Environment | The Guardian

When the free-market case for bike infrastructure is so clear, why won’t Conservative candidates embrace it?Among his many claims to political prominence, both good and bad, Boris Johnson was notable as a Conservative who built a lot of bike lanes fairly quickly (at least in the end).Similarly, much of New York City’s bike renaissance was launched by Michael Bloomberg, the three-term mayor who, as a billionaire media tycoon and Republican, had more in common with most Bond villains than your stereotypical wind-in-the-hair bike advocate. Continue reading...

High Fields, Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire: These exhausted hay meadows, now owned by the National Trust, are on the way to being restoredClimbing up from the top of Coombs Dale, I turn up a rough road known as Black Harry Lane. I don’t know the origins of the name; my hunch would be that it’s related to the region’s distant lead-mining past. There was an 18th-century highwayman called Black Harry, who was gibbeted nearby, but he was named after the packhorse road, not the other way round.On a warm summer’s evening, there is nothing malevolent about the place. The verges are thick with flowers: meadow crane’s-bill, a flower that when I notice it reminds me I’m home, its commonplace purple threaded with the subtler, paler scabious. The track itself has needed heavy repairs in recent years, thanks to off-road enthusiasts, whose local reputation, like that of highwaymen, is mixed. Continue reading...

Ten black rhinos died last month in Tsavo East park due to conservation officers’ negligenceThe only rhino to survive a bungled relocation to a Kenyan wildlife park has been attacked by lions, Kenya’s tourism minister, Najib Balala, has said.Ten out of 11 black rhinos died last month in their new home in Tsavo East national park after being moved by the state wildlife service, prompting protests from conservation groups around the world. Continue reading...

Sudden weather change after weeks of drought could cause flooding and crop damageFarmers across many parts of the UK are bracing themselves for thunderstorms and outbursts of heavy rain after weeks of drought and high temperatures.The sudden change in the weather, expected to affect eastern areas hardest but spreading to the north and Midlands over Friday, is likely to cause problems of flooding and potential crop damage. Continue reading...

Approval of Chinese nuclear technology in the UK would act as a springboard to the rest of the worldChina wants to become a global leader in nuclear power and the UK is crucial to realising its ambitions.While other countries have scaled back on atomic energy in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, state-backed Chinese companies benefit from the fact that China is still relying on nuclear energy to reach the country’s low-carbon goals. Continue reading...

The remaining wilderness areas, mostly in the remote Pacific and at the poles, need urgent protection from fishing and pollution, scientists sayJust 13% of the world’s oceans remain untouched by the damaging impacts of humanity, the first systematic analysis has revealed. Outside the remotest areas of the Pacific and the poles, virtually no ocean is left harbouring naturally high levels of marine wildlife.Huge fishing fleets, global shipping and pollution running off the land are combining with climate change to degrade the oceans, the researchers found. Furthermore, just 5% of the remaining ocean wilderness is within existing marine protection areas. Continue reading...

King’s College London ‘lending appearance of neutrality’ to businessman with energy linksOne of the UK’s most prestigious universities is facing allegations that it is providing a platform for lobbying on behalf of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Germany and Russia.The German watchdog LobbyControl has accused King’s College London of lending an appearance of neutrality to a former German MP whose company has commercial contracts with Nord Stream 2 and an energy firm which stands to profit from the infrastructure project across the Baltic Sea. Continue reading...

Republican-led changes to the Endangered Species Act put plants and animals across America at risk. Here are the ones you should be most concerned aboutRepublicans in the western United States have been trying to whittle away the Endangered Species Act (ESA) since Donald Trump took office. Under new proposals, wildlife managers would limit protections for species designated as “threatened” (a level below endangered), consider the economic costs prior to defending a species, and de-emphasize long-term threats such as climate change.The proposals follow Republican bills and budget riders that would remove protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states, exempt the greater sage-grouse from an ESA listing for 10 years, and increase state involvement in conservation decisions. Continue reading...

Parliament’s last day is always one for sneaky, underhand decisions. This year, the government has outdone itselfThey have finally gone away. The prime minister tried to get rid of parliament a few days early, but couldn’t muster the votes. There was so much bad news to bury, it would have been easier to scuttle off sooner: nothing is good news for her these days, so scores of written ministerial statements slipped out in the last couple of days, in the hope that no one would notice.It’s a tradition – a bad one – used by all governments called “take out the trash day”, the last day of the session, with no time for MPs to summon ministers to explain highly controversial decisions. They hope to duck under the radar, or that the opposition will forget in the long six-week break. Continue reading...

