Public will have chance to weigh in on details of plan, with transportation accounting for 40% of state greenhouse gas emissionsWashington state will follow California and prohibit the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, Jay Inslee, the state governor, said.California regulators on Thursday moved forward with a landmark plan to phase out the sale of gas cars over the next 13 years in the US’s largest auto market. Continue reading...
Work to begin in coming weeks in move that emphasises ties between Viktor Orbán and Vladimir PutinHungary has announced that the €12.5bn (£10.6bn) construction of two nuclear reactors by Russia’s Rosatom will begin in the coming weeks after regulators approved the project.The war in Ukraine has not deterred Hungary’s interest in the project to add to the four reactors already operating at the Paks plant outside Budapest. Continue reading...
The Environmental Protection Agency wants to include two common ‘forever chemicals’ in Superfund lawThe Biden administration on Friday announced a new proposal that could force polluters of two common PFAS compounds to pay billions of dollars for the toxic substances’ cleanup.The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law, the statute that guides cleanup at the nation’s most contaminated sites. Continue reading...
Lib Dems say investment will end up on customers’ bills and public will be paying for executives’ bonusesThe UK government’s strategy to tackle sewage discharges is a “cruel joke”, critics have said, after ministers laid out plans to stop the pollution.George Eustice, the environment secretary, announced that water companies would have to invest £56bn over 25 years into a long-term programme to tackle storm sewage discharges by 2050. Continue reading...
Authorities say more than 900 killed and 220,000 homes destroyed in worst monsoon rains disaster for a decadeHeavy rain has pounded large areas of Pakistan as the government declared an emergency to deal with monsoon flooding it said had affected more than 30 million people.The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year it also brings a wave of destruction. Continue reading...
Peter Purves says innovation to cut waste is a disaster for amateur arts and craftsPeter Purves has decried the invention of tubeless toilet rolls as a “complete catastrophe” as it deprives the public of a key component of amateur arts and crafts.Loo paper brand Cushelle has become the first company to remove the cardboard inner tube from its packaging in an attempt to reduce waste. Continue reading...
A journey down the waterway in an area of outstanding natural beauty highlights troubles facing UK riversThe thick mist hangs low over the high moor where the river rises from a boggy wilderness. It rushes over granite slabs and waterfalls down rocks, pooling alongside small oaks amid the coconut tang of yellow gorse, before picking up pace once more, fed, at last, by a few days of rain.Twenty-three miles downstream its brackish flow swooshes at pace into a steep-sided estuary where paddleboarders ride the tidal motion and surfers run into the swell of Bigbury Bay. Continue reading...
‘Really lousy’ garden wins contest on island of Gotland that aims to promote water conservationResidents of Sweden’s largest island have been competing to determine which of them has the ugliest lawn.The competition is an effort by the municipality of Gotland to promote water conservation. After the island, located in the middle of the Baltic Sea, received a record-breaking number of visitors and residents last summer, its politicians realised that it needed to make drastic changes to save its water supplies. Gotland’s population doubles during the summer months and this places a heavy demand on water reserves and limited groundwater supplies. Continue reading...
US government’s 2020-2025 guidance is meat- and dairy-heavy. Experts say that isn’t sustainableTo keep the climate habitable, most scientists agree that switching to renewable energy alone isn’t enough – Americans also need to change the way they eat. Environmental and public health advocates are pushing a new strategy to help get there: including climate breakdown in the official US dietary guidelines, which shape what goes into billions of meals eaten across the country every year.Every five years, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services jointly publish a new version of the guidelines. They form the basis for the public-facing eating guide MyPlate, formerly MyPyramid, as well as many government-backed meal programs, such as National School Lunch. Historically, these guidelines have narrowly focused on human nutrition, but some are now saying they should be expanded to incorporate climate considerations as well. Continue reading...
In California’s Bay-Delta, civil rights are inextricable from water rights, a coalition says – and a way of life is on the lineIn the Bay-Delta, the watershed formed by the two mighty rivers at the heart of California’s water system – the Sacramento and the San Joaquin – signs of worsening climate conditions intensify year after year.Once abundant species of plants and animals that call these spaces home are disappearing. Flourishing toxic algal blooms threaten the health of the rivers and the people who live near them. As temperatures surge, there’s even less water to go around. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani in Monroe county, West Virginia and O on (#62Y0V)
The fossil-fuel friendly senator has resurrected the Mountain Valley pipeline, leaving residents with a bitter pill to swallowTaking on the fossil fuel industry in West Virginia was always going to be a David v Goliath type battle, but after years of protests, lobbying and lawsuits, 68-year-old Becky Crabtree thought the community-led resistance had beaten the Mountain Valley pipeline (MVP) in a fair fight.So when news broke earlier in August that the state’s fossil-fuel friendly senator Joe Manchin had resurrected the beleaguered pipeline, Crabtree, a high school science teacher who teaches students about the climate crisis, felt “numb”. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#62XZ2)
Exclusive: Experts warn drought could be start of three-year cycle with dire impacts on wildlife and environmentRiver-flow rates in England have been lower this summer than at any time in the past 21 years, data has shown, and could be much worse next year, with dire impacts on wildlife and the natural environment, conservation experts have warned.Analysis since 2002 of England’s groundwater, reservoir levels and river flows – three key indicators for the severity of drought, and for river health – shows that July this year was the worst in that period.Tell us what you think about the Guardian’s climate reporting – it takes just two minutes Continue reading...
