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by Adam Vaughan on (#T8RX)
Mayor of London calls on the government to reconsider plans to remove tax relief for investors in community energy projectsBoris Johnson has warned the Treasury it is endangering efforts by local communities around the UK to build their own renewable energy projects.In a letter to the financial secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, the mayor of London and Tory MP called on the government to reconsider its proposals to remove various forms of tax relief for investors in community energy. Continue reading...
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Environment | The Guardian
| Link | https://www.theguardian.com/us/environment |
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| Copyright | Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2025 |
| Updated | 2025-07-27 21:45 |
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by William Davison on (#T8R9)
With rapid economic growth and a government safety net, Ethiopians are understandably angry at being associated in western minds with miseryWhen the BBC’s Michael Buerk brought Ethiopian famine to the world’s attention in 1984, the footage panned over thousands of people on the brink of starvation in the region of North Wollo. A BBC report this week, filmed in the same drought-stricken area, focused on one mother’s loss of her son to hunger. But it was an indication that although Ethiopia still suffers preventable tragedies, it may well have gained the capability to prevent catastrophe.A statement from the Ethiopian embassy in London was quick to challenge yesterday’s report: “The sensational news broadcast by BBC TV, regarding children dying on a daily basis, does not reflect the current broad reality on the ground and the full preparation that has gone into overcoming the problem.†Continue reading...
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by Tess Riley and Tom Levitt on (#T1S4)
Catch-up on what happened during our live discussion on local economies - including whether you can support your local economy if you still shop at Tesco.1.51pm GMTCole emails to tell us:“I’ve just returned from the USA, where contrary to popular belief, small independent stores really thrive. Walk down any busy street in America and you will see only a small fraction of chain shops and cafes compared to your typical UK street. The wealth and diversity of smaller shops/cafes/bars/restaurants is really quite remarkable and improves not only quality of life for consumers, but also of local workers.â€One of our team is in the US visiting independant Co-ops at the moment - her reports are hughly inspiring. There are shopping malls run by co-ops and full of independent retailers. We can learn a lot from the US Co-op movement. Her reports can be found at: http://kindling.org.uk/blogExcellent reminder that these issues are not only of "economic" in nature and susceptible to discourse, agenda setting and of course the way we measure success. What image would we have of the US and the UK and our localities if we knew how to measure what matters? Yesterdays news, but never redundant to look indicators of what a healthy economy (local or national) would actually look like: http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/forget-gdp-how-is-our-economy-really-performingSome great, inspiring examples being put forward showing just a taste of the innovation going on around this all over the country, sadly going pretty much unreported. I was however very inspired recently to read the story of Crickhowell and their idea of mimicking the tax havens and loopholes used by larger businesses. It's a great challenge to the current model, and one that could be done in other places too. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crickhowell-welsh-town-moves-offshore-to-avoid-tax-on-local-business-a6728971.htmlThe issue of parking's come up, and there's no doubt that it skews consumers towards the retail parks and big chains - those who have cars, anyway. One thing that a few places are doing is to get bus routes working harder for their local economy. Greater Manchester is probably the best example of the city getting bus companies to link outlying areas to the town centre, extending routes and running times so that people can go where the jobs are - and potentially also where the shops and other opportunities are.We're definitely yet to realise the potential of open data to support the growth of thriving local economies. One example of this, trying to keep it broader than shops, is in York, where they've opened up their data on childcare places. People have found smart ways to make this data useful for parents, and as a result there's now more uptake of childcare across the city - so definitely fewer vacancies and increased, more predictable income for local childminders and nurseries, and possibly also more mothers able to work the hours they want. There are a million other opportunities like that out there to help local economies work better.The next big idea emerging around local economies, is happening behind the shop front: with suppliers, logistics and trading relationships. 'Supply chain co-operation', when parties in a supply chain work together. It is the only way we can create a fair system for both the producer and the consumer. Creating new clever ways to be the middleman just won't wash anymore!There are also great examples of how new technology is being used to strengthen local economies. for example Change X (http://www.changex.org/) supports people to use tested and proven models of strengtening local economies . And new apps like Olio (http://www.olioex.com/) are helping people to tackl the massive issue of food waste (â…“ of all food is wasted in the UK) at a local level. At The Food Assembly, we are working with local communities and farmers across the UK to use new technology to trade directly with each other, to support the growing demand for local food (over 70% of UK want to buy local food)Community shares are a really innovative idea for local economies to thrive. Raising investment through community shares is a great way to secure the right type of finance for your community venture. It might be for a local shop, pub, or football club. It might be to run a building for community use, or a sports ground or community energy scheme. Or it could be a local food grower, a children’s nursery, or a neighbourhood housing scheme.Whatever the enterprise, the key element is that they are run by and for the community, and serve a wide range of social aims.1.43pm GMTMany people can support their local community by using their buying power. There are many examples of co-operatives and community-owned businesses who have social objectives and by supporting these businesses you can support your own communities.A good example is Benenden’s Community Shop (http://benendens.co.uk), which was financed by community shares. You can find loads of other community shops near you on our Community Shares Directory (http://communityshares.org.uk/directory).
