Almost all countries failing to meet mark for PM2.5, tiny particles expelled by vehicles and industry that can cause health problemsOnly seven countries are meeting an international air quality standard, with deadly air pollution worsening in places due to a rebound in economic activity and the toxic impact of wildfire smoke, a new report has found.Of 134 countries and regions surveyed in the report, only seven - Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand - are meeting a World Health Organization (WHO) guideline limit for tiny airborne particles expelled by cars, trucks and industrial processes. Continue reading...
We should focus on rooftop solar - Australians love itA missing element from much of the debate about whether Australia should embrace nuclear power is that - unless the Labor rank-and-file have an extraordinary change of heart - the issue is already dead on arrival.John Howard and Scott Morrison knew the score on this. Unless there is bipartisan support, a nuclear industry has virtually no chance of being developed. And as things stand there is no chance of the ALP changing its position. Continue reading...
High-capacity electrical spine' to run onshore from north-east Scotland to north-west EnglandA 58bn plan to rewire Great Britain's electricity grid to connect up new windfarms off the coast of Scotland is expected to trigger tensions with communities along the route.National Grid's electricity system operator (ESO) has mapped out power motorways" across Great Britain to allow for the biggest investment since the 1960s. Continue reading...
Study says the 19% of kids using unfiltered tap water have about twice as much lead in their blood as they would otherwiseAbout 129,000 Chicago children under the age of six are exposed to poisonous lead in their household drinking water because of lead pipes, according to a study published on Monday.The study used artificial intelligence to analyse 38,000 home water tests conducted for the city of Chicago, along with neighborhood demographics, state blood samples and numerous other factors. Continue reading...
Labour shadow energy minister will use speech to say Tory approach is also leading to higher billsMinisters are stoking the fires of the culture wars over the UK's net zero target instead of addressing the urgency of the climate crisis, Ed Miliband will say.The shadow energy secretary will make a pitch directly to Conservative voters who are concerned that the party has made major U-turns on cutting greenhouse gas emissions amid increasingly anti-green rhetoric. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#6KECQ)
Carrier says technology could be a reality by end of the next decade, as it launches a base in BirminghamEasyJet has joined aerospace manufacturers in urging the government to help fund hydrogen-powered flight, as the carrier launched an operation out of Birmingham airport - its first new UK base since 2012.The airline, along with companies including Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN, said hydrogen planes could be a reality by the end of the next decade, setting out a detailed roadmap to change the sector. Continue reading...
Northern town of Liptovsky Mikula declares state of emergency while hunt for animal takes placeFive people have been injured in the second bear attack in Slovakia in three days, officials have said, prompting a northern town to declare a state of emergency and authorities to propose reclassifying the animals' status on the protected species list.A 49-year-old woman was treated in hospital for an injury to her shoulder, and a 72-year-old man for a cut to his head, after the incident on Sunday in Liptovsky Mikula, near the Tatra mountains, local authorities said. Continue reading...
Mindanao island is the last stronghold of the endangered Philippine eagle. But now the raptor's habitat is at risk from logging, hunting and armed groupsChristian Daug whistles with all the spirit he can muster. The male and female were perched there yesterday," he says, pointing to a dead tree amid the sea of flora that smothers the tallest mountain on the Philippine archipelago.He whistles again as we look out over the jungle from a wooden observation post. This area is one of the last remaining strongholds of Pithecophaga jefferyi: one of the world's largest and rarest eagles. Measuring about a metre in height when perched, with a wingspan that can reach more than two metres (6.5ft), it is known locally as the monkey-eating eagle". The enormous raptors prey primarily on macaques, but also feed on pythons, chickens, cats and dogs. Continue reading...
