Environment | The Guardian

Eric Donaldson reached settlement with government over toxic contamination on his Queensland propertyA retired air force doctor from rural Queensland is the first Australian to receive a compensation payment from the federal government as a result of legacy contamination from toxic firefighting foams used by the defence department.Eric Donaldson, 83, from the town of Oakey, about 150km west of Brisbane, reached a settlement with the government after groundwater at his property was affected by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals found to share a probable link to cancer. Continue reading...

Non-binding proposal spearheaded by progressives aims to reduce greenhouse gases and lessen social inequityThe US Senate defeated a motion to take up the Green New Deal, the non-binding proposal spearheaded by progressive Democratic lawmakers to radically reduce greenhouse gases and try to lessen social inequity.Republican leaders in the Senate had scheduled Tuesday’s vote in an effort to turn the proposal into a wedge issue in the 2020 elections, hoping to force Democrats on the record about their support – or opposition – for a proposal that is popular among the Democratic base but has been criticized by many conservatives. Continue reading...

State of emergency declared in South Island after severe downpour that washed away bridgeA woman has been found dead in New Zealand following a severe downpour that washed away a bridge and prompted a state of emergency in the South Island.Police on Wednesday said the elderly woman’s body had washed up on a riverbank north of the town of Hokitika, in the West Coast region. Continue reading...

Oil companies must respect human lives and clean up the damage their industry does wherever they operate, say Dr John Sentamu, Baroness Amos, Prof Michael Watts, Njeri Kabeberi and James ThorntonThe devastating impact of oil spills is widely recognised. The past decade has witnessed the destruction caused to human life and the environment from spills including the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and the Montara spill in Australia in 2009.On each occasion the global community has reacted with horror, demanding the oil industry clean up local ecosystems and communities. Yet in Nigeria, and particularly in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta, these calls are ignored. Continue reading...

King Island brown thornbill was ranked the Australian bird most likely to go extinct within 20 yearsResearchers say they have discovered one of Australia’s most endangered birds in forest in Tasmania, outside its previously known habitat.Scientists from the Australian National University say the find is a rare piece of positive news for the King Island brown thornbill, which was last year ranked as the Australian bird most likely to go extinct within 20 years if nothing was done to secure its survival. Continue reading...

Wild bees and hoverflies lost from a quarter of the places they were found in 1980, study showsA widespread loss of pollinating insects in recent decades has been revealed by the first national survey in Britain, which scientists say “highlights a fundamental deterioration” in nature.The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species found the insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they were found in 1980. A third of the species now occupy smaller ranges, with just one in 10 expanding their extent, and the average number of species found in a square kilometre fell by 11. Continue reading...

On the US-Mexico border, residents say a vast geothermal project threatens the water – and claim the state has ignored local concerns to help big energy

Famed Belgian statue wasted 1,000 to 2,500 litres of fresh clean drinking water each dayFor four centuries the celebrated Manneken Pis – the “peeing boy” in the local Dutch dialect – has embodied the laissez-faire culture of the Belgians.But, to the surprise of officials in the city of Brussels, it has emerged that the bronze statue had been weeing fresh clean drinking water – 1,000 to 2,500 litres of it a day, sufficient for the use of 10 households – directly into the city’s sewers. Continue reading...

Chemicals used to clean up spills have harmed marine wildlife, response workers and coastal residents. The EPA must act

Government announces generation projects that could win public support, and will examine need for a new coal plant in QueenslandScott Morrison has attempted to mollify rebel Queenslanders by promising to examine whether a new coal plant is needed in north Queensland, and by signing off on a shortlist for new power generation that includes “one very small” coal project in New South Wales proposed by coal baron and LNP donor, Trevor St Baker.Cabinet on Tuesday signed off on a shortlist of 12 generation projects that could attract taxpayer underwriting, and allocated $10m for a feasibility study that will examine whether it is desirable to revive the decommissioned coal plant at Collinsville, south of Townsville. Continue reading...

It could take up to four months to finish cleaning up the spill from the MV TraderOcean currents have carried oil leaking from a shipwreck on the Solomon Islands away from a nearby world heritage site as authorities continue a clean-up operation that is expected to take months.Cleaning up after the bulk carrier MV Solomon Trader, which ran aground on a coral reef in early February and released 80 tonnes of oil, is expected to take up to four months. Continue reading...

