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sustainable-business/2014/dec/04/the-circular-economy-your-ideas-for-our-coverage | The circular economy - we'd like your ideas for our coverage | The circular economy presents a vision of a future that functions within our planetary boundaries. Today’s goods become tomorrow’s resources, we design so that as little as possible becomes obsolete and traditional ideas of ownership give way to models based on leasing and sharing. Over the last year, Guardian Sustainable Business has been covering the journey of this vision. We’ve learned a lot about coffee. We now know that coffee waste can be turned into a flour that makes gluten-free cookies, and that a special coating can be applied to paper coffee cups that means they can be recycled up to seven times. We’ve learned that mushrooms, better known as the divisive vegetable often found on pizza, now also features in packaging, and that Disney World is making electricity from food waste for its theme parks and hotels. We know that a transition to a circular economy is estimated to provide $1tn (£63.7bn) globally in annual savings by 2025, and that the UK’s remanufacturing market is valued at £2.4bn but has the potential to increase to £5.6bn. We’ve heard about edible cups and yoghurt wrapped in coconut flavoured skin, and the Berlin store selling groceries without the packaging. We’ve learned that some 475 installations, 10,000km of pipelines, 15 onshore terminals and 5,000 wells in the UK continental shelf – an area of the North Sea with large resources of hydrocarbons – will eventually need to be decommissioned, and have looked at the surfing companies designing more sustainably. Lego’s senior director of environmental sustainability has said there are more than 90 Lego bricks for every person on the planet, while Renault claimed that one remanufactured car part uses 80% less energy, 88% less water and 92% fewer chemical products compared to a new part. We’ve taken a look at 8 of the best sharing economy companies and explored why car-sharing is among the solutions for London’s bad air quality. What have you learned? Put your knowledge to the test and let us know you score. Help us shape our coverage In a recent GSB survey, readers identified the circular economy as a hot sustainability topic for 2015. Given the interest, we’d love to hear from you on what you’d like to see us cover over the coming months. What are the topics you’re interested in and who are the people you’d like to hear from? What are your knowledge gaps and the areas of innovation that excite you? What would you like to see covered by experts in a live chat? You can tweet your suggestions to @GuardianSustBiz using #GSBcircular, leave them below in the comments section, or email them to hannah.gould@theguardian.com Read more like this: Berlin duo launch a supermarket with no packaging Disney World’s biogas facility: a model for converting food waste into energy Advertisement feature: Recycling: ‘the loop of last resort’ within a circular economy The circular economy hub is funded by Philips. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled brought to you by. Find out more here. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/series/circular-economy', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'profile/hannah-gould'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-12-04T10:33:37Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2023/dec/01/florida-manatees-freed-miami-seaquarium | Manatees Romeo and Juliet freed from Florida theme park following campaign | The decades-long captivity of two ageing manatees in “ever deteriorating conditions” at a Florida theme park will soon be over after the intervention of federal wildlife authorities and a campaign by animal rights activists for the mammals to be freed. Romeo, a 67-year-old sea cow, and a female named Juliet, 61, have been at the Miami Seaquarium since being “rescued” as calves in 1956, but will be moved to sanctuary elsewhere perhaps as early as next week, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) told the Guardian. According to the advocacy group UrgentSeas, which released a video on X last month showing Romeo swimming alone in a tiny and decaying circular tank in a remote, non-public area of the park, the pair have been kept apart for months and were suffering a “horrendous captivity”. “Manatees are semi-social animals and suffer psychologically when not living in groups or pairs. But Romeo remains alone, all the time,” it said in the tweet, viewed by more than 3.3 million people. Phil Demers, a former marine mammal trainer who founded the group, described Romeo’s isolated existence as “Groundhog Day in hell”. He praised the public response to UrgentSeas’ Free Romeo campaign for helping to secure their liberation. “It’s a humbling experience to be a part of such a powerful and effective movement. It’s every activist’s dream to inspire change. I’m incredibly proud of the work of UrgentSeas,” he said. FWS officials were also mindful of a scathing report from the US Department of Agriculture published this fall highlighting multiple violations by the Seaquarium in veterinary care, staffing levels and conditions in which its animals are housed. Romeo, Juliet and a third, unidentified younger manatee that will be moved with them, all have reported health problems, and their transportation is considered “high risk”. But it is considered necessary for their future wellbeing. Romeo, in particular, has health and dietary issues that must be carefully managed, meaning he is unlikely to ever be released back into the wild. FWS has not disclosed their ultimate destination, but the target is a facility in the manatee rescue and rehabilitation partnership, an alliance of accredited zoos, aquariums and marine life centers where they will have space to swim in the company of other manatees, and receive the specialized veterinary care they need. “FWS takes the health and welfare of manatees in managed care seriously [and is] working with an experienced team of manatee rescue and rehabilitation experts through the MRP to assist with the transport effort of manatees from Miami Seaquarium,” the service said in a statement to the Guardian. Manatees in captivity before the enactment of the 1972 endangered species and marine mammals protection acts are exempt from FWS management, but the service agreed to “take the lead” on the project at the request of the Seaquarium. The complex operation to move them is expected to take place by the middle of this month. The USDA report prompted the Miami-Dade commission to set a deadline of 15 December for the various violations to be rectified, and UrgentSeas had been planning a demonstration at the Seaquarium on Key Biscayne the following day. The move comes separately to a demand from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) that the commission terminate the lease of the Seaquarium for its treatment of Romeo and Juliet, and other recent controversies. In August, its beloved orca Tokitae, taken in the Pacific as a calf and separated from her mother, died in her pen aged about 57 after more than half a century in captivity performing live entertainment shows. As with the manatees, activists had long complained about her treatment and accommodation, a tank only four times the length of her body, according to Peta. The death through renal failure of the killer whale, which was given the performing name of Lolita, ended a lengthy campaign for her freedom. It also marked the end of an ambitious and costly project to build her a retirement “sea pen” in the Pacific so she could be near and engage with others in the L-pod of orcas she came from. Other Seaquarium failures listed in the USDA report include the ingestion by a dolphin of a plastic zip tie and chunk of cement from a flaking pool floor; unexplained rib injuries to the same dolphin; a different dolphin biting a child’s hand during a “meet and greet” for tourists; and chronic understaffing resulting in a single veterinarian being left responsible for 46 marine mammals and hundreds of birds, fish, sharks and rays. It noted Romeo’s tank was missing a sun shelter for at least 10 days, exposing the manatee to the harmful direct sunlight; and a “critical” violation that he had been left without company since three young manatees he was placed with were returned to the ocean in the spring. “Despite having every opportunity to do so, the Seaquarium has proven unable or unwilling to operate lawfully, even amidst intense public scrutiny of the facility,” Jared Goodman, the group’s general counsel of animal law, wrote in the letter. “The time has come to break the Miami Seaquarium’s cycle of abuse by immediately initiating proceedings to terminate the lease.” A spokesperson for Danielle Levine Cava, Miami-Dade mayor, said that the commission issued a notice of default to The Dolphin Company, the Mexico-based parent company of Miami Seaquarium, reserving its “option to all available remedies within the law” if the attraction failed to rectify the defaults by the 15 December deadline. The Guardian sent multiple requests to The Dolphin Company and the Miami Seaquarium for comment, but did not receive a response. | ['us-news/florida', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/richardluscombe', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-12-01T14:46:51Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2016/oct/10/global-demand-for-energy-will-peak-in-2030-says-world-energy-council | Global demand for energy will peak in 2030, says World Energy Council | Global demand for energy per capita will peak in 2030 thanks to new technology and stricter government policies, the World Energy Council has predicted. In a report on a range of scenarios for global energy use, the group of academics, energy companies and public sector bodies outlined a “fundamentally new world for the energy industry” calling it the “grand transition”. The report, launched before the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, forecast demand per person for energy – including transport fuels, heating and electricity – would begin to fall after 2030. Ged Davis, executive chair of scenarios at the World Energy Council, said: “Historically people have talked about peak oil but now disruptive trends are leading energy experts to consider the implications of peak demand.” But while overall per capita energy demand would begin to fall, demand for electricity would double by 2060, the council said, requiring greater infrastructure investment in smart systems that promote energy efficiency. The “phenomenal” growth of solar and wind energy is predicted to continue, while coal and oil will fade from the energy mix. Solar and wind accounted for 4% of power generation in 2014 but could supply up to 39% by 2060, while hydroelectric power and nuclear are also expected to grow. But fossil fuels will remain the number one source of energy, having fallen just 5% since 1970 from 86% of energy supply to 81% in 2014. The council drew up three scenarios to assess different areas of energy use. The range of outcomes could see fossil fuels provide anything from 50% to 70% of energy by 2060, said the council, which is the UN-accredited global energy body. Under two of the scenarios, oil production will peak in 2030 at between 94m barrels per day (bpd) and 103 mb/d, although the third scenario would see it peak and plateau at 104 m/bpd for a decade from 2040. The council said moving from petrol cars to cheaper technologies such as electric vehicles would prove “one of the hardest obstacles to overcome” in efforts to decarbonise global energy use. Oil powered 92% of vehicles in 2014, but that is expected to fall to between 78% and 60% as electric vehicles become more popular. But the council warned that keeping global warming below 2Cwould require an “exceptional and enduring effort, far beyond already pledged commitments and with very high carbon prices”. Its predictions for carbon emissions vary wildly depending on the strength of efforts to tackle the problem, from a reduction of 61% by 2060 to a slight increase of 5%. Overall, the report’s theme of a grand transition envisages lower population growth, radical new technologies, greater environmental challenges and a shift in economic and geopolitical power. The report was produced in partnership with consultancy Accenture Strategy and the Paul Scherrer Institute, a research centre in Switzerland. Last year’s report warned of a threat to global energy networks caused by extreme weather events associated with global warming. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rob-davies', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2016-10-10T07:38:04Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2020/jun/01/covid-low-carbon-future-lockdown-pandemic-green-economy | Covid-19 has given us the chance to build a low-carbon future | Christiana Figueres | The air is clean and fresh, fish have reappeared in urban waterways, birds are frequenting uncut gardens, wild mammals are meandering through cities and greenhouse gas emissions will likely drop by an unprecedented 8% this year. Nature has clearly benefited from several months of dramatically reduced economic activity. From a climate crisis perspective, this drop in emissions is astonishingly close to the 7.6% yearly reduction in emissions that scientists have advised will be necessary during the next decade. And yet none of this is cause for celebration. The resilience of nature is temporary, and will last only as long as the lockdown is enforced. More importantly, the reduction in greenhouse gases is not the result of decarbonising the economy, but the unintended consequence of economic paralysis that has come with painful human consequences and huge costs to lives and livelihoods. This is not what addressing the climate crisis looks like. The thoughtful reduction of greenhouse gases has to be intentional not circumstantial, sustained not temporary. Above all, it must lead to improved human wellbeing, not to human or economic suffering. There is a second inadvertent link between climate crisis and the coronavirus pandemic that is perhaps less examined. The recovery packages designed and implemented by governments to rescue the ailing global economy could rise as high as $20tn over the next 18 months. The scale of this stimulus will shape the contours of the global economy over the next decade, if not longer. This is precisely the decade when climate scientists have warned global emissions will need to be cut by half in order to reach a sustainable trajectory. In the midst of the crisis wreaked by the pandemic is an opportunity: to ensure rescue packages don’t merely recover the high carbon economy of yesterday, but help us build a healthier economy that is low on carbon, high in resilience and centred on human wellbeing. The case for rebuilding our economies in line with environmental targets has broad public support. A recent poll from Ipsos Mori shows that 71% of the global population understands that climate change is as at least as serious a crisis as Covid-19, and 65% think the former should be prioritised in the economic recovery. This is not only in industrialised countries that can more easily afford to green their economies; 81% of the citizens in India and 80% of people from Mexico were also strongly in favour of a green and healthy economic recovery. One of the first institutions to call for this dual approach was the International Energy Agency, which will publish a report this month detailing policies that governments could adopt to chart the course of recovery while decarbonising their economies. Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund is not only advising that fiscal stimulus packages should be based on green measures, but going as far as recommending scrapping fossil fuel subsidies and taxing carbon. A growing number of corporate leaders are also calling for government stimulus packages to have green strings attached. In the UK, the call from a group of major business leaders for the government to embrace a green recovery was answered by the prime minister’s statement that the UK’s commitment to delivering net zero emissions “remains undiminished”. In Europe, 180 business leaders, policymakers and researchers explicitly urged the EU to build the recovery package around the Green Deal. Meanwhile the Spanish government recently released a draft law banning all new coal, oil and gas projects, establishing the direction of the Covid-19 recovery effort. In Canada, more than 320 signatories representing more than 2,100 companies have signed on to support a resilient recovery. Perhaps most surprising are the carbon-intensive industries that have confirmed they are continuing to decarbonise despite the pandemic, including BP, Shell, Daimler and Rio Tinto. Elsewhere, eight investment groups, including BNP Paribas Asset Management, DWS and Comgest Asset Management, have urged corporates to maintain their focus on decarbonisation while dealing with the consequences of the recession. The Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, a group of institutional investors representing more than $4.6tn in assets under management (AUM), remains committed to an “irreversible shift to a resilient, net-zero and inclusive economy”. And BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, with $7.4 tn AUM, has pledged to punish the directors of companies that fail to manage environmental risks in 2020. But it’s not all good news. For every corporate actor that has shown a commitment to greening the economy, there are many that haven’t adhered to these values. Some have used the crisis as an opportunity to roll back environmental commitments or push through controversial projects and laws. Plastic companies in the US have lobbied to reverse single-use plastic laws, while three states have criminalised environmental protest. In Europe, car manufacturers are pushing to loosen emissions standards; globally, airlines are lobbying to stop using 2020 as a baseline emissions year, and China has announced it will loosen environmental legislation to boost the post-coronavirus recovery. This is the moment to raise voices everywhere and remind leaders of their chief responsibility: protecting their citizens and putting human wellbeing at the centre of the decision-making process. Some of this is already happening. Organisations representing more than 40 million health professionals from 90 countries worldwide have just published an open letter to G20 leaders and their chief medical advisers in support of a “healthy recovery” where carbon emissions would be massively reduced. Crises are a moment of rupture and change. In the midst of the pandemic, we face a choice between recovering the carbon-intensive global economy that has set us on the path towards environmental breakdown, or accelerating the transition towards a future that prioritises the health of people and planet. Today, that future may be closer within our reach than it was at the beginning of 2020. • Christiana Figueres was head of the UN climate change convention that achieved the Paris agreement in 2015, and is co-author of The Future We Choose | ['commentisfree/series/the-world-turned-upside-down', 'environment/environment', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'world/unitednations', 'world/world', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/christiana-figueres', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2020-06-01T09:00:36Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2017/aug/30/javid-misunderstood-planning-policies-in-approving-fracking-site-court-hears | Javid 'misunderstood planning policies' in approving fracking site, court hears | The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, “misunderstood key local and national planning policies” when he gave the green light to fracking in Lancashire, campaigners have told the court of appeal. Leading judges were urged on Wednesday to overturn a government decision to approve a fracking site at Preston New Road in Lancashire. The last-ditch legal appeal was described by one campaigner as a “challenge to the government’s ‘drill first, ask questions later’ approach to fracking”. Cuadrilla began drilling at its Preston New Road site this month and said it expected to frack at the end of the year. It would be the first fracking operations in Britain since 2011, when tests near Blackpool were established to be the likely cause of tremors of magnitude 2.3. Lancashire council had rejected the plans in 2015 but Javid approved them following a public inquiry. Campaigners tried unsuccessfully to challenge the decision through judicial review, which was heard in March and dismissed by a high court judge in April, but were given the right to appeal. At the start of a two-day hearing, David Wolfe QC, for the anti-fracking campaigners Preston New Road Action Group, submitted that “the secretary of state, through his inspector, misunderstood key local and national planning policies”. In written grounds of appeal, he asked the three judges, Lord Justice Simon, Lord Justice Lindblom and Lord Justice Henderson, to “set aside” the ruling of Mr Justice Dove in the high court and to “quash the secretary of state’s decision”. The campaigners’ solicitors, from the law firm Leigh Day, said the appeal was based on four grounds – that Javid and the inspector made “errors of law” by “misinterpreting” a policy protecting against harm to the landscape; “wrongly applying” the national planning policy framework; denying a fair hearing during the planning inquiry; and “using a wildly different test for assessing the impact on the quality of life of those living nearby”. The judges will hear arguments on behalf of both the communities secretary and Cuadrilla that the challenges should be dismissed. David Elvin QC, on behalf of Javid, said in written submissions that there was “no merit” in any of the arguments put forward by the appellants. A spokeswoman for the Preston New Road Action Group said: “We trust that the secretary of state’s decision to allow fracking at Preston New Road will be found unsound, and Lancashire county council’s original decision will be reinstated. “Even before any fracking has commenced, the local community has been subjected to disruption. They have suffered stress due to the process and, since work commenced on the site, their day-to-day lives have been disrupted by convoys of HGVs, a massive police presence and many road closures.” Gayzer Frackman, an environmental campaigner and appellant in the case, said in a statement before the hearing: “This legal challenge tests the government’s ‘drill first, ask questions later’ approach to fracking. “The government must be held to account for failing to protect UK citizens from the health impacts of fracking and the untold damage it will cause to our environment, our climate, and those living near the site in Lancashire.” Hundreds of anti-fracking activists have campaigned outside the 1.5-hectare (3.7-acre) plot at Preston New Road in the Fylde, Lancashire, for almost a year, with daily clashes erupting between activists and Cuadrilla’s private security contractors earlier this summer. Scuffles between protesters and security guards increased from the start of July as activists marked what they called a month of “rolling resistance”. Cuadrilla has condemned what it described as the “increased illegal and aggressive behaviour of activists”, who it claimed were mostly from outside the area. The firm said this week it remained “confident that the planning consent will not be overturned”. | ['environment/fracking', 'society/localgovernment', 'law/court-of-appeal', 'law/law', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/josh-halliday', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/fracking | ENERGY | 2017-08-30T13:55:15Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2018/mar/31/china-environment-census-reveals-50-rise-in-pollution-sources | China 'environment census' reveals 50% rise in pollution sources | China’s environment ministry has said the number of sources of pollution in the country has increased by more than half in less than a decade. Releasing preliminary results of an ongoing “environmental census”, China’s ministry of ecology and environment said the number of sources of pollution in the country stands at about 9m, compared to 5.9m in its first census, in 2010. “The objectives and scope of the second census is different from those of the first one,” said Hong Yaxiong, head of the pollution survey at the ministry, Thursday. “But overall, there are more pollution sources.” The census did not say whether pollution had increased but declines in airborne pollution in major cities have been recorded in other studies. Hong said factories flouting emissions standards were the main problem. The ministry found 7.4m sources of industrial pollution, compared to a million in rural areas and 500,000 in urban locations. Five years ago, China declared a “war against pollution.” Since then, new coal plants have been barred from opening and existing ones have been ordered to cut emissions. Major cities restrict the number of cars allowed on the roads. This past winter, residents in Beijing were left without heat after their coal boilers were removed. As part of the campaign, officials this month expanded the powers of the country’s 10-year-old ministry of environmental protection to include water management, emissions reductions, agricultural pollution, and other duties previously managed by half a dozen other ministries. As part of its new remit, the ministry is holding a second environmental census, to be completed in 2019. It will look into industrial parks, as well as municipal and rural sources of pollution. “We will look into all kinds of pollution sources,” Hong said. China has made some important gains. Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, analysed data from government air monitors collected between 2013 and 2017, and found that many of China’s densest cities have recorded major declines in air pollution. In Beijing, where several days of smog known as “the airpocalypse” of 2013 in part prompted China’s declaration of war, the concentration of fine particulates in the air fell 35%. “By winning this war, China is due to see dramatic improvements in the overall health of its people, including longer lifespans, if these improvements are sustained,” Greenstone said in a statement. | ['world/china', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lily-kuo', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-03-31T01:50:01Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/oct/06/previous-incident-may-have-led-orcas-to-target-boats-say-experts-spain-portugal | Previous incident may have led Orcas to target boats, say experts | Experts investigating a series of extraordinary encounters between orcas and yachts off the coasts of Spain and Portugal believe the animals responsible may have been triggered to target boat rudders by an earlier “aversive incident” involving some kind of vessel. Since 10 August, crews sailing off the Spanish region of Galicia have reported 22 interactions with orcas – also known as killer whales – a third of which have resulted in varying degrees of damage to their boats. In a handful of cases, boats have been left with damaged steering systems. After studying photos and video footage of the encounters, a working group of Spanish and Portuguese experts, including marine biologists and government officials, has identified three orcas present in 61% of the incidents. Underwater photographs of the three animals, nicknamed Black Gladis, White Gladis and Grey Gladis, reveal that two of them appear to have suffered wounds between June and August. Although some of the injuries would have been acquired as the orcas tried to snatch tuna off long fishing lines, others could have been from contact with boats. According to the investigators, killer whales tend to be curious about the sterns of boats because of their noise and movement. But they say the recent encounters are “unprecedented” because of the damage inflicted on the yachts. “The trigger for this strange and novel behaviour could have been an aversive incident that the orcas had with a boat, and in which the speed of the boat could have been a critical factor,” the working group said in a statement on Tuesday. “For the moment, we have no clear evidence of when it happened, nor can we say for sure what kind of boat may have been involved, nor whether the incident was accidental or deliberate.” As a result of the possible incident, said the researchers, the orcas may have felt compelled to act when they saw a sailboat in order to to slow it down by going after its rudder. But they acknowledge that yachts may also have been targeted because they are easier for the orcas to take on than larger craft. They added that the killer whales could simply be toying with sailboats “out of curiosity” now that they had discovered the ability to slow or stop a large moving object. Although some crews have been shaken by the encounters, the working group pointed out that no one had been injured. “Rough movements of the wheel and sharp movements have upset crews unfamiliar with orcas and their behaviour,” said the experts. “[But] in no instance has anyone been harmed by the direct activity of the orcas – although there has been some risk in some of the situations involving long-lasting or nocturnal activity.” Such incidents led Spanish maritime authorities to ban yachts of less than 15 metres in length from a stretch of water off Galicia for a week at the end of last month. Orcas are usually spotted off Galicia in September each year when they make their way up from the Gulf of Cádiz and follow tuna into the Bay of Biscay. The animals can weigh up to six tonnes and live for up to 80 years. | ['environment/marine-life', 'environment/dolphins', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/water-transport', 'world/spain', 'world/portugal', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/mammals', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samjones', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-10-06T11:53:12Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2022/mar/14/it-makes-sense-to-improve-flood-hit-mayors-fear-road-rebuild-wont-reduce-risk | Flooded NSW communities call on government to fund more resilient roads | Leaders in northern New South Wales are concerned they will not be able to “build back better” with flood relief money and will instead be forced to rebuild the same flood-prone roads and bridges, leaving communities at risk. While Transport for NSW works to restore the most critical of the hundreds of roads that have been damaged or swept away in the disaster, councils are also turning their thoughts to the future. Kyogle mayor Kylie Thomas wants to see a safer and more resilient area rebuilt on the other side of the floods, or she fears the same devastation will happen again next time. “My greatest concern is that we just get all this money to fix our roads – but just fix them, not build them better,” she said. “We really do need to start moving what bridges where we can, see what roads we can build back higher, wider, stronger – instead of just replacing same with [the] same.” Kyogle council is still assessing the damage across its patch, where at least 50 homes were gutted and the CBD was inundated, and Thomas predicted a large bill once every road and pothole has been looked at. She wants the state government to commit to longer-term funding for the rebuild so it is not rushed and construction contracts could be secured. “Give us the whole big picture and let us to have some space [so] that we’re not just going to be scrambling from one grant to the next,” she said. So far, about $1.5bn in support for flood-affected areas has been promised by the state and federal governments to aid in the recovery, including $285m for temporary housing. Byron mayor Michael Lyon agreed with Thomas, having raised the issue with NSW regional infrastructure minister Sam Farraway over the past two weeks. “If you’ve got something which you needed to improve anyway, and then it’s been washed away, it makes sense to improve it,” Lyon said. He hoped the government would make funds available to councils for improvements while they were rebuilding. “Even if there was some kind of loan mechanism to do that through the government, that would be something we would definitely take up,” he said. Ballina deputy mayor Eoin Johnston said councils would need more funding to raise critical roads in low-lying areas – but it would be tough to future-proof all areas. Johnston noted suggestions in the past to raise homes in Ballina, which was not possible for many. “The infrastructure is going to cost money for all the shires – it was already behind before these floods came,” he said. “[We need to] repair what is damaged. Elevate some roads. You can’t have these towns cut off like that. We need more money.” The opposition energy services spokesperson, Jihad Dib, said “skimping on costs” now would do future generations a disservice. “Rebuilding damaged infrastructure must take into account ways to mitigate the sort of damage and danger we have seen in these latest floods. “We have seen that current infrastructure is not fit for purpose and to rebuild in exactly the same way is shortsighted and not future-proofed. “We owe it to local communities to rebuild structures in a better way, like-for-like replacement will not necessarily be the best option in many cases.” Federal MP for Richmond, Justine Elliot, described the situation in the northern rivers as a “humanitarian crisis”, calling for more funding for councils in the recovery. “I’ve been strongly calling on the state and federal governments to deliver more funding for businesses, individuals and councils,” she said. When asked if the government would reconsider future developments in flood-prone areas, the premier, Dominic Perrottet, confirmed the issue was being looked at. Speaking from a recovery centre in South Windsor, he said there would always be risks to property and people in catastrophic events but it could not be business-as-usual from here on. “You can’t just keep doing the same thing the same old way ending up in the same situation and do nothing about it,” he said. “We need to have some fair-dinkum discussions and some work around how can we improve things going forward. “We’ve to do everything we can to prevent these events from being as catastrophic as they can be, and there is no better time to be having those discussions and looking at it than now.” A spokesperson for Transport for NSW said the first priority would be restoring the most critical of the hundreds of roads that were damaged, some of which were still unusable. “Assessments of what needs to be done in the long term will be carried out by specialists,” the spokesperson said. “The views of all stakeholders, including local councils, on what needs to be done will be taken into account.” | ['australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'environment/flooding', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tamsin-rose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-03-13T19:43:38Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
music/2009/jul/10/u2-world-tour-carbon-footprint | U2 criticised for world tour carbon footprint | U2's world tour might make an enormous impression with its giant claw, but the environmental impact is reportedly just as staggering. According to an environmental group, the band's 44 concert dates this year have the equivalent carbon footprint of a return flight to Mars. And U2 have the same number of shows planned for 2010. "Looking at the 44 concerts, U2 will create enough carbon to fly all 90,000 people attending one of their Wembley dates (in London) to Dublin," Helen Roberts, an environmental consultant for carbonfootprint.com, told the Belfast Telegraph. Put another way, U2's CO2 emissions are reportedly the equivalent to the average annual waste produced by 6,500 British people, or the same as leaving a lightbulb running for 159,000 years. Environmentalists' criticism of U2 comes within a year of Bono's "prayer" that "we become better in looking after our planet". The band could cut their emissions by almost 75% by using sea, not air, to ship their three 390-tonne stages to North America. Even then, their emissions would be three times higher than Madonna's 2006 world tour, according to the Belfast Telegraph. Though U2 may yet announce that they are paying to carbon offset their world tour – they would need to plant 20,118 trees a year, according to Roberts – at least one fan has argued that the environmental damage is worth the price. "The carbon footprint of this might be quite large, but the spiritual rewards to the audience of this are those that enhance a life," Mark Reed wrote in a review for the Final Word website. "If all life were bread and water, then there would be nothing to lift mankind above the amoeba." And amoebas can't listen to Where the Streets Have No Name. | ['music/u2', 'music/popandrock', 'music/music', 'culture/culture', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'tone/news', 'music/bono', 'type/article', 'profile/seanmichaels'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2009-07-10T08:59:14Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2019/aug/27/tell-us-how-you-have-been-affected-by-the-amazon-fires-brazil-bolivia-south-america | Tell us how you have been affected by the Amazon fires | Smoke from wildfires burning in the Amazon shrouded São Paulo in darkness earlier this month. The clouds covering the megacity, almost 2,000 miles from the fires, made it impossible for residents and the rest of the world to ignore the destruction taking place. As international leaders, environmental groups and activists condemn Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro for weakening rainforest protections, we want to hear from those who have witnessed and been directly affected by these fires – in the Amazon and across the region. Fires occur every year in the region. They’re mostly man-made and deliberate – farmers or ranchers clearing existing farmland, or illegal land-grabbers destroying trees. Official figures recorded 73,000 forest fires in Brazil, mostly in the Amazon, in the first eight months of 2019, the highest number since 2013. Last year there were almost 40,000 fires in the same period, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research. Tell us if you live or work in these areas across South America that have been impacted by forest fires. How have the fires affected communities and livelihoods? What is at stake for your local environment? How has Bolsonaro’s presidency changed the situation? What have you been doing to raise awareness of the issue? Tell us how you think the international community should respond. Share your experiences You can share your experiences in the form below. You can also share your stories, photos and videos with the Guardian via WhatsApp by adding the contact +44(0)7867825056. Only the Guardian will see your responses and we will include some of your responses in our ongoing coverage. If you’re having problems seeing the form, please click here. You can read terms of service here. | ['environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/forests', 'world/world', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/callout', 'profile/guardian-readers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-08-27T11:22:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2021/dec/14/bugs-across-globe-are-evolving-to-eat-plastic-study-finds | Bugs across globe are evolving to eat plastic, study finds | Microbes in oceans and soils across the globe are evolving to eat plastic, according to a study. The research scanned more than 200m genes found in DNA samples taken from the environment and found 30,000 different enzymes that could degrade 10 different types of plastic. The study is the first large-scale global assessment of the plastic-degrading potential of bacteria and found that one in four of the organisms analysed carried a suitable enzyme. The researchers found that the number and type of enzymes they discovered matched the amount and type of plastic pollution in different locations. The results “provide evidence of a measurable effect of plastic pollution on the global microbial ecology”, the scientists said. Millions of tonnes of plastic are dumped in the environment every year, and the pollution now pervades the planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. Reducing the amount of plastic used is vital, as is the proper collection and treatment of waste. But many plastics are currently hard to degrade and recycle. Using enzymes to rapidly break down plastics into their building blocks would enable new products to be made from old ones, cutting the need for virgin plastic production. The new research provides many new enzymes to be investigated and adapted for industrial use. “We found multiple lines of evidence supporting the fact that the global microbiome’s plastic-degrading potential correlates strongly with measurements of environmental plastic pollution – a significant demonstration of how the environment is responding to the pressures we are placing on it,” said Prof Aleksej Zelezniak, at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Jan Zrimec, also at Chalmers University, said: “We did not expect to find such a large number of enzymes across so many different microbes and environmental habitats. This is a surprising discovery that really illustrates the scale of the issue.” The explosion of plastic production in the past 70 years, from 2m tonnes to 380m tonnes a year, had given microbes time to evolve to deal with plastic, the researchers said. The study, published in the journal mBio, started by compiling a dataset of 95 microbial enzymes already known to degrade plastic, often found in bacteria in rubbish dumps and similar places rife with plastic. The team then looked for similar enzymes in environmental DNA samples taken by other researchers from 236 different locations around the world. Importantly, the researchers ruled out potential false positives by comparing the enzymes initially identified with enzymes from the human gut, which is not known to have any plastic-degrading enzymes. About 12,000 of the new enzymes were found in ocean samples, taken at 67 locations and at three different depths. The results showed consistently higher levels of degrading enzymes at deeper levels, matching the higher levels of plastic pollution known to exist at lower depths. The soil samples were taken from 169 locations in 38 countries and 11 different habitats and contained 18,000 plastic-degrading enzymes. Soils are known to contain more plastics with phthalate additives than the oceans and the researchers found more enzymes that attack these chemicals in the land samples. Nearly 60% of the new enzymes did not fit into any known enzyme classes, the scientists said, suggesting these molecules degrade plastics in ways that were previously unknown. “The next step would be to test the most promising enzyme candidates in the lab to closely investigate their properties and the rate of plastic degradation they can achieve,” said Zelezniak. “From there you could engineer microbial communities with targeted degrading functions for specific polymer types.” The first bug that eats plastic was discovered in a Japanese waste dump in 2016. Scientists then tweaked it in 2018 to try to learn more about how it evolved, but inadvertently created an enzyme that was even better at breaking down plastic bottles. Further tweaks in 2020 increased the speed of degradation sixfold. Another mutant enzyme was created in 2020 by the company Carbios that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours. German scientists have also discovered a bacterium that feeds on the toxic plastic polyurethane, which is usually dumped in landfills. Last week, scientists revealed that the levels of microplastics known to be eaten by people via their food caused damage to human cells in the laboratory. • This article was amended on 27 January 2022. The study in question was published by the journal mBio, not Microbial Ecology as an earlier version said. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-12-14T13:52:36Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
