Growers blame weather challenges in UK and Europe, which Met Office says will become more frequent with climate breakdown
Broccoli, cauliflower and other brassicas may be in short supply this spring as the mild autumn and winter has caused the crops to come up early, growers have said.
Any shortages will prolong the so-called “hungry gap”, which runs from April to early June, when very few crops are grown in the UK.
Continue reading...‘The animals that don’t die need total nursing care,’ wildlife rescuer says, ahead of a potential spike in cases in coming weeks
Thousands of rainbow lorikeets and hundreds of flying foxes have been hospitalised in Queensland in the past year with a mysterious paralysis that can affect the animals’ ability to fly, swallow and even breathe.
Lorikeet paralysis syndrome has struck birds in Queensland and New South Wales since at least 2012, and a similar syndrome was identified in flying foxes five years ago.
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Continue reading...Environment minister said vandalism and intimidation were ‘completely unacceptable’
A climate activist who graffitied the word “liar” on the federal environment minister’s office has stood by his highly publicised actions, urging the public to stand up for their beliefs.
Zachary “Zack” Edward Jaworowski Schofield took a can of red spray paint to Tanya Plibersek’s Sydney electorate office in December.
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Continue reading...Getty team says no current plans to move prominent pieces from center deemed ‘marvel of anti-fire engineering’
It houses some of the richest treasures of the art world, such as Vincent van Gogh’s Irises, a popular Rembrandt and a priceless collection of paintings, portraits and other works spanning more than seven centuries.
To protect them, the Getty Center in Los Angeles was built in 1997 as “a marvel of anti-fire engineering”, complete with fire-resistant stone and concrete, protected steel, and set in well-irrigated landscaping.
Continue reading...More than 7,000 hectares logged in planned park area since Chris Minns won 2023 election with commitment to deliver new sanctuary, conservationists say
Logging of native forest in the proposed great koala national park (GKNP) in northern New South Wales has intensified since the Minns government took office, according to new analysis by conservation advocates.
The report, which the state’s forestry corporation disputes, found 7,185 hectares (17,700 acres) were logged within the promised park in the 21 months since the March 2023 state election.
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Continue reading...Organic farmers sound alarm about greenwashing amid push to introduce national domestic standard
Organic farmers and retailers have warned that Australians are being misled by producers who engage in a form of greenwashing by falsely labelling their products “organic”.
Australian consumers may be happy to pay higher prices for meat, cheese, cosmetics and other goods marked “organic” but producers can use the term without meeting any particular standards or being certified.
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Continue reading...Noaa says last year was the warmest since records began in 1850 and Nasa concurs: ‘The long-term trends are very clear’
It was the hottest year ever recorded for the world’s lands and oceans in 2024, US government scientists have confirmed, providing yet another measure of how the climate crisis is pushing humanity into temperatures we have previously never experienced.
Last year was the hottest in global temperature records stretching back to 1850, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa_ announced, with the worldwide average 1.46C (2.6F) warmer than the era prior to humans burning huge volumes of planet-heating fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Exclusive: The kaputar slug, which can grow longer than a human hand, was almost wiped out in the black summer bushfires of 2019-20
A giant, fluorescent pink slug’s comeback on Mount Kaputar has been mapped by eager citizen scientists.
The kaputar slug grows up to 20cm long – outstripping the average human hand – and 6cm wide. The only place it exists in the entire world is on an extinct volcano in NSW’s Mount Kaputar national park.
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Continue reading...Experts recorded 45 entanglements off Australia’s east coast in 2024 – but believe that’s ‘the tip of the iceberg’
At least 45 whales were entangled by fishing ropes and line on the east coast in 2024, and experts are calling for better management of fishing gear in Australia to prevent marine suffering.
Dr Olaf Meynecke, a marine scientist at Griffith University, said the issue of preventing whale entanglements was “largely ignored in Australia”.
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Continue reading...Bureau of Meteorology says showers and storms a regular feature of Australian summer but warm and dry periods still to come
Showers are expected to continue for Sydney and Brisbane throughout much of the coming week but summer isn’t over yet, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
In fact, the senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said showers and storm activity were a regular feature of the Australian summer, especially for northern Australia, as well as south-east Queensland and eastern New South Wales.
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Continue reading...The firefighters earn $5.80-$10.24 per day plus $1 an hour when responding to active emergencies, according to CDCR
Hundreds of incarcerated firefighters are helping battle the destructive blazes that are rapidly spreading across southern California as a powerful windstorm devastates the region.
The California department of corrections and rehabilitation (CDCR) said on Wednesday that it had deployed 395 imprisoned firefighters across 29 crews while the county fights multiple out-of-control blazes fueled by extreme winds and dry conditions. The incarcerated crews are embedded with the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire) and its nearly 2,000 firefighters, who have been stretched thin from several simultaneous emergencies.
