Environment | The Guardian

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a short-legged snake eagle, a popa langur and a rooster interrupting play Continue reading...

Australia follows lead of US and UK with latest Russia sanctions; ‘We want tradies to come to Queensland,’ premier says; helicopter crashes in NSW Snowy Mountains; Japanese encephalitis outbreak grows to 15; nation records at least 30 Covid deaths, seven in New Zealand. This blog is now closed

Democrats hope climate measures in Build Back Better will be resurrected amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – but green groups want Biden to go even furtherAs Joe Biden ratchets up the pressure on Russia by banning imports of its oil, American drivers grumble about rising gasoline prices and the oil and gas industry clamors for more land to drill, a more fundamental demand has emerged – for the US to decisively cut its umbilical reliance upon fossil fuels.Environmental groups and progressive Democrats are aiming to build upon the backlash to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by ending the era of fossil fuel dependency and help address the unfolding climate crisis. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s suggestion practice could re-emerge after invasion of Ukraine has rallied campaignersAnti-fracking campaigners have vowed to give energy firms “no peace” if the government lifts the moratorium on fracking, pledging “inconvenient and noisy” protests at every site.Steve Mason, campaign director of Frack Free United, said there was an army of retired “geri-activists” ready to lie down and face prosecution for the cause again. Continue reading...

NSW government pausing new developments while it revises flood strategy but pressure to open up more land isn’t expected to recede

Readers respond to George Monbiot’s article about moving away from oil and gas to nuclear power – and reflect on other ways to limit our dependency on Russia for fuelAgreed, Russian gas bad – but George Monbiot’s attack on Germany, Europe’s largest economy, seems deeply misplaced (It’s not too late to free ourselves from this idiotic addiction to Russian gas, 9 March). The German energy transition is all about replacing conventional power plants, fissile as well as fossil fuel, with renewables. Looking at both short- and mid-term energy scenarios, Germany decided that the costs and risks of keeping nuclear outweighed the limited benefits. Meanwhile, worldwide, renewables are exponentially ramping up, and nuclear declining.Global renewable electricity capacity is forecast to increase by over 60% between 2020 and 2026, reaching more than 4,800GW. This is equivalent to the current global power capacity of fossil fuels and nuclear combined. And here’s the killer: Russia produces about 35% of the world’s enriched uranium for nuclear reactors, and the EU’s uranium imports from Russia equal those from Niger, at 2,545 tonnes. The Fukushima disaster made Monbiot pro-nuclear and now military attack on nuclear in Ukraine makes him even more so. Good luck with that.

Heavy rainfall can cause untreated sewage containing viruses and bacteria to flow into waterways posing health risks to swimmers

From the questioning of fossil fuels to greater support for refugees, the shock of this terrible war has already made us more human

Businesses blamed for rise of toxic hotspots hitting poor communities hardestA UN expert has warned of the creation of pollution “sacrifice zones” across the world, where tens of millions of people are suffering strokes, cancers, respiratory problems and heart disease as a result of toxic contamination of the environment.“There are sacrifice zones all over the world, in every region: in the north, in the south, in the east, in the west, in rich countries, in poor countries,” David Boyd told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Negotiators aim to agree on legal framework for protecting international waters that are key to ‘life as we know it’The world has a “once in a lifetime” chance to protect the high seas from exploitation, warned scientists and environmentalists, as negotiators meet at the UN headquarters in New York this week to hammer out a new treaty on the oceans.One scientist described the treaty, which will set out a legal framework to protect biodiversity and govern the high seas, as the most significant ocean protection agreement for four decades. Continue reading...

Four studies are first to support theory PFAS could hinder body’s ability to fight virus, but authors say more is research neededHigher levels of exposure to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” may increase the likelihood of Covid-19 infection, more serious symptoms and death, a group of recent studies have found.Public health advocates and researchers have feared since the coronavirus pandemic’s onset that PFAS, which are known to be immunotoxic, could hinder the body’s ability to fight Covid-19, and the four studies represent the first bit of research supporting the theory. However, the authors caution that more research is needed. Continue reading...

US military aims for net zero by 2050 but with a carbon footprint greater than some 140 countries critics say it needs radical changeThe US military, an institution whose carbon footprint exceeds that of nearly 140 countries, says it wants to go green.On 8 February, the US army released its climate strategy. Continue reading...

Analysis: fear of shortages gives fossil fuel companies leverage with governments that could be disastrous for the climateOil and gas companies are facing a potential bonanza from the Ukraine war, though few in the industry want to admit it, and many are using soaring prices and the fear of fuel shortages to cement their position with governments in ways that could have disastrous impacts on the climate crisis.“There is a huge opportunity for oil and gas companies, though I’m sure it is not one they would have chosen,” said Robert Buckley, head of relationship development at Cornwall Insight, an energy analysis company. “They have the opportunity to reposition themselves [as crucial to policymakers]. There is going to be a very high price for oil for a very long time, and even the prospect of physical shortages.” Continue reading...

