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environment/2012/jan/12/green-energy-investment-increases | Green energy investment soars to $260bn | Global investment in clean energy reached a new high of $260bn (£169bn) last year – despite the financial crisis and the anti-environment agenda of Republicans in the US Congress, a United Nations investors' summit was told on Thursday. Data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which tracks clean energy investment, showed a 5% increase compared with 2010, driven largely by a surge of money going to the solar industry. Investment in solar power rose 36% last year to $136.6bn. And while the US domestic political scene was riven by the furore over a $535m government loan to the now bankrupt solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra, there was apparently little immediate direct fallout for industry. The US made $56bn in clean energy investment last year, overtaking China, which invested $47.4bn. It is the first time since 2008 that the US has invested more. The surge reflected the phasing out of Barack Obama's economic recovery plan, which set aside as much as $80bn for the green economy, once investment in high-speed railways is factored in. "The stimulus went out with a bang," said Ethan Zindler, head of policy analysis for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The analysis was presented to 500 global investors meeting at the UN to try to mobilise the large-scale funds needed to address climate change. The $260bn figure includes investment in renewables, biofuels and smart technologies. It does not include natural gas, nuclear energy or clean coal. The summit, organised by the Ceres sustainable business group, was also aimed at giving momentum to the Rio sustainability summit, to be held in June. A separate analysis by Deutsche Bank's climate change advisors' group, which used a narrower definition of global investment in clean energy and energy efficiency, found an even more striking rise to $140bn in the first nine months of last year from $103bn over the equivalent period in 2010. Kevin Parker, global head of Deutsche Asset Management, said: "Investors really have no excuse any longer for dealing with climate risk because it's going mainstream." But there were also big losers in the clean energy world last year. Investment in wind fell 17% to $74.9bn. Meanwhile, manufacturers of wind turbines and solar panels are being squeezed by a drop in the price of raw materials and oversupply. The same pressures led to the downfall of Solyndra, which collapsed after receiving half a billion dollars under Barack Obama's recovery plan. Republicans used the company's collapse to try to discredit Obama's entire clean energy agenda. But while those at the meeting dismissed the Republican charges as "smoke and mirrors", they acknowledged the difficulties for clean energy manufacturing. In an another such example, Vesta Wind Systems, the world's biggest turbine maker, said on Thursday that it was halting production at one factory and cutting 2,335 jobs, or about 10% of its staff, to try to compete with Chinese manufacturers. The company said another 1,600 jobs in the US were at risk as tax credits supporting the industry expire at the year's end. That phasing out of economic recovery plans around the world could also affect prospects for 2012, Zindler said. "Most of those dollars have now been spent," he said. "What that means is that next year industry will have to be more competitive and more cost-effective without government support." But he said the "vast majority" of the $260bn figure was private funds. And – despite the political climate — there remained growing demand in America for renewable power, with 29 states in the US requiring utilities to generate a share of their electricity form wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. Analysts believe those mandates will create a demand for as much as $400bn in new construction of renewable power plants – a process under way despite the harsh Republican rhetoric against the shift to clean energy. "This is about building stuff. This is about infrastructure," said one analyst. There is also strong interest in clean energy from developing countries, with emerging economies such as India and Brazil needing more power. "They need more power generation and they don't necessarily want that to be coal," said Zindler. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2012-01-12T20:10:00Z | true | ENERGY |
media/2022/dec/27/piers-morgan-twitter-account-hacked-say-reports | Piers Morgan’s Twitter account abuses queen and Ed Sheeran in apparent hack | Piers Morgan’s Twitter account has been wiped of much of its content, amid reports it was hacked. The former Good Morning Britain (GMB) presenter, 57, who has 8.3 million followers on the social media site, had no profile picture, banner image or posts on Tuesday afternoon. Some tweets containing still and video images remained, as did records of tweets his account had liked. According to reports, his account shared posts overnight containing false information, racial slurs and abusive messages directed at the late Queen Elizabeth II and the singer Ed Sheeran. It comes after the account of the UK education secretary, Gillian Keegan, appeared to be hacked on Christmas Day. Her account replied to several tweets with links to websites advertising cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The tweets on Keegan’s account began appearing shortly before 7.30pm on Christmas Day, and were sent throughout the evening into the early hours on Boxing Day. Last month the Commons speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, wrote to MPs advising them to ramp up security on their mobile phones with multi-factor verification, as well as update software and delete old messages. The warning came after Liz Truss’s phone was reportedly hacked by Russians in the summer when she was foreign secretary and frontrunner in the Tory leadership race. Morgan’s Instagram account appeared to be operating normally. The presenter, who recently joined TalkTV as the host of its Uncensored show after quitting GMB, has not publicly addressed the apparent hack. Earlier this month, the Metropolitan police said no further action would be taken against a man suspected of sending death threats to Morgan and his family online. On Twitter, Morgan complained there was a “big problem with how big tech operates its safety procedures”. A spokesperson for TalkTV declined to comment. Neither Morgan nor Twitter have responded to requests for comment. | ['media/piersmorgan', 'technology/twitter', 'technology/hacking', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/morning-briefing', 'media/media', 'technology/technology', 'media/social-media', 'music/ed-sheeran', 'uk/queen', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-12-27T17:35:19Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
travel/2005/sep/04/hurricanekatrina.usnews.travelnews | Travel news: Mississippi tourism counts cost of Katrina | Mississippi's Gulf Coast has been designated a no-go zone for tourists following the devastation wreaked last week by Hurricane Katrina, which killed hundreds and left the cities of Biloxi and New Orleans under water. High temperatures mean it is low season for tourists in Mississippi, and at the time of going to press it was thought there were few British tourists in the area when the hurricane struck. Those there were evacuated via Atlanta airport. 'We had just seven guests in New Orleans. They were moved to LA and Miami just before it hit,' said a spokeswoman for Virgin Holidays. The disaster comes as the state tourist board was planning a publicity push to persuade British visitors to consider the area. Now officials say it could be up to a year before international visitors return. 'We were trying to promote the coast and its proximity to New Orleans,' said David Nicholson, the UK director of Mississippi Tourism. 'What was an enormously thrilling tourist destination has been wiped out overnight. At the moment the coast is completely and utterly devastated. But if there's anything positive to come out of this, it's that at least now people will know where it is.' The process of rebuilding may have been easier if it wasn't for an old state law dictating that gambling in Mississippi is only legal when conducted over water. All gambling spaces were constructed as pontoons, over the sea. 'They were supposed to have been built to withstand force five hurricanes but they didn't plan for the fact that they would simply be picked up and dropped by the winds,' said Nicholson. A 30-foot wave wiped out 90 per cent of buildings on New Orleans's east coast, including a new Hard Rock Casino and Cafe that was due to open next week after two years in construction. Inland, the rest of Mississippi is operating as normal, but there are so many evacuees from the affected areas that hotels throughout the state are booked solid. It may be months before people can return to the cities and years before they are fully functional again. Those planning to visit the area are being told to cancel and re-book elsewhere or postpone their holiday. Tour operators have cancelled departures in the short term and are offering alternatives, with a plan to review the situation week by week. | ['us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/us-news', 'travel/travel', 'tone/news', 'us-news/mississippi', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/gemmabowes', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/escape', 'theobserver/escape/features'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-04T17:22:32Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2017/may/15/diesel-emissions-test-scandal-causes-38000-early-deaths-year-study | 38,000 people a year die early because of diesel emissions testing failures | The global human health impact of the diesel emissions scandal has been revealed by new research showing a minimum of 38,000 people a year die early due to the failure of diesel vehicles to meet official limits in real driving conditions. Researchers have created the first global inventory of the emissions pumped out by cars and trucks on the road, over and above the legal limits which are monitored by lab-based tests. Virtually all diesel cars produce far more toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) than regulations intend and these excess emissions amounted to 4.6m tonnes in 2015, the team found. This led to at least 38,000 premature deaths due to heart and lung disease and strokes. Most of the deaths are in Europe, where highly polluting cars are the main culprit, and in China and India, where dirty trucks cause most of the damage. The work also shows that, even if diesel cars did meet emissions limits, there would still be 70,000 early deaths per year. Excess NOx emissions are rising, the researchers found, and strict pollution controls need to be put in place to avoid the death toll rising to 174,000 in 2040. “The consequences of excess diesel NOx emissions for public health are striking,” said Susan Anenberg of Environmental Health Analytics in the US and one of the team that did the research, published in the scientific journal Nature. “Manufacturers know how to make their cars clean and they are actively choosing not to,” said Ray Minjares, at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) in the US, also part of the research team. “The question for the public is: are we comfortable with that situation? Why are manufacturers who sell vehicles in Europe choosing to provide Europe with dirtier versions of the cars they sell in the US?” The researchers only estimated the early deaths attributable to NOx as a result of it forming tiny particles and ozone, a link that is well understood. It did not account for the direct harm of NOx on health, which is currently harder to estimate, meaning the true number of early deaths could be much higher. “This rigorous study highlights the serious consequences which have resulted directly from the irresponsible actions of the motor manufacturers,” said Prof Roy Harrison, an environmental health expert at the University of Birmingham in the UK. “It may well underestimate the full consequences for public health.” Harrison said his research suggests that the premature deaths from NOx could be 10 times higher than those from exhaust emissions of particles. Legal action has forced the UK government to produce new plans to tackle the public health crisis caused by NOx, but it has been dismissed as “weak” and “woefully inadequate”. The new research covers 80% of the world diesel market, including Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico and Russia. But some of the countries not included have no emissions standards at all, which is again likely to mean the true number of early deaths is higher. “This important study shows that there is a measurable effect on deaths from ‘excess NOx’ owing to the extremely flawed EU emissions tests for diesel cars,” said Prof Jonathan Grigg, an expert in child respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary University of London and a member of the Doctors against Diesel campaign group. “It demonstrates that removing the current highly polluting diesel fleet from UK roads is an urgent public health issue.” The diesel emissions scandal erupted when Volkswagen was exposed as having installed “cheat devices” in their cars, a revelation in which the ICCT played a major role. But all manufacturers have produced vehicles that are far more polluting on the road than in official lab tests. “To varying degrees, all automakers are effectively utilising techniques and strategies to disable or turn off vehicle emissions control systems that they have installed on the vehicles,” Minjares said. “We show in the study that this is a problem across the fleet and it is a problem that is global.” Minjares said two-thirds of all diesel vehicles, wherever sold, follow EU standards: “So to the extent that Europe gets its vehicle emissions standards wrong, which it has continued to do [for cars], the rest of the world gets it wrong as well.” The researchers point out that some new cars and trucks do meet emissions limits when on the road: “Recent tests indicate that real-world NOx emissions in line with certification limits are technically achievable.” A spokeswoman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which represents carmakers in the UK, said: “Industry is committed to improving air quality and is investing billions in new technology to reduce emissions. The biggest change to air quality will be achieved by encouraging the uptake of the latest, lowest emission technologies and ensuring road transport can move smoothly.” Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: “This landmark study is a huge wake-up call for governments globally. There’s no doubting this is an international health crisis. The most vulnerable – children, the elderly and people living with a lung condition – need decisive action now.” “These unnecessary deaths are being caused by carmakers abusing emissions rules whilst regulators turn a blind eye,” said Julia Poliscanova at the campaign group Transport and Environment. She said carmakers should be required to recall and fix their polluting diesel cars. In March, researchers from MIT in the US estimated that the excess emissions from VW’s vehicles alone led to 1,200 early deaths in Europe between 2008 and 2015. New road-based tests are being introduced by the EU but emissions of more than double the official limit will still be allowed for a period as the industry adapts. | ['environment/pollution', 'technology/motoring', 'business/vw-volkswagen', 'business/automotive-industry', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'society/health', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-05-15T15:00:01Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2022/jul/20/nutting-it-out-why-queenslanders-arent-letting-native-macadamias-go-without-a-fight | Nutting it out: why Queenslanders aren’t letting native macadamias go without a fight | In one corner of a nursery located just outside Bundaberg, 57 macadamia saplings propagated from wild cuttings may hold the key to the long-term survival of this threatened species. The general manager of Macadamias Australia’s orchard, John Vaughan, is waiting for warmer weather before planting the saplings on two hectares set aside by the family-run producer for a planned “insurance population” of 640 wild-sourced trees. “The previous dry years have made suitable genetic material very limited as wild trees have not flushed and produced new wood suitable for using to strike cuttings,” Vaughan says. Macadamias originated in Australia, before being exported to Hawaii, but the four native species are under increasing pressure to survive, prompting concerted efforts to maintain them. Members of the Macadamia Conservation Trust are, with permission, collecting genetic material from national parks and other sites, and handing over the fledgling trees to Macadamias Australia for safekeeping. A mix of all four species of macadamia is represented in the collection, including the most vulnerable, the Macadamia jansenii, which is as rare as Australia’s Wollemi Pine. Only 200 individual Macadamia jansenii trees remain in the wild, all in the Bulburin national park to the north-east of Bundaberg. Disaster almost struck four years ago, when bushfires came within 10km. The arboretum is just one of several emerging projects designed to preserve the living gene bank that exists within the last remaining wild trees. Although the global macadamia industry is big business, worth an estimated $1.94bn in 2020, the founder of the Macadamia Conservation Trust, Ian McConachie, says most commercial plantations have a limited genetic base. About 80% of all macadamia trees grown throughout the world are varieties developed in Hawaii. “(These) came from one or one cluster of a population of macadamias in Australia,” McConachie says. Limited genetic diversity makes the trees vulnerable to disease, pests, natural disasters and global heating. Executive officer of the Macadamia Conservation Trust, Denise Bond, says 90% of Australians wrongly believe macadamias come from Hawaii, but the world’s most expensive nut actually originated in the rainforests of Australia’s east coast. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Due to scattered distribution, habitat loss and other negative effects, all four species are listed as threatened under Queensland, New South Wales and commonwealth legislation, with about 90% of wild macadamia trees lost since European settlement. “There are lots of macadamia orchards around the world and this lulls people into a false sense of security, because wild macadamias need looking after,” Bond says. On Wednesday the Macadamia Conservation Trust is launching another weapon in its fight to build public awareness about the need to preserve wild macadamia populations. Developed in collaboration with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service over a four-year period, the Walk with Wild Macadamias offers a signposted tour through a portion of Amamoor State Forest in the Mary Valley, one of the most important habitats for wild macadamias. Two of the four species of macadamia grow in the Gympie, Noosa and Sunshine Coast regions. Up to 75% of the edible Bauple or Queensland nut – Macadamia integrifolia – trees on the Macadamia Conservation Trust database grow at Amamoor, while the smaller and bitter Gympie or Maroochy nut, Macadamia ternifolia, grows to the south and east. The self-guided walk, located near a picnic area on Amamoor Creek, is designed to be short and accessible, stretching for just 540 metres. Because macadamias’ glossy leaves blend into the rainforest background, they can be difficult to spot in the wild, so QPWS rangers have identified and signposted a number of wild trees along the track. “Interpretive signs explain how to identify macadamias, showcase some macadamia trees and challenge the visitor to find more,” Bond says. Ongoing research is also seeking to unravel the secrets behind the macadamia genome, with Queensland scientists publishing the genome sequence for Macadamia jansenii late last year. According to Robert Henry, a professor of innovation in agriculture at the University of Queensland, a better understanding of macadamias’ genetic code may pave the way towards varieties with greater disease resistance, lower oil content and other favourable properties. The Macadamia Conservation Trust is also engaged in a project to use carbon-dating technology to find out how long macadamias trees can live for. Greater understanding of the natural distribution of macadamias and their physiology will further aid conservation planning, Bond says. | ['australia-news/queensland', 'environment/farming', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/denise-cullen', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-07-19T17:30:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2019/oct/25/why-angus-taylors-statement-on-the-council-documents-doesnt-clear-up-anything | Why Angus Taylor's statement on the council documents doesn't clear up anything | Angus Taylor’s office has left major questions unanswered in its latest attempt to explain allegations it relied on a forged document and false figures for a political attack on the Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore. Taylor has spent the week embroiled in allegations his office used a false document with grossly inflated figures about the City of Sydney’s travel expenses to attack the council for driving up emissions while claiming to take a stand on climate change. Taylor accused the council of spending “$1.7m on international travel and $14.2m on domestic travel” for councillors. The true figures were $1,727.77 on international travel and $4,206.32 on domestic travel. The figures in question are contained in an annual report on the council’s website. That annual report is available for download in PDF and Word form online. What has Taylor’s response been until this point? Taylor is claiming that his office got the false figures by downloading a version of the annual report from the council’s website last month. This has been hotly disputed by the council, which says the documents have remained unchanged since they were uploaded in November last year with the accurate figures. It has provided metadata and screenshots of the system used to manage its website to corroborate this. What did Taylor say on Friday? Under significant pressure, Taylor issued a statement on Friday afternoon saying he had evidence that suggestions his office doctored the document were “outrageous” and without basis. He said he had “clear evidence” that, contrary to the council’s claims, different versions of the report have existed at various times on its website. To back this up, Taylor’s office produced comparisons between the PDF and Word versions of the annual report as they currently exist on the website. He pointed to minor formatting differences – mainly different line spacing – between the Word and PDF versions. Effectively, he is saying there must have been multiple versions of the document uploaded to the website by council because the PDF and Word versions currently online are slightly different. If multiple versions have existed on the website, it leaves open the possibility that his office downloaded some past version of the document containing the false figures. Taylor’s office has left it up to the council to explain what versions existed on its website and when. “Clearly, given the document and its various drafts and versions, are on the servers of the City of Sydney, only they can prove which documents have existed, and may still currently exist.” The council has already said the PDF and Word versions have been the same – completely unchanged – since November last year. What are the problems with the latest response? The evidence muddies the waters but is likely to do little to resolve the matter. At its most basic, all it shows is there are minor formatting differences between the PDF version and the Word version of the annual report as they currently exist on the council’s website. This doesn’t necessarily mean the council has uploaded multiple versions of the document to its website. The formatting differences could be explained by the different versions of Word software used to access the documents. Accessing Word documents using Mac, compared to a PC, can create minor formatting differences. The City of Sydney also says this in its statement: “Difference in formatting occur as a consequence of file export and operating system used to open the documents.” The formatting differences also could have existed in November 2018, when the documents were first uploaded, which would negate the suggestion that the council has been uploading different versions of the report to its website. What didn’t Taylor’s office say? Taylor’s office has not produced direct evidence that he ever downloaded a document with the false figures in it from the council’s website. He has asserted that his office accessed the website on 9 September. The Daily Telegraph says Taylor’s office previously told the paper that it accessed the site on 6 September. But the office has provided neither metadata nor other records to show the document was downloaded on that date. Further, no evidence has been provided that the document ever existed on the council’s website in a form that contained the false figures. Taylor’s office has still not provided evidence to show when and how the document was accessed on the council’s website. | ['australia-news/angus-taylor', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/sydney', 'australia-news/clover-moore', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/liberal-party', 'australia-news/coalition', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/explainers', 'profile/christopher-knaus', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2019-10-25T09:01:37Z | true | EMISSIONS |
sport/2023/oct/13/alchemist-gatland-aiming-to-concoct-more-wales-magic-against-argentina | Alchemist Gatland aiming to concoct more Wales magic against Argentina | In the furnace of sudden-death World Cup games Wales can usually be relied upon to glow red hot. Give them a clear objective and, under Warren Gatland, they have a track record of reacting positively while other teams shrink and melt. If his side can reach a third World Cup semi-final in four tournaments, Gatland’s reputation as a rugby alchemist will be further enhanced. Strength of mind and body are often the key in games such as Saturday’s showdown against Argentina and Wales, who have made more tackles than any other team in France, also believe they have forged a potent team spirit to complement it. There have been few more upbeat squads out here and the side’s tight-knit, all-for-one mentality suits the most intense occasions. It is all a far cry from the chaos that surrounded Welsh rugby at the start of the year, from threatened player strikes to the regions’ financial problems. Gatland says the coaches used to joke among themselves about what else could possibly be thrown at them. Small wonder he made clear this week “it would be a huge achievement” if his side were to make the last four again. To emulate – or even surpass – the brave campaigns of 2011 and 2019, however, they first have to overcome a Pumas side whose passion also shines through when everything is at stake. Argentina cannot possibly play as badly as they did last month against a 14-man England, when they dropped almost everything and became increasingly panic-stricken, and there were glimpses of far greater attacking fluency against Japan last Sunday. The high-speed rivalry between the wings Mateo Carreras and Louis Rees-Zammit is just one of several tasty match-ups, with the latter openly keen – “I would say it is pretty realistic at the moment” – to finish as the tournament’s highest try-scorer. Before they can be unleashed, though, the battle of the breakdown will need to be won if either side want to control their own destiny. Wales have gone for the specialist threat of Tommy Reffell alongside the captain, Jac Morgan, as they look to counter the jackalling ability of Reffell’s Leicester teammate Julián Montoya. The set piece will also be vital, with 12 of Wales’s 17 tries to date having originated from either lineouts or scrums. The injured Taulupe Faletau will be conspicuous by his absence but the same applies to Pablo Matera in the Pumas’ back row. Gatland, though, does have Dan Biggar back from a pectoral muscle injury and this kind of contest is absolutely made for the ever-competitive Welsh No 10. Gatland has also deliberately kept training short and sharp this week, having worked his players a little harder prior to the Georgia game. “As a group of coaches, we don’t over-coach this week. We purposely had a heavier week last week … we knew we were in the quarter-finals, so it was a bit of a top-up week.” Ever since his days in charge of Wasps two decades ago, Gatland’s teams have had a knack of peaking when it matters. Which is why the head coach insists Wales are not just here to make up the knockout-stage numbers: “The guys have been excellent this week. I know there are some people in some teams out there who won’t want to face a Wales team when they start playing with confidence and start having momentum. That is when we are at our most dangerous and we are starting to look that way at the moment.” The first quarter-final to feature two teams from outside the top five since the world rankings were introduced in 2003 – England v Fiji on Sunday will be the second – could just hinge on which team starts the fastest. The team trailing at half-time has won just one of the past eight matches between the sides and Wales will be looking to sap Argentina’s spirits as effectively as they did Australia’s in their 40-6 pool win over the Wallabies in Lyon. Michael Cheika, who knows Gatland’s methods well, is also well aware his Pumas cannot afford to give away soft penalties. “They are a team that likes to defend … we have to be intelligent, dynamic and have continuity in our attack.” Either way, a steely minded Wales will take some knocking over. | ['sport/rugby-world-cup-2023', 'sport/rugby-world-cup', 'sport/wales-rugby-union-team', 'sport/argentina-rugby-union-team', 'sport/rugby-union', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/the-breakdown', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/robertkitson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/wales-rugby-union-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-10-13T10:51:39Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/blog/2011/dec/09/climate-change-impacts-solar-power | Global warming will boost solar power in Europe but cause losses elsewhere | Duncan Clark | Amid all the discussion about how energy sources may impact on climate change, we often overlook the fact that climate change will in turn impact on energy sources. As the world warms, this will become an increasingly important issue, affecting everything from nuclear power stations needing cold water for cooling through to melting ice opening up new fossil fuel reserves in the Arctic. Given the current row about how much the UK should subsidise solar power, it was interesting to come across a scientific paper looking at how solar technologies will be affected by global warming in the coming century. The paper – published earlier this year but as far as I can see not covered anywhere in the mainstream media – predicts that Europe's potential for solar will increase. Perhaps more surprisingly, many other regions will see losses. The research, carried out by academics at the University of Leeds, examined the implications of a medium global warming scenario for temperatures and sunlight in different regions. Sunlight will be affected by changing cloud cover. The researchers then calculated what those changes would mean for the two main solar energy technologies: photovoltaic (PV) panels, which use semiconductors to convert sunlight directly into electricity; and concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, which use mirrors to focus sunlight onto a small area, generating heat that can then be converted into power. Of the specific areas assessed, Germany comes out best. According to the paper, the country – Europe's solar leader – can expect to see PV systems in 2080 producing around 3% more power than the same systems would today. Germany's potential for CSP will increase even more – by 10% – though from a very low baseline. The UK will see a small increase in the potential for both technologies. By contrast, Saudi Arabia and the south-west US face losses of 4–6% for both PV and CSP. The map below provides a fuller picture. It shows PV outputs in 2080, relative to the late 20th-century. Blue is a decrease; red is an increase. For PV, it seems, the losers outweigh the winners. Here's the same map for CSP. In this scenario, the increases and decreases are more evenly shared out, with large areas of Eurasia and the Americas looking likely to see increases. The reason for the different impact on the two technologies, the paper explains, is that while both of them respond well to rising solar insolation, only CSP also responds well to rising temperatures. Indeed, PV actually works better in cooler conditions. It's important to note that the changes listed above are relative. In absolute terms, it will still be far more efficient to put up a solar panel and plant in Marrakech than in Manchester. As the paper makes clear: "Solar power plants are and will continue to be located close to centres of population within the Earth's sun belt of 40N to 40S." Nonetheless, the findings will impact on the economics of solar going forward and may affect the optimal technology mix in different areas. For example, according to the study, North Africa – the proposed home of the giant Desertec solar project – looks set to become better for CSP and less good for PV. Rolf Crook, one of the researchers behind the paper, believes the findings lend weight to the case for solar subsidies in Europe. He said: "We have shown, perhaps surprisingly, that climate change will have a positive impact on the output of solar power plants in many parts of the world. This further strengthens the case for research and investment in solar power today. Subsidies play a vital role in driving down the cost of solar technology. Cutting subsidies would only have a negative effect." Download the data • DATA: download the spreadsheet More open data Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian World government data • Search the world's government data with our gateway Development and aid data • Search the world's global development data with our gateway Can you do something with this data? • Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook | ['environment/blog', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/duncanclark'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2011-12-09T08:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2009/apr/14/global-warming-target-2c | World will not meet 2C warming target, climate change experts agree | Almost nine out of 10 climate scientists do not believe political efforts to restrict global warming to 2C will succeed, a Guardian poll reveals today. An average rise of 4-5C by the end of this century is more likely, they say, given soaring carbon emissions and political constraints. Such a change would disrupt food and water supplies, exterminate thousands of species of plants and animals and trigger massive sea level rises that would swamp the homes of hundreds of millions of people. The poll of those who follow global warming most closely exposes a widening gulf between political rhetoric and scientific opinions on climate change. While policymakers and campaigners focus on the 2C target, 86% of the experts told the survey they did not think it would be achieved. A continued focus on an unrealistic 2C rise, which the EU defines as dangerous, could even undermine essential efforts to adapt to inevitable higher temperature rises in the coming decades, they warned. The survey follows a scientific conference last month in Copenhagen, where a series of studies were presented that suggested global warming could strike harder and faster than realised. The Guardian contacted all 1,756 people who registered to attend the conference and asked for their opinions on the likely course of global warming. Of 261 experts who responded, 200 were researchers in climate science and related fields. The rest were drawn from industry or worked in areas such as economics and social and political science. The 261 respondents represented 26 countries and included dozens of senior figures, including laboratory directors, heads of university departments and authors of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The poll asked the experts whether the 2C target could still be achieved, and whether they thought that it would be met: 60% of respondents argued that, in theory, it was still technically and economically possible to meet the target, which represents an average global warming of 2C since the industrial revolution. The world has already warmed by about 0.8C since then, and another 0.5C or so is inevitable over coming decades given past greenhouse gas emissions. But 39% said the 2C target was impossible. The poll comes as UN negotiations to agree a new global treaty to regulate carbon pollution gather pace in advance of a key meeting in Copenhagen in December. Officials will try to agree a successor to the Kyoto protocol, the first phase of which expires in 2012. The 2C target is unlikely to feature in a new treaty, but most of the carbon cuts proposed for rich countries are based on it. Bob Watson, chief scientist to Defra, told the Guardian last year that the world needed to focus on the 2C target, but should also prepare for a possible 4C rise. Asked what temperature rise was most likely, 84 of the 182 specialists (46%) who answered the question said it would reach 3-4C by the end of the century; 47 (26%) suggested a rise of 2-3C, while a handful said 6C or more. While 24 experts predicted a catastrophic rise of 4-5C, just 18 thought it would stay at 2C or under. Some of those surveyed who said the 2C target would be met confessed they did so more out of hope rather than belief. "As a mother of young children I choose to believe this, and work hard toward it," one said. "This optimism is not primarily due to scientific facts, but to hope," said another. Some said they thought geoengineering measures, such as seeding the ocean with iron to encourage plankton growth, would help meet the target. Many of the experts stressed that an inability to hit the 2C target did not mean that efforts to tackle global warming should be abandoned, but that the emphasis is now on damage limitation. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/copenhagen', 'environment/ipcc', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/rajendra-pachauri', 'type/article', 'profile/davidadam', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-04-13T23:01:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2008/mar/05/soundandfury1 | Sound and fury | The South Downs. Alamy The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is opposed to Glyndebourne Opera's application to build a wind turbine because we believe it will do great damage to the quality of one of the most highly protected landscapes in the country. The South Downs is enjoyed by millions of visitors every year and is on the brink of becoming a national park, the highest level of protection a landscape can get, thanks to the leadership of the present government. The application is on flimsy ground at best: the vast majority of Glyndebourne's carbon footprint (74%) is derived from visitors driving to and from the opera house, and there is little sign that anything is being done to reduce this significantly. In the meantime, Glyndebourne still has a helipad for visitors, despite the urgency of reducing carbon emissions. And because the opera mostly uses electricity in the summer months when any turbine will produce little power, there is no serious case for locating the huge industrial scale object close to the site. CPRE finds the case unconvincing (pdf), the probable damage to the South Downs considerable and the showy flourish of commitment to sorting out climate change a poor way of winning recruits to the cause of saving our amazingly beautiful world. In 1942, in the middle of the second world war, the government nevertheless began planning how we would protect our most treasured landscapes once the war was over. The South Downs was one of the supreme symbols of what it was worth fighting for and then worth fighting to protect for the benefit of everyone. The war was won and we still enjoy the beautiful places protected by the then Labour government's legislation. The battle to prevent dangerous climate change is in its early stages, but the principle is the same: it's crucial that we can unite in a common purpose and that we aim for an outcome we can all support. It would be a great mistake to ignore the love and loyalty people feel for special and beautiful places; love and loyalty which can and should be harnessed to good effect in the battle to lower CO2 emissions substantially. Renewable energy has a significant contribution to make and even on-shore wind can do its bit. But no measure should be granted unconditional support, and certainly not if it will damage the experience of much loved landscapes for millions of people. That means respecting national protected landscapes, while we press on with all the most effective measures we can take to tackle the problem. If the huge effort needed to combat climate change is pitched against the love of special landscapes and special places, the task will command far less support, take far longer, and will leave us with a country scarred by the very measures designed to save it. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/windpower', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'music/glyndebourne', 'type/article'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2008-03-05T12:30:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2015/jun/01/solar-impulse-2-unscheduled-stopover-nagoya-japan | Solar Impulse 2 to make unscheduled stopover in Japan | A solar-powered plane attempting to make an unprecedented flight across the Pacific has been forced to make an unscheduled stop in Japan due to poor weather conditions. Solar Impulse 2 en route from China to Hawaii has made a detour to Nagoya. It took off early on Sunday for a six-day, six-night, flight over the Pacific Ocean. Pilot André Borschberg, 62, left Nanjing, in eastern China, at about 2.40am following extended delays due to weather-related safety concerns. The 5,270-mile (8,500km) flight would have been a record for duration by a single pilot. Borschberg was asked to circle over the Sea of Japan while meteorologists assessed the situation. They have now decided not to proceed, and the plane arrived at the Komaki airfield just before 3pm GMT on Monday. Speaking to mission control in Monaco from the cockpit of the plane, the pilot said situations like this are to be expected. “Overall from the start I personally had a really wonderful time. But there is always unexpected situations, either from a technical point of view or from a weather point of view, to cope with. It’s taken 18 years to sort technical questions, whether it’s specialists trying to find the right route... so that was really a very interesting start. “Now we face some changes so we will have to see if these changes are really important. In terms of strategy I think we’ll know more in a few hours, and to keep all the options open. I’m waiting here in the sea of Japan, and the Japanese MCC and authorities have been extremely helpful, extremely open and nice, they accommodate our wishes to have this aircraft integrated into their traffic. “Part of the programme was to do some holding anyway. We’re doing the holding a little bit earlier than expected, but for the time being it doesn’t change anything. We need to see what the new forecast tells us.” Bertrand Piccard, who has been watching the flight from mission control, added: “We are not daredevils, we are explorers. We have to put safety at the top of all of our priorities. Everyone is very happy with the plane - but the weather does not fit. We land in Nagoya and we wait for better conditions to continue.” Solar Impulse 2 is powered by more than 17,000 solar cells built into wings that, at 72 metres, are almost as long as those of an Airbus A380 superjumbo. Borschberg completed Solar Impulse 2’s first overnight leg, with the aircraft relying solely on batteries charged by the sun’s energy, but poor weather ahead threw the rest of the marathon flight into doubt. A statement was posted on the Solar Impulse website, which helps track the flight’s journey, earlier today. It said: “Yesterday we had the possibility to cross the weather front just before Hawaii on day 5. However, with the forecasts we now have, we don’t see this possibility anymore, which means that for the moment the road to Hawaii is blocked. We need all the data from the next weather forecasts, so that our weather experts can analyse what’s going to happen in the next four to five days. “Whilst we wait for the forecasts, we have decided to hold the position of the aircraft. We have asked André to stay where he is: it’s fine, the weather is good and the batteries are charging. During this time we will analyse where he will have to go to find a possibility to cross that front.” The China to Hawaii journey is the seventh and most challenging leg of the attempt to circumnavigate the world using just the energy of the Sun. Solar Impulse 2, which is covered in 17,000 solar cells, took off from Abu Dhabi in March. It has since stopped in Oman, India, Myanmar and China. | ['environment/solarpower', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'science/aeronautics', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nadia-khomami', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2015-06-01T08:06:22Z | true | ENERGY |
money/2022/jul/31/our-energy-market-is-anti-competitive | Our energy market is anti-competitive | Letters | Over the last 37 years our home has been supplied entirely by electricity because fossil fuels contribute to the climate crisis (‘Insult to millions’: Shell and Centrica profits cause outrage as energy bills soar, 28 July). For years we have had totally renewable energy, significantly more expensive than fossil fuels. Our annual bill in December last year was £3,505. We have taken this on the chin as part of our responsibility to save the planet for future generations. On 8 July they wrote to raise our annual bill to £7,373. When I protested that this did not reflect the production costs, my supplier, Good Energy, said: “The rate at which we pay our generators is influenced by the wholesale energy market. We have to raise the rates on our tariffs to reflect the higher wholesale cost of electricity and gas and make sure we’re paying our generators a fair price.” Strangely, in previous years they did not reduce our renewables costs in line with the wholesale energy market. We are told the benefit of the market is that it allows competition. This demonstrates an absence of competition; the suppliers acting as a cartel, fixing prices which give them unearned profit. Many people should be going over to renewables because production costs are now cheaper than fossil fuels, mitigating the climate crisis. Instead our supplier is pricing customers like ourselves out of the renewables sector. Esther Hack Winchester, Hampshire • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['money/energy', 'environment/energy', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'environment/environment', 'money/household-bills', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-07-31T15:51:57Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2021/jan/26/weatherwatch-landlocked-mongolias-distinctive-climate | Weatherwatch: landlocked Mongolia's distinctive climate | As the second largest landlocked country in the world after Kazakhstan, Mongolia has a very distinctive climate. Just like neighbouring areas such as southern Russia to the north and northern China to the south, Mongolia’s climate is characterised as continental, as opposed to the maritime climate of locations closer to the sea or ocean. In practice, this means long and very cold winters, with average temperatures in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, staying well below freezing from November through to March, and reaching lows of almost -50C. In contrast, summer temperatures are in the low 20s, and can reach peaks of 36C. Precipitation in the capital is almost nonexistent in winter, with virtually no snow. In the summer months, from June onwards, there is a small amount of rainfall, but the annual total here is just 200mm (less than 8ins). Most of the country is covered with desert plains (in the south) and steppe grasslands (in the north and east, where there is a slightly higher rainfall). But in the west and north, mountain ranges rise to over 3,000 metres (roughly 10,000ft). The peaks are often covered with a light dusting of snow, and occasionally there is a heavier fall. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/mongolia', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-01-26T06:00:56Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
politics/2009/jun/30/londoners-less-happy | Londoners less happy despite improvements in quality of life | Fewer people are happy about living in London than before, despite noted improvements in quality of life issues, according to a report published today. The London Sustainable Development Commission has compared 23 quality of life indicators with results it recorded in 2005 and depicts a city that has improved in the majority of areas, including an improvement in the air Londoners breathe and a life expectancy in the capital that is higher than the UK average. However, claims that air quality in the capital has improved were challenged by campaigners, who pointed to a recently published report which suggested the level of "PM10s" – dangerous airborne particles – in the capital was worsening year on year. Other improvements relate to falling crime levels – crime has been reduced by 20% over the past six years – increased household recycling – up 9.7 percentage points – and a rise in educational attainment for 16-year-olds, which places London above the national average. Despite these recorded improvements, the commission, an independent body, formed in 2002 to advise the mayor of London on ways to make London a sustainable, world-class city, found that satisfaction with London living has dropped from 75% to 73% in the same period. This was due to "high costs of living and other factors," according to the report. The report highlights six other "underperforming areas": the lack of decent homes; income inequality in the capital, which is the worst in the UK; an increase in fuel poverty among London households; increased waste; housing affordability, and the number of children walking to school. John Plowman, chair of the London Sustainable Development Commission, said: "To live up to being a truly sustainable, fair and liveable capital we want to see policy solutions which reduce social and economic inequalities, tackle London's global environmental responsibilities and improve overall quality of life." Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, welcomed the "snapshot of London". "It is good news that in many areas of life for Londoners standards are improving but this report underscores that policymakers cannot be complacent to the challenges that lie ahead," he said. "At City Hall we have our shoulders firmly to the wheel to raise the quality of life for Londoners through improved transport, a greener environment, boosting recycling and cutting crime. This comprehensive report will help us refine where we focus attention and resources as we progress this agenda." Among the more surprising findings is the claim that air quality has improved since 2005, though the report notes that it is still the worst in the UK. A report by the London assembly's environment committee recently warned that pollution kills thousands of people every year in London, far exceeding the accepted figure of about 1,000 fatalities. A separate report published last week by King's College London stated that levels of dangerous airborne particles are rising at a rate of 0.4% per year. Simon Birkett from the Campaign for Clean Air in London said: "King's College London has confirmed again what we all know – air pollution is bad and getting worse in London despite clear legal obligations on the government to reduce it sharply." Jenny Jones, a Green party member of the London assembly, said: "London has failed to meet the European legal limits for particulate PM10 air pollution since 2005 and our government is currently fighting off the threat of court action, so this statement [by the commission] seems incredibly complacent. We are possibly facing the premature death of an estimated 3,000 Londoners this year and the health of Londoners is particularly at risk with the current heatwave. Politicians at all levels of government have failed to take sufficient action to improve air quality and protect the health of Londoners, which is something this report needs to recognise." The report also claims that the average life expectancy has increased by 80.08 years to 82 years for women, and from 75.9 years to 77.4 years for men, though it stresses that disparities exist between and within the capital's 33 London boroughs. A separate report published last month by the City Parochial Foundation and the New Policy Institute profiling London found that the proportion of men who die before the age of 65 is 20% higher in inner London than the England average. | ['politics/london', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'uk/london', 'society/society', 'society/localgovernment', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/recycling', 'type/article', 'profile/helenemulholland'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-06-30T16:56:49Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/green-living-blog/2011/apr/19/champagne-environmentalists-damaging-climate-change | Hypocrisy of champagne environmentalists is deceitful and distracting | Ed Gillespie | There I was, kicking back in my Edun "natural indigo" organic jeans (£163), sipping on an icy cold glass of Fleury vintage organic champagne (£56 a bottle), having taken my new Porsche 918 hybrid supercar (£524,000) for a spin, when I started pondering where my next holiday might be. Would it be the languid lagoons of Cousine Island in the Seychelles, which boasts its own on-site ecologist? Or perhaps the Hacienda Tres Rios in Mexico with its philosophy of "intelligent and responsible use of our ecosystems and natural resources"? Organic produce, hybrid cars, eco-tourism resorts, ethical fashion – what could be finer than living such a fantastic, indulgent "champagne environmentalist" existence? But while the explosive growth in "eco-lifestyle" markets may seem good, in reality it is a perpetuation of the consumerist economic model that has largely got us into our current mess. The green scene is littered with compromised, hypocritical celebrities. Poor Prince Charles preaches and pontificates about harmony and simplicity, then ties himself in masochistic bondage knots of inconsistency by spending £100k on a biofuelled train tour to promote cycling. Famous frequent fliers abound, from Coldplay's Chris Martin – who opined about global warming in song then racked up a personal carbon footprint massively bigger than the average Brit – to Sting's wife, Trudie Styler, who flew her entourage (including hairdresser) by private jet from New York to Washington so she could go to a party. Most brilliantly, John Travolta encourages us all to "do our bit for climate change" while owning five private jets. As with the pejorative "champagne socialists", the message is very much "do as we say, not as we do'. Like the highly discredited theory of "trickle-down" economics, there is a belief that this "eco-leadership" will somehow percolate into our collective consciousness and create demand for environmental goods and services at all levels of the economy. But this is missing the point. We fret about the environmental implications of global population growth in the belief that it is the fertility of our fellows in the developing world that is at the root of our resource problems. But this is a buck-passing, mean-spirited attempt at alleviating our own consumptive guilt. As studies have demonstrated, the richest 500 million people on the planet (about 7% of global population, and yes that includes all of us Brits) create 50% of global carbon emissions, while the poorest 50% create just 7%. So when we ask ourselves the question: "how will we live?", the answer is fairly obvious: more simply and more frugally. Much of the nonsense written about green lifestyles is laughable, as if we can all carry on as we are, as long as we're all buying organic, fair trade and ethical products. The real answer is that less really is more, and while the champagne environmentalists can lecture on how fantastic their sustainable lifestyle is as they throw another log from daddy's woodland into the stove or go wild foraging on the family estate, that's not going to mean much for the 80% of people who live in cities. Don't get me wrong, I think it's vital that we promote a sense of positive hope, that life can be better for all of us when lived more sustainably. Its just that the "yes, you can have it all" mentality of some environmentalists is not just hypocritical, but potentially deceitful and distracting. I think the real fizz and excitement in sustainability is to be found where lifestyles and business models are being radically transformed. The Transition Network and the collaborative consumption movement. The high-end eco-products and aspirational lifestyles that alter our footprints by incremental percentage changes lull us into false security about dealing with the problem of climate change. The environmental lifestyle champagne has definitely gone flat. • Ed Gillespie is co-founder of Futerra Sustainability Communications | ['environment/green-living-blog', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/celebrity', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/ed-gillespie'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2011-04-19T06:00:10Z | true | EMISSIONS |
global-development-professionals-network/2013/nov/11/climate-change-cross-sector-collaboration-cop19 | Live chat: how to build a global coalition to end climate change | As he delivered the closing address at the Bond annual conference on Tuesday 5 November, Kevin Watkins, identified a problem that most would agree exists but few know quite how to solve. The executive director of the Overseas Development Institute said that the development community spoke often about climate change but in reality partnerships between development and environmental organisations were "pretty shambolic". Watkins is not the only one to make the case for collaboration. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim was quoted as saying: "To deliver bold solutions on climate change, we need to listen to and engage broader and more diverse audiences." And writing for the Network, artist and director of Cape Farewell, David Buckland, suggested that artists and scientists should be working together to change attitudes towards global warming. He writes: "Nothing is simple, huge sustainable energy complexes disrupt micro-island communities who are already having to adapt to current environmental change and potential irreversible damage to their habitat. We need storytellers to tease out meaning and hope." So what do cross-sectoral coalitions to end climate change actually look like? How do you get the science, politics, humanitarian, development, environment, business and donor communities all singing from the same hymn sheet and working towards the same goals? Who gets to decide what those goals are? In addition, how do you communicate the value of working in coalition? It seems that the difficulty in arriving at suitable answers is perhaps the first challenge for coalition building. So can lessons be learned from other global issues? In the aftermath of climate chaos, someone inevitably asks: "What could we have done differently? How can we prevent this from happening again?" In December 2012, Jessica Scholl wrote: "Hurricane Sandy and climate change: a wake-up call for collective, cross-sector adaptation efforts?" As the world rallies behind the government and people of the Philippines following another disaster, typhoon Haiyan, far more deadly than Sandy, perhaps it's time to answer Scholl's question once and for all. Join our expert panel on Thursday, 14 November, from 1-3pm GMT. The outcomes from the live chat will be fed into a Connect4Climate workshop at COP19 on 20 November. The live chat is not video or audio-enabled but will take place in the comments section (below). If you are unable to get online on Thursday, email your views to globaldevpros@theguardian.com or follow our tweets using the hashtag #globaldevlive Panel Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chair, IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. @JPvanYpersele Jean-Pascal is physicist and climatologist and has provided advice on climate issues to governments and other stakeholders, including business, since 1991, and to UNFCCC from 1997. Robert Laubacher, project director, MIT Climate CoLab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. @ClimateCoLab Robert associate director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. The Climate CoLab is a web platform that seeks to harness contributions from large numbers of people, from all parts of the world, to develop and gain support for creative new ideas to address climate change. Kelly Rigg, executive director, Global Call for Climate Action, Amsterdam, Netherlands. @kellyrigg As director, Kelly overseas a network of 400 organisations worldwide. She has been leading international campaigns for 30 years on climate, energy, oceans, Antarctica and other issues. Richard Munang, Africa regional climate change co-ordinator, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya. @mtingem Richard's research interests have included interdisciplinary research on climate change adaptation and the role of ecosystems in delivering sustainable food production in the context of changing climatic conditions. Kazimierz Janowski, editor, SciDev.Net, London, UK. Kaz holds a postgraduate degree in science communication and has extensive experience of collaborating with research institutions across the global south as a result of working on radio programmes, online and print materials related to science and development. Esther Agbarakwe, founder, Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition, Abuja, Nigeria. @estherclimate Esther is a Nigerian climate change activist . Founding member of the Nigerian Youth Climate Change Movement and adviser to African Youth Initiative of Climate Change. James Greyson, head, BlindSpot Think Tank, Lewes, England. @climate_rescue James works internationally on policy options for whole system change. This means asking: "What can we do now to get mindsets and economics that quickly reverse all the problems that could not be solved separately and gradually?" Antonio La Viña, dean, Ateneo School of Government, Ateneo de Manila University, Metro Manila, Philippines. @tonylavs Tony is a human rights and environmental lawyer, and has been a lead negotiator for the Philippines in the climate change negotiations since 1997. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the Center for International Forestry Research. Ashok Chandwaney, student and organiser, The Sierra Student Coalition, St. Mary's City, United States. @ahumanstory Ashok is currently a delegate from the Sierra Student Coalition at the COP19 climate talks. He has worked on several student campaigns. Terry Townshend, deputy secretary general - policy, The Global Legislators Organisation (Globe International), Beijing, China. @terrytownshend Terry leads Globe's climate change work, including supporting legislators to advance climate-related legislation. He is lead author of the annual climate legislation study, an audit of climate legislation in 66 countries. | ['working-in-development/working-in-development', 'global-development-professionals-network/live-chats', 'global-development-professionals-network/partnership', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'global-development-professionals-network/series/climate-change', 'profile/eliza-anyangwe'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2013-11-12T19:43:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
