Environment | The Guardian

Wildlife experts fear spread could devastate native bees, which the hornets dismember and eatAsian hornets have been spotted in their greatest numbers yet in the UK, which could have a devastating effect on native bees, which they kill, dismember and eat.There have been 39 Asian hornets and nests seen in the country since the species was first observed in 2016, and this year there have been 16 sightings, data shows.Folkestone, Kent: confirmed 11 August.Folkestone, Kent: confirmed 10 August.Maidstone, Kent: confirmed 7 August and nest destroyed.Portland, Dorset: confirmed 7 August and nest destroyed.Deal, Kent: confirmed 6 August.Folkestone, Kent: confirmed 4 August and nest destroyed.Portland, Dorset: confirmed 4 August and nest destroyed.Whitstable, Kent: confirmed 3 August and nest destroyed.Deal, Kent: confirmed 2 August.Plymouth, Devon: confirmed 27 July and two nests destroyed.Gravesend, Kent: confirmed 24 July and nest destroyed.Shepherdswell, Kent: confirmed 5 July and nest destroyed.Deal, Kent: confirmed 28 June and nest destroyed.Canterbury, Kent: confirmed 31 May and single hornet captured.Ashford, Kent: confirmed 23 May and single hornet captured.Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland: confirmed 11 April and single hornet captured. Continue reading...

Africa has lost about 90% of its vultures over the past 50 years. It's a rapidly growing crisis, and the decline is not down to natural causes. Most of these birds are being poisoned, often unintentionally, by humans. We know the impact that mass vulture death can have on humans, because India suffered the same fate just 20 years ago. Neelam Tailor looks into how humans are accidentally killing millions of vultures, and the deadly impact it has had on people Continue reading...

Exclusive: Company says some may see the bones as ideological provocation' but motivation was avoiding wastePlant-based pork ribs with a twist - edible vegan bones - will soon make their debut on diners' plates, a vegan food company has announced.The idea of the edible bones, produced by Juicy Marbles, began with the manufacturer wanting the bones to be compostable, but then realising they could also be eaten. The first products will be available from the end of August in the UK, EU and US. Continue reading...

A wildfire that broke out in a national park on the Spanish island of Tenerife has spread to 1,800 hectares, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of five villages and cut off access to the forest surrounding the Mount Teide volcano Continue reading...

National conference outlines plans for energy transition, making early childhood education universal and closing gender pay gap

Many weather stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart clocked their highest July temperatures ever as the country's winters get hotter

Analysis finds Treasury rules on new windfarms likely to stifle energy generation and keep bills highNew offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers 1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.The latest government auction for new offshore windfarms, due to be completed in September, could result in few projects making it through Treasury rules, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation. Continue reading...

It's not just the lions that are under pressure, it's biodiversity in general,' warn conservationists, amid a rapidly expanding human populationStanding in a patch of damp forest, a clump of moss in one hand, Siraj Hussein applies the last touches to a camera trap. He explains why his chosen tree is in an ideal spot: it is in a clearing, which gives the sensors a good view, and lion droppings have been found nearby. So far, I haven't captured a lion on my camera, but I'm optimistic," he says.Siraj is gathering data on the behaviour of the lions in the Kafa biosphere reserve, in south-west Ethiopia - one of the country's last few tracts of natural forest - as part of a new project by the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu), a German environmental group. Continue reading...

Democratic West Virginia senator calls the Inflation Reduction Act, hailed as biggest step on climate crisis', a radical agenda'The Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin marked the first anniversary of a major US climate crisis law he helped pass by saying he would mount an unrelenting fight against the Biden administration's efforts to implement the IRA as a radical climate agenda".In response, one advocate for climate action accused Manchin, who she called an oily senator", of talk[ing] out of whichever side of his mouth will please the polluting fossil fuel industry". Continue reading...

Named tropical storms and hurricanes, which have become more intense, have caused about 20,000 more deaths from 1988 to 2019Atlantic storms have become deadlier as the planet warms - and are disproportionately killing people of color in the US, a landmark new study has found.About 20,000 excess deaths - the numbers of observed rather than expected deaths - occurred in the immediate aftermath of 179 named storms and hurricanes which struck the US mainland between 1988 and 2019. Continue reading...

