Nature, Environment, Climate Change, Ecology

UK public electric car chargers rose by a third in 2024 to more than 70,000

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 10:05:02 -0500

Number hits record level but rate of growth slows as installers face delays to government funding

The UK installed a record number of public electric car chargers in 2024, although the rate of growth slowed as installers contended with delays to government funding.

Numbers rose by more than a third to reach 73,421 by 20 December, according to Zapmap, whose data the government uses. The increase of 19,600 was nearly equivalent to the total number of chargers at the end of 2020.

Chemtrail conspiracy theories: why RFK Jr is watching the skies

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 10:00:42 -0500

Belief in a supposed US government plot linked to aircraft condensation trails has been boosted by confusion over proposals to geoengineer a response to the climate crisis

A conspiracy theory that airplanes are leaving nefarious “chemtrails” in their wake due to a sinister government plot has been given fresh impetus in the US amid a swirl of concerns and confusion about proposals to geoengineer a response to the climate crisis.

State legislation to ban what some lawmakers call chemtrails has been pushed forward in Tennessee and, most recently, Florida. Meanwhile, Robert F Kennedy, who has expressed interest in the conspiracy theory on social media and his podcast, is set to be at the heart of Donald Trump’s new administration following his nomination as health secretary.

Dirty water, sentient trees and hope in a climate crisis: 10 environmental long reads to digest over Christmas

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 09:00:43 -0500

In this week’s Down To Earth newsletter: These essential features – chosen by the Guardian’s Long Reads editors, cover everything from dirty water and sentient trees to how to find hope in a climate crisis
• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to get the newsletter in full

This year the Guardian Long Read series celebrates its 10th anniversary. Since we launched in 2014, we’ve run more than 1,000 pieces, on everything from Algerian sheep fighting to the trials and tribulations of Durex’s chief condom guy. Over the years, we’ve also run plenty of great environment stories, and for this special edition of Down to Earth we want to highlight a few of our favourites from the archive.

Below we’ve picked 10 of our favourite climate pieces to dig into over the Christmas break – but first, this week’s most important reads.

CO2 emissions from new North Sea drilling sites would match 30 years’ worth from UK households

Ghosts of the landscape: how folklore and songs are a key to rewilding Finland’s reindeer

‘You won’t find the real criminals here’: a Just Stop Oil activist in jail at Christmas

‘A place to heal’: Native tribes urge Biden to protect sacred lands before leaving White House

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 09:00:43 -0500

Environmental groups are also petitioning Biden to protect Sáttítla, Kw’tsán and Chuckwalla in California

Hidden amid a vast expanse of snow-brushed pines in northern California is a rare, half-million-year-old volcano called Sáttítla. Thousands of years ago, its flows created crystalline mountains of obsidian and dim grey bands of pumice rock, which from a bird’s-eye view look like ripples of taffy.

“When you’re there, you really do feel like you’re in another world, or on the moon or even another planet,” said Brandi McDaniels, a member of the Pit River Tribe in northern California, whose ancestral homelands encompass the area. “The way it glistens and twinkles – deep black, but shiny like diamonds.”

2024 in review: Amid crisis, victories for nature emerge

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 09:00:26 -0500

Alarm bells screamed for nature in 2024. But amid the gloom, quiet victories emerged, as ordinary people made extraordinary progress for nature.

Campaigners call for right to roam on edges of private farmland in England

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 07:27:25 -0500

Group says people in rural areas have to walk on roads without pavement, which can be very dangerous

Give people the right to walk around the edges of privately owned fields, say campaigners seeking to open up more paths in the countryside in England and Wales.

Slow Ways, a group advocating for more access to the countryside, said people in rural areas often have to walk on roads that do not have pavements, which can be extremely dangerous.

‘The dead zone is real’: why US farmers are embracing wildflowers

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 07:00:39 -0500

Strips of native plants on as little as 10% of farmland can reduce soil erosion by up to 95%

Between two corn fields in central Iowa, Lee Tesdell walks through a corridor of native prairie grasses and wildflowers. Crickets trill as dickcissels, small brown birds with yellow chests, pop out of the dewy ground cover.

“There’s a lot of life out here, and it’s one of the reasons I like it, especially in these late summer days,” Tesdell said.

‘Britain’s wildlife safari’: baby boom in Norfolk as seal colonies flourish

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 07:00:39 -0500

Grey seals are growing in numbers on England’s east coast as a result of environmental safe havens and cleaner North Sea waters

It is a cold winter’s day to be lying on a beach, but the seal pup suckling from its mother doesn’t mind. A few metres away, a pregnant seal is burrowing into the sand, trying to get comfortable, while a third seal, which has just given birth, is touching noses with her newborn pup.

