Environment | The Guardian

World now in era of repressive regimes' impunity, climate inaction and unchecked corporate power, says reportThe first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency have supercharged" a global rollback of human rights, pushing the world towards an authoritarian era defined by impunity and unchecked corporate power, Amnesty International warns today.In its annual report on the state of human rights in 150 countries, the organisation said the immediate ramifications of Trump's second term had been the undermining of decades of progress and the emboldening of authoritarian leaders. Continue reading...

Trump team's slashes to US health department threaten popular program that combats elder hunger and isolationThe Trump administration's slashes to the Department of Health and Human Services is threatening Meals on Wheels, the popular program dedicated to combatting senior hunger and isolation. Despite decades of bipartisan support, Meals on Wheels now faces attacks from Republicans whose budget blueprint paves the way for deep cuts to nutrition and other social safety-net programs as a way to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.It's a move anti-hunger advocates and policy experts warn could have disastrous ramifications for the millions of older Americans who rely on the program to eat each day. Continue reading...

Advocates say workers risk their health and fear speaking out about conditions amid Trump's immigration crackdownOn a sunny day in February three workers swept up the piles of ash left behind on an Altadena driveway from when the Eaton fire raged through the Los Angeles neighborhood the month before.The flames of the blaze had consumed nearly every home on the street, leaving only brick chimneys and charred vehicles. Red signs at the entrances of properties warned in English: Unsafe, do not enter or occupy ... entry may result in death or injury." Hazards such as lead paint, asbestos and batteries were strewn amongst the ashes, but few workers cleaning the neighborhood that day wore masks or other personal protective equipment (PPE). Continue reading...

Campaigners say targets for woodland creation are unlikely to be met because 95% of grants are for plantingThe government is failing to support the natural regeneration of trees in England owing to an overwhelming focus on planting, campaigners have said.Recent figures show only 5% of Forestry Commission grants for woodland creation have been spent on the natural regeneration of trees, while the remaining 95% is spent on tree planting. Continue reading...

In an age of growing hostility to migrants, there are 10 times more barriers on borders than when the Berlin Wall fell. But as well as the human cost, animals are unintended victimsThe lynxes of the Biaowiea forest once freely prowled through 1,420 sq km (548 sq miles) of ancient woodland. Then, in 2022, the habitat was abruptly sliced in two. Poland built a 115-mile (186km) wall across its border with Belarus to stop refugees and migrants entering the EU. About 15 lynxes were left stranded on the Polish side of the forest, forced into a genetic bottleneck.The 5.5-metre high barrier, which is topped with wire and cameras, also dissects the forest's population of bison, wolves and elk. Researchers monitored 10 sites along the border, walking along sections and counting signs of humans and wildlife. Continue reading...

In Kansas, Panasonic and two community colleges scaled up training fast. But jobs in the EV industry could be affected by Trump's war on clean energyIn a Kansas City classroom, 20 students were learning how basic circuit boards work. They fiddled with knobs, switches, levers and wires; if they got the connections right, tiny light bulbs glowed.The students, recruited for the opportunity by Panasonic, were participants in an eight-week apprenticeship course that involved classes at the community college and on-the-job training. When they're done, they will be among the first workers at the company's new electric vehicle battery factory in nearby De Soto, Kansas. The $4bn manufacturing plant - touted as the largest EV battery factory in the world - is expected to open in early summer and eventually employ roughly 4,000 people. Panasonic also paid for the students' tuition, as well as the instructor's salary. Continue reading...

