Environment | The Guardian

Techno-utopianism is popular precisely because it doesn’t challenge the status quo, and lets polluters off the hookIn seeking to prevent environmental breakdown, what counts above all is not the new things we do, but the old things we stop doing. Renewable power, for instance, is useful in preventing climate chaos only to the extent that it displaces fossil fuels. Unfortunately, new technologies do not always lead automatically to the destruction of old ones.In the UK, for example, building new offshore wind power has been cheaper than building new gas plants since 2017. But the wholesale disinvestment from fossil fuels you might have expected is yet to happen. Since the UN climate summit last November, the government has commissioned one new oil and gas field, and reportedly plans to license six more. It has overridden the Welsh government to insist on the extension of the Aberpergwm coalmine. Similar permissions have been granted in most rich nations, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a giant stingray, a lost tortoise and hungry monkeys Continue reading...

Ministers accused of ‘giving up’ on birds as they explore exemptions from duty to protect the animalsThe government has given itself an “alarming loophole” to avoid protecting seabirds including puffins and gannets, a leaked document shows.Campaigners have accused ministers of “giving up” on the UK’s seabirds as they plan to apply for an exemption to a legal duty to protect the rare species. Continue reading...

Breakaway ice waters caused floodwaters to surge near Hay River, with 4,000 residents at riskAll 4,000 inhabitants of a small town in Canada’s Northwest Territories have been ordered to evacuate as parts of the country struggle with some of the worst flooding in decades.Chief April Martel of the Kátł’odeeche First Nation ordered her entire community to leave Hay River after breakaway ice sent floodwaters surging into the centre of the town on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Oil companies and petrostates are investing heavily in fossil fuels, in defiance of global targets. They must be stoppedThese are frightening times. It is shocking to learn that just a few months after the show of international common purpose at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, countries including the US, Canada and Australia are among those with the most destructive oil and gas projects, threatening to shatter the target of limiting global heating to 1.5C. A Guardian investigation has revealed that the world’s biggest fossil fuel firms have 195 “carbon bomb” projects that would each emit at least 1bn tonnes of CO – and that 60% are already under way. Only last month, the International Committee on Climate Change warned that the world is on course to overshoot the 1.5C target, prompting António Guterres, the UN secretary general, to describe governments investing in new fossil fuels as “dangerous radicals”. On Monday, a new forecast warned that the probability of one of the next five years exceeding the 1.5C limit was 50%.In the face of these stakes, and this evidence, the actions of the world’s biggest energy companies are perplexing as well as enraging. Why are energy giants continuing to invest in fossil fuel projects capable of causing such colossal harm? One expert suggests “a form of cognitive dissonance” is behind the refusal or inability of governments, as well as businesses, to change course in spite of the risks. Another says the scale of planned production suggests oil companies are still in denial about global heating, whatever they publicly claim – or have “complete disregard for the more climate vulnerable communities, typically poor, people of colour and far away from their lives”. One climate activist attributed such recklessness to a “colonial mindset”, which could equally be described as genocidal given the severity of the expected consequences of unchecked heating. Continue reading...

Opposition says it will also provide a response to the Samuel review into Australia’s national environmental laws

Fitting every home with solar panels and batteries and replacing gas devices and petrol cars could save households more than $5,000 a year

Sludge used as crop fertilizer has contaminated soil, water, crops and cattle, forcing farmers to quitMaine last month became the first state to ban the practice of spreading PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge as fertilizer.But it’s largely on its own in the US, despite a recent report estimating about 20m acres of cropland across the country may be contaminated. Continue reading...

Fatih Birol says ‘carbon bombs’, revealed in Guardian investigation, will not solve global energy crisisThe world’s leading energy economist has warned against investing in large new oil and gas developments, which would have little impact on the current energy crisis and soaring fuel prices but spell devastation to the planet.Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), was responding to an investigation in the Guardian that revealed fossil fuel companies were planning huge “carbon bomb” projects that would drive climate catastrophe. Continue reading...

Huge creature found in Mekong River where planned dams threaten ‘devastating’ ecological damageA team of marine biologists have welcomed the discovery of a huge endangered freshwater stingray during a recent expedition to a remote stretch of the Mekong River in Cambodia, though they warned the biodiversity of the area was under threat.The stingray was accidentally caught by fishers in an 80-metre (260ft) deep pool in the Mekong in Cambodia’s north-eastern Stung Treng province. The visiting scientists helped return the animal alive. Continue reading...

