Environment | The Guardian

Environmental campaigners have caused rush-hour chaos in west London by clambering on to an oil tanker and forcing the closure of a major roundabout leading to the start of the M4 motorway Continue reading...

Researchers say Brexit politicians now pushing against net zero amid cost-of-living crisisRightwing populist parties have a detrimental impact on climate policy, researchers have found for the first time, amid growing fears of a similar movement in the UK.The study, by the universities of Sussex and Warwick, looked at the policy of more than 25 countries over a period of more than a decade. Researchers created a climate policy index and compared it with a baseline of a centre-right government. They found the combined effect of the presence of a rightwing populist party in parliament and in government was associated with a reduction in the index of about 25% on average.The Netherlands 2010 – the populist and climate-sceptic PVV party got its best ever electoral result and came in as a junior coalition partner in a centre-right led government. The scale and ambition of greenhouse gas emissions reduction and renewable energy targets set by the previous government were reduced, and a coal phaseout remained off the agenda.Norway 2013 – the populist Progress party entered a minority government. Previous centre-left coalition governments had had ambitious climate policy, but again targets for emissions reduction and renewables were reduced. The Progress party took over the ministry of petroleum and energy and issued new drilling licences for oil, including in the Arctic for the first time.Denmark 2015 – the centre-right Venstre party formed a minority government that had informal support from the populist Danish Peoples’ party, which got 21% of the vote, its best ever share. There was backsliding on emissions reduction and renewables targets, and the goal of phasing out coal set by the previous government was dropped.Poland 2015 – the populist PiS took power as the largest party in a coalition government. In its first term it was hostile to renewables, blocking onshore wind and opposing expansion of renewable energy targets at the EU level. It also blocked the 2050 carbon neutrality goal in the European Council. However, from 2019 the party changed position on renewables.Austria 2017 – the populist FPÖ came in as a junior partner in a centre-right led government. The FPÖ had little impact in the end but voted against Austria joining the Paris Agreement and against parliament declaring a climate emergency in 2019. Continue reading...

Dogger Bank saved from destructive practice along with three other areas, after campaigning by activistsThe UK’s largest sandbank has been protected from bottom trawling, an environmentally destructive fishing technique.Activists have been calling on the government for years to stop bottom trawling at Dogger Bank, an important site off the east coast of England for species including sand eels, hermit crabs, flatfish and starfish. Continue reading...

President describes ‘catastrophe of enormous proportions’ as more than 300 people die in Durban areaSouth Africa is bracing for more heavy rain in districts hit by massive and lethal downpours earlier this week.More than 300 people have died in flooding in and around the eastern coastal city of Durban in recent days. On Wednesday the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, described the flooding as a “catastrophe of enormous proportions”, directly linking it to the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Carlo Amodeo fell in love with Sicilian black bees after being mesmerised by them as a child. He has spent more than 40 years finding and preserving themIt was love at first sight when five-year-old Carlo Amodeo first saw a swarm of black bees. He could not stop thinking about them and every night for a week he had the same dream: of building a house for the bees made from wood using his toy carpentry set.Amodeo, now 62, still remembers that first encounter. It took place in the 1960s, while he was spending the summer with his mother at the seaside 30 minutes from Palermo, in north-west Sicily. He saw the swarm hanging from an olive trunk during a stroll in the countryside. “I was paralysed, motionless like a dog pointing at prey,” he recalls. “Then my mother dragged me off to the beach.” Continue reading...

The world’s farms produce only a handful of varieties of bananas, avocados, coffee and other foods – leaving them vulnerable to the climate breakdown Continue reading...

Morrison says he ‘won’t support any shutdowns of native forestry’ as he announces new Tasmania hub in country’s most marginal electorate

Angus Taylor claims that to be the opposition’s aim but Chris Bowen says it’s a target ‘more than two-thirds of these companies already have’

NSW, Victoria and Queensland may face a reduction in reliability if new generation projects don’t progress on schedule, Aemo says

President Cyril Ramaphosa blames ‘catastrophic’ rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal on climate crisisThe death toll from devastating floods in and around the South African port city of Durban has risen to 306, the government said Wednesday, after roads and hillsides were washed away as homes collapsed.The heaviest rains in 60 years pummelled Durban’s municipality, eThekwini in Zulu. According to an AFP tally, the storm is the deadliest on record in South Africa. Continue reading...

