Formosa’s planned petrochemicals complex would have doubled toxic emissions in area with some of the worst air quality in the USA US court has revoked air pollution permits for a huge plastics plant in a region of Louisiana known as Cancer Alley and ruled that they would have violated environmental rules.People living near the proposed petrochemical complex in St James parish have been fighting against the plans for years and hailed the decision as a victory for environmental justice. Continue reading...
At least 400 Chadian workers rounded up in east Libyan town of Ajdabiya after security forces in Chad arrest four Libyan poachersHundreds of Chadians are being rounded up and detained on the streets of a Libyan town for a ninth day in retaliation for the Chad government’s arrest of four Libyan men on suspicion of poaching endangered animals.At least 400 people have now been arrested in the city of Ajdabiya by a militia linked to the warlord Khalifa Haftar, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army. Continue reading...
Documents suggest Shell and BP staff privately downplayed public commitments on climate crisisCampaigners have urged governments to intervene after oil companies were accused of misleading the public about their commitment to reducing carbon emissions.Oil and gas companies including Britain’s Shell and BP were urged to “stop their deception” this week as the US House committee on oversight and reform released documents showing that oil industry executives privately downplayed their public messages on efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Continue reading...
Rescue operation ongoing in central region of Marche after ‘exceptional’ extreme weather eventAt least nine people have died and four are missing after dramatic storms provoked severe flooding in Italy’s central Marche region, forcing politicians to finally raise the topic of the climate crisis a week before general elections.Dozens of others are reported to have saved themselves by climbing on to rooftops and trees, in scenes described as being akin to an “apocalypse”. Fifty people are being treated in hospital. Continue reading...
Campaigners hope to harness revulsion at booming rat numbers to expand composting services throughout the city and cut wasteAt an August rally on the steps of New York’s city hall, rats were in the crosshairs. “No to rats”, read one poster. “Starve a rat”, read another. On a third, a pink rodent in a crown lounged on a throne of black garbage bags.The demonstration wasn’t a generalized expression of anti-rat fervor. It was a gathering of sustainable waste activists. They had a proposition: composting could solve an escalating rodent problem that’s spreading across the city. “Our streets and sidewalks will be cleaner”, said New York City council member Carlina Rivera, “They’ll smell better and they’ll provide less food for rats, which is a public health crisis right now.” Continue reading...
Presence of two adults and two cubs in Cascade mountains detected after federal protections restored earlier this yearThe sighting of a new family of gray wolves in Oregon’s Cascade mountains has given wildlife advocates hope that the recovery of the endangered species in the state is gathering pace.The state’s fish and wildlife department (ODFW) said a group of two adults and two pups was captured by a trail camera in August. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#63P8N)
Study says climate crisis likely to have significantly increased rainfall and made future floods more likelyThe intense rainfall that has caused devastating floods across Pakistan was made worse by global heating, which has also made future floods more likely, scientists have found.Climate change could have increased the most intense rainfall over a short period in the worst affected areas by about 50%, according to a study by an international team of climate scientists. Continue reading...
LVMH announced measures after Emmanuel Macron urged France to reduce power consumptionLVMH, the owner of Louis Vuitton, plans to lower the thermostat at its stores around the world as part energy-saving measures this winter.The French conglomerate will also turn off the lights at its stores earlier, starting in France in October before being deployed worldwide. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti and Sandra Laville on (#63P0Q)
Exclusive: leaked report for government says reducing and predicting risk ‘remains a scientific challenge’Liz Truss is to lift a ban on fracking despite a leaked government report suggesting little progress has been made in reducing and predicting the risk of earthquakes caused by the practice, the Guardian can reveal.The first drilling licences in nearly three years are expected to be issued as early as next week, sources said, in a move that will reignite claims of another broken 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Liz Truss strips Conservative peer of environment minister post but he is expected to keep Foreign Office roleThe Conservative peer Zac Goldsmith has been sacked as an environment minister, raising fears among some Tory MPs and campaigners that animal welfare will be downgraded by Liz Truss’s government.The environmentalist and politician, a close friend of Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie, has been stripped of the domestic animal welfare brief and will no longer attend cabinet. Continue reading...