Further 41 species on course to be declared critically endangered, complicating Albanese government's zero extinctions target

Failure to heed warnings over unchecked growth meant blaze was a disaster waiting to happen', say scientists and academicsScientists and academics say they have been warning for several years that invasive grasses covering a quarter of the Hawaii islands are a major fire risk.Untamed grassland helped fuel the spread and intensity of last week's deadly fires on the island of Maui, according to experts. The fires, which broke out last Tuesday, have killed at least 106 people and destroyed the island's historic town of Lahaina. Continue reading...

Company breached three-year rolling limit on abstraction licence at Fylde aquifer in 2018United Utilities has been fined 800,000 after illegally abstracting 22bn litres of water in Lancashire, causing damage to an important aquifer that will take years to recover.The illegal removal of water from the Fylde aquifer, which happened during a period of dry weather in 2018, is likely to have negatively affected river flows. Continue reading...

French police stress rules on taking blooms of plants such as edelweiss as drought affects some areas of countryFrench police have warned Alpine hikers they will be fined hundreds of euros if they pick too many blooming plants on their summer walks.Officers confiscated thousands of genepi sprigs and edelweiss flowers during a week-long enforcement operation this month. Continue reading...

Icebreaker would be North America's first ever freshwater offshore wind project - but locals express concerns over wildlife and potential oil leaksWith a surface water area larger than the entire UK, the five Great Lakes might seem like an obvious location for offshore wind. The US Department of Energy says that the lakes collectively boast the potential to provide 700 gigawatts of offshore electricity - enough to power millions of homes.Nonetheless, projects and proposals have failed to get off the ground. Until now. Continue reading...

Twenty-five countries are using 80% of their water supplies each year, research showsTwenty-five countries that are home to a quarter of the world's population are facing extreme water stress, according to research.Data from the World Resources Institute suggests these countries are regularly using 80% of their water supplies each year. Continue reading...

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Bollards and cameras are being deliberately damaged in protest at measures designed to improve air quality and road safetyLondon councils are having to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money repairing vandalised bollards and cameras designed to help improve air pollution and make roads safer.Data obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act shows more than 850,000 worth of damage has been caused to low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) infrastructure in the capital since 2020. Continue reading...

Wyatt Kauffman, 13, who parents say will make full recovery', discharged from hospital after surviving 100ft fall from north rimAs he left the hospital and headed for home in North Dakota, a 13-year-old boy who fell 100ft from a ledge at the Grand Canyon said he had been inches away from death".I almost died," Wyatt Kauffman told ABC's Good Morning America, when asked to reflect on the fall that left him with a spinal fracture and other injuries. I want to thank everybody that helped me be able to be alive." Continue reading...

Residents hold on to hope for historic town that represents transformation' as it prepares to rebuildA week after wildfires ripped through western Maui and killed at least 99 people, residents and historians are still processing the full scope of destruction in Lahaina, an 18th-century coastal town that was, for a time, the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.Designated a national historic landmark in 1962, Lahaina is a place of incalculable importance for Native Hawaiians. In 1810, King Kamehameha I unified all the Hawaiian islands and made the town his royal residence for the next three decades. Continue reading...

Sustainable Timber Tasmania said the giant tree pictured on the truck had been assessed and felled for safety reasons'

Half of regular green tweeters abandoned platform after its sale and cuts to moderation, analysis findsHalf of people regularly tweeting about the climate and nature crises abandoned Twitter after it was taken over by Elon Musk, according to new analysis.The researchers said Twitter, now renamed X, had previously been the leading social media platform for environmental discussion and the decline was troubling". They said the exodus of environmental users on Twitter is an existential threat" to a main way of informing people who want to take climate action. Continue reading...

