Experts hope he is resting and building up blubber reserves before returning to Arctic to look for mateWhen Wally the walrus disappeared after more than five months of appearances around the UK and Ireland, interspersed with visits to France and Spain, observers feared the worst.But after about three weeks at sea he re-emerged in Iceland, looking skinnier but much closer to his Arctic home. Continue reading...
Scientists have searching for the bird ever since a kayaker apparently spied one in 2004 – can we be sure it’s really gone?This week the US government declared the ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 species extinct. They were officially removed from the endangered species list because they hadn’t been documented in the wild for many years.The loss of the species was hailed by many as a consequence of human population growth and the attendant loss of natural habitats and growth in pollution, as well as the climate crisis. Continue reading...
National Trust says people are turning into ‘leaf peepers’ with more noticing trees than at start of pandemicThe nights are drawing in and there is a chill in the air but research commissioned by a conservation charity suggests British people are increasingly finding solace at what can be a tricky time of year in the joy of autumn colour.About a third of people questioned said enjoying the burst of gold, red, purples russet and orange that accompanies autumn was their favourite thing about the season, ahead of looking forward to Bonfire Night, the television schedule or even Christmas. Continue reading...
Gabriela Hearst showcased artisan pieces handmade from leftover fabric, with Gillian Anderson and Demi Moore in the front rowGabriela Hearst, the creative director of Chloé, is bringing the values of the climate emergency era to Paris fashion week’s top table. The Chloé woman, once all carefree insouciance, now cares very much.For almost 70 years, under stellar designer alumni from Karl Lagerfeld to Phoebe Philo, Chloé’s USP was that it consistently made the prettiest clothes in Paris. Since Hearst’s arrival last year, Chloé has been trying to make the most sustainable clothes instead. Continue reading...
Bookings for autumn getaways higher than usual in UK, Europe and beyond as Covid travel rules easePrivate jet providers are experiencing “unprecedented demand” from wealthy customers seeking to avoid the “mosh pit” of commercial flights on autumn getaways as coronavirus travel restrictions ease.Flexjet and PrivateFly, which supply private jets to rich families and business executives, said they were “experiencing exceptionally strong demand” for September and October travel at a time of year when bookings normally fall away. Continue reading...
A Guardian investigation reveals exploitation is rife in the meat industry, while also being a major source of greenhouse gases. Yet we still subsidise itThe case for cutting meat consumption is so compelling that you would think politicians would be less shy about making it. Yet while campaigners warn with increasing urgency that global livestock production is accelerating climate breakdown and causing devastating damage to nature and human health, governments remain reluctant to tackle meat-eating.Industrial livestock systems designed to extract ever greater commercial value from farmed animals have repeatedly been shown to depend on cruelty to animals and the armies of workers processing them. Continue reading...
The pivotal Democratic senator owns millions of dollars in coal stocks. Shouldn’t he recuse himself from US climate talks?Joe Manchin has never been this famous. People around the world now know that the West Virginia Democrat is the essential 50th vote in the US Senate that president Joe Biden needs to pass his agenda into law. That includes Biden’s climate agenda. Which doesn’t bode well for defusing the climate emergency, given Manchin’s longstanding opposition to ambitious climate action.It turns out that the Senator wielding this awesome power – America’s climate decider-in-chief, one might call him – has a massive climate conflict of interest. Joe Manchin, investigative journalism has revealed, is a modern-day coal baron. Continue reading...
Where once they roamed in vast flocks, today there are fewer than 350 in the wild. Now when it sings for a mate across a vast canyon, its lovelorn call is met by silence
Increased earthquake activity and ground swelling detected at Kilauea, which destroyed 700 homes when it erupted in 2018One of the most active volcanoes on Earth, Hawaii’s Kilauea, has begun erupting, the US Geological Survey has confirmed.Webcam footage of the volcano’s Halemaumau crater showed lava fountains covering the floor of the crater and billowing clouds of volcanic gas were rising into the air. The same area has been home to a large lava lake at various times throughout the volcano’s eruptive past. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5Q5AT)
Oil and gas producers could reduce emissions at low cost or even at a profit by staunching leaks, says thinktankSharp cuts in methane from leaking gas drilling platforms and production sites could play a major role in the greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary to fulfil the Paris climate agreement, and should be a key aim for the Cop26 UN climate talks, new research suggests.Cutting global emissions of methane by 40% by 2030 is achievable, with most cuts possible at low cost or even at a profit for companies such as oil and gas producers. It would make up for much of the shortfall in emissions reductions plans from national governments, according to the Energy Transitions Commission thinktank. Continue reading...
