Environment | The Guardian

Murrawah Johnson recognised for role in landmark legal case to block coalmine backed by Clive Palmer

Andrea Vidaurre helped persuade regulators to adopt rules that will improve air quality for millions in one of US's smoggiest areasA grassroots organizer from one of the US's smoggiest communities has been awarded the prestigious Goldman prize for environmental activists, after leading a successful campaign to clean-up California's trucking and railway sectors.Andrea Vidaurre from Inland Empire, a sprawling metropolitan region in southern California, helped persuade state regulators to adopt two historic transport regulations that will improve local air quality for millions of people - and accelerate the country's transition away from greenhouse gas spewing vehicles. Continue reading...

Government tells operators they must join cooperatives by Tuesday and gradually replace their vehicles with greener optionsA three-day strike by drivers of jeepneys in the Philippines began on Monday as transport groups warned that thousands could be pushed off the roads by government modernisation plans.The jeepney is the backbone of the Philippines' transport system. The customised, privately-owned buses, which look like a cross between a Jeep and a van and are decorated in flamboyant colours, ply routes in neighbourhood streets and city centres, offering rides for as little as 13 pesos (23 US cents). They have featured in pop songs and films - Pope Francis even travelled through Manila in a jeepney-inspired popemobile. Continue reading...

Large parts of islands could be uninhabitable by 2050, federal court told in first climate class action taken by Australian First Nations people

From an eagle to Elton John, the Played and Remade project enables artists to make something magical' from free materialsThe task of loading once-loved but now unwanted pianos into a van and carting them off to the recycling centre is a disheartening and melancholy one. So a music shop in Bath that scraps as many as 300 redundant and unfixable pianos a year has launched a project to repurpose the thousands of parts that make up each instrument into pieces of art.The Piano Shop Bath is inviting artists to take their pick for free from the varied materials that make up each piano - wood, cast iron, brass, felt, copper, steel wires and so on - and turn them into pieces that can then be hung in its showroom. Continue reading...

Chelsea flower show to focus on water reuse as gardeners prepare for shortages caused by climate crisisRain gardens and bathwater are becoming gardening trends, the Royal Horticultural Society has said, as gardeners battle predicted water shortages caused by climate breakdown.At the Chelsea flower show this year, many of the gardens will be focused on reducing water usage. Rain gardens will be on show, including in the Water Aid garden, which includes a rainwater harvesting pavilion designed to slow its flow, collecting and storing it for irrigation of the garden and filtering it for use as drinking water. Continue reading...

Levy on oil and gas majors in richest countries would help worst-affected nations tackle climate crisis, says reportA new tax on fossil fuel companies based in the world's richest countries could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the escalating climate crisis, according to a report.The Climate Damages Tax report, published on Monday, calculates that an additional tax on fossil fuel majors based in the wealthiest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries could raise $720bn (580bn) by the end of the decade. Continue reading...

A new approach aims to restore fish levels in the Yukon River but some feel it unfairly targets traditional practices while failing to tackle huge losses to industrial fishing in the oceanEarlier this month Alaska officials announced a new plan they say could revive the Yukon River's struggling salmon population. The 2,000-mile waterway that runs from Canada's Yukon Territory to the Bering Sea has seen sharp declines in its Chinook, or king salmon, in recent years.The new strategy aims to restore the number of fish that reach their northern spawning areas near the Canadian border to 71,000, up from about 15,000 that reached the Canadian border in 2023, by suspending commercial, sport, domestic and personal use fisheries in the Yukon River until 2030. Previously, fishing closures were revisited each year. Continue reading...

People want more seafood than the oceans can sustainably supply, so a German firm aims to plug that gap with cultivated fish - but are consumers ready to buy it?The redbrick offices, just north of Hamburg's River Elbe and a few floors below Carlsberg's German headquarters, are an unexpectedly low-key setting for a food team gearing up to produce Europe's first tonne of lab-grown fish.But inside Bluu Seafood, past the slick open-plan coffee and cake bar, the rooms are dominated by gleaming white tiles, people bustling about in lab coats, rows of broad-bottomed beakers and pieces of equipment more at home in a science-fiction thriller. A 50-litre tank (a bioreactor) is filled with what looks like a cherry-coloured energy drink. The liquid, known as growth medium", is rich with sugars, minerals, amino acids and proteins designed to give the fish cells that are added to it the boost they need to multiply by the million. Continue reading...

