Environment | The Guardian

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...

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...

The former Murray-Darling royal commissioner says the practice is unlikely to be illegal but water laws are ridiculously convoluted

Officials say ‘care will be taken to remove only animals exhibiting unusual behaviors’ after woman, boy and dog are bittenResidents of Anchorage, Alaska, used to living alongside moose and bear now face a threat from a more diminutive creature: the humble river otter.Related: Always a bigger fish: Florida scientists seek new angle on shark depredation Continue reading...

Democracy got us and the birds into this mess

Government urged to invest in active travel as motor traffic returns to pre-Covid levelsLabour has called for rapid extra spending on safe cycling and walking, saying that as motor traffic levels return to pre-Covid levels the gains in active travel made during the pandemic could soon be squandered.This is seen as particularly an issue for cycling: the number of bike trips rose notably during lockdown, but there is concern that many new or returning cyclists could stop now that the roads are busier. Continue reading...

Major figures privately admit summit will fail to result in pledges that could limit global heating to 1.5CVital United Nations climate talks, billed as one of the last chances to stave off climate breakdown, will not produce the breakthrough needed to fulfil the aspiration of the Paris agreement, key players in the talks have conceded.The UN, the UK hosts and other major figures involved in the talks have privately admitted that the original aim of the Cop26 summit will be missed, as the pledges on greenhouse gas emissions cuts from major economies will fall short of the halving of global emissions this decade needed to limit global heating to 1.5C. Continue reading...

Climate crisis brings stark intergenerational injustice but rapid emission cuts can limit damagePeople born today will suffer many times more extreme heatwaves and other climate disasters over their lifetimes than their grandparents, research has shown.The study is the first to assess the contrasting experience of climate extremes by different age groups and starkly highlights the intergenerational injustice posed by the climate crisis. Continue reading...

With panic-buying at petrol stations and soaring energy prices, this could have been the Labour leader’s moment to shineFair to say the Labour party conference hadn’t got off to the start Keir Starmer had hoped for. First, his 12,000-word “See me, feel me, touch me” appeal to the nation had been widely ignored. Which many of us who had made the mistake of reading it thought was much the best response. Anything to escape the repetition, the platitudes and the cliches. It wasn’t so much “The Road Ahead” that was off-putting as “The Page Ahead”.Then there had been the party infighting, all of which had been totally avoidable. The Tories had teed up the Labour shindig in Brighton perfectly. First, rising energy prices and the cost of living. Then there had been the government bailing out a fertiliser manufacturer to protect the nation’s supply of carbon dioxide, just when it was telling the rest of the world to reduce its CO emissions. Best of all, there had been Grant Shapps urging the public not to panic-buy petrol and diesel. Predictably, most garage forecourts were now running on fumes as people have long since learned to do the opposite of everything the transport secretary says. Continue reading...

Labour party conference delegates debate Starmer’s proposed changes

The Grattan Institute’s report on agriculture says farmers should directly benefit from efforts to curb emissions, currently 15% of Australia’s total

I learned that loving birds is best done by walking in the sun, being curious and appreciating the chatter. Not by sitting on my own looking at books and screens

Unlike the Covid comeback gig last month, the annual concert-with-a-message survived the climate crisisThe last time I was in Central Park, I got soaked to my underwear.Related: The show did not go on: storm thwarts Central Park concert celebrating city’s Covid comeback Continue reading...

Study of how fish are snatched from lines will investigate what species of sharks are the most prolific offendersMany anglers lament the one that got away. In Florida, the issue is more often the fish that is caught but is then snatched by a shark before being reeled in.Related: Judge recommends tribe be allowed to hunt gray whales off Washington state Continue reading...

Glossy magazines get a makeover with focus on vintage clothing, creativity and recyclingFormer editors and directors at Britain’s glossiest fashion magazines are carving out a niche for themselves with print titles and websites that focus on sustainable clothing.Later this month, Calendar will go live online, spearheaded by ex-Elle editor-in-chief Anne-Marie Curtis following a launch on Instagram earlier this year. It follows More or Less, which describes itself as “the first magazine to prioritise sustainability in the fashion industry”, and was created by Jaime Perlman, previously the art director of British Vogue. It launched in 2018 with Kate Moss on the cover. Continue reading...

Makah chairman welcomes ruling opposed by animal welfare groups and says: ‘We’re doing it for spiritual and cultural reasons’An administrative law judge has recommended that a Native American tribe in Washington state be allowed to hunt gray whales – a major step in its decades-long effort to resume the ancient practice.Related: Horror at the Faroes dolphin slaughter is only human – but it risks hypocrisy | Philip Hoare Continue reading...

