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The ultimate spiritual pilgrimage for our times? A trip to a waste management site | Eleanor Margolis
As I stood there, awed by how disgusting and wasteful our species is, I realised that everyone needs to see this
Like all the best things in life, this story starts with an argument about bins. Admittedly, I could do better at recycling. I can try to chalk this up to having read too much about how all our plastic waste ultimately ends up in landfill sites in the poorest parts of south-east Asia. But I’m also lazy and so well-acquainted with cognitive dissonance that I could probably cry over the death scene in Bambi while comforting myself by chowing down on a giant haunch of venison.
My partner, Leo, is the total opposite: diligent and principled. Which is why she finally lost it with me for failing to put a plastic yoghurt tub in the recycling. I went on the defensive, citing half-imagined reports about megadumps in the Philippines and inescapable doom. She retaliated by booking us on an educational tour of Southwark Reuse and Recycling Centre.
Eleanor Margolis is a columnist for the i newspaper and Diva
Continue reading...I just returned from Antarctica: climate change isn’t some far-off problem – it’s here and hitting hard | Jennifer Verduin
As an oceanographer, I study how the ocean shapes our world. For Australia and other nations, the lesson is urgent
Antarctica is often viewed as the last truly remote place on Earth – frozen, wild and untouched. But is it really as untouched as it seems?
This vast frozen continent is encircled by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the only current in the world that connects all the oceans, showing how closely linked our planet really is.
Continue reading...What needs to happen to prove the LNP wrong, and the high renewables target right
The post What needs to happen to prove the LNP wrong, and the high renewables target right appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Carnegie eyes Alaska for wave energy potential as Spain CETO project gathers momentum
The post Carnegie eyes Alaska for wave energy potential as Spain CETO project gathers momentum appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Koalas face death, attacks and starvation as blue gums chopped down in Victoria
The state government is aware of koala welfare problems but says it has ‘no cost-effective’ solutions
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Thousands of koalas are being displaced each year as blue gum plantations are cut down in Victoria, worsening overcrowding in nearby forests and exacerbating the risk of injury and death during bushfires.
An estimated 42,500 koalas live in blue gum plantations in south-west Victoria, data shows. Between 8,000 and 10,000 hectares of plantation are harvested each year, making thousands of koalas homeless.
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Continue reading...Fixing England’s water isn’t just the right thing to do – it can be the start of Labour’s fightback | Clive Lewis
There is an appetite in this country for policy that will change lives. What is more fundamental than the water we use and bills we pay?
- Clive Lewis is the Labour MP for Norwich South
In the wake of a brutal set of local election results, MPs from across the Labour party are trying to establish what went wrong. To me, it’s very clear that this was no fluke: it was the entirely foreseeable outcome of my party’s approach to Reform UK. And as the party moves forward and prepares to face Reform at future elections, it’s key that we learn the right lessons.
From flip-flopping on climate commitments to framing disabled people as part of the undeserving poor, Labour thus far hasn’t challenged Reform’s worldview – it has legitimatised it. However, there are some perhaps surprising areas where Labour isn’t copying Reform: public ownership of water for one.
Continue reading...Aphids plaguing UK gardens in warm spring weather, says RHS
Sap-sucking insects top list of queries to gardening charity after causing significant harm to plants
Aphids are plaguing gardeners this spring due to the warm weather, with higher numbers of the rose-killing bugs expected to thrive in the UK as a result of climate breakdown.
The sap-sucking insects have topped the ranking of gardener queries to the Royal Horticultural Society, with many of its 600,000 members having complained of dozens of aphids on their acers, roses and honeysuckle plants.
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