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world/2011/aug/29/divers-war-submarine-disaster | Divers survey Scottish graveyard of first world war submarine disaster | An underwater war grave containing the victims of one of the worst British naval disasters of the first world war has been surveyed for the first time so it can be preserved in the middle of a windfarm. The two K Class submarines were destroyed on 31 January 1918 during the so-called battle of the Isle of May, in which 270 lives were lost. The two submarines were sunk and three more damaged along with a surface cruiser. But no enemy ships were involved in the sinkings, 20 miles off Fife Ness on Scotland's east coast. The deaths were all caused by a series of night-time collisions within the British fleet. So embarrassing was the incident that even though one officer was court-martialed, the facts were not generally admitted for more than 60 years, until after the death of the last survivor. Jim Rae, secretary of the Scottish branch of the Submariners Association, said: "It was an absolute bloody disaster from the beginning. The K Class submarines did not have a very impressive record. You can see why those who served in them were known as the suicide club." The submarines proved far more lethal to their crews than to the enemy, so much so that the K was said to stand for Kalamity. Driven by oil-fired steam turbine engines, they were large and cumbersome, too slow to keep up with surface ships, hard to manoeuvre and stifling for their crews. Of the 18 that were built, none were lost in action but six were sunk in accidental collisions. In January 1918, as British warships steamed north from Rosyth to join their fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, they were accompanied by two flotillas of the submarines. The first two subs found themselves bearing down on two minesweepers and changed course. The third, K14, veered to starboard to avoid colliding with them but performed a complete circle as its rudder jammed. That brought it back into line just in time to be rammed by the last submarine in the group, K22. A battlecruiser, HMS Inflexible, then ploughed into K22. The first ships in the convoy turned back to rescue the submarines and steamed straight into the chaos. A cruiser, HMS Fearless, rammed K17, another of the subs, sinking it within eight minutes. Then two further submarines, K4 and K6, collided. To complete the disaster, a destroyer then carved through the survivors of K17, killing many of those who had been left in the water. The entire 59-man crew of K4 was lost and all but eight of K17's. The Royal Navy hushed up the catastrophe and it was not until 2002 that a commemorative plaque was erected on a cairn in Anstruther, the nearest village on the coast, though even that does not refer to the cause of the loss of life. The Submariners' Association does, however, now hold an annual commemorative service. The site of the two sunken submarines, 100 metres apart and about 50 metres down, has long been known, but the wrecks have now been surveyed by divers from the specialist marine consultants EMU. The area is the proposed site for an offshore windfarm, known as the Neart na Gaoithe project, developed by a company called Mainstream Renewable Power. The project aims to generate 450MW of renewable energy and may eventually provide enough to power 325,000 Scottish homes. The developers claim it will offset more than 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, and contribute towards the Scottish government's target of generating the equivalent of all the country's energy demands from renewable resources by 2020. | ['world/firstworldwar', 'uk/royal-navy', 'uk/scotland', 'uk/uk', 'uk/military', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/stephenbates', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2011-08-29T14:40:59Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2023/dec/22/2023-governments-climate-crisis-persecute-activists-silenced | 2023 was the year governments looked at the climate crisis – and decided to persecute the activists | Owen Jones | Injustice is easy to oppose after it has receded into the past, and there is no cost to imagining yourself as a hero long after the event. Everyone celebrates the suffragettes now, but at the time they were vilified as hateful spinsters and terrorists. McCarthyism is a pejorative political label on right and left alike now, but at his peak, more Americans approved of Senator Joseph McCarthy than frowned on his witch-hunt. Most people would like to believe they’d have stood up against the homophobia of 1980s Britain – yet, by 1987, only 11% of the British public believed same-sex relations to be “not wrong at all”. Which takes us to climate activism. This year has seen a global onslaught against people agitating for more action to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis. Courts can issue stern judgments, but so can history, and you have to wonder its future verdict on how the persecution and silencing of those raising the alarm only escalated when the scientific evidence had become so cast-iron, and when extreme weather events hammered home the imminent danger facing the human species. Here in Britain, a government which is reneging on its climate commitments – not least by expanding oil and gas licences – is simultaneously introducing repressive legislation to silence those holding them to account. After punitive sentences were handed down to climate activists, the UN’s rapporteur for climate change and human rights suggested in November that the sentences potentially breached international law. Indeed, earlier this month, the 57-year old climate activist Stephen Gingell was sentenced to six months in prison. His crime? Participating in a peaceful slow march in protest against new oil and gas licences – something that is now prohibited by the Public Order Act 2023. In the space of a month, at least 470 peaceful protesters were arrested with the aid of the raft of authoritarian measures driven through by Tory rule. Like the climate emergency itself, the persecution of those fighting it is a global phenomenon. At the recent Cop28 summit in Dubai, protesters suffered restrictions on what they and their signs could say and where they could walk. The French government outlawed the climate activist group Earth Uprising under the dubious pretext that it fomented violence; this was rightly labelled by human rights activists as appearing “wholly disproportionate in violation of France’s obligations under international law”. In Australia, new laws imposed steeper prison sentences and fines against climate protesters: all this, as Human Rights Watch notes, as the country faces “an onslaught of record-breaking temperatures, floods, and bushfires in recent years”. In New South Wales, meanwhile, punitive laws to crack down on climate protesters were last week ruled to be unconstitutional because they undermined “freedom of political communication”. Meanwhile, climate activists suffer coordinated attempts to portray them as dangerous extremists. Take the Atlas Network, an influential global grouping of rightwing thinktanks: it has helped lead campaigns across the world to demonise climate activists as dangerous extremists. A report by the climate platform DeSmog argues that this has had real consequences: from the portrayal of the German climate movement Last Generation as de facto terrorists, which helped lay the foundation for police raids against its activists, to the British thinktank Policy Exchange, which is reportedly part of Atlas, publishing a report denouncing Extinction Rebellion as an “extremist organisation seeking the breakdown of liberal democracy and the rule of law”. Rishi Sunak later said that Policy Exchange’s work had helped the government in drafting its legislation to crack down on such protesters. Again, what will our descendants think, not least as they inhabit a world battered by the consequences of today’s failures to address an existential emergency, knowing we were in full possession of the facts? Two months ago, an international team of scientists warned the Earth’s vital signs were in a worse state than in any time in human history, imperilling the future of life itself. From extreme weather events to drought, famine to forced population movements, a bleak future beckons unless the warnings of embattled climate activists are heeded. What is happening is hardly subtle. There is a calculated attempt to claim that the real extremists are not those who imperil our world’s future by fighting policies that would limit carbon emissions, but those seeking to prevent impending calamity. The truth is these climate activists are being targeted not because they are protesting in the wrong way or because their methods are counterproductive, but because they have secured such a considerable platform to make the climate emergency a more salient and discussed issue. Understandably, vested interests profiteering at the expense of the planet have every motive to shut them up. There are politicians with loud voices who acknowledge that the climate emergency is indeed real, but either say nothing when these climate activists face coordinated campaigns to silence them, or even render themselves complicit. In hindsight, it seems so obvious to accept the righteousness of those who fought for the rights of women to vote, or who stood against McCarthyite intimidation, or who fought for gay rights. But these were often lonely battles, and those vindicated by history paid heavy costs at the time. If the climate activists warning of the gravest threat humanity has yet faced are silenced into 2024, we all may find ourselves paying an intolerable price. Owen Jones 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', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/protest', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/thinktanks', 'law/human-rights', 'politics/politics', 'law/law', 'world/activism', 'environment/just-stop-oil', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/owen-jones', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/just-stop-oil | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2023-12-22T12:10:21Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
australia-news/2023/may/25/nsw-renewable-energy-zones-up-to-two-years-behind-schedule | NSW renewable energy zones up to two years behind schedule | New South Wales’ two main renewable energy zones will be delayed for as long as two years and cost more to build with landholder opposition to new transmission lines partly to blame, the energy minister, Penny Sharpe, has said. The Minns government briefed journalists about its network infrastructure strategy on Wednesday, revealing that the central-west Orana zone would not hit its “energisation date” until 2027-28, compared with an initial 2025 target. Similarly, the New England zone will now start in 2029 compared with an initial 2027 goal. The two zones account for the bulk of the new generation capacity laid out in the renewable energy roadmap, drawn up by the previous Coalition government. The central-west Orana area covers almost 21,000 square km, with the new network able to accommodate 4.5 gigawatts of capacity for new wind and solar farms at a cost of $3.2bn. The New England zone, covering almost 15,500 square km, will provide an initial network capacity of 2.4GW and cost $4.2bn. Initial costings in 2020 had put the cost of $400m-$800m for the central-west Orana alone, Sharpe said, adding “there was not a lot of information” about the network details before she took over the portfolio. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup “This is the detailed work for the first time that’s been done, rather than what I would call a bit of a ‘back of the envelope’ and a bit of guessing that went on in 2020,” she said. The delays add to other hurdles in the race to build sufficient new generation capacity and storage in NSW and others states to replace coal-fired power stations as they close. This month Snowy Hydro admitted its giant pumped hydro plant would be delayed until as late as 2029 compared with a 2025 initial target. Sharpe, though, said the snags would not put the state at risk of power outages. “It’s very challenging as the incoming minister to be told that things are going to cost more and take longer,” she said. There’s “the need for us to look and squeeze the entire planning around this” and to ensure the plans won’t slip further. “We are not going to allow the lights to go off,” Sharpe said, “We are not going to be turning off [coal-fired] generation that needs to be made if this other stuff’s not in place.” Origin Energy’s plan to close its 2800-megawatt Eraring power station in August 2025 remains an issue for the government. Sharpe said delays in the renewable zones were because the previous government’s timetables “didn’t include the need to work with communities, and to do that properly”. Matt Kean, Sharpe’s predecessor and chief architect of the state’s renewables road map, said since the plan had been legislated in 2020, Covid triggered “huge labour shortages and massive supply chain cost escalations and capacity constraints in the broader market”. “This has been seen around the world on major infrastructure projects,” Kean said. The Coalition government had also increased the payments to landholders affected by new transmission lines, raising the fees from $5,000 a kilometre to $200,000, he said. The costs of the new transmission will be picked up by the network operators who will pass them to consumers. | ['australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'australia-news/matt-kean', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2023-05-24T15:00:13Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2021/nov/17/what-are-atmospheric-rivers | What are atmospheric rivers? | Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of water vapour in the atmosphere that extend from the tropics to higher latitudes, acting like a pipe in the sky. These columns of vapour, typically between 250 and 375 miles wide, move with the weather and can transport up to 15 times the volume of the Mississippi River. When atmospheric rivers make landfall, they release moisture in the form of rain or snow – and this is often a crucial contribution to water supplies. Precipitation from atmospheric rivers is thought to contribute about 20% of the Earth’s total water flow. In some regions, particularly the east and west coast of North America, south-east Asia and New Zealand, this can be more than 50%. However, atmospheric rivers are also linked to dramatic weather events such as the torrential rain that has led to devastating flooding in southern British Columbia and north-western Washington state on Monday. This weather event was driven by an atmospheric river, known as “the Pineapple Express” that funnels warm water vapour from near Hawaii to the US west coast. As the climate warms, an increase in air moisture means that atmospheric rivers are projected to become more intense, larger and carry higher volumes of water vapour. There is some indication that this is already happening in association with observed Pacific Ocean warming. | ['world/extreme-weather', 'us-news/us-weather', 'weather/canada', 'us-news/washington-state', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'tone/explainers', 'profile/hannah-devlin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-11-17T19:55:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/commentisfree/2017/jul/07/plastic-free-july-cutting-down-single-use-plastics-is-easier-than-it-seems | Plastic free July: cutting down single use plastics is easier than it seems | By now, we all know the horrors of plastic. The way it hangs around without biodegrading for centuries, the way it’s clogging the stomachs of birds, how it creates islands in the ocean for marine life to get stuck in, how it pollutes our riverways and motorways as non-biodegradable rubbish. Yet it’s everywhere. If you want a takeaway coffee, there’s plastic lining in about 99% of disposable cups. If you want a sandwich at a deli, it’s more than likely going to be wrapped in plastic. Even when you’re doing your very best to be healthy, a two litre milk comes in a plastic container and most major supermarkets produce is wrapped or bagged in plastic. Following hot on the heels of the ABC’s illuminating tv show WarOnWaste, it’s time for Plastic Free July, an initiative which asks people to stay away from single use plastic – the plastic you get to gather your fruits and vegetables, the plastic bags you use to transport your shopping home, the soft drink bottles, the toilet paper wrapped in plastic. When you look around shops, and even the items in your home, you’ll find single use plastic is seemingly limitless. So what to do? How do you go plastic free without having to buy everything in overpriced organic stores? It also seems when you start out that the equipment (stainless steel bottles and containers) you need to go plastic free is expensive. That’s not the case. I’m by no means a perfect plastic free person. In fact, junk food kept me consuming plastic for a lot longer than it should have. That said, I’m trying to be a frugal person, so I’ve learned a few tricks that might help you. Stop eating junk food So we all know junk food is the pits for our health, but it’s also the pits for the environment. How many Mars and Snickers bars have you seen wrapped in recyclable paper? Not only do the wrappers break down into tiny bits of plastic that can easily get lodged in the guts of a perfectly healthy sea bird, but just take a look along your local highway and what’s the litter you see? Junk food wrappers. Plus they’re expensive. Turf junk food. Take your own cutlery and tea towels Often when we’re eating takeaway, we’re given plastic knives, forks and spoons. And, be honest, how often do you use them again? Approximately never? Take the knife, fork and spoon that doesn’t match the rest of your home set and wrap it in a tea towel. And, if you don’t have a spare set, pop into your local op shop. And there you have it, cutlery and a serviette harming nothing. Figure out what to do with leftovers As you probably know, food waste is one of the environment’s worst offenders. When trapped inside a plastic bag and put into landfill, it releases methane into the atmosphere. To save money, make sure you always have a glass container with you (an old instant coffee jar or the like) and take the food home with you for dinner or breakfast the next morning. Use your own cup Do we really need to go through this again? The coffee cup thing? Disposable coffee cups are environmental devils, with a thin film of plastic on the inside. Occasionally you’ll see businesses with fully biodegradable cups, but do you have time to shred it and add it to your compost? I don’t. So, if you can’t afford a reusable cup and you must have coffee, drink it inside, or bring your own mug and ask for it to be filled just enough so you can walk with it. Or don’t have a coffee. Make your own yoghurt My favourite yoghurt is $6.99 for half a litre, and although it’s in a plastic container that’s not technically single-use plastic, I still feel guilty buying it. So I started making my own yoghurt. I buy two litres of recyclable glass-bottled milk for $3.50 a bottle, and make almost a litre and a half of yoghurt. The yoghurt is delicious and I save loads of money. If you wanted to use paper-carton milk, you’d save even more. Hunt through your cupboards There are so many things you have in your cupboards that will negate having to use gladwrap and plastic bags. If you’re adept with a needle or sewing machine, turn your old tea towels into vegetable bags. If you’re not, use your old pillow cases. Look through the cupboards and find every empty jar or empty container and put it to use – packing the kids lunches or making your own cheese or yogurt, not contributing to food waste by chucking out that little bit of soup or left overs. You can do it! We all can do it! | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'lifeandstyle/conscious-living', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/melanie-tait', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-07T21:00:36Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2021/dec/01/nuclear-deal-talks-in-vienna-told-of-iran-start-to-uranium-enrichment | Iran preparing to enrich uranium, nuclear deal talks in Vienna told | Iran sought to heighten pressure on western negotiators in Vienna through increasing its use of advanced centrifuges as talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal carried on for a third day on Wednesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Wednesday that Iran had started the process of enriching uranium to up to 20% purity with one cascade, or cluster, of 166 advanced IR-6 machines at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant, which is about 20 miles north-east of Qom. Those machines are far more efficient than the first-generation IR-1. The IAEA said it would “increase the frequency of verification activities at the plant and continue consultations with Iran on practical arrangements to facilitate implementation of these activities”. The Iranian government’s chief spokesman accused Israel of lying to poison the atmosphere in the negotiations. “Israeli regime whose existence relies on tension is at it again, trumpeting lies to poison Vienna talks,” Saeed Khatibzadeh, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman posted on Twitter. “All parties in the room now face a test of their independence & political will to carry out the job irrespective of the fake news designed to destroy prospects for success.” Reports at the weekend claimed Israel had shared intelligence over the past two weeks with the US and several European allies suggesting that Iran was taking technical steps to prepare to enrich uranium to 90% purity, the level needed for a nuclear weapon. In a statement after meeting the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the Israeli foreign minister, Yair Lapid, on Tuesday said Iran was trying to buy time to advance its nuclear programme and that major powers needed to come up with a different approach. In a further sign of the difficulties ahead, the influential Iranian parliamentary research unit presented in English for the first time the kind of benchmarks and procedures Iran will set to verify that US sanctions have been lifted – its precondition for compliance. The report calls for the designation of an Iranian body to oversee verification of sanctions relief, publishing reports each quarter. The body would have three tasks. These would be assessing the impact of sanctions removal, establishing a mechanism so that any Iranian person or entity can submit a complaint about issues relating to sanctions relief, and preparing an action plan for decreasing nuclear commitments in the event that other parties to the deal renege on their commitments. The document also seeks a written commitment from neighbouring countries not to take action against foreign entities willing to engage Iran economically. Also required would be US official statements proclaiming that medium- and long-term economic engagement with Iran was permissible, and promising to refrain from any action damaging engagement with Iran. | ['world/iran-nuclear-deal', 'world/iran', 'world/iaea', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/nuclear-weapons', 'world/israel', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/europe-news', 'world/middleeast', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrickwintour', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2021-12-01T19:41:07Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2013/dec/06/flood-warnings-towns-clear-up-record-storm-surge-uk | Flood warnings continue as towns begin clear-up after record storm surge | People living in areas vulnerable to flooding were on Friday urged to be extremely cautious over the weekend despite a weakening in the sea surge that threatened havoc along eastern coastlines over Thursday night. As towns began clearing up after high tides flooded homes and other buildings, ministers warned the crisis was not over and the Environment Agency told people to continue taking extra care. By mid-afternoon on Friday about 1,400 properties were thought to have been flooded by record tides and about 15,000 people evacuated the previous night returned to their homes and businesses to review the damage. Flood defences, said to have protected about 800,000 properties, and flood warnings were credited with saving lives by authorities. Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, said there will still be extremely high tides on Saturday. "I would urge everybody to pay very close attention to advice from the Environment Agency and also to follow instructions from the police, local government and emergency services." The Met Office, while warning the country was "not out of the woods", said the worst of the weather was over. Tides at the Thames Barrier, which was closed on Thursday and Friday, were the highest since it became fully operational in 1984. The tide at Dover was 4.7 metres above average sea levels, the highest since 1905, and at Hull 5.8 metres, the highest level since records began more than 150 years ago. Although the flooding was not as bad as expected, road and rail travel was disrupted and in some areas, such as Boston in Lincolnshire, schools were closed. Many people, however, were still counting the cost of Thursday's storm surges. In Boston, Daniel Philpott, owner of the Britannia pub, looked exhausted as he surveyed fridges, freezers and sodden carpet. Thousands of pounds worth of contaminated stock had been cleared. "About 7 o'clock [on Thursday], water was coming through the garden, through the kitchen, and into the pub. We set up boards and tried to barricade it, but the water was coming, we had to evacuate." When he came back to the kitchen, he found crockery floating around as if it were in a swimming pool. With no heating or electricity on Friday, the pub had a fire burning, and was filled with a smoky air as staff tried to clean off the grills, determined to get in order in time to open that night. "I'll need a drink by then," Philpott said. A few doors down, the carpets were sodden in the office of Julie Collishaw. An accountant with a mountain of tax returns to do, this is her busiest time of year, but half her filing cabinets were standing open as she tried to dry her papers out. "Everything is wet," she said. "These are all my records, it's going to be an interesting job to tidy up. But it is what it is. You can't fight water, not that amount of water. I don't think there's anything anyone could do. You just have to take it one step at a time." Surveying the damage, one landlady said: "I don't know where you start." Humberside police praised those living along the east Yorkshire coast and Humber estuary. Stuart Donald, assistant chief constable, said he had been delighted with the way agencies and the public had responded to the crisis, at the height of which there were 16 severe flood warnings indicating danger to life in that area alone. Humberside fire and rescue service said it had rescued 181 people as it dealt with 186 flooding incidents. In Norfolk, police said: "There is still a potential for normal winter flooding to affect certain areas and in particular the Broads river system. Some flood defences are described as 'battered and bruised' with agencies assessing the need to repair any potential damage over the coming days." The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said two women, two young babies in pushchairs and a dog had been rescued after being hit by a large wave at Louisa Bay in Broadstairs, Kent. About 250 seal pups were reported to be missing from a breeding ground at Horsey, Norfolk. The volunteer group monitoring them said 177 pups were counted after a second tidal surge on Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day 440 were counted on the beach where grey seals come ashore each winter. Late on Friday afternoon, a dozen severe flood warnings remained in force, along with 63 flood warnings and 38 less serious flood alerts. | ['uk/weather', 'environment/flooding', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment-agency', 'society/emergency-services', 'society/society', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/jamesmeikle', 'profile/andrewsparrow', 'profile/laura-dixon', 'profile/andrewculf', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-12-06T18:28:17Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/nils-pratley-on-finance/article/2024/may/14/anglo-american-breakup-overdue-bhp | Anglo American’s breakup is overdue. BHP must have seen it coming | Nils Pratley | Get rid of the bad bits, keep the good ones. Anglo American’s defence strategy cannot be called original – especially as half of it is borrowed from the approach of the would-be bidder, BHP. One could also ask why, since Anglo has been simplifying itself for about two decades already, its board required the heat of a £34bn takeover battle to discover more urgency. But there is a genuine plus in the mix: Anglo’s breakup plan is plainly more radical than anything it has attempted in the recent past. It also achieves the first requirement of a quasi-defence document by putting the onus on the bidder to come up with a real bid or shut up. BHP, if it wants to own Anglo’s best assets, will have to table a clean offer for the whole collection, as opposed to making a complex approach to own two-thirds of the company as long as the defender demerges the unwanted other third beforehand. In a showdown between the two “complicated” breakup visions for Anglo’s short-term future, the defender’s plan looks superior: clean the decks first and then, if returns are still inadequate in a few years’ time, a conventional bid battle can be allowed to happen. The assets deemed by Anglo as worth retaining are copper, iron ore and crop nutrients – the last being the planned fertiliser mine under the North York Moors, which was acquired in 2020 and is the only “Anglo” part of Anglo aside from the head office. As a portfolio, yes, two of those parts make sense. Copper is the go-to metal for electrification of the world’s energy systems; iron ore never goes out of fashion. The loose element is the Woodsmith mine near Whitby, which has been a money pit to this point. Anglo now says it will slash investment to zero in 2026 to protect its balance sheet. When will first production happen? Answers are noncommittal. That is the weakness in the plan: even with the offloading of other assets, the group is still muttering about recruiting “one or more strategic partners” to help fund a “multigenerational resource”. But there’s not much to complain about in the exit corner. Anglo American Platinum, which already has a separate listing in Johannesburg, will be demerged; nickel put on “care and maintenance”; the 85% stake in diamond giant De Beers will be sold; coking coal in Australia is also up for grabs. None of that is problematic because most of those assets are reasons why Anglo’s shares labour under a conglomerate discount. BHP, which would have kept the coking coal in Queensland, might be interested in that asset. Some sovereign wealth fund or other might want De Beers. The future-looking question is how long Anglo will take to complete its rejig. The chief executive, Duncan Wanblad, reckons most of the job will be done by the end of 2025, which would count as reasonably slick if achieved. At that point, Anglo would be in a position where it would either perform for its shareholders or represent a cleaner takeover target. The immediate question is whether BHP comes back with a fresh approach. The market’s guess was no, which is why Anglo’s shares fell 3% on Tuesday. But it would be an odd tactic on the part of the BHP boss, Mike Henry, to make a weird-looking initial offer and then bow out when Anglo adopts a predictable breakup defence. Henry has either played this all wrong, or else he’s yet to show his true cards. | ['business/nils-pratley-on-finance', 'business/anglo-american', 'business/mining', 'business/bhpbilliton', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/mining', 'business/mergers-and-acquisitions', 'uk/uk', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nilspratley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2024-05-14T18:02:04Z | true | ENERGY |
global-development/2013/aug/20/coastal-flood-damage-2050 | Coastal flood damage could soar to $1tn a year by 2050 | Flood damage in 136 of the world's largest coastal cities could soar to $1tn (£640bn) a year by 2050, because of climate change combined with rapid population increases, economic growth, and subsiding land, according to a study. The report by Nature Climate Change says the cities at greatest risk, as measured by annual average flood losses, are Guangzhou (China), Miami (US), New York (US), New Orleans (US), Mumbai (India), Nagoya (Japan), Tampa-St Petersburg (US), Boston (US), Shenzen (China) and Osaka-Kobe (Japan). Owing to their high wealth and low flood protection, Miami, New York and New Orleans comprise 31% of total losses. Adding Guangzhou, the four top cities account for 43% of global losses as of 2005, when the cost of worldwide flood damage was an estimated $6bn a year. Total dollar cost is one way to assess risk; another is to look at annual losses as a percentage of a city's wealth, a proxy for local vulnerability. Using this measure, Guangzhou, Guayaquil (Ecuador), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and Abidjan (Ivory Coast) are among the most vulnerable. Flood defences were typically designed for past conditions, so even a moderate rise in sea level would lead to soaring losses in the absence of adaptation, the study warns. Inaction, it adds, could lead to losses in excess of $1tn a year. Coastal cities will, therefore, have to improve their flood management, including better defences, at an estimated cost of $50bn annually for the 136 cities. The estimated adaptation costs are far below estimates of annual aggregate damage losses, should improvement measures not be introduced. The study echoes a report in May by the UN office for disaster risk reduction (UNISDR) which warns that it will become increasingly untenable for governments and businesses to sweep the risk of disaster under the carpet, citing the examples of hurricane Sandy in the US, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the Thai river floods. The UNISDR report also says economic losses from disasters have spun out of control, and called on the business community to incorporate disaster risk management into their investment strategies to avoid further losses. The study, entitled Creating shared value: the business case for disaster risk reduction, reviewed disaster losses in 56 countries. It found that direct losses from floods, earthquakes and drought have been underestimated by at least half. This century, losses from disasters have amounted to $2.5tn. Even with better protection, the magnitude of losses will increase – often by more than 50% – when a flood occurs. Dr Stephane Hallegatte, author of the Nature Climate Change study, said: "There is a limit to what can be achieved with hard protection: populations and assets will remain vulnerable to defence failures or to exceptional events that exceed the protection design." To help cities deal with disasters, policymakers should consider early warning systems, evacuation planning, more resilient infrastructure, and financial support to rebuild economies, the report says. To estimate the impact of future climate change, the study assumes that mean sea level – including contributions from melting ice sheets – will rise 0.2-0.4 metres by 2050. About a quarter of the 136 cities are in deltas and exposed to local subsidence and sea-level change, especially where groundwater extraction accelerates natural processes. | ['global-development/global-development', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/population', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/marktran'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-08-20T16:54:06Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2015/jul/15/japan-accused-of-falsifying-whaling-data | Japan accused of falsifying whaling data | Japanese whaling fleets have been accused of systematically falsifying data on the number and size of sperm whales they killed in the late 1960s, calling into question our understanding of current whale populations. A study has compared official Japanese whaling data submitted to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) with formerly secret internal Soviet whaling industry reports. The findings suggest the Japanese caught large amounts of small illegal-sized whales, but reported these as lower numbers of larger whales – for example, counting two smaller whales as one legal-sized animal. Our understanding of how whales recover from being hunted is dependent on determining a ‘baseline’ whale population, from before widespread whaling. Since this is based on historical catch data, the Japanese misreporting could have a significant impact on our knowledge of how whale numbers react to whaling, suggests Andrew Brierley, a marine ecologist at the Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews. “If there’s been unreported catches, then we don’t know how many whales have been taken from the population,” he said. “This could mean our understanding of how the population is responding to fishing could be wrong.” 760,000 sperm whales were killed in the 20th century, with some 315,000 caught in the North Pacific alone. The vast majority of these were hunted by Japanese and Soviet fleets. It is well known that Soviet whaling fleets lied to the IWC in official reports in the 1960s and ‘70s. However, industry documentation, declassified in the 1990s, has provided accurate data on Soviet catch statistics. Researchers at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Alaska compared this accurate Soviet data with the official data the Japanese submitted to the IWC in 1968-69. In particular, they compared the number of legal-sized female sperm whales – those over 11.6m in length – reported by both countries. The findings, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday, showed the Japanese reported catching 15 times more legal-sized female sperm whales than the Russians, despite fishing the same seas at the same time, and the Soviets having a larger fleet. Japanese figures reported that 97.3% of the females they caught were of a legal size, compared to just 6.6% of the females the Soviets caught. The authors conclude that such disparity is just not possible, and indicates extensive and intentional misreporting of the killing of sperm whales by Japanese fleets at the time. The apparent deception was made possible as whaling was not subject to independent inspection until the introduction of an International Observer Scheme, set up by the IWC in 1972. After this, falsifying catch data became more difficult, although there are still reports of international observers failing to report infractions, either through distraction or direct collusion. Given the ease and temptation to misreport catch data, the scientists suggest any future whaling activities should be monitored by a comprehensive and transparent independent observer scheme, a finding supported by Brierley. “We have to have faith that the numbers reported today are those that are caught,” he said. “But unless you have an independent observer on the boat, it’s very hard to know.” | ['environment/whaling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/whales', 'environment/cetaceans', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'world/russia', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/philip-oldfield'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-07-15T12:51:34Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2019/jan/11/wet-wipes-fine-to-flush-label-fatbergs-water-companies | 'Fine to flush' label for wet wipes to aid fight against fatbergs | The fight to eliminate “fatbergs” is to receive a major boost with the launch of a universal standard for wet wipes, clarifying which can be safely flushed down the toilet. Manufacturers of wipes will be able to use a “fine to flush” symbol on their packaging – drawn up by the water industry – provided they pass stringent tests. The logo aims to reassure consumers that the products do not contain plastic and will break down in the sewer system instead of clogging up sewers and contributing to fatbergs. Michael Roberts, the chief executive of Water UK, which represents major water and sewerage companies in Britain, said: “This is an important step in the battle against blockages. We’ve all seen the impact of fatbergs, and we want to see fewer of them. “Improving the environment is at the core of what the water industry does, and the new ‘fine to flush’ standard that we’ve created will make it easier for consumers to buy an environmentally friendly product instead of one which clogs up drains and sewers.” Cities across the world are growing used to the scourge of subterranean fatbergs – caused mainly by a buildup of wet wipes, fats, oils and grease into a solid mass. These include a 250-metre fatberg in Whitechapel in London in 2017, which weighed as much as 19 elephants, and a 64-metre fatberg discovered this week in Sidmouth, Devon. In 2017, the biggest investigation of sewer blockages in UK history showed wipes flushed down toilets caused serious problems in the sewerage system. The study found non-flushable wet wipes could account for about 93% of the material causing blockages. The industry has long been campaigning to stamp out “misleading” labelling of many wipes described as flushable, but that do not break down quickly when they enter the sewer system. Laura Foster, the head of clean seas at the Marine Conservation Society, said: “In 2018, during our annual Great British Beach Clean and survey, we found on average 12 wet wipes per 100 metres of beach cleaned – an increase of more than 300% over the past decade. We want a simple system where a product is either clearly labelled as ‘do not flush’ or has passed the ‘fine to flush’ standard.” | ['environment/waste', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-01-11T06:01:03Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
news/2018/jul/06/weatherwatch-heat-burst-texas-midnight | Weatherwatch: midnight temperatures soar in Texas heat burst | Things usually cool down after dark, but shortly after midnight on 24 June the temperature rose rapidly from 30C (86F) to 37C (99F) in the Texas town of Breckenridge. This made it briefly the hottest place in the Western hemisphere, thanks to an effect known as a heat burst. On hot summer days, rising warm air often produces enormous anvil-shaped clouds. These clouds may release an evening shower of rain into dry air below. The rain evaporates, cooling the air suddenly so it starts to sink. The mass of falling air heats up as the pressure increases, but momentum keeps it going down until it reaches the ground and fans outwards. Witnesses experience a blast of hot dry air like a hairdryer – in Breckenridge 47mph (75kph) gusts were recorded. Heat bursts are comparatively rare, with June being the month when they are most likely. Microburst storms, in which the downward-moving mass of air is accompanied intense rain or hail, are more common, but lack the heating effect. More powerful heat bursts than Breckenridge have been recorded. Buildings were damaged in 70mph winds from a 2004 Nebraska heat burst, but tales of a 1960 Texas event in which growing cotton was scorched and corn roasted on the stalk are probably exaggerated. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/texas', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-07-06T20:30:09Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/jun/27/uks-biggest-carbon-capture-project-is-step-change-on-emissions | UK's biggest carbon capture project is step-change on emissions | The UK’s biggest carbon capture project will soon block thousands of tonnes of factory emissions from contributing to the climate crisis, by using them to help make the chemicals found in antacid, eyedrops and Pot Noodle. Within two years a chemical plant in Cheshire could keep 40,000 tonnes of carbon from the air every year, or the equivalent of removing 22,000 cars from the UK’s roads. The plant’s owners, a division of the Indian-owned Tata conglomerate, will then use the captured carbon to make the chemicals found in glass, baking soda or even medicine. The project is a step-change in the UK’s battle to cut carbon emissions from heavy industry and will capture more than 100 times the carbon dioxide trapped by an existing trial at the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire. The plans are backed by the government, which has agreed to give Tata Chemicals Europe a £4.2m grant towards the £16.7m cost of the project. Drax will receive a £5m government grant for a pilot, which could keep up to 16m tonnes of carbon from the air by the mid-2020s. In total the government plans to spend £26m to spur nine carbon capture projects which are “essential” if the UK hopes to reach its goal of cutting carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. It is also spending £170m to create a net zero carbon “industrial cluster” in the UK by 2040. Carbon capture effectively traps the emissions from power plants or factory flues before they enter the atmosphere and contribute to global heating. The trapped carbon dioxide could be piped into permanent underground storage facilities, but it can also be purified to make products. Tata plans to refine the carbon emissions to make a high-grade liquid version of carbon dioxide which will help make sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda. The company is the only UK-based maker of baking soda which is in high demand by the pharmaceutical sector to help treat conditions from heartburn to kidney disease. It is also found in ear and eye drops. Tata is also the only company in the UK which produces soda ash, or sodium carbonate, which is used to make detergents, lemon sherbet power and glass. Martin Ashcroft, head of Tata Chemicals Europe, said the “hugely exciting” project would help to “reduce our carbon emissions, whilst securing supplies of a critical raw material”. Tata also owns one of India’s biggest energy companies and has promised to end investment in coal plants to focus of wind and solar power. Chris Skidmore, the minister for energy and clean growth, said: “Cutting edge technology to capture carbon will cut emissions as we work towards a net zero economy, while creating new jobs – a key part of our modern industrial strategy.” | ['environment/carbon-capture-and-storage', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'business/energy-industry', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/carbon-capture-and-storage | EMISSIONS | 2019-06-26T23:01:28Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2008/jan/21/whaling.conservation | Whalers accuse Australia of helping activists' 'illegal actions' | Japanese whaling authorities have accused Australia of offering "limousine service" to the environmental activists who leaped aboard a harpoon vessel last week in a dramatic encounter in the Antarctic. Giles Lane, 35, from East Sussex, and Benjamin Potts, 28, Australian, were transferred to an Australian coast guard vessel, the Oceanic Viking, three days after boarding the Yushin Maru No 2 to demand the fleet end its pursuit of 1,000 whales. The men, both members of the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd, were briefly tied up and then kept in a locked room as Japan and Australia tried to negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff. Since, the Japanese Whaling Association has accused the Australian government of being far too lenient on the pair after the Oceanic Viking returned them to the Sea Shepherd vessel, the Steve Irwin. Barely an hour after they were rescued, Sea Shepherd activists assailed the Japanese vessel with a volley of "stink bombs". "[Australia] should have detained the two illegal intruders and held them on board the Oceanic Viking for investigation into their criminal activities," the association's president, Keiichi Nakajima, said. "But it is obvious they would rather assist Sea Shepherd with its violent illegal actions against Japan's perfectly legal research programme." Nakajima accused Canberra of reneging on its commitment to protect countries conducting scientific whaling from protesters. However, Australia said it had returned the two men at the request of the Japanese government. The federal police are reportedly investigating the circumstances surrounding the boarding of the ship. "I don't see any reason why Australia should take any action against us," the Steve Irwin's captain, Paul Watson, told the Guardian. "There is incredible support for us in Australia. If they are going to arrest anyone, it should be the Japanese." Separate actions by Sea Shepherd and its rival, Greenpeace, have prevented the fleet from killing any whales for 10 days. The whalers are reportedly one-third of the way into their mission to slaughter 935 minke and 50 fin whales by mid-April. | ['environment/whaling', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/japan', 'environment/whales', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2008-01-21T09:52:49Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2007/aug/14/theairlineindustry.environment | Climate campaigners plan 'smart clothes' protest | Activists at the Heathrow climate camp have been told to bring smart clothing as part of a plan to disrupt the airport, it emerged today. Organiser John Jordan confirmed that an email has been sent to protesters urging them to pack formal clothes and air stewardess uniforms. He said protesters may choose to target businesses around Heathrow and will use smart clothing to blend in with ordinary workers. But he rejected suggestions that the air stewardess uniforms would be used to infiltrate the airport and breach security. Mr Jordan said the uniforms were for a song and dance protest at the camp. "If BAA think they are real stewardesses they have got really bad fashion sense," he said. "Our quarrel is with the corporation and the government, it's not with the passengers," he said. Those running the camp have complained to the Press Complaints Commission about an article in yesterday's Evening Standard that claimed militant protesters were plotting to use hoax suspicious packages at the airport. They have invited the paper's editor, Veronica Wadley, to come to the site, and offered to make her a cup of tea if she can provide any evidence to support the story. Media management at the site remains very tight. All journalists must be chaperoned and are not allowed to step off the designated pathways. A slow but steady stream of protesters has arrived at the camp today, although there appears to be one journalist for every two protesters. Organisers said they are expecting 2,000 people by the weekend when direct action against the airport is planned. Up to 1,800 police officers are expected to deploy at the camp, in the course of the eight-day protest. Yesterday, around 250 people set up the camp on land owned by Imperial College, just to the north of the airport. Campaigner Leila Harris said illegal protests could not be ruled out, but said the safety of passengers would not be jeopardised. "It will be an action that is agreed upon by consensus of all those at the camp," she said. "We have ruled out going on the runways or anywhere near the planes. That's for our safety, the safety of passengers and for everyone else." Relations between the camp and the police remain tense, after officers said they would use anti-terror laws to control the protest. Camp spokeswoman Alex Harvey said: "It is absolutely diabolical to be using terrorism powers in this way. We are not terrorists. It is a complete abuse of these laws." Four policemen are stationed inside the camp. Simon Baugh, a spokesman for Heathrow's operator BAA, said security teams were "prepared for any circumstances in which the protesters take direct action". | ['environment/climate-camp', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'environment/kingsnorth', 'uk-news/heathrow-airport', 'type/article', 'profile/matthewweaver', 'profile/helenpidd'] | environment/climate-camp | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2007-08-14T14:18:22Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2021/oct/31/cop26-literally-the-last-chance-saloon-to-save-planet-prince-charles | Cop26 ‘literally the last chance saloon’ to save planet – Prince Charles | Cop26 is “the last chance saloon” to save the world from runaway climate change, Prince Charles has told world leaders in Rome ahead of the crucial climate summit in Glasgow. Speaking to an audience including Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the gathering of the G20 group of industrialised nations, Charles said it was the moment to begin a green-led economic turnaround. “Ladies and gentlemen, Cop26 begins in Glasgow tomorrow,” Charles said. “Quite literally, it is the last chance saloon. We must now translate fine words into still finer actions. “And as the enormity of the climate challenge dominates people’s conversations, from newsrooms to living rooms, and as the future of humanity and nature herself are at stake, it is surely time to set aside our differences and grasp this unique opportunity to launch a substantial green recovery by putting the global economy on a confident, sustainable trajectory and, thus, save our planet. “And, from what they tell me, the private sector is already there, eager to work with you and ready to play a hugely significant and gamechanging role. This is why I am so grateful to have this chance to talk to you here today, and to shine a light not just on how far we’ve come, but also on how far we still need to go.” Charles’s intervention came as Johnson prepared to greet more than 120 world leaders at the start of the two-week Cop gathering on Monday, with the UK prime minister using much of his time at the G20 event to push home a similar message that concerted global action is required. On his way to Rome on Friday, Johnson told reporters that the success of Cop remained in the balance, likening the world’s struggle against the climate emergency to a football team losing 5-1 at half-time. In comments on Saturday, Johnson said a lack of progress in Glasgow could prompt “very difficult geopolitical events” including mass migration and global competition for food and water. In his speech, Charles stressed what he called “our overwhelming responsibility to generations yet unborn”, saying he detected a change in attitudes and “the buildup of positive momentum”. Highlighting the need for the private sector to also tackle the issue, Charles said it would need trillions of dollars of investment every year to limit warming to the target maximum of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. “No government has those sorts of sums, which is why I have spent so much time over the past 19 months trying to form a global alliance amongst the private sector, as I have long believed it holds the ultimate key to the solutions we seek,” he said. Governments in turn needed to provide long-term leadership on the issue, as well as regulatory and financial support, he added. | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'uk/prince-charles', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'uk/monarchy', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'environment/green-economy', 'world/g20', 'business/economics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peterwalker', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-10-31T12:01:06Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
