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Sir John Armitt urges ministers to act swiftly or risk impeding growth and jeopardising climate targets
Rishi Sunak’s U-turns over net zero have delayed progress on vital infrastructure that is needed for economic growth, the government’s advisers have said.
Sir John Armitt, the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), said good progress had been made on renewable energy in the past five years, but changes to key policies, including postponing a scheme to boost heat pump takeup, had created uncertainty and delay.
The government will fail to meet its targets on heat pump rollout.
The promised lifting of a ban on new onshore windfarms has not gone far enough.
Massive investment is needed in the electricity grid.
There is no proper plan for rail in the north and Midlands now that the northern leg of HS2 has been cancelled, severely inhibiting economic growth in those regions.
Water bills will need to go up to fix the sewage crisis, and more reservoirs are needed to avoid drought, while water companies have done too little to staunch leaks.
The UK lacks a coherent strategy on flooding, with more than 900,000 properties at risk of river or sea flooding and 910,000 at risk of surface water flooding.
Good progress has been made on the rollout of gigabit broadband around the country.
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Early springs mean food for young of arrivals from west Africa has already disappeared; this year they face the opposite problem
Migratory birds, especially those long-distance travellers that winter in sub-Saharan Africa, are struggling with the effects of climate change. Specifically, the trend towards earlier springs is causing problems, because when they arrive at their usual time – between mid-April and early May – nature’s calendar has shifted forwards and spring is almost over.
This is a particular problem for three species that travel from west Africa to breed in British oakwoods: the wood warbler, the redstart and the pied flycatcher. This trio feed their young on oak moth caterpillars, but when spring comes early these have already emerged and are beginning to pupate, so the chicks starve.
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Neoprene is made from toxic chemicals, hard to recycle and, with 400,000 tonnes made a year, a growing problem. So can surfers and swimmers find green wetsuits?
I have been hesitating for months. The wetsuit I swim in every week to keep me toasty warm in the winter and safe from jellyfish stings in the summer is riddled with holes. Yet I can’t bring myself to buy a new one because I’ve learned that comfortable, flexible and insulating neoprene is manufactured using some of the most toxic chemicals on the planet.
Neoprene, a synthetic foamed rubber, is made from the petrochemical compound chloroprene. Exposure to chloroprene emissions, produced during the manufacturing process, may increase the risk of cancer, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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The Strawberry Line network of paths in Somerset has found a way to speed up planning permission and harness the goodwill of the community
In the past two years, multiple sections of a hoped-for 76-mile rural cycling and walking route spanning Somerset have sprouted up around the small town of Shepton Mallet, seemingly every few weeks.
These new routes are popular. One 300-metre section of path in the heart of the town, for example, uses one of Historic Railway Estates’ bridges for the first time for a cycle route (an organisation usually more given to infilling its structures).
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St Dominic, Tamar Valley: Few insects are about, but we hope the variable and staggered blossoming times will help pollination
In this cool, damp May, greenery washes across the land, clouding memories of wintry mud and rain. Along the lanes near home, fresh leaves of woody growth on flailed hedge banks merge with bluebells, stitchwort and an array of unfurling ferns – lady, male, buckler and scaly male. These are succeeded by soft shield, hart’s-tongue, and the latest to emerge – the hard fern, reminiscent of pale green fish skeletons.
In the orchard of local and historic fruit varieties – planted, maintained and documented by my brother-in-law and sister – the froth of cherry blossom has faded among the orange-tinged leaves of tall trees, whose broad trunks are encrusted in lichens. James and Mary are uncertain as to whether it has been pollinated yet, but are encouraged to find fruit on the Morwellham and grey cattern pears.
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South West Water has detected ‘small traces’ of parasite in drinking supply that can cause diarrhoea-type disease
Boil your tap water before you drink it, residents in Devon have been told, after 22 cases of a parasitic disease were confirmed.
South West Water has detected what it calls “small traces” of a parasite that can cause a diarrhoea-type disease in the drinking supply around the town of Brixham.
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‘One woman heard tree branches snapping and jumped out of bed – just in time to see her mattress float away as the back half of her house melted into the darkness’
I started my Shifting Sands series seven years ago to look at how the world is running out of usable sand. It’s the next big resource crisis. I’m from Singapore, the world’s biggest importer of sand per capita, due to the scale of its land reclamation. That was the starting point of what I had initially mapped out as a global project, investigating the extraction of and uses of sand, its consequences and alternatives.
I photographed in Singapore, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is experiencing rapid erosion due to large-scale sand mining and China damming the river upstream. I went to a number of villages with researchers. We went to the commune of Hiep Phuoc, southeast of Saigon, where this picture was made, just five days after a number of villagers – including tea-seller Nguyen Thi Hong, 45, who appears in this image – had lost their homes.
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Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s
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Oscar-winning film-maker Craig Foster on his first octopus encounter, the price of fame and his new video book about the power of connecting with animals
When the film My Octopus Teacher aired on Netflix in 2020 it was a huge overnight success, going on to win an Oscar the following year for best documentary. The simple but touching tale of the tender bond between film-maker Craig Foster and his young undersea companion had audiences spellbound worldwide. Some, like Sir Richard Branson, even gave up eating octopus after watching the film.
Yet for Foster himself, the overnight fame was emotionally debilitating. “You’re working on this little story that you think a few people might be interested in and suddenly you’re in front of 100 million people,” he says. “I didn’t think it would affect me so much, but it was very difficult. Terrifying, to be honest.”
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The practice of recording firsthand observations about nature goes back centuries and provides an invaluable resource
Britain has a long tradition of volunteer naturalists dating back 250 years to the Rev Gilbert White in Selborne, Hampshire, best known for his classic book The Natural History of Selborne (1789).
In recent times, Rosemary Parslow has detailed the plants of the Isles of Scilly, many found nowhere else in Britain thanks to the sub-tropical climate of the islands.
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