Environment | The Guardian

Staff and volunteers in south of England will get more Mediterranean hours because of climate changeThe National Trust is giving its workers siestas in summer due to increasingly hot weather because of climate change.Staff and volunteers in the south of England will be given more Mediterranean working hours, with a long lunch break and the day starting earlier and finishing later. This will allow them to avoid the hottest part of the day, as people already do in countries such as Italy and Spain. Continue reading...

They are blamed for damage to crops but numbers are falling due to predators and diseaseThe European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is perhaps the most often seen mammal in the British countryside. It is also a favourite food for foxes, badgers, weasels, stoats and various birds of prey, especially buzzards, whose numbers often fluctuate depending on rabbit populations.Yet the rabbit is classed as an invasive species. It was first imported by the Romans from its native habitat in the Iberian peninsula in about AD43. It did not thrive and was reintroduced again by the Normans before becoming established in England. It was so valued as a winter food source that the landed gentry had to have special permission to create a carefully guarded warren and the peasants were kept well away. Continue reading...

The government is launching a consultation on more reintroductions to the wild after a successful trial in DevonBeavers will be released into the wild under government proposals to support a “cautious” return of the semi-aquatic mammals to English rivers.The native animals will also be given legal protection in England, making it an offence to deliberately capture, kill, disturb or injure them, or damage their breeding sites or resting places, as part of efforts to support their recovery. Continue reading...

Stanford University research estimates that smoky California air may have resulted in as many as 7,000 preterm birthsAs California wildfires continue to rage and the Lake Tahoe area faces some of the highest air pollution levels in the world, a new study has found that breathing wildfire smoke during pregnancy increases the risk of premature birth.The study from Stanford University, published in Environmental Research this month, estimates that the effects of wildfire smoke may have resulted in as many as 7,000 extra preterm births in California between 2007 and 2012. Continue reading...

Activists earlier blocked Whitehall in protest against HMRC and Barclays over funding of fossil fuel industriesEnvironmentalist protesters have blocked another main junction in London’s West End, calling for “crisis talks” over global warming on the second day of Extinction Rebellion’s latest campaign of protest.Protesters swooped on Cambridge Circus, in the heart of the capital’s theatre district, just after 3pm. Police managed to encircle gear brought in by activists, holding the middle of road as protesters danced around them to music from a mobile sound system. Continue reading...

Almost half the funding from the fracking program awarded to Empire Energy, which shares connections with the Liberal party, inquiry finds

Some experts fear climate crisis is leading creatures back to area where they were hunted almost to extinctionBlue whales, the world’s largest mammals, are returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after an absence of more than 40 years.The first one was spotted off the coast of Galicia in north-west Spain in 2017 by Bruno Díaz, a marine biologist who is head of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute in O Grove, Galicia. Continue reading...

Eight new vessels able to run on methanol fuel could help save more than 1m tonnes of carbon emissions a yearThe world’s biggest shipping company is investing $1.4bn (£1bn) to speed up its switch to carbon neutral operations, ordering eight container vessels that can be fuelled by green methanol as well as traditional bunker fuel .The Danish shipping business Maersk said the investment in new vessels would help to ship goods from companies including H&M Group and Unilever, while saving more than 1m tonnes of carbon emissions a year by replacing older fossil fuel-driven ships. Continue reading...

Spotted lanternflies are eating crops of apples, grapes and hops, and destroying native trees such as maple, walnut and willowThe official public guidance is simple and to the point: “Kill it! Squash it, smash it … just get rid of it!”Such is the threat posed by a summer invasion of troublesome spotted lanternfly insects in the north-east that Pennsylvania’s department of agriculture has resorted to the unorthodox language in its advice on dealing with the pest. Continue reading...

The San Onofre nuclear power plant shut down years ago – but residents and experts worry what will happen with the waste left behindMore than 2 million visitors flock each year to California’s San Onofre state beach, a dreamy slice of coastline just north of San Diego. The beach is popular with surfers, lies across one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the Unites States and has a 10,000-year-old sacred Native American site nearby. It even landed a shout-out in the Beach Boys’ 1963 classic Surfin’ USA.But for all the good vibes and stellar sunsets, beneath the surface hides a potential threat: 3.6m lb of nuclear waste from a group of nuclear reactors shut down nearly a decade ago. Decades of political gridlock have left it indefinitely stranded, susceptible to threats including corrosion, earthquakes and sea level rise. Continue reading...

