Environment | The Guardian

Planners told to boost flood defences, especially in dry regions, as global warming intensifies water cycle, reports Climate HomeSevere rainfall has increased throughout the world’s wettest and driest regions and is set to intensify this century, new research suggests.Since 1950, daily extremes have risen 1-2% a decade, a study published in journal Nature said on Monday. Continue reading...

Work will begin this year to shut down Fessenheim, which is at the centre of a row with Germany and SwitzerlandThe French environment minister, Ségolène Royal, said on Monday that work will begin this year to shut down the country’s oldest nuclear power plant, at the centre of a row with neighbouring Germany and Switzerland.

In the spirit of International Women’s Day, leading brands should vow to do more to protect the women making our clothesThe garment sector is great at employing women. At the bottom. While approximately 80% of the world’s garment workers are women, the number of women heading the 15 largest mass-market apparel companies on the Fortune 500 list is zero.Garment-related global supply chains provide critical jobs and capital that help women workers to raise their standard of living and provide for their families. However, these women are also vulnerable in global value chains. Low wages, unsafe working conditions and flexible contracts are prevalent. This is exacerbated by entrenched gender discrimination in everyday life. So what should fashion brands be doing to make sure women are protected? Continue reading...

Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex They’re nervous birds that prefer to remain hidden in dense vegetationA song thrush celebrates the ending of the afternoon rain with repeated trills, scales and whistles. In the trees either side of the footpath, other birds join in the wall of bird song – warbling dunnocks, tinkling goldfinches and stuttering chaffinches. Greenfinches add their harsh falling notes. Groups of midges hover above the woodland track. It’s the first time I’ve seen the flies in these numbers; another sign that plentiful food is emerging in time for the birds’ breeding season.I reach the Hanger viewpoint overlooking the brooks that line the River Arun. Wigeon quietly whistle and wander among the pools in the fading light. Excitable lapwing flap and loop above them, calling “pee-woot”, but even they are settling down now as evening approaches. Continue reading...

Scientists say CSIRO losing students and climate scientists already looking for jobs elsewhere since cuts announcedThe global reputation of the CSIRO has already been “trashed” by the announced cuts to climate research there, world-leading CSIRO scientists told a Senate inquiry on Tuesday.“Our reputation is now trashed, internationally,” said John Church, a CSIRO scientist who was speaking in his private capacity to a public hearing of the Senate select committee into the scrutiny of government budget measures in Hobart. Continue reading...

The first chunk of a $3bn commitment made at the Paris climate talks ‘shows the US stands squarely behind climate commitments’, the State Department saidThe Obama administration has made a first installment on its $3bn pledge to help poor countries fight climate change – defying Republican opposition to the president’s environmental plan.The $500m payment to the Green Climate Fund was seen as critical to shoring up international confidence in Barack Obama’s ability to deliver on the pledges made at the United Nations’ climate change conference in Paris in late 2015. Continue reading...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Okeanos Explorer claim they have discovered a completely new species of octopus. The little sea creature was captured on camera on 27 February, it is distinctive for the lack of pigment in its skin. On social media it has received the name ‘Casper the friendly ghost’ Continue reading...

UK and French governments say project will go ahead despite uncertainties prompted by row at its main backer, EDF EnergyThe British and French governments have insisted the Hinkley Point nuclear plant is on track, despite fresh doubts emerging over the £18bn project after an executive row at its main backer, EDF Energy. Continue reading...

The actor, with billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, joined local organizers to demand government accountability and the declaration of a disaster zoneLocal activists in Flint, Michigan, were joined on Monday by actor Mark Ruffalo and billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer to amplify calls for long-term solutions in addressing the city’s water-contamination crisis.Less than 24 hours after the Democratic presidential candidates left Flint to continue campaigning ahead of Michigan’s primary on Tuesday, the environmental advocates joined local organizers inside a downtown church to demand accountability and approval of a disaster declaration for the cash-strapped city, which would release additional resources. Continue reading...

Ambitous solar power plans for Las Vegas casinos are being overshadowed by an ongoing battle with regulators and the state’s biggest utility providerThe glittering Las Vegas strip is not an obvious model for energy conservation.

After EDF finance chief quits, we look at what makes planned station so important, why it costs so much and the alternativesThe resignation of Thomas Piquemal, the finance director of EDF, has increased concerns about the French energy company’s ability to build Hinkley Point C, the nuclear power station due to generate 7% of Britain’s electricity from 2025.Related: EDF's Hinkley Point nuclear nightmare adds to company's woes Continue reading...

