newsmart – Environment

koreatimes.co.kr | 13 hrs. 42 min. ago

'How is it possible?': Students protest Indonesian haze

PALANGKARAYA, Indonesia — Hundreds of students protested late Friday in Indonesia's Palangkaraya, demanding the government do more to tackle a wildfire crisis that has shrouded their city and the wider region in toxic haze for months. The students, many wearing surgical masks, gathered under an eerily orange sky with severely reduced visibility and waved banners urging authorities to declare a national emergency to free up more aid.

"The officials are morons, yet they get fantastic perks while the lives of the common people are tragic," read one protest placard nailed to a wall outside the office of the governor of Central Kalimantan -- an Indonesian province on the island of Borneo where the fires are taking place.

The demonstrators sang the Indonesia Pusaka patriotic song and engaged in light skirmishes with police. No injuries or arrests were reported and as night fell, the protesters cleared up their trash before dispersing peacefully. "We call upon the Central Kalimantan provincial government to state clearly that it is unable to mitigate this disaster, so that the situation may be

theguardian.com | 15 hrs. 30 min. ago

Young country diary: A red squirrel examines a nut, right in front of me

Tom | Brownsea Island, Dorset: I’ve been here lots of times to see the squirrels, so I know exactly where to find them – behind the church in the woodsEvery October my family have an annual trip to Brownsea Island. We go in autumn because this is a good time to see the red squirrels.

In the other seasons, they are high up, hidden in the trees. We catch the ferry from Poole Harbour, and we know we are close when we can see the castle come into view. When we arrive we’re greeted by nosy chickens and attention-seeking peacocks on the lawns.We go behind the little church into the woods.

It is a different world there. There is a mix of crunchy and soggy brown leaves on the ground and little mushrooms popping up from the earth. Some mushrooms are sprouting from rotting logs. Continue reading...

timesofindia.indiatimes.com | 1 days ago

Rhode Island volunteers reused 600+ Christmas trees to restore riverbanks and protect young trout

In an inspiring environmental effort, volunteers in Rhode Island gathered over 600 old Christmas trees for the 'Trees for Trout' initiative, aimed at restoring riverbanks. By bringing their discarded trees to designated collection sites at Arcadia Management Area, residents have made a significant contribution toward creating sustainable trout habitats and mitigating soil erosion.

This project not only enhances local waterways but also promotes community involvement in ecological preservation.

theguardian.com | 1 days ago

Football Daily

Mourinho is ready for his clásico return – stock up on popcorn, folks! | Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!Football Daily has never had much time for conspiracy theories. Lee Harvey Oswald dunnit, Stanley Kubrick didn’t fake the moon landing, Vinícius Jr doesn’t have a body double and Miranda isn’t a secret traitor.

But our Spidey senses picked up when the UK government announced their Be Ready campaign on Thursday night. In case you missed it, or live outside the UK and couldn’t care less about this weird little island, we’ve lifted this from our news story:“Every Briton is being urged to stock up to nine litres of bottled water and three days’ worth of food in new government guidance designed to ensure that households can survive a weather, cyber or other serious emergency.

The Be Ready campaign is aimed at persuading people to stock up with supplies to last 72 hours, amid growing official concern about the impact of the climate crisis, technological dependency and hostile state threats.”Would it not be much easier all round if the two big clubs in Manchester simply swapped all playing and coaching staff before the next round of fixtures? United would finally get the squad that Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martínez clearly feel they deserve, one of serial winners who are worthy of the club’s fine history (and free of the whiners).

Meanwhile, City would might get a team that would make them (somewhat) competitive in the lower tiers where they’re surely headed. And a manager who has coached there quite recently. Sure there’d be a few grumbles from the fans, but more importantly in the current football climate, think of all the potential new shirt sales, and the Us-Against-the-World mentality that Enzo Maresca would be able to instil in his team whose own supporters would even hate them.

And no-one would even have to move house. It’s a win-win solution. Although, no, it’s United; so probably a win-high-scoring-draw-against-Wycombe solution” – Justin Kavanagh.Like all right-minded people, I only read Big Website to get my fill of news and information (ahem …). However, I did come across a recent piece in The New Yorker on James Daunt, the chief suit of the US book chain Barnes & Noble (no relation).

The billionaire Russian oligarch, Alexander Mamut, asked him 20 years ago how much it would cost to buy Waterstones, and when he was told it would be £40m, he looked pleased and just said, ‘That’s less than Fernando Torres’, before adding, ‘It’s not even half a boat’.

Odd reference points these billionaires” – Noble Francis.May I be the first of 1,057 Daniels to say thank you for the good luck message at the end of Thursday’s Football Daily. It has put a little extra pep in my step today” – Daniel Mee.This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily.

To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions. Continue reading...

theguardian.com | 1 days ago

Severe flooding in eastern Spain and UK hit by first named storm of winter

Storm Adam brings torrential rain to Valencia, Alicante and Balearic Islands, as Storm Austen strikes England and WalesStorm Adam brought torrential rain to eastern Spain earlier this week. In Pego, Alicante, 632mm fell in 36 hours, with 430mm of this falling in just six hours, while the Valencian town of Olivia received 600mm in 24 hours.The severe flooding led 145 municipalities across Valencia and Alicante to impose a temporary lockdown on about 850,000 people on Monday.

At least five people have died, 500 have been rescued and 2,100 evacuated. Continue reading...

scmp.com | 1 days ago

Indonesian wildfires threaten world’s oldest cave paintings in Sulawesi

The world’s oldest cave paintings on the Indonesian island ⁠of Sulawesi are under threat ⁠as heat and smoke from the ⁠country’s worst wildfires in more than a decade risk accelerating the deterioration of the more than 67,000-year-old works of art, according to researchers. Indonesia is battling its most intense forest and land fires since 2015 as a severe El Nino drives up temperatures and reduces ‌rainfall, leaving its forest and peatland vulnerable to fire.

While the islands of Sumatra and...