Environment | The Guardian

The 175-metre chimneys at Wallerawang on the edge of the Blue Mountains collapsed in secondsExplosive engineers have demolished two giant chimney stacks and a boiler at a defunct coal-fired power station west of Sydney as part of efforts to transform the site.The 175-metre chimneys at Wallerawang have loomed large for residents of Lithgow, a town on the western edge of the Blue Mountains that is home to two coal-fired plants and coalmines. Continue reading...

Activists say ad could encourage driving in ecologically sensitive areas and accuse ASA of biasEnvironmental campaigners have accused the UK advertising watchdog of bias for overturning a draft ruling that banned adverts for a mud-splattered Land Rover Defender off-roader after previously saying it encouraged “socially irresponsible” driving that could “cause damage to vulnerable habitats”.The national newspaper ad featured a Defender in a forest with the headline “Life is so much better without restrictions”. Text accompanying the ad said the 4x4 had the “capacity to go almost anywhere and do anything. If you take one for an extended test drive … a whole new world of freedom awaits”. Continue reading...

The move has sparked backlash from the $88m industry even as incidents of whales getting trapped in fishing gear have increasedThose hoping to snag a Dungeness crab for their Thanksgiving table may find them in short supply this year, after the commercial crabbing season was delayed again in parts of California over concerns for the endangered humpback whales that share their waters.Humpback entanglements in the heavy ropes used by commercial crabbers have been on the rise in recent years, resulting in deaths and injuries to dozens of the imperiled whales. The delay marks the second time state officials have pushed back the commercial crabbing season this year in an effort to reduce entanglements. Continue reading...

Jessie Greengrass’s novel The High House, set in a flood-devastated Suffolk, was one of several of the nominees to focus on global heating, said judgesJessie Greengrass’s vision of a near-future Britain drowned by an apocalyptic flood, part of the expanding genre of climate-change fiction, is among the books shortlisted for the 2021 Costa book awards.Greengrass’s The High House follows Caro and her little brother Pauly as they try to survive in a flooded Suffolk, in a refuge created by Caro’s climate scientist stepmother. “Crisis slid from distant threat to imminent probability and we tuned it out like static,” writes Greengrass, in a novel that judges described as a “powerful book that makes you consider the privilege of being saved and the reality of survival”. Continue reading...

Annual event at Rutland Water cites carbon footprint concerns over international attendeesThe “Glastonbury of birdwatching”, Birdfair, has been scrapped, to the dismay of conservationists across Britain.The annual event, held since 1989, took place at Rutland Water nature reserve and featured talks and fundraising events. Celebrities such as Chris Packham, Bill Oddie and Deborah Meaden were among those the festival attracted. Continue reading...

Nathaniel Rich responds to claims about Losing Earth, his 2018 article for the New York Times, later published as a bookIn his article (Neoliberalism wrecked our chance to fix the climate crisis – and leftwing statements of faith have changed nothing, 17 November), Jeff Sparrow repeats Naomi Klein’s simplistic claim that, in Losing Earth, I “attribute” the missed opportunity on climate change during the critical decade between 1979 and 1989 to “human nature”. Anyone who reads Losing Earth will see that I do no such thing.The failure can be attributed to various causes. Among them are: the fecklessness of bureaucrats tasked with developing legislative solutions to a global problem; a generation of influential US scientists’ blind faith in American exceptionalism; the anti-environmental blitzkrieg launched by the Reagan administration on taking office; the failure of journalists, scientists and policymakers to explain the severity of the threat to a disinterested public; the refusal by the major environmental organisations to embrace climate change as a cause worthy of their attention; the machinations of George HW Bush’s chief of staff, John Sununu; and ultimately the mobilisation of the oil and gas industry around a massive disinformation campaign, the origin story of which I reported for the first time. Continue reading...

