Environment | The Guardian

An adopted leopard cub, a preening moorhen and tiny turtles feature in this week’s gallery Continue reading...

Move by Japanese firm would be blow to UK plans to replace coal plants and ageing reactorsThe Japanese conglomerate Hitachi looks certain to cancel its plans for a £16bn nuclear power station in Wales, leaving Britain’s ambitions for a nuclear renaissance in tatters.An impasse in months-long talks between the company, London and Toyko on financing is expected to result in the flagship project being axed at a Hitachi board meeting next week, according to the Nikkei newspaper. Continue reading...

Charlie Ewart discovered the 64-metre lump and will be part of the team breaking it upCharlie Ewart, a 51-year-old father of two from Plymouth, has been battling blockages in the sewers of south-west England for 15 years.But even he was not prepared for the dreadful sight, and smell, of what he found lurking beneath the elegant seafront in the regency town of Sidmouth when he scrambled through a small manhole. Continue reading...

Attorney general quashes Ella Kissi-Debrah verdict, paving way for fresh hearingThe mother of a schoolgirl who died of an asthma attack linked to air pollution has won the right to seek a new inquest at the high court.The attorney general moved on Friday to quash the inquest into the death of Ella Kissi-Debrah at the age of nine, after new evidence linked it to air pollution spikes from traffic near her home in south London. Continue reading...

Mikołaj Golachowski describes plan as ‘evil’ and warns of environmental consequencesConservationists have branded plans by the Polish government to cull almost the entire wild boar population of the country as “pointless, counterproductive and evil”.In a move to tackle an epidemic of African swine fever, the Polish government has ordered a series of hunts, beginning this weekend, with the aim of killing the vast majority of the country’s population of around 200,000 wild boar. Continue reading...

Logo drawn up by water firms aims to ensure only wipes that degrade properly are flushedThe fight to eliminate “fatbergs” is to receive a major boost with the launch of a universal standard for wet wipes, clarifying which can be safely flushed down the toilet.Manufacturers of wipes will be able to use a “fine to flush” symbol on their packaging – drawn up by the water industry – provided they pass stringent tests. The logo aims to reassure consumers that the products do not contain plastic and will break down in the sewer system instead of clogging up sewers and contributing to fatbergs. Continue reading...

Proposal is intended to protect African elephants from being poached for their tusksThe long-extinct woolly mammoth could gain protected status in an unprecedented attempt to save the African elephant from the global ivory trade.If approved, the protection of the mammoth under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) could prove vital in saving its modern relatives. The proposal by Israel would close a loophole that enables the trafficking of illegal elephant ivory under the guise of legal mammoth ivory, which is almost identical in appearance. Continue reading...

NSW Labor calls for special commission of inquiry into the environmental disasterThe cotton industry says it is not to blame for the mass deaths of hundreds of thousands of fish in the Darling River and is tired of being a “whipping boy” for problems associated with the drought.Communities in the Menindee Lakes region, where two fish kills have occurred since December, have said over-extraction by irrigators helped cause the catastrophe that has put a spotlight on the environmental management of Australia’s largest river system. Continue reading...

Druridge Bay project makes mockery of UK’s goal to phase out coal by 2025, say criticsA wild stretch of Northumberland beach has become the ultimate testing ground of the government’s much-vaunted commitment to phase out coal by 2025, according to campaigners.On Friday, James Brokenshire, the minister for communities and local government, will start examining whether to allow a local coal mining company, Banks Group, to extract three million tonnes of coal from 250 hectares of land behind the sand dunes of Druridge Bay, in a project that will extend beyond the government’s own deadline for the end of coal. Continue reading...

Globally pets consume 20% of meat and fish, a figure insect pet food could help to reduceThe UK’s first dog food made from insects goes on sale this week, which its manufacturers say could help reduce the environmental damage caused by the massive volumes of meat routinely fed to dogs and cats.Globally, pets consume about 20% of the world’s meat and fish, a number set to rise with the trend for consumers to feed them human-grade meat. Pet food is also estimated to be responsible for a quarter of the environmental impacts of meat production in terms of use of land, water, fossil fuels, phosphates and pesticides. Continue reading...

