Rollout of pylons in countryside is a cheaper, quicker way to integrate green electricity, energy adviser saysThe government has ruled out burying electricity cables underground as part of its energy strategy, which will involve the unrolling of hundreds of pylons across the British countryside, Ed Miliband's clean energy adviser has said.Chris Stark, the former leader of the Climate Change Committee, now heads the government's mission control" department for decarbonising the grid by boosting renewable energy and building connections across the country. Continue reading...
As increasingly explosive fire seasons ravage the country, federal firefighters say their employer is exacerbating exhaustion by misclassifying their jobsFirefighters are feeling the strain of another long and intense season, with months to go before the highest risks subside. But as they battle the flames, the thousands of people working for the US Forest Service (USFS), the largest federal employer of firefighters, are also fighting for changes within the agency to tackle issues they say have made the work even harder.Federal firefighters have been waiting for years for revisions to outdated job descriptions, which have forced them to do more for less. Many have opted to leave altogether. Continue reading...
Language in Senate defense bill is probably first step to shield widely used toxic F-gases from regulationUS lawmakers and the military are pushing for a new definition of toxic PFAS forever chemicals" that would exclude a subclass of toxic compounds increasingly used across the economy and considered to be potent greenhouse gases.Language included in the defense bill by the Senate armed services committee asks the military to detail how it uses fluorinated gases, or F-gases, stating that the committee is interested in learning more about how the [department of defense] may or may not be impacted by the definition" of PFAS. Continue reading...
Communities, states and advocacy groups push to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for role in climate crisisBig oil is facing a soaring number of climate-focused lawsuits, a new analysis has found. It's a sign that more communities are demanding accountability for the industry's contributions to the climate crisis.For the report, published on Thursday, Oil Change International and the climate research organization Zero Carbon Analytics pulled data from a Columbia University database, focusing on cases in which the world's 25 largest fossil fuel producers were named as defendants. Continue reading...
Grand schemes, many backed by government, masquerade as taking action on the environment. They should be disownedLet's talk about perceptionware. Perceptionware is technology whose main purpose is to create an impression of action. Whether it will ever work at scale is less important, in some cases entirely beside the point. If it reassures the public and persuades government not to regulate damaging industries, that's mission accomplished.Managing perceptions is an expensive business. Real money, especially public money, is spent on fake solutions. Take carbon capture and storage: catching and burying carbon dioxide emissions from power stations, oil and gas fields, and steel and cement plants. For 20 years, it has spectacularly failed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, its only clear successes involve enhanced oil recovery: carbon dioxide is used to drive oil out of geological formations that are otherwise difficult to exploit. With astonishing chutzpah, some oil companies have claimed the small amount of carbon that remains trapped in the rocks as a climate benefit. Though it is greatly outweighed by the extra oil extracted, they have, as a result, received billions in government subsidies. Continue reading...
Bivalve veganism is built on the philosophy that molluscs such as mussels and oysters feel no pain. But some say the scientific jury is still outAlex Karol is fantasising about the next time she gets to slurp up some freshly shucked oysters. I'll have them with lemon juice, shallots, and a couple of drops of hot sauce. Sometimes, I have a couple with a splash of vodka," says the London- and Toronto-based publicist. Cost curbs her craving for oysters to one meal a month, and so even just talking about them makes her hungry. I really, really enjoy them - like, properly enjoy them. I wish that I had oysters every single day of my life."Oysters are not to everyone's taste but Karol's enthusiasm for the filter-feeding bivalves comes as a surprise - because she is vegan. She is otherwise strict: she does not even consume honey. But a few years back she found she was struggling to get certain nutrients in suitable quantities from plants alone, and someone tipped her off to the idea that you could eat oysters and still be vegan. It was called bivalve veganism" - and Karol was sold. Continue reading...
UK government urged to change regulations so new homes incorporate solar panels, heat pump, high-grade insulation and battery storageBuilding new homes to low-carbon standards would save the occupants thousands of pounds, new research has shown, as experts urged the government to change the regulations on housing development.People living in a typical three-bedroom, semi-detached newly built house would save an average of 1,341 a year if it was equipped with solar panels, a heat pump, high-grade insulation and battery storage. Continue reading...