Move to restrict where people can sleep under canvas will reverse the public’s hard-won right to enjoy the national parkShamus McCaffery, 53, who lives in the heart of Dartmoor and wild camps there three or four times a month, is among many who are worried about an imminent threat to their freedoms. Continue reading...

An insider reveals what is going on behind the scenes of the climate conferenceSo far, all the preparation work we have done has been beating around the bush – not much that is substantial is happening yet. The homework has been done very well, but only on the issues that are not very substantive for this Cop, such as technical issues to do with the Paris agreement. We need to discuss now the issues which are most substantive: ambition, and climate finance.Ambition means how much we are going to cut emissions, in line with the Paris agreement targets – and that means how much are developed countries and the biggest developing countries going to cut emissions. Since the IPCC report in August, this has become even more urgent. Continue reading...

Those worst hit by global heating are left out of talks, says feminist coalition calling for systemic changeWomen must be enabled to play a greater role at the Cop26 summit, as the needs of women and girls are being overlooked amid the global climate crisis, a coalition of feminist groups has said.The Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice has laid out a call for action at the UN general assembly, including demands that world leaders meeting at Cop26, in Glasgow this November, must end fossil fuel expansion and move to 100% renewable energy. Continue reading...

Morrison says after Quad meeting that there is a ‘deep appreciation’ about Australia’s role ‘providing critical minerals’The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said Australia is “really good at digging stuff up” while announcing a clean energy summit after the first in-person meeting of the leaders of Australia, the United States, India and Japan.Speaking outside the White House at the end of the meeting of leaders that make up the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Morrison said Australia would host the summit next year under the Quad umbrella and take a bigger role in the supply of critical minerals in the Indo-Pacific region. Continue reading...

Resources minister Keith Pitt pushes back against Josh Frydenberg, who has made the case for signing up to 2050 target

Protesters parading an effigy of Rodrigo Duterte in Manila call for policies that prioritise people and planetA monstrous effigy of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was paraded through the country’s capital Manila on Friday as protesters joined a worldwide youth climate action.About a hundred young people wearing masks gathered in one of several socially distanced demonstrations around the country in support of the global climate strike by the international Fridays for Future movement. Continue reading...

Head of Scotland’s natural heritage body says there is too much focus on reintroducing apex predatorsDemands to reintroduce predators such as wolves and bears could significantly damage public support for rewilding the British countryside, a senior conservationist has said.Francesca Osowska, chief executive of NatureScot, a government conservation agency, said rewilding could only succeed if it won support from people living in and managing the countryside, including farmers and Highland estate managers who are worried about losing their livelihoods. Continue reading...

Disruptive protesters will face serious consequences, says judge in sentencing Extinction Rebellion activistA British Paralympic gold medallist has been jailed for a year for glueing himself to the roof of a passenger jet in an Extinction Rebellion protest – the first custodial sentence for any action linked to the group.XR said it was “shocked and devastated” by the sentence handed to James Brown, 56, at Southwark crown court in London on Friday afternoon, by a judge who warned that protesters who disrupt people’s lives “will face serious consequences”. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson was in New York this week, trying to dodge awkward conversations and ignore domestic shortagesIs the government’s fabled Nudge Unit on a paddleboard somewhere in Crete? You have to ask, after Downing Street urged people not to panic-buy petrol, a piece of behavioural science almost guaranteed to make people panic-buy petrol. If only there’d been some kind of rehearsal event last year, when telling people not to fight over bog roll generated counterintuitive scenes of Andrex-fuelled violence in the supermarket aisles.Having said all that, calls for the army to step in to assist with driving petrol tankers feel like dressing for the Global Britain we are, rather than the Global Britain we want to be. There’s a certain inevitability to a country without a foreign policy deploying highly trained soldiers to sit in traffic between BP forecourts. Is it OK to try and help with nation-building if the nation you’re building is your own? Either way, if you pass any troops gunning a tanker down one of our great highways and byways, make sure to say thank you for your service; or rather, for your service station. Continue reading...

Port remains open, but roads around UK’s busiest port obstructed by 40 campaignersMore than 40 climate protesters blocked roads around the UK’s busiest port as part of a campaign to tackle fuel poverty and reduce climate emissions.Campaigners from the group Insulate Britain halted traffic on the A20 around Dover in Kent shortly after 8.15am on Friday. Continue reading...