There is little government action to ensure homes, hospitals, schools and transport can deal with extreme heat, say MPs, with heat deaths set to triple as climate change bites furtherThe UK is “woefully unprepared” for deadly heatwaves, according to a cross-party committee of MPs, with the government ignoring warnings from its official climate change adviser.Related: A heatwave is the perfect moment to rediscover the joys of being naked | Alice O’Keeffe Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire: As with mosquitoes, the female is deadlier than the male, seeking a meal of animal blood so that she can grow her eggsMany a fly has landed on my bare limbs this long summer, stretching out its minesweeper mouthparts to dab at my skin for something edible. Not thinking too hard about where those dirty feet have been, I tolerate them pattering about, sucking up, until the tickling sensation gets too much, and I shake them off.What I worry about is the flies that don’t walk. Continue reading...

Authorities install mesh net to hide sight and smell of Sentiong River from athletesThe Jakarta city government has come under fire for buying a giant nylon net to cover up a polluted and foul-smelling river weeks before the Indonesian capital hosts the 2018 Asian Games.The Sentiong River, which twists alongside the athletes’ village in Kemayoran in central Jakarta, is so polluted it is known by locals as kali item or the black river.

Visitors express disappointment but park says choice to empty popular valley was tough but necessary

Researchers say failures allowed logging of 25% of old growth forest despite extinction threatHabitat for the critically endangered swift parrot is being “knowingly destroyed” by logging because of government failures to manage the species’ survival, according to research.Matthew Webb and Dejan Stojanovic, two of the Eureka prize finalists from the Australian National University’s difficult bird research group, say governments have stalled on management plans that would protect known feeding and nesting habitat in Tasmania. Continue reading...

Samantha Harding says Coca-Cola’s rewards-based recycling initiative only fuels more consumption, and Jean Glasberg calls for more water fountainsAs Coca-Cola launches yet another heavily branded rewards-based initiative around recycling (Recyclers get half-price tickets for attractions, 25 July), it’s interesting to note that the global behemoth apparently still wonders whether deposit systems for bottles and cans increase recycling. Not only was it on a government working group that found that they do, but it runs many deposit systems around the world that see recycling rates as high as 98.5%.As reward systems only fuel higher levels of consumption, the question is why would a company promote a solution to waste that actually creates more waste? The answer, predictably, is that the system only benefits itself and other big businesses, rather than being better for taxpayers or the environment. Continue reading...

Christopher Graffius of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation responds to a country diary about a Welsh game shootYour country diary (14 July) on the Llechweddygarth shoot in Powys is wrong. There are no grey partridge on the shoot. The game is not “tossed into the backs of Land Rovers” but hung properly in accordance with the Code of Good Shooting Practice on a purpose-built game cart. The game is not “sent for landfill” but respectfully processed and sold by a local small food business.There is no shooting in the churchyard of Pennant Melangell; the nearest gun is two football fields from the church and birds are driven away from the shrine. Continue reading...

Dangerous air quality forces closure of section of national park, which gets more than half a million visitors in July aloneYosemite national park has been partially closed and officials have ordered more mandatory evacuations as wildfires continue to sweep across California this week. Fueled by dry conditions and high temperatures, smoke has settled over the popular tourist destination, causing unsafe conditions for visitors and workers, prompting officials to issue a temporary closure and evacuate the remaining tourists beginning on Wednesday at noon.The California department of forestry and fire protection said on Wednesday that the blaze has burned 60 square miles (155 sq km). It is 25% contained. Continue reading...

Comics, including Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers, discussed Trump’s increased brazenness and the rollback of environmental protectionsLate-night hosts on Tuesday discussed reports that Donald Trump is considering revoking the security clearances of former government officials and the latest from the interior and education departments.Related: Trevor Noah on the Michael Cohen tapes: 'The perfect audiobook for our road trip to hell' Continue reading...

Wildfire is now an over-riding concern for many farmers, who are taking extra precautions to stop fires spreading as the hot spell continues“It’s like a tinderbox out here,” says Lesley Chandler, looking down at parched fields where bleached-out grass struggles through baked, stone-hard earth. “Just a spark could set it all alight.”Chandler farms 200 acres of arable land in Oxfordshire, where there has been virtually no rain for weeks. Pastures that would normally boast grass nearly a foot tall have instead a thin cover of dried-out vegetation. Continue reading...

