Thursday: Covid-19 led Australia to record 3,105 more deaths than expected in January and February. Plus: UK prime minister told to step down by his own ministers

Homes, roads, bridges and power stations also badly hit with Balochistan province faring worstAt least 77 people have died in rain-related incidents across Pakistan in the past three weeks, the country’s minister for climate change said on Wednesday.The monsoon rains have also damaged homes, roads, bridges and power stations, Sherry Rehman told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad, as storms continued to lash the country. Continue reading...

Operator of Yorkshire plant reaches deal as part of government’s push to shore up UK’s energy suppliesDrax has agreed to extend the life of its coal-fired electricity generation units through this winter as the government scrambles to shore up Britain’s energy supplies.The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said the operator of the Yorkshire power station had agreed to push its planned closure back by six months until March. Continue reading...

University of Cambridge researchers find amphibians dwelling as high as 3 metres above groundScientists hunting for dormice have been surprised to find toads sleeping in their nest boxes, high up in the trees.A study has for the first time revealed the frequency with which the common toad nests and breeds in the trees. Continue reading...

Analysts caution changes in the manner of reports need to be considered when examining the data

Resilience is a byword in this NSW region where the second-worst flood in history has claimed new ground

Water over-extraction can have ‘huge consequences’ as seen in the Menindee Lakes fish kills, says academic

Victims not yet identified; death toll from Marmolada collapse now stands at nineTwo bodies have been found as rescuers searched for people missing since Sunday’s fatal avalanche on the Marmolada, the largest glacier in the Italian Dolomites.The victims have not yet been identified, but are believed to be part of the same group of climbers, according to Italian media reports. Continue reading...

UK regulator gave oil firm clearance to drop thousands of tonnes of pipes and cables after drilling finishedBP has been accused of dumping industrial waste at sea after starting to drop thousands of tonnes of oil pipes in a legally protected marine wildlife zone in the Atlantic.Confidential documents seen by the Guardian show the oil company sought approval to dump 14 pipes and control cables 120 miles west of Shetland after finishing drilling at the site. Continue reading...

Parliament backs plan to classify some projects as clean power investmentsThe European parliament has backed plans to label gas and nuclear energy as “green”, rejecting appeals from prominent Ukrainians and climate activists that the proposals are a gift to Vladimir Putin.One senior MEP said the vote was a “dark day for the climate”, while experts said the EU had set a dangerous precedent for countries to follow. Continue reading...

Guardian analysis of water samples taken in nine US locations shows test agency uses is likely missing significant levels of PFAS pollutantsA Guardian analysis of water samples from around the United States shows that the type of water testing relied on by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is so limited in scope that it is probably missing significant levels of PFAS pollutants.The undercount leaves regulators with an incomplete picture of the extent of PFAS contamination and reveals how millions of people may be facing an unknown health risk in their drinking water. Continue reading...

Biden’s election was billed as heralding a ‘climate presidency’ but congressional and judicial roadblocks mean he has little to showJoe Biden’s election triggered a global surge in optimism that the climate crisis would, finally, be decisively confronted. But the US supreme court’s decision last week to curtail America’s ability to cut planet-heating emissions has proved the latest blow to a faltering effort by Biden on climate that is now in danger of becoming largely moribund.The supreme court’s ruling that the US government could not use its existing powers to phase out coal-fired power generation without “clear congressional authorization” quickly ricocheted around the world among those now accustomed to looking on in dismay at America’s seemingly endless stumbles in addressing global heating. Continue reading...

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The Portland Bay had sparked fears of an environmental catastrophe after experiencing engine failure in rough weather

Vast body of water sets second record low water level in less than a year putting birds and $1.3bn lake-based economy at riskThe Great Salt Lake has hit a new historic low for the second time in less than a year, a dire milestone as the US west continues to weather a historic mega-drought.The Utah department of natural resources said in a news release on Monday that the Great Salt Lake dipped over the weekend to 4,190.1ft (1,277.1 meters). Continue reading...

Conditions set to ease from Thursday as scientists predict ‘increasingly common’ intense weather events as a result of global heating

Protesters from the coalition have staged disruptions at major British museums five times in the past weekFive supporters of the Just Stop Oil coalition have glued themselves to a 500-year-old depiction of The Last Supper in London’s Royal Academy, the fifth time in a week that it has disrupted a major British art institution.The activists struck just before noon, supergluing their hands to the frame of the 3-metre-long painting – a reproduction of the Leonardo da Vinci original attributed to his pupil, Giampietrino. Continue reading...

