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technology/2014/apr/08/facebook-app-revealed-to-be-cause-of-iphone-battery-woes | Facebook app revealed to be cause of iPhone battery woes | Facebook's app has been identified as one of the main causes of battery life problems with Apple's iPhone. Two developers working separately have identified Facebook's repeated polling of its systems for new posts and data as a principal cause of battery drain. "Disable Background App Refresh for Facebook or other apps you don't absolutely need to stay up-to-date all the time," says Scott Loveless, an ex-Apple Genius bar employee who says he routinely dealt with battery life complaints in that job. Apple’s iPhone has a relatively small battery with a capacity of 1,560 milliamp-hours (mAh), compared to other flagship smartphones which can have capacities of 2,600mAh. Short battery life has thus become a primary user complaint, prompting Apple to issue advice on battery care and a plethora of articles and tips on how to extend an iPhone’s battery life. Loveless found that the Facebook app will if allowed constantly use Apple’s location services and background app refresh – a feature that keeps apps up to date by periodically polling the internet for new data such as tweets or Facebook posts. Digging into processes Using Apple’s developer tools for monitoring app activity, Loveless analysed Facebook’s iPhone app and found behaviour that explained the diminished battery life he was seeing on his iPhone 5S. “During testing, Facebook kept jumping up on the process list even though I wasn't using it. So I tried disabling Location Services and Background App Refresh for Facebook, and you'll never guess what happened: my battery percentage increased,” explained Loveless. “It jumped from 12% to 17%. Crazy. I've never seen that happen before on an iPhone." The explanation for the apparent increase in charge, he says, is that the load on the CPU had dropped - meaning that the battery would now last longer. “I have confirmed this behaviour on multiple iPhones with the same result: percentage points actually increase after disabling these background functions of Facebook,” Loveless says. Not alone Separately, Sebastian Düvel, a German iOS app developer also discovered in November last year that Facebook persistently ran in the background and drained an iPhone’s battery using the same developer tools as Loveless. He also identified background Facebook polling, especially by its Messenger function, to be a principal drain on resources. But he also noted in an update in March 2014 that turning off Background App Refresh cured the problem. The cause of the battery drain is unlikely to be a bug or flaw in programming, but rather collateral damage in app’s attempts to maintain a connection to Facebook’s servers. The social network introduced an instant messaging function with Facebook chat and Messenger, and later added voice calling over Wi-Fi for users in the US and select other regions, both of which need persistent or frequent connections to the internet. Facebook also bought the text message replacement app WhatsApp for $19bn in February, which similarly requires an open internet connection to have messages pushed to the smartphone. For iPhone Facebook users, Loveless suggests turning off the location services and background refresh features for the Facebook app in the iOS settings application, which should prevent it from draining the iPhone’s battery while behaving normally in general use. He also suggests leaving apps that have been used in memory rather than quitting them in the multitasking interface disabling push email temporarily disabling "annoying" push notifications (because they wake the screen) simply ignoring the battery percentage (because checking it turns on the screen and uses power) having the phone checked at an Apple Store switching the phone to Airplane mode when in an area with poor phone reception Facebook’s Android apps have also been frequently implicated in battery drain issues, with some going as far as suggesting that ditching the Android apps and using the mobile website is the most affective way of preventing battery issues. • Apps have become more popular than the open web on mobile phones | ['technology/iphone', 'technology/iphone-5s', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/facebook', 'media/social-media', 'technology/apps', 'technology/software', 'media/socialnetworking', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/mobilephones', 'technology/internet', 'technology/programming', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-04-08T16:11:17Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
uk-news/2019/mar/09/extinction-rebellion-activists-arrested-over-scottish-oil-protest | Extinction Rebellion activists throw 'blood' outside Downing Street | Extinction Rebellion activists have thrown buckets of “blood” outside Downing Street to call for greater action on climate change. About 400 demonstrators, including families with children, spilled more than 200 litres of red paint to make the severity of climate change “viscerally clear”. The blood was meant to symbolise “the death of our children” and the hellish future young people faced, the group said in a statement. Paolo, 61, a translator, said: “We are here to mourn the loss of life, and for the life that has not yet been born; and to protest the injustice of this for future generations. I have no children of my own, but I haven’t stopped loving the world.” Hector, aged 10, said: “Many animals will go extinct if we do not act now. We have invested all our support in the government. But in our time of need, they have deserted us. We need the press and the government to tell the truth.” The protest follows a demonstration in Edinburgh on Friday, when police arrested 14 Extinction Rebellion activists who were protesting at an oil industry dinner at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. About 30 people staged a sit-in at the museum before hundreds of oil company executives gathered for the annual dinner of the Scottish Oil Club. The protesters hung two banners from the balcony of the museum’s main hall that read, “Climate emergency” and “Smash the patriarchy – save the planet”. They were asked to leave by Police Scotland, but 13 protesters remained in the building, six of them joined together with bicycle locks. They were arrested and removed from the museum at about 8pm. It is understood that the 14th activist was arrested at about midnight after unfurling a climate protest banner from the same balcony. An Extinction Rebellion spokeswoman said all 14 had been charged with breaching the peace. It was the latest in a series of direct action protests and occupations by Extinction Rebellion activists in Scotland, including a sit-in at the Scottish parliament and a demonstration in Glasgow. The campaign group said about 300 people staged a party on Chamber Street outside the museum before executives from oil firms including Shell, BP and Total arrived. “When guests started arriving, protesters lined the entrance to the museum and sang, chanted and spoke to them about the climate emergency,” the group said, before criticising the museum for renting out its building for the event. Extinction Rebellion, which has spread to a number of countries after being launched in London last year, argues that governments and industries are failing to address the climate crisis with sufficient urgency. They believe the UK needs to rapidly cut carbon emissions, with the aim of no net carbon emissions by 2026, about 25 years earlier than its current target. They argue that the UK’s oil industry, which is based in Aberdeen, enjoys £10.5bn a year in subsidies and is continuing to develop new oilfields, despite evidence of increased manmade global warming. Mim Black, an Extinction Rebellion Scotland spokeswoman, said: “Climate chaos is already under way across the planet and we know that the fossil fuel industry is a major driver of this. We must immediately start putting safety before profit.” Police Scotland said its officers were deployed at 4.30pm on Friday. After the museum closed to the public, the protesters were asked to leave but refused. “Following a period of negotiation police provided a proportionate response to the protest and 13 people, a mix of men and women, have been arrested,” the force said. | ['uk/scotland', 'world/protest', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'profile/aamna-mohdin', 'profile/severincarrell', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-03-09T18:28:20Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
commentisfree/2023/sep/04/the-guardian-view-on-insects-gardeners-can-help-reverse-their-alarming-decline | The Guardian view on insects: gardeners can help reverse their alarming decline | Editorial | Gardeners’ attitudes to insects, like those of humans in general, are a mixed bag. Butterflies’ brief, fluttering lives make them beloved wonders. Bees have long been a source of fascination as well as honey. But the reason why some creepy-crawlies have been classified as pests while others haven’t goes beyond appearances. Horticulturalists, like farmers, generally object to insects that eat what they grow. This hasn’t saved the creatures that don’t consume crops or garden plants. Habitat loss resulting from urbanisation and deforestation, and pesticide use in agriculture, mean that global insect populations are in steep decline. In the UK, the number of flying insects is estimated – by looking at vehicle number plates – to have fallen by 58.5% between 2004 and 2021. Awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators has risen in the past decade. But human dependence on insects goes beyond this. They form a crucial part of multiple ecosystems. The changes in land use and agriculture that will be needed to reverse these alarming trends depend on policymakers. The UK government has broken its promise to replace subsidies under the common agricultural policy with sustainability incentives worth the same amount. It also lags behind France and other countries by continuing to allow non-agricultural pesticide use – although some local councils have imposed their own bans or phase-outs. Next year’s ban on peat-based garden compost is a positive step but should have happened sooner. Gardeners as well as politicians have a role to play by adopting new techniques, and aesthetics, which reflect the needs of nature. Insects, birds and spiders – highly visible at this time of year, when many common species breed – need food and places to nest. Gardeners should include wildlife-friendly trees such as crab apples where possible, and avoid weedkiller as well as insect poisons. Other beneficial changes include planting a greater variety of plants, ideally including some native species (or relatives of natives), which are more hospitable to local wildlife because they evolved in tandem. Last month, Australian scientists showed that planting indigenous species in an urban green space caused insect numbers to multiply by seven times in three years. Artificial turf should be avoided. As the climate heats up, it also makes sense to choose less thirsty plants. Sometimes these are chosen as part of schemes with other environmental benefits. One example that has attracted widespread praise is the Grey to Green regeneration project in Sheffield, a mile-long flood defence area featuring a series of water-collecting rain gardens. Opened in 2020, it also provides a new link to the Castlegate area of the city. Experts as well as amateurs are changing their ways. The Guardian’s Alys Fowler wrote earlier this year about teaching herself to leave aphids and dandelions alone. Others, including Alan Titchmarsh, are more resistant to replacing scented borders with messy nature. But with almost 30% of the total urban area in Britain estimated to consist of residential gardens, what happens in these spaces matters. When so much agricultural land has become a hostile environment for wildlife, chemical-free flowerbeds can be sanctuaries. We don’t have to stop admiring double-headed peonies, which are bred to impress in such a way that bees can’t get to the pollen. But we can make more room for fauna amid the flowers. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/insects', 'environment/wildlife', 'lifeandstyle/gardens', 'environment/environment', 'environment/bees', 'lifeandstyle/gardeningadvice', 'environment/biodiversity', 'type/article', 'tone/editorials', 'tone/comment', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-09-04T17:48:04Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2016/apr/06/uk-nuclear-security-is-better-than-north-korea | UK nuclear security is better than North Korea’s | Letters | Dr David Lowry (Letters, 5 April) presents a highly selective and misleading view of the recent Nuclear Threat Initiative report. Britain does indeed come bottom and below North Korea in the theft rankings – but on one aspect only: the number of sites and quality of material held. As a longtime nuclear weapon state and user of nuclear power, it is hardly surprising that we have a lot in quite a few places. Places like Australia and Argentina will inevitably “win” this category. However, on “Security and control measures” we rank fourth with a score of 96/100, on “Global norms” we come equal top, 100/100. While not quite so good on some other aspects, “Overall” we rank 12th, with a score of 78/100 (a weighed result doubtless reduced by the number of sites score), with North Korea at the bottom. The top-ranked countries are those with very little material; the UK’s score is within two or three points of the US, France etc, who are more comparable. Where our score has changed since previous reports by the NTI, it has improved in every single category. I hold no particular brief for our nuclear establishment, but the picture Dr Lowry paints is certainly not an accurate reflection of the contents of the report he cites. Professor Harvey Rutt Southampton • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | ['world/nuclear-weapons', 'world/world', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'politics/davidcameron', 'politics/politics', 'tone/letters', 'world/north-korea', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2016-04-06T18:10:03Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2012/oct/29/caribbean-nations-hurricane-sandy | Caribbean nations count cost of hurricane Sandy | As the United States braced for hurricane Sandy, the Caribbean nations that have already faced its fury were burying the dead, finding shelter for the homeless and counting the economic cost of the fiercest winds and rain that many have seen in a decade. At least 69 people have died in six countries since the end of last week as Sandy ripped its way northwards with gusts in excess of 110mph and downpours that engulfed homes, crops and roads. Hardest hit is Haiti. Although not directly in the path of the hurricane, the poorest nation in the Americas has confirmed 52 dead and at least a dozen more missing as flimsy buildings were engulfed in mudslides or swept out to sea by flood tides. A worse humanitarian disaster could follow. According to the government in Port-au-Prince, about 200,000 people are homeless, though emergency shelter has only been provided for 17,000. In addition to the short-term fears of cholera and other water-borne disease, the prime minister, Laurent Lamothe warned of food shortages because crops have been badly damaged. "The economy took a huge hit," Lamothe told Reuters as he revealed plans to appeal to the international community for emergency aid. Cuba is also picking up the pieces after extensive loss of life and economic impacts. The Communist party newspaper Granma reported 11 dead and damage to 137,000 homes. It said recovery would take years. The greatest devastation appears to be in Santiago, where schools, hospitals, homes and churches were damaged. In the city, the stained glass windows of the cathedral were shattered, the zinc roofs of shanty town communities were seen floating away and many areas were still without power and running water on Monday. In the fields, between a fifth and a third of Cuba's coffee crop has been decimated at a time that ought to be the peak of the harvest season. "We can say that we have had a great hurricane in the east and a small 'Flora' [the name of a destructive 1964 hurricane\ in the centre of the country," President Raul Castro said on a visit to the affected provinces, according to the state-run National Information Agency. Smaller scale fatalities and damage were also reported in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, where sea waters surged over coastal barriers to deluge roads and buildings. Venezuela has been among the first to respond to the calls for assistance, providing food, drinking water and equipment to Haiti and Cuba. | ['us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/world', 'world/haiti', 'world/americas', 'world/cuba', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanwatts'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-29T22:47:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2017/oct/16/country-diary-plymouth-pear-national-treasure | Country diary: a national treasure rooted in the urban landscape | There’s a wooden picnic bench on the grass, though it is not the most inviting of locations to stop for lunch, next to an ambulance vehicle depot and overshadowed by a multi-storey car park. In sunny weather, I imagine workers from nearby Derriford hospital might visit this secluded spot during a break. But on this rainy autumn day, I have it to myself and with it a natural treasure that has endured here for more than 60 years, even as the buildings have sprung up around it. Fenced off in a corner near the bench stands a Plymouth pear (Pyrus cordata), named after the area where it was first spotted in 1870. This unremarkable-looking species in an unremarkable setting is one of Britain’s rarest trees. Only a few other wild specimens are known to exist in the West Country: in the hedgerows of Plymouth and near Truro in Cornwall. And the protected individual at Derriford, a cluster of trunks supporting a dense spread of small leaves, is on the shortlist for Woodland Trust’s tree of the year award. It is “a bit of an ugly duckling in the tree world, small and scrubby for most of the time,” admits Andrew Young, the Plymouth Tree Partnership volunteer who nominated it for the award. But it is “absolutely beautiful when covered with its pure white flowers in spring”. Those flowers have now borne fruit: a meagre and unappetising-looking crop dotted about the canopy, partly covered in netting to keep the birds off. Hard and marble-sized, the fruit helps distinguish this species from the domestic pear (Pyrus communis), as do the purplish twigs that grow from its spiny branches. The seeds are seldom viable, which is why it has remained so scarce and is the subject of a conservation recovery programme. P cordata also grows on the continent, and it is unclear when or how it originally spread here. This scruffy survivor may not have the grandeur or history of some of the other tree award finalists – such as Sherwood Forest’s Parliament Oak with its royal connections and the ancient Crowhurst Yew in East Sussex – but for rarity it can’t be beaten. Follow Country diary on Twitter: @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/forests', 'culture/heritage', 'environment/environment', 'culture/culture', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'uk/national-trust', 'uk/plymouth', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/charlie-elder', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-10-16T04:30:50Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2012/mar/27/planning-builders-charter-lawyers-delight-editorial | Planning: from builders' charter to lawyers' delight | Editorial | "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty told Alice, "it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less." So too with the government's revised planning framework. The final draft published on Tuesday is certainly an improvement on the version put out last summer. But it is unclear how much better, largely because too much of the wording is so vague. The result is a document more pleasing to more constituencies, but not wholly convincing to any. And it turns what was once justly described as a charter for property developers into a treasure trove for lawyers. First, though, it should be acknowledged that the government has made a smart change of approach. It was smart to have planning minister Greg Clark fronting the framework rather than his boss. Eric Pickles long ago established himself as the Marmite politician of this government, being someone voters either love or hate. Second, it is clear that the outside consultations and the select committee recommendations have been taken on board. The first draft of the planning framework effectively only recognised the intrinsic value of the English countryside when it was in a national park or the green belt, or enjoyed some other designation. Under that restrictive definition, the majority of the countryside had no intrinsic value – no matter how well-loved by residents or visitors. This time around, the core planning principles recognise "the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside". But in other cases, the acknowledgments and concessions have led to policy that seems more inclusive, but is really just more muddy. To take the most important example, "the presumption in favour of sustainable development", which caused such great fuss last year, stays in – indeed, it runs through the framework like "a golden thread", says the government – but it has now been qualified and better defined, and so made slightly less worrisome to environmentalists. Except the definition refers to five principles – including the environment, economics, social justice, good governance and "sound science". The document then claims the "three dimensions to sustainable development" are economic, social and environmental, and that they are "mutually dependent". This is, to be frank, gobbledegook. A third runway at Heathrow (to take one argument that is surely brewing, both within the coalition and between the government and big business) could be both disastrous for the environment and a boost to the economy (all those jobs, all that infrastructure). But it is unlikely to tick both boxes at once. What this amounts to, then, is a field day for lawyers, who will be able to argue out the merits of big housing and retail developments for as long as their retainers sustain them. All this matters, because one iron rule of development is that those parties who can afford the flintiest lawyers and the cosiest relations with those in government tend to get their way. Indeed, the planning system in its ideal, Platonic form is meant to afford some protection to local residents, and other concerned citizens, against those with more money. In other words, it is a check on untrammelled market forces. Except that in the form it was in yesterday, these convoluted and qualified planning laws will become another aid to the big-money lawyers. There are other disappointments too, principally over brownfield sites. One of Labour's most significant achievements in this area was to require property developers and others to build on industrial and brownfield sites first. The coalition has now watered that down to an encouragement. Planning laws never make anything happen, but they can shape how and where new developments appear. Yesterday's document provides plenty of inducements for property developers but not enough constraints on them to build the homes Britain surely needs, where it needs them and at a decent price. And it sets its sights on economic growth, without considering what kind of growth is desirable. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'politics/planning', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'politics/politics', 'environment/environment', 'society/housing', 'society/communities', 'society/society', 'business/retail', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'tone/editorials', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-03-27T21:58:42Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2022/may/02/bushland-marked-as-environmental-offset-for-new-sydney-airport-bulldozed-for-car-park | Bushland marked as environmental offset for new Sydney airport bulldozed for car park | An area of heritage-listed bushland that formed part of the environmental offset for the western Sydney airport has been bulldozed for a car park at a new defence facility. The clearing was revealed in an independent audit of the federal government’s progress in delivering the offsets required to compensate for the destruction of endangered habitat for the new travel hub in Badgerys Creek. The main offset for the clearing of critically endangered Cumberland plain woodland is about 900ha of bushland at a defence site in the suburb of Orchard Hills. The site, known as Defence Establishment Orchard Hills, is an explosives storage and training facility that is listed on the commonwealth heritage register because it is almost entirely vegetated with endangered woodlands. Federal environment department officials had already questioned the credibility of offsetting habitat destruction for the airport with heritage-listed land the government already owned. Now, the most recent offset delivery report produced for the federal infrastructure department reveals a small section of the heritage bushland was cleared for a car park for a new naval guided weapons facility at the Orchard Hills site. Conservationists have raised concerns about the clearing, with the Australian Conservation Foundation describing it as “yet another disturbing example that underlines the fundamental flaws in our national environment law”. “The offsetting system facilitates the steady decline of areas of unique ecological significance,” Sophie Power, the ACF’s national biodiversity policy adviser, said. “For offsets to be credible they must provide genuine, additional, permanent protection and restoration.” The clearing was identified by an independent reviewer who audited the Orchard Hills offset. Under the development conditions, the infrastructure department must file annual reports on its progress in delivering the environmental offsets. The reports are years behind, with the 2020 review only recently published. The independent review is attached as an appendix and notes that inspection of the site had found a recently cleared construction compound and temporary development within bushland that had been mapped as poor condition Cumberland plain woodland. The reviewer wrote that the cleared area would have to be removed from the offset because it was unlikely to recover “without substantial restoration efforts”. They also recommended that an investigation be launched into how development came to occur within the offset, to ensure it did not happen again. Lisa Harrold is the president of the Mulgoa Valley Landcare group and was a member of an expert group that provided advice to the infrastructure department when it was preparing the offset plan. Harrold has been vocal about her disappointment in the decision to use Orchard Hills as the main offset when it was already on the heritage register and had been promised as a permanent conservation site by both major political parties as far back as 2007. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning “The fact of the matter is they’ve shown complete and utter disregard for the entire offsetting process,” she said. “If it wasn’t for community members like myself who dig through reports and find they’ve cleared part of the offset there would be no recourse. “What we’re left with is one government department telling another oh, sorry, we mucked up.” The defence department did not respond to questions about the development, or whether it sought environmental approval to clear within the heritage area. The environment department, after receiving questions from Guardian Australia, said it was making “preliminary enquiries, consistent with our published compliance policy”. A spokesperson for the infrastructure department said the construction identified by the independent auditor was in the “vicinity of the offset site’s preliminary boundary”. “The department was aware that this boundary was subject to change once the final footprint of the defence facility was known and subsequent changes to the boundary have increased the size of the offset,” they said. The spokesperson said the department had robust monitoring systems in place for the airport offsets and work on the next annual report was under way. But Tim Beshara, the manager of policy and strategy at the Wilderness Society, said the story of the Cumberland plain woodland’s decline to the brink of extinction was a “farce” that highlighted layers of failure in administration of Australia’s environmental laws. He said the bushland at Orchard Hills was the best remaining example of the woodland, and its listing on the heritage register meant governments were obliged to manage and protect it. “And now it has been supposedly ‘secured’ as an offset for other destruction elsewhere, but somehow no one seems to check when the bulldozers arrive,” he said. “There isn’t a single obligation to protect the Cumberland Plain that the commonwealth haven’t dodged or failed … and yet no one seems to be accountable.” | ['environment/conservation', 'australia-news/sydney', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-05-01T17:30:32Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/jun/30/fine-motorists-idling-outside-schools-to-cut-air-pollution-say-health-watchdogs | Fine motorists idling outside schools to cut air pollution, say health watchdogs | Parents who leave their car engines running at the school gate should be fined in order to help tackle the air pollution crisis, according to England’s official health watchdogs. New guidance from Public Health England (PHE) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) sets out a wide range of measures to cut air pollution, which is at illegal levels in almost 90% of urban areas. The health experts say children and older people are most at risk from toxic air and so “no idling” zones should be used outside schools, care homes and hospitals. Westminster city council has already introduced £80 fines for drivers caught with idling engines. Other PHE and Nice recommendations include planting more pollution-absorbing trees and hedges, training motorists to drive smoothly and to keep their tyres pumped up, and supporting cycling and electric vehicles. The health watchdogs also back “clean air zones” that charge or restrict polluting vehicles from entering town centres. The government’s own evidence shows this is the fastest way to cut pollution, but ministers have shied away from implementing zones, fearing a backlash from motorists. Air pollution is estimated to cause 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK, making it the biggest environmental killer. It also results in health costs of between £8.5bn and £18.6bn a year, according to PHE and Nice. The government’s plans to solve the pollution problem have twice been declared illegally poor and its latest plan in May was dismissed as “weak” and “woefully indequate”. Ministers are now being sued for a third time. “Air pollution is a major risk to our health, and so far suggested measures have not managed to tackle the problem sufficiently,” said Prof Paul Lincoln, chair of the Nice guideline committee. “This guidance is based upon the best evidence available. It outlines a range of practical steps that local authorities can take, such as the implementation of no-idling zones, to reduce emissions and protect the public.” Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: “These guidelines bring into sharp focus the reality that air pollution is one of our most important public health issues. We welcome the recommendations to introduce no vehicle idling areas, which will help to protect the most vulnerable in our society.” RAC roads policy spokesman Nick Lyes said: “We welcome the principle of no-idling zones, especially outside schools, hospitals and care homes. No-one should have to suffer dirty air as a result of a driver leaving their engine on unnecessarily. Sadly, many drivers don’t realise the harm they are causing by doing this.” Healthcare professionals should play a role in tackling Britain’s air pollution problem too, said Prof Paul Cosford, director of health protection at PHE: “They can advise individuals, particularly those who are most vulnerable, on how to reduce the personal impact of air pollution – for example, by reducing strenuous activity when air pollution is high and by using less polluted routes in towns and cities.” | ['environment/pollution', 'society/health', 'society/children', 'education/schools', 'education/education', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'lifeandstyle/parents-and-parenting', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-06-30T05:30:11Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
politics/2019/jan/21/up-the-brexit-canal-without-a-paddle | Up the Brexit canal without a paddle | Brief letters | I have always thought that the Sex Pistols’ “Don’t know what I want / but I know how to get it” was not so much a “futile, inexplicable gesture” (John Harris, 21 January) as a deliberate inversion of Jimi Hendrix’s line in Manic Depression, and hence more of a two-fingered salute to the established pop culture of the time. Jim Grozier Brighton, East Sussex • Ian Grieve (Letters, 21 January) asks what he might do on 29 March? I suggest he carries on writing witty letters to the Guardian, and continues his water-based adventures on the beautiful Llangollen and Shropshire Union canals. I doubt either will be affected if we leave the EU. Graham Russell Market Drayton, Shropshire • On 29 March, Ian Grieve and his wife should point the Gordon Bennett at the nearest creek on the Llangollen canal. There should then follow a ceremonial chucking overboard of their paddle. Jonathan Taylor Fowey, Cornwall • It is excellent that plastic is being replaced by potato starch in the wrapping around the Guardian’s Saturday supplements. But as a flat dweller with no compost heap; garden waste bin or food waste bin, how should I dispose of said wrap? Put it in with my normal non-recycled rubbish? Janet Lewis London • My mother’s cleanser was more hygienic than that of Christine Bennett’s grandmother (Letters, 19 January). Instead of spitting on her handkerchief herself, she would get me to spit on it and then scrub my face. Marilyn Neubert Portslade, East Sussex • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition | ['politics/eu-referendum', 'music/sexpistols', 'environment/environment', 'politics/article-50', 'world/eu', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'politics/politics', 'music/music', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'tone/letters', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-01-21T17:43:20Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2011/jun/09/community-renewables-funding | 'We believed we had a winner' - funding dries up for community renewables | Reducing subsidies for large-scale solar installations, as the government had done today, is intended to increase the number of panels on house roofs. However, the Guardian has learned of dozens of examples of projects, often community-led, that will not now go ahead because the cuts – subsidies on some schemes have been slashed by two-thirds – mean the returns on investment now being offered are insufficient to attract bank loans or other forms of financing. Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network would have created "solar allotments" where residents could generate a third of the community's electricity needs by 2015, along with an income of up to £100,000 a year that would pay for the installations with the remainder re-invested in other local environmental schemes. "We believed we had a winner - significant power generation to impact on energy needs, a sizeable community fund to meet local needs, and local ownership by means of shares," said Tony Faragher, a local volunteer. "So it is extremely disappointing that the solar allotment scheme will inevitably collapse ... the project will simply be non-viable with the proposed reduction in feed-in tariffs. We find it difficult to understand and accept this perspective." Dawn Muspratt, involved in another community scheme called the Power Exchange in Hastings, shares this view. "A small team of us have created a social enterprise aimed at using renewable energy to benefit people living in fuel poverty in the UK," she explained. "The essence of the idea is to generate the electricity needs of people using prepayment meters and to use that electricity to off-set their use. As the majority of our customers will either not have roof space or will not have security over their properties, we are using ground-based [solar panels] as the route to market." The low-income households that would have benefitted are now unlikely to be able to access the subsidies. When the government announced its change of heart in February, ahead of the consultation and review published on Thursday, funding for the project dried up. "We lost funding for proof of market research and some of our investors started to look jumpy," Muspratt explained. "The proposed tariff rate for ground based and 'large scale' solar is hopeless and we are not sure that our model can sustain the new rate." Community Energy Warwickshire, a locally formed group, was hoping to put in place 120 kilowatts (kW) of solar panels, spread over two hospitals. The group said the panels would have reduced the hospitals' energy use, with the savings spent on patients. But the cuts mean the project has been more than halved. The South Yorkshire Housing Association, in Sheffield, is also re-evaluating its proposals for community solar installations. One development already in place benefitted homeless families, in a rehousing scheme. But instead of providing a single installation that would have provided energy for 25 families, the anticipated changes to feed-in tariffs meant each house had to be supplied separately. This was much less cost-effective than treating the community as a single installation, the Association said. "But it was the only one which we were confident would receive funding," said Craig Jackson. In Brighton, a cooperative was planning several community-owned installations of 100kW each, with the income to be reinvested in more renewable energy and energy-saving. Damien Tow said the changes made the plans "economically unviable", and the group would have to try to find locations suitable for smaller installations, in order to reap the maximum subsidies under the reformed government tariffs. The group has calculated that community installations need to be up to 300kW in capacity in order to be viable, but this is five times more than the government is now allowing on the maximum tariff. | ['environment/solarpower', 'environment/feed-in-tariffs', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'money/money', 'money/energy', 'uk/uk', 'tone/analysis', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2011-06-09T15:40:22Z | true | ENERGY |
media/mediamonkeyblog/2012/nov/09/colin-myler-new-york-daily-news | Colin Myler's storming performance keeps New York Daily News running | Media Monkey | Among the organisations hit by superstorm Sandy in New York was the tabloid New York Daily News, edited by Colin Myler, former editor of the News of the World. The paper is headquartered in lower Manhattan by the Staten Island ferry terminal, one of the areas to take the worst battering last week. Twenty staff were stranded overnight when the storm hit and a surge from the harbour flooded the building, cutting all power supplies. Having seen one newspaper shut down during his career, Myler was damned if something like a tropical squall was going to have another one disappear, albeit temporarily. The paper's City Jersey printing plant – and disaster recovery base – was also put out of action and for a time it seemed that the News would indeed be out for the count. But on Tuesday a favour was returned by the New York Jewish Week, which provided Daily News staff with offices up town in Times Square. Less than five hours after setting up the first computer, Myler got a 64-page paper out on presses supplied by Newsday and the Bergen Record. The next day the New York Times came to the rescue with its printing presses. The makeshift offices at the Jewish Week weren't big enough so the paper's journalists moved to their lawyers' offices and again produced two more papers. While Myler says he is "proud and privileged" to work with his team, his greatest thanks is for two staff who lost their homes and carried on working – photographers Debbie Egan-Chin and Kevin Coughlin. "We are still homeless. Our building is contaminated by diesel fuel; we may not be allowed back insider for a couple of months. But our paper and web operation will power on," he wrote in a column earlier this week. That's the spirit Col. You show Murdoch that you won't be closed down a second time. | ['media/colin-myler', 'media/media', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'media/mediamonkeyblog', 'type/article', 'profile/monkey'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-11-09T15:55:22Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2023/jul/26/labor-push-for-publicly-owned-plantations-to-end-native-forest-logging | Labor push for publicly owned plantations to end native forest logging | More than 300 Labor branches have backed a push by the party’s environmental arm for the Albanese government to fund an expanded, publicly owned plantation industry to ensure the country gets the timber it needs and end native forest logging. A report by the Labor Environment Action Network (Lean), the ALP’s largest internal lobby group, calls for the party’s national conference next month to support an industry policy focused on restoring native forests. It says they have greater value if treated as a carbon and biodiversity sink than if logged to produce mainly low-value products such as woodchips, pallets and power poles. Released on Wednesday, the report recommends the government salvage and expand Australia’s struggling plantation sector by creating a state-owned national plantation estate to “increase our domestic timber independence”. Nearly 90% of Australian timber comes from plantations, and just 12% from native forests, but next to no tree farms have been planted since 2010 and total plantation area is in decline. Government modelling suggests at least 400,000 hectares of new plantations will be needed over the next decade to meet demand. Felicity Wade, Lean’s co-convener, said the evidence suggested expanding plantations could create 1,800 regional jobs, compared with 1,100 employed in the native forest industry nationally. She said 316 party branches across 100 electorates supported stopping native forest logging on economic and environmental grounds, and focusing on developing a plan to build a “vibrant 21st century plantation-based timber industry”. “We have some of the most carbon- and biodiversity-rich forests on the planet and we’re mining them. What a waste,” Wade said. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup “Lean believes we need publicly owned plantation establishment, done smart. We need to plan what species need to be planted and where, with a plan for which manufacturing facility will take the wood and how it will get to market. We need to recognise the increased fire risks and diminishing water associated with climate change. “This kind of planning is nonexistent. The government needs to step in.” The Lean report will be at the heart of a fight to change the forestry position in Labor’s national platform. A draft national platform seen by Guardian Australia made no mention of reducing native forest logging and land-clearing – a long-time Lean goal. Labor is divided on the issue. The Western Australian and Victorian governments have promised to end native forest logging at the end of this year, and the federal ALP MP Josh Burns has urged action “to save our precious natural environment and native wildlife”. But the new New South Wales Labor government supports ongoing native forest logging while also promising to create a great koala national park, and the Tasmanian Labor opposition has accused the pro-forestry Liberal state government of not doing enough to support the industry. The Queensland Labor government allows large-scale land-clearing, mostly for agricultural expansion. The Australian Forest Products Association, led by the former Labor cabinet minister Joel Fitzgibbon, says local forestry practices are the most sustainable in the world. The Lean report cites last year’s state of the environment report, which found Australia had one of the highest rates of species decline in the world, with habitat loss due to logging and clearing a key driver. Lean says the government should substantially boost funding for forest protection and carbon storage at home and in south-east Asia, suggesting 25-30% of Australia’s international climate finance funding be dedicated to preventing deforestation in the region. Its report also calls for: Increased public funding for forest protection and restoration, recognising that scientists have estimated $1.69bn a year is needed to arrest species loss. Training and support for existing native forest industry workers and Indigenous custodians to work in new conservation and plantation roles. A government-owned national natural capital corporation to manage the national plantation estate and help farmers take part in carbon and biodiversity markets. A nationwide restoration program focused on 252 ecosystems identified as having less than 30% of vegetation remaining. It says this would require 13,000 workers for 30 years. Investment in a national landcover database and vegetation mapping, based on the system used in Queensland, which has reported higher levels of land-clearing than reflected in national accounts. Labor’s national conference is in Brisbane on 17-19 August. | ['environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/logging-and-land-clearing | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-07-25T15:00:41Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2018/oct/10/the-national-energy-market-is-an-abject-failure-its-time-for-a-publicly-owned-grid | The national energy market is an abject failure – it's time for a publicly owned grid | John Quiggin | The Greens’ proposal for a publicly owned electricity retailer is the latest to emerge from across the political spectrum arguing for renewed public intervention. The Queensland Labor government has committed to the establishment of a publicly owned renewable electricity generator, to be called CleanCo. At the federal level, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has repeatedly stated that electricity privatisation was a mistake. The LNP government is still committed to the Snowy 2.0 hydro scheme, while the climate denialist faction wants public money for a new coal-fired power station. This renewed appetite for public ownership is accompanied by general recognition that the national electricity market has been a complete failure. As I discuss in my contribution to a new book, Wrong Way, How Privatisation and Economic Reform Backfire, microeconomic reform has failed in every part of the electricity supply system. Unfortunately, no one has much of an idea what to do about the problem. Restoration of public ownership will help but the system needs to be redesigned from the ground up. Before putting forward blueprints for a redesign, it’s important to consider, at a more fundamental level, what went wrong. Certainly, privatisation was a mistake and markets haven’t yielded the promised benefits but electricity systems with predominantly private ownership and designed markets have performed relatively well in some places. For example, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot) has done a good job in managing the transition from coal-fired power to renewables while holding prices down. Why has Australia done so badly? The reform process in Australia has treated markets and competition as goals in themselves, rather than as policy instruments designed to produce useful price signals and thereby guide investment and consumption decisions. The failure to consider the appropriate role of prices can be seen at every stage in the process, from generation to retail. Let’s start with generation. The Australian Electricity Market Operator operates on the basis of a “spot” or “pool market”, in which the wholesale price of electricity is set by auctions, reset every five minutes. The only exception is in periods of very high demand when a market price cap (MPC) of $14,500 a megawatt-hour (MWh) is applied. The MPC is typically reached on only a few days a year and so, from the perspective of a market operator, is a relatively minor investment. But it is precisely the peak demand on those few days that determines the desirability of new investment in dispatchable generation. The imposition of the MPC means that there is no effective price signal to guide new investment. A better solution would be for the market operator to make long-term power purchase agreements with generators, based on auctions or tenders, and then to dispatch power on an “order of merit” basis. The messy problems of reliability and peak load would be addressed through coherent planning, while prices would serve to secure investment in an appropriate mix of generation at the lowest possible cost. This cost of generation should of course take into account the cost of carbon dioxide emissions. Turning to transmission and distribution, the biggest contributor to increased electricity costs in Australia has been the massive increase in rates of return paid to the owners of “poles and wires”. Under public ownership, these assets were financed by semi-government bonds, paying a small premium over the AAA government rate. Under reform, they have been paid a much higher “weighted average cost of capital”. The appropriate role of prices in a natural monopoly activity such as electricity distribution is simple. The price should be as low as possible, while covering the costs of necessary investment. The best way to ensure this is to shift to a publicly owned national grid, replacing the current patchwork of private networks and the pre-1990s set of disparate state networks. Until this can be done, regulated rates of return should be lowered to bring costs down over time. Finally, there is retail competition. Retail price policy should have two goals. The first, obviously, is to keep prices as low as possible while covering the costs of supply. The second is to allow consumers to manage their demand so as to use more electricity when it is cheap. To achieve this with any accuracy, it is necessary to use smart meters, capable of allowing flexible pricing. As with everything else, Australia’s electricity reformers made a hash of this. After a ham-fisted attempted to force Victorian consumers to pay for new meters in 2009, the whole idea was soft-pedalled. Meanwhile, under the banner of choice and open markets, reformers pushed ahead with full retail competition. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australian-greens', 'type/article', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/coal', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'tone/comment', 'profile/john-quiggin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2018-10-09T17:00:24Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2021/sep/15/australias-farmers-set-for-record-70bn-year-but-labour-shortages-and-covid-rules-threaten-harvest | Australia’s farmers set for record $70bn year – but labour shortages and Covid rules threaten harvest | Australia’s agricultural sector is set for a record $73bn year but labour shortages and border restrictions are threatening farmers’ ability to deliver on the promise of a bumper harvest. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resources Economics and Sciences released its agricultural overview report on Tuesday, revealing how a “remarkable combination of events” – optimal seasonal conditions and high commodity prices across multiple sectors – are expected to mean that total agricultural production surpasses the $70bn mark for the first time. The National Farmers’ Federation said this year’s remarkable growth was an important step towards its goal to lift agriculture to a $100bn industry by 2030. According to the quarterly Rabobank rural confidence survey, also released on Tuesday, “Australian farm sector confidence is at one of its highest levels in the survey’s history”. But Rabobank Australia’s chief executive, Peter Knoblanche, said the biggest concerns among farmers in relation to Covid-19 were the impact of restrictions on securing farm labour and on shipping delays and container costs. The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, said 27,000 men and women from 10 Pacific nations had been found to work in regional Australia but that only 10,000 of those could be brought in. He told ABC Breakfast TV that one of the problems had been states’ different quarantine arrangements and caps on letting the workers enter. He praised South Australia’s creation of its own quarantine facility and for being the first state to offer in-country quarantining in Vanuatu, as well as the Northern Territory for working with the federal government. Queensland is trialling on-farm quarantine system but Littleproud raised concerns about the small scale of Queensland’s endeavour and said: “Victoria won’t even allow them to quarantine in their own state.” Littleproud announced a new agricultural visa in August. It will provide a pathway to permanent residency which he said would allow workers to be part of communities rather than transient. The visa’s 30 September start date may be too late to accomodate the labour demands of the bumper winter grain crop expected in three weeks. The NFF acknowledged that this year’s harvest would be worth $30bn – a key pillar of the $70bn-plus forecast. The labour shortage will be felt in many of the skilled roles involved in seasonal harvesting work, including header drivers, mechanics and general harvest staff for grain crops such as wheat, barley, oats and canola. Rod Gribble, the president of Australian Custom Harvesters, said approximately 30% of the skilled staff who are contracted to operate specialist harvesting machinery come to Australia from the northern hemisphere when their own harvest is finished. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly rural network email newsletter Matthew Bourke, manager of Bourke Harvesting which offers contracted harvesting services, said: “We would have liked to employ more workers than usual because of the bigger crop but the main issue is [the labour] is just not around.” According to Bourke, domestic border restrictions are also a problem for many agricultural service staff, including harvest contractors, who are refusing to take work that involves border crossing. State farming organisations have been working to find solutions, such matching retired Australian defence force members with farmers and professional contract harvesting businesses. Jess Wallace, an executive manager at WA Farmers, has been overseeing this project and acting as the industry conduit. She said there had been an “influx” of interest with 810 members joining the east coast Facebook page and 447 members on the Western Australia and South Australia page, “both growing considerable each day, with numerous matches been made already”. But even where workers are available, domestic border restrictions are delaying the agricultural supply chain. Tony Mahar, the chief executive of the National Farmers’ Federation, said if farmers couldn’t get their products and equipment across borders it could compromise the positive forecast. The problem is particularly acute for Peter Mailler, a grain and beef farmer from Boggabilla whose farm lies in the far north of inland New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Queensland border. Mailler said his “biggest problem” would be his ability to deliver grain. With Queensland stopping every vehicle that crosses the border and demanding four different documents be shown at the checkpoint, Mailler estimates that the extra 1,000 truck movements due to the harvest will result in more than six hours of stoppages a day. “Harvest is always a stressful time with difficult logistics,” Mailler said. But this year “the stress is almost unbearable”. “Every day late we lose yield and quality so the price goes down. My expectation is that we will suffer a quarter of a million dollar loss if we can’t get trucks turned around in normal fashion.” Mailler said he would be more accepting of the situation if he could understand how it was improving safety, but he does not believe those making the decisions “understand how little interaction we have.” “The Covid risk from broadacre agricultural activities in our part of the world is almost zero. We are isolated from each other. With harvesting ,one person sits in one air conditioned cab, another in a different machine, the truck driver in a cabin.” Mahar affirmed farming operations were carried out in a contactless way and said: “We need state governments and commonwealth to come together and recognise the uncooperative behaviour being exhibited at the moment is having an impact on farmer’s livelihood and rural and regional communities’ wellbeing.” Gribble said the need to sort labour and logistics problems was paramount not only for those whose livelihoods depended on the harvest, but also for consumers to have food on their table, and for the huge export dollars agriculture provides the Australian economy. “We try our best but no business can operate with the left hand tied behind the back to the right ankle.” Sign up for the rural network email newsletter Join the rural network group on Facebook to be part of the community | ['australia-news/series/the-rural-network', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'environment/farming', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'business/australia-economy', 'australia-news/australian-immigration-and-asylum', 'type/article', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/natasha-may', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-09-14T17:30:24Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2014/sep/11/tropical-forests-illegally-destroyed-commercial-agriculture | Tropical forests illegally destroyed for commercial agriculture | Increasing international demand for palm oil, beef, soy and wood is fuelling the illegal destruction of tropical forests at an alarming rate, according to new analysis that suggests nearly half of all recent tropical deforestation is the result of unlawful clearing for commercial agriculture. The report, by the Washington-based NGO Forest Trends, concludes that 71% of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2012 was due to commercial cultivation. Of that deforestation, 49% was caused by illegal clearing to make way for agricultural products whose largest buyers include the EU, China, India, Russia and the US. The global market for beef, leather, soy, palm oil, tropical timbers, pulp and paper – worth an estimated $61bn (£38bn) a year – resulted in the clearance of more than 200,000 square kilometres of tropical forest in the first decade of the 21st century, the report says. Put another way, an average of five football fields of tropical forest were lost every minute over that period. As well as having “devastating impacts” on both forest-dependent people and biodiversity, the destruction of tropical forests for commercial exploitation has, according to the study, released an estimated 1.47 gigatonnes of carbon each year – equivalent to a quarter of the EU’s annual fossil fuel-based emissions. The study, Consumer Goods and Deforestation, says two countries – Brazil and Indonesia – account for 75% of the total area illegally cleared over the period. The countries are leading producers of agricultural commodities such as palm oil, which is used in cosmetics and household goods; soy, used in animal feed; and wood products destined for packaging. It suggests that at least 90% of deforestation for agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon is illegal, mainly because the legal obligation to preserve a percentage of natural forest in large-scale cattle and soy plantations was ignored. The report does, however, concede that much of the damage was done before 2004, when the Brazilian government embarked on a successful drive to reduce deforestation. The NGO estimates that 80% of the deforestation in Indonesia was illegal, with most of it cleared for palm oil and timber plantations. Similar patterns were seen in other parts of Latin America and Asia, as well as in Africa. According to the study, 90% of the licences granted to clear millions of hectares of forest in Papua New Guinea were issued through corrupt or fraudulent means, while in Bolivia the production of soy – 75% of which is exported – has been the chief driver of illegal deforestation in its Amazon region. It suggests that almost 40% of palm oil, 20% of soy, nearly 33% of tropical timber, and 14% of beef traded internationally comes from land that had been illegally razed. “We’ve known that the production of agricultural commodities is a principal driving force behind deforestation, but this is the first report to show the outsize role that illegal activities play in the production of hundreds of food and household products consumed worldwide,” said Michael Jenkins, the president and CEO of Forest Trends. He said that although increased agricultural production would be needed to meet the demands of the emerging global middle class, the world needed to wake up to the effect it was already having on tropical forests. Jenkins added: “Urgent action is needed to help countries where these agricultural products are being grown, both for governments to enforce their own laws and regulations, and for businesses aiming to produce commodities legally and sustainably.” If the trend is to be reversed, says the report, governments, corporations and investors will need to act quickly and in partnership. It urges producer countries to simplify land laws – and make sure they are respected by investors. It calls on consumer countries to ensure that the goods they buy have been legally and sustainably sourced. Companies, meanwhile, ought to make sure they buy and trade only legally produced commodities and refuse to do business in countries where legality cannot be guaranteed. The report’s author, Sam Lawson, said allowing commodities from illegally cleared land “unfettered access” to international markets was undermining tropical countries’ efforts to enforce their own laws, adding: “Consumer countries have a responsibility to help halt this trade.” | ['global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/natural-resources-and-development', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'world/indonesia', 'world/asia-pacific', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/samjones'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-09-10T23:01:24Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
cleantechrevolution2009/homemade-power | Homemade power | Ceres Power, a company specialising in domestic fuel cells that convert gas to produce both heat and electricity, was the winner of the Carbon Trust inaugural prize in 2003. The company now has back orders for over 50,000 units, worth about £100m, and is hard at work equipping a new factory in Sussex which will begin production in late 2009. "Winning the prize reinforced our green credentials with a wide range of stakeholders in the city, the government and the industry," says Ceres chief executive Peter Bance. The beauty of the Ceres fuel cell is that it uses nearly all the heat value of the gas it converts, generating electricity to be used at home or exported to the grid, as well as in cental and water heating. Now compare this with the current inefficient way of doing things. Up to three-quarters of the energy of the fuel burnt in power stations is thrown away - flowing out of cooling towers and through transmission losses - before the electricity even reaches our homes. Then we burn even more fuel for hot water and central heating. But put the electricity and heat production together into a Ceres Power unit and you get the same end result, without the waste. Your carbon footprint is halved - along with your electricity bill. Indeed, you could be earning money exporting expensive peak-time units into the grid. There's a real advantage for the individual householder here, with expected fuel cost savings of £250 to £400 per year. But the benefits go much wider than that. The UK is facing an electricity supply gap over the coming decades, and there's still no clear plan for how to fill it. Domestic fuel cells could be the answer. "About 1.5m domestic boilers are replaced in the UK every year", says Bance. Replace each one with a 1 kilowatt fuel cell unit, and you are adding 1.5 gigawatts of generation capacity to the UK every year - equivalent to a big coal, gas or nuclear power station. Ten years on, the UK would have an extra 15 gigawatts and the energy gap would be plugged." That's not all. "The UK is facing huge costs to beef up the grid to accommodate wind power, new nuclear stations and so on, " says Bance. "By installing generation directly into houses rather than central power stations you reduce both the strain on the grid and the need for capital expenditure. This could save the country billions." There's just one problem. Ceres Power's domestic fuel cells are only scheduled to hit the market in 2011, but they are needed now. | ['cleantechrevolution2009/launch-supplement', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/carbon-challenge', 'theguardian/carbon-challenge/carbon-challenge'] | theguardian/carbon-challenge/carbon-challenge | EMISSIONS | 2009-07-08T23:01:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2009/mar/31/g20-environment-spend | Steve Howard: G20 governments must share a vision of world's future | It is time to act on climate change. The science is clear: greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by over 60% below current levels by 2050. And the reductions must start now. The greatest barriers to achieving this reduction are political. This Thursday, world leaders from the G20 countries – representing 85% of the world's economic output – will meet in London to address the global financial crisis. With the summit's stated aims of taking action to stabilise financial markets, strengthening the global economic system and putting the global economy on track for sustainable growth, this is a timely opportunity for governments to develop a shared vision on the world's future. The current financial crisis – the worst since the 1930s – is prompting government intervention to help stimulate economic growth. This represents a unique opportunity to invest in a sustainable future. Recent analysis by HSBC of the economic stimulus packages that have passed or are pending in 15 nations found that these countries plan to invest more than $3tn to stimulate their economies over the next decade. Suddenly, the amounts needed for combating climate change – in the order of tens of billions per annum over the next decade – don't seem so large or unrealistic. Last year, Lord Stern, author of the 2006 Stern Review, estimated that we could keep climate change in check at a cost of less than 2% of global GDP, compared to the 5-20% of global GDP that would be lost because of unabated global warming. This seems like a good investment on anyone's terms. And it seems that a number of governments are beginning to think so too as evidenced by the green components — defined as low carbon power, energy efficiency, water treatment and pollution control — of the various economic stimulus packages announced over the last few months. However, despite the wide range of this green content — ranging from 0% in Poland and 7% in the UK to 38% in China and 81% in South Korea — the average of 15% falls well short of what is needed. According to the UN Environment Programme, 1% of global GDP, or approximately US$750bn, should be invested on greening the world economy to create momentum for real change. And this is not just a long-term equation. Low-carbon policies and investment are a win-win situation in the short-term too. Almost a third of the 2020 greenhouse gas abatement required saves money through more efficient energy use. The US stimulus packages promises to double clean energy capacity and are expected to create around 2.5 million green jobs. In a report published last year by the Climate Group, China is showing some of the strongest growth rates in low-carbon industries in the world, with the country's green investment package likely to give a further boost to its $17bn renewable energy sector which already employs around one million people. In the UK, thousands of jobs could be created with green offshore initiatives. Economic and environmental recovery must go hand-in-hand and – if well-designed –will be mutually reinforcing. Halving global emissions by 2050 will require what's been described as "an industrial revolution in a third of the time" of the last one. This goal is within reach. Current technologies can deliver and the economic and political backdrop has fundamentally shifted, opening up a new world of possibilities for a global deal and a global shift to a low-carbon economy. Business leaders from around the world have stated their desire to work with governments to provide practical advice on how to best link the recovery and low-carbon agendas to exploit this huge growth potential. We must take this opportunity. We simply cannot allow ourselves to fail. The G20 summit in London gives world leaders the chance to show us that we will not. • Steve Howard is the chief executive of the Climate Group and the chair of World Economic Forum's global agenda council on climate change | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/politics', 'business/recession', 'business/globalrecession', 'world/g20', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'tone/comment', 'type/article'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-04-01T07:30:09Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2023/mar/09/australia-invests-429bn-in-renewable-energy-in-december-quarter-10-times-the-previous-three-months | Australia invests $4.29bn in renewable energy in December quarter, 10 times the previous three months | Investment in large-scale renewable energy and storage accelerated in the final three months of 2022, creating the largest quarterly investments for more than four years, but the pace remains inadequate, the Clean Energy Council says. Developers made financial commitments to renewables and storage totalling $4.29bn in the December quarter, a 10-fold increase on the previous three months. The year-end spurt lifted investment commitments to $6.2bn for 2022, a 17% increase on the previous year. “While the uptick is encouraging, one quarter doesn’t mean a trend,” said the council’s chief executive, Kane Thornton. “Australia is deploying new large-scale generation – wind and solar farms – more slowly than needed to reach the 82% target for renewable energy on the National Electricity Market” by 2030. “The fact remains that the rolling quarterly average investment over 12 months has not risen above $2bn since the second quarter of 2019,” Thornton said. The investment details come a fortnight after the Australian Energy Market Operator warned of potential “reliability gaps” in the national power grid without “urgent” action in coming years to encourage more clean energy capacity and storage. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup An indication of how pressure on the grid can spike came on Monday when the first major heatwave for eastern New South Wales for more than a year broke electricity demand records for March by almost a 1,000 megawatts, Aemo said. Thornton said the jump in investment was a response to the “more positive political and policy environment” and greater coordination by governments. Still, much of the expansion in commitments was the result of the financial signoff for the 756MW stage one of the Golden Plains windfarm, north-west of Geelong. That first stage alone was worth $2bn, the council said. The project also accounted for more than a third of 1923MW of new installed capacity that reached financial close during the quarter. The tally was up about four-fold from the previous quarter, lifting the rolling 12-month average to its highest level in five quarters. The industry is relying on fewer but larger projects, if the latest trends are a guide. Last year 15 generation projects for a total of 3.57 gigawatts of installed capacity secured financial approval. In 2021 the tally was 23 projects for 3.06GW, the council said. NSW led with its five projects accounting for 1,559MW in 2022. Victoria claimed second spot with its four new projects adding 945MW of new capacity, ahead of Queensland’s three projects with 495MW. On the storage front, South Australia’s 800MW-hour Blyth battery was the largest single project reaching financial close in the December quarter. For the year as a whole, investors signed off on 12 projects for a total of 7,374MWh of storage, more than double the 2,900MWh – also for 12 projects – in 2021, the council said. Delays of at least a year in Snowy Hydro’s giant 2.0 pumped hydro scheme and its gas- and hydrogen-powered Kurri Kurri plant have lately added to worries about power supplies, particularly as ageing coal-fired power plants close. AGL Energy’s Liddell coal plant in the Hunter Valley – now operating just three of its four units – will be the next to shut down, with the remaining 1,260MW scheduled to be switched off on 28 April. Thornton called for the renewable energy target to be increased and extended beyond its 2030 deadline to support the sector. “We know that to truly have an effect on long-term energy prices, Australia needs the security provided by low-cost electricity direct from solar and wind and reduce our reliance on increasingly expensive gas and unreliable coal generation,” he said. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'environment/energy', 'environment/energy-storage', 'environment/coal', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2023-03-08T14:00:42Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2016/dec/14/closure-of-hazelwood-power-station-to-add-78-a-year-to-power-bills | Closure of Hazelwood power station to add $78 a year to power bills | The closure of Victoria’s Hazelwood coal-fired power station will add an average of $78 a year to energy bills around the country, a new analysis claims. South Australians will have $150 a year added to household bills, Victorian power bills will rise by $99, a typical New South Wales consumer will pay an extra $74 a year for their electricity, while Queenslanders will pay an extra $28, due to to the upcoming closure of Australia’s cheapest – and most polluting – power generator. The Australian Energy Market Commission 2016 residential electricity price trends report found wholesale energy prices would jump 36% with the planned shutdown of Hazelwood in March. “Across the national electricity market the generation mix is changing – with the large-scale renewable energy target leading to substantial investment in wind generation,” the commission’s chairman, John Pierce, said on Tuesday. “This is contributing to the closure of coal-fired plants and increasing wholesale and retail prices.” The federal energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, said the government was trying to keep prices down while maintaining energy security. Frydenberg said an increase in coal royalties in Victoria and an increased renewable energy target had forced Hazelwood’s French owners Engie to shut the plant down. But the Victorian minister for energy and climate change, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the federal government’s lack of leadership on energy policy was to blame for the price rises. “Everybody is sick of the lack of leadership and silly political games being played by the commonwealth, let’s get on with it and do what we were elected to do,” D’Ambrosio said. D’Ambrosio told ABC News 24 that while the report showed there would be initial price rises with the closure of Hazelwood, it also showed prices would moderate as more renewable energy came online. “More renewable energy actually puts downwards pressure on power prices for families and businesses,” she said. In November, the chief executive of Engie Australia, Alex Keisser, said the 50-year-old Hazelwood plant was “no longer economic to operate”. “Engie in Australia would need to invest many hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure viable and, most importantly, continued safe operation,” Kesser said at the time. “Given current and forecast market conditions, that level of investment cannot be justified.” The AEMC report also noted that electricity prices would be affected by the price for gas through gas-fired power stations, and was expected to play a larger role in the market in the future. “Any future increase in the price of gas will result in higher input costs for generators, flowing through to higher costs in the wholesale electricity market,” Pierce said. For 2016-17, the total average bill for the year is estimated to be $1,353 — a 4.4% increase from the year before. The Council of Australian Governments energy council will meet in Melbourne on Wednesday to look at regulations around new interconnectors, and efforts to ensure cheaper gas supplies. • Australian Associated Press contributed to this report | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/energy', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/victoria', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/victorian-politics', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/australia-economy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-12-13T21:50:27Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2011/oct/23/paul-ehrlich-global-collapse-warning | Paul Ehrlich, a prophet of global population doom who is gloomier than ever | The population of Earth has doubled since Paul Ehrlich first warned the world that there were too many humans. Three and a half billion people later, he is more pessimistic than ever, estimating there is only a 10% chance of avoiding a collapse of global civilisation. "Among the knowledgeable people there is no more conversation about whether the danger is real," Ehrlich told the Guardian. "Civilisations have collapsed before: the question is whether we can avoid the first time [an] entire global civilisation has given us the opportunity of having the whole mess collapse." The idea sounds melodramatic, but Ehrlich insists his vision only builds on famine, drought, poverty and conflict, which are already prevalent around the world, and would unfold over the "next few decades". "What it would look like is getting to the situation where more and more people are living in uncertainty about their future, subject to all kinds of disease," he said. "The really big discontinuity you can't predict is even a small nuclear war between [say] India and Pakistan. "Of course a new emerging disease or toxic problem could alone [also] trigger a collapse. My pessimism is deeply tied to the human failure to do anything about these problems, or even recognise or talk about them." Ehrlich has become the modern day equivalent of Malthus, the 18th-century English clergyman who popularised the idea that the number of people would eventually outstrip food production. Now Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University in California, Ehrlich reignited the issue in 1968 with his book The Population Bomb – co-written, without acknowledgment, with his wife, Anne Ehrlich – which has sold more than 2m copies. Central to the argument of the book was the idea that Earth has a finite capacity to provide the resources needed to feed and protect a global population which was growing exponentially in numbers and its demands to consume. The book succeeded, slowly, in getting the issue of overpopulation into political and public consciousness, an idea now acknowledged by calculations of the "ecological footprint" of anything from nappies to nations. The global population has since doubled and, although growth is slowing, is still on course to rise beyond the two billion maximum Ehrlich believes Earth can sustain without irrevocably destroying its water, earth and air. "The next two billion people, should we get them, will put more and more pressure on environmental systems that are struggling today," he said. "Each individual has to have food from more marginal land … materials from poorer ores, we're going to use more oil so we have to drill deeper: we're past the point of diminishing returns." The threat of climate change also turned out to be much greater than scientists thought in the 1960s, he adds. Ehrlich accepts his prediction of widespread famine in the 1970s underestimated the "green revolution" which industrialised farming. But he still dismisses hope that technology will allow mankind to stretch resources ever further. "Can we solve this technologically? Theoretically, since we can't know anything for certain, so we could come up with a magic way of producing food and that could save us. But my answer, always, to that is: we have all sorts of people in despair today. Don't tell me how easy it's going to be to feed nine billion people; let's feed seven billion first, then I'll be willing to talk to you about whether technology will take care of all those people. "We could support a lot more people on the planet if humans were willing to share equally, but they don't: we want to design a world where everybody can lead a decent life without everybody being fair." Ehrlich – who originally wanted his book called Population, Resources and Environment – also agrees most population reductions are linked to rising affluence, and so consumption, which causes its own pressure on resources. But he denies those worried by these problems should therefore focus only on reducing the impact of consumption, likening the problem to the way two sides of a rectangle are multiplied to calculate the area inside. "If you halved the amount of consumption and allowed population to grow so the other side doubled you have got the same area." | ['environment/series/crowded-planet-population', 'world/population', 'world/world', 'global-development/famine', 'environment/drought', 'society/poverty', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/juliettejowit', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-10-23T18:00:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
science/2017/nov/05/terrawatch-the-rivers-taking-plastic-to-the-oceans | Terrawatch: the rivers taking plastic to the oceans | Every minute one rubbish lorry’s-worth of plastic is dumped into the sea. If we continue at this rate, some estimate that our oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050. So where does all the plastic come from? New research reveals that just 10 river systems transport more than 90% of the global input of plastic into to the world’s oceans. Rivers are the arteries of our planet. From tiny tumbling streams to vast sluggish deltas, rivers are the link between the atmosphere, land and oceans. Since time immemorial people have clustered near rivers, taking advantage of the fresh water, fertile land, ready-made transport links and plentiful fish. And of course rivers are also excellent conveyor belts for whisking rubbish away. By analysing how much plastic is carried by different rivers all over the world, and assessing the amount of littering in areas surrounding rivers, Christian Schmidt, of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany, and his colleagues have shown that large river systems act as super-highways in transporting plastic to the sea. Their research, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, shows that 10 river systems, located in heavily populated regions where littering is common, carry more than 90% of the plastic that ends up in the oceans. Two are in Africa (the Nile and the Niger) while the other eight are in Asia (the Ganges, Indus, Yellow, Yangtze, Haihe, Pearl, Mekong and Amur). “Halving the plastic input from the catchment areas of these rivers would already be a major success,” says Schmidt in a press statement. Next the researchers want to investigate the speed at which plastic travels from land to sea. • This article was amended on 1 February 2018. An earlier version said research revealed that more than 90% of plastic waste is transported to the world’s oceans by 10 river systems. That figure is for the global input of plastic into the world’s oceans, not 90% of all plastic waste. | ['science/series/terrawatch', 'environment/rivers', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/plastic', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'science/geology', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-11-05T21:30:29Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
politics/2019/jun/24/hmrc-pushes-massive-vat-increase-for-new-solar-battery-systems | HMRC pushes steep VAT increase for new solar-battery systems | Homes hoping to shrink their carbon footprints by installing a solar-battery system face a steep VAT increase from October under new laws proposed by HMRC. The Treasury put forward legislation on Monday to raise VAT for home solar-battery systems from 5% to 20%, on the same day that MPs are debating the government’s new net zero carbon target for 2050. Meanwhile, home coal supplies will continue to receive the lower VAT rate. The Renewable Energy Association (REA) said the rise “contradicts the government’s commitment to tackling climate change” only weeks after parliament declared a climate emergency. It also warned that the move would push back the take-up of solar-battery systems by years even as the UK works towards becoming a net zero carbon economy by 2050. Nina Skorupska, the REA’s chief executive, said the increase would “create a barrier to British homes and businesses who are seeking to take action on climate change and reduce their bills by installing solar with battery storage”. She said the government “should be doing all it can to install these technologies rather than enacting barriers”. HMRC has blamed EU tax laws for the planned rise because they rule out lower VAT rates for energy saving equipment under state aid rules. The European court of justice ruled in 2015 that energy saving materials should not have been receiving the reduced rate of tax. This led to an increase in VAT for solar systems installed at new-build homes in 2016, but did not affect the majority of houses which would require retrofitting. Those houses will now be affected by the higher rate. The REA has called on HMRC to cancel the latest increase, which would come into effect as the UK prepares to leave the EU. Any rise should be cancelled as soon as possible after Brexit, the trade group added. The calls have won the support of more than 11,000 members of the public who have signed a petition by the green energy supplier Good Energy to call off the increase. Juliet Davenport, Good Energy’s chief executive, said the rise was “possibly the worst way to respond to a climate emergency”. “The government should be seeking to be a world leader in renewable technologies, but it’s damaging our successful solar industry and putting green jobs at risk. We urge the Treasury to listen to the thousands of petitioners who want to play their part in fighting climate change,” she said. HMRC brought the secondary legislation to parliament on Monday after carrying out an industry consultation on the plans in April and May this year. It has said it is offering as much tax relief as possible for home renewable energy systems while ensuring the UK is in line with EU law. The 5% VAT rate will still be allowed for housing associations and buyers who are over the age of 60 or receive certain benefits. The lower rate will also apply to the labour costs associated with installing the system while the 20% rate will be applied to the hardware only. | ['environment/solarpower', 'politics/hmrc', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/green-economy', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2019-06-24T17:21:19Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2008/jul/07/climatechange.drought | Climate change report like a disaster novel, says Australian minister | A new report by Australia's top scientists predicts that the country will be hit by a 10-fold increase in heatwaves and that droughts will almost double in frequency and become more widespread because of climate change. The scientific projections envisage rainfall continuing to decline in a country that is already one of the hottest and driest in the world. It says that about 50% of the decrease in rainfall in south-western Australia since the 1950s has probably been due to greenhouse gases. Yesterday, Australia's agriculture minister, Tony Burke, described the report as alarming and said: "Parts of these high-level projections read more like a disaster novel than a scientific report." The analysis, commissioned by the government as part of a review of public funding to drought-stricken farmers, was published days after another report, by Professor Ross Garnaut, warned that Australia had to adopt a scheme for trading greenhouse gas emissions by 2010 or face the eventual destruction of sites including the Great Barrier Reef, the wetlands of Kakadu and the nation's food bowl, the Murray-Darling Basin. The prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who swept to victory on a green agenda last November, said the analysis by the Bureau of Meteorology and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation was "very disturbing". The reports will put pressure on him to act swiftly on his pledge for Australia to lead the world in tackling polluters. However, the rising cost of living has dented his government's popularity and his plans for a carbon trading scheme have begun to unnerve voters and industry. Rudd has acknowledged that tough debate lies ahead and has said the government will map out its policy options this month. Yesterday's report revealed that not only would droughts occur more often but that the area affected would be twice as large as now. The proportion of the country having exceptionally hot years could increase from 5% each year to as much as 95%, according to the projections. The report says rainfall in Australia has been declining since the 1950s and about half of that decrease is due to climate change. It says the current thresholds for farmers to claim financial assistance are out of date because hotter and drier weather will become the norm. Burke said it was clear that the cycle of drought was going to be "more regular and deeper than ever before". He added: "If we failed to review drought policy, if we were to continue the neglect and pretend that the climate wasn't changing, we would be leaving our farms out to dry." Parts of Australia are now in a sixth year of drought, and the report coincided with an announcement that there has been a worsening of the drought in New South Wales. Some 65% of the state is affected, an increase of more than 2.3% on last month, although opinion is divided on whether it can be attributed to climate change. A plague of locusts is also threatening crops in the state, with farmers on 900 farms reporting finding locust eggs. The government plans to fight the infestation with aerial spraying before the eggs hatch. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/drought', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/world', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/barbaramcmahon', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2008-07-06T23:01:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/article/2024/may/12/british-asparagus-back-in-supermarkets-after-criticism-over-imports | British asparagus back in supermarkets after criticism over imports | Shoppers angered by discovering imported asparagus on supermarket shelves during the short British season for the vegetable are expected to receive a fillip after a sudden burst of sunshine helped the domestic crop. Supermarket shoppers had complained after finding asparagus grown in mainland Europe and the Americas on sale during the “peak” British season. The traditional asparagus season officially starts on 23 April, St George’s Day, but leading up to that date, the weather was “frustratingly cold” and “slowed it up”, leaving far-flung imports taking their place in supermarkets, said Chris Chinn, the chair of the Asparagus Growers Association. But that is about to change after last week’s run of sunny days helped the domestic asparagus crop “grow like stink” to produce a bumper crop “flush”. Chinn predicted that homegrown asparagus would be “everywhere” now. “It took until the bank holiday weekend for the warmth [in the ground] to come back,” he said. “The spears are like little thermometers.” Asparagus requires a soil temperature of at least 10C to grow, and if the conditions are right, it can grow up to 10cm in one day. “All the buds are ready and waiting, and you get a bit of warmth on it and it really erupts,” said Chinn, a partner at Britain’s largest asparagus growers, Cobrey Farms, based in the Wye Valley. “You can grow a spear a day in these conditions.” It is now possible to buy British asparagus, usually grown in polytunnels on the south coast, as early as February. However, the main outdoor crop is traditionally ready towards the end of April and hits its stride in May. The season typically concludes on 21 June. Shoppers noticed that the British supply seemed patchy this year. While Marks & Spencer’s asparagus has been 100% British since April, rival stores are selling a mix, including imports from big producers such as Peru and Mexico as well as Italy and Spain. Jake Fiennes posted a picture of Co-op asparagus that hailed from Peru, stating: “This is so wrong as it’s peak UK asparagus season.” The Co-op explained that the cold snap had delayed the arrival of its asparagus supply, grown in Sussex, and that from Monday it would be “100% British”. It said: “As a longstanding supporter of British farmers and growers, championing homegrown produce on our shelves when in season is important to our member owners and us. “We currently have British asparagus in stores, which will move to 100% British from Monday. This is slightly later than usual due to the colder weather conditions in the UK over the past months, which delayed crop growth.” Waitrose said it had enjoyed a strong early season of British asparagus from February to early May but the core season had been delayed. “We are now in full UK season supply, which, for this week and next is looking strong. That said, it’s been incredibly challenging for our asparagus growers and they have been doing all they can to combat the colder temperatures and unseasonably heavy rainfall.” It is shaping up to be a year to forget for farmers who battled record-breaking rain during the winter only to be hindered by wet and cold spring weather. Many farms have been left flooded, leaving swaths of crops damaged and fields unable to be planted. As a result, asparagus is not the only crop arriving later than usual, with the British strawberry season delayed by a fortnight to the end of this month. However, strawberry growers say the hold-up meant the berries had ripened and flowered more gradually, resulting in unusually large, juicy fruits. | ['business/fooddrinks', 'business/supermarkets', 'business/business', 'food/vegetables', 'food/food', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'business/retail', 'environment/farming', 'uk/uk', 'food/british-food-and-drink', 'business/marksspencer', 'business/co-operative-group', 'business/waitrose', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/zoewood', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-05-12T15:19:36Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
media/pda/2008/feb/01/guardianviralvideochart53 | Guardian Viral Video Chart | Seriously, what went right for Justin Timberlake? I saw him on Top of the Pops years ago and wondered how the chav plumber had made it onto TV. But somewhere along the line he got cool, found a great producer and now he's the bee's knees. In viral video terms he's already a hit because of the legendary dick-in-a-box Saturday Night Live skit, as successfully pirated and watched by half the planet - despite the best efforts of NBC. And now his Pepsi video for the 2008 Superbowl is whizzing around the internet. It might be a dodgy copy off the telly but let's not feel too bad; it is an advert, after all. Jeff Grace and Blaise Miller have hit the Google paranoia nail on the head with their skit on Google Maps. The 'street view' tool freaked out a few people when it launched because, well, it's a bit freaky. As well as getting aerial photos of most of the world, they have added street-level shots in major US cities which, in some cases, means you could see into people's living rooms. Ready for your close-up now? Guardian Viral Video Chart compiled by viralvideochart.com. 1 Justin Timberlake Pepsi commercial Superbowl 2008 The official Pepsi Superbowl ad, as nicked off someone's telly. 2 Google Maps Is Google Maps a bit too good? 3 Thank you John Edwards pulls out of the race to become the Presidential candidate for the Democratic party. He looks more like Jack from Will & Grace every day. 4 $1 image stabilizer for any camera - lose the tripod Another hit make-it-yourself video. 5 Bird poops in mouth Obviously fake TV 'news report'. 6 Lakai Fully Flared intro Preview from the skate video where the street course blows up. 7 Message to Scientology Mysterious threat to shut down the cult. Did I say 'cult'? Oopsy. 8 A Beautiful Lie Actor and some-time musician Jared Leto tells MySpacers that he's flown to to Greenland, and that the ice is melting. Oh, and here's his new single. 9 Hitler: bloodthirsty dictator, die-hard Cowboys fan Yet another spoof of Downfall, this time over some American football game. 10 Erykah Badu: Honey Unofficial version of the official video. 11 Bob Proctor introduces the SGR Programme What appears to be spam of the worst kind; cunningly undisguised life coach stuff. 12 Tribute to the late LDS President Hinckley A US news presenter makes a personal tribute to the president of the Mormon church, Gordon Hinckley. 13 Pancakes II: Pancakes for your face About the best quality video I've seen on YouTube, and the pancakes don't look bad either. 14 No seas él Political ad for Spain's Socialist Party, headed by José Zapatero. 15 Ron Paul slams Republican warmongers Iraq was an unconstitutional war, there was no national threat and there was no Al-Qaeda there, says the Republican Presidential candidate. 16 Yael Naim: New Soul The Apple ad song - guaranteed career break. 17 Lost in 8 minutes, from series 1-3 Thank god for that. Now I don't have to watch the darn thing. 18 300 Brolic Huh, yeah, yo, etc. 19 Apple Macbook Air - envelope What's that in the enevelop? Ooo - it's the world's thinnest laptop. 20 Dramatic lemur Possibly the best use of the surround sound motif to date. Source: viralvideochart.com. Compiled from data gathered at 18:00 on 31 January 2008. The Weekly Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately two million blogs. And I don't decide what goes in it, in the same way that Bruno Brookes didn't choose what was in the top 40 on Top of the Pops. Got that? Great. Thanks. | ['media/pda', 'technology/series/viralvideochart', 'media/digital-media', 'media/media', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'tone/blog', 'media/media-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/jemimakiss'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-02-01T07:00:15Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
