The Guardian

Global study shows blazes diminish forest density and tree size, making woods likely to sequester less carbon

More fierce and frequent fires are reducing forest density and tree size and may damage forests’ ability to capture carbon in the future, according to a global study.

Although forest fires are naturally occurring phenomena and natural forests regenerate, global heating and human activity have caused the frequency and intensity of fires to rise. Wildfires burn 5% of the planet’s surface every year, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere equivalent to a fifth of our annual fossil fuel emissions.

Decline in system underpinning Gulf Stream could lead to more extreme weather in Europe and higher sea levels on US east coast

The Atlantic Ocean circulation that underpins the Gulf Stream, the weather system that brings warm and mild weather to Europe, is at its weakest in more than a millennium, and climate breakdown is the probable cause, according to new data.

Further weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could result in more storms battering the UK, more intense winters and an increase in damaging heatwaves and droughts across Europe.

Livestock company still hopes to find a buyer for animals on board ship for two months, after rejection by Turkey and Libya

The manager of a ship that has spent months at sea with hundreds of cattle on board has accused Spanish officials of failing to answer his call for help and of threatening to kill all the livestock if the ship enters port.

The Karim Allah is one of two vessels that left from different ports in Spain before Christmas to deliver cargoes of young bulls, but were refused entry by various countries including Turkey and Libya, owing to suspected outbreaks of the bovine disease bluetongue onboard both ships.

The vessel is owned by Khalifeh Livestock Trading and managed by Talia Shipping Line, both based in Lebanon, while the cattle are owned by a third party. The ship took 895 male calves on board at the Spanish port of Cartagena in mid-December and sailed for Turkey.

Scientists on the volcanic Greek island of Lesbos say they have found a rare fossilised tree.

Produced by successive volcanic eruptions, its vividly coloured fossilised trunks are witness to the explosions that buried much of Lesbos under lava and ash between 17 and 20 million years ago.

Stretching across almost all of the Greek island’s western peninsula, the petrified forest, a Unesco global geopark, is among the largest in the world.

• 'Unique' petrified tree up to 20m years old found intact in Lesbos

Water Act proposes massive injection of federal dollars as millions of people go without access to clean, safe, affordable water

Democratic lawmakers and advocates are urging Joe Biden to back legislation proposing unprecedented investment in America’s ailing water infrastructure amid the country’s worst crisis in decades that has left millions of people without access to clean, safe, affordable water.

In a year, bitcoin uses around the same about of electricity as the entire country of Norway.

The digital currency is one that allows people to bypass banks and traditional payment methods. It is the most prominent among thousands of so-called cryptocurrencies and has been repeatedly reaching new records - but is it sustainable?

The Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern examines how exactly bitcoin uses electricity and if the environmental cost is too high

• What is bitcoin and why are so many people looking to buy it?
  
• Cryptocurrencies rise in popularity in world’s conflict zones
  

Exclusive: Stuffed specimen was only proof of bird’s existence until discovery in rainforest last year

In the 1840s, a mystery bird was caught on an expedition to the East Indies. Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon, described it to science and named it the black-browed babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata).

The species was never seen in the wild again, and a stuffed specimen featuring a bright yellow glass eye was the only proof of its existence. But now the black-browed babbler has been rediscovered in the rainforests of Borneo.

Organised by the Mason Hut Foundation, the Frank Hurley photo awards were set up to honour the adventurous spirit of the Australian photographer James (Frank) Francis Hurley. The 2020 awards attracted more than 1,200 entries from 26 countries, with Australian photographers winning four of the five categories

• Rare pink flannel flowers bloom in Australia – in pictures

Two livestock ships have been refused entry to multiple countries on health grounds since leaving Spain in December

One of two livestock ships at sea since mid-December with thousands of cattle on board is now at the Spanish port of Cartagena, but the fate of its cargo is unclear.

The two vessels left from different ports in Spain before Christmas to deliver their cargoes of animals, but were each refused entry by various countries including Turkey and Libya, owing to suspected outbreaks onboard both ships of the bovine disease bluetongue.

Outlawing ecocide would hold governments and corporations accountable for environmental negligence. We can’t wait

The Paris agreement is failing. Yet there is new hope for preserving a livable planet: the growing global campaign to criminalize ecocide can address the root causes of the climate crisis and safeguard our planet – the common home of all humanity and, indeed, all life on Earth.

Nearly five years after the negotiation of the landmark Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and associated global warming to “well below 2.0C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C”, we are experiencing drastically accelerating warming. 2020 was the second warmest year on record, following the record-setting 2019. Carbon in the atmosphere reached 417 parts per million (ppm) – the highest in the last 3m years. Even if we magically flipped a switch to a fully green economy tomorrow, there is still enough carbon in the atmosphere to continue warming the planet for decades.