Peak at Sonnblick in Austrian Alps has melted more than a month before previous record timeThe snow at the highest observatory in the world to be operated all-year-round is expected to completely melt in the next few days, the earliest time on record.Scientists at the Sonnblick observatory in the Austrian Central Alps, which is 3,106 metres (10,190ft) above sea level, have been shocked and dismayed to see the snow depleting so quickly. Continue reading...

Parts of New South Wales have had more than 700mm of rain since the floods hit, with record July rainfall in a matter of days

We may be approaching a legal tipping point for fossil fuel companies and the spin masters that work for themIn 2005, I was the lead counsel on behalf of the US in one of the biggest corporate accountability legal actions ever filed. That trial proved that the tobacco industry knew it was selling and marketing a harmful product, that it had funded denial of public health science, and had used deceptive advertising and PR to protect assets instead of protecting consumers.Today, the fossil fuel industry finds itself in the same precarious legal position as the tobacco industry did in the late 1990s. The behaviour and goals of the tobacco and petroleum industries are pretty similar – and there are many similarities in their liabilities.Sharon Y Eubanks served as lead council in the federal tobacco litigation United States v Philip Morris USA, et al. She is the co-author of Bad Acts: The Racketeering Case Against the Tobacco Industry Continue reading...

In the glare of history, failure on climate will overshadow any other fact about their tenure. Let’s hope they feel the heat as much as we doOn Thursday, the supreme court of the United States struck down the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, sharply limiting the federal government’s ability to fight climate change.With Earth’s temperature rising steadily, with the scientific community shouting at the top of its lungs for more aggressive action, with fires and hurricanes pushing entire regions beyond the bounds of human habitability, the court’s Republican-appointed supermajority has chosen to actively inhibit our ability to respond to the crisis. The decision was in keeping with the Republican party’s deepening climate nihilism: as the train careens off the rails, they strangle the conductor, destroy the brakes.Daniel Sherrell is the author of Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World (Penguin Books) and a climate activist Continue reading...

Unpublished government records show rise in poultry products testing positive for salmonella infantis

How one couple helped save vast areas of wilderness in the 1940s – and provided a map for protecting them today“This is your land we are talking about,” the controversial, firebrand historian and conservationist Bernard DeVoto wrote in 1947, paraphrasing Woody Guthrie’s fresh folk classic.Bernard and his stylish, sharp-witted wife, Avis DeVoto, had returned from an epic road trip across the Lewis and Clark trail, crossing the states of the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. On their way, they researched America’s wild, public lands and philosophized about the spiritual connection between the freedom of movement they allowed and the freedom of thought they inspired. Continue reading...

Entangled humpbacks freed at Kirra beach on the Gold Coast and Marcoola beach on the Sunshine Coast during whale migration

The cat-sized nocturnal marsupials, which are unique to Australia, live in areas from north Queensland to central Victoria

Supply and demand shocks seem likely to keep prices up despite fears of recession in US and EuropeOver the past two and a half years, world oil and gas prices have been subject to demand shocks and supply shocks – and sometimes both simultaneously. The resulting volatility in energy markets is a reflection and a microcosm of a careening global economy.The price of Brent crude oil declined from a “normal” $68 a barrel at the end of 2019 to $14 a barrel in April 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic spread worldwide. Two years later, in March 2022, the price soared to $133 a barrel after Russia invaded Ukraine. Now it is falling again amid growing fears of a recession in the US. But the price could rise sharply if the Chinese economy bounces back from the stupor induced by its zero-Covid policies. Continue reading...

December clash of biodiversity talks in Montreal and World Cup in Qatar will cause ‘embarrassment’ if ministers fail to act wisely

Greenhouse gas has undergone rapid acceleration and scientists say it may be due to atmospheric changesMethane is four times more sensitive to global warming than previously thought, a new study shows. The result helps to explain the rapid growth in methane in recent years and suggests that, if left unchecked, methane related warming will escalate in the decades to come.The growth of this greenhouse gas – which over a 20 year timespan is more than 80 times as potent than carbon dioxide – had been slowing since the turn of the millennium but since 2007 has undergone a rapid rise, with measurements from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recording it passing 1,900 parts a billion last year, nearly triple pre-industrial levels. Continue reading...

