The Guardian
Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF
Species across land, rivers and seas decimated as humans kill for food in unsustainable numbers and destroy habitats
• See picture gallery of wild animals facing decline
• George Monbiot: It’s time to shout stop on this war on the living world
The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.
“If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news,” said Professor Ken Norris, ZSL’s director of science. “But that is happening in the great outdoors. This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.” He said nature, which provides food and clean water and air, was essential for human wellbeing.
Continue reading...'Extinct' cat-sized chinchilla found alive in shadows of Machu Picchu
Living arboreal chinchilla rat thought to have been extinct is tracked down in Peruvian cloud forests, reports Mongabay
Below one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, scientists have made a remarkable discovery: a living, cat-sized mammal that until now was only known from fossils.
The Machu Picchu arboreal chinchilla rat (Cuscomys oblativa) was first described from two enigmatic skulls discovered in Incan pottery sculpted 400 years ago.
Continue reading...Hairy, scary and lethal: how dangerous are Britain’s household spiders?
Spiders are in the news again. It happens this time every year. Why? Because now is the time for spiders, in their more-or-less annual life cycle, to reach maturity – in other words, their maximum adult size. And yes, some of them can seem very big. They especially grow large when they have had plenty to eat and, being insect predators, they have grown fat on the full and wholesome menu of all those flies and bugs that nice, warm, sunny 2014 has delivered in such abundance.
First, a key fact: all spiders are venomous. That’s how they catch their insect prey, by injecting venom down hollow fangs into their struggling victims. But they don’t really bite humans. We are much too big and taste foul. Think about it. The largest garden spider, seemingly the size of a ping-pong ball hanging ponderously in its web, just cannot get its delicate jaws open wide enough to bite even the daintiest finger. It would be like a human vainly trying to bite a giant pumpkin. Of Britain’s 600 different spider species, just half-a-dozen can open their mouths wide enough, and have fangs long enough to deliver a venomous nip. Despite tabloid horror headlines, it feels like a wasp sting. Even a mild cat scratch can become infected and ooze pus. Deaths from spider bites still hover around the zero mark.
Continue reading...Revamped lorry designs could avoid hundreds of cycling deaths – study
Lorries should have longer cabs, rounded noses and expanded glazed areas to increase visibility, Loughborough team says
Revamping lorry designs to overhaul blind spots in current models could save the lives of hundreds of cyclists and pedestrians every year, according to a new report by Loughborough University.
Lorries are responsible for over half of all cyclist deaths in London, a third across the UK as a whole, 43% of cycling fatalities in Belgium and 38% in the Netherlands.
Continue reading...Rewilding Britain: bringing wolves, bears and beavers back to the land
Introducing extinct species to the landscape is called rewilding and advocates enthuse about the benefits. But opponents fear the impact could be devastating
A pair of highland ponies nibble grass as two kestrels swoop across the path. Up a rock face across this windswept valley deep in the Scottish highlands, a golden eagle is hunting for prey, its movements tracked by a GPS tag. Nearby are Scottish wildcats among the bracken – Europe’s rarest cat, with fewer than 400 left – plus red squirrels, black grouse, the occasional pine marten, shaggy highland cattle adapted to the harsh environment here, and, like much of the highlands, plenty of deer. Wild boar and moose roamed this corner of Sutherland until recently.
But if Paul Lister, the estate’s multimillionaire owner and the heir to the MFI fortune gets his way, two species not seen on this land for centuries could soon be added to the list: wolves and bears. Alladale estate, which Lister prefers to call a “wilderness reserve”, is one of the most ambitious examples of so-called “rewilding”, the banner under which a growing number of people are calling for the reintroduction of locally extinct species to landscapes. Bringing back species such as wolves, beavers and lynx, rewilding advocates say, can increase the diversity of other flora and fauna, enable woodlands to expand and help reconnect people with nature.
Continue reading...Richard Branson failed to deliver on $3bn climate change pledge
New book by Naomi Klein claims that Virgin founder gave less than a tenth of cash promised to develop low carbon fuel
Naomi Klein: the hypocrisy behind the big business climate change battle
Richard Branson has failed to deliver on his much-vaunted pledge to spend $3bn (£1.8bn) over a decade to develop a low carbon fuel.