Population of northern bettongs in Queensland thought to number 1,000 found to be no more than 50, researchers say

The cost of petrol is re-emerging as a political touchstone thanks to a recovery in demand and some Covid-linked supply snafus

Insurers bracing for flurry of claims as warm ocean temperatures provide extra fuel for tropical cyclones

Alok Sharma says shared goals must be steered to safety by ensuring countries deliver on their promises

Campaigners say if copper mine gets go-ahead in cloud forest, the longnose harlequin, once thought to be extinct, will be threatened againReports of the longnose harlequin frog’s death appear to have been greatly exaggerated – or, at least, premature. The Mark Twain of the frog world is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as extinct, which may come as a surprise to those alive and well in the cloud forests of Ecuador’s tropical Andes.Known for its pointed snout, the longnose harlequin frog (Atelopus longirostris) is about to play a central role in a legal battle to stop a mining project in the Intag valley in Imbabura province, which campaigners say would be a disaster for the highly biodiverse cloud forests. Continue reading...

Chief executive Meg O’Neill says gas from Scarborough project will help customers in Asia transition away from coal

Eric Serge Herbert stopped a Newcastle coal train by ‘climbing on top of it’

Study shows reduced reproduction and other negative impacts on performance of speciesIt may take bees multiple generations to recover from being exposed to insecticides even just once, research shows.Although studies have long shown the damaging effects of pesticides for the biodiverse environment, little is known about how much they affect insects in the long term. Continue reading...

Research shows introduced pest plants and animals are costing the country $25bn a year

Most of the models the Bureau of Meteorology uses tip cool and wet conditions will last until at least January 2022

Research also shows 25% of diet-related emissions are from ‘optional’ food and drinks, such as coffee, alcohol and cakeMen’s meaty diets are responsible for 40% more climate-heating emissions than those of women, according to a UK study.The research also found a quarter of diet-related emissions were from “optional” food and drink, such as coffee, alcohol, cakes and sweets. The scientists said policies to encourage sustainable diets should focus on plant-based foods but switching drinks and cutting down on sweet snacks presented further opportunities. Continue reading...

London-listed firm says it will ‘vigorously defend’ plan to continue mining gold and silverThe UK metals company Hochschild Mining is to fight plans by Peru’s government to hasten the closure of several mines in the southern Ayacucho region because of concerns over their environmental impact.The London-listed mining company has promised to “vigorously defend” its plan to continue mining gold and silver from two mines – Pallancata and Inmaculada – which it claims operate under the “highest environmental standards”. Continue reading...

The Scarborough field will be one of the biggest fossil fuel developments to be built in Australia in a decadeEnergy giant Woodside will forge ahead on the Scarborough gas project off Western Australia’s northwest coast after it gave the project final approval.The $16.2bn Scarborough project is a joint venture between Woodside and BHP and the announcement posted to the ASX on Monday afternoon also confirms the two companies have agreed to a $40b merger of their petroleum businesses, creating one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Inquiry into more than 2,000 treatment sites prompts calls for transparency from Environment AgencyA legal action group is warning there may be an information blackout on sewage discharges by water companies for years, after the Environment Agency announced an inquiry into more than 2,000 sites.Fish Legal said that in the past, the EA has refused to disclose any information once an investigation is launched. The group said the systemic abuse of the permit conditions under which sewage treatment works have to operate had been brought to light by the public, often using environmental information requests. Continue reading...

Move will ‘turn customers’ stomachs’ after retailer touted its clean energy credentials, critics say

Insurers raise alarm but builders say housing crisis leaves them with no choiceMore than 5,000 new homes in flood-risk areas of England have been granted planning permission so far this year, as local authorities try to tackle the housing shortage.Researchers analysing 16,000 planning applications lodged between January and September discovered about 200 had been approved, for a total of 5,283 new homes, in areas where more than 10% of homes were already at significant risk of flooding. Continue reading...

