Joe Biden’s new climate envoy says: ‘All nations must raise ambition together – or we will all fail, together’The world is lagging behind the pace of change needed to avert catastrophic impacts from the climate crisis, John Kerry has warned in his first remarks as the US’s new climate envoy.Kerry, the former US secretary of state, acknowledged that America had been absent from the international effort to contain dangerous global heating during Donald Trump’s presidency but added that “today no country and no continent is getting the job done”. Continue reading...

Senators approve law to protect the noises and smells of the countryside following high-profile casesFrom crowing roosters to the whiff of barnyard animals, the “sensory heritage” of France’s countryside will now be protected by law from attempts to stifle the everyday aspects of rural life from newcomers looking for peace and quiet.French senators on Thursday gave final approval to a law proposed in the wake of several high-profile conflicts by village residents and vacationers, or recent arrivals derided as “neo-rurals”. Continue reading...

Plan has been approved despite environmental objections and criticism over climate leadershipA legal challenge to the UK government’s approval of a new gas-fired power plant has failed in the court of appeal.The challenge was brought after ministers overruled climate change objections from the planning authority. The plant is being developed by Drax in North Yorkshire and would be the biggest gas power station in Europe. It could account for 75% of the UK’s power sector emissions when fully operational, according to lawyers for ClientEarth, which brought the judicial review. Continue reading...

US scientist Thomas Lovejoy says the rainforest’s rich biodiversity has been undervalued compared to economic activities such as farming and miningThe Amazon will be transformed into a “highly degraded nightmare” unless a sustainable biodiversity-based economy develops which properly values ecosystem services and products produced by the rainforest, a leading scientist has warned.Prof Thomas Lovejoy, the “godfather of biodiversity”, said if agro-industrial economic developments such as cattle farming, palm oil production and mining continue, the rainforest’s hydrological cycle will be “in tatters”, with global weather systems severely disrupted. Continue reading...

Tribes and environmentalists hail decision to cancel Keystone XL pipeline but call on president to go furtherIndigenous leaders and environmentalists are urging Joe Biden to shutdown some of America’s most controversial fossil fuel pipelines, after welcoming his executive order cancelling the Keystone XL (KXL) project.Activists praised the president’s decision to stop construction of the transnational KXL oil pipeline on his first day in the White House, but they stressed that he must cancel similar polluting fossil fuel projects, including the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), to stand any chance of meeting his bold climate action goals. Continue reading...

President has vowed to rejoin Paris agreement, cut fossil fuel reliance, and invest in low-carbon growth

St Dominic, Tamar valley: Rainfall may have destroyed the weir, but there are still old methods present to pump water back uphillThe beat of a hydraulic ram reverberates along the deep ditch, running fast with spring water towards a little tributary originating from beneath Viverdon Down. The water joins other streams along the incised course through steep woods and pastures before meeting the tidal Tamar, more than two miles downstream. Last month’s exceptional run-off along this network of streams contributed to the destruction of the National Trust’s weir, which channelled water along a leat to Morden Mill’s historic water wheel and the more recent hydroelectric plant.Hydro-rams used to be common in the dissected hilly countryside. They used the water’s momentum to pump a proportion of the flow uphill to storage tanks or reservoirs, which then gravity-fed farmsteads and field drinking troughs. Mains water supplies gradually ousted these slow, but low-maintenance, machines. Continue reading...

Biden administration rolls out a flurry of executive orders aimed at tackling climate crisisJoe Biden has moved to reinstate the US to the Paris climate agreement just hours after being sworn in as president, as his administration rolls out a cavalcade of executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis.Biden’s executive action, signed in the White House on Wednesday, will see the US rejoin the international effort curb the dangerous heating of the planet, following a 30-day notice period. The world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases was withdrawn from the Paris deal under Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Study tests public support for bringing back species after 500-year absence, while farmers fear for sheep

Arrow Energy is seeking to amend its environmental authority at Hopeland, where one of the state’s worst contamination disasters occurredA coal seam gas company has proposed drilling hundreds of new wells in an area the Queensland government previously declared off-limits after one of the state’s worst environmental contamination disasters.Arrow Energy, a joint venture between Shell and PetroChina, has lodged an application to amend its environmental authority for a petroleum lease at Hopeland in the western downs, which forms part of the company’s Surat gas project. Continue reading...

