Environment | The Guardian

The video-sharing app has 800 million users, many of them conscious young eco-influencers campaigning on issues from climate change to biodiversityPhilip Aiken has received more than 1.4m likes on the video-sharing app TikTok. But his videos don’t feature cute animals and there are no celebrities to be seen. Aiken’s posts are about soil restoration.The 27-year-old is one of a growing number of TikTok users discussing the benefits of boosting biodiversity in green spaces and gardens against a backdrop of viral sounds. “I see it as like planting seeds, and hopefully that germinates and that person wants to learn more,” says Aiken, known as Phil the Fixer on TikTok.

The Drag Race host revealed earlier this year that his Wyoming ranch leases mineral rights to oil companies, and he’s not aloneSign up for monthly updates on America’s public lands. Continue reading...

Don’t buy an amazing bike, keep it indoors and use two locksIf you’ve managed to beat the hordes and snag a new bike amid the increase in demand during the coronavirus pandemic, the challenge now is ensuring it survives the growing bicycle thievery problem.There’s no guarantee that any of the measures here will stop your bike from being stolen, but they’ll definitely help. If you’ve just bought a new bike, here’s how to lock it up properly. Continue reading...

António Guterres tells country to stop building coal-fired power stations for sake of climateIndia must swiftly and permanently turn away from coal despite its need for cheap energy, the UN secretary general has urged, aiming to revive global action on the climate crisis as the world begins to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.António Guterres told a virtual audience on Friday morning that coal use must be phased out in India, with no new coal-fired power stations after this year, and that fossil fuel subsidies must be ended. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Queensland supreme court says company engaged in ‘unconscionable conduct’Adani has quietly begun planning to rebrand its Abbot Point coal terminal – removing all reference to Adani in its company name and branding – as financiers continue to abandon the business and a Queensland court orders it to pay $106.8m in damages.The Queensland supreme court this week ordered Adani to pay four terminal users damages for “unconscionable conduct” in a judgement that was scathing of Adani’s actions to advantage its own financial interests over other coal companies. Continue reading...

Angus Taylor introduces bill to give Clean Energy Finance Corporation $1bn for ‘grid reliability fund’The Morrison government has been accused of planning to open up the taxpayer-owned green bank to fossil fuels investments through a change that explicitly defines gas-fired power as a “low-emissions technology”.The energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, introduced legislation to parliament on Thursday that would give the Clean Energy Finance Corporation an additional $1bn funding for a “grid reliability fund”. Continue reading...

Yannick Glemarec responds to FT report of 40 complaints including racism and sexism

Beloved by chefs and home cooks alike, gas-burning stovetops come with drawbacks for human, financial and planetary healthNikki Phillips has made a living cooking in strangers’ kitchens. As the co-owner of a catering company, Shared Affair, she always makes a request before arriving at a client’s home. “I … ask for a picture of the stove, so I know what we’re dealing with.”If the photos show the clapped-out coils of an older electric stove, she goes straight to plan B. “I just bring gas burners with us. I don’t even bother.” Between portable stoves and hot box ovens “we can set up a kitchen inside the kitchen”. Continue reading...

State Minerals Council pushing for projects despite Minerals Council of Australia goal of net-zero emissionsA New South Wales mining industry push for 21 new coal projects to be approved to boost an economic recovery from coronavirus would add seven years’ worth of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere if they were all developed, according to analysis.The NSW Minerals Council identified the unapproved coalmines, at various stages of environmental assessment and development, saying they would create about 10,000 jobs and generate billions in royalties. Continue reading...

Exclusive: EDF Energy to close Hunterston next year after spending £200m on repairsHunterston nuclear power station, one of the UK’s oldest remaining nuclear plants, is to close down next year, earlier than expected, after encountering a series of safety-critical problems in its reactors.Industry sources told the Guardian that EDF Energy, the state-owned French operator of Hunterston, decided at a board meeting on Thursday afternoon that the plant would stop generating electricity in late 2021, at least two years earlier than planned. Continue reading...

