US planning $3tn in spending with few environmental safeguards attached

State water minister Melinda Pavey tells a Senate inquiry ‘NSW could not deliver the plan as it currently stands’The New South Wales water minister, Melinda Pavey, has again threatened to walk away from a key part of the Murray-Darling Basin agreement, telling a Senate inquiry that “NSW could not deliver the plan as it currently stands”.Pavey’s comments on Wednesday enraged the federal Greens, who said the posturing involved NSW “politically blackmailing other basin states”. Continue reading...

Heat and wildfire smoke force residents to seek respite – and buy cooling systems and air purifiers, if they can afford themWildfire smoke had painted the sky orange last week when Sam, a Bay Area resident, plugged in his newest purchase: an air filter with a car adapter that would turn his minivan into an escape vehicle.Sam’s daughter has an immune disorder, and with smoke from nearby fires making the air among the globe’s dirtiest, the family fled north for clearer skies. Continue reading...

Seven in 10 support government action to address crisis – and young Republicans are less accepting of their party’s inaction, according to new poll published in partnership with Covering Climate NowThe climate crisis is set to be a significant factor in a US presidential election for the first time, with new polling showing a clear majority of American voters want decisive action to deal with the threats posed by global heating.Seven in 10 voters support government action to address climate change, with three-quarters wanting the US to generate all of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind within 15 years. Continue reading...

In the Pacific north-west, local people work the shoreline, creating conditions for useful species to thriveOn winter nights for the past six years, a group of 20 people have rustled through dark, coniferous woods to emerge on a Canadian beach at the lowest possible tide, illuminated by a correspondingly full moon.An elder offers a greeting to the place and a prayer, then the team of researchers, volunteers, and First Nations “knowledge holders” lights a warming fire and begins its work. At sites outlined by stones placed hundreds or even thousands of years ago, some begin raking, or “fluffing”, the top three inches of the beach, loosening rocks and mud - and a remarkable number of old clam shells. Continue reading...

Reading of -69.C in 1991 from Greenland is nearly 2C colder than previous known recordsThe coldest temperature ever recorded in the northern hemisphere just got colder, thanks to the work of climate detectives at the World Meteorological Organization.Searching through the WMO archives of heat records from weather stations at the top of the world, researchers found the coldest temperature reading came from an automatic weather station in Greenland in midwinter almost 30 years ago, nearly 2C (3.6F) colder than the previous known records. Continue reading...

More than 450 long-finned pilot whales became stranded in harbour in Tasmania with rescuers managing to save about 50About 380 pilot whales were confirmed dead in Tasmania’s west on Wednesday afternoon with rescuers fighting to save the remaining 30 that are still alive.More than 450 long-finned pilot whales were caught on sandbanks and beaches inside Macquarie Harbour, with a rescue effort starting on Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Extreme weather, locust invasions and violence have forced people to flee their homes

Labor, Greens, independents, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, Animal Justice party and One Nation join forces in the upper houseA crucial law that would have legalised floodplain harvesting in New South Wales while the government devises a comprehensive licensing scheme has been disallowed, leaving the status of the practice in limbo.In a rare defeat for the NSW government, Labor, the Greens, independents, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, the Animal Justice party and One Nation joined forces in the upper house last night to defeat the regulation, which would have allowed “passive take” of floodwaters. Continue reading...

Approximately 25 whales from the pod of 270 were freed on Tuesday but about one-third have died

This slender and speedy creature, usually less than 25cm long, is our smallest carnivoreThe weasel (Mustela nivalis) is the UK’s smallest carnivore, able to put its head through the average wedding ring. The animal’s agility, speed and ability to escape from tight corners has given the language a range of insults – a weasel is a “deceitful and treacherous person”, then there are weasel words or being weasel faced. This is a slander on the species because while these animals are not exactly cuddly, they are attractive, long and slender. Even including a short tail they rarely measure more than 25cm.Weasels are quick and relentless hunters of small rodents, particularly mice and voles. They are small and thin enough to enter mouse holes and frequently take them over as a den and breeding place. Weasels are said to be fairly common over mainland Britain in almost any habitat from urban gardens to mountainsides. Continue reading...

