Environment | The Guardian

Work crews and police leave Hillingdon site as activists mount Extinction Rebellion-style blockadeFour environmental protesters have stopped work by shackling themselves on a nature reserve where a new phase of construction of the HS2 high-speed rail link had been due to start on Wednesday evening.The group locked themselves to a contraption made of chimney pieces in a field at the Colne Valley nature reserve in Hillingdon where HS2 operatives are currently working on the controversial rail project. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) forecast for the season warns an El Niño could bring dangerous, dry conditionsSummer temperatures are forecast to soar above their usual average, while the chances of more bushfires and an El Niño developing are on the rise.The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest outlook for summer warns that most of Australia has an 80% chance of higher-than-normal temperatures between December and February. Continue reading...

Deadly heatwaves and spread of diseases affect people’s health today – reportPeople’s health is being damaged today by climate change through effects ranging from deadly heatwaves in Europe to rising dengue fever in the tropics, according to a report.Billions of hours of farmwork has been lost during high temperatures and global warming has damaged the ability to grow crops, it said. Continue reading...

In the third part of our series looking at the climate report Trump tried to bury over Thanksgiving, we look at its alarming projections for our water supplies

Radical overhaul in farming and consumption, with less meat eating, needed to avoid hunger and climate catastropheThe global food system is broken, leaving billions of people either underfed or overweight and driving the planet towards climate catastrophe, according to 130 national academies of science and medicine across the world.Providing a healthy, affordable, and environmentally friendly diet for all people will require a radical transformation of the system, says the report by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). This will depend on better farming methods, wealthy nations consuming less meat and countries valuing food which is nutritious rather than cheap. Continue reading...

More than 15,000 buildings were built in coastal areas at significant risk of coastal flooding in the UK between 2005 and 2014, write Tom Spencer and Gerd Masselink. Meanwhile Alastair Edwards says the Irish shouldn’t be bashed too much over their carbon emissions, but Dr John Doherty warns against erecting wind turbines on boglandThe UK Climate Projections 2018 study predicts significant sea level rise around the UK coastline by 2100 (Climate change ‘may force people to quit flood areas’, 27 November) and, in announcing the report, the secretary of state for the environment says “we will be looking at ways we can encourage every local area to strive for greater overall resilience”.Yet only a month ago, the government’s own advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, argued strongly that current methods being used to protect England’s coastal communities are not fit for purpose. Their report showed that between 2005 and 2014, over 15,000 buildings were built in coastal areas at significant risk of coastal flooding and/or erosion. Continue reading...

42.6C temperature in Cairns broke a November record that has stood since 1900 by 5.4CA record-breaking heatwave in north Queensland will further increase above-average marine temperatures, heightening the risk of another coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef next year, scientists say.Dozens of record November temperatures have been recorded in the region, most along the reef coastline, this week. Continue reading...

The nuclear disaster site is being marketed as a tourist destination with novelty gas masks, radioactive ice cream and - now - a multimedia art show with the militaryIt is a two-hour drive from the centre of Kiev, following the banks of the Dnieper river into the woods. It is minus six degrees outside. Wild dogs scavenge at the side of the road.Our bus comes to a stop and military men in uniform tell us to disembark and ready our passports. We’re at the main check point of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. From here, signs warn us, everything is contaminated. Continue reading...

Specialist diving group teams up with British conservation charity to lower impact of scuba tourism on threatened reefsThe threat posed to coral reefs by scuba diving in Egypt and Thailand is so serious that officials have banned certain operators or suspended the sport altogether, but now moves are afoot to make diving tourism more sustainable.A partnership between the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi), the world’s largest training group, and the UN-backed Reef-World Foundation, a British conservation charity, will encourage the industry to sign up to the Green Fins scheme, which helps dive centres to reduce their environmental impact and mitigate the damage the burgeoning sport causes to coral reefs worldwide. Continue reading...

An SES volunteer collapsed and died while attending a job in the Illawarra, and another person died in a crash at ThornleighA second person has died during the Sydney storms which have lashed the city and surrounding regions on Wednesday, delivering a month’s worth of rain in two hours.On Wednesday afternoon a State Emergency Services volunteer collapsed and died while attending a job in the Illawarra. Continue reading...

Migratory shorebirds populations down by average of 70% from 1985 to 2015Populations of threatened bird species in Australia halved in the past 30 years, according to a new national Threatened Bird Index.The index is the first part of a large data consolidation project being undertaken by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub, along with the University of Queensland and Birdlife Australia. Continue reading...

Analysis suggests 116m tonnes of dairy products are wasted globally, with almost half lost before they even reach a storeOne in six pints of milk produced around the world is lost or wasted, according to research conducted at Edinburgh University for the Guardian.Sixteen percent of dairy products – 116m tonnes – is lost or discarded globally each year, according to Prof Peter Alexander, a member of the newly formed Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security. He calculated that retailers, distributors and consumers are responsible for half of this waste, throwing away roughly 60m tonnes of dairy a year. Continue reading...