money/2019/apr/27/is-it-worth-carbon-offsetting-flights-environment-schemes | Is it worth carbon offsetting flights – and how should I do it? | Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper. Like Emma Thompson, I take flights but am worried about the impact on the environment. I see various “carbon offset” schemes but never know what it is I’m really paying for, and which companies or sites I should really trust. Is it a good thing to spend money on, and which is best? Do you have a problem readers could solve? Email your suggestions to money@theguardian.com or write to us at Money, the Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. | ['money/series/youre-the-expert', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'type/article', 'travel/travel', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-money'] | environment/carbon-offset-projects | EMISSIONS | 2019-04-27T06:00:52Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2021/feb/23/how-seville-is-turning-leftover-oranges-into-electricity | 'A role model': how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity | In spring, the air in Seville is sweet with the scent of azahar, orange blossom, but the 5.7m kilos of bitter fruit the city’s 48,000 trees deposit on the streets in winter are a hazard for pedestrians and a headache for the city’s cleaning department. Now a scheme has been launched to produce an entirely different kind of juice from the unwanted oranges: electricity. The southern Spanish city has begun a pilot scheme to use the methane produced as the fruit ferments to generate clean electricity. The initial scheme launched by Emasesa, the municipal water company, will use 35 tonnes of fruit to generate clean energy to run one of the city’s water purification plants. The oranges will go into an existing facility that already generates electricity from organic matter. As the oranges ferment, the methane captured will be used to drive the generator. “We hope that soon we will be able to recycle all the city’s oranges,” said Benigno López, the head of Emasesa’s environmental department. To achieve this, he estimates the city would need to invest about €250,000. “The juice is fructose made up of very short carbon chains and the energetic performance of these carbon chains during the fermentation process is very high,” he said. “It’s not just about saving money. The oranges are a problem for the city and we’re producing added value from waste.” While the aim for now is to use the energy to run the water purification plants, the eventual plan is to put surplus electricity back into the grid. The team behind the project argues that, given the vast quantity of fruit that would otherwise go into landfill or be used as fertiliser, the potential is huge. They say trials have shown that 1,000kg will produce 50kWh, enough to provide electricity to five homes for one day, and calculate that if all the city’s oranges were recycled and the energy put back into the grid, 73,000 homes could be powered. “Emasesa is now a role model in Spain for sustainability and the fight against climate change,” Juan Espadas Cejas, the mayor of Seville, told a press conference at the launch of the project. “New investment is especially directed at the water purification plants that consume almost 40% of the energy needed to provide the city with drinking water and sanitation,” he said. “This project will help us to reach our targets for reducing emissions, energy self-sufficiency and the circular economy.” The oranges look pretty while on the tree but once they fall and are squashed under the wheels of cars the streets become sticky with juice and black with flies. The city council employs about 200 people to collect the fruit. The bitter oranges, which originate in Asia, were introduced by the Arabs around 1,000 years ago and have adapted well to the southern Spanish climate. “They have taken root here, they’re resistant to pollution and have adapted well to the region,” said Fernando Mora Figueroa, the head of the city’s parks department. “People say the city of Seville is the world’s largest orange grove.” The region produces about 15,000 tonnes of the oranges but the Spanish don’t eat them and most of the fruit from the surrounding region is exported to Britain, where it is made into marmalade. Seville oranges are also the key ingredient of Cointreau and Grand Marnier. The origin of marmalade is surrounded by myths and legends. Some link it to British copper miners working for Rio Tinto in nearby Huelva, the same miners who founded Spain’s first football team, Recreativo de Huelva, at the end of the 19th century. However, a handwritten recipe for marmalade dating from 1683 was found in Dunrobin castle in Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands. Legend has it that a ship carrying oranges from Spain took refuge in Dundee harbour and local confectionery maker James Keiller was the first to find a use for the otherwise inedible fruit. This may be a myth, but in 1797 Keiller did produce the first commercial brand of marmalade. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'world/spain', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephen-burgen', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2021-02-23T15:16:26Z | true | ENERGY |
sustainable-business/2015/dec/20/government-u-turn-renewables-gas-oil-nuclear-favourites | Government U-turn on renewables shows gas, oil and nuclear are still favourites | The entire global energy system is undergoing a clean revolution. The old certainties of centralised power and fossil fuels are falling apart before our eyes. In Paris last week world leaders set legally binding targets to decarbonise their economies in order to keep temperature rises at a maximum of 2C. The future is almost here. It’s a future that is necessary and one that presents the economic opportunity of the century. Bloomberg NEFs New Energy Outlook for 2015 estimates that renewables alone will see more than $8tn of investment in the coming years with $3.7tn in solar alone. Until recently the UK seemed to understand this, however imperfectly. In the second quarter of this year, the UK got 25% of its electricity from renewables and is aiming for 30% by 2020. The last two governments deserve credit for that. Costs have fallen, with the latest ground-mounted solar and onshore wind now cheaper than new nuclear , and offshore wind – where the UK is a world leader – is not far behind. But with the industry on the cusp of the mainstream, the last six months have seen a radical, dangerous U-turn from the government. Onshore wind and large solar have seen support removed and applications blocked through planning; the climate change levy exemption was removed from renewable electricity scheme; the zero carbon homes target and energy efficiency schemes have been scrapped; the Green Investment Bank is threatened with privatisation, tax relief has been removed from community schemes. And on, and on, and on. The government’s line is that it’s time to pull the plug on supporting renewable energy – as if a few years of vital subsidies can make up for a century of economic and infrastructural support for fossil fuels. Renewable energy, like most industries, needs some government support to get going, and to realise the best results. Think of the tax breaks and research grants still given to oil and gas, the direct subsidies for nuclear, the publicly-funded roads that facilitate cars, or the national space programmes that eventually brought us the mobile phone. The argument that this U-turn is about protecting consumers’ bills simply does not hold. Cuts to rooftop solar announced on Thursday will save just 0.9% off a yearly bill, by 2020. Many of the alternatives the government is turning to are actually more expensive than renewables – Hinkley Point C would cost consumers twice the current wholesale price of electricity. And the single best thing that would cut bills – insulating homes – has seen just about all public support scrapped. Contrast the rhetoric on renewables with the huge support for fracking and nuclear and it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the government has its favourites. All this is hurting people, investment and business. About 20,000 people could lose their jobs as a result of the latest changes to rooftop solar. Entrepreneurs and investors may walk away from the sector , and who could blame them? A vast amount of human capital in skills, training and motivation will be wasted. EY has repeatedly warned of the devastation that ministers are causing, deliberately or not, to inward investment. In response to criticism that it has been cutting support for renewables the government is now talking up innovation, highlighting a plan to double investment in clean energy research and development (although much of this seems to be for nuclear). But innovation isn’t what you do instead of supporting investment today. It’s not either/or. It is no accident that those countries with the largest renewable manufacturing industries also have thriving local markets. Innovation comes, in part, from getting on with it. The cost of solar has fallen by 80% in just the last few years – driven in large part by rapid learning and scale deployment thanks to the support of governments worldwide. In the UK researchers across the country are always looking at new ways to make renewables even cheaper and more effective – from super-efficient perovskite solar cells in Bath, to graphene materials in Manchester. In other technologies, from tidal energy in Orkney and new forms of offshore turbine foundations in Glasgow and Blyth – progress is continuing on hundreds of fronts. And the opportunities provided by renewables are much bigger than turbines and panels. These are disruptive technologies that open huge new avenues. The industry that has been born by the smart phone is not just chips and handsets, but in software, services and dating apps. So too with renewables. Businesses that can get the most from the large amount of renewables already in the system could do well. Energy storage and smarter grid management are two of the hottest areas for businesses looking to take advantage of the recent surge in renewables, since they can improve the economics, and store power for those times the sun isn’t shining or the wind doesn’t blow. Schemes are being developed in which people are paid an annual fee for access to a home battery, which when aggregated into their thousands can be used to help balance the grid. Yet these opportunities are only available thanks to the rapid growth we have seen in recent years, and to continue the sector needs stability and political support. If the government really wants innovation continue, it needs to provide both. In the long run? We’ll be green. Solar and its friends will triumph, and one day will undoubtedly to be some of the biggest industries in the world, including in the UK. In meantime businesses will need to be resilient. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/series/technology-and-innovation', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/energy-industry', 'technology/energy', 'technology/technology', 'business/business', 'environment/windpower', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2015-12-20T08:00:47Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2013/mar/08/scientists-bacterial-life-antarctic-lake | Scientists find new kind of bacterial life in hidden Antarctic lake | An enormous lake that has lain buried under Antarctic ice for millions of years is home to a new kind of bacterial life, Russian scientists claim. The researchers found evidence for the unidentified organism in water samples brought up from Lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake on the Antarctic continent. The Russian team found seven samples of the mystery species in water that had frozen on a drill head used to reach the lake that lies beneath an ice sheet more than two miles (3.5km) thick. The scientists extracted strands of DNA from the organism, but said the genetic code was never more than an 86% match with any of the species listed in global databanks. Sergey Bulat, a researcher on the team at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, said that anything less than a 90% match usually indicated that the organism was unknown. "We call it unidentified and 'unclassified' life," Bulat told the state news agency, RIA Novosti. "If it were found on Mars, people would call it Martian DNA. But this is DNA from Earth," he added. The Russian team broke through to the lake under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet last year. When the ice cover was pierced, water burst up through the borehole. The huge body of water stretches for 150 miles and is 30 miles wide in places. Several expeditions have set out to look for life in Antarctica's subglacial lakes. The organisms are likely to be different from well-known life because they have evolved in isolation, under intense pressure, and with no sunlight, for millions of years. "It's rather tantalising," said David Pearce, a microbiologist at the British Antarctic Survey. "We can't read too much into it yet, but I would be surprised and disappointed if they had not found anything. This whets the appetite for what is to come." The Russian team said it planned more tests, but needed more specimens of the bugs. Those might be among water samples collected from the lake earlier this year, which are being carried by ship back to the Russian mainland. The scientists ultimately hope to grow the bacteria so they can study their size, shape and physiology, and confirm whether or not the bugs are new to science. In January this year, a US team broke through 800 metres of Antarctic ice to reach Lake Whillans, another subglacial lake. Water samples brought up from the lake also contained microbial life. On Christmas Day last year, a British team aborted an expedition to drill through almost two miles of ice to Lake Ellsworth in Antarctica after failing to link two boreholes to recirculate drilling water back to the surface. | ['world/antarctica', 'world/russia', 'science/science', 'environment/poles', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/iansample', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-03-08T18:33:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/ethicallivingblog/2008/jan/31/labelgeeks | Listing the green labels | Photograph: Graham Turner I have lately become geekily obsessed with labelling, and it's fascinating what you can learn, even on a baked bean label these days: you get a precise breakdown of ingredients, you get information about fat and carbohydrate and protein content, and more often than not you get a moving little story about the tiny little farm where the beans were grown before being placed, one by one in the farmer's grandmother's pot where he cooked them for 40 days and nights until they were just right for you, beloved reader ... I have also noticed, in my reading, that there are an increasing number of incomprehensible symbols that crop up. But incomprehensible no more, because the first international database of eco-labels has now been set up. It's an independent database run by a company called Big Room, who are sensibly trying to improve the global green market: if we have to have a global market it makes sense to make it as green as possible. So far they've got 292 eco-labels on the site, with 14 in the UK alone: it certainly highlights the confusing plethora of initiatives and options out there. To run through a couple, you've got BREEAM, where they measure building against a set of environmental criteria and mark it; you've got the Waterwise Marque, which is awarded to products which reduce water use and raise awareness of water efficiency; you've got the Good Shopping Guide's Ethical Company Accreditation; and you've even got the David Bellamy Conservation Award, a special prize for campsites and caravan parks who are putting special effort into a bit of conservation around the edges. You can submit any you think they've left out - the Wholesome Food Association for a start guys! Overall, I think I like it, and I've just bookmarked it. But why oh why don't you have pictures of the labels? | ['environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/blog', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/green-living-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/bibivanderzee'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2008-01-31T10:22:44Z | true | EMISSIONS |
world/2021/oct/10/capsule-1765-air-antarctic-ice-polar-zero-glasgow | Capsule of 1765 air reveals ancient histories hidden under Antarctic ice | An ampoule of Antarctic air from the year 1765 forms the centrepiece of a new exhibition that reveals the hidden histories contained in polar ice to visitors attending the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow. The artist Wayne Binitie has spent the past five years undertaking an extraordinary collaboration with scientists of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), who drill, analyse and preserve cylinders of ice from deep in the ice sheet that record past climate change. These ice cores have allowed Binitie to display in Glasgow, at what is widely acknowledged to be a pivotal moment for the planet, the purest possible air trapped in ice from another such moment, just before modern humanity began its unwitting destruction of the atmosphere, the stark consequences of which are now being faced. The Polar Zero exhibition at the Glasgow Science Centre features a cylindrical glass sculpture encasing the air, extracted precisely from 1765 – the date that many historians pinpoint as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. A second cylinder presents an ice core containing tiny bubbles of air that were trapped as snow fell and compacted, and which now reveal the horrifying rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide since that date. “The scale of the topic is so overwhelming and so complex that it can feel distant, even apocalyptic,” says Binitie, an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded PhD student at the Royal College of Art. “People need something tangible to get hold of, that collapses that distance.” The glaciologist Dr Robert Mulvaney, who was responsible for mining the ice for the BAS, says it is indeed possible to drill out ice from a particular era. “Snow falls in Antarctica year by year – but there’s no melting going on. So the snow builds up and compresses all the years of snow beneath. As we drill down we’re driving further and further into the past – a bit like counting the rings of a big tree. “What helps is that every so often we know that a certain volcano blew up in a particular year and we may find evidence of that. So using our drills to find a specific year isn’t quite as hard as you would imagine.” Putting together an exhibit based around an ampoule of air and a melting ice core proved a fascinating technical challenge, says Graham Dodd of the global engineering specialists Arup. “Exhibiting an ice core without it melting completely is a technical feat that requires precise calculations and creative thinking to construct the right level of insulation while still allowing the visitors to get up close to the ice.” Visitors to Polar Zero will hear the ancient air bubbles popping as the ice core emerges from its insulated tube, blending with Binitie’s immersive soundtrack of music and natural sounds, and can touch and even taste the iced water. It’s a multisensory experience at a time when it “seems more urgent than ever before to ask what it means to touch and be in touch with the Earth”, he says. | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'world/antarctica', 'artanddesign/exhibition', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/glasgow', 'science/anthropology', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/culture', 'environment/environment', 'science/evolution', 'science/biology', 'science/science', 'uk/scotland', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/libbybrooks', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-10-10T13:24:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2024/mar/31/election-donald-trump-world-climate-goals-at-risk-un-chief | Election of Donald Trump ‘could put world’s climate goals at risk’ | Victory for Donald Trump in the US presidential election this year could