Southall residents link redeveloped site to poor health, but developer says it complies with regulationsResidents in Southall are calling on the government to urgently investigate the health impact of the redevelopment of an old gasworks in light of research suggesting the mainly south Asian community is highly susceptible to air pollution.For a year the Guardian has followed the Clean Air for Southall and Hayes (Cash) campaign as they demanded answers from Ealing council, statutory bodies and scientists as to whether a “petrol-like” odour which they say emanated from the site is causing symptoms such as breathing problems, nausea and mental confusion – and serious diseases. They want to know what will be done to eliminate future risks over the 25-year regeneration project. Continue reading...

Queensland’s supreme court rejects the mining firm’s bid, saying it could result in ‘humiliation and family distress’Coalmining company Adani asked a Queensland court for orders that would have allowed its representatives to conduct an unannounced search at the family home of an environmental activist.But the supreme court rejected the move, noting the search could result in “humiliation and family distress” for Ben Pennings and others. Continue reading...

Its stunning Moorish architecture makes the Spanish monument one of the world’s most visited. But photographer Ugo Mellone found the resident frogs, toads and newts just as fascinatingThe Alhambra, which sits on a hill in Granada, Andalucía, is the only preserved palatine city of the Islamic period and a Unesco world heritage site. Once the residence of the Nasrid sultans, it is one of the most visited national monuments in the world. Continue reading...

Three-night event aims to track creatures’ climate-driven spread into new parts of UKPeople are being invited to help track the spread of a moth that often hides its hindwings of dazzling fuchsia beneath a dowdy brown “overcoat”.The dark crimson underwing has enjoyed an “amazing” August, according to experts, appearing in many new locations, including the first ever recorded sighting in Wales. Continue reading...

The Morrison government’s new environment legislation has been described by critics as a reproduction of Tony Abbott’s failed one-stop-shop lawsThe Morrison government has been condemned for breaking its commitment to include new national environmental standards with legislation that will transfer development approval powers to the states and territories.Labor, the Greens and environment groups have described the bill, introduced on Thursday, as an almost identical reproduction of the Abbott government’s failed 2014 one-stop-shop laws. Continue reading...

Concern mounts that bill won’t include promised new national environmental standardsThe Coalition is being urged to not push through changes to conservation laws that would transfer more development approval powers to the states unless it plans to also introduce promised new national environmental standards.There is growing concern a bill due to be introduced to parliament this week will not include the new standards, which were promised last month by the environment minister, Sussan Ley. Continue reading...

Following guidelines associated with 7% lower mortality risk and 30% cut in carbon emissionsSticking to official dietary advice, including the five-a-day maxim, could reduce the chance of premature death by an estimated 7% as well as help the environment, a study has suggested.However, it found that while many people are able to follow some of the guidelines, next to no one follows them all. Continue reading...

Republicans at the convention did not lay out a plan for climate change, nor even acknowledge itThe Republican national convention, dominated by veneration of Donald Trump and bleak warnings of the dangers of socialism, has completely ignored the climate crisis, an omission that has disturbed some conservatives who warn the party risks being left behind by voters.Convention speeches have included Eric Trump praising the beauty of the Grand Canyon, a region his father’s administration has proposed opening to mining for uranium, while several speakers have attacked Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, as a threat to oil and gas worker jobs. Continue reading...

Founding partner says ‘investing in the resilience of nature is investing in the resilience of the economy’A push to better recognise the economic value of “natural capital” – water systems, biodiversity, soil and carbon stores – has prompted the creation of what aims to be the world’s largest investment firm dedicated to projects that help the planet.Multinational financial services giant HSBC and Pollination, a boutique climate advisory and investment firm, announced a joint venture that they predicted would meet a multi-billion dollar demand for environmentally friendly investment beyond renewable energy. Continue reading...

As water scarcity increases from factors including climate change, so do drivers of water theft, an ongoing problem in AustraliaBetween 30% and 50% of the world’s water supply is stolen each year, mainly by agricultural interests and farmers, yet the crime itself is not well understood, a new international study led by the University of Adelaide says.The lead author, Dr Adam Loch, from the university’s Centre for Global Food and Resources, said there was a lack of data around water theft partly because those stealing the resource were often poor, vulnerable and at-risk in developing countries. Continue reading...

