50% after poor harvests, which they said had been brought on by the changing climate in France’s Burgundy region and Canada – the second largest mustard seed producer in the world.
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