Environment | The Guardian

Satnav keeps cows safe without the need for fences and lets woodland thriveEpping Forest has swaths of designated land that is home to adders, grass snakes and common lizards, as well as white admiral and purple hairstreak butterflies, and mammals such as shrews and voles that, in turn, provide food for birds of prey and owls.However, life for the forest’s bovine residents has not been so easy. Forest staff have long battled to prevent the cattle from roaming across nearby roads and dual carriageways. Continue reading...

Anomalies are a sign that global heating is changing behaviour of flora and faunaA blackbird feeding a fledged youngster in early January. Red campions flowering four months early. And the earliest recorded sighting of a rare beetle.Wildlife experts and gardeners are reporting a series of highly unusual early sightings of flora, fauna, insects and birds across Britain, some of them weeks before when they would normally appear, in a further sign that rising global temperatures are having a significant impact on British wildlife. Continue reading...

West Sussex does not have infrastructure to cope with more development, say residents, who fear disaster for protected sitesAround the Tory heartland of Chichester, the government’s promise to build 300,000 homes a year has prompted loyal followers to take to the streets in protest.At first glance it might look like nimbyism, but dig deeper and the uprising exposes a problem that touches on England’s national infrastructure, the climate crisis and an ongoing environmental scandal. Continue reading...

The rare marine mammal is facing an existential threat from fishing nets. Scientists hope they can be saved, but time is running outThe vaquita, the world’s tiniest marine mammal, has long teetered on the brink of extinction. The population of porpoises marked with black ringed eyes and smiling, upturned mouths has dwindled by a devastating 99% over the last decade.Now scientists say their future is more precarious than ever, after a recent survey found less than 10 individuals left in the waters of their limited home range between Baja California and Mexico. Continue reading...

There’s a growing trend of climate litigation around the world. Here’s a look at the Australian cases likely to make headlines this yearIn March 2021, a 16-year-old student and an octogenarian nun walked into the federal court in Melbourne for the hearing of a defining case in Australian climate litigation.The lawsuit brought by Anj Sharma, along with seven other teenagers, and Sister Brigid Arthur, is part of a growing trend among climate activists and environment organisations raising climate issues in the courtroom, amid a lack of action by the federal government. Continue reading...

Envoys at Brest summit sign up to measures to tackle fight against illegal fishing and cut pollutionRepresentatives from more than 100 countries have committed to measures aimed at preserving the ocean from human harm, including stepping up the fight against illegal fishing, cutting plastic pollution and better protecting international waters.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, hosting the high-level session of the One Ocean summit on Friday, said 2022 was “a decisive year, and we should take here, in Brest, clear and firm commitments.” Continue reading...

Government reapproves project, which could power 4m homes, after it was stalled by local concernsA vast windfarm off the Norfolk coast has been approved by ministers for a second time after a local man convinced a high court judge to overturn the first decision a year ago.The high court verdict last February forced the government to reconsider the plans by the Swedish renewables firm Vattenfall to build two offshore windfarms capable of generating enough green electricity to power the equivalent of 4m UK homes. Continue reading...

Analysis: Little of record profits going to UK taxpayers as fossil firms claim cash is needed for move to low carbonThe chief financial officer of the oil and gas company BP, Murray Auchincloss, told investors this week: “It’s possible that we’re getting more cash than we know what to do with.”Oil and gas companies have reported bumper profits, as the gas crisis raises the price at which they can sell their fossil fuels, without raising the cost of their extraction. Continue reading...

White Turf race in St Moritz at risk because water in frozen lake is meltingEach February the rich and famous descend upon St Moritz, not just for the slopes and après-ski but for one of the world’s most exclusive horse races, held on ice.Though the luxury resort has a nearby airport mainly catering to private jets, and visitors can be seen being ferried around in helicopters and Ferraris, moneyed guests are beginning to think about the climate emergency. Continue reading...

RIBA says scheme targeting efficiency and heating of older 20th-century housing could cut emissions by 4%

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including dancing Siberian cranes, a snowy cat and a lonely black-footed ferret Continue reading...

‘Invasivorism’ is a growing ethical dining trend but is ‘eat them to beat them’ really the answer?From oral contraceptives to proposals to edit their DNA, efforts to control the UK’s invasive grey squirrel population have become increasingly elaborate. But a growing number of chefs and conservationists have a far simpler idea, which they see as part of the trend in ethical dining: eat them.“My original starting point with grey squirrel was taste. But it’s also great for the environment,” says Paul Wedgwood, one of Scotland’s leading chefs, whose restaurant on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile has had grey squirrel on the menu since 2008. Wedgwood has even made haggis from the North American rodent that has driven the local extinction of the native red across much of England and Wales. Continue reading...