Legislation gives incentives to companies to manufacture EVs without protections for workers, says head of autoworkers unionJoe Biden's landmark climate legislation has been disappointing" and failed to deliver protections to car industry workers confronted by the transition to electric vehicles, according to the head of the US's leading autoworkers union, which has pointedly withheld is endorsement of the president for next year's election.The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by Biden a year ago this week, has bestowed huge incentives to car companies to manufacture electric vehicles without any accompanying guarantees over worker pay and conditions, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Candidates include an oak in Exeter that survived the blitz and a walnut in a car park in PerthUrban trees that provide vital food and shelter for wildlife in towns and cities take a starring role on the Woodland Trust tree of the year shortlist.They include a holm oak in Exeter that survived the blitz and another oak in Surrey that Queen Elizabeth I reputedly had a picnic under. Continue reading...

Lack of funding and staff limit climate sector's impact on conservation and net zero efforts, say workersStaff shortages, a lack of specialist personnel and low pay are major barriers to achieving net zero, according to workers in the UK environment sector.The trade union Prospect, many members of which work in the climate and environment sector, received more than 500 responses to a survey on workplace trends. Continue reading...

In this special Age of Extinction mini-series from Science Weekly, Guardian biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston explores the murky world of the illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors and asks why it is so difficult to solve these crimes. In episode one, Phoebe hears about the case of Susie, a hen harrier whose chicks were killed while being monitored on camera. As she starts to investigate the case, she hears from conservationist Ruth Tingay about why hen harriers are targeted and finds out about the personal costs of campaigning on this issueThis episode has been updated from an earlier version which quoted RSPB data showing that 108 birds of prey were illegally killed 2021. Their report actually says that there were 108 confirmed incidents of illegal persecution in 2021Read more reporting from the Age of Extinction team here Continue reading...

Number of vessels able to pass through each day limited because lower availability of waterCommercial ships are facing long queues and delays to travel through the Panama Canal as a lengthy drought in the Central American country has led to a cut in the number of vessels able to pass through one of the world's most important trading routes.In a fresh demonstration of the impact of the climate crisis on global business and trade, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which manages the waterway, introduced restrictions on the number of transiting vessels as a result of the drought. Continue reading...

Sixteen young plaintiffs had alleged the Montana state government had violated their right to a healthy environmentThe judge who heard the US's first constitutional climate trial earlier this year has ruled in favor of a group of young plaintiffs who had accused state officials in Montana of violating their right to a healthy environment.I'm so speechless right now," Eva, a plaintiff who was 14 when the suit was filed, said in a statement. I'm really just excited and elated and thrilled." Continue reading...

Researchers find at least five wolves including adult female descendant of OR-7, first grey wolf identified in state in 90 yearsA new pack of endangered grey wolves have been spotted in a California national forest, as conservationists fight for increased protection of the endangered species.The pack was discovered in the Sequoia national forest in southern California's Tulare county, the state's department of fish and wildlife (CDFW) confirmed. Continue reading...

Meat and masculinity have been bound together in the US for centuries - and that's no accidentIn April 2021, a Daily Mail article claiming that Joe Biden planned to limit beef consumption to 4lb a year per person to meet environmental targets went viral. Though it was totally false, it sparked a chorus among rightwingers that Democrats want to take away your hamburgers".For many on the right, beef is a hot-button issue. Continue reading...

Polymer from black soldier flies seen as promising source as it has no other competing uses such as foodDead flies could be turned into biodegradable plastic, researchers have said.The finding, presented at the autumn meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), could be useful as it is difficult to find sources for biodegradable polymers that do not have other competing uses. Continue reading...

Fresh fruit and vegetables from Europe will be more expensive as drought and wildfires shrink suppliesA healthy diet in the UK will be put at risk by climate breakdown as European droughts shrink fresh fruit and vegetable supplies, experts have said.Fresh produce from the Mediterranean, upon which the UK is reliant, will become more expensive and harder to obtain as extreme heat causes yields to reduce, putting a healthy diet out of reach of the poorest in society, according to a report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). Continue reading...