Government scrapped £1bn plan in 2015 but now aims to build project within a decadeThe UK wants to build its first project to capture and store carbon emissions from industry within the next decade, as part of a rebooted push by ministers to support the technology.The government scrapped a £1bn carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition in 2015, with the then-chancellor George Osborne saying it was too costly. Earlier efforts had also collapsed. Continue reading...

Interior secretary Ryan Zinke says he hopes new laws will end environmental reviews and allow ‘thinning’ of forestsThe Trump administration has been accused of using the deadly wildfires in California to push for weakened environmental rules in forests, opening them up for more logging.Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, said that he hoped new legislation would allow for the “thinning” of forests to help prevent wildfires. He said he was confident Congress would soon pass a new farm bill that would remove environmental reviews for the removal of trees and brush, as well as the building of roads through federal forests. Continue reading...

Students miss school to call on MPs to take emergency action ‘because this is our future’School students protesting climate change have arrived in Canberra after the prime minister told them to be less activist and go back to school.Hundreds of students lined up outside Parliament House on Wednesday wanting to speak to Scott Morrison and government ministers about taking emergency action against climate change. Continue reading...

Management of UK rail lines fails to take environmental best practice into accountAn independent review into the scale of tree felling by Network Rail is calling for a complete cultural change by the company to focus on valuing nature and the environment.The review, published on Wednesday, was sparked after Guardian articles highlighted a threat to millions of line-side trees from Network Rail’s approach to managing the environment around its tracks and the scale of tree felling taking place in nesting season. Continue reading...

Chemical cocktail suppresses periwinkles’ ability to avoid crabs and disrupts food chainToxins leaching from microplastics leave shellfish at the mercy of predators, research has found. The chemicals completely suppress the ability of the periwinkles to detect and avoid the crabs that eat them.Microplastics plague the world’s rivers and oceans and absorb poisonous chemicals from the water. Previous work has shown mussels are harmed by these toxins when they eat microplastics, but the latest study is the first to show disruption of the relationship between predator and prey. This is likely to disrupt the entire food chain, researchers say. Continue reading...

Humpback whale and 27 pilot whales among those beached in Croajingolong national parkA humpback whale and 27 pilot whales have stranded themselves on a remote beach in a Victorian national park.Most of the beached animals have died, according to authorities. Continue reading...

Court ruled in favor of landowners seeking to limit power to designate private land as protected habitat for speciesThe US supreme court on Tuesday decided against the interests of a warty amphibian and handed a victory to a timber company and other landowners in the first major move on the environment from the bench this term.The court ruled in favor of the commercial interests seeking to limit the federal government’s power to designate private land as protected habitat for endangered species, in a property rights case involving the dusky gopher frog. Continue reading...

More than half of countries use censorship, harassment or violence to repress public debate, warns a reportNearly six in 10 countries are seriously restricting people’s freedoms, according to a new report that warns of a growing repression around the world.According to the study, there is little or no space for activism in countries such as Eritrea and Syria, and also worrying signs in countries where democracy is considered well established, such as France, the US, Hungary and India. Continue reading...

Natural cycle has major influence on global weather, bringing droughts and floodsThere is a 75-80% chance of a climate-warming El Niño event by February, according to the latest analysis from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.The last El Niño event ended in 2016 and helped make that year the hottest ever recorded by adding to the heating caused by humanity’s carbon emissions. The 2019 event is not currently forecast to be as strong as in 2016. Continue reading...

School students plan to go on strike in protest against inaction on climate change. Whether you approve of the strike or not, you were invited to submit questions here to be answered by climate experts and young campaigners. This blog is now closed – thanks for being part of #MyClimateQuestions7.50am GMTThank you everyone, this has been one of the most rewarding, illuminating blogs I’ve had the joy of running.Thanks to our panellists: Bill Hare, Simon Holmes à Court, Amanda McKenzie, Laura Sykes and Piper Albrecht. And thanks to my colleague Lisa Cox.7.33am GMTAnd one last question, from Sunny Adcock:If I am currently 18, do you think that within my lifetime there is hope of preventing climate change? Realistically what is the best and worse case scenario of what may happen within my lifetime?Yes there definitely is hope.The best case is getting onto a 1.5C pathway, in which case, by the time you turn 50 scientists might be saying that global warming peaked in the 2040s. By the time you are 100, it could be 1.3C or lower and on the way down. Continue reading...

Paradise, California, was a slice of heaven for those who lived there – until they lost everything in California's worst wildfire. The Camp fire wiped out the town, killed at least 85 people, and scorched 150,000 acres. But in the face of a dark new reality, shellshocked residents are displaying resilience Continue reading...