Facebook is still struggling to contain its fake news problem

Failure to meet deadlines for water resource plans could jeopardise the entire strategy, royal commission toldThere is a high likelihood the New South Wales government will fail to meet the deadline for developing a crucial water resource plan that will underpin the Murray-Darling basin plan, the South Australian royal commission has heard.

Legoland and Thorpe Park among the attractions that have joined Coca-Cola in a trial offering instant incentives for recyclingVisitors to some of the UK’s most popular tourist attractions are to be offered half-price entry in exchange for used plastic drinks bottles, as part of a trial starting on Wednesday which gives instant incentives for recycling.In a tie-up between theme park operator Merlin and drinks giant Coca-Cola, a series of so-called “reverse vending machines” will be installed outside the entrances of Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures and Legoland. Continue reading...

Powis Castle, Welshpool, Powys: The crows live a parallel existence as shrine animals, stealing tributes from visitors, essential to the life of the place but overlookedTwo young crows, beaks agape, sat quietly on the stump of a beech tree I cut down on the eastern bank below the castle walls in the late 1970s. The crows waited for a parent to turn up with the remains of a sandwich nicked from the cafe down the garden. They were living a kind of parallel existence as shrine animals, dark creatures in the garden’s gloriously vivid displays of flower, stealing tributes from visitors, essential to the life of the place but overlooked.Cultural places in the public view have a wild private life. Behind the care and hard work that sustains a garden like this and gives it aesthetic qualities that people from all over the world come to experience, there is a wild life that grounds it in place and provides an ecological context for the cultural. Much of this life, once persecuted for its wildness, is now celebrated as wildlife but crows retain that outsider, transgressive character. However beautiful the garden is, crows reveal a secret bandit territory. Common and dark, they are almost invisible and yet nonetheless tutelary. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Energy minister says targets can be reviewed in five years if states sign up to energy guaranteeJosh Frydenberg has offered an olive branch on the national energy guarantee, telling state energy ministers the emissions reduction target can be reviewed after five years – stepping back from an ambit claim that it be locked in for a decade.The concession is flagged in a commonwealth paper circulated to the states late on Tuesday night. It sets out the Turnbull’s government’s position on how emissions reduction in the Neg will work. Continue reading...

Liberal energy minister, who inherited policy criticised as a mix of ‘ideology and idiocy’, says he’ll ensure it does not come at too high a priceSouth Australia’s energy minister says the state is on track to have 75% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025 – the target set by the former Labor premier Jay Weatherill and once rejected by his Liberal government.And Dan van Holst Pellekaan pledged to ensure it does not come at too high a price. Continue reading...

European hornets have moved north with climate change, but are generally less aggressive than common waspsIn a drought, all sorts of wildlife gets attracted to a garden pond since there are few other sources of water nearby. Regular visitors are wasps, the largest of which is the European hornet, Vespa crabro, which dwarfs common wasps because it is twice the size, at 25mm long.According to the experts it is less aggressive than the common wasp, but carries a substantial sting – so requires respect. Although once confined to the extreme south of Britain because it was too cold further north, climate change has allowed hornets to extend their range as far north as Scotland, and they are now common in the Midlands and central England. Continue reading...

Marcus Nield of the UN’s Climate Change Adaptation Unit says blaming China for is a case of ‘yellow peril’ hysteria, while Robin Maynard highlights the key role of population in depleting resourcesBlaming China for climate change is a clearcut case of “yellow peril” hysteria (Letters, 12 July). On average, a person in China consumes less than half of the emissions of a person in the US (7.2 tonnes per capita annually compared with 16.5 tonnes). So why all the finger-wagging at China? There’s a blatant mistake recurring in carbon politics. Yes, as a nation, China emits the most carbon dioxide, but an astronomical volume of these emissions are to manufacture our goods in the west. Is it fair to maintain a voracious level of consumption in the US and UK while blaming China for producing the goods that we’re consuming? Don’t look at emissions in isolation. Look at them in tandem with consumption, and then we’ll see where to place the burden of blame. Also, China’s investments in renewables have caused the costs to plummet, from which the entire world can now benefit. China invests more than $100bn in domestic renewables every year – more than twice the level of the US, and more than the US and the EU combined.

Experts call for better forest management and focus on prevention after blaze that killed more than 70 peopleAn unusually dry winter, with less than average rainfall interspersed with localised flooding in some areas, is emerging as a major contributing factor to the wildfires that are ravaging the mainland of Greece.