Bananas, maize and beans could be among crops consigned to history in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with drastic consequences for people who reply on beans as a vital source of proteinClimate change will leave swaths of sub-Saharan Africa unable to produce staple crops such as maize, bananas and beans by the end of the century, according to a report that calls for an urgent transformation of the region’s agriculture.The study, led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), says that rising temperatures and droughts will force “significant areas” to find alternative crops, improve irrigation systems or even abandon crop-based agriculture completely by the year 2100. Continue reading...

New charities guidance does not exclude us from the debate - we have an obligation to explain the environmental repercussions of BrexitIn a front-page story in Monday’s Telegraph, Eurosceptic MPs and “charity transparency” campaigners have joined forces to fulminate against environmental groups for daring to express their view on the EU referendum.This move, their argument runs, will “infuriate” the organisations’ supporters and may even be in breach of Charity Commission rules. A Telegraph editorial goes as far as accusing “many charities” of wanting Britain to stay in the EU because they receive money from Brussels. Continue reading...

Crickets in brie and wild Texas antelope sushi are on the menu at pop-up restaurant Prey, where disruptive plants and animals find a new purposeAttempts to eradicate invasive species have ranged from genetic modification to unleashing a squadron of goats upon them. This growing problem now has another potential solution: fine dining.

Friday 11 March 2016 marks the fifth anniversary of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that killed 15,894 people in Japan. Christopher Furlong has photographed staff who are decommissioning the stricken plant Continue reading...

Workers’ representatives say UK nuclear scheme is threat to EDF’s future and that finance chief’s resignation shows senior figures in company agreeUnion leaders at the French energy company EDF have called for investment in Britain’s Hinkley Point nuclear power plant to be delayed for at least two years, warning that it represents a threat to the company’s future.Workers’ representatives say the sudden resignation of EDF finance director Thomas Piquemal has revealed that doubts over the feasibility of the controversial project go right to the top.

European commission appears to soften stance on whether it will strengthen its 40% carbon cut, after outcry over attempt to rule it outEurope’s chief climate negotiator has said he is open to increasing the EU’s carbon target for 2030, in a backdown by the European commission.Last week, the commission ruled out any increase in the bloc’s target of cutting emissions by 40% by 2030 on 1990 levels, sparking an outcry from several countries and green groups. Continue reading...

The American bison once faced extinction – now they’re being culled. Native American photographer Joe Whittle attends a hunt held by tribal membersEvery winter the small town of Gardiner, Montana, welcomes Native American tribal members from around the Inland Northwest. Hospitality businesses are happy to see them arrive during the off-season, but they’re not the only ones – ranchers are thrilled.The tribal members are there to hunt American bison (or buffalo) that wander out of Yellowstone national park to find forage during winter. Bison are naturally migrating animals, and as the frozen snows of winter make finding sustenance difficult and competitive, herds start to head to lower elevations to seek sufficient feed. Continue reading...

A greater one-horned rhino has been successfully moved to a new home in Bardia national park. The healthy adult male is the first of 30 rhinos to be ‘translocated’ from Chitwan national park over the next two years to secure a second, viable breeding population and hopefully restore rhino numbers to historical levels Continue reading...

Debts, boardroom disputes, delayed nuclear projects – the many troubles of the French-owned power companyBuilding an £18bn nuclear power station such as Hinkley Point C would be a huge financial commitment for any energy company – even one that is mainly state-owned.EDF, the company at the heart of the Somerset project that is 85% owned by the French government, has brought in Chinese state-owned firms as partners and negotiated generous subsidies with the UK government. Continue reading...

A tie-up is on the cards between two palm oil companies with worrying track records. If it goes ahead it could have huge implications for the palm oil sectorIt’s a multimillion dollar tie-up that you’ve heard little about, but could have major implications for the drive towards a more responsible palm oil sector.

Four of the leading candidates for City Hall offered a range of ideas for making London greener but also revealed some no go areasAll mayoral candidates say they want a greener London, so which has the best ideas for achieving this and which is the most likely to deliver? The Green Alliance think tank held a hustings at 1 Wimpole Street with Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon, Conservative Zac Goldsmith, Labour’s Sadiq Khan and the Green Party’s Sian Berry on the panel. James O’Brien of LBC Radio chaired. Candidates’ hopes, dreams, bold assertions and no go areas regarding some of the main themes are compared and contrasted below. Continue reading...

Proposed £18bn Somerset plant has been pushed by George Osborne but some on French company’s board fear risky spendingThe £18bn Hinkley Point C nuclear project was in crisis on Sunday night after reports that the finance director of EDF, the company behind the scheme, had resigned.Related: EDF tells contractors to restart work on Hinkley Point, report says Continue reading...

