Environment | The Guardian

Are we doomed to societal collapse? Not if we break the mould of ever-greater production and consumptionEnough concrete has been produced to cover the entire surface of the Earth in a layer two millimetres thick. Enough plastic has been manufactured to clingfilm it as well. We produce 4.8bn tonnes of our top five crops, plus 4.8 billion head of livestock, annually. There are 1.2bn motor vehicles, 2bn personal computers, and more mobile phones than the 7.5 billion people on Earth.The result of all this production and consumption is a chronic, escalating, many-sided environmental crisis. From rapid climate change to species extinctions to microplastics in every ocean, these impacts are now so large that many scientists have concluded that we have entered a new human-dominated geological period called the Anthropocene. Continue reading...

Committee was set up by former prime minister Tony Abbott to handle complaints about wind turbine noise• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noonAn independent scientific committee on wind turbines established by the Coalition in 2015 failed to hold one face-to-face meeting last year and failed to have its research accepted by peer-reviewed journals.The independent scientific committee on wind turbines was created to advise on the science of potential impacts of wind turbines on people’s health. Continue reading...

Moves to set up state-owned CleanCo were to start in first half of 2018 but have been delayedThe Queensland government appears to have stalled on plans to create its own clean energy generation company, even as it delivered a state budget propped up by a surge in coal royalties.The June 2017 “powering Queensland” plan introduced the idea of CleanCo, a government-owned renewable energy corporation that would operate renewable generators and develop new projects.

Pagham Harbour, West Sussex: Among the detritus, towers of red valerian shake in the wind and sea kale plants explode in a flurry of wavy green leaves Continue reading...

Inland lake where Christians believe Jesus walked on water has reached its lowest level in a centuryThe shrinking Sea of Galilee, the inland lake where Christians believe Jesus walked on water, is to be topped up with desalinated seawater.A plan given Israeli cabinet approval will pump 100 million cubic metres of water annually by 2022 into the lake in the Galilee region, said Yechezkel Lifshitz, from the country’s energy and water ministry. Continue reading...

Singer apologises for firing ticker-tape cannon at gig after outcry from environmentalistsGary Barlow has promised not to use confetti cannons after being criticised by environmental campaigners for firing the tiny pieces of plastic during a concert at the Eden Project.The environmental attraction in Cornwall is running a campaign against single-use plastics and has banned the sale of plastic water bottles and similar items in its shops. But the singer-songwriter went off-message during his appearance on 6 June, when the crowd was showered with ticker tape. Continue reading...

New Australia Institute paper finds neither Coalition nor Labor’s pollution reduction targets would see us doing our fair sharePollution reduction targets for 2030 proposed by the Coalition and Labor will not see Australia contributing its fair share to cut greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris climate agreement, according to new research.A paper from the progressive thinktank the Australia Institute finds the Turnbull government’s target of a 26-28% reduction on 2005 levels is “inadequate according to any recognised principle-based approach” and the Labor target of a 45% reduction is “the bare minimum necessary for Australia to be considered to be making an equitable contribution to the achievement of the Paris agreement’s two degree target”. Continue reading...

Champion of wildlife conservation in towns and citiesGeorge Barker, who has died aged 77, was a champion of wildlife conservation in towns and cities. During his long service in the government wildlife service, the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC), and its successor bodies, he became the acknowledged expert on urban nature conservation, a field that had been largely neglected. His openness to new ideas, unusual in a public servant, and gentle advocacy over four decades, helped to make a success of urban wildlife conservation both at home and abroad.Acting almost alone at first, Barker set about destroying the myth of the “urban wildlife desert”. Long before ecosystem services became a crucial part of urban planning and design, Barker realised that city landscapes can be surprisingly rich in wildlife, especially in post-industrial “brownfield” sites such as quarries and spoil-heaps. These places were seen as derelict land and were completely unprotected. Barker also understood that urban parks and even gardens can become reservoirs for wildlife if managed in the right way. Continue reading...

Supermarket says South African lemons are mature but need longer to turn yellow

European commission’s inaction is putting people’s health at risk, law firm saysPeople’s health is being put at risk by Brussels’ slow response to the use of dangerous chemicals, according to a report.A study by ClientEarth, an environmental law organisation, found that in nine out of 10 cases the European commission’s decision to ban a toxic chemical after it had been identified was “excessively delayed”, sometimes for up to four years. Continue reading...

