Environment | The Guardian

Monarch production will not be replicated next year, experts warn, as above average temperatures will cause problems

Over the border in NSW, the Barwon and Darling rivers are a series of muddy pools, and fish are dyingThese photos were taken by the Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick from a light plane over southern Queensland near Goondiwindi, on Wednesday.They show rivers such as the Condamine relatively full, and storages on cotton farms holding thousands of megalitres of water. Continue reading...

Virus outbreak among sea stars coincided with warm waters, researchers found after sixth graders held fundraiser for surveyFive years ago, a sixth grade class in land-locked Arkansas heard about a mass die-off of starfish on the west coast and felt compelled to help.Related: Mussels lose grip when exposed to microplastics – study Continue reading...

Investments not the only financial link between fossil fuels and elite universityCambridge University had been offered two new multimillion pound donations from global fossil fuel corporations as it considered calls made last year to divest its endowment fund from oil and gas companies.Documents seen by the Guardian show the university management was aware of a proposed £20m donation offered by BHP – subsequently withdrawn – and £2m from BP, as it considered whether to fully divest its fortune from fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Vermont’s Middlebury College has reversed its course on fossil fuel companies and is leading the way on renewable energyVermont’s Middlebury College announced on Wednesday that it was divesting its holdings in fossil fuel companies. Given that more than a thousand institutions with endowments totaling more than $8tn have made similar pledges, it might not seem so newsworthy – but Middlebury was one of the first to reverse course. Six years ago the college flatly rejected divestment, and the shift makes it clear why big oil’s purchase on our economy and our society is eroding.Much of the explanation, of course, stems from local factors, and since I’m employed there I’ve had a firsthand view. The college’s students never gave up, passing on the activist torch to each new entering freshman class – indeed, some of the students who pioneered the fight were on hand for today’s announcement. And along the way the college got a new president: religion scholar Laurie Patton proved an adept conciliator able to help her institution move. Continue reading...

Treasurer says climate change is real and Scott Morrison’s government takes emissions reduction ‘very seriously’Josh Frydenberg has defended the Coalition’s record on climate change and says he will work hard to earn the trust of his constituents in the face of a challenge from long-time Liberal and now independent Oliver Yates.Yates, a former Macquarie banker and head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, confirmed on Wednesday he would run in Kooyong at the coming federal election, declaring Frydenberg deserved to be challenged because of a lack of action on the environment. Continue reading...

Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, forcing residents to don masks and sparking criticism of governmentToxic smog forced Bangkok authorities to issue an unprecedented order to shut nearly 450 schools on Wednesday as authorities struggled to manage a pollution crisis that has stirred widespread concern.The Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, forcing residents to don masks and sparking social media criticism of the uneven response by the government. Continue reading...

Senate committee urges government to create policies to encourage use or risk missing out on a transport revolutionAustralia is “on the cusp” of a transport revolution but the country will miss out if it doesn’t end the policy vacuum that has so far kept the electric vehicle industry from growing, according to a Senate committee report released on Wednesday.“[Electric vehicle] uptake in Australia lags behind that of other comparable countries due to a relative absence of overarching policy direction from Australian governments,” the report said. Continue reading...

Supersonic aircraft would bring noise and greater CO2 emissions, report saysHeathrow airport could be hit by a sonic boom every five minutes as a new class of supersonic aircraft come into service, research suggests.It is predicted that by 2035 there could be demand for up to 2,000 supersonic passenger jets, which could knock hours off long-haul trips. Continue reading...

Paris agreement target will not be met without changes to policy and threatened species at risk unless funding increasedAustralia is not on track to meet its 2030 emissions targets under the Paris agreement and needs to bring its environment policies into line with the “scale of the challenge” the country is facing, one of the world’s pre-eminent economic institutions says.In a major report on Australia’s environmental performance, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development also finds the status of Australia’s biodiversity is “poor and worsening” and the government’s national threatened species strategy will fail unless it is expanded and funding increased. Continue reading...

Water resources are tapped with often reckless abandon and poor regulation. And it looks set to go on under new presidentThe Brazilian government has been urged to step up punishments for environmental crimes after the deadliest mining disaster in decades.The torrent of mud and iron ore tailings that engulfed the community of Brumadinho on Friday continues to inflict a toll on residents, river systems and freshwater species. Continue reading...

