Environment | The Guardian

Conditions set to ease from Thursday as scientists predict ‘increasingly common’ intense weather events as a result of global heating

Protesters from the coalition have staged disruptions at major British museums five times in the past weekFive supporters of the Just Stop Oil coalition have glued themselves to a 500-year-old depiction of The Last Supper in London’s Royal Academy, the fifth time in a week that it has disrupted a major British art institution.The activists struck just before noon, supergluing their hands to the frame of the 3-metre-long painting – a reproduction of the Leonardo da Vinci original attributed to his pupil, Giampietrino. Continue reading...

Peak at Sonnblick in Austrian Alps has melted more than a month before previous record timeThe snow at the highest observatory in the world to be operated all-year-round is expected to completely melt in the next few days, the earliest time on record.Scientists at the Sonnblick observatory in the Austrian Central Alps, which is 3,106 metres (10,190ft) above sea level, have been shocked and dismayed to see the snow depleting so quickly. Continue reading...

Parts of New South Wales have had more than 700mm of rain since the floods hit, with record July rainfall in a matter of days

We may be approaching a legal tipping point for fossil fuel companies and the spin masters that work for themIn 2005, I was the lead counsel on behalf of the US in one of the biggest corporate accountability legal actions ever filed. That trial proved that the tobacco industry knew it was selling and marketing a harmful product, that it had funded denial of public health science, and had used deceptive advertising and PR to protect assets instead of protecting consumers.Today, the fossil fuel industry finds itself in the same precarious legal position as the tobacco industry did in the late 1990s. The behaviour and goals of the tobacco and petroleum industries are pretty similar – and there are many similarities in their liabilities.Sharon Y Eubanks served as lead council in the federal tobacco litigation United States v Philip Morris USA, et al. She is the co-author of Bad Acts: The Racketeering Case Against the Tobacco Industry Continue reading...

In the glare of history, failure on climate will overshadow any other fact about their tenure. Let’s hope they feel the heat as much as we doOn Thursday, the supreme court of the United States struck down the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, sharply limiting the federal government’s ability to fight climate change.With Earth’s temperature rising steadily, with the scientific community shouting at the top of its lungs for more aggressive action, with fires and hurricanes pushing entire regions beyond the bounds of human habitability, the court’s Republican-appointed supermajority has chosen to actively inhibit our ability to respond to the crisis. The decision was in keeping with the Republican party’s deepening climate nihilism: as the train careens off the rails, they strangle the conductor, destroy the brakes.Daniel Sherrell is the author of Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World (Penguin Books) and a climate activist Continue reading...

Unpublished government records show rise in poultry products testing positive for salmonella infantis

How one couple helped save vast areas of wilderness in the 1940s – and provided a map for protecting them today“This is your land we are talking about,” the controversial, firebrand historian and conservationist Bernard DeVoto wrote in 1947, paraphrasing Woody Guthrie’s fresh folk classic.Bernard and his stylish, sharp-witted wife, Avis DeVoto, had returned from an epic road trip across the Lewis and Clark trail, crossing the states of the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. On their way, they researched America’s wild, public lands and philosophized about the spiritual connection between the freedom of movement they allowed and the freedom of thought they inspired. Continue reading...

Entangled humpbacks freed at Kirra beach on the Gold Coast and Marcoola beach on the Sunshine Coast during whale migration

The cat-sized nocturnal marsupials, which are unique to Australia, live in areas from north Queensland to central Victoria

Supply and demand shocks seem likely to keep prices up despite fears of recession in US and EuropeOver the past two and a half years, world oil and gas prices have been subject to demand shocks and supply shocks – and sometimes both simultaneously. The resulting volatility in energy markets is a reflection and a microcosm of a careening global economy.The price of Brent crude oil declined from a “normal” $68 a barrel at the end of 2019 to $14 a barrel in April 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic spread worldwide. Two years later, in March 2022, the price soared to $133 a barrel after Russia invaded Ukraine. Now it is falling again amid growing fears of a recession in the US. But the price could rise sharply if the Chinese economy bounces back from the stupor induced by its zero-Covid policies. Continue reading...

