Author Archive
In Age of Extinction, which species can we least afford to lose?
Posted by Guardian: Tracy McVeigh on October 4th, 2014
Guardian: The threatened extinction of the tiger in India, the perilous existence of the orangutan in Indonesia, the plight of the panda: these are wildlife emergencies with which we have become familiar. They are well-loved animals that no one wants to see disappear. But now scientists fear the real impact of declining wildlife could be closer to home, with the threat to creatures such as ladybirds posing the harshest danger to biodiversity.
Climate change, declining numbers of animals, rising numbers...
The Dutch solution to floods: live with water, don’t fight it
Posted by Guardian: Tracy McVeigh on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: Nol and Wil Hooijmaaijers have been watching the TV news from Britain with some horror. "It's terrible to see, very sad, I am so sorry. And when you see the cows up to their knees in the water," Wils tuts and shakes her head. "We are so lucky." Sitting at their oak dining table, looking out of the windows of their modern farmhouse at the newly planted saplings standing firm in the grey afternoon, the couple know what it is like to lose a home on a flood plain. .
Their old house and fields were...
Flooding: too little defence, too late, as the waters rise
Posted by Guardian: Tracy McVeigh on February 1st, 2014
Guardian: Like the lines drawn by parents measuring the height of their growing children, there are chalked marks on the walls of the houses piled in a picturesque jumble along the lower streets of Yalding. They have been drawn by residents scoring the progress of floodwaters through their homes over what has been the wettest month since records began and is heading towards being the wettest winter Britain has seen in 100 years.
On Christmas Eve, this Domesday Book Kent village was deluged by riverwater...
United Kingdom: Relief as flood defences hold, but the storms aren’t over yet
Posted by Guardian: Tracy McVeigh on January 5th, 2014
Guardian: As the rain eased over the Dorset coast yesterday, and the last police officers with their loudhailers left the Portland peninsula, the landlady of the Little Ship was happy to have a dry pub to open up.
"The police came last night and said there was going to be a 10ft swell and we should move upstairs as soon as we heard the sirens," said Linda Davis, who runs the pub in the village of Chiswell, where there had been plans to evacuate residents last night ahead of an expected tidal surge.
"They...