Environment | The Guardian

Experts warn that failure to act risks spike in global temperaturesDramatic rises in atmospheric methane are threatening to derail plans to hold global temperature rises to 2C, scientists have warned.In a paper published this month by the American Geophysical Union, researchers say sharp rises in levels of methane – which is a powerful greenhouse gas – have strengthened over the past four years. Urgent action is now required to halt further increases in methane in the atmosphere, to avoid triggering enhanced global warming and temperature rises well beyond 2C. Continue reading...

Population growth and climate change mean we need hi-tech to boost crops, says a new reportIt is 2040 and Britain’s green and pleasant countryside is populated by robots. We have vertical farms of leafy salads, fruit and vegetables, and livestock is protected by virtual fencing. Changing diets have seen a decline in meat consumption while new biotech production techniques not only help preserve crops but also make them more nutritious.This is the picture painted in a report from the National Farmers Union which attempts to sketch out what British food and farming will look like in 20 years’ time. Continue reading...

Socialist Environment and Resources Association says leaving EU will do untold damage to countrysideThe only environmental group affiliated to the Labour party has written to Jeremy Corbyn calling on him to back a second referendum on Brexit and to campaign for remain.It warns that leaving the EU will have devastating consequences for millions of British people, drastically undermine UK farmers, and do untold damage to the countryside. Continue reading...

Firms say regulations forcing operations to stop if they trigger tremors greater than 0.5 magnitude threaten viabilityThe UK’s nascent fracking firms are headed for a crunch moment that will determine whether the industry has a future, according to observers and insiders.The past fortnight has seen a concerted lobbying drive by two of the leading shale companies calling for the government to review rules on earthquakes caused by their operations. Continue reading...

Annapolis seeing sea rise at about twice the global rate. Flooding there foreshadows problems other coastal towns can expectWhen the parking lot in the bustling tourist zone of downtown Annapolis floods, the employees at Pip’s Dock Street Dogs restaurant take off their socks and shoes, wrap their legs in trash bags and wade out into the water.A lot of the time, it’s not even raining. High tides intensified by sea-level rise are just pushing the water inland, overwhelming the drainage system. Continue reading...

Thousands of young people take time out of school to join protests across the countrySome wore school uniform, with ties askew in St Trinian’s fashion, others donned face paint, sparkly jackets and DM boots. The youngest clutched a parent’s hand as people gathered in the sunshine in Parliament Square in London, a few metres from the politicians they say are letting down a generation.They carried homemade placards, with slogans full of humour, passion and hope that the voices of thousands of children and young people would be heard. Continue reading...

Thousands of young people walk out of lessons in protest at political inaction over crisis

Walkouts held in towns and cities across Britain in protest at environmental crisis

Inger Andersen expected to replace Erik Solheim, who quit amid travel expenses outcryThe UN secretary-general has picked the Danish economist and environmentalist Inger Andersen as its new environment chief, according to a letter seen by Agence France-Presse, turning the page on a scandal over expenses that rocked the UN agency.Andersen, who heads the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) NGO, is set to succeed Erik Solheim of Norway, who resigned in November amid an outcry over his huge travel expenses. Continue reading...

Activists say ‘post-apocalyptic’ scenes in Kuzbass highlight manmade ecological disasterResidents of a coalmining region in Siberia have been posting videos online showing entire streets and districts covered in toxic black snow that critics say highlight a manmade ecological catastrophe.In one video, filmed in Kiselyovsk, a town in the Kuzbass region, a woman drives past mounds of coal-coloured snow stretching to the horizon, covering a children’s playground and the courtyards of residential buildings. The scenes in the footage were described as “post-apocalyptic” by Russian media. Continue reading...

Hungry polar bears, the oldest known breeding bird and a new frog species in this week’s gallery Continue reading...

The 16-year-old’s lone protest last summer has morphed into a powerful global movement challenging politicians to act

Recent blazes scorched 90% of the federally protected Santa Monica Mountains – destroying a 1950s Hollywood set and affecting biodiversity. But life is slowly coming backThe fire came quickly. Fueled by dry, blustering winds, officials were unable to contain the Woolsey fire before it scorched the canyons of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, taking close to 97,000 acres and 1,500 properties with it.One of the great casualties was the Santa Monica Mountains national recreation area. Nearly 90% of the federally owned land burned in the November 2018 blaze. The park is home to popular hiking trails, a rich ecosystem of plant and wildlife, including mountain lions and coyotes, as well as famous spots such as the Paramount Ranch’s “Western Town” (a well-known Hollywood set location), the historic 1927 Peter Strauss Ranch house, a research field station and ranger residences. Nearly all of them burned to the ground. Continue reading...