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by Reuters in Frankfurt on (#T8MT)
German regulators to run tests on possible ‘unusual pollutants emissions’ on other models including BMW, Mercedes and FordGerman car regulators are expanding their investigation into suspected diesel emissions manipulation beyond Volkswagen to more than 50 models from brands including BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Volvo, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover.The Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) regulator said on Wednesday it would run tests on models made by 23 German and foreign car brands on suspicion of further manipulation of nitrogen oxides emissions.
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by Juliette Jowit on (#T8HW)
As Narendra Modi visits UK for talks, academics warn if nation grows at expected rate without emission controls, Earth will breach critical two degree riseIndia’s growth in emissions could tip the world over the threshold to dangerous climate change, experts have said.The alert comes as the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, prepares to visit the UK on Thursday for talks on issues including the environment. Continue reading...
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by Anna Leach on (#T8BR)
World Energy Report 2015 predicts Africa could be the first to power economic growth with renewable energy while India becomes one of the world’s biggest energy consumersAfrica could be the first region in the world to power its economic development on renewable energy rather than fossil fuels such as coal, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) told a press conference yesterday.“I’m very excited about this,†said Fatih Birol as he launched the World Energy Report 2015. “When we look at the history of energy – in Europe, the US, China – economic development was realised by a substantial amount of coal. But in Africa, we may well see, for the first time, a region [realising] its economic growth using renewable energy.†Continue reading...
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by Marc Gunther on (#T8C4)
Wealthy institutions like pension funds can get sophisticated advice on divesting fossil fuels. For individual investors, it’s not so easy. Here’s our adviceThe Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the University of California and the World Council of Churches are among about 460 faith-based groups, pension funds, colleges and nonprofits that have pledged to divest some or all of their fossil fuel holdings.They can do so with the help of consultants who will advise them on how to minimize their financial risk. High net worth individuals, with assets of $1m or more, can access such sustainable investment managers as Generation Investment Management, the London-based firm led by Al Gore, which has done very well for its investors, according to this deep look in The Atlantic. Continue reading...
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by Jason Burke in Delhi on (#T89X)
City authorities advise vulnerable people to remain indoors during Hindu festival as they struggle to keep smog under controlAuthorities in Delhi are calling on inhabitants to forego traditional fireworks during this week’s Hindu festival of Diwali in a bid to free the Indian capital from toxic smog.The festival, celebrated throughout the country, has been blamed in recent years for exacerbating the appalling air quality in the Indian capital, already the most-polluted city in the world, according to the World Health Organisation. Continue reading...
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by Deborah Doane on (#T87Y)
A not-for-profit group of small-scale farmers in India is succeeding where others have failed – what is the Fair Trade Alliance Kerala doing right?A walk through the annual Kerala seedfest, in the sultry heat of India’s Western Ghats, is like a walk through a proverbial garden of Eden; okra the size of a hand; deep purple coloured runner beans; 26 varieties of chillies from one village alone. The size and colours of multiple bananas on offer here make a mockery of the fact that your average supermarket sells just one type.With women and men standing proudly alongside their produce, this celebration of seeds and biodiversity is the future of farming: it is abundant, resilient and most importantly, smallholder led. Continue reading...
by John Abraham on (#T86K)
The Republican science committee chair harasses scientists who debunked a favorite denier argumentApparently eager to ride the coattails of Vin Diesel’s new movie, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) seems intent on taking up the mantle of Witch Hunter by harassing the scientists at NOAA. These scientists published a study that joined a growing body of research debunking the supposed “pause†in warming, a trope regularly trotted out by deniers looking to argue against climate action.In his capacity as Chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Smith has demanded a number of documents from NOAA and threatened them with prosecution if they don’t comply. He’s asking for the data and methods related to the study itself, which doesn’t sound too unreasonable at first. But when you learn that this information is already public, it seems odd that he would want to waste his and the scientists’ time demanding information that anyone with an internet connection can freely access. Continue reading...