technology/2016/may/27/freewrite-hipster-typewriter-technology | Is Freewrite 'smart typewriter' hipster bait or thoughtful tech? | It was with trepidation that I advanced on my local cafe in New York, clutching the handle of my Freewrite “smart typewriter” like a spy en route to a briefcase switch. An electric typewriter that promises digital connectivity without the distractions, Freewrite has largely been dismissed by the tech press. Even the pop culture mavens of Mashable denounced it as “pretentious hipster nonsense”, excoriating its weight (four pounds), diminutive screen (5.5in) and hefty price tag ($499). But maybe things would be different in a quiet Brooklyn cafe. For all I knew, tattooed forearms all over the neighbourhood were already pounding Freewrites with onanistic zeal, man buns a-quiver as the next generation of Great American Narcissists clattered towards notoriety in a cortado-fuelled frenzy – less Infinite Jest than Infinite Monkey Theorem. Not in my neighbourhood cafe though, where the only sounds were Dave Brubeck, the Darth-Vadering of the coffee machine and my own apologetic tapping. So I’d avoided hipster shame but already forked out $499 for this machine. Would it be worth it for a distraction-free writing session? Distraction isn’t a new problem, but when people started writing on computers – and those computers became connected to the internet – distraction became a billion-dollar game. The dominant business model on the internet is this: we’ll give you free stuff if you give us your attention. Ad-blockers won’t save you. Trending topics are by definition the “clickiest” ones. And the content in your newsfeeds is painstakingly tweaked to your interests, your location and even your mood. And so it takes Odyssean displays of fortitude to get anything done. So could we head off these self-destructive urges not just with Wi-Fi blockers (which only defer the problem), but by changing our writing habits entirely? Freewrite has a Grayscale screen. No browser. It’s bo-ring – and that’s precisely the point. A century ago, philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: “We are less bored than our ancestors were, but we are more afraid of boredom” – and that was before the web was even a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee’s eye. Boredom is the crucible of creative thought. Philosopher Walter Benjamin thought that it was “the apogee of mental relaxation”; for Kierkegaard, idleness made one into a “meticulous observer”. Boredom is the optimal state for the writer, the scientist or the philosopher – and the web is hell-bent on eradicating it. First drafts are especially vulnerable to disruption. As I churned out the initial version of this piece on my Freewrite (outdoors, thanks to the e-ink screen), I couldn’t unthinkingly open a browser window whenever I got stuck. But unlike the internet, staring at the sky gets tedious pretty quickly. So I got back to work. Searching for a connected device would have required a decision that my rational self balked at endorsing. If enjoying a boost in productivity makes me a hipster douchebag, then stick a bird on me, because I’m, like, super down. The Freewrite’s screensaver promises that writing without editing (there’s no cursor or arrow keys) will help you to “set your story free”. It’s meant as encouragement, but it reads as a dare. Writer George Saunders recounts how he and his fellow students reacted with terror when asked to tell an off-the-cuff tale. “We don’t know any good, real stories,” he explains, “which is why we have been writing all of these stories about kids having sex with crocodiles and so forth.” If even the fiction writers are struggling, surely there’s no hope for the rest of us. Walter Benjamin argued that the newspaper’s daily barrage of fragmentary information was killing the art of storytelling. But now reading is dying, too. Blasted by the fire hose of our daily feeds, we click on a headline and read two paragraphs before leaving the piece behind like a half-eaten sandwich. We’re not even reading stories properly: it’s no wonder we can’t tell them. If the world is becoming more connected, what is the nature of the connection? What if we don’t just need a bigger fire hose? If the web of the future is to foster the attentive presence and meaningful communication that storytelling has cultivated for millennia, insulating story creation from the informational deluge makes sense. The Freewrite isn’t perfect, but it’s an interesting start. The Freewrite might still turn out to be the most expensive paperweight I ever bought. Time will tell. But for now, I’m glad to be the pretentious possessor of not just another bovine “smart” device, but some truly thoughtful tech. | ['technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/jenny-judge', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-tech', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2016-05-27T08:00:01Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
australia-news/2023/dec/20/steven-miles-flood-response-labor-election-queensland-premier | Steven Miles’ flood response key to Labor’s election hopes as many undecided on new Queensland premier | More than one in three Queensland voters say they are unsure about the new premier, Steven Miles, according to union-commissioned polling that shows support for the Labor government improved marginally after last week’s leadership change. The uComms SMS poll, commissioned by the Together Union, of 1,143 people on 13 December – after it became clear Miles would succeed Annastacia Palaszczuk as premier – puts the Liberal National party ahead of the Labor government 52-48 on a two-party-preferred basis. A similar poll, conducted by the same union three weeks earlier, had the LNP leading 53-47. Labor’s primary vote (34%) was also marginally improved compared to recent surveys, but the change is within the margin of error and still well below the 39.6% primary recorded at the 2020 state election. The LNP primary (38.2%) would unlikely be enough for the opposition to form a majority government. Labor figures and political analysts say the result leaves the government with just about enough of a foothold to be competitive at the state election, scheduled for October. A large number of voters (12.7%) say they are undecided. The number is higher (17.8%) in regional Queensland. Many are also yet to make up their mind about Miles. Palaszczuk had been battling negative and worsening approval ratings. Miles begins his tenure with a 12.5% net-positive rating: 38.4% of people polled were positive and 25.9% negative. More than one in three voters (35.6%) said their view of the new premier was “neutral”. Paul Williams, a political analyst from Griffith University, says given the large number of voters unsure about Miles, the flood situation in north Queensland gives him an opportunity to quickly define himself by leading the recovery effort. “The natural disaster carries a premium in political leadership in Queensland,” Williams said. “For regional Queensland, a premier who can step up in times of disaster … is more important than anywhere else in Australia. “People need to see Miles sweaty, dirty, with a broom. At the coalface. It will take him some time to warm up, but [the poll shows] they’re heading in the right direction.” Most recent polls appear to show Queensland headed for a minority government, though the LNP would likely be the largest party. The uComms put the Greens vote at 11.9%, One Nation at 7.8%, Katter’s Australian party at 3.3% and others at 4.8%. | ['australia-news/queensland-politics', 'australia-news/steven-miles', 'australia-news/north-queensland-floods-2023', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/liberal-national-party', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/ben-smee', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | australia-news/north-queensland-floods-2023 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-12-20T14:11:26Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/oct/17/we-are-proud-of-the-conservative-record-on-climate-action | We are proud of the Conservative record on climate action | Letter from 36 MPs | Your article (Tories five times more likely than other MPs to vote against bills to tackle climate crisis, 12 October) insinuates that Conservatives are less supportive of climate action than other political parties. While we welcome the statement that it is “not intended to be a definitive evaluation of an MP’s green credentials”, we feel this article was exceptionally misleading and did not reflect the Conservative record on climate action thus far. It was a Conservative government that set a world-leading net-zero target, supported record levels of investment in renewables, decarbonised faster than any other major economy, announced the phase-out of coal power stations, doubled international climate funding to £11.6bn, and successfully bid to host the UN climate talks next year in Glasgow. These significant achievements were in large part the result of sustained campaigning by green Conservative MPs. But as none of them was subject to votes, they are not accounted for in your scoring system. This does not mean we are complacent. We know we must go further and faster to meet our upcoming carbon budgets and map out a route to net zero. We have spoken in parliamentary debates, tabled questions to ministers and written letters calling for greater ambition. We have pushed and continue to push the government for new green policies on home insulation, electric vehicles, cycling, tree planting, carbon capture and storage, renewable energy and more. We are proud of our campaigning and the record of our government. We are happy to debate the best policies to reach net zero and to have our actions on this vital issue scrutinised by the media. But the scrutiny must be fair, which your article wasn’t. Vicky Ford MP, Antoinette Sandbach MP, Peter Aldous MP, Oliver Letwin MP, Philip Dunne MP, David Warburton MP, Andrew Selous MP, Nigel Evans MP, Tim Loughton MP, John Howell MP, Scott Mann MP, Rachel Maclean MP, Matthew Offord MP, Richard Benyon MP, Kevin Hollinrake MP, Derek Thomas MP, Alex Chalk MP, Neil O’Brien MP, Sarah Newton MP, James Gray MP, Victoria Prentis MP, Bim Afolami MP, Maria Caulfield MP, Oliver Heald MP, David Tredinnick MP, Nicholas Soames MP, Henry Smith MP, Pauline Latham MP, Steve Brine MP, Caroline Spelman MP, James Cartlidge MP, Richard Graham MP, Peter Bottomley MP, Bernard Jenkin MP, Gillian Keegan MP, Michael Fabricant MP | ['environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/conservatives', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/politics', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2019-10-17T17:00:52Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2024/nov/12/ofgem-approves-five-more-subsea-power-cables | Subsea cables to help Britain meet green energy goal get green light | Projects to lay five subsea power cables capable of powering millions of homes have been given the green light as Great Britain prepares to use its giant offshore windfarms to become a net exporter of green electricity in the 2030s. The energy regulator, Ofgem, has approved three subsea cable projects linking Great Britain to power grids in Germany, Ireland and Northern Ireland to help share renewable electricity across borders. Ofgem has also agreed to plans for new cables to connect Britain to offshore windfarms in Dutch and Belgian waters. The high voltage power cables, known as interconnectors, are considered a crucial part of the Labour government’s plan to create a clean power system by 2030, and become a net exporter of green electricity in the decades ahead. Currently, Great Britain has interconnectors with a combined capacity of 11.7 gigawatts already operating or under construction, or enough to meet the power needs of more than 11m UK homes. The new projects will take this total to 12GW in 2030 as the projects begin to operate, before reaching 18GW by 2032. The new power cable projects will move ahead a week after the National Energy System Operator said Britain could become a net exporter of green electricity by the end of the decade at no extra cost to the energy system if ministers take urgent steps to tackle the UK’s sluggish regulation and planning procedures. Akshay Kaul, the Ofgem infrastructure director, said the project, which will be paid for through energy bills, were carefully assessed so that only those which will “deliver for consumers in terms of value, viability and energy security” were approved. “As we shift to a clean power system more reliant on intermittent wind and solar energy, these new connections will help harness the vast potential of the North Sea and play a key role in making our energy supply cheaper and less reliant on volatile foreign gas markets and associated price spikes,” Kaul said. Kaul added that the new cables would also provide greater access to energy imports to “provide vital backup energy sources when renewable generation is more limited here”. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/environment', 'business/ofgem', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2024-11-12T12:14:01Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2017/may/02/samsung-self-driving-car-challenge-google-waymo-apple-uber | Samsung self-driving cars take fight to Apple, Uber and Google's Waymo | Samsung is stepping up its plans for self-driving cars to rival former Google project Waymo, Uber and Apple, bringing the key players from the battle for smartphone dominance to the brave new world of autonomous vehicles. The South Korean electronics manufacturer, which is the world’s largest smartphone maker and a chip giant in its own right, has been given permission to test its self-driving cars on public roads by the South Korean ministry of land, infrastructure and transport. The decision puts Samsung in direct competition with US technology firms, including Uber, Waymo and Apple, all of which are already testing self-driving vehicles on public roads. Samsung’s smartphone rival, Apple, was recently granted permission to test its long-rumoured vehicles in California. Unlike Apple, Google and other US technology firms, which predominantly use modified Lexus SUVs for testing autonomous systems, Samsung is using fellow Korean firm Hyundai’s vehicles. The cars will be augmented with Samsung-developed advanced sensors and machine-learning systems, which Samsung hopes to be able to provide to others building vehicles, rather than build cars itself. “Samsung Electronics plans to develop algorithms, sensors and computer modules that will make a self-driving car that is reliable even in the worst weather conditions,” said a Samsung spokesperson. The South Korean chaebol completed its $8bn (£6.2bn) acquisition of US automotive and audio supplier Harman International in March, a move it said would help Samsung seize on the transformative opportunities autonomous vehicle technology could bring. Samsung has previously pledged full support for the burgeoning Internet of Things, integrating smart, connected technology into everyday appliances, something autonomous vehicles are expected to rely on for car-to-car and car-to-road communications. While Waymo has what was known as the self-driving Google car, and Uber has used Volvo cars among others, it is still unclear how self-driving technology will become available to the public and whether technology firms will turn into car firms, as Elon Musk’s Tesla has. Most major automotive manufacturers, including Mercedes, Volvo and South Korea’s Hyundai, which was granted permission for public testing in February 2016, have been developing autonomous driving technology. Samsung is just one of 20 firms given permission to test self-driving technology on public roads in South Korea as the government attempts to make the country a favourable environment for technology and automotive development. The country also reduced the number of mandatory passengers in each self-driving test vehicle from two to one and paved the way for the testing of cars without steering wheels or pedals, which are key components required to allow human test pilots to take control in an emergency. Google’s Waymo invites members of public to trial self-driving vehicles | ['technology/samsung', 'technology/self-driving-cars', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/internet-of-things', 'world/south-korea', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'technology/waymo', 'profile/samuel-gibbs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-technology'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-05-02T10:05:10Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2015/dec/06/storm-desmond-lancasters-small-businesses-face-zombie-apocalypse | Storm Desmond: Lancaster's small businesses face 'zombie apocalypse' | Warned to expect at least two more days without electricity following the weekend’s floods, Lancaster’s hardy residents faced the darkness with sunny stoicism. “I was telling my kids, this is what it must have been like in the war,” said Rohina Caterina, surveying the muddy floor of her pub, the Stonewell Tavern, which closed on Saturday night when the cellars flooded. “We’ll get through it.” Friends popped by to offer help with the clear-up on Sunday, as her neighbour, James Howard, recalled the chaos of the previous evening. He had to close his takeaway business, Go Burrito, after water from the river Lune flooded the kitchen. “You should have seen it out here,” he said, gesturing to the debris-strewn Church Street. “It was like the zombie apocalypse. Drunk people were diving in the water, it was crazy. There was a rescue dinghy coming up North Road and cars were floating past.” Caterina laughed in disbelief: “Outside the pub people were saying ‘Let’s go and rob some shops – the CCTV won’t be working.’” Down the road, Joe Ruddock looked despondent. His pub, the Toll House Inn on Penny Street, only opened this week, after a pricey refurbishment. When the power died on Saturday night, none of his diners could pay their bills because the card machine stopped working. “There’s an £800 bill for a table of 18 I doubt will ever be paid now,” he said. The only upside was that all 28 rooms ended up occupied after guests found themselves stranded. “But who knows what will happen in the coming days. I don’t know if people will turn up or not and I can’t phone them to warn them about the situation.” Howard expected his burrito business to be out of action for the rest of the year. “It’s a disaster for us coming at what should be our busiest time of the year,” he said. “Not only will we have to pay thousands to get our electrics sorted, but we’ve lost all of our stock because the fridges are off. It’s a nightmare.” On Sunday, calm had been restored. With mobile networks down and phone batteries long dead, students queued up to use Lancaster’s few remaining telephone boxes for the first time in their lives. Others lined up patiently for a cup of tea from the Salvation Army van. The cash machines were all out of order, but there was nowhere to spend money. Only the Beer Store on Church Street remained open, doing such a roaring trade in warm lager and cigarettes that they had to implement a one-in, one-out policy. Traffic lights failed, causing tailbacks all the way to Galgate, by the M6. On Saturday night, life boats were bobbing around the one-way system, ferrying patients from the bottom of town to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) at the top. The hospital had been running on generator power since 11pm, when Lancaster’s electricity substation flooded, plunging 55,000 homes and businesses into darkness. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Electricity North West had invested £500,000 in flood defences at the Lancaster substation back in 2010, ostensibly to protect it against what they called “once-in-100-years” floods. Yet they were no match for Storm Desmond. On Sunday afternoon, the energy company was working with the fire service to work out how safely to enter the substation so that engineers could repair the damage. When the flood waters receded from the city centre, a layer of mud and debris was left at the bottom end of town, by the bus station. Up the other end, a standby battalion from the Weeton barracks near Blackpool was stationed outside the RLI, khaki trucks doubling as ambulances for patients in hard-to-reach areas. Soldiers moved one woman in a coma from the Victoria hospital in Morecambe to the RLI after all the road bridges over the river Lune between Morecambe and Lancaster shut due to flood damage. On Sunday night, the only way to cross was via the Carlisle footbridge or a long detour on the M6. A crowd gathered outside Sainsbury’s by the river where the supermarket had turned into a carb-heavy food bank, with staff handing out free baps and loaves of bread. James Melody, 20, and his girlfriend, Esme Moxley, also 20, were happy to have got their hands on a brown loaf. They could not quite believe what they had seen, walking through the city centre. “It’s so weird to see people using phoneboxes. I wouldn’t know how,” said Melody. “I think the only time I’ve used one was when I was little, to do prank phone calls,” said Moxley, who was wondering how she would get back to her home in Leeds, with no trains running north of Preston and Lancaster station closed. Elsewhere, the blitz spirit reigned. Outside his house on Greaves Road, teacher Piers Napper was cooking scrambled eggs on a camping stove. “I rescued it from the garage in the dark this morning,” he said. “We’re hoping the gas will last until we get power back.” On Upper Church Street, the emergency units of the Salvation Army were dishing out cups of tea and soup. Among them was a heavily pregnant nurse, Dina Filippou, 25, whose baby is due in two weeks. “We are hoping the power will come back on soon,” she said. | ['uk/weather', 'world/natural-disasters', 'business/small-business', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helenpidd'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-12-06T20:59:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2018/dec/31/conservation-push-yields-results-for-uk-sea-life-but-challenges-remain-plastic-pollution | Conservation push yields results for UK sea life but challenges remain | A rare kind of seahorse and a rainbow-coloured sea slug with a titillating name are among the creatures making a comeback in UK waters, according to an annual conservation review. The coast around Britain is now home to more than 100 species of nudibranchs – brightly hued, soft-bodied marine molluscs that appear nude because of their lack of external shells. The Wildlife Trusts credited a big conservation push around the coast for their proliferation. It was a good autumn for sightings of curled octopus, the trusts said, and basking sharks were seen in Cardigan Bay for the first time in three years. The Wildlife Trusts are a grassroots movement of 800,000 people who help survey shores to gather information and monitor marine protected areas. In Dorset, fishermen have been reporting sightings of the extremely rare short-snouted seahorse off the Purbeck coast. This toothless breed has a short, upturned snout, which it uses to suck up its favourite prey of small shrimp and plankton. Not very good swimmers, they use their tails to cling on to seagrass or seaweed, and they face various threats, from trawlers scouring the seabed to yacht anchors, according to the Wildlife Trusts. In Cornwall, the spiny lobster or crawfish is making a comeback from overfishing in the 1960s and 1970s, while undulate rays seem to be thriving along the south coast, though they are still considered endangered following over-exploitation. The little tern, one of the UK’s rarest breeding seabirds, has scored some successes with the help of conservation work. The bird successfully bred at Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s South Walney nature reserve for the first time in 33 years, and nested on Essex’s Tollesbury Wick nature reserve for the first time in 10 years. Despite concerns in the spring that late snowfall in the Arctic would hit the breeding success of sanderlings, which migrate through the UK, there were record numbers at Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire, in the autumn. The findings were not all positive, however, with millions of creatures washed up on beaches along the North Sea coast after a storm in March. There were also sewage spills and storm drains dumping wet wipes and sanitary products on to beaches, while plastic pollution continues to be a major problem and beach cleans took tonnes of litter off the shoreline. On Alderney, plastic mostly from fishing industry rope or line is now found in almost all gannet nests, posing a significant risk to birds and chicks. Beach cleans on the Isle of Wight collected 400 bags of rubbish, while Welsh Wildlife Trust collections picked up 14,095 pieces of litter. In Kent, 2,892kg of rubbish and 60 shopping trolleys were collected from the Medway Estuary. Dr Lissa Batey, senior living seas officer at the Wildlife Trusts, said: “This review of sightings and action from across the UK has given a glimpse, a mere taster, of the wonders of our marine wildlife – delightful species that everyone has the opportunity to encounter and learn more about. “But it has also shown us the problems that remain and the challenges that our sea life faces. It’s not too late. We are already seeing recovery in some of our marine protected areas, but we don’t yet have a fully functioning network of nature reserves at sea, where wildlife has the opportunity to thrive. “That’s why we are looking forward to the third designation of marine conservation zones in 2019 – with these we would have the potential to reverse current marine wildlife declines.” • This article was amended on 4 December 2018 to clarify that conservation information about seahorses came from the Wildlife Trusts. | ['environment/wildlife', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helenpidd', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-12-31T00:01:02Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/jun/21/montreal-to-host-delayed-cop15-summit-to-halt-alarming-global-biodiversity-loss | Montreal to host delayed Cop15 summit to halt ‘alarming’ global biodiversity loss | The date for a key UN nature summit has finally been confirmed after more than two years of delays and amid fears momentum to halt biodiversity loss across the globe has been lost. Ahead of the latest round of negotiations in Nairobi this week, the UN convention on biological diversity confirmed that the Cop15 biodiversity conference will now take place in Montreal, Canada, from 5 to 17 December, after it became clear China would not be able to host the event in Kunming due to the country’s zero-Covid policy. It comes after several pandemic-related delays to the meeting, which was meant to take place in October 2020, and amid intense frustration with Beijing, who are holding the presidency for a major UN environmental agreement for the first time. Fears had been building over the prohibitive cost for smaller countries to participate in Cop15 if it were held in China, along with concerns over restrictions on civil society, Indigenous groups and the press. At a meeting on Tuesday, officials signed off the plan to host Cop15 near the UN biodiversity headquarters in Quebec. China will maintain responsibility for hosting and organising the event, and will do so in coordination with the Canadian government. Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s environment minister, said the country was proud to host the conference. “There is an urgent need for international partners to halt and reverse the alarming loss of biodiversity worldwide,” he said. The once-a-decade nature summit will come after Cop27 in Egypt but clash with the World Cup in Qatar, prompting fears of a lack of attention and attendance by senior politicians and ministers, which was a key part of Cop26 in Glasgow, Scotland. The final global biodiversity framework agreement is likely to be negotiated in the hours before the World Cup final on 18 December. At a parliamentary committee on Monday, UK environment ministers Lord Goldsmith and George Eustice refused to confirm whether the prime minister would attend but said he was likely to play a part. In a statement, China’s environment minister Huang Runqiu said the country would like to emphasise its continued strong commitment to working with all parties and stakeholders to ensure the success of Cop15. Negotiations for the agreement are scheduled to restart this week in Nairobi, Kenya, with significant divisions over proposals to protect 30% of land and sea, money for protecting biodiversity and the use of the digital sequence information to produce cosmetics, drugs and other products. Governments have never met a target to halt the destruction of nature and there are fears that this agreement will be a repeat of what has gone before, amid concerns of a standoff with the global north and south over resources to protect natural places. In March, the end of talks in Geneva saw a dramatic intervention by Gabon on behalf of a group of developing countries calling for $100bn (£80bn) of biodiversity finance on top of the $100bn of climate financing that has been causing divisions ahead of Cop27. Despite the clarity over the Cop15 date, Oscar Soria, campaign director of the activism site Avaaz, said that the talks had lost momentum and it was a lost opportunity to show leadership on the environment. “2020 was supposed to be the super year for nature led by China; two years later Beijing’s indecision seriously jeopardised a diplomatic process to halt biodiversity loss. “Now, this super year of failure can only be averted by the leadership of the UN. We have just a few months, and lots of diplomatic work needs to be done. And while there’s now clarity on when and where the next Cop will happen, a big question remains on China’s ability to effectively hold the presidency towards an ambitious deal for nature,” he said. Li Shuo, a policy adviser for Greenpeace China, said: “Governments have finally made a decision on where and when the Cop15 will be held. This should now focus everyone’s minds on the quality of the deal. That means ambitious targets to ensure strong protection both on land and at sea and a robust implementation package. “The upcoming preparatory session in Nairobi should see countries advancing the draft deal. The remaining months to Cop15 should be used effectively to unlock contentious issues such as finance.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-road-to-kunming', 'environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/environment', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/un-biodiversity-summit-2020', 'world/china', 'world/world', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'world/canada', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/cop15', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/un-biodiversity-summit-2020 | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-06-21T09:55:26Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2012/oct/28/new-york-city-hurricane-sandy | New York City shuts down transit system ahead of hurricane Sandy | New York City's mass transit system has ground to a halt after residents in low-lying areas were ordered to to evacuate ahead of hurricane Sandy. With the super storm expected to make landfall on Monday, officials in the city are taking no risks, shuttering schools and urging people to seek alternative accommodation away from lower Manhattan and threatened parts of Brooklyn and Queens. "If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference Sunday. "This is a serious and dangerous storm," he reiterated amid talk from some residents that city officials were over-reacting. Earlier, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced the emergency suspension of subway and bus services from 7pm Sunday. The transit shutdown will last until Wednesday under the current plan. Officials said services would resume operations about 12 hours after Sandy has passed through the city. "If it turns and moves off, great. Really great. But if not then we will be prepared for it," Cuomo said at a press conference Sunday. The governor added that a decision on New York's network of bridges and tunnels to and from Manhattan would be made on a case-by-case basis. Similar measures were brought in to shut down New York City's transit system ahead of hurricane Irene last September. On that occasion, some 370,000 residents in low-lying areas in the city were evacuated as a precaution. A similar plea for people to leave at-risk areas has been issued, with Bloomberg warning that a storm surge of six to 11 feet was expected. But he confirmed that no action would be taken against those who refused to leave. For many, a more pressing matter was stocking up on food ahead of the storm. In the fashionable Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn, residents lined up at the Key Food store to stock up on food, beer and cereal. Holding a single basket filled with peanut butter, bread, jelly, granola, pasta and hummus, Jordan Breighner admitted this is the most food he can remember buying in one go. "Thankfully I am not on the first floor," he says. Breighner, who was in New York last year when hurricane Irene failed to make as big a mark on the city as some had feared, said he was concerned people might not take this storm seriously. "I'm not panicking but I'm prepared." Others seemed to be setting up for a long-haul. Two 20-something women were buying two 16-roll packs of toilet tissue. "I haven't done any shopping for a while," one said, looking embarrassed. "I wonder if she bought a lot of coffee too," quipped another shopper. Elsewhere in the city, people were making preparations for the city shutdown. Businesses were closing early, nursing homes were making plans to evacuate their residents, and people were beginning to take the official warnings seriously. In some parts of lower Manhattan there is only a few feet between the usual high water level and the street, leading to some residents putting out sandbags in an attempt to keep back any flood waters. In the well-healed Tribeca district of lower Manhattan, up-market grocery store Whole Foods Market was doing a roaring trade Sunday. Grace Lin, who lives just outside the evacuation zone ordered by the mayor said she was taking in friends from nearby. "There will be four adults and four children, and we are two adults and two children, so it's going to be pretty cosy," she said. Residents of the area had made similar preparations for Irene. But Lin said this storm appeared to be worse and that she had particular concerns about power outages. "People are taking it more seriously than last time. The biggest issue for our friends is the elevators not working, not the flooding." Others in lower Manhattan, however, were determined to stay put. Kevin Heeney, 28, was stocking up with bottled water, but had no plans to move out: "We're going to stick it out," he said. Emerging from Whole Foods laden with bags of groceries, Danny and Laura Fletcher, a British couple who had just moved to the city, were scepical of the reaction of New Yorkers. "We've just bought a big roast lunch," said Danny Fletcher. "I don't think it's going to be that bad. But it's panic stations in there," he said. | ['us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/new-york', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'us-news/us-weather', 'us-news/michaelbloomberg', 'type/article', 'profile/matt-williams', 'profile/mattwells', 'profile/dominic-rushe'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-28T23:10:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/jul/26/renewable-energy-australias-first-hybrid-wind-solar-farm-gets-funded | Australia's first hybrid wind-solar farm to be built near Canberra | Australia’s first large-scale hybrid wind and solar farm is set to be built near Canberra, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) providing a $9.9m grant. The money would go towards the $26m cost of building a 10MW solar photovoltaic plant alongside the existing Gullen Range windfarm. Goldwind, one of the Chinese companies that will build and operate the project, said the solar farm was expected to generate about 22,000 MWh of electricity in the first year of operation, enough to supply about 3,000 homes. Building the solar farm on the same location as the windfarm meant 20% could be saved from the construction costs of the solar farm, said Ivor Frischknecht, the chief executive of Arena. Arena recently commissioned an investigation into the costs and benefits of hybrid solar and windfarms. It found that besides huge cost savings – achieved mostly because the grid connection was able to be shared by the two generators – the two energy sources were often complementary, producing peak outputs at different times of both the day and year. That meant they combined to create a more reliable energy source. “Co-location provides more continuous energy generation as windfarms tend to generate more energy overnight whilst solar only generates during the day,” Frischknecht said. “Gullen windfarm generates more power in winter and the new solar farm will generate more in summer.” Frischknecht said he hoped that, by building the first example of a combined solar and windfarm, others would follow. “This is the first project of its type in Australia, so the lessons learned will be invaluable,” he said. “It has the potential to provide a blueprint for future projects and cement industry confidence in the approach.” Since the costs of connecting the solar farm to the grid were almost eliminated, there was less need for the farms to be very large just to recoup those costs. He said that meant the co-location strategy could unlock medium-scale PV projects. The project is expected to be completed in July 2017. It will be built and owned by two Chinese companies – Goldwind and Beijing and Jingneng Clean Energy – which own and operate the existing wind farm. After the Arena grant of $10m, another $10m is being lent to the project by National Australia Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, leaving the existing windfarm to fund the remaining $6m. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'australia-news/canberra', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/michael-slezak', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2016-07-25T20:00:53Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2012/jul/05/plastic-bag-use-rise-supermarkets | Plastic bag use 'up for second year running' | The number of single-use plastic bags handed out to shoppers by UK supermarkets has risen for the second year running, new figures from the government's waste reduction body Wrap have revealed. The figures will be a huge disappointment to the government, which backed a voluntary scheme to cut the use if throwaway bags. A total of 8bn "thin-gauge" bags were issued in the UK in 2011 – a 5.4% rise on the 7.6bn in 2010 – and with every shopper now using an average of almost 11 a month. It is the second year in a row the number of throwaway plastic bags has risen, although their use has fallen by more than a third (35%) since 2006, when 12.2bn bags were handed out. Retailers have blamed the recession, saying families have changed their shopping habits and are doing more smaller shops every week – often using public transport. Broken down, the figures reveal stark differences across the UK. In Wales, use fell by 22%, thanks to a 5p charge introduced last October. But in England use rose by 7.5% rise, Northern Ireland saw a 8.1% rise, although a levy will be introduced next year, while there was no significant change in Scotland, which is also consulting on a plastic bag tax. The data for Wales was published separately earlier in the week. The Welsh environment minister, John Griffiths, said: "These results show that the way to significantly reduce the use of single-use carrier bags is for governments to introduce a charge to customers for them. Net profits from single-use bag purchase are donated by retailers to local charities and environmental causes." He added: "The public have adjusted brilliantly to our bag charge and the majority now regularly take their own bags with them when they go shopping." The new data suggest consumers have become complacent or are ignoring efforts by the government and retailers to persuade them to change their ways. Plastic bag use plunged after 2006, when the government, retailers and green campaigners spearheaded a push to cut down on the 11bn plastic carriers Britons used each year, most of which find their way into landfill or – much more damagingly – into waterways and the sea, where they are a hazard to marine life. And by 2009, bag use was down by about 40% to under 6.5bn. The British Retail Consortium said the rise across the UK was down to changing habits in grocery shopping, with financial constraints meaning families are doing several small shops a week instead of one big trip. It said that they are also switching from using the car to public transport. Both factors mean they are less likely to have reusable or "bags for life with them, the BRC suggested. The retailers' organisation also said that plastic bags were not a major environmental issue, making up a fraction of 1% of household waste, but if governments wanted to reduce their use they would have to legislate. BRC head of environment, Bob Gordon, said: "It's no surprise the use of a bag charge in Wales has reduced the number of bags taken by consumers there. If other governments see reducing the use of carrier bags as a priority, they will have to take a lead and go beyond voluntary measures. " He added: "Plastic bags have a symbolic status but their impact on the environment is much smaller than other things which retailers are turning their firepower on. For example, retailers are leading members of a new forum which will reduce the carbon footprint of thousands of everyday products, between them responsible for around 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions." The figures from Wrap showed the amount of new plastic being used to make carrier bags, including more durable "bags for life", had fallen by more than half (51%) since 2006. Last year the amount of new plastic used rose by 11% but Wrap said the overall decline suggests more recycled materials are being used in plastic bags. | ['environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'business/supermarkets', 'business/retail', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'type/article', 'profile/rebeccasmithers'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2012-07-05T13:01:19Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2022/sep/28/worlds-central-banks-financing-destruction-of-the-rainforest | World’s central banks financing destruction of the rainforest | Some of the world’s biggest central banks are unwittingly helping to finance agri-business giants engaged in the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon, according to a report published on Wednesday. The Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are among the institutions that have bought millions of dollars in bonds issued by companies linked to deforestation and land-grabbing, according to the report Bankrolling Destruction, published by the rights group Global Witness. “Because these programmes are guaranteed by the respective governments in the UK, the US and EU Member States, this means taxpayers throughout those territories are unwittingly underwriting companies engaged in the destruction of the Amazon and other rainforests,” according to the report. The banks buy corporate bonds issued by big companies in an attempt to inject liquidity into financial markets when the private sector is reluctant to lend. Known as “asset purchase programmes”, these measures aim to reduce the cost of borrowing for companies and were used extensively during the pandemic as a way of bolstering economies. Some of the companies that sold bonds are linked to environmental destruction, the report says, naming Cargill, Inc., the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) and Bunge Ltd Financial Corp, three of the biggest agri-business conglomerates operating in Brazil. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest producers or exporters of grains, coffee, soy, fruit and other raw materials, and all three companies have faced previous allegations of wrongdoing. The Guardian reported on links between Cargill and Bunge and a Brazilian farm which has been connected to abuses of indigenous rights and land. Addressing the allegations in the Global Witness report, Cargill said it was “committed to ending deforestation and conversion in our agricultural supply chains” and Bunge stated it was “committed to complying with all regulations either in local or global markets and to adhering to our own strict social-environmental policies”. ADM did not respond to requests for comment. But it was the central banks that bore the brunt of the criticism. “Since 2016, the Bank of England has also purchased an undisclosed share in a £150m corporate bond issued by Cargill, Inc., and the European Central Bank has bought an undisclosed amount of debt issued by Bunge Finance Europe B.V.,” the report says. And in just the last two years “the US Federal Reserve has bought a combined total of $16m of bonds issued by the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) Bunge Ltd Financial Corp, and Cargill, Inc. “All this comes despite the repeated public statements from all three central banks stressing the risks that climate change poses to financial stability and long-term economic growth.” Global Witness said the Federal Reserve had “wound down” its bond buying scheme and the Bank of England would start the same process this month. The Fed said it had adopted the policy as a one-off measure in 2020 to save jobs during the global pandemic, and had no plans to do so again. The Bank of England said it had taken measures to lower borrowing costs for all firms and to highlight the support given to Cargill was “an extremely narrow focus”. The European Central Bank, meanwhile, said it “aims to gradually decarbonise its corporate bond holdings, on a path aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. To that end, the Eurosystem will tilt these holdings towards issuers with better climate performance through the reinvestment of the sizeable redemptions expected over the coming years.” However, Global Witness said the refusal of UK and EU banks to publish the values of their holdings in the companies created “a lack of transparency”. “As supervisors of the private financial sector, central banks must lead by example and adopt an explicit zero-deforestation policy as part of their approach to climate change, including divestment from all deforestation-linked bonds and greater scrutiny of the threat to financial stability posed by deforestation and biodiversity loss,” the report said. The report comes amid ongoing destruction in the Amazon region, a vast area covering parts of nine different South American countries and a vital carbon sink to absorb the emissions driving the climate crisis. Deforestation under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro hit a record high for the first seven months of the year, the latest shocking statistic under a president who has turned a blind eye to the illegal loggers, ranchers and miners active in the region. Already, 26% of the Amazon has been cut down and some parts have passed the tipping point where previously lush forest have turned into dry savannah, according to a report issued early September by scientists and Indigenous organisations. “I think this report is a very useful piece of analysis which highlights the need for central banks to look at their exposure to deforestation in their portfolios,” said Nick Robins, a professor of sustainable financing at the LSE. “2022 really is the year that central banks recognised nature risk as a threat to institutions. The focus up to now has been on the energy sector but this is another signal that deforestation and land use needs to be put at the heart of climate scenarios.” | ['environment/series/animals-farmed', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'business/bankofenglandgovernor', 'business/federal-reserve', 'business/european-central-bank', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/jair-bolsonaro', 'world/americas', 'business/business', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/forests', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/andrew-downie', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-09-28T08:46:33Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2010/aug/16/russia-president-pavolvsk-twitter | Russia launches inquiry into Pavlovsk seed bank after Twitter campaign | The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, has ordered an immediate inquiry into the potential destruction of the world's oldest seed bank following a court case and a Twitter campaign by Guardian readers and others. The fate of the station appeared to be sealed last week when a court ruled in favour of the Pavlovsk research station and its surrounding farmland being turned into private housing. It holds the world's largest fruit collections and was protected by 12 Russian scientists during the second world war who chose to starve to death rather than eat the unique collection of seeds and plants which they were guarding during the 900-day siege of Leningrad. More than 90% of the plants are found in no other research collection or seed bank. Its seeds and berries are thought to posess traits that could be crucial to maintaining productive fruit harvests in many parts of the world as climate change and a rising tide of disease, pests and drought weaken the varieties farmers now grow. At stake, say campaigners for the station, are more than 5,000 varieties of seeds and berries from dozens of countries, including more than 100 varieties each of gooseberries and raspberries. As it is predominantly a field collection, Pavlovsk cannot be moved. Experts estimate that even if another site were available nearby, it would take many years to relocate the plants. The court ruling was instantly appealed, giving the station one month before development plans for a housing estate that would destroy the station can move forward. This judgment means the order can only be revoked through a direct command of the president or prime minister, Vladimir Putin. The Civic Chamber, a Russian state institution with a remit to monitor parliament and the government, then sent a telegram to Medvedev to request a formal appeal to protect the collection. And numerous supporters of the research station have made their feelings felt on Twitter (using the #pavlovsk hashtag). On Friday, following a week of lobbying Medvedev tweeted back: "Received the Civic Chamber's appeal over the Pavlov Experimental Station. Gave the instruction for this issue to be scrutinised." The campaign may have already achieved more than the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation which last year appealed unsuccessfully to the Russian government to include Pavlovsk in the global network of gene banks. However, the ongoing heatwave is thought to have also put pressure on the government. Russian agricultural minister, Elena Borisovna Skrynnik, had fought for the station to be saved on the grounds that its heritage was crucial for food security as climate change grew more serious. Much of the Russian wheat harvest has been destroyed in the last month by the heatwave, which has been linked to climate change. Yesterday, the Crop Diversity Trust, which has been leading western attempts to save the station, urged people to continue to petition the Russian authorities. A statement on the trust's website said: "Over the next four weeks, we will continue our fight to save Pavlovsk, and we need your help. We need to persuade the political authorities of the importance of the irreplaceable crop diversity growing at Pavlovsk station, and request that the judgment be revoked." | ['environment/biodiversity', 'world/russia', 'technology/twitter', 'technology/technology', 'world/dmitry-medvedev', 'environment/plants', 'science/science', 'tone/news', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2010-08-16T16:03:45Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2011/jun/30/electric-highway-policy-uturn | 'Electric highway' policy marks latest coalition U-turn | The promised vision of a network of electric highways wired up for a fleet of battery-powered cars became the latest government pledge to fall victim to spending cuts. A report published by theDepartment for Transport declared that widespread public charging points for electric vehicles would be "under-utilised and uneconomic", and said the nation should instead rely on recharging car and van batteries at home or at work. The new policy contrasts with much more ambitious promises in the Conservative manifesto and the coalition government agreement for a "national network" of charging points, suggesting widespread public access to the chance to top up the battery, and was criticised by consumer and motoring groups. The government said research showed the majority of electric vehicle owners would recharge their cars overnight where they lived. But campaigners countered that this bare statement undermined the importance of giving consumers confidence they would not be caught out with a flat battery and no way of getting home. Consumer advice website Nextgreencar.com said they would be disappointed if the government reduced public support for battery charging points, especially after a recent survey for the UK's biggest electric recharging network, Elektromotive, found two-thirds of consumers said they would be more likely to buy a battery-powered car if there were more charging points along roadsides and in public car-parks. The transport department said it was still committed to spending £30m to build 8,500 charge points in eight "pilot areas", including London and the north-east of England. This compares to hopes of eventually replacing most of the UK's fleet of 34m vehicles with electric or hybrid petrol and electric models, but a department spokesman said trials by the Technology Strategy Board supported their approach of relying on charging where people live and work, rather than a network of special locations such as petrol stations. "It's a change of mindset: you don't have to go to [the power], it's already there," said the spokesman. Edmund King of the AA motoring group warned the government would have to increase support for charging points to fulfil the European Union transport white paper hope of taking all petrol and diesel cars off urban roads by the middle of this century. "To even partially fulfil that aspiration a comprehensive EV charging network will be needed in every city," said King. "There is, of course, a role for the private sector, but the government needs to take a stronger lead in terms of infrastructure if electric vehicles are to take off." The Conservative-Lib Dem government has already been criticised for dropping or weakening other environment commitments, including watering-down plans for a green investment bank and national programme of home insulation, reducing grants to support home renewable energy generation, and cutting spending on flood defences. According to Nextgreencar's Zap-Map of the UK's electric charging points, there are currently about 1,000 public facilities. In 2009 only 55 EVs were sold in the UK, but industry figures have predicted 2011 will be a "breakthrough" year for the technology, boosted by a slew of new models and government grants of up to £5,000 each to help buy battery-powered cars. The Committee on Climate Change has calculated a need for at least 1.7m electric vehicles by 2020 if the UK is to remain on course to hit ambitious carbon-reduction targets. | ['environment/electric-cars', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/environment', 'technology/motoring', 'technology/technology', 'politics/transport', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/liberal-conservative-coalition', 'politics/politics', 'uk/transport', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/juliettejowit', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-06-30T16:08:46Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2021/mar/24/no-bottle-deposit-return-scheme-for-most-of-uk-until-2024-at-earliest | No bottle deposit return scheme for most of UK until 2024 at earliest | A promised deposit return scheme for plastic bottles to cut marine pollution will not be in place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland until late 2024 at the earliest – six years after it was announced by the government as a key environmental policy. Critics said the delay was “embarrassing” and not the sign of a government committed to tackling plastic pollution. The environment minister Rebecca Pow announced the publication of a second consultation on a deposit return scheme (DRS) on Wednesday. The document revealed no such scheme would be introduced until late 2024 – more than a year after the original deadline for the initiative and after the next general election in May of that year. The new consultation document said ministers were still committed to a deposit return scheme but Covid-19 “had disrupted the economy and society in unimaginable ways, with many people reassessing their values, decisions and priorities in both the immediate and longer term”. “On this basis, our second consultation will build on the first consultation, offering a chance to explore further what the continued appetite is for a deposit return scheme in a ‘post-Covid’ context,” it read. A DRS was first announced in 2018 by the then environment secretary, Michael Gove, to cut the litter polluting the land and sea by returning a small cash sum to consumers who return their bottles and cans. It came after years of campaigning and with a warning from Gove that it was “absolutely vital we act now to tackle this threat and curb the millions of plastic bottles a day that go unrecycled”. The government’s manifesto promise in 2019 was to introduce a deposit return scheme to incentivise people to recycle plastic and glass and the first consultation was met with a high level of support for the scheme. But after years of discussions and ministerial engagement the new consultation document published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, showed no decision had yet been made on what kind of deposit scheme should be in place. Options include an all-in deposit return scheme for all plastic bottles, glass bottles and aluminium drinks cans and a scheme that just covers containers bought and used in takeaways. Across the UK, consumers go through an estimated 13bn plastic drinks bottles. Only 7.5bn are recycled. The remaining 5.5bn are landfilled, littered or incinerated. The scheme when introduced would cover PET plastic bottles, glass bottles and steel and aluminium cans. The Scottish government has plans to start its all in deposit return scheme in July next year. Pow told the environmental audit committee on Wednesday that the DRS was important to put in place a “fully circular economy … which we have talked about for so long. “One of the really important aspects of it is to reduce litter,” she said. The government defended the delays, saying: “We believe this revision presents a realistic yet equally ambitious timeline to implement a complex but incredibly important policy in the most effective way possible.” But Sam Chetan-Welsh, a political campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “Taking more than seven years to introduce a bottle return scheme, when other countries have had them for decades, is embarrassing. “This is not the action of a government that is serious about tackling plastic pollution, and is nowhere near world-leading. Further delay means billions more plastic and glass bottles and cans will be dumped or burned. This is asking our rivers, oceans and wildlife for an extension they can’t afford to give.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/recycling', 'uk/uk', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-03-24T17:38:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2011/apr/25/setting-priorities-for-green-investment | Letters: Setting priorities for green investment | The coalition has signalled its intention to direct the Green Investment Bank's fund towards low-carbon technology (Special report: Green policy, 23 April). But the Institution of Engineering and Technology is arguing that the bank should also support energy-efficiency innovations in manufacturing. The bank's aims are to deliver economic growth, facilitate the transition to a green economy and support the UK's industrial transformation. Much of the focus to date has been on investment in the manufacture of low-carbon goods and the roll-out of green infrastructure. Energy conservation and efficiency should be among the first priorities of a sustainable energy policy. Energy is set to become increasingly expensive, and to survive in the global market, UK firms will need to produce new products at competitive prices. This means driving costs down. The manufacture of low-carbon technology is often seen as a panacea to meet the UK's carbon-reduction requirements, while reviving UK manufacturing. Yet the manufacture of low-carbon goods is not in itself automatically green. A green industrial revolution should first focus on greening manufacturing processes to reduce energy and resource use. Energy conservation and efficiency in the manufacturing sector should be a priority for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and across government. In addition, access to the Green Investment Bank by small and medium-size enterprises will be paramount. SMEs are able to develop and commercialise products rapidly in niche areas. By its nature, green technology and processes will require innovative solutions – an area where SMEs can develop a competitive advantage for UK plc. SMEs should have priority access to the Green Investment Bank to spur green growth and technology. Dr Tony Whitehead Director of policy, Institution of Engineering and Technology • Your article underlines the government's failure to live up to its own promises. The areas where you score the government highly on its record are those where it took on Labour policies. In so many areas the government is failing – the forests fiasco, slashing flood defences, muddle on tariffs for solar, and a Green Investment Bank unable to borrow and develop a new green economy. David Cameron talked the green talk before the election, but he has hardly referred to green issues since. The government is threatening the transition to a low-carbon economy by its half-hearted efforts. Meg Hillier MP Shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change, Mary Creagh MP Shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs | ['environment/green-economy', 'environment/environment', 'tone/letters', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'business/business', 'business/small-business', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2011-04-24T23:04:02Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2017/oct/12/tony-abbott-needs-to-explain-u-turn-on-climate-change-julie-bishop-says | Tony Abbott needs to explain U-turn on climate change, Julie Bishop says | Statements by Tony Abbott suggesting that climate change is “probably doing good” are different to his opinion while he was prime minister and it is up to him to explain why he has changed his view, Julie Bishop has said. Speaking from South Korea on the ABC’s 7:30 on Thursday, the foreign affairs minister rebuked Abbott by recounting his record of signing the Paris climate agreement and setting the renewable energy target. Bishop’s comments follow a similar intervention from energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, stating that climate change is real and recalling that Abbott signed the Paris agreement. On Monday evening Abbott told a climate sceptic thinktank in London that policies to combat climate change were like “primitive people ... killing goats to appease the volcano gods”. He also reprised his 2009 assertion that the “so-called settled science of climate change” was “absolute crap”. Asked about Abbott’s comments, Bishop said he was “entitled to express his views, as any other member of parliament ... is entitled to do”. But she added: “The views he expressed recently are different to those he expressed as prime minister when he supported the Paris agreement, and in fact set a nationally determined targets and the renewable energy target was established under then Prime Minister Abbott,” she said. “So, it’s up to him to explain the differences between his opinion then and his opinion now.” Bishop said the Turnbull government was determined to deliver “affordable, reliable energy ... that will still meet our international obligations, which were, in fact, established under then Prime Minister Abbott”. Asked why Abbott was not expelled for “constant breaches of discipline”, Bishop noted that he was discussing an issue that was “controversial” in some sectors of the community. Bishop suggested the reason there was “a deal of interest in what he has to say” is that he had changed his mind from his view as prime minister. “I think the question that has to be asked of Tony Abbott is why does he have a different view now than when he was prime minister?” With the government backing off the clean energy target recommended by the chief scientist, it is unclear what mixture of climate policies it will propose to meet international obligations. Bishop said the Turnbull government’s energy policy “will be discussed by cabinet and by the party room and then of course announced to the Australian public”. The government could unveil its energy policy as soon as next week, when parliament resumes for the final spring session. The expected overhaul of the market rules in the government’s looming energy policy overhaul is expected to be accompanied by mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the use of international permits, which the government first signalled when it launched a review of its Direct Action policy. The energy sector also expects the existing Emissions Reduction Fund, which is the Coalition’s voluntary scheme that gives incentives for farmers and landholders to reduce emissions, will also have its funding topped up between now and the next election. Abbott’s speech was labelled “loopy” by Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, but defended in part by Liberal MP Craig Kelly, the chairman of the backbench committee on climate and energy. | ['australia-news/tony-abbott', 'australia-news/julie-bishop', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/coalition', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/liberal-party', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/paul-karp', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2017-10-12T09:29:52Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
world/2014/may/26/alaska-wildfire-grows-evacuations-1000-structures | Evacuations of 1,000 structures ordered as Alaska wildfire grows | A wildfire chewing through the forest in an Alaskan wildlife refuge has expanded in size, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of 1,000 buildings, officials said. The Funny River wildfire was burning on about 250 square miles of forest, most of it inside the 1.9-million-acre Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in southern Alaska, and was 30% contained, Willie Begay, a US Forest Service spokesman, said on Monday. Almost 600 firefighters are battling the blaze among rolling hills mostly covered with black spruce, Begay said. The area has been without rain for more than a month, and steady winds from the southwest are fueling the flames. "Once it catches the wind in those areas, it's pretty fast- moving," Begay said. He added that rain might come in the next few days, which would help to put out the fire. The week-old fire has expanded from about 172 square miles on Sunday, when it was one-fifth contained. The number of people told to flee their homes isn't clear, said Michelle Weston, spokeswoman with Management Team, which includes the state Division of Forestry and federal and local officials. Weston says no injuries were reported. Only minimal damage had been reported as of Monday morning, and firefighters were able to put out the two cabin decks and one trailer roof that caught fire, the Alaska Interagency Incident Management Team said on its Facebook page. The Funny River Fire is named after a nearby road where all residents were being evacuated. She says Alaska State Troopers were going door to door, evacuating an area that's mostly second homes and is home to many retirees. Crews were attacking the fire by air, with two Alaska air national guard helicopters and five other helicopters involved, she said. In Arizona, firefighters made progress containing a wildfire that had burned more than 25 square miles of forest in a northern canyon as of Monday morning. Officials said the fire was 25% contained. Crews fighting a wildfire in Arizona focused on building containment lines along the last unprotected stretch of the blaze. Firefighters will build 3mi of protection lines on the southern end of the Slide Fire after having completed much of their work on the blaze's key northern and western flanks. The human-caused fire has been burning since Tuesday around Oak Creek Canyon, a scenic recreation area along the highway between Sedona and Flagstaff that would normally be crowded with tourists Memorial day weekend. Slide Rock State Park, one of the most-visited tourist spots in Arizona, has been closed. In Alaska, the Funny River Fire is the most active of several large wildfires burning in the state. Firefighters have been flown in from Oregon, Montana and Canada to help Alaskan crews. Alaska's governor, Sean Parnell, flew over the fire midday Sunday, before the wind-driven expansion. He praised the multiagency effort including state, local and federal officials. Wildfires in Alaska's remote areas are not unusual during the summer months, with an average of a million acres burned each fire season, Weston said. High wind is also a challenge for crews. The state is experiencing unusually dry conditions because of unseasonably warm spring temperatures. The state Division of Forestry on Friday issued a statewide ban on outdoor burning. The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1941 as the Kenai National Moose Range and was aimed at moose protection. Wildlife viewing, fishing, camping and hiking attract visitors from around the world. | ['us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/wildfires', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-05-26T14:50:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2013/oct/11/weatherwatch-mood-optimism-risk-life-satisfaction | Weatherwatch: Always look on the bright side | Researchers have long concurred with the common-sense observation that there is a connection between weather and mood. But the relationship is not a simple one, and the prospect of a dull and wet winter does not necessarily mean unremitting gloom. A recent study by the University of North Carolina examined how weather affects financial decision making. Fine weather tends to make stock markets rise and researchers found that sunshine promotes a mood of optimism – or as they put it, sunny weather encourages risk-taking behaviour, which may not be quite so healthy. On dull days the markets may be quieter, but there may also be less risk of over-exuberant investment decisions. You might think that when the weather is bad we rate our overall life satisfaction lower, as well as our immediate mood. A classic 1983 study by Schwarz and Clore appeared to confirm this. However, they also found that when respondents were first primed with questions about the weather, the impact of bad weather on life satisfaction disappeared. Schwarz and Clore only interviewed eighty-four people, and this year results were published of a much bigger survey involving over a million people. Researchers from Michigan State University found that however daily weather influences mood, it has no detectable effect on how we rate our life satisfaction as a whole. So we might feel less like taking risks in winter, but we can still hold on to a sunny view of life even when the skies are dark. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-10-11T20:30:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
culture/2015/jan/29/dippy-diplodocus-displaced-natural-history-museum | Dippy the Diplodocus is displaced from Natural History Museum by blue whale | Dippy is leaving the building. After decades of dominating the central hall of the Natural History Museum, starring in movies right up to the recent Paddington, and enthralling generations of schoolchildren who imagined that with one swish of its tail it could take out an entire class and teacher too, the Diplodocus skeleton cast is making way for a whale. Dippy was cast from original fossil bones discovered in the US in 1898, and has been the first enthralling object most visitors saw at the museum, in South Kensington, London, for the past 35 years, having moved to the central hall in 1979. However, the museum announces today that it will be replaced by a real and even more vast specimen: the skeleton of a blue whale, the largest animal ever known to have lived on earth, brought to the brink of extinction by human hunting. The whale is one of the earliest specimens acquired by the museum, bought for £250 in 1891, just 10 years after the South Kensington institution opened. The female, already injured by a whaler, died when it beached itself in Wexford harbour mouth in Ireland. It is recorded that the carcass also produced 630 gallons of oil and tonnes of meat, all sold for profit by a merchant in the town. It has been on display in the mammals gallery since 1938, but will be moved and positioned as if diving from the roof of the central hall, now renamed the Hintze hall in honour of the £5m donation from the millionaire businessman Sir Michael Hintze. Sir Michael Dixon, director of the museum, said challenging people about the plight of the Earth was part of the museum’s urgent purpose. “The very resources on which modern society relies are under threat. Species and ecosystems are being destroyed faster than we can describe them or even understand their significance. The blue whale serves as a poignant reminder that while abundance is no guarantee of survival, through our choices, we can make a real difference. There is hope.” Diplodocus, identified as a new type of dinosaur in 1878, lived between 156m and 148m years ago. Dippy has been one of the best-loved pieces in the museum since 1905, when the 292 enormous bone casts of the skeleton arrived at the museum in 36 packing crates. It was a gift from the Scottish-born businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, made just seven years after the fossil skeleton was found by chance by railway workers in Wyoming. The cast was commissioned after King Edward VII saw an image of the dinosaur in the new museum Carnegie had just opened in Pittsburgh, and dropped a heavy hint that he would like something just like that for the London museum. Dippy was a party animal from the start, unveiled in a lavish celebration for 300 guests, and has looked down on innumerable product launches and celebrity bashes in the museum since. He has appeared in many films, most recently watching impassively as a murderously glamorous museum staff member set out to reduce Paddington to a specimen, and the last film appearance of the late Robin Williams, in Secret of the Tomb, the last film in the Night at the Museum franchise when the cast of characters moved to London. He starred in the 1975 film One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing – although understandably the one the thieves actually make off with is the more petite Apatosaurus – blithely unaware that the plot also featured his ultimate nemesis, the blue whale. He has been reconstructed twice after scientific consensus changed on how the enormous animals appeared in life, with his tail now curved over visitors’ heads, but his neck lowered to a horizontal position. The museum is well aware of how much visitors love Dippy, and hopes more people than ever will soon see him if plans succeed for a national tour. A spokeswoman said that the cast was now very fragile, and would need careful conservation work first. | ['culture/natural-history-museum', 'culture/museums', 'culture/culture', 'science/dinosaurs', 'science/fossils', 'science/zoology', 'science/science', 'environment/whales', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'film/paddington', 'film/night-at-the-museum-secret-of-the-tomb', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/maevkennedy', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-01-29T06:00:24Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2012/nov/02/northeast-frustrated-waits-gas-sandy | North-east frustrated with long waits for gas and slow pace of Sandy recovery | Tensions were evident around the US north-east on Friday as millions of people faced another day without power, long lines grew at gas stations and rescue workers found more victims of superstorm Sandy. Four days after high winds and floodwaters battered the east coast, the number of people who died in the US stood at 90. Scores more had earlier died when Sandy hit the Caribbean. As New York City struggled to recover from the fallout from the storm, the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, faced a growing backlash for his decision to go ahead with the annual marathon on Sunday. State officials tried to reassure frustrated drivers who faced severe problems buying gas. The governor of New York state, Andrew Cuomo, acknowledged there was a fuel shortage but urged people not to panic. He said tankers carrying millions of gallons of fuel had now arrived in the port of New York and would get to gas stations soon. There were long lines outside gas stations around New York and New Jersey on Friday as supplies ran low. In the New York City borough of Queens, a man was accused of pulling a gun during a confrontation with a motorist who accused him of cutting in line. At noon on Friday the line for gas at the Shell station in the Brooklyn Heights area of Brooklyn weaved around three blocks and stretched back for almost half a mile. "I've been here two and a half hours," said Brian Temporosa. "I've been empty for probably two days now. Luckily I haven't run out yet, but if I'm here for another 15 minutes then yeah, I might run out of gas." Krystyne Todaro, 45, had travelled a quarter of a mile to the Shell station in two and a half hours. "This is the worst of what I've had to deal with so far, so I'm OK. It is what it is," she said. Cuomo, in a news conference flanked by port officials, said: "We are making great progress … There is no need to panic, no reason for anxiety. It's going to be better in the near future." Cuomo said power would be restored to lower Manhattan on Friday, a day earlier than expected. But other areas continue to struggle without electricity. He said that he would hold the power utilities to account, but that people needed to be patient. "It's not going to get better overnight. This was a major assault by Mother Nature," he said. Among the latest deaths to be recorded were those of two-year-old Brandon and four-year-old Connor Moore, who died while trying to flee their flooded Staten Island home with their mother in an SUV that stalled. Their bodies were discovered in a flooded marsh Thursday. Bloomberg spoke about the brothers' deaths in an update on post-Sandy recovery operations. "They were swept away from their mother's arms by the force of Sandy's storm surge. And it just breaks your heart to even think about it," he said. "As a father I cannot imaging the pain and anguish the boys' parents are suffering," Bloomberg added. The brothers' father, Damian, was a city sanitation worker, who was working on recovery efforts at the time of their deaths, the mayor noted. Staten Island was one of the worst-hit neighbourhoods in New York, and the recovery process has been slow. Residents complained that islanders had been largely forgotten in the city clean-up operation. Of the 40 people who are known to have died in New York City, at least 19 people were killed in Staten Island. The homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, was due to tour Staten Island on Friday. Bloomberg is gambling on this weekend's marathon to raise the city's spirits. But the decision not to cancel the event, which starts Sunday at 9.30am on Staten Island, has led to widespread criticism. Some residents and elected officials have said it could divert essential resources from the recovery operation. James Oddo, a council member for Staten Island, described the decision as "idiotic". Paul Fernandez, 24, who lives in Oakwood, Staten Island, told the Guardian: "I think it is bullshit. We need some help down here. We need help fixing the benches, fixing people's houses – nobody is helping us here, nobody is saying anything." Fernandez feared the number of dead would rise. "They are going to continue to find bodies, over and over again," Fernandez said. The bodies of the two Moore children were found on Thursday after a three-day search by police. Their mother had been evacuating them to a shelter when her SUV stalled in rising floodwater. "Terrible, absolutely terrible," police commissioner Raymond Kelly said after the grim discovery: "It just compounds all the tragic aspects of this horrific event." There was some good news for residents in Manhattan. The utilities giant ConEdison said it hoped to have restored power to many homes and offices in lower Manhattan on Friday. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority added more subway services in New York on Friday, although there was still no service through lower Manhattan and heavy traffic was reported around the city. More services were added on the Long Island Railroad. Amtrak said it expected to restore limited service on the New York to Washington DC and Boston line. | ['us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/new-jersey', 'us-news/michaelbloomberg', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/adam-gabbatt', 'profile/matt-williams', 'profile/shiv-malik'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-11-02T17:37:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
politics/article/2024/jul/18/royally-optimistic-after-the-kings-speech | Royally optimistic after the king’s speech | Brief letters | I echo Pippa Crerar’s assessment of the king’s speech (Starmer counts on promises he can fulfil to rebuild voters’ trust, 17 July). I imagine I’m not alone for someone my age (I’m in my 20s) in finding this speech to be the only one of this kind I have ever agreed with, or felt remotely optimistic and secure about. The adults are back in the room, and it feels good. Sebastian Monblat New Cross, London • While I enjoyed the suggestions about books to read if you enjoyed specific TV shows (If you like Baby Reindeer, you’ll love Young Mungo! 29 terrific TV shows – and the books to read instead, 17 July), suggesting that viewers who liked Derry Girls read Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses is like suggesting someone who enjoyed Dad’s Army has a go at reading All Quiet on the Western Front. Trespasses is a fantastic book, but it is certainly not trying to be a bit of craic. Teresa McCormack (a Derry girl) Belfast • Your Country Diary described the sad demise of ash trees in Northern Ireland from ash dieback (12 July). This made me wonder how we will predict spring weather if we cannot rely on the saying “Ash before oak and you’re in for a soak, oak before ash and you’ll get a splash” – referring to trees coming into leaf. Melvyn Ellis Harrogate, North Yorkshire • Zoe Williams (My sausage-like fingers are not sexy. But they have given me one incredible talent, 16 July) impressed me with her ability to carry four pints. It reminded me of an equally skilled friend who came back from the bar with three pints, and a fourth balanced on top. Sophie Houston Dunoon, Argyll and Bute • No need for Royal Mail to recycle its rubber bands (Letters, 17 July). There’s a whole band of us picking them up and reusing them. Roger Wilkinson Leasgill, Cumbria • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section. | ['politics/king-s-speech', 'politics/keir-starmer', 'politics/politics', 'politics/labour', 'books/books', 'culture/television', 'environment/forests', 'food/beer', 'business/royal-mail', 'environment/environment', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-07-18T16:27:26Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
society/2019/may/27/worlds-rivers-awash-with-dangerous-levels-of-antibiotics | World's rivers 'awash with dangerous levels of antibiotics' | Hundreds of sites in rivers around the world from the Thames to the Tigris are awash with dangerously high levels of antibiotics, the largest global study on the subject has found. Antibiotic pollution is one of the key routes by which bacteria are able develop resistance to the life-saving medicines, rendering them ineffective for human use. “A lot of the resistance genes we see in human pathogens originated from environmental bacteria,” said Prof William Gaze, a microbial ecologist at the University of Exeter who studies antimicrobial resistance but was not involved in the study. The rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a global health emergency that could kill 10 million people by 2050, the UN said last month. The drugs find their way into rivers and soil via human and animal waste and leaks from wastewater treatment plants and drug manufacturing facilities. “It’s quite scary and depressing. We could have large parts of the environment that have got antibiotics at levels high enough to affect resistance,” said Alistair Boxall, an environmental scientist at the University of York, who co-led the study. The research, presented on Monday at a conference in Helsinki, shows that some of the world’s best-known rivers, including the Thames, are contaminated with antibiotics classified as critically important for the treatment of serious infections. In many cases they were detected at unsafe levels, meaning resistance is much more likely to develop and spread. Samples taken from the Danube in Austria contained seven antibiotics including clarithromycin, used to treat respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis, at nearly four times the level considered safe. The Danube, Europe’s second-largest river, was the continent’s most polluted. Eight per cent of the sites tested in Europe were above safe limits. The Thames, generally regarded as one of Europe’s cleanest rivers, was contaminated, along with some of its tributaries, by a mixture of five antibiotics. One site on the river and three on its tributaries were polluted above safe levels. Ciprofloxacin, which treats infections of the skin and urinary tract, peaked at more than three times safe levels. Even rivers contaminated with low levels of antibiotics are a threat, Gaze said. “Even the low concentrations seen in Europe can drive the evolution of resistance and increase the likelihood that resistance genes transfer to human pathogens,” he says. The researchers tested 711 sites in 72 countries and found antibiotics in 65% of them. In 111 of the sites, the concentrations of antibiotics exceeded safe levels, with the worst cases more than 300 times over the safe limit. Lower-income countries generally had higher antibiotic concentrations in rivers, with locations in Africa and Asia performing worst. They peaked in Bangladesh, where metronidazole, used to treat vaginal infections, was found at more than 300 times the safe level. The residues were detected near a wastewater treatment facility, which in lower-income countries often lack the technology to remove the drugs. Inappropriate disposal of sewage and waste dumped straight into rivers, as was witnessed at a site in Kenya, also resulted in high antibiotic concentrations of up to 100 times safe levels. “Improving the safe management of health and hygiene services in low-income countries is critical in the fight against antimicrobial resistance,” said Helen Hamilton, health and hygiene analyst at the UK-based charity Water Aid. The research team is now planning to assess the environmental impacts of antibiotic pollution on wildlife including fish, invertebrates and algae. They expect severe effects. The drug levels in some Kenyan rivers were so high that no fish could survive. “There was a total population crash,” Boxall said. | ['society/antibiotics', 'society/drug-resistance', 'society/health', 'society/society', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/rivers', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-05-26T23:01:25Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
news/2015/jan/15/world-weatherwatch | World Weatherwatch | Parts of the Middle East suffered a heavy snowfall last week courtesy of an unusually intense winter storm. The region, more noted for summer heat, is no stranger to wintry weather, but on this occasion, some of the effects were profound. Syria and Lebanon in particular bore the brunt of the snowfall, with drifted snow depths of several feet in places. Refugee camps were particularly badly hit, with as many as 100 tents housing those displaced from the recent conflicts collapsing under the weight of the snow. Temperatures falling as low as -10c have claimed the lives of at least five people. The same storm system brought different ramifications for other areas in the region in the form of strong winds. On the Egyptian coast, the blustery conditions brought waves more than 13 feet high in the Gulf of Suez, with ports on the Red Sea being forced to close on Wednesday. Power cuts hit several cities in Israel, while a fallen billboard in the city of Holon injured several people. Meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere, intense summer heat which caused a spate of bushfires in Australia has given way to torrential downpours. The state of South Australia was worst affected, with up to 200mm falling in some spots. The ensuing floods have raised fears for tourists in the outback who may be trapped, with roads predicted to be impassable for weeks, potentially. It’s not all bad news though, as cattle farmers in the region have seen irrigation lakes fill for the first time in years. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'weather/index/middleeast', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-01-15T21:30:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2014/sep/02/national-grid-electricity-suppliers-uk-spare-capacity-winter | National Grid highlights potential for power shortages this winter | National Grid has called on electricity suppliers to declare how much spare capacity they could muster to cover peak times either side of Christmas – highlighting the possibility of power shortages this winter. The power network is officially bringing forward by a year a scheme to tap additional capacity to cope with closures of nuclear, gas, coal and oil power stations and unexpected plant repairs. The prospect of power shortages is likely to alarm ministers, who are concerned that an already depleted system could be exposed by a small number of temporary shutdowns at crucial plants. Britain is already facing a power capacity crunch as ageing and polluting stations are shutting down, while new plants are slow to start operating because of a government overhaul of energy policy. National Grid said it was extending its search for additional sources of temporary supplies to keep the lights on and support heavy industries that use large amounts of electricity. It is looking for additional supplies for the two months before and after Christmas. "At this stage we don't know if these reserve services will be needed, but they could provide an additional safeguard," said Cordi O'Hara, National Grid's director of UK market operations. The grid cited emergency shutdowns at two UK nuclear power stations operated by French firm EDF and fires at a large coal-powered plant and and another fuelled by biomass. National Grid formally launched a tender for its Supplemental Balancing Reserve on Tuesday, asking power generators how much spare capacity they could provide to fill a potential supply gap. The fires were at E.ON's biomass-fuelled Ironbridge plant in Shropshire and SSE's Ferrybridge plant in Yorkshire, forcing them to reduce output; while a power plant in Barking, east London is to close and there have been production problems at EDF Energy's Heysham and Hartlepool nuclear power stations. If the network operator decides SBR is necessary this winter, it will launch a competitive tender for a specific amount of spare capacity. Power generators would have to be available to provide additional electricity between 7am and 9pm from November to February. The new back-up capacity mechanism is in parallel with a programme that allows National Grid to ask contracted users – mostly factories – to reduce electricity demand when the system is strained. • This article was amended on 5 September 2014. An earlier version suggested that the Ironbridge power station was coal-powered. | ['business/nationalgrid', 'environment/energy', 'business/utilities', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/eon', 'business/scottishandsouthernenergy', 'business/edf', 'environment/coal', 'type/article', 'profile/phillipinman', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2014-09-02T18:40:18Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2006/aug/30/hurricanekatrina.comment | Leader: Hurricane Katrina | It wasn't just the inhabitants of America's Gulf coast who were stunned by Hurricane Katrina a year ago. It was the whole American nation and the entire watching world. The death, destruction and displacement caused by the worst natural disaster in United States history swept away homes, wrecked the unique city of New Orleans and even laid siege to the American dream itself. The human catastrophe shocked even more brutally than the natural one did. That such things could happen in the world's richest and most self-confident society was hard to grasp then - as George Bush's own hapless response personified - and it remains even harder now. For if the original destruction could be described as an act of God, then the continuing failure to put it right can only be described as an act of humankind. Yesterday, with midterm elections in the offing, Mr Bush spent rather more time in New Orleans than he managed to do a year ago during the disaster itself. But there is little sense in most parts of the afflicted Gulf coast, and in New Orleans itself in particular, that public officials from the president down have yet got a grip of the situation that confronts them. Huge questions and challenges remain. Some quarter of a million people (more than half the population of the metropolitan New Orleans area) remain displaced around the country. Only 41% of houses in the area have a gas service and only 60% have electricity. A mere 17% of the city's buses are in use. Only a third of New Orleans' public schools are in operation, along with less than a quarter of the city's childcare facilities. Waste collection systems remain vestigial in many areas, non-existent in some, and crime, especially violent crime, is rising. Unsurprisingly, in view of the scale of the destruction and the slow progress being made in fixing it, housing costs are rising rapidly (rents are up 39% since the hurricane struck). All these things impact disproportionately on poor people rather than on the wealthy. And in New Orleans that largely means poor black people. The fabled areas of New Orleans that the tourists (and the president) visit are being rebuilt reasonably well. It is in the less glamorous outlying districts that the predicament is most serious, rehabilitation slowest and the need for progress most urgent. The failure to rebuild and restore New Orleans over the past 12 months, and in some cases the opportunist determination not to do so, simply cannot be understood except in a racial context. "I'm not saying they planned this as a way to empty New Orleans of poor, black people," a former resident of the stricken Lower Ninth ward told a New Yorker reporter earlier this month, "but it's sure going to work out that way." In a devastated city and a region that are crying out for steady incremental progress and planning, improvements have been painfully slow and much has already stalled. Of the much touted $110bn of federal aid to the region, only $44bn has yet been handed over. Louisiana and New Orleans are bywords for corrupt government and failed politics, so not all of this can be laid at Mr Bush's door. Nevertheless, conspiracy theories abound. The suspicion that white property developers took advantage of the storm to destroy black neighbourhoods (it has happened in New Orleans before) is widespread. Professor Douglas Brinkley of Tulane University - author of The Great Deluge - believes the inaction is deliberate and politically motivated, its objective a smaller New Orleans with a large proportion of its former black citizenry (and voters) scattered to the north American winds, its ultimate goal to turn Louisiana, the last Democratic state in the Old South, into a Republican state like the rest of them. True or not, a full year on, Hurricane Katrina should continue to cause outrage about the rottenness and misery of the lives still lived in what Michael Harrington once famously called "the other America". | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/editorials', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/leadersandreply2'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2006-08-29T23:14:48Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/jun/25/illegal-logging-amazon-timber-tougher-laws-british-products | Hardwood from illegal logging makes its way into UK stores | British shoppers could be unknowingly buying wooden furniture, flooring and even food items that are byproducts of destructive illegal logging in the Amazon, environmental campaigners are warning. Friends of the Earth is calling on ministers to make companies reveal the source of their products in order to stop the black market trade. Last week human rights watchdog Global Witness revealed that 185 environmental activists were killed in 2015, many of whom had been trying to stop illegal logging in the Amazon. An estimated 80% of Brazilian hardwood is illegally logged. Vast areas of forest in Brazil, the Philippines and Colombia are cut down by criminal gangs. Multinational companies then use the land for palm-oil production, mining or cattle-grazing, while the wood is sold off, according to Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness. Local activists – often villagers or indigenous people – are at the forefront of campaigns against these activities, but they are attacked and harassed by security forces and the gangs, Alley said. The worst-hit country was Brazil where 50 activists were killed last year, mostly in Amazonia; 33 died in the Philippines and 26 in Colombia. Friends of the Earth campaigner Alison Dilworth said companies and governments often did not acknowledge that local communities had any rights to their land. “The outrages committed against environmental activists in many parts of the world shows how threatened the environment is from large-scale deforestation and illegal logging,” she said. “It’s time governments pressed for more supply-chain transparency so we can identify which companies and what products on supermarket shelves are directly implicated with deforestation and human rights abuses.” Yet it is very difficult for consumers to establish whether or not a product contains palm oil from looking at the packaging. “What’s lacking here is due diligence by companies on their supply chains,” Alley said. “It’s too easy for companies not to ask questions about the land they are using. They should include due diligence on what happens to local people in the area where they operate.” Richard George, Head of Forests for Greenpeace UK, said it remained almost impossible for consumers to tell whether hardwood had been obtained legitimately. “There has been a strong link between commodities like palm oil and tropical timber, land-grabbing and the murder of environmental activists,” he said. “But it’s in South America where illegal loggers are waging the most intensive war on indigenous peoples and local communities. Much of that illegal timber is logged for export to Europe, and it is almost impossible to tell whether rare tropical hardwoods like Ipe were logged legitimately or not. If, as either a concerned consumer or a responsible timber importer, you have even the slightest doubt about the provenance of a South American hardwood product, walk away.” Britain adopted EU regulations in 2013, with the Timber and Timber Products (Placing on the Market) Regulations preventing illegally logged Brazilian mahogany, teak and other hardwood from being used in the UK. In the last two years, 132 investigations have been conducted by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, although no company has been fined. Anyone importing timber or using imported timber has to keep detailed records of the source of the wood. David Hopkins, the managing director of the Timber Trade Federation (TTF), said that responsible timber importers and companies that use Brazilian hardwood in their products had to follow a strict audit process. “Palm oil is a high-value cash crop,” he said. “You can harvest