Britain’s Sherwood Forest faces fracking threat

By Gwyn Topham1 January 2017 (The Guardian) – The latest battleground for the future of fracking in Britain looks set to be Sherwood Forest, the legendary home of folk hero Robin Hood and now the target of a seismic survey by Ineos. The chemical multinational, which relocated its headquarters back to the UK last month, […]

Children of Men, ten years later

25 December 2016 (Desdemona Despair) – Ten years ago today, Children of Men, the brilliant, dystopian science fiction film, debuted in the United States. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Children of Men portrays Britain in the year 2027 as the last bastion of civilization standing against the imminent extinction of the human species. In 2006, Cuarón […]

Global Trumpism harming efforts to reduce climate pollution

[cf. Australia’s One Nation party vs. science] By Jessica Shankleman21 November 2016 (Bloomberg) – Populism is drawing momentum from environmentalism in the U.S. and Europe, threatening the world’s effort to rein in climate change. Donald Trump’s election in the U.S., the U.K. Independence Party and Marine Le Pen’s ascent in France all represent a break […]

Extreme weather causing record lows in UK butterfly populations

31 October 2016 (New Scientist) – British butterflies could be under threat from increasingly frequent episodes of extreme weather. In fact, heat waves, cold snaps, and heavy rain may have already contributed to reported butterfly population crashes. Researchers analysed data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS), which contains information on butterfly populations collected from […]

Food production, ecosystem services, and biodiversity: We can’t have it all everywhere

ABSTRACT: Debate about how sustainable intensification and multifunctionality might be implemented continues, but there remains little understanding as to what extent they are achievable in arable landscapes. Policies that influence agronomic decisions are rarely made with an appreciation of the trade-offs that exist between food production, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem service provision. We present an […]

‘Please do not destroy my home’ – Demolition of massive migrant camp begins in the Calais ‘Jungle’

By Matthias Blamont, with additional writing by Leigh Thomas and Andrew Callus; Editing by Robin Pomeroy25 October 2016 CALAIS, France (Reuters) – French workers began demolishing the “Jungle” shanty town in Calais on Tuesday, wielding sledgehammers to tear down makeshift dwellings as former residents – migrants seeking entry to Britain – were moved out. Police […]

UK ivory trade ‘ban’ just so much smoke and mirrors – ‘Elephants no longer have time for these kind of half-measures’

21 September 2016 (EIA) – UK Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom today announced plans for a ban on ‘modern day’ ivory sales, a move she claimed would put the country’s rules on ivory sales among the world’s toughest. But the proposal outlined by the Government does not go nearly far enough and is effectively only a […]

Report revels 56 percent of UK species have declined since 1970 and 1,199 species are threatened with extinction

By Dr. Barnaby Smith14 September 2016 (CEH) – The State of Nature 2016 UK report is launched by Sir David Attenborough and UK conservation and research organisations at the Royal Society in London this morning (Wednesday, September 14). Following on from the first State of Nature report published in 2013 the report reveals that over […]

France and Britain just beat Donald Trump to building a border wall

By James McAuley and Michael Birnbaum 29 September 2016 CALAIS, France (Washington Post) – So far, Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall along the Mexican border is all talk. Last week, France and Britain actually began building one along theirs. Construction started here on a roughly mile-long concrete barrier intended to separate a sprawling […]

Neonicotinoid insecticides linked to wild bee decline across England – Study finds ‘increased population extinction rates in response to neonicotinoid seed treatment’

16 August 2016 (CEH) – Exposure to neonicotinoid seed treated oilseed rape crops has been linked to long-term population decline of wild bee species across the English countryside, according to research published today in Nature Communications. The research, led by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology using data provided by Fera Science Ltd and the […]

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