Environment | The Guardian

Shadow health secretary pledges to make climate change a central policy focusLabour has backed the Extinction Rebellion protesters who have carried out a week of civil disobedience and occupations to highlight the ecological emergency, likening them to the Chartists, suffragettes and anti-apartheid activists.Speaking in response to an urgent question in the Commons on Tuesday, the shadow energy minister, Barry Gardiner – who also holds the international trade role – said that alongside the school strikes, the protests organised by Extinction Rebellion were reminiscent of previous memorable struggles. Continue reading...

From Extinction Rebellion to Greta Thunberg, the message about climate change is louder than ever before. Tell us how you feel about the movementAs the last Extinction Rebellion protesters were cleared from Waterloo Bridge on Sunday night, many moved on to sites at Marble Arch and Parliament Square, marking a week-long occupation in London mirrored in 33 other countries.The protests have been met with both resounding support and disapproval. Still, millions of people have now heard their call for transformative and urgent change to avoid climate catastrophe. Continue reading...

Kits often involve more packaging waste but factors such as the supply chain and portion size mean overall impact may be lessMeal-prep kits are often more environmentally friendly than the average trip to the grocery store, according to a University of Michigan study.Researchers at the School of Environment and Sustainability found that, on average, while kits provided by companies like Blue Apron, Sun Basket and HelloFresh often do involve more packaging waste, the emissions for grocery store meals carried two kilograms more of carbon dioxide per meal than those of the meal-prep kits. Continue reading...

Teenager who sparked global youth movement hits out at airport expansion and support for fossil fuels

Order targeting the protest is first to explicitly mention organisers could be detainedPolice have warned Extinction Rebellion organisers that they face arrest if they incite protesters to block roads around Parliament Square.The Metropolitan police said it was imposing pre-emptive conditions restricting any demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday to the lawn in the centre of the square, after hearing that activists with the group planned to gather there. Continue reading...

As the state is swept by a super bloom, these flowers are popping up – a silver lining for areas hit hard by intense fires

Swedish activist says world faces ‘existential crisis’ and must achieve goals of Paris dealGreta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist, has given her support for a general strike for the climate, saying the student movement she inspired needs more support from older generations to ensure politicians keep their promises under the Paris agreement.Speaking at a public event in London as Extinction Rebellion protests continued in the capital, the initiator of the school strike for climate movement was typically frank about the scale of the problem the world faces and the impact her campaign has made. “People are slowly becoming more aware, but emissions continue to rise. We can’t focus on small things. Basically, nothing has changed,” she said. Continue reading...

‘Die-in’ staged at Natural History Museum as protesters gather at legal site in Marble ArchMore than 1,000 people have been arrested at Extinction Rebellion climate protests in London, police have said, in what organisers described as the biggest civil disobedience event in recent British history.The Metropolitan police said that as of 10am on Monday, 1,065 arrests had been made and 53 people charged in relation to the protests. Continue reading...

President praised the benefits of a ‘strong market economy’ but did not echo warnings from scientists on rising temperaturesDonald Trump issued on Monday an Earth Day proclamation that omitted any mention of climate change or the cavalcade of environmental threats posed by deforestation, species loss and plastic pollution. The president chose instead to praise the benefits of a “strong market economy”.Related: Trump sues House oversight chairman to block subpoena of his financial records – live Continue reading...

National Trust says blaze above village of Marsden was started by a barbecueThe National Trust has said it is “devastated” after more than 280 hectares (700 acres) of moorland – home to an endangered species of bird – was destroyed in a fire started by a barbecue.An area above the village of Marsden, West Yorkshire, was engulfed in flames as temperatures soared on Easter Sunday. Continue reading...

Campaigner and barrister attempted to create a law to criminalise ecological damagePolly Higgins, one of the most inspiring figures in the green movement, has died aged 50.Higgins, a British barrister, led a decade-long campaign for “ecocide” to be recognised as a crime against humanity. She sold her house and gave up a high-paying job so she could dedicate herself to attempting to create a law that would make corporate executives and government ministers criminally liable for the damage they do to ecosystems. Continue reading...

