Environment | The Guardian

2GB radio host Ray Hadley praises Scott Morrison’s brandishing of a lump of coal at the opposition during question time last week as a ‘great stunt’. The treasurer defends the Coalition’s energy policies and says: ‘I was actually making quite a serious point. The look on the Labor party members’ faces, particularly those whose own constituents dug that coal up ... they’re all there demonising what role coal should continue to play as part of a secure energy future and they’re working against their own constituents’ jobs.’• Scott Morrison and Ray Hadley laugh about coal prop: ‘Great stunt’

Radio host tells treasurer he is a fan of stunts as Morrison explains he was trying to make a point about energy policy by holding up a lump of coalScott Morrison and Ray Hadley shared a laugh on Sydney radio as the shock jock praised the federal treasurer’s “great stunt” on Friday when he brandished a lump of coal at the opposition during question time on Thursday.Morrison relayed to the 2GB presenter how he had urged Labor “don’t be afraid, don’t be scared” of the rock, and the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, had juggled with it in question time. Continue reading...

Green MP says 1,100 pieces of environmental law need to be moved on to UK statute books before Britain leaves EUBritain is hugely unprepared for the potential impact of Brexit on environmental protection, with more than 1,100 pieces of EU green legislation needing to be moved into UK law for safeguards to be maintained, according to a report by the Green MP Caroline Lucas.Lucas, who spent 11 years as an MEP before being elected to parliament, said environmental protections faced “a cocktail of threats from Brexit”. Continue reading...

Coalition statements blaming the blackouts that hit South Australia last year on wind power were made despite official advice that storms were the causeMalcolm Turnbull’s decision to link last year’s blackout in South Australia to the state’s high renewable energy target was made directly against confidential public service advice.Freedom-of-information documents reveal a senior bureaucrat at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet was so concerned about the spreading of misinformation in the immediate aftermath of last September’s SA storm that she emailed officials in the Departments of Environment and Agriculture asking for help. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 17 February 1917Surrey

January’s smog broke recent records, but while glib comparisons with Beijing can result in action, they are also misleadingNewspaper headlines in January told us that London’s air pollution was worse than Beijing. BBC journalist Joseph D’Urso likened this to the heatwave weather stories each summer that say Brighton is hotter than Barcelona. Brighton is not normally as warm as Barcelona. Comparing particle pollution, London was worse than Beijing for four smoggy days, from 20 to 23 January, but over the whole month London’s particle pollution was around a quarter of that in the Chinese capital.Related: Paris tries something different in the fight against smog Continue reading...

This is the great age of cartography, says Lois Parshley’s timely reminder of the importance of understanding landscapes (The long read, 7 February), and mapping everything from sediment-laden ocean floors to patterns of disease outbreaks in earthquake-hit locations.Related: Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life by Edward O Wilson – review Continue reading...

Joint statement says years of finger-pointing have destroyed investor confidence in Australia’s energy sectorA coalition of business, energy, investor, climate and welfare groups has issued a sharply worded wake-up call on the energy debate, declaring “finger pointing” and 10 years of partisan politics have destroyed investor confidence in Australia’s energy sector, “worsening reliability risks”.

Two German inventors created a laundry bag to prevent shedding microfibers ending up in oceans. Now, Patagonia will start selling it to customersFor the past three years, Alexander Nolte and Oliver Spies, surfing buddies and co-owners of Langbrett, a German retailer with four stores that sells surf gear and outdoor apparel, have been haunted by news reports connecting many of the products they sell to an emerging but serious environmental threat: microfiber pollution. Synthetic textiles, such as fleece jackets, send tiny plastic fibers into wastewater after washing. These bits eventually make their way into rivers, lakes and our oceans, where they pose health threats to plants and animals. The two men knew they had to act.Related: How your clothes are poisoning our oceans and food supply Continue reading...