the oil on a regular basis, whereas trees take 40 years to grow. It’s in mayonnaise, shampoo, every consumer foodstuff you’re likely to buy. People clear tracts of forest and replant them quickly but they have to do it fast, and when people stand up to them, that’s when violence occurs. “The forestry industries get tagged with this, and there is a danger that they enter the supply chain, but if your livelihood depends on timber, you chop down fewer trees and use them in a more efficient manner and keep trees standing.” Kitchen work surfaces, decking, flooring and window frames should all be marked with an FSC logo, showing that it meets standards approved by the Forest Stewardship Council, Hopkins said. The TTF is introducing technology that will allow suppliers to test hardwood to establish its species and validate claims from suppliers in Brazil and elsewhere. | ['environment/deforestation', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'environment/palm-oil', 'environment/food', 'type/article', 'profile/james-tapper', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-06-25T23:05:11Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2024/nov/05/valencia-political-bickering-spain-floods | ‘There’s so much confrontation’: Valencians sick of political bickering after Spain’s floods | Everyone in Chiva has their own memories of what happened here a week ago. For some it is the frantic phone calls to loved ones; for others, the disbelief as this small Valencian town, like so many others, was swallowed up by flood waters that bore away cars and trees as if they were paper boats. For Lourdes Vallés, it is the sound of a car horn sounding through the sodden darkness of last Tuesday night. “That car was swept by outside and I didn’t know that cars start up when they’re flooded,” she says, standing in the damp ruins of the medical clinic she runs. “The horn was going – beep! beep! beep! – like it was asking for help. I just can’t get that out of my head. The sound of it and the powerlessness I felt. There was nothing I could do.” That sense of powerlessness lingers in Chiva, despite the arrival on Tuesday morning of more troops with rucksacks and bed rolls, despite the army of volunteers with brooms and despite the good Samaritans who pad the streets, offering residents water, sandwiches, bananas and apples. Chiva now has the feeling of a garrison town, which seems bitterly appropriate. “It was like we were in Afghanistan the next day,” says Vallés. “It was like a bomb had gone off.” Elena, a Romanian woman who lives close to the ravine that bisects Chiva, reluctantly accepted a banana from an insistent volunteer. But what she really wants is to be able to get back into the flat she shared with her late husband, and to start putting her life back together. “It’s a good thing that my husband’s dead because this would have given him a heart attack,” she says, pointing to the ravine and the wrecked houses. “There was a wooden bridge here but that was swept away and the water here reached a height of 2 metres. I don’t need this banana. I just need help to get all my stuff cleared out.” A municipal architect who has just inspected the flat reassures her that the army will be along in a minute. “There are people on the way,” he says, “and they’re stronger than you or me.” Farther up the same road, not far from the damp, late 18th century church of St John the Baptist, which has become a storeroom for bottles of bleach, buckets, mops and brooms, Loles Ferrer, and her sister, María Jesús, have come to check on their parents’ house. For them, the fear and desperation of a week ago have given way to an unpleasant feeling of deja vu as some Spanish politicians engage in a familiar blame game. From the Madrid train bombings of 2004 to the Covid pandemic and now to the floods that have claimed at least 217 lives, it seems there is no tragedy that cannot be cheapened, twisted and sharpened into a political weapon. Over recent days, Valencia’s regional leader, Carlos Mazón – a member of the conservative People’s party (PP) – has sought to blame Spain’s socialist government and even the armed forces’ military emergencies unit (UME) for the disaster and the delay in relieving it. His administration, meanwhile, stands accused of waiting almost 14 hours before sending an emergency alert to people’s phones last Tuesday. “There’s so much confrontation and so many tensions among the politicians here,” says Loles. “The PP here seems to be dead set against anything the Spanish government does. But they should have been united at all levels.” She and her sister would also like to see less finger-pointing and more discussion of the role the climate emergency played in the disaster. “The politicians need to stop shouting over the climate scientists and not recognising what’s going on,” adds Loles. “Nothing like this has ever happened here. Our parents used to talk about a flood in the 1940s, but that was nothing compared with this. And it doesn’t help that they’ve built new places so close to the ravine.” The scale of the crisis is evident well beyond Valencia. The motorway into the region is beaded with the green Jeeps and trucks of an army logistics brigade, the red-and-yellow vehicles of the UME, and a small convoy of white Madrid city council rubbish trucks with cranes. Closer to the city of Valencia, the roadsides are lined with mud and mutilated cars and its endless industrial outskirts are water-logged and patrolled by police and bands of broom-wielding volunteers. Standing in her clinic and listing off the damages – the destroyed ultrasound machine, the lost patient records – Vallés says the impact of the floods was increased by the number of cars in the town and by the fact that the gully was full of tree branches and reeds. In the past, she adds, people used to keep it clean to ensure that heavy rains did not inundate Chiva. She, too, is sick of the political bickering even as people in the town are still assessing the damage to their lives and livelihoods and architects are arriving to see which buildings will need to be torn down. “I don’t think this is the time to assign blame or to insult people,” she says. “All the politicians are the same to me, left or right, but we need to find solutions after so many people have lost their lives. So I’ve lost my business but it’s just a business and we’ll open up again. We haven’t lost anyone. The important thing now is rebuilding.” | ['world/spain', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/extreme-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/samjones', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-11-05T15:32:12Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2019/feb/28/flooded-california-towns-accessible-by-boat-in-pictures | The flooded California wine country towns accessible only by boat – in pictures | Floodwaters turned two northern California wine country communities into islands reachable only by boat began on Wednesday, swamping thousands of homes and businesses. A Guerneville neighborhood sits in floodwaters on 27 February 2019 The Russian river in wine country north of San Francisco crested at more than 46ft (14 meters) on Wednesday night, Sonoma county officials said. The river frequently floods in rainy weather but it had not reached that level in 25 years. An estimated 2,000 buildings became inundated, mainly in and around the community of Guerneville. “Guerneville has essentially become an island,” the Sonoma county spokeswoman, Briana Khan, said. A woman with a dog sails a kayak on a flooded street in Guerneville on 27 February 2019 Mailboxes sit underwater in a flooded neighborhood in Forestville. Jeff Bridges, a hotel co-owner who is president of the Russian River Chamber of Commerce, spent the day canoeing through Guerneville and gave a ride to a couple and their dog who were stranded in a low-lying apartment. Five people whose homes were flooded were bunking down at his two-bedroom home, Bridges said. “We saw quite a few fish swimming by my front porch,” he said. The flood was the fourth Bridges has experienced in 33 years and the locals took the disaster calmly. “It’s the price you pay to live in paradise,” he said. “Buffalo, New York, puts up with blizzards. Miami and Houston put up with hurricanes … we have floods.” Homes and businesses sit under water in a flooded neighborhood of Guerneville. Left: the top of a pickup truck peeks out from under flood waters in Forestville. Right: a military vehicle sits on a bridge over the Russian river in Guerneville. No injuries were reported in the Guerneville area and by Wednesday night the rain had eased, but about 3,500 people in two dozen river communities remained under evacuation orders. In addition, two sewage treatment plants were not working, leading to concerns about potential sewage spills. Workers of the Pacific Gas & Electric utility company are seen on a flooded street in Forestville. The water began receding on Thursday but is not expected to return to the river’s banks until later in the day. The river was one of several in northern California that was engorged by days of rain from western US storms. The weather system also dumped heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada, throughout the Pacific north-west and into Montana. Ryan Lance and Anthony Nash of the Russian River fire protection district swift water rescue team help evacuate residents in lower Guerneville. Left: a playground sits under water in a flooded neighborhood in Guerneville. Right: a man paddles a boat near a home in Forestville. | ['us-news/california', 'environment/flooding', 'world/extreme-weather', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-02-28T19:18:49Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/article/2024/aug/27/so-starbucks-ceo-commutes-to-work-by-private-jet-lets-not-pretend-the-super-rich-care-about-the-planet | So Starbucks’ CEO commutes to work by private jet? Let’s not pretend the super-rich care about the planet | Arwa Mahdawi | Jesus, if I remember correctly, usually travelled by donkey or by foot. Today’s corporate saviours, however, have more elevated tastes. Last week Starbucks made headlines after it was revealed its new CEO, Brian Niccol – who has been described as the “messiah” the ailing coffee company had been searching for – will be commuting to the office via private jet. Niccol, you see, is generously going to abide by the company’s policy of being in the office three days a week. But since he lives in California and the Starbucks HQ is more than 1,000 miles away in Seattle, a corporate jet is really the only way to go. Did anyone at Starbucks sit down with a cup of coffee and ponder the optics of this before sealing the deal? Because the optics are terrible. Back in 2018 the company made a lot of noise about how it was getting rid of plastic straws and working towards a recyclable and compostable “cup solution”. What’s the point of that posturing if you’re then going to stick your CEO on an emission-spewing private jet a couple of times a week? As environmental groups and plenty of angry people on the internet have pointed out, this supercommute makes a mockery of Starbucks’ supposed “green agenda”. Then there’s the message this sends Niccol’s underlings at Starbucks, who are already unhappy about their commute to the office. A number of Starbucks corporate employees signed a petition last year asking the company to reverse what they called “an unforeseen and poorly planned ‘return to office’ mandate”. Around the same time that happened, Starbucks was facing allegations that it had intimidated and fired pro-union employees. Can’t have employees organising for better pay and working conditions! Not when you’ve got to make sure there’s enough spare cash to give Niccol a blockbuster pay deal worth up to $113m. While Starbucks is getting backlash for its supercommuting CEO, I imagine the criticism won’t bother the board so long as Niccol gets people buying more pumpkin spice lattes. Online outrage certainly isn’t going to prompt Niccol to commute via bicycle: the super-rich don’t care what the hoi polloi think. They seem to think they abide by a different set of rules than the rest of us. Let them use paper straws; we’re going to set the planet alight! Forget conspicuous consumption – it feels like we have entered an era of contemptuous consumption. From supercommuting CEOs to billionaires conducting joyrides in space to families like India’s super-wealthy Ambanis throwing weddings estimated to cost upwards of $600m, the rich are spending shamelessly. Dwindling natural resources simply represent lucrative new markets: the luxury water market continues to grow, while the climate crisis makes droughts more frequent. Even clean air is becoming a luxury good. Of course, the wealthy have always flaunted their wealth: even trends like “quiet luxury” were still about showing off, just in a more understated way. Now, however, as it has become painfully clear just how much their spending degrades the planet we all have to share, this excess feels like a slap in the face. A private jet, after all, is no longer just a symbol of wealth – it’s a symbol of environmental destruction. All their big-boy toys – their jets and their superyachts and their multiple mansions – mean that a single billionaire produces a million times more emissions than the average person, according to a 2022 Oxfam report. A million times more! While many of us try to do our bit to reduce our environmental impact, the 1% have told themselves that they’re such special little geniuses that they don’t need to bother sacrificing anything at all, because they’re going to figure out a way to save the world and get richer. Private jet enthusiast Bill Gates, for example, has insisted that his excessive emissions aren’t actually a sign he’s a problem: because he’s also investing in climate change-related technology, they’re a sign, he says, that “I’m part of the [climate] solution”. If he’s so convinced of that, then I have to wonder why luxury doomsday bunkers have become the newest status symbol for the ultra-rich. Deep down it feels like even they know the bill for all this excess is eventually going to come due. • Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist • Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'news/the-super-rich', 'business/starbucks', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/air-pollution', 'world/air-transport', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/arwa-mahdawi', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-production'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-08-27T09:38:40Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2024/oct/20/water-companies-raise-bonuses-record-sewage-discharges | Water companies raise bonuses to £9.1m despite record sewage discharges | Bonuses for water company bosses in England and Wales rose to £9.1m this year despite record sewage discharges into rivers and seas. More than a third of that total comprised bonuses at Severn Trent, which was fined £2m this year for “reckless” pollution but lifted its bonuses to £3.36m. Thames Water almost doubled its payouts to executives, from £746,000 in 2021-22 to £1.3m in 2023-24, despite its CEO quitting halfway through the year. Data from Companies House, analysed by the Liberal Democrats, show that overall bonuses increased from £9.013m last year to £9.127m this year. The payouts pile further pressure on the regulator, Ofwat, to intervene in the decisions of water company boards. Last year, raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas, a 105% increase on the previous 12 months. Thames Water, which is labouring under more than £15bn of debts, is understood to have enough cash left to run its operations for only eight months, creating uncertainty for its 8,000 employees and 16 million customers. Managers at Thames have booked dates at the high court in November to try to gain court approval to change repayment terms as part of its wider effort to stave off falling into a form of temporary renationalisation. Severn Trent had the biggest bonus payout, at £3.361m, compared with £3.319m last year. The company’s chief executive, Liv Garfield, has previously come under fire for her £3.2m pay and bonus package despite its fine for discharging 260m litres of sewage into local rivers. South West Water also increased its bonus pot, from £325,000 to £504,000. This year, the company presided over a mass tap water contamination event, when dozens of people fell unwell after drinking water containing the parasite cryptosporidium. Pension contributions for water company executives also rose to a new high of £1.7m this year. Labour pledged during the election campaign to ban bosses of polluting water companies from receiving bonuses, but the water (special measures) bill, which is in committee stage in the House of Lords, does not ban all bonuses. Instead, it will give the regulators powers to ban bonuses for water company chief executives who fail to meet environmental and consumer standards, and if their company is not financially resilient. It is understood that the definition of environmental standards had not yet been decided by Ofwat. The Liberal Democrats are pushing for a ban on bonuses while water companies clean up their act. The party is to table an amendment to Labour’s water bill, to try to force a ban. Its environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “It is a national scandal that these bonuses are being paid out by firms who disgustingly pollute rivers, lakes and beaches. These executives are pocketing more every year while sewage levels rise. Frankly, the whole thing stinks. “The last Conservative government shamefully let these disgraced firms get away with it, and now the new government has to step up. These bonuses are an insult to the British public and must be banned straight away.” Meanwhile, water companies are fighting to raise bills substantially for customers in order to invest in the infrastructure required to clean up the rivers. Companies in England and Wales requested to spend a total of £104.5bn by raising bills by £144 over the next five years in their submissions to Ofwat’s price review process, but in July the regulator provisionally allowed them only £88bn, capping the increases at £94. Companies formally responded the following month and Ofwat is due to make a final decision in December, although this could slip to January. A spokesperson for Water UK said: “Almost all of these bonuses were paid by shareholders, not customers, but all companies recognise the need to do more to deliver on their plans to support economic growth, build more homes, secure our water supplies and end sewage entering our rivers. “We now need the regulator Ofwat to fully approve water companies’ investment plans so that we can get on with it.” | ['business/water-industry', 'environment/water', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'uk/uk', 'business/thames-water', 'uk-news/england', 'uk/wales', 'business/severntrent', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-10-20T21:30:55Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2012/mar/11/japan-tsunami-ogatsu-fishermen | In praise of … Ogatsu's fishermen | Editorial | A year ago, the tsunami devastated the fishing village of Ogatsu and over 300 ports like it on Japan's north-east coast. It will probably be at least another two years before its shattered community decide where and how to rebuild. But at sea, the fishermen are re-seeding their oyster and scallop beds and finding novel ways to fund replacements for the boats and equipment they lost. The disaster all but wiped out the industry. There are only 40 fishermen left out of 250 in Ogatsu alone. Today a younger breed are determined to carry on in the hope that oyster and seaweed production will return to pre-tsunami levels in two years. Outsiders are coming in with fresh ideas of how to market new fishing ventures. Companies are helping once closed communities to get back on their feet. The force of the sea was such that the coastline sunk by a metre. Now thanks to the fishermen's spirit, the sea is beginning to give something back. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'world/tsunamis', 'commentisfree/series/in-praise-of', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'world/japan', 'world/earthquakes', 'tone/editorials', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | world/tsunamis | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-03-11T22:42:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
weather/2023/jul/25/british-tourists-in-rhodes-on-their-holidays-from-hell | ‘Like Squid Game’: British tourists in Rhodes on their holidays from hell | “Have you ever watched Squid Game? This is how it feels.” The words of one British tourist, among the last remaining of 700 holidaymakers put up in an evacuation centre in Rhodes after fleeing the raging wildfires, summed up the chaos and panic that many had experienced as dream holidays had gone up in smoke. Susan Johnson, 64, from Salisbury, had arrived in Rhodes on Saturday night for a luxurious stay in a five-star hotel, but after landing she had been bussed to Venetokleio sports hall, where she had spent the following four days. She was growing increasingly tired and frustrated and was in pain. “We’re still not sleeping at night,” she said on Tuesday morning. “You don’t sleep properly.” Most other evacuees had found alternative accommodation, often without expecting reimbursement from their tour operators, or had secured early flights home or boarded pre-booked departure flights. Meanwhile, other holidaymakers tentatively started to go back to the evacuated resort towns of Gennadi and Pefkos, where some early returners dined at tavernas and lounged on the beach surrounded by scorched earth and dusted with ash. Many buildings remained intact, though some were blackened, damaged or ruined. Deeper inland, firefighters continued to battle fresh blazes igniting across the mountainside, which spread rapidly as they were fanned by strong winds. Propeller planes flew overhead to dump seawater over billowing plumes of smoke. Johnson felt angry that her tour operator, Tui, had continued to fly visitors in on the evening the wildfires were raging, and felt that its response since had been “absolute rubbish”. Tui has since cancelled all flights to Rhodes until Friday. Johnson and her partner had been offered a flight back to Manchester but its arrival time was 2am and Tui had suggested she pay for a taxi back to Wiltshire, which would have cost hundreds of pounds. “We haven’t got that type of money,” she said. Also in the evacuation centre were Abby Masters-Bourne, Francesca Sambrooke and Eleanor Campbell, all 19 and from Bournemouth. They had spent three nights there after receiving phone alerts warning them to evacuate. The trio had grown increasingly concerned by a “massive cloud of smoke” building over the day, culminating in being so close to the blaze that they saw the flames flickering, despite assurances from reception that it wouldn’t be a problem. “We thought, OK, this is getting a bit serious now,” Campbell said. They spent the night on the floor of a school hall before they were moved to the sports centre, where a local family donated them a mattress. They were moved by the efforts of volunteers. “Any meal you could think of, they would walk through the door and offer it to you,” said Masters-Bourne, adding that when they were invited into a local home, she was taken aback to see “they were watching their town on the telly burn while they were being nice to us. We are going to our home and they are losing theirs. I cannot fathom how nice everyone is.” One of those volunteers was Theodora Hatziioannou, who is originally from Rhodes but on holiday from New York. She had been taking down names and working out how to help tourists with accommodation or transport to airport. “A lot, I feel, were stranded here, they got no response from their travel agencies,” she said. “So we’re trying to step in and help them in any way we can. Everything from people being told in hotels that were very close to the fire up until the last minute: ‘Don’t worry you’re not affected, stay where you are it’s going to be fine,’ and having the police turn up and say: ‘We need to evacuate the area,’ and they’re scrambling to get in buses. Travel agencies not showing up, not reimbursing them. “Sending people here that were destined for hotels the night they knew the hotels were affected, people were told when they boarded they were going to a five-star resort and they were brought here. I can’t explain it. Then telling them this was an act of God so we’re not going to reimburse you. People were in tears.” Hatziioannou said most local people caught up in the fires had been evacuated and many were staying with friends and relatives elsewhere in the island, though she understood that there were some in evacuation centres as well. She said many residents felt let down by their government, both in terms of the support effort, which was largely community and volunteer-driven, and in how slow firefighters had been to tackle the blaze. Local people who spoke to the Guardian shared this frustration. Dimitris Angelika was examining the wreckage of his restaurant, Angelika Taverna, which had been destroyed by the fire. “Not only my restaurant, my house burned,” he said. “I don’t have anywhere to sleep. My mum has slept for four days on the beach. Her house is burned.” He estimated it would cost £300,000 to repair the restaurant, which had been completely refurbished during the winter, but that he would probably only be able to access £10,000 from the government – although he said some holidaymaker fans had launched a crowdfunder. He believed that the spread of the blaze was related to the fact that fire services had been cut. “The local government and the government in Greece doesn’t have experience in fire, and don’t spend money to buy some things,” Angelika said. “Before we had two fire trucks per village, now there are not so many.” | ['world/greece', 'world/wildfires', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/news', 'profile/rachel-hall', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-07-25T16:27:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2011/mar/08/franny-armstrong-100-women | Franny Armstrong | Top 100 women | Environmental activist Franny Armstrong's brainwave came as she was walking to a debate with the then Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband. She had read a report saying that the developed world must cut its carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010 to avoid passing the tipping point. Armstrong, 39, dropped her idea to start a campaign into the debate. 10:10 was born. It was the obvious next step for the woman whose apocalyptic film The Age of Stupid had already galvanised support for climate activism. The simple idea for immediate practical action took off, with thousands of businesses and institutions and more than 100,000 people pledging to cut their carbon emissions by 10%. Days after the coalition government was formed, David Cameron announced central government would do the same. The campaign is now active in more than 40 countries. | ['world/series/top-100-women-activists-campaigners', 'world/series/top-100-women', 'environment/franny-armstrong', 'environment/10-10', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/activism', 'lifeandstyle/women', 'tone/features', 'film/film', 'film/documentary', 'type/article', 'profile/eminesaner', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2011-03-08T00:04:00Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/1999/aug/12/3 | Surprise twister | Police search the remains of a tent at a convention in Salt Lake City yesterday after a rare tornado touched down without warning in the US state of Utah, killing at least one person and injuring more than 100. The black, swirling cloud, preceded and followed by hailstones the size of marbles, struck at about 1pm, uprooting trees and makeshift buildings set up for a retailers' convention. It left trucks overturned and windows shattered. John Dwan, a spokesman for the university of Utah hospital, said he expected a thunderstorm. "Then it got really dark - and then it started swirling." AP | ['world/world', 'us-news/utah', 'world/tornadoes', 'type/article'] | world/tornadoes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 1999-08-12T00:10:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2022/sep/18/king-charles-liz-truss-political-tussles | King Charles may find political tussles with Liz Truss hard to avoid | Charles has pledged to stand above politics now that he has succeeded his mother as monarch. But he is a man of strong views. During his weekly audiences with the prime minister, Liz Truss, there will be things on which they might not see eye-to-eye. The environment It was in 1970 that the then Prince of Wales made his first speech on the dangers of pollution. He has since said that people then regarded him as “potty” for speaking out. In November last year at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, the King told world leaders that they needed to be on a “war footing” to tackle climate change because time had “quite literally run out”. While Truss has pledged to stick to the 2050 net zero target on carbon emissions, she has not been a vocal champion of the green agenda, having pledged to scrap green levies on energy bills and spoken out against solar panels in rural areas. She has also appointed Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has doubted whether climate change is caused by humans, as business secretary. Energy policy/fracking While the King has made few if any public interventions on the issue of fracking, most environmentalists believe he will not be a supporter of Truss’s decision to lift the moratorium on it. Fear of earthquakes, water and air pollution are among the reasons it is controversial. Another is that the natural gas it produces is still a fossil fuel. The future of the union The future of the union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to be dear to the new King’s heart, as it was for his mother. As will maintaining good relations with international neighbours. Truss, however, is determined to drive a hard bargain with the EU on the Northern Ireland protocol, an approach that could endanger peace on the island of Ireland. Her trenchant pro-Brexit approach could also boost support for Scottish independence. Poverty/cost of living crisis Even during the period of national mourning Charles has spoken of his concerns over the spiralling cost of living. That in itself will not put him at odds with Truss, whose government will announce measures this week to help with energy bills. But Truss believes that the state should step back from people’s lives. The Prince’s Trust – the King’s creation – is, on the other hand, an interventionist organisation that helps those “facing the greatest adversity on to a pathway to employment” by “strengthening the network of opportunity and support for young people to give them the best chance of success in years to come”. | ['uk/prince-charles', 'politics/liz-truss', 'environment/environment', 'environment/fracking', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'environment/energy', 'environment/gas', 'uk/monarchy', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/tobyhelm', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-09-18T09:00:10Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2019/apr/23/greta-thunberg-autism | Greta Thunberg teaches us about autism as much as climate change | Ian Birrell | Greta Thunberg is an impressive individual. Just 16 years old, she has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize after sparking environmental protests around the planet. There is a glorious simplicity to her arguments that makes them hard to refute. What, she asked, was the point of pupils like her learning anything if politicians ignored the glaring facts on climate change? So she sat down outside the Swedish parliament with a hand-painted banner declaring a school strike – and eight months later, is a global icon who has helped to fire up a resurgent green movement. Thunberg’s parents say their daughter, once painfully introverted, was always a bit different to other children. Four years ago, she was diagnosed with Asperger’s, on the autism spectrum, which helps explain her remorseless focus on the core issue of climate change after overcoming depression. “Being different is a gift,” she told Nick Robinson when interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme. “It makes me see things from outside the box. I don’t easily fall for lies, I can see through things. If I would’ve been like everyone else, I wouldn’t have started this school strike for instance.” She admitted her passion was partly down to viewing the world in stark terms. The result of her simplistic approach, fuelled by her condition, is that she has presented this issue with more clarity and competence than almost any adult activist or politician in recent years. And there is something rather beautiful in hearing this teenager demonstrate by her actions how society is stronger when it embraces difference – a message that seems so pertinent to our troubled age. Indeed, this aspect of her stance as a now-public figure on the autism spectrum is arguably as important as her bold stand on climate change, given many prevailing attitudes. For we live in a society that, far from respecting difference, often seems to fear or ignore those that stand apart from the crowd. Look at how people with autism and learning disabilities are routinely abused, bullied, excluded from school, swept aside in the jobs market and shunted into the worst housing in the toughest parts of town. Hundreds suffer avoidable deaths in the National Health Service each year due to a lack of training for, or indifference of, medical staff, reflecting the insidious discrimination that corrodes our culture. Note how there is almost no debate over the ethics and implications of a dawning new age of eugenics, despite scientific advances that threaten to eliminate conditions such as Down’s Syndrome. I have spoken to scores of families of girls with autism like Thunberg. Instead of being feted, these teenagers often end up locked in secure psychiatric units where they are forcibly drugged and violently restrained by adults. Some are shut in solitary confinement, even fed through hatches or with food dumped on the floor like dogs. One mother told me of how her daughter also became impassioned over injustice, focusing on human rights issues with a moral clarity and vigour that drove away friends and freaked out their parents. As her anxieties intensified in adolescence there was inadequate support. She ended up in both NHS- and privately run hellholes, learning self-harm from other patients, secluded and frequently restrained. Autism is not always a gift. But we need to get beyond labels to see individuals, ensuring everyone has a chance to enjoy as meaningful an existence as possible. Celebrate difference, encourage strength, support weaknesses. For many people with this condition, life can be a constant challenge – yet blinkered attitudes and bigotry means their struggles are made worse. Many end up with criminal records after stresses and meltdowns are misinterpreted and then compounded by being misrepresented. Last month one young woman managed to overturn a conviction for malicious damage and a £1,500 fine after she was arrested, strip-searched and charged with obstruction of a rail carriage for the crime of using a toilet, then panicking when a ticket inspector banged on the door. There will always be some who sneer and pick on differences. We have seen how Frankie Boyle’s cruel jibes at people with learning disabilities proved no bar to his media career. Perhaps inevitably, given their predictable efforts to be provocative, Spiked published an offensive piece by its editor mocking Thunberg as someone who “looks and sounds like a cult member”, attacking her for “the monotone voice. The look of apocalyptic dread in her eyes.” If only such infantile attention-seekers possessed an ounce of her decency, dignity or maturity. Instead they prefer to mock a courageous teenager with autism speaking in a second language, rather than engage with her arguments. Thunberg is far from alone in offering lessons on harnessing difference for wider societal benefit. It has been claimed some of the great figures from history were autistic, including Charles Darwin, who transformed our understanding of the planet. Then there is Auticon, an Anglo-German company, which uses the cognitive diversity of staff on the spectrum for data and software development. La Casa de Carlota, a design firm in Barcelona, hires staff with Down’s Syndrome, autism and learning disabilities alongside other designers to utilise their unique approach to creativity. Yet this teenager’s voice is vital at a time when people with autism are being locked up in costly secure hospitals that only worsen their condition simply for the “offence” of being different, while citizens with learning disabilities clog up prisons and remain banished to the fringes of society. She reminds us not only of the urgent need to confront climate change, but also to tackle the intolerant attitudes that still dismiss far too many people for nonconformity and thinking outside the box. • Ian Birrell is a former deputy editor of the Independent | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'society/autism', 'tone/comment', 'society/society', 'environment/greta-thunberg', 'environment/environment', 'society/learningdisability', 'world/disability', 'uk/uk', 'world/activism', 'type/article', 'profile/ian-birrell', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/greta-thunberg | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-04-23T16:40:42Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2023/apr/25/eu-firms-accused-of-abhorrent-export-of-banned-pesticides-to-brazil | EU firms accused of ‘abhorrent’ export of banned pesticides to Brazil | Pesticides banned in the EU because of their links to human health risks are being exported and used on farms in Brazil supplying Nestlé, an investigation has revealed. Europe is home to some of the world’s biggest and most profitable chemical companies, including the Swiss-based Syngenta and the German multinationals BASF and Bayer. But a number of the pesticides and fungicides they produce have been banned by European health officials after they were linked to cancer, reproductive problems and neurodegenerative diseases. Despite the ban, millions of pounds worth of the products are still being exported to Brazil, where they are used on farms that supply the international sugar market, according to a new investigation by Lighthouse Reports and Repórter Brasil. Documents from the Brazilian agriculture ministry obtained through a freedom of information request reveal that a fungicide made by BASF and based on epoxiconazole, a chemical banned in the EU, was sprayed over two sugar plantations that supply Nestlé. One of the farms using this banned fungicide is part of the giant Brazilian sugar corporation Copersucar, which sold €1bn (£880m) of sugar to Europe in 2020. In São Paulo state, Usina Atena, a Brazilian sugar plantation, is under investigation after a complaint from a neighbouring resident about the health impacts from the spraying of chemicals on the farm. Justice ministry officials in São Paulo found the farm had the Syngenta fungicide Priori Xtra. This contains the active substance cyproconazole, which is banned for use in the EU. They also found the insecticide Regent 800WG, produced by BASF, and Certero, made by Bayer, which include the active ingredients fipronil and triflumuron. Both substances are banned in the EU. The ECHA has classed epoxiconazole as a suspected carcinogen, and similar concerns were highlighted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Marcos Orellana, UN special rapporteur on toxics and human rights, called the continued export of the chemicals by EU-based companies an “abhorrent practice” and urged the EU to implement a ban. CropLife International, which represents agri-chemical companies including BASF, Bayer and Syngenta, said the active ingredients in the pesticides had “valid use registrations in several OECD countries”. It said in a statement: “A non-registration or deregistration in the European Union does not automatically mean a product cannot be used in another country. Pesticides are not automatically ‘more hazardous’ or ‘less necessary’ because they are not authorised in Europe.” Bayer and BASF maintain that all their products are safe for humans and the environment. Copersucar said it complied with Brazilian and international legislation, exporting its products within safety standards in the regions where it operates. A spokesperson for Nestlé said all its suppliers must meet Nestlé’s responsible sourcing standard, including in relation to good agricultural practices. “We continue to closely follow regulatory developments everywhere we operate to ensure full compliance for all our products. Nestlé is not involved in campaigning against an export ban on pesticides and active ingredients banned in the EU.” Officials at DG Sante, the EU body responsible for regulating pesticides, said the export of banned pesticides would be phased out in line with the chemicals strategy for sustainability, although no timetable had been set for implementation. This article was amended on 25 April 2023. Although fipronil and triflumuron have been banned in the EU they have not been identified as potential carcinogens. | ['world/brazil', 'business/nestle', 'business/sugar', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'business/fooddrinks', 'environment/pesticides', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'environment/farming', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/beatriz-ramalho-da-silva', 'profile/tom-levitt', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-04-25T06:52:36Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2015/may/28/google-brillo-operating-system-internet-of-things | Google takes aim at the internet of things with new Brillo operating system | Google intends to be the center of the connected home with its new “internet of things” operating system, Brillo. Google Brillo is designed to run on and connect multiple low-power devices, connecting anything from a washing machine to a rubbish bin and linking in with existing Google technologies. The move is an expansion of the company’s Android mobile operating system, which powers more than half of the world’s smartphones, and the recent acquisition of Nest – a smart-device company with a learning thermostat and smoke alarm. Brillo is designed to be a bare-bones system that allows easy connection between devices. It would give Google a beachhead into the expanding connected device ecosystem. Part of establishing that beachhead is Weave, a competing standard to Apple’s HomeKit (set to ramp up later this year), which can work independently of Brillo and allows apps in the smart lamps of the future to talk to apps in smart soap dispensers. “Weave is available cross-platform,” said Google senior vice-president Sundar Pichal. “You can have Brillo and Weave together or you can have Weave alone.” There will also be voice interface, so that when you talk your refrigerator will listen. The internet of things (IoT) essentially describes an environment where everything is connected to the internet, creating “swarm intelligence” from individually dumb devices. Bins, toasters, roads and lights will be able to talk to each other for automatic, more efficient control and monitoring. For instance, a bin could tell the council or city when it is full and needs collecting, rather than just on a set schedule. A fridge could detect when the milk is empty and order another pint. A heating or air conditioning system could track its owner and only turn on when they are on their way home. The IoT has promised much for years – it was recently identified, by the research firm Garner, as the most over-hyped technology in development. One of the biggest issues for IoT is the lack of interoperable standards. Google is not the only company interested in the connected device space. Having bought IoT firm Smart Things, Samsung recently pledged to make every product it produces, from washing machines to smartphones, IoT-ready and connected to the internet within five years. IoT risks becoming a format war, wherein your Beko oven doesn’t speak to your Smeg fridge, because each is using proprietary connections and software. Samsung has said its IoT devices will be open to connecting to non-Samsung devices. Google, however, could be well placed to open up an IoT ecosystem featuring compatibility with other offerings. | ['technology/google', 'technology/internet-of-things', 'technology/android', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/software', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs', 'profile/sam-thielman'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-05-28T19:08:48Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
