Environment | The Guardian

Pristine areas in the Amazon and Siberia may expand with animal reintroductions, scientists sayJust 3% of the world’s land remains ecologically intact with healthy populations of all its original animals and undisturbed habitat, a study suggests.These fragments of wilderness undamaged by human activities are mainly in parts of the Amazon and Congo tropical forests, east Siberian and northern Canadian forests and tundra, and the Sahara. Invasive alien species including cats, foxes, rabbits, goats and camels have had a major impact on native species in Australia, with the study finding no intact areas left. Continue reading...

Lucrative pay and share options linked to continued extraction of fossil fuels by ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BPLucrative pay and share options have created an incentive for oil company executives to resist climate action, according to a study that casts doubt on recent net-zero commitments by BP and Shell.Compensation packages for CEOs, often in excess of $10m (£7.2m), are linked to continued extraction of fossil fuels, exploration of new fields and the promotion of strong market demand through advertising, lobbying and government subsidies, the report says. Continue reading...

Move towards renewables to hit net zero by 2060 would also pay off with saving of $1.6tn, analysis findsChina must shut down nearly 600 of its coal-fired power plants in the next 10 years, replacing them with renewable electricity generation, to meet its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060, a report has said.But replacing the 364GW of coal generation with renewable power would achieve a net saving of $1.6tn (£1.2tn) over the period, since wind and solar power are now much cheaper than coal, according to the analysis company TransitionZero. Continue reading...

An urban wildlife refuge is meant to alleviate generations of environmental racism that has beset the historic neighborhood of Mountain View. That’s assuming it can meet the community’s needsAlbuquerque’s South Valley was once a thriving oasis of food production watered by a network of historic irrigation canals, or acequias. Today, it’s home to several historic neighborhoods along the Rio Grande, including Mountain View.Related: The climate emergency is here. The media needs to act like it Continue reading...

Move comes after environment group identified six areas on east coast it says need more protection in wake of fires

Climate Council report says most emissions cuts need to occur in the next decade to keep global heating below 2C

Activists say the ‘heart of Africa’ line shipping crude from Uganda to Tanzania is unnecessary and poses a huge environmental risk

Report author calls for thorough clean-up of political donations, directorships and embedded internsBoris Johnson’s government is “too cosy” with vested interests in business to take strong action on the climate crisis, the author of a report on “the polluting elite” has warned.Peter Newell, a professor of international relations at the University of Sussex, said: “We are never going to have change while these actors are so close to government. The government is not willing to take on these interests as it has close ties to big industries, including fossil fuels. There is a definite reluctance to take them on.” Continue reading...

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, says the US food system is built on injustices but there is hope where people are prioritizing the right to foodThe Covid-19 pandemic has not only been a public health crisis, it has also been a hunger crisis. When millions of Americans lost their jobs, they no longer had enough money to feed themselves and their families. Hunger predictably struck people who were already marginalized. As was evidenced by long lines at food banks, it also struck middle-class families and exacerbated inequality. Even with vaccines, people continue getting weak and sick during the pandemic and the burden is disproportionately landing on women to work harder to ensure everyone stays healthy and alive.To add injury upon injury, parts of the food system are also a public health hazard. For example, meatpacking plants in the US and around the world have fostered the pandemic, spreading the virus to nearby communities due to poor working conditions and environmental abuses. Continue reading...

Leaders condemn ‘unsolicited involvement by others in our territory’ as activists seek to protect old-growth treesTwo chiefs of a First Nation in western Canada have told anti-old growth logging protesters camped out on their traditional lands to pack up and go home.Operating under the banner of the Rainforest Flying Squad, a group of predominantly non-Indigenous activists have been blocking logging roads across a swath of southern Vancouver Island and calling for an immediate halt to old-growth logging since last August. Continue reading...

Fukushima plant operator Tepco suffers blow to plans to resume at its only operable atomic facilityThe operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has been prevented from restarting its only operable atomic facility after a series of safety breaches, dealing a significant blow to Japanese attempts to resume nuclear power generation.Japan’s nuclear regulator is to issue a “corrective action order” on Wednesday that would ban Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) from transporting new uranium fuel to its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata prefecture or loading fuel rods into its reactors. Continue reading...

National Weather Service station in Massachusetts evacuated on 31 March with a demolition crew set to raze the site this monthTwice a day for the past half a century, a weather balloon to measure atmospheric conditions was released from a research station situated on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Faced with advancing seas that are set to devour it, the outpost has now been abandoned.On 31 March, the handful of workers who operated the National Weather Service station in Chatham were evacuated due to fears the property could fall into the Atlantic Ocean. A final weather balloon was released before they left, with a demolition crew set to raze the empty site this month. Continue reading...

