Environment | The Guardian

The singer-songwriter and UN environment ambassador is a self-confessed ‘nature nerd’ and urges her fans to get ‘stuck in’ to ecological activism

The Diablo Canyon facility, which provides 9% of the state’s energy, was due to shutter in 2025, but the state’s energy crunch could save itCalifornia’s last nuclear plant was nearing the end of its life.Tucked against picturesque bluffs along California’s central coast, the aging facility known as Diablo Canyon began operating in 1985. It was designed for a different era, with analog knobs and systems that no longer comply with the state’s environmental standards. The plant has faced controversies over its impact on underwater ecosystems, the production of toxic waste and its proximity to earthquake fault lines – and its planned closure by 2025 seemed an all-but-certain step in California’s ambitious journey toward a greener future. Continue reading...

Analysis reveals 73% of remaining fragments of rare temperate rainforest in England are not under protectionNearly three-quarters of England’s remaining temperate rainforests do not have any official protection, according to new analysis, as a campaign urges the public to help identify, protect and expand what remains.Just 18,870 hectares (46,624 acres) survives in England from an ecosystem that once stretched from Cornwall to the west of Scotland, having slowly been cleared by humans over the centuries. Seventy-three per cent of the country’s remaining fragments of temperate rainforest, a species-rich habitat, are not designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), despite their importance for biodiversity. Many are threatened by overgrazing, pollution and invasive species. Continue reading...

Human rights and environment organisations call for police to act ‘responsibly, with integrity’ ahead of planned climate action in Sydney

Housing market posts first monthly decline since September 2020; at least 52 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Lawyers say government is attempting to intimidate pastoralists as thousands flee to Kenya amid escalating row over evictionsTwenty Maasai pastoralists from northern Tanzania have been charged with the murder of a police officer during protests over government plans to use their ancestral land for conservation and a luxury hunting reserve.The officer was allegedly shot by an arrow on 10 June while attempting to demarcate land in Loliondo, which borders Serengeti national park. Continue reading...

National Farmers’ Federation says signing up to US push to limit emissions by 30% could be ‘calamitous’ and jeopardise global food security

Researchers say the return of wolves to Yellowstone in the 1990s kickstarted big changes in habitats. But that narrative is increasingly being challenged

Risk of significant tsunami within next 30 years is nearly 100%, Unesco says, as it urges coastal cities to become ‘tsunami-ready’A tsunami could soon hit major cities on or near the Mediterranean Sea including Marseille, Alexandria and Istanbul, with a nearly 100% chance of a wave reaching more than a metre high in the next 30 years, according to Unesco.The risk of a tsunami in Mediterranean coastal communities is predicted to soar as sea levels rise. While communities in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, where most tsunamis occur, were often aware of the dangers, it was underestimated in other coastal regions, including the Mediterranean, Unesco said. Continue reading...

A meeting between the board, First Nations representatives and environmental activists fails to resolve tensions over the deal, which has been described as ‘artwashing’

Three of the national park’s five entrances have opened as the damage is still being assessed after rare and record floodingPark managers raised the gates at three of Yellowstone national park’s five entrances on Wednesday, reopening part of America’s oldest park for the first time since a devastating deluge caused historic floods that destroyed roads, bridges and buildings earlier this month.Hundreds of cars, trucks and recreational vehicles lined the open entryways in anticipation, an indication that many visitors stuck to their plans despite uncertainty last week about when the park would reopen. Before the extreme weather, park managers were already bracing for the throngs of tourists expected this summer, following its busiest year on record, which drew more than 4.8 million people. Continue reading...

The city famous for its car culture could quit building fossil fuel infrastructure – and it would be the largest city to do so yetLos Angeles could become the largest city to prohibit the construction of new gas stations, joining a movement that seeks to limit fossil fuels at the local level as part of efforts to combat the climate crisis.Officials in America’s second largest city, along with Bethlehem, New York, and Comox valley regional district, British Columbia, said on Wednesday morning that they were working on policies to stop the development of new fossil fuel infrastructure. Continue reading...

Coalition MPs consider the party’s climate target as the Albanese government locks in 43%, and Sky News’s Rowan Dean asks questions that have already been answered

Exclusive: New resources minister also says ‘the pathway from coal to renewables goes only through gas’

Sue Higginson says ‘even inconvenient’ protesting is important for democracy and labels police response ‘extreme’

Retired engineer’s efforts propel Stithians towards multimillion-pound project to link homes to underground low-carbon systemThe environmental evangelising of a retired mechanical engineer, Brian Piper, is bringing a renewable energy revolution to the streets of a small Cornish village.Until now, Stithians, which sits halfway between Redruth and Falmouth, was best known for its annual show, said to be the largest agricultural spectacle in Cornwall. But Piper is determined that in future the village will become known for its role in tackling climate change. Continue reading...

