Environment | The Guardian

Opponents fighting to stop the project say the fragile river cannot sustain such a large drawThe crystal blue waters of Ginnie Springs have long been treasured among the string of pearls that line Florida’s picturesque Santa Fe River, a playground for water sports enthusiasts and an ecologically critical haven for the numerous species of turtles that nest on its banks.Soon, however, it is feared there could be substantially less water flowing through, if a plan by the food and beverage giant Nestlé wins approval. Continue reading...

In 2017, thousands of homes in Santa Rosa, California, were wiped off the map. Now the community is helping residents cope with the trauma

Wildlife rescuers fear that 37 wallabies found dead in Trinity Beach were deliberately poisonedAlmost 40 agile wallabies have been found dead, feared poisoned, during the past week in north Queensland, at a site where their habitat has been destroyed and isolated by housing development.On Monday morning wildlife rescue volunteers found another four wallabies dead near sporting fields at Trinity Beach, north of Cairns. Continue reading...

PM will announce extra aid amid Amazon fires crisis but critics dismiss it as a PR stuntBoris Johnson will call on his G7 colleagues to do more to combat mass extinctions as he seeks to strengthen his environmental credentials.Speaking in Biarritz, as discussion turns to the Amazon rainforest fires, the prime minister will call for more ambitious targets on biodiversity alongside measures to tackle the climate crisis, and reinforce the UK’s bid to host the COP26 climate change summit, due to be held next year. Continue reading...

Australia Institute argues that South Australia would receive few benefits and would be exposed to huge risksThe South Australian government needs to prepare itself for decades of subsidies if it wants to develop an offshore oil and gas industry in the Great Australian Bight, according to a new report.Analysis by the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute draws on industry modelling to argue South Australia is unlikely to receive any noticeable benefit from tax payments as a result of oil and gas production in the Bight, with the benefits mostly flowing to the commonwealth. It says in the exploration phase, production would be minimal, paying no royalties or taxes. Continue reading...

NSW Ports and Southern Cross Station also pledge to reduce emissions in line with Australia’s Paris targets after push by infrastructure fundAusgrid and Melbourne Airport have committed to emissions reductions targets as part of a push by Australia’s largest infrastructure fund to reduce its carbon footprint.IFM Investors announced on Monday that Melbourne, Brisbane, and NT airports, as well as NSW Ports, the Port of Brisbane, Southern Cross Station, and electricity network Ausgrid, would commit to a carbon abatement plan in an effort to align the fund’s critical infrastructure assets with Australia’s Paris targets. Continue reading...

Rubens Ricupero warns the far-right leader is wreaking havoc on Brazil’s environment and its global standingJair Bolsonaro’s neglect of the Amazon has made him “the most despised and detested leader” on earth, Brazil’s former environment minister has claimed, as the far-right leader again rebuked French president Emmanuel Macron for challenging his environmental record.Rubens Ricupero warned Bolsonaro was wreaking havoc on both Brazil’s environment and its global standing, as Bolsonaro used Facebook to scold Macron’s “inappropriate and gratuitous attacks” over the Amazon fires and insult France’s first lady. Continue reading...

Marchers carrying inverted portraits of president demand more action on climate crisisHundreds of climate activists have marched in south-western France carrying portraits of President Emmanuel Macron that they had illegally removed from town halls and which police had been seeking to recover amid a judicial crackdown.As the G7 leaders met in Biarritz, demonstrators from a nationwide civil disobedience movement demanding more action on the climate emergency appeared in nearby Bayonne brandishing dozens of portraits the state accuses them of stealing from civic buildings. Continue reading...

Trail use near Vail, Colorado, has more than doubled since 2009. It’s had a devastating impact on a herd of elk

Leaders must ask themselves if Jair Bolsonaro’s destructive attitude to the forest and its peoples should be considered a crimeWhen G7 leaders sit in judgment on Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro this weekend, the question they should ask themselves is whether the rape of the natural world should finally be treated as a crime. The language of sexual violence will be familiar to the former army captain, who publicly admires the sadistic torturers of the dictatorship era and once said to a congresswoman, “I would never rape you because you are not worth it.” Last month, after Pope Francis and European leaders expressed concern about the Amazon, Bolsonaro lashed back by claiming: “Brazil is a virgin that every foreign pervert desires.”As a nationalist, the president sees the Amazon in terms of ownership and sovereignty. As a chauvinist, he sees the region as a possession to be exploited and opened up, rather than cherished and nurtured. Continue reading...

