Environment | The Guardian

Climate report says country will suffer rain and floods in the south and drought and fires in the northThe first major assessment of its kind in seven years from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found the globe’s ocean, land and air temperatures are rising, and the human influence is “unequivocal”.But what does the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report say about changes in New Zealand, and what can we expect for the future? Continue reading...

The Morrison government’s ‘technology, not taxes’ mantra ignores the fact that taxes pay for technology, and affordable technology can make a difference

Delegates from 196 countries attending talks offered jabs before event, with rules on self-isolating eased for many

A new IPCC report makes clear what island nations have long warned. Their survival depends on urgent collective actionA new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finds that the world may warm by 1.5°C by the early 2030s, much earlier than previously estimated. It’s terrible news for the Pacific. With temperatures rising above 1.5°C, Pacific communities are likely to experience increasingly devastating climate change impacts.The key takeaway from the IPCC report is that the more we know, the worse it looks. The planet is now already between 0.8°C and 1.3°C warmer than in pre-industrial times – moving frighteningly close to the 1.5°C threshold. This warming has already worsened temperature extremes, such as marine heatwaves that cause coral bleaching and heatwaves on land, with dangerous consequences for human health. Temperature and other climate extremes will become more intense, frequent and appear in more locations with every fraction of a degree that the planet warms. Continue reading...

Alok Sharma says chance to limit worst impacts of climate breakdown ‘still achievable, but retreating fast’The world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases must produce clear plans to cut their carbon output drastically, the president of vital UN climate talks has urged, after scientists warned there was only a small chance of escaping the worst ravages of climate breakdown.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change set out the starkest warning yet on the widespread and “unprecedented” changes to the climate that are “unequivocally” the result of human actions. Extreme weather resulting from these changes was already seen around the world and growing worse, in the form of rising temperatures, more frequent and fiercer storms, heatwaves, droughts, floods and sea level rises, according to the biggest assessment of climate science in eight years. Continue reading...

PM says UN report is ‘sobering reading’ but Labour say he is ‘failing to treat the crisis with the seriousness it deserves’

Australian investment bank left Thames Water saddled with debt when it sold up in 2017The Australian investment bank Macquarie has returned to the UK water industry – four and a half years after leaving Thames Water saddled with debt – buying a majority stake in Southern Water for more than £1bn.The infrastructure investor promised to put the utility firm “back on a stable footing” after it was fined a record £90m last month for dumping billions of litres of raw sewage off the north Kent and Hampshire coasts. Continue reading...

Occurrence is first since records began and comes as Russian weather officials warn blazes are worseningSmoke from raging forest fires in Siberia has reached the north pole for the first time in recorded history, as a Russian monitoring institute warned the blazes were worsening.Devastating wildfires have ripped across Siberia with increasing regularity over the past few years, which Russia’s weather officials and environmentalists have linked to climate change and an underfunded forest service. Continue reading...

A devastating wastewater dump may have contributed to a deadly algal bloom, residents sayHundreds of tons of dead marine life have washed ashore and wafted a putrid stench along Florida’s beaches in recent weeks amid a toxic red tide bloom spreading in its waters.Thomas Patarek lives just a half mile away from the waterway. Continue reading...

A lead author of latest IPCC report says humans ‘still in the control cabin of the planet’ but there is no limit to the damage possible

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states every corner of the planet is already being affected and it could get far worse

Australia ranks 20th or worse in seven of eight categories despite Coalition claim it is leading the way in reducing emissions

IPCC’s landmark report will be most comprehensive assessment yet as governments prepare for pivotal UN talks in NovemberThe fires, floods and extreme weather seen around the world in recent months are just a foretaste of what can be expected if global heating takes hold, scientists say, as the world’s leading authority on climate change prepares to warn of an imminent and dire risk to the global climate system.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will on Monday publish a landmark report, the most comprehensive assessment yet, less than three months before vital UN talks that will determine the future course of life on Earth. Continue reading...