Slower driving and shorter showers could help Britain wean itself off Russian resourcesThe prime minister’s pledge to join the US in phasing out Russian oil – and exploring ways to do the same with gas – is aimed at hitting the Kremlin’s coffers but it also presents a problem for the UK.In Britain, about 4% of gas and 8% of oil comes from Russia, far lower than its European neighbours. But turmoil in the energy markets has sent gas and petrol prices soaring, exacerbating the cost of living crisis. Weaning ourselves off Russian resources – by sourcing supplies elsewhere or pursuing the increased use of renewables and nuclear – will cost money and take time. Continue reading...

Environment groups say visiting scientists must be given true picture of the reef, ahead of world heritage committee meeting in June

Australia has been through worse, Chris Kenny contends, while Andrew Bolt suggests global heating is ‘brilliant for farmers’

Demonstration against what activists call a historic assault floods capital after musician Caetano Veloso’s call for actionThousands of demonstrators have gathered in Brazil’s capital after one of the country’s leading musicians, Caetano Veloso, called a major protest to denounce what environmentalists call a historic assault on the Brazilian environment under President Jair Bolsonaro.The “Ato pela Terra” (Stand for the Earth) demonstration was held in Brasília to oppose what activists call a “death combo” of five environment-related bills being considered by Brazil’s congress. Continue reading...

Former energy minister Greg Barker went to climate talks as part of Russian Federation party

More than a million single-use grills end up in UK landfill each yearWaitrose and Aldi are to stop selling disposable BBQs because of their impact on the natural environment and wildlife.As the weather gets hotter, British people flock to the supermarket to buy the foil devices so they can sit in parks or gardens and sizzle sausages. Continue reading...

Environmental agencies investigated reports of dredging, illegal tree felling and profiling of banks of protected riverA landowner is facing legal action for what environmental regulators say is the decimation of a protected river.Natural England and the Environment Agency (EA) say the charges against the landowner include causing damage to a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), carrying out clearance and reprofiling of the riverbank which was likely to cause damage to or endanger the stability of the river and allowing silt to discharge into the river. Continue reading...

Josep Borrell says bloc failed to act in past but must now cut dependence on supplies by two-thirds this yearVladimir Putin is able to finance his war machine thanks to EU payments for Russian gas and oil, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has said.Speaking in the European parliament, the Spanish former foreign minister told MEPs that the west should have acted more quickly in the face of Russian aggression over the last decade. Continue reading...

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s comments come as No 10 opens door to shift in UK position on frackingBoris Johnson has told the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, that it does “not make sense” to seal its shale gas wells, the business secretary has revealed, amid tensions with his department which has repeatedly denied the government will change its position on fracking.Johnson’s spokesperson opened the door to a shift in the UK’s position on fracking on Wednesday, saying that “all options” would be considered before the forthcoming energy strategy is completed. A No 10 source confirmed it was under review. Continue reading...

Like Paris climate agreement, treaty could provide tool to hold firms and states to account, say legal expertsA series of lawsuits against plastic producers and governments is expected after a “historic” international agreement on waste, say legal experts.Last week, world leaders agreed to draw up a legally binding treaty over the next two years that covered the full lifecycle of plastics from production to disposal. The move was described by the head of the UN Environment Programme as the most important multilateral environmental deal since the Paris agreement in 2015. Continue reading...

Callum Isted, who wants reusable bottles for all pupils, is youngest to present petition to Scottish parliamentA seven-year-old schoolboy has made Holyrood history as he became the youngest person to present a petition to the Scottish parliament, in his attempt to provide every child in the country with a reusable water bottle.Callum Isted was questioned by MSPs at Wednesday’s citizen participation and petitions committee, where he explained that the petition followed his original campaign to provide all pupils at Dedridge primary in Livingstone, where he goes to school, with reusable water bottles to replace the single-use plastic bottles they were given on a weekly basis. Continue reading...

Study of 200 cities shows dangerous environmental inequality fueled by 20th-century practice dividing cities along racial linesA new study has found that neighborhoods in which the federal government discouraged investment nearly 100 years ago – via a racist practice known as redlining – face higher levels of air pollution today.Looking at more than 200 cities across the nation, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, found that people who live in neighborhoods that were once categorized as “hazardous”, based on racist factors such as how many Black or “foreign-born” people lived there, now breathe 56% more of the freeway pollutant nitrogen dioxide than those in top-rated areas. Continue reading...

