Environmental lawsuits are nothing new but now lawyers are turning their attention to cases that address the loss of biodiversityThe Tagus estuary near Lisbon is Portugal’s largest wetland, a vital habitat and stopover for tens of thousands of migratory birds, including flamingos, black-tailed godwits and glossy ibis. It has also been earmarked as the site of a new airport, leading the environmental law charity ClientEarth and a group of Portuguese NGOs to sue Portugal’s government. When they get their day in court, they will argue that the authorities failed to properly consider how the project would affect an internationally protected nature reserve, and the knock-on effects on other countries visited by the birds.“If you destroy that site, you have an impact not only in Lisbon, but on all the sites up the flyway,” says Anna Heslop, head of wildlife and habitats at ClientEarth. “If the bird populations don’t arrive, they never get breeding.” Continue reading...
by Cait Kelly and Royce Kurmelovs (earlier) on (#5X520)
PM highlights China’s ‘chilling silence’ on Russian invasion as Labor says China has ‘responsibility’ to call out Putin’s actions; NSW Health confirms seventh case of Japanese encephalitis; man in court over Sydney boarding house fire; Coalition to spend $243m on four mining projects; a man has died in Broken Hill after driving his ute into flood waters; nation records at least 17 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
Buckle up for the story of Ellen’s Energy Adventure – a ride whose sympathetic stance toward oil and coal is newly relevantIf you were lucky enough to be a small kid roaming Disney World’s Epcot Center until just a few years ago, you would have seen a ride nestled next to the monorail tracks that beckoned with gleaming mirror walls.An indoor ride, it was a welcome reprieve from the Florida sun. After buckling into your seat in what seemed like a theater auditorium, and the lights dimmed, a familiar figure would appear on the huge screen in front of you. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5X5DF)
Educating people about cutting energy use and investment in renewable power will be key, says E3G thinktankThe UK could eliminate all need for imports of Russian gas this year through a combination of energy efficiency, expanding renewable power generation and a campaign to help people change their behaviour, research has found.Information campaigns played a strong role in changing people’s behaviour during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many people are unaware of the savings they could make in energy use through small changes that make no difference to their comfort but can cut bills substantially. Continue reading...
Though global prices are spiralling, fuelled by Russia’s war in Ukraine, this is no reason to drop rewildingShould we plough up Britain? Many people seem to think so. Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, food prices were rocketing. Now they have reached an all-time record. The National Farmers’ Union of Scotland has called for Scotland’s feeble environmental measures – paying farmers to plant hedges, cover crops and introduce beetle banks – to be rescinded, so that food production can be maximised. Others insist that rewilding is a luxury we can no longer afford.It is true that the world now faces a major food crisis. Climate breakdown has begun to bite. Heat domes and droughts in North America and storms and floods in Europe and China last year damaged harvests and drove up prices. By February, the cost of food was 20% higher than a year earlier.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnistGeorge Monbiot will discuss Regenesis at a Guardian Live event on Monday 30 May. Book tickets in-person or online here Continue reading...
My father, Peter Ackers, who has died aged 97, was a civil engineer and an expert in hydraulics. He worked on projects all over the world, involving hydropower, tidal energy, coastal protection, reservoir spillways and other hydraulic structures.Born in the Liverpool suburb of Bootle, he was the son of Mary (nee Jones), a supervisor in a quilt-making factory, and Peter Ackers, a carpenter/joiner in the Mersey docks. He attended Bootle grammar school, where he excelled at physics and mathematics. Continue reading...
Rewilding programme marks the ‘most significant step’ in ensuring the critically endangered species’ survivalFive mountain bongos have been released into a sanctuary in Kenya, a milestone in the fight for the animals’ survival with fewer than 100 left in the wildConsidered critically endangered, the chestnut-coloured mountain bongo is one of the largest forest antelopes and native to the equatorial forests of Mount Kenya, Eburu, Mau and Aberdares. IUCN predicts their numbers will probably continue to decline without direct action. A recent wildlife census in Kenya counted just 96 mountain bongos in the wild. Continue reading...
by Helena Horton and Damian Carrington on (#5X4JS)
Analysis: Many potential sites are either in ‘red wall’ areas or former safe constituencies in the south• Survey shows only five of 138 MPs in affected seats voice supportLook at the map of onshore exploration licences in the UK, and you could be forgiven for thinking it was an illustration of target seats for opposition parties in the next general election.Ministers privately acknowledge that “rethinking” fracking would be politically very difficult. Those areas most ripe for the controversial oil and gas extraction method are marginals in the “red wall” of constituencies in the north that historically have tended to be Labour, many of which were won by the Tories in 2019. Many of the others are former safe Conservative seats in the south where the Liberal Democrats are limbering up to pick off disillusioned former Tory voters. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#5X4CD)
Trust creates refuge for white-clawed crayfish in old cattle drinking hole on Wallington estate near MorpethAn “ark” refuge is being created by the National Trust to help save one of the UK’s most endangered native species from extinction.The white-clawed crayfish is the UK’s only indigenous crayfish but the population has been almost wiped out because of the introduction of a bigger American species in the 1970s. Continue reading...
Food banks were inundated, restaurants folded, farmers had to dump produce – but the pandemic also created space for fresh thinkingIn April 2020, while Covid-19 spread around the country, and millions of people were sheltering at home, Shay Meyers, the CEO of Owyhee Produce, one of the largest onion growers in the US, asked his workers to bury thousands of pounds of onions.The restaurants, school dining halls, and event centers that normally bought his onions were all shuttered. His cold storage was full. Even though the demand for onions in American kitchens remained as high as – or even higher than – before the pandemic, there simply wasn’t a way to get the food into the hands of those who needed it. In April alone, Owyhee Produce buried four million onions. Continue reading...
Survey finds farm and food assurance scheme ineffective in helping farmers reduce harmful chemicals useThe Red Tractor scheme, used to mark food produced to a “high standard”, is failing to regulate the use of pesticides on farms, a report has found.As the UK’s biggest farm and food assurance scheme, which certifies about 50,000 farmers, Red Tractor is relied upon to uphold environmental standards. The products are sold in all major UK supermarkets. Continue reading...
Since David Cameron’s 2013 U-turn, wind and solar power have been sidelined. Do you believe Boris Johnson will do better?In the grip of the energy crisis, gas prices are already due to increase by 50% in April, and will spike higher later in the year, while the chancellor’s modest mitigations do little for unaffordable bills. Boris Johnson is about to produce an energy strategy to cut reliance on Russian imports and speed UK generation. He wobbles on fracking.But before he boasts some “world-beating” plan, hold on to this salient fact. If the Tories had not blocked progress on renewables and insulation over the last decade, Britain would already be generating more clean energy than the amount provided by the fuels imported from Russia.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
With the growth of the ‘blue economy’, the UN must act decisively to protect our shared seas – or industry will decide their fate for usThe ocean is often seen as the last wild frontier: a vast and empty blue wilderness where waves, whales and albatrosses rule. This is no longer true. Unnoticed by many, a new industrial revolution is unfolding in our seas.The last several decades have seen exponential growth in new marine industries. This includes expansion of offshore oil and gas, but also exponential growth of offshore renewables, such as wind and tidal energy. Continue reading...
Environmental law organisation ClientEarth brings action and urges other shareholders to joinThe directors of Shell are being sued for failing to properly prepare the multinational oil and gas company for net zero.In what is thought to be a first-of-its-kind action, the lawsuit brought by activist shareholders claims that Shell’s 13 directors are personally liable for failing to devise a strategy in line with the Paris agreement, which aims to limit global heating to below 2C by slashing fossil fuel emissions. Continue reading...
Centrist Democrat, who holds key swing vote in US Senate, has poured scorn on the idea of phasing out gasoline and diesel carsFaced with rising gasoline prices, many Americans are now looking to switch to an electric car. But the shift away from fossil fuel vehicles has been criticized by Senator Joe Manchin, who has said he is “very reluctant” to see the proliferation of battery-powered cars.There has been a surge in interest in buying electric vehicles (EVs) in the wake of the war in Ukraine, analysts say, with drivers in the US unnerved by gasoline prices that have surpassed $4.30 a gallon as a result of the conflict and the supply chain issues from the pandemic. Continue reading...
‘Wealthy peers’ in the party blamed for lobbying against animal welfare measures in case they affect shooting in UKConservatives are blaming a “handful of very wealthy peers” who make up the shooting and hunting lobby over the news that legislation banning the import of hunting trophies is to be scrapped.The animals abroad bill contained measures including banning adverts for holidays that include elephant rides. It was to be a flagship bill signalling to the world that post-Brexit Britain was a world leader in animal rights, legislating against animal cruelty abroad. Most significantly, it included a commitment to ban the import of endangered animal parts. Continue reading...
Health board-owned Brynwhilach installation generates enough over 50-hour period to fulfil all of Morriston site’s energy needsThe UK’s first solar farm owned by a health board and linked directly to a hospital has exceeded expectations by, at times, providing all the electricity needed to run the site, even during the winter months.Health chiefs and Welsh government ministers had hoped the solar farm in south-west Wales would supply Morriston hospital in Swansea with a fifth of its energy consumption every year. Continue reading...
The Wilderness Society says ‘it’s time to take a good, hard look’ at the state’s beef industry, which is blamed for 80% of clearingMore than 90,000 hectares of koala habitat in Queensland was cleared in a single year, according to new analysis that finds most of that clearing occurred for beef production.The analysis, produced by environmental organisation The Wilderness Society (TWS), examined the Queensland government’s most recent Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (Slats), which showed landholders cleared 680,688 hectares of woody vegetation in 2018-19. Continue reading...
Dave Hathaway on a remarkable forgotten heroine of our modern livesRe the feminist tube map (Letters, 7 March), St John’s Wood station could celebrate a remarkable forgotten heroine of our modern lives, the electrical pioneer Dame Caroline Haslett. Born of humble origins near Crawley in 1895, Caroline kickstarted the Electrical Association for Women. In the 1920s she wired her St John’s Wood home and designed a square kettle and saucepan that she could use together on a single hotplate. She was also the only female member of a committee that came up with the BS 1363 safety standard in 1947: this covers the three-pin fused plugs and shuttered sockets that we still use in Britain today.
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5X26F)
Former UN secretary general says countries face stark choices brought on by the war in UkraineThe former UN secretary general has warned the UK against fracking, as the world stands at a “dangerous” point in the climate crisis, brought on by the invasion of Ukraine.Ban Ki-moon, now deputy chair of the Elders group of former world statespeople and public figures, said countries faced stark choices as a result of the Ukraine war and energy crisis, and must embrace renewable energy instead of returning to fossil fuels. Continue reading...
Campaigners say subsidy scheme could create £2bn in health benefits and cut 1m tonnes of emissions annuallyMinisters should consider subsidising e-bikes as they do electric cars, campaigners have urged, after a study found that mass use of such bikes could create more than £2bn in health benefits and cut a million tonnes of emissions annually.While grants of up to £1,500 are available for low-emission cars, vans and motorbikes, there is no such assistance for electric-assist bikes, which help propel riders up to a maximum powered speed of 15mph when the bike is being pedalled. Continue reading...
Planning rules to be relaxed so that renewables and nuclear power can boost energy independence after Ukraine invasionA massive expansion of wind farms across the UK is now needed for national security reasons, the business secretary has declared, as, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the government considers sweeping changes to planning laws to improve Britain’s energy independence.Boris Johnson is planning to unveil a radical new “energy strategy” within a fortnight to ensure the UK can meet its domestic needs from a mix of renewables and nuclear. The war in Ukraine has brought further huge rises in global fossil fuel prices and exposed countries’ dependence on overseas supplies. Continue reading...
Winner from shortlist of five will have its genome sequenced as scientists raise awareness of species’ amazing roles in natureFrom the sea butterfly to the naval shipworm to the barge-footer, a strange cast of characters is vying for the public’s affection as part of a mollusc of the year competition.Researchers in Germany are asking people around the world to vote for their favourite creature out of a list of five nominees. The winner will have its genome sequenced, with scientists extracting DNA to work out more about how it evolved. This is a significant prize for a group of animals that remains largely unexplored from the genetic point of view, with only a few dozen genomes fully sequenced. Continue reading...
