Environment | The Guardian

Researchers say isolated group in south-east Greenland have clung on thanks to freshwater discharge from glaciersPolar bears have become the furry face of the climate crisis, with experts suggesting the animals could be all but extinct in a matter of decades as the Arctic sea ice they hunt from melts away.But now researchers say they have found a group of them in south-east Greenland who are surviving despite a lack of sea ice for much of the year. Continue reading...

A key police outpost lies in ruins after a daring raid – a sign of the growing danger on an increasingly lucrative smuggling routeIn the crime-infested tri-border region where Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira disappeared, rumours abound over what happened at Puerto Amelia in January this year.Were Brazilian drug traffickers responsible for burning the Peruvian police outpost on the River Yavarí to the ground? Continue reading...

Residents in Billings asked to conserve water after record rain and heavy flooding shut down service from city’s main water plantThe unprecedented flooding that wrecked parts of Yellowstone national park is also jeopardizing freshwater supplies in Montana’s most populated city.The roughly 110,000 residents of Billings, Montana, were asked on Wednesday to conserve water after intense flooding in the region shut down service from the city’s main water plant, reported Q2 News, a local Billings news outlet. Continue reading...

No 10 official’s name for an insulation plan was nixed for unoriginality – but the campaigning group is OK with itThe well-known campaigning group Insulate Britain is happy to let the government borrow its name if officials can’t come up with a different label for their insulation scheme, it has told the Guardian.According to a report in the Times on government plans for insulating homes, during one meeting to thrash out the policy, a No 10 official suggested calling it “Insulate Britain” – a proposal quickly nixed when someone else pointed out that it was already the name of the disruptive direct action group. Continue reading...

A petition calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions under the Toxic Substances Control ActGreenhouse gas emissions should be subject to legal controls in the US and phased out under the Toxic Substances Control Act, according to a group of scientists and former public officials, in a novel approach to the climate crisis.“Using the TSCA would be one small step for [the US president] Joe Biden, but potentially a giant leap for humankind – as a first step towards making the polluters pay,” said James Hansen, a former Nasa scientist, who is a member of the group alongside Donn Viviani, a retired 35-year veteran of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Continue reading...

Ecologists raise concern over chicks’ attempts to escape high temperatures during one of earliest heatwaves on recordHundreds of baby swifts in southern Spain have died after leaving their nests prematurely, in what ecologists described as an attempt to escape the extreme temperatures during one of the country’s earliest heatwaves on record.Concerns were raised for the protected species late last week after residents in Seville and Córdoba noticed dozens of recently hatched birds scattered across sidewalks. Continue reading...

Researchers have now calculated how many people could be saved from heat-related death if the US takes meaningful actionThe rapidly shrinking window of opportunity for the US to pass significant climate legislation will have mortal, as well as political, stakes. Millions of lives around the world will be saved, or lost, depending on whether America manages to propel itself towards a future without planet-heating emissions.For the first time, researchers have calculated exactly how many people the US could save by acting on the climate crisis. A total of 7.4 million lives around the world will be saved over this century if the US manages to cut its emissions to net zero by 2050, according to the analysis. Continue reading...

Atlanta wants to build a police training facility in a forested area amid community oppositionThe sign in the forest reads “You are now leaving The U.S.A.” Then, high up among the branches of a white oak tree, there is a treehouse the size of a closet. It is draped on all sides with white sheets bearing painted messages like “No police”, “No pipelines” and “No prisons”.On the ground below it, woodland paths have been blocked with makeshift barricades of branches and used tires. There is a burned-out white pickup truck with “Defend the forest” spray-painted in black on its tailgate. Continue reading...

Environmentalists welcome news but urge company to stop mining at Mt Arthur when permit expires in four years

Early June temperatures in Melbourne didn’t go above 15 degrees for first time in 70 years as cold weather pattern starts to break

A cold start to winter has the News Corp newspaper and Sky News telling ‘alarmists’ to chill, but what is really going on with snowfall?It’s felt cold in parts of eastern Australia in recent weeks and with heavy snow falling over ski resorts, it has to mean this whole global heating thing is a dud, right?Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph said an early start to the snow season had come “despite dire global warming predictions of vanishing snow” with a headline declaring “Alarmists given big chill”. Continue reading...

