Environment | The Guardian

Experts say they are dealing with a people problem' on the island, where safety messages are ignored

Susan Hall's lack of enthusiasm for active travel reflects a view within the party in sharp contrast with other major European citiesAmong the political strands exposed by the Conservatives' decision to pick Susan Hall to stand for London mayor - not least the apparent unlikeliness that she can win - is one that might seem niche but is in fact arguably very telling: what it says about active travel.Anyone who has observed Hall in her six years as a London assembly member, and especially her energetic and often outspoken Twitter feed, will have realised she is not a fan of cycle lanes, cycling, or indeed of cyclists themselves. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: How countries have responded to record-breaking temperatures - and what it will take to change minds and policy Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.When the temperature in Sicily is approaching 50C, you know something is wrong.New Zealand | Two people died and six people were injured after a shooting at a building site in Auckland city centre, hours before the Women's World Cup is due to start. The gunman was also dead. New Zealand's PM, Chris Hipkins, said the World Cup would proceed as planned.Politics | Almost 200,000 families living under Labour-run councils are affected by the two-child benefit cap, a Guardian analysis has revealed. Keir Starmer's decision not to scrap the policy if Labour wins power has led to attacks from anti-poverty campaigners and disquiet from senior figures in the party.Health | MPs have urged the government to introduce restrictions on the packaging and marketing of disposable vapes to tackle the alarming trend" of children using these addictive products. The health and social care committee said there should be restrictions on how e-cigarettes are sold, in line with those applied to tobacco products.Slavery | Caribbean countries are considering approaching the UN's international court of justice for a legal opinion on demanding compensation from 10 European countries over slavery, as the fight for reparative justice is stepped up. Ralph Gonsalves, the current leader of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, said he is also looking for an apology from the British government and expressed disappointment in Rishi Sunak's lack of engagement in the matter.Strikes | A strike by train staff in the RMT union will severely affect rail services across Britain in the next week. About 20,000 RMT members at 14 train operators will strike for 24 hours on Thursday and again on Saturday, coinciding with the end of a week-long overtime ban by train drivers in the Aslef union. The 10 days of transport disruption will coincide with the peak summer holiday getaway weekend. Continue reading...

Tatton Park flower show features garden of flowering plants whose heady scents at night attract crucial but invisible' pollinatorsGardens should be as attractive to pollinators at night as they are in the day, horticulturalists have said, as they present a moth-friendly version at a flower show in Cheshire.The RHS nocturnal pollinators experience garden at Tatton Park flower show, which began on Wednesday, showcases flowering plants that produce heady scents at night to attract moths, which a 2020 study found were crucial but invisible" pollinators. Continue reading...

Claiming woke hysteria' is driving policy, lobby group Advance Australia makes a series of claims by the usual suspects that are easily debunked

As much of the northern hemisphere endures blistering heatwaves and parts of Asia are deluged with rain, a number of climate records are being challengedThe climate crisis is moving into uncharted territory as much of the northern hemisphere endures a blistering heatwave, many countries are deluged with rain, sea surface temperatures reach new heights, and Antarctic sea ice new lows. A number of climate records - some unofficial - have tumbled in recent weeks.Many factors have combined for this to happen, including climate change but also the El Nino weather event, and the northern hemisphere summer. Continue reading...

Campaigners say cheap flights, made possible by tax breaks for airlines, are encouraging people to heat the planetEurope's cheap flights and pricey train tickets promote dirty forms of transport, campaigners say, with outrageous" tax breaks encouraging people to heat the planet as they head on holiday.Train tickets are double the price of flights for the same routes, on average, according to an analysis from Greenpeace published on Thursday. The campaigners compared tickets on 112 routes on nine different days. To get from London to Barcelona, they found, the cost of taking the train is up to 30 times the cost of jumping on a plane. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. To read our latest news on the extreme weather gripping the world, click the links below

Wind output reached record levels in June in the national electricity market, the Australian Energy Regulator said

Thousands forced to flee homes as Greek PM says wildfires are increasing in intensity due to climate crisis

Flying boats dispatched as state of emergency called in Loutraki, with firefighters battling fast-moving blaze

High-risk' animal was involved in mauling 23-year-old who reportedly ran into the sea to escape

James Hansen, who testified to Congress on global heating in 1988, says world is approaching a new climate frontier'The world is shifting towards a superheated climate not seen in the past 1m years, prior to human existence, because we are damned fools" for not acting upon warnings over the climate crisis, according to James Hansen, the US scientist who alerted the world to the greenhouse effect in the 1980s.Hansen, whose testimony to the US Senate in 1988 is cited as the first high-profile revelation of global heating, warned in a statement with two other scientists that the world was moving towards a new climate frontier" with temperatures higher than at any point over the past million years, bringing impacts such as stronger storms, heatwaves and droughts. Continue reading...