Party sets sights on upsetting status quo on the front line of climate changeCanadians on Prince Edward Island are preparing to vote on Tuesday in a regional election that could lead to a Green party forming a government for the first time in the country’s history.The party leader, Peter Bevan-Baker is a Scotland-born dentist who has transformed a routine election into a closely watched race as he seeks to upend expectation and precedent on 23 April. Continue reading...

Candidates in the Victorian seat all say they are against the plan. Voters want to be sure they mean itIn a few weeks, candidates in the seat of Flinders, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, will be asked a single question at a community forum: what will you or your party do about AGL’s proposal to develop a floating import gas terminal at Crib Point?It’s a simple question but one that some candidates may find difficult to answer. Continue reading...

Arrests made after police urge activists to move to Marble Arch, where Greta Thunberg spoke to protesters on SundayPolice have cleared the remaining Extinction Rebellion activists from Waterloo Bridge in London, despite earlier calls on social media for people that were willing to be arrested to “go there and save it”.The roads around Parliament Square were cleared of protesters earlier on Sunday, with the northbound carriageway of Waterloo Bridge reopened to traffic by the evening. On Sunday night, police continued their operations, moving to remove the last activists, who had glued themselves to the bridge and to each other. Continue reading...

Swedish climate activist’s speech comes amid police action to clear protesters from Waterloo BridgeGovernments will no longer be able ignore the impending climate and ecological crisis, Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist, has told Extinction Rebellion protesters gathered at Marble Arch in London.In a speech on Sunday night where she took aim at politicians who have for too long been able to satisfy demands for action with “beautiful words and promises”, the Swedish 16-year-old said humanity was sitting at a crossroads, but that those gathered had chosen which path they wish to take. Continue reading...

The 15 floating solar islands will possess sunflower-like ability to turn to face the sunDutch engineers are building what will be the world’s largest archipelago of islands made up of sun-tracking solar panels.Growing resistance to the construction of wind turbines or fields of solar panels on land has led the renewable energy industry to look for alternative options. Large islands of solar panels are under construction or already in place in reservoirs and lakes across the Netherlands, China, the UK and Japan. Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion protesters want a carbon-free UK by 2025. But can the financial and political hurdles be overcome?It is the near future. You wake in a house warmed by a heat pump that extracts energy from deep below the ground and delivers it to your home. (Your gas boiler was outlawed years ago.) You rise and make yourself a cup of tea – from water boiled on a hydrogen-burning kitchen stove. Then you head to work – in a robot-driven electric car directed by central control network to avoid traffic jams.At midday, you pause for lunch: a sandwich made of meat grown in a laboratory. At the end of the day, you are taken home by a robot car – through countryside festooned with solar panels and turbines. Continue reading...

Major action is needed to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. But it will make Britain’s economy cleaner, smarter and more efficient. We must not delayBritain needs to reach, by no later than 2050, net zero emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This means any greenhouse gases we release must be balanced by the removal of an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.The 2050 deadline represents our fair share of international responsibility for implementing the Paris agreement on climate change and meeting its goal of holding the rise in average global temperature to well below 2C – and pursuing best efforts to limit warming to no more than 1.5C. Continue reading...

Labor sets government Monday deadline to answer questions about $200m water purchases in 2017Pressure continues to mount on the Morrison government over controversial water buybacks in 2017, with calls for both a royal commission and an immediate explanation about why officials dealt with a company domiciled in a tax haven.Labor has given Scott Morrison a deadline of Monday to address questions about the 2017 water buybacks, and has not ruled out establishing a royal commission probing the various transactions in the event Bill Shorten wins the 18 May contest. Continue reading...

