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Draft Motion for a Resolution prepared for the EU Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, March 2016
Draft Motion prepared by Rapporteurs Pavel Poc (Socialists and Democrats Group), Kateřina Konečná on behalf of the European United Left and Nordic Green Left group, Bas Eickhout of the Greens / European Free Alliance Group, Piernicola Pedicini of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group, Mark Demesmaeker, Sirpa Pietikäinen and Frédérique Ries. This draft Motion was carried forward for the vote in a Parliamentary Plenary Session in April 2016.
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notices Poisons Beware Glyphosate: EU draft Motion, March 2016
EU Copernicus report shows surface air temperatures from June to August were 2.5C above decadal average
The scorching heat that persistently baked western Europe this summer was the worst on record, a report has found, with more than half the continent seared by “very strong” heat stress that felt hotter than 38C.
Surface air temperatures in western Europe from June to August were 2.5C above the recent decadal average, according to an update from the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service on Friday, while milder but still deadly heat across the rest of the continent made the summer Europe’s third hottest on record.
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This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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Micro aircraft used to help guide birds to Spanish stopover as part of efforts to create sustaining migratory population
Fifteen new birds have joined a growing flock of bald ibises in northern Spain, guided there by human migration guides in micro aircraft who helped them along the route.
The birds are part of the growing European flock of the northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), the charismatic and frankly extraordinary bird that had been extinct on the continent for 300 years.
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Tebay, Cumbria: I’ve had a stroke of luck with applying for government funding, but some bad vet results are overshadowing things once more
Last week was an important one as the government’s sustainable farming incentive opened for this year. Thankfully, I was working on my laptop when the email came through, so I submitted an application for us to become an organic farm. Others were not so lucky – the funding ran out after a few hours, and WhatsApp became a catalogue of despair among farmers who missed out and now don’t know how their farm businesses will survive. It’s clear that the government needs to provide more money to support sustainable farming.
Meanwhile, it’s been a difficult period since June as we’ve been “shut down” with TB. We’ve been waiting to test again so we can hopefully sell our bullocks, bull and breeding heifers. The wait has been extended because of my son’s wedding, and we had to find a new vet after our previous vet stopped taking farm animals as it was uneconomical for them. I’ve been unable to sleep. Another shutdown would again impact us financially.
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‘Day-to-day’ symptom of harmful emissions, which in turn can disrupt sleep, can be overlooked, say researchers
New research has found that increased air pollution is associated with more night-time coughing, leading to disturbed sleep.
Most air pollution research looks at symptoms that are severe enough for people to seek medical help, but day-to-day symptoms can be overlooked. Prof Cecilia Mascolo, who led the study from the University of Cambridge, said: “I come from an area in Italy with very high pollution and I am very aware of its not-talked-about effects.”
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Gieß den Kiez app shows trees in critical need of watering and can be adopted by other heat-stressed cities around the world
Amanda Gläser-Bligh sometimes attracts puzzled looks when she goes to water the eight-year-old street tree she has adopted outside her door in Charlottenburg, Berlin.
“I named her Linda the linden,” she says. “Berliners are not always known for being super friendly but most people react really positively when they find out what I’m doing.”
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In a region of Nigeria blighted by decades of pollution, Martha Agbani and her team are not just replanting trees but regaining ownership of their lost lands and livelihoods
A toxic landscape was familiar to Martha Agbani when she was growing up – the smell of crude oil in the air, rivers running black and trees dying on the banks. In Ogoniland, in Nigeria’s oil-exploited Niger delta, Agbani saw the spills rot away the mangrove forests and destroy the livelihoods of communities around her.
Now, she is training women to plant them back – one fragile green shoot at a time.
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With 40 dead and a disaster declared across all 50 city districts, experts warn extreme flooding will only worsen across south-east Asia
Bangkok is used to absorbing the sudden afternoon downpours that inundate the city during the rainy season. Even streets in many central high-rise districts can briefly turn into rivers, with rats and cockroaches racing out of sewers and taking temporary refuge on trees and buildings as the subterranean world is flushed out.
But every city has a breaking point, and this year rain fell so fast and so hard that whole neighbourhoods of the Thai capital have been transformed, not into rivers, but stagnant lakes. In parts of the city, roughly 300mm of rain – the equivalent of half a year of average rainfall in London – fell in about two days.
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As the weather warms up, renewable and refillable brews can help reduce the environmental cost of a cold one
Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint
Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at [email protected]
It’s no secret that Australians love getting on the beers: we consume 69m litres of the stuff every year.
With that comes a significant packaging and environmental footprint, as commercially produced drinks generate emissions in both production and transportation. Australians drink and dispose of an estimated 17bn bottles and cans a year, fewer than half of which are recycled.
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As more families report housing stress, declines in financial wellbeing and food insecurity, experts warn that the situation is not just an economic problem but a matter of public health
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When Justin Everitt heard that the Reserve Bank had increased the cash rate to 4.6% this week – the highest it’s been since 2011 – his first thought was: “Oh shit, another kick in the guts.”
The third-generation southern New South Wales grains farmer and vice-president of NSW Farmers was already feeling the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis, compounded by soaring fuel costs that make it harder for him to do his job. For Everitt, who produces wheat, canola, barley, beef and lamb on his farm in Brocklesby, the rate rise couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Continue reading...Hugo Flint-Cahan, 34, was fatally attacked by Rolando Torres-Pena, 22, at a mental health trust in east London.
At least 32 children have died in India's Balaghat district since May amid outbreaks of measles and malaria.
A force should have flagged mental health services after a family called about their son, IOPC says.
Social anxiety is more common than many think. Here's what you need to know about the condition.
The PM was at times emotional during his conference speech in which he outlined his long-term plan for the UK.
Andy Burnham wants to outline his ideas for a free-at-the-point-of-use social care system in his first speech to Labour conference as prime minister.
Sir Andrew Dilnot, who proposed reforms 15 years ago, says the cost of such a scheme would be "very substantial".
Andy Burnham said the proposed care service would be laid out in detail and put on the ballot at the next general election.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust says it has launched an "urgent" investigation.
There have been too many cases of staff abusing patient trust, and enough is enough, the head of the NHS in England says.
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.