Unexpectedly forthright pledge will boost UN efforts to galvanise action on climate crisisChina will reach carbon neutrality before 2060 and ensure its greenhouse gas emissions peak in the next decade, Xi Jinping has told the UN general assembly.“China will scale up its intended nationally determined contributions [under the Paris climate agreement] by adopting more vigorous policies and measures,” the Chinese president said, calling for a “green recovery” from the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

Environment Protection Authority says Maas Group Properties is alleged to have transported building waste from Sydney to the Southlakes housing estate in DubboA major property developer was penalised just $563 as an “administration fee” after being accused of dumping tonnes of asbestos-contaminated building waste at a site it was developing in Dubbo.The incident, which is alleged to have involved tonnes of building waste from Sydney being dumped at the newly developed Southlakes housing estate by the housing estate’s developer, Maas Group Properties, illustrates the difficulties of enforcement of the environmental laws. Continue reading...

Coalition calls for independent scrutiny of contaminated land clean-ups to check for toxinsResidents living near four gasworks redevelopment sites in London and Brighton have joined forces to demand an overhaul of regulations on the treatment of contaminated land.The move follows a Guardian report on residents’ claims that toxic substances from a site in west London were damaging their health. Continue reading...

Many residents of Martin county, Kentucky, won’t drink their tap water, a legacy of years of mismanagementFlorene Reed always makes sure there’s enough bottled water for her teenaged grandson, even if that means making do with tap water herself that causes a burning sensation in her stomach.Reed, 63, grew up drinking the crystalline water from wells and local springs dotted throughout the Appalachian mountains in Martin county, but switched to bottled while raising her own family amid safety fears linked to coal mining and mismanagement at the utility. Continue reading...

The climate crisis and Covid-19 are crying out for international cooperation, writes the prime minister of BangladeshOne-third of my country was underwater last month. The heaviest rains in almost a decade began and have still not abated. More than 1.5 million Bangladeshis are displaced; tens of thousands of hectares of paddy fields have been washed away. Millions of my compatriots will need food aid this year.Calamities, alas, never strike alone. The floods, which come in the wake of widespread destruction caused by Cyclone Amphan in May, are making it more difficult to contain the coronavirus. More than 2.4 million people had already been moved from the destructive path of the storm without delivering them into the even greater danger of Covid-19. Yet while the infection and death rates have been contained, concerns remain until a foolproof safeguard is acquired. Economic lockdowns have hit our textile industry and exports and forced hundreds of thousands of our international migrant workers to return home, with the vast majority remaining unemployed. Continue reading...

Facebook blames mistake in system for restrictions on groups including Greenpeace USAFacebook has suspended the accounts of several environmental organizations less than a week after launching an initiative it said would counter a tide of misinformation over climate science on the platform.Groups such as Greenpeace USA, Climate Hawks Vote and Rainforest Action Network were among those blocked from posting or sending messages on Facebook over the weekend. Activists say hundreds of other individual accounts linked to indigenous, climate and social justice groups were also suspended for an alleged “intellectual property rights violation”. Continue reading...

Energy minister outlines framework for $18bn taxpayer-funded investment in low-carbon technologies, as former PM labels policy ‘crazy’Angus Taylor says the Morrison government will develop an emissions reduction target for 2035, but likely not reveal it before the next federal election, and says his working definition of low-emissions technology is “what will move the dial”.The energy minister on Tuesday launched the first annual statement under the government’s technology roadmap, which is the Coalition’s new policy framework for long-term emissions reduction. Continue reading...

A huge rescue effort is under way near Strahan in Macquarie Harbour, with 60 people and several boatsRescuers have freed 25 of the 270 whales stranded on Tasmania’s west coast with the state government confirming about 90 of the marine mammals have already died.A huge rescue effort got under way near Strahan in Macquarie Harbour on Tuesday morning, with 60 people and several boats trying to free the marine mammals stuck on two sandbanks and a beach. Continue reading...

Australia’s commitment to limit global heating to between 1.5C and 2C requires a mid-century net zero target, according to latest scienceThe Morrison government’s rejection of a net zero emissions target for 2050 is at odds with the Paris agreement and more than 100 countries that have backed the goal, according to some of Australia’s most experienced climate experts.Scott Morrison told the ABC on Sunday that the government’s position was to reach net zero carbon dioxide emissions “in the second half of the century, and we’ll certainly achieve that”. Continue reading...