RenewableUK chief says windfarms could offer cheaper prices than rates government agreed with new nuclear power stationsOffshore windfarms could provide cheaper power than Britain’s new wave of nuclear power stations, a leading figure in the wind industry has claimed.Speaking to the the Guardian, Hugh McNeal, the chief executive of trade body RenewableUK, said he expected that offshore windfarms would secure a deal with the government lower than the £92.50 per megawatt hour agreed with EDF for £18bn Hinkley Point C. Continue reading...

London mayor says £500m plan could help tackle growing crisis over poor air quality in the capitalLondon’s air is so polluted that motorists should be given up to £3,500 to persuade them to scrap their old diesel cars and vans and replace them with cleaner vehicles, according to the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.The nitrogen dioxide emitted by diesel cars is a key contributor to London’s poor air quality, which is so bad that City Hall now advises the public to avoid going out unnecessarily on the worst-affected days. Continue reading...

Researchers behind ‘Anthropocene equation’ say impact of people’s intense activity on Earth far exceeds that of natural events spread across millenniaFor the first time, researchers have developed a mathematical equation to describe the impact of human activity on the earth, finding people are causing the climate to change 170 times faster than natural forces.The equation was developed in conjunction with Professor Will Steffen, a climate change expert and researcher at the Australian National University, and was published in the journal The Anthropocene Review. Continue reading...

Natural lighting or at least LEDs will improve your mood, and there are other positive steps to take to make the office a more world-friendly environmentIf you’re dreading the start of the working week tomorrow can I just check it’s not the lighting? A 1990s study showed plentiful natural light to be a top determinant of job satisfaction.If you can’t get near a window at least press for LEDs (they have a life of up to 60,000 hours in comparison to 6,000 hours for a fluorescent tube). They also improve your mood, productivity and energy efficiency. Continue reading...

About 650 pilot whales beached themselves at top of South Island, with 350 dying but others either swimming away or refloated by volunteersRescuers working to save hundreds of beached whales in New Zealand finally had some good news when more than 200 swam back out to sea on Sunday.

Slashed budgets risk the nation’s 27,000 parks becoming no-go areas, with negative effects on park-goers’ health and the environment

There’s a long list of blame and shame for Australia’s threadbare climate and energy policy, but Turnbull’s party takes the cakeWatching politics builds a high tolerance for hypocrisy and humbug, but even I am aghast at the Coalition’s antics this week – fondling a lump of coal in parliament while accusing the opposition of an “ideological approach to energy” and negligence in policy planning.Seriously. There’s a long list of blame and shame for Australia’s threadbare climate and energy policy, and the failure to plan for an energy market crisis that experts have warned about for years. But Malcolm Turnbull’s Coalition takes out first place. Continue reading...

Analysis shows spike in fossil fuel-dominated state’s wholesale spot price this year far eclipses that in SA in July 2016 which sparked calls for a national inquiry into renewable energyExtreme price spikes in Queensland’s fossil fuel-dominated electricity market this year have far eclipsed those seen in South Australia last July, which sparked calls of a national inquiry into renewable energy and led the federal Coalition to call for a halt to state-based renewable energy targets.

Order for 60-day pause on regulations not yet implemented includes protection for endangered rusty patched bumblebee, which experts say is near extinctionDonald Trump has been accused of targeting Muslims, media outlets and even department stores in his first month in the White House. Now, the US president may have doomed a threatened bumblebee.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...

A tiger family drinking at the watering hole, a nightingale and a snake that plays dead are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

As records tumble on east coast, politicians debate the energy mix they need to combat climate change and ensure supplyA long, hot summer in Australia is smashing weather records, with about a fifth of the country predicted to swelter in temperatures of more than 40C on Saturday.The hottest days yet this summer are forecast for parts of New South Wales and Queensland, which have taken the brunt of a series of heatwaves in recent months. Continue reading...

