Environment | The Guardian

Human rights council also appoints special rapporteur to monitor impact of climate crisis on rightsThe UN’s main human rights body has overwhelmingly voted to recognise the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right, and to appoint an expert to monitor human rights in the context of the climate emergency.The human rights council passed the clean-environment resolution, which also calls on countries to boost their abilities to improve the environment, by 43-0 while four member states – China, India, Japan and Russia – abstained. Continue reading...

Restoration of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante represents victory for advocates after protections were slashedJoe Biden restored environmental protections on Friday to three national monuments and their vast expanse of vital ecosystems and sacred Indigenous spaces, reversing cuts made by Donald Trump.“These protections provide a bridge to our past, but they also build a bridge to a safer and more sustainable future,” said Biden. “One where we strengthen our economy and pass on a healthy planet to our children and our grandchildren.” Continue reading...

Residents set up traffic patrol to challenge drivers forming long polluting queues near London schoolBounds Green primary school sits on a road so busy it has a bridge for a pedestrian crossing. Even on a good day the air is acrid, suffused by mephitic fumes belched continuously by traffic on the A109, which bisects this north London neighbourhood.But over recent weeks, with the fuel crisis turning the nearby petrol station into a magnet for drivers scouring the city for fuel, good days have been seldom. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a rescued sloth, a hidden alligator and a jellyfish swarm Continue reading...

A century ago, women activists planted an arboretum outside Bath. Only one tree survived – now it’s generating seeds for a new woodland and a new causeIn a sunny back garden north-east of Bath stands a 30-metre pine tree. Its widespread branches are home to squirrels, magpies and nuthatches, and in late summer it sheds its needles to thatch the lawn below. The tree has seen enormous political and social change over its 100-year lifespan and, if the women who come to visit it have a say, has yet to see a lot more.When midwife Eileen Paddock moved to Batheaston village 43 years ago, her two young boys wasted no time climbing the tree in their new home. But she knew nothing about its history until a Canadian professor of art history got in touch three decades later. Continue reading...

UK firm says windfarm project that could help power British homes could be completed by 2030The prospect of an energy island in the North Sea surrounded by windfarms with the ability to power British homes has taken a step closer after National Grid, the UK energy company, revealed that it is in talks about helping to build the project – and claimed it could be done before 2030.“We are in tripartite discussions over an energy island that the UK would likely connect to,” Nicola Medalova, the company’s managing director of interconnectors, told New Scientist. She declined to name the two other parties in the talks. Continue reading...

Campaigners say combination of waste from local plant as well as private septic tanks to blameWindermere could become “ecologically dead” because of the amount of sewage being pumped into its waters, campaigners have warned.Pictures show algal blooms across the surface of the lake. Campaigners say there is also evidence of dead fish and invertebrates, indicating the waters are not healthy. Continue reading...

Record high prices and shortages of electricity have crippled industrial outputChinese officials have ordered more than 70 mines in Inner Mongolia to increase coal production by almost 100m tonnes, with the country battling its worst power crunch and coal shortages in years.The move is the latest attempt by Chinese authorities to boost coal supply amid record high prices and shortages of electricity that have led to power rationing across the country, crippling industrial output. Continue reading...

Beloved small bird known for its polyamory and shared household labour narrowly beats tawny frogmouth and gang-gang cockatoo in Guardian Australia/Birdlife Australia poll

The final 10 birds in contention in the Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll were the Australian magpie, gang-gang cockatoo, regent honeyeater, Australian brush turkey, Gouldian finch, superb fairywren, galah, tawny frogmouth, peregrine falcon and laughing kookaburra

Emissions reduction minister told to expect more vigorous calls for ambitious targets before Barnaby Joyce declined to endorse findings

Fishmeal exports to EU from west Africa have grown sharply, depleting stocks and posing threat to livelihoodsGreenpeace activists have intercepted a 96-metre tanker in the Channel carrying fish oil from west Africa to Europe, to highlight the threat they say industry poses to food security and to livelihoods in the region.Trade figures analysed by Greenpeace Africa show that fishmeal and fish oil exports from Mauritania alone have grown by an “alarming” 16% during 2020. Activists and locals say the industry pushes up prices and depletes stocks of fish eaten by local people across poor communities in Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia. Continue reading...

