Environment | The Guardian

Fast-fashion boom fuelling rise in use of synthetic fibres made from fossil fuels, study showsApproximately half of the clothes sold by large online fashion brands such as Boohoo and Asos are made entirely from virgin plastic materials such as polyester, despite a push to reduce the huge environmental impact of the fashion industry.An analysis of 10,000 items added to the Asos, Boohoo, Missguided and PrettyLittleThing websites over a fortnight in May found an average of 49% were made entirely of new plastics such as polyester, acrylic and nylon. In some stores just 1% contained recycled fabric, according to the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) study. Continue reading...

The major blood vessel of the penis splits into two main branches which each supply two of the four penile headsThe penis of an echidna has four heads but only two become erect at any one time. Now, Australian researchers have uncovered why.Scientists discovered the marsupial has unusual reproductive anatomy that causes male echidnas to ejaculate from only two of their four penile heads at one time. Continue reading...

The reservoir will be at its lowest since the 1930s when the Hoover dam was built, and officials expect levels to get worseLevels in Lake Mead – the largest US reservoir by volume – fell to historic lows on Thursday, as the region continues to face the effects of a devastating prolonged drought.Stationed on the main stem of the Colorado River in the Mojave along the Arizona-Nevada border, Lake Mead was formed with the construction of the Hoover dam, which generates electricity for areas in Arizona, California and Nevada. It provides water for urban, rural and tribal lands across the south-west. Continue reading...

Just 10 plastic products make up 75% of all items and scientists say the pollution must be stopped at sourcePlastic items from takeaway food and drink dominate the litter in the world’s oceans, according to the most comprehensive study to date.Single-use bags, plastic bottles, food containers and food wrappers are the four most widespread items polluting the seas, making up almost half of the human-made waste, the researchers found. Just 10 plastic products, also including plastic lids and fishing gear, accounted for three-quarters of the litter, due to their widespread use and extremely slow degradation. Continue reading...

Cornwall art installation created from 20,000 pieces of discarded tech highlights growing threat it poses to environmentThe seven giant faces loom above the dunes, gazing sombrely over swathes of bright sea thrift towards the ocean.Even before the G7 had sat down to begin their Cornish summit, Mount Recyclemore, a sculpture made of discarded electronic waste depicting the visages of the seven leaders, looked bound to be one of the stars of the show. Continue reading...

Prince says private-sector innovation and finance is vital, otherwise ‘we just don’t stand a chance’Prince Charles has said businesses must lead the way alongside governments in tackling the climate emergency.Before the start of the G7 summit in Cornwall on Friday, he told a gathering of political and business leaders that private-sector cash and knowhow was essential, and businesses needed strong policy signals from government. Continue reading...

Organization says the Southern Ocean consists of the waters surrounding Antarctica, out to 60-degrees south latitudeAnyone who thought the world had four oceans will now have to think again, after the National Geographic Society announced it would recognize a new Southern Ocean in Antarctica, bringing the global total to five.The National Geographic, a non-profit scientific and educational organization whose mapping standards are referenced by many atlases and cartographers, said the Southern Ocean consists of the waters surrounding Antarctica, out to 60-degrees south latitude. Continue reading...

Restoring nature boosts biodiversity and ecosystems that can rapidly and cheaply absorb carbon emissionsHumanity must solve the climate and nature crises together or solve neither, according to a report from 50 of the world’s leading scientists.Global heating and the destruction of wildlife is wreaking increasing damage on the natural world, which humanity depends on for food, water and clean air. Many of the human activities causing the crises are the same and the scientists said increased use of nature as a solution was vital. Continue reading...

New research shows American students are losing huge chunks of learning to heat. Here’s how your district faresHuman bodies react swiftly when they overheat.Blood rushes to the skin, trying to find cool air. Sweat seeps out of the skin and evaporates, dissipating body heat. But these processes have a cost: they reduce blood circulation, which means our most important organ, the brain, gets less blood. Continue reading...

Police arrested more than 100 people this week as activists try to block the expansion of the pipelineEnvironmental protesters and Native American tribes have joined together to try to block construction efforts that would expand and repair a controversial pipeline called Line 3, which would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil through tribal lands and fragile watersheds in northern Minnesota.The protesters said they were there as water and land protectors, fighting Enbridge, a Canadian-owned company, and the $9bn upgrade of the pipeline. The action sparked a confrontation with law enforcement officers and raised the prospects of a high-profile fight set to highlight the use of fossil fuels at a time of growing climate crisis. Continue reading...

