Environment | The Guardian

While colour of body changes little, legs are more translucent to help amphibians to blend inThe mystery of why glass frogs have see-through skin has been solved, scientists say: the unusual feature is a type of camouflage.Glass frogs are found in tropical Central and South America, and get their name from their skin. Continue reading...

Angus Taylor responds to question from Labor saying Australia is not due to update target until 2025The Australian government has told parliament it does not intend to increase its climate change commitment before the next major international meeting, and is not due to set a new target until 2025.The statement was made after the British host of the meeting, Boris Johnson, and United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, urged all countries to lift their targets to include net zero emissions by 2050, noting 121 nations had already done so. Continue reading...

Carmaker must pay compensation to motorist who bought minivan fitted with emissions-cheating softwareVolkswagen has lost a landmark legal battle in Germany’s highest civil court over compensation for the buyer of a secondhand minivan fitted with emissions-cheating software.The world’s largest carmaker must take back the plantiff’s manipulated car and pay him €28,257.74 (£25,325), in a case that will lead to the company paying compensation to 60,000 German VW owners. Continue reading...

Forecasts that turned out to be accurate were made available to governments and fire agencies in the middle of 2019The fires that caused 33 deaths, destroyed more than 3,000 homes, and burned more than 10m hectares of bushland were accurately predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology and in line with predictions Australia’s peak scientific body laid down 30 years ago.And according to evidence given in the first day of public hearings in the royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements on Monday, fires of that scale will occur with greater frequency as the climate continues to heat. Continue reading...

The reports that would have been the biggest in the world if Covid-19 had never emerged

Eight chimneys at Victoria’s defunct, coal-fired Hazelwood power station have been demolished. Built in the 1960s, they operated for more than half a century before the brown coal-fuelled power station was shut down in March 2017

Built in the 1960s, each chimney contained around 50kg of asbestos but owner Engie says there is ‘no risk’ it will be airborneEight chimneys at Victoria’s defunct, coal-fired Hazelwood power station have been demolished.The chimneys, which soared 137 metres above the town of Morwell in the Latrobe Valley, came down just before 12.30pm on Monday. Continue reading...

Research shows consumers are following younger generation’s lead in move towards sustainable fashionWith the high street and the fashion industry brought to its knees by the coronavirus pandemic, the ‘buy less, buy better’ ideology of generation Z – those aged 18 to 24 – could see the beginning of the end of fast fashion, new research suggests.If generation Z’s habits are adopted by the population as a whole there could be a shift to consumers with a “divided wardrobe” – featuring rented items and others bought from resale vendors – becoming the new normal. Continue reading...

Farmers faced with worst plague in recent history say they have been left to fend for themselvesMir Gul Muhammad, a farmer in Balochistan province, was blunt. “The worst that we have ever seen, ever, in our whole life,” he said of the swarms of locusts that descended on his village of Gharok.“I cultivated around 50 acres of cotton crops and all of them have been eaten and destroyed by locusts,” he said. “Besides cotton, my other crops – onion, chilli and tomato – have been affected badly too. It is a loss of around 10m rupees [£51,000]. As a farmer, it will take years to recover from this loss.” Continue reading...

Bushfires and Covid-19 highlight connection between human health and natural world, states letter by almost 200 doctors and scientists

Residents say South Coast site saved from bushfires by volunteer firefighters should be preserved for threatened species

Cleve Hill, the £450m project producing 350MW, expected to receive go-ahead this weekBritain’s largest solar farm, capable of generating enough clean electricity to power 91,000 homes, is poised to receive the greenlight from ministers this week.The subsidy-free renewables park is expected to reach a capacity of 350MW by installing 880,000 solar panels – some as tall as buses – across 364 hectares (900 acres) of farmland in the Kent countryside. Continue reading...

Beaches are a polarizing issue amid the pandemic. Experts say that’s because a ‘frenzy of privatization’ led to smaller, more crowded public spacesAs Florida’s beaches shut down in April, part of the state’s pandemic stay-at-home order, Josh Davis noticed something strange in Palm Beach county.“A lot of that beach crowd just kind of moved on to the road and the sidewalk. People set up lawn chairs on the grass,” said Davis, an ocean rescue lifeguard with the county. “If the goal was to keep people from congregating, all it did was really push them a few feet away.” Continue reading...

