Environment

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor An “alarming” and “unprecedented” rate of climate change taking places across the planet, the World Meteorological Organisation has warned. The WMO, which is a United Nations body, reported on a number of climate and weather records that were broken last year. These included increased rainfall, droughts, unusual cyclone activities, heatwaves and global temperature highs. WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas wrote: “The year 2015 will stand out in the historical record of the global climate in many...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The most heartwarming story of 2016 so far, comes from a beach in Brazil. A South American Magellanic penguin who swims 5,000 miles each year to be reunited with the man who saved his life. Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, lives in an island village just outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, found the tiny penguin, covered in oil and close to death, on his local beach in 2011. He cleaned the oil off the penguin’s feathers...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor There has been anger after Tory minister Baroness Williams said homeless people chose to sleep rough. Charities have said "rough sleeping isn't a lifestyle choice" after her remarks in the upper house during a debate. The Communities Minister made her controversial statement as she argued with other peers over the amount of beds available to get people off the streets. Labour's Baroness Armstrong, said rough sleeping had more than doubled since the Tories took power...

Mother's Day gives us a ready-made opportunity to express our love and gratitude to those who raised us. Lots of us also recognise other caregivers in society, but how many will be extending their thoughts to other species? Very few, probably, but the reality is that the billions of animals used in the food, clothing and entertainment industries will not be spending Mother's Day, or any other day for that matter, with their offspring. Farmed animals get the worst deal,...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A study has revealed that the available carbon budget is half as big as thought, if the 2C limit is going to be kept. It is troubling news for the 195 nations who agreed to the limits in Paris in December, they will now have to cut fossil fuel use at a rate nobody had predicted before and puts the agreement in France in doubt. Joeri Rogelj, research scholar at the International Institute for Applied...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor In November 2015, a dam at an iron ore mine burst into the Doce river in Brazil. Toxic mud poisoned with arsenic and mercury flooded the river and land over two states. The Institute for Water Management in Minas Gerais (IGAM) found arsenic levels more than ten times above the legal limit at one section of the mighty river. At least 13 people died when the dam broke and hundreds were displaced. The toxic mud traveled...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Famous Comedian and intellectual Stephen Fry is urging the public to help save the lives of high risk missing children. The two-week long national campaign is asking people to register for free Child Rescue Alerts, activated when a child has gone missing and police believe their life is in imminent danger. Fry appears in a short animation (watch at bottom of article) and there is a major outdoor advertising campaign launched, developed with pro bono...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Actor Mark Ruffalo, who recently starred in feature film Spotlight, has told the PM to abandon plans for fracking and to leave fossil fuels in the ground. Ruffalo is a vocal opponent of this method of extraction in the US and told the PM he was making "a legacy mistake" in his championing of the controversial process. His remarks were made in an interview with environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth. Ruffalo said: “Mr...

By Harold Stone Thousands of people have been flooded out of their homes in the last few months, as they were in 2014, 2013, 2012, 2009 and 2007. Two weeks ago our MPs launched a flooding inquiry, and they invited George Monbiot to explain the situation. This is what happened. Streamlining floods Floods happen when there is too much water, and this water submerges the dry land. The way to prevent floods, Mr Monbiot began by explaining, was to slow...