Environment | The Guardian

Heath fritillary among species helped by habitat restoration – but concerns over future remainSome of the UK’s most threatened butterflies weathered a poor year in 2021 thanks to conservation efforts, annual survey results have shown.The woodland-loving heath fritillary has doubled in abundance in the past decade, although it is 90% down on 1980 levels. The silver-studded blue also did well, recording its best year since 1996. Continue reading...

Swapping gas for zero-emission vehicles would also lead to 2.8m fewer asthma attacks and avoid 13.4m sick daysA speedy nationwide transition to electric vehicles powered by renewable energy would save more than 100,000 American lives and $1.2tn in public health costs over the next three decades, according to a new report.Analysis by the American Lung Association highlights the public health damage caused by the world’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels, and provides a glimpse into a greener, healthier future – should political leaders decide to act. Continue reading...

With waters breaching the Lismore levee, the SES has had to defend cancelling an evacuation order late on Tuesday

Rare white-tailed eagle had high level of rodenticide in its system but no further police action will be takenA rare white-tailed eagle found dead in Dorset was poisoned, police have confirmed – but they have shut the case, in a decision the RSPB has called “baffling”.The eagle was one reintroduced on the Isle of Wight, where a successful programme has been taking place since summer 2019. The white-tailed eagles had become extinct in the UK in the early 20th century after they were poisoned and shot by gamekeepers. Continue reading...

Kwasi Kwarteng pledges to turbo-charge investment in solar and wind power amid new energy security planThe business secretary has effectively ruled out a windfall tax on North Sea oil firms to fund discounted energy bills but promised much greater investment in solar panels, wind and nuclear to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas.Speaking amid reports of a cabinet split over landmark energy security plans due to be published within days, Kwasi Kwarteng offered up a tax on oil companies, backed by Labour, as the one policy that definitely will not find favour with ministers. Continue reading...

Conservative Environment Network has 133 MPs in its ranks, while Net Zero Scrutiny Group has 19 publicly named membersHalf of Conservative backbench MPs are now in the party’s green group, after the former minister Jeremy Hunt announced he had joined.The Conservative Environment Network (Cen) now has 133 MPs, leading green-minded Tories to claim that those who do not want net zero are in the minority. There are 360 sitting Conservative MPs, but 95 are government ministers or whips and therefore ineligible to join Cen. Continue reading...

Slowworms thrive in brownfield sites – often targeted for developmentAdders and slowworms will be among animals given extra protection under plans by the government to “streamline” the process for protecting nature-rich areas.George Eustice, the environment secretary, said that he plans for brownfield and urban sites to be given greater protection as he scraps sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and special protected areas (SPAs), in order to replace them with a streamlined system. Continue reading...

Coalition to again spend maximum $150m allocation from Emergency Response Fund to ‘fast track’ recovery and resilience

Reduction in spending across clean energy agencies represents a 35% annual cut over four years

Pushed to the brink by invasive American mink and habitat loss, a reintroduced wild population is finally thriving on Hiiumaa islandIt finally stops snowing just as Tiit Maran parks his orange Dacia Duster next to a bridge on a quiet country road. “Too bad the snow is so fresh,” he says. “We’ll not find any tracks now.” Maran, the director of Tallinn zoo and a European mink biologist, is looking for the critically endangered mammal on an Estonian island.Along a straight, ice-free stream, he clambers over fallen trunks, his boots sinking into the powder snow. A glorified chicken coop comes into view, one of the three sites where Maran’s team regularly released European minks between 2000 and 2016. Pregnant females were placed in the cages in May, allowing the mink and her brood plenty of time to adapt to the smells and the sounds of the forest before the doors swung open in August. Continue reading...

Thresholds being raised in eight counties as average temperatures rise due to global heatingThe official definition of a heatwave is to be changed in a band of English counties from Surrey to east Yorkshire, in response to the warming climate.The Met Office said it was increasing heatwave temperature thresholds in eight counties before the summer. The change reflected “an undeniable warming trend” for the UK that had made the original thresholds obsolete. Continue reading...

Inadequate insurance, delayed payments and complex building codes have slowed the return to two Colorado towns

A simple switch in the way transactions are verified could reduce bitcoin’s energy-guzzling mining habitsBitcoin mining already uses as much energy as Sweden, according to some reports, and its booming popularity is revitalizing failing fossil fuel enterprises in the US. But all that could change with a simple switch in the way it is coded, according to a campaign launched on Tuesday.The campaign, called Change the Code Not the Climate and coordinated by Environmental Working Group, Greenpeace USA and several groups battling bitcoin mining facilities in their communities, is calling on bitcoin to change the way bitcoins are mined in order to tackle its outsized carbon footprint. Continue reading...