Multibillion-dollar deal promising to lift country out of poverty may be false dawn with dire impact on climate, warn campaignersAnnette Arjoon is not anti-oil. The marine conservationist calls the vast new oilfields off Guyana’s coast a “blessing” that will earn billions of dollars for one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean, even as she recognises that pulling yet more fossil fuel from the ground will deepen the climate crisis.But Arjoon does have a problem with who is drilling the oil. She has seen firsthand what happens when the US’s largest petroleum company descends on a small country bearing the promise of riches. Continue reading...

The case is believed to be the first enforcement action of its kind aimed at preventing the advance of the marbled crayfishThey have claws, 10 legs, can produce hundreds of clones of themselves and have escaped from confinement to potentially run amok across the United States. The ecological threat posed by the marbled crayfish has now prompted prosecutors to wield invasive species laws in an attempt to curb the spread of the peripatetic crustaceans.An Ohio woman who sold hundreds of marbled crayfish online has pleaded guilty to offenses under the Lacey Act, a US law preventing the transport of certain wildlife across state lines, after raising the crayfish in a huge tank in her home and selling them to people across 36 different states. Continue reading...

More than 530 roads have been affected and 14 state schools were closed, with further heavy falls forecast

Revelation Alan McCormick has tweeted articles denying climate science fuels fears of GB News’s role as climate sceptic platformThe new chairman of GB News has a history of sharing articles that dismiss the threat of climate breakdown, it can be revealed, sharpening concerns about the TV channel’s role as a platform for advocates of the continued burning of fossil fuels.Alan McCormick, a co-founder of Legatum Group, a Dubai-based investment firm and one of the channel’s key funders, tweeted several articles by climate science deniers, an investigation by DeSmog found, including one claiming there was “no scientific proof” that humans were causing the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Climate science may not be front and centre in the election campaign to date, but its impact on consumers – and voters – still rears its head

From fisheries collapse to dead rivers, official body urges government to urgently turn ambition into actionEnvironmental tipping points are fast approaching in the UK, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has said.Potential tipping points – where gradual decline suddenly becomes catastrophic – include loss of wildlife, fisheries collapse and dead, polluted rivers, the watchdog said. The OEP is a new official body set up after Brexit to hold the government to account. Its first report, published on Thursday, says ministers have shown ambition but that action is too slow. Continue reading...

The cleanup was undertaken by a California non-profit which hired scuba divers to clean the top 25ft of the lakeA California non-profit started an ambitious project beneath the surface of Lake Tahoe that concluded Tuesday: hire scuba divers to gather the litter in the top 25 ft of the lake.Divers have now pulled out more than 25,000 pounds of debris from the 72 miles of the lake’s shoreline, working in a circle from Stateline, Nevada. As volunteer divers navigated the lake, they plucked plastic bottles, engagement rings, 1980s Nikon film cameras, entire lampposts, “no littering” signs, big pieces of broken-down boats and engine blocks, lost wallets and cordless home telephones, according to Clean Up the Lake. Continue reading...

Two more days of high winds and very dry conditions expected as fire warnings issued across much of the western USA raging New Mexico wildfire was headed toward a ski resort and the 1,000-year-old community of Taos as howling winds continue to push the erratic flames forward.Officials on Wednesday issued warnings for more people to prepare to evacuate as the fast-moving fire picked up momentum. As people fled, flames raced through parched forests and firefighters tried to protect homes from a blaze that has burned a 45-mile-long path up the Sangre de Cristo mountains in just over a month. Continue reading...

Kate Grenville, Helen Garner and Tony Birch join more than 60 authors in new Writers for Climate Action group

Custodians of petroglyphs in remote north-west say Woodside’s $12bn ‘carbon bomb’ spells disaster for culture and climateAs the last of the sun’s rays curl away from the coast in Australia’s remote north-west, Josie Alec opens her arms and sings in traditional language to a mass of ochre-coloured rocks along Hearson’s Cove. But her voice competes with the low rumble of a gas production plant less than a kilometre away, its flared emissions lightly hazing the sky above the beach.This is the duality of what First Nations people refer to as Murujuga country, home to one of the world’s largest and oldest collections of rock carvings as well as one of the largest new fossil fuel developments in Australia in a decade. Continue reading...

