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Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns
The earth has reached its first catastrophic tipping point linked to greenhouse gas emissions, with warm water coral reefs now facing a long-term decline and risking the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, according to a new report.
The report from scientists and conservationists warns the world is also “on the brink” of reaching other tipping points, including the dieback of the Amazon, the collapse of major ocean currents and the loss of ice sheets.
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The volcanic island of Surtsey emerged in the 1960s, and scientists say studying its development offers hope for damaged ecosystems worldwide
The crew of the Ísleifur II had just finished casting their nets off the coast of southern Iceland when they realised something was wrong. In the early morning gloom in November 1963, a dark mass filled the sky over the Atlantic Ocean. They rushed to the radio, thinking that another fishing vessel was burning at sea, but no boats in the area were in distress.
Then, their trawler began to drift unexpectedly, unnerving the crew further. The cook scrambled to wake the captain, thinking they were being pulled into a whirlpool. Finally, through binoculars, they spotted columns of ash bursting from the water and realised what was going on: a volcano was erupting in the ocean below.
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Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders, accuses US, UK and other governments of paying lip service to climate goals while criminalizing activists
Human rights defenders organizing to prevent climate catastrophe are facing a surge in reprisals, as governments around the world denigrate, delegitimize and criminalize activists in spite of worsening global heating, a top United Nations official has told the Guardian.
Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders since 2020, has documented hundreds of cases where states have sought to smear and silence climate defenders engaged in peaceful protest, non-violent civil disobedience and litigation.
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Lord Stern says fossil-fuelled growth is futile as the damage it causes ends in economic self-destruction
Investment in climate action is the economic growth story of the 21st century, while growth fuelled by fossil fuels is futile because the damage it causes ends in self-destruction, the economist Nicholas Stern has said.
The plummeting costs of clean technologies, from renewable energy to electric cars, plus the healthier and more productive societies they enable, meant investments could simultaneously tackle the climate crisis and faltering economic growth, and bring millions of people out of poverty, he said.
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People urged to savour sights, sounds and smells of the season as poll shows a disconnect during darker months
There may be a bite in the wind and the nights are certainly drawing in but a conservation charity and a television wildlife champion have launched a campaign aimed at getting more people connecting with nature in the autumn and winter months.
The National Trust is launching a “Wild Senses” campaign on the back of the new BBC series Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles in which the wildlife expert and camera operator Hamza Yassin celebrates the UK’s seasons and encourages viewers to notice, appreciate and reconnect to wildlife everywhere.
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Allendale, Northumberland: Their sheer presence makes them a source of delight, and they’ve taken root in unlikely places. Now it’s time to collect their seeds
In the first storm of autumn, their huge, pliable stems rock and sway, but none are toppled. These hollyhocks, grown 10ft tall since spring, are survivors, delighting me for many months. I’m loth to cut them down, shrivel-leaved as they are, because they still give so much height.
My grandchildren ran between them in the summer holidays. Red admirals and peacocks settled on their floppy petals. Bumblebees nosed up into their large flowers, sheltered from the rain by the downward facing trumpets of hibiscus-like blooms. Angle shades moths came to the light of the moth trap, their caterpillars having fed on hollyhock leaves.
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The particles are in our blood, brains and guts – and scientists are only beginning to learn what they do
Microplastics have been found almost everywhere: in blood, placentas, lungs – even the human brain. One study estimated our cerebral organs alone may contain 5g of the stuff, or roughly a teaspoon. If true, plastic isn’t just wrapped around our food or woven into our clothes: it is lodged deep inside us.
Now, researchers suspect these particles may also be meddling with our gut microbes. When Dr Christian Pacher-Deutsch at the University of Graz in Austria exposed gut bacteria from five healthy volunteers to five common microplastics, the bacterial populations shifted – along with the chemicals they produced. Some of these changes mirrored patterns linked to depression and colorectal cancer.
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At the foot of the Andes, a Canadian firm has plans for one of the country’s biggest copper mines, but many say the carbon-rich forests and clean rivers are too high a price to pay
As the sun sets over the Colombian Amazon, construction worker Pablo Portillo observes the canopy. Titi monkeys swing in the treetops as the Mocoa River roars nearby. For four years, he and his family have lived quietly in this biodiverse “gateway to the Amazon”, where the Andes descend into the rainforest, home to mountain tapirs, spectacled bears and vital rivers.
But Portillo, 46, fears this peaceful landscape is at risk. Canadian company Copper Giant Resources has been exploring nearby mountains with a view to opening one of Colombia’s largest copper mines. Beneath Mocoa lie an estimated 2m tonnes of copper, a transition metal vital for clean energy in wind turbines and batteries.
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Experts warn approving a windfarm in the habitat of one of Australia’s most critically endangered birds could be ‘rolling the dice’ on their survival
One of Australia’s most critically endangered bird species has started arriving at Melaleuca, in Tasmania’s south-western world heritage area. By late this week, six orange-bellied parrots had turned up at the remote outpost to breed, having made the weeks-long flight from the mainland, across Bass Strait and down the state’s wild west coast.
Relatively little is known about where the birds go during the winter, other than that it is a hazardous journey for a bird that weighs about 40 grams. In recent years, only about half the parrots that leave Melaleuca, the species’ sole wild breeding site, have returned in spring.
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Tariffs have caused a Chinese exit from the soybean market – and midwestern farmers are waiting on a solution
At the Purfeerst farm in southern Minnesota, the soybean harvest just wrapped up for the season. The silver grain bins are full of about 100,000 bushels of soybeans, which grab about $10 a piece.
This year, though, the fate of the soybeans, and the people whose livelihoods depend on selling them, is up in the air: America’s soybean farmers are stuck in the middle of a trade war between the US and China, the biggest purchaser of soybean exports, used to feed China’s pigs.
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