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The 1,274-hectare Bradford Pennine Gateway links eight nature sites and includes landscape that inspired sisters
The sweeping landscapes of the Pennines inspired the Brontë sisters, and now those lands are being protected as one of England’s biggest nature reserves.
A huge new national nature reserve, to be called the Bradford Pennine Gateway, is being announced by the government on Tuesday. It will give Bradford, one of Britain’s largest and most nature-deprived cities, easier and more protected access to green space
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It broke my heart to see a seal so injured by a £1 plastic toy. Now I campaign to ban them – and it has changed my life
There was an incident seven years ago that changed my life. I saw an adult grey seal with a plastic pink flying ring toy so deeply embedded in her neck that she was practically dead. It was stopping her from feeding because it was digging into her and she couldn’t extend her neck – the wounds were horrific.
It broke my heart. From that moment on, I became obsessed with seals and protecting them from the dangers of plastic flying rings.
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Bioplastics, heralded for supposedly breaking down more quickly, can cause similar health problems to other plastics
Starch-based bioplastic that is said to be biodegradable and sustainable is potentially as toxic as petroleum-based plastic, and can cause similar health problems, new peer-reviewed research finds.
Bioplastics have been heralded as the future of plastic because they break down quicker than petroleum-based plastic, and they are often made from plant-based material such as corn starch, rice starch or sugar.
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Exclusive: Andrew Bowie says Kemi Badenoch could pull UK out of Paris climate agreement
The Conservative party’s energy spokesperson has attacked leading climate scientists as biased and claimed Kemi Badenoch could take the UK out of the Paris climate agreement.
Andrew Bowie, the acting shadow secretary for energy, told the Guardian that the target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – passed into law by Theresa May – was “arbitrary” and “not based on science”.
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Hitchin, Hertfordshire: We have a local speciality here, the rue-leaved saxifrage, poking up in street cracks and wall crannies. It’s worth lying on the pavement for
I’m a proud member of Happy (the Hitchin association of pavement plant yokels), so-called by my friend Phil, a fellow wildflower enthusiast. You’ll find us roaming the town centre, scanning brick walls and peering into paving crevices on the hunt for the tenacious species that thrive in these oft-overlooked habitats. I had my pavement epiphany a couple of years ago outside the chemist on Hitchin high street when I saw a little lass bending down, scrutinising the paving stones. Her dad soon whisked her away and I went over to look. She’d noticed a community of self-seeded plants growing in a semicircular crack. The diversity of the miniature garden astonished me: mosses, meadow grass, goosegrass, common whitlowgrass, sow thistle, fleabane, and there, among the annual plants and perennial cigarette butts, a seedling with trilobed leaves – a Hitchin speciality – rue-leaved saxifrage (Saxifraga tridactylites).
Now it’s early May and this three-fingered rock-breaker’s tiny white flowers have opened in the sun, the foliage blushing redder the drier and sunnier its location. Looking closely, you can see sticky hairs lining the fleshy leaves and stems – but be prepared for funny looks if you lie prostrate on the pavement to examine this low-growing annual.
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Sustainable farming initiative is part of payment package that replaced EU’s common agricultural policy
Ministers wrongly refused nature funding to 3,000 farmers in England when they shut the post-Brexit subsidy scheme, the government has admitted.
There was anger earlier this year when the environment secretary, Steve Reed, suddenly paused a key post-Brexit farming payments scheme with little information about what would replace it and when.
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Exclusive: Campaigners call for energy profits levy to be made permanent to enable ‘just transition’ from fossil fuels
Making permanent the UK’s windfall tax on oil and gas producers would generate enough cash to enable North Sea workers to move to green jobs, research has found.
Cutting current subsidies to fossil fuel producers would free up yet more funds to spend on the shift to a low-carbon economy, according to the report.
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ABC’s The Kimberley showcases rare footage by a crew working alongside Indigenous rangers, traditional owners and scientists
The Kimberley’s winding ochre gorges, coral sunsets and celadon crocodile-filled rivers feature in a new ABC documentary series about one of Earth’s last great tropical wetlands.
Filmed on cinema-grade cameras in the remote and vast north-west Australian region, The Kimberleycaptures an intimate portrait of its ancient landscape and offers ecological and cultural insight across three episodes.
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Under pressure from Reform and from the former PM, Keir Starmer is facing a series of tests of his resolve on green policy
Populist politicians are striking a chord with the public in their attack on “the green agenda” because they are right – climate policies are elitist. So says the man standing to be the next leader of the Green party in England and Wales.
“We should all be angry about net zero,” argues Zack Polanski, currently the Greens’ deputy leader. “The poorest people in our society are being expected to step up to tackle the climate crisis. But it’s the government’s fault, not the people’s fault.”
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On the remote Channel Islands, a draw for researchers and divers, preservation has transformed the ecosystem
Just 14 miles (23km) off the southern California coast lies a vast underwater paradise.
Giant sea bass the size of grizzly bears and schools of sardines glide together through swirling strands of golden kelp, whose long stalks preside over a world exploding with life and color. Playful harbor seals dance into the depths of undulating pink, green and orange plants, alongside spiny crustaceans and vibrant sea stars that embrace the volcanic rock that slopes to the sandy seafloor.
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