Environment | The Guardian

There's a war brewing between those who want to plan for future challenges and those who want to turn back the tide

State had already banned thin plastic shopping bags, but new measure bans all plastic bags starting in 2026Paper or plastic" will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed on Sunday by the governor, Gavin Newsom, that bans all plastic shopping bags.California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable. Continue reading...

First-of-its-kind suit comes as climate experts claim that fossil fuel producers are deceiving public about plasticsCalifornia has filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ExxonMobil for allegedly deceiving the public about the plastic pollution crisis, the state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, announced on Monday.For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn't possible," Bonta said in a statement. Continue reading...

Search for rat that may not exist is part of effort to keep invasive species off remote but ecologically diverse islandsA purported sighting of a rat wouldn't get much attention in many places around the world.But it caused a stir earlier this year on Alaska's Saint Paul Island. Continue reading...

Move comes after weeks of uncertainty over reports of financial problems as green vehicle sector struggles

Firms underreported true scale of sewage pollution for 10 years, which allowed them to set higher bills, tribunal toldSix water companies overcharged customers between 800m and 1.5bn by significantly or systematically" underreporting the true scale of their sewage pollution of rivers and waterways, a tribunal has heard.In the first environmental competition class action against water companies in England, lawyers argued that the privatised firms had abused their monopoly position to mislead regulators over the amount of sewage they were discharging from their assets over the past 10 years. Continue reading...

Requiring key sectors to switch to clean energy by specific times could trigger benevolent cascades, report claimsIn the terminology of the climate and ecological crises the phrase tipping point" is loaded with dreadful implications.It evokes a climate breakdown supercharged by the mass escape of methane locked in Siberian permafrost, or the great currents of the oceans smothered by freshwater melting from the Greenland ice sheet, or the Amazon turning from great rainforest to parched savannah after the felling of one too many trees. Continue reading...

The Hollywood actor and activist backs Harris for president as she warns of climate emergency and talks Taylor SwiftYoung people's understandable unhappiness with the Biden administration's record on oil and gas drilling and the war in Gaza should not deter them from voting to block Donald Trump from again becoming president of the United States, the Hollywood actor and activist Jane Fonda has warned.I understand why young people are really angry, and really hurting," Fonda said. What I want to say to them is: Do not sit this election out, no matter how angry you are. Do not vote for a third party, no matter how angry you are. Because that will elect somebody who will deny you any voice in the future of the United States ... If you really care about Gaza, vote to have a voice, so you can do something about it. And then, be ready to turn out into the streets, in the millions, and fight for it.'" Continue reading...

Coalition's lack of costings and absence of detail has been seized upon by critics of Australia's potential landmark energy shift

Sea Life Aquarium Melbourne's nine-month-old king penguin eats 25 to 32 fish a day and outweighs both foster parents combined

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, detailed the Coalition's nuclear power plan in a speech in Sydney but did not announce its cost, saying it is coming 'in due course'. 'Our nuclear plan requires a significant upfront cost, and you can look at the international examples to see as much. But a whole new and vast transmission network and infrastructure won't be needed under the plan that we're putting forward,' Dutton said

I killed a great white when I was 18 to feed my family in Madagascar. But now I'm documenting the threat to these beautiful creatures from overfishingThe first time I came face to face with a great white shark, it was dead. I had caught it in my net. And I was so happy. I thought: I can bring a fortune back to my village. I can feed my family. I'm Malagasy - I come from Andavadoaka, a small fishing village on the south-west coast of Madagascar. It is a very dry place where no crops can grow. The name of my tribe, Vezo, means people who live off the ocean, but also people who survive it. Because we rely on it.I became a shark fisher when I was 16 years old. I dropped out of school because my parents couldn't afford to support me any more, and followed my uncle into fishing so I could bring some money back to my family. I didn't see a shark as a magnificent creature. My mindset was: make money, kill, make money, kill. Support my family. Continue reading...

Price of electric cars falls again with the MG4 hatchback cheapest at $30,990 but experts warn high-end EV sales may stall

From flooding to drought, extreme weather is devastating our communities. It is time for the world's heaviest emitters to help mitigate the impacts of climatic breakdown on the countries most affectedMillions of people in my country, Malawi, face unprecedented existential crises driven by climate breakdown. The frequency of extreme weather events and the massive impact they have on communities have left government officials like me with a huge dilemma of how to act fast enough to save lives. In the past three years, we have gone from facing the worst flooding in recent times to the most severe drought in a decade. The impact has been devastating to communities across the country.When Cyclone Freddy hit us in March 2023, it killed more than 600 people. The cyclone injured many more, tore families apart, destroyed livelihoods, and the long-term effects from diseases were even worse. A little over a year later, we were in the middle of a raging drought, which the president, Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, declared a national disaster in March. Millions of people are facing acute food insecurity, leading to malnutrition and health issues that are putting lives at risk, not least for people on long-term treatment for conditions such as tuberculosis and HIV. Continue reading...