Of 775 projects overlapping bird’s habitat, government only refused one, study revealsEnvironmental laws that formally protect the endangered black-throated finch have also sanctioned the broadscale destruction of its natural habitat, leaving the species at risk of extinction, a new study says.The study, led by University of Queensland research fellow April Reside, and published on Wednesday in the journal Environmental Science and Policy, charts the exile of the black-throated finch from more than 80% of its former range. Continue reading...

Gas from Glengorm reservoir under North Sea could meet about 5% of annual demandA Chinese-led consortium has discovered the UK’s biggest gasfield in more than a decade, leading experts to say there is life yet in the country’s offshore sector.Drilling found the equivalent of about 250m barrels of oil could be recovered from the Glengorm reservoir in the central North Sea, about 5% of the UK’s annual gas demand. Continue reading...

The long-time Liberal party member wants to take on Josh Frydenberg to start a people power campaignOliver Yates, the son of a Liberal politician and long-time party member, wants to take on Josh Frydenberg in a seat once held by Robert Menzies to start a people power campaign not only in Australia, but around the world.The former Macquarie banker, and head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, who will confirm his intention to run in Kooyong as an independent publicly on Wednesday, says the challenges of climate change are now so serious, so pressing, that citizens need to “take out” their environment ministers when they occupy the portfolio but fail to protect the environment and the climate. Continue reading...

Coalition worth $6.5tn challenge fast food chains over lack of low-carbon planMcDonald’s, KFC and Burger King have been urged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chains by a coalition of global investors, with the animal agriculture industry criticised for being one of the world’s highest-emitting sectors without a low-carbon plan.Increasing concern that the industry is neglecting climate change and has failed to set emissions targets – unlike other sectors – prompted more than 80 investors representing $6.5tn (£4.94tn) to challenge fast food chain owners to put robust targets in place for their meat and dairy suppliers, in what could prove a landmark demand. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Natural England struggling to protect important sites after suffering budget cutsThousands of environmentally important sites across England are coming under threat as the government body charged with their care struggles with understaffing, slashed budgets and an increasing workload.Natural England has wide-ranging responsibilities protecting and monitoring sensitive sites, including sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and nature reserves, and advising on the environmental impact of new homes and other developments in the planning stages. Its work includes overseeing national parks, paying farmers to protect biodiversity, and areas of huge public concern such as air quality and marine plastic waste. Continue reading...

By driving such extreme distances, Wiebe Wakker hopes to bust Australian anxieties about electric vehiclesA Dutch man who has driven 89,000km from Amsterdam to Adelaide in a small electric car says he is proving to Australians that electric vehicles are a viable alternative.Since March 2016, adventurer Wiebe Wakker has driven across 33 countries from Europe to the Middle East to south-east Asia and finally to Australia in a 2009 Volkswagen Golf, converted to electric. Continue reading...

Keep Britain Tidy workshops will demonstrate how to use leftover bread in cookingAn estimated 1.2bn edible bread crusts are binned each year, new research has revealed, as one in five consumers turn their noses up at the leftover ends of loaves.The scale of the waste – equivalent to 50m loaves of bread being thrown away in crusts alone every year – is revealed by a new campaign using chefs’ tips and recipes to show consumers how to use it to make tasty snacks and meals. Continue reading...

Niall Blair says deaths are like nothing ‘we’ve ever seen in the state before’ while touring Lower Darling River siteThe New South Wales primary industries minister, Niall Blair, has admitted that “we’ve seen nothing like this” while touring the site of another massive fish death in the Lower Darling River at Menindee.The mass death incident in the Lower Darling, the third in a month, has left stretches of the Lower Darling upstream from Menindee covered in a carpet of dead fish. Continue reading...

National park saw ‘irreparable’ damage including vandalism, ruined trails and trees cut down, says former superintendentThe former superintendent of Joshua Tree national park has said it could take hundreds of years to recover from damage caused by visitors during the longest-ever government shutdown.“What’s happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years,” Curt Sauer said at a rally over the weekend, according to a report from the Desert Sun. Sauer retired in 2010 after running the park for seven years. Continue reading...

