Descend through the different zones of the ocean to discover its mesmerising marine life, how human pollutants are interfering – and what we can still do about it
Continue reading...Category Archives: Environment
Global freshwater fish populations at risk of extinction, study finds
World’s Forgotten Fishes report lists pollution, overfishing and climate change as dangers
Freshwater fish are under threat, with as many as a third of global populations in danger of extinction, according to an assessment.
Populations of migratory freshwater fish have plummeted by 76% since 1970, and large fish – those weighing more than 30kg – have been all but wiped out in most rivers. The global population of megafish down by 94%, and 16 freshwater fish species were declared extinct last year.
Continue reading...‘It’s in our DNA’: tiny Costa Rica wants the world to take giant climate step
President says the time is finally right for international agreement to tackle biodiversity loss and global heating
When it comes to the environment, few countries rival Costa Rica in terms of action and ambition.
The tiny Central American nation is aiming for total decarbonisation by 2050, not just a “net zero” target. It has regrown large areas of tropical rainforest after suffering some of the highest rates of deforestation in the world in the 1970s and 1980s. Costa Ricans play a major role in international environmental politics, most notably Christiana Figueres, who helped to corral world leaders into agreeing the Paris accord.
Continue reading...‘I ate 40kg of chocolate’: Yorkshire teacher, 21, on rowing solo across the Atlantic
Jasmine Harrison, the youngest woman to make the 3,000-mile journey alone, relished the freedom of doing it all by herself
It was always during the night when things went wrong for Jasmine Harrison, the youngest woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Like the time her boat hurtled into a huge wave at 19.2 knots and capsized, leaving her with a badly injured elbow.
“I was basically thrown at a wall at 20-odd miles an hour. That’s going to hurt, especially in the middle of your sleep,” she said. “Everything happened when I was asleep.”
Continue reading...Oil spill from passing ship blackens Israel’s Mediterranean shoreline
Volunteers gather to remove clumps of tar in cleanup effort that could take months or years, officials say
Israeli authorities are trying to find the ship responsible for an oil spill that drenched much of its Mediterranean shoreline with tar, an environmental blow that will take months or years to clean up, officials said.
Thousands of volunteers gathered on Sunday to remove clumps of sticky black refuse from the pale beaches. Israel’s military said it was deploying thousands of soldiers to help with the effort. Authorities warned members of the public to keep their distance until further notice.
Continue reading...Joe Biden to meet Justin Trudeau of Canada after Keystone pipeline order
- Allies seek to turn page on strains of Donald Trump era
- Oil permit revocation and US goods order complicate picture
Joe Biden will hold his first bilateral meeting with the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, on Tuesday, the White House said on Saturday.
Related: Alberta leader says Biden's move to cancel Keystone pipeline a 'gut punch’
Continue reading...‘Something bit my butt’: Alaska woman using outhouse attacked by bear
Shannon Stevens was treated with first aid kit after incident in which bear face was seen at at toilet seat level
An Alaska woman had the scare of a lifetime when using an outhouse in the backcountry and she was attacked by a bear, from below.
“I got out there and sat down on the toilet and immediately something bit my butt right as I sat down,” Shannon Stevens told the Associated Press. “I jumped up and I screamed when it happened.”
Continue reading...Workers clear ‘huge, disgusting’ fatberg from London sewer
Public told to watch what they flush after workers take two weeks to free blockage
Members of the public have been urged to be careful what they flush after a “huge, disgusting” fatberg the weight of a small bungalow was cleared from an east London sewer.
Thames Water engineers and MTS Cleansing Services spent two weeks using high-powered water jets and hand tools to chip away at and eventually remove the rock-like heap, which was said to have smelled like composting festival toilets and rotten meat, from a conduit in Canary Wharf.
Continue reading...Dolphins have similar personality traits to humans, study finds
Curiosity and sociability among traits found, despite dolphins having evolved separately for millions of years
Dolphins have developed a number of similar personality traits to humans, despite having evolved in vastly different environments, researchers have found.
A study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, looked at 134 male and female bottlenose dolphins from eight facilities across the world, with each dolphin’s personality being assessed by staff at the facilities. The results of the study found a convergence of certain personality traits, especially curiosity and sociability.
Continue reading...‘California and Texas are warnings’: blackouts show US deeply unprepared for the climate crisis
Both states have faced widespread power outages after failing to plan for extreme weather
When California saw widespread power blackouts last year during wildfires and a summer “heat storm”, Republican lawmakers from Texas were quick to deride the coastal state’s energy policies. “California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity,” tweeted senator Ted Cruz during the record-breaking heatwave in August.
Continue reading...How fires have spread to previously untouched parts of the world
Fires have always been a part of our natural world. But they’re moving to new ecosystems previously untouched by fire – and this is concerning scientists
Wildfires are spreading to fuel-abundant regions of the world that used to be less prone to burning, according to a new analysis of 20 years of data by the Guardian.
While the overall area of annual burn in the world has remained relatively static in this period, the research indicates a shifting regional fire pattern that is affecting more forests and fewer grasslands.
Continue reading...US makes official return to Paris climate pact
World leaders expect Washington to prove commitment to accord after four years of inaction
The US is back in the Paris climate accord, just 107 days after it left.