Contamination at a small farm discovered after sewage sludge was tested for PFAS, but officials downplayed incident as ‘isolated’Cattle from a small south-east Michigan farm that sold beef to schools and at farmers’ markets in the state have been found to contain dangerous levels of PFAS, so-called “forever chemicals” that can pose a serious risk to human health.The news comes after consumer groups in 2019 warned that using PFAS-laden sewage sludge as fertilizer would contaminate dairy, beef, crops and other food products. However, at the time a Michigan agricultural regulator publicly assured the state’s dairy farmers her agency wouldn’t test milk for the toxic chemicals as they didn’t want to inflict economic pain on the $15bn industry, she said. Continue reading...

Beowulf Mining ‘hopeful’ for decision on mine in Sápmi despite opposition from activist, UN and Swedish churchA British company has fallen foul of Greta Thunberg, Unesco, Sweden’s national church, and the indigenous people in the north of the country over plans for an open-pit mine on historical Sami reindeer-herding lands.The clamour of opposition was voiced as Beowulf Mining, headquartered in the City of London, suggested it was “hopeful” of a decision within weeks of a 5 sq mile iron-ore mine in an area where Sami communities have lived for thousands of years. Continue reading...

Residents have been protesting National Grid’s pipeline, which bypasses wealthier, whiter Brooklyn areas, since 2020At first glance, the construction along the Brooklyn streets appeared routine. “You wouldn’t think anything of it,” said Fabian Rogers, a community organizer in Brownsville, a majority Black neighborhood where construction began in 2017.It wasn’t until years later, in 2020, that he learned that the overturned streets were making way for a fracked gas pipeline. “It just felt like a big slap in the face – to have [a pipeline] in my backyard that I didn’t know about,” he said. Continue reading...

Chairs of eight all-party parliamentary groups pledge to support the UK’s green agendaMPs not fully behind net zero are “a small minority” and the government should stay committed to its goal, a cross-party group of parliamentarians has said.Chairs of eight all-party parliamentary groups, including on climate change, net zero, clean air and fuel poverty, have written a letter to the Guardian , vowing they will “continue to support and promote ambitious environmental leadership in parliament”. Continue reading...

Electric vehicle stations to be placed every 50 miles along interstate highways to spur adoption of zero-emission carsThe Biden administration has unveiled a plan to award nearly $5bn over five years to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations.The nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations would place new or upgraded ones every 50 miles (80km) along interstate highways as part of the administration’s plan to spur widespread adoption of zero-emission cars. Continue reading...

California ruling does not affect wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana and WyomingFederal protections for gray wolves were restored across much of the US on Thursday, after their removal in the waning days of the Trump administration exposed the predators to hunting that critics said would undermine their rebound from widespread extermination early last century.US district judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California, said the US Fish and Wildlife Service had failed to show wolf populations could be sustained in the midwest and portions of the west without protection under the Endangered Species Act. Continue reading...

Labour’s Ed Miliband is right to call for a one-off increase in corporation tax on North Sea producers to fund lower bills for consumersWindfall taxes are nothing new. Margaret Thatcher’s government was one of the most notable users of the tactic – with one-off levies on banks and oil companies for making excess gains in the early 1980s. Perhaps the fact that such duties find favour with the public surprises some who think economic populism is passé. But with gas prices trebling and the bosses of fossil fuel companies proclaiming “cash machine” profits, surely Labour’s Ed Miliband is right to call for a one-off increase in corporation tax on North Sea producers to fund lower bills for consumers.Big oil’s claim that it is paying its fair share to the Treasury is not credible, given that handouts from the state have often actually exceeded the tax take that the industry generates. Between 2018 and 2020, Shell and BP, which together produce more than 1.7bn tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, paid no corporation tax or production levies on North Sea oil operations and claimed tax reliefs of nearly £400m. Continue reading...

French president says ‘renaissance’ of atomic energy industry will help end country’s reliance on fossil fuelsEmmanuel Macron has announced a “renaissance” for the French nuclear industry with a vast programme to build as many as 14 new reactors, arguing that it would help end the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and make France carbon neutral by 2050.“What our country needs ... is the rebirth of France’s nuclear industry,” Macron said in a speech in the eastern industrial town of Belfort, in which he lauded the country’s technological prowess. Continue reading...

Dorset police appeal for information after white-tailed eagles found dead in south of EnglandTwo of the white-tailed eagles reintroduced to the Isle of Wight have been found dead, police have said.About 25 of the birds of prey, which have a 2.4 metre (8ft) wingspan, have been released in the area since 2019 as part of an effort to bring back a long-lost species to UK skies. Continue reading...