Communities hope good new jobs will come from Biden's historic climate investment in cities like Weirton, West VirginiaA cutting-edge energy storage company is building its main manufacturing plant where a once-thriving West Virginia steel mill once stood in the city of Weirton. According to lawmakers, the much-lauded project was made possible by incentives from 2022's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by President Biden one year ago this Wednesday.For supporters, it's a sign that climate policies can also breathe life back into deindustrialized coal and steel communities with green jobs. The symbolism is compelling but how much those communities benefit will depend on a wide array of factors. Continue reading...

Search for victims continues as more than 2,200 structures damaged or destroyed and more than 2,100 acres scorched

David Hondula, the heat expert leading efforts to make the city more comfortable, says every heat death can be prevented with the right resourcesThe heat expert leading efforts to make America's hottest city more bearable insists that Phoenix could eventually eradicate heat deaths - despite July's record-breaking death toll.As many as 300 people may have died during the hottest ever month on record as the temperature in Phoenix topped 110F (43C) for 31 consecutive days. Heat deaths in the city have more than quadrupled in the past decade, and 2023 is on track to be another record breaking year as Phoenix braces itself for the next spell of 110F plus temperatures forecast to hit by Monday. Despite this, David Hondula, director of the city's heat response and mitigation team, insists that every heat death can be prevented. Continue reading...

Catastrophic' wildfires in Maui killed dozens of people, burned buildings and decimated a town - here's what we know so farExplosive wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui have killed dozens of people, displaced thousands and reduced much of the vibrant, centuries-old town of Lahaina to ash.As residents are beginning to return to the historic town, Hawaii is starting to reckon with the unfathomable loss left by the deadliest blaze in the US in a century. What we've seen has been catastrophic," said Josh Green, the governor. Continue reading...

Residents who returned this weekend after the devastating fires took in the sweeping view of a ruined townAs the first residents returned to Lahaina this weekend, just days after Maui's devastating fires all but leveled the historic town, some got out of their cars and simply stared.There was always much to marvel over in the waterfront community of 13,000 people, the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom: the shops on Front Street, the Pioneer Inn and Waiola church, and the endless sprawl of the 150-year-old banyan tree. This week's disaster laid waste to all of it. Continue reading...

As the Australian summer approaches, my apprehension is both a daily shock and uncannily normalised - and I know I'm not the only one feeling itThese days, when I come back into the house after being out on the land, it's dust that I drop, not the mud I carried in on my boots and clothes during the past three years when the rain kept everything, and everyone, sodden most of the time. The rain that also kept at bay the feeling of impending disaster that now attaches itself to the arrival of an Australian summer.Not that La Nina was safe, as all of those whose homes and habitats were washed away know. But in the early months of 2023, as if the weather gods had snapped a finger, soaked turned to parched, and I find myself here again. Borne by news of soaring temperatures and wildfires in the northern hemisphere, the shift from a medium to a high likelihood of the arrival of El Nino to the official declaration of its onset, and the feeling of hardening earth under my feet, summer dread is returning to my body. Continue reading...

US government plans to roll out carbon capture rather than phase out fossil fuels prompts outcry in heavily industrial stateMillions of dollars of investments in new carbon capture projects in Louisiana - with more announced this week, are unwelcome developments to some environmental activists in the state.We've been trying to fix the oil and gas damage, while at the same time trying to push the transition away from it," said Monique Hardin, director of law for the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. Continue reading...

Academics - and polls - say majority of voters back action on climate change and will punish Tories for weak tactic'The prime minister Rishi Sunak's decision to intensify attacks on green groups and exploit opposition to environmental protests could rebound badly for his party at the next general election, academics have warned.They argue that public support for achieving net zero emissions by 2050 in the UK is now entrenched and unlikely to be overturned. This view is backed by opinion polls, which show that 71% of the British public support moves that will lead to curtailment of the country's fossil fuel emissions. Continue reading...

Observer investigation reveals the shocking state of the country's protected freshwater sites of special scientific interestMore than 90% of freshwater habitats on England's most precious rivers are in unfavourable condition, blighted by farming pollution, raw sewage and water abstraction, an Observer investigation reveals.None of the approximately 40 rivers with protected habitats in England are in overall good health, according to an analysis of government inspection reports. These include the River Avon in Hampshire, the Wensum in Norfolk and the Eden in Cumbria. Continue reading...

