increase font size
In response to a request from Hvar's registered charity Dignitea, the EC has sent a full explanation of the regulations which should be applied to the proposed oil and gas drilling in the Adriatic.
Donations can be made in euros, pounds sterling, US and Australian dollars and Swiss francs. All donations, however small, are very welcome. We acknowledge donations by email if we have the donor's address. Please let us know if you require a formal paper receipt.
After her sister died, Victoria Bennett left Cumbria for the remote Scottish archipelago, where she learned to go with the ebb and flow of life
It was during her first winter in Orkney that the nature writer Victoria Bennett experienced the joy of baying into the sea during a storm. “There’s something very physically releasing about howling,” she says. “It’s quite animalistic and powerful.” On a stormy beach, when waves are crashing on the rocks, “you can really let rip”, she says. “The sound just disappears.”
Until that moment, Bennett had been struggling with her decision to move to the remote archipelago off the north coast of Scotland. “I was beginning to feel like I was in a fight against the sea, and against the weather.”
Continue reading...
Heatwaves reach 45C across India as unseasonably cold weather affects parts of central Canada
Widespread heavy rain is sweeping over southern China. By Wednesday, rainfall totals are expected to exceed 100mm across many parts of Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, and in some areas as much as 150-200mm.
As a result, the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management have been holding meetings with meteorological and hydrological departments to emphasise the importance of reinforced patrols and emergency responses to mitigate against the probable flooding that the intense rainfall is expected to bring. In particular, reservoirs with known safety concerns must remain empty during the period, as well as through the coming rainy season.
Continue reading...
Prendwick, Northumberland:On a crisp, cold walk, I’m reminded that winter still clings on, and that familiar constellations are far from alone
The red sun rising over the radar station on Alnwick Moor picks out the tall shape of a hare at our end of the meadow. It lopes forward a little way – forever appearing, as hares always do, to be on the brink of a forward roll – and then pauses, sits up and shakes the dew from its front paws.
A nearby pheasant lets rip a choked cock-crow. Both of these animals are game, here in England (as is the red-legged partridge, toiling tortoise-like through the weeds at the meadow bottom).
Continue reading...
Researchers find ‘alarming’ effect on fertility across global species from simultaneous exposures
Simultaneous exposure to toxic chemicals and climate change’s impacts likely generates an additive or synergistic effect that increases reproductive harm, and may contribute to the broad global drop in fertility, new peer-reviewed research finds.
The review of scientific literature considers how endocrine-disrupting chemicals, often found in plastic, coupled with climate change’s effects, such as heat stress, are each linked to reductions in fertility and fecundity across global species – including in humans, wildlife and invertebrates.
Continue reading...
Exclusive: As countries meet at key climate crisis meetings, Australia’s Chris Bowen says war underlines need to move away from fossil fuels
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The fallout from the Iran war is driving countries to boost homegrown energy reliability and opens an opportunity for progress on clean generation at the next UN climate summit, says the lead negotiator at the talks.
Chris Bowen, the Australian climate change minister and new president of negotiations at the Cop31 conference in Turkey in November, said the energy market disruption should be seen as a global fossil fuel crisis – the second in four years, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – and it was having an acute impact in Asia.
Continue reading...
Early birds were like ‘T rex reincarnated’, says scientist who believes avian skulls offer insight into dinosaurs’ behaviour
T rex is often depicted as more brawn than brains, but now scientists are hoping to probe just what was going on inside its head, drawing on findings from another kind of dinosaur: birds.
Scientists have previously found some species of bird not only make and use tools, but are able to plan ahead and show basic forms of empathy – with laboratory tests suggesting emus can recognise other birds might have different experiences to themselves.
Continue reading...
Study of 1,300 campaigners finds arrests, fines and jail terms increase determination of activists to take direct action
The criminalisation of direct action climate protests in the UK is counterproductive and increases the determination of activists to undertake disruptive demonstrations, according to a study of 1,300 campaigners.