Drive to plant more trees will count for little if existing woods are lost, says Woodland TrustThe UK’s native woodlands are reaching a crisis point, with just 7% in good condition, according to the first comprehensive assessment of their health.The Woodland Trust’s report found the woods facing a barrage of threats, including destruction by development, imported pests and diseases, the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution. Woodland specialist birds and butterflies have declined by almost half since 1970, it said. Continue reading...

Conservationists hope the return of the near-extinct herbivore – ‘a living strimmer’ – will clear the undergrowth that fuels fires

Persistent noise from natural gas wells in New Mexico disrupted birds that feed on and distribute pinyon seedsAs humans proliferate, we have penetrated deeper into wildlife habitats, creating a pervasive rise in environmental sound with our gadgets, traffic and industry. A growing body of research has shown how noise pollution adversely affects animal behaviour – but a study suggests the detrimental effects have trickled down to plants as well.To investigate the long-term ecological effects of persistent noise, researchers chose the Rattlesnake Canyon habitat management area in New Mexico. Dominated by woodland plants, the area in the US south-west contains a high density of natural gas wells, some of which are coupled with compressors that run continuously and generate chronic noise at up to 100 decibels. That is as loud “as being next to the speakers at a Black Sabbath concert or standing right next to the train tracks as the train goes by”, said Dr Jenny Phillips, who was lead author of the study while at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. Other wells are devoid of compressors. Continue reading...

More than 300 homes, businesses and farms were evacuated when a leak developed at the site this month

First-of-its-kind study shows stark effects for people living near contaminated Superfund sites in urgent need of cleanupSuperfund sites are scattered across America: they’re places like landfills and manufacturing plants so contaminated with hazardous waste that the federal government has designated them a national priority to clean up. And according to a new, large-scale study, living near one can shave months – and in some cases, more than a year – off how long you live.Related: ‘They couldn’t care less’: plan to solve sewage crisis in Illinois town merely ‘a patch’ Continue reading...

Donkeys can grow so sick from mourning the loss of a companion that they dieWhen a donkey brays it is as though every rusted gate nearby is opening and closing at once; as though the iron seesaws and swings and roundabouts in one hundred abandoned playgrounds have begun to move by themselves: squeaking, creaking, screeching.“Better to be born a limpet in the sea than a load-bearing donkey,” they say in Sicily. But the first load I ever heard of a donkey bearing was rather grand: Christ himself, riding a beast of burden into Jerusalem. People grabbed their cloaks, cut branches from palm trees “and strawed them in the way” for the donkeys to walk on. “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” Continue reading...

To avoid the grimmest outlook posed by warming oceans, we need to extract heat-trapping gases from the atmosphereThe climate emergency is bigger than many experts, elected officials, and activists realize. Humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions have overheated the Earth’s atmosphere, unleashing punishing heat waves, hurricanes, and other extreme weather – that much is widely understood.The larger problem is that the overheated atmosphere has in turn overheated the oceans, assuring a catastrophic amount of future sea level rise. Continue reading...

Without the app, mapping reefs usually involves high amounts of data and low-quality photos, which leads to slow analysisLess than 1% of the ocean floor consists of coral reefs. But more than one-quarter of marine animals live in them. With rising temperatures bleaching corals across oceans, Nasa scientists turn to an unlikely tool: a smartphone app.A team of Nasa scientists in Silicon Valley has developed NeMO-Net, a game to classify corals, into a tool for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Continue reading...

Environmental groups and neighbours condemn plan to release more than 1m tonnes of contaminated water in two years’ time

Latest figures show increase of 2% in 2018-19 driven by energy sector and rise in methanol productionAn increase in New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions is a step in the wrong direction towards the country’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, say experts, who have called on the government to bring in more radical action.The latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory, released by the minister for the environment on Tuesday, shows that both gross and net emissions increased by 2% in the 12 months to the end of 2019. The increase was predominantly driven by the energy sector and an increase in methanol production in the manufacturing industries. Continue reading...

The New York teenager has been included among a group of advisers to the president – a remarkable journey from protesting in front of the White HouseIf a week is a long time in politics, the past year has been an eternity for Jerome Foster. In the opening stanza of 2020, the 18-year-old was holding forlorn weekly protests outside the White House calling for action on the climate crisis. Now, he has been ushered into the seat of American power to help craft climate policy.In a sign of the growing political clout of the youth climate movement that has blossomed around the world in recent years, Foster has been included among a group of advisers to Joe Biden who will inform the US president on issues related to environmental justice, where low-income communities and people of color face the greatest fallout from climate change and pollution. Continue reading...

Plant more bean-like crops in Europe and consider ‘healthy diet transition’ to beat climate crisis, say scientistsAdding the likes of peas, lentils, beans, and chickpeas to your diet, and farming more of them, could result in more nutritious and effective food production with large environmental benefits, scientists have found.Researchers calculated a “nutritional density” unit for different types of crops. They found that swapping cereals for leguminous plants in European crop rotations provided more nutrient-rich produce for both animal and human consumption. Thanks to the way that legumes grow, it also reduced synthetic fertiliser use and pollution. Continue reading...