SES perform 252 flood rescues overnight and thousands urged to evacuate as threat of inundation remains in Hawkesbury and Nepean

Five ‘areas of search’ in the Celtic Sea could be developed and offered to businesses by 2023Floating windfarms could be built off the coasts of Cornwall and Pembrokeshire after the Queen’s property manager identified a clutch of sites in the Celtic Sea that could host them.The crown estate, which generates money for the Treasury and the royal family, has published five “areas of search” that will be narrowed into development plots to host wind power generation. Continue reading...

Draft mining plan flagged ‘net zero emissions’ for mining sector, but this was dropped from final document

Footage shows ‘significant fire’ at building, just over a week after a gas blast killed a woman in BirminghamAt least one person has died and three others have been taken to hospital after what was described as an “inferno” in a block of flats, Bedfordshire police said.Ch Supt John Murphy said it was possible more deaths will be discovered in the coming days as emergency services search the scene, with some people unaccounted for at the block at Redwood Grove in Bedford. Continue reading...

Campaigners from Just Stop Oil pressure group reimagine The Hay Wain by John ConstableSupporters of Just Stop Oil have once again glued themselves to a significant artwork in a major UK gallery, a day after invading the track at Silverstone and disrupting the British Grand Prix.Just before 2.30pm, two young supporters of the campaign stepped over a rope barrier keeping the public at the National Gallery in London a safe distance from The Hay Wain, by John Constable. Continue reading...

Government proposals would also add protections for local communities and impose new controls on land salesScotland’s largest landowners will be forced to pay fines if they fail to protect nature, local communities and the climate under new land reform proposals.Landowners who control estates in Scotland larger than 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) will also face losing farming, forestry and conservation subsidies if they fail to meet the Scottish government’s policies on nature restoration or community empowerment. Continue reading...

Effects of human-caused global heating are blocking vital winter rains, with severe implications for farming and tourismSpain and Portugal are suffering their driest climate for at least 1,200 years, according to research, with severe implications for both food production and tourism.Most rain on the Iberian peninsula falls in winter as wet, low-pressure systems blow in from the Atlantic. But a high-pressure system off the coast, called the Azores high, can block the wet weather fronts. Continue reading...

Brazilian president’s dismantling of environmental safeguards partly to blame, says politician leading inquiryJair Bolsonaro’s demolition of Brazil’s Indigenous and environmental protection services and “surrender of the Amazon to crooks” played a direct role in the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, the politician leading a congressional inquiry into the crime has claimed.One month after the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous advocate were killed on the River Itaquaí, three men are in custody: two local fishermen and a third man called Jeferson da Silva Lima. Continue reading...

Tug boats arrive as NSW port authority hopes to tow Portland Bay bulk carrier to ‘deep, safe water’; SES says evacuation orders and warnings covering 32,000 people to stay in place; nation records 26 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Bowston is the largest river barrier removal planned for the UK this year and will allow fish and other species to move more freelyNearly 150 years after it was built for a paper mill, work has begun to demolish a 3-metre-high weir in Cumbria as part of nationwide efforts to improve biodiversity by allowing fish and invertebrates to move more freely along the UK’s rivers.Bowston weir lies across the River Kent, an internationally important site of special scientific interest, home to white-clawed crayfish and freshwater pearl mussels, as well as water crowfoot, an oxygenating aquatic plant. But the river is in poor condition due to human interference over the centuries. Continue reading...

‘Deception’ gives false impression firms are addressing climate crisis, says Emma Howard BoydWidespread greenwashing by businesses is compromising efforts to prepare for climate impacts such as floods and heatwaves, the chair of the Environment Agency will say in a speech on Monday.Emma Howard Boyd, addressing the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment Annual Forum, will warn businesses are embedding liability and storing up risk for their investors by giving the false impression they are addressing the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Funding model also criticised for letting factories ‘off the hook’ with planning decision due this weekThe UK government has been criticised for exposing low-income households to the cost of building the Sizewell C nuclear power plant while letting factories “off the hook” as a crucial planning decision is due this week.If given the green light, the government hopes to use a regulated asset base (RAB) funding model to finance the project, which is being proposed by the French energy firm EDF. Continue reading...

Boom clouded by supply chain disruption, a fragmented industry as well as ethical issues“It’s hot,” says Steve Springett, a director of the renewable energy brand Egg, cheerily assessing the solar market. “There’s two key factors: people are understanding the environmental benefits of it better, and energy is really, really expensive at the moment.”Consumer interest has increased in recent months as Britons hunt for ways to cut huge energy bills. A reduction in VAT on energy efficient systems from 5% to nothing this spring has added to the appeal of solar power. Continue reading...