Plan aimed to expand protection of endangered ecosystems, but opponents said it posed risk to business developmentVoters in Switzerland have rejected a proposal to make authorities do more to protect natural habitats from pollution and development, preliminary results of a referendum have showed.The biodiversity initiative, which the Swiss government and parliament had already rebuffed, envisaged changing the law to set aside more land for conservation beyond areas that were already protected. Continue reading...

Ombudsman concerned about overzealous fining of people for leaving items outside their home to be given awayLocal authorities in England will be issued with fresh guidance on how to handle middle-class fly-tipping" after councils were found to have taken an overzealous approach to fining people who leave items outside their home for neighbours to collect for free.The local government and social care ombudsman (LGO) said she was concerned about an increasing number of incidents over recent months where councils had acted disproportionately. Continue reading...

Unbearable heat and worsening storms prompt residents of states such as Florida to move elsewhereAs a Rust belt town of 65,000 people in eastern Indiana, Muncie may not be the most exciting place in the world. It doesn't have beaches, year-round warm weather or much in the way of cosmopolitanism.But for Laura Rivas, a cybersecurity engineer formerly of North Miami Beach, Florida, Muncie is perfect. Continue reading...

AA says capital's streets are paved with fines' as figures show 89m was received in 2023-24Transport for London (TfL) has recorded a 57% rise in income over five years from fining drivers using major roads in the capital, with a leading motoring organisation saying the transport authority has ensured London's streets are now paved with fines".Figures show it received 89.3m in the 2023-24 financial year for perceived offences on its red route network, up from 56.8m in 2018-19, according to a draft version of its next annual report seen by the PA news agency. Continue reading...

It will cost more, it will push prices up, it will take longer,' treasurer says of opposition leader's fantasy'

Exclusive: independent MPs and Lidia Thorpe tell PM that environment law reforms under negotiation must remove exemptions for native forest logging

The Marshall Project and the Prison Journalism Project asked incarcerated reporters to document the impact of extreme heat on their facilities. Their stories reveal the brutal realityAfter a summer of record-breaking temperatures, scientists predict that 2024 could end up being the hottest year on record. For people in US prisons and jails - who often lack access to even the most basic cooling measures - conditions behind bars exacerbate the risks of dangerously high temperatures.Several courts have ruled that extreme temperatures in prison violate the eighth amendment's provision against cruel and unusual" punishment. But these rulings have not led to a widespread adoption of air-conditioning or other methods to cool prison facilities or prevent heat-related deaths. Public health researchers at Brown University estimate that just one day of above-average summer temperatures is associated with a nearly 4% increase in deaths of incarcerated people. Suicides spike 23% in the three days following a heatwave. And for every 10 degrees Fahrenheit above the average summer temperature, those deaths increase by 5%. Continue reading...

Showing climate delivery can be done effectively and fairly would be an extraordinary climate legacy for Keir StarmerA well-intentioned but badly designed and poorly communicated energy policy from the German government, and more recent protests by farmers in France and the Netherlands, have knocked the confidence of European political leaders that environmental progress can be delivered in a way that works for people and enjoys democratic support. Unashamedly popular climate policies from Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband offer the chance to reshape European climate politics and confound these sceptics.Showing climate delivery can be done fairly, effectively, affordably and with strong public support would be an extraordinary climate legacy for Starmer. It would build on Britain's relatively strong record of having halved its climate footprint already, and it would offer hope amid all the gloom.Joss Garman is executive director of the European Climate FoundationDo 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...

One person dead and several missing after deluge in Noto, still recovering from 1 January earthquakeHeavy rain pounded Japan's north-central Noto region, triggering landslides and floods and leaving one person dead and several missing, officials have said.The deluges caused swollen rivers to overflow, flooding homes and leaving some people stranded in a region still recovering from the deadly 1 January earthquake. Continue reading...

Ecover, backed by activist model Lily Cole, calls for fewer washes to reduce microplastics and other sources of water pollutionA company that sells cleaning products is giving customers some surprising advice: wash your clothes less.Ecover is calling for a change in our laundry habits after research found people felt under societal pressure to wash their clothes more frequently, and were unaware that this could damage the environment. Continue reading...