media/2010/aug/13/wikileaks-reporters-without-borders | Press freedom group joins condemnation of WikiLeaks' war logs | A group that campaigns for press freedom has become the latest organisation to condemn WikiLeaks for publication of the leaked Afghanistan war logs. In an open letter to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Reporters Without Borders accused him of "incredible irresponsibility" for publishing the tens of thousands of documents "indiscriminately". WikiLeaks initially withheld around 15,000 of more than 92,000 reports to protect informants but Assange revealed yesterday it is preparing to publish them, once the organisation has finished checking them all. The letter from Reporters Without Borders' secretary-general, Jean-François Julliard, and the organisation's Washington representative, Clothilde Le Coz, acknowledged that WikiLeaks had played a "useful role" in the past, citing its publication of a video of the killing of two employees of the Reuters news agency and other civilians by US military personnel in Baghdad in July 2007. But it criticised Assange for putting the lives of people who had collaborated with US and Nato forces at risk and providing ammunition for governments to put the internet under surveillance. "Revealing the identity of hundreds of people who collaborated with the coalition in Afghanistan is highly dangerous," they wrote. "It would not be hard for the Taliban and other armed groups to use these documents to draw up a list of people for targeting in deadly revenge attacks." They said that the publication of the documents "reflects a real problem of methodology and, therefore, of credibility". On Twitter, WikiLeaks responded by deriding Reporters Without Borders as "Reporters San Fact", accusing the organisation of issuing "some idiot statement, based on a bunch of quotes we never made". Assange said yesterday WikiLeaks was about halfway through reviewing the remaining 15,000 documents but gave no timeframe for their publication. The Pentagon, which has demanded that WikiLeaks delete the cache of secret US military files, reacted with anger to the prospect of further documents being published. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said: "It would compound a mistake that has already put far too many lives at risk," he said. The Pentagon believes it has identified the documents in question and Morrell told the Washington Post they were "potentially more explosive, more sensitive". Reporters Without Borders' criticism follows a letter sent to WikiLeaks by five human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and the Open Society Institute, expressing their concerns about the biggest leak in US military history. Assange, replied to the letter by asking the groups concerned to help WikiLeaks redact the names. He also threatened to expose Amnesty if it refused to provide staff to help with the task, according to the Wall Street Journal. The initial documents were shown to the Guardian, the New York Times and the German weekly Der Spiegel and they published edited extracts with details of the individuals removed. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". | ['media/wikileaks', 'media/press-freedom', 'media/pressandpublishing', 'world/afghanistan', 'world/world', 'media/newspapers', 'media/media', 'world/the-war-logs', 'us-news/us-military', 'us-news/us-foreign-policy', 'tone/news', 'world/war-logs', 'type/article', 'profile/haroonsiddique'] | world/the-war-logs | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2010-08-13T16:36:58Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2019/nov/27/nsw-warned-of-looming-sydney-water-crisis-six-months-ago-cabinet-document-reveals | NSW warned of looming Sydney water crisis six months ago, cabinet document reveals | The New South Wales government was advised six months ago that Sydney’s water storage levels could be at “emergency levels” by May next year unless it started planning immediately. A cabinet-in-confidence document prepared by state-owned agency WaterNSW warns that storage levels could fall to 40% by Christmas and were likely to reach what are considered emergency levels – about 35% and declining – by mid-next year if the coming summer is hot and dry. Sydney’s storages have slumped from 96% full in April 2017 to less than 46%. Ian Wright, a University of Western Sydney scientist, likened the trajectory to “a ski-slope”. The WaterNSW document says inflows since early 2018 had been the lowest on record and water use across the city had been higher than expected. It had increased the risk that some critical supply areas, such as the Illawarra, may run out of water in about two years. Titled “drought supply options study”, the document says storages will become increasingly difficult to manage if they fall below 30%. Storages have depleted at a faster rate during this drought than during the millennium drought, when they fell to 33%. It does not explicitly mention climate change, but warns of the need to plan for “a scenario where climate doesn’t follow history and we get a follow-up drought before recovery”. Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning “The only options left to us at this point are large-scale desalination plants,” it says. The NSW Greens’ water spokeswoman, Cate Faehrmann, said the document showed the government’s 2017 metropolitan water plan was based on data from the 1939 drought, and ignored years of expert warnings of lower water availability due to climate change and population growth. “It’s grossly negligent for the government to be planning for water security based on historical trends. Unless they factor in reduced water availability under a hotter climate we don’t stand a chance,” she said. A spokeswoman for the water minister, Melinda Pavey, said the government was investigating measures to support Sydney’s water supply and was already taking steps. People in Sydney use more water per person than Melburnians, but the spokeswoman said water use in Sydney fell last financial year, both in total and per capita terms, after investment in water efficiency programs. The government had also preemptively introduced level one water restrictions when dam levels reached 53.5%, before the 50% trigger was reached, and last week announced that level two restrictions would start on December 10, ahead of the 40% trigger point. Average per person water use had fallen from 211 litres to 183 litres a day, the spokeswoman said. She said the government was considering expanding the city’s desalination plant, which is operating at full capacity and supplies 15% of daily water demand, and work had commenced on a strategy to be released next year that would integrate water and sewerage planning. It could increase the use of recycled sewage water, a step long called for by experts. “This will be an adaptive plan for Sydney’s water and sewerage needs out to the year 2080,” the spokeswoman said. Faehrmann said experts had urged the government to invest in large-scale water recycling and stormwater harvesting during the millennium drought but consecutive administrations had failed to act. She said Pavey needed to explain why she did not introduce more water saving measures after receiving the WaterNSW advice in May. “She knew all of this while Sydney had no enforced water restrictions whatsoever,” she said. Wright, a senior lecturer in environmental science, said the government should adopt a water pricing mechanism similar to other states that charged consumers higher rates when they used large amounts. “It is the only jurisdiction that doesn’t have blocked pricing,” he said. He said bringing in level two restrictions earlier than planned and considering an expansion of desalination was welcome, but said the desal plant should have been operating at full capacity much earlier. He urged the government to do more. “Where are the big recycling projects?” he said. | ['environment/water', 'australia-news/sydney', 'australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/drought', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-11-27T08:21:09Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2005/dec/27/tsunami2004.johnaglionby2 | A new threat | Zakariah and Aenal Madriah are luckier than most of Nusa's residents in that they have had his teacher's pension of 1.3 million rupiah (£77) a month to live off rather than just relying on cash-for-work handouts. But that has not been enough to fund the reopening of their tiny shop, which was destroyed in the tsunami. "I'm now just cooking a few cakes for someone who still has a shop," Ms Aenal said. "It's tough seeing people who used to have nothing now starting small businesses while those of us who used to have businesses are still struggling." She insists she is not jealous, however. "It's great to see those people having a chance in life at last," she said. "Many of them who used to walk everywhere now have motorbikes." Mr Zakariah has restocked his poultry holding of 70 hens but is now facing a threat just as deadly as the tsunami: bird flu. "The hens were sprayed after bird flu was found in a flock about 10 kilometres away," he said. "Mine are still healthy but I can only do so much to protect them." Zakariah and Aenal Madriah in March 2005 | ['world/tsunami2004', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/johnaglionby'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-12-27T02:24:33Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
media/2008/may/13/television.digitalmedia | Ashley Highfield to start at Kangaroo in July | Ashley Highfield, the BBC's outgoing director of future media and technology, will join broadband TV service Kangaroo as chief executive on July 1, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal. Highfield, the BBC's most senior technology executive, announced last month that he was leaving the corporation after eight years to oversee the launch of Kangaroo, the internet TV joint venture between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4. While Highfield will be confronted with key operational concerns - such as securing video-on-demand rights to foreign programmes, ensuring the technical capability of the platform and deciding who will sell advertising - he will also be responsible for finalising the name of the venture. It is understood that the name SeeSaw, one of a number of options on a shortlist, had become popular with some executives working on Project Kangaroo. However, it is thought that it is far from certain that SeeSaw will prevail. One source close to the project said that there had been "a move away" from the name recently, while another said that there would now be more research and consumer testing of a number of brand names. An official announcement expected soon after Highfield joins Kangaroo. A number of web domain names relating to the name SeeSaw have already been registered by other businesses, such as an Irish furniture company at www.seesaw.co.uk. "We do not comment on speculation," said a spokeswoman for the joint venture, although she did deny reports that the launch of Kangaroo might be delayed until next year. She reiterated that the launch was due to take place this calendar year. Last month, the Office of Fair Trading flagged up potential competition concerns with Kangaroo, calling for submissions from interested parties by May 14. It will then consider whether it has grounds to refer Kangaroo to the Competition Commission for investigation. By pooling the resources of the UK's three leading terrestrial broadcasters, Kangaroo poses a potential threat to Virgin Media, which increasingly sells itself as an on-demand operator, and BSkyB, which also offers on-demand through broadband and the Sky+ box. The BBC Trust has yet to give its approval to Kangaroo, which will need to pass a number of tests including the need to "avoid distorting the market" The BBC is looking for a replacement for Highfield, with former Microsoft executive Erik Huggers, who joined the corporation in May last year as controller for future media and technology, tipped as the favourite to take over. · To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. · If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". | ['media/television', 'media/digital-media', 'media/bbc', 'media/ITV', 'media/channel4', 'media/media', 'business/business', 'technology/technology', 'media/ashleyhighfield', 'media/kangaroo', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/broadband', 'type/article', 'profile/marksweney'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-05-13T15:17:39Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2005/sep/23/hurricanekatrina.hurricanes2005 | Why I'm dreaming of Nebraska | The following is from A Little Lagniappe, a weblog by Queen of the Universe, a New Orleans woman facing a double evacuation in the space of three weeks: Hurricane Katrina Survivor. Now Hurricane Rita Evacuee. Here's the story. I'll try to keep it brief. I spent the entire weekend trying to arrange to get back to New Orleans. I really needed my car. My vehicle was just sitting there. I needed to get back home to get it. A friend of a good friend, who drives trucks, offered to take me with him as his route passed near the area. A long drive; 16 hours on the road and only two pit stops. On the way we heard that New Orleans was again closed to the citizens. I had to keep going and hope for the best. I prayed for it to work out. So I finally got to Louisiana. The next day C arrived and we had a good breakfast. Recent experience has shown that sometimes you might go a while before you have an opportunity to eat or drink. Get it while you can. And it was wonderful to have some time to spend with her. Even though the circumstances were less than pleasant. Especially since I cry at the drop of a hat. So, anyway, after sitting in traffic for hours we picked up my car keys from my sister's house and headed to Jefferson Parish. C's ex-husband, a member of the NOPD, picked me up from there and drove me through to New Orleans. He asked if I had seen anything since our evacuation and said: "Hang on little sister, you're not going to believe your eyes." I got the grand tour. It was so surreal. Like seeing a location where a movie was shot. No real resemblance to my home at all. And so quiet. So very quiet. I saw only about a half-dozen civilians. Two of which were carrying golf clubs. That was, uhm, quite strange, considering. Oh but the smell. It does smell bad. Yes, worse than usual. Worse than Bourbon Street on a Saturday night. The odour rises from the streets, emanates from the houses. Is that the smell of death? And many houses in my neighbourhood bear the painted wall indicating if any bodies were left in the house, the date and who checked it. Even my house. Big letters across the front. Now the aforementioned ex is a ranking member of the police department so he was able to get through the sentries and the barbed wire gates and took me to my house. I really didn't want to go. He insisted though. He said that I needed to do this. He was right. Thankfully it was in fairly good shape. Considering. He allowed me to go in to grab a few precious possessions. Everything I took was for K, her homeschool books, her baby-memory box, her little TV and some winter clothes. He then took me downtown to a parking garage near the Superdome to get my car. I was so pleased that it was in good shape, still with a full tank of gas. He escorted my car down to the interstate, bid me goodbye and I headed out of the city. Maybe for the last time. I didn't look around. I just kept my eyes on the road in front of me. I didn't want to see any more. I want to remember it the way it was. Sometime during the day we found out about Hurricane Rita. It was headed straight for the Galveston area and the home in which my family is staying is directly in the path. THIS TIME WE EVACUATE!!!! No discussions. No thought involved. We would NOT stay for another storm. So I said some quick, incredibly tearful goodbyes to my beloved friends and immediately got on the road. I drove straight to SE Texas, grabbed a few hours' sleep and got up, packed the car and we headed up to the Dallas area where my brother has another small house. We left along with the other SE Texas evacuees. Many of them. A five-hour drive took over eight hours. Hard on the folks 'cause they are already sick, hard on the cat 'cause she gets car-sick, hard on the dog 'cause she's tired of this evacuating crap, and hard on me cause I'm just so plain tired ... Our stuff? My clothes that my brothers rescued? The clothes for K I just rescued? My dad's books and mother's pictures? We had no room in the car. I had to leave it all behind. In the path of the hurricane. Once again I had to choose what was important and leave the rest. While we waited in the house that week after Katrina, we heard a story that reflects the wisdom of Buddhism. A man said that the Buddhists say, when you purchase an item, to immediately picture it broken, ruined, destroyed. That way, when eventually the item is broken, ruined, destroyed, you have already grieved for it and you can move on. So I've been trying to let it all go now. Imagine it's all gone and not attempt to hope or pray that it will all be all right. That way, if anything survives, it will be a wonderful surprise. Trying to at least. I'll let you know how that works out for me. Meanwhile, I recently heard that the state of Nebraska has no natural disasters. Can anyone verify this? If so, that's where I want to live. · Full text at queenkat.blogspot.com | ['us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'tone/comment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/nebraska', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories2'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-22T23:00:09Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2020/apr/17/the-guardian-view-on-the-future-of-farming-lets-think-about-food | The Guardian view on the future of farming: let’s think about food | Editorial | One of the many effects of the coronavirus in the UK has been to dramatically raise awareness of our food system – that is, the set of arrangements that determines how we shop and eat. Compared with education, health or housing, food is rarely thought of as an area of public policy in which everyone has an interest. But it is. And one of the consequences of recent shortages, as well as the new and welcome emphasis on the “key” roles performed by food industry workers including fruit pickers and supermarket employees, has been to open more people’s eyes to this. It is too soon to predict with any confidence that the fragility of supply chains that has been revealed in recent weeks, as well as renewed warnings about the risks to humans from animal viruses, and the light shone on the agricultural labour market, will lead to lasting changes. It is not too soon to assert that, among the many issues raised by the pandemic, questions about the future of food cannot be safely ignored. Already, because of Brexit and the climate crisis, food had risen from its previously lowly position on the political agenda. Leaked no-deal planning documents revealed warnings that fresh food supplies could be reduced, causing price rises (although details in the public domain are limited, the government having refused to share them). The regulations that will govern agricultural imports in any future trade deal with the US are highly contentious, with the opening up of a big European market to the US food industry – which has low standards compared with the EU – among America’s chief aims. British consumers, as well as farmers who fear being undercut, are widely understood to be unenthusiastic about the prospect of chlorinated chicken – and the American mega-farms that it symbolises. Antibiotics, steroid hormones and pesticides are all used more freely by farmers in the US. But in the UK, too, the number of industrial-sized pig and chicken farms (classified as holding more than 2,000 pigs or 40,000 birds) has recently gone up – by 7% since 2017. Around 70% of all UK farm animals are farmed intensively in indoor units. This is because meat and dairy products produced in this way are cheap. At a time of widening inequality, with rising hunger (along with the poor nutrition evidenced by obesity) among its most unjust manifestations, it is difficult to argue against the importance of affordability. But while anti-poverty measures must be among ministers’ top priorities, both now and when the crisis eases, some means must also be found to balance the downward pressure on prices, with a more rounded assessment of what food is worth. Animal welfare considerations are one reason to do this. The risk of disease outbreaks in intensive farms is another. While the precise origins of Covid-19 remain uncertain, warnings about the risk of other outbreaks (avian flu, for example) must now be taken seriously. In rich western countries like the UK, there are also health reasons for most people to rebalance their diets away from animal products and towards plants (as the UK’s school and hospital caterers recognised this week with a pledge to reduce meat use by 20%). Broader environmental considerations of land use and biodiversity, food security and resilience must also be part of the equation. British agriculture is skewed towards livestock and grain feed. Change will not be easy. Our food system is complicated, as is the global one of which it is part. Competing priorities – including price, animal welfare, carbon footprint and consumer preference – produce inevitable conflicts. But some beneficial effects could follow from our having been forced to take more notice. What we grow and eat are the result of political choices. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'environment/farming', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/editorials', 'tone/comment', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-04-17T17:30:46Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/22/mining-mining | Fighting the battle of Blair Mountain | Beth Wellington | Last week, with Massey Energy under siege from federal safety officials, yet still proposing to stripmine the site of the Battle of Blair Mountain, I recalled standing on battlefields at Gettysburg and Manassas, haunted as the landscape somehow revealed what had once happened there. I was listening to David Rovics sing: The hills of West Virginia will long remember… the Battle of Blair Mountain. A Massey subsidiary, the Aracoma Coal Company, is seeking a permit to obliterate a 554-acre site that includes parts of the battlefield in West Virginia. This land bears traces of the second largest insurrection after the Civil War – and the largest labour uprising – in US history. Here, in 1921, the miners of West Virginia, seeking the right to unionise (that is, organise, assemble and speak freely), took on the coal operators and their mercenaries. According to historic preservationist Barbara Rasmussen, the origins of the battle of Blair Mountain lay in anger over conditions in the southern coalfields, where the "company store" system ruled and unions had been denied the right to organise. The 2 August 1921 shooting in cold blood of Matewan police chief Sid Hatfield by mine operators' agents provided the spark. A year earlier, Hatfield had defended the miners when the Stone Mountain Coal Co tried to evict striking workers from their homes. After several weeks of protest and unrest, battle lines were drawn on 26 August 1921; ten days later, the rebellion was over. Michael Meador describes the melee: As many as 15,000 men were involved, an unknown number were killed or wounded, bombs were dropped, trains were stolen, stores were plundered, a county was invaded and another was under siege. The president had to send in federal troops... The miners' rising was suppressed, after an estimated million rounds were fired. The defeat was a setback for the unionisation campaign in the short term, but raised public awareness of the appalling conditions borne by miners and paved the way for the political victory of full recognition of union rights under the New Deal in 1933. You'd think the crests, the narrow valleys below, would be a historic shrine – like other national battlefields preserved by the Park Service. In an article for the magazine Preservation, the DC-based journalist Christopher Swope has described, "a land of rippling ridges and deep, shady hollows. Coated in oaks and black locusts, Blair Mountain rises just a bit higher than what surrounds it." The National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the battlefield as endangered in 2006. For years, miners' descendants have confronted a new generation of coal operators, and now, as of this November, a new private army has appeared in place. Kenny King – whose grandfather fought with the United Mine Workers – reports, "armed guards… patrolling the dirt road running north from Route 17 at Blair Gap… a [new] metal gate… on the same road, with a sign that warns the area is under video surveillance." King has been tireless for decades in seeking artifacts to document the history of the battlefield. Since 2006, he has been joined by scholars such as archeologist Harvard Ayers, Barbara Rasmussen and West Virginia native Brandon Nida. The battlefield gained its listing in 2009 by the National Park Service on its National Register of Historic Places. That accomplishment, however, was soon undone – when lawyers for the coal industry convinced West Virginia state officials to ask the Park Service to delist the site, claiming, after the deadline, to have found additional opponents to the listing. In July this year, Friends of Blair Mountain – a grassroots group of scholars and activists – reported bulldozers had started to destroy the archeological sites described in the application for listing. The National Trust, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and Sierra Club filed a petition with the National Park Service to re-list Blair Mountain on the National Register of Historic Places. In late July, the petition was denied. On 9 September, the Sierra Club, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Friends of Blair Mountain and the West Virginia Labor History Association filed a legal challenge to contest the site's removal from the National Register. The call on the National Park Service to re-list Blair Mountain has been echoed by a coalition of musicians (David Rovics and Hazel Dickens), filmmakers (John Sayles, director of Matewan, and Barbara Kopple), authors (Denise Giardina) and scholars. As Brandon Nida wrote me: The miners were rebelling over brutal living and working conditions after a generation of oppression and severe exploitation. Today, putting armed guards hired by the coal companies at Blair Mountain is like rubbing salt in an old wound. The history is still in our consciousness, and on top of all the destruction going on in Appalachia, this has really upset community members in the area. • If you wish to register your objection to the destruction of the Blair Mountain battlefield site, there is an online petition to the National Park Service. More urgently, though, the Friends of Blair Mountain asks for people to write to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, requesting that it deny Massey's mountaintop removal permit. Letters must arrive no later than 26 November 2010, and should include the applicant's name (Aracoma Coal Company, Inc) and the application number (S-5035-08); if you write, please describe your perspective and why you disagree with a permit being issued, and mail to: The Permit Supervisor WV DEP Division of Mining and Reclamation 1101 George Kostas Drive Logan, WV 25601 • Editor's note: Harvard Ayers and colleagues conducted the first archeological survey of the Blair Mountain battle site in 2006, not 2007 as originally stated. The article was amended at 13:00 (EST) on 23 November 2010 | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/mining', 'business/mining', 'us-news/west-virginia', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/mountains', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/beth-wellington'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2010-11-22T17:00:04Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/apr/23/labour-extinction-rebellion-climate-change | Labour endorses Extinction Rebellion activists after week of protest | Labour has backed the Extinction Rebellion protesters who have carried out a week of civil disobedience and occupations to highlight the ecological emergency, likening them to the Chartists, suffragettes and anti-apartheid activists. Speaking in response to an urgent question in the Commons on Tuesday, the shadow energy minister, Barry Gardiner – who also holds the international trade role – said that alongside the school strikes, the protests organised by Extinction Rebellion were reminiscent of previous memorable struggles. “All of those victories were won by citizens uniting against injustice, making their voice heard. And Extinction Rebellion and the school climate strikers are doing just that,” Gardiner said. Outside parliament, several hundred protesters from Extinction Rebellion gathered to call for politicians to engage with their three demands: for politicians to tell the truth, for the UK to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2025, and for the formation of a citizens’ assembly. Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, came out to speak to the crowd, pledging to make climate change a central focus of Labour’s health and wellbeing policy and expressed his support for a citizens’ assembly. Inside the chamber, former Labour leader Ed Miliband said the government must declare a climate emergency and introduce a “green new deal”. Miliband, who was the energy and climate change secretary under Gordon Brown, said the protesters were correct. “The truth is the planet is warming far faster than we are acting,” he said. “Climate change is not some theoretical future prospect, but is with us here and now.” Responding for the government, Claire Perry, the energy minister, rejected the idea of a climate emergency – “I don’t know what that would entail” – and said she had reservations about the Extinction Rebellion protests. While she was glad such arguments were being heard, Perry said: “They have caused disruption for many hundreds and thousands of hard-working Londoners and they have required a heavy policing presence. “I worry that many of the messages we are hearing ignore the progress that is being made, and as such make people fearful for the future rather than hopeful.” More than 1,000 Extinction Rebellion activists have been arrested in the past week in a campaign of mass non-violent direct action orchestrated by the group to highlight how little time there is to halt manmade ecological breakdown. Protesters occupied four sites across the capital and staged various acts of civil disobedience including blocking roads, disrupting a train line and conducting a protest at Heathrow airport. On Tuesday the group said it intended to carry out more actions in the next few days – including blocking roads in and around the City of London on Thursday. The group’s “rapid response team” met on Tuesday to decide its strategy for the coming weeks. A spokesperson said they were discussing how, when and if this stage of the “rebellion” should end rather than whether there should be more actions this week. The group said there would be two more “people’s assemblies” in the next few days at its Marble Arch camp before a final decision would be made on Wednesday. “We have had enormous success and intend to continue,” said a spokesperson. “But what shape that is going to take and when we end is under discussion. It is important that we do have a little pause to take stock and get feedback from everyone – it has been an incredibly intense few days.” One of the group’s co-founders, Roger Hallam, said: “We do want to negotiate with the government and will pause the disruption if that happens but at the moment it is all systems go … the rebellion continues.” On Tuesday the group announced it had raised almost £200,000 – mostly in small donations of between £10 and £50 – since the protests began, making a total of £365,000 since January. Scotland Yard’s tactics in policing the demonstrations appeared to harden at the weekend with protesters cleared from three of their four roadblocks. On Tuesday officers told Extinction Rebellion organisers that they faced arrest if they incited protesters to block roads around Parliament Square. Police said they were imposing preemptive conditions restricting any demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament. Liam Geary Baulch, from London, said relations between the group and the police had become increasingly strained, with dismay over the Met’s decision to name those charged in connection with the protest and to seize a sound system it had been using in Marble Arch. “We have seen thousands of people take non-violent action and over 1,000 arrests, yet we have had no complaints from the police about violence,” Geary Baulch said. | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'politics/labour', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'world/protest', 'politics/edmiliband', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'profile/peterwalker', 'profile/damien-gayle', 'profile/molly-blackall', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-04-23T18:14:55Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2022/may/25/click-clack-and-pop-sounds-indicate-health-of-coral-reefs-study-finds | Click, clack and pop: sounds indicate health of coral reefs, study finds | The popping sound, like milk hitting puffed rice cereal, that you hear when putting your head underwater is not your ear adjusting to a different atmosphere – it is the sound of the submarine world. Fish chat to each other, or move water with their fins; hard-shelled creatures scrape against the surfaces; molluscs drag themselves to their nooks. There’s more to these clicks, clacks and pops than just the tuneful wonder of it all. Oceanographers now say that monitoring the sounds of coral reefs can serve as a non-intrusive, inexpensive and efficient method for tracking the state of their health – and for planning better conservation interventions in the long run. New research shows that degraded coral communities do not sound as crackling and vibrant as healthy ones because thereduced biodiversity means less activity, so you can in effect judge the health of a reef by its decibel level. “Soundscaping gives us this really nice heartbeat of what’s going on on the reef,” said Lauren Freeman, senior oceanographer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center while presenting these findings to the Acoustical Society of America. “And our coral reefs are under quite a bit of duress from overfishing, from pollution [and] from climate change.” Freeman and her team monitored acoustics in reefs off Hawaii between 2019 and 2020, comparing them to soundscapes from the ocean near Bermuda and New England. They immersed underwater microphones for up to six months and recorded soundscapes at intervals. By breaking down the resulting sounds and analysing it by the microsecond, they attempted to reconstruct what was happening underwater: different fish species feeding, whales passing by, boat engines roaring in the distance. Most reefs are full of noise when it is warmer, and immediately before the sun sets and rises. Hotter weather tends to correlate with moments of greater activity among ecosystems –– many species give birth in spring, for example –– while dusk and dawn represent a sort of underwater “rush hour” between diurnal and nocturnal creatures, said Freeman. Unhealthy coral communities sound less vibrant and also emit more high-frequency sounds, the researchers found. While healthy reefs give readings 0f 2-8 kilohertz, less diverse reefs tend to be above 12kHz, as they become overpopulated with macroalgae, which create bubbles of oxygen that float to the surface and pop, making a specific high-frequency sound. The findings will help more researchers use soundscapes to study reefs, –and to monitor the progress of restoration projects already under way. Traditional surveying of reefs presents many challenges: expenses for boats and crews, time limitations for divers underwater, the small areas of reef that can be covered, and the fact that there are simply too many reefs to monitor. Sound surveys could change all that. Katey Lesneski, director of restoration science at Coral Vita, a land-based coral farm for reef restoration, was not involved in the study but said more research would be needed to characterise what a healthy reef sounds like in different regions of the world. It did, however, show promise. “This type of data collection has the potential to be highly cost-effective, cover a large area and be a constant source of information, as opposed to intermittent diving surveys,” she said. | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/coral', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/biodiversity', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/conservation', 'world/world', 'science/science', 'science/biology', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/sofia-quaglia', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-05-25T15:35:39Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2012/jun/16/rio20-voice-bosnia-herezegovina | Rio+20: A voice from Bosnia and Herzegovina | Foundations of any development rest on active and equal participation of both men and women in social, political and economic spheres of life. Women play a much more active role which, in turn, does not have equal recognition as the roles men perform and this stretches to all areas of our society, speaking in global and local terms. If we create opportunities for women, include girls and mothers in social activities, if we invite successful women to join us in discussions that determine political currents of the world, if we give women access to education and if we encourage them to partake in economic and political issues that also include them, we will secure, if not a sustainable development, than a prosperous seed that will one day yield a better world. Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a good example of sustainable development, especially not over the past 20 years. I dare say Bosnia and Herzegovina demonstrates quite the opposite. The war (1992-96) that ravaged this region destroyed the lives of people, displaced them from their everyday routine, and it affected all of us. However, I have grown stronger from it, and today I think that individuals, and I take myself for an example, are in comparison with the country, much stronger and fearless. As a microcosm of post-war society, my war experiences and my personal and professional involvement in Women for Women International combine into a portrayal of how an individual and a larger group of people can pull themselves from the claws of negative history and strive for success and towards the (re)construction of equal, prosperous and fair society. We must join all our resources and forces if we want to build a sustainable development for all. I believe that Rio +20 is by itself already a huge difference, not only in my life, but in lives of people around the world because it is giving us hope that the co-operation between government, non-government and business sector will finally lead us into a brighter future. Key is in working together and Rio +20 is putting an emphasis on this sort of work model. | ['global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/rio-20-earth-summit', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'tone/interview', 'global-development/series/global-development-voices', 'type/article'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-06-16T00:59:01Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
