The Emmy award winning comic teams up with renowned scientist Michael Oppenheimer for a new video campaignDavid Cross is many things: a famed comic, an Emmy award winner, and a New York Times bestseller. But he is not a climate scientist.That fact might make him the perfect person to communicate the urgency of global heating to mass audiences. Continue reading...
The president's funding cuts and bullying are about dividing Americans and tightening his grip on powerThe author and environmentalist Wallace Stegner called our national parks America's best idea".Certainly, these jewels - 85m acres of parkland throughout all the 50 states - are beloved by the public. So are America's public libraries, arts organizations and museums.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
National Weather Service offices are reeling from job cuts and a hiring freeze imposed by TrumpMore than a dozen National Weather Service (NWS) forecast offices along the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico coast are understaffed as the US plunges into an expected active season for ruinous storms, data seen by the Guardian shows.There is a lack of meteorologists in 15 of the regional weather service offices along the coastline from Texas to Florida, as well as in Puerto Rico - an area that takes the brunt of almost all hurricanes that hit the US. Several offices, including in Miami, Jacksonville, Puerto Rico and Houston, lack at least a third of all the meteorologists required to be fully staffed. Continue reading...
Campaigners say the publication of key KPMG report must be a condition to MPs extending subsidies schemeThe owner of the Drax wood-burning power station should be forced to disclose full details of its tree consumption, campaigners have argued, as MPs review the billions in renewables subsidies the North Yorkshire plant receives.A delegated legislation committee will decide on Monday whether to pass the government's plans to extend billpayer-funded subsidies to the country's biomass power generators, of which Drax is by far the biggest. Continue reading...
Make UK tells government that prices threaten to derail industrial strategy as Energy UK calls for charges to be rebalanced'The UK government is being pressed to wipe billions from the energy costs facing households and heavy industry by reforming the high taxes levied on electricity bills.These policy levies mean the UK pays some of the highest energy bills in the world, and are simultaneously disadvantaging British industry and stifling the efforts of households to transition to lower-carbon heating systems, according to industry trade groups. Continue reading...
The memories preserved in countless books, photo albums, documentation - everything is gone,' says village's mayorFor weeks the weight had sat above the village, nine million tonnes of rock precariously resting on an ancient slab of ice. A chunk of the Kleines Nesthorn mountain's peak had crumbled, and its rubble hung over the silent, empty streets of Blatten, held back only by the glacier. The ice groaned beneath the pressure.On Wednesday afternoon, in an instant, it gave way. The ice cracked, then crumbled. The entire mass descended into the valley below, obliterating the village that had been there for more than 800 years. Continue reading...
As cities heat up, reflective roofs could lower energy bills and help the climate. But dark-roofing manufacturers are waging a quiet campaign to block new rules
Exclusive: Colin Simpfendorfer's resignation from working group comes as conservationists lash expansion of lethal program they say does nothing to improve beach safety'
Visitors lament tremendous shame' as notice withdrawing public access appears after 30m sale of Bridehead EstateFor decades the lake and waterfall on the Bridehead Estate in Dorset have brought joy to visitors who used the permissive path to access a scene of pastoral loveliness that could have come straight from the pages of a Thomas Hardy novel.But there was melancholy - and anger - among the hundreds, possibly thousands, who made final pilgrimages to the village of Littlebredy this week after it was announced that access to the public was being halted from 2 June. Continue reading...
Politicians reviled environmental minister Marina Silva in the senate this week, but new legislation is fuelling the firePolitical bullying is rarely as brutal as it was in Brazil this week when the environment minister Marina Silva was ambushed in a senate meeting. Her thuggish tormentors - all white male politicians on the infrastructure committee - took turns to publicly belittle the 67-year-old black woman, who has done more than anyone to protect the natural wealth of the country - the Amazon rainforest, Pantanal wetlands, Cerrado savannah and other biomes - from rapacious abuse.One by one, they lined up to attack her for these globally important efforts. Decorum gave way to name-calling and sneering: Know your place," roared the committee head, Marcos Rogerio, a Bolsonarist who cut Silva's microphone as she tried to respond. The leader of the centre-rightPSDB, Plinio Valerio, told her she did not deserve respect as a minister. The Amazonas senator Omar Aziz - from the Centrao party and a supporter of president Lula - talked over her repeatedly. Continue reading...
