-
Special pods at Chester zoo helped conservationists breed and release more than 100,000 greater Bermuda snails
A button-sized snail once feared extinct in its Bermudian home is thriving again after conservationists bred and released more than 100,000 of the molluscs.
The greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished from the North Atlantic archipelago, until a remnant population was discovered in a damp and overgrown alleyway in Hamilton, the island capital, in 2014.
Continue reading...
-
Government plans to protect species by increasing woodland and removing greys, but campaigners say it needs to go further
When Sam Beaumont sees a flash of red up a tree on his Lake District farm, he feels a swell of pride. He’s one of the few people in England who gets to see red squirrels in his back garden.
“I feel very lucky to have them on the farm. It’s an important thing to try and keep a healthy population of them. They are absolutely beautiful,” he said.
Continue reading...
-
Peterchurch, Herefordshire: Some silage competitions are assessed in a lab far away, this one takes place in a noisy pub, with judges getting their hands dirty
What a night. I’ve just got home from the Nags Head, Peterchurch, having attended the Eskleyside Agricultural Society’s annual silage competition. The Nags is one of the great social spots in the Golden valley. Here you can meet potato growers, social workers, sheep farmers, stranded pilgrims, water diviners and Thomas the cat. I’ve witnessed carol singing and dancing on tables, and the fire only goes out for two weeks each year, in the height of summer.
Tonight the focus is silage. Grass, maize and cereal crops, harvested last summer, have been under wraps ever since in the local barns. Starved of oxygen, they have been steadily “pickling”, to ensure they’re packed with nutrients when fed to hungry cattle and sheep.
Continue reading...
-
Greater awareness of healthy diets and concerns over ‘trusted’ food mean sales are growing at fastest pace in two decades
When household finances were plunged into turmoil during the credit crunch, one of the first things that Britons cancelled was their veg box delivery.
But although the cost of living crisis persists, the organic market is enjoying its biggest boom in two decades, according to the veg box seller Riverford. It is not just fruit and veg, with a “massive” increase in sales of organic meat. Organic chicken was up 13% year on year, despite costing three times as much as other birds.
Continue reading...
-
Research in Wales found that home, not outdoor travel, was largest contributor to children’s daily exposure
Children living in homes with wood burners could be exposed to over three times more pollution than those in non-wood-burning homes. The results come from a study that looked at air pollution experienced by primary schoolchildren in Wales.
Fifty-three children from two primary schools in Anglesey (Ynys Môn) were given backpacks equipped with air pollution sensors. They took the packs home and carried them during their journeys to and from school.
Continue reading...
-
With plans to sell off over a million acres of natural habitat for oil and gas development, the Trump administration is ignoring the dire impact on its fragile ecosystem
• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
This week, the Trump administration took a key step towards opening new leases for oil and gas drilling across millions of acres in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – a pristine and biodiverse expanse in northern Alaska and one of the last wildlands in the US still left untouched.
With a call for nominations officially issued on Tuesday, the US Bureau of Land Management began evaluating plots across the 1.5 million-acre Coastal Plain at the heart of the refuge – an area often referred to as the American Serengeti, thanks to its rich tundra ecosystems, which provide habitat for close to 200 species and serve as the traditional homelands of the Iñupiat and Gwichʼin peoples.
Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn
Fossil fuel firms may have to pay for climate damage under proposed UN tax
The lithium boom: could a disused quarry bring riches to Cornwall?
Trump’s Greenland threats open old wounds for Inuit across Arctic
‘Erasure of years of work’: outcry as White House moves to open Arctic reserve to oil and gas drilling
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’
Continue reading...
-
This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
Continue reading...
-
What could be more romantic than those three little words: locally grown, seasonal? How to choose flowers that show you care – about both a Valentine and Australia’s environment
A dozen red roses may say “I love you”, but many conventional bouquets carry an environmental price, having been imported by air, dipped in chemicals and wrapped in plastic.
Valentine’s Day is second only to Mother’s Day for sales of cut flowers, a popular choice for the millions of Australians planning to buy gifts for that special someone.
Continue reading...
-
A mangrove conservation project in Guanabara Bay has shown how a dying ecosystem can be transformed into a thriving sanctuary
With deep blue waters flanked by dramatic peaks, Guanabara Bay is the postcard view of Rio de Janeiro – but it is also one of Brazil’s most polluted coastal environments. Raw sewage and solid waste flow into the bay from surrounding cities, home to more than 8 million people. Cargo ships and oil platforms chug in and out of commercial ports, while dozens of abandoned vessels lie rotting in the water.
But at the head of the bay, between the cities of Itaboraí and Magé, the environment feels different. The air is purer, the waters are empty but for small fishing canoes, and flocks of birds soar overhead.
Continue reading...
-
Rammed earth sourced from, or near, the grounds of a proposed building site is attracting attention as an eco-friendly construction material
From afar, the low-rise homestead perched in the Wiltshire countryside may look like any other rural outpost, but step closer and the texture of the walls reveal something distinct from the usual facade of cement, brick and steel.
The Rammed Earth House in Cranborne Chase is one of the few projects in the UK that has been made by unstabilised rammed earth – a building material that consists entirely of compacted earth and which has been used as far back as the Neolithic period.
Continue reading...
Crkva u Splitskoj. Foto: Vivian Grisogono
uvečaj veličinu pisma
Jure, zvonar u Splitskoj
Foto: Vivian Grisogono
