Environment | The Guardian

Nearby residents in the US Virgin Islands, have endured water contamination and noxious fumes that closed three schoolsThe Environmental Protection Agency has ordered an oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands to pause all operations, citing “at least four incidents” in which the facility significantly affected St Croix residents. The Limetree Bay refinery, which caused a massive oil spill in the 1980s, first reopened in February under an order from the Trump administration, after eight years idle.“These repeated incidents at the refinery have been and remain totally unacceptable,” said the EPA head, Michael Reagan, noting that residents in St Croix are “already overburdened” by pollution and other environmental harms. Continue reading...

Boat tourists reportedly saw the rocky structure collapse into the Pacific OceanDarwin’s Arch, a rock formation south-east of Darwin Island in the Galápagos archipelago, has collapsed due to natural erosion, Ecuador’s environment ministry said.

Experts have warned the taxpayer-funded plant is more expensive than alternatives and makes little commercial senseThe Morrison government has confirmed it will spend up to $600m to build a new gas-fired power plant in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley despite experts warning the fossil fuel investment makes little commercial sense.The government announced on Tuesday night it was dedicating unallocated funding in last week’s budget to the publicly owned Snowy Hydro Ltd plan to build a 660 megawatt gas plant at Kurri Kurri. Continue reading...

Exclusive: consultations for asthma and other respiratory infections go up with increased dirty air, finds studyA “huge” increase in the number of visits to doctors by children with asthma problems occurs after a week of raised air pollution, according to a study. The number of inhaler prescriptions also increases significantly.Dirty air is already known to increase hospital treatment for severe asthma attacks and other respiratory problems. But the new research is the first using clinical data to show increased illness among the much bigger number of people who seek treatment from their GP. Continue reading...

The Greens will try to have the changes thrown out, saying they could be a breach of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency ActThe energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, has moved to expand the mandate of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) to allow it to fund carbon capture and storage projects and “clean” hydrogen that can be produced from fossil fuels.In regulations, published Tuesday, the government added its technology roadmap to the list of initiatives Arena could finance. Continue reading...

An oasis of green space has become a lightning rod in ongoing debates about gentrification, open spaces and racial equityFor decades, the clubhouse of the Park Hill golf course in north-east Denver, Colorado, hosted weddings and graduation parties for residents of nearby neighborhoods. “It’s been a very valuable resource to this community, when you need event space and can’t afford swankier venues,” said Shanta Harrison, who lives eight blocks away.The 155-acre golf course stands out as an island of green space in the middle of the only remaining neighborhoods in Denver where over 40% of residents identify as African American. And according to state law, it’s supposed to stay that way forever: since 1997, the property has been under a conservation easement - a deed restriction stating that it can never be developed. Continue reading...

Environmentalist actor, with other conservation groups, aims to rewild the entire archipelago and other Pacific islands in Latin AmericaLeonardo DiCaprio has announced a $43m (£30.4m) pledge to enact sweeping conservation operations across the Galápagos Islands, with his social media accounts taken over by a wildlife veterinarian and island restoration specialist.The initiative, in partnership with Re:wild, an organisation founded this year by a group of renowned conservation scientists and DiCaprio, the Galápagos National Park Directorate, Island Conservation, and local communities, aims to rewild the entire Galápagos Islands, as well as all of Latin America’s Pacific archipelagos. Continue reading...

Many swifts flying back to Britain will find their summer nests lost to building renovations. But bird bricks are offering them an alternative homeEagerly anticipated by many, it is a thrilling moment when you first hear the distinctive screech or catch sight of the long, tapered wings of the first swifts arriving for the summer. For thousands of years they have looped to the British Isles from Africa to raise the next generation, taking advantage of the long daylight hours in the north and the opportunity to scour the skies for insects from dawn to dusk.Since they left Britain’s shores in August last year, these remarkable birds will have flown some 14,000 miles without stopping; feeding, sleeping, drinking and preening themselves on the wing. The birds returning now are likely to be at least four years old – the breeders. They head straight back to their nesting holes under eaves or gaps in stone and brickwork that they claimed and defended last summer. Within a few days their mate will arrive and, having spent nine months living independently, they will start to preen each other’s feathers within the nesting hole, crooning softly and bonding once again. Continue reading...