Convenor Simon Holmes à Court says more than 2,000 donors kicked in funds for looming election campaigns against Coalition incumbents

US federal judge rules law violates right to abortion in first legal challenge to Senate Bill 8. Plus, Alaska hospitals ration care

Climate groups concerned about presence in Glasgow of officers from forces known for heavy-handed tacticsClimate campaigners are worried an influx of officers from elsewhere in the UK will undermine Police Scotland’s commitment to rights-based policing of protests at Cop26.Groups planning protests around the critical November conference have told the Guardian they are concerned about the presence of officers from forces known for their use of heavy-handed tactics and that it is unclear how they will be held to account for their behaviour. Continue reading...

Drought, rising temperatures and poor farming practices are taking a devastating toll on the country’s wildlife“If we stood in this spot a few years ago, the water would be up to your armpits,” says vet Isa Agit, standing on sun-hardened and cracked mud that used to be part of a lake in eastern Turkey, with his hands firmly wrapped around a long-legged buzzard. “That’s the last of the flamingos over there,” he adds, pointing to what is left of the lake in the village of Enginsu – a patch of water just visible in the distance.Over the past 50 years, 60% of Turkey’s 300 natural lakes have dried up and the loss is devastating for birds and other wildlife. Reduced rainfall, rising temperatures, the mismanagement of public land and poor agricultural practices have caused water levels, even in the Middle East’s second largest lake, Lake Van, to recede by as much as 200 metres. Continue reading...

Deputy PM calls for rapid clearance from German regulator after prices reach an all-time highRussia’s deputy prime minister has said certification of the Nord Stream 2 undersea gas pipeline, which is awaiting clearance from Germany’s regulator, could cool soaring European gas prices.Prices have risen sharply in response to a recovery in demand, particularly from Asia, with storage levels low. Continue reading...

Keith Pitt’s proposal, which suggests huge loans for resources sector in return for his party backing net zero, left on table by Scott Morrison

Banning fishing does not mean populations simply bounce back, as scientists found off Scotland’s west coastThe closure of the Clyde fishery has led to the recovery of marine species – but not the same species as lived there before, according to a report.Published in the journal Current Biology, the paper found the marine ecosystem of west Scotland’s Clyde Sea shows signs of recovery after a reduction in fishing pressure, but with sprat now the dominant species instead of herring. Continue reading...

Experts say results of Butterfly Conservation’s latest survey signal that nature is ‘in crisis’The UK has recorded its lowest ever number of butterflies in an annual survey of the insects, prompting conservationists to warn that nature is in crisis.Butterfly Conservation, which counted butterflies and moths between 16 July and 8 August, said the results, released on Thursday, marked the lowest numbers since the Big Butterfly Count started 12 years ago and called for urgent action to be taken. Continue reading...

Wet wipes are the main culprit, but Sydneysiders have also been sending jewellery, watches, money and even a brick down the toilet

Although not a diagnosable condition, experts says climate anxiety is on the rise worldwideThe climate crisis is taking a growing toll on the mental health of children and young people, experts have warned.Increasing levels of “eco-anxiety” – the chronic fear of environmental doom – were likely to be underestimated and damaging to many in the long term, public health experts said. Continue reading...

A flash of colour that caught my eye at the age of 10 in 1968 – that’s how far back I trace a sense of obligation to care for the biodiversity that was here first

Charges against six protesters dropped as HS2 was not carrying out work on the site at the timeSix environmental protesters who occupied a tunnel close to Euston station in protest against the HS2 high-speed link earlier this year walked free from court after charges in connection with the occupation were dismissed by a judge.Daniel Hooper, 48, also known as “Swampy”; Dr Larch Maxey, 49; Isla Sandford, 18; Lachlan Sandford, 20; Juliett Stevenson-Clarke, 22; and Scott Breen, 47, faced charges of aggravated trespass at Highbury Corner magistrates court in central London for their 31 days underground in January and February of this year. A separate charge against Maxey of damage to a mobile phone was also dismissed. Continue reading...

Beefy brown bear, missing two canine teeth, prevails in vote that compares pre-hibernation weight gain in Katmai national park

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer says Line 5 of pipeline is a ‘ticking time bomb’ and has ordered it shut downThe Canadian government has invoked a decades-old treaty with the United States in its latest bid to save a pipeline that critics warn could be environmentally catastrophic if it were to fail.For nearly 67 years, Calgary-based Enbridge has moved oil and natural gas from western Canada through Michigan and the Great Lakes to refineries in the province of Ontario. Continue reading...

