Environment | The Guardian

Opposition leader's argument is puzzling given Canadian provinces dominated by renewables pay less for electricity

Nearly 100 wildfires are burning, including massive blaze in California that has become fifth-largest in state historyA person has been killed in one of several wildfires threatening heavily populated areas of the Colorado foothills, authorities said on Wednesday.A body was discovered in a home about 1 mile (1.6km) north of Lyons, Colorado, according to Curtis Johnson, the Boulder county sheriff. He said that detectives were assisting the investigation into the death, but declined to provide further details. Continue reading...

Central General Staff militant group previously said Cop16 event scheduled for October in Cali would fail'A dissident rebel group has backed down from its threat to disrupt the UN biodiversity summit in Colombia later this year.The Central General Staff (EMC), a guerrilla faction that rejected the country's 2016 peace agreement, said on Wednesday it would order its militants not to target the Cop16 negotiations that are due to begin in Cali in October.Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features. Continue reading...

Charity wants to know how climate crisis is affecting plants and what UK gardeners are doing to mitigate effectsMost gardeners love nothing more than the chance to chat about what has worked and what hasn't in their flowerbeds this year.So the latest callout from the Royal Horticultural Society will be music to their ears; the RHS is asking for information about what flowered for ages, what loved being waterlogged and how plants did on the occasional hot day, so that they can draw up a plan for how to keep gardening alive during the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Almost 200 people still missing after heavy rains and access problems hamper second day of rescue operationThe death toll from a series of landslides in Kerala has risen to 166 and almost 200 people are still missing as the southern Indian state reels from one of its worst disasters in years.Hundreds of homes were swept away and crushed by two huge consecutive landslides in the hilly district of Wayanad in the middle of the night on Tuesday. Continue reading...

An extract from Andrea Freeman's Ruin Their Crops on the Ground unpacks government cheese - from Steve Harvey jokes to Jay-Z lyrics and WahlburgersDuring the Depression, when milk supply exceeded demand, the US government bought milk to keep its price stable and support dairy farmers. Then, trying to find a way to store or get rid of the surplus, it started stockpiling cheese, which lasts longer than milk.The government bought so much cheese that it eventually filled every cold storage in the country. But there was still more excess milk. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rented half an acre in a Kansas cave and filled it floor to ceiling with blocks of cheese. At its height, the US had 2lbs of stored cheese for every resident. Continue reading...

Scorching temperatures in Mediterranean countries and north Africa already causing increase in premature deathsThe heat dome" causing scorching temperatures across western Europe and north Africa, and boiling athletes and spectators at the Olympic Games in Paris, would have been impossible without human-caused global heating, a rapid analysis has found.Scientists said the fossil-fuelled climate crisis made temperatures 2.5C to 3.3C hotter. Such an event would not have happened in the world before global heating but is now expected about once a decade, they said. Continued emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide will make them even more frequent, the researchers warned. Continue reading...

Scientists are discovering just how toxic wildfire smoke is to the body - here's what to know and how to stay safeAs dozens of wildfires rage across the US and Canada, blackening the skies once again this summer, scientists are revealing even more about how dangerous wildfire smoke is for our health.Some of the worst fires - including the Durkee fire in Oregon, the Park fire in California and the Jasper fire in Alberta, Canada - have sent smoke billowing for hundreds of miles around them, blanketing cities like Boise and Calgary with poor-quality air. Continue reading...

Critics say bill is a fossil fuel wolf in clean energy clothing' that would gut environmental protectionsUS senators should reject an energy-permitting reform bill being brought to committee on Wednesday by senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso because it's a wishlist for the fossil industry" of the kind envisioned by Project 2025, environmental groups say.Manchin, a senator from West Virginia and a former Democrat who registered as an independent in May, and Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, argue their bill will speed permitting of power transmission, mining and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects. Their bill will be voted on by the Senate energy and natural resources committee, of which Manchin, a longtime proponent of the reforms, is the chair and Barrasso is the committee's top Republican. Continue reading...