music/2010/jun/24/prince-charles-glastonbury | Prince Charles goes to Glastonbury | If the Glastonbury revellers weren't already confused by the sunshine and balmy temperatures, here was a sight to make them look twice: the heir to the British throne ambling through the world's best-known music festival. The Prince of Wales, who is president of Wateraid, one of the main beneficiaries of Glastonbury's annual fundraising efforts, made a surprise visit to the site today to mark the festival's 40th anniversary. He is the first royal to visit an event which has over the years attracted ever more mainstream acceptance despite its counterculture ethos. And he was greeted in the main by genuinely enthusiastic crowds. "I can't believe it," said Ben Oakley, one of the onsite volunteers. "If we'd have known, we would have built him a mini Buckingham Palace." The prince visited a housing development in Pilton, the village adjoining the Eavis family dairy farm where the event has taken place since 1971, before moving on to the Greenpeace field. Hundreds of festivalgoers pressed around the prince, while one reveller – perhaps after a little too much sun or cider – shouted: "We love you Charles!" Zimbabwean dance and drum group Siyaya Arts performed a raucous show for the prince. His hips remained static, although he did smile widely as he spoke to the performers. "He's such a cool guy, really nice," said dancer Kelvin Sibanda. "He wished us all the best." Others were more restrained. "I heard it was going to be Kylie," said one man, disappointed at the identity of the mystery arrival. "I bet he's not camping." Shaun Throgood, a teacher from nearby Wells, said the prince fitted into the Glastonbury groove. "He's a hippy at heart, it's just that his mum keeps him in line," he said. "We are going to heckle him." He and his friends had a chant all worked out: "Your biscuits are too expensive, but I do like your sausages." The festival does not officially begin until tomorrowmorning, but by 9am today 99,000 people had already pitched their tents. Many early arrivals were lured by forecasts of continuously dry weather, with temperatures expected to peak at 27C on Sunday. On Wednesday afternoon about 50,000 people watched England beat Slovenia on giant screens at the main Pyramid stage. A day later and the blazing sun had already claimed some victims, with red raw beer bellies and shoulders on display. Around 500 people had been advised by medical staff, mostly with difficulties related to the heat, according to Glastonbury staff. Dressed in a beige suit and stripy tie, the prince cut a conspicuous figure among the T-shirted teens and middle-aged men dressed in tutus. He nonetheless achieved the lifelong dream of many music-lovers, walking out on to the Pyramid stage in front of a vocal crowd who cheered when he waved in their direction. He met long-standing Glastonbury staff including Mark Cann, a stalwart for the past 29 years, who first went to the festival as a CND activist. Did he think a royal visit was out of place at the festival? "It is a bit bizarre," he admitted. "But I think his presence here doesn't mean that Glastonbury is establishment, but it does show how established it is as part of our cultural fabric. "It transcends other festivals and it's bigger than the individual bands that play. It's the joy of being diverted as you're walking along, and today people were diverted by the prince." Festival founder Michael Eavis said Charles had received a typical Glastonbury welcome. "They're a classless society," he said. Excitement is building about the big names set to play this weekend, with Gorillaz headlining the Pyramid stage tomorrow, Muse on Saturday and Stevie Wonder closing the festival on Sunday evening. Rumours about which all-star team of musicians former Blur frontman Damon Albarn would welcome on stage with Gorillaz circulated around the 900-acre site. A spokesman confirmed that the controversial rapper Snoop Dogg, booked to play a solo set, would feature, as would Mos Def. One of the hottest unconfirmed rumours circulating was that rock legend Lou Reed would join Albarn on stage. | ['music/glastonbury', 'uk/prince-charles', 'culture/festivals', 'music/music', 'uk/uk', 'environment/greenpeace', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'music/glastonbury-2010', 'type/article', 'profile/alexandratopping', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/greenpeace | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2010-06-24T19:02:59Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2015/jan/21/queensland-election-newman-government-scrutiny-coal-donation | Queensland election: Newman government under scrutiny over coal donation | The Queensland premier, Campbell Newman, has been forced to fend off attacks on the integrity of his government as new details emerged linking one of his ministers to a business figure involved in a controversial coalmine expansion. Newman hit the election campaign trail on Tuesday with Ian Walker, who Guardian Australia can reveal took a donation from a board director of New Hope Coal before his election in 2012. Walker, as the minister for science, information technology, innovation and the arts, subsequently oversaw the department which cleared levels of air pollution from uncovered coal trains in Brisbane before the expansion of New Hope’s Acland mine. Walker was also acting minister for state development when he called for public input on New Hope’s environmental impact statement for Acland last year. The state Labor leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has claimed that the Liberal National party government had opened the door to corruption and on Tuesday radio host Alan Jones renewed his attack on Newman over Acland. Donor records show that New Hope director Bill Grant gave a $2,000 personal cheque to Walker’s campaign fund in October 2011. The donation would have been secret under the LNP’s widely-criticised move to raise the threshold for declaring contributions from $1,000 to $12,400 last year. The pollution study by Walker’s department was released to companies including New Hope a week before it was made public in 2013. Walker, who appeared with Newman at a press conference on the Gold Coast announcing a new $60m tourism fund, left while refusing a request for interview from Guardian Australia. In a statement later, Walker declined to explain the nature of his relationship with Grant but said all donations were “fully disclosed in accordance with the law”. Walker said his office had no role in the pollution study, for which coal companies had paid $250,000. Asked if those payments had created a conflict of interest, Walker said the decision to engage “the state’s top independent scientists shows a proactive role in ensuring clean air for Queenslanders”. Palaszczuk at the Labor campaign launch suggested the LNP had paved the way for a return to the graft of “brown paper bag” politics in Queensland. Newman said in response that there were “appropriate authorities that can deal with such things”. He accused Labor of running “a campaign about negativity and personality politics”. “Why? They have no plan for Queensland, they don’t have the ticker to sort out the financial problems we inherited,” he said. “They certainly don’t know how to create jobs so they engage in this sort of thing.” Newman repeatedly refused to say whether he had met Jones at his home before last election and promised to block the mine expansion. A spokesman for Newman declined to comment on Walker and his relationship with Grant. Jones has travelled to Queensland to run daily “election special” programs on 4BC radio, denouncing Newman as a “bully boy” and his government as the worst in Australia. The decision to allow Acland to mine another 3m tonnes of coal a year was announced on the Friday before Christmas. New Hope and its parent company, Washington H Soul Pattinson, donated more than $700,000 to the LNP at a state and federal level between 2011 and 2013. Asked if New Hope’s donations influenced the government’s approval, Newman said: “I will not be commenting on Alan Jones.” Asked by Guardian Australia if LNP officials had indicated whether the party’s donations had risen since it raised the secrecy threshold, Newman replied that he had “no idea”. “You’ll have to ask them. I’m not involved,” he said. Jones has also attacked the government over the energy minister, Mark McArdle, and the environment minister, Andrew Powell, accepting entertainment from New Hope in its corporate box at a Wallabies rugby game in Brisbane in 2013. Activist group Clean Air Queensland said the Acland expansion would increase coal dust pollution in Brisbane. Clean Air Queensland organiser Michael Kane said his tests showed emissions of particulate PM10 from uncovered coal wagons in Brisbane exceeded national safety levels tenfold, as often as 10 times a day. Kane claimed the government study clearing the pollution levels by averaging emissions over 24 hours was “absolutely the wrong methodology”. Walker said that methodology was “determined by departmental scientists exercising their independent professional integrity”. QUT researcher Adrian Barnett said air pollution standards were “a political limit and shouldn’t be used as a health tool since no level of pollution is safe”. New Hope’s chairman, Robert Millner, was called before the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) in NSW last year over a donations controversy involving another Washington H Soul Pattinson subsidiary of which he was chairman, Brickworks. Icac is due to complete its report this month on whether Brickworks’ donations to the Liberal party in NSW broke laws banning political contributions from developers. | ['world/queensland-election-2015', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/queensland-politics', 'australia-news/independent-commission-against-corruption', 'australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'environment/environment', 'environment/mining', 'australia-news/campbell-newman', 'australia-news/annastacia-palaszczuk', 'australia-news/liberal-national-party', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/australian-political-donations', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joshua-robertson'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2015-01-20T20:21:40Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/article/2024/sep/05/valley-fever-california-festival | At least 19 people contract fungal infection after California music festival, officials say | At least 19 people contracted valley fever, a fungal infection that in rare cases can be fatal, after attending an outdoor music festival in southern California in May, public health officials have reported. The number of illnesses associated with the five-day Lightning in a Bottle event has almost quadrupled over the last month. Valley fever is caused by inhaling Coccidioides, a fungus endemic to the soil of the US south-west. New research shows that cases of the illness have risen dramatically in recent years. It typically presents as a mild respiratory illness – most people will not become ill after an exposure – but a small subset of those infected can develop serious, debilitating or long-term problems. More than 20,000 people attended Lightning in a Bottle, an electronic dance music festival, in Kern county between 22 and 27 May, according to the California department of public health. Nineteen people have confirmed diagnoses of the illness through a voluntary survey, including eight who were hospitalized, the CDPH said in a statement last month. Valley fever has been increasing in California, particularly in the central area of the state, for years as the climate crisis has rendered the landscape drier and hotter – conditions the fungus favors. Between March 2000 and February 2021, there were 89,281 reported cases in 17 counties, according to a study published this year. There were 12 times as many incidents across counties in the state in 2018 than in 2000, according to the study. Since 2014 alone, reported cases in the US have almost doubled, and in California they have more than tripled. There were more than 9,000 cases reported in the state last year, and more than 5,000 preliminary cases reported as of July 2024, the CDPH reported. The state public health department said the increase could be attributed to winter rains following years of drought, increased recognition and testing for the disease, and more “soil disturbance activities” in areas with a high risk. Coccidioides grows in the dirt but can be become airborne when disturbed and can travel miles away. Most people do not become ill after exposure to the fungus, but for those who do, experts have said that it is likely very few actually receive a valley fever diagnosis. Of those infected, about 40% of people develop a respiratory illness that can be mild while 1% have more severe outcomes, the Guardian reported in 2022. The California department of public health warns that the Central valley and central coast may face increased risk of valley fever through fall. “We’re preparing for another possible increase in valley fever cases in the coming months, and we want Californians to know the signs and symptoms to detect it early,” Dr Tomás Aragón, the state public health officer, said in a statement. “If you have a lingering cough and fatigue, please talk to a doctor about valley fever, especially if you’ve been outdoors in dusty air in the Central valley or central coast regions.” | ['us-news/california', 'society/health', 'music/music-festivals', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/west-coast', 'us-news/climate-crisis-in-the-american-west', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/dani-anguiano', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | us-news/climate-crisis-in-the-american-west | GLOBAL_CRISIS | 2024-09-05T18:18:40Z | true | GLOBAL_CRISIS |
environment/2023/apr/17/country-diary-deep-in-the-woods-the-unmistakable-whiff-of-wild-boar | Country diary: Deep in the woods, the unmistakable whiff of wild boar | Sean Wood | On entering the Galloway Forest on 1 April, wood anemones flowering already and bluebells ready to burst, I was asked by a local forester: “Have you seen the wild boar yet?” It was no April fool. My neck of the woods, near Dalbeattie, just north of the Solway Firth, is a hot spot for wild boar (Sus scrofa). And yet, despite the males weighing in at around 150kg, it is possible to miss them, many times over in fact. So I had to say no. On several more occasions, I returned to try to find these denizens of the deep woods. There are two separate groups in Dumfries and Galloway, descendants of farm escapees (both accidental and deliberate), and with their ability to produce up to 10 piglets at the time, the two groups are likely to meet soon. The UK population stands at between 500 and 2,000, and their overall impact on woodland diversity is not yet clear. There are concerns about the transmission of foot and mouth disease, and swine fever, and they can certainly cause agricultural damage, though at low densities it appears they can be useful ecosystem engineers. So how to see one? Thankfully they are noisy eaters, often heard long before they are seen, grunting and snuffling, grubbing for roots or digging scrapes in which to wallow. I know from spotting them in Poland, Belarus and Tuscany that going by ear not eye can be the best tactic. After six more forays without sight, sound or sniff, I finally hear a squeal and catch the distinctive, musty whiff of wild boar on the air. The welcome sun has steam rising from the damp canopy as it lights up the lichens, mosses and the white anemones below. I follow the aroma and hurdle a broken barbed-wire fence that holds telltale clumps of boar hair with their pale and unmistakable split ends. Breaking the skyline (always a mistake when wildlife-stalking), I manage to surprise a “sounder”, a whole family of wild boar. Surprisingly there was a large boar present – they normally shirk nursery duties. He trudged off, followed by six or seven piglets, a couple of yearlings and two sows. A brief encounter, but nevertheless, the first wild boar that I have seen in this area, and my sightings have been added to the national database. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'environment/mammals', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/sean-wood', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-04-17T04:30:29Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2014/jul/02/recycling-target-uk-councils-waste-europe | UK councils could be required to recycle 70% of waste by 2030 | Councils will have to recycle 70% of household waste by the end of the next decade, under proposals unveiled on Wednesday by the European commission. This would require a significant increase in the proportion of UK waste diverted from landfill. At least 80% of packaging waste will also have to be recycled by 2030, as Brussels toughens its stance on the amount of rubbish buried underground. By 2025, there would be a total ban on sending waste to landfill that could have been recycled. The new targets will be difficult for the UK to meet, as recycling rates have recently stagnated after a period of rapid growth in the past decade. According to figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in November, 43.2% of waste in England was recycled in 2012-13. That figure was just 12% in 2001 but the UK is still well behind Austria and Germany, which recycle 63% and 62% of their waste respectively. The coalition government has been notably hostile to moves to try to improve recycling rates through fortnightly bin collections and charges on unrecycled rubbish. Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities and local government, declared in 2012: “I firmly believe that it is the right of every English man and woman that their chicken tikka masala, the nation’s favourite dish, the remnants can be put in the bin without the worry that a fortnight later it is rotting and making life unpleasant.” Green campaigners said the plans did not go far enough, and that more ambitious targets would stimulate the industry and provide greater economic benefits, and sooner. But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs sent a strong signal that it could resist the targets when they are debated. A spokesman told the Guardian: “We think the commission’s proposals may have underplayed the potential costs to business, householders and local authorities and will want to consider the impacts fully before we respond. “While we support efforts to reduce waste we need to ensure that any new legislation would meet our priorities to protect the environment, incentivise growth and avoid unnecessary burdens.” Steve Lee, of the Chartered Institute of Waste Management, said meeting the targets for the UK would be a challenge requiring “leadership and ambition” from the government. He called on ministers to create “a stable framework” to encourage the investment that would be needed from the private sector in the UK’s waste-management infrastructure, including new recycling plants. A key part of the plan is to develop better markets for recycled materials. At present, much of what is recycled is returned to use in a low-grade manner – for instance, recycled glass in the UK is often used as a component in road-building materials, rather than turned back into bottles. This assigns a low value to the waste. If markets were better developed, then recyclates from metals to plastics could be sold as a resource in place of virgin materials. Janez Potocčnik, European commissioner for the environment, said: “We are living with economic systems inherited from the 19th century [while today’s world is characterised by] emerging economies, millions of new middle-class consumers and interconnected markets. If we want to compete we have to get the most out of our resources, and that means recycling them back into productive use, not burying them in landfills as waste.” The commission believes that the new targets could create more than half a million new jobs in waste management across the EU. The targets will also encompass plans to combat marine litter, which is a serious hazard to aquatic life including seabirds, whales and dolphins, and food waste, which can be used to create compost and fertiliser or to generate energy from capturing the methane it produces as it rots. Wednesday’s proposals, which will have to be debated by member states and MEPs before they can come into force, are part of an EU-wide move to a “circular economy”, in which materials once used are turned back into something productive. This involves processes that are harder to put in place than simply dumping rubbish, such as providing ways for products - from consumer electronics to cars - to be reused and repaired rather than simply broken up for scrap. Potočnik warned that although this would create profitable businesses, the “circular economy” was unlikely to spring into being if simply left to the market: “It is profitable, but that does not mean it will happen without the right policies. The 2030 targets that we propose are about taking action today to accelerate the transition to a circular economy and exploiting the business and job opportunities it offers.” The commission has also pledged to support new research and development in the waste management and recycling industries, and in improving the design of products to make them easier to reuse, repair and recycle. This will be done through the Horizon 2020 programme which funds innovative technology and new business processes, but officials did not say how much this funding was likely to be worth. At present, many companies have a vested interest in ensuring their products are difficult to reuse, in order to encourage consumers to buy new models. Some existing legislation, including the directive on electronic waste, aims to counter this by forcing manufacturers to take responsibility for their products throughout their life cycle, including what happens to them when they are thrown away. | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'world/european-commission', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'society/localgovernment', 'politics/politics', 'society/society', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-07-02T17:04:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2012/may/24/heartland-institute-billboard-controversy | Heartland Institute in financial crisis after billboard controversy | The ultra-conservative Heartland Institute admitted it was in financial crisis on Wednesday, with the flight of corporate donors making it difficult to pay staff or cover the costs of its annual conference aimed at debunking climate science. In a speech at the close of this year's climate conference, Heartland's president, Joseph Bast, acknowledged that a provocative ad campaign comparing believers in human-made climate change to psychopaths had exacted a heavy cost. However, Bast also attributed Heartland's current problems to his weakness in financial management. "These conferences are expensive, and I'm not a good fundraiser so as a result I don't raise enough money to cover them. We really scramble to make payroll as a result to cover these expenses," Bast said. "If you can afford to make a contribution please do. If you know someone, if you've got a rich uncle or somebody in the family or somebody that you work with, please give them a call and ask them if they would consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Heartland Institute." The organisation has lost at least $825,000 in funds from corporate donors although Heartland also claims to have attracted 800 new small donors. Heartland also came in for bruising criticism from its own allies – a number of whom faulted Bast for failing to consult Heartland's colleagues or board members about the ads in advance. Among ultra-conservative activists, the billboard controversy has shaken confidence in Heartland's ability to serve as the hub of the climate contrarian network. It has also raised doubts about Bast's leadership. Bast is listed on Heartland's website as its earliest employee. His wife is also employed at Heartland. But Heartland was facing a cash crunch even before the Gleick expose. Nine employees were due to be laid or take pay cuts in 2011, according to the budget documents obtained by Gleick. This year's conference was a drastically shrunken version of earlier Heartland gatherings, which attracted up to 800 attendees and ran several concurrent sessions. Those events were also lucrative for Heartland, accounting for half of its non-fundraising events revenue, according to documents obtained through deception by the scientist Peter Gleick. At this year's gathering in Chicago, fewer than 170 turned up for the gala opening banquet, and the conference only managed to eke out one session at a time, and brought in relatively few outside speakers. And the only member of Congress to attend this year, conservative Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, used his speech to criticise Heartland for the billboard. "We can continue to win these debates out of the strength of our arguments without recourse to unsavoury tactics that only serve to distract from our message," he said. "Let's not get off message." Heartland initially had not even planned to hold a conference. But after the organisation was shaken last February by the internet sting exposing its donor list and fundraising strategy, Heartland changed its mind. However, Bast said Heartland may stop putting on the conferences. "I hope to see you at a future conference, but at this point we have no plans to do another." | ['environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'world/world', 'us-news/us-news', 'tone/news', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2012-05-24T00:48:40Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
football/2013/dec/08/world-cup-2014-itv-bbc-england | World Cup 2014: ITV to enjoy first pick as BBC faces England gamble | The BBC and ITV will meet on Monday to divide up the 64 matches of the World Cup in a summit that is as important for the two broadcasters as the draw itself. ITV is believed to have first pick of England's matches. As such, given its desire to maximise audiences for its advertisers, it is expected to opt for England's second match against Uruguay. That kicks off in prime time for UK audiences, at 8pm BST, in São Paulo on 19 June. That would leave the BBC with the opening match in Manaus against Italy on 14 June, which will be more attractive now the kick-off time has been brought forward to 11pm from 2am, and ITV with the potentially crucial final tie against Costa Rica on 24 June. In turn, that would leave the BBC with the dilemma of whether to gamble on England reaching the quarter-finals or opting for coverage of a potential second-round clash against one of Colombia, Greece, the Ivory Coast or Japan. As in 2010, both broadcasters are expected to show the final. Then, the BBC out-rated its commercial rival by 5-1. Given the dominance of pay-TV broadcasters in live coverage of club football, the major international tournaments every two years have become disproportionately important to the BBC and ITV. That is even more the case now that BT Sport has emerged on the scene and paid £900m for the exclusive rights to the Champions League from 2015. Despite legal challenges by Fifa in the European courts, the World Cup remains on the list of events protected by law for free-to-air television. The BBC, which recently revealed it had signed Rio Ferdinand as a pundit for the World Cup, has said it will take its team to Rio de Janeiro and broadcast from Fifa's facilities in the city. "We have learned over the years that audiences value being immersed in the atmosphere and surround-sound of a World Cup, which can only be delivered through teams on location," said the BBC director of sport, Barbara Slater, earlier this year. "We are delighted to have reached agreement with Fifa to take up one of their 10 international TV studios in a purpose-built block they are constructing in Rio. It is a cost-effective way for us to present the TV coverage that captures the colour and buzz of this iconic Brazilian city." ITV, which has signed the former Professional Footballers' Association chairman Clarke Carlisle to be part of its team, is expected to follow suit. In 2010 it made its base at the Fifa HQ in Johannesburg while the BBC opted for a purpose-built studio in Cape Town. | ['football/world-cup-2014', 'football/world-cup-football', 'media/worldcupthemedia', 'football/england', 'media/sportsrights', 'football/football', 'media/bbc', 'media/itv1', 'tone/news', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'profile/owengibson'] | media/worldcupthemedia | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2013-12-08T11:32:12Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2007/jan/10/climatechange.climatechangeenvironment | Porpoises starving in warmer North Sea | Harbour porpoises in British waters are under threat from starvation because global warming is affecting their food supplies, according to a study published today. Around 230,000 harbour porpoises, sometimes known as common porpoises, live in the North Sea, where their numbers have already dropped due to pollution and getting caught in fishing nets. Now, new research says they face a shortage of their staple food source, sand eels, which are decreasing in the North Sea as they cannot cope with rising water temperatures and are leaving for cooler environments. Academics at Aberdeen University and the Scottish Agricultural College, in Inverness, studied the stomach contents of stranded porpoises collected from the east coast of Scotland in the springs of 2002 and 2003. They found these contained fewer sand eels and other food compared with porpoises recovered between 1992 and 2001. Other research showed that while 5% of stranded porpoises died due to starvation in the late 1990s, 33% starved to death in the springs of 2002 and 2003. "Harbour porpoises are already affected by humans in a number of ways and this latest research shows that we have yet another thing to worry about when trying to conserve them," said the research leader, Colin MacLeod, of Aberdeen University's school of biological sciences. "The porpoises are having a hard time trying to find enough energy to survive. If they cannot get enough energy from food, then they rely on their blubber, but this means their insulation drops and they are more likely to die from hypothermia." Scientists' earlier expectations that the porpoises would switch easily to other food sources if sand eel numbers fell had proved unfounded, he said. "It makes you wonder how many more hidden impacts of climate change there are that we simply did not expect to occur and so haven't taken into account when deciding on suitable conservation strategies." The findings of the study are published in this week's Royal Society journal, Biology Letters. | ['environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'environment/porpoises', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2007-01-10T11:58:34Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
politics/2005/jan/02/tsunami2004.ethicalliving | Michael Howard: Free trade is as vital as aid | I do not have the words to describe the feelings we all shared as we watched the dreadful pictures of the catastrophe that hit so many people in so many countries last week. The scale, the speed and the ferocity of the tsunami have been almost impossible to grasp. Families torn apart, homes washed away, thousands of people dead - in just a few minutes. And behind the statistics, a myriad of individual tragedies, personal anguish and aching grief. Yet we all realise what is needed today. It's cash - cash to pay for clean drinking water, for medicine, for food and shelter. The British people have recognised this and have given generously. And the British people have led the way in Britain's aid effort, prompting the government to step up its contribution from the original sum of £1million first to £15m and now to £50m. The priority today is to avoid the further calamity which could follow if disease is to take hold. Co-ordination of the efforts that are underway is obviously vital. That can most effectively be achieved under the auspices of the United Nations. But after the immediate crisis, the countries affected face a huge task in the months and years ahead to reconstruct their communities and rebuild their economies. We must ensure that they are not forgotten once the media spotlight has moved away and that we continue to support them in the huge challenges they face. A number of suggestions have been made to reinforce the effectiveness of this longer-term help. Individual countries could be matched with some of those affected. Britain, for example, has a close connection with Sri Lanka, while Australia has an obvious link with Indonesia. Local communities, too, could be matched so that the generosity of individuals could be channelled to particular areas in the affected countries. Churches, mosques and temples in Britain could be linked with churches, mosques and temples in particular communities in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Gap-year students could spend part of their free time helping in the work of reconstruction. Local charitable bodies such as Lions and Rotary clubs could adopt specific projects. Lasting relationships would be built. Local authorities here could well co-ordinate these activities. The cataclysmic events of the last few days should also serve as a reminder of the wider problems of poverty in the developing world. It is easy to forget that more than 120,000 people die prematurely every week round the world from malaria, malnutrition and lack of sanitation. Or that more than 800 million people on our planet have to survive on less than one dollar a day. This year, Britain has the presidency of both the G8 and the European Union. This gives us a singular opportunity to help lift people out of poverty by radically reforming the way we deliver aid and by fighting for free markets and fair trade. Overseas aid should be targeted at the poorest countries and it should be tied to good governance. Despite Chris Patten's heroic efforts at reform, almost 50 per cent of the European Union's aid goes to middle- or even high-income countries. That is why I want to see far greater national control of overseas aid, so Britain can target her aid on the most deserving countries. If you want to help the poor, then the path is clear - establish independent courts, protect private property, constrain the power of politicians and encourage free enterprise. The growth of free markets has done more to lift people out of poverty than all the aid programmes in the world. The fact that we now have a rules-based system for managing international trade under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation is a huge advance. Might is no longer right. But the potential of this system to help the poorest countries of the world is not being realised. The developed countries are still too protectionist. Western tariffs and farm subsidies reduce the export earnings of developing countries by an estimated $39billion a year, 50 per cent more than they receive in aid. And, all too often, the imbalance in expertise and resource works to the disadvantage of poor countries when it comes to enforcing the rules which exist. That is why I have argued that the developed countries should finance an advocacy fund to provide the necessary expertise which would enable poorer countries to get the fair deal which the WTO system promises. 2004 ended with great sadness, but Britain's presidency of the G8 and the European Union offers a real opportunity in 2005. By reforming the way we deliver overseas aid, by promoting free enterprise and by encouraging freer, fairer trade, we can help lift millions of people out of poverty. Let us all make sure we do everything we can to use these opportunities to the full. | ['politics/politics', 'world/tsunami2004', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/michael-howard'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-01-02T01:05:37Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2019/oct/10/italy-seeks-to-be-a-sustainable-economy-leader-with-climate-bill | Italy proposes to cut prices for food sold without packaging | Italian shoppers could soon enjoy a discount on products sold loose as part of a range of measures expected to be approved by the government as it strives to take action on the environment. The initiative would give financial incentives to shopkeepers to reduce the price of food items and detergents sold without packaging, and of drinks, shampoos and other liquids sold from dispensers or in reusable containers. The bill will be discussed by the prime minister Giuseppe Conte’s cabinet on Thursday afternoon. Other measures include giving public transport season tickets to those who stop using their cars, mopeds or scooters, a €20m (£18m) investment in electric and hybrid school buses, an urban reforestation plan and an environmental campaign in schools. “We have norms that will counteract the climate emergency at 360 degrees,” Sergio Costa, the environment minister, wrote on Facebook. Conte told a conference on Thursday that Italy is seeking to be a leader in making the economy more sustainable. He had promised to make environmental action a priority in a speech before the new left-leaning government, a coalition of the Five Star Movement (M5S) and Democratic party, was voted into power in early September. Conte also made a dramatic call for urgent action at the recent UN climate action summit in New York after news emerged that a massive portion of a Mont Blanc glacier was in danger of collapse. Luigi Di Maio, whose M5S party has long prioritised the environment in its campaigning, said the climate bill represents “a new vision of a green Italy” that would put the country at the forefront in Europe. “It’s difficult to assess what kind of impact each measure will have but for sure, this decree is a start,” said Gianfranco Pellegrino, a politics professor at Rome’s Luiss University who has written extensively about climate change. “The environment minister is taking climate change seriously and this is an improvement in respect of previous ministers. We need a law because we can’t confront the climate emergency without legislation.” Among Italy’s biggest challenges is tackling the huge amount of plastic littering the country’s shores, with alarming data published on Thursday by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra) revealing that more than 500,000 tonnes of plastic waste end up in the Mediterranean each year. The waste is mostly comprised of shopping bags, plastic bottles and product packaging. The data was collated with the help of fishermen, who reported that their nets now collect more waste than fish. Ispra also said Italian beaches “host” between 500 and 1,000 items of rubbish every 100 metres. “The situation in the Mediterranean is serious,” said Cecilia Silvestri, a researcher at Ispra. “The problem is that the Mediterranean is a closed basin … and it is compromised because of rubbish that gets dumped in the sea in north African countries that don’t yet have a sufficient waste management system. The rubbish circulates and ends up near our coastline.” Plastic is also heavily polluting Italy’s lakes. “I was in Lake Como recently and discovered the lake is the most polluted in Europe with microplastic,” said Pellegrino. “Plastic is a real problem and needs to be addressed very soon.” Pollution is another major issue, especially in Italy’s northern cities. While Italy’s greenhouse gas emissions have been decreasing over the past decade, the country was criticised this year by the European Climate Foundation for failing to provide an adequate plan to further reduce emissions and dependency on fossil fuels. “Emissions remain a problem and another issue is extinctions – in Italy there are many species that are close to dying off,” added Pellegrino. An estimated 1 million Italian schoolchildren took part in a global climate strike inspired by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on 27 September. | ['world/italy', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/giuseppe-conte', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'profile/angela-giuffrida', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-10-10T15:47:46Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2020/apr/08/humans-living-in-amazon-10000-years-ago-cultivated-plants-study-finds | Humans living in Amazon 10,000 years ago cultivated plants, study finds | The Amazon basin was a hotspot for the early cultivation of plants, with inhabitants having munched on squash and cassava more than 10,000 years ago, researchers have revealed. The team say the new findings from Bolivia offer direct evidence such plants were grown in south-west Amazonia, meaning the region has a claim to join the Middle East, China, south-west Mexico and north-west South America as locations where wild plants were domesticated shortly after the last ice age. The team say the discovery chimes with other clues. “[Previous work] identified south-west Amazonia as a potential centre of domestication because in this area they found a lot of wild relatives of domesticated plants,” said Dr Umberto Lombardo of the University of Bern, a co-author of the research. Writing in the journal Nature, Lombardo and colleagues reveal how they made their discovery after investigating “forest islands” – raised, wooded areas, about 70 meters in diameter – within savanna in Llanos de Moxos, Bolivia. Using a range of sources, including Google Earth, the team report more than 6,600 forest islands in Llanos de Moxos, adding that they looked at the makeup of soil samples at 82 of the sites, finding more than 60 showed telltale signs of human occupation – such as charcoal, shells and bone fragments. From these findings, the team estimated at least 4,700 of the “forest islands” identified were sites where humans once lived – and chucked their waste. “They are places where people just threw their rubbish after eating or whatever they did,” said Lombardo, noting the accumulation went on for thousands of years, resulting in a raised platform that, safe from the savannah’s seasonal floods, eventually became colonised by trees. Further analysis, using radiocarbon dating of charcoal or shell fragments within samples from 31 of the sites, reveal human occupation dating as far back as 10,850 years ago – shortly after the end of the last ice age, when cultivation of plants began independently in various regions of the world. Lombardo and colleagues then examined tiny particles of silica that were found alongside the material for dating. These particles, called phytoliths, form in plant tissues with phytoliths from different types of plants, and sometimes even different species, showing particular shapes. “Phytoliths are plant microfossils,” said Lombardo. “And we can use them to identify the plants that lived in that place in the past.” The team report a heart-shaped phytolith that came from cassava at one site, in a sample dating to about 10,350 years ago, with scalloped, spherical phytoliths from the rind of squash plants found in samples dating as far back as 10,250 years ago. Among other discoveries, the researchers found phytoliths from maize that date as far back as 6,850 years ago. The team said the plants had probably been cultivated in home gardens. But whether the plants were domesticated there – a process involving selection of particular traits – or were already semi-domesticated is less clear. Lombardo also cautioned that not all plants form phytoliths – among them are peanuts, which evidence from wild plants in the region suggests come from the south-west of the Amazon basin. Dr Sarah Elliott, an environmental archaeologist from the University of Bournemouth, who was not involved in the research, said the study was significant, noting the team had found the oldest evidence for squash associated directly with human activity and the earliest maize cultivation in the Amazon basin. “The human impact in the Amazon in the past was thought to be minimal,” she said. “But new research such as this study demonstrates that the nature of human occupation and alteration of the landscape is extensive, and this region now has evidence for the implementation of cultivation from as far back as 10,250 years [ago].” | ['world/bolivia', 'world/world', 'science/biology', 'world/americas', 'science/science', 'environment/plants', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nicola-davis', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-04-08T15:00:20Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/article/2024/jul/02/port-infrastructure-delays-threaten-uks-transition-to-net-zero-industry-says | Port infrastructure delays threaten UK’s transition to net zero, industry says | The UK’s transition to net zero is under threat as delays in approving new infrastructure put billions of pounds of investment in offshore wind schemes and other vital upgrades at risk, big ports have said. The British Ports Association (BPA) has written to the government and Labour calling for action to clear the backlog of harbour orders, the legislation needed for ports to make infrastructure changes to support offshore wind projects. The shadow energy security secretary, Ed Miliband, this week promised Labour will take lead on global efforts to tackle the climate crisis if it wins Thursday’s election. Port authorities hope to take advantage of the growth of the offshore wind industry – seen as vital to hitting the UK’s legal commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – by upgrading their infrastructure to allow the assembly and maintenance of turbines on site. Some ports, however, have been waiting for nearly four years for orders to be signed off, more than four times longer than expected, while other schemes have failed to get off the ground over fears the delays will make them unviable. The BPA, whose members own and operate 350 ports and facilities, has estimated that it could take nearly nine years to clear all existing orders, while saying that applications are likely to increase in number in the coming years to meet growing demand for offshore wind schemes. Harbour orders are legislative consents given to ports to construct new infrastructure by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), a public body. Ports also require harbour orders to give them new legal powers, enabling them to borrow funds or enter joint ventures, which are essential for the planning of facilities such as upgrades to allow work on turbines or cruise terminals. The BPA director of policy and external affairs, Mark Simmonds, said significant port development was needed in the coming years to meet the growing demand for offshore wind, as well as growth in cargo and cruises. “It is extremely regrettable that a single point of failure in processing relatively simple consents at a regulator can threaten billions of pounds of port investment and ultimately put our net zero ambitions at risk,” he said. The BPA has told Labour that its £1.8bn manifesto pledge to upgrade UK ports could be held back unless immediate action is taken to speed up consents. The number of approvals has dropped off significantly, with only four harbour orders receiving the green light in the past two years, compared with nine in 2021. Falmouth Harbour, which has been waiting almost two years to secure a new order, said the delays were preventing it from progressing plans to tap into floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea. The harbour’s chief executive, Miles Carden, said: “The significant time delays are a massive distraction.” The Port of Southampton submitted its application for new powers in June 2020 but has still yet to secure an order, and the Port of Plymouth has been waiting three years for MMO approval. Industry experts believe the body’s lack of legal resources is behind the delays. Associated British Ports, the country’s biggest port operator, said the delays were unacceptable and holding up a number of its important operational improvement projects. Tim Morris of the ABP said: “Without more capacity at the MMO or alternative routes to process applications, the potential for ABP and other port operators to grow our capability to handle the trade Britain needs and play a greater role in the energy transition risks being lost.” Offshore wind provided about 17% of the UK’s energy in 2023, with the government targeting 50GW by 2030. A report by Renewable UK last year estimated that investment of around £4bn would be needed at ports to produce 34GW of energy from floating offshore wind by 2040. Lara Moore, the head of marine at the law firm Ashfords, said it was aware of projects failing at an early stage because they were unlikely to obtain consents within the two- to three-year window they needed to become operational. “For offshore wind customers who are trying to bring in turbines, you’ve got to be able to react. You can’t say to a prospective customer, ‘yes, we are really interested but we can’t start for another four years because we are waiting for the consent’,” she said. A spokesperson for the MMO said the application process typically takes about three years. “The present volume of applications and the resulting perceived delays were created by the large volume of applications submitted ahead of two price increases to harbour order fees in 2022 and 2023,” the spokesperson said. “The processing of these applications is complex and time consuming and the MMO is presently not fully cost recovering for work undertaken for this function.” The Department for Transport said it was working with the body and ports to improve the process. | ['environment/green-economy', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jack-simpson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2024-07-02T11:54:34Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2021/jun/13/g7-summit-boris-johnson-doesnt-quite-get-his-big-moment-cornish-sunshine-analysis | Boris Johnson doesn’t quite get his big moment in the Cornish sunshine | Delivering his closing press conference in the Carbis Bay hotel on Sunday, pale golden sand and azure sea visible behind him, Boris Johnson sought to play down the unseemly diplomatic spat that had marred his moment on the world stage. “Actually, what happened at this summit was that there was a colossal amount of work on subjects that had absolutely nothing to do with Brexit,” he insisted. Yet just hours earlier, his foreign secretary had been describing alleged comments by the French president about the status of Northern Ireland as “offensive”. French sources flatly denied that Emmanuel Macron had been suggesting Northern Ireland was not part of the UK – they said he was merely pointing out it is not part of Great Britain (and, indeed, Northern Ireland has a special status under the protocol – which is of course why it exists). Whatever the truth, Johnson’s bilateral meetings this weekend were repeatedly kiboshed by discussion of the ugly standoff over checks on products exported from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Rather than play down the row, the prime minister repeatedly leaned into it – saying he needed EU leaders to “get it into their heads,” that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, for example. The UK insists the EU is being too legalistic in how it interprets the protocol; but other G7 countries could have been excused for coming away with the impression that “Global Britain” cannot even get on with its nearest neighbours, and signs up to deals only to try to wriggle out of them later. Away from sausage wars, there were new commitments from the G7 on boosting girls’ education, preventing future pandemics and safeguarding biodiversity. And there was a renewed sense that global cooperation is suddenly achievable again, in a way that was simply impossible in the Trump era, as illustrated by the minimum global tax deal struck by G7 finance ministers last week. But on the two most pressing issues the world faces – the climate emergency and the pandemic – campaigners were bitterly disappointed by the scale of ambition on display. The 1bn vaccine doses the G7 agreed to donate falls far short of the 11bn the World Health Organization’s Tedros Adhanom says are necessary to protect 70% of the world population. He would also like to see the donation deadline brought forward to next summer, from Johnson’s target of the end of 2022. On climate, the G7 reiterated a decade-old promise to “mobilise” $100bn a year in financing, first made at the Copenhagen summit, which has already been about 80% reached. Leaders did commit to increasing their contributions to hit that total – but it was hardly the green Marshall Plan some reports had trailled. They said they would “develop a plan” for a clean, green financing mechanism intended to rival massive Chinese investment into developing countries – but details were scant. Like several announcements over the weekend, the headline appeared not to be backed up with policy detail. At his press conference, Johnson bristled at the idea that the UK’s aid cuts may have undermined his moral authority to press other G7 countries to be more generous, whether on green finance or vaccines. He insisted no leader had brought up the issue of the cuts with him at the summit: and wrongly stated that the UK remained the second biggest donor in the G7 (it is the fifth). But somehow, whether it was lack of diplomatic groundwork in advance, or the lack of trust created by the Brexit row, Johnson’s moment in the Cornish sunshine didn’t quite come off. When it comes to Cop26 in Glasgow in November, when it is not just the wealthiest nations but the whole world the UK must cajole and persuade to back an ambitious climate deal, the challenges will be even greater, and the stakes very much higher. | ['world/g7', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'world/eu', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'world/emmanuel-macron', 'uk/northernireland', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'society/vaccines', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/heatherstewart', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-06-13T17:55:37Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/article/2024/sep/06/wind-solar-farms-greenest-summer-ever-energy-generation | Wind and solar farms power Great Britain’s grid to greenest ever summer | Great Britain’s electricity system has recorded its greenest ever summer after growing numbers of wind and solar farms cut the need for gas power plants to fresh lows. Analysis of energy generation data, commissioned by the Guardian, revealed that Britain’s reliance on gas generation fell in August to less than one-fifth of all electricity, or 4 terawatt hours (TWh), its lowest ever level for a one-month period. This allowed the carbon intensity of the power grid to plummet to the lowest level recorded for a single month, at 144g of CO2 per kilowatt-hour in August, 40% lower than in the same month last year, according to the analysis. The data, analysed by the energy thinktank Ember, showed that the record lows were sustained even when averaged over the summer months from June to August, meaning the grid experienced its greenest summer ever. The Labour government aims to run the UK’s power grid on virtually zero carbon electricity by 2030 thanks to a surge in new wind and solar farms. Its flagship auction this week for renewable energy subsidies awarded contracts for 131 new projects, or enough new clean electricity projects to power 11m UK homes. However, it secured just half the offshore wind capacity needed every year for the rest of the decade if the government is to hit its net zero target. Frankie Mayo, an analyst at Ember, said: “Having the lowest monthly fossil fuel share on record shows that homegrown wind and solar can reduce reliance on imports. This is a great starting point on the path to clean power by 2030 for the new government. “But gas in the mix still threatens energy bills. Clean power is delivering cheap, low-cost power – ramping up deployment at scale can’t come soon enough.” The analysis confirmed forecasts, revealed by the Guardian earlier this month, that Great Britain was on track for a record summer for solar power. Electricity generation from the sun reached a monthly average of 1.86TWh over the calendar summer, up by almost 20% from the same period last year. Windfarms also generated a record summer high of 7.04TWh in August, Ember’s analysis shows, more than 46% higher than in the same month last year. The average monthly wind output between June and August climbed to 5.6TWh, up 40% from last summer. At the same time Britain’s fleet of nuclear reactors recorded their highest electricity output in almost two years in August, generating 3.89TWh last month. Emma Pinchbeck, the chief executive of the industry body Energy UK, said: “It wasn’t that long ago that coal was providing 40% of our electricity and the prospect of running the grid on predominantly low-carbon power would have been dismissed by many as impossible. “The regularity with which new records like this are set shows the pace at which cleaner homegrown sources are providing an ever-increasing share of our power.” Luke Clark, a director at Renewable UK, the green power trade association, said: “These record-breaking figures show that we’re making great progress, but to achieve the new government’s target of decarbonising our electricity system by 2030, we’ll need to increase the rate at which we build new wind and solar farms by securing even higher volumes of new capacity in each annual auction for contracts.” Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said: “While these figures are to be welcomed, we have a mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, with solar and wind power at the heart of our plans. “Just this week we achieved a record-setting round of renewables projects, with enough power for 11 million homes - essential to give energy security to families across the country. And we’ve set up Great British Energy, which will unlock billions of private investment, delivering new energy projects, tens of thousands of high-quality jobs and protecting bill payers permanently.” | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/energy', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2024-09-06T07:00:21Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2015/jun/03/great-barrier-reef-coral-four-times-safer-in-no-take-fishing-reserves-study-shows | Great Barrier Reef coral four times safer in no-fishing reserves, study finds | Research into the Great Barrier Reef has discovered coral disease levels are four times lower inside no-take marine reserves – where fishing is banned – than outside reserves. Scientists from James Cook University surveyed more than 80,000 corals around the Whitsunday Islands for six different diseases that commonly harm reefs around the world. It is the first time a study has shown marine reserves enhance coral health on the Great Barrier Reef. The lead author, Joleah Lamb, said the finding had important implications for fish stocks across the reef and fishers whose activity had otherwise been restricted. “Healthy coral inside reserves are vital habitats for reef fish,” she said. “And these reserve fish can spill outside of the reserves for fishers.” Three coral diseases – skeletal eroding band, brown band, and a group of diseases called white syndromes – were found to be less prevalent inside no-take marine reserves, particularly compared with reefs with high levels of injured corals and discarded fishing line. Lamb said some areas showed no coral disease, but on average the reserves had a 1% level of coral disease, “which is quite low”. On average disease levels outside the reserves were 5%, but in certain areas they went up to 9%. Coral tissue damaged by discarded fishing line and other fishing-related activities is more vulnerable to disease. Exposed coral skeleton provides an entry point for pathogens to infect, leading to spreading tissue loss. “It’s like getting gangrene on your foot and there is nothing you can do to stop it from affecting your leg and ultimately your whole body,” she said. As well as injuring coral tissue, fishing lines also give potential pathogens another surface on which to colonise, said Lamb. “Corals have way of fighting pathogens,” she said. “But if the pathogens are getting a one-up by having something to colonise on to, the coral are disadvantaged. And fishing line is generally made of very durable, long-lasting plastic so they stay in the environment for decades.” Disease can wreak havoc on reef health. Lamb highlighted two major reef-building coral species in the Caribbean that have been classified as endangered after disease swept across the region and led to coral cover losses of up to 95%. She said the fluid nature of the marine environment made isolating which pathogens were responsible for disease difficult. In their study, three diseases did not show lower levels of prevalence on coral within reserves. These diseases are commonly associated with warm water temperature or increased sediment due to runoff, conditions which “can flow past [the] arbitrary boundaries” of marine reserves. “So we need to be aware that we are unable to manage factors like dredging, climate change and agriculture, that could also be drivers of diseases, with marine reserves alone,” said Lamb. Disease levels were significantly lower in the Great Barrier Reef marine park than in many other regions of the world, she said. “I think a lot of it is down to how much protection we have on the Great Barrier Reef and it shows how much we need to continue to protect it.” A draft UN ruling in May recommended against listing the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger” but indicated the natural icon remains on its watch list. | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/coral', 'environment/marine-life', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/monica-tan'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-06-03T04:32:43Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2024/feb/21/eating-to-save-nature-embrace-potatoes-ditch-rice-track-your-beans-aoe | Eating to save nature? Embrace potatoes, ditch meat and track your beans | Biodiversity-conscious eaters could consider substituting potatoes for rice, cutting down on beef and lamb and asking where their beans, lentils and chickpeas are grown to reduce their impact on nature, a new study has found. Scientists analysed 151 popular recipes around the world for their biodiversity impact. They found meat dishes were the worst offenders: recipes including chilli con carne, salsa verde pork and a Spanish lamb dish called lechazo, all had high biodiversity damage scores compared with vegan and vegetarian ones. The massive environmental impact of eating meat has been well established, and the study reinforced this, with meat dishes scoring more than vegetarian or vegan dishes across almost all locally and globally produced scenarios. Brazilian-raised beef topped the charts. But the study, published on Wednesday in Plos One journal, also had surprising findings about the biodiversity footprint of some grains and legumes. Recipes that use rice and legumes – like the chickpea-based dish chana masala and the kidney bean rajma curry – can cause problems too, depending on where ingredients are grown. “The origin of the beans or lentils you are using matters quite a bit,” said Roman Carrasco, one of the paper’s authors and an associate professor of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The study’s lead author, Elissa Cheng, a life science graduate at the NUS department of biological sciences, said: “The study highlights particular problems for dishes using ingredients from tropical areas rich in biodiversity, including Brazil and Mexico.” India “presents a perfect storm”, Carrasco said, because it has high levels of biodiversity, including many endemic species that can only live in very specific areas, combined with “high levels of those critical areas being heavily encroached by crops like rice, chickpeas, beans and lentils”. Carrasco said examples of Indian species particularly at risk from industrial legume production include “the pygmy hog – the smallest and rarest species of pig – the Elvira rat [and] the Kondana soft-furred rat”. The study found dishes doing the least harm to biodiversity were those with starchy ingredients such as potato and wheat, including Polish pyzy potato dumplings and Chinese mantou, a steamed wheat bun. The United Nations Environment Programme describes global food production, particularly animal agriculture, as the primary driver of biodiversity loss, and a key part of the problem is the land area required for livestock and their feed. “Brazilian cattle, for example, need a lot of space. So do Spanish lambs,” Carrasco said. And while legumes are “an excellent crop” in terms of efficient land use and high nutritional value, they could be better grown in less biodiverse areas. Cheng said: “The findings suggest we might need mechanisms to compensate countries to preserve their biodiversity [instead of using the land for agriculture] while we grow more things in countries that have already cleared most of their natural habitat for agriculture, like parts of Europe and North America.” To calculate the biodiversity footprint of each dish the scientists used crop and pasture area data, as well as data from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species and BirdLife International, to calculate the agricultural footprint of each ingredient, the number of threatened species and the “range rarity” affected by converting natural habitats to crop or pastureland. High range rarities mean a species has a very small remaining habitat. For livestock ingredients, the study measured the crop and pasture inputs necessary to produce the meat. Carrasco said he stopped eating beef about five years ago and the paper’s findings confirmed it was the right step. “I think I will stop eating lamb now, too,” he added. “Even eating sustainably produced beef and lamb means higher demand, and it is not possible to meet global demand with only naturally occurring pasturelands. So it is better to just avoid beef and lamb altogether.” Joseph Bull, an associate professor of climate change biology at Oxford University, who was not involved with the research, said the findings around legumes and rice having a higher impact in Mexico, Brazil and India were “interesting and add nuance to what we know”, but underlined the fact that the “highest impact foods for biodiversity tend to be meat”. Michael Clark, a senior researcher in sustainable food solutions at the Oxford Martin School, who was also not involved with the study, said the research “gives a way for people to understand the biodiversity impact of different dishes … [and shows how those] containing ruminant meats such as beef and lamb, or ingredients from tropical regions such as Brazil or India, tend to have high impacts on biodiversity”. Poor food traceability is another problem highlighted by the study. “If consumers had better ways to identify [the origin of foods] and then make choices, that would help,” Carrasco said. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/food', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/environment', 'environment/meat-industry', 'environment/farming', 'lifeandstyle/vegetarianism', 'lifeandstyle/veganism', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/sophie-kevany', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-02-21T19:00:31Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2006/oct/25/politics.nuclearindustry | Darling does a U-turn and breaks up BNG | The privatisation of British Nuclear Group took the latest in a series of twists yesterday when the government announced a U-turn and decided it would back a break-up of the company. Alistair Darling, the trade secretary, said meetings with BNFL and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority had convinced him there were "real benefits" to splitting up BNG, and that the group's Magnox reactors division would be sold separately from the nuclear decommissioning and reprocessing business. He also unveiled long-awaited plans to establish a National Nuclear Laboratory to be run by Nexia Solutions, which like BNG is a subsidiary of the state holding company BNFL. The move coincided with the formal start of the UK's biggest-ever decommissioning contract, a £5bn deal over five years to manage the clean-up of the Sellafield complex. The minister said he had been persuaded by BNFL that to sell off the whole of BNG in one part could mean "non-Sellafield pieces might be sold on at a premium to the loss of the taxpayer". But the Amicus union said the latest development meant the NDA and BNFL board had changed their strategy four times in six months, which reflected "very badly on the members of both boards". The previous secretary of state, Alan Johnson, said in March that he planned to dispose of BNG as a single entity. The US engineering group Fluor put in a £400m bid that was rejected. The BNFL board decided this summer it would create more value by breaking the group up. It argued that BNG's project services division and a 30% holding in the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston - jointly controlled by Serco and Lockheed Martin - should be hived off. But yesterday Mr Darling announced he also planned to sell off the Magnox reactor sites owned by BNG. Only four of the 11 - Dungeness A, Sizewell A, Oldbury and Wylfa - are still generating electricity but the first two will cease at the end of this year and the last by 2010. The remaining part of BNG will be kept under the wing of BNFL until 2008, when its sole job - managing clean-up contracts at Sellafield - will come to an end and a new contractor is chosen by tender. The NDA, an independent agency set up to oversee the clean-up, said yesterday it wanted interested companies to come to a special meeting in November and express interest in the Sellafield contract by the end of the year. Large US corporations such as Fluor, Bechtel and the Washington Group were expected to be among the bidders, along with British firms such as Amec and Serco, or more probably a mix of them grouped into consortia. Mike Parker, BNFL's chief executive, supported Mr Darling's plan, saying it represented the "best all-round solution" for the business and its employees. But Amicus said it would go on lobbying for the Magnox business to be split further, into north and south businesses. | ['business/business', 'politics/politics', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'uk/uk', 'uk/immigration', 'politics/privatisation', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2006-10-24T23:02:03Z | true | ENERGY |
money/2009/jan/26/freesheet-paper-waste | Why you should refuse a freesheet paper | It can be hard to turn down a free newspaper as you board the bus, tube or train to and from work each day. And why would you? You'll only find yourself reading one over someone else's shoulder if you don't get your own. But, like so many other mindless acts we do each day, picking up a free paper is not as harmless as it seems. Firstly, aside from the argument that this bargain-basement mix of celebrity tittle-tattle and non-news is bad for good journalism – a "travesty" is how media commentator Roy Greenslade describes it – there is your own intellectual well-being to consider. Advertisers pay a premium to appear in these newspapers because they know they will reach an audience that will literally read anything: trapped on a bus or train, their brains so numb from the copy, they will even read the adverts. Is turning yourself into an advertiser's dream target demographic – the thoughtless zombie – really the best way to spend your commute? There is also the problem of litter. With more than 1.5m free papers handed out in London alone each day, that is a lot of potential waste. And because they are free, people are happier to discard them en route rather than take them home. The distributors are slowly beginning to deal with the issue of collecting and recycling used copies of their papers after the litter problem got so bad that Westminster council threatened to ban them last year from parts of central London. Recycling points are finally being set up in some places, but they are still only catching a fraction of the newspapers handed out. According to the Free Newspapers Cost the Earth campaign, leaving a copy on the train for someone else to read might seem like a sound recycling strategy, but this only passes on the responsibility and increases the likelihood of the paper ending up in landfill or littering the street. And then there is the biggest problem with free newspapers: their environmental impact. The recent growth in free papers has given birth to numerous campaign groups dedicated to limiting their damage, such as Project Freesheet which estimates that, even taking into account the use of recycled paper, more than 9,000 trees are cut down every day to produce the world's freesheets. So, if you can, try and avoid having one thrust into your hand in the first place, and get back into the habit of carrying a good book. Of course, it is still made of paper, but it is much more efficient in terms of paper per journey. You could also reduce your book's carbon footprint further by borrowing it from the library, or buying it second hand. Once you are finished with it, give it to a charity shop or lend it to someone else to read. If you don't have anyone to swap with, post it to PaperBack Swap, a website with almost 3m books on offer. Once you've sent your book in you can choose a new one completely free. Another alternative is to sign your book up at bookcrossing.com and then leave it somewhere conspicuous for someone else to read (although not on the train as it will probably get binned). The idea is that you leave a message inside the book and the person who finds it then logs on to the website to tell you where it ended up. And if you really want to go the whole green hog, try reading a book about being green. Some of my favourites are Carbon Detox by George Marshall, Seeing Green by Jonathan Porritt, or Dave and Andy Hamilton's The Self-Sufficientish Bible (for the only slightly-less committed). Just watch you don't knock your halo as you disembark. | ['money/series/workonething', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'environment/recycling', 'careers/sectors-industry-roles', 'careers/careers', 'type/article', 'profile/adharanandfinn'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-01-26T12:18:29Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
technology/2017/oct/25/smile-mirror-invented-cancer-patients | Grin and bear it: mirror invented for cancer patients forces them to smile | In your regular update on awful tech products, may I present the “Smile mirror”, a mirror designed for cancer patients that becomes reflective only when the user smiles. Designed by someone actually called Berk, the idea behind the mirror is that smiling, even if faked, can make us genuinely feel better (known as the facial feedback hypothesis), and that laughter can improve immune function and even ostensibly make us live longer. The evidence for the effect is dubious, but more to the point … it is possible to smile when looking into a normal mirror. The product is a screen fitted with a camera that uses facial recognition to tell when an individual is smiling, which turns the screen reflective. The product was designed by a man and it is noticeable that a woman has been used in the mirror’s promotional photography, which speaks to the “cheer up, love” element of which this product smacks. Berk Ilhan says that he created the mirror while a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York, after consultation with oncologists and cancer patients. One of whom told Ilhan that it was difficult to face up to having the illness. Ilhan clearly took “face up” in its most literal sense. Not to entirely disparage an idea that came from a good place, but for my money this strikes me as one of the more idiotic products to be mooted. And it costs a lot of money – the Smile mirror is set to retail between $2,000 and $3,000. Somehow I doubt this will be a priority for the cash-strapped NHS (Ilhan eventually hopes to sell the product to hospitals). Initial reaction to the mirror suggests people are not amused: Ilhan hopes to crowdfund the mirror on Kickstarter soon; so if you’re a person with cancer who hasn’t tired of the emotional burden of being told to think positive, or a woman who hasn’t been told enough by men to smile, then start saving. • Sonic youth: vaginal speaker lets you play tunes to foetuses | ['technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'society/cancer', 'society/health', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/hannah-jane-parkinson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-technology'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-10-25T14:20:28Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
australia-news/2022/jan/05/extreme-marine-heatwave-waters-off-sydney-set-to-break-january-temperature-records | ‘Extreme marine heatwave’: waters off Sydney set to break January temperature records | Waters off Sydney are undergoing an extreme marine heatwave with temperatures likely at their highest levels on record for January. Satellite data is showing the ocean surface off the coast of Sydney at 3C above normal, with swimmers and surfers reporting conditions that feel more like February and March than early January. Prof Moninya Roughan, an oceanographer at the University of New South Wales and an expert in marine heatwaves, said the hottest water was covering an area of about 200sq km. Roughan is waiting until new data becomes available in the coming weeks from a long-term ocean temperature monitoring station at Port Hacking, where temperatures have been observed since the 1950s. But she said: “It appears now to be reaching those record levels and will likely be the hottest January on record. It’s an extreme marine heatwave.” She said there were three factors behind the extra heat. Global heating was pushing up background temperatures in the ocean, a La Nina weather system was helping transport warmer waters south, and atmospheric conditions were also playing a role. “Marine heatwaves are having severe consequences on ecosystems and they can kill habitats,” she said. She said the warm belt of water off Sydney was still attached to the East Australian Current – the 100km-wide belt that runs south from the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland to the area off Sydney. She expected a large eddy would break off from the tip of the current and take warmer waters south of Sydney. “I expect that water will hang around and push south over the coming months,” she said. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Prof Rob Harcourt, a marine ecologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, regularly surfs off Sydney beaches. “It’s been over 21C in the water for over a month now. Everyone that surfs has been talking for weeks about how it’s felt more like February and March than December [when the heat started to build].” He said the warmer water was likely bringing bull and tiger sharks into the area and also farther south. Other species would also likely be arriving on the warmer waters. Harcourt said while some species may benefit from warming oceans, the change in ocean temperatures along the eastern coast of Australia was dramatic. “A lot of animals will do poorly. A lot of animals that live in cooler waters, like seals and sharks, have a habitat that’s shrinking fast and the implications are hard to measure, but it’s likely to be dramatic.” He said in recent weeks whale sharks had been spotted north of Sydney and tiger and great white sharks had been seen feeding off a sperm whale carcass on the state’s far south coast. “Whale sharks do come down the coast but they’re rare,” he said. He said warm water arriving on the current was nothing new, but this arrival was particularly early and was unusually warm. Research in the journal Nature has found marine heatwaves around the globe are becoming more frequent and are lasting longer. Separate research suggests the southern points of the East Australian Current are also warming faster than the area farther north. | ['australia-news/sydney', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/marine-life', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-01-04T16:30:18Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk-news/2021/jun/24/queen-property-manager-crown-estate-says-profits-fell-22-in-first-year-of-pandemic | Queen’s property manager says profits fell 22% in first year of pandemic | A historic offshore wind auction by the Queen’s property manager, the crown estate, helped to counter a sharp drop in the value of its retail portfolio, but could not prevent a 22% decline in annual profits to £269m. The crown estate, which manages the seabed around Britain as well as a vast land and property portfolio that includes Windsor Great Park and Regent Street and St James’s district in London, said its profit for the year to March fell by nearly £76m from the year before, mainly due to a drop in its rent take. The group hands its profits to the Treasury and 25% is returned to the royal household in the form of the sovereign grant – a funding formula that is due to be reviewed next year. The value of the group’s total portfolio rose by 7.5% to £14.4bn, driven by an increase in the marine portfolio of £2.1bn reflecting a sale of windfarm leases, which offset a £1.1bn drop in property values, mainly in the London and regional retail portfolio, as retailers were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The crown estate collected 81% of rent due from its retail and office clients, after offering them rent deferrals or rent-free periods to help them get through the pandemic. Offshore wind makes up a growing part of the crown estate’s portfolio. It aims to increase offshore wind capacity from less than 10 gigawatts presently to 40GW – enough to serve the power needs of every home in the UK – over the next 10 years to help the UK achieve its net-zero carbon targets. The UK’s offshore wind boom handed the crown estate a multibillion-pound windfall earlier this year after its auction of seabed plots for windfarms off the coasts of England and Wales attracted runaway bids from windfarm developers and oil companies. The crown estate’s first auction of windfarm licences in a decade set record highs after energy firms, including the oil company BP, offered to pay a total of almost £880m a year to lease seabed plots while they build six new offshore windfarms to generate the equivalent of enough clean electricity to power more than 7m homes. The developers are required to pay the option fee as “rent” on the seabed licences while they develop plans for the windfarms. This could take up to 10 years, which would hand an almost £9bn windfall to the Crown, but energy companies will try to complete the development of the sites in half this time to save on costs. Dan Labbad, the chief executive, warned that despite the wind boom, “another tough 12 months” lay ahead for the crown estate. “There is no doubt that we are concerned about retail and have been for some time.” Labbad said the group would run more pilot schemes to figure out what clients wanted. It has supported the part-pedestrianisation of Oxford Circus and is adapting its offices for flexible working. “The biggest challenge for us is ensuring that we can repurpose the business for the future. “We had 50 million people walk down Regent Street two years ago. That number has fallen by 75%. A lot will come back naturally, but we are not relying on that.” He added that retail parks were performing quite well because shoppers could drive there, rather than city-centre locations, to which people generally travel by public transport. | ['uk-news/land-ownership', 'uk/queen', 'uk/monarchy', 'business/business', 'environment/windpower', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/juliakollewe', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2021-06-23T23:01:41Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2014/dec/28/connie-hedegaard-credibility-un-climate-process-2015-paris-talks | Connie Hedegaard: credibility of UN climate process hangs on Paris talks | Climate change talks next year will be make or break for international efforts to curb global warming, with the credibility of the UN-backed process at stake, the outgoing EU climate chief, Connie Hedegaard, has warned. World leaders are expected to sign an agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 onwards at a Paris conference in December 2015. It could be pivotal in climate negotiations, if China, the US and Europe agree to hold global warming within what scientists say are safe limits. But the risks are great, according to Hedegaard, who recently left the post of European commissioner for climate action and hosted the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009. “Say Paris could not deliver,” she said to the Guardian. “Who would believe the UN process would have credibility after that? That is what [we need] to make leaders understand – it’s now.” At preparatory talks earlier this month in Peru, a framework was agreed for the coming year. Three of the world’s major economic blocs – Europe, China and the US – came forward with proposals on curbing emissions, but Hedegaard was adamant that these must be strictly scrutinised to ensure that no country shirks its responsibilities. “We need to know who is bringing what [commitments] in order to have time [before] Paris to see how all this adds up? Does it bring us closer to bridging the gap [between the world’s current emissions and the cuts needed to prevent more than 2C of warming], or are we more distant from it? Is it fair, is it not fair? That’s a difficult exercise.” For Paris to succeed,the world’s major economies would need to be ambitious about greenhouse gas emissions, she said. There are reasons to be optimistic. China’s decision in November to set a peak year on its emissions has brightened the prospects for a global agreement. “It is good that China accepts that their emissions [are] of interest to the whole world. I remember when [asking] the Chinese when their emissions would peak destroyed the good atmosphere in a room. I hope it will make India [and others] reconsider their strategy, and I see signs that the new Modi government is doing exactly this.” She also praised the US, which set new post-2020 carbon targets, that were announced jointly by President Barack Obama and China’s Xi Jinping. “In 2009 [at the Copenhagen summit] China and the US played ‘after you, sir’ – none of them really moving. It makes a huge difference that they now move forward hand in hand and that they recognise their huge responsibility [as the world’s biggest emitters and economies],” she said. But Hedegaard, who played the lead role in getting governments to agree to meet in Paris, also had stern warnings. “2030 is a very late peak year for China,” she said. The later the peak year, the higher emissions would be before that. She also questioned the value of the US promise to cut emissions by 26-28%, compared with 2005 levels, by 2025. “It is not certain how the US will deliver the 2025 targets – one year after Paris, Obama will be out of office.” Hedegaard knows how hard it will be to succeed. She presided over the Copenhagen summit, arguably the most important talks in 20 years of climate negotiations, which was attended by leaders from nearly every country on the globe, including Barack Obama, Wen Jiabao, Gordon Brown and Angela Merkel. Copenhagen ended with the most significant agreement on climate change to date – the first time developed and major developing countries had acquiesced to curbing their greenhouse gas emissions: a concord between the US, China, India, Europe and all the major emerging economies had been unthinkable only a few years before. But it was marred by scenes of chaos, with some leaders railing against one another. NGOs also criticised the outcome for falling far short of expectations. If Copenhagen was a “nightmare”, in Hedegaard’s words, two years later she came back with an audacious plan. Without Hedegaard, there would be no Paris conference. The process of forging a post-2020 climate agreement started with her extraordinary single-woman stand at the climate talks in Durban in 2011, where in the face of fierce opposition she pushed through a timetable for new negotiations that would culminate in 2015 with the signing of a global pact to come into force in 2020. She crafted a grand alliance of most of the world’s developing countries, and the tacit support of the developed world. By the end, only China and India refused to countenance the timetable, and the exasperation of those two countries was clear. It was a close-run thing. Even into the final minutes, after 48 hours of non-stop talks, all of the main participants were quietly briefing the Guardian that Hedegaard would cave. If she had done, the world would be without a way of tackling climate change. She did not. China and India backed down and Durban was a watershed. Hedegaard will not be part of the EU negotiating team in Paris – “I was never too keen, too fond of UN conferences” – and although she will be chairing a foundation with 1bn Danish kroner to spend on climate and the economy, it is unlikely to be her only new job. “I left politics as a 29-year-old – I was spokesperson in parliament for the prime minister’s party and I left – people couldn’t understand that. Then I went into journalism and I wrote, then I was head of radio news, then I was a minister, then a European commissioner. I’ve had the experience that yes, you say goodbye to something but always it has also been fantastic what came after,” she said. “I’ve been looking forward so much to a new chapter in my life.” | ['environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/cop-20-un-climate-change-conference-lima', 'world/european-commission', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'tone/features', 'tone/interview', 'tone/news', 'world/paris', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/cop-20-un-climate-change-conference-lima | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-12-28T15:04:39Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2024/feb/16/prince-harry-malawi-elephant-relocation-project-dead-aoe | Death toll rises to seven in Malawi elephant relocation project linked to Prince Harry NGO | Four more people have died after an elephant translocation overseen by two wildlife organisations, including one that was headed by Prince Harry, in a protected area in Malawi. The recent deaths bring the total fatalities connected to the relocated elephants to seven. In July 2022, more than 250 elephants were moved from Liwonde national park in southern Malawi to the country’s second-largest protected area, Kasungu, in a three-way operation between Malawi’s national park service and two NGOs: the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), and African Parks. Prince Harry was president of African Parks for six years, before being elevated to the board of directors from 2023. The movement of elephants was among the largest of its kind ever attempted, the conservation groups said at the time. The groups used images of the 263 elephants being transported for fundraising, and videos of the huge animals being lifted by crane were described as “scenes reminiscent of the Disney classic Dumbo”. In the days after the translocation, however, two people were killed by elephants in the area the animals were moved to, and a third person was killed in September that year. Communities warned of growing problems with human-wildlife conflict with the African mammals, which frequently raid crops. After the move, a community leader accused the wildlife NGOs of caring more about animals than people. An electric fence to protect people on the edge of the park had not been completed, he said, highlighting that the elephants had been moved from a protected area that already had a fence. Ifaw and the Malawian national park service contest that this was a condition of the translocation. African Parks disputed that the movement of the elephants had been rushed. Now, a further four people have been killed by elephants in Kasungu, bringing the total fatalities to seven, with areas of the fence still incomplete. The deaths have left several children orphaned and some families struggling to get by, the Guardian understands. Ifaw continued to raise funds using news of the translocation in 2023. The NGO said its Room to Roam initiative to protect elephants offered a solution to biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. On the Malawian side of the park in June 2023, 31-year-old Masiye Phiri was killed and her two-year-old child was injured when they were charged by a bull elephant in a garden after a group had left the park boundaries. In August 2023, Jackson Banda was killed by an elephant, again after several elephants got out of the park. The next month, Boniface Nkhoma was attacked by elephants at night while walking on a road when the mammals had again gone beyond the park boundaries. On the Zambian side, Andrew Phiri, 65, was killed by a bull elephant in September 2023. The Guardian was told by local sources of a fifth death but could not confirm details. Ifaw said it was aware of seven deaths since the elephants were translocated. Malidadi Langa, chair of an association of villages near Kasungu national park on the Malawian side, who welcomed the elephant translocation as a boost to tourism, called for the creation of an insurance scheme to compensate affected families. He said elephant-human conflict was affecting some of the poorest and most marginalised families. “Although, with hindsight, we wish things could have been done better to prevent and mitigate the negative impact of the translocation in elephant-human conflict, we now want to focus more on finding solutions,” Langa said. “Although good progress is being made on construction of the electric fence around Kasungu national park, such fencing needs to be embedded in policy and legal frameworks as a requirement, given that Malawi’s protected areas are bounded by dense human settlements. “We want the introduction of some form of a human-wildlife conflict insurance scheme to offset losses suffered by victims. This is against the background of our experience with the translocation to date and the reality that human-wildlife conflict is exacerbating inequality since it affects already poor and marginalised communities living in hard-to-reach areas on the edge of the park,” he said. In a statement, Ifaw said it was deeply saddened by each death or injury caused by elephants that have strayed from Kasungu. It said it works closely with the Malawian and Zambian governments to coordinate on human-wildlife conflict, and had been providing community support. It said 57 miles of fencing near the park and been completed and an additional 25 miles would be finished in 2024. “Ifaw operates within the policy and legal framework of the governments of Malawi and Zambia. It is the government’s responsibility to deal with compensation in such matters, although there exists no such legal provision within the law of the two governments. Ifaw is bound to follow protocol in the management of these areas. However, Ifaw works with the governments to support the families tragically affected by human-elephant conflict by providing logistical and financial support – such as food, transport and coffins for the funerals of the deceased,” it said. Malawi’s national park service said there had been a substantial reduction in human-wildlife conflict in areas where the fence had been built. It said more staff had been hired to safeguard the community from raiding elephants, and disputed that the initial translocation was not done safely or without respect for local communities. African Parks, whose involvement with the translocation ended last year, did not publicly comment. It had previously published a lengthy response to media coverage in 2022. The prince was not involved in this translocation with African Parks. Zambia’s national park service did not respond. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'global-development/global-development', 'world/malawi', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/africa', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/mammals', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/environmentnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-02-16T07:00:37Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
society/2005/mar/23/environment.weather | Dry winter prompts drought fears | With impeccable timing, it rained across much of England and Wales yesterday just as the Environment Agency announced that most regions were experiencing the third driest winter since records began and urged people not to waste water. The agency said March could become the fifth consecutive month of below-average rainfall in all areas apart from the north-west and East Anglia, where rainfall was slightly above average in February. Overall, however, England and Wales have received only 75% of their expected rainfall this winter. River levels are well below the long-term average for this time of year, particularly in southern England, where less than half of the monthly average rainfall has been recorded in many parts. The water companies also point out that underground reserves are being recharged at well below the average rates. The Thames region, which wants a major new reservoir and a desalination plant to cope with soaring household demand and a rising population, is the most most severely affected, with under half the usual rainfall since November. A Thames Water spokesman said yesterday that the company was concerned. "Winter rainfall is the key because it replenishes underground supplies. But local boreholes are at just 50% of their usual levels. Just 133mm [5.24in] of rain has fallen in the Thames region in more than four months." Southern Water, which supplies 2.2 million people in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said yesterday that one of its large reservoirs was only 56% full, compared with the usual 97% for mid-March. The company said it would not consider restrictions until the end of April. Sutton and East Surrey Water is expected to be the first to impose a sprinkler ban. Mike Hegarty, operations director for the firm, said: "It is beginning to look increasingly likely that we will have to bring in water restrictions in the very near future. In February, total rainfall in our supply area was 33mm. The long-term average is 55mm." An Environment Agency spokeswoman said the south-east had both the highest population densities and the lowest rainfall. The driest previous winters were 129mm of water in 1908-09, and 102mm in 1933-34. Water companies say part of the problem is that people use far more water now than 20 years ago. In the London area, average consumption has risen from 140 litres a day in the 1980s to 163 litres. "Its only prudent to start thinking about what may happen later on this year [if the rains continue not to fall]. We are asking people to start thinking now about using water wisely," said a Thames Water spokesman. Water shortages could become more frequent in the south and east over the next two decades as climate change develops and the population rises by at least 1m households. | ['world/world', 'environment/water', 'society/society', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/drought', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment-agency', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-03-23T02:06:33Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
technology/2023/jul/29/home-office-secretly-backs-facial-recognition-technology-to-curb-shoplifting | Home Office secretly backs facial recognition technology to curb shoplifting | Home Office officials have drawn up secret plans to lobby the independent privacy regulator in an attempt to push the rollout of controversial facial recognition technology into high street shops and supermarkets, internal government minutes seen by the Observer reveal. The covert strategy was agreed during a closed-door meeting on 8 March between policing minister Chris Philp, senior Home Office officials and the private firm Facewatch, whose facial recognition cameras have provoked fierce opposition after being installed in shops. In a development that ignores critics who claim the technology breaches human rights and is biased, particularly against darker-skinned people, minutes of the meeting appear to show Home Office officials agreeing to write to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) advocating the merits of facial recognition technology in tackling “retail crime”. Mark Johnson, advocacy manager of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “The Home Office must urgently answer questions about this meeting, which appears to have led officials to lean on the ICO in order to favour a firm that sells highly invasive facial recognition technology. “Government ministers should strive to protect human rights, not cosy up to private companies whose products pose serious threats to civil liberties in the UK.” The minutes of the previously undisclosed meeting reveal that Philp – appointed policing minister by Rishi Sunak last October – and Simon Gordon, the founder of Facewatch, discussed “retail crime and the benefits of privately owned facial recognition technology”. Later, as part of an action plan agreed during the meeting, it is noted: “Officials to draft a letter to ICO setting out the effects of retail crime.” In addition, Philp would “consider a speech to bring the benefits of FR [facial recognition] to the fore”. It remains unclear precisely what contact followed between the Home Office and the privacy regulator regarding Facewatch. However, the minutes do suggest that Philp is aware that any attempt to apply pressure on the independent regulator might be ineffective. “CP [Chris Philp] reiterated that the ICO are independent and he can’t attempt to change their rulings or opinion,” state the minutes, obtained by Big Brother Watch through a freedom of information (FoI) request. Facial recognition technology has provoked widespread criticism and scrutiny, with the European Union moving to ban the technology in public spaces through its upcoming artificial intelligence act. However the UK’s data protection and information bill proposes to abolish the role of the government-appointed surveillance camera commissioner along with the requirement for a surveillance camera code of practice. “The UK should seek to emulate the European artificial intelligence act, which would place a ban on the use of facial recognition for surveillance purposes in all public spaces,” added Johnson. Advocates of biometric surveillance technology installed on retailers’ premises point to the escalating issue of retail crime, with UK shop thefts more than doubling in the past six years, reaching 8m in 2022. Last week the Co-op warned that some communities could become “no-go” areas for shops due to surging levels of retail crime. However, the use of Facewatch to tackle the issue is deeply contentious. In April, Sports Direct’s parent company defended its decision to use Facewatch cameras – which check faces against a watch list – in its shops. Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group said the cameras had cut crime, after 50 MPs and peers backed a letter opposing its use of live facial recognition technology. Gordon, who founded Facewatch in 2010, said: “We provide each individual business with a service that will reduce crime in their stores and make their staff safer. “Every store has 10 to 20 people who just constantly steal from that store. And the store knows who they are. They’ve been preventing theft for years – this isn’t a new thing. All this is doing is using new technology to stop it. One of our big retailers using it has a 25% [crime] reduction compared to stores not using Facewatch,” he added. Facial recognition software has been used by South Wales police and London’s Metropolitan police during events like the Notting Hill Carnival and, more recently, during the coronation. In 2020, appeal court judges ruled that previous trials by South Wales police of the technology were unlawful and unethical, although the force continues to use the technology. Last month, the Met revealed the results of its review into the technology’s effectiveness and claimed “no statistically significant bias in relation to race and gender, and the chance of a false match is just 1 in 6,000 people who pass the camera”. Asked about the ministerial support for Facewatch, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Shops are at the heart of our communities, and it is important that businesses are free to trade without fear of crime or disorder. “That is why we continue to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing to ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. “New technologies like facial recognition can help businesses protect their customers, staff and stock by actively managing shoplifting and crime.” | ['technology/facial-recognition', 'technology/biometrics', 'technology/technology', 'world/surveillance', 'technology/artificialintelligenceai', 'law/uk-civil-liberties', 'law/human-rights', 'campaign/email/tech-scape', 'uk/police', 'uk/uk', 'world/eu', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/marktownsend', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | technology/facial-recognition | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-07-29T16:11:38Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/2018/jun/19/weatherwatch-midsummer-a-hotly-contested-concept | Weatherwatch: midsummer - a hotly contested concept | We call it “midsummer”, yet midsummer’s day – this Sunday 24 June – traditionally marks the start, not the middle, of the summer season. In my view, this is down to a linguistic confusion. Just as the word “midwife” has nothing to do with middle (it derives from the German word “mit”, meaning “with”, and so refers to a person attending a woman giving birth), so surely “midsummer” means “with summer” – the first day of the new season? Either way, the start of summer depends both on where you live and that particular year’s weather. On a visit to Shetland in mid-June 2015 I recall the weather feeling more like late winter than summer, with temperatures struggling to reach double figures. Last year, on the other hand, midsummer was one of the warmest periods of the year. In 1976, it marked the start of the longest period of above-average temperatures ever recorded in the UK, topping the magic 90F (32C) mark for 15 days in a row. The hot, sunny weather famously continued for another two months, Britain’s longest recorded drought finally coming to an end with August bank holiday downpours. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'environment/drought', 'uk/uk', 'uk/series/week-in-britain', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-06-19T09:10:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/jun/10/takeaway-food-and-drink-litter-dominates-ocean-plastic-study-shows | Takeaway food and drink litter dominates ocean plastic, study shows | Plastic items from takeaway food and drink dominate the litter in the world’s oceans, according to the most comprehensive study to date. Single-use bags, plastic bottles, food containers and food wrappers are the four most widespread items polluting the seas, making up almost half of the human-made waste, the researchers found. Just 10 plastic products, also including plastic lids and fishing gear, accounted for three-quarters of the litter, due to their widespread use and extremely slow degradation. The scientists said identifying the key sources of ocean plastic made it clear where action was needed to stop the stream of litter at its source. They called for bans on some common throwaway items and for producers to be made to take more responsibility. Action on plastic straws and cotton buds in Europe was welcome, the researchers said, but risked being a distraction from tackling far more common types of litter. Their results were based on carefully combining 12m data points from 36 databases across the planet. “We were not surprised about plastic being 80% of the litter, but the high proportion of takeaway items did surprise us, which will not just be McDonald’s litter, but water bottles, beverage bottles like Coca-Cola, and cans,” said Carmen Morales-Caselles, at the University of Cádiz, Spain, who led the new research. “This information will make it easier for policymakers to actually take action to try to turn off the tap of marine litter flowing into the ocean, rather than just clean it up,” she said. Straws and stirrers made up 2.3% of the litter and cotton buds and lolly sticks were 0.16%. “It’s good that there is action against plastic cotton buds, but if we don’t add to this action the top litter items, then we are not dealing with the core of the problem – we’re getting distracted,” Morales-Caselles said. Prof Richard Thompson, of the University of Plymouth in the UK, who was not part of the research team, said: “Having [this data] recorded in a proper scientific way is incredibly useful. There can be a reluctance to take action on something that seems very obvious because there isn’t a published study on it.” The research, published in the journal Nature Sustainability and funded by the BBVA Foundation and Spanish science ministry, concluded: “In terms of litter origins, take-out consumer items – mainly plastic bags and wrappers, food containers and cutlery, plastic and glass bottles, and cans – made up the largest share.” The analysis included items bigger than 3cm and identifiable, excluding fragments and microplastics. It distinguished between take-out plastic items and toiletry and household product containers. The highest concentration of litter was found on shorelines and sea floors near coasts. The scientists said wind and waves repeatedly sweep litter to the coasts, where it accumulates on the nearby seafloor. Fishing material, such as ropes and nets, were significant only in the open oceans, where they made up about half the total litter. A second study in the same journal examined the litter entering the ocean from 42 rivers in Europe, and was one of the datasets Morales and colleagues used. It found Turkey, Italy and the UK were the top three contributors to floating marine litter. “Mitigation measures cannot mean cleaning up at the river mouth,” said Daniel González-Fernández of the University of Cádiz, who led the second study. “You have to stop the litter at the source so the plastic doesn’t even enter the environment in the first place.” In May, Greenpeace revealed that UK plastic waste sent to Turkey for recycling had been burned or dumped and left to pollute the ocean. US and UK citizens produce more plastic waste per person than any other major countries, according to other recent research. The researchers recommended bans on avoidable take-out plastic items, such as single-use bags, as the best option. For products deemed essential, they said the producers should be made to take more responsibility for the collection and safe disposal of products and they also backed deposit return schemes. “This comprehensive study concludes that the best way to confront plastic pollution is for governments to severely restrict single-use plastic packaging,” said Nina Schrank plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK. “This seems undeniable. We will never recycle the quantity of waste plastic we’re currently producing.” Thompson said: “What’s going on in the sea is a symptom of the problem – the origin of the problem and the solution are back on land and that’s where we’ve got to take action.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/plastic-bags', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/waste', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-06-10T15:41:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2011/oct/05/melting-arctic-ice-supertankers | Melting Arctic ice clears the way for supertanker voyages | Supertankers and giant cargo ships could next year travel regularly between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via the Arctic to save time, money and emissions, say Scandinavian shipowners. New data from companies who have taken advantage of receding Arctic sea ice this year to complete several voyages across the north of Russia shows that the "northern sea route" can save even a medium-sized bulk carrier 18 days and 580 tonnes of bunker fuel on a journey between northern Norway and China. The voyage would normally take upwards of 40 days. Even bigger fuel and time savings have been reported this week by Danish shipping company Nordic Bulk Carriers which says it saved a third of its usual costs and nearly half the time in shipping goods to China via the Arctic. The route, which cuts around 4,000 nautical miles off the southern Suez route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, has barely needed an ice-breaker since July as annual sea ice melted to a near record low extent. "We saved 1,000 tonnes of bunker fuel – nearly 3,000 tonnes of CO2 – on one journey between Murmansk and north China," said Christian Bonfils, a director of Nordic Bulk Carriers in Oslo. The shipowners, who anticipate that the northern route could gradually be opened for four to six months a year as air and sea temperatures increase, are exploring the possibility of regular summer passages through the Arctic ocean. This could save them €180,000-300,000 on each voyage, they say. "The window for sailing the route is four months now, but the Russians say it is seven [if the cargo ships are accompanied by Russian atomic icebreakers]. When we can save 22 days on transportation, it is very good business for us," said Bonfils. Apart from time savings, the shipowners can avoid Somali pirates and the high insurance premiums they attract if their ships pass through the Suez canal. The Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, last week predicted that the route would soon rival the Suez canal as a quicker trade link from Europe to Asia. "The Northern sea route will rival traditional trade lanes in service fees, security and quality," he told a conference organised by the Russian Geographical Society in Arkhangelsk in September. This is seen as wildly optimistic by the Scandinavian shipowners, who are nevertheless encouraged by the speed of change in high latitudes. The Arctic was crossed in a record eight days in August by an STI Heritage tanker on a route between the US and Thailand, and on 20 August, a 160,000 tonne supertanker with 120,000 tonnes of gas made the passage, becoming the largest commercial ship ever to sail the route. The route, which used to be known as the North-east passage, runs along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait. Environment groups have warned that an Arctic shipping rush could accelerate global warming. While they accept that ships would burn less fuel and emit less CO2, they fear oil spills and other maritime accidents, as well as "black carbon", the sooty residue of partly burned fuel which is deposited on ice and is a short-lived but powerful "forcer" of climate change. "The prospect of the creeping industrialisation of the high north is deeply worrying. More ships bring more chance of major accidents and will mean more climate pollutants on the back of more melting of the ice," said Ben Ayliffe, Arctic campaigner with Greenpeace. But shipowners cautioned that special ice-strengthened ships were needed and it is too early to build ships especially for the journey. In a further sign that the Arctic was opening up, Russian atomic icebreakers received 15 requests to escort Arctic voyages in 2011, against four in 2010. Canadian and American maritime experts have estimated that 2% of global shipping could be diverted to the Arctic by 2030, rising to 5% by 2050. | ['environment/travel-and-transport', 'environment/poles', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/environment', 'world/arctic', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'business/business', 'environment/sea-ice', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/sea-ice | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-10-05T09:57:20Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2008/sep/03/hurricanegustav.usa1 | New Orleans authorities work to get 2m city residents home | Authorities on America's Gulf Coast were yesterday struggling to orchestrate the orderly return of nearly 2m evacuees to New Orleans and low-lying areas of Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. Officials credited the exodus from New Orleans, one of the largest evacuations in American history, for the relatively low loss of life. Ten people were killed in the US as a result of the hurricane. But with Gustav past, Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal, yesterday faced the equally epic challenge of negotiating a peaceful and safe return of 95% of the population of southern Louisiana, now scattered in northern areas of the state, Texas and Tennessee. The evacuees would not be allowed to go home until today at the earliest, officials said. With more hurricanes forming over the Atlantic - Hanna was chewing up the Bahamas en route to Florida and South Carolina yesterday - the authorities were also under pressure to make sure that the public do not see the relatively light toll of Gustav as an excuse to ignore future evacuation warnings. "The reason that you are not seeing a dramatic series of rescues is because we had an efficient evacuation," Michael Chertoff, the secretary for homeland security, said. "I wouldn't want to give the impression that a category three storm is a false alarm." Though weakened, Gustav inflicted considerable property damage on Louisiana. Some 1.4m homes, and even a number of hospitals, were without power yesterday. Trees and dangling power lines were strewn across roads and the water and sewage systems in some small towns were knocked out of action. Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the public will have to be patient for another day. New Orleans will reopen to the public at 12.01am on Thursday, when the mandatory evacuation will become voluntary. Business owners will be allowed back in from the start of Wednesday. But Nagin warned that it would be take time before all the city's hospitals, water and sewage services and power were fully operational and he urged residents to be cautious in returning. Officials believe there are still 78,000 people without electricity due to severely damaged transmission lines and substations. "Considering all we've heard from the experts, it is my opinion that the city is in a very, very vulnerable state," Nagin said. "We're under incredible pressure to repopulate and we're trying to react in a responsible fashion." Asked about potential traffic congestion, he said: "I'm trying to phase this so people are not stuck on the interstate for 12, 14, 20 hours." Pressure is growing on Nagin because some neighbouring parishes are already open, a move which he admitted had taken him by surprise. People were being urged to bring battery-powered torches, food supplies because not many shops would be open, and cash because ATMs might not be functioning. Nagin added: "The message is we want you to come and see the city and see your properties. You can make then an intelligent decision about whether you want to stay or not. Everyone needs to understand at this time that you might not have power in your home." More than 1,800 people were killed three years ago in the aftermath of Katrina, and scenes of stranded flood victims became a symbol of the indifference and incompetence of the Bush administration as well as the state authorities. But while authorities were priding themselves on their response to Gustav yesterday, the storm still exposed the vulnerability of New Orleans, despite the billions spent shoring up the system of levees and floodwalls since 2005. Although the winds barely reached hurricane force, water still poured over the top of floodwalls on the western Industrial Canal - the same canal whose collapse led to the flooding of New Orleans's Ninth Ward during Katrina. At a press conference yesterday, Jindal sketched out a plan for a phased return to New Orleans and other low-lying areas, starting today or tomorrow with shop owners and workers for major companies. The authorities were lining up hundreds of buses to pick up the evacuees and return them as close as possible to their homes. "We're going to reverse the process. We had buses, trains and planes getting people out, now they're going to be bringing people back in," Nagin said. Those evacuees with their own transport would be allowed back once each local parish gives the all clear. The thousands who were evacuated by the authorities by bus and train would have to wait their turn. The elderly or those with medical conditions would be the last to return. Anyone attempting to drive back into New Orleans before then would be sent back by police. "They will be detained and turned around," a spokesman for Jindal said. "Then they could get in a situation where they run out of fuel. We're really saying to people, they need to stay where they are. Returning home too soon could prove dangerous because of downed power lines, standing floodwater and trees and other debris on major roadways." In Shreveport, Louisiana, there were reports overnight of fights at an overcrowded shelter. Others seemed unfazed by Jindal's warnings. By mid-morning, one elderly woman in Lafayette was already packing up her car to return to her home in Morgan City, with her husband, a kidney patient. The couple live in Morgan City, a centre for offshore drilling, that was hit badly by Gustav. Neighbours had told them their roof was damaged and their house was without power, but they were determined to return. "Tomorrow is my husband's last day before he needs his dialysis again. We have to find some place where we can have it, so we are just going to go home and see," she said. | ['us-news/hurricanegustav', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'us-news/louisiana', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/davidsmith', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | us-news/hurricanegustav | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2008-09-03T02:25:40Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog/2014/nov/19/how-to-achieve-fair-wages-for-workers-in-fashion-industry-live-chat | How to achieve fair wages for workers in fashion industry - live chat | Over 18 months ago the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh took the lives of more than 1,100 people. In July this year, two Swansea shoppers presented messages sewn onto labels in their Primark purchases that read “Forced to work exhausting hours” and “Degrading sweatshop conditions”. In September during London Fashion Week, anti-poverty charity War on Want dropped a 30 metre wide banner reading “Don’t mention the garment workers” over London’s Waterloo Bridge. And, just a few weeks ago, the Mail On Sunday exposed the working and living conditions of the Mauritian women making £45 T-shirts for Whistles. While Primark conducted an investigation that suggested the labels were a hoax, all four events have managed to put the fashion supply chain in the spotlight. Phil Bloomer, executive director at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre squares the cause of low wages with three causes: companies pushing risk down to the weakest in the supply chain in the pursuit of short term profit; an absence of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining for workers; and the failure of the state to protect human rights. We asked experts from business, trade unions and campaign groups what needs to happen to ensure that those making the clothes that wind up in wardrobes in the west are paid enough to afford decent food, housing and healthcare. Opinions varied, with some experts putting more emphasis on the responsibility of brands than on government and vice versa, but all were bound in agreement that achieving a fair wage demands a co-ordinated approach from players across the global apparel industry. Join the experts for a live chat Experts will join us in the comments section on Wednesday 26 November from 1.30pm GMT to take your questions on points including: Consumers have become accustomed to low-cost fashion. Who should take responsibility for paying more for fairer wages: factories, brands or consumers? The fashion industry provides jobs for millions, and often a job at a garment factory is preferable to the alternatives. Will brands move production away from countries in which a fair wage has been introduced? What are the pros and cons of setting a wage benchmark? What are the pros and cons of negotiations between workers and unions? On the panel Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead, senior economist at the International Labour Office and founder of the Fair Wage Network Gustav Lovén, social sustainability manager at the H&M Group. Prior to joining the sustainability department Gustav worked in H&M’s supply chain organisation in east Asia based in Shanghai Danielle McMullan, researcher, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre Monika Kemperle, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union Sabita Banerji, Knowledge and Learning Advisor, Ethical Trading Initiative. Sabita leads ETI’s work on cross-cutting issues including living wages, working hours and gender. Felix Poza Peña, CSR director, Inditex How to join The live chat is completely text based and will take place on this page in the comments section below, kicking off on Wednesday 26 November, from 1.30pm GMT. You can submit any questions in advance by tweeting them to @GuardianSustBiz using #askGSB or using the form below and we’ll put them to the panel on the day. Read more like this: The feminist T-shirt scandal is not an ethical problem; it’s an economic one How to achieve fair wages in the fashion industry - we ask the experts To respect human rights, fashion needs business, unions and governments Brought to you by: H&M’s roadmap to a fair living wage in the textile industry The sustainable fashion hub is funded by H&M. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘brought to you by’. Find out more here. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'fashion/fashion-industry', 'business/business', 'business/corporate-governance', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'world/ethics', 'type/article', 'profile/hannah-gould'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-11-19T17:59:51Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2012/apr/26/shell-says-no-north-sea-wind-power | Shell says no to North Sea wind power | Shell will not be joining David Cameron's crusade to attract private sector investment into creating a North Sea wind revolution despite its commitment to turbines in the US. Simon Henry, the company's finance director, said Shell "can't make the numbers" add up to justify building offshore windfarms. That contrasts with onshore turbines in America where it controls almost 1 gigawatt of wind power. The British government should support an industry that is "already successful" – such as oil and gas – as much as chase a renewable power sector that is still trying to become profitable, Henry added. He was speaking as Shell reported enormous first quarter profits and as Cameron made a rare plea for help with renewable power at the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in London. The prime minister described renewables as the "fastest growing energy source on the planet". He believed that "the UK's biggest opportunity is in the North Sea," he said. Past success of the oil and gas sector there had come about because of the "ingenuity of the private sector" and government and business together could enable the UK to lead the world in both wind power plus carbon capture and storage, he added. Shell, which has enormous experience of oil and gas operations in the North Sea, said the current economics of wind power did not stack up, although it promised to keep a "watching brief". Henry said his company was spending $6bn on "alternative" energy including biofuels but also warned the government that it must be careful that a vast amount of the public subsidies going into renewables did not end up all going to "Asian manufacturers", which dominated many supply chains. North Sea oil companies won tax concessions from the government in the March budget but are still smarting from being hammered by a £2bn windfall tax the year before. Shell is looking at the potential for onshore shale gas production in Britain and wider Europe but suspects progress in the sector will be slow because this is a "small continent with a lot of people." | ['business/royaldutchshell', 'environment/windpower', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/oil', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2012-04-26T17:57:15Z | true | ENERGY |
food/2018/dec/08/roast-vegetable-frittata-recipe-waste-not-christmas-leftovers-tom-hunt | Don't waste roast vegetables - make this leftovers recipe | Tom Hunt | Over Christmas, our kitchens go into hyperdrive. Out come the oven mitts, turkey baster and probe. Potatoes are peeled en masse. Supermarkets open late so we can buy even more food. And our homes fill with aromatic wafts of deliciousness. At the same time, according to Love Food Hate Waste, we waste the equivalent of more than 4m Christmas meals, including 17.2m sprouts, almost 12m carrots, untold numbers of potatoes and somewhere in the region of 7.4m mince pies. It’s a wonder to think who is wasting all this food, but when you break it down by our population of 66 million, that’s only a small amount per person (a quarter of a sprout each, say), but this shows the impact of our collective actions, multiplying our modest waste into a food waste catastrophe. So keep your waste down by calculating the quantities you need per head: say, 125g potatoes, 80g of each vegetable and, if you eat turkey, about 250g. Boxing Day is my favourite meal of the holiday. The bulk of the work is done and the leftovers can be reinvented into a tasty brunch or sandwich. I especially love refried sprouts with nuts and za’atar, and this frittata made with leftover roast veg. Leftover roast veg frittata Frittata is a versatile dish that is quick and easy to make. It’s delicious made with leftover roast potatoes, carrots, squash, sprouts or any cooked vegetables, and is a delicious way to convert waste into taste. Prep 5 min Cook 10 min Serves 4 1 good glug light olive oil 1 large onion, peeled and finely sliced Up to 500g leftover roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, squash, etc, roughly chopped into 3-5cm dice Salt and black pepper 3 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned 3 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, stalks finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped Heat a glug of light olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Slowly saute the onion until soft caramelised and brown, then add the leftover vegetables and season well. Distribute the vegetables evenly around the pan then pour in the eggs. Turn the heat right down low and cook until the egg is almost perfectly set, but still a little soft. Serve topped with chopped flat-leaf parsley. | ['food/series/waste-not', 'food/food', 'tone/recipes', 'tone/features', 'environment/food-waste', 'environment/environment', 'food/vegetables', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/waste', 'food/christmas-food-and-drink-2018', 'food/eggs', 'lifeandstyle/christmas', 'type/article', 'food/christmas-food-and-drink', 'profile/tom-hunt', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/feast', 'theguardian/feast/feast', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/feast'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-12-08T06:00:39Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2022/sep/09/nothing-is-decided-eu-energy-ministers-clash-over-plan-for-price-cap-on-russian-gas | ‘Nothing is decided’: EU energy ministers clash over price cap on Russian gas | EU energy ministers have clashed over a plan to put a price cap on Russian gas, casting doubt on whether the measure will go ahead. Speaking after emergency talks in Brussels in response to surging gas and electricity prices, the EU’s energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, said “nothing is decided” on proposals to curb Russia’s income. Vladimir Putin has dismissed the idea as “stupid” and threatened to make Europe “freeze” this winter, if a cap is agreed. Russia has already slashed supplies to Europe and said it will not resume flows at previous volumes until the EU lifts sanctions. Russian supply makes up only 9% of EU gas imports, down from 40% before the invasion of Ukraine. Simson defended the cap plan as reasonable. “The context of this measure is that Russia is gaining huge profits by manipulating and limiting, artificially, supply to drive up prices. And the cap would reduce these profits,” she told reporters on Friday. The 27 ministers began the meeting by holding a one-minute silence to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II, while EU flags outside the Brussels institutions were lowered in tribute to half-mast. There was more consensus over a proposal to cap the high price of EU-produced electricity from renewable sources, such as wind, solar and nuclear, and to reduce energy consumption across the region. The European Commission favours a mandatory 5% cut in electricity use during peak hours, according to a leaked paper seen by the Guardian. The talks set the stage for a period of intense negotiations, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expected to set out legal proposals on the EU’s energy crisis response next Wednesday. Countries that import large volumes from Russia, including Hungary, Slovakia and Austria, have spoken out against the cap proposal because they fear the Kremlin would halt all gas flows, plunging their countries into recession. “If price restrictions were to be imposed exclusively on Russian gas, that would evidently lead to an immediate cut-off in Russian gas supplies,” said Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó, who was attending the meeting. “It does not take a Nobel prize to recognise that.” About a dozen countries, including France and Poland, say the price cap should apply to all imported gas, including liquified natural gas. The EU energy commissioner voiced doubts about that approach, saying that a general price cap “could present a security of supply challenge”. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the EU has been scrambling to secure supplies shipped in from other countries, such as Qatar, Norway and the US, but it faces stiff competition from Asia. “Right now it is important that we can replace decreasing Russian volumes with alternative suppliers,” Simson said. Only the Baltic states, which have long argued for sanctions on Russian gas, gave full-throated support to the plan. Riina Sikkut, Estonia’s minister for economic affairs and infrastructure, urged other members to ignore Putin’s threats, saying: “It is blackmail, it is war that is waged outside Ukraine … We have to have the political will to make Ukraine win.” Ministers were more aligned on dealing with a distortion in the energy market, which has seen renewable and nuclear energy companies reaping huge profits because the price of all electricity is pegged to the price of wholesale gas. The proposals are for a cap on power from wind, solar and nuclear, and the redistribution of revenues to vulnerable consumers and businesses. Ministers also backed a plan to reduce demand for electricity, although Czech industry minister Jozef Síkela, who chaired the meeting, indicated that member states wanted voluntary targets, rather than a legally binding obligation. “EU energy ministers have agreed the EU needs a comprehensive plan to face the ongoing energy crisis,” said Simone Tagliapietra, a senior energy expert at the Bruegel think tank. “As all these measures are extraordinarily complex to be engineered, it will take a great political commitment by member states to quickly adopt them in the coming weeks. Europe is off for a grand bargain on energy.” | ['world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'world/european-commission', 'world/russia', 'environment/energy', 'world/ukraine', 'business/gas', 'business/commodities', 'world/vladimir-putin', 'world/ursula-von-der-leyen', 'business/energy-industry', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jennifer-rankin', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-09-09T16:19:59Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2012/apr/13/nuclear-test-iran | The nuclear test for Iran | Mehrdad Khonsari | The ruling establishment in Iran is facing the most testing period of its existence. A fraction of its former size, it has been beset by one crisis after another in the last 33 years. So far the leadership has displayed an uncanny instinct for survival despite serious foreign and domestic challenges. Always aggressive and uncompromising in its diplomacy, only once has the regime ever backed down: in 1988 when faced with serious reverses in the Iran-Iraq war, the late Ayatollah Khomeini agreed to a ceasefire – an act he likened to "consuming a jug of poison". But now the late Ayatollah's heirs could be in for a repeat of his humiliating experience. Having prevaricated for more than a decade over the nuclear issue, there is little room left for diplomatic tactics. International isolation and biting sanctions have brought the Iranian economy to the verge of a meltdown and, alongside the potential fallout of a military confrontation with Israel, mean the regime must in its encounter with the "P5+1" (the UN security council and Germany) this week decide if it wants a diplomatic settlement or to pursue the path of a conflict it knows it cannot risk. Because Tehran's decisions are always guided by a cost-benefit approach – especially when it comes to its own ultimate survival – many still expect a possible diplomatic solution to this potentially explosive crisis. Nonetheless, the acquisition of nuclear weapons will remain an integral part of the Islamic regime's strategy. Why else would it have put itself and the Iranian nation through so much hardship and isolation in the past 10 years. Its foreign policy also hinges on its ability to stand up to the west and provide an umbrella for its surrogates – a goal that requires becoming a member of the nuclear club. No choice made by the regime will be "cost-free". Faced with having to submit to intrusive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or the humiliation of having its nuclear facilities attacked, a "rational actor" would opt for the less costly short-term option of a diplomatic settlement. The Iranian leadership is eager not to follow Saddam Hussein's example, knowing that if the Iraqi dictator had left Kuwait 24 hours prior to the start of hostilities in 1991, he might never have lost his stranglehold on the Iraqi people. But dictatorships always display a tendency for overplaying their hand, and the Khomenei-Ahmadinejad tandem is no exception. There is always a possibility that rationality will not prevail and that diplomatic talks will not achieve their aim. A freak accident in the delicate situation between Iranian forces and the US and other naval forces in the Persian Gulf could also trigger an unexpected encounter that could get out of hand. This is exacerbated by the fact that Iran's Arab neighbours are as concerned about a nuclear Iran as Israel. A tactical compromise therefore will only be putting off the inevitable as the regime cannot afford to simply jettison its nuclear ambitions. Time is not on its side and, despite a resurgence of Islamic movements as a result of the Arab spring, it knows that political Islam in Iran has been dead for a long time. Thus to avoid the risk of public unrest in the event of a military strike, its aim for now would be to try and stabilise a volatile situation with a view to resurrecting its nuclear ambitions as soon as the coast is clear. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/iran', 'world/middleeast', 'world/world', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/nuclear-weapons', 'world/unitednations', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/mehrdad-khonsari'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2012-04-13T08:00:02Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2019/oct/07/extinction-rebellion-climate-change-deniers | Thanks to Extinction Rebellion, we’re experiencing a climate culture change | Polly Toynbee | In the Mall, up Whitehall, or crossing Trafalgar Square early this morning, the climate activists looked like rush-hour office workers and civil servants – mainly 30 to 50-year-olds, with no dreadlocked tree-huggers, SWP banners or black-masked anarchists looking for a punch-up. Chanting about the climate emergency, frankly, they seemed a bit sheepish, not used to it. Their ordinariness makes Extinction Rebellion, or XR, especially effective: farmers, scientists, doctors, Cumbrians and other local platoons stand at the 12 key roadblocks. After their successful capture of central London in April, local cells or “affinity groups” all over the country have trained and planned for this protest. Deciding who would be “arrestable” for highway obstruction – and who wouldn’t be, because of jobs or young families – they were primed to expect a tougher police response after rightwing press complaints against the friendly policing last April, when officers were caught dancing at a blocked Oxford Circus. “I do wonder if protest makes a difference,” an office manager in her 40s from Hertfordshire said to me. “But what else can you do? My children really made me feel I must.” A steward in a pink gilet, a mother from south London, said the same: “It was my children who got me into this.” Thousands more are expected to join. For those who doubt the effect of last April’s XR protests, Ben Page of Ipsos Mori says: “In our polls in 2013, 59% said the planet was ‘heading for disaster’. This year it’s gone up to 78%.” He reckons Greta Thunberg, the school strikes and XR action played their part. What packs an extra punch is that London is just one of 60 global cities engaged in “uprising” at the same time. To those who say why bother, when the UK is too small for our carbon emissions to matter, this synchronised global action reaches all those leaders who attended last month’s UN climate change summit – where the UN general secretary warned: “We face a direct existential threat.” I think few of these protesters read the rightwing press to know what they’re up against. In a double-page spread in the Mail on Sunday, Douglas Murray, Spectator associate editor and author of Neoconservatism: Why We Need it, launched a blistering attack on climate protesters and soft policing tactics. He writes: “Their refusal to acknowledge any view but their own deranged belief and their defiance of democratic norms is authoritarian, even fascistic … Despite the childish certainty these extremists promote, the science of climate change is deeply contested. Most scientists agree there are variations going on but they disagree on exactly what causes it.” So that’s where the climate deniers are now, ignoring Nasa’s survey showing 97% of global climate scientists agree that the five warmest years have been the past five, “extremely likely due to human activities”. Never mind the science: what free-market obsessives like Murray can’t bear is that solving the climate crisis requires state and international action. He would rather boil to oblivion, faithful to his free-market creed, than see the planet saved by means he regards as statist or even socialist. “Anarchists” and “warmed-over communists” demanding “draconian solutions”, he calls the protesters. His disgust spews out at Thunberg, “this privileged young girl … hectoring others on things she barely understands … delivering unhinged sermons to the credulous global elites”. Among the deadly weapons used against activists is that too many are middle class, and they are all climate hypocrites. Progressives are prone to self-flagellation, but being climate-pure is impossible. Do what you can, cast off the guilt. Murray’s is the blind rage of the losing side. David Attenborough is believed, not the Mail on Sunday. Even delivery drivers angry at the roadblocks weren’t denying the gravity of the cause. Weekly the news tells of sea ice and glaciers melting, species vanishing, the emergency evident: pollsters find people well understand it and trust the scientists who say humans are the cause. Murray accuses XR of wanting to “engineer the complete destruction of the global economic system”. But this highly democratic group is carefully nonprescriptive. All they ask is for politicians to accept the emergency, for a much tighter target than 2050 for net-zero carbon (the UK is already badly behind, our statutory Committee on Climate Change says) – and for a citizens assembly, such as President Macron has just set up with a sample group of 150 citizens to advise on how France can cut carbon emissions. That’s the task: finding solutions people will vote for. At the party conferences, the Tories barely mentioned climate, while Boris Johnson talks of fuel tax cuts. But Labour puts a green industrial strategy at the heart of its spending plans, building renewables in wind and solar, solar panels and insulation for a million social homes, £3.6bn on charging points and free loans for electric cars, nationalising the grid for a vast expansion of 37 offshore wind farms, tidal energy from Swansea Bay and no fracking. The UK may be entering a climate culture change that Page compares to the shift in our lifetimes from locking up gay people to a recent poll that found 66% would have no concerns about a same-sex marriage in the royal family. Flying, driving, eating beef may go the way of smoking – but only if the heavy lifting is done by the state. • Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/pollytoynbee', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-10-07T18:08:52Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
australia-news/article/2024/may/10/move-to-protect-australian-beef-industry-from-eu-land-clearing-laws-criticised-by-scientists | Move to protect Australian beef industry from EU land clearing laws criticised by scientists | Environmental scientists have criticised a move by the Australian government to protect the beef industry against European laws that will ban imports from areas with land clearing, saying cattle farming is “the biggest single driver of deforestation in Australia”. The laws, which passed the European parliament in 2022 and come into effect in January 2025, will ban the import of goods produced in areas where land clearing occurs. Australian farmers have raised concerns that it could impact Australia’s $143m European beef export market, which accounts for 1.3% of total beef exports. Speaking at a beef industry event in Queensland on Tuesday, the agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said he had requested the European Union commissioner delay the law’s implementation. “I acknowledge that there is a lot of uncertainty and confusion within the industry about what this rule will mean for our producers going forward,” he said. Other countries, including New Zealand and the US, have also raised concerns over the legislation. Later, a spokesperson for the minister said the government has requested any penalties from the law to be delayed by at least two years so its implications can be fully understood because its “unclear in its meaning and application”. The effect of the legislation would be most acute in Queensland, where 45% of Australia’s cattle graze. The World Wildlife Fund has identified Queensland as a major part of the only global deforestation hotspot in the developed world, the majority of which is said to be driven by the beef industry. The University of Queensland adjunct senior lecturer Martin Taylor said the Australian government should be supportive of strong environmental legislation rather than attempt to delay it. A 2023 Australian Conservation Foundation report, authored by Taylor, found as few as 205 properties were responsible for half of all land-clearing that occurred in Queensland. Queensland government data found almost 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres) of woody vegetation was cleared in 2020-2021, which was a reduction on previous years. According to analysis by the Wilderness Society, about 65% of that land was cleared for livestock pastures, and, of that, more than half was regrowth vegetation more than 15 years old. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter But an official federal agricultural department briefing note to Watt in January last year, released under freedom of information laws, said “there is no risk Australian beef and leather products are connected to deforestation”. Taylor described the claim as “patently false”, saying “beef is the biggest single driver of deforestation in Australia”. In a June 2023 letter to the European Commission, also released under FoI the federal agriculture department said it was seeking Australian exports to Europe to be assessed as “deforestation free”. The spokesperson for Watt said the government was committed to stopping and reserving global forest loss and that “Australia’s forest coverage is extensive and expanding”. Taylor said this claim is “ecologically specious” as it equates young regrowth saplings with the loss of mature trees. A spokesperson from Meat and Livestock Australia said the majority of land clearing is legal and occurs on a rotational basis. They said claims Australia is a deforestation hotspot are “flawed”. This week the MLA released an online platform developed with WWF Australia and the University of Queensland to allow producers to compile on-farm environmental data. Prof Lesley Hughes, of the Climate Council, said Australia has been “one of the most prolific land clearers in the world”. Hughes said the cattle industry has recognised that there is now an expectation “for farmers to be good stewards of their land, and many are, but there’s still a fair way to go”. Dr Chris Parker, the chief executive of the peak body for grass-fed producers, Cattle Australia, said he supports the minister’s request for a delay. Cattle Australia released seven draft principles for an industry standard definition of deforestation, at a presentation at Beef Week in Rockhampton on Thursday. “There is no clear definition on deforestation aligned to our Australian land management practices that supports our biodiversity,” Parker said. Head of Nature at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Glenn Walker, described the move by Cattle Australia as “like the fox guarding the henhouse”. “It is simply not credible for the beef industry to cook up their own fantasy definition of deforestation and deny there is a problem,” Walker said. Dr Megan Evans, senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, said graziers can be “compatible with biodiversity” and that a small number of producers clearing large amounts of land is negatively skewing data. “Rural communities will argue that it’s not deforestation, it’s land management, and there are grey areas,” she said. “But the fact is the extent of land clearing in Queensland is still internationally significant.” 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', 'business/cattles', 'environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'environment/environment', 'environment/deforestation', 'science/agriculture', 'campaign/email/the-rural-network', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/aston-brown', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/logging-and-land-clearing | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-05-10T01:47:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2016/apr/14/country-diary-cainhoe-castle-clophill-bedfordshire | No arrows point to this commanding view | There are no signs in the village, no arrows pointing the way. A footpath off the high street squeezes between two houses, crosses a stream, runs into open fields and there, in the green hillocks far away, we see the earthwork remains of Cainhoe Castle. A knight of William the Conqueror’s victorious army was given a third of the county, and chose to throw up a motte and three baileys here on the crest of a low ridge some time in the late 11th century. In the grassy, undulating foothills, anyone can play archaeologist among the inexplicable banks, troughs and wannabe ditches. The hollow stump of an ancient tree, looking like an extinct volcano, sits in a depressed bowl, surrounded by a garden of nettles. Natural forces have attacked the slopes of the motte and the ditches that surrounded the old baileys. Rabbits have raked out their burrows in the ochre-coloured soil, and bumblebees drift in and out of the holes, seeking burrows within burrows to make their nests. Oak trees grew beyond maturity on the sides of the motte itself. One toppled over decades ago, its great root plate tearing a chunk out of the hillside as it fell. The stripped and fissured trunk is beyond usable timber – its texture reminds me of a long-neglected park bench. Hawthorn scrub has crept up towards the summit where the castle keep once stood. A stiff climb between the gnarled, lichen-encrusted bushes brings me to the top. It is surprisingly small. You could fit only a modest, unquestionably detached, house here, and, since the castle never graduated from wood to stone, there is nothing left of the building. The words “commanding view” have a special meaning here: Nigel d’Aubigny owned everything he could see from this position of dominance. But for all the invader’s heightened sense of superiority, he could not conquer the skies. Two buzzards soar overhead, as they would have done 900 years ago, circling the motte as if with lofty disdain. No wonder the Norman rulers claimed and tamed birds of prey, put them on their wrists and sent them into the air to do their bidding. | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'culture/heritage', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'environment/plants', 'culture/culture', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/derek-niemann', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-04-14T04:30:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2023/nov/20/twelve-billionaires-climate-emissions-jeff-bezos-bill-gates-elon-musk-carbon-divide | Twelve billionaires’ climate emissions outpollute 2.1m homes, analysis finds | Twelve of the world’s wealthiest billionaires produce more greenhouse gas emissions from their yachts, private jets, mansions and financial investments than the annual energy emissions of 2m homes, research shared exclusively with the Guardian reveals. The tycoons include the Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, the tech billionaires Bill Gates, Larry Page and Michael Dell, the inventor and social media company owner Elon Musk and the Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim. Analysis by Oxfam and US researchers of their luxury purchases, which include superyachts, private jets, cars, helicopters and palatial mansions, combined with the impact of their financial investments and shareholdings reveals that they account for almost 17m tonnes of CO2 and equivalent greenhouse gas emissions annually. This is the same as the CO2 and equivalent emissions from powering 2.1m homes or the emissions from 4.6 coal-fired power plants over a year, according to conversion data from the US Environmental Protection Agency. The true scale of the investment emissions of these individuals is not generally systematically calculated or reported. Oxfam analysts working with two US academics, Beatriz Barros and Richard Wilk, used publicly available data to calculate the greenhouse gas impacts. “Billionaires generate obscene amounts of carbon pollution with their yachts and private jets – but this is dwarfed by the pollution caused by their investments,” said Oxfam International’s inequality policy adviser Alex Maitland. “Through the corporations they own, billionaires emit a million times more carbon than the average person. They tend to favour investments in heavily polluting industries, like fossil fuels. “The world’s poorest communities, those who have done the least to cause climate change – those who are least able to respond and recover – are the ones who are suffering the worst consequences. This is unfair and immoral.” The lifestyle emissions were estimated by examining the carbon footprint of the billionaires’ purchases, such as the $500m superyacht that Oceanco built recently for Bezos. The yacht, which is 127 metres (417ft) long and took three years to build, boasts the title of the largest sailing vessel in the world. Its carbon emissions are at a minimum about 7,154 tonnes a year, according to the analysis by Wilk and Barros. The superyachts owned by the likes of Bezos, Abramovich, the former Google tycoons Page and Eric Schmidt and by Bernard Arnault, the French tycoon at the helm of a jewellery and fashion empire, have carbon footprints that far exceed those of the private jets owned by 10 of the 12 billionaires. A superyacht kept on permanent standby generates about 7,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, according to the analysis. “The emissions of the superyachts are way above anything else,” Wilk said. “They have to have a crew, and they have to be constantly maintained even when they are docked. Then you have the helicopters onboard, the jetskis, the high energy-using luxury items like pools, hot tubs, private submarines and tenders, all of these require power, the air conditioning, the sophisticated electronic items. It is like having a hotel running on the water all the time.” Wilk said the calculations of lifestyle emissions were a minimum: for example, the researchers attributed superyachts to the billionaires only if they were held in their names rather than company names. The footprint of the dwellings was based on estimates of their energy use. As well as making a huge negative contribution to global heating, the financial interests of the elite billionaires give them enormous influence over economic and policy decisions, the researchers said. “These people have an outsize political influence because of their enormous wealth, which they use to leverage local and national governments, gaining exemptions from taxes and privileges that allow them to pollute and to influence laws regulating pollution,” said Wilk, a professor of anthropology at Indiana University. “If you look at them as entities, some of them are rivalling states in terms of their influence.” Some use that influence to tackle social and environmental issues. Bezos has committed to spending $10bn via his Earth Fund. The Google co-founder Sergey Brin has funded a non-profit focused on climate change. Page, Schmidt, Dell, Slim and Oracle’s Larry Ellison all have philanthropic foundations. Musk has argued that his work with Tesla and Solar City has made huge contributions to change. Another one of the 12, Laurene Powell Jobs, runs the philanthropic Emerson Collective. Arnault’s LVMH established an environmental development unit in 1992. A spokesperson for Gates told the Guardian that he had taken many steps to reduce his personal