Girl to be transferred from Hamilton Island to have bite on foot treated, while woman was bitten on legA girl and a elderly woman have been bitten by a shark in the Whitsundays, continuing a spate of attacks in the popular north Queensland region.Related: Shark attack: five survivors on what it's like when a great white tries to eat you Continue reading...

Maintenance and sanitation problems also reported 18 days after government shutdown furloughed the vast majority of park staffA day after this story was published, the National Park Service announced that it had averted the closure by tapping revenues from recreation fees, and that campgrounds and entrance stations would be reopened on Thursday. In a press release, the NPS expressed thanks to volunteers “who provided basic sanitation at campgrounds and other closed areas during the lapse in appropriations”.For 17 days, a host of volunteers and a skeleton staff kept the trash cans and toilets from overflowing at Joshua Tree national park. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology says average temperature was 1.14C above average for 1961-1990, making 2018 slightly warmer than 2017Last year was Australia’s third-warmest year on record, with every state and territory recording above average temperatures in 2018.According to the Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement, the nation’s average temperature last year was 1.14C above the average for 1961-1990, making 2018 slightly warmer than 2017. Continue reading...

Pollution in tube stations 30 times higher than beside busy roads in capital, experts sayFresh concerns over air quality on the London Underground have been raised after researchers found that the concentration of particulate pollution in tube stations was up to 30 times higher than beside busy roads in the capital.Air pollution experts have called for more analysis of the possible harmful effects of the underground’s particulates. Continue reading...

Protesters Sarah Green, 63, and Laura Hughes, 37, say construction is contaminating London’s water supplyTwo environmental protesters against the HS2 high-speed rail link have pleaded not guilty to aggravated trespass charges in relation to obstructing a digger on one of the company’s construction sites.The HS2 development has generated controversy about cost, usefulness and possible environmental damage. Continue reading...

Progressives should think twice about who their allies are. Conservatives, especially those who hunt, can be alarmed about climate change tooI first read about Bald Knob, Arkansas, in 2010, after thousands of poisoned blackbirds dropped dead from the sky in nearby Beebe. On first look, Bald Knob has an unsettling aesthetic: a sparsely populated town, a bygone agricultural zone with toppled silos, old trailers, taxidermy businesses, boarded-up shops and a Waffle House. It’s a narrative cliche to present a rural place below the Mason-Dixon line this way, yet the scenery fits the bill.I’ve lived in places like these, where a casual observer sees a weathered town and locals just see home. I proceed with caution anyway. I’m also unsettled by news reports of armed white nationalists marching at the capitol building in nearby Little Rock. I know this is how a lot of people experience the rural south – sorting through stereotypes and history as they go, wondering how much of the old south is present in the new. Continue reading...

As wolves arrive in California for the first time since the 1920s, ranchers try non-lethal methods to deter animals once seen as livestock-killing verminBreanna Owens had no idea where to turn for help when the wolves arrived. The northern California-based rancher used to take her cattle to graze each summer in Oregon, but in 2014, OR-7, a solitary wolf dubbed Journey, found a mate and produced a litter of pups in the vicinity of Owens’ herd. The Rogue pack was the first in the area in generations.“All of a sudden it’s, ‘Oh, he set up camp. And there’s a female. And there’s pups – oh my gosh!’” she recalled. Continue reading...

The Environmental Protection Agency has been cut to a skeleton staff, meaning work to ensure clean air and water is left undoneThe US government shutdown has stymied environmental testing and inspections, prompting warnings that Americans’ health is being put at increasing risk as the shutdown drags on.More than 13,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are not at work, with just 794 people deemed essential staff currently undertaking the agency’s duties. Continue reading...

Closure of agriculture department offices could not have come at a worse time for farmers awaiting emergency federal aidJust as American farmers thought Donald Trump had rescued them from the economic consequences of his trade war with China, along came the government shutdown.Related: American farmers fear being caught up in Trump's trade wars Continue reading...

Office of NSW primary industries minister Niall Blair blames security concerns for not stopping at boat ramp where residents wanted answers on hundreds of thousands of deathsThe New South Wales primary industries minister has been accused of failing to listen to residents during a visit to inspect the Darling River after the deaths of hundreds of thousands of native fish.Niall Blair’s office said on Wednesday that security concerns following threats on social media meant he did not stop at a boat ramp where about 150 residents had gathered during a visit to the far-western community of Menindee. Continue reading...

