biodiversity

A slow, tacking flight: float then flap. Then a pirouette and it has swung on to a different tack, following another seam through the moor as if it is tracking a scent. It is like a disembodied spirit searching for its host…” — description of the strongest of all harriers, the goshawk, by James Macdonald Lockhart in his book, Raptor: A Journey Through Birds

We’re watching a female red-tail hawk rejecting the smaller male’s romantic overtures barely 50 yards overhead.

Planting billions of trees across the world is by far the cheapest and most efficient way to tackle the climate crisis. So states a July 4 article in The Guardian, citing a new analysis published in the journal Science. The author explains: As trees grow, they absorb and store the carbon dioxide emissions that are […]

The world is in the throes of an extinction crisis unlike any throughout paleoclimate history, aka: the Sixth Mass Extinction, keeping in mind that the normal “background rate” for extinction is 1-to-5 species gone per year. But, what if it’s five (5) every 24 hours?
Answer: It’s a lot more than that.

by Allison Wilson, PhD It was the first day of two weeks’ voting. The rural alpine municipality of Mals was about to consider a revolutionary possibility – a vote for a “Pesticide Free Mals.” A “yes” ...

Meet Robbie Blackhall-Miles, whose Welsh garden has an early evolutionary vibe. He explains why he’s passionate about plants with fossil records that predate the extinction of the dinosaurs
The post How does my garden grow? Cretaceous-ly appeared first on Positive News.

From planting native wildflowers to leading mini-beast safaris, 5 projects that help people give nature a boost 
The post The birds and the bees: 5 projects that help us all boost biodiversity appeared first on Positive News.

Canada's largest national marine conservation area is to be created to protect a large, biodiverse area of Arctic water
The post New Arctic protections agreed by Canadian government and Inuit community appeared first on Positive News.

Have you ever teared up at a news story about giraffes heading towards extinction? Perhaps you symbolically adopted an elephant to save it from poaching. Your heart is in the right place. But a study released earlier this year highlights the very real damage human consumption does to threatened species and the environment.
The couch you’re sitting on, the smartphone you used to donate money to the African elephant rescue effort – both of these have a negative impact on biodiversity. Even the coffee you brew in the morning takes a toll.

With such limited space, how can cities be designed to feature more greenery? China is thinking outside the box: vertically
The post Plans for China’s first ‘city of trees’ take root appeared first on Positive News.

A panel of scientists with India’s Ministry of Environment said in a risk assessment of genetically modified mustard that the crop does not “pose any risk of causing any adverse effects on human and animal health and safety.” [1]
Mustard oil accounts for more than 10% of India’s cooking requirement of approximately 21 million metric tons.
The scientists have spoken, but not everyone is convinced that the information is accurate.