The Bushfire Recovery Project, led by five scientists, is tracking forest regrowth in NSW and Victoria using data gathered by citizen scientistsForests in some subalpine areas near Mount Kosciuszko and in Victoria’s East Gippsland region are struggling to recover from the 2019-20 bushfires, according to researchers examining the aftermath of the disaster.But eucalypts in forested areas of the New South Wales south coast appear to be recovering well, say the scientists, who are tracking the sites using data gathered by groups of citizen scientists. Continue reading...

‘Renoducts’ will help animals who have to roam further for food due to global heatingSweden is to build up to a dozen bridges so reindeer can safely cross railway lines and major roads in the north of the country as global heating forces them to roam further afield in search of food.State broadcaster SVT said the transport authority aimed to start work on the first of the new bridges, named “renoducts”, a portmanteau from ren (reindeer) and viaduct, later this year near the eastern city of Umea. Continue reading...

Efforts are under way to designate site of submerged forest off the Alabama coast a marine sanctuaryWhen divers jump into a particular stretch of water off the coast of Alabama, they travel back to a time before humans arrived in North America.Submerged below the waters are the remains of a cypress tree forest that grew 60,000 years ago, but was inundated by the Gulf of Mexico and preserved from decomposition beneath sediment. Nothing like Alabama’s underwater forest, in terms of age or scale, has ever been found. Continue reading...

World Health Organization estimates air pollution kills more than 7 million people each yearLimiting air pollution to levels recommended by the World Health Organization could prevent more than 50,000 deaths in Europe annually, according to research.The WHO estimates air pollution kills more than 7 million people each year and is one of the leading causes of sickness and absence from work globally. Continue reading...

Group of GPs and other health experts say planned Thames tunnel will increase pollution in the areaDoctors and healthcare workers have warned that plans for a new four-lane tunnel under the River Thames in east London represent an “assault on the health” of families in the surrounding area.The group of 25 GPs, nurses and specialists – including experts in child health and respiratory disease – say the £2bn Silvertown tunnel project will funnel more traffic through some of the most deprived and polluted boroughs in the country – with a devastating impact on people’s health. Continue reading...

After studying how microplastics damage the oceans, schoolgirl Lizzie wants the government to stop sending waste to developing countriesA petition by a nine-year-old schoolgirl calling on Boris Johnson to stop shipments of plastic waste to developing countries has received more than 70,000 signatures in less than a week.Lizzie A*, who is studying plastic pollution in year 4, said she began the petition because sending Britain’s unsorted plastic waste to poorer nations is “unfair” and wrong. She took action last week after her mother, Esther, showed her a piece in the Guardian’s Seascape series, revealing the UK will continue to ship plastic waste to developing countries despite an EU ban on the practice from this month. Continue reading...

Weather forecast to ease by Australia Day after ‘big burst of summer heat’

Warm winter weather and strong gusts have led to an early start for 2021’s fires, following a record-breaking year of blazes in 2020Unusually warm and dry conditions coupled with powerful wind gusts have ignited a spate of winter wildfires that call into question the idea that California has a “fire season” at all any more.Residents of several communities in the Santa Cruz mountains were ordered to evacuate by the local sheriff’s office Tuesday morning as California’s fire agency, Cal Fire, responded to more than a dozen new vegetation fires across the area. Some of the fires were ignited when power lines were toppled by high winds; others were wind-driven reignitions of areas that burned in 2020, Cal Fire said. By midday Tuesday, six fires in the area were still burning. Continue reading...