The climate emergency is a ‘child’s crisis’, say families unhappy about fossil fuel company’s tie-up with learn-to-swim program

Melita pipeline would fuel Delimara power station, which Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating when she was killedEU energy ministers are pushing to allow public funds to help build a gas pipeline to a power station in Malta co-owned by a businessman who is awaiting trial for the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.On Tuesday, officials and MEPs will begin deciding new rules aimed at phasing out EU subsidies for fossil fuel projects. Continue reading...

Council says electrification better for environment and maintenance but some residents oppose moveTwo centuries after the first gas lights appeared on the streets of London, casting a romantic glow through the gloom, a few hundred remain in some of the most historic areas of the capital.But not for much longer. Westminster city council is planning to convert 299 gas lights to electricity, saying LED lights are environmentally better and easier to maintain. Continue reading...

Teams in British Columbia scramble to reinforce dykes as provincial officials forecast up to 150mm of rain in wake of ‘atmospheric river’Crews in British Columbia raced to clear debris from motorways and repair dykes as the Canadian province braced for more downpours on Sunday, just days after record rainfall led to the deaths of four people, brought parts of the province to a standstill and sparked shortages of food and fuel.The western Canadian province declared a state of emergency on Wednesday after parts of the province were pummelled by a phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river”, dumping a month’s worth of rain in two days and causing floods and mudslides that swallowed bridges and stretches of highways, cut off entire towns and forced the evacuation of thousands of people. Continue reading...

The North American species is seeing an exponential increase in California, but the population is far short of normalOn a recent November morning, more than 20,000 western monarch butterflies clustered in a grove of eucalyptus, coating the swaying trees like orange lace. Each year up to 30% of the butterfly’s population meets here in Pismo Beach, California, as the insects migrate thousands of miles west for the winter.Just a year ago, this vibrant spectacle had all but disappeared. The monarch population has plummeted in recent years, as the vibrant invertebrates struggled to adapt to habitat loss, climate crisis, and harmful pesticide-use across their western range. Continue reading...

Campaigners are pushing for a redundant 2½-mile stretch of dual carriageway in Essex to become a country park with cycling facilitiesThere has been traffic here for millennia, from the Roman legionaries who marched from Londinium to Camulodunum to the speedsters who now reportedly race against police cars at night. But part of the A12 in north-east Essex may finally find some peace if plans to transform a 2½-mile stretch into a country park come to fruition.Work is due to start in 2027 on a bypass between the villages of Marks Tey and Kelvedon, west of Colchester, creating a six-lane road linking Ipswich and Harwich to London. Campaigners say the old four-lane road should be rewilded, as happened with a segment of the A2 near Gravesend, which became a Cyclopark in 2012. That site is now used by Olympic gold medallists Beth Shriever – also BMX world champion – and mountain biker Tom Pidcock. Continue reading...

Police in riot gear tore down a community’s homes and ripped up crops, highlighting the country’s highly unequal land ownershipArmed police with water cannons and a low-flying helicopter have faced off against indigenous villagers brandishing sticks and bows in the latest clash over land rights in Paraguay, a country with one of the highest inequalities of land ownership in the world.Videos of Thursday’s confrontation showed officers in riot armour jostling members of the Hugua Po’i community – including children and elderly people – out of their homes and into torrential rain. Continue reading...

Presenter’s high profile move to LBC will mark end of ‘almost unconscious self-censorship’ on air, sources sayAndrew Marr’s decision to leave the BBC was prompted by his desire to speak freely on environmental issues, as well as politics, and escape the daily online attacks he faces, it is believed.The high-profile journalist’s sudden move to LBC radio, announced on Friday, will allow him to drop BBC impartiality and so avoid some of the relentless criticism he receives across the political spectrum both on social media and from commentators. The former political editor of the BBC also plans to write newspaper pieces expressing his views. Continue reading...