Conservative politicians condemn appointment of Jennifer Morgan but Transparency International calls it ‘unproblematic’Germany’s foreign minister is facing domestic criticism over her surprise decision to recruit the head of Greenpeace as an international environmental envoy, including accusations she bent the rules to create the post and had obscured the divide between governing and lobbying.Annalena Baerbock described Jennifer Morgan, the outgoing head of Greenpeace International, as “the new navigator at the helm of our international climate policy” when she announced her appointment this week. Continue reading...

No recovery plan for the Australian marsupial was in place despite it being identified as a requirement nine years ago

Cloud and rain over the past 10 days bring much-needed relief to heat-stressed coral, government authority says

The two plants selected for early shutdown currently produce about 7% of Australia’s total carbon emissions

Firm sets out plan to seal two shale gas wells in Lancashire two years after government shutdown orderThe owner of the shale fracking company Cuadrilla will permanently plug and abandon its two shale wells in Lancashire, drawing a line on Britain’s failed fracking industry.Cuadrilla set out plans to permanently seal the two shale gas wells drilled at the Preston New Road Lancashire shale exploration site a little over two years after the government brought an end to fracking in England. Continue reading...

Insulate Britain supporters donate rent from George Eustice’s office towards protesters’ court costsThe constituency office of the environment secretary, George Eustice, has been bought by supporters of Insulate Britain, who have donated his rent to a legal fund for activists.Supporters of the group, which made headlines last year by obstructing major roads and calling on the government to retrofit all British homes to make them energy efficient, formed a coalition of investors. Continue reading...

Film-maker urges UK ministers to make it mandatory for schemes to align portfolios with climate targetPension funds should face legal obligations to bring their investments in line with the net zero greenhouse gas emissions goal, the film-maker Richard Curtis has said.Curtis, a co-founder of the Make My Money Matter campaigning group, urged ministers to follow up the UK’s legal commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 by making it mandatory for pension schemes to align their portfolios with the target. Continue reading...

Andalucían decision to ‘regularise’ land near Doñana national park attacked by ecology groupsRightwing MPs in southern Spain have ignored protests from the central government, the EU, Unesco and several ecological groups by voting to grant an amnesty to illegal strawberry farmers who have been tapping water from the aquifer that feeds one of Europe’s largest protected wetlands.On Wednesday afternoon, the Andalucían regional parliament approved the proposal, which will “regularise” 1,461 hectares (3610 acres) of land near the Doñana national park, thereby allowing farmers who have sunk illegal wells and built illicit plantations on the land to legitimise their operations. Continue reading...

Thirty-six states have passed laws that criminalize protesting on ‘critical infrastructure’ including pipelines. In Minnesota, at least 66 felony theft charges against Line 3 protesters remain openLast summer Sabine Von Mering, a professor of German at Brandeis University, drove more than 1,500 miles from Boston to Minneapolis to protest the replacement of the Line 3 oil pipeline that stretches from Canada’s tar sands down to Minnesota.Along with another protester, she locked herself to a semi-truck in the middle of a roadway, according to a filed court brief, as a means of peaceful resistance. But when she was arrested, she was charged with a serious crime: felony theft, which carries up to five years in prison. Continue reading...

The oil giant revealed its four-fold increase in profits alongside pledges on investment in cleaner energyWhen BP revealed this week that bumper profits had reached an eight-year high, helped by the same soaring gas prices that have fuelled a national cost of living crisis, it had a political sweetener already prepared.The oil firm revealed the four-fold profit increase to $12.8bn alongside a promise to spend more on low-carbon energy alternatives, and invest more than £2 for every £1 it made in Britain this decade. Continue reading...

First legally binding climate act faces race against the clock before Stormont’s dissolution next monthNorthern Ireland’s first legally binding climate act faces a race against time to get passed before the devolved institutions at Stormont are dissolved in the coming weeks.The second of two climate change bills – introduced by the agriculture minister, Edwin Poots – has moved through consideration stage, with a batch of new amendments prompting more than 25 hours of assembly debate. Continue reading...

Campaigners say the sector leads to overexploitation of stocks while pushing up prices and aggravating local unemploymentThe UN’s food agency has warned that the “overexploitation” of fish in west Africa by the growing global fishmeal and fish oil industry is having a “considerably negative impact” on food security, undermining the ability of local communities to feed themselves.The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report said that in Senegal, where three more huge fishmeal factories opened between 2015 and 2019, the industry was “likely increasing the risk” of overexploitation of sardinella and bonga, two pelagic fish on which communities depend. Continue reading...