Scientists develop model to identify species as DNA coding shows many animals are not a single species as previously thoughtHundreds of unidentified mammals are hiding in plain sight waiting to be discovered, according to a new study which predicts where to find so-called “cryptic” species across the tree of life.African elephants, lemurs and two newly discovered see-through frogs in Ecuador that live just 13 miles apart are among a growing number of plants and animals that have been unmasked by genetic analysis in recent years, revealing they are not a single species but, in fact, many and separate groups, despite appearing similar to the human eye. Continue reading...

Supermarket boss says only alternative would be ‘to clear our freezers and shelves of a wide range of staples’Iceland will temporarily return to using palm oil in some own-label foods from June because the price of a key alternative – sunflower oil – has soared by 1,000% during the war in Ukraine.In 2018 the supermarket chain announced to much fanfare that it was removing the controversial ingredient, which has been linked to destruction of the Earth’s forests. As part of its stand against the product, it launched a TV advert made with Greenpeace, which was pulled after it was deemed too political. Continue reading...

Strategy could require up to eight new nuclear power stations to be built, costing more than £13bnBoris Johnson’s flagship energy strategy has been held up over a row with Rishi Sunak about funding a new generation of up to eight nuclear power stations costing the public more than £13bn.The strategy, which has been delayed for a month, was due to be published this week but has now been pencilled for 5 April after disagreement about the multibillion-pound cost of new nuclear plants and amid ongoing tensions between the prime minister and his chancellor, as well as the wider cabinet. Continue reading...

Reduced production in Bass Strait and pipeline capacity limits could lead to shortfall during extreme weather, energy market operator saysSouth-eastAustralia could face gas shortages as soon as the 2023 winter because of delays for a planned NSW import terminal and falling Bass Strait output, according to the annual review of the sector by the Australian Energy Market Operator.Aemo’s gas statement of opportunities report, which maps the supply and demand for the fuel over the next two decades, said shortages could be avoided by using less gas in power generation on cold days but also accelerating the switch to electricity. Continue reading...

Paradise Point has 20% of its housing stock vulnerable to erosion or storm-surge damage, CoreLogic saysNew data has identified the affluent Gold Coast suburb of Paradise Point as having the highest value of property at risk of coastal erosion in Australia.An estimated $1.4bn worth of property within 6.4km of the coastline in Paradise Point is at “very high risk” of coastal erosion or storm-surge-related damage within the next 30 to 60 years, according to analysis by CoreLogic. Continue reading...

Pilot program breeds koalas with ‘high genetic merit’ for release into the wild to improve populationsDogs, diseases and droughts – aided and abetted by land clearing and bushfires – have pushed vulnerable koala populations into rapid decline.It is now hoped that a two-year-old koala named Jagger can help secure the fate of endangered colonies along Australia’s east coast. Continue reading...

Experimental ban on petrol and diesel vehicles on Beech Street near Barbican ended in SeptemberThe ending of the UK’s first “zero-emissions street” scheme has led to a return to illegal pollution levels beside one of the country’s biggest cultural centres.Pollution levels had plummeted on Beech Street in London, which runs past the Barbican centre, after the City of London Corporation introduced an experimental traffic order restricting it to electric vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. Continue reading...

Mayors in northern regions turn off taps as country suffers one of its driest winters in 65 yearsPeople living in some northern Italian towns face fines for wasting water as mayors ration supplies amid a severe drought.Italy has had one of its driest winters in the last 65 years, with rainfall 80% lower than the seasonal average. The situation has been more acute in northern regions, where some areas have been deprived of significant rainfall for three months or more. The Po, the country’s longest river, is at its lowest level recorded in winter since 1972. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s top team have range of views on best way to ensure country has secure supply of energyDowning Street’s long-awaited energy independence strategy is not expected to be published until next week, amid wrangling between No 10 and the Treasury over how to fund it.Boris Johnson’s cabinet ministers have a range of views on the best way forward: Continue reading...

Colonies mix annually at Winspit caves near Swanage, a hibernation site for rare greater horseshoe batsThree caves hewn into the rocky coastline of Dorset that are the bat equivalent of a speed-dating site, attracting crowds of the flying mammals from as far as 40 miles away, have been acquired by the National Trust.The bats gather at Winspit caves near Swanage in the late summer and early autumn, dart around the cliffs and, if all goes well, find a mate from a different colony. Continue reading...

It’s tempting to draw lines on a map, but we can’t forget that cities should be designed for the people who live there Continue reading...