UN climate envoy says world cannot afford to derail progress because of energy crisis linked to invasionThe UN climate envoy Mark Carney has warned against deferring emissions reduction targets in reaction to the energy crisis linked to the war in Ukraine, saying it will only require more “radical” action in the future.The former Bank of England governor said he recognised the impact sanctions on Russia were having on global energy supplies and the cost of living, but added that governments could not afford to derail climate progress that could help achieve the 1.5C limit on global heating. Continue reading...

140bn metric tons of planet-heating gases could be unleashed if fossil fuel extraction plans get green light, analysis showsThe fate of the vast quantities of oil and gas lodged under the shale, mud and sandstone of American drilling fields will in large part determine whether the world retains a liveable climate. And the US, the world’s largest extractor of oil, is poised to unleash these fossil fuels in spectacular volumes.Planned drilling projects across US land and waters will release 140bn metric tons of planet-heating gases if fully realised, an analysis shared with the Guardian has found. Continue reading...

The partnership of Chris Martin’s band with biofuel producer Neste has raised eyebrows about the green credentials of their new tourColdplay had a head full of dreams this week when they announced the details of a low-emission world tour driven by concerns for sustainability. Some of the green interventions are well-meaning, others are just gimmicks, such as a kinetic dance floor that generates electricity from the movement of fans. However, the detail of some of the proposed climate measures would appal even the mildly eco-minded.Perhaps worst of all is the partnership with Neste – a Finnish oil refining and marketing corporation that will provide the band with “sustainable aviation fuels” for flights and “renewable diesel” for tour transportation and stage power generation.Eleanor Salter writes about climate, culture and politics Continue reading...

Prime minister says wage increase would put jobs at risk as leaders meet for third time during campaign on Channel Seven; Barnaby Joyce discusses China threat in National Press Club address; at least 53 Covid deaths across nation with WA cases hitting new daily high. This blog is now closed

Insurance market members urged to attend virtually owing to ‘significant risk’ activists will disrupt meetingInsurance market Lloyd’s of London is urging members to watch its annual general meeting from home next week, amid fears it will be the latest City event disrupted by climate protests.The chair of Lloyd’s,Bruce Carnegie-Brown, warned about the potential for disruption at the 19 May AGM back in April, but said in an updated memo that the risk of disruption had significantly increased. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Oil and gas majors are planning scores of vast projects that threaten to shatter the 1.5C climate goal. If governments do not act, these firms will continue to cash in as the world burnsby Damian Carrington and Matthew TaylorThe world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows.The exclusive data shows these firms are in effect placing multibillion-dollar bets against humanity halting global heating. Their huge investments in new fossil fuel production could pay off only if countries fail to rapidly slash carbon emissions, which scientists say is vital.The dozen biggest oil companies are on track to spend every day for the rest of the decade

Wales only UK nation to exceed 50% as households in England recycle less in 2020 than 2019Recycling rates in England are falling and the government has failed to meet its target to recycle 50% of waste from households by 2020. But Wales has become a world leader, with the country recycling 56.5% of its household waste.Household recycling rates in England went down from 46% in 2019 to 44% in 2020. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the Covid pandemic had disrupted collections in some areas. Continue reading...

After more than a decade of debate, the coastal commission is set to vote on the proposed $1.4bn project near Los AngelesCalifornia officials are poised to decide the fate of a controversial desalination plant planned along its southern coast, in a vote that comes as the American west battles an increasingly perilous drought.California water use leapt 19% in March, amid one of the driest months on record. After more than a decade of debate, the California coastal commission on Thursday will finally vote on a proposal for a $1.4bn desalination plant in Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

The petroleum company is under investigation for misleading the public while exacerbating the global plastic pollution crisisAccused of misleading the public for decades on the promise of plastic recycling, oil and chemical companies are pushing a new idea: “advanced recycling”. Environmental advocates, however, say it’s more of the same old greenwash and litigators hope holding companies accountable for past lies might prevent the spread of a new one.In late April, California attorney general Rob Bonta launched an investigation into ExxonMobil for its role in exacerbating the global plastic pollution crisis. Bonta says he was partly inspired by a 2020 investigation from NPR and Frontline that showed how companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Dow and Dupont were aware of the inefficacy of plastic recycling, yet they still strategized marketing campaigns that told a different story to the public. Continue reading...

