Environment | The Guardian

A tech revolution – and an abundance of wind and waves – mean that the people of Orkney now produce more electricity than they can useIt seems the stuff of fantasy. Giant ships sail the seas burning fuel that has been extracted from water using energy provided by the winds, waves and tides. A dramatic but implausible notion, surely. Yet this grand green vision could soon be realised thanks to a remarkable technological transformation that is now under way in Orkney.Perched 10 miles beyond the northern edge of the British mainland, this archipelago of around 20 populated islands – as well as a smattering of uninhabited reefs and islets – has become the centre of a revolution in the way electricity is generated. Orkney was once utterly dependent on power that was produced by burning coal and gas on the Scottish mainland and then transmitted through an undersea cable. Today the islands are so festooned with wind turbines, they cannot find enough uses for the emission-free power they create on their own. Continue reading...

Projects from gravitational wave detection to viewing the Milky Way and generating thermonuclear power march aheadCern has announced plans for a Future Circular Collider. The £17.8bn machine would smash particles together inside a 62-mile tunnel – four times the size of the Large Hadron Collider. If funding can be secured, scientists hope the machine would be operational by the 2050s. Continue reading...

Ministers must act quickly to make up for the firm’s decision to axe its Wylfa nuclear power plantBy any standards, last week’s decision by Hitachi to end construction of its £20bn nuclear power plant at Wylfa in Wales was a major blow to Britain’s prospects of creating an effective energy policy for the 21st century. The move follows a withdrawal by Toshiba from the construction of a similar project in Cumbria last year and leaves Britain struggling to find ways to generate electricity for a low-carbon future.Together, these nuclear plants would have generated 15% of Britain’s electricity – without emitting carbon dioxide. Now the government faces serious questions about how its electricity pricing policies scuppered these two key pieces of UK infrastructure. More importantly, the nation needs to know, very quickly, how ministers intend to make up for this lost capacity. Given the tepid nature of previous plans and continual changes made to energy policies, success is not guaranteed. Continue reading...

Scientists say a drastic cut in meat consumption is needed, but this requires political willIt has been known for a while that the amount of animal products being eaten is bad for both the welfare of animals and the environment. People cannot consume 12.9bn eggs in the UK each year without breaking a few.But the extent of the damage, and the amount by which people need to cut back, is now becoming clearer. On Wednesday, the Lancet medical journal published a study that calls for dramatic changes to food production and the human diet, in order to avoid “catastrophic damage to the planet”. Continue reading...

Satellite images show glaciers in US and Canada, excluding Alaska, are shrinking four times faster than in previous decade

Ocean Ramsey, a shark researcher, came face-to-face with what could be one of the largest great whites ever recordedTwo shark researchers who came face to face with what could be one of the largest great whites ever recorded are using their encounter as an opportunity to push for legislation that would protect sharks in Hawaii.Ocean Ramsey, a shark researcher and conservationist, told the Associated Press that she encountered the 20ft (6-metre) shark on Tuesday near a dead sperm whale off Oahu. The event was documented and shared on social media by her fiance and business partner, Juan Oliphant. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Australia Institute calls for inquiry similar to royal commission and greater MDBA transparencyThe crisis on the Lower Darling, which has seen up to 1 million fish die, is largely due to the decisions by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority on instructions from the New South Wales government, a report by the Australia Institute finds.It says the reasons for those decisions appear to be about building the case for the new Broken Hill pipeline and the Menindee Lakes project, which will see the lakes shrink and “save” water by reducing evaporation. Continue reading...

Puerto Rican parrots, a tufted duck and a giant panda feature in this week’s gallery Continue reading...

Firms say 800 renewable projects ready to plug gap left after Wylfa nuclear plant scrappedMinisters have been urged to drop their block on subsidies for onshore windfarms, as industry figures showed that nearly 800 renewable projects are ready to plug much of the power gap left by the abandonment of the Wylfa nuclear project.Related: Hitachi scraps £16bn nuclear power station in Wales Continue reading...

