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Environmental Issues

The U.S. House of Representatives could vote as early as this week to approve two controversial, Republican-backed bills that would change how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses science and scientific advice to inform its policies. Many Democrats, scientific organizations, and environmental groups are pushing back, calling the bills thinly veiled attempts to weaken future regulations and favor industry. White House advisers today announced that they will recommend that President Barack Obama veto the bills if they reach his desk in their current form (statements here and here).

The bills, introduced by a mostly Republican cast of sponsors in both the House and the Senate, would require that EPA use only publicly available, reproducible data in writing regulations and seek to remake the membership and procedures of the agency’s science advisory panels. Supporters, including industry groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argue that the legislation would improve the transparency and soundness of how EPA uses science, making regulations less costly and more effective. ...

http://news.sciencemag.org/environm...versial-epa-secret-science-and-science-advice
 
I think this belongs here given the previous post.

The U.S. House of Representative’s one-man physics caucus is joining its science committee—with the goal of restoring science to its rightful place in legislative discourse.

Representative Bill Foster (D–IL) holds a physics Ph.D. from Harvard University and spent 22 years as a particle accelerator designer at Fermilab, a Department of Energy national laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. When he arrived in the House in 2008, he was one of three members with a Ph.D. in physics. But the two others—representatives Vern Ehlers (R–MI) and Rush Holt (D–NJ)—have since retired, leaving Foster as the sole remaining member of that troika. (There are no doctoral-level physicists in the Senate.)

Foster didn’t join the House’s science committee as a rookie, instead focusing his legislative energies on reforming the nation’s tattered banking system after the 2008 financial meltdown. He also feared being pigeonholed as “the science guy.” But the world has changed, he tells ScienceInsider today in a phone interview after revealing he has been chosen to fill one of three Democratic vacancies on the science panel ...

http://news.sciencemag.org/people-events/2015/02/lone-physicist-congress-joins-science-panel
 
Bees drawn to road verges as pesticides force pollinators from fields
By Western Daily Press | Posted: March 14, 2015

Bees are twice as likely to visit flowers on the road-facing sides of hedgerows, shunning field-facing sides because of agricultural pesticides.
Experts say pollination provided by bumblebees on hedges' field-sides may be limited because of farming methods.

Writing in the Journal of Insect Conservation, ecologists at Plymouth University said pesticides and fertilisers are reducing the food available to bees. They suggest that an even wider boundary strip between hedges and fields could solve the problem.

Dr Mick Hanley, lecturer in terrestrial ecology in the university's school of biological sciences, conducted the study alongside undergraduate Josh Wilkins, at 30 sites across Devon and Cornwall.


Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Bees-drawn-road-verges-pesticides-force/story-26169138-detail/story.html#ixzz3ULr3pTTx
 
This is a bit of a crossover between this thread and Coastguard stuff, but I put it here because it does have some wildlife footage:

‘General Zalinski’ Fuel Oil Removal – A Looming Environmental Disaster Averted in Canada [VIDEO]
By Mike Schuler On March 17, 2015

In September 1946, the WWII-era U.S. Army Transport ship General M. G. Zalinski sank after running aground some 100 kilometers south of Prince Rupert, Canada while en route from Washington to Alaska. All of her crew managed to escape, but the ship sank with all cargo, including bombs and ammunition, and an estimated 700 tons of fuel oil still aboard.

Nearly 60 years later, mysterious oil slicks began appearing on the surface and along shorelines of the Grenville Channel in British Columbia’s Inside Passage, leading to the discovery of the Zalinski resting upside down, on a steep underwater cliff in some 27 meters of water.

In the years that followed, it was determined that the deteriorating condition of the vessel posed an imminent threat of a large release of oil, a looming environmental disaster.
After a tender for the fuel oil removal, the Canadian government contracted Mammoet Salvage and its strategic partner, Global Diving & Salvage from Seattle, for the job. Mammoet was to use a method known as “hot tapping” to extract the oil, a well-known and frequently used method of removing oil from the tanks of stricken vessels. The method involved drilling a hole through the hull and into the tank, then heating the oil to lower its viscosity. With the oil more freely flowing, it could then to be pumped from the tanks to the surface and stored onboard a vessel. At the same time water was injected into the tank to equalize pressure and maintain the tanks integrity.