Once upon a time, our garden was a popular feeding site for birds of all sizes. Then our neighbour lured them away, and my wife is hatching a retaliation plan

We all know about the classic seeds of neighbourhood strife: unruly children and dogs; light-blocking trees and hedges; full-throated motorbikes arriving and departing when right-thinking folk are trying to sleep. What I hadn’t realised until recently was that the apparently gentle practice of feeding the birdies could unleash dark feelings of envy and loss.

When we arrived at our current house, it already had a modest, slightly rickety wooden bird table on a pole, with one bird feeder attached. My bird-loving wife was originally content to add a couple of additional feeders, so that smaller birds such as tits, gold- and bullfinches, nuthatches, etc could get their fair share, while the bigger birds could feed off the table itself, and the food scattered on the lawn was enough to satisfy the crows and jackdaws.

Levies on flying, imports and other high-carbon services could raise £27bn a year by 2030, says Zero Carbon Campaign

Taxing carbon dioxide emissions would be popular with voters, polling suggests, as the government moots ways to put a price on carbon that could help tackle the climate crisis and fund a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Carbon taxes could be levied on energy suppliers, transport including flying, food, imports and other high-carbon goods and services. At present, the UK levies implicit taxes on carbon, for instance through duties on petrol and diesel, and some heavy industries pay an effective price on carbon. But there are no taxes for consumers that are explicitly geared to the carbon emissions created by the goods and services that they buy.

Many folk believe they are still out there and look for them regularly

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NFU members question Labour leader on post-Brexit changes as he proposes major review of party’s farming policies

Badgers, bees and gene-edited livestock are among the key questions Labour will need to address if the party is to make headway in rural constituencies, this year’s National Farmers’ Union conference has shown.

Sir Keir Starmer became the first Labour leader in 13 years to speak at the NFU’s annual gathering, a key date in the UK’s farming calendar. His reception was hard to judge, owing to the online nature of the event, but he answered questions from farmers on topics ranging from food standards post-Brexit to nitrate fertilisers.

Sir James Bevan says extreme flooding in UK indicates urgent need for change if humanity is to survive

The climate emergency is already hitting “worst case scenario” levels that if left unchecked will lead to the collapse of ecosystems, with dire consequences for humanity, according to the chief executive of the Environment Agency.

Warning that this is not “science fiction”, Sir James Bevan said on Tuesday that in recent years several of the “reasonable worst case scenarios” had happened in the UK, with more extreme weather and flooding. And he urged politicians to take action to reduce emissions and adapt to the “inevitable” impacts of the climate emergency.

Helicopters carried critically endangered great apes deep into forest from rehabilitation centres

Ten orangutans have been released back into the wild in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, with helicopters used to ferry the critically endangered great apes deep into the forest from rehabilitation centres.

The Bornean orangutans had all been in captivity before their rescue. They include Nenuah, a 19-year-old female who had been repatriated from Thailand, according to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF).

Forestry Commission accused of funding non-native plantations that damage peatlands and imperil rare species

The natural bowl in the Northumberland hills studded with dumpy young conifers looks innocuous enough. But the English borders are the scene of an increasingly bitter battle as ambitious government tree-planting targets collide with concerns for rare plants and birds.

The government is seeking to dramatically increase tree planting to 30,000 hectares of new trees in the UK each year, with plantations sequestering carbon and helping the government reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Nearly £10bn worth of investments including in oil and gas made via pension funds in last financial year

Local councils that have declared a climate emergency are continuing to pour money into fossil fuels through their staff pension funds, analysis has shown.

Nearly £10bn worth of investments in fossil fuels, including oil and gas companies such as BP and Shell, were found in local government pension funds in the last financial year, according to an assessment by the campaign groups Platform and Friends of the Earth.

World’s Forgotten Fishes report lists pollution, overfishing and climate change as dangers

Freshwater fish are under threat, with as many as a third of global populations in danger of extinction, according to an assessment.

Populations of migratory freshwater fish have plummeted by 76% since 1970, and large fish – those weighing more than 30kg – have been all but wiped out in most rivers. The global population of megafish down by 94%, and 16 freshwater fish species were declared extinct last year.

Scott Morrison says Coalition is ‘getting on with’ reductions, but analysis finds end of lockdowns and drought will reverse trend

Most of the reduction in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions last year is likely to be wiped out as transport rebounds after Covid-19 lockdowns and farming recovers from the long-term-drought, according to an audit of national climate data.

Scott Morrison told the National Press Club earlier this month the government was “getting on with” reducing emissions, citing official data that found emissions were down 3% in the year to June to their lowest levels since 1998. He declared “these are the facts”.