Demonstrations call for greater focus on environmental crisis in runup to presidential election next monthTens of thousands of people protested across France on Saturday to call for more attention to the climate crisis in the runup to the presidential election next month.“Look up,” read one message in giant orange letters demonstrators held up in Paris, urging politicians to make protecting the planet a priority. Continue reading...
First European nuclear facility to open in 15 years will reduce need for imports from RussiaEurope’s first nuclear power plant to open in 15 years began production in Finland on Saturday, at a crucial moment for energy supply following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The much-delayed Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor started test production, delivering power to the national grid, which over time is expected to reduce the need for electricity imports and lead to lower prices. Continue reading...
Volodymyr Zelenskiy | Diet Wordsearch was hard to swallow | Hot houses | Giving Chelsea to the fansVladimir Putin will never forgive Volodymyr Zelenskiy for making him look old (Admire Volodymyr Zelenskiy all you like. But please don’t treat him as a heart-throb, 8 March). Putin aped the tough-guy look with his photo ops (bare-chested horse riding etc), whereas Zelenskiy has looked the part without even trying. Furthermore, Zelenskiy has displayed passion, an overused word lately, but apt here, whereas Putin can only achieve a cold dispassion, fed by vanity.
UK ban covers Russian vessels but Seatribute is registered in Malta and ExxonMobil denies it is carrying Russian oilA supertanker carrying crude oil that sailed from a Russian port was due to dock in Southampton on Friday with cargo destined for an ExxonMobil refinery.The Seatribute is one of 148 tankers carrying oil and gas that have left Russian ports since Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine began 14 days ago, according to data on shipping movements gathered by Greenpeace. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#5X0G5)
Party says disgust at continuing sewage discharges could push seats their wayIt may seem an unlikely electoral secret weapon, but as the Liberal Democrats gather for their spring conference this weekend, polls and canvassing have highlighted an issue the party hopes can help secure soft Tory votes: sewage in rivers.Described by one official as the rural equivalent of air quality in cities, the problem of privatised water companies discharging raw sewage has, Lib Dems say, become electorally toxic for the government, and could push more Conservative-held seats the party’s way. Continue reading...
Crackdown on sweeping eco-friendly claims hoped to boost faith in genuine sustainable productsConsumers are being duped into paying a premium for fashion products that make grand claims about their environmental credentials but have no evidence to back them up, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said as it prepares to name and shame high street clothing companies.Entire lines of clothing are being labelled “sustainable” and “eco-friendly”, without the company having proof that the whole process – from manufacture to delivery, packaging and sale – is good for the environment, according to the CMA. Continue reading...
In 2015, the country’s worst environmental disaster forced Jonathan Knowles to leave his Brazilian home. Now he and 200,000 other victims hope to win a £5bn lawsuit in an English courtAs the pale yellow glow of Brazil’s spring sun set over the Doce River on a Friday evening in October 2015, life for Jonathan Knowles was as good as it had ever been. The modest living he made from a water-valve business saw him end each working week in the same way, with his wife Sheila and their four-year-old son, Enzo. They would set out chairs in the garden of their two-bedroom home, a new-build on the outskirts of Governador Valedares, in the Minas Gerais region of the Brazilian countryside, where they would pick marinaded beef off the barbecue and screen 80s music videos from a projector on to a wall. “We adored our life,” recalls Knowles, a Yorkshireman who moved to Brazil for love.A week later, at 3.45pm on 5 November, the Fundão tailings dam burst in the city of Mariana, 150 miles away, unleashing about 40m cubic metres of toxic mining waste into the Doce (“sweet”) River visible from their home, killing 19 people, rendering hundreds homeless and triggering the country’s biggest environmental disaster. Villages, livelihoods, farms, fish and wildlife were obliterated. It destroyed, damaged or contaminated everything in its path, law courts have since heard. Continue reading...
Government backs down from guidance that would have allowed birds such a crows to be shotThe government has U-turned on guidance to shooters that reclassified pheasants as livestock, meaning that wild birds such as crows could be shot to protect them in certain circumstances, after a furious reaction from the public.The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs changed the definition of livestock in its general shooting licences earlier this year. Under the new definition, game birds such as pheasants were considered livestock if given food, water or shelter by a keeper for their survival. Continue reading...