The operations were successfully completed in March 2014 and the Zalinski no longer poses a threat to the environment.
Below is the full story of the project as told by the salvors:

[About 11 min +]

http://gcaptain.com/general-zalinks...-environmental-disaster-averted-canada-video/
 
Great work by all involved. Good to see some positive news.
 
''Earth is halfway to being inhospitable to life, scientist says''
Published time: March 20, 2015 04:02
A Swedish scientist claims in a new theory that humanity has exceeded four of the nine limits for keeping the planet hospitable to modern life, while another professor told RT Earth may be seeing an impending human-made extinction of various species.
http://rt.com/news/242441-earth-facing-human-extinction/
 
'Water man of India' Rajendra Singh bags top prize
By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst
An award known as "the Nobel Prize for water" has been given to an Indian campaigner who has brought water to 1,000 villages.
The judges of the Stockholm Water Prize say his methods have also prevented floods, restored soil and rivers, and brought back wildlife.
The prize-winner, Rajendra Singh, is dubbed "the Water Man of India".
The judges say his technique is cheap, simple, and that his ideas should be followed worldwide.

Mr Singh uses a modern version of the ancient Indian technique of rainwater harvesting.
It involves building low-level banks of earth to hold back the flow of water in the wet season and allow water to seep into the ground for future use.

He first trained as a medic, but when he took up a post in a rural village in arid Rajasthan he was told the greatest need was not health care but drinking water.
Groundwater had been sucked dry by farmers, and as water disappeared, crops failed, rivers, forests and wildlife disappeared and people left for the towns.

"When we started our work, we were only looking at the drinking water crisis and how to solve that," Mr Singh said.
"Today our aim is higher. This is the century of exploitation, pollution and encroachment. To stop all this, to convert the war on water into peace, that is my life's goal."
The Stockholm International Water Institute, which presented the prize, said his lessons were essential as climate change alters weather patterns round the world.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32002306
 
African elephants could be extinct 'within a decade'
At least 80,000 African elephants have been poached since 2006, experts at a summit in Botswana have warned
By Oliver Smith
9:05AM GMT 24 Mar 2015

African elephants could be extinct in the wild within the next decade, experts at a major conservation conference in Botswana have warned.
The Africa Elephant Summit, attended by delegates from around 20 countries including China – which is accused of fuelling the poaching trade – heard new figures from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which showed the African elephant population fell from 550,000 to 470,000 between 2006 and 2013.

The decline has been even more pronounced in East Africa, where numbers have fallen from 150,000 to 100,000 during the same period.
Last year the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites under threat, highlighting the scale of the problem in the region. The elephant and rhino population has fallen by nearly 90 per cent since the reserve was first listed in 1982. As many as 25,000 elephants were killed in Tanzania’s Selous ecosystem (66 per cent of the reserve’s population) between 2009 and 2013, according to conservation groups.

“This species could be extinct in our lifetime, within one or two decades, if the current trend continues,” said Dune Ives, senior researcher at Vulcan, a philanthropic organisation run by US billionaire Paul Allen. :(

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/d...ephants-could-be-extinct-within-a-decade.html
 
Lowest and earliest sea ice maximum announced (with minor caveat)
Arctic sea ice reaches lowest maximum extent on record - from NSIDC
On February 25, 2015, Arctic sea ice extent appeared to have reached its annual maximum extent, marking the beginning of the sea ice melt season. This year’s maximum extent not only occurred early; it is also the lowest in the satellite record. However, a late season surge in ice growth is still possible. NSIDC will post a detailed analysis of the 2014 to 2015 winter sea ice conditions in early April.

Additionally a short (10 min video) from the University of Maryland on why the Chesapeake Bay area is experiencing a much higher sea level rise than anticipated. (hat-tip to Climate Denial Crock of the Week)
 
via UPI
A rather good serendipitous find for detecting pollution, it would even be possible to check your local water courses with this method.
Fluorescent tampons help researchers locate river pollution
/snip
Most tampons are made of natural, untreated cotton, a material that readily absorbs a class of chemicals called optical brighteners. Optical brightening agents (OBAs), which have a "whitening effect" and also enhance color brightness, are used in toilet paper, detergents and shampoos. That makes them an ideal indicator of the presence of wastewater -- from baths, washing machines, sinks and showers.

As engineers at Sheffield have shown, even the smallest trace of an optical brightener can be picked up and absorbed by a tampon suspended in the pool of a stream. Placed under a UV light, the tampon will glow if it has absorbed the chemicals.
 