Solar storms as intense as a 1921 superstorm have the potential to cause a nightmare scenario - and we are unpreparedOn 14 May 1921, a powerful solar storm - called the New York Railroad storm - caused the northern lights to illuminate New York City's night sky. On Broadway, crowds lingered, enjoying flaring skies" that remained undimmed by city lights. The following morning, excess electric currents shut down the New York Central Railroad's signal and switching system in Manhattan, stopping trains. A fire broke out in a railroad control tower that was located at Park Avenue and 57th Street. Smoke filled the air. Along a stretch of Park Avenue, residents were coughing and choking from the suffocating vapors which spread for blocks".When a solar storm's electrically charged particles envelop Earth, they cause geomagnetic storms that generate electric fields in the ground, inducing electric currents in power grids. Solar storms as intense as the 1921 superstorm have the potential to cause a nightmare scenario in which modern power grids, communication systems, and other infrastructures collapse for months. Such a collapse of power grids would likely also lead to nuclear power plant accidents, whose radioactive emissions would aggravate the overall catastrophe.Mark Leyse is a nuclear power safety advocate Continue reading...

Chinese national, 27, reportedly returned to Japan's highest mountain days after first rescue to retrieve his phoneA university student has been rescued from the slopes of Mount Fuji twice in the space of a week - the second time during an attempt to retrieve his mobile phone.The hapless climber, a 27-year-old Chinese national who has not been named, was airlifted from Japan's highest mountain last week, only to be the subject of a second search four days later. Continue reading...

These days they call him Ian the renewable energy is expensive potato

My fear growing up was gun violence. But a bigger threat to my body may have come from an invisible villainEveryone experiences a moment that shapes who they are - a moment when childhood innocence is lost, and the burdens and traumas of the world become clearer.For me, that moment occurred in elementary school when my friend discovered a gun in Denning Park in Englewood, New Jersey. For days, I worried about what might be lurking behind the trees and in the shadows. This anxiety lingered through high school; I even wrote in my local newspaper that I couldn't remember anything more frightening for a young girl in elementary school". Continue reading...

Integrity organisation claims Australians for Natural Gas overstates role of gas in economy and failed to disclose directors' links to industry on website

From bad airline service to the once election-deciding future of the NBN, Labor and the Coalition have been notably silent on some key policy areas

Conservationists fear fallout from president's proclamation on fishing in federally protected area of Pacific OceanEnvironmental conservation groups are expressing major concerns over Donald Trump's recent proclamation to reverse fishing regulations across the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine national monument, a federally protected area in the central Pacific Ocean spanning nearly 500,000 sq miles.As one of the most pristine tropical marine environments in the world, the monument is now at risk following Trump's decision last week to unleash American commercial fishing in the area with far-reaching environmental consequences. Continue reading...

Environment groups say Thursday order ignores effort to adopt rules to prevent harmful mining of ocean floorEnvironmental groups are decrying an executive order signed by Donald Trump to expedite deep-sea mining for minerals, saying it could irreparably harm marine ecosystems and ignores an ongoing process to adopt international rules for the practice.Trump's Thursday order directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fast-track permits for companies to mine the ocean floor in both US and international waters. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Local authorities have spent less than 40m out of 170m collected since offsetting scheme began in 2016

There is a cynical, anti-space' ideology emerging, especially on some parts of the left. But this is misguidedJohn F Kennedy once called space-faring the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which Man has ever embarked". We go to space because, he said - like George Mallory said of his reason to conquer Everest - it is there."While it is truer to say that the race for space between Washington and Moscow was driven as much by cold war competition as by humanity's pioneering spirit and the imperatives of scientific exploration, billions of ordinary people around the world recognized as much at the time and still were able to marvel at our species' accomplishments in the heavens regardless of the flag under which they were achieved, from Sputnik to the moon landing. Continue reading...

Inadequate record keeping means councils do not know whether former waste sites contain toxic substancesMore than 100 old landfills in England that may be contaminated with toxic substances have flooded since 2000, potentially posing a serious safety risk, it can be revealed.Some of these former dumps containing possibly hazardous materials sit directly next to public parks and housing estates with hundreds of households, the analysis by the Greenpeace-funded journalism website Unearthed , in partnership with the Guardian, found. Continue reading...

Developed countries pressed to submit national plans well before Cop30 as time runs out to avoid 1.5C temperature riseRich countries are dragging their feet on producing new plans to combat the climate crisis, thereby putting the poor into greater danger, some of the world's most vulnerable nations have warned.All governments are supposed to publish new plans this year on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but so far only a small majority have done so, and some of the plans submitted have been inadequate to the scale of action needed. Continue reading...

