Parque Nacional Sierra Lacandona, Peten Guatemala
Charismatic Megafauna UK Rewilding
Wild bison released into Kent countryside – video
In Scotland the first such project we became aware of had wild but smaller animals as their focal point. Reforesting and other United Kingdom rewilding initiatives have until now been missing the biggest possible charismatic megafauna:
Wild bison return to UK for first time in thousands of years
The gentle giants released in Kent should transform a commercial pine forest into a vibrant natural woodland
Early on Monday morning, three gentle giants wandered out of a corral in the Kent countryside to become the first wild bison to roam in Britain for thousands of years. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Northern Saw-whet Owl
Davis Mountains Preserve, TX
Trillion Tree Puzzles
Villagers hired by Eden Reforestation Projects planting trees in the northern part of Goiás State, Brazil. Lalo de Almeida for The New York Times
Zach St. George showcases why the compelling idea is problematic, and why the problematic idea is so compelling:
A plant from which Eden separates seeds to plant in Goiás. Lalo de Almeida for The New York Times
Can Planting a Trillion New Trees Save the World?
To fight climate change, companies and nonprofits have been promoting worldwide planting campaigns. Getting to a trillion is easier said than done.
On a hot morning in April, near the start of Brazil’s dry season, four women and two men walked single file across a sodden field at the edge of Engenho, a village in the northern part of Goiás State. They wore long sleeves and wide-brimmed hats to protect against the sun, and leather gaiters and gloves to protect against snakes. In a plastic tub, they carried an entire forest. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Snowy Egret
El Paredon, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Air Conditioning 2.0
The new mechanism (pictured) could replace traditional vapor-compression cooling technology, which has remained largely unchanged since the early 20th century.
Oddly, we have only mentioned air conditioning twice before in our pages since 2011. So much of the human population is in need of it, and its carbon footprint is so problematic, it presents a significant challenge to efforts to mitigate climate change. Here is reason to mention it again:
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Jarad Mason (left) and co-author Jinyoung Seo have developed a new class of solid-state refrigerants that could enable energy-efficient and emission-free cooling. Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
Keeping cool without warming the planet
A summer dilemma worthy of Solomon: how to stay cool in days of high heat and humidity without turning to traditional air conditioning, which consumes vast amounts of electricity and emits potent climate-changing greenhouse gases.
The answer potentially involves a new class of solid-state refrigerants that could enable energy-efficient and emission-free cooling. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Black-headed Grosbeak
Davis Mountains Preserve, TX
Orchid Hunters Teaching Their Craft
Orchid enthusiasts on the hunt at Noar Hill. Photograph: Peter Flude/The Guardian
We feature stories involving orchids whenever there is something new to learn:
Bersweden stops to smell a musk orchid at Noar Hill. Photograph: Peter Flude/The Guardian
‘Like stroppy teenagers’: the joy of hunting devious and demanding orchids
For British botanist Leif Bersweden, finding an orchid is ‘pure joy’ and one that he is happy to share with fellow enthusiasts as they scour a nature reserve in Hampshire
It’s a Friday, and half a dozen retirees are scouring the ground for flowers. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Kittlitz’s Plover
Etosha National Park, Namibia
82 Leading Scientists Agree
Aerial view of deforestation in the Western Amazon region of Brazil. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images
To state the obvious, yes:
Humans need to value nature as well as profits to survive, UN report finds
Focus on market has led to climate crises, with spiritual, cultural and emotional benefits of nature ignored
Taking into account all the benefits nature provides to humans and redefining what it means to have a “good quality of life” is key to living sustainably on Earth, a four-year assessment by 82 leading scientists has found. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Spotted Owlets
Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh
Net Zero’s Three Major Flaws
The flaws of Net Zero campaigns have been linked to several times in our pages. So have some of the inspirational yet problematic proposals like tree-planting initiatives and direct air capture. I recommend taking five minutes to read and view this to get a clearer view on the three major flaws with the latest buzzwords:
New Climate Promises, Same Old Global Warming
In what seems like a rapid shift of gears, corporations are finally jumping into action on climate change. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Brow-backed Solitare
Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala
Us & Them, Then & Now
A cartoon from the mid-1800s, using apparently sophisticated insects to satirise French society (Credit: Getty Images)
Thomas Moynihan, a research fellow at Forethought Foundation and St Benet’s College, Oxford University offers this entertaining treatment of how Western culture has seen and thought about its insect co-habitants of the planet.
