Category Archives: Environment

‘It was the happiest time’: The Beach Boys on their strange second coming

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They helped define the 60s, but were hopelessly uncool as the 70s began – and Brian Wilson was unravelling. The band discuss the masterpieces they made against the odds

In the 1960s, the Beach Boys staked their claim as the US’s most popular band, as their dazzling, harmony-drenched songs about surfing, cars and California Girls epitomised the American dream. So, at the end of the decade, when leader and principal songwriter Brian Wilson – who had recently spent several months in a psychiatric hospital – suggested that the band were on the verge of bankruptcy, everyone thought it was a joke.

“We arrived in London for a tour on the day that hit the headlines,” co-founder Al Jardine says over the phone from California. “The IRS [US tax collection agency] had closed our studio and our offices in Hollywood. The hotels wouldn’t accept our corporate credit cards. In the end, I had to use my personal American Express card to pay for our rooms.”

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Air pollution linked to more severe mental illness – study

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Exclusive: research finds small rise in exposure to air pollution leads to higher risk of needing treatment

Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increased severity of mental illness, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.

The research, involving 13,000 people in London, found that a relatively small increase in exposure to nitrogen dioxide led to a 32% increase in the risk of needing community-based treatment and an 18% increase in the risk of being admitted to hospital.

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Caldor fire advances towards Lake Tahoe as communities clouded in smoke

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Fire was less than two dozen miles from Lake Tahoe on Wednesday evening, at times burning 1,000 acres of land an hour

A wind-driven wildfire continued to advance towards Lake Tahoe, clouding the alpine vacation and tourist spot on the California-Nevada state line in a sickly yellow layer of smoke.

The Caldor fire on Wednesday evening was less than two dozen miles (37km) from Lake Tahoe, at times burning 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of land an hour.

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Spain bans fertilisers near saltwater lagoon after dead fish wash up

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Officials close eight beaches as residents complain of cloudy, green water that emits a foul smell

Spanish officials have banned the use of fertilisers near one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoons after five tons of dead fish washed up on its shores.

Alarm bells began to sound in the south-eastern region of Murcia last week as scores of small fish and shrimp began to wash up along the beaches of the Mar Menor lagoon.

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‘Use your £11bn climate fund to pay for family planning,’ UK told

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More than 60 NGOs call for spending rule change, saying people on frontline of climate crisis want greater access to reproductive healthcare

The UK government has been urged to open up its £11bn pot of climate funding to contraception, as research from low-income countries shows a link between poor access to reproductive health services and environmental damage.

In a letter to Alok Sharma, president of the UN Cop26 climate conference, an alliance of more than 60 NGOs has called for the funding eligibility rules to be changed to allow projects concerned with removing barriers to reproductive healthcare and girls’ education to access climate funds.

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LED streetlights decimating moth numbers in England

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‘Eco-friendly’ lights found to be worse than sodium ones – but both contribute to insect decline, says study

“Eco-friendly” LED streetlights produce even worse light pollution for insects than the traditional sodium bulbs they are replacing, a study has found.

The abundance of moth caterpillars in hedgerows by rural roads in England was 52% lower under LED lights and 41% lower under sodium lights when compared with nearby unlit areas.

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Blue whales returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after 40-year absence

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Some experts fear climate crisis is leading creatures back to area where they were hunted almost to extinction

Blue whales, the world’s largest mammals, are returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after an absence of more than 40 years.

The first one was spotted off the coast of Galicia in north-west Spain in 2017 by Bruno Díaz, a marine biologist who is head of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute in O Grove, Galicia.

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From 1m trees to a tree graveyard: how Dubai’s conservation plans went awry

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Hundreds of thousands of trees have died after costly real estate projects thwarted attempts to halt desertification

It all began so beautifully, with the ruler of Dubai photographed planting the first tree of his ambitious environmental initiative, as smiling officials applauded around him.

In 2010, the One Million Trees initiative was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai. The aim of the launch was to increase green areas in Dubai through afforestation, while contributing to overall beautification of the city.

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California Caldor fire burns thousands of hectares in weekend surge – video

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The owner of a cabin which became surrounded by flames near Kyburz, California, managed to escape the Caldor fire after shooting the first part of this footage. The fire has burned more than 40,500 hectares (100,000 acres) in the north of the state since it started on 14 August, and more than 12,000 in just two days.

More than 500 structures were destroyed over the weekend by wildfire fuelled by warm winds and drought-stricken vegetation

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Climate crisis made deadly German floods ‘up to nine times more likely’

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Study reinforces the hard evidence that carbon emissions are the main cause of worsening extreme weather

The record-shattering rainfall that caused deadly flooding across Germany and Belgium in July was made up to nine times more likely by the climate crisis, according to research.