Peer-reviewed analysis of 2,500 pets finds vegan dogs visit the vet less often and require fewer medicationsVegan diets are healthier and safer for dogs than conventional meat-based diets, according to the largest study to date, as long as they are nutritionally complete.The diet and health of more than 2,500 dogs were followed over a year using surveys completed by their owners. These assessed seven general indicators of health, such as multiple visits to the vets, and 22 common illnesses. Continue reading...

Affiliates of Scientists for Extinction Rebellion highlight climate science they say government is ignoringTwenty-five scientists have pasted pages of scientific papers to the windows of the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and glued their hands to the glass to highlight the climate science they said the government was ignoring.The scientists, affiliated with Scientists for Extinction Rebellion, arrived at the department’s building at 1 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, just after 11am. Doctors and health professionals staged a decoy action to give them space to get into position. Continue reading...

Urgent action is needed, say conservationists, after report shows numbers of birds of prey in the country declining by as much as 95% over the past 40 yearsDarcy Ogada rarely spots raptors​ from her home in central Kenya any more. ​The birds were once ​a ​common​ ​​sight in the industrial town of Thika, 25 miles (40km) north of Nairobi, but the ​region’s ​forests are rapidly declining, and the few remaining raptor populations face the added threats of poison and persecution.“It is a disaster,” says Ogada, “Every day I go out of the house and look into the sky, I am disappointed. I might see the extinction of these birds in my lifetime.” Continue reading...

Loophole allows chicken-meat farmers to retain free-range status after birds ordered indoors to stem avian fluA loophole in government regulations means that chickens can still be called free-range even though they are no longer allowed outside because of the outbreak of avian flu.The UK has been affected by what government officials have called the “largest ever outbreak of avian flu” over the winter, with almost 100 reported highly pathogenic outbreaks in England, Scotland and Wales. Continue reading...

Climate breakdown has fueled ‘decisive increase’ in intensity, researchers say, as separate study links crisis to increased rainfallExtremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons are now twice as likely as they were in the 1980s due to global heating, according to new research that warns the climate crisis is supersizing storms that threaten life and property in coastal areas.Climate breakdown has contributed to a “decisive increase” in intense hurricane activity since 1982, the study states. Researchers in Germany and Switzerland who undertook the analysis wrote that the growing hyperactivity of storms could be “robustly ascribed” to the rising temperature of the oceans. Continue reading...

How the war in Ukraine is reshaping Europe. Plus: a French election volte-face

Judge says environmental activists ‘inspired me personally’ after impassioned speeches in courtInsulate Britain protesters have been praised by a judge, who said he was “inspired” by their commitment to greener living, as he fined 12 of them over a demonstration that disrupted the journeys of drivers on the M25.The protesters blocked traffic at junction 3 of the motorway. Some glued themselves to the tarmac, while another glued himself to a police car. Continue reading...

An expedition to the forests of Louisiana say extinction of bird, last definitively seen in 1944, has been exaggeratedIn terms of elusiveness, it is the Bigfoot or Loch Ness monster of the bird world, so rare and undetectable that the US government declared it extinct last year. But the ivory-billed woodpecker is, in fact, still alive and pecking in the forests of Louisiana, a team of researchers has claimed.A series of grainy pictures and observations of the bird, which had its last widely accepted sighting in 1944, show that the scrupulously furtive woodpecker is still holding on in the swampy forests of the US south, according to the team’s new research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed. Continue reading...

University of Newcastle scientists suggest frozen sperm could be used to impregnate females in breed-for-release programs

Economic viability of eight major fossil fuel projects in doubt amid predicted gas demand fall, investor group analysis reveals

Environmentalists block entrance to insurance market as they demand end to fossil fuel supportExtinction Rebellion protesters have forced the closure of the insurance market Lloyd’s of London, after using superglue, chains and bicycle locks to block entrances to the building.The environmental activist group said more than 60 people had been at the site in the City of London since 7am on Tuesday to prevent workers from entering and with the intention of closing the business for the day. Continue reading...

