Central General Staff militant group previously said Cop16 event scheduled for October in Cali ‘would fail’
A dissident rebel group has backed down from its threat to disrupt the UN biodiversity summit in Colombia later this year.
The Central General Staff (EMC), a guerrilla faction that rejected the country’s 2016 peace agreement, said on Wednesday it would order its militants not to target the Cop16 negotiations that are due to begin in Cali in October.
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/31/2024 - 13:04
07/31/2024 - 10:55
Nearly 100 wildfires are burning, including massive blaze in California that has become fifth-largest in state history
A person has been killed in one of several wildfires threatening heavily populated areas of the Colorado foothills, authorities said on Wednesday.
A body was discovered in a home about 1 mile (1.6km) north of Lyons, Colorado, according to Curtis Johnson, the Boulder county sheriff. He said that detectives were assisting the investigation into the death, but declined to provide further details.
Continue reading...
07/31/2024 - 10:00
Charity wants to know how climate crisis is affecting plants and what UK gardeners are doing to mitigate effects
Most gardeners love nothing more than the chance to chat about what has worked and what hasn’t in their flowerbeds this year.
So the latest callout from the Royal Horticultural Society will be music to their ears; the RHS is asking for information about what flowered for ages, what loved being waterlogged and how plants did on the occasional hot day, so that they can draw up a plan for how to keep gardening alive during the climate crisis.
Continue reading...
07/31/2024 - 09:40
Almost 200 people still missing after heavy rains and access problems hamper second day of rescue operation
The death toll from a series of landslides in Kerala has risen to 166 and almost 200 people are still missing as the southern Indian state reels from one of its worst disasters in years.
Hundreds of homes were swept away and crushed by two huge consecutive landslides in the hilly district of Wayanad in the middle of the night on Tuesday.
Continue reading...
07/31/2024 - 08:00
An extract from Andrea Freeman’s Ruin Their Crops on the Ground unpacks government cheese – from Steve Harvey jokes to Jay-Z lyrics and Wahlburgers
During the Depression, when milk supply exceeded demand, the US government bought milk to keep its price stable and support dairy farmers. Then, trying to find a way to store or get rid of the surplus, it started stockpiling cheese, which lasts longer than milk.
The government bought so much cheese that it eventually filled every cold storage in the country. But there was still more excess milk. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rented half an acre in a Kansas cave and filled it floor to ceiling with blocks of cheese. At its height, the US had 2lbs of stored cheese for every resident.
Continue reading...
07/31/2024 - 08:00
Scorching temperatures in Mediterranean countries and north Africa already causing increase in premature deaths
The “heat dome” causing scorching temperatures across western Europe and north Africa, and boiling athletes and spectators at the Olympic Games in Paris, would have been impossible without human-caused global heating, a rapid analysis has found.
Scientists said the fossil-fuelled climate crisis made temperatures 2.5C to 3.3C hotter. Such an event would not have happened in the world before global heating but is now expected about once a decade, they said. Continued emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide will make them even more frequent, the researchers warned.
Continue reading...
07/31/2024 - 08:00
Experts say facility beyond reach of climate breakdown and other terrestrial events is needed to safeguard biodiversity
With thousands of species at risk of extinction, scientists have devised a radical plan: a vault filled with preserved samples of our planet’s most important and at-risk creatures located on the moon.
An international team of experts says threats from climate change and habitat loss have outpaced our ability to protect species in their natural habitats, necessitating urgent action. A biorepository of preserved cells, and the crucial DNA within them, could be used to enhance genetic diversity in small populations of critically endangered species, or to clone and create new individuals in the worst-case scenario of extinction.
Continue reading...
07/31/2024 - 07:33
The insects are being looked after in a conservation project that encourages visitors to enjoy their ‘piercing’ light
Far out in the Channel, the lights of ships at anchor flickered while the lighthouse at Anvil Point emitted its steadier beam. Late on, a crescent moon shone a coppery orange.
But, undoubtedly, the most extraordinary light source to be seen was the vivid green gleam from the glow-worms that inhabit the herb-rich grassland on the cliffs and quarries in this tucked-away corner of southern Britain.
Continue reading...
07/31/2024 - 06:00
Scientists are discovering just how toxic wildfire smoke is to the body – here’s what to know and how to stay safe
As dozens of wildfires rage across the US and Canada, blackening the skies once again this summer, scientists are revealing even more about how dangerous wildfire smoke is for our health.
Some of the worst fires – including the Durkee fire in Oregon, the Park fire in California and the Jasper fire in Alberta, Canada – have sent smoke billowing for hundreds of miles around them, blanketing cities like Boise and Calgary with poor-quality air.
Continue reading...
07/31/2024 - 06:00
US researchers say they have uncovered potential link after tracking 130,000 people over four decades
Eating processed red meat could be a significant risk factor for dementia, according to a large study that tracked more than 100,000 people over four decades.
Processed red meat has previously been shown to increase the risk of cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Now US researchers say they have uncovered a potential link to dementia.
Continue reading...