politics/2022/nov/22/uk-plans-for-sunsetting-eu-laws-post-brexit-not-fit-for-purpose | UK plans for ‘sunsetting’ EU laws post-Brexit ‘not fit for purpose’ | The plans for discarding EU-derived laws following Brexit have been called “not fit for purpose” by the government’s own independent assessor. Under new legislation that was the brainchild of the former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, thousands of laws copied from the EU to Britain’s statute book will be “sunsetted” by the end of next year if they are not each signed off by ministers to be kept. These include legislation on workers’ rights, such as maximum working time directives and maternity pay, and habitat protections that save endangered animals from development threats. The retained EU law bill (REUL), which threatens up to 4,000 pieces of legislation, has previously been described as “reckless” by legal experts who say it is badly designed and gives unprecedented powers to ministers to personally decide which laws should stay and which should go. The bill has been criticised by legal experts, who have said it gives ministers unprecedented and “undemocratic” powers to make or ditch laws without consultation. Unions, worried it could trigger a wave of deregulation of workers’ rights, say it is a “countdown to disaster”, while the Green party MP Caroline Lucas told MPs the bill was irresponsible and “ideologically driven”. The government’s independent regulation watchdog, the regulatory policy committee (RPC), has looked at the impact assessment for the plans and described it as “not fit for purpose”. “The bill proposes sunsetting more than 2,400 pieces of retained EU legislation (REUL) on 31 December 2023, unless, before then, a departmental review proposes retention of, or changes to, the legislation, or delays the sunset until 2026,” says its report. “No impacts for changes to individual pieces of REUL have been assessed at this stage. We asked the department to commit to assessing the impact of changed and sunsetted legislation, for RPC scrutiny in the future, but the department has not made a firm commitment to do so.” It suggests the government has not addressed the impact of sunsetting these laws on those who will be affected by them, explaining: “As the independent Better Regulation watchdog, it is our view that those affected by regulatory change should reasonably expect the government to properly consider the impacts of such changes. “We are not assured that the impact of changing or sunsetting each piece of REUL will be calculated or understood under proposals currently in place – particularly where no related secondary legislation is required.” The watchdog has also criticised the sunset clause, which gives a deadline for all the laws to be assessed then either amended, discarded or kept. It says the government has not given sufficient reasoning behind the decision to put this deadline in place. The assessment reads: “[The government] must provide a stronger argument for why the sunsetting of REUL is necessary, as opposed to merely setting a deadline to complete the review and change of REUL, including appropriate and robust evidence to support this position.” Alice Hardiman, the RSPB’s head of policy in England, said: “We have been saying for months that the retained EU law bill is not fit for purpose and now the UK government’s own regulatory policy committee is saying the same thing. The far-reaching and devastating environmental implications of this poorly thought through piece of legislation would impact so many areas of our lives that the government should do the decent thing and withdraw it now.” A government spokesperson said: “The regulatory policy committee’s rating of our impact assessment for the retained EU laws bill is disappointing but keeps with ratings of many other enabling bills. Naturally with the immense scope of the freedoms this bill will enable, and the various sectors and departments it involves, it is difficult to quantify impacts in the impact assessment at this time. “The government is committed to taking full advantage of the benefits of Brexit, which is why we are pushing ahead with our retained EU law bill, which will end the special legal status of all retained EU law. This will allow us to ensure our laws and regulations best fit the needs of the country, removing needless bureaucracy in order to support jobs, whilst keeping important protections and safeguards.” | ['politics/eu-referendum', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'politics/jacob-rees-mogg', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/wildlife', 'global-development/workers--rights', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-11-22T15:40:11Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2015/oct/07/controlled-burn-by-mine-operator-in-kakadu-sparks-out-of-control-bushfire | Controlled burn by mine operator in Kakadu sparks out-of-control bushfire | A weed-control burn by a uranium mine operator has sparked an out-of-control bushfire in Kakadu national park. The fire has forced the closure of Nourlangie Rock, one of the region’s largest and most important Indigenous art sites, containing rock art which dates back 50,000 years, as well as depictions of first contact with Europeans. Traditional owners have blamed Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), operator of the Ranger uranium mine, for the fire which began on Tuesday after ERA employees began a controlled burn for weed management. On Wednesday afternoon two ground crews of firefighters as well as water-bombing helicopter were battling it on multiple fronts, Parks Australia said. The front heading into the stone country had been controlled and back burning operations were being undertaken in and around Nourlangie Rock. “Despite ground and aerial fire management, the fire is continuing to burn in culturally and environmentally sensitive areas within Kakadu’s floodplain and stone country,” a spokeswoman told Guardian Australia. It had burned an estimated 200 square kilometres. It was far too late in the dry season to safely start a fire, said Gunjeihmi Corporation, which represents the Mirrar people. “Once again the stone country is aflame late in the dry season. This country has taken an absolute hammering over recent years from very hot, late dry-season fires,” a spokesman for Gunjeihmi Corporation told Guardian Australia. “Hot, late dry-season fire does enormous damage. It kills habitat trees and endangered species and it destroys sites of cultural significance. “Important cultural sites are under threat as we speak. Mirarr traditional owners are angry that this has been allowed to happen on their lands.” It was the second year in a row ERA weed management had sparked a fire late in the dry season. “ERA’s failure to contain this fire demonstrates that nature does not discriminate between a uranium mining lease and a world heritage-listed national park,” the spokesman said. “This is one continuous landscape and this situation has huge implications for the future rehabilitation of the mine site.” ERA’s Ranger mine is on land near the township of Jabiru, and is surrounded by Kakadu. The fire spread to the national park and the spokesman said it was dangerously close to impenetrable bushland where it would be impossible to fight. A spokeswoman for ERA said the company followed correct protocols and notified Parks Australia before the burn. There was no fire ban in place. The burn began in normal weather conditions but an hour after it ended a sudden change in winds reignited embers and carried them across containment lines, she said. ERA has committed to funding aerial water bombing operations and is carrying out an internal investigation. Dave Sweeney, a campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation, said the fire was “further evidence of the systemic failure of management and systems at Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger uranium mine”. “ERA did a comparable ‘too late, too hot’ burn last year. It appears the company has learned nothing from that experience,” he said. “The fire is the latest in a litany of incidents and failures at the embattled uranium operation which has experienced more than 200 spills and breaches.” ERA must end its mining and processing at Ranger by 2021, and recently lost the support of parent company Rio Tinto to push for a second uranium mine. “This current fire highlights again the need for ERA to accelerate the closure and full rehabilitation of Ranger,” said Sweeney. | ['australia-news/bushfires', 'australia-news/northern-territory', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'business/mining', 'environment/mining', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helen-davidson'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2015-10-07T03:41:23Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2009/apr/09/iran-nuclear-plant-opens | Iran moves step closer to realising nuclear ambitions | Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today declared progress on two fronts in his country's nuclear programme, both of which were said by western experts to bring Iran closer to a bomb. Ahmadinejad, speaking in the central city of Isfahan, said Iranian scientists had mastered the fabrication of fuel pellets from natural uranium, and had tested two new types of centrifuge used to enrich uranium, "with a capacity a few times higher than the existing centrifuges". The pellets are intended for use at a heavy water reactor under construction at Arak, which Iran says is being built to make isotopes for medical use. The centrifuges would accelerate the enrichment of uranium, which is officially intended for a nuclear power reactor that is yet to be built. Western governments say the Arak reactor will be used for making plutonium, and that the centrifuges are ultimately intended for weapons-grade uranium. Both plutonium and highly enriched uranium can be used to make a nuclear bomb. The Iranian president's announcement, made at the formal opening of a fuel fabrication plant in Isfahan to mark Iran's official "nuclear technology day", raises the stakes in future negotiations over Iran's refusal to abide by UN security council resolutions demanding the suspension of uranium enrichment. Yesterday senior officials from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China instructed the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to make contact with his counterpart in Tehran. They urged Iran to take advantage of the Obama administration's readiness to hold direct talks. In his speech, Ahmadinejad said Iran had "always been for talks", on condition that negotiations had "to be based on justice and respecting rights". The remarks echo a formula frequently used by the Iranian leadership that make progress in negotiations conditional on basic changes in US foreign policy. Arrangements are now being discussed between Brussels and Tehran to set up a new round of face-to-face talks on proposals by the six-nation contact group to provide economic and technical aid to Iran if it suspends uranium. However, there is little optimism of such talks having a better chance of success than the last abortive round in Geneva in July. Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that Ahmadinejad had been careful not to rule out talks ahead of presidential elections in June. However, Sadjadpour added: "Unlike in Washington, where a decision has been taken to pursue dialogue, an internal consensus has not been reached in Iran. There is a powerful minority that believes any opening to the US could undermine the regime." Since last July's failed talks in Geneva, the Iranian nuclear programme has made significant strides. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in February that Iran had manufactured a tonne of low enriched uranium – enough, according to some estimates, to make a bomb if enriched further to weapons-grade purity. If the advanced centrifuges mentioned by Ahmadinejad were perfected and put into operation in large numbers, it would significantly speed up the process of enrichment, and reduce the amount of time Iran would need to make a bomb. The possible alternative route to a nuclear weapon, using plutonium, is a less immediate concern to the west. The Arak reactor is not expected to become operational for at least three years, but IAEA inspectors are not being allowed access, and a dome has been built over the reactor so progress can no longer be assessed from satellite photographs. It has become a growing worry for nuclear proliferation experts. "Arak is of a size and style that can produce high-quality plutonium that can be used for nuclear weapons," Leonard Spector, of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, said. "India used a reactor like this for its first nuclear weapon. Every new development that brings this closer to fruition is something to be very concerned about." | ['world/iran', 'tone/news', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/middleeast', 'world/world', 'world/mahmoud-ahmadinejad', 'type/article', 'profile/julianborger'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2009-04-09T17:38:00Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2015/jul/20/mick-fanning-shark-escape-jaws-fin | Mick Fanning’s shark escape mesmerised me – just as Jaws once did | Jonathan Jones | The giant fin. The man in the water. It is an image to set pulses racing and make hearts leap out of mouths. In the words of a commentator who had to respond to the live television images of champion surfer Mick Fanning fending off a shark attack during the J-Bay Open in South Africa: “Holy shit … Excuse me.” The live coverage of the contest then cut away presumably to spare viewers the sight of blood spurting from the sea. But Fanning fought off the shark – apparently you really can deter them with a punch or two – and swam desperately to safety. It would be great to play the lofty cultural commentator and sneer at people who’d rather watch footage of a surfer being attacked by a shark than pay attention to serious news, but I watched this video several times on Sunday night. It was the only thing that could compete with the Queen giving a Nazi salute. Sharks fascinate me, and Fanning’s escape was a mesmerising spectacle. In the brief image when man and shark are clearly seen together in the water, the horror and amazement come solely from the size of that dorsal fin. The sublimity of sharks has a lot to do with our imaginations filling in what we can’t see. Their habit of attacking near the surface with that dark fin sticking out of the water invites us to picture the unseen beast below – doubtless exaggerating its size and ferocity in our minds. It is obviously rare to see an attack like this, filmed live, with the almost corny image of the gliding fin slipping in and out of the water exactly as a film director might seek to stage it. More often, news reports can only show a surfboard with bite marks or a shocked beach crowd. But most of all, these shark images are entertaining to look at because we know Fanning survived. He was not even injured. The imagination can quail at his ordeal, while our optimistic human desire for heroes and happy endings delights in his successful flight. “I’m just so stoked,” he admirably said straight after the adventure. It doesn’t sound like he’ll be experiencing post-traumatic stress anytime soon. However much concerned environmentalists (rightly) try to de-sensationalise sharks, there is no escaping the fear and thrill of the knowledge that every time you go in the sea, something out there has the speed, appetite and enormous jaws to eat you. Or in my case, something under the bed. After seeing Jaws as a child – I got into the cinema under age – I used to fear sharks were somehow in my bedroom. Castration anxiety? Surely. But sharks also appealed to my sense that there are strange and wonderful things in this world, and they still do. Even before seeing Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film, I was hooked on the nightmare story of a serial killer great white chomping its way through bathers and boats that the movie is based on. A copy of Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel Jaws was passed round at primary school. I learned some proper swearwords from it. I also learned – rightly or wrongly – that sharks are true life monsters, menacing humanity from the depths. It’s not hard to see why Jaws made such an impact on my childhood. I lived in a seaside town. It was Amity without the shark. The idea that all that grey-green water on the edge of town harboured not just pollutants from the nearby Mersey, but might also be home to man-eating monsters was a mind-expanding thought. The world is magical and mysterious because it includes these creatures. The only shark I ever saw on that local beach was a dead dogfish about a foot long. And the only shark I have been near in the water was another dogfish (or skate) that flapped past me and my child in the sea off Kent once. On the other hand, we have also swum off Italy’s Ligurian coast where there have been encounters with great white sharks. I know that sort of stuff, you see. Every time I go to a Mediterranean beach, I look up sites like that of The Shark Trust. Why? It is ultimately all the fault of Steven Spielberg. After seeing Jaws it is impossible to go in the sea without your mind creating its own Spielbergian shark scenarios. He recognised something perfect in the meeting of shark and camera and mind. The image of Fanning in the water next to that mesmerising fin proves once again that sharks are magnificently, stupendously cinematic. Now you see them, now you don’t. They inhabit a world few of us will ever explore in depth, another reality below the waves. When they appear out of the blue it is a glimpse of something utterly other and beyond our control. The sea is the unconscious of planet Earth and sharks are the monsters in its green sleep. Encounters with them are marvellous adventures, as Fanning rightly recognised. His amazed description of his experience acknowledged what too few accounts of sharks ever do – that to come close to one is an incredible privilege. Sharks need to be protected so they can go on inhabiting the cinema of the imagination. | ['commentisfree/series/framing-the-debate', 'environment/sharks', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'sport/surfing', 'world/southafrica', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'film/film', 'culture/culture', 'film/jaws', 'uk/uk', 'sport/sport', 'world/world', 'tone/comment', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'type/article', 'sport/mick-fanning', 'profile/jonathanjones'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-07-20T13:03:22Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2023/dec/28/revolt-royals-rewilding-rainforest-beaver-balmoral | This is how our 21st-century peasants’ revolt took on the royals over rewilding – and won | Joel Scott-Halkes | Sid Rawle, the 1960s peace campaigner and infamous “King of the Hippies”, once remarked that if land ownership in Britain were to be divided equally, we would each get about an acre. Surprisingly, this thought experiment would just about hold true today. The UK measures 60m acres in total and is home to around 67 million of us. There is something rather beguiling about such extreme egalitarianism – impractical though it might be. One person, one vote, one acre. But there’s also something about it that rather helps clarify the mind should you ever find yourself, as I have done recently, trying to reform the mind-bogglingly large amounts of land owned by the British royal family. Taken together, just two Britons – a certain Charles and William Windsor – own and derive a significant share of profits from more than 850,000 acres of land and foreshore. This feudally formidable figure, medieval in its absurdity, can only be understood through comparison. It is an area of land twice the size of Greater London, or about half again bigger than either the Lake District, or Snowdonia (Eryri) national parks. In 2021, myself and a tiny unfunded group of activists decided to do something about this. With most of us living at the time in house-sits, shared flats or bouncing from one activist house to another, we started a sort of 21st-century peasants’ revolt: a rewilding revolt that we called Wild Card. Using evenings and weekends, we travelled the country mobilising local people to come together and demand that royal land be rewilded. Our long-term aim is to rewild 50% of Britain. But why should it matter to an ordinary person? Unless you’re planning on giving up the benefits of the modern economy and returning to subsistence farming, getting a say over your nominal acre of land wouldn’t improve your life anyway – right? So goes the argument of many a politician turning a blind eye to land inequality in recent years. But as we career down the highway to climate breakdown, such wilful blindness to land – and who controls it – has run out of road. It is only recently that we’ve started to realise that land, far from being a fringe concern, is in fact our single most important environmental resource. Land that is burnt for sport, drained, overgrazed, over-fertilised or polluted, fuels the climate and wildlife emergency. Conversely, land that is rewilded heals it. But despite the speeches, charters, TV shows, nature-themed coronation invitations and replantable Christmas tree initiatives (all of which I do believe are deeply sincere and well-intentioned), royal land is still overwhelmingly a climate heater, not a climate cooler. Little of the royal holdings are treed, or managed for diverse wildlife; instead they are disfigured by grouse shooting and exhausted by livestock farming. This is hardly surprising when the estates (Duchy of Cornwall, Duchy of Lancaster and crown estate) were pushed to make a profit for “the firm” of more than £136m this year. The condition of royal land, just like the condition of other big landowners’ portfolios, does in fact matter to us all (let’s remember, as discovered by author Guy Shrubsole, that 50% of England is owned by less than 1% of its population). This leaves us, the unlanded, sleepwalking into a truly precarious situation. The keys to our future are held by the unelected. Our movement had little money and no legal mechanism to hold the royal estates to account, so we tried to embody the voice of the jester – the only courtier who could speak the truth without losing their head for it. With colour, humour and an abundance of love for nature we marched to Buckingham Palace with Chris Packham and hundreds of schoolchildren, threw down a 5m sculpture of a medieval gauntlet to Prince William, led investigations into royal greenwashing, won the backing of more than 100 climate scientists and public figures and, in collaboration with 38 Degrees, gathered over 175,000 signatures on our petitions. Incredibly, it seems to be working: this summer the Duchy of Cornwall agreed to our petition to expand Dartmoor’s temperate rainforest. The crown estate announced its first ever beaver release. And now, the unthinkable: even the king’s beloved Balmoral, once a bastion of bloodsports, is set to get its first rewilding project. This of course is only a lilliputian step forward, and arguably these victories just raise a bigger question: given the overwhelming public support for rewilding, should it really be up to activists alone to make sure landowners act? If Wild Card has revealed one thing, it’s that more land needs to be brought into public ownership and transformed by democracy. While Sid Rawle’s dream of total egalitarian ruralism would probably be just as undesirable as today’s inequality (I for one can barely keep a tomato plant alive), we can surely all agree on one thing: we all deserve a vote over how our nation’s land is used and nature urgently needs one too. Joel Scott-Halkes is the co-founder of Wild Card | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/rewilding', 'uk/prince-charles', 'uk-news/land-ownership', 'uk/monarchy', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/farming', 'uk-news/duchy-of-cornwall', 'uk-news/duchy-of-lancaster', 'environment/forests', 'uk-news/crown-estate', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/joel-scott-halkes', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-12-28T13:00:35Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
travel/2000/dec/18/netjetters2000sam.netjetters | From: Martin Affleck (18 Dec) | Hi Milly, Don't be in too much of a hurry to leave Canada, especially the Rockies in the snow. When you go to Hawaii, if you visit Oahu island (where Pearl Harbour is), try and visit Hunama Bay. You can rent snorkel and mask and buy fish food. Get a waterproof container (for carrying money on the beach). Put some fish food in and top up with water. You can snorkel in waist deep water and let bits of fish food out, and soon you'll be surrounded by parrot fish and other types. The coral in the bay is dead - so much for ecology - but the bay has won awards for controlling the tourism while making it available. The island of Maui is a throwback to America in the 50s, but is beautiful and laid back. There's a road to the top of the 10,000 foot extinct volcano, Mount Heleakala, which has a 25 mile wide protected crater with rare plants (if you are into New Age - it's a world energy centre). The North side of the volcano is covered with tropical rain forest running down almost to the sea, but there is a road which gets you to ravines which let you walk a few hundred yards into the forest. It's not like the Amazon but it leaves a lasting memory. Helicopter flights over both ends of the island are breathtaking. Best wishes from Martin Affleck in damp, cold and sleet showered Portsmouth. | ['travel/netjetters2000sam', 'travel/netjetters', 'travel/travel', 'travel/netjettersblog', 'type/article'] | travel/netjetters2000sam | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2000-12-18T18:10:29Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2011/jun/06/bonn-climate-funding-commitment | Bonn climate talks: Developing nations question funding commitment | The UN climate talks re-opened in Bonn on Monday with developing countries increasingly resentful that money promised 18 months ago to help them adapt to climate change has not been made available. New research by the World Resources Institute (WRI) shows that the world's 21 developed countries and the European commission have publicly announced pledges of $28bn in "fast-track" money after a commitment made in Copenhagen in 2009. While this is close to the $30bn promised for the 2010-2012 period, only around $12bn has actually been budgeted for by countries and as little as around 30% has been delivered in some cases. One negotiator with the G77 group of developing countries, who asked to remain nameless, said: "We are battered by adverse impacts of climate change. Frontline states face a double crunch of climate heat and poverty. But even the fast-start finance agreed at Cancún has yet to reach the climate-marooned tens of millions people across Asia, Africa and Latin America. The money should be rolled out much more quickly." Confusion and secrecy surrounds the source of the funds. According to the WRI, many countries may be "double counting" their offers. "The fast-start pledges of the United Kingdom and the United States also include their 2008 commitments to the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) of roughly $1.4bn and $2bn respectively," says the report. "Japan's $15bn fast start pledge announced in December 2009 includes $10bn announced previously in 2008." "The UK has indicated that it had approved £568m for specific programmes in 2010-11. This means that it will need to provide £932m, in fast-start funds by 2012 in order to meet [its] pledges", said Clifford Polycarp, a senior associate with the WRI. "We can expect only around 30% of what has been promised by next year. It is very frustrating", said Quamrul Choudhury, a lead negotiator with the least developed countries in Bonn. Despite the warnings on Sunday from the UN climate change chief, Christiana Figueres, that global warming is "getting into very risky territory", little or no progress is expected on emission cuts at the Bonn negotiations. Sources close to the talks suggest the political situation in major economies is not conducive to major new initiatives because of possible leadership changes in the next two years in Germany, the US, France, China and elsewhere. The current pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions go only around 60% of the distance to what scientists say is needed to hold global emissions to 2C, the minimum with any chance of preventing catastrophic climate change. The world's 48 least developed countries and the group of 43 small island states jointly appealed to the rich countries to act: "After nearly two decades of negotiations designed to limit the carbon pollution responsible for dangerously warming the planet, we instead have watched global emissions steadily climb to the highest level on record," said Cape Verde's ambassador to the UN, Antonio Lima, and Pa Ousman Jarju, Gambian chair of the least-developed countries group. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a peak last week at 394.97 parts per million (ppm), an increase of nearly 1.6ppm on last year and the highest ever recorded. It followed estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that emissions from energy generation in 2010 were the highest in history. About three-quarters of the energy emissions increase in 2010 came from developing countries, including China and India, said the IEA. The major stumbling block to a new agreement at the climate talks remains the totemic issue of the future of the Kyoto protocol, the only legally binding agreement forcing rich countries to cut emissions. Developing countries are determined to see a second round, but Russia, Japan and Canada have ruled that out. The impasse is unlikely to be resolved in the next year. | ['environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/unitednations', 'world/world', 'environment/copenhagen', 'environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-06-06T11:20:10Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
society/2011/dec/18/variety-club-shoe-recycling-bank | Variety Club earns less than £4.50 a year from each shoe recycling bank | Shoe recycling banks set up across the UK to benefit the Variety Club are delivering less than £4.50 each a year for the charity's good causes, a Guardian investigation has revealed. The thousands of tonnes of footwear given in aid of the entertainment industry's charity for sick, disabled or disadvantaged children are sold on by a private company owned by a German clothes recycling magnate. But the European Recycling Company (ERC) confirmed that in 2009 it gave just £5,500 to the Variety Club while published accounts suggest it had made profits of more than £350,000. In 2011, the donation was set to be more than £30,000 from 7,000 collection points, the charity said. Donors voiced surprise at the size of the charitable contribution and called for the amount given to be written clearly on the recycling points. "The ratio is ridiculous," said Bozena Przybyla, 56, who was giving a pair of shoes to a Variety Club bank at Tesco in Edmonton, north London. "Obviously they have expenses, but I thought that at least 60% of the proceeds would go to poor people." The Fundraising Standards Board, the charity sector's self-regulatory body, said it was looking into whether the scheme breaches legal guidelines that require recycling points for good causes to display a breakdown of the figures involved. "As a minimum, the recycling points should comply with the law which requires all commercial participators to confirm the amount raised for every tonne of shoes donated, how much the commercial participator is receiving and how it has been calculated," said Alistair McLean, chief executive of the board. ERC owns and operates Variety Club-branded bins located in supermarket car parks, council waste sites, and shops and offices around the country. It collects thousands of tonnes of secondhand shoes each year before sending many to be processed in Germany and onwards for commercial sale in the open market in Uganda and other developing countries. The charity banks have recently collected more than 2,000 tonnes a year, ERC confirmed. The Variety Club – which is backed by entertainment figures including Joanna Lumley and Michael Parkinson and corporate supporters such as Nestlé and British Airways – defended the operation which, over the past three years, has turned over on average £1.9m per year from shoe sales. It said that this year donations have helped 250 children, including days out for children from deprived areas and "life-enhancing equipment for sick and disabled children". "We use two slogans – 'Every pair of shoes donated helps us to help them [children]' or 'Recycling your shoes could help buy a wheelchair for a child' – and they are both true," said Agnieszka Swita, a spokeswoman for the Variety Club. "The way we work with ERC is a simple and transparent corporate fundraising mechanism that is used all the time by the charitable sector and benefits those who need it most." Earlier this year, the Guardian revealed that a private business had made more than £10m over three years from collecting secondhand clothes for the Salvation Army. The registered charity was asked by the standards board to investigate complaints that it may have misled donors and now makes clear how much its trading company receives for a tonne of clothes and how much goes to the private sector operator. ERC is controlled by Nerses Ohanian, whose German and Swiss-based businesses makes millions a year in profits from textile recycling under the Soex brand. His registered headquarters are in Zug, the Swiss tax haven. ERC recycles in the UK only under Variety Club auspices. The company said that in 2010 it donated more than £19,000 from the Variety Club shoe collection. Turnover that year was just over £2m, according to figures seen by the Guardian which ERC would not confirm or deny. Ohanian denied the donations were too small. "Whatever we pay to the charity, we have a very, very small margin and we cannot afford to pay more," he said. "It is very hard to pay full freight, pair the shoes, sort them and to make money. Yes, we make money, but two to three years ago it was much better because productivity per box has gone way down. The question is, do we pay the charity right? I don't know how much they pay, if there is more then we have to improve to pay more, but I can tell you the profitability on recycling is 10% to 15% gross margin." Ohanian's German company, Soex Textil, which recycles clothes for the German Red Cross, made close to £7m in underlying profits on sales of more than £60m in 2009, according to accounts filed in Germany. Ohanian is listed on the accounts as the sole director of ERC, but described himself as a "passive shareholder". He said Soex's chief executive, Andy Haws, has responsibility for its management. "People see the Variety Club and they say: 'Every shoe I put in here, its value will go through to the Variety Club,'" Haws said. "Well, no, because you have operational profits, the same as the Salvation Army has, the same as Oxfam has. We are growing and we will continue to give bigger donations to the Variety Club … We are increasing our collections through development. We run a commercial business and it is important the business is sustainable and continues to grow and continues our growth to the Variety Club. "We are not misleading, we have never misled, we have always been extremely open with the Variety Club." | ['society/charities', 'society/voluntarysector', 'society/society', 'money/charitable-giving', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'environment/recycling', 'type/article', 'profile/robertbooth', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2011-12-18T22:06:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2020/sep/29/fossil-fuel-workers-transition-renewables-covid | Many fossil fuel workers like me want to transition to renewables – but we need support | Matt Craigan | Oil and gas is one of the main industries in Aberdeen where I grew up, and it was inevitable that I would follow in my father’s footsteps to work on the rigs out in the North Sea. Three weeks straight in the middle of the sea is tough, so much so that for many people their first stint is often their last. But the stability of the job when I started in the industry 13 years ago, as well as the decent pay and conditions, made up for the long periods away from family and friends. This stability was to be short-lived. By 2016, a sustained period of oil price drops had hit the industry hard, and my employer of seven years took swift action, slashing jobs across the sector. That year there were 120,000 fewer jobs than at the peak in 2014. The wages and bonuses that had enticed us on to the rigs as direct employees were made less and less appealing. Like many of my colleagues I became self-employed, as the new working conditions pushed us to leave what we thought would be jobs for life. It’s no wonder that a majority of workers in my industry rated their job security as being so low. Jobs in oil and gas aren’t just at risk from economic shocks and fuel price fluctuation – we’re also in an industry that’s now in terminal decline. The writing is on the wall: fossil fuels are contributing to global heating and sea and air pollution, while green alternatives are cleaner and becoming cheaper to produce. For those of us in the industry who have families to look after and bills to pay, this change is frightening, but we’re also realistic about the need for it to happen and open to the transition – as long as we’re part of the process. As I know from colleagues and friends, and as the report out this week from Platform, Friends of the Earth Scotland and Greenpeace makes clear, workers are open to shifting to renewable energy if a proper training scheme is put in place for us. We won’t be able to take up new jobs overnight, so any training scheme will have to cover oil, gas and offshore wind, so that we’re able to work across industries as we begin the transition. Training alone won’t be enough of course – we then need the secure jobs to go into. Government investment could be targeted at creating skilled, well-paid and long-term, green jobs paid for by diverting subsidies given to the oil and gas industry. This year has been extremely tough, but it has also offered us a glimpse into the future. Almost a third of global oil demand was wiped out through lockdowns and travel bans. Where I would usually be offshore and at work for six months of the year, I’ve only been away for six weeks – and 42% of workers in the sector have been laid off or furloughed. The Covid pandemic will eventually pass, but that doesn’t guarantee all the work will return – with even BP boss Bernard Looney saying we might have reached the point of peak oil production. It’s clear that things won’t be going back to where they were. The industry’s future is unknown, but for people like me who have spent half our adult life living and working in those steel cities in the sea, the transition to a new kind of economy could offer the security we need, as well as climate security for our country. This will only be possible if the government looks to the future, and plans ahead in good time, investing now to create a skilled workforce. If it fails to work with us, however, it won’t just threaten our employment in the future – it could fatally undermine this country’s climate credibility on the world stage and put the brakes on the green transition just when we need to be putting rocket boosters on it. • Matt Craigan is a pseudonym | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'business/oil', 'politics/industrial-policy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'environment/energy', 'politics/politics', 'business/commodities', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/matt-craigan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-09-29T13:10:30Z | true | ENERGY |
artanddesign/2014/may/21/michael-schmidt-source-to-table-food-photography-wins-prix-pictet-prize | Source-to-table food project takes Prix Pictet photography prize | A five-year project to photograph how food gets to the table – with images that include farm pigs, crinkle-cut chip production lines and apple washing plants – on Wednesday was named winner of the internationally prestigious Prix Pictet photography prize. Michael Schmidt was named winner of a prize that since 2008 has been rewarding photographers whose work addresses environmental and sustainability issues. This year the theme of the prize was consumption. Eleven shortlisted photographers or their representatives gathered at the V&A to hear former UN secretary general Kofi Annan name Schmidt, born in Berlin in 1945, the £67,000 winner. The prize's director Michael Benson said the jury faced "an immensely difficult task" choosing between artists "all at the top of their game … it is a fantastically diverse and very rich group of artists". Schmidt's monumental work Lebensmittel (food stuff) was displayed as a kind of giant collage – 60 photographs taken between 2006-10 which the artist said were taken "everywhere" telling a story of how our food gets to us, to our table or to our fast food restaurant. The shortlist included photographers from countries including Ukraine, China, Japan, Colombia and the US, and included Laurie Simmons, mother of the creator and star of Girls, Lena Dunham. Benson said the jury debate had been intense and went on much longer than planned – "we spent hours deliberating on how it could come down from 11 to one". The chair of judges Sir David King, the UK's special representative for climate change, said: "We were privileged to review work by 11 truly outstanding photographers. There were many potential winners but, after much debate, we finally agreed to award the Prix Pictet to Michael Schmidt whose Lebensmittel is an epic and hugely topical investigation into the ways in which we feed ourselves." Schmidt was not able to make the presentation because of ill health. The Nigerian photographer Abraham Oghobase was also absent – because the British government refused him a visa. "I don't think it's good enough frankly," said Benson. "I would like to apologise to him publicly." Martin Barnes, the V&A's senior curator of photographs who was also on the jury, said the museum was an ideal place to host Prix Pictet given it was the first museum in the world to stage a photography exhibition, in 1858. "The Prix Pictet is a very important prize which raises pertinent issues, not just about the theme of consumption and sustainability, but also about the nature of photography – where we are and how it is used by contemporary artists." The Prix Pictet, a Swiss prize, has been won in previous years by Benoît Aquin, Nadav Kander, Mitch Epstein and Luc Delahaye. Prix Pictet at the V&A 22 May – 14 June | ['artanddesign/photography', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'technology/photography', 'technology/technology', 'culture/culture', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'society/society', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'type/article', 'artanddesign/prix-pictet', 'profile/markbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-05-21T18:45:01Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
technology/blog/2009/feb/05/blinkx | Blinkx adds web TV to video search | Video search engine Blinkx has been around for a while now – we first wrote about them when they launched back in 2004. Over the years the site - which was founded in Cambridge, listed on the London stock exchange and is now based in San Francisco – has built a pretty successful niche out of its clever search techniques like speech recognition, without ever becoming one of those ubiquitous internet brands. Now it looks like they could be making a break for household name status with their new product - their own spin on internet TV. The idea's pretty straightforward: if you want to get a quick fix of the latest news or watch the most popular viral videos, just click a button and sit back. Does it stack up? You get three options: "inform me" (news), "entertain me" (mainly user-generated videos) and "give me my own channel". Clicking on the first two gives you a pre-generated playlist of videos that you can watch, mimicking or one of those late-night Channel 4 clip shows (such as The 10,000 Greatest YouTube Videos EVER!!!). Watching the beta this afternoon, my news bulletin consisted of (in this order) entertainment news, Afghanistan, the Pope, US politics and business, a story about allegations of cruelty to elephants in circuses and then something about Pink Panther 2. Oh, and then I was treated to a voiceover-less film from Reuters which appeared to be about a massive cream pie fight. That was weird. Your automatic playlist is refreshed every half hour or so to keep up with new stuff, and there are a multitude of little tricks to help you navigate around: like making your own channel using keywords, plus some very clever deep searching techniques, speech recognition, face tracking and recommendation. But isn't it taking away from the site's core business of video search? When I spoke to CEO Suranga Chandratillake about it, he said that the new service was aimed at a subset of existing Blinkx users - but that it also has the potential to break out. "There's somewhere between 10 and 25% of our audience that basically turns up at our site and is looking for something interesting to watch," he said. "It's really that person we've aimed this at - and if you look at what this person clicks on, they'll typically either click on something goofy or they'll click on news content." "That's what we've really aimed at: if you don't know what to do, click here and you'll see funny stuff or you'll see interesting stuff. You don't have to think about it any further." It's certainly pleasant to use and the search features are intriguing - even if the quality of the videos themselves isn't always up to much. But the web TV space is getting very crowded at the moment, with Hulu, iPlayer, Joost, YouTube and others. Is compiling the best of the web really what people want to see? In fact, he suggested, was actually a lot closer to the original idea for Blinkx than it might seem. "When we first launched the site, we called it Blinkx TV," he said. "We lost that branding about three years ago, but part of the original vision was a TV for your computer. You couldn't do it in those days because the technology wasn't there, the content wasn't there. Now they are." | ['technology/blog', 'technology/internet', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/searchengines', 'technology/software', 'type/article', 'profile/bobbiejohnson'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2009-02-05T07:01:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
politics/2013/jul/18/nick-clegg-lib-dems-centre-ground | Nick Clegg prepares to push Lib Dems into occupying centre ground | Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is facing a defining party conference this autumn in which he is likely to try to push the party to the centre ground on issues ranging from the economy and university tuition fees to nuclear power and the retention of a limited independent nuclear deterrent. The party conference in Glasgow in September will tackle myriad controversial issues in which there are likely to be passionate differences of opinion and may therefore be taken as a litmus test of the party's political mood. The event will consider a pre-manifesto strategy paper that examines the extent to which the party should enthusiastically own the decisions made by the coalition, rather than highlighting the extent to which the Lib Dems were unable to get their way as the minority party alongside the Tories. The strategy paper, with a foreword by Clegg, insists the party was right to join the coalition and lists some of Conservative plans it has blocked. Clegg's aides argue that the party cannot sensibly advertise the virtues of coalition politics to the electorate if the party is excessively critical of the party's achievements between 2010 and 2015. They believe he is in a strong position to press members to accept that its strategic future lies in the centre ground, even though polls show Lib Dem supporters would prefer a coalition with Labour rather than the Conservatives by a margin of two to one. On Trident, the motion to conference is expected to call for the party to back the replacement of the current four Trident nuclear submarines with two or three submarines, depending on whether it is possible to construct a new class of dual-use submarine as part of a larger submarine fleet. The idea was explored in this week's Cabinet Office-led review into the replacement for Trident, overseen by the Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander. Labour, to the surprise of some Liberal Democrats, has been scathing this week about the Cabinet Office review and has said a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrence is non-negotiable for the party. The shadow defence minister, Kevan Jones, told MPs Labour would only support going down from four to three submarines if changes in technology make the nuclear submarines more reliable. The former armed forces minister Sir Nick Harvey was scathing about the Labour-Tory consensus in the Commons on Thursday, saying: "Just getting so many dinosaurs in one place at one time does not mean the dinosaurs will live for ever".The conference will also see a clash over nuclear power with a paper on climate change giving a straight choice between continued opposition to any new nuclear power stations and the coalition position of allowing new nuclear as long as it does not require any state subsidy. The conference voted to oppose new nuclear power in 2009, so the energy secretary Ed Davey has a challenge to persuade the party to adopt a more flexible approach. He is likely to argue that his still to be completed negotiations over strike price with EDF the French nuclear company due to invest in new nuclear stations at Hinkley Point show he will not roll over and agree a price that amounts to a subsidy. Davey will be hoping that the green movement in his party, faced by the threat of climate change, recognises that one more generation of nuclear stations are necessary before it can be replaced by renewable technology. The conference will examine a paper on higher education that includes a de facto endorsement of the coalition's decision to treble tuition fees as a way of injecting cash into university sector. The Lib Dem conference has not formally accepted the coalition decision. Clegg last week published an economic motion for the conference that endorses the existing economic strategy, but calls for fresh measures to help 16- to 24-year-olds; allow councils to pool borrowing limits to increase house building; expand the British business bank; increase RBS lending to businesses; and making the Green Investment Bank fully independent. It also says the government should explore allowing councils to borrow more without the cost appearing in public borrowing statistics. The Social Liberal Forum pressure group this week questioned the motion's approach, saying the party must not be seen to be endorsing chancellor George Osborne's fiscal policy, which it described as a compromise "made for the purposes of this coalition," It states: "The only party going into that election defending Osbornomics should be the Conservative party". It is not yet clear whether an amendment will be tabled to the motion | ['politics/nickclegg', 'politics/politics', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'uk/trident', 'uk/military', 'politics/defence', 'world/nuclear-weapons', 'uk/uk', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/patrickwintour', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2013-07-18T21:08:04Z | true | ENERGY |