Sprat fishing has disrupted the food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphinsA whale-watching company has abandoned tours off Ireland's southern Atlantic coast and declared the waters an empty, lifeless sea.Colin Barnes, who ran Cork Whale Watch, announced he was closing the company because overfishing of sprat has disrupted the marine food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins. Continue reading...
High-profile Nationals and powerful forces in business and media are pushing back against climate action, posing a test of credibility for the new Liberal leader
After historic seasons in last two years, blazes continue trend of warm, dry conditions intensified by climate crisisEnormous early-season wildfires have erupted across the prairie provinces of Canada this week, taxing local emergency response and threatening a long stretch of dangerous air quality across eastern North America.The country's largest fires - the Bird River fire and the Border fire - remain completely uncontained in northern Manitoba. In Manitoba alone, wildfires have burned about 200,000 hectares already this year - already about three times the recent full-year average for the province. Continue reading...
by Daniel Rayneau-Kirkhope and Arianna Casiraghi on (#6XMQN)
Even in the foothills of the Italian Alps, cycling can be a practical alternative to driving, and more enjoyable, tooLiving car-free in a big city is fairly common these days. Yes, it can mean some adaptation, but when so many things are on your doorstep it's not such a big challenge. So how about car-free life in a remote Italian mountain village, with barely any public transport?We have been living in rural Italy without a car for more than five years now. Even though we have always loved bicycles, the decision to sell our car wasn't a particularly considered one. Continue reading...
Lauren Mason decided to take action after witnessing huge amounts of camping gear abandoned at festivalsWhen Lauren Mason volunteered to help with the cleanup at a festival two years ago, she had no idea it would change the course of her life. She'd heard about the tents being dumped and left behind. Her mother, she says, is an amazing seamstress", so Mason thought she might be able to use some of the material to make clothes.I originally went to clean up with the idea to make my own jacket. But that's when I realised the problem was bigger than we thought." Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor on (#6XM9M)
Exclusive: Trade unions and human rights organisations fear environment and human rights being pushed asideThe UK is on the brink of signing a 1.6bn trade agreement with Gulf states, amid warnings from rights groups that the deal makes no concrete provisions on human rights, modern slavery or the environment.The deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council - which includes the countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - is within touching distance, making it a fourth trading agreement by Keir Starmer after pacts were struck with the US, India and the EU. Continue reading...
Misti Leon argues fossil fuel companies' climate negligence caused her mother's death during a heatwaveA woman has brought the first-ever wrongful death lawsuit against big oil, claiming fossil fuel companies' climate negligence caused her mother's death during a major heatwave.Juliana Leon died of hyperthermia in Seattle at age 65 during the 2021 Pacific north-west heat dome - an event that killed nearly 200 people, and which meteorologists say would have been virtually impossible" without human-caused global warming. Continue reading...
Twenty-two plaintiffs between ages seven and 25 allege government is engaging in unlawful executive overreachTwenty-two young Americans have filed a new lawsuit against the Trump administration over its anti-environment executive orders. By intentionally boosting oil and gas production and stymying carbon-free energy, federal officials are violating their constitutional rights to life and liberty, alleges the lawsuit, filed on Thursday.The federal government is engaging in unlawful executive overreach by breaching congressional mandates to protect ecosystems and public health, argue the plaintiffs, who are between the ages of seven and 25 and hail from the heavily climate-impacted states of Montana, Hawaii, Oregon, California and Florida. They also say officials' emissions-increasing and science-suppressing orders have violated the state-created danger doctrine, a legal principle meant to prevent government actors from inflicting injury upon their citizens. Continue reading...