Regulator taking action against Anglian, Northumbrian, Thames, Wessex and Yorkshire WaterThe water regulator Ofwat has serious concerns over the way sewage treatment works at five water companies have been operated, as it continues to investigate the industry.Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water submitted reports in December that the regulator, Ofwat, said were worrying. It said on Wednesday it had started enforcement cases against all five companies. Continue reading...

The extreme weather that hit Britain last month brought down oaks, pines and beeches across the country. Here, three people explain why their favourite tree was so specialJenny Bennion has a wooden throne in her garden. It is a monument to the damage caused by Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, a hat-trick of storms that swept across the UK in the space of a week in February. It was the first time this had happened since the Met Office began naming storms in 2015.The trio battered down Bennion’s beloved 30-metre-tall Scots pine, which had overlooked her semi-detached house in Hutton, Lancashire, for more than a century. It was one of the reasons Bennion chose to move there two and a half years ago. The tree is believed to have been planted in 1901, the same year the house was built, and stood four metres away from it. Life feels strange without it. Continue reading...

With soil already waterlogged and dams at capacity even small amounts of rainfall could be disastrous, experts say

Lismore residents protest Scott Morrison’s visit as PM says disasters mean Australia ‘getting hard to live in’; NSW flood death toll rises to nine after man’s body found in western Sydney; second Japanese encephalitis death recorded as outbreak spreads to South Australia; Indigenous teenager shot by NT police fighting for life; at least 34 Covid-related deaths nationwide. This blog is now closed

While cause remains unconfirmed, green groups fear the three whales could be the ‘tip of iceberg’ with many more animals hurtEnvironmental groups have linked the beaching of three whales in Corfu to seismic testing for oil and gas in the waters off the Greek island.Two Cuvier’s beaked whales were found stranded at Arillas and Agios Gordios beaches on the west of the island on 20 February. A third beaked whale ran ashore on Agios Gordios beach the day after. Continue reading...

As western governments untangle themselves from Russian oil and gas, Svitlana Krakovska notes that the roots of the climate crisis and invasion are in fossil fuelsFor Svitlana Krakovska, Ukraine’s leading climate scientist, it was meant to be the week where eight years of work culminated in a landmark UN report exposing the havoc the climate crisis is causing the world.But then the bombs started to crunch into Kyiv. Continue reading...

Prime minister visits Lismore as government declared national emergency to release more resources to help

Starving Putin’s military machine of funds and preventing the collapse of life on Earth: we can do both at onceAs Russia threatens to cut off the fossil gas on which much of Europe depends, the continent’s storage facilities are a crucial line of defence. So you’ll be glad to hear that Germany possesses a massive gas storage reservoir, under the town of Rehden, in Lower Saxony. The biggest strategic reserve in western Europe, it can hold enough fossil gas to supply 2 million households for a year.You’ll be less delighted to discover who owns it. It belongs to a company called Astora. Astora is a subsidiary of the Russian state company Gazprom. Altogether, it owns about one-quarter of Germany’s gas stores. All of them are almost empty. They have been run down to 10% or less of their capacity. According to the German minister for economic affairs and climate action, these storage facilities have been “systematically emptied”.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist and the author of Feral, The Age of Consent and Out of the Wreckage: a New Politics for an Age of Crisis Continue reading...

Offset markets have important role as switching to renewable energy alone not enough, according to thinktankRemoving carbon dioxide from the air will now be essential if there is to be any chance of meeting global climate targets, a thinktank has warned.Carbon offset markets will need to be tidied up and managed properly, as offsets will form a critical route to limiting global heating to 1.5C in line with scientific warnings, according to the Energy Transitions Commission, as switching to renewable energy alone will not produce enough carbon savings. Other methods, such as tree planting and carbon capture and storage, will also be critical. Continue reading...

Researchers say the island’s biggest mine is on track to achieve no net loss of forest but that ‘there remain important caveats’Ambatovy mine on the east coast of Madagascar is an environmental conundrum fit for the 21st century. Beginning operations in 2012, the multibillion-dollar open-pit nickel and cobalt mine is the largest investment in the history of the country, one of the poorest on Earth. About 9,000 Malagasies are employed by the project, owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Corporation and Korean firm Komir, which mines minerals destined for the world’s electric car batteries. To construct the mine and the 140-mile (220km) slurry pipeline to port on the Indian ocean, 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of pristine rainforest was cleared, destroying vital habitat of the endangered indri, the largest living lemur, and thousands of other species.Alongside the land clearing in a country that has lost nearly a quarter of its tree cover since 2000, the mine has been blamed for air and water pollution, as well as health problems in the local population. The smell of ammonia in residential areas and the pollution of drinking water were revealed in a 2017 investigation. Continue reading...