travel/2000/dec/11/netjetters2000sam.netjetters | Week 2: New York to Washington | I'm in Washington DC now. New York was amazing. In the last couple of days I've seen the sun set on Manhattan from a ferry in the harbour; I've been to the top of the Empire State building at night; ridden in yellow cabs; walked round Greenwich Village and shopped on 5th Avenue. What made it extra special was that it snowed on my last day. Walking round Central Park in the snow with the skyscrapers all around me was fantastic. I met up with some friends of a friend who live on the Upper East Side: Rachael, Stuart and their gorgeous baby Maisie. Considering they didn't know me from Adam they were really kind and showed me some of New York's nightlife (and let me stay in their apartment so I could escape the hostel and the champion snorer in the bunk next to mine!) But after a few days I was pretty exhausted. New York is loud and frantic and runs at full pace 24 hours a day. I've got to admit I'm quite glad to have moved on to somewhere a bit more laid back. I'll tell you a bit more about how I'm getting on in Washington later in the week, but now I've got a slight problem which I was hoping someone out there might be able to help me with. I'm keen to do some skiing, so in a few days I'm catching the train for a mammoth three-day journey up into the Rockies. I was booked into a hostel in Glenwood Springs, but I hear the ski area there is really small, and I'd be better off going to one of the bigger resorts in Colorado such as Breckonridge or Silverthorne. However, I'm having a bit of trouble deciding where to go, and even more trouble finding cheap accommodation. Anybody know the area or got any advice? | ['travel/netjetters2000sam', 'travel/netjetters', 'travel/travel', 'travel/netjettersblog', 'type/article'] | travel/netjetters2000sam | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2000-12-11T18:14:52Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2023/jul/18/owner-of-jaguar-land-rover-to-announce-somerset-battery-gigafactory | Jaguar Land Rover owner expected to announce Somerset battery gigafactory | The owner of carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is expected to announce that it will build an electric car battery gigafactory in the UK, backed with £500m in government funding, in what would be a major boost for the British car industry. Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which owns Jaguar Land Rover, has been locked in negotiations for months to secure state aid for the project, which would aim to produce 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) of batteries a year, enough to power hundreds of thousands of electric cars. An announcement on plans for a plant, which will be located in Somerset, is expected as soon as Wednesday, although some details of the agreement have yet to be finalised, said one person briefed on the plans. The failure of Britishvolt, a gigafactory startup which collapsed after securing pledges of £100m in government support, has cast a shadow over the future of carmaking in Britain. The Tata project is expected to create thousands of jobs, and would guarantee a second major battery factory for the UK. The only other plan for a plant at “gigafactory” scale is Envisionplant in Sunderland, which is owned by a Chinese corporation and supplies Nissan. Envision plans to expand its site to produce 38GWh. Tata had also considered a rival site in Spain for the plant, which would probably also supply separate brands, as well as JLR. The deal, if confirmed on Wednesday, would come a day before three parliamentary byelections, with the Conservative party braced for defeat in all three. One of the byelections is to be held in Somerset and Frome, a constituency near Tata’s proposed site. The prospect of two large gigafactories would help the UK attract investment and new jobs in other parts of the battery supply chain, replacing tens of thousands of posts likely to disappear as production of petrol and diesel vehicles is wound down before the ban on new fossil fuel cars in 2035. The Tata subsidy deal is expected to include direct grants to support the construction of the factory, as well as investments in the local infrastructure. The total support is expected to be as high as £500m, said a person involved in the lengthy negotiation process. Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s shadow business secretary, welcomed the deal, saying it “shows the strength of the UK automotive industry”, but said it had come “in spite of the government’s cack-handed approach to industry and our economy”. Darren Jones, the chair of parliament’s business and trade committee, said its MPs would examine the subsidies on offer to Tata. A Somerset location would ensure relatively good transport links to Jaguar Land Rover’s car factories, which are concentrated in the Midlands. Talks on a gigafactory had made progress in recent weeks, but there is still no agreement on parallel negotiations over Tata’s steel plant in Port Talbot, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. The steelworks require investments worth £2bn or more to upgrade to new technology capable of producing steel without carbon emissions. One source close to Tata said that Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata Group, had arrived in the UK. The leader of the conglomerate had been due to visit the country earlier in the summer in order to finalise the deal, but that was delayed. Tata had shown some signs that it was preparing for a gigafactory. Last week it published a job advertisement for a “cell developer” to work for its new battery division. A No 10 spokesperson said they were unable to comment on a commercially sensitive matter. Jaguar Land Rover declined to comment. | ['business/automotive-industry', 'environment/electric-cars', 'business/jaguar-land-rover', 'technology/motoring', 'technology/technology', 'environment/environment', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'type/article', 'profile/jasper-jolly', 'profile/peterwalker', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2023-07-18T18:12:30Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/georgemonbiot/2010/sep/21/climate-sceptics-evidence-gullible | Are the climate change deniers with no evidence just naturally gullible? | George Monbiot | I've often been struck by the way in which people who subscribe to one set of baseless beliefs are susceptible to others, in fields that are not obviously related. The internet is awash with sites that explain how the US government destroyed the twin towers – and how alien landings have been covered up by the authorities. Many of those who insist that Barack Obama is a Muslim also believe that sex education raises the incidence of unwanted pregnancies. A rich collection of unfounded beliefs is a common characteristic of those who deny – despite the overwhelming scientific evidence – that man-made global warming is taking place. I've listed a few examples before, but I'll jog your memories. Lord Monckton, whose lecture asserting that man-made climate change is nonsense has been watched by 4 million people, also maintains that he has invented a cure for Aids, multiple sclerosis, influenza and other incurable diseases. Nils-Axel Mörner, whose claims that sea levels are falling are widely cited in the Telegraph and elsewhere, also insists that he possesses paranormal abilities to find water and metal using a dowsing rod, and that he has discovered "the Hong Kong of the [ancient] Greeks" in Sweden. Peter Taylor, the Daily Express's favourite climate change denier, has claimed that a Masonic conspiracy has sent a "kook, a ninja freak, some throwback from past lives" to kill him, and insisted that plutonium may "possess healing powers, borne of Plutonic dimension, a preparation for rebirth, an awakener to higher consciousness". Now our old friend Christopher Booker reminds us of his membership of this select club, with a remarkable article for the Spectator: "I spent a fascinating few days in a villa opposite Cap Ferrat, taking part in a seminar with a dozen very bright scientists, some world authorities in their field. Although most had never met before, they had two things in common. Each had come to question one of the most universally accepted scientific orthodoxies of our age: the Darwinian belief that life on earth evolved simply through the changes brought about by an infinite series of minute variations. The other was that, on arriving at these conclusions, they had come up against a wall of hostility from the scientific establishment." He goes on to list the tiredest old creationist canards, each of which has been answered a thousand times by evolutionary biologists. How can distinct species exist if evolution proceeds by gradualism? Where are the intermediate forms? How could natural selection "account for all those complex organs, such as the eye, which require so many interdependent changes to take place simultaneously?" How could it account for changes across "an improbably short time, such as those needed to transform land mammals into whales in barely 2 million years?" DNA and cellular reproduction are "so organisationally complex" that "they could not conceivably have evolved just through minute, random variations". He appears to be unaware that these objections have been repeatedly debunked. He also appears to be unaware of any developments in the science of evolution since the Origin of Species was published. He maintains that these objections expose evolutionary scientists as "simply 'believers' taking a leap of faith", who treat any dissent as a "thought crime". He compares them to the Inquisition and to Trofim Lysenko: the Soviet agronomist whose hypotheses were imposed by Stalin as the official scientific orthodoxy. His view of evolutionary science, in other words, is in line with his view of climate science. Indeed, he makes the link explicit: "We have seen a remarkably similar response from the scientific establishment to anyone dissenting from that other dominating theory of our time, that rising CO2 levels caused by human activity are leading to runaway global warming." What he's saying is that it is no longer acceptable to tell people they are wrong. If you knock down the claims of people who can marshal no sound science to support them, you place yourself in the same category as the Inquisition or Stalin's thought police. Sadly he doesn't tell us who the "world authorities" who have destroyed the theory of natural selection are. In fact he cites no scientist, no paper, no publication of any kind, except Darwin and the Origin of Species. We must simply take his word for it that the entire canon of evolutionary biology, just like the entire canon of climate science, is not just wrong but a fiendish conspiracy against the public, that those who reject it are true scientific heroes, and those who defend it are witch-finders and despots. Needless to say, some of Booker's fans have swallowed all this and reproduced his article on their own sites. Piers Corbyn, also a well-known man-made climate change sceptic, added this comment to the Spectator thread: "Superb stuff Christopher. We seem to be having to fight attempts to impose a new age of religiosity where belief in the 'Official' view reigns supreme." So here's a poser. Are people who entertain a range of strong beliefs for which there is no evidence naturally gullible? Or does the rejection of one scientific discipline make you more inclined to reject others? To dismiss an entire canon of science on the basis of either no evidence or evidence that has already been debunked is to evince an astonishing level of self-belief. It suggests that, by instinct or by birth, you know more about this subject (even if you show no sign of ever having studied it) than the thousands of intelligent people who have spent their lives working on it. Once you have taken that leap of self-belief, once you have arrogated to yourself the authority otherwise vested in science, any faith is then possible. Your own views (and those of the small coterie who share them) become your sole reference points, and are therefore unchallengeable and immutable. You must believe yourself capable of anything. And, in a sense, you probably are. Monbiot.com | ['environment/georgemonbiot', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/georgemonbiot'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2010-09-21T16:48:42Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
commentisfree/2011/mar/16/japan-tsunami-whales-nuclear | On Japan, whales and the nuclear age | Philip Hoare | Within hours of the Japanese tsunami, as we watched ships stranded in streets like beached whales, outrageous posts were appearing on the internet suggesting that the tragedy was a revenge for that nation's continuing whale hunt. Some even fantasised that the terrible wave had been caused by the whales themselves. A persistent web hoax proposed that the tsunami had launched a whale into a building. Modern myths are made of such sensational stuff; taste and decency are not the prevailing factors. What happened last Friday, deep beneath the surface of the Pacific, was invisible to us; as invisible as the radiation that is now drifting southwards from Fukushima reactors. But others conclude, as they did in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, that whales and dolphins – cetaceans – acted as advance warnings of what was to come. Forty-eight hours before the Christchurch earthquake, for instance, more than 100 pilot whales were stranded on New Zealand's South Island. Then on 4 March, 50 melon-headed whales washed up on the eastern Kashima shore of Japan. There is no scientific basis for such theories – although whales, like birds, probably do use the Earth's electromagnetic field for navigation, and such abrupt alterations in it may well cause them to strand. (Indeed, the Maori who first colonised New Zealand probably followed migrating whales there from Polynesia, who themselves were following electromagnetic lines). And now, the insidious evil of contamination, in an island nation on which its manmade version was first visited. The Pacific has ever been the nuclear arena – one metaphorically haunted by the hunted whales – and artists and writers have long seen the whale, whether real or allegorical, as an augury of disaster. In the late 1940s and early 50s, the American artist Gilbert Wilson became obsessed with Herman Melville's novel, Moby-Dick. In 1952, Wilson wrote in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that the "White Whale" had become – a century after Moby-Dick's publication – an augury of atomic conflict, and Captain Ahab's "insane pursuit of Moby-Dick into the Sea of Japan" analogous to America's "atrocious nuclear experiments and explosions in the same area". Similarly, in his critical work, The Trying-Out of Moby-Dick, published in 1949, the literary critic Howard P Vincent considered that Moby-Dick, the mythical animal, was "ubiquitous in time and place. Yesterday he sank the Pequod; within the past two years he has breached five times; from a New Mexico desert, over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and most recently, at Bikini atoll." Meanwhile, nuclear submarines – lubricated with sperm whale oil (since it does not freeze in extreme temperatures) – were moving in those same Pacific depths, their very shapes designed to replicate those of hydrodynamic whales. The Pacific, which covers one third of the Earth, is the great unknown; even now, the last ocean to be explored. Yet it is the backyard of the world's most developed (Japan, the US) and developing (China) nation states. In his book Atlantic, Simon Winchester points out that the modern world began around the Mediterranean, which ceded the locus of power to the Atlantic with America's uprise. Now its future lies in the Pacific, an arena "discovered" by James Cook's voyages of the late 18th century and barely 200 years old in western history. That yawning, freighted space between Japan and America seems so blank and so full of potential at the same time. From the bland two dimensions of the atlas, this expanse of blue appears entirely empty. Yet it is filled with life: with 25,000 islands, and "ultra-societies" of vast pods of sperm whales that associate in "nations" of their own, communicating in discreet dialects of clicks, uninterpreted by humans. What kind of disasters did they suffer during that terrible seismic shift last Friday? Like the thousands of animals that died in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, their fate is unknown to us, as we understandably focus on the human suffering in Japan. But I would contend that all these things do have a deeper connection, for all of those tasteless internet claims. As Nietzsche wrote in Beyond Good and Evil: "He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee." | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'environment/whales', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'profile/philip-hoare'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2011-03-16T13:34:57Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2021/aug/12/dixie-fire-california-richard-spring-montana | Thunderstorms could worsen California’s giant Dixie fire, officials warn | Northern California’s raging Dixie fire, the largest wildfire burning in the US, could be spread further and faster by potential thunderstorms, officials warned on Thursday. The possibility of strong winds of up to 40mph and the chance of lightning threatened to swell the huge blaze and potentially spark new fires. The Dixie fire, which has become one of the most destructive in California history, has all but leveled the town of Greenville and is still threatening a dozen small towns in the Sierra Nevada, even though its southern end was mostly corralled by fire lines. It has burned more than 790 sq miles (2,046 sq km) and has destroyed more than 1,000 structures since erupting in mid-July. It is 30% contained. Meteorologist Joe Goudsward said on Thursday morning: “Today we are looking at a change in the pattern. The high pressure is still going to be over us, but we’ve gotten mid-level moisture that we have gone in and put in some thunderstorms into the forecast. We’re warm, we’re dry, we’re unstable. It could be an active afternoon.” The fire is one of 11 burning across California. Its cause remains under investigation. The utility Pacific Gas & Electric has said the blaze may have been sparked when a tree fell on one of its power lines. A red flag warning, Cal Fire’s highest alert, was in effect for northern California between Friday afternoon and late Friday evening, because of potential dry lightning. Cal Fire said: “During these times extreme caution is urged by all residents, because a simple spark can cause a major wildfire.” Meanwhile, a judge on Wednesday denied bail to a former professor from California who authorities accuse of starting the smaller Ranch fire in Lassen county. The man denies setting the fire, according to court documents. Hot, dry weather throughout the US west is driving flames through more than a dozen states. A wildfire bearing down on rural south-eastern Montana towns on Thursday forced the evacuation of thousands of people. The Richard Spring fire advanced across Montana’s sparsely populated Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, and displayed extreme behavior, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The blaze, which began on Sunday, spread across 260 sq miles (673 sq km). By nightfall, the fire had crept within about 2 miles (3.2 km) of the evacuated town of Lame Deer, leaping over a highway where officials had hoped to stop it. Rancher Jimmy Peppers sat on his horse east of town, watching an orange glow grow near the site of his house. “I didn’t think it would cross the highway so I didn’t even move my farm equipment,” said Peppers, who spent the afternoon herding his cattle on to a neighbor’s pasture closer to town. “I don’t know if I’ll have a house in the morning.” By late Wednesday a second fire was closing in on Lame Deer from the west, while the Richard Spring fire raged to the east. Drought conditions have left trees, grass and brush bone-dry throughout many western states, leaving them ripe for ignition. At the same time, California and some other states were facing flows of monsoonal moisture that were too high to bring rain but could create thunderstorms, bringing new fire risks from dry lightning and erratic winds. The conditions prompted three national forests to close the Trinity Alps wilderness area, a half-million-acre expanse of granite peaks, lakes and trails, into November. Scientists have said climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. California’s five largest wildfires in history have all occurred in the last three years, burning more than 2.5m acres and destroying 3,700 structures. The Dixie fire is second in size to last year’s August Complex fire, in which several smaller fires merged to make one massive conflagration. • This article was amended on 13 August 2021 to clarify the number and type of structures that had been destroyed. | ['world/wildfires', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/california', 'us-news/california-drought', 'us-news/montana', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-08-13T01:25:36Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2016/apr/17/innovators-turn-waste-food-tasty-snack-snact-fruit-veg | The innovators: fruitful idea turns waste food into a tasty snack | With forklift trucks carrying pallets of fruit and vegetables between sellers, and voices from all corners of the world shouting at each other, New Covent Garden market can be an intimidating place in the early hours of the morning. But this is where environmental enthusiasts Ilana Taub and Michael Minch-Dixon found inspiration for an idea to use goods that would otherwise be thrown out to make a snack consisting of apples, bananas, mangoes and other produce. The pair are using fruit deemed unsuitable for supermarkets or which is overproduced to make three different flavours in their Snact range, intended as both a healthy alternative to chocolate bars and as part-solution to the millions of tonnes of fruit and vegetables wasted each year. “If [the market traders] were about to get a new consignment of produce coming in then they will often discard the produce that they have. Or if there is a couple of mouldy raspberries in a punnet, they will throw away the whole tray, so we would go and sort out the produce,” says Minch-Dixon. The two friends met at school in Brussels, where their families were based, and both afterwards embarked on separate careers in sustainability. They came together in 2012 to try to find an idea for a food business that would tackle some of the mountain of goods wasted every day. The UN estimates that each year 1.3bn tonnes of food, about a third of the total produced, is wasted, including about 45% of all fruit and vegetables. In the food markets they found fruit they could use as it could not be sold because of seemingly minor problems, such as ageing in bananas. Taub then came across the idea for “fruit leather” after finding a reference from the historian Dorothy Hartley to a recipe dating from 1700 for quince comfits – the equivalent of fruit pastilles – which require a mixture as “stiff as candied fruit leather”. The outcome is a pliable and chewy fruit snack sold in 20g bags of three flavours: apple and raspberry; apple and mango; and apple, blueberry and banana, with all the ingredients sourced from fruit that would otherwise have been discarded. The fruit is blended, spread out and dried in a dehydrator for eight hours before being cut into small pieces. “We take whole fresh apples and we blend them up and put them through a sieve so the stalks and seeds are taken out but everything else is there. We add in the purees of the different fruits or the whole bananas get chucked in as well. We try and use as much of the fruit as possible both so that we reduce waste but also apple skins are healthy and they have nutrients in them,” says Minch-Dixon. Preserving the shelf life of food is not new. But, adds Minch-Dixon: “The innovative idea is the relationship that we have with farmers and trying to think how can we revalue the fruit. Where people see something which does not have enough value to use or harvest, we think that if we turn it into something healthy and delicious, we can add more value to it. So we can buy more produce from the farmers or we can incentivise the pack houses to change their sorting process so that they send stuff to us.” The fruit is sourced from farmers in Kent and includes apples which may have been harvested but do not have a buyer due to oversupply. One batch of organic apples, for instance, could not be sold conventionally because they were slightly too small for the supermarket buyer. Other apples may be left on trees as there is no demand, so Snact pays for the labour to harvest them, spending slightly more to give the farmer a financial incentive. The fruits used are not spoiled, but instead come from a window of production where they cannot be sold. “In no way are we trying to use the rotten piles of fruit, and there is so much good produce to be used that you don’t have to go to that side,” says Minch-Dixon. Retailing at £1 a bag, Snact is a similar price to other goods of its kindeven though the fruit costs between 20% and 40% of the usual price. This, says Minch-Dixon, is because the food component cost of these products accounts for a small proportion of the overall price. “People often ask us, ‘Why isn’t your product cheaper than your competitors if you are getting the fruit cheaper’, and the major thing is that we produce in the UK whereas most of our competitors produce in low labour cost countries. [As] the largest price component of our product is manufacturing then our product is costing us more to make than others and so it is important that we sell the added value piece [that] we are made in the UK and we are doing something that is environmentally responsible,” he says. Finding a use for surplus and imperfect produce has been championed by celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. In February, Asda started selling a wonky veg box for produce which is misshapen, has growth cracks or is smaller or larger than usually required. “Should it ever get to the point where there is no food waste for us to access – hooray, we have succeeded and then we will move on to the next environmental challenge,” says Minch-Dixon. •You can read our archive of Innovators columns on the Big Innovation Centre website, where you will find more information on how the centre supports innovative enterprise in Britain and elsewhere. | ['business/entrepreneurs', 'environment/food', 'business/fooddrinks', 'environment/waste', 'business/business', 'business/small-business', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/news', 'profile/shane-hickey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-04-17T12:34:52Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
food/2022/jan/24/uk-could-grow-up-fruit-and-vegetables-urban-green-spaces | UK could grow up to 40% of its own fruit and vegetables by using urban green spaces | Britain could grow up to eight times its current production of fruit and vegetables if all available urban and under-used green space were turned to cultivation, new research has shown. Only about 1% of urban green space is made up of allotments, but if gardens were used, along with parks, playing fields, watersides and other overlooked open spaces, the area would add up to enough to grow nearly 40% of the UK’s fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, most of which comes from overseas, according to the study. While researchers were not seriously suggesting ploughing up parks and recreation areas, the first nationwide study of urban growing potential, by Lancaster University, demonstrated how much potential lies in areas that are often undervalued and overlooked. Using just a fraction of the nation’s scraps of urban green land for communal growing could provide a useful amount of fresh fruit and vegetables that would improve people’s diets, help vulnerable people and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Jess Davies, a professor of sustainability at Lancaster University and principal investigator of the study, said the UK had the potential for an urban agricultural revolution, by looking at ways to bring even a small amount of the available land into food production. “The UK is really bad for not eating enough fresh fruit and vegetables, and this could make a real difference,” she said. “Even if you just put a small amount of it to use, you can boost fresh fruit and vegetable availability by a meaningful amount.” This could have numerous benefits for people’s physical and mental health, from better nutrition but also from the exercise and time spent outdoors, and the satisfaction of producing healthy things to eat. Davies foresees other benefits, too, from giving people on low incomes access to cheap fresh food to learning new skills, and providing improved habitat for wildlife and pollinators. At a time when allotment waiting lists around the country are vastly oversubscribed, looking afresh at neglected sites could bring new possibilities, according to Davies. “This could be about communal activity – growing clubs, local societies, communal plots,” said Davies. “People engaged in growing have better diets, and healthier behaviours. Food growing is recreational, it counters loneliness and creates social cohesion.” More than a third of the UK’s food in total, and much more in the case of fresh fruit and vegetables, comes from overseas, and as the pandemic and Brexit have shown, the import of food can be vulnerable to shocks. But British farmland is already under pressure, from intensive agriculture, urbanisation and the need for new homes, and biodiversity on farmland has fallen sharply, prompting calls for rewilding and less intensive farming practices. “You don’t want to convert more land to agriculture, as that drives biodiversity loss and climate change,” said Davies. “But we have shown that you don’t need to: there is a lot of urban resource out there that is overlooked. We hope this research will spark conversations about the potential.” Other studies have shown the potential for urban food production at a local level: a recent two-year pilot in Brighton, for instance, showed that urban plots can be as productive as conventional farms. The new study from Lancaster – which looked specifically at England, Scotland and Wales – is the first to take a nationwide view and establish the upper limit for how much urban green space in the UK could theoretically produce if turned to fruit and vegetable cultivation. Davies said problems on some brownfield sites, of soil contamination or pollution, could be overcome by using raised beds and growing screens of trees or hedges to trap airborne pollution. The researchers used Ordnance Survey master maps to identify urban green spaces, and estimated how much food they could produce using comparisons with UK agriculture. The paper, co-authored by scientists from Teagasc Ashtown Food Research Centre in Ireland, the University of Liverpool and Cranfield University, is published in the peer-review journal Environmental Research Letters. | ['food/vegetables', 'food/fruit', 'lifeandstyle/allotments', 'environment/farming', 'food/food', 'environment/food', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-01-24T10:52:02Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2020/may/01/trump-meat-processing-executive-order-workers | Why is Trump insisting that meat-packing plants stay open despite risks? | Art Cullen | Thousands of workers stream in single file, at dawn and mid-afternoon, to suit up in masks and chain gloves and put their lives on the line so you can put cheap sausage on your biscuit. They are accustomed to living in fear – of starvation from drought in Guatemala, or death squads in El Salvador or drug cartels in Mexico. Of being hunted and caged, whether documented or not. And now, of meeting their fate over a pork chop. “It’s genocide against the working class. It’s hard to visualize it and articulate it for what it is,” Jesse Case, the leader of Teamsters Local 238, the largest private-sector union in Iowa, told me. Donald Trump, invoking the Defense Production Act, has ordered meatpacking plants to stay open no matter the cost. Plants won’t even close for a deep cleaning when a deadly pathogen is found. The president said he is protecting companies from liability – you know, in case somebody keels over because of someone else’s negligence. Across America, packing plants for beef, pork, chicken and turkey have been closing as workers fall ill with Covid-19 or die. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) has said that at least 72 of its members have died from coronavirus, and thousands more may be infected; because of the lack of tests, no one knows the true number. Despite repeated warnings in the presidential briefing books months ago, nobody instructed industry to gear up or how. In Storm Lake, Iowa, center of the densest livestock-producing region in America, none of the roughly 2,500 pork and turkey processing workers at Tyson Foods plants have been tested for the coronavirus. Hence, Buena Vista county reports only four cases so far, while nearby red meat hub Sioux City is the hottest spot in the USA. Workers’ temperatures are checked. If they feel sick they are advised to stay home. They are told to space out and not crowd into the locker rooms. Plastic hangs between workers on the line. Tyson says it is doing all it can by staggering breaks and spacing workers. Iowa’s governor, Kim Reynolds, a Republican, directed testing resources to Tyson’s Waterloo plant. There, workers are represented by the UFCW. The local sheriff said he wanted a boot slammed down on the slaughterhouse. But in Storm Lake, testing is limited to healthcare and nursing home workers and patients. None for the packinghouse crowd, who are overwhelmingly Latino and non-union. Before the order they did their duty and clocked in. Nobody had to threaten them. They need the check. If you report sick with the virus, you might imagine finding yourself on the next bus to Juárez whether you have papers or not. They want to work – safely. Tyson says that its workers are documented. But Trump and the likes of the Iowa congressman Steve King, the race-baiting Republican, have Latino workers shaking in their boots. The governor warns that if a plant reopens and you don’t show up, unemployment benefits cease. And then the president orders that the plants shall reopen come hell or a virus. The leaders of the big meatpackers are warning of spot meat shortages – plant capacity has dropped 40% in recent weeks from worker shortages. You just can’t let this Storm Lake plant shut down. But what happens if it explodes? The anxiety cuts to our quick. Remember, too, that Smithfield Foods is owned by a Chinese conglomerate. Prestage Farms, in Eagle Grove, Iowa, has taken to sending whole hog carcasses to China for lack of further processing help amid our cornfields. This is not really an American food shortage. The supply chain is so tight that when two plants go down – Smithfield in Sioux Falls and Tyson in Waterloo – fully 10% of national pork production is knocked out. Everyone has to eat, and they have not yet developed a taste for algae or even tofu. The world eats meat. Shoppers can clear out a grocery display in minutes, and a meat supply in a week. Somebody has to process the hogs and birds that keep coming no matter a virus. Mike Pence called our neighbors heroes. The secretary of agriculture, Sonny Perdue, called them patriots. Trump stopped legal residency permitting for immigrants. Nobody is talking about amnesty or even hearing the refugees. In fact, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa told Bloomberg Law nobody is talking about providing undocumented workers healthcare. The state and federal governments did not order slower line speeds or provide protective gear for the packinghouse. Tyson asked for imposed guidance and resources, and got a promise of liability protection from worker claims. But there is this sticky thing called the 10th amendment that does not allow the president to waive corporate liabilities in state courts or workers’ compensation processes, says Storm Lake attorney Willis Hamilton, who has been advocating for food processing employees for nearly 50 years. The order was about instilling fear, Hamilton said. He says his clients are afraid of sick leave and afraid of filing for workers’ comp or unemployment. “They have to threaten people. These ‘don’t even think about it’ orders fit into a system that marches workers to their deaths,” Case said. “Fear is turning to anger, and that’s when people organize.” Or just pray. Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times in north-west Iowa, where he won the Pulitzer prize for editorial writing. He is a Guardian US columnist and author of the book Storm Lake: Change, Resilience, and Hope in America’s Heartland (Penguin) | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/farming', 'science/agriculture', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'us-news/iowa', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/art-cullen', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-opinion'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-05-01T11:31:42Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2011/mar/23/french-firms-nuclear-leadership | France keeps faith with nuclear in face of global doubts | No country outside of Japan has been watching the crisis unfold around the Fukushima nuclear plant more closely than France. Atomic stations provide more than three-quarters of French electricity and the government is keen to champion the 85% state-owned power provider, Électricité de France (EDF), and nuclear plant builder, Areva, as they try to build their businesses around the world. EDF is at the centre of plans to build new reactors in Britain after beefing up its corporate presence in the atomic sector through the takeover of the UK's largest nuclear plant operator, British Energy. Areva, meanwhile, has submitted its European pressurised reactor (EPR) design for safety approval in Britain and has recently signed up its own supply arrangements with UK turbine maker, Rolls Royce. While the explosions and radiation releases in Japan triggered promises to review nuclear in Germany, Austria and elsewhere, the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, was quick to restate his confidence. "France has made the choice of nuclear energy, which is the key to its energy independence and in the fight against greenhouse gases ... I remain convinced of the pertinence of this choice," he said. And the EDF chairman and chief executive Henri Proglio said his company was in close contact with Fukushima operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, promising help with staff and equipment. He dismissed the decision by Angela Merkel to close seven of Germany's oldest reactors as "political." EDF, which provides gas and electricity supply in Britain as well as dominating its local market, already operates 58 reactors in France. The world's second largest power utility behind E.ON of Germany with operating revenues of €65bn, it has a new EPR plant being constructed at Flamanville on the north coast with a second planned for Penly farther west. EDF could become even bigger with widespread speculation that the Paris government might force it into some kind of financial tie-up with Areva. Areva has managed to sell its designs to Finland and China while developing a new 1,100MW Atmea plant in cooperation with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. The French embarassingly missed out on an expected contract to build new reactors in Abu Dhabi but already exports electric power to Britain via a link under the English Channel as well as overland to Italy, the Netherlands and Germany. But delays and cost overruns with the EPR newbuilding programmes at Flamanville and Olkiluoto in Finland have spread a pall over both companies. As analysts at HSBC wrote in a recent research note: "We are highly concerned about the ongoing problems of the EPR nuclear reactor, which carries much of EDF's hopes for retaining nuclear leadership." | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'world/france', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'world/series/new-europe', 'world/series/new-europe-france', 'business/edf', 'business/business', 'business/energy-industry', 'tone/analysis', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-03-23T12:09:55Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2023/jul/17/olive-oil-industry-in-crisis-europe-heatwave-threatens-another-harvest-spain-prices | Olive oil industry in crisis as Europe’s heatwave threatens another harvest | The olive oil industry is “in crisis”, and the heatwave in southern Europe is threatening to inflict the second bad harvest in a row and gaps on shelves this autumn. After a spring heatwave affected flowering in Spain, which produces about half of the global olive crop, the harvest was forecast to be only 28% up on last year, which was the worst in almost a decade. The International Olive Oil Council predicted that the country would produce 850,000 tonnes, compared with 1.3m tonnes in a typical year and just 660,000 last year. That forecast was issued before the current period of high temperatures. The industry fears that production could end up being even worse as a second heatwave in a week brings temperatures of up to 43C this week to some southern parts of Spain, prompting trees to drop unripe fruits in order to preserve moisture. “In Spain we already know it is going to be another bad year, but no one has got to grips with the what’s currently happening. The record temperatures are not going to help the situation,” said Walter Zanre, the chief executive of the UK arm of Filippo Berio, the world’s largest olive oil producer. “I can’t share how much anxiety this is causing us. Last year, Spain came into crop with a bit of carry-over [from the year before], which negated the shortfall somewhat. This year the barrels are dry. Even if Spain produces the predicted 850,000 tonnes, the price situation is worse.” Zanre said that the probable shortages meant prices were likely to rise further amid similarly poor harvests in Italy and Portugal. Wholesale prices have doubled since the beginning of 2022. In the UK, the retail price of olive oil was up 47% year on year to an average £6.16 for 500ml in May, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. Given that the autumn harvest is unlikely to produce new oil until November and that last year’s supplies are expected to run out by September, at present rates of consumption, it is possible that supermarkets could see shortages in the autumn. Tomato producers in Italy are also concerned about the impact of the heatwave, after flooding wiped out more than 15% of the crop planted this year. If the extreme temperatures in the country last longer than a few days, they could damage the remaining crops, which are almost ready for harvest. Diego Pariotti, the commercial director for exports at Conserve Italia, which produces the Cirio brand of tinned tomatoes and passata, said the group was estimating that production would be down by just 10%, with this year’s second harvest in August more likely to be affected by this week’s heatwave. But Pariotti added that the almost ripe fruits waiting to be picked in the coming weeks could also be at risk of damage if Italy’s heatwave, in which temperatures have exceeded 40C, continued for more than a few days. “Mature fruit can be burned,” he said. “There’s a worry for sure.” British shoppers are already reining in their spending on olive oil in reaction to the soaring prices and consumption is down by a fifth in the UK, according to analysts at Kantar, but that reduction is unlikely to be enough to offset future shortages. It is understood that some bottlers for supermarkets’ own-label olive oil have already pointed to force majeure clauses in their contracts to allow them to reduce delivery quantities or raise prices. As the costs of energy, labour and packaging cause the cost of producing bottled oil to rise at a pace that cannot be matched on supermarket shelves, Zanre said small producers were likely to go out of business. “We are looking at a very difficult situation over the next few months. It is not too extreme to say that olive oil is an industry in crisis. Although the prices are very high, nobody is getting rich,” he said. Fears for the future have grown as the climate crisis worsens. Filippo Berio has widened the areas it sources olives from, turning to countries such as Turkey and even Chile in order to supplement supplies from traditional growing regions such as Italy, Greece and Spain. | ['business/fooddrinks', 'world/extreme-weather', 'world/spain', 'world/italy', 'environment/farming', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/europe-news', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sarahbutler', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-07-17T18:10:55Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
politics/2011/jul/28/loosening-green-belt-rules | Letters: Loosening green belt rules | The National Trust is incorrect to claim that the government is weakening its commitment to protect our natural environment (Planning rules bonfire sparks green belt alert, 27 June). Preserving the character of our country's landscape and checking the unrestricted sprawl of built-up areas are key priorities within our new national planning policy framework. This new document safeguards valued national protection such as green belt, areas of outstanding natural beauty and sites of special scientific interest, as well as ensuring measures which protect wildlife, biodiversity and cultural heritage, and which tackle light pollution. It also proposes a new designation to protect local green spaces in need of special protection. Far from having the potential to cause environmental degradation, the framework will protect the countryside from encroachment and prohibit development that is clearly in conflict with its powerful environmental safeguards. Condensing Labour's confusing and contradictory array of planning guidance is part of a series of broader reforms to promote sustainable development and protect the environment. Planning has become the preserve of lawyers, town hall officials and pressure groups; this government is determined to have a system that truly represents and serves the interests of local communities. Bob Neill MP Minister for planning • A favourite trick of crafty speculator developers is to apply for planning permission during the summer holidays or over Christmas, when people's attention is elsewhere. Eric Pickles, secretary of state for the environment, is playing the same underhand game with his new white paper on planning regulation. The thrust of this new policy, slipped out while parliament is on holiday, is to loosen planning rules so that, unless an area is designated a national park or area of outstanding natural beauty, there will be no defence against any developer who wants to develop anything anywhere. Britain has a good reputation for protecting precious countryside and the ancient built environment. Thanks to reasonably strict planning rules we have, since the second world war, been able to protect our heritage against the worst excesses of urban sprawl and sporadic development in the countryside. Not any more. The government, under pressure from big business, wants developers to rule unchecked. Local authorities and communities will be powerless to prevent large-scale development on greenfield sites. If you object to this white paper, write to Eric Pickles and your MP. Tony Foster Tywardreath, Cornwall • While correctly concerned about the proposed new planning laws, you record "a decent ambition to involve the people affected by planning decisions in the process of making them" (Editorial, 28 July). But how far will the people affected actually have a say in determining those laws and the resultant processes? The great bulk of those involved in the consultations, apart from developers, will be national organisations with the resources to become deeply involved. Concerned local residents, alone or in neighbourhood organisations, will struggle with the effort and time required, not to mention the laborious printing of consultation documents available only online and rarely in local libraries. Bernard Wainewright Hatch End, Middlesex • Peter Hetherington (Society, 27 July) bemoans the government's decision to scrap planning rules to convert commercial properties to residential ones. In Britain the price of residential property has risen substantially more than commercial. Scrapping rules might be a comparatively cheap way of getting more homes. He further criticises the decision to let councils accept payments from developers as this would allow "planning permission to be bought or sold". Really? Is this any different from what we saw under Labour, where construction of a new supermarket required X number of affordable homes? How costly was this process of negotiation to companies and councils, in time and money? The new system arguably simplifies this and gives councils discretion on what areas they feel need money spent on rather than having it dictated by central government. Paul Negrotti Greenford, Middlesex | ['politics/planning', 'politics/politics', 'environment/green-politics', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'society/housing', 'society/communities', 'society/society', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-07-28T20:00:05Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/blog/2015/may/05/inspirational-climate-researchers-feared-dead-on-arctic-expedition | Inspirational climate researchers feared dead on Arctic expedition | When you were a little kid and you imagined what a polar explorer might look like, it was probably men like Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo that you pictured; one short and stocky, with bright eyes and plenty of swagger; the other tall and slender with a boyish face. You probably imagined men who were always smiling and full of energy, men who somehow seemed a little more alive than the rest of us. What you probably didn’t imagine is that the very sense of adventure that fills men like Marc and Philip with life can also, sometimes, be what takes life away from them. Nine years ago exactly I was in a tent on the Arctic ice sheet: one of six students taking part in the Ben and Jerry’s/WWF Climate Change College. The college involved several months of training in climate science and campaign strategies, followed by two weeks in Greenland to observe the effects of climate change first hand. It was a project that was only made possible because of the hard work of many people. Two of those people were Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo. When news came through last week that Marc and Philip were missing in the Arctic, presumed drowned during an expedition to collect data on the state of the ice, their former students started reaching out to each other. We have spent the last few days exchanging messages of grief and shock. Marc was an experienced Polar explorer, with an unwavering commitment to tackling climate change. His expertise was in gathering ice and snow samples that could be used to validate existing data, such as that gathered by ESA’s CryoSat. Philip was Marc’s wingman. He was only 21 when we first met him and had already completed three Polar expeditions. He had a love of wildlife and had volunteered extensively for WWF in his teens. It is hard to think of two more inspiring role models for us as young activists. Every day in Greenland there was work to be done. Marc was testing new pieces of tech equipment, and spent much of his time in the communications tent surrounded by satellite phones and computers. Philip joined us outside, digging and drilling into the ice to take samples for analysis. So it was in the evenings – sitting in the communal tent and sharing stories - that we really got to know them. Marc and Philip talked about the relationship you need to work together under tough conditions; the absolute trust you must have in each other. But they also talked about why they did it; why, even without the personal satisfaction that came from pushing themselves, they felt it was their responsibility to take part in the fight against climate change. Those evenings were a lot of fun. The two men epitomised the philosophy of working hard first and playing hard after. Philip liked to drink hot chocolate, with a good glug of whisky in it. Marc preferred red wine, which in Greenland usually had large chunks of ice floating in it. He often talked with immense pride about his daughter, back home in the Netherlands. As the sun dipped low in the sky, he would step out of the tent to smoke a cigar. He would stretch an arm out and gesture at the vast expanse of ice, glowing in the soft light. “Look at this,” he would say. “Does it get any better that this?” I cannot believe that they are gone. Like everyone who met Marc and Philip there are parts of them that will stay with me forever. I will remember their great big belly laughs, which came easily and often. I will remember their kindness and their enthusiasm. I will remember their framing of climate change as a justice issue. More than anything I will remember and do my very best to honour their commitment to the idea of collective action – their belief that we each have to strive for our best without ever forgetting that our personal efforts are only one small part of a large and powerful movement. The personal efforts of explorers like Marc and Philip were more than most of us can achieve. But they give us something to aspire to. The lives and work of these two men may have stopped, but the movement will go on. | ['environment/blog', 'environment/series/keep-it-in-the-ground', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/arctic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/poles', 'environment/sea-ice', 'type/article', 'tone/blog'] | environment/sea-ice | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-05-05T10:23:04Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