Do you like pangolins or silky sharks? How about the black-legged kittiwake? Vote for your favourite in the Wildscreen Arkive’s Valentine’s Day campaign to help protect underappreciated species from poaching and climate change

Australian Energy Market Operator executive David Swift admitted to Senate committee there was an error in South Australia forecastThe Australian Energy Market Operator says it was not asleep at the wheel after another electricity shortage in South Australia on Wednesday caused blackouts for 40,000 people.

Warblington, Hampshire By associating with large ungulates, these birds can obtain up to 50% more food using two-thirds of the energy required for lone foragingA loose flock of egrets has gathered by the cattle in the corner of the pasture to the west of the cemetery. Three of the white herons are immediately identifiable as little egrets, their yellow feet beacons in the mizzle. The fourth bird looks dumpy, hunchbacked and stubby-billed next to its elegant, slim-necked, rapier-billed cousins. It is a cattle egret, a species that has had one of the most rapid and wide-ranging natural expansions of any bird, but is still relatively rare in Britain. Two of them were spotted here in mid-December. A few days later, they were joined by a third and, by the new year, five birds were regularly being sighted in the fields surrounding the church.Related: A solitary little egret is an elegant sentinel on the muddy creek Continue reading...

A small opportunity to avoid a frightening world has been tossed away by this government and the lobbyists and financiers that they answer toSpeaking in parliament on Thursday, treasurer Scott Morrison held aloft a large lump of coal and made the funniest joke he’ll ever think of in his life.“Mr Speaker, this is coal. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be scared! It won’t hurt you.” Morrison yelled at the opposition as his colleagues jeered and hooted behind him. It was a comedic performance on-par with the guy at an open-mic night who opens with a joke about women shopping, but the people in charge of running the world’s twelfth-largest economy couldn’t get enough. Continue reading...

Dozens of volunteers form a barrier in Golden Bay in an effort to prevent more whales from stranding themselves after hundreds died on Thursday night. The Department of Conservation (DOC) discovered 416 pilot whales had beached themselves at Farewell Spit at the top of the south island, the largest stranding in decades. Volunteer Peter Wiles said: ‘It is one of the saddest things I have seen.’ Continue reading...

Urgent plea issued for locals to drop work and school commitments and head to the remote beach to save surviving whalesRescuers are trying to save dozens of whales after a mass stranding on a New Zealand beach thought to be the largest in decades.The Department of Conservation (DOC) discovered 416 pilot whales had beached themselves overnight at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay at the top of the South Island, with more than 70% dying by the time dawn broke on Friday. Continue reading...

Federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation says coal ‘seriously challenged’ as a commercial investmentThe Clean Energy Finance Corporation has said it is “very unlikely” it would invest in new coal-fired generators and poured cold water on the federal government’s push to support “clean coal” technology.The CEFC’s hostile approach to the sustainability and commercial viability of new coal plants means the government will have to change CEFC’s investment rules or directly subsidise new coal plants if it wants to support them. Continue reading...

If governments want to make energy more affordable, making competition work for the community rather than the industry would be the sensible first stepIn his address to the National Press Club last week, prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called out that families across the nation need not just reliable but affordable power. For lower income earners who spend up to five times as much of their disposable income on energy than higher income earners, this is very welcome.However, the federal government’s focus on energy generation – the cost of coal versus renewable energy – ignores the reality that it is the failure of retail competition that is hitting households’ hip pocket. If governments want to make energy more affordable, making competition work for the community rather than the industry would be the sensible first step. Continue reading...

Research highlights generational divide in attitudes towards food as millennials focus on its appearance while buying too muchA generation gap in attitudes towards cooking and eating is helping to fuel the UK’s food waste mountain, research reveals, driven by time-poor millennials who do not understand the value of the food on their plate.

Once it’s completed in 2018, the NSW site will produce enough electricity to power 137,000 housesAfter years in planning, construction on the Silverton windfarm in western New South Wales is finally set to begin after the sale of the project from AGL to its Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARF).

