A huge rescue effort is under way near Strahan in Macquarie Harbour, with 60 people and several boatsRescuers have freed 25 of the 270 whales stranded on Tasmania’s west coast with the state government confirming about 90 of the marine mammals have already died.A huge rescue effort got under way near Strahan in Macquarie Harbour on Tuesday morning, with 60 people and several boats trying to free the marine mammals stuck on two sandbanks and a beach. Continue reading...
Australia’s commitment to limit global heating to between 1.5C and 2C requires a mid-century net zero target, according to latest scienceThe Morrison government’s rejection of a net zero emissions target for 2050 is at odds with the Paris agreement and more than 100 countries that have backed the goal, according to some of Australia’s most experienced climate experts.Scott Morrison told the ABC on Sunday that the government’s position was to reach net zero carbon dioxide emissions “in the second half of the century, and we’ll certainly achieve that”. Continue reading...
Sea ice minimum has fallen below 4m sq km for the second time in 40 years as the climate crisis rapidly transforms the regionRising temperatures in the Arctic shrank the ice covering the polar ocean this year to its second-lowest extent in four decades, scientists have announced, in yet another sign of how the climate crisis is rapidly transforming the region.Satellites recorded this year’s sea ice minimum at 3.74m sq km on 15 September, only the second time the ice has been measured below 4m sq km in 40 years of record keeping, said researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Continue reading...
Prince of Wales says threat posed by global heating will ‘dwarf the impact of the coronavirus pandemic’Prince Charles has called for the world to put itself on a “warlike footing” to tackle the “comprehensive catastrophe” caused by the climate crisis and the loss of nature.The threat posed by global heating and the degradation of biodiversity will “dwarf the impact of the coronavirus pandemic”, the Prince of Wales said. Continue reading...
Aviation firm announces three different concepts with aim of taking to the skies by 2035Airbus has announced plans for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft models that run on hydrogen and could take to the skies by 2035.The European aersospace company revealed three different aircraft concepts that would be put through their paces to find the most efficient way to travel long distances by plane without producing the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global heating. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Smithers Consumer affairs correspondent on (#58D4V)
Devon-based company scores highly owing to employee ownership modelThe organic vegetable box company Riverford has been certified as an ethical B Corporation business, reflecting its focus on its workers’ wellbeing through its John Lewis-style employee ownership model.The Devon-based company scored 124.6 out of 200 in its first B Corp assessment, becoming the second highest-scoring food business overall in the UK behind the chocolate brand Divine Chocolate. Continue reading...
Elephants may have ingested toxins produced by bacteria found in waterholesHundreds of elephants died in Botswana earlier this year from ingesting toxins produced by cyanobacteria, according to government officials who say they will be testing waterholes for algal blooms next rainy season to reduce the risk of another mass die-off.The mysterious death of 350 elephants in the Okavango delta between May and June baffled conservationists, with leading theories suggesting they were killed by a rodent virus known as EMC (encephalomyocarditis) or toxins from algal blooms. Continue reading...
Trump administration targets Iranian officials and demands EU powers follow suitThe US has slapped a raft of new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear weapons programme, claiming it is enforcing a UN arms embargo – and demanded that the European Union follows suit.The Trump administration on Monday named 27 individuals and entities, including officials at the Iranian ministry of defence, nuclear scientists, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and anyone found trading in conventional weapons with Iran. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#58CVK)
All senior politicians, civil servants and negotiators to represent Britain at next year’s Cop26 talks are menThe UK is fielding an all-male team to host a vital UN climate summit next year, flouting international norms and angering activists and observers, who say the lack of gender balance imperils progress on key issues.All of the politicians who will host the Cop26 talks for the UK in Glasgow are men, from the business secretary Alok Sharma, who will act as president of the summit, to his team of climate and energy ministers – Lord Callanan, Zac Goldsmith and Kwasi Kwarteng – who have represented the UK in recent online meetings. Continue reading...
by Sofia Romero Campbell and Paola Rosa-Aquino on (#58CVS)
As part of the Guardian’s first-time voter takeover, we spoke to activists on how to build a more inclusive environmental movementFamily stories about tedious days out picking vegetables or managing herds of cattle always left me with a sense of pride. As the granddaughter of Colorado ranchers and farmworkers, I have a great appreciation for the hard labor involved in food production and agriculture – and the ways it connects my family to the natural world.My family has already been deeply impacted by climate change and their experiences mirror countless other agricultural workers across the US. Yet so many young people who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) are poorly represented in environmental decision-making. I myself have sometimes felt like there were only certain ways to participate in environmental activism, that not only excluded me, but also devalued my lived experience. Continue reading...