Climate scientists say while it’s difficult to give a precise attribution, the fingerprints of the climate crisis are undoubtedly present to some degreeAs the US west bakes in a prolonged drought, parts of the eastern half of the country have faced the opposite problem as extreme rainfall and fierce winds took their toll on communities as far apart as Tennessee and Rhode Island.Climate scientists have said that while it’s difficult to give a precise attribution as yet to the floods in Tennessee and the impact of Hurricane Henri in New England, the fingerprints of the human-caused climate crisis are undoubtedly present to some degree. Continue reading...

Woodland Trust and National Trust trial sustainable alternatives to plastic protection for millions of saplingsPlanting trees without plastic tree guards should be standard practice, a UK study has found, as leading conservation charities and landowners seek sustainable alternatives to reduce plastic waste.The Woodland Trust has announced it is aiming to stop using plastic tree guards by the end of the year. It is trialling plastic-free options at its Avoncliff site in Wiltshire, including cardboard and British wool. The charity plans to plant 10 million trees each year until 2025. Continue reading...

Exclusive: plan is to harness ‘waste heat’ and cut carbon emissions for households connected to district networksThousands of homes could soon be warmed by the heat from giant electricity grid transformers for the first time as part of new plans to harness “waste heat” and cut carbon emissions from home heating.Trials are due to begin on how to capture the heat generated by transmission network transformers, owned by National Grid, to provide home heating for households connected to district heating networks operated by SSE. Continue reading...

Surging blaze has destroyed more than 500 structures amid extremely dry conditions as western Nevada blanketed by smokeThe raging Caldor fire in northern California has burned more than 100,000 acres and destroyed more than 500 structures after surging over the weekend.Fueled by warm winds and drought-stricken vegetation, the fire, burning south-west of Lake Tahoe, surged through more than 30,000 acres in two days and by Monday morning had consumed about 106,500 acres. Continue reading...

Succession of thunderstorms deposited record-breaking 17in of rain in some parts of stateTennesseans were surveying the mangled wreckage of towns and communities across the middle of the state on Monday, after a record-breaking deluge caused flash flooding that swept away houses, shattered lives and left at least 22 people dead and many more missing.Related: A midwestern town moved uphill to survive climate crisis. Can others do the same? Continue reading...

Chase in Seychelles is first known example of hunting in wild by creature thought to be herbivoreA Seychelles giant tortoise, a species previously thought to be a strict herbivore, has been filmed chasing and eating a baby bird in a “horrifying and amazing” attack, with researchers stating it was the first documented example of deliberate hunting in the wild by the species.The video, taken on Fregate Island in July 2020, shows a female giant tortoise slowly stalking a lesser noddy tern chick, snapping at it unsuccessfully before delivering a lethal bow by clamping its jaws directly around its head. Continue reading...

Protesters gather in Covent Garden while activists stage diversionary march up Charing Cross RoadExtinction Rebellion protesters have blocked one of Covent Garden’s busiest junctions on the first day of the group’s latest wave of protests targeting London.At about midday on Monday, activists from the group chained themselves together to block the roundabout at Long Acre as a van pulled up with a pink table structure. It was quickly assembled and hundreds of other activists streamed to the roundabout. Continue reading...

Communities react with shock to news they are being considered as locations for underground facilityThe long-running battle to build an underground nuclear waste facility in the north of England has run into fresh problems, as communities reacted with shock to the news that they were being considered as locations.The north-east port town of Hartlepool is one of the sites in the frame as a potential site for a geological disposal facility (GDF), while a former gas terminal point at Theddlethorpe, near the Lincolnshire coast, is another. Cumbria, where much of the waste is stored above ground, is also being considered. Continue reading...

A record-breaking deluge in Tennessee Saturday caused flash flooding that swept away houses, shattered lives and left at least 22 people dead. In Waverly, one of the hardest hit towns, about 60 miles west of Nashville, the local department of public safety posted a list of 25 people still missing Continue reading...