money/2023/jul/28/how-loo-roll-became-a-status-symbol-toilet-paper | No longer bog standard: how loo roll became a status symbol | Handbags and cars are more traditional status symbols, but in these topsy-turvy times the humble toilet roll is being treated with more reverence than you would expect for something used to wipe your bottom with. In the toilets of trendy restaurants or friends, proud pyramids of loo roll stand in bright, graphic wrapping. On Instagram, influencers now allow it to stay in the backdrop of bathroom selfies rather than hiding it. While Who Gives A Crap (WGAC) may be one of the more familiar brands, delivering its first striped and spotty rolls in 2013, others with similarly colourful packaging and eco-friendly messaging have sprung up such as Bazoo and Feel Good. There are also those in more muted tones including The Cheeky Panda, Bumboo and Naked Sprout. Using recycled paper or bamboo, they are not shy about advertising their sustainable credentials. Such symbols of ethical consumption might once have been part of a niche market but they have been gaining traction since the spike in overall toilet roll sales at the start of the pandemic. Simon Griffiths, the chief executive and co-founder of WGAC, says: “In the first few days of March 2020, we peaked at selling 28 rolls per second.” While some of the brands can still be found online only, others are available at convenience stores and supermarkets across the UK. Feel Good is available at Waitrose and WGAC soon will be. WGAC does the TV advertising stuff but it is also pushing the envelope in other ways: this week it launched a range inspired by “real science”, with pictures of puppies and affirmations designed to help boost happy hormones – because “a better mood means better number twos”. Demand for eco-rolls is likely to increase because of the impact of EU deforestation laws on the broader toilet paper sector. The majority of toilet paper companies are affected by the legislation, which came into effect in May, because they are heavily reliant on virgin pulp from newly harvested trees as a raw material for their products. There is another factor, according to Claire Dickinson of the trend forecasting company WGSN. “The trend coincides with the rise of personal expression in interiors,” she said. Dickinson says consumers are “paying attention to the finer details” right down to their loo paper, adding that design is key. “Graphic patterns on the individually packaged toilet rolls also appeal to those with less storage space as they can be artfully left on display,” she says. If the overtly branded rolls signify a certain status, so too do the more minimalist brands, whose design is conveying the toilet paper equivalent of “stealth wealth”. Neutral-hued, these rolls assert their provenance only with subtle hints, just as a detail might on a baseball cap by the Row or a Loro Piana suede mule. Consumers are not lacking for choice in the bathroom. The soap and cosmetics brand Aesop has been selling, at about £20 a bottle, Post-Poo Drops that in effect mask “disagreeable smells with crisp notes of citrus peel and discreet florals”, while silicone loo brushes that are used at a branch of the private members club Soho House are something of a cult item. The traditional British shame around all things scatological seems to have been replaced by a sense of pride in the products that can make using the bathroom a more pleasant experience. Opting for one of these branded eco-rolls may be a form of conspicuous consumption, but it also allows you to broadcast your green credentials to guests. Griffiths rejects the idea that the toilet roll is becoming a status symbol, saying people are “opting in for products that are aligned with their values” instead. WGAC donates 50% of its profits to help improve sanitation all over the world. Fflur Roberts, the head of luxury goods at the market research company Euromonitor, says: “Post-pandemic, consumers increasingly demand that companies support social initiatives and reduce their environmental footprint.” She adds that brands that “not only show commitments through claims but also invest in educating consumers on the various facets of sustainability such as water sanitation” are the ones resonating better with young people. There may also be something in the appeal of a large pile of rolls, according to Sabrina Faramarzi, a trend analyst. She wonders whether the popularity of the pyramid of rolls has something to do with “this idea of being prepared” after the pandemic shortages. Faramarzi draws a parallel between the kind of people lucky enough to have a well-stocked pantry and those who are in no danger of running out of toilet roll. These are the “kind of people who have their shit together”, she says. And brands such as Bazoo, Naked Sprout and Bumboo may appeal to that mindset, selling their product in packs no smaller than 24 rolls. Naked Sprout’s recycled and bamboo ranges are £23.50 for 24 rolls, while Bumboo’s prices for the same number start at £23. Premium toilet roll is nothing new. Paper was a luxury product in the days when the function was ordinarily performed by sheep’s wool, leaves or even shells, according to Richard Smyth, the author of Bum Fodder: An Absorbing History of Toilet Paper. In medieval Europe, wealthy people would have used soft wool while poorer people used coarser cloth. As Faramarzi puts it: “Class has always been embedded in the history of wiping culture.” | ['money/consumer-affairs', 'environment/ethical-living', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'environment/recycling', 'business/retail', 'lifeandstyle/interiors', 'business/business', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'money/money', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/news', 'profile/ellie-violet-bramley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-07-28T12:45:17Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/dec/29/alok-sharma-cop26-cannot-be-bunch-of-meaningless-promises | Alok Sharma: Cop26 must not become ‘bunch of meaningless promises’ | Tackling the climate crisis must be a whole government effort or risk the Cop26 climate summit becoming “just a bunch of meaningless promises”, the cabinet minister who chaired the UN summit has said. Alok Sharma, who acted as president for Cop26 in November, made clear that all of his colleagues must bear a joint responsibility for the UK’s net zero agenda, and that the international community viewed continued UK efforts as vital. “Given that people do see that the UK has shown a great deal of international leadership when it comes to climate, it’s important we maintain that focus across the whole of the UK government,” he told the Guardian in an interview. “When it comes to domestic policy, it’s vital that every country – including the UK – focuses on delivery.” Without a focus on net zero from the government, there was a danger that the progress made in Glasgow would be undermined, said Sharma. “What people will judge us on, as they will also judge other governments on, is delivery [on climate goals],” said Sharma. “The key issue is to show that countries are delivering on [their Cop26] commitments and they are not wavering. That is what is going to give confidence to parties [to the Paris agreement], the climate vulnerable countries, to civil society, but globally as well, that we are making progress on promises – that it’s not just a bunch of meaningless promises, that there is real commitment to deliver them as well.” The UK continues to act as president of the ongoing diplomatic effort to fulfil the 2015 Paris agreement until Egypt takes over next November. Sharma is likely to hold the role until then, though he would not be drawn on rumoured proposals for him to lead a new cross-cutting government department to oversee net zero. Sharma’s impassioned intervention on net zero comes at a crucial time for the government’s commitment to the climate crisis. As Boris Johnson has been embroiled in scandal over Downing Street parties and sleaze allegations, rival camps have sought to distance themselves from Johnson’s green goals, in order to court the right wing of the Tory party, making the net zero effort a major flashpoint. When Lord Frost resigned recently, he let it be known that the net zero agenda was one of his top areas of disagreement with Johnson, alongside Brexit policy. As the Guardian has previously revealed, there is a rift between the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and Johnson over the climate issue, while the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, pointedly omitted even to mention November’s Cop26 – the biggest diplomatic event held on British soil – in her first foreign policy speech earlier this month. But Sharma said the net zero strategy was key to the government’s future. “[The question] for every economy is how you do that [shift to a low-carbon footing], not just one or two sectors, but across the whole of the economy. The issue now is that we push on and deliver on that particular [net zero] strategy itself. That’s what we will be judged on.” Sharma, who was business secretary before Johnson ordered him to take full-time control of Cop26 last year, pointedly referred to the role of business, a core Tory constituency that has been exasperated by Brexit and other policy confusion. The CBI and other leading business voices have spoken out strongly in favour of net zero, and the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, is said to have undergone a “conversion” from sceptical free-marketeer to green interventionist. “There has been a clear change in approach from the corporate sector,” said Sharma. “They have demonstrated their understanding that green growth is the future, and net zero is a big opportunity.” While he declined to explicitly criticise reported plans to cut 20% of Foreign Office staff, he made clear his concern. “Given that we have said we do see tackling climate change and biodiversity as a top international priority for the UK, it’s important to back that up with having the right presence in our embassies and high commissions around the world,” he said. Sharma also stressed his personal loyalty to Johnson, and his own lack of interest in any leadership contest. “I don’t think even my mother has suggested that as a credible possibility! I have always backed the prime minister.” Johnson was fully behind the net zero effort, he added. “This is an agenda that he has followed for a long period. I worked with him at the Foreign Office where I was one of his junior ministers, and this whole issue on biodiversity, on climate, this was an agenda he focused on even at that point.” Sharma said reactions to the outcomes of Cop26 had grown even more positive in the weeks since it closed. “The feedback from counterparts around the world is that they do think we got something historic over the line,” he said. His next task is to ensure that the world’s biggest emitters – including big G20 economies – return to the negotiating table next year with improved and detailed plans on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The prospect of holding global temperature rises to 1.5C – which scientists warn is the limit of safety – was still uncertain. He said: “We’ve absolutely kept it alive but the pulse is still weak. That’s why this next year, and the following year, are going to be very much about pushing forward on the delivery of the commitments that have been made.” | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/alok-sharma', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'environment/paris-climate-agreement', 'politics/conservatives', 'world/g20', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-12-29T13:40:13Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2005/aug/29/oilandpetrol.news | Opec fears over storm fallout | Opec admitted that it was concerned about the persistently high price of oil yesterday as the United States braced itself for potential damage to oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, which could be in the path of Hurricane Katrina. As the hurricane was upgraded to a rare category five storm, the insurance industry was also preparing to count the cost of damage caused by estimated 175mph winds. The last category five hurricane to hit America was Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which cost insurers' $21bn (£11bn) - the worse storm damage in history. Fears that damage to rigs could send oil prices rising even further kept the price of crude above $67 a barrel on Friday. The record high prices prompted Opec oil producers to admit yesterday that they were looking at "various options" for their September meeting to help take the pressure off prices. "We are becoming increasingly concerned at the continuing high level of oil prices, which does not properly reflect the underlying fundamentals of the market," said Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah in a statement published by Kuwait's state-run news agency. The Opec president, also Kuwait's oil minister, said that oil supplies were plentiful and that during the third quarter of 2005, Opec had been producing 1.5 million barrels a day more than was needed. Any hit to oil production in the US caused by the hurricane could make prices rise even further and may begin to become apparent today, when the storm is expected to hit the US shores. A third of production has already been stopped. The Lloyd's of London insurance market said it was "monitoring the situation". | ['business/business', 'business/oil', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/jilltreanor'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-08-28T23:05:26Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2016/oct/25/north-dakota-oil-pipeline-protest-arrests-journalists-filmmakers | Over 120 arrested at North Dakota pipeline protests, including journalists | North Dakota police arrested more than 120 people over the weekend at Native American oil pipeline protests, including film-makers and journalists, prompting accusations that law enforcement officials are stifling free speech and using excessive force against peaceful protesters. There were increasingly tense clashes between police and demonstrators against the Dakota access pipeline, which the Standing Rock Sioux tribe says is a threat to its water supply and cultural heritage. Reporters and protesters recently released from jail told the Guardian that police aggressively targeted nonviolent demonstrators with batons and pepper spray and indiscriminately arrested journalists and film-makers before issuing “riot” and “criminal trespassing” charges. “I’ve covered conflicts overseas, and I never imagined I would see this kind of show of force against peaceful people,” said Jihan Hafiz, a freelance journalist who was arrested hours after she arrived on Saturday. “This is the kind of thing you see in the Middle East.” The Morton County sheriff’s office said a total of 127 people were arrested over the weekend, including two juveniles, and that they were facing a range of charges, including reckless endangerment, criminal trespass, engaging in a riot, resisting arrest and assault on a peace officer. Police officials, who did not respond to a request for an interview, said there had been a total of 269 arrests at the protest since August. The mass arrests occurred less than a week after a judge rejected prosecutors’ riot charges against Amy Goodman, the broadcast journalist and popular Democracy Now! host whose arrest warrant sparked a national outcry about free speech violations. The actor Shailene Woodley also recently made headlines when she was arrested for participating in the protest. Local Native American residents and activists from across the US have traveled to the site to try to block a planned $3.7bn oil pipeline, which would transport fracked crude from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to a refinery near Chicago. The tribe has alleged that the project could destroy sacred lands and has also taken the fight to court. Some say the demonstration represents an unprecedented movement bringing together tribes, indigenous rights groups and climate activists. But law enforcement officials have painted the protests as illegal, dangerous and violent – and in recent weeks it appears that police have intensified their response efforts and called in additional law enforcement resources. “From halting traffic with their own roadblocks, trespassing on private property and endangering lives with illegal drones, these are the tactics of out-of-state agitators who have an agenda of causing fear, terror, and economic devastation,” Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier of Morton County said in a statement. “Once again, their tactics indicated it was not a peaceful event.” But journalists and activists told the Guardian that there was a concerted effort to avoid arrests on Saturday and organize a nonviolent action centered on prayer. “They’re saying that we’re rioting when we are just standing there in prayer,” said John Red Legs, a 31-year-old Standing Rock member who was arrested over the weekend. “I started singing and that’s when they started tackling me.” The father of six said he was released after a day behind bars and plans to continue protesting. “I’m still going to fight for my kids and my unborn grandkids.” Dean Dedman Jr, a member of the Standing Rock Hunkpapa tribe from South Dakota, has recorded the protests by drone. Police claimed in a news release last week that the “drone came after us” and that officers fired at it and damaged the device. Dedman, who has contributed video footage to the Guardian, said his drone was never a threat and that he plans to continue filming the demonstration. “It makes me feel sick to my stomach,” he said of the recent arrests. “They’re pretty much escalating this on their own … We’re just sitting here praying.” Sara Lafleur-Vetter, a film-maker who has also provided video coverage for the Guardian, said police confiscated her camera after arresting her on Saturday. “It’s completely over-militarized,” she said, noting that she was standing in between police and protesters and tried to explain that she was a film-maker. “When you’re there, it’s really surreal.” Hafiz, who is based in Brazil and Washington DC and covered the Arab spring protests, said police arrested her even after she showed her press identification. In jail, she said, she and other women were subject to humiliating strip searches. As of Tuesday morning, police were still holding her camera as evidence. “It’s very clear that they are trying to create a media blackout,” she said. “The excessive force was completely unwarranted not only against me and Sara as working journalists, but also … against people who are unarmed, praying and peaceful.” | ['us-news/dakota-access-pipeline', 'us-news/north-dakota', 'environment/oil', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/native-americans', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sam-levin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2016-10-25T20:49:32Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2015/jan/12/last-generation-tackle-climate-change-un-international-community | We are the last generation that can fight climate change. We have a duty to act | Ban Ki-moon | This year the UN marks its 70th anniversary. Sadly, there is little time for reflection or celebration. More pressing are the competing demands and challenges fuelled by an upsurge in conflict, disease and human suffering. These compel the international community to step up and provide the leadership needed to tackle them. Ebola continues to plague west Africa. For some of the affected countries, struggling to overcome the effects of bitter civil war, the outbreak has been a major setback for development. We are beginning to see some improvements. During my visit to the region in December, I was deeply moved by the efforts of local Ebola responders and health workers from across Africa and the world. But rebuilding shattered lives and economies will require significantly more resources and long-term commitment. As conflicts raged and extremism rose, 2014 pushed the UN’s humanitarian, peacekeeping and diplomatic efforts to the limit. More than 100 million people needed assistance. An unprecedented number of UN troops and police are deployed in highly volatile security environments. The elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons programme was a major achievement, but the conflict continues to inflict immense suffering and will soon enter its fifth year. As bitter winter conditions set in, millions of refugees are in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance. The presence of thousands of foreign terrorist fighters there and in Iraq has added a further volatile dimension. Groups responsible for atrocities have capitalised on a legacy of atrocious governance towards disenfranchised populations. Our response to brutality and extremism cannot be limited to military action, important as it is. We must address the conditions that give rise to such poison in the first place. In the same vein, those conducting military actions against terrorists must be sure that such efforts fully observe human rights. As we have seen time and again, failure to do so can end up serving as a recruiting agent for terrorists. Elsewhere, the recent appalling terrorist attacks in Paris show how vulnerable any society can be. Countries in Europe and elsewhere have witnessed a deeply worrying escalation of tensions between communities and within societies. Giving in to hatred and sowing division only guarantees a spiral of violence – precisely what terrorists seek. We must not fall into that trap. Addressing discord in a manner that solves, rather than multiplies, the problem may be the greatest test our human family faces in the 21st century. There is a long list of other hot-spots – stretching from Nigeria to Yemen, from the rise in fighting in Darfur to the transition in Afghanistan. Conflict in Ukraine has endangered security and stability in Europe, and reanimated the ghosts of the cold war. Israelis and Palestinians must ease the explosive situation in Gaza and the West Bank, and move away from confrontation and towards a negotiated settlement. But in a year marked by turmoil, UN member states have also proposed an initial draft set of sustainable development goals that will guide anti-poverty efforts for the next generation. Further negotiations will begin this month and culminate at a special summit in New York in September with the adoption of a development agenda that can help tackle inequality, empower women and girls, and promote shared prosperity. Climate action took on significant momentum with major announcements by the EU, the US and China, and a successful climate conference in Lima, Peru, that kept complex negotiations on track. We must aim high: for the adoption of an ambitious and universal agreement in Paris in December to keep the rise in global temperatures below the dangerous threshold of 2C. Ours is the first generation that can end poverty, and the last that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. In this 70th anniversary year in which we renew our commitment to the goals and principles of the UN charter, the international community must rise to the moment. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/cop-20-un-climate-change-conference-lima', 'environment/environment', 'world/unitednations', 'world/world', 'world/ban-ki-moon', 'tone/comment', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/bankimoon'] | environment/cop-20-un-climate-change-conference-lima | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-01-12T08:00:02Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2022/aug/06/bp-social-media-influence-ads-labour-windfall-tax | Revealed: BP’s ‘greenwashing’ social media ads as anger over fuel costs rose | BP has spent more than £800,000 on social media influence ads in the UK this year that champion the company’s investments in green energy, it can be revealed. On Tuesday, BP announced a 14-year high profit of £7bn for the second quarter of this year. In the previous eight days, the company paid about £570,000 to Facebook and Instagram for influence ads that reached tens of millions of viewers in the UK. “These ads are intended to create a clean warm glow about the companies concerned, giving them more social licence to operate,” said Doug Parr, chief scientist for Greenpeace UK. The influence ads, which also emphasise BP’s contributions to UK energy security, began two days after Labour proposed a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas in January. BP’s spending on these ads escalated in the weeks before Rishi Sunak announced an “energy profits levy” on 26 May, the investigation by Eco-Bot.Net and the Guardian found. “Backing Britain: delivering homegrown energy” read many of the ads in green script across a map of the UK. “Corporate interests have used advertising for many years to improve their reputation. And when it comes to corporate taxes, reputation matters to politicians,” said Laura Edelson, a researcher in online political communication at New York University. The influence ads promote BP’s plan to “transition to net zero” by gradually reducing oil and gas production and investing more in “low carbon” and renewable energy sources. “BP are presenting themselves as offering green solutions that are good for the UK, but these investments are dwarfed by how much money they’re funnelling into fossil fuels,” said Parr. “They’re doing this while making record profits and as millions of UK households are being pushed into fuel poverty.” BP has some of the more ambitious energy transition plans among oil and gas majors, but an analysis by Oil Change International in May found that the sector’s plans are far from enough to restrict global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – the goal outlined in the Paris agreement. “The green investments they describe represent only a minor portion of the current energy production and investment behaviour,” said Gregory Trencher, who researches energy policy and sustainability transitions at Kyoto University. “In that sense the ads are misleading.” “It’s like somebody who is still in the process of changing to a healthy diet but who asks to be praised ahead of time. This does not tell the reader that BP continues to open up new oil and gas fields,” said Trencher, who describes the ads as “greenwashing”. A spokesperson for BP said: “The UK is a microcosm of our strategy, and we are investing heavily here. Our adverts highlight the specifics, range and scale of the things we plan to do here – including offshore wind, North Sea oil and gas, hydrogen and carbon capture, and EV charging.” Shell, which announced record profits last month, has also paid Meta, parent company to Facebook and Instagram, to run dozens of influence ads this year that reached more than a million viewers in the UK. The ads promoted Shell’s investments in renewable energy and electric car charging stations, but were not listed by the company as relating to “social issues, elections and politics” – and as such ran without a disclaimer about who was paying for the ad. “Better transparency to users, for example, who’s paying to put that information in front of them, helps them to put what they’re seeing in context,” said Edelson, who is also an adviser to the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a self-appointed activist group which holds Facebook’s oversight board to account. Information about spending and reach are only disclosed on Meta’s ad library for social issue and political ads, and only these ads remain visible in the library after they have ended. The Shell ads investigated were ultimately taken down by Meta for breaking company policy, but the investigation found dozens more similar ads had been running without a disclaimer for more than a month, seemingly undetected by Meta’s moderation process. A Shell spokesperson said: “Shell aims for clarity, transparency and trust in all of our communications. The disclaimer policy that is applied on Meta advertising is something that Shell fully supports. “Initial enquiries suggest that the disclaimer was, in error, not applied to some recent Shell content, and we are investigating this with our media buying agency. We have also instructed them to take immediate remedial action.” A Meta spokesperson said: “We require all advertisers running ads about social issues, including those about environmental topics to include a ‘paid for by’ disclaimer. Our enforcement is not perfect, but we’re always working to strengthen and improve our processes.” Eco-Bot.Net scrapes databases of social media advertising paid for by some of the world’s most polluting companies. The ads are then analysed by journalists and researchers. Meta offers to put ads in front of the eyes of specific “custom audiences” based on the detailed profiles of users they build up. Audiences are segmented according to age, gender, geographic location, income and many other kinds of personal data in a practice called “microtargeting”. Analysis found that most of BP’s UK-targeted ads this year reached viewers aged between 25 and 44 years old, but a more granular analysis of targeting practices was not possible based on the data available in Meta’s ad library. | ['business/bp', 'business/royaldutchshell', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/oil', 'environment/environment', 'environment/fossil-fuel-divestment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/fossil-fuel-divestment | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2022-08-06T07:00:07Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2019/jun/12/most-meat-in-2040-will-not-come-from-slaughtered-animals-report | Most 'meat' in 2040 will not come from dead animals, says report | Most of the meat people eat in 2040 will not come from slaughtered animals, according to a report that predicts 60% will be either grown in vats or replaced by plant-based products that look and taste like meat. The report by the global consultancy AT Kearney, based on expert interviews, highlights the heavy environmental impacts of conventional meat production and the concerns people have about the welfare of animals under industrial farming. “The large-scale livestock industry is viewed by many as an unnecessary evil,” the report says. “With the advantages of novel vegan meat replacements and cultured meat over conventionally produced meat, it is only a matter of time before they capture a substantial market share.” The conventional meat industry raises billions of animals and turns over $1tn (£785bn) a year. However, the huge environmental impacts have been made plain in recent scientific studies, from the emissions driving the climate crisis to wild habitats destroyed for farmland and the pollution of rivers and oceans. Companies such as Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Just Foods that use plant ingredients to create replacement burgers, scrambled eggs and other products are growing rapidly. AT Kearney estimates $1bn has been invested in such vegan products, including by the companies that dominate the conventional meat market. Beyond Meat raised $240m when the company went public in May and its shares have more than doubled since. Other companies are working on growing meat cells in culture, to produce real meat without needing to raise and kill animals. No such products have yet reached consumers, but AT Kearney predicts cultured meat will dominate in the long term because it reproduces the taste and feel of conventional meat more closely than plant-based alternatives. “The shift towards flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan lifestyles is undeniable, with many consumers cutting down on their meat consumption as a result of becoming more conscious towards the environment and animal welfare,” said Carsten Gerhardt, a partner at AT Kearney. “For passionate meat-eaters, the predicted rise of cultured meat products means that they still get to enjoy the same diet they always have, but without the same environmental and animal cost attached.” The report estimates 35% of all meat will be cultured in 2040 and 25% will be vegan replacements. It highlights the far greater efficiency of the alternatives to conventional meat. Almost half the world’s crops are fed to livestock, but only 15% of the plant calories end up being eaten by humans as meat. In contrast, the report says, cultured meat and vegan meat replacements retain about three-quarters of their input calories. Potential customer uneasiness about cultured meat will not be a barrier, the report says, citing surveys in the US, China and India: “Cultured meat will win in the long run. However, novel vegan meat replacements will be essential in the transition phase.” Rosie Wardle of the Jeremy Coller Foundation, a philanthropic organisation focused on sustainable food systems, said: “From steaks to seafood, a full spectrum of options is emerging to replace traditional animal protein products with plant-based and cell-based meat technologies. “The shift to more sustainable patterns of protein consumption is already under way, driven by consumers, investors and entrepreneurs, and even pulling in the world’s biggest meat companies. If anything, predictions that 60% of the world’s ‘meat’ will not come from slaughtered animals in 20 years’ time may be an underestimation.” However, a National Farmers’ Union spokesman said: “Innovation and new technology has always been central to the progress of British livestock farming. Although the science of lab-grown meat is interesting, the NFU believes there is great potential for livestock farming to continue its journey of producing safe, traceable and affordable food for the nation and it will continue to do so as long as the public demands it.” | ['environment/meat-industry', 'environment/food', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'food/vegan', 'food/food', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-06-12T16:34:28Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2024/mar/18/worlds-largest-solar-manufacturer-longi-china-cut-third-workforce | World’s largest solar manufacturer to cut one-third of workforce | The world’s largest solar manufacturer has slashed nearly a third of its workforce after a cost-cutting drive that included telling staff to only print in black and white fell short and as a chill ripples through the renewable energy sector. China’s Longi is to cut as much as 30% of its workforce, in an acceleration of cost reductions that began late last year, Bloomberg reported. It is unclear exactly how many jobs will be lost at the company, which employed 80,000 at its peak last year, as an internal function allowing employees to see the total number of staff has reportedly been disabled. The renewables industry is facing significant headwinds in the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Moscow’s reduction in gas supplies into continental Europe left governments scrambling to beef up domestic power generation, accelerating a shift towards renewables. However, the resulting higher energy bills pushed up inflation rates, adding costs to renewables supply chains already under pressure from the surge in demand. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies have retrenched from green projects in favour of traditional high-margin fossil fuel projects. As a result, renewables companies have been pausing projects and cutting jobs in an attempt to rebalance their portfolios. The solar industry has a history of boom-and-bust cycles, dictated typically by government policies. China is the centre of the world’s solar supply manufacturing industries and a proliferation of new factories dedicated to the technology has created fierce competition. Longi manufacturers wafers – a component used in solar panels. The company, based in Xi’an in central China, has been forced to suspend investment plans while also cutting prices. Before the job cuts, the company previously tried to reduce costs through a series of smaller measures. These included cancelling free afternoon tea, cutting business trip budgets and informing staff that they must only print in black and white unless they received permission, Bloomberg reported. Longi’s Shanghai office has reportedly stopped offering free coffee. The solar company’s net income fell sharply last year, down by 44% to 2.52bn yuan (£275m) in the third quarter of 2023. Its shares have fallen about 70% from their 2021 peak. Longi has been contacted for comment. | ['environment/solarpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'world/china', 'business/chinese-economy', 'world/world', 'world/asia-pacific', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'business/global-economy', 'business/economics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2024-03-18T14:11:53Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2019/may/30/san-francisco-ban-facial-recognition-surveillance | San Francisco was right to ban facial recognition. Surveillance is a real danger | Veena Dubal | San Francisco’s recent municipal ordinance banning the use of facial recognition technology by city and county agencies has received international attention. The first of its kind anywhere in the US, the law is a preemptive response to the proliferation of a technology that the city of San Francisco does not yet deploy but which is already in use elsewhere. Since the passage of the ordinance, a debate has erupted in cities and states around the country: should other localities follow San Francisco’s example? The answer is a resounding yes. The concerns that motivated the San Francisco ban are rooted not just in the potential inaccuracy of facial recognition technology, but in a long national history of politicized and racially-biased state surveillance. Detractors who oppose the ordinance in the name of “public safety” acknowledge the technology’s current limitations (recent studies have shown that facial recognition systems are alarmingly inaccurate in identifying racial minorities, women, and transgender people). But they argue that as machine-learning becomes less biased the technology could actually upend human discrimination. They — mainly corporate lobbyists and law enforcement representatives — maintain that this absolute ban (rather than the limited regulations advocated by Big Tech) is a step backwards for public safety because it leaves surveillance to people and not machines. Based on my years of working as a civil rights advocate and attorney representing Muslim Americans in the aftermath of September 11th, I recognize that the debate’s singular focus on the technology is a red herring. Even in an imaginary future where algorithmic discrimination does not exist, facial recognition software simply cannot de-bias the practice and impact of state surveillance. In fact, the public emphasis on curable algorithmic inaccuracies leaves the concerns that motivated the San Francisco ban historically and politically decontextualized. This ordinance was crafted through the sustained advocacy of an intersectional grassroots coalition driven not just by concerns about hi-tech dystopia, but by a long record of overbroad surveillance and its deleterious impacts on economically and politically marginalized communities. As Matt Cagle, a leader in this coalition and an attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, told me, “The driving force behind this historic law was a coalition of 26 organizations. Not coincidentally, these Bay Area groups represented those who have been most harmed by local government profiling and surveillance in our city: people of color, Muslim Americans, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, the unhoused, and more.” Indeed, while San Francisco is known across the world as an “incubat[or] of dissent and individual liberties,” the local police department — like many across the United States — has a decades-long, little-known history of nefarious surveillance activities. A reported 83% of domestic intelligence gathering for J Edgar Hoover’s notorious Counter Intelligence Program (commonly known as Cointelpro) took place in the Bay Area — much of it at the hands of local police. From the 1950s well into the 1970s, the information gathered through this covert state program — which, when discovered, shocked the conscience of America — was used to infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt the now-celebrated civil rights movement. After Cointelpro was congressionally disbanded and procedural safeguards put in place, community members in the 1980s and early 1990s learned that some San Francisco police officers continued to surreptitiously spy — without any evidence of criminal wrongdoing — on individuals and groups based on their political activities. In at least one instance, information gathered by local police officers on law-abiding citizens was alleged to have been sold to foreign governments. Despite the subsequent passage of additional local procedural safeguards, which limited intelligence-gathering on First-Amendment-protected activities to instances where reasonable suspicion of criminal activity could be articulated, in the years following September 11th, members of San Francisco’s Muslim American community again found themselves under unjust, non-criminally-predicated surveillance. These past and present chronicles of injustice highlight how face recognition systems — like other surveillance technology before it — can disproportionately harm people already historically subject to profiling and abuse, including immigrants, people of color, political activists, and the formerly incarcerated. And they demonstrate that even when legal procedures and oversight are thoughtfully put into place, these safeguards can both be rolled back (especially in times of hysteria) and violated. As the debate about facial surveillance technologies and “public safety” continues to rage, policy makers (and corporate decision-makers) should deliberate not just over the technology itself, but on these shameful political histories. In doing so, they should remember (or be reminded) that more information gathering — while certainly lucrative and occasionally comforting — does not always create safer communities. Even if face surveillance is 100% neutral and devoid of discriminatory tendencies, humans will determine when and where the surveillance takes place. Humans — with both implicit and explicit biases — will make the discretionary decisions about how to utilize the gathered data. And humans — often the most vulnerable — will be the ones disproportionately and unjustly impacted. Amid the seemingly inevitable conquest of our everyday lives by new forms of technological surveillance, San Francisco’s ban — and the diverse coalition-based movement that achieved it — proves that local democracy can still be leveraged to shift power- and decision-making into the hands of the people. The real, chilling histories and impacts of past surveillance on freedom of association, religion, and speech — and not imagined fears about information collected through machine-learning systems — motivated the broad coalition of community groups to push for the San Francisco face surveillance ban. Their example could — and should — spark a movement that spreads across the country. Veena Dubal is an associate Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'technology/technology', 'world/surveillance', 'technology/facial-recognition', 'us-news/us-police', 'uk/police', 'us-news/san-francisco', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'profile/veena-dubal', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-opinion'] | technology/facial-recognition | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2019-05-30T11:33:22Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2018/jun/08/domestic-tourism-to-great-barrier-reef-falls-in-wake-of-coral-bleaching | Domestic tourism to Great Barrier Reef falls in wake of coral bleaching | The lure of the Great Barrier Reef to Australian tourists has “fallen dramatically” since the onset of successive coral bleaching events in 2016, according to a new report that reveals fewer domestic visitors are heading to north Queensland to visit the natural wonder. The report, by the Centre for Tourism and Regional Opportunities at Central Queensland University, says towns should now develop “new tourism experiences” to compensate for lost visitors and the likelihood of further damage to the climate-threatened reef. Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning At Cairns, domestic visitor numbers and revenue from interstate tourism were down in 2016 and 2017. A survey of domestic tourists at Cairns airport found that, at the start of 2016, the third most common reason for visiting the tropical north city was to see the reef. By the third quarter of that year – after news reports that the marine heatwave was causing the biggest coral bleaching event in history – the reef dropped to 12th on that list. The survey conducted by CQU found that visitors to Cairns “were generally aware that coral bleaching was occurring through media reports and that there was a high and increasing level of concern about the bleaching events”. “This result suggests that if further coral bleaching events occur in the near future the destination’s target markets will quickly become aware of the event and may base purchase decisions on concerns about the level of reported damage. The danger for the destination is that repeated bleaching events will form a pattern in the mind of consumers and may generate a long-term negative image.” The Great Barrier Reef, which is the largest living structure on the planet, features heavily in Australian tourism promotions. It remains the top reason for international tourists to visit Cairns. The report says the likelihood of further and more severe coral bleaching events was “alarming” for tourism businesses in areas such as Cairns, Port Douglas and the Whitsundays. “If predictions of further and more severe bleaching are correct, these destinations will face a future of declining tourism interest, at least for those groups of tourists who rank the [reef] as the key motive for visiting the affected destinations,” the report says. “Further coral bleaching may lead to a significant decline in international tourism, with resultant economic impacts.” In the Whitsundays, where the tourism industry is better insulated from damage to the reef by more resort-style experiences and swimming beaches, visitor numbers have been skewed by damage caused by cyclone Debbie. Tony Fontes, a Whitsundays-based dive operator, said there was “no doubt” the drop in tourist numbers had been caused by climate change and the resultant coral bleaching. Fontes says some tourism businesses had “put their head in the sand” about bleaching and refused to admit there was a problem, mainly out of fear that negative publicity would discourage visitors. “In 2017 when the bleaching moved further south, the tourism industry started to become a little more proactive than what they used to,” Fontes said. “By hiding and not admitting that we’ve got a problem, that’s not helping. They’re starting to come together and advocate for better action, better late than never. “We’ve exploited the reef forever as tourism operators. Very few of us have ever given anything back to the reef. Not enough of us are standing up to back the reef.” The report was focused on local actions that could be taken to support the tourism industry. These included developing new attractions that could motivate tourists to visit for other reasons, and to encourage “positive rather than negative media on the future of the GBR”, something that has led to tension between concerned reef scientists and some in the tourism industry. | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/queensland', 'environment/coral', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/ben-smee', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-06-07T18:00:50Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2005/sep/05/hurricanekatrina.politics | Blair apologises for Katrina response | Tony Blair apologised today to Britons caught up in Hurricane Katrina who have complained at being "abandoned" by the Foreign Office. However, the prime minister also defended British diplomats, insisting that some had been working "round the clock" and had only managed to enter New Orleans itself overnight. Mr Blair spoke after the first British survivors began arriving home yesterday with horror stories about the New Orleans Superdome stadium, the city's main emergency shelter. Many survivors criticised the lack of help from British embassy staff in the US and demanded to know why consular staff, who knew that scores of Britons were trapped in the stadium, did not find a way in to help them. Speaking at Gatwick airport, Christine Robertson, whose daughter, Cora, 22, was in the stadium for four days, said yesterday: "They left these very young people in a foreign country in fear of their lives. They just abandoned them. They did nothing to support them." Some spoke of intimidation and harassment by men at the stadium and other witnesses have told of rapes, murders and suicides. Mr Blair said he understood the anger but said the disaster had created a "confusing and difficult" situation, which had been "more shocking and serious than people contemplated". Mr Blair, speaking in a round of broadcast interviews in Beijing where he was holding trade talks, said he was "really sorry if there has been difficulties". He said: "It's been really tough for people, I know that, but it's been tough for our officials on the ground." In Washington yesterday, the deputy British ambassador, Alan Charlton, said officials had previously been denied access to New Orleans and were doing everything they could. The Bush administration has been criticised for its sluggish early response to the disaster. "Overnight we have got people there in New Orleans for the first time, actually people to be on the spot to handle this," Mr Blair said. The prime minister said he expected the current total of around 130 missing Britons to fall, and added that the UK was helping to coordinate a European aid package, including ration packs and camp beds to be sent to the stricken areas. New Orleans was "effectively going to be rebuilt", he said. At RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire this morning, 500,000 military ration packs worth £3m were loaded on to civilian charter planes to be flown to Little Rock in Arkansas. From there, the supplies will be flown on to troops and survivors evacuated from the disaster area who are now in Houston, Texas, and in less affected areas of Mississippi and Alabama. A further 15 aircraft are expected to fly out later this week and the operation could be extended to provide blankets, tents and cooking equipment. | ['world/world', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'politics/politics', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'us-news/us-news', 'uk/uk', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-05T09:19:52Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2013/nov/15/amazon-deforestation-increased-one-third | Amazon deforestation increased by one-third in past year | Destruction of the Amazon rainforest has increased by almost one-third in the past year, reversing a decade-long trend of better protection for the world's greatest rainforest. Environmentalists blamed a controversial weakening of legal protections passed by President Dilma Rousseff for the increase in deforestation by loggers and farmers. But the environment minister, Izabella Teixeira, rejected this, saying the overall trend was "positive" and that eliminating illegal deforestation remained the government's goal. The set-back in the Amazon came as the first global, high-resolution, satellite analysis of global deforestation revealed that since 2000 an area equal to 50 football pitches has been destroyed every minute. The total loss is 10 times the area of the UK, with only a third being replaced by natural and planted reforestation, and the destruction is accelerating in the tropics. The razing of forests is a major contributor to the emissions that drive climate change. Trees provide a vital store of carbon, as well as providing livelihoods for a billion people. But deforestation has more than doubled in Indonesia, Paraguay, Malaysia and Cambodia, largely due to illegal logging. In the Amazon, the use of satellite data has helped the government slash deforestation by 80% since 2003-4 by allowing police to pinpoint illegal activity in the vast forest, which is bigger than western Europe. But the 5,800km2 in 2012-13 was a 28% increase on the record-low in the previous year. Paulo Adario, leader of Greenpeace's Amazon campaign, said the spike was scandalous: "The government can't be surprised by this increase in deforestation, given that their own action is what's pushing it. The change in the Forest Code and the resulting amnesty for those who illegally felled the forest sent the message that such crimes have no consequences." The revised Forest Code was passed in 2012 after more than a decade of efforts by Brazil's powerful agricultural lobby. The changes eased restrictions for smaller landowners, allowing them to clear land closer to riverbanks, and allowed those who had illegally felled land to not face penalties if they signed an agreement to replant trees, which many environmentalists say is unlikely to be enforced. Adario added that the push by Rousseff government's for infrastructure projects in the Amazon region was also a cause, noting that much of the recent destruction was along a government-improved highway running through Para and Mato Grosso states, which eases the transport of illegal timber. Another factor is high global food prices which drives forest clearance for cattle and soya farming. "There are various ways to spin this figure, but there's no way it's good news," said Dr Doug Boucher, an expert on tropical forests at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Certainly the amendments to the Forest Code were one reason. It's a warning that although deforestation can be reduced rapidly and dramatically by strong policies, it can also increase again when those policies are weakened." Brazil has demanded funding from rich nation's to cut deforestation and has been sensitive to criticism of its effort to develop and improve the living standards