Though the party has plenty to celebrate at its first conference in power for 15 years, there is much work to do to on net zeroWhen Keir Starmer arrives in Liverpool this weekend promising an upbeat tone to Labour's first conference in power for 15 years, he will boast of his party's strong start to its first 82 days in government.In just the last two months, the new government has made more green reforms than Rishi Sunak did in his entire premiership and Labour has plenty to celebrate: it has taken the first steps to crack down on water companies and clean up our filthy rivers; stopping oil and gas licences, and withdrawing support for a new coalmine; setting up a new renewable company, Great British Energy; a green light for new on and offshore windfarms; and an international charm offensive to signal renewed UK leadership in climate and nature diplomacy; alongside a host of smaller changes. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia's photographer-at-large Mike Bowers captures a burst of yellow on NSW's south-west slopes

Environment agency advised that the animal posed a danger to elderly woman in remote summer house in WestfjordsA rare polar bear that was spotted in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities have said.The bear was killed in the north-west tip of the country after police consulted the national environment agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, according to the Westfjords police chief, Helgi Jensson. Continue reading...

Pennsylvania plant was site of most serious nuclear meltdown and radiation leak in US history in 1979A nuclear reactor at the notorious Three Mile Island site in Pennsylvania is to be activated for the first time in five years after its owners, Constellation Energy, struck a deal to provide power to Microsoft's proliferating artificial intelligence operations.The plant was the location of the most serious nuclear meltdown and radiation leak in US history, in March 1979 when the loss of water coolant through a faulty valve caused the Unit 2 reactor to overheat. More than four decades later, the reactor is still in a decommissioning phase. Continue reading...

Four protesters against North Sea oil and gas licences have charges of criminal damage thrown outFour Greenpeace activists who staged a no new oil" protest on the roof of Rishi Sunak's North Yorkshire manor house have had charges of criminal damage thrown out.The activists said justice and common sense" had prevailed after a judge on Friday ruled the evidence against them was tenuous" and they had no case to answer. Continue reading...

Cost of soft drinks, beer and kettles likely to increase as a result of scheme that shifts recycling fees to producers

British growers are taking a increasing share of sales long dominated by imports by focussing on green credentialsFrom the tip of Cornwall to the far reaches of Scotland, the shoots of resurgence in the British cut-flower market are raising hopes of a fledgling return to home-produced fragrant flowers becoming a bigger part of the 1bn industry in the UK.UK flower production bloomed to 179m last year, according to figures from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, up from 126m in 2019. The market has been dominated by imports, usually from Holland, for more than 50 years, but last year imports fell slightly to 761.8m from 869.1m in 2022. Continue reading...

Firefighters have been rescuing people stranded on their balconies and rooftops after Storm Boris triggered flooding and landslides in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Two people were reported missing in Traversara, a hamlet in Ravenna province, and about 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. Storm Boris has battered parts of Italy after causing havoc in eastern and central Europe

Firefighters and police in Rondonia battle fires intensified by both the climate crisis and a criminal assault on the rainforestThe occupants of the vinyl-coated military tents at this remote jungle camp in Brazil's wild west compare the hellscape surrounding them to catastrophes old and new: the extinction of the dinosaurs, the bombardment of Gaza, the obliteration of Hiroshima during the second world war.It's as if a nuclear bomb has gone off. There's no forest. There's nothing. Everything's burned. It's chaos," said Lt Col Victor Paulo Rodrigues de Souza as he gave a tour of the base on the frontline of Brazil's fight against one of its worst burning seasons in years and a relentless assault on the greatest tropical rainforest on Earth. Continue reading...

On 20 September 2023, the Guardian launched a new digital edition for a continent in the grip of dramatic political and social change. This is what we've learned so far - and how you can help us do more

More than 400,000 people evacuated, hundreds of flights cancelled and many roads shut due to flooding and windsTyphoon Bebinca struck the east coast of China this week, making landfall near Shanghai, a city of almost 30 million people, on Monday. Bebinca developed into a typhoon to the east of the southern Japan islands late last week, before traveling westwards through the East China Sea and making landfall in Shanghai at approximately 7.30am local time (00.30BST).The Chinese media say it is the strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai in 75 years. Wind speeds were reported to have reached just over 150km/h (about 94mph), making it equivalent to a category 1 hurricane, albeit just shy of a category 2 in strength. Before Bebinca, Shanghai had been hit directly by only two typhoons, one in 1949 and another in 2022, as they usually track further south. Continue reading...

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

Do fish feel despair or longing? Do they yearn for a simpler time?

Since last week, wildfires have been raging in central and northern Portugal. At least seven people have died and 50 have been injured. More than 5,000 firefighters have been mobilised to battle the blazes Continue reading...

Four bridges will allow herds to pass beneath public footpaths while visitors may catch glimpse of bison from aboveWhen Europe's heaviest land mammals were introduced into a woodland on the edge of Canterbury, it was hoped they would flourish and make space for other wildlife.But the European bison have been so successful in West Blean and Thornden Woods that more space must be made for them - in the form of Britain's first ever bison bridges. Continue reading...