Continue reading...Iron ore billionaire says he is ‘personally delighted’ at lawsuit as fossil fuel giant has ‘opened themselves up to cross-examination’ in a US court
Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest is among a group accused of orchestrating “smear campaigns and lawfare” against the global oil and gas sector “for politics, publicity, and private gain” in a dramatic defamation claim launched in US courts by fossil fuel company ExxonMobil.
But the iron ore billionaire, who is not himself a defendant in the case, said he is “personally delighted” at the court action and that “Exxon has walked themselves into the court and opened themselves up to cross-examination”.
Continue reading...Over 30,000 ordered to evacuate as flames rip through coastal Pacific Palisades and other inland fires spread fast
Residents of Los Angeles have fled deadly wildfires engulfing the suburbs of the west coast megalopolis, as firefighters struggled to contain the flames overnight amid fears they would worsen on Wednesday morning.
California officials ordered more than 30,000 people to evacuate their homes as hillside blazes ripped through the coastal Pacific Palisades neighbourhood. People escaped by car and on foot.
Continue reading...Hadi Nazari, 23, found after going missing two weeks ago, discovered two muesli bars at a hut while lost, police say
A 23-year-old hiker missing since Boxing Day in the remote Kosciuszko national park has been found alive.
Hadi Nazari stumbled into the path of a group of hikers at about 3.15pm on Wednesday, on the circuit walk near Blue Lake, police said.
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Continue reading...Fueled by major windstorm, Pacific Palisades fire touches museum site but officials say collection safe
A rapidly spreading wildfire in southern California reached the grounds of the Getty Villa museum north of Santa Monica on Tuesday, but officials said no structures had burned and the collection was safe.
The Pacific Palisades fire, fueled by a major windstorm and prompting mass evacuations in Los Angeles county, burned some trees and vegetation on site at the Getty Villa, but museum leaders said the galleries and archives were protected.
Continue reading...Chuckwalla and Sáttítla monuments in California will be safeguarded against extraction and energy development
Joe Biden will designate two new national monuments in California in his last days in office, after tribes and environment groups asked him to take urgent action.
The designation of the Chuckwalla monument in southern California and the Sáttítla monument in the far north of the state will place 840,000 acres (339,935 hectares) of land under protection, shielding it from extraction and energy development.
Continue reading...Campaigners welcome move but say success depends on enforcement and global agreement on a treaty
Thailand has banned plastic waste imports over concerns about toxic pollution, as experts warn that failure to agree a global treaty to cut plastic waste will harm human health.
A law banning imports of plastic waste came into force this month in Thailand, after years of campaigning by activists. Thailand is one of several south-east Asian countries that has historically been paid to receive plastic waste from developed nations. The country became a leading destination for exports of plastic waste from Europe, the US, the UK and Japan in 2018 after China, the world’s biggest market for household waste, imposed a ban.
Continue reading...Video removed as Life Saving Victoria carries out 145 rescues – ‘We don’t remember when we’ve been that busy’
Victoria’s tourism agency has removed a social media post that described an unpatrolled ocean beach on the Mornington Peninsula as a “pristine swimming spot” amid almost 150 rescues on the state’s beaches on Saturday.
Number 16 beach, on the Bass Strait side of Rye, is described on the Visit Victoria website as “recommended for experienced surfers only” as it is not patrolled by lifesavers. It has a reputation among local residents as dangerous.
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Continue reading...Families Like Ours has become national talking point but some scientists say events depicted could not happen
Featuring scenes of huge crowds boarding ferries, protest and desperation as six million Danes become climate refugees and life as they know it rapidly collapses, the new TV series by the Oscar-winning director Thomas Vinterberg is a potential “look into the future”, he says.
Familier som vores (Families Like Ours) – a drama which depicts a flooded Denmark shut down and evacuated – has been viewed nearly 1m times and become a national talking point. At its premiere at the Venice international film festival, it evoked tears, shouts and a standing ovation, with one critic describing it as “grimly prophetic”.
Continue reading...Prefectures in north hit by falls of up to 30cm in a day as similar weather pattern affects parts of north America
Heavy snow fell across northern Japan on Thursday, with the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori, Yamagata and Niigata particularly affected. Accumulations of 20-30cm over a 24-hour period were recorded across the affected areas, with local totals of more than 30cm near Aomori City.
The snowfall was a result of heavy showers generated by a cold airmass moving in from the north-west across the relatively warm waters of the Sea of Japan. This resulted in warming of the lowest levels of the atmosphere, leading to rising motion and convective shower development caused by the increased moisture. Ascent was further aided by the mountainous terrain across northern Japan.
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