Environment | The Guardian

Emergency services minister says it’s ‘reckless and selfish’ to rally when police are busy in bushfire-affected communitiesTwo senior Victorian ministers have endorsed a police call for climate activists to abandon a planned protest on the state’s next high fire danger day.The demonstration has been set down for Friday night in Melbourne’s CBD in response to the bushfires, which have blackened more than 1.2m hectares of Victoria. Continue reading...

Rumors of Middle East war used to inevitably lead to soaring gas prices but fracking revolution has changed the market landscapeFor many older Americans the thought of war in the Middle East will trigger memories of soaring gas prices and long lines at the pumps. But as US relations with Iran sink to a new low there is, as yet, no sign of panic.Related: By killing Qassem Suleimani, Trump has achieved the impossible: uniting Iran | Dina Esfandiary Continue reading...

Donald Trump Jr was among those who retweeted misleading figures published by News Corp

Farmers in delta lowlands are discovering innovative answers to floods and storms

Institutional investors file resolution for AGM of bank to phase out loans to fossil fuel projects or companiesBarclays is being urged to stop offering loans to fossil fuel companies as part of the first ever shareholder climate resolution aimed at a UK bank.A group of 11 pension and investment funds managing more than £130bn worth of assets have filed a resolution calling for Barclays to set clear targets to phase out services to energy companies that fail to align with Paris climate goals. Continue reading...

Volunteers worldwide create shelters for wildlife such as baby marsupials that need pouches to growThe bushfires affecting Australia in recent weeks have sparked a global crafting effort, as thousands of volunteers unite to knit, crochet and sew shelters for animals affected by the crisis.Millions of hectares of land have burned in the bushfires, killing an estimated 1 billion animals. As the death toll climbs, many creatures have been orphaned or left without homes. Continue reading...

Even on a dull December day my local patch yields snatches of song and glimpses of egretsA spare hour at dusk, on the last day of work before Christmas, and after a wet month I took the chance for a walk around my local patch. As often happens here, I saw virtually nothing for the first half of the walk: a few blackbirds chinking along the wooded drive, the rooks in the rookery by the car park.And then, after dusk had fallen, when it was almost too dark to see, it all kicked off. First, two marsh harriers, floating low over the reedbed; then, no fewer than half a dozen great white egrets, each heading purposefully south to roost on the main Avalon Marshes. These elegant birds arrived here from France just a few years ago, enabled by the warming climate to extend their range northwards. Cetti’s warbler, another relatively recent arrival from continental Europe, wren and robin – the three birds that do sing during the winter – all uttered snatches of song. And as darkness fell, the jink and twist and turn of a male sparrowhawk, shooting across the path in front of me before disappearing into the trees. Continue reading...

Kristalina Georgieva calls for rethink of economic policies to better help those left behindRaising income tax on the wealthy will help close the growing gap between rich and poor and can be done without harming growth, the head of the International Monetary Fund has said.Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, said higher marginal tax rates for the better off were needed as part of a policy rethink to tackle inequality. Continue reading...

Stephanie Kelton says Australia could ‘absolutely’ benefit from a program similar to the Green New DealAustralia’s unprecedented bushfires are a wake-up call to the world about the importance of tackling climate change, Bernie Sanders’ economic adviser said, and the country should consider implementing a green new deal to transition to a low carbon economy.Stephanie Kelton said Australia could benefit from an ambitious program of spending, similar to the one proposed by Sanders and others that aims to transform the US economy and help keep global heating below 1.5C. Continue reading...

Costs only become an issue when it comes to programs that run counter to Republican policy prioritiesIf you know who Sean Hannity is, you probably know that he is no fan of the Green New Deal. The proposal has blanketed Fox News since it debuted in November 2018, with Hannity and fellow hosts on the network narrowing in a particular line of attack, summarized during a radio spot he did last year: “What they are proposing is so outrageously expensive and cost prohibitive even they acknowledge that if we confiscated all the billionaires’ wealth, it still wouldn’t be able to pay for this mess of theirs.” Along similar lines, Republicans circulated a bogus study from the industry-funded American Action Forum claiming a Green New Deal would cost $93tn, elevating the number into something of a meme among rightwing talking heads and politicians. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told his colleagues it would be more than enough to “buy every American a Ferrari”.Hannity and McConnell, along with most of the rest of the Republican party, have more recently been heaping praise onto Trump for assassinating Iranian Gen Qassem Suleimani. “This is a huge victory for American intelligence, a huge victory for our military, a huge victory for the state department, and a huge victory and total leadership by the president,” Hannity boasted after the killing. Without consulting Congress, the president kicked long-simmering US-Iran tensions up to a boil that now threatens to spill over into another full-blown war in the Middle East. His threats to bomb cultural sites throughout the country – in violation of international law – make that even more likely. So why aren’t Republicans asking how the government would pay for it? Continue reading...

