Environment | The Guardian

Conservation group says it will keep the parks ‘as accessible as possible’ as thousands prepare to go on winter holidaysChaos may reign for the thousands of visitors planning to take snow hikes, rock climbing trips and sightseeing visits to US national parks over the winter holidays, if the government shutdown goes forward at midnight on Friday.Park conservation groups say it is likely to mirror past shutdowns – with confusion about which parks are open, closed facilities, a lack of protections for guests and wildlife, and many disappointed visitors. Continue reading...

Utilities firm breached environmental regulations over raw sewage flowing into a brook in the CotswoldsThames Water has been handed a £2m fine for a “reckless failure” that led to the polluting of a tributary of the Thames with raw sewage.The £2bn-turnover utilities firm admitted breaching environmental regulations in relation to untreated sewage flowing into a brook near Milton-under-Wychwood, near Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds, in August 2015. Continue reading...

Experts concerned for safety of Alba, world’s only known albino orangutan, in country where poverty drives illegal huntingFears have arisen for the world’s only known albino orangutan, Alba, who has been released into a protected forest more than a year after being discovered bloodied and emaciated in a remote Indonesian village.The blue-eyed, white-haired great ape is “very strong” after undergoing intensive rehabilitation with the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), which nursed the primate back to health after finding her caged and weighing just 8kg in April 2017. Continue reading...

Bounding blackbucks, a hungry baby bear, an albino orangutan and more Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion group calls for environment to be made ‘top editorial issue’The BBC’s central London headquarters has been put on lockdown due to a protest by climate change campaigners who are demanding it uses its status as national broadcaster to declare a “climate and ecological emergency”.Extinction Rebellion, a direct action group that has recently shut down key London roads, has demand the BBC makes the environment its “top editorial issue”. Continue reading...

Eating meat has a hefty impact on the environment from fueling climate change to polluting landscapes and waterways

Wildlife groups say delay has allowed some farmers to systematically cull the animals• Letter: Scotland must commit to helping beavers make a comebackWildlife experts have said wild beavers in Scotland are being trapped and shot because ministers have broken promises to make them a protected species.A group of 17 prominent ecologists and conservation bodies have signed a letter to the Guardian urging the Scottish government to honour its pledge two years ago to legislate to protect more than 400 wild beavers in the southern Highlands and Tayside. Continue reading...

Rat-related callouts rise as experts say warming temperatures are helping New York’s rats feed and mate longer into the yearThe discarded slices of pizza that litter New York’s streets have long fuelled its sizeable population of rats, but now the city’s growing swarm has a new reason to enjoy their home – warming temperatures.Related: Man v rat: could the long war soon be over? | Jordan Kisner Continue reading...

Newspapers blame ‘lone-wolf’ and eco-warriors for Christmas holiday travel nightmare

Scrubbing up the skies is hard – however many filter towers and houseplants are on the jobAmong the high-rise apartment blocks of Xi’an, China, there is a 100-metre cylindrical tower. It looks like a chimney, but it has a very different purpose. It is trying to filter the city’s air. Smaller examples of outdoor air filters have been erected in the Netherlands and Poland, and filters have been installed next to roads in Delhi and on buses in Southampton. Other ideas include plants and surfaces that react with the pollution, but cleaning outdoor air is difficult since the pollution is already diluted. It’s like trying to take the milk out of your tea.Related: What would a smog-free city look like? Continue reading...

Interior department published draft impact study experts call ‘inadequate’ following 2017 Congress vote to allow drilling

Findings expose ‘big lie’ behind European marine conservation, scientists sayDestructive trawling is more intense inside official marine sanctuaries, while endangered fish are more common outside them, a startling analysis of Europe’s seas has revealed.It shows that far from conserving sealife, legal marine protection areas (MPAs) are in fact the places most damaged by industrial fishing. The work has exposed “the big lie” behind European marine conservation, experts say, with most MPAs completely open to trawling. Continue reading...