Seven years into the pledge, Branson has paid out only a small fraction of the promised money – “well under $300m” – according to a new book by the writer and activist, Naomi Klein.
Continue reading...BP's reckless conduct caused Deepwater Horizon oil spill, judge rules
Judge’s ruling that BP bears 67% of blame for Deepwater Horizon disaster could nearly quadruple amount of civil penalties
BP bears the majority of responsibility among the companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a federal judge ruled Thursday, citing the energy giant’s reckless conduct over the disaster in a ruling that exposes it to billions of dollars in penalties.
BP plc already has agreed to pay billions of dollars in criminal fines and compensation to people and businesses affected by the disaster, the worst-ever US oil spill. But US district Judge Carl Barbier’s ruling could nearly quadruple what the London-based company has to pay in civil fines for polluting the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 spill.
Continue reading...Reserves and parks not enough to protect nature – David Attenborough
Broadcaster calls for radical new approach to conservation, urging people to use all spaces from gardens to roadside verges to help wildlife
Nature reserves and national parks are not enough to prevent a catastrophic decline in nature, David Attenborough has told politicians, business leaders and conservationists, saying that every space in Britain from suburban gardens to road verges must be used to help wildlife.
Britain’s leading commentator on wildlife called for a radical new approach to conservation which did not bemoan the past but embraced the changes brought by climate change and a rapidly growing human population.
Continue reading...Propane made with renewable process for the first time
Scientists modify E coli genes to produce gas that can power cars and heat homes
A gas which can power cars and heat homes has been made using a renewable process for the first time.
Propane, which makes up the bulk component of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), has previously only ever been produced from fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Polar bear DNA from footprints in Arctic snow reveal bloody killing of seal
First of its kind CSI-style technique to gather genetic material from animals could help track plight of endangered species
Trace DNA samples recovered from footprints in the Arctic snow have been used to reveal the bloody killing of a seal by a polar bear, which was joined by seagulls in devouring the corpse. It is the first time that genetic material from animals has been recovered from footprints, and the CSI-style technique is expected to prove a valuable tool in tracking the plight of endangered species. The method is cheaper, easier and crucially far less invasive than existing approaches which can involve capturing and anaesthetising wild animals.
A WWF expedition on Norway’s Svalbard islands high in the Arctic circle collected the snow in 10 footprints from one set of tracks made by a female polar bear. In the laboratory, the snow was melted and then filtered to collect skin cells from the tracks. The DNA in the cells was multiplied, allowing the identification of the animals and the reconstruction of the grisly scene.
Continue reading...Two secret funders of Nigel Lawson’s climate sceptic organisation revealed
Neil Record and Nigel Vinson confirm their donations, and are both linked to thinktank that took funds from oil companies
Two secret funders of Nigel Lawson’s climate sceptic organisation have been revealed. This is the first time anyone financing the group has confirmed their contributions. Both are linked to a free-market thinktank, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), which has admitted taking funding from fossil fuel companies and has also argued against climate change mitigation.
Lord Lawson has steadfastly refused to name the funders of the Global Warming Policy Foundation since its inception in 2009, stating only that none have significant fossil fuel interests. The GWPF has become the most prominent climate sceptic group in the UK, but critics of the GWPF argue that funders’ names should be made public in the interest of transparency.
Continue reading...Country diary: Achvaneran, Highlands: They mesmerised me in the wonder of being so close to them feeding
The first two badgers appeared earlier than usual, so there was no need for me to use the red filtered torch to see them. They were eating the peanuts I had put out earlier on top of an old oak stump only 3 metres from the window at the end of the house.
When I first started feeding them I thought they would eat the peanuts very quickly but, as usual, these two were picking up one or two and chewing them carefully. They began to mesmerise me in the wonder of being so close to them feeding away but then, suddenly, possible confrontation.
Continue reading...Mexico urged to act and save world's smallest porpoise – the little sea cow
The world's smallest porpoise faces imminent extinction unless the Mexican government eliminates gill-net fishing in its only habitat, the upper Sea of Cortez, scientists have warned.