Investigation finds groups hosting Islamophobic attacks on London mayor Sadiq Khan, white supremacist slogans and antisemitic conspiracy theoriesConservative party staff and activists are secretly operating a network of Facebook groups that have become a hotbed of racism, misinformation and support for criminal damage.An investigation has identified 36 groups that appear to be separate grassroots movements opposing the expansion of ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) schemes to reduce air pollution. They do not say they were set up by the Conservatives as part of a coordinated political campaign. Continue reading...

Total deaths reach 76 and more than 130,000 displaced as weeks of flooding also affects east African neighboursSeventy-six people in Kenya have died because of flooding triggered by torrential downpours since March, the government has said, warning residents to brace for even heavier rainfall".Kenya and its east African neighbours have been battered by stronger than usual rain in recent weeks, compounded by the El Nino weather system. Continue reading...

Boy discovers octopus figurine that fell from cargo ship along with 5m other Lego pieces during stormA 13-year-old boy has discovered a holy grail" Lego octopus which spilled into the sea from a shipping container in the 1990s.The octopus is one of nearly 5m Lego pieces that fell into the sea in 1997 when a storm hit a cargo ship 20 miles off Land's End, Cornwall. While 352,000 pairs of flippers, 97,500 scuba tanks, and 92,400 swords went overboard, the octopuses are considered the most prized finds as only 4,200 were onboard. Continue reading...

Peter Smith, 64, received critical care for injuries to arm, leg and stomach after attack in shallow watersA British man is in intensive care after an unusual" shark attack on the Caribbean island of Tobago.Peter Smith, 64, received critical care after sustaining serious injuries to his left arm, left leg and stomach on Friday morning, according to a local official. Continue reading...

Home workers aim to tackle smelly athleisure clothing, save money and be kinder to the environmentFor years, laundry detergents have focused their cleaning power on stain removal and getting whites white but now a new invisible enemy has emerged in the shape of the musty smell that clings to your gym gear.The shift to remote working has fuelled the popularity of athleisure" clothing such as T-shirts, joggers and leggings which, rather than shirts and dresses, are now the default work wardrobe of many Britons. Continue reading...

Inaugural contest at Crab Museum in Margate allows crustaceans to pick the winner, with the help of tinned fish used as baitHow did the crab get out of prison? And why did the crab get bad grades?The answers to these conundrums and other clawsome jokes were among the competitors for the inaugural World's Funniest Crab Joke competition, held by the Crab Museum in Margate to celebrate International Crab Day.What do you call a red crab piggybacking another red crab all around the town? A double-decapod.A horseshoe crab walks into a bar. Why the ventral face?" the bartender asks. The crab replies: Mind your own business and please tip a pint of lager and a packet of crisps on to the pub carpet."How did the crab get out of prison? It used its escape claws.Why didn't the crab help the chicken cross the road? Because it was eaten by a pelican crossing.What did the sea urchin say to the crab? Please sir, can I have some claw?What format do you have to save photos of crab soup on to? Floppy bisque.A man walks into a restaurant with a crab under his arm and says: Do you make crab cakes?" The manager answers: Yes, we do." Good," says the man, because it's his birthday."How do barnacles get around? A taxi crab.Why did the crab cross the road? It didn't. It used the sidewalk.Why did the crab get bad grades? Because it was below C level. Continue reading...

Two-year-old calf one step closer to reuniting with family group after tragic accident that left her stranded in remote lagoonAn orca calf, trapped for weeks in a remote lagoon in western Canada, has freed herself and is travelling towards open waters, hailed as incredible news" by a growing body of human supporters.The move puts her one step closer to reuniting with her family one month after a tragic accident left her stranded. Continue reading...

Panel of nearly 100 countries to draw up guidelines for industries that mine raw materials used in low-carbon technologyA UN-led panel of nearly 100 countries is to draw up new guidelines to prevent some of the environmental damage and human rights abuses associated with mining for critical minerals".Mining for some of the key raw materials used in low-carbon technology, such as solar panels and electric vehicles, has been associated with human rights abuses, child labour and violence, as well as grave environmental damage. Continue reading...