The wrapping of ecological disaster with fears of rampant immigration is a narrative that has flourished in far-right fringe movements in Europe and the USStanding in front of the partial ruins of Rome’s Colosseum, Boris Johnson explained that a motive to tackle the climate crisis could be found in the fall of the Roman empire. Then, as now, he argued, the collapse of civilization hinged on the weakness of its borders.“When the Roman empire fell, it was largely as a result of uncontrolled immigration – the empire could no longer control its borders, people came in from the east and all over the place,” the British prime minister said in an interview on the eve of crucial UN climate talks in Scotland. Civilization can go into reverse as well as forwards, as Johnson told it, with Rome’s fate offering grave warning as to what could happen if global heating is not restrained. Continue reading...

Traffic on Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges stopped in rally against jailing of Insulate Britain membersPolice have arrested 30 climate activists after a major bridge in central London was blocked by a sit-down protest.The arrests on Lambeth Bridge came after Public Order Act conditions were imposed on the protest, which had been held in support of nine Insulate Britain campaigners who were jailed this week. Continue reading...

Proposed regulations come after decades of loosening protections as bird loses grassland habitat across western USThe Biden administration is considering new protections for the greater sage grouse, a bird known for the strutting and puffed-up courtship displays of males, that is losing grassland habitat across the western US to climate change and pressure from industrial development.The sage grouse, known also for a bubbling sound during courtship, is fast-becoming emblematic of Biden’s efforts to reverse Trump-era relaxations of environmental protections across vast swaths of public federal lands across the region. Continue reading...

The confirmation of Charles F Sams III marks a symbolic moment for many Indigenous communitiesCharles “Chuck” F Sams III made history this week in becoming the first-ever Native American confirmed to lead the National Park Service.Sams, an enrolled tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, received unanimous consent by the US Senate on Thursday after being nominated by Joe Biden in August. Continue reading...

In Cambodia’s fertile Mekong delta, rice farmers are switching to the varieties loved by the world’s tallest flying bird to help stop its decline“Several years ago, I counted more than 300 cranes in the wetlands near my rice field,” says farmer Khean Khoay, as he reminisces about the regal-looking eastern sarus crane. Khoay’s village, Koh Chamkar in Kampot province, lies on the outskirts of the Anlung Pring protected landscape in south-west Cambodia, in the fertile and biodiverse Mekong delta.The region has been enriched by centuries of silt deposited by the Mekong, the longest river in south-east Asia and a lifeline for millions who depend on its resources. But as more and more land is converted for agriculture and aquaculture, and the impacts of the climate crisis, such as erosion and saltwater intrusion, are felt, the area’s wildlife has become increasingly threatened. Continue reading...

Ministers launch public consultation and will also investigate limiting wet wipes, tobacco filters and sachetsSingle-use plastic items such as plates, cutlery and polystyrene cups could be banned in England as the government seeks to eliminate plastic waste.Under proposals in a 12-week public consultation, businesses and consumers will need to move towards more sustainable alternatives. Continue reading...

Union leaders say fossil fuel companies must pay for rising ocean temperatures. Not all boat captains are persuadedDick Ogg, a silver-haired former electrician who switched to making his living catching crabs two decades ago, is a staunch supporter of the union representing fishing boat captains along America’s western seaboard.But when he heard that the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations was suing some of the world’s largest oil companies for causing the climate crisis, Ogg took stock of the barrels of diesel oil stacked on his vessel, the 54-foot Karen Jeanne, and wondered if the litigation was not only a mistake but hypocritical. Continue reading...

English city becomes hub for independent production firms making innovative nature showsWildlife film-making in Britain is booming as global subscription platforms rush to commission original natural history programmes to attract family audiences.Bristol, jokingly known as Green Hollywood, is experiencing a mini-employment boom with a burgeoning forest of independent wildlife production companies. Wildstar Films, founded in 2018, already has 140 staff. Silverback Films, created in 2012, has more than doubled in size since lockdown. Plimsoll, formed seven years ago, has a 150-member natural history department. Continue reading...

