Environment

The cheapest and most effective way to control river flooding in Britain would be to bring back beavers to construct natural dams to hold back water, the UK Mammal Society has recommended to the environment secretary, Owen Paterson. The rodents, known as "master river engineers", nibble and fell trees to create large lodges which restrict river flow, store water, and reduce flash floods and erosion. The UK has been lashed with storms and flooding in the past two months, with the south-west particularly badly hit, and David Cameron saying on Wednesday that it is unacceptable that parts of Somerset are still underwater. Marina Pacheco, the society's chief executive, said: "We urge the government to consider a bold and cost-effective wildlife solution: bring back the beaver and allow it to apply its benign engineering skills to our river systems. Our waterways are fed by man-made ditches and field drains that reduce the land's natural ability to hold water. Excessive flooding of towns, … [Read more...] about Bring back beavers to control flooding, environment secretary told

The climate sceptic thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs was mooted as a co-host of an Australian visit by Donald Trump’s beleaguered Environment Protection Agency head, Scott Pruitt, which may have included discussion with local officials on whether environmental deals should be changed or cancelled. Emails released to the US environment group the Sierra Club under freedom of information laws show that Matthew Freedman, a Washington consultant who describes himself as “a close personal friend” of the Australian environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, played a central role in organising Pruitt’s proposed August trip before it was cancelled when Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas gulf coast. In the US, the emails are of interest as evidence that Pruitt relied on business figures and lobbyists to plan and justify his overseas travel. They were first published by the New York Times. Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon From an … [Read more...] about Climate sceptic group IPA suggested as co-host of Australian visit by Trump’s environment chief

Our moral dissonance about flying reminds me of something a Buddhist once told me: "It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you do it with love." I am sure he knew as well as I do that our state of mind makes no difference to either exploited people or the environment. Thinking like ethical people makes not a damn of difference unless we also behave like ethical people. When it comes to flying, there seems to be no connection between intention and action. This is partly because the people who are most concerned about the inhabitants of other countries are often those who have travelled widely. Much of the global justice movement consists of people - like me - whose politics were forged by their experiences abroad. While it is easy for us to pour scorn on the drivers of sports utility vehicles, whose politics generally differ from ours, it is rather harder to contemplate a world in which our own freedoms are curtailed, especially the freedoms that shaped us. More painfully, in some … [Read more...] about On the flight path to global meltdown

The east African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy. Many bags drift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales with waste until they die of starvation. “If we continue like this, by 2050, we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish,” said Habib El-Habr, an expert on marine litter working with the UN environment programme in Kenya. Plastic bags, which El-Habr says take between 500 to 1,000 years to break down, also enter the human food chain through fish and other animals. In Nairobi’s slaughterhouses, some cows destined for human consumption had 20 bags removed from their stomachs. “This is something we didn’t get 10 years ago but now it’s almost on a daily basis,” said county vet Mbuthi Kinyanjui as he watched men in bloodied white uniforms scoop sodden plastic … [Read more...] about Kenya brings in world’s toughest plastic bag ban: four years jail or $40,000 fine

A ‘spinning’ turbine which can capture wind travelling in any direction and could transform how consumers generate electricity has won its two student designers a prestigious James Dyson award. Nicolas Orellana, 36, and Yaseen Noorani, 24, both MSc students at Lancaster University, have created the O-Wind Turbine which – in a technological first – takes advantage of both horizontal and vertical winds without requiring steering. Conventional wind turbines only capture wind travelling in one direction, and are notoriously inefficient in cities where wind trapped between buildings becomes unpredictable, making the turbines unusable. In 2015 the controversial “Walkie Talkie” skyscraper on London’s Fenchurch Street was thought responsible for creating a wind tunnel which knocked down shop signs and even toppled pedestrians. Using a simple geometric shape, O-Wind Turbine is designed to make the most of multi-directional wind, generating energy even … [Read more...] about Groundbreaking ‘spinning’ wind turbine wins UK Dyson award