Advocates say nets are killing marine life and do not prevent shark bites but government says it will not remove them completely

Land and Environment Court fines state agency $360,000 for logging eucalyptus trees after black summer bushfires

In today's newsletter: The government has spent 1.6bn improving the river, but an ancient sewage system and the climate are muddying the waters Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.An ambitious project to clean up the River Seine has left French officials up to their eyes in it.Israel-Gaza war | Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, has been targeted and killed in Tehran, the group said in a statement early on Wednesday morning. Iran's Revolutionary Guard confirmed the assassination, which was reported on Iranian state TV early on Wednesday morning, with analysts also claiming Israel killed Haniyeh, the Associated Press said.UK news | Keir Starmer has said those who rioted in Southport on Tuesday night will feel the full force of the law" after police vehicles were set alight and missiles hurled at officers. It came after far-right protesters pelted police with glass bottles and bricks and attacked a mosque following a knife attack that killed three children and left five other children and two adults in critical condition.Conservatives | Kemi Badenoch, the frontrunner to be the next Conservative party leader, has been accused of creating an intimidating atmosphere in the government department she used to run, with some colleagues describing it as toxic, the Guardian can reveal.US election 2024 | Donald Trump has repeated his weekend remarks to Christian summit attendees that they would never need to vote again if he returns to the presidency in November.Health | The hidden cost of rising workplace sickness in the UK has increased to more than 100bn a year, largely caused by a loss of productivity amid staggering" levels of presenteeism, a report warns. Continue reading...

Storms result in caved-in roads and crushed cars nearly three weeks after flooding from Hurricane BerylThunderstorms and torrential rain brought another wave of violent floods Tuesday that caved in roads, crushed vehicles, pushed homes off their foundations and led to dramatic boat rescues in north-eastern Vermont, nearly three weeks after flooding from Hurricane Beryl.Flash flood warnings remained in effect through Tuesday afternoon hours after some areas got 6 to more than 8in (15 to more than 20cm) starting late the night before. Continue reading...

The new budget comes after the previous government failed to award a single new offshore wind contract in 2023The Labour government will make record amounts of funding available to clean energy developers after it increased the value of its summer subsidy auction by 50%, to 1.5bn.The addition, compared with figures previously announced, means the total budget is seven times the amount available at last year's auction, the government said. Continue reading...

Firm says it is now re-adjusting to a realistic end date and blames difficulties in procuring new planes and sustainable jet fuelAir New Zealand has become the first major airline to drop its 2030 goal to cut carbon emissions.The company has blamed difficulties in procuring new planes and sustainable jet fuel. Continue reading...

Heavy rainfall, difficult terrain, destroyed roads and collapsed bridge have hampered rescue efforts in KeralaAt least 108 people have died and dozens more are missing after heavy rain led to a series of landslides in the Indian state of Kerala, with rescue operations hampered by poor weather conditions and the destruction of roads and bridges.The Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, confirmed the bodies of 108 people had been uncovered so far and dozens more were missing, feared dead after three massive landslides surged down the hills of the Western Ghats in Wayanad in southern India. About 128 people were injured in the disaster and thousands were moved to camps for safety. Continue reading...

Audit of Environmental Improvement Plan finds it inadequate as government announces overhaul of goalsGoals to stop the decline of nature and clean up the air and water in England are slipping out of reach, a new report has warned.An audit of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), which is the mechanism by which the government's legally binding targets for improving nature should be met, has found that plans for thriving plants and wildlife and clean air are deteriorating. This plan was supposed to replace the EU-derived environmental regulations the UK used until the Environment Act was passed in 2021 after Brexit. Continue reading...

John Podesta says negotiations to find a path forward' continue with urgent discussions planned for Cop29Trade frictions and increasing tension between the US and China won't affect climate negotiations between the two superpowers if he can help it, the US climate chief has pledged.John Podesta, a senior adviser to Joe Biden on international climate policy, said the relationship between the world's two biggest emitters and largest economies was critical to climate action, despite what appears to be a deepening gulf over trade policy. Continue reading...

Reusable' is now a selling point for products that should, inherently, be reusable to begin with - and we're buying itI used to keep a plastic bag of plastic bags under my kitchen sink. Like the water in the pipes above, around which they accumulated, it seemed I had bags in unlimited supply. A few years ago, when my city enacted a plastic bag ban, the collection started waning. Now, I treasure the once ubiquitous sacks, doling them out judiciously for use as diaper pail liners and stewards of wet bathing suits, while down the hall, at the back of my coat closet, another mass is metastasizing: totes upon totes upon totes.They're often referred to as reusable tote bags. And that sounds perfectly normal. But it shouldn't. Imagine saying reusable backpack" or reusable shoes". Most things were never intended to be used just once - not until several decades ago, when plastics ushered in an era in which everyday goods were designed, marketed and sold for exactly that: one, single use. Continue reading...