Energy minister says the NSW grid will again come under ‘significant pressure’ on Thursday evening, asking residents to limit power use

Open letter to festival board says Santos’ involvement threatens cultural integrity and amounts to ‘artswashing’

EPA administrator Michael Regan announces ‘aggressive action’ but new PFAS limits are advisory and critics call them ‘baby steps’The US Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced new advisory limits for four kinds of PFAS “forever chemicals”, warning that the compounds, which most Americans are exposed to daily, are far more toxic than previously thought.The dangerous chemicals are estimated to be contaminating drinking water for more than 200 million people, and the new limits could have significant financial consequences for PFAS polluters, including the US military and producers like 3M, DuPont and Chemours. Continue reading...

‘Net zero’ global alliance of financial institutions, begun at Cop26, can still invest in coal and other fossil fuelsBanks that have signed up to a global climate pledge, led by Mark Carney, a former governor of the Bank of England, can still invest unlimited amounts in coal mining and coal power, despite promises to tighten the rules on their lending.Green campaigners have slammed the loopholes, uncovered by the Guardian, as “greenwashing”, after updated criteria for banks involved in the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) were unveiled on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Move affecting Piedmont and Lombardy regions comes amid worst drought to affect Italy’s longest river in 70 yearsMore than 100 towns in the Po valley have been asked to ration water amid the worst drought to affect Italy’s longest river in 70 years.Northern Italy has been deprived of significant rainfall for months, with the effects of drought along the 400-mile (650km) Po River, which stretches from the Alps in the north-west and flows through the Po delta before spilling out into the Adriatic, becoming visible early in the year. Continue reading...

We’d like to hear from people in the US living in areas affected by extreme temperatures – share your storiesMore than 100 million Americans have been advised to stay indoors if possible due to extreme temperatures and humidity in swathes of the country stretching from the Gulf coast to the Great Lakes and the Carolinas.About 107.5 million people will be affected by heat advisories and excessive heat warnings and watches on Wednesday, the National Weather Service prediction center warned on Monday. It follows a record-setting heatwave in the west and south-west over the weekend. Continue reading...

How the Ukraine war, ageing coal, Covid restrictions and winter combined to create the ‘perfect storm’ in the power market

Report shows Policy Exchange, which called for criminalisation of climate group, previously received money from oil firmA thinktank that received money from an oil company later published a report that advised the government to criminalise Extinction Rebellion in its tough new crime laws.Several Conservative MPs and peers cited the 2019 report by Policy Exchange in parliament and the home secretary, Priti Patel, repeated its claims about the climate campaigners being “extremists”. Continue reading...

Australian Energy Market Operator suspends spot market after it became ‘impossible to operate’ amid projected energy shortfalls

Transition to renewables, not new gas developments, will help avoid future power crises, environment groups say

Guardian analysis reveals toll of heat stress, cold and trauma amid rise in long-distance and more frequent journeysTens of millions of farm animals in the US are dying before they can be slaughtered, according to a Guardian investigation exposing the deadly conditions under which animals are transported around the country.Approximately 20 million chickens, 330,000 pigs and 166,000 cattle are dead on arrival, or soon after, at abattoirs in the US every year, analysis of publicly available data shows. A further 800,000 pigs are calculated to be unable to walk on arrival. Continue reading...

Spanish carrier orders 10 helium-filled Airlander 10 aircraft in boost for UK green tech and maker HAVAbout 1,800 jobs are to be created in South Yorkshire building 10 new environmentally friendly airships.Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), a small Bedford-based company, announced on Wednesday it had signed a deal to provide a Spanish airline with 10 of its 100-passenger Airlander 10 helium-filled airships. Continue reading...

Barngarla traditional owners vie to overturn federal government’s decision to develop site near Kimba in South Australia

Crews battled the gusty winds as the Pipeline fire exploded to more than 24,000 acres by Tuesday morningFueled by gusty winds through drought-stricken remote terrain, wildfires burning north of Flagstaff, Arizona, exploded in size on Monday, with officials estimating more than 24,000 acres (9,700 hectares) had been blackened by Tuesday morning.Fire crews battling the blaze have faced intense conditions that have caused extreme fire behavior and sent enormous smoke plumes swirling into the sky. Continue reading...