The WSJ disguises climate misinformation as “opinion”The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Opinion page has long had a conservative skew, and unfortunately that has extended to politicizing climate change with biased and factually inaccurate editorials.Over the past several weeks, the WSJ’s attacks on climate science have gone into overdrive. On May 15, the Opinion page published a self-contradictory editorial from the lifelong contrarian and fossil fuel-funded Fred Singer that so badly rejected basic physics, it prompted one researcher to remark, “If this were an essay in one of my undergraduate classes, he would fail.” Continue reading...

Don’t think bringing children along for the ride means you have to miss out on one of cycling’s true pleasures. You just need to do a bit of extra planningOne of the great joys of riding a bike is touring – pedalling from place to place, without a fixed timetable, ideally with camping gear and everything else you need strapped to your bike. So that poses a question: can you do it with children?The answer is a qualified yes – qualified in the sense you just need to do a bit more planning. We recently tried out a first brief family cycling tour with our son, now seven, and learned a lot in the few days of cycling through the Surrey and West Sussex countryside. Continue reading...

15 June 1918: Colour shimmered in the sun and seemed to pervade everythingSurrey

Springwatch presenter says Britain is increasingly ‘a green and unpleasant land’He’s currently enjoying a great bounty of nature, from tree-climbing slugs to blackbird-gobbling little owls on this year’s Springwatch, but Chris Packham warns that we are presiding over “an ecological apocalypse” and Britain is increasingly “a green and unpleasant land”.The naturalist and broadcaster is urging people to join him next month on a 10-day “bioblitz”, visiting road verges, farmland, parks, allotments and community nature reserves across the country to record what wildlife remains – from butterflies to bryophytes, linnets to lichens. Continue reading...

Bigland Hall, Lake District: Lost in the fog with a recalcitrant compass, I’m glad to encounter the former coach of the British orienteering teamA sea fret creeping in from Morecambe Bay has me baffled. The ancient ride I’ve been following through a corner of the Bigland Hall estate is covered in fog. Normally my compass’s needle points to magnetic north no matter which way I turn. Today? Useless. The needle spins around like a roulette wheel. With visibility down to a few metres, I’m lost. I have the verges to guide me, but is the Flookburgh-Haverthwaite road still to my right? Or have I inadvertently turned through 180 degrees, so that the B5278 is now to my left and I am walking back the way I came? Continue reading...

After the NSW government gave them heritage protection with the brumby bill, I had no choice but to quit the NSW threatened species scientific committeeLast year, I drove up to the New South Wales high country with my oldest son. We arrived at Geehi, found a camp site, rigged up our rods and waded into the crystal clear water, hoping to snag a trout. Between casts, my attention was drawn to a pair of black cockatoos, sailing overhead. Looking up, I noticed the main range of Kosciuszko. Ancient and imposing, granite worn smooth by rain and snow, embroidered with lichens and wildflowers. I don’t know how long we stood there, in silent awe of the jagged peaks, but it’s a treasured moment frozen in time.Sign up to receive the latest Australian opinion pieces every weekday Continue reading...

Queensland company contracted to build airstrip for troubled Carmichael coalmineAnti-Adani activists say they have launched an escalating disruption campaign against Queensland construction company Wagners, which is being targeted over a $30m contract to build an airstrip for the Carmichael coalmine.Members of the group Galilee Blockade entered a Wagners industrial site at Pinkenba near the Port of Brisbane on Sunday afternoon, dressed as superheroes, as a precursor to further protests. Continue reading...

Countries around the world are closely following the UK’s decision on tidal power, writes Nicholas SternYou reported that the government is planning to reject the Swansea Bay tidal power lagoon because it is considered too expensive (UK taxpayers to help fund new nuclear plant, 5 June).The government has not yet announced its decision but it should, in any case, first publish its internal economic analysis of the proposed scheme so that its rigour and robustness can be checked. I have offered, as a former chief economist of the World Bank and head of the UK Government Economic Service, to have a constructive look at the analytical work. That offer stands; the analysis should be in the public domain and subject to scrutiny before a decision is taken. Continue reading...

