Environment | The Guardian

Tens of thousands of people in city’s south-west affected by latest orders, with NSW SES conducting 100 rescues overnight

Researcher calls findings ‘infuriating’ as team finds significant impact on cognitive developmentOver 170 million Americans who were adults in 2015 were exposed to harmful levels of lead as children, a new study estimates.Researchers used blood-lead level, census and leaded gasoline consumption data to examine how widespread early childhood lead exposure was in the country between 1940 and 2015. Continue reading...

Analysis: Ukraine war may increase short-term need for North Sea oil and gas, but fossil fuels no solution to Britain’s energy woesRamping up production from the UK’s oil and gas fields in the North Sea could help ease the pain of high fuel prices in the short term but should not be seen as a long-term solution to Britain’s energy woes, experts have warned.Lord Adair Turner, former CBI chief and former chair of the Committee on Climate Change, now chair of the Energy Transitions Commission thinktank, said the prime minister’s plan to produce more oil and gas now marked a sensible move, but he cautioned against those who saw a continued future in increased production. Continue reading...

The mistake was to think Ukrainians were waiting to be liberated by Russian soldiers and that the west was too divided to helpVladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine is a turning point in history. But no one knows who will emerge victorious as one era ends and another is born. Before this war, the momentum was with Mr Putin, whose military adventurism paid off in the last decade while the United States, humbled by Iraq, turned inward. However, the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine has been a criminal mistake. Russian soldiers are killing civilians, who share a Slavic identity, and flattening cities in land that gave birth to their country’s culture. Mr Putin’s unprovoked war against a smaller, democratic neighbour has resulted in 1.7 million people fleeing their homes. This is a humanitarian crisis on the edge of Europe. If war was just a battle for public opinion, Mr Putin would have lost by now.Moscow understands this dynamic which might explain why it cynically undermined peace talks by offering humanitarian corridors for trapped populations only to shell Ukrainians who attempt to use them. This bodes ill for talks later this week between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries in Turkey. Moscow, perhaps for public consumption at home, is seeking to play peacemaker in a war that it started. The Kremlin’s spokesperson told Reuters that Russia was ready to halt military operations “in a moment” if Kyiv meets a list of conditions, such as recognising Crimea as Russian territory and giving two Russian-majority regions independence. It is hard to see how any government in Kyiv could survive in power if it signed such a “land-for-peace” deal. Continue reading...

If the UK is going to need gas well into the 2030s, it would surely be better to get it close to homeThe first lesson of the gas crisis is old and boring: the UK should get serious about insulating its leaky properties. If all homes that have energy performance certificate band D were upgraded to band C, the UK’s total gas demand would fall by 7%, and imports by 15%, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit calculates. Given the UK’s wretched record in insulation versus European peers, that sounds a small but easy win.The second part – the supply side – is where the trickier stuff starts. The broad energy direction has been set towards nuclear and renewables, but there’s no getting away from the fact that gas will be in the mix for a long time yet. Virtually all transition scenarios imagine it, and you have to be an extreme optimist to believe UK consumers can quickly be converted to the joys of heat pumps. Continue reading...

PM insists move will not undermine push for net zero; critics say it would have little effect on consumer billsBoris Johnson has said the UK may have to increase its domestic gas and oil production in order to wean itself off Russian resources, despite the opposition of climate campaigners and some scepticism in the cabinet.The prime minister said the UK was looking at increasing North Sea output, although critics say it would take two decades to ramp up significantly and would have little immediate effect on the impending rise in domestic energy bills. Continue reading...

Animal activists criticise removal of bear known as Juan Carrito, taken to an enclosure for ‘problem’ animalsA rare brown bear who became famous after breaking into a bakery and feasting on the biscuits has been captured in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, sparking criticism from animal activists.The marsican bear, affectionately known as Juan Carrito by residents in the mountain town of Roccaraso, has been taken to an enclosure for “problem” animals. Continue reading...