Politically active young people are often championed as the Earth’s great hope to reverse the climate crisis – but many believe we’ve already passed the tipping pointWhen Siddharth Namachivayam casts a ballot in Colorado this fall, he’ll forego Democratic nominee Joe Biden, whom he sees as just a “Band-Aid,” and instead support the longshot Green party candidate focused on climate action.“I guess, yeah, it’d be marginally better if Biden was president, but I don’t think Biden being president is more important than the Green party growing in the next couple of years,” Namachivayam says. Continue reading...
A growing number of US driving schools are offering lessons in hybrid or electric cars, including Teslas – will it help Americans buy greener vehicles?Christian Hughes did not just want to learn to drive – he wanted to do so in a Tesla. So, when it came to getting his license, the high school student found a driving school that specialised in the sought-after electric cars.As well as being a fan of the vehicles and their technology, he was attracted by their green credentials. “Every second you spend driving a gasoline car contributes to climate change,” says the 17-year-old from St Augustine, Florida, who passed his test this summer. He has since bought a Tesla with his father. Continue reading...
In Sitka, where people have lived for thousands of years, I’ve seen glaciers shrink, summer droughts and deadly landslides – and our elected officials are doing nothingWhen I was seven, I caught a herring with my hands from the beach beside my grandma’s house in my hometown of Sitka, Alaska. Herring marks the beginning of spring. Every April, the soft “herring rain” seemed to bring the fish into the sound, and I’d watch as the water turned milky and the shallows sparkled with swarming silver schools.Sitkans gathered on the side of the road to watch the show of sea lions, whales, eagles and fishing boats competing in the million-dollar commercial sac roe fishery. All around the islands, people set out hemlock branches to collect masses of tiny, tasty eggs as part of an annual Tlingit ritual of community and abundance going back to time immemorial. Continue reading...
As thousands of Generation Z activists head back to college, they’re pressuring universities to declare a climate emergency, cut emissions and divest from fossil fuelsAs West coast wildfires color the skies dystopian red and orange and an aggressive hurricane season batters the US Gulf coast, college students are demanding their schools take bold action to address the climate crisis.Caitlyn Daas is among them. The senior at Appalachian State University and organizer with the Appalachian Climate Action Collaborative (ClimACT) stands on the frontlines of her school’s grassroots push to go “climate neutral”, part of a years-long, national movement that has inspired hundreds of institutional commitments to reduce academia’s carbon footprint. Continue reading...
Scientists are carefully moving the sea animals to new locations to save them from construction schemesTransplanting coral is difficult work. “You only have 20 minutes to dive down 30 metres and transplant the coral to the correct part of the rock, where hopefully it will live for hundreds of years,” explains Serço Ekşiyan, one of a small group of volunteers who have taken on the huge task of saving the corals around the Princes’ Islands (Adalar), a picturesque archipelago in the Marmara Sea about a 40-minute boat ride from Istanbul.The Marmara Sea, made up of water from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, is home to 24 Alcyonacea coral species whose existence is threatened by the onslaught of nearby property development. Among those disappearing are sea whips, sea pens, sea fans and some types of red and yellow soft corals. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Smithers Consumer affairs correspondent on (#58CNC)
Britons appear to be more environmentally aware, despite challenging yearNearly nine out of 10 UK households say they “regularly recycle”, with more prepared to further change their lifestyles to help the environment, research reveals.Statistics released on Monday by the Recycle Now campaign show despite the challenges and restrictions of lockdown, the UK appears to be becoming more environmentally aware. Continue reading...