The country, which has more 300 days of sunshine a year, has embraced rooftop systems that harness the sun's energyThe Thriamvos company truck pulls up at noon outside the four-storey building in the heart of Nicosia.It's the third rooftop installation of a solar-powered water heating system that Petros Mihali and his assistant, Soteris, have made in the Cypriot capital since their working day began at 7am. Continue reading...

In a Guardian interview, Tony Juniper says housebuilding plans could be an opportunity to create wild belts' around cities to help habitat and species recoveryThe collapse in British butterfly populations is a warning from nature" about the resilience of the UK's ecosystems, says England's nature chief, raising concerns about threats to national food security as the planet continues to heat.Tony Juniper, the chair of Natural England, says new data showing a sharp fall in butterfly populations this summer was probably the consequence of habitat loss and the use of pesticides, making the insects less resilient to extreme weather fluctuations: the scorching heat and wetter weather driven by global heating. Continue reading...

Student-led analyses raise concerns of conflict of interest at six universities, including Princeton, Columbia and CornellPrestigious US universities are raking in millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. And one university even appears to have owned a petroleum company from which it has earned millions of dollars, according to a spate of new reports produced by student organizers.The six analyses, released Wednesday, focus on American University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Princeton University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and University of California, San Diego. They were written by campus organizers at each respective institution and released by Campus Climate Network, an international student-led coalition that is pushing colleges to cut ties with big oil. Continue reading...

Meloni government accused of lacking will to confront climate crisis as floods cause havoc in Emilia-RomagnaTwo people are missing and about 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes after devastating floods and landslides hit the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, prompting accusations that Giorgia Meloni's far-right government lacks the will to confront the climate crisis.The flooding was brought on by Storm Boris, which had earlier wreaked havoc in central and eastern Europe, killing at least 24 people. Several major cities in central Europe were bracing for swollen rivers to peak on Thursday but defences generally appeared to be holding. Continue reading...

Around the US, policies empower school staff to view an unpaid food tab as proof of possible abuseEarlier this year, administrators at South Mebane elementary in North Carolina sparked outrage - and a rushed community fundraising effort - after they issued a terse warning to parents in a school newsletter: students with lunch debt would not be allowed to attend an upcoming dance.Community members donated more than $4,000 in three days to ensure no students were excluded. But while the newsletter raised worries that students in the Alamance-Burlington school system might be singled out for money problems, the district's meal policy contains a far more serious warning to families: repeated failure to pay for school meals can result in a referral to child welfare services for neglect. Continue reading...

Ken Done, Jonathan Zawada, Blak Douglas and others created companion pieces to children's works celebrating sharks and rays. They're now on display at the Australian Museum Continue reading...

Victoria is home to perhaps the largest population and the only mainland state with legislative relic' of protections

In West Africa, Pygmy hippos are said to carry a diamond in their mouths, which they use to light their way through the forestThe thing to know about the pygmy hippopotamus named Moo Deng is that she is angry, but also she is sweet. In photographs, she is often blurry and at all times, she is shiny. She secretes something known as blood sweat" which is actually her sunscreen.She is a hippopotamidae. She is stout. She runs like a piglet and has a snout like a very, very new puppy's. She is very fast. Continue reading...

Campaigners criticise decision to scrap tax introduced in 2018 amid rise of flight shame' movementCampaigners have accused the Swedish government of doing everything in its power to stop climate action" after it cut a tax on flying, despite admitting that it would increase emissions.The flight tax, aimed at cutting pollution from aviation, was introduced in 2018, amid the rise of the flight shame" (flygskam) movement popularised by Greta Thunberg. Continue reading...

Automotive lobby group warns multibillion-euro fines' will punish manufacturers without relaxation of rulesEurope's car industry has called for the relaxation of EU emissions targets after sales of electric cars stalled further in August, adding to growing political pressure that threatens to slow the transition away from fossil fuels.The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), a lobby group, said that its members could face multibillion-euro fines" because the shift to electric production has not been quick enough to meet the EU targets. Continue reading...

Risk' analyses largely ignore the dangers of the climate crisis. Unless we wake up to them, they will soon outweigh all othersThe Irish sea captain who in 1751 discovered the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc) - closely connected with, though not identical to, the Gulf Stream - found a practical use for it: he used the frigid deeper water to cool his wine.That may seem a rather frivolous response, but of course, Capt Henry Ellis had no idea that the oceanic pattern he had stumbled upon had been critical to the climate, the agriculture and indeed the entire development of western Europe. The same excuse can hardly be made for British and European governments today.Anatol Lieven is director of the Eurasia programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author of Climate Change and the Nation State: The Realist Case Continue reading...