Environment | The Guardian

Press on for what you believe in – a young woman’s election to Congress shows climate activism can have unforeseen results

Office initially named agricultural chemical red tape bill, then said Morrison was actually referring to ban on cosmetic testingScott Morrison has elevated an obscure bill to ban cosmetic testing on animals to one of the top two legislative priorities for the Coalition in 2019, according to his office.Speaking to ABC News Breakfast on Monday, the prime minister cited “environmental legislation … [that] is important for native species” as among the government’s priorities for the new year, second only to national security. Continue reading...

Plan called for 50-year commitment to restoring native fish numbers, but was canned after NSW pulled fundingThe Murray Darling Basin Authority shelved its native fish strategy six years ago and ended its sustainable rivers audit program after New South Wales pulled 60% of its funding from a basinwide program to monitor the health of fish in the river.For 10 years the MDBA made much of its fish strategy, releasing a glossy brochure that claimed the strategy required a “sustained commitment” of 50 years in order to rehabilitate native fish in the river. It announced a goal of “restoring native fish stocks to 60% of its pre-European levels.” Continue reading...

The variable nature of wind and solar power means storing energy is a huge part of the fight to mitigate climate changeIn a world increasingly anxious about climate change, the surge in the generation of renewable energy over the past 20 years offers a sliver of hope. But the variable nature of wind and solar power means that storing energy until consumers need it has become the next big challenge. And so, large-scale battery installations are springing up across electricity grids around the world, to make them more flexible. In 2017, more than 1GW of energy storage capacity was added around the world – a record, yes, but still a drop in the ocean of global energy demand. Continue reading...

Theresa May says any delay to article 50 will force companies out of Britain. But the alternative – a bad Brexit – is worseOne of Downing Street’s many arguments in favour of Theresa May’s Brexit deal is that further delay will persuade many of the UK’s biggest companies to stop procrastinating about their investment plans and move some or all of their activities abroad.Bosses have spent long enough watching and waiting to see what kind of Brexit unfolds. Another six months, while parliament moves in the direction of a general election or a referendum on the current deal with the European Union, would break their resolve, say May’s supporters. Continue reading...

Both the major parties have announced plans to revitalise the world heritage-listed national parkKakadu national park will get a boost worth more than $200m, with both the major parties committing to revitalise the world heritage-listed Northern Territory site.The prime minister, Scott Morrison, visited the town of Jabiru on Sunday to announce the Coalition’s $216m package. Continue reading...

Golden Plains approved by Andrews government and awaits federal consent to proceedThe managing director of a company that plans to construct Victoria’s largest windfarm says the project will supply enough power to replace up to a third of the generation of the decommissioned Hazelwood power station at less than $50/MWh.The Victorian government has granted a planning permit for WestWind Energy’s $1.5bn Golden Plains windfarm, which will become one of the largest windfarms in the southern hemisphere. Continue reading...

Interior department continues processing permits and moves forward with controversial plan to increase drilling in the ArcticThree weeks into the longest US government shutdown in history, many important government services have been paused – but the Trump administration has continued efforts to expand oil drilling.Despite the shutdown directive, which has seen national park staff furloughed and the parks suffering from neglect, the interior department has continued processing oil drilling permits and applications. It has also moved forward with a controversial plan to increase drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). Continue reading...

Team behind ‘world’s first’ compostable coffee pods may have to stop selling in the UKA British startup trying to counter the waste created by single-use coffee capsules says it will be strangled at birth by a no-deal Brexit.The founders of Moving Beans say Brexit is like a “bomb dropping” on their business, which started manufacturing in February. Continue reading...

Vegans are increasingly looking for ways to grow their fruit, vegetables and cereals without animal manure“An olive orchard cultivated in a conventional manner is a bloody wound in nature,” declares Johannes Eisenbach as he drives – fast – south along the gleaming new Greek motorways towards Kalamata. The olives are harvested, the branches are burned, and all these nutritional elements leave the olive grove and never return.Eisenbach is an ebullient German with a Bluetooth receiver in his ear, constantly switching between Greek, German and English as he takes calls from big German supermarkets including Lidl. He runs the Organic Marketing & Export Network, a group of 800 Greek and Cypriot organic farmers who sell to northern Europe. He’s also the accidental inventor of a new kind of compost that could kick-start vegan farming. Continue reading...