Sydney man who ate ‘thumbnail-sized’ piece of toadstool on his lawn says he ‘never felt that sick in my life’

Campaigners say community energy groups can help reduce country’s dependence on Russian fossil fuelThe UK should “mobilise an army of volunteers” to transform the country’s energy landscape and reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuel by setting up community energy groups, say campaigners.With energy prices rising, local schemes such as solar panels, locally-funded wind farms and even hydroelectric dams could be crucial to helping generate energy. Continue reading...

For the first time, a IPCC report has acknowledged the role of misinformation. But it still doesn’t name the culpritsPeople who do not spend their days reading climate reports or scouring the archives of oil companies are often surprised to hear that the fossil-fuel industry has been part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since its inception. And it’s not just the IPCC. Oil companies have been involved in the entire international effort on climate change since it began in the late 1980s – and here’s a pro tip: they’re there for a reason, and it’s not decarbonisation.The second part of the IPCC’s most recent report was published last week, and it finally acknowledged the oil industry’s biggest contribution to the climate space thus far: misinformation. This was followed closely by another new-to-the-IPCC topic: maladaptation, which refers to measures ostensibly geared towards warding off climate change, but which “may lead to increased risk of adverse climate-related outcomes, including via increased greenhouse gas emissions, increased or shifted vulnerability to climate change, more inequitable outcomes, or diminished welfare”, according to the IPCC. Continue reading...

Leaders are relieved the approach is to incentivize rather than giving ranchers and feedlots tougher methane curbsThe US beef industry has escaped “relatively unscathed” from Joe Biden’s attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to leaders at the industry’s recent CattleCon convention.Biden and the EU unveiled a global pledge to cut methane gas 30% by 2030 at November’s Cop26 climate summit – and there is evidence that methane created by cattle production is a significant contributor to climate change. Continue reading...

A second east coast low is expected to form overnight, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds

Severe weather to affect coastal areas from Coffs Harbour to Bega; Queensland estimates ‘rain bomb’ will cost state more than $4bn; two NSW residents among Japanese encephalitis patients in Victoria; ADF defends NSW flood response; PM speaks on east coast floods, Ukraine crisis; nation records at least 32 Covid deaths with 23 in South Australia. This blog is now closed

Research shows that governments and individuals making small changes can have a huge impact in reducing emissions

Bidders expected to walk away after offer of $8.25 a share rejected by board of Australia’s largest energy company

An investigation appears to show company employees discussing how to smear local opponents of the Central American nickel operationA decision to restart operations at one of Central America’s largest nickel mines is being questioned by campaigners, after an investigation appeared to show the company co-opted indigenous leaders and smeared potential opponents.

Organisation urges all political parties to outline concrete steps on how to prepare for inevitable climate-fuelled disasters

Steven Fuller has been the ‘winterkeeper’ at Yellowstone for 49 years. In that time, he has captured the breathtaking natural phenomena and the wildlife that exist there through all the seasons Continue reading...

Severe rainfall that may lead to flash flooding ‘likely’ in Queensland, while Hawkesbury-Nepean River in NSW set to surpass last week’s flood level

The crisis must not become a reason to drop our commitment to net zero targetThe report last week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the need to adapt to global warming made stark, unpleasant reading. Described by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, as “an atlas of human suffering”, it revealed that billions of people now live in parts of the world where they are highly vulnerable to climate change.Death tolls from droughts, floods and storms are destined to increase in these regions as extreme heat events and inundations become more frequent. Only urgent action today can halt the worst impacts and prevent a global calamity, argued the IPCC. Continue reading...

The Yawuru people have finally had 530,000 hectares of their traditional country returned to them. We also hear suburban tales of electrifying our homes and discovering treasure on council cleanup daysYou can read the original articles here:‘The good fight’: Roebuck Plains Station and its return to Indigenous owners – photo essay Continue reading...

£600m project is one of 900 in planning pipeline to provide green energyA proposed new £600m solar farm in eastern England – covering an area eight times bigger than Hyde Park in central London – faces opposition over claims it would be a “blight” on the countryside.The scheme, which would provide power for up to 100,000 homes, will cover nearly 2,800 acres near Newmarket, more than 10 times bigger than any scheme built to date in Britain. It is one of more than 900 solar farms in the planning pipeline to help provide green energy. Continue reading...