Spill off California coast will be difficult to clear from areas that are home to diverse array of birds and endangered plants and animalsThe full scale of the ecological damage from the Huntington Beach oil spill will take some time to become clear, with birds and marine mammals hardest hit in the short term.That’s the view of experts with experience of other incidents as they consider a suspected underwater pipe leak that spilled roughly 126,000 gallons of crude oil just miles off the southern Californian coast. Continue reading...

Petition to forbid private car use in area equal in size to London’s zones 1 and 2 has collected 50,000 backersA citizens’ initiative calling for a ban on private car use in central Berlin would create the largest car-free urban area in the world.The campaign group Berlin Autofrei has taken the first step in a process known as the people’s referendum, submitting a petition with more than 50,000 signatures calling for a ban covering the 88 sq km (34 sq mile) area circled by the “S-Bahn ring” trainline – an area roughly equal in size to all the boroughs in London’s zones 1 and 2. Continue reading...

Product will be made using almond paste and cost double the price of a standard Dairy Milk chocolate barIt is Dairy Milk but without the dairy. A plant-based version of Cadbury’s classic bar is to go on sale in the UK next month as part of a drive by major food companies to expand their vegan ranges.The company, which used to make much of the “glass and a half” of milk in every bar, is using almond paste in the Cadbury Plant Bar, which has taken two years to develop. It said the new recipe “provides a similar taste and texture to milk ingredients while offering a hint of nuttiness”. Continue reading...

Unstable property rights mean Black southerners may survive a flood but lose their home, and it’s causing the racial wealth gap to grow largerMargaret Alston doesn’t remember the night that Hurricane Matthew hit, but she remembers how afraid she was of the flooding that followed.The biggest hurricane to hit South Carolina since 1999, the storm caused massive inland flooding across large swaths of the south-east. In Bucksport, the small, unincorporated town where Alston grew up, the Wacamaw River overflowed, inundating the street Alston’s house is on and making it impassable. Continue reading...

Some old favourites have fallen by the wayside, but it’s all to play for on Thursday as supporters of eliminated birds decide which finalist to backVote now for your chosen birdThe cassowary is long gone. So too the sulphur-crested cockatoo, the swift parrot, the shy albatross and the spotted pardalote.No, there hasn’t been (another) mass extinction (yet) but the new voting format in the 2021 Guardian Australia/Birdlife Australia bird of the year poll means the competition has morphed into a brutal kind of ornithological Game of Thrones. Continue reading...

Catastrophes like fires and floods could set the economy back more than $1.2tn by 2060, even if action is taken

Trillions of dollars a year are ‘adding fuel to the fire’ of the climate crisis, experts sayThe fossil fuel industry benefits from subsidies of $11m every minute, according to analysis by the International Monetary Fund.The IMF found the production and burning of coal, oil and gas was subsidised by $5.9tn in 2020, with not a single country pricing all its fuels sufficiently to reflect their full supply and environmental costs. Experts said the subsidies were “adding fuel to the fire” of the climate crisis, at a time when rapid reductions in carbon emissions were urgently needed. Continue reading...

Thirty-five organisations implore Australia, which is ADB’s fifth-largest shareholder, to help the region ‘make a just and equitable low-carbon transition’

Authorities face questions over how much damage could have been prevented after 126,000 gallons of crude seeped into oceanMore than 12 hours passed after officials were notified of a sheen on the water off the coast of southern California before a response to the Huntington Beach oil spill began, records show. Questions are now arising over why the response took so long and how that might have intensified the ecological disaster taking form on the Orange county coastline.The US Coast Guard said in a statement on Tuesday that the initial reports of a spill weren’t enough to warrant sending out boats to look for a leak. Continue reading...

Organisers of Glasgow climate talks said to blame Brexit and the pandemic for fees up to 30% higher than Cop25Countries and organisations planning to host events at vital UN climate talks in Glasgow next month have said they fear that increased costs at this year’s event will cause problems for developing nations.Multiple participants said that the cost of renting Cop26 pavilions – event spaces for hosting workshops, panel discussions and keynote speeches during the conference – is considerably higher than it was at Cop25 in Madrid, with some saying it had increased by as much as 30%. Continue reading...