Lubbock’s wasp, described by one journalist as “a little gentleman in a brown overcoat, with black and yellow nether garments” (Credit: Alamy)
How insect ‘civilisations’ recast our place in the Universe
When looking to other creatures for signs of intelligence, insects are rarely the most obvious candidates, but as the historian Thomas Moynihan writes, it wasn’t always so. What can the early-20th Century fascination with bug societies tell us about our own?
It is 1919, and a young astronomer turns a street corner in Pasadena, California. Something seemingly humdrum on the ground distracts him. It’s an ant heap. Dropping to his knees, peering closer, he has an epiphany – about deep time, our place within it, and humanity’s uncertain fate. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Black Kite
Goa
What Cruise Ships Do In Plain Sight
A cruise ship leaving the port of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, where environmental laws are less stringent than in the neighbouring US states of Washington and Alaska. Wildlife put at risk by cruise ships dumping waste include sea otters and orcas. Photograph: Shaun Cunningham/Alamy
If you enjoy cruise ship experiences, our intent is not to offend you by sharing this. Just to be sure you are aware of what cruise ship operators routinely do with waste:
US cruise ships using Canada as a ‘toilet bowl’ for polluted waste
Lax Canadian regulations create ‘perverse incentive’ for US cruise ships en route to Alaska to discharge toxic mix of chemicals and wastewater off British Columbia, report says
A protest in April against the dumping of sewage by cruise ships arriving in Vancouver. Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
From the comfort of cruise ships, a typical trip to Alaska offers magnificent views of glaciers and untamed national parks, and visits to quaint seaside towns. For years, these draws have made cruises to Alaska the most booked US holiday.
But the journey to those pristine areas, which involves sailing along Canada’s west coast for two or three days, is leaving behind a trail of toxic waste, including within marine protected areas (MPAs), according to new research. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Little Owl
Seewinkel National Park, Austria
Trees & Careful Planting
Fast-to-establish sassafras (Sassafras albidum), an Eastern native tree, has distinctively shaped leaves that fire up brilliantly in autumn. Michael Stewart/Courtesy Brooklyn Botanic Garden
One of the minor downsides to life in the tropics is decades of missed autumn leaves. But that downside is counterbalanced by so many upsides that the loss is trivial. And we have photos like the one to the right, as well as the possibility of travel (including to the botanical gardens featured in the story below), plus plenty of writing on the science of those colors, to dissipate the trivia.
Mr. Roddick is often asked to open up a tree’s canopy to let in more light. His answer is based on the tree’s species, its health and its age. “Better to train a young tree to fit into a garden as opposed to trying to change an old tree,” he said. Michael Stewart/Courtesy Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Besides, our trees are awesome for reasons other than color. They grow fast. Some of them fix nitrogen. And most of those we have been planting have a shading responsibility specific to the coffee we are planting. So this article resonates even if some of the particulars are not relevant to our land, trees, and related growing conditions. Margaret Roach has been a constant companion reminding me of all this, through her writings mainly on gardens in the north.
The base of an old London plane tree at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Tree roots on most landscape trees are shallow and prone to injury, yet we often fail to consider how our gardening and home-improvement projects will affect them. Michael Stewart/Courtesy Brooklyn Botanic Garden
In Your Enthusiasm for Planting, Don’t Forget About the Trees
Trees can take a lot of punishment, but they have their limits. Here’s how to work around them safely.
If trees could talk, they’d probably start by saying, “Enough with the insults already.”
In more than 30 years of working with trees, Christopher Roddick has made it a practice to listen to their unspoken language — and to show respect for some of the largest and oldest organisms among us. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: King Vulture
Parque Nacional Sierra Lacandona, Peten, Guatemala
A Trillion Trees, The Book
We have linked to so many of his essays and articles over the years, we are slightly jealous of a friend writing from England that she attended an event where he was discussing this book yesterday. Published last year, the concept is familiar, but if Fred Pearce offers a book treatment of a complex topic, read it:
**A Book of the Year in The Times and The Sunday Times ** Trees are essential, for nature and for us. Yet we are cutting and burning them at such a rate that we are fast approaching a tipping point. But there is still hope. Continue reading
Organikos 