Ernst & Young report previously withheld from the public says $3.2bn water fund poses serious risksThe commonwealth faces “unique fraud risks” arising from its management of the $3.2bn portfolio of environmental water in the Murray-Darling Basin, an internal audit has found.The audit, written by Ernst & Young, and previously withheld from the public, found the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) and the near $3.2bn worth of water it controls, was at risk of being defrauded by state agencies, individual officers within those agencies and private landholders. Continue reading...

Aurelia Skipwith, who lacks predecessor’s experience, faces potential conflicts of interest over links to corporationsThe White House’s nominee to head a top US conservation agency lacks her predecessors’ experience while her political connections raise potential conflicts of interest, a Guardian analysis has found.Aurelia Skipwith, who started her career at the agrochemical giant Monsanto, has been nominated to lead the interior department’s Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees endangered species and wildlife refuges. Continue reading...

High levels of contamination in Mariana Trench show how pervasively planet has been contaminatedThe deepest point on Earth is heavily polluted with plastic, scientists have discovered, showing how pervasively the world has been contaminated.The researchers plumbed the depths of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, near Challenger Deep, the lowest place on the face of the planet. They found the highest levels of microplastics yet found in the open ocean, compared with surveys from elsewhere in the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Continue reading...

Green energy provided almost a third of electricity between July and SeptemberAlmost a third of the UK’s electricity came from renewable sources between July and September, as wind turbines and solar panels helped achieve a quarterly record for green energy.Major new offshore windfarms connecting to the grid pushed renewables to 33.1% of electricity generation across the quarter, up from 30% the year before. Continue reading...

More than 700,000 hectares cleared over two years, 40% of it in reef catchment, before stricter laws were passedMore than 700,000 hectares of forest and bushland were destroyed in Queensland in the past two years and 40% of it occurred in Great Barrier Reef catchments.Environment groups have described the level of deforestation as an “environmental disaster” and called for federal intervention to end land-clearing in reef catchments and other nationally significant areas. Continue reading...

Judgment details how ‘payment difficulties’ emerged in contract between AECOM and Adani subsidiaryAdani has been ordered to pay almost $12m owed to engineering firm AECOM for work on a scrapped rail line to the Carmichael coalmine.A judgment in the Queensland Building and Construction commission details how “payment difficulties” emerged in a contract between AECOM and an Adani subsidiary company. The 1,862-point commission adjudication says Adani had “anticipated” receiving government support that did not materialise, including a $1b federal loan to build the rail link between Carmichael and the Abbot Point port. Continue reading...

Australian Industry Group says an emissions reduction obligation in national policy is ‘vastly superior’ to separate state schemesThe New South Wales government’s call to end the “climate wars” has won a tick of approval from the Australian Industry Group, which represents Australia’s largest industrial energy users.The employer body’s chief executive, Innes Willox, told Guardian Australia an emissions reduction obligation in national policy was “vastly superior” to separate state schemes and also pushed for policies to reduce emissions outside the energy sector. Continue reading...

Tokyo denies report by Kyodo news agency that government will reveal its decision by the end of the yearJapan is to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and resume commercial whaling next year, a report claimed on Thursday, in a move that drew condemnation from Australia, with other anti-whaling nations expected to follow suit.Japan will inform the IWC of its decision by the end of the year, Kyodo news agency said, months after the body rejected its latest bid to resume commercial whaling. Continue reading...

But Green groups say proposals will mean weaker protection for nature after UK leaves EUA new post-Brexit green watchdog will be able to sue the government over environmental failings, according to new plans set out by Michael Gove. However, campaign groups have questioned the independence of the body because the chairperson and budget will be decided by the environment secretary.The establishment of the watchdog is part of the draft environment bill, which also puts principles such as “the polluter pays” into legal guidance, but only requires ministers to consider them. The bill, the first for 20 years, makes it a legal requirement for the government to have a long-term environment plan and report on progress to parliament each year. Continue reading...

State of the climate report points to a long-term increase in the frequency of extreme heat events, fire weather and droughtAustralia is experiencing more extreme heat, longer fire seasons, rising oceans and more marine heatwaves consistent with a changing climate, according to the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO’s state of the climate report.The report, published every two years, measures the long-term variability and trends observed in Australia’s climate. Continue reading...