December clash of biodiversity talks in Montreal and World Cup in Qatar will cause ‘embarrassment’ if ministers fail to act wisely

Greenhouse gas has undergone rapid acceleration and scientists say it may be due to atmospheric changesMethane is four times more sensitive to global warming than previously thought, a new study shows. The result helps to explain the rapid growth in methane in recent years and suggests that, if left unchecked, methane related warming will escalate in the decades to come.The growth of this greenhouse gas – which over a 20 year timespan is more than 80 times as potent than carbon dioxide – had been slowing since the turn of the millennium but since 2007 has undergone a rapid rise, with measurements from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recording it passing 1,900 parts a billion last year, nearly triple pre-industrial levels. Continue reading...

SES perform 252 flood rescues overnight and thousands urged to evacuate as threat of inundation remains in Hawkesbury and Nepean

Five ‘areas of search’ in the Celtic Sea could be developed and offered to businesses by 2023Floating windfarms could be built off the coasts of Cornwall and Pembrokeshire after the Queen’s property manager identified a clutch of sites in the Celtic Sea that could host them.The crown estate, which generates money for the Treasury and the royal family, has published five “areas of search” that will be narrowed into development plots to host wind power generation. Continue reading...

Draft mining plan flagged ‘net zero emissions’ for mining sector, but this was dropped from final document

Footage shows ‘significant fire’ at building, just over a week after a gas blast killed a woman in BirminghamAt least one person has died and three others have been taken to hospital after what was described as an “inferno” in a block of flats, Bedfordshire police said.Ch Supt John Murphy said it was possible more deaths will be discovered in the coming days as emergency services search the scene, with some people unaccounted for at the block at Redwood Grove in Bedford. Continue reading...

Campaigners from Just Stop Oil pressure group reimagine The Hay Wain by John ConstableSupporters of Just Stop Oil have once again glued themselves to a significant artwork in a major UK gallery, a day after invading the track at Silverstone and disrupting the British Grand Prix.Just before 2.30pm, two young supporters of the campaign stepped over a rope barrier keeping the public at the National Gallery in London a safe distance from The Hay Wain, by John Constable. Continue reading...

Government proposals would also add protections for local communities and impose new controls on land salesScotland’s largest landowners will be forced to pay fines if they fail to protect nature, local communities and the climate under new land reform proposals.Landowners who control estates in Scotland larger than 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) will also face losing farming, forestry and conservation subsidies if they fail to meet the Scottish government’s policies on nature restoration or community empowerment. Continue reading...

Effects of human-caused global heating are blocking vital winter rains, with severe implications for farming and tourismSpain and Portugal are suffering their driest climate for at least 1,200 years, according to research, with severe implications for both food production and tourism.Most rain on the Iberian peninsula falls in winter as wet, low-pressure systems blow in from the Atlantic. But a high-pressure system off the coast, called the Azores high, can block the wet weather fronts. Continue reading...

Brazilian president’s dismantling of environmental safeguards partly to blame, says politician leading inquiryJair Bolsonaro’s demolition of Brazil’s Indigenous and environmental protection services and “surrender of the Amazon to crooks” played a direct role in the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, the politician leading a congressional inquiry into the crime has claimed.One month after the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous advocate were killed on the River Itaquaí, three men are in custody: two local fishermen and a third man called Jeferson da Silva Lima. Continue reading...

Tug boats arrive as NSW port authority hopes to tow Portland Bay bulk carrier to ‘deep, safe water’; SES says evacuation orders and warnings covering 32,000 people to stay in place; nation records 26 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Bowston is the largest river barrier removal planned for the UK this year and will allow fish and other species to move more freelyNearly 150 years after it was built for a paper mill, work has begun to demolish a 3-metre-high weir in Cumbria as part of nationwide efforts to improve biodiversity by allowing fish and invertebrates to move more freely along the UK’s rivers.Bowston weir lies across the River Kent, an internationally important site of special scientific interest, home to white-clawed crayfish and freshwater pearl mussels, as well as water crowfoot, an oxygenating aquatic plant. But the river is in poor condition due to human interference over the centuries. Continue reading...