Contest is being described by some as a generational fight for future direction of party in England and WalesSome senior party members describe it as a step into the unknown. Others call it a generational fight for its future direction, albeit a politely-fought one. What is clear is that in a few weeks the Greens in England and Wales will be under entirely new management.The leadership battle, only a year since the last contest, has come after the incumbent duo of Siân Berry and Jonathan Bartley both decided to step down, after three years in the role for Berry and five for Bartley, initially as co-leader alongside Caroline Lucas. Continue reading...

Climate-conscious individual choices are good – but not nearly enough to save the planet. More than personal virtue, we need collective actionPersonal virtue is an eternally seductive goal in progressive movements, and the climate movement is no exception. People pop up all the time to boast of their domestic arrangements or chastise others for what they eat or how they get around. The very short counterargument is that individual acts of thrift and abstinence won’t get us the huge distance we need to go in this decade. We need to exit the age of fossil fuels, reinvent our energy landscape, rethink how we do almost everything. We need collective action at every scale from local to global – and the good people already at work on all those levels need help in getting a city to commit to clean power or a state to stop fracking or a nation to end fossil-fuel subsidies. The revolution won’t happen by people staying home and being good.But the oil companies would like you to think that’s how it works. It turns out that the concept of the “carbon footprint”, that popular measure of personal impact, was the brainchild of an advertising firm working for BP. As Mark Kaufman wrote this summer: Continue reading...

Hypocrisy rules as we prepare to host Cop26 and Boris Johnson prepares to approve a new oilfield off ShetlandJust months before hosting the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, the UK government will decide whether to approve a massive new oilfield 75 miles north-west of Shetland. Boris Johnson has hinted at a likely go-ahead. The Cambo field, being developed by private-equity-owned Siccar Point and Shell, would produce 170m barrels of oil – oil the world cannot afford to burn.The Cambo decision is the government’s first test since the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned against developing new oil and gas fields. In a landmark report this year, the IEA found that that already-operating fields will produce more oil and gas over the coming decades than can be consumed if global heating is limited to 1.5C. Continue reading...

For a fleeting moment on the weekend more than half the nation’s electricity generation came from solar power, but experts say Australia is still a long way from peak renewable energy

Older residents reported to be tripping on pavement weeds, but Green council leader praises their biodiversityA Green-led council has been accused of taking rewilding too far by allowing so many weeds to flourish that they have become a health hazard, with some residents requiring hospital treatment after tripping up on overgrown pavements.Brighton and Hove council, which has been under Green party control since last year, has banned toxic weedkillers that include chemicals such as glyphosate after a petition from residents. Continue reading...

As emissions from industrial sites increase, Grattan Institute recommends a new future fund be set up similar to the national green bankGreenhouse gas emissions from Australia’s industrial sites have risen 24% since 2005, and need to be addressed now if the country is to have a chance of reaching net zero by 2050, a new report says.The Melbourne-based think tank Grattan Institute has released a blueprint to reduce emissions from major industry, citing government projections that without action they are expected to stay around current levels until 2030. Continue reading...

Government’s plan to use ‘blue’ fossil-fuel hydrogen alongside green version raises concern, say campaignersOpting for hydrogen that is made using fossil fuels rather than renewable electricity could create up to 8m tonnes of carbon emissions every year by 2050, according to an analysis of government data.The figures show that the use of fossil-fuel hydrogen, or “blue hydrogen”, would create the same carbon emissions each year that more than a million petrol cars would produce, compared with using zero-carbon “green hydrogen”. Continue reading...

Drawing people into cities could cut emissions and combat housing crises. But even progressives are hard to convinceIn San Francisco’s Sunset District, rows and rows of pastel-colored, two-storey homes flow from the edge of Golden Gate park into the sand dunes of Ocean Beach. Many houses here have solar panels on their roofs and compost bins at their driveways, flanked by hybrid and electric cars.Yet here – and all over this city – one major solution to both the housing crisis and the climate crisis has been met with fierce resistance: building more. Continue reading...

The Wildlife Disaster Network is just one group that patrols burn areas looking for critters that need their helpThe emaciated bear cub was trekking along a mountain road through the scorched Sierra Nevada when firefighters spotted it. His paws appeared burned and he seemed alone. There was little the fire crew could do, but call the Wildlife Disaster Network.The group of volunteer disaster veterinarians treats animals injured in California’s devastating wildfires. The network, and other groups like it, are busier than ever this year as fires tear through the state at an astonishing pace. Continue reading...

