City of Sydney lord mayor reveals testing of potentially contaminated mulch has cost $200,000 with remediation costs likely to be substantial'

Some farmers have turned from livestock to crops to avoid the financial pitfalls and thorny ethics of industrial agricultureFarmer Tom Lim had been raising poultry for 20 years when the company he worked for as a contractor terminated him without warning, leaving him saddled with debt and unsure of where to turn. My heart just dropped," he said. I didn't know where to make money to pay off our loans."Lim was born in rural Cambodia, where his parents tended rice fields with water buffalos, raised a smattering of chickens and grew vegetables around their home. That lifestyle shaped his love of farming, but was a far cry from what he found himself doing as an adult, raising 540,000 chickens a year in North Carolina for Pilgrim's Pride, one of the largest meat producers in the US that supplies chicken to Walmart, Costco and KFC. Continue reading...

The tree will be exhibited at the Sill in Hexham, close to where it once stoodThe largest section of the Sycamore Gap tree unlawfully cut down last September is to go on public display, Northumberland national park has announced.The tree, which stood in a dip next to Hadrian's Wall, will be exhibited at the Sill, a tourist attraction in Hexham, not far from where it once stood. Continue reading...

The wildlife charity allegedly dropped a study highlighting farm pollution linked to the supply chain of its former supermarket partnerThe wildlife charity WWF-UK shelved a report that warned how intensive chicken production is devastating the River Wye, the Observer can reveal.Since 2018, the charity has received more than 6m in donations from the supermarket chain Tesco, which has faced action from campaigners over the decline of the Wye because many of the intensive poultry farms in the river's catchment area are in its supply chain. Continue reading...

US ski industry is losing billions as average season has become five to seven days shorter in past half centuryIf you have been enjoying lushly covered mountains by skiing or snowboarding this winter then such an experience could soon become a receding memory, with a new study finding that an era of reliably bountiful snow has already passed due to the climate crisis.The US ski industry has lost more than $5bn over the past two decades due to human-caused global heating, the new research has calculated, due to the increasingly sparse nature of snowfall on mountain ranges. Previous studies have shown that in many locations precipitation is now coming in the form of rain, rather than snow, due to warming temperatures. Continue reading...

Kanchha Sherpa, 91, says more respect should be shown to sacred peak that has been climbed thousands of times since 1953 ascentThe only surviving member of the mountaineering expedition that first reached the summit of Mount Everest has said the world's highest peak is too crowded and dirty, and the mountain is a god that needs to be respected.Kanchha Sherpa, 91, was one of the 35 members of the team that helped the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay to the top of the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) peak on 29 May 1953. Continue reading...

Michael Gove said UK needed coal to make steel, but business department papers drafted around same time say it will notPreviously unseen documents have emerged that appear to contradict the government's case for a new coalmine in Cumbria.When Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, approved plans to build the Woodhouse Colliery near Whitehaven in December 2022, he said the UK would need the coal in order to carry on making steel. Continue reading...

Higher temperatures and winds forecast in the coming days could make firefighting conditions more difficultAs the largest wildfire in Texas history engulfed his town, Danny Phillips was left helpless.We had to watch from a few miles away as our neighborhood burned," he said, his voice trembling with emotion. Continue reading...

Campaigners say decision against Danish Crown, Europe's largest pork producer, sends resounding messageEurope's largest pork producer misled customers with its climate-controlled pork" campaign, Denmark's high court has ruled in the country's first climate lawsuit.Campaigners argued that Danish Crown greenwashed its meat with round, pink stickers on its packaging that said pigs were climate-controlled", along with a marketing campaign that claimed its pork was more climate-friendly than you think". Continue reading...

Authorities asked to step in to protect Black-a-Tor Copse, an ancient temperate rainforest in Devon at risk from overgrazingThere are acorns galore and tiny oaks sprouting from tussocky grass beside the gnarled ancient trees of Black-a-Tor Copse on the northern slopes of Dartmoor national park.But each tiny sapling grows no higher than a sheep's chin and there it stays, its new shoots and tender leaves repeatedly shorn each spring by the livestock roaming through this national nature reserve. Continue reading...

