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Chancellor says government will study responses to public consultation, with airports being ‘big part of jobs and growth’
John Healey has said there is a pro-growth case for going ahead with a third runway at Heathrow despite the prime minister declining to back it.
Healey’s predecessor as chancellor, Rachel Reeves, put approval of the long-planned runway at the heart of her “growth speech” last year, saying it would “make Britain the world’s best-connected place to do business”.
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In an extract from his new book, the nature historian explains how technology could help the seabird survive
For centuries human beings have exploited puffins, harvesting them by the thousand on their breeding grounds for their food and feathers. Over time, though, this relationship has changed, so that today we have come to love them, celebrating their quirky character and comical appearance and giving them a central place in our affections – a journey described by the environmental historian Dr Rob Lambert as the shift “from use to delight”.
How ironic, then, that just as we have come to truly appreciate them, our own existence now threatens theirs. The climate crisis threatens almost all the world’s roughly 11,000 species of birds, but its consequences have particularly dire significance for seabirds, whose life cycle is so intimately connected to the timing and abundance of their food supplies.
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As Mark Cocker approaches a landmark for the world’s oldest column in an English-language newspaper, he is still inspired by powerful encounters with nature
In the autumn of 1987, Mark Cocker sat in a field near Norwich and watched a jay burying acorns for the long winter ahead. He described the scene in his first country diary for the Guardian. Thirty-nine years on, some of those jay-planted acorns will be mature oaks now, and Cocker is completing his 1,000th diary for the world’s oldest column in an English-language newspaper.
In his next diary, he will reflect on the changing birdlife around Flint Clough, in the Peak District, where he first marvelled at rare birds aged 12 after devouring bird books in his bedroom. As a boy, he would find cuckoo, golden plover, ring ouzel and twite, a once-common bird which is now virtually extinct in England.
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The tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguin, known for its prominent yellow eyebrows, has for years baffled scientists with its unusual habits
Deep in the misty fjords of New Zealand’s South Island, a team of researchers is trying to catch one of the world’s most elusive penguins: the forest-dwelling tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguin. For weeks, researchers stand sentry each day over a burrow on Eleanor Island, hoping to corner the female bird so they can retrieve data from its tagging device.
But this penguin has developed a clever exit strategy – digging multiple tunnels to elude its captors.
The Tutoko I prepares for a research trip during its annual Fiordland crested penguin nest survey around Doubtful Sound
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As a surge in beekeepers has lead to increased numbers of honeybees, researchers record them pushing bumblebees and other rival species away from flowers
Honeybees are outcompeting wild pollinators for resources by aggressively bumping into them and chasing them away from flowers, research has shown.
The study, by researchers from Anglia Ruskin University, found that areas where there were higher concentrations of honeybees had fewer wild pollinators, such as bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies.
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Forest clearance at smallest total since records began in 1988 in success for Lula ahead of presidential run-off
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level since records began, new government data shows.
But whether this globally important success is maintained or reversed is on a knife edge ahead of a presidential election run-off on 25 October between two candidates with sharply different visions for the future of the rainforest and how that affects relations with the US under Donald Trump.
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Glenisla, Angus: Damage by squirrels is common; the mustelid less so. Still, as a local told me, ‘you cannae blame them wanting somewhere to live’
That the thatch is thick with moss and crusted with the brittle fronds of lichen is not unusual for a roof of this age. What’s puzzling me is the hole in its centre. It is about 10in wide – a dark scoop, as if someone has taken a giant ladle to the roof.
When I climb the ladder for a closer look, I can see toothmarks on the reed. I also see that the hole does not go all the way through – the animal obviously gave up after an exploratory burrow.
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Polls show that Democrats and Republicans in battleground states want to hear more from candidates about the climate crisis
Most Americans feel unease or alarm about the climate crisis and, in both red and blue states, want to know how political leaders are going to fix it. But in midterm election campaigns across the US, candidates have responded to this desire with near silence.
People in the US have this year endured a record hot summer as well as soaring costs, equating to roughly $2,000 per household, in extra energy and mortgage payments, due to the country’s dependence on a fossil fuel supply scrambled by Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran.
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Millions affected by smoke from wildfires as schools close, respiratory illnesses soar and diplomatic tensions rise
Singapore is threatening to prosecute companies responsible for some of the worst fires in years in neighbouring Indonesia, as the region grows increasingly frustrated with a persistent, acrid haze that could result in diplomatic relations fraying.
Lawrence Wong, the Singaporean prime minister, said his government was distributing masks to vulnerable citizens and working with countries in the region to deal with the smoke. “At the same time, we are looking into which companies may be responsible for the fires,” he said in a Facebook post on Thursday, adding that he was exploring the idea of “joint action with other countries”.
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The world pledged to halt biodiversity loss by 2030, but as Cop17 delegates meet in Armenia next week the outlook is bleak and optimism has faded
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The world has lost its way on nature once again. Next week, biodiversity Cop17 begins in Yerevan, Armenia, and expectations are low. Very low.
Almost four years ago, governments reached an historic agreement at the biodiversity Cop15 to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems – to rapturous applause in Montreal, Canada. I still remember the excitement in the hall in the early hours of that freezing December morning.
A perfect storm: how the super El Niño is devastating the fishing industry
‘We need less point scoring’: What party conference season taught us about UK climate action
‘I didn’t want to write about this’: the man who first saw chimps waging civil war
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