By buying and managing small wooded plots, enthusiasts are bringing biodiversity back to the countrysideTamara and Steve Davey cannot help but grin at the suggestion they are “miniature rewilders”. Standing proudly in the weak sunlight on the fringes of Dartmoor national park, the full-time grandmother and taxi company owner delight in their eight-acre woodland.Robins, tits and siskins chortle in the trees. Nightjars are welcome visitors in the summer. Seven bat species have been recorded in their small plot. There’s a badger’s sett somewhere in the hillside scrub. And the couple feel at peace. Continue reading...

Country’s youngest MP is on a mission, inspired by Greta Thunberg, as climate moves up political agendaA year ago, Soyoung Lee was one of a crowd of climate activists demonstrating on the streets of Seoul in a campaign inspired by the global school strike founder Greta Thunberg.Today, the 35-year-old lawyer is the youngest member of the South Korean parliament and a driving force in the government’s green new deal, which aims to create millions of jobs in renewable energy and help the economy recover from the coronavirus lockdown. Continue reading...

The Morrison government commission has promoted gas as a key way to boost the economy after the coronavirus crisisThe head of the Morrison government commission tasked with coming up with plans to revitalise the economy after the coronavirus crisis, Nev Power, is to step aside from his position as deputy chairman of a gas company over conflict of interest concerns.“Because of the perceptions of conflict of interest he has stepped back from participating in board meetings and will not participate in the decisions of the board” of Strike Energy, a spokesman for the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission said on Friday evening. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia’s environment editor, Adam Morton, joins political editor, Katharine Murphy, to discuss the week’s news on energy policy. From the release of the government’s technology roadmap to a leaked document that sees gas as the future of Australian energy, why is Australia making a roadmap without a destination? Continue reading...

Jam Land is appealing an environment department order to restore endangered native habitat found to have been poisonedJam Land, the company part-owned by the energy minister, Angus Taylor, and his brother, Richard, has sought a ministerial review of an order to restore native habitat after it was found to have illegally poisoned critically endangered grasslands.Last month, the federal environment department concluded a three-and-a-half-year investigation and ordered the company to remediate 103 hectares on a property in the New South Wales Monaro region. Continue reading...

More than 30 species, including nine that are threatened, are being hunted unsustainably, report findsMore than 30 shorebird species that fly across oceans each year to visit Australia – including nine that are threatened – are being hunted during their long migrations, according to a study that analysed decades of records from 14 countries.The study, which experts said filled a major gap in the world’s knowledge about the impact of hunting on declining shorebird numbers, found that more than 17,000 birds from 16 species were likely being killed at just three sites – Pattani Bay in Thailand, West Java in Indonesia and the Yangtze River delta in China. Continue reading...

Ban on use of subcontractors and fines of €30,000 for slaughterhouses breaching new labour regulations a ‘historic moment’, say campaigners

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including rose-ringed parakeets and a poppy-loving bumblebee Continue reading...

High court rejects challenge after ministers overruled climate objections of planning officialsThe UK government’s approval of a large new gas-fired power plant has been ruled legal by the high court. A legal challenge was brought after ministers overruled climate change objections from planning authorities.The plant, which is being developed by Drax in North Yorkshire, would be the biggest gas power station in Europe, and 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...

The coronavirus complicated response to the disastrous flood that swallowed a series of small communities in mid-Michigan when an ageing dam broke

Family on remote highway stumble upon predator, whose highly unusual colouring is caused by a recessive geneCara Clarkson and her family were driving down a remote highway in Canada’s Rocky Mountains, when a figure glimpsed against the dark evergreen forest left them in disbelief.Related: Indigenous input helps save wayward grizzly bear from summary killing Continue reading...