Egg cartons are labeled with all sorts of descriptors in the US, making grocery shopping a confusing experience. Experts tell us what these labels mean and how to shopShopping for eggs at the grocery store can be a confusing experience. Cartons are labeled with all kinds of descriptors - natural, organic, cage-free, free-range - and some cost more at checkout. But what do they actually mean, and for ethically minded consumers, are they actually worth the money?Protein-packed eggs are linked to relatively low carbon emissions compared with other land-based animal protein sources, but not all eggs are created equal when it comes to the environment, health or animal welfare, experts say. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Environmental groups say bank is misleading public over sustainable' financing for Eni as company vastly expands fossil fuel productionBarclays is being accused by environmental groups of greenwashing after helping to arrange 4bn (3.4bn) in financing for the Italian oil company Eni in a way that allows them to qualify towards its $1tn sustainable financing goal.Environmental groups have said the London-based bank is deliberately misleading the public by labelling the financial instruments as sustainable" at the same time that Eni is in the midst of a multibillion-pound fossil fuel expansion drive designed to increase production. Continue reading...

Group banned plants removed from habitat' from its shows - causing uproar from enthusiastsA furious row has blown up in the UK's leading succulent society over the practice of taking desirable specimens from the wild, with the chair resigning in protest over the behaviour of his fellow enthusiasts.Succulents have risen in popularity in recent years: they are attractive and hardy. Continue reading...

Plan to break up Noaa claims its research is climate alarmism' and calls for commercializing forecasts, weakening forecastsClimate experts fear Donald Trump will follow a blueprint created by his allies to gut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), disbanding its work on climate science and tailoring its operations to business interests.Joe Biden's presidency has increased the profile of the science-based federal agency but its future has been put in doubt if Trump wins a second term and at a time when climate impacts continue to worsen. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Open letter calls for green policies that empower farmers, after months of protests jeopardise future of flagship biodiversity dealThe EU's nature restoration law will only work if it is enacted in partnership with farmers, a group of leading scientists has said, after months of protests have pushed the proposals to the brink of collapse.In an open letter, leading biodiversity researchers from across the world said that efforts to restore nature are vital for guaranteeing food supplies - but farmers must be empowered to help make agriculture more environmentally friendly if the measures are to succeed. Continue reading...

Fujikawaguchiko town official says choice to erect huge barrier is regrettable' and last resortA huge barrier to block views of Mount Fuji will be installed at a popular photo spot by Japanese authorities exasperated by crowds of badly behaved foreign tourists.Construction of the mesh net - 2.5 metres (8ft) high and the length of a cricket pitch at 20 metres - will begin as early as next week, an official from Fujikawaguchiko town said on Friday. Continue reading...

Shadow minister Steve Reed vows to uphold targets on biodiversity loss and protecting land and seaLabour has pledged to halt the decline of British species and protect at least 30% of the land and sea by 2030 if it is elected.Steve Reed, the shadow environment secretary, also vowed to set a new land use framework that would prioritise the protection of nature, and to deliver on targets to improve the UK's environment. Continue reading...

Scottish first minister says scrapping power-sharing deal marks a new beginning for the SNP government'Humza Yousaf has put the Scottish National party on an election footing after unilaterally scrapping his party's landmark coalition with the Greens and signalling he will drop vote-losing policies.In a surprise move on Thursday morning, the first minister called in the Scottish Greens' two co-leaders, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, to tell them they were being sacked as he axed a power-sharing deal first hailed as a new era in consensus politics. Continue reading...

World Weather Attribution group says intensified El Nino effects caused torrential rain, but rules out cloud seeding as causeFossil fuels and concrete combined to worsen the death trap" conditions during recent record flooding in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, a study has found.Scientists from the World Weather Attribution team said downpours in El Nino years such as this one had become 10-40% heavier in the region as a result of human-cased climate disruption, while a lack of natural drainage quickly turned roads into rivers. Continue reading...

Channel Ten show's planned use of biomethane and hydrogen in cooking challenges completely out of sync' with changing attitudes, critics say

Proposed global treaty to curb production represents challenge to producers of fossil fuels, from which most plastics are madeThe number of fossil fuel and petrochemical industry lobbyists at UN talks to agree the first global treaty to cut plastic pollution has increased by more than a third, according to an analysis.Most plastic is made from fossil fuels, via a chemical process known as cracking, and 196 lobbyists from both industries are at the UN talks in Ottawa, Canada, where countries are attempting to come to an agreement to curb plastic production as part of a treaty to cut global plastic waste, according to analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel). Continue reading...