The study also showed that human-caused global heating has made downpours in the region up to 20% heavier. The work reinforces the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s landmark report this month that there is “unequivocal” evidence that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the main cause of worsening extreme weather.

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‘Horrifying and amazing’: giant tortoise filmed attacking and eating baby bird

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Chase by creature in Seychelles thought to be herbivore is first known example of hunting in wild

A Seychelles giant tortoise, a species previously thought to be a strict herbivore, has been filmed chasing and eating a baby bird in a “horrifying and amazing” attack, with researchers stating it was the first documented example of deliberate hunting in the wild by the species.

The video, taken on Fregate Island in July 2020, shows a female giant tortoise slowly stalking a “lesser noddy” tern chick, snapping at it unsuccessfully before delivering a lethal bow by clamping its jaws directly around its head.

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‘It’s just unbelievable’: Tennessee surveys wreckage after floods kill 22

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Succession of thunderstorms deposited record-breaking 17in of rain in some parts of state

Tennesseans were surveying the mangled wreckage of towns and communities across the middle of the state on Monday, after a record-breaking deluge caused flash flooding that swept away houses, shattered lives and left at least 22 people dead and many more missing.

Related: A midwestern town moved uphill to survive climate crisis. Can others do the same?

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‘Nothing to eat’: Somalia hit by triple threat of climate crisis, Covid and conflict

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Overlapping crises have pushed the fragile east African country to the ‘cusp of humanitarian catastrophe’, with one in four facing food insecurity

Such was the horror that erupted in her village earlier this year that Fadumo Ali Mohamed decided she had no choice but to leave. Through the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia, she walked for 30 kilometres, along with her nine children, eventually getting help to reach the capital by car.

Now in Mogadishu, she is one of more than 800,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the capital living in cramped, informal settlements with limited access to food, water and healthcare. She doesn’t like to recall the violence she fled.

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Solar power in Australia outstrips coal-fired electricity for first time

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For a fleeting moment on the weekend more than half the nation’s electricity generation came from solar power, but experts say Australia is still a long way from peak renewable energy

The national electricity market reached a new milestone on Sunday, with solar power outstripping energy generation from coal for the first time since the market was set up two decades ago.

The crossover point lasted for only a few minutes, as low demand and sunny skies on Sunday meant the contribution from coal dropped to a record low of 9,315MW just after noon, while solar provided the dominant share with 9,427MW.

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Tennessee floods death toll rises to 22 as Biden offers help

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  • Record rainfall fueled flash floods in rural town of Waverly
  • Governor surveys devastation as families seek missing

At least 22 people were confirmed dead on Sunday as rescue crews searched desperately amid shattered homes for dozens still missing after record-breaking rain sent floodwaters surging through parts of Tennessee.

Related: A midwestern town moved uphill to survive climate crisis. Can others do the same?

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Greece plans to name heatwaves in the same way as storms

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Personalising the ‘silent killer’ hot spells could raise awareness in time to avert loss of life and property, say scientists

Spurred on by this summer’s record temperatures, Greek scientists have begun discussing the need to name and rank heatwaves, better known for their invisibility, before rampant wildfires made the realities of the climate crisis increasingly stark.

A preventative measure, the move would enable policymakers and affected populations to be more prepared for what are being described by experts as “silent killers.”

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From solar power in Africa to UK tomatoes – the eco-schemes to turn your cash green

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Savings rates are low but some green investments can pay up to 8% interest a year

Environmentally conscious consumers fed up with low savings rates are being targeted by a variety of green investments paying up to 8% interest a year.

However, those thinking about signing up need to be prepared to accept some risk to their cash. This is a lot riskier than a bank or building society savings account.

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Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon hits highest annual level in a decade

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Rainforest lost 10,476 sq km between August 2020 and July 2021, report says, despite increasing global concern

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade, a new report has shown, despite increasing global concern over the accelerating devastation since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.

Between August 2020 and July 2021, the rainforest lost 10.476 square kilometers – an area nearly seven times bigger than greater London and 13 times the size of New York City, according to data released by Imazon, a Brazilian research institute that has been tracking the Amazon deforestation since 2008. The figure is 57% higher than in the previous year and is the worst since 2012.

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Container ship Ever Given back in Suez canal for return trip

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Vessel that caused global disruption when it got stuck is heading for the Red Sea again

In a rematch of the struggle that dominated global headlines earlier this year, the 400-metre, 220,000 tonne container ship that became lodged in the Suez canal for nearly a week, disrupting trade on a global scale, is having another go.

Several weeks after finally docking at the UK port of Felixstowe – after a months-long negotiation over who should bear the costs of blocking the shipping lane for six days in March – the vessel returned to Port Said, Egypt, on Thursday night.

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