Environmental groups call for greater scrutiny of plan to clear Kingvale station in Great Barrier Reef catchmentDraft approvals to bulldoze almost 2,000 hectares of Queensland native forest have been tossed out by the federal court, which ruled the federal government acted unlawfully by applying only minimal scrutiny.The decision leaves plans to clear Kingvale station, in the Great Barrier Reef catchment, in limbo. Continue reading...

Premier Mark McGowan defies protesters, farmers and MPs to allow controversial drilling, which he says will create jobsWestern Australian premier Mark McGowan has lifted a statewide moratorium on fracking amid intense opposition from large parts of the community.The controversial drilling practice, which fractures the ground to release trapped gas, will now be allowed on existing titles and subject to veto by Aboriginal groups and farmers. Continue reading...

Traffic emissions responsible for at least €70bn damage every year, report saysAir pollution from roads causes at least €70bn (£62bn) in health damage every year in the European Union, according to a new report, with diesel fumes responsible for three-quarters of the harm.The research, commissioned by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), found the vast majority of the costs were borne by taxpayers through government-funded health services. But these costs could be reduced by 80% by 2030 if ambitious action were taken, the report concluded. Continue reading...

Shift to renewables is too late say campaigners as peatlands will still emit greenhouse gasesWhen the semi-state company that harvests Ireland’s peatlands recently announced the closure of 17 bogs, the news was greeted as the end of an era. Turning the soggy landscape that covers much of Ireland’s midlands into a fuel source had been a great national project, an ambitious undertaking launched by the republic’s founding fathers in the 1930s. Draining and cutting hundreds of thousands of hectares of turf on an industrial scale generated desperately needed jobs and reduced dependence on oil imports for almost a century.So there was some nostalgia last month when Bord na Móna, the peat-harvesting company, announced it was closing 17 of its “active bogs” and would close the remaining 45 within seven years. Nostalgia but also acceptance, given the growing awareness that harvesting peat emits greenhouse gases that worsen climate change, requiring a shift to renewable energy. “Decarbonisation is the biggest challenge facing this planet,” said Tom Donnellan, the company’s chief executive. Continue reading...

Storm-damaged support ship means Ben Lecomte, 50, has to divert to HawaiiA French-American plastic pollution campaigner has given up his attempt to swim across the Pacific ocean after a storm broke the mainsail of his support ship, organisers have said.Ben Lecomte had completed about 2,780km (1,500 nautical miles) of the 9,260km (5,000-nautical mile) journey. The trip was to take him through 1,600km of the “Great Pacific garbage patch”, in an attempt to raise awareness of plastic pollution. Continue reading...

South Sea Islander hailed for her ‘powerful contribution’ to reconciliation in AustraliaTributes are flowing for the “matriarch of reconciliation”, Bonita Mabo, an activist and reconciliation advocate in her own right who was the wife of the land rights champion Eddie “Koiki” Mabo. She has died in Townsville, surrounded by her family, at the age of 85.The Aboriginal social justice commissioner, June Oscar, described Mabo as “gentle, stoic and loving. I will always remember her as the mother of native title. Her legacy lives on in our continuing fight for land and sea rights.”

The Trump administration published a major report on climate change the day after Thanksgiving. We will explore the major findings each day this weekDonald Trump doesn’t believe his own government’s major report on climate change – which the administration tried to bury over the Thanksgiving break. It warns that rising temperatures are already harming America and will cause huge damage globally. The Guardian will explore key findings from the report each day this week. Continue reading...

Administration has tried to downplay dire findings of the National Climate Assessment, released the day after Thanksgiving

City says government is forcing it to take action to reduce nitrogen dioxide levelsThe city of Bath may have a reputation for gentility but plans to charge many motorists £9 a day to drive into its Georgian streets are provoking anger and resentment.High levels of pollution, largely caused by topography – the city lies in a giant bowl – are forcing the council to act, but critics say the move will hit people struggling financially and force traffic out into areas just outside the zone. Continue reading...

French prosecution intended to signal crackdown on pollution from luxury liners

Major Met Office report predicts warming up up to 5C, plus more heatwaves and more rainPeople may have to be moved away from high-risk areas as climate change makes flooding more likely and more severe in the UK, the government has said.The warning came as a Met Office report found Britain would experience much wetter winters and summers as much as 5C hotter as a result of climate change. This year’s heatwave is likely to become the new normal by mid-century, but the wettest days are now on average seeing 17% more rainfall than in the recent past, bringing a much heightened risk of flash flooding. Continue reading...