Marooning of 270 whales at Macquarie Harbour the worst in more than a decade, as operation under way to refloat animals

Sea ice minimum has fallen below 4m sq km for the second time in 40 years as the climate crisis rapidly transforms the regionRising temperatures in the Arctic shrank the ice covering the polar ocean this year to its second-lowest extent in four decades, scientists have announced, in yet another sign of how the climate crisis is rapidly transforming the region.Satellites recorded this year’s sea ice minimum at 3.74m sq km on 15 September, only the second time the ice has been measured below 4m sq km in 40 years of record keeping, said researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Continue reading...

Prince of Wales says threat posed by global heating will ‘dwarf the impact of the coronavirus pandemic’Prince Charles has called for the world to put itself on a “warlike footing” to tackle the “comprehensive catastrophe” caused by the climate crisis and the loss of nature.The threat posed by global heating and the degradation of biodiversity will “dwarf the impact of the coronavirus pandemic”, the Prince of Wales said. Continue reading...

Whistleblowers say contaminated soil used to make ‘turf underlay’ at Oran Park site, a development of 25,000 homes

Aviation firm announces three different concepts with aim of taking to the skies by 2035Airbus has announced plans for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft models that run on hydrogen and could take to the skies by 2035.The European aersospace company revealed three different aircraft concepts that would be put through their paces to find the most efficient way to travel long distances by plane without producing the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global heating. Continue reading...

Devon-based company scores highly owing to employee ownership modelThe organic vegetable box company Riverford has been certified as an ethical B Corporation business, reflecting its focus on its workers’ wellbeing through its John Lewis-style employee ownership model.The Devon-based company scored 124.6 out of 200 in its first B Corp assessment, becoming the second highest-scoring food business overall in the UK behind the chocolate brand Divine Chocolate. Continue reading...

Elephants may have ingested toxins produced by bacteria found in waterholesHundreds of elephants died in Botswana earlier this year from ingesting toxins produced by cyanobacteria, according to government officials who say they will be testing waterholes for algal blooms next rainy season to reduce the risk of another mass die-off.The mysterious death of 350 elephants in the Okavango delta between May and June baffled conservationists, with leading theories suggesting they were killed by a rodent virus known as EMC (encephalomyocarditis) or toxins from algal blooms. Continue reading...

Trump administration targets Iranian officials and demands EU powers follow suitThe US has slapped a raft of new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear weapons programme, claiming it is enforcing a UN arms embargo – and demanded that the European Union follows suit.The Trump administration on Monday named 27 individuals and entities, including officials at the Iranian ministry of defence, nuclear scientists, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and anyone found trading in conventional weapons with Iran. Continue reading...

All senior politicians, civil servants and negotiators to represent Britain at next year’s Cop26 talks are menThe UK is fielding an all-male team to host a vital UN climate summit next year, flouting international norms and angering activists and observers, who say the lack of gender balance imperils progress on key issues.All of the politicians who will host the Cop26 talks for the UK in Glasgow are men, from the business secretary Alok Sharma, who will act as president of the summit, to his team of climate and energy ministers – Lord Callanan, Zac Goldsmith and Kwasi Kwarteng – who have represented the UK in recent online meetings. Continue reading...

As part of the Guardian’s first-time voter takeover, we spoke to activists on how to build a more inclusive environmental movementFamily stories about tedious days out picking vegetables or managing herds of cattle always left me with a sense of pride. As the granddaughter of Colorado ranchers and farmworkers, I have a great appreciation for the hard labor involved in food production and agriculture – and the ways it connects my family to the natural world.My family has already been deeply impacted by climate change and their experiences mirror countless other agricultural workers across the US. Yet so many young people who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) are poorly represented in environmental decision-making. I myself have sometimes felt like there were only certain ways to participate in environmental activism, that not only excluded me, but also devalued my lived experience. Continue reading...

Politically active young people are often championed as the Earth’s great hope to reverse the climate crisis – but many believe we’ve already passed the tipping pointWhen Siddharth Namachivayam casts a ballot in Colorado this fall, he’ll forego Democratic nominee Joe Biden, whom he sees as just a “Band-Aid,” and instead support the longshot Green party candidate focused on climate action.“I guess, yeah, it’d be marginally better if Biden was president, but I don’t think Biden being president is more important than the Green party growing in the next couple of years,” Namachivayam says. Continue reading...