‘Deception’ gives false impression firms are addressing climate crisis, says Emma Howard BoydWidespread greenwashing by businesses is compromising efforts to prepare for climate impacts such as floods and heatwaves, the chair of the Environment Agency will say in a speech on Monday.Emma Howard Boyd, addressing the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment Annual Forum, will warn businesses are embedding liability and storing up risk for their investors by giving the false impression they are addressing the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Funding model also criticised for letting factories ‘off the hook’ with planning decision due this weekThe UK government has been criticised for exposing low-income households to the cost of building the Sizewell C nuclear power plant while letting factories “off the hook” as a crucial planning decision is due this week.If given the green light, the government hopes to use a regulated asset base (RAB) funding model to finance the project, which is being proposed by the French energy firm EDF. Continue reading...

Boom clouded by supply chain disruption, a fragmented industry as well as ethical issues“It’s hot,” says Steve Springett, a director of the renewable energy brand Egg, cheerily assessing the solar market. “There’s two key factors: people are understanding the environmental benefits of it better, and energy is really, really expensive at the moment.”Consumer interest has increased in recent months as Britons hunt for ways to cut huge energy bills. A reduction in VAT on energy efficient systems from 5% to nothing this spring has added to the appeal of solar power. Continue reading...

Grunion run has fascinated scientists and locals for decades, but their future is threatened by the climate crisisOn certain nights on a quiet California beach, thousands of small, silvery fish gather in the moonlight to perform a unique mating ritual.Known as the “grunion run”, the spectacle is one of the lesser known natural wonders of the US west coast. Grunion are a rare fish species that come ashore to spawn, and during the months of April to August they cover beaches from Baja California to Santa Barbara like a glittering carpet, wriggling in the sand to lay and fertilize eggs just after the highest tide of a full or new moon. Continue reading...

Party makes promise amid reports UK is falling behind European rivals in production capacity for EVsLabour has pledged to create at least 30,000 jobs by promising to build three gigafactories for electric car battery production in Britain by 2025, as it warned the country was falling behind its European competitors in the race to ditch petrol power.Amid recent reports that Britain faces a battle to hold on to the production of electric vehicles (EVs) made by manufacturers already in the UK, the party has committed itself to a major expansion of the part-financing of gigafactories. It follows research suggesting countries such as Germany, which already has a huge car industry, are significantly ahead in establishing the plants. Continue reading...

Policy would ban new ocean drilling but allow up to 11 lease sales in Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coastJoe Biden’s administration on Friday unveiled a five-year offshore oil and gas drilling development plan that blocks all new drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans within US territorial waters while allowing some lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast.The plan, which has not been finalized, could allow up to 11 lease sales but gives the interior department the right to make none. It comes two days after the US supreme court curbed the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to respond to the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Methods of keeping living spaces warm range from cheap gap-sealing to expensive double-glazing, but the first step is to find and see the problemIt’s minus four degrees when scientist Jenny Edwards arrives to inspect my bitterly cold Canberra home. Huddled inside with a coffee, dressed for an ascent to Everest base camp, I’m fretting over whether she’ll make it past the front deck. It’s iced over again.I’m breathing fog in the kitchen and frost has covered the bay window in my bedroom. Continue reading...

Training programmes for working dogs and pets are aimed at protecting the flightless bird’s dwindling numbers, but they come at a costTip, a young hunting dog, pads up a goat track through New Zealand’s damp forest undergrowth, alert and excited as her nose hoovers the ground for smells. She stops suddenly to investigate an irresistible scent – the sweet, musty aroma of kiwi.Tip is allowed a moment to inhale before a low-level electric pulse, issued from a collar, warns her that this bird is out of bounds. She briefly recoils, the electric signal enough to form an immediate negative association with the smell. Continue reading...