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by Emma Howard on (#T85S)
Head of leading green law firm warns that punitive costs will deter British citizens from bringing cases against the government and pollutersIt is now harder for UK citizens to hold government and polluters accountable for damaging the environment than it is for people in China, the head of a leading environmental law firm has told the Guardian.Changes to the costs and administration of environmental legal challenges in the UK could potentially “chill the ability of citizens to bring cases†to protect the environment, said James Thornton, chief executive of NGO ClientEarth, ahead of delivering the annual Garner lecture to a host of environmental leaders on Wednesday. Continue reading...
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by Reuters on (#T804)
UK downgraded from AAA to AAB in World Energy Council’s ‘trilemma index’, after Conservatives scrapped onshore wind subsidies and cut solar subsidiesBritain has lost its top-notch energy policy rating from the UN-accredited World Energy Council after the government prematurely cut some renewable energy subsidies, creating uncertainty about how it will address support in future.Related: The nine green policies killed off by the Tory government Continue reading...
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by Damian Carrington on (#T7ZF)
Coal will remain a safe bet for investors for decades to come as Asia drives future demand, says head of World Coal Association, Benjamin SportonCoal isn’t going anywhere, according to the boss of the World Coal Association (WCA), who said “sensible†investors should keep their money in the fossil fuel and avoid “political†moves to divest.Coal is the most polluting fossil fuel and the industry has suffered heavily from the rapid rise of renewables in Europe and of shale gas in the US, with the threat of a greater crackdown on carbon emissions to come at a crunch UN climate change summit in Paris in December. Continue reading...
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by Philip Hoare on (#T7YY)
SeaWorld is to end its killer whale shows, but there are still 58 of these intelligent creatures in captivity. In our hubris, we need to stop playing GodNews that SeaWorld is to phase out its captive orca programme in San Diego sounds like a good thing, and so it is. Although its decision seems to be economic rather than ethical, the company’s latest announcement follows other damage limitation exercises such as the proclamation of new “environments†for its captive orca, and would also seem to be a clear response to the state of California having outlawed breeding of new animals, and their sale or transfer (although SeaWorld has announced that it will contest that). And yet the trade in capturing orca from the wild continues. Cathy Williamson, who observes captivity programmes for Whale and Dolphin Conservation as part of its ongoing campaign to stop the trade, notes that captures are continuing in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia’s far east. “At least 15 orcas have been captured between 2012 and 2015,†she says. She believes that “at least three orcas are now in Moscow, and that Russia has exported at least seven to Chinaâ€. The Russians claim to be undertaking “research†on these animals as to why they “aggressively steal fishermen’s catchâ€.Yuri Blinov, deputy director of Tinro, the research facility, explained: “There was a recent problem in that killer whales have become parasites. They remove catches from longlines. The main goal now is to … find humane ways to isolate the killer whales from the fishermen.†Our human instinct to extend dominion over the natural world knows no bounds, apparently. Continue reading...
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by Adam Vaughan on (#T7Y0)
Every day millions of internet users ask Google some of life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the most common queriesRecycling is not about rubbish: it’s valuable commodities you’re chucking in your wheelie bin, according to sustainability expert Marcus Gover, not rubbish.Related: Recycling rates in England have stalled Continue reading...
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by Arthur Neslen on (#T7K8)
Precious but endangered lizards are a lucrative new cargo for German smugglers, ahead of an international attempt to outlaw their tradeWildlife traffickers are exploiting a legal grey area to trade in highly lucrative protected lizard species at the world’s biggest reptile fair, a Guardian investigation has discovered.
