Environment | The Guardian

Pollution from heating homes using solid fuel such as wood increased by 19% from 2012 to 2022, data showsA rise in harmful emissions from wood-burning stoves has cancelled out decreases in particulate pollution from road and energy sources in the UK, government data reveals.Emissions of PM2.5 and PM10 from domestic combustion - heating homes using solid fuel such as wood - increased by 19% between 2012 and 2022, counteracting efforts made to travel and produce commercial energy in less polluting ways. Continue reading...

A sustainable technique for catching tuna that goes back thousands of years is on the verge of extinction in Italy - but not for a lack of fishOn an overcast morning, several miles off Sardinia's east coast, four men jump into a net where 49 giant Atlantic bluefin tuna are fighting for their lives. For 30 minutes, the men struggle in a frenzy of nets, tails, fins and sleek silvery bodies before finally securing a metal hook through the gills of the nearest fish.From one of seven wooden boats framing this camira da morti (chamber of death"), Luigi Biggio yells for his men to pull.Death comes quickly, in a technique that, while bloody, may be more humane than suffocation in trawler nets. But the men in among them can end up in hospital from a whack of the thrashing fishes' tails Continue reading...

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has successfully translocated 21 eastern black rhinos to a region where they have been extinct for 50 years. Here's how they caught, transported and released these critically endangered creatures to their new home

A landslide in Turkey's eastern Erzincan region has buried a goldmine, and authorities say at least nine workers at the site are missing. Footage circulating on social media captured the moment a torrent of muddy earth burst into a valley near the mine in the lic district. Turkey's interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said 400 people from the country's emergency agency, AFAD, had been dispatched to the mine to rescue the trapped workers Continue reading...

Neighbors want to get the trucks out' as the idling vehicles choke the air, causing a public health concern in the historically disadvantaged areaOn a dark November night, a stream of cars and trucks lined up to cross the US border into Mexico. The commute, a commonplace one for many who live and work in the border city of El Paso, Texas, seemed interminable, and as the wait dragged on, the exhaust leaving idling cars choked the surrounding air.At Bridge of the Americas, one of the region's most popular ports of entry, this slow crawl across the border is a near daily occurrence - and residents of surrounding communities say the resulting air pollution is killing them. Continue reading...

Bears use ice to access food, but study of animals in Canada shows them struggling to adapt to more time on land amid climate crisisPolar bears in Canada's Hudson Bay risk starvation as the climate crisis lengthens periods without Arctic Sea ice, despite the creatures' willingness to expand their diets.Polar bears use the ice that stretches across the ocean surface in the Arctic during colder months to help them access their main source of prey - fatty ringed and bearded seals. Continue reading...

Campaigners accuse government of back door' amendment to bring in pollution rule change that was defeated in LordsThe government is facing a legal challenge over plans to permit housebuilders in England to allow sewage pollution through the back door".The campaign group Wild Justice, along with the law firm Leigh Day, have submitted plans for a judicial review over what they term an unlawful attempt to use guidance to introduce a change that was defeated in the House of Lords last year". Continue reading...

Green New Deal Rising aiming to help create climate caucus in parliament by promoting candidates in marginal seatsYoung climate activists are discreetly trying to influence Labour's candidate selection process in six constituencies before the general election, in an effort to form a climate caucus that can sway the next parliament.Outlining its electoral strategy at a press event on Monday night, Green New Deal Rising (GNDR), a youth climate campaign, said it intended to mobilise thousands of young activists to promote eight general election candidates in marginal seats. Continue reading...

George Smith helped secure the conviction of two men for trading in wild raptors. Now, his work is helping to unveil an illegal multimillion-pound international industryGeorge Smith has been tracking the peregrine falcons of south Scotland since 1984. His day job is working in maintenance, but every evening and weekend from March to July, Smith is out with the raptors. The birds nest on cliffs and old quarries - he knows all the sites. Paraphernalia fills the back of his car: fake eggs, ropes, microchip readers and DNA testing kits. I can't help myself," he says. My wife would like to put a tracker on me."He shows me a spreadsheet detailing 120 nest sites - as peregrine coordinator at the Scottish Raptor Study Group, he is tracking more than 90% of all peregrine falcons from Edinburgh down to the border with England. Continue reading...

Revenue from carbon solution levy could subsidise green iron, aluminium and fuel production, veteran economists argue

Minister says scheme to help low-income households and cut emissions is victim of its own success'The French government has suspended an electric car leasing scheme after only six weeks following a surge in demand that more than doubled the number of vehicles required.Officials said the scheme, launched in December to help low-income households and cut carbon emissions, would be relaunched next year. Continue reading...