While its tactics are controversial, there is ‘widespread agreement’ with the group’s demandsJust after 8.15am, a few dozen people split into two groups and stepped on to the A20 just outside Dover before unfurling banners and sitting down in the road.Traffic quickly backed up, bringing widespread disruption to the country’s busiest port and an angry reaction from motorists and politicians. Continue reading...

Rich states missed $100bn target in 2020 but recent pledges by US, EU and China have lifted prospects, says economistDeveloping countries could receive long-promised funds to help them tackle the climate crisis as soon as next year, in a major boost for the prospects of success at the Cop26 climate summit, the climate economist Nicholas Stern has said.Rich countries pledged in 2009 to provide at least $100bn (£73bn) a year to the developing world by 2020, a target that has been missed. But recent promises of additional cash from the US, the EU and others have lifted the prospects. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a huge python, a baby Siamang and rewilded pigs Continue reading...

No need to scream ‘Apocalypse!’ Showing we can make homes warmer and save cash is an easier way to bring people on boardIf anything was going to make me well up in public, I never imagined it would be the joys of insulation. Loft lagging does not generally make the heart sing. People do not normally get choked up over cavity wall filling. But it turns out they probably should.A few weeks ago someone showed me a film about a regeneration project to retrofit a social housing estate in Padiham, near Burnley, with green energy measures – and frankly, it would have melted a heart of stone. Continue reading...

As sea levels rise, growers are employing innovative methods to adapt to saline soilsLike millions of people across Bangladesh, Anita Bala, 45, relies on a small plot of land to feed her family.But for years nothing would grow. Her husband farmed shrimp in the salty ponds on their land, but the surrounding ground was barren. Bala’s efforts to cultivate beans and pulses failed repeatedly. Eventually she gave up. Continue reading...

Affric Highlands initiative to restore nature will involve tree planting, restoring peat bogs and connecting wildlife habitatsA large swathe of the Scottish Highlands stretching between the west coast and Loch Ness is to be rewilded as part of a 30-year project to restore nature.The Affric Highlands initiative aims to increase connected habitats and species diversity over an area of 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres), incorporating Kintail mountain range, and glens Cannich, Moriston and Shiel. Plans include planting trees, enhancing river corridors, restoring peat bogs and creating nature-friendly farming practices. Continue reading...

Chief medical officers cite estimates that more mineral in water would reduce cavities by 28% among poorest childrenFluoride is expected to be added to drinking water across the country after Britain’s chief medical officers concluded that the mineral would cut tooth decay.Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, and his counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland cited estimates by Public Health England that adding more fluoride to water supplies would reduce cavities by 17% among the richest children and 28% among the poorest. Continue reading...

Megan Swann is first female Magic Circle president and has been conjuring since she was fiveThe first female president of the Magic Circle has said her dream gig would be to perform her environmental magic show in front of world leaders at the climate summit in Glasgow.Megan Swann, 28, is the youngest person ever to be elected to a society set up in 1905 to guard the secrets of magicians. She is determined to use the role as a platform to call for action on the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Francesca Tardioli says all G20 countries including Australia need to upgrade 2030 targets and make 2050 commitment

With just over a week until the city goes to the polls the animals may help to unseat Virginia RaggiA group of wild boar strutting along a traffic-filled road in Rome has catapulted the issue of the Italian capital’s state of decay to the top of the debate ahead of mayoral elections.Much to the bemusement of onlookers, about 13 boar, distinguished by their coarse hair, sturdy bodies and sharp tusks, walked among the traffic on Via Trionfale, a busy road in the northern suburb of Monte Mario. Continue reading...

Trek’s sustainability report appears to be the first of its kind in a sector that has had a free ride on the issueTrek, one of the world’s biggest bicycle brands, recently released its sustainability report for 2021. Remarkably, this appears to be the first time a major bike company has published such a document.While some other manufacturers make broad sustainability pledges or tout their success in reducing packaging waste, Trek’s report offers an ambitious array of concrete environmental commitments and a comprehensive analysis of the carbon footprint of its bikes. Continue reading...

The ASA will conduct a series of inquiries into environmental advertising claims and practicesAirline ads that encourage taking too many flights and carmakers that show SUVs tearing up the countryside are set to fall foul of a crackdown on marketing that encourages environmentally irresponsible behaviour.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to launch a series of inquiries into the environmental advertising claims and practices across a range of sectors – starting with energy, heating and transport – in a drive to support global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and battle the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Environment Victoria argues government agency did not consider climate change when renewing licences for three power stationsEnvironmental advocates are suing Victoria’s environment regulator in the supreme court for allegedly failing to limit carbon and toxic air pollution.The non-profit group Environment Victoria lodged the case – which also names energy companies AGL, Energy Australia and Alinta as defendants – on Thursday morning and said it would be the first test of climate laws passed in the state in 2017. Continue reading...

