Environment | The Guardian

A century after Walter Mittelholzer’s famous aerial mission, scientists repeat his journey to shed light on the impact of global heatingIn 1919, the Swiss pilot and photographer Walter Mittelholzer flew over Mont Blanc in a biplane photographing the alpine landscape. A century on, scientists have recreated his images to show the impact of global heating on the mountain’s glaciers.Dr Kieran Baxter and Dr Alice Watterson from the University of Dundee used a process called monoplotting to work out the precise locations from which Mittelholzer had taken his photographs. They returned to the spot in a helicopter and lined up their cameras using the alpine peaks as their guide. Continue reading...

UK and US politicians pledge to rein in big oil in light of Guardian climate crisis investigation

‘A leopard doesn’t change its spots,’ says activist investor group, dismissing plan as effort to play for timeThe Minerals Council has announced it will develop a “climate action plan” amid increasing pressure on its biggest members, BHP and Rio Tinto, to quit the industry body over its position on global heating.In a statement posted on the Minerals Council website this week, the chief executive, Tania Constable, said the plan would be released next year and would “support strong and innovative action by Australia’s world-leading minerals sector to address human-induced climate change. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Queensland Labor left figures say party built on the right to protest or strikeLabor members from inner-Brisbane have unanimously passed a resolution condemning the mass arrests of climate activists and describing the Queensland government’s proposed crackdown as “eerily reminiscent” of the state’s authoritarian Bjelke-Petersen era.The Labor premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, this week announced plans to rush consultation on new laws that target climate change protesters, expanding police search powers and banning “locking” devices. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Berejiklian government urged to develop Hawkins-Rumker area and Wollar field near BylongThe New South Wales government is considering opening two large coal fields to exploration as it seeks to make the state the “number one mining investment destination”, Guardian Australia has learned.The Advisory Body for Strategic Release, which controls the state’s minerals reserves, has written to the deputy premier, John Barilaro, who is also the minister for regional affairs, recommending the Berejiklian government approve the development of the Hawkins-Rumker area in the central tablelands and the Wollar field near Bylong. Continue reading...

Magistrate says bail conditions preventing the former senator from attending Extinction Rebellion events were not necessaryFormer Greens senator Scott Ludlam has had bail conditions – that banned him from associating with Extinction Rebellion climate change protests – dismissed by a judge following his arrest at a protest earlier this week.The strict conditions had been labelled “absurd” by civil liberties campaigners and prevented Ludlam from appearing in court on Thursday, due to restrictions on coming to the Sydney CBD. Continue reading...

Announcement comes as parent company commits to net-zero carbon flying by 2050British Airways will offset all domestic flight emissions from next year, after its owner IAG became the first airline group to commit to net-zero carbon flying by 2050.IAG’s chief executive, Willie Walsh, said that the company would reach the net-zero target largely through offsetting but pledged its airlines, including Aer Lingus and Iberia, would also substantially reduce emissions through sustainable fuels and replacing older aircraft. Continue reading...

Labor pledged to reinstate ‘wild rivers’ protections, but is yet to follow through, angering Indigenous and environmental groupsWhen the channel country floods, the rivers of western Queensland spread like thousands of fractures through the red dirt, each snaking their way through the central desert towards Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.The remote regenerative waterways that flow into the great inland lake are largely unaffected by the sort of actions that have made a mess of the Murray-Darling, where the river system has been placed under pressure over decades by a mix of large-scale irrigation, floodplain development, dams and diversions. Continue reading...

Government says foreign ship appears to have caused the spill, in accusation likely to further strain Brazilian-Venezuelan relationsThick crude oil that has stained hundreds of miles of pristine Brazilian beach in recent weeks probably originated in Venezuela, the Brazilian government has said, in an accusation likely to further strain relations between the two countries.Related: 'Chaos, chaos, chaos': a journey through Bolsonaro's Amazon inferno Continue reading...

Stanley Johnson gives backing to activists as Met reduce the number of activists’ sites from 12 to sixThe prime minister’s father has told a crowd at Extinction Rebellion’s London demonstrations he backs their methods and is proud to call himself an “uncooperative crusty”.Stanley Johnson was responding to a question about comments made by his son, who called environmental protesters occupying sites across Westminster “uncooperative crusties” in “heaving hemp bivouacs”. Continue reading...

Parliamentary Friends of Climate Action aims to serve as a safe place for climate policy, away from ‘partisan politics’Several Liberal MPs have signed on to a crossbench-led climate action committee, as the parliament’s independents attempt to take partisan politics out of the nation’s climate policies.Tim Wilson, Dave Sharma, Jason Falinski, Katie Allen, Angie Bell and Trent Zimmerman are among the Liberal MPs to sign up to the Parliamentary Friends of Climate Action group, along with Labor’s Ged Kearney and Josh Burns as well as Adam Bandt from the Greens and Andrew Wilkie. Continue reading...

Investigators say it is unclear whether wound happened before or after its deathA humpback whale that died after swimming into the Thames was hit by a ship, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has said.However, it is not clear whether the wound on the juvenile female was inflicted before or after its death. Continue reading...

Swedish activist, 16, visits North and South Dakota in solidarity with indigenous groups fighting Dakota Access oil pipelineGreta Thunberg has been honoured by tribal leaders at Standing Rock in North Dakota, the scene of fierce environmental protests, as the teenage climate activist became odds-on favourite for another garland – the Nobel peace prize.Related: 'Right here, right now': Fatboy Slim samples Greta Thunberg for live show Continue reading...

Contender’s proposal builds on her platform to fight climate crisis by investing $3tn in next decade to combat global heatingDemocratic presidential frontrunner Elizabeth Warren has unveiled an ambitious climate and environmental justice plan that places poor communities of color at the centre of a sweeping reform package aimed at bolstering environmental protection, curbing pollution and preserving clean water and air.The plan, shared with the Guardian ahead of launch, references a number of predominantly minority communities suffering from severe pollution, including those in Flint and southern Detroit in Michigan, the Navajo nation and Reserve, Louisiana. Reserve is the focus of a year-long Guardian series, Cancer Town, focused on air pollution linked to cancer in the town. Continue reading...

Mayors of more than 90 of the world’s biggest cities voice support for bold proposal to fight climate change as they lambast ‘failed’ UN climate summitAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she was ‘inspired’ by the Global Green New Deal, a bold proposal to fight climate change announced today by the C40 group of global mayors.To kick off their major summit this week the group, which represents more than 90 of the world’s biggest cities, voiced their backing for the plan and said it reaffirmed their “commitment to protecting the environment, strengthening our economy, and building a more equitable future by cutting emissions”. Continue reading...

The Guardian reveals the 20 fossil fuel companies whose relentless exploitation of the world’s oil, gas and coal reserves can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era. The global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, explains how these firms have continued to expand their operations despite being aware of the industry’s devastating impact on the planet Continue reading...

Fossil fuel companies have been aware of their impact on the planet since at least the 1950s Continue reading...

Analysis uncovers impact of proposed coal and gas expansion on Paris agreementA wave of planned fossil fuel developments by major companies across northern Australia would significantly increase the amount of coal and gas the country plans to sell into Asia and push the Paris climate agreement goals further beyond reach, a Guardian analysis reveals.If the proposals go ahead, the science and policy institute Climate Analytics estimates that by 2030 Australia, with 0.3% of the global population, will be linked to about 13% of the greenhouse gases that can be emitted if the world is to meet the goals set in Paris. Continue reading...

Corbyn commits to 37 new windfarms in green industrial revolution election pushJeremy Corbyn will unveil plans to create another 70,000 jobs in offshore windfarms part-owned by the public as his party gears up for an election manifesto focusing on a green industrial revolution.The Labour leader will visit a windfarm on Wednesday as he launches his commitment to a further 37 offshore windfarms. Continue reading...

Culls cause badgers to roam further, potentially worsening risk of disease in cattleBadgers start to roam much further afield when culling starts nearby, research has found, potentially increasing the spread of bovine tuberculosis, the disease culling is meant to control.The findings raise questions about the government’s culling strategy, begun in 2011 and intended to reduce the harm to dairy herds from a rising incidence of bovine TB in hotspots around the country. Last month the government announced a major extension. Continue reading...

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the state is seeing ‘major disruption’ amid rolling protests by Extinction RebellionThe Queensland government has announced it will rush consultation on controversial proposed laws to crack down on acts of civil disobedience by climate change protesters.The announcement comes amid rolling acts of disruption in Brisbane by members of Extinction Rebellion and has been met with concern from legal and environmental groups, who say the proposals infringe on people’s basic civil liberties. Continue reading...

Shadow climate change minister says Joel Fitzgibbon’s suggestion is inconsistent with Paris agreementThe shadow climate change minister, Mark Butler, has slapped down fellow frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon, declaring Labor cannot support the Coalition’s 2030 emissions reduction target because it is inconsistent with the Paris agreement.Fitzgibbon, who suffered a significant swing against him in his coalmining seat in the Hunter Valley in the May election, used a speech on Wednesday to argue the ALP should offer “a political and policy settlement” on climate policy “to make 28% the target by 2030”. Continue reading...

The dance artist electrifies crowd after mixing the climate activist’s UN speech slogan with his club favouriteFatboy Slim has paid tribute to Greta Thunberg in a performance in Gateshead over the weekend, mixing her speech to the United Nations into a performance of his club favourite Right Here, Right Now.The mash-up opens with Thunberg’s voice, delivering her blistering speech to world leaders about the climate crisis over the synth melody. Continue reading...

Civil liberties groups say bail conditions imposed on Sydney climate change activists are usually reserved for bikie gang membersClimate change protesters arrested for obstructing traffic have been given “absurd” bail conditions that ban them from “going near” or contacting members of Extinction Rebellion, which civil liberties groups say infringes on freedom of political communication.On Monday, 30 people – including former federal Greens senator Scott Ludlam – were arrested in Sydney while calling for government action on the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Growing up being constantly reminded that water is finite and rain is unreliable is in the back of my mind wherever I go

Major environment groups, including the Australian Conservation Foundation and Greenpeace, back XR protestsThe head of one of Australia’s largest environment groups has warned Extinction Rebellion protesters they could be creating division on environmental issues at a time when “cool heads” are needed.Lyndon Schneiders, national campaigns director for the Wilderness Society and a veteran activist, told Guardian Australia he hoped the XR campaign would not hand more power to the fossil fuel lobby by causing further polarisation. Continue reading...

Street of 105 homes hailed as high-quality architecture in its most environmentally and socially conscious formOne hundred years since the 1919 Addison Act paved the way for the country’s programme of mass council housing, the prize for the best new building in the UK has been awarded to one of the first new council housing projects in a generation.Goldsmith Street in Norwich represents what has become a rare breed: streets of terraced homes built directly by the council, rented with secure tenancies at fixed social rents. And it’s an architectural marvel, too. Continue reading...

Arrests made under section 14 order as officers in Whitehall begin removing tentsPolice have begun attempting to clear Extinction Rebellion protest camps from around Westminster as they imposed a section 14 order banning demonstrations across central London.Arrests were made under the order from early on Tuesday morning, beginning at the movement’s westernmost encampments on Millbank and moving into Whitehall in the late afternoon, where hundreds of tents had been pitched outside Downing Street. Continue reading...

Bank of England governor gives firms two years to agree rules for reporting climate risksThe governor of the Bank of England has warned major corporations that they have two years to agree rules for reporting climate risks before global regulators devise their own and make them compulsory.Mark Carney said companies should use their next two annual financial reports to road test how they document the impact of the climate emergency on their businesses. Continue reading...

In an interview with Extinction Rebellion, the novelist said he found the negative response to his writing about the climate crisis ‘surprising, if not disheartening’Fresh from another internet pile-on over his views on the climate emergency, Jonathan Franzen has warned that hate speech on social media is dividing humanity and preventing the cooperation needed to tackle the environmental crisis.The American novelist was speaking to the Extinction Rebellion podcast, to be released on Wednesday, about the aggressive online response to his recent New Yorker article about the climate catastrophe. He is not on social media, he said, “so I don’t experience the Twitter rage except through the accounts of a couple of friends who have not learned that they shouldn’t tell me about these things”. Continue reading...

A slipper-shod Lord Fraser emerges from his Westminster home to berate climate campaignersA Tory peer has confronted Extinction Rebellion protesters in his dressing gown as they marched past his home in central London.Andrew Fraser, who was made a life peer by David Cameron in 2016, emerged from his Westminster home on Lord North Street on Tuesday morning. He was pictured wearing a white dressing gown and slippers as he confronted protesters, who were were banging drums and waving banners as part of the second day of Extinction Rebellion’s planned two-week shutdown of the heart of the capital. While the nature of the exchange between the peer and the protesters is unknown, one activist did try to hand him a flyer. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s description of XR protesters is met with anger and disgust at Whitehall campsiteBoris Johnson described protesters from Extinction Rebellion on Monday night as “uncooperative crusties” occupying “heaving hemp bivouacs” on the streets of Westminster.At the Extinction Rebellion protest site on Trafalgar Square on Tuesday morning, Nicola Hargreaves snorted as she considered the prime minister’s remarks. “I’m a solicitor,” she said. “And I’m dressed in clothes from Whistles that I’m pretty sure don’t have any hemp in them at all. So Boris can shove his comments up his arse.” Continue reading...

Spanish capital to reduce number of brightly coloured birds over public health risk fearsMadrid’s city council has grown sick of its parrots.Or, more precisely, of the thousands of shrill, bright green monk parakeets that screech through the capital’s skies and build vast nests in its trees. Continue reading...

PM hits out at protesters for ‘littering’ London with ‘heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs’The prime minister has attacked the Extinction Rebellion activists protesting in London over the climate crisis, dismissing them as “uncooperative crusties” who should stop blocking the streets of the capital with their “heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs”.Boris Johnson made the remarks at the launch of the final volume of a biography of Margaret Thatcher written by his former boss at the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore. Continue reading...

Energy minister ducks questions about Scott Morrison’s criticism of ‘internationalist bureaucracy’The energy minister, Angus Taylor, has ducked questions about what “negative globalism” means in the context of Australia’s participation in international climate negotiations, and has sidestepped questions about Australia’s emissions reduction strategy for 2050.Asked to explain Scott Morrison’s recent criticism at the Lowy Institute of what he termed “unaccountable internationalist bureaucracy” and “negative globalism” – and interpret what the prime minister’s observations meant for Australia’s participation in United Nations-led climate discussions – Taylor hedged. Continue reading...

Heavy rains have helped military contain blazes that have burnt more than 4m hectares of landHeavy rains over recent days in the Bolivian Amazon have helped put out forest fires that have raged for two months across the land-locked South American nation, charring more than 4m hectares of land, local authorities said on Monday.The storms helped Bolivia’s military contain blazes in the region of Chiquitania, home to large areas of dry forests and indigenous communities that have lived in them for centuries. Continue reading...

A wave of disruptive protests in the city launched as part of a global week of action by the UK-based group Continue reading...

Demonstrators were arrested in a wave of US protests that are part of a global week of action by the UK-based groupMore than 20 people were arrested by police in New York City’s financial district after Extinction Rebellion climate protesters poured fake blood over the famous Charging Bull statue, a symbol of American capitalist might.The protesters launched a wave of disruptive protests in the city on Monday. A smaller number of arrests were made at a “die in” outside New York’s stock exchange, with protesters subsequently blocking a nearby road to traffic. Continue reading...

Supreme court issues ban on felling in suburb of Aarey amid growing protestsA mass felling of trees in one of the world’s most-polluted megacities has been halted by India’s top court, amid protests that their removal would strip Mumbai of a precious “green lung”.Some 2,700 trees were to be cut down in India’s financial capital to make way for a depot for subway carriages in the city of nearly 20 million people. Continue reading...

Official says there have been multiple sightings of whale measuring at least 5m longA humpback whale measuring at least 5 metres (16ft) has been spotted in the River Thames east of London.“We are 99.9999% sure it is a humpback whale – there have been multiple sightings,” said a spokesman for the Port of London Authority (PLA), which oversees the river. Continue reading...

Region’s first conference on the trade hears of growing demand for live and dead animals from world’s most biodiverse continentThe illegal wildlife trade is increasing all across Latin America, the first high-level conference on the issue in the Americas was told.After drugs, guns and human trafficking, wildlife trafficking is the world’s most lucrative organised crime with an annual value of around $20bn (£16bn) each year, according to a 2016 report by Interpol and the UN environment programme. Continue reading...

Protests take place in Melbourne, Brisbane and other Australian cities to kick off a week of activity by Extinction RebellionFour teenage girls are among dozens of protesters demanding government action on climate change to be arrested in Sydney on Monday.The Extinction Rebellion climate protests movement has planned a “spring rebellion” from Monday to Sunday, including marches aimed at blocking traffic. Continue reading...

Consumer goods giant to push reusable packs, refills and alternative materials and halve usage by 2025Unilever is to slash it use of virgin plastic by creating greener versions of its household products, a shift that could make shampoo refill stations, cardboard deodorant sticks and toothpaste tablets the norm at the supermarket.The consumer goods giant, which owns more than 400 brands including Dove, Comfort and Sure, currently uses 700,000 tonnes of plastic each year and has pledged to halve that figure by 2025. To get there it will cut its absolute usage by 100,000 tonnes – by switching to selling reusable packs, concentrated refills and using alternative materials, including recycled plastics in its containers – and start collecting more packaging than it uses to help create a circular economy for recycled plastic. Continue reading...

Twenty institutions including Newcastle and Exeter club together in 10-year deal worth £50mTwenty of the UK’s leading universities have struck a £50m deal to buy renewable energy directly from British windfarms for the first time.The collaborative clean energy deal will supply electricity from wind farms across Scotland and Wales to universities including Newcastle University, University of Exeter and Aberystwyth University. Continue reading...

Environment officials are unsure whether the poisoning of the birds in northeast Victoria was an accidentAn insecticide is likely to be behind the deaths of almost 200 native birds in northeast Victoria, environment officials believe.After dead wedge-tailed eagles were found near Violet Town in August the state’s environment department found more – along with hawks and falcons – on a nearby property. Continue reading...

Environmental activists plan to blockade roads in the centre of government for two weeksEnvironmental activists from around Britain are set to swoop on Westminster on Monday morning in an attempt to “shut down” the heart of government with two weeks of disruptive protests.Extinction Rebellion (XR) said its members are planning to blockade “every single road” into the central London district and plan to maintain the protests for at least 14 days, or until their demands are met. Continue reading...

A conservation group plans to buy the largest privately owned sequoia grove as the climate crisis threatens the species’ futureFew living beings have experienced as much as the giant sequoias. With ancestors dating back to the Jurassic era, some of the trees that now grow along California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains been alive for thousands of years, bearing witness to most of human history – from the fall of the Roman empire to the rise of Beyoncé.But a couple hundred years of human encroachment on to the sequoias’ habitat, combined with the climate crisis, increasingly intense wildfires, and drought have threatened the species’ future. The last of the world’s most massive trees now live on just 73 groves scattered across the Sierras. Most lie within protected national parks such as Sequoia national park, where visitors flock from around the world to marvel at General Sherman, the world’s most massive tree. Continue reading...

In effort to restore marsupial’s population, 30 released into Mallee Cliffs national park inside predator-free enclosureBilbies have been reintroduced to the Mallee Cliffs national park in the far south-west of New South Wales in an effort to restore populations of the marsupial, which is regionally extinct in the state.Greater bilbies haven’t been seen in the national park for more than a century. Continue reading...

Miner given permission due to ‘loopholes’ in safeguard mechanism, Australian Conservation Foundation saysAn Australian mining company was able to massively increase greenhouse gas emissions from two of its coalmines without penalty under a government policy that is meant to limit carbon pollution from large facilities.Centennial Coal was given permission on three occasions since 2016/17 to increase the greenhouse gas emissions from its Myuna colliery and Mandalong mines in New South Wales, according to data kept by the clean energy regulator. Continue reading...

David Littleproud signals more taxpayer support for rural communities as big dry ‘escalates’The drought and water resources minister, David Littleproud, has acknowledged he “totally” accepts that worsening droughts are linked to climate change, as he signalled more taxpayer support for regional communities was coming as Australia’s big dry “escalates”.Littleproud, who stumbled last month by first telling Guardian Australia he did not know if climate change was manmade, then later clarifying he had always accepted the science on the role humans play in the climate changing, told the ABC on Sunday he understood the link between global warming and drought because “I live it”. Continue reading...