Environmental activists stage sit-down protests, blocking entrances and gluing themselves to pumpsEnvironmental protesters have taken action at petrol stations in central London, vandalising pumps, blockading entrances and spray painting “no new oil” across signs.The Just Stop Oil campaign said 51 of its supporters took part in the demonstrations at seven petrol stations on Friday morning. Some groups staged sit-down protests at entrances or glued themselves to pumps, while others moved from station to station damaging pumps. Continue reading...
Scientists in the Canary Islands and Portugal are collecting water from fog to enable reforestation of degraded landscapesAs summer fires continue to devastate huge areas of woodland in Spain, France and Portugal, and drought plagues Europe and the UK leaving tens of thousands of acres at risk of desertification, some scientists are busy collecting fog.The EU-backed Life Nieblas project (niebla is Spanish for fog) is using fog collectors in Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands, and Portugal, to improve degraded landscape and fuel reforestation. Continue reading...
Conservationists welcome successful breeding season but say birds remain at risk of being illegally killedNearly 120 rare hen harrier chicks have fledged in England this year, the highest number for more than a century, England’s conservation agency has said.Natural England and its partners recorded 119 hen harrier chicks successfully fledging from nests across uplands in County Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and Yorkshire. A fledgling is a young bird that has grown enough to acquire its initial flight feathers and is preparing to leave the nest and care for itself. Continue reading...
Supermarket chain says taking ‘different but perfectly good’ produce will help support farmersLidl and Waitrose will start selling “wonky” fruit and vegetables that have been “stunted” by UK drought conditions as part of efforts to support farmers struggling with the driest summer for 50 years.Lidl said it had written to its British suppliers who may need extra support, and would try to accommodate produce hit by extreme weather, even if it was different from what shoppers were used to. Continue reading...
Extreme heatwaves will be more common by end of decade unless more is done to cut emissions, say expertsThe record-breaking heatwaves seen across much of the world in recent months will become increasingly common by the end of the decade, according to research.Experts say how hot they will be is “hugely” dependent on our ability to curb carbon emissions in the next few years. Continue reading...
Post-Brexit UK accused of abandoning international obligations to protect marine life and human healthBritain is threatening human health, marine life and fishing by releasing raw sewage into the Channel and the North Sea, say three French Euro MPs.They have asked the European Commission to seek “political and legal” measures to stop the pollution, accusing the UK of abandoning international environmental regulations. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Projects which would have cut annual electricity bills by £100m turned downSolar farms are being refused planning permission in Great Britain at the highest rate in five years, analysis has found, with projects which would have cut £100m off annual electricity bills turned down in the past 18 months.Planning permission for 23 solar farms was refused across England, Wales and Scotland between January 2021 and July 2022, which could have produced enough renewable energy to power an estimated 147,000 homes annually, according to analysis of government figures by the planning and development consultancy Turley. Continue reading...
Yellow warning in place for London, south-east, east of England and east Midlands, with flooding likelyTorrential downpours have battered parts of the UK as yellow thunderstorm warnings were in place for London and the south-east, the east of England and the east Midlands until 3pm on Thursday.The Environment Agency has issued six alerts for areas where “flooding is possible”. Forecasters have predicted flooding to be likely amid “intense downpours” and have warned that 50mm (1.97in) of rain could fall in a short space of time in some areas, with one part of Essex being hit by more than 25mm of rain in one hour. Continue reading...
Endangered species enjoys best summer in 150 years thanks to habitat restoration schemeThe large blue butterfly has enjoyed its best summer for 150 years in Britain thanks to targeted restoration work, which is also benefiting other rare insects including the rugged oil beetle and the shrill carder bee.The butterfly, which became extinct in Britain in 1979 but was reintroduced via caterpillars from Sweden four years later, flew in its greatest numbers in June this year since records began. Continue reading...