Energy minister issues first permit since new regulatory regime introducedShale gas firm Cuadrilla has been given the green light by the government to start fracking at a well in Lancashire, after the energy minister issued the first fracking permit since a new regulatory regime was introduced.Fracking is expected to begin in late August or early September at the Preston New Road site, between Blackpool and Preston, which has been the focus of 18 months of protests since work on the site started. Continue reading...

Burlington, the first US city to run entirely on clean power, is inspiring other cities to make progress on climate changeBurlington in Vermont has already given the world Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and provided the political launchpad for Bernie Sanders. Now the city’s successful switch to 100% renewable electricity is spurring US mayors to fill the gaping void on climate change action left by the Trump administration.

Hope is that dams built by pair of beavers will hold back water and improve biodiversityFour hundred years after the beaver was hunted to extinction in the UK, two of the mammals have been reintroduced on government land in an English forest as part of a scheme to assess whether they could be a solution to flooding.Two Eurasian beavers were released on Tuesday into their new lodge within a large penned-off section of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. The hope is that the animals will build dams and create ponds on Greathough Brook, which feeds into the River Wye, and slow the flow of water through the steep-sided, wooded valley at times of torrential rainfall. Continue reading...

Seismic testing plan would cause irreparable harm to Alaska national wildlife refuge, biologists sayThe Trump administration has announced it is considering a proposal to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas in the Arctic national wildlife refuge, the largest such preserve in the US.If the plan moves forward, vehicles with “shakers” – diesel-powered equipment that sends tremors through the landscape – will be deployed along Alaska’s northern coastal plain in an effort to map underground hydrocarbon deposits. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Board urges states and territories to end energy wars without giving ground on emissionsThe architects of the national energy guarantee have told state governments they can sign on to the policy mechanism without endorsing the Turnbull government’s low emissions reduction target. The Energy Security Board intervention in the fraught debate is an attempt to open the way for a compromise at a make-or-break meeting in August.A final policy paper circulated to the states and territories ahead of the looming meeting, seen by Guardian Australia, appeals to members of the Coag energy council to approve the Neg mechanism even if they oppose the Turnbull government’s emissions reduction target for electricity of 26% by 2030. Continue reading...

Former Irish president’s initiative kicks off with podcasts pairing her with comedian Maeve HigginsWomen around the world who are leading the fight against climate damage are to be highlighted by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and UN high commissioner, in the hopes of building a new global movement that will create “a feminist solution for climate change”.Perhaps more revolutionary still, the new initiative is light-hearted in tone, optimistic in outlook and presents positive stories in what the originators hope will be seen as a fun way. Continue reading...

Committee says body that takes on environment oversight role needs powers to hold government to accountA new environmental watchdog with powers to hold the government to account must be set up after Brexit to ensure protections are kept in place, an influential group of MPs has said.The environmental audit committee (EAC) on Tuesday also called for targets on air, water, soil, biodiversity and other issues to be legally binding and subject to five-yearly reports, in a similar way to the carbon budgets produced by the Committee on Climate Change under the 2008 Climate Change Act. Continue reading...

Testifying in landmark trial, former school groundskeeper describes suffering allegedly caused by company’s chemicalsDewayne Johnson said that if he had known what he knew now about Roundup weedkiller, “I would’ve never sprayed that product on school grounds … if I knew it would cause harm … It’s unethical.”Johnson, a former school groundskeeper in northern California who is terminally ill, was testifying on Monday in his landmark suit against Monsanto about the cancer risks of the company’s popular weedkiller. He is the first person to take the agrochemical company to trial over allegations that the chemical sold under the Roundup brand is linked to cancer. Continue reading...

Representative Carlos Curbelo has proposed a tax on carbon dioxide emissions but Republicans are expected to block itA Republican lawmaker has proposed that the US introduce a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, in a departure from the party’s decade-long hostility toward any measure aimed at addressing climate change.Carlos Curbelo of Florida, considered a moderate GOP member of Congress, said a carbon tax would avoid “saddling young Americans with a crushing environmental debt” and expressed his belief that “this bill or legislation similar to it” will become law one day. Continue reading...

Scientists warn the impact of climate change may be as large as economic recessions, which are known to increase self-harmRising temperatures are linked to increasing rates of suicide, according to a large new study. The researchers warn that the impact of climate change on suicides may be as significant as economic recessions, which are known to increase rates of self-harm.

Inquiry into response to fatal attack by Hindu cow vigilantes on Muslim man Akbar KhanIndian police have begun an inquiry into officers alleged to have taken a tea break instead of taking a critically injured lynching victim to hospital.

