Environment | The Guardian

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...

Duke tells IMF and World Bank event that investment in reforestation and cleaner oceans must be stepped upBanks can help to turn the tide in the battle against climate breakdown by investing more in nature, the Duke of Cambridge has said.Prince William told a joint International Monetary Fund and World Bank event on the climate emergency that there needed to be a marked stepping-up of investment in projects such as reforestation and cleaner oceans. Continue reading...

Culprit has struck up to 30 times in 10 days under cover of darkness along stretch of River ThamesPolice are hunting a mystery tree feller who has cut down dozens of trees along a particularly picturesque stretch of the River Thames in Surrey, to the consternation of local residents.In what has been called the “chainsaw massacre”, the culprit has struck up to 30 times over 10 days and is believed to be operating under cover of darkness. Continue reading...

Agribusiness plans to use 40,000 megalitres a year to irrigate farming operations which could affect groundwater dependent ecosystemsThe Northern Territory government has granted the largest groundwater extraction licence in the territory’s history to an agribusiness that plans to use 40,000 megalitres a year to irrigate farming operations.The territory’s water controller approved the water licence on Thursday, saying it was satisfied the licence was sustainable if the proponent, Fortune Agribusiness, met several conditions related to water monitoring and environmental compliance. Continue reading...

Unexpected crowd of revelers discovered on Saturday when forest protection officers patrolled part of the forestMore than 5,000 people gathered at Tonto national forest, near Phoenix, Arizona, last weekend in a giant party that involved fireworks and target practice.Campers and partiers taped off areas of the main road in what was an unauthorized and illegal gathering that resulted in an emergency medical evacuation and an assortment of traffic violations, according to officials. Continue reading...

Virtual buoys and time triggered traps reduce risk to endangered North Atlantic right whale, but reactions among fishers in US and Canada are mixedRopes that spring to the water’s surface when summoned and virtual buoys could hold the key to saving one of the world’s most endangered whale species, scientists and conservation groups have said.As the North Atlantic right whale nears the brink of extinction – amid reports of whales tangled in metres of thick fishing lines and findings suggesting 85% of the population have been entangled at least once – calls have grown for the adoption of ropeless fishing, using gear that does not involve any vertical lines. Continue reading...

Former PM says NSW deputy premier and One Nation’s Mark Latham are treating the people of the Hunter Valley with ‘complete contempt’Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused John Barilaro of “gaslighting” the people of the Hunter Valley after the New South Wales deputy premier claimed air quality data had been manipulated by environmental groups.Barilaro had claimed on Tuesday that concerns about poor air quality caused by coalmining in the region were exaggerated by environmental groups who “manipulate the data to suit their argument”. Continue reading...

Ministers must consider cumulative impact of proposals ‘likely to compromise’ emissions targets

With five million birds a year illegally caught in Italy, activists in Brescia are teaming up with local police to trap the huntersAfter two hours of scouring the mountains of Brescia, Stefania Travaglia finally finds what she is looking for. Among the remote farmhouses of an alpine hamlet, a spring-net trap is partially hidden behind a grassy embankment and a few trees. Tangled in the wire mesh, an exhausted fieldfare thrush sits silent and unmoving.Travaglia sets to work quickly and quietly, hiding two motion-sensor cameras next to the trap. Clear evidence of wrongdoing is needed to catch a poacher. “You have to see everything: you have to see the trap; you have to see the person; and if there is a bird in it,” she says. Continue reading...

The first black man to lead the EPA in half a century has a job on his hands at an agency reeling from setbacks – but he’s confident he can meet the challengeMichael Regan has perhaps the most fiendishly challenging job within Joe Biden’s administration. As the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Regan not only has to grapple with the unfolding cataclysm of the climate crisis, he must do so at the helm of a traumatized, shrunken institution still reeling from the chaos of the Donald Trump era.Related: Exclusive: EPA reverses Trump stance in push to tackle environmental racism Continue reading...

Dry, sunny summers and cooler, wetter winters are moderated by the long coastline

Charity urges public to join Million Mile Beach Clean, created to mark emergence from UK lockdownThe public is being urged to clear plastic and litter from their local beaches, rivers and parks as part of a million-mile clean-up to mark the emergence from lockdown.Surfers Against Sewage, which is launching the scheme, said it wanted to reconnect people with nature and help promote physical and mental wellbeing. Continue reading...