States from South Australia to Queensland prepare for temperatures above 40C as parliamentary inquiry examines power supply crisisAuthorities have warned of health risks, catastrophic bushfire danger and possible power cuts as southern and eastern Australia faces several days of extreme heat.Temperatures are tipped to rise as high as 48C in some parts of New South Wales, with total fires bans and extreme or severe fire danger warnings in place across most of the state. Continue reading...

While it is good news for the environment that UK sales of electric cars are rising (Report, 7 February) this trend is unlikely to really take off while we have such a disjointed and shortsighted policy regarding electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.Boris Johnson sold the London-wide charging network to a French company that now runs the system as Source London. It has started to charge for charging, at rates that are unviable for many drivers, especially those with hybrid vehicles, where the cost of the electricity is more than the cost of petrol for the same mileage travelled. Furthermore, some London councils now make their own arrangements with other providers so there is no longer a functioning London-wide system. Continue reading...

In Australia-first move, private fund to pull $20m out of fossil fuel companies in acknowledgement climate change harms healthHCF has become the first Australian private health fund to divest from fossil fuels, having decided that the industry harms the health and wellbeing of its members, pulling about $20m out of fossil fuel companies in Australia and overseas.In a letter to the campaign group Market Forces dated 15 December 2016, HCF said it would be divesting from fossil fuels on the same ground it used for pulling out of the tobacco industry. Continue reading...

Experts say decline to coverage of only 7.19 acres of forest could be due to late winter storms last year that knocked down more than 100 acres of treesThe number of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico dropped by 27% this year, reversing last year’s recovery from historically low numbers, according to a study by government and independent experts released Thursday.The experts say the decline could be due to late winter storms last year that blew down more than 100 acres (40 hectares) of forests where migrating monarch butterflies spend the winter in central Mexico. Continue reading...

Authorities say fire in turbine hall was outside nuclear zones of Flamanville power station near CherbourgAuthorities have said there is no risk of contamination from an explosion that occurred at EDF’s Flamanville nuclear plant in northern France.EDF said the blast at 9.40am on Thursday was caused by a fire in the turbine hall, which is outside the nuclear zones of the power station, located 15 miles west of the port of Cherbourg. Five people were treated for smoke inhalation. Continue reading...

Europe will vastly overshoot its carbon emissions target for coal unless it closes all 300 power stations, says thinktank Climate AnalyticsThe European Union will “vastly overshoot” its Paris climate pledges unless its coal emissions are completely phased out within 15 years, a stress test of the industry has found.Coal’s use is falling by about 1% a year in Europe but still generates a quarter of the continent’s power – and a fifth of its greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...

Consumers and employees want to know where their companies stand on Trump’s policies. Here’s how businesses should be reactingOn 12 January, a week before the inauguration, LL Bean found itself smack bang in the middle of one of now-President Trump’s notorious tweets:Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L.Bean for your great support and courage. People will support you even more now. Buy L.L.Bean. @LBPerfectMaine Continue reading...

Fake news propagates through the conservative media to the halls of Congress where science is under attack

I grew up with a piano in my bedroom, but now the thought of ivory fills me with revulsion. The UK needs to impose a total ban on the trade of elephant tusksGrowing up in our two up, two down terraced house on the Southside of Edinburgh, I shared my bedroom with a cherished family heirloom – my granny’s mini-grand. This beautiful piano had been to the other side of the world and back. It ended up taking up half my room and a whole lot of my life. I taught myself to play on it, bashing out the sevenths while pretending to be (pre-Wings) McCartney. Now I think of that piano with total revulsion. I believe anyone in the possession of ivory should feel the same. It is over. It has to be.Look at the knife handles or antique toothpick and then think of the dead mother with her face hacked off as her tuskless, helpless one-year-old tries to nudge her back to life. Google image search is always a useful resource. I feel no differently about the thought of a gorilla-hand ashtray (yes, they are a thing in parts of the Far East) or a nice cool glass of lion bone wine (ditto). One more time: ivory is so over.