Fish and Wildlife Service proposes removing species from endangered list because they have not been spotted in the wildThe US Fish and Wildlife Service officially proposed taking 23 plants and animals off the endangered species list Wednesday, because they have not been spotted in the wild and are believed to be completely gone from an earth experiencing human population growth and a climate crisis.Only 11 species previously have been removed due to extinction in the almost half-century since the Endangered Species Act was signed into law. Continue reading...
Police arrest 11 after climate crisis protesters defy court injunction and glue themselves to roadPolice have claimed it is “very difficult” to bring charges against environmental activists after 27 members of Insulate Britain were arrested for blocking a roundabout at a junction with the M25.
This is the first of a weekly column examining claims about climate change made by governments, politicians, business and in the mediaA little over a month before the start of a major climate conference in Glasgow, the Morrison government is struggling to agree on emissions reduction targets, and a promised long-term strategy to cut climate pollution has still not materialised.But at least it has an advertising campaign. Continue reading...
Judge blocks Teal Cedar Products’ extension request and says police conduct on Vancouver Island has put court at riskA provincial court in Canada has refused to extend an injunction against protesters demonstrating against old-growth logging, ruling that police conduct has been so troubling that to extend the order would place the court’s own reputation at risk.Related: Rescue of trapped Ontario miners involved gruelling climb to surface Continue reading...
French experts say the mountain has lost an average of 13 centimetres in height every year since 2001French experts say they have measured Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in western Europe, at almost a metre lower than its previous official height.Geographical experts said that after an expedition in mid-September the mighty mountain in the heart of the French Alps was 4,807.81 metres (15,773.65ft) high, lower than their last published estimate of 4,808.72 metres (15,776.64ft ) in 2017. Continue reading...
by Maggie Andresen in Okogbe-Ahoada, Nigeria, for Flo on (#5Q4AQ)
A landmark legal case is laying the groundwork for communities to sue parent companies for the damages of their subsidiariesChief Patricia Ogbonnaya walks through her Nigerian farm on a July afternoon, a light drizzle coating her umbrella while she examines what should have been ripe fruit trees and thriving fish ponds. She points to dark stains on tree trunks that stop abruptly at the same level across her land. “That’s how high the oil reached during the flood,” she says touching the bark, her hand coming away with sticky residue. Continue reading...
Pencnwc Mawr Wood among areas being restored as the trusts embark on 35 schemes to create and secure wild places across the countryWith its lush broad-leaved trees home to breeding hazel dormice, barbastelle bats, and butterflies in woodland glades, Pencnwc Mawr Wood in Pembrokeshire is a rare surviving remnant of the Welsh temperate rainforest, scarcer even than tropical rainforests.Once stretching along the western uplands and into deep river valleys it shrank over the years, but now, in a project to restore habitats from chalk grassland to peatlands, the future of Pencnwc Mawr Wood has been secured. Continue reading...
Philanthropists pledge to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, as the planet’s health climbs the charity agendaWhen their time comes, many of the richest people on Earth have committed to giving away the bulk of their fortunes. Education, poverty and the arts have traditionally benefited from philanthropy, attracting billions for important causes. But increasingly, nature and the climate crisis have become a focus of giving.Last week, a group of nine philanthropic foundations made the largest ever donation to nature conservation, pledging $5bn to finance the protection of 30% of land and sea by the end of the decade. Swiss businessman Hansjörg Wyss, also a major donor to progressive causes in the US, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos were among the billionaires behind the Protecting our Planet challenge. In effect, the money covers the estimated cost of the 30% goal for this decade, one of the 21 targets included in the draft Paris-style UN agreement for nature currently being negotiated. It also includes plans to eliminate plastics pollution and reduce pesticide use to slow species extinctions. Continue reading...
Environmental campaigners who worked with UK officials fear for their lives after receiving death threatsThe UK government has been accused of ignoring the plight of three environmental activists from Afghanistan who worked with British officials to mitigate the damaging impact of climate change on their country before the Taliban takeover.The campaigners, who have received credible threats to their lives, do not know the fate of one of their colleagues who was detained by the Taliban. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5Q42S)
Data highlights urgent need for government action to introduce low-carbon heat pumps, researchers sayThe millions of gas boilers in the UK’s homes produce twice as much climate-heating carbon emissions as all the nation’s gas-fired power stations combined, according to an analysis.The finding highlighted the urgent need for a strong government policy to rapidly introduce low-carbon heating such as heat pumps, the researchers said. Continue reading...