technology/2016/jan/05/bb-8-gesture-control-force-awakens-ces | Use the force: now you can control BB-8 like a Jedi | Forget CES’s internet fridges, self-driving cars and smart bras, the coolest thing this year has to be the Force Band, which allows you to pretend you’re a Jedi and control a mini version of BB-8 using nothing but your wrist ... and a cheap-looking plastic band. If having your own BB-8 replica to smash into walls, send flying down stairs, beeping and booping merrily on his way wasn’t cool enough, now you can do it without having to hold a phone or shout stupid things into it. Sphero, the robotics company behind the BB-8 replica as well as Ollie and the eponymous Sphero, have unveiled the Force Band. It looks like a children’s pretend watch – a cross between a communicator and a Resistance geek’s badge of honour – but adds gesture controls to the mini rolling robot. BB-8 will follow the motion of the band around your room. Steer it, send it rolling or command it to a halt as if you’d used the force itself (and you have an active imagination). It’s currently being shown off in prototype form at CES in Las Vegas and will be available as a no-doubt pricey accessory in the autumn, ready for when Star Wars fever has worn off a bit and BB-8 will spend most of its time in a drawer. Will it be as easy to control as a virtual joystick on a smartphone? Probably not, but it’s a lot more Jedi and a lot less toy. Sphero Ollie review: the remote control car reimagined Robotic ball Sphero points to a new era in computer games | ['technology/robots', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/ces', 'technology/ces-2016', 'technology/technology', 'lifeandstyle/toys', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'film/starwars', 'film/star-wars-episode-vii', 'film/film', 'culture/culture', 'film/sciencefictionandfantasy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2016-01-05T13:40:27Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/2016/jun/08/california-drought-slows-land-movement-weatherwatch | California drought slows land movement | Lack of rain in California has had an unexpected consequence: it has slowed down the movement of the land. In some regions hillsides move gradually, perhaps sliding a metre or so every year, but over the past five years the dry conditions have reduced this movement to a snail’s pace. The discovery was made by comparing satellite imagery, aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements from northern California’s Eel river basin. Initially researchers were puzzled to see that the trees and rocks above the slow-moving landslides in the region had barely moved in recent years. But comparing the land movement data with climate records back as far as 1944 revealed that the slow-down was almost certainly linked to the California drought. In this case rocks and soil have dried out, and there is no longer enough moisture to lubricate the movement of the land. “A question now is how much water will it take, and how long will it take to get water down the depths at the base of these sliding surfaces to reduce the friction and get them to start moving again,” said University of Oregon researcher Joshua Roering, whose findings have been published in Geophysical Research Letters. This summer the team will be collecting more measurements and trying to better understand the plumbing system beneath these slow-moving landslides. Slow landslips are typical in many parts of the world, causing roads to crack, rails to buckle and houses to subside. The new data from California will help scientists better understand these gradual landscape changes, and the impact that climate change is likely to have. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'us-news/california-drought', 'science/geology', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/landslides', 'world/world', 'environment/drought', 'us-news/california', 'us-news/us-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-06-08T20:30:31Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2021/jun/04/fbi-christopher-wray-cyberattacks-9-11 | FBI director sees ‘parallels’ between ransomware threat and 9/11 | The FBI has compared a recent string of cyber-attacks on US government and corporate entities to defense difficulties presented by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Christopher Wray, the FBI director, also revealed that the agency is investigating about 100 kinds of ransomware, with many tracing back to criminal operators in Russia. “There are a lot of parallels, there’s a lot of importance, and a lot of focus by us on disruption and prevention,” Wray told the Wall Street Journal. “There’s a shared responsibility, not just across government agencies but across the private sector and even the average American,” he added. Wray’s comments come in the wake of two recent major ransomware attacks, which targeted the US meat processing and oil and gas industries, bringing their operations temporarily to a halt. Cyber-attacks have also been perpetrated on several local governments’ online systems. JBS, which supplies more than 20% of all beef in America, revealed that all of its US beef plants were forced offline last Sunday due to a ransomware attack. The company, which has since resumed operations, had to halt while rushing to restore functionality. This attack is thought to have originated in Russia. Colonial Pipeline, which operates the largest US fuel pipeline, confirmed on 19 May that it paid $4.4m to a group of hackers who breached its computer systems two weeks prior. Company officials said they took the pipeline offline to prevent the ransomware from potentially spreading to its operational controls. Colonial Pipeline transports about 45% of gasoline used on the US east coast. The nearly week-long stoppage spurred some panic buying and gas shortages at filling stations, driving prices up. While these attacks on gas, oil and meat businesses were the most high-profile of late, Wray said they comprise a fraction of ransomware variants now being investigated by federal authorities. Each of the 100 types of ransomware had affected from about 12 to 100 targets, Wray explained. “The scale of this problem is one that I think the country has to come to terms with,” Wray told the newspaper. The Biden administration has been in contact with Russia about the JBS cyber-attack. “JBS notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia. The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals,” the White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. | ['us-news/fbi', 'technology/hacking', 'us-news/us-news', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/victoria-bekiempis', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2021-06-04T15:20:26Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
artanddesign/2022/nov/15/magic-in-your-own-back-yard-danish-artist-hides-enormous-trolls-deep-in-western-australia | ‘Magic in your own back yard’: Danish artist hides enormous trolls deep in Western Australia | “I was a total headache for my parents growing up,” says Danish recycle artist Thomas Dambo, perched on the trunk of a eucalyptus tree in the bushland of Mandurah, an hour south of Perth. “I had so much energy and I loved building stuff, but I was so impatient. If I had an idea, I had to build it right now using whatever I could find around me.” When Dambo was just seven years old, he bought a mountain of cushions from the flea market to construct a games room in his parents’ basement. As a teenager, he built a “crazy” fortress in his back yard, connecting two treetop houses by a zip line and a series of underground tunnels. The son of a theatre costume seamstress and a blacksmith, he grew up in a commune with three other families in Odense, Denmark; an environment where artistic expression was deeply encouraged, and sharing, play and creative problem-solving were interwoven with daily life. “That definitely had a big impact on me. I was always designing games and creating something, even though we never had much money. It taught me that you can create something amazing with very little, even with items from the trash, that other people can enjoy and be a part of,” he says. Decades later, 42-year-old Dambo is proudly surveying his latest creation: a troll called Little Lui. Towering at five-metres tall, Little Lui emerges from a wild strip of bushland not far from the centre of Mandurah, his peaceful expression crowned with an unruly nest of sticks and pine cones, entangling with the roots of the nearby tuart tree. The sculpture has only been there for a couple of weeks, but he looks as if he has been carved into the land for centuries. Little Lui is one of the six trolls buried in secret corners of the Peel region of Western Australia as part of Thomas Dambo Giants of Mandurah, an Australian-first exhibition presented by Form and the City of Mandurah which will be on display for at least a year. The project takes Dambo’s global troll count to 99, with his gentle giants finding homes in landscapes as far afield as the United States, Belgium, China, Denmark, South Korea, Puerto Rico and now Australia. “I grew up surrounded by fairytales and stories, and the troll is an important part of Danish folklore,” Dambo says. “For me, trolls represent the voice of nature. Sometimes they can be gentle and quiet. Other times they can be really violent and brutal, and that’s how nature is. If you’re not careful, nature will knock your whole house over.” Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning This deep reverence for the natural world is a central thread of Dambo’s practice. A self-proclaimed “recycle art activist”, Dambo’s trolls are made almost entirely from locally sourced recycled timber: their faces from secondhand furniture, skin from timber palettes and hair from branches and leaves. Taking about 750 hours to complete, each troll is constructed out in nature with a local team of technicians and volunteers – a perennial highlight of the process for Dambo. “Why build in a warehouse if you can build here? It’s the best office in the world,” he says. “And coming from Denmark, the nature here is so different, it’s almost a bit trippy and unreal, like being in a fairytale.” But Dambo’s focus on the environment runs deeper than aesthetics: Denmark’s commitment to sustainability, particularly its efficient recycling programs, has profoundly influenced how Dambo sees the world. “We are slowly turning the world into a landfill. What will it look like in 5,000 years? Will there still be beautiful tuart trees to look at? I hope that by visiting the trolls, people will see the giant scale of the problem, and the gigantic opportunity we have to fix it,” he says. “I want to remove some of the stigma associated with trash. People think it’s ugly, smelly and unhygienic when, really, what we should be ashamed of is discarding things that are scarce. We should be thinking of trash as a resource.” In order to gain a local understanding of Mandurah, Dambo worked with the region’s traditional owners, the Bindjareb people, who shed light on the creation story of the lands and waterways of Mandjoogoordap. Dambo weaved these insights into a poem called The Rhythm of Raindrops, which tells the story of the journey between the giants, while touching on the drought and water scarcity that plagues many parts of WA. Created with children and the young at heart in mind, Dambo’s multisite installation is designed as a sort of treasure hunt, inviting visitors to get lost in the unique wildlife of Mandurah as they navigate to each troll on a map, all the while discovering clues to find the sixth, “secret” troll. “I think it’s really important that the next generation is connected to nature,” Dambo says. “You can’t isolate all the humans in a city and believe they are going to care about the natural world. That’s why I tried to gamify the giants, to appeal to younger people who are so used to discovering the world through a screen.” In knitting together his long-held passions – storytelling, upcycling and exploring – Dambo has crafted the world he wants to live in: a place where people delight in nature, do their bit to protect it and aren’t afraid to let their imaginations run wild. “I want people to be inspired to play and experiment. And to realise they don’t need a lot to create something big and beautiful. Go out, go around the corner and dive into whatever is there – you will find a lot of adventure and magic in your own back yard.” Thomas Dambo Giants of Mandurah is open to the public now | ['artanddesign/sculpture', 'australia-news/western-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/denmark', 'artanddesign/art', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/culture', 'campaign/email/saved-for-later', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/rosamund-brennan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-culture'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-11-14T14:00:03Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2016/jan/17/the-eco-guide-to-litter | The eco guide to litter | Lucy Siegle | The charity Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) is urging you to clean up for the Queen’s 90th birthday (cleanforthequeen.co.uk). Cigarette butts are the most littered item on our streets, followed by fast-food and snack packaging, and plastic bags. Litter is an ecological nightmare. Our rubbish fragments into bits of plastic that are washed into water courses, poisoning wildlife and choking the ecosystem. Every wrapper or container made from virgin materials that isn’t recycled is a blow to the ambitions of a smarter, more circular economy. KBT’s report How Clean is England? tells us that litter disproportionately affects low-income neighbourhoods, so it is a social justice issue, too. The rise in our consumption of on-the-go food follows the global trend. In Los Angeles the average citizen generates 4.7lb a day of potential litter in takeaway containers. I lay responsibility at the feet of brands and outlets which still have a patchy approach to recycling. Remember that your local council has power through Community Protection Notices to take a stand. The more difficult it is for consumers to bin, or preferably recycle, the more litter there is. Unfortunately I have evidence that major food brands are changing their packaging from recyclable plastic to non-recyclable. We need clarity. The waters are muddied by the promises of biodegradable and degradable packaging. Professor Richard Thompson of Plymouth University has published dozens of papers on plastic debris. He says: “Designing plastic that could recognise when it has ceased to be useful and so begin to rapidly degrade would be challenging.” Basically we would need plastic containers that are smarter than us. In any event, litter is not going to melt away. The big picture: very visible Vanish Plastic litter is often talked about in general terms, but residents of Poldhu Cove on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall were treated to a very specific deluge two weekends ago when hundreds of bottles of Vanish detergent washed up on the beach. The distinctive pink bottles are thought to be from a container that slipped off a cargo ship near Land’s End last May. A clean-up is under way, with surfers joining the effort offshore. Parent company Reckitt Benckiser said it was “deeply concerned” about the spill. Well dressed: design your own knitwear The production processes of most clothes are enough to keep you awake at night. There is egregious waste and you can rarely be certain where and how your garments were made. But who can afford couture? Unmade, the collective bringing transparency to knitwear, is holding a special preview show at London’s Somerset House until 29 March. They offer bespoke designs by hacking industrial knitting machines. Herman, Helga and Hansel and Gretel, three Stoll machines (Stoll machines are reckoned to produce a staggering 10% of the world’s clothing) are waiting to machine-knit you a bespoke scarf or jumper. The design might be based on a 1930s map of Borneo or a reworking of a classic check. The point is, you are in control. If you can’t get to the preview, you can order online. (preview.unmade.com). Email Lucy at lucy.siegle@observer.co.uk or follow her on Twitter @lucysiegle | ['environment/series/its-not-easy-being-green', 'environment/series/ask-leo-lucy', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/features', 'environment/recycling', 'lifeandstyle/knitting', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'profile/lucysiegle', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/magazine', 'theobserver/magazine/life-and-style'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-01-17T06:00:01Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2017/sep/07/delta-airlines-plane-flies-puerto-rico | Delta Airlines plane flies straight into Hurricane Irma – and out again | As Hurricane Irma threatened to make landfall in Puerto Rico, most pilots were avoiding the area. Understandably so, perhaps. One Delta Airlines plane, however, headed straight toward the storm. The pilot landed on the island as it was engulfed and got away again within an hour, taking more than 170 people out of the path of the most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Despite the extreme weather closing in, the airline described conditions as “well below operating limits” for the aircraft when it arrived. Flight records examined by the Guardian show it arriving in San Juan on Puerto Rico’s north coast, and leaving again about 40 minutes later. “Our meteorology team is the best in the business,” said Delta’s Erik Snell. “They took a hard look at the weather data and the track of the storm and worked with the flight crew and dispatcher to agree it was safe to operate the flight. And our flight and ground crews were incredible in their effort to turn the aircraft quickly and safely so the flight could depart well before the hurricane threat.” The flight was the last to leave the island, which has been battered by the category 5 hurricane. It had arrived to “nine miles of visibility and light rain. Winds were around 24 knots with gusts up to 31 knots,” Delta said. Its flight was tracked by an enthusiast using the FlightRadar tracking software, which showed it taking off and working its way north between the outer band of Irma and the storm’s core. The flight arrived safely at New York’s JFK airport. In Puerto Rico, people have been seeking shelter. Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, said: “This is the first time since I became mayor almost five years ago that people have come to the shelters without anyone having to ask. People are concerned, they are scared. Puerto Ricans cannot fathom what a category 5 hurricane is about. It’s something we’ve never heard of. “Power infrastructure is very, very fragile and we are expecting to be without power for the next four to six months,” she told the Guardian. The death toll rose to eight on Thursday morning as the storm advanced across the Caribbean and toward the US mainland. | ['world/hurricane-irma', 'world/air-transport', 'us-news/puerto-rico', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | world/hurricane-irma | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-09-07T14:30:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2013/jul/10/iceberg-antarctic-pine-island-glacier | Iceberg half the size of Greater London calves off Antarctic glacier | An iceberg half the size of Greater London has calved off Pine Island glacier in the Antarctic. This week a radar instrument on the German satellite TerraSAR-X captured an image of a crack having grown to extend across the entire ice shelf at the front of the glacier since 2011. Scientists say that the 720-sqkm iceberg calved off in a natural event unrelated to the effects of global warming. Andy Smith of the British Antarctic Survey said: "Although there's nothing to suggest this event is unusual, it's not to say that it's not interesting. We are extremely interested because we want to understand if the loss of a large block of ice has an affect on the flow of the glacier". The large fissure in the Pine Island glacier was first spotted by a Nasa low-flying plane in 2011 at which time the iceberg was expected to break-free within a year. The iceberg will be watched closely over the next few months as it moves and melts into the surrounding bay. Capturing this event allows researchers like Prof Angelika Humbert, a glaciologist and ice modeller with the Alfred Wegener Institute, to understand the processes that drive glaciers, and the way they fracture. "I use the images from the satellite to model the flow of the glacier and how the grounding line is retreating which allows us to predict the behaviour of the ice sheet over the next hundreds to thousands of years. "A calving event of this size is relatively common with similar events occurring at the Pine Island glacier in 2007 and 2001". She added: "The fact that we have radar satellites of this type that provide high resolution images on a weekly basis allows us to study calving events in real-time by following the propagation of fissures. The images allow us to really understand the processes occurring on the glacier". The flow of the ice stream from the Pine Island Glacier has accelerated in recent years. Smith said: "The Pine Island glacier is quite significant because it is losing more ice to the sea than any other glacier in the world. The glacier is changing a lot and quickly." Complete melting of the Pine Island glacier in the future would not only increase global sea-levels but it is also predicted that it could destabilise the entire West Antarctic ice sheet. Studying the glacier can help scientists to understand what factors contribute to the melting. Smith said that he will form part of an expedition early next year run by the Natural Environment Research Council iSTAR programme to study the physical processes occurring on the glacier and in the surrounding ocean. | ['environment/glaciers', 'world/antarctica', 'world/world', 'environment/poles', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'tone/news', 'type/article'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-07-11T08:00:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/mar/04/leading-brands-unsure-if-palm-oil-in-products-comes-from-rainforest-land | Leading brands unsure if palm oil in products comes from rainforest land | Some of the world’s largest consumer companies are clueless as to whether palm oil they buy from Indonesia is linked to rainforest destruction, new analysis from Greenpeace shows. The environmental group surveyed 14 companies including multinationals such as PepsiCo, Mars and Unilever, and found that none could confidently claim that no Indonesian rainforest was destroyed in the making of their products. According to the report, titled Cutting deforestation out of the palm oil supply chain, most companies could not say how much came from suppliers that comply with their own environmental standards. And only one company, Ferrero, could trace nearly 100% of its palm oil back to the land where it was grown. “Palm oil is found in so many products, which is why brands have a responsibility to their customers to act,” said Greenpeace’s Annissa Rahmawati. “But our survey shows that brands are not doing enough to stop the palm oil industry ransacking Indonesia’s rainforests.” The report assessed the companies on three factors – responsible sourcing, transparency and industry reform, and found that many companies fell short of implementing credible zero-deforestation policies. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, a vegetable oil used in a wide range of household products, from lipstick to soap to instant noodles, and environmentalists have long argued the industry is a leading cause of deforestation. According to Greenpeace, PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive were among the worst-performing companies in the report, placed in the lowest “failed promises” category. Most companies were graded as “getting there” for making some progress toward their zero-deforestation goals, but only two companies, Nestle and Ferrero were considered to be fully on track. “Consumer companies all performed differently,” Rahmawati told the Guardian, “However, we still see the opportunity for improvement because Indonesia’s forests are in a critical situation.” Since 1990, Indonesia has lost 31 million hectares of forest, a figure almost equal to the size of Germany. A lack of transparency along supply chains appears to be one of the biggest problems, with many companies lacking information about all their suppliers and the practices they are engaged in. After devastating fires in 2015, the worst in two decades, sparked an environmental and health crisis, there has been renewed focus on the palm oil sector. Each year smallholder farmers use slash and burn techniques to clear the land, the cheapest way to make way for new plantations. Some scientists claim that based on past el Niño trends, the fires could flare up again this year, this time in the easternmost parts of the country. But even with well-intentioned pledges from companies to protect forests, the realities of operating in Indonesia, issues such as overlapping concession maps and corruption, can complicate commitments on the ground, admitted Dr Eric Meijaard, a conservation scientist from Borneo Futures. “It is really hard to from a company perspective, but it’s possible and it’s all about commitment,” he said. Johnson & Johnson declined to comment on the Greenpeace report but said it was committed to sustainable practices. “Johnson & Johnson has an obligation to preserve the environment and we are implementing programs across the world to limit our footprint and environmental impact,” it said. The company also added that in 2014 it engaged The Forest Trust to work with the company and its suppliers to share supply chain information and assess compliance to unsustainable practices, such as development on peatland and burning as a land clearance method. | ['environment/palm-oil', 'world/indonesia', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kate-lamb'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-03-03T23:55:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2023/dec/19/north-queensland-floods-evacuations-wujal-wujal-military-helicopter | Residents of flooded north Queensland town Wujal Wujal arrive in Cooktown as evacuation efforts continue | Wujal Wujal residents have arrived in Cooktown, as evacuation efforts from the flood hit Aboriginal community continue. The Cook Shire mayor, Peter Scott, said there was a sense of relief among the 20 who arrived at the evacuation centre in Cooktown, 70km north of Wujal Wujal, on Tuesday. “They’re all smiles coming in,” he said. “They have been through a tough time, there’s no doubt about that, but there was just gratitude, relaxed coming to a safe, dry, hospitable place.” Scott said while he was expecting more people, some residents had elected to stay in Wujal Wujal. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup “I have heard there are quite a few people choosing to stay down there despite having no power or sewerage system,” he said. “I’d much prefer them to come up here.” Wujal Wujal was inundated with water in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper. Scott said Cooktown residents had pulled together to help the Wujal Wujal evacuees in any way they could. “The generosity of the local people has been fabulous, they’ve donated clothes, sheets, swags, towels, all sorts of things,” he said. The first military support arrived in the isolated Indigenous community in far north Queensland earlier on Tuesday, as authorities tried for a second time to evacuate hundreds of residents inundated by flood water. An earlier evacuation effort was abandoned on Monday afternoon due to dangerous weather conditions that prevented helicopters from safely accessing the region. The evacuation is expected to last until Tuesday night and may continue on Wednesday. “I want to say to those residents who’ve been waiting: ‘I know that you’re tired, wet and uncomfortable, but help is on its way just as soon as we could have done it,’’” Queensland’s premier, Steven Miles, told a press conference at around noon (1pm AEDT). Police have sent more officers into the region to help with the evacuation and recovery efforts. The police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said it might be some time before Wujal Wujal residents were able to return to their homes. “It is still inundated with a lot of water and I would expect there would be significant damage in that area,” she said. The evacuation is expected to continue into Wednesday. The deputy commissioner of Queensland police, Shane Chelepy, said the force was concerned for the wellbeing of an 85-year-old man reported missing from Degarra, which is about 5km east of Wujal Wujal. “He spoke to his family very late on [Sunday] the 17th and was reported missing yesterday,” Chelepy said. “As a result, police have been deployed into that area to search for that gentleman.” Initial damage assessments carried out so far across the region found one home completely destroyed by the floods, 15 severely damaged, 50 moderately damaged and 92 assessed as having minor damage. Chelepy said police still needed to access at least 32 small communities on Tuesday to check on people’s welfare. On Monday, the premier said the damage bill was expected to be “very, very significant”. “We are working with the local disaster groups to restock and resupply food, essentials and water, and are delivering bottled water when necessary and appropriate,” Miles said. “The Cairns hospital and the Cairns CBD have sufficient clean water.” Most major roads in the region have sustained significant damage but the Bruce Highway into Cairns is now open. The town’s airport has also reopened. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced he will tour communities affected by the flood on Thursday and Friday. He joined Miles in praising the bravery of the many people who have assisted with rescue operations. “I heard about Magoo, a helicopter pilot helping to fly people out on his little chopper one by one, collecting them from roofs and taking them to safety. An extraordinary effort,” Albanese said. “[Another man] got in a tinnie with his mates and started rescuing strangers clinging to trees in flood waters. These are the stories that every Australian can be proud of.” Commonwealth disaster relief payments of $1,000 for adults and $400 for children will be available to people who live in the Cairns, Cassowary Coast, Cook, Douglas, Hope Vale, Mareeba, Tablelands, Wujal Wujal and Yarrabah areas from 2pm on Wednesday. Miles said the state’s approach to the flood was starting to shift from disaster recovery to cleaning and damage assessment. He urged people to follow safety advice, with concerns flood waters may be carrying disease and pose a health risk. “Safety during the clean-up has to come first,” Miles said. “We are asking anyone who is cleaning up mud or damage from floodwaters to please make sure you wear enclosed shoes. Today is not the day for thongs.” Rainfall has eased but the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting possible heavy showers and thunderstorms across parts of Cape York and north of Cooktown. “We could see significant river level rises, depending on those showers and storms,” Miles said. A Bureau spokesperson said that even though the rain had eased, there was still a lot of water running through rivers, with a number of flood warnings still in place for the far north of the state. | ['australia-news/north-queensland-floods-2023', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/queensland-politics', 'environment/flooding', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/extreme-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/henry-belot', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | australia-news/north-queensland-floods-2023 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-12-19T07:41:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2004/dec/31/internationalaidanddevelopment.tsunami2004 | Public's record £30m response takes charities by surprise | Members of the British public had donated more than £30m for the victims of the tsunami disaster by last night, the speed and generosity of the response amazing charity bosses. The reaction to the appeal was described as "unprecedented" - never has so much money been given over such a short period. There was confidence that the main appeal, organised by the disaster emergency committee (DEC), a grouping of a dozen leading British charities, would quickly surpass the £34m it raised over 12 months for the people of Sudan. It also seemed likely that the final total would overtake the sort of amounts raised by telethons such as Comic Relief, which received £61m in 2001. The DEC's phone lines and website were bombarded by people donating money. By yesterday morning it had raised £15m in the wake of television and radio appeals. At lunchtime the DEC announced the figure had risen to £20m and was expecting it to hit the £25m mark by last night. Those figures, however, only included cash donated by telephone and the internet. Much more is expected to have been handed over at banks and building societies or to already be in the post. On top of that people had donated money to individual charities. Oxfam and the British Red Cross, both members of DEC, have received £2.7m and £3m respectively in addition to the money which had gone to the umbrella body. Brendan Gormley, the DEC chief executive described the response as "remarkable and humbling" adding: "We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the British public and continue to be humbled by their response." Tales of individual generosity were told by charity volunteers across Britain. Oxfam's shop in the marketplace at Wantage, Oxfordshire, took £1,600 in donations yesterday morning alone. One woman presented a cheque for £500 which she had been planning to use to buy a stair carpet in the sales. Another turned up in tears with a cheque for £200. "She felt totally overwhelmed by the images, said the shop manager, Jackie Gunn. An elderly man told Ms Gunn: "I've had my life - there are people who have barely started theirs involved in this," and handed over a cheque for £400. Oxfam's call centre was so busy that staff brought in relatives who were given 15 minutes' training before beginning to answer calls, which were coming in at more than 400 every hour. One man rang up with a donation of £100 from Heathrow 15 minutes after landing on a flight from Sri Lanka, telling an operator: "I'm one of the lucky ones." And a father rang with a pledge of £1,000 after his daughter telephoned home to say she was safe. Children were donating their Christmas money to the appeal. In Weymouth three siblings, Sophie, Sam and Martha Cridland and their friend Sam Ruddick set up a stall on their street and sold games, CDs and toys they had received for Christmas, the proceeds going to Oxfam. The eldest, Sophie, 14, said: "We just couldn't stand around and waste time - we had to organise something." Elderly people, meanwhile, gave up chunks of their pensions. At Oxfam on Islington High Street, north London, retired tea lady Margaret McCullagh, 70, could not resist putting her pennies into the appeal box on the counter, though she had already paid £50 to the DEC appeal at the bank. All this despite having to support her husband in a nursing home. "It's a tragedy. You have to try to do your bit. Of course, I can afford it - you have to, don't you?" Save the Children has been taking more than 2,000 calls a day from donors. Builders have contacted the charity asking if they can be flown out to help; one woman rang the charity and said she had badgered an airline into supplying it with an extra plane. Charities who are not part of the DEC grouping were also overwhelmed at the public's response. In Cornwall, the charity Shelter Box, which sends containers full of equipment such as tents, sleeping bags and cooking equipment to disaster spots, received donations from scores of local people. Some individuals donated £490, the cost of one box, while others chipped in with £1 and one local business gave £6,000, which buys 12 boxes. Muslim charities have also launched appeals. Muslim Aid, which pledged an initial sum of £100,000, said its phone lines and website had been busy all day yesterday. Barclays Bank, the Grand Charity - the freemasons' fund - Tesco and the government of Jersey pledged cash to the British Red Cross. A group of travel agents has agreed to donate 50p to a fund for every holiday booked next year while England's Premiership football clubs donated £1m to DEC and the English cricketers chipped in £15,000. | ['world/world', 'global-development/global-development', 'world/tsunami2004', 'society/charities', 'type/article', 'profile/stevenmorris'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2004-12-31T01:25:37Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/oct/15/british-households-fail-to-recycle-a-staggering-16m-plastic-bottles-a-day | British households fail to recycle a 'staggering' 16m plastic bottles a day | British households are failing to recycle as many as 16m plastic bottles every day – a “staggering” number and nearly half the total of more than 35m which are used and discarded daily – according to new research. Based on the data published on Saturday, the Recycle Now campaign group suggests that the number of bottles evading recycling in the UK could reach 29bn by the end of 2020, putting huge pressure on landfill and with dire consequences for marine life. Every year the average UK household uses 480 plastic bottles, but only recycles 270 of them, meaning nearly half (44%) are not put into recycling facilities, according to Recycle Now, a campaign group funded by the government’s waste advisory group Wrap. On a national basis, that means an average of 35.8m plastic bottles are used every day, but only 19.8m are recycled each day. So an average of 16m plastic bottles a day are not being recycled and are ending up in landfill – and eventually the world’s oceans, where they will take years to break down. ‘Single use’ plastic bottles containing mineral water and soft drinks are commonly blamed for contributing to litter and adding to landfill, said Recycle Now, but plastic bottles used in the home are also a problem. The group blamed consumer ignorance and unjustified fears about contamination for failing to recycle containers used for bleach, household cleaners and other liquids. “The number of plastic bottles not being recycled is staggering and will increase further if we don’t take action,” said Alice Harlock of Recycle Now. “Householders are often unsure if items are recyclable, especially from the bathroom, bedroom and living room. An easy way to tell is, if an item is plastic and bottle shaped its recyclable.” Commonly used items people do nor realise are recyclable include empty bleach, shampoo and conditioner receptacles as well as bathroom and kitchen cleaners and soap dispenser bottles. Generally, only bottles containing chemicals such as anti-freeze should not be recycled. Conservation groups and marine charities have warned of the environmental dangers of plastic bottles, which can take up to 500 years to break down once in the sea. More than 8,000 plastic bottles were collected by the Marine Conservation Society’s annual beach clean-up at seaside locations from Orkney to the Channel Islands on one weekend last September. The charity’s annual report published this year revealed a 34% rise in beach litter overall between 2014 and 2015, the largest ever amount of litter per kilometre (3,298 pieces). “We need to challenge ourselves when it comes to what we could be recycling,” said Harlock. “Every plastic bottle counts. We’re asking people to think more about what they can recycle every time they go to put something in the waste bin. If you’re having a shower and using up the last of the shampoo – don’t just think replace, think recycle. When you run out of your favourite moisturiser in the morning – don’t just think replace, think recycle. If you’re not sure whether you can recycle plastic bottles at home head to our website and check out our recycling locator.” | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-10-15T06:01:07Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/antarctica-live/2013/dec/29/trapped-antarctic-passengers-air-evacuation | Icebound Antarctic passengers face air rescue if ship cannot reach them soon | Passengers aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy, the ship stuck in ice off the coast of Antarctica since Christmas Day, were told on Sunday morning they would have to be evacuated by air if icebreaker ships could not get to them within 48 hours. The Russian-operated ship has about 50 passengers – including scientists and paying members of the public – and 20 crew on board. It became stuck in the ice near Cape de la Motte in east Antarctica, abouit 1,500 nautical miles from Hobart in Tasmania, after strong blizzards hit the vessel on Christmas Eve. Surrounding pack ice was pushed by strong winds against the Antarctic landmass, pinning the Shokalskiy in place. On Friday, the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long tried to battle through the thick ice towards the Shokalskiy but had to turn back after 12 hours and within 8.5 nautical miles of the Russian vessel, because the going was too difficult. The Aurora Australis will arrive at the edge of the sea ice, which is about 20 nautical miles from the Russian ship, in the early hours of Monday local time (about 1pm Sunday GMT). “What we're depending on is the extra grunt of the Aurora Australis,” said Greg Mortimer, co-leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), which has chartered the ship. “It's a more traditional icebreaker hull, which is like a bathtub with a big engine inside it – it can push over the ice and lay down on top and work its way like that.” Until the ship gets into position, it is unknown whether it will be strong enough to crack through the ice – which is four to five metres thick in places after storms in the area last week – and make it to the Shokalskiy. If that proves impossible, the only option would be air evacuation. “We're always making contingency plans,” Mortimer said. “That would happen by the Chinese vessel sending their helicopter to us, us preparing a helipad on the ice next to the ship and flying passengers from that ice onto the other vessels. Then taking them home via the Ross Sea or [Australian Antarctic base] Casey base by ship.” Those on board the Shokalskiy will know within 12 hours of the arrival of the Aurora Australis whether the icebreaking mission is likely to be successful. Mortimer said the decision to evacuate would be in the hands of the captains of the icebreakers. On Sunday afternoon, the Xue Long sent a helicopter to the Shokalskiy to survey the sea ice around the ship and look for any open water in the area. Mortimer said the ship was safe and there was no threat to life or limb. “The pressure at this point in time is one of time – that artificial contrivance of, well, we must get out of this situation as quickly as we can. But we don't have to, we're OK.” That would change, he said, if an iceberg began moving towards the ship. The closest icebergs are several nautical miles away at present. If one came close, the Shokalskiy would have a day or two's notice to carry out any necessary evacuation. When it got stuck the Shokalskiy was just over two weeks into its month-long expedition, from Bluff in New Zealand to Commonwealth Bay in east Antarctica. The passengers on board are following in the footsteps of the great Antarctic explorer and scientist Douglas Mawson, leader of the original AAE of 1911, repeating his wildlife, ocean and weather observations to build a picture of changes over the past 100 years. Over the weekend, members of the AAE were allowed off the vessel to take scientific samples of the ice, build igloos in the fresh snow or just stretch their legs and take pictures in the sunshine. The mood on board has remained calm, with expedition leaders regularly briefing the rest of the passengers about the various options to get them out of the ice. Mortimer, a veteran of Antarctica with more than 100 visits to the continent under his belt, said he was not surprised by the difficulty the Shokalskiy has faced this week. “The combination of elements is really unfortunate – a couple of blizzards and many, many days blowing in the wrong direction has piled heaps of trouble on our shoulders,” he said. “The power of the forces at work, that's the constant reminder – how overwhelmingly powerful the natural forces are here. That's the fearsome, gnarly-teeth side of Antarctica and its great beauty as well, its allure.” | ['world/antarctica', 'science/antarctica-live', 'world/world', 'environment/poles', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alokjha'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-12-29T05:54:27Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans/2013/oct/18/undercover-police-and-policing-espionage | Police chiefs confused over whether they have authorised their spies to sleep with activists | Undercover with Paul Lewis and Rob Evans | Have police chiefs authorised their undercover officers to have sexual relationships with women they are spying on? It seems that even the police don't know the answer to that particular question. Sometimes, it seems the answer is a definite no, other times it is yes. Over the last two years, police chiefs have given contradictory responses, and the official confusion was thrown into sharp relief this week. Let's start back in January 2011, when the public first learnt that undercover spies Mark Kennedy and Jim Boyling had had relationships with campaigners, the position seemed clear. Jon Murphy, the senior police chief in charge of undercover operations, said it was "never acceptable" for undercover officers to sleep with people they were targeting. He spelt out why it was never permitted "under any circumstances". He said: "It is grossly unprofessional. It is a diversion from what they are there to do. It is morally wrong because people have been put there to do a particular task and people have got trust in them". Wind the clock forward a year, and the position did not seem so clear-cut. Nick Herbert, the then minister in charge of policing, told Parliament (see here) that undercover officers could have sex with their targets. Otherwise, he warned, the spied-upon would have a ready-made test to rumble a suspected infiltrator. See this and this. Next it was the turn of Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, who told MPs that sexual relationships were not "part of the strategy", but then went on to suggest - in a 'boys-will-be-boys' kind of way - that they were "almost inevitable". This August, three of the police chiefs in charge of undercover policing appeared to put the matter beyond doubt. It came in a letter (see here) from Mick Creedon, the Derbyshire chief constable running the internal police investigation into the conduct of undercover spies over the last four decades, to Harriet Wistrich, the lawyer for eight women taking legal action against the police. Creedon is clear that he is speaking on behalf of the three most senior police officers in charge of undercover policing. "I have no hesitation in saying that we agree….that this type of intimate sexual relationship whilst undercover should never be authorised." So what is going on then, when lawyers for the police seem to be arguing the opposite in the High Court this week? As we have reported here and here, a group of women who say they were deceived into having long-term, intimate sexual relationships with undercover police officers is suing Scotland Yard. It is a long legal battle and the latest round was played out on Tuesday and Wednesday (see here for a report on it). This is the key argument from the lawyers for the police who told the High Court :"It might in some circumstances be necessary and proportionate to authorise an undercover operative to engage in sexual contact in order, for example, to maintain cover, prevent serious crime and even save life". They have also told the court that Mark Kennedy was authorised to establish and maintain sexual relationships with three women who are suing the police. He used these relationships to covertly gather information. This is set out at paragraph 37 of this judgment. Perhaps one day the police will settle on what their true policy actually is and let the public know. Or maybe not. Meanwhile, it is worth remembering what this is actually all about. Listen here to two women who told the BBC how they were duped into having long, meaningful relationships with police spies and were left devastated. On Woman's Hour on Friday morning were Helen Steel, who was deceived by undercover spy John Dines (read this and this for more) and 'Alison" who was tricked by another Special Demonstration Squad operative Mark Jenner (read this and this for more). Also interviewed was Creedon. Incidentally, even in the week of the High Court case, Creedon reiterates what he appears to consider to be official policy - that sexual relationships between undercover officers and their targets "can never be justified, never should have been justified, never will be justified, and never will be in the future." Ho hum. | ['uk/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans', 'uk/undercover-police-and-policing', 'tone/blog', 'world/espionage', 'world/surveillance', 'uk/peter-francis', 'world/bernard-hogan-howe', 'uk/mark-kennedy', 'environment/activism', 'lifeandstyle/women', 'uk/police-and-crime-commissioners', 'uk/metropolitan-police', 'type/article', 'profile/robevans'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2013-10-18T15:52:00Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2009/jun/13/davi-yanomami | When Davi Kopenawa Yanomami leaves home, you know the world is in trouble | When Davi Kopenawa Yanomami leaves home you know something's wrong. He's a shaman, or traditional healer, from one of the world's largest largest groups of isolated peoples. Home is Watoriki, a village in the northern Amazon, deep in the forests and mountains near the Brazilian border with Venezuela. Davi leaves his orca, the great communal house where his village lives and sleeps, only to fight for his tribe. Twenty years ago, he came to London to alert the world to the plight of his people and the Brazilian rainforest. More than 20,000 goldminers had invaded Yanomami tribal lands and as well as cutting down forests and poisoning the rivers, they brought violence and disease. With no immunity, one in five Yanomamai died within a few years from measles, malaria and other illnesses. Davi's uncle was murdered by the goldminers and the tribe faced extinction. Davi was chosen to leave the village because he spoke Portuguese and had been in contact with white people, having worked with Funai, the Brazilian National Indian Foundation. He put on his toucan feathers, and accompanied by his shamanic spirtits, took boats and walked hundreds of miles first to Boa Vista and then to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state. The Brazilian politicians did not help, he said, and it was only when he was invited to Europe and then America in 1989 that the Yanomamai became an international cause, with rock stars like Sting putting the tribe on the map. The international pressure worked. In 1992 the Brazilian government finally threw out the ranchers and goldminers from Yanomami land and demarcated an area the size of Portugal for the tribe. But now Davi is back in London with a terrifying warning about threats from miners, cattle ranchers and climate change. "History is repeating itself. Thousands of miners have come back," he told the Guardian in London this week. "They are repairing and expanding the old airstrips. The cattle ranchers are coming in, cutting down the forest. They are coming with planes and helicopters, guns and machines and rafts. They bring malaria and destroy the rivers. We are warning the world that without your help the Yanomami people will die. "The error of the whites is to take the riches of the land. You only want to take the riches. But the land is sacred. If the Yanomamai die the shamans will disappear and the governments will continue to take the land. You are worried about climate change. It is arriving. The rains come late, the sun behaves in a strange way. The world is ill. The lungs of the sky are polluted. We know it is happening. "We are shamans. We care for the planet, the sun, the moon the darkness and the light. Everything that exists we look after. You cannnot go on destroying nature. We will all die, burned and drowned, and that is the Yanomamai word." | ['environment/land-rights', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'tone/interview', 'world/brazil', 'environment/forests', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2009-06-12T23:06:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
