Victoria's Otway koalas: 'If we don’t intervene, they will die a painful death'
Koalas around Cape Otway, south-west of Melbourne, are facing a struggle for survival that will persist unless a long-term solution can be agreed on If you’re keen on spotting a wild koala, you can improve your chances by gazing at the eucalypts that host the largest of the marsupial species, in the Otways of Victoria. […]
Koalas in Victoria captured and tracked in bid to control population – video
The koalas around Cape Otway, south-west of Melbourne, are facing starvation. The population has ballooned and their favourite food is in short supply. The state government has intervened with a fortnight of health checks, during which koalas are caught, examined and fitted with tracking collars. More controversially, captured females are sterilised and the weakest euthanised […]
Blindworm, the legless lizard: Country diary 100 years ago
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 28 September 1915 The specific name of that legless lizard that looks, so like a snake, the blindworm or slowworm, is fragilis; it is a good name, too; far better than many scientific titles. But the blindworm, though fragile or brittle, is not delicate, for it can part […]
Making money from CO2
Imagine if waste carbon dioxide in the air could be turned into useful products such as fuels, building materials or even baking powder. At a stroke it would help get rid of a greenhouse gas, slow down climate change and make money from a major pollutant. If that sounds like cloud cuckooland, the technology is […]
All-blue skies in Paris as city centre goes car-free for first time
One-day scheme promoted by mayor Anne Hidalgo sees city centre mostly free of cars and lower speed limit in other districts The lack of sound on the Champs Elysées was striking. With the eight lanes of France’s most famous avenue cleared of all traffic on Paris’s first car-free day, the usual cacophony of car-revving and […]
Sweden's multiplying moose pit farmers against powerful hunting lobby
Sweden abounds in moose, cheering the country’s passionate hunters but not its agriculture and forestry sectors which say profits are being munched away A mild-mannered monster of the Scandinavian forests is setting Swede against Swede as farmers and hunters bicker over how to coexist with the world’s largest population of moose. Hunting season will open […]
UK to spend £5.8bn on tackling climate change in poor countries
David Cameron says cash spread over five years will come out of foreign aid budget as he meets Ban Ki-moon and François Hollande at UN Almost £6bn of the UK’s foreign aid budget will be spent on tackling climate change in poor countries over the next five years, David Cameron has said, as Britain steps […]
VW urged to come clean over which UK diesel vehicles are affected
Lawyers acting for Volkswagen drivers in UK attack ‘lack of clarity’ while German press reports Bosch warned VW over emissions-rigging devices in 2007 Lawyers for UK drivers have urged Volkswagen to “come clean” over exactly which cars have been affected in Britain by the emissions-rigging scandal that has rocked the global car industry. The call […]
El Niño takes toll on US rice farmers – and points to even higher prices
Weather has caused planting delays in the southern states and while the price hike is limited to the US, experts wonder if parts of Asia will be next Blame El Niño. The weather phenomenon is causing havoc for US rice farmers and a sharp price spike in the world’s most important staple food may foreshadow […]
Hinkley Point: what price avoiding humiliation?
Every sensible investor has avoided this nuclear power plant project. Not George Osborne Why did chancellor George Osborne have to scuttle off to China last week to round up funding for Hinkley Point, the expensive nuclear power station he wants to build in Somerset? The short answer is that every sensible investor decided long ago […]