With Sweden issuing permits to kill a fifth of its bears, and Romanian MPs voting to double its quota, the debate over hunting season has become a political issueThe forest was unnaturally still when Soa Chovanova Supekova first picked up the bear's scent. It was roe deer rutting season in southern Slovakia, and the hills below the Carpathian mountains were busy with tourists biking and foraging for mushrooms. Fellow hunters who had come face to face with bears had told Supekova the fear had been so great they could not lift their rifles. Sitting with her father, a hunter in his 80s who had killed a few bears, she found herself in a similar state of dread - she was out on that trip expecting to kill deer, and did not want to come on a bear unexpectedly.Fear permeated me ... the smell penetrated to the tip of my bones," says Supekova, the founder of the Club of Slovak Lady Hunters. But the bear never appeared. The next morning, the daughter-and-father hunting duo saw its droppings. We breathed a sigh of relief only in the car." Continue reading...
David Moot nabs dream' Cape Cod home next to eroding cliff in imminent danger of crumbling due to climate crisisA man who says life's too short to resist buying a home that might fall off a cliff in a few years has taken ownership of a house with a beautiful view that's just 25ft (7.6 metres) from a sandy, crumbling cliff.David Moot paid $395,000 for the house on Cape Cod on the Massachusetts coast and said he intends to enjoy it while it lasts. Continue reading...
Top nature writing honour goes to Late Light by Michael Malay, which explores modern Britain through the unloved' lives of eels, moths, crickets and musselsA book that explores modern Britain by examining four unloved" animals - eels, moths, crickets and mussels - has won this year's Wainwright prize for nature writing.Michael Malay, a lecturer in literature and environmental humanities at the University of Bristol, took home the award for Late Light, in which he tells his story of moving to the UK as an Indonesian Australian, drawing parallels with the lives of the animals he looks at. Continue reading...
Harris has a progressive record on climate but indicated a shift, probably to assuage voters in swing statesKamala Harris stridently backed new fracking and expanded US gas production in comments that raised eyebrows among some environmentalists as, yet again, the unfolding climate crisis was largely overlooked during a set piece presidential debate.Harris, in a televised debate with Donald Trump on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, rebuffed the former president's claim that she will end fracking on day one" if elected by touting booming levels of drilling during her term as vice-president, in which US oil and gas production has hit record highs.Fact-checking the presidential debateHarris slams Trump for falsehoods in fiery debateTaylor Swift endorses Harris in post signed childless cat lady'Maga mad libs': How the debate played out on social mediaPresidential poll tracker Continue reading...
Ekkapol Chantawong, who spent nearly three weeks underground in 2018, forced to spend night on roof of homeThe coach of the young Thai footballers who captured the world's attention when they spent nearly three weeks trapped in a cave has found himself in another watery predicament - stuck on his roof by flash floods.Ekkapol Chantawong said he was drawing on his 2018 experience with the Wild Boars team to get through the situation at his home in the northern Thai district of Mae Sai. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Environment Agency warned about forever chemicals' 20 years before it started to regulate themThe Environment Agency was warned about the chronic threat" that firefighting foams containing PFAS forever chemicals" pose to the environment in 2003, 20 years before it started the process of regulating the chemicals, it can be revealed.In a 200-page report obtained by the Ends Report via a freedom of information request and shared with the Guardian, consultants commissioned by the Environment Agency conducted an environmental review of firefighting foams with a particular emphasis on their fluorosurfactant content". Continue reading...
I do not think it is a leap to see our exploitive relationship with Earth as part of a centuries-long war against the environmentStanding on the edge of Utah's terminal Great Salt Lake is to witness the religion of over water-consumption in the desert. Our inland sea is disappearing in climate chaos evidenced by extreme heat and a megadrought not seen in 2,500 years. Ten million migrating birds depend on this water body for food, rest and breeding. Flocks of Wilson's phalaropes, small and handsome shorebirds, spin in saline waters creating water columns alive with brine shrimp and flies and resulting in a feeding frenzy. American avocets and black-necked stilts stand stoically in the shallows. Thousands of ducks are sprinkled on the lake like pepper. Water and sky merge as one. There is no horizon. All appears well in this serene landscape of pastel blues animated by birds. It is not.The health of the Great Salt Lake is only as strong as the health of the human community that surrounds it. And vice versa. If the 2 million people living within the Great Salt Lake watershed with Salt Lake City at its center do not mobilize to put more water in the lake, the death of the Great Salt Lake will be their own. This will also be the demise of millions of migrating birds.Terry Tempest Williams is a writer, naturalist and activist Continue reading...
In the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, forests have been cleared for mines and the roads that service them. Large companies take what they can and move on, leaving abandoned ponds, toxic rivers and scraps of precious metal left in the ground
Conservationists and botanists express concern over plans for Qatari-funded upscale resort on Assomption IslandThe habitat of the largest giant tortoise population in the world is threatened by a Qatari-funded hotel development that aims to bring luxury yachts, private jets and well-heeled tourists to a remote island in the Indian Ocean, conservationists have warned.Plans for an upscale resort on Assomption, which is part of the Aldabra island group, are currently under discussion by the Seychelles authorities, and construction is already finished on an airport expansion that would allow bigger aircraft to land on the 11.6-sq-km (4.5-sq-mile) coral island. Continue reading...
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says Amazonia suffering its worst drought in more than 40 yearsLuiz Inacio Lula da Silva has flown into the Amazon amid growing alarm over the droughts and wildfires sweeping the rainforest region and others parts of Brazil.Speaking during a visit to a riverside community near the city of Tefe, the Brazilian president said Amazonia was suffering its worst drought in more than 40 years. He said he had come to discover what is going on with these mighty rivers" that in some places now resemble deserts. Continue reading...
Rising temperatures causing largest glacier in Dolomites to lose 7-10cm of depth a day, according to scientistsThe Marmolada glacier, the largest and most symbolic of the Dolomites, could melt completely by 2040 owing to rising average temperatures, experts have said.Italian scientists who are monitoring glaciers and the impact of climate emergency, and who took part in a campaign launched by environmentalist group Legambiente, the international commission for the protection of the Alps (Cipra), with the scientific partnership of the Italian Glacier Committee, said on Monday the Marmolada was losing between 7 and 10cm of depth a day. Continue reading...
Full bag of snack left in cave occasioned National Park Service to educate public about delicate ecosystemsA full bag of Cheetos, discarded by a subterranean visitor to the Big Room in Carlsbad Caverns national park in New Mexico, has led the US National Park Service to issue a warning that discarded food could have a huge impact" on the cave's delicate and at-risk ecosystem.At the scale of human perspective, a spilled snack bag may seem trivial, but to the life of the cave it can be world changing," the park said in its post about the garbage that was recently discovered there, threatening the balance of the unique cave system environment. Continue reading...
by Robyn Vinter North of England correspondent on (#6QM2Z)
European flat oyster is defined as collapsed' in UK but there are hopes it could return to coastal watersA box marked special delivery" arrived about midday at Spurn Discovery Centre, on a remote East Yorkshire peninsula in the Humber estuary.It is unlikely the postal worker had any idea it contained 300,000 living oyster larvae - tiny pinprick-sized organisms destined to become part of a new oyster reef just off the English coast. Continue reading...
Last year Antartica's sea ice was 1.6m sq km below average - the size of Britain, France, Germany and Spain combined. This week it had even less than thatSea ice surrounding Antarctica is on the cusp of reaching a record winter low for a second year running, continuing an outrageous" fall in the amount of Southern Ocean that is freezing over.The Antarctic region underwent an abrupt transformation in 2023 as the sea ice cover surrounding the continent crashed for six months straight. In winter, it covered about 1.6m sq km less than the long-term average - an area roughly the size of Britain, France, Germany and Spain combined. Continue reading...
The source of new renewable energy is also a battleground over China's cheap exports of panels that has split US firmsThe Biden administration touts solar energy as one of its big success stories, a booming new industry that is curbing the effects of the climate crisis and creating high-paying jobs across the country. But the more complicated truth is that the United States is mired in a long-running trade war with China, which is flooding the market with artificially cheap solar panels that carry an uncomfortably large carbon footprint and threaten to obliterate the domestic industry.The price of solar panels has plummeted 50% over the past year, largely, industry insiders say, because of deliberate Chinese overproduction of key components and a game of international cat-and-mouse over trade rules often likened to a game of Whac-A-Mole". As different sets of rules get established, Chinese companies have proved adept at moving their manufacturing plants to other countries, in south-east Asia, and shifting strategies to work around US tariffs and other deterrent measures.This article was amended on 10 September 2014. An earlier version incorrectly stated that this year's RE+ conference took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Continue reading...
We Own It says 31% of water bills went on shareholder payouts and company debts in last financial year, while the same percentage of 2024 remainsTuesday is the day water bills will start servicing debt and paying shareholders rather than fixing leaks and ending the sewage scandal, campaigners have said, dubbing it cost of water privatisation day".The public services campaign group We Own It has shared analysis from the University of Greenwich that reveals roughly 31% of money collected from water bills goes towards shareholders and paying off debts. Last financial year, an average of 11% of revenue was spent on dividends and 20% went towards servicing debts, while as of 10 September 31% of 2024 remains.This article was amended on 10 September 2024 to remove a quote incorrectly attributed to Chris Weston, the chief executive of Thames Water. Continue reading...
Report says governments in global north increasingly using draconian measures while criticising similar tactics in global southWealthy, democratic countries in the global north are using harsh, vague and punitive measures to crack down on climate protests at the same time as criticising similar draconian tactics by authorities in the global south, according to a report.A Climate Rights International report exposes the increasingly heavy-handed treatment of climate activists in Australia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the US.Record prison sentences for non violent protest in several countries including the UK, Germany and the US.Preemptive arrests and detention for those suspected of planning peaceful protests.Draconian new laws passed to make the vast majority of peaceful protest illegal.Measures to stop juries hearing about people's motivation for taking part in protests during court cases, which critics say fundamentally undermines the right to a fair trial. Continue reading...
Robots being used to gather sample that will give clues about conditions inside the reactors, a step towards decommissioning plant hit by tsunami in Japan 13 years agoA difficult operation to remove a small amount of radioactive debris from Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has begun, after technical issues suspended an earlier attempt.Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said in a statement on Tuesday that its pilot extraction operation" had started. It will take about two weeks, according to the company. Continue reading...
Latin America was the most deadly region in which to defend ecosystems from mining and deforestation, with Indigenous people among half the deadAt least 196 people were killed last year for defending the environment, with more than a third of killings taking place in Colombia, new figures show.From campaigners who spoke out against mining projects to Indigenous communities targeted by organised crime groups, an environmental defender was killed every other day in 2023, according to a new report by the NGO Global Witness.Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features. Continue reading...
Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa want international criminal court to class environmental destruction as crime alongside genocideThree developing countries have taken the first steps towards transforming the world's response to climate breakdown and environmental destruction by making ecocide a punishable criminal offence.In a submission to the international criminal court on Monday, they propose a change in the rules to recognise ecocide" as a crime alongside genocide and war crimes. Continue reading...
The last time the National Farmers' Federation marched on Canberra politicians were carefully controlled. This time the agenda looks more useful for politicians than farmers
Animal rights groups had claimed beluga named Hvaldimir, which was found dead last month, had been shotA beluga whale that rose to fame in Norway after its unusual harness prompted suspicions that the creature was trained by Russia as a spy died after a stick became stuck in its mouth, police have said.The lifeless body of the whale, named Hvaldimir - a combination of the Norwegian word for whale and the first name of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin - was found floating in the sea on 31 August by a father and son fishing in Risavika Bay, southern Norway. Continue reading...
Chongqing authorities say cloud seeding to break heatwave did not cause winds that sent laundry flyingIt was the talk of the town. After the authorities sought to break a long-running heatwave in Chongqing by using cloud-seeding missiles to artificially bring rain, the Chinese megacity was blasted by an unusual weather event - an underwear storm.Termed the 9/2 Chongqing underwear crisis", an unexpected windstorm on Monday brought gusts of up to 76mph (122km/h), scattering people's laundry from balconies on the city's high-rises. Douyin, China's sister app to TikTok, was filled with videos of pants and bras flying through the skies, landing in the street and snagging on trees. Continue reading...
by Oliver Laughland in Garyville, Louisiana, Sara Sne on (#6QK3X)
Louisianans say a major accident at a sprawling Marathon refinery caused health issues. The company insists there were no offsite impacts'At 8.04am on 25 August last year, Darnell Alboudoor watched a plume of black smoke blanketing the sky and rolling in the direction of her family home.A stench like burning oil filled the air on that piping hot summer morning, as Alboudoor, 54, looked in the direction of the sprawling petroleum refinery, which sat a few hundred feet from her back yard. She called 911. Continue reading...
Solar power could enable 400 million Africans without water to tap into groundwater aquifers. However, we must ensure smaller projects do not lose out in the rush for new technologyIt's a truly dreadful irony: for many of the 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to even a basic water supply, there is likely to be a significant reserve in aquifers sitting just a few metres below their feet.Groundwater - the water stored in small spaces and fractures in rocks - makes up nearly 99% of all of the unfrozen fresh water on the planet. Across the African continent, the volume of water stored underground is estimated to be 20 times the amount held in lakes and reservoirs. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#6QK23)
Climate crisis is driving key predators from their homes and threatening an already embattled ecosystemSharks are deserting their coral reef homes as the climate crisis continues to heat up the oceans, scientists have discovered.This is likely to harm the sharks, which are already endangered, and their absence could have serious consequences for the reefs, which are also struggling. The reef sharks are a key part of the highly diverse and delicate ecosystem, which could become dangerously unbalanced without them. Continue reading...
by Jennifer Rankin at the Westdiep sea farm, North Se on (#6QK24)
Moules frites are a staple, but the majority of the shellfish eaten in the country are imported. Previous attempts to farm them have foundered - but a bumper harvest this year suggests the delicate' Belgian mussel is here to stayIt is harvest day at the Westdiep sea farm and the crew are bringing their haul on to the boat: 12-metre long ropes laden with clusters of blue mussels. Bobbing on the water just three nautical miles off the Belgian coast, the four-man crew on the little red Smart Farmer use a crane to hoist the ropes on deck. The mussels go on to a steel conveyor belt, straight into the declumper", a machine that will break up bunches of molluscs into smaller groups.It may look like a typical late summer scene on the Belgian North Sea coast, but the mussel harvest is a novelty. Although Belgium is renowned for its moules frites, it has long struggled to cultivate the shellfish for its national dish on a commercial scale. Of the estimated 20,000 tonnes of mussels Belgium consumes each year, most are imported from Zeeland in the Netherlands. Continue reading...
Even a majority of Republicans support efforts to hold manufacturers accountable for allegedly deceptive claimsConcern about the fossil fuel and plastics industries' alleged deception about recycling is growing, with new polling showing a majority of American voters, including 54% of Republicans, support legal efforts to hold the sectors accountable.The industries have faced increasing scrutiny for their role in the global plastics pollution crisis, including an ongoing California investigation and dozens of suits filed over the last decade against consumer brands that sell plastics. Continue reading...
Provisionally known as Greens Organise, the collective will fight electoral assimilation' and push for radical policiesLeftwing members of the Green party are calling for a shift towards an internationalist, anti-capitalist and ecologically transformative agenda" as they launch a new group at their party's conference this weekend.The new collective aims to combine the party's traditional environmentalist politics with new strands of ecological consciousness, from river pollution and right to roam campaigns to an internationalist and decolonial climate justice movement". Continue reading...
The problem: a fence that protects eastern quolls threatens long-necked turtles in Booderee national park at Jervis Bay. The solution? Turtle tunnels. Nine water-filled tunnels were built beneath a 82-hectare fence that surrounds the botanic gardens which keep out feral predators, providing a safe passage for the reptiles to go between watering holes. Over a period of 123 days, conservationists recorded 73 successful instances of the turtles using the tunnels
Jacob Rees-Mogg criticises plans for 2.6m members to decide on increasing share of vegan and vegetarian optionsNational Trust members are being invited to vote on a plan to make 50% of the food in its cafes vegan and vegetarian as part of the charity's commitment to reach net zero by 2030.Cafe menus at the trust's 280 historic sites are already 40% plant-based. Now, the trust's 2.6 million members will get to vote on whether the charity should gradually increase this figure to 50% over the next two years. Continue reading...