Met Office issues amber weather warning as South Yorkshire also declares major incident

Withdrawal a blow to Boris Johnson’s desire for UK to achieve first zero-emission long-haul flightShell has pulled out of a joint venture with British Airways and Velocys to build a flagship sustainable jet fuels plant in the UK – in a blow to Boris Johnson’s claims that Britain could deliver the world’s first zero-emission long-haul flight.The oil firm was named last year as one of the top companies set to “turbocharge government plans” for sustainable aviation fuels, the centrepiece of the so-called “jet zero” plan to decarbonise flights. Continue reading...

Some species feed on nectar or honey. Others drink the tears of horses and peopleIn The Writing Life, Annie Dillard is watching a sphinx moth preparing to take off. She is on a ship. On its railing there is “a heavy-bodied moth panting”. Dillard is summoning the strength to continue writing her book. The moth is raising its temperature so that it can fly.

Blazes, intensified by the climate crisis, are reversing decades of gains in cutting air pollution, scientists reportIncreasingly ferocious wildfires in the western US are taking a devastating toll on the region’s air quality, with wildfire smoke now accounting for half of all air pollution during the worst wildfire years, according to a new study.Scientists from Stanford University and the University of California, San Diego, found that toxic plumes of smoke, which can blanket western states for weeks when wildfires are raging, are reversing decades of gains in cutting air pollution. While heat-related deaths have previously been predicted as the worst consequence of the climate crisis, researchers say that air pollution caused by smoke could be just as deadly. Continue reading...

Influential IEA cuts forecasts for rebound in market as new lockdowns biteWorld oil demand will be lower than forecast this year as a surge in new coronavirus cases looks likely to keep restrictions on the global economy in place, the International Energy Agency has said.The agency warned that a string of new lockdowns across big economies will keep a lid on oil demand over the first months of the year, before the impact of Covid-19 vaccines begins to take effect in the second half. Continue reading...

President-elect to block Keystone XL pipeline among other swift environmental moves – but challenges lie aheadJoe Biden is set for a flurry of action to combat the climate crisis on his first day as US president by immediately rejoining the Paris climate agreement and blocking the Keystone XL pipeline, although experts have warned lengthier, and harder, environmental battles lie ahead in his presidency.In a series of plans drawn up by Biden’s incoming administration for his first day in office, the new president will take the resonant step of bringing the US back into the Paris climate accords, an international agreement to curb dangerous global heating that Donald Trump exited. Continue reading...

Birds that became tangled in baited lines appear to be scared off by coloured pipesA cheap and simple change to the equipment used by Namibian fishing boats is saving tens of thousands of vulnerable seabirds annually, researchers have estimated.Some industrial fleets often use long lines fitted with thousands of baited hooks, which attract seabirds. In attempting to snatch away the bait, the birds can become tangled in the lines and die. Continue reading...

Environmental issues are biggest danger in coming years, says international organisation

Gardeners in the UK are doing their bit to expand the range of plant seeds for a richer and more diverse future

Ambition to become the UK’s first carbon-neutral county, by 2037, looks to reduce the impact of visitors, especially in the LakesAcross Cumbria local communities, businesses and grassroots organisations are being mobilised to map out ways that they hope will help it become the UK’s first carbon-neutral county. The county is aiming to decarbonise by 2037, an ambition initially supported by £2.5m of national lottery funding, awarded last August and to be drip-fed over five years starting this month. Tourism will be an area of focus, alongside housing, transport and agriculture.“The national lottery funding is an injection of adrenaline at the beginning of a long journey,” said Karen Mitchell, CEO of Cumbria Action for Sustainability (Cafs). The funding was secured by the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership, which was set up by Cafs in 2019 with the help of the county council. The partnership has 68 members tasked with leading the drive to cut emissions, including the Lake District national park authority. Continue reading...