Urban farms play a vital role in feeding communities but are hampered by precarious leases and gentrificationFor the last 10 years, residents in the south Baltimore neighborhood of Cherry Hill who struggled to access affordable food had a reliable place to go.Visitors to the Cherry Hill Urban Community Garden, a 1.5-acre urban farm, would find cheap, fresh vegetables and a strong sense of community. Continue reading...

Cultivating the shellfish creates a healthy habitat for everything from big fish to molluscs and could offer a sustainable alternative to meat or fishThe water beneath our boat is teeming with life. It is a fine Sunday morning on Loch Slapin on the Isle of Skye and Dr Judith Brown and Andrew Airnes are pointing below the surface to where they are hoping to grow more than 100 tonnes of high-quality animal protein suspended from four ropes.“You probably wouldn’t be able to grow one sheep on that land-wise,” says Airnes. Due in part to its tremendous efficiency, mussel farming is seen by a new generation of food producers as having exciting potential for feeding a growing population while restoring native biodiversity, which has been damaged or destroyed by pollution and harmful fishing practices. Continue reading...

Report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said half of the world’s people are ‘highly vulnerable’On Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that the dangerous impacts of climate breakdown are already being felt and are accelerating rapidly. Has that message been heard?The second of four parts of the IPCC’s sixth assessment report, the latest comprehensive review of our knowledge of the climate crisis, was termed by some scientists “the bleakest warning yet”. Half of the world’s people are “highly vulnerable” to serious impacts from the climate crisis, a billion people in coastal areas face inundation, mass die-offs of species including trees and coral have already begun, and close to a tenth of the world’s farmland is set to become unsuitable for agriculture. Continue reading...

Surge of estate sales to big firms has driven up prices and increased elitism of land ownership, says report

Firm has pledged to plant huge forest in Scotland, but some of its environmental claims have raised eyebrows

Premier vows not ‘to spare a dollar’ in recovery but residents increasingly frustrated by slow rollout of support

‘One day this place will be uninhabitable. The question I pose when people say that is, “Who gets to leave?”’ asks a biologistAway from the lights and fountains of the Las Vegas Strip, bulldozers are working overtime as the suburbs of Sin City are bursting out of their seams.Las Vegas is growing at a staggering rate. Clark county, where the city is located, is home to roughly 2.3 million people, but forecasts predict the population could go beyond 4 million by 2055. Continue reading...

Australian officials attempted to water down language around health of world’s largest coral reef in latest climate change report

Ukraine and US embassy denounce attack on huge Zaporizhzhia power station as war crime

Experts assess the risks after fire burned for several hours at Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility

Victoria Prentis says Britons need to be more willing to buy premium food and suggests boycott of Russian white fish

Fossil-fuel firms want to turn violence and bloodshed into an oil and gas propaganda-generating scheme. The goal: a drilling bonanzaLast week, we all watched in horror as Vladimir Putin launched a deadly, catastrophic attack on Ukraine, violating international treaties across the board. Most of us swiftly condemned his actions and pledged support for the Ukrainian people whose country, homes and lives are under attack.But the fossil-fuel industry had a different take. They saw an opportunity – and a shameless one at that – to turn violence and bloodshed into an oil and gas propaganda-generating scheme. Within hours, industry-led talking points were oozing into press releases, social media and opinion pieces, telling us the key to ending this crisis is to immediately hand US public lands and waters over to fossil-fuel companies and quickly loosen the regulatory strings. Continue reading...

Sadiq Khan’s plan would cut number of most polluting cars on London’s roads by further 20,000-40,000 a dayLondon’s ultra-low emission zone will be extended to the whole of Greater London by the end of next year under plans set out by the mayor, Sadiq Khan.City Hall said “bold measures are required” to reduce toxic air pollution and cut congestion in the capital, as well as tackling the wider climate emergency. Continue reading...

Royal Horticultural Society says the gastropods ‘play an important role’ in maintaining a healthy ecosystem

Donald Lee claimed he killed a Fannin bighorn sheep in Alaska but an online sleuth and Yukon conservation officers proved he didn’tWhen an Alaskan hunter ventured out into the rugged mountains and dropped his target with a single rifle shot, it seemed like the perfect crime.The only witness lay dead on the rocky landscape. Continue reading...

