Great Barrier Reef: diving in the stench of millions of rotting animals – video
Richard Vevers from the Ocean Agency had never experienced anything like the devastation he witnessed in May diving around the dead and dying coral reefs off Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef. When his team emerged from the water, he says, ‘We realised we just stank – we stank of the smell of rotting […]
Coral bleaching: 'We need to tell the truth without scaring reef tourists away' – video
Paul Crocombe from Adrenalin Dive in Townsville has been taking tourists to the Great Barrier Reef for more than 20 years. ‘We were really fortuntate this time with the coral bleaching that the majority of the mortality is a long way north of here,’ he says. With the reef in danger, he adds, accurate information […]
Coral graveyard: the aftermath of bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef – in pictures
The once brilliant coral at Lizard Island on Australia’s Great Barrier is now dead and dying, blanketed by seaweed – a sign of extreme ecosystem meltdown. These exclusive photographs are from a series taken by not-for-profit the Ocean Agency as part of its work around the world documenting the longest coral bleaching event in history […]
Arctic tern makes longest ever migration – equal to flying twice around the planet
Tiny bird flies 59,650 miles from its breeding grounds in Farne Islands in the UK to Antarctica and back again, clocking the longest ever migration recorded A tiny bird from the Farne Islands off Northumberland has clocked up the longest migration ever recorded. The Arctic tern’s meandering journey to Antarctica and back saw it clock […]
Gatwick lobbies David Cameron with open letter on third runway
West Sussex airport makes eight pledges to bolster its case over Heathrow’s as pressure mounts on PM to make a decision Gatwick has mounted a fresh lobbying drive to secure a third runway instead of Heathrow, sending an open letter David Cameron in which it promises to speed up its timetable and cap passenger charges. […]
In their hunt for misspent EU cash, even rare birds are fair game for Brexit camp
Vote Leave campaign head mocks partly-EU funded conservation project to revive numbers of little terns as ‘aphrodisiacs for birds’ For Brexit campaigners trawling for examples of apparently badly spent EU cash to hold up for public opprobrium, a project that involves leaving plaster models of birds on beaches may have seemed easy to mock. Continue […]
Recall of Monsanto's Roundup likely as EU refuses limited use of glyphosate
Proposal for temporary licence extension for chemical used in weedkiller, to study concerns over cancer risks, fails to get sufficient majority in voting EU nations have refused to back a limited extension of the pesticide glyphosate’s use, threatening withdrawal of Monsanto’s Roundup and other weedkillers from shelves if no decision is reached by the end […]
The Louvre's closure proves art cannot survive climate change
The flooding in Paris is a stark warning of the danger posed by climate change to everything human civilisation has achieved – no matter how priceless Related: Strikes, floods, protests and sense of betrayal pile on misery for France One of the oldest human illusions is that culture is a conquest of, or an escape […]
Energy firms urge EU to back offshore wind
Companies say offshore wind will generate electricity as cheaply as fossil fuels within a decade if properly supported A group of offshore wind companies have pledged that the technology will generate electricity as cheaply as fossil fuels in Europe within a decade – but only if policymakers across the EU take the steps needed to […]
Rescued whale sharks released back into the ocean – in pictures
Two whale sharks destined for an ocean theme park in China were rescued after an 18-month investigation by Wildlife Conservation Society, covered by investigative photojournalist Paul Hilton. The operation, supported by Indonesia’s marine police, revealed where the protected species were being illegally caught and kept in sea pens by a major supplier of large marine […]