Hordes of capybaras have taken up residence at a gated community, sparking a debate on the environment and inequalityNordelta is Argentina’s most well-known gated community: an enclave of spacious homes for the rich amid a dreamy landscape of lakes and streams north of Buenos Aires.But environmentalists question its very existence because it is built on the wetlands of the Paraná, the second most important river in South America after the Amazon. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Thomas Fitschen says Glasgow summit a ‘decisive moment’ with current international commitments insufficient to limit global heating to 1.5C

Personalising the ‘silent killer’ hot spells could raise awareness in time to avert loss of life and property, say scientistsSpurred on by this summer’s record temperatures, Greek scientists have begun discussing the need to name and rank heatwaves, better known for their invisibility, before rampant wildfires made the realities of the climate crisis increasingly stark.A preventative measure, the move would enable policymakers and affected populations to be more prepared for what are being described by experts as “silent killers.” Continue reading...

Government body Natural England is considering move in response to Glover report on protected landscapesCities in England could be granted national park status – affording urban areas the same level of environmental protection as natural landscapes – as part of a new review of open spaces.The government is considering the proposed status, which would also entail management of the areas to maintain their biodiversity, in response to the Glover review of protected landscapes. Continue reading...

Siskiyou county says water restrictions are aimed at pot growers. Hmong American residents say they’re being targeted“I love the smell of diesel power in the afternoon. It smells like victory.”The line, a play on the quote from the Vietnam war movie Apocalypse Now, is the first uttered in a July video by Doug LaMalfa, the US congressman for Siskiyou county. In the background, bulldozers are destroying what appears to be a field with marijuana plants. Continue reading...

Traditionally, scrub has been allowed to swamp England and Wales’s sand dunes, but now they are being set freeA few dark clouds, remnants of the storm that whipped up the North Sea the night before, still hang in the big Lincolnshire skies, above a coastline famed for its kiss-me-quick holiday towns such as Skegness and Mablethorpe. But push on north towards Cleethorpes and the mouth of the Humber, past the caravan parks and imposing sea walls, and the shoreline becomes much wilder, a mix of mud flats and salt marshes, backed by a wide expanse of sand dunes frequented by a few hardy dog walkers.This is the eastern outpost of Dynamic Dunescapes, a £10m project supported by Natural England and conservation groups including Plantlife and the Wildlife Trusts, which aims to bring new life to sand dunes, with a radical approach to their management. Continue reading...

The relatively well-off bedroom community of Valmeyer, Illinois, could afford to relocate – but moving isn’t as easy for less affluent townsWhen Valmeyer, Illinois, was hit by the great flood of 1993 and faced obliteration, residents made an unexpected choice: the town decided to rebuild from the ground up – this time, about two miles east and 400ft higher up.Valmeyer was a small commuter town made up of mostly middle-class families who worked in nearby St Louis, Missouri. Almost overnight, the community became a model of what it means to become climate resilient. Continue reading...

Rainforest lost 10,476 sq km between August 2020 and July 2021, report says, despite increasing global concernDeforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade, a new report has shown, despite increasing global concern over the accelerating devastation since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.Between August 2020 and July 2021, the rainforest lost 10.476 square kilometers – an area nearly seven times bigger than greater London and 13 times the size of New York City, according to data released by Imazon, a Brazilian research institute that has been tracking the Amazon deforestation since 2008. The figure is 57% higher than in the previous year and is the worst since 2012. Continue reading...

• Experts followed insect fitted with tracker device• Asian giant hornet that preys on bees is known for its ferocityThe first Asian giant hornet nest of 2021 has been found in Washington state, roughly a week after a live hornet was spotted in the state for the first time this year.The nest was discovered in a rural area east of Blaine, Washington, on Thursday, about a quarter-mile from where a resident spotted a live hornet on 11 August. Continue reading...