Pledge comes after a Guardian investigation found allegations of widespread exploitation suffered by meat plant workers across EuropeRead more: ‘The whole system is rotten’: life inside Europe’s meat industryUK and European leading supermarkets say they would cut ties with any suppliers that did not meet their ethical standards after a Guardian investigation found allegations of widespread exploitation suffered by workers in meat plants across Europe.The British Retail Consortium (BRC), a representative body for UK retailers, including supermarkets and food-to-go restaurants, said companies carry out ethical audits of the suppliers they work with and would act on any information received through whistleblowers and investigations. Continue reading...
by Presented by Nosheen Iqbal with Jonathan Watts; pr on (#5Q3YZ)
Beijing has won international praise for announcing that it will stop funding coal projects in the developing world – but it is still heavily reliant on the fossil fuel for rapid economic growth at home. The Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, explains why China took such a significant step before Cop26 – and how much there still is to doLast week the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, made a hugely significant announcement when he promised to stop funding coal-fired power projects around the world. The news was greeted as a sign of Xi’s commitment on the climate crisis, and a big boost before the crucial Cop26 summit in Glasgow in November. However, experts want to know when the change will come into practice. They warn that China’s plans for continued economic growth are heavily reliant on coal at home – and that its thousands of coal plants are a huge contributor to its status as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gas.In this episode, the Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, who spent a decade reporting from Beijing, joins Nosheen Iqbal to explain the recent history of China’s reliance on coal, and reflect on why it has made this announcement now. And he sets out the reasons to be hopeful on the basis of Xi’s announcement, and the reasons to remain concerned that China – and the world – are not moving quickly enough. Continue reading...
He mustered us like a cattle dog, dive-bombed like a magpie, clamped his jaw around body parts and leered at us through windows. I felt like Tippi Hedren in Hitchcock’s The Birds• Vote now in the Guardian/BirdLife Australia 2021 bird of the year pollHe came to us in exchange for a case of beer. A white sulphur-crested cockatoo of indeterminate age but full of chutzpah. He had lived the childhoods of the neighbouring farm kids and now he would entertain us.That neighbour really saw me coming. Continue reading...
Campaigners voice dismay after rule permitting gas pipelines where energy is mixed with hydrogenEuropean lawmakers have voted to prolong subsidies for fossil fuel gas until 2027, opening a potential backdoor for pollution that campaigners said would be a disaster for the climate if it becomes law.Members of the European parliament’s industry committee voted on Tuesday to allow the EU to continue subsidising natural gas pipelines until the end of 2027, as long as the energy is mixed with an unspecified amount of hydrogen. Continue reading...
Soldiers set up barriers and sandbags to protect archaeological ruins as well as neighbourhoodsThai authorities have rushed to protect parts of Bangkok from flood waters that have already inundated 70,000 homes and killed six people in the country’s northern and central provinces.Tropical Storm Dianmu has caused flooding in 30 provinces, with the kingdom’s central region the worst hit, the Thai Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said. Continue reading...
Our housing stock needs better insulation and low-carbon heating, or we’ll continue to suffer these shocksOver the past few days the country has been thrown into panic, as soaring gas prices threaten to plunge hundreds of thousands more households into fuel poverty, joining the 2.5 million already there. For others, uncomfortably tight budgets will be further squeezed. Any country reliant on the worldwide gas market faces the risk of perennial price shocks. But let’s be clear: the extent of this crisis was not inevitable. It is, in significant part, the result of a decade of government failure to insulate us from the disastrous downsides of fossil-fuel dependency.The UK is a difficult country to keep warm. It has some of the oldest and leakiest housing stock in western Europe, ensuring that heat dissipates through walls, windows and doors quickly after leaving radiators. Nine in 10 households rely on gas boilers, and lots of gas boilers need lots of gas: UK households consume more of it than almost all of their European peers, at around twice the EU average. In 2000, when North Sea gas accounted for 98% of overall supply, households were at little risk of price shocks. But as national production has tumbled by two-thirds in the two decades since, imports have risen from just 2% to 60% of supply to fill the gap. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5Q2Q6)
Exclusive: Activist says there are many fine words but the science does not lie – CO2 emissions are still risingGreta Thunberg has excoriated global leaders over their promises to address the climate emergency, dismissing them as “blah, blah, blah”.She quoted statements by Boris Johnson: “This is not some expensive, politically correct, green act of bunny hugging”, and Narendra Modi: “Fighting climate change calls for innovation, cooperation and willpower” but said the science did not lie. Continue reading...
Analysis: after Germany’s climate election, UN summit delegates will be watching to see what is agreed on coal phase-outIt was called Germany’s climate election. After deadly floods in July sharpened the focus on the climate emergency, all parties vied for green votes. But when it comes to the UN climate talks in Glasgow in November, the path has largely been set by the outgoing government.Germany was always expected to be represented by a caretaker government at Cop26. Officials expect the current environment minister, Svenja Schulze, to attend alongside the state secretary, Jochen Flasbarth. A more open question is whether the new government will be in office by the time Germany takes over the G7 presidency in 2022. Continue reading...