Satellite data shows rainforest cleared for cattle and maize on farms growing soya, undermining claims crop is deforestation-freeMore than 400 sq miles (1,000 sq km) of Amazon rainforest has been felled to expand farms growing soya in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso in a 10-year period, despite an agreement to protect it, according to a new investigation.

Environmental advocates tell South Korean miner to ‘pack its bags’ as company considers next steps

Human exposure to 2,4-D has substantially risen despite a multitude of health and environmental concernsOne in three people across America have detectable levels of a toxic herbicide linked to cancers, birth defects and hormonal imbalances, a major nationwide survey has found.Human exposure to the herbicide 2,4-D has substantially risen amid expanding use among farmers despite a multitude of health and environmental concerns, according to the first nationally representative study evaluating the footprint of the chemical. Continue reading...

Legal and human rights experts condemn decision to find six activists guilty of crimes against mining companySix Honduran environmentalists have been found guilty of crimes against a mining company, in a case widely condemned by legal and human rights experts.The activists, from the small community of Guapinol, have been held in pre-trial detention for two and a half years after opposing an iron oxide mine which has polluted rivers relied upon by thousands of people. Continue reading...

Climate groups dismiss energy giant’s amended schedule for Loy Yang A and Bayswater as a ‘token effort’ that is ‘next to meaningless’

EnergyAustralia is building a regular fossil fuel power station and buying carbon offsets based on its emissions

Body representing MPs and peers insists vast majority support climate plans despite vocal backbenchersThe “vast majority” of Conservative MPs support the government’s net zero climate plans despite increasingly vocal opposition from a small number of backbenchers, according to a Tory environment group.On Tuesday the Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG) of 19 Conservatives was accused of attempting to derail the government’s green agenda, linking it to the cost-of-living crisis and calling for cuts to green taxes and an increase in fossil fuel production. Continue reading...

My friend and colleague Allan Hamilton, who has died of pneumonia aged 85, was a distinguished microbiologist at the University of Aberdeen. His work transformed the understanding of microbial corrosion in offshore oil installations and helped to solve it.He was born in Glasgow to Vernon Hamilton, an accountant with Glasgow Corporation Tramways, and Jean (nee Hood), who worked at Pettigrew’s store in the city. He attended Hutchesons’ grammar school and studied biochemistry at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1958. He completed a PhD in 1961 and went to work for Unilever in Bedfordshire, investigating the safety of food and hygiene products. Continue reading...

Jennifer Morgan is first person to hold role and vows to put climate crisis at top of diplomatic agendaGermany has named the former Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan as its special climate envoy, as part of a promise to put the climate crisis “at the top” of the diplomatic agenda.The US-born Morgan, 55, who has been co-leader of Greenpeace International since 2016, will be the first person to hold the role in Germany. Continue reading...

Renewable energy provided 31.4% of electricity within the national market covering the eastern states and South Australia in 2021

Mother Annie O’Brien felt responsible so placed late-night call to snake handler who retrieved foam dart as long as green tree frog

Green energy activist Nguy Thi Khanh, recipient of the Goldman prize, is latest activist to be detained on tax-related chargesNguy Thi Khanh, Vietnam’s first recipient of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize, has been arrested on tax evasion charges.The founder of the Green Innovation and Development Centre was detained last month, but her detention was confirmed by state media on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Sri Lankan beaches buried in pellets only ‘tip of the iceberg’ of environmental harm after analysis of nurdles from burning shipContainer ship accidents at sea should be considered the “oil spills of our time”, warned environmental organisations that found a toxic mix of metals, carcinogenic and other harmful chemicals on plastic washed up on Sri Lanka’s beaches after a cargo ship fire.When the X-Press Pearl sank off nine nautical miles off Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, in May 2021, the most “significant harm” from the country’s worst maritime disaster initially came from the spillage of 1,680 tonnes of plastic pellets, or “nurdles”, into the Indian Ocean. They were found in dead dolphins, fish and on beaches – in some places 2 metres deep. A UN report called it the “single largest plastic spill” in history. Continue reading...

Local pressure group applies for bathing water status for stretch of Thames through OxfordThe Thames could get its first designated bathing site for wild swimming, the government has announced. This would be the second river designated for swimming in England.Members of the public have been invited to give their views on the possible designation of Wolvercote Mill Stream at Port Meadow, Oxford, and another bathing site on the Isle of Wight coast. Continue reading...

Analysis: The government’s stance on coalmines, oilfields, transport and green investment is causing increasing worry