Environment | The Guardian

Nearly 40% of all food grown annually in the US goes unsold or uneaten. These companies are getting salty about food wasteWhen Kaitlin Mogentale was studying environmental science at the University of Southern California, she watched a friend juice a carrot and noticed the waste it produced - and wondered what was happening to all of the pulp from Los Angeles's juice shops. She later learned that most of it was being sent to landfills, where food waste contributes to more methane emissions than any other landfilled matter.I was a college student, very young and naive, and I think that's the recipe you need to get into the business," said Mogentale, who founded Pulp Pantry, makers of fiber-filled Pulp Chips, which are created from the leftover pulp from cold-pressed juice. Mogentale said the company goes to juice-production facilities and collects 10,000lb (4,536kg) of pulp at a time - one day's worth of leftovers - then transfers it in temperature-controlled trucks back to its manufacturer to make the chips. Continue reading...

Conservative majority appears unsympathetic to environmental agency's good neighbor' rule for areas downwind of smog sourcesThe supreme court's conservative majority seemed skeptical on Wednesday as the Environmental Protection Agency sought to continue enforcing an anti-air-pollution rule in 11 states while separate legal challenges proceed around the country.The EPA's good neighbor" rule is intended to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution. Continue reading...

Visitors cannot return to tourism-reliant coastline so there's no money to pay the bills' or for rebuilding, MP Warren Entsch says

Scientists are investigating reports of dying coral from Lizard Island in the north to Heron Island in the southScientists are reporting corals are bleaching white and dying from rising ocean temperatures across a more than 1,000km stretch of the Great Barrier Reef.The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science were preparing on Thursday to carry out surveys from a helicopter across the southern section of the reef. Continue reading...

Modelling suggests climate change and population growth must be mitigated to avoid high damage bills and coastal hazards will dominate risk in future

I developed DNA barcoding in my back yard using a UV light and a white sheet to collect the moths of my childhood. I believe it could help discover all life on the planetAs a child, I used to roam the countryside collecting moths and butterflies on the edge of the Great Lakes in Canada. It was as idyllic as it sounds: by day, I would scour the fields and forests for butterflies. At night, I would leave a white sheet and UV light in my back yard, rising at 5am to inspect the harvest of moths.By the time I was an adult, I could identify about 700 butterfly and moth species by sight, deciphering the stripes, dots and colours on their wings and bodies. Continue reading...

Team behind Little Amal puppet hope to create visceral engagement' with issues caused by climate emergencyThe production team behind the Little Amal puppet, which raised awareness about the plight of the refugee crisis in Europe, hope their next project - a herd of animal puppets going on a 20,000km trek - will start a new global conversation about the climate crisis.Amir Nizar Zuabi, the Palestinian artist who helped launch the Amal project, said The Herd - which will tour through several African and European cities and feature dozens of puppets - will be a soft, beautiful evocation to think differently" about the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Proposed Project One cracking plant is hugely destructive', says Client EarthThe creation of the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years faces a new legal challenge by a group of NGOs arguing that the true impact of the development on people, nature and the climate has not been considered.Client Earth lodged papers on Wednesday evening in court which aim to halt the building of Project One, a vast cracking plant to produce the chemicals to make plastic, which is being built in Antwerp by Sir Jim Ratcliffe's company Ineos. Continue reading...

Owner Stellantis's decision to invest will safeguard 1,500 jobs at the factoryVauxhall's owner, Stellantis, will make electric vans at its factory in Luton from 2025, helping to secure the future of 1,500 UK jobs at the plant.The Luton factory will produce medium-sized electric vans for the Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat Professional brands, Stellantis announced on Thursday. Continue reading...

With current data on global biodiversity either lacking or flawed, a global satellite scheme aims to fill the gaps to target protection of our seas, soils and wildlifeFor the handful of people who get the chance to observe Earth from space, the impact is often profound. Called the overview effect", astronauts report being deeply moved by the experience, as the planet's fragility and beauty became clear. Others, such as the actor William Shatner, said they were overcome with grief.Now, scientists are proposing the creation of a new system that they hope will use the view from space to transform our understanding of Earth's changing ecology and its complex systems. Continue reading...