emissions impact by buying sustainable aviation fuel to reduce his air travel pollution, switching to electric cars, using solar panels and buying offsets delivered through carbon removal technologies. “Bill will continue to invest billions of his own resources into clean energy and climate change innovations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help make these technologies more affordable. Additionally, any returns on these investments will go back into fighting climate change and supporting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help as many people as possible around the world,” the spokesperson said. None of the other billionaires provided comment on the record. The carbon footprints of the investments were calculated by examining the equity stakes that the billionaires held in companies. Estimates of the carbon impact of their holdings was calculated using the company’s declarations on scope 1 emissions – direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by a company – and scope 2, indirect emissions. Oxfam’s research found that the emissions from the investments of 125 billionaires averaged 3.1m tonnes per billionaire. This is more than a million times higher than the average emissions created by the bottom 90% of the world’s population. | ['environment/series/the-great-carbon-divide', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'news/the-super-rich', 'technology/jeff-bezos', 'world/roman-abramovich', 'us-news/bill-gates', 'media/larrypage', 'technology/elon-musk', 'business/carlos-slim', 'media/sergeybrin', 'technology/eric-schmidt', 'business/bernard-arnault', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'inequality/inequality', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/series/the-great-carbon-divide | EMISSIONS | 2023-11-20T00:01:04Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2014/sep/25/wild-salmon-fish-seafood-guide-mackerel | Don't buy wild-caught salmon, British shoppers told | British consumers are being urged by a marine charity to avoid buying and eating wild-caught salmon because of concerns about depleted stocks resulting from overfishing. In the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) update of its sustainable seafood guide, wild-caught Atlantic salmon remains on the ‘danger list’ along with some whiting – often suggested as a good alternative to cod and plaice. But the new ratings reveal better news for mackerel, herring and halibut as stocks are improving. Other tea-time favourites have mixed fortunes. Cod from both the east and west Baltic get a cautionary rating, while North-east Arctic haddock and mackerel from the EU and Norway are all back on the ‘Fish to Eat’ list. North Sea cod, however, remains a fish to avoid. Given cod’s popularity, the MCS urges shoppers to stick to cod from Marine Stewardship Council-certified fisheries in the north-east Arctic, Iceland or eastern Baltic. Fish to avoid North sea cod Halibut that’s wild-caught in the Atlantic Salmon that’s wild-caught in Atlantic Dover from west of Ireland and Irish sea Mediterranean tuna (Albacore) Portuguese coast scampi In its ongoing assessment of the state of health of the UK’s fisheries and stocks, the MCS noted that in Scotland, lack of measures to prevent overfishing of salmon from rivers where stocks are low, and the absence of internationally recognised conservation limits, have resulted in the species slipping onto the red-rated, ‘Fish to Avoid’ list. Bernadette Clarke, MCS fisheries officer, said she hoped that recent calls to Scottish ministers to limit salmon exploitation would be productive: “Unlike most other members of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (Nasco), Scotland has not yet set conservation limits for its salmon rivers, and according to Nasco has almost no management regime in place to prevent an increase in coastal netting, neither has it adequate mechanisms to limit catches whether local salmon populations are strong or weak.” Fish to eat Cod from the north-east Arctic, east Baltic Sea and Iceland Haddock from the North Sea, Skagerak, Kattegat, Iceland Seabass – only farmed Turbot – only farmed Whiting from the Celtic Sea Mackerel – only from south-west England (handlined) The MCS gives ratings to each fish by assessing the relative healthiness of each stock and the sustainability of the various fishing methods used. The Scottish mackerel processing industry welcomed mackerel’s return to the Fish to Eat list. Ian McFadden, chairman of the Scottish Pelagic Processors Association (SPPA), said: “This is great news for the mackerel fishing and processing industries; wider economy; and consumers. The reclassification of mackerel as a fish consumers can eat regularly, without threatening the sustainability of the stock, is testament to the seven North East Atlantic fisheries, which came together to agree a management plan to safeguard the sustainability of the mackerel stock.” The updated guide includes additional entries for lobster and crab and new entries for cuttlefish and squid. The best sources for lobsters are from fisheries where there are measures in force to protect ‘berried’ or egg-bearing females. Current legislation prohibits the landing of berried crab but not lobster. Lobster from the Southwest, Cornwall, and crab from the western channel and the Celtic Sea are the most sustainable choices. | ['environment/fishing', 'environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/food', 'environment/marine-life', 'uk/uk', 'food/seafood', 'food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-09-25T04:00:11Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2021/mar/19/rio-tinto-backs-activist-resolution-to-set-emissions-targets-consistent-with-paris-agreement | Rio Tinto backs activist resolution to set emissions targets consistent with Paris agreement | The board of Rio Tinto has backed a shareholders push that would require the company to set emissions targets consistent with the Paris agreement and suspend membership of industry associations that lobby against action on the climate crisis. In a statement to the ASX on Friday afternoon, the mining company recommended shareholders endorse two resolutions brought by activist groups, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) and Market Forces, ahead of Rio’s annual general meeting in May. “For the first time, the board of an Australian company has supported a shareholder resolution, Rio Tinto should be commended for this,” Dan Gocher, the director of climate and environment at the ACCR, said. “The board of Rio Tinto, already under significant pressure from shareholders, has finally acknowledged that its funding of Australia’s climate stalemate goes against its own long-term interests.” In an addendum to its notice of its 2021 AGM, the company said it was recommending shareholders vote in favour because its current approaches were already “substantially consistent” with both of the proposed resolutions. The ACCR’s resolution calls on Rio Tinto to strengthen its annual review process examining industry and lobby groups of which it is a member, such as the Minerals Council of Australia, the Queensland Resources Council and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia. The resolution proposes the company suspend its membership if the association’s record of advocacy and lobbying is found, on balance, to be inconsistent with the Paris agreement. Gocher said Rio Tinto’s most recent review, published last month, failed to identify any misalignment within its Australian industry associations, despite an advertising campaign run by the Queensland Resources Council during last year’s state election and the council’s support for the Morrison government’s so-called gas-fired recovery. “Yet Rio Tinto has steadfastly refused to comment on this advocacy, or attempted to rein it in,” he said. Rio Tinto said on Friday it would consider suspending its membership if it identified significant inconsistencies but remained of the view that “securing advocacy aligned with the Paris agreement is best pursued from a position of influence from within such associations”. “In weighing up the relative merit of continued membership, the board will exercise a balanced judgement of what is in the best interests of the company and will consider suspension of membership as a measure of last resort,” the statement said. The resolution moved by Market Forces asks Rio Tinto to disclose its short, medium and long-term targets for its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, its performance against those targets, and for those targets to be independently verified as consistent with the goals of the Paris agreement. Scope 1 emissions are the direct emissions from a company’s operations, while Scope 2 emissions are the indirect emissions from the energy used by the company. Julien Vincent, the executive director of Market Forces, said the board’s recommendation was an “important recognition from Rio Tinto that its climate ambition has been inadequate so far”. Rio Tinto said its 2020 annual report set out its Scope 1 and 2 targets and its performance against them was “independently assured”. It said the company described how these targets aligned with the Paris agreement in its climate change report. “Rio Tinto will continue to disclose these targets and its independently assured performance against them in its annual reports in the decade ahead,” the company said. Market Forces, in its supporting statement to its shareholder resolution, said targets announced by Rio Tinto in February last year to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 15% by 2030 from a 2018 baseline fell well short of what could be considered consistent with the Paris agreement. Vincent said that assessing the company’s performance against those targets was not sufficient if they were not also being independently audited for consistency with the Paris agreement. “The material supporting our resolution makes clear that Rio Tinto’s current targets fall well short of what’s required to be in line with the Paris agreement,” Vincent said. “It’s a really odd contradiction – Rio Tinto is claiming to be Paris aligned while endorsing a resolution that establishes how it isn’t.” Vincent said the bigger task would be to address Scope 3 emissions and the organisation intended to lodge a shareholder resolution on Scope 3 emissions ahead of Rio Tinto’s 2022 AGM. Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions that occur in the value chain, such as from the processing and use of products a company sells and the transportation of those products, both domestically and overseas. “The main game on climate is Rio Tinto’s Scope 3 emissions, which are 94% of the company’s total carbon footprint, and equivalent in size to Australia’s total emissions,” Vincent said. “Rio Tinto’s next climate risk report needs to clarify its risk appetite to this massively carbon liability, and tell shareholders how much it is prepared to be exposed to Scope 3 emissions in future.” | ['business/rio-tinto', 'business/mining', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/paris-climate-agreement', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2021-03-19T07:46:12Z | true | EMISSIONS |
us-news/2023/feb/15/new-jersey-whale-death-wind-turbines | Investigation under way as ninth dead whale washes up in New Jersey | A ninth dead whale has washed up on the New Jersey coastline, as conservationists and local authorities investigate the causes of an unusual number of such deaths along the US east coast. The humpback was found in Manasquan, New Jersey, on Monday. The whale was removed from the beach on Tuesday and taken to the county landfill for a necropsy and to collect tissue samples, a spokesperson for Noaa Fisheries, part of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, told Gothamist. The whale is one of many recently found dead off New York and New Jersey. At least 10 humpback whales have died in east coast waters in 2023, six near New York and New Jersey, CBS reported. Noaa Fisheries is investigating the cause of such “unusual mortality events”, data for which has been collected since 2016. Conservatives and some conservationist activists attribute the rise in deaths to increasing offshore wind projects, calling on federal authorities to do more to protect the coastline. But federal officials have pushed back against claims that wind turbines are to blame, saying evidence does not support the contention wind energy projects cause whale fatalities. Noaa Fisheries said: “[T]here is no evidence to support speculation that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales, and no specific links between recent large whale mortalities and currently ongoing surveys.” Local whale recovery and animal welfare organizations have faced threats, over accusations that they are “hiding” wind turbine-caused deaths, Time reported. Sheila Dean, 75, from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in New Jersey, said one resident accused the center of covering up whale deaths. “He just starts [yelling], ‘I want to know, I demand to know,’” Dean said. “He was very frightening.” Humpback whale strandings have been increasing for seven years. Of 178 east coast whale deaths scientists examined, 40% were caused by ships or whales becoming entangled in fishing gear. Under the Biden administration, offshore wind projects have been initiated off New Jersey in an effort to create 30 gigawatts of energy by 2030, CBS reported. At least 12 New Jersey mayors have written to their state congressional delegation, calling for a pause on offshore wind activities until “further investigation is held by federal and state agencies that determine these activities are not a contributing factor to recent whale deaths”. A rally to demand that the New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy, pause all wind turbine projects will be held by an activist group, Protect Our Coast NJ, on Sunday. | ['us-news/new-jersey', 'environment/whales', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/marine-life', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gloria-oladipo', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-02-15T17:18:52Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2021/aug/06/government-department-with-climate-remit-took-612-domestic-flights-since-2019 | UK ministry with climate remit took 612 domestic flights since 2019 | Employees at the government department responsible for tackling climate change have taken 612 domestic flights since June 2019, when the UK signed the net zero emissions target into law, figures show. Of the total flights taken – which are single journeys and do not include travel to Northern Ireland – by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), 34 of them were by government ministers. The BEIS figures come from a freedom of information request by the office of Kerry McCarthy, the Labour MP for Bristol East and shadow minister for green transport. They show that in the six months after the 2050 net zero target was signed into law on 27 June 2019, the department took 395 domestic flights, while in 2020 the figure was 210. So far this year, the department has taken seven domestic flights. In the six months before the law was signed, in the first two quarters of 2019, there were 779 domestic flights taken by the department. It comes after the Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, was accused by opposition parties of undermining environmental efforts and failing to set an example after reports he had flown to 30 countries in the past seven months. Downing Street said that in order to “cut emissions and secure ambitious action ahead of the Cop26 summit” face-to-face talks were essential. They insisted Sharma had secured “ambitious action as a result of the discussions he has had”. The UK is preparing to host vital UN climate talks in Glasgow in October and November, when for the first time since the 2015 Paris climate change conference countries will set new targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions. McCarthy said as mainland UK journeys, the flights could have been replaced by train journeys. “The government’s hypocrisy on climate change is breathtaking. Since the UK’s net zero emissions target became law, the very department responsible for climate change has taken hundreds of polluting domestic flights that could have been taken by train,” she said. “To make things worse, this government has already hiked rail fares and is planning to slash taxes on domestic flights. We desperately need to see climate leadership ahead of Cop26. But if the government isn’t prepared to go green, how is it going to persuade anyone to do so?” In March, the government proposed to cut air passenger duty tax on domestic flights, while increasing rail fares by 2.6%, higher than the rate of inflation. A recent survey by the consumer group Which? found train fares on popular UK routes are 50% more expensive than plane fares – even though trains cause 80% less carbon dioxide emissions. Of the government departments that responded to the FoI request, BEIS’s domestic flights figures for 2019 and 2020 were the highest. So far this year, when numbers were significantly lower, it came in below only the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which recorded eight domestic flights. Among the next highest departments for domestic flights since the net zero target was signed were the Department for Education, which took 289 domestic flights in the period, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which took 104, DHSC, which took 62, and the Treasury, which took 46. A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to getting value for money for the taxpayer by minimising costs and ensuring we use the greenest means of travel wherever possible – and recent figures show that the number of flights taken across government has reduced by 28% since 2010. “However, ministers and civil servants are often required to travel for government business and while the majority of journeys are by train, flights are sometimes necessary. “For example, for the case of BEIS, travel will include to offices in Aberdeen and to key parts of the energy sector in Scotland – much of which cannot be travelled to and from in a day.” | ['environment/green-politics', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/politics', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'world/air-transport', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-08-06T17:30:29Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2023/jul/02/cat-children-identifying-just-stop-oil-cricket-jonny-bairstow-protest | Never mind the fate of life on Earth, what about the cat-children? | Stewart Lee | At my secondary school, a friend of mine pretended to be the confidant of the tragic Scottish child star Lena Zavaroni, maintaining that time away on family holidays was actually spent visiting the ailing singer at her home in Scotland. He even went as far as appearing to receive and engage in phone calls from Zavaroni, presumably by cutting off the call as soon as he picked up the receiver, and acting out a fake one-way conversation. It wasn’t until years after Zavaroni’s death I learned the relationship had been an elaborate, committed, and entirely pointless hoax. No one was impressed by a friendship with the former Opportunity Knocks singer anyway, just baffled. And yet my friend identified, convincingly, as a personal friend of Lena Zavaroni. For about five years. It was an act of insane genius. For the past week, the national conversation has been dominated by the idea that a school in Rye had defended a child’s right to identify as a cat, subsequently and cynically extrapolated into the idea that woke schools all over the land were encouraging children to identify as animals. The clandestine classroom recording that sparked this moral panic revealed a put-upon teacher discussing complex gender issues with some combative children, clearly under some pressure and concerned for a distressed class member. But at no point was it clear that anyone was identifying as a cat. Or indeed as a dog. A dinosaur. Or a furry. Because at no point did anyone identify as a cat. It didn’t happen. But by this point the cat that didn’t exist was out of the bag that didn’t exist either. The falsehood-windsock Nick Ferrari, on LBC, hosted a morning phone-in about it; Kemi Badenoch, the minister for women and equalities, demanded an investigation; the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, condemned schools – as it was now assumed the cat-child phenomenon was spreading beyond the lone Rye cesspit that spawned it – for letting children say they were animals, generally (ocelots perhaps, or shrews); and Sir Keir Starmer condemned the practice of animal-child-identification, even though it didn’t happen, which his advisers must have known. It seems Starmer’s hunger for power is so great that not only will he sell out old-school socialists, he will also throw children who never even identified as cats anyway under the bus. Luckily the cat-children don’t exist, so no one was harmed. But the imaginary cat-child did what was required of her, tapping into the Tories’ carefully fabricated culture war to fill the internet, the press, and the swamps of barely regulated “news” television with distracting stories about cat-identifiers. Meanwhile, disaster capitalism crashed Thames Water, Boris Johnson’s murky relationship with a Russian intelligence-adjacent playboy became ever more dubious, British beaches ran thick with sewage as the summer getaway season loomed, and Texas threatened to become too hot for human habitation. The news was smouldering. The Tories were putting out fires with cat-people. The government has made poor progress towards net zero and is now committed to opening a new coalmine in Cumbria. What can be done? On Wednesday, at Lord’s, brave Just Stop Oil protesters invaded the pitch and were arrested. I’m not a fan of cricket, and associate it with standing around bored before having my penis and testicles felt by a breathless old man apparently checking to see if I had showered after games. But the square world’s objection to Just Stop Oil is that they are stopping decent people getting to work. Now they’re not allowed to disrupt a sport game either, even one that moves so slowly no one would notice if it had stopped anyway. So how does one protest exactly, in post-police bill Britain? The photos from the Ashes, of heroic Just Stop Oil protesters being brought down by uniformed sport primates, in striking clouds of orange dust, are already iconic. And one day soon, as the Earth itself turns to actual ashes, they will take on the same status as all those other unforgettable news images: that lone Tiananmen Square protester in front of a tank; that flag raised at Iwo Jima; that hooded Abu Ghraib detainee; that starving child stalked by an opportunistic vulture; that Saigon street execution; those civil rights Olympics salutes; that napalmed nine-year-old; and that post-party Boris Johnson, clearly still off his tits at an Italian airport, having met a former KGB agent. Imagine, if instead of carrying that bold dust-chucker off the cricket field to the cheers of the foolish crowd, idly accepting the collective suicide of their species and the death-by-negligence of their planet, the cricketer Jonny Bairstow had made a different choice at this sliding-doors moment of his life. What if the athlete had had the intelligence to take the protester’s hand, present them to the audience, and invite the world to applaud them for their courage? Then he could have made a difference. But instead Bairstow, like so many others, missed his moment, his chance to help. And one day the cricket player’s own children, as they watch the world die in real time around them, will curse his terrible error of judgment, his unwitting role as the unpaid enforcer for big oil and the climate crisis denialists, the worst people on earth. But never mind. Somewhere, someone didn’t identify as a cat, and the front pages roll forward and the pundits step up to their microphones, with endless comment on something unimportant that didn’t even happen. And as the world of tomorrow burns, when the image of Bairstow carrying a Just Stop Oil protester away from the cricket competition is reflected upon by the dying, only one hero will emerge from the picture. And it absolutely won’t be Jonny Bairstow. Basic Lee’s Royal Festival Hall run ends tonight; more tour dates are here. A fun-size ™ ® version of the show is at the Stand’s New Town Theatre, Edinburgh, 11-20 August | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/just-stop-oil', 'sport/cricket', 'world/protest', 'politics/conservatives', 'society/transgender', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/stewart-lee', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/new-review', 'theobserver/new-review/agenda', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-new-review'] | environment/just-stop-oil | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2023-07-02T09:00:37Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
global-development/2017/oct/30/ebola-research-breakthrough-raises-hope-predicting-future-outbreaks | Research breakthrough raises hope of predicting future Ebola outbreaks | Scientists studying links between the Ebola virus and deforestation have made a breakthrough that could lead to the development of an early warning system for outbreaks. Existing research into how the disease could be spread from animals to humans found Ebola hotspots matched deforestation patterns in west Africa. But now experts have discovered a striking correlation between forest loss and the timing of outbreaks, which could in future make it possible to identify areas at risk more effectively. John Emmanuel Fa, a senior associate at the Centre for International Forestry Research, was among those involved in the research, published on Monday in Nature’s online journal Scientific Reports. “We found a strong link between deforestation and the timings of outbreaks that has not been shown before,” said Fa. The study examined forest loss over different time periods in relation to Ebola outbreaks in the Congo basin. Areas not affected by the disease were also investigated. “Statistically we found a very strong link between forest loss two years before an outbreak occurring,” said Fa, a professor at Manchester Metropolitan University. “So there is two-year lag between trees being cut down and Ebola taking hold in that location. “Establishing a particular time period when these events of forest loss may be affecting the transmission of the virus is important, because it means we can actually set up early warning systems.” He added: “Through the use of satellite imaging we have been able to closely monitor forest cover throughout the Congo basin and west Africa in order to pinpoint areas vulnerable to future outbreaks.” The Ebola virus is a zoonosis – a disease that can be transmitted to people from animals – and causes severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. First identified in Africa in 1976, Ebola is estimated to have killed roughly 13,000 people. Initial outbreaks occurred in remote villages in central Africa, near tropical rainforests. The 2014–2016 outbreak in west Africa involved major urban areas as well as rural ones. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 11,000 people died in west African countries when a new strain of the disease, causing internal and external bleeding, broke out in 2014. Early rehydration treatment can improve survival rates but, as yet, there is no licensed treatment proven to cure the virus. A range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development. Increased human activity and deforestation in previously untouched areas are among the shared characteristics of many Ebola outbreaks, according to scientists, who point out that such factors have brought people into closer contact with rare disease strains. First contact leading to an outbreak usually occurs in remote, rural communities where a victim handles an infected animal carcass. One outbreak in Ivory Coast was sparked when an ethologist touched an infected dead chimpanzee. Other cases, in Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville, were linked to the deaths of forest gorillas. West Africa, where land is being cleared at an increasing rate to grow cocoa and palm oil, has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation. “The increase in Ebola outbreaks since 1994 is frequently associated with drastic changes in forest ecosystems in tropical Africa,” wrote researchers in a 2012 study in the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research. “Extensive deforestation and human activities in the depth of the forests may have prompted direct or indirect contact between humans and a natural reservoir of the virus.” Scientists have pointed to fruit bats as Ebola’s reservoir host – a reservoir species being one that is immune to a disease but can transmit it. Fruit bat populations grow in fragmented forest conditions. The destruction of their natural habitat has driven them to approach human settlements in search of food, spreading the disease. Recent research has indicated that there could be other species, including rodents and antelopes, involved in transmission of the virus from animals to humans. The authors of the new study said that, while more work is needed to identify the mechanisms of transmission, existing information on reservoir species is useful when used alongside data collected from tracking deforestation. Fa, who worked with multi-national partners including the University of Malaga, said: “We are piecing together what we know about potential reservoir species alongside the rate of forest loss in order to develop a system that will tell governments throughout the world – and certainly those within these particular African countries – which areas are at high risk.“Obviously there is a lot more work to be done, but the hope is we can start to hone in on highlighting the areas most susceptible to outbreaks and mobilise resources so these locations are better protected.” | ['global-development/global-health', 'global-development/global-development', 'world/ebola', 'world/world', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/hannah-summers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-10-30T00:01:41Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2021/jul/08/g20-is-told-tax-financial-transactions-to-help-covid-recovery | Tax financial transactions to help Covid recovery, G20 told | The world’s leading developed and developing countries have been told a tax on financial transactions could help them raise around $100bn a year to meet the costs of the Covid-19 pandemic, tackle climate change and boost job creation. Ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Venice on Friday, a letter from more than 100 economists said the immediate introduction of a financial transactions tax (FTT) would make economies more resilient and generate much-needed public investment. Nine members of the G20 already impose FTTs – including the UK’s stamp duty on share dealings – but the economists said all countries should make use of them, with the scope expanded and rates of tax increased. “In so doing, additional revenue of the order of $100bn could be generated on an annual basis, at least 50% of which should be devoted to developing countries to support health, education and to strengthen preparedness for future pandemics, with the other 50% spent to assist those most in need at home, particularly in the protection and provision of employment,” the letter says. Modern plans for FTTs date back to the work of the Nobel prize-winning economist James Tobin in the 1970s, and in recent years were taken up by the Robin Hood tax campaign. Although there is little likelihood that this weekend’s G20 will heed the advice of economists, campaigners for an FTT believe rich and poor countries will need to consider how to raise money in light of the hit taken to their public finances as a result of the pandemic and the cost of meeting climate change commitments. Developing countries were disappointed by the outcome of last month’s G7 summit in Cornwall and view the G20 meeting as another opportunity to press for additional financial support for vaccine programmes, investment in health capacity and the transition to zero-carbon economies. The economists’ letter says shares, bonds, derivatives and foreign exchange are “seriously under-taxed” and the time is right for the richest to make a greater contribution to those in need. “Introducing FTTs in this manner complements and builds upon recent agreements to implement a minimum corporate tax rate. Both measures are long overdue and timely, as well as popular. The finance sector has continued to fare strongly and even to thrive despite the pandemic and can afford this extra tax burden.” The letter was signed by 124 economists, including the US development expert Jeffrey Sachs and France’s Gabriel Zucman, a specialist in tax havens. | ['business/economics', 'politics/taxandspending', 'business/tobin-tax', 'business/banking', 'business/business', 'world/world', 'world/g20', 'environment/climate-aid', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'global-development/aid', 'business/financial-sector', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/larryelliott', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/climate-aid | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-07-08T11:55:13Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2023/mar/30/country-diary-oaks-spring-marches-montgomeryshire-owain-glyndwr | Country diary: The old oaks won’t believe it’s spring until they see it | Paul Evans | There is a moment when the old oaks hold fast to winter. Their centuries taught them about betrayal: sunshine before the lash of hail whips round the hill; sweet birdsong stiff with frost, late snows and other silences. They are reluctant to unclench buds, hesitant to loosen pollen smoke. That day, when the vernal equinox tips into the light, and we wind clocks forwards to return a stolen hour; when timbers shiver with a pulse that opens up the leaves across the land; is that now? Sycharth is a green ring in the valley a mile, as the crow flies, across the border into Montgomeryshire, Powys. It is a circular earthwork of a motte around the central mound of a bailey under a wooded hillside by the Cynllaith brook. On the ring are oaks and in the oaks are histories, and of those histories, the one about Owain Glyndŵr is the most famous. In 1404, Harry of Monmouth and his militia came here looking for the rebel leader Glyndŵr; Sycharth was his family homestead. Finding him absent, they set fire to it. Throughout the rebellion, Glyndŵr remained elusive to the English forces; he was never betrayed, and the Welsh hid him. He died in 1415 and was buried, and perhaps reburied, in secret. The Sycharth oaks are open grown, great boughs outstretched, bounded to the sky, their roots carry the weight of nationhood, struck into the circle. The black lip of an Inonotus fungus sticks out from the decayed core of a trunk. Acorns collected on a wintry morning will float in a puddle of rain at the roots. This means that the seed is unviable. This is a question for rebellion: the slow disintegration of history into a mediated heritage, or the germination of new myths to sustain revolution? Red kites fly over the green hills, buzzards and ravens dispute boundaries of the long fields of air. For this moment, the Sycharth oaks hold fast to winter, their centuries have taught them about betrayal, and nothing written on the heritage interpretation boards mentions the 600 years of their druidry. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/forests', 'uk/wales', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulevans', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-03-30T04:30:53Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2024/jan/05/mushrooms-amazon-ecuador-rare-fungi-aoe | Life, death and zombie mushrooms: in search of the Amazon’s rarest fungi | Twilight is falling in the Ecuadorian jungle when the two scientists spot their first zombie. The smell of damp earth and vegetation rises as Alan Rockefeller takes slow, careful steps, scanning the forest floor with an ultraviolet light. Suddenly, a fragment of undergrowth glows: strands of luminous cordyceps, turned fluorescent by the torch. Dubbed the “zombie fungus”, cordyceps is known for colonising its insect hosts compelling them to seek a suitable spot to release spores. That is the spot where the host will die. Clockwise from top left: the team find a Cordyceps nidus, a species found in 2017 that fruits on a trapdoor spider; Rockefeller illuminates a Cookeina speciosa; next, he holds up a stick on which Schizophyllum commune grow, a common mushroom that glows in UV light; Rockefeller and Quark show four monkey combs Mandie Quark kneels in the wet, spongy earth, carefully digging her fingers around the entomopathogenic fungus to unveil the insect nestled beneath the surface: a thumb-sized beetle. The pair carefully light and photograph their find before beginning their two-mile trek home. Here in the mountains of Ecuador, the two mycologists have embarked on a research expedition in the unprotected rainforests of the upper Amazon. Their mission is to meticulously document some of the world’s rarest fungi, which have been rapidly declining due to changes in climate, illegal logging and mining. Quark goes in search of rare and undiscovered fungi in the Indigenous land of the Sacha Wasi community in Pastaza, Ecuador The Amazon rainforest brims with some of the world’s most diverse flora and fauna. Countless species of fungi dot the landscape, many still unnamed and awaiting discovery. Rockefeller and Quark carefully collect data by photographing and cataloguing each specimen for submission to the national herbarium in Quito and eventual DNA sequencing. Rockefeller and Quark’s ultimate aim is to share their discoveries about Amazonian fungi with the world, helping ecological conservation efforts in Ecuador and beyond. They work alongside the Indigenous Sacha Wasi community, who have invited the scientists to operate on their land, exchanging information on different fungi species and their culinary or ecological potential. Top: Rockefeller scours a rainforest dirt wall for mushrooms. Middle section, clockwise from top left: Quark holds up a powerful handheld light; captures a marasmius pinwheel mushroom in her lens; Rockefeller sets up two lights to capture Clavaria schaefferi; Quark photographs Ophiocordyceps melolonthae. Above: Rockefeller is joined in his work by two women from the Sacha Wasi community At the core of the process lies the art of myco-photography. Each click of the shutter is an attempt to capture a fleeting moment in the cycle of these fragile organisms, which spend most of their life underground. “My goal is to take the best photo possible to get people excited about biodiversity and make them want to learn more about mushrooms,” Rockefeller says. The pair’s methods include macro photography with focus stacking, a technique that captures every intricate detail of a mushroom, as well as recording the microscopy of the spores and generating DNA “barcode data”. Through this methodology, they aim to ensure each recorded mushroom contributes to the current understanding of fungal biodiversity. Rockefeller continues the painstaking hunt while Quark sets up another photograph for their records “Knowing what you have is really important for conservation,” Rockefeller says. “You can’t just say you have a rare unnamed mushroom – that doesn’t work. “If you can give it a name, then you can preserve it. And if people are going to do chemical analysis to try to make a new discovery based on these fungi, they need a name they can use to communicate about which fungus they’re using. So taxonomy is really important for that reason.” The fruits of their labour: Rockefeller shows his collection box of specimens found in the rainforest Most people will never have the opportunity to visit the rainforest and observe these diverse and elusive fungi, so Rockefeller and Quark have been sharing their findings on social media and app-based platforms, such as iNaturalist, Mushroom Observer, GenBank, and MycoMap, to enable others to scrutinise the intricate details – in some cases, before the species vanish. While navigating challenging Amazonian terrain, they aim to open a window to the immense potential of fungi, and the importance of preserving irreplaceable ecosystems. Back at base, the duo embark on the process of sorting and labelling the samples from their day’s work before putting them in the dehydrator. Once complete, the valuable haul will be taken to the national herbarium in Quito “It is hard to stay in the present moment these days – we always have a million things trying to grab our attention,” Quark says. “But the work we are doing is drawing attention to the here and now, and inspiring others to do the same.” She adds: “Mushrooms exist at the precipice of life and death. They remind us that existence is fleeting, and our human experience is also fleeting. Being there at the perfect moment to find a beautiful mushroom, you have to be present in all of your senses to appreciate that blip in time when the mushroom is at its most pristine.” ‘You have to be present in all of your senses’: Quark examines a mushroom on a rainforest wall beside a waterfall Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'science/fungi', 'world/ecuador', 'world/americas', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/biodiversity', 'science/biology', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-01-05T07:00:26Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2011/nov/01/junk-mail-binned-defra-website | Junk mail gets binned as Defra hands control to households | Households will have more control to stop the hundreds of items of junk mail they receive each year, environment secretary Caroline Spelman said on Tuesday. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the direct marketing industry are to set up a free-to-use website so everyone can opt-out of receiving all types of advertising mail. The website, scheduled to go live next April, is intended to replace the current system, where households have to register on three separate services, the Mailing Preference Service, the Your Choice Preference System and Royal Mail's Door-to-Door opt-out service. Spelman said: "We've all returned home from holidays to be greeted by a mountain of unwanted, unsolicited mail waiting behind the front door, most of which is thrown straight out. These piles of paper irritate householders, waste businesses' money and are environmentally unsustainable. "That's why I struck this deal with the Direct Marketing Association to give people more control over what gets posted through their letter box, but also to make sure the direct mail we do find useful is produced to higher standards and is fully recyclable. Consumer association Which? welcomed the move. Richard Lloyd, its executive director, said: "Three in four people want to cut the amount of unwanted mail they receive, which is hardly surprising, given that the average home now gets 453 pieces of junk mail each year. There are lots of hoops you need to jump through if you want to opt out of receiving junk mail at the moment, so proposals to simplify the process are a step in the right direction." In 2009, 80,000 tonnes of direct marketing material were produced, of which almost 80% was recycled, according to Defra. Chief of operations for the DMA, Mike Lordan, said: "We know that many types of advertising mail are welcomed by consumers, such as supermarket discount offers. Of course, untargeted and irrelevant advertising mail is not welcome. It's this we want to eliminate. "Unwanted mail is an annoyance and an unnecessary cost to business. By cutting this out we will also be helping to improve the environmental performance of the industry." Earlier this year the DMA stated in its 2010 Value of DM report that advertising mail adds £27bn to the UK economy and is responsible for 280,000 jobs. Companies are also being asked to produce all direct mail from recyclable paper that has originated from a certified sustainable source, or made from recycled paper. This deal would fulfil a commitment in the government's Waste Review announced in June. | ['environment/waste', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'media/advertising', 'media/media', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/hanna-gersmann'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2011-11-01T06:00:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/feb/17/air-pollution-significantly-raises-risk-of-infertility-study-finds | Air pollution significantly raises risk of infertility, study finds | Exposure to air pollution significantly increases the risk of infertility, according to the first study to examine the danger to the general population. The analysis of 18,000 couples in China found that those living with moderately higher levels of small-particle pollution had a 20% greater risk of infertility, defined as not becoming pregnant within a year of trying. The study design did not enable the scientists to determine how air pollution might damage fertility, but pollution particles are known to cause inflammation in the body, which could damage egg and sperm production, the scientists said. Another recent study of 600 women attending a US infertility clinic found that increased exposure to air pollution was associated with a lower number of maturing eggs in the ovaries. Infertility affects many millions of couples around the world but relatively little research has been done on the impact of air pollution. However, dirty air is already known to increase the risk of other aspects of reproduction, including premature birth and low birth weight. Common levels of nitrogen dioxide are as bad as smoking in raising the risk of miscarriage and pollution particles have been found on the foetal side of placentas. Qin Li, at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine at Peking University Third hospital in China, who led the infertility research, said prospective parents should be concerned about air pollution. “Numerous studies have noted that air pollution is associated with lots of adverse pregnancy events,” he told the Guardian. “Approximately 30% of infertile couples have unexplained infertility,” Li and colleagues wrote, noting that age, weight and smoking were well-known factors. “[Our study] indicates that small-particle pollution could be an unignorable risk factor for infertility.” Previous studies have produced mixed results but were based on groups of people that excluded infertile couples or were conducted in infertility clinics, Li said: “Our study samples were recruited from the general population, so our findings may be more generalisable.” “The size of the effects they observe seem pretty high, which would be concerning if borne out in future studies as well, particularly in low pollution environments,” said Tom Clemens, at the University of Edinburgh, UK. The pollution levels in China are relatively high, he said, but harmful effects have been reported on reproduction at much lower levels. “So clearly poor air quality impacts the reproductive system in general,” he said. Prof Mireille Toledano at Imperial College London, UK, said new research on this important topic was very welcome as there were not many previous studies. She said lower levels of air pollution might affect infertility, but that more research was needed. The research, published in the journal Environment International, was based on data from interviews and questionnaires from 18,571 couples who were part of the large China Fertility Survey of Married Women. In China, women are required to register with the authorities before attempting to become pregnant, enabling the researchers to request information from all women who were aiming to conceive. The researchers found that women exposed to small particle pollution that was 10 micrograms per cubic metre higher over a year had a 20% greater risk of infertility. The average pollution level for the Chinese couples was 57µg/m3. In London, UK, the average is about 13µg/m3. The results also showed that the proportion of women not becoming pregnant after 12 months of trying rose from 15% to 26% when comparing the quarter exposed to the lowest pollution with the quarter suffering the highest. The researchers took account of other factors including age, weight, income, smoking, alcohol drinking, and exercise levels. Previous studies of dirty air and fertility have used data on sperm quality, perhaps because this is easier to obtain, with a 2017 review concluding air pollution has a “negative impact”. While individuals suffer the health damage from air pollution, it is governments that need to act, said Clemens: “The emphasis should lie with policymakers, not with individuals.” “While there are certainly steps that individuals can take to reduce exposure, such as air filtration systems in high pollution locations and avoiding exposure to high traffic, they are unlikely to result in substantially different long-term exposures,” he said. “They are also not realistic for many people because of socio-economic constraints, including work patterns and transport opportunities.” | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'society/fertility-problems', 'environment/environment', 'society/health', 'world/china', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-02-17T12:18:29Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2024/nov/20/latest-russian-airstrikes-on-ukraine-threaten-catastrophic-power-failure | Latest Russian airstrikes on Ukraine threaten ‘catastrophic power failure’ | Ukraine’s power network is at “heightened risk of catastrophic failure” after Russia’s missile and drone attack on Sunday, Greenpeace has warned, raising fears about the safety of the country’s three operational nuclear power stations. The strikes by Moscow were aimed at electricity substations “critical to the operation of Ukraine’s nuclear plants” and there is a possibility that the reactors could lose power and become unsafe, according to a briefing note prepared for the Guardian. Shaun Burnie, nuclear expert at Greenpeace Ukraine, said: “It is clear that Russia is using the threat of a nuclear disaster as a major military lever to defeat Ukraine. But by undertaking the attacks Russia is risking a nuclear catastrophe in Europe, which is comparable to Fukushima in 2011, Chornobyl in 1986 or even worse.” The pressure group called on Russia to immediately halt its attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid and for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to deploy permanent monitors in substations critical to the country’s nuclear plants. The IAEA conducted one inspection in late October, but has not committed to return. Though Greenpeace is an independent organisation, it maintains contact with Ukraine’s government. Official Ukrainian sources contacted by the Guardian acknowledged Greenpeace’s