Scheme for plastic bottles and cans put back to 2027 while environment minister says glass recycling unduly' complexA UK deposit return scheme for recycling drinks bottles has been delayed to 2027, meaning it will not be in place until almost a decade after it was proposed.Campaigners say the delay is a huge disappointment", adding they are doubly dismayed that the plan will not include glass bottles. Continue reading...

New EPA directive will cut pollution equivalent to the emissions of 328m cars, but industry group decries it as a reckless plan'Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration's most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation's second-largest contributor to the climate crisis. The rules are a key part of Joe Biden's pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and economy-wide by 2050. Continue reading...

Energy watchdog warns pace must accelerate to hit targets after new batteries increased capacity by 130%The rollout of batteries across the global electricity industry more than doubled last year but will need to be six times faster if the world hopes to meet its renewable energy targets, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).A report from the global energy watchdog found that new batteries totalling 42 gigawatts (GW) were plugged into electricity systems around the world last year, increasing total capacity by more than 130% from the year before to 85GW. Continue reading...

Years after the emergency, the Michigan city is yet to replace all lead pipes and affected families are still awaiting justiceEarlier this month, Brittany Thomas received a call that her 11-year-old daughter Janiyah had experienced a seizure at school.She'd been seizure-free for about two years now," said Thomas, a resident of Flint, Michigan. And they just came back." Continue reading...

Mona Hanna-Attisha launched a program to provide funds during a newborn's first year - and wants to replicate it across the country

As the climate crisis has deepened, protesters have become more confrontational - and their ambitions have grownThe head of ExxonMobil told to eat shit" as he was about to receive an award. A US senator and coal boss called a sick fuck", almost sparking a brawl. Theatre shows interrupted. As the climate crisis has deepened, protests aimed at those deemed responsible are becoming starkly personal, and often confrontational.At the vanguard of this new style of in-your-face activism is Climate Defiance, a group of just a handful of core staffers now marking its first birthday following a year of disrupting, often crudely, the usually mundane procession of talks, speeches and panels that feature Joe Biden administration officials, oil company bosses and financiers. Continue reading...

Broad terms of subpoenas a chilling' precedent that could undermine future climate litigation, legal experts say

Authorities are rushing to save more than 150 whales from a mass stranding at a beach in Western Australia's south-west. Four pods have spread across roughly 500 metres at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough and 26 of these have died, Parks and Wildlife Service Western Australia confirmed. Wildlife officers, marine scientists and veterinarians are on site assessing the conditions of the whales that have become strandedSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Brazil, Germany, Spain and South Africa sign motion for fairer tax system to deliver 250bn a year extra to fight poverty and climate crisis

Proliferation of hubs for online shopping disproportionately sited in low-income neighborhoods or communities of colorHundreds of mega-warehouses have been built in Illinois for online shopping in recent years and the rise in delivery trucks is polluting neighborhoods already burdened with poor air quality, a new study says.Two million people in Illinois live within a half-mile of large warehouses, which are disproportionately located in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Continue reading...

Study confirms Philip Morris International, Danone, Nestle, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are worst offendersFewer than 60 multinationals are responsible for more than half of the world's plastic pollution, with five responsible for a quarter of that, based on the findings of a piece of research published on Wednesday.The researchers concluded that for every percentage increase in plastic produced, there was an equivalent increase in plastic pollution in the environment. Continue reading...

Campaigners fear growth duty will hamper water regulator's ability to crack down on companies in poor financial stateThe Conservatives have pushed through a duty on the water regulator to prioritise growth, which experts have said will incentivise water companies to value their bottom lines over reducing sewage pollution.Campaigners fear this move will weaken Ofwat's ability to crack down on water companies as it may force the regulator to consider a company's financial situation and the impact on its growth if the firm is heavily fined for polluting. Continue reading...