''Earth has shifted - Inuit elders issue warning to NASA and the world''
By Susan Duclos
January 5, 2015 | volume 35, number 4
The elders maintain the Sun doesn't rise where it used to, they have longer daylight to hunt and the Sun is higher than it used to be and warms up quicker than before. The elders who were interviewed across the north all said the same thing, their sky has changed.
Full article here, http://www.newspaper.indianlife.org...-issue-warning-to-nasa-and-the-world/582.html
 
I find it hard to believe the Earth has 'wobbled' without professional astronomers being aware of it. Whenever they tried to aim their telescopes at a particular celestial object, it would be 'off-centre', or maybe not in the field of view at all! (High magnifications will amplify any such shift and make them more noticeable.)

Extreme weather events due to global warming have been noticed around the world. I think that some Inuits have mistaken effects caused by this as an axis-shift.
 
Devon and Cornwall fishermen haul barrel jellyfish blooms
14 April 2015

Large blooms of barrel jellyfish "the size of dustbin lids" are being hauled in by Devon and Cornwall fishermen.
Dozens of sightings have been reported to authorities of the creatures, which are the largest species of jellyfish found in the south west of England.
The Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT) says many are being caught in fishing nets and are being washed up on beaches.
Experts say their stings are not powerful enough to harm humans, but people are advised not to touch them.

Fisherman at Cadgwith, John Trewin, has had three or four bundled up in his nets this week and was stung in the face.
"It felt like being slapped with stinging nettles, the tentacles flew in my eyes and cheeks when I pulled up the net."

Andy Wheeler, from the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, said the creatures can be a nuisance to local fishermen.
"There are so many of them that they often get caught up in nets.
"It has been a real problem for fishermen because they fill up the trawler and slow boats down."

Matt Slater, from the wildlife trust, said it was unusual that so many have stayed in the region as they normally move around.
"It's difficult to say what is causing their appearance, but it could be because there is more plankton for the jellyfish to feed on because of warmer waters."
The 90cm (35in) wide barrel jellyfish can weigh up to 25kg (55lb) and have tentacles that can hang down by as much as 6ft (1.9m).

Steve Hussey, from the Devon Wildlife Trust, says the increase could be because of fewer predators in the region's seas.
"The leatherback turtle is struggling at the moment, which means there are less of them to eat the jellyfish.
"We're getting reports from fishermen that they're catching more jellyfish than fish".

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-32299466
 
Killings of environmental activists have risen by 20% in the last year, according to campaign group Global Witness.

A report published by the organisation said there were 116 deaths worldwide in 2014, including 29 in Brazil, 25 in Colombia and 15 in the Philippines.

Activists also faced abduction and other threats if they interfered in corporate or state interests, it added.

Last year saw a spike in killings related to hydropower programs.

Fourteen people died defending their land and rivers against dam projects. ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-32377110
 
Greenpeace wins permission to take UK government to court over fish quotas
Posted: 27 Apr 2015 07:53 AM PDT

The UK High Court has given the green light for a full judicial review into whether the UK fishing quota allocation system is unlawful under new European law.

The government has given out fishing quota in largely the same way since the mid-90s. About 95% of the fishing quota is awarded to the larger end of the fleet, most notably domestic and foreign controlled industrial fishing businesses – such as the vessel Cornelis Vrolijk - which we previously exposed. It's symbolic of just how broken the system is.
Meanwhile, local, sustainable fishermen which are the heart of many coastal economies get just 4%. Many are facing bankruptcy and food banks.

Since the start of 2014, the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) obliges European governments to allocate fishing opportunities – such as fishing quota - to their fleets according to new criteria. These must now include environmental and social as well as economic criteria.
It’s no longer OK to simply dish out fishing quota based on what vessels’ were catching 20 years ago. The system must adapt with the outside world and successive governments can no longer ignore the problem.

We believe that according to the new CFP, local, low impact fishermen should receive more fishing quota because they fish more sustainably, have lower CO2 emissions and provide greater employment and job creation opportunities than the industrial scale fleet.
This is what the full judicial review will be about, and it’s important because the new CFP is fundamentally different from its predecessor in that environmental and social sustainability is at its heart.

