Around The Web

Despite its potential to battle disease and hunger, genetically engineered food is still controversial

Last week, scientists from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute announced they had deleted the section of DNA that leaves pigs vulnerable to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, which is estimated to cost European farmers £1.5bn a year in loss of livestock and decreased productivity. Genetically modified animals are banned from the EU food chain, but since this is a new and different technique it’s possible they’ll be appearing in bacon sandwiches in a few years.

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Backbenchers defy Jeremy Corbyn by working behind the scenes with Tory whips

Labour MPs who disagree with Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to the expansion of Heathrow airport have been working closely with government ministers and Tory whips to ensure the plans win parliamentary approval on Monday, in an extraordinary show of defiance against their party leader.

The extent of behind-the-scenes cooperation with the government on such an important policy issue is believed to be unprecedented and all but guarantees that the third runway plan will be passed, despite Corbyn, his shadow chancellor John McDonnell and the Labour front bench opposing the move.

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Study finds fragile marine ecosystems cannot grow fast enough to keep pace with sea levels

Scientists have uncovered a new threat to the world’s endangered coral reefs. They have found that most are incapable of growing quickly enough to compensate for rising sea levels triggered by global warming.

The study suggests that reefs – which are already suffering serious degradation because the world’s seas are warming and becoming more acidic – could also become overwhelmed by rising oceans.

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Community projects can slash household bills but the sector has ground to a halt in Britain – in contrast with schemes in Europe

The number of people generating their own power has almost flatlined, with only one new group formed in the UK last year, according to the body representing grassroots energy organisations.

Cuts to subsidies for homeowners to install solar panels and a “hostile planning approach” that has in effect banned new wind turbines are behind the “wholesale decline”, Community Energy England (CEE) said in its 2018 State of the Sector report.

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Ukrainian villagers living in the shadow of Europe’s biggest chicken farm are fighting back – not just against the company but the development banks funding it

The locals call this area the Ryaba-land. That’s the name of the chicken brand Nasha Ryaba under which MHP – the largest poultry company in Ukraine and the owners of Vinnytsia farm - sells poultry meat in supermarkets. There are more chicken sheds than houses here. Even the village signs bear the MHP brand.

There are, as is so often the case, tensions between the industrial farms and the villagers. But in this case, anger is focussed not just on the company, but on their funders – the big international development banks that hand out public money.

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Kirkham Abbey, North Yorkshire: If the residents of these anthills object to me perching on their home like some mammal Godzilla, they don’t show it

I wonder if they’re aware of the colossal creature approaching. Do they sense its lumbering footfalls? Do the walls tremble, or the avenues and galleries of their metropolis deform perceptibly under its weight? Can they sense its extravagant metabolic heat?

The mounds that pimple this sloping pasture are silent. The sheep were taken off a week or two back, but there’s been virtually no rain, so the turf tops remain cropped and dry – they look like a crowd of skinheads frowning into the longer grass around, some with tiaras of speedwell. Each tump is tall enough to escape winter waterlogging and, coincidentally, the perfect height for sitting on. If the residents object to me perching on their home like some mammal Godzilla, they don’t show it.

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Flesh-footed shearwater chicks are starving to death because of plastic, a BBC documentary reveals.

Distinguished Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick has been crawling across lawns for more than 70 years, it's just that this one is on the top of a mountain and is full of plants from the cretaceous.

On a remote island in the Tasman Sea scientists are battling to save flesh-footed Shearwater chicks.

Cutting single-use plastics can be surprisingly challenging but there are easy alternatives

My first Plastic Free July was in 2013. At the time most of my friends were signing up for Dry July, the month where participants go alcohol free and raise funds for cancer support organisations across Australia.

Instead, I decided to participate in what was then a relatively unknown challenge to reduce my single-use plastics over a month after watching the eco-documentary The Clean Bin Project.

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What the growing controversies around entrepreneur Elon Musk might mean for his many futuristic projects.

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

Volunteers make new homes for native wildlife; turn your backyard into an urban market garden; and kick up your heels at the Kooroorinya Races jive competition.

Ontario has halted the development of its offset protocols following Premier-designate Doug Ford’s decision to scrap the province’s carbon market, leaving project developers and investors in limbo and hoping the Canadian federal government will step in to save the burgeoning industry.

An extensive climate justice bill that would have implemented a “market-based compliance mechanism” in New York along with a suite of other GHG targets and environmental justice provisions did not advance to a vote for the third year running as the state Senate wrapped up this week.

Readers respond to Patrick Barkham’s article about declining swift numbers

Reading Patrick Barkham’s piece (Can our swifts fill summer’s skies again? It’s up to us to help, 19 June) reminded me of an experience that made me marvel at the swift’s aeronautical prowess and makes me anticipate their screeching return each May.

A few years ago I saw a small black bird fluttering on a roadside. I stopped and on closer inspection realised that the bird was a swift, which once grounded finds it hard to take to the air again. I cradled the bird in my hands and threw it upwards where it unfurled some six or eight feet above me, caught the air and shot away, out of sight in seconds.

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EU governments could knock as much as €5 off EUA prices and lose billions of euros of low carbon funding if they rush to auction allowances for the bloc’s Innovation Fund, according to ICIS analysts.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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A single emitter in China’s biggest pilot emissions trading scheme failed to meet the annual compliance deadline, Guangdong regulators said Friday, again choosing to not disclose emissions data.

Burkina Faso’s sacred crocodiles, a family of cheetahs and a humpback whale are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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