Darcy Bryne says discovery of friable asbestos at Rozelle interchange outrageous' after assurances mulch removal work would be completed by end of February

Even small amount of exposure to minute soot particles - known as PM2.5 - raises the risk of cardiovascular diseaseThe sooty air pollution spewed out by cars, trucks and factories is causing widespread harm to people's hearts and lungs even with the smallest amounts of exposure, with government regulations still routinely allowing for dangerous risks to public health, two major new studies have found.There is no safe amount of a microscopic form of airborne pollution known as PM2.5, consisting of tiny particles of soot measuring less than the width of a human hair, for heart and lung health, US researchers found, with even small amounts raising the risk of potentially serious problems. Continue reading...

Lawsuit targets BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66 and Shell, alleging that they intentionally misled publicChicago on Tuesday joined the growing list of US cities and states suing fossil fuel companies for allegedly deceiving the public about the climate crisis.There is no justice without accountability," said the city's mayor, Brandon Johnson, in an emailed statement. Continue reading...

The impact of meat on the environment is well known, but what about staples such as rice and legumes?Biodiversity-conscious eaters could consider substituting potatoes for rice, cutting down on beef and lamb and asking where their beans, lentils and chickpeas are grown to reduce their impact on nature, a new study has found.

Attorney general's attempt to end climate protesters' use of consent defence is slippery slope, says KCA UK government attempt to remove one of the last remaining defences for climate protesters would be a slippery slope to the erosion of the constitutional right to trial by jury, the court of appeal was told on Wednesday.The attorney general, Victoria Prentis KC, is arguing that one of the last available defences being used by environmental protesters should be removed. Prentis is making the appeal in the case of a defendant known as C, after a string of acquittals by juries of defendants for acts of criminal damage involving daubing paint on buildings. Continue reading...

In a rebuke to Governor Ron DeSantis's denialism, the student body calls for campus-wide measures to tackle the climate crisisThe University of Florida student senate voted in favour of a green new deal" late on Tuesday, becoming the first public university to adopt such a resolution through student government.The mandate - which was unanimously passed - calls for sweeping campus-wide measures to tackle the climate crisis that include just transition, total divestment from fossil fuels, disclosure of the university's financial ties within the private sector and a ban on receiving research funding from the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

Three groups familiar with draft conservation laws say they do not go far enough and may allow political influence on development decisions

The firestorm that engulfed Lahaina last year disrupted a whole way of life and led some to reflect on food, land and a future beyond tourismIn the aftermath of last summer's catastrophic wildfire in West Maui, Miriam Keo began to question everything - from her well-paid union job at an upscale resort and the island's reliance on tourism and food imports, to what role she, a Native Hawaiian, should play in rebuilding Lahaina. At the heart of much of this soul searching was the question of food (meaai) and land (ina) - who controls it, and why it matters.My outlook changed during the pandemic, but the fire was the last straw for me ... I don't want to serve tourists any more. This isn't what our ancestors would want," said Keo, 40, who recently resigned from the hotel after 16 years to work at a composting company. I want to be a better steward for my people and ina. I want to show my kids that there's an alternative to the corporate tourism we've been under for so long, and food is a big part of that." Continue reading...

Analysis gives clues as to why butterflies and moths have been resilient through dramatic changes on Earth - and could help with future conservationThe genomes of butterflies and moths have remained largely unchanged for more than 250m years despite their enormous species diversity, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.In the face of rapid environmental changes in the 21st century, the researchers said the analysis gives clues as to how Lepidoptera - the order of winged insects that contains butterflies and moths - have been so resilient throughout dramatic changes on Earth. Continue reading...

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Armed with a Geiger counter, Michael Collins was given access to multiple power stations across the UK - he found them tranquil, beautiful and sinister Continue reading...

The Australian Automobile Association has found some SUVs use up to 20% more fuel on the road than reported in laboratory tests. Is your vehicle underperforming?

Porous dams in Purbeck are being used to rewet' the mires, bringing a richer landscape for flora and faunaLeaky dams may not sound ideal but they are being used to great effect on dried-out marshland in the English West Country to produce fresh habitat for carnivorous plants and a spider that whizzes over the surface of water to grab prey.Bales made out of heather and bunds constructed out of peaty soil and timber are being used to create porous dams on two mires, Agglestone and Greenlands, in Purbeck, Dorset. Continue reading...

BMW X3 has biggest gap between manufacturer's laboratory consumption claims and real-world testing in latest Australian Automobile Association data

Sunak becomes first PM to address conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, as Tories court farming sectorRishi Sunak has told farmers: I have your back" at the National Farmers Union conference, as he promised to change the culture" in government around farming.Sunak was the first prime minister to address the NFU conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, and had brought three Defra ministers with him to put the Conservative case to farmers. Continue reading...