Severe weather warnings issued for parts of eastern Australia still recovering from recent floods, with heavy rain forecast

Committee says changes should be made through legislation, not regulation, as energy minister says they will be revisited at a later date

UK only in early stages of finding permanent site for underground storage of hazardous spent fuelAs Boris Johnson prepares a new push for nuclear power, the £131bn problem of how to safely dispose of vast volumes of radioactive waste created by the last British atomic energy programme remains unsolved.The hugely expensive and dangerous legacy of the UK’s 20th-century nuclear revolution amounts to 700,000 cubic metres of toxic waste – roughly the volume of 6,000 doubledecker buses. Much of it is stored at Sellafield in Cumbria, which the Office for Nuclear Regulation says is one of the most complex and hazardous nuclear sites in the world. Continue reading...

Effect of cuts to efficiency subsidies highlighted as government struggles to finalise energy strategyMillions of households are paying an extra £170 in bills because of cuts to subsidies for measures such as home insulation, according to analysis that comes during an impasse on the government’s energy strategy.One cabinet source said it was now likely the strategy – designed to tackle rising bills and boost energy security – would not be ready this week, amid cabinet splits over funding for nuclear power and the relaxing of planning rules concerning onshore wind. Continue reading...

Environmentalists call changes ‘everything you could ever dream about’ but industry says they ‘undermine the economics of delivering housing’

Chris Thorogood had to venture deep into the Luzon rainforest to set eyes on the extraordinary Rafflesia banaoanaIt was after travelling 6,600 miles and battling through the tropical assault course of the Luzon rainforest that Chris Thorogood set his eyes upon the rare and extraordinary flower that ignited his childhood imagination 30 years ago.Thorogood, 38, last month became the first westerner to see the Rafflesia banaoana – an otherworldly-looking red spotted species that spans half a metre across – in an experience that reduced him to tears. Continue reading...

Former employees arrested for ‘extremist activities’, fuelling fears for conservationists’ safety and the future of protected areasOne of the oldest and largest wildlife NGOs in Belarus is being forced to shut down after accusations of “extremist activities”, as conservationists warn of “darkness” engulfing a region known for its rich natural heritage.Former employees of BirdLife Belarus (APB) were arrested and one has been in jail for six months under suspicion of attempting to destabilise the political situation in the country under the guise of protecting birds. The organisation has been ordered by a court to close next month after 24 years of work. Continue reading...

Man drowns on Sydney’s northern beaches; Labor senator Katy Gallagher says she had no ‘difficult arguments’ with Kimberley Kitching beyond what was normal in politics; 11 coronavirus deaths recorded nationwide. This blog is now closed

Brigades of volunteers are coming to the rescue of thousands of Pacific newts that perish each year as they migrate to their breeding groundsOn particularly warm and damp winter nights, as thousands of Pacific newts venture out onto the verdant Petaluma hills north of San Francisco – so does the Chileno Valley Newt Brigade.As the sunlight fades, volunteers spread out over a mile-long stretch of a rural road. Wearing reflective vests, much like school crossing guards, these brigadiers are here to help the newts make a perilous journey from a lake on one side of the road to the hills on the other. Working in pairs, they scan the road with flashlights, gently picking up each wriggly newt they find and moving them to safety. Continue reading...

The industry has been in steady decline but some believe the war in Ukraine makes the case for revival of energy technologyCompared to some of his pet projects – the bridge across the Irish Sea or a floating airport in the Thames – Boris Johnson’s plan to get 25% of UK electricity from nuclear power plants by 2050 isn’t all that fanciful.The same mark was reached within living memory, after the commissioning of Sizewell B in 1995. Continue reading...

The billionaire mining magnate known as Twiggy may be emulating Bill Gates with the scale of his philanthropy, but not everyone is convinced

Proposed theme park the size of 136 Wembleys will threaten protected species and local jobs, say campaignersIt promises to be one of Britain’s most unusual planning battles. On one side is an array of endangered wildlife that includes a species of jumping spider. On the other are backers of a theme park that they claim will rival Disneyland in its size and ambition.The park, called the London Resort, would be built on the Swanscombe peninsula on the Thames, near Gravesend, where it would cover land equivalent to 136 Wembley stadiums and would include themed rides, a water park, conference venues, hotels and a shopping centre. Continue reading...

