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

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