About 90 tonnes of methane an hour were released from the Raspadskaya coalmine in January, data showsPossibly the world’s biggest leak of methane has been discovered coming from a coalmine in Russia, which has been pouring out the carbon dioxide equivalent of five coal-fired power stations.About 90 tonnes an hour of methane were being released from the mine in January, when the gas was first traced to its source, according to data from GHGSat, a commercial satellite monitoring company based in Canada. Sustained over the course of a year, this would produce enough natural gas to power 2.4m homes. Continue reading...

National park entrances could be closed up to a week and some may not reopen all summer after record rains caused floodingMore than 10,000 visitors were ordered out of Yellowstone as unprecedented flooding tore through the nation’s oldest national park, washing out road and bridges, officials said on Tuesday.The only visitors left in the massive park that straddles three states were a dozen campers still making their way out of the backcountry. Continue reading...

Mark McGowan says state’s two remaining coal-fired power stations are becoming less viable due to rise of renewable energy

Ambassador ‘deeply sorry’ for ‘information that did not prove correct’ as search continues for missing journalist and colleagueThe Brazilian ambassador to the UK has apologised to the family of Dom Phillips for incorrectly telling them his body had been found in the Amazon along with that of his missing travelling partner Bruno Pereira.On Monday morning an embassy official called Phillips’s brother-in-law and sister to inform them that the bodies of the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert had been found tied to a tree, one week after the pair vanished on the River Itaquaí. Continue reading...

£100m move could ease China’s state nuclear company out of projectThe government has bought an option to take a 20% stake in the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in a move that could ease China’s state nuclear company out of the project.Ministers took a £100m option to invest in Sizewell C’s holding company in January and said on Tuesday it would convert that into equity if the project reaches a final investment decision. Continue reading...

Dozens wounded in clashes with police over eviction from ancestral lands to make way for hunting and safarisTen Maasai leaders were detained and more than 30 people wounded during violent clashes with police in northern Tanzania on Friday, as they protested against eviction from their land to make way for a luxury game reserve.One police officer was reportedly killed in the clashes and hundreds of people are in hiding after the protests in Loliondo, which borders Serengeti national park. Continue reading...

University of Chicago reports little change in global average particulate pollution in 2020, with increases in areas such as IndiaLockdowns imposed to stop the spread of Covid led to “virtually no change” in global average particulate pollution levels during 2020, and in some of the most populous countries pollution increased, according to a study.Analysis of revised satellite-derived data on PM2.5 levels, which measure minuscule and dangerous airborne particles, suggests that the economic lockdowns imposed across many parts of the world brought clear skies to some areas only temporarily.

Merle Liivand swam in choppy waters off Miami coast to raise awareness about importance of clean oceansIn the Little Mermaid, Ariel sings a whole song about wishing to be part of a world where people get to walk. Merle Liivand, on the other hand, wanted to do the opposite – and now holds the world record for the farthest swim as a mermaid.Liivand swam 26.22 miles wearing a silicone monofin, in just over 11 hours in choppy waters off the coast of Miami on 7 May. Continue reading...

DfT says it wants to focus funding on expanding the public electric chargepoint networkThe UK government is ending the last remaining subsidies for electric cars, arguing it will free up funds to expand the charging network and support other battery-powered vehicles.In a controversial move, the government has closed the £300m plug-in car grant scheme to new orders on Tuesday, the Department for Transport said. Continue reading...

Aemo cancels alert on potential blackouts in Victoria but electricity shortfalls forecast to continue in Queensland and New South Wales

As capital swelters, India urges rich countries to provide funds to help deal with effects of climate crisisThroughout the day Virender Sharma splashes water from a bucket on to the sheet he has pulled over his lilies, tuberoses, carnations and gerberas in an attempt to protect them from the hot, dry wind sweeping through Delhi.But the street flower seller’s attempts to protect his produce is futile. Since the onset of a brutal heatwave in mid-March, his income has dropped by 60%. Continue reading...

Penny Wong to visit New Zealand foreign minister; at least 31 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

An on-call team at Amritsar’s tree hospital nurses sick neems and gives new life to troubled banyansSahib Singh clambers up a portable ladder, reaches out and, with the help of a few tools, tugs at the banyan tree and successfully removes it. The uprooted plant, which had sprouted from a wall inside the living room, is placed in a plastic bag filled with fertilised black soil. “We will replant this on the hospital lawn,” Singh says over Skype, while climbing back down the ladder. The operation lasts barely 20 minutes.The removal of the banyan tree, considered sacred in Hinduism, is the first of three calls attended by Singh in his tree ambulance on one day in May. He is a gardener and part of the team at the Pushpa Tree and Plant Hospital and Dispensary, in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, launched in January 2020. Continue reading...