Readers respond to news that Hitachi has pulled out of the proposed Wylva nuclear power plant in AngleseyThe pulling out of Hitachi from the proposed Wylva nuclear power plant is a good thing for energy policy – not a serious blow as said in the article (Hitachi scraps £16bn nuclear power station in Wales, 18 January). Nuclear power is now one of the most expensive form of electricity there is. But beyond the economics, it no longer fits with the digitalising world that we live in. The global energy system is undergoing change similar to that in telecoms and computers over the last few decades. The energy system is becoming smarter and more flexible and it is on the path to being operated in a completely different way than hitherto because of that.Nuclear – with its huge, inflexible output – is the equivalent of a giant boulder in the middle of a motorway. We, the energy customers of Britain, would have ended up paying way over the odds for Wylva, which would have also undermined the UK’s move to a smart and flexible system – which really is the future. We are already going to do that for Hinkley Point C. Continue reading...

Two missing Humboldts were found this week in Strelley Village after a tipoffTwo penguins have been found by police officers two months after they were stolen.The pair of Humboldt penguins were taken in November last year from a zoo in Nottinghamshire. Continue reading...

Products withdrawn because of serious contamination are on the rise, report findsThe number of meat and poultry products recalled in the US for potentially life-threatening health hazards has nearly doubled since 2013, according to a report by a consumer watchdog group.The US Department of Agriculture logged 97 meat recalls for serious health hazards in 2018, ranging from 12 million pounds of raw beef that made close to 250 people ill with salmonella to the withdrawal of 174,000 pounds of chicken wraps for possible contamination with listeria. Continue reading...

Vedanta Resources in fresh appeal to have water contamination claim brought by 1,800 people heard in ZambiaA British mining company has appealed to the supreme court to prevent 1,800 Zambian villagers bringing a pollution case involving its subsidiary from being tried in the UK.Lawyers for Vedanta Resources told Britain’s highest court that the case – brought by villagers who allege that their land and livelihoods were destroyed by water contamination from Vedanta-owned Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) – should be heard in Zambia instead. Continue reading...

Alaskans have been enjoying free, organic meat for the past 50 years. Should other places stop turning their noses up?My mother texts me four photos of a dead moose the week I leave Alaska. It is freshly hit. The pebbled pink brains fanning across the pavement have not yet grayed in the brisk autumn air. The animal will not go to waste. For the past 50 years, Alaska has been the only state where virtually every piece of large roadkill is eaten.Every year, between 600 and 800 moose are killed in Alaska by cars, leaving up to 250,000lb of organic, free-range meat on the road. State troopers who respond to these collisions keep a list of charities and families who have agreed to drive to the scene of an accident at any time, in any weather, to haul away and butcher the body. Continue reading...

Greg Clark knows nuclear cannot compete with the likes of wind and solar – but he is not giving upThere was excellent news within Hitachi’s decision to shelve its plan to build a £16bn nuclear plant at Wylfa in Anglesey. Finally, a government minister may have grasped the basic problem with nuclear power. It is being “out-competed” by alternative technologies, especially wind and solar, the business secretary, Greg Clark, had to concede in the Commons. Exactly. So drop the obsession with nuclear, last century’s answer to our energy needs.As Clark also said, the package offered to Hitachi was generous. The price of the power, at £75 per megawatt hour, was lower than in EDF’s Hinkley Point C contract, but on this occasion the government would have taken a one-third stake and committed to providing all the debt financing for construction. Adjust for the different financial structure and the package looked very Hinkley-like – in other words, hugely expensive for the poor old bill payer. Continue reading...

Hitachi’s decision to walk away from two projects, despite hefty subsidies, indicates strongly that the UK’s current policies don’t add upThe scrapping of three nuclear power station projects in just over two months should prompt immediate and serious thought about the future of energy in this country. Hitachi expects the axing of the Wylfa plant on Anglesey in Wales to cost it £2.14bn. Around 300 people at its UK subsidiary Horizon will lose their jobs along with around 1,000 in the supply chain, and a second Hitachi power station in Gloucestershire will never be built. That another Japanese company, Toshiba, pulled the plug on another nuclear project in Cumbria in November, after trying and failing to sell it, makes the need for a considered response from policymakers all the more pressing.The problem, in a nutshell, is that the new generation of nuclear power stations is proving too expensive. Hitachi walked away from a package including a guaranteed price for its electricity of £75 per megawatt hour for 35 years, well above the wholesale price of around £50, but still below the £92.50 awarded to EDF Energy for power generated at Hinkley Point C. With the price of offshore wind as low as £57.50 and expected to fall further, and with renewables now supplying 33% of power (up from 6.7% in 2009), the contrast with nuclear is increasingly unflattering, as business secretary Greg Clark acknowledged when he told MPs that nuclear is being “outcompeted”. Continue reading...

Model attacks rising Amazon deforestation and sets out her environmental credentialsThe Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen has rebutted an extraordinary attack by Brazil’s agriculture minister, who called her a “bad Brazilian” for her environmental activism and said she did not know “the facts”.Bündchen said the “bad Brazilians” were those responsible for Brazil’s worst deforestation figures in a decade. Continue reading...

The options remaining, with three projects shelved and old plants reaching end of road

As Hitachi and Toshiba abandon plans for new British nuclear reactors, Damian Carrington assesses the merits of the technology

Despite recent scrapping of three plants, experts still feel the energy has stake in future

As a Bitcoin maker who covered the oil industry as a journalist, I see parallels between the two that may haunt cryptocurrencyI make Bitcoin, and in a previous life, I covered the oil industry as a journalist. Increasingly, I’m realizing the two worlds are alike. Bitcoin is oil.And one day, Bitcoin will become big oil, and all who dabble in it will be reborn as enemies of the environmental movement, seen as plunderers of the planet and the bad guys in the fight against climate change – just like oil. Continue reading...

Japanese giant unable to agree deal with UK as fears grow for Anglesey atomic plant

The Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations back Sarah Hanson-Young’s claim that Menindee fish kill is just the latest example of mismanagementThe Greens will introduce legislation to establish a royal commission into the mismanagement of the Murray-Darling Basin when parliament returns in February, in the wake of the massive fish kill at Menindee last week.The Greens environment and water spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, said she would move to set up the inquiry, which will have power to compel testimony from bureaucrats and ministers. The call has been backed by the Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations (NBAN), which claims native title holders have been left out of important decision-making about the Darling River. Continue reading...

Paris agreement for the sea recommended as rates of plastic pollution to skyrocketA new global agreement to protect the seas should be a priority for the government to stop our seas becoming a “sewer”, according to a cross-party group of MPs.Plastic pollution is set to treble in the next decade, the environmental audit committee warned, while overfishing is denuding vital marine habitats of fish, and climate change is causing harmful warming of the oceans as well as deoxygenation and acidification. Continue reading...

‘Planetary health diet’ would prevent millions of deaths a year and avoid climate changeThe first science-based diet that tackles both the poor food eaten by billions of people and averts global environmental catastrophe has been devised. It requires huge cuts in red meat-eating in western countries and radical changes across the world.The “planetary health diet” was created by an international commission seeking to draw up guidelines that provide nutritious food to the world’s fast-growing population. At the same time, the diet addresses the major role of farming – especially livestock – in driving climate change, the destruction of wildlife and the pollution of rivers and oceans. Continue reading...

The former coal lobbyist took over the EPA when his predecessor Scott Pruitt resigned after months of controversyA former coal lobbyist Donald Trump has nominated to run the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday touted rolling back pollution standards and declined to identify climate change as a crisis requiring unprecedented action from the US.Andrew Wheeler, the deputy administrator who took over when his predecessor Scott Pruitt resigned after months of controversy, said in his confirmation hearing that he is carrying out the president’s “regulatory reform agenda”. Wheeler called the US the “gold standard for environmental progress”. Continue reading...

40% of power bought at a fixed price while 60% a market-based price that is renegotiated every two yearsMelbourne has become the first city in Australia to have all of its council-owned infrastructure powered by renewable energy.The City of Melbourne switched all its operations to renewable energy on 1 January. The power is supplied by the Crowlands windfarm near Ararat in western Victoria, which was funded through a power purchase agreement with the City of Melbourne and 13 other Melbourne councils and institutions. Continue reading...

Greenpeace sceptical about corporate polluters as alliance launched to reduce wasteThe scourge of plastic waste in the world’s oceans is the target of a new global alliance of businesses which says it will try to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced and improve recycling.The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, launched on Wednesday, includes companies producing consumer goods and plastic, as well as waste management and recycling firms. Among more than 25 companies joining the effort are household names such as Procter & Gamble, Shell, BASF and ExxonMobil. Continue reading...

Dan Little, a retired forest service worker, took matters into his own hands when the shutdown left his local wilderness a messThe longest ever government shutdown has left US national parks chronically understaffed, with grim consequences: messy toilets, broken Joshua trees, and unsupervised campers.Related: Keeping US national parks open during the shutdown is a terrible mistake | Jonathan B Jarvis Continue reading...

Government admits process that allowed Pont Valley site to begin operating was flawedThe government is to review a decision to allow open-cast coal mining in a valley in County Durham.Lawyers for the government have written to campaigners to say their decision-making was flawed and agreed to look again. The mine in the Pont Valley, known as Bradley, began operating last year after four decades of opposition. Continue reading...

As part of London store trial greengrocers will also offer tips on how to prevent food wasteMarks & Spencer is to start selling more than 90 lines of loose fruit and vegetables free of all plastic packaging, in a trial that will put the traditional greengrocer back on the shop floor and revive the use of paper bags.As the retailer steps up its drive to reduce plastics, shoppers at its store in Tolworth, south-west London, will be able to pick their own loose produce displayed in two separate aisles. Continue reading...

Charities and government officials intervene at Ramsgate port in Kent to prevent animals’ journey time exceeding legal limitsAnimal welfare charities have backed calls by the RSPCA to substantially reduce journey times for live exports as the government considers a ban on the practice after Brexit.The RSPCA has appealed to the EU Commission after a lorry was stopped at a UK port by the charity along with other campaigners and government officials on 10 January. Continue reading...

Activists fight to stop construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which endangers an ecosystem that is one of the most important bird habitats in the western hemisphereDeep within the humid green heart of the largest river swamp in North America, a battle is being waged over the future of the most precious resource of all: water.On one side of the conflict is a small band of rugged and ragtag activists led by Indigenous matriarchs. On the other side is the relentless machinery of the fossil fuel industry and all of its might. And at the center of the struggle is the Atchafalaya river, a 135 mile-long distributary of the Mississippi river that empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Continue reading...

After extreme weather-related events, there is ‘need for international cooperation’Growing tension between the world’s major powers is the most urgent global risk and makes it harder to mobilise collective action to tackle climate change, according to a report prepared for next week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Related: Deadly weather: the human cost of 2018's climate disasters – visual guide Continue reading...

ANAO finds department decided Great Barrier Reef Foundation was the ‘obvious’ partner after just three daysAn official audit has criticised the Australian government and the environment department for applying “insufficient scrutiny” to numerous aspects of a controversial proposal to award $443.3m to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.In a report tabled on Wednesday, the Australian National Audit Office said the department was given just 11 business days by the government to find a private organisation to deliver the record grant, announced in April last year. Continue reading...

Quorn launches ‘fishless fillets’ made with protein derived from fungusFish and chips is the latest British favourite to get a vegan makeover, with Quorn launching both battered and breaded “fishless fillets”.The fillets will be made using protein derived from a fungus and the company promises to replicate the texture and flakiness of real fish. The launch follows the success of the Greggs vegan sausage roll, which has been selling out across the country. Continue reading...

Experts say the administration is blatantly dismantling proven programs, and the consequences could be dire

Administration’s alternative to clean power plan would let emissions ‘rebound’ via coal-fired power plants, researchers findThe Trump administration’s replacement for the linchpin Obama-era plan to combat climate change would increase greenhouse gas emissions in much of the US more than doing nothing at all, according to new research.Planet-warming emissions would “rebound” under the Trump policy, researchers found, as it delays the retirement of coal-fired power plants. Carbon dioxide emissions would be 8.7% higher in 18 states and Washington DC by 2030, compared with having no policy at all. Continue reading...

Confectioner to phase out all non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle plastic from productsThe food and drink multinational Nestlé has stepped up its effort to reduce its use of plastics, rolling out plastic-free packaging across several products and pledging to phase out plastic Smarties tube tops.Nestlé has pledged to phase out all plastics that are not recyclable or are hard to recycle for all its products worldwide between 2020 and 2025. In the UK, its focus will be on recycling and increasing recycled PET content. Continue reading...

Five frogs found on Bolivian expedition funded through lonely hearts profileFor 10 years, Romeo, the last known Sehuencas water frog on the planet, led a solitary life in a conservation centre in Bolivia. Now scientists have found him a Juliet.The adult female was among five frogs found on an expedition into Bolivia’s cloud forest. The $25,000 search was funded by donations gathered after Romeo’s keepers posted a lonely hearts profile on the dating website Match.com on Valentine’s Day last year. Continue reading...

Tuna fishery gains first MSC gold standard after nation’s huge push to boost stocks, protect livelihoods and ban foreign vesselsIndonesia, the world’s largest tuna fishing nation, has pulled out all the stops in recent years to transform the health of an industry blighted by depleted stocks and illegal poaching.

Wearers of any brand of soft lens can now have them collected or drop them off at recycling binsThe UK’s first free national recycling scheme for plastic contact lenses – worn by an estimated 3.7 million people – is being rolled out this week.Wearers of any brand of soft lens will have the option of either having their discarded items and packaging collected or dropping them off at a network of recycling bins at Boots Opticians and selected independent stores. Continue reading...

Bird-watchers flock to Werribee treatment plant, near Melbourne, to see Eurasia nativeThe Werribee sewage ponds are one of the most popular bird-watching locations in Australia. On a good day, says Birdlife Australia’s Sean Dooley, you may see as many as five or six other cars there.That was before the tufted duck arrived. Continue reading...

Proposed revised rules include a change that would allow oil companies to select third party companies to evaluate the safety of their equipmentThe Trump administration is expected to give BP and other big oil companies more power to self-regulate their offshore drilling operations, years after investigators found that lax regulatory oversight was one of the leading culprits behind the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the worst environmental catastrophe in US history.The move to relax new rules that were put in place by the Obama administration after the BP disaster, which killed 11 workers, spewed 4m barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and cost BP $65bn, comes as the White House is seeking to open offshore oil and gas drilling to the vast majority of US coastal waters, including in the Arctic. Continue reading...

A new fish kill in the Murray River is not as severe as initially believed, as fears of more fish deaths increase amid soaring temperaturesThe New South Wales government will install aerators at various sites across the state amid fears of more fish kills as temperatures soar above 40C in the Murray-Darling Basin.A new fish kill event at Lake Hume was downgraded to 60 dead fish from 1,800 after authorities from the Department of Primary Industries arrived to investigate. Continue reading...

New government strategy aims to reduce ammonia emissions by changing farming methodsMuck-spreading, the agricultural practice of spraying fields with liquid manure, will effectively be banned under government plans to reduce air pollution.Animal manure is a key source of ammonia, a powerful pollutant that, combined with other chemicals in the air, form fine particles that can lodge deep in the lungs, harming human health. Continue reading...

Environmentalists attack rules that fail to ban funding oil projects linked to tar sandsEnvironmental activists have accused Barclays of being on the “wrong side of history” after publishing an “underwhelming” climate policy document that fails to rule out funding for tar sands projects.Barclays is the last major UK bank to publish rules for how it will conduct business with companies involved in carbon-heavy industries such as oil and coal. Other lenders including HSBC, RBS and Lloyds outlined their own commitments last year. Continue reading...

Sarah Hanson-Young says failure to release data about draining of Menindee Lakes ‘stinks of a cover-up’The Greens have accused the federal government of hiding critical information from the Senate on why the Menindee Lakes were drained twice in the last four years, as investigations get under way into what caused around 1 million fish to die.Further fish kill events are expected later this week as temperatures soar to 45C in western New South Wales. Continue reading...

Research also identifies pollinators’ favourite flowers, including brambles, buttercups, dandelions, lavender and borageAllotments, weedy corners and fancy gardens are all urban havens for bees and other pollinators, a study has found.The widespread decline of bees resulting from the loss of wild areas and pesticide use has caused great concern in recent years, but towns and cities have been suggested as potential sanctuaries. Continue reading...

Storms sweep away sand at Dooagh on Achill Island, after freak tide in 2017 restored itIt came, it enchanted and now it’s gone again: the beach that reappeared on the Irish coast in 2017 after a 34-year absence, garnering worldwide attention, has vanished again.Winter storms have swept away the sand at Dooagh, Achill Island, in County Mayo, leaving only rock and a reminder that what nature gives, it can take away. Continue reading...