The first documented sex between two male humpback whales is just the latest challenge to our presumptions about sexualityWhales are extraordinarily sensuous creatures. Those blubbery bodies are highly sensitive, and sensitised. At social meetings, pods of sperm, humpback and right whales will roll around one another's bodies for hours at a time. I've seen a group of right whales engaged in foreplay and penetration lasting an entire morning.I have also watched a male-female couple so blissfully conjoined that they appeared unbothered by our little fishing boat as they passed underneath it. And in what may sound like a career of cetacean voyeurism, I have also been caught up in a fast-moving superpod of dusky dolphins continually penetrating each other at speed, regardless of the gender of their partner. Continue reading...

Two ranches also allege biosolids with forever chemicals' ruined crops, polluted drinking water and left their properties worthlessA Texas county has launched a first-of-its-kind criminal investigation into waste management giant Synagro over PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge it is selling to Texas farmers as a cheap alternative to fertilizer.Two small Texas ranches at the center of that case have also filed a federal lawsuit against Synagro, alleging the company knew its sludge was contaminated but still sold it. Sludge spread on a nearby field sickened the farmers, killed livestock, polluted drinking water, contaminated beef later sold to the public and left their properties worthless, the complaint alleges.This story was amended on 1 March 2024. The previous version stated that testing of drinking water in two properties' wells found levels as high as 268,000 parts per trillion. That number has been corrected to 268 ppt. Continue reading...

First-year vehicle excise duty is a fraction of that in countries such as France and the NetherlandsLow taxation on petrol SUVs in the UK compared with much of Europe is inviting a glut of large, polluting luxury cars, according to an analysis by a green thinktank.The tax paid when buying a new petrol or diesel SUV in the UK is only a fraction of the levies in neighbouring countries, including France and the Netherlands, and lower than many others in Europe, making it a tax haven" for the bigger, less environmentally friendly vehicles, the report from Transport & Environment (T&E) found. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Health campaigners are voicing concerns that the issue is being neglected - despite the devastating death toll around the worldSeven million people die each year from illnesses attributable to air pollution, yet it has never had global recognition in the same way as Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, and now there are growing calls from the health sector for that to change.Relative to other health issues that have access to billion-dollar global funds, air pollution has a far greater health impact, said Christa Hasenkopf, the director of clean air programmes at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (Epic). Continue reading...

Campaigners and human rights experts point to crackdown on climate and Gaza protestsThe Conservatives have been accused by human rights experts of hypocrisy after cracking down on climate and Gaza protests while celebrating and endorsing farmers' protests in Wales.Rishi Sunak joined a protest of farmers in Wales last Friday, after they had obstructed a road while campaigning against the Labour government's new farming subsidies scheme. But this week he vowed to crack down on protests, referring to them as mob rule". On Wednesday, the Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew Davies, along with many of his colleagues greeted and posed for photographs with farmers who formed a large group outside the Senedd and blocked a main road with tractors. Continue reading...

Two groups are striking for better working conditions and investment in Germany's underfunded public transportAt first sight, the gathering in an office complex in east Berlin resembles a self-help group. But the public transport workers and climate protesters sitting in a semi-circle introducing themselves have been thrown together, they say, to fight for a common cause.Hello, my name is Erdogan. I'm a bus driver in the northern zone of Berlin and have been in the job for 32 years. I'm glad someone is finally taking our profession seriously," says one. Continue reading...

Group claims oil firms transferred depleted wells to another company which then conspired to avoid clean-up through fraudCindy McCormick and her husband bought a new property in Hudson, Colorado, in 2020. It was expansive, close to friends and had a stunning mountain view.There was just one problem: an aging, abandoned oil well sat on one far edge of the land. The couple was a bit concerned, but the realtor and the well's owner, Painted Pegasus Petroleum, assured them that it would be cleaned up. Continue reading...

Coastal areas facing enormous and urgent climate crisis' as event supercharges human-caused global heating, scientists sayThe current climate event known as El Nino is likely to supercharge global heating and deliver record-breaking temperatures from the Amazon to Alaska in 2024, analysis has found.Coastal areas of India by the Bay of Bengal and by the South China Sea, as well as the Philippines and the Caribbean, are also likely to experience unprecedented heat in the period to June, the scientists said, after which El Nino may weaken. Continue reading...