Call comes after former UN climate envoy urged African countries to exploit their natural gas reservesAfrica must embrace renewable energy, and forgo exploration of its potentially lucrative gas deposits to stave off climate disaster and bring access to clean energy to the hundreds of millions who lack it, leading experts on the continent have said.Their call came as the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned that exploring for gas and oil anywhere in the world would be “delusional”. Continue reading...

Years before the climate crisis was part of national discourse, this memo to the president predicted catastropheIn 1977 Star Wars hit movie theaters, New York City had a blackout that lasted 25 hours, and the Apple II personal computer went up for sale. It was also the year that a remarkable one-page memo was circulated at the very highest levels of US government.Years before the climate crisis was part of national discourse, this memo outlined what was known – and feared – about the crisis at the time. It was prescient in many ways. Did anyone listen? Continue reading...

Ministers keen to claim UK right to potential deposits before and after 1982 war with ArgentinaBritish ministers were keen to exploit oil around the Falkland Islands before and after the 1982 conflict, declassified British government documents show.In a previously unpublished letter, the former chancellor Norman Lamont said the revenues from Falklands oil should go to the British government, not the Falkland islanders. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Collin Beck, who is believed to have been involved in negotiating the pact, offers most comprehensive defence yet of the controversial dealThe controversial security deal struck between Solomon Islands and China that caught the western world off guard was needed to maintain internal security and help fight climate change, a leading Solomon Islands official has said, defending his country’s right to choose its allies.Speaking to the Guardian in his first interview since the deal between China and Solomon Islands was leaked, Collin Beck, the permanent secretary of foreign affairs and a senior figure in the Solomons government, also said Australia should question whether it had been “fair” to Solomon Islands in its intense scrutiny of the deal. Continue reading...

The entire park, spanning parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, will remain closed to visitors as officials assess damage to roads and bridgesRecord flooding and rockslides following a burst of heavy rains prompted the rare closure on Monday of all five entrances to Yellowstone national park at the start of the summer tourist season, the park superintendent said.The entire park, spanning parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, will remain closed to visitors, including those with lodging and camping reservations, at least through Wednesday, as officials assess damage to roads, bridges and other facilities. Continue reading...

Spray-painted graffiti measuring several feet square appears on boulders and other sitesOfficials at Yosemite national park are appealing to the public for information and witnesses after more than 30 sites in the park were vandalized with spray paint last month.Park officials are asking anyone who was on the trail to the top of Yosemite Falls on 20 May and who saw people carrying cans of spray paint and tagging the area to contact the National Park Service. Continue reading...

Market operator in talks with large consumers as country faces energy crisis mainly due to poorly performing coal-fired generators

Brazil president comments on journalist and Indigenous expert’s fate amid unconfirmed claims bodies have been found in AmazonThe Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said he believes “something wicked” was done to the missing British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, amid unconfirmed claims their bodies had been found in the Amazon.British relatives of Phillips said they had been contacted by the Brazilian embassy in London on Monday morning and informed that two unidentified bodies had been found during the search operation. Continue reading...

Murdoch-owned channel creates and distributes content promoting climate scepticism across the world, analysis finds

Old baths, PVC pipes and even dog bowls can make suitable homes for amphibians affected by habitat destruction

Vessel off Yemen with more than 1m barrels of oil aboard has been stranded for six years and is close to breaking upA rare UN appeal to the public to raise $20m is to be launched on Tuesday in an attempt to prevent an environmental catastrophe caused by the potential break-up of an oil tanker off the coast of Yemen.The money is needed to offload more than 1.14m barrels of oil that have been sitting in the decrepit cargo ship, Safer, for more than six years because of an impasse between Houthi groups and the Saudi-backed government over ownership and responsibility. Continue reading...

French firm in talks to extend life of Nottinghamshire plant to shore up Britain’s winter energy suppliesThe UK government is close to striking a deal to keep a coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire open longer than planned as ministers attempt to shore up Britain’s energy supplies.UK officials are in negotiations with the French energy company EDF over plans to extend the operations of the West Burton A power station near Retford. Continue reading...