Scenic US west-coast route open again following a 14-month, $54m project to fix natural disaster damage that stranded Big Sur communityOne of the world’s most famous road trips is back in business after back-to-back natural disasters made the “dream drive” along California Highway 1, between San Francisco and Los Angeles, impossible for more than a year. The classic US west-coast route, which traces some of the state’s most dramatic scenery, had been off-limits since February 2017.That month, unprecedented heavy rains sank the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, around 150 miles south of San Francisco, leaving an impassable gap in the two-lane highway. Just three months later, a massive landslide 35 miles south of the downed bridge, at Mud Creek, swept another chunk of the road into the sea. Continue reading...

Ofgem outlines measures to ensure more drivers can use the electricity networkBritish electric car drivers face having to pay more to power their car if they refuse to shift their charging to off-peak times, in a move designed to lessen their burden on the electricity network.There are currently 160,000 plug-in cars on UK roads but rapid growth means their impact on the energy system must be managed carefully, said energy regulator Ofgem. Continue reading...

The coffee giant has announced that it is phasing out straws. But are the new lids it’s introducing actually any better?This month, Starbucks joined a growing movement to ban single-use plastic straws, announcing it would eliminate the items from its stores by 2020. In their place, the company will be introducing strawless lids, which have a sippable protrusion. It will also make alternative-material straws available.Starbucks already has strawless lids available in more than 8,000 of its North American stores. These were developed for its “Nitro” coffee beverages which have a creamy top and are best drunk without a straw. Now, however, the coffee chain will be making the Nitro lids standard for all cold beverages, most of which now come with straws. Cold beverages make up more than 50% of Starbucks’s beverage mix, an increase from 37% just five years ago. Continue reading...

International photographic competition, which runs in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, awards special prize for the best close-up images Continue reading...

In the troposphere, scientists detected a human-caused signal in the seasonal cycle

Wildlife agency says ‘subsidiary activities’ in the dunes would scare off rare larkThe Belgian Naturism Federation has come to the defence of its burgeoning membership after the Flemish wildlife agency blocked an application for a second nudist beach in the country on the grounds that bathers’ “subsidiary activities” would pose a threat to a rare bird.Attempts to gain designated naturist status for a quiet spot near Westende, about 12 miles south of the popular seaside resort of Ostende, hit a snag after objections were raised that sexual activity in the dunes would scare off the locally treasured crested lark, or Galerida cristata. Continue reading...

Host of ABC sleeper hit of 2017 reflects achievements of season one, and what still needs to changeWho would have thought a show about garbage could be so compelling?The success of last year’s sleeper hit War on Waste was a happy surprise to its presenter, Craig Reucassel, and the team behind the ABC TV show – not least because of how responsive audiences were to many of its suggestions. Sales of reusable coffee cups shot up, worm farm suppliers struggled to keep up with demand and the #BantheBag campaign helped to spur supermarkets to get rid of single-use plastic bags. Continue reading...

The Banks Group mine is going ahead despite fears it will devastate the local environmentFrom the end of her garden June Davison can see and hear the heavy machinery stripping away the valley. Soon there will be explosions and dust to add to the 12 hour thrum of engines as the coal is stripped from below the earth.After 40 years of local opposition that has helped keep this area of the Derwent valley in County Durham untouched, open-cast mining has begun between the villages of Dipton, Leadgate and Medomsley, once home to a deeply entrenched mining community around what was South Medomsley colliery. Continue reading...

Study finds that while wealthy nations advocate renewables at home, 60% of aid to African energy projects went on fossil fuelsWealthy governments have been accused of promoting fossil fuel development in Africa at the expense of clean energy.Analysis showed 60% of public aid for energy projects was spent on fossil fuels, compared with just 18% on renewables. Continue reading...

Millions of tons of plastic sent abroad for recycling may be being dumped in landfillMillions of tons of waste plastic from British businesses and homes may be ending up in landfill sites across the world, the government’s spending watchdog has warned.Huge amounts of packaging waste is being sent overseas on the basis that it will be recycled and turned into new products. However, concerns have been raised that in reality much of it is being dumped in sites from Turkey to Malaysia. Continue reading...

Study says the date by which we consume a year’s worth of resources is arriving fasterHumanity is devouring our planet’s resources in increasingly destructive volumes, according to a new study that reveals we have consumed a year’s worth of carbon, food, water, fibre, land and timber in a record 212 days.As a result, the Earth Overshoot Day – which marks the point at which consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate – has moved forward two days to 1 August, the earliest date ever recorded. Continue reading...