Environment | The Guardian

The Calanques national park was targeted by a gang who sold fish to smart restaurants. Now in a landmark case, they will pay ‘environmental damages’Johan Jimenez stood on a cliff, peering through binoculars at a picturesque inlet in this unspoiled corner of the Mediterranean near Marseille.“They don’t think anyone is watching from up here on land,” said the armed guard from the environmental police, scanning the rocks below for day-trippers casually dropping fishing lines into its protected waters. “But we can always get down there to stop them.” Continue reading...

Animal rights groups are outraged as overseas tour companies offer expensive shooting packages in UK conservation parksMany Britons probably think that trophy hunting is something that happens abroad. But anyone looking to bag an animal’s head to grace that empty spot on their wall needs only to head to deepest, darkest Bedfordshire where they can shoot rare deer, or, for the financially stretched, wallabies and sheep.A small number of overseas firms are offering trophy-shooting packages in the county, which boasts several impressive deer parks. A ‘grade A’ red deer stag, highly prized by hunters because of its magnificent antlers, can be shot for a £9,000 trophy fee, according to an online price list dated 2018 and distributed by a Danish travel company called Limpopo & Diana Hunting Tours. Continue reading...

James Hansen, ‘father of climate science’, accuses Britain of ignoring scienceOne of the world’s leading climate scientists has launched a scathing attack on the government’s fracking programme, accusing ministers of aping Donald Trump and ignoring scientific evidence.James Hansen, who is known as the father of climate science, warned that future generations would judge the decision to back a UK fracking industry harshly. Continue reading...

Closing the outstanding-rated outdoor nursery in Kent is at odds with the charity’s own campaign to get children to play outdoors, say parents“Set your children free,” urges the National Trust’s campaign to get children outdoors. “Let them feel the wind in their hair, smell food cooking on an open fire, track wild animals and eat a juicy apple straight from the tree.”But young children will no longer taste such freedoms in National Trust woods in Kent after a forest school judged “outstanding” by Ofsted was evicted by the charity. Continue reading...

The high court’s decision in favour of the shale gas giant will not deter the mass movement fighting the industry all the wayA whole new fossil fuel industry will launch in the UK on Saturday when energy giant Cuadrilla starts fracking for shale gas. This follows the defeat of Lancashire resident Bob Dennett’s attempt to block fracking in his local area with a court injunction – and comes just six days after a landmark report from the UN’s IPCC warning that we have just 12 years to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown.I can’t deny the fracking decision is a devastating blow for everyone in the UK who cares about our future and our democracy. Continue reading...

Britain is a leader in offshore wind but lacks political will to invest in other emerging technologiesA maritime climate with wind, sun and waves and an island surrounded by shallow seas with a high tidal range makes the UK probably the best-placed country in the world to take advantage of renewable energy.Britain is already a world leader in offshore wind but has been reluctant to invest in other promising technologies. Underwater sea turbines in particular, wave power and various forms of tidal barrage have failed to be given the political support needed to get them into the mainstream. Continue reading...

Fall in pound and uncertainty has led to farmers paying more to attract or retain EU workersBrexit is about to make Christmas turkeys more expensive. Prices are to jump as a result of the fall in the value of the pound and higher wages farmers now have to pay to their east European pluckers.Paul Kelly, the chairman of the British Turkey Federation and boss of KellyBronze, a free range producer, said the industry was being forced to increase prices because of a 5% to 7% rise in costs. Continue reading...

GD Agarwal had been fasting since 22 June to protest against government inaction in cleaning the riverAn Indian environmental activist has died on the 111th day of a hunger strike to pressure the government to clean the Ganges river.GD Agarwal, a former professor of environmental engineering at one of India’s top universities, died on Thursday afternoon in hospital in the north Indian city of Rishikesh, where he had been admitted earlier that day. Continue reading...

Overfishing and climate change harm the marine environment at least as much as plastic pollutionFilms such as A Plastic Ocean, and the huge success of Blue Planet II, have brought ocean plastic pollution firmly into the popular domain. Plastic has become ubiquitous through the world’s oceans, with fragments found in deep ocean trenches and the Arctic ice sheets. Furthermore, pictures of charismatic animals such as whales and turtles consuming or entangled in plastic provide powerful imagery of the problem to the public.There is no doubt plastic is a big issue. A study in the journal Marine Policy suggests plastic pollution might be reaching a planetary boundary, a term used to describe safe operational environmental limits within which the world can continue to function safely. Continue reading...