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by Nick Mead on (#T7KE)
For one morning every week, people on bikes and on foot rule 35 miles of central city streets, but it is not just about car-free Sundays – the world’s fourth biggest city is also building a network of protected bike lanesStand on Mexico City’s grand Paseo de la Reforma boulevard on a Sunday morning and you’ll hear gears whirring, bells ringing and the chatter of voices as 50,000 people cycle, scoot and skate along 35 miles of closed roads. Stop and listen on any other day of the week and all you’ll hear is the roar of 10 lanes of traffic.This sprawling megacity of 21 million is home to 5.5m cars, and that number is growing despite some of the worst traffic jams in the world. Residents spend an average of three hours a day commuting, and car speeds during rush hour have fallen to around 7.5mph (12km/h). Although air quality has improved markedly since the city was named the most polluted in the world in the 1980s, walking or cycling along one of its many multi-lane highways sometimes feels as if you are sucking directly on a car exhaust. Continue reading...
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by Australian Associated Press on (#T7FY)
The Bureau of Meteorology warns of below-average rainfall across Australia after El Niño brings record ocean temperature increasesThe El Niño in the Pacific is now one of the three strongest ever recorded.The Bureau of Meteorology said sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific, a key driver of the climatic phenomenon, were 2.4C above average – the highest since the El Niño was declared six months ago. Continue reading...
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by Bill McKibben on (#T6V9)
The OECD wants to phase out export credit agencies providing money for coal projects. Australia, almost alone, might stand in its wayAustralia finds itself in a funny position headed for the Paris climate talks. It’s one of the few nations on the planet desperately trying to stop the hands on the clock and keep the world as we know it chugging smokily along for a few more years.Here’s the backdrop: 303 years after Thomas Newcomen invented the first useful steam engine (which burned coal to pump water out of ... coal mines), the black rock on which we built our prosperity is clearly on the decline. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#T6VB)
David Wright says state government’s shark strategy needs to be brought forward after fifth major attack this year which left man, 20, in induced comaBallina shire’s mayor, David Wright, wants the state government to implement more aerial patrols in the region after the latest shark attack at Lighthouse beach on Monday evening left a 20-year-old man in an induced coma.“We need the state government to help us out with helicopter flight patrols. If we don’t have many flights it means we aren’t getting protected,†Wright said on Wednesday. Continue reading...
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by Ben Doherty on (#T6S7)
Exclusive: Labor’s immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, returns from Pacific islands tour and says Australia should plan early to accept ‘people on the move’Australia should be at the forefront of efforts to resettle climate change migrants forced from their homes across the Pacific, Labor says.The opposition immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, visited Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Islands and Kiribati last week, observing the impacts of climate change on the low-lying islands.
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by Richard Marles on (#T6RW)
Australia’s humanitarian intake is from distant countries; as climate change leads some islanders to migrate, that will change. So must our approachIt is almost impossible to convey the extraordinary landscape of an inhabited coral atoll without seeing it firsthand. From the sky, the thin strips of low-lying land surrounding turquoise blue lagoons make sense as a refuge for the explorer who has been months at sea. But as a place to live, build a home and create a culture it feels the most unlikely site for human society.At most points water can be seen on both sides of these strips of land. As sandbars between islets have been converted into roads the impression is created that in many places the width of the country is the width of the street. Continue reading...
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by Reuters in Mariana, Brazil on (#T6EB)
Six bodies have been found with 22 still missing in one of the country’s worst mining disasters as hundreds are displaced in Minas GeraisAs despair turns to anger over a deadly dam burst at a Brazilian mine, lawmakers pushed on Tuesday for tougher regulations in a new mining code, as iron ore giant Vale SA came under pressure to help mourning families and contain the environmental impact.In five days of rescue efforts in towns ravaged by the massive mudflow, six bodies have been found and 22 people are still missing, making it one of the worst mining disasters in Brazil’s history. Rescuers abandoned a search for seven-year-old Tiago Damasceno in the muddy aftermath of the dam collapse on Tuesday, as hope for survivors diminishes five days after the disaster. Continue reading...