Specialists including Defra bovine tuberculosis expert say positive tests indicate danger to public healthThe row over his fate has captured the public’s imagination – with a petition to save him gathering nearly 100,000 signatures and his friendly, furry face splashing newspaper front pages. But vets have cautioned that the law is clear: Geronimo the alpaca must be put down.The six-year-old animal is facing a death sentence after twice testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a deadly respiratory disease that has blighted the countryside for decades. Continue reading...

Campaign seeks pledges for the rewilding of arable land as the Cop26 climate summit approachesFarmers are being called upon to dedicate 1% of their land to nature and carbon sequestration in an unexpected way – by farming in straight lines.The call to make a commitment to nature and the climate in the run-up to the crucial Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow comes from WildEast, the farmer-led rewilding movement that is encouraging landowners large and small to create wildlife-rich places across East Anglia. Continue reading...

The sculpture, to be unveiled next month, will celebrate the courageous contribution of pit workers to our industrial heritageThey toiled far underground in dark, cramped and dangerous conditions, emerging at the end of their shifts caked in coal dust and often gasping for air.Towns grew up around the collieries; boys followed their fathers and grandfathers down the pit. In the 19th century, women and children were among the nation’s coal workers. But by the end of the 20th century, miners had mostly been consigned to the post-industrial scrap heap as pit after pit shut down. Continue reading...

Lush Mendocino draws nearly 2m visitors a year. But drought is threatening to sink its key industryOn many mornings, the village of Mendocino vanishes into a thick white fog that covers its seaside cliffs, redwood trees and quaint Victorian houses.Carved into California’s northern coast, the historic hamlet’s rugged beaches, scenic hikes, charming bed-and-breakfasts and boutique galleries draw in 1.8m visitors each year. Continue reading...

Environment secretary says bovine tuberculosis test used on animal ‘over 99% accurate’Environment secretary George Eustice said it is an “arduous but necessary endeavour” to cull animals that test positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB), as he defended the decision to put down Geronimo the alpaca.Helen Macdonald’s animal has been ordered for destruction after twice testing positive for the disease, but she has repeatedly questioned the tests used to condemn him. Continue reading...

Josh Frydenberg’s office allowed proposed Queensland development to go to assessment despite legal advice it was ‘unacceptable’

The city is surrounded by flames. On the ground, there are tales of heroism – and fear for the futureLittle had prepared any of us on the Athens-bound flight for the sight of the great fire-induced clouds that swept either side of the plane as it made its descent on Friday.News of the extreme heat engulfing Greece had spread beyond its borders all week, packaged in increasingly desperate language. Temperatures were breaking records few had ever imagined. If Monday was bad, then Tuesday was worse. In some parts of the country, the mercury had hit 47C (117F), with thermal cameras on drones recording the ground temperature in downtown Athens at 55C. Continue reading...

Alok Sharma’s air miles made the headlines, but missteps by his colleagues may be more damaging to the crucial talks in GlasgowAlok Sharma stepped off the plane from Brazil on Friday, the latest stop in a punishing travel schedule that has taken him to 30 countries in seven months, and into the eye of a media storm.“The height of hypocrisy,” screamed the Daily Mail’s headline, slamming the UK president-designate of the Cop26 UN climate talks, to be hosted in Glasgow in October and November. Sharma’s crime? No quarantines, having taken advantage of the rare exemptions offered to ministers, and 200,000 air miles in the pursuit of climate diplomacy. Continue reading...

Nathusius’ pipistrelle weighing just 8g flew 1,254 miles across EuropeA tiny record-breaking “Olympian” bat flew more than 1,200 miles from London to Russia but ended up being killed by a cat.The female Nathusius’ pipistrelle bat, weighing only 8g, was found on the ground after her 1,254-mile journey, after being attacked by the cat. Continue reading...

Homes, farms and businesses destroyed while Turkey also suffers devastating blazesA volunteer firefighter has been killed in a blaze threatening the Greek capital’s most important national park, and at least 20 people have been injured in fires during the country’s worst heatwave in 30 years, with temperatures of up to 45C (113F).Thousands of residents and holidaymakers have fled from the flames by land and sea, while in Turkey fires of a ferocity not seen in decades tore through swaths of the country’s southern coast, killing eight people over the past 10 days. Continue reading...