Greek island takes action to protect animals’ welfare as number of visitors soarsHad it not been for the donkeys of Santorini, few people would have associated overweight tourists with animal welfare or heard of the law Greece is about to pass.The island’s volcanic beauty lures millions of tourists each year, but the donkey population paid a heavy price for a record number of visits last year. Continue reading...

Government ends incentives to buy new hybrids and cuts those for electric vehiclesIncentives for consumers to buy hybrid and electric cars rather than diesel or petrol alternatives have been slashed by the government, adding thousands of pounds to the price of a new low-emission vehicle.Car manufacturers said the decision was an “astounding” move. It comes only three months after the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, published a Road to Zero strategy to curb vehicle emissions by promoting greener cars and three days after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change called for an urgent switch to electric vehicles. Continue reading...

Some experts say scaling down inspections is likely to lead to more consumers being infected with campylobacterMillions of chickens could soon be sold across the EU without being individually inspected for contamination or signs of disease after being killed, in a move some experts believe will put consumers at increased risk of food poisoning bugs.Under current rules, every poultry carcass is individually, visually checked after slaughter and before being released for public consumption. But proposals being considered by the European Commission would see slaughter plants able to look at just a “representative sample” if they have a history of complying with the standards set by official veterinarians. Continue reading...

A rhinoceros hornbill and a white moray eel are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

High court rejects request to temporarily block Cuadrilla operation in Lancashire

Healthcare Environmental Services denies anatomical waste was caught in backlogA company facing a criminal investigation over a pile-up of NHS waste has claimed it repeatedly warned authorities about a lack of incinerators and disposal facilities.Garry Pettigrew, the managing director of Healthcare Environmental Services (HES), denied claims human body parts were among items caught up in a backlog at its sites. Continue reading...

‘Inseparable’ Sphen and Magic show ‘great excitement caring for their egg’ and are natural parents, aquarium saysTwo male penguins have “proposed” to each other in a Sydney aquarium, and are now the proud foster parents of an egg.Sphen and Magic, two gentoo penguins, have built a bigger nest than any other couple, take turns incubating, and have been praised by staff as model parents. Continue reading...

Farmers are ‘up for radical thought’ following bad harvests due to extreme weather, NFU saysFrom low-emission cows to robotic soil management, the farming industry will have to explore new approaches in the wake of a UN warning that the world needs to cut meat consumption or face worsening climate chaos.That was the message from Guy Smith, vice-president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), this week as policymakers began to discuss how Britain can address the challenges posed by the recent global warming report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Continue reading...

Campaigners say more than 15m people who care about the environment did not vote in the 2014 midterms – can they create a ‘green wave’ this November?Among the motivating issues for voters in US elections, the environment is typically eclipsed by topics such as healthcare, the economy and guns. But the upcoming midterms could, belatedly, see a stirring of a slumbering green giant.“The environmental movement doesn’t have a persuasion problem, it has a turnout problem,” said Nathaniel Stinnett, the founder of the Environmental Voter Project, which is aiming to spur people who care about the natural world and climate change to the ballot box. “This group has more power than it realizes. In the midterms we want to flood the zone with environmentalists.” Continue reading...

Academic Penny Olsen suggests ecologist John Young staged discoveries related to endangered night parrotThe Australian Wildlife Conservancy is investigating claims that photos it published which point to sightings of the endangered night parrot were staged.Former AWC ecologist John Young is credited with taking the first photograph of what has been dubbed the “world’s most mysterious bird” in Queensland in 2013. Last year Young said he had found a feather from the night parrot on Kalamurina Station, around northern Lake Eyre in South Australia, describing the July discovery as significant “beyond what I could have imagined”. Continue reading...

Mayor’s plan builds on success of this year’s scheme to build 20 fountains across the capitalLondon could soon be awash with drinking fountains, with 100 new installations in the pipeline across the capital.This year plans for 20 fountains were unveiled in a joint venture between the mayor of London and partners, with recent figures suggesting those installed so far have already dispensed thousands of litres of water to thirsty members of the public. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Kingvale station’s proposed clearing of 2,000 hectares could be held up for monthsFederal approval to clear more than 2,000 hectares of Queensland native forest in the catchment for the Great Barrier Reef could potentially be held up for months after the Environmental Defender’s Office launched court action to prevent it.The federal court proceedings against the state environment minister and the owners of Kingvale station come as the federal environment minister, Melissa Price, extended the time to make a decision on the controversial Kingvale proposal to 31 October. Continue reading...