This legal green light comes hot on the heels of manifesto commitments from all the major political parties to give sustainable fishermen more fishing quota, to implement the CFP and to establish marine reserves.
This follows an nine week Greenpeace / Nutfa pre-election boat tour through 23 of the most marginal coastal constituencies in England and Wales. The tour brings together parliamentary candidates, local fishermen and communities to discuss what they’ll do for fish and fishermen if elected. Over 120 candidates have now signed up to become Coastal Champions.
With so many blue promises, the next government promises to be an oceans champion no matter which colour they are. This is brilliant news for fishermen, fish and the wider oceans.

The combination of political promises and a legal challenge means we are one giant step towards a complete overhaul of the way fishing quota is allocated in this country, so that it prioritises and rewards sustainable fishing, rather than the most powerful, or those with the deepest pockets.
And not just in the UK. This legal challenge could have far-reaching consequences for the way fishing quota is allocated in other EU countries.
But for now, no doubt all eyes are on what happens in the UK. The next few months may prove to be a turning point in the history of the UK's environmental credentials the world over.

From Greenpeace, via "Through the Gaps" email newsletter from Newlyn.
 
Harbour light 'attracts ship-damaging creatures'
By Rebecca Morelle Science Correspondent, BBC News
29 April 2015

Artificial lighting in harbours is attracting sea creatures that damage ships and boats, a study suggests.
Scientists believe that the night-time illumination is altering the behaviour of some animals that attach to vessels' hulls. Keel worms, for example, are lured in by the lights.
Other shade-loving animals were deterred by the brightness, seeking darker waters elsewhere.
The study is published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

"The presence of lighting at night can change the composition of these marine communities," said Dr Thomas Davies, an ecologist from the University of Exeter, UK.
"There is also what we call an 'ecosystem disservice'. The presence of artificial lighting might actually increase 'fouling' species that can damage boats."

Scientists estimate that just under a quarter of the world's coastal regions, excluding Antarctica, experience artificial lighting at night. Harbours, marinas, oil rigs and fisheries contribute to the glow.
To study the impact, researchers looked at sessile creatures: small animals that live in sediment or fix to hard surfaces. The group includes mussels, barnacles, sponges and sea squirts.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32500640
 
Wildlife decline may lead to 'empty landscape'
By Helen Briggs BBC Environment Correspondent
2 May 2015

Populations of some of the world's largest wild animals are dwindling, raising the threat of an "empty landscape", say scientists.
About 60% of giant herbivores - plant-eaters - including rhinos, elephants and gorillas, are at risk of extinction, according to research.
Analysis of 74 herbivore species, published in Science Advances, blamed poaching and habitat loss.
A previous study of large carnivores showed similar declines.

Prof William Ripple, of Oregon State University, led the research looking at herbivores weighing over 100kg, from the reindeer up to the African elephant.
"This is the first time anyone has analysed all of these species as a whole," he said.
"The process of declining animals is causing an empty landscape in the forest, savannah, grasslands and desert."

Prof David Macdonald, of Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, was among the team of 15 international scientists.
"The big carnivores, like the charismatic big cats or wolves, face horrendous problems from direct persecution, over-hunting and habitat loss, but our new study adds another nail to their coffin - the empty larder," he said.
"It's no use having habitat if there's nothing left to eat in it."

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32549898
 
Listen: 'Alien sounds' recorded 22 miles above the earth
Nasa still cannot explain the eerie hisses and whistles recorded by special microphones 22 miles above the earth's surface
By Leon Siciliano, video source Nasa
8:51AM BST 05 May 2015

Mysterious hisses and whistles have been recorded 22 miles above the earth's surface using infrared microphones aboard a Nasa sutdent balloon experiment.
The 'infrasounds' were captured by Daniel Bowman, a student at the University of North Carolina, accoridng to a report in LiveScience.
...
The sounds can only be heard by human ears after speeding up the recordings and were picked up at frequencies below 20 hertz.
'It sounds kind of like The X-Files,' Mr Bowman told Live Science.

Infrasonic sound can travel long distances and natural phenomenon such as earthquakes and storms can cause infrasounds, but researchers still do not know what was picked up in these recordings.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci...sounds-recorded-22-miles-above-the-earth.html
 
A clanger with a bad cold?
It sounded at first like someone messing about with cutlery in a sink, then i heard the snuffling and in the background i heard a lil wheezing, perhaps my tinnutus isnt helping?
 
