The Guardian
Sir Simon Gourlay obituary
In 1958, my father-in-law, Simon Gourlay, who has died aged 85, bought 200 acres of pasture and started farming near Knighton, on the English-Welsh border. He converted the dilapidated house and surrounding farmland into a warm family home and later developed the five-acre garden, which was subsequently opened to the public for the National Garden Scheme.
In the late 1970s, he joined the National Farmers’ Union as a delegate and he rose to become NFU president in 1986. During his five-year term of office, he was a moderniser and actively promoted women in farming. He was knighted in 1989 for services to farming.
Continue reading...A world of ice and fire: life with the Nenets – in pictures
For thousands of years the Nenets people have migrated with their reindeer herds across the Yamal Peninsula in the Russian Arctic. In October 2016, Alegra Ally travelled to north-west Siberia to join a family and document their way of life as autumn turned to winter
New Path – A Window on Nenets Life by Alegra Ally is published by Schilt
Continue reading...Tracking the melt in Greenland's ice sheet – in pictures
Team of NYU scientists study shifting landscape of country one member calls ‘the end of the planet’
Continue reading...Revealed: emails raise ethical questions over Trump official's role in gas project
Documents obtained by the Guardian suggest interior secretary is promoting effort tied to his former firm
The US interior secretary, David Bernhardt, is promoting a fossil fuel project for which his former employer, a lobbying firm, is a paid advocate, e-mails obtained by the Guardian suggest.
Experts sayBernhardt is probably violating ethics guidelines issued by the Trump administration with the stated goal of “draining the swamp”. Based on these rules, Bernhardt should be recused from specific issues involving a former client for at least two years.
Continue reading...Two tigers seized from traffickers every week, report finds
Closure of tiger farms among urgent steps needed to protect species, wildlife summit hears
Two illegally smuggled tigers per week are being seized by officials, according to a report, but this represents only a tiny fraction of those being killed.
The report, by the wildlife trade experts Traffic, was released at a summit of 183 countries under the Convention in the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), where many delegates have called for stronger action.
Continue reading...Why carbon offsetting is not the panacea Harry and Meghan might think it is
Elton John has attacked the criticism of the use of private jets by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – reportedly four journeys in 11 days – by saying he not only paid for the plane, but also paid to offset its giant carbon emissions. “We ensured their flight was carbon neutral,” he tweeted.
The world of carbon offsetting flights – where you can pay to have the equivalent of your emissions ‘cancelled out’ by projects that lower or remove emissions, such as reforestation or renewable energy – is not clearcut. While some argue it is better than doing nothing, others say it allows frequent flyers to assuage their guilt and the aviation industry to grow.
Continue reading...Australia taking six years to list threatened habitats under environment laws
Senate inquiry hears that major threats to wildlife are not being recognised because of environment department budget cuts
Australia is taking at least six years to list habitats as threatened under national environment laws, an inquiry examining the country’s extinction crisis has heard.
The Humane Society International (HSI) also said that potential major threats to Australia’s wildlife are going unexamined because “we’re not even spending the meagre funds required” to look into them.
Continue reading...Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 – in pictures
A beached fin whale being circled by sharks and eastern grey kangaroos in a snowstorm are among the standout images in the 2019 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year awards
• The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 is on at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney until 20 October 2019 and the South Australian Museum until 10 November
• The week in wildlife – in pictures
South Africa gets go-ahead to increase black rhino trophy hunting
Conservation groups split on impact of move agreed at international wildlife summit
South Africa has won permission to almost double the number of black rhinos that can be killed as trophies after arguing the money raised will support conservation of the critically endangered species.
The decision was made at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) after receiving support from some African nations and opposition from others.
Continue reading...August rainfall brings UK wheat harvest to ‘shuddering halt’
National Farmers’ Union says only farms in south-east England able to start harvest
August’s wet weather has brought this year’s wheat harvest to a “shuddering halt”, the deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union has said.
Guy Smith said farmers outside the south-east of England had been left unable start their harvest their crop because of heavy rainfall this month.
Continue reading...Revenge of the clothes moths: as numbers boom, can they be stopped?
They destroy sweaters, carpets and even wall insulation – and their population has tripled in five years. But there are ways to quell these insatiable insects
When Janine Christley moved into her new house, she thought buying woollen carpets would be the sustainable option. She had the stairs and two floors of her cottage carpeted, at a cost of thousands of pounds. Then the moths moved in. She first noticed them about four years ago, just a few at first. But then they started devouring the carpets, creating big bare patches. Gradually, Christley has had to rip them up and replace them with synthetic carpet. “I’ve still got woollen carpet in my room and the front room, but there are big holes where they’ve eaten it away,” she says. To a family of moths, it turns out, a wool-carpeted house is essentially an all-you-can-eat restaurant.
“Of course, they’re into clothes as well,” she says. They have eaten woollen jackets and gorged on the bags of wool she keeps for felting projects – as well as the finished crafts themselves. She has avoided chemical controls, but clothes regularly go into the freezer in an attempt to kill the moths’ eggs. “I’m constantly checking where they might be,” says Christley. “I go into the wardrobe and shake all my clothes regularly because they like to be dark and undisturbed. I check under furniture, swat any I can find. I’m always jumping up to try to catch them; I see them flying around. I’m encouraging spiders in my house now; they’ve got lots of cobwebs and I’m trying to get them to catch the moths.” It has been frustrating – and expensive. “And it’s all been a waste of time.”