New report lays out dire situation facing the most imperiled rivers but environmental activists say situation is salvableDams, mining, factory farms and global heating are among the gravest threats facing America’s endangered rivers, according to a new report.The Snake River in the Pacific north-west is ranked the most endangered US river of 2021, where salmon runs are on the brink of extinction because of four federal dams obstructing the free flow of water, according to American Rivers’ annual report. Continue reading...

Japan has announced it will dump 1m tonnes of contaminated water into the ocean, sparking controversy

Rising levels of microplastic pollution raise questions about the impact on human health, experts sayMicroplastic pollution is now “spiralling around the globe”, according to a study of airborne plastic particles.The researchers said human pollution has led to a global plastic cycle, akin to natural processes such as the carbon cycle, with plastic moving through the atmosphere, oceans and land. The result is the “plastification” of the planet, said one scientist. Continue reading...

Ahead of Earth Day, the Guardian is partnering with newsrooms around the world in a joint initiative calling on journalists to treat the climate crisis like the emergency it isWhen the world shut down last year, there was one big beneficiary: the planet. With travel ground to a halt, emissions fell 10% in 2020. But we haven’t kept up the momentum – as economies reopen, carbon emissions are expected surpass pre-pandemic levels in the coming months, unless countries take urgent action.Related: Native communities confront painful choice: move away, or succumb to rising waters? Continue reading...

Throughout Indian Country, where cultures are tied to land and water, plans to relocate are under way as the climate crisis worsens

MPs vote to suspend internal flights if the trip can be completed by train within two and a half hours insteadFrench MPs have voted to suspend domestic airline flights on routes that can be travelled by direct train in less than two and a half hours, as part of a series of climate and environmental measures.After a heated debate in the Assemblée Nationale at the weekend, the ban, a watered-down version of a key recommendation from President Emmanuel Macron’s citizens’ climate convention was adopted. Continue reading...

As exports boom, the industry is backing plans to restrict rest periods for those doing hazardous work in low temperaturesThe health of hundreds of thousands of meat plant workers in Brazil is at risk from an industry-backed plan to reduce breaks given to employees, say workers’ rights groups in the country.In the midst of a pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 350,000 Brazilians, President Jair Bolsonaro’s government, parliament and the meat industry have been pushing for a move to review the laws and regulations protecting workers at slaughter plants. Continue reading...

State plays down threat to humans but warns of ‘more active and more visible’ gators as warmer weather heats up reptilian passionsWith toilet-invading iguanas, deadly hybrid super-serpents and toxic giant toads, no corner of Florida is ever completely safe from the threat of a marauding reptile.Related: Toilet-invading iguanas among invasive species now banned in Florida Continue reading...

Only a third of business flyers expect to return to same level of air travel as before coronavirus pandemic

Biologists and chefs are urging people to chow down on the purple sea urchins that are destroying California’s vital kelp forests. Could I catch and cook my own?“Babe! I sprayed mouth everywhere!”I never thought I’d find myself screaming these words on a tranquil Sunday morning in my tiny San Francisco kitchen. Then again, I never thought I’d find myself staring at a sink full of spiky, purple aliens with a knife murderously clutched in one hand, the ethereal voice of Phoebe Bridgers softly crooning in the background. Continue reading...

A leak at an abandoned fertilizer plant is just the latest development at a site that has polluted the area since it was builtIt’s been a week since a significant leak at a long-abandoned fertilizer plant in the Tampa Bay area threatened the surrounding groundwater, soil, and local water supplies.Last weekend, officials ordered more than 300 families living near the 676-acre Piney Point plant site in Manatee county to evacuate. The sheriff even emptied out his jail’s first floor of inmates in case a “20-foot wall of water” came rolling their way. Continue reading...

Diclofenac was approved in Spain and Italy despite being banned in Asia after it had wiped out millions of birdsA recently approved veterinary drug has been confirmed as the cause of death of a vulture in Spain. Conservationists say the incident could be the tip of an iceberg, and warn that the drug could wipe out many of Europe’s vultures as well as harming related species, including golden eagles.The anti-inflammatory agent diclofenac has already been banned in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh after it was found to kill vultures that ate the carcasses of cattle treated with the drug. Tens of millions of vultures are believed to have died in this way with some species declining by a staggering 99.9% in parts of south Asia. Continue reading...

Deaths discovered over a course of nine days are ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ for the species, says expertFour dead gray whales have washed up on beaches in the San Francisco Bay area in the past nine days, in the latest spate of whale deaths in the region.Related: Ropeless fishing tech could help save rare whale, say scientists Continue reading...