put the world’s climate goals at risk, a former UN climate chief has said. The chances of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels are already slim, and Trump’s antipathy to climate action would have a major impact on the US, which is the world’s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and biggest oil and gas exporter, said Patricia Espinosa, who served as the UN’s top official on the climate from 2016 to 2022. “I worry [about the potential election of Trump] because it would have very strong consequences, if we see a regression regarding climate policies in the US,” Espinosa said. Although Trump’s policy plans are not clear, conversations with his circle have created a worrying picture that could include the cancellation of Joe Biden’s groundbreaking climate legislation, withdrawal from the Paris agreement and a push for more drilling for oil and gas. Espinosa said: “We are not yet aligned to 1.5C. That’s the reality. So if we see a situation where we would see regression on those efforts, then [the likelihood of staying within 1.5C] is very limited. It would certainly be a much bigger risk. “We could see a slowdown, an even bigger slowdown [in action to reduce emissions], which would unfortunately probably take us to an even more terrible scenario, unless we see strong leadership coming from other places, [such as] Europe.” She said other countries must continue with climate action even if the US were to renege on its goals under Trump, but the absence of the US would be a significant blow. “What happens in the US has a very big impact in so many places around the world,” she said. It is not all gloom, however. Espinosa was the executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, parent treaty to the 2015 Paris agreement, in 2016 when Trump was elected president. She said that if other countries put up a united front in favour of strong climate action, it could help to counteract the absence of the US. “When President Trump announced that they would withdraw from the Paris agreement, there was a certain fear that others would follow, and that there would be a setback in the pace of the climate change process. Not only did that not happen but some countries that had not yet adhered to the Paris agreement did so,” she said. If Trump were to take the US out of Paris in a fresh term, she does not believe others would follow suit. “As of now, I don’t see countries really going back. I think that the process will continue.” On the contentious issue – particularly for the US – of climate finance, Espinosa said Biden was now facing difficulty in getting climate finance commitments through a hostile Republican Congress. “We are seeing a lack of leadership, including in the big countries that can make contributions,” she said. “[In the US] I think there is a willingness but there are also limitations. In the EU there has been a long period where they have been discussing the internal frameworks [for climate finance]. At the same time, we have been seeing a reduction of funds going in general to the global south, and very little is going to climate change. It’s really a question of giving it priority.” She is also concerned that too much of the focus of climate finance and efforts to reduce emissions so far has been on shifting from a reliance on fossil fuels to renewables. “We are now realising that nature will make or break net zero – decarbonising the energy sector will not be enough,” Espinosa said, calling for more emphasis on the role of nature, to halt deforestation and transform food production, which accounts for about a third of global emissions. “The 1.5C economy can only be achieved by ending deforestation and accelerating the transition to sustainable agriculture and food systems this decade.” In 2024, most of the world’s population will go to the polls in elections, in the US, Russia, India, the UK and scores of other countries. Climate action will be a contentious issue in many of these elections, as some parties are arguing for stronger policies based on stark scientific warnings, while others oppose such action. Espinosa warned of the opposition to climate action that is being orchestrated around the world. “In the US, we see a very well organised and very strong campaign intending to reduce the perception of the critical nature of action that needs to be taken.” To combat this, she called for businesses to play a greater role in pushing for a low-carbon economy. “We need to work closely with the private sector, make them aware of the important opportunities that the new [low-carbon] economy provides. There are profitable investments that protect nature and innovate technologies.” | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'us-news/us-politics', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/fossil-fuels', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/fossil-fuels | EMISSIONS | 2024-03-31T11:00:38Z | true | EMISSIONS |
technology/blog/audio/2008/dec/23/tech-weekly-podcast-review-2008 | Tech Weekly podcast: Review of 2008 | This week we're channeling the ghost of technology past, looking back over the tech stories from 2008. Joining Aleks Krotoski to look at the highs and lows is a full pod deck – Jemima Kiss, Charles Arthur and Bobbie Johnson. In this review, we'll pin down the biggest news of 2008, nominated by us and by you. On the list for discussion include the never ending Microsoft/Yahoo takeover saga, the controversy surrounding Phorm's targeted advertising system, plus the rise and rise of this year's social networking tool Twitter. There's also some of the out-takes from this year's programmes – so if you want to hear Jemima say bad words, keep your ears peeled and your mind open. The next Tech Weekly will be on 31 December, where we'll be making predictions about what will be big in tech during 2009. Don't forget to... • Comment below... • Call our Skype voicemail • Mail us at tech@guardian.co.uk • Get our Twitter feed for programme updates • Join our Facebook group • See our pics on Flickr/Post your tech pics • This podcast was edited on Friday January 9 2009. Phorm has asked us to point out that contrary to a remark made in the original version of the above podcast, the US Federal Trade Commission did not apply pressure on 121 Media to change its business model prior to the company becoming Phorm Inc. in 2007. The decision was made voluntarily by the firm. | ['technology/series/techweekly', 'technology/blog', 'media/pda', 'technology/microsoft', 'technology/yahoo', 'technology/yahoo-takeover', 'technology/steve-ballmer', 'technology/jerry-yang', 'technology/google', 'technology/mobilephones', 'technology/iphone', 'technology/apple', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/internet', 'money/internetphonesbroadband', 'technology/startups', 'games/games', 'society/childprotection', 'society/children', 'business/phorm', 'media/privacy', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/wikipedia', 'technology/twitter', 'technology/free-our-data', 'technology/technology', 'media/media', 'world/series/2008-in-review', 'tone/blog', 'technology/data-computer-security', 'tone/news', 'tone/interview', 'world/censorship', 'business/business', 'world/world', 'politics/government-data', 'world/privacy', 'technology/cookies-and-web-tracking', 'type/podcast', 'type/audio'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-12-23T00:25:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
media/2018/nov/18/water-bottle-status-symbol-reusable-fashion-statement | That’s not just a water bottle – it’s a status symbol | What does your water bottle say about you? An awful lot judging by the £5.5bn industry that has sprung up to convince us that a designer reusable bottle is a fashion statement and status symbol that comes with added environmental kudos. Arguably, it all began with celebrity endorsements: actress Julia Roberts photographed with a S’well bottle (£45); model Gisele Bündchen seen leaving a gym clutching a BKR (£30); actor Jonah Hill lugging a 64oz Hydroflask (£45). “The idea of reusable bottles being a fashion accessory is a good thing,” says Natalie Fee, founder of City to Sea, a Bristol-based nonprofit organisation that campaigns to prevent marine plastic pollution at source. “If you want people to adopt a new behaviour, if you want to create mass change, it helps to have influential people on board. Within the environmental movement, people have been carrying reusable bottles for years, but when you get Love Island contestants using them it is huge – it helps to normalise it.” Campaigners and water bottle brands cite the tipping point in the public’s awareness of plastic pollution as the BBC’s Blue Planet II series presented by Sir David Attenborough last year, which has led to the chancellor, in his autumn budget, consulting on the introduction of a new tax on plastic packaging. “It has been monumental in terms of discussion,” says James Butterfield, founder of Chilly’s, which sells £25 bottles popular for flamingo, avocado and floral prints. “We don’t go into a meeting where Blue Planet isn’t discussed – now, with the public turning against plastics, it has meant that when people look for a solution we are well positioned. The impact on our business has been huge.” Butterfield, who co-founded the company in 2010 and saw revenues of £2.5m in July last year, is forecasting a sharp rise to £40m in 2019. Chilly’s works with City to Sea on the Refill project, which aims to make free drinking water available on every high street in Britain and save a billion plastic bottles by 2025. With Refill, which was piloted in Bristol, City to Sea has now persuaded thousands of businesses – including John Lewis, Costa, Morrisons, Starbucks, Greggs and Wetherspoons – to allow people to refill their water bottles for free on their premises. “Airports have been less proactive but we haven’t met much resistance from chains,” says Fee. “It’s hard to know how much is a genuine desire to effect change and how much it’s about the public-shaming consequences if they don’t, but one of the advantages of working with them is that we have a seat at the table to discuss their wider plastic policy.” Meanwhile, the wellness industry considers hydration as no longer a human necessity but is happily marketing water as an aspiration. Take the Vogue-endorsed ViA gem-water bottles by VitaJuwel, crafted glass bottles costing between £67 and £224 that come with vials of crystals to “vitalise the water”. Bellabeat promises its Spring is the world’s first artificially intelligent water bottle, for those wanting their daily water intake tracked by an app for £79.99. “If you want someone to carry a bottle around every day, you have to make something that is desirable, that people want to be seen with,” says Kirpal Bharaj, founder of London startup Stay Sixty. “Single-use plastic is an unnecessary evil,” he says, “and it’s not just that it takes years to degrade – 50 million barrels of oil are used to pump, to process and to refrigerate single-use plastic bottles everywhere.” Kirpal and his brother Raj sell their Scandi-design-inspired bottles for £30, buoyed by statistics that show 36% of Britons now own and regularly use a reusable water bottle. But how has the move towards refilling your bottle from the tap affected water brands? Evian, the UK’s bestselling bottled water, said: “Today, more than 50% of our water is delivered through reusable packaging. Our goal is to eliminate the need for single-use packaging and we plan to launch alternatives to plastic or single-use plastic packaging in all our major water markets by 2025.” Louise Edge, a plastics campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “People are waking up to the fact that we are producing far more throwaway plastic waste than we can handle, and switching to reusable bottles, coffee cups and bags.” Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental group, estimates there are 150 million tonnes of plastic in the ocean; Greenpeace aims to tackle this one bottle at a time. “This is more than a fashion,” says Edge. “It’s the start of a fundamental shift.” | ['media/marketingandpr', 'fashion/accessories', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/plastic', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/nosheen-iqbal', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-11-18T08:00:54Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2010/jul/27/vestas-wind-turbine | Former Vestas staff open wind turbine manufacturer on Isle of Wight | Nearly one year after Danish wind giant Vestas closed the UK's only major turbine plant, a new British blade manufacturer is opening just metres from the old factory. Sureblades, run by a team including three former Vestas staff on the Isle of Wight, is pinning its hopes on a new type of blade that will be 100% recyclable. Working with Southampton University for the certification of its blades, the new company already has an order placed with Irish renewable energy company C&F Green Energy for 1,000 of its blades. The 4.6m-long structures will be used in 15kW micro turbines. Sean McDonagh, who is heading up operations at Sureblades, said the project had been a "beacon of light" for those involved in the Vestas plant closure last August, which led to 425 employees being made redundant. "It's been tough as no money was coming in for our families, but we knew it would work in the end, because this is a product the country needs for where it's going," McDonagh said. Based on the same industrial estate as the former Vestas factory, which workers occupied during a 11-day roof-top protest against its closure last year, the company forecasts it will take on 40 staff within the next two years. "There are two big industries down here and people [former Vestas workers] have been on one-month contracts and not able to live their lives. When people heard about us, it's like they could get on with their lives, so they've been getting in touch," said McDonagh. Working alongside McDonagh are the former Vestas employees Keith Hunsell and Glynn Milton, and Penny Smout a former special adviser to Ed Miliband. Unlike conventional turbine blades which use an epoxy resin that cannot be broken down, the company's blades will use a material that can be melted down and made into new blades after old ones are worn out. Sureblades said it also has another two potential orders in addition to the C&F deal, and it hopes to be fully operational by September. Last year Vestas said the closure of the Isle of Wight plant was a result of a lack of demand and planning problems in the UK. Ditlev Engel, the CEO of Vestas, said at the time: "In the UK, there is a clear division between what the government would like to see happening and what certain local politicians want to see happening, or rather not want to see happening ... there is not necessarily the same ambition levels." The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT), which represented and supported the Vestas workers last year, welcomed the new company. The general secretary, Bob Crow, said: "The former Vestas workers behind this imaginative new project have completely destroyed the argument put forward by the company at the time of closure that there was no market for UK manufactured turbine blades. Through their efforts to create jobs they have blown apart the bogus grounds put forward at the time for closure and redundancy of the workforce." He continued: "RMT is very proud of what our former Vestas members have achieved so far and we are right behind them. They have also shown that it is far too easy for companies in the UK to soak up government grants and then just cut and run when it suits them without any meaningful consultation, never mind a ballot of the workforce." | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'technology/energy', 'environment/vestas', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/adam-vaughan'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2010-07-27T11:56:51Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2019/dec/02/vw-accused-of-using-innovative-defences-in-high-court-battle | VW accused of using 'innovative' defences in high court battle | Volkswagen has employed a range of “progressively more innovative” arguments to claim the software fitted to millions of its vehicles is not a defeat device designed to cheat emissions tests, the high court has heard. Lawyers representing more than 90,000 UK customers are bringing the biggest class action of its kind in Britain against the carmaker over the dieselgate emissions scandal. VW admitted in 2015 to having manipulated the systems in 11m vehicles worldwide to fool emissions tests. It pleaded guilty in the US two years ago to criminal charges and paid out $4.3bn (£3.3bn) in civil and criminal penalties. In Australia it settled a multimillion-dollar class action which involved an agreement to pay between $87m and $127m in compensation to customers. In the face of the allegations, the VW CEO, Martin Winterkorn, apologised on behalf of the company, saying: “I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public. We do not and will not tolerate violations of any kind of our internal rules or of the law.” But in Europe VW is still denying the software in question was an illegal defeat device – despite German regulators having ruled in 2015 that the software was designed to cheat emissions tests. Lawyers for the UK customers opened a class action against VW in the high court on Monday. In 2015 the company admitted fitting the software to 1.2m of its vehicles in the UK, and rolled out a “fix” to make cars compliant with emissions laws. But VW’s case in papers submitted to the court is that this software was not designed to breach the legal testing regime and was therefore not a defeat device. Tom de la Mare QC, representing VW’s customers, said in written submission to the court: “VW have raised a range of progressively more inventive arguments as to why the software function is not a defeat device – arguments which have changed over time, and have been been deployed selectively before different courts and tribunals.” He added EU emissions regulations prohibited the use of defeat devices to prevent cheating of the emissions limits by manufacturers. He said the software VW fitted was clearly designed to defeat the emissions tests and was clearly a prohibited defeat device. De la Mare said the vehicles were “optimised to minimise the amount of pollutants” in emissions tests, meaning they operated in a “completely different way in the street to how it operated in the test”. “It is difficult to think of a more obvious cheat than the one VW used,” he added. Lawyers for VW customers say emissions tests are designed to protect the public from diesel emissions. “Nitrogen oxides are extremely dangerous air quality pollutants, particularly in urban areas,” said De la Mare, adding exposure to nitrogen dioxide carried with it significant risk to human health and citing statistics showing pollution was “killing approximately 1,000 people a day in Europe”. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimates exposure to nitrogen dioxide has an effect on mortality equivalent to 23,500 deaths annually in the UK. De la Mare said internal VW documents showed that the company had “long known that the software was unlawful and indefensible”, pointing to one document in which a VW employee said the vehicles would “flunk” emissions tests without the software. He submitted that the documents showed a “clear acceptance that the software was the only basis on which they were meeting the emissions limits”. De la Mare warned that if the court ruled in VW’s favour, it would leave the regulatory regime “toothless in the face of a major fraud of precisely the kind it was surely designed to prevent”. VW said in a statement: “Volkswagen Group maintains that there has never been a defeat device installed in any of its vehicles in the UK. “The question the judge is deciding in this hearing is not whether the affected vehicles contained such a device, but whether the legal definition is met in certain circumstances. We will continue to defend robustly our position in the high court.” Dieselgate became public in September 2015 when the US Environmental Protection Agency revealed how VW and Audi had violated the Clean Air Act, leading to investigations by government agencies around the world in the biggest scandal to hit the car industry in decades. In January former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and four others were charged in Germany with fraud in connection with the emissions scandal. Winterkorn has denied any personal involvement with the scandal, and the case is not expected to take place until next year. | ['business/vw-volkswagen', 'business/business', 'business/automotive-industry', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-12-02T16:35:34Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