Agriculture minister says Australia will be the first to reward farmers for reducing emissions and improving biodiversity on their landThe agriculture minister, David Littleproud, has declared Australian business is “hungry” to pay farmers to protect biodiversity under a “world-first” scheme designed to reward environmental improvements alongside emissions reduction.Last week’s federal budget included funding for a multi-stage agriculture biodiversity stewardship package that aims to make it attractive for farmers to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lift biodiversity protection on their land. Continue reading...

Governments must close gap between net zero rhetoric and reality, says International Energy Agency head

Funding for restoration of peatlands and tripling of tree planting in England also announcedSales of peat compost to gardeners will be banned from 2024, the government has said. Ministers will also give £50m to support the restoration of 35,000 hectares of peatland by 2025, about 1% of the UK’s total.The UK’s peatlands store three times as much carbon as its forests. But the vast majority are in a degraded state, and are emitting CO which drives the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Audit underlines role renewables are playing in making coal-fired power unprofitable, expert saysPressure on the national electricity grid at the peak of last summer’s heat fell to its lowest level in five years due to the rising influence of household solar panels, a new analysis has found.Summer is usually the time of greatest strain on the electricity system due to the widespread use of energy hungry air-conditioners, but the demand on the hottest day dipped this year as more electricity came from decentralised rooftop solar systems, which sit outside the grid. Continue reading...

Plastic Waste Makers index identifies those driving climate crisis with virgin polymer productionTwenty companies are responsible for producing more than half of all the single-use plastic waste in the world, fuelling the climate crisis and creating an environmental catastrophe, new research reveals.Among the global businesses responsible for 55% of the world’s plastic packaging waste are both state-owned and multinational corporations, including oil and gas giants and chemical companies, according to a comprehensive new analysis. Continue reading...

Thinktank says new strategy needed in face of Covid, Brexit, net zero, automation and demographic changeBritain risks mirroring Italy’s economic woes unless it develops a strategy for tackling the five seismic changes that will shape a decisive decade for the country, a report has warned.A joint project by the Resolution Foundation thinktank and the London School of Economics said the UK was neither used to nor prepared for the challenges posed by the aftermath of Covid-19, Brexit, the net zero transition, automation and a changing population. Continue reading...

Protest over proposed petrochemical complex in Louisiana is part of 400-mile march led by youth climate group Sunrise MovementOn Monday, groups of climate activists protested against a proposed petrochemical complex an hour away from New Orleans, Louisiana, calling on the Biden administration to revoke the plastics company’s federal permit to start construction.The demonstration is part of a 400-mile march led by the youth climate group Sunrise Movement, which began last week and traces the path of environmental disasters in the Gulf coast from New Orleans to Houston. Roughly 20 participants are on the trek as part of the group’s “Generation on Fire” campaign. Continue reading...

University of NSW study suggests six times as many individual birds as humans but that many species are very rareThere are about 50 billion individual birds in the world, according to new research that uses citizen science observations to try to estimate population numbers for almost 10,000 species.The paper, led by scientists at the University of New South Wales, suggests there are about six times as many birds on the planet as humans – but that many individual species are very rare. Continue reading...

Study’s authors believe animal can benefit people as well as ‘cultural and natural heritage’ of Arizona and New MexicoJaguars could be reintroduced in the south-western US, where hunting and habitat loss led to the big cats’ extinction, a new study says.Scientists and other environmentalists make the case for bringing back the third-largest big cat, after tigers and lions, in Arizona and New Mexico in a paper published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice. Continue reading...

Our emotional register – how ‘doomy’ or ‘hopeful’ we are – will inevitably shape the policies we put forwardAs the climate emergency creeps closer to the top of the political agenda, where it belongs, an argument is raging over communication. Exactly what to say about the environmental crisis, and how, is an important question for all sorts of people and organisations, including governments. It is particularly pressing for journalists, authors and broadcasters. For us, communication is not an adjunct to other activities such as policymaking or campaigning. It is our main job.People need to know what is happening to glaciers, forests and endangered species, and what is being done about this. But information requires interpretation. And while editorial judgments influence the way that all subjects are covered, storytelling about the climate emergency is particularly fraught. Continue reading...

Consortium plans to produce green hydrogen with wind and solar energy as a potential replacement for Hunter Valley’s coal industryAustralia’s first “hydrogen valley” would be created in New South Wales and run entirely on renewable energy under a $2bn proposal supported by local and global energy companies.Led by renewables advisory business Energy Estate, the consortium says it plans to produce green hydrogen with wind and solar energy and use it as a feedstock for mining, transport and industrial users in the upper Hunter Valley, spruiking it as a potential replacement for the region’s coal industry. Continue reading...

