by Stephanie Convery and Mostafa Rachwani on (#5WWYS)
Lismore residents protest Scott Morrison’s visit as PM says disasters mean Australia ‘getting hard to live in’; NSW flood death toll rises to nine after man’s body found in western Sydney; second Japanese encephalitis death recorded as outbreak spreads to South Australia; Indigenous teenager shot by NT police fighting for life; at least 34 Covid-related deaths nationwide. This blog is now closed
While cause remains unconfirmed, green groups fear the three whales could be the ‘tip of iceberg’ with many more animals hurtEnvironmental groups have linked the beaching of three whales in Corfu to seismic testing for oil and gas in the waters off the Greek island.Two Cuvier’s beaked whales were found stranded at Arillas and Agios Gordios beaches on the west of the island on 20 February. A third beaked whale ran ashore on Agios Gordios beach the day after. Continue reading...
As western governments untangle themselves from Russian oil and gas, Svitlana Krakovska notes that the roots of the climate crisis and invasion are in fossil fuelsFor Svitlana Krakovska, Ukraine’s leading climate scientist, it was meant to be the week where eight years of work culminated in a landmark UN report exposing the havoc the climate crisis is causing the world.But then the bombs started to crunch into Kyiv. Continue reading...
Starving Putin’s military machine of funds and preventing the collapse of life on Earth: we can do both at onceAs Russia threatens to cut off the fossil gas on which much of Europe depends, the continent’s storage facilities are a crucial line of defence. So you’ll be glad to hear that Germany possesses a massive gas storage reservoir, under the town of Rehden, in Lower Saxony. The biggest strategic reserve in western Europe, it can hold enough fossil gas to supply 2 million households for a year.You’ll be less delighted to discover who owns it. It belongs to a company called Astora. Astora is a subsidiary of the Russian state company Gazprom. Altogether, it owns about one-quarter of Germany’s gas stores. All of them are almost empty. They have been run down to 10% or less of their capacity. According to the German minister for economic affairs and climate action, these storage facilities have been “systematically emptied”.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist and the author of Feral, The Age of Consent and Out of the Wreckage: a New Politics for an Age of Crisis Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey environment correspondent on (#5WXCA)
Offset markets have important role as switching to renewable energy alone not enough, according to thinktankRemoving carbon dioxide from the air will now be essential if there is to be any chance of meeting global climate targets, a thinktank has warned.Carbon offset markets will need to be tidied up and managed properly, as offsets will form a critical route to limiting global heating to 1.5C in line with scientific warnings, according to the Energy Transitions Commission, as switching to renewable energy alone will not produce enough carbon savings. Other methods, such as tree planting and carbon capture and storage, will also be critical. Continue reading...
Researchers say the island’s biggest mine is on track to achieve no net loss of forest but that ‘there remain important caveats’Ambatovy mine on the east coast of Madagascar is an environmental conundrum fit for the 21st century. Beginning operations in 2012, the multibillion-dollar open-pit nickel and cobalt mine is the largest investment in the history of the country, one of the poorest on Earth. About 9,000 Malagasies are employed by the project, owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Corporation and Korean firm Komir, which mines minerals destined for the world’s electric car batteries. To construct the mine and the 140-mile (220km) slurry pipeline to port on the Indian ocean, 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of pristine rainforest was cleared, destroying vital habitat of the endangered indri, the largest living lemur, and thousands of other species.Alongside the land clearing in a country that has lost nearly a quarter of its tree cover since 2000, the mine has been blamed for air and water pollution, as well as health problems in the local population. The smell of ammonia in residential areas and the pollution of drinking water were revealed in a 2017 investigation. Continue reading...
Thinktank says dependence on Russian oil underlines urgent need for clean energyVladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is being bolstered by $285m (£217m) in oil payments made every day by European countries, new analysis by the Transport & Environment (T&E) thinktank has found.Russia received $104bn from its crude, petrol and diesel exports to Europe last year, more than twice the $43bn it took from gas shipments, the study estimated. Continue reading...
Joro spiders will likely survive on the east coast because Japan has a similar climate and is located approximately on the same latitudePeople up and down the entire US east coast may soon find themselves living with a large spider species that is a long way from its original home.According to researchers at the University of Georgia, the Joro spider, an invasive species native to east Asia, is expected to spread after thriving in the state last year. Continue reading...