science/2008/may/30/biodiversity.conservation | Ecosystem destruction costing hundreds of billions a year | The steeply accelerating decline of the natural world is already costing hundreds of billions of pounds a year, say leading economists, in a review of the costs and benefits of forests, rivers and marine life. The losses will increase dramatically over the next generation unless urgent remedial action is taken, they say. An interim report presented to world leaders meeting in Bonn yesterday warns of the "severe consequences" to all economies if forests continue to be felled, seas overfished and if land is turned to intensive farming. The report says that the world has lost 40% of its forests in 300 years, and half its wetlands in just 50 years. More than one third of mangroves have disappeared in just 20 years and there is increasing soil loss, as well as severe erosion, and growing water scarcity. Details on how to estimate the costs associated with this environmental degradation will come in the final report, due by 2010. The new Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity review argues that biodiversity loss is already leading to wars and political destabilisation and international tension. Furthermore, the livelihoods of billions of the world's poorest people who depend directly on nature to earn their living are being undermined. "We are consuming the world's biodiverse ecosystem at an unsustainable rate and this is starting to have serious socio-economic impacts", say the authors, led by Deutsche Bank economist Pavan Sukhdev. "We must ultimately answer to nature for the simple reason that it has limits and rules of its own. There are no economies without environments but there are environments without economies." The review is modelled on the UK government's Stern review of climate change which in 2006 warned that the global economy would effectively collapse if countries did not address greenhouse gases, and that countries could not afford not to act. "With biodiversity loss we are not only considering long term horizons as we are with climate change," the authors write. "Ecosystem degradation is already extensive and observable and its effects are dramatic. Significant losses are happening right now." The economists warn that on current trends, 11% of the world's untouched forests and 60% of its coral reefs could be lost by 2030. About 60% of the Earth's ecosystem, examined by the researchers, has been degraded in the past 50 years. Population growth, changing land use and global climate change will lead to further declines. The review references previous economic studies suggesting biodiversity loss could cost the world 7% of its economic wealth by 2050, a figure that would be measured in trillions of dollars a year. "This is a conservative estimate because it is partial, and does not account for loss of marine services", say the authors. They call on governments to rethink subsidies to reflect tomorrow's priorities, and to urgently find a better way to value ecosystem damage. "The fundamental requirement is to develop an economic yardstick that is more effective than GDP for assessing the performance of an economy. Countries, companies and individuals need to understand the real costs of using the Earth's natural capital", they say. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/biodiversity', 'science/science', 'science/biology', 'type/article'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2008-05-30T11:11:35Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/15/real-bp-gulf-oil-disaster-still-to-come | Real BP Gulf oil disaster is still to come | Terry Jones | Despite BP fighting valiantly to keep reporters and photographers away from the affected areas, the oil is still erupting out of the sea bed, making the waters of the Gulf of Mexico heavy with petroleum and smearing the coastline with black goo. So what is going to happen now the hurricane season has arrived? The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration claims there won't be any oil droplets in any hurricane's precipitation. But Jeff Masters, the founder of Weather Underground, from the University of Michigan, disagrees. In fact, he claims that the oil droplets in the hurricane-force winds might actually cause "explosive deepening" of hurricanes in the Gulf. What will happen when an oil-powered hurricane hits New Orleans and splatters its streets and buildings with crude oil? What will happen when it's not just pelicans and turtles that are plastered in black stuff but people? What about when rice and sugarcane are covered in oil? How will BP keep the reporters and photographers out of it then? But BP is aware of the possibility of impending disaster a hurricane might bring. On the BP oil leak response website, Mike Utsler, the BP incident commander, based in Houma, tells us: "It's an area that we've put tremendous planning and preparation, from everything in terms of how we would respond to moving people, first and foremost, to safety, but how we would also protect and manage the equipment that's so vital to our operations …" So that's all right then. BP is going to move everybody out of the way of any carcinogenic, petroleum-filled storms that hit the mainland. But wait a minute! Mike Utsler isn't talking about the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. He's only talking about the people and equipment involved in the cleanup. "How do we do and manage our people," he says "in such a way that their safety is paramount." In fact, BP apparently has a weather team working in conjunction with "the area command weather experts, as well as of course the hurricane centre, and our NOAA colleagues" so when a hurricane hits New Orleans and plasters the streets and buildings with crude oil, at least BP will have predicted it. But what it's not predicting, at the moment, is the worst-case scenario. BP doesn't actually know how big the oil field they drilled into is. They're drilling into lower tertiary (Paleogene) rock that was laid down at the same time mammals and birds were coming into being: 65-23m years ago. It is one of the deepest wells ever drilled by the oil and gas industry, so as you can imagine, they're feeling their way in all this. Appearing before a House subcommittee in Washington, Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP, estimated that there might be a modest 2bn gallons down there, which could mean it could go on belching out oil for another four years. On the other hand, when BP originally announced their discovery of the "giant" find at its Tiber Prospect, experts estimated the size at 42bn gallons. And since they were talking about "recoverable oil" (which could be only 20% of the actual oil in the site) it would mean the site may hold as much as 210bn gallons. In other words, it could go on belching out oil for another hundred years. Could that be enough time for the oil slick to reach the Mediterranean? Or, heaven forbid, Brighton? But we shouldn't blame poor old BP. After all BP didn't know the Deepwater Horizon was going to explode, otherwise there would be 11 oil workers who would still be alive today. And it didn't know (apparently) that it was unsafe to replace the heavy drilling mud in the pipes with lighter seawater, as the rig's chief driller advised them. And of course once it happened, BP didn't know how to stop the oil coming out. But then they've got more important things to think about, such as the return to their shareholders. And if the Gulf oil spill goes on for another hundred years, polluting the world's entire ocean system, and the company going into liquidation as a result, that really is something to worry about. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'environment/bp-oil-spill', 'business/bp', 'business/oil', 'environment/oil-spills', 'environment/oil', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/comment', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/terryjones'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2010-07-15T14:00:06Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2020/jul/06/coalition-announces-190m-plan-to-divert-10m-tonnes-of-waste-from-landfill | Coalition announces $190m plan to divert 10m tonnes of waste from landfill | The federal government will devote $190m towards new recycling infrastructure, as it looks to divert more than 10m tonnes of plastic, paper and glass waste away from landfill. The funding, which will be contingent on state and territory governments and industry groups matching the federal contribution, is part of a newly launched Recycling Modernisation Fund (RMF) that the Morrison government hopes will generate $600m in investment. Both Labor and the Greens have expressed concern at the RMF, arguing the funding won’t stop production of problematic materials in the first instance and calling for regulatory reform. In addition to the $190m, the federal government will also spend $24.6m on improving waste data to better track recycling targets, as well as $35m towards implementing its commitments under the National Waste Policy Action Plan – which include waste export bans, plans to increase domestic demand for recycled materials and a national resource recovery target of 80% by 2030. However the first deadline as part of the proposed waste export ban has been pushed back, which the government claims is a result of a Covid-19 induced legislative backlog. As a result, legislation to enact the bans will be introduced sometime later this year, beginning with a ban on exporting glass waste from 1 January 2021, which had originally been planned to take effect from the second half of 2020. The timeframes for other bans – on exporting mixed plastics from 1 July 2021, tyres from 1 December 2021, single resin and polymer plastics from 1 July 2022, and paper and cardboard from 1 July 2024 – are unchanged. The announcement of the RMF comes after the national plastics summit in March when Scott Morrison outlined an overhaul of Commonwealth procurement rules to increase demand for recycled products, as part of the government’s new recycling policy. The government has made reducing plastic waste the focus of its environment policy, with Morrison telling a UN climate summit last year his government would drastically reduce plastic pollution. Monday’s announcement of the RMF comes as the government is due to release an interim report from the independent review of Australia’s national environmental laws, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, led by the former competition watchdog chair, Graeme Samuel. The environment minister, Sussan Ley, said the RMF was made contingent on state, territory and industry matching the investment because “we need manufacturers and industry to take a genuine stewardship role that helps create a sustainable circular economy”. “As we cease shipping our waste overseas, the waste and recycling transformation will reshape our domestic waste industry, driving job creation and putting valuable materials back into the economy,” Ley said. “Australians need to have faith that the items they place in their kerbside recycling bins will be re-used in roads, carpet, building materials and a range of other essential items. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to remodel waste management, reduce pressure on our environment and create economic opportunity,” she said. The assistant minister for waste reduction and environment, Trevor Evans, said “our targeted investment will grow Australia’s circular economy, create more jobs and build a stronger onshore recycling industry”. Labor’s assistant environment spokesman Josh Wilson criticised the government for how long it took to introduce the scheme. “Unfortunately today’s announcement is belated action on one part of that integrated picture. It does not address the critical area of regulatory reform … And there is still no detail on how demand for recycled content will be supported through meaningful procurement targets and related mechanisms,” he said. “We look forward to further detail about the funding and especially the timelines,” Wilson said. Greens waste and recycling spokesman Peter Whish-Wilson took the criticism further, saying the RMF “just won’t work”. “All the money in the world isn’t going to fix the waste crisis if we don’t improve the way we recycle. This means stopping the problem at its source: we need to stop producing so much waste and invest in a ‘circular economy’.” He criticised the government’s preference for “voluntary schemes”, and called for a ban on single-use plastic products. “The recycling crisis is a quality crisis - we need to improve the quality of the material that is going into the recycling process to begin with,” he said. The government has recently been forced into finding new solutions to manage Australia’s waste and recycling, after governments including those of Indonesia and Malaysia announced they would return recycling that had been “contaminated” with unrelated waste. | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/scott-morrison', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/sussan-ley', 'environment/plastic', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/elias-visontay', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-07-06T03:20:36Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/article/2024/jun/22/new-mexico-wildfires-floods-disaster | ‘Multiple disasters all in one day’: New Mexico’s brutal week of fire and flood | It’s been a harrowing week of fire and flood in New Mexico. Just days after a pair of fast-moving fires roared across drought-stricken landscapes and into communities, a tropical storm swirled north, unleashing downpours and golf ball-sized hail over scorched slopes that had only just burned. As the dueling dangers of two weather extremes converged, charred debris flowed into neighborhoods, crews were temporarily evacuated from the firefight as emergency officials pivoted from fire support to flood rescues, and strong winds swept up dried soils to create one of the largest dust storms the state has ever seen. Across the arid south-west, where fire risks typically rise with the temperatures in the spring before they are doused in a summer monsoon, weather patterns like these aren’t unheard of. But the climate crisis has supercharged extreme conditions, setting the stage for new types of catastrophes that are increasing in both intensity and frequency. When they overlap, the dangers grow. “We are used to these disasters, but I don’t think this agency has ever dealt with anything like this,” said Dr Jeremy Klass, the recovery and mitigation bureau chief of New Mexico’s department of homeland security and emergency management. “We are dealing with two disasters right on top of one another.” The South Fork and Salt fires are still burning and remain at 0% containment and communities across the south of the state are bracing for more rain. After erupting on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, the blazes burned hot and fast, sweeping across more than 23,400 areas collectively and leveling neighborhoods. An estimated 1,400 structures have been lost to the flames, according to officials who are still finishing the grim tallies of burned buildings, and at least two people died while fleeing the fires. Meanwhile, roughly 8,000 people have been displaced, as they await the news of what will remain when they are allowed to return. While the infusion of moisture from Tropical Storm Alberto – the first named storm in what’s expected to be a heavy hurricane season – helped slow the fires’ spread and bumped local humidity, it also caused chaos. Emergency management crews had to quickly shift gears from fire support to water rescues as curtains of rain inundated the burn scar. Up to 8in of rain poured on villages in the central part of New Mexico – more rainfall than some parts of the state typically see in a year. Fire crews had to be temporarily evacuated from the fire line for their safety as the storm hit, according to officials, before they rushed to try to mitigate the risks of more debris flows. “On most fires, we get through the fire phase and can secure things before storms start to hit,” Arthur Gonzalez, a fire behavior analyst on the incident team, said during a community meeting on Thursday, explaining that there are usually weeks to prepare for such an event. “We are having to do both at the same time.” As first responders and officials grappled with a chaotic mix of conditions, the wild weather had one more curveball to throw at New Mexico: the gusty winds kicked up a wall of dust that stretched hundreds of miles long. The dust storm, known as a “haboob”, rapidly clouded visibility across major highways as it swept across New Mexico and into Arizona. Ali Rye, the state director of New Mexico’s department of homeland security and emergency management, said she’d spent Thursday morning trying to support recovery efforts from the fires and floods when she got the call that there was a 20-car pile-up that shut down the interstate. Fifty people were injured in the accident. “It is multiple disasters all in one day,” she said, adding that the overlap has made each more traumatizing for affected communities. It’s part of a troubling trend. By Rye’s tally, the number of state-declared disasters in New Mexico has quadrupled since 2019. “We are seeing an increase in the impacts to our state in various ways and it has become increasingly challenging over the last couple of years,” she said. “And we are not out of the clear yet.” The threats are only going to rise as the world continues to warm. While it will take time for scientists to better understand whether this week’s events are tied to the climate crisis, “temperatures are easily attributable to climate change”, said Dr Andrew Hoell, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Broiling weather across the south-west has baked more moisture out of landscapes and plants, accelerating drought and increasing wildfire risks. It has also dried the topsoils that are carried by winds to create dust storms. New Mexico has been in the grips of a severe drought and conditions are only expected to intensify through the end of the summer, even with the monsoons. “That’s the lingering long-term drought over the area,” said the state climatologist, Dr David DuBois, who added that record-high temperatures have taken a toll. “We have had 11 days over 100F already – and it’s still June.” DuBois said the state is preparing for a flip to monsoon season, when there will be more rain and more risks to burn scars, but the tropical storm that blew north this week was unexpected. There are hopes that, even with the negative impacts from the rain, the wetter weather will help quiet fire activity and give crews what they need to corral the blazes. But it’s expected to do little to relieve the longterm dryness. “We have had some really good bumps of rain, but it is lost through higher temperatures,” DuBois said. “One season doesn’t change the whole situation – that’s what’s on my mind. We may get a bunch of rain but then it goes back to really dry again.” | ['us-news/newmexico', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/wildfires', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/environment', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/extreme-heat', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-06-22T13:00:33Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2022/sep/05/how-one-solar-farm-is-serving-its-local-community-well | How one solar farm is serving its local community well | Letter | Barbara Chillman writes from Ramsden in Oxfordshire to say that opposing solar farms need not be nimbyism (Letters, 1 September). She could have cited a nearby existing solar farm, Southill Solar. It is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and won a Landscape Institute award for its design. Southill Solar is a 4.5 megawatt solar farm operated by Southill Community Energy (SCE) for Charlbury and the surrounding villages. SCE is a community benefit society that pays its 400 members interest of 5% a year from its surpluses, as well as disbursing grants to the community for projects such as improving the energy and carbon performance of community buildings, funding a sustainability initiative with a local school and buying a polytunnel for a local agriculture scheme supplying fruit and vegetables. Half the field on which the solar farm is sited has been turned over to improving the soil and biodiversity, and we also have solar thermal beehives. Engaging the community with its energy production can add enormous value and make nimbyism irrelevant. Liz Reason Chair, Southill Community Energy • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'society/communities', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2022-09-05T17:08:27Z | true | ENERGY |