Australia to further restrict shipping around Great Barrier Reef
By Reuters On May 15, 2015

SYDNEY, May 16 (Reuters) – Australia will more than double an area near the Great Barrier Reef subject to special curbs on shipping in a bid to protect the environmentally sensitive region, the government said on Saturday.
The decision to include large areas of the adjacent Coral Sea in the area will expand it by 140 percent, or 565,000 square km (218,000 square miles), Infrastructure Minister Warren Truss said in a statement.

The expansion comes as international concern is growing over the reef with the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) considering putting it on its list of World Heritage sites that are “in danger”.
“The Coral Sea is one of the world’s most distinctive and undisturbed marine ecosystems,” Truss said. “It behoves us to do all we can to reasonably and responsibly protect one of our greatest natural resources.”
“Our new measures enhance protection for the Coral Sea – as well as the adjacent Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area – by helping ships traverse the region safely and avoid potentially hazardous areas.”

etc...

http://gcaptain.com/australia-to-fu...ound-great-barrier-reef/#sthash.ZFimrqbv.dpuf
 
Roadside verges 'last refuge for wild flowers'
By Helen Briggs BBC Environment correspondent

More than 700 species of wild plants - almost half of the native flora of the British Isles - are found on road verges, according to a study.
Many plants once found in meadows now only thrive beside roads, where they provide essential habitat for insects, says charity Plantlife International.
But it says one in 10 of the plants is at risk of extinction, in part because councils cut verges too early.
Local authorities say shorter verges are safer for drivers and pedestrians.

Dr Trevor Dines, botanical specialist for the charity, said more than 97% of meadows had been destroyed in England since the 1930s, with road verges becoming the last stretches of natural habitat for wildlife such as bees and other insects.
"Most of our farmland is now hostile to many of our wild plants and other wildlife due to the loss of wild flower meadows and the use of herbicides and fertilisers," he told BBC News.
"The roadside verges are often the last refuge for wild flowers and the wildlife there depends on them.
"It's almost as if plants have been squeezed out of farmland and now they're being squeezed out of road verges from bad management."

The Local Government Association has said keeping road verges well-maintained means motorists have a good line of sight and allows pedestrians to walk more safely alongside busy roads.

Plantlife International says road verges are of particular importance to rare plants such as Deptford pink, tower mustard and spiked rampion.
They also act as wildlife corridors and provide pollen and nectar for bees, butterflies and moths.
The wild plant conservation charity says many of Britain's road verges are being cut down in full flower threatening the wildflowers and the wildlife that depends on them.
It is calling on members of the public to sign a petition urging councils to do more to enhance the wildlife value of road verges.
Its management principles for road verges include:
  • Allowing plants to complete their full life cycle, ie to grow, flower and set seed
  • Removing grass cuttings
  • Allowing flowers to return over time as they spread naturally.
Dr Dines added: "If we just give them a chance, wildflowers can return."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33029385
 
But could this bacteria be used to sabotage Nuclear Power Stations & Weapons?

A strain of bacteria that "breathes" uranium may hold the key to cleaning up polluted groundwater at sites where uranium ore was processed to make nuclear weapons.

A team of Rutgers University scientists and collaborators discovered the bacteria in soil at an old uranium ore mill in Rifle, Colorado, almost 200 miles west of Denver. The site is one of nine such mills in Colorado used during the heyday of nuclear weapons production.

The research is part of a U.S. Department of Energy program to see if microorganisms can lock up uranium that leached into the soil years ago and now makes well water in the area unsafe to drink.

The team's discovery, published in the April 2015 issue of Public Library of Science (PLoS), is the first known instance where scientists have found a bacterium from a common class known as betaproteobacteria that breathes uranium. This bacterium can breathe either oxygen or uranium to drive the chemical reactions that provide life-giving energy.

"After the newly discovered bacteria interact with uranium compounds in water, the uranium becomes immobile," said Lee Kerkhof, a professor of marine and coastal sciences in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. "It is no longer dissolved in the groundwater and therefore can't contaminate drinking water brought to the surface." ...

