Charred tree – which may be thousands of years old – looks like chimney spouting smoke in national forestScientists have discovered a giant sequoia still smoldering in California’s Sequoia national forest, months after wildfires tore through the region last August.The tree was found, charred but still standing, by researchers in the lower part of the national forest this week. While turning down a sharp switchback on the trail, a member of Sequoia’s fire ecology and research team spotted a plume of smoke in the ravine below. Using a long camera lens, the team tracked the smoke to a single giant sequoia, standing in the burn area from last year’s Castle fire. The enormous tree, which has probably stood for hundreds if not thousands of years, looked like a chimney spouting smoke in the middle of the blackened forest. Continue reading...

It rains nearly 40% of the time in the Swedish city – so why not try to make the most of it?When they wake up on a Saturday morning to find rain coursing down the windows of their Gothenburg apartment, four-year-old Enja Bäckström and her six-year-old brother Charlie often still want to go out to play.That’s because their local playground has been designed to be particularly fun when it’s wet. There are dips in the ground to make the puddles deeper and more satisfyingly splashy, and water gushes down channels from lilypad-shaped rain shelters into a sandpit where children can make pools, rivers and dams. “The kids love to go on their bicycles through the puddles, and my son likes to dig the sands, so some parts of the playground are really nice when it rains,” says their mother, Jessica Bäckström. Continue reading...

Keith Pitt says loan of up to $280m for a Kaban green energy hub near Cairns would be ‘inconsistent with the objectives and policies of the commonwealth’The Morrison government has vetoed public funding of a windfarm and battery project in northern Queensland, with a cabinet minister declaring it was inconsistent with its goals and policies.The Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (Naif), a government agency, in January approved up to $280m funding for the Kaban green energy hub 80km south-west of Cairns. The proponents, Neoen Australia, estimated the development could reduce electricity prices for Queensland consumers by $461m over the life of the project. Continue reading...

Environmental groups say Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein shot bear, named Arthur, in a protected areaEnvironmental groups have accused a prince from Liechtenstein’s royal family of shooting and killing the largest bear in Romania, in contravention of a ban on the trophy hunting of large carnivores.The Romanian NGO Agent Green and the Austrian NGO VGT alleged in a statement that the bear, who was called Arthur, was shot in March in a protected area of the Carpathian Mountains by Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein. Continue reading...

Campaigners warn offset system is flawed and can produce credits with no climate benefitAirlines should focus on reducing emissions from flights instead of using carbon offsets for climate commitments, experts and environmental campaigners have warned.British Airways and easyJet are among several leading carriers that use carbon offsets to back up claims of “carbon-neutral flying” and net zero pledges by buying credits on behalf of passengers or offering customers that opportunity to buy them when booking tickets. Continue reading...

World faces ‘abrupt jump’ in pace of ice loss around 2060 unless emissions reduced to meet Paris agreement goals, study warnsThe current pace of global heating risks unleashing “rapid and unstoppable” sea level rise from the melting of Antarctica’s vast ice sheet, a new research paper has warned.Unless planet-heating emissions are swiftly reduced to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement, the world faces a situation where there is an “abrupt jump” in the pace of Antarctic ice loss around 2060, the study states, fueling sea level rise and placing coastal cities in greater peril. Continue reading...

Within days to a couple weeks at most the cicadas of Brood X will emerge in mass numbers from Indiana to Georgia to New YorkSifting through a shovel load of dirt in a suburban backyard, Michael Raupp and Paula Shrewsbury find their quarry: a cicada nymph.And then another. And another. And four more. Continue reading...

Southern Water’s proposal to convert saltwater from Solent into tap water labelled ‘bizarre’ and ‘expensive’Plans to build an energy-hungry desalination plant in the New Forest national park to provide drinking water for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been condemned by campaigners including the broadcaster Chris Packham.Southern Water’s proposal for a £600m plant at Fawley to convert saltwater from the Solent into tap water during droughts has been formally opposed by the New Forest national park authority. A separate petition against the plan has attracted several thousand signatures. Continue reading...