Stay of execution for coal subsidies has been heavily criticised by climate analystsAn EU deal to slowly phase out coal subsidies is “completely inconsistent” with the bloc’s Paris climate agreement commitments, analysts say.Marathon negotiations ended early on Wednesday with a benchmark CO2 emissions standard of 550 grams per kWh for all European power plants by 2025. But coal-dependent Poland secured a loophole allowing countries another year to negotiate new “capacity mechanisms” that would be exempted from the deadline. Continue reading...

In our new column about the American south and climate change, we go towards Christians who have been resistant to ideas of environmental stewardship - perhaps it’s a message they need to hear in their own termsI was, frankly, nervous about speaking to people of faith in the south about climate change. I wrestled with my own preconceived notions and past experiences, and was surprised when conversations took inspiring, if not transcendent, turns.Secular as I am now, I still think fondly of my childhood minister, Dr Lehman, who loved college basketball and Honda Accords (he drove 13 of them during his lifetime). At the conclusion of each Lakeside Baptist service, he’d call the eastern North Carolina congregation to action. Continue reading...

Court hears department and VicForests have not protected minimum area of old-growth forest required by law in East GippslandLogging in old-growth forests in Victoria should cease, according to testimony from the Victorian environment department in a court battle over logging in East Gippsland.The Fauna and Flora Research Collective is pursuing VicForests and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in the supreme court. Continue reading...

Ogoniland women produce most of the family’s food but the twin pressures of land grabs and pollution are making it impossible for them to surviveTwo women pick a slimy path through a creek, prized by generations of their female forbears for its mangroves, which once provided an abundance of food.The elder in orange, the younger in blue, they fail to find a single periwinkle snail, a single fish or a usable piece of kindling between them. Their feet struggle to take purchase on the mud, more slippery than it used to be. Continue reading...

NSW energy minister Don Harwin said he was ‘very disappointed’ with federal minister Angus Taylor heading off a Coag voteThe New South Wales energy minister has blasted his Coalition colleagues in the federal government for blocking his attempt to debate emissions reduction at an energy ministers meeting.Don Harwin said he was “very disappointed” with the outcome of the Council of Australian Governments energy council on Wednesday because an obligation to reduce emissions is “absolutely critical” to encourage investment in new power generation and lower prices. Continue reading...

Don Harwin urges Coalition to ‘put science, economics and engineering ahead of ideology’The New South Wales energy minister, Don Harwin, wants the federal government to end its “climate wars” and start reducing emissions, ahead of a meeting with his colleagues from across Australia.But the Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the federal coalition was “beyond hope” on the issue and that NSW is calling them out too late. Continue reading...

The case for hydrogen as a fuel has been well made but there has been little investment to bring it to scaleIf Australia wants fair dinkum power, there is a new energy carrier on the block to ensure the supply of reliable renewable electricity.And if Australia gets its act together, it will lead a new global export industry for this clean energy carrier, be at the forefront of a new economy, and become a trailblazer in new technologies. Continue reading...

Toys feature in more than half of EU alerts for products containing banned chemicalsChristmas shoppers are being warned to avoid plastic toys after they appeared in more than half of EU intergovernmental alerts for products containing banned chemicals this year.In all, 290 of the 563 warnings sent out on the EU’s rapid alert system concerned toys with illegally high levels of toxins, most of which were plastic dolls, and all of which could be on sale on British high streets. Continue reading...

Scientists accuse officials of cherry-picking data to defend disease-control schemeMore than 32,000 badgers were killed in England this autumn during the annual cull, which is intended to reduce tuberculosis in cattle.Government officials claimed the culls were effective and starting to reduce prevalence of the disease in cows. But independent scientists said the officials were cherry-picking data and making up targets as they went along. Continue reading...

Government confirms anyone who adds solar from April 2019 will not be paid for excess electricity exported to gridThe government has said households that install solar panels in the future will be expected to give away unused clean power for free to energy firms earning multimillion-pound profits, provoking outrage from green campaigners.The mayor of London, big energy firms and environmentalists had urged ministers not to end the “export tariff” for solar panels under the feed-in tariff scheme, which is closing next year. Continue reading...