Research shows more than a quarter of US population suffered ill health last summer, and it’s likely to get worseThe summer of 2020 brought fear of Covid-19, social distancing – and heat-related health problems that affects tens of millions of Americans.Related: Last month was worst July for wildfires on record, say scientists Continue reading...

Every morning after moving here, I thought I must have done something right because I got to live in all this majesty. Then the Dixie fire took it awayMy defiantly quirky, beautiful adopted hometown turned into a ghost town last night. There are so many things I could tell you about Greenville. There were over a thousand people and change, though the population sign still said 2,000.We all have an opinion. About everything. We are a microcosm of America and often frustrated with each other. Greenville is filled with do-gooders, volunteers, retirees, hippies, bikers, and rednecks, ranchers, cowboys, and people who never felt like the town they were born in was quite the right fit for them. We were extended families and single moms and dads. We were drunks. We were sober. We tried not to be too judgmental lest someone judge us back. We were recent survivors of Paradise, too. Continue reading...

Anna Sacks documents her ‘trash walks’ on social media, shining a light on the everyday shame and indignity of producing and living with so much wasteOn an ordinary street in the middle of Manhattan, Anna Sacks gets ready to rifle through the trash. But first, she takes out her phone and turns on the camera. Continue reading...

Discover how bat detectors are used to capture the hypersonic world of voles, shrews and wood mice – and listen in yourselfIt sounds like the alarm call of a macaque but is in fact the slowed-down squeak of a pygmy shrew. This warbling call is an insight into the hypersonic world of small mammals, which are generally very good at keeping their world secret from ours.Ecologist Huma Pearce is listening to these unfamiliar woodland sounds on her laptop – but without a special device all she would hear would be the usual chatter of walkers, overexcited dogs and wind tickling the treetops. Continue reading...

At least 21,000 refugees displaced after heavy rain devastates Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the latest in a series of disasters to hit the areaThe process of rebuilding has begun once again for Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh after a week of heavy rains made thousands homeless.The chest-high waters that flowed through parts of Cox’s Bazar have exposed the vulnerability of the area’s unplanned settlements, which have to be repeatedly repaired and rebuilt after flooding, cyclones and fires. Continue reading...

Senators re-introduce bill after study finds toxic ‘forever chemicals’ are ubiquitous in common self-care productsEarlier this summer, a new study found that more than half of 231 cosmetic products tested in the US and Canada contained PFAS, a group of fluorinated chemicals that can weaken immunity, disrupt child development, affect the reproductive system and increase the chance of certain cancers. Whereas Europe has kept a tighter rein on what chemicals can and cannot be included in everyday products, the US’s standards are now over 80 years old.Now, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) have reintroduced the Personal Care Products Safety Act, a piece of legislation that would require companies to disclose all the ingredients used in their products, be able to demonstrate their safety and register their entities with the FDA. Continue reading...

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Labour leader says remarks about pit closures ‘utterly shameful’ and shows prime minister ‘out of touch’Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to apologise for joking about Margaret Thatcher closing coalmines, describing the remarks as “utterly shameful”.The Labour leader, who represented the the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in court over the pit closures orchestrated by the Tories in the 1980s, accused the prime minister of being “out of touch”. Continue reading...

FoI request shows BEIS employees and ministers took the flights after signing of net zero emissions targetEmployees at the government department responsible for tackling climate change have taken 612 domestic flights since June 2019, when the UK signed the net zero emissions target into law, figures show.Of the total flights taken – which are single journeys and do not include travel to Northern Ireland – by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), 34 of them were by government ministers. Continue reading...

Protracted heatwave continues as flames threaten populated areas, electricity installations and historic sitesThousands of people have fled wildfires that are burning out of control in Greece and Turkey, including a large blaze just north of Athens that left one person dead, as a protracted heatwave turned forests into tinderboxes and flames threatened populated areas, electricity installations and historical sites.Turkey’s wildfires, described as the worst in decades, have swept through swathes of the southern coast for the past 10 days, killing eight people. Continue reading...