As Berlin tries to switch to greener transport, people are choosing the bike, not the electric car – and it’s becoming a status symbolIn a fashionable corner of the capital of Germany, Europe’s “car nation”, parents picking up or dropping off their offspring have lined the edge of a popular playground with luxury vehicles. There are summery convertibles, wood-panelled multi-seaters and slim racers – but none of them has four wheels.Jan Edler, an architect, has picked up his son Laszlo from daycare with a Bullitt, a Danish-built cargo bike with a platform spacious enough to fit the one-year-old and the daily grocery shopping. Continue reading...

Cuadrilla reports ‘mico-seismic event’ at Preston New Road facility on Saturday nightA tremor of magnitude 2.1 has been recorded at the UK’s only active fracking site – the largest detected at the facility.The energy firm Cuadrilla said the “micro-seismic event” at its site near Blackpool had occurred at 11.01pm on Saturday. Continue reading...

The New Jersey city’s lead contamination crisis has been more than three years in the making – and residents feel officials have been slow to actOn a steaming August afternoon in Newark, New Jersey, a stream of cars parked in front of the Boylan Street recreation center. Typically, they would be driven by parents, dropping off kids hoping to take advantage of the last days of summer at the giant pool, or to play basketball or tennis. But these people were coming for a different reason. The center had become a hub for the distribution of drinkable water.Those who come with proof of Newark residency can get two cases of 24 half-liter bottles. Each address is given two cases, regardless of how many people live there. Sweating workers, hired by the city, help residents get water to their cars. Continue reading...

Small, private energy firms can’t hope to compete in a global marketThe possible failure of some smaller energy suppliers might not raise major issues, even for their customers, but clearly illustrates the stupidity of privatisation of such vital national resources (“Small energy companies risk going bust in financial shock”, News). Oil and gas prices are determined by global markets, so there is little scope for competition there; in fact, the artificial competitive elements might even contribute to increased prices as British suppliers outbid one another in order to get enough for their needs. The dozens of companies involved, all with shareholders, managers and employees to be paid, inevitably increase costs when compared with the state-run enterprises that successfully ran the businesses for decades.At the same time, alternative energy supplies are very limited, while the bulk of the costs of energy delivery to consumers are fixed, so the role of competition is almost non-existent: companies can cut back on maintenance, a possible factor in the recent power failures, or staff wages, but not much else. Continue reading...

Authorities say one man had cesium-137 in his muscle tissue, probably from ‘fish, mushrooms, lichens, algae’A doctor who helped treat victims of the mysterious nuclear blast in Russia more than two weeks ago has traces of radiation in his muscle tissue, said regional officials, who blamed the readings on his diet rather than the explosion.“Cesium-137 ... has the feature of accumulating in fish, mushrooms, lichens, algae,” Russian specialists told regional officials on Friday, according to Meduza, an independent Russian media organisation. “With a certain degree of probability, we can assume that this element got into the human body through the products of food.” They said the man was not in danger. Continue reading...

The spark for the fuse appeared to be an impromptu lunch between Trump and Macron, without any aidesSenior aides in Donald Trump’s entourage have accused the G7 host and French president, Emmanuel Macron, of seeking to embarrass his US counterpart by making the summit focus on “niche issues” such as climate change, according to multiple US media reports.Macron’s plan to heal divisions among G7 leaders in Biarritz this weekend apparently did not factor in the need to keep Trump’s aides happy too, a group that began briefing against him within hours of Trump’s arrival. Continue reading...

French president talks up trade sanctions as world leaders convene and thousands of Brazilians march against BolsonaroEmmanuel Macron has asked for world powers to help Brazil and its neighbours fight the fires raging in the Amazon and to plan huge replanting programmes. The appeal came as the French president piled pressure on Brazil’s far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, who has been accused of fuelling the burning of the rainforest.As environmental protesters marched nearby, the G7 summit’s, opening meeting was dominated by the spectre of economic repercussions for Brazil and its South American neighbours and showed how the Amazon is becoming a battleground between Bolsonaro and the west. Many governments have become alarmed that vast swathes of the Amazon are going up in smoke, affecting biodiversity and worsening the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Cambridge punting idyll disguises crisis in flow of chalk streams, campaigners warnIt’s a beautiful day on the river Cam in Cambridge. As the sun sparkles on the water at Jesus Green lock, tourists line up for ice-cream and prepare to take a punt around the university’s most celebrated colleges. Few notice how pathetic the flow of water is over the lock.It is a clear sign that this ancient waterway is faring badly, says Stephen Tomkins, emeritus fellow and former head of the science faculty at Homerton College. “That little bit running through here is the total flow from the whole of south Cambridgeshire,” he says, pointing at an unimpressive trickle. There just is not enough water, he adds: “The river Cam is drying up.” Continue reading...

Lancashire-based operation, Britain’s only active fracking site, has magnitude 1.05 tremorThe UK’s only active fracking site experienced a magnitude-1.05 tremor on Friday night. It came two days after a magnitude-1.55 tremor, which was the largest ever tremor at the site run by Cuadrilla in Preston New Road, Lancashire.Friday’s tremor was detected at 11.22pm. The company said it lasted for less than a second. Cuadrilla said: “The measured vibration at ground level during the event was approximately 0.4 mm/s. This micro-seismicity followed today’s pumping operations. The integrity of the well has been confirmed.” Continue reading...

Emissions of a likely carcinogen emitted by a nearby plant have been recorded at levels hundreds of times above the safe limitLocal officials in Reserve, Louisiana, are examining the prospect of removing pupils from an elementary school situated a few hundred feet from a chemical plant that presents the highest risk of cancer due to airborne toxins anywhere in America, the Guardian has learned.The Fifth Ward elementary school, which educates close to 500 students aged up to 10 years old, has become a focal point in environmental activism in Reserve after emissions of a likely carcinogen, chloroprene, emitted by the nearby plant have been recorded at the school at levels hundreds of times above the safe limit recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Continue reading...

Brazil’s handling of fires to top agenda in Biarritz as France and Ireland threaten to block trade dealAmazon fires: what is happening and is there anything we can do?Leaders of the world’s major democracies are due to hold emergency talks this weekend on the wildfires engulfing the Amazon, as international efforts to force Brazil to change its deforestation policies gathered momentum.As heads of state and government were due to arrive at the G7 in Biarritz on Saturday, France and Ireland threatened to block the Mercosur free-trade agreement between the EU and South American nations if the government of Jair Bolsonaro does not stop the deforestation of the Amazon, which experts say has fuelled the fires. Other EU members were under pressure to walk away from the Mercosur (Southern Common Market) deal, which is already unpopular among European farmers. Continue reading...

President uses TV speech to criticise ‘disinformation’ about fire crisis, saying it cannot be used as pretext for sanctionsBrazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has professed to feeling “profound love and respect” for the Amazon as fires continued to rage in the world’s biggest tropical rainforest and criticism of his environmental policies intensified.In a televised address to the nation – met with pot-banging protests in several Brazilian cities – Bolsonaro said he was “not content” with the situation in the Amazon and was taking “firm action” to resolve it by deploying troops to the region. Continue reading...

Only 230 of the sub-species remain in the wild, a population that will become unsustainable without interbreeding

Management plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante, downsized by Trump administration in 2017, criticized as ‘a giveaway to fossil fuel’A new US government plan had cleared the way for coal mining and oil and gas drilling on land stripped from Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante monument by the Trump administration two years ago.The plan, released by the Bureau of Land Management on Friday, would also open more lands to cattle grazing and recreation and acknowledges there could be “adverse effects” on land and resources in the monument.

Environment department officials say meeting did not discuss a compliance action involving a Taylor companyAngus Taylor did not declare at a meeting with environment officials about critically endangered grasslands that he had a financial interest in a company that was under investigation for poisoning them.And no notes were taken by the senior department official who attended the meeting in 2017, a Senate committee has heard. Continue reading...

Why people should be worried about the blazes and increased deforestation in BrazilThousands of fires are burning in Brazil, many of them in the world’s biggest rainforest, which is sending clouds of smoke across the region and pumping alarming quantities of carbon into the world’s atmosphere. Continue reading...

Jeremy Corbyn pressures UK government to take action against the Brazilian presidentBoris Johnson has expressed concern about the fires raging in the Amazon and called for international action to protect rainforests, as his government came under pressure from Jeremy Corbyn to take action against the Brazilian president.“The prime minister is deeply concerned by the increase in fires in the Amazon rainforest and the impact of the tragic loss of these precious habitats,” Johnson’s spokesperson said ahead of this weekend’s G7 summit in Biarritz, after a call to action from the French president, Emmanuel Macron. Continue reading...

State’s highest court rejects attempt to derail project by opponents who want to force developer to reapply for state approvalNebraska’s highest court lifted one of the last major hurdles for the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday when it rejected another attempt to derail the project by opponents who wanted to force the developer to reapply for state approval.The pipeline faces intense resistance from environmental groups, Native American tribes and some landowners along the route who worry about its long-term impact on their groundwater and property rights. But in Nebraska, many affected landowners have accepted the project and are eager to collect payments from the company. Continue reading...

Endangered white rhinos, breeding cycads and fires in the Amazon rainforest Continue reading...

Punjab joins regions where polythene bags are illegal and stiff fines take effect in Islamabad amid demands for alternativesPunjab has become the latest region in Pakistan to ban plastic bags, as the country battles to reduce single-use plastics that are damaging the environment.So far there is no date for implementation in Pakistan’s most populous state. The south-eastern province of Sindh has announced it will ban polythene bags from October, and last week a ban took effect in Islamabad. Continue reading...

Coalition of 32 companies will present its Fashion Pact at the G7 summit in BiarritzA coalition of 32 of the world’s largest fashion groups and brands has published a manifesto that details the practical objectives and targets it has set to minimise the industry’s impact on the climate, oceans and biodiversity.The Fashion Pact, which was released on Friday and will be presented at the G7 meeting in Biarritz, says it “will not reinvent the wheel, but create an overarching framework for action”, and will make its findings open source. It intends to build on the work of existing organisations such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Fashion For Good. Continue reading...

Restoration project uses seed-rich hay taken from roadside verges to regrow lost meadowsThere is something back to front about the idyllic scene on a meadow south of Norwich. Hay is normally gathered in, but this freshly cut, sweet-smelling grass is being carefully forked across a field.The hay, harvested from nearby roadside verges, is spread to scatter the seeds contained within it, part of an innovative scheme to restore natural flower-rich meadows and reverse losses. More than 97% of Britain’s wildflower meadows have vanished since the 1930s. Continue reading...

German chancellor ‘convinced of emergency’ but Brazil’s leader accuses European leaders of colonialismAngela Merkel has backed Emmanuel Macron’s call to put the fires in the Amazon on the agenda at this weekend’s G7 summit, after the French president said the situation amounted to an international crisis.Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for the German chancellor, told journalists in Berlin on Friday: “The extent of the fires in the Amazon area is shocking and threatening, not only for Brazil and the other affected countries, but also for the whole world. Continue reading...

Experts say international pressure may be only way to sway Bolsonaro governmentInternational pressure may be the only way to stop the Brazilian government from taking a “suicide” path in the Amazon, one of the country’s most respected scientists has said, as the world’s biggest rainforest continues to be ravaged by thousands of deliberate fires.The large number of conflagrations – set illegally to clear and prepare land for crops, cattle and property speculation – has prompted the state of Amazonas to declare an emergency, created giant smoke clouds that have drifted hundreds of miles, and sparked international concerns about the destruction of an essential carbon sink. Continue reading...

Administration’s move is a ‘head in the sand approach’ that will further imperil creatures threatened by the climate crisisLife as a sea turtle is already harrowing. Emerging alone from a shell to crawl through a deadly gauntlet of predatory birds, dogs and ants, all for the goal of reaching the ocean, a place where fish swallow you whole and fragments of discarded plastic slowly suffocate you.Now climate change – in the form of sea level rise, rising temperatures and fiercer storms – is adding further, existential hardships and in the US a recent weakening of endangered species protections by the Trump administration will further imperil sea turtles and other creatures threatened by the climate crisis. Continue reading...

For residents of Anchorage, July’s wildfire and unprecedented temperatures plus the current McKinley Fire confirm that global heating has changed life forever

Report says outlook in India is ‘finely balanced and uncertain’ despite resources industry’s high hopesThermal coal exporters face “significant risk” that demand from India will decline, a report by the Australian office of the chief economist says.It also warned of long-term uncertainties in the market considered a “great hope” by miners. Continue reading...

Pilot scheme on Network Rail’s Wessex route could pave way for direct powering of trainsThe world’s first solar farm to power a railway line directly is due to plug into the track near Aldershot, paving the way for solar-powered trains.From Friday, about 100 solar panels at the trackside site will supply renewable electricity to power the signalling and lights on Network Rail’s Wessex route. Continue reading...

Members cited concerns over changing party rules and opening the door for a flood of single-issue eventsThe Democratic National Committee has rejected mounting calls for a party-sponsored debate on the climate crisis, voting down a resolution that would have dedicated one of the 12 Democratic debates entirely to the issue.Calls for a DNC-sanctioned climate debate have been building for months. In poll after poll, climate has been one of the most important issues to likely Democratic voters in the 2020 presidential election. But little time has been devoted to the topic in debates to date: a scant 15 minutes in the first set of debates, and just over 20 in the most recent two. Continue reading...

Political storm over rainforest devastation as Ricardo Salles attends summitThe environment minister of Brazil, where wildfires have been sweeping the Amazon rainforest, was booed at a climate event on Wednesday as celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and Ariana Grande joined an international chorus of criticism.Videos of Ricardo Salles being booed by demonstrators as he took to the stage at Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week in the north-eastern city of Salvador circulated widely in Brazil. An opposition senator is planning to seek his impeachment at Brazil’s supreme court. Continue reading...

Researchers say the Thomson catchment is missing out each year on the amount of water used by 250,000 peopleLogging is causing Melbourne’s main catchment area to miss out on about 15bn litres of water each year, equivalent to the amount used by 250,000 people, a peer-reviewed study has found.If logging in Victoria’s Thomson catchment continues as planned, that number would increase to 600,000 Melburnians by 2060, according to the research from the Australian National University. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Farmers United says ‘we know in our hearts and minds’ experts are wrong about run-off damaging the reefQueensland cane growers’ groups are backing an opaque front organisation working to undermine Great Barrier Reef consensus science, including publishing claims that “we know in our hearts and minds” that the experts are wrong.The group, Farmers United, published full-page advertisements in News Corp Queensland newspapers this week. Continue reading...

Lack of rain may be forcing animals to seek food from rubbish bins in AiguafredaA small town outside Barcelona is using wolf urine to deter wild boar that have been coming in from the surrounding countryside.After trying a variety of deterrents, the town council of Aiguafreda has agreed, in association with the local hunters’ association, to see if the smell of the pheromones of the wild pigs’ principal predator will keep them at bay. Continue reading...

Three protesters found guilty despite intervention of shadow chancellor in their supportThree Extinction Rebellion activists involved in protests in central London in April have been convicted of public order offences at a trial which heard a message of support for them from the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell.The men were among more than 1,000 people arrested during the environmental group’s demonstrations – which caused large-scale disruption in what organisers described as the biggest act of civil disobedience in recent British history – but are the first to have gone on trial with legal representation. Continue reading...

Conservationists hope release of six eaglets on Isle of Wight will mirror Scotland successWhite-tailed eagles are gracing the skies of southern Britain for the first time in 240 years after six eaglets were released on the Isle of Wight.The huge birds, which are fitted with satellite tags, are expected to disperse along the south coast of England in a scheme backed by the environment secretary, Theresa Villiers, who welcomed the return of the “majestic” species. Continue reading...

Democratic presidential hopeful’s 10-year plan warns of devastating economic consequences if crisis is not addressedBernie Sanders has laid out an ambitious 10-year, $16.3tn national mobilization to avert climate catastrophe, warning that the US risks losing $34.5tn in economic productivity by the end of the century if it does not respond with the urgency the threat demands.The Vermont senator has long spoken of the climate crisis as a existential danger to the US and the world, and he has previously endorsed a Green New Deal, which he put forward with the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Continue reading...

Cycad in Isle of Wight produces outdoor male and female cones for first time on record

Companies are considering years of regulatory uncertainty when aligning with California’s mileage standards dealAutomakers pushing back against Donald Trump’s rollbacks to mileage standards want to avoid drawn-out court battles and be seen as on the right side of the climate crisis, according to one of the architects of the Obama administration rules.Jeff Alson, who spent a decade on the standards as senior transportation and air quality adviser in the Environmental Protection Agency, said the companies are worried about years of regulatory uncertainty that could end with judges deciding against Trump. Continue reading...

Company says most residents will not have felt microseismic event at Lancashire siteCuadrilla was forced to halt fracking at its shale gas site near Blackpool in Lancashire on Wednesday night after triggering the largest tremor recorded at the location.The tremor closed down operations at the Preston New Road site shortly after it was detected at 8.46pm. Continue reading...

Victoria police circle ahead of slated bulldozing of more than 260 trees that are significant to Aboriginal womenA standoff between authorities and hundreds of protestors trying to protect sacred trees in western Victoria could come to a head on Thursday night as a police evacuation deadline looms.More than 260 Djap Wurrung trees that are 800 years old are slated to be bulldozed to make way for a 12km duplication of the Western Highway between Buangor and Ararat. Continue reading...