Around The Web

The Kaputar rock skink is thought to have have one of the smallest ranges of any reptile in New South Wales – at the summit of a single extinct volcano, Mount Kaputar. Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

One vet suggested bushfire smoke had killed the smoky mouse – and asked, in a nod to the species' name, if this was a case of "death by irony". Andrew Peters, Associate Professor of Wildlife Health and Pathology, Charles Sturt University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Woman spent three weeks at AS Green and Co farm in Herefordshire before quitting

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

Karen spent three weeks packing broccoli at AS Green and Co before she quit last month in disgust at the working conditions. “It made me incredibly angry that people could be treated in such a manner,” she told the Guardian, recounting her time at the Herefordshire farm where at least 73 workers have tested positive for coronavirus.

“I’ve always known that agricultural work is really hard, but it was just so much worse than I expected,” she said. “I’ve picked apples and planted trees and done lots of hard jobs, but this was the hardest.”

Continue reading...

Comet Neowise has been spotted by stargazers across the UK as it heads past Earth.

Conservation charity aims to help restore 150,000 hectares of bee-friendly corridors to save the insects from extinction

Andrew Whitehouse has been on the cliffs at Prawle Point, south Devon, searching on his hands and knees for a rare bee. He saw only one last year, and so far this summer there has been no sign of the six-banded nomad bee with its striking yellow markings.

Whitehouse fears it is on the brink of extinction because, as a parasitic bee, it depends on a host – the long-horned bee – in whose nest it lays its eggs, and the host is now also scarce.

Continue reading...

The inquiry into the fashion chain should question the asset management’s industry’s timid approach to ethical issues

‘Inadequate in scope, timeliness and gravity.” The verdict from Aberdeen Standard Investment on Boohoo’s response to allegations of supply chain abuses was damning. Even as the fast-fashion group appointed an independent lawyer to investigate, the investment house said on Friday that it had had enough, and sold the majority of its shares.

All three criticisms appear justified. On scope, Boohoo hasn’t taken the obvious step of committing to an independent chair – a normal measure of boardroom accountability. Instead, Mahmud Kamani, founder and 12% shareholder, is still in the chairmanship, which he took on last year after the departure of Peter Williams, the former Selfridges boss, who had been around since flotation in 2014.

Continue reading...

Map of Victoria electricity generation, showing existing coal, gas, hydro, wind and solar plants, and battery storage.

The post Graph of the Day: Map of Victoria generation – Coal, gas, wind, solar, batteries and hydro appeared first on RenewEconomy.

There are fewer than 500 hirola living in the wild, down from thousands just 40 years ago.

While oil and gas is not alone in struggling in the economic slump, the reality of the climate crisis is starting to bite, analysts say

The global oil and gas industry has crashed. In mid-June, BP – formerly British Petroleum – slashed the value of its assets by US$17.5bn and revealed plans to cut its workforce by 15%. It forecast the price of oil would be a third lower than expected for decades to come and said it may be forced to leave new fossil fuel discoveries in the ground.

It was later joined by Royal Dutch Shell, which announced its own US$22bn writedown, with its vast gas business – including major liquefied natural gas (LNG) developments in Australia – expected to take the heaviest toll.

Continue reading...

In its magazine format it lasted 37 years, criticising architecture and design with true energy. Now it is online only

Blueprint, aged 37, the architecture and design magazine on which I cut my journalistic teeth, has announced that it will now be online only. This has prompted a certain amount of reminiscing about the glory days of print that is slightly at odds with my memories of its permanently precarious existence in a tumbledown Marylebone building shared with both future movers and shakers in the cultural world and a number of rats, and subject to occasional visits from angry creditors. In the leanest times, we put out 48-page editions: 24 of editorial, 24 of advertising. The magazine’s most recent and final issue ran to 240. The difference perhaps was the impact that could be made by those hard-won pages in the much smaller media space available. This was something that Blueprint’s founders triumphantly did, bringing a graphic and verbal energy to the discussion of architecture and design, and a freedom from stuffiness, from which everyone now in the field continues to benefit.

Continue reading...

A species of unrivalled variety, sharks find themselves threatened around the world by overfishing, microplastics and habitat loss

Continue reading...

This is the moment for the equivalent, in conservation terms, of the #MeToo or Black Lives Matter movements

We are living in a time of environmental anger and despair, and not without cause. Exponential growth of human consumption has led to catastrophic losses of habitats and the decimation and extinction of species. Covid-19, itself a symptom of a world out of ecological balance, has brought not only human tragedy, but also the loss of 2020 as a biodiversity and climate “super year” for planetary assessments and action. The fleeting good environmental news from the shutdown, of wildlife emerging from hiding places and an early precipitous drop in greenhouse gas emissions, has been replaced by a flood of single-use plastics, an outbreak of poaching and deforestation, and attacks on environmental regulations.

It is no wonder, then, that grief is so prevalent among people such as ourselves, who work to protect wildlife and habitats. In one popular, albeit simplified, representation of the stages of grieving, initial denial is replaced by anger, bargaining, depression, and ultimately acceptance. Most environmentalists are well past the denial stage, but expressions of anger and depression abound, which nurtures a culture of negativity. This is often expressed as scepticism, criticism or rejection of research reporting positive outcomes for the environment whenever recovery is partial, pressures remain, or data is incomplete (which is almost always the case). In other words, as Voltaire argued against 250 years ago, we make the perfect the enemy of the good.

Continue reading...

Growing our own potatoes is fun – but the pandemic and looming trade deals have exposed Britain’s fragile food security

Smugness is a well-documented side-effect of having an allotment, and at this time of year, with raspberries, gooseberries, currants, new potatoes and other goodies ripening and making it to the table, the condition becomes particularly acute. “Notice anything about these spuds?” I can’t help myself asking, faux-casually, over dinner. “And how about the chard? Particularly delicious, no?” To which the only acceptable answer, clearly, is a chorus of: “Oh yes, I noticed that immediately, I’ve never tasted such magnificent chard in my life.” (For some reason, this is not a response that comes naturally to my children.)

Many plot-holders will be even more insufferable this year, as we’ve had so much more time than usual to spend tending our plots. Allotments have been open throughout lockdown, designated as safe spaces for daily exercise. I nearly gave mine up before the pandemic, as I was too busy working and socialising to keep the weeds at bay. Boy, am I glad I kept it: as a mother of two energetic boys without much outdoor space at home, our plot has been a lifeline.

Continue reading...

For those who have felt trapped by lockdown measures, the night sky could offer an escape.

The state energy ministers still need to deliver on their promises, but imagine if any of them held the federal portfolio

Sometimes it just takes a bit of leadership.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull likes to say that we must choose “engineering and economics” over “idiocy and ideology”. The New South Wales energy minister, Matt Kean, has been making the right choices.

Continue reading...

Will the "anthropause" brought on by lockdowns make our cities greener, cleaner and quieter in future?

A Stonehenge-style wooden formation and a lead-lined Roman burial are also among the finds.

A New York court hearing accepts the plan to pull the OneWeb satellite company out of bankruptcy.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

EUAs mounted a late scramble from week-low levels to climb back above €29 on Friday, ensuring a 4% weekly gain and keeping carbon near its year-high in continued jumpy trade.