science/2016/apr/19/scientific-defence-of-boaty-mcboatface | Scientific defence of Boaty McBoatface | Letters | Science, like politics, is consumed by egos (Letters, 19 April). And none will have bigger egos than those securing a berth on this fantastic polar research vessel. The egos of scientists have prevented the furtherance of knowledge, bringing thought to a crashing halt, sometimes for hundreds of years. Because science is often considered to be fact, if these facts take hold with a fervour akin to religion, then all further questioning can become silenced. It should not be forgotten that all science rests precariously upon a complete unknowing of the absolute basics. That is not to say it is not useful. Rules are developed which allow a great deal of confidence in prediction. But all rules in science start from an approximation (often a series of approximations). These approximations are either things that we choose to neglect (with good reason), or things that are exceedingly complex and we choose to circumvent (the computer power may not be available), or we simply don’t understand. Most crucially, this last approximation always applies somewhere. So, in order to keep the scientists true to their science and not to their bloated egos for sailing aboard the Great NERC Endeavour, Boaty McBoatface is a perfect pride popper. It will also keep the politicians focused on the science produced and not their overwhelming need for success because they have thrown so much money at the problem. No photo opportunities on the ship’s prow. Michael Anderson Professor of materials chemistry, University of Manchester • Given the potential constitutional and democratic crisis occasioned by the popular mandate for Boaty McBoatface, I offer the following solution. We should note that the vessel in question is not a boat but a ship, and amendment to Shippy McShipface would attract unfortunate mispronunciations. One of the distinctions between a boat and a ship is that a ship can carry a boat, but not vice versa. If we look at the vessel, we can see that it has on board at least one small boat for excursion and (God forbid) evacuation. So: it should be Boaty McBoatface for the carried boat, and something more dignified for the carrying ship. I don’t do social media, but if I did, my vote would have been for David Attenborough. James Lindesay Leicester • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | ['science/science', 'environment/environment', 'environment/poles', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-04-19T19:01:51Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2021/apr/05/florida-second-leak-toxic-wastewater-reservoir-piney-point | Potential second leak identified in central Florida wastewater reservoir | Workers battling to prevent the collapse of a central Florida reservoir containing hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated water identified a potential second leak on Monday. But officials expressed hope that a dreaded “20ft wall of water”, resulting from a total failure of the reservoir walls, could yet be averted. Wastewater has been gushing from a pool at the abandoned Piney Point phosphate plant, south of Tampa, for a week, at a rate of 2m to 3m gallons a day. Over the weekend, officials began pumping out water at a rate of 35m gallons a day – into the ecologically sensitive Tampa Bay, causing fears of an environmental catastrophe. In a press conference on Monday, the Manatee county administrator, Scott Hopes, said workers had brought in more pumps and planned to more than double the amount of contaminated water being dumped from the reservoir into the bay, to 100m gallons a day. Officials had warned that if the reservoir collapsed it could send a wall of water hurtling towards nearby residences. “You could imagine if we go from 35m gallons a day to 100m gallons a day or more pulling it out you can see how probably within 48 hours, if all those flows continue, we will be in a situation where we will no longer have that risk of that full breach which would send that 20ft wall of water,” Hopes said. As workers increased the flow of contaminated water from the reservoir, however, others were investigating a potential second leak, said Jacob Saur, county public safety director. Saur said an infrared drone had spotted activity north of the initial leak, which was being assessed. Vern Buchanan, a congressman, took a helicopter tour of the site. “To see the reality up there, it’s very concerning to me,” he said. “I know they’re making some progress but to see the water spewing out it looked pretty contaminated to me so I continue to be very concerned about this. “I wanna be hopeful, optimistic, but just the fact we’re running water into Tampa Bay is not a great thing and a great place to be at.” At the weekend Nikki Fried, the Florida agriculture commissioner and the only elected Democrat in statewide office, warned of an “environmental catastrophe”. “Floridians were evacuated from their homes on Easter weekend. 480m gallons of toxic wastewater could end up in Tampa Bay – this might become an environmental catastrophe,” she said on Twitter. But on Sunday Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, attempted to downplay reports that the water contained traces of radioactive materials. “The water meets water quality standards, standards for marine waters, with the exception primarily of the phosphorus and the nitrogen,” he said. Officials ordered residents of more than 300 houses to leave their homes. About 345 inmates were moved from a jail, with other inmates moved to the second floor. The pond at the abandoned phosphate mine sits in a stack of phosphogypsum, a radioactive waste product from fertiliser manufacturing, and contains small amounts of radium and uranium. The stacks can also release large concentrations of radon gas. Environmental protection groups warned that pumping more pollutants into Tampa Bay would heighten the risk to wildlife from toxic red tide algae blooms. “Phosphate companies have had over 50 years to figure out a way to dispose of the radioactive gypsum wastes,” said the activist group Mana-Sota 88. “At the present time there are no federal, state or local regulations requiring the industry to make final disposition of phosphogypsum wastes in an environmentally acceptable manner.” The group added: “The current crisis can be traced back to the absurd 2006 decision to allow dredged material from Port Manatee to be placed into one of the gyp stacks at Piney Point, something the stack was never designed for.” Additional reporting by Richard Luscombe | ['us-news/florida', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-gabbatt', 'profile/richardluscombe', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-04-05T19:39:11Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2014/jan/07/england-floods-budget-cuts | Massive cuts risk England's ability to deal with floods, MPs say | "Massive" and ongoing cuts to the budget of the department of environment, food and rural affairs mean its ability to respond to emergencies such as flooding is in danger, according to a report by MPs published on Tuesday. "Recent flooding events reinforce our concerns about cuts to the Defra budget. It is a small ministry facing massive cuts," said Anne McIntosh, Conservative MP and chairman of the Efra select committee. "Ministers must clarify how further budgets will impact on ... the ability of the department to respond to emergencies." She added: "It is remarkable that the current flood defences have held against the force of the substantial and sustained recent battering." Heavy rain and huge waves caused further flooding and damage on Monday, following rainfall last month that made it the sixth wettest December since 1910. Environment secretary Owen Paterson, who chaired the eighth meeting of the government's Cobra crisis response committee on Monday, said extreme weather since the start of December had caused seven fatalities and flooded over 1700 properties in England. Over 1m properties have been protected by flood defences, Paterson said, but criticism of cuts in flood defence spending is intensifying as the flood waters rise. Year-on-year spending fell by over a quarter when the coalition took power in 2010 and, despite partial U-turns since then, real-terms spending will be significantly lower at £546m in 2015-16 than the £646m spent in 2010-11. In July 2012, the Guardian revealed that almost 300 shovel-ready flood defence projects which had been in line for funding had not been built due to budget cuts. Paterson told MPs on Monday: "Flood management is a real priority for this government. It has a vital role to play in protecting people and property from the damage caused by flooding." He described criticism of flood defence budget cuts as "chuntering" and "blather" and said "difficult decisions" had been forced on ministers by the "dire economic circumstances" left by the last Labour government. The government's own scientists have stated that the biggest impact of climate change on the UK is rising flood risk. But spending remains well below the level needed to keep pace with the rising risk, according to the Environment Agency (EA), the frontline flood defence body funded by Defra. McIntosh noted that the EA is set to lose 1700 jobs by October, on top of 1150 jobs lost since 2009: a total of 23% of the workforce. The Efra report said Paterson had failed to set out how Defra's budget cut of over a third will be implemented. Paul Leinster, the EA's chief executive said: "The EA has to save money and reduce staff numbers, like the rest of the public sector. We are looking to protect frontline services and our ability to respond to flooding when it occurs." In November he told trade magazine ENDS the new round of cuts were "going to be painful. Flood risk maintenance will be impacted." The trade union Unison, which represents some EA staff, said on Monday: "Making so many skilled workers redundant will seriously affect the EA's ability to cope with future disasters. It is a disgrace that the government is happy to put cost cutting before public safety and protecting family homes. Ministers can't have it both ways, praising the sterling work of members in the EA in one breath, and in the next breath announcing further damaging cuts." Charles Tucker, chairman of the National Flood Forum, which represents hundreds of affected communities, said: "It's about joined-up thinking. With joined-up thinking, you don't cut the staff at the EA who manage flooding and maintain flood assets. With joined-up thinking, you don't keep cutting local council capability to deal with the new flooding responsibilities they've been given." The Efra report also criticised lack of transparency over the new "partnership funding", where a portion of central government spending on flood defences is replaced by money from local authorities and the private sector. So far £148m has been pledged up until 2015. In 2012 it was revealed that less than 4% of this funding came from the private sector but Defra now refuses to say how much is from the private sector, citing "commercial confidentiality". MPs state in Tuesday's report: "We are concerned about the small amounts of private sector funding secured to date". Guy Shrubsole, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "Protecting British households from the destructive impacts of climate change is the ultimate public good; for government to slash protection with no guarantee of businesses picking up the tab instead is utter neglect. This policy isn't even treading water – it's sinking." The Efra report, scrutinising the whole Defra budget, concludes: "In the last year Defra has had to respond to floods, horsemeat contamination, and ash dieback. Its ability to respond to emergencies such as these must be protected." It also notes low morale at the department, which rates 13th out of 17 major Whitehall departments, with just 22% of staff believing Defra management "have a clear vision for the future". Challenges facing Defra in 2014, accroding to the Efra report, include the badger cull, proposals on biodiversity offsetting and the introduction of common agricultural policy changes and plastic bag charging. George Eustice, environment minister, told the Today programme on Tuesday: "We within Defra have prioritised spending on flood defence in difficult times, when budgets across government are having to be cut. We've maintained spending on flood defence specifically and we are going to spend around £2.3 billion between 2015 and 2021, which will be an increase in real terms." | ['environment/flooding', 'environment/environment-agency', 'uk/weather', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'politics/owen-paterson', 'politics/politics', 'politics/taxandspending', 'politics/cobra', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-01-07T08:41:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2020/mar/06/exxonmobil-tried-to-get-european-green-deal-watered-down-claims-climate-lobbying-watchdog | ExxonMobil 'tried to get European Green Deal watered down' | The US oil firm ExxonMobil met key European commission officials in an attempt to water down the European Green Deal in the weeks before it was agreed, according to a climate lobbying watchdog. Documents unearthed by InfluenceMap revealed that Exxon lobbyists met Brussels officials in November to urge the EU to extend its carbon-pricing scheme to “stationary” sources, such as power plants, to include tailpipe emissions from vehicles using petrol or diesel. Green groups believe this would be the least effective way to disincentive fossil fuel vehicles, and would rather allow countries to set their own emissions standards and targets for road emissions. The move appears to be an attempt to stall the rollout of electric vehicles by keeping a lid on the cost of driving a traditional combustion engine vehicle running on fossil fuels. The European commission stopped short of proposals to phase out combustion engine vehicles and has plans to consult on whether to include vehicles in its carbon-pricing scheme. Edward Collins, a director at InfluenceMap, said the document “represents yet another evidence piece” of ExxonMobil’s long-term strategy of delaying climate action by focusing on “long-term technical solutions” to try to avert “decisive regulatory action” that is urgently required to tackle the climate crisis. A Guardian investigation last year found that Exxon has spent €37.2m (£32.4m) lobbying the EU since 2010, more than any other major oil company, according to the EU’s transparency register. It revealed that Shell spent €36.5m and BP spent €18.1m lobbying Brussels officials to shape EU climate policy. Exxon is also facing legal action in the US courts after accusations that it misled investors over the business risks caused by regulations aimed at addressing the climate crisis. The lawsuit claims that Exxon scientists told the company’s management in 1977 there was an “overwhelming” consensus that fossil fuels were responsible for increasing the levels of carbon in the atmosphere that lead to global heating. In 1981, an internal company memo warned that “it is distinctly possible” that CO2 emissions from the company’s 50-year plan “will later produce effects which will indeed be catastrophic (at least for a substantial fraction of the Earth’s population)”. Exxon’s latest lobbying efforts have surfaced after documents emerged earlier this year showing that BP successfully lobbied US policymakers to weaken a landmark environmental law to clear the way for fossil fuel projects to move forward. A spokesman for ExxonMobil said the company “complies fully” with the EU’s transparency rules and supports the Paris climate agreement. He added that Exxon, “like many companies”, had “a responsibility” to engage in a public policy dialogue that impacted its business. | ['business/exxonmobil', 'business/oil', 'business/business', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'world/european-commission', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/eu', 'environment/electric-cars', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/fossil-fuels', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/fossil-fuels | EMISSIONS | 2020-03-06T11:26:29Z | true | EMISSIONS |
world/2004/dec/30/india.tsunami2004 | New tsunami alert triggers panic in India | Thousands of people in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu today fled to higher ground amid reports that the Indian government had issued a fresh tsunami alert. The reports came despite the absence of any large aftershock and, as police sirens blared on beaches in Tamil Nadu - one of the areas hardest hit by Sunday's tidal waves - people streamed inland on foot or crammed into any vehicles they could find. Some shouted: "Waves are coming! Waves are coming!" However, there were no immediate signs of giant waves, and the US Geological Survey said it was unaware of any aftershock large enough to trigger a fresh tsunami. The Indian government subsequently downgraded the alert, but the warning had already created panic. A home ministry official said an alert had been issued as a precaution. "It is for a precautionary measure based on some information we have," the official said, without giving further details. "A number of experts outside [the] country are suggesting that another tsunami may hit [the] Indian Ocean today afternoon in the event of an earthquake of high intensity, which may happen near [the] Australian region," the home ministry said in a message to state governments. Adding to public concern, police in Tamil Nadu said aftershocks in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, near the epicentre of the quake that triggered the tsunami, were "likely" to cause high waves. They evacuated hundreds of residents from some coastal areas. However, in Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, local officials drove through the streets appealing for calm over loudspeakers, saying there was no imminent danger. "There is no reason to panic," an official in the back of a jeep said through a megaphone. "You can go back to your jobs or your home, wherever you please. There is no imminent danger." As officials tried to calm growing fears, rescuers plied the dense forests on the islands, where authorities fear that as many as 10,000 people could be buried in mud and thick vegetation. Many hungry villagers were surviving on coconut milk, rescuers said. Mohammad Yusef, a 60-year-old fisherman who fled his village and was sheltering in a Catholic church in Port Blair along with around 800 others, said all 15 villages on the coast of Nicobar island had been destroyed. "There's not a single hut which is standing," he told the Associated Press. "Everything is gone. Most of the people have gone up to the hills and are afraid to come down." Officials estimate that Sunday's tsunami killed at least 13,230 people in India, although only 7,330 deaths have been confirmed. In some areas, whole communities have been wiped out. The waves killed more than 87,000 people from Asia to Africa. Panic was fuelled by one television station that reported a tsunami had hit and showed file footage of large waves. In Nagappattinam, on India's mainland - where more than 4,000 people died on Sunday - thousands of terrified residents, some carrying their last remaining belongings in suitcases balanced on their heads, ran through the streets and streamed out of the town in cars, buses, trucks and tractors. "It's coming," resident Thamil Vanan said as he headed for safety, carrying his toddler son. "We saw what happened here - I don't want to stay, I'm not mad." But some people gathered on bridges to watch for waves. Meanwhile, India has become the first country stricken by the Indian Ocean tsunami to decide to set up an early warning system, despite the expense and the fact that another tsunami may not occur for another 50 years or more. Affected countries had no warning of Sunday's devastating sea wave in the area and are, therefore, not tracked. However, a system to raise the alarm and save lives already covers much of the Pacific Ocean. As the death toll has risen, calls for a warning system have grown and India, which closely monitors other weather dangers such as monsoons, said it would now set one up. "India will have deep ocean assessment reporting systems to monitor any change in the deep ocean ... data will be fed to a satellite which will provide real-time information on any change in ocean behaviour," Kapil Sibal, the minister for science and technology, told a news conference. India had previously ruled out such a system because it had never been hit by a tsunami. "No government thought of it ... the last recorded tsunami has been in 1883. It was not in the horizon of our thoughts. Besides, tsunamis are not seen in the ocean, and these gain height only when they approach the shore," Mr Sibal added. Although the authorities knew of the earthquake that had hit Sumatra, they could not assess that it would cause the tsunamis that struck the Indian coast two and a half hours later. Economic analysts said that, although India was one of worst-affected countries in terms of deaths, the economic impact of the disaster would be minimal. Private economic think-tanks and industry groups said Asia's fourth-largest economy would comfortably meet the costs of reconstruction and relief, estimated at £238.3m. "Neither manufacturing nor any other economic activity is going to be adversely affected, barring shipping and tourism in Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar," Mahendra Sanghi, the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a leading industry lobby group, said. | ['world/world', 'world/india', 'world/tsunami2004', 'type/article', 'profile/marktran'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2004-12-30T11:41:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