Research shows there has been a near-quadrupling across Greenland of methane-producing wetlandsSignificant areas of Greenland's melted ice sheet are now producing vegetation, risking increased greenhouse gas emissions, rising sea levels and instability of the landscape.A study has documented the change since the 1980s and shows that large areas of ice have been replaced with barren rock, wetlands and shrub growth, creating a change in environment. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Greenlife Resource Recovery fights environment watchdog order to stop selling mulch amid asbestos investigation

Dueling petitions raise concerns over interior department's five-year plans to offer drilling leases in Gulf of MexicoOil and gas companies and environmental groups on Monday filed dueling legal challenges to the Biden administration's five-year plan to offer drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.The petitions to a US appeals court come four months after the interior department unveiled a congressionally-mandated plan for offshore leasing that included just three sales, the lowest since the government began publishing the schedules in 1980. Continue reading...

Friable asbestos found at Harmony Park in Surry Hills while less immediately dangerous bonded asbestos found in Victoria and Belmore parks

Report by RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology finds H5N1 has caused a loss of 75% of the great skua population and a 25% decline in northern gannetsThe UK has lost more than three-quarters of its great skuas on surveyed sites since bird flu struck, according to the first report quantifying the impact of H5N1 on seabird populations.The deaths have happened over two years, since the outbreak of H5N1 in 2021. The UK is internationally important for seabirds, home to most of the world's 16,000 pairs of nesting great skuas. Continue reading...

Group of progressive senators led by Ed Markey call for crackdown on certified natural gas in letter to US federal regulatorsCertified natural gas - or methane gas that is purportedly produced in a low-emissions manner - is a dangerous greenwashing scheme", a group of progressive senators wrote in a letter to federal regulators on Monday.The letter, addressed to Federal Trade Commission chair, Lina Khan, comes as the agency prepares to release its updated Green Guides, which clarify when companies' marketing claims around sustainability violate federal laws barring consumer deception, giving regulators stronger legal cases against polluters. Those guidelines should crack down" on claims made by gas certification programs, the lawmakers, led by Massachusetts's Ed Markey, wrote. Continue reading...

Upturned and largely submerged vessel of unknown origin is leaking hydrocarbon off south-west coast or TobagoTrinidad and Tobago's prime minister has said that a large oil spill near the twin-island nation has caused a national emergency" and vowed that the government will spare no expense to help rehabilitate the island's beaches.Oil from the spill has coated numerous beaches on Tobago's south-west coast, and the government has yet to identify the owner of the vessel that was found overturned off the coast last week. Continue reading...

Revision will pile further pressure on firm to invest in infrastructure amid anger over its sewage-dumping recordThames Water expects to leak more water than previously thought, after its ageing pipes were overwhelmed by a deluge of rainfall, it has emerged.Britain's largest water company has told regulators it now expects to leak 585m litres a day this financial year, up from a previous forecast of 550m litres a day. Continue reading...

Scientists say global heating is driving ice loss and warmer water, as ice cover falls short of 50-year average of 18%The average ice cover over the five Great Lakes was just 6% last month, placing it among the least icy Januarys since records began 50 years ago, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).The Great Lakes - Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario - are located at or near the US-Canada border, and are connected by a network of smaller lakes and rivers that span a combined surface area of 95,000 sq miles, making it the largest freshwater system in the world. Continue reading...

Investor-State Dispute Settlements are legal, huge and often hush-hush - and fossil fuel firms and others are using them to hold the planet to ransom

Meat and Livestock Australia says it has reduced emissions by 65% on 2005 levels but data analysis suggests figures underpinning claim are erroneous'

Diamondback Energy to buy Endeavor Energy Resources, after IEA warning against new fossil fuel developments

The huge leaks of the potent greenhouse gas will doom climate targets, experts say, but stemming them would rapidly reduce global heating It's impossible to breathe' - life by Delhi's towering landfills There have been more than 1,000 huge leaks of the potent greenhouse gas methane from landfill waste dumps since 2019, the Guardian can reveal.Analysis of global satellite data from around the world shows the populous nations of south Asia are a hotspot for these super-emitter events, as well as Argentina and Spain, developed countries where proper waste management should prevent leaks. Continue reading...

Migrating animals are at risk from pollution, the spread of invasive species and the climate crisis, first report of its kind revealsMore than a fifth of migratory species under international protection are threatened with extinction, including nearly all nomadic fish, according to the first UN expert assessment.From humpback whales to Dalmatian pelicans, each year, billions of animals journey with the seasons over oceans, on land and in the skies. But a new report by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) has found that many migratory species are at risk of disappearing, threatened by human pollution, the spread of invasive species and the climate crisis. Continue reading...

