Network includes derogatory profiles of figures such as UN experts and food writer Michael Pollan, and is part of an effort to downplay pesticide dangers, records suggest
In 2017, two United Nations experts called for a treaty to strictly regulate dangerous pesticides, which they said were a “global human rights concern”, citing scientific research showing pesticides can cause cancers, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and other health problems.
Publicly, the pesticide industry’s lead trade association dubbed the recommendations “unfounded and sensational assertions”. In private, industry advocates have gone further.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/27/2024 - 00:00
09/26/2024 - 23:00
Project asks people to make ‘promises to nature’ after ‘rollercoaster’ year for the Northumberland landmark
Its illegal felling brought feelings of grief, distress and anger but after a “rollercoaster” 12 months custodians of the Sycamore Gap tree say they want its legacy to become one of hope.
The National Trust and Northumberland national park have announced an initiative inviting the public to request one of 49 saplings from the tree.
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09/26/2024 - 21:30
At least 46 people, most of them children, drowned in the eastern state of Bihar while bathing in rivers swollen by recent floods in observance of Jivitputrika Vrat.
At least 46 people have drowned, most of them children, while bathing in rivers and ponds swollen by recent floods, during the observance of a Hindu religious festival celebrated by millions in India.
The dead include 37 children and seven women who drowned in the eastern state of Bihar in scattered incidents across 15 districts, authorities said on Thursday.
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09/26/2024 - 13:35
The south-east of England could also see lightning, winds of up to 50mph and even ‘isolated, brief tornadoes’
Parts of the UK have been hit by further flash floods and the Met Office has warned of more heavy rain throughout the evening and into Friday morning.
The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro) is also forecasting that much of the south-east of England could see lightning, winds up to 50mph and even “isolated brief tornadoes”. This includes much of East Anglia, the south-east Midlands and central southern England.
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09/26/2024 - 12:19
Researchers have studied how nanoplastic affects aquatic organisms in lakes and rivers. The results are surprising and the researchers are the first to show that some species are being wiped out, while others -- such as cyanobacteria that contribute to algal blooms -- are completely unaffected.
09/26/2024 - 12:19
Squinting into the treetops won't reveal the tiny organisms up there. But these creatures leave clues, in the form of DNA, on the leaves and branches. Now, researchers report that they have developed a way to collect this genetic material: a drone with a specialized fabric probe. The team flew the drone above the rainforest and, based on DNA collected by the probe, identified the invertebrates in the canopy.
09/26/2024 - 07:52
Forecasters warn that storm, one of the most powerful to hit the US this year, could create a ‘nightmare’
Tell us: have you been affected by Hurricane Helene?
Hurricane Helene strengthened to a catastrophic category 4 storm as it barreled toward Florida’s Gulf coast, making it one of the most powerful storms to hit the US this year.
The storm is expected to make landfall on Thursday night. Forecasters warn the enormous storm could create a “nightmare” scenario, with a potentially life-threatening storm surge that could reach 15-20ft (4.6-6.1 meters) in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Panhandle region.
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09/26/2024 - 05:00
Lobbyists and lawmakers have coordinated to enact new laws that increase criminal penalties for peaceful protests
‘Fear and intimidation’: how peaceful anti-pipeline protesters were hit with criminal and civil charges
Fossil fuel lobbyists coordinated with lawmakers behind the scenes and across state lines to push and shape laws that are escalating a crackdown on peaceful protests against oil and gas expansion, a new Guardian investigation reveals.
Records obtained by the Guardian show that lobbyists working for major North American oil and gas companies were key architects of anti-protest laws that increase penalties and could lead to non-violent environmental and climate activists being imprisoned up to 10 years.
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09/26/2024 - 05:00
It’s that time of year when homes fill with hairy eight-legged monsters. At least they keep the flies under control …
It is giant spider season and I am delighted. As someone who is ravaged by flying insects all summer, I welcome these eight-legged death machines into my home with open arms. Speckle-backed Tegeneria? Be my guest! I would far rather something that looks like an animated tomato stalk occasionally scuttled across my curtain than be beset by a swarm of fruit flies, bluebottles or midges. I have even heard that spiders might eat clothes moths, although I think for them to have a significant impact on numbers I would have to lean even further into my Miss Havisham alter ego and stroll around bedecked by webs.
I wasn’t always this way. As a child, I was as terrified of spiders as I am today by droughts and unfiled tax returns. I would watch in amazed horror as my country-born mother picked up arachnids the size and heft of dogs and calmly threw them out the window. There were whole cupboards I refused to open for fear of spiders. Once, after accidentally walking into a web during a game of hide and seek, I actually vomited at the thought of a spider being close to my skin (they found me quite quickly after that).
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09/26/2024 - 04:57
On my return to the UK from Brazil I’ve seen how northern latitudes are behaving like the equatorial margins
Returning to British suburbia from the Brazilian Amazon is always disconcerting, but it has been doubly weird in the past few days because the London commuter belt has been inundated with volumes of rain that normally belong in the tropics.
Mini-tornadoes, flash floods and the dumping of a month’s worth of rain in a single day have flooded transport hubs, high street pubs, and the shrubs of semidetached homes.
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn’t fit for humans now,
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