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by Phillip Inman Economics correspondent on (#T63C)
Countries are realising the cost of their dependence on oil and coal, says International Energy AgencyBetween the tropics and probably as far as the 33rd parallel, the sun could soon be a major source of energy for households and businesses alike.Countries such as Mexico and Indonesia, long dependent on cheap home-produced oil and coal, are realising that a solar panel on every roof can reduce poverty by lowering energy costs as well as minimising the destabilising weather effects from higher CO2 emissions. Continue reading...
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by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#T63E)
Andrew Stoddart and his family must leave farm they have tended for 22 years by end of the month, with minimal compensationLand reform campaigners have gathered outside the Scottish parliament to protest against the threatened eviction of a tenant farmer, in a case that has galvanised activists and focused public attention on a legislative mire that affects farming families across the country.To comply with a Scottish land court ruling last year, Andrew Stoddart and his family must quit Coulston Mains farm, East Lothian, by the end of the month. Despite tending the land for 22 years and investing more than £500,000 in improvements, Stoddart will be evicted with minimal compensation along with his wife, three children and two staff, one of whom has a family of four. Continue reading...
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by Emma Howard on (#T5CX)
Institutions with endowments worth £115m are withdrawing their investments from fossil fuels ahead of crunch UN climate talks in ParisTen UK universities with endowments worth £115m are in the process of moving their money out of fossil fuels ahead of crunch UN climate change talks in Paris later this month.The University of Surrey, the University of Arts in London and Oxford Brookes University have divested their respective £42m, £3.9m and £1.6m endowments from all fossil fuel companies. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#T57J)
Petropower offers conditional emissions cuts of up to 130Mt CO2e by 2030, becoming last G20 member to submit plan before Paris summit, reports Climate HomeSaudi Arabia made its contribution to a climate rescue pact on Tuesday, calling it a “significant deviation†for the emissions of the oil-reliant economy.The world’s largest crude oil producer pledged to achieve “mitigation co-benefits†of up to 130 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, in an opaque submission with numerous caveats. Continue reading...
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by Morgan Meaker in Athens on (#T54G)
Despite youth unemployment at 53%, Greece’s young entrepreneurs face state obstacles and hostilityMyrto Papadogeorgou and her business partner Nikos Konstantinou chose not to join the exodus of 200,000 people from Greece over the past five years. Instead they’ve stayed, hoping to help drag their country out of crisis. For them, and many other young Greeks, starting a social enterprise has become a way to capitalise on their frustrations in the face of 52% youth unemployment.But Papadogeorgou and Konstantinou have hit a dead end. After four years unsuccessfully applying for funding from organisations at home and abroad for City of Errors, an interactive platform they’ve developed that encourages users to fix their city’s problems, the defeated pair have stopped trying. Now they talk about leaving Greece. Continue reading...
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by Adam Vaughan on (#T52N)
Energy secretary says heat and transport must make a contribution to meeting the EU target of sourcing 15% of renewable energy by 2020Amber Rudd has admitted the UK does not have the right policies in place to meet its EU target of sourcing 15% of energy from renewable sources by 2020, and challenged transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin to help make up the shortfall.The energy secretary told MPs on Tuesday that meeting the target would be challenging, and admitted that the UK could end up having to buy renewable energy from its European neighbours if it fell short. Continue reading...
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by Madeleine Somerville on (#T53K)
With a little soap, some baking soda and a bit of vinegar, you’re on your way to a sparkling interior – without the harmful chemicals and packed cleaning closetIn our obsessive consumer culture, one of the most radical choices you can make is choosing to create, rather than consume. This sounds like a lofty goal, and you may think I’m referring to great works of political art or slyly subversive literature, but I’m actually talking making the products you use in your day-to-day life. Such as … your kitchen spray.
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by Eromo Egbejule on (#T51D)
Twenty years since the ‘judicial killing’ of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni nine activists, the government refuses to recognise the price paid by Niger Delta residentsThe Nigerian government is struggling to confront its past abuses, and nowhere is this clearer than in the case of the Ogoni nine, the environmental activists from the Niger Delta hanged in 1995 by the Sani Abacha regime on trumped-up charges.I was five years old when playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa, a leading figure in the Ogoni people’s movement, was executed alongside eight others, and I lived through the legacy of his fight to protect the oil-rich land by Shell and other corporations. Continue reading...