Younger coal-fired power plants in Asia account for increase, says energy agencyGreenhouse gas emissions from energy production rose strongly again last year, according to new data from the International Energy Agency, with a young fleet of coal-fired power plants in Asia accounting for a large proportion of the increase.Energy demand grew at its fastest pace this decade, with a 2.3% increase globally driving rises in fossil fuel consumption. Coal use in power stations was a third of the increase in energy consumption, and together gas and coal were responsible for nearly 70% of the growth in energy consumption, and while demand for solar and wind power also increased, it was by much less overall. Continue reading...

Current regime fails to halt the creeping loss of critical habitat, WWF Australia warnsKoala populations on the Australian east coast have diminished to the extent the species should now be considered “endangered”, environment groups have said, amid concern that existing protection measures have failed to halt the creeping loss of critical habitat.In south-east Queensland, once a stronghold for koala populations, habitat continues to be bulldozed through ineffective offset strategies, loopholes in development restrictions and poor planning for population growth, the groups said. Continue reading...

Around 75% of coal production is more expensive than renewables, with industry out-competed on cost by 2025

Government invades modern-day gold-rush town in Amazon in its biggest ever raid on illegal gold miningLocated along a jungle highway in the Amazon around 60 miles from the nearest city, La Pampa was a place you entered at your own risk. At night it was a riot of neon lights and pulsating cumbía music from “prostibar” brothels, frequented by roaming groups of men flush with cash. Neither authorities nor outsiders – and particularly not journalists – were welcome.This modern-day gold-rush town, home to about 25,000 people, was both a hub for organised crime and people trafficking and a gateway into a treeless, lunar landscape pocked with toxic pools created by illegal gold mining, stretching far into one of the Amazon’s most treasured reserves. Continue reading...

Should we become vegetarians? Is it OK to fly? The author of There Is No Planet B, A Handbook for the Make or Break Years, answers the big questionsOur food makes up something like a quarter of our greenhouse gas footprint, and at the same time as cutting this we need to feed a growing population better than we are doing now, while rescuing our haemorrhaging biodiversity and avoiding an antibiotics crisis. There is no escaping the clear evidence that humans need to reduce their meat – especially beef and lamb – as well as dairy consumption. When we feed a soya bean to a cow, we get back only about 10% of the nutrition in beef, and it comes with a hefty dose of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) and very likely some deforestation. Continue reading...

NSW Coalition has the seats to form a majority as Michael Daley stands aside until new Labor leader vote held after the federal electionABC’s election analyst Antony Green has called the seat of Dubbo for the Nationals, giving New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian the 47th seat she needs to claim majority government of the state.And the opposition leader, Michael Daley, has stood aside in favour of his deputy Penny Sharpe, though he still intends to offer himself as leader in a rank-and-file ballot that will be held after the federal election. Continue reading...

Captive population of critically endangered bird doubles with the birth of nine chicksThe captive population of Australia’s most unique critically endangered bird has doubled with the birth of nine plains-wanderer chicks, helped out by a feather duster, a heat lamp and a lot of cotton wool.The chicks were born to two pairs and hatched within 24 hours of each other at Werribee open range zoo in Victoria last week. Continue reading...

Government must take urgent action to improve air quality around schools, report findsNearly two-thirds of teachers would support car-free roads outside schools during drop-off and pickup times, while more than half want the government to take urgent action to improve air quality outside schools, a survey suggests.The study, in which 840 people in teaching roles across the UK participated, found that 63% would support a ban on motor vehicles outside the school gates at the start and end of the day. Continue reading...

Only loose versions of 45 products will be sold in Extra stores in Watford and SwindonTesco is launching a trial to remove a selection of plastic-wrapped fruit and vegetable to cut down on packaging waste.Britain’s biggest retailer said it would run the month-long pilot from Monday at two of its Extra stores, in Watford and Swindon, removing plastic packaging from 45 foods where loose alternatives are available. The items include apples, onions, mushrooms, peppers, bananas and avocados. Continue reading...

Devastated areas of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi brace for the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera and malariaCyclone Idai’s death toll has risen above 750 in the three southern African countries hit 10 days ago by the storm, as workers try to restore electricity and water and prevent an outbreak of cholera.In Mozambique the number of dead has risen to 446, with 259 dead in Zimbabwe and at least 56 dead in Malawi. Continue reading...

Action group Market Forces urges shareholders to divest holdings in 22 ‘uninvestables’New analysis shows 22 of Australia’s largest companies are actively working to undermine the Paris agreement targets, betting shareholders’ money on strategies that assume global climate change action fails.Investor action group Market Forces says those companies – worth a combined $121bn and representing 7% of the ASX300 – are “out of line and out of time” and has called on shareholders to divest their holdings. Continue reading...

Campaigners say Custo’s development will spoil Sa Guarda in CadaquésThe Barcelona-based fashion business Custo is under fire for plans to build a hotel on a beauty spot in Cadaqués, a picturesque Costa Brava town that has long attracted artists and writers.Campaigners led by two groups – Salvem l’Empordà (Save Emporda, the region Cadaqués is in) and SOS Costa Brava – protested on Friday outside a Custo shop in Barcelona, demanding that work be stopped on the project to build the 4,000 sq m Hotel Custo and 104 houses on land in Sa Guarda in Cadaqués. Continue reading...

Labour study comes as UK government faces pressure from courts and councilsThe government’s fracking proposals would release the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as almost 300 million new cars, fatally undermining ministers’ obligation to tackle the escalating climate crisis, according to new research.Analysis by the Labour party shows that the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere if the government’s plans go ahead would be the same as the lifetime emissions of 286 million cars – or 29 new coal-fired power plants. Continue reading...

As city air becomes more toxic, sales of a new type of product are boomingDemand for anti-pollution beauty products is soaring as Londoners wake up to the impact of toxic air on their complexions. Microscopic particles are second only to the sun in terms of their ageing effect, and there is a growing trend toward skincare designed to combat them.At the department store Liberty online searches for anti-pollution skincare are up 73% since this time last year. “We’re right next to Oxford Circus” – one of the most polluted places in London – “so our customers are very attuned to the topic and definitely associate pollution with skin ageing,” said the store’s beauty buyer, Emily Bell, who predicts that in the future anti-pollution products will be as commonplace as sun protection creams. Continue reading...

Bill Shorten has given a further indication that Labor will not use the ‘accounting trick’ as part of its emissions policyBill Shorten has signalled Labor is highly unlikely to use carryover credits from the Kyoto protocol as part of its climate change policy, which will be unveiled over the coming weeks.In his strongest comments to date, the Labor leader said over the weekend he recognised that other countries had resolved not to use the accounting system that allows countries to count credits from exceeding their targets under the soon-to-be-obsolete Kyoto protocol periods against their Paris emissions reduction commitments for 2030. Continue reading...

Big retailers must back customers’ wishes and phase out microplastics, campaigners say as petition is launchedIt is a familiar adornment of both Mother’s Day and Easter gifts, and brings dustings of sparkle to everything from children’s craft projects to greetings cards and even flowers and pot plants. But campaigners are calling for a ban on glitter, branding it an environmental scourge that contains damaging microplastics.“Glitter might look lovely but, because it’s plastic, it sticks around long after the sparkle has gone – often in the stomachs of fish and birds,” said David Innes, from the campaign group 38 Degrees, which has launched a petition calling on environment secretary Michael Gove to outlaw the product. Innes cites a recent study showing that up to a third of fish caught in the North Sea contained microplastic particles – including glitter. Continue reading...

An influx of visitors, eager for Instagram fodder, prompted Lake Elsinore’s mayor to shut down access to a flower-covered canyonThe town of Lake Elsinore sits at the edge of a canyon newly bursting with color. Fields of poppies, lupins and other wildflowers spill across hillsides – usually covered with brown, scrubby plants – as though poured from a bucket of paint.In the last few weeks, large swaths of southern California have been transformed into a colorful canvas of flowers. This type of “super bloom” has happened before, but this year is especially intense – an unusually wet winter following years of drought, combined with the aftermath of a brutal wildfire season, has set the stage for what many predicted would be the best bloom in years. Continue reading...

Film forms part of Our Planet Matters, a season that launches on Sunday and will highlight environmental damageNatural history programming is one of the oldest and most sustainable forms of TV life. It is 50 years since David Attenborough made his first major TV documentary series, The Miracle of Bali, its title capturing the eyes-wide wonder of the genre at the time.But the climate of the BBC Natural History Unit, for which Attenborough has made most of his shows, has changed radically – because of climate change. Continue reading...

A playful polar bear cub in Berlin, a hopaway wallaby in Texas and a roaming vicuna in Ecuador Continue reading...

Report looks at 16 conflict areas and calls for military to stop targeting water resourcesDiarrhoea and other diseases related to poor sanitation are bigger killers of children in areas of conflict than violence and war itself, a report has found, highlighting the need for improved infrastructure as a way of helping civilian populations afflicted by warfare.Children under five are more than 20 times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases than from direct violence, according to Unicef. Henrietta Fore, the organisation’s executive director, said: “The reality is there are more children who die from lack of access to safe water than by bullets.” Continue reading...

Failure to protect wildlife, cut pollution and increase funding have left nature in ‘deep crisis’The UK will miss almost all the 2020 nature targets it signed up to a decade ago, according to a report by the government’s official advisers.The nation is failing to protect threatened species; end the degradation of land; reduce agricultural pollution; and increase funding for green schemes, the assessment concludes. It also says the UK is not ending unsustainable fishing; stopping the arrival of invasive alien species; nor raising public awareness of the importance of biodiversity. Continue reading...

Grassroots group calls on party to commit to decarbonising UK economy within a decadeLabour members have launched a grassroots campaign to push the party to adopt a radical Green New Deal to transform the UK economy, tackle inequality and address the escalating climate crisis.The group, inspired by the success of the Sunrise Movement and the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the US, is calling on Labour to commit to radical action to decarbonise the UK economy within a decade. Continue reading...

World Water Day study highlights lethal nature of unsafe sanitation and hygiene for children, especially under-fivesChildren under five who live in conflict zones are 20 times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe water than from direct violence as a result of war, Unicef has found.Analysing mortality data from 16 countries beset by long-term conflict – including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen – the UN children’s agency also found that unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene kills nearly three times more children under 15 than war. Continue reading...

Texas’s eco-tourism industry is seeing a drop in visitors in what should be a blockbuster year – and locals think the push for a border wall is to blameIn the Alamo Inn’s gift shop, a whiteboard lists recent bird sightings in the valley: Morelet’s seedeater; ferruginous hawk; crimson-collared grosbeak; golden-crowned warbler.“We didn’t see these birds at all last year,” said Keith Hackland, who with his wife co-owns the inn, in the small Texan town of Alamo, which caters to birders and other nature tourists. Continue reading...

Ad campaigns hide investment in a huge expansion of oil and gas extraction, says InfluenceMapThe largest five stock market listed oil and gas companies spend nearly $200m (£153m) a year lobbying to delay, control or block policies to tackle climate change, according to a new report.Chevron, BP and ExxonMobil were the main companies leading the field in direct lobbying to push against a climate policy to tackle global warming, the report said. Continue reading...

Hold-ups reach southern ports as analysts warn that trade could dry up amid China restructuring and diplomatic tensionThe number of Chinese ports restricting or delaying Australian coal imports has continued to rise, threatening to end the export bonanza that is bloating federal coffers and signalling possible painful long-term structural change to the economy.In an ominous development for Australia’s trade balance and federal budget, traders and buyers in China reported on Thursday that the hold-ups for Australian shipments that began in February have spread from the northern port of Dalian to Fuzhou in the south-eastern Fujian province and Rizhao in Qingdao. Continue reading...

Two-thirds of the lower 48 US states will have a heightened risk until May, Noaa forecast says, after severe flooding in the midwestThe severe flooding in the American midwest is set to only be a prelude to “unprecedented” levels of flooding across the US in the coming months that will imperil 200 million people, federal government scientists have warned.Related: Nebraska floods: private pilots fly in to help city walled off by water Continue reading...

Bodies previously entombed in ice have been made accessible due to global warmingMelting glaciers on Mount Everest are exposing the dead bodies of climbers previously entombed in ice, as global warming causes temperatures to rise.Almost 300 climbers have been killed attempting to climb the mountain since the first attempt to scale it in 1922. Continue reading...

Munich Re, world’s largest reinsurance firm, warns premium rises could become social issueInsurers have warned that climate change could make cover for ordinary people unaffordable after the world’s largest reinsurance firm blamed global warming for $24bn (£18bn) of losses in the Californian wildfires.Ernst Rauch, Munich Re’s chief climatologist, told the Guardian that the costs could soon be widely felt, with premium rises already under discussion with clients holding asset concentrations in vulnerable parts of the state. Continue reading...

Exclusive: body parts of endangered animals among those imported through legal loopholeLion bones, leopard skulls and an ottoman chair’s elephant leather were among the body parts of endangered animals imported into the UK by trophy hunters through a loophole in international law in 2018, the Guardian can reveal.The government is facing renewed calls to ban trophy hunting imports of endangered species after 74 rare animal body parts were legally brought into the country by hunters last year, including hippopotamus teeth, elephant ears and crocodile skins. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands still trapped by flood waters as rescuers in Mozambique race against clockNew satellite images of the Mozambican port city of Beira have revealed the vast scale of flooding, as rescuers race to reach tens of thousands of people trapped by flood waters from Cyclone Idai.European Space Agency images show a huge new inland “lake” measuring about 80 miles by 15 miles (125km by 25km). Continue reading...

Vain promises and empty slogans have got us nowhere. Fossil-fuel extraction must end before more lives are lostAs Africa climate week unfurls in Ghana, the countries of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe count the costs of Cyclone Idai, which ripped through villages and towns, taking hundreds of lives and leaving a trail of destruction.For a continent already racked by the effects of the climate crisis, Idai is another chilling reminder of the destructive power of the kind of storms that will become more common as the world warms up. Continue reading...

In a rebuke of the Trump administration’s ‘energy-first’ agenda, a judge rules greenhouse gas emissions must be consideredIn the first significant check on the Trump administration’s “energy-first” agenda, a US judge has temporarily halted hundreds of drilling projects for failing to take climate change into account.

Workers appeal for more helicopters as flood waters keep rising after Cyclone Idai

Craig Bennett, CEO of Friends of the Earth, says rich countries must act to make disasters such as the cyclone that hit Mozambique less likely. Meteorologist Bernadette Woods Placky describes how Climate Matters is helping to end the ‘TV news desert’ around global warming. Plus letters from Caroline Evans and Daniel ScharfThe disaster to hit Mozambique is reported as one of the worst tropical cyclones to visit the southern hemisphere, with hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands more needing urgent assistance. I note the Guardian was the only major newspaper to lead with this story on Wednesday (Race to find survivors after deadly cyclone, 20 March).People suffering in Mozambique and neighbouring countries didn’t create the climate crisis, but they are dying from more intense weather events like Cyclone Idai. Continue reading...

Australia has highest rate of mammal extinction in the world but government admits it ‘does not have data’ on plansThe federal environment department has admitted it does not know whether recovery plans meant to prevent extinctions of threatened species are actually being implemented.Related: Wombats, sharks, possums, frogs: Australia's animals at risk of extinction – interactive Continue reading...

Protest’s organisers say bank invested more $30bn in 15 fossil fuel projects from 2012-17A UK-wide campaign is being launched to persuade one of the country’s biggest high street banks to stop investing billions of pounds in the fossil fuel industry.Activists from the Labour-supporting Momentum group will team up with the environmental group People and Planet to stage more than 40 “creative direct actions” at Barclays branches in town and cities across the UK later this month. Continue reading...

Allegations that animals not fit for consumption are entering food chain raise doubts over Netherlands’ inspection regimeAn investigation into the Dutch food safety authority has been ordered by the minister of agriculture, Carola Schouten, following repeated allegations that sick cows are being slaughtered in the north of the Netherlands.A number of cases have been brought against cattle traders and slaughterhouses for transporting and offering sick cattle for slaughter in recent years, with several consequent convictions. Now the government is to review the Dutch food safety authority (Nederlandse Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, NVWA). The NVWA is responsible for monitoring the slaughterhouses, but questions have been raised about its effectiveness since it was established in 2012. Continue reading...

Commission set up by Scottish government recommends new powers to split monopoliesScottish land ownership rules must be radically reformed to reverse the concentration of the countryside in the hands of a small number of ultra-wealthy individuals and public bodies, a major review has warned.The study by the Scottish Land Commission, a government quango, says that in extreme cases where landowners abuse their power they could face compulsory purchase or community buyouts. Continue reading...