Controversial deal with China would be ‘disastrous’ for fishing and protected rainforest, say opponentsA $55m (£39m) deal struck by the government of Sierra Leone with China to build an industrial fishing harbour on 100 hectares (250 acres) of beach and protected rainforest has been criticised as “a catastrophic human and ecological disaster” by conservationists, landowners and rights groups.The gold and black sands of Black Johnson beach fringe the African nation’s Western Area Peninsula national park, home to endangered species including the duiker antelope and pangolins. The waters are rich in sardines, barracuda and grouper, caught by local fishermen who produce 70% of the fish for the domestic market. Continue reading...

Investigation reveals that ‘plastic waste coming from the UK to Turkey is an environmental threat, not an economic opportunity’Turkey has become the latest destination for British plastic waste, which ends up dumped, burned or left to pollute the ocean, a Greenpeace investigation has found.More than half of the plastic the British government says is being recycled are sent overseas, often to countries without the necessary infrastructure to do so. The UK exported 688,000 tonnes of discarded plastic packaging in 2020, a daily average of 1.8m kilos. Just 486,000 tonnes were recycled in the UK. Continue reading...

Project turns trophy hunters’ hit list into a conservation tool – and reveals the animals we most want to see caught on cameraFor trophy hunters, the big five are the toughest, most dangerous animals to kill, but a photography project has turned the meaning of shooting on its head, creating a new list of the five most fantastic creatures to capture on camera.More than 50,000 people from around the world voted for animals they most liked seeing pictures of as part of the New Big 5 wildlife photography list. The crowning creatures are elephant, lion, polar bear, gorilla and tiger, all of which are keystone species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as either critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable. Continue reading...

US climate envoy says people will not have to give up quality of life to achieve some of net zero goalsThe US climate envoy, John Kerry, has said 50% of the carbon reductions needed to get to net zero will come from technologies that have not yet been invented, and said people “don’t have to give up a quality of life” in order to cut emissions.He said Americans would “not necessarily” have to eat less meat, because of research being done into the way cattle are herded and fed in order to reduce methane emissions. Continue reading...

The national park is instituting a permitting system for overnight rock climbers. Many see it as inevitable as the sport gets more popularFor years, rock climbers Graham Ottley and Keith Bouma-Gregson dreamed of scaling the 2,800ft (853 meters) pillar of granite known as the Lost Arrow Spire in Yosemite national park.In early May the pair finally got their chance, making a climb that required spending two windy nights camped on tiny ledges with harnesses holding them to the rocks. But Ottley and Bouma-Gregson realize that soon it may not be as easy to enjoy Yosemite’s anything-goes climbing culture. Continue reading...

London Zoo’s latest exhibition shows how scientists hope to halt the devastation caused by overheated oceansThis weekend, conservationists will put the final touches to a giant artificial reef they are assembling at London zoo. Samples of the planet’s most spectacular corals – vivid green branching coral, yellow scroll, blue ridge and many more species – will be added to the giant tank along with fish that thrive in their presence: blue tang, clownfish and many others.The scene will then be set for Monday’s opening of the zoo’s new gallery, Tiny Giants, which is dedicated to the minuscule invertebrate creatures that sustain life across the planet. The coral reef tank and its seven-metre wide window will form the core of the exhibition. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Mining company says it ‘self-reported’ wildlife spotter should have been present when land was cleared but says no environmental harm was doneAdani has admitted breaching its environmental conditions for the Carmichael coalmine again – clearing an area surrounded by potential koala habitat without a promised wildlife safeguard.Guardian Australia has confirmed the federal environment department is investigating an “allegation of non-compliance” related to land-clearing at a quarry being used primarily to provide material for the construction of Adani’s rail line. Continue reading...

Covid physical-distancing rules also reel in more women to apply for rod licence applications

With nuclear fading away, Britain must learn how to carefully manage renewable energyThe nuclear industry is fond of telling us the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow, as if people living in Britain did not already know that. But the point atomic enthusiasts are making is that wind and solar electricity generation is not reliable, while nuclear will keep the lights on.But things are a bit more complicated than that. This is partly because large-scale batteries, pump storage in reservoirs and other ways of topping up electricity supplies mean that baseload power provided by nuclear reactors is no longer needed. Another reason is that nuclear output is falling while renewables get ever stronger. Continue reading...

Scuba team launches six-month effort that has already turned up fishing rods, tires and cansScuba divers removed about 200lb of garbage from California’s Lake Tahoe on Friday, as part of a six-month effort to rid the popular lake of fishing rods, tires, aluminum cans, beer bottles and other trash accumulating underwater.The team plans to look for trash along the entire 72 miles (115 km) of shoreline in an endeavor that could be the largest trash cleanup in the lake’s history, said Colin West, a diver and film-maker who founded Clean Up the Lake, the non-profit spearheading the project. Continue reading...

Parliamentary inquiry told more than 40 underwriters refused to insure a rail line for the Adani coalmineFossil fuel producers and their contractors in Australia have admitted moves by major global investors and insurers to reduce their exposure to risks from the climate crisis are making it harder for them to insure and finance major projects.One contractor building a 120km rail line for the controversial Queensland Adani coalmine said a global search for insurance had failed with more than 40 underwriters refusing to back it. Continue reading...

Food-growing areas will see drastic changes to rainfall and temperatures if global heating continues at current rateA third of global food production will be at risk by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at their current rate, new research suggests.Many of the world’s most important food-growing areas will see temperatures increase and rainfall patterns alter drastically if temperatures rise by about 3.7C, the forecast increase if emissions stay high. Continue reading...

Congressman Peter Meijer, 33, warns that false claims of a burger ban or blaming immigrants risk losing the young generationLies that hamburgers will be banned, conspiracy-laden claims of government tyranny, blame for environmental degradation foisted upon immigrants – the Republican response to Joe Biden’s climate agenda suggests the base instincts of Donald Trump still strongly animate the party.Related: Asia is home to 99 of world’s 100 most vulnerable cities Continue reading...

Marine life charities and wildlife tour operators observe growing interest in and empathy for whalesWhen a sick baby minke whale lost its way up the Thames earlier this week, hundreds of people gathered to watch the rescue efforts at Richmond and Teddington over the course of two days.It was the furthest upriver a whale had ever ventured, a feat so out of the ordinary that the curiosity among the crowds flocking to the weir and those following the whale’s misguided journey on social media was matched by the outpouring of sadness when the little whale didn’t survive. Continue reading...

Nature-driven artist and environmentalist Clare Celeste Börsch among contributors to exhibition exploring concept of EdenAs in many paradise gardens, particularly those inspired by Islamic culture, a fountain lies at the heart of the quadrilateral garden created inside the Aga Khan Centre gallery in King’s Cross, London. This fountain doesn’t spout water, however, but beautiful, intricate strips of paper with laser-cut flowers made by Berlin-based American artist Clare Celeste Börsch.The fountain is at the centre of Making Paradise, an exhibition exploring the concept of Eden through art and Islamic garden design. On display are numerous artworks depicting trees, flowers and fruits, including botanical illustrations from the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley library collection, alongside contemporary works. Continue reading...

Alok Sharma is working with health experts and Scottish government on best way for climate summit to go ahead

Lightning or poisoning cited as possible causes of deaths in protected area in Assam stateAuthorities are trying to establish how 18 wild Asiatic elephants died in a remote corner of India’s north-east.The elephants, including five calves, were found dead in the protected Kondali forest reserve in the state of Assam, Jayanta Goswami, a wildlife official, told Associated Press. The forest guard reached the area on Thursday and found 14 elephants dead atop a hill and four at its bottom. Continue reading...

President-designate of Cop26 talks says tackling the fossil fuel is ‘a personal priority’Coal must be consigned to history as the world faces its “last hope” of holding back climate breakdown, the president of the Cop26 climate summit says.Alok Sharma, a former UK business secretary and now president-designate of Cop26, to be held in Glasgow this November, is expected to say this Friday morning: “This is our last hope of keeping 1.5C alive. Our best chance of building a brighter future … of green jobs and cleaner air. I have faith that world leaders will rise to the occasion and not be found wanting in their tryst with destiny.” Continue reading...

Reason for lower flows was not clear, the research found, as it was not linked to land use or increased ground waterAustralian researchers have warned that drought-affected rivers could experience reduced flows indefinitely even after the drought has broken in a study which found more than a third of Victorian water catchments have not fully recovered from the millennium drought.The millennium drought ran from 1996 to 2010 and was the longest uninterrupted period of low rainfall in south-east Australia since 1900. Continue reading...

Nigel Topping says the Morrison government will face ‘a certain amount of pressure’ at the G7 meeting in Cornwall in JuneA leading UK climate official says Australia is alone among major countries in that neither its national government nor opposition have a significant climate plan, and frustrating local business leaders.Nigel Topping, the UN’s “high-level champion” whose role involves global outreach to drive global ambition ahead of the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow in November, said he had not seen another country in which no major political party had a plan to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...

Annalena Baerbock faces social media onslaught after voicing opposition to Nord Stream 2 projectFears are growing in Berlin of a Russian-led cyber campaign against the leader of Germany’s Green party after she pledged to block a gas pipeline project between Russia and Europe.Annalena Baerbock, who is running to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in September’s election, has been targeted in recent days by an increasingly vicious campaign across social media. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Briefing note prepared for a meeting with government-funded scientists suggested they ‘don’t publish the paper’

Exclusive: prime minister’s short flights cast doubt on the sincerity of his pledges to fight the climate crisis, say criticsBoris Johnson has been criticised for taking a short helicopter flight from London to the West Midlands to promote a local bike hire scheme, despite the train from London taking just more than two hours.Critics said the flight was “completely unnecessary” and cast doubt on the sincerity of the prime minister’s pledges to fight the climate crisis. Air travel produces far more global-heating emissions than other modes of transport. Continue reading...

Court ruling gives go-ahead for sugar plantation in Bugoma forest, home to endangered chimpanzeesConservationists in Uganda have condemned as “shallow and absurd” a court ruling that authorised the government to allow swathes of a tropical forest to be cleared for a sugar-cane plantation.Three environmental groups had taken the government to court over a decision to allow Hoima Sugar Ltd to build on 5,500 hectares (13,500 acres) in the Bugoma Forest Reserve. Continue reading...

Research says discharge of untreated sewage and wastewater during dry spells to blameWater companies are causing high levels of microplastic contamination in UK rivers by discharging untreated sewage and wastewater into the water system, new research reveals.As pressure builds on water companies, the Environment Agency and ministers to tackle the way water firms release untreated effluent into rivers, scientists have for the first time linked the practice to microplastic pollution. Continue reading...

Move comes after campaign by New Forest national park authority in wake of fire in Wareham Forest last MayDisposable barbecues have been banned across a swath of open countryside in Hampshire and Dorset after a campaign led by the New Forest national park authority.The move to ban the sale of disposable barbecues began last May in the wake of a catastrophic fire in Wareham Forest, Dorset, which burned slow worms and lizards alive and damaged more than 200 hectares (500 acres) of the site of special scientific interest. The fire was thought to have been caused by a disposable barbecue or a campfire. Continue reading...

In states like Kansas, energy companies want to impose charges on people who produce their own power with rooftop arraysKevin Good is the president of a small solar power company in Kansas – a state that tends to be so sunny you’d think he’d have it made.“I got into solar at maybe the worst point to do so in the last 50 years,” said Good, who runs Good Energy Solutions in Lawrence, a town of about 100,000. Continue reading...

Undocumented immigrants are doing the backbreaking farm work that keeps the US food system running but struggle to feed their familiesPhotographs by Encarni PindadoIn the piercing midday heat of southern Texas, farmhand Linda Villarreal moves methodically to weed row after row of parsley, rising only occasionally to stretch her achy back and nibble on sugary biscuits she keeps in her pockets. In the distance, a green and white border patrol truck drives along the levee beside the towering steel border wall.For this backbreaking work, Villareal is paid $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage since 2009, with no benefits. She takes home between $300 and $400 a week depending on the amount of orders from the bodegas – packaging warehouses which supply the country’s supermarkets with fruits and vegetables harvested by crews of undocumented mostly Mexican farmworkers. Continue reading...

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta – plagued by pollution, flooding and heatwaves – tops risk assessment rankingOf the 100 cities worldwide most vulnerable to environmental hazards all but one are in Asia, and 80% are in India or China, according to a risk assessment.More than 400 large cities with a total population of 1.5 billion are at “high” or “extreme” risk because of a mix of life-shortening pollution, dwindling water supplies, deadly heatwaves, natural disasters and the climate emergency, the report found. Continue reading...