Lobbyists, hand lotion and Chick-fil-A – it’s hard to keep up with the scandals engulfing the EPA administratorScott Pruitt, the seemingly immoveable administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has an eclectic, almost itinerant, taste in corruption scandals.Pruitt is best known for the ethical quagmires in this administration, shared with other Trump cabinet members, such as indulging in taxpayer-funded first class travel and spending much of his time playing an amenable host to corporations he is meant to regulate. Continue reading...

Trump’s Utah campaign chief shrugs off Stormy Daniels and praises cuts to parks: ‘The land belongs more to me than you’In February 2017, weeks after the inauguration of Donald Trump, a conservative political operative named Don Peay trudged up a steep, sagebrush-covered hillside outside Salt Lake City. Peay served as Trump’s campaign manager in Utah and is a hunting advocate who has gone out shooting with prominent rightwingers such as Dick Cheney, Ted Nugent and Donald Trump Jr.Peay wanted to point out a particular parcel of public land that used to be overrun by highly invasive cheat grass. Several years ago, he worked with local land managers to revegetate it with native plants favored by deer and elk. Continue reading...

The science journalist’s new book boils decades of environmental debate down to the starkly contrasting approaches of two key figuresCharles C Mann is a science journalist, author and historian. His books 1491 and 1493, looking at the Americas before and after Columbus, were widely acclaimed. His new book, The Wizard and the Prophet, examines the highly influential and starkly contrasting environmental visions of Norman Borlaug (the Wizard) and William Vogt (the Prophet). Borlaug (1914-2009) was instrumental in the green revolution that vastly expanded the amount of food humanity has been able to cultivate. Vogt (1902-1968) was a pioneering ecologist who argued that humans had exceeded the Earth’s “carrying capacity” and were heading for cataclysm unless consumption was drastically reduced. One believed in scientific ingenuity as the answer to our problems, the other was convinced that it only deepened the crisis.What made you frame this story of humanity’s future in terms of these two individuals?

Liverpool plains farmer Megan Kuhn says cows are being slaughtered because there is no way of feeding them after years of extreme weatherIn the south-west corner of NSW’s Liverpool plains, in an area called Bundella, farmer Megan Kuhn runs beef cattle and merino sheep with her husband, Martin.They have 400 breeding cows that will calve in six weeks. Shortly, 89 of those cows will leave the property, sold to an abattoir because the cost of feeding the animals during drought has become too great. Continue reading...

Pontiff says clean energy is needed as climate change risks destroying humanityPope Francis has told oil company chiefs that the world must switch to clean energy because climate change risks destroying humanity.“Civilisation requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilisation,” he said at the end of a two-day conference at the Vatican. Continue reading...

The 100-mile on- and off-road bike-packing event is undoubtedly a challenge, but there is a true sense of adventureTwenty-two miles from the end of a gruelling, beautiful and intensely varied 100 mile cross-country bike ride through Dorset, the rear derailleur on my bike clacked, pinged and, in the manner of a wounded fly, ended its journey upside down, immobile and missing several parts.I stood on the dirt track peering down at it, wondering how I’d finish the ride, before my riding buddies set about trying to get me pedalling once more. Continue reading...

Cefn Garw, Migneint, Snowdonia: Decades ago old Mr Roberts, who shepherded on horseback, departed his remote tyddyn, leaving the moor to fox, raven, pipit-hunting merlinThere are places among the Welsh hills where you may “grow rich/ With looking”. In my copy of RS Thomas’s Collected Poems, the verse from which that’s taken is marked with a curlew’s feather, picked up by Cefn Garw, perhaps the loneliest house in Wales. I’ve often followed the four-mile, climbing track to it alongside the Serw river. Rough ridge, place of quagmires, silken stream – such perfect simplicity in the way Welsh toponymy describes landscape’s essence. Continue reading...

Low light imaging data being used to expose unregulated and unreported fishing on the high seasNew data is being used to expose fleets of previously unmonitored fishing vessels on the high seas, in what campaigners hope will lead to the eradication of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

Florida woman was identified from evidence collected from a necropsy after she disappeared while walking her dogs by a lakeA woman who disappeared while walking her dogs near a lake in Miami, Florida on Friday was bitten and likely killed by an alligator that was later captured, wildlife officials said.A necropsy confirmed the alligator bit Shizuka Matsuki, 47, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said in a statement. They believe Matsuki was killed and were searching for her body. Commission spokesman Rob Klepper said they were able to positively identify the woman from evidence collected from the necropsy of the alligator, but he wouldn’t specifically say what that evidence was. Continue reading...

