Environment
UK ‘sleepwalking into childhood crisis’ amid cutbacks
Experts have warned a “childhood crisis” is on the way as youngsters face unparalleled social pressures amid Government cuts to children’s services. A survey of 5,000 youngsters and adults carried out by leading charity Action for Children and YouGov found that two thirds of parents and grandparents felt childhoods were getting worse, and a third of children agreed. All said bullying – online and offline – was the main problem, followed by pressure to fit in, which has intensified in...
Queen insists she’s not too old at 93 to plant a tree
The Queen insisted she was up to a key part of her duties as she took hold of a shovel to plant a tree herself. The 93-year-old, when asked whether she would perform the task on her own, said: “No, no, I’m still perfectly capable of planting a tree.” She made the remarks while on a visit to the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) near Cambridge to celebrate its centenary. The Queen said she was still capable of tree...
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