Michael Gove welcomes launch of commission to explore scheme that could meet 7% of UK’s power needsA major infrastructure project harnessing the vast tidal power of the Severn estuary is back on the agenda after the UK government said the Russian invasion of Ukraine had highlighted the need to find more secure sources of energy.An independent commission was launched on Tuesday to explore using the Severn estuary, which has the second largest tidal range in the world, to create energy. Continue reading...
EPA to approve plan for four types of neonicotinoid chemical to be used on US farmland – despite being banned in EuropeThe US Environmental Protection Agency is poised to allow the use of four of the most devastating chemicals to bees, butterflies and other insects to continue in America for the next 15 years, despite moves by the European Union to ban the use of toxins that have been blamed for widespread insect declines.The EPA is widely expected to confirm a proposed plan outlined last year that will extend the use of imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin and dinotefuran on US farmland for the next 15 years, even though the agency has noted “ecological risks of concern, particularly to pollinators and aquatic invertebrates”. Continue reading...
Creatures seen using discarded items for shelter or to lay eggs, highlighing ‘extreme ability to adapt’Whether it’s mimicking venomous creatures, or shooting jets of water at aquarium light switches to turn them off, octopuses are nothing if not resourceful. Now, an analysis of underwater images suggests octopuses are increasingly using discarded bottles, cans, and other human rubbish as shelter or as a sanctuary for their eggs.The study – the first to systematically evaluate and characterise litter use by octopuses using crowdsourced images – analysed hundreds of underwater photos posted on social media platforms and image databases, or collected by marine biologists and diving interest groups. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5WW8A)
Exclusive: Toxic air pollution kills thousands of people in city every year but higher fines not being leviedJust one in every 1,000 drivers reported for unnecessary idling of their engines were fined in central London, data has revealed.Toxic air pollution kills about 4,000 people every year in the capital and councils have targeted parked drivers who do not turn off their vehicles. Continue reading...
Use of heat, steam and suffocating foam to slaughter sick animals is condemned as bird flu epidemic threatens poultry stocksVets and animal advocates in the US are calling for restrictions on “cruel” methods of culling birds, as farmers face killing millions of poultry due to a highly virulent avian flu tearing through the country.
Successful applicant will patrol Montana wilderness to reduce friction with humans, rather than referee grizzly v grizzly sparringIf you are fed up of a mundane desk job, aren’t bothered by austere conditions and have an affection for the hirsute, a potentially ideal new role has opened up in Montana: a grizzly bear conflict manager.For a salary between $79,363 and $103,176, the US government is offering one lucky applicant the chance to spend time in the Montana wilderness, dealing with discord within the world of grizzly bears. Continue reading...
Frustrated by a lack of female representation, film-maker Akanksha Sood Singh set up an Instagram account to showcase ‘the untold stories of women working for science and nature’“I wish these things wouldn’t happen to anyone,” says Akanksha Sood Singh, a wildlife film-maker based in Delhi. “But if it has happened, this is a safe space for women to come and to share their experiences.”The safe space Sood Singh is referring to is the Instagram account Women of the Wild – India, which showcases “the untold stories of women working for science and nature”. The platform gives them a chance to promote their expertise, but also somewhere to share their experiences of working in what are often male-dominated fields where sexual harassment can often feature. Continue reading...
Researcher calls findings ‘infuriating’ as team finds significant impact on cognitive developmentOver 170 million Americans who were adults in 2015 were exposed to harmful levels of lead as children, a new study estimates.Researchers used blood-lead level, census and leaded gasoline consumption data to examine how widespread early childhood lead exposure was in the country between 1940 and 2015. Continue reading...
Analysis: Ukraine war may increase short-term need for North Sea oil and gas, but fossil fuels no solution to Britain’s energy woesRamping up production from the UK’s oil and gas fields in the North Sea could help ease the pain of high fuel prices in the short term but should not be seen as a long-term solution to Britain’s energy woes, experts have warned.Lord Adair Turner, former CBI chief and former chair of the Committee on Climate Change, now chair of the Energy Transitions Commission thinktank, said the prime minister’s plan to produce more oil and gas now marked a sensible move, but he cautioned against those who saw a continued future in increased production. Continue reading...
