Environment | The Guardian

Rollout of new turbines is in decline amid Tory subsidy cuts, jeopardising climate targetsThe government’s current energy policies have led to a sharp decline in the number of new onshore windfarms, raising fears that the UK may fall short of the renewable energy it needs to generate to meet its climate targets.Industry data shows the ­rollout of new onshore windfarms fell dramatically after the ­government scrapped subsidy schemes four years ago. Continue reading...

Proposal would involve rerouting traffic to ring road in attempt to improve air qualityThrough traffic could be banned from Birmingham city centre under plans being considered by the council to reduce emissions.The proposal, which forms part of the draft Birmingham transport plan, published on Monday, would involve rerouting traffic to a ring road in an effort to improve air quality in the city centre. Continue reading...

Paris-style proposal to counter loss of ecosystems and wildlife vital to the future of humanity will go before October summitAlmost a third of the world’s oceans and land should be protected by the end of the decade to stop and reverse biodiversity decline that risks the survival of humanity, according to a draft Paris-style UN agreement on nature.To combat what scientists have described as the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s history, the proposal sets a 2030 deadline for the conservation and restoration of ecosystems and wildlife that perform crucial services for humans. Continue reading...

DHS listed activists engaged in non-violent civil disobedience targeting oil industry alongside white supremacists in documentsA group of US environmental activists engaged in non-violent civil disobedience targeting the oil industry have been listed in internal Department of Homeland Security documents as “extremists” and some of its members listed alongside white nationalists and mass killers, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.The group have been dubbed the Valve Turners, after closing the valves on pipelines in four states carrying crude oil from Canada’s tar sands on 11 October 2016 which accounted for about 15% of US daily consumption. It was described as the largest coordinated action of its kind and for a few hours the oil stopped flowing. Continue reading...

Catastrophic bushfire burns through half Kangaroo Island’s landmass, devastating wildlife and the sheep populationUp to 100,000 sheep were killed in bushfires on Kangaroo Island and at least 25,000 more livestock perished in fires on mainland Australia, farming groups have said.Kangaroo Island farmers ordered thousands of rounds of ammunition to shoot animals that were critically injured in a catastrophic bushfire that has burned through half of the island’s landmass, devastating a significant koala population and thousands of other wildlife and killing up to one-sixth of the sheep population. Continue reading...

78 out of 154 universities joined campaign in blow to big oil’s ‘social licence’, campaigners sayHalf of UK universities have signed up to divest from fossil fuels in what campaigners say is a significant blow to the “social licence” of big oil.Seventy-eight of the UK’s 154 public universities have joined the divestment campaign, either divesting or pledging to divest hundreds of millions from the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

New Economics Foundation calls for £50bn to reboot economy on greener footingThe government fightback against the next recession should include pumping as much as £50bn into green projects, in a move that would help reboot the economy and tackle the climate emergency, according to a left-leaning thinktank.Against a backdrop of concern among economists that Britain is ill-equipped to combat another downturn on the scale of the 2008 financial crisis, the New Economics Foundation thinktank said a green plan to beat a future slump was required. Continue reading...

Gold prospectors are ravaging the Yanomami indigenous reserve. So why does President Bolsonaro want to make them legal?Deep in the Yanomami indigenous reserve on the northern reaches of the Brazilian Amazon, the ruins of an illegal goldminers’ camp emerge after an hour in a small plane and two in a boat. No roads reach here.Wooden frames alongside the Uraricoera River that once supported shops, bars, restaurants, a pharmacy, an evangelical church and even brothels are all that is left of the small town. The army burned and trashed it as part of an operation aimed at stamping out wildcat mining on the reserve. Continue reading...

Joe Kaeser says he must balance stakeholder interests as climate change activists protest company’s decisionGlobal engineering company Siemens will not pull out of a contract at the new Adani coalmine in Australia, rejecting calls from climate campaigners including Greta Thunberg.President and CEO of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, announced Monday that after reviewing the rail signalling contract the company had “a legally binding and enforceable fiduciary responsibility.” Continue reading...

Changes to the curriculum will put the country at the forefront of climate crisis education worldwideEvery school in New Zealand will this year have access to materials about the climate crisis written by the country’s leading science agencies – including tools for students to plan their own activism, and to process their feelings of “eco-anxiety” over global heating.The curriculum will put New Zealand at the forefront of climate change education worldwide; governments in neighbouring Australia and the United Kingdom have both faced criticism for lack of cohesive teaching on the climate crisis. The New Zealand scheme, which will be offered to all schools that teach 11 to 15 year-old students, will not be compulsory, the government said. Continue reading...