Footage of tiny colony of birds on the southern tip of New Zealand captivates millions around the globeMillions of amateur naturalists around the world have been tuning in to the secret lives of albatrosses as New Zealand rangers employ YouTube in a bid to save the mysterious giant sea birds.New Zealand conservation teams set up a 24-hour live-stream of an albatross nest at Taiaroa Head on the Otago peninsula in 2016. Three years on, the feed has become an unexpected global hit, with 2.3 million people from 190 countries tuning in to watch the endangered birds rear their chicks on a frigid peninsula at the bottom of the world. Continue reading...

Soaring temperatures bring tales of eight-legged invaders as huge numbers of communal species spin invisible webs in the skySummer in south-east Brazil has brought soaring temperatures and some disconcerting eight-legged visitors.Residents in a rural area of southern Minas Gerais state have reported skies “raining spiders”, a phenomenon which experts say is typical in the region during hot, humid weather. Continue reading...

The change aims to reduce plastic waste, following readers’ feedbackThe Guardian’s print edition will no longer be sold in plastic packaging, becoming the first national newspaper to switch to biodegradable wrapping.The Saturday edition of the paper contains a large number of supplements which are currently packaged in polythene to meet the demands of retailers and ensure they reach readers. Continue reading...

An adopted leopard cub, a preening moorhen and tiny turtles feature in this week’s gallery Continue reading...

Move by Japanese firm would be blow to UK plans to replace coal plants and ageing reactorsThe Japanese conglomerate Hitachi looks certain to cancel its plans for a £16bn nuclear power station in Wales, leaving Britain’s ambitions for a nuclear renaissance in tatters.An impasse in months-long talks between the company, London and Toyko on financing is expected to result in the flagship project being axed at a Hitachi board meeting next week, according to the Nikkei newspaper. Continue reading...

Charlie Ewart discovered the 64-metre lump and will be part of the team breaking it upCharlie Ewart, a 51-year-old father of two from Plymouth, has been battling blockages in the sewers of south-west England for 15 years.But even he was not prepared for the dreadful sight, and smell, of what he found lurking beneath the elegant seafront in the regency town of Sidmouth when he scrambled through a small manhole. Continue reading...

Attorney general quashes Ella Kissi-Debrah verdict, paving way for fresh hearingThe mother of a schoolgirl who died of an asthma attack linked to air pollution has won the right to seek a new inquest at the high court.The attorney general moved on Friday to quash the inquest into the death of Ella Kissi-Debrah at the age of nine, after new evidence linked it to air pollution spikes from traffic near her home in south London. Continue reading...

Mikołaj Golachowski describes plan as ‘evil’ and warns of environmental consequencesConservationists have branded plans by the Polish government to cull almost the entire wild boar population of the country as “pointless, counterproductive and evil”.In a move to tackle an epidemic of African swine fever, the Polish government has ordered a series of hunts, beginning this weekend, with the aim of killing the vast majority of the country’s population of around 200,000 wild boar. Continue reading...

Logo drawn up by water firms aims to ensure only wipes that degrade properly are flushedThe fight to eliminate “fatbergs” is to receive a major boost with the launch of a universal standard for wet wipes, clarifying which can be safely flushed down the toilet.Manufacturers of wipes will be able to use a “fine to flush” symbol on their packaging – drawn up by the water industry – provided they pass stringent tests. The logo aims to reassure consumers that the products do not contain plastic and will break down in the sewer system instead of clogging up sewers and contributing to fatbergs. Continue reading...

Proposal is intended to protect African elephants from being poached for their tusksThe long-extinct woolly mammoth could gain protected status in an unprecedented attempt to save the African elephant from the global ivory trade.If approved, the protection of the mammoth under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) could prove vital in saving its modern relatives. The proposal by Israel would close a loophole that enables the trafficking of illegal elephant ivory under the guise of legal mammoth ivory, which is almost identical in appearance. Continue reading...

NSW Labor calls for special commission of inquiry into the environmental disasterThe cotton industry says it is not to blame for the mass deaths of hundreds of thousands of fish in the Darling River and is tired of being a “whipping boy” for problems associated with the drought.Communities in the Menindee Lakes region, where two fish kills have occurred since December, have said over-extraction by irrigators helped cause the catastrophe that has put a spotlight on the environmental management of Australia’s largest river system. Continue reading...

Druridge Bay project makes mockery of UK’s goal to phase out coal by 2025, say criticsA wild stretch of Northumberland beach has become the ultimate testing ground of the government’s much-vaunted commitment to phase out coal by 2025, according to campaigners.On Friday, James Brokenshire, the minister for communities and local government, will start examining whether to allow a local coal mining company, Banks Group, to extract three million tonnes of coal from 250 hectares of land behind the sand dunes of Druridge Bay, in a project that will extend beyond the government’s own deadline for the end of coal. Continue reading...

Globally pets consume 20% of meat and fish, a figure insect pet food could help to reduceThe UK’s first dog food made from insects goes on sale this week, which its manufacturers say could help reduce the environmental damage caused by the massive volumes of meat routinely fed to dogs and cats.Globally, pets consume about 20% of the world’s meat and fish, a number set to rise with the trend for consumers to feed them human-grade meat. Pet food is also estimated to be responsible for a quarter of the environmental impacts of meat production in terms of use of land, water, fossil fuels, phosphates and pesticides. Continue reading...

Girl to be transferred from Hamilton Island to have bite on foot treated, while woman was bitten on legA girl and a elderly woman have been bitten by a shark in the Whitsundays, continuing a spate of attacks in the popular north Queensland region.Related: Shark attack: five survivors on what it's like when a great white tries to eat you Continue reading...

Maintenance and sanitation problems also reported 18 days after government shutdown furloughed the vast majority of park staffA day after this story was published, the National Park Service announced that it had averted the closure by tapping revenues from recreation fees, and that campgrounds and entrance stations would be reopened on Thursday. In a press release, the NPS expressed thanks to volunteers “who provided basic sanitation at campgrounds and other closed areas during the lapse in appropriations”.For 17 days, a host of volunteers and a skeleton staff kept the trash cans and toilets from overflowing at Joshua Tree national park. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology says average temperature was 1.14C above average for 1961-1990, making 2018 slightly warmer than 2017Last year was Australia’s third-warmest year on record, with every state and territory recording above average temperatures in 2018.According to the Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement, the nation’s average temperature last year was 1.14C above the average for 1961-1990, making 2018 slightly warmer than 2017. Continue reading...

Pollution in tube stations 30 times higher than beside busy roads in capital, experts sayFresh concerns over air quality on the London Underground have been raised after researchers found that the concentration of particulate pollution in tube stations was up to 30 times higher than beside busy roads in the capital.Air pollution experts have called for more analysis of the possible harmful effects of the underground’s particulates. Continue reading...

Protesters Sarah Green, 63, and Laura Hughes, 37, say construction is contaminating London’s water supplyTwo environmental protesters against the HS2 high-speed rail link have pleaded not guilty to aggravated trespass charges in relation to obstructing a digger on one of the company’s construction sites.The HS2 development has generated controversy about cost, usefulness and possible environmental damage. Continue reading...

Progressives should think twice about who their allies are. Conservatives, especially those who hunt, can be alarmed about climate change tooI first read about Bald Knob, Arkansas, in 2010, after thousands of poisoned blackbirds dropped dead from the sky in nearby Beebe. On first look, Bald Knob has an unsettling aesthetic: a sparsely populated town, a bygone agricultural zone with toppled silos, old trailers, taxidermy businesses, boarded-up shops and a Waffle House. It’s a narrative cliche to present a rural place below the Mason-Dixon line this way, yet the scenery fits the bill.I’ve lived in places like these, where a casual observer sees a weathered town and locals just see home. I proceed with caution anyway. I’m also unsettled by news reports of armed white nationalists marching at the capitol building in nearby Little Rock. I know this is how a lot of people experience the rural south – sorting through stereotypes and history as they go, wondering how much of the old south is present in the new. Continue reading...

As wolves arrive in California for the first time since the 1920s, ranchers try non-lethal methods to deter animals once seen as livestock-killing verminBreanna Owens had no idea where to turn for help when the wolves arrived. The northern California-based rancher used to take her cattle to graze each summer in Oregon, but in 2014, OR-7, a solitary wolf dubbed Journey, found a mate and produced a litter of pups in the vicinity of Owens’ herd. The Rogue pack was the first in the area in generations.“All of a sudden it’s, ‘Oh, he set up camp. And there’s a female. And there’s pups – oh my gosh!’” she recalled. Continue reading...

The Environmental Protection Agency has been cut to a skeleton staff, meaning work to ensure clean air and water is left undoneThe US government shutdown has stymied environmental testing and inspections, prompting warnings that Americans’ health is being put at increasing risk as the shutdown drags on.More than 13,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are not at work, with just 794 people deemed essential staff currently undertaking the agency’s duties. Continue reading...

Closure of agriculture department offices could not have come at a worse time for farmers awaiting emergency federal aidJust as American farmers thought Donald Trump had rescued them from the economic consequences of his trade war with China, along came the government shutdown.Related: American farmers fear being caught up in Trump's trade wars Continue reading...

Office of NSW primary industries minister Niall Blair blames security concerns for not stopping at boat ramp where residents wanted answers on hundreds of thousands of deathsThe New South Wales primary industries minister has been accused of failing to listen to residents during a visit to inspect the Darling River after the deaths of hundreds of thousands of native fish.Niall Blair’s office said on Wednesday that security concerns following threats on social media meant he did not stop at a boat ramp where about 150 residents had gathered during a visit to the far-western community of Menindee. Continue reading...

Twenty-two people have been hospitalised this summer with Irukandji stings, which can cause brain haemorrhagesThe deadly Irukandji jellyfish is likely to spread further down Australia’s east coast as temperatures warm, an expert says, after twice as many Queenslanders were stung by the species this season than usual.Twenty-two people have been hospitalised this summer with Irukandji stings – which are so severe they can cause brain haemorrhages and a debilitating sensation of impending doom, known as Irukandji syndrome. Continue reading...

People who install solar from April will have to give away surplus until scheme launchesHouseholds with solar panels are to get a guaranteed payment for excess electricity they export to the grid – but there will be a hiatus when people are expected to give it away for free.Energy minister Claire Perry said on Tuesday she would legislate for a new market that will make energy firms compete to offer solar homes the best price for any unused energy they export. Continue reading...

Green party MP presses Veolia to accept more plastic wasteThe recycling company Veolia has been accused of refusing to adapt a 30-year contract to allow Brighton and Hove council to collect more plastic waste as local authorities struggle to meet a national target of 50%.Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said the company had refused requests to change the contract. As a result, attempts by the city to increase the collection of plastic waste had failed. Continue reading...

Climate change and invasive predators have taken a heavy toll on native animals and insects in the Hawaiian IslandsAs New Year’s Day broke in the Hawaiian Islands, one rare creature was not there to emerge from his shell and greet it: George, the last snail of his kind and a local celebrity, was dead at age 14.Related: World's oldest known wild bird to become a mother for the 37th time Continue reading...

Green energy scheme uses 1.1m litres of hot water flowing through Roman baths each dayWork to install eco-friendly heating in Bath Abbey using hot water from the city’s Roman baths is beginning.Contractors are surveying the great Roman drain, which carries steaming water from Bath’s hot springs to the River Avon, as part of a project to use the springs to warm the nearby abbey that starts on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Last year’s 3.4% jump in emissions is the largest since 2010 recession and second largest gain in more than two decadesA new analysis shows US greenhouse gas levels are increasing as the Trump administration unravels efforts to slow climate change.Carbon emissions rose sharply last year, increasing 3.4%, according to new estimates from the economic firm Rhodium Group. That year’s jump in emissions is the biggest since the bounce back from the recession in 2010. It is the second largest gain in more than two decades. Continue reading...

Eight weeks needed to remove mass of fat, oil and wet-wipes from sewer in Sidmouth, DevonA block of hardened fat, oil and wet-wipes longer than six double-decker buses has been discovered in a sewer metres from the sea in a popular Devon resort town.It will take workers eight weeks to cut up and remove the 64-metre “fatberg” from the sewer beneath The Esplanade in Sidmouth. Continue reading...

Airport reveals plans as it launches a new consultation on its expansionAn extra 25,000 flights a year could come through Heathrow before the third runway is built, in plans revealed by the airport as it launched a fresh consultation over its airspace and operations.Planes could come in to land on both runways at the same time during busy periods, Heathrow has proposed, to help maximise its capacity ahead of expansion. Continue reading...

Land iguanas wiped out by feral pigs have been reintroduced to Santiago IslandA group of more than 1,400 iguanas have been reintroduced to an island in the Galápagos archipelago nearly two centuries after they disappeared from there, authorities said on Monday.The Galápagos land iguanas from North Seymour Island were freed onto Santiago Island as part of an ecological restoration program, the National Galapagos park authority said in a statement. Continue reading...

Police officers deployed near checkpoint where protesters have gathered to block the construction of a natural gas pipelineIndigenous protesters in Canada have called a growing police presence near their makeshift checkpoint “an act of war”, as tensions mount over a stalled pipeline project in northern British Columbia.In defiance of a court order, dozens of protesters have gathered on a logging road nearly 700km (430 miles) north-west of Vancouver, to block the construction of a natural gas pipeline. Continue reading...

Andy Burnham announces proposal to introduce clean air zone in Greater ManchesterDrivers of the most polluting vehicles could face charges in Greater Manchester under a proposal to introduce a clean air zone announced by the mayor, Andy Burnham.The mooted clean air zone (CAZ) would penalise operators of buses, coaches, taxis, lorries and vans, as well as some private cars registered outside the area. The proposal comes after the government ordered Greater Manchester and more than 60 other local authorities to reduce road transport emissions. Continue reading...

Nottingham pioneers ‘Energiesprong’ after it wins £5m funding from EUA Dutch approach to transforming old homes through a dramatic green makeover has arrived in the UK and cut tenants’ energy bills in half.Nottingham has become the first city council to pioneer the “Energiesprong” (energy leap) initiative, which has radically upgraded the energy efficiency of thousands of homes in the Netherlands. Continue reading...

Following forest school, latest trend in getting children to learn outdoors is beach schoolOn Bovisand beach near Plymouth, the school day begins with morning assembly and a briefing about sea safety. The timetable will vary, but there will probably be a session on marine pollution and what you can and cannot put down your toilet, followed by shelter building, sand art, and lunch (in your shelter), then rock pools, a beach clean, and finally stories and roasted marshmallows around a seaside camp fire.Welcome to beach school. After the success of the forest school movement, which has encouraged teachers to take tens of thousands of school children out of the confines of the classroom to learn outdoors in a natural environment, there is a new push to teach on the beach. Continue reading...

An estimated 10,000 were killed just weeks ago, and locals fear native stocks could be all but wiped out this timeHundreds of thousands of fish have been killed along a stretch of the Lower Darling River in New South Wales in a second major incident which has led some experts to fear whole populations of local native fish have been wiped out.Residents near the Menindee Lakes are reporting what is the second major fish kill along a 20km stretch of water near Weir 32. Continue reading...

An invasion of bluebottles on Queensland’s Gold and Sunshine coasts led to thousands being treatedMore than 5,000 people were stung by bluebottles on Queensland’s Gold and Sunshine coasts over the weekend as weather drove a wall of jellyfish onto the shore.Conditions eased on Monday but remnants of the bluebottle armada (the correct term for a bunch of bluebottles) still dot the beaches and more than 200 people were treated for stings, mostly at the Sunshine Coast. Continue reading...

A tax on daytrippers has hit the headlines, but La Serenissima’s mounting problems also include rising waters, angry locals and a potential black mark from UnescoWhy Italy regrets its Faustian pact with tourist cashVenice’s Santa Lucia railway station is packed as visitors scuttle across the concourse towards the water-bus stops. Taking a selfie against the backdrop of the Grand Canal, Ciro Esposito and his girlfriend have just arrived and are unimpressed with what may greet them in future if the Venetian authorities get their way: a minimum city entry fee of €2.50 throughout the year, rising to between €5 and €10 during peak periods.It is the price of a cappuccino, but for them “it’s going too far”. “They are using people like a bank machine,” says Esposito. “We are in Europe and can travel freely across borders, yet we have to pay to enter one of our own cities.” Continue reading...