Environment | The Guardian

Policy is part of a green industrial revolution promised by the party if electedLabour will build a national network of charging points for electric vehicles at a cost of £3.6bn to kickstart its planned “green industrial revolution” if elected, the party will say on Monday.The rollout of rapid-charging stations on motorways and urban streets would be enough for more than 21m cars in the next decade, and, the party said, would remove one of the biggest obstacles to electric car ownership and create 3,000 skilled jobs for electricians and engineers. Continue reading...

Annastacia Palaszczuk won’t provide any details after accusing protesters of using devices ‘laced with traps’The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has formally refused to provide any evidence to support her claims to parliament that climate change activists are using devices “laced with traps”.Last month, Palaszczuk made the comments – along with social media posts saying protesters were using “sinister tactics” and intended to cause harm – as she announced new laws cracking down on escalating climate and anti-coal demonstrations in Queensland. Continue reading...

Peter Ridd’s former employer James Cook University appealing after a court ruled the professor’s sacking was unlawfulThe climate-sceptic academic Peter Ridd has asked supporters to donate another $1.5m to fund ongoing legal costs after his former employer, James Cook University, lodged an appeal against an unlawful dismissal ruling.This month the federal court awarded Ridd $1.2m in compensation. The court has made clear its finding related to Ridd’s employment rights and not his academic freedom. Continue reading...

United in Science report ahead of UN summit says climate is changing faster than forecast, and current plans would lead to ‘catastrophic’ global temperature riseAn assessment backed by the world’s major climate science bodies has found commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be at least tripled and increased by up to fivefold if the world is to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.The report, launched as leaders gather at a UN climate action summit in New York on Monday, says current plans would lead to a rise in average global temperatures of between 2.9C and 3.4C by 2100, a shift likely to bring catastrophic change across the globe. Continue reading...

Brewer plans to cut plastic use by 850 tonnes a year with new approaches to packagingBrewing firm Budweiser is to phase out single-use plastic pack rings from its entire range of UK-produced beer – which include the bestselling brands Stella Artois, Budweiser and Bud Light – by the end of 2020.The group is investing £6.3m on upgrading production at its two UK factories to produce alternatives to single-use plastic, which include recyclable paperboard as well as wraps and boxes. Continue reading...

Announcement comes as PM heads to New York for meeting of UN general assemblyBoris Johnson has unveiled a combined £1.2bn in funding for new efforts to tackle the climate emergency and protect endangered species as he prepares to attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York.While at the UN general assembly, the prime minister will use a speech to announce £1bn in aid money for UK inventors to seek funding for high-tech initiatives connected to areas such as renewable energy and lower levels of pollutants. Continue reading...

‘Our future demands it,’ says tech entrepreneur Mike Cannon-Brookes as Trump and Morrison snub the New York sessionAustralian tech entrepreneur Mike Cannon-Brookes will travel to the United Nations summit on climate change in New York to announce that Atlassian will adopt a target of net zero emissions by no later than 2050.The commitment, offered through UN Global Compact’s Business Ambition for 1.5C and the Science-Based Targets initiative, will see Atlassian become the first major Australian company to join the Business Ambition for 1.5C. Continue reading...

With the Green Carpet Fashion Awards opening in Milan, the eco pioneer explains why the once-unfashionable concept is a winnerEthical fashion used to be unfashionable. When Livia Firth launched her consultancy, Eco-Age, a decade ago, she says, “it was something no one was talking about”. During the current round of fashion shows – from Extinction Rebellion’s protests to dresses made from recycled plastic bottles – people have talked about little else.In the last two months, says Firth, “we have turned a corner finally. It is a beautiful moment, but it is also very dangerous. Fast fashion is the first offender in sustainability and there is greenwashing at a level there has never been before”. Continue reading...

North Uist could be home to a new rocket site – but islanders say it would damage important habitatsRocky headlands frame the silvery white sands of Scolpaig Bay on the western coast of North Uist. The spread of machair – a grassland thick with flowers in summer – moorland and rock is much loved by walkers and birdwatchers.It is home to breeding colonies of cormorants and black guillemots as well as seals, otters and the occasional hen harrier. On the horizon to the west, the dramatic islands of St Kilda are just visible, otherwise there is nothing but the Atlantic. Continue reading...

The French capital, despite efforts to deal with litter, graffiti and dog mess, is grubbier than everParisians living on the Boulevard Saint-Martin, a main east-west axis north of the Seine, last week found that the plane trees along their street had been “tagged” with graffiti. But it’s not new. Apartment doors, shop fronts, flower boxes, benches and lamp-posts have been covered in tags for weeks. Months even.Along the boulevard to the landmark Place de la République – looking shabby despite a £20m facelift six years ago – the homeless dozed in doorways or on benches, sleeping bags pulled over their heads. The pavements were littered with abandoned electric scooters and bicycles, and punctuated by dog mess and cigarette ends. A man walking west opened a new packet of cigarettes and threw the cellophane and silver paper on the ground. Continue reading...

Firefighters say ‘you’ve got to accept” the climate is changing and be ready to endure more early-season emergenciesWhat was once considered an “extreme” Queensland bushfire season should now be expected every year, firefighters say.Queensland has endured an early-season bushfire emergency this month after hot and dry conditions and strong winds fuelled dozens of blazes, which destroyed 17 homes mostly in the state’s south. Continue reading...

Francesco Risso unveils collection as Milan fashion week coincides with Global Climate StrikeThe timing of Milan fashion week coinciding as it does with the Global Climate Strike, is a challenge for an industry that is seen as one of the main culprits in the climate crisis. On the one hand, it puts brands who continue with business as usual into the shade, while on the other it highlights eco-conscious designers.Marni fell into the latter category on Friday at its spring/summer 2020 show. Creative director Francesco Risso said after the show that he would not join the hundreds of thousands of people protesting around the world, but that he was striking in his own way. Continue reading...

Video showed handful of protesters sitting and lying down in front of long line of cars on A20Ten people have been arrested during an Extinction Rebellion climate change protest in Dover aimed at “blockading” the port.Activists were reported to have glued themselves to streets and were told they could face arrest if they left a designated area. Continue reading...

Photographer Bryan Thomas took portraits of the people participating in the climate strike in New York FridayFriday saw hundreds of thousands of young people take to the streets to protest against climate change. In New York, the protests began at Foley Square with the marchers eventually making their way to Battery Park. We asked the photographer Bryan Thomas, who has covered the effects of sea-level rise in his home state of Florida, to document the event and he decided to set up a mini studio in the heart of the protests in downtown New York. These are the results. Continue reading...

The image was not taken after a climate strike and was not even taken in AustraliaA hoax photo that claims to show rubbish left behind by Australian climate strike protesters is circulating on Facebook, despite being revealed as fake months ago.Though it lacks any verification, and was debunked in April, the image and false caption have been shared 19,000 times in 12 hours, and thousands of times from copycats. Continue reading...

Millions of people across the globe took part in protests on Friday demanding urgent action on the climate crisis. The strike kicks off a week of environmental activism before the UN climate action summit Continue reading...

Millions of people from Sydney to Manila, Dhaka to London and New York are marching for urgent action on climate breakdown

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky to work with Rudy Giuliani on an investigation into Hunter Biden

Review also urges parks and beauty spots to increase appeal to minority ethnic visitors

Young and old alike took to the streets in an estimated 185 countries to demand actionMillions of people demonstrated across the world yesterday demanding urgent action to tackle global heating, as they united across timezones and cultures to take part in the biggest climate protest in history.In an explosion of the youth movement started by the Swedish school striker Greta Thunberg just over 12 months ago, people protested from the Pacific islands, through Australia, across-south east Asia and Africa into Europe and onwards to the Americas. Continue reading...

Shadow climate minister says he believes Scott Morrison may shift on issue during the coming termMark Butler wants to make one thing clear: the shadow minister for climate change and energy is not for turning. It wasn’t a mistake to pursue an ambitious climate policy in the 2019 election and “we are not going to change our position to get to a level of profound irresponsibility [on policy], like the government”, he tells Guardian Australia’s politics podcast.“Our position on climate is unshakeable.” Continue reading...

The climate strike must be a beginning and not an end. Warming won’t be stopped by symbolismDuring the carnage of the first world war, the poet Wilfred Owen revisited the biblical story in which God tests Abraham by commanding the sacrifice of Isaac, his son. In Genesis, Abraham dutifully prepares the lad for slaughter before God relents and tells him to offer a ram instead.Owen’s bitter poem rewrites the ending: Continue reading...

Governor Gavin Newsom said the state “won’t bend to the president’s reckless attacks” on the state’s clean car waiver

A kangaroo affected by drought, a prize-winning sea lion and a polka-dotted zebra foal Continue reading...

Sand from Great Yarmouth seabed creates mobile dune defences to protect villagesAn artificial dune of nearly 2m cubic metres of sand has been created on the Norfolk coast in an innovative approach to slowing coastal erosion.In the £20m sandscaping scheme, enough sand to fill one and a half Wembley stadiums has been dredged from existing North Sea seabed extraction sites off Great Yarmouth and ferried to the rapidly eroding coastline beside the large gas terminal at Bacton. Continue reading...

Exclusive: since January at least 45 consumers have fallen ill, investigation finds, despite assurances of very low riskDozens of people have been poisoned after consuming British eggs contaminated with salmonella, an investigation has found, despite recent government assurances that the risk had been virtually eliminated.At least 45 consumers have fallen ill since January this year in a major disease outbreak health officials have traced back to contaminated eggs and poultry farms. Salmonella can cause food poisoning and – in the most serious cases – can prove fatal. Public Health England (PHE), which monitors salmonella, is not aware of any deaths. Continue reading...

Cost of supporting offshore turbines drops to less than market price for electricityThe UK’s next wave of offshore windfarms will generate clean electricity at no extra cost to consumers after record low-subsidy deals fell below the market price for the first time.New offshore wind projects will power millions of British homes under “zero-subsidy” support contracts within the next four years, following a record-breaking government subsidy auction. Continue reading...

Organisers of the school strike for climate estimate 300,000 people turned out in more than 100 cities and townsHundreds of thousands of Australians took to the streets on Friday as they called for greater action on the climate emergency in more than 100 cities and towns across the country.Organisers of the school strike for climate claimed about 300,000 people attended dozens of rallies, including an estimated 100,000 in Melbourne and 80,000 in Sydney. The unprecedented climate crisis protests were likely the largest public demonstrations in Australia since the marches against the Iraq War in 2003. Continue reading...

Jones cited Joseph Goebbels while the Mail found a child who said they just wanted the day off schoolThe Daily Mail found a child at the climate strike who said they just wanted the day off school and Alan Jones quoted Joseph Goebbels. Those were just some of the more bizarre takes on the climate strike from sections of the media on Friday.Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across Australia in what were overwhelmingly peaceful events but on Sydney’s most popular breakfast program Jones interviewed climate sceptics and claimed school children were being brainwashed by adults with a political agenda. Continue reading...

Australian climate strikers’ signs send government a bleakly humorous Texta messageLaughing in the face of looming apocalypse, Friday’s climate strike brought out the best in dark Australian humour.While many signs were deadly serious, teens are nothing if not witty and they came armed with memes and pop culture references. Continue reading...

More than one in four birds have been lost across diverse groups and habitats, in what researchers describe as a ‘wake-up call’The US and Canada have lost more than one in four birds – a total of three billion – since 1970, culminating in what scientists who published a new study are calling a “widespread ecological crisis”.Researchers observed a 29% decline in bird populations across diverse groups and habitats – from songbirds such as meadowlarks to long-distance migratory birds such as swallows and backyard birds like sparrows. Continue reading...

The city is taking action to protect lower Manhattan’s waterfront while low-income residents in other boroughs must fend for themselvesJainey Bavishi is all business as she takes off from Battery Park to walk the perimeter of lower Manhattan. It’s a muggy afternoon, a breeze barely lifting off of the New York Harbor, after days of heavy rain. She manoeuvres throngs of tourists, construction workers and suits streaming out of office tours for lunch as she walks north from the waterfront park toward the Brooklyn Bridge.In a skirt suit and flats, Bavishi fits in among lower Manhattan’s workday hustle. But there’s no one else with a job like hers: director of the New York City’s mayor’s office of resiliency. She is the woman tasked with protecting all 580 miles of New York City shoreline from more frequent and extreme storms and expected sea rise due to the climate crisis. Continue reading...

NT’s Labor government says the territory’s vast solar resources can help it transition to zero net carbon emissionsThe Northern Territory government has set a target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 in a plan that says responding to climate change is “responsible economic strategy”.The NT’s Labor government’s draft climate change response says the territory will use its natural advantage in solar resources – “now the cheapest form of new electricity generation” – to transition away from fossil fuels. Continue reading...

The newly classified species Psylla Frodobaggins is found on the South Island, where the Tolkein movies were filmedNew Zealand researchers have named an insect after JRR Tolkein’s famous hobbit character Frodo Baggins. Like the famous literary character, the insect is smaller than its relations and is found in New Zealand’s South Island, the location where the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies were filmed.The Psylla frodobagginsi was identified by Francesco Martoni and Karen Armstrong, who examined the psyllid insects during research for Martoni’s PhD, with the New Zealand’s Bio-Protection Research Centre. Continue reading...

Shadow minister to tell conference he will make health service the world’s greenestAn “NHS forest” of a million trees would be planted at hospitals across the UK under a Labour government as part of the party’s plans for a green revolution.Under proposals due to be outlined at the party’s autumn conference, Labour will say it wants to plant the trees at hospitals to battle pollution and counteract the NHS’s carbon footprint. Continue reading...

From the rise and rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to possible solutions

As aviation hurtles towards electric planes, a zero-emission plane looks far offAs a report claims that airlines are struggling to control their contribution to the climate crisis, the question grows more urgent for aviation: does it have a greener future, and will a zero-emission plane ever fly?Executives hope a combination of sustainable fuels, offsetting and improving flight paths can play a part in reducing aviation’s footprint until, if ever, carbon-free flying becomes a viable technological and commercial reality. For now, the best long-term hope for the airline industry appears to be electric planes. Continue reading...

Open letter says the Australian government’s inaction on the climate crisis requires civil disobedience in responseAll you need to know about Friday’s protestsMore than 250 academics at Australian universities say the federal government’s inaction on the climate crisis requires civil disobedience in response and they feel a “moral duty” to rebel and “defend life itself”.In an open letter, professors, researchers and lecturers from more than a dozen institutions have declared support for the Extinction Rebellion movement and its global week of non-violent civil disobedience in October. Continue reading...

Union to tell parliamentary committee it’s ‘ludicrous’ to export uranium but not benefit from the energy source at homeNationals MPs have welcomed support from the Australian Workers’ Union for a domestic nuclear industry, as the union calls on progressives not to reject a “zero carbon compromise”.A House of Representatives committee chaired by Barnaby Joyce will hear from the union during a roundtable discussion in Sydney on Friday, before MPs visit the Lucas Heights nuclear facility for a site visit. Continue reading...

Carbon dioxide emitted by commercial flights increased by 32% from 2013 to 2018, study showsWorldwide CO2 emissions from commercial flights are rising up to 70% faster than predicted by the UN, according to an analysis.Carbon dioxide emitted by airlines increased by 32% from 2013 to 2018, according to a study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). Continue reading...

Force says it will arrest those who break rules in London, as millions worldwide prepare to demonstrateThe police are planning to impose restrictions on the global climate strike in London on Friday, warning that anyone who does not comply risks arrest.The event in London is part of what is expected to be the biggest mobilisation around the climate crisis the world has seen, with millions taking to the streets in demonstrations and strikes in cities on every continent. Continue reading...

Adults, businesses and trade unions asked to join youth climate campaignTrade unions representing hundreds of millions of people around the world have come out in support of what is expected to be the biggest climate mobilisation the world has ever seen.The global climate strike on Friday is set to see thousands of walkouts and demonstrations in cities on every continent except Antarctica. Continue reading...

Film by Swedish activist and Guardian journalist George Monbiot says nature must be used to repair broken climateThe protection and restoration of living ecosystems such as forests, mangroves and seagrass meadows can repair the planet’s broken climate but are being overlooked, Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot have warned in a new short film.Natural climate solutions could remove huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as plants grow. But these methods receive only 2% of the funding spent on cutting emissions, say the climate activists. Continue reading...

Opposition says the lack of a final report from Scott Morrison’s special envoy shows the process has been a ‘joke’Labor has lashed Barnaby Joyce for failing to produce a report on the drought after he was made special envoy for assistance and recovery by the prime minister, Scott Morrison.The shadow agriculture minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, who sought details of any report completed by Joyce through a production of documents order in parliament, said that the lack of a final report from the former Nationals leader showed the process had been a “joke”. Continue reading...

Queensland’s government will limit the agricultural pollution harming the Great Barrier ReefThe Queensland government has passed new regulations to limit agricultural pollution damaging the Great Barrier Reef in the face of a hostile campaign that has sought to discredit consensus science.On Tuesday the state made relatively minor commitments to agricultural groups, including an undertaking not to vary new limits for farm sediment and chemical runoff into reef catchments for at least five years. Continue reading...

From our environment to our economies, our security to our societies, biodiversity is vital. But preserving it will require transformative changeThe evidence is unequivocal: biodiversity, important in its own right and essential for current and future generations, is being destroyed by human activities at a rate unprecedented in human history.Governments around the world recognised this at the Earth summit in Brazil in 1992 and established the Convention on Biological Diversity to protect and conserve biodiversity. But the situation has become more and more dire. I have chaired or co-chaired three international assessments on the state of knowledge of biodiversity, and all have repeated the same message – we are destroying it at an alarming rate. Each time we have called for action, only to be largely ignored. Continue reading...

Islanders, whose homes already face inundation, have complained to the UN over Australia’s lack of action on climate changeTorres Strait islanders “embarrassed” by Scott Morrison’s appearance at last month’s Pacific Islands Forum will request he visit their region to view the impacts of climate change.Warraber man Kabay Tamu, representing a group of islanders who have complained to the United Nations about climate-based human rights breaches, will deliver the invitation to Australia’s delegation at the UN climate summit in New York next week. Continue reading...

Warming water and pollution are contributing to a variety of harmful bacteria that can wreak havoc on aquatic environmentsFrom New York City to coastal California, a poison-producing living slime is overtaking waterways and shorelines, killing pets, ravaging tourism markets and making its way into local drinking water. So far this year, algae has been implicated in dog deaths and illness in California, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. In August, toxic algae overtook Lake Erie, growing to 620 sq miles. Continue reading...

Three executives at Tepco acquitted, marking the end of the only criminal action over the disasterThree former executives at the company that runs the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been acquitted of failing to prevent the March 2011 nuclear meltdown, in the only criminal action resulting from the disaster.Tsunehisa Katsumata, a former chairman of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) and former vice presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro, had apologised for the triple meltdown at the plant, but said they could not have foreseen the massive tsunami that triggered the disaster. Continue reading...