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by Lenore Taylor Political editor on (#T4WM)
Coalition’s emissions reduction scheme will not come close to meeting 2030 target and new climate policies are needed, chief executive John Connor saysThe Turnbull government’s “Direct Action†policy cannot meet even the “inadequate†emission reductions it will pledge at the UN climate meeting in Paris and in fact will allow Australia’s greenhouse pollution to rise, according to the Climate Institute.
by Emma Howard on (#T4PQ)
Emma Howard takes to the road with Erlend Møster Knudsen, one half of Pole to Paris, a campaign and journey by two scientists from the two polar regions of the world to crucial UN climate talks in ParisThe journey to next month’s crunch UN summit on climate change has been long for many, but by time Dr Erlend Møster Knudsen reaches Paris, he will have travelled more than 3,000km.On 3 August, the Norwegian scientist put down his books and decided to take another approach to communicating the threat of climate change: he started running from the Arctic towards Paris. Continue reading...
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by Hugh Warwick on (#T4PR)
Deer in a London park are failing to mate because of intrusive snappers. With wildlife already under threat, photographers need to focus on acting ethicallyEvery year the Natural History Museum puts on an exhibition of the most wonderful wildlife photographs. Every year I enter a fantasy universe in which I retreat to a hide with thousands of pounds’ worth of camera equipment to wait for the perfect fraction of a second that will win me such accolades. But then reality returns and I go back to photographing my son’s choir. But budding wildlife photographers have had their moment in the spotlight this week because of the impact they are having on the red and fallow deer in Richmond Park.Right now the deer are coming to the end of the rut – the breeding season – which sees males display and fight in a most photogenic manner. And one has to wonder whether a swarm of 60 photographers surrounding a male as he tries to mate just might be an inhibitor to successful reproduction. It would certainly affect my capacity to perform. Continue reading...
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by John Vidal on (#T4JE)
Up to 52,000 hectares of land devastated in 2014, according to new estimates of cost to the Nigerian state and oil companiesPipeline vandalism in the Niger delta costs the state and oil companies $14bn (£9.3bn) a year and devastated up to 52,000 hectares of land in 2014, according to new estimates by a leading Nigerian research and development group.
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by Damian Carrington on (#T4AM)
International Energy Agency says figures are a “clear sign†of a transition from coal to clean energyRenewable energy accounted for almost half of all new power plants in 2014, representing a “clear sign that an energy transition is underwayâ€, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).Green energy is now the second-largest generator of electricity in the world, after coal, and is set to overtake the dirtiest fossil fuel in the early 2030s, said the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2015 report, published on Tuesday. Continue reading...
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by Sean Farrell on (#T48J)
Chief executive says energy supplies will be tighter this winter, with grid drawing on extra sources of power to avoid blackoutsThe chief executive of National Grid said this winter’s energy capacity would be more stretched than last year but that he was confident of getting through without blackouts.
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by Patrick Barkham on (#T47A)
Norfolk may be short on sharks, but another predator – the pike – lurks beneath the water. Catch one if you can ...At first light, we are sitting in a boat, engine cut out, waiting in the calm chill. A ripple suddenly materialises – something turning, fast, in the water below.“We’ve got a run,†says my guide, Mark Watson, seizing one of four rods protruding from our boat. He quickly pulls it in. The bait has disappeared. The hooks and the titanium “trace†which attached them to the line – designed to haul in an 80lb fish – have been bitten clean off. “Shitbag,†exclaims Watson mildly. Continue reading...
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by Staff and agencies on (#T44Q)
Man, believed to be in his 20s, in hospital with severe leg injuries after being bitten on his left thigh at Lighthouse Beach in East BallinaA surfer has suffered serious leg injuries from a suspected shark attack off the NSW far north coast.The man, believed to be aged in his 20s, was bitten at Lighthouse Beach in East Ballina just before 6.20pm, police said. Continue reading...
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by Ken Wiwa on (#T41Z)
Nigeria’s Ogoniland still looks as devastated by oil pollution as when the junta executed my father 20 years ago. But the carbon economy seems to be reaching a tipping point at lastTwenty years ago today my father and eight other Ogoni men were woken from their sleep and hanged in a prison yard in southern Nigeria. When the news filtered out, shock and outrage reverberated around the world, and everyone from the Queen to Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela condemned the executions.What I recall of the long days and sleepless nights afterwards was the slogan that caught on with my father’s devastated friends and supporters; we were united in a determination to ensure that “his death must not be in vainâ€. So has anything changed? Continue reading...