Former PM warns electricity prices will be higher because the Coalition dumped the national energy guaranteeThe former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has returned to the fray to warn dumping the national energy guarantee – a decision taken by Scott Morrison – will drive up power prices.Turnbull took exception to a column at the weekend characterising the national energy guarantee as “Malcolm Turnbull’s Neg”, pointing out the policy had strong support within the cabinet, “including and especially the current PM and treasurer”. Continue reading...

Cressida Dick tells demonstrators to move to official site at Marble Arch as police try to clear Oxford Circus and Waterloo Bridge

The founders of Extinction Rebellion dismiss claims that it is merely a product of the Gloucestershire town’s middle-class liberal eliteIt is a quiet Good Friday on Stroud’s steep, sun-dappled high street. There are none of the usual stalls spilling out of the centuries-old Shambles indoor market, and the schools are closed for the Easter holidays.But the Cotswold town’s independent cafes are bustling with tanned and exhausted Extinction Rebellion Stroudies, who have spent the week bringing parts of London to a standstill and focusing minds on the threats posed by climate breakdown. Continue reading...

Humanity survived the cold war because no one pushed the button. On climate change, the button has been pushed again and again

Pink boat becomes focus of attention on fifth day of Extinction Rebellion protestsThe siege of the Berta Cáceres started started shortly after noon when police in high-vis jackets surrounded the bright pink boat in Oxford Circus, central London, with two cordons and then steadily peeled off the Extinction Rebellion activists stuck to it.Officers with angle grinders cut through the bars below the hull of the vessel, named after the murdered Honduran environmental activist, which protesters had chained and glued themselves to. Continue reading...

Mating grouses, grousing mates, a final turtle and a newborn giraffe

Exclusive: eight in 10 trying to cut plastic waste and 46% feel guilty about it, survey showsEight in 10 consumers are trying to reduce their plastic waste and half would be willing to pay higher prices for eco-friendly packaging, according to a survey that highlights the impact of the Blue Planet documentary and the campaign to reduce such rubbish.The research by YouGov shows 46% of people in the UK feel guilty about the amount of plastic they use, which is motivating them to consider changes in their behaviour, including paying more so companies will find alternatives to single-use plastics. Continue reading...

Swedish 16-year-old, who is taking campaign to parliament, keen to be part of Extinction Rebellion actionGreta Thunberg, the 16-year-old founder of the school strikes for action against climate change, has said she hopes to join the Extinction Rebellion protests when she visits London next week.The Swedish activist will also take the campaign to the UK parliament, where she will speak to dozens of MPs including the Green party MP Caroline Lucas, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove. Continue reading...

Activists all born after 1990 gather at key roundabout to highlight dangers of climate change

Scientists are warning against new legislation to grow Iceland’s fish farming industry, but industry is pressuring for a go-aheadA five-fold expansion in open net fish farms that scientists believe could decimate Iceland’s wild salmon stocks is pitting Big Aquaculture against ecologists in the country.Next month, a parliamentary bill is expected to extend farm licenses from 10 to 16 years, while omitting critics from oversight panels and handing primary monitoring powers to industry. Continue reading...

Met comes under pressure to crack down on the Extinction Rebellion demonstratorsScotland Yard has defended its response to the rolling protests in London that have caused disruption to millions and pushed climate change towards the top of the national news agenda.The Metropolitan police has come under increasing pressure to crack down on the Extinction Rebellion demonstrators who have blocked transport networks in the capital in recent days; not least from the home secretary, Sajid Javid, who has urged officers to “take a firm stance”. Continue reading...

Home secretary asks police to be firm against demonstrators ‘disrupting the lives of others’Sajid Javid has called on police to use the “full force of the law” against Extinction Rebellion protesters causing disruption in London to draw attention to the issue of climate change.The home secretary, who is positioning himself for a run at the Conservative party leadership, made a series of tweets condemning “any protesters who are stepping outside the boundaries of the law”. Continue reading...