Conservationists say federal environment minister has obligation to protect areas of national significanceConservationists have called on the federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, to intervene to protect the Kosciuszko national park from brumbies after a New South Wales bill was passed giving heritage protection to the feral horses.The Australian Conservation Foundation says the federal government has an obligation under national environment law to protect areas of national significance, including the national heritage-listed Australian Alps national parks and reserves. Continue reading...

June, generally considered a ‘moderate’ month, surprised us last year with searing heat and teeming rainJune is usually thought of as a rather moderate month, weather-wise. Heatwaves tend to happen in July and August, and although there were famous falls of snow in parts of England on 2 June 1975, such events are mercifully very rare.Occasionally June will surprise us. Last year, the month started with unsettled conditions and heavy rain. But from the middle of the month temperatures began to rise, with very warm air from continental Europe bringing temperatures above 30C every day from the 17th to 21st, reaching a peak of 34.5C (94.1F) at Heathrow Airport on the 21st, the highest June temperature since the long hot summer of 1976. That helped push the average temperature up for the month, so that, despite a return to cooler, fresher weather, this was the equal fifth warmest June in the UK since records began in 1910. Continue reading...

A new report found the seafood contains an alarming amount of plastic – and in fact no sea creature is immune. It’s as if the ocean is wreaking its revengeShellfish are the natural filter systems of our seas, mechanisms of purity. So, to discover in a report released on World Oceans Day that mussels bought from UK supermarkets were infested with microplastic seems like a final irony in the terrible story of the plasticisation of the sea. According to the study by the University of Hull and Brunel University London, 70 particles of microplastic were found in every 100 grams of mussels.There’s a vital disconnection here – highlighted by the bottled water you drink to wash down your moules-frites, and the fact that 89% of ocean trash comes from single-use plastic. No sea is immune from this plague, nor any ocean creature, from the modest mussel or zooplankton to the great whales. Continue reading...

Readers look at past battles over the third runway and its likely future impactThe battle to construct a third runway has been going on for much longer than your estimate of 31 years (Editorial, 6 June). It first gained government approval as long ago as 1946 but was abandoned by the incoming government in 1952. Since then there have been further attempts and in 2009 it once again gained parliamentary approval. This was overturned by the coalition government one year later when David Cameron declared: “No ifs, no buts, no third runway.” This might have been the end of the matter but the ‘aviation mafia’ is nothing if not persistent and never gives up.

Pumping £5bn into a new plant in north Wales as a way to fight climate change is a solution at odds with the rest of the worldFor once, ministers have put their money where their mouth is – into taking another stab at nuclear power. This week the business secretary, Greg Clark, announced plans to pump £5bn into a new nuclear power station at Wylfa in north Wales. It was a reversal of a longstanding Conservative policy not to underwrite nuclear construction. So why the sudden enthusiasm? And what does Clark know that the rest of the world does not?For almost everywhere else, governments and corporations are pulling the plug on nuclear. Even in a world fearful of climate change, in which nations have promised to wean themselves off fossil fuels by the mid-century, almost no one wants to touch nuclear. Continue reading...

Activists to escalate action in opposition to environmental impact of proposed expansionActivists opposed to the government’s Heathrow expansion plans have vowed to escalate their protests in the coming weeks to avoid what they say would be an “environmental catastrophe”.

Scheme will cover North and South Circular roads, as well as capital’s centre, in 2021Sadiq Khan has unveiled details of his plan to introduce an “ultra-low emission zone” covering a huge swath of London in the next few years.The scheme, which will see the most polluting vehicles charged for entering the centre of the capital from April next year, will be extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads in 2021. Continue reading...

A recent Citizens’ Assembly ballot shows that there is a huge public appetite for strong action on emissions

Summer tourists cause a 40% spike in plastic marine litter in the region, new figures revealTourists are being urged to reduce their use of plastic as new figures reveal holidaymakers cause a 40% spike in marine litter in the Mediterranean each summer.Nearly all the waste created by the surge in tourism over the summer months in countries like Italy, France and Turkey is plastic litter, says WWF in a new report. Continue reading...