Campaigners say Ineos project in Antwerp will turbocharge plastic production on a scale not seen before in EuropeThe UK government is providing a 700m (600m) guarantee for the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to build the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years that will turbocharge plastic production.The huge petrochemical plant has been described as a carbon bomb" by campaigners. Being constructed in the Belgian city of Antwerp by Ratcliffe's company Ineos, it will bring plastic production to Europe on a scale not seen before, just as countries are trying to negotiate a binding global treaty to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution. Continue reading...

State accuses Brazilian company of misleading customers with claims it can reduce carbon footprint despite growth plansThe state of New York is suing the US arm of JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, accusing the Brazilian company of misleading customers over its climate goals, including a plan to reach net zero carbon neutral standards by 2040.Letitia James, the New York attorney general, filed the suit alleging that JBS USA had repeatedly assured the public and consumers with sustainability claims that could, in effect, provide environmentally conscious consumers with a license to eat beef". Continue reading...

New analysis finds money from Biden's $1.2tn infrastructure bill has overwhelmingly been spent on widening highways for carsRoads, roads and more roads. The US is continuing to spend billions of dollars on expanding enormous highways rather than fund public transport, with a landmark infrastructure bill lauded by Joe Biden only further accelerating the dominance of cars at the expense, critics say, of communities and the climate.Since the passage of the enormous $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021, hailed by Biden as a generational effort to upgrade the US's crumbling bridges, roads, ports and public transit, money has overwhelmingly poured into the maintenance and widening of roads rather than improving the threadbare network of bus, rail and cycling options available to Americans, a new analysis has found. Continue reading...

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will hear how climate is driving forced migration across the AmericasCommunities under imminent threat from rising sea level, floods and other extreme weather will testify in Washington on Thursday, as the region's foremost human rights body holds a first-of-its-kind hearing on how climate catastrophe is driving forced migration across the Americas.The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hear from people on the frontline of the climate emergency in Mexico, Honduras, the Bahamas and Colombia, as part of a special hearing sought by human rights groups in Latin America, the US and the Caribbean. Continue reading...

Royal Society of Edinburgh says money should be spent on longer-living native forests with greater biodiversity benefitsA report has called on ministers to scrap the huge subsidies and tax breaks given to conifer forests because they do too little to combat the climate crisis.The report from the Royal Society of Edinburgh said the tens of millions of pounds in subsidies given to the timber industry should instead be spent on longer-living native forests, which have greater and clearer climate and biodiversity benefits.In Scotland, ministers have subsidised forestry by more than 390m over the last decade, with roughly 80% of that spent on commercial conifer plantations, as well as extra subsidies for haulage.Timber companies and landowners pay no corporation tax on their income from forests; profits from timber sales are tax-free; there is no capital gains tax on the value of the trees, and 100% inheritance tax relief on the forestry property.Forest owners were also able to sell carbon credits, adding to the attractiveness of forestry as an investment.These grants, tax breaks and carbon credits had helped to substantially drive up land prices in Scotland, up by 73% in a single year, greatly distorting the land market and pricing people out.Government agencies are not properly enforcing policies which require environmental impact assessments on new forest projects; their approach is inadequate" and passive". Continue reading...

Liberal leader's plan criticised by political opponents, environmentalists and industry representatives

There are now three Queensland schools, a dog park, as well as 16 businesses that may have received soil with friable asbestos

After drought devastated prized arborio and carnaroli harvests in the Po valley, new rice varieties offer a glimmer of hope. But none are yet suitable for use in the traditional recipe

Environment Protection Authority originally demanded asbestos be cleaned up by end of February but Transport for NSW granted extra month by watchdog

Anyone reading the Australian's Newspoll survey might think there was an actual proposal in place to build small modular nuclear reactors around Australia - except there isn't

Onward touts a vision of a clean energy future', but experts say ventures like this are part of fossil fuel firms' greenwashing plan

Decision by premier Danielle Smith further pits Canadian province against environmental groups pushing green energyAlberta will block renewable energy projects on prime" agricultural land and limit the placement of wind turbines to preserve pristine viewscapes", a decision that increasingly pits the western Canadian province against environmental groups pushing green energy - and the companies investing in it.The decision, announced by the premier, Danielle Smith, and utilities minister, Nathan Neudorf, on Wednesday, follows a controversial six-month ban on new renewable energy projects that is due to expire on 29 February. Continue reading...

