Graceful quick-step of the grey wagtail
Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales They are constantly in motion, dancing out of the gorge in undulating flight Pont y Llyn Du on the Afon Gain, in the lonely moors east of Trawsfynydd, above the old gold mines at Gwynfynydd, is one of those places at which you’d never arrive except by design. It’s one of my […]
Transforming the bush: robots, drones and cows that milk themselves | Paul Daley
Rural Australia is being progressively hollowed out of its people. Will it be reduced to a vast mechanised place of scant human habitation? These cows are in no hurry. Each just meanders to the dairy, all rolling hindquarters, swishing tails and loping heads, the blue-black and tan Rorschach ink-blot patching of their hides vivid against […]
Greens to spend $265m on community-owned renewable energy projects
Four-year package, to be announced by Adam Bandt on Saturday, will allow the ventures to generate tax-free profits from the electricity created The Greens will announce that they will spend $265.2m on community-owned renewable energy projects, including allowing these to generate tax-free profits from the electricity created. The Greens energy spokesman, Adam Bandt, will announce […]
Train carrying oil derails near Oregon's Columbia river gorge
Eight cars derailed 70 miles east of Portland on Friday, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky and forcing roads to close and schools to evacuate A train towing cars full of oil derailed on Friday in Oregon’s scenic Columbia river gorge, sparking a fire that sent a plume of black smoke high into […]
Value of eco crimes soars by 26% with devastating impacts on natural world
Environmental crime is now the world’s fourth biggest crime and is a growing threat to security and natural resources, say UN and Interpol The value of the black market industry behind crimes such as ivory smuggling, illegal logging and toxic waste dumping has jumped by 26% since 2014 to between $91bn (£62bn) and $258bn, according […]
Men who picked up Yellowstone bison: 'We didn't have the heart to leave it'
A Canadian man and his son loaded a Yellowstone bison calf into their vehicle because they thought it was an abandoned newborn, they said in an interview A Canadian man and his son loaded a Yellowstone national park bison calf into their vehicle last month because they thought it was an abandoned newborn that would […]
EU dilutes proposal to halve air pollution deaths after UK lobbying
If implemented, weakened proposal means 14,000 people could die prematurely across Europe each year from 2030 EU states have agreed to water down a proposed law aimed at halving the number of deaths from air pollution within 15 years, after intense lobbying from the UK that cross-party MEPs have condemned as “appalling”. Some 14,000 people […]
Saudi Arabia's Uber venture: a case of if you can't beat 'em, join 'em
Global firms are investing in startups threatening to shake up motoring because they know self-driving cars are the future The global automotive industry and the oil majors are not known for meekly rolling over when a competitor comes along – from General Motors’ involvement in killing public transport in Los Angeles in the 1940s to […]
Simon Ingram and Fiona Reynolds on our natural landscapes – books podcast
Simon Ingram tackles the forbidding rock face of the mountaineering memoir, while Fiona Reynolds mounts a passionate plea for the defence of our natural landscape From Beinn Dearg to Ben Nevis, Simon Ingram’s The Sunset and the Sea: A View of 16 British Mountains takes us on a journey over sixteen of Britain’s most evocative […]
'There's something terrifying about it': rise of the river Seine
As roads and cobbled walkways are submerged by floods, life goes on in Paris and beyond “Incredible, that’s all I can say,” muttered Catherine, a publishing editor, as she stared dumbfounded at the river water that had entirely swallowed up the busy road running along the banks of the Seine near her Paris apartment. Roads […]