Little humped spider usually found in Sydney is now thriving in Christchurch and is just one of dozens of invasive spider speciesAn Australian spider that crushes its prey in a tightly spun web is one of dozens of new trans-Tasman arrivals making itself at home in New Zealand, where it has few predators and often lives completely undetected.The Philoponella congregabilis, sometimes called the little humped spider, is usually found in Sydney and along the east coast of Australia, but has recently been tracked to the South Island city of Christchurch, where it is thriving. Continue reading...

Kimi weakens from category two system to storm but strong winds and severe weather still pose threat to QueenslandEx-Tropical Cyclone Kimi has weakened to a tropical low off north Queensland but emergency services are warning people the storm is still packing very strong winds and could bring flooding.Coastal residents have been spared the worst after the cyclone weakened from a category two system to a storm, sitting 135km north of Townsville, on Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

Indigenous communities say planned Øyfjellet turbines will interfere with migration pathsIndigenous reindeer herders are bringing a legal action against a proposed wind power project that would be one of the largest in Norway.The Sámi herders from Nordland county are accusing the Øyfjellet windfarm constructors of breaking licensing agreements which stipulated that construction would not interfere with reindeer migration paths. Continue reading...

Plan would open up desert areas to mining projects, eliminating up to 2.2m acres of conservation landsThe outgoing Trump administration is proposing to strip away protections for millions of acres of California desert, threatening damage to Joshua trees, desert tortoises and landmarks.The plan would open up California’s desert areas to mining projects, eliminate up to 2.2m acres of conservation lands, as well as remove 1.8m acres designated as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (Acecs). Continue reading...

Rescinding permit is on list of executive actions thought to be scheduled for first day in office

A new campaign highlights there is no legal obligation to label flake – a common term for shark meat – by species or where it’s fromAustralian consumers will be encouraged not to purchase flake when they shop for seafood and to instead try sustainable alternatives in a new campaign that aims to put a spotlight on laws that permit the harvest of endangered sharks.The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) is asking consumers to “give flake a break” because there is no legal obligation in Australia for retailers to label flake – a common term used for shark meat – by its species or where it’s from. Continue reading...

The winter flowers are having a vintage year in Devon in the unfortunate absence of visitors

Influential four seasons books are revamped to reflect changes in British wildlifeDuring the late 1950s and early 1960s, four slim volumes about the natural world, aimed at children, hit the bookshops. They bore the title What to Look for in… followed by each of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The books were an instant success and inspired a whole generation of naturalists. Continue reading...

Supporters insist that storage technology is not a costly mistake but the best way for UK to cut emissions from heavy industryEngineers and geologists have strongly criticised green groups who last week claimed that carbon capture and storage schemes – for reducing fossil fuel emissions – are costly mistakes.The scientists insisted that such schemes are vital weapons in the battle against global heating and warn that failure to set up ways to trap carbon dioxide and store it underground would make it almost impossible to hold net emissions to below zero by 2050. Continue reading...

Critics condemn ‘callous betrayal’ after Trump officials set in motion transfer of Oak Flat to Rio Tinto and BHP BillitonAs one of its last acts, the Trump administration has set in motion the transfer of sacred Native American lands to a pair of Anglo-Australian mining conglomerates.The 2,422-acre Arizona parcel called Oak Flat is of enormous significance to the Western Apache and is now on track for destruction by what is slated to be one of the largest copper mining operations in the United States. Continue reading...

Hostile dispute over trophy hunting fuelled by ‘myths driven by emotion and morality that ignore critical facts’Leading scientists have warned that global conservation is being undermined by celebrity power after they suffered death threats and abuse in a hostile dispute over trophy hunting.Groups such as the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting and Born Free are pressuring the UK and US governments to ban trophy hunting, with support from many famous names, much of the public and more than 150 MPs across the political spectrum. Continue reading...