Googly-eyed device to be tested in gillnet fisheries after study finds it deters long-tailed ducksScarecrows may be outstanding in their field, but now scientists have created an unusual floating version that could help reduce the number of vulnerable seabirds caught by fishing nets.The device, known as a looming-eyes buoy (LEB), and developed in collaboration with engineers from Fishtek Marine, was trialled in Küdema Bay, Saaremaa island, Estonia, on long-tailed ducks. It uses bright eyespots and looming movements to act as a natural deterrent, preventing seabirds from diving into gillnets – vertical nets used in small-scale fisheries in many countries. Continue reading...

Foundation was controversially awarded $443m grant by Turnbull government in 2018 on the basis it would be able to leverage money from private sector

In Richmond Park, decaying logs and mangled old branches are no longer cleared away but valued as habitats for birds and insects

Mammoth moth which can have 25cm wingspan found by builders working on Queensland primary schoolA giant moth with a wingspan measuring up to 25cm has been found at a Queensland school next to a rainforest.Builders found the giant wood moth, the heaviest moth in the world, while constructing new classrooms at Mount Cotton state school. Continue reading...

Group pledges to shift towards model where items for sale can be reused, recycled or rejiggedThe UK’s biggest furniture retailer, Ikea, will launch a scheme to buy back unwanted furniture from customers to resell as part of the Swedish group’s efforts to reduce its impact on the environment.The group has pledged to shift towards a circular model of consumption where items it sells can be reused, recycled or rejigged rather than dumped. Continue reading...

Campaigners say many investments still high carbon and call on firms to sign green pensions charter

Campaigners and Labour youth groups urge London mayor to shelve plan for £2bn Silvertown tunnelYoung people concerned about the climate crisis and air pollution are urging the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, to abandon his plans for a new four-lane road tunnel under the Thames or risk losing their support.Climate justice campaigners, anti-pollution activists and key youth groups inside the Labour party say Khan, who is standing for re-election on Thursday, is ignoring climate scientists, economists and health experts by pressing ahead with the £2bn Silvertown tunnel scheme in east London. Continue reading...

Country’s inland coastline along the Black Sea enjoys milder weather and its resorts are popular destinationsLike other countries in south-east Europe, Romania has a temperate continental climate, with very warm summers and cold, snowy winters.In the capital, Bucharest, summer temperatures regularly reach the mid-30s, while in winter they drop well below zero. Springs are short – the shift between winter and summer taking place rapidly between mid-April and mid-May. Continue reading...

A new film rejects the popular narrative and recasts the former president, 96, as hugely prescient thinker, particularly on climate changeWhen I reach Jimmy Carter’s grandson by Zoom, he answers wearing a Raphael Warnock campaign T-shirt. Jason Carter is a lawyer and politician himself, mid-40s, animated and well-read, with blue eyes reminiscent of his grandfather’s. He’s just got off the phone with his 93-year-old grandmother, Rosalynn. It’s a special day; Joe Biden is on his way to the Carter house in Plains, Georgia.“My grandfather has met nearly everyone in the world he might want to,” Jason Carter says. “Right now, he’s meeting with the president of the United States. But the person he’d say he learned the most from was Rachel Clark, an illiterate sharecropper who lived on his family’s farm. Continue reading...

Wind turbines generated 48.5% of electricity grid in England, Scotland and Wales on MondayGreat Britain’s windfarms set a new clean energy record on Monday after the blowy bank holiday weather helped onshore and offshore wind turbines make up almost half of the electricity system.The blustery bank holiday produced a new wind power record as turbines generated just over 17.6GW of electricity for the first time in the middle of Monday afternoon, enough to run more than 3.5m kettles. Continue reading...

Chain becomes first big retailer to completely switch to lab-grown stones, amid ethical concernsPandora has become the first big jeweller to turn its back on mined diamonds, with the switch to lab-grown stones billed as making diamond jewellery more affordable.On Tuesday the mass-market brand, best known for its charm bracelets, launched Pandora Brilliance, which it described as its “first lab-created diamond collection”. The range, which includes earrings, necklaces and rings, features lab-grown stones made in the UK, with prices starting at £250. Continue reading...

Guardian investigation finds carbon credits generated by forest protection schemes are based on flawed system

Expansion will stretch hundreds miles and is fiercely opposed by numerous groups – but despite repeated calls the Canadian government has not forced the pipeline reveal its insurersNestled in the harbors of Vancouver, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation has lived for thousands of years within an inlet set against the mountain views of the Pacific north-west.But across the water from Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s reserve, less than 2km away, or a little over a mile, is a jarring juxtaposition: an industrial terminal for the large Trans Mountain oil pipeline. Continue reading...