Move designed to secure energy supplies would mark a dramatic shift in Japan’s policy stance held since 2011 reactor meltdownJapan is considering building next-generation nuclear reactors and restarting idled plants in a major policy shift, 11 years after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant rocked the country’s dependence on atomic energy.The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said he had directed a government panel to look into how “next-generation nuclear reactors equipped with new safety mechanisms” could be used to help Japan achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. His “green transformation” council is expected to report back by the end of the year, he said on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Plan risks catastrophic failure of cooling systems, says head of Ukraine’s atomic energy companyA detailed plan has been drawn up by Russia to disconnect Europe’s largest nuclear plant from Ukraine’s power grid, risking a catastrophic failure of its cooling systems, the Guardian has been told.World leaders have called for the Zaporizhzhia site to be demilitarised after footage emerged of Russian army vehicles inside the plant, and have previously warned Russia against cutting it off from the Ukrainian grid and connecting it up to the Russian power network. Continue reading...
Italian government ordered to compensate UK firm after exploration forbidden within 12 miles of coastA corporate tribunal has ordered the Italian government to pay more than £210m to the UK oil company Rockhopper as compensation for an offshore oil drilling ban.Rockhopper’s case was launched after the Italian government banned oil exploration and production within a 12 mile-limit off Italy’s coast in 2015, scotching the company’s planned Ombrina Mare oilfield. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#62VX2)
Surge of about 20% this year due to system that concentrates power and profits in hands of few companiesFood price rises around the world are the result of a “broken” food system that is failing the poor and concentrating power and profits in the hands of a few, food experts have said.Rising food prices are causing widespread suffering in developing countries, and even in the rich world the combination of high food and fuel prices threatens hardship for millions. Continue reading...
Surge in festivals after Covid lull risks making green spaces elitist as councils try to offset tightened budgetsCash-strapped councils are increasingly hiring out their green spaces to festivals, an expert has warned, blocking them off from residents for weeks at a time, damaging grass and causing congestion.Councils were “more desperate than ever” to attract commercial income to supplement their reduced budgets after a pandemic hiatus, risking making public parks “more exclusive and more elitist” in the process. Continue reading...
Latest supermarket to reduce labelling says removal from nearly 250 products will also save customers moneyAsda is to remove “best before” dates from almost 250 fresh fruit and vegetable products as it joins a movement among supermarkets to help customers cut waste and save money.The supermarket will leave the notes off produce including citrus fruits, potatoes, cauliflowers and carrots across all its UK stores from 1 September. Continue reading...
Civil society groups say covert screening process excluded government’s criticsA group of Egyptian civil society organisations have been prevented from attending the Cop27 climate summit by a covert registration process that filtered out groups critical of the Egyptian government.Egypt’s foreign, environment and social solidarity ministries privately selected and screened NGOs that would be permitted to apply for one-time registration for Cop27, a separate process from applications for official observer status, which closed last year. Continue reading...
Environmental activists take action at Cobham services in Surrey, Clacket Lane in Kent and Thurrock in EssexEnvironmental protesters have blocked three service stations on the M25 in a second day of action this week attempting to put pressure on the government to end new oil and gas projects.According to the Just Stop Oil campaign, 32 of its supporters took action from 5am at Cobham services in Surrey, Clacket Lane services in Kent and Thurrock services in Essex. Continue reading...
Local authorities told to take measures and ‘use every unit of water carefully’ in effort to save autumn harvestA drought in China is threatening food production, prompting the government to order local authorities to take all available measures to ensure crops survive the hottest summer on record.On Tuesday, four government departments issued an urgent joint emergency notice, warning that the autumn harvest was under “severe threat”. It urged local authorities to ensure “every unit of water … be used carefully”, and called for methods included staggered irrigation, the diversion of new water sources, and cloud seeding. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#62V45)
Ukrainian campaigners call for immediate end to investments, to cut funds to war and help avoid climate breakdownUS and UK financial institutions have been among the leading investors in Russian “carbon bomb” fossil fuel projects, according to a new database of holdings from recent years.Campaigners in Ukraine said these institutions must immediately end such investments, to limit the funding of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to avoid climate breakdown. Continue reading...
Exclusion zone set up around Noah’s Ark sanctuary in US amid outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 strainBird flu has killed hundreds of wild black vultures at a Georgia sanctuary that houses more than 1,500 other animals.At least 700 black vultures have died, Noah’s Ark animal care manager Allison Hedgecoth told WXIA-TV. State workers euthanized 20 to 30 other birds, she said. Continue reading...
Climate experts warn temporary increases in water levels will not mitigate a crisis that has been years in the makingFlash floods hitting the American south-west in recent days have shuttered parts of national parks including in Moab and Zion, closed highways in Colorado, submerged cars in Texas and trapped tourists in a New Mexico cave. A young woman remains missing after being swept away while hiking in Zion on Friday.But the destructive deluges have not been enough to relieve the drought and the continued pressure on water resources, experts say. Even strong storms are unable to overcome dry conditions that are decades in the making. Continue reading...
Environment | The Guardian