Osmund, only male of four chicks that became internet hit in spring 2020, is spotted over 100 miles awayA young male peregrine falcon that hatched at Salisbury Cathedral two years ago and became an internet star during the early days of the first Covid lockdown has spread his wings and reached the island of Guernsey, more than 100 miles away.Osmund, the only male of four chicks raised on the cathedral tower in spring 2020, was spotted on the coast of the Channel island and identified by his blue ring bearing the initials YK. Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion close Lloyd’s of London as activist groups continue their direct actionAnti-fossil fuel activists have vowed to continue blockading oil terminals until they are jailed, as they approached 1,000 arrests for their actions so far.“Ministers have a choice: they can arrest and imprison Just Stop Oil supporters or agree to no new oil and gas,” Just Stop Oil said on Tuesday morning. “While Just Stop Oil supporters have their liberty the disruption will continue.” Continue reading...

Chair of Conservative Environment Network faces calls to resign after tweeting support for Just Stop Oil protestsTory MPs have criticised Ben Goldsmith and called for his resignation as chair of the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) and a director at Defra after he voiced support for Extinction Rebellion.The financier and environmentalist, who sits on Defra’s board, has apologised after criticising Labour’s strong stance against the Just Stop Oil protests, during which activists have blockaded fuel distribution terminals. He has said he has no plans to resign. Continue reading...

Among the products that tested positive for chemicals were colorful baby toys, as well as canned foods and non-stick cookwareAn alarming number of products purchased at US dollar stores, including many children’s toys, contain harmful chemicals, according to a report released today.Researchers tested 226 products purchased at five popular retailers for chemicals, including phthalates and lead, and found that 120, or more than half, had at least one chemical of concern. Among the products that tested positive were colorful baby toys and Disney-themed headphones. Continue reading...

Dangerous pests forming floating rafts with their bodies to survive in Queensland after floods

Scientists say bleaching could be ‘canary in the coalmine’ for climate impact as eastern Tasmanian sea temperatures rise

Surf Wood for Good aims to tackle waste caused by polystyrene bodyboards by lending beachgoers UK-made wooden boardsA new initiative is offering free bellyboard hire across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to discourage the use of polluting plastic boards.Surf Wood for Good aims to tackle the waste caused by polystyrene bodyboards, which are usually imported and single-use, by lending beachgoers British-made wooden boards. Continue reading...

Australian government found gas exploration at NT site does not currently benefit Viktor Vekselberg, company says

Deputy premier says Gladstone, the proposed location of the project, is on the way to becoming a ‘clean energy powerhouse’

Anjali Sharma, one of eight who fought for government’s duty of care to young people, says she will not be silenced by online abuse

Rivers that supply Santiago with water are running low, forcing rotating cuts to different parts of the cityAs a punishing, record-breaking drought enters its 13th year, Chile has announced an unprecedented plan to ration water for the capital of Santiago, a city of nearly 6 million.“A city can’t live without water,” Claudio Orrego, the governor of the Santiago metropolitan region, said in a press conference. “And we’re in an unprecedented situation in Santiago’s 491-year history where we have to prepare for there to not be enough water for everyone who lives here.” Continue reading...

Shortages at filling stations reported as campaign obstructs deliveries from fuel terminals in EnglandDowning Street has condemned the “guerrilla tactics” of protesters who have blockaded fuel distribution terminals, as reports of shortages at petrol station forecourts spread and figures showed a fall in fuel deliveries.Supporters of the Just Stop Oil campaign have taken action at 11 different fuel terminals in England since the start of the month, blockading and trespassing on sites to stop tankers entering, filling up or leaving to deliver fuel. Continue reading...

Moral hierarchy giving different value to different animals is learned during adolescence, survey suggestsChildren think farm animals deserve to be treated as well as human beings but lose this belief in adolescence, a groundbreaking study has found.Researchers from the universities of Exeter and Oxford asked a group of British children aged nine to 11, young adults aged 18 to 21 and older men and women about their attitudes to different sorts of animals. Continue reading...

A project to restore a 1,000-year-old network of water channels is helping farmers in the Sierra Nevada adapt to the effects of the climate crisisHigh in la Alpujarra, on the slopes of the majestic Sierra Nevada in Andalucía, the silence is broken only by the sound of a stream trickling through the snow. Except it is not a stream but an acequia, part of a network of thousands of kilometres of irrigation channels created by Muslim peasant farmers more than a thousand years ago.The channel begins at an altitude of 1,800 metres (5,900ft) and, fed by the melting snow, for centuries supplied water to the village of Cáñar and beyond until it fell into disuse in the 1980s through the gradual depopulation of the area. Continue reading...

Founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s proposal comes as energy prices soar and ‘with so much gas under our feet’The chemicals and energy company Ineos has offered to drill a shale gas test site in the UK to demonstrate that fracking can be done safely, as the country wrestles with high energy prices.It comes after the government published its energy strategy, which focuses on securing UK energy supplies, as western countries consider how to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas. Continue reading...

Across a cluster of low-income, mostly Black neighborhoods, toxic waste sites risk contaminating an aquifer and endangering the lives of residents with noxious emissionsThis article was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a non-profit dedicated to support reporting on American financial struggle.Hundreds of feet below the city of Memphis, Tennessee, an enormous collection of freshwater – known as the Memphis Sand Aquifer – provides drinking water for at least a million residents. Continue reading...

Democracies are making more progress than autocracies when it comes to climate action. But divestment campaigns can put pressure on the most recalcitrant of political leadersAt first glance, last autumn’s Glasgow climate summit looked a lot like its 25 predecessors. It had:A conference hall the size of an aircraft carrier stuffed with displays from problematic parties (the Saudis, for example, with a giant pavilion saluting their efforts at promoting a “circular carbon economy agenda”).Squadrons of delegates rushing constantly to mysterious sessions (“Showcasing achievements of TBTTP and Protected Areas Initiative of GoP”) while actual negotiations took place in a few back rooms.Earnest protesters with excellent signs (“The wrong Amazon is burning”). Continue reading...

Global heating speeding up their decline as terrain of newly discovered alpine species disappearsSix new alpine species of New Zealand’s most unusual and beloved insect – the wētā – have been discovered, but it is a bittersweet victory, with another piece of research describing the threat global heating poses for their snowy mountain habitat.Wētā belong to the same group of insects as crickets and grasshoppers, and there are between 70 and 100 species of wētā endemic to New Zealand. They are wingless and nocturnal, and some, including the wētāpunga, are among the heaviest insects in the world – comparable to the weight of a sparrow. Continue reading...

Just Stop Oil says action will affect fuel availability at petrol pumps across south-east and MidlandsClean energy campaigners claim to have disrupted supplies from three oil terminals in the Midlands and south-east of England, as motorists complain that some petrol stations are running short of fuel.The government said only one terminal was out of action on Sunday afternoon as a result of the Just Stop Oil protests, and that local police forces were working with the industry to ensure that fuel supplies can be maintained. Continue reading...

Josie Bassinette on Sizewell C, Morag Carmichael on generational thinking, Bob Cannell on mini-nukes, Linda Rogers on Wylfa, Jon Reeds on tidal power, Malcolm Scott on anaerobic digestion and Ian Jones on energy from wasteYour article (PM to put nuclear power at heart of UK’s energy strategy, 6 April) refers to Sizewell C as one of the major projects that has “already been through some form of planning”. The planning process is still going on, and thousands of interested parties have objected. Six months of Planning Inspectorate meetings exposed the mistakes of trying to build two gigantic reactors in the middle of an area of outstanding natural beauty and site of special scientific interest, pushed against the Minsmere nature reserve, on an eroding coastline, and with no available water for construction or operation, among other problems.This hasn’t stopped Kwasi Kwarteng promising millions in taxpayer funding for Sizewell C when the planning process has not been completed and while he refuses to meet the community to hear alternative views.

Haul of more than 1,000 specimens includes over 400 protected species from polar bears to Bengal tigersPolice in Spain have seized one of the largest hauls of taxidermy animals in Europe as they investigate potential smuggling, after a warehouse in Valencia was found to contain stuffed rhinos, polar bears, elephants and other animals.The Guardia Civil discovered more than 1,000 specimens in a 50,000 sq metre (538,000 sq ft) industrial warehouse in Bétera, Valencia, on Wednesday, it said in a statement on Sunday. Continue reading...