Sizewell C proposal will power 6m homes but could pose a threat to Minsmere nature reserve, the RSPB’s jewel in the crownThe Bittern Hide at the RSPB’s Minsmere reserve was doing steady business last Wednesday. More than a dozen birdwatchers were crammed into the elevated shelter which overlooks a broad band of heath, freshwater pools and reed beds stretching to the Suffolk coast. Marsh harriers swirled overhead and an occasional bittern swept across the landscape. In front of another nearby hide, avocets waded leisurely across a lagoon. Minsmere is an ornithologist’s paradise.But a threat hangs over its wildlife glories. In a few days, the government is set to announce its decision on whether to allow the Sizewell C nuclear power plant to be built by EDF on land that overlooks the 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) reserve. Continue reading...

When second world war-era storage tanks leaked into Hawaii residents’ water supply in December thousands got sickBeginning in December, US army Major Amanda Feindt and her family found themselves in and out of Tripler army medical center in Honolulu. First, her husband for debilitating ocular migraines, then her four-year-old daughter, who was vomiting with severe abdominal pain, then her one-year-old for chemical burns, and later herself when she started experiencing crippling back pain that prevented her from being able to walk, among other troubling symptoms.The Feindts were only four of thousands who reportedly sickened after 19,000 gallons of jet fuel from the US navy’s second world war-era underground fuel storage facility leaked into one of Oahu’s main drinking water aquifers. The contamination has led to a major water crisis in the Pacific, affecting more than 93,0000 people. Continue reading...

Exclusive: António Guterres says growing north and south divide is ‘morally unacceptable’ and dangerousHumanity is facing a “perfect storm” of crises that is widening inequality between the north and south, the UN secretary general has warned. The divide is not only “morally unacceptable” but dangerous, further threatening peace and security in a conflicted world.The global food, energy and financial crises unleashed by the war in Ukraine have hit countries already reeling from the pandemic and the climate crisis, reversing what had been a growing convergence between developed and developing countries, António Guterres said. Continue reading...

AspiraDAC device can remove two tonnes of CO2 a year and store it underground using direct air capture technology

For renters, who can’t make big changes such as solar installations, there are still lots of ways to reduce your energy bill and stay warm

US military investigation points to human error after fuel leak that poisoned thousandsA US navy investigation has revealed that shoddy management and human error caused fuel to leak into Pearl Harbor’s tap water last year, poisoning thousands of people and forcing military families to evacuate their homes for hotels.The investigation, released on Thursday, is the first detailed account of how jet fuel from the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility, a huge second-world-war-era military-run tank farm in the hills above Pearl Harbor, leaked into a well that supplied water to housing and offices in and around the sprawling base. Continue reading...

Supporters of group say young people have ‘nothing to lose any more’ as they call for end to new oil and gas projectsTwo young supporters of Just Stop Oil have glued themselves tothe frame of a JMW Turner painting at Manchester Art Gallery.It is the third time this week that supporters of the group, which is calling for a government-imposed moratorium on new oil and gas extraction projects, have glued themselves to major works in UK galleries. Continue reading...

The climate agenda risks being derailed by energy market disruptions caused by Russia’s war in UkraineJoe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia this month highlights the paradox of American power. The US has the economic heft to punish an opponent – but not enough to alter the behaviour of a determined adversary. Sanctions will see Russia’s economy contract by 9% next year. But Washington needs more nations to join its camp to halt Moscow’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Mr Biden has been forced to prioritise war objectives over ethics in meeting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA says ordered the barbaric murder of the prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi.The havoc that Russia’s war has caused on the world’s energy markets is contributing to an economic crisis that is playing into the hands of Mr Biden’s domestic opponents. This highlights the west’s failure to confront the climate emergency with a less carbon-intensive economic model. The green agenda risks being derailed by sky-high hydrocarbon prices. This scenario could have been averted if western nations had accelerated their net zero agendas by driving down energy demand – the lack of UK home insulation is one glaring failure – and spending on renewables to achieve energy security. Instead, this week the G7 watered down pledges to halt fossil fuel investment over fears of winter energy shortages as Moscow squeezes supplies. Continue reading...