Biologists fear that the storm surge carried with it red tide toxins that can cause respiratory distress and flu-like symptomsIf destroyed homes, lost livelihoods and mass power outages were not enough to be dealing with, Florida’s victims of Hurricane Michael are facing another potential problem – the state’s toxic red tide.In the days leading up to the monster storm’s landfall on Wednesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) found cells of the Karenia brevis organism that causes red tide at two water sampling points close to Panama City and Mexico Beach where the storm swept ashore. Continue reading...

Ongoing animal slaughter must be treated with same severity as drug and people trafficking, say leaders from 80 nations gathered in LondonThe mass trafficking of wildlife impoverishes everyone in the world and must be treated with the same severity as drug and people trafficking, according to leaders from 80 nations gathered at the Illegal Wildlife Trade conference in London on Thursday.“The illegal wildlife crime makes us all poorer, not just those countries robbed of their wildlife, natural habitat and resources, but all of us who are cheated of our natural inheritance, the rich diversity of our living world,” said Theresa May, UK prime minister, on Thursday. “We need to treat this billion-dollar criminal enterprise in the same way we do other serious and organised crimes.” Continue reading...

Elections have consequences. Denying science has consequences. And we are reaping what we sow.

Hundreds of millions of pounds must be spent to achieve 80% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, report showsHundreds of millions of pounds must be spent on the UK’s draughty housing stock to meet the government’s climate change targets, with progress so far too slow to make the difference needed.Repairing existing homes to a high standard, with insulation and renewable energy technology, would cut consumer bills and bring health improvements, a new report shows. Continue reading...

Study highlights ‘shocking contribution’ of domestic wood and coal fires to air pollution, which causes 40,000 early deaths a year in the UKPeople burning wet wood on inefficient stoves are poisoning themselves and their neighbours, according to a new report from a leading thinktank.The IPPR study highlights the “shocking contribution” domestic wood and coal fires make to the UK’s air pollution crisis, which causes 40,000 early deaths a year and devastating health problems for hundreds of thousands of others. Continue reading...

Similar challenges are sprouting up along the coast, and the golden sands and beach properties that define the state at riskOn a recent overcast October afternoon, yet another section of West Cliff Drive, the premier seafront street in Santa Cruz, California, was roped off as workers toiled to prevent it from crumbling into the Pacific Ocean.The erosion gnawing away at this prized road, and the famed surfing beaches it overlooks, is emblematic of the relentless threat that climate change poses to California’s coastline. As the sea level rises and storms of growing strength smash into the coast, the golden sands and beach properties that have come to define the state are at risk. Continue reading...

Minister says plan to coordinate climate response in absence of government policy interferes with democracy

Mandatory environmental labels would change how we produce and consume in three far-reaching ways.

Major study also finds huge changes to farming are needed to avoid destroying Earth’s ability to feed its population

Top climate adviser says UN warnings will force the government to act in ways that will be controversial and politically fraughtThe UK’s obligations in response to this week’s warnings from the UN over global warming will be controversial and politically fraught, taking the country into “uncharted territory” and testing the political consensus on climate change, its top climate adviser has warned.The government will have to regulate industry and intervene in the market in ways that will prove controversial in parliament, predicted Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). He is charged with advising ministers on how swift and how deep cuts in emissions should be and how they can be achieved, and his committee will start work on the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) advice shortly. Continue reading...

Several provinces unhappy with PM’s national carbon tax, while green groups oppose government investment in fossil fuelsWhen Justin Trudeau swept into power in 2015, he pledged to make fighting climate change a top priority for his government.Three years later, Canada’s prime minister is on the defensive, scrambling to both revive his party’s unravelling climate strategy as a growing number of provinces refuse to participate in national carbon tax – and to temper frustrations over his government’s continued investment in the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

While the Austin campus has a sustainability plan and promotes recycling, the university is also a major fracking landlord that leases millions of acres to oil and gas companiesThe dusty oilfields of west Texas can feel a world away from the bustling heart of Austin, the state’s eco-conscious capital.A common thread is the University of Texas: one of America’s biggest academic institutions and one of its largest landowners. University land managers control 2.1m acres in Texas, much of it leased to oil and gas companies who have installed 9,000 wells on its property. Continue reading...