Deliveries ‘almost always’ use more energy than buying ingredients from supermarketHome delivery meal kits can slash food waste by more than two-thirds, but suppliers need to switch to reusable packaging to make them environmentally friendly, researchers say.Tailor-made meal kits save waste by providing people with precise amounts of fresh ingredients for chosen recipes, meaning leftovers are minimised and less food goes off before people have a chance to use it. Continue reading...

Focus for year ahead will be on ‘providing drought refuges and avoiding irreversible loss of species’The outlook for the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin, particularly in the north, is extremely challenging and there will be almost no scope for environmental flows for the remainder of the 2018-19 year unless it rains, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has warned.It says the focus will be “on providing drought refuges and avoiding irreversible loss of species”. Continue reading...

EPA to spend at least another year considering whether to restrict toxic chemicals found in drinking water

Annual energy forecast predicts record surge in wind, solar and other renewablesRenewable energy sources will be the world’s main source of power within two decades and are establishing a foothold in the global energy system faster than any fuel in history, according to BP.The UK-based oil company said wind, solar and other renewables will account for about 30% of the world’s electricity supplies by 2040, up from 25% in BP’s 2040 estimates last year, and about 10% today. Continue reading...

Environment groups oppose licence for Corallian Energy extractions along protected coastline running to MarchAn oil company drilling off the Dorset coastline is attempting to extend its licence into the spring, challenging the conditions imposed to protect the sea’s many sensitive wildlife species.Corallian Energy has set up a rig visible from the protected coastline and in close proximity to 58 marine and coastal protected areas. Sensitive and protected species offshore include bottlenose dolphins, seahorses, rays and breeding populations of seabirds including sandwich terns and little terns. Continue reading...

Co-leader will take part in mayoral election in capital for second time in a rowThe Green party co-leader Siân Berry is to stand again as its candidate in the 2020 London mayoral election.Berry, a London assembly member and councillor, took over the joint leadership alongside Jonathan Bartley in September. She was the Greens’ candidate at the 2016 mayoral election, finishing third behind Labour’s Sadiq Khan and Zac Goldsmith of the Conservatives. Continue reading...

Unions urge pupils not to walk out of class but some schools may adopt relaxed attitudeSchool leaders are having to wrestle with their consciences over pupils joining the nationwide climate strike to be held on Friday afternoon, caught between their duties as teachers and instincts as educators.Thousands of the more than 8 million school pupils in the UK are expected to walk out of lessons to show their concern about the threat of escalating climate change. Continue reading...

Kevin Humphries denies telling cotton farmer Anthony Barlow he could pump water during embargo

10% of German state’s voters sign, obliging authorities to preserve species diversityA petition in Bavaria on preserving species diversity, popularly known as the “save the bees” campaign, has garnered sufficient support to enforce significant changes to the state’s farming practices.The organisers reached their target of securing the signatures of 10% of eligible voters in the southern German state well before the Wednesday evening deadline. Continue reading...

Global study sets out how industry could make waste reduction pay, using data taken from across 12 countries

Exclusive: Lock the Gate accuses state government of placing interests of mining sector over those of taxpayersNew South Wales taxpayers could be shortchanged up to $500m by a state government “accounting trick” that allows mining companies to dodge paying appropriate contingency costs for site rehabilitation.A 2017 report by the NSW auditor general found that security deposits paid by miners for future rehabilitation were inadequate and made several recommendations, including that the “contingency” costs be increased. Continue reading...

Urging political action on pesticide use is another way to help stem ‘collapse of nature’Buying organic food is among the actions people can take to curb the global decline in insects, according to leading scientists. Urging political action to slash pesticide use on conventional farms is another, say environmentalists.Related: Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature' Continue reading...

Tameside head came up with idea after noticing increase in asthma among childrenPrimary school pupils in Greater Manchester have started patrolling the streets outside their schools as uniformed “junior” police officers, issuing fake parking tickets to parents parked on the pavement or sitting with their engines running.The junior PCSOs (police community safety officers) were the brainchild of Steve Marsland, the headteacher of Russell Scott primary in Denton in Tameside, after he noticed a huge increase in the number of children with asthma. Eighteen months ago, he started to use an inhaler after having trouble breathing dangerously polluted air. Continue reading...

More than 200 sign letter to the Guardian saying pupils right to be angry at inaction

Bill sets aside more than 1m acres of new wilderness and conservation areas including rivers in California and UtahJoshua Tree and Death Valley national parks are to be enlarged, and stunning river landscapes in California and Utah will be protected, under new legislation that passed the US Senate on Tuesday.In all the public lands package sets aside more than a million acres of new wilderness and conservation areas in western states. Continue reading...