Evacuees from the Chernobyl nuclear accident remember relatives, friends and colleagues who died – and the abandoned city declared unsafe for 24,000 yearsIn a biting winter wind, Alexander Petrovich Zabirchenko walks slowly along a memorial to firefighters and workers who died in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, touching each of the portraits engraved in granite. He does not shiver or complain of the cold. He is a big man and draws himself up to his full height before each sombre stone.“Here is Valeri, and here Vladimir and Alexandr and Anatoli … I knew these men,” he says. “I worked with them. They were colleagues and friends.” Continue reading...

When the charge for carrier bags was introduced I understood the proceeds would go to good causes. But they didn’t know which oneAfter the introduction of the 5p charge for plastic carrier bags in October in England, I asked my local Sainsbury’s in Hertford how it would allocate the money raised. Staff told me that 4p out of every 5p was going to charity, but they did not know any more details and were unable to say which charity.Eventually, the manager suggested that 4p would be going to Mudlarks, a local community gardening venture and the store’s “charity of the year”. But when I asked Mudlarks it said it was a surprise to them, as it had been told it wouldn’t be receiving any of the 5p. I feel aggrieved. If Sainsbury’s is not giving any of the 5p to charity, it shouldn’t pretend that it is. FM, Hertford Continue reading...

Buckden Pike, Yorkshire Dales Dry stone walls over the snow-covered moor look like ropes lashed taut over cargoIf the Pennines are meant to be bleak and terrible, then Buckden Gill is very un-Pennine in its atmosphere, a tiered series of waterfalls tumbling through an exquisitely intimate gorge.The water runs over smooth slabs of bone-white limestone into green pools which today hold the sun with a crystalline clarity and look misleadingly inviting; the whole thing feels like it might have been pinched from the Pyrenees. Continue reading...

Role in supporting UK renewable sector must be cemented by legislation, says environment committee chair Mary CreaghThe head of a parliamentary committee is to demand ministers introduce tougher safeguards to ensure the Green Investment Bank continues with its low-carbon mandate following a controversial privatisation.Mary Creagh MP, who chairs the environmental audit committee (EAC), also expressed concern that the bank could in future put more effort into overseas projects than in supporting the domestic sector for which it was set up. Continue reading...

Report co-authored by renowned climate change economist claims Chinese emissions have peaked years earlier than its leaders pledgedCarbon emissions may have peaked already in China, years earlier than its leaders pledged, according to a study co-authored by the world-renowned economist Lord Stern.The country’s emissions have fallen, partly as a result of its globally relevant economic slowdown, and partly owing to government policies to pursue a low-carbon path and reduce the rampant air pollution in its major cities. Continue reading...

The 1952 London smog taught us that air pollution caused people to die in the days and weeks that followed a short period of very high pollution. If we could only prevent smog episodes then it was thought that the air would be safe. A study in the 1990s changed this view. Thousands of people living in six US cities were tracked over 14 years. Having allowed for smoking and other factors, people lived shorter lives in the most polluted cities, showing, for the first time, that the particle pollution that we experience every day affects our health.In a new study scientists at Imperial College London have now looked at people over four decades. 368,000 people (1% of English population) were selected from the 1971 census. The researchers then looked at the next three censuses to check if the 1971 people were still alive. Survival was associated with their local pollution in the decade that they died, but it was also linked to the air pollution that they breathed up to three decades earlier. The effects of air pollution in 1971, 1981 and 1991 could still be detected in the death rates of people in 2001. Continue reading...

To meet the climate change targets agreed at Paris, billions of pounds of green investment will be needed to upgrade the UK’s energy and transport infrastructure. The Green Investment Bank has so far done a sterling job of attracting capital to low-carbon infrastructure projects in the UK that might otherwise have struggled to find funding. The privatisation of the GIB (Report, 3 March) could move its focus away from novel and riskier low-carbon projects in favour of easier, more commercial projects.I am not opposed to privatisation if it can be shown that it is the right policy tool to get the job done. But the decision to sell the GIB seems to have been rushed through just to get it off the government’s balance sheet. The Commons environmental audit committee found that the decision was taken without due transparency, consultation or proper consideration of alternatives. Ministers have simply not yet proved to parliament that the bank will achieve its aims better in the private sector. The government has relied heavily on assurances from potential shareholders and executives that stand to benefit from the sale. If the sale goes ahead, the government should ensure that the GIB remains accountable to parliament by reporting annually on the pay of its top team. Continue reading...

Ex-Labour leader assembles group of MPs and NGOs to demand UK legislation on net zero emissions agreed at Paris climate talksEd Miliband has assembled a group of cross-party MPs and campaigners to demand parliament enacts a law to to make the carbon emissions target agreed at the Paris climate talks legally binding.The former Labour leader – alongside Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, Green MP Caroline Lucas and two Conservative MPs – has called for legislation that would significantly extend the present UK target of cutting emissions by 80% by 2050. Continue reading...