Announcement expected in autumn to help trigger green economic recovery from Covid-19The UK is poised to bring forward its ban on new fossil fuel vehicles from 2040 to 2030 to help speed up the rollout of electric vehicles across British roads.Boris Johnson is expected to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles this autumn with the announcement, one of a string of new clean energy policies to help trigger a green economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...
by Adam Morton and Australian Associated Press on (#58CJ2)
About 250 whales believed to be stuck on a sandbar on state’s remote west coastScientists and whale rescue crews are rushing to Tasmania’s remote west coast after reports a pod of about 250 whales has become stranded in Macquarie Harbour.The whales were believed to be stuck on a sandbar inside Macquarie Heads, near the harbour mouth, a spokeswoman for the Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and Environment said. Continue reading...
Greens warn legalising the capture of floodwaters and diverting it to primarily irrigate cotton ‘spells end of the lower Darling river’A new fight is brewing between farmers north and south of the Murrray-Darling Basin over the New South Wales government’s plan to license floodplain harvesting for the first time later this year, as doubts arise over data on river flows and the amounts being extracted.A regulation which makes the practice legal in the meantime is set to become the flashpoint this week, with the minor parties and Labor planning to disallow it. Continue reading...
by David Kabua, President of the Marshall Islands on (#58CAN)
Now is a time for courage. It will take sacrifices from everyone for us all to survive, the president of the Marshall Islands writesMy country joined the United Nations nearly 30 years ago, in September 1991. But unless my fellow member states take action, we may also be forced from it: the first country to see our land swept away by climate change.As the UN general assembly meets in New York, celebrating the 75th anniversary of its formation, we must ask: how many of the 193 nations that it brings together will survive to reach its centenary? Continue reading...
Britain’s commitment to a net zero carbon footprint by 2050 can be the catalyst for a jobs revolution in regions beyond London and the south-east. The government is doing far too little to make it happenAs Britain confronts the unemployment crisis that will blight so many lives this winter, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has promised to be “creative” in introducing new measures to support jobs. Mr Sunak still seems stubbornly determined to end, next month, the furlough scheme that remains a lifeline for so many workers. But the misery that will ensue appears to have persuaded him that some kind of alternatives must be found. Inevitably they will be cheaper and less effective, but when the criticism comes, Mr Sunak will protest that it is not the government’s role to indefinitely prop up businesses that the pandemic has consigned to the past.What about propping up the future then? The government’s failure to develop any kind of plan to meet legally binding net zero targets has flown under the radar in recent months, as coronavirus-related chaos reigns in Whitehall. With the exception of a minimalist £2bn “green homes” grant, some new cycle routes and other minor measures, Boris Johnson’s promise to “build back better” has so far proved to be of purely alliterative value. Continue reading...
Failure to protect fragile moors habitat fans doubts about the government’s green credentialsMinisters have been accused of deliberately stalling plans to ban the environmentally damaging process of burning peat bogs, in a further sign of government support for people who enjoy shooting grouse on moorlands.After a week in which it emerged that people who shoot grouse had been exempted from the “rule of six”, which limits gatherings in the fight against Covid-19, activists believe the environment secretary, George Eustice, who is from a farming family, is blocking moves to ban peat burning. Continue reading...
PM says he’s ‘more interested in the doing’ as he walks back amount of new generation needed to replace Liddell coal plant from 1,000MW to 250MWScott Morrison has walked back a declaration from last week that 1,000MW of new generation will be needed once the ageing Liddell coal plant leaves the system, and declined to sign up to a net zero target by 2050, because he is “more interested in the doing”.As part of the government’s much vaunted “gas-led recovery”, the prime minister said last week in relation to the Liddell transition, “We estimate that some 1,000 MW of new dispatchable generation is needed to keep prices down.” Continue reading...
Retrofitting your house or apartment to use less energy doesn’t have to be an expensive exerciseImproving the sustainability performance of your home can bring big benefits. Firstly, an energy-efficient home is more comfortable, requiring less heating and cooling. It is more cost-effective to run, saving you money through reduced bills. Then there’s the environmental benefits.By reducing energy imported from the grid and replacing this with locally generated solar energy, you can dramatically reduce household carbon emissions. There are plenty of other things that can be done to improve the sustainability of your home too, from installing water-saving features and low-energy appliances through to choosing low-impact building materials when renovating. Continue reading...