The mistake was to think Ukrainians were waiting to be liberated by Russian soldiers and that the west was too divided to helpVladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine is a turning point in history. But no one knows who will emerge victorious as one era ends and another is born. Before this war, the momentum was with Mr Putin, whose military adventurism paid off in the last decade while the United States, humbled by Iraq, turned inward. However, the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine has been a criminal mistake. Russian soldiers are killing civilians, who share a Slavic identity, and flattening cities in land that gave birth to their country’s culture. Mr Putin’s unprovoked war against a smaller, democratic neighbour has resulted in 1.7 million people fleeing their homes. This is a humanitarian crisis on the edge of Europe. If war was just a battle for public opinion, Mr Putin would have lost by now.Moscow understands this dynamic which might explain why it cynically undermined peace talks by offering humanitarian corridors for trapped populations only to shell Ukrainians who attempt to use them. This bodes ill for talks later this week between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries in Turkey. Moscow, perhaps for public consumption at home, is seeking to play peacemaker in a war that it started. The Kremlin’s spokesperson told Reuters that Russia was ready to halt military operations “in a moment” if Kyiv meets a list of conditions, such as recognising Crimea as Russian territory and giving two Russian-majority regions independence. It is hard to see how any government in Kyiv could survive in power if it signed such a “land-for-peace” deal. Continue reading...
If the UK is going to need gas well into the 2030s, it would surely be better to get it close to homeThe first lesson of the gas crisis is old and boring: the UK should get serious about insulating its leaky properties. If all homes that have energy performance certificate band D were upgraded to band C, the UK’s total gas demand would fall by 7%, and imports by 15%, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit calculates. Given the UK’s wretched record in insulation versus European peers, that sounds a small but easy win.The second part – the supply side – is where the trickier stuff starts. The broad energy direction has been set towards nuclear and renewables, but there’s no getting away from the fact that gas will be in the mix for a long time yet. Virtually all transition scenarios imagine it, and you have to be an extreme optimist to believe UK consumers can quickly be converted to the joys of heat pumps. Continue reading...
PM insists move will not undermine push for net zero; critics say it would have little effect on consumer billsBoris Johnson has said the UK may have to increase its domestic gas and oil production in order to wean itself off Russian resources, despite the opposition of climate campaigners and some scepticism in the cabinet.The prime minister said the UK was looking at increasing North Sea output, although critics say it would take two decades to ramp up significantly and would have little immediate effect on the impending rise in domestic energy bills. Continue reading...
Animal activists criticise removal of bear known as Juan Carrito, taken to an enclosure for ‘problem’ animalsA rare brown bear who became famous after breaking into a bakery and feasting on the biscuits has been captured in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, sparking criticism from animal activists.The marsican bear, affectionately known as Juan Carrito by residents in the mountain town of Roccaraso, has been taken to an enclosure for “problem” animals. Continue reading...
Campaigners say community energy groups can help reduce country’s dependence on Russian fossil fuelThe UK should “mobilise an army of volunteers” to transform the country’s energy landscape and reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuel by setting up community energy groups, say campaigners.With energy prices rising, local schemes such as solar panels, locally-funded wind farms and even hydroelectric dams could be crucial to helping generate energy. Continue reading...
For the first time, a IPCC report has acknowledged the role of misinformation. But it still doesn’t name the culpritsPeople who do not spend their days reading climate reports or scouring the archives of oil companies are often surprised to hear that the fossil-fuel industry has been part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since its inception. And it’s not just the IPCC. Oil companies have been involved in the entire international effort on climate change since it began in the late 1980s – and here’s a pro tip: they’re there for a reason, and it’s not decarbonisation.The second part of the IPCC’s most recent report was published last week, and it finally acknowledged the oil industry’s biggest contribution to the climate space thus far: misinformation. This was followed closely by another new-to-the-IPCC topic: maladaptation, which refers to measures ostensibly geared towards warding off climate change, but which “may lead to increased risk of adverse climate-related outcomes, including via increased greenhouse gas emissions, increased or shifted vulnerability to climate change, more inequitable outcomes, or diminished welfare”, according to the IPCC. Continue reading...