While Friday’s return is heavily symbolic, world leaders say they expect the US to prove its seriousness after four years of being mostly absent. They are especially keen to hear an announcement from Washington in the coming months on the US’s goal for cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2030.
Continue reading...Millions of Texans struggle for drinking water following deadly winter storm
Record low temperatures damaged infrastructure and froze pipes, disrupting services and contaminating supplies for 12 million
Millions of Texans are facing water shortages after the deadly winter storm ravaging the state caused pipes to burst and treatment plants to back up, disrupting services and contaminating supplies.
Texas officials ordered 7 million people – a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state – to boil tap water before drinking it following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes.
Continue reading...Komodo dragons: ‘the biggest, worst lizard of the modern day’ | Helen Sullivan
From the Komodo’s mouth hang various strands of toxic drool, lightly coated in dust
The goanna wanted an egg. It had climbed a few metres up the trunk of a large cabbage palm and was looking at me: egg. Its nose pointed down, its eyes looked up, like a begging dog, and – distinctly unlike a dog of any kind – it flicked its forked tongue against the bark: egg. Although I was in possession of a carton, I declined the request. I have seen a goanna (Australian for monitor lizard) eat an egg and they have no idea how to do this in a normal way. They crunch the snack whole, a dull look on their faces, as most of the yolk dribbles down the sides of their mouths.
Of course, the best monitor lizard – and champion of disturbing feeding habits – is the Komodo dragon: a big beast that lives on small islands such as Indonesia’s Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang (50,000 years ago, Komodos lived in Australia, too). As the cult internet comic strip Achewood puts it, “Everyone knows that a Komodo Dragon is the biggest, worst lizard of the modern day.”
Continue reading...Human destruction of nature is ‘senseless and suicidal’, warns UN chief
UN report offers bedrock for hope for broken planet, says António Guterres
Humanity is waging a “senseless and suicidal” war on nature that is causing human suffering and enormous economic losses while accelerating the destruction of life on Earth, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has said.
Guterres’s starkest warning to date came at the launch of a UN report setting out the triple emergency the world is in: the climate crisis, the devastation of wildlife and nature, and the pollution that causes many millions of early deaths every year.
Continue reading...Indigenous peoples face rise in rights abuses during pandemic, report finds
Increasing land grabs endangering forest communities and wildlife as governments expand mining and agriculture to combat economic impact of Covid
Indigenous communities in some of the world’s most forested tropical countries have faced a wave of human rights abuses during the Covid-19 pandemic as governments prioritise extractive industries in economic recovery plans, according to a new report.
New mines, infrastructure projects and agricultural plantations in Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Indonesia and Peru are driving land grabs and violence against indigenous peoples as governments seek to revive economies hit by the pandemic, research by the NGO Forest Peoples Programme has found.
Continue reading...Mink farms a continuing Covid risk to humans and wildlife, warn EU experts
Health experts call for regular testing of staff and animals after coronavirus found at 400 breeding units across Europe
All mink farms are at risk of becoming infected with Covid-19 and spreading the virus, and staff and animals should be regularly tested, EU disease and food safety experts said on Thursday.
Mink are highly susceptible to coronavirus, which spreads rapidly in intensive farms that often breed thousands of animals in open housing caged systems (outdoor wire cages covered with a roof). Humans are the most likely initial source of infection.
Denmark, the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, announced that it would cull up to 15 million mink in November, after discovering a mutated variant of the virus that scientists feared might have jeopardised the effectiveness of future vaccines.
Continue reading...‘Put a big fat price on carbon’: OECD chief bows out with climate rally cry
Exclusive: Ángel Gurría says action on environmental crises must be defining focus of wealthy countries after Covid
The environment, climate change and the protection of nature must be the defining tasks of rich and major developing countries now and in the years to come, the outgoing head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has said, and the institutions that advise governments must take responsibility for keeping them focused on those tasks.
Ángel Gurría said the coronavirus crisis must be dealt with as a matter of urgency, but that the biggest task after that would be tackling the world’s environmental emergencies.
Continue reading...Athens accused of ‘downplaying’ risks of lead contamination at Lesbos camp
Campaign group calls for more testing at Mavrovouni, a temporary facility housing thousands of refugees on the Greek island
The Greek government is “downplaying” the risks of lead contamination in the refugee camp on Lesbos, according to Human Rights Watch.
The group is calling for further comprehensive testing at the Mavrovouni camp after results revealed that one area had particularly high levels of lead contamination.
Continue reading...Gone fishing: the fight to save one of the world’s most elusive wild cats
With webbed feet and a tail for a rudder, Asia’s fishing cats face shrinking habitats. But conservation efforts in West Bengal are helping it swim against the tide
For more than a decade, wildlife biologist Tiasa Adhya has spent many a day (and night) in a small wooden boat, silently gliding through dense vegetation in the wetlands and mangroves of West Bengal, scanning the banks for signs of a rarely seen wild cat – the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus).
“Fishing cats are fascinating animals,” she says. “They have co-inhabited riverine deltas and floodplains alongside humans for centuries. Ancient cultures like the Khmer empire show evidence of fishing cats.” As co-founder of the world’s longest-running fishing cat research and conservation project, Kolkata-based Adhya is dedicated to this endangered felid, one of the least-studied and understood wildcats.
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