Environment | The Guardian

University of Sydney’s Dr Hoan Dinh finds gene which makes barley resistant to fungal rust, a disease that decreases global food production by a tenth

Bird, named Noble X3C, landed unharmed and made successful first flight three days laterThey are known as agile, powerful and rapid flyers. But a young peregrine falcon has undermined the image of its species after an ungainly tumble from a cathedral tower.Named Noble X3C, the bird is one of four that hatched high on Salisbury Cathedral this spring, and was days away from being big enough to soar gracefully into the Wiltshire sky. Continue reading...

At least 15 people were killed last week and new low pressure system across region will bring more disruptionRecord-breaking rains that have battered parts of China and east Asia in the last week are expected to worsen, with authorities warning of an increased risk of floods.In the first week of China’s flood season, extreme rainfalls have caused floods and landslides, destroyed roads and infrastructure, and led to the deaths of at least 15 people. Floods, landslides and disruptions to water and electricity were reported in Shaoguan, in northern Guangdong province, and more than 800,000 people in Jiangxi were reportedly affected by torrential rains that have so far hit 80 of the province’s counties and damaged more than 76,000 hectares (188,000 acres) of cropland. Continue reading...

Artists, professors and environmentalists appeal to world body to remind council of duty to clean up messCulture sector workers, artists, professors and environmentalists living in Rome’s historic centre have urged Unesco to remind the city’s council of its duty to protect the world heritage site as they decried “mortifying” scenes of rubbish and other signs of decay.In a letter addressed to Lazare Eloundou Assomo, the chief of Unesco’s world heritage centre, and signed by 150 people, the group said its complaints to authorities in the Italian capital had been ignored. Continue reading...

President invokes Defense Production Act to increase production of solar panels, building insulation and other equipmentEnvironmental groups have welcomed Joe Biden’s invoking of national security powers to rapidly expand the production of clean energy technology as a significant advance in the effort to curb dangerous climate breakdown.Biden has triggered the Defense Production Act, a cold war-era law used to compel businesses to ramp up production of certain materials to aid national security, to boost the output of solar panels, building insulation, transformers for power grids and heat pumps, which are used to efficiently heat and cool homes. Continue reading...

People working with government on strategy say ambitious plans to tackle nature, climate and health crises have been ditchedThe government is expected to water down its upcoming food strategy for England, ignoring the ambitious recommendations proposed in two government-commissioned reports, campaigners say.The white paper, due later this month, was supposed to be a groundbreaking plan to tackle the nature and climate emergencies in response to eye-catching recommendations urged by the restaurateur Henry Dimbleby in his reports. Continue reading...

Edinburgh palaeontologist says smaller mammals are better able to cope with increased temperaturesThe climate crisis may lead the human race to shrink in size, as mammals with smaller frames appear better able to deal with rising global temperatures, a leading fossil expert has said.Prof Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh, suggested that the way in which other mammals have previously responded to periods of climate change could offer an insight into humans’ future. Continue reading...

A Los Angeles-area air board faces questions over grant spending amid some of the worst air pollution in the USIn the course of an hour, more than a hundred big rig trucks chug through the aptly named city of Commerce. The heavily Latino community in Los Angeles intersects Interstate 710 – the main highway that moves cargo shipments from the nearby ports to their final destinations.Along with the merchandise they deliver – Amazon shipments, produce and Mitsubishis – the trucks emit significant amounts of air pollutants. As do the dozens of cargo ships that cluster outside the ports and the freight trains that transport goods. Continue reading...

Ex-UN climate envoy says continent’s need for energy is so great it should be able to widely use the fossil fuelAfrican countries should be able to exploit their vast natural gas reserves despite the urgent need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions, the former UN climate envoy Mary Robinson has said.Robinson, the chair of the Elders group of former world statespeople and business leaders, said African countries’ need for energy was so great that they should use gas widely, in contrast to developed countries that must halt their gas use as quickly as possible to stave off climate breakdown. Continue reading...

Abandoned marsupials and other trafficked species reveal the country’s growing illegal trade, driven by a desire for exclusive and costly status symbolsFrom the red-eared slider turtle, cockatoo and falcon to the yellow-cheeked gibbon, capuchin monkey and orangutan, nothing is too much for those demanding unusual pets in India. But it was the sight of three kangaroos wandering the streets of West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district in April that brought home the extent of the country’s exotic pet trade.The malnourished kangaroos were intercepted after tipoffs from local residents. One of the rescued marsupials later died, while the remaining two are recovering and will be rehomed at a nearby zoo. Continue reading...

Only about half the funds required are being provided by rich countries, according to a report by OxfamThe funding needed by UN climate disaster appeals has soared by more than 800% in 20 years as global heating takes hold. But only about half of it is being met by rich countries, according to a new report by Oxfam.Last year was the third costliest on record for extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and wildfires with total economic costs estimated at $329bn, nearly double the total aid given by donor nations. Continue reading...

NGOs argue priority list was drawn up without consideration of methane emissionsAn EU plan to fast-track funding and permits for 30 gas projects is facing a legal challenge from NGOs including ClientEarth and Friends of the Earth Europe.The European Commission has been asked to review its backing for infrastructure projects such as the EastMed pipeline, a 1,180-mile (1,900km) gas pipeline to connect offshore gas fields in Israel and Cyprus to Italy. Continue reading...

Santos has reported attempt to contact Tiwi land council over $4.7bn Barossa gasfield but federal court challenge claims it did not meet its legal obligationsTraditional owners from the Northern Territory’s Tiwi Islands have launched a legal challenge to the $4.7bn Barossa offshore gas project, saying they were not consulted about plans to drill the gas field.The project is a joint venture between Santos and SK E&S and will involve drilling for gas in the Timor Sea and transporting it via a 260km pipeline to the existing Darwin LNG facility.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Alessandra Sampaio, wife of Dom Phillips, tells Brazilian authorities: ‘Please answer the urgency of the moment with urgent actions’The wife of a British journalist who has gone missing in a remote corner of the Brazilian Amazon notorious for illegal mining and drug trafficking has urged authorities to intensify their search efforts.Dom Phillips, a longtime Guardian contributor, vanished on Sunday morning while journeying by boat through the Javari region of Amazonas state where he was reporting for a book he is writing about conservation. Continue reading...

World risks ‘sleepwalking to disaster’, officials told, as Bonn summit envoys walk out during Russian addressDelegates have walked out of a session at a climate summit in Bonn on Monday as a Russian official made a speech, in a sign of the geopolitical tensions overshadowing the negotiations.The low-key protest marked the first intervention by Russia in a UN climate forum since the invasion of Ukraine, but it did not stop the talks. Continue reading...

Previous environment minister, Sussan Ley, declined to issue emergency protection to halt $4.5bn development on Western Australia’s Burrup peninsula

Analysts’ forecast comes as campaigners warn windfall tax package could harm climate effortsMore than £8bn of North Sea energy projects could now be given the green light rapidly as fossil fuel firms take advantage of a tax break in Rishi Sunak’s windfall tax, analysts have forecast.Last month the chancellor introduced the one-off levy on North Sea oil and gas operators who have raked in outsized profits as energy prices have boomed with the aim of raising £5bn to help fund measures to offset rising household bills. Continue reading...

City abandons €72m scheme to develop area and create huge garden in time for 2024 OlympicsProtesters in Paris are celebrating having saved more than 40 trees – one of them over 200 years old – from being chopped down or threatened with damage around the Eiffel Tower as part of a €72m scheme to create a huge garden.Paris’s city hall has been forced to row back on plans to clear the area around the structure on the Champ-de-Mars to improve access to the tower and make the traffic-clogged area greener in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Continue reading...

Testing by the Department of Defense revealed dangerous levels of the contaminants, drawing concern from public health advocatesDangerous levels of toxic PFAS are contaminating water supplies in areas around at least 12 military bases, new Department of Defense testing has revealed, drawing concern from public health advocates that the DoD is not doing enough to protect the public.The data released this week by the military shows levels for five kinds of PFAS compounds at what Scott Faber, vice-president of government affairs for Environmental Working Group, characterized as “extremely high” levels, and he said they present a health threat to residents living nearby. Continue reading...

Coalition of lawyers, journalists and campaigners challenge climate-busting mega projects exposed in Guardian investigation

ACT is the only jurisdiction bucking the trend of soaring power bills now plaguing the rest of Australia

As Russia seeks to strip Arshak Makichyan of his citizenship, he says negotiating with Putin on the Ukraine war or the climate crisis is impossible – and the west must act now for survivalArshak Makichyan made a name for himself as Russia’s ‘lone climate activist’, protesting for change in a country where oil and gas exports have propped up the country’s economy for decades.Every Friday, for nearly two years, Makichyan protested alone in Moscow’s Pushkin Square, hoping to draw Russian attention to the danger posed by climate change. Born in Armenia, but given Russian citizenship when he was 10, Makichyan graduated from a prestigious music conservatory and turned to activism after reading about climate change and Greta Thunberg’s weekly strikes. “I was representing Russia as a violinist on competitions, and I was organising Friday for Futures, so I had a feeling that I am a future of Russia,” he said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: invasive red-billed leiothrix could threaten native bird populations such as robins and blackbirds, researchers warnA brightly coloured subtropical songbird from Asia could colonise Britain’s gardens and change the dawn chorus for ever, a new paper warns.The highly invasive red-billed leiothrix could threaten native bird populations, particularly competing with garden birds such as the robin and blackbird, researchers say. Early signs suggest this little bird – olive green with a bright red beak and yellow throat – may already be establishing itself in gardens and woodlands in southern parts of the country. Continue reading...

Controversial asphyxiation method used in 73% of culls this year despite vets urging its use to be limitedThe US poultry industry has increasingly switched to “the most inhumane method available” to cull tens of millions of birds during the latest outbreak of avian influenza, according to government data.Outbreaks of the disease, also known as bird flu, have wreaked havoc across Europe and the US this year, with 38 million birds killed in the US so far.

Ideas shouldn’t be ruled out ‘simply because it’s unfashionable to talk about them’, Liberal leader says

Conservation groups welcome Palaszczuk government’s funding injection as part of broader threatened species package

Bowen blames decade of inaction on renewables and limitations on gas trigger for preventing a swifter fix

Prince of Wales praises his mother’s ability to ‘bring us together’ at Platinum Jubilee Party at the PalaceThe Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge paid tribute to the Queen – and environmental activists across the world – in speeches at a concert at Buckingham Palace.Speaking on the third day of a four-day celebration to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee at the BBC’s Platinum Party at the Palace, Prince Charles began his address “Your Majesty, Mummy”. Continue reading...

Not long ago, the humpback was almost wiped out, now its numbers are booming in what conservationists say is a ‘wonderful success story’

The $40m ‘solar skin’ building is expected to supply almost all its own electricity, becoming carbon neutral within years

Our values of decency and tolerance, and confidence in a secure green future, make Labour the party of patriotism nowAs we come together as a nation to celebrate the Queen’s remarkable platinum jubilee, we also unite around our bunting and flags in a moment of pure British patriotism. Being patriotic isn’t something that Labour has always looked comfortable with, but progressive politics has been at its most successful and transformational when it captures the best of British values, nurtures our world-famous institutions and instils a belief that our best days lie ahead of us, not just in the past.A quick survey across British politics today tells us that it’s not the Conservatives that enshrine these patriotic principles but Labour. Continue reading...