Club is first in UK to use large-scale system with capacity to last an entire matchArsenal has become the UK’s first football club to install large-scale battery energy storage, in a bid to cut electricity costs and support green energy.Tucked in the basement of the Emirates, the system is capable of powering the 60,000-seat stadium for an entire match, or the equivalent of 2,700 homes for two hours. Continue reading...

The shortfin mako is at risk due to failure to halt overfishing, with EU ‘most to blame’The world’s fastest shark may be swimming towards disaster after a major fisheries body failed to address continued overfishing of the highly vulnerable species, conservationists have warned.The shortfin mako – which can reach speeds of up to 43mph – is fished worldwide but is not subject to any international fishing quotas. It is considered exceptionally vulnerable in the North Atlantic, where scientists have recommended all landings be reduced by at least two-thirds to prevent overfishing. Continue reading...

Decades after it became part of the fabric of our lives, a worldwide revolt against plastic is under way• Read the text version here Continue reading...

Prime minister is labelled ‘out of touch’ after he says let the politicians not schoolchildren deal with the issue•Answer all your climate change questions with our ask the experts live blogScott Morrison has been labelled “out of touch” for angrily condemning a national student strike to protest government inaction on climate change.The prime minister implored children to stay in class rather than protesting things that “can be dealt with outside of school”. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia runs live online Q&A as hundreds of school students plan to strike over environmental inactionYoung Australians are frustrated about inaction on climate change – more so when the older generations don’t appear to be doing much about it.Related: Passing the baton: will young people take up the fight to save the planet? Continue reading...

A hiker camping in remote Stewart Island alerted authorities to the discoveryMore than 140 pilot whales have died on a remote New Zealand beach, the latest in a recent string of whale strandings and deaths in the country.On Saturday night the Department of Conservation [DoC] was informed of a mass whale stranding in Mason Bay on Stewart Island. Continue reading...

Farmer Armin Capaul’s long campaign to keep animals intact makes it onto a referendum ballotWith his woolly hat, straggly grey beard and unswerving passion for the wellbeing of his cows, it’s no wonder Armin Capaul has become a media sensation. And the Swiss farmer has used the limelight to his advantage.After eight years of campaigning for farmers to be paid to keep the horns of their cattle intact, the issue will be settled in a referendum today. Continue reading...

Democrats ramp up pressure to act in wake of most sobering government analysis yet

Swedish minister Isabella Lövin found fame in a jibe aimed at the White House. Now she aims for change beyond TwitterIn February last year, a week after Donald Trump had signed an anti-abortion executive order surrounded by seven men, Isabella Lövin posted a photograph of herself on Twitter signing a climate change bill alongside seven other women.Sweden’s then deputy prime minister remained enigmatic as the picture went viral and she was asked whether she had been “trolling” the US president. “It is up to the observer to interpret the photo,” she was quoted as saying. “We are a feminist government, which shows in this photo.” Continue reading...

Demonstration organised by Extinction Rebellion aims to highlight government failure on the environmentDozens of campaigners blocked the roads around Parliament Square to highlight concerns about the environment on Saturday.About 50 activists from Extinction Rebellion, a direct action group that has been coordinating a campaign of civil disobedience which has brought areas of the capital to a standstill in recent weeks, risked arrest by standing defiantly in roads in front of queueing traffic. Continue reading...

Schools introduce walk-to-school initiatives and stock up on asthma medicineSchools across the UK are taking ever more drastic steps in an effort to mitigate the effects of air pollution on their pupils’ health.Amid growing concern about the long-term implications of toxic air on young people’s development, the Guardian has found one London school is raising money for face masks for its pupils, while a growing number are installing air purifiers in classrooms and thousands more are trying to deter parents from using their cars on the school run. Continue reading...

Nearly 8,000sq kms lost in the year to July amid alarm new president Jair Bolsonaro will make situation worseBrazil has released its worst annual deforestation figures in a decade amid fears that the situation might worsen when the avowedly anti-environmentalist president-elect Jair Bolsonaro takes power.Between August 2017 and July 2018, 7,900sq kms were deforested, according to preliminary figures from the environment ministry based on satellite monitoring – a 13.7% rise on the previous year and the biggest area of forest cleared since 2008. The area is equivalent to 987,000 football pitches. Continue reading...

The time for Australians to ask questions is now, before a permitting decision is madeThe Great Australian Bight is one of the most unique and productive marine ecosystems in the world. An estimated 85% of its known species are found nowhere else; the region has exceptionally productive and sensitive pelagic, seabed, and shoreline habitats; hosts the greatest concentrations of marine mammals, seabirds, pelagic fishes, and sharks in Australia; and supports an annual multi-billion dollar fishery, aquaculture, and tourism economy. By any measure, the Bight is a national and global treasure, but this treasure is now at risk from proposed deepwater oil drilling.Related: More of the Great Australian Bight opened to oil and gas Continue reading...