Scientists say threats whales are facing are ‘far more complex today than whaling’, with population set to decline due to climate crisisScientists and environment groups are urging the government not to remove the humpback whale from Australia’s list of threatened species because of growing threats, including from the climate crisis.The federal government is considering delisting the humpback whale, which is categorised as vulnerable under national environmental laws, due to the recovery of populations since the end of whaling. Continue reading...

US activist and dramatist Erika Dickerson-Despenza wins Susan Smith Blackburn prize with the play cullud wattahA “bold and urgent” play about the Flint water crisis, seen through the eyes of an all-female Michigan family, has won this year’s Susan Smith Blackburn prize for female, transgender and non-binary playwrights. The award went to Erika Dickerson-Despenza for cullud wattah, part of a tetralogy about water which the playwright hopes will “raise consciousness and radicalise” audiences.“I’m a black woman who has grown up in a family of primarily black women,” said Dickerson-Despenza. “I wanted to write about women living under siege – environmental racism, classism and gender dynamics, and what this does to women and girls in the black midwest. Because I’m a grassroots organiser and activist, I think of all my work as a vehicle. My goal is to radicalise people … I will explore an issue in a creative way to raise collective consciousness.” Continue reading...

Study suggests it is already too warm in tropics for some species to surviveGlobal heating has made the ocean around the equator less rich in wildlife, with conditions likely already too hot for some species to survive, according to a new study.Analysis of the changing locations of almost 50,000 marine species between 1955 and 2015 found a predicted impact of global heating – species moving away from the equator – can now be observed at a global scale. Continue reading...

Concentrations are 50% above pre-industrial levels despite dip in emissions during Covid pandemicConcentrations of climate-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have hit record highs, despite a dip in emissions during the Covid pandemic, scientists have said.The latest measurements from the long-running recording station at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, show global levels of carbon dioxide are 50% above what they were when the Industrial Revolution began in Britain. Continue reading...

Environmental Protection Agency launches crackdown on pollution that disproportionately affects people of colorMichael Regan, head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, has sought to revive the effort to confront environmental racism by ordering the agency to crack down on the pollution that disproportionately blights people of color.On Wednesday, Regan issued a directive to EPA staff to “infuse equity and environmental justice principles and priorities into all EPA practices, policies, and programs”. The memo demands the agency use the “full array of policy and legal tools at our disposal” to ensure vulnerable communities are front of mind when issuing permits for polluting facilities or cleaning up following disasters. Continue reading...

Inuit Ataqatigiit secures 37% of votes, and leader calls for halt to uranium mining project at KvanefjeldGreenland’s main opposition party, which is against an international mining project involving uranium and other metals on the Arctic island, has emerged as the biggest party after winning more than a third of votes in an early parliamentary election.The left-leaning Community of the People party (Inuit Ataqatigiit) secured 37% of the votes, entitling it to 12 seats in the Greenlandic national assembly, the 31-seat Inatsisartut. Continue reading...

Wildlife charities call for people spending time at sea to give space to marine mammalsDolphins face an increasing risk of disturbance from people taking to the sea on boats, jetskis, paddleboards and kayaks as lockdown eases, campaigners have warned.Many people were not aware of the laws against disturbing dolphins, whales and porpoises – or that they risked fines for breaking them, said Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) and the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). Continue reading...

People who may have eaten fish asked to come forward as authorities investigate sea life deathsAuthorities in Ghana are investigating the deaths of hundreds of dolphins and fish that washed up on beaches in Ghana in recent days, as fears grow that contaminated fish have been sold to customers.Dead sea species have littered beaches in Accra and near the capital’s shoreline since Friday. Officials said close to 100 dead dolphins had washed up on Axim beach, while videos posted on social media showed scores of varying species including eels and several fish species. Continue reading...

The healthcare climate footprint is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 514 coal-fired plants but health workers are finding ways to cut wasteLois Wessel used to work as a labor and delivery nurse in community clinics in Maryland. She remembers that every time a baby was born, she would see a beautiful little creature – and then she’d see a whole big bag full of garbage, of sheets, supplies packaging and tubing.Shanda Demorest, also a nurse, used to work on the cardiac unit of a hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She said when many of her patients were at the end of their lives, caring for them took an “astronomical and perplexing” amount of resources. Continue reading...