Campaigners hope to see a radical shift under the former renewables boss but it is likely to be more continuation than revolutionBen van Beurden sat stony faced as climate activists sang “We will, we will stop you” to the tune of Queen’s We Will Rock You. If Wael Sawan was following the scenes at May’s Shell annual shareholder meeting in London, he will understand the scale of the task ahead when he takes over the top job at Europe’s largest energy company in January.Sawan will have to tread a path Van Beurden has struggled to navigate, trying to stave off criticism from investors who want him to push further into fossil fuels, and investors and environmental campaigners who call for a bigger green energy drive. Last month it was reported Shell had invested equivalent to 6.3% of its £17.1bn profits into low carbon energy in the first half of the year, investing nearly three times more in oil and gas. Continue reading...
Before work like Hark! A Vagrant made her famous, the Canadian cartoonist spent two years in the Alberta wilderness, see-sawing between boredom and fear for her safety. Now she is finally ready to tell the storyIn April 2008, an international media storm erupted over the death of 1,600 ducks in a toxic pond in Alberta, Western Canada. Kate Beaton remembers it well, because she was working there at the time. “All of a sudden the whole world turned their heads and they’re like: ‘What’s going on over there? Doesn’t look good to me.’ Because of the ducks. And I was like: ‘It’s terrible about the ducks, but I see people around me failing. I see a lot more than that going on, too, and no one seems to care. What about the workers? What about the cancer rates in the Indigenous communities?’”A decade and a half later, Beaton has piled her memories of life in a camp in Alberta – built to exploit one of the world’s largest single oil deposits – into a chunky, no-holds-barred graphic novel memoir titled Ducks: Two Years on the Oil Sands. She was 21 years old, and had just finished a degree in history and anthropology, when she left her home on an island off the easternmost tip of Canada for the job more than 2,000 miles away. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#63NH4)
Groups urge action during the talks in Egypt to demand climate justice for Africa and the global southCivil society groups around the world are calling for a global day of action on the climate catastrophe, to urge governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and shift to a low-carbon economy.The day of action will take place on Saturday 12 November, at the mid-point of the Cop27 UN climate talks, which run from 6 to 18 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, hosted by the Egyptian government. Continue reading...
Ocean Conservancy apologises for ‘false narrative’ of 2015 study that put blame for bulk of world’s plastic waste on five Asian statesAn environmental watchdog has retracted an influential report that blamed five Asian countries for the majority of plastic pollution in the ocean.The report, Stemming the Tide, from the US-based environmental advocacy group Ocean Conservancy, also included incineration and waste-to-energy as “solutions” to the plastics crisis. Published in 2015, it was decried as “waste colonialism” by hundreds of environmental, health and social justice groups across Asia. Continue reading...
The SEC’s proposed new rules, which would require public corporations to disclose climate-related information, have been criticized by industry groupsRepublican officials and corporate lobby groups are teeing up a multi-pronged legal assault on the Biden administration’s effort to help investors hold public corporations accountable for their carbon emissions and other climate change risks.The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new climate disclosure rules in March that would require public companies to report the climate-related impact and risks to their businesses. Continue reading...
In areas where some felt let down by emergency responses, community groups share skills such as how to clear landslips, operate chainsaws and preserve food
Societal breakdown has not arrived, but the contours of such a collapse aren’t too hard to imagine – which is why some are taking part in a survival courseThere are several ways to react to a summer of harrowing climate disasters – from indifference to simmering angst to deflating the tire of an SUV – but for Eve Simonsen, the most logical response was to take her two children two hours from home to learn how to build a temporary shelter made of sticks and heaped leaves.Simonsen was one of about 30 people to take part in a recent wilderness survival course held in a patch of forest in upstate New York, which I joined. Several of the participants who scoured for twigs to make a fire and labored to set traps for unsuspecting animals said they wanted to learn such skills to help prepare for the cascading impacts of climate breakdown. Continue reading...
Founder Yvon Chouinard announced that all the company’s profits will go into saving the planetSetting a new example in environmental corporate leadership, the billionaire owner of Patagonia is giving the entire company away to fight the Earth’s climate devastation, he announced on Wednesday.Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who turned his passion for rock climbing into one of the world’s most successful sportswear brands, is giving the entire company to a uniquely structured trust and non-profit, designed to pump all of the company’s profits into saving the planet. Continue reading...
MEPs vote on amendment to phase down share of wood counted as renewable but reject calls for complete phaseoutThe European parliament has called to end public subsidies for the environmentally destructive practice of burning trees for fuel, but campaigners warned the plans risked being “too little, too late”.Voting on an amendment to the EU’s renewable energy directive, MEPs called to “phase down” the share of trees counted as renewable energy in EU targets. But they swerved setting any dates to reduce the burning of “primary wood”. They rejected calls for a complete phaseout of a form of energy generation that scientists have warned releases more carbon into the atmosphere than burning gas or coal. Continue reading...