The Nature Conservation Council will argue decision-makers failed to properly consider climate change

Kit Malthouse draws contrast between causing disruption and causing damage, as crackdown is announced

Global chip shortage helps push car registrations to lowest level for more than two decadesThe number of electric cars sold in the UK last month neared the figures for the whole of 2019, with panic-buying at the petrol pumps expected to accelerate consumer appetite to switch to cleaner vehicles.Nearly 33,000 pure electric cars were registered in a record month for EVs, almost 50% more than last year, as sales of new cars otherwise tumbled to the weakest September total for more than two decades. Continue reading...

Farmers warned that up to 120,000 animals face being slaughtered as they lack space to house themThe culling of healthy pigs has begun on British farms, with farmers forced to kill animals to make space and ensure the continued welfare of their livestock, amid an ongoing shortage of workers at slaughterhouses.Pig farmers have been warning for several weeks that labour shortages at abattoirs have led to a backlog of as many as 120,000 pigs left stranded on farms long after they should have gone to slaughter. Continue reading...

Industry calls for levy to fund new technologies – but environmentalists say proposal blocks climate progressThe global shipping industry has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century – but only if governments impose a mandatory levy on shipping fuel to fund the development of new low-carbon technology.The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents the majority of the global shipping industry, submitted the plans to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the worldwide regulator and part of the UN. Continue reading...

100-member group will be representative of world’s population and will present their findings to Cop26One hundred people from around the world are to take part in a citizens’ assembly to discuss the climate crisis over the next month, before presenting their findings at the UN Cop26 climate summit.The Global Citizens’ Assembly will be representative of the world’s population, and will invite people chosen by lottery to take part in online discussions that will culminate in November, during the fortnight-long climate talks that open in Glasgow on 31 October. Continue reading...

Criminal disruption prevention orders to restrict individuals’ movement are response to Insulate Britain blocking motorways

Controversial plan should not proceed if it impacts Blue Mountains world heritage area, parliamentary committee that includes Coalition MPs says

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema says access to Covid jabs for developing world will be critical to the success of in-person Kunming Cop15 summitGovernments hoping for a global agreement to halt biodiversity loss must put more effort into access to Covid-19 vaccines for developing countries, the UN’s biodiversity chief has warned.Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the Kunming Cop15 summit, at which governments will try to forge a “Paris agreement for nature”, was vital for halting the global crisis of species loss. Continue reading...

Many scientists and environmental campaigners question the industry’s claims to offer a clean, renewable energy source that the planet desperately needsThick dust has been filling the air and settling on homes in Debra David’s neighborhood of Hamlet, North Carolina, ever since a wood pellet plant started operating nearby in 2019.The 64-year-old said the pollution is badly affecting the health of the population, which has already been hit hard by Covid. Continue reading...

Six of top 10, including China and Russia, yet to show ambition on emissions cuts before Cop26Analysis of the total carbon dioxide emissions of countries since 1850 has revealed the nations with the greatest historical responsibility for the climate emergency. But six of the top 10 have yet to make ambitious new pledges to cut their emissions before the crucial UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.The six include China, Russia and Brazil, which come only behind the US as the biggest cumulative polluters. The UK is eighth and Canada is 10th. Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries and the cumulative amount of CO emitted is closely linked to the 1.2C of heating the world has already seen. Continue reading...

Decarbonisation plan, with almost 40% of power sourced from fossil fuels, is a monumental challenge

In lockdown, every day is the same. Unless it’s a day when a bird has visited – these I recall instantly, and with joy

The company will tie executive pay to emissions reduction and eliminate deforestation through its supply chainThe chief executive of Mars, one of the world’s largest consumer products companies, has warned that “all too often” corporate commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions fall short and threaten to undermine their credibility and necessary change on climate action.Grant Reid’s comments, and those of Mars’s chief sustainability and procurement officer, Barry Parkin, come after the climate activist Greta Thunberg condemned many of the climate actions promised by global leaders as so much “blah, blah, blah”.Eliminate deforestation in its supply chainLink executive pay to cutting greenhouse gas emissionChallenge its 20,000+ suppliers to take climate action and set meaningful targets. Continue reading...