NSW environmental watchdog finds bonded asbestos fragments at Liverpool West public school and Campbelltown hospital

Lib Dems dismiss plan saying water fines need to go to consumers rather than to the TreasuryA new scheme to fine water companies for providing poor service to customers has been dismissed as nothing less than a gimmick" - as the money raised in fines will not go to consumers affected.On Monday, Ofwat unveiled sanctions for water companies that do not provide good communication and help to those who face problems such as having no running water. Continue reading...

From this week, developments must result in more or better natural habitat than before, in a move hailed as one of the world's most ambitiousEngland is launching a biodiversity credit scheme this week that attempts to force all new road and housebuilding projects to benefit nature, rather than damage it.The nature market", called biodiversity net gain (BNG), means all new building projects must achieve a 10% net gain in biodiversity or habitat. If a woodland is destroyed by a road, for example, another needs to be recreated. This can happen either on site or elsewhere. Continue reading...

City's waffling on food scrap programs not only harms environment but also hinders participation in waste management schemesSteven Roig was excited to land a job trucking and processing compost in May of last year. After graduating from a jobs training program called Green City Force, he had spent much of his adult life making New York City greener through his work on green roofs, urban agriculture and landscaping. He especially loved working in compost, being part of the team at Big Reuse that processed 10,000lb of food scraps and yard waste from Brooklyn and Queens every week, helping the organic waste on its journey back to becoming healthy soil.It's a lot of hard work, but I enjoyed collecting the scraps, processing them and seeing them go through all the different cycles," he said. Continue reading...

Graham Usher urges Church of England to look into this often very ancient land', as it prepares to vote on increasing biodiversityChurchyards should be rewilded to increase biodiversity and to make them places of the living, not just the dead", a Church of England bishop has said.Local parishes are responsible for about 7,100 hectares (17,500 acres) of churchyards in England. The C of E also owns about 34,000 hectares of farmland, mostly let to tenant farmers, and 9,300 hectares of forestry. Continue reading...

Agency's draft report backs paraquat's safety but lawsuit's plaintiffs say EPA ignored evidence of Parkinson's riskThe US Environmental Protection Agency is doubling down on its controversial finding that a toxic herbicide is safe for use across millions of acres of American cropland, despite what public health advocates characterize as virtual scientific proof" the product causes Parkinson's disease.The agency in 2021 reapproved paraquat-based herbicides for use, but a coalition of agricultural and public health groups sued, charging that the EPA had ignored broad scientific consensus linking the substance to Parkinson's. Continue reading...

With less than nine months before an election, lobby group is yet to find an independent candidate who aligns with their values

Organiser of go-slow protest says farmers in Europe have shown us what can be accomplished'The organiser of a protest in which tractor-driving farmers caused traffic jams around the Port of Dover has said there could be more demonstrations.Road traffic in and out of the Kent town was disrupted by the go-slow demonstration on Friday night. Continue reading...

Thirty years after the film highlighted their plight, thousands of whales and dolphins remain performing in entertainment parksAnyone who grew up in the 1990s may well remember this movie scene: a 3.6-tonne orca leaping to freedom over a harbour wall and swimming off into the sunset with his family. It was the closing scene of Free Willy, a film that captured the hearts of a generation, telling the story of an orphaned boy racing against time to free a killer whale from captivity before the creature is destroyed.It was 30 years ago this month that the film was released in the UK and it went on to spawn three sequels and a TV series. But it also helped to expose the dark side of orcas in captivity - not least the real-life story of Keiko, the whale who played Willy. Rescuing him took many years and millions of dollars - and even then the ending was not one that would have made the movie screens. Continue reading...

Housebuilders and campaigners warn of cold, damp homes and UK missing legally binding targetsLabour's slashing of proposed spending on home insulation will leave millions of people on low incomes in cold, damp homes and could prevent the UK meeting its legally binding carbon targets, campaigners and housebuilders have warned.The Federation of Master Builders criticised the drastic scaling back of Labour's low-carbon policies, announced by Keir Starmer on Thursday after months of speculation. Continue reading...

The Focus exhibition at the National Archives of Australia contains pictures drawn from its collection of almost 11m images. Government photography is usually associated with politics but the photographers also documented the lives of everyday Australians Continue reading...

Collapse in system of currents that helps regulate global climate would be at such speed that adaptation would be impossibleThe circulation of the Atlantic Ocean is heading towards a tipping point that is bad news for the climate system and humanity", a study has found.The scientists behind the research said they were shocked at the forecast speed of collapse once the point is reached, although they said it was not yet possible to predict how soon that would happen. Continue reading...

Investment in healthier, locally produced school foods gave author Lola Milholland a chance to give back to the school and Japanese American community that gave so much to herOn 14 May 2019, I went to my old school, Richmond elementary, in Portland, Oregon, for a special lunch. It was the first districtwide yakisoba day, when every school would serve wheat noodles tossed with roasted vegetables. And not just any noodles: they were from a recipe that I'd developed for the school system's 16,000-plus students who eat school lunch.As I helped dish our noodles on to trays, I could hear excited kids lining up. Soon, to my absolute wonder, I heard them chanting, Ya-ki-so-ba! Ya-ki-so-ba!" In that moment, I felt more connected to my community than I'd ever felt before. Continue reading...