Five citizens accuse government of failing to protect them from impacts of global heatingFive Polish citizens are taking their government to court over its failure to protect them from the impacts of the climate crisis.They say the state has breached their rights to life, health and family life by delaying action to cut national carbon emissions and propping up the coal industry. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison and Lee Hsien Loong also expected to talk about South China Sea and how to handle Beijing’s actions in the regionScott Morrison will discuss a travel bubble between Australia and Singapore when he visits his counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, but the high-level talks are expected to produce a political commitment to the idea rather than a firm starting date.The Australian and Singaporean prime ministers will on Thursday also discuss how to handle China’s actions in the region, with Australia believed to have suggested including language in their joint statement on the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation in the contested South China Sea. Continue reading...

Group controlling $41tn in assets sign joint statement calling on world leaders to bolster net zero targetsInvestors controlling $41tn (£29tn) in assets have called for governments around the world to end support for fossil fuels and set targets for rapid reductions in carbon emissions to limit the damage from global heating.The 457 investors, who hold almost a third of world’s assets under management, signed a joint statement calling for governments to “significantly strengthen” their plans to cut carbon emissions in the next decade and to bring in detailed targets for net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. Continue reading...

Our solar rollout has been world-leading and can point the way to get us moving on EVsGovernments and car manufacturers are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in electric vehicles. But while the electric transport revolution is inevitable, the final destination remains unknown.The electric vehicle transition is about more than just doing away with vehicles powered by fossil fuels. We must also ensure quality technology and infrastructure, anticipate the future and avoid unwanted outcomes, such as entrenching disadvantage. Continue reading...

Exclusive: excessive feeding as visitors flocked to London’s green spaces has led to overcrowding, disease and pollutionLondon’s royal parks are urging visitors to stop feeding bread to ducks because it is causing overcrowding and bullying among birds, the Guardian can reveal.A campaign launching today highlights how excessive feeding upsets fragile ecosystems, leading to large groups of aggressive gulls and crows that steal the eggs and chicks of other birds. Leftover food also attracts rats, and soggy bread and waterfowl faeces contaminate the water. Continue reading...

TC Energy halts project that faced longstanding opposition from climate campaignersA $9bn oil pipeline that became a symbol of the rising political clout of climate advocates and a flashpoint in US-Canada relations was officially canceled on Wednesday.Keystone XL, which was proposed in 2008 to bring oil from Canada’s western tar sands to US refiners, was halted by owner TC Energy after Joe Biden this year revoked a key permit needed for a US stretch of the 1,200-mile project. Continue reading...

Little demand is likely for the ‘peaking’ plant before 2030, calling into question the Coalition’s claim it will reduce electricity pricesA $600m gas power plant promised by the Morrison government is not needed and has no prospect of generating enough revenue to justify its cost, according to a new analysis.A report by Victoria University’s energy policy centre suggested the case for the Hunter Valley plant, to be built by the publicly owned Snowy Hydro with taxpayers’ funds, failed on several grounds. Continue reading...

Ben van Beurden pledges to ‘rise to challenge’ after court ordered oil firm to cut global carbon emissions by 45%

President brushed off bug attack but previous evening some press had been delayed after charter plane was swarmed by cicadasThere was already plenty of buzz about Joe Biden’s first overseas trip as president – tackling issues as the “special relationship” with Britain, European unity against authoritarian power in Russia and China and tackling Vladimir Putin about cybercrime.But the Washington political hum became all too literal on Wednesday as the US president was bombarded by large insects as he prepared to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, en route to the UK. Continue reading...

‘Historic’ move to ban destructive fishing methods in five habitats welcomed, but conservationists say change must come faster

Draft paper says Bełchatów coal-fuelled plant to be phased out as part of plans to transform country’s energyPoland plans to close Europe’s most polluting power plant by the end of 2036, according to a draft document published by local authorities.The document, which is subject to public consultation, is part of the Lodz region’s application for support from the EU’s Just Transition Fund, aimed at helping regions bear the cost of shifting to a climate-neutral economy. Continue reading...

The froth has spilled out of a canal in Marunda repeatedly over recent years, but the exact cause is unknownA blanket of thick, snow-like foam covers the surface of a canal in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. The froth has exuded from the waters of the east flood canal in Marunda repeatedly over recent years, usually in the rainy season.Similar pollution has plagued waters in India, including Delhi’s sacred Yamuna River, which has been coated in toxic froth caused by untreated waste, chemicals and pollutants. Continue reading...