Rise is a 0.2C improvement on previous forecast but still substantially above goal of Paris climate agreementNew climate targets announced by the US and other rich nations in recent weeks have put the world on track for global heating of about 2.4C by – the end of the century, research has found.That is a 0.2C improvement on the previous forecast of 2.6C, but still substantially above the Paris goal of holding temperature rises to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an aspiration to limit heating to 1.5C. Continue reading...

Analysis: greater use of bikes can help tackle emissions in the capital, but can the would-be mayors deliver?After a year in which lives, homes and jobs were lost to a global pandemic, why does cycling matter? One of the London mayor’s major mandates is transport. Cycling and walking are a key part of that, not least while many people are avoiding public transport or working from home.If people switch from public transport to driving, Transport for London (TfL) forecasts a huge rise in motor traffic and a corresponding surge in pollution. With road transport accounting for 20% of London’s emissions, providing alternatives to private cars is key. Continue reading...

Accelerating retreat of glaciers in Lombardy and Trentino Alto-Aldige reveals preserved history of ‘White War’The soldiers dug the wooden barracks into a cave on the top of Mount Scorluzzo, a 3,095-metre (10154ft) peak overlooking the Stelvio pass. For the next three-and-a-half years, the cramped, humid space was home to about 20 men from the Austro-Hungarian army as they fought against Italian troops in what became known as the White War, a battle waged across treacherous and bitterly cold Alpine terrain during the first world war.Fought mainly in the Alps of the Lombardy region of Italy and the Dolomites in Trentino Alto-Adige, the White War was a period of history frozen in time until the 1990s, when global warming started to reveal an assortment of perfectly preserved relics – weapons, sledges, letters, diaries and, as the retreat of glaciers hastened, the bodies of soldiers. Continue reading...

Green Alliance says 16,000 jobs could be created in areas facing most severe employment challengesSome of the areas of Britain worst hit by the jobs crisis brought on by the pandemic are also those with the highest potential for green job creation, a report says.About 16,000 new jobs could be created in restoring nature and planting trees in areas where unemployment is set to soar when the government’s furlough schemes end, according to the report from the Green Alliance thinktank. These include urban areas where people have little access to green space, as well as coastal areas and “red wall” areas that were Labour strongholds in the north of England. Continue reading...

Charity urges mayor to back plans for signage and maps to guide walkers around lost waterways

The tiny creatures are the ‘unsung heroes’ that keep soils healthy and underpin all life on landPesticides are causing widespread damage to the tiny creatures that keep soils healthy and underpin all life on land, according to the first comprehensive review of the issue.The researchers found the measured impacts of farm chemicals on earthworms, beetles, springtails and other organisms were overwhelmingly negative. Other scientists said the findings were alarming, given the importance of these “unsung heroes”. Continue reading...

Confirmation comes as questions raised over controversial Snowy Hydro project in Hunter ValleyEnergy Australia has confirmed it will proceed with a new 300MW peaking power plant in the Illawarra in New South Wales capable of using a blend of green hydrogen and natural gas, as officials faced questions about a controversial Snowy Hydro project in the Hunter Valley.Confirmation that the Energy Australia project will proceed follows a threat from the Morrison government to intervene in the market to ensure there are not shortfalls once the ageing coal-fired power plant at Liddell in the Hunter Valley closes in 2023. Continue reading...

Lenders including Barclays and HSBC provided services and loans worth £21.9bn in 2019British banks’ financial support for companies involved in the coal industry has risen since the 2015 Paris agreement, despite their pledges to wind down financing for a sector seen as a significant obstacle to tackling global heating.UK lenders provided loans and underwriting services worth $30.3bn (£21.9bn) to companies that sold or burned coal, or provided coal industry services, during 2019, the latest year for which complete data is available, according to research by the campaign groups Reclaim Finance and Urgewald. That represented a significant increase compared with $21.5bn in financing provided in 2016. Continue reading...

Temperatures expected to be 15F above average on Monday and Tuesday in drought-desiccated Sacramento areaDry, hot weather and strong winds have triggered a “red flag” fire warning for parts of northern California, the first time the National Weather Service has issued such a warning for the region in the month of May since 2014.Temperatures in northern California and the Bay Area are expected to peak 15F above average on Monday and Tuesday, with 20- to 35mph wind gusts expected in some parts, prompting the NWS to warn of dangerous fire conditions in the Sacramento region. The red flag warning is expected to expire after 11am Tuesday. Continue reading...