science/2009/nov/30/research-funding-cuts-nuclear-power | Research funding cuts could jeopardise UK nuclear power programme | Britain's plans to rebuild its ageing nuclear power infrastructure could be jeopardised by deep cuts that are due to be announced across university physics departments, scientists warn. Nuclear physicists said the entire field could be "wiped out" in British universities if research grants are slashed to fill a £40m hole in the finances of the major physics funding body. Researchers told the Guardian that nuclear physics is vulnerable to severe funding cuts because it is a minority group in a branch of science dominated by larger fields such as astronomy, cosmology and particle physics. "We are worried that the STFC [Science and Technology Facilities Council] doesn't realise even minor cuts in nuclear physics could kill the subject in Britain at a time when we are embarking on a new nuclear power programme," said Professor Jim Al-Khalili, a physicist at the University of Surrey. A report published by the STFC last week reviewed the status of nuclear physics and engineering in Britain and found the workforce was adequate for only a minimal nuclear power building programme. If the government embarked on a more ambitious plan to build around 30 nuclear power stations over the next two decades, "the present level of nuclear engineering research and development activity in the UK would be wholly insufficient both in terms of scope and volume," the report concluded. Some scientists believe the funding council decided not to publicise the report because it highlights the importance of nuclear expertise, which is central to the government's energy plans and plays a vital role in counterterrorism, healthcare, and radiological safety issues. The STFC has ordered a major review across all of the projects and facilities it funds with a view to prioritising science that turns a profit and closing down other research. The cuts in less favoured areas will be announced after a council meeting on 15 December. "We don't know how the cuts will fall, but there is a real danger the entire field of nuclear physics research at universities in this country could be wiped out," said Professor Paul Nolan, a physicist at Liverpool University. "You can't start decommisioning nuclear power plants and building new ones to run for another 50 years if you don't have people trained up to know what's going on," he added. Astronomers are also bracing themselves for cuts that could threaten international collaborations, including an agreement that gives them time on the Gemini-North telescope in Hawaii. Physicists are still recovering from cuts imposed last year after the STFC discovered an £80m shortfall in its budget soon after it was formed by the merger of two other research councils in 2007. The STFC said it could not comment on which areas will lose funding before its review is completed. | ['science/science', 'science/energy', 'science/physics', 'education/research', 'education/researchfunding', 'education/education', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'profile/iansample'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2009-11-30T15:42:11Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/article/2024/aug/16/oarfish-san-diego | ‘Strange and mysterious’: rarely seen, 12ft-long oarfish found in waters off San Diego | A group of people kayaking and snorkeling off the San Diego coast made an unusual discovery when they came across an oarfish, a rarely seen deep sea fish that has washed up in California only 20 times in over a century. The 12ft-long silvery fish was found floating dead in the water last weekend. The group, along with marine experts, helped bring the creature ashore for study. Oarfish have long, ribbon-shaped bodies, and can grow longer than 20ft (6 meters). They typically live in an area of the deep sea called the mesopelagic zone, where light cannot reach, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Noaa has described the fish as “strange and mysterious” creatures that scientists know little about. Oarfish are sometimes called doomsday fish due to their mythical reputation as predictors of natural disasters or earthquakes. Oarfish are known to have washed up in California only 20 times since 1901, according to Ben Frable, a fish expert withthe Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The group who found the fish in La Jolla Cove, north of downtown San Diego, coordinated with lifeguards and marine experts to retrieve the creature. Swimmers brought the oarfish to shore atop a paddleboard and it was then transferred to the bed of a pickup truck. Scientists from Noaa Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Scripps planned a necropsy on Friday to try to determine the cause of death. | ['us-news/california', 'environment/fish', 'environment/marine-life', 'us-news/west-coast', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/oceans', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/dani-anguiano', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-08-16T16:00:13Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2008/jan/09/nuclearpower.climatechange | Letters: Clear and reasoned case for setting aside nuclear | Our report directly addresses in some detail the spurious argument that there is "no alternative" to nuclear. In fact, the urgent challenge of responding to climate change is actually one of choice. In making these choices, the government has a duty to be open and accountable. Neither it nor nuclear proponents (Letters, January 7) should seek to cloak the issues in alarmist rhetoric about there being "no alternative". It was suggested that our fears about radioactive wastes presenting a risk in perpetuity are scaremongering and that other countries, notably France, "seem to manage" their wastes quite nicely. The fact is that there is nowhere in the world - not even France - which has yet developed a proven or accepted method for the long-term management of these wastes. New-build would add an undefined and continuing burden of wastes, imposing incalculable risks on specific communities and future generations. As to whether radiation pollution from nuclear plant is relatively safe or unacceptably risky: a reliable epidemiological study of 41 districts in the vicinity of 16 nuclear power plants in Germany between 1980 and 2003 has established that risk of tumour or leukaemia in children under five years of age significantly increases the closer they live to a nuclear power plant. These and other issues - such as problems associated with nuclear fuel supply and manufacture, vulnerability to attack, security and nuclear weapons proliferation, reactor decommissioning, reactor design and siting, energy distribution models and true renewable and energy-efficiency modelling - are addressed in our report. Taken together, we believe they make a clear and reasoned case for setting aside nuclear responses to climate change in favour of the abundant potential from safer, more secure and more environmentally sustainable alternatives. Prof Frank Barnaby, Duncan Bayliss, Prof Andy Blowers, Paul Brown, Dr Paul Dorfman, Prof Dave Elliott, Prof Frank Fischer, Dr Jerome Ravetz, Hugh Richards, Prof Harry Rothman, Prof Andy Stirling, Prof Stephen Thomas, Dr Tom Wakeford, Prof Gordon Walker, Prof Stuart Weir, Dr Ian Welsh, Pete Wilkinson, Prof Brian Wynne Nuclear Consultation Working Group The pro-nuclear letter from Malcolm Grimston and others makes such an obviously erroneous statement that the rest of the argument from these august academics may be suspect. In the third paragraph they refer to "carbon-free nuclear". Surely only hewing wood for your stove from a tree outside your window is almost carbon-free, apart from the extra food needed and the embodied energy of the stove. For nuclear there is the huge embodied energy of the reactor. The fuel needs energy to extract, purify and transport. So carbon-free it isn't. They also suggest that intermittent sources of power are ineffective for baseload. However, a mix of geographically spread renewables can provide baseload, because there will always be some sunshine, wind or waves somewhere. The Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth has shown how a nuclear-free, low-carbon Britain is possible by 2027 (see www.zerocarbonbritain.com). Let's follow that safe road. CJR Lowe Canterbury, Kent The letter from the pro-nuclear-energy lobby tried to propagate the myth that the government had a thorough public consultation last year. So appalled by the pro-nuclear bias of the government consultation were CND, Greenpeace, and Friends of the Earth that they pulled out of the process. A mere 17 participants showed up to the public consultation in Nottingham. I attended the second in London on September 13, where the three-hour session covered a bare minimum of the points raised by the government report issued in May. Participants were asked to agree or disagree with the government position on aspects of nuclear generation. Needless to say, no responses to major objections have been communicated to us since the consultation closed in October 2007. Tom Cuthbert CND national council Les Hearn seems to have knowledge denied to the rest of us: "Terrorist aircraft attacks are postulated, though modern designs have been proved resistant to these." Who "proved" this, when and where? No 9/11-type attack has ever been launched at a nuclear reactor. If the government has commissioned a simulation it hasn't received any publicity. 9/11 showed the effect of a fuel-laden jumbo jet crashing into a building. The resultant fire temperatures would surely endanger any nuclear reactor. Hearn says: "There are plenty of sites where deposits [of waste] could be immobilised for millions of years." If this were true the government would not have spent decades searching for just one such site for high-level waste. No such site has been found in the UK. Christopher Joseph Marlborough, Wiltshire If Harry Kennard believes that the problems of storing nuclear waste are just "scaremongering" can we assume he would be happy to have it in his garden? Neville Hadsley Coventry I read with interest that "the government [will] collect a fee ... for each unit of electricity used in British homes to ... meet decommissiong costs" (Consumers may foot nuclear bill, January 7). Will those of us with genuinely green electricity tariffs - whose electricity is wholly from renewable sources - be exempt from this fee? It would be a gross injustice if we had to pay it, despite not being users of nuclear power. And an exemption would serve as the best incentive yet for people to switch to renewable energy, thus creating a huge "demand" pull toward increasing the amount of wind, wave, tidal and solar power in Britain. Phil Hutchinson North West Green party | ['environment/environment', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/energy', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2008-01-09T23:56:27Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/jul/19/crown-backs-down-and-refines-plans-for-offshore-wind-auction | Crown backs down and ‘refines’ plans for offshore wind auction | The Queen’s property manager has bowed to criticism over its plans for the biggest offshore wind auction in a decade by agreeing to fairer terms for renewable energy companies. The Crown Estate, which holds the rights to seabeds around the British Isles, told windfarm developers on Thursday that it has “refined” its controversial plans for the upcoming tender to make it more affordable to develop renewable energy. The crown stands to earn record sums from the offshore wind industry by auctioning off the seabed to major energy companies, but the plans were delayed by concerns that they amount to a “cash grab” for the royal coffers. The crown’s change of tack comes after the Guardian revealed that the auction could raise hundreds of millions for the Queen while raising household energy bills. The Queen’s estate broke with previous tender rounds by calling for companies to compete for a licence by submitting a sealed envelope bid, which it planned to use as the basis for a new, decade-long rent agreement too. The energy companies warned that this would raise their costs, which would ultimately be passed on to households through higher wind power subsidies. Announcing changes to the auction on Thursday, the Crown Estate said it would make the tender process more transparent by using daily bidding cycles. The change should allay industry fears of a “runaway auction”. It has also promised to scrap the hefty upfront payment in favour of annual payments over at least three years. Jonny Boston, the Crown Estate’s business development manager, said: “Following extensive engagement with the market, we have now further refined our tender design, in light of the feedback received. “Our goal has been to design a process that is attractive, accessible and fair, supports the sustainable development of the seabed and ultimately delivers a robust pipeline of new projects that will help the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy.” The Crown Estate charges royalties equal to 2% of revenues for use of its seabeds, and collected £41m from existing leases last year. This sum is expected to balloon as the offshore wind sector grows at pace. Currently the Queen’s seabeds generate about 8% of the country’s electricity, but that could increase to almost a third by 2030 under government targets. Barnaby Wharton, of RenewableUK, an industry trade association, said the changes showed that the Crown Estate “has recognised a more transparent process is needed to avoid adding unnecessary costs”. “That is welcome and should be the principle which guides the Crown Estate in implementing this new leasing process,” he said. “It’s crucial that leasing for new offshore wind sites supports the right level of ambition to meet our net zero emissions target, while ensuring value for consumers.” | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/monarchy', 'uk/uk', 'uk/queen', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2019-07-19T05:00:47Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2019/sep/09/an-obituary-for-binna-burra-lodge-which-first-moved-me-when-i-was-a-teenager | An obituary for Binna Burra Lodge, which first moved me when I was a teenager | Mary-Rose MacColl | This is an obituary for quaint slab-wood cabins, a place that was burned down on the weekend in a fire devastating for the many thousands of people who have visited over the past 85 years. Binna Burra Lodge, in the world-heritage-listed rainforest of Lamington national park, has been destroyed by bushfire. Binna Burra was the environmental lodge started by conservationist and adventurer Arthur Groom and engineer Romeo Lahey (brother of artist Vida) in 1933 as a place for ordinary people to “experience the grandeur”. It was never luxurious, with cabins, a big fireplace in the reception lounge and access to a forest like no other. There’s still only one road in, from the Gold Coast to the ridge of Beechmont and then, a single-lane final climb through eucalyptus forest to the edge of the rainforest. Often the place is shrouded in mist. Most years, it rains a lot. I first visited Binna Burra as a high school biology student 40 years ago, staying in the dorm accommodation at the campsite across from the main lodge. I had all the attitude of a damaged teen and a firm belief that nothing could surprise or move me. And yet, here it was, this place of giant trees and different air and light that changes minute to minute. The birds, the understory, the smell of it. I can’t hope to make you understand. You’d have to go there. I do not come from a hiking family – we never once visited a national park – but that first experience began for me a lifelong love affair with this national park in particular and national parks more generally. And what a gift it has been. Like a mother, the rainforest at Binna Burra takes you in its arms. In one way or another, I have been in those arms ever since. Binna Burra Lodge’s bird-in-boots logo was possibly daggy when it was launched in the 70s, and it’s even more daggy 50 years on. I say this with all due affection, an affection I know is shared by other visitors. They will have slept in bunk rooms with shared amenities or splurged on a cabin of their own with a bathroom. They might have spent rainy days in the upstairs “library” with its yellowed books donated by guests. They’ll have enjoyed a pre-dinner drink (or cup of tea) while watching the sunset under massive gums on the terrace. They’ll have eaten the fancy boarding school food in the dining room, supplies trucked up three times a week – hash browns at breakfast, three meats and a veggie option at dinner, soup in a massive tureen on each table with fresh baked bread. More recently, they might have stayed in the self-contained skylodges, less bluestone, less timber but still with that simplicity that admits the grandeur. And they’ll have walked. They’ll have taken a packed lunch of meats and salads and bread and fruit cake on the trail. They might have gone just a little way in, to Tullawallal, rewarded by the sight of those ancient Antarctic beech trees Binna Burra is named for. Even in an hour in the rainforest, they’ve heard more birds and seen more trees than in a week in a city. They return to the lodge and the staff listen as they describe a lyrebird’s call as if they are the first person who’s ever heard it. Others may have walked more kilometres than they thought possible. Once, I went abseiling with a lodge group. We hiked out and crawled through narrow caves to drop down off the Shipstern and Turtle Rock, finishing in the evening at Natural Bridge to see the glow-worms. I’m afraid of heights and small spaces. It didn’t matter out there. In recent years, I have shied away from the lodge, preferring a campsite in the national park to a soft bed and conviviality. Perhaps I’ve wanted time alone, grieving for the world, but now, I wish I’d stayed at the lodge more often. You’d look around the dining room at night and you’d see it on the faces. It’s wonder, the experience of awe. It’s what nature gives us, a chance to be small, insignificant. At Binna Burra, you are gently encouraged to come to understand just how little you matter. And it’s a relief. The fire was swift and out of control by Friday when the lodge was evacuated. On Saturday, no one could get in to fight it. It was a black dawn for Binna Burra’s director and 70 staff on Sunday. The dining room is gone. The lodge cabins are all gone. Even the new sky lodges are devastated. Perhaps it was always written that this would happen. It has happened. A place that offered nothing but a way to help us see has been destroyed by our blindness. Now is the time, if you have breath in your body and have ever experienced Lamington national park and Binna Burra Lodge, to help them out in whatever way you can. I am hoping they will set up a support page. I will be on it as soon as they do. Because the rainforest is still there to be shared. There is something fundamentally good and unchanged about Binna Burra, as if the place itself takes over whoever happens to be in charge. Whatever rises from the ashes will be different; of course it will. But the new Binna Burra will still be the place where Antarctic beech trees grow. It can provide another generation and another with the safest arms they will ever rest in. It’s us who have a chance to do something to help make it real. Mary-Rose MacColl is a Brisbane writer and grateful walker. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'australia-news/bushfires', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/gold-coast', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/wildfires', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/mary-rose-maccoll', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-09-09T05:03:36Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2018/apr/06/weatherwatch-the-storm-wahine-ferry-new-zealand-1968 | Weatherwatch: storm that sank a ferry in New Zealand fifty years ago | New Zealand experienced its worst-ever storm in April 1968 when Cyclone Giselle met a cold front from Antarctica over the islands and the two merged. The resulting tempest became known as the Wahine Storm. On land, winds gusted at up to 150mph. Thousands of trees were uprooted and buildings damaged. 98 roofs were torn off houses in one Wellington suburb alone, and there was significant flooding. The inter-island ferry Wahine was blown off course, running into a reef while trying to enter Wellington harbour. Captain Hector Robertson ordered the seven hundred passengers and crew to stay on board. The ship lost power and attempts to tow her failed. Wahine started to list dangerously and was abandoned just before she capsized, all within sight of the land. Fifty-three people died of drowning, exposure or from being thrown on to rocks by the high seas. The tragedy was one of the first to be covered live on television. A subsequent inquest exonerated the captain of any blame, finding that he had taken the best possible course of action. His decision to delay abandoning ship for as long as possible had saved lives; the real cause of the tragedy was the violence of the storm. | ['world/newzealand', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-04-06T20:30:41Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2018/oct/05/the-guardian-view-on-russia-and-hacking-time-to-tackle-our-vulnerabilities | The Guardian view on Russia and hacking: time to tackle our vulnerabilities | Editorial | The farcical aspects of the attempted Russian cyber-attack reported by the UK and the Netherlands on Thursday must be satisfying to those who counter such efforts, and are superficially amusing to any observer. It is unlikely that Vladimir Putin has relished seeing the incompetence of the GRU, the military intelligence agency, exposed so thoroughly. His mood may not have improved on learning that it seems to have inadvertently identified more than 300 agents in its cyber division. But there is very little to laugh about here. The target was the international chemical weapons watchdog, which was investigating the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia – which led to the death of a British citizen – and a chemical weapons attack in Syria. The Netherlands believes the suspects had also targeted the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which found it was hit by a Russian military missile; 298 people died. The evidence of how far Russia will go in both the online and physical realm mounts, while its denials – it dismissed the latest allegations as “spy mania” – become less and less convincing. The sloppiness that characterised the Netherlands mission was perhaps born of arrogance and the sense that implausible denials are in themselves part of the pattern of destabilisation – sending the message that truth does not matter and that the GRU cannot be stopped. The reports came as Bloomberg alleged that a Chinese military unit had inserted tiny microchips into computer servers used by companies including Apple and Amazon, giving unprecedented backdoor access to computers and data. Amazon, Apple and the hardware firm Super Micro Computer have all denied the report, as has China, which says that it is itself the victim of cyber-attacks. It is hard to think of a greater contrast between direct, impatient and careless work on one hand and slow, methodical and subtle work on the other. Hardware hacks such as that alleged by Bloomberg are not only a less known threat but potentially graver in the level of access they afford. China’s control of the tech supply chain is an obvious advantage in any such efforts. Cybersecurity experts have already reported the persistence of large-scale software-based intrusions – mostly aimed at economic targets or traditional intelligence-gathering – that originate in China. Washington has indicted members of the Chinese military for cyber-attacks on US companies, and officials have strongly hinted that they blame Beijing for some intrusions into government systems. Human rights activists, Tibetan exiles and other groups are regularly targeted by hackers. But Mike Pence’s broadside against China was a nonsense, and nakedly political. Though it fitted the administration’s broader agenda of hitting China over trade and other matters, the US vice-president’s claim that Russian election meddling “pales in comparison” was simply a deflection. It is no coincidence that he spoke on the same day as the coordinated international announcements about Russian activities. While there is growing concern internationally about covert Chinese influence, and Mr Pence cited a supplement China bought in an Iowa newspaper, this is hardly equivalent to reaching out to one side in the middle of a presidential campaign, hacking and leaking the emails of the other party, and engaging in large-scale fraudulent use of social media. Mr Trump’s unwillingness to challenge such activities, or Mr Putin in general, inevitably hobbles those trying to tackle Russian interference, even if parts of government work around him to some degree, as with the announcements this week and earlier coordinated expulsions of Russian diplomats. Unity strengthens responses. In the case of China, it is usually impeded – at both corporate and governmental level – by a reluctance to jeopardise economic opportunities. For hackers to succeed, they need not just skill and determination but the ability to identify vulnerabilities in their target. In these cases, those weaknesses are not just in machines or software but in the humans deciding how to respond to such attacks. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'technology/cybercrime', 'technology/hacking', 'world/russia', 'world/china', 'tone/editorials', 'tone/comment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'uk-news/sergei-skripal', 'uk/uk', 'world/netherlands', 'us-news/us-news', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'world/asia-pacific', 'technology/data-computer-security', 'type/article', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-10-05T16:48:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
technology/article/2024/jun/01/live-nation-investigating-data-breach-of-its-us-ticketmaster-unit | Ticketmaster hit by data hack that may affect 560m customers | Ticketmaster has been targeted in a cyber-attack, with hackers allegedly offering to sell customer data on the dark web, its parent company, Live Nation, has confirmed. The ShinyHunters hacking group is reportedly demanding about £400,000 in a ransom payment to prevent the data being sold. The group reportedly has access to the names, addresses, phone numbers and partial payment details of 560 million of the site’s customers. In a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, Live Nation said: “On May 20, 2024, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. identified unauthorized activity within a third-party cloud database environment containing Company data (primarily from its Ticketmaster LLC subsidiary) and launched an investigation with industry-leading forensic investigators to understand what happened. “On May 27, 2024, a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be Company user data for sale via the dark web. “We are working to mitigate risk to our users and the Company, and have notified and are cooperating with law enforcement. “As appropriate, we are also notifying regulatory authorities and users with respect to unauthorized access to personal information.” On Friday, bank Santander confirmed that it had been hacked about two weeks ago. ShinyHunters is also reported to be behind this cyber-attack. The group posted an advert on a hacker forum for the data, which it says also includes staff HR details, with an asking price of $2m (£1.6m). The group claimed it had the data of 30 million customers. It also claimed to have 6m account numbers and balances, and 28m credit card numbers. In the post outlining the data it claims to hold, the hacker collective taunts the bank, stating: “Santander is also very welcome if they want to buy this data.” According to reports, authorities in Australia and the US are engaging with Ticketmaster to understand and respond to the incident. Ticketmaster and Live Nation have been approached for comment. | ['technology/cybercrime', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/technology', 'technology/data-computer-security', 'us-news/us-news', 'business/securities-and-exchange-commission', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/today-us', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'business/ticketmaster', 'profile/sammy-gecsoyler', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-06-01T13:52:17Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2024/jan/23/a-piranha-it-is-boiling-the-water-youre-swimming-in-and-taking-bites-out-of-you | A piranha: it is boiling the water you’re swimming in and taking bites out of you | Imagine a bulldog flattened with a meat tenderiser, shaved and sprinkled with glitter. Imagine more, and everywhere, or else: when I was a child, as sure as all cartoon sand would turn into quicksand, in every fictional body of fresh water swam very real fish with very real, sharp, tiny little teeth. In The Simpsons, Millhouse is more worried about piranhas than that his mother will stop loving him. Bart is reduced to a skeleton by piranhas from a hosepipe. Then we all learned about the existence of those small fish that will eat dead skin off your feet and we forgot about the ones we were told would tear the flesh from our skeleton. It is easier to think about clean feet than bodies ripped to shreds by a frenzied school of small, rabid animals whose interlocking, triangular, “blade-like” teeth are specially designed for “rapid puncture and shearing”. Piranhas lay their egg pits and swim round and round protecting them, ready to do the fish version of a pounce. To get past, distract them with an entire cow. They really can devour a cow, if they’re starved and confined to a small space. But otherwise, they won’t. This, as the measure of the piranha’s disproportionate ferocity, is a rumour that comes from, of all unlikely places, a US president: Theodore Roosevelt. After failing to win his bid for a third term in 1912, Roosevelt decided to take a long and lovely literal trip along the “river of doubt” in the Amazon. There, he was treated to a demonstration of piranhas eating a cow, “water boiling with frenzied piranhas and blood, and after about a minute or two, a skeleton floating to the suddenly calm surface”, according to this HowStuffWorks deep dive. In a memoir about the trip, during which he almost died, Roosevelt called them “the most ferocious fish in the world”. They don’t chew: they bite, the meat goes straight into their stomach and they bite again. But at least one science writer wants you to know they’re not that bad. In an op-ed in the New York Times, a man who sounds suspiciously like Jacopo Peterman, Elaine’s boss in Seinfeld (“In the Peruvian Amazon, I stood waist-deep in the Rio Napo while catching and releasing piranhas on a hook-and-line”, and “In the flooded grasslands of Venezuela, I drove around tossing a chicken carcass into various bodies of water … ”), assures us we can “swim without fear”. Who are you going to trust? Some fish expert or Sylvia Plath? “And the fish, the fish— / Christ! They are panes of ice / A vice of knives / A piranha.” I trust Clark Moore, a poet who wrote a poem called Ampersands, which starts like this: ... and we remarked on how piranhas, in uncounted numbers, are capable of consuming an entire ampersand in such-and-such a time frame. The sun was up, and below, and was somewhere overhead. And I thought ... ... and we shared thick and hearty laughs, and continued into the very dense jungle. And thick. Preceding us on the trailsides were ruins overgrown, boots stuck in mud, and heads of sunken ampersands. Which made sense to us, for ... And ends like this: ... and you dipped your foot, from the riverbank into the river, where the piranhas began eating. And I sat, looking at my hands. Sat, for there was nothing I could say. On the riverbank, alone. There, with whatever remained. & .... And as it goes, reveals itself as something covered in glitter. It is boiling the water you’re swimming in and taking bites out of you, and is not quite finished, not quite understood, until you jump in again, and again, and it cleans the scraps off you. Helen Sullivan is a Guardian journalist. Her first book, a memoir, will be published in 2024 Do you have an animal, insect or other subject you feel is worthy of appearing in this very serious column? Email helen.sullivan@theguardian.com | ['environment/series/the-nature-of', 'environment/fish', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'science/animalbehaviour', 'environment/environment', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/helen-sullivan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-01-22T14:00:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2011/aug/25/weatherwatch-scotland-rain-sunshine | Weatherwatch: Bets on rain or shine for bank holiday | In Scotland the summer bank holiday is at the beginning of August, while the rest of us have to wait until the last weekend of August (though prior to 1965 we all holidayed in the first weekend of August). The question is, who has the best chance of some fine weather? At first glance it seems the Scots win, since the first weekend is usually hotter – the warmest days usually occur during the last two weeks of July or first two weeks of August. Meanwhile, the extra daylight hours make barbeques and camping a little easier. But with the hot weather comes an increased risk of a thundery downpour. Roll on four weeks and the temperatures are far from bad – average daily maximums of 20C to 21C for the English home counties, and a couple of degrees lower in the north. And the sea is at its warmest then, making it an ideal time to have a dip. In reality there is no clear winner: both weekends have similar chances of being a washout or a scorcher. One bank holiday we don't want to repeat is that of August, 1956. A cool northerly airflow meant temperatures failed to climb above 13C in London — the coldest bank holiday in the capital since 1880. And Tunbridge Wells in Kent suffered a spectacular thunderstorm which buried the centre of town in 30cm of hail, with drifts of hail up to 1 metre deep. By the end of the day the town centre was flooded under 1 metre of water. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'travel/scotland', 'type/article', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-08-25T22:05:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/live/2016/dec/08/business-role-sdgs-un-debate-poverty | Should business play a greater role in the SDGs? – Read what happened in our live Q&A | When the sustainable development goals were launched a year ago, great emphasis was placed on the crucial role the private sector would play in achieving them by 2030. “We are spreading the word far and wide that every business has a responsibility to improve our world,” Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations said at the time. Yet business engagement with the goals has been low so far. Fewer than half of global companies plan to engage with the goals, according to Ethical Corporation’s State of Responsible Business 2016 report. The study showed that most engagement came from businesses in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, while it was lowest in North America. If businesses continue to ignore the SDGs – or treat them as an add-on, rather than a core strategy – can they be achieved in the next 14 years? Join us on Wednesday 14 December, 1-2pm (GMT), to debate the role business in achieving the SDGs. Questions we will explore include: How big a role should businesses play in the SDGs? Why should businesses engage with the SDGs? What can be learned from businesses that are actively working on the SDGs? Are certain goals more relevant or achievable for businesses than others? What is the best way to foster successful public-private partnerships? Sue Adkins, international director, Business in the Community Teresa Fogelberg, deputy chief executive, GRI Ole Lund Hansen, chief, Business of Tomorrow, UN Global Compact Sanda Ojiambo, head of corporate responsibility, Safaricom Paula Pelaez, head of Business Call to Action Archana Sinha, senior change manager, health and nutrition initiative, Ashoka Moderator, Sarah Shearman, Guardian Sustainable Business Make sure you’re a registered user of the Guardian and join us in the comments section below, which will open on the day of the live chat. You can send questions for the panel in advance by emailing sarah.shearman@theguardian.com or tweeting @GuardianSustBiz using the hashtag #AskGSB | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/series/role-business-development', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'global-development/sustainable-development-goals', 'global-development/global-development', 'type/article', 'environment/environment', 'tone/minutebyminute', 'tone/blog', 'profile/sarah-shearman', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2016-12-14T13:49:46Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
us-news/2023/sep/02/joe-biden-visits-hurricane-florida-desantis | Biden tours Florida hurricane damage: ‘nobody can deny impacts of climate crisis’ | Joe Biden said that no one can deny the impacts of the climate crisis anymore after he visited Florida on Saturday and surveyed the damage left behind by Hurricane Idalia. Speaking to reporters in front of fallen trees and debris, the US president pointed to this year’s extreme weather events and disasters, saying: “Nobody can deny the impact of climate crisis. There’s no real intelligence to deny the impacts of the climate crisis anymore.” “Just look around the nation and the world for that matter. Historic floods, intense drought, extreme heat, deadly wildfires … that cause serious damage like you’ve never seen before,” he added. Biden’s visit to Florida comes after Hurricane Idalia’s category 3 storm left a trail of damage in the state’s Gulf Coast including devastating floods, destroyed buildings and downed trees and power lines. In what was widely seen as a snub, Florida’s right-wing governor, Ron DeSantis, did not meet Biden on Saturday as his spokesperson said that Biden’s visit might hinder recovery efforts across the state. “We don’t have any plans for the governor to meet with the president,” DeSantis’s spokesperson, Jeremy Redfern, told CNN. In response to a question from reporters on Saturday on what had happened to the meeting, Biden said, “I don’t know. He’s not going to be there,” Reuters reported. On Thursday, the White House said that Biden informed DeSantis that he would be visiting Florida and that the governor’s office did not raise any security concerns at the time. Accompanying Biden on his visit was his wife, Jill. “Their visit to Florida has been planned in close coordination with [Federal Emergency Management Agency] as well as state and local leaders to ensure there is no impact on response operations,” the White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said. The Fema administrator, Deanne Criswell, also joined the president and first lady as they took an aerial tour in Live Oak to survey the damage. Biden received a briefing on response and recovery efforts from federal personnel, local officials and first responders at Suwanee Pineview elementary school. He also toured a community affected by Hurricane Idalia and delivered remarks in which he reiterated federal support for Florida. As Biden’s motorcade drove towards the school, one person was spotted waving a “Let’s Go Brandon” flag – a reference to a rightwing anti-Biden insult. Other bystanders either just photographed or videoed the motorcade. Addressing reporters and local residents, Biden said that he has “directed Fema to help you in every way they can”. “The spirit of this community is remarkable. People are in real trouble. The most important thing to give them is hope. There’s no hope like your neighbor walking across the street to see what they could do for you or the local pastor or someone coming in, offering help,” he said. Biden also said that 20 states have sent hundreds of line workers to Florida to reestablish electrical connections and that he has been in “frequent touch” with DeSantis since the storm made landfall. He went on to reiterate his calls towards Congress to ensure federal funding is available for natural disasters, saying, “Every American rightly expects Fema to show up when they’re needed.” “I’m calling on the United States Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to ensure the funding is there to deal with the immediate crisis, as well as our long term commitment to the safety and security of the American people,” Biden said. According to analysts, Hurricane Idalia, which also swept through Georgia and the Carolinas, could become the US’s costliest climate disaster of this year. Early estimates by risk analysts have put preliminary costs between $8.36bn and $18bn-$20bn. Last week, Biden visited Hawaii following the devastating aftermath of the Lahaina wildfires in Maui that have left at least 99 people dead and thousands of buildings destroyed. | ['us-news/joebiden', 'us-news/hurricane-idalia', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/florida', 'us-news/ron-desantis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/maya-yang', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | us-news/hurricane-idalia | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-09-02T19:57:19Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2014/jun/24/malaysian-police-say-australian-activist-faces-up-to-two-years-jail | Malaysian police say Australian activist faces 'up to two years' jail' | District police in Malaysia say a Sydney-based environmental activist faces up to two years in jail after being arrested at a protest against an Australian-owned rare earth mining company. Natalie Lowrey, an Australian resident born in New Zealand, was detained with 15 Malaysian citizens during the 1,000-strong protest on Sunday, which blockaded the entrance to the Lynas Corporation Advanced Material Plant in Kuantan. A witness said Lowrey was sitting down when police arrested her. Footage shot by journalist Damian Baker shows protesters taking part in a peaceful bike ride before forming a barricade of people, cars and tyres at the entrance to the plant. Protesters are seen sitting, standing, and holding placards. A protester tells police it is “up to citizens” to decide whether they wanted the plant or not. At one point, a scuffle breaks out. Lowrey is shown sitting with protesters when police approach and arrest people without force. Protesters gather outside the police station after the arrests, lighting candles on the footpath. One holds a sign saying “They Beat Us”. All the detained protesters except Lowrey were released on bail early on Monday. The district police chief, assistant commissioner Abdul Aziz Salleh, told Guardian Australia that under the government’s Peaceful Assembly Act which regulates public protests, 10 days’ notice had to be given to police before a protest could be held. The federal court is set to rule on the validity of that act on 9 July, after an appeal against it on constitutional grounds. “What [Lowrey] did was illegal because under our law it is illegal to be involved in any public assembly without permission,” Abdul Aziz said. “Secondly, she is a foreigner who was approved to come into this country for other reasons, not to protest.” At a minimum she would be deported to Australia, he said, but added she could face two years in prison, a fine, or both. “I warned the protesters they had 10 minutes to move on, but they did not move,” he said. “I told them it was illegal.” A petition has been launched calling for Lowrey’s immediate release. On Monday, Lowrey used Facebook and Twitter to thank people for their messages of support. “I am going fine not sure when I will be deported but hope to see you soon,” she wrote. A fellow protester and colleague of Lowrey’s, Tully McIntyre, said one of the arrested protesters ended up in intensive care suffering broken ribs and head injuries after Malaysian police used batons on him. Lowrey was not harmed. Abdul Aziz said only one protester went to hospital, that the injuries he sustained were not serious, and that police had no choice but to use force. “He was injured after he retaliated against police,” Abdul Aziz said. “In fact he was very violent. There was a lot of commotion, but no serious injuries.” McIntyre said Lowrey was concerned about how long she might be detained and was being housed with about 20 female prisoners with 24-hour camera surveillance. “At this stage all we have been told is that Natalie is being investigated by Interpol,” she said. Protests against the Lynas Corporation have been taking place for the past three years. There are about 700,000 people living within 30km of the plant, which is near coastal tourist resorts and an environmentally sensitive fishery area. Environmental campaigners have been calling for the Malaysian plant to close since it began operating in 2012. | ['world/malaysia', 'environment/mining', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/melissa-davey'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2014-06-24T06:41:47Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2022/mar/01/flash-flood-warning-for-parts-of-sydney-and-nearby-districts-as-severe-rain-event-moves-south | ‘Life threatening’: flash flooding warning for Sydney as city braces for up to 200mm of rain | The “rain bomb” that soaked Brisbane and triggered record floods in northern NSW will develop into an east coast low and dump as much as 200mm of rain on Sydney with “life-threatening” risks on Wednesday. The Bureau of Meteorology has more than doubled its rainfall forecast for Sydney to 150-200mm on Wednesday alone, and predicted the possibility of a severe thunderstorm and gusty winds by the evening. “Heavy rainfall which may lead to flash flooding is forecast to develop over parts of the Hunter and Metropolitan, Illawarra, South Coast and parts of Central Tablelands and Southern Tablelands Forecast Districts from tonight,” the bureau said in a new warning. “Six-hourly rainfall totals between 80 and 120mm are likely.” “Locally intense rainfall leading to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is possible with thunderstorms with six-hourly rainfall totals up to 200 mm possible,” it said. Dean Narramore, a senior bureau meteorologist, said the east coast low was likely to be more compact compared to similar recent systems such as in June 2016 or that which triggered floods near Sydney in March 2021. The event’s intensity depends on how close the low forms and how long it lingers near the coast. “The worst of the weather, the strongest winds, the heaviest rainfall and the worst of the beach erosion will occur near and just south of where that [system] crosses the coast, if it does, or when it comes close to the coast,” Narramore told a media conference in Sydney. Risks include landslips and mudslides as had been experienced in northern NSW as the rain shifted south from Queensland. Hazardous surf will extend along the whole length of the state’s coast on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing the threat of coastal erosion too, the bureau said in a separate warning. The source of the rain was a trough that would form into a low pressure system off the northern NSW coast before moving towards central parts of the NSW coast and deepening into an east coast low, the bureau said. Areas hard-hit by flooding in south-east Queensland and northern NSW gained some relief on Tuesday as the trough moved offshore. Ben Domensino, a senior meteorologist with Weatherzone, said people in a stretch of the coast from Gosford southwards, including Sydney, should prepare for significant falls. “What the models are agreeing on is that a low [pressure system] will gain strength and move towards the coast somewhere over the central or southern coast of New South Wales,” Domensino said. “But I think for the south coast, the Illawarra, you can pretty much lock in the heavy rain and flood potential.” The bureau predicted Wollongong will receive 150-250mm on Wednesday, and another 30-50mm on Thursday. WaterNSW on Monday said Sydney’s main reservoir, Warragamba Dam, would probably start to spill into the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain later this week. The bureau’s forecasts now have Warragamba receiving as much as 100mm to 150mm of rain on Wednesday and 30mm to 50mm on Thursday. Warragamba was at 99% capacity on Tuesday, and the catchments were either full or close to it, with several likely to spill. The city’s entire dam network was 97.6% full. “The upper range of the predicted spill peak from Warragamba dam has increased overnight, though it remains at a rate still well below the spill experienced in March 2021,” WaterNSW said. “[D]ownstream river level increases are likely and will also be influenced by the volume of inflows from tributaries downstream of the dam,” the agency said. “Tallowa and Cordeaux Dams are already spilling and other Upper Nepean storages likely to spill in the days ahead include Nepean, Avon, and Cataract, along with Woronora Dam to Sydney’s south,” it said. The event could bring damaging wind gusts peaking in excess of 90 km/h over the coastal fringe in the warning area from Wednesday, the bureau said. With sodden ground, strong winds could bring down trees, adding to the risks and also disrupting power supplies. According to the bureau’s regional floodwatch, Hawkesbury and lower Nepean rivers face minor to moderate flooding. The upper Nepean River is likely to have moderate to major flooding, while the upper Coxs and Colo river is set to have minor to moderate flooding. | ['australia-news/sydney', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-03-01T06:52:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2012/oct/03/track-ice-free-arctic-ocean-2015 | Letters: On track for an ice-free Arctic ocean by 2015 | Your correspondents warn the government that there are 50 months to avoid climate disaster (Letters, 1 October). But the dramatic collapse of Arctic sea ice this year presages disaster much sooner. It demonstrates the alarming progression of a vicious cycle: as the sea ice melts away, it is replaced by open water, absorbing sunshine and warming the sea such as to speed the melt. This vicious cycle became apparent in the 90s, when observations of the sea ice extent started deviating from linear projections. Annual sea ice minimum volume is showing a clear trend towards zero in September 2015 – an ice-free ocean. Scientists warn that this year's weather extremes, and mounting food prices, are due to Arctic warming and therefore liable to worsen progressively in future years as the sea ice disappears. Ameg, the independent policy group that I chair, argues that the only way to avoid such a crisis is to cool the Arctic. We need to start deploying cooling technology within five months if we are to prevent further sea ice retreat. This is a colossal engineering challenge, and governments must collaborate to ensure it is met. We must avert a crisis that could bring famine to all within a few years. John Nissen London • Polly Toynbee and Danny Dorling illustrate on the same page (Comment, 2 October) the perils of forgetting what US physicist Al Bartlett has called the "forgotten fundamentals" of growth. Thus Dorling calls for "low growth", but a rate of just 1% would produce a doubling of a given quantity in a mere 70 years. Toynbee even talks of the "sunny uplands of 3% growth". The doubling time would be correspondingly shorter (just over 23 years). Such "growthism" is no longer sustainable. This year's Earth "overshoot day" has already gone (12 August), earlier than ever before. That is why we greens argue that a quite different agenda is needed: a steady-state economy, one no bigger than the Earth can sustain. Sandy Irvine Newcastle Green party | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/arctic', 'world/world', 'tone/letters', 'environment/sea-ice', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/sea-ice | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-03T20:00:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