The prime minister was asked about his plans for transitioning away from fossil fuels. He chose to distract, not answerAllow me to let you in on a little secret. Many people working in politics and the media openly discuss the fact that Boris Johnson’s gaffes are entirely calculated. I once met someone who used to work for him and they told me that before he appears in the media, Johnson ruffles his hair to ensure he appears more dishevelled than he actually is.This ruse has been useful to our prime minister throughout his political career. It has helped him to climb the greasy pole without facing any consequences for accusations of serial lying, allegations of bigotry or his involvement in the planned assault of a journalist. And it is what we must bear in mind when we consider his latest comments on the closure of British coal mines. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including baby pandas, common red soldier beetles and flight from wildfires Continue reading...

Helen Macdonald says she is prepared to be arrested as she awaits animal’s ‘kill window’Downing Street has refused to grant a stay of execution to an alpaca that faces the prospect of being killed after twice testing positive for bovine tuberculosis.The farmer who owns Geronimo, the stud animal, says she fears authorities will shoot it on Friday and has appealed to the environment secretary, George Eustice, to speak to her amid last-ditch attempts to secure a reprieve. Continue reading...

Cop26 president accused of undermining climate effort after visiting 30 countries in seven monthsAlok Sharma, the government minister responsible for vital UN climate talks, is facing calls to self-isolate when he returns from Brazil, after he was hit with a double barrage of criticism for not quarantining when returning from “red-list” countries and for the environmental impact of his trips around the world.The president of Cop26, which is being hosted in Glasgow in October and November, has visited 30 countries since February, including Brazil, where he has been this week, Indonesia and Kenya, it was reported. Continue reading...

Indigenous women in North and Central America are coming together to share ancestral knowledge of amaranth, a plant booming in popularity as a health foodJust over 10 years ago, a small group of Indigenous Guatemalan farmers visited Beata Tsosie-Peña’s stucco home in northern New Mexico. In the arid heat, the visitors, mostly Maya Achì women from the forested Guatemalan town of Rabinal, showed Tsosie-Peña how to plant the offering they had brought with them: amaranth seeds.Back then, Tsosie-Peña had just recently come interested in environmental justice amid frustration at the ecological challenges facing her native Santa Clara Pueblo – an Indigenous North American community just outside the New Mexico town of Española, which is downwind from the nuclear facilities that built the atomic bomb. Tsosie-Peña had begun studying permaculture and other Indigenous agricultural techniques. Today, she coordinates the environmental health and justice program at Tewa Women United, where she maintains a hillside public garden that’s home to the descendants of those first amaranth seeds she was given more than a decade ago. Continue reading...

Stagnant water caused by dry weather gives mosquitoes – the insect that spreads the virus – free rein, leading to an increased risk for humans​​For five days in the late summer of 2019, doctors battled to bring down John Hayden’s high fever.Hayden’s sudden onset of symptoms, including high fever, had everyone stumped, said his daughter Anne Hayden, and his body seemed to fail to respond to any treatment. He succumbed to the inexplicable illness just after Labor Day, his family at his side. Continue reading...

Agricultural runoff from farms and livestock operations creates oxygen-depleted areas inhospitable to animal and plant lifeScientists recently surveyed the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico around Louisiana and Texas and what they discovered was a larger-than-average area of oxygen-depleted water – a “dead zone” where nothing can live.National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists announced their findings this week: about 4m acres of habitat in the Gulf are unusable for fish and bottom-dwelling species. The researchers had estimated a smaller dead zone this year, predicting an average-sized area. Continue reading...

Burning of land released 343 megatonnes of carbon, with wildfire season yet to peak in many areasLast month was the world’s worst July for wildfires since at least 2003 when satellite records began, scientists have said, as swaths of North America, Siberia, Africa and southern Europe continue to burn.Driven by extreme heat and prolonged drought, the ignition of forests and grasslands released 343 megatonnes of carbon, about a fifth higher than the previous global peak for July, which was set in 2014. Continue reading...