One of the leading advocates of energy conservation explains why this could be a turning point for climate economicsTemperatures dropped far below freezing this week in Snowmass, Colorado. But Amory Lovins, who lives high up in the mountains at 7,200ft above sea level, did not even turn on the heating.That’s because he has no heating to turn on. His home, a great adobe and glass mountainside eyrie that he designed in the 1980s, collects solar energy and is so well insulated that he grows and harvests bananas and many other tropical fruits there without burning gas, oil or wood. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Charity says big four chains offer scores of deals every week, despite pledging to promote meat-free eatingBritain’s biggest supermarkets stand accused of “bombarding” shoppers with offers of cheap meat, despite pledging to promote more meat-free diets to improve health and tackle global heating.They are using money-saving promotions, such as two for the price of one, as a way of “pushing” meat, at odds with moves in the UK and globally for consumers to eat less of it, research found.While Morrisons and Asda ran 1,490 and 1,352 promotions respectively, Tesco (948) and Sainsbury’s (933) ran many fewer.Asda and Morrisons run a lot of multi-buy offers for animal products, such as three for £10, three for the price of two and buy one get one free.Sainsbury’s uses discounts on meat products to persuade people to buy them. Continue reading...

Wollumbin track reopening delayed after floods, while hikers asked to reconsider climb out of respect for Indigenous sacred place

The deal is intended to decrease reliance on Russia but will entrench reliance on fossil fuels, environmentalists sayA major deal that will see the US ramp up its supply of gas to Europe in an attempt to shift away from Russian fossil fuel imports risks “disaster” for the climate crisis, environmental groups have warned.Under the agreement, unveiled on Friday, the US will provide an extra 15bn cubic meters of liquified natural gas (LNG) to the European Union this year. This represents about a tenth of the gas the EU now gets from Russia, which provides 40% of the bloc’s total gas supply. Continue reading...

Tess Riley has been left fraught with anxiety over any potential impact the gas has had on her pregnancyA pregnant woman injured by a high quantity of poisonous gas that was accidentally released at the aquatics centre at London’s Olympic park is planning to sue the company that runs the pool.Tess Riley, 37, who fled the pool with her husband, Thom, and their two-year-old daughter Ruby, said they “vomited our guts out” after the incident, which took place moments after a parent and toddler session in the centre’s training pool on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...

Rhode Island Democrat talks to the Guardian about the president’s climate record and targeting oil industry’s ‘achilles heel’For nine years, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat representing Rhode Island since 2007, made weekly speeches called “Time To Wake Up” urging the Senate to take action on the climate emergency.He ended the weekly ritual once Joe Biden became president and Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. But now, with hopes of new climate legislation in shambles, Whitehouse is back at it again. “I revived the speech series because I lost confidence in the momentum for a climate solution,” he said. Continue reading...

Hundreds of protests across seven continents in first action since Cop26 climate summitYoung people across the world have begun a wave of school strikes for the climate, in the first Fridays for Future action since the Cop26 climate summit.Hundreds of protests were expected in communities on all seven continents, starting in New Zealand on Friday morning and heading west with the rising sun. Continue reading...

Activists condemn Wildlife Services, a division of the USDA, which says deaths necessary to protect farmers and public healthAn obscure division of the US government had a busy – and ruthless – year in 2021, killing more than 1.75 million animals across the country, at a rate of about 200 creatures every hour.The latest annual toll of Wildlife Services, a department within the US Department of Agriculture, has further stoked the fury of conservation groups that have decried the killings as cruel and pointless. Wildlife Services maintains the slaughter is necessary to protect agricultural output, threatened species and human health. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including mating frogs, vervet monkeys and a rehabilitated bald eagle Continue reading...

Highly virulent variants of avian flu now appear endemic in wild birds, making farms prone to outbreaks all year, experts warnFree-range chickens and eggs may no longer be feasible to produce in the UK and elsewhere in Europe in future due to a dramatic escalation in avian flu outbreaks, say leading disease experts.

Call comes as thinktank says the world’s 30 largest financial institutions are undermining their net zero targetsBillionaire Sir Christopher Hohn has urged shareholders to vote against bank directors involved in “greenwashing”, and who lobby against climate action.The hedge fund manager, who once had Britain’s highest salary at £1m a day, made headlines when he donated £50,000 to climate activist group Extinction Rebellion. Continue reading...

Heating of the atmosphere, due to the burning of fossil fuels, is seemingly upending a process that long appeared unshakeableThe arrival of spring has seemingly immutable rituals – lengthening days, blossoming plants and a surge in bees’ activity. But the onset of spring is now being warped by the climate crisis, with new research finding that many species of birds are nesting and laying eggs nearly a month earlier than they did a century ago.US scientists who analyzed the nesting trends of birds from egg samples collected in the Chicago area found that of the 72 species for which historical and modern data exists, around a third are now nesting much earlier in the year than before. Continue reading...

Aerial surveys show almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat, prompting scientists to call for urgent action on climate crisis

Keith Pitt denies previous donations to Liberal party played a role while another coalminer says it wasn’t contacted regarding 70,000-tonne shipment