money/2018/aug/20/majority-of-uk-public-want-to-install-solar-panels-poll-finds | Majority of UK public want to install solar panels, poll finds | More than half of the British public would install solar panels and home batteries to tackle climate change if there was greater assistance from the government, polling has found. While many have already made their home more energy efficient, 62% said they wanted to fit solar and a surprisingly high 60% would buy an energy storage device such as those sold by Tesla. An even greater number – 71% – would join a local energy scheme such as a community windfarm or solar panel collective, according to the YouGov survey. The results run counter to the government’s approach to climate change and energy, which favours large-scale power generation such as nuclear plants and offshore windfarms. Community energy projects have flatlined in the face of government subsidy cuts and tax changes, while incentives for household solar will expire next year without a replacement. There is no support for people considering a home battery. James Thornton, CEO of environmental law group ClientEarth, which commissioned the research, said: “Government policy is plainly at odds with public sentiment – and its own ambition to tackle climate change – as far as our energy sources are concerned. “People want to know more and take ownership of how they get their energy – that’s clearly demonstrated by the broad support in the poll for household solar and community energy schemes.” Solar installers have told the Guardian that, increasingly, people are also opting for home batteries when they buy solar. Energy storage is also making inroads at utility scale. On Monday, water company Anglian Water will announce it has bought a 300 kilowatt hour (kWh) storage system from UK-based firm redT, for use at a water treatment site alongside solar panels. Solar was ranked the most popular of all energy sources in the ClientEarth survey, while gas was second worst behind coal. More than two thirds (68%) thought the big six energy suppliers’ market dominance should be broken up to allow smaller clean energy firms to grow. Exactly half said they would move their pensions to avoid fossil fuel investments, a figure that rose to 59% for 18-34 year olds. | ['money/energy', 'environment/solarpower', 'money/household-bills', 'technology/tesla', 'business/business', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'money/money', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'environment/energy', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2018-08-20T06:27:27Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2022/nov/17/6bn-insulate-houses-sizewell-c-jeremy-hunt-energy-efficiency-autumn-statement | Government plans £6bn to insulate UK’s houses and gives go-ahead for Sizewell C | Jeremy Hunt has pledged a further £6bn to improve Britain’s leaky housing stock and pushed the button on the Sizewell C nuclear power station project. In his autumn statement, the chancellor announced that a taskforce would oversee an initiative to insulate homes and upgrade boilers, and would receive extra funding between 2025 and 2028. He said £6.6bn would be spent during this parliament on energy efficiency, and announced a further £6bn of funding from 2025, “doubling annual investment”. Hunt said cutting energy bills would ease the cost of living crisis, and set a target to reduce the energy consumption of buildings and industry by 15%. “Over the long term, there is only one way to stop ourselves being at the mercy of international gas prices: energy independence combined with energy efficiency,” he said. Hunt confirmed that Sizewell C in Suffolk would be “the first state-backed nuclear power station for 30 years” after a £700m investment. Boris Johnson gave the £30bn project the green light in one of his last acts as prime minister but Hunt’s move to cut spending had created uncertainty around the planned power plant’s future. Hunt said contracts would be signed in “coming weeks” with partners in the project, including the French state energy firm EDF, which is building Sizewell’s sister station at Hinkley Point C, which is delayed and over budget. He said the station would provide power for 6m homes for 50 years. However, critics argue that it will take years to build and push up bills. The Nuclear Industry Association said the decision “represents the biggest step in our journey to energy independence”. But the Stop Sizewell C campaign said it “loads more tax on to struggling households, who would be forced to pay a nuclear levy on bills for a decade before they could light a single lightbulb”. Campaigners have long demanded that the government launch a concerted drive to improve home energy efficiency, arguing it would be the simplest way to cut bills and reduce household emissions. The government has made attempts to improve household energy efficiency over the past decade. The Green Deal offered loans for consumers to install double glazing and insulation but was seen as complex and did not receive widespread take-up. Last year, Boris Johnson cut the green homes grant, citing lack of consumer interest. In September, the government extended the existing energy company obligation scheme, under which they are expected to spend £5bn between 2022 and 2026. The scheme aims to install insulation and upgrade heating systems for low-income households. The Energy Saving Trust has said that installing 270mm of insulation, in a home with none, can cost between £455 and £640, depending on whether it is terraced, detached or a bungalow. Labour had called for the government to make insulating homes a “national mission” that could save people £11bn in three years. Angela Terry, the chief executive of the climate change action group One Home, said: “The news that the government is planning to set up an energy efficiency taskforce is welcome but they have to work with speed as temperatures drop this winter. “Insulating our homes is the single-most important step we can take to reduce our energy bills, bring down inflation and tackle the climate crisis.” Jess Ralston, a senior analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: “For those struggling through this winter and the next, investment in insulation in 2025 is two years too late.” The chancellor also said the energy price guarantee would be kept for a further 12 months at an average of £3,000 for a typical household, up from £2,500 at present. Analysts said the move would cost about £6bn. Hunt said there would also be further payments for help with energy bills for pensioners, for poorer households and for disabled people. | ['uk-news/autumn-statement-2022', 'money/household-bills', 'politics/jeremy-hunt', 'politics/taxandspending', 'business/business', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'money/money', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/energy-industry', 'uk-news/suffolk', 'environment/energy', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'business/sizewell-c', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-11-17T18:20:54Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2022/aug/23/throwing-the-switch-on-scotlands-largest-offshore-windfarm | Throwing the switch on Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm | Steve Wilson is a little windswept after stepping off a rocking boat in choppy North Sea waters. Wilson is programme director of Seagreen, Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm, which this week began producing power. Wilson has just sailed an hour out to sea from Montrose, in Angus on the east coast of Scotland, with other local, interested parties. There, they witnessed a technician hop aboard one of the first turbines to feed power back to the mainland. A drone operator onboard protested about conditions that made it tricky to send up the machine. “We did deliberately decide to build it somewhere windy,” Wilson laughed after landing safely back on shore. The £3bn Seagreen project, a joint venture between SSE Renewables and France’s TotalEnergies, is located 27km (17 miles) off the Angus coast. The first turbine of 114 was connected to the electricity network in the early hours of Monday morning. The project promises to generate 1.1 gigawatts of electricity – enough to power about 1m homes – in its first phase. That’s equivalent to about 60% of Scotland’s current offshore wind output. Its debut provides a rare bright spot for Britain’s energy supply as gas shortages in Europe have threatened to spill over into blackouts in the UK this winter and even higher bills for consumers. However, the windfarm will not be fully operational until some point in the first half of next year. “It’s unfortunate it’s not a short-term fix, but the long-term fix really is to deploy as much low carbon generation as we can,” Wilson said. Ultimately the developers hope the site will produce enough renewable electricity to power 1.6m households. That would in theory cover two-thirds of Scottish households. However the electricity generated – which connects into the network via a substation near Dundee – will be distributed around Great Britain. The turbines at the huge project have a maximum tip height of 187 metres (613ft), about twice the height of the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben. While floating windfarms are planned for further out to sea, Seagreen will be the world’s deepest fixed-bottom windfarm – its deepest foundation is due to be installed at 59 metres below sea level in December. “This is a significant project that’s very technologically innovative for the renewables industry. We’re installing a windfarm at a very difficult site with complex, rocky conditions,” said Wilson. The construction involves “suction bucket” technology for the bright yellow wind jackets, or foundations, which were assembled at the Port of Nigg, near Inverness. It is more than a decade since the rights to the seabed were granted by the crown estate, which manages the royal property portfolio. TotalEnergies agreed with SSE Renewables to acquire a 51% stake in Seagreen in June 2020. Wilson said the approval process has been slow going, with torrents of data and information required in the consent process. “That’s a key focus for us in the future – trying to really reduce that time period, quite significantly, in order to support accelerating building offshore wind in Scotland and the UK.” He adds that the energy security strategy, issued in April, shows “government agencies are starting to get aligned on it”. Seagreen’s location just south of the oil and gas capital of Aberdeen is symbolic. Local cabbies and hotel owners in the Granite City are hopeful that a shift to renewables can keep the region prosperous in the long term. SSE Renewables is part of London-listed SSE group, which is investing £12.5bn over five years in green projects in its “net zero acceleration programme”. SSE’s chief executive, Alistair Phillips-Davies, has attempted to offer a solution to the current energy crisis, accelerated by the war in Ukraine, which has pushed up bills. Over the weekend, he proposed a voluntary scheme through which generators of non-flexible, low-carbon power such as wind and nuclear could sign up for contracts to deliver non-hedged output at a fixed price, helping to reduce consumer bills. The merits of this solution were underscored this week when it emerged that the collapse of Bulb could end up costing taxpayers £4bn due to the government’s decision not to hedge. The surging price of gas has also sharpened the focus on renewable energy. Over the past week, gas for delivery the next day has cost £432 per megawatt hour, nine times higher than the £48MWh agreed at the last contract-for-difference auction round, analysis by climate information site Carbon Brief found. Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate change and net zero secretary, told the Guardian that the rise in gas prices was further evidence that the “transition to cheap, clean, homegrown power” needed to be accelerated. “But instead the Conservative leadership candidates have turned their backs on wind and solar, leaving households exposed to higher bills and our country’s energy system insecure,” he said. “This economic illiteracy is just the latest act in 12 years of failed Tory energy policy. Their shortsightedness has been staggering – closing our gas storage facilities, failing to insulate houses and blocking the quickest, cheapest renewables – and it’s households across the country who are now paying the price.” For the sake of consumers, government officials will be hoping for more blustery days off the shores of Scotland. • This article was amended on 24 August 2022. The Port of Nigg is not near Seagreen as stated in an earlier version. | ['environment/windpower', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'business/scottishandsouthernenergy', 'money/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-08-23T17:20:02Z | true | ENERGY |
sustainable-business/blog/denialism-relationship-science-industry | Denialism: the shifting relationship between science and industry | In the last few weeks, we have seen the release of two reports central to the issue of sustainable business. One was entirely scientific and didn't mention business, the IPCC's Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. The report sets out a compelling and conservative picture of the current scientific consensus regarding climate change. It offers no advice to governments or business. The second was the 2013 Accenture-UN Global Compact (UNGC) study of CEOs attitudes towards sustainability. The Accenture report reveals that "business leaders are not satisfied with business progress in tackling global sustainability challenges ... and a clear majority – 67% – do not believe that business is doing enough to address global sustainability challenges." Given the history of alliance between science and industry, we might expect to see CEOs look to science for support in generating the innovations so critical to business' role in meeting the challenge of climate change. Not so: the report on CEOs uses the word "science" twice in 60 pages. The IPCC report was met with climate skeptics' full force, pointedly discrediting the reliability and usefulness of peer-reviewed science. The Heartland Institute, UK tabloids and Rupert Murdoch's Australian and Wall Street Journal have been working assiduously to paint climate science as the enemy of business and to ensure that there would be significant doubts about the science itself. There are few signs that business leaders see strategic opportunities in the results of scientific inquiry. Forecasts of changing climate conditions have not produced a race to upgrade building stock to meet new climate challenges: building codes and technologies change very slowly. Automakers are not demanding that governments support the development of better bus technologies to help them reposition society for the future. Rebecca Henderson, the co-chair of the Business and the Environment Initiative at Harvard Business School, is resolutely positive about the possibilities inherent in linking business and climate science. Saving the environment will be the next big wave in innovation and job creation, she believes, as steel, railways, plastics and IT were for previous generations. "We need clean energy. We need abundant clean water. We need safe and effective waste disposal," she says. "Business can do that. That's what business does." For many of us raised in the 1960s, a positive relationship between science and business is almost axiomatic. Men who returned to the US from world war two studied science and engineering, they went into industry, and they had enough wealth to raise large families. We both were raised in the era when people believed the DuPont ad: "Better things for better living through chemistry." As early as 1915, the UK began to invest in science and engineering as a means to promote British manufacturers in competition with their German counterparts. The government created the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), the forerunner of the Research Councils. A year later, Canada established its own National Research Council to "advise the government on matters of science and industrial research". In 1950, the US followed the UK lead and established the National Science Foundation "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defence." In the 20th century, the funding of scientific research became the basis of a robust industrial policy. The close relationship between science and industry in America began to come unglued with two events: the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in the New Yorker in the summer of 1962, and the release of Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States in January 1964. The chemical and the tobacco industries were suddenly under attack. No longer was science the hand maiden of industry: it could not only drive innovation but warn of the perils embedded in industries, products and processes. Fifty years later, scientific research on climate change has remarkably little influence where it matters: on the oil industry. Paul Farrell, writing about the fifth IPCC report in the Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch says, "Admit it: The UN could have one billion scientists who are absolutely 100% certain that climate change will wipe human civilisation off the planet, as happened to the dinosaurs, never to return ... and still all Big Oil's deniers simply won't stop denying." This reluctance to use science to drive strategic decision-making is not confined to oil. Farrell outlines an enormous cascade of political and financial links to Exxon's profits, links that ensure that peer-reviewed research does not drive government or business policy decisions. One industry stands out in its dependence on climate science and its predictive capacity: the insurance industry uniquely embraces the generation of scientific data. According to Frank Nutter, president of the Reinsurance Association of America, "Insurance is heavily dependent on scientific thought". Insurers cannot afford to be denialists. In the event that rising levels of risk and their associated insurance premiums drive demand for innovative solutions to climate change, it will be the insurance industry's scientific realism that we can thank. The Accenture report offers the voice of one CEO who sees a future in which science matters to strategy. As one CEO told us: "Today we're in a high-consumption world, but we can buy time by reducing the impact of our current model. Further progress will demand science-based, common thought processes governing how we are going to think about these things in very different ways." Perhaps all businesses will one day soon demand more science, better predictions, and solid information that will drive innovation and lead us away from the precipice outlined by the IPCC. Until then, those business leaders who embrace the science will have significant competitive advantages over those who do not. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/blog', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'guardian-professional/sustainability', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'sustainable-business/climate-change', 'environment/ipcc', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/alison-kemper', 'profile/roger-martin'] | environment/ipcc | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2013-11-11T15:15:31Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2022/feb/18/greenwashing-pr-advertising-oil-firms-exxon-chevron-shell-bp | The great greenwashing scam: PR firms face reckoning after spinning for big oil | This week a peer-reviewed study confirmed what many have suspected for years: major oil companies are not fully backing up their clean energy talk with action. Now the PR and advertising firms that have been creating the industry’s greenwashing strategies for decades face a reckoning over whether they will continue serving big oil. The study compared the rhetoric and actions on climate and clean energy from 2009 to 2020 from the world’s four largest oil companies – ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP. Writing in the journal Plos One, researchers from Tohoku University and Kyoto University in Japan conclude that the companies are not, in fact, transitioning their business models to clean energy. “The magnitude of investments and actions does not match discourse,” they write. “Until actions and investment behavior are brought into alignment with discourse, accusations of greenwashing appear well-founded.” Although this isn’t the first time that oil companies have been accused of overstating their climate bona fides, it has never been set out quite so comprehensively, according to environmental sociologist Dr Robert Brulle at Brown University. “This is the first robust, empirical, peer-reviewed analysis of the activities – of the speech, business plans, and the actual investment patterns – of the major oil companies regarding their support or opposition to the transition to a sustainable society,” he says. Brulle says PR firms and advertising agencies that have created campaigns around the oil firms’ net-zero claims are now on notice. “There’s no plausible deniability that they are unaware of the activities of these companies after this paper has been published,” he says. “This paper clearly shows that these companies aren’t walking the talk.” That forces the hand of PR firms such as Edelman – which made headlines late last year for making big climate pledges while also working for oil majors like Exxon and Shell – and trade groups such as the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, which have a reputation for blocking climate policy. At a company meeting in December, the firm’s chief executive, Richard Edelman, told employees that the company would not walk away from fossil-fuel clients, but that it would “reject projects that delay progress toward a future with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions”. In the face of this week’s report, it would be hard to say that any oil major meets that standard. Casey Norton, a spokesperson for Exxon, said: “ExxonMobil has long acknowledged that climate change is real and poses serious risks. In addition to our substantial investments in next generation technologies, ExxonMobil also advocates for responsible climate-related policies.” “These claims of investments in clean energy are yet another case of words not matching actions,” Gregory Trencher, one of the study’s authors, says. Trencher notes that Exxon invested only 0.23% of its total capital expenditure in low-carbon energy production and development from 2010 to 2018, and that the company stated in an April 2021 energy and carbon summary report that it does not invest in renewables. As for acknowledging climate science, Trencher says that makes up “only a small part of our study – specifically, it is but one of 25 indicators studied”. Edelman did not reply to a request for comment by press time. Neither did the PR firm WPP, which has done extensive work for BP and Chevron. The New York Times’ T Brand Studio, which has created campaigns for both Exxon and Shell amplifying their net-zero claims, also declined to comment on how this study might play into that work. The Washington Post also declined to respond to questions about whether its WP Creative Group would continue to create campaigns for Chevron, Shell or the American Petroleum Institute, in light of such extensive documentation that previous campaigns were misleading. According to Brulle, it’s unlikely that PR and advertising firms will be able to serve the fossil-fuel industry as they have in the past. “It doesn’t seem to me that they have the room to do that any more,” he said. “They would have to basically engage in bad-faith advertising and greenwashing to continue to support these organizations as actually engaging in climate action.” The greenwashing study comes just a week after House Democrats Katie Porter and Raúl Grijalva sent letters to six PR firms asking for more details on their work for fossil fuel companies, particularly with respect to campaigns that misled the public on climate change. The House oversight committee has indicated that it will also question PR firms as part of its investigation into climate disinformation. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil is due back in court in Massachusetts early next month to fight charges that it defrauded residents of that state on climate. Similar fraud charges have been leveled at all of the oil majors via an ever-growing list of cases, including those filed in Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Delaware and Vermont. But Christine Arena, a former Edelman vice-president who now runs her own social impact production company Generous Films, says climate fraud can’t happen without the help of the PR and advertising industry. “PR and ad firms are central players in what we look at as the influence industry,” she says. “There’s a lot of money spent, and emphasis on external facing advertising, marketing, and promotion that helps prop up the fossil fuel industry’s social license to operate and give the world a sense that, to quote API, ‘We’re on it.’ We don’t need regulation. We’re good corporate actors.” Brulle says the media should also take note of this study, especially when an oil company chief executive makes a claim around their company’s climate commitments. “Good, critical reporting would have to challenge the statements of these fossil fuel companies,” he says. | ['environment/series/climate-crimes', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/amy-westervelt', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-special-projects'] | environment/series/climate-crimes | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2022-02-18T11:00:05Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
technology/2023/oct/19/some-people-whose-personal-data-stolen-in-hwl-ebsworth-hack-not-told-for-six-months | Some people whose personal data stolen in HWL Ebsworth hack not told for six months | Some people who have had dealings with Australia’s privacy regulator were only informed this week that their personal information, including banking data, was caught up in the hack of the law firm HWL Ebsworth. The Russian-linked ransomware group ALPHV/BlackCat hacked the law firm in April. In September the group published on the dark web 1.1TB of the data it claimed to have stolen – later established to be 3.6TB. Among those affected were 65 government departments and agencies that HWL Ebsworth had provided legal services, including the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which serves as Australia’s privacy regulator. In a letter sent by the law firm to one individual this week, seen by Guardian Australia, HWL Ebsworth said data gathered in its capacity providing legal services to the OAIC was obtained via “unauthorised access to a portion of HWLE’s IT environment”. “Unfortunately, the incident involved the theft of data from HWLE’s systems, and some of your personal information that is relevant to your dealings with the OAIC was taken as a result.” The information obtained included name, encrypted messaging contacts, bank details, address and signature. The letter notes that the firm took out an injunction in the New South Wales supreme court that “seeks to prohibit further access to, use, dissemination or publishing of the data disclosed on the dark web, including by the media”. The injunction has meant those who had their data posted on the dark web could only find out from the company itself, resulting in the longer period before they were informed. HWL Ebsworth said the reason it had taken six months since the hack to notify the individual was “because a very large volume of data was extracted but it was not immediately apparent the extent of the impact to personal information”. “A complex manual review was needed to assess what personal information was involved and identify affected persons.” Last month Australia’s national cybersecurity coordinator, Air Marshal Darren Goldie, defended the time taken to inform those caught up in the breach as a measure to avoid sparking anxiety. “While there is some benefit in getting that information into the public domain early on, I made the decision to allow HWL Ebsworth to notify individuals through NDIS providers and caregivers first before making the information public,” he said. Goldie said at the time that the government’s 16-week formal coordinated response to the attack had ended, but criminal investigations continued. A spokesperson for HWL Ebsworth referred Guardian Australia back to previous statements made by the company. The company has previously said it had been attempting to inform those affected as swiftly as possible. Guardian Australia has sought comment from the OAIC. | ['technology/cybercrime', 'technology/hacking', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/josh-taylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-10-19T05:07:33Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
technology/2017/nov/14/spotmini-headless-robotic-dog-quadruped-robot-boston-dynamics | SpotMini: the headless robotic dog sure to give you nightmares | The latest robot from former Google sibling Boston Dynamics looks like a cross between something out of a Terminator movie and a cutesy Pixar character. Shown off in a short teaser clip, the latest evolution of the firm’s SpotMini robotic dog has ditched the snapping-claw-for-a-head in exchange for a creepier headless design replete with soft, yellow plastics and eerily smooth movements. While under Alphabet, SpotMini was shown off in 2016 capable of grabbing things with a robotic arm where its head should have been, designed to navigate within the tight confines of a home and to shimmy under tables to (badly) perform domestic chores. The new SpotMini has a much softer and more compact but less useful design, which combined with its smooth, almost animal-like movement and face-style sensor system at its front (which makes it look like it has eight eyes), produces a machine that could just as easily haunt your dreams as it could become your new robot pal. Particularly when it stops, stoops and stares straight into the camera. Not much more is known about the robot, although more information is promised soon, but the robot is expected to weigh around 30kg, and be capable of climbing stairs and navigating obstacle-laden landscapes. SpotMini is a smaller version of the quadruped Spot robot, which itself was a shrunken-down version of the robotic packhorse BigDog designed by Boston Dynamics to carry equipment over rough terrain into the battlefield for the US army. BigDog was rejected by the US military because it was too noisy and gave away troop positions, leading to the robotics company switching gears and applying a greater focus to its humanoid Atlas robot – and now, seemingly, household pet replacements. Alphabet sold Boston Dynamics to SoftBank in June. The company now forms part of the Japanese firm’s robotics division, which creates humanoid robots such as Pepper, NAO and the 140cm tall Romeo. Boston Dynamics unveils ‘nightmare-inducing’ hybrid robot | ['technology/robots', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/alphabet', 'technology/google', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-technology'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-11-14T11:55:15Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
weather/2009/jan/17/weatherwatch | Weatherwatch: 17 January 2009 | It is a fine night, and a bright large moon, and a multitude of stars. "A very quiet night. When the moon shines very brilliantly, a solitude and stillness seems to proceed from her, that influences even crowded places full of life," writes Charles Dickens, in Bleak House (1853). Mr Tulkinghorn, the lawyer has just looked up, casually, thinking what a fine night, what a bright large moon, what multitudes of stars. It is of course the last time he looks at anything. "Not only is it a still night on dusty high-roads and on hill-summits, whence a wide expanse of country may be seen in repose, quieter and quieter as it spreads away into a fringe of trees against the sky, with a grey ghost of a bloom upon them; not only is it a still night in gardens and in woods, and on the river where the water meadows are fresh and green, and the stream sparkles on among pleasant islands, murmuring weirs, and whispering rushes; not only does the stillness attend as it flows where houses cluster thick, where many bridges are reflected in it, where wharves and shipping make it black and awful, where it winds from these disfigurements through marshes whose grim beacons stand like skeletons washed ashore ..." On and on, Dickens goes, setting the scene for an unwitnessed murder, back in London where footsteps pass more tranquilly away and "every noise is merged, this moonlight night, into a distant ringing hum, as if the city were a vast glass, vibrating." | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/timradford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2009-01-17T00:01:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2007/jul/09/theairlineindustry.transportintheuk | Sales soar as Boeing unveils its green dream jet | A new jet which uses 20% less fuel than similar sized aircraft and has already become the fastest selling passenger plane in history was unveiled by Boeing last night, to an enthusiastic reception from industry workers and its staff. The 787 Dreamliner, capable of carrying 330 passengers, will offer bigger windows, raised cabin pressure and humidity to reduce complaints such as headaches and itchy eyes, and a greatly reduced noise footprint, Boeing said. "There's a need for another dramatic improvement in air travel to make it more affordable, comfortable and convenient for passengers, more efficient and profitable for airlines and more environmentally progressive for our earth," Jim McNerney, president of Boeing, told a gathering of 15,000 people last night, who gained an early glimpse of the Dreamliner as it was towed into Boeing's vast factory in Everett, near Seattle. The plane, launched as the aviation industry comes under pressure over carbon dioxide emissions, looks set to rival the Airbus 380 not on size, but on environmental credentials, deriving greater fuel efficiency from its light carbon fibre-reinforced plastic bodywork. It has sensors that trigger control services to react immediately in turbulence for a smoother ride. It replaces blinds with electronically dimmable windows which allow passengers to see out even when they are "closed". And its specially treated engines will reduce noise emissions by as much as 60%, Boeing claimed in a ceremony broadcast to millions on the internet. Boeing's first new jet in more than a decade has been described as arguably the most important in its 90-year history, and has already excited commercial interest, with more than 600 orders from 47 customers, racking up sales worth more than $100bn. Virgin Atlantic has bought 15 and is confident of exercising options on another eight by the end of this year. It has the right to buy a further 20 after that, as part of a deal worth up to $8bn. Virgin, which will get its first four 787s in 2011, will take advantage of their fuel efficiency to use them for new routes including non-stop flights from London to Hawaii and Perth. Its designers are looking at installing sound-proof creches at the back of the planes. "The Dreamliner is a step change in the industry," said Virgin's director of communications, Paul Charles. "It delivers for us with great fuel efficiency, cutting consumption by around 27% per passenger." Friends of the Earth aviations campaigner Richard Dyer said: "This is a welcome step because it's a significant improvement on what's gone before, but we don't see this kind of improvement that often and the growth in passengers completely overwhelms it." Even Airbus sent a letter of congratulations to Mr McNerney. "Today is a great day in aviation history," the letter said. "Whenever such a milestone is reached in our industry it is always a reflection of hard work by dedicated people inspired by the wonder of flight." The 787 is set to make its debut in the air towards the end of the summer and is due for delivery to its first customer in May 2008. One of the Dreamliner's engine makers is Rolls-Royce, and its landing gear is made in Gloucester by Messier-Dowty. · The article above was amended on Wednesday July 25 2007. The Airbus A80 that appeared in the story above, should have been an Airbus 380. | ['business/theairlineindustry', 'uk/transport', 'business/business', 'money/money', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'environment/environment', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'travel/travel', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'business/boeing', 'type/article', 'profile/rachelwilliams'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2007-07-09T14:20:11Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2012/jul/26/london-2012-refuse-plastic-bags | London 2012 visitors urged to refuse plastic bags at Games | Green campaigners have urged visitors to London 2012 to refuse plastic carrier bags offered to them by retailers, after failing to persuade organisers to impose a complete ban during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The campaign has been spearheaded by the not-for-profit Greener Upon Thames and has won the high-profile backing of 50 global and local leaders including Sir David Attenborough, Sir Richard Branson and Vivienne Westwood. They have all signed a letter pubished in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, urging visitors to the Games to support "a plastic bag-free London 2012". It tells readers: "In the lead up to the Games, we were delighted that Locog made its shops plastic-bag free. During the Games, we call on Olympic organisers, visitors, suppliers and sponsors to avoid the use of plastic bags. London 2012 provides a perfect opportunity to raise awareness and leave a lasting legacy in Britain and beyond." Other supporters include Shaun Spiers, chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the actor Jeff Bridges and musician Jackson Browne. Greener's campaign against plastic bags at London 2012 was launched in November 2010 by its two patrons, Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith and ocean rower and environmentalist Roz Savage – both signatories to the letter. The group has warned that the "first sustainable Games" could distribute hundreds of thousands of throwaway plastic bags, which would be carried around the world, creating a global problem, and shaming the British capital. Commenting on the latest move, Goldsmith said: "Plastic bags cause immense damage throughout the world, and absolutely symbolise the mindlessness of our throwaway society. Visitors to the Olympics have an opportunity to show that life without throwaway bags is perfectly possible." Westwood added: "We can all win a gold medal for the environment by saying no to plastic bags during London 2012 and beyond." Recent government figures show plastic bag usage is on the increase. A total of 8bn "thin-gauge" bags were issued in the UK in 2011 – a 5.4% rise on the 7.6bn in 2010 – with every shopper now using an average of almost 11 a month. The letter is also signed by many eminent marine biologists and scientists, including Martin Bourque, executive director of the Ecology Centre at the University of Berkeley, California, who are worried by the growing evidence to suggest that plastic bags are entering the food chain. A LOCOG spokesperson said: "London 2012 is the first Games to not use any single-use or short-life disposable bags. All the bags we provide at the games will be reusable for multiple occasions and we believe that by focusing on reducing unnecessary bag usage, encouraging re-use and providing clear information about recycling, we have found the most sustainable and practical solution." | ['environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'sport/olympics-2012', 'sport/sport', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'sport/olympic-games', 'type/article', 'profile/rebeccasmithers'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2012-07-26T15:23:28Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk/2011/sep/11/severe-weather-warning-hurricane-katia | Severe weather warning as Hurricane Katia tail approaches | A severe weather warning covering northern Ireland, England and Scotland has been issued by the Met Office, with forecasts saying Britain will be lashed by the tail of Hurricane Katia, causing gale-force winds of up to 80mph late on Sunday and Monday. The gales, combined with heavy rain, could cause "significant disruption" for Monday morning commuters and, where high winds coincide with high tides along western coasts, there could be flooding. Although the winds will not be hurricane force by the time Katia – rated a category four hurricane at its peak – reaches the UK, the Met Office chief forecaster, Eddie Carroll, urged people to keep up to date with forecast warnings. He added: "There's still a fair amount of uncertainty about the track and strength of the winds." | ['uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/maevkennedy', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-09-11T12:20:54Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/planet-oz/2013/aug/30/queensland-coal-hunger-strike-campaign-rail-project-galilee-basin | Climate campaigners start 'hunger strike' to block Queensland coal project | Graham Readfearn | Ben Pennings has recruited six so far but, according to his campaign group's website, another 150 people are going to join for a day or two in support. "We will only have water, and tea with no milk or sugar," says the 41-year-old environment campaigner and activist. "It will be up to individuals when they end the hunger strike personally. No one will be pressured to continue in any way." Pennings is a founder of Generation Alpha, a Brisbane-based campaign group that is launching an assault on a proposed rail and port coal project in Queensland's Galilee Basin. Pennings is one of seven "hunger strikers" going without food from today under the gaze of passersby from a rented Brisbane shop-front. His OverOurDeadBodies campaign is promising "creative direct action" and "civil disobedience" to pressure rail company Aurizon. Aurizon is sitting on a decision to invest heavily in the reported $6bn project in partnership with GVK Hancock, a company which includes Asia's richest woman Gina Rinehart on the board. GVK Hancock's proposed Alpha coal mine project will dig up 32m tonnes of coal per year from the Galilee basin and export it to Asia for burning in power stations. Analysts have claimed the project is financially unviable – a claim which the company rejects. The company also says that objections by environmental lawyers to the project's mining lease are delaying the start of coal production, which is likely to be the first quarter of 2017. Mining magnate and politician Clive Palmer also has plans to mine 40m tonnes of coal a year with his China First project, also in the Galilee basin. The highest profile recruit to the OverOurDeadBodies campaign is the 49-year-old former Australian Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett, now the convener of the Queensland