Swallows, cuckoos, curlews – so many species have dwindled or disappeared completely, and people are mourning their loss
Read more: World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts
The sounds of our natural world are changing dramatically. Earth’s wildlife populations have plunged by 69% in fewer than 50 years. Fading along with them are many of the distinctive soundscapes of nature: the night-time calls of mammals, morning chorus of birds and buzz of insects.
This global story is stitched together by many local stories of loss. We spoke to readers about how natural sounds are changing where they live.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/22/2024 - 03:07
04/22/2024 - 02:12
Embattled water supplier promises to invest up to £3bn more over the next five years
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Thames Water could raise bills to as much as £627 a year to pay to fix its leaky network, after promising to invest up to £3bn more over the next five years.
The embattled water supplier said on Monday that it had updated its spending plans for 2025 to 2030 after discussions with the industry regulator, Ofwat.
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04/22/2024 - 01:31
Four-metre animal found during spotlight searches near Saibai Island on Friday night and ‘humanely euthanised’ a day later
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Wildlife officers have euthanised a large crocodile believed to have killed a 16-year-old boy in the Torres Strait last week.
The teenager, and a 13-year-old boy, reportedly attempted to swim back to Saibai Island from a broken-down dinghy early Thursday morning last week, Queensland police said, with the younger boy making it to safety.
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04/22/2024 - 01:23
Risk of fire ants spreading at ‘another level’ after detection in Oakey, Queensland, says chair of NSW Farmers’ biosecurity committee
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Fire ants have reached the Murray Darling Basin, with experts warning the latest detection of the rafting super pest should be “ringing alarm bells” at the highest levels of government.
The extremely invasive insect was discovered west of the Great Dividing Range in Oakey, Queensland, 120km from Brisbane, on Tuesday. A team from the National Fire Ant Eradication Program was at the site by Wednesday morning, with emergency measures put in place by Thursday.
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04/22/2024 - 00:00
Scheme is part of effort to reduce ‘staggering’ quantities of textiles going to landfill or incinerator
Instead of throwing stained, ripped and misshapen clothing in the bin, Britons are being asked to stick the dregs of their wardrobe in the post in a trial aimed at tackling the “staggering” quantity of textiles sent to landfill or are incinerated each year.
A third of consumers do not know what to do with tops, dresses and trousers that can no longer be worn, figures show, with a similar number admitting to putting such items in their household waste bin.
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04/21/2024 - 21:00
Europeans are dying from hot weather 30% more than they did two decades ago, report finds
Scorching weather has baked Europe in more days of “extreme heat stress” than its scientists have ever seen.
Heat-trapping pollutants that clog the atmosphere helped push temperatures in Europe last year to the highest or second-highest levels ever recorded, according to the EU’s Earth-watching service Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
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04/21/2024 - 19:00
Norway’s KLP and the UK’s LGIM among those who say they have concerns over energy giant’s carbon transition goals
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Woodside Energy is facing the prospect of an overwhelming protest vote against its climate plans when shareholders meet on Wednesday, as global investors pick apart the emissions strategy of Australia’s biggest oil and gas company.
Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, and Britain’s biggest asset manager, LGIM, are the latest investors to disclose they will vote against Woodside’s climate report, citing concerns over its carbon transition plans.
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Google Maps to show most fuel-efficient route and may prompt Australians to try greener alternatives
04/21/2024 - 18:25
The map app will soon advise users in Sydney and Melbourne on public transport or walking alternatives to their driving plan
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Google Maps will politely pester Australian travellers to take public transport or walk to their destination in one of several green changes coming to the service.
Users who still intend to drive to their destination will be shown the most fuel-efficient route and electric vehicle drivers will be able to search for nearby charging stations.
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04/21/2024 - 18:01
Resolution Foundation calls for fourfold increase in renewable power investment to reduce pressure on household bills
A permanent shift to higher interest rates could add billions of pounds to the UK’s renewable energy transition, a leading thinktank has warned.
Borrowing costs have soared since the easing of pandemic lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the world’s leading central banks raised interest rates to tackle inflation – pushing up the costs of investment in infrastructure across advanced economies including for green power generation schemes.
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04/21/2024 - 05:18
Officials urge municipalities to begin emergency planning after major rivers and reservoirs threaten to overflow
Major rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province are threatening to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people.
Calling the situation “grim”, local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are hitting water levels in a rare spike that only has a one-in-50 chance of happening in any given year, the state broadcaster CCTV news said on Sunday.
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