We believe that the Paris agreement represents a historic opportunity for the world to tackle dangerous climate change. But that opportunity will only be realised if we follow up the good intentions of Paris with delivery in every country of the world. Paris was significant because it set out the ambition to keep global warming well below 2C, and ideally to 1.5C of warming, and it accepted that the world must get to net zero emissions in the second half of the century, in accordance with our scientific understanding. In doing so, the agreement built on the commitments by businesses and cities of the world to net zero emissions. A move driven not just by science but by the ambition for a world with cleaner air, better homes, and an improved quality of life.The UK government deserves significant credit for having helped deliver the Paris agreement. Now we urge it to follow up its high ambition internationally, with high ambition here at home. Specifically, it can build on the momentum from Paris by supporting the idea of enshrining net zero emissions in UK domestic law, with the date to be advised by the independent committee on climate change. Continue reading...

John Hingley has developed a ‘micro-grid’ in a metal box that can be used for disaster relief, mining, and even festivals

Posters and T-shirts promoting the tidy-up feature the word ‘spic’, which some people have pointed out is a racial slurThe Clean for the Queen campaign, intended to encourage people to tidy up for Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, has been accused of dropping a racist clanger.Posters and T-shirts to promote the drive (pdf), which is taking place this weekend, included the words “spic and span ma’am”, prompting people to suggest that by missing out a “k” on “spic”, the organisers had inadvertently used a racial slur. Continue reading...

Guardian analysis reveals millions of customers were asked to used testing method condemned by the EPA which may flush out detectable lead contentWater utilities in some of the largest cities in the US that collectively serve some 12 million people have used tests that downplay the amount of lead contamination found in drinking water for more than a decade, a Guardian analysis of testing protocols reveals.

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 11 March 1916The sun went down a huge ball almost blood-red in colour, and so vast that half the heaven in the west seemed to be covered. As it sank, all that remained of this ruddy twilight spread away more to the north, then extended along the whole of that part of the horizon in more shades of purple and half-translucent grey than one is able to describe. From end to end the sky was as if it was being warmed over a thousand dying fires. But the old farm hand, coming in, said, shaking his head, “’Tis full of frost in the air,” and an hour later, when the new moon rose white with light, the soil began to harden quicker than strong cement when it is mixed and laid down.All through the night it froze; the spade was as useless for the garden until noon as the plough and harrow would be on the stretch of stubble that still has to be turned over. A little colony of rooks perched for a long while round their nests talking, condoling with each other probably on the lack of breakfast and shaking their feathers much as one shrugs and stamps and swings his arms to circulate warmth. Birds’ feathers - or those of the bigger birds - seem to settle back into a more compact or beautiful shape after these intermittent shakings and disarrangements; if you see a company of starlings together when they have, as it were, calmed themselves again, and a gleam of sunshine should happen to strike across them, your eye is at once held by the wonderful richness of the many tints that change in appearance as if by some continuous process, more rapid than any mechanism, exercised by the bird. Continue reading...

Copper and lithium are running out – and yes, this will affect you. But there are things we can all do…It’s hard to imagine running out of loo roll, never mind the rare minerals that power our economy and appliances. But depletion looms as we speed through the Earth’s resources and climate change alters the rules.We’re reaching, or have surpassed, the peak availability of copper, lithium (essential for the electric vehicle revolution), phosphate, anchovies, artisanal coffee and even chocolate. Cause yourself peak anxiety and read Richard Heinburg’s Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines. Continue reading...

Footballers’ performance is affected by particles in the air, says German studyDown the years, professional footballers have blamed a lacklustre performance on many things. Famous explanations have included the ball being too bouncy (Newcastle United); the pitch being too small (Tottenham Hotspur); and the team being forced to play in the wrong colour kit (Manchester United).Now a group of health economists has discovered another reason that should send alarm bells ringing far beyond the world of sport. Andreas Lichter, Nico Pestel and Eric Sommer, researchers at the IZA economic institute in Bonn, Germany, will present a study at this month’s Royal Economic Society’s annual conference in Brighton which shows that air pollution is significantly affecting the performance of professional footballers. Their findings are based on analysing the form of players in Germany’s Bundesliga between 1999 and 2011. Continue reading...

The burger chain is joining a small group of fast food restaurants committing to using antibiotic-free meatIn-N-Out Burger has long set itself apart with its refusal to use frozen meat, microwaves and heating lamps, and a focus on higher-quality, freshly made food. But it hasn’t stood out in addressing a big public health concern about the tie between drugs used routinely to raise livestock and the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans.