Pencnwc Mawr Wood among areas being restored as the trusts embark on 35 schemes to create and secure wild places across the countryWith its lush broad-leaved trees home to breeding hazel dormice, barbastelle bats, and butterflies in woodland glades, Pencnwc Mawr Wood in Pembrokeshire is a rare surviving remnant of the Welsh temperate rainforest, scarcer even than tropical rainforests.Once stretching along the western uplands and into deep river valleys it shrank over the years, but now, in a project to restore habitats from chalk grassland to peatlands, the future of Pencnwc Mawr Wood has been secured. Continue reading...
Philanthropists pledge to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, as the planet’s health climbs the charity agendaWhen their time comes, many of the richest people on Earth have committed to giving away the bulk of their fortunes. Education, poverty and the arts have traditionally benefited from philanthropy, attracting billions for important causes. But increasingly, nature and the climate crisis have become a focus of giving.Last week, a group of nine philanthropic foundations made the largest ever donation to nature conservation, pledging $5bn to finance the protection of 30% of land and sea by the end of the decade. Swiss businessman Hansjörg Wyss, also a major donor to progressive causes in the US, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos were among the billionaires behind the Protecting our Planet challenge. In effect, the money covers the estimated cost of the 30% goal for this decade, one of the 21 targets included in the draft Paris-style UN agreement for nature currently being negotiated. It also includes plans to eliminate plastics pollution and reduce pesticide use to slow species extinctions. Continue reading...
Environmental campaigners who worked with UK officials fear for their lives after receiving death threatsThe UK government has been accused of ignoring the plight of three environmental activists from Afghanistan who worked with British officials to mitigate the damaging impact of climate change on their country before the Taliban takeover.The campaigners, who have received credible threats to their lives, do not know the fate of one of their colleagues who was detained by the Taliban. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5Q42S)
Data highlights urgent need for government action to introduce low-carbon heat pumps, researchers sayThe millions of gas boilers in the UK’s homes produce twice as much climate-heating carbon emissions as all the nation’s gas-fired power stations combined, according to an analysis.The finding highlighted the urgent need for a strong government policy to rapidly introduce low-carbon heating such as heat pumps, the researchers said. Continue reading...
Pledge comes after a Guardian investigation found allegations of widespread exploitation suffered by meat plant workers across EuropeRead more: ‘The whole system is rotten’: life inside Europe’s meat industryUK and European leading supermarkets say they would cut ties with any suppliers that did not meet their ethical standards after a Guardian investigation found allegations of widespread exploitation suffered by workers in meat plants across Europe.The British Retail Consortium (BRC), a representative body for UK retailers, including supermarkets and food-to-go restaurants, said companies carry out ethical audits of the suppliers they work with and would act on any information received through whistleblowers and investigations. Continue reading...
by Presented by Nosheen Iqbal with Jonathan Watts; pr on (#5Q3YZ)
Beijing has won international praise for announcing that it will stop funding coal projects in the developing world – but it is still heavily reliant on the fossil fuel for rapid economic growth at home. The Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, explains why China took such a significant step before Cop26 – and how much there still is to doLast week the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, made a hugely significant announcement when he promised to stop funding coal-fired power projects around the world. The news was greeted as a sign of Xi’s commitment on the climate crisis, and a big boost before the crucial Cop26 summit in Glasgow in November. However, experts want to know when the change will come into practice. They warn that China’s plans for continued economic growth are heavily reliant on coal at home – and that its thousands of coal plants are a huge contributor to its status as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gas.In this episode, the Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, who spent a decade reporting from Beijing, joins Nosheen Iqbal to explain the recent history of China’s reliance on coal, and reflect on why it has made this announcement now. And he sets out the reasons to be hopeful on the basis of Xi’s announcement, and the reasons to remain concerned that China – and the world – are not moving quickly enough. Continue reading...
He mustered us like a cattle dog, dive-bombed like a magpie, clamped his jaw around body parts and leered at us through windows. I felt like Tippi Hedren in Hitchcock’s The Birds• Vote now in the Guardian/BirdLife Australia 2021 bird of the year pollHe came to us in exchange for a case of beer. A white sulphur-crested cockatoo of indeterminate age but full of chutzpah. He had lived the childhoods of the neighbouring farm kids and now he would entertain us.That neighbour really saw me coming. Continue reading...
Campaigners voice dismay after rule permitting gas pipelines where energy is mixed with hydrogenEuropean lawmakers have voted to prolong subsidies for fossil fuel gas until 2027, opening a potential backdoor for pollution that campaigners said would be a disaster for the climate if it becomes law.Members of the European parliament’s industry committee voted on Tuesday to allow the EU to continue subsidising natural gas pipelines until the end of 2027, as long as the energy is mixed with an unspecified amount of hydrogen. Continue reading...
Soldiers set up barriers and sandbags to protect archaeological ruins as well as neighbourhoodsThai authorities have rushed to protect parts of Bangkok from flood waters that have already inundated 70,000 homes and killed six people in the country’s northern and central provinces.Tropical Storm Dianmu has caused flooding in 30 provinces, with the kingdom’s central region the worst hit, the Thai Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said. Continue reading...
Our housing stock needs better insulation and low-carbon heating, or we’ll continue to suffer these shocksOver the past few days the country has been thrown into panic, as soaring gas prices threaten to plunge hundreds of thousands more households into fuel poverty, joining the 2.5 million already there. For others, uncomfortably tight budgets will be further squeezed. Any country reliant on the worldwide gas market faces the risk of perennial price shocks. But let’s be clear: the extent of this crisis was not inevitable. It is, in significant part, the result of a decade of government failure to insulate us from the disastrous downsides of fossil-fuel dependency.The UK is a difficult country to keep warm. It has some of the oldest and leakiest housing stock in western Europe, ensuring that heat dissipates through walls, windows and doors quickly after leaving radiators. Nine in 10 households rely on gas boilers, and lots of gas boilers need lots of gas: UK households consume more of it than almost all of their European peers, at around twice the EU average. In 2000, when North Sea gas accounted for 98% of overall supply, households were at little risk of price shocks. But as national production has tumbled by two-thirds in the two decades since, imports have risen from just 2% to 60% of supply to fill the gap. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5Q2Q6)
Exclusive: Activist says there are many fine words but the science does not lie – CO2 emissions are still risingGreta Thunberg has excoriated global leaders over their promises to address the climate emergency, dismissing them as “blah, blah, blah”.She quoted statements by Boris Johnson: “This is not some expensive, politically correct, green act of bunny hugging”, and Narendra Modi: “Fighting climate change calls for innovation, cooperation and willpower” but said the science did not lie. Continue reading...
Analysis: after Germany’s climate election, UN summit delegates will be watching to see what is agreed on coal phase-outIt was called Germany’s climate election. After deadly floods in July sharpened the focus on the climate emergency, all parties vied for green votes. But when it comes to the UN climate talks in Glasgow in November, the path has largely been set by the outgoing government.Germany was always expected to be represented by a caretaker government at Cop26. Officials expect the current environment minister, Svenja Schulze, to attend alongside the state secretary, Jochen Flasbarth. A more open question is whether the new government will be in office by the time Germany takes over the G7 presidency in 2022. Continue reading...
The PM is understood to have said he wants to land a technology roadmap and the 2050 target but an agreement isn’t yet done with the NationalsScott Morrison has met with a number of Liberal MPs concerned the government could try to appease the National party by adopting a policy roadmap to achieve net zero emissions without formally signing on to the 2050 target.With some Nationals implacably opposed to the Coalition adopting the target ahead of the Cop26 in Glasgow, Liberals in marginal and metropolitan seats have become increasingly worried that the prime minister may not be able to land his long-telegraphed climate policy pivot. Continue reading...
Rhondda valley residents fearful after recent landslip and UK government pushed to share responsibilityEvery time it rains heavily, Cllr Robert Bevan’s phone starts ringing and his social media feed is busy with people worried the coal tip that looms above the village of Tylorstown in south Wales might be in danger of slipping.“They’re asking me: ‘Rob, is it going to happen again?’ The anxiety, the anguish is terrible,” said Bevan. “While the tip is there, even if you’ve got the best engineers working on it, you can never be sure it’s 100% safe. The tips are an albatross around our necks.” Continue reading...
Wildlife refuge designed to offset housing developments but if road proceeds NSW government will have to offset the damage to its own offsetA portion of bushland at the site of a new western Sydney national park where koalas, bettongs and other native animals will be released is to be set aside for a future highway.The Berejikilan government announced on the weekend that the bushland at Shanes Park in the Blacktown city council area would become one of the largest national parks in western Sydney. Continue reading...
Sellers of plug-in vehicles say petrol shortages are driving people to adopt the new technologyAs petrol stations in parts of the UK started running out of fuel on Friday, business at Martin Miller’s electric car dealership in Guildford, Surrey, started soaring.After what ended up being his company EV Experts busiest day ever, interest does not appear to be dying down. This week the diary is booked up with test drives and the business is low on stock. Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Chief political correspondent on (#5Q1FX)
Rachel Reeves aims to be ‘first green chancellor’ as she announces party’s biggest spending pledge to dateLabour would invest £28bn a year in climate measures to protect Britain from disaster, Rachel Reeves has announced in by far the party’s biggest spending pledge to date.The amount would quadruple the government’s current capital investment, and Labour said it would hope to attract a matching sum of private investment in green technologies. In total, the party will commit to spending £224bn on climate measures over the next eight years. Continue reading...
How do you persuade farmers and the local community to join one of Scotland’s biggest land restoration projects? Call in a psychologistA hunter, conservationist and psychologist are working on a rewilding project. It sounds like the start of a joke, though the antics of this unlikely trio have not ended in a punchline but one of the UK’s largest land restoration projects.They have been collaborating on the Affric Highlands scheme, which covers an array of woodlands, peatlands, montane, river and coastal habitats between the west coast of Scotland and Loch Ness. The aim of the project, announced this week, is to rewild half a million acres (200,000 hectares) of land – by rewilding the people who live in it. Continue reading...
Firms say what’s underneath the Salton Sea could fuel a green-energy boom. But struggling residents have heard such claims beforeStanding atop a pockmarked red mesa, Rod Colwell looks out at an expanse of water that resembles a thin blue strip on the horizon. The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, has come and gone at least five times in the last 1,300 years, most recently in 1905, when floodwaters from the Colorado River refilled its basin.A mid-century resort destination, the lake has since become an environmental disaster zone. Its waters, long fed by pesticide-laden runoff from nearby farms, have been steadily evaporating, exposing a dusty shoreline that kicks up lung-damaging silt into the surrounding communities of the Imperial Valley, where rates of asthma are alarmingly high. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani in New York, Maanvi Singh in San Fran on (#5Q1B2)
Renters and people of color are most likely to be living without water or flushing toilets in some of America’s wealthiest cities, new research showsYan Yu Lin and her seven-year-old daughter live in a tight studio in San Francisco’s Chinatown, in a century-old building where 60 or so residents on each floor share a bathroom.Along the back wall of the room is a plastic potty – the kind designed for toilet training toddlers. The shared bathrooms are out of order so often, so rank and unhygienic, that Lin has her daughter use the plastic potty instead. “It’s safer,” she said. Continue reading...
Ross-on-Wye residents say council would break climate commitments by approving drive-throughThey were promised a life of peace and quiet in a new-build “garden village” on the edge of a pretty Herefordshire town with cycle routes, allotments and wildlife-friendly ponds giving the settlement an eco-friendly vibe.But residents of St Mary’s Garden Village in Ross-on-Wye are up in arms after McDonald’s put in a planning application for a 24-hour drive-through within metres of their homes that they say could lead to almost 2,500 cars a day passing close to their front doors. Continue reading...
Officials say ‘care will be taken to remove only animals exhibiting unusual behaviors’ after woman, boy and dog are bittenResidents of Anchorage, Alaska, used to living alongside moose and bear now face a threat from a more diminutive creature: the humble river otter.Related: Always a bigger fish: Florida scientists seek new angle on shark depredation Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#5Q14Z)
Government urged to invest in active travel as motor traffic returns to pre-Covid levelsLabour has called for rapid extra spending on safe cycling and walking, saying that as motor traffic levels return to pre-Covid levels the gains in active travel made during the pandemic could soon be squandered.This is seen as particularly an issue for cycling: the number of bike trips rose notably during lockdown, but there is concern that many new or returning cyclists could stop now that the roads are busier. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5Q150)
Major figures privately admit summit will fail to result in pledges that could limit global heating to 1.5CVital United Nations climate talks, billed as one of the last chances to stave off climate breakdown, will not produce the breakthrough needed to fulfil the aspiration of the Paris agreement, key players in the talks have conceded.The UN, the UK hosts and other major figures involved in the talks have privately admitted that the original aim of the Cop26 summit will be missed, as the pledges on greenhouse gas emissions cuts from major economies will fall short of the halving of global emissions this decade needed to limit global heating to 1.5C. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5Q0Z4)
Climate crisis brings stark intergenerational injustice but rapid emission cuts can limit damagePeople born today will suffer many times more extreme heatwaves and other climate disasters over their lifetimes than their grandparents, research has shown.The study is the first to assess the contrasting experience of climate extremes by different age groups and starkly highlights the intergenerational injustice posed by the climate crisis. Continue reading...
With panic-buying at petrol stations and soaring energy prices, this could have been the Labour leader’s moment to shineFair to say the Labour party conference hadn’t got off to the start Keir Starmer had hoped for. First, his 12,000-word “See me, feel me, touch me” appeal to the nation had been widely ignored. Which many of us who had made the mistake of reading it thought was much the best response. Anything to escape the repetition, the platitudes and the cliches. It wasn’t so much “The Road Ahead” that was off-putting as “The Page Ahead”.Then there had been the party infighting, all of which had been totally avoidable. The Tories had teed up the Labour shindig in Brighton perfectly. First, rising energy prices and the cost of living. Then there had been the government bailing out a fertiliser manufacturer to protect the nation’s supply of carbon dioxide, just when it was telling the rest of the world to reduce its CO emissions. Best of all, there had been Grant Shapps urging the public not to panic-buy petrol and diesel. Predictably, most garage forecourts were now running on fumes as people have long since learned to do the opposite of everything the transport secretary says. Continue reading...
I learned that loving birds is best done by walking in the sun, being curious and appreciating the chatter. Not by sitting on my own looking at books and screens
Unlike the Covid comeback gig last month, the annual concert-with-a-message survived the climate crisisThe last time I was in Central Park, I got soaked to my underwear.Related: The show did not go on: storm thwarts Central Park concert celebrating city’s Covid comeback Continue reading...
Study of how fish are snatched from lines will investigate what species of sharks are the most prolific offendersMany anglers lament the one that got away. In Florida, the issue is more often the fish that is caught but is then snatched by a shark before being reeled in.Related: Judge recommends tribe be allowed to hunt gray whales off Washington state Continue reading...
Glossy magazines get a makeover with focus on vintage clothing, creativity and recyclingFormer editors and directors at Britain’s glossiest fashion magazines are carving out a niche for themselves with print titles and websites that focus on sustainable clothing.Later this month, Calendar will go live online, spearheaded by ex-Elle editor-in-chief Anne-Marie Curtis following a launch on Instagram earlier this year. It follows More or Less, which describes itself as “the first magazine to prioritise sustainability in the fashion industry”, and was created by Jaime Perlman, previously the art director of British Vogue. It launched in 2018 with Kate Moss on the cover. Continue reading...
Makah chairman welcomes ruling opposed by animal welfare groups and says: ‘We’re doing it for spiritual and cultural reasons’An administrative law judge has recommended that a Native American tribe in Washington state be allowed to hunt gray whales – a major step in its decades-long effort to resume the ancient practice.Related: Horror at the Faroes dolphin slaughter is only human – but it risks hypocrisy | Philip Hoare Continue reading...
Move to restrict where people can sleep under canvas will reverse the public’s hard-won right to enjoy the national parkShamus McCaffery, 53, who lives in the heart of Dartmoor and wild camps there three or four times a month, is among many who are worried about an imminent threat to their freedoms. Continue reading...