The divestment movement has a long history among US student activists, including in the overlapping movements of todayCameron Jones first learned about fossil fuel divestment as a 15-year-old climate organizer. When he enrolled at Columbia University in 2022, he joined the campus's chapter of the youth-led climate justice group the Sunrise Movement and began pushing the school in New York to sever financial ties with coal, oil and gas companies.The time for institutions like Columbia to be in the pocket of fossil fuel corporations has passed," Jones wrote in an October 2023 op-ed in the student newspaper directed toward the Columbia president, Minouche Shafik. Continue reading...

Newberry county sheriff's office reassures people siren-like roar is male cicadas singing to attract mates after a decade dormantEmerging cicadas are so loud in one South Carolina county that residents are calling the sheriff's office asking why they can hear sirens or a loud roar.The Newberry county sheriff's office sent out a message on Facebook on Tuesday letting people know that the whining sound is just the male cicadas singing to attract mates after more than a decade dormant. Continue reading...

Gas and coal accounted for just 2.4% of power generation for an hour last week, data shows, amid zero-carbon grid' plansThe share of Great Britain's electricity generated by burning fossil fuels plummeted to unprecedented lows this month, ahead of plans to begin running a zero-carbon grid" for short periods from next year.Electricity generated by burning gas and coal fell to a record low of just 2.4% for an hour at lunchtime on Monday 15 April, according to an analysis of data from National Grid's electricity system operator (ESO). Continue reading...

British Medical Association says decision to take Dr Sarah Benn off medical register for five months sends worrying message'Doctors groups are calling for urgent consideration of the rules for medical professionals who take peaceful direct action on the climate crisis, which they say is the greatest threat to global health", after a GP was suspended from the register for non-violent protest.Dr Sarah Benn, a GP from Birmingham, was taken off the medical register for five months on Tuesday by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), the disciplinary arm of the General Medical Council (GMC), over her climate protests. The tribunal said Benn's fitness to practise as a doctor had been impaired by reason of misconduct. Continue reading...

High winds, rains, winter storms and tropical cyclones accounted for 80% of power interruptions over the last 20 yearsPower outages in the US are rising, as climate-related extreme weather strain an already burdened energy grid.Over the last decade, severe storm outages increased by 74% compared with the previous 10 years. Continue reading...

2.2bn-worth of oil processed in China, India and Turkey - to whom Russia supplies crude - was imported in 2023, data showsThe UK has been accused of helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine" by continuing to import record amounts of refined oil from countries processing Kremlin fossil fuels.Government data analysed by the environmental news site Desmog shows that imports of refined oil from India, China and Turkey amounted to 2.2bn in 2023, the same record value as the previous year, up from 434.2m in 2021. Continue reading...

A dawn chorus of flutes, whistles and chirps once flowed through my Cambridge window, but there has been a shocking collapse in birdlife. What can be done?Every year from February through to June, the early morning chorus of birdsong is one of the most evocative manifestations of spring. During late winter I open the bedroom window before going to sleep, to hear that incredible mix of flutes, whistles and chirps that begin before first light, when I wake. I listen for the layers of song that simultaneously come from close by and far away.This year though, the dawn chorus that once was the soundtrack for spring in central Cambridge has collapsed. It was noticeably quieter in 2023, and this year strikingly so. Blackbirds are depleted and song thrushes no longer heard at all. The dunnocks - once one of the most common garden songsters - have disappeared, as have the chaffinches, whose early February song was among the first audible confirmations of lengthening days. The cheery chatter of house sparrows is absent and the once familiar sound of coal tits has fallen silent. Long-tailed tits are now rare, and so far this year I've heard no blackcaps. Great and blue tits, robins and goldfinches, are still present, but down in number. Continue reading...

We don't have to reflexively use refined sugar to sweeten. Dates often do the trick - in a way that's healthier for us and the planetWhen I attended pastry school in Paris a couple of years ago, granulated sugar appeared in nearly every tart, cookie or mousse recipe we learned. Only a few desserts used honey or maple syrup in its place.That's no surprise. Granulated sugar is dessert's chief sweetener and also its secret pinch-hitter. It's worth being specific: granulated sugar is nearly pure sucrose, and its unique powers have made it the standard for sweetening. It makes baked goods moist. It makes cakes and cookies tender. It combines with butter to make frostings fluffy and whips up with egg whites like nobody's business (hence the cloud-like loft of meringue). Continue reading...