-
‘Godzilla-level’ phenomenon is supercharging the climate crisis and will have a huge impact on communities across the world
The “jaw-dropping” El Niño currently heating up the planet has burst through the highest temperature ever recorded for the phenomenon, several months before its expected peak.
The latest data shows the temperature rise at the heart of El Niño in the Pacific Ocean has now reached 3.05C. That is higher than the 3.02C set in late November 2015, the previous high set in the 150 years of modern records. This temperature is measured against the average of 1991-2020.
Continue reading...
-
Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’
On her first day as an expert author on the world’s most important climate reports, Prof Julia Steinberger knew nobody else, so she sat down at a stranger’s table for breakfast.
“Hi, I’m Julia. I’m from the University of Lausanne,” she said. The man across the table replied: “I’m Mustafa Babiker. I work with Saudi Aramco.”
Continue reading...
-
The Canadian government has committed C$25m to try to rescue the caribou in the province – but there is no agreement on how best to save the keystone species
The caribou of Quebec are at breaking point. The province, home to 15% of Canada’s population of woodland caribou, has seen numbers crash to about half of what they were a decade ago. For years, local First Nations people, researchers and environmental groups have criticised the provincial government’s lack of action on protecting caribou, an animal considered a keystone species by Indigenous peoples.
A recently announced agreement between the federal and Quebec governments has raised hopes that the province will finally be compelled to release a protection strategy. The federal government has committed C$25m (£13m) to the province for caribou over five years, with an additional C$15m for the First Nations communities on whose land the herds live.
Continue reading...
-
Eco-moorings help to restore seagrass in just five years, boosting sealife such as seahorses, eels and crabs
One of the UK’s most precious underwater habitats – Dorset’s seagrass meadows – is recovering thanks to “eco moorings” designed to prevent the seabed being ripped up, a study has revealed.
Scars caused by traditional anchors in some areas of seagrass in Studland Bay have almost entirely vanished, which is boosting the number of seahorses that thrive in the submerged meadows.
Continue reading...
-
Rafael Moreno, whose company has opened demo plant in Brazil, says market is ‘nervous’ as Trump-Xi summit looms
The head of a mining company hoping to supply the EU with rare earths in two years’ time has said it is “paramount” to end China’s stranglehold on the supply of the raw materials used in everything from cars to wind turbines and military jets.
As Donald Trump and China’s president, Xi Jinping, prepare to meet on Thursday in their second summit of the year, Rafael Moreno said it was also “imperative” that they do a deal for Beijing to ease up, once again, on its threat to ban exports of rare earths.
Continue reading...
-
Hot and dry summer created conditions for fires in Scotland and England that tore through vital wildlife areas
Major wildfires this summer in the Cairngorms, along the Suffolk coast and in the New Forest have destroyed huge swathes of important bird habitats, affecting the populations of some of our most threatened and specialised species.
The first to break out, in mid-July, destroyed much of the RSPB’s Abernethy reserve, home to declining species such as black grouse and capercaillie, as well as scarce songbirds including Scottish crossbill and crested tit. Fortunately it was brought under control before it reached the village of Nethy Bridge, whose residents were briefly evacuated.
Continue reading...
-
Brigg, Lincolnshire: As my attention turns to drilling next year’s cash crops, I create a disturbance out in the fields
Sometimes a moment of surprise has years of experience behind it. Last week as I was out in the oilseed rape fields applying a cocktail of microbe food (molasses, humates and fish paste), I had quite a shock when up went a large flock of grey partridges, a covey of 26. Twelve would be considered large, with red-legged partridges only ever appearing in pairs, but I’ve not seen 26 grey here in my lifetime.
This is testament to our nature‑friendly approach to farming, including this year planting specific margins to encourage sawfly larvae, crickets, weevils and ground beetles. These insects form the entire diet of grey partridges (and yellowhammers) during their first two weeks of life. In addition, rather than just planting overwinter cover crops and “catch” crops to mop up loose nutrients and protect the soil from the elements, I now add millet, the seed of which is a boost for older birds. The idea is to create a mosaic of habitats that connect through the landscape.
Continue reading...
-
Intensified by this year’s super El Niño, fires in Borneo and Sumatra are emitting toxic air for swathes of the population in Indonesia and its neighbours
For months, parts of Indonesia’s Borneo and Sumatra islands have been ablaze. The fires are sometimes lit illegally as a cheap way to clear land for plantations of oil palm, of which Indonesia is the world’s largest producer.
So prevalent is the technique that it even has a special term: slash and burn.
Continue reading...
-
People are increasingly crossing paths with the wild animals as homes ring the outskirts of forests, sparking a new era of coexistence
Every year, as summer draws to a close and fall begins, California’s bears get hungry.
Black bears have long roamed the state, hunting for acorns, ants and pine nuts by the bucketload to pack on calories before hibernation. But increasingly, for every berry and root, there’s an even greater temptation: our trash and the detritus of human existence.
Continue reading...
-
Trump says he digs coal – but pneumoconiosis cases are at a 50-year high, and sick miners are mired in benefit delays
For 38 years, Josh Armes worked as a coal miner in West Virginia and Virginia.
After retirement, Armes, 74, of Grundy, Virginia, was diagnosed with black lung disease, medically known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), caused by breathing in coal dust over long periods, which irreversibly damages the lungs.
Continue reading...