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-scientists-bacterium-uranium-immobile.html
 
People still do what comes naturally in Poldark country, but there's more of us now and it needs to be cleaned up...
Encouraging signs for wildlife after installation of £2 million sewage works at Loe Pool
First published 09:09 Monday 15 June 2015
by Paul Armstrong

THE outlook for the future of Loe Pool is looking positive after it was found that wild life and plant life is thriving following the installation of a £2 million state of the art water works.
RNAS Culdrose discharges into the Loe Pool via a sewage treatment plant on the Carminowe stream, where a new state of the art water works, commissioned by Kelda Water Services, is in operation.
Costing just shy of £2 million, Kelda Water is encouraged by early results to Loe Pool’s outlook, which indicated that wild life and plant life is thriving with the cleaner outflow from the treatment works.
“Working together with RNAS Culdrose, we’ve seen huge progress in reducing the nutrient enrichment,” said Tim Walker, Safety Health and Environment Advisor for RNAS Culdrose. “We continue to work closely with South West Water and RNAS Culdrose to improve water quality.”
These significant changes in the water quality in Loe Pool since the upgraded treatment plant has come online has increased the invertebrates and plants, which in turn nourish large species who inhabit and feed off the Pool.
Tim Gibb added, “The treatment works in this secluded valley of Carminowe stream is well hidden and has been landscaped to encourage native species, it does what it needs to do and is important to the wildlife of West Cornwall.”

Loe Pool formed several thousand years ago when a vast bank of shingle blocked the mouth of the River Cober and created Loe Bar. The resulting lake is a unique habitat for rare mosses, algae and insects - including the only known Cornish habitat of a rare woodlouse. Located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) it is also classed a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
However, the lake is suffering from a surplus of nutrients making it prone to algae blooms, starving it of oxygen and destroying its delicate wildlife stability.
The Loe Pool Forum (LPF) was established to do something about this, manage the lake and encouraging it back to a balanced ecological status. The forum of concerned organisations includes the Environment Agency, National Trust, Natural England, Kelda Water Services, Cornwall Council, Cornwall College as well as the Royal Navy.

For more information on the work of the Loe Pool Forum see: http://loepool.org/about/

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/new...million_sewage_works_at_Loe_Pool/?ref=mr&lp=9
 
Earth has entered sixth mass extinction, warn scientists
Humans are responsible for so many species dying out that we are now in a sixth mass extinction, Stanford University has warned


Earth has entered its sixth mass extinction with animals now dying out at 100 times the normal rate, scientists have warned.
Humans have created a toxic mix of habitat loss, pollution and climate change, which has already led to the loss of at least 77 species of mammals, 140 types of bird since and 34 amphibians since 1500.

So that's all good....
 
The article doesn't say so, but this new coming era has been named the Anthropocene.
It's been mentioned on FTMB several times before, especially on this thread and on the Population Growth thread.
So if you want to know more, that's the word to search for - anthropocene.
 
The major environmental F*ck Up that's ushering in the Anthropocene era is made up of loads of little F*ck Ups like this:
Church wildlife haven destroyed by council contractors
18 June 2015

A "living churchyard" meadow has been destroyed and wildlife killed after council contractors mowed around signs warning not to cut the grass.
Dead hedgehogs and fledgling birds were found "mangled" in St Andrew's churchyard in Tywardreath Cornwall.
The long grass meadow was accidentally cut down by Cormac council contractors four months earlier than usual.
Cormac apologised for the error and said it wanted to work with the local community to "put it right".

Local resident Daniel Villa said he was "livid" after the company "strimmed around the signs that states no cutting back will be done until autumn".
He said: "They drove their big mowers over the graves, damaging them.
"Four dead hedgehogs were found mangled by the machinery along with several fledgling birds, frogs. All the wild flowers are gone, along with all the bees , butterflies and other abundant pollinators that were there." :mad:

Churchwarden David Hughes said: "The team who came don't normally do it, it's a great pity.
"We've lost a big chunk of the food chain because the wildflowers have been chopped down before they've seeded."
Following the incident, the residents are now looking at setting up a Friends of Tywardreath Churchyard community group.

Cormac said: "We are sincerely sorry that the breakdown in communication led us to mow the whole area in June rather than in October.
"We will be in contact with the parish council to review the incident further and make sure the correct lines of communication are put in place.
"We also hope the concerned residents will help us to put it right by letting us help with the new friends of group."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-33181509
 
CO2 emissions threaten ocean crisis
By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst
[Video]

Scientists have warned that marine life will be irreversibly changed unless CO2 emissions are drastically cut.
Writing in Science, experts say the oceans are heating, losing oxygen and becoming more acidic because of CO2.
They warn that the 2C maximum temperature rise for climate change agreed by governments will not prevent dramatic impacts on ocean systems.
And they say the range of options is dwindling as the cost of those options is skyrocketing.