technical analysis of the crisis. In 1986, Ukraine was the location of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, when a faulty design led to an explosion and destruction of a reactor at Chornobyl. Thirty people died within a month, and radioactive material spread into Ukraine, Belarus and Russia and to a lesser extent into Scandinavia and Europe. On Sunday night and early morning, Russia unleashed a barrage of more than 210 missiles and drones aimed at electricity generation and transmission targets around the country. Hours later, Ukrenergo, the country’s main electricity provider, announced nationwide rationing to help the system recover. Explosions were heard in the cities of Kyiv, in Odesa and Mykolaiv in the south, in Kryvyi Rih, Pavlohrad, Vinnytsia in central Ukraine and Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west. Explosions were also heard near Ukraine’s border with Moldova where Ukraine’s grid connects with its neighbour and into the rest of Europe. Though the attacks are not thought to have directly targeted Ukraine’s three remaining operational nuclear power plants, at Rivne and Khmelnytskyi in the west, and the South Ukraine plant, Greenpeace says Russia was deliberately trying to increase the stress they are under by targeting substations that they are linked to. On Sunday, the IAEA reported that main power lines from four substations to three nuclear power stations were cut, and that at the Khmelnytsky plant monitors on site “heard a loud explosion”. Two power lines into Rivne became unavailable and output was reduced in six of the nine operational nuclear reactors at the three sites. The three sites account for about two-thirds of Ukraine’s electricity because previous attacks by Russia have destroyed most of the country’s coal and oil-fired plants, while some of the country’s hydro facilities have also been damaged. A particular concern is that “severe damage to Ukraine’s electricity system, including substations, is causing major instability”, Greenpeace said, which could mean the extended loss of external power to the reactors. Cooling of reactor and spent fuel requires power, whose stable supply is at risk, the environmental group added. In the event of a loss of supply, Ukraine’s reactors have on-site diesel generators and batteries to provide essential electricity supply with enough fuel for seven to 10 days, but if fuel cannot be maintained or power be restored the consequences could lead to a nuclear disaster, Greenpeace said. “Loss of cooling function at one or more reactors would inevitably lead to nuclear fuel melt and large-scale radiological release,” Greenpeace said in its brief. “Most at risk are the people and the environment of Ukraine, but there is the potential for much of Europe and beyond to be severely impacted,” it added, depending on the wind direction at the time. Prior to Sunday’s bombing, Britain had already accused Russia of engaging in nuclear blackmail at a meeting of the OSCE a fortnight ago. Its 57 members include Russia, so it is one of the few international forums where western countries can engage with Moscow. “We have also heard Russia threaten Ukraine in this room that it could turn off 75% of its remaining electricity by hitting just five targets,” the UK said in a statement delivered at a meeting in Vienna on 7 November. “This could only be a reference to Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. Such threats are unacceptable. As is the risk to Ukraine’s nuclear power plants of an unreliable power supply due to Russia’s sustained attacks against Ukraine’s grid.” British sources indicated they believed that Ukraine’s energy generation had been reduced to about one-third of its pre-war capacity in the spring, though repairs over the summer had improved that figure back to 50%. The impact of the latest bombing on generation remains unclear, though Ukraine’s energy ministry said on Tuesday that 9GW of power had been lost in 2024, equal to “the peak consumption of countries such as the Netherlands or Finland”. At the beginning of the war, Russian forces captured Ukraine’s fourth nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia facility, which houses six reactors. The site, on the frontline on the Dnipro river, remains occupied though the reactors are in cold shutdown. | ['world/ukraine', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/russia', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'campaign/email/this-is-europe', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/dan-sabbagh', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2024-11-20T05:00:29Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2016/apr/11/daily-mail-publisher-private-equity-companies-yahoo-takeover | Daily Mail publisher in talks with companies over Yahoo takeover | The publisher of the Daily Mail has confirmed it is in talks with private equity companies about a takeover of Yahoo. Ailing tech firm Yahoo, which has a market capitalisation of $38bn (£27bn), put its core business up for sale in February with bids due by 18 April. Daily Mail and General Trust, the parent company of the Daily Mail, has confirmed that it has approached companies interested in a potential bid for Yahoo. DMGT has been heavily focused on building its operation in the US, which includes the acquisition of news site Elite Daily and an upcoming move into TV with a syndicated news show with Phil McGraw, known as Dr Phil. “Given the success of dailymail.com and Elite Daily, we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders [for Yahoo],” said a spokesman for DMGT. “Discussions are at a very early stage and there is no certainty that any transaction will take place.” One scenario is DMGT takes on the news and media properties in their entirety after a private equity deal. The other is the private equity company takes a stake in the Daily Mail’s digital operation once enlarged by Yahoo’s properties. DMGT would always be the majority shareholder in that scenario. Yahoo has struggled since the rise of giants such as Google and the emergence of newer players such as Facebook and Snapchat. In February, embattled chief executive Marissa Mayer announced a strategic review, which included exploring a sale, cutting 1,700 staff, 15% of its global workforce, and shutting five foreign offices and seven digital magazines. Nevertheless, Yahoo still attracts a huge web audience, especially in the US, with a major editorial operation across finance, sport and video. It is understood it is seeking a linkup with a private equity firm that would take over Yahoo, with a publisher then taking over the news and media properties. The US has become the Daily Mail’s prime driver of digital growth, with revenues growing 66% in the three months to the end of December. A DMGT spokesman refused to elaborate on the nature of a prospective deal, the news of which was broken by the Wall Street Journal. “We have no further comment at this time,” said the spokesman. “Further updates will be provided as appropriate.” | ['technology/yahoo-takeover', 'business/dailymailgeneraltrust', 'technology/yahoo', 'business/business', 'technology/internet', 'media/media', 'technology/mergers-acquisitions', 'media/pressandpublishing', 'technology/technology', 'media/digital-media', 'media/mediabusiness', 'type/article', 'profile/marksweney', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-media'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2016-04-10T23:08:55Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/2022/apr/13/shock-waves-inside-the-15-april-edition-of-guardian-weekly | Shock waves: Inside the 15 April edition of Guardian Weekly | “I have become sadly well acquainted with the depiction of spilt blood of late,” writes the illustrator Pete Reynolds on his cover artwork for this week’s Guardian Weekly magazine. “However, even when asked to illustrate the impact of the war beyond Ukraine – to wider Europe – it still felt necessary to put the suffering of the Ukrainian people at the heart of the image.” While Russian forces in Ukraine withdraw and regroup for what’s expected to be a new, sustained assault on the Donbas region, the focus of this week’s edition shifts to some of the war’s wider ramifications for Europe. Germany knows it must rapidly reduce its reliance on Russian gas, but the economic consequences could be enormous. Lithuania, bordered with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, is calling for a full rethink of Nato’s “tripwire” defence strategy. In Poland, now sheltering more than 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees, fears are growing over how long the welcome can be sustained. And in France, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen – a known admirer of Russian president Vladimir Putin – stands a real shot of becoming president in a runoff against Emmanuel Macron. We reflect on a pivotal election race for Europe’s future, while in the Opinion pages Jonathan Freedland wonders for how long Putin’s friends around the continent will remain silent. As the third part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report reiterates the urgency of curbing emissions, Dorian Lynskey spends a night out with the activists of Just Stop Oil, one of the new generation of disruptive campaign groups who are trying to bridge the gap between climate awareness and action. Then, Simon Hattenstone travels to Dublin to meet Shane MacGowan, finding the legendary former Pogues frontman in a different chapter of his life but still as contrarian as ever. Get the Guardian Weekly magazine delivered to your home address | ['theguardian/series/inside-guardian-weekly', 'world/europe-news', 'world/eu', 'world/ukraine', 'world/russia', 'world/france', 'world/emmanuel-macron', 'world/marine-le-pen', 'world/germany', 'world/lithuania', 'world/poland', 'world/refugees', 'world/world', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'profile/grahamsnowdon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-guardian-weekly-commissioning'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-04-13T08:00:46Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2024/sep/12/pfas-military-toxic-gases-definition | US lawmakers push to exclude lucrative chemicals from official PFAS definition | US lawmakers and the military are pushing for a new definition of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that would exclude a subclass of toxic compounds increasingly used across the economy and considered to be potent greenhouse gases. Language included in the defense bill by the Senate armed services committee asks the military to detail how it uses fluorinated gases, or F-gases, stating that the committee is “interested in learning more about how the [department of defense] may or may not be impacted by the definition” of PFAS. The report is probably a first step in excluding F-gases, and is part of a broader fight to exempt PFAS from potential regulation by changing the definition. Exemption would help shield F-gases, which are among the most lucrative PFAS for industry, from regulatory scrutiny and potential oversight despite them being the most widely used PFAS subclass. The defense bill language also comes after the Environmental Protection Agency last year began considering which chemicals are PFAS on a case-by-case basis, an approach that differs from almost every other regulatory agency in the US and worldwide, and is viewed by public health advocates as an industry-friendly move. The attempts to redefine the chemicals are “cynical”, said Erik Olson, senior adviser to the NRDC Action Fund, which is lobbying on the defense bill. “It’s completely unscientific – they’re just hoping to exclude whole chunks of the PFAS class from even being considered PFAS and consideration of [regulation],” Olson added. PFAS are a class of about 15,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. They have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease and a range of other serious health problems. PFAS are dubbed “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down in the environment. US law does not require PFAS to be regulated, but the chemical class is coming under intense scrutiny and some compounds are being subjected to tough new regulations or monitoring. The industry is scaling up its use of F-gases, which are used in refrigeration, air conditioning, clean energy production and a range of other industrial processes – about 60% of all PFAS manufactured from 2019-2022 were F-gases. The industry claims the chemicals are safe and nontoxic replacements to older greenhouse gases used in refrigeration, but the gases turn into TFA, a compound that has a similar atmospheric life to carbon dioxide. The chemicals are also thought to be accumulating in the environment and human blood at much higher levels than any other PFAS, and are more toxic than previously thought. The armed services committee noted that the military used the chemicals for fire suppression systems and other “lifesaving products” for which there may not be suitable alternatives. It did not respond to requests for comment. It may be true that F-gases have to be used for fire suppression or other lifesaving systems, but exceptions for those “essential uses” can be carved out of regulation, Olson said. Instead, industry and the military is attempting to exempt the entire subclass of chemicals from the definition of PFAS and oversight despite the fact that most uses of PFAS are not essential, Olson added. “There may be essential uses at DoD and they may need to use the chemicals in the meantime while we look for safer alternatives,” he said. “But we want to make sure we’re not seeing massive carve-outs from consideration of regulation and action based on unscientific criteria.” The House-approved defense bill did not include the stipulation, and the Senate is still negotiating its version of the legislation. The action comes as the military has attempted to evade responsibility for its PFAS pollution elsewhere. “The more that they wiggle out of PFAS problems the more worried we get,” Olson said. “We’ll keep an eye out.” | ['environment/pfas', 'us-news/us-military', 'us-news/us-senate', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tom-perkins', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-09-12T10:00:20Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2023/aug/09/recovery-of-great-barrier-reef-stalls-as-scientists-point-to-bleaching-disease-and-starfish-attacks | Recovery of Great Barrier Reef stalls as scientists point to bleaching, disease and starfish attacks | A recovery in the number of corals growing on the Great Barrier Reef over recent years has paused, with government scientists blaming bleaching, disease and attacks by starfish. Results from the latest annual surveys of more than 100 individual reefs show a small drop in coral cover over the northern and central parts of the reef over the past year. The Great Barrier Reef – the world’s biggest coral reef system – faces an uncertain future as the ocean continues to accumulate heat caused by the burning of fossil fuels. That heat has caused a series of mass coral bleaching events over the reef, including four in the past seven years, that can weaken corals and affect their ability to reproduce. The report from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) details the results of in-water surveys of 111 reefs carried out between August 2022 and May this year. The surveys came after the summer of 2022 which saw the first mass coral bleaching on record to occur during a La Niña – a climate pattern that usually brings cooler conditions. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The report said: “The effects from the 2022 bleaching event, the fourth in seven years, caused some coral loss on some reefs. It is likely that those corals which survived bleaching have been affected by reduced growth and reproduction.” Last year’s report said three years of relatively benign conditions produced record levels of coral cover in the reef’s northern and central areas. That growth in corals was underpinned by a group of faster-growing coral species that also tend to be the most at risk from bleaching events. Dr Mike Emslie, who leads the long-term reef monitoring program at Aims, said there was an expectation the reef would have continued to recover, but the data showed otherwise. “This demonstrates that even less-severe bleaching events are enough to cause a pause in coral cover,” he said. He said the recovery in recent years was “definitely a good news story”, but this “could turn around very quickly with another mass bleaching event, and there’s still the risk from crown-of-thorns starfish and coral disease”. When corals sit in unusually warm water for too long, they seperate from algae that live inside them. The algae provide much of the corals’ nutrients, and give them their colour. Corals can recover if temperatures are not too extreme, but scientists say there are also “sub-lethal” effects from bleaching. Reef experts are concerned an El Niño climate pattern could take hold this summer, further raising the risk of another mass bleaching event. Dr David Wachenfeld, the research program director at Aims, said the most recent summer had delivered mild conditions with low coral bleaching and only one cyclone. “However, we are only one large scale disturbance away from a rapid reversal of recent recovery,” he said. “The reef remains a wonderful, complex and beautiful system, but it is at increased risk with climate change driving more frequent and severe bleaching events, putting increasing pressure on the ecosystem’s resilience.” The report said hard coral cover in the northern section of the reef, from Cape York to Cooktown, was estimated at 35.7%, down from 36.5% in 2022. Between Cooktown and Proserpine, the reef’s central region, coral cover was estimated at 30.8%, down from 32.6% last year. In the southern region, from Proserpine to Gladstone, coral cover was at 33.8% – virtually unchanged from the previous year. In this section, some reefs suffered from disease and attacks from crown-of-thorns starfish. | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/coral', 'environment/elnino', 'environment/la-nina', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/queensland', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-08-08T15:00:30Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk-news/2022/jul/03/british-army-confirms-breach-of-its-twitter-and-youtube-accounts | British army confirms breach of its Twitter and YouTube accounts | The British army has confirmed a “breach” of its Twitter and YouTube accounts and said it is investigating. Its Twitter account appeared to have been hacked and had the name “BAPESCAN” instead of British Army and a profile picture of what looked like a cartoon monkey in face paint. Its description had been changed from: “Follow us for news and information on deployments, training exercises, ceremonial duties & regimental events. Recruiting @armyjobs” to “#1 metavesto clan on the ETH chain with multi-billion dollar experience. Powered by @chaintchlabs”. Even when the British army account went back to its proper name and description there were still retweets of posts regarding NFTs – non-fungible tokens or digital artworks – that appeared to have been the handiwork of the hackers. These retweets were still on the army’s Twitter at 8.30pm on Sunday evening. The British army’s YouTube channel was reported to have been replaced with an account named Ark Invest and its logo. It appeared to be promoting a purported interview with Tesla founder Elon Musk about cryptocurrency. Ark Invest is a global investment firm. There is no suggestion that it was complicit in the breach. The Guardian has contacted Ark Invest for comment. It is not known who is behind the hacks. An army spokesperson said: “We are aware of a breach of the army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts and an investigation is under way. We take information security extremely seriously and are resolving the issue. Until the investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further.” A tweet later posted on the official account said: “Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed. We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us and normal service will now resume.” Conservative MP Michael Fabricant had earlier tweeted: “How embarrassing. @BritishArmy Twitter account has been hacked. Not by the #Russians I don’t think!” In April it emerged that Britain’s computerised army recruitment system had been closed since mid-March. It was temporarily shut as a precaution when data relating to about 120 army recruits was discovered being offered for sale on the dark web. However, it was unclear if there had been a hack or if someone had obtained a screen grab or printout. At the time a British army spokesperson said: “Following the compromise of a small selection of recruit data, the army’s online recruitment services were temporarily suspended pending an investigation.” It was later restored. | ['uk/british-army', 'uk/uk', 'uk/military', 'technology/twitter', 'media/social-media', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/youtube', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jane-clinton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-07-03T18:57:15Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/nov/08/about-26000-tonnes-of-plastic-covid-waste-pollutes-worlds-oceans-study | About 26,000 tonnes of plastic Covid waste pollutes world’s oceans – study | Plastic waste from the Covid-19 pandemic weighing 25,900 tonnes, equivalent to more than 2,000 double decker buses, has leaked into the ocean, research has revealed. The mismanaged plastic waste, consisting of personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves, vastly exceeded the capability of countries to process it properly, researchers said. Since the beginning of the pandemic, an estimated 8.4m tonnes of plastic waste has been generated from 193 countries, according to the report, published on Monday. “The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an increased demand for single-use plastics that intensifies pressure on an already out-of-control global plastic waste problem,” said Yiming Peng and Peipei Wu from Nanjing University, the authors of Magnitude and impact of pandemic-associated plastic waste published in the online journal PNAS. “The released plastics can be transported over long distances in the ocean, encounter marine wildlife, and potentially lead to injury or even death,” they added. A study in March presented the first case of a fish entrapped in a medical glove, encountered during a canal cleanup in Leiden, the Netherlands. In Brazil a PFF-2 protective mask was found in the stomach of a dead Magellanic penguin. The scientists predicted that by the end of the century almost all pandemic-associated plastics will end up on either the seabed or on beaches. The Chinese study found that 46% of the mismanaged plastic waste came from Asia, due to the high level of mask-wearing by individuals there, followed by Europe, 24%, and North and South America, 22%. Peng and Wu said their research suggested 87.4% of the excess waste was from hospitals, rather than from individual use. PPE usage by individuals contributed only 7.6% of the total, while packaging and test kits accounted for 4.7% and 0.3% respectively. “Most of the plastic is from medical waste generated by hospitals that dwarfs the contribution from personal protection equipment and online-shopping package material,” they wrote. “This poses a long-lasting problem for the ocean environment and is mainly accumulated on beaches and coastal sediments.” The thousands of tonnes of masks, gloves, testing kits and face visors which leached into the oceans from the start of the pandemic up to August this year, were transported in 369 major rivers. Chief among these were Shatt al-Arab in south-eastern Iraq, which carried 5,200 tonnes of PPE waste to the ocean; the Indus river, which arises in western Tibet, carried 4,000 tonnes and the Yangtze river in China 3,700 tonnes. In Europe, the Danube carried the most plastic pandemic waste into the ocean: 1,700 tonnes. The top 10 rivers accounted for 79% of pandemic plastic discharge, the top 20 for 91%, and the top 100 for 99%. About 73% of the discharge was from Asian rivers followed by European watercourses (11%), with minor contributions from other continents, the report said. “These findings highlight the hotspot rivers and watersheds that require special attention in plastic waste management,” the authors said. “We find a long-lasting impact of the pandemic-associated waste release in the global ocean. At the end of this century, the model suggests that almost all the pandemic-associated plastics end up in either the seabed (28.8%) or beaches (70.5%).” The authors said the findings showed better medical waste management was needed in pandemic epicenters, especially in developing countries. | ['environment/pollution', 'environment/oceans', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-11-08T20:00:38Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk-news/2018/aug/28/londons-new-drinking-fountains-a-splash-hit | London's new drinking fountains a splash hit | London’s new wave of drinking fountains have proved popular, with figures suggesting that thirsty members of the public have drunk thousands of litres of water from them since the first four were installed in the capital earlier this year. According to the team behind the installations, more than 8,000 litres of water have been dispensed in under a month from two drinking fountains installed at Liverpool Street Station – equal to 16,000 standard bottles of water – while another fountain, installed off Carnaby Street in March, has been used more than 10,000 times a month since tracking began in early June. The move to install an initial set of 20 drinking fountains across the capital is part of a plan by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and partners to tackle the issue of single-use plastic. An investigation by the Guardian last year revealed that a million plastic bottles are sold worldwide every minute, with large numbers contributing to ocean pollution, or ending up in landfill. “Water fountains are a simple but effective way to encourage Londoners and visitors to ditch plastic bottles and instead refill reusable ones,” said Khan. The figures came as Khan unveiled the locations of the remaining drinking fountains which will be put in place across the capital by the end of the year. “With the hot weather we’ve seen this summer, the demand is greater than ever for quick and easy ways of accessing free drinking water and I’m pleased to confirm the locations for the first 20 of our new public water fountains. Some of these are already attracting thousands of visitors a day,” added Khan. London is not the first city to see drinking fountains spring up; cities including Bristol and Hull have installed fountains in recent years, while London’s Borough Market installed its own drinking fountains in 2017.. Dr Heather Koldewey, co-director of the #OneLess campaign against single-use plastic which is a partner in mayor’s drinking fountain scheme, said the 20 locations were chosen from a large pool of applications, with £85,000 available to help fund installation – £50,000 of which came from the mayor and £35,000 from MIW Water Cooler Experts, who also provided the fountains. “We were snowed under by applications,” said Koldewey, adding the final selection was based on areas which had high footfall where it was judged people would most need water, such as transport hubs and recreational areas, were open to all, and where fountains would be well maintained and could be installed easily. The #OneLess campaign has found the average Londoner buys more than three plastic water bottles a week, but Koldewey said the public were keen to embrace an alternative. “It has really validated our research that said if you provide the water fountains, [people] will come and they will use them.” London’s 20 new drinking fountains Kingly Court, Carnaby St Liverpool Street Station #1 Liverpool Street Station #2 Heart of Valentines Park, Redbridge Bexleyheath town centre North Acton station square Windrush Square, Brixton Ladywell Fields Beckhenham Place Park Horniman Museum and Gardens Paddington Recreation Ground Acton Park Guy’s Hospital St Thomas’ Hospital Swiss Cottage Open Space Camberwell Green Nisbett Walk, Sidcup town centre Natural History Museum St Alban’s Street, St James’s The London School of Economics and Political Science | ['uk/london', 'environment/plastic', 'uk/uk', 'cities/cities', 'environment/environment', 'politics/sadiq-khan', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nicola-davis', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-08-28T05:15:05Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/jan/12/a-hollow-ring-to-theresa-may-pledge-on-plastics | A hollow ring to Theresa May’s pledge on plastics | Letters | Ian Paul (Letters, 12 January), referring to plastics recycling, asks: “Surely we should urge government and private industry to build and develop plants to deal with the problem now, before we are knee-deep in bottles?” He is right, but we had started on this more than a decade ago, with world-leading recycling technology investment in plastic bottle recycling at Closed Loop in Dagenham, part funded by the government’s Wrap (Waste and Resources Action Programme) organisation, which produced the material to include recycled content in plastic milk bottles. This was a world first, establishing the use of recycled material in food-grade packaging. It foundered when the voluntary agreement between the dairies, brands, retailers and bottle-makers to use recycled content collapsed when the oil price fell and virgin material became much cheaper. Government failed to intervene to save the plant and the investment, for the sake of a price differential representing 0.1p on the cost of a two-litre milk bottle. All those responsible blamed each other, and the nation lost significant recycling capacity. Now the government has set out its 25-year environment plan and heads into a new resources and waste strategy (Campaign groups give lukewarm backing to May’s green strategy, 12 January), the lessons of this debacle must be learned. A regulatory framework that supports industry and encourages investment is needed, and could include mandatory recycled content for some plastic products, investments in research and development, and enhanced tax credits to support manufacturing investment in the UK and reduce our dependency on febrile export markets. There could also be mandatory design guidelines to eliminate polymer mixes in packaging that make recycling close to impossible, bans on some single-use plastic products and reforms to producer responsibility that incentivise the use of recycled material. Michael Gove wishes to be “bold and radical” in this policy area. He must at the very least embrace a fresh injection of reasonable regulation that supports investment and helps to build stable markets for plastics re-manufactured here and not in China as starting points if we are to tackle the plastic waste “scourge” that the prime minister spoke about this week. Relying on yet more voluntary agreements will simply not suffice. Ray Georgeson Chief executive, Resource Association • In the early 70s my husband and I were founder members of Friends of the Earth. Every Saturday morning a group of us returned all our week’s packaging to the local supermarket in Bromsgrove, to make a visible point about over-packaging to both the supermarket and the Saturday shoppers. Now, 47 years later, our prime minister has the audacity to boast about the government’s green policies. I am so angry I want to cry. She should be apologising for what governments have not done all these years, resulting in the dreadful situation we now have regarding plastic pollution. She should be apologising for her government’s dragging its feet and previously exempting many businesses from charging for plastic bags – not boasting about what only amounts to catching up with everyone else (Scotland, Wales and many countries did not make these exemptions for small businesses). And as for the 25 years she gives the government to achieve her plastic policies, that is laughable. If we have not done away with plastic or replaced it with plant material way before then, it will be far too late for much of the life on this planet. Maureen Evershed Dorridge, West Midlands • The focus on single-use plastic in the environment strategy overlooks the issue of ghost gear – lost and abandoned fishing equipment, which represents 10% of all the plastic waste in the ocean and causes immense suffering to marine animals caught in it. If the government is serious about reducing the impact of plastic on the marine environment, its strategy should address this highly destructive form of plastic pollution. Stephen Sibbald UK country director, World Animal Protection • Regarding plastic-lined takeaway cups, I suspect the craze for drinks on the go is a sort of statement that a person is busy and important, in common with the constant fiddling with mobile phones and clutching plastic water bottles. May I suggest we revert to using the good old vacuum flask, or even wait until we get to work (as we used to do) before we have a tea or coffee – drunk from a reusable mug, of course. Peter Hames Northam, Devon • Single new year resolution: no non-biodegradable cups. Actioned yesterday. Great Western Railway buffet attendant initially unwilling to pour my coffee into my orange plastic cup, citing health and safety/company rules etc. Realising I would not budge, he finally gave in. Now for Waitrose. Fellow Guardian readers, please do the same. Ros Clayton York • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'politics/theresamay', 'politics/politics', 'politics/michaelgove', 'environment/green-economy', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-01-12T18:25:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2024/apr/09/epa-chemical-plants-rules | New rule mandates 200 US plants to reduce toxic emissions linked to cancer | More than 200 of the US’s chemical plants will be mandated to reduce toxic emissions linked to cancer to and better protect communities from hazardous pollution, the Biden administration announced on Tuesday. The long-awaited rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will strengthen protections for communities living near industrial sites, especially along the Gulf coast. The new update focuses on ethylene oxide, used to produce antifreeze, pesticides and sterilizing agents, as well as chloroprene, which is used to make synthetic rubber for shoes and wetsuits. “President Biden believes every community in this country deserves to breathe clean air,” said the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, highlighting communities such as St John the Baptist parish in Louisiana. “We promised to listen to folks that are suffering from pollution and act to protect them. Today we deliver on that promise with strong final standards to slash pollution, reduce cancer risk and ensure cleaner air for nearby communities.” The last time the government updated the pollution limits from chemical plants was 2006. The strengthened rule would lower toxic pollutants by 6,200 tons a year, and slash ethylene oxide and chloroprene emissions by 80%. The new update under the Clean Air Act would also require fence-line monitoring of six toxic air pollutants: ethylene oxide, chloroprene, vinyl chloride, benzene, 1,3-butadiene and ethylene dichloride. “This shows the administration’s commitment to the issues of environmental justice,” said Adam Kron, a senior attorney with Earthjustice. “This rule will reduce a lot of hazardous air pollutants. There will be less cancer based on these emissions, there will be lives saved.” The final rule requires manufacturers to improve efficiency of flares used to control pollution from emission sources, as well as better monitoring for leaks in tanks that store the chemicals. Ethylene oxide emissions are more commonly found in the US than chloroprene, with dozens of facilities located across the country emitting the pollutant, which the EPA lists as a human carcinogen. The new rule sets a threshold of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of average emissions before plant operators must take action. Facilities must meet the requirements for reducing ethylene oxide within two years, according to the EPA. “We cannot have a healthy society without a healthy environment,” said Troy Carter, the congressman for Louisiana’s second district ahead of the signing of the rule today at the EPA headquarters in Washington DC. “ The most important commodity of any industry is its people and the communities that are in its proximity.” There is only one facility in the US that produces the pollutant chloroprene, which is operated by the Japanese chemicals giant Denka and is situated in St John the Baptist parish in the heart of the heavily industrialised region in Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley”. The EPA lists chloroprene as a likely human carcinogen and has long suggested a safe lifetime exposure limit of 0.2 micrograms per cubic metre. The agency has been monitoring the air around the Denka facility since 2016 and readings have regularly exceeded this limit by dozens of times. The new chloroprene rule sets two “action levels” of 0.8 and 0.3 micrograms per cubic meter of average concentration at fence-line monitoring sites, which would require the facility to reduce emissions if they are exceeded. The EPA also plans to execute its chloroprene rule at an expedited speed, by requiring its implementation within 90 days. The rule was met with a mixed response by some experts working with the majority-Black communities affected by chloroprene pollution in the region. “Shortening the implementation timeframes is a positive aspect,” said the environmental scientist Wilma Subra. “But the reductions in emission concentration is not nearly enough to protect the community.” Sharon Lavigne, the founder and executive director of Louisiana advocacy group Rise St James said they would look forward to the pollution reduction required in the new rule. “This is environmental racism that we fight against. We work to stop industrial expansion and clean up our air, and demand reparations for people harmed by industrial pollution.” Lavigne has been leading the fight against the proposed Formosa Plastics chemical complex to be built in Cancer Alley. Earlier this year, a Louisiana appellate court upheld air permits for construction, allowing the plant to go forth and authorizing emissions of more than 800 tons of toxic pollutants annually, including estimated 15,400lb of ethylene oxide. Denka, a Japanese company that bought the former DuPont rubber-making plant in 2015, said it “vehemently opposes” the EPA’s latest action and accused the agency of pursuing an “ill-founded, politicized approach to regulating chloroprene emissions”. A statement added that swift implementation of the rule would force the company to “idle its operations”. Denka planned to pursue litigation on the issue, the statement said. | ['us-news/series/americas-dirty-divide', 'environment/pollution', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/epa', 'us-news/biden-administration', 'environment/air-pollution', 'type/article', 'profile/aliya-uteuova', 'profile/laughland-oliver', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-04-09T16:40:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/article/2024/jun/25/rising-sea-levels-flooding | Rising sea levels will disrupt millions of Americans’ lives by 2050, study finds | Sea level rise driven by global heating will disrupt the daily life of millions of Americans, as hundreds of homes, schools and government buildings face frequent and repeated flooding by 2050, a new study has found. Almost 1,100 critical infrastructure assets that sustain coastal communities will be at risk of monthly flooding by 2050, according to the new research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The vast majority of the assets – 934 of them – face the risk of flood disruption every other week, which could make some coastal neighborhoods unlivable within two to three decades. Almost 3 million people currently live in the 703 US coastal communities with critical infrastructure at risk of monthly disruptive flooding by 2050, including affordable and subsidized housing, wastewater treatment facilities, toxic industrial sites, power plants, fire stations, schools, kindergartens and hospitals. The number of critical infrastructure assets at risk of disruptive flooding is expected to nearly double compared to 2020, even when assuming a medium rate of climate-driven sea level rise (rather than the worst case scenario). California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey have the most critical infrastructure that needs to be made more flood resilient – or be relocated to safer ground. Within states, the burden of coastal flooding will not be equal: more than half the critical assets facing frequent flooding by 2050 are located in communities already disadvantaged by historic and current structural racism, discrimination and pollution, the UCS analysis found. Disadvantaged coastal communities with infrastructure at risk of flooding have higher proportions of Black, Latino and Native American residents. Public and affordable housing represents the single most at-risk infrastructure in these communities. Routine flooding of critical infrastructure could lead to some of the most vulnerable and underserved children being forced to travel further for school and medical appointments, as well as the contamination of local water supplies by the flooding of polluted soil, according to Juan Declet-Barreto, a report author and senior social scientist for climate vulnerability at UCS. “Failing to prioritize resilience solutions in these communities risks reinforcing the harmful legacy of environmental racism and colonialism in places already grossly underserved and overlooked,” said Declet-Barreto. The report, Looming Deadlines for Coastal Resilience, comes at a critical juncture for the climate emergency amid spiraling fossil fuel production in countries like the US, UK, Norway, Canada, China and Brazil – and deadly heat, floods and drought striking communities across the world with increased frequency and intensity. Meanwhile, the devastating consequences of slow-onset climate disasters such as desertification, melting glaciers and sea level rise are also driving rising costs, the loss of homes and livelihoods, as well as forced displacement for communities across the world. The world’s oceans are rising, and every year seawater reaches farther inland, which poses an ever-increasing threat to homes, businesses and critical infrastructure. By 2030, the number of critical buildings and facilities at risk of routine and repeat flooding along US coastlines is expected to grow by 20% compared to 2020 conditions. In Charleston, South Carolina, more than 20 high-tide floods were recorded in 2023, sending seawater into the streets and submerging low-lying areas. By 2050, at least 23 essential pieces of infrastructure in Charleston are expected to flood at least twice annually, assuming a medium sea level rise scenario. This includes 17 public housing buildings, which would exacerbate the state’s affordable housing crisis. UCS researchers identified the critical infrastructure along the entire contiguous US, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, which face risk of routine flooding, using data including National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tide gauges and three sea level rise scenarios developed by a US Interagency Task Force. Critical infrastructure includes buildings and facilities that provide functions necessary to sustain daily life – or that if flooded, could unleash environmental hazards. The full impact of coastal flooding is likely to be significantly worse, as drinking water facilities, bus and metro stations, and retirement and care facilities for older adults were not included in the UCS study. The analysis looks at flooding driven solely by sea level rise and tidal heights. Other climate-related drivers including storm surge, and heavy rainfall which can – and do – increase the risk of disruptive flooding were not included in the study. The risk of coastal flooding is rising every year. The amount of sea level rise by century’s end will ultimately depend on the world’s willingness to curtail or continue releasing heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. But without urgent action to reinforce critical infrastructure, the number of schools, apartment blocks, energy facilities and government buildings at risk of disruptive flooding is expected to rise by at least sevenfold by 2100, according to the UCS analysis. Almost 7.5 million people currently live in the 1,758 coastal communities with critical infrastructure at risk of frequent and repeated flooding by the turn of the century. Assuming a medium-case scenario, around 4,800 buildings and facilities on US coastlines face the threat of disruptive fooding every fortnight by 2100. “Even if their homes stay dry, disruptive flooding of vital infrastructure could leave people essentially stranded within their communities or enduring intolerable and even unlivable conditions,” said Erika Spanger, a co-author and director of strategic climate analytics at UCS. “There’s a rapidly approaching deadline for many coastal communities that demands urgent attention.” | ['environment/sea-level', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/coastlines', 'world/race', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/florida', 'us-news/california', 'us-news/massachusetts', 'us-news/maryland', 'us-news/new-jersey', 'us-news/south-carolina', 'us-news/louisiana', 'world/guam', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nina-lakhani', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/sea-level | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-06-25T06:00:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2017/jan/10/uk-throwing-away-13bn-of-food-each-year-latest-figures-show | UK throwing away £13bn of food each year, latest figures show | UK households binned £13bn worth of food in 2015 that could have been eaten, according to new figures which suggest that progress in reducing the national food waste mountain has stalled. Despite concerted efforts to reduce food waste through the entire supply chain, a new national update from the waste and recycling advisory body Wrap revealed that an estimated 7.3m tonnes of household food waste was thrown away in 2015 – up from 7m tonnes in 2012. Of the food thrown away, 4.4m tonnes was deemed to be “avoidable” waste that was edible at some point before it was put in the bin or food waste caddy – such as bread that goes mouldy – compared with 4.2m tonnes in 2012. The rest were scraps that could not be eaten such as meat bones, eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds, apple cores and fruit and vegetable peelings. That meant the average UK household wasted £470 worth of food, which went in the bin when it could have been eaten. The avoidable food waste generated 19m tonnes of greenhouse gases over its lifetime – and preventing that pollution would be equivalent to taking one in four cars off UK roads, Wrap said. It pointed to progress made since it started assembling detailed records and analysis nine years ago, but said that falls in food prices and rising incomes since 2014 had reduced the incentive for people to cut their food waste, halting a previous downward trend. Between 2007 and 2012, the total amount of household food waste fell by 15%, and avoidable food waste dropped by 21%, thanks to rising food prices and changes to labelling to simplify use by date advice – alongside campaigning to raise awareness. But the latest figures show the food industry has failed to meet a commitment to cut household food waste by 5% between 2012 and 2015. “Citizens are wasting 1m tonnes less food per year, which means over 8m tonnes less food waste than when we started tackling this issue in 2007,” said Wrap’s chief executive, Marcus Gover. “But it is incredibly challenging to reduce food waste, and the stalling of progress shows just how difficult it is. “That’s why I’m calling on all businesses, organisations, campaigners and NGOs who work in this area to unite together in the fight against food waste. By working together we can win this battle.” A regional breakdown shows significant progress in Wales – possibly due to a devolved administration and greater availability of council-run food waste collections – with a reduction in household food waste of 12% per person since 2009. Trewin Restorick, founder and chief executive of the environmental charity Hubbub – which is helping deliver a major food waste project for Sainsbury’s in Derbyshire – said: “Seeing food waste grow again is massively disappointing and should be a wake-up call for efforts to be redoubled. Defra needs to copy the leadership being shown in Wales and Scotland.” Sainsbury’s is nearing the end of a year-long experiment involving an entire town – Swadlincote in Derbyshire – where it regularly checks householders’ bins while trialling new technology such as smart fridges and food-sharing apps to help reduce waste. Environment minister Therese Coffey said: “Good progress has been made by industry to tackle food and packaging waste in the supply chain. But we all have a role to play and despite a million-tonne fall in domestic food waste since 2007, there is clearly more we need to do.” | ['environment/food-waste', 'environment/waste', 'food/food', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'uk/uk', 'money/money', 'tone/news', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'money/household-bills', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-01-10T00:01:18Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2024/mar/11/country-diary-back-by-poplar-demand-this-simple-stick-carries-our-high-hopes | Country diary: Back by poplar demand – this simple stick carries our high hopes | Nic Wilson | An eager crowd has gathered beside an old flooded claypit in the grounds of Maydencroft Manor to celebrate a royal arrival. Once owned by the crown, this estate is now a native breeds farm where English longhorn cattle are reared for conservation grazing. Although the medieval manor house has accommodated queens and knights over the centuries, today’s noble guest has not enjoyed such luxurious surroundings. He’s spent the week in a bucket of water in my garden shed. Our VIP (Very Important Poplar) is a male black poplar cutting from the royal estate at Sandringham, kindly donated by “phantom tree planter” Roger Jefcoate, to replace Hitchin’s much-loved hybrid black poplar that toppled in storms last year. With the rugged magnificence of this fallen veteran in mind, it is with some trepidation that I face the group at the planting site, clutching an ostensibly dead stick. I explain that black poplars, like many floodplain trees, readily reproduce by vegetative means (often from fallen branches or windthrown trunks), so this hardwood cutting has a good chance of rooting. Yet, despite their resilience, black poplars (Populus nigra subsp.betulifolia) are one of the UK’s most endangered tree species. Of the 7,719 recorded in the national database, only about 600 are female – rarely planted due to their copious production of fluffy seeds. Even worse, most are nearing the end of their 200-year lifespan and, due to the paucity of females and of wet alluvial soil needed for seeds to germinate, there’s little evidence of sexual reproduction. Here in Hertfordshire, our floodplain Ents and their lost Entwives are long gone. Their shadows haunt old botanical notebooks and forgotten coppice stools, except on the periphery of the county along the Thame, Ash and Stort rivers, where mature black poplars can still be found. So we plant our arbor populi – our tree of the people – and the children water and mulch it. I wonder what climatic changes the royal youngster will have to weather over the next 200 years if he is to reach the venerable age of the late black poplar by the Ash Brook. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/forests', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/nic-wilson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-03-11T05:30:20Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2010/nov/09/solomon-islands-climate-change | The view from beneath the waves: climate change in the Solomon Islands | The smaller outer islands in the Solomon Islands are already seeing devastating impacts of the rising sea level. The impact of climate change is already affecting the rural population of Solomon Islands, an archipelago of eight bigger islands and hundreds of small, mostly uninhabited islands. The ocean is part and parcel of the livelihood of 500,000 people of this country situated just north of Australia. But the ocean is turning against the very people it is supposed to serve and is destroying their coastal areas and homes. Away from the international conferences and negotiations, climate change is a matter of life and death here. Taro, the staple root crop in Ontong Java atoll, is dying due to salinity of the swamp and sandy soil. And graves at the Tuo village cemetery, an island in the eastern Solomons have been exposed by eroding waves. "During the 1980s the burial place was about 50m away from the beach. Today the beach is about 1m with only one cross remaining as the rising sea had washed most away. Tuo village of Reef Islands currently do not have a proper cemetery to bury its dead. It is estimated that by 2015 most houses in the shoreline will be washed away," says Lawrence Nodua, an islander. National project co-ordinator of Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (Pacc) Casper Supa says this Global Environment Facility-funded project deals with medium-term effects of climate change, especially on food security. "We are trying to address food security, which can affect the growth and health of our people. Our people need to eat a balanced diet and nutritional food, but with effects of rising sea level, food crops like taro in Ontong Java are dying. The coastal people depending on swamp taro and local ferns are losing their source of food due to the salinity of the swamp," Supa says Supa says food security for atoll islanders and coastal villagers in Solomon Islands is already declining. This is affecting the villagers' health and children's education, as some do not attend school due to lack of food for lunch. The declining food source also means islanders do not have a surplus to sell the village market, which is impacting everyone.. On the larger islands, the unsustainable rate of logging leads to more carbon emitted into the atmosphere. To reverse the 60% of government revenue from logging, I think the UN's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) initiative should be explored. At the moment, logging as the main income stream for Solomon Islands is causing division among landowners, and cultivating corrupt leaders who act without a thought for future generations. If it is too early to have a legally binding agreement at COP 16 next month, then the Solomon Islands, as a member of Association of Small Islands States (AOSIS) should discuss other alternatives to mitigate climate change at the Tarawa Climate Change Conferencein Kiribati next week. The REDD Plus initiative, if negotiated in Canún, should be embraced by the Solomon Islands as an alternative to its unsustainable logging industry. A major national issue for Solomon Islands is relocation of communities in its outer islands. Perhaps it should start devising plans and apply for funds as stipulated in the Copenhagen Accord 2009. But if Solomon Islands and the rest of the Pacific AOSIS members demand that global average temperature rises are limited to well below 1.5C; and that parties must reduce emissions by 45% below 1990 levels by 2020, and by 95% come 2050; then our future looks brighter. Solomon Islanders also want these demands to be complemented with adequate support for capacity building, technology transfer and a comprehensive, equitable and robust outcome. | ['global-development/poverty-matters', 'world/kiribati', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/sea-level', 'environment/oceans', 'tone/comment', 'global-development/global-development', 'global-development/series/voices-from-kiribati', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/priestley-habru'] | environment/sea-level | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2010-11-09T13:14:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2016/may/09/solar-bright-future-despite-uk-conservative-government | Solar has a bright future in the UK despite Tory efforts to cloud the picture | King Canute is alive and well in Britain. While solar energy has become a global success story over the past few years, with tumbling costs and exploding deployment, Britain, which was keen on the technology, has slammed on the brakes, casting a shadow over a sector which employed more than 30,000 people but is now shedding jobs by the thousand. The big picture on solar is, well, big. Last year $161bn (£111bn) was invested around the world, more than gas and coal combined. Europe will reach a 100GW peak of solar deployed this year, enough to supply about one-fifth of the European Union population with clean power. Britain experienced a surge and now has 10GW, with 800,000 homeowners enjoying the technology’s indisputable benefits. We now produce 25% of our electricity from renewables – 10% from solar, with the rest mainly wind power. This is more power than we get from coal, something unthinkable just a few years ago. Solar is jobs-intensive and many small and medium-sized firms have grown to meet the demand and build up skills they are now deploying around the world – a success story at every level. But the government ditched support for solar farms last year, worrying they might push some Tory voters in the shires into the arms of Ukip. Once rid of the renewables-friendly Liberal Democrats, the new Conservative government got out the wrecking ball. It also slashed support for roof-mounted solar, leading installation volumes to collapse by 80% so far this year. The only renewable left standing was offshore wind, although it is much more expensive than onshore wind or solar, and receives a lot of government largesse. I am a fan of all renewables, but the government justifies its slashing of support for onshore wind and solar due to the cost of “subsidies”, as it wrongly labels the feed-in tariff or renewables obligation – mechanisms which have driven huge cost reductions. Subsidies in the true sense keep prices high and industries inefficient. Remember the EU wine lakes and butter mountains. Think, too, of the huge price being offered to Hinkley Point C nuclear station for its power up until 2060. That’s a massive subsidy, as well as a burden on future generations, which will do nothing to bring costs down; quite the reverse. The energy secretary, Amber Rudd, says solar must stand on its own two feet. We in the industry agree and have all been merciless in bearing down on costs, which are down 80% over the past five years. But it is downright dishonest of the government to call for free markets without support but reserved solely for solar or onshore wind. The truth is that Britain is not a free market economy. It remains a corporatist economy run by big firms that love big solutions such as offshore wind farms (no SMEs there) or nuclear power stations. Conventional energy corporations, scared to death of the massive drop in the cost of solar, tell ministers that renewables can never be the solution. Pity the facts belie this nonsense, but the Tories have swallowed it. Solar is only a couple of years away from not needing any support at all, but still the government wants to prevent it even surviving that far. They are allocating £12m a year support for the next three years – only about 1.5% of the support available to other technologies under the so-called Levy Control Framework, the details of which the government scandalously refuses to reveal. The government is not the only problem. In 2013 the EU mandated a minimum price for Chinese solar panels. This has prevented costs falling rapidly in lockstep with incentives reductions and slashed margins. Moreover, wholesale electricity prices have tumbled along with oil prices and so solar plants can earn less from the power they sell. Britain’s electricity grid is a problem too. It is weak and has little capacity left for renewables to connect. Thus grid connections are scarce and expensive. Will solar survive in the UK? Well, storage technology is rapidly advancing and costs are falling. With the grid a mess, solar with storage will enable lots of warehouses and factories to be provided with clean power where and when they need it. The next couple of years will be tough, and deployment a fraction of recent levels. But fear not – the tough, innovative, solar industry will be around long after this Canute-like government has been and gone. •Ashley Seager is director of Sun4net Ltd and a former Guardian economics correspondent. | ['business/blog', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'type/article', 'tone/blog', 'tone/comment', 'profile/ashleyseager', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2016-05-09T12:02:11Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/mar/21/climate-week-activism-rbs | Is 'Climate Week' inspirational or hypocritical? | Damian Carrington | What to make of Climate Week, which began today? On the positive side, there are thousands of activities taking place around the UK, from an upcycling fashion event led by Elena Garcia to an interfaith gathering at Lambeth palace. A high-profile panel of judges are handing out awards for green achievements, with finalists including a waterless washing machine and a community water turbine. The aim, says Climate Week's chief executive Kevin Steele is to "showcase the solutions that will enable us to combat climate change ... and inspire action by many thousands of people during the other 51 weeks of the year." The launch, in the very grand Lancaster House and under the gaze of regal portraits, had a video message from the Prime Minister in which he repeated his "greenest government ever" pledge. Others who have lent their names range from Al Gore to Paul McCartney. Celebrating success is always vital in creating change and so on that level, Climate Week should be a good thing. But there is more to it than that. The event is bankrolled by corporate sponsors, led by Tesco, who were rewarded by the Prime Minister repeating their "Every little helps" slogan in the context of cutting carbon. Other lead sponsors include the Royal Bank of Scotland, EDF energy, Aviva and Kelloggs. A small group of protesters outside the event sang and danced about RBS's large fossil fuel investments. Kevin Smith, from Platform, told me: "We like Climate Week, we like climate action. But we think it is hypocritical to have RBS as a sponsor and possibly counter-productive in the long run." Inside, I met Andrew Harrison, RBS's managing director of energy and infrastructure. He said the change of direction the bank had taken after being bailed out by taxpayers meant that most of its investments were now in the UK, where the majority of energy opportunities are low-carbon. When I asked him about the large investments in, for example, tars sands in Canada, he said it was for governments to decide what was legal and what was not. That statement suggests a chilling ethical vacuum around investment choices, but would be understandable barring one thing: RBS says in the Climate Week brochure it "is committed to supporting the transition to a low carbon economy." Three of the four nominees for the Climate Week prize for Most Inspirational Young Person also objected to RBS's sponsorship. Ellie Hopkins, Niel Bowerman and Tom Youngman said: "As young people deeply concerned by climate change, we support the Climate Week initiative. However we believe Climate Week's choice of sponsors seriously undermines its aims. "In the case of RBS in particular, we feel that sponsoring this event without withdrawing their heavy investment in Alberta's massively damaging tar sands development is grossly hypocritical. Businesses must know that only lasting systemic change to their operations can earn them an image of sustainability. Mere endorsement is not enough." And there's the rub. Are the corporate sponsors getting cheap green publicity without taking real action and does that outweigh the benefits of the on-the-ground events? Talking of money, Climate Week is run for-profit and wouldn't tell me anything about their finances. One senior climate change figure I spoke to summed it up for me: "I'm not sure it will make a big difference, but let's give it the benefit of the doubt." Climate Week is intended to become an annual event. Without the controversial sponsors, would it be a good thing? | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/activism', 'environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2011-03-21T13:08:00Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
community/2017/dec/29/when-it-comes-to-clean-energy-the-uk-is-obsessed-with-the-past-your-best-comments-today | 'Drunk tanks only work if everyone is thoroughly checked out': your best comments today | Discussion today has focused on alcohol recovery units, plans to build a power hub on an artificial island, and talking openly about sex. To join in you can click on the links in the comments below to expand and add your thoughts. We’ll continue to highlight more comments worth reading as the day goes on. Britain’s need for ‘drunk tanks’ shows how broken our society is Readers have been joining the discussion under Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins’s article on what alcohol recovery units say about our society. ‘I could only agree to this new idea if I know for certain that everyone would be thoroughly checked out’ Many years ago I saw a young woman on Newcastle Central Station behaving strangely. All around were treating her as a drunk and having a go at her. I found a policemen and told him I thought she looked ill. He came with me, looked at her and called an ambulance. As they treated her I spoke to them and thanked them for coming and said I had just had a feeling she was really ill. They said I was right and that she had no alcohol in her and that she was very ill indeed and that they were settling her before taking her to hospital. She survived. I could only agree to this new idea if I know for certain that everyone would be thoroughly checked out. I hope this will be adhered to. Amadeus37 Is this the future? Dutch plan vast windfarm island in North Sea There are many comments under Adam Vaughan’s article on plans for an island to be built in an attempt to make offshore wind cheaper. ‘The UK is at present obsessed with the past’ Thank goodness some countries are looking to the future, it’s just a shame that the UK is at present obsessed with the past. Dogger clearly needs to be built together with two way HVDC (high-voltage direct current) links if possible so that electricity can not only flow from the island hub but through the hub from one county to another. That would make it possible, for example, for Norwegian hydro power to be distributed to other countries whenever the wind falls. TBombadil All aboard the Love Train: young, single New Zealanders on a romantic quest Readers have been sharing their experiences in response to the story of hundreds of young people journeying to a small rural town in the hope of meeting the love of their lives. ‘Met my partner on a jazz train. Thirty years later here we are’ Met my partner on a jazz train - Canberra to Michelago. Gourmet dinner wines and nicely lubricated going home. Love at ‘first sight’ for both of us. Two days later we met again and 30 years later here we are. I was lonely, loved good food and wine, he just enjoyed all the women falling all over him. A single man’s dream - a ratio of four women to one man. I didn’t join the scrum but poked fun at him. rosallas Julia Michaels: ‘If men can openly talk about sex, why can’t women?’ Discussion under this article has mainly been about sex and how talking openly about it is not limited to genders or sexualities. ‘We need to stop trying to be sexually ‘open’ for the simple reason that it’s not really possible’ Men don’t talk openly about sex. No one really talks openly about sex – no one – even when they think they’re talking openly about sex. In pop, sexuality and desire are performed as tropes, conventions, motifs - not authentically expressed. And we certainly don’t talk openly about sex in everyday life, no matter how liberated we think we are. To give an obvious example, if just after being introduced to you I asked: ‘So what sexual position do you prefer?’ you would either think I was mentally unwell or a sex pest. I would have contravened a rule. No doubt there are even conventions and codes of conduct at your average swingers party. Even there, there will be things you’re not allowed to say or do. We need to stop trying to be sexually ‘open’ for the simple reason that it’s not really possible, or even desirable. And it gets boring. Pinkie123 Comments have been edited for length. This article will be updated throughout the day with some of the most interesting ways readers have been participating across the site. | ['community/series/your-comments', 'society/alcohol', 'environment/windpower', 'lifeandstyle/relationships', 'lifeandstyle/sex', 'type/article', 'profile/guardian-readers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2017-12-29T16:09:31Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2020/dec/24/uk-weather-flood-alerts-in-england-and-wales-after-heavy-rain | Storm Bella to bring more heavy rain to UK on Boxing Day | Storm Bella is due to hit parts of the UK on Boxing Day after dozens of homes and businesses were flooded following heavy rain. An amber national severe weather warning has been issued in parts of south Wales and across southern England, as the Met Office said conditions across the UK would turn increasingly unsettled through to 27 December, with strengthening winds and heavy rain moving in from the north. A yellow warning for wind for the whole of England and Wales as well as the far south of Scotland has also been issued and will be in force from 3pm on Boxing Day. It came as homes and businesses were flooded and dozens of people were rescued from vehicles after heavy rain. On Thursday evening, Northamptonshire police said the emergency services were preparing to evacuate more than 1,000 people from the Billing Aquadrome holiday park in the county. The force said the heavy rain had caused flooding with water up to 1.5 metres (5ft) deep in places. Emergency accommodation was being sourced for the residents of about 500 caravans, some of whom showed signs of hypothermia. Earlier, the county’s fire and rescue service said it had responded to 250 incidents, deploying crews to pump out properties and stranded vehicles, including one person stuck on the roof of a car at Fotheringhay between Peterborough and Corby. Properties in East Anglia and Gloucester were among those affected by bad weather. Patrick Lloyd, 27, from Peterborough, told the PA Media news agency he woke up to find much of his home had been submerged, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. Lloyd said he had to help rescue his 86-year-old neighbour who had become trapped without power. She was taken to hospital after spending about 50 minutes in the “freezing” flood water. “Luckily a bloke driving by saw her and got out and helped us with her. We had to get the fire service out to get her on to a board and we lifted her out for an ambulance,” he said. “We were worried about hypothermia, she spent a night in hospital, no idea if she made it or not.” Bedfordshire fire and rescue said it had dealt with 60 emergency calls in 90 minutes, including three to people needing to be rescued from cars. In Cambridgeshire, the A14 between Thrapston and Brampton was still shut both ways on Thursday morning, with police urging drivers not to chance driving through flood waters. Milton Keynes council said its staff and Buckinghamshire firefighters had been helping people in Newport Pagnell, New Bradwell and also Stony Stratford, where the high street had flooded, describing surrounding river levels as “exceptionally high”. The BBC reported the south Wales fire and rescue service received 500 calls for help on Wednesday as the downpours hit many parts of the country. Northamptonshire fire and rescue service said it had handled more than 250 flood calls, with several properties inundated and a number of people rescued from their stranded vehicles. The Environment Agency (EA) had issued more than 90 flood warnings for England as of 5am on Thursday, including 16 warnings related to the River Severn on the Welsh border. Other areas covered by flood warnings included part of the Great River Ouse and the Chediston watercourse in Suffolk. Nine further flood warnings were issued by Natural Resources Wales. The Environment Agency also issued a further 149 flood alerts, which warn of possible flooding and urge preparedness. Nottinghamshire police said emergency services had been called to a report of a landslide near some homes near a former quarry at 11.40pm on Wednesday. The force said a “small number” of properties had been evacuated, and police, fire and ambulance services, along with Mansfield district council officials, were sent at the scene at Bank End Close in Mansfield to conduct safety assessments. According to a Natural Resources Wales gauge, 60.4mm of rain fell within 13 hours at the Trevethin reservoir in southern Wales on Wednesday. Almost 45mm of rain was also detected in Corby, Northamptonshire, in the same period, according to Environment Agency figures. The heavy rain caused disruption to travel, with many areas, including Cardiff, reporting surface water on the roads. Alex Burkill, a meteorologist for the Met Office told the PA Media news agency: “There’s been a lot of wet weather around, we’ve had a heavy rain across much of England and Wales, particularly southern parts of Wales but also further east. “Most places in England and Wales have been really wet and we’ve seen strengthening winds too, there have been some gales in exposed parts, so quite unpleasant really.” He said the rainfall would cease overnight into Christmas Eve. “The wet weather we’ve got over us at the moment that’s all going to clear away towards the south-east as we go through the night so for Christmas Eve we’re going to have lots of fine weather around, with lots of sunshine and a cold northerly flow.” | ['uk/weather', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sarah-marsh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-12-24T20:15:37Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2019/dec/27/volkswagen-to-hit-1m-electric-cars-milestone-two-years-early | Volkswagen to hit 1m electric cars milestone two years early | Volkswagen has accelerated its push into electric cars, as company forecasts suggest the world’s largest carmaker will produce its millionth battery electric vehicle two years earlier than previously planned. The core Volkswagen brand will have turned out 1m battery-only cars by the end of 2023 and will reach 1.5m by the end of 2025, the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer said on Friday. This year it produced more than 70,000 electric cars, and last year 50,000. Volkswagen, which produced 10.8m cars in 2018, said it had produced 250,000 electrified vehicles (including fossil fuel-driven hybrids) since 2013. Volkswagen and other carmakers are scrambling to increase the number of electric cars they make and sell in the EU. Limits coming into force from 1 January will heavily penalise carmakers with fines for excessive greenhouse gas output. The regulations aim to reduce average carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions from new cars sold in the EU to below 95g per km. The fallout from the Dieselgate scandal, in which VW engineers cheated emissions tests, has prompted the company to increase its focus on electric cars. The Volkswagen group will release eight electric or hybrid models in the next year across its brands, which include Audi, Seat and Skoda. It is pinning its hopes of mass-market sales on the Volkswagen ID.3, with its plant in Zwickau, east Germany, aiming to produce 330,000 vehicles a year by 2021. The ID.3 base model will cost less than €30,000 (£26,000) and be capable of travelling for between 205 and 340 miles on a single charge, depending on the model. Thomas Ulbrich, the Volkswagen brand board member responsible for electric cars, said: “2020 will be a key year for the transformation of Volkswagen. With the market launch of the ID.3 and other attractive models in the ID family, our electric offensive will also become visible on the roads.” While Volkswagen’s main market is the EU, it is also expected to face growing pressure in other markets as emissions standards gradually catch up. The mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, told the Financial Times on Friday that the city was considering forcing ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to use electric vehicles, in an effort to meet a target of zero net carbon emissions by 2050. | ['business/vw-volkswagen', 'environment/electric-cars', 'business/automotive-industry', 'business/business', 'world/germany', 'technology/motoring', 'world/world', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'technology/technology', 'world/europe-news', 'uk/uk', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jasper-jolly', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2019-12-27T17:00:12Z | true | EMISSIONS |
world/2018/sep/19/hurricane-florence-climate-change-deniers-north-carolina | 'It's hyped up': climate change skeptics in the path of Hurricane Florence | Scientists warn that human-induced climate change is responsible for an increase in the number and severity of storms – such as Hurricane Florence, which has engulfed the Carolinas in the last week. But many who weathered the tempest, deep in Trump country, don’t believe global warming fueled it and don’t think humans are the problem – or the solution. As the world’s oceans warm at a faster rate, hurricanes become more likely, and there has been an increase in storms since the start of the 20th century. Experts warn more numerous and even more ferocious hurricanes are on the way, and the US government is not addressing the central issue even as America’s coasts get battered and inland areas inundated. But based on the evidence in North Carolina on Wednesday, the random man and woman in the street is still not convinced about the science – even those who have faced two major storms in two years. “We live on the coast. It’s cyclical,” said Bob Slattery. “We may get two or three in a year, then go four or five years with nothing,” he added. Slattery, 74, and his wife Gerda, 73, were sitting in the pretty downtown area of Fayetteville on Wednesday. The couple live six miles south-west of Fayetteville and weren’t hit too badly by the storm, but much of the city was, as the Cape Fear river reached record flood levels, spilling over its banks into neighborhoods and roads. While miles of North Carolina is inundated, downtown Fayettevillehad been fortunate enough to avoid flooding this week, although locals said a wine bar roof had partly caved in. “There’s a group of people that want to control things, and they’re using climate change to control things, and they want to put a tax on things,” Bob Slattery said. There is scant evidence for a shady group using the concept of climate change to control and tax society – but it appears there is wider support for the theory in these parts. “That’s our opinion,” Gerda Slattery said. “And many other people I speak to think that, too,” Bob Slattery said. Florence hit North Carolina just two years after Hurricane Matthew blew through the state. Matthew set a slew of unwanted flooding records in October 2016 and at the time was described as a “once in a 500 year event”. But just 23 months later, Florence has shattered that prediction, surpassing Matthew’s flooding totals and in many places having a worse impact. Despite the proximity of the storms, and expert views, some believe the science is overblown and it’s no more than natural global rhythms. “It comes down to cyclical climate change,” said Matthew Coe. “I don’t think we play as big a factor in climate change as people say we do – when you think of the fact that the sea level rises naturally anyways.” Coe 37, originally from Florida, is studying for an associate’s degree, alongside working at a downtown Fayetteville cafe. He lost power for three days after Florence roared in. “Mother Nature is its own entity,” he said. “Whatever happens, it’ll fix itself eventually.” He pointed out that there had been fluctuations in the Earth’s temperature before, and predicted there could be another “ice age” which would correct the current trajectory of the climate. “I think everything is hyped up a bit,” he said. In his opinion, there are “scientists on both sides” of the climate change argument. There is actually a 97% expert consensus among climate scientists that humans are responsible for global warming, although Coe and the Slatterys are far from alone in their beliefs: a 2016 Pew Research Center study found that 51% of Americans do not believe global climate change is due to human activity. Donald Trump is among the 51% – or at least was in 2015. That year he wrote in his book Crippled America that climate change was not human-caused, although he did not explain the reasoning behind his belief. During the 2016 presidential election, he called it a Chinese hoax. On Wednesday he was in North Carolina and South Carolina, promising “100% support” to displaced residents and those with flooded neighborhoods and power outages, but not mentioning measures to deal with climate change, different impacts on rich and poor, or coastal over-development. Further along Hay Street, the thoroughfare through downtown Fayetteville, the retired air force member Andre Altman was sitting in the Huske Hardware House bar. “Ask Mother Nature,” said Altman, 57. He echoed Coe’s belief that Earth’s capricious matriarch could be responsible for climate change and the ensuing increase in the number and force of storms. “Really the Earth goes through cycles. So it’s just we’re on that particular cycle where we’re grabbing more storms,” Altman said. “Back in the industrial age we were burning coal and it didn’t get hotter then.” Despite his belief that climate change was mostly a natural phenomenon, Altman accepted some of the science that said man was also to blame. He recycles, he said, but believes his own actions are likely to have little impact. “I try to worry about what I can affect. If I could actually do something about it, I would,” Altman said. “But I’m not in politics.” | ['world/hurricane-florence', 'world/hurricanes', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-politics', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-gabbatt', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/hurricane-florence | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-09-20T05:00:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/nov/11/what-happened-at-cop26-day-11-at-a-glance | What happened at Cop26 – day 11 at a glance | The optimism around the US-Chinese deal announced on Wednesday to cut emissions was dampened by the UN secretary general António Guterres’s criticism of the lack of ambition at the summit. Guterres also called for an end to the trillions in subsidies given to the fossil fuel industry. A draft text agreement on the summit was criticised by the Cop president, Alok Sharma, as unsatisfying in its current form. A poll published this morning found fewer than one in five Britons think politicians will get the job done, with only 17% saying they trust UK policymakers. Pledges announced at Glasgow on methane, coal, transport and deforestation could nudge the world 9% closer to a pathway that keeps heating to 1.5C, according to a study by the world’s most respected climate analysis coalition, Climate Action Tracker. But it still leaves the world heading towards climate catastrophe. The Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate has been giving a voice to those on the frontline of the climate crisis. “We are drowning in promises. Promises will not stop the suffering of people. Only immediate and drastic action will pull us back from the abyss,” she said. Meanwhile, Australia’s former Cop negotiator has criticised his country as a climate problem nation in the ranks of Saudi Arabia and Russia. Richie Merzian said all Canberra had brought to Cop was “good coffee”. Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has been under pressure over Scotland’s failure to join a new alliance that aims to phase out fossil fuels, despite her rhetoric on climate justice and photographs with Greta Thunberg. The UK government has also decided not to join the alliance. Finally, with one day to go, scientists have been speaking of their optimism and anxiety at the progress being made at the conference. While warning that the speed of action was worrying, they believed world leaders were listening to the need to act. Fifteen years ago you had to be up in the Arctic or in a low-lying island to experience climate change. Today, wherever we live we are seeing the impacts and governments are responding. | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/glasgow', 'type/article', 'tone/explainers', 'profile/tom-levitt', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-11-11T20:13:48Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2023/may/06/country-diary-lambing-is-a-physical-business | Country diary: Lambing is a physical business | Andrea Meanwell | Spring has come at last to the Howgills, and new growth is bouncing out of every verge and tree. Each day there are new hedgerow blossoms and roadside flowers to observe. Today it is the turn of the cuckoo flower to appear, yesterday it was hawthorn blossom. The main business of the month, though, is lambing. I walk around our in-bye fields three times a day, clocking up thousands of steps and about 12 miles a day, according to my phone’s health app. I keep getting alerts that I’m “trending higher for 15 days”, though my whole body knows this already. Lambing is a physical business. This morning there are two sprightly lambs to catch and reunite with their mother – they have somehow got on to the wrong side of a fence. They bleat for my attention, then dash off when I try to catch them. I put the head of my shepherd’s crook close to the floor and they run into it. Then I lean over the fence and lift them up and back to their mother. Just one of the hundreds of issues that I will encounter during the day. As I walk, I collect up the remains of last week’s storm. There was a night of wind and rain, and I went round the day before and put plastic lamb macs on all the newborn lambs. For a farm trying to reduce its use of plastic this was not ideal, but the macs showed their worth: no casualties overnight. They degrade over time, but as the lambs burst out of them after a couple of days (as they grow so fast), I still prefer to stash them in my pocket and recycle them rather than leave them blowing around the fields. In the far meadow there is a young yow struggling to lamb. I catch her foot in the shepherd’s crook and gently tip her over. One leg of the lamb is back, but half a minute later, with a quick pull and a rush of fluids, the lamb slides out on to my leg. He shakes his head and splutters. The yow begins to clean him, chuntering softly and contentedly. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/farm-animals', 'environment/farming', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/cumbria', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/andrea-meanwell', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-05-06T04:30:41Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk-news/2022/apr/29/eden-project-cornwall-installs-plastic-grass-to-stop-children-getting-muddy | Eden Project installs plastic grass to stop children getting muddy | The Eden Project in Cornwall has installed plastic grass in a children’s play area to stop them getting muddy. The garden is one of a number of organisations and public bodies laying artificial turf in what environmental campaigners say is an epidemic of plastic being laid across the UK. There was a surge in interest across the UK in buying artificial grass during lockdown, according to data on Google Trends. The growing fashion of installing plastic in place of natural lawns comes as artificial grass retailers are making increasingly loud environmental claims about their products. The latest development is artificial grass known as “air”, which manufacturers say is capable of purifying air pollution by oxidising organic components and malodours at a molecular level. Campaigners describe this as greenwash, and point out that natural grass already “cleans the air” via photosynthesis, absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. Grass also provides habitats for insects and worms, attracts birds that feed on invertebrates, and helps rainwater drain away. Richard Dowling, a campaigner, said the speed and scale at which natural gardens were being removed and replaced with plastic, was “a disaster” unfolding. “This is something that is rapidly taking over, and we need to treat it as a disaster now. If we lose all our gardens, our wildlife – which is already being pushed out by intensive agriculture and pesticides – will have nowhere to go.” The UK has lost more of natural biodiversity since the industrial revolution than almost anywhere in Europe, a study by scientists at London’s Natural History Museum found. Dowling has launched a petition to introduce an ecological damage tax on artificial grass. Carlisle city council – which says in its mission statement on climate change it wants to play a full role in protecting the environment, was recently criticised for spending £50,000 on a pop-up park that used artificial grass. Somerset county council laid plastic grass on a roundabout and then sent an official to cut it with a strimmer. The Eden Project confirmed it had used plastic grass in a children’s play area. Its mission statement says it is dedicated to improving collective understanding of the connections between all living things … fresh air, clean water, fertile soil, rich biodiversity.” A spokesperson said: “To ensure the safety of the children enjoying this temporary play area, we took the decision to use durable and soft artificial grass that will be reused many times over. Real grass, in this context, would become mud within a few hours and therefore would not have been sustainable.” Research shows that plastic grass – which is most often made from a mix of plastics – polypropylene, polyurethane and polyethylene – increases the heat in areas where it is used. When it breaks down it can release microplastics into the environment, which are thought to be harmful to humans. There is little data on the carbon footprint of artificial grass, most of which is manufactured in China and Vietnam and shipped to the UK. “It is a fossil fuel product,” said Charlotte Howard, a gardener from Wiltshire campaigning for natural gardens. Howard says the boom in fake grass is being turbo-charged by social media influencers such as Mrs Hinch. Howard specialises in helping families in new-build homes whose gardens have poor soil as a result of developers stripping off and selling the top soil, leaving the garden with poor soil and no drainage. “When I have gone in to remove artificial lawns the mess is horrendous. They often stink, and when you lift up the plastic grass you find a sea of dead worms,” she said. Howard said despite the claims of manufacturers, artificial lawns were not maintenance-free. Pet faeces have to be scraped off, the grass pile has to be swept, weeds creep through, pet urine causes bad smells, and the plastic eventually breaks down, she said. Dr Robert Francis, an ecologist at King’s College London, is researching the ecological impact of plastic grass. “Artificial lawns meet the cultural requirements of ‘good’ lawns”, he wrote. “Yet they do so at the expense of any remaining ‘naturalness’ and embodiment of life.” He said his research had found artificial grass can increase urban flood risk because rainfall cannot drain away into the soil, leaving more of it to run off. The Association of Artificial Grass Installers did not respond to requests for comment. | ['uk/eden-project', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/environmentnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-04-29T09:24:02Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
film/2023/mar/25/streaming-the-best-farming-films-alcarras | Streaming: the best farming films | We’re officially into spring now, a time when even lifelong city-dwellers like me start entertaining bucolic thoughts. Pleasing as it is to see daffodils blooming in a London park, the seasonal rewards of new life and renewed warmth are always best illustrated in a farming environment. Which isn’t to over-romanticise the farming world: Spanish director Carla Simón’s lovely Alcarràs (2022; now streaming on Mubi and coming to DVD on Monday) certainly doesn’t. Earthy and angry, this portrait of a Catalan peach-farming family being forced off the land they’ve held for generations captures the occasional, elemental rewards of agricultural life, but also its punishing grind – and thus fits into a rich tradition of films where the dramatic stakes, tensions and catharses all derive from the unpredictability of living off the land. French director Jean Renoir travelled to America to make one of the great examples of the form in his 1945 film The Southerner (free on Plex), in which a Texan cotton-picker sets out to establish his own cotton farm with little more than seed in his pocket. It’s an American dream story that Renoir nonetheless de-sentimentalises with a tactile sense of soil and struggle. It would pair well, in fact, with a more recent tale of forging a future from nothing in US farm country. Drawing inspiration from Willa Cather’s rural immigrant saga My Ántonia, Lee Isaac Chung’s wistful Minari (2021) doubles down on the American dream theme by focusing on a family of South Korean immigrants, but doesn’t offer them a simple, rosy path to self-realisation. Both films are positively idyllic, of course, next to John Ford’s sinewy, sorrowful adaptation of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940), a Depression-era study of sharecroppers turned migrant workers that doesn’t stint on the novel’s visceral sense of struggle – and works toward the most conditional of happy endings as its beleaguered hero’s eyes open to the cause of workers’ rights. Foreclosures and flooding are the obstacles impeding a Tennessee farming family in the underrated, pleasingly classical 1984 saga The River, which presents their plight as equal parts tragedy and adventure – increasingly closing in on the doughty farm wife (a fine Sissy Spacek, oddly paired with Mel Gibson) holding everything together. Drifting far from the states, Filipino director Lav Diaz made one of the essential modern farming epics with his gargantuan, experimental 2005 film Evolution of a Filipino Family (Mubi). Filmed over the course of a decade, it charts the variable rise, fall and rise of an impoverished farming family, mapping their fortunes against that of the Philippines at large. It clocks in at a whopping 10-plus hours too: you may prefer to treat it as a miniseries. It has hybrid documentary elements, though if you’re after pure nonfiction in your farm films, look to the gutsy, stoically moving family survival study Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern – a big Sundance winner in the mid-90s – or Andrea Arnold’s recent Cow (free on BBC iPlayer), an uncompromising bovine-eye view of the dairy farming industry. Not that all such films (farmadramas, if you will) have to be downbeat. The irresistible talking-animal fable Babe (1995) remains cinema’s great example (in the continued absence of a good Charlotte’s Web adaptation) of a farm setting as a playground for childhood whimsy. The wordless, deadpan slapstick of Aardman’s glorious Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) takes that to a sillier place still. For adults, farm life serves as a mere cosy backdrop to the daffy, horny entanglements of English eccentrics in John Schlesinger’s manic 1995 film version of Stella Gibbons’s Cold Comfort Farm (free on ITVX), while Francis Lee’s Yorkshire sheep-farmer romance God’s Own Country (2017) serves up substantially more realism in its portrayal of windswept life on the moors, but doesn’t let weather or hardship get in the way of a heart-swelling happy ending. All titles are available to rent on multiple platforms unless otherwise specified Also new on streaming and DVD Saint Omer (Mubi) Alice Diop’s enthralling first foray into fiction film-making – albeit conscientiously inspired by real events – substantially rethinks the conventional rules and perspectives of the courtroom drama genre. Unpacking the racial and cultural biases at play in the case of a French-Senegalese woman on trial for killing her infant child, it forgoes speechifying and grandstanding for more complicit, empathic conceptions of justice and guilt. No Bears (Picturehouse) Embattled Iranian director Jafar Panahi made and premiered this dense, complex fusion of tangled relationship study, rageful cry against the Iranian authorities and metafictional interrogation of his own film-making process before his recent hunger strike and subsequent release from prison, but it plays all the more powerfully in the wake of those events. Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (Indicator) A glossy, limited edition Blu-ray release for this delightful, nimble-witted marital farce from 1938. Its trifling tale of an oft-married playboy’s latest trophy wife scheming to stick around is directed by Ernst Lubitsch and co-written by Billy Wilder with equal vim and zip, while Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper’s chemistry keeps it all airily afloat. | ['film/drama', 'film/series/streaming-and-dvds', 'film/film', 'culture/culture', 'film/world-cinema', 'environment/farming', 'type/article', 'profile/guylodge', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/new-review', 'theobserver/new-review/critics', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-new-review'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-03-25T08:00:45Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2021/dec/10/octopus-energy-raises-long-term-investment-to-value-startup-at-5bn | Octopus Energy raises long-term investment to value startup at $5bn | Octopus Energy has raised $300m of investment to value the power supplier at $5bn – despite soaring energy prices that have triggered a wave of collapses among its rivals. The long-term tie-up with Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board is the second big investment in Octopus Energy since the start of the energy crisis during which dozens of smaller supply rivals have folded. More than 20 UK energy companies have gone bust in a little over 12 weeks after a record rise in energy market prices, including the biggest, Bulb Energy, which was unable to raise funds from investors to keep supplying its 1.7 million customers. The latest equity investment in Octopus backs its founder Greg Jackson’s plan to bring a “digital revolution” to the energy industry, and will help fund the company’s global expansion target of reaching 100 million worldwide customers. The energy startup has reached the $5bn mark a little over 18 months after it first reached “unicorn status” with a $1bn valuation in spring 2020, and five years after it was founded in 2016. Deborah Orida, the global head of real assets at CPP Investments, described the deal as “a perfect example of how investors can work with leading tech-enabled energy companies to digitally disrupt the global energy system and support the evolution to a low-carbon world”. It comes three months after Octopus secured up to $600m (£438m) from an investment fund set up by the former US vice-president Al Gore in September, which valued the company at approximately $4.6bn, to build on the growth driven by its green energy platform. The in-house technology platform, known as Kraken, uses machine learning to manage energy supply and electricity generation data digitally, which helps to unlock a low-cost and efficient use of renewable energy sources. Octopus uses the technology to supply 3 million UK households with energy – as well as customers in Germany, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Japan and the US – and has licensed the technology to other energy companies including E.ON UK, Good Energy, EDF, Hanwha and Origin Energy. In total Kraken is used to supply 25m customer accounts and manage 3GW of electricity generation. Octopus plans to use Kraken to reach 100 million customers by 2027. Octopus Energy, which is owned by Octopus Group, also took its first steps into renewable energy generation this year by buying its sister company Octopus Renewables in a move that will hand the startup a portfolio of about 300 renewable energy projects, across six different countries, or enough to power more than 1.2m homes. Greg Jackson, Octopus Energy’s founder and chief executive, said CPP’s investment will help to drive further innovation and “accelerate investment into the renewable energy revolution” which is “vital to delivering governments’ net zero goals”. | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-economy', 'uk/uk', 'world/canada', 'business/utilities', 'type/article', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2021-12-10T11:12:57Z | true | ENERGY |
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