Legislation drafted by Alec part of backlash against Indigenous communities and environmentalists opposing oil and gas projectsRepublican-led legislatures have passed anti-protest laws drafted by an extreme-right corporate lobbying group in a third of all American states since 2018, as part of a backlash against Indigenous communities and environmentalists opposing fossil fuel projects, new research has found.The American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) helped draft legislation criminalizing grassroots protests against pipelines, gas terminals and other oil and gas expansion projects in 24 states, under the guise of protecting critical infrastructure. Continue reading...
by Sandra Laville Environment correspondent on (#63M62)
Map used to flag red all raw sewage releases into bathing waters – but firm now says it factors in ‘impact’A water company has changed its pollution alert map for the public to stop issuing automatic red alerts after a discharge.Southern Water attracted public criticism this summer for releasing raw sewage via storm overflows after heavy rain along coastal Kent. Campaigners used social media to widely share the company’s Beachbuoy map, which marks beaches at risk of pollution from raw sewage discharges with a red cross, often revealing that much of the coast has been affected. Continue reading...
ITM Power, which makes electrolyser machines, says splitting water using renewable energy has become more cost-effective than gasThe war in Ukraine and spike in the price of natural gas have underlined the benefits of switching to “green hydrogen” production as the only “net zero energy gas”, according to the British firm ITM Power.The Sheffield-based company, which manufactures electrolyser machines that make hydrogen from water, said the energy crisis had shown hydrogen represents a viable alternative to methane gas. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani climate justice reporter in New York on (#63M1J)
Carlyle, Warburg Pincus and KKR are the worst offenders according to a new scorecard of private equity climate risksPrivate equity firms pumping billions of dollars into dirty energy projects are exposing investors, including pensioners, to unknown financial risks as the planet burns and governments face escalating pressure to act, new research finds.The first-of-its-kind climate risks scorecard ranks Carlyle, Warburg Pincus and KKR as the worst offenders among eight major private equity companies with significant fossil fuel portfolios. Continue reading...
Concern as heart arrhythmias appear to be triggered even when air pollution within quality limitsHealthy teenagers are more prone to irregular heartbeats after breathing in fine particulate air pollution, according to the first major study of its impact on otherwise healthy young individuals.The findings have raised concern among researchers because heart arrhythmias, which can increase the risk of heart disease and sudden cardiac death, appear to be triggered even when air pollution is within common air quality limits. Continue reading...
Climate campaigners say pollution from multibillion-dollar clothing company’s production is inconsistent with its ethical brandingThe company motto is “Be Human, Be Well, and Be Planet”, a harmonious ideal in line with the yoga world where sports clothing mega-brand lululemon got its start.“We are deeply connected to ourselves, each other and our planet; each part elevating one another,” the Canada-based company says on its sustainability website. Continue reading...
Determined fishers are testing their stretches of river for pollution as citizen scientists take on the water companiesIf you go down to quiet stretches of river in the UK at the right time of year, you are likely to find people peacefully standing there with a fishing rod, gazing into the sparkling, steady flow, hoping to get a nibble.Anglers, of which there are at least 2 million in England, go down to their treasured slices of waterway whenever they can to tend them, trimming vegetation, creating wetland spawning habitats, and even painstakingly cleaning the gravel. It sounds like a pretty peaceful pursuit, but when the Guardian went to visit some Angling Trust members at their clubs around Reading, there was palpable anger in the air. Continue reading...
WHO and almost 200 other health associations urge governments around world to halt ‘environmental vandalism’The World Health Organization (WHO) and almost 200 other health associations have made an unprecedented call for a global fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty.A call to action published on Wednesday, urges governments to agree a legally binding plan to phase out fossil fuel exploration and production, similar to the framework convention on tobacco, which was negotiated under the WHO’s auspices in 2003. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani climate justice reporter on (#63KS9)
Letter from Goldman prize winners aims to block country’s bid to join UN’s human rights council over its jailing of campaignersMore than 50 winners of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize are calling on the UN to reject a bid by Vietnam to join the international organization’s human rights council (UNHRC) amid a crackdown on the country’s climate activists.In a letter sent on Wednesday, 52 past winners of the Goldman prize for environmentalists have urged the UNHRC to vote against the application from Vietnam, where authorities have this year jailed four climate leaders on disputed tax charges. Continue reading...
