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Others languishing near bottom of 61-country study include Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan and Spain
Britain is one of the least “nature connected” nations in the world, according to the first ever global study of how people relate to the natural world.
Britain ranks 55th out of 61 countries in the study of 57,000 people, which looks at how attitudes towards nature are shaped by social, economic, geographical and cultural factors.
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Many waterways vulnerable to breaches and closures and face mounting maintenance costs, charity says
Britain’s network of canals and rivers is under strain from funding shortfalls and growing climate pressures, campaigners warn.
Three-quarters of the country’s waterways face financial peril, according to the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), an independent charity advocating for Britain’s canals and rivers, as the country braces for heavier winter rainfall and intensifying summer droughts.
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Keir Starmer is taking the lead on tackling the climate crisis. With the US backing away, now is the moment when other nations must step up
With the once-familiar pillars of the old world order crumbling and the US stepping away from action on climate crisis, it falls to others to assume global environmental leadership. Those leaders who understand the urgency should seize the opportunity afforded by Brazil hosting Cop30 this month to build a coalition of committed countries determined to turn back the climate deniers.
Many now see China – the most successful manufacturer of solar, wind, battery and electric vehicle technologies – as the global low-carbon powerhouse. But its national emission goals, recently submitted to the UN, are underwhelming and it is unclear whether China is willing to take up the mantle of climate leadership.
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Decision to stay away from Cop30 meeting in Brazil underscores administration’s hostility to climate action
The Trump administration has confirmed that no high-level representatives will be sent by the US to upcoming UN climate talks in Brazil, underscoring the administration’s hostile stance towards action on the climate crisis.
The US has always sent delegations of various sizes to UN climate summits over the past three decades, even during periods under George W Bush and in Donald Trump’s first term, where there was scant desire to address the global heating crisis.
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Laxey, Isle of Man: I’m lucky to see my first ever wild Atlantic salmon, but it’s no fluke that they are present in our rivers
You need a little luck to see some species of wildlife, and fortune was on my side as I peered into the River Laxey on the Isle of Man’s east coast. There below me, holding in a pool, was the first wild Atlantic salmon I’ve ever seen.
At this time of year, salmon run up the Laxey to return to their breeding grounds,and the locals aren’t far behind – angling for them and sea trout in the rivers forms part of the government’s unseen economy. The thing that I needed to look closely at was the tail: if it was square-cut, the fish was a sea trout, but in this case, the concave fin was conclusive.
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Huge increase in tree-killing disease is result of climate crisis, experts say
A golden mushroom that grows in clusters and can attack and kill trees has increased by 200% in the UK in a year because of the hot summer and damp autumn.
Recorded sightings of honey fungus are up by almost 200% compared with the same period last year, according to iNaturalist.
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Trio argued orange powder protest day before 2024 solstice was justified because of focus on climate emergency
Three Just Stop Oil protesters have been cleared over a protest at Stonehenge during which orange powder was sprayed on to the prehistoric circle.
Rajan Naidu, 74, Niamh Lynch, 23, and Luke Watson, 36, targeted Stonehenge the day before last year’s summer solstice.
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The tree-shaped badge on your next desk might certify the gold standard of forestry – or very little. Here’s how to tell
Durable, renewable and biodegradable, wood is an ideal material for everything from furniture to cutting boards. And as we grapple with the aftermath of synthetic materials, such as forever chemicals and microplastics, the humble material growing in our literal backyards is suddenly looking pretty appealing again. But how do you know it wasn’t clearcut from a rainforest?
Figuring out logging practices, deforestation policies, impact on wildlife, pesticide use, and impact on indigenous communities “can be really challenging”, said Linda Walker, the director of corporate engagement for forests at the World Wildlife Federation, who has worked on sustainability issues in woodlands around the world. “You as an individual consumer can’t figure all that stuff out if you’re walking down the grocery store or retail store aisle,” Walker added.
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Caitlin Cassidy takes a test-drive in some of the cutting-edge vehicles at the Sydney International EV Motor Show – with a mixed verdict
I am many things, but a car person is not one of them. I know how to drive, I can fill my tank with petrol, but that’s basically the extent of my knowledge.
The first time I rode in a Tesla was after booking an Uber, and I didn’t know how to open the door. For a long time, if you’d asked me what a Maserati was, I’d have guessed a type of fancy salami.
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Research by marine scientists in Thailand is revealing how shipwrecks can benefit the undersea environment
Sitting at the bottom of the Gulf of Thailand about 20 metres below the ocean surface is the HTMS Hanhak Sattru. Snappers, yellowtail fusiliers and bannerfish swim through the ship’s corridors,while barnacles, algae and young coral cling to the iron ladders and machine-gun on deck. Nearby is another wreck, the HTMS SuphairinBoth were intentionally submerged by the Royal Thai Navy in 2023 to create artificial reefs and dive sites. Their planned scuttling has enabled marine scientists to produce some of the first research on how much shipwrecks change the marine environment.
There is already plenty of existing research that shows that shipwrecks create a new ecosystem. But whether they pull fish from natural reefs or promote production of new fish (known as the attraction-pollution hypothesis) has historically been hard to say.
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