Wentworth Group finds the Murray-Darling Basin Plan’s environmental objectives are not being metWater flows at key environmental sites in the Murray-Darling Basin are unimproved or worse than before the basin plan was implemented, a scientific report has found, raising serious questions about where the $8.5bn of environmental water purchased by taxpayers is going.The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a group of eminent environmental scientists formed a decade ago to advocate for the river system, have looked at two key sites which they identified when the plan was put in place in 2010. Continue reading...

Exclusive: lawsuit in Japan contends that dolphins are wrongly classified as fish and should be protected as mammalsAnimal rights activists have launched an unprecedented legal challenge to the slaughter of dolphins in Japan, claiming that fishermen are routinely violating animal welfare laws and exceeding government-set quotas.The London-based organisation Action for Dolphins and the Japanese NGO Life Investigation Agency on Wednesday submitted evidence they hope will halt the annual dolphin hunts in Taiji, a whaling town on Japan’s Pacific coast, the Guardian can reveal. Continue reading...

Idea of topping municipal plant in Copenhagen with urban ski resort won accolades for Danish architecture firm

The birds are severely at risk, but there is little public awareness or sympathy for their plightSquawking, chip-stealing seagulls are under threat in New Zealand, with some colonies experiencing “unbelievable declines”, and others disappearing altogether over the past few decades.New Zealand is home to three species of seagull but the native red-billed seagull – the beady-eyed interloper who makes an appearance at every beach picnic up and down the country – is the most common. Continue reading...

Four Nigerian women bring landmark case over state executions of nine activists in a military courtFour Nigerian women at the centre of a long-running legal battle against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell saw their historic case reach the Hague on Tuesday.The company is accused of complicity in the state execution of nine Ogoni protesters and human right abuses dating back to 1993. The allegations concern the 1990s violent government crackdown in Ogoniland, in the oil-rich Niger delta region, where oil spills inflicted environmental damage on a huge scale. Continue reading...

Ricardo Salles’ comments fuel criticism of administration’s stance, which environmentalists say is excessively pro-businessBrazilian environmental groups have blasted Jair Bolsonaro’s environment minister after he dismissed the murdered Amazon rain forest defender Chico Mendes as “irrelevant”.Related: Climate change a 'secondary' issue, says Brazil's environment minister Continue reading...

Communities secretary James Brokenshire cited traffic issues in rejecting plans for four wellsCampaigners have welcomed the government’s decision to reject a planning appeal by shale gas firm Cuadrilla to frack at a second site in Lancashire, capping a week of bad news for the industry.James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, said he was turning down the appeal for planning permission to develop four fracking wells in the Fylde area because of traffic concerns. Continue reading...

There’s no way we’ll achieve the targets five years early without major policy changes, which are unlikely under the current governmentThe Australian National University has been making headlines for its analysis that, with the current rate of renewable energy growth, Australia will achieve its Paris agreement targets five years early – by 2025. Unfortunately, after a careful review, we find their analysis doesn’t stack up.The ANU briefing note has surprised, if not shocked, many in the expert and analytical community with detailed knowledge of Australia’s climate and energy policy. Continue reading...

For graziers who sweated to keep their herds alive, praying for rain, the scale of the flood is hard to take• Satellite images before and after the floods reveal devastationOut the back of Mount Isa, in late January, the locals marked a wry milestone.For an unbroken stretch of 43 stinking afternoons, the temperature at Cloncurry and Camooweal had topped 40C. The herds of cattle in Queensland’s north-west, the ones that had survived through six years of drought, started to show signs of severe heat stress. They became thinner, weaker. Continue reading...

As new promotion launches, volunteers are still cleaning up debris from the Little Shop campaign on Australian beachesColes is launching a new collectible promotion of plastic toys on Wednesday, while the vestiges of the supermarket giant’s last campaign are still having a negative impact on the environment.From this week, shoppers can collect one of 24 plastic fruit or vegetable toys for every $30 they spend in-store as part of the Coles Stikeez campaign. Continue reading...

Party says Labour government would tackle climate change by starting economic revolutionLabour is to set out how the UK can move swiftly to a decarbonised future to tackle the unfolding climate crisis and put “meat on the bones” of its promise to create hundreds of thousands of high-skilled, unionised green jobs.Trade unionists and industry leaders will come together with academics, engineers and public institutions to build detailed regional plans setting out the challenges and opportunities ahead. Continue reading...

Actor attacked Trump and other leaders at World Government Summit for denying science to justify not facing the ‘moral crisis’Harrison Ford has launched a scorching attack on Donald Trump and other world leaders, for denying science in order to justify doing nothing to face the “moral crisis” of climate change.Related: European colonization of Americas killed so many it cooled Earth's climate Continue reading...

Ombudsman finds authority ‘deliberately set out not to reveal true advice’ about alder treeSheffield council has apologised after a year-long independent investigation found it “deliberately” misled residents over the city’s street tree-felling programme.A resident, Sally Goldsmith, questioned the decision to remove an alder tree in Aldam Way, Totley, and was told by a council contractor in August 2017 that removal was recommended because of “decay within the stem”. It added that an independent surveyor had “confirmed a decay pocket … as well as damage to the highway network”. A similar email was sent to another complainant. Continue reading...

Petrol and diesel vehicles cost more over four years in UK and four other European nationsElectric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel alternatives in five European countries analysed in new research.The study examined the purchase, fuel and tax costs of Europe’s bestselling car, the VW golf, in its battery electric, hybrid, petrol and diesel versions. Over four years, the pure electric version was the cheapest in all places – UK, Germany, France, Netherlands and Norway – owing to a combination of lower taxes, fuel costs and subsidies on the purchase price. Continue reading...

Despite second consecutive year of declines, report concludes the long-term outlook for solar energy production is positiveThe solar energy sector lost 8,000 jobs in the US last year, the second consecutive year of declines, hit by uncertainty over the Trump administration’s energy and trade policies and a 30% tariff on imported solar panels, according to a report released on Tuesday.But according to the Solar Foundation the future is still bright for solar. Despite the two-year dip, solar employment has grown 159%, from just over 93,000 to more than 242,000 jobs in all 50 states over the past nine years and the report concludes the long-term outlook for solar energy production is positive. Continue reading...

Conservationists urge Queensland government to investigate mining company over Caley Valley pollutionActivists have called on the Queensland government to investigate after mining company Adani confirmed that contaminated water released into the Caley Valley wetlands during last week’s Queensland floods occurred at almost twice the rate it is licensed for.The company issued a statement on Tuesday to say investigations at Abbot Point had concluded the flood waters did not enter the Great Barrier Reef marine park area. Continue reading...

As the world’s first junior cycle mayor, Lotta Crok wants to draw attention to the obstacles kids on bikes face – and inspire other children to cycleDuring Amsterdam’s chaotic rush hour, nine-year-old Lotta Crok cycles to a very busy junction. “Look,” she says. “There’s traffic coming from everywhere. Four trams from four different directions. For a child on a bike that’s really confusing!”Lotta is the first junior cycle mayor in the world and her working area is the Dutch capital. It is her mission to inspire children to cycle every day and draw attention to the obstacles that kids on bikes are facing. Continue reading...

Europe urged to promote diets lower in meat and dairy and restrict animals to grass-based systems to free land for cropsNearly a fifth of the EU’s total budget – more than £24bn of taxpayer money – goes to support livestock farming across Europe, according to new research by Greenpeace.At a time when scientists are calling for significant reductions in meat consumption, the report’s authors say taxpayers’ money should be redirected away from grain-fed, industrial animal farming. Continue reading...

Environmental and social problems could interact in global breakdown, report saysThe gathering storm of human-caused threats to climate, nature and economy pose a danger of systemic collapse comparable to the 2008 financial crisis, according to a new report that calls for urgent and radical reform to protect political and social systems.The study says the combination of global warming, soil infertility, pollinator loss, chemical leaching and ocean acidification is creating a “new domain of risk”, which is hugely underestimated by policymakers even though it may pose the greatest threat in human history. Continue reading...

High hopes for Hornsea One as developer says its output could fill the gap left by nuclearAn offshore windfarm on the Yorkshire coast that will dwarf the world’s largest when completed is to supply its first power to the UK electricity grid this week.The Danish developer Ørsted, which will be installing the first of 174 turbines at Hornsea One, said it was ready to step up its plans and fill the gap left by failed nuclear power schemes. Continue reading...

Body in charge of cutting aviation’s carbon footprint meets behind closed doorsA UN body tasked with cutting global aircraft emissions is covertly meeting this week for discussions dominated by airline industry observers.The environment committee of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) meets on Monday in Montreal behind closed doors to discuss measures to reduce emissions from international aircraft. Domestic and international flights emitted 895m tonnes of CO2 last year – 2.4% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, according to Carbon Brief. In terms of emissions, if aviation were a country it would be the sixth largest in the world. Continue reading...

The proposal is incredibly ambitious, both on climate change and with its reimagining of society