Oil and gas company to increase dividend and buy-backs as quarterly profit beats forecasts

State-owned SAIC, parent of the British brand MG, was responsible for biggest jump in sales in June

Harris, who had previously urged fracking ban, plans to highlight climate contrast between Democrats and TrumpKamala Harris will not seek to ban fracking if she becomes US president, campaign officials have confirmed, with the de facto Democratic nominee expected to focus instead on aggressively promoting the stark contrast on the climate crisis between Joe Biden's administration and Donald Trump.Harris had previously, as a candidate for the 2020 presidential nomination, vowed to ban fracking, as well as back a Green New Deal, a progressive resolution to shift the US to 100% renewable energy, and new government dietary guidelines to encourage people to reduce their meat eating. Continue reading...

Researchers call for immediate action to reduce methane emissions and avert dangerous escalation in climate crisisGlobal emissions of methane, a powerful planet-heating gas, are rising rapidly" at the fastest rate in decades, requiring immediate action to help avert a dangerous escalation in the climate crisis, a new study has warned.Methane emissions are responsible for half of the global heating already experienced, have been climbing significantly since around 2006 and will continue to grow throughout the rest of the 2020s unless new steps are taken to curb this pollution, concludes the new paper. The research is authored by more than a dozen scientists from around the world and published on Tuesday. Continue reading...

As blazes spew smoke across western US, research shows it may be worse for brain health than other types of pollutionA new US study has found that wildfire smoke may be worse for brain health than other types of air pollution and even increase the risk of dementia.The findings, reported on Monday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Philadelphia, come as millions spent the weekend under air quality warnings from wildfires spewing smoke across the western US, including a huge wildfire in California that has grown to more than 360,000 acres. Continue reading...

Though 2,300 people in the US died from heat-related illness in 2023, workers await robust protection lawsOn 23 June, Shae Parker had to leave her shift early at a gas station in Columbia, South Carolina, to go to the emergency room due to heat exhaustion; she wasn't paid for missing the rest of her shift. The air conditioning at her work has been on the fritz for weeks, she said, and her station heats up easily as the sun beams through its large windows.I got nauseated, overheated, lightheaded," she said. We don't have free water, we don't have a water level on the soda machine, the ice machine is broken, so we have to buy water. The last few weeks it's been extremely hot. It's very hard to breathe when you're lightheaded and experiencing dizziness. The fatigue is like 10 times worse because your body is completely drained. I had to get two bags of fluid from being dehydrated even though I was drinking water." Continue reading...

Regulator for Great Britain also appoints Elexon to lead local flexibility markets

Corporations and politicians are pushing carbon capture despite big questions over its value as residents in the southern petrostate' fear the worstIt was a muggy morning in late April when a handful of local residents and grassroots organizers huddled in a church parking lot to strategize, before knocking on doors with information about the latest environmental threat facing St Rose, a predominantly Black community in Louisiana's Cancer Alley".It was not the first time Kimbrelle Eugene Kyereh had campaigned for better regulation of the choking sprawl of fossil fuel and petrochemical facilities that surround St Rose - and countless other communities up and down the Mississippi River. Continue reading...

Conservation charity raises alarm over climate crisis after wet spring and summer dampen mating chancesButterfly numbers are the lowest on record in the UK after a wet spring and summer dampened their chances of mating.Butterfly Conservation, which runs the Big Butterfly Count, sounded the alarm after this year's count revealed the worst numbers since it began 14 years ago. Continue reading...

Marking a pivotal moment for the fate of the barely known ecosystems on the ocean floor, 168 nations will decide this week who will head the International Seabed AuthorityLeticia Carvalho is clear what the problem is with the body she hopes to be elected to run: Trust is broken and leadership is missing." Later this week, at the headquarters of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaica, nations negotiating rules governing deep-sea mining face a critical vote that could impact the nascent industry for years: who should be the next leader of the regulatory body?Carvalho, sponsored by Brazil, is in the running against the current secretary general, Michael Lodge, a British lawyer, who is being sponsored by Kiribati, a small Pacific state. Continue reading...

Civil society organisations demand home secretary protects the safety valve' of democracyEnvironmental groups are among 92 civil society organisations who have warned Yvette Cooper against the steady erosion of the right to protest" in the UK, and called on her to reverse the previous government's crackdown on peaceful protest.The right to protest is a vital safety valve for our democracy and an engine of social progress," the letter, delivered on Friday, said. The achievements of peaceful protest are written on the labour movement's own birth certificate." Continue reading...