Auditor general says Victoria has most native vegetation cleared, proportional to land mass, in Australia

Kyiv repelled Russian forces by opening a Soviet-era dam on the Irpin River. Now, ecologists hope Ukraine’s newest wetlands can survive, or even thrive, after the warThere’s an acrid smell in the air and an unsettling crunch underfoot as we step over the metallic black and gold detritus of war. Ahead of us, framed by tree branches amputated by tank shells and mortar fire, the sky is reflecting brilliantly on the shimmering flood waters.After negotiating more than a dozen army checkpoints within the thick forests of Kyiv’s outer boundary, we have reached the flooded village of Demydiv on the Irpin River and the long-lost wetland basin, which has returned after the dam was opened by Ukrainian troops defending the capital from Russian army units, and was later struck by a missile.The newly restored wetland basin in Demydiv, Ukraine Continue reading...

Our author spots four of these striking birds as they pause their migration at the Somerset LevelsSporting the splendid feathery collars that give the ruff its name, they reminded me of the foppish, preening courtiers of Tudor times.This trio of male ruffs, along with a much smaller female (known as a reeve) were frantically feeding at the RSPB’s Ham Wall reserve. This is one of their favoured stopover points on their long journey north, from Africa to the Arctic tundra. Continue reading...

The Transport and Environment campaign group says Neste is cynically using the bandColdplay have been branded “useful idiots for greenwashing” after announcing a partnership with the Finnish oil company Neste to halve their touring emissions last week.Neste claims to be the world’s largest producer of sustainable biofuels, but the firm’s palm oil suppliers cleared at least 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of forest in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia between 2019 and 2020, according to a study by Friends of the Earth. Continue reading...

1,500 civil society groups from 130 countries back Vanuatu’s move to seek protection from the international court of justiceVanuatu’s push for the international court of justice to protect vulnerable nations from climate change has received the backing of 1,500 civil society organisations from more than 130 countries, as it heads toward a crucial vote at the UN General Assembly later this year.In 2021 Vanuatu announced its intention to seek an advisory opinion by the international court of justice on the rights of present and future generations to be protected from climate change. Continue reading...

Exclusive: US presidential envoy says limiting global heating to 1.5C could be made harder by conflictThe longer the war in Ukraine carries on, the worse the consequences will be for the climate, the US presidential envoy John Kerry has warned.Many countries are struggling with an energy crisis while also urgently needing to cut greenhouse gas emissions to limit global heating to 1.5C, he said. Continue reading...

Report reveals extent of sixth mass bleaching event with worst-affected reefs between Cape Tribulation and Whitsundays

We do what we do because it is right, not because it is legal. The Queen’s speech has only strengthened our resolveIf your house was burning down and the emergency services were not answering your call, what would you do? Would you try to put out the fire yourself? This is what climate activists are currently doing, and what they will continue to do, whatever changes the government makes to legislation to curb protest.Despite politicians across the world committing to net zero, action is yet to follow rhetoric. Instead, nations continue to extract fossil fuels from the ground and burn them, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere contributing to extreme weather that will displace millions. Here in the UK, the government has approved new oil- and gasfields in the North Sea, despite hosting Cop26 just a few months ago and committing to decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet its net zero target by 2050. Continue reading...

Measures in Queen’s speech would have outlawed protests that won votes for women and legalisation of unions, say criticsEnvironmental campaign groups have hit out at the “draconian” protest crackdown bill announced in the Queen’s speech.The new law appears to be targeted at groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain who have used disruptive methods to draw attention to the climate crisis. Continue reading...

The dropping lake level exposed a second set of human remains within a week, flooding Las Vegas with lore about organized crimeLas Vegas is being flooded with lore about organized crime after a second set of human remains emerged within a week from the depths of a drought-stricken Colorado River reservoir, just a 30-minute drive from the notoriously mob-founded Strip.“There’s no telling what we’ll find in Lake Mead,” said the former Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman on Monday. “It’s not a bad place to dump a body.” Continue reading...

Turkey has recorded rise in strandings across its Black Sea coast since beginning of Russian invasion

Conglomerates have bought out several smaller companies as the meat substitute market is predicted to grow rapidlyBig meat and food conglomerates threaten to push out smaller producers of meat alternatives in the same way they have affected other food industries, according to two recent reports.Meat companies such as JBS and Cargill have invested heavily in plant-based proteins and laboratory-grown meats in recent years and bought out several smaller companies, according to a report published Tuesday by the non-profit Food & Water Watch and a March report from IPES-Food, a coalition of food systems experts. Continue reading...