This week marked World Environment day and World Ocean day, both of which highlighted plastic global pollution as the most urgent problem facing our planet. So as a parody of our popular Week in wildlife gallery, from dead pelicans to trapped turtles and garbage-eating cows, we bring you ... the Week in plastic. Continue reading...

Windfall of $1bn shows state remains reliant on resources even amid renewables pushSurging coal prices will help to underwrite the upcoming Queensland budget. The state is expected to announce it has earned about $1bn more than initially forecast from royalties.

8 June 1961: A light-buoy, or beacon, which derives its power from the sun is being developed with some successA striking mark of faith in the British climate has been made by the engineers of Trinity House, who are developing with success a form of light-buoy or beacon which derives its power from the sun. Continue reading...

Dan Wenk is being used as an example to undermine culture of conservation, say former park service workersThe superintendent of Yellowstone national park says he has been forced out of his job by the Trump administration over his wildlife advocacy.“It’s a hell of a way to be treated at the end of four decades spent trying to do my best for the park service and places like Yellowstone, but that’s how these guys are,” said Dan Wenk, referring to the US interior department. “Throughout my career, I’ve not encountered anything like this, ever.” Continue reading...

Reef no longer among top 10 reasons for Australians to visit Cairns, says survey

Agriculture minister says climate is changing and Australia must ‘use the best science available’The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, says the climate is changing and the transition in the energy market – with renewables displacing traditional power generation sources – is “exciting, not only for the environment but for the hip pocket”.In an interview with Guardian Australia, the Queensland National said the climate had been changing “since we first tilled the soil in Australia” and he does not care whether the change is due to human activity or not. Continue reading...

A community of Mexican nuns have formed an unlikely partnership with British conservationists to save an endangered amphibian species. Achoques once thrived in Pátzcuaro, Mexico’s third largest lake, but they are now close to extinction due to introduced fish species and deforestation. The nuns, who use the lizard-like animal to create a special cough medicine, have been breeding them in their convent. The sisters are part of an official breeding network that includes Chester zoo in the UK and the Michoacana University of Mexico Continue reading...

Simon Crump, Benoit Compin and Fran Grace walk free after contempt of court ruling relating to city tree fellingThree tree campaigners have avoided jail after being found in contempt of court for demonstrating against tree-felling work in Sheffield.Simon Crump, Benoit Benz Compin, and Fran Grace were taken to court by the city’s council as part of a long-running dispute over the city’s plans to fell up to 17,000 trees. Continue reading...

Global retailer with 363 stores says it wants to help customers live more sustainablyIkea is to phase out all single-use plastic products from its stores and restaurants by 2020 amid growing concern about the effects of plastic on the environment.Ikea said plastic straws, plates, cups, freezer bags, bin bags, and plastic-coated paper plates and cups would all be phased out and where possible replaced by alternatives. Continue reading...

There’s a lot of fear around abandoning an industry that has been an economic driver for decades – yet the rest of the world is moving onToday, I will gratefully accept an honorary degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. This is special to me, as it’s where I spent some of my early years as a scientist and kicked off my career in broadcasting.

Government says scheme for Warragamba dam lessens flood risk for residents, but activists say it jeopardises wildlife and Aboriginal sitesConservationists have written to the Unesco requesting a moratorium on New South Wales government plans to raise the height of Warragamba dam, which could flood parts of the Blue Mountains world heritage area.The group of 14 signatories, led by the former NSW environment minister Bob Debus and including Bob Brown, Christine Milne, the Australia Conservation Foundation chair Paul Sinclair, and Gundungurra traditional owner Kazan Brown, wrote to the chair of Unesco’s world heritage committee last month warning that natural heritage values of the area would be “significantly degraded” if the proposal were to go ahead. Continue reading...

From the birth of cyclotourisme to moon landings and the rise of 1990s mountain biking these mechanical marvels have played a small but crucial roleIf your bike has gears, the chances are it also has derailleurs. These mechanical marvels which move the chain when you move up or down a gear may be a small part of the bicycle, but the myriad designs reveal a lot about the history of cycling. Over the nearly 40 years I’ve spent working in bike shops, I have collected about 1,400 rear derailleurs. Here are just 10 of the most influential, interesting or just plain weird.Le Chemineau, France, 1912 Continue reading...