The PM is understood to have said he wants to land a technology roadmap and the 2050 target but an agreement isn’t yet done with the NationalsScott Morrison has met with a number of Liberal MPs concerned the government could try to appease the National party by adopting a policy roadmap to achieve net zero emissions without formally signing on to the 2050 target.With some Nationals implacably opposed to the Coalition adopting the target ahead of the Cop26 in Glasgow, Liberals in marginal and metropolitan seats have become increasingly worried that the prime minister may not be able to land his long-telegraphed climate policy pivot. Continue reading...
Rhondda valley residents fearful after recent landslip and UK government pushed to share responsibilityEvery time it rains heavily, Cllr Robert Bevan’s phone starts ringing and his social media feed is busy with people worried the coal tip that looms above the village of Tylorstown in south Wales might be in danger of slipping.“They’re asking me: ‘Rob, is it going to happen again?’ The anxiety, the anguish is terrible,” said Bevan. “While the tip is there, even if you’ve got the best engineers working on it, you can never be sure it’s 100% safe. The tips are an albatross around our necks.” Continue reading...
Wildlife refuge designed to offset housing developments but if road proceeds NSW government will have to offset the damage to its own offsetA portion of bushland at the site of a new western Sydney national park where koalas, bettongs and other native animals will be released is to be set aside for a future highway.The Berejikilan government announced on the weekend that the bushland at Shanes Park in the Blacktown city council area would become one of the largest national parks in western Sydney. Continue reading...
Sellers of plug-in vehicles say petrol shortages are driving people to adopt the new technologyAs petrol stations in parts of the UK started running out of fuel on Friday, business at Martin Miller’s electric car dealership in Guildford, Surrey, started soaring.After what ended up being his company EV Experts busiest day ever, interest does not appear to be dying down. This week the diary is booked up with test drives and the business is low on stock. Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Chief political correspondent on (#5Q1FX)
Rachel Reeves aims to be ‘first green chancellor’ as she announces party’s biggest spending pledge to dateLabour would invest £28bn a year in climate measures to protect Britain from disaster, Rachel Reeves has announced in by far the party’s biggest spending pledge to date.The amount would quadruple the government’s current capital investment, and Labour said it would hope to attract a matching sum of private investment in green technologies. In total, the party will commit to spending £224bn on climate measures over the next eight years. Continue reading...
How do you persuade farmers and the local community to join one of Scotland’s biggest land restoration projects? Call in a psychologistA hunter, conservationist and psychologist are working on a rewilding project. It sounds like the start of a joke, though the antics of this unlikely trio have not ended in a punchline but one of the UK’s largest land restoration projects.They have been collaborating on the Affric Highlands scheme, which covers an array of woodlands, peatlands, montane, river and coastal habitats between the west coast of Scotland and Loch Ness. The aim of the project, announced this week, is to rewild half a million acres (200,000 hectares) of land – by rewilding the people who live in it. Continue reading...
Firms say what’s underneath the Salton Sea could fuel a green-energy boom. But struggling residents have heard such claims beforeStanding atop a pockmarked red mesa, Rod Colwell looks out at an expanse of water that resembles a thin blue strip on the horizon. The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, has come and gone at least five times in the last 1,300 years, most recently in 1905, when floodwaters from the Colorado River refilled its basin.A mid-century resort destination, the lake has since become an environmental disaster zone. Its waters, long fed by pesticide-laden runoff from nearby farms, have been steadily evaporating, exposing a dusty shoreline that kicks up lung-damaging silt into the surrounding communities of the Imperial Valley, where rates of asthma are alarmingly high. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani in New York, Maanvi Singh in San Fran on (#5Q1B2)
Renters and people of color are most likely to be living without water or flushing toilets in some of America’s wealthiest cities, new research showsYan Yu Lin and her seven-year-old daughter live in a tight studio in San Francisco’s Chinatown, in a century-old building where 60 or so residents on each floor share a bathroom.Along the back wall of the room is a plastic potty – the kind designed for toilet training toddlers. The shared bathrooms are out of order so often, so rank and unhygienic, that Lin has her daughter use the plastic potty instead. “It’s safer,” she said. Continue reading...
Ross-on-Wye residents say council would break climate commitments by approving drive-throughThey were promised a life of peace and quiet in a new-build “garden village” on the edge of a pretty Herefordshire town with cycle routes, allotments and wildlife-friendly ponds giving the settlement an eco-friendly vibe.But residents of St Mary’s Garden Village in Ross-on-Wye are up in arms after McDonald’s put in a planning application for a 24-hour drive-through within metres of their homes that they say could lead to almost 2,500 cars a day passing close to their front doors. Continue reading...
Environment | The Guardian