of its 200 million people. In 2009, the then president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said: "I don't want any gringo asking us to let an Amazon resident die of hunger under a tree. We want to preserve, but they will have to pay the price for this preservation because we never destroyed our forest like they mowed theirs down a century ago." About three-quarters of Brazil's emissions come from rainforest clearing, as trees are burned or felled and rot, making the nation the world's sixth-biggest emitter of the carbon dioxide. The new global satellite study shows that Indonesia, despite being just a quarter of the size of Brazil, now destroys about the same area of forest. "Recent progress has been made with Indonesia's forest moratorium, which prevents new licenses to clear primary forest, but it suffers enforcement challenges," said Prof Matt Hansen, at the University of Maryland, who led the global satellite study with Google and other researchers. "It's too early to tell if the moratorium has actually reduced forest loss." Hansen said "timely" annual updates of global deforestation will start in early 2014: "Prior to this, most information about forests is years out-of-date by the time it finds its way into policymakers' hands." | ['environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/forests', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2013-11-15T15:50:19Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2020/jul/15/coalition-backs-cloud-brightening-trial-on-great-barrier-reef-to-tackle-global-heating | Coalition backs 'cloud-brightening' trial on Great Barrier Reef to tackle global heating | A government-backed research program to make the Great Barrier Reef more resilient to global heating will spend $4.7m this financial year developing technologies that could shade corals and make clouds more reflective during marine heatwaves. The announcement confirms the development of a technique known as marine cloud brightening, trialled on the reef in March, will be backed as part of the government’s $443m grant being coordinated by the not-for-profit Great Barrier Reef Foundation. On Tuesday the government and the foundation announced how it would spend $96m this financial year under the Reef Trust Partnership – the $443m collaboration between government and the foundation. Included in the spending for this financial year is more than $15m to try and control coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, $39m to improve water quality and more than $3m for community-based projects, including citizen science. Earlier this year the reef suffered its third mass coral bleaching event in five years. About one quarter of the reef suffered severe bleaching in the most widespread event ever recorded, affecting the full length of the 2,300km world heritage marine park. Dr Daniel Harrison of Southern Cross University is the scientific lead for the $4.7m program to investigate cooling and shading techniques. Harrison told Guardian Australia: “We want to know if this will work, and we want to know as quickly as possible. “It’s critical that [greenhouse gas] emissions come down, but that alone won’t preserve a lot of the ecosystem value of the reef so we need to do other things as well.” About half of the $4.7m will be spent developing atmospheric modelling and monitoring to understand how particles in the air that clouds need to form behave over the reef. In-kind support of $1.86m from a consortium of academic institutions led by Southern Cross University, including the CSIRO, will be added to the $4.7m. Guardian Australia revealed that in March Harrison led a small research team to trial cloud-brightening equipment on Broadhurst reef near Townsville. In the experiment, a modified turbine with 100 high-pressure nozzles was placed on the back of a boat to spray trillions of nano-sized salt crystals into the air. When deployed at a larger scale, those salt crystals theoretically mix with low-altitude clouds to reflect more solar energy away from the waters around the reef. Brightening clouds could work on a scale large enough to both shade corals and cool sea surface temperatures that could be the difference between corals dying from bleaching or recovering. A technique known as fogging will also be developed over the coming 12 months. Using a similar deployment technique, larger droplets create localised fog that would aim to give some protection to individual reefs or groups of reefs that hold particular importance, either because of their cultural values, importance to tourism, fishing or for their biodiversity. Harrison said atmospheric modelling and surveying would be used to check whether the cloud-brightening approach could have any wider impacts. Engineering facilities would also be built. He said the cloud-brightening approach, if proven, would be deployed over the course of a month or two if temperatures got too high. The fogging technique would be used over a shorter time frame. He said both approaches could be switched off rapidly and the salt crystals remained in the air for only a day or two depending on conditions. Announcing the $96m of spending for the year, environment minister Sussan Ley said: “Over the next 12 months we will be testing new approaches and technologies to protect and preserve the Great Barrier Reef, building on the partnership’s key on-ground achievements from its first two years of operation.” Anna Marsden, managing director of the foundation, said there were “more than 60 reef-saving projects” under way in regional Queensland. She said: “The significant investment of $96m will mean that two-thirds of the $443m partnership will have been committed to reef-saving projects within a year. “Saving the reef is a huge task, but there is hope. We are proud to be doing our part to bring together people and science to deliver outcomes that will preserve the reef in the face of growing threats.” The foundation has a target to raise $357m in donations to top up the government funding, but Guardian Australia revealed last week that only $21.7m had been raised so far. A world heritage committee meeting scheduled for early July this year in China has been postponed, but was to consider if the reef should be placed on an “in danger” list. Australia has already conceded that climate change has caused damage to the unique attributes that led to it being listed as a world heritage site in 1981. Greens senator Larissa Waters criticised the work plan for this financial year, saying it “talks about the need to tackle climate change and transition to clean energy, but does nothing towards that goal”. She said plans to tackle crown-of-thorns starfish and shading the reef were “Band-Aid solutions”. She said: “This work plan is more rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic by a federal government that ignores and worsens the climate crisis, and underfunds water quality improvement by orders of magnitude.” | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/queensland', 'environment/oceans', 'science/science', 'environment/coral', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/marine-life', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/australian-greens', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-07-14T17:30:22Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2015/may/29/big-data-purchase-history-charge-you-more-money | Big data is coming for your purchase history - to charge you more money | Anna Bernasek and DT Mongan | Are you ready for a gas station to charge you more when you are running late or your tank is empty? Laws against price gouging typically apply in times of emergencies, for example after Hurricane Katrina. Most of the time there are no rules that limit price discrimination, and there are certainly no laws against customized products and terms of service. When you add that to the fact that federal privacy laws do a notoriously poor job of protecting our data, it’s clear that consumers are on their own. Companies can vary their product offerings, price and contract terms from moment to moment, tailoring offers to each consumer at their specific location and point in time. Websites personalize your experience by remembering who you are and a variety of facts about you. Your browsing history, email and search terms all affect what you see. Google’s personalized search means that two people searching the same term don’t get the same results or see the same offers. Amazon recommends different products to different customers. And Netflix suggests what to watch based on what it learns about you. Like products, price is customized all the time. From college tuition to plane tickets to groceries and medicine, consumers have already grown accustomed to paying dramatically different prices for the exact same thing. It’s accepted that the person sitting next to you on a flight or in a lecture hall might have paid half as much as you. Economists call that price discrimination, and it is proliferating throughout our economy. A study by Benjamin Reed Shiller, an economist at Brandeis University looked at what happened to Netflix’s profits when it collected varying degrees of information about its customers and charged different prices for the same product. Just having basic demographic information alone to charge different prices increased profits 0.14%, while adding data from web browsing history increased profits by 1.4%, with some customers paying twice as much as others for the exact same product. The goal is to get to a market of one. One-to-one selling pits each individual against a far more knowledgeable and sophisticated seller. Instead of standard prices and products offered to everyone, companies can instantly set prices specifically for you. In the right circumstances, a company that knows how much you need something and how much you can manage to pay can empty your wallet in a millisecond. Airlines have long been at the forefront of this trend, at least as far as pricing is concerned. But little by little other types of businesses are catching up. Customer loyalty cards and personalized coupons are just some of the ways supermarkets and pharmacies are replacing the shelf or standard price with individual pricing. The CEO of Safeway, Steve Burd, told analysts in 2013: “There’s going to come a point where our shelf pricing is pretty irrelevant because we can be so personalized in what we offer people.” Throughout history, sellers have tried to guess what buyers would be willing to pay. Without detailed knowledge and the means to implement quick changes, companies settled for the market price, the least common denominator for a group of buyers. Meanwhile lots of money stayed with consumers. Perhaps the ultimate mass market product was the Ford Model T. Selling for as little as $260, at its peak half of all cars on US roads were Fords. Within a decade, rivals were using their knowledge of consumer psychology to charge higher prices for minor variations like paint and trim. The economics of data favor scale above all, shifting power from consumers to the masters of data. Over time, by mining immense databases with superhuman speed, data giants will get closer and closer to knowing what each of us is willing to pay. Sophisticated real time pricing will allow them to capture every penny, every time. Before the internet, market power was equated with monopoly, the power of a single seller across a large market. Big data changes the game, tilting the balance dramatically in favor of data-rich sellers. Rather than raising prices uniformly across huge markets, a data-rich seller can opportunistically exercise power where traditional monopoly is not visible, charging extra for gas today and a bit more for a movie tomorrow. That granular capability is entirely new, and requires new responses. That’s why antitrust enforcement has become more important than ever as big data supercharges the power of traditional monopolies. Consumers are just as vulnerable to the effects of personalized pricing as they are to price fixing - yet the government has done little to put safeguards in place. That’s why we must start with protecting the very weapon that companies use against us: our data. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'technology/big-data', 'world/privacy', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/consumer-rights-money', 'money/money', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/anna-bernasek', 'profile/dt-mongan'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-05-29T11:15:12Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/2020/jun/02/berta-caceres-was-exceptional-her-was-all-too-commonplace | Berta Cáceres was exceptional. Her murder was all too commonplace | Nina Lakhani | Fifty-one months ago today, Berta Cáceres was gunned down by hired assassins at her home in western Honduras. Cáceres was an indigenous leader, a political radical and a grassroots human rights defender who dedicated her life to resisting the patriarchal neoliberal world order and fighting for environmental justice. She was smart, kind, provocative and a rare leader who could listen, negotiate and bring people together. She was killed less than a year after winning the prestigious Goldman environmental prize for leading a campaign to stop construction of an internationally funded hydroelectric dam on a river considered sacred by the indigenous Lenca people. She died way too young, at only 44, at a time when our world’s indigenous peoples and natural resources are under sustained attack from unsustainable greed and consumption. The race to save the planet is on, but radical changes are needed and time is running out. Her death was a crime against her family, the Lenca people, Honduran society and humanity. Fifty-one months ago today, the world lost a rare leader. Cáceres was exceptional, but her murder was not. Honduras is one of the most violent countries in the world; in 2009, a military-backed coup ushered in an authoritarian pro-business political party, which has since been accused by Honduran prosecutors of deep-seated corruption, and implicated by American prosecutors in drug trafficking and money laundering. The nightmare which has unfolded over the past 11 years has forced hundreds of thousands of men, women and children to flee a toxic mix of poverty, dire public services, corruption, gang- and state-sponsored violence. They risk kidnap, extortion, rape and even death at the hands of criminal gangs and corrupt state forces as they travel 1,500 or so miles overland through Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States. Like migrants and refugees from neighbouring Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, those fleeing Honduras are looking for safety, prosperity and dignity, but what they find is an increasingly hostile country willing to violate international and national laws to keep them out. The Trump administration has used the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to issue a legally sketchy total ban on migrants and refugees at US land borders. The one thing the US does not seem willing to do is withdraw economic and political support from the post-coup ruling political party in Honduras. US policies for Central America have long been contradictory, and that’s certainly true today. Meanwhile, in Honduras, the pandemic has been used to crack down on civil liberties, with reports that indigenous and rural communities considered hostile to the government are being denied basic food aid. Cáceres’s murder triggered international condemnation but failed to stop the bloodshed. At least 25 land and environmental defenders have been murdered in Honduras since 2 March 2016. Latin America remains the most dangerous region in the world to defend land and rivers from megaprojects like mines, dams, fracking, logging and biofuel cash crops, which are almost always licensed without proper consultation or compensation. Between March 2016 and November 2019, 340 defenders were killed in the Americas, according to Global Witness, a not-for-profit group. These high-impact, targeted assassinations go largely unpunished. Impunity breeds more violence. Generally, assassination is the macabre finale in a campaign that also includes intimidation, defamation, threats, attempted bribes, assault and, increasingly, judicial persecution. The use of laws and policies designed to tarnish, criminalise and intimidate defenders, their families and communities is rising and often takes place under the murky cloak of national security. Invariably, the institutions of state security – police, army, prosecutors and judges – are employed to protect economic interests over citizens’ rights. For example, since September 2019, seven subsistence farmers from Guapinol, Honduras, where the community is trying to block construction of an iron ore mine which threatens to contaminate local rivers, have been detained on dubious charges. At least four others have fled Honduras and sought asylum in the US to avoid the same fate. And so the merry-go-round of misery keeps turning. Dams, solar, wind and other renewable energy sources must replace our reliance on dirty fossil fuels. Although the green energy revolution is undeniably urgent, however, we cannot talk about “clean” energy while communities like those Cáceres defended are militarised and displaced, and while community leaders continue to be jailed and killed. The green energy revolution must be economically and environmentally just; indigenous and rural communities in Honduras, Colombia, Canada, India and the Philippines cannot be collateral damage. In a country where more than 80% of murders go unsolved, one exceptional thing about the assassination of Berta Cáceres is that justice has been – partially – served. Seven people – the hired hit squad and some middlemen – were convicted and sentenced. But focusing solely on the material authors in such high-impact crimes is “insufficient to combat impunity and is problematic, as it does not identify powerful groups which may be behind human rights violations”, according to Michel Forst, the former UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. The masterminds – those who paid, ordered, enabled and benefited from her murder – have not been held accountable. The struggle for genuine justice will be long. Nina Lakhani is an environmental justice reporter at the Guardian US. Her book Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet will be published by Verso Books on 2 June | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'world/berta-caceres', 'environment/environment', 'environment/activism', 'world/honduras', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'type/article', 'profile/nina-lakhani', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-opinion'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2020-06-02T04:00:02Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2005/jul/25/tsunami2004.thailand | Strong earthquake raises tsunami fears | A strong earthquake last night shook India's Andaman and Nicobar islands, prompting Thailand to briefly issue an emergency warning to six coastal areas. The quake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, caused panicked residents on the islands to flee their homes, but there were no early reports of casualties or damage, police said. The earthquake, which hit at 9.12pm local time, also jolted the southern Indian states of Madras and Tamil Nadu. "The quake was felt in all the islands of the Andaman and Nicobar chain," a police official told Reuters. The US Geological Survey urged authorities near the epicentre to be aware of the risk of local tsunamis. However, the chief federal administrator for the islands said that they were not likely to be hit by a tsunami. "We have got reports from all inhabited islands through the police and there has been no casualties or damage," Ram Kapse told Reuters. "There has been no tsunami alert." The Indian-controlled archipelago - more than 550 islands in the remote Indian Ocean - was devastated by last year's Boxing Day tsunami, which killed at least 178,000 people in 11 countries. In the Andaman capital, Port Blair, hundreds of people ran from their homes to open spaces, but Samir Acharya, head of the Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, said: "Everything is fine. I haven't heard of any damage." Yesterday's tremor was not the first to trigger fears of another disaster, but agencies which had been criticised for failing to predict the Boxing Day tsunami were quick to warn of the potential danger. Last night Thailand issued a tsunami warning and ordered thousands of people living along the Andaman Sea coastline to evacuate, but later retracted it. The warning had been issued for six southern provinces hit by last year's Boxing Day tsunami, including the tourist island of Phuket, and Phang Nga, Krabi and Satun provinces. "We've found no tsunami that could endanger people's lives or damage property, therefore we now call off the alert," Plodprasob Surasawadee, head of the National Disaster Warning Centre, said in a message broadcast on television. The official warning had been given just before midnight local time, although local warnings had been issued earlier in the southern coastal areas, according to local TV stations. Mr Surasawadee said that the earthquake's epicentre was 412 miles west of the resort area of Phuket. Sri Lanka, which was also hit by last year's disaster, did not issue a tsunami warning yesterday. The 435-mile-long archipelago in the Andaman Sea is situated on an undersea faultline that travels south to Indonesia. The earthquake also shook Indonesia's Aceh province - one of the areas worst hit by the Boxing Day tsunami - but no injuries or damage were reported. The Andaman and Nicobar islands experienced hundreds of aftershocks following the powerful undersea earthquake that caused the December tsunami. Residents in Aceh said they felt the quake, but there appeared to be little panic in the area. The Indian government has said that around 3,000 people died on the 572-island archipelago in the Boxing Day tsunami. But aid agencies said that figure is based on out of date voters' lists, and fails to take into account the thousands of illegal migrants living on the islands who are now missing. Some 227,000 are dead or missing after the December tsunami. On Car Nicobar island alone, which was 80% destroyed, as many as 20,000 were believed to have perished. The Indian government said its rescue operation was hampered by the islands' remoteness, and by the fact that pontoons and jetties were washed away. On Great Nicobar, the tsunami and subsequent landslides destroyed the island's only road. | ['world/world', 'world/tsunami2004', 'world/thailand', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/earthquakes', 'type/article', 'profile/martinhodgson'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-07-24T23:00:04Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
social-enterprise-network/2012/jul/05/live-qanda-calling-social-enterprise-recyclers | Live Q&A: Soc ent recyclers – tell the world how you did it, 13 July, 1200 - 1400 BST | Recycling goods – and reselling them – is a popular form of social enterprise. It can often deliver many forms of social impact: reducing waste, providing employment for marginalised groups, and giving poorer communities access to consumer goods. But it's also a crowded field, with competition from mainstream business - and social enterprises have problems trying to scale up. In this live Q&A we'll take a look at: • opportunities in this sector for social entrepreneurs • barriers to scaling up, and how best to overcome them • successful recycling social enterprises - and how they did it. You can read about a couple of success stories ahead of the live Q&A on the links below: • Brighter Future Workshop, recyclers of mobility equipment and winners of the Guardian Social Enterprise Award 2011, featured on our network earlier this year. • Recycle-IT - a community interest company and one of the largest UK-wide not-for-profit IT recyclers - were one of the featured companies from our social enterprise directory last month. Do get in touch if you'd like to be a panellist – email Joe Jervis for more details. Also, if you'd like to leave a question, please do so in the comments section below, or come back to ask it live – and follow the debate – on Friday 13 July, 1200 - 1400 BST. Remember - in order to be on the panel and also to participate, you need to register as a member of the Guardian social enterprise network, and log in. Click here to register. Panel of experts Nikki DiGiovanni - national co-ordinator, ScrapstoresUK Nikki has been working with scrapstoresUK since 2010 and has developed the charity into a thriving network that connects the 90+ scrapstores across the UK. These independent scrapstores are run for community benefit by staff and volunteers who divert waste from businesses that would be destined to end up in land-fill and distribute it to schools and over 74,000 community groups to use for arts, crafts and play. As well as the fun, every year scrapstores prevent thousands of tonnes of waste from being burned or buried and make a huge impact on reducing the UK's carbon footprint. Alex Harvey - manager, Giveacar Alex Harvey is a manager at Giveacar. He studied European History at Manchester University, graduating in 2009 - then working overseas in China and for an NGO in Brussels before joining Giveacar in 2011. Giveacar is a not-for-profit social enterprise that raises money for charity by accepting donations of old cars. Launched in January 2010, it was the first service of its kind in the UK and allows charities to tap into a brand new source of funds. Benita Matofska - founder and chief sharer, The People Who Share Benita Matofska is a former TV executive, social innovator, social entrepreneur and the founder and chief sharer of The People Who Share, a social enterprise dedicated to building a Sharing Economy. The People Who Share are the company behind compareandshare.com the first one-stop destination for the sharing of resources and National Sharing Day. Jenelle Montilone - creative activist and designer, TrashN2Tees Inspiring others to consume less and recycle more with her sustainable handmade wares, Jenelle has been able to divert more than 2.5 tonnes of clothing/textiles from the landfill. Her business recently expanded to include clothing recycling collections with local agencies and organizations in her own community as well as hosting DIY upcycling/repurposing workshops. In November she will be releasing an app & hosting the create Change. Pledge event, instigating a movement that will change the way we consume and create. Twitter: @TrashN2Tees Emma Hallett - operations manager, REalliance Emma is the operations manager of REalliance. REalliance supports and represents social and community enterprises working to use and manage resources sustainably. She previously was general manager at the Community Recycling Network and managed a three year capacity building programme for social enterprises in the reuse/recycling/composting sector. Twitter: @ReallianceEmma Robert Jones-Mantle - company secretary, Magpie Recycling Co-operative For two decades Robert, as a member of the Magpie Recycling Co-operative, has rescued thousands of tonnnes from landfill which has itself created significant empowered employment. Our model has evolved from a from a time when there was little service provision for businesses and households wanting to be smart with their waste to the present where all waste firms claim to be smart with your waste. Find some community owned solutions at the magpie.coop or at facebook.com/verdiculture. Tim Edwards - integration and transformation manager, Furniture Mine Furniture Mine collects unwanted furniture and white goods and passes them on to people who are on benefits or low incomes, helping the local community and the environment by extending the life span of furniture and reducing landfill. Furniture Mine was recently acquired by north Staffordshire-based Aspire Group, which comprises housing association Aspire Housing and social enterprise group Enterprising Futures. Tim is leading the integration and transformation of Furniture Mine into the Aspire Group. This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'society/socialenterprises', 'society/society', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'tone/blog', 'sustainable-business/values', 'sustainable-business/start-up-scale-up', 'sustainable-business/series/q-and-a', 'sustainable-business/social-enterprise-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/joe-jervis'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2012-07-12T17:15:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2023/jul/20/higher-prices-for-uks-offshore-wind-cant-be-avoided | Higher prices for UK’s offshore wind can’t be avoided | Welcome to the next little crisis in the UK energy world: the offshore windfarm industry is being blown off course. No, not because of the cost of leasing seabed plots from the crown estate. Rather, an inflationary gale is blowing through supply chains, upsetting the old and comforting notion that the cost of getting the turbines spinning always falls in real terms. The decision by Vattenfall to halt work on a big project off the coast of Norfolk is significant for what it says about how far the economics of new wind development have shifted in the space of a year. The state-owned Swedish company calculates that it is better to take a financial hit of 5.5bn Swedish krona (£415m), covering the work it has done so far on the Norfolk Boreas development, than plough on. The contract for the electricity to be generated from Boreas was priced at £37.35 a megawatt hour (in 2012 prices) when set in last year’s auction for renewables capacity. The price needs to be significantly higher to make the project financially worthwhile, says Vattenfall’s chief executive, Anna Borg. If this sounds like a plea for more subsidies – which it is – there is sadly little point in telling Vattenfall and other victors in last year’s auction that it’s their own damn fault for bidding so aggressively. Winning an auction brings the right to build a windfarm but not an obligation to do so. The government cannot simply order companies to get on with the job. Since it can take two years to lock down contracts with suppliers, one can see precisely why cost increases of “up to 40%” in a year, according to Borg, have undermined financial incentives to build. The higher cost of borrowing, as well as the higher cost of steel, will be a factor. Nor will the change in the economics be unique to Boreas. This year’s auction round is already in progress and all developers will also be pricing in higher costs. It is an open question whether the government’s maximum strike price of £44 a megawatt hour (again in 2012 prices because of the industry’s odd yardstick) will bring forth bidders in anything like the desired number. What’s to be done? One way or another, the government – which means all of us, via our energy bills – will have to pay more for the next crop of windfarms. If not, construction will only slow further and the dream of being “the Saudi Arabia of wind” will be lost in a North Sea haze. Giving up on the ambition of having 50GW of capacity by 2030 would surely be the worst outcome – a false economy. Offshore wind, even at slightly higher strike prices to reflect higher construction costs, still represents a significantly cheaper source of energy than gas – at least, according to medium-term projections of gas prices. The bottom line is that developers hold a strong hand here. Offshore wind is still a relatively cheap technology – just not as cheap as it was. One solution would be to reprice the 15-year contracts agreed last year – in other words, be more generous to the winning bidders. The problem with that idea is that it would bypass the competitive contracts-for-difference regime that, until now, has been highly successful in driving down the cost for consumers and ensuring the government isn’t given the runaround. It would be more sensible just to re-run the auction and invite new bids. As for this year’s auction, that cap of £44 a megawatt hour will surely have to be raised a notch or two. “The UK offshore wind sector needs to see higher tariffs/more policy support to incentivise investments,” says the Jefferies analyst Ahmed Farman. Yes, unfortunately that is the state of play. The crisis rumbles on. | ['business/nils-pratley-on-finance', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/windpower', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nilspratley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2023-07-20T18:14:15Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2015/nov/25/cambridge-gates-scholars-urge-foundation-to-divest | Cambridge Gates scholars urge foundation to divest | Recipients of Cambridge University scholarships funded by and named in honour of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have attacked the global health charity’s “untenable” investments in fossil fuels. In a letter, 98 present and former Gates scholars urged the world’s largest charitable foundation to drop coal, oil and gas companies from its $43bn fund. “Climate change undermines improvements in global health, as well as in local and international food security: areas the Gates Foundation has championed. As much recent research – including some of our own ongoing work – shows, a stable climate is essential for ensuring the well-being of humans across the world,” the letter read. A recent study by the Lancet and University College London recently found that climate change threatens to reverse half a century of improvements in global health. Research suggests climate change is allowing malaria-carrying mosquitos to spread to highland regions in Africa, South America and south-east Asia, exposing entire new populations to the deadly disease. The Gates Foundation funds research and field work that has saved countless lives from malaria, polio, tuberculosis and HIV. A Guardian investigation in March found the Gates foundation’s trust held $1.4bn worth of investments in some of the world’s biggest carbon polluters. “It is untenable to separate our monetary investments from the vision of the world we want to see,” the letter continues. “The Gates foundation can and should use its power, money and privilege to pave the way for a more enlightened global economy.” Analysis has shown a Gates foundation divestment would not only have sent a powerful social message about the future economy it desires, it would have saved £1.9bn as shares in coal and oil have tumbled. Divestment has now become a mainstream choice for many fund managers. The South Yorkshire council’s £5.5bn fund announced on Monday that it had stopped buying shares in coal and tar sands oil companies, a move that relegates the two most carbon-intensive fossil fuels. This was followed on Tuesday by an announcement by the world’s biggest insurer Allianz that it would dump £2.8bn worth of coal shares. Insurer CNP Assurances and investment group Caisse des Dépôts later joined Allianz. The London School of Economics will decide on Wednesday night whether to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. A recent report found that if the school had dropped its shares three years ago it would now be £3m better off. The Cambridge signatories acknowledged Bill Gates’ personal concern for climate change, which this year led the world’s richest man to commit $2bn of his personal wealth to renewable energy and climate research. But they questioned his stance against divestment, to which he has held firm despite a major campaign run by this newspaper and signed by 235,000 people calling on his charity to drop its investments. In October, Gates criticised people who thought “divestment alone is a solution” as idealistic. “Whilst I fully agree with Gates that divestment is not the whole solution, pulling resources out of the fossil fuel industries is one important step along the way,” said Ragnhild Freng Dale, a PhD candidate at the Scott Polar Institute. “If the Gates foundation committed to divest, it would not only send a powerful signal to the rest of the world, but also free up money that is needed to invest in research and development of future energy solutions.” The Gates Cambridge Scholarship Trust awards 90 academic grants each year to students who demonstrate a “commitment to improving the lives of others”. The programme was set up with a $210m endowment from the Gates foundation and remains one of the world’s largest university scholarships programmes. Both Bill and Melinda Gates are patrons and they appoint two members of the board. The scholarship holders who signed the letter come from a broad swath of academic disciplines; including clean energy, social sciences, French thought, music and English literature. The Gates Divest organisation has been holding daily protests outside the foundation offices in the city of Seattle. Their call has so far been endorsed by 62 local non-profit organisations, 70 faith leaders and 10 out of 18 city council election candidates. “Bill and Melinda Gates are viewed as deserved moral leaders. But that’s why their divestment is so important - because where leaders go, others follow,” said Alec Connon, campaign organiser. The Gates foundation does not comment on divestment. The Gates Cambridge Trust did not respond to an email from the Guardian. | ['environment/fossil-fuel-divestment', 'environment/series/keep-it-in-the-ground', 'us-news/bill-gates', 'world/bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'education/cambridgeuniversity', 'education/education', 'education/higher-education', 'environment/activism', 'world/protest', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/karl-mathiesen'] | environment/fossil-fuel-divestment | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2015-11-25T11:54:13Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
commentisfree/2011/mar/18/japan-horror-thin-edge-climate-change | Japan's horror reveals how thin is the edge we live on | Bill McKibben | It's scary to watch the video from Japan, and not just because of the frightening explosions at the Fukushima plant or the unstoppable surge of tsunami-wash through the streets. It's almost as unnerving to see the aftermath – the square miles of rubble, with boats piled on cars; the completely bare supermarket shelves. Because the one thing we've never really imagined is going to the supermarket and finding it empty. What the events reveal is the thinness of the margin on which modernity lives. There's not a country in the world more modern and civilised than Japan; its building codes and engineering prowess kept its great buildings from collapsing when the much milder quake in Haiti last year flattened everything. But clearly it's not enough. That thin edge on which we live, and which at most moments we barely notice, provided nowhere near enough buffer against the power of the natural world. We're steadily narrowing the margin. Global warming didn't cause the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Miyagi coast, but global warming daily is shrinking the leeway on which civilisation everywhere depends. Consider: sea levels have begun to rise. We're seeing record temperatures that depress harvests – the amount of grain per capita on the planet has been falling for years. Because warm air holds more water vapour than cold, the chance of severe flooding keeps going up and in the last year countries from Pakistan to Australia have recently ended up on the wrong side of those odds. Those changes steadily eat away at that safety margin. With less food stored in our warehouses, each harvest becomes critical. With each massive flood, we have to spend more money rebuilding what was there before: there are still as many as 4 million homeless from Pakistan's floods, which means "development" has given way to "getting a tarp over your head". Even rich countries face this trouble: Australia cut much of its budget for renewable energy to help pay the recovery bill for soggy Queensland. Warmer temperatures are helping dengue fever spread; treating one case can use up the annual health budget for a dozen people in some Asian nation, meaning that much less for immunisations or nutrition. Just the increasing cost of insurance can be a big drag on economies: a study by Harvard and Swiss Re found that even in rich nations such as the US, larger and more frequent storms could "overwhelm adaptive capacities", rendering "large areas and sectors uninsurable". The bottom line was that, "in effect, parts of developed countries would experience developing nation conditions for prolonged periods". There have always been natural disasters, and there always will be. For 10,000 years the planet has been by and large benign; you could tell where the safe margin for civilisation was because that's, by definition, where civilisation was built. But if the sea level rises a metre, that margin shrinks considerably: on a beach that slopes in at 1 degree, the sea is now nearly 90 metres nearer. And it's not just a literal shrinkage – the insecurity that comes with smaller food stocks or more frequent floods also takes a psychological toll: the world seems more cramped because it is more cramped. We can try to deal with this in two ways. One is to attempt to widen it with more technology. If the Earth's temperature is rising, maybe we could "geoengineer" the planet, tossing sulphur into the atmosphere in an effort to block incoming sunlight. It's theoretically possible. But researchers warn it could do more harm than good, and maybe this isn't the week to trust the grandest promises of engineers, not when they've all but lost control of the highest technology we've ever built, there on the bluff at Fukushima. The other possibility is to try to build down a little: to focus on resilience, on safety. And to do that – here's the controversial part – instead of focusing on growth. We might decide that the human enterprise (at least in the west) has got big enough, that our appetites need not to grow, but to shrink a little, in order to provide us more margin. What would that mean? Buses and bikes and trains, not SUVs. Local food, with more people on the farm so that muscles replace some of the oil. Having learned that banks are "too big to fail", we might guess that our food and energy systems fall into that same category. Imagine, for instance, a nation that got most of its power from rooftop solar panels knitted together in a vast distributed grid. It would take investment to get there – we'd have to divert money from other tasks, slowing some kinds of growth, because solar power is currently more expensive than coal power. We might not have constant access to unlimited power at every second of every day. In the end, though, you'd have not only less carbon in the atmosphere, but also a country far less failure-prone. The solar panels on my roof could break tonight – and I'd have a problem if they did – but it wouldn't ramify into rolling blackouts across the continent (and no one would need to stand in my driveway with a Geiger counter). Such changes wouldn't make the world safe: climatologists promise us we've already put enough carbon out there to raise our planet's temperature two degrees in the decades to come, which will make for a miserably difficult century. But they also promise that if we don't stop burning coal and oil, that number will double, and miserable will become impossible. With Japan's horror still unfolding, there's nothing to do for the moment except watch, pray, and try to find some small ways to help people caught up in forces beyond their control. But the lesson we should learn, perhaps, is that it's time to back off a little. Suddenly squat and plain words – "durable", "stable", "robust" – sound sweeter to the ear. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'tone/comment', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/tsunamis', 'type/article', 'profile/mckibben-bill', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/commentanddebate'] | world/tsunamis | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-03-18T21:00:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
technology/2014/sep/05/motorola-moto-360-a-smartwatch-masquerading-as-a-classic-time-piece | Motorola Moto 360 - a smartwatch masquerading as a classic time piece | Motorola’s highly anticipated round Android Wear smartwatch is attempting to move beyond its geek phase and appeal to mainstream watch buyers. The Moto 360 features a round screen, metal case and leather band that looks more like a large high-end watch than a piece of technology. “We think the key to getting people to buy smartwatches is to build a watch first, a smartwatch second,” Christoph Jeneba, Motorola’s head of product for Europe, Middle East and Africa, explained to the Guardian. “That’s why we’ve built a time piece, and it had to be round because 85% of normal watches are round.” The watch was first shown off at Google’s I/O developer conference in June alongside the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, but will only be released at the end of September costing £199 in the UK, £40 more than the G Watch and £30 more than the Gear Live. ‘Have to get beyond the geek phase’ Motorola believes that its focus on premium materials – the case of the watch is all aluminium and the strap leather – sets the Moto 360 apart from the pack. On the wrist it looks much more like a traditional watch than a smartwatch, about the size of a chunky man’s watch though much lighter and smaller than the Gear Live. “We have to get beyond that geek phase and design a modern day time piece, a modern interpretation of a classic time piece,” Simon Collinson, Motorola’s international general manager told the Guardian. “If you want to go mass market you have to provide a credible alternative to a watch.” The Moto 360 features a hidden heart rate monitor on the back of the watch, which can measure the wearers heart rate 30 times a day to track heart health using a bespoke Motorola app – something other heart rate sensor-equipped smartwatches do not do – while measuring activity, steps and distance covered. It is waterproof to IP67 standards (immersion to 1m) but the rest of the specifications are very similar to the other Android Wear watches currently available. Motorola quotes a day of battery life; most others, like the G Watch, last around two days. The round screen has virtually no bezel, meeting the aluminium casing at the edges, but does have a squared-off bottom that resembles a flat tyre, where some of the electronic components are placed to operate the screen. Who knows whether the Moto 360 is enough to convince more than early adopters that smartwatches have a place in the world but it is the best looking smartwatch to date and looks matter more on jewellery than technology. • Google smartwatches review: LG G Watch, Samsung Gear Live and Android Wear • Two months with Android Wear: the best smartwatches yet • LG’s G Watch R: the smartwatch that looks like a watch | ['technology/smartwatches', 'technology/wearable-technology', 'technology/android', 'technology/google', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/smartphones', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-09-05T06:00:18Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/article/2024/aug/15/swallows-high-staying-dry-migrating-birds-help-predict-weather | ‘Swallows high, staying dry’: migrating birds help predict weather | No sooner has spring turned into summer in the UK, than it seems as if autumn is here. We may have enjoyed a belated heatwave at the end of July, but a possible return of more unsettled weather reminds us that the breeding season is now over, and the return journey of migrant birds to Africa has already begun. From mid-August onwards, birders on the coast hope for rain and wind, which grounds migrating songbirds that would otherwise fly overhead, unseen. Warblers, flycatchers and chats all migrate by night, stopping to rest and feed by day; so an early morning visit to a suitable habitat might produce surprises. Those that feed on flying insects – notably swallows, martins and swifts – travel by day, feeding on the wing as they go. Again, local weather conditions are crucial: low pressure will bring the insects closer to the ground, followed by the birds, which swoop low to catch them. But during spells of high pressure, on fine late summer evenings, look out for the same species flying high in the clear skies, hawking for invisible prey. We can even use them to predict the weather for the following day, as in the traditional rhyme: ‘Swallows high, staying dry; Swallows low, wet will blow’. And then, as September gives way to October, they will leave us: off to enjoy a second spring and summer south of the Sahara, before returning next spring to delight us once again. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/birds', 'environment/summer', 'uk/weather', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-08-15T05:00:36Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2009/dec/18/copenhagen-climate-talks-last-day | Copenhagen climate talks: the last day | As the 15th "conference of the parties" enters its final hours of climate talks in Copenhagen, here's a look at the key events of the closing day. 8.15am - 09.50 Heads of state arrive at the Bella centre through a "Special VVIP Entrance" 10.00 - 12.00 Informal high-level event convened by the prime minister of Denmark with speeches by heads of state and government, including the US president, Barack Obama, and the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao. 11.00 Japan delegation press conference 11.00 President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil press conference 11.30 India delegation press conference 12.00 - 13.00 "Family photo" of the heads of state and government 13.00 Gordon Brown press conference 12.00 - 14.00 Statements from observer organisations 13:00 - 14.45 Lunch 14.30 US delegation press conference 14.30 China delegation press conference 15.00 Plenary summit meeting to adopt the outcome of the conference 17.00 Brown "wheels up" to Denmark airport | ['environment/copenhagen', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/barack-obama', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'politics/gordon-brown', 'tone/news', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanwatts'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-12-18T08:48:21Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
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