Hailing the success of carrier bag laws, the Marine Conservation Society urges nations to push forward with plans for other single-use itemsThe number of plastic bags washed up on UK beaches has fallen by 80% over a decade, since a mandatory fee was imposed on shoppers who opt to pick up single-use carrier bags at the checkout.According to the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) annual litter survey, volunteers found an average of one plastic bag every 100 metres of coastline surveyed last year, compared to an average of five carrier bags every 100 metres in 2014. Continue reading...

Ex-president's allies and Project 2025 propose restrictions to EPA's ability to protect public from toxins like PFASA second Donald Trump presidency would represent a serious threat to dealing with the toxic impact of PFAS forever chemicals", as well as other toxins, and could be a danger to the health of millions of Americans, experts and environmental campaigners warn.For example, over the last year, the Environmental Protection Agency developed groundbreaking drinking water limits for highly toxic PFAS compounds, and designated several of the forever chemicals" as hazardous substances, a move that will force industry to clean up its pollution. The steps represent a major win for the water quality and taxpayers, but a new Trump administration would likely shred the rules. Continue reading...

Residents face tough choices on whether to shelter in place or flee - There's risks associated with each', experts sayHurricane Beryl was unusual in many ways before it struck Texas on 8 July - it sped up more than 35mph in a 24-hour period twice, and it became the first category 5 storm to form as early as it did in the hurricane season. And as the world increasingly warms because of the burning of fossil fuels, research suggests that storms like Hurricane Beryl will become more common - concerning coastal residents who will have less time to evacuate.While residents are more likely to leave when directed to do so by their local government, emergency managers are shying away from enacting community-wide mandatory evacuations because of how much time they take to put in place. Continue reading...

State's wildfires have already torched more than 1m acres, and experts say heat, dryness and lightning are to blameOregon's wildfire season is off to an explosive start with more than 1m acres (405,000 hectares) charred in less than a month, as experts warn that extreme heat and unusual lightning strikes are creating catastrophic conditions" for fires to ignite and spread.The state is currently home to the largest wildfire burning in the US. By Friday afternoon, the Durkee fire had burned nearly 290,000 acres (117,000 hectares) and was only 20% contained. The fire had forced evacuations, shut down a major interstate highway and even produced its own weather system. Continue reading...

Wind turbines are among changes being considered by heir to the Duchy of Cornwall estate to tackle the climate crisisHis father thinks windfarms are a blot on the landscape, once saying he feared Britain would end up like Denmark knee deep in these damn things". But now Prince William is considering overturning their effective ban on royal land.The Prince of Wales has ordered a major review of renewable energy on his 130,000-acre Duchy of Cornwall estate, which is expected to change the face of his hereditary property empire stretching across 20 counties in England. Continue reading...

Public health adviser says higher temperatures caused by climate crisis pose danger for visitors not used to themThe climate emergency poses a real risk" to Spain's traditional mass tourist model as rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves hit the country's most popular coastal destinations, a senior public health adviser has warned.Hector Tejero, the head of health and climate change at Spain's health ministry, said the increasingly apparent physical impacts of the climate emergency had already led the ministry to begin talks with the British embassy on how best to educate vulnerable" tourists about coping with the heat. Continue reading...

Energy secretary seeks to reestablish UK as a global leader on the climate crisis with meeting of Cop presidentsLabour will honour a pledge of 11.6bn in overseas aid for the climate crisis, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, told an unusual meeting of Cop presidents past and present on Friday, as he sought to re-establish the UK at the heart of international climate discussions.As the Labour government prepares for this year's climate-emergency summit in November, Miliband hosted Mukhtar Babayev, the Azerbaijan government minister who will lead Cop29, and Ana Toni, the top official on the climate for Brazil, which will host Cop30 in the Amazonian city of Belem in 2025 in a meeting to discuss what steps are needed to make a success of the next two UN climate Cops, as the conferences of the parties" under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are known. Continue reading...

More than 120,000 heat-related ER visits were tracked in 2023, as people struggle in record-breaking temperaturesIn his 40 years in the emergency room, David Sklar can think of three moments in his career when he was terrified.One of them was when the Aids epidemic hit, the second was Covid, and now there's this," the Phoenix physician said, referring to his city's unrelenting heat. Last month was the city's hottest June on record, with temperatures averaging 97F (36C), and scientists say Phoenix is on track to experience its hottest summer on record this year. Continue reading...