Efforts to reverse decline include transforming an ex-golf course and rewilding a village

Figures show that 75% of SUVS were bought by people living in towns and cities

Analysis finds 77% of directors on boards of seven US banks have ties to ‘climate-conflicted’ groups, as banks continue to finance projects like the Line 3 oil pipelineUS banks are pledging to help fight the climate crisis alongside the Biden administration, but their boards are dominated by people with climate-related conflicts of interest, and they continue to invest deeply in fossil fuel projects.Three out of every four board members at seven major US banks (77%) have current or past ties to climate-conflicted companies or organizations – from oil and gas corporations to trade groups that lobby against reducing climate pollution, according to a first-of-its-kind review by climate influence analysts for DeSmog. Continue reading...

Sun and wind generated 60% of all electricity on Monday, data showsGreat Britain’s electricity system recorded its greenest ever day over the Easter bank holiday as sunshine and windy weather led to a surge in renewable energy.The power plants generating electricity in England, Scotland and Wales produced only 39g of carbon dioxide for every kilowatt-hour of electricity on Monday, according to National Grid’s electricity system operator, the lowest carbon intensity recorded since National Grid records began in 1935. Continue reading...

State agency says engineers found no evidence of another breach as workers battle to avert catastrophic floodReports of a second breach at a wastewater reservoir in central Florida are “unsubstantiated”, a state agency said, as workers nonetheless battled to prevent hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated water causing a catastrophic flood.On Monday, officials warned there could be a second leak in the pool at the abandoned Piney Point phosphate plant, south of Tampa, which has been gushing wastewater from a breached wall for a week, at a rate of 2m to 3m gallons a day. Continue reading...

Estimate of marine assets balloons as offshore wind soars alongside seaside’s importance for recreation, carbon capture and wildlifeThe economic value of the UK’s coastal waters has been put at more than £200bn amid growing recognition of the sea’s importance for renewable energy and as a barrier against global heating.In an official estimate for the value of marine natural assets, the Office for National Statistics said offshore wind production had soared in value by 37 times in the past decade. Continue reading...

Two main parties are divided over a giant project that would dig for uranium and other mineralsGreenland went into legislative elections on Tuesday, after a campaign focused on a disputed mining project in the autonomous Danish territory as the Arctic island confronts first-hand the effects of global heating.Greenland’s two main parties are divided on whether to authorise a controversial giant rare earth and uranium mining project, which is currently the subject of public hearings. Continue reading...

Yorkshire Water says it is committed to improving River Wharfe as swimming season approaches

It’s been just four years since the state’s last drought emergency and battles are beginning over how scarce supplies are rationedCalifornia is at the edge of another protracted drought, just a few years after one of the worst dry spells in state history left poor and rural communities without well water, triggered major water restrictions in cities, forced farmers to idle their fields, killed millions of trees, and fueled devastating megafires.On Thursday, the unofficial end of California’s wet season, officials announced that the accumulation of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Cascades was about 40% below average levels. The state doesn’t have enough snow and rain banked to replenish its groundwater supplies, feed its rivers and streams or fill depleted reservoirs. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Experts in court challenge to £27bn programme say official emissions calculations dramatically underestimate figuresCarbon emissions from England’s planned £27bn roadbuilding programme will be about 100 times greater than the government has stated, according to expert witnesses in a court challenge.Environmental campaigners are seeking a judicial review of the second roads investment strategy (RIS2), which was described by ministers when launched as “the largest ever investment in English strategic roads”, paying for 4,000 miles of road and including such schemes as the Lower Thames Crossing and the Stonehenge tunnel. Continue reading...

Former PM claims NSW Coalition government was influenced by News Corp when it reversed his appointment to new Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy boardMalcolm Turnbull claims the New South Wales Coalition government was influenced by a “concerted and ferocious” rightwing media campaign led by News Corp after it reversed his appointment to lead a new climate change body.The state’s energy and environment minister, Matt Kean, issued a statement on Tuesday morning saying the former prime minister had been dropped as the chair of the Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy board. Continue reading...

Recently, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed the African elephant as two separate species – the forest elephant and savannah elephant. The move has increased these animals’ ‘red list’ categorisation to endangered for savannah elephants and critically endangered for forest elephants. In an Age of Extinction extra for Science Weekly, Patrick Greenfield asks why it has taken so long for these two species to be officially recognised as such, and what the reclassification could mean for their conservation Continue reading...

Millions of gallons of toxic water have been pumped into ecologically sensitive Tampa Bay in an effort to avert a collapseWorkers battling to prevent the collapse of a central Florida reservoir containing hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated water identified a potential second leak on Monday. But officials expressed hope that a dreaded “20ft wall of water”, resulting from a total failure of the reservoir walls, could yet be averted.Related: Florida faces 'imminent' pollution catastrophe from phosphate mine pond Continue reading...