Exclusive: IPCC says gas, produced by farming, shale gas and oil extraction, playing ever-greater role in overheating planetCutting carbon dioxide is not enough to solve the climate crisis – the world must act swiftly on another powerful greenhouse gas, methane, to halt the rise in global temperatures, experts have warned.Leading climate scientists will give their starkest warning yet – that we are rushing to the brink of climate catastrophe – in a landmark report on Monday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will publish its sixth assessment report, a comprehensive review of the world’s knowledge of the climate crisis and how human actions are altering the planet. It will show in detail how close the world is to irreversible change. Continue reading...

Minister responsible for climate conference travelled mainly during winter and spring and did not isolateThe government minister responsible for this year’s UN climate change conference in Glasgow has flown to 30 countries in the past seven months, it has been reported.Alok Sharma, who was appointed as president of Cop26 in January, has visited countries including Brazil, Indonesia and Kenya since February, according to the Daily Mail. Continue reading...

Prime minister denounced for comments on visit to Scotland, where he refused to meet Nicola SturgeonMargaret Thatcher gave “a big early start” to green energy by closing coalmines, Boris Johnson has joked, in comments denounced as “unbelievably crass.”On a visit to Scotland on Thursday, the prime minister made a number of provocative comments, stating that a second referendum on Scottish independence is “about as far from the top of my agenda as it is possible to be”. Continue reading...

This summer will have highest number of fledged chicks since 2002, according to Moorland AssociationThe endangered hen harrier is continuing its recovery from near extinction in England with this summer set to have the highest number of chicks fledging since 2002.Of 24 successful nests producing at least 77 fledged chicks this summer, 19 were on moors managed for red grouse, according to the Moorland Association. Continue reading...

As irrigated crops compete with fish for scarce water, farmers in the Klamath Basin lament they may be the last generation to work the landThey are land rich and resource poor. Most have hundreds of acres of fertile soil, some thousands, but little money in the bank and – most importantly – no water.Now the young farmers of the Klamath Basin, an agricultural community on the border of Oregon and California, fear they might be the last generation of their kind. Continue reading...

The ‘heat dome’ over the Pacific north-west brought unprecedented death to sealife. And the effects will be felt for years to comeAs a marine biologist who has studied the effects of extreme weather events for decades, I expected it would be bad. The “heat dome” brought record high air temperatures to the Pacific north-west, and for the plants and animals living along our extensive coastlines the late June timing could not have been worse. The scorching heatwave coincided with some of the lowest daytime tides of the year, leaving tidal lands exposed to hot air and sun for hours during the hottest part of the day, several days in a row.And bad it was. In the days immediately after the historic heatwave, I visited shorelines that looked and smelled like death. Mussel, oyster and clam shells open wide with rotting tissue exposed, snails and chitons no longer able to cling to the rock, kelp and surfgrass bleached white and sloughing off dead tissue. Similar scenes were reported throughout the Salish Sea of Washington and British Columbia by scientists, shellfish growers and the general public, with mortality estimates ranging from millions to billions of individuals. We’ve never seen anything quite like this before. Continue reading...

Researchers also find impact of bottled water on ecosystems is 1,400 times higher than that of tap waterThe impact of bottled water on natural resources is 3,500 times higher than for tap water, scientists have found.The research is the first of its kind and examined the impact of bottled water in Barcelona, where it is becoming increasingly popular despite improvements to the quality of tap water in recent years. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Area twice the size of London devoted to grouse shooting in UK’s parks, threatening efforts to tackle climate crisisNational parks supposedly at the heart of efforts to tackle the climate crisis and boost nature are dominated by intensively managed grouse moors, according to new research.Driven grouse moors, which are associated with the controversial burning of vegetation and the illegal persecution of birds of prey, make up 44% of the Cairngorms national park, 28% of the North York Moors and a fifth of the Peak District, a study by the charity Rewilding Britain has found. Continue reading...