Critical minerals, nuclear power and the weaponisation' of energy supplies were discussed at international conferenceThe UK and the International Energy Agency gathered ministers and high-level officials from 60 countries to Lancaster House in London for two days of talks on the future of energy security this week. The EU was out in force, the US sent a top official, but China stayed away. Here's what we learned. Continue reading...

Hurricane Katrina: Mississippi Remembers captures the grief and resilience of survivors in the Magnolia stateTwenty years ago this August, the United States Gulf coast was irrevocably changed when Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest storms to ever hit the country, made landfall. Making landfall as a strong category 3, the storm, which was so vast it stretched the length of the Mississippi Gulf coast all the way into Alabama, hit the Mississippi-Louisiana coastal border before continuing northward.Since then, superstorms fueled by the climate crisis have become relatively commonplace in the country, but the impact of Katrina endures to this day. Immediately following the storm, the country and world were enthralled by tragic stories out of New Orleans, where the levees failed to a catastrophic effect and the local, state and federal responses were disastrous. But Mississippi, which received the maximum impact from the storm surge, was largely left out of the national narrative around Katrina. Continue reading...

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

Public confidence in the UK biomass industry is low - robust checks are needed to ensure every wood pellet its power plant burns is sustainable

The Herds project from the team behind Little Amal will travel 20,000km taking its message on environmental crisis across the worldHundreds of life-size animal puppets have begun a 20,000km (12,400 mile) journey from central Africa to the Arctic Circle as part of an ambitious project created by the team behind Little Amal, the giant puppet of a Syrian girl that travelled across the world.The public art initiative called The Herds, which has already visited Kinshasa and Lagos, will travel to 20 cities over four months to raise awareness of the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Spending watchdog warns 6.5bn in funding may not offer value for public money amid sustainability concerns

NAO finds regulatory gaps have enabled overspending on infrastructure building while not improving sewage worksWater companies have been getting away with failures to improve sewage works and overspending because of regulatory problems, a damning report by the government's spending watchdog has found.Firms have overspent on infrastructure building, the National Audit Office (NAO) found, with some of these costs being added to consumers' bills. The Guardian this week reported Ofwat and the independent water commission are investigating water firms for spending up to 10 times as much on their sewage works and piping as comparable countries. Continue reading...

Employees of water firms who obstruct investigations into spills could face jail under new rules that come into force on FridayWater company bosses have entirely escaped punishment for covering up illegal sewage spills, government figures show, as ministers prepare to bring in a new law threatening them with up to two years in prison for doing so.Only three people have ever been prosecuted for obstructing the Environment Agency in its investigations into sewage spills, officials said, and none received even a fine. Continue reading...

Latest denial of disaster funding comes as Trump has repeatedly stated he wants to eliminate FemaDonald Trump has denied federal disaster relief funds to the people of Arkansas, which saw dozens of people die from a series of deadly tornadoes last month, as legislators plead for him to reconsider.More than 40 people have been found dead after a series of tornadoes and severe storms hit Arkansas and neighboring states Mississippi and Missouri in March, according to CNN. Continue reading...

Minister says incident opened up a nerve in the country' as new questions raised over ownership of land it stood onThe Forestry Commission has started an investigation into the controversial felling of an ancient oak near a Toby Carvery car park in north London amid new questions about ownership of the land on which it stood.The investigation was announced by the junior environment minister Helene Hayman, who said the felling of the 500-year-old tree in Enfield earlier this month was horrifying". Continue reading...

Critics fear decision to list Brazil-based firm JBS, long linked to Amazon's deforestation, will add to the climate crisisEnvironmental groups are outraged that the world's biggest meatpacking company, JBS, which has long been linked to Amazon's deforestation, has received approval from US authorities to list on the New York Stock Exchange.The decision, announced on Tuesday by the Securities Exchange Commission, follows reports that JBS subsidiary Pilgrim's was the biggest donor to the inauguration committee of Donald Trump. Since taking power, Trump has reduced the independence of the SEC and other agencies, demanding their work be controlled" by the president. Continue reading...