Appeal court says defendants' beliefs and motivation' do not constitute lawful excuse for damaging propertyOne of the last defences for climate protesters who commit criminal damage has been in effect removed by the court of appeal. The court said the beliefs and motivation" of a defendant do not constitute lawful excuse for causing damage to a property.The defence that a person honestly believes the owner of a property would have consented had they known the full circumstances of climate change has been used successfully over the last year by protesters. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#6KE28)
Academic experts also criticise UN Food and Agriculture Organization for dismissing alternative proteinsThe omission of meat-eating reduction from proposals in a UN roadmap to tackle the climate crisis and end hunger is bewildering", according to academic experts.The group also criticised the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's report for dismissing" the potential of alternative proteins, such as plant-based meat, to reduce the impact of livestock on the environment. Continue reading...
by Ernesto Benavides/Agence France Presse on (#6KDZD)
Greenpeace has called for the creation of a high seas protected zone under a new UN treaty to secure a much wider area around Ecuador's Galapagos archipelago, whose unique fauna and flora inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution Continue reading...
Installations must speed up 11-fold as advisers say latest changes to scheme likely to make 2028 target even harderThe public spending watchdog has criticised the slow pace of the government's heat pump rollout just days after ministers postponed an important scheme designed to increase the rate of installations.A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that heat pump installations would need to accelerate 11-fold if the government is to reach its target for 600,000 heat pumps installed in homes every year by 2028. Continue reading...
Financiers providing billion-dollar support for industrial livestock companies to expand leading to unsustainable rise in productionBillion-dollar financing is driving unsustainable increases in global meat and dairy production, a report has found.Global meat production rose 9% between 2015 and 2021, the report said, while dairy production increased 13% in that time. Continue reading...
Residents already hit with disease are fighting the multibillion-dollar corporation DR Horton, America's largest homebuilderKristen Burke and her husband, Harold, moved into their home in Russell Landing, a rural suburb just outside of Jacksonville, Florida, nearly 15 years ago. The quiet and tight-knit neighborhood sits next to a shaggy pine forest and a blackwater canal. This was our dream home," said Burke.It wasn't until 2018 that she realized the extent of the pollution lurking next door: according to Burke, who recently became part of a local watchdog effort, an industrial plant that once operated nearby left barrels of toxic waste buried in the ground and never came back to clean up. Continue reading...
The California landmark is shrinking, exposing a toxic lakebed that threatens neighbors. Irondad' is running 92 miles to highlight the crisisOn an otherwise desolate horizon, a black dot materialized along the dramatic shoreline of California's Salton Sea one recent Saturday afternoon. Beachgoers shielded their eyes against the midday glare and watched as the mirage became 49-year-old William Sinclair, an ultramarathon runner and activist who goes by the self-given nickname Irondad".The runner's sudden appearance felt apocalyptic: he wore an ominous full-face gas mask to block out dust, and a pair of snowshoes strapped wing-like to his back, to traverse the area's expansive mudflats. He dressed all in black, with the exception of neon orange sneakers that were already caked in dirt from running and hiking the past 16 miles, a remote stretch of both cracked and swampy earth that very rarely sees any other human activity. Continue reading...
by Damien Gayle Environment correspondent on (#6KD68)
Blockades at facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, with protests in Scotland and action expected in DenmarkClimate activists in four countries are blocking access to North Sea oil infrastructure as part of a coordinated pan-European civil disobedience protest.Blockades have been taking place at oil and gas terminals, refineries and ports in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, in protest at the continued exploitation of North Sea fossil fuel deposits. Continue reading...
Researchers found that the Victorians brought so many seeds and saplings to Britain that experts say the giant redwoods now outnumber those in their US homelandThree giant redwoods tower over Wakehurst's Elizabethan mansion like skyscrapers. Yet at 40 metres (131ft) high, these are almost saplings - not even 150 years old and already almost twice as high as Cleopatra's Needle.At the moment they're some of the tallest trees in the UK and they are starting to poke above the forest canopy. But if they grow to their full potential, they're going to be three times taller than most trees," says Dr Phil Wilkes, part of the research team at Wakehurst, in West Sussex, an outpost of Kew Gardens. One or two of these California imports would be curiosities, such as the 100-metre high redwood that was stripped of its bark in 1854 and exhibited to Victorian crowds at the Crystal Palace in south-east London, until it was destroyed by fire in 1866. Continue reading...