Sultan Al Jaber, an oil executive, calls for governments to be honest' about costs involved in transition to net zeroThe problem of the ever-growing demand for power must be addressed if the world is not to risk descending into energy turmoil" as it transitions towards clean energy, according to the president of last year's Cop28 summit.In a discussion hosted by the International Energy Agency, Sultan Al Jaber warned governments that they must be honest and transparent" about the potential costs of transition, and the trade-offs involved in transforming energy supplies. Continue reading...

Yearlong trial of ban, including potential prison time, follows two high-profile recent incidents of spearing of protected fish

IQAir labelled Milan unhealthy' over PM 2.5 levels, triggering limits on daytime trafficMilan was under a blanket of smog on Tuesday as a row broke out over data from a monitoring group that ranked the northern Italian city long known for its poor air quality among the most polluted in the world, alongside Dhaka, Lahore and Chengdu.The controversy began on Sunday, when the Swiss real time air quality website IQAir labelled Milan unhealthy" as the level of fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, in the city's air was 24 times above the limit recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), ranking the city third after Dhaka in Bangladesh and Lahore in Pakistan. Continue reading...

Federal tests of one-third of water systems find 70 million Americans exposed to PFAS - suggesting 200 million affected overallAbout 70 million people are exposed to toxic PFAS forever chemicals" in US drinking water, new testing from the Environmental Protection Agency has found.But the testing completed to date has only checked about one-third of the nation's public water systems, meaning the agency is on pace to find over 200 million people are exposed, or at least 60% of the US population. Continue reading...

Jim Pillen breaks with 14 other Republican governors to enroll in Summer EBT, a new food program for school vacation monthsNebraska's governor announced this week that the state would accept federal dollars to help feed children from low-income families, breaking away from the more than a dozen other Republican governors around the US who have refused to do so.Just last month, Jim Pillen joined 14 other Republican governors in opting not to enroll in Summer EBT, a new federal food program that provides low-income families with a monthly payment of $40 per child during summer vacation. In participating states, families with children in free or reduced-price school lunch programs will get $40 per qualifying child on an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card throughout each of the three summer months. That money can be used to purchase groceries and food from farmers' markets. Continue reading...

Friends of the Earth dismisses government's revised climate action plan as a pipe dream'UK ministers are facing court for a second time over plans to meet legally binding climate targets, after environmental groups branded revised measures a complete pipe dream".The government has already been forced to change its climate action plan after a legal challenge by environmentalists, but the same groups are taking it back to court over updated plans they say are riddled with holes and relian[t] on risky techno-fixes". Continue reading...

Voters have made their position clear but our politicians are still not talking about how we can change the way we live and work to ease the climate crisis

Fines of up to $2.2m can be levied against those who ignore biosecurity order to counter invasive insects

Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river between November 2019 and February 2020Severn Trent has been fined more than 2m for polluting the River Trent near Stoke, with the Environment Agency calling its storm contingency plans woefully inadequate".Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river from Strongford wastewater treatment works near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, between November 2019 and February 2020. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Bill also criticised by Greens and Environmental Defenders Office who claim it will help fast-track offshore gas developments

Measures to eradicate wild boar population designed to stem risk of African swine fever outbreakNorway could build a fence along its border with Sweden as part of a package of measures designed to eradicate its wild boar population after an outbreak of African swine fever in Sweden last year.Up to 2,000 wild boars face slaughter in Norway under the plan submitted by the country's food safety authority and its environment agency, on the grounds of the great danger" boars pose to commercial pig farming. Continue reading...

Garden sightings of the creatures up two percentage points, according to Gardeners' World magazine readersHedgehogs have had some unexpected good news after years of decline in British gardens caused by habitat loss and fragmentation: their numbers may finally be on the way up again.Readers of BBC Gardeners' World magazine were asked to chronicle the wildlife in their gardens, and reported that hedgehog sightings were up two percentage points. The magazine's previous annual survey had them to be declining. Continue reading...

UTS researchers say firms including Coles, Woolworths, Telstra, Rio Tinto and Qantas have no comprehensive, independently verified and fully costed plan' to reduce emissions

US research shows foods such as butter and processed meat likely to increase levels of toxic PFAS in blood over timeDiets rich in foods such as processed meat and butter likely increase levels of toxic PFAS forever chemicals" in human blood over time, new peer-reviewed research has found.The paper identified a range of foods to be among the drivers of high PFAS levels, including teas, pork, candy, sports drinks, processed meat, butter, chips and bottled water. The research also pointed to higher PFAS blood levels among those who consumed more carryout or food prepared at restaurants. Continue reading...