Environmental Protection Agency proposes rule to cut production and import of HFCs in the US by 85% over the next 15 yearsThe US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has moved to restrict the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), extremely powerful planet-heating gases found in refrigerators and air conditioning units that are the target of an international push for phasing out.In the first move by Joe Biden’s administration to directly cut a greenhouse gas, the EPA has proposed a rule to drastically reduce the production and import of HFCs in the US by 85% over the next 15 years. The step is a significant one as Biden seeks to cut total US emissions in half by the end of the decade. Continue reading...

Community groups are revitalising retail units in often moribund high streets to help people and planetDozens of familiar high street retail units across England and Wales, including Homebase, River Island and William Hill have been converted into climate emergency centres – community hubs “for the benefit of people and planet” – after changes in shopping habits or the Covid pandemic left them sitting empty.As hundreds of councils declare a climate emergency, owners of vacant premises have the option to reduce their business rates payments by up to 100% through leasing the property for community benefit to a not-for-profit or charitable organisation, such as a climate emergency centre (CEC). Continue reading...

Six out of 10 polls published in past two weeks put Greens ahead of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic UnionA green wind of change is blowing through Germany’s political landscape as a poll-of-polls on Monday puts the Green party above Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) only five months before national elections.The aggregate poll, published by Pollytix Strategic Research, puts the Greens in the lead for the first time since June 2019. Continue reading...

Global phenomenon known as river piracy demands urgent adaptation from ecosystems and people who rely on their flowAs glaciers around the world recede rapidly owing to global warming, some communities are facing a new problem: the sudden disappearance of their rivers.River piracy, or stream capture, is when water from one river is diverted into another because of erosion or, in this case, glacier melt. Continue reading...

Unique species in ‘the world’s most biodiverse desert’ are at risk from a warming planet and the lucrative plant poaching tradeIn May 2020, 10mm of rain fell at Sendelingsdrif Rest Camp in South Africa’s most north-westerly corner. After enduring nine years of almost zero rain, Pieter van Wyk, a 32-year-old self-taught botanist who heads up the Richtersveld national park’s nursery, was elated to see several species flower for the first time in almost a decade. The rain, including 200mm on the nearby mountains, was a welcome respite for the world heritage site’s flora and fauna.His joy, however, was short-lived. While the rain gave a temporary lease of life to some annuals and bulbs in the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld transfrontier park, it did little to alter the fact that scores of species, especially large succulent plants such as aloes, are in peril. A study to be published by Van Wyk and others shows that 85% of the population of the distinctive Pearson’s aloe (Aloe pearsonii) – endemic to the Richtersveld – has been lost in the past five years, having been a stable presence for the previous four decades. Continue reading...

Worried researchers hold ceremony for Clark glacier to illustrate how climate crisis is eroding icepacksThe funeral was a suitably solemn affair. The small casket was placed on a table covered in a black drape, a maudlin yet defiant speech quoted a Dylan Thomas poem, a moment’s silence was held.Inside the casket, however, was not a body, but a vial of meltwater from Clark glacier in Oregon, once an imposing body of ice but now a shrivelled remnant. Continue reading...

Richard Parker was a self-described naturalist. Then an anonymous tip led investigators to a scene of ‘carnage’

Long-awaited strategy includes plan to power all government-owned schools and hospitals with renewables by 2025The Victorian government has promised to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, in an announcement of long-awaited climate targets that outstrip commitments made by the Morrison government.The plan, announced on Sunday, will see Victoria power all government-owned enterprises, including schools and hospitals, by renewables by 2025. Continue reading...

More than 12,000 deaths have already been attributed to glacial lake outburst floods worldwideAn increasing number of people are being threatened by flooding caused by glacial lakes bursting, scientists have warned.As the planet warms and glaciers recede, meltwater accumulates and forms lakes, often as a result of ice or moraine acting as a dam. Since 1990, the volume, area and number of these glacial lakes has increased by 50% globally. When these lakes become too full there is a risk that they may breach or overflow, releasing huge volumes of water and causing catastrophic flooding. Continue reading...

