Drax still burning 250-year-old trees sourced from forests in Canada, experts say Exclusive: report by Stand.earth says subsidiary of power plant received truckloads of whole logs at biomass pellet sites

Our idiotic and incompetent government has just agreed to pay more than a million £ a day in support of the continued destruction of ancient forests to feed the Drax power plant

Pure insanity

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Lovely Cosmos

Robert Irwin, David Beckham and Jacinda Ardern as photographed panels behind yellow text saying the Earthshot Prize as part of an advertising campaign for the prize itself

"Prince William’s prestigious climate prize hired a Brazilian public relations firm that was also under contract to the country’s state oil company Petrobras, which is facing criticism for its plans to drill in the Amazon basin"

@tjjordan.bsky.social in @desmog.com >

www.desmog.com/2025/11/03/r...

Harold (Dickie) Bird
Yorkshireman and proud of it.
The best

One of the many good things about looking at fungi is that it's possible to visit a site for years and still turn up new species for the site list. Volvopluteus gloiocephalus (Stubble Rosegill) was one of several added to the Wintersett list during a public foray yesterday.

Robert Jenrick speedrunning his way through the career of Enoch Powell.

These stinkbugs coat their eggs in fungi to protect them from parasitic wasps An unusual relationship could shed light on how insects choose their partners

Female Stinkbugs have a structure on their back that enables fungal colonies to establish. When they lay eggs they coat the eggs in the fungi which grow around the eggs discouraging parasitic wasps from targeting the eggs!

The flag plague has spread to our Yorkshire village. Union and St Georges' flags along 3/4 mile of the main street. It's quite disturbing and distressing. What is all this leading to?

Today's Times

Earlier this year, I lost my beloved job at my beloved Observer when the Guardian, in its great wisdom, gave the newspaper away to a podcast company...who promptly sacked me.

So, forgive my delight today, in being nominated for FIVE awards in the British Podcast Awards!!
1/

Quote from Chris Packham: “In pipes, paint and petrol, we said goodbye to lead poisoning in humans years ago. But down to the cruel belligerence of the shooting industry, which ironically and pathetically postures as pro-conservation, 100 thousand wild birds a year have been dying through the accidental ingestion of lead shot. I don’t call that conservation, I call it a colossal, wilful waste of wildlife. Top work from Steve Reed and Emma Hardy - thank you.”

GOOD NEWS: Lead shot will be banned! RESULT!

After years of campaigning, the use of toxic lead ammunition by the shooting industry will be banned. This is excellent news for people's health and for wildlife.

Read the Defra press release here: wildjustice.org.uk/general/toxi...

An unexpected green roof benefit: purging urban rainfall of practically all microplastics In a laboratory-scale study, green roof mockups kept 97.5 percent of microplastic particles out of runoff

In a laboratory-scale study, green roofs captured 97.5% of microplastic particles in soil keeping them out of runoff, in addition to substantial heating and cooling benefits.

www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/07/an-u...

UK to purchase nuclear-carrying fighter jets Downing Street says the move is "the biggest strengthening of the UK's nuclear posture in a generation".

The increasing normalisation of nuclear weapons is deeply dangerous & sends message to all other countries that security depends on acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Oh & the bombs are owned & use controlled by US alone. What could possibly go wrong?

A bit of joy

Why are biofuels being so heavily pushed despite their obvious, MASSIVE inefficiencies?

Because they're a fig leaf for continuing to burn stuff, above all fossil fuels.

Joy

Thank you Helen for brightening our days against a backdrop of gloom

Good boy or bad dog? Our 1 billion pet dogs do real environmental damage We don’t want to admit it, but our beloved pet dogs do a lot of environmental damage, from killing or terrifying wildlife to emissions from pet food.

"Dogs catch many types of wildlife and can injure or kill them. Their scent and droppings scare smaller animals. Then there’s the huge environmental cost of feeding these carnivores and the sheer quantity of their poo. We love our pet dogs, but they come with a very real cost."
tinyurl.com/5btdthby

I’ve always been perplexed by people who need to leave the planet in order to realise how precious and beautiful it is.

NEW 🧵

The number of people travelling from Europe to the US in recent weeks has plummeted by as much as 35%, as travellers have cancelled plans in response to Trump’s policies and rhetoric, and horror stories from the border.

Story: www.ft.com/content/6dc1...

We are the most peaceful nation on Earth.

We are the most gender equal nation.

We have abundant clean water and renewable energy.

We have Europe's largest area of unimpacted wilderness.

We are not yet that good at cricket, but these things give us comfort until we are.

Why

Airbnb’s co-founder is joining Elon Musk’s DOGE Gebbia, a close friend of Musk, has praised DOGE’s work and defended it against criticisms on social media

Time to evict AirBnB from your life, if you have't already.

The American Society of Microbiology is silently and retrospectively editing articles to remove words banned by the new US administration, without even informing the authors.

bsky.app/profile/jame...