Vow in 2020 aimed to keep shot out of human food chain but study finds most game carcasses still contain lead
A voluntary promise to phase out toxic lead shot in the UK has failed, meaning wildlife and human health are being put at risk, a study has found.
The vow, made in February 2020 by the UK’s nine leading game shooting and rural organisations, aimed to benefit wildlife and the environment and keep toxic lead out of the human food chain. They aimed to phase lead shot out by 2025, and hoped to avoid a full government ban. It is recommended birds are shot with non-toxic cartridges made of metals such as steel instead.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/06/2025 - 01:00
03/06/2025 - 00:00
Only 20 miles from Italy’s capital, Isola Sacra was ignored for years but now Royal Caribbean has plans to turn it into a major new port
On a cloudy day in January, Isola Sacra, a hamlet in Fiumicino, 20 miles from Rome, does not look like a place that would attract masses of tourists. Low-rise family homes with small gardens alternate with meadows and fields and life has the sedate pace of a provincial town.
An old lighthouse now lies in ruins and not far away is the darsena dei bilancioni, the beach that takes its name from the stilt houses, or bilancioni, once used for fishing.
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Navigating trade-offs on conservation: the use of participatory mapping in maritime spatial planning
03/06/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 06 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00109-6
Navigating trade-offs on conservation: the use of participatory mapping in maritime spatial planning
03/05/2025 - 22:00
Scientists called the news ‘particularly worrying’ because ice reflects sunlight and cools the planet
Global sea ice fell to a record low in February, scientists have said, a symptom of an atmosphere fouled by planet-heating pollutants.
The combined area of ice around the north and south poles hit a new daily minimum in early February and stayed below the previous record for the rest of the month, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Thursday.
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03/05/2025 - 19:01
Group claims regulator signed off on ‘broken system’ making customers pay for industry’s neglect
An environmental group is to take legal action against Ofwat, the water regulator, accusing it of unlawfully making customers pay for decades of neglect by the water industry.
River Action will file the legal claim this month, arguing that bill rises for customers that have been approved by the regulator could be used to fix infrastructure failures that should have been addressed years ago.
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03/05/2025 - 18:54
This blog is now closed
Cyclone Alfred update: NSW and Queensland prepare for flooding as authorities urge ‘do not underestimate this storm’
Why did Tropical Cyclone Alfred slow down on its path towards the east coast?
What is melioidosis and why do cases spike after flooding and heavy rainfall?
Brisbane flood map: suburbs at risk during Cyclone Alfred
Speaking of preparations, adjunct senior lecturer at the Centre for Disaster Studies at James Cook University Yetta Gurtner gives advice here:
Chalmers confident insurance companies ‘know their responsibilities’
I’m confident they know their responsibilities and obligations to people.
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03/05/2025 - 16:27
Wildlife experts claim nutria, which destroy habitats with voracious eating habits, taste like rabbit or dark turkey meat
Wildlife officials are encouraging California residents to add a rodent to their daily diet as part of efforts to control the invasive species’ population.
The nutria, a large, semi-aquatic rodent native to South America, is threatening the state’s ecosystems by destroying habitats and outcompeting native wildlife. The nutria’s harmful impacts have prompted wildlife officials to promote hunting and consumption as possible solutions.
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03/05/2025 - 13:55
Plaintiffs say Florida Crystals’ farming method that blights minority neighborhoods belies its climate-friendly claims
A major sugar company has been accused of harmful environmental practices while claiming to be a leader in the fight against the climate crisis, in a class-action lawsuit filed on Wednesday.
Florida Crystals, one of the US’s biggest sugar firms, and its parent company, the Fanjul Corporation, are accused of deceiving consumers and endangering public health by continuing to use environmentally harmful pre-harvest burning.
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03/05/2025 - 13:47
Amphibians are increasingly vulnerable to global warming, according to new research.
03/05/2025 - 12:08
Gas and oil industry cautiously welcomes government proposals that could ease tax burden on sector
The UK government has unveiled proposals that could ease the tax burden on the offshore oil and gas sector but confirmed that it would also ban new drilling licences as part of a pledge to “unleash the North Sea’s clean energy future”.
The “windfall” tax on North Sea drillers, introduced in 2022 to help support households facing rising energy bills after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, would be scrapped from 2030, the Treasury confirmed on Wednesday.
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