An orchestra, a village, an entire country: the movement to rein in greenhouse gas emissions is growingWe are all doomed, it is said. Carbon dioxide is amassing in the atmosphere at levels not seen for millions of years when there were trees at the South Pole and Florida was under water. We have barely a decade to make amends. Protesters are on the streets.But huge numbers of people have not given up. Not yet. Call them the carbon cutters. They are companies and cities, niche groups and nations. They are commuters and communes, off-gridders and off-setters, investors and institutions – and countless individuals, cutting their meat intake, installing solar panels, eschewing gas guzzlers and long-haul flights. Continue reading...

If Mississippi reflects on the deep, systemic inequalities its plantation economy created, perhaps it will see those inequalities are exacerbated by climate changeClimate change, I was told when buying a coffee, is not a “polite” topic of conversation in Natchez, Mississippi.The city sits on the legendarily volatile Mississippi River, which is straining against an aging system of levees. Considered the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi, Natchez is perched on a bluff over the river’s eastern banks. Three hundred miles upriver from New Orleans, Natchez was once a bastion of the old south: steamships moved enslaved people and cotton to market, enriching planters who lived in “Natchez-over-the-Hill”. Continue reading...

Nine years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Trump administration is exacerbating the industry’s ‘systemic failures’, report warnsOffshore oil and gas drilling in the US is plagued by “systemic failures” in oversight that are being worsened by Trump administration attempts to expand drilling and roll back safety requirements, a new report has warned.The analysis of public documents by the conservation group Oceana found that while some minor improvements have been made since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, a system of lax oversight, paltry fines and overstretched inspectors risks further major oil spills. Continue reading...

High-quality international offsets should be part of any credible policy, industry saysBusiness groups are defying the Morrison government’s political assault on the use of international permits, arguing a credible climate policy should include access to high-quality international offsets, because they are a key mechanism to help Australia meet its Paris target.With climate change persisting as a significant campaign flashpoint, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, James Pearson, told Guardian Australia international permits were part of the toolkit for mitigating climate change in a cost-effective way. Continue reading...

Company rejected scientific advice its groundwater modelling was ‘not fit for purpose’The federal government approved groundwater plans for the Adani coal project despite acknowledging the risk that the project would breach environmental approvals and draw excessive water from an ancient springs complex.Handwritten briefing notes, released publicly by Geoscience Australia and first reported by the ABC, detail how Adani rejected advice that its groundwater modelling was “not fit for purpose”. Continue reading...

Nation known for its natural beauty is under pressure with extinctions, polluted rivers and blighted lakesA report on the state of New Zealand’s environment has painted a bleak picture of catastrophic biodiversity loss, polluted waterways and the destructive rise of the dairy industry and urban sprawl.Environment Aotearoa is the first major environmental report in four years, and was compiled using data from Statistics New Zealand and the environment ministry. Continue reading...

Police cells filling rapidly, with reports of people being taken to Luton, Brighton and EssexThere have been more than 400 arrests linked to the Extinction Rebellion protests across London and reports suggest the capital’s cells are rapidly filling up.The Metropolitan police would not release up-to-date figures on cell capacity, but data from two years ago showed they had 799 cells available across London. With cuts to policing budgets, this number is likely to have fallen, so reports that cell space is under pressure are credible. Continue reading...

Demonstrators also hit rail network as number of arrests across week rises to 400More than 100 people were arrested on Wednesday in the climate protests that have caused major disruption in central London, Scotland Yard said, taking the total number of arrests to almost 400.Activists stepped up the demonstrations on their third day, targeting the capital’s rail network and the home of the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Continue reading...

Research by author reveals corporations and aristocrats are the biggest landownersHalf of England is owned by less than 1% of its population, according to new data shared with the Guardian that seeks to penetrate the secrecy that has traditionally surrounded land ownership.The findings, described as “astonishingly unequal”, suggest that about 25,000 landowners – typically members of the aristocracy and corporations – have control of half of the country. Continue reading...