Business secretary says people have latched onto' claims made in Nadine Dorries book that puts forward elaborate conspiracy theoriesBMA junior doctors' committee co-chairs Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi said in a statement:We have made every effort to work with the government in finding a fair solution to this dispute whilst trying to avoid strike action.Even yesterday, we were willing to delay further strike action in exchange for a short extension of our current strike mandate.In a show of goodwill, the BMA provided the Health Secretary with an option to delay further strike action.She was asked to extend the current strike mandate for a short period - and thus allow talks to continue with the aim to achieve a resolution for this year's dispute. Continue reading...

Trump has made campaign promises to toss crucial environmental regulations - including dismantling the federal body with the most power to tackle the climate crisisDonald Trump and his advisers have made campaign promises to toss crucial environmental regulations and boost the planet-heating fossil fuel sector.Those plans include systemically dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal body with the most power to take on the climate emergency and environmental justice, an array of Trump advisers and allies said. It's a potential future that horrifies" experts. Continue reading...

Government adviser says water and telecoms privatisation is to blame for disfiguring streets with tarmacThe government must increase fines on utility companies that dig up pavements for roadworks, then pour in tarmac rather than fixing the mess, a government adviser has said.Telecoms and water companies are creating street scars" in a wasteful process" that is marring British high streets, Nicholas Boys Smith, who chairs the Office for Place in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has said in a report. Continue reading...

Experts say boarded-up communal space illustrates crisis in social housing funding and need to protect play areasFamilies in south London say their children have stopped playing outside after communal spaces and playgrounds were ripped out to make room for new homes and then left boarded up when Southwark council ran out of money.The council began tearing down large parts of the Bells Gardens and Lindley estates in Peckham last August but abandoned the build in January due to a funding crisis driven by rising interest rates. All that remains of the previous play area is a small pitch surrounded by hoardings and out of sight of the flats. Continue reading...

Dramatic changes in energy industry and EVs reducing fossil fuel use, but shipping, aviation and industry a long way from net zero

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

The once-endangered fish have returned in their thousands, giving hope to coastal communities and environmentalists who want to ensure it does not vanish againBuilt like a torpedo, weighing more than a male polar bear when fully grown and fetching prices in Japan of more than 2m for a single fish, the bluefin tuna was once an abundant apex predator in British waters. In the 1960s, these warm-blooded aquatic hunters disappeared - pushed to the brink of extinction in the eastern Atlantic by overfishing.But since 2014, the enormous migratory fish have returned in their thousands off the coast of south-west England after deep cuts to fishing quotas in the eastern Atlantic to revive the species. Nobody is really sure why they are back in such great numbers - with populations also recovering in the Mediterranean, where the vast majority are caught - but bluefin tuna is no longer listed as an endangered species in the UK, and is now often spotted hunting close to shore by wildlife photographers. With its return, minds have also turned to how to catch it without causing it to vanish from British waters again. Continue reading...

First study to tally asthma exacerbations with air pollution during pandemic finds numbers admitted to A&E fell 41% in 2020A new study in Oxford has found that emergency hospital admissions for asthma dropped by 41% in 2020 as air pollution from traffic fell due to Covid restrictions.Dr Suzanne Bartington from the University of Birmingham, who led the Oxford study, said: The Covid-19 pandemic led to a unique opportunity where we could study the impacts of rapid changes in human activities on air quality." Continue reading...

Two and a half years after it was announced, the policy is being dropped. Here is a timeline of key moments along the wayLabour has ditched its pledge to spend 28bn a year on green investment, blaming the Conservatives for crashing the economy".The policy, the main component of Labour's green prosperity plan, has been at the centre of a public and private struggle since it was announced, with factions inside the party arguing against moves to water it down. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer announces party will now spend less than 15bn on green projects a year if it wins election

Experts say utility companies should prioritize vulnerable communities in post-storm recovery effortsIn the days leading up to Hurricane Ian in 2022, Jeffrey Perdomo and his parents resisted increasingly stern calls from officials to evacuate their mobile home in Kissimmee, Florida.We don't have much and we wanted to stay on top of our things," said the 25-year-old, who works as a restaurant host at Disney's Animal Kingdom, just outside Orlando. The family's trailer was old and uninsured; Perdomo wanted to be around to address any damage as soon as it happened. If it ended up flooding, we would have very little recourse. We would become effectively homeless." Continue reading...

Supermarkets will ask customers to recycle scrunchable plastic food packaging for first time since REDcycle ended