Rare species of snail found near A47 will be monitored in new home until 2023Snails with legally protected status could delay a road scheme by five years as a project to rehome them is kept under observation.Ditches alongside a section of the A47 in Norfolk are a habitat for little whirlpool ramshorn snails, whose shells measure just a few millimetres in diameter. Continue reading...

Europe told if it does not act it will be ‘turning blind eye to genocide’ under BolsonaroBrazil’s foremost indigenous leader has called on the EU to impose trade sanctions to prevent ecological disaster and a “social extermination” by her country’s far-right president-elect, who takes office on 1 January.Jair Bolsonaro has terrified indigenous communities by promising to take every centimetre of their land, designate rights activists as “terrorists” and carve a motorway through the Amazon, which could deforest an area larger than Germany. Continue reading...

Far-right government vows to legalise mining and commercial farming on indigenous Yanomami landThe indigenous leader and campaigning photographer who fought to create Brazil’s biggest tribal reserve warned it could be threatened under the far-right government of the president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro, as a major retrospective exhibition opens.Bolsonaro has said the Yanomami reserve, which at 9.6m hectares (24m acres) is twice the size of Switzerland, was too big for its indigenous population. Continue reading...

But charity vows to ‘fight tooth and nail’ to protect Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire from fracking by Ineos

Top prize goes to 90.5%, the proportion of plastic waste that has never been recycledThe environment, Jaffa Cakes and the reality star Kylie Jenner all feature in 2018’s statistics of the year.Among more serious statistics relating to poverty, gender equality and climate change, the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) highlighted the power of social media and McVitie’s slashing the number of Jaffa Cakes in its Christmas tube. Continue reading...

Government strategy to make ‘polluter pay’, with penalties for difficult to recycle itemsRetailers and producers of packaging will be forced to pay the full cost of collecting and recycling it under the government’s new waste strategy.Supermarkets and other retailers could be charged penalties for putting difficult to recycle packaging – such as black plastic trays – on the market as part of the strategy, which aims to make the “polluter pay”. They would be charged lower fees for packaging that was easy to reuse or recycle. Continue reading...

Australia leads the world in extinction rates and now our protected habitats are at risk. That’s neglect

Range of public figures from Jeremy Corbyn to Sue Perkins call for ban on importsA group of public figures including Jeremy Corbyn, Zac Goldsmith, Sue Perkins and Carol Vorderman have joined forces to call for an urgent halt to imports from trophy hunters.In a letter to the Guardian, the group, which also includes Piers Morgan, Liam Gallagher, Ed Sheeran and Joanna Lumley, condemns trophy hunting as “cruel, immoral, archaic and unjustifiable”. Continue reading...

Dew farm, Peasmarsh, East Sussex: Ben Walgate wants to establish a vineyard that echoes the humus- and microbe-rich soil environment in which wild vines thriveIn a coppiced corner of Dew farm, deep in the rolling Sussex Weald, grows a wild grapevine: ancient, gnarled and bountiful. When Ben Walgate moved here last year, he wild-fermented grapes from the vine and found he had made a wine that, as he put it, “tasted of the place”.Now Walgate, who comes from a long line of farmers, is creating a vineyard – Tillingham Wines – using that vine as inspiration. Instead of the intensive and chemical-dependent practices of traditional viticulture, Walgate, with the collaboration of the owner of the estate, the conservationist Lord Devonport, wants to establish a vineyard that echoes as closely as possible the natural, biodiverse, humus- and microbe-rich soil environment in which wild vines thrive. Continue reading...

Campaigners say they will force governments to act after lack of progress at UN summitCivil society groups have pledged growing international protests to drive rapid action on global warming after the UN climate summit in Poland.The summit agreed rules for implementing the 2015 Paris agreement, which aims to keep global warming as close to 1.5C (2.7F) as possible, but it made little progress in increasing governments’ commitments to cut emissions. The world remains on track for 3C of warming, which scientists says will bring catastrophic extreme weather. Continue reading...