Salmon are headed to a point of no return throughout the US west. And the impact on Native American communities could be devastatingKnee-deep in the rumbling waters of Rapid River in western Idaho, Mike Tuell guided his dip net between boulders and tree branches in search of the calm pockets where salmon rest.It was a Tuesday evening in May, and his first time out fishing this season. The spring-summer Chinook were just beginning their treacherous journey back to their natal spawning areas. Continue reading...

Member of fox family is on list of 20 invasive species likely to reach UK shores and destroy wildlifeThey are cute and furry, and could become the UK’s next major non-native pest.Raccoon dogs, an exotic member of the fox family that is native to Japan, China and Siberia, are one of the most destructive invasive species at risk of becoming established in Britain, experts say. Continue reading...

Greenhouse gases produced by Pluto LNG plant in Pilbara will balloon in short term, climate activists sayThe Western Australian government has been criticised for approving a greenhouse gas abatement plan for a Woodside Energy-led gas export development that will allow the plant to increase emissions over the next decade.It came as Woodside’s interim chief executive, Meg O’Neill, argued that the oil and gas company could develop new fossil fuel projects while aiming to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

Landowners to be paid for planting that protects wildlife, reduces flood risk and increases public accessLandowners will be paid thousands of pounds in bonuses for creating new woodlands that boost wildlife, increase public access and reduce flooding, under a new £16m scheme for England announced on Wednesday.The Forestry Commission plan will for the first time allow payments for natural regeneration, where wind-blown seeds colonise land. This can be the best way to recreate native woodlands and some landowners have complained that past grants only allowed tree planting. Support for planting trees along rivers to improve waterside habitats will also be offered for the first time. Continue reading...

There are fewer than 30 breeding pairs in Britain, and the one I saw at a Scottish loch was at its springtime finestChestnut flanks and neck. Ruby-red eyes. Dagger-like bill. And, on either side of its matt-black head, golden plumes shimmering in the Speyside sunshine. All wrapped up in a buoyant waterbird, gliding across the silky-smooth surface of the loch, before disappearing beneath, then yo-yoing into view again, with a tiny fish as its prize.The Slavonian grebe’s splendour is enhanced by its rarity: there are fewer than 30 breeding pairs in Britain, spread out across the Scottish Highlands. Being relatively unknown, it might not win a competition for Britain’s most beautiful bird. But it would certainly give any other contenders a run for their money. Continue reading...

‘Massive biodiversity gains’ to be made, says letter signed by academics and public figuresMore than 100 academics, experts and public figures have signed a letter calling on the royal family to rewild their lands as a public commitment to help tackle Britain’s biodiversity crisis and to show climate leadership.Organised by the rewilding campaign group Wild Card, the letter’s 120 signatories include the broadcasters Chris Packham, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Anita Rani as well as the leading environmental scientist Prof Sir Robert Watson. Continue reading...

Climate Commission recommends shift to electric cars, large-scale agricultural reform and an end to reliance on gas in homesNew Zealand has been handed a new vision for dramatic reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions – including reduced animal numbers on farms, no new household gas connections by 2025, and a dramatic shift to electric cars in the next decade.The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the climate crisis was a matter of “life or death” as she spoke at the release of a new roadmap for the government’s response to global heating. Continue reading...

The Pacific country’s concessionary tax system leads to ‘undertaxed’ resource sector and ‘no equity’ for people in Papua New GuineaAustralian mining companies have paid little or no corporate income tax in Papua New Guinea despite earning hundreds of millions of dollars from their PNG operations, benefiting from a complex taxation system that experts say leaves the country’s resources sector significantly “undertaxed”.Guardian analysis of company reports and industry data can reveal that during the past decade Australian mining giants Newcrest and St Barbara, which have huge mines in PNG, have paid no corporate income tax some years, with the companies legally using generous tax rules and accounting practices to minimise their tax burdens. Continue reading...

Hundreds of the large birds have been spotted and become a nuisance to many residents, while others enjoy themAmid stalled relocation efforts due to the pandemic, parts of southern California have now reportedly become overrun with peacocks.The large birds, which are traditionally known for their vibrant, beautiful tail feathers, have become a nuisance to many residents of the region where they run wild, the Washington Post reported. Spotted across Pasadena and in the San Gabriel Valley, just north-east of Los Angeles, hundreds of peacocks have been seen standing in homeowners’ lawns, on rooftops, and casually sauntering down city sidewalks. Continue reading...