Two weeks before the spending review, the housing ombudsman has issued an important warning about a deepening crisis and growing human miseryThe most obvious social housing problem in Britain is the lack of it. The failure to build enough homes to keep up with need, and replace those sold off under the right-to-buy scheme, has adversely affected millions of lives. In parts of England, the wait for family-size homes has reached 100 years, with long waiting lists also in Scotland and Wales. Charities rightly call this a national scandal.While the slowdown dates back decades, the 60% cut in the affordable housing budget in 2010 made the situation far worse. The resulting shortages mean millions of people are stuck in privately rented accommodation with no prospect of buying their own. Hundreds of thousands of others are officially homeless, and trapped in overcrowded temporary flats and rooms.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Up to 500,000 more plug-in hybrids could be sold because of government flexibility on the zero-emission mandateThe UK government's weakening of vehicle sales rules in April could result in fewer electric cars on British roads and higher carbon emissions, according to its official climate adviser.The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said flexibilities announced by Keir Starmer last month for the government's zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate could lead to more plug-in hybrids being sold at the expense of some EV sales, which would lead to a further reduction in emissions savings". Continue reading...
The 8-0 ruling overturns lower court's decision that halted the project intended to transport crude oilThe US supreme court on Thursday backed a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion in Utah, endorsing a scaled-back interpretation of a key environmental law that could pave the way for faster fossil fuel expansion.In a unanimous ruling, the supreme court justices overturned a lower court's decision that had halted the fossil fuel project on the grounds that an environmental impact assessment by a federal agency had been too limited in scope. Continue reading...
Former army and navy leaders urge government to think beyond military capability in advance of key defence reviewFormer military leaders are urging the UK government to widen its definition of national security to include climate, food and energy measures in advance of a planned multibillion-pound boost in defence spending.Earlier this year Keir Starmer announced the biggest increase in defence spending in the UK since the end of the cold war, with the budget rising to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 - three years earlier than planned - and an ambition to reach 3%. Continue reading...
Hosepipe ban could follow, says Environment Agency, after England had driest February-April period on recordA drought has been declared in north-west England as reservoir levels dwindle.Hosepipe bans could follow, the Environment Agency said, though this is a matter for water companies, which have been directed to follow their drought plans. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani in eastern Kentucky with photographs on (#6XKXJ)
Geologists race to collect perishable data as Kentucky residents scared to death' over floods amid Trump cutsThe abandoned homes and razed lots along the meandering Troublesome Creek in rural eastern Kentucky is a constant reminder of the 2022 catastrophic floods that killed dozens of people and displaced thousands more.Among the hardest hit was Fisty, a tiny community where eight homes, two shops and nine people including a woman who uses a wheelchair, her husband and two children, were swept away by the rising creek. Some residents dismissed cellphone alerts of potential flooding due to mistrust and warning fatigue, while for others it was already too late to escape. Landslides trapped the survivors and the deceased for several days. Continue reading...
by Damien Gayle Environment correspondent on (#6XKVT)
Exclusive: researchers say defence spending boosts across world will worsen climate crisis which in turn will cause more conflictA global military buildup poses an existential threat to climate goals, according to researchers who say the rearmament planned by Nato alone could increase greenhouse gas emissions by almost 200m tonnes a year.With the world embroiled in the highest number of armed conflicts since the second world war, countries have embarked on military spending sprees, collectively totalling a record $2.46tn in 2023. Continue reading...
Nationally significant' status granted to reservoirs in East Anglia and Lincolnshire with seven more planned by 2050The government has ordered the building of two reservoirs, the first to be built in England for more than 30 years.The lack of reservoir capacity, combined with a rising population and drier summers caused by climate breakdown, has put the country at risk of water shortages. The government warned in recent weeks of an impending drought if there was not significant rainfall soon, and reservoirs have been reaching worryingly low levels. Continue reading...
There are more than 130 active wildfires across the country, half of which are considered out of controlMore than 17,000 people in Canada's western Manitoba province were being evacuated on Wednesday as the region experienced its worst start to the wildfire season in years.The Manitoba government has declared a province-wide state of emergency due to the wildfire situation," Manitoba's premier, Wab Kinew, told a news conference. This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people's living memory." Continue reading...
New ecocide bill in Scottish parliament aims to criminalise environmental destruction in line with EU directiveCompany directors who cause severe or reckless damage to nature could face jail terms or hefty fines under a bill that aims to criminalise environmental destruction in Scotland.The proposed law, which would be the first of its kind in the UK, is designed to put a class of environment offences known as ecocide on a similar legal footing to other grave crimes such as murder. Continue reading...
by Guardian staff and agencies in Geneva on (#6XKA5)
One person missing and Blatten devastated after huge cloud of ice and rubble inundates evacuated townA huge section of a glacier in the Swiss Alps has broken off, causing a deluge of ice, mud and rock to bury most of a village evacuated earlier this month due to the risk of a rockslide.Drone footage broadcast by Swiss national broadcaster SRF showed a vast plain of mud and soil completely covering part of the village of Blatten, the river running through it and the wooded sides of the surrounding valley. Continue reading...