Recent studies conducted using underwater acoustic technology show that since 2012 the population of the vaquita marina – Spanish for little sea cow – has fallen to fewer than 100.
Continue reading...Extreme weather becoming more common, study says
Rise in blocking-patterns – hot or wet weather remaining stuck over regions for weeks – causing frequent heatwaves or floods
Extreme weather like the drought currently scorching the western US and the devastating floods in Pakistan in 2010 is becoming much more common, according to new scientific research.
The work shows so-called “blocking patterns”, where hot or wet weather remains stuck over a region for weeks causing heatwaves or floods, have more than doubled in summers over the last decade. The new study may also demonstrate a link between the UK’s recent flood-drenched winter and climate change.
Continue reading...Sales of shark fin in China drop by up to 70% | Jennifer Duggan
Traditionally a symbol of wealth and luxury, public attitidues towards shark fin are changing in China, according to a new report
A popular dish at weddings and banquets in China, shark fin soup is increasingly off the menu due to a government frugality drive and awareness campaigns and by conservationists, according to a new report.
The trade in shark fins, a symbol of wealth in China and other parts of Asia, has led to the decline in some shark populations by up to 98% in the last 15 years. An estimated 100 million sharks are killed each year with up to 73 million used for their fins.
Continue reading...China: coal mine impact on Yellow river upper basin – in pictures
Muli coalfield is illegally gobbling up a nature reserve, blasting away alpine meadows and destroying the ecosystem of the country’s second largest river, Greenpeace investigation shows
Eat more meat and save the world: the latest implausible farming miracle | George Monbiot
Allan Savory tells us that increasing livestock can reduce desertification and reverse climate change – but where is the scientific evidence?
It doesn’t matter how often miracles are disproved; our willingness to believe in them remains undiminished. Miracle cures, miracle crops, miracle fuels, miracle financial instruments, miracle profits: the continued enthusiasm for these claims reflects the triumph of hope over experience.
Here’s another one: a miracle technique that allows us to reconcile our insatiable demand for meat with the need to protect the living planet. Better still, it proposes, eating meat could actually save the biosphere. A TED talk which makes this claim has been viewed 2.6m times.
Continue reading...Giving up beef will reduce carbon footprint more than cars, says expert
Study shows red meat dwarfs others for environmental impact, using 28 times more land and 11 times water for pork or chicken
Beef’s environmental impact dwarfs that of other meat including chicken and pork, new research reveals, with one expert saying that eating less red meat would be a better way for people to cut carbon emissions than giving up their cars.
The heavy impact on the environment of meat production was known but the research shows a new scale and scope of damage, particularly for beef. The popular red meat requires 28 times more land to produce than pork or chicken, 11 times more water and results in five times more climate-warming emissions. When compared to staples like potatoes, wheat, and rice, the impact of beef per calorie is even more extreme, requiring 160 times more land and producing 11 times more greenhouse gases.
Continue reading...Cheetah smuggling driving wild population to extinction, report says
Rising demand for luxury pets in the Gulf states taking gruesome toll as two-thirds of snatched cubs are dying en route
The rising trade in cheetahs for luxury pets in the Middle East is helping to drive critical populations of the wild cats to extinction, according to new research. The report also reveals the gruesome toll of the trade, with up to two-thirds of the cheetah cubs being smuggled across the war-torn Horn of Africa dying en route. However, the nations at both ends of the trade have now agreed that urgent action is needed.
Cheetahs, famous as the world’s fastest land animal, have lost about 90% of their population over the last century as their huge ranges in Africa and Asia have been taken over by farmland. Fewer than 10,000 remain and numbers are falling. There is an ancient tradition of using trained cheetahs as royal hunting animals in Africa but, more recently, a growing demand for status-symbol pets in the Gulf states has further reduced populations.
Continue reading...Clear differences between organic and non-organic food, study finds
Organic food has more of the antioxidant compounds linked to better health than regular food, and lower levels of toxic metals and pesticides, according to the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date.
The international team behind the work suggests that switching to organic fruit and vegetables could give the same benefits as adding one or two portions of the recommended "five a day".
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