A growing number of US driving schools are offering lessons in hybrid or electric cars, including Teslas – will it help Americans buy greener vehicles?Christian Hughes did not just want to learn to drive – he wanted to do so in a Tesla. So, when it came to getting his license, the high school student found a driving school that specialised in the sought-after electric cars.As well as being a fan of the vehicles and their technology, he was attracted by their green credentials. “Every second you spend driving a gasoline car contributes to climate change,” says the 17-year-old from St Augustine, Florida, who passed his test this summer. He has since bought a Tesla with his father. Continue reading...

Chemical headaches, plant sirens – these were the constant background to my home and school life. My community is on the climate frontline

In Sitka, where people have lived for thousands of years, I’ve seen glaciers shrink, summer droughts and deadly landslides – and our elected officials are doing nothingWhen I was seven, I caught a herring with my hands from the beach beside my grandma’s house in my hometown of Sitka, Alaska. Herring marks the beginning of spring. Every April, the soft “herring rain” seemed to bring the fish into the sound, and I’d watch as the water turned milky and the shallows sparkled with swarming silver schools.Sitkans gathered on the side of the road to watch the show of sea lions, whales, eagles and fishing boats competing in the million-dollar commercial sac roe fishery. All around the islands, people set out hemlock branches to collect masses of tiny, tasty eggs as part of an annual Tlingit ritual of community and abundance going back to time immemorial. Continue reading...

As thousands of Generation Z activists head back to college, they’re pressuring universities to declare a climate emergency, cut emissions and divest from fossil fuelsAs West coast wildfires color the skies dystopian red and orange and an aggressive hurricane season batters the US Gulf coast, college students are demanding their schools take bold action to address the climate crisis.Caitlyn Daas is among them. The senior at Appalachian State University and organizer with the Appalachian Climate Action Collaborative (ClimACT) stands on the frontlines of her school’s grassroots push to go “climate neutral”, part of a years-long, national movement that has inspired hundreds of institutional commitments to reduce academia’s carbon footprint. Continue reading...

Scientists are carefully moving the sea animals to new locations to save them from construction schemesTransplanting coral is difficult work. “You only have 20 minutes to dive down 30 metres and transplant the coral to the correct part of the rock, where hopefully it will live for hundreds of years,” explains Serço Ekşiyan, one of a small group of volunteers who have taken on the huge task of saving the corals around the Princes’ Islands (Adalar), a picturesque archipelago in the Marmara Sea about a 40-minute boat ride from Istanbul.The Marmara Sea, made up of water from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, is home to 24 Alcyonacea coral species whose existence is threatened by the onslaught of nearby property development. Among those disappearing are sea whips, sea pens, sea fans and some types of red and yellow soft corals. Continue reading...

Schoolchildren to protest on Friday in first such action since coronavirus pandemic struck

Britons appear to be more environmentally aware, despite challenging yearNearly nine out of 10 UK households say they “regularly recycle”, with more prepared to further change their lifestyles to help the environment, research reveals.Statistics released on Monday by the Recycle Now campaign show despite the challenges and restrictions of lockdown, the UK appears to be becoming more environmentally aware. Continue reading...

Announcement expected in autumn to help trigger green economic recovery from Covid-19The UK is poised to bring forward its ban on new fossil fuel vehicles from 2040 to 2030 to help speed up the rollout of electric vehicles across British roads.Boris Johnson is expected to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles this autumn with the announcement, one of a string of new clean energy policies to help trigger a green economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

About 250 whales believed to be stuck on a sandbar on state’s remote west coastScientists and whale rescue crews are rushing to Tasmania’s remote west coast after reports a pod of about 250 whales has become stranded in Macquarie Harbour.The whales were believed to be stuck on a sandbar inside Macquarie Heads, near the harbour mouth, a spokeswoman for the Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and Environment said. Continue reading...

Greens warn legalising the capture of floodwaters and diverting it to primarily irrigate cotton ‘spells end of the lower Darling river’A new fight is brewing between farmers north and south of the Murrray-Darling Basin over the New South Wales government’s plan to license floodplain harvesting for the first time later this year, as doubts arise over data on river flows and the amounts being extracted.A regulation which makes the practice legal in the meantime is set to become the flashpoint this week, with the minor parties and Labor planning to disallow it. Continue reading...

Now is a time for courage. It will take sacrifices from everyone for us all to survive, the president of the Marshall Islands writesMy country joined the United Nations nearly 30 years ago, in September 1991. But unless my fellow member states take action, we may also be forced from it: the first country to see our land swept away by climate change.As the UN general assembly meets in New York, celebrating the 75th anniversary of its formation, we must ask: how many of the 193 nations that it brings together will survive to reach its centenary? Continue reading...