Sewage works, airports and seaports among key infrastructure at risk, says intergovernmental reportThe UK “is very much not adapted to climate change and not prepared”, according to a lead author of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.The study, published this week and approved by 195 countries, says the worldwide impacts of the climate crisis are more severe than predicted and there is only a narrow chance of securing “a liveable future for all”. Continue reading...

Body of man in 40s found south of Murwillumbah; death of man, 53, takes Queensland’s flood toll to 10 as premier mourns ‘unprecedented’ disaster; Japanese encephalitis case in Qld; at least 37 Covid deaths; Alan Tudge opts not to return to frontbench. This blog is now closed

Queensland and NSW bear the brunt of catastrophic weather conditions that have claimed 16 livesWhen Jenni Metcalfe returned to her Brisbane home to survey the damage as the nearby river peaked, water had already risen a metre up the back wall. There was nothing she could do. “I sat in the gutter and watched it and cried,” she said.The east coast of Australia has been battered by more than a week of torrential rain, as communities begin to survey the wreckage of fatal flash flooding that has left townships looking like war zones. Continue reading...

Firms sought to weaken draft EU law banning food imports linked to deforestation eight days after vowing to accelerate actionFive of the world’s biggest agribusiness firms sought to weaken a draft EU law banning food imports linked to deforestation, eight days after pledging to accelerate their forest protection efforts at Cop26, documents seen by the Guardian show.Forest protection hopes had been raised when the CEOs of 10 food companies with a combined revenue of nearly $500bn (£373bn) vowed to “accelerate sector-wide action” towards eliminating commodity-driven deforestation as the climate summit began on 2 November. Continue reading...

Analysis: Russian invasion could speed up renewables transition – or lead to disastrous return to coalVladimir Putin is using Russia’s hold over fossil fuel supplies to Europe as “a political and economic weapon” in the war in Ukraine, the world’s foremost energy adviser has said, presenting western governments with crucial questions over how they face down the threat to democracy while also heading off climate disaster.Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said: “Nobody is under any illusions any more. Russia’s use of its natural gas resources as an economic and political weapon shows Europe needs to act quickly to be ready to face considerable uncertainty over Russian gas supplies next winter.” Continue reading...

High-resolution images shot from a camera system mounted on planes focus in on the devastation

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including rescued pangolins, a foraging fiddler crab and a silver orb spider Continue reading...

Authorities are urging people to stay alert and check warnings with another east coast low predicted for coast early next week

Science and technology are tools that can be used for both good and bad ends, writes Rob DriverLaurence Kenney (Letters, 1 March) points the finger at “engineers and scientists” for enabling both the climate emergency and armed conflicts across the globe. This is an unhelpful framing of the issue.Science and technology are tools that can be used for both good and bad ends. How we choose to use them is a matter for all of society, not just for scientists. Let’s remember that it was climate science that revealed to us (nearly 40 years ago) that our desire for plentiful energy and transportation based on fossil fuels would lead to catastrophe. And that it is low-carbon technologies that now offer us a pathway out of our climate predicament. Continue reading...

Warren Entsch says northern Australia scheme aimed at cyclone-prone Queensland should be extended to other parts of the country

IEA says reducing temperature could help wean consumers off fuel that Russia is using as a weapon in Ukraine war

Why charging customers more for non-dairy milk in coffee at Starbucks and other cafes is more of a problem than you might thinkIf you are vegan, lactose intolerant, or simply don’t consume dairy, chances are your coffee run comes with an additional fee. Starbucks charges its US customers roughly 70¢ extra for oat, soy, almond, and coconut milk, and such additional costs are common at other cafes across the country.But not every coffee shop does the same. And the reasons they cite are not only customer taste preferences – they say that dairy milk is far worse for the climate, and that because rates of lactose intolerance are higher among people of color, the alternative milk surcharge also perpetuates unfairness. There are calls for more coffee shops, and Starbucks, to follow suit. Continue reading...