Danielle Smith and her government's refusal to combat global heating is said to have made blazes more intenseWhen Danielle Smith, premier of Alberta, began her grim update about the wildfire damage to Jasper, the famed mountain resort in the Canadian Rockies, her voice slipped and she held back tears.Hours earlier, a fast-moving wildfire tore through the community, incinerating homes, businesses and historic buildings. She praised the true heroism" of fire crews who had rushed in to save Jasper, only to be pulled back when confronted by a 400ft wall of flames. She spoke about the profound meaning and magic" of the national park. Continue reading...

Planet's largest blanket bog is first peatland to be designated by Unesco after 40-year campaignThe Flow Country, a vast and unspoiled blanket bog that carpets the far north of Scotland, has been made a world heritage site by Unesco.The planet's largest blanket bog, the Flow Country covers about 1,500 sq miles of Caithness and Sutherland, and is the first peatland in the world to be designated by Unesco, after a 40-year campaign by environmentalists. Continue reading...

Many companies such as Chipotle and McDonald's are seeing profits jump as they continue raising prices, an analysis findsAs inflation shot to its peak around mid-2022, Chipotle's prices also rose, pushing up what customers paid for burritos and bowls by as much as several dollars. Since then, the fast casual restaurant's costs have broadly fallen. Prices have not.Chipotle's decision to maintain high prices helped boost profits 110% in recent years, while its executives boasted to investors that they raised prices higher than inflationary costs. Continue reading...

Communities affected by construction of renewable energy infrastructure have the right to see the benefits'

Owner of North Yorkshire power station earned 393m in government subsidies for biomassThe owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire will give shareholders a 300m windfall after a sharp rise in taxpayer subsidies boosted its profits for the first half of the year to more than 500m.The power station, which receives hefty subsidies from burning biomass wood chips, mainly shipped from North America, generated almost a third more electricity over the first half of this year compared with the same months last year. Continue reading...

National Whale and Dolphin Watch organisers say data collected will help with research into marine mammalsHundreds of wildlife enthusiasts are expected to gather along UK coastlines over the next 10 days to count and record whales and dolphins.The National Whale and Dolphin Watch, taking place from 26 July to 4 August, is hosted by the Sea Watch Foundation and aims to get volunteers to observe and record sightings of the UK's most impressive marine mammals. Continue reading...

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

From an unexpected glimpse of a silky anteater to a tagged terrapin, here is a selection of this year's winning, runner-up and commended images from the 2024 Mangrove photography awards, run by the Mangrove Action Project Continue reading...

Connection found between early exposure and bronchitic symptoms in adults without previous lung problemsAir pollution breathed in during childhood is one of the factors in adult lung health, according to a new study.The origins of the study date back to 1992 when researchers began investigating the effects of air pollution on groups of children in California. Some of these children are now in their 40s. Continue reading...

Researchers say 650 tonnes on order for Paris Games is a potential stress on local and regional resourcesFrom cold-water swimming to ice baths, deliberately freezing yourself has been hailed as a panacea for everything from menopause symptoms to arthritis, headaches and immunity conditions.And for sportspeople, ice is widely used to aid recovery after exercise. But now researchers have said the clinical benefits of ice therapy are not evidence-based and its popularity is bad for the environment. Continue reading...

European visitor rushed to hospital after briefly walking barefoot in California national park amid extreme heatA European visitor got third-degree burns on his feet while briefly walking barefoot on the sand dunes in California's Death Valley national park over the weekend, park rangers said Thursday.The rangers said the visitor was rushed to a hospital in nearby Nevada. Because of language issues, the rangers said they were not immediately able to determine whether the 42-year-old Belgian's flip-flops had somehow been broken or were lost at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes during a short Saturday walk. Continue reading...

More than 25,000 residents and tourists evacuated from national park region as firefighters forced into a retreatA fast-moving wildfire has destroyed parts of Jasper, the old mountain town in the Canadian Rockies, with the mayor warning the damage was beyond description and comprehension". The blaze had forced more than 25,000 people to flee earlier this week.Jasper national park officials said the fire entered the southern edge of the town on Wednesday evening. But, given the speed and intensity of the blaze, fire crews working to protect key infrastructure were ordered to retreat. Continue reading...