Neighbours complaining of building noise from property in Mawgan Porth, reports sayIt is the latest sequel in the long-running saga over the luxury ecohome Cate Blanchett is building in a picturesque seaside town in Cornwall once dubbed Hollywood-on-Sea".Neighbours have accused the actor of destroying family holidays with the building noise from the property in Mawgan Porth, it has been reported. Continue reading...

Study finds systematic progress' achieved in 2010s with some states reaching targets a decade earlySeveral European countries hit some of their sustainable energy targets for 2030 a decade early, a study has found, but big gaps remain across the board.All EU member states made progress in the 2010s toward reaching the UN's seventh sustainable development goal, which calls for access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all" by 2030. For some indicators, several countries had already reached the targets by 2021, the study by Polish economists published on Wednesday found. Continue reading...

Stations secure all-time high price of 65 a kW per year for 2027-28 in capacity market' auctionBritain's power stations are to command record prices to keep the lights on later this decade, amid concerns over a lack of electricity supply to meet a boom in demand.Plants secured an all-time high price of 65 a kilowatt per year for 2027-28 in a capacity market" auction to supply power, outstripping the 63 per kW a year planned for 2026-2027, National Grid's electricity system operator said. Continue reading...

Crucial' UN resolution attempts to avoid repeat of injustices produced by Africa's fossil fuel sectorIn an attempt to avoid the injustices and extractivism" of fossil fuel operations, African leaders are calling for better controls on the dash for the minerals and metals needed for a clean energy transition.A resolution for structural change that will prioritise equitable benefit-sharing from extraction, supported by a group of mainly African countries including Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Chad, was presented at the UN environmental assembly in Nairobi on Wednesday and called for the sustainable use of transitional minerals. Continue reading...

Scientists confirm sighting of two same-sex marine giants copulating in amorous encounter off Hawaii coastHumpback whales have been observed having sex for the first time, with this landmark moment having an interesting twist - the two whales were male.Despite decades of research on humpback whales, sightings of the male's penis have been rare. Copulation by the species had not been documented by people - until now, when two photographers captured images of a sexual encounter between two whales off the coast of Hawaii. Continue reading...

Nations should be cutting emissions to meet Paris agreement, says Michel Forst after year-long inquiryEuropean nations must end the repression and criminalisation of peaceful protest and urgently take action to cut emissions in line with the Paris climate agreement to limit global heating to 1.5C, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders has said.After a year-long inquiry that included gathering evidence from the UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, Michel Forst said the repression faced by peaceful environmental activists was a major threat to democracy and human rights. Continue reading...

Allowing people to use multiple electricity providers could unleash the potential of EVs, solar panels and even hot water systems to feed back into the grid

Unseasonably warm temperatures, strong winds and dry grasses fuel the Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest in the stateThe main facility that assembles and disassembles America's nuclear arsenal reopened on Wednesday morning after shutting down its operations on Tuesday night as fires raged out of control in Texas.The Pantex site in Amarillo in north Texas announced on Facebook that staff should come to work for normal shift operations after it had paused operations. Continue reading...

Two companies are applying to build farm in 1 sq km zoned-off area off Port Quin close to Port IsaacPeople who live, work and surf on one of Cornwall's most famous stretches of coastline have reacted with consternation to plans to create a large seaweed farm 600 metres from the shore.Two companies, Biome Algae and Camel Fish, are applying to build the farm in a 1 sq km zoned-off area just off the north coast, not far from Padstow, known for being the home of the celebrity chef Rick Stein's seafood empire. It is also close to Port Isaac, where the comedy drama Doc Martin is filmed, and the popular surfing beach at Polzeath. Continue reading...