$3.5bn project sent to local council for approval, which company insists is ‘absolutely a normal process’

A cold winter, a windless summer, and boom in business have combined to create an energy crisis that is hitting particularly hard in the UK. The Guardian’s energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose explains how it happened – and what it will mean for peopleThe gas crisis that has plunged the UK’s energy system into chaos took everybody by surprise – but in retrospect, the chain of events that led us here started almost a year ago. First, a particularly cold winter meant many people turned the heating up. Then factories and businesses started to turn up production as the economy emerged from the pandemic. Russia reduced its supplies to Europe. A windless summer reduced renewable input to the grid. And on top of all that, a fire in Kent shut down a vital power cable connecting Britain to mainland Europe.The resulting crisis is likely to increase bills for months to come and put the wider economy under serious pressure – but most of us understand little about the system that gets power to our homes, or how changes in supply find their way to our bills. In this episode, Guardian energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose explains the origins of the crisis to Michael Safi and explores what it has revealed about the weaknesses in the UK’s power system, how they can be fixed – and how serious the impact will be on ordinary people. Continue reading...

Sadiq Khan to warn time is running out to tackle emergency as he puts pressure on UK government to actA fifth of London’s schools are now susceptible to flooding and millions of people living in the capital are at “high risk” of suffering from the effects of the climate crisis, according to analysis from City Hall, as Sadiq Khan warns time is running out to tackle the issue.In a speech on Thursday, the London mayor is due to pile pressure on the UK government to ensure bold action is taken when it hosts world leaders for Cop26 in Glasgow in two months’ time, and add that without a significant commitment there will be “catastrophic” impacts on the environment and air quality. Continue reading...

City of Nelson welcomes arrival of migratory bird after 10,000km of non-stop flight from the ArcticThousands of migrating birds have been welcomed back to New Zealand to the sound of cathedral bells, after making one of the longest avian migration flights in the world.Eastern bar-tail godwits, or kuaka in Māori, landed on Motueka sandspit at the top of the South Island on Tuesday, where they rested following the 10,000km (6,200 miles) non-stop flight from the Arctic, RNZ reported. Continue reading...

China was lender of last resort for overseas governments seeking finance for coal projectsXi Jinping’s announcement that China will stop funding overseas coal projects could buy the world about three more months in the race to keep global heating to a relatively safe level of 1.5C, experts say.Although the impact will depend on implementation, China’s declaration should also help to kill off coal, which has been humanity’s primary power source for most of the last 200 years. Continue reading...

Birds, and perhaps other animals too, benefitted from a respite in human activity in North America, research suggestsThe shutdown of traveling and socializing during the Covid-19 pandemic last year brought severe dislocation to many people, but if you were a bird during this time it was highly appealing, new research has found.The distribution of 80% of studied bird species in North America changed during pandemic lockdowns last year, the study found, with most of these species increasing in abundance in and around urban areas that fell unusually quiet due to a sudden drop in traffic. Continue reading...

George Eustice says government must give financial aid to fertiliser firm CF Industries for three weeksFood producers have warned a surge in the price of carbon dioxide will force up prices for shoppers despite the government agreeing to spend millions of pounds on bailing out a private US firm that supplies gas to the industry.George Eustice, the environment secretary, said financial support would be available for three weeks to restart production at the Teesside factory of CF Fertilisers, a company that supplies food-grade CO as a byproduct to food and packaging firms. Continue reading...

Gas projects must be halted if the Northern Territory government cannot meet promise to fully offset emissions, scientists say

Or you for 10, if you keep it as a petA garden snail is eating your roses. “Little snail / Dreaming you go / Weather and rose / Is all you know,” wrote Langston Hughes. It is night time, the snail’s time, after dew or rain – when the snail is happiest, because the conditions are optimal for slime-walkers.The snail is blind. It knows the rose only by its smell and soft petals. You think you can hear the rasping of tiny teeth: scraping, scraping away at your roses. The snail is deaf: it does not hear your complaints. It could terrorise you for five years – or 10, if you chose to keep it as a pet. Continue reading...

Former Coalition frontbencher says it would be madness to rule out a conversation when there could be opportunities for regional Australia