Store to sell pasta and granola bars made from ground buffalo worm and cricket flourPasta, protein bars and granola bars made from insect flour are to go on sale in Selfridges to highlight alternative proteins for inclusion in mainstream diets.Amid growing awareness of the environmental impact of livestock farming – and the benefits of reducing meat consumption – the British department store is the latest retailer to tap into the rising recognition of the benefits of eating insects on both nutritional and environmental grounds. Continue reading...

Commissioner to find $13bn plan to restore river took into account factors other than the environment’s needs when it set the amount of water needed to be bought back from irrigatorsThe Murray Darling Basin Plan is likely in breach of the commonwealth act that underpins it – the Water Act 2007, the South Australian royal commission into the plan is expected to find.The report of the royal commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan is being handed to the state governor on Tuesday but it is up to the SA government when it is released. Continue reading...

Minas Gerais locals recall another dam collapse involving mining firm Vale as hunt continues for 292 people still missingThe dirt road which once led to the Nova Estância guesthouse and a handful of nearby farms now ends in a slew of sticky, acrid sludge that stretches as far as the eye can see, a deep red gash across the green of the rolling Brazilian countryside.The road, a small bridge it once crossed, the guesthouse and hundreds of people were all swallowed by mud when a tailings dam at the Córrego de Feijão mine collapsed on Friday, unleashing a torrent of liquid waste. Continue reading...

Three-year-old Casey Hathaway said a bear helped him survive two nights in the woods but animal experts say it would be a firstThe story of a three-year-old boy who said he survived two nights alone in the woods due to the assistance of a friendly bear should not encourage people to seek out their own relationships with bears, a leading ursine expert has warned.Related: Three-year-old boy missing in woods for two days says friendly bear kept him safe Continue reading...

Locals are concerned about the sprawl of the dry creek bed and say the area desperately needs some heavy rainThe locals call this spot the “turtle bridge”, and most stop for a few moments to watch the turtles and the families of ducks. Lately they’ve been muttering about the sprawl of the dry creek bed, which has turned the section of Brisbane’s Breakfast Creek into a shallow stagnant pond, shrinking by the day.“It’s drier than I can remember,” one long-term Kelvin Grove resident says, before walking on. Continue reading...

Mallard who lived in a roadside puddle is found dead after being attacked by dogsTrevor the duck, whose tale of loneliness on the tiny Pacific island nation of Niue made him a local celebrity and captured headlines last year, has died.He was found dead in the bush after being attacked by dogs, according to a social media page dedicated to the drake. Continue reading...

42-mile fence on border with Germany aims to protect pig farms from African swine feverThe United States isn’t the only country with a border wall controversy these days. However, Denmark’s planned 42-mile (70km) fence along the German border is intended to keep out not people but wild boars, which authorities say threaten to bring disease to Danish pig farms.Construction on the fence was beginning on Monday along the northern edge of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Danish lawmakers and the country’s environmental agency approved the project last summer, arguing it would help farmers protect their pigs against African swine fever (ASF). Continue reading...

Desert lions learning to hunt marine life to survive Skeleton Coast’s harsh conditionsLions in Namibia have turned to hunting seabirds and seals in the face of scarce food resources in the desert landscape, research has found.The desert lions, which are found exclusively within the country’s Skeleton Coast region, are the only lions known to target marine life. Among the creatures they have been recorded eating are fur seals, flamingos and cormorants. Continue reading...

A new report reveals how Apple, among others, is already exploring the business possibilities that will come from the environmental crisis. Something to be cheerful about as the ice melts …You know what I love about capitalism? Its optimism. Even in the direst of circumstances, it is always able to find a silver lining.Take climate change, for example. After weird weather and ominous warnings of more to come, many of us are freaking out about an environmental apocalypse. Indeed, a new poll shows record numbers of Americans are worried about climate change and, after last year’s heatwave, concerns about the issue have soared in Britain. Continue reading...

Scotland Yard’s small wildlife unit opens its store of raided treasures for the first timeRow upon row of primate skulls sit in a glass case, jaws stuck forever in a grimace. Rhino horns big and small rise from a table, a depiction of Jesus on the cross in ivory lies on a table, as does a polar bear skin; in the corner a rack is laden with fur coats; another glass case contains mounted butterflies.The items – a mix of the achingly beautiful and the macabre – sit in a storeroom in south London. They are all items seized by Scotland Yard’s wildlife crime unit and behind most is a story showing how greed, obsession and the yearning for profit collide. Continue reading...