Conservation group wants to ‘drive cultural shift’ to designate trees and woodlands ‘as fundamental to quality of life’She would never have dreamed of it a few years ago, but when lockdown came and she found herself separated from family and friends, “I’m not ashamed to say I hugged a tree or two if I was feeling sad,” says Jane Barber. “When you couldn’t hug people – and I didn’t have a partner at the time – it was really challenging for people who lived alone.“We need connection, to feel connection with another living being. To connect with the tree’s history and reflect on what it might have witnessed is wonderful.” Continue reading...

Small populations of wild rock doves discovered in places including Outer HebridesColonies of extremely rare and endangered birds that are the wild ancestors of domestic and feral pigeons have been found on secluded Scottish islands.Researchers have spoken of their excitement and surprise at discovering small populations of wild rock doves in places that include the Outer Hebrides. Continue reading...

An Italian town has banned the practice during a heatwave, but if done right it benefits hair and scalpGlobal consumption of water is growing twice as fast as the world’s population and droughts are affecting swathes of the planet. So it was no surprise that this week the mayor of an Italian town in Emilia-Romagna, which is experiencing a severe heatwave, banned hairdressers from shampooing their customers’ hair twice, saying it would save thousands of litres of water a day.As we all attempt to reduce waste, that additional shampoo at home or in the salon can seem like overkill. So is what is known in the trade as “double cleansing” really necessary? No, but every hairdresser and trichologist is seemingly in agreement that the second shampoo has distinct benefits to scalp and hair, regardless of skin and hair type. Continue reading...

Woman, who has non-life-threatening injuries, treated in Wyoming hospital after encounter in national parkA 71-year-old Pennsylvania woman was gored by a bison on Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park, in “the third reported bison and visitor incident” this year, officials said.The woman, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, was transported to a hospital in Cody, Wyoming. Continue reading...

French president, speaking on sidelines of UN ocean conference in Lisbon, urges more investment in science to protect high seasEmmanuel Macron, the French president, has called for a legal framework to stop deep-sea mining from going ahead and urged countries to put their money into science to better understand and protect the world’s oceans.There is growing international interest in deep-sea mining but there is also pressure from some environmental groups and governments to either ban it or ensure it only goes ahead if appropriate regulations are in place. Continue reading...

Collaboration between national water agency and craft brewer described as ‘highly quaffable’It is a beer made with only the finest ingredients: premium German barley malts, aromatic Citra and Calypso hops, farmhouse yeast from Norway – and reclaimed sewage.NewBrew, a collaboration between Singapore’s national water agency and the local craft brewery Brewerkz, has already proved popular and has sold out on tap at the brewery’s restaurants, according to reports. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a stonefish, a mountain jerboa and a bevy of otters Continue reading...

Mark Butler urges Australians to get boosters as new subvariant circulates; nation records 33 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Woodside’s North West Shelf gas development would release more than eight times Australia’s annual emissions if it continues to operate until 2070

Meteorological authority declares short season in several regions as temperatures remain high across countryExcessive heat has remained a headline story across Japan over the past few days. An area of anomalously high pressure nearby in the Pacific Ocean has moved little over the last week and continues to fuel record-breaking temperatures. The city of Isesaki recorded a temperature of 40.2C, the highest ever in the country for June. More seasonal temperatures are not expected to return until next week.June is considered to be well within the rainy season in Japan’s central and southern districts; climatologically the generally cloudier and wetter conditions, with suppressed temperatures, continue well into the first fortnight of July. However, the Japan Meteorological Agency declared an early end to the season this week for many areas, including Tokyo’s Kanto-Koshin region, where the season terminated more than three weeks before schedule, the earliest in several decades. For the southern regions of northern Kyushu, Shikoku, Chugoku and Kinki, where the season began between 11 and 13 June, this represents about a fortnight of rains, when typically it can last about six weeks. Continue reading...