New findings suggest arrests, fines and lengthy prison sentences given to nonviolent climate protesters who have blocked roads or damaged buildings may actually radicalise them. The repression of protest could even be one driver of recent covert actions such as the cutting of internet cables, they said.
Continue reading...
Carl Camilleri is one of a dwindling number of owners of LPG-fuelled cars. As petrol and diesel prices go through the roof, they’re sparking a dose of Australian car industry nostalgia
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
When Carl Camilleri goes to fill up his Ford Falcon XR6 Mark II, he pays just over 70 cents a litre for fuel. Filling up the whole tank costs about $60.
The tank is about 85 litres and if driven daily, lasts Camilleri two to three weeks around town.
Continue reading...
Athletes are helping to promote a new film about the crisis, reaching people ‘in a way that scientific reports never will’
It wasn’t so long ago that UK government briefings from Downing Street were essential viewing. Professors Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance were household names in Britain and there was a roaring trade in “next slide please” mugs. Four years after the final Covid lectern was put away comes an attempt to alert the public to another emergency – the climate and nature emergency. And sport could be the secret weapon in spreading the word.
The National Emergency Briefing was held in London last November, in front of over 1,000 guests including MPs. It brought together experts from the fields of nature, climate, tipping points, weather extremes, food security, health, national security, economics and energy transition to sum up the scale of the challenge ahead and what could be done about it. A condensed version of the day was made into a 45-minute film, The People’s Emergency Briefing, which was released earlier this month, with backers including the British Ecological Society and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
This is an extract from our newsletter, The Hotspot. To subscribe just visit this page and follow the instructions.
Continue reading...
In 2024 seven solar and windfarms and seven storage projects – totalling 3,202 megawatts – had been approved. Then came the LNP government
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
For all involved, it felt like Queensland’s transition away from coal-fired power was happening at speeds never seen before.
It was 2024, and the rubber was hitting the road hard on the Labor government’s plans to get the power grid almost entirely off coal by 2035.
Continue reading...Poor housing, obesity and the effects of deprivation have been suggested as underlying cause.
A tribunal hearing criticised Janette Donnelly's use of force at Millport Care Centre was "unnecessary".
The boss of the controversial tech company with UK government contracts published a 22-point plan on the future of the West.
The proposed legislation was supported by MPs but has not cleared its stages in the Lords.
The government said medical data of 500,000 people was affected but no personally identifiable information had been made available.
A cross-party report has called for safer conditions for the record number of families living in temporary accommodation.
Saffie's mum says Luxturna therapy at Great Ormond Street has been like "someone waved a magic wand".
Medical marijuana was moved into a lower category of drugs in order to increase research and access.
Beer provides "substantial levels" of vitamin B6 into your diet, according to new research.
The arrest was made as part of a wider investigation into leadership at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Deep in the mountains of Palawan, Conservation International scientists are capturing what few people ever see: the secret lives of the Philippines’ rarest species.
At Maido — the Lima restaurant recently crowned the best in the world — one of the star dishes is paiche, a giant prehistoric river fish.Its journey to the table begins on a small family farm deep in Peru’s Amazon.
“Jane Goodall forever changed how people think about, interact with and care for the natural world,” said Daniela Raik, interim CEO of Conservation International.
Conservation International’s Neil Vora was selected for TIME’s Next 100 list — alongside other rising leaders reshaping culture, science and society.
Climate change is happening. And it’s placing the world’s reefs in peril. What can be done?
After decades of negotiation, the high seas treaty is finally reality. The historic agreement will pave the way to protect international waters which face numerous threats.
The Amazon rainforest, known for lush green canopies and an abundance of freshwater, is drying out — and deforestation is largely to blame.
The ocean is engine of all life on Earth, but human-driven climate change is pushing it past its limits. Here are five ways the ocean keeps our climate in check — and what can be done to help.
In a grueling and delicate dance, a team led by Conservation International removes a massive undersea killer.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. These pictures might be worth even more. An initiative featuring the work of some of the world’s best nature photographers raises money for environmental conservation.