film/2020/jun/22/how-we-made-chicken-run-nick-park-jane-horrocks | Nick Park and Jane Horrocks: how we made Chicken Run | Nick Park, co-director/producer My sister kept pet chickens when we were kids and we’d make up these skits and cartoons where they’d always be the heroes of the story. Aged 17, on a foundation art course, I did a couple of stints at a chicken-packing factory. One day they sent me to the slaughterhouse and I saw all the live chickens hanging on a conveyor belt, held upside down by their legs – it was horrifying. In a way, chickens have always been in the back of my mind. When [Aardman Animations co-founder] Peter Lord and I began discussing the concept of The Great Escape with chickens, the whole thing just fitted together. It was when we were at the Sundance film festival showing A Close Shave that we got a call from DreamWorks. Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg sent a private jet to fly us to Los Angeles for a night – they wanted to know if we had any feature film ideas. By coincidence they arranged for the meeting to take place in a famous chicken restaurant. At that point all we had were a few thoughts scribbled on a scrap of paper, but the idea of chickens plotting their grand escape went down really well. I remember Steven saying that The Great Escape was his favourite film, and he had 300 chickens on his farm. So that was pretty much the green light for Aardman – a fairly unknown British outfit – to get things going. For a while we toyed with various ideas and storylines, but then [American screenwriter] Karey Kirkpatrick came on board and suggested introducing a romance between Ginger and the maverick cockerel, Rocky [voiced by Mel Gibson]. Karey brought a Hollywood angle to the team, which was excellent for bringing Rocky to life. Sometimes our American colleagues would be confused by British slang. Because the film is set in Yorkshire we used some very specific phrases. We’d then get notes asking: “What is a wassock?” Sometimes we got away with saying things because they simply didn’t know what we meant. The animators generally got through around two or three seconds a day. We’d crack open the champagne if we managed to get a minute in a week. The pie machine sequence, my favourite scene, took around three months. There was an atmosphere of excitement on set as it was our first proper foray into feature films. There was a nervousness, too – we were determined to prove that we hadn’t sold out, despite signing with a Hollywood studio. When the film came out, the reviews were mostly good – certainly good enough to feel like we’d hit the mark, although some accused Aardman of getting in bed with Hollywood and losing its national-treasure status. It’s incredible to me that 20 years have passed since we made that film and it’s still thought of as a classic. Jane Horrocks, voiced Babs I can’t actually remember whether I was simply offered the role of Babs or if I auditioned for it. But what I do remember is the whole cast getting together for a read-through, which was unusual for an animation. I’d worked with Julia Sawalha on Ab Fab and knew Timothy Spall really well. It felt like being with old friends. Benjamin Whitrow, who played the RAF rooster Fowler, had a really loud voice and nearly blasted our ears off. He was absolutely perfect for the role! You could sense when we were all together that the film was going to be something special. Nick as a director was specific about what he wanted and I really enjoyed working with him. Both he and Pete Lord had a strong overall vision, not only for the animation but for what the characters sounded like. I’d received drawings of Babs and knew she was a larger lady – or should I say larger chicken? We had one recording with the whole cast together, then I had about four or five sessions on my own. It’s such a beautifully written and clever film without being overly sentimental and cheesy. You’re really rooting for the characters: you want them to win. My agent and I used to laugh about it marking the start of my “fowl period” as I went on to play a number of chickens in other animations. I wasn’t able to go to the premiere but I was in New York when it came out, so I went to see it in the cinema. The audience didn’t seem to get the irony and there wasn’t much laughter. Back in the UK, I went to see it in the cinema again. Of course, that was a different cup of tea altogether. The audience responded exactly as I hoped they would and roared with laughter. Babs is very similar to Bubble in Ab Fab. I think I do the dumb blonde role quite well – it comes naturally! It’s only been after years of people quoting Babs’s lines back at me that I’ve realised how good they are. I think my favourite is: “I don’t want to be a pie, I don’t like gravy!” When people hear my voice they “recognise” me. Some time ago, I went into my local dry cleaner’s and the woman working there said: “Can I ask you whether you happen to be the voice of a plasticine chicken?” • Chicken Run 2 is in production. | ['film/animation', 'film/chicken-run', 'culture/series/how-we-made', 'film/aardman', 'culture/culture', 'film/film', 'culture/jane-horrocks', 'food/chicken', 'environment/farming', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/arts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-06-22T15:40:23Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2013/mar/29/protesting-trident-replacement-aldermaston | Why I'll be protesting against a Trident replacement at Aldermaston | Natalie Bennett | On Easter Monday – or April Fools' Day, depending on your preference – I am joining people from all areas of Britain to protest against one of the coalition's greatest potential follies. Thousands of people, including Green party MEP Keith Taylor, members of CND and I, will be at Aldermaston for a protest rally against the Trident nuclear weapons system and its suggested replacement. We'll be at AWE Aldermaston, where the nuclear bombs are made, to make the case that Trident is not only utterly immoral, militarily outmoded and massively expensive, but to highlight the fact that in a time when the government is making the worst spending cuts in our history, it is also proposing to shell out almost £115bn over the next 30 years for its proposed replacement. That's £115bn on a hideous weapon of mass destruction. Even regardless of the cost, this is something that we simply should not be doing. That point has to be made first is that I cannot imagine a situation in which a British prime minister would fire one of these weapons – and our ownership of them only helps to support their continued presence elsewhere in the world. Nonetheless, there is the cost factor, which deserves to be strongly highlighted and can win the campaign allies from places many of us would not expect. Late last week, I appeared on Question Time, where the issue of Trident and its replacement was raised. It's hardly surprising, given that yet another coalition budget of cuts – and incongruous tax cuts – had been announced the day before, and as CND has pointed out, the cost of replacing Trident could pay for fee-free university places for the next 30 years. What was a little more surprising was that the broadcast's "extra guest", Daily Telegraph commentator Dan Hodges, tweeted that Trident's replacement is no more than a "vanity project" for the government. But at the most basic financial level, it's pretty clear: the Ministry of Defence says that it will cost £20bn-£25bn to replace Trident, and then £3bn per year for the next 30 years to maintain the new system. It will also cost an estimated £25bn to decommission, and that's without factoring in inflation. So even the £115bn figure mentioned above seems a very "conservative" estimate: with a small or a large "c". The Lib Dems and Labour have called for – and offered to lead – a Trident Alternatives Review, but all three major parties have said they are committed to a nuclear weapons system owned by the UK and stationed on our soil. We disagree. And in disagreeing, we are joined by the CND and many other campaign groups, including Action AWE – which is now almost four months into a year-long grassroots action campaign at AWE Aldermaston – as well as commentators, military experts, economists and journalists like Dan Hodges, from across the political spectrum. The case for a Trident replacement is that Trident is obsolete, and in need of replacement. We accept that it is obsolete, but believe a replacement is a dangerous, unnecessary toy, which will cost us billions we cannot afford and should not be spending on weapons of mass destruction. A responsible, mature state would take the chance presented by the obsolescence of its unnecessary and dangerous nuclear missile system to step away from weapons designed to kill tens of thousands of civilians and smash cities to the ground – and encourage others to follow its lead. It would take the billions of pounds it had earmarked for its latest toy and choose instead to spend it on green job creation, helping to make itself into an international leader and improving the lives of its citizens in the process. Only the captains of a ship of fools would insist on spending up to £140bn on an extraordinarily dangerous and immoral status symbol. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'politics/green-party', 'politics/politics', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/environment', 'world/nuclear-weapons', 'world/world', 'uk/trident', 'uk/military', 'politics/defence', 'uk/uk', 'tone/comment', 'world/protest', 'type/article', 'profile/nataliebennett'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2013-03-29T10:02:49Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2019/jul/04/pollutionwatch-diesel-restrictions-will-not-hit-poorest-most | Pollutionwatch: diesel restrictions will not hit poorest most | Those who object to low emission or clean-air zones often say restricting old vehicles and diesel cars in city centres will hit the poorest most. A study challenges this. Researchers from the University of the West of England combined UK census and air pollution data with information from annual vehicle safety (MOT) inspections. They found people from poorer areas drive shorter distances and create less air pollution compared with their wealthier counterparts. But poorer neighbourhoods have the most air pollution and this gap has widened since 2003. It is similar in the US, where black and Hispanic people suffer most from air pollution. The UK study found restrictions on diesel vehicles would have least impact in poorer areas, since diesels are predominantly owned by wealthier people. Restricting older vehicles would have more of an impact in poorer areas, but this effect was small: cars in the poorest areas were, on average, just over a year older than those owned by the most well-off. This was due to multi-car households in wealthier areas and the age of their second, third and in some cases, fourth cars. It seems poorer areas have least to lose and most to gain from reducing traffic pollution. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/pollution', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-07-04T20:30:42Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2016/jul/13/how-did-denmark-become-a-leader-in-the-food-waste-revolution | How did Denmark become a leader in the food waste revolution? | A six-year-old sniffs asparagus suspiciously as his father grapples with a grapefruit and several women admire a selection of cabbages, in search of a bargain. “Everyone pays 20 kroner (about £2) for a reusable bag to fill with whatever they like,” says Bettina Bach, 31, of Bo Welfare, a social housing project in the Danish city of Horsens that runs the food waste pop-up shop. “We collect fruit and vegetables from local supermarkets to sell twice a week. It may be that the packaging’s damaged or it’s nearing its best before date, but it’s still good food – so we thought, why let it go to waste?” Bach and a group of volunteers sell to 100-150 locals each week, and are at the grassroots end of Denmark’s battle against food waste, which is one of the most concerted in the world, and has cut waste by a quarter since 2010. “Customers include those on benefits, refugees, low-income families – anyone really,” says Bach. “We don’t ask their background as many people need help these days with cutbacks. There’s also a big focus on the environment in Denmark – plus we have really high taxes. Danes love to save money and if they can help the planet at the same time, it’s win-win.” Up the road is Horsens’ Visionary Kitchen where volunteers prepare free meals from shop-donated food that has reached its sell-by date. At volunteer-run food bank Kolding Madhjælp, pallets of supermarket produce that have been wrongly marked and might otherwise be destroyed are stocked alongside surplus food from a nearby hotel. Copenhagen’s first food waste supermarket, Wefood, has been such a success that a second is planned for Aarhus in 2017. Startup Too Good To Go tackles waste from Danes’ favourite weekend institution: the all you can eat buffet. An app pairs customers with outlets come closing time, allowing them to fill a box with food at knock-down prices. And at Denmark’s 103 Q8 service stations staff recycle imperfect pastries into romkugler, or rum balls.Denmark has more initiatives against food waste in Europe than any other state – from awareness campaigns and partnerships to government subsidies for food waste projects. This is largely thanks to Stop Spild Af Mad - Stop Wasting Food – a lobby group set up by graphic designer Selina Juul. Juul, 36, is originally from Moscow but moved to Denmark for her mother’s work. “Coming from a place where there were food shortages and people queued for bread, I was amazed at how much was wasted in Denmark, so I started a Facebook page.” She began offering tips – “little things like encouraging people to make a list before they go to the supermarket or take a picture of the inside of your fridge with your phone, if you have no time.” “I started the page as an angry consumer, but Denmark’s a small country, so it’s easy to get press coverage and the message spreads. Three months later, the country’s biggest low-cost supermarket chain, Rema 1000, agreed to replace all its quantity discounts [like buy two get the third free] with single item discounts to minimise food waste and I was speaking at the EU parliament.” That was in 2008. Today, all supermarkets in Denmark have a strategy to reduce food waste. “Stop Spild Af Mad works because we present solutions, not just problems,” says Juul. In 2015, a Gallup survey showed that every second Dane had a UFO, “unidentified frozen object”, in their freezer. “So we ran a campaign about having a clearout once a month to eat your UFOs,” says Juul. “We also promoted ‘Sunday leftover tapas’, and the idea that if you’re going away, you give your neighbour everything in your fridge – and they do the same for you.” “It’s been a great exercise in reframing,” says the Danish food blogger Malou Rotvel Pagh, 43. “There used to be a stigma around leftovers but Selina changed that – her legwork resulted in a mental shift. People used to be embarrassed to ask for a doggy bag at a restaurant, as though they were taking home leftovers only good enough to feed the dog. Selina rebranded them as ‘goody bags’, filled with food you’ve already paid for – like your groceries – so why wouldn’t you bring them home?” | ['environment/waste', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'world/denmark', 'world/europe-news', 'society/volunteering', 'society/society', 'society/voluntarysector', 'food/food', 'society/food-banks', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'world/series/half-full-solutions-innovations-answers', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'environment/food-waste', 'profile/helen-russell', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-07-13T06:00:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2023/nov/24/nsw-liberal-leader-mark-speakman-cronulla-branch-windfarms-opposition | NSW Liberal leader’s party branch calls for opposition to offshore windfarms in Illawarra and Hunter | The New South Wales Liberal leader’s local branch is seeking to get party support to object to renewable energy zones in the Hunter and Illawarra region and investigate small modular nuclear reactors “as the alternative”. Mark Speakman’s branch of Cronulla will move a motion at the state Liberal party convention on Saturday calling for the party to reject the renewable energy zones on economic and environmental grounds. The motion also includes calling for the NSW and federal governments to scrap the zones – which would include solar and windfarm projects – completely. Asked whether he would support the motion, Speakman backed renewable energy zones in the Hunter and Illawarra regions, saying the party remains committed to its energy commitments made while in government. “We remain committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, with interim targets,” Speakman told Guardian Australia. “While other technologies could be important, renewables will play the major role in achieving this.” Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The motion comes as the Coalition, which introduced legislation for the development of an offshore wind industry while in government, has been fanning opposition to the proposals in the Illawarra region, where a consultation period ended last week, and the Hunter region, where a 1,800 sq km offshore windfarm zone that starts about 20km from the coast was declared in July. The Liberals at both the state and federal level have been pushing back against renewables and instead promoting small modular nuclear reactors as the answer to Australia’s energy needs. However, earlier this month the only company to have a small modular nuclear power plant approved in the US – cited by the opposition as evidence of a “burgeoning” global nuclear industry – cancelled its first project due to rising costs. The global head of Westinghouse, who visited Australia in October, said the company could provide a single 300MWe reactor at a cost of about $1.5bn each, but setting up an industry in Australia would take at least 10 years. On Thursday, it was announced Australia’s first offshore windfarm could be ready in 2030 after major project status was granted to Flotation Energy’s Seadragon, located in Victoria’s Gippsland offshore wind zone. Situated adjacent to oil and gas platforms, the project is designed to replace coal-fired electricity generation. The project is the second to be granted major project status, which will cut red tape on approvals and make financing more attractive to investors, after another project off the coast of Gippsland, the Star of the South offshore windfarm, was granted major project status last December. Flotation Energy Australia’s head of operations, Carolyn Sanders, said the project would bring $6bn of investment into the region. “This forms part of an estimated $40bn of proposed energy projects that are already creating employment opportunities and will ultimately lead to a construction boom and long-term operation and maintenance jobs,” she said. Gippsland was the first of the six offshore wind zone areas – which include the Hunter and Illawarra regions – announced by the Albanese government and was met by the community with relatively little controversy. But in the Illawarra and Hunter regions, the proposals have divided a portion of the community and misinformation about the proposals has been rife. Of particular concern has been the claim by those against proposals that offshore windfarms kill whales, despite there being no credible scientific evidence to back this. The Cronulla Liberal branch’s motion’s call to investigate small modular nuclear reactors as an alternative echoes the federal Coalition’s view that they could be an affordable replacement for ageing coal-fired power plants. Leigh Shears, the secretary of Hunters Workers, which backs the region’s windfarm going ahead, said the motion was “political opportunism” and there is broad support for renewables. “The time for division is done,” he said. “[Small modular nuclear reactors are] just a pie-in-the-sky idea. If they were really keen on that stuff, they could have started 10 years ago when they were in power. “We need those in power to be playing a more practical role in bringing communities together.” – Additional reporting from AAP | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'australia-news/liberal-party', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/windpower', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jordyn-beazley', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2023-11-23T14:00:53Z | true | ENERGY |
film/2012/nov/01/superstorm-sandy-noahs-ark | Superstorm Sandy threatens to sink Noah's ark | Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah, starring Russell Crowe and Emma Watson, may be the most high-profile film industry casualty of Superstorm Sandy. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the exterior sets for Noah – including the 450ft-long ark – were constructed directly in the storm's path in Oyster Bay on Long Island Sound; the damage to the area has made it impossible to fully assess what has survived Sandy's impact. The $115m budget film was due to have finished shooting on 9 November, but this will be pushed back as the production has been shut down since Sunday 28 October. (It is due to restart on Thursday 1 November.) However, studio Paramount is confident no delay to its planned release date of 28 March 2013 will occur, as any losses will be covered by insurance. Another Russell Crowe film, the Warner Bros fantasy yarn Winter's Tale, directed by Akiva Goldsman, was also forced to shut down after New York revoked its filming permits, as was the Vince Vaughn comedy The Delivery Man. High-profile film events, including the gala premiere in Lincoln Square of the Keira Knightley film Anna Karenina, were also cancