Environment | The Guardian

Informed students are prompting adults to act on the issueI draw three circles on the board as my class watches.“So, what might this gas be?” Continue reading...

In part two of our series, indigenous Siona people claim their health is being affected by apparent contamination of riverMaría Isaura Cuaran, an indigenous Siona woman, is displaying a rash that has appeared at the base of her neck. It is barely visible, but there nonetheless. Pulling her turquoise top off her left shoulder and tugging down on her bead necklace, Cuaran talks about “the company” and how, she alleges, it has affected the local river.“Stomach problems, coughing, fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, welts, little spots, little blotches, general malaise …” Continue reading...

National cycle crime strategy set to launch after survey finds 50% of victims feel police don’t take the offence seriouslyFor many people a bicycle is the only transport they can afford and the only exercise they get. These people are often among society’s most vulnerable, and the impact of the loss of their bike can be devastating. So why is cycle theft so often seen as a minor crime?According to the police, 96,210 bikes were stolen in 2018, and about one in 50 bicycle-owning households are victims of cycle theft each year, but it’s a crime disproportionately visited on the young and the poor. Continue reading...

Plants, insects and organisms crucial to food production in steep decline, says UNThe world’s capacity to produce food is being undermined by humanity’s failure to protect biodiversity, according to the first UN study of the plants, animals and micro-organisms that help to put meals on our plates.The stark warning was issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation after scientists found evidence the natural support systems that underpin the human diet are deteriorating around the world as farms, cities and factories gobble up land and pump out chemicals. Continue reading...

Park safety director alleges buckets of uranium sat near exhibit for almost 20 years, but interior department says there’s no riskFor almost 20 years, workers and visiting schoolchildren at a Grand Canyon museum may have been unknowingly exposed to radiation from three buckets of uranium sitting next to a taxidermy exhibit, according to allegations from a National Park Service safety director.The whistleblower says officials learned about the buckets last year and tried to hide the revelation, according to the Arizona Republic newspaper. This month, Elston “Swede” Stephenson emailed all park staff and brought the matter to the attention of the head of the interior department, which oversees the park service, and the agency’s internal watchdog. Continue reading...

Centrica says it will take £300m hit on cap on energy bills and lowers 2019 cashflow outlookThe owner of British Gas, Centrica, lost about three-quarters of a million customers last year and warned it will take a £300m hit from the government’s price cap on energy bills.Shares in Britain’s biggest energy company dropped more than 10% after the company lowered its cashflow outlook for 2019, leading investors to fear Centrica’s dividend could be cut. Continue reading...

Report says few headlines sparked by food crises that ravaged Madagascar, Ethiopia and HaitiClimate change was responsible for the majority of under-reported humanitarian disasters last year, according to analysis of more than a million online news stories.Whole populations were affected by food crises in countries ravaged by by drought and hurricanes such as Ethiopia and Haiti, yet neither crisis generated more than 1,000 global news stories each. Continue reading...

Adult female discovered 113 years after only other living Chelonoidis phantasticus was foundA living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galápagos island of Fernandina.Related: Welcome home, Lonesome George: giant tortoise returns to Galapagos Continue reading...

On Friday demonstrators will protest against ‘negligent’ climate change educationTeachers will follow on the heels of striking students on Friday with a protest to demand the national curriculum be reformed to make the climate and ecological crisis an educational priority.The Extinction Rebellion group will support the demonstration outside the Department for Education, which organisers describe as a “peaceful nonviolent protest that may involve civil disobedience”. Continue reading...

Australia’s largest coal producer says decision to cap production doesn’t mean it intends to drop greenfield coal projectsGreen groups say Australia’s biggest coal producer Glencore should commit to withdrawing from new coalmining projects if it is serious about aligning its business with the goals of the Paris agreement.The company has moved to cap its output of thermal and coking coal at current production levels of 145m tonnes a year after pressure from investors who want companies to take stronger action and factor in the financial risks of climate change. Continue reading...

The baby boomers gave us Trump and Brexit. Can my generation age more gracefully?Generational politics is bullshit, but a Gen X guy would say that. I sometimes wonder, though, whether whatever is distinctive in my generation’s experience (and haunting our minds) might have something to offer the future.After a brief flurry of interest in the 1990s, thinkpieces on my demographic quickly waned. There were never that many of us; the meat in the sandwich was and is meagre. Continue reading...

Government advisers suggest homes are heated using low-carbon energy insteadGas hobs or boilers should be banned from being installed in new homes within the next six years, government advisers have recommended.A report by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says that from 2025 at the latest, no new homes should be connected to the gas grid – with super-efficient houses and flats heated using low-carbon energy instead. Continue reading...

Environmental campaigners say Samir Flores Soberanes’s murder is a ‘political crime’A Mexican environmental activist has been murdered before a referendum on a controversial thermal-electric plant and pipeline that he opposed.Samir Flores Soberanes, an indigenous Náhuatl, was killed in his home during the early hours of Wednesday in the town of Amilcingo in Morelos state, 80 miles south of Mexico City. He was a human rights activist, producer for a community radio station and long-time opponent of the Proyecto Integral Morelos (the integral project for Morelos) – which includes the plant and pipeline. Continue reading...

Hipster tastes have fueled a spike in succulent poaching. Now conservationists are finding creative ways to rescue themWhen most people drive through the Cactus Forest in Saguaro national park, their gazes are fixed skyward. Towering saguaros fill the view on either side of the road, rising 40, even 60ft high, their human-like arms outstretched.But on a recent December afternoon, Ray O’Neil was focused on the ground. He was looking for holes. As the park’s chief ranger, O’Neil is on constant alert for an unusual menace: cactus poachers. Saguaros aren’t just beautiful to look at; they also fetch a hefty price, up to $100 a foot, on the black market, where they are enormously popular with landscapers. Continue reading...

Plastic is everywhere, and it’s not going anywhere – potentially posing serious risks to our health. A crew of scientists and activists is conducting a hands-on investigationWhen I arrive at the marina in Victoria on a late-July morning, the sky and water are complementary shades of azure. On the deck of the 72ft shiny-bright Sea Dragon, moored here in the island capital of British Columbia for just one day, are four young women, part of the crew of the research voyage “eXXpedition”. They’re hauling buckets of black sludge up to the deck from the ocean floor.The team will meticulously pack the wet sand from the harbor floor into little glass jars. These jars will be added to a library of sand, water and air samples that they’ve collected over the past six weeks from across the north Pacific. They’ll ship some of those samples off to Plymouth, England, to be analyzed by eXXpedition’s marine scientist Imogen Napper. The idea is that by cataloging this library, she and the team will begin to get a better sense of what kind of plastic is out there in the ocean. Continue reading...

Republicans have claimed Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional resolutions will mean the end of ice cream, hamburgers and the US military. Where are they getting it from?Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the American political right’s objet socialiste du jour, recently introduced a Green New Deal – a joint Congressional resolution with Democratic senator Ed Markey calling for a “10-year national mobilization” overhauling nearly every aspect of American society to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those who have read through it will find a hopeful and ambitious but dry legislative document.However, Ocasio-Cortez says that all Democratic presidential candidates support the Green New Deal, which has sent conservatives into a nonsensical tailspin, claiming it would mean the end of ice cream, hamburgers and the US military. Continue reading...

Clare Farrell ‘barred’ from Bethany Williams show despite role in producing fashion lineClare Farrell, co-founder of the environmental action group Extinction Rebellion, claimed she was barred from entering a show at London fashion week two days after helping to organise a protest against the British Fashion Council to highlight the industry’s role in fuelling climate change.About 150 people from Extinction Rebellion formed human roadblocks and brought traffic to a standstill outside event venues on Sunday to cause disruption and urge the industry body to declare a climate emergency. Continue reading...

Church of England among shareholders who pushed for environmental decisionThe commodities trader Glencore has bowed to pressure from shareholders, including the Church of England, to limit coal production for environmental reasons – days after reporting that it produced nearly 130m tonnes of the fossil fuel last year.The Switzerland-based firm, whose oil-trading operation is based in London, laid out plans to improve its environmental record, including a review of its membership of trade bodies it fears may be undermining the international Paris climate agreement. Continue reading...

The Faroes will be closed to tourists – except 100 volunteers – for a weekend in April as part of a campaign to promote tourism and sustainability

Pollution from Cannon air force base has gone unreported for decades. Now it’s threatening the US food supply

UK’s Molly Scott Cato among those held after action over stockpiling of US nuclear bombsThree Green MEPs – including one from the UK – have been arrested after breaking into a Belgian military airbase to protest against its stockpiling of American B61 nuclear bombs.The MEPs – Molly Scott Cato, Michèle Rivasi and Tilly Metz – unfurled a banner on a runway for F-16 fighter jets at the Kleine Brogel base in the east of the country calling for a nuclear-free Europe, before being taken into custody. Continue reading...

Research shows loss in yields could be offset by reorienting diets away from grain-fed meatEurope would still be able to feed its growing population even if it switched entirely to environmentally friendly approaches such as organic farming, according to a new report from a thinktank.A week after research revealed a steep decline in global insect populations that has been linked to the use of pesticides, the study from European thinktank IDDRI claims such chemicals can be phased out and greenhouse gas emissions radically reduced in Europe through agroecological farming, while still producing enough nutritious food for an increasing population. Continue reading...

Washington state’s Democratic governor wants to ‘put the pedal to the metal’ to save the planetThe US stands virtually alone in the world in having a leader who openly dismisses the reality of climate change. But amid growing concern among Americans about the overheating planet, one potential 2020 presidential candidate is aiming to hoist climate to the top of the agenda.Jay Inslee, the gravel-voiced governor of Washington, is poised to enter the throng of Democrats vying to dislodge Donald Trump as president in the 2020 election. He’s made some exploratory moves, visiting Nevada and New Hampshire, and said a definitive decision on running will be taken in “weeks”. Continue reading...

Scientists invited to collaborate on climate change following mass fish kills and royal commission findingsIn the wake of mass fish kills in the Menindee Lakes in January and scorching criticism of its stewardship of the Murray-Darling Basin, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has announced that it will upgrade its scientific work on climate change and the river system.The authority’s chief executive, Phillip Glyde, has invited the scientific community to collaborate on its work on climate change. Continue reading...

Case against demolition of Allianz Stadium hears government failed to investigate reports of contaminationA legal challenge to the New South Wales government’s controversial plan to demolish Sydney’s Allianz Stadium before next month’s state election has heard the government “suppressed” the release of a report showing the site was contaminated with potentially carcinogenic material.Local Democracy Matters, a group set up to fight the amalgamation of Randwick and Waverley councils 18 months ago, is seeking to halt the demolition of the stadium before the election by arguing the government failed to follow its own planning rules. Continue reading...

A million tonnes of spoil to be disposed of in marine park – prompting calls for a ban on all offshore dumpingThe Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has approved the dumping of more than 1m tonnes of dredge spoil near the reef, using a loophole in federal laws that were supposed to protect the marine park.The Greens senator Larissa Waters has called for the permit – which allows maintenance dredging to be carried out over 10 years at Mackay’s Hay Point port and the sludge to be dumped within the marine park’s boundaries – to be revoked. Continue reading...

Flood risk in the region likely to increase by 130% by end of century, modelling showsHouses in flood-hit Townsville and other parts of north Queensland are “on track to become uninsurable”, according to analysis that shows the risk to homes from flooding will more than double under climate change.The modelling, based on current global emissions trajectories, says flooding in Townsville is already about 20% more to likely to occur than previously thought. The total flood risk in the region is likely to increase by 130% by the end of the century. Continue reading...

European health report finds Britain has highest mortality rate of countries studiedYoung Britons are dying from asthma at a higher rate than any of the other European countries examined in a new study, researchers have revealed.Experts have found the UK is languishing near the bottom of an international league table for a host of problems, including obesity, lack of exercise in children and the burden of chronic health issues – and in many cases the situation is getting worse. Continue reading...

Tuesday’s top story: Bernie Sanders launches 2020 presidential bid. Plus, how the world got hooked on palm oilGood morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories. Continue reading...

At the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Nevada, friends and performers with wide-ranging views met to discuss climate change, immigration and other concerns ‘without demonizing each other’Several weeks ahead of the 35th annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, Gail Steiger, a rancher and singer-songwriter from Yavapai county, Arizona, emailed a proposal to a small host of close friends and fellow performers.“None of us fit easily in any box, but we all hold each other in high regard,” he wrote. Continue reading...

The controversial legal bill will allow citizens to sue a polluter on behalf of the lake and for penalties to be imposedIn early August 2014, Crystal Jankowski was late in her pregnancy and knew she was about due. In was hot and humid where she lived in Toledo, Ohio and she remembers just wanting to relax in a cool shower.But the graphic designer could not take one. The water source for Toledo is Lake Erie, and an algae bloom caused in part by phosphorous runoff from farms had sickened the lake with an overload of “microcystin” bacteria. The city banned drinking the water for a week and “children, the elderly and pregnant women” were instructed not to even shower. Continue reading...

Eminent members of legal profession, including a former supreme court judge, critical of law firm’s strategy documentThe Adani mining company’s “legal intimidation” tactics against community groups are a “threat to democracy” and “gravely concerning”, say eminent members of the legal profession, including a former supreme court judge and an expert on corporate lawfare.The ABC reported on Tuesday that a law firm hired by Adani, AJ & Co, wrote a strategy document urging the Indian miner to “play the man” and adopt an aggressive legal posture against opponents. Continue reading...

Earlier Mathias Cormann admitted he books holidays by calling CEO of travel company, who is also Liberal party treasurer, directly. All the day’s events live7.31am GMTWe have made it through second Monday intact. And not wanting to tempt fate, we are going to call it a night.Tomorrow, Tanya Plibersek is at the National Press Club. I think you can expect to see a few education announcements floating around tomorrow ahead of the delivery.7.17am GMTYou can see why Julia Banks had to start her question again in this.Climate change inaction and its impacts on everyday Australians health is a serious concern. As an Independent I will always fight for climate change policy action and hold the Government to account in the Parliament. #auspol @theMJA @healthy_climate pic.twitter.com/xX6oBQAExZ Continue reading...

Cyclone delays clean-up after MV Solomon Trader ran aground in rough seas at Kangava Bay, near world heritage siteThe Solomon Islands prime minister has asked Australia for emergency help cleaning up an environmental disaster after oil spilled from a bulk carrier that ran aground on a coral reef near a world heritage area.The MV Solomon Trader had been loading bauxite when rough seas pushed it aground at Kangava Bay, Rennell Island, on the night of 4 February. The East Rennell world heritage site, which forms part of the island, 250km south of the capital, Honiara, is the largest raised coral atoll in the world. Since 2013 the site has been on a Unesco danger list because of logging and overfishing. Continue reading...

UK fashion industry bigger source of carbon emissions than aviation and shippingA penny on every shirt, skirt and stocking could fund better recycling and repairing in the fashion industry, according to a parliamentary report that recommends new taxes to end the throwaway consumer culture.The cross-party environmental audit committee also proposes tax incentives for companies that offer repair services for clothes, and urges schools to introduce darning and mending classes. Continue reading...

Australian officials have not visited the centre where hundreds of rare and endangered birds were sentThe federal environment department does not know if hundreds of rare and endangered Australian birds exported to a German organisation headed by a convicted kidnapper and extortionist are still at the group’s facility in Brandenburg.Department officials told Senate estimates on Monday night their wildlife compliance unit was investigating after Guardian Australia reported the government had been warned birds sent to the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP) could be sold to collectors at a huge profit. Continue reading...

Councils respond after authorities ban one of state’s largest refuse companies from accepting waste at two sites, citing a fire riskVictoria’s recycling crisis has deepened after authorities banned one of the state’s largest refuse companies from collecting waste at two sites in Melbourne.In response, five local councils said they would be forced to dump their next recyclables collection in landfill. Another, the City of Whittlesea, in Melbourne’s outer north, urged residents to avoid putting their yellow bins out for a fortnight. Continue reading...

Environment secretary’s pledge follows fears over imports of chlorinated chicken

Scheme will match donations to NGO up to £2m to help reduce ocean plastic pollutionA UK government-backed campaign to build recycling bases in Pakistan could raise millions of pounds to help reduce ocean and river plastic pollution.Related: 'I've never been to school': child waste pickers living on Pakistan's streets | Haroon Janjua Continue reading...

Communities clash over natural resources as arrivals from South Sudan and DRC plunder environment for fuel and constructionThe cutting down of millions of trees has sparked angry clashes in parts of Uganda between local people and refugees who have been fleeing conflict in neighbouring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.The timber is being used for house construction, fuel and to make charcoal. In the north and west of the country, where an estimated 1.1 million refugees are living, massive deforestation is drawing protests by local communities. Continue reading...

Support for the biofuel and its economic impact used to be key in the caucus state. Then Ted Cruz opposed it and wonFor decades, supporting ethanol was considered the price of admission for the Iowa caucuses. Government backing for production of the corn-based biofuel was seen as a sacred cow. Presidential candidates who opposed it either skipped the state or changed their mind. There was even an episode of The West Wing that revolved around candidates grudgingly endorsing ethanol in order to save their political bacon.Related: Leftwing Democrats steal the 2020 spotlight but can centrists fight back? Continue reading...

Government criticised for relying on carryover credits from Kyoto to meet Australia’s targetLabor senators have accused the government of relying on “hope” to meet Australia’s emissions targets under the Paris agreement during questions about the country’s progress toward its international climate commitments.In a tense exchange in a Senate estimates hearing on Monday, senators Anne Urqhuart and Kristina Keneally asked the environment department and Coalition senator Simon Birmingham to explain the most recent emissions projections published by the government. Continue reading...

Environment secretary may target drinks of under 750ml in deposit return schemeMichael Gove has been urged not to water down plans to give people money back for recycling plastic bottles and cans, after consulting on whether to target small drink containers only.The environment secretary will confirm on Monday that he is pressing ahead with the new “deposit return” scheme for cans and bottles made of plastic and glass, as well as a tax on some plastic packaging. Continue reading...

Environment groups hail Michael Daley’s promise a ‘game-changer’ that would slash state’s carbon emissions by 12%A New South Wales Labor government would establish a state-owned renewable energy company to support the rollout of enough renewable energy to power more than three million homes across the state in the next decade.On Monday the NSW opposition leader, Michael Daley, announced that if elected on 23 March, Labor would deliver seven gigawatts of extra renewable energy by 2030. Continue reading...

Marine park authority fear freshwater bleaching after scientists report ‘extensive’ flood plumes and drop in water salinityFreshwater bleaching of corals could occur this year as a result of flood waters from Queensland’s overflowing rivers pouring into the Great Barrier Reef, the marine park authority has warned.The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority told Senate estimates hearings in Canberra on Monday that there is a chance corals hit by mass bleaching in 2016 or 2017 could be damaged again by one of several impacts from the flooding disaster. Continue reading...

The South Australian battery pockets $4m as the market looks to unlock multiple potential value streamsThe Tesla big battery at Hornsdale in South Australia continues to make its mark on the Australian energy market, pocketing another $4m in the fourth quarter from the provision of frequency and ancillary services.Related: South Australia's Tesla battery on track to make back a third of cost in a year Continue reading...

Drive to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and cut waste’ could include plastic tax and deposit schemeMillions of homes could have their food waste bins collected weekly, if new proposals from the environment secretary are implemented in the wake of a government consultation on the UK’s waste system.Michael Gove’s proposed measures to ensure consistent recycling collections come after a number of councils cut the frequency of collections, leaving residents with overflowing bins. Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion calls for British Fashion Council to declare climate emergencyProtesters from the environmental action group Extinction Rebellion disrupted the third day of London fashion week, forming human blockades on roads around event venues to highlight the spiralling throwaway culture in the UK’s clothing market and to urge the British Fashion Council (BFC) to declare a climate emergency.Groups made up of scores of demonstrators wearing black to mourn those whose lives have been devastated by environmental destruction caused traffic standstills for seven-minute intervals, unfurling banners saying “Rebel for life” and holding placards inscribed “Climate change = mass murder”. Continue reading...

Storm’s assault through Panhandle has left growers moving away from traditional farming towards alternatives like hemp and hopsHurricane Michael’s deadly tear through Florida’s Panhandle four months ago will help fuel a transformation of the state’s agricultural industry, experts are predicting, with significant numbers of growers moving away from traditional farming and towards a future of alternative crops such as hemp and hops.Related: Florida: seafood industry struggles to recover after Hurricane Michael Continue reading...