Discarded sugar from split bags plus leftovers from in-store bakeries heads to Cornish beekeepers as winter nectar shortage hits speciesWaste sugar routinely thrown away by supermarkets is being collected to help feed stricken bees in Britain struggling to get enough nectar to feed themselves.Related: Pesticides stop bees buzzing and releasing pollen, says study Continue reading...

What a bunch of clowns, hamming it up – while out in the real world an ominous and oppressive heat just won’t let upThere is no way you can write the sentence, “The treasurer of Australia, Scott Morrison, came to question time with a lump of coal on Thursday,” and have that sentence seem anything other than the ravings of a psychedelic trip, so let’s just say it and be done with it.

Galilee Blockade, which opposes the $16bn Carmichael mine, urges followers to apply for jobs with the Indian companyA civil disobedience campaign targeting Adani’s controversial Queensland coal project has asked almost 12,000 supporters to sign up for a job with the miner.The Galilee Blockade is working on infiltrating Adani and related companies to gain sources of information to help its plans for “direct action”. Continue reading...

Market operator Ameo says the state could run out of power on Friday while Coalition and Labor clash over energy policyNew South Wales is facing a possible power blackout on Friday as the state’s electricity system struggles to cope with soaring temperatures.As Coalition and Labor frontbenchers sparred over the latest blackouts in South Australia, the power market operator warned on Thursday that Australia’s most populous state will run out of electricity between 3-5pm on Friday unless generators step in with the offer of more supply. Continue reading...

Sandy, Bedfordshire: Peewit, teeack, chewit … whatever you call it, it sounds like the ClangersUnearthly sounds have filled the fields lately, breaking frosty silences or cocking a whooping snook at louring skies. The lapwing’s voice is the joker in the pack, shooting up and down the scales like a novice twiddling the knobs on a synthesiser. It does not feel grounded in this landscape of puddles, mud slaked over boots, ragged grass margins, finches giving out throwaway chirrups, and the dull ribbed skeleton leftovers of last year’s flowers.Our field-working forebears must have listened daily and tried to capture the distinctive peculiarity of these sounds in words. So much so that Vanellus vanellus may well have more regional names than any other bird. Lancashire’s chewit calls to Orkney’s teeack, Norfolk’s pie-wipe answers Lothian’s peasiewheep. I’m a child of the TV generation, and I always think when I hear the birds that the Clangers have landed. Continue reading...

Wind energy overtakes coal as the EU’s second largest form of power capacity but concerns remain over politicians’ enthusiasm for renewablesRenewable energy sources made up nearly nine-tenths of new power added to Europe’s electricity grids last year, in a sign of the continent’s rapid shift away from fossil fuels.But industry leaders said they were worried about the lack of political support beyond 2020, when binding EU renewable energy targets end. Continue reading...

With the help of snake handlers and Trish Prendergast, a senior veterinary nurse at a clinic in Townsville, Queensland, the 1.5m-long carpet python manages to regurgitate an entire tennis ball after it was found swollen in a residential yard Continue reading...

Tribal leaders may have urged activists to let the fight play out in the courts, but many on the ground are calling for a final push as the pipeline moves ahead

Energy retailer raised $100,000 from customers, which will be given out as grants to community-owned energy projectsAmid fresh attacks on renewable energy targets from the federal government and large energy retailer ERM Power, smaller electricity retailer Powershop has raised $100,000 from its customers to be given out as grants to 10 community-owned projects around the country.Three months ago Powershop launched the Your Community Energy initiative, where they gave customers the opportunity to pay higher rates, which it said would then be distributed to renewable energy projects that were community-owned. Continue reading...

GOP elder statesmen urge Donald Trump’s administration to impose a ‘free market, limited government’ response to rising global temperaturesA group of senior Republicans will meet with White House officials on Wednesday to call for a new national carbon tax to replace federal regulations as a way to combat climate change.