Fridays for Future organiser warns conspiracy theories are increasingly taking hold despite effects of global heating
The rise in extreme weather is not generating political support for climate action, Germany’s best-known climate activist has warned, as conspiracy theories increasingly circle after disasters made worse by global heating.
“Like many, I did buy into the idea that big catastrophes would do something to politics,” said Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Future Germany. “I bought into that – and I’m glad about it – because I was naively believing there was a democratic responsibility that would live through coalition changes and climate changes.”
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01/24/2025 - 00:00
01/24/2025 - 00:00
Birdwatch survey comes as concerns grow over infection risks posed by garden bird feeders
People are being urged to spend an hour this weekend counting the birds in their garden, park or local green space for the world’s largest survey of garden wildlife.
More than 9m birds were counted last year by 600,000 participants in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, providing a vital snapshot of how wild birds are faring.
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01/23/2025 - 23:43
Biologist says the massive numbers of jellyfish and algae in Tasmania’s Storm Bay are ‘drivers of harm in the ocean’
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A “magical” swarm of moon jellyfish colliding with algae dazzled onlookers this week, but it comes with a warning.
The bloom of jellyfish – temporary increases in populations – has occurred over the past few weeks in Storm Bay, east of Hobart, and as far as halfway up Tasmania’s east coast. The biologist and jellyfish expert Lisa-ann Gershwin said the population growth was “unprecedented” and had “stepped up dramatically” last month.
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01/23/2025 - 21:23
First there was Moo Deng, then there was Pesto the Penguin – but have you met Sydney's Putricia, the corpse flower? To the scientific community, the Botanic Gardens of Sydney’s corpse flower is known as Amorphophallus titanum, which translates to 'large, deformed penis'. But online, the rare endangered plant has taken a life of its own.
It’s the first time a corpse flower has bloomed in the Royal Botanic Garden in 15 years – and when they do blossom, they last just 24 to 48 hours
‘Putricia for president’: Sydney’s blooming corpse flower becomes a cult hero – to those who can’t smell her
She looks like a ‘deformed penis’ and smells like a dead possum: Sydney goes wild for its blooming corpse flower
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01/23/2025 - 17:05
President claims to be ‘putting people over fish’ but critics say order could derail years of carefully crafted water policy
It didn’t take long for Donald Trump to reignite the California water wars he waged in his first term.
On his first day in office, Trump directed the secretary of commerce and the secretary of the interior to develop a new plan that will “route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta to other parts of the state for use by the people there who desperately need a reliable water supply”.
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01/23/2025 - 13:39
Emergency use of Cruiser SB, a neonicotinoid pesticide highly toxic to bees, to be outlawed in UK in line with EU
Bee-killing pesticides have been banned for emergency use in the UK for the first time in five years after the government rejected an application from the National Farmers’ Union and British Sugar.
The neonicotinoid pesticide Cruiser SB, which is used on sugar beet, is highly toxic to bees and has the potential to kill off populations of the insect. It is banned in the EU but the UK has provisionally agreed to its emergency use every year since leaving the bloc. It combats a plant disease known as virus yellows by killing the aphid that spreads it.
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01/23/2025 - 13:12
Exclusive: Supporters of bill say Labour has already insisted on removal of clauses requiring UK to meet targets agreed at Cop and other summits
A landmark bill that would make the UK’s climate and environment targets legally binding seems doomed after government whips ordered Labour MPs to oppose it following a breakdown in negotiations.
Supporters of the climate and nature bill, introduced by the Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage, say Labour insisted on the removal of clauses that would require the UK to meet the targets it agreed to at Cop and other international summits.
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01/23/2025 - 11:10
The original cotton totes have a ‘disarmingly short’ life cycle – so demand is high for a more environmentally friendly version
This year’s It bag isn’t made by any of the usual designers. And if this bag could talk, it wouldn’t say “calf leather” so much as “wash me at 40C”. What’s more, in an ideal world, you would never want to buy another again.
The “forever tote” is big business. Usually made from calico, an unbleached cotton designed to be reused, it’s similar to the cotton bags you have balled up at the bottom of a drawer, except it’s sturdy, with a reinforced base and handles, sometimes a pocket, often coloured (Yves Klein blue seems especially popular), and always conspicuously branded with logos. Demand is high.
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01/23/2025 - 09:00
Bird snapped by Newhaven wildlife sanctuary ecologist is likely a juvenile on risky 1,500km journey away from parents, expert says
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Recent wet weather in the arid plains of central Australia prompted the wildlife ecologist and bird enthusiast Dr Tim Henderson to stop last week at a small lake to see if any waterbirds had shown up.
While there, above his head came a sight many birdwatchers wait a lifetime for: the red goshawk, Australia’s rarest bird of prey. It had a throat full of food, and was in a location it had never been photographed and had not been recorded at for about 30 years.
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01/23/2025 - 09:00
Many palm species in the city are receptive to embers, hard to extinguish – and probably helped spread the fires
When the Los Angeles wildfires broke out on the morning of 7 January, some of the most dramatic images were of palm trees set ablaze along Sunset Boulevard. In the days that followed, burning palms became a symbol to illustrate what may be the costliest wildfires in history, which left at least 25 dead and destroyed thousands of structures.
The trees are icons of the city. They also played a role in spreading the flames, researchers and fire officials say.
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