Twenty-two people have been hospitalised this summer with Irukandji stings, which can cause brain haemorrhagesThe deadly Irukandji jellyfish is likely to spread further down Australia’s east coast as temperatures warm, an expert says, after twice as many Queenslanders were stung by the species this season than usual.Twenty-two people have been hospitalised this summer with Irukandji stings – which are so severe they can cause brain haemorrhages and a debilitating sensation of impending doom, known as Irukandji syndrome. Continue reading...

People who install solar from April will have to give away surplus until scheme launchesHouseholds with solar panels are to get a guaranteed payment for excess electricity they export to the grid – but there will be a hiatus when people are expected to give it away for free.Energy minister Claire Perry said on Tuesday she would legislate for a new market that will make energy firms compete to offer solar homes the best price for any unused energy they export. Continue reading...

Green party MP presses Veolia to accept more plastic wasteThe recycling company Veolia has been accused of refusing to adapt a 30-year contract to allow Brighton and Hove council to collect more plastic waste as local authorities struggle to meet a national target of 50%.Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said the company had refused requests to change the contract. As a result, attempts by the city to increase the collection of plastic waste had failed. Continue reading...

Climate change and invasive predators have taken a heavy toll on native animals and insects in the Hawaiian IslandsAs New Year’s Day broke in the Hawaiian Islands, one rare creature was not there to emerge from his shell and greet it: George, the last snail of his kind and a local celebrity, was dead at age 14.Related: World's oldest known wild bird to become a mother for the 37th time Continue reading...

Green energy scheme uses 1.1m litres of hot water flowing through Roman baths each dayWork to install eco-friendly heating in Bath Abbey using hot water from the city’s Roman baths is beginning.Contractors are surveying the great Roman drain, which carries steaming water from Bath’s hot springs to the River Avon, as part of a project to use the springs to warm the nearby abbey that starts on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Last year’s 3.4% jump in emissions is the largest since 2010 recession and second largest gain in more than two decadesA new analysis shows US greenhouse gas levels are increasing as the Trump administration unravels efforts to slow climate change.Carbon emissions rose sharply last year, increasing 3.4%, according to new estimates from the economic firm Rhodium Group. That year’s jump in emissions is the biggest since the bounce back from the recession in 2010. It is the second largest gain in more than two decades. Continue reading...

Eight weeks needed to remove mass of fat, oil and wet-wipes from sewer in Sidmouth, DevonA block of hardened fat, oil and wet-wipes longer than six double-decker buses has been discovered in a sewer metres from the sea in a popular Devon resort town.It will take workers eight weeks to cut up and remove the 64-metre “fatberg” from the sewer beneath The Esplanade in Sidmouth. Continue reading...

Airport reveals plans as it launches a new consultation on its expansionAn extra 25,000 flights a year could come through Heathrow before the third runway is built, in plans revealed by the airport as it launched a fresh consultation over its airspace and operations.Planes could come in to land on both runways at the same time during busy periods, Heathrow has proposed, to help maximise its capacity ahead of expansion. Continue reading...

Land iguanas wiped out by feral pigs have been reintroduced to Santiago IslandA group of more than 1,400 iguanas have been reintroduced to an island in the Galápagos archipelago nearly two centuries after they disappeared from there, authorities said on Monday.The Galápagos land iguanas from North Seymour Island were freed onto Santiago Island as part of an ecological restoration program, the National Galapagos park authority said in a statement. Continue reading...

Police officers deployed near checkpoint where protesters have gathered to block the construction of a natural gas pipelineIndigenous protesters in Canada have called a growing police presence near their makeshift checkpoint “an act of war”, as tensions mount over a stalled pipeline project in northern British Columbia.In defiance of a court order, dozens of protesters have gathered on a logging road nearly 700km (430 miles) north-west of Vancouver, to block the construction of a natural gas pipeline. Continue reading...

Andy Burnham announces proposal to introduce clean air zone in Greater ManchesterDrivers of the most polluting vehicles could face charges in Greater Manchester under a proposal to introduce a clean air zone announced by the mayor, Andy Burnham.The mooted clean air zone (CAZ) would penalise operators of buses, coaches, taxis, lorries and vans, as well as some private cars registered outside the area. The proposal comes after the government ordered Greater Manchester and more than 60 other local authorities to reduce road transport emissions. Continue reading...

Nottingham pioneers ‘Energiesprong’ after it wins £5m funding from EUA Dutch approach to transforming old homes through a dramatic green makeover has arrived in the UK and cut tenants’ energy bills in half.Nottingham has become the first city council to pioneer the “Energiesprong” (energy leap) initiative, which has radically upgraded the energy efficiency of thousands of homes in the Netherlands. Continue reading...

Following forest school, latest trend in getting children to learn outdoors is beach schoolOn Bovisand beach near Plymouth, the school day begins with morning assembly and a briefing about sea safety. The timetable will vary, but there will probably be a session on marine pollution and what you can and cannot put down your toilet, followed by shelter building, sand art, and lunch (in your shelter), then rock pools, a beach clean, and finally stories and roasted marshmallows around a seaside camp fire.Welcome to beach school. After the success of the forest school movement, which has encouraged teachers to take tens of thousands of school children out of the confines of the classroom to learn outdoors in a natural environment, there is a new push to teach on the beach. Continue reading...

An estimated 10,000 were killed just weeks ago, and locals fear native stocks could be all but wiped out this timeHundreds of thousands of fish have been killed along a stretch of the Lower Darling River in New South Wales in a second major incident which has led some experts to fear whole populations of local native fish have been wiped out.Residents near the Menindee Lakes are reporting what is the second major fish kill along a 20km stretch of water near Weir 32. Continue reading...

An invasion of bluebottles on Queensland’s Gold and Sunshine coasts led to thousands being treatedMore than 5,000 people were stung by bluebottles on Queensland’s Gold and Sunshine coasts over the weekend as weather drove a wall of jellyfish onto the shore.Conditions eased on Monday but remnants of the bluebottle armada (the correct term for a bunch of bluebottles) still dot the beaches and more than 200 people were treated for stings, mostly at the Sunshine Coast. Continue reading...

A tax on daytrippers has hit the headlines, but La Serenissima’s mounting problems also include rising waters, angry locals and a potential black mark from UnescoWhy Italy regrets its Faustian pact with tourist cashVenice’s Santa Lucia railway station is packed as visitors scuttle across the concourse towards the water-bus stops. Taking a selfie against the backdrop of the Grand Canal, Ciro Esposito and his girlfriend have just arrived and are unimpressed with what may greet them in future if the Venetian authorities get their way: a minimum city entry fee of €2.50 throughout the year, rising to between €5 and €10 during peak periods.It is the price of a cappuccino, but for them “it’s going too far”. “They are using people like a bank machine,” says Esposito. “We are in Europe and can travel freely across borders, yet we have to pay to enter one of our own cities.” Continue reading...

The award-winning atmospheric scientist on the urgency of the climate crisis and why people are her biggest hopeKatharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. She has contributed to more than 125 scientific papers and won numerous prizes for her science communication work. In 2018 she was a contributor to the US National Climate Assessment and was awarded the Stephen H Schneider award for outstanding climate science communication.In 2018, we have seen forest fires in the Arctic circle; record high temperatures in parts of Australia, Africa and the US; floods in India; and devastating droughts in South Africa and Argentina. Is this a turning point?

New images by Emma Stibbon of locations used by Turner and Ruskin highlight the toll taken on Alpine landscapeA Royal Academician has followed in the footsteps of JMW Turner and John Ruskin to capture in photographs the breathtaking sites in the French Alps that 19th-century artists caught so strikingly. The resulting images reveal a stark depiction of how climate change has taken its toll on the glaciated landscape.For a forthcoming exhibition on Ruskin and Turner, Emma Stibbon was commissioned to go to Chamonix and record the glaciers around Mont Blanc where, in the early 1800s, Turner painted sublime watercolours that inspired Ruskin to embark on his Alpine tours decades later, photographing and drawing awe-inspiring glaciers such as the Mer de Glace. Continue reading...

Shoalhaven council uses traffic controllers to redirect visitors after area ‘inundated’ with thousands of carsThousands of drivers have been turned away from the New South Wales beach billed as having the world’s whitest sand as the local council brainstorms solutions with residents over its booming popularity.Shoalhaven city council has appointed traffic controllers to redirect visitors from the Hyams beach village in Jervis Bay, given its parking capacity is 400 but up to 5,000 vehicles are around each day during peak season. Continue reading...

Mayor Sadiq Khan says toddlers’ exposure to air pollution is ‘inexcusable’A group of state-run nurseries in London are to be given air filtration systems as concern grows about the impact of the UK’s toxic air on some of the capital’s youngest and most vulnerable residents.Five nurseries have been selected for the purifiers in the first wave, with 20 nurseries being audited to measure the extent of toddlers’ exposure to the potentially deadly particles from vehicles. Continue reading...

Campaigners say it will cut pollution, but opponents claim it will hit poor people hardest“I’m just really glad the ULEZ is coming. Children’s lungs can’t wait,” says Jemima Hartshorn, a Brixton resident who helped set up campaign group Mums For Lungs. Continue reading...

Deaths reported at several sites amid staffing shortages, as local teams lend a hand at Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and elsewhereHuman waste by the side of a busy road in Yosemite. Overflowing toilets in the Grand Canyon. The Rocky Mountains inaccessible because of unplowed roads.And in all these places, ordinary people stepping in to try to save some of America’s most revered landmarks from being overrun. Continue reading...

The winning auction bid for the enormous tuna was more than double the price fetched five years agoA record $3.1 m (£2.4 m) has been paid for a giant bluefin tuna at Tokyo’s new fish market, which replaced the world-famous Tsukiji late last year.The winning bid for the prized but endangered species at the predawn auction was more than double the 2013 annual New Year auction. Continue reading...

Greater Manchester tells firms they are not welcome as discontent spreadsMinisters are facing a fresh confrontation with local councils over their controversial plans to expand fracking, after one of the biggest combined authorities in the country set out plans to ban the practice.Greater Manchester’s decision to effectively stop companies from extracting underground shale gas in the region was greeted as a critical moment in the fight against fracking, which critics say is dangerous and unproven. Continue reading...

Rescued turtles, piggybacking toads and a sadly missed rhino feature in this week’s gallery Continue reading...

Union boss Minette Batters says tariffs would price British farms out of export marketThe UK’s farmers face a profound crisis in the event of a no-deal Brexit, and there is dangerous ground ahead even if a deal is agreed, according to the head of the National Farmers’ Union.Minette Batters, the union’s first female leader, is determined to be cautiously positive about Brexit, for which a majority of farmers voted. “We have to embrace the future … and make sure we have a goal and a plan,” said Batters, who declined to reveal how she voted in the referendum. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Green MP will tell Oxford Farming Conference UK must prioritise sustainabilityParliament must “seriously consider” levying a tax on meat to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help to render the farming industry carbon neutral, the Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, is urging.She will say on Friday that a meat tax in the UK could be offset for more sustainable meat producers, such as organic livestock farmers, through more money for sustainable agriculture schemes. Continue reading...

Richard Murphy and Colin Hines suggest a number of ways that revenue could be raised to fund energy efficiency in all buildings, renewables and local transport systemsThe counter to Larry Elliott’s gloomy economic projections for 2019 (For those inclined to pessimism, the new year offers plenty to be worried about, 31 December) is to be found in his earlier article making the case for countries to put their economies on an “environmental war footing” (We’re back to 1930s politics: anger and, yes, appeasement, 20 December).To deliver this will, however, require that people be convinced that they will benefit and that there is the money to pay for such a transformation. Continue reading...

Environment secretary warns of tariffs and delays as NFU chief calls for firm guidanceA no-deal Brexit would spell severe disruption for the UK’s farming and food industries, and hardship for small farmers in particular, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, has said.Tariffs of as much as 40% would be slapped on British exports and products destined for the EU would be subject to a strict inspection regime, which would cause hold-ups and delays. Small farmers would be most at risk from the effects, Gove told the Oxford Farming Conference, adding that the “real gains” from Brexit, such as leaving the EU’s common agricultural policy, would be at risk in the event of no deal. Continue reading...