Tax expected to generate nearly $100m annually, to be used for projects such as replacing sand on eroding beachesHawaii's governor signed legislation that boosts a tax imposed on hotel room and vacation rental stays in order to raise money to address the consequences of the climate crisis.It's the first time in a government in the US imposes such levy to help cope with a warming planet. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Andre Correa do Lago says answers have to come from the economy' as climate policies trigger populist-fuelled backlashThe world is facing a new form of climate denial - not the dismissal of climate science, but a concerted attack on the idea that the economy can be reorganised to fight the crisis, the president of global climate talks has warned.Andre Correa do Lago, the veteran Brazilian diplomat who will direct this year's UN summit, Cop30, believes his biggest job will be to counter the attempt from some vested interests to prevent climate policies aimed at shifting the global economy to a low-carbon footing. Continue reading...
Court rejects argument that man's home is at risk from glacial flood but sets precedent that polluters may be held liable for costsA German court has rejected a climate case brought by a Peruvian farmer against the German energy company RWE, but set a potentially important precedent on polluters' liability for their carbon emissions.The upper regional court in Hamm confirmed that companies could be held liable for climate damages in civil proceedings but rejected the argument by the farmer and mountain guide Saul Luciano Lliuya that his home was at direct risk of being washed away by a glacial flood. Continue reading...
Government's draft legislation also includes ban on releasing disposable party balloons into the environmentThe Spanish government is preparing a law that will oblige wet wipe manufacturers to cover the costs of cleaning huge wads of their product from the country's clogged-up sewers and water-treatment plants.The draft legislation, which is intended to help Spain meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and comply with EU legislation on reducing single-use plastic products, will also ban people from disposing of wet wipes down the toilet, as well as prohibiting the deliberate release of disposable party balloons containing plastic into the environment because of the marine pollution they cause. Continue reading...
The keeper's death led to questions over safety, rattled the tightly knit group of sentinels and renewed de-staffing fearsOn a cloudy but calm morning early in April, a helicopter touched down on a string of remote islands off British Columbia's Pacific coast. One person alighted; two others climbed onboard and the aircraft rose into the sky.The lone man made his way towards Triple Island lighthouse, an octagonal concrete tower erupting from the trio of islets. Fringed with barnacles, rockweed and algae, the rocky cluster sits on Canada's west coast, a seascape notorious for its battering storms, heavy fog and hostile waters. Continue reading...
Flamingo Lodge - constructed from repurposed shipping containers on stilts - replaces Florida facility battered by hurricanes Katrina and WilmaA collection of repurposed shipping containers, welded together and fitted out to create an innovative new eco-hotel inside one of the country's most popular national parks, offers a vision of revival and resilience at the beginning of another potentially active Atlantic hurricane season.The containers exist as the elevated 24-room Flamingo Lodge at the exposed southern tip of Florida's Everglades national park. It was built to replace the 1960s-era cinderblock construction that was finally demolished in 2009, four years after back-to-back hurricanes, Katrina and Wilma, tore it apart. Continue reading...
The government has suggested the material, which it describes as low risk, could also be used in roads and infrastructure in other parts of Japan.Slightly radioactive soil from near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be transported to Tokyo and used in flower beds in the prime minister's garden, in an attempt to prove to a skeptical public that the material is safe.The decision comes 14 years after the plant suffered a triple meltdown in the world's worst nuclear accident since Chornobyl. Continue reading...
Data also shows small but shocking' likelihood of year 2C hotter than preindustrial era before 2030There is an 80% chance that global temperatures will break at least one annual heat record in the next five years, raising the risk of extreme droughts, floods and forest fires, a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown.For the first time, the data also indicated a small likelihood that before 2030, the world could experience a year that is 2C hotter than the preindustrial era, a possibility scientists described as shocking". Continue reading...