Climate risks and opportunities need to be incorporated into the financial system as well as public policymaking and infrastructure

After the financial crisis, green investment paid dividends. Coronavirus presents an even greater opportunityEverest is once again visible from Kathmandu, after decades shrouded in pollution. Greenhouse gas emissions have fallen to levels last seen in 2006. Nature has returned to our streets with a quack and a flurry, and people are waking to birdsong in inner cities as the roar of traffic recedes.Clear skies bring little cheer at the food bank, however. Birdsong might lift the heart, but it won’t pay the rent. Continue reading...

National Grid may ask suppliers to stop generating electricity due to record low consumption

Particles may outnumber zooplankton, which underpin marine life and regulate climateThe abundance of microplastic pollution in the oceans is likely to have been vastly underestimated, according to research that suggests there are at least double the number of particles as previously thought.Scientists trawled waters off the coasts of the UK and US and found many more particles using nets with a fine mesh size than when using coarser ones usually used to filter microplastics. The addition of these smaller particles to global estimates of surface microplastics increases the range from between 5tn and 50tn particles to 12tn-125tn particles, the scientists say. Continue reading...

Deputy premier says project will bring jobs to Snowy Mountains region, but conservationists have labelled it ‘environmental vandalism’The Snowy Hydro 2.0 project is a step closer to going ahead after being approved by the New South Wales government, less than a month after it topped a list of 24 infrastructure projects the government wanted fast-tracked as part its Covid-19 economic response.The deputy premier, John Barilaro, announced on Thursday the government had approved the main works for the 2,000-megawatt pumped hydro storage project in the Snowy Mountains. Continue reading...

Experimental cell using the potentially game-changing material perovskite passes a series of heat and humidity testsA team of Australian researchers are claiming a world first in a global race to develop cheaper, more flexible and more efficient solar panels after their experimental cell passed a series of heat and humidity tests.Using a type of crystal material known as perovskite, the group found that a simple glass and synthetic rubber coating around the cell was enough to stop it from degrading too quickly. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Letter to national cabinet, energy ministers and Nev Power warns Australia’s prosperity depends on cutting emissionsA cross-society collection of groups – representing business, the energy industry, property owners, unions, major investors, disadvantaged people and the environment – have banded together to warn that Australia’s prosperity depends on eradicating greenhouse gas emissions.In a letter to the national cabinet, federal and state energy ministers and Nev Power, Scott Morrison’s handpicked Covid-19 recovery chairman, the 14 organisations have called for government support in the wake of the pandemic to urgently stimulate job growth and rebuild a “sustainable and strong economy”. Continue reading...

Alexander Stafford says party can avoid mistakes made in mine closures of Thatcher era

Leeds, Birmingham and Bath also push back green plans and blame coronavirus pandemic

Deer, bobcats and black bears are gathering around parts of Yosemite national park typically teeming with visitors

Subsidies should focus on early-stage clean technologies not energy sources that are already mature or commercial, Energy Council saysAustralia’s oil and gas producers have warned against the Morrison government underwriting a massive expansion of the domestic industry, saying the country does not have a gas shortage and intervention could reduce supply and raise prices.The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said it welcomed some recommendations on gas in a leaked draft report by a manufacturing taskforce advising the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission, but it also included “ideas that just won’t work”. Continue reading...

Union and consumer groups warn post-Brexit trade policy must hold food imports to same standards as UK

Media watchdog criticises retiring shock-jock and orders he make an on-air correction about climate changeAlan Jones breached broadcasting codes for decency in his use of “violent metaphors” about New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and accuracy in his comments about climate change, the media watchdog has found days before the shock-jock retires after a 35-year career.The Australian Communications and Media Authority ordered the 79-year-old to make an on-air correction about the climate change comments but found he has already apologised for his criticism of Ardern. Continue reading...

Catastrophic flooding could potentially release toxic pollution from site contaminated by Dow ChemicalCatastrophic flooding triggered by dam failures in Michigan could potentially release toxic pollution from a site contaminated by the industrial giant Dow Chemical.Dow’s facility in Midland, Michigan, where the company is headquartered along the Tittabawassee River, manufactured chlorine-based products beginning in the early 1900s. The company discharged dioxins, chemical compounds which can cause reproductive harm and cancer, into the river. Continue reading...

Governor says town of Midland could soon be under 9ft of water while one of the dams had been under federal scrutiny since 1999

Survey by Shenhua environmental consultant shows decline of 87% in koala numbers since 2012-13, as campaigners plead for impact of bushfires to weigh on mine conditionsKoalas on the site of the planned Shenhua Watermark coalmine in New South Wales are heading towards localised extinction “even before the mine commences”, according to company documents.Meeting minutes for the mine’s koala technical working group say there has been a steep drop in koala populations at the mine site in the Liverpool Plains. Continue reading...

Exclusive: The report does not consider alternatives to gas, or mention climate change and the financial risk of investing in fossil fuel as emissions are cutAustralian taxpayers should underwrite a massive expansion of the domestic gas industry – including helping open new fields and build hundreds of kilometres of pipelines – according to a group advising on Covid-19 recovery.A leaked draft report by a manufacturing taskforce advising the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) recommends the Morrison government make sweeping changes to “create the market” for gas and build fossil fuel infrastructure that would operate for decades. Continue reading...

Small modular reactors ‘have potential’, investment roadmap discussion paper saysThe Morrison government has flagged examining “emerging nuclear technologies” as part of Australia’s energy mix in the future in a new discussion paper kicking off the process of developing its much-vaunted technology investment roadmap.Facing sustained pressure to adopt a 2050 target of net zero emissions, pressure it is continuing to resist, the government plans instead to develop the roadmap as the cornerstone of the Coalition’s mid-century emissions reduction strategy. Continue reading...

AMTE Power and Britishvolt to invest up to £4bn in plant similar to Tesla facility in US

The world’s most productive salmon fishery and a stronghold for the state’s bears are under threat from an open-pit gold and copper mineTowering over the average human and weighing as much as a grand piano, the bears found in south-west Alaska are considered among the best in the world to observe as they pad around in a largely untouched wilderness of soaring mountains, pristine rivers and rocky beaches.About a third of Alaska’s 30,000 brown bears are found on the Alaska Peninsula, which separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, a place that hosts the most productive wild salmon fishery in the world and draws large numbers of bears to catch their food in the tumbling waters once they emerge from their winter hibernation. Continue reading...

Swedish developer Vattenfall says hold-up could call into question UK’s green resolveThe government has delayed the planning process for a major new windfarm off the Norfolk coast because of the coronavirus lockdown, with its developer to warning the move could “send the wrong signal” to the renewables industry.The Swedish energy company Vattenfall said delaying a decision on the 1.8GW Norfolk Boreas windfarm by up to five months was “regrettable” and might call Britain’s green ambitions into question. Continue reading...

New strategy to protect nature includes far-reaching habitat protections, and restrictions on pesticide use – but campaigners warn enforcement is keyThe European Commission has committed to protecting 30% of the EU’s land and oceans by 2030 as part of the European Green Deal, in a plan tentatively welcomed by environment groups who warned far-reaching ambitions must not only exist “on paper”.The 10-year plan, published on Wednesday, includes commitments to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50%, plant 3bn trees by 2030 and reverse the decline in pollinators. Within the 30% protected areas, a third of land and sea will be under “strict protection”, meaning there should be no human intervention besides minimal management to keep the area in good condition for wildlife. Continue reading...

Under the leadership of William Perry Pendley, the Bureau of Land Management is failing to fulfill its most basic duties of safeguarding America’s public lands, his critics sayIn July 2017, William Perry Pendley, a crusading conservative attorney, delivered a speech to a group of rightwing activists in North Carolina in which he was completely candid about his ideological commitments.He accused “the media” of selling “their soul to the greens”. And after criticizing the Endangered Species Act, he made light of killing endangered species. Continue reading...

US study identifies statistically significant trend in line with climate scientists’ predictionsTropical cyclones have become more intense around the globe in the past four decades, with more destructive storms forming more often, according to a study that further confirms the theory that warming oceans would drive more dangerous cyclones.Analysis of satellite records from 1979 to 2017 found a clear rise in the most destructive cyclones – also known as hurricanes or typhoons – that deliver sustained winds in excess of about 185km/h. Continue reading...