Department cites Trump's energy emergency' declaration to expedite permissions from multiple years to 28 days

Decision will affect mostly low-income Alabama residents as DoJ dismisses agreement over untreated sewage as DEIThe Trump administration has killed a landmark civil rights settlement requiring Alabama to address raw sewage pollution in majority-Black, residential areas south-west of Montgomery, dismissing it as an illegal" diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agreement.The decision could condemn low-income people in Lowndes county, about 40 miles south-west of Montgomery, to indefinitely continue living with no or failing sanitation infrastructure. Continue reading...

Birds in their 40s wintering on mudflats of the Wash received leg rings in early 1980sIf your ears are assaulted by the shrill piping calls of an excitable bird on the east coast of England, fear not: it's probably an oystercatcher experiencing a midlife crisis.Two of the handsome black and white birds with bright red-orange bills have been found to be the oldest known oystercatchers ever recorded in Britain, clocking up at least 41 and 43 years on the mudflats of the Wash. Continue reading...

Campaigners condemn decision amid growing evidence of harm to health and climate from heating appliances

Discovery could provide valuable clues as to how the climate crisis might affect Antarctica, says studyGiant, flat-topped icebergs the size of the city of Cambridge drifted off the coast of Britain during the last ice age, according to a study that has uncovered evidence of their existence for the first time.A series of distinctive, comb-like grooves found preserved in sediment near Aberdeen in Scotland were left behind by the underside of huge tabular" icebergs that dragged across the North Sea floor between 18,000 and 20,000 years ago, the researchers said. Continue reading...

Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they're being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under Trump Continue reading...

The horrifying planning bill, which rips up environmental protections, was drafted with CEOs in mind. We know because Keir Starmer told usThose of us who try to defend wildlife are horribly familiar with bad laws. But we've never seen anything like this. The government's planning and infrastructure bill is the worst assault on England's ecosystems in living memory. It erases decades of environmental protections, including legislation we inherited from the EU, which even the Tories promised to uphold.The rules defending wildlife and habitats from unscrupulous developers are weak enough already, which is partly why, as Labour reminded us in its manifesto, Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world". But this bill will make it much, much worse.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Polestar says Dutton's move shows a complete lack of understanding of the significant cost-of-living, climate and health benefits of EVs'

Two Belgian 19-year-olds have pleaded guilty to wildlife piracy - part of a growing trend of trafficking less conspicuous' creatures for sale as exotic petsPoaching busts are familiar territory for the officers of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), an armed force tasked with protecting the country's iconic creatures. But what awaited guards when they descended in early April on a guesthouse in the west of the country was both larger and smaller in scale than the smuggling operations they typically encounter. There were more than 5,000 smuggled animals, caged in their own enclosures. Each one, however, was about the size of a little fingernail: 18-25mm.The cargo, which two Belgian teenagers had apparently intended to ship to exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, was ants. Their enclosures were a mixture of test tubes and syringes containing cotton wool - environments that authorities say would keep the insects alive for weeks. Continue reading...

Government is setting up conversations' as companies arrive in London for clean energy summitThe UK is to woo global green investors, including those scared away from the US by the actions of Donald Trump, by offering cash and infrastructure improvements to encourage companies to set up manufacturing plants and supply chains.The government will bring forward 300m for offshore windfarms, an area in which the UK retains a lead, and has invited banks and major international companies to a 60-country summit in London this week. Continue reading...

Part of major highway closed as 3,000 people move to safety and officials say fire could become state's largest in 20 yearsA fast-moving wildfire burning in New Jersey forced thousands of people to temporarily evacuate on Tuesday, as officials warned the blaze could become the largest in the state in about 20 years.Flames from the Jones Road wildfire in Ocean county sparked several small blazes near a decommissioned Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, state officials said. Continue reading...

