Environment
Climate change will cause great social unrest, Sir David Attenborough warns
A failure to tackle climate change will bring great “social unrest” and increased pressure from immigration, Sir David Attenborough has warned. The TV naturalist told MPs that dealing with environmental problems will cost money and will require changes to people’s lifestyles, such as in their diet and with regards to air travel, where the cost of flights will have to go up. But there are “huge opportunities” for making profits and benefiting from new innovations, he said. The veteran broadcaster...
Heartbreaking pic of dead hedgehog highlights the litter crisis sweeping Britain
Firefighter Mitch Stafford, 34, spotted the animal in a nest with three other hedgehogs and posted the image online
Huge glacier melt could cause 20 inch rise in global sea levels
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is heading towards an "instability" which once crossed means it could all float out into the sea within 150 years, according to the study
Children’s lives could be cut short by air pollution
Air pollution could shorten a child’s life by up to seven months, a study on one of the largest UK cities has suggested. An eight-year-old child born in 2011 may die between two to seven months early if exposed over their lifetime to projected future pollution concentrations, Kings College London researchers studying Birmingham have found. It is the first time new Government guidance on “mortality burdens” of air pollution has been applied in practice in a large city area. The...
Baked Alaska sets new temperature record on Independence Day
The US state of Alaska’s largest city and two other state locations reached record high temperatures on Independence Day. The National Weather Service says Anchorage on Thursday afternoon reached 90F (32.22C). Meteorologist Bob Clay says the previous record for Anchorage was 85F (29.44C) on June 14 1969. Kenai and King Salmon also reached new high temperatures of 89F (31.67C). https://twitter.com/AlaskaWx/status/1146984891386494976 Palmer matched its record high at 88F. Mr Clay said a high pressure ridge over much of south-central Alaska is...
Hundreds of sharks and rays entangled in plastic debris discarded by humans
More than a thousand sharks and rays are known to have become entangled in plastic debris with “significantly greater number of species” likely to be affected, a study found. Scientists at the University of Exeter found reports of 1,116 of the creatures caught up in plastic in the world’s oceans after scouring existing studies and social media. The true number is likely to be far higher, the researchers said, calling debris from land-based pollution and discarded fishing gear a “severely...
Strongest earthquake to hit Southern California in 20 years
Strongest earthquake to hit Southern California in 20 years
Government accused of ‘dangerously fudging’ data on migration report
The Government has been accused of “dangerously fudging” data on its migration integration report. There is also little to no evidence of “woefully unambitious” targets to integrate ethnic minorities into the workforce being met, according to the Immigrant Council of Ireland. Joe O’Brien, the organisation’s integration outreach officer, said the data gives a false impression of Ireland’s progress on migrant issues. The Government’s Migration Integration Strategy is a three-year project to support migrants in participating fully in life in Ireland...
Rescued seal named after Sir David Attenborough released into wild
A seal who was found with a plastic frisbee ring stuck around his neck has been nursed back to health and released into the wild. The severely injured adult male grey seal was rescued by volunteers at Horsey beach in Norfolk in April and taken to an RSPCA centre at East Winch, near King’s Lynn. Staff there named him Sir David, after Sir David Attenborough, whose Blue Planet II series raised awareness of the environmental damage caused by plastic pollution....