Forest fires and air that seems to combust: thanks to climate change, more parts of the world will soon be ablaze. California shows us what will happen when it does Continue reading...

The Wentworth candidate rejects former leader’s view that party’s policy on emissions is inadequateThe Liberal candidate for Wentworth, Dave Sharma, said his party is “doing enough” and has “a good record” on climate change, after a blistering attack from former leader John Hewson, who said the party deserved a “drubbing” over its inaction on the issue.Hewson told Guardian Australia that Liberal voters have a unique opportunity: register a protest now and return to the party at the general election in six months’ time. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UN group responds to Scott Morrison’s statement that Australia won’t be ‘throwing money’ into fundAn official United Nations grouping of 47 of the world’s poorest countries has urged Australia to “honour its international commitments” after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the country would not be “throwing money” into a key international climate change fund.Australia has previously pledged $200m to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), set up through the UN’s climate convention to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and cut their own greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...

‘This is not good news,’ Bureau of Meteorology says, warning drought conditions could get worseHeatwaves and bushfires are predicted in southern Australia thanks to a 70% chance of El Niño weather conditions, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned. Although cyclones may ease up in the north by the end of the year, the outlook for drought-hit areas is not good, according to the bureau.“Between the [above average] temperature and the lack of rainfall, this is not good news,” climatologist Robyn Duell said. “This outlook on the back of such little rainfall and dry conditions makes it such a worry for people.” Continue reading...

Seattle residents had hoped to use ‘necessity defense’ in Minnesota court, arguing threat to planet was so great they had no choiceA Minnesota judge abruptly dismissed charges against three climate change activists during their trial on Tuesday, saying prosecutors had failed to prove that the protesters’ attempt to shut down two Enbridge Energy oil pipelines caused any damage.The Clearwater county district judge Robert Tiffany threw the case out after prosecutors rested their case and before the protesters could use their defense: that the threat of climate change from using crude oil drilled from Canadian tar sands was so imminent that the activists’ actions were not only morally right, but necessary. Continue reading...

Policy Exchange report calls for steadily rising levy to help tackle climate changeCompanies selling fossil fuels in Britain should face a steadily rising carbon tax to tackle climate change after Brexit, according to the former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling and the Conservative party grandee Michael Howard.In a cross-party campaign to ensure the government sticks to its commitment to cut carbon emissions after Britain leaves the EU, the two politicians said a tax should be introduced as soon as reasonably possible. Continue reading...

President says he ‘will be looking at’ report warning ‘unprecedented’ changes needed to avoid extreme heat, floods and povertyFaced with a major UN report that warns of floods, drought, extreme heat and increased poverty should the world not take radical action to address climate change, Donald Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet.The US president was visiting Florida, a state particularly vulnerable to sea level rise and currently in the path of Hurricane Michael, when the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned on Monday that “unprecedented” changes were needed to stave off dire impacts if the world warms 1.5C beyond the pre-industrial period. Continue reading...

Ben van Beurden says ‘another Brazil in terms of rainforest’ will help achieve UN targetThe boss of Shell has said a huge tree-planting project the size of the Amazon rainforest would be needed to meet a tougher global warming target, as he argued more renewable energy alone would not be enough.Ben van Beurden said it would be a major challenge to limit temperature rises to 1.5C (equivalent to a rise of 2.7F), which a landmark report from the UN’s climate science panel has said will be necessary to avoid dangerous warming. Continue reading...

Readers including Fawzi Ibrahim and Caroline Lucas MP discuss ways to combat greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate changeThe “final tick box” to limit global warming is not just political (Global warming must not exceed 1.5C, landmark UN report warns, 8 October), it is also economic. Capitalism, the cause of global warming, cannot be its remedy. Industrial production came about when commodity production became dominant – an economic system in which commodities are produced for the sole purpose of being sold, upon which they return more money to the investors than their original outlay.The profit is then used to produce more commodities; a continually expanding process with expanding energy needs. New technology and sustainable sources of energy will help to contain global warming, but only if the rate of removing pollutants exceeds the rate of increase in energy needs. Evidence so far points to the contrary. Continue reading...