British Heart Foundation predicts current total of 11,000 particulate-related deaths per year will continue to rise

Power provided on new tariff to come exclusively from small-scale wind and solar farmsUK homes will soon be able to plug into community wind and solar farms from anywhere in the country through the first energy tariff to offer clean electricity exclusively from community projects.The deal from Co-op Energy comes as green energy suppliers race to prove their sustainability credentials amid rising competition for eco-conscious customers and “greenwashing” in the market. Continue reading...

Latest controversy comes at a problematic time for UK anti-radicalisation scheme

Sir Peter Fahy says efforts to stop terrorism could be undermined by such mistakes

Announcement comes after conservation groups wrote to environment minister Sussan Ley expressing concern for at least 13 animal speciesThe Morrison government will pledge $50m to help rescue and protect wildlife affected by the bushfire crisis, with a promise of more to come, as environment groups warn some species may have already been driven to extinction.The commitment, to be drawn from the government’s $2bn bushfire recovery fund, will be described as a downpayment to be spent immediately on priorities in burned areas and to start longer-term restoration of lost habitat. Continue reading...

US greenhouse gas emissions are up since 2017 and Trump’s administration has ripped up curbs on climate pollutersClimate pollution in the US is up under Donald Trump and threatens to undermine international efforts to stall the crisis, especially if he wins re-election this year and secures a second term in the White House.While US climate emissions fell 2.1% in 2019, they rose significantly in 2018, according to estimates from the economic analysis firm Rhodium Group. On net, emissions are slightly higher than in the beginning of 2017, when Trump’s administration began enacting dozens of environment rollbacks aimed at helping the oil and gas industry. Continue reading...

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Performers join forces with experts for two-month Climate Change festival in a London theatreAfter Extinction Rebellion’s call for urgent action on the streets of London last year, the issue of climate change is to stage another major London takeover. From 23 March, the wider environmental debate will dominate proceedings inside a West End theatre for eight weeks.Performers including Alistair McGowan, Rob Brydon, Gaby Roslin and Jason Manford are to join experts in the field at the Charing Cross theatre, alongside the double Olivier award-winner and West End leading lady, Janie Dee, for the inaugural London Climate Change festival. Continue reading...

The freshest developments and innovations, from ethical clothing to quizzical furnitureWhen Philippe Malouin was asked by Finnish glass manufacturer Iittala to create vessels that could be used to declutter people’s living spaces, he began by taking a critical look at his own home. Continue reading...

Group threatens action after being named in guide designed to help prevent terrorismExtinction Rebellion is threatening legal action against counter-terrorism police for what it said was the illegal listing of the group as an extremist ideology in a guide designed to help stop terrorist violence.The Guardian revealed on Friday that counter-terrorism police had placed the non-violent protest group on a list of extremist ideologies that should be reported to the authorities running the Prevent anti-radicalisation programme. Police now say that was an error. Continue reading...

A biotech startup is researching building materials that could revolutionise construction. Not only are they biodegradable – some also absorb toxinsCocoa husks, dried orange peel, ground blue pea flowers: the ingredients read like a tasting menu. They are, in fact, waste products that are used to make Orb – a sustainable building material that is carbon neutral. It’s versatile enough to be used for furniture or as a substitute for a wood-based sheet materialOrb is produced by Biohm, a startup founded in 2016 by Ehab Sayed. Sayed grew up in Doha, Qatar, and says his home town is one of the “biggest motivators” for him to inspire change. “Although it is the richest country in the world, it is likely one of the least sustainable and a contributor to the climate crisis,” he says. “Growing up in this environment resulted in a resentment towards the impact we are having on our planet.” Continue reading...

Tiny crystals found on edge of Great Salt Lake may offer insight about similar structures on the red planet, scientists sayRare salt formations have been documented for the first time on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, and they could yield insights about salt structures found on Mars before they disappear for good.They’re showing up now in part because water levels at the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi have been lowered by drought and water diversion, exposing more shoreline. It’s a story that’s playing out throughout the American west as a growing population puts more demand on scarce water resources. Continue reading...

Federal force unable to afford to bring fleet into line with new regulations in major citiesBelgium’s federal police have fallen foul of tighter emissions controls that come into force at the start of the year, with some of its cars and vans now too dirty to enter the cities of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent.The force said it was unable to afford to renew its entire fleet of several thousand vehicles and had already told the authorities about the situation. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Police scramble to recall guide issued to teachers putting climate activists alongside far-right groupsCounter-terrorism police placed the non-violent group Extinction Rebellion (XR) on a list of extremist ideologies that should be reported to the authorities running the Prevent programme, which aims to catch those at risk of committing atrocities, the Guardian has learned.The climate emergency campaign group was included in a 12-page guide produced by counter-terrorism police in the south-east titled Safeguarding young people and adults from ideological extremism, which is marked as “official”. Continue reading...

President backs democratic experiment handing power to 150 people chosen at randomIn a grandiose 1930s building on the banks of the Seine in Paris, 150 French citizens chosen at random had gathered. Ranging from 16-year-old school pupils to carers, shuttle-bus drivers and retired rail workers, the French president said these ordinary people would define the next phase of his term in power.They are part of France’s latest democratic experiment: a randomly selected citizens’ assembly that has been promised more power than any other – the ability to set Emmanuel Macron’s policy on cutting carbon emissions, as he faces harsh criticism that he is not doing enough to tackle the climate emergency. Continue reading...

The pick of the best flora and fauna photos from around the world, including long-eared owls and an injured koala Continue reading...

Failure to end investment ‘would be a betrayal against life itself’, say climate activists

Averting catastrophe would be the best business decision to emerge from the economic forum in its 50 years of existence

Company wants to build on 1.6-hectare area of Rotary Wood in Pinewoods forestOne of Britain’s best-known bottled water companies is proposing to extend its bottling plant, which would lead to the loss of huge areas of woodland in a Yorkshire spa town.Harrogate Spring Water wants to expand its operations and build on a 1.6-hectare (four-acre) area of woodland. Continue reading...

In this waking nightmare, the Trump administration has filled the parks department with anti-public land sycophants

Amid mounting threats posed by privatization, energy extraction and climate change, we’re devoting new resources to our public lands journalism

Kamilo Beach, located on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been called one of the most plastic-polluted spots on EarthAn array of plastic crunched underfoot as Mattie Mae Larson walked down Kamilo Beach. Toothbrushes, a plastic broom, a leaking bottle, the back of a TV.Larson used to come to this remote stretch of Hawaiian sand as a child to climb 10ft high mountains of debris, searching for treasures. Continue reading...

Residents had for years been drinking water contaminated by dangerous PFAS chemicals – and the impact has been brutalIn the years before 2017, Sandy Wynn-Stelt and her husband had suspicions about the water they drew from a well on their House Street property in the Michigan town of Belmont. She attributed the bad taste to it being well water, but the “weird film” on their morning coffee was difficult to explain.By June 2017, state officials alerted her that PFAS from a nearby, decades-old dump belonging to Wolverine World Wide, a shoe giant best known for the Hush Puppy brand, had contaminated their well. Continue reading...

Contractors removed potential habitats for bats and butterflies in Buckingham nature reserve to prepare for rail lineTrees were felled and the potential habitats of rare bats and butterflies were destroyed on a nature reserve without permission to make way for HS2, the high-speed rail scheme has admitted.Contractors sealed off public footpaths and removed trees inside Calvert Jubilee nature reserve, in Buckinghamshire, without notifying the landowner, the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). Work which eradicated habitat where bats could roost was carried out in December, despite the government having ordered that “irreversible” destruction of ancient woodland should be halted unless deemed absolutely necessary while HS2 is under review. Continue reading...

PM says he is disappointed that Australia’s bushfire crisis is being ‘conflated’ with emission reduction targetsScott Morrison has rejected criticism of the Coalition’s climate change policies amid the ongoing bushfire crisis, as a growing number of MPs privately concede that the government needs to do more to match the rising tide of concern over the issue.As firefighters continued to battle out-of-control bushfires across four states on Friday, the prime minister said it was “disappointing” that people were conflating the ongoing fire crisis with Australia’s emission reduction targets. Continue reading...

10 January 1989: As well as cost, Labour’s energy spokesman warns about the risk of nuclear accidents

President said Thursday – while announcing a rollback of environmental regulations – that he plans to read Donald J Trump: An Environmental HeroDonald Trump is going to acquire a book.The book in question, as Gizmodo reported on Thursday, is titled Donald J Trump: An Environmental Hero, by Edward Russo. And the shocking news emerged as the president announced a rollback of environmental regulations at the White House, taking an ax to the environmental review process required for infrastructure projects. The move, which he pitched as a way around “endless delays” to various projects, poses a new threat to the climate and is likely to face legal challenges. Continue reading...

Emily Townsend’s reply-all email to executive chairman calls the company’s coverage ‘irresponsible’ and ‘dangerous’A senior News Corp employee has accused the company of “misinformation” and diverting attention from climate change during the bushfire crisis in an explosive all-staff email addressed to executive chairman Michael Miller.The email accuses News Corp papers, including the Australian, the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun, of misrepresenting facts and spreading misinformation to focus on arson as the cause of the bushfires, rather than climate change. Continue reading...

World’s largest investor signs up to Climate Action 100+ after criticism from activistsBlackRock, the world’s largest investor, has joined an influential pressure group calling for the biggest polluters to reduce their emissions, after criticisms that it was undermining action addressing the climate crisis.The US investment firm has signed up to Climate Action 100+, a group of investors managing assets worth more than $35tn (£27tn), that pressures fossil fuel producers and other companies responsible for two-thirds of annual global industrial emissions to show how they will reduce carbon dioxide pollution. Continue reading...

Daniel Pryor of the Adam Smith Institute, David E Hanke, Georgina Ferry and Prof Mick Watson respond to an article by George Monbiot claiming that lab-grown food will end farming and save the planetIt’s encouraging to find agreement across the political divide on the potential of new technologies to combat climate change, reduce animal suffering and supplant massive agricultural subsidies. The Adam Smith Institute recently released a paper on the topic that made many of the same points as George Monbiot (Lab-grown food will end farming – and save the planet, Journal, 8 January).One overlooked benefit of lab-grown food is that it may help the UK tackle the crisis in housing affordability. As farming is superseded by precision fermentation, the significant amount of land currently used for livestock farming (including parts of the green belt) will be freed up for development in places that people actually want to live. Continue reading...

Five species and five subspecies found in Indonesia in the largest discovery of its kind in more than a centuryTen new songbird species and subspecies have been identified on a trio of previously under-explored Indonesian islands in the largest discovery of its kind in more than a century, according to a new study.Hidden away on the remote Wallacean islands of Taliabu, Peleng and Batudaka, close to where British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace independently developed the theory of evolution to Charles Darwin, five new bird species and five subspecies were detected during a six-week expedition to the area, off the coast of Sulawesi. Continue reading...

Plan would help Trump administration advance projects held up over global heating concerns such as the Keystone XL oil pipelineThe Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, road expansions and bridges.Related: How the oil industry has spent billions to control the climate change conversation Continue reading...

Plan to cover area 1.5 times size of Manchester is part of goal to achieve net zero emissionsThe National Trust is planning to plant 20 million trees over the next decade as part of efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.The organisation made the announcement, which it says will cost £90m-100m, on Thursday to mark its 125th anniversary. Continue reading...

Permanent hair dye increases a black woman’s risk of breast cancer by 45% and the more they’re used, the greater the risk, as products believed to contain more dangerous chemicalsPriscilla Graves is a hairstylist with 15 years’ experience straightening and coloring black women’s hair. She has endured bouts of dizziness, nausea and difficulty breathing from applying potent chemical straighteners, and regularly deals with distraught clients suffering alopecia and painful blisters after using dyes and lotions specifically marketed to African Americans.“I try to find out online what’s in the products, but the government should be doing more to keep us safe and keep dangerous chemicals out of cosmetics,” said Graves, 34, at a salon in Harlem. “There should be clear warnings on the labels, we need more information.” Continue reading...

Detroit’s most vulnerable residents face inequalities like toxic air, lead poisoning, and water shutoffs. Now they’re fighting backGrowing up in southwest Detroit, Vince Martin thought it was normal for the sky to be orange.When he was three years old, his family moved from Cuba to one of the black areas of town. At the time, discriminatory housing practices segregated the city. His Afro-Cuban family settled in the 48217 district, now Michigan’s most polluted zip code, where 71% of the population is black and air pollution makes the sky look like it’s on fire. Continue reading...

100 daily records set around the country in 2019, with experts saying global heating is driving the trendNew Zealand has experienced its fourth-warmest year since records began in 1909, with temperatures between 0.5C and 1.2C higher than annual averages across the country.There were 100 new daily temperature records set at spots around New Zealand. Continue reading...

Activists say Democratic climate proposals won’t be able to pass until lawmakers put a stop to oil companies trying to rebrand themselvesAmerica’s oil companies are trying to rebrand themselves as part of the solution to the climate crisis, launching a campaign to counter top Democrats’ proposals to rapidly cut pollution from the power plants and cars that run on the industry’s petroleum and natural gas.They say natural gas – a fossil fuel that emits heat-trapping carbon dioxide – is helping to slow climate disruption by providing an alternative to coal. Continue reading...

Environment secretary tells farmers WTO rules would allow UK to uphold standardsThe UK could introduce tariffs on imports of food from countries with lower food safety and farming standards than the UK, using World Trade Organization rules, the environment secretary has suggested.“We want to ensure all our food comes from countries that meet our standards,” Theresa Villiers told an audience of farmers on Wednesday. “That is what the powerful tools of the WTO do, they enable us to impose tariffs where we believe products do not meet our high standards.” Continue reading...

The $9.4bn facility, owned by Formosa Plastics, would consist of 14 separate plastic plants in St James parish, known as Cancer AlleyThe state of Louisiana has issued a series of key air quality permits for a gargantuan proposed petrochemical complex that would roughly double toxic emissions in its local area and, according to environmentalists, become one of the largest plastics pollution-causing facilities in the world.The $9.4bn facility, owned by the Taiwanese chemicals firm Formosa Plastics, would consist of 14 separate plastics plants across 2,300 acres of land in St James parish, a largely African American community in the already heavily polluted area in southern Louisiana known as Cancer Alley. Continue reading...