The supermarket is increasing the cost of its standard plastic bags up to 15p from 10pMorrisons is to trial the launch of large paper bags for groceries at supermarket check-outs and is raising the price of its plastic bags by 50%.The supermarket will now charge 15p instead of 10p for its cheapest standard plastic bag, while testing out US-style paper grocery bags with handles costing 20p. Continue reading...

Ministers urged to make activity more popular outside London to boost public healthThe NHS could save £319m over the next 21 years if cycling in major UK cities becomes as popular as in London, according to a report by an environmental charity.About 34,000 incidences of type 2 diabetes, stroke, breast cancer and depression would be prevented in seven key cities between 2017 and 2040, if cycling increased at the same rate as in London since the millennium, according to analysis from Sustrans, the walking and cycling charity. Continue reading...

Locals report thousands of ‘fish all around me just gasping for breath’ after third mass death in a matter of weeksA third fish kill has occurred near Menindee on the Darling River overnight after temperatures plummeted following days of hot weather.The latest fish kill follows an incident on 6 and 7 January in which hundreds of thousands of native fish, including Murray cod, golden perch and bony bream died around the Menindee weir. Continue reading...

Our electricity system of the future could be powered by sun, wind and wavesLiberal party donor and coal plant owner Trevor St Baker is proposing with the help of his mates in government to build two new coal power stations in Australia at the expense of taxpayers.However, the big four banks and the big three energy companies are not having a bar of it. Indeed the majority of Australia’s energy companies are working towards a very different future for the country’s energy system, a future powered by clean, renewable energy. Continue reading...

Policy is Labor’s latest attempt to win environment-conscious voters ahead of the 2019 federal electionLabor will spend $200m to restore urban rivers and waterways, the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has promised.The policy is the latest attempt to win environment-conscious voters ahead of the 2019 federal election, after both major parties promised $220m for Kakadu national park and Labor pledged to create a commonwealth environmental protection agency at its national conference in December. Continue reading...

Undercover film raises fears of serious health risks from major EU exporting countryUndercover footage that appears to show extremely sick cows being smuggled into a Polish slaughterhouse and sold on with little or no veterinary inspection has raised alarm about standards in one of the EU’s largest meat exporters.

Plant to operate for first time in seven years, but the finished product will not be flowing out of city’s taps until at least AprilSydney’s desalination plant has officially been switched on, returning it to operation for the first time in seven years.But the plant’s finished product will not be flowing out of the city’s taps until at least April. Continue reading...

Native title applicant says NSW’s change to planning conditions has given Chinese company permission to drill and excavate before a mining lease for Watermark has even been grantedA quiet change to Shenhua’s New South Wales planning conditions for its open-cut Watermark coalmine could desecrate sites of Indigenous cultural significance before the federal environment minister decides whether they should be protected.Gamilaraay man and native title applicant for the Gomeroi people, Raymond Weatherall, has warned successive failures to protect sacred places on the development site in the Liverpool Plains in north-west NSW, could lead to direct conflict between the Gomeroi, the state government and the Chinese state-owned company Shenhua. Continue reading...

A growing number of older protesters are standing up and fighting for the environmentWhen Audrey Cooke first spoke to her family about her retirement plans, they had one condition: “Don’t get arrested.”The 72-year-old retired Melbourne schoolteacher’s husband died of pancreatic cancer nine years ago. She has two young grandchildren. And she is now a full-time climate activist. Continue reading...

Fossil fuels provide nearly 40% of country’s power as tensions rise on phaseout timetableGermany has agreed to end its reliance on polluting coal power stations by 2038, in a long-awaited decision that will have major ramifications for Europe’s attempts to meet its Paris climate change targets.The country is the last major bastion of coal-burning in north-western Europe and the dirtiest of fossil fuels still provides nearly 40% of Germany’s power, compared with 5% in the UK, which plans to phase the fuel out entirely by 2025. Continue reading...

