German prosecutors investigate ex-VW chief over emissions scandal
Braunschweig prosecutor’s office looking into Martin Winterkorn and another senior figure over suspected market manipulation German prosecutors are investigating the former Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn and another senior executive over suspected market manipulation in relation to the diesel emissions scandal. In a statement on Monday, the Braunschweig prosecutor’s office said the investigation centred on […]
Saiga antelope numbers rise after mass die-off
A recent aerial survey has revealed that the numbers of all three saiga populations in Kazakhstan are going up, Mongabay reports Last year, catastrophe hit saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan. About 200,000 of these critically endangered antelopes died in Betpak-Dala in May, deeply worrying conservationists. The deaths, scientists eventually found, were most likely caused by bacterial […]
Three environmental activists killed each week in 2015
Global Witness figures show last year was the deadliest for environment and land campaigners since 2002 Three environmental activists were killed per week last year, murdered defending land rights and the environment from mining, dam projects and logging, a campaign group said on Monday. In 16 countries surveyed in a report by Global Witness, 185 […]
Solar Impulse 2 begins transatlantic stretch of global journey
Solar-powered plane sets off from JFK airport on the transatlantic leg of its record-breaking flight to promote renewable energy The sun-powered Solar Impulse 2 aircraft set off from New York’s JFK airport early on Monday, embarking on the transatlantic leg of its record-breaking flight around the world to promote renewable energy. The flight, piloted by […]
New methods are improving ocean and climate measurements | John Abraham
Improvements to ocean temperature measurements are making good measurements great I have often said that global warming is really ocean warming. As humans add more heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere, it causes the Earth to gain energy. Almost all of that energy ends up in the oceans. So, if you want to know how fast […]
A scorpion that breathes through its bum
Saxlingham Nethergate, Norfolk Known as “toe-biters”, the water scorpion will pinch unsuspecting paddlers, while preferring small fish, tadpoles and other pond insects I reach into the tepid, brackish pond, right up to my shoulder. My daughter crouches next to me, hoping I will find her a pond snail shell. Eventually, in the squishy mud, I […]
Does the Great Barrier Reef's death haunt the dreams of coal's company directors? | David Ritter
The Business Council and Minerals Council of Australia have been silent about the bleaching of the reef but not all miners have to take the same path As the scale of the recent catastrophe on the Great Barrier Reef has become widely known, a clamor has occurred across Australia. People are grieving and furious about […]
Cambridge University rejects calls to divest from fossil fuels
Working group on investment responsibility argues it is better to keep investments in oil and gas companies, rather than divest £5.9bn endowment The University of Cambridge has rejected calls to divest its £5.9bn endowment from fossil fuels, as students, academics and the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams have called for. In a report on […]
European commission warned of car emissions test cheating, five years before VW scandal
Documents seen by Guardian show that the commission’s in-house science service told it in 2010 that tests had uncovered what researchers suspected to be a ‘defeat device’ The European commission was warned by its own experts that a car maker was suspected of cheating emissions tests five years before the VW emissions scandal. A documents […]
Diverse coastal wildlife out on display: Country diary 100 years ago
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 20 June 1916 June 19.Deep purple marsh orchids pushed their sturdy, densely-packed heads through the damp turf, and graceful white flowers hung from the upright stalks of the wintergreens. These were in the level spaces between the dunes, but on the sand itself the pink-flowered bindweeds were out, […]