Twenty-two world-leading marine scientists have collaborated in the synthesis report in a special section of Science journal. They say the oceans are at parlous risk from the combination of threats related to CO2.
They believe politicians trying to solve climate change have paid far too little attention to the impacts of climate change on the oceans.
It is clear, they say, that CO2 from burning fossil fuels is changing the chemistry of the seas faster than at any time since a cataclysmic natural event known as the Great Dying 250 million years ago.
They warn that the ocean has absorbed nearly 30% of the carbon dioxide we have produced since 1750 and, as CO2 is a mildly acidic gas, it is making seawater more acidic.
It has also buffered climate change by absorbing over 90% of the additional heat created by industrial society since 1970. The extra heat makes it harder for the ocean to hold oxygen.

Several recent experiments suggest that many organisms can withstand the future warming that CO2 is expected to bring, or the decrease in pH, or lower oxygen… but not all at once.
Jean-Pierre Gattuso, lead author of the study, said: “The ocean has been minimally considered at previous climate negotiations. Our study provides compelling arguments for a radical change at the UN conference (in Paris) on climate change”.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33369024
 
Marine mammals thriving in Thames
By Rebecca Morelle Science Correspondent, BBC News

Ten years of public sightings show that large marine mammals are regularly found in the River Thames.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has received records of 2,732 animals over that period.
Seals were the most common animal seen, with many spotted around London's Canary Wharf, probably because many people spot them from its skyscrapers.
In addition, the public reported 444 porpoises and dolphins on the river, and 49 whales.

Joanna Barker, ZSL's European conservation projects manager, said: "Many people looking into the Thames see a murky, dirty environment.
"But, actually, beneath the waves, it is full of life. We have a huge range of fish and invertebrates, and also top predators."

Just 50 years ago, the Thames was so polluted it was declared "biologically extinct", too dirty for anything to survive there.
But the public sightings confirm that the river is springing back to life. And many animals are venturing further into the English capital's waterway.
Seals were seen as far upstream as Teddington and Hampton Court Palace, in south west London.
And dolphins and porpoises were spotted at Teddington Lock, with large pods spotted close to Kew Gardens and Deptford. :)

...

"The fact we get so many sightings in central London suggests the fish stocks are moving in to support these marine predators," said Miss Barker.
In addition to the public's reports, the team at ZSL has also been conducting detailed seal surveys along the greater Thames Estuary.
For the last three years, they have used planes and boats to count the number of seals along the river.
The scientists estimate there are about 670 harbour seals along the estuary. The number of grey seals is not known, however they appear to be doing well in this stretch of river.

"We do think this area is really important," said Miss Barker.
"It's quite sheltered compared with the North Sea, and there is a whole different range of environments and habitats for the marine mammals to use.
"So we think that London and the Thames Estuary is an important environment for these species.
"And we are keen to get more sightings year on year, and to build up a better picture of the places that marine mammals are using."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33996020

I once sailed a lot in the Thames estuary, and saw the seals on the sands. But it's wonderful to think that Marine mammals are now reaching the tidal limit of the Thames, at Teddington lock. I spent the first 8 years of my life near the upper reaches of the tidal Thames, but as the article says, 50 and more years ago the river was "biologically extinct". What a wonderful improvement now!
 
Jellyfish at record high, says Marine Conservation Society

"Massive" barrel jellyfish have been spotted in record numbers in UK waters for a second consecutive year, a leading marine charity has said.
The Marine Conservation Society said the apparent increases "can no longer be ignored", and called for more research to understand what it means.

Most sightings in 2014 were in south west and south England, it said.
There were also about 30 reports of the potentially deadly Portuguese man-of-war in Devon and Cornwall in July 2015.
In Guernsey, an unprecedented number of Mauve stingers were reported in the same month.

The National Jellyfish Survey involves thousands of people recording jellyfish sightings on the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) website.
In 2013, the survey received over 1,000 reports involving hundreds of thousands of jellyfish.
The MCS said August was usually a peak month for jellyfish sightings.
Last year, the number of reports increased to over 1,400 reports and by July this year the survey had already received over 1,000 reports.

Dr Peter Richardson from the society said: "We know that our seas are changing through climate change, resulting in rising sea temperatures and increased ocean acidification, and we know our seas are also heavily fished.
"At the same time we seem to be witnessing increases in jellyfish around the UK.
"Is this an anomaly, a coincidence, or are the jellyfish telling us something about fundamental changes in the condition of our seas?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-33988083
 
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