Call for world leaders to act in wake of French extradition case that turned on environmental concernsAir pollution does not respect national boundaries and environmental degradation will lead to mass migration in the future, said a leading barrister in the wake of a landmark migration ruling, as experts warned that government action must be taken as a matter of urgency.Sailesh Mehta, a barrister specialising in environmental cases, said: “The link between migration and environmental degradation is clear. As global warming makes parts of our planet uninhabitable, mass migration will become the norm. Air and water pollution do not respect national boundaries. We can stop a humanitarian and political crisis from becoming an existential one. But our leaders must act now.” Continue reading...

Efforts to map the Earth’s trees are growing – and could change our understanding of the planet’s healthWhen a team of international scientists set out to count every tree in a large swathe of west Africa using AI, satellite images and one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, their expectations were modest. Previously, the area had registered as having little or no tree cover.The biggest surprise, says Martin Brandt, assistant professor of geography at the University of Copenhagen, is that the part of the Sahara that the study covered, roughly 10%, “where no one would expect to find many trees”, actually had “quite a few hundred million”. Continue reading...

Focus must be on justice for those fleeing impact of extreme weather events, says new scientific adviser to VaticanThe pope’s newly appointed scientific adviser said the coronavirus pandemic has forced world leaders to face up to the “existential risk” of the climate crisis.Prof Ottmar Edenhofer said rich countries now had a moral duty to compensate poor countries already suffering the impacts. Continue reading...

Experts say council funding shortfalls mean many old landfills not being dealt with appropriatelyHundreds of landfills around the UK containing hazardous waste are located beneath green spaces, schools and housing, analysis of official data has found.Experts say authorities are “setting themselves up for a large sequence of nasty surprises” if the toxic substances were to escape, with council funding shortfalls meaning many sites are not being dealt with appropriately. The contents of hundreds of sites remain unknown even to the Environment Agency (EA). Continue reading...

Dogs are able to detect kauri dieback in seconds rather than weeks, greatly speeding up diagnosisNew Zealand is deploying dogs to sniff out a deadly disease that is causing havoc to ancient kauri trees in the North Island.Four-year old English springer spaniel Pip and five-year-old jagdterrier Mawhai have spent over a year training to sniff out kauri dieback, in the hope the Auckland council biosecurity team can stop it spreading to islands off the gulf and the parts of the Waitakere Ranges, which have so far been spared. Continue reading...

Like other Australian ministers, Keith Pitt has been unable to secure a call with his Chinese counterpart amid ongoing tensionsThe Morrison government is appealing to China to rule out discriminating against Australian coal, with the resources minister raising fears about the “human cost” of the standoff as seafarers are stuck aboard more than 70 ships waiting to unload the product.In an interview with Guardian Australia, Keith Pitt said the cost of coal had increased as a result of the impasse but Canberra was “yet to hear anything through official channels” about any change in Beijing’s treatment of the Australian commodity. Continue reading...

Researchers counted particles in seaballs that washed up on beaches in SpainUnderwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap plastic pollution in natural bundles of fibre known as “Neptune balls”, researchers have found.With no help from humans, the swaying plants – anchored to shallow seabeds – may collect nearly 900m plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, a study reported in the journal Scientific Reports said. Continue reading...

NSW environment minister Matt Kean to declare ‘dinosaur trees’ an asset of international significanceThe world’s only known natural stand of Wollemi pines has become the first site in New South Wales to be given special protected status to try to ensure its survival for future generations.The environment minister, Matt Kean, will declare the so-called “dinosaur trees” an asset of intergenerational significance after heroic efforts by remote area firefighters in the Blue Mountains world heritage area saved the pines during the 2019-20 bushfire disaster. Continue reading...

Due to different methods, US Noaa judged year as fractionally cooler than 2016 while UK Met Office put 2020 in close second placeLast year was by a narrow margin the hottest ever on record, according to Nasa, with the climate crisis stamping its mark on 2020 through soaring temperatures, enormous hurricanes and unprecedented wildfires.The average global land and ocean temperature in 2020 was the highest ever measured, Nasa announced on Thursday, edging out the previous record set in 2016 by less than a tenth of a degree. Continue reading...