Fossil teeth show species of protemnodon that roamed Australia between 5m and 40,000 years ago lived and died near Queensland caves

Virtual meeting of leaders also hears UN's Antonio Guterres proclaim no group or government' can stop green revolutionChina will continue to push forward on the climate crisis, Xi Jinping has said while appearing to criticise the protectionism" of Donald Trump's tariff policies.The Chinese president was attending a closed-door virtual meeting with the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and about a dozen other heads of state and government to discuss the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Researchers left at US climate agency say drastic cuts could leave air not breathable' and water not drinkable'The Trump administration has shunted one of the US federal government's top scientific agencies onto a non-science trajectory", workers warn, that threatens to derail decades of research and leave the US with air that's not breathable and water that's not drinkable".Workers and scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) are warning of the drastic impacts of cuts at the agency on science, research, and efforts to protect natural resources. Continue reading...

The Wildlife Trusts are in shock after acquiring 4,000 sheep in Rothbury estate deal as part of land restoration projectWoolly maggots, nature-destroyers - sheep are criticised by many conservationists for denuding Britain's uplands of rare plants and trees.So The Wildlife Trusts were shocked when they were compelled to buy 4,000 sheep as part of the biggest land restoration project in England. Continue reading...

These noisy, filthy, feral creatures make my life a misery. Is there really no way to get rid of them?Pigeons. Appalling things. I looked them up on the bird charity RSPB's website and snorted when I came across the Where to See section. The answer is, just so you know, everywhere. Perhaps not so much outside towns and cities but in urban areas you're never far from the sight and sound of the bloody things. If, unaccountably, you're not familiar with this species, do feel free to get in touch and come round to my place and observe them at your leisure.Truly they are the soundtrack of my life. For years they've been getting into a drainage channel on the roof. Morning, noon and night they scratch and coo and jump about. The racket is infernal. I lie in bed reflecting on the filth in that gully just above my head. I know it's filthy, because when there's heavy rain their revolting detritus washes down and blocks the downpipe. I have to pull their unspeakable waste out of the pipe before something bursts and floods. There are no words to describe the tangle of excrement, nesting materials, eggs, feathers and bones. Oh Lord, the bones. I'd be less repulsed rummaging through the bin outside a chicken shop on a Sunday morning. Continue reading...

Watchdog for England and Wales looking into claims refurbishment costs are breathtakingly high' compared with other countriesThe water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, is investigating claims water companies are spending many times more on refurbishment projects than operators in comparable countries, leading to much higher bills, in what campaigners have described as a rip-off".Experts have said privatisation of water companies has led to an overinflation of the costs of building infrastructure such as sewage works, as they are less incentivised than governments to find value for money for taxpayers. They are also allowed to borrow more money based on the valuation of their assets. Continue reading...

American Lung Association's study says almost 156 million people live in areas with unhealthy levels of soot or smogAlmost half of Americans are breathing in dangerous levels of air pollutants, a new report shows, a rise compared with a year ago and likely to further increase in coming years thanks to the climate crisis and the Trump administration's sweeping environmental rollbacks.Just over 156 million people live in neighborhoods with unhealthy levels of soot or smog - a 16% rise compared with last year and the highest number in a decade, according to the American Lung Association (ALA) annual state of the air report. Continue reading...

About 89% of the public want their governments to do more to tackle the climate crisis - but don't know they're the majority

Wines produced after 2010 showed steep rise in contamination of trifluoroacetic acid, analysis findsLevels of a little-known forever chemical known as TFA in European wines have risen alarmingly" in recent decades, according to analysis, prompting fears that contamination will breach a planetary boundary.Researchers from Pesticide Action Network Europe tested 49 bottles of commercial wine to see how TFA contamination in food and drink had progressed. They found levels of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a breakdown product of long-lasting Pfas chemicals that carries possible fertility risks, far above those previously measured in water. Continue reading...

Take that Antony Greem