Kits emerge for after-dark dips in Northumberland, London, Kent and the Cairngorms after reintroduction drive
A beaver baby boom is under way across Britain this summer in places where the species had been extinct for centuries.
From Ealing in London to the Cairngorms in Scotland, and from Canterbury in Kent to the Wallington Estate in Northumberland, new kits have emerged from their lodges for an after-dark dip in the water.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/14/2024 - 01:00
08/14/2024 - 00:00
Sources say government has dismissed some of the more ambitious ideas for fixing sewage crisis
Anti-sewage campaigners have warned of “extreme anger” if the Labour government does not radically reform the water regulator.
Sources at the Environment Agency (EA) and in the Labour party have told the Guardian that while Labour had spent time considering reforms of the EA and Ofwat in order to fix the sewage crisis, some stricter options that had been proposed were now off the table.
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08/13/2024 - 22:55
Public told to stay away from area and Environment Agency call in after spillage in Pleck of toxic chemical
A major incident has been declared in the West Midlands after sodium cyanide was spilled into a canal, with the Walsall council warning of a potential serious health risk to anyone who has had direct physical contact with the water.
Walsall council said people must avoid an extended area of the canal and towpaths from the Walsall lock flight to the lock flights at Rushall, Ryders Green and Perry Barr.
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08/13/2024 - 18:01
Unicef analysis also finds children in eight countries spend more than half the year in temperatures above 35C
Almost half a billion children are growing up in parts of the world where there are at least twice the number of extremely hot days every year compared with six decades ago, analysis by Unicef has found.
The analysis by the UN’s children’s agency examined for the first time data on changes in children’s exposure to extreme heat over the past 60 years.
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08/13/2024 - 18:00
Charity Commission says tweets about environmental protections were inappropriate in ‘tone and nature’
The RSPB has been criticised by the English charities watchdog over social media posts in which it accused named government ministers of being “liars” for watering down environmental protections.
The Charity Commission said the tweets a year ago were “inappropriate” in “tone and nature”, they had not been signed off at the correct level and the RSPB could have done more to prevent them going out.
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08/13/2024 - 17:01
Fires made at least three times more likely by climate crisis and emitted about 2bn tonnes of CO2, data reveals
Canada’s “record-shattering” wildfires last year produced nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions in one season as would be expected over a decade of fires in normal circumstances, data has shown.
The fires, in Canada’s “wildest season ever”, were made at least three times more likely by the climate crisis, and produced about 2bn tonnes of CO2, about a quarter of the total global emissions from wildfires last year, according to data in the State of Wildfires report, published on Wednesday.
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08/13/2024 - 13:14
A recent study details how trees in New York City and Boston are more negatively impacted by heat waves and drought than trees of the same species in nearby rural forests. The finding highlights the challenges urban trees face in the context of climate change and underscores the importance of tailored urban forestry management as a tool for protecting tree species and reducing urban heat islands.
08/13/2024 - 12:59
Trump talked about ‘nuclear warming’ while Musk said the only reason to quit fossil fuels is that their supply is finite
Donald Trump and Elon Musk both made discursive, often fact-free assertions about global heating, including that rising sea levels would create “more oceanfront property” and that there was no urgent need to cut carbon emissions, during an event labeled “the dumbest climate conversation of all time” by one prominent activist.
Trump, the Republican US presidential nominee, and Musk, the world’s richest person, dwelled on the problem of the climate crisis during their much-hyped conversation on X, formerly known as Twitter and owned by Musk, on Monday, agreeing that the world has plenty of time to move away from fossil fuels, if at all.
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08/13/2024 - 11:00
In probably the hottest summer ever, workers are organizing in 13 cities to raise alarm about workplace heat exposure
As temperatures in Baltimore neared 100F earlier this month, 36-year-old sanitation worker Ronald Silver II died after he was found lying on the hood of a car and asking for water.
It’s the kind of tragic workplace heat-related death that advocates say could have been avoided with the right labor protections. So this week, during what will probably be the US’s hottest summer on record, frontline workers are organizing actions in 13 cities across the country, raising the alarm about workplace heat exposure.
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08/13/2024 - 10:00
Exposure to bacteria in landfill sites and polluted rivers may explain prevalence among city-dwelling birds
Urban ducks and crows might offer us a connection to nature, but scientists have found wild birds that live near humans are more likely to harbour bacteria resistant to important antibiotics.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is largely caused by the overuse of drugs such as antibiotics among humans and livestock.
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