Scientists from six continents say a monitoring system could help protect coral reefs and fisheries around the world

Government-commissioned report finds crustaceans have feelingsBoiling lobsters alive could be banned if ministers act on a government-commissioned report that has found crustaceans have feelings.The study, conducted by experts from the London School of Economics (LSE) concluded there was “strong scientific evidence decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs are sentient”. Continue reading...

Pressure mounts over museum’s sponsorship deals as open letter expresses ‘deep concern’More than 40 senior academics and scientists have vowed not to work with the Science Museum as the row over its financial relationship with fossil fuel corporations escalates.In an open letter, prominent figures including a former chair of the UN’s climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and several leading scientists, many of whom have worked closely with the museum in the past, say they are “deeply concerned” about its fossil fuel sponsorship deals and they are severing ties with the museum until a moratorium is announced. Continue reading...

Civil society organisations’ lawsuit argues the country’s energy policy is incompatible with the constitutionSouth Africa’s plan to build new coal-fired power stations during the climate crisis is being challenged in court for breaching the rights of current and future generations.Three civil society organisations have launched a constitutional lawsuit in the North Gauteng high court against the South African government, arguing that its energy policy is incompatible with the national constitution. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including rescued cheetahs, a waving seal pup and migrating red crabs Continue reading...

The summit did not go far enough to avoid ‘big changes’ in the natural world, scientists warn, with animals already changing their behaviourIf the natural world was trying to have its say on the Glasgow climate pact, the arrival of a plague of scorpions in Egypt as Cop26 came to an end was not a subtle message. Around the time a tearful Alok Sharma lowered the gavel on the summit, rare thunderstorms were sweeping through Aswan province along the south of the Nile, forcing thousands of the creatures to seek shelter in people’s homes. Scorpion stings left more than 500 people needing hospital treatment in the host nation for Cop27. Nobody died from the effects of the venom and, as is often the case, it is too early to say whether the climate crisis caused or intensified the flooding. But many experts warn we are at the beginning of a period of potentially biblical instability.“Cop26 was bad for nature because we are nowhere near limiting warming to 1.5 degrees,” said Simon Lewis, a professor of global change science at University College London who was supporting Congo basin countries in Glasgow. “Double the number of species will lose more than half of their climatically defined area at 2C than they would have at 1.5. So big changes are coming.” Continue reading...

Workers are still waiting for reforms to an industry in which 60,000 got Covid and nearly 300 died

But fewer than half of the 100 largest cities have plans to tackle climate chaosAfter the Cop26 conference ended in Glasgow, many activists and climate scientists felt the agreement didn’t go far enough and that the US government was among those who had not backed strong words with enough actual deeds.But action on a smaller level in the US – in cities and states – is gaining traction and beginning to make a significant difference. Smaller-scale initiatives to cut emissions have been the significant way that America has made climate progress in the last few years, in the absence of stronger federal leadership. Continue reading...

Europe’s newest industrial megaprojects are relocating to the far north of Sweden. But are curling, wild reindeer and the northern lights enough to convince workers to follow?One by one, the 20 engineers and technicians step up to receive their equipment before the briefing. They have come to the far north of Sweden from as far away as Mexico, the US, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany and Russia.“Welcome!” bellows Håkan Pålsson, their instructor. “We’re here to show you how to do curling, and then you’re going to go out on the ice and show us.” Continue reading...

Green Alliance says all critical raw material demands for low carbon technologies could be met from secondary materials by 2050The UK must scale up recycling of materials for low carbon industries or risk facing a critical shortage of key metals, a new report warns.The projected use of lithium, cobalt, silver and rare earth elements by the UK’s low carbon industries over the coming decades is set to soar. China controls 60% of global mine production and 40% of rare earth metal reserves, raising fears of a significant threat to the supply chain for businesses. Continue reading...

Latest updates: Canadian Armed Forces deployed to help residents after massive disruption around Vancouver and rest of province

Report described as ‘sharp wake-up call’ finds recycling has flatlined since voluntary plan was introduced in 2017