An insider reveals what is going on behind the scenes of the climate conferenceSo far, all the preparation work we have done has been beating around the bush – not much that is substantial is happening yet. The homework has been done very well, but only on the issues that are not very substantive for this Cop, such as technical issues to do with the Paris agreement. We need to discuss now the issues which are most substantive: ambition, and climate finance.Ambition means how much we are going to cut emissions, in line with the Paris agreement targets – and that means how much are developed countries and the biggest developing countries going to cut emissions. Since the IPCC report in August, this has become even more urgent. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5PZBV)
Those worst hit by global heating are left out of talks, says feminist coalition calling for systemic changeWomen must be enabled to play a greater role at the Cop26 summit, as the needs of women and girls are being overlooked amid the global climate crisis, a coalition of feminist groups has said.The Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice has laid out a call for action at the UN general assembly, including demands that world leaders meeting at Cop26, in Glasgow this November, must end fossil fuel expansion and move to 100% renewable energy. Continue reading...
Morrison says after Quad meeting that there is a ‘deep appreciation’ about Australia’s role ‘providing critical minerals’The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said Australia is “really good at digging stuff up” while announcing a clean energy summit after the first in-person meeting of the leaders of Australia, the United States, India and Japan.Speaking outside the White House at the end of the meeting of leaders that make up the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Morrison said Australia would host the summit next year under the Quad umbrella and take a bigger role in the supply of critical minerals in the Indo-Pacific region. Continue reading...
Protesters parading an effigy of Rodrigo Duterte in Manila call for policies that prioritise people and planetA monstrous effigy of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was paraded through the country’s capital Manila on Friday as protesters joined a worldwide youth climate action.About a hundred young people wearing masks gathered in one of several socially distanced demonstrations around the country in support of the global climate strike by the international Fridays for Future movement. Continue reading...
Head of Scotland’s natural heritage body says there is too much focus on reintroducing apex predatorsDemands to reintroduce predators such as wolves and bears could significantly damage public support for rewilding the British countryside, a senior conservationist has said.Francesca Osowska, chief executive of NatureScot, a government conservation agency, said rewilding could only succeed if it won support from people living in and managing the countryside, including farmers and Highland estate managers who are worried about losing their livelihoods. Continue reading...
Disruptive protesters will face serious consequences, says judge in sentencing Extinction Rebellion activistA British Paralympic gold medallist has been jailed for a year for glueing himself to the roof of a passenger jet in an Extinction Rebellion protest – the first custodial sentence for any action linked to the group.XR said it was “shocked and devastated” by the sentence handed to James Brown, 56, at Southwark crown court in London on Friday afternoon, by a judge who warned that protesters who disrupt people’s lives “will face serious consequences”. Continue reading...
Boris Johnson was in New York this week, trying to dodge awkward conversations and ignore domestic shortagesIs the government’s fabled Nudge Unit on a paddleboard somewhere in Crete? You have to ask, after Downing Street urged people not to panic-buy petrol, a piece of behavioural science almost guaranteed to make people panic-buy petrol. If only there’d been some kind of rehearsal event last year, when telling people not to fight over bog roll generated counterintuitive scenes of Andrex-fuelled violence in the supermarket aisles.Having said all that, calls for the army to step in to assist with driving petrol tankers feel like dressing for the Global Britain we are, rather than the Global Britain we want to be. There’s a certain inevitability to a country without a foreign policy deploying highly trained soldiers to sit in traffic between BP forecourts. Is it OK to try and help with nation-building if the nation you’re building is your own? Either way, if you pass any troops gunning a tanker down one of our great highways and byways, make sure to say thank you for your service; or rather, for your service station. Continue reading...
Port remains open, but roads around UK’s busiest port obstructed by 40 campaignersMore than 40 climate protesters blocked roads around the UK’s busiest port as part of a campaign to tackle fuel poverty and reduce climate emissions.Campaigners from the group Insulate Britain halted traffic on the A20 around Dover in Kent shortly after 8.15am on Friday. Continue reading...