A company steeped in oil and gas production may not find it easy to convince investors of its environmental credentials‘This is serious stuff,” said BP’s Bernard Looney. The chief executive, speaking last week at the oil giant’s three-day investor event, was talking tough on the need to tackle the climate crisis. He could just as easily have been referring to the existential tightrope that BP, and others in the fossil fuel industry, will need to walk between investor confidence and the rising public pressure to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.Over the course of three days and 10 hours of executive presentations, Looney’s new leadership team sought to convince investors that their plan to become a carbon neutral company will allow them to toe this line successfully. BP’s nascent renewable energy interests will grow while the oil production business that has powered the company for over 110 years will begin to shrink within the next decade. A whiplash of clean energy innovation, carbon capture technologies and emissions offsetting schemes will then power the company to net zero carbon by 2050. Continue reading...
Trump long ago made clear that in the with-us-or-against-us climate war, he is against us and has enthusiastically joined the side of the infernoThe fires that continue to incinerate the west coast, pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and blanket the country in smoke are the latest sign that the climate crisis has made landfall in America and is torching its way inward like an occupying army overwhelming battle-weary fortifications. Only, that military metaphor seems a bit off, because if you look carefully, you can see that we are not valiantly losing a battle – our government has made it impossible for us to even fight, and has arguably taken the side of the invasion.Related: Trump 'associates' offered Assange pardon in return for emails source, court hears Continue reading...
I understand the temptation to feel that what is wrong now will be wrong forever. But anguish and hope can coexistIf you’re heartsore at the quadruple crisis of the mismanaged pandemic, the resultant financial catastrophe grinding down so many people, the climate chaos dramatically evident in unprecedented fires in the west, hurricanes in the southeast, and melting ice in Greenland and the poles, and the corruption, human rights abuses, and creeping authoritarianism of the current regime, you’re not alone.Related: Wealth of US billionaires rises by nearly a third during pandemic Continue reading...
This year’s historic blazes and apocalyptic skies will become routine. Hope lies in rethinking how we live with fireCalifornia’s historic wildfires have served up astonishing scenes of destruction that have claimed several dozen lives, incinerated huge tracts of land and caused dystopian orange skies to loom over a populace choked by toxic smoke. But, in time, the sort of destruction and anguish suffered in 2020 may seem routine, even mild.The record scale of the flames, which have consumed an area larger than the state of Connecticut, is bringing scientists’ expectations of the climate crisis into reality. Rather than merely entering a new but stable era, the US west is on a moving escalator to further extremes. “In 20 years from now, the current circumstances will feel more normal,” said Waleed Abdalati, former chief scientist of Nasa. “It’s not that we are all screwed, but it’s too late to put a stop to it. We can slow it, but we can’t stop it now.” Continue reading...
Cloud of soot from fire heads towards São Paulo as nearly fifth of Pantanal wetland destroyed by blazeFires that have devastated a Brazilian tropical wetlands region famed for its wildlife were started by humans and exacerbated by its worst drought in nearly 50 years, according to Brazilian authorities, firefighters and environmentalist groups.Images of cremated snakes, tapirs cooked to death, and jaguars with bandaged, burnt paws in the Pantanal region in Brazil’s centre-west have horrified Brazilians at a time when fires are also razing forests in the Amazon. A dark cloud of soot from fires is heading towards São Paulo. Continue reading...
Rise in scenic round-trips by air in Australia and Asia is ‘insanity,’ say environmentalistsEnvironmental campaigners have condemned the rise of scenic “joy flights” aimed at passengers “missing the excitement of travel”.Tickets for a seven-hour round trip from Sydney with Qantas sold out within 10 minutes, making it one of the airline’s fastest selling flights ever. Seat prices on the 10 October flight range from A$787 (£607) economy to $3,787 for business class. Continue reading...
Researchers say loss of 1.9m square kilometres of intact ecosystems will have ‘profound implications’ for biodiversityWilderness across the planet is disappearing on a huge scale, according to a new study that found human activities had converted an area the size of Mexico from virtually intact natural landscapes to heavily modified ones in just 13 years.The loss of 1.9m square kilometres (735,000 sq miles) of intact ecosystems would have “profound implications” for the planet’s biodiversity, the study’s authors said. Continue reading...