London cafes bring people together while tackling the UK’s food waste problemMothers with toddlers at their ankles sit beside elderly men and women out for a welcome bit of company on a Monday lunchtime. Plates are piled with steaming pasta, couscous salad and warm bread rolls as the chefs wipe sweat from their foreheads in a galley kitchen next door.This is a bustling local restaurant in an affluent area of south-west London, but there is one big difference from the many fashionable cafes that line the streets of this London “village”. The food has all been saved from the bin. Continue reading...

There are tire marks etched into delicate playas and plains that can take centuries to recoverDelicate desert ecosystems in Death Valley have been damaged by off-roaders, another dismaying impact of the US government shutdown on national parks.“People come here to this pristine desert landscape,” said Laura Cunningham, who heads Western Watersheds Project, a not-for-profit conservation organization. She and her husband, a retired Death Valley park ranger, live close to the park and headed out to the desert last week to assess new damage. “There are so few places where we have a beautiful natural vista. And now people are off-roading on it.” Continue reading...

It’s true that many young people stare at screens instead of being out in the wild – but others use technology to form a global community of conservationistsSix years ago, I wrote with a certain amount of sadness a rather gloomy report for the National Trust entitled Natural Childhood. It highlighted the barriers standing in the way of engaging young people with nature: primarily dangers from traffic, parental fears of “stranger danger”, and a growing aversion to exposing children to any form of risk. I concluded that we faced the very real danger of a “lost generation”, who might never engage with the natural world.Young people were, and still are, we’re told, disconnected from nature, staring at screens when they should be out in the wild. But what I hadn’t predicted back then is that it is these screens that are now enabling our children to join forces to save the natural world. The rise of new technology – especially social media – has allowed a new generation to connect with those who share their interests in a way that I never could have believed possible when I wrote Natural Childhood. As one young ornithologist recently told me: “I thought I was the only birder at my school, but on Facebook I found half a dozen others in my local area.” Continue reading...

Climate campaigners stage one-hour peaceful sit-in protest in debating chamberAround 40 climate activists have staged a peaceful occupation of the Scottish parliament’s debating chamber, urging MSPs to introduce much tougher climate targets.Campaigners with the recently formed direct action group Extinction Rebellion posed as tourists on a visit to Holyrood before staging an hour-long sit-in in the chamber. Continue reading...

The Islabikes founder’s new range of bikes for those aged 65-plus shows how different people can often have very different cycling needsOn the Bike Blog we do wang on quite a lot about the vital importance of safe infrastructure to get more people cycling, and with very good reason. But there’s another aspect also worth considering: having people on a suitable bike.Why did this occur to me? Because of a chat with Isla Rowntree, the eponymous founder, head and design supremo for Islabikes, who has spent 13 years thinking about how bikes can be made easier and more fun for children to ride, and is now branching into intended bikes for older people. Continue reading...

Swedish school strike activist demands economists tackle runaway global warming. Read her Davos speech hereOur house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire.According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. In that time, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place, including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%. Continue reading...

Barents Sea is key source of UK cod imports and could see temperature rises of over 6CFish fingers and cod and chips are under a far greater threat from carbon emissions than previously thought, according to a recent study that has grave implications for food security.The North Atlantic cod stock in the Barents Sea is likely to first rise and then crash, possibly to almost zero before the end of the century if climate change isn’t addressed, says the scientific paper, published by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme. Continue reading...

Tiger poachers, goldfinches and playful baby elephants feature in this week’s gallery Continue reading...

Productivity Commission review finds authority’s dual roles are often in conflictThe agency in charge of Australia’s most important and complex river system should be broken up as part of a major overhaul to protect the Murray-Darling basin and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, the Productivity Commission says.The government released the Productivity Commission’s five-year review of the management of the Murray-Darling basin late on Friday afternoon. The report warned of serious risks in Australia’s long-term $13bn plan for the basin, which is designed to reset the balance between the environment and consumptive uses through to mid-2024. Continue reading...

Cases confirmed in Dorset and Essex with public urged to report sick or dead animalsThe first cases of rabbit virus have been confirmed in hares in the UK, highlighting a major new threat to the UK’s rapidly dwindling brown hare population.Two cases of the deadly rabbit haemorrhagic disease type 2 have been confirmed in Dorset and one in Essex, so it may already be taking hold in the wild, but more testing will be needed to determine its spread. Continue reading...