Analysts warn of a difficult and expensive transition that could push Britain into recession

There are 60 evacuation orders in place due to floods as residents from the Hunter to the Victorian border are warned of more severe weather to come

Thinktank says dependence on Russian oil underlines urgent need for clean energyVladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is being bolstered by $285m (£217m) in oil payments made every day by European countries, new analysis by the Transport & Environment (T&E) thinktank has found.Russia received $104bn from its crude, petrol and diesel exports to Europe last year, more than twice the $43bn it took from gas shipments, the study estimated. Continue reading...

Global heating ‘amplifies risks all the way through the supply chain, from farm to warehouse to supermarket shelves’

Residents wrote ‘stay safe everyone’ alongside videos of chaos caused by flooding that hit Australia’s largest city on Tuesday

Joro spiders will likely survive on the east coast because Japan has a similar climate and is located approximately on the same latitudePeople up and down the entire US east coast may soon find themselves living with a large spider species that is a long way from its original home.According to researchers at the University of Georgia, the Joro spider, an invasive species native to east Asia, is expected to spread after thriving in the state last year. Continue reading...

Michael Gove welcomes launch of commission to explore scheme that could meet 7% of UK’s power needsA major infrastructure project harnessing the vast tidal power of the Severn estuary is back on the agenda after the UK government said the Russian invasion of Ukraine had highlighted the need to find more secure sources of energy.An independent commission was launched on Tuesday to explore using the Severn estuary, which has the second largest tidal range in the world, to create energy. Continue reading...

EPA to approve plan for four types of neonicotinoid chemical to be used on US farmland – despite being banned in EuropeThe US Environmental Protection Agency is poised to allow the use of four of the most devastating chemicals to bees, butterflies and other insects to continue in America for the next 15 years, despite moves by the European Union to ban the use of toxins that have been blamed for widespread insect declines.The EPA is widely expected to confirm a proposed plan outlined last year that will extend the use of imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin and dinotefuran on US farmland for the next 15 years, even though the agency has noted “ecological risks of concern, particularly to pollinators and aquatic invertebrates”. Continue reading...

Creatures seen using discarded items for shelter or to lay eggs, highlighing ‘extreme ability to adapt’Whether it’s mimicking venomous creatures, or shooting jets of water at aquarium light switches to turn them off, octopuses are nothing if not resourceful. Now, an analysis of underwater images suggests octopuses are increasingly using discarded bottles, cans, and other human rubbish as shelter or as a sanctuary for their eggs.The study – the first to systematically evaluate and characterise litter use by octopuses using crowdsourced images – analysed hundreds of underwater photos posted on social media platforms and image databases, or collected by marine biologists and diving interest groups. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Toxic air pollution kills thousands of people in city every year but higher fines not being leviedJust one in every 1,000 drivers reported for unnecessary idling of their engines were fined in central London, data has revealed.Toxic air pollution kills about 4,000 people every year in the capital and councils have targeted parked drivers who do not turn off their vehicles. Continue reading...

Use of heat, steam and suffocating foam to slaughter sick animals is condemned as bird flu epidemic threatens poultry stocksVets and animal advocates in the US are calling for restrictions on “cruel” methods of culling birds, as farmers face killing millions of poultry due to a highly virulent avian flu tearing through the country.

Successful applicant will patrol Montana wilderness to reduce friction with humans, rather than referee grizzly v grizzly sparringIf you are fed up of a mundane desk job, aren’t bothered by austere conditions and have an affection for the hirsute, a potentially ideal new role has opened up in Montana: a grizzly bear conflict manager.For a salary between $79,363 and $103,176, the US government is offering one lucky applicant the chance to spend time in the Montana wilderness, dealing with discord within the world of grizzly bears. Continue reading...

Frustrated by a lack of female representation, film-maker Akanksha Sood Singh set up an Instagram account to showcase ‘the untold stories of women working for science and nature’“I wish these things wouldn’t happen to anyone,” says Akanksha Sood Singh, a wildlife film-maker based in Delhi. “But if it has happened, this is a safe space for women to come and to share their experiences.”The safe space Sood Singh is referring to is the Instagram account Women of the Wild – India, which showcases “the untold stories of women working for science and nature”. The platform gives them a chance to promote their expertise, but also somewhere to share their experiences of working in what are often male-dominated fields where sexual harassment can often feature. Continue reading...

Loss of coastal seagrass meadows due to sediment-laden flood water likely to cause mass starvation in aquatic wildlife

Victorian man dies of Japanese encephalitis; nation records at least 17 Covid deaths as new cases rise in NSW and WA. This blog is now closed