Continue reading...Campaigners demand end to fish tethering 'torture' in Taiwan
Animal welfare groups highlight practice that forces a fish’s gills open and prolongs its suffocation to keep it fresh for longer
All photographs by Jo-Anne McArthur in Taipei/The Guardian
Campaigners in Taiwan are calling for an end to the centuries-old practice of fish tethering – which sees live fish tied into a crescent shape to entice buyers – claiming the custom “is a form of torture” and contravenes animal welfare standards.
Fish tethering is popular in Taiwan, where it is believed that “bow fish” stay fresher for longer if they are bent into a curve and sprinkled with water to keep them alive. They remain this way until they are purchased, which can be up to 10 hours after they were caught, say activists.
Continue reading...Brazil to open long-distance hiking trail in Atlantic forest – in pictures
Inspired by long-distance tracks such as Canada’s 15,000-mile Great Trail, a proposed 4,970-mile trans-Brazil hiking trail would provide a continuous coastal corridor from its southern border with Uruguay to its northern frontier with French Guiana
Continue reading...No sex please we're British (stick insects)
Phasmids hailing from New Zealand become asexual after arriving in the UK
A New Zealand stick insect that migrated to the UK more than seven decades ago has given up having sex and become asexual, prompting biologists to wonder about the use of sex at all – especially in Britain.
The Clitarchus hookeri is native to New Zealand but migrated to the UK sometime between 1910 and 1935, catching a ride on shiploads of New Zealand plants that were transported to the sub-tropical Tresco Abbey Garden on the Scilly Isles islands off the coast of Cornwall.
Continue reading...Australian power stations among world's worst for toxic air pollution
Coal-fired stations in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and NSW’s Lake Macquarie region among biggest hotspots for deadly sulphur dioxide, report finds
Power stations in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and New South Wales’s Lake Macquarie region have been named on a list of the world’s biggest hotspots for toxic air pollution.
A new report by Greenpeace, published on Monday, used satellite data published by Nasa to analyse the world’s worst sources of sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution, an irritant gas known to affect human health and one of the main pollutants contributing to deaths from air pollution worldwide.
Continue reading...Parasitic disease spread by feral cats likely to be killing native wildlife
Researchers say eradication of feral cats is required to reduce the prevalence of the parasite and the disease
Feral cats are not just predators that kill large numbers of Australian wildlife, they may also be spreading parasitic disease to native animal species, according to new research analysing the impact of cat populations in South Australia.
The study, published in the journal Wildlife Research, examined Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), a cat-borne parasite that can cause the disease Toxoplasmosis in a range of species.
Continue reading...Australia is third largest exporter of fossil fuels behind Russia and Saudi Arabia
Australia Institute says claim Australia is only responsible for 1.2% of emissions hides real contribution to climate crisis
Australia’s role as a leader in the global fossil fuel trade is underscored by a report that finds it is the world’s third biggest exporter and fifth biggest miner of fossil-related emissions.
While political debate sometimes emphasises that Australia is responsible for 1.2% of global emissions at home, the analysis by progressive thinktank the Australia Institute says it trails only Russia and Saudi Arabia in exporting fossil fuels.
Continue reading...World’s nations gather to tackle wildlife extinction crisis
Giraffes, sharks, glass frogs - and the woolly mammoth - may get boosted protection at summit
From giraffes to sharks, the world’s endangered species could gain better protection at an international wildlife conference.
The triennial summit of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), that began on Saturday, will tackle disputes over the conservation of great beasts such as elephants and rhinos, as well as cracking down on the exploitation of unheralded but vital species such as sea cucumbers, which clean ocean floors.
Continue reading...'No sea sickness so far': Greta Thunberg posts update four days into Atlantic crossing
Climate activist is undertaking two-week journey on solar-powered yacht
Four days into its two-week Atlantic crossing, the solar-powered yacht carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg is becalmed in the ocean after a choppy start to the trip, still 2,500 nautical miles from New York.
In an update posted to Twitter around midday on Saturday, the 16-year-old said she was eating and sleeping well and had no sea sickness so far.
Continue reading...'Plastic recycling is a myth': what really happens to your rubbish?
You sort your recycling, leave it to be collected – and then what? From councils burning the lot to foreign landfill sites overflowing with British rubbish, Oliver Franklin-Wallis reports on a global waste crisis
An alarm sounds, the blockage is cleared, and the line at Green Recycling in Maldon, Essex, rumbles back into life. A momentous river of garbage rolls down the conveyor: cardboard boxes, splintered skirting board, plastic bottles, crisp packets, DVD cases, printer cartridges, countless newspapers, including this one. Odd bits of junk catch the eye, conjuring little vignettes: a single discarded glove. A crushed Tupperware container, the meal inside uneaten. A photograph of a smiling child on an adult’s shoulders. But they are gone in a moment. The line at Green Recycling handles up to 12 tonnes of waste an hour.
“We produce 200 to 300 tonnes a day,” says Jamie Smith, Green Recycling’s general manager, above the din. We are standing three storeys up on the green health-and-safety gangway, looking down the line. On the tipping floor, an excavator is grabbing clawfuls of trash from heaps and piling it into a spinning drum, which spreads it evenly across the conveyor. Along the belt, human workers pick and channel what is valuable (bottles, cardboard, aluminium cans) into sorting chutes.
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