Britain’s commitment to a net zero carbon footprint by 2050 can be the catalyst for a jobs revolution in regions beyond London and the south-east. The government is doing far too little to make it happenAs Britain confronts the unemployment crisis that will blight so many lives this winter, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has promised to be “creative” in introducing new measures to support jobs. Mr Sunak still seems stubbornly determined to end, next month, the furlough scheme that remains a lifeline for so many workers. But the misery that will ensue appears to have persuaded him that some kind of alternatives must be found. Inevitably they will be cheaper and less effective, but when the criticism comes, Mr Sunak will protest that it is not the government’s role to indefinitely prop up businesses that the pandemic has consigned to the past.What about propping up the future then? The government’s failure to develop any kind of plan to meet legally binding net zero targets has flown under the radar in recent months, as coronavirus-related chaos reigns in Whitehall. With the exception of a minimalist £2bn “green homes” grant, some new cycle routes and other minor measures, Boris Johnson’s promise to “build back better” has so far proved to be of purely alliterative value. Continue reading...

South Carolina city sues large oil firms, claiming they concealed knowledge that their product would cause damage to coastal cities around the world

Failure to protect fragile moors habitat fans doubts about the government’s green credentialsMinisters have been accused of deliberately stalling plans to ban the environmentally damaging process of burning peat bogs, in a further sign of government support for people who enjoy shooting grouse on moorlands.After a week in which it emerged that people who shoot grouse had been exempted from the “rule of six”, which limits gatherings in the fight against Covid-19, activists believe the environment secretary, George Eustice, who is from a farming family, is blocking moves to ban peat burning. Continue reading...

PM says he’s ‘more interested in the doing’ as he walks back amount of new generation needed to replace Liddell coal plant from 1,000MW to 250MWScott Morrison has walked back a declaration from last week that 1,000MW of new generation will be needed once the ageing Liddell coal plant leaves the system, and declined to sign up to a net zero target by 2050, because he is “more interested in the doing”.As part of the government’s much vaunted “gas-led recovery”, the prime minister said last week in relation to the Liddell transition, “We estimate that some 1,000 MW of new dispatchable generation is needed to keep prices down.” Continue reading...

Retrofitting your house or apartment to use less energy doesn’t have to be an expensive exerciseImproving the sustainability performance of your home can bring big benefits. Firstly, an energy-efficient home is more comfortable, requiring less heating and cooling. It is more cost-effective to run, saving you money through reduced bills. Then there’s the environmental benefits.By reducing energy imported from the grid and replacing this with locally generated solar energy, you can dramatically reduce household carbon emissions. There are plenty of other things that can be done to improve the sustainability of your home too, from installing water-saving features and low-energy appliances through to choosing low-impact building materials when renovating. Continue reading...

A company steeped in oil and gas production may not find it easy to convince investors of its environmental credentials‘This is serious stuff,” said BP’s Bernard Looney. The chief executive, speaking last week at the oil giant’s three-day investor event, was talking tough on the need to tackle the climate crisis. He could just as easily have been referring to the existential tightrope that BP, and others in the fossil fuel industry, will need to walk between investor confidence and the rising public pressure to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.Over the course of three days and 10 hours of executive presentations, Looney’s new leadership team sought to convince investors that their plan to become a carbon neutral company will allow them to toe this line successfully. BP’s nascent renewable energy interests will grow while the oil production business that has powered the company for over 110 years will begin to shrink within the next decade. A whiplash of clean energy innovation, carbon capture technologies and emissions offsetting schemes will then power the company to net zero carbon by 2050. Continue reading...

Trump long ago made clear that in the with-us-or-against-us climate war, he is against us and has enthusiastically joined the side of the infernoThe fires that continue to incinerate the west coast, pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and blanket the country in smoke are the latest sign that the climate crisis has made landfall in America and is torching its way inward like an occupying army overwhelming battle-weary fortifications. Only, that military metaphor seems a bit off, because if you look carefully, you can see that we are not valiantly losing a battle – our government has made it impossible for us to even fight, and has arguably taken the side of the invasion.Related: Trump 'associates' offered Assange pardon in return for emails source, court hears Continue reading...