Proposals – the first in 30 years to tackle catastrophic wildlife loss in Europe – include legally binding targets for land, rivers and seaFor the first time in 30 years, legislation has been put forward to address catastrophic wildlife loss in the EU. Legally binding targets for all member states to restore wildlife on land, rivers and the sea were announced today, alongside a crackdown on chemical pesticides.In a boost for UN negotiations on halting and reversing biodiversity loss, targets released by the European Commission include reversing the decline of pollinator populations and restoring 20% of land and sea by 2030, with all ecosystems to be under restoration by 2050. The commission also proposed a target to cut the use of chemical pesticides in half by 2030 and eradicate their use near schools, hospitals and playgrounds. Continue reading...

Brewer says wood- and plant-based design retains same ‘taste and fizziness’ as glass bottlesCarlsberg is to conduct its biggest trial of recyclable fibre beer bottles across Europe.The bottles are made of a wood-based fibre shell and a plant-based polyethylene furanoate (PEF) polymer lining. Continue reading...

Drastic die-back of milk parsley on Norfolk Broads threatens future of swallowtailBritain’s largest butterfly may be at risk from fungal pathogens that have caused a drastic die-back of the rare plant on which its caterpillars feed.The swallowtail is only found breeding at 16 sites in Britain, all on the Norfolk Broads, where milk parsley grows. But last summer more than 90% of the milk parsley plants at one of its breeding sites wilted and died, preventing the plant from setting seed. If milk parsley disappears, the unique subspecies of the swallowtail found in Britain will become extinct. Continue reading...

Wu’s approach to transport is informed by her own life story – as the first mother to run the cityNine months ago, Boston voters elected a history-making mayor. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Michelle Wu became the first woman, first person of color, first mother and first millennial to run the city of Boston.Now she is making headlines for another reason: championing free public transportation as part of a broader focus on affordability and tackling carbon emissions. This March, the city dropped the $1.70 fare for three bus lines that serve predominantly low-income areas and people of color. Amid budgetary concerns, the city will use a Covid-19 relief fund to make up for $8m of lost revenue. Ridership on the first free bus line has soared by 48%, from 47,000 to 70,000 weekly riders. Continue reading...

Dominic Perrottet called on to halt Barilaro appointment pending inquiry; at least 63 Covid deaths recorded nationwide. This blog is now closed

Across the UK and Europe, the ‘parklet’ movement is gaining pace, transforming dead spaces where cars used to be into pockets of greenAs told to Phoebe Weston

Children starving to death ‘before our eyes’ say aid workers as G7 leaders warned only ‘massive’ and urgent funding will avert famineOnly a “massive” and immediate scaling-up of funds and humanitarian relief can save Somalia from famine, a UN spokesperson has warned, as aid workers report children starving to death “before our eyes” amid rapidly escalating levels of malnutrition.In a message to G7 leaders who are meeting from Sunday in Germany, Michael Dunford, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) regional director for east Africa, said governments had to donate urgently and generously if there was to be any hope of avoiding catastrophe in the Horn of Africa country. Continue reading...

‘Big hand of government’ isn’t needed to drive transition, Nationals leader says

Analysis finds 58% of rapeseed oil in Europe is burned for fuel despite soaring prices and climate impactEurope and the UK are pouring 17,000 tons – or about 19 million bottles – of cooking oil into vehicle fuel tanks every day, even though it is up to two-and-a-half times more expensive than before 2021, according to new analysis.The equivalent of another 14 million bottles a day of palm and soy oil – mostly from Indonesia and South America – is also burned for fuel, the research says. Continue reading...

At least two Liberals have indicated they are prepared to cross the floor to support Labor’s legislation to cut emissions 43% by 2030

Former ADF chief backs study saying threats ‘continue to escalate in the absence of far stronger climate action than we have seen thus far’

Australian Conservation Foundation says global heating from fossil fuel development will compound coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef

Government calls in retailer’s plan for site after campaigners say it will release 40,000 tonnes of CO2Marks & Spencer has sparked a public row with Michael Gove, accusing the Conservative cabinet minister of “political grandstanding” after he ordered a public inquiry into its plan to demolish and rebuild its flagship Oxford Street store in London.The retailer said it was “bewildered and disappointed” at “Michael Gove’s baseless decision”, which came after the scheme was granted permission to the displeasure of campaigners, who claimed the project would release 40,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Continue reading...

India’s monsoon season has been worse than usual, sweeping away possessions and leaving people huddling on raised groundPeople living in Assam, in north-east India, are usually stoical about the flooding that occurs to a greater or lesser extent every monsoon season. But this year they say the situation is dramatically worse. “It was like a scene from Titanic,” one man told local media of the rising waters that have flooded all but two of the state’s districts.In some places entire villages are under water, while across the state 114,000 hectares of crops have been submerged and 5,000 livestock have been washed away. For those that remain, fodder is running out. Continue reading...

Environment groups welcome long-awaited deal to curb harmful subsidies but say key measures to curb overfishing were droppedAfter 20 years of failed negotiations, the World Trade Organization has secured a deal to curb harmful subsidies that contribute to overfishing. Conservationists and campaign groups welcomed last week’s agreement as historic, despite criticism of “big holes” in the agreement.The deal was the first concluded in Geneva for all 164 member states of the WTO with “environmental sustainability” at its core, the organisation’s director general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in her closing speech. Continue reading...