Matt Wheeler, Chris Osman, Pam Laurance and Bill White on the changes that need to be made to road regulations and driver habits in order to avoid climate catastropheFollowing the UN’s report concluding carbon emissions need to be reduced massively and rapidly to prevent an average increase in global temperatures of more than 1.5C (Global warming must not exceed 1.5C, landmark UN report warns, 8 October), one quick and simple way in which the UK could make a start is by cutting the top speed vehicles can travel on motorways from 70 to 60mph. All cars operate most efficiently at a speed between 50 and 60mph. At the stroke of a pen we could ensure all vehicles on motorways are running far closer to their most efficient levels. It won’t save the world on its own, but it’s a cost-free and easy step to take that gets us moving in the right direction.

We are calling for the adoption of a third pact, enshrining a new generation of fundamental commitments, write Yann Aguila, Antonio Herman Benjamin, Laurent Fabius and 128 othersOn 10 April 2018, the United Nations general assembly adopted a resolution that paved the way for negotiations on a global pact for the environment. This international treaty would combine the guiding legal principles for environmental action into one single and far-reaching text. In 2015, the adoption of the sustainable development goals and the Paris climate agreement represented major progress. However, environmental damage persists and is more serious than ever before. The years 2017 and 2018 have seen record-breaking temperatures. Biodiversity continues to decline at a rapid pace.With the global pact for the environment, the international community would be equipped for the first time with a treaty of a general nature that covers all environmental areas. It would be the cornerstone of international environmental law, therefore overseeing the different existing sectoral agreements (climate, biodiversity, waste, pollution, etc), filling the gaps and facilitating their implementation. Continue reading...

Feed-in tariff subsidies must not be abandoned, writes Sandra Walmsley, while Gaynor Adey says the UK government should look again at the Swansea Bay tidal projectNicholas Stern suggests that strong political will is needed if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change (All leaders must recognise the choice: act decisively now or suffer the consequences later, Analysis, 8 October). Unfortunately, there no evidence of such will, and the rollercoaster of policy for renewables means that potentially thriving industries have faced uncertainty.82% of UK citizens support renewables, yet the management of subsidies has already reduced the number of registered PV installers by more than 60%. Current proposals on abandoning feed-in tariff (FiT) subsidies will cause even more job and skills losses. Maintaining the current export tariff on FiTs is essential. Proposals for all suitable new buildings to have renewable energy systems would have a major effect on carbon emissions for a very small proportion of the costs. Continue reading...

Ecosystems | Fossil-fuel adverts | Brexit | Fracking | Compostable bagsIt is good to see that an appalling future awaiting the planet is being recognised (Huge risk if global warming exceeds 1.5C, warns landmark UN report, 8 October) and brought to light by the IPCC. Is there now any hope that the Convention on Biological Diversity can be jolted into comparable action that promotes the possibly more important and urgent demise facing biodiversity and ecosystems on our planet?

HGVs, buses and coaches would pay full fee with taxis and LGVs paying £12.50Drivers of the most polluting vehicles, could be charged up to £50 a day to enter Leeds under radical new plans to cut air pollution in the Yorkshire city.The Clean Air Zone (CAZ), which could be the first outside London, will cover more than half of Leeds and will see drivers monitored using a network of cameras from January 2020. Lorries, buses and coaches would all face the maximum charge. Continue reading...

Former leader says it might take losing the seat to get the party to do something on climateFormer Liberal leader John Hewson has called on voters in his former seat of Wentworth to use the byelection as a referendum on climate change and vote against the Liberals.He suggested it might take “a drubbing” in the byelection on 20 October to force the party he once led to respond to “the urgent challenge” of climate change, and that Liberal voters should consider voting for others before returning to vote Liberal at a general election in six months’ time. Continue reading...

Officials in India say Obsession cologne may help trap animal that has killed nine peopleWildlife authorities in India trying to catch a tiger thought to have killed at least nine people say they are considering the use of an unconventional weapon: Calvin Klein’s Obsession cologne.The six-year-old tiger, given the name T1, has been accused of preying on people in Pandharkawada, a town in Maharashtra state. Continue reading...

Ecosia offers to buy remaining forest from energy firm RWE, which plans to fell most of the treesA non-profit Berlin tech startup has offered to buy the remaining 200 hectares of an ancient German forest to save it from being destroyed for coal surface mining.Ecosia, a search engine which donates the majority of its advertising revenue to conservation initiatives and funded the planting of almost 40m trees across the world, has approached the energy firm RWE with an offer of €1m (£877,000) to secure the final stretch of the 12,000-year-old Hambach forest in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Continue reading...