The shoreline – a mass of seals and their white pups – is one of Britain’s greatest wildlife success stories: a grey seal colony on the east Norfolk coast.

Mathematicians found - and fixed - an error in a 60-year-old proof

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 07:00:37 -0500

As part of a project to make mathematics machine-readable, mathematicians have discovered an error in an important proof. Thankfully there was a fix, but the incident highlights the potential for other errors to be lurking in the mathematics literature

Is Google's approach to error-free quantum computers already outdated?

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 05:00:33 -0500

The coding that forms the basis of Google’s recent breakthrough in error-correcting quantum computers is facing fierce competition

Indian Ocean tsunami: how survivors found love after Boxing Day disaster

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:00:25 -0500

A rise in the number of remarriages and a baby boom in the years since 2004 gave hope to survivors and helped them cope with the tragedy

It was Mahyuddin’s mother who had pestered him to go out on Sunday morning, 20 years ago. Dozens of relatives were visiting their small coastal village in Indonesia for a wedding party, but a powerful earthquake had struck just before 8am. Buildings in some areas had collapsed. He should go and check on his employer’s office to see if they needed help, his mother said.

As he drove into town, he found chaos and panic. The road was heavy with traffic: cars, motorbikes, trucks, all rushing in the same direction. People were running, shouting that water was coming.

Why US obesity rates fell for the first time in decades

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 12:00:59 -0500

After years of rising obesity rates in the US, the numbers dipped slightly during 2023, though experts disagree about the exact cause

Dolphins may use their teeth to hear underwater

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 10:00:42 -0500

The teeth of dolphins and other toothed whales are connected to a uniquely thick bundle of nerve fibres, which might play a role in sound detection

Researchers race to climate-proof Christmas tree production: ‘We’re up to the task’

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 09:00:15 -0500

Scientists search for a variety to withstand the climate crisis as high temperatures and drought can stress trees

The climate crisis is increasingly affecting agriculture in the United States, including the production of Christmas trees.

Like all crops, Christmas trees are vulnerable to a changing climate, as the United States continues to experience warmer temperatures, more frequent and severe heat, increased rainfall, droughts, wildfires and hurricanes, as a result of global warming and the climate crisis – primarily driven by humans’ burning of fossil fuels.

High-rise buildings along Miami’s beachfront are sinking, study finds

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 01:00:02 -0500

Subsidence affecting many new builds, raising questions about sustainability of skyscrapers in coastal areas

Miami’s oceanfront skyscrapers are sinking. In 2021 the devastating collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Miami’s Surfside resulted in the loss of 98 lives, and prompted closer inspection of the city’s high-rise shoreline. Now a study has identified unexpected levels of subsidence among many of Miami’s high-rise buildings, including prominent luxury properties such as the Porsche Design Tower, Trump Tower III and Trump International Beach Resort.

Using satellite data gathered between 2016 and 2023, researchers observed between 2cm and 8cm of sinking of buildings along Miami’s beachfront area. One beachfront – Sunny Isles Beach – recorded continuous subsidence in more than 70% of its new builds. The findings, published in Earth and Space Science, show the majority of affected buildings were recently constructed high-rises. Which means it is possible the subsidence is a consequence of their own construction. The combination of hefty high-rise buildings, vibration from construction, groundwater movement and tidal flows are potentially triggering the subsidence, with the worst-affected areas being those with a sandy layered limestone underlying them.

Single-use plastic will soon be banned in Nigeria – but is the country ready?

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 09:00:46 -0500

With restrictions due next month, food vendors are still using such plastics and some traders have not heard of ban

Labake Ajiboye-Richard, the founder of a Lagos-based sustainability consultancy, was driving in Nigeria’s most populous city earlier this month when she saw someone throwing rubbish out of their car window.

“I was so shocked to see that in 2024,” she said. “If you’re throwing something on the road, what are you doing in your home? What are you doing in your community?”

Quantum entanglement can be endlessly 'embezzled' from quantum fields

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 09:00:25 -0500

Some quantum fields that extend throughout all of space-time could be a rich resource of quantum entanglement that can be extracted forever

Newly identified scorpion species ‘spits’ venom to defend itself

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 07:00:24 -0500

A scorpion discovered in South America can spray venom out of its stinger and hit targets up to 35 centimetres away

Physicists in 2024 searched the quantum realm for the truth about time

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 05:00:14 -0500

Two separate theoretical studies published this year argued that time itself is bound up in the odd quantum property of entanglement, but deep mysteries remain

Dissecting the world’s rarest whale – in pictures

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:37 -0500

Conservationists and scientists in New Zealand were astonished to find the world’s rarest whale washed ashore in South Island in July. As only the seventh spade-toothed whale identified, and with none ever seen alive, this month saw the first dissection of a complete specimen

Forget aesthetics, the reason to look after our skin should be health