Critics say plan for fields off Svalbard threatens ecosystem and relations with RussiaNorway is planning to expand oil drilling in previously untouched areas of the Arctic, a move campaigners say threatens the fragile ecosystem and could spark a military standoff with Russia.A public consultation on the opening up of nine new Norwegian oilfields closed on Wednesday. The areas in question are much further north in the Arctic than the concessions the US president, Donald Trump, announced for Alaska this month. Continue reading...

Meteorological and environmental reasons cited as reasons for record low catches

Our food supply comes from an environmentally unsustainable system that is going to unravel

As US cities cope with rising temperatures, some are investing in planting and maintaining trees – but experts warn the coverage might benefit wealthy neighborhoods moreAfter 10am, it’s too hot for Hajar Logan to work upstairs, so she moves her home office to the basement. By 11am, she can’t leave her house until the sun sets. The heat is too “suffocating”, she says, in her mostly tree-less neighborhood of Dorchester in Boston.Related: How the climate crisis is already harming America – photo essay Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lawyers for Australian Conservation Foundation warned department issuing grant money before due process could be ‘improper’The federal government quietly finalised an agreement to pay $3.6m to a company proposing a coal-fired power station at Collinsville in north Queensland this month, despite prior warnings the grant could be disallowed by the parliament and that making any payment beforehand could be “improper”.Last week, ahead of the return of federal parliament – where the grant to Shine Energy will be subject to a disallowance motion, backed by Labor and the Greens – the federal government’s grants register was updated to include the final details of the controversial handout. Continue reading...

Analysis shows the government, which has committed to a ‘gas-led recovery’, has failed to properly account for methane’s effect on global heatingAustralia’s greenhouse gas accounting underestimates national emissions by about 10%, largely due to a failure to properly recognise the impact of methane released during gas production, an analysis has found.In late June, the energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, amended laws to reflect a scientific consensus that methane – a highly potent but short-lived greenhouse gas that leaks during gas processing – plays a greater role in heating the planet than previously thought. Continue reading...

Federal government expected to table legislation this week to address report that found unsustainable state of declineLabor has called on the Coalition not to rush changes to national environmental laws and to establish an independent watchdog to monitor and enforce the law.The government is expected to table amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation [EPBC] Act on Wednesday to devolve development approval powers to the states and territories. Continue reading...

This southern European native, first spotted breeding in 2007, is still rare due to a lack of suitable sitesIf you see a violet carpenter bee, xylocopa violacea, in Britain, it seems too exotic for our shores, and too big. It is up to 3cm long, the size of our largest bumble bee, and it looks even larger when flying with an impressive buzz.In late August, the adults emerge from a dead tree trunk or other old wood where they have spent the larval stage. After mating in late April or May, female bees bore holes in rotten wood and lay eggs in separate chambers, each one sealed in with a store of pollen so the emerging larvae can have a good start in life. Continue reading...

Lime launches service in Milton Keynes with other schemes set for Northampton and CambridgeThe UK’s journey to legally embrace e-scooters has taken another zip forward with the start of a full-scale ride-sharing service in Milton Keynes, and further schemes announced for Northampton, Norwich and Cambridge.More cities around the country are expected to follow suit with year-long trials, as potential operators unveiled new technology in the race to tap into Britain’s new micromobility market. Continue reading...

Stephanie Blais had called her father due to problems with water supply at remote Saskatchewan cabinThe father of a Canadian woman who was killed by black bear has said that he was on the phone with her at the time of the attack.Stephanie Blais, 44, was with her husband, Curtis, and two young children at the family’s remote cabin in the province of Saskatchewan. But problems with the water supply prompted her to call her father on a satellite phone. Continue reading...

Alan Finkel’s support for an expanded role for gas-fired power is not consistent with a safe climate, 25 scientists sayAustralia’s chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, has rejected a letter from leading scientists who warned his advocacy for increased use of gas-fired electricity was at odds with the Paris climate agreement.The 25 scientists, several of them globally recognised in their fields, applauded Finkel’s support for renewable energy but said his backing an expanded role for gas as a transition fuel was not consistent with a safe climate. Continue reading...

Trent Zimmerman, Dave Sharma and Jason Falinski say feasibility study into Queensland plant should proceed but it doesn’t stack up economicallyLiberals who have been outspoken in their opposition to taxpayer funding of new coal projects predict a new power plant in north Queensland being championed by the Nationals will never proceed because there are cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternatives for energy generation.Ahead of a vote on a disallowance motion during the current parliamentary sitting fortnight, Trent Zimmerman told Guardian Australia his view was the government should not be investing in coal-fired power stations. Continue reading...

Project includes inscriptions dating back hundreds of years spotted by members of the public

Campaigner says decision at odds with Paris agreement to achieve net zero by 2050An environmental campaigner is mounting a legal challenge to the government’s decision to exclude waste incinerators from its post-Brexit carbon emissions trading scheme designed to bring the UK to net zero emissions by 2050.Georgia Elliott-Smith, a sustainability consultant who is fighting the expansion of the Edmonton incinerator, is seeking a judicial review of the omission of what legal papers say are “staggering” levels of CO2 emissions from waste incinerators. Continue reading...

After hitching a ride with humans, the species has colonised entire areas and may be making the soil too fertile, say scientistsThey are a gardener’s best friend, good for the soil and a treat for birds. But the humble earthworm may not always be good news, according to a study that suggests invasive earthworms could be making Arctic soils too fertile.The earthworm is not typically thought of as an invasive species. “Most parts of Europe have earthworms so we never really saw them as a problem,” says lead researcher Dr Gesche Blume-Werry, an ecologist from the University of Greifswald in Germany. But Blume-Werry and her colleagues realised that “more and more spots in the Arctic have worms because humans brought them there”. Continue reading...

Slaughterhouse figures from a three-year period highlight poor conditions in Britain’s poultry sector, say campaignersMore than 61 million chickens were rejected because of diseases and defects at slaughterhouses in England and Wales over a three-year period, according to figures analysed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Guardian.Broilers, chickens raised for meat, were the worst affected with almost 59 million defects recorded. More than 39 million broilers arrived and were rejected at slaughter due to disease – approximately 35,000 every day. Continue reading...

Public invited to choose online from list including haunted oak and sycamore full of shoesA haunted oak, a sycamore laced with the shoes of celebrating students and a Hackney plane tree threatened with destruction are among the contenders for England’s tree of the year.The Woodland Trust’s annual competition to celebrate individual trees and our relationship with them also includes contests in Wales and Scotland, where nominees include a photogenic fern-leaved beech in Port Talbot that has starred in Doctor Who, Songs of Praise and Sex Education, Britain’s oldest Indian bean tree and a hawthorn planted by Mary, Queen of Scots. Continue reading...

Critics say government’s proposals for prohibitions and fines are seriously flawedThe government has announced plans to introduce a new law to clamp down on illegal deforestation and protect rainforests by cleaning up the UK’s supply chains.The proposals, published on Tuesday, suggest the introduction of legislation to prohibit larger businesses operating in the UK from using products grown on land that was deforested illegally. Continue reading...

Report finds climate change ‘clearly played a role’ in conditions that led up to Australia’s 2019-2020 fires, which were so extreme, traditional firefighting methods often failedLast summer’s bushfire disaster was so unusual that traditional firefighting methods, such as hazard reduction burning, failed in some instances, an inquiry into the crisis heard.The final report of the New South Wales bushfire inquiry, published on Tuesday, said the 2019-20 bushfire season brought fires in forested regions on a scale not seen in recorded history in Australia. Continue reading...

Swedish environmental activist says she’s heading back to the classroom after travelling the world, spreading her conservation messageSwedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg said has returned to school after a year off campaigning to curb climate change.“My gap year from school is over, and it feels so great to finally be back in school again!” the 17-year-old tweeted, attaching a smiling photo of herself with a schoolbag on her back and her hands resting on a bicycle. Continue reading...

Research also found lower levels of difficult behaviour in rich and poor neighbourhoodsGrowing up in a greener urban environment boosts children’s intelligence and lowers levels of difficult behaviour, a study has found.The analysis of more than 600 children aged 10-15 showed a 3% increase in the greenness of their neighbourhood raised their IQ score by an average of 2.6 points. The effect was seen in both richer and poorer areas. Continue reading...

Industrial runoff and lax standards have tainted water across the US. Senators and doctors are calling me, asking what to doWhen I was a little girl, my father would sing songs to me all the time about water. Sometimes, we would be playing down at the creeks and he would make up little tunes: “See that lovely water, trickling down the stream, don’t take it for granted, someday it might not be seen.”My dad worked for many years as an engineer for Texaco and later for the Department of Transportation. Before he died, he told me that in my lifetime water would become a commodity more valuable than oil or gold, because there would be so little of it. Sadly, I believe he was right. Continue reading...

It is thought sonar may scare animals into surfacing too quickly, causing narcosisAn unusual series of strandings and sightings of 29 rare beaked whales has taken place around the shores of northern Europe. Experts have suggested the strandings may be linked to a military sonar exercise.The events, whose rarity indicates that they might be linked by a single cause, began two weeks ago with the sighting of two northern bottlenose whales in the North Sea. They are the same species of beaked whale as the Thames whale of 2006. Continue reading...

Storebrand says corporate lobbying to undermine climate solutions is ‘unacceptable’A Nordic hedge fund worth more than $90bn (£68.6bn) has dumped its stocks in some of the world’s biggest oil companies and miners responsible for lobbying against climate action.Storebrand, a Norwegian asset manager, divested from miner Rio Tinto as well as US oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron as part of a new climate policy targeting companies that use their political clout to block green policies. Continue reading...

A three-part plan aims to expose the industry’s efforts to conceal the scale of the climate crisis, reform laws and sway supportSenate Democrats are set to release a 200-page plan arguing that significant US climate action will require stripping the fossil fuel industry of its influence over the government and the public’s understanding of the crisis.Related: Democrats to unveil bold new climate plan to phase out emissions by 2050 Continue reading...

Judge dismisses appeal against decision to allow drivers to use two off-road tracksDrivers of 4x4 vehicles can continue to use off-road tracks in the Lake District after a judge dismissed a legal challenge from campaigners who argued the vehicles polluted the national park and endangered cyclists and ramblers.A coalition of ramblers, cyclists and horse riders had appealed to the high court against a decision by the Lake District national park authority (LDNPA) to allow 4x4s and motorbikes to use two old farm and quarry tracks, known as green lanes, in the Langdale and Coniston valleys. Continue reading...

So called ‘bagnums’ and wine boxes prove popular as Britons minimise trips to the supermarket

Workers who pick our fruits and vegetables are out in the field through wildfire, pandemic, drought or storm, putting their health in jeopardyThe strawberries that Juan Reyes hand-picked had turned gray from the ash falling from the sky, yet nobody provided him and his fellow farmworkers with any protective face coverings until the next day.As hundreds of fires burn across California, blanketing swaths of the state in smoke so thick that it muted the sun, low-wage farmworkers continued to toil in the fields, working through grueling conditions, now made even worse by the air quality. Continue reading...

Impacts of climate change on pregnant women must be considered as threat of bushfires increases

Energy giant denies accusation and says its submission to public hearing was made in good faithEnergy giant Santos’ claim that its proposed coal seam gas development at Narrabri would lower gas prices misrepresents the evidence presented by government authorities, a thinktank analysis has found.A last-minute submission by Santos to the state independent planning commission said gas from the $3.6bn development in north-west New South Wales would be cheaper than had been estimated, lead to a reduction in gas prices in the state and greater economic and employment benefits than previously believed. Continue reading...