This winter's mild temperatures, a result of climate change, have wrecked plans and disrupted local economies in the regionAs a child in the 1990s, Joseph Kuzma remembers how he and his father would - around this time of year - drive their truck out on to Lake Erie and set up a mini camp right on the ice.We'd stay out there all weekend in an ice shanty. Catch fish, cook it and sleep in bunks on the ice," he said. He also recalled sitting next to his brother when he drove a dump truck from the nearby island of Put-In-Bay to the mainland atop the lake ice, remarking: We would have 6in to 8in of ice." Continue reading...

Yemeni government warns of Red Sea environmental disaster after cargo ship struck by rebels last week

Agriculture agency set aside nearly $3bn to give to farmers who cut emissions, but about $1.9bn spent on practices not doing thatMore than half of federal funding for climate-smart" agriculture in the US goes to farming practices that are unlikely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - and in some cases, would even increase them, according to a new report by the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG).The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) set aside more than $3bn to give to farmers who practice climate-smart" agriculture, but roughly $1.9bn of it is being spent on practices that experts say aren't actually combating the climate crisis. Continue reading...

US climate chief hits out at disinformation' and demagoguery' being used as tactics by special interests to delay actionThe populist backlash against net zero around the world is imperilling the fight against climate breakdown and must be countered urgently or we face planetary destruction beyond comprehension", the US climate chief, John Kerry, has warned.He hit out at the rise of disinformation" and demagoguery" which he said were damaging the transition away from fossil fuels, and being used as tactics by special interests to delay action. Continue reading...

Southwark asks residents to invest as little as 5 to help fund eco-projects such as cycle hangars and school upgradesDeep cuts to government funding have led a council in south London to ask its residents to invest their own money, for a financial return, to build cycle hangars, LED street lighting and green upgrades at schools and leisure centres.Amid a financial crisis hitting town halls across England, councillors in Southwark have resorted to a crowdfunding scheme to raise 6m over the next six years to help fund climate-friendly projects. Continue reading...

UK's largest water company also calls for dividend payouts and lower fines for breaches to avoid taxpayer bailoutThames Water has been lobbying the government and regulators to let it increase bills by 40%, pay lower fines for breaches and keep paying out dividends as part of efforts to avert a taxpayer bailout, according to a report.The UK's largest water company was trying to strike a deal with the watchdog Ofwat that would give it permission to charge customers more to avoid having to be taken over by court-appointed special administrators, the Financial Times reported. Continue reading...

Revelation comes amid NSW asbestos crisis after contaminant found in mulch at more than 60 Sydney locations

Indian conglomerate says gigafactory in Bridgwater will bring about 4,000 jobs to regionThe Indian conglomerate Tata has confirmed Bridgwater in Somerset as the site of its new 4bn battery factory, which will bring about 4,000 jobs to the region.Tata's battery business, Agratas, said it had bought land at the Gravity Smart campus off the M5, just outside the town. Continue reading...

Populations were recovering, but a new study reveals that numbers dropped by 20% coinciding with a period of record temperatures in the North PacificIn 1972, a humpback whale nicknamed Festus was first spotted off the mountainous coast of south-east Alaska. He returned each summer for 44 years, entertaining whale watchers, local people and biologists as he fed in the cold, nutrient-rich waters of the North Pacific before returning to Hawaii to breed during the winters.But in June 2016, Festus was found floating dead in Glacier Bay national park. The primary cause of death was starvation, which scientists believe was likely caused by the most extreme marine heatwave on record. New research, published on Wednesday by Royal Society Open Science shows the humpback population in the North Pacific declined by 20% between 2013 and 2021 after warmer water upended the ecosystem. Continue reading...

Hanah Lahe is just 24 but she is already a leading voice for change in the former Soviet Baltic stateHanah Lahe can't remember the fall of the iron curtain. Estonia's youngest MP grew up surfing the web and consuming American television. Just nine years before her birth, it was all so different. When borders reopened after the end of Soviet rule in 1991, Estonians rushed to stare at bananas, enthralled by the arrival of this new, exotic fruit.People were standing in line sometimes not even to buy, but just to have a look at them. Those who would buy them would not even eat them because it was such a big thing," says Lahe, 24, recounting a story her grandmother told her. When a plastic bag from another country that had a big brand name arrived, people would use it all the time." Continue reading...