Chefs won’t use red-listed seafood including farmed Atlantic salmon and east coast wild prawnsSustainably sourced fish will be top of the menu in some of Australia’s best restaurants after 40 well-known chefs signed up to the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish project.The restaurants have all pledged not to source or serve seafood that is red-listed in the Sustainable Seafood Guide, published by the society. Continue reading...

Greens leader has some clear expectations of Bill Shorten, particularly on climate change and blocking the Adani coalmineRecently, the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, made a private overture to the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, a contact reflecting his view that Shorten, in the absence of “one hell of an upset”, will be prime minister on 18 May.In the event Di Natale’s working supposition is correct, and Shorten goes on to win the campaign, the Greens are Labor’s mostly likely dance partners in the Senate for a range of progressive reforms the ALP is taking to the contest, particularly climate change, which was the focus of the recent overture. Continue reading...

TfL turns off wifi on tube in bid to thwart group’s plans to disrupt public transport networkClimate activists have kept control of four sites in London for a second night, with police saying they have caused “serious disruption” affecting half a million people in the city.After the Extinction Rebellion activist group threatened to disrupt the city’s public transport network on Wednesday, Transport for London disabled wifi on the underground at the request of the British Transport Police. Continue reading...

Financial sector warned it risks losses from extreme weather and its stakes in polluting firmsThe global financial system faces an existential threat from climate change and must take urgent steps to reform, the governors of the Bank of England and France’s central bank have warned, writing in the Guardian.In an article published in the Guardian on Wednesday aimed at the international financial community, Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, and François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France, said financial regulators, banks and insurers around the world had to “raise the bar” to avoid catastrophe. Continue reading...

Just 147 adult kākāpō are alive today in their native New Zealand, but scientists hope their fortunes are turning aroundThe world’s fattest species of parrot has had a record-breaking breeding season in New Zealand, with scientists saying the fortunes of the critically-endangered bird are finally turning around.There are only 147 adult kākāpō alive today, although a few hundred years ago they were one of New Zealand’s most common birds, before being hunted to the brink of extinction, killed by introduced pests, and losing their forest homes to farming. Continue reading...

Sarah Hanson-Young says party is not afraid to use its numbers in the Senate to push Bill Shorten to back key parts of its plansThe Greens will push Labor to back key parts of its new environment strategy – including a $2bn nature fund – in exchange for crucial support of the opposition’s climate change policy in the Senate.Flagging the party’s readiness to negotiate over energy policy if Labor wins the election, the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the party was not afraid to use its numbers on the crossbench to extract stronger commitments from Bill Shorten on the environment. Continue reading...

Water buyback criticised over the lack of open tender and the low reliability of water licence purchasedDespite questions in the Senate, calls for papers and freedom of information requests, mystery still surrounds the reason the former agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce chose the companies he did for almost $200m of water buybacks in 2017.The buybacks of water using funds allocated for purchasing environmental water under the Murray-Darling Basin plan have been controversial because they proceeded without open tender and, once announced, were criticised because of the reliability of the water purchased. Continue reading...

People taking part in protests in London and Edinburgh explain their reasons for doing soNathan, who was into his second day of protest, was sitting in the road in Piccadilly Circus in front of a large “rebel for life” banner laid across the ground. He was wearing boots stained blue with spray chalk. Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion protesters continue action after more than 100 arrested overnight

As bird is found with large amounts of lead in its body, a biologist asks ‘Is Yellowstone as protected as we once thought?’The pioneering golden eagle took to the skies above Yellowstone national park in the fall and flew north, to areas where humans were hunting game. A few months later it returned to the park and was found on the ground, dead.Scientists performing a necropsy on the creature, the first to be tagged with a radio transmitter in the park, made an unhappy discovery: it had been poisoned by lead. They are now raising concerns over whether US national parks are as safe for wildlife as they seem. Continue reading...