About 4.8 million animals are trafficked each year largely driven by Chinese demand for traditional medicine, says charityThe illegal sale of donkey skins is thriving in online marketplaces, with traders openly flouting local laws, and social media multinationals such as Facebook doing little to prevent the illegal trade, according to a new investigation.Traders on Facebook are offering large quantities of donkey skins on the site, the report said, including one trader in Kenya, where the trade is effectively banned, who listed 2,000 for immediate sale. The report found large numbers of sellers in countries that have bans on the donkey skin trade, including Kenya, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ghana. Continue reading...

Electric car plant has also been affected by intensifying Covid lockdowns in ChinaTesla has halted most of its production at its Shanghai plant because of problems securing parts for its electric vehicles, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, the latest in a series of difficulties for the factory.The plant plans to manufacture fewer than 200 vehicles on Tuesday, according to the memo, far fewer than the roughly 1,200 units it has been building each day since shortly after it reopened on 19 April after a 22-day closure. Continue reading...

Exclusive: RHS says queries about diseases down 45% in good sign for May blooms such as lupins and irisPlant diseases are at their lowest levels in the UK for years because of a cold, dry spring, meaning it could be a bumper year for apples, and popular blooms such as iris are likely to be spectacular.The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) said years like this may be few and far between in the future, as the climate becomes warmer and wetter, creating ideal conditions for pests. But this year, spring favourites such as quince and hawthorn are doing well, with gardener queries to the charity about plant diseases on their plots down 45% on last year. Continue reading...

Charity’s report says nearly all targets set since 2000 have been missed, revised or quietly ignoredThe international aviation industry has failed to meet all but one of 50 of its own climate targets in the past two decades, environment campaigners say.A report commissioned by the climate charity Possible assessed every target set by the industry since 2000 and found that nearly all had been missed, revised or quietly ignored. The charity says the findings undermine a UK government plan to leave airlines to reduce their emissions through self-regulation. Continue reading...

Pieter De Poortere is putting his best-known character, Dickie, to work to help galvanise opposition to a giant plastics plant in AntwerpBelgian cartoonist Pieter De Poortere was trying to do his bit for the environment: eating less meat and diligently sorting his rubbish – glass, paper, plastics. He realised it wasn’t enough. “I thought if we all sort out our trash, then everything will be recycled, everything will be OK, then we are doing great. But actually that is not true,” he said pointing to the problems of the global waste industry, where wealthy countries’ plastic may be dumped, or burned on open fires in poorer countries.So he put his best-known character to work, as part of an international art project that launched in April, aiming to draw attention to the problem of plastic production. Continue reading...

Analysis says countries can save money by switching from coal straight to renewable energiesCountries should move from coal to renewable energy without shifting to gas as a “transition” fuel to save money, as high gas prices and market volatility have made the fossil fuel an expensive option, analysis has found.Natural gas has long been touted as a “transition” fuel for economies dependent on coal for their power needs, as it has lower carbon dioxide emissions than coal but requires similar centralised infrastructure, and gas-fired power stations take only a couple of years to build. Earlier this year, before Russia invaded Ukraine, the European Commission angered green campaigners by including gas as a “bridge” to clean energy in its guidebook for green investment. Continue reading...

The probability of one of the next five years surpassing the limit is now 50%, up from 20% in 2020The year the world breaches for the first time the 1.5C global heating limit set by international governments is fast approaching, a new forecast shows.The probability of one of the next five years surpassing the limit is now 50%, scientists led by the UK Met Office found. As recently as 2015, there was zero chance of this happening in the following five years. But this surged to 20% in 2020 and 40% in 2021. The global average temperature was 1.1C above pre-industrial levels in 2021. Continue reading...

Indigenous trees were being lost, and a way of life with it. So local villagers decided to replant their historic woodlandChepalungu forest has been at the heart of Kenya’s Kipsigis community for as long as anyone can remember. It is also a source of streams that recharge the Mara River and, owing to its proximity to the Maasai Mara national reserve, a refuge for wildlife.But during widespread protests following the presidential election results in 2007, much of the forest in Bomet county, south of the Rift Valley, was destroyed and the trees felled. Joseph Towett, an elder from the community and a passionate conservationist, remembers the devastation. “Trees were regarded as a home for animals and birds, so cutting them was like destroying them. The destruction was like a curse,” he says. Continue reading...

Data shows company increased its use of underwater explosives, releasing 8,057 ‘seal crackers’ to scare the animals