Environment | The Guardian

Investigators believe teen was exposed in warm waters at Lake Mead but epidemiologist says disease is ‘very, very rare’Experts have said that the death of a teenager in the Las Vegas area from a rare brain-eating amoeba should prompt caution, not panic, among people at freshwater lakes, rivers and springs.“It gets people’s attention because of the name,” Brian Labus, a former public health epidemiologist, said on Friday of the naturally occurring organism officially called Naegleria fowleri but almost always dubbed the brain-eating amoeba. “But it is a very, very rare disease.” Continue reading...

‘Alternative seafood’ is having a moment, with the rise of companies like BlueNalu and Wildtype, which has the backing of Leonardo DiCaprioIn the middle of San Francisco, there’s a pilot production plant for Wildtype, one of a handful of cell-cultivated seafood companies in the US. Inside, it’s growing sushi-grade coho salmon in tanks similar to those found in breweries – no fishing or farming required.Cultivation starts by taking a small sample from a living fish species. Cells then multiply as they would in nature in the large vessels and eventually become fatty and lean parts of a fish fillet. Continue reading...

Farmers say having solar sites allows them to subsidise food production during less successful yearsFarmers have urged whoever succeeds Liz Truss as UK prime minister to abandon plans to ban solar energy from most of England’s farmland, arguing that it would hurt food security by cutting off a vital income stream.Truss, who resigned on Thursday, and her environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, hoped to ban solar from about 41% of the land area of England, or about 58% of agricultural land, the Guardian revealed last week. Continue reading...

Volunteers place 195,000 sandbags in and around Echuca, which could reach devastating 1993 flood levels. This blog is now closed

Water is spilling over a levee in the Murray River border town of Echuca-Moama, as residents anxiously wait to see if it will hold back flood’s peak

A move to bring back the publicly owned SEC shows governments are not confident the private sector can decarbonise quickly enough, experts say

The NSW town is in a hurry to transition from mining and power generation – but attracting new industries has its own pitfalls

Quitting the ECT, which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits, was ‘coherent’ with Paris climate deal, Macron saidFrance has become the latest country to pull out of the controversial energy charter treaty (ECT), which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits.Speaking after an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “France has decided to withdraw from the energy charter treaty.” Quitting the ECT was “coherent” with the Paris climate deal, he added. Continue reading...

After Liz Truss’s ‘war on nature’, we look again at the environmental record of the most probable crop of hopefulsLiz Truss has fought a “war on nature” unique in recent British politics, managing within a few short weeks to incur the wrath of conservation groups with more than 8 million members, foreign governments, climate activists and members of her own party.Her successor may be expected to learn from this chastening experience and adopt a less confrontational attitude. Continue reading...

Demand for quilting reaches new heights, with the ubiquitous coats’ intergenerational appealForget the puffer jacket, which has dominated the coat market for the last few years. This season, quilted jackets are set to become the outerwear of choice. It is a multigenerational trend, seen from the school gates to social media. Gen-Z influencers can’t get enough of them on TikTok, while the 70-something model Maye Musk (yes, Elon’s mother) wore a black one to a recent Christian Dior fashion show.Among the street style set, the cult New York fashion brand the Frankie Shop’s moss green “Teddy” jacket is proving to be the most popular. Net-a-Porter is reporting a 30% increase in search for it over the past month. Retailing for more than £200, on eBay it sells for double. On the high street you can find a plethora of similar iterations at M&S, Arket and Cos. Mango’s £59.99 version even has a waiting list. Continue reading...

FoI request reveals council plans including commercial units and large housing developmentsLarge greenfield sites in England have been identified in 35 councils’ applications to be part of deregulated low-tax investment zones.Seventy-seven areas have been identified for development in the zones, where key environmental protections and planning regulations will be relaxed to encourage fast growth, according to data gathered by an environmental campaigner. Continue reading...

Climate activists defiant as public order bill aims to curtail civil disobedience tacticsUK climate activists have vowed to continue their disruptive protests until the government imposes the death penalty for their actions, as they signalled their contempt for a new bill aimed at curtailing their civil disobedience tactics.The public order bill, which passed through the Commons this week and is now before the House of Lords, takes aim at “criminal, disruptive and self-defeating guerrilla tactics” used by groups such as Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain. Continue reading...

Victoria is expecting the worst flooding from Sunday as NSW braces for more extreme weather. This blog is now closed

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a mud-covered kangaroo, a baby grey seal and rescued elephants Continue reading...

Large parts of both states put on notice as emergency services forecast large hailstones and heavy rain

Exclusive: campaigners call for protection and careful tree-planting to help restore the temperate rainforests that once covered swathes of the countryTemperate rainforest, which has been decimated over thousands of years, has the potential to be restored across a fifth of Great Britain, a new map reveals.Atlantic temperate rainforest once covered most of the west coasts of Britain and Ireland, thriving in the archipelago’s wet, mild conditions, which support rainforest indicator species such as lichens, mosses and liverworts. Today, it covers less than 1% of land, having been cleared over thousands of years by humans and is only found in isolated pockets, such as the waterfalls region in the Brecon Beacons and Ausewell Wood on Dartmoor. Continue reading...