Author cites Brexit and the climate crisis as examples of previous generations ‘breaking’ their futureThe author Elif Shafak has said she thinks “there’s a scream building up” inside many young people, because they feel their future “is being shaped by older generations”.“It’s difficult to be young, in this age in particular,” the Turkish-British novelist told the Hay festival. “It’s their future that’s been broken by previous generations,” she said, citing Brexit and the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Last year the government asked for ‘big ideas’ on access to green space. Now it is refusing to publish the responsesWhen countryside campaigners were invited to meet government ministers and share “big, creative ideas” for “structural and systemic changes” around access to green spaces, they thought it could be too good to be true. Was the government listening, and were England’s archaic laws on countryside access about to change?Last summer, groups representing more than 20 million people who are active outdoors, including ramblers, canoeists and mountaineers, were asked to speak to officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Treasury to explain how people are shut off from accessing green space because of trespass laws and other barriers. Continue reading...

Toxic particles from tyre wear almost 2,000 times worse than from exhausts as weight of cars increasesAlmost 2,000 times more particle pollution is produced by tyre wear than is pumped out of the exhausts of modern cars, tests have shown.The tyre particles pollute air, water and soil and contain a wide range of toxic organic compounds, including known carcinogens, the analysts say, suggesting tyre pollution could rapidly become a major issue for regulators. Continue reading...

Though protected in a cool, damp ‘frost pocket’, beaver dams are restricting water flow, threatening Maryland’s deciduous conifersGripping the long branch of a speckled alder tree, ecologist Deborah Landau slowly steps into the waist-deep murky water. “You can’t see anything, so watch your step,” she warns as she makes her way through the chilly labyrinth of the Finzel swamp preserve in Maryland. The swamp is a meditation for the senses: the sweet aroma of red spruce, the call of the locally rare alder flycatcher and an array of colour in what appears as endless blueberry and rhododendron shrubs.The preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in the central Appalachians of far western Maryland in the US, protects a rare boreal fen. Its most notable resident is the American larch (Larix laricina), or tamarack tree, a deciduous conifer that is the reason for Landau’s sojourn in the swamp. Lying within a “frost pocket” – a microclimate where cold air is trapped by the adjoining slopes and subject to frequent frosts – Finzel swamp provides a favourable year-round climate for the locally endangered larch and other more northern flora and fauna. It is as if a piece of the Pleistocene survived the warming epoch to remind us what life was once like in these ancient mountains. Continue reading...

Labor government recommends minimum wage be increased in line with inflation; Anthony Albanese says stopping new gas projects ‘doesn’t reflect the needs’ of economy; new monkeypox cases reported in NSW and Victoria; nation records at least 50 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a rock goby, a fox-chasing crow and a frolicking Icelandic horse Continue reading...

As the Ukraine war and climate crisis act as a wake-up call for the industry, one UK farm is leading the wayLettuces are sprouting, the wildflowers are in bloom and a buzzard is circling above the meadow on a sunny spring day at Huxhams Cross Farm near the village of Dartington in Devon. From the top of a hill, Marina O’Connell can survey most of the 15 hectares (37 acres) she has dedicated the past six years to transforming.When she took over running the farm in 2015, she recalls, the farm contractor called this a “miserable bit of land”. Now the fields and hedgerows buzz with wildlife, and young farm workers chat as they sow carrot seeds and plant out early spinach. Further downhill, chickens peck about near polytunnels full of vegetables and soft fruit. Continue reading...

This week’s Queensland news in brief: action over forensics lab, discrimination law slammed

Trump restricted states’ power in favor of fossil fuel development but proposed rule would empower local officials to protect waterThe Biden administration on Thursday proposed undoing a Trump-era rule that limited the power of states and Indigenous American tribes to block energy projects like natural gas pipelines based on their potential to pollute rivers and streams.The Clean Water Act allows states and tribes to review what effect pipelines, dams and other federally regulated projects might have on water quality within their borders. Continue reading...