Jill Tokuda says Hawaii did not learn lesson' from previous hurricane as death toll from devastating fires reaches 80The Hawaii congresswoman Jill Tokuda told CNN on Saturday morning that she believes state officials underestimated the quickness and lethality of a wildfire that as of Saturday morning had killed at least 80 people there.It's not like hurricane force winds are unknown to Hawaii, or dry brush, or red flag conditions," Tokuda said on CNN when asked to address the wildfires in her home state, which were exacerbated by winds associated with a category four Hurricane Dora as it passed far to the south-west. Continue reading...

As warming oceans threaten the farming of the sustainable crop, scientists work to make the industry climate resilientOcean temperatures have hit record highs this year, growing so hot in some places that taking a dip in the sea feels like stepping into a hot tub. For kelp farmers, who grow an underwater crop with a life cycle highly dependent on temperature, that spells trouble for their harvests - and their nascent industry's future.Over the last 30 or 40 years, we've seen a pretty big decline in the kelp populations around Long Island. In large part, that's due to climate change and water temperatures increasing," said Michael Doall, a former oyster farmer and marine scientist at Stony Brook University's School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences. Continue reading...

Architects, academics and climate activists launch campaign against plan to knock down five-storey building in AberdeenAberdeen is arguably best known for two things: granite - found in nearby quarries and used to construct almost all of the coastal city's buildings - and oil. After the discovery of a significant reserve in the North Sea in the 1970s, Aberdeen became known as Europe's oil capital and a thriving oil and gas industry sprang up in Scotland's north-east.At the centre of the boom was the multinational company Shell, which built a five-storey modernist headquarters in the city's Tullos area, from where it operated for half a century, before moving this year. Continue reading...

Severe blazes, once a rarity in Hawaii, are increasing in strength and scale, complicating rescue efforts for the small local fire crewsLong before fast-moving flames descended on the historic town of Lahaina, the growing threats of catastrophic fire in western Maui were clear.Acres of abandoned farmland that line the picturesque coastal communities played perfect host to invasive grasses that are primed to burn, creating tinderbox conditions as the island's landscapes dried and warmed. Continue reading...

Tanker contained four times as much oil as was spilled in 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off AlaskaThe transfer of more than 1 million barrels of oil from an ageing tanker moored off the coast of war-torn Yemen has been completed, avoiding an environmental disaster, the UN has said.In a statement on Friday, Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, said the operation had prevented a monumental environmental and humanitarian catastrophe". Continue reading...

Water scarcity threatening agriculture faster than expected, warns Cop15 desertification presidentThe world is likely to face major disruption to food supplies well before temperatures rise by the 1.5C target, the president of the UN's desertification conference has warned, as the impacts of the climate crisis combine with water scarcity and poor farming practices to threaten global agriculture.Alain-Richard Donwahi, a former Ivory Coast defence minister who led last year's UN Cop15 summit on desertification, said the effects of drought were taking hold more rapidly than expected. Continue reading...

Greg Abbott, the state governor, has deployed fences, razor wires and buoys along the Rio Grande, demolishing the environmentThe leafy trees on Magali and Hugo Urbina's 350-acre orchard next to the Rio Grande river in Eagle Pass, Texas, should be bursting with pecans this time of year. Instead, most are barren.The Urbinas blame the clouds of dust kicked up by Texas officials in trucks and ATVs after the state government in recent months put fencing and roads along the riverbanks in a contentious effort to deter migration from Mexico, just across the river. Continue reading...

Unprecedented wildfires burning on the Hawaiian island of Maui have killed at least 53 people, displaced thousands of residents and destroyed parts of a centuries-old town. The disaster is one of the deadliest US wildfires in recent years. The fast-moving fires, fanned by the winds of a distant hurricane, exploded overnight and moved so quickly that some residents jumped into the ocean to escape the flames and smoke. Crews are continuing to battle the blazes, which have burned through multiple neighbourhoods, including the historic town of Lahaina Continue reading...

Tensions are escalating in state forests near Bellingen, where a protesters' camp is locked in a standoff with a heavy police presence