Yellowfin and bigeye tuna catches rise outside 1.5m sq km marine protected area, proving value of no-catch zone, researchers saySix years ago, the then US president, Barack Obama, created the world’s largest fully protected ocean reserve by expanding the existing Papahānaumokuākea marine national monument in Hawaii, a world heritage site that include islands, atolls and archeological treasures. Now scientists have found that the reserve, which spans 1.5m sq km (580,000 sq miles) and is inhabited by whales and turtles, has brought unexpected benefits to the surrounding ocean.Catches of yellowfin tuna, known as ahi in Hawaiian, were found to have risen by 54% between 2016 and 2019 near the reserve, within which fishing is banned, while catches of bigeye tuna rose by 12%. Continue reading...

Dealing with Australia’s continual fires and floods needs a dedicated, semi-professional workforce, emergency minister Murray Watt says

Shoppers can book repairs and donate unwanted items as fashion chain seeks to cut carbon footprintZara is to help its UK shoppers resell, repair or donate clothing bought from the Spanish fashion chain in an effort to reduce its environmental impact.The Pre-owned service, which launches on 3 November and will be Zara’s first step into resale or repair, will enable shoppers to book repairs and donate unwanted items online or via a store, and post now-unwanted Zara purchases online for sale. Continue reading...

EPA investigating whether state agencies discriminated against majority-Black city of Jackson by refusing to fund improvementsThe US Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it is investigating whether Mississippi state agencies discriminated against the state’s majority-Black capital city by refusing to fund improvements for its failing water system.The announcement came days after leaders of two congressional committees said they were starting a joint investigation into a crisis that left most homes and businesses in Jackson without running water for several days in late August and early September. Continue reading...

Royal Entomological Society to sponsor garden in effort to show importance of less glamorous creepy-crawliesStag beetles and hornets will be among the stars of Chelsea flower show next year as horticulturalists encourage people to welcome invertebrates into the garden.Bumblebees and butterflies tend to get a lot of press, but in a 2023 garden sponsored by the Royal Entomological Society, less glamorous creepy-crawlies will take centre stage.Don’t use pesticides. Massey says: “It’s about creating balance. Ladybirds eat aphids, for example, both are valuable in their own right, but it’s about being patient – if you get aphids causing a problem, don’t panic and spray them but know a ladybird will come soon and gobble them up. Create a garden that is attractive to all kinds of life.”Embrace mess. “We don’t need to tidy everything up to the maximum degree … there has to be some kind of movement towards a looser, I suppose more patient style of gardening. Leave some leaves on the floor, don’t tidy everything up,” Massey says.Welcome weeds. “Dandelions, for example, are a good source for insects and are actually a really attractive flower. Yes, they can sow seed everywhere but you can allow them to spread around and it creates less work for us and it’s very beneficial for wildlife at the same time.”Accept and enjoy garden life. “Slugs and snails have been demonised but they are actually really important in breakdown of material and a food source for other types of animals that are more desirable, like frogs or toads. Be a bit more accepting of new sorts of life forms and maybe if you look at them closer, and you know more about them through things like science, they become more interesting and more fascinating and more appealing.” Continue reading...

Elms – seen by some as one of few promising Brexit dividends – has been put under reviewThree hundred and 40 British farmers have signed a letter to Conservative MPs criticising plans to scrap plans to pay them for their stewardship of nature.The environmental land management scheme (Elms), a set of subsidies to replace the EU’s common agricultural policy, had been due to be rolled out this year. But last month, ministers placed it under review. A result is expected in the next week – within the seven days that Liz Truss has to remain as prime minister. Continue reading...

Homes with smart meters to be paid £3 per KW hour to boost use at night and take strain off power grid

More than dozen activists in custody after protest at department store in London that also stopped trafficJust Stop Oil protesters have sprayed orange paint on the front of Harrods in central London as they continue to call on the government to end all “new oil and gas”.About 20 demonstrators gathered outside the department store in Knightsbridge at about 9am on Thursday for a 20th consecutive day of disruption to the capital. Continue reading...

Heavy rain and rising waters continue to take a deadly toll in countries including Nigeria, Thailand and VietnamIt has been a drenched 2022 for many parts of the world, at times catastrophically so. A year of disastrous flooding perhaps reached its nadir in Pakistan, where a third of the country was inundated by heavy rainfall from June, killing more than 1,000 people in what António Guterres, the UN secretary general, called an unprecedented natural disaster.While floods are indeed natural phenomena, a longstanding result of storms, the human-induced climate crisis is amplifying their damage. Rising sea levels, driven by melting glaciers and the thermal expansion of water, are increasingly inundating coastal areas, while warmer temperatures are causing more moisture to accumulate in the atmosphere, which is then released as rain or snow. Continue reading...

Greens leader Adam Bandt asked senator to step down from leadership team due to error of judgment. This blog is now closed

Stage three of New Hope Group’s open-cut mine granted a water licence, allowing work to proceed

Participants in £33m scheme that improved 3,000 community spaces note confidence and wellbeing boostYoung people’s mental health, self-confidence and employability were boosted by participation in nature projects across the UK, according to a report on a £33m programme.More than 128,000 people aged 11 to 24 took part in the Our Bright Future scheme. The 31 projects improved 3,000 community spaces and created 350 nature-rich areas, from a vandalised churchyard in Hull to a rewilded quarry in County Down. The programme was led by the Wildlife Trusts and funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology warns of heavy rain, flash-flooding and possible damaging hail in parts of Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia

North Carolina reptiles showed extremely high levels of PFAS compounds and markers of immune disease in their bloodHigh levels of PFAS discharged into the Cape Fear River from a Chemours plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, are likely making local alligators sick with autoimmune disorders that appear similar to human diseases like lupus, a new study finds.The peer-reviewed study, published Thursday in the Frontiers in Toxicology journal, tested blood from alligators in the Cape Fear watershed that have been exposed to Chemours pollution for decades. The alligators showed extremely high levels of PFAS compounds and markers of immune disease in their blood. Continue reading...

About half of the CO2-equivalent caused by releasing methane in Australia comes from agriculture. The rest comes mainly from coalmines, oil, gas and waste

A Labour motion that would have forced a vote on a bill to ban fracking has been defeated in the House of Commons. The government has won the vote after MPs voted 230 for yes, 326 for no, giving a government majority of 96.It had earlier been reported that the Conservative party whip had made it a confidence vote, although three Tory MPs said they would refuse to vote to back fracking, even if it meant they would lose the party whip.The vice-chairman of the 1992 Committee, Wiliam Wragg, admitted he would be voting against his principles on fracking to keep his position

Labour tabled vote on banning shale gas drilling in England, which Tory whips said would be treated as confidence motion in Truss’s governmentMPs have rejected a Labour motion that would guarantee parliamentary time for a bill to ban fracking.Despite there being 357 Conservative MPs in Parliament, there were just 326 votes against Labour’s motion. Continue reading...

‘It’s crazy, silly, nuts, wacky, cuckoo, potty, daft, cracked, dippy, bonkers – the list goes on’Is there a scene more horrifying than the baby cuckoo alone in a nest: the waxy skin, the eyeballs covered in the skull, the sunken back – evolved to help it scoop the other eggs over the edge and on to the ground. Nobody has taught the baby how to eliminate its adoptive siblings. The cuckoo hatches with this instinct driving it: a natural born “obligate brood parasite”.When a common European cuckoo has successfully laid her egg in a reed warbler’s nest, she “gives a chuckle call, as if in triumph”: the call sounds like a sparrowhawk, a predator, which distracts the host. “The female cuckoo enhances her success by manipulating a fundamental trade-off in host defences between clutch and self-protection,” the authors who discovered this wrote, in a paper titled Female cuckoo calls misdirect host defences towards the wrong enemy. In one summer, a female cuckoo can lay 25 malevolent eggs. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Concern over government plans to relax environmental and planning rules to lure businessThe government’s investment zones could put the UK’s ancient woodlands under threat, the head of the Woodland Trust has warned.An ancient woodland is one that has existed continuously since at least 1600. They are a precious part of the country’s history, store large amounts of carbon and are important habitats for animals. Continue reading...

Prof Aoife Foley says it would remain light for part of energy peak between 5pm and 7pm, reducing household billsHouseholds could save more than £400 a year on energy bills if clocks are not put back at the end of October, according to an expert, who said it would help people with the cost of living crisis and reduce pressure on the National Grid this winter.Evening energy demand peaks between 5pm and 7pm during winter, when the sun has already set after daylight savings time (DST). If clocks didn’t go back, it would remain light for at least part of this time, reducing carbon emissions and energy demand. Continue reading...

Chris Skidmore, head of PM’s net zero review, among Conservatives willing to vote against government

Suit claims the agency has yet to respond to legal petition demanding tighter Clean Water Act enforcement for factory farmsDozens of advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), claiming the federal department has failed to come up with a plan to regulate water pollution from factory farms.The suit claims the agency has yet to respond to a 2017 legal petition from more than 30 environmental groups demanding that the EPA tighten its Clean Water Act enforcement for factory farms, also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (Cafos), where thousands of animals are sometimes confined. Continue reading...

Economist says sector’s financial stability is worrying as firms have borrowed heavily to pay dividendsWater companies are struggling to hold their finances in order as interest rates rise on the huge debts they have taken on to pay dividends, according to a leading economist.Dieter Helm, a professor of economic policy at the University of Oxford and an adviser to governments, said there were worrying signs from water companies about their financial stability as the economic crisis pushes up interest rates. Continue reading...

Mining co-ops – with oversize influence in the government – are moving into the Amazon’s Madidi national parkThe footage is jerky, perhaps shot covertly. It shows a river running through a jungle: on the far side there is still thick forest, but the near bank is a mess of churned earth and muddy tracks – yet more evidence that gold miners have moved into the Madidi, Bolivia’s most famous national park.Such mining provides a living for hundreds of thousands of people. But as miners push into the Amazon and other protected areas, the Bolivian government’s support of the industry sits awkwardly with its environmentalist rhetoric. Continue reading...

Lack of rainfall takes toll on Canada’s ‘wet coast’ as experts warn of further extreme weather events fueled by climate changeNearly a year ago, flood waters inundated swaths of south-western British Columbia. Mudslides destroyed sections of highways and swollen, turbid rivers washed away houses and bridges.Now, the region has the opposite problem: months of drought have begun to take a toll on what was once dubbed Canada’s “wet coast”. Continue reading...

Speculation had been rife that government would block Elms subsidies for creating wildlife habitatsFarmers in England say they are increasingly optimistic that the government may yet row back on its plans to cut funding for nature-friendly farming initiatives.The farming minister, Mark Spencer, this week met the RSPB and the chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), both organisations that had been critical of plans to remove subsidies for creating wildlife habitats. Continue reading...

Discovery of body near Hillston comes after a 65-year-old man was found dead in flood-hit Victoria

Commons report finds organised criminals view illegal dumping fines as business expense and there is no coherent planThe government’s attitude to waste crime is “close to decriminalisation” as fines are so low, the chair of the Commons public accounts committee (Pac) has said.Organised criminals view the relatively tiny fines as a business expense, MPs have warned, as illegal waste dumping becomes a lucrative income stream for gangs. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lancashire site responsible for 192 earthquakes over course of 182 days in 2018-19, Lib Dem analysis has foundFracking caused an earthquake every day at the UK’s only active site at Preston New Road in Lancashire, analysis has found.Between 2018 and 2019, the site near Blackpool was responsible for 192 earthquakes over the course of 182 days , according to analysis of House of Commons Library data by the Liberal Democrats. Continue reading...

Fewer than half of those questioned in global poll believe climate change poses a ‘very serious threat’Concerns about climate change shrank across the world last year, with fewer than half of those questioned in a new survey believing it posed a “very serious threat” to their countries over the next 20 years.Only 20% of people in China, the world’s biggest polluter, said they believed that climate change was a very serious threat, down 3 percentage points from the last survey by Gallup World Risk Poll in 2019. Continue reading...

Rewilding Europe’s 10th project ‘has potential to benefit both nature and people’ in one of the continent’s least populated areasBlack vultures, lynx and wild horses are among the animals being reintroduced to eastern Spain with the launch of a rewilding project spanning 850,000 hectares (2.1m acres) in the Iberian highlands east of Madrid.Rewilding Europe’s 20-year landscape recovery scheme, which covers an area more than five times the size of Greater London, aims to make the land wilder and more nature-friendly. The protected area is the southern part of the Iberian Chain, a mountain range that stretches 500km (300 miles) from the north-west of the country to the Mediterranean in the south-east. Continue reading...

As big firms stop insuring coal, complex schemes unlikely to find expertise needed, says Insure Our FutureNew coal power projects are becoming “effectively uninsurable” outside China because so many insurance companies have ruled out support for them, a report has found.Recent commitments to stop underwriting coal by prominent US insurers AIG and Travelers have brought the number of coal insurance exit policies to 41, according to the latest industry scorecard by the climate campaign Insure Our Future. Continue reading...

Government’s ‘dangerous deregulatory agenda’ risks missing pledge to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, says reportThe UK will miss its key nature pledge to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030 unless it scraps plans to deregulate environmental protections, a new report has warned.The UK is one of more than 100 countries committed to protecting “30x30” as a way to halt the destruction of the natural world. However, just 3.22% of land in England and 8% of the sea is being properly protected and managed for nature, according to the report from the environmental charities coalition Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL). Continue reading...

Lender told it must in future acknowledge its role in climate crisis after ‘misleading’ Cop26 campaignHSBC has suffered a fresh blow to its green credentials after the UK advertising watchdog banned a series of misleading adverts and said any future campaigns must disclose the bank’s contribution to the climate crisis.The ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) followed dozens of complaints over posters that appeared on high streets and bus stops in the lead-up to the Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow last October. Continue reading...