A forester, a farmer and a child psychologist have formed a pioneering group to bring even more nature back to their valley

Gas stations are environmental liabilities and hugely expensive to remediate. Electric cars are making gas stations obsoleteWhether or not we’ve all realized it, the era of gasoline-powered cars is rapidly winding to a close – and with it, gas stations and the pollution they bring to communities.People are tired of being forced to pay obscene amounts of money for fuel every time there’s an international incident. Meanwhile, the cost of battery tech is just 10% of what it was a decade ago, and is expected to continue dropping as the decade wears on. And just this month the Biden administration announced its plan for making EV charging stations accessible across the US.Nathan Taft is the digital and communications lead for Stand.earth’s Safe Cities initiative Continue reading...

Faroese firm Bakkafrost claims direct flights to US will cut carbon but critics say air transport is not the answerA salmon farming company has bought a Boeing 757 in a race to get its fresh fish on to the plates of diners in Manhattan in less than 24 hours.The Faroese firm Bakkafrost, which also owns the Scottish Salmon Company, argues it can cut its carbon footprint by flying its own jet across the Atlantic and minimise waste by getting its fish to its US customers faster. Continue reading...

Experts warn ambitious targets for nature must be agreed at UN meeting, moved from China to Canada after two-year waitThe date for a key UN nature summit has finally been confirmed after more than two years of delays and amid fears momentum to halt biodiversity loss across the globe has been lost.Ahead of the latest round of negotiations in Nairobi this week, the UN convention on biological diversity confirmed that the Cop15 biodiversity conference will now take place in Montreal, Canada, from 5 to 17 December, after it became clear China would not be able to host the event in Kunming due to the country’s zero-Covid policy. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology says winter will be wetter than average and a rare three-in-a-row La Niña is still on the cards

Twitter suspends two fake accounts pretending to be Fatima Payman; nation records at least 59 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Car company alleges mistakes of fact and law in appeal against April decision that could result in $2bn damages paid to owners

Oostvaardersplassen reserve reshaped conservation in the 1980s as nature was allowed to take its course, now it is rewilding in a more managed way

Five claimants aged 17-31 want their governments to exit the energy charter treaty, which compensates oil and gas firmsYoung victims of the climate crisis will on Tuesday launch legal action at Europe’s top human rights court against an energy treaty that protects fossil fuel investors.Five people, aged between 17 and 31, who have experienced devastating floods, forest fires and hurricanes are bringing a case to the European court of human rights, where they will argue that their governments’ membership of the little-known energy charter treaty (ECT) is a dangerous obstacle to action on the climate crisis. It is the first time that the Strasbourg court will be asked to consider the treaty, a secretive investor court system that enables fossil fuel companies to sue governments for lost profits. Continue reading...

Conservationists say fine will have ‘little impact’ for Centennial Coal which caused 15 cracks, with the largest 250 metres long

Researchers estimate that carbon emissions from transporting food are about 6% of the global total, with fruit and vegetables the largest contributor

Report finds Australia’s ‘Pacific step-up’ could lack credibility if perceived to be only in response to China’s presence

Experts share their dried and tested tips for making your dryer work more efficiently and last longer

Greens bill being introduced to Victorian parliament would ban all new gas connections from 2025

Minister will release five-yearly report which she says details ‘alarming story’ of native species extinction and cultural heritage loss

Ban on manufacture and import of six popular types of items will begin in December 2022, and sales a year laterCanada laid out its final regulations on Monday spelling out how it intends to apply a ban on plastic bags, straws, takeout containers and other single-use plastics.“Only 8% of the plastic we throw away gets recycled,” said federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos in French, adding that 43,000 tonnes of single-use plastics a year find their way into the environment, most notably in waterways. Continue reading...

Giant stingray snagged by local fisher in Mekong River weighs nearly 300kgThe world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray, has been caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia, according to scientists.The stingray, captured on 13 June, measured almost four metres from snout to tail and weighed just under 300kg, according to a statement on Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-US research project. Continue reading...

Guardian given details about next generation of marine nature reserves where all fishing is bannedFive highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) will this week be created by the government to ban all fishing and rewild the sea, the Guardian has learned.The new generation of marine nature reserves, which are governed by tougher regulations to allow decimated sea life to recover, are being set up close to the coast of Lindisfarne in Northumberland and at Allonby Bay, Cumbria, and at three offshore sites, two in the North Sea and one at Dolphin Head in the Channel. Continue reading...

Its detractors argue it is an indulgence, but rewilding is gaining momentum with projects attracting investors, creating jobs and gaining community supportWhen the Chelsea flower show bestowed its top award this year on a scruffy patch of wet woodland complete with beaver dam, pool and lodge, it was a symbolic moment. Rewilding may still excite or antagonise but here was a radically new way of managing land for nature being embraced by the mainstream – and by the British establishment.Five years ago, European rewilders were bemused by Britain’s debate over whether beavers should be allowed back on to rivers. Today, hundreds, possibly thousands, of beavers are at large – and legal – across the country. Where one English landowner, the Knepp estate in Sussex, first trod the lonely path to abandon conventional farming for free-ranging herbivores and allowing more natural processes to unfurl, scores of landowners of all sizes are now following. Continue reading...