Growing numbers of young nonviolent climate protesters are willing to face jail. Dorian Lynskey followed them in the weeks leading up to last week’s actionIn a flat in east London, on the night of 31 March, two dozen people in their early 20s are packing sleeping bags and energy bars and discussing unorthodox toilet arrangements. There are bowls of vegan curry on the table and a Fontaines DC gig on the television. You might assume that they were going to a music festival, if not for the foldable ladders. In fact, they are all members of the new campaign group Just Stop Oil, which is demanding the cessation of all new oil licences in the UK. Their plan is to bring traffic in and out of the Navigator oil terminal in Thurrock, Essex, to a grinding halt a few hours from now. From the window of the flat they can see Navigator’s vast white silos. “I saw it earlier and my stomach flipped,” says Hannah Hunt, a 23-year-old from Brighton. She calls it “the venue”.Hunt is a veteran of Just Stop Oil’s precursors, Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain. In recent months she has delivered a letter containing Just Stop Oil’s demands to No 10 Downing Street, scaled the Fawley oil refinery in Southampton, and glued herself to the red carpet at the Bafta awards. She experiences anxiety before an action but once it’s happening, she enters “a weird, dreamy, calm mindset. It’s really empowering.” Continue reading...

Survey suggests even Tory voters are unlikely to support Conservatives’ nuclear-first energy policyMore than three-quarters of the public are in favour of windfarms being built in the UK. That is the key result of an Opinium poll carried out for the Observer in the wake of publication of the government’s controversial energy security plans last week.Ministers backed nuclear power but shunned new onshore wind plants as the main means for protecting the UK against future energy crises. But the new poll indicates Tory voters’ backing for wind turbines almost matches that of Labour and Lib Dem supporters – suggesting the move against onshore wind, a result of backbench Conservative pressure, runs counter to the views of the party’s own voters. Continue reading...

Heritage railways, which make millions for UK economy, axe services as mines close and Russian sources are ruled outBritain’s heritage railways are running out of steam. Or, to be more precise, coal. Vintage rail operators across the country have warned that their stocks are now dangerously low and the prospects of replacing them in the near future look bleak.Many of the UK’s heritage rail companies say they are already having to cut services just as they prepare for the Easter break, when their main operating seasons begin. “It is a very serious problem,” said Paul Lewin, of Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways. Continue reading...

RSPB Scotland’s Abernethy nature reserve in Perthshire describes hatching as ‘such a special moment’A hidden camera has captured the first live UK footage of a wild white-tailed eagle hatching.Staff at RSPB Scotland’s Abernethy nature reserve in the Cairngorms, where the eaglet hatched, described it as being “such a special moment”. Continue reading...

One of Britain’s top scientists says the new power security strategy does little to help people or the planetThese are unsettling times. As scientists have issued ringing warnings about the dangers we face from continued fossil fuel burning, an energy crisis has been triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This unprecedented double threat clearly requires an urgent response, which the government supplied last week in the form of its energy security strategy. And it includes some eye-catching headlines, particularly on the expansion of nuclear power.But does it deliver what it says on the tin? Continue reading...

US officials believe nearly 24m poultry birds, mostly chickens and turkeys, have died of flu since virus strain identified in FebruaryMillions of birds have died in the US in recent weeks, because of a contagious strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, popularly known as bird flu.The bird flu has also led zoos across the US to temporarily close aviary exhibits and move birds away from the public. At zoos from Colorado to Maryland, species ranging from ostriches to penguins have been moved indoors. Continue reading...

Activists call for end to fossil fuel investment at sit-down demonstration in Regent Street and Oxford CircusSupporters of the environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion have taken part in a mass sit-down protest in the heart of London’s shopping district.Several thousand demonstrators with multicoloured flags bearing the group’s “extinction” symbol gathered near Marble Arch on Saturday morning as samba bands warmed up. Continue reading...

Unprecedented overpass will allow fauna of the Santa Monica mountains to safely cross a dangerous 10-lane stretchImagine cruising down a 10-lane highway and knowing that, high above your head, a mountain lion is quietly going along its way. This remarkable image could soon be reality for drivers on one of California’s busiest roads, as the world’s largest wildlife overpass begins construction this month.The history-making project will comprise a green bridge built across the 101 highway near Los Angeles, creating a corridor between two parts of the Santa Monica mountains. Stretching 210ft long and 165ft wide, the overpass will allow safe passage for lizards, snakes, toads and mountain lions, with an acre of local plants on either side and vegetated sound walls to dampen light and noise for nocturnal animals as they slip across. Continue reading...