Leaders are relieved the approach is to incentivize rather than giving ranchers and feedlots tougher methane curbsThe US beef industry has escaped “relatively unscathed” from Joe Biden’s attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to leaders at the industry’s recent CattleCon convention.Biden and the EU unveiled a global pledge to cut methane gas 30% by 2030 at November’s Cop26 climate summit – and there is evidence that methane created by cattle production is a significant contributor to climate change. Continue reading...
by Cait Kelly and Mostafa Rachwani (earlier) on (#5WTFR)
Severe weather to affect coastal areas from Coffs Harbour to Bega; Queensland estimates ‘rain bomb’ will cost state more than $4bn; two NSW residents among Japanese encephalitis patients in Victoria; ADF defends NSW flood response; PM speaks on east coast floods, Ukraine crisis; nation records at least 32 Covid deaths with 23 in South Australia. This blog is now closed
An investigation appears to show company employees discussing how to smear local opponents of the Central American nickel operationA decision to restart operations at one of Central America’s largest nickel mines is being questioned by campaigners, after an investigation appeared to show the company co-opted indigenous leaders and smeared potential opponents.
by Pictures and words by Steven Fuller on (#5WT2K)
Steven Fuller has been the ‘winterkeeper’ at Yellowstone for 49 years. In that time, he has captured the breathtaking natural phenomena and the wildlife that exist there through all the seasons Continue reading...
The crisis must not become a reason to drop our commitment to net zero targetThe report last week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the need to adapt to global warming made stark, unpleasant reading. Described by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, as “an atlas of human suffering”, it revealed that billions of people now live in parts of the world where they are highly vulnerable to climate change.Death tolls from droughts, floods and storms are destined to increase in these regions as extreme heat events and inundations become more frequent. Only urgent action today can halt the worst impacts and prevent a global calamity, argued the IPCC. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Jane Lee. Written by Lorena Allam, Bronw on (#5WST9)
The Yawuru people have finally had 530,000 hectares of their traditional country returned to them. We also hear suburban tales of electrifying our homes and discovering treasure on council cleanup daysYou can read the original articles here:‘The good fight’: Roebuck Plains Station and its return to Indigenous owners – photo essay Continue reading...
£600m project is one of 900 in planning pipeline to provide green energyA proposed new £600m solar farm in eastern England – covering an area eight times bigger than Hyde Park in central London – faces opposition over claims it would be a “blight” on the countryside.The scheme, which would provide power for up to 100,000 homes, will cover nearly 2,800 acres near Newmarket, more than 10 times bigger than any scheme built to date in Britain. It is one of more than 900 solar farms in the planning pipeline to help provide green energy. Continue reading...
Urban farms play a vital role in feeding communities but are hampered by precarious leases and gentrificationFor the last 10 years, residents in the south Baltimore neighborhood of Cherry Hill who struggled to access affordable food had a reliable place to go.Visitors to the Cherry Hill Urban Community Garden, a 1.5-acre urban farm, would find cheap, fresh vegetables and a strong sense of community. Continue reading...
Cultivating the shellfish creates a healthy habitat for everything from big fish to molluscs and could offer a sustainable alternative to meat or fishThe water beneath our boat is teeming with life. It is a fine Sunday morning on Loch Slapin on the Isle of Skye and Dr Judith Brown and Andrew Airnes are pointing below the surface to where they are hoping to grow more than 100 tonnes of high-quality animal protein suspended from four ropes.“You probably wouldn’t be able to grow one sheep on that land-wise,” says Airnes. Due in part to its tremendous efficiency, mussel farming is seen by a new generation of food producers as having exciting potential for feeding a growing population while restoring native biodiversity, which has been damaged or destroyed by pollution and harmful fishing practices. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5WSEH)
Report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said half of the world’s people are ‘highly vulnerable’On Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that the dangerous impacts of climate breakdown are already being felt and are accelerating rapidly. Has that message been heard?The second of four parts of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report, the latest comprehensive review of our knowledge of the climate crisis, was termed by some scientists “the bleakest warning yet”. Half of the world’s people are “highly vulnerable” to serious impacts from the climate crisis, a billion people in coastal areas face inundation, mass die-offs of species including trees and coral have already begun, and close to a tenth of the world’s farmland is set to become unsuitable for agriculture. Continue reading...