Bank of England to examine risks rising temperatures and sea levels could pose for financial systemUK banks will for the first time be forced to reveal their exposure to the climate crisis, highlighting the risks that rising temperatures and sea levels could pose for the financial system, as part of the Bank of England’s climate stress tests this year.The stress tests will put 19 banks and insurers through three climate scenarios, according to an update released on Tuesday, including one in which governments fail to take further steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in average temperature increases of 3.3C and a 3.9-metre rise in sea levels. The central bank will be monitoring how those scenarios could affect potential loan losses, as customers default due to slowing growth and economic uncertainty. Continue reading...

Demonstrations have sparked fears of a confrontation between law enforcement and rightwing anti-government activistsFears of a confrontation between law enforcement and rightwing militia supporters over the control of water in the drought-stricken American west have been sparked by protests at Klamath Falls in Oregon.Protesters affiliated with rightwing anti-government activist Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights Network are threatening to break a deadlock over water management in the area by unilaterally opening the headgates of a reservoir. Continue reading...

Prime minister to say it should be up to sovereign nations to chart their own course and Australia does not support ‘setting false deadlines’Scott Morrison is resisting international pressure to lock in more ambitious climate commitments, declaring Australia opposes setting targets for certain parts of the economy or “false deadlines for phasing out specific energy sources”.Before he sets off for the G7 summit in the UK later this week, the prime minister will use a foreign policy speech to say that “ambition alone won’t solve the problem of actually reducing emissions”. Continue reading...

Opposition likens Coalition’s proposed legislation to Abbott government’s controversial ‘one-stop shop’ schemeThe Morrison government will face a battle in the Senate to pass environmental protection legislation amendments, with critics accusing it of resurrecting a maligned Abbott-era “one-stop shop approval” system that will “fast-track extinctions”.The government has not yet formally responded to the Graeme Samuel-led review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act, which made 38 recommendations to address two decades of failure in environmental protection law, despite receiving it nearly a year ago. Continue reading...

The swarm that emerges every 17 years can feel like a horror movie, requiring homemade armor and escape plans

In a 2011 study by the Fish and Wildlife Service, 93% of birders surveyed were white while just 4% were Black“This is my form of therapy,” says Mariana Winnik, a third-grade teacher and avid birdwatcher from Brooklyn. Wearing a T-shirt with illustrations of birds and wielding a pair of binoculars and a trusty bird identification app, Winnik makes her way through north Central Park, on a mid-morning Saturday walk led by Christian Cooper.Cooper says he doesn’t usually lead bird walks because of the responsibility that comes with it. “I feel awful if we go out and we don’t see a lot of good birds,” he says. Continue reading...

Government is investigating the cause as locals point the finger at a herbicide used by the National Parks and Wildlife ServiceDead marine life, including beach worms and pipis, found on a beach on the New South Wales mid-north coast has been blamed on aerial spraying of bitou bush around the Seal Rocks area.Mid-north coast resident Lochlan Tisdell posted a video showing a pile of dead worms on the beach and blamed the herbicide used by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Continue reading...

Tonnes of crushed rocks could help the Great Barrier Reef recover from global warming, but the ‘reckless’ idea comes with ‘unquantified risks’Continually dumping crushed rocks from a bulk carrier along a Great Barrier Reef shipping route could counteract the acidification of ocean water caused by fossil fuel burning, but would come with unknown side effects on the marine environment and coral reefs, according to a study from Australia’s science agency.In what is described as a “first order assessment”, scientists at CSIRO found it was theoretically possible to turn back the clock on the effect of decades of fossil fuel burning, but the radical step came with “as yet unquantified risks”. Continue reading...

Scientists say experiments could cause whales stress and injury and call for them to be scrappedPlans to capture and run six-hour-long sound tests on young minke whales are set to go ahead in Norway despite condemnation from more than 50 international scientists and wildlife experts as “completely unacceptable”.According to the plans, approved by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, over one or two seasons a dozen juvenile minke whales will be captured in a strait off Vestvågøy island in the Lofoten area of northern Norway, where the animals pass through every year on their way to feeding areas further north in the Barents Sea. Continue reading...

Emissions rose to 419 parts per million in May, the highest such measurement in the 63 years that the data has been recordedThe data is in: carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere hit 419 parts per million in May. The levels have now reached the dangerous milestone of being 50% higher than when the industrial age began – and the average rate of increase is faster than ever.The figure is the highest measurement of the crucial greenhouse gas in the 63 years that data has been recorded at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii – despite slowdowns in air travel and industry during a global pandemic in the past year. Continue reading...

First-in-the-nation ban targets grass at office parks, street medians and housing development entrances that no one usesIn Sin City, one thing that will soon become unforgivable is useless grass.A new Nevada law will outlaw about 40% of the grass in the Las Vegas area in an effort to conserve water amid a drought that is drying up the region’s primary water source: the Colorado River. Continue reading...