Lough Neagh's flies were seen as a nuisance. Now their sudden disappearance is a startling omen for a lake that supplies 40% of Northern Ireland's water

Warning that soaring number of vessels threaten fish stocks and environment as geopolitics prevents agreement to regulate areaThe scale of unregulated fishing in a disputed region close to the Falkland Islands has reached an overwhelming" level that is threatening fish populations and the rich biodiversity of the area, politicians and environmentalists have claimed.The Blue Hole", a stretch of the south Atlantic Ocean lying approximately 200 miles off the coast of Argentina and north of the Falkland Islands, is one of the only areas of sea that is not covered by a regional fishing agreement. Continue reading...

Independent advice provider calls for clarity on funding and says project may offer poor value for money'Ministers have been urged by Citizens Advice to protect consumers from a hike in household energy bills to pay for the proposed Sizewell C power station, amid international tensions over the rising costs of nuclear projects.The UK's largest independent advice provider has raised concerns that the project in Suffolk may offer poor value for money" and called for greater clarity on its funding, in a letter to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Continue reading...

Global Witness says the five super-majors' are the main winners of the war' while many struggle to heat their homesThe world's five largest listed oil companies have made profits of more than a quarter of a trillion dollars since Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to dramatic increases in energy prices and household bills.The super-majors" - BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies - have made $281bn (223bn) since the war began in February 2022, according to Global Witness. Continue reading...

Farmers say pontiff's blessing will give them strength in their fight to save their industryItalian farmers who were invited, along with a cow called Ercolina II, to mass at the Vatican amid Europe-wide agricultural protests have said the blessing from Pope Francis would give them the strength to win the game".The farmers, their tractor and Ercolina II, who also made an appearance at the recent Sanremo music festival, were among the worshippers gathered in St Peter's Square for the pontiff's Sunday Angelus. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Former compliance officer Jason Scarborough criticises Environment Protection Authority and industry over lost opportunity' to prevent contamination

At Native Cat Flat in Victoria's Alpine national park, four fenced-off areas show a strikingly different ecology, highlighting the damage wrought by more than 2,700 feral horses in the area. Behind the fences, lush sphagnum, dense vegetation, grass tussocks, shrubs and herbs thrive. Outside the plots, the ground is pockmarked with deep hoofprints, and the native grasses are overgrazed, exposing endangered animals in the area - which rely on dense vegetation - to predators

Island made famous by BBC series to be rewilded and turned into a survival retreat, say ownersWith spectacular white beaches and an abundance of wildlife, the island of Taransay has seen pagan Celtic settlers, a massacre involving warring medieval clans and in 2000 was made famous by the BBC reality television series Castaway.Now the owners of one of the largest Scottish islands in private hands plan to return it to its natural condition and into a survival retreat. Continue reading...

Vast reforestation a major reason for warming hole' across parts of US where temperatures have flatlined or cooledTrees provide innumerable benefits to the world, from food to shelter to oxygen, but researchers have now found their dramatic rebound in the eastern US has delivered a further, stunning feat - the curtailing of the soaring temperatures caused by the climate crisis.While the US, like the rest of the world, has heated up since industrial times due to the burning of fossil fuels, scientists have long been puzzled by a so-called warming hole" over parts of the US south-east where temperatures have flatlined, or even cooled, despite the unmistakable broader warming trend. Continue reading...

Glass Pharms hope its approach could show the way for all kinds of energy-intensive horticulture in the UKFor 26 years, Olivier Dehon worked in the corporate sector, ending up as chief financial officer for Xerox in the UK and Ireland before retiring four years ago. Last month he delivered his first consignment of high-strength cannabis.Dehon's dope is legal and above board, produced to supply the UK's burgeoning market for medical cannabis on prescription. What's more, Dehon and his colleagues believe it is the first carbon-neutral indoor weed grown anywhere in the world. Continue reading...

Rapid ocean warming and unusually hot winter days recorded as human-made global heating combines with El NinoFebruary is on course to break a record number of heat records, meteorologists say, as human-made global heating and the natural El Nino climate pattern drive up temperatures on land and oceans around the world.A little over halfway into the shortest month of the year, the heating spike has become so pronounced that climate charts are entering new territory, particularly for sea-surface temperatures that have persisted and accelerated to the point where expert observers are struggling to explain how the change is happening. Continue reading...