Metropolitan police vow to tackle ‘wilful obstruction’ in spite of supreme court’s Ziegler judgmentPolice preparing for a new campaign of Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests in London have said they will not be deterred by a recent supreme court ruling that obstruction can be a legitimate and lawful form of protest.The Ziegler judgment, handed down by the supreme court in June, had ruled that the exercising of protest rights could constitute a “lawful excuse” for obstructing the highway, even if the protest is considered disruptive. Continue reading...

Agreement means Greens will be in power for first time in UK with two ministerial roles for partyThe Scottish National party and the Scottish Greens have confirmed a power-sharing agreement, ushering the Green party into government for the first time in the UK in a change designed to bolster the case for independence.Nicola Sturgeon said the agreement would make it “impossible” for the UK government to refuse a second independence referendum but environmental campaigners expressed disappointment that the text fell short of calling for an immediate end to oil and gas exploration. Continue reading...

Vessel that caused global disruption when it got stuck is heading for the Red Sea againIn a rematch of the struggle that dominated global headlines earlier this year, the 400-metre, 220,000 tonne container ship that became lodged in the Suez canal for nearly a week, disrupting trade on a global scale, is having another go.Several weeks after finally docking at the UK port of Felixstowe – after a months-long negotiation over who should bear the costs of blocking the shipping lane for six days in March – the vessel returned to Port Said, Egypt, on Thursday night. Continue reading...

Geronimo has twice tested positive for bovine TB but Helen Macdonald argues that the regime is flawedGeronimo the alpaca was looking perky on Friday. His owner, Helen Macdonald, a veterinary nurse who has battled for four years to save his life, rather less so.“I’m still standing, that’s just about the best I can say,” she said as the clock ticked down towards an awful deadline. “It’s agony, to be honest. Mental torture. They’re hoping I’m going to crack. They’re bullying me. But I’m not going to give in.” Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including wild horses, hungry cats and Wally the walrus Continue reading...

Experts question credibility of environmental claims made by UK restaurant chainThe environmental credentials of Leon’s “carbon-neutral” burgers have been questioned after it emerged the fast-food chain was using controversial carbon offsets to make the claim.In January, Leon announced it would become the first restaurant chain in the UK to serve carbon-neutral burgers and fries at more than 60 locations by reducing and offsetting the emissions they produce. Continue reading...

Chris Jackson believes companies promoted ‘unsustainable’ fossil gas projects to access billions in taxpayer subsidiesOil companies have used false claims over the cost of producing fossil fuel hydrogen to win over the Treasury and access billions in taxpayer subsidies, according to the outgoing hydrogen lobby boss.Chris Jackson quit as the chair of a leading hydrogen industry association this week ahead of a government strategy paper featuring support for “blue hydrogen”, which is derived from fossil gas and produces carbon emissions. Continue reading...

Report launched with youth activists including Greta Thunberg paints ‘unimaginably dire’ pictureAlmost half the world’s 2.2 billion children are already at “extremely high risk” from the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution, according to a report from Unicef. The UN agency’s head called the situation “unimaginably dire”.Nearly every child around the world was at risk from at least one of these impacts today, including heatwaves, floods, cyclones, disease, drought, and air pollution, the report said. But 1 billion children live in 33 countries facing three or four impacts simultaneously. The countries include India, Nigeria and the Philippines, and much of sub-Saharan Africa. Continue reading...

Named Muga dhambi by traditional owners, it was uncovered on a marine citizen science course

Owner receives word that officials will not try to enforce warrant before 5pm on FridayGeronimo, the condemned alpaca, has been granted another 24-hour reprieve, with its owner claiming the UK government hopes she will carry out its “dirty work” and put her beloved animal down herself.“They don’t want blood on their hands,” said Helen Macdonald, a veterinary nurse. “They’re trying to wear me down and get me to euthanise a perfectly healthy animal. I’m not going to do that. Simple as that.” Continue reading...

Protests starting next week aim to highlight the billions poured into fossil fuels by financial sectorThe City of London will be the target of a new round of Extinction Rebellion protests aimed at highlighting the role of high finance in the climate crisis, starting next week and carrying on for at least a fortnight.Thousands of protesters are expected to take part in a series of actions in the City, details of which are under wraps. These will target businesses headquartered in the Square Mile financial district, and will include site occupations. There are no plans to disrupt public transport, as has occurred during some previous actions. Continue reading...