Pupils’ vital attention skills stunted by ‘toxic’ peaks of road noise heard from the classroomRoad-traffic noise significantly slows the development of crucial memory and attention skills in primary school children, research has found.The study of almost 2,700 children aged between seven and 10 in 38 schools in Barcelona, Spain, is the first to assess the impact of traffic noise on child cognitive development over time and to determine the impact of peaks in noise. Continue reading...

Most widely used pesticide in history harms critical ability of bumblebee to regulate nest temperatureThe critical ability of wild bumblebees to keep their colonies at the right temperature is seriously damaged by the weedkiller glyphosate, research has revealed.Glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide in history, intended to kill only plants. The harm to bumblebees – vital pollinators – was not identified in regulatory risk assessments, which only test whether a pesticide rapidly kills healthy, individual bees. However, the collective failure to regulate colony temperature could have a massive impact on its ability to produce the next generation, the scientists said. Continue reading...

New study finds 44% of world’s land surface needs increased protection, with 1m wildlife species at risk of extinction

Little things like home insulation hacks and avoiding the dryer are important – and if you’re struggling, you can ask for help

Environmentalists threaten legal action over UK permit for Shell to develop Jackdaw fieldEnvironmentalists are threatening legal action in an attempt to halt the development of a new gasfield in the North Sea that has been given the green light by the UK government.Climate experts reacted with anger after the government announced it had given the Jackdaw field, to be developed by the oil multinational Shell, “final regulatory approval” on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Officers make several arrests after protesters jump over barriers during trooping the colour paradeAnimal rights activists linked to Extinction Rebellion have been arrested after disrupting the start of platinum jubilee celebrations by storming the Mall during the trooping the colour parade.Scotland Yard said officers made several arrests after the protesters jumped over barriers lining the Mall and confronted marching Grenadier Guards with leaflets demanding an end to hunting on royal land. Continue reading...

While voters have cited environment as a top priority, the issue has become secondary to the homelessness crisis and crimeAs Los Angeles heads to the polls for the first round of voting to elect a new mayor, the climate future of America’s second largest city may hang in the balance.Los Angeles has built a reputation as a leader on sustainability and climate solutions, setting first-in-the-nation goals to decarbonize and plans to achieve them. But the progressive metropolis – home to nearly 4 million people – faces environmental challenges that will only get worse as the climate grows more extreme. The temperature is rising, water is waning and LA smog is nearly as renowned as the world-famous Hollywood sign. Continue reading...

Three former UN climate heads say gap between government promises and actions will change environment irreversiblyThe policies currently in place to tackle the climate crisis around the world will lead to “catastrophic” climate breakdown, as governments have failed to take the actions needed to fulfil their promises, three former UN climate leaders have warned.There is a stark gap between what governments have promised to do to protect the climate, and the measures and policies needed to achieve the targets. At the Cop26 summit last November, countries agreed to bring forward plans to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – the limit of safety, according to scientists. They have so far submitted pledges that would limit temperatures to under 2C.This article was amended on 2 June 2022 to correct a conversion from celsius to fahrenheit. Continue reading...

Calls for faster transition away from ‘volatile’ fossil fuel supply as SA burns large amounts of gas and diesel

One ecologist counted 160 dead wild birds while walking round a Scottish loch, and figures from other countries are just as worryingAs he walked along the shoreline of a Highland loch on a fine May evening, ecologist and wildlife photographer Peter Stronach could hardly believe what he was seeing. The beach was littered with dead and dying birds: male eider ducks, several species of gulls, a gannet, a puffin and no fewer than 26 pink-footed geese, which should by now have been on the way back to their Icelandic breeding grounds.In all, Stronach recorded 72 individual birds of 17 species at Loch Fleet national nature reserve on the east coast of Scotland on that one day, plus many more in the following days. Continue reading...