GPs with convictions over protests face tribunals to determine whether they can keep licence to practiseDr Sarah Benn has long been concerned about the climate crisis, diligently recycling until she was blue in the face". But the rise of the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion in 2019 inspired her and her husband to go further. We thought: well, if we don't do it then who else is going to?"While working as a GP near Birmingham, Benn became increasingly involved in direct action over the next few years, and once glued her hand to the door of the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy in protest at the government's inaction on the climate. Continue reading...
Certification awarded for 2.5m acres offering pristine views of night sky, with hopes for expansion to 11m acresWith clear skies and sparse trees, the Oregon outback has long been regarded as a stargazers' paradise. Now the region is home to the world's largest dark sky sanctuary, offering pristine views of the night sky across 2.5m acres.The Oregon outback international dark sky sanctuary received the certification this week, becoming the largest of 19 sites around the world with the same designation. The sanctuary covers Lake county in south-eastern Oregon, a remote area roughly half the size of New Jersey, and could eventually expand to include more than 11m acres. Continue reading...
Researchers from Mississippi State University say aggressive ocean predator appears to benefit from climate emergencyNumbers of bull sharks, one of the largest and most aggressive ocean-dwelling predators, are thriving even as rising sea temperatures kill off other marine species, a study says.Researchers at Mississippi State University (MSU) found that the number of individual sharks, all juveniles, recorded per hour in Mobile Bay was five times higher in 2020 than at the start of the study period in 2003. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Deputy political editor on (#6KCK3)
Exclusive: Department for Transport has already cut funding but now seeks to block councils' ability to fine driversThe Department for Transport (DfT) is set to intensify its battle with local councils over low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and other active travel measures, with imminent new guidance seeking to limit their use.However, a promised plan to try to force local authorities into abandoning the schemes by cutting them off from the central database needed to issue fines for infractions is understood to be legally complicated and not yet ready to proceed. Continue reading...
Party calls for firm to be wound up as it seeks shareholder bailout, higher bills and lower finesThames Water should be put into special administration by the government and reformed as a public benefit company, the Liberal Democrats have said.Sarah Olney, the Lib Dems' Treasury spokesperson, has called in a parliamentary debate for the biggest privatised English water company to be wound up under legislation that has recently been updated by ministers. Continue reading...
Legal experts say directors could face personal claims for failing to consider how businesses affect natureCompany directors in the UK could be held personally liable for failing to properly account for nature and climate-related risks, according to a group of lawyers.A legal opinion published this week found that board directors had duties to consider how their business affected and depended on nature. These included climate-related risks as well as wider risks to biodiversity, soils and water. Continue reading...
Discovery was made after First Nations tipped off ecologists about groups of fish gathering in a fjord off British ColumbiaDeep in the hostile waters off Canada's west coast, in a narrow channel surrounded by fjords, lies a coral reef that scientists believe shouldn't exist". The reef is the northernmost ever discovered in the Pacific Ocean and offers researchers a new glimpse into the resilience - and unpredictability - of the deep-sea ecosystems.For generations, members of the Kitasoo Xai'xais and Heiltsuk First Nations, two communities off the Central Coast region of British Columbia, had noticed large groups of rockfish congregating in a fjord system. Continue reading...
Research raises more questions over safety of material that health advocates say is made with dangerous levels of forever chemicals'Athletes who play on artificial turf are likely to be coated with higher levels of toxic PFAS forever chemicals" than before playing on the field, new research suggests, raising more questions about the controversial material's safety.All artificial turf is made with what public health advocates say is dangerous levels of PFAS. When the highly mobile chemicals break off from plastic grass blades, they can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled, ingested or get in open wounds. Continue reading...