An almost unbelievable future is at hand, and Britain is well placed to lay claim to a stake in itThe Apollo 11 space mission captured our imaginations in 1969. And it was achingly evocative to hear the recordings of Michael Collins, who died last week, talk about how looking at Earth from space rammed home just how precious our planet is.Last week also marked three other milestones for space. A record $8.7bn has been raised by venture capitalists in the last year to support companies in commercial opportunities from space; France’s Eutelsat joined the UK as a shareholder in the satellite communications company OneWeb; and China launched the first part of its own space station to host three “taikonauts”. We are moving beyond the wonder of watching Collins’s colleagues, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, walk on the moon to something transformational. Continue reading...

Head of the Kunming biodiversity summit asks nations to review destructive support for fishing, agriculture and other industriesBillions of pounds of environmentally harmful government subsidies must be redirected to benefit nature, the United Nation’s biodiversity chief has said, before the restart of negotiations on an international agreement to set new targets for protecting nature.Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said states must review and adapt support for agriculture, fishing and other industries that are driving the destruction of the natural world, and adopt policies that meet human needs while also conserving the health of the planet. Continue reading...

Col Faulkner, 68, owns the only house in Wollar that hasn’t been bought up by US-based miner PeabodyBev Smiles usually turns up at least an hour before the start of any functions at Wollar’s community hall – a spot for many a dance and committee meeting over the years.“We have to get in early with leaf blowers to get an inch of dust off the floor – every surface in the hall is black,” Smiles says. “That’s what people’s kitchens are like.” Continue reading...

The power station on the banks of the Hudson has no place in the state’s plans switch to renewables but critics say in the short term it means lost jobs and increased emissionsAmerica’s energy past and future was on display on Friday at Indian Point, a nuclear plant 25 miles north of New York City that has been producing electricity since 1962.Related: Don't believe hydrogen and nuclear hype – they can’t get us to net zero carbon by 2050 | Jonathon Porritt Continue reading...

A recent spate of deaths in the region has caused concern, but scientists say it may not be a sign of catastropheThe 45ft carcass lay belly-up in the surf at Fort Funston beach, just south of San Francisco, drawing a small crowd of hikers and hang gliders. The stench lingered on the evening breeze as seabirds circled the animal, a juvenile fin whale.The whale was the fifth to wash ashore in the area this month. The other four were gray whales – giant cetaceans who migrate an astounding 11,000 miles each year from Alaska to Baja and back – all found on beaches near the city over a span of just eight days. Continue reading...

Mountain glacier melt contributes more than a quarter of extra volume to the world’s oceans, disrupting ancient cycles of creation“If glaciers are what you are after, that’s the place for you.” The speaker was an prospector passing through Fort Wrangell, Alaska, in 1879. The subject was a remote bay, flanked by rugged walls of ice and filled with floating bergs. The listener was the Scottish-American environmental philosopher John Muir, who needed no further encouragement to set out in a canoe soon after with a large stock of provisions, blankets and a determination to visit the frozen wonderland.It was October. Winter was approaching. The territory ahead was largely uncharted. His five travelling companions – four members of the Hoonah Tlingit people and a missionary – were warned the dangers were so great they would never return. Muir was undeterred. “The icy regions burned in my mind,” he noted. “I determined to go ahead as far north as possible.” Continue reading...

A novel lawsuit is taking advantage of a local ‘rights of nature’ measure passed in November in effort to protect wetlandsA network of streams, lakes and marshes in Florida is suing a developer and the state to try to stop a housing development from destroying them.The novel lawsuit was filed on Monday in Orange county on behalf of the waterways under a “rights of nature” law passed in November. It is the largest US municipality to adopt such a law to date. Continue reading...

Mass weighing equivalent of 250 cars not expected to be cleared until June, says water companyEngineers are working around the clock to clear a “monster” fatberg 1km long which is clogging a sewer in Birmingham.The blockage is not expected to be removed until June, water services company Severn Trent said in a statement, adding that the fatberg was about four miles east of the city centre, in Hodge Hill. Continue reading...

Wood stoves and open fires a big source of PM2.5, identified by WHO as most serious air pollutant for human healthRestrictions on the sale of coal, wet wood and manufactured solid fuels that can be burned in the home have come into force in England as the government attempts to cut air pollution.Wood-burning stoves and open fires can still be used from 1 May but must be fuelled by cleaner alternatives, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said. Continue reading...