Grunion run has fascinated scientists and locals for decades, but their future is threatened by the climate crisisOn certain nights on a quiet California beach, thousands of small, silvery fish gather in the moonlight to perform a unique mating ritual.Known as the “grunion run”, the spectacle is one of the lesser known natural wonders of the US west coast. Grunion are a rare fish species that come ashore to spawn, and during the months of April to August they cover beaches from Baja California to Santa Barbara like a glittering carpet, wriggling in the sand to lay and fertilize eggs just after the highest tide of a full or new moon. Continue reading...

Party makes promise amid reports UK is falling behind European rivals in production capacity for EVsLabour has pledged to create at least 30,000 jobs by promising to build three gigafactories for electric car battery production in Britain by 2025, as it warned the country was falling behind its European competitors in the race to ditch petrol power.Amid recent reports that Britain faces a battle to hold on to the production of electric vehicles (EVs) made by manufacturers already in the UK, the party has committed itself to a major expansion of the part-financing of gigafactories. It follows research suggesting countries such as Germany, which already has a huge car industry, are significantly ahead in establishing the plants. Continue reading...

Policy would ban new ocean drilling but allow up to 11 lease sales in Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coastJoe Biden’s administration on Friday unveiled a five-year offshore oil and gas drilling development plan that blocks all new drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans within US territorial waters while allowing some lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast.The plan, which has not been finalized, could allow up to 11 lease sales but gives the interior department the right to make none. It comes two days after the US supreme court curbed the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to respond to the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Methods of keeping living spaces warm range from cheap gap-sealing to expensive double-glazing, but the first step is to find and see the problemIt’s minus four degrees when scientist Jenny Edwards arrives to inspect my bitterly cold Canberra home. Huddled inside with a coffee, dressed for an ascent to Everest base camp, I’m fretting over whether she’ll make it past the front deck. It’s iced over again.I’m breathing fog in the kitchen and frost has covered the bay window in my bedroom. Continue reading...

Training programmes for working dogs and pets are aimed at protecting the flightless bird’s dwindling numbers, but they come at a costTip, a young hunting dog, pads up a goat track through New Zealand’s damp forest undergrowth, alert and excited as her nose hoovers the ground for smells. She stops suddenly to investigate an irresistible scent – the sweet, musty aroma of kiwi.Tip is allowed a moment to inhale before a low-level electric pulse, issued from a collar, warns her that this bird is out of bounds. She briefly recoils, the electric signal enough to form an immediate negative association with the smell. Continue reading...

Sizewell C proposal will power 6m homes but could pose a threat to Minsmere nature reserve, the RSPB’s jewel in the crownThe Bittern Hide at the RSPB’s Minsmere reserve was doing steady business last Wednesday. More than a dozen birdwatchers were crammed into the elevated shelter which overlooks a broad band of heath, freshwater pools and reed beds stretching to the Suffolk coast. Marsh harriers swirled overhead and an occasional bittern swept across the landscape. In front of another nearby hide, avocets waded leisurely across a lagoon. Minsmere is an ornithologist’s paradise.But a threat hangs over its wildlife glories. In a few days, the government is set to announce its decision on whether to allow the Sizewell C nuclear power plant to be built by EDF on land that overlooks the 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) reserve. Continue reading...

When second world war-era storage tanks leaked into Hawaii residents’ water supply in December thousands got sickBeginning in December, US army Major Amanda Feindt and her family found themselves in and out of Tripler army medical center in Honolulu. First, her husband for debilitating ocular migraines, then her four-year-old daughter, who was vomiting with severe abdominal pain, then her one-year-old for chemical burns, and later herself when she started experiencing crippling back pain that prevented her from being able to walk, among other troubling symptoms.The Feindts were only four of thousands who reportedly sickened after 19,000 gallons of jet fuel from the US navy’s second world war-era underground fuel storage facility leaked into one of Oahu’s main drinking water aquifers. The contamination has led to a major water crisis in the Pacific, affecting more than 93,0000 people. Continue reading...

Exclusive: António Guterres says growing north and south divide is ‘morally unacceptable’ and dangerousHumanity is facing a “perfect storm” of crises that is widening inequality between the north and south, the UN secretary general has warned. The divide is not only “morally unacceptable” but dangerous, further threatening peace and security in a conflicted world.The global food, energy and financial crises unleashed by the war in Ukraine have hit countries already reeling from the pandemic and the climate crisis, reversing what had been a growing convergence between developed and developing countries, António Guterres said. Continue reading...