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by Graeme Robertson and Matt Fidler on (#T408)
Westonbirt, the National Arboretum, possesses one of the finest tree collections in the world. But it is particularly impressive in autumn, when its maples are a riot of colour. Graeme Robertson took his cameras – and his drone – to capture them Continue reading...
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by Arthur Neslen Brussels on (#T3VP)
Cross-border monitoring and inspections regime to clamp down on environmental crime worth billions is stymied by fears of UK objections, EU officials sayThe EU has quietly dropped plans for stronger environmental inspections to tackle illegal trade in wildlife and toxic waste across Europe, the Guardian has learned.Senior levels of the European commission feared opposition from the UK to the proposed law on cost and red tape grounds, sources told the Guardian. Continue reading...
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by Choi Song Min for Daily NK, part of the North Kore on (#T3SY)
Fears for country’s national dish after cabbage harvests damaged by drought and subsequent floods. Daily NK reportsNorth Korean households are facing a winter without their traditional supply of kimchi after a year in which droughts and then floods have affected vegetable harvests.As the kimjang season begins, when the fermented cabbage dish is made to last families though the winter, market prices for radishes and cabbages are escalating. Even ingredients such as chillies, garlic, onions and salt used for seasoning are in short supply, say sources inside the country. Continue reading...
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by Rob Yarham on (#T3R9)
Billingshurst, West Sussex Tawny owls have a wide range of vocalisations, but this is clearly a male making its territorial callSoft black clouds chase each other across the face of the white moon. I climb over the stile and walk along one edge of a field that backs on to the wood.Bullfinches are calling softly from the dark hedgerows, but I don’t bother looking for them – there’s not enough light yet to see the elusive birds, even if they decide to show themselves. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#T3KT)
A boat tour operator discovers the body of a crocodile which drowned while stuck in a gillnet in the Kimberley river in the Northern Territory. Brad Priest-Tasker, who operates the Kimberley Quest boat, narrates his discovery on camera and calls for more controls on where gillnets – which are long net panels, similar to a tennis court net, strung across the mouth of a river to catch fish – can be used Continue reading...
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by Calla Wahlquist on (#T38V)
A Northern Territory tour boat operator says lack of supervision and reporting in remote Kimberley coastline increases risks of large marine species drowningA tourist boat operator has called for gillnet fishing to be banned in remote areas of the Kimberley region of Western Australia after a group of tourists found a saltwater crocodile which had drowned in a barramundi net in the Roe river, 475km north of Broome.A video of the discovery shows netting wrapped around the bloated body of the crocodile, which was bobbing in the water at the mouth of the river. Continue reading...
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by John Quiggin on (#T35J)
Even discounting climate change, coal is less cost-effective for the developing world. A well-financed leap to renewables is the way forwardAround the developed world, the age of coal is drawing to a close. Coal-fired power plants are closing down just about everywhere. They are being replaced by renewables and gas-fired plants, or rendered unnecessary by improved energy efficiency. Some jurisdictions, including Ontario in Canada and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, are already coal-free.Related: There is no 'moral case for coal' in Australia, just an imported PR line | Jason Wilson Continue reading...
by Michael Berkowitz on (#T33K)
Esta semana la reunión de 100 Resilient Cities en la capital mexicana ofrece una oportunidad para que expertos de todo el mundo desarrollen las herramientas necesarias para hacer sus ciudades más fuertes
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by Associated Press in Sugar Land, Texas on (#T309)
Partially blind animal apparently wandered to Houston-area shopping center from nearby creek before being forklifted into truck for transport to gator reserveAn alligator dubbed Godzilla who tips the scales at more than 800lb is being taken to a gator reserve to live out his days, after being found wandering outside a Houston-area shopping center.
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by Lenore Taylor Political editor on (#T2TZ)
Setting up a financing mechanism to lend money to climate projects in developing countries is among the ideas being discussedThe Turnbull government is considering options to increase its $200m contribution to the international Green Climate Fund, which will be a crucial issue at the UN climate meeting in Paris in December.