Environment | The Guardian

Coal-fired stations in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and NSW’s Lake Macquarie region among biggest hotspots for deadly sulphur dioxide, report findsPower stations in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and New South Wales’s Lake Macquarie region have been named on a list of the world’s biggest hotspots for toxic air pollution.A new report by Greenpeace, published on Monday, used satellite data published by Nasa to analyse the world’s worst sources of sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution, an irritant gas known to affect human health and one of the main pollutants contributing to deaths from air pollution worldwide. Continue reading...

Researchers say eradication of feral cats is required to reduce the prevalence of the parasite and the diseaseFeral cats are not just predators that kill large numbers of Australian wildlife, they may also be spreading parasitic disease to native animal species, according to new research analysing the impact of cat populations in South Australia.The study, published in the journal Wildlife Research, examined Toxoplasma gondii (T gondii), a cat-borne parasite that can cause the disease Toxoplasmosis in a range of species. Continue reading...

Australia Institute says claim Australia is only responsible for 1.2% of emissions hides real contribution to climate crisisAustralia’s role as a leader in the global fossil fuel trade is underscored by a report that finds it is the world’s third biggest exporter and fifth biggest miner of fossil-related emissions.While political debate sometimes emphasises that Australia is responsible for 1.2% of global emissions at home, the analysis by progressive thinktank the Australia Institute says it trails only Russia and Saudi Arabia in exporting fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Climate activist is four days into a two-week journey on solar-powered yachtFour days into its two-week Atlantic crossing, the solar-powered yacht carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg is becalmed in the ocean after a choppy start to the trip, still 2,500 nautical miles from New York.In an update posted to Twitter around midday on Saturday, the 16-year-old said she was eating and sleeping well and had no sea sickness so far. Continue reading...

Number of flights taken by BEIS staff rises to 4,500 from 2,700 in previous year despite carbon footprintThe Whitehall officials responsible for tackling the climate crisis dramatically increased their domestic flights last year despite the huge carbon footprint associated with aviation.Officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) took more than 4,500 domestic business flights in the last financial year, according to its annual report. The number of flights taken the year before was fewer than 2,700. Continue reading...

Things are not under control when it comes to Australia meeting our Paris target, even if Scott Morrison wants us to believe thatWe’ll get to climate, and the rumble in the Pacific, but I want to begin closer to home. It’s been a busy news week, so you might have missed an excellent story from my colleague Adam Morton on Tuesday revealing that a coalmine in Queensland has nearly doubled its greenhouse gas emissions in two years without penalty under a Morrison government mechanism that is supposed to impose limits on industrial pollution.According to documents released under freedom of information laws, mining company Anglo American was given the green light under the safeguards mechanism to increase its emissions by about 1m tonnes at its Moranbah North mine, in central Queensland. The case study matters, because it helps us separate spin from substance. Continue reading...

Endangered bonobo, migrating storks and one of the world’s biggest raptors

Compostable bowls are considered eco-friendly, but they are covered in chemicals that persist indefinitely and are linked to troubling health effectsFor years, disposable bowls have been a stalwart ally of the fast-casual restaurant. Beige, earthy-looking and made from molded plant fibers, these receptacles appear less wasteful than single-use plastic, lending an aura of social responsibility to the eateries that use them. Some varieties are even certified compostable, which means they’re guaranteed to break down in commercial composting facilities, if not the backyard leaf pile. And while only a few chains actually run composting programs, these bowls still feel lighter-touch somehow – even when they’re simply shipped to the landfill. They suggest a higher-minded way of eating, one based on a form of packaging that’s almost as ephemeral as our encounters with it.But fast-casual bowls have a troubling secret: virtually all of them contain worrisome chemicals that never biodegrade, polluting soil, water and our bodies in the process. The truth is that, though you might only handle your salad bowl for five minutes, traces of it will stick around in the environment for ever. Continue reading...

Australia’s regional and global influence will not grow unless we are fair dinkum about acting on climate changeAs the Pacific Islands Forum comes to an end, Australia has yet again been shamed on a global stage for our inaction on climate change. The forum was held in Tuvalu, one of the lowest lying islands on Earth, where the effects of sea level rise are already being seen. For Tuvalu, a global commitment to limiting climate change to 1.5C is literally a question of survival.By doing everything he could to water down the forum communique’s climate language, the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, refused to listen to the words of Tuvalu’s prime minister, Enele Sopoaga, when he urged leaders to focus on “survival, not saving the economies of countries”. Continue reading...

As UK rents rise and online retailers eat into their margins, shops struggle to surviveIn the early 1930s a young William Laker would cycle the 50-odd miles from his home in Kent to Crystal Palace in south London to visit the woman who would, half a century later, become my grandmother.There is every chance Grandpa would have popped into the small bike shop at 3&5 Central Hill in Crystal Palace. That very shop remained open for about 97 years, serving generations of cyclists, but in July the current custodian of what is now called Blue Door Bicycles, David Hibbs, announced it is to close its door for good. Continue reading...

Recent mass shootings have been linked to ‘eco-xenophobia’ – part of a tradition that dates to America’s first conservationistsThe environmentalist, white nationalist, and influential anti-immigration activist John Tanton died less than three weeks before the El Paso shooting. Tanton lived to see his movement shape much of modern US immigration policy, but not this latest violent turn.A hate-filled document allegedly linked to the man suspected of killing 22 people in El Paso on 3 August echoed the kind of rhetoric generally favored by the far right – and also had a decidedly environmentalist, Tanton-like bent. The document praised the Dr Seuss character the Lorax, who says he speaks for the trees, and complained about the unsustainable overuse of paper towels. It concluded that the best course of environmental action would be mass murder. Continue reading...

Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison came under fire from Tuvalu’s leader Enele SopoagaCritical talks at the Pacific Islands Forum almost collapsed twice amid “fierce” clashes between the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, and Tuvalu’s prime minister, Enele Sopoaga, over Australia’s “red lines” on climate change.Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s foreign minister, who was part of the drafting committee of the forum communique and observed the leaders’ retreat, said there was heated discussion over the Australian delegation’s insistence on the removal of references to coal, setting a target of limiting global warming to below 1.5C and announcing a strategy for zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

The poison-filled traps are used by the federal government to kill coyotes, foxes and other animals for farmers and ranchersAfter sustained public outcry, the Trump administration has voided its decision to reauthorize controversial cyanide traps for killing wildlife.The traps, which are known as M-44s and dubbed “cyanide bombs” by critics, are spring-loaded devices that emit a spray of sodium cyanide to kill their targets. The traps are most frequently used by Wildlife Services, a little-known federal agency inside the United States Department of Agriculture, to kill coyotes, foxes and other animals at the behest of private agriculture operators. Continue reading...

Australia PM says radio host ‘way out of line’ for comments about New Zealand leaderScott Morrison has said the radio presenter Alan Jones was “way out of line” for saying the Australian prime minister should “shove a sock down the throat” of his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern.Speaking after a 12-hour meeting with other leaders of Pacific countries in Tuvalu on Thursday, Morrison said: “The comment has been relayed to me; on what’s been reported to me, I find that very disappointing and of course that’s way out of line. Continue reading...

Environment groups fear possibly ‘weakened’ earthquake risk rules after report on Cuadrilla drillingEnvironmental groups have voiced fears that the government is preparing to row back on fracking regulations after officials said they were considering reviewing earthquake safeguard rules.The limits affecting shale gas fracking are strongly contested by the industry because they bring an immediate halt to fracking if even a minor tremor of 0.5 on the Richter scale is recorded. Continue reading...

Forum’s chair describes leaders’ 12 hours of talks as ‘very, very tough struggle’Australia stands in opposition to other Pacific Islands nations after distancing itself from language calling for urgent action on climate change at a regional meeting in Tuvalu.Eighteen leaders including Australia’s Scott Morrison, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern and Fiji’s Frank Bainimarama met for almost 12 hours at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and its chair, Enele Sopoaga, the Tuvaluan prime minister, described the talks as “a very, very tough, difficult struggle”. Continue reading...

Underland was the author’s fourth work to be shortlisted, and judges decided unanimously that the ‘claustrophobic thriller of sorts’ was his bestAfter making the shortlist for the UK’s top nature-writing award three times, Robert Macfarlane has finally won the Wainwright Golden Beer book prize for what judges called his “best book”: a journey into the worlds beneath our feet, Underland.Related: Underland by Robert Macfarlane review – a dazzling journey into deep time Continue reading...

To protect itself from destructive flooding, the city has built a park designed to store and recycle rainwaterIn Alicante it never rains but it pours. The city in southeast Spain goes without rain for months on end, but when it comes it’s torrential, bringing destructive and sometimes fatal flooding.Or at least, it used to. In San Juan, a low-lying area of the city, authorities have built a new park with a twist. Called La Marjal, it serves as a typical recreation area and a nature reserve – but its primary purpose is to store, and then recycle, rainwater. Continue reading...

MPs, celebrities and academics criticise ‘disgraceful’ comment by Brexit backerArron Banks has been criticised after he appeared to wish harm upon Greta Thunberg as the 16-year-old activist set sail across the Atlantic in a solar-powered yacht on a zero-carbon two-week voyage.The controversial Brexit backer warned the teenager that “freak yachting accidents do happen in August” as he responded to a tweet by Green party MP Caroline Lucas who said Thunberg was carrying “the vital message to the UN that time is running out to address the climate emergency”. Continue reading...

Sources say Canberra has softened language, getting rid of all but one reference to coalAustralia has succeeded in removing all but one reference to coal on the draft communique of the Pacific Islands Forum, and is expected to be able to get that removed on Thursday as Pacific leaders including Scott Morrison meet to debate the text.Sources familiar with the negotiations on the communique, which is used for regional policy making, told Guardian Australia that Australia has been working hard during negotiations to soften the language on climate change and has succeeded in many mentions. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Speaking tour by controversial academic Peter Ridd is being supported by sugarcane managers paid for with Queensland government funds

Exclusive: Business case, which NSW government fought to keep secret, shows water security was not primary motivation for pipelineA business case for the controversial $500m Broken Hill pipeline, released after a three-year battle, reveals the New South Wales government made almost no effort to evaluate the impacts of the pipeline on the lower Darling and instead put weight on how the pipeline would help the cotton industry upstream and mining ventures along the pipeline route.The 2016 report, which had been kept secret until this week, will add to pressure on the government to respond to the findings of the Natural Resources Commission that water-sharing rules for the Barwon-Darling system in northern NSW are responsible for the environmental catastrophe at Menindee and a drought three years early in the lower Darling. Continue reading...

Discovery of pollution in snowfall from the Arctic to the Alps leads to call for urgent research on potential human health impactsAbundant levels of microplastic pollution have been found in snow from the Arctic to the Alps, according to a study that has prompted scientists to warn of significant contamination of the atmosphere and demand urgent research into the potential health impacts on people.Snow captures particles from the air as it falls and samples from ice floes on the ocean between Greenland and Svalbard contained an average of 1,760 microplastic particles per litre, the research found. Even more – 24,600 per litre on average – were found at European locations. The work shows transport by winds is a key factor in microplastics contamination across the globe. Continue reading...

Let’s go for an expansive renewable energy system, backed up with energy efficiency and energy storage, says David Blackburn. Plus Mike Ellwood on the integral fast reactor, and John Barstow on the case for keeping coal as a backupYour article on Hinkley Point C outlines the rising costs, long delays and the mental health crisis among the employees building this new nuclear power station (Report, 14 August). The article suggests the much-delayed project may be delivered around 2025-6. But even this assessment should be treated with real caution. An identical reactor being built at Flamanville in France, which was started in 2007, was supposed to open in 2012. The French nuclear regulator has now sought more work on faulty welds across the reactor, meaning another three-year delay until 2022, ie 15 years after construction began. The additional costs of building this reactor will burden EDF further and inevitably impact on Hinkley Point C. I agree with the National Infrastructure Commission that the costs and delays to new nuclear are such that the UK has to refocus on more deliverable and cheaper renewable energies. Across the board these are being delivered now and we simply do not have the time to wait for new nuclear to come forward. Let’s go for an expansive renewable energy system, backed up with energy efficiency and energy storage. The climate emergency is too pressing to take our time with such endeavours.

Researchers say boom in shale oil and gas major contributor to climate emergencyThe boom in the US shale gas and oil may have ignited a significant global spike in methane emissions blamed for accelerating the pace of the climate crisis, according to research.Scientists at Cornell University have found the “chemical fingerprints” of the rising global methane levels point to shale oil and shale gas as the probable source. Continue reading...

As England’s pheasant egg imports double in three years, campaigners condemn lack of laws regulating rearing and breeding for shooting industryPheasants whose chicks are destined to be shot in the UK are having their septums pierced in order to attach plastic masks to their beaks, according to an undercover film released by activists this week. The method of restraint is illegal in the UK.The video, shot on a farm in Poland, also appears to show the birds being fitted with “breeding aids” and confined in small boxes to repetitively mate. The farm exports ready-to-hatch eggs to the UK for eventual shooting. Animal rights campaigners renewed calls for an end to the “factory farming” of game birds. Continue reading...

New Zealand prime minister warns Scott Morrison about Canberra’s stance but refuses to call for Australia to transition out of coalJacinda Ardern has declared that “Australia has to answer to the Pacific” on climate change, saying that New Zealand is doing what it can to limit global emissions to 1.5C and expects other nations to do the same.

Analysts say Kyoto credits being used to back out of promised cuts as Tuvalu’s PM calls Australia’s $500m pledge an immoral ploy to quell debateAustralia has been accused of using a loophole to back out of a promised emissions cut nearly eight times greater than the combined annual fossil fuel pollution released by the rest of the Pacific.The prime minister, Scott Morrison, arrived in Tuvalu for the Pacific Islands Forum on Wednesday, facing calls that he take steps to quickly reverse Australia’s rising greenhouse gas emissions, including moving away from coal. Continue reading...

Indigenous custodians say document looking at impact of flooding parts of Blue Mountains is hard to followTraditional owners say they have not been given enough time to assess the cultural heritage impact of a plan to raise the wall of Warragamba dam and flood world heritage-listed areas of the Blue Mountains, as two local mayors demand that a state government representative faces community concerns at a public meeting this Friday.The New South Wales government wants to raise the dam wall by at least 14 metres to reduce flood risks to western Sydney suburbs downstream. But green groups, Aboriginal traditional owners and Unesco are against the proposal, with the world heritage committee announcing last month that it was “likely to have an impact on the outstanding universal value” of the area. Continue reading...

Tuvalu PM says no amount of funding makes up for Australia’s failure to cut emissionsThe scene has been set for tense discussions in Tuvalu as Scott Morrison arrives on Wednesday, after his announcement of $500m in climate funding for the Pacific fell flat, with regional leaders saying that no matter how much money Australia put forward there was no excuse for not reducing emissions and closing coalmines.Though the Australian prime minister was not present for the start of the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting on Tuesday, his country’s presence at the forum has already been strongly felt, with Pacific leaders pointedly calling for Australia to transition rapidly away from coal use. Continue reading...

New government analysis on electric vehicles suggests Labor’s election policy was not out of step with path country is already on

The UK’s first nuclear plant to be built since 1995 is expected to cost more than £20bn

Several workers on nuclear plant have killed themselves or attempted to, says union

‘Furthest north lightning strikes in Alaska forecaster memory’ hit as high temperatures and widespread fires plague regionMultiple lightning strikes have been observed 300 miles from the North Pole, according to the US National Weather Service, in the latest sign of extreme changes to the Arctic environment.The strikes, detected by the NWS station in Fairbanks, Alaska, were produced by towering storm clouds. They were detected on Saturday, and while not unique, come as the region is experiencing record-low sea ice levels, high temperatures and widespread fires on areas of tundra. Continue reading...

Black squirrel result of interbreeding between grey and fox squirrels – and they both carry virusIn popular myth they are an aggressive new “super” species pushing out the grey squirrel just as it has displaced the red squirrel.But the black squirrels seen scampering through southern England are a form of grey squirrel created by wild interbreeding between greys and fox squirrels in North America, according to research. Continue reading...

Area around site sealed off for 10 days to remove hazardous dust that has settled since fire in AprilClean-up workers have begun a huge “decontamination” operation around Notre Dame Cathedral after a health scare over lead particles from the fire.It is the second attempt to remove hazardous dust spread across a swath of central Paris that settled on homes, schools and on the ground after the blaze in April that destroyed the cathedral’s roof and spire. Continue reading...

Discovery raises new questions about the amount of plastic waste permeating the air, water, and soil virtually everywhere on EarthPlastic was the furthest thing from Gregory Wetherbee’s mind when he began analyzing rainwater samples collected from the Rocky Mountains. “I guess I expected to see mostly soil and mineral particles,” said the US Geological Survey researcher. Instead, he found multicolored microscopic plastic fibers.The discovery, published in a recent study (pdf) titled “It is raining plastic”, raises new questions about the amount of plastic waste permeating the air, water, and soil virtually everywhere on Earth. Continue reading...

About 450 overseas pests have been introduced to US forests, a climate crisis resource, due to international trade and travelAbout 40% of all forests across the US are at risk of being ravaged by an army of harmful pests, undermining a crucial resource in addressing the climate crisis, new research has found.Tree-damaging pests have already destroyed swathes of US woodland, with the American chestnut virtually wiped out by a fungal disease and elms blighted by Dutch elm disease. About 450 overseas pests that damage or feed on trees have been introduced to US forests due to the growth in international trade and travel. Continue reading...

Australian Council of Recycling warns 4.5m tonnes of waste could end up in domestic landfill without investmentAustralia’s recycling industry has said the “nice words” of a government agreement on recycling must be backed up with funding and action to be “transformative” to the sector.The Australian Council of Recycling welcomed a Council of Australian Governments deal to end recycling exports, but warned the 4.5m tonnes of waste could instead end up in domestic landfill without major public investment in the recyclables industry. Continue reading...

Under a policy that promised to put a limit on industrial pollution, Anglo American was given the green light to increase annual emissionsAn Australian coalmine has nearly doubled its greenhouse gas emissions in two years without penalty under a Coalition climate policy that promised to put a limit on industrial pollution.Mining company Anglo American was given the green light to increase emissions at its Moranbah North mine, in central Queensland, twice since 2016, according to documents released under freedom of information laws. Continue reading...

Wholesale prices rise by 400% as restaurants advised to take cauliflower-related meals off menusBritain is in the grip of a cauliflower crisis, with supermarket shelves emptying after heavy rain destroyed this year’s crop in Lincolnshire, while alternative European supplies are drying up after the continental heatwave.Tesco only has organic cauliflowers left for sale on its online site, telling buyers that standard single cauliflowers and large cauliflowers are not available. Continue reading...

Anyone looking around for bad economic news in this ‘silly season’ is spoilt for choiceEvery now and then, August belies its reputation as a sleepy month when nothing happens and throws up an event that shakes financial markets.The Latin American debt crisis began in August 1982; oil prices soared after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990; the Asian debt crisis had its genesis in the same month in Thailand seven years later. Then there are the crises that simmer away in August and finally come to the boil in September: the buildup to Black Wednesday in 1990; the weeks leading up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Continue reading...

Plume from unprecedented blazes forecast to reach Alaska as fires rage for third monthA cloud of smoke and soot bigger than the European Union is billowing across Siberia as wildfires in the Arctic Circle rage into an unprecedented third month.The normally frozen region, which is a crucial part of the planet’s cooling system, is spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and worsening the manmade climate disruption that created the tinderbox conditions. Continue reading...

Changes to how Endangered Species Act is implemented come as world scientists warn biodiversity crisis will put humanity at riskThe Trump administration is scaling back the US government’s latitude to protect species nearing extinction, as world scientists warn that a biodiversity crisis will soon put humanity at risk.The changes to how the government implements the Endangered Species Act, lauded by industry, will make it harder to protect the most vulnerable creatures. Continue reading...

Scottish Natural Heritage warns of potential ‘significant effects’ on birds and marine lifeSignificant environmental concerns have been raised about plans to build a large salmon farm just off the coast of Canna, a tiny Hebridean island near Skye.Mowi, the world’s largest salmon producer, has tabled outline plans to install eight fish farm cages to grow thousands of tonnes of organic salmon in one of the most environmentally protected areas of sea in the UK. Continue reading...

Pacific leaders say they need more than money from Australia as they demand concrete actions to reduce emissionsScott Morrison will unveil a $500m climate change and oceans funding package for the Pacific region when he attends the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Tuvalu this week.The funding package, which will use existing aid funds to help Pacific nations invest in renewable energy and climate and disaster resilience, will build on the $300m given by the government for that purpose in 2016-2020. Continue reading...

Islanders are struggling to reconcile impact of global heating with traditional way of life, survey findsLife on thin ice: mental health at the heart of the climate crisisThe climate crisis is causing unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety to people in Greenland who are struggling to reconcile the traumatic impact of global heating with their traditional way of life.The first ever national survey examining the human impact of the climate emergency, revealed in the Guardian on Monday, shows that more than 90% of islanders interviewed fully accept that the climate crisis is happening, with a further 76% claiming to have personally experienced global heating in their daily lives, from coping with dangerous sea ice journeys to having sled dogs euthanised for economic reasons tied to shorter winters. Continue reading...

Bright Blue calls for zero VAT on electric cars and rewards for reporting idling vehiclesVehicle fuel taxes should rise to combat the air pollution crisis in the UK, with an extra charge on diesel, according to the conservative thinktank Bright Blue.A report calls for VAT to be abolished on electric cars and for citizens to be able to report idling vehicles and receive a share of fines levied. It also proposes that the speed limit in all urban areas is cut from 30mph to 20mph and that local authorities should be able to profit from pollution charging schemes to fund clean-air projects. Continue reading...

MPs want mandatory climate reporting within three years to avoid risk to investmentsBritain’s biggest companies, investors and pension funds must come clean to investors on the financial risks they face due to the climate crisis, MPs have said.The environmental audit committee (EAC) has called for the City of London to face mandatory climate reporting within the next three years to avoid jeopardising hundreds of billions of pounds worth of pension savings. Continue reading...