An investigation finds hundreds of shocking welfare incidents, fuelling concerns about standards in a post-Brexit trade dealChickens slowly freezing to death, being boiled alive, drowned or suffocating under piles of other birds are among hundreds of shocking welfare incidents recorded at US slaughterhouses, according to previously unpublished reports.Among them are “inexcusable” violations, say campaigners, who ask if the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) current system, where inspectors issue reports when they see violations, really works. One inspector, who asked to remain anonymous, questioned the impact of those reports. Continue reading...

A small but growing movement of millennials are seeking out a more agrarian life but the reality of life on the land is not always as simple as they hopedEight years ago, Liz Whitehurst, then 25, was working in digital communications at a policy organization in Washington DC and dreaming of life outside a cubicle. She started exploring a different kind of existence by volunteering on local farms. When the farmer who provided the locally sourced vegetable box she signed up for invited her to work the fields one day, she was starstruck. “You’re my hero,” she recalls telling the farmer. “I want your life.”Today, she has it. Whitehurst grows a wide array of produce on Owl’s Nest Farm, set on a few acres in Upper Marlboro, Maryland (she bought it from that same farmer). Whitehurst grows sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and squash – everything is handpicked. She also provides greens to a local pizza kitchen which was recently named one of the best new restaurants in the country. Continue reading...

Private funders owed about £7m from charity behind abandoned London projectThe charity behind London’s garden bridge project faces being sued by wealthy donors who fear their money might not be returned even after the much-criticised scheme collapsed, with a loss to taxpayers of almost £50m.One individual donor claimed the money he gave to the Garden Bridge Trust had been “pissed down the drain by a bunch of incompetents”, and that he wanted it returned. Continue reading...

With no new infrastructure or funding, questions remain on how to genuinely democratise cycling in a big cityLondon has a new official plan for cycling. It’s full of bold statements of intent and has some interesting ideas. That’s the good news. Here’s the drawback: within the 59 glossy pages I could detect no new plans for cycling infrastructure.This all might seem a bit niche, not to say London-centric. But there is a wider lesson here: if cities are to truly move ahead in making cycling everyday and for everyone, good intentions aren’t enough. It involves political boldness, and taking risks. Continue reading...

UK consumers are reining in spending as economic uncertainty dents footfall and hits salesRetailers vying for customers in the last full week of trading before Christmas are in for a tough time according to the latest predictions, with footfall expected to fall by about 3% this week as cash-strapped shoppers rein in spending.The forecast by retail analysis firm Springboard adds to the bleak picture facing the sector in the key festive trading season, as consumers uncertain about what Brexit will mean for the economy and their finances cut back on gift-buying this year. Continue reading...

Researchers warn rising temperatures will cause plants to flower later and die soonerMilder winters driven by climate change will hit blackcurrant crops, with plants producing fewer and lower quality fruit, according to a new study.Like many other fruit and woody plants, blackcurrants need a period of chilling before they start to grow in spring. This reduces the risk of frost damage to new buds and makes sure they burst rapidly in the spring and flower together when there are plenty of pollinators such as bees around. Continue reading...

Trillions of dollars of investments are being taken out of carbon-intensive companies. Governments must now take noticeI remember well the first institution to announce it was divesting from fossil fuel. It was 2012 and I was on the second week of a gruelling tour across the US trying to spark a movement. Our roadshow had been playing to packed houses down the west coast, and we’d crossed the continent to Portland, Maine. As a raucous crowd jammed the biggest theatre in town, a physicist named Stephen Mulkey took the mic. He was at the time president of the tiny Unity College in the state’s rural interior, and he announced that over the weekend its trustees had voted to sell their shares in coal, oil and gas companies. “The time is long overdue for all investors to take a hard look at the consequences of supporting an industry that persists in destructive practices,” he said.Related: The Guardian view on global warming: time is running out | Editorial Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion group call on BBC to tell ‘full truth about ecological emergency’Climate campaigners are calling on the BBC to declare a climate emergency and make the issue its top editorial priority.In a letter published in the Guardian, the new civil disobedience group Extinction Rebellion (XR) says the BBC, “as a respected media voice in the UK, needs to play a key role in enabling the transformative change needed”. Continue reading...