Warming temperatures make pinot noir a staple of English winemakers although unpredictable weather threatens quaffabilityOn a hot morning in Devon, a single field stands as a barometer of climate change. Charlie Brown, 30, an assistant winemaker at Sandridge Barton vineyard, explains that the site in which they will soon start planting pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunièr wine grapes would once have been considered unsuitable for growth.“The climate has changed. When you are the top of that brow the wind does rip through it a bit but we can plant here now,” he says. Continue reading...
Wild Justice accuses UK government of breaching duty to protect conservation sitesConservationists are suing the UK government over the release of millions of game birds on to land that is home to rare and threatened species.The campaign group Wild Justice has accused ministers of breaching their legal duties to protect sites of high conservation value in England by failing to control the use of large areas of countryside to shoot pheasant and red-legged partridge for sport. Continue reading...
For decades David Attenborough delighted millions with tales of life on Earth. But now the broadcaster wants us to face up to the state of the planetSir David Attenborough’s soothing, matter-of-fact narrations have brought the natural world to our living rooms for nearly seven decades and counting. From Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to the jungles of central Africa, the 94-year-old broadcaster has dazzled and delighted millions with tales of life on Earth – mostly pristine and untouched, according to the images on our screens. But this autumn Attenborough has returned with a different message: nature is collapsing around us.“We are facing a crisis. One that has consequences for us all. It threatens our ability to feed ourselves, to control our climate. It even puts us at greater risk of pandemic diseases such as Covid-19,” he warned in Extinction: The Facts on BBC One primetime, receiving five-star reviews. Continue reading...
Larch Maxey and Eli Rose’s HS2 Rebellion protest enters its third weekSixteen days ago, two HS2 campaigners climbed the trees in Parliament Square to protest against the controversial high-speed rail project, and their feet haven’t touched the ground since.Larch Maxey, 48, and Eli Rose, 26, sleep, eat and wash 15 metres (50ft) up in the air above the constant stream of buses, cars and lorries that loop around the square in the centre of London at all times of the day. Continue reading...
Cities like Los Angeles, Seattle and New Orleans are aiming to tackle another, longer-term emergency – the climate crisisThe cars that typically throng the huge highways weaving through Los Angeles are such an established part of the city’s fabric that when the coronavirus pandemic hit, their sudden absence felt bizarre to locals even eerie. But many Angelenos have now discovered a new sort of relationship with their streets.“People have felt they own their neighborhood again, they feel connected to it again,” Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles’s mayor, told the Guardian in reference to streets that have reduced traffic, or even had it closed off, as offices, retailers and restaurants shut down. Continue reading...
Guafo, a 50,000-acre island, is a hotspot for marine biodiversity and part of the ancestral land of the Mapuche peopleThe island of Guafo sits on the route taken by blue whales heading into the fjords of Chilean Patagonia. It is a hotspot for marine biodiversity, home to rare flora and sacred to the indigenous Mapuche people.And now it is up for sale. Continue reading...
by Irina Vetter, Edward Kalani Gilding and Thomas Dur on (#589G5)
Noxious nettles with venom similar to that of scorpions are helping scientists understand pain and how to control itAustralia is home to some of the world’s most dangerous wildlife. Anyone who spends time outdoors in eastern Australia is wise to keep an eye out for snakes, spiders, swooping birds, crocodiles, deadly cone snails and tiny toxic jellyfish.But what not everybody knows is that even some of the trees will get you. Continue reading...
Clashes between Isis-linked militants, government troops and mercenaries have displaced 200,000 in mineral-rich Cabo DelgadoFor decades a forgotten corner of Mozambique, Cabo Delgado has now become the country’s El Dorado, promising billions in natural gas and gemstones but delivering its population only violence and displacement.An insurgency in the province now threatens to become further entrenched – 50,000 people have fled their homes since March and Mozambique’s neighbours are currently debating sending in regional forces to help defeat militants who seized a strategic port in the town of Mocímboa da Praia last month. Continue reading...
Mental health impact was greatest among people who recently received a shutoff notice, researchers foundUnaffordable water bills and the threat of disconnection causes significant psychological distress for Americans, according to a new study.A Guardian investigation into 12 American cities found the price of water and sewage increased by an average of 80% between 2010 and 2018, with more than two-fifths of residents in some cities living in neighborhoods with unaffordable bills. Continue reading...