Paper is based on 40 years of record-keeping involving 40,000 dead birds, started after an offhand remarkTurning off building lights at night can save migrating birds from crashing into buildings, a study based on decades of research has shown.Scientists found that on nights when half the windows of a large building in Chicago were darkened, there were 11 times fewer bird collisions during spring migration and six times fewer collisions during autumn migration than when all the windows were lit. Continue reading...

Conservationists call for state’s application to distribute more toxic pesticides to be denied as crop areas overlap with locations of the superb parrotThe New South Wales government should be blocked from using a more potent poison to deal with the state’s mouse plague after reports emerged of a mass bird death, BirdLife Australia and scientists say.Experts say the areas where the government wants to distribute the more toxic rodenticide, bromadiolone, overlap the known locations of threatened superb parrots and could devastate the species. Continue reading...

Legislature seeks to strip funding of Hawaii’s largest tourism agency, just as it refocuses on community and environmentSince 1998, the Hawaiian Tourism Authority (HTA) – the state’s leading agency to manage tourism – has had its focus largely on marketing Hawaii to the world. But in 2019, when the state hit a record of over 10 million tourists, the milestone taxed residents, and caused significant environmental impacts on trails, beaches and sacred sites.During the pandemic, the agency’s new leader, John De Fries, called the time a “huliau”, which in Hawaiian means a time of transition. It was one that De Fries, the first Native Hawaiian in the role, felt would be the perfect moment to reset Hawaii in a way that would marry modern technology and Indigenous wisdom to protect the future of the island and promote its state-adopted sustainability goals by 2030. Continue reading...

Politician urges G7 to deliver on climate crisis and vaccines, which threaten richer and poorer countriesThe global solidarity inspired by the Covid pandemic disappeared as soon as vaccines came along, the Mozambican politician Graça Machel has said before the G7 summit, as she called on richer countries to share vaccines and for progress on tackling the climate crisis.Machel, a member of the Africa Progress Panel and a prominent politician, served as first lady in Mozambique and South Africa, as the wife of first Samora Machel and then Nelson Mandela. She said: “Without everyone on Earth being vaccinated, there is no safety. It’s a question of survival, even for the developed world. We have to take the necessary steps. To make sure everyone all of us get the vaccine – that is common sense. Continue reading...

Failing, heavily subsidized private oil companies enjoy the profits of oil extraction while the rest of us pay in tax dollars, human rights abuses, and an unlivable climateIt has been a bad month for big oil. A Dutch court just ruled that Shell must cut its carbon pollution by 45% by 2030. The court’s decision has rightly been celebrated: it is a much more stringent requirement than the ineffective regulations imposed to date. Meanwhile, shareholders are waging rebellions at various oil giants – ExxonMobil shareholders won two seats on the board to pressure the oil company towards a greener strategy, and shareholders at Chevron and ConocoPhillips passed nonbinding resolutions pressuring the companies to disclose their lobbying efforts and emissions amounts.Private oil and gas companies are finally up against the wall. Shell has promised to appeal the Dutch court decision, but oil prices went negative last year and put companies on bankruptcy notice, and last week the International Energy Agency said to stop digging. Politicians have floated the idea of oil and gas magnates becoming “carbon management companies” as a way for those companies to have a “future in a low-carbon world” while retaining control over oil, gas, and profit in a planet increasingly aware of and hostile to their emissions-generating activity. Continue reading...

Republican-led states are threatening retaliation against banks that refuse to lend to coal, oil and gas companies in effort to delay transition to clean energyJoe Biden may be pressing for 2021 to be a transformational year in tackling the climate crisis, but Republicans arrayed in opposition to his agenda have dug in around a unifying rallying theme – that the fossil fuel industry should be protected at almost any cost.For many experts and environmentalists, the Republican stance is a shockingly retrograde move that flies in the face of efforts to fight global heating and resembles a head in the sand approach to the realities of a changing American economy. Continue reading...

Warning comes amid fears of further delays to Kunming summit, which aims to agree on curbing destruction of ecosystemsThe world is running out of time to reach an ambitious deal to stem the destruction of the natural world, the co-chair of negotiations for a crucial UN wildlife summit has warned, amid fears of a third delay to the talks.Negotiators are scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, in October for Cop15, the biggest biodiversity summit in a decade, to reach a hoped-for Paris-style agreement on preventing wildlife extinctions and the human-driven destruction of the planet’s ecosystems. Continue reading...