branch of the Greens. Bartlett told me he felt the world was "heading over a cliff" on climate change and that he was willing to try a new activist approach. On the hunger strike, he said he was not planning to do himself "any great harm". He said: There's the contradiction of stating support for climate action but then going full steam ahead with coal – it's completely contradictory. There doesn't seem any acknowledgement of that, never mind any attempt for us to transition to something else. Queensland's one of the biggest - in terms of contributors to emissions - of almost any province or state in the world and that awareness isn't really there among Queenslanders. A statement from Aurizon said the rail company had been an "integral partner in developing and exporting coal for the benefit of the Queensland economy for almost five decades" and that it had a focus on "safety and environmental responsibility". The statement said its project, which was still going through "due diligence", would service several mines but no final investment decision had been made. Aurizon has a long-term commitment to Queensland and the communities in which we operate and understands the need to earn ongoing support by operating responsibly and with care for the environment. It is this need to earn a social licence which campaigners are targeting as Queensland and Australia's coal industry comes under an ever-brightening spotlight from campaigners. Greenpeace brought its iconic Rainbow Warrior boat to the Queensland coast in April to highlight the impacts of climate change and dredging on the Great Barrier Reef, which the United Nations is threatening to place on its World Heritage "in danger" list. Activists clambered on board a loaded coal ship as it headed for Asia. Later, Greenpeace said a campaign of peaceful civil disobedience against coal was "justified" given the risks posed by climate change. Campaigner and activist Jonathan Moylan is currently facing the possibility of a heavy fine and a maximum 10-year jail sentence after issuing a hoax press release claiming a bank was pulling out of a loan deal for a New South Wales coal mine. But it's not just environment campaigners putting the heat on coal. Some 16 religious leaders across multiple faiths - including the main Christian denominations alongside Hindus, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists – signed an open letter calling explicitly for Australia to "wind back our exports of cheap coal". "We are despoiling the world given to us as a sacred trust for future generations," the letter said. The Fossil Free campaign is pushing individuals and organisations to pull their investments out of coal projects. The World Bank and the European Union's investment arm have both introduced self-imposed restrictions on financing coal power projects in the name of climate change. Barack Obama has also directed the US Export-Import Bank to restrict financing of new coal power projects around the world. Preparing himself for a few days without food, Andrew Bartlett insists that the OverOurDeadBodies campaign is "not just a PR exercise" and he hopes it will encourage others to take action. He also says he is motivated by the future planet being built for his 11-year-old daughter. I'm not criticising it at all, but there's a feeling that traditional [campaigning] stuff isn't enough. The corporate elites have still got a pretty strong hold on things. I don't personally have the answers about what we should do – I just think that we need to do more. | ['environment/planet-oz', 'environment/environment', 'environment/series/guardian-environment-blogs', 'environment/coal', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'tone/blog', 'environment/mining', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/graham-readfearn'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2013-08-30T03:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2013/may/22/oklahoma-tornado-end-world-ledonna-cobb | Oklahoma tornado: the end of a world is in Ledonna Cobb's eyes | Jonathan Jones | What makes a particular photograph "iconic"? That word is already being used of this picture of a family group stumbling away from the wreckage of Briarwood elementary school after the Oklahoma tornado struck it. The Greek word ikon means in the first instance any picture; but it also means the religious images venerated by Orthodox Christianity. So an iconic photograph is presumably one that inspires awe and carries a quasi-religious quality of importance, beauty, emotion, history. The Marxist thinker Walter Benjamin said that in the photographic age, works of art lose their "aura" or magic. But the prevalent use of the word "iconic" recognises that some photographs are after all magical. Since this photograph hit the world press on Tuesday, reporters have traced the people in it. They have appeared on television and told their story. Ledonna Cobb is a teacher at the school whose ruins fill the background of the picture, and she risked her life to shield children as the school was torn apart. All the children at this school survived and her heroism helped. As she and her husband left the devasted scene – the moment of the picture – with two children, one theirs, the other one of Ledonna's pupils, Steve Cobb nursed and cuddled their daughter, Jordan, as he has explained, to try and be a good father and make her feel safe. So that's the story behind this picture. But the reason it is iconic is that it also tells other stories. You do not need to know the names of the family or their terrible adventure in the tornado to find it deeply arresting and moving. Coming across it in a newspaper I found that I stopped and pondered. It took me out of the workaday world painted by the words around it. Perhaps the reason a news photograph becomes iconic is that it swamps the rational, detailed, yet often ephemeral reality of journalism with something more universal, passionate and human – the grandeur of a sudden tragic insight into what the human condition really is. This picture, if you don't know the context, looks like the end of the world. Martians might have wiped out half of humanity, or the Gulf stream gone into overdrive (perhaps it has …). No Hollywood blockbuster has ever created such a convincing image of survivors in an apocalyptic meltdown of ordinary life – because this is real. These people really have just endured the end of a world. In the background children who have narrowly escaped death in the school we see in ruins hang about waiting for their own parents. They almost look like they might be about to start playing, or laughing about it all. Because they are children. But really they need comfort, like Jordan Cobb in her father's arms. Is this picture iconic in the end because it shows what appears to be the American suburban nuclear family surviving catastrophe, with gender roles reinforced and nature defeated by family values? No. It is iconic because the people in it are so ordinary and appealing and we are driven to imagine what we might do in the same extremes. It calls out as a warning, another one, about the strange things happening to planet Earth. Like survivors on the road out of Pompeii, the people in this picture have just seen a force that makes human effort pitiable, and this knowledge is in their eyes. | ['commentisfree/series/framing-the-debate', 'us-news/oklahoma-city-tornado', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/oklahoma', 'world/tornadoes', 'us-news/us-weather', 'world/world', 'artanddesign/photography', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanjones'] | world/tornadoes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-05-22T15:48:33Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
travel/2013/aug/03/englands-forests-riding-bedgebury | England's forests: Riding in the woods on a pony called Magic | W hen I was a boy, Bedgebury Forest was nothing less than the wild, wild west of Jesse James, Doc Holliday and Colonel Custer. It was also home to King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table, Robin Hood and his Merry Men, and the dashing D'Artagnan, friend of the Three Musketeers. In truth, Bedgebury is a 1,000-hectare forest sprawling along the borders of Kent and East Sussex, known as one of the "seven wonders of the Weald". I grew up barely a mile away in the early 1970s, and it was a rare day during the holidays that I didn't find myself trotting up Delmonden Lane on my grey Connemara pony, Winter Magic, anxious for adventure in the ancient woodland. Living deep in the country, and as an only child who went away to boarding school, I had few local friends and so often relied on our rescue dog, Lucy, and (before he disgraced himself) our knackered, flatulent old donkey, Ned Kelly, for company. We were a motley crew: me – only just 12 – on Magic, with Ned behind on a leading rein and Lucy in front, barely under control. Occasionally Mabel the tortoiseshell cat would join us, although she rarely made it to the forest, peeling off to chase mice or chat to the tom at the top of the lane. And just in case we fell among the Cheyenne or the Sheriff of Nottingham's men, I would be tooled up with my air pistol ("If you shoot your mother, I'll take it away from you," warned my father) and trusty catapult. Only the A268 Flimwell-Hawkhurst road stood between the end of the lane and the start of the forest, but it was a serious challenge getting us all across. On one ghastly occasion, Lucy scampered over safely and Magic and I almost made it when Ned decided to have a bit of a lie down. He drew in three enormous breaths, paused, then let out three loud and noxious farts before collapsing in a heap, slap bang in the middle of the road. I had to dismount, catch Lucy, tether Magic and abase myself in front of motorists before beseeching Ned to shift his scabby arse. It was a full 20 minutes before the wretched animal decided he'd had enough, whereupon he got up and ambled to the verge as if nothing had happened. I never took him with me again. Magic, Lucy and I, however, continued our daily visits. The forest belonged to us, and I never tired of trotting and cantering (strictly forbidden) along its many paths and bridleways. We hardly ever saw anyone else except the occasional dog walker, and were left completely alone to re-enact the Charge of the Light Brigade or Custer's Last Stand. Sometimes I simply enjoyed being in the forest. There were bluebells to admire in spring and mushrooms to pick in autumn; there were pheasants and woodpeckers to spot and (utterly, utterly forbidden) gates to be jumped. For a 12-year-old boy temporarily free of parental rule, it was sheer bliss. You can still ride in Bedgebury today, albeit under slightly stricter control and with a Trot permit, available from the Toll Rides (Off-Road) Trust. Nor is there any shortage of other Forestry Commission sites in which to saddle up and move on out. The West Country is particularly blessed, with Cookworthy Forest near Bude, Haldon Forest Park near Exeter and Great Wood in the Quantock Hills. No permits are needed for any of these. In Cheshire, Delamere Forest Park boasts a fine 22-mile route, while Hamsterley Forest in County Durham is also well worth exploring on horseback. I'm a true townie now and my equestrian skills are somewhat rusty, but without Magic and Bedgebury I would not have ridden with gauchos in Patagonia, cowboys in Missouri, shepherds in New Zealand and – most bizarrely – Rastafarians in St Lucia. For real, not just in my forest-induced imagination. | ['travel/series/englands-forests', 'travel/horseriding', 'travel/travel', 'travel/kent', 'travel/england', 'travel/uk', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/activities-for-children', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'education/agricultureandforestry', 'education/education', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanray', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/special-supplement', 'theguardian/special-supplement/special-supplement'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2013-08-02T23:01:09Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
film/2023/aug/29/and-then-come-the-nightjars-review-farmer-and-vet-at-centre-of-drama-of-rural-life | And Then Come the Nightjars review – farmer and vet at centre of drama of rural life | Based on a play – a painfully obvious fact given the stiltedness of the dialogue – by Bea Roberts, this small-scale British drama revolves almost entirely around two characters who are followed over a number of years. The early scenes, set in 2001, establish the affectionate friendship between Devon dairy farmer Michael (David Fielder), recently widowed and judging by the beard eligible for a pension soon, and local veterinarian Jeff (Nigel Hastings), a younger man with a budding drink problem. When foot-and-mouth disease reaches their neck of the moors, Jeff is compelled to put down Michael’s entire herd according to governmental guidelines. Michael tries to resist with an unloaded shotgun and some choice curse words aimed at the ministerial enforcers who accompany Jeff, but there’s no stopping the forces of change. As the years pass, agriculture itself comes under threat in a rural economy increasingly skewing towards offering hospitality for wealthy visitors who want to capture sunsets on Instagram rather than see where their meat and milk comes from. It’s a shame that Paul Robinson’s direction and Fielder and Hastings’ performances fail to liberate the film from its stagy origins, because the core concept is pretty compelling. The incremental sociological shifts that have unfolded in rural Britain over the last 20 years or so are indeed fertile soil, ripe for dramatic ploughing. But Roberts’s screenplay only glancingly engages with the issues, in big brushstroke fashion. There are lots of problems that would have affected characters like Michael and Jeff that might have been germane, such as the impact of Brexit or resistance to the foxhunting ban. Alas, the focus is on more quotidian, smaller-scale travails, such as Michael’s fundamental loneliness and Jeff’s crumbling marriage, although the self-imposed restriction to just two speaking parts undermines the exploration of those arcs in any depth. Ultimately, the slushy musical score and prettified cinematography – everything seems to happen at magic hour – prove more irritating than enhancing. Even the title’s inelegant plod of monosyllables comes off as somehow annoying and pretentious. • And Then Come the Nightjars is released on 1 September in UK cinemas. | ['film/film', 'film/drama', 'environment/farming', 'uk/uk', 'stage/stage', 'stage/theatre', 'environment/environment', 'culture/culture', 'campaign/email/film-today', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'profile/lesliefelperin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-08-29T06:00:12Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/mar/20/british-tampons-and-nappies-set-to-fuel-power-stations | British tampons and nappies set to fuel power stations | One of the UK’s trickiest waste problems is being tackled by turning the undesirable into the combustible – tampons and incontinence pads are being converted into dry, burnable bales. The new initiative, from a major waste company, compresses the waste into fuel for power stations. Huge volumes of what are known in the trade as “absorbent hygiene products” are produced in the UK. But it is difficult to deal with as its dampness makes incineration expensive. Dumping the waste in landfill is the other current option, but the material takes decades to degrade and heavy and rising landfill taxes are aiming to end the practice. “Hygiene products are an essential part of many of our everyday lives but disposing of them has always been an issue,” said Justin Tydeman, CEO of the PHS group, which developed the new, patented process. PHS removes waste for 90,000 customers across the UK and Ireland, including many offices, schools and care homes, and tackles 45,000 tonnes of sanitary, nappy and incontinence waste a year. In the new process, the waste is first screened for unwanted items. “The strangest thing we have found so far was a pair of handcuffs,” said Tydeman. The material is then shredded and squeezed, with the waste liquid disposed of as sewage. The dry material remaining is packed into bales, which can be burned in power stations. The process is being analysed by experts from the University of Birmingham, who will report on how environmentally friendly the new process is in practice, compared to landfill or wet incineration. “Whether or not it turns out to be a major source of energy in itself, the key thing is we find a good way to handle what is a complex and growing waste stream,” said Tydeman. “We don’t want this stuff just going into the ground.” The use of fuel derived from general refuse is already common in the rest of Europe and is growing in the UK, which exports millions of tonnes of it to the continent. The PHS plant in the West Midlands began testing the new process last year, but on Monday it announced it has moved to commercial-scale operation, currently 15% of all the waste it receives. The company aims to turn all the 45,000 tonnes of absorbent hygiene products it handles into bales by the end of 2017. Tydeman expects more such waste in future, as a result of an ageing population: “The great thing about life today is people are living longer, but what comes with that is often incontinence issues. We want this to be a growing issue, because we want people to live longer.” Disposable nappies are already a huge waste disposal challenge, with 3bn a year being thrown away in the UK. Other companies are looking at ways to recycle this waste into things as varied as cat litter, insulation material and fertile soil. One challenge is collecting such waste from homes, but the charity Zero Waste Scotland recently ran a successful trial of kerbside collections of absorbent hygiene products. Another problem is that almost half of women flush tampons down the toilet, rather than disposing of them in the bin. Between 1.5bn and 2bn sanitary items are estimated to be flushed down Britain’s toilets each year, leading to blocked drains and waste littering rivers and beaches. | ['environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-03-20T06:01:28Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
artanddesign/2015/sep/24/alice-cazenave-best-photograph-portrait-on-leaf-photosynthesis | Alice Cazenave's best photograph: a portrait on a leaf | Although I studied molecular medicine at university, I come from a family of cabinet-makers. I would spend whole summers in France watching my grandfather work wood, learning about tree species, and patiently making things with natural materials. While I had pursued science, I realised I had an inherent need to be creative. With my photography, I want to step away from the photo-saturated society we now live in. The magic has been lost: no one makes anything by hand any more. This shot is a celebration of materiality, the hope being that it will reawaken a reverence in us for natural processes. Creating this portrait on a leaf was mostly a camera-less process. I’ll take a traditional photo of what I want and print it on acetate to make a negative. Then, while they’re still on the plant, I put the leaves in the dark for 48 hours. I then take a leaf off, put a negative on top of it, and expose it to light. The negative is composed of dark and translucent areas: the leaf photosynthesises light wherever it passes through, creating starch. I then boil the leaves in a chemical solution, which stains the areas of starch, allowing the image to develop. The picture emerges very slowly and gradually fades away again. I didn’t quite believe it when I saw an eye emerging so I captured the whole process with timelapse photos. I don’t care what anyone says – this is magic. Perfecting this technique was very testing. I’d try to preserve wilting leaves in wet cloths, storing them in lunchboxes and examining them forensically for any sign of discolouration. For me, the making is more important than the taking. I’m at a very early stage with this process, though, having only developed it in January. The next stage will be to tell stories with it. I’ve been inspired by other cameraless photographers, people like Anna Atkins, who made cyanotypes in the 19th century, pressing seaweed or algae on to photosensitive paper. Today, Susan Derges puts photographic paper under the ice on frozen lakes then fires a flash from above, so you get an exact trace of the ice. They’re using nature as a negative. Photography is writing with light: because we use cameras and computers so much, that alchemy side of photography has been forgotten. So much photography is looked at politely, or forced on people. You’re never actually committed to it. But with these leaves, I couldn’t stop staring. Alice Cazenave’s CV Born: Coventry 1990. Trained: GCSE photography; degree in cellular and molecular medicine, University of Bristol; MA in art and science at Central St Martins. Influences: Garry Fabian Miller, Floris Neusüss, Berenice Abbott. High point: “Learning alternative colour techniques with Andrew Chisholm.” Low point: “When I thought this wasn’t going to work after six months of trying. People thought I’d lost the plot. And I had a bit.” Top tip: “Be brave, keep experimenting, embrace cliches. You have to get through them to ever create something different.” This article’s headline was amended on 24 September 2015 at the artist’s request. It originally said ‘A portrait on a leaf made without a camera’. Although Alice Cazenave works with camera-less techniques, this image involved a camera to make the initial negative | ['artanddesign/series/mybestshot', 'artanddesign/photography', 'culture/culture', 'science/chemistry', 'technology/photography', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'technology/technology', 'science/science', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/ben-beaumont-thomas', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/arts'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-09-24T07:00:02Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2017/jun/20/gisele-brazil-environment-president-michel-temer | Brazil's president announces plan to protect forest – after plea from Gisele | The Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen appears to have succeeded where conservationists and scientists have failed: by persuading the president, Michel Temer, to veto legislation that would have slashed protected reserves in the Amazon. In a Twitter post last week, Bündchen urged Temer to block a bill that would have opened up 600,000 hectares (1.5m acres) of forest to development. The model – who has long been a supporter of WWF – tweeted: “It’s our job to protect our Mother Earth.” Her intervention apparently made an impact on the president, who has previously had scant regard for conservation, packing his cabinet with agro-business supporters and making deep cuts in the budget of the environment ministry. In a tweeted response to Bündchen yesterday, Temer announced that he was vetoing the proposed legislation. This victory for the environment may yet prove short-lived because the pro-business government is considering other plans to reduce forest reserves and indigenous territory. Meanwhile, many Twitter users asked Bunchen to use her newfound influence and urge the scandal-plagued president to resign. “Gisele, please ask for ‘temer Temer out’ with the same trick,” said one user in response to the exchange between the politician and the supermodel. “Who knows, maybe he’ll listen to you on that too?” | ['world/brazil', 'world/michel-temer', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/deforestation', 'world/americas', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-06-20T16:58:15Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
money/2017/aug/12/edf-free-solar-panels-buy-power-generated-20-years | Should homeowners warm to EDF Energy’s free solar panel system? | If you want solar photovoltaic panels on your home but don’t have the money for them, EDF Energy is offering to install a free system – complete with storage batteries – if you agree to buy the subsidised power it generates for 20 years. The French-owned energy giant is looking for 100 homes to trial its Sunplug scheme, which is being offered in conjunction with established solar supplier Lightsource. To sign up you need to have a large, unshaded south-facing roof at a pitch of about 35 degrees. If you are accepted, the company will install the largest solar panel system the roof can take – a 16-panel setup will generate 4kW – plus an LG storage battery that lets you use the power that’s generated during the day in the evening. In return, EDF gets to keep the feed-in tariff paid by the government, which is worth about £150 a year. It also keeps the export tariff – around £50 a year. The householder is contractually bound to pay Sunplug 9.9p per kilowatt hour for each unit of electricity they use from the panels and battery. This is a little cheaper than what you would pay if you bought green electricity from the grid. For example, green supplier Good Energy charges 15.5p, with a standing charge averaging 26p a day. The advantage could come in future years as the price demanded by Sunplug can only rise by the retail prices index or 2.5% – whichever is lower. If the price of grid electricity rises substantially over the next 20 years, users will make considerable savings. However, if they don’t, some users will be left wondering why they bothered. So this scheme is likely to appeal to anyone who wants green electricity at fixed prices over the next two decades. The other significant benefit comes at the end of the 20-year term, when the householder is given ownership of the system, which should continue to generate substantial free power. Robin Melvin, head of innovation at EDF, says about 50 households have signed up for the trial and that he is looking for another 50 to join, at which point its success will be evaluated. He says users should not have a problem with their mortgage company – previously an issue with free solar installations – as the package is compliant with Council of Mortgage Lenders guidelines and big lenders are on board with the deal. The top-up electricity most households will need can be bought from any supplier at normal rates. If you decide to move house during the 20-year term, he says the deal can be passed on to the new owner, or the seller can buy the system out. The prices are pre-agreed on a sliding scale – it will cost £5,500 to exit the initiative after 10 years. If you like the idea of the scheme and have the money to buy it outright – probably the best option – Sunplug will sell you a 3kW (12 panels) system for £6,999 and a 4kW (16 panels) one for £7,499. You get to keep the feed-in tariffs and export payments, benefit from the electricity savings and also get the crucial battery. In-house storage batteries are seen as the next big thing in renewable energy and are increasingly being offered by suppliers alongside electricity generating panels as they allow households to use double the power they produce – they can access it when they need it in the evenings. Last week, Ikea announced it is going to sell solar PV/battery installations, in conjunction with Solarcentury, at similar prices. It is offering a system that generates 3.24kW from £6,925. It estimates that homeowners can pay off the capital invested in the system in roughly 12 years through feed-in tariffs and lower electricity bills, assuming they have the right kind of roof. So what’s the Money verdict? Solar PV systems are still a good investment if you have the money upfront, the right roof and location, and if you plan to stay in the house for a long time. The case for the free Sunplug deal is less clear. To us, it looks too heavily weighted in favour of the company. If it offered some free electricity each day or other incentives, that would make the scheme more attractive. | ['money/energy', 'money/money', 'business/edf', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/household-bills', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'environment/feed-in-tariffs', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/milesbrignall', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/money'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2017-08-12T06:00:37Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2019/sep/06/hurricanes-bahamas-dorian-existential-threat | For the Bahamas, hurricanes like Dorian are now an existential threat | Sloan Smith | We had gone through this countless times. On the eve that Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas, we knew the drill. Board up your home, secure your belongings and stock up on food, water, non-perishable items and the good snacks. Bahamians had faced down the merciless beatings of Hurricane Andrew, Frances, Jeanne, Wilma, Joaquin, Matthew, Irma and more. We thought we knew the score. But no one could anticipate that mother nature could be this angry and cruel. Once the water subsides, the debris is cleared and the bodies are counted, what hope will be left for the Abacos and Grand Bahama? We have three full months left in this hurricane season, but two of the country’s largest economic contributors and heavily populated Family Islands have already been simultaneously attacked and decimated to some extent. The gravity of this has not yet set in. Will we have to go through this again? Can we continue to sustain this way of living? Our small-island developing state currently grapples with high unemployment, challenges in generating economic growth and a vulnerability to natural disasters. These are the questions and concerns we face in the aftermath of another deadly storm. How much more can one island nation take? Despite continued efforts for growth and a thirst for stability in the islands, the Bahamas are always threatened by hurricanes – every year, in the period between 1 June and 30 November. What else can we do but remain resilient and continue to build stronger? Scientists have warned that climate change is shaping tropical systems. Global carbon emissions reached all–time highs during 2018, and global surface temperatures are likely to increase the intensity of storms. Over the past three years many other countries in the region, including Dominica, Jamaica and Cuba, have met similar disastrous fates with the passage of hurricanes. Our islands are in need of global support to ward off possible extinction. Today we weep for the trauma and devastation that have visited our shores. Our hearts ache at the survivors’ tales being recounted and the number of people not yet accounted for. The country is on edge, our nerves are frayed, and we just want relief for our fellow countrymen. We still do not know exactly how many people are dead or how many may still be trapped, holding out for rescue. The fear is that the loss of life will be “staggering”. In real time, Bahamians throughout the archipelago fortunate enough to escape Dorian’s wrath held their breath and watched in horror as familiar streets and homes were swallowed by the rising tide, and memories of generations birthed were washed away. Although Abaco had lost some phone network services since Sunday – from one of its only two providers – videos and photos circulated quickly. One friend posted on Facebook that she hadn’t spoken to her family on the island all day. A neighbour hadn’t heard from his mother since she told him that they were waiting to be rescued. Their call had been disconnected abruptly and he waited in anguish to hear from her again. I watched as he frantically and repeatedly called her number the next day when phone services on the island were said to be back up, hoping to no avail that someone would pick up. I heard from relatives that two of my cousins were missing. The degrees of separation closed in as thousands of Bahamians took to social media to search for loved ones and make fervent pleas for rescue. There was just no preparing for this monstrous storm. Roofs were blown off shingle by shingle; vehicles were overturned and submerged in water; and buildings were disassembled, ripped down to their skeletons and toppled like playing cards. The boundaries where the ocean and land had once met were erased. The sea moved inland and the sharks with it. The water moved in fast and ferociously, smothering everything in its path. The sheer force of the surge burst into living rooms, invading the inner crevices of people’s property. People huddled into ceiling and attic spaces to wait out the rampage, their futures uncertain. After Hurricane Dorian, the normal procedures of disaster prevention, preparation and mitigation will simply not be sufficient. We are now facing the difference between living and surviving. It is paramount that the ways forward prioritise resilience-building, fighting climate change and the preservation of life. The devastation of Dorian will be recorded in the country’s history, alongside the tales of the Great Abaco hurricane of 1932 and the 1926 hurricanes. It is my hope that the world will not get disaster fatigue and the Bahamas will not be forgotten. We are still in grave need of international support. Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly called the Bahamas “the most beautiful place from space”. In my biased opinion, that real-world imagery ought to be preserved. While it remains unclear what the future of Grand Bahama and the Abacos will be, or what the long-term impacts of this storm will have on Bahamians, what is certain is that there is only one way forward. We must move upward, onward and together to rebuild. It’s only a matter of how long it will take. • Sloan Smith is a former reporter for the Nassau Guardian newspaper | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/hurricane-dorian', 'world/extreme-weather', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/bahamas', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/sloan-smith', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | world/hurricane-dorian | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-09-06T14:34:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/article/2024/aug/09/storm-debby-us-north-east | Storm Debby spirals to US north-east with forecasts of tornadoes and floods | A downgraded Tropical Storm Debby, now a tropical depression, made its way to the US north-east on Friday after leaving at least eight people dead in the south earlier this week. Debby is currently spiraling northward toward Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, where it is forecast to spawn tornadoes and threaten more flash flooding on some already soaked patches of the US, forecasters said. The National Weather Service said in a bulletin that while Debby would continue to weaken through Sunday, “heavy rain, flash and river flooding effects will continue over the next two days as the storm begins its northeastward acceleration” Debby’s death toll rose to eight on Friday morning after a 78-year-old woman was found dead Thursday night when a tree fell on her home in Rockingham, North Carolina. Earlier in the week, a 13-year-old boy was killed in Florida after a tree fell on his home. A 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy were also killed on Monday in a car crash during the tropical storm in Florida. Multiple airports were under ground stops on Friday morning, with most flights halted, including at New York’s LaGuardia airport and Washington DC’s Reagan Airport. Other airports were experiencing departure delays. Debby made landfall on Thursday for a second time this week, arriving on shore again near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, three days after slamming into Florida’s Gulf coast as a category 1 hurricane, then traveling across northern Florida and Georgia to the Atlantic coast. Debby unleashed tornadoes in the Carolinas, with a man killed in North Carolina after one tore through his home. The tornado damaged at least 10 houses, a church and a school in Wilson county, North Carolina, early on Thursday, county officials reported on social media. Debby could spawn more tornadoes in North Carolina and Virginia later on Thursday and early Friday, including in the vicinity of Washington DC, the NWS said. Around 8.20am ET, US Capitol police briefly ordered a shelter in place after it issued a tornado warning for the Capitol complex. The warning was cleared 30 minutes later. Debby unleashed flash floods in South Carolina overnight, with some areas seeing as much as 17 inches of rainfall. On Friday morning, 88,000 customers were without power in the Carolinas, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland, according to Poweroutage.us. In Bulloch county, Georgia, about 50 miles (80km) north-west of Savannah, four dams burst on Wednesday as a result of floodwaters. That forced the evacuation of local residents after homes were flooded and roads made impassable as lakes and creeks overflowed, the Bulloch county sheriff’s office reported. Families told local news outlets that their homes were severely flood-damaged, with some getting as much as 12 inches of rain. Nelson Burnsed, a Bulloch county resident, told the local news station WTOC that his home was ruined by the flood. “Basically needs to be tore down and started over,” Burnsed said. “It’s devastating. It’s actually devastating. It’s a hard pill to swallow.” Reuters and The Associated Press contributed reporting | ['world/hurricanes', 'world/extreme-weather', 'us-news/virginia', 'us-news/maryland', 'us-news/pennsylvania', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lauren-aratani', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-08-09T14:00:38Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/oct/29/how-have-you-been-affected-by-cop26 | How have you been affected by Cop26? | With the Cop26 summit due to start on Sunday we would like to hear how you will be affected by the climate change conference which is taking place in Glasgow this year. Whether you living in the area or are attending events, we would like to hear about your experiences. How to get in touch If you’ve been affected and would like to share eyewitness accounts or news tips, anonymously if you prefer, directly with our journalists then please do so via the form below or contact us via WhatsApp by clicking here or adding +44(0)7766780300. Your responses are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. One of our journalists will be in contact before we publish, so please leave contact details. If you’re having trouble using the form, click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here. | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/callout', 'profile/guardian-community-team', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-10-29T13:00:30Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
science/2018/aug/14/plantwatch-unspoilt-rare-dunes-earmarked-for-new-golf-course | Plantwatch: unspoilt, rare, dunes earmarked for new golf course | One of the last unspoilt coastal dunes in Scotland is under threat from plans for a championship golf course, which the developers say will be environmentally friendly. Coul Links, near Embo, Sutherland, north-east Scotland, is considered very special – a complete, undisturbed dune system, on a stunning coastline, that has a unique mosaic of habitats. The dunes are internationally recognised and a legally protected conservation area. Many threatened plants grow there, such as the lesser butterfly orchid, coral root orchid, moonwort, and star of Bethlehem. There is also a rare colony of coastal juniper trees, plants that are rapidly disappearing in Scotland. The dunes are also home to a wide range of animals, including the very rare Fonseca’s seed fly, which is only found on this coastline and which relies on undisturbed dunes. In June, after years of campaigns against the development, the Highland Council granted permission for the golf course to go-ahead, against the advice of the council’s own experts. The last hope now, say campaigners, is for the Scottish government to block the planning application. Other wild dunes on the Scottish coast have been subject to developments, including Donald Trump’s Balmedie golf course, north of Aberdeen, which was built 10 years ago on rare mobile sand dunes, another special conservation area. | ['science/series/plantwatch', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/coastlines', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/plants', 'uk/scotland', 'sport/golf', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulsimons', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-08-14T20:30:10Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development-professionals-network/2015/jan/22/live-qa-how-can-ngos-work-in-modis-india | Live Q&A: How can NGOs work in Modi’s India? | After months of anxiety, an Indian judge ruled this week that government restrictions on Greenpeace’s foreign funding were illegal. But the atmosphere remains tense. A leaked report by India’s recently elected government revealed that it believes foreign-funded NGOs are “negatively impacting economic development”. This mainly referred to protests about dirty energy and mining projects, but the Intelligence Bureau also said that international organisations were highlighting “caste discrimination, human rights and big dams” to “discredit India at global forums”. But despite ambitions to become a world leader in space exploration, the country is still struggling to fulfil many development goals around poverty, malnutrition and maternal mortality - not to mention gender inequality and sanitation. Can the government and NGOs work together to address those issues? Or is a thorn in the government’s side the best position for civil society in India? Join us on Thursday 29 January from 1-3pm GMT to discuss how NGOs can work most effectively in Modi’s India. The live chat is not video or audio-enabled but will take place in the comments section (below). Get in touch via globaldevpros@theguardian.com or @GdnGlobalDevPro on Twitter to recommend someone for our expert panel. Follow the discussion using the hashtag #globaldevlive The panel Divya Raghunandan, programme director, Greenpeace, Bangalore, India, @draghuna Divya joined Greenpeace India in 2008 and has overseen all the campaigns run by the NGO on climate and energy, sustainable agriculture and oceans. Saket Mani, youth representative, World We Want 2015, Pune, India, @SaketMANI Saket represents India youth in the UN’s innovative participation campaign, World We Want 2015. He is interested in global youth engagement in development. Rujuta Teredesai, co-founder and director, Equal Community Foundation, Pune, India, @RujutaTH Rujuta set up the Equal Community Foundation in 2009. It focuses on engaging men to end violence and discrimination against women. Parvinder Singh, campaigner and civil society activist, New Delhi, India, @parvindersingh1 Parvinder has over 14 years’ experience working with international NGOs in India, including ActionAid, ChristianAid, Avaaz.org and Oxfam. Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser, Office of Supreme Court Commissioners on Right to Food, New Delhi, India Biraj is a right-to-food activist. The Supreme Court Commissioners monitor government food programmes to ensure implementation of court orders. Pallav Patankar, programmes director, The Humsafar Trust, Mumbai , India, @pallav01 After a corporate career, Pallav joined HIV prevention and LGBT rights NGO Humsafar in 2009. He organises Queer Azaadi Mumbai, the city’s LGBT pride parade. | ['working-in-development/working-in-development', 'global-development-professionals-network/live-chats', 'world/india', 'global-development-professionals-network/policy-advocacy', 'environment/greenpeace', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'society/poverty', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/anna-veronica-leach'] | environment/greenpeace | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2015-01-22T16:54:58Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2021/may/01/why-do-dead-whales-keep-washing-up-in-san-francisco | Why do dead whales keep washing up in San Francisco? | The 45ft carcass lay belly-up in the surf at Fort Funston beach, just south of San Francisco, drawing a small crowd of hikers and hang gliders. The stench lingered on the evening breeze as seabirds circled the animal, a juvenile fin whale. The whale was the fifth to wash ashore in the area this month. The other four were gray whales – giant cetaceans who migrate an astounding 11,000 miles each year from Alaska to Baja and back – all found on beaches near the city over a span of just eight days. Each was a startling scene that raised immediate concerns for many observers. Whales are an important part of the ecosystem, often looked to as markers of ocean health, and their deaths can serve as indicators that something is amiss. But scientists say the picture is more complicated. Investigations into the whale deaths continue and so far, experts say, there isn’t a smoking gun. Some marine researchers believe the deaths may be more cyclical than a sign of catastrophe. “At first glance, it sounds horrific,” says Joshua Stewart, a research associate with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). “But this is not an isolated event and to some extent that puts me at ease, personally.” After nearing extinction in the 1950s, gray whales have had a remarkable recovery, rebounding to levels that enabled their removal from the endangered species list in 1994. Now they are among the most frequently sighted along the California coast as they migrate south for the winter and north in early spring. They are also one of the most studied marine mammals, with data that goes back to the 1960s. Each time a whale winds up ashore, it gives scientists a new opportunity to learn about the state of seas. However, the gray whale population on the west coast has declined in recent years – dropping by roughly 24% since 2016. Today there are an estimated 20,580 whales left, according to data from Noaa. And this month’s high spate of deaths was not the first – in 2019, Noaa declared an ongoing “unusual mortality event” when 122 whales washed up across the western shore from California to Alaska, more than four times the previous 18-year average of 29. Stewart, who tracks gray whale population numbers, notes that, even with the declines, the population is still close to an all-time high. “Despite these downturns that, at the time, are very distressing, they have bounced back multiple times,” he says, adding that they are a highly adaptable and resilient species. “We want to know if this decline is continuing or a temporary thing.” On 8 April, there were two whales to examine in the Bay at the same time. One carcass had been floating for days before it wound up lodged at the Berkeley marina. The other washed ashore on Muir Beach, just north of San Francisco. Teams from the Marine Mammal Center and the California Academy of Sciences conducted necropsies, which includes taking tissue samples, assessing the internal organs and reproductive tract, and evaluating the ribs and vertebrae for signs of trauma or impact. Moe Flannery, senior collections manager of birds and mammals for the California Academy of Sciences, was on the scene for the necropsies and says teams haven’t concluded their investigations – though culprits could include a lack of food or disease. “There are no real answers yet,” she says, adding that despite the deaths, scientists are hopeful the gray whale population will bounce back. “They are a resilient species and I think it is concerning, but we have hope that this is just a little blip in time and that the species itself will rebound as it has in the past.” Ship strikes have already been identified as the cause of some deaths, including the fin whale found on Friday. Unlike the gray whales, fin whales are still listed as endangered. There are only an estimated 3,200 left along the west coast off California, Oregon and Washington, and ship strikes are the biggest threat to their survival. “It goes to show how many threats these whales are facing,” says Callie Steffen, a project scientist at the Benioff Ocean Initiative. Steffen works on a team that developed the Whale Safe project, which uses data to help mariners map where whales are when they plan voyages off southern California. The system, which she says is “like a Smokey the Bear fire warning but for whales”, has had a positive impact. But whales may be traveling closer to the coast, putting them at higher risk of harm from ship strikes, loud disruptive noises from ports, chemical pollution and entanglement, according to a 2019 study from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Authors of the study believe the change has something to do with the whales’ biological clocks. Ari Friedlaender, a marine ecologist who teaches and heads a lab at the University of California at Santa Cruz, says that whether whales are killed by malnutrition or ship strikes, their deaths should be seen as red flags. Even if we can’t point our finger at a singular cause behind the decline, human activity – from shipping to the climate crisis – is driving changes that negatively affect the whales. “It means people are likely affecting and altering the ecosystems that these whales require food from,” Friedlaender says. “There are so many downstream effects and impacts from the things we do in our daily lives. The actions we take locally can have consequences and impacts very far away and over longer periods of time. We need to keep our eyes open.” | ['environment/whales', 'us-news/san-francisco', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-05-01T10:00:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2014/sep/01/new-satellite-maps-show-polar-ice-caps-melting-at-unprecedented-rate | New satellite maps show polar ice caps melting at 'unprecedented rate' | German researchers have established the height of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps with greater precision than ever before. The new maps they have produced show that the ice is melting at an unprecedented rate. The maps, produced with a satellite-mounted instrument, have elevation accuracies to within a few metres. Since Greenland’s ice cap is more than 2,000 metres thick on average, and the Antarctic bedrock supports 61% of the planet’s fresh water, this means that scientists can make more accurate assessments of annual melting. Dr Veit Helm and other glaciologists at the Alfred Wegener Institute’s Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, report in the journal The Cryosphere that, between them, the two ice sheets are now losing ice at the unprecedented rate of 500 cubic kilometres a year. The measurements used to make the maps were taken by an instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s orbiting satellite CryoSat-2. The satellite gets closer to the poles − to 88° latitude − than any previous mission and traverses almost 16m sq km of ice, adding an area of ice the size of Spain to the big picture of change and loss in the frozen world. CryoSat-2’s radar altimeter transmitted 7.5m measurements of Greenland and 61m of Antarctica during 2012, enabling glaciologists to work with a set of consistent measurements from a single instrument. Over a three-year period, the researchers collected 200m measurements in Antarctica and more than 14m in Greenland. They were able to study how the ice sheets changed by comparing the data with measurements made by Nasa’s IceSat mission. Greenland’s volume of ice is being reduced at the rate of 375 cubic km a year. In Antarctica, the picture is more complex as the West Antarctic ice sheet is losing ice rapidly, but is growing in volume in East Antarctica. Overall, the southern continent − 98% of which is covered with ice and snow − is losing 125 cubic km a year. These are the highest rates observed since researchers started making satellite observations 20 years ago. “Since 2009, the volume loss in Greenland has increased by a factor of about two, and the West Antarctic ice sheet by a factor of three,” said Angelika Humbert, one of the report’s authors. | ['environment/poles', 'world/greenland', 'world/antarctica', 'environment/sea-ice', 'science/science', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/series/guardian-environment-network', 'science/satellites', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/timradford'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-09-01T11:34:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2020/oct/02/california-fire-conditions-glass-fire-red-flag-warning | Smoke choking California again as dangerous fire conditions continue | Smoke from nearly two dozen wildfires burning across California will continue to darken skies across the west this weekend, as residents prepare for more heat, toxic air and conditions that are expected to keep fueling the flames. The National Weather Service reports that both excessive heat warnings and heat advisories will remain in effect along California’s coast, while the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has extended its Spare the Air Alert through Tuesday, with air quality deemed “unhealthy”. Meanwhile the state is closing in on a devastating new record, with close to 4m acres now consumed by wildfires this season. “It’s likely that over the next day or two we will crest the 4m-acre mark. The biggest year before this year was 1.54m,” said Thom Porter, a chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. “We are dwarfing that previous record and we have a lot of season left to go.” The grey smoky haze coating much of the west – from Portland, Oregon, to Santa Barbara, California, has created hazardous conditions that public health officials are concerned will have an impact even after the smoke clears. Researchers at Stanford University attributed roughly up to 3,000 additional deaths in California to just one month of the wildfire smoke, especially for at-risk or elderly people. Dr Gina Solomon, a principle investigator for the Public Health Institute in San Francisco, says chronic exposure to the unsafe conditions takes a toll on lung capacity – and can have long term consequences. “Not only is this happening year after year, but it is happening week after week and month after month, for a significant portion of the year. What this means is it is more likely there will be long-term effects on people’s health,” she says. For children, that means their lung function may fail to increase each year, as it should, and adults will see declining lung capacity at a steeper slope. “We might have made it to age 80 feeling good and not getting short of breath when climbing a hill – now we may only make it to age 75,” she says. “It is insidious, it is subtle – but it is very worrisome.” There have already been roughly 8,200 wildfires this year, according to state officials, and they left devastation in their wake. Since August, 31 people have been killed in the fires and nearly 8,000 structures have been destroyed. Roughly 53,000 people across California are currently evacuated. Officials were prepared for dangerous conditions last weekend but couldn’t stop the spread of two new big blazes: the Glass fire in Sonoma and Napa counties and the Zogg fire in Shasta county, which both erupted Sunday. Collectively, they have consumed more than 116,100 acres, and by Friday were 6% and 46% contained, respectively. Crews battling the Glass fire, burning through the wine country north of San Francisco, are on high alert as forecasters warn of red flag conditions of extreme fire danger into Saturday morning. Winds up to 30 mph (48 kph) were forecast to push through the hills of Napa and Sonoma counties as the fire threatens more than 28,000 homes and other buildings. “It’s going to be a big firefight for us over the next 36 hours,” said Billy See, an assistant chief with Cal Fire. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, toured fire-ravaged Napa county on Thursday and said the state was putting “all we have in terms of resources” into firefighting, particularly over the 36 hours of the windy period. The Glass fire is the fourth major blaze in the region in three years and comes ahead of the third anniversary of 2017 wildfire that killed 22 people. Newsom said people there have been “torn asunder by wildfires seemingly every single year, this drumbeat, where people are exhausted, concerned, anxious about their fate and their future.” Numerous studies have linked bigger wildfires in America to the climate crisis. Rising temperatures in the west have created drier conditions that, combined with poor vegetation-management policies and human encroachment into fire-prone areas, driven by the state’s housing crisis, have led to the annual disasters. Scientists predict the worst of this record-breaking season may still be yet to come. “Our fire season is by no means over,” Alex Hall, the director of the Center for Climate Science at UCLA, told the Guardian, explaining that California is only now entering the part of the season where the dry winds pick up. Hall is hopeful that the attention on California’s disasters will galvanize a stronger response to the climate crisis. “Climate change is happening now”, he says. “We have to fix our relationship with our forests. We have to fix our relationship with our natural landscapes. The urgency of that is underscored by this human catastrophe – and it is obvious that time is up.” | ['world/wildfires', 'us-news/california', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-10-02T23:52:47Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/oct/25/alan-jones-launches-great-barrier-reef-site-after-criticising-global-warming-hoax | Alan Jones launches Great Barrier Reef site after criticising 'global warming hoax' | A new Great Barrier Reef conservation site has been launched by the Australian broadcaster Alan Jones, who has declared that climate change was a hoax and said the reef was “fine”. Experts, including the federal government, agree that climate change is the biggest threat facing the reef. “The global warming alarmists will stop at nothing,” Jones said on his radio show before launching the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef website in Cairns. “Green groups run a very different agenda. If they can prove there’s an armageddon on the way they’ll get money. They want to talk about climate change and shut down everything.” Jones attacked WWF and Greenpeace in particular, saying they were lying about the effect of industrialisation along the Great Barrier Reef. “Like much associated with the global warming hoax, truth was the casualty,” he said. “The Barrier Reef’s fine – there are any number of reputable entities who will be looking after it and making sure it continues to be fine and looked after.” In 2016 a mass bleaching event killed almost a quarter of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef, something that scientists found would have been almost impossible if it weren’t for climate change. Jones was taken on a helicopter tour of the Great Barrier Reef as part of the launch, and after the trip, declared the reef will regenerate. “There are cycles in all of this – the reef regenerates itself,” he was quoted saying in the Cairns Post. “The reality is that northern section was here thousands of years ago and will be for the next thousand.” It is unknown if Jones was aware that several partners of the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef project had put out reports stating the climate change is the biggest risk facing the Great Barrier Reef. The project lists the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) as one of its partners. GBRMPA has clearly and repeatedly stated that climate change is the most serious threat. James Cook University (JCU) is another partner. Terry Hughes, a professor at JCU and head of the national coral bleaching taskforce, told the Guardian in June that coral bleaching, caused by climate change, had “changed the Great Barrier Reef forever”. One of the founding members of the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef was a long-time climate change campaigner at WWF, Andy Ridley, who started Earth Hour. The Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef foundation chairman, Alex De Waal, told Guardian Australia that Jones “wasn’t engaged to launch the initiative”. But a spokeswoman for Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef said: “He said he could do a media launch for us today, which he did. “It was announcing it on his radio show basically and he did a media conference here with the local media.” A press release sent out by Citizens of the GBR said: “Australia’s leading broadcaster Alan Jones AO will launch Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef to his vast breakfast audience across Australia when he broadcasts from Cairns today and tomorrow.” De Waal said: “Anybody that comes to us and says we want to tell the community about the Citizens of the GBR program, we are very encouraging. We are very agnostic in terms of anyone who is able to drive and generate visitation to citizensofgbr.org.” Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef is a crowd-funding program that intends to allow members to vote to direct funds towards conservation and research programs of their choice. Richard Leck, WWF-Australia head of oceans said: “Any campaign that seeks to educate people around the globe about the jewel in Australia’s tourism crown is welcome.” | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/environment', 'media/alan-jones', 'media/australia-media', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/michael-slezak', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-10-24T17:30:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development-professionals-network/2015/jan/30/funding-data-revolution-investment-donors | How to fund the data revolution | A revolution starts with an idea, but to become real, it has to move quickly to a practical proposition about getting stuff done. And getting things done requires money. If the ideas generated last year, in the report of the UN secretary general’s independent expert advisory group (Ieag) and elsewhere, about how to improve data production and use are to become real, then they will need investments. It’s time to start thinking about where the money to fund the data revolution might come from, and how it might be spent. Getting funding for investment in data won’t be easy. As hard-pressed statistical offices around the world know to their cost, it’s tough to persuade governments to put money into counting things instead of, say, teaching children or paying pensions. But unless the current excitement about data turns into concrete commitments, it will fade away once the next big thing comes along, leaving little in the way of lasting change. So what is needed? Two things. First, there must be new money for investments in data. But, just as critical, that money must be spent in ways that enable and incentivise the change. The Ieag report laid out four areas in which change is needed: capacity and resources, technology and innovation, principles and standards, and partnerships and leadership. New money, used well, can support all these and help to drive the changes that are needed. In addition, four new funding streams might help to drive progress in the right direction: Funding for official statistics As the Ieag said: “Strengthening national capacities will be the essential test of any data revolution”. Building on the idea of country compacts, new money could be used to support change at the national level, supporting dialogue between data providers and data users, enabling new and useful partnerships between public sector, private sector and civil society, investing in the technological infrastructure, and rewarding measurable improvements in the production and use of high-quality data. Funding for innovation While official statistics will be the core, ignoring the potential for innovation to solve problems, create new possibilities, and leapfrog over current technologies, will in the long run be a waste of resources. Innovation is happening, and it is important that funds are available to ensure that there are incentives to innovate in the public interest as well as for the private sector. A starting point could to be to explore how new innovations could help to fill gaps in data for the new sustainable development goals, along the lines of the SDG data labs proposed by the Ieag report. Funding for data literacy and use A dedicated funding stream for civil society groups, to enable them to experiment with the collection and use of data, to strengthen data literacy and build capacity, and in the end to drive increased demand for and use of data will be a key part of using the data revolution to achieve long-term change in government policies and in the relationship between governments and citizens. Funding for partnership and leadership Most of the action, initiatives and financing required to drive the data revolution will happen at the national and local levels. But, as the Ieag report makes clear, global level partnerships and leadership can help to consolidate and share emerging lessons and develop standards, help to broker necessary partnerships, help to develop regional and global technology infrastructure, and help to showcase best practice and encourage innovation. This too, needs resources and political support to drive it. Good data is not cheap. But this is the moment to lay down the foundations for a future of high-quality, accessible and useful data. Good data will be essential for both monitoring and achieving the new sustainable development goals – and so funding for data could, and probably should, be a part of the discussion at the Financing for Development conference to be held in Addis Ababa in July. If governments, companies and civil society rise to the challenge of investing in data in ways that drive change and improvement, then that could be the moment when we know if the data revolution will be more than just a good idea. Claire Melamed is director of the growth, poverty and inequality programme at Overseas Development Institute and Grant Cameron is a manager at the World Bank. Follow @clairemelamed on Twitter. A version of this piece was first published by Post2015.org. Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow@GuardianGDP on Twitter. | ['global-development-professionals-network/series/development-disruptors', 'working-in-development/working-in-development', 'global-development-professionals-network/series/post-2015-development', 'technology/technology', 'technology/big-data', 'type/article', 'global-development-professionals-network/series/development-2030'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-01-30T11:36:47Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2022/oct/12/truss-plan-to-block-solar-farms-is-deeply-unpopular-so-why-is-she-so-keen | Truss plan to block solar farms is deeply unpopular – so why is she so keen? | Liz Truss and her environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, have achieved the almost unthinkable this week, by reportedly moving to ban solar farms from much of England. In doing so, they have even managed to unite the free-market, anti-net-zero Institute of Economic Affairs thinktank with green groups, the energy industry and the Labour party in opposing the plans. Banning solar farms from most of England’s farmland would place Truss squarely in opposition to the policy priorities she set out in her own speech to the Conservative party conference. Under the banner “get Britain moving”, the prime minister said she wanted faster economic growth, lower energy bills, reinforced energy security, more renewables and action to tackle the climate crisis. Yet the solar ban would hold back investment, lead to higher energy bills, lock in continued gas imports, stop renewable growth and stall efforts to reach net zero emissions. Truss said her ambition was to unleash “growth, growth and growth”. This will be news to the investors waiting to pour up to £20bn into new UK solar projects, according to the Financial Times. Her speech decried the “anti-growth coalition” that she said was “always [for] more taxes, more regulation and more meddling”. So farmers looking for more income may balk if Truss bans them from adding to growth by giving their fields over to solar while continuing to graze livestock. She said growth meant “businesses creating jobs”. But perhaps not the tens of thousands of jobs that industry group Solar Energy UK says its sector could be created by 2030. Truss touted her government’s efforts to “shield people from astronomically high [energy] bills”. But her ban would block new solar projects, which are quick to build and generates electricity nine times more cheaply than gas. She talked of “fiscal responsibility” and “bring[ing] down debt” – and yet higher bills will raise the cost of her “energy price guarantee”, which could add as much as £140bn to the national debt. Warning of dependence on “authoritarian regimes for cheap goods and energy”, Truss said she would take “decisive action to reinforce our energy security”. Yet she is also decisively against new solar, each 5 gigawatts of which would cut UK gas imports by 2%. Truss said her government was “delivering more renewables” and in an earlier speech had pledged to “speed up our deployment of all clean and renewable technologies, including … solar”. So she must be disappointed to learn that her officials believe an effective ban would slow things down. Finally, the Conservative leader told the party faithful that she would “deliver on our commitment to net zero [emissions by 2050]” and “tackle climate change”. Her government remains committed – at least as of early September – to a fully decarbonised power sector by 2035. Is this why Truss wants to block new solar? The technology, after all, plays a major role in the net zero pathways published by her climate advisers the Climate Change Committee – and I estimate that each 5GW of new solar would cut UK emissions by 2m tonnes of carbon dioxide. The real reasons for Truss and Jayawardena’s antipathy are unclear. Since they cannot oppose solar on grounds of cost, growth, energy security or climate, they are now citing food security. Yet solar occupies a tiny fraction of the UK, is usually on less productive agricultural land and is frequently co-located with grazing. At less than 0.1% of the country, solar covers a smaller land area than airports, golf courses or Christmas trees. Solar also covers a significantly smaller UK land area than biofuel crops, even though Carbon Brief analysis shows solar delivers 50-100 times more driving distance per hectare. Moreover, the farmland supposedly under threat from solar is facing more serious pressures from elsewhere. “The biggest threat to prime farmland in the UK is not solar farms,” says Prof Richard Betts, technical lead of the third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment report. “It’s climate change.” One of the only remaining possibilities is that the prime minister simply dislikes the way solar farms look. If so, the Liz Truss who says she wants less regulation, more growth, cheaper bills, more renewables, greater energy security and lower emissions may need to have words. With herself. | ['environment/solarpower', 'politics/liz-truss', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/simon-evans', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-10-12T09:52:12Z | true | ENERGY |
sustainable-business/moral-case-living-wage-not-enough | Why the moral case for the living wage is not enough | Confidence among supporters of the living wage that a breakthrough is about to be made has never been higher. A number of major companies, such as John Lewis and Marks & Spencer, have now committed to introducing mandatory reporting on a range of social metrics across their supply chains, including a living wage. Others are considering adopting these measures. The case for companies to pay a living wage is driven by a variety of factors. Reputational risks and pressures on companies to demonstrate social responsibility are matched by growing evidence that paying a living wage can contribute to higher production rates and better product quality. Even though there are compelling ethical and business case arguments to pay a living wage, campaigners for this face formidable obstacles. Extreme cost pressures on companies in key sectors such as retail and electronics mean that supply chain costs will continue to be squeezed, with direct implications for wages. The complexity of modern supply chains make it difficult for companies, even those with comprehensive monitoring and auditing processes, to know how much workers are actually being paid. This problem is compounded by weaknesses in local government capacity, in particular in developing countries, often exacerbated by the desire of developing countries to attract foreign direct investment. The debate over whether responsibility for a living wage should lie with governments, companies or investors is both heated and polarised. While this debate is important, the risk is that we end up with division and deadlock rather than meaningful action. We see four areas where we could usefully make progress. Identify quick wins First, we need to revisit the business case. It is clear that simply making a moral case (or "advocating at" companies and investors) is not enough. It is necessary to properly understand the business context, with the aim of identifying areas where some quick wins may be achieved. Paradoxically, companies may find it easier to start by introducing a living wage into their operations in developed countries, where relatively few employees fall below this level. While this might be a modest contribution in the wider context, it offers a bridgehead of principle from which progress can be made. Make use of what you have Second, wherever practicable, we should seek to harness the many, rather than focus on the few (whether the leaders or the laggards). One potential point of departure is to look at the governance mechanisms and processes that already exist, and see how they may be used to advance the living wage agenda. For example, not for profit organisation, Sedex, currently caters to 27,500 corporate members who voluntarily share ethical supply chain data. Sedex could scale up its role as information broker; by providing detailed information on the wages being paid by suppliers, Sedex could enable its members to engage with suppliers on this issue. Champion your successes Third, the art of the possible must be demonstrated and recognised. Given that many companies continue to see higher wages as increasing their costs rather than providing real business benefits, it is important to highlight the business benefits that accrue to those companies that have committed to paying a living wage. It is particularly important that NGOs and civil organisations are prepared to recognise and praise those companies that do take action, as enhanced reputation is an integral part of the corporate business case for action. Raising awareness Fourth, there is a desperate need to build consensus on the need for a living wage. It is striking that the living wage has been missing from some of the key discussions about business and human rights. Where wages have been discussed, the focus has been on (legally defined) minimum wage, which often falls far short of Oxfam's definition of a living wage as one which "for a full-time working week without overtime, would allow a family to meet its basic needs – including shelter, clothing, and nutrition – and allow an amount for discretionary spending". It will be difficult to make progress on the living wage, but current developments are encouraging and the actions suggested here are real steps towards achieving a solution. Dr Tom Pegram is deputy director of UCL Institute of Global Governance and lecturer in global governance at UCL School of Public Policy. Dr Rory Sullivan is strategic advisor to Ethix and a senior research fellow at the University of Leeds. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'tone/blog', 'business/business', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'society/living-wage', 'sustainable-business/series/social-impact', 'type/article'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-04-29T06:00:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2021/feb/06/country-diary-a-tornado-wrapped-itself-around-our-house | Country diary: a mini tornado wrapped itself around our house | It was the ash twigs, speared into the lawn like crooked arrows, which made me think again about the nature of the storm the previous evening. It was unlike any weather event I’ve experienced in Dorset. It happened after dark, a little before 8.30pm. Rain was hurling down outside, the wind singing over the fields. Then the gale transformed itself, and a screaming roar wrapped itself around the house. It was as if we were inside the drum of a gigantic washing machine, with water sloshing in all directions, spindle squealing with the weight. The kitchen window came smashing in, high notes of splintering glass backed by the deeper crash of breaking roof tiles. Flying objects battered and thumped the walls so hard that the house shook and the timbers groaned. The air outside was filled with a whirling snow of earth, moss, lichen, bark and ripped plastic. It lasted two or three minutes – and then it stopped. Agitated and confused, we began to clear up, blocking the broken window with cardboard and parcel tape. By midnight the rain had ceased and we went to check the damage, splashing through puddles, watched by an angry, black-clouded moon. A big ash tree was down, blocking the road, a tall fir had been uprooted, and strong branches had been torn off the oaks and hornbeams. Bramble briars, forcibly blown out of the tangled hedge, hung in bouffant masses like displaced comb-overs. The phone line had snapped and the loose end was whipped tightly around a treetop. Collecting debris in sunshine the next morning, I found the ash shafts, some as long as my forearm, driven into the ground, all pointing the same way. A few metres to the right were some more. But these were aligned in the opposite direction. How could the wind have blown with such strength in two ways at once? Then I realised – it had been moving anticlockwise in a circle. Between 30 and 50 small tornadoes hit Britain every year, mostly in the Midlands. Generally short-lived, they usually measure no more than 1 on the Fujita scale, with wind speeds of up to 112mph. It seems that we endured a typical example. • Country Diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/forests', 'uk/weather', 'environment/winter', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/sara-hudston', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-02-06T05:30:32Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/article/2024/jul/05/weatherwatch-buckwheat-global-heating | Weatherwatch: Buckwheat, miracle crop for a future of extreme heat | Most Britons will not be familiar with buckwheat. It’s not really part of our traditional cuisine, although we may have eaten some. But in many part of the world the seeds are part of the staple diet, for example as an eastern European porridge called kasha, Japanese noodles and American waffles. It’s not a grain, and is not a type of wheat; buckwheat is the seed of a plant related to rhubarb, and is likely to became a useful alternative crop for arable farmers as global heating bites. A new study that compared wheat and buckwheat success rates in a high carbon dioxide atmosphere, plus the temperatures and drought conditions that we can expect in the coming decades, found buckwheat survived and produced its crop of seeds in conditions that killed wheat or severely curtailed grain production. Buckwheat also has the advantage of being gluten-free and rich in fibre and minerals. Because it flowers for months, it is also a favourite for bees and other insects. One plus for farmers is it likes poor soils so no expensive fertilisers are needed. Flour made from buckwheat is used to make the traditional galettes (pancakes) in Brittany and it’s already grown in Devon. Pioneering farmers there have been experimenting with how to make high-quality flour and how to best harvest an entirely new crop. | ['environment/farming', 'global-development/food-security', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/conservation', 'food/food', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/insects', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-07-05T05:00:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2021/jun/25/pacific-northwest-heatwave-washington-oregon | US Pacific north-west braces for ‘unprecedented’ sweltering heatwave | The Pacific north-west is gearing up for a potentially record-setting heatwave this weekend and into next week, with temperatures in some areas expected to heat up to the triple digits and beyond. The blazing heat is highly unusual in a region typically known for its moderate climate. “It’s going to be unprecedented,” said Nick Bond, a Washington state climatologist. “Probably both in terms of the maximum temperatures that are reached, especially Sunday and Monday, the minimum temperatures that are going to occur for a few nights like that, and then the duration of extremely high temperatures.” Last week, the National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings for Washington, Oregon and Idaho. In a statement Friday, the agency cautioned that “the hot daytime temperatures, combined with warm overnight lows, will result in high heat risk and heat related stress.” All three states could surpass their all-time heat record for June (113F or 45C for Washington and Oregon, and 114F or 45.5C for Idaho), according to the National Weather Service. The scorcher is the result of a high pressure system just north of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, explained Larry O’Neill, Oregon’s state climatologist. The result will be hot air being forced over the Cascade mountains and blowing down until it encompasses the region. At the same time, Bond explained, it’s made even worse by the gradual rise in temperatures due to global heating. “That rise in the baseline has meant that just when you get these kinds of events, they’re a little bit more severe as a result,” he said. In Seattle, known for its rain and overcast days, where only one-third of households have air conditioning, according to a 2015 report, the National Weather Service reported temperatures could reach 103F on Sunday and 106F Monday. That would exceed the city’s all-time record high of 103F and is expected to hit at least a week before the region typically begins to see any type of extremely high temperatures. But it would also mark only the third time Seattle has met or exceeded 100F since the Sea–Tac airport started documenting conditions in the 1940’s, according to Bond. There are also concerns that high temperatures will linger through the night, leaving little time to cool off before the cycle starts again. The low on Sunday night in Seattle is only expected to dip to 72 degrees, which would exceed the all-time high for minimum night-time temperatures. In a statement released Monday, Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan, recommended residents “drink plenty of water, reduce strenuous outdoor activities, check on neighbors and those at risk for heat-related illness, and don’t leave any pets in the car.” Areas outside Seattle are expected to become even hotter, with parts of the Columbia basin in south-eastern Washington, including the Tri-Cities, set to potentially reach 115F. Officials across these states have started opening facilities for some of the 13 million residents to go to cool down, including libraries, senior centers and community centers, while also making pools available. In Oregon, at least two-thirds of the state could experience an unprecedented amount of heat over the next few days. While Pendleton, in north-eastern Oregon, could end up tying its all-time record of 110F two days in a row, Portland could hit 109F – breaking its all-time high of 107F. Experts recommend taking precautions such as drinking lots of water, taking breaks in places with air conditioning, using fans and making good use of slightly cooler temperatures at night. “This is life-threatening heat,” Dr Jennifer Vines, a health officer for Multnomah county, which includes Portland, said in a statement Wednesday. “People need to find someplace cool to spend time during the coming days. And for people who already have somewhere cool, their job is to reach out to other people. Ask them to join you, or help them get to a place that is reasonably cool.” The extreme heat follows another brutal heatwave that recently hit the US south-west, sending temperatures in Arizona, Nevada and California soaring up to 120F (48.8C). Idaho is also expected to see days of extremely high temperatures this weekend and next week. Boise could reach 107F Thursday – just a few degrees cooler than its all-time record high. Baker, in southern Idaho, could also just miss surpassing its all-time high of 109F, with temperatures expected to hit 104F Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service forecast. Although this is considered an unusual weather event, O’Neill said it’s clear it won’t be the last. He said it’s time for the region to start rethinking its systems in place for dealing with these types of extreme weather events, whether that be expanding cooling centers, especially for homeless people, re-examining heat thresholds for outdoor work, or making sure to have enough medical services for heat-related emergencies. “A lot of the climate model projections suggest that we’ll see more extreme heat events like this,” he said. “So this is something that we can expect into the future, and possibly more frequent.” | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'world/extreme-weather', 'us-news/oregon', 'us-news/washington-state', 'us-news/idaho', 'us-news/climate-crisis-in-the-american-west', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/hallie-golden', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | us-news/climate-crisis-in-the-american-west | GLOBAL_CRISIS | 2021-06-25T20:21:13Z | true | GLOBAL_CRISIS |
commentisfree/2012/sep/03/environmental-politics-green-shoots | Environmental politics: green shoots | Editorial | Greenery is on the agenda, all right – but for the wrong reasons. The reshuffle-cum-relaunch of the government is preceded by murmurs about how there might after all need to be a third runway at Heathrow, and perhaps also a builders' charter to bulldoze Britain's way out of recession. The days when the Cameronite pitch was Vote Blue, Go Green are forgotten. Over the past year, the prime minister has downgraded a big green speech to a few brief remarks, while his chancellor has roused the Conservative conference to cheer by vowing to take on those who would "save the planet by putting our country out of business". Like Labour and the Liberal Democrats – who, to lesser extents, have also toned down their environmental emphasis – David Cameron and George Osborne have simply concluded that the financial struggle to muddle through the here and now renders the distant future of the planet an intolerably lofty concern. The focus groups tell them as much. They may be right, too, for a good swath of the electorate. But as the Green party elected the campaigner (and former Guardian journalist) Natalie Bennett as its leader on Monday, it is nonetheless looking forward to its conference later this week in remarkably good spirit. For if the ideological climate is not propitious for environmentalism just now, the political environment could hardly be more opportune for a party of radical protest. The cuts bite ever harder. Ed Miliband may have tacked Labour slightly leftward, but retains a necessary focus on the centrist swing voters that he will need if it is ever to win a majority. The Lib Dems – who provided an anti-establishment home for so many malcontents after Iraq – now have hands that are sullied by the coalition austerity programme, which is one reason why the Green party's Jenny Jones was able to pip Brian Paddick to third place in London's mayoral election. With the very partial exception of George Galloway's Respect, no one is making the full-throated anti-austerity case that the Dutch socialists, Syriza in Greece and others are successfully voicing across Europe. The Greens come from a different, more middle-class tradition, but, having established leftish credentials under outgoing leader Caroline Lucas, they are right to sense a big opportunity with a significant minority of voters. Ms Bennett's words on Monday about safeguarding decent social security ought to be utterly unremarkable; the fact that no other party leader would utter them without simultaneously invoking bogeymen fraudsters emphasises the space that is there to fill. The big question, as often in leftish politics, is whether the party will be ruthless enough to seize the chance – or whether it will instead prove more interested in being preachy than practical. Ms Bennett's elevation is an encouraging sign, in that she displayed more awareness of the need for shrewd tactics and strategy than idealistic rivals such as Romayne Phoenix. She did well to beat the better-known Peter Cranie, in a result that demonstrates that Green activists study the literature and detailed policies as opposed to going with a name. That is of course a strength, but it is one that can turn into a vulnerability if it leads to the sort of insularity that once saw old Labour indulge in fierce arguments over detailed party positions that allowed for no compromise with the electorate. The Greens have often been too pure for practical politics in the past, refusing to acknowledge even the need for a leader before Ms Lucas. But with Ms Lucas remaining as the chief public face, and Ms Bennett picking up the operational reins, there could be an opportunity to broaden the appeal – to follow the example of those Kirklees councillors who have sold energy efficiency to cash-strapped voters who may have little interest in climate change, but are mightily interested in lower fuel bills. However it is sold, many voters will continue to regard the Greens' radical economics as pie in the sky; but many others could become interested if the party can only relate it to the bread and butter of life. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'politics/green-party', 'politics/politics', 'environment/green-politics', 'uk/uk', 'tone/editorials', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-09-03T22:21:30Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2006/aug/16/fish.conservationandendangeredspecies | Duke of Devonshire in dispute over river rights | A dispute over a scenic weir on a popular salmon fishing river has set the Duke of Devonshire at odds with Ireland's fish conservation policies. The marine department has written to the duke, whose family owns Lismore Castle, County Waterford, asking him to remove the barrier on a stretch of the Blackwater river he owns to allow more salmon and lampreys to migrate upstream. The weir is upriver at Careysville in County Cork. Michael Penruddock, the estate manager, said the salmon and lampreys could pass up the weir and its removal would destroy a valuable spawning ground. | ['environment/environment', 'environment/fishing', 'environment/conservation', 'world/world', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'world/ireland', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/owenbowcott', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international1'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2006-08-16T22:59:09Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/article/2024/aug/26/los-alamos-new-mexico-plutonium-contamination | Plutonium levels near US atomic site in Los Alamos similar to Chornobyl, study finds | Soil, plants and water along popular recreation spots near Los Alamos, New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, are contaminated with “extreme concentrations” of plutonium, a new study has found, but calls for the federal government to act have been dismissed. Michael Ketterer, a Northern Arizona University scientist and lead researcher on the project, said the plutonium levels in and around New Mexico’s Acid Canyon were among the highest he had ever seen in a publicly accessible area in the US during his decades-long career – comparable to what is found in Ukraine at the site of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. The radioactive isotopes are “hiding in plain sight”, Ketterer said. “This is one of the most shocking things I’ve ever stumbled across in my life,” he said. The paper comes on the heels of the US Department of Defense announcing it will ramp up production of plutonium pits, a core component of nuclear weapons, at Los Alamos. Meanwhile, the US Senate approved a defense bill with expanded funding for those exposed to the government’s radioactive waste. Local public health advocates say they are outraged by the exclusion of the Los Alamos region from the benefits. Until 1963, the Los Alamos national laboratory spit radioactive waste into a nearby canyon as the Department of Defense developed the nation’s nuclear arsenal. The area became so saturated in toxic waste that it was dubbed Acid Canyon. Several years later, the Atomic Energy Commission and the US Department of Energy undertook remediation efforts that cost at least $2bn, and by the 1980s brought the area into compliance with federal cleanup standards so that it is safe for use, the government claims. The commission eventually released the land to Los Alamos county without any restrictions on uses, and it was developed into a dirt trail popular with bikers, hikers and runners. The exposure level and immediate danger to those using the trails is low despite the high plutonium levels, Ketterer said, but he warned that the environmental risk is still worrying because plutonium can get into water supplies, which ultimately flow into the Rio Grande. The substance can be taken up by plants and enter the food chain, or can be dispersed widely in ash in the event of a wildfire. Public health advocates also called for the government to post signage warning visitors so they can make an informed decision about using a trail contaminated with toxic waste. The Department of Energy said in a media statement that the levels were “very low and well within the safe exposure range”. The research supports recent mapping by the local public health advocacy group Nuclear Watch New Mexico, which used public records to show widespread and alarming levels of plutonium at sample sites throughout the region. The research is “proof that New Mexico will forever be saddled with a radioactive isotope that has a 24,000-year half-life,” said Tina Cordova, with the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium advocacy group. “It’s not at all surprising when you contemplate how inefficient the Trinity bomb was and how many pounds of plutonium did not fission,” she added. “What a terrible legacy.” | ['us-news/newmexico', 'environment/nuclear-waste', 'world/nuclear-weapons', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'campaign/email/today-us', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tom-perkins', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-08-26T12:00:32Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/aug/08/three-women-injured-swimming-with-whales-in-australia-in-space-of-a-week | Three women injured swimming with whales in Australia in space of a week | A woman snorkelling on Ningaloo Reef, on the north-west coast of Western Australia, has become the third person to be injured by a humpback whale there in less than a week. The woman, Alicia Ramsay, 30, was flown to Royal Perth hospital with rib fractures on Thursday after being hit by the whale, which was swimming nearby with its calf. Ramsay, who was on a snorkelling tour at the reef, told Nine News Perth: “The calf decided to come check us out and ended up being between us and the mum, so mum went into protective mode and swung back. “As she did that to put herself between us and the calf, her fin came out and got me.” The incident, which was confirmed by Western Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, followed another incident five days earlier, also involving two whales. On 1 August a woman was hit by the tail of a humpback whale while swimming with the giant mammals on a chartered snorkelling tour and suffered fractured ribs and internal bleeding. Another swimmer with the group was hit less seriously by one of the whales’ pectoral fins, which tore her hamstring. Humpback whale swimming encounters in the Ningaloo marine park are expected to become a permanent licensed industry in 2021 at the completion of a five-year trial that is being monitored by the department. A small group of tour operators have been authorised to offer the experience of swimming with humpback whales, which can grow up to 19m. Groups in the water are currently limited to nine at a time. Regulations require swimmers to enter the water at least 75 metres away from a whale. “DBCA is continuing to work with the industry and the relevant licensed tour operators to investigate the two incidents,” the department said. | ['environment/whales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/cetaceans', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-08-08T02:37:31Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2023/oct/18/australia-must-urgently-adapt-to-extreme-weather-or-face-soaring-premiums-insurers-warn | Australia must urgently adapt to extreme weather or face soaring premiums, insurers warn | Global insurers say Australia is running out of time to reduce its vulnerability to the climate crisis and faces higher premiums for households and businesses. “They said, ‘you’ve got five years basically’,” said the federal assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, who led a delegation last month to insurance centres in London and Munich. “They like what we’re saying but they want to see that backed up by action. “Insurance affordability is a key economic issue,” Jones said. “It’s on the boil now but I think it’ll be a significant issue over the next couple of years.” Insurance costs have jumped in the past year, becoming one of the largest contributors to higher inflation. CBA’s latest spending survey found consumers spent 12.9% more on insurance than a year ago, the biggest increase among its 12 categories. “We are in a global race for capital,” said the chief executive of the Insurance Council of Australia, Andrew Hall, who accompanied Jones. Australia must “tell a better risk management story” by coordinating efforts at all levels of government to improve land-use planning and building codes, or insurance costs would rise further. About a third of premium increases have come from a surge in reinsurance rates, which have risen by about a fifth in the past year to two-decade highs. Eastern Australia’s floods last year alone caused insured losses of $6.8bn, making it the county’s largest natural catastrophe claims event, SwissRe said. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The main drivers of larger insurance losses have been economic growth, accumulation of assets in exposed areas and rising populations in regions susceptible to natural perils, the reinsurance giant said in report earlier this year. “We expect that these and the evolution of a range of present-day risk factors like climate change effects and, of late, inflation, will continue to drive losses higher.” Jones said his trip had been prompted partly because “there was some concern that [reinsurers] were withdrawing because of the profile of our risk”. Those companies have been watching Australia’s actions closely. Australia got “marked up” when it talked about acting on the climate crisis or mitigating exposure to evolving perils but “when we approve a new development in a floodplain, it just undoes all of that, and they go ‘you guys just don’t get it’,” Jones said. Artificial intelligence and other improvements in data gathering would spur other issues. “There is an existential challenge for insurance as a service as the accuracy of data and risk prediction gets better and better,” Jones said. “We run the risk of undermining the whole insurance principle around spreading customer risk across an entire community. If it all gets personalised and individualised, it means the risk isn’t spread any more.” Global heating is expected to shift tropical cyclones poleward, increasing the risk for regions such as south-east Queensland. Hall said the Gold and Sunshine coasts have had enormous population growth over 40 years now and have “very exposed communities” to wind damage, storm surge and flooding. Investments in projects that reduce damage could make a big difference to recovery bills and therefore premiums, he said. A $28m levee around flood-hit Roma, for instance, compared with $20m spent on helicopters alone to supply the Queensland town during floods prior to 2011. Premiums had since dropped by about a third since the flood defence was built. The Committee for Sydney, meanwhile, on Wednesday released a major new report - Defending Sydney – in a bid to incorporate lessons from recent floods. “Sydney’s at a crossroads,” said the director of the committee’s resilience program, Sam Kernaghan, noting the city’s population was expected to swell by another million people over the next decade. “We’ll be judged on whether more or less people are at risk of natural disasters,” Kernaghan said. “We know the climate is warming and we’re expecting more frequent and intense rainstorms,” along with other threats such as heatwaves and bushfires. Costs from natural disasters were already around $38bn a year, or 2% of GDP, a bill expected to roughly double in four decades’ time, Kernaghan said, citing Australian Business Roundtable figures. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/insurance-australia', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-10-17T14:00:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/mar/12/o2-arena-to-install-mini-wind-turbines-that-can-harness-even-a-breeze | O2 Arena to install mini wind turbines that can harness even a breeze | The O2 Arena will soon use a new breed of “vertical wind turbine” to generate its own clean electricity, after signing a deal with a startup firm that says its turbines will generate power even when the wind is not blowing. The London landmark once known as the Millennium Dome will begin by installing 10 of the 68cm (27in) vertical turbines. The breezy conditions at the site on the River Thames will help generate enough clean electricity to power 23 homes. Although this is a small amount of the O2’s total energy consumption, the arena’s owner, AEG, expects to install more of the mini turbines across its stadiums worldwide. The new breed of turbine is said to be able to spin from even a gentle movement of air, or a passing car. Each unit is made from recycled plastic and weighs about 4kg (9lbs), but the design could be scaled up to help generate as much electricity as 20 sq metres of solar panels, according to its developer, Alpha 311. Lee Lacey, the facility director at the O2, said the arena had “been searching for a suitable wind-generated power source” to help cut its greenhouse gas emissions and reach its ambition to become a net zero carbon entertainment venue. “The opportunity to provide a local on-site source of power generation is huge and we hope this trial provides the launchpad of many more installations, not only at the O2 and other AEG venues but across the Greenwich peninsula and throughout the UK,” she said. Alpha 311 turbines were originally designed to be larger, at just nearly 2 metes in length, and installed on infrastructure with a connection to the electricity grid, such as streetlights, to help to reduce costs. Installing the turbines on streetlights along motorways, for example, could generate eight times as much clean electricity as they are expected to produce at the O2 Arena. Motorways also offer the advantage of minimal installation time and no negative impact on the environment or local views, which can be a concern for traditional windfarms in some areas. Barry Thompson, the chief executive of Alpha 311, said the company was already in talks with international buyers. He said: “The Alpha 311 turbine was born in Britain with international aspirations, so it’s fitting that we’re working with the world’s most popular music, entertainment and leisure venue.” | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'business/o2', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'technology/technology', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2021-03-12T00:01:39Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/aug/09/worst-polluting-countries-must-make-drastic-carbon-cuts-says-cop26-chief | Worst polluting countries must make drastic carbon cuts, says Cop26 chief | The world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases must produce clear plans to cut their carbon output drastically, the president of vital UN climate talks has urged, after scientists warned there was only a small chance of escaping the worst ravages of climate breakdown. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change set out the starkest warning yet on the widespread and “unprecedented” changes to the climate that are “unequivocally” the result of human actions. Extreme weather resulting from these changes was already seen around the world and growing worse, in the form of rising temperatures, more frequent and fiercer storms, heatwaves, droughts, floods and sea level rises, according to the biggest assessment of climate science in eight years. Global temperatures were likely to top 1.5C above pre-industrial levels in the next two decades, the threshold set as the ambition of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the world’s climate science authority said. Only sharp and immediate cuts in greenhouse gases this decade could stabilise the climate system. Alok Sharma, the UK minister who will preside over the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow this November, said countries must act. “If ever there was going to be a wake-up call to the world when it comes to climate change, this report is it. But the future is not yet written. The very worst of climate change is still avoidable.” The Paris climate agreement ambition of limiting warming to 1.5C, and staving off the worst impacts of climate breakdown, was “still achievable, but retreating and retreating fast”, he said. “What we really need now is for all major emitters to play their part, and the G20 are going to be absolutely key to our 1.5C future,” he added. G20 governments, comprising the world’s biggest economies and including developed and developing countries, are responsible for about 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and about 85% of GDP. Sharma did not single out particular governments, but those yet to put forward plans for emissions cuts before Cop26 include China, India and Brazil. The spotlight now falls firmly on China, the world’s biggest emitter and second largest economy, and the biggest producer and consumer of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. “This must be the Cop that consigns coal to history,” said Sharma. Helen Mountford, the vice-president of climate and economics at the World Resources Institute, said this decade was “truly our last chance” of keeping to a relatively safe climate, and the actions of leading emitters would be crucial. “It’s imperative for China to announce more stringent emission reductions than it has hinted at thus far,” she said. China has set out a target of reaching net zero emissions by 2060, and has said its emissions will peak by 2030. But the government still plans new coal-fired power plants, and its reliance on coal returned after a slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the falling price of wind and solar power making them cheaper than coal. The International Energy Agency has warned that global emissions will rise next year by a record amount, largely driven by a resurgence in coal in China. Bernice Lee, the research director for futures at the Chatham House thinktank, said: “Coal in China is indeed a deal-breaker when it comes to 1.5C, as John Kerry said a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, the economics of coal versus renewables should make this an easier lift for China.” For China to come forward with new commitments on emissions, the actions of the US would be key, argued Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser, now with the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington DC. The US president, Joe Biden, has vowed to halve US emissions by 2030, provide billions in climate finance to poor countries and initiate a sweeping programme of incentives and regulations to stimulate a low-carbon economy. “The US Congress must pass President Biden’s ambitious climate plan ahead of Cop26, to both lock in strong American action and put added pressure on China and other major emitters to finally cut their emissions,” he said. “Without both the US and China making deep emissions cuts, the Paris targets cannot be achieved.” While China will now be a clear focus, other big emitters in the G20 such as India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa will also be key targets of the UK’s climate diplomacy in the two and a half months remaining before Cop26. The voices of poor countries must also be heard, insisted Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a former president of Liberia and member of the Elders group of senior former leaders. “We see the climate crisis already unfolding before our eyes and for people in the global south this is an emergency we are already living through. As the scientific evidence mounts, so too does the need to address the concerns vulnerable countries are raising,” she said. “The science is robust; the response to this environmental and human rights emergency needs to be just as solid.” Diann Black-Layne, Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador for climate change and the lead climate negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States, said it was “essential that global powers and major emitters heed the scientific evidence and take action” on greenhouse gases, as well as providing financial help to poor countries. She said: “The IPCC confirms the experience of small island states: that cyclones are getting more intense, and that sea levels are rising, but it also confirms that we can still curb the worst of it. The stark fact is that if we keep warming to 1.5C we are still facing half a metre of sea level rise. But if we stop warming from reaching 2C, we can avoid a long-term three metres of sea level rise. That is our very future, right there.” | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/ipcc', 'environment/paris-climate-agreement', 'politics/alok-sharma', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/environment', 'world/unitednations', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-08-09T16:55:35Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
sustainable-business/2014/dec/26/2015-lets-ask-the-right-questions-about-corporate-compensation | 2015: 'Let’s ask the right questions about corporate compensation' | Fresh winds are blowing through both boardrooms and MBA programs these days, stirring up debate about the fundamentals of doing business. Some of the key questions on the minds of executives weren’t even on the syllabus when I attended business school in the early 80s. I think these questions will continue to grow in relevance in the year ahead. And how the business sector answers will determine whether the health of the planet – and the health of society – will make it onto a company’s list of strategic priorities. First off, executives are questioning the purpose of the corporation itself. From Tim Cook at Apple to Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, business leaders are challenging the old-line mantra about “shareholder value maximization” as the organizing principle for the enterprise. These leaders and many others from outside the tech sector understand that long-term success depends on a host of critical inputs: creative talent, skilled labor, a secure supply chain, license to operate on the ground, and – of course – reputation with consumers or customers. A second question naturally flows from the question of purpose. If, indeed, this quarter’s profits are no longer the best – or only – metric of success, how should we measure progress in business? How do long-term investors (versus traders) and discerning consumers define the performance of corporations today? In the last year we have witnessed big growth in concepts like “integrated reporting,” taking into account other constituents besides investors. There is more talk of environmental profit and loss, and frameworks like the circular economy, which connect the success of the business with the systems on which life depends. In 2015, I think we will see some real progress on the question of metrics and measurement. The best models won’t be generic; they will allow the company to express – and its real investors to understand – the vital signs of the corporation’s health. And robust measures of future success will naturally connect back to the natural resources and human conditions that are critical to the company. The right metrics will help executives and boards assess risks to the enterprise as well as business opportunity. New ideas about what “quality management” means will take shape. As I look forward to 2015, I see a third critical question beginning to take root. It is the linchpin between the questions about purpose and measuring success: how should we incentivize the key executives and officers who set the agenda in boardrooms and the C-suite? What should dictate executive compensation? In essence, what should we pay executives to do? With large company CEOs earning something close to 300 times the wage of the median American worker, it is no surprise that the public connects business execs with growing inequality and that most of the buzz about pay in the last year has been about runaway executive compensation. But for all the ills associated with outsize pay, it’s how we pay executives that matters most. A few decades ago, executives were paid mostly in cash. Today, the typical executive receives two-thirds of his or her pay in stock-based compensation. While there have been attempts to build long-term focus into pay packages by embedding future targets and conditions, they are largely unsuccessful. With the vast majority of pay based on the stock price, all the noise in the boardroom and executive suite is about the stock and total shareholder return, not the long-term investments that are key to achieving goals aligned with environmental and social sustainability – and to identifying future risk. As we close out 2014, activist investors looking to mine companies for quick gains are drawing attention. They want to reduce corporate investment in research and development, and in environmental innovation. They continue to put the squeeze on employee wages and benefits. Sadly, when company management is paid in stock, executives may have more in common with the activist than with more reliable contributors to the long-term health of the enterprise – employees, host communities and truly long-term shareholders. There’s good news, however: experts are taking a fresh look at the unintended consequences of “pay for performance” and experimenting with better strategies and protocols for building long-term value. Today, society needs business at the table as a partner and innovator. But to make tracks on global challenges requires executives who think about the long-term consequences of their decisions outside the company’s four walls. These three questions – purpose, how we measure success and how we compensate the managers of the enterprise – shape the discourse and the potential for real engagement with the business sector. I can’t predict how quickly a shift might come, but here’s my wish for 2015: let’s ask the right questions in the boardroom (and MBA classroom) about corporate compensation. The first step requires connecting the dots between how we reward top talent and our aspirations for a healthy planet. Judith Samuelson is executive director and creator of the Aspen Business and Society Program. This piece is part of the leadership hub, which is funded by Xyntéo. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘brought to you by’. Find out more here. | ['sustainable-business/series/sustainable-business-predictions-2015', 'sustainable-business/series/leadership', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'business/business', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'type/article', 'tone/comment'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-12-26T12:00:01Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2021/sep/24/josh-frydenberg-to-make-case-for-net-zero-saying-australia-cant-risk-being-seen-as-a-climate-change-pariah | Josh Frydenberg to make case for net zero, saying Australia can’t risk being seen as a climate change pariah | Josh Frydenberg will make the economic case for Australia adopting a net zero commitment, warning the country has a lot to lose if others believe “we are not transitioning in line with the rest of the world”. The federal treasurer will tell business leaders on Friday the Morrison government cannot run the risk of financial markets “falsely” assuming Australia is a climate change pariah because that would increase the cost of capital and undermine financial system stability. With the Cop26 now bearing down, and with the government attempting to land a formal commitment to net zero by 2050 ahead of the Glasgow conference, Frydenberg will note that trillions of dollars are being mobilised globally in support of the transition, and 129 countries have now committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050. “In Australia, in the last 12 months alone, one of our leading banks coordinated more than 50 transactions worth $100bn in climate finance-related activities,” Frydenberg will say. “Increasingly, institutional investors are themselves committing to the net zero goal, like BlackRock, Fidelity and Vanguard, three of the biggest fund managers in the world.” The treasurer will also note the strong language on climate action recently signed off by the defence minister, Peter Dutton – the most significant player in the right of the Liberal party – and the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, after recent talks with their US counterparts. That statement, which acknowledged climate change was a global security threat, reflected a joint commitment to “make low emissions technologies globally scalable and commercially viable,” which can “make achievement of net zero emissions by 2050 possible.” The treasurer’s message comes as metropolitan Liberals are growing more frustrated with the National party setting the terms of Australia’s new climate policy commitments. Scott Morrison has been negotiating with the Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce. After Joyce returned to the Nationals leadership in June, he signalled initially that his party would be unlikely to sign on to a net zero commitment ahead of Glasgow. But the deputy prime minister subsequently softened his position after several colleagues told him that decision was one for the Nationals party room – not a captain’s call. Some of Joyce’s strongest internal supporters trenchantly oppose a net zero commitment, and Keith Pitt, the minister for water, resources and northern Australia, has made his reluctance plain. But the party’s former leader Michael McCormack and the former frontbencher Darren Chester have this week argued the case for the government to either adopt net zero or give it serious consideration. In an interview with the ABC on Thursday night, Joyce declined to provide an update on the status of the internal discussion. “I have to respect the party room I’m a part of and have the great honour of leading, and give them the capacity to also have their views,” he said. Pressed on whether he was prepared to sign up to a commitment, the deputy prime minister said: “Sign up to what?” Joyce said the government would need to approach any commitment with “caution”. The final position is yet to be determined, and Frydenberg’s speech reflects his strongly held view that the Coalition needs to pivot on climate policy. The government is working towards unveiling Australia’s updated climate policy position in the middle of next month, with the Cop26 scheduled for November. Frydenberg will argue on Friday that failing to signal the inevitability of the transition will have domestic consequences given global capital is backing the shift. He will say Australia’s interest lies in “our markets functioning effectively, so that the financial system remains stable, investors are able to make informed and timely decisions, and capital can be accessed at the lowest possible cost”. Australia relies on imported capital to fund the economy, either through foreign investment or wholesale funding of the banking system, with around 20% sourced offshore. “When it comes to commonwealth government bonds, close to half are held by foreign investors,” he will say. “Reduced access to these capital markets would increase borrowing costs impacting everything from interest rates on home loans and small business loans, to the financial viability of large-scale infrastructure projects.” Frydenberg will say an economy-wide transition is required to deliver a net zero commitment, and that transition will be driven by more investment in emissions reduction strategies across all sectors, including agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. Appealing to Nationals hostile to the commitment, Frydenberg will argue it is wrong to assume that traditional sectors, like resources and agriculture, “will face decline over the course of the transition”. “To the contrary, many businesses in these sectors are at the cutting-edge of innovation and technological change. “There is a message here for business: opportunities will abound and it will be those businesses that recognise these trends and put plans in place to adapt that will have the most promising futures. “At the same time, there is a message to Australian banks, super funds and insurers. If you support the objective of net zero, do not walk away from the very sectors of our economy that will need investment to successfully transition. “Climate change and its impacts are not going away. It represents a structural and systemic shift in our financial system, which will only gain pace over time.” | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/josh-frydenberg', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'australia-news/liberal-party', 'business/australia-economy', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'australia-news/australian-foreign-policy', 'australia-news/national-party', 'australia-news/barnaby-joyce', 'australia-news/banking', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/katharine-murphy', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-09-23T17:30:02Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2023/jul/16/agricultural-shows-boom-across-the-uk-as-record-crowds-flock-to-the-fields | Agricultural shows boom across the UK as record crowds flock to the fields | One of the highlights of the Great Yorkshire Show for Bridlington farmer Geoff Riby – other than his ram winning the Beltex male champion in the sheep class competition – was watching Lorenzo the Flying Frenchman perform in the main ring at the Harrogate show ground. Riby has exhibited at the fair since 1972 and has seen this annual event evolve from an industry trade fair promoting tractors to the sort of festival that would feature one of France’s most skilled equestrians on the bill. “Now, lots of people who visit aren’t from the farming community,” says Riby. “Instead they have a thirst for knowledge about the countryside and food production. Education has become an important part of the show – as well as shopping and food.” The Great Yorkshire Show is not the only event welcoming new visitors. Agricultural and county shows across the UK are reporting record attendance numbers this summer. These annual local celebrations of livestock and produce have been handing out awards to champion farm animals and crops for hundreds of years, but these days the show is the main attraction. Many sell out before they start. That was the case at the 2023 Great Yorkshire Show. The four-day event had 140,000 visitors, hitting its capacity of 35,000 ticket holders each day. Last month’s Royal Highland Show broke its record when 217,000 came to the three-day event to witness, among other activities, the world sheep-shearing championship and chainsaw carving demonstrations. The Royal Highland Show brought in around £40m business into the area of Ingliston in Edinburgh. The Association of Show and Agricultural Organisations estimates that about 7 million Britons – roughly 10% of the population – visit agricultural shows every year. That’s a lot of enthusiasm for sheepdog trials and locally made honey. Riby is a member of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and he points out that without this new audience many of the traditional shows wouldn’t be financially viable. “There aren’t enough people working as farmers to make this work as an industry trade show any more,” he says. He worries that productive farmland is being replaced by rewilding. “I can see a time when there will be a food shortage.” It is anachronistic that agricultural shows are booming when the farming industry is in worldwide decline and the number of full-time British farmers has fallen by 33%. But attender demographics have changed over the decades. A 2018 study of the Royal Welsh Show found that 39% of visitors had no connection to the agriculture industry. Perhaps it is due to the rise of farming as entertainment on YouTube, where thousands have tuned in to watch farmers go about their daily chores in recent years, or the popularity of video games such as Farming Simulator. TV shows such as Clarkson’s Farm or All Creatures Great and Small have also given farming life a boost. Series two of Clarkson’s Farm reached 7.6 million viewers on Amazon Prime, outstripping the audience for The Lord of the Rings. Richard Benson, author of award-winning memoir The Farm, which was about his family’s Yorkshire pig farm, has attended agricultural shows his whole life. He has been competing in them, in the meadow hay section, since 2018. Benson thinks that these festivals benefit from newcomers who have moved to the country. “The best local show near to me is in Bishop Wilton [near York]. It’s done really well in recent years, which seems down to the committee tapping into people who’ve moved into the village who want to take part in local life.” Many of the new arrivals participate in the crafts events such as jam-making and flower-growing rather than traditional farming categories. Nina Matsunaga is chef patron at the Black Bull Inn in Cumbria. The German-Japanese chef, who moved to Sedbergh in 2014, has found taking part in food demonstrations at events such as the nearby Westmorland County Show, including one focused on cooking with game, is a good way to meet local suppliers. “For the public they’re a way of reconnecting with farmers and understanding how food is made, which is something that we as a society are largely disconnected from,” she says. “They encourage you to source and shop locally. People in general are more interested in how their food is reared and produced and, ultimately, they’re far more health-conscious. They want ingredients that come from trusted sources.’’ Benson suggests any newcomers keen to discover the agricultural show scene should look up writer Philip Larkin’s 1973 poem Show Saturday – which is about the Bellingham Show in Northumberland – to get a sense of the atmosphere. “It’s just his most cheerful poem,” he says. “The reason I love the show is that at their heart are real communities of people coming together to say ‘this is what we did this year’,” Benson says. “When my hay is lined up with the others on the trestles and you watch as everybody comes up and smells it, it makes me feel like crying. “You’ve spent a year or more on it, working often in the mud and cold, and then you see it giving pleasure to someone on a sunny summer day.” • This article was amended on 19 July 2023. An earlier version said that the Bellingham Show took place in Hexham, Northumberland. It takes place in Bellingham, about 16 miles north of Hexham. | ['environment/farming', 'travel/travel', 'science/agriculture', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/environment', 'environment/farm-animals', 'food/food', 'travel/day-trips', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alicefisher', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-07-16T07:00:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2005/sep/14/hurricanekatrina.usa | Katrina failings were my fault, Bush admits for first time | For the first time, George Bush yesterday explicitly took responsibility for shortcomings in the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Speaking at a press conference at the White House, President Bush said that it had "exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government". "And to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Mr Bush said. "I want to know what went wrong or what went right ... It's in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on so we can better respond. I'm not going to defend the process going in but I am going to defend the people on the ground saving lives." The discovery of the bodies of at least 44 people inside a flooded New Orleans hospital has raised new questions about evacuation procedures in the wake of the storm. Postmortem examinations are to be carried out on the bodies. It was not clear yesterday how many had died before the hurricane struck, but hospital staff described in harrowing detail attempts to keep already weakened patients alive in the 38C (100F) heat as they waited up to four days for rescue. Local and state officials have repeatedly blamed the Bush administration for failing to react quickly enough to the unfolding catastrophe, leaving tens of thousands of people trapped in the city for days. There was some confusion over the number of corpses. Bob Johannesen, a spokesman for the state department of health and hospitals, said 45 patients had been found on Sunday inside the 317-bed Memorial Medical Centre in the uptown district of the city; hospital assistant administrator David Goodson said there were 44, plus three in the grounds. Jeffrey Kochan, a Philadelphia radiologist volunteering in New Orleans, said the team that recovered the bodies told him they found 36 corpses floating on the first floor. "These guys were just venting. They need to talk," he told the Associated Press. "They're seeing things no human being should have to see." The water had mostly disappeared from around the hospital yesterday except for a few puddles of toxic-looking brown liquid that gathered in small hollows. But it was a very different scene after Katrina struck. After the levees broke, the floodwaters that engulfed the hospital seeped into the generators and the power went out. The heat began to rise, and, according to a nurse interviewed by the New York Times, the doctors and nurses resorted to fanning the patients in a vain attempt to keep them cool. "When you're already ill and debilitated, dehydration and the extreme heat in there, that certainly was a factor," Sharen Carriere, 47, told the newspaper. "These were sick people." Relatives and nurses were "literally standing over the patients, fanning them", Mr Goodson told AP. "These patients were not abandoned." The hospital's windows were wide open yesterday, almost as if the building was gasping for air. National Guardsmen from Santa Monica were patrolling the grounds and stopping people going inside. Piles of hospital rubbish bags littered the ramp into the ambulance bay. Steven Campanini, a spokesman for the owner of the hospital, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, said some of the patients had died before Katrina arrived, and none of the deaths resulted from lack of food, water or electricity to power medical equipment. The dead may also have included evacuees from other hospitals and the surrounding area who had gathered at Memorial believing it would be safe. Frank Minyard, the Orleans Parish coroner, told NBC that the evacuation of the city was successful, considering that the death toll so far was much lower than expected. But he warned: "There just may be a lot of people who are still down in those deep waters ... My biggest fear is that we will find something down there that is way out of proportion. Hopefully, it doesn't happen, but we worry." The hospital discovery raised Louisiana's official death toll to nearly 280. In Washington the acting director of the federal emergency management agency pledged yesterday to intensify efforts to find more permanent housing for the tens of thousands of survivors. "We're going to get people out of the shelters, we're going to move on and get them the help they need," David Paulison said in his first public comments since taking over from Michael Brown, who resigned on Monday. · A British long-term resident of the New Orleans area was confirmed yesterday as the first British fatality from Katrina. A Foreign Office spokesman gave no more details and said diplomats were in touch with the family. About 100 British citizens are still unaccounted for. | ['world/world', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/jamiewilson', 'profile/julianborger', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international1'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-13T23:04:57Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2019/oct/20/australia-and-european-union-push-for-east-antarctic-marine-sanctuary | Australia and European Union push for east Antarctic marine sanctuary | Australia will push for a million square kilometres of the Antarctic ocean to be protected as a marine sanctuary at an international forum in Hobart this week. Bids to preserve a large area of pristine ocean off east Antarctica have struck opposition in the past, including at last year’s meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, where China and Russia played a part in blocking the proposal. Australia is co-sponsoring the proposal for an East Antarctic Marine Protected Area, along with the European Union, and will resubmit it at this year’s CCAMLR meeting. The organisation’s membership includes 25 nations and the EU. The plan requires the support of all members for it to proceed. The environment minister, Sussan Ley, said the decision to pursue the sanctuary “underlines our commitment to protecting the Antarctic and Southern Ocean”. Gillian Slocum, the leader of Australia’s delegation to the CCAMLR, said the proposal would protect reefs and safeguard several marine species. “When established, the East Antarctic MPA will protect distinctive deep-water reefs and feeding areas for marine mammals, penguins and other seabirds,” she said. The Australian Antarctic Division said the proposed sanctuary would also provide scientific reference zones to help researchers understand the effects of fishing outside protected areas and the consequences of climate change for Southern Ocean ecosystems. The Australian Antarctic explorer and adventurer Tim Jarvis has called on member countries to support the plan, warning that climate change and the threat of industrial fishing were putting pressure “on this incredible place”. “If you don’t protect those resources, you risk disrupting the whole global food web in the ocean,” he said. “You’re not going to head off climate change but you’re going to make them more resilient to it. “If it could all be protected, that would be fantastic but if we could get this million square kilometres it would be a huge step in the right direction.” But he added that most of the changes necessary to protect Antarctica and its marine life needed to be through a collective global effort to cut carbon pollution and limit global heating. “You want to protect Antarctica, we need to change the way we do things back in the rest of the world ... in the cities where 75% of us live, where we consume the energy that contributes to the CO2 emissions,” he said. Australian Associated Press contributed to this report • This story was amended on 21 October 2019 to remove a reference to Norway opposing the sanctuary. Norway has supported the proposal since 2014. | ['world/antarctica', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/sussan-ley', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'australia-news/hobart', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-10-19T19:00:40Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2012/may/14/rio-20-action-plan-ngo-summit | Deadlock over Rio+20 action plan fuels NGO scepticism about summit's payoff | After two weeks of closed-door negotiations, the UN preparatory committee PrepCom has failed to reach consensus on a global plan of action, entitled The Future We Want, to be adopted at the Rio+20 summit meeting of world leaders in Brazil next month. The negotiators, comprising representatives of all 193 member states, had limited success beyond reducing the size of the action plan, or "outcome document", from nearly 200 to fewer than 100 pages. The document, called the "zero draft", originally ran to more than 6,000 pages of submissions by member states, international organisations and civil society groups. Kim Sook, the South Korean ambassador to the UN and one of the co-chairs of the PrepCom, said delegates had expressed "disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress" on agreeing a plan aimed at a greener economy and a sustainable future. In an effort to break the deadlock, the PrepCom will revisit the zero draft at an unscheduled five-day session beginning on 29 May. The draft action plan has to be ready for approval by the time world leaders arrive in Rio de Janeiro for the three-day UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), or Rio+20 summit, starting on 20 June. If the PrepCom fails to reach consensus, negotiations will resume in Brazil on 13 June in a three-day, do-or-die attempt to finalise the document. The summit will be a follow-up to the landmark 1992 Earth summit in Brazil, which adopted Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. "Let us be frank," the UNCSD secretary general Sha Zukang said, "the negotiating text is a far cry from the focused political document called for by the general assembly." Zukang said the objective should be to arrive in Rio "with at least 90% of the text ready, and only the most difficult 10% left to be negotiated there at the highest political levels". However, a statement released by a coalition of international NGOs warned that Rio+20 "looks set to add almost nothing to global efforts to deliver sustainable development". "Too many governments are using or allowing the talks to undermine established human rights and agreed principles such as equity, precaution and polluter pays," it said. Antonio Hill of Oxfam said: "After four months of talks on the so-called zero draft outcome document, the Rio+20 talks are stuck at zero." He added that little or nothing has emerged that will deliver what governments agreed was needed 20 years ago at the Earth summit. Besides Oxfam, the coalition includes Development Alternatives, Greenpeace, the Forum of Brazilian NGOs and Social Movements for Environment and Development (FBOMS), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Vitae Civilis. Asked about the sticking points in the negotiating process, Zeenat Niazi, senior programme director at the India-based Development Alternatives Group, told IPS there was disagreement over the concept of green economy and "its relevance and meaning to the global south". She pointed out other areas of disagreement, including: issues of equity; sustainable consumption and production in the global north; social justice, especially related to resource extraction from developing and least-developed countries; and technology transfer and trade. Additionally, there were disputes relating to sustainable development goals (SDGs) and how they deal with "the integration across the three pillars of sustainability, and not becoming a long laundry list". "And what kind of commitments will nations need to make, and the readiness for them, and the building up of national capacities to facilitate the inclusion of SDGs in national development plans and priorities?" asked Niazi. Asked whether an additional week of negotiations will make any significant difference to the outcome document, Niazi told IPS: "It could, if there are spaces created to include the voices of civil society, and integrate the same in the outcome document and outline an inclusive road map to design the post-Rio+20 action plans." In a statement, the UN identified some of the contentious issues preventing agreement on the outcome document. Some developed countries, the statement said, have embraced the green economy as a new roadmap for sustainable development, while many developing countries are more cautious, asserting that each country should choose its own path to a sustainable future and that a green economy approach should not lead to green protectionism or limit growth and poverty eradication. Other countries and stakeholders, it said, have voiced concerns about implementation and accountability, pointing out that some commitments made at previous global meetings, such as for official development assistance (ODA), have yet to be fully realised. Nonetheless, said the statement, virtually all countries appear willing to agree on a number of issues, including the overall need to recognise and act to meet pressing global and national challenges. "It has been widely acknowledged that action is needed to provide for the needs of a growing global population that continues to consume and produce unsustainably, resulting in rising carbon emissions, degraded natural ecosystems and growing income inequality." The need to find a better measurement of progress than gross domestic product has also been widely acknowledged. The statement added that countries have also been examining the concept of new SDGs, a set of benchmarks to guide them in achieving targeted outcomes within a specific time period, such as access to sustainable energy and clean water for all. But some countries have differing views on what should or should not be included in the goals, as well as the formal process for how and when the goals may be defined, finalised and agreed upon. | ['global-development/series/guardian-development-network', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/rio-20-earth-summit', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'environment/green-politics', 'type/article'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-05-14T16:17:39Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2022/jan/13/inaction-global-warming-racism-climate-breakdown-people-of-colour | Inaction on global warming amounts to racism – let me tell you why | Elise Yarde | It’s 4am, and sparks from the circular saw are flying by my head. I have been given goggles to protect my eyes from the debris and although I’ve been told that I’m in safe hands, I do not feel safe at all. I’m cold from sitting on the road for five hours; my back is stiff, my hands are numb and, to top it all off, humanity is on the edge of extinction. This probably seems an odd way to spend my time to some of you, but this is how climate activists who engage in direct action try to be heard. We have tried everything else. We are exhausted and terrified. So we keep doing it. Last year I was included in an article about climate activists. In the original article, I was the only person pictured without my placard. My placard said: “Climate inaction = racism.” I want to talk about what this means. The countries that make up the global north are responsible for 92% of excess global emissions, but it’s the people in the global south who are suffering from the climate crisis right now. Our governments have allowed this to happen, in part, because the crisis has affected black and brown people first. That the safety and livelihoods of these people are not a priority is a reflection of the racist attitudes built into our political and economic systems. And it’s not just in the global south: in the UK, black and brown kids are most likely to live in deprived areas where pollution is at dangerous levels. Children like nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah, who contracted severe asthma and died in 2013 due to shocking levels of air pollution in Lewisham, south-east London, where she lived. For decades, governments have helped corporations extract oil and other resources from the global south, especially those countries that are heavily in debt. Debt is a tool of neocolonialism which makes developing countries dependent on their former colonisers. Surely we should be the ones in debt to them. The climate crisis and the shape it takes is, therefore, inextricable from colonisation and oppression of black and brown lives. Instead of acting on it, energy is spent on greenwashing to hide what is happening. When your inaction causes suffering predominantly to black and brown people, then your inaction is racism. In the UK, we watch all these tragedies unfold on television or social media and think, “Well, that’s sad, but what can we do?’ It’s happening so far away.” And then we feel grateful that it’s not happening to us. Even in the climate movement, people talk about things happening in 10 years, 20 years, when food shortages and sea level rises really start to affect our way of life. What about the millions of people who are already suffering from food shortages, locust infestations and drought – all problems that are supercharged by the changing climate? Racism is embedded into the worldview that allows us to consume and pollute without a care for the people who are bearing the brunt of our carbon emissions. To move away from this we need to think about climate justice. This means protecting the indigenous people whose land we are destroying, and listening to them, centring their voices and acknowledging that they are not part of the system killing us and so need to be involved in a just transition to a sustainable future. We have to listen to those underrepresented in the climate movement, not remove them from the picture – as literally happened to Vanessa Nakate from Uganda. The next step is seeing how climate justice is intertwined with other struggles against state hostility and negligence. We have to stand up to our government when they deport black and brown citizens and pass laws paving the way for even more UK citizens to be deported. Doing something means giving your hard-earned money to organisations on the frontline such as Survival International, and those helping climate refugees, such as Care4Calais. Racism sustains the world’s brutally unfair hierarchy of comfort and suffering. Until the UK and other states and citizens in global north treat all human life as equal, we will keep heading towards the darkness. So this is not only about recycling or using less plastic or driving less. If we can’t even talk about racism and the part it has played in climate breakdown, then how do we get better? How do we break down the systems that got us here? How do we heal the damage done to people and the planet? Anti-racism means acting as if the lives of black and brown people on the frontlines of the climate crisis really matter. Inaction is simply not an option. Elise Yarde is a climate justice activist from London | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'inequality/inequality', 'world/race', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-aid', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/elise-yarde', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/climate-aid | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2022-01-13T12:41:06Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
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