Environmental activists say controversial rail project is destroying flora and faunaHS2 has begun evicting a group of environmental protesters who have been living at a camp along the route of the rail project for more than two years.Dozens of police and bailiffs are at the Harvil Road site in the Colne Valley, in the London borough of Hillingdon. Continue reading...

Analysis shows impact of climate emergency in year of record temperaturesThe summer heatwaves of 2019 resulted in almost 900 extra deaths, according to statistical analysis from Public Health England.Over the past four years more than 3,400 people have died early during periods of extreme temperature in England. Global heating is increasing the frequency of heatwaves and a cross-party committee of MPs warned in July that the UK was “woefully unprepared” for this impact of the climate emergency. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed• Record-breaking 4.9m hectares of land burned in NSW this bushfire season• Kangaroo Island bushfires: grave fears for unique wildlife after estimated 25,000 koalas killed• Craig Kelly interview: senior government MPs distance themselves after Piers Morgan lashing8.01am GMTWe’re closing up the blog for the night. Thanks to my colleague Amy Remeikis who did most of the heavy lifting here today. There’ll be another live blog tomorrow.A quick summary.7.53am GMTSome very good news: two men - one aged in his 70s - who has been missing on NSW’s fire-ravaged far south coast have been found alive, police say.

Fires are more frequent, more damaging, and more terrifying - a symptom of the new age that I call the Pyrocene

The Good Morning Britain host called the conservative Liberal MP ‘disgraceful’ for denying climate link to bushfiresSenior government ministers have sought to distance themselves from conservative Liberal MP Craig Kelly who sparked controversy by telling UK television there was no link between climate change and Australia’s bushfire crisis.Kelly, a longstanding critic of climate change action, was lambasted as a “denier” and “disgraceful” by the conservative British commentator Piers Morgan and the meteorologist Laura Tobin in a combative interview on ITV overnight. Continue reading...

Orange is the New Black star says the air travel needed for a life in two continents is ‘environmentally unjust’The Australian actor Yael Stone has vowed to give up her green card, which allows her to work in the United States, as a “personal sacrifice” aimed at reducing carbon emissions in what she called the “climate war”.In a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday and Instagram on Sunday, the actor and star of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black said she came to the decision to give up her green card “after a long, considered process”. Continue reading...

Greatest concerns for endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart and glossy black-cockatoo after third of island burnedEcologists have grave concerns for the future of unique and endangered wildlife on Kangaroo Island where bushfires have killed thousands of koalas.Fires on the island, in South Australia, have so far burned through 155,000 hectares – about one third of the island’s entire area – with blazes concentrated in the biodiversity-rich western areas. Continue reading...

Renewable energy up 9% on 2018 but nuclear outages are limiting progress, report warnsEnergy produced by the UK’s renewable sector outpaced fossil fuel plants on a record 137 days in 2019 to help the country’s energy system record its greenest year.The report by the Carbon Brief website found that renewable energy – from wind, solar, hydro and biomass projects – grew by 9% last year and was the UK’s largest electricity source in March, August, September and December. Continue reading...

The amount of liquid milk consumed per capita in the US has tumbled more than 40% since 1975The US dairy industry, the largest in the world, is under severe pressure as the consumption habits of Americans shift.Borden Dairy filed for bankruptcy protection, the second major US dairy to do so in as many months. Borden produces nearly 500m gallons of milk each year for groceries, schools and others. It employs 3,300 people and runs 12 plants across the US. Continue reading...

Regulations would limit projects that require environmental review and no longer require agencies to weigh climate impactsThe Trump administration is set to unveil new regulations which would limit the types of projects like highways and pipelines that require environmental review and no longer require federal agencies to weigh their climate impacts, sources familiar with the plan said.The proposed overhaul will update how federal agencies implement the bedrock National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa), a law meant to ensure the government protects the environment when reviewing or making decisions about major projects, from building roads and bridges, cutting forests, expanding broadband to approving interstate pipelines such as the Keystone XL. Continue reading...

Shift to gas saved more than 300m tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide levels droppedThe human toll from coal-fired pollution in America has been laid bare by a study that has found more than 26,000 lives were saved in the US in just a decade due to the shift from coal to gas for electricity generation.Related: The Guardian view on the bushfires: Australia needs a government with the right priorities | Editorial Continue reading...

Phasing out synthetic pesticides and fertilisers and aggressive emission reductions among series of solutions outlined by scientistsThe world must eradicate pesticide use, prioritise nature-based farming methods and urgently reduce water, light and noise pollution to save plummeting insect populations, according to a new “roadmap to insect recovery” compiled by experts.The call to action by more than 70 scientists from across the planet advocates immediate action on human stress factors to insects which include habitat loss and fragmentation, the climate crisis, pollution, over-harvesting and invasive species. Continue reading...

Communities vanished in 15th century after walrus hunted to near extinction, study findsThe mysterious disappearance of Greenland’s medieval Norse society in the 15th century came after walruses were hunted almost to extinction, researchers have said.Norse communities thrived for more than 400 years in the Arctic, hunting walruses for their tusks, a valuable medieval commodity. Continue reading...

More than 10,000 readers contribute to climate initiatives with just under a week to goWith just under a week to go, more than £750,000 has been donated to the Guardian and Observer climate emergency charity appeal, which supports projects planting and protecting trees, woodlands and forests.More than 10,000 readers have contributed to the appeal, which promotes environmental and social justice through natural climate solutions, from safeguarding rainforests in the Amazon to rewilding the Scottish Highlands and planting trees in Britain’s towns, cities and countryside. Continue reading...

Farmers blame ‘ecological emergency’ on inadequate treatment of sewageA gastroenteritis epidemic sweeping France has hit oyster farmers in Brittany after the virus was found in shellfish.Health authorities have banned the fishing and selling of oysters in the bay around Mont-Saint-Michel and other shellfish farming areas on France’s north-western coast until further notice. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison says the final cost of the Australia fires is likely to rival the $5.6bn for cyclone Yasi and the Brisbane floodsThe prime minister, Scott Morrison, has announced at least $2bn for bushfire recovery, as the government steps away from its pledge to deliver a budget surplus amid the ongoing crisis.Warning that the fires would keep burning over the coming months, Morrison said further government funds may yet be forthcoming as the economic toll from the horror fire season continued to rise. Continue reading...

Mike Kelly says civil defence corps needed to tackle bushfires and failure to act would be ‘most serious dereliction of duty in our history’The federal Labor MP Mike Kelly has called for a war-like national mobilisation effort to deal with the existential threat of climate change, warning that a failure to act would be the “most serious dereliction of duty in our history”.The member for the New South Wales electorate of Eden-Monaro, which includes huge areas of the NSW south coast and the Snowy Mountains where destructive bushfires continue to burn, has called for the federal government to establish a civil defence corps (CDC) that would operate as a national disaster response reserve, and said compulsory national service might be necessary. Continue reading...

Indonesian soldiers spray disinfectant to battle disease as death toll passes 60, with thousands more living in emergency sheltersMudslides and power blackouts have hampered the search for people missing in massive floods in Indonesia’s capital, where more than 60 people have died and some of the tens of thousands of evacuees are living in damp, cramped emergency shelters.More than 1,000 soldiers and health workers sprayed disinfectant in hard-hit areas on Sunday to fend off the spread of disease. Monsoon rains and rising rivers submerged a dozen districts in the greater Jakarta area after extreme New Year’s Eve rains, causing landslides in hilly areas on the outskirts of the capital that buried scores of people. Continue reading...

Kremlin website recognises global heating as a problem but lists ‘positive’ economic effectsRussia has published a plan to adapt its economy and population to climate change, aiming to mitigate damage but also “use the advantages” of warmer temperatures.The document, published on the government’s website on Saturday, outlines a plan of action and acknowledges changes to the climate are having a “prominent and increasing effect” on socioeconomic development, people’s lives, health and industry. Continue reading...

Coalition of community, fishing and marine protection groups says fish stocks need to recoverMarine conservation campaigners have called for trawlers to be banned from fishing within three miles of Scotland’s shoreline to help depleted fish stocks and seabeds to recover.The Our Seas coalition, which includes angling bodies, ecotourism firms, scallop divers, coastal communities and salmon conservation boards, believe a ban on inshore fishing would also help prevent illegal scallop dredging and trawling inside existing protected areas. Continue reading...

Japan aims to power region, scene of 2011 meltdown, with 100% renewable energy by 2040Fukushima is planning to transform itself into a renewable energy hub, almost nine years after it became the scene of the world’s worst nuclear accident for a quarter of a century.The prefecture in north-east Japan will forever be associated with the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on 11 March 2011, but in an ambitious project the local government has vowed to power the region with 100% renewable energy by 2040, compared with 40% today. Continue reading...

Berkeley’s new law targeting throwaway food packaging requires customers to go reusable or pay a feeThe next time Charles Bunch goes on a coffee break without his reusable coffee mug, he knows he’s going to pay for it.On 1 January, the city of Berkeley, California, where Bunch works, rolled out the nation’s most comprehensive law to fight throw-away food packaging. The groundbreaking new rules require restaurants and cafes to charge 25 cents for each disposable cup, make all to-go containers compostable and, starting in July, use reusable foodware, such as porcelain dishes, for customers who are dining in. Continue reading...

As millions cut out animal products, farming conference hears that fruit and vegetables have been drained of nutrientsAdvocates of red meat will begin a fightback against the growth of veganism this week at the UK’s biggest farming conference, with claims that eating lamb and beef is vital because some plants and fish are being drained of their nutrition.In a speech at the Oxford Farming Conference, Alice Stanton will tell ministers, farmers and environmentalists that key nutrients in some fruits, vegetables and grains have dropped by up to 50% over 50 years. Continue reading...

Research for Oxfam shows inequality between footprints of people in UK and in countries including Rwanda, Ethiopia and MalawiThe average British person will have emitted more carbon dioxide in the first two weeks of this year than a citizen of any one of seven African nations does in an entire year.This is the key finding of an Oxfam project, published on Sunday, which discovered that someone in the UK will take just five days to emit the same carbon as someone in Rwanda does in a year. Continue reading...

Prime minister says communications breakdown left NSW fire authorities unaware army reservists called upThe prime minister, Scott Morrison, has promised an aid package for areas ravaged by Australia’s continuing bushfire crisis and says he will consider a royal commission into the deadly blazes, which have burned vast areas on the east coast.Speaking during a press conference the prime minister also said there had been a breakdown in communications with New South Wales authorities that left the Rural Fire Service and their Australian Defence Force liaison unaware army reservists had been called up to help with the fire effort. Continue reading...

Kangaroo Valley, Milton and St Georges Basin all faced fire after a ‘catastrophic’ day as 20 new fires sparked between Nowra and Batemans Bay“Right here we are the meat in the sandwich, so thanks for coming down.”And so began Mark Coombes’s briefing for a new shift of firefighters in Nowra. Continue reading...

Shane Fitzsimmons was ‘disappointed and frustrated’ to learn of prime minister’s reservists deployment plan from media reportsThe New South Wales RFS commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, said neither he nor defence force personnel working from the state control centre were informed by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, of a plan to deploy 3,000 army reservists to assist in the bushfire crisis.Fitzsimmons was “disappointed and frustrated” to learn of the plan through media reports on Saturday when fire crews were battling the most challenging conditions to date in terms of the number of concurrent fires in NSW. Continue reading...

The past week has been marked by the refusal of public officials, including PM Scott Morrison, to recognise the scale of the crisisThe sky over Cobargo in New South Wales was still tainted yellow on Thursday afternoon when Australia’s prime minister arrived. For the past month, the country had been ablaze, and the village 240 miles south of Sydney and home to 776 people, had been hit hard.Standing in the crowd, Zoey Salucci McDermott, 20, eyed Scott Morrison coolly. She and her young daughter had lost her home in the fires, so when he extended his hand in greeting, she did not reciprocate. “I’ll only shake your hand if you give more funding to the RFS [Rural Fire Service],” McDermott said, holding back tears. “So many people here have lost their homes. We need more help.” The prime minister turned away. Continue reading...

Illegal dumping has surged by 50% since 2012 but powers to issue big fines are going unusedFly-tipping has increased by 50% in the last six years, prompting councils to call for much bigger penalties for offenders.More than a million incidents of illegal rubbish dumping were recorded in the financial year 2018-19, which cost councils £58m to clean up. Most incidents involved household waste being jettisoned from cars or vans by the side of a road. Continue reading...

The town, now only accessible by air and sea, has become a symbol of the unprecedented nature of Australia’s bushfire crisisAs they set out on a small landing craft, Nick Ritar could hardly see the mammoth, 180-metre-long HMAS Choules. The smoke was too thick.Days after Ritar, his partner, Kirsten Bradley, and their son, Ashar, hunkered down in a home as fires raged on the Victorian coastal town of Mallacoota, the Tasmanian family were among those rescued by the Australian navy. Continue reading...

Torrential rain has devastated the greater Jakarta region with dozens dead and tens of thousands evacuated from their homesThe death toll from floods caused by torrential rains in the Indonesian capital rose to at least 53 as rescuers found more bodies, disaster officials said on Saturday.The worst monsoon rains in more than a decade deluged Jakarta this week and rising rivers submerged at least 182 neighbourhoods while landslides on the city’s outskirts buried at least a dozen people. Continue reading...

The ABC has received overwhelming praise for its ‘vital’ emergency reporting, despite ongoing scorn from Murdoch-owned mediaSince Boxing Day, as bushfires raged across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, the ABC has handled more than 100 emergency broadcasts in a single week, receiving widespread praise for the practical, life-saving information and the professionalism on display.The number of ABC emergency broadcasts for the first half of the 2019-20 financial year is already close to double that of the entire previous year. Continue reading...

Millions of animals have been killed in the bushfires, but the impact on flora and fauna is more grim even than individual deathsClose to the Western River on Kangaroo Island, ecologist Pat Hodgens had set up cameras to snap the island’s rare dunnart – a tiny mouse-like marsupial that exists nowhere else on the planet.Now, after two fires ripped through the site a few days ago, those cameras – and likely many of the Kangaroo Island dunnarts – are just charred hulks. Continue reading...

Actor Amanda Henderson answered ‘Sharon’ to Thunberg-related question on Celebrity Mastermind – and the teen activist loved itGreta Thunberg has been mocked and called many names since becoming the world’s most famous climate activist.Related: Greta Thunberg: 'I wouldn't have wasted my time' speaking to Trump Continue reading...

Herald Sun relegates bushfires to page 4 while Courier Mail brings good news via ‘Onion Oracle’The Australian, Rupert Murdoch’s flagship newspaper, has defended itself against criticism it downplayed unprecedented bushfires by failing to put a picture of the disaster on the front page of an edition, even as newspapers across the world featured the harrowing scenes.Many of the world’s leading mastheads featured pictures of the devastation of the Australian bushfires on page one on Thursday. But the Australian’s first edition ran an upbeat picture story about the New Year’s Day picnic races at Hanging Rock. Continue reading...

The pick of the best flora and fauna photos from around the world, from baby beavers to a coyote on camera Continue reading...

Man sacked by League Against Cruel Sports told he is entitled to equality protectionsAn employment tribunal has ruled that ethical veganism is a philosophical belief that is protected by law against discrimination.The ruling came in a case brought by Jordi Casamitjana, who claims he was unfairly sacked by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS), an animal welfare charity, after he raised concerns with colleagues that its pension fund invested in companies involved in animal testing. Continue reading...

Illustrated covers intended to highlight environmental impact of shootsVogue Italia will not feature any photoshoots in its January 2020 issue in a bid to make a statement about sustainability. The move is intended to highlight the environmental impact of photoshoots in print magazines.In his editor’s letter, Emanuele Farneti listed some of the resources it took to fill the September 2019 issue, the biggest of the year, with original photographs: “One hundred and fifty people involved. About 20 flights and a dozen or so train journeys. Forty cars on standby. Sixty international deliveries. Lights switched on for at least ten hours nonstop, partly powered by gasoline-fuelled generators. Food waste from the catering services. Plastic to wrap the garments. Electricity to recharge phones, cameras … ” Continue reading...

If banks destroy our homeland, they’ll have the Gwich’in Nation, and the millions of Americans who stand with us, to answer toLast fall, I traveled more than 4,000 miles from my home in Alaska to meet with major banks and urge them to help protect the Arctic national wildlife refuge from destructive oil drilling and exploration. In all the years I’ve worked to defend this place, we’ve been focused on trying to make our voices heard by leaders in the White House or in Congress, and I never thought I’d be sitting in a conference room on the 43rd floor of Goldman Sachs’ global headquarters in downtown New York, talking about the Arctic refuge.But times have changed. Since the day Republicans in Congress added a rider to the 2017 tax bill opening up the Arctic refuge’s coastal plain for drilling, we’ve known that we would have to move beyond our usual tactics, get creative and fight on every possible front to ensure that this place, which is sacred to my people and critical to our way of life, remains protected. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Our coverage will resume tomorrow morning