Amateur nature recorders are providing vital data on beetles, soldierflies and a host of lesser-known insectsAshleigh Whiffin’s day job as assistant curator of entomology is to look after National Museums Scotland’s vast collection of preserved insects. But her passion for the creatures doesn’t end when she goes home; in her spare time she spends hours recording and verifying sightings of a specific group of large carrion beetles in the family silphidae.“Silphidae are absolutely brilliant,” Whiffin says from her Edinburgh office. “They’re decomposers, so they are really vital for recycling and also have forensic applications. Some of the members in the family are called burying beetles and they actually prepare a carcass, make a nest out of the corpse and then feed on the rotting flesh and regurgitate it for their kids. They’re quite a charming – but also grisly – insect.” Continue reading...

Australia Pacific LNG wants environmental approval to drill across nearly half a million hectares of central and south-west QueenslandAustralia’s largest east coast gas producer has sought federal environmental approval to drill up to 7,700 new gas wells in Queensland, prompting concern from environmentalists due to the project’s sheer size and its proximity to two national parks.Australia Pacific LNG – a joint venture between Origin, ConocoPhillips and Sinopec – has lodged a referral under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to expand its “Gas Supply Security Project” and drill across an additional 476,492ha of central and south-west Queensland. Continue reading...

The best of the week’s wildlife pictures, including a bald eagle livestream, polar bear research and seized tortoises

Swedish activist says uneven Covid vaccine rollout means countries would not participate on even termsThe Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has said she will not attend the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November, saying the uneven distribution of Covid-19 vaccines would mean countries could not participate on even terms.The 18-year-old activist said that by November richer countries would be vaccinating young healthy people “very often at the expense of people in at-risk groups in other parts of the world”. Continue reading...

Loggers say blockades threaten their livelihoods as activists build fortifications and vow to remainHundreds of activists are digging in at logging road blockades across a swath of southern Vancouver Island, vowing to stay as long as it takes to pressure the provincial government to immediately halt cutting of what they say is the last 3% of giant old growth trees left in the province.The situation echoes the 1993 “war in the woods” in nearby Clayoquot Sound, which saw nearly 1,000 people arrested at similar logging blockades in the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Continue reading...

The case has been described as a ‘watershed’ moment that will test Fiji’s environmental lawsA years-long David and Goliath fight which has seen two Australian surfers take on a Chinese-linked company over their alleged damage of an idyllic Fijian island, has come to its conclusion after a Fijian court handed down a guilty verdict against the developers on Friday.The case has been described by Pacific legal experts as a “watershed” moment that tested Fiji’s environmental laws, as well as the willingness of the country – which presents itself as a global climate leader – to “walk the walk” on environmental issues. Continue reading...

National party minister lobbied John Barilaro over environmental legislation that affected her extended family’s land holdings in the Monaro regionThe New South Wales Nationals minister Bronwyn Taylor demanded intervention from the deputy premier, John Barilaro, over environmental laws affecting her family’s land holdings, describing efforts by the Office of Environment and Heritage to protect native grasslands in the Monaro area as “ludicrous” and “a joke”.An email chain from 2017 reveals the war between the OEH, Local Land Services (part of the primary industries department) and senior Nationals over maps designed to identify endangered ecological communities in need of protection under land-clearing laws introduced the same year. Continue reading...

Research warns that large proportions of endemic marine and mountain species face extinctionUnique island species including lemurs and the Galapagos giant tortoise could be at high risk of extinction if the planet warms by more than 3C above pre-industrial levels, new research warns.Analysis of 270 biodiversity hotspots suggests almost half of endemic marine species and 84% of endemic mountain species will face extinction if the planet warms by more than 3C, which if current trends continue could happen in 2100. Continue reading...

The plan will include more than $350m in funds to improve forest management efforts and to thin out vegetationCalifornia leaders have announced a $536m plan to address the growing threat of wildfires across the state, as a drought threatens to bring on yet another destructive, deadly fire season. Continue reading...

RSPB’s 2021 Big Garden Birdwatch finds sparrow still most common species, while starlings, greenfinch and chaffinch struggleThe house sparrow remains the most frequently spotted garden bird, but 16 of the top 20 species have declined in number since last year, according to the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch.More than a million people took part in this year’s national bird survey on the last weekend in January – double the figure for the previous year. Continue reading...

The interior secretary toured the Bears Ears national monument in Utah as she weighs Indigenous-led calls for it to be increased in sizeThe interior secretary, Deb Haaland, paid a historic visit on Thursday to Bears Ears national monument, the Utah site sacred to Native Americans that was downsized by President Donald Trump.Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo and the first Indigenous cabinet member, and her trip came amid calls for the monument to be recreated in its original form, or even expanded, by Joe Biden. Continue reading...