Goldman laureates raise concerns over Vietnam’s record on suppressing environmental protestMore than 50 Goldman environmental prize laureates from 41 countries have written to the UN human rights council as it considers admitting Vietnam as a new member.In the letter, which comes as the council meets for its 51st session (12 September – 7 October), the prize winners raise concerns over Vietnam’s human rights record, in particular the sentencing in June of Nguy Thi Khanh, a fellow Goldman prize winner and Vietnam’s best-known environmental advocate, to two years’ imprisonment for alleged tax evasion. Continue reading...
Heavy rain compounds decades-long environmental catastrophe at country’s largest freshwater lakeMaula Bakhsh Mala’s village was submerged by Lake Manchar for the third time last week. “What bad luck we have,” said the 68-year-old fisher. “When there is no water in the lake, we are starving. When there is plenty of water, we are drowning.”Late last month, after weeks of heavy rain and flooding, Pakistan declared a state of emergency. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has described the rain as a “monsoon on steroids”. Earlier this month, satellite images showed one-third of the country has experienced severe flooding. Continue reading...
Ruling on Maya Bay, on Ko Phi Phi Leh, comes decades after local authorities filed lawsuit over environmental harmMore than two decades after the Hollywood film The Beach was shot at Thailand’s glittering Maya Bay, the kingdom’s supreme court has ordered officials to press ahead with environmental rehabilitation work.The 2000 adventure drama, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, drew criticism for the impact of the shoot on the once pristine sands of the bay, located on the island of Ko Phi Phi Leh in southern Thailand. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Leaked documents reveal water firms are considering drastic measures to combat droughtBans on filling public swimming pools, maintaining ponds, washing cars and cleaning offices and shops could be put in place as England continues to run out of water, the Guardian can reveal.Despite recent showery periods, the country, particularly in the south and east, has not received enough rain to refill depleted rivers and reservoirs. Continue reading...
Pork costs in China, the world’s biggest consumer, rose an average of 22.5% last monthThe price of Chinese pork surged to a new high in August, prompting authorities to take the year’s first dip into national meat reserves to ensure supply for the holidays.Pork costs in China rose an average of 22.5% last month, compared with last year. It followed the highest recorded month-on-month increase of 25.6% in July, as CPI also hit a two-year high of 2.7%. August’s rise occurred despite an unexpected slowdown of CPI inflation to 2.5%. Continue reading...
Draft regulation includes windfall tax on ‘surplus’ profits from oil and gas companiesThe EU executive is retreating from imposing a price cap on Russian gas, but pushing ahead with windfall taxes on energy company “surplus” profits, according to a leaked document.A draft regulation on the “electricity emergency tool” seen by the Guardian contains neither a price cap on Russian gas nor on imported gas, after member states were unable to agree on restrictions last week. The EU is expected to levy windfall taxes on the high profits of fossil fuel companies, with a separate cap on revenues of low-carbon electricity producers. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#63J6S)
New report explains benefits of adopting more efficient technology and warns failure to do so could mean climate chaosAdopting more efficient and low-carbon technology could create 29m new jobs and double the turnover of the chemicals industry, one of the world’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide, according to a new report.Failure to do so could condemn the world to climate chaos, however, as the climbing emissions from the manufacture of chemicals could result in a global temperature rise of as much as 4C above pre-industrial levels, which would bring catastrophe. Continue reading...
Strict no-take policies urged by scientists, who note there is less protection in 59% of marine protected areas than outside MPAsThe waters of the EU are in a “dismal” state, with only a third of fish populations studied in the north-east Atlantic considered to be in good condition, according to more than 200 scientists and conservationists.The analysis, issued on Monday, follows a scathing report from the European court of auditors two years ago, which warned that the EU had failed to halt marine biodiversity loss in Europe’s waters and to restore fishing to sustainable levels. Continue reading...
Experts warn of reduced yields for some crops, with low rainfall continuing into the sowing periodThere is a risk of food shortages in the UK this winter, experts have said, as the drought and high gas prices put pressure on farmers.While growers who use glasshouses are either not sowing or waiting until spring when there are more daylight hours, the crops that would usually have sustained the country during fallow periods, such as cabbages, carrots and potatoes, are likely to have reduced yields because of the drought, the Guardian understands. Continue reading...