About 380 juvenile White's seahorses re-homed in Chowder bay after being reared in captivity at Sydney Institute of Marine Science

Money fundraised by community after two crocs were found decapitated earlier this year, including 40-year-old saltwater named Lizzie

At least 97% of the blood samples contained a type of PFAS known as PFOS, associated with multiple serious health problemsCalifornia researchers have found new evidence that several chemicals used in plastic production and a wide array of other industrial applications are commonly present in the blood of pregnant women, creating increased health risks for mothers and their babies.The researchers said their findings add to a growing body of evidence showing that many chemicals people are routinely exposed to are leading to subtle but harmful changes in health. The work should be a wake-up call" to policymakers, they said.This story is co-published with the New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group Continue reading...

Lords committee calls for creation of advisory groups to tackle the pollutants, which may increase risk of heart disease and premature deathLight and noise are neglected pollutants" that are causing significant harm to human health and can cause premature deaths, a group of peers have said.The science and technology committee of the House of Lords has called on ministers to do more to tackle these pollutants, which it claims are poorly understood and poorly regulated". Continue reading...

Report finds government goal to plant 30,000 hectares of woodland by March 2025 unlikely to be achievedThe government has met less than half of its annual tree-planting target in England, MPs have found, putting net zero ambitions at risk.The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) this year published what it called ambitious" nature targets, a requirement under the Environment Act, including the goal of planting 30,000 hectares of woodland by March 2025. A report by the environmental audit committee (EAC) of cross-party MPs has found that this target was unlikely to be met. Continue reading...

Timothy Shaddock, 54, and his dog Bella disembark tuna trawler that rescued him after a storm damaged his yacht and forced him to live off raw fish and rainwater

Arizona state capital suffering from longest heatwave in 50 years; Italian hospitals see rise in urgent cases due to hot weather

Whiskey Flat, once known for gold mining and wild west movies was covered again by previously drought-stricken Lake IsabellaAfter California's severe drought resurfaced a historic settlement from the depths of Lake Isabella, the ghost town of Whiskey Flat has once again returned to the water.Whiskey Flat, once known for gold mining and wild west movies was covered again by the previously drought-stricken lake in central California, SFGate reported. Lake Isabella's water levels had been low for years until this winter's onslaught of rain, highlighting the toll the climate crisis has had on the reservoirs and lakes that serve crucial roles in the state's water system. Continue reading...

Study identifies about 900,000 households with service lines definitely or possibly made of lead, a known neurotoxinOne in five New Yorkers may be drinking lead-contaminated water, a new report has found.Roughly 900,000 households - or 21% of the city's residents - live in properties with lead or possible lead service lines, the pipes that provide city water to individual properties. Lead can leach into the water from the pipes as the water travels through them. Continue reading...

Court told wild camping is not open-air recreation as park authority appeals against recent banWild camping is not recreation because sleeping is not an enjoyable activity, lawyers acting for a wealthy landowner said in court while defending a judge's decision to ban the activity on Dartmoor national park.In a packed courtroom at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Tuesday, lawyers for the Dartmoor national park authority (DNPA) brought an appeal against the decision to ban backpack camping on the common land. The case hinges on whether wild camping counts as open-air recreation" as allowed in a 1985 law. Continue reading...

Britain's neglect of nuclear industry has been a colossal mistake' says energy ministerGrant Shapps has condemned the neglect of Britain's nuclear industry as a colossal mistake" as he earmarked 20bn for a fleet of new reactors - but admitted it would take six years to even make a decision on giving projects the green light.The government formally launched Great British Nuclear (GBN), an independent body designed to aid the delivery of new projects, on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Rural Fire Service warns residents to get ready for upcoming season and not be complacent after three wet years

Conservationists utterly elated' at arrival of first offspring since release of 25 of the eagles on Isle of WightA white-tailed eagle chick has hatched in England for the first time in more than 240 years, and conservationists are utterly elated" by the new arrival.White-tailed eagles were once widespread across England but were widely persecuted by humans, and the last record of a pair breeding was in 1780. Since 2019, 25 of these eagles, which are Britain's biggest bird of prey, have been released to the Isle of Wight as part of an effort to bring back long-lost species. Continue reading...

Decades after a chilling racist massacre, Tulsa's Greenwood district was bulldozed for I-244 - but a new plan aims to reverse its punishing effectsTwenty-five years before Don Shaw was born in Greenwood, a white mob invaded the Tulsa neighborhood and killed more than 300 people. Much of the tight-knit community was burned to the ground, including his grandfather's pharmacy.But when Shaw was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, few people wanted to talk about the massacre - perhaps in part because much of the damage was no longer visible. Continue reading...

Queensland government considers options after 24-year-old was attacked on beach at K'gari/Fraser Island by at least three dingoes on Monday

Palm oil plantations have fragmented Sabah's rainforest but land corridors let pygmy elephants and orangutans roam againIn 2011, the German conservationist Robert Risch was hiking along the banks of a river at the northern limits of Tabin wildlife reserve, home to pygmy elephants, orangutans and the Bornean banteng, an endangered species of wild cattle. Risch was expecting to see long stretches of wilderness but instead saw a swathe of palm oil plantations and electric fences.I found elephant tracks coming from Tabin following the river to the north until they reached the electric fence. Then the tracks turned around back to Tabin," says Risch. No choice." Continue reading...

A month of floods, fire and heatwaves from Rome to Chile Continue reading...

Labor's energy minister to unveil decarbonisation plans for six areas of the economy in Sydney speech

Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua seeks common ground' in first key summit between two largest carbon emitters since US-Beijing freezeJohn Kerry, the US climate envoy, has called for more rapid action to confront the climate crisis in a crucial visit to China that is taking place against a fraught backdrop, with both countries currently baking under record heatwaves and Kerry facing hostile opposition from Republicans back home.Kerry's meeting with Xie Zhenhua, his Chinese counterpart, for three days of formal talks in Beijing is the first substantive summit between the world's two largest carbon emitters on the climate crisis since relations were frozen last August, when Nancy Pelosi, the then-House of Representatives speaker, visited Taiwan, a move condemned by China's leadership. Continue reading...

Great British Nuclear created to deliver government's commitment to boosting electricity generation, in part through smaller reactorsThe UK government is to offer grants of 157m as part of its launch of a new body to support the nuclear power industry.Great British Nuclear (GBN) will be tasked with helping deliver the government's commitment to provide a quarter of the UK's electricity from nuclear energy by 2050. Continue reading...

Man in Houston died in house without air conditioning; mercury in parts of Italy is close to hitting 45C as wildfires ravage Greece and Spain

World's biggest olive producer, Spain, on course for second bad harvest in a row, raising fears of gaps on shelves and even higher pricesThe olive oil industry is in crisis", and the heatwave in southern Europe is threatening to inflict the second bad harvest in a row and gaps on shelves this autumn.After a spring heatwave affected flowering in Spain, which produces about half of the global olive crop, the harvest was forecast to be only 28% up on last year, which was the worst in almost a decade. Continue reading...

Reporting of climate crisis has been lousy for years, experts say, in a country where rightwing press has been dominantItaly is sweltering in abnormally high temperatures, but its media appear to be more interested in how the extreme heat is being reported in the foreign press than delving deeply into the effects in a country deemed to be among the most vulnerable in Europe to the climate crisis.Over the weekend, several outlets picked up on reports on Italy's heatwave in leading foreign news websites - including the Guardian, the Times and the BBC. They were particularly fascinated by a headline in the Times calling Rome - where temperatures are forecast to reach highs of 43C on Tuesday - the Infernal City", a play on the nickname Eternal City". So much so that it was still a talking point come Monday. Continue reading...

People were ordered to leave their homes south-east of Athens on Monday as a wildfire fanned by strong winds burned nearby vegetation. The blaze was raging close to buildings in the village of Kouvaras, about 27km (17 miles) from the Greek capital, and threatening other settlements, the civil protection service said. In Kalyvia, horses were evacuated from stables that had caught light

Officials issue air quality advisories across US and with nearly 900 forest fires - many of them out of control' - burning to the north

Limiting demand of richest 20% saves seven times greenhouse gases required to meet needs of poorest 20%, researchers find

Record heat in Europe is part of a pattern of more intense heatwaves made more likely by climate breakdown

Water firm says dealing with 2022's record-breaking heatwave and other weather events cost it 17mSouth East Water has reported a pre-tax loss of nearly 75m, which it blamed in part on the cost of dealing with last year's extreme weather events" including the record-breaking heatwave.The water firm, which supplies 2.2 million customers in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey, said the weather events cost it 17m. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Leaked document falls far short' of what is needed to safeguard lives and livelihoods from heat, drought and storms, say expertsThe government's new plan to cope with the climate crisis has been condemned as very weak" by experts, who say not enough is being done to protect lives and livelihoods.Responding to the document, which was leaked to the Guardian, one highlighted its failure to adequately protect people in the UK from extreme heat. The heatwave in 2022, when temperatures surpassed 40C for the first time, led to the early deaths of more than 3,000 people, wildfires, buckled rail lines and farmers struggling with drought. Southern Europe is currently in the grip of a searing heatwave. Continue reading...

Unwitting whale advocates and rightwing thinktanks create the impression that offshore wind energy projects endanger cetaceansOne night in late March, J Timmons Roberts, a professor of environmental studies at Brown University, stepped in to a high school gymnasium in a small seaside town in Rhode Island. He was there to speak at a town hall aimed at allaying concerns about a local offshore windfarm.In the front row, he noticed a woman dressed as a whale, holding a sign that read Save Me!" Continue reading...

Ollie and Harry Ferguson from Aberdeenshire took inspiration for 12,500-mile journey from Ross scientific expedition of 1839-43A pair of model ships built by two young brothers have launched on a mission to circumnavigate Antarctica, in what is thought to be a world first.Ollie Ferguson, 13, and his younger brother Harry, 11, from Turriff in Aberdeenshire, took inspiration from the Ross scientific expedition of 1839-43 where HMS Erebus and HMS Terror discovered the Ross ice shelf. Continue reading...

Asset management firms accused of sacrificing climate action by voting against shareholder resolution at Chevron and ExxonMobilSome of the UK's largest investors have backtracked on their support for a shareholder resolution that would force the big oil companies to cut their carbon emissions, according to a campaign group.Asset managers at Legal & General, abrdn and Janus Henderson voted against the climate resolutions put forward by Follow This, a Dutch shareholder activist group, at the annual general meetings of the US oil companies Chevron and ExxonMobil this year, having voted in favour of them in previous years. Continue reading...

Analysts call on government to make pumps mandatory for all new homes and scale up grants for installation in existing propertiesThe UK is lagging far behind France and other EU countries in installing heat pumps, research has shown, with less than a tenth of the number of installations despite having similar markets.Only 55,000 heat pumps were sold in the UK last year, compared with more than 620,000 in France. Twenty other European countries also had higher installation rates than the UK. Continue reading...

But Dale Vince's Ecojet plane will run on kerosene-based fuel in 2024 to enable quick start to projectThe green energy tycoon Dale Vince is planning to launch Britain's first electric airline in a move designed to prove polluting industries can decarbonise.Ecojet, styled as a flag carrier for green Britain", will launch early next year with a 19-seater plane travelling on a route between Edinburgh and Southampton. Continue reading...

Researchers argue that industry claims about benefits of more flights should be taken with pinch of saltClaims that airport expansion will help grow the UK economy should be treated with scepticism, according to a report that finds air travel does not increase productivity or growth.Declining business travel and lower wages in aviation undermine claims made by the industry for the value of increased air connections, say researchers at the New Economics Foundation. Continue reading...

South-west and parts of the west hardest hit amid warnings to take heat seriously' as Phoenix temperature to rise to 118F SundayMore than 100 million people, around a third of Americans, were under extreme heat advisories this weekend and that record-breaking heat was expected to continue into the new week.There were advisories from coast to coast, with the south-west and parts of the west hard hit and officials warning that conditions could get worse in Arizona, California and Nevada. Continue reading...