Former James Bond actor, 70, who pleaded guilty to walking off trail at national park, says he made an impulsive mistake'Actor Pierce Brosnan has said he deeply regrets walking off trail in Yellowstone national park in the western US after he was fined by a court in Wyoming for getting too close to one of the delicate thermal areasBrosnan, 70, pleaded guilty to foot travel in a thermal area and was fined $500 and required to pay a $1,000 community service payment to the Yellowstone Forever Geological Fund, the US attorney's office, district of Wyoming, said on Thursday. Continue reading...
Right to Roam finds areas of outstanding natural beauty have on average poorer footpath access than rest of EnglandEngland's most stunning national landscapes" are largely out of bounds, and 22 of the 34 have less than 10% of their area open to the public, research has found.The government last year renamed areas of outstanding natural beauty to national landscapes, and said part of their aim was to widen access to nature. Ministers said at the time the new name reflected a recognition that they are not just beautiful but important for many reasons including improving wellbeing. Continue reading...
by Patrick Greenfield and Nyasha Chingono in Kariba on (#6KC4B)
Carbon schemes are touted as a way to transfer billions in climate finance to the developing world - but people at the Kariba project in Zimbabwe say most of the profits never arriveIn the districts surrounding Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, most people have little idea their villages were at the centre of a multimillion-dollar carbon boom. Punctuated by straw-thatched mud houses, the Miombo woodlands on the edge of the enormous artificial lake are mostly home to smallholder farmers. The gravel roads are full of potholes; cars are infrequent, as are medical facilities and internet connections. Data on the region is patchy, but Hurungwe district, that covers a number of the villages has an average poverty rate of 88%.These communities fall within the vast, lucrative Kariba conservation project, encompassing an area almost the size of Puerto Rico. It is among the largest in a portfolio of forest offsetting schemes approved by Verra, the world's largest certifier. Since 2011, this project alone has generated revenue of more than 100m (85m) from selling carbon credits equivalent to Kenya's 2022 national emissions to western companies, according to now-deleted figures published by the project developer. Proponents say these schemes are a quick way of transferring billions of dollars of climate and biodiversity finance to the developing world through company net zero pledges. Continue reading...
The winners of the annual British Wildlife Photography awards have been announced, with the winner - an image of invasive goose barnacles hitching a lift across the ocean on a discarded football - chosen from more than 14,000 submissions Continue reading...
Party to call for measures to stop companies prioritising profit over environment at spring conferenceWater companies in England and Wales have almost doubled their profits since 2019.During this parliament, which started in 2019, pre-tax profits at water companies have climbed by 82%, according to a Liberal Democrat analysis of Companies House data. Continue reading...
Measure is part of package aimed at limiting pollution associated with cheap, imported clothesFrance's lower house of parliament has backed a string of measures to make low-cost fast fashion, especially items from Chinese mass producers, less attractive to buyers.Thursday's vote makes France the first country in the world legislating to limit the excesses of ultra fast fashion", said Christophe Bechu, minister for the ecological transition. The measures still require a vote in the Senate. Continue reading...
Mechanism is vital to boost the only viable option' to decarbonise emissions from heating homes, says green charityThe government has delayed by a year its scheme for spurring the take-up of heat pumps, under pressure from the gas boiler industry.The clean heat market mechanism is intended to force heating installers to fit more low-carbon heat pumps, to meet the UK's net zero greenhouse gas emissions target and save energy. Continue reading...
Number of heat-related deaths in Phoenix, Arizona was more than 50% higher than 2022, which officials say can be prevented'Public health officials in Arizona's most populous county on Wednesday reported they confirmed a staggering 645 heat-associated deaths last year - more than 50% higher than 2022 and another consecutive annual record in arid metro Phoenix.The numbers in the preliminary report by the Maricopa county department of public health alarmed officials in America's hottest big metro, raising concerns about how to better protect vulnerable groups such as homeless people and older adults from the blistering summer heat. Continue reading...
Sunak now wants all the badgers dead,' says ecological consultant Tom LangtonThe government has U-turned on its plans to phase out the badger cull, with proposals to exterminate the vast majority of some local populations across much of south-west and central England.Ministers plan to introduce controversial targeted culling, also known as epidemiological culling" or epi-culling", whereby populations of badgers can be reduced to almost zero in some areas where cattle are deemed to be at high risk of contracting bovine TB (bTB). Continue reading...
Impact on ecosystems must be predicted before technology is used, US atmospheric science agency chief saysScientists must work urgently on predicting the effects of climate geoengineering, the chief of the US atmospheric science agency has said, as the technology is likely to be needed, at least in part.Richard Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the government-backed body was estimating the effects of some of the likely techniques for geoengineering, including those involving the oceans. Continue reading...
EVs represent about 1% of light vehicles in Australia - but Electric Vehicle Council warns there is more work to be done' to reach 2050 emissions targets
City's first pocket forest, aimed at increasing biodiversity, will spring up in April on 2,700 sq ft of Manhattan's Roosevelt IslandA tiny forest filled with more than 1,000 native plants will spring up in New York City come April on a 2,700 sq ft plot of land on the southern tip of Manhattan's Roosevelt Island.It will be the city's first pocket forest, and supporters say it will bring both the beauty of increased biodiversity and tangible benefits to residents navigating increasingly extreme weather. Continue reading...
by Miranda Bryant Nordic correspondent on (#6KBAD)
Analysis of secretive renewable energy contracts finds the harmful outcomes generally outweigh the limited gains'Agreements between Sami reindeer herders and commercial developers in Sweden are having an overall detrimental impact on such Indigenous communities, research has found.According to the analysis, the first of its kind into such agreements, renewable energy companies - promoted as part of the Nordic country's green transition" - are among the worst offenders. Continue reading...
Defra says contract with Australian firm CTM is for staff accommodation and travel, but offers no further detailThe company that manages the Bibby Stockholm barge used to house asylum seekers has been granted a 100m contract with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.It is the latest large government contract given to the Australian company Corporate Travel Management (CTM). The government was heavily criticised by the National Audit Office for its 385m contract with CTM to manage quarantine hotels during the pandemic, which cost the taxpayer 400m including 100m in unpaid room bills and fraud. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani Climate justice reporter on (#6KBAE)
Analysis shows how jets and tanks are being kept fueled despite interim ICJ ruling warning Israel to prevent genocidal actsIsraeli jets and tanks bombarding Palestinians are being fueled by some of the world's most profitable fossil fuel companies - and US tax-payers, according to research.Israel relies on crude oil and refined products from overseas to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles. Continue reading...
Energy company now says it aims for 15-20% reduction by 2030, rather than previous target of 20%The energy company Shell has watered down a key climate target as it prepares to defy climate experts by growing its liquified natural gas business and holding its oil production steady until 2030.The company signalled that it may slow the pace of its emissions reductions for this decade by setting a new plan to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of the energy it sells by 15-20% by the end of the decade, compared with its previous target of 20%. Continue reading...
Exclusive: The H5N1 virus reached the region late last year and is killing wildlife, with witnesses spotting numerous seal corpses on South Georgia islandThe grave of the explorer Ernest Shackleton on South Georgia island has become inaccessible to visitors due to bodies of dead seals blocking the way", as increasing numbers of animals are killed by bird flu's spread through the Antarctic.The H5N1 virus has spread to 10 species of birds and mammals since it arrived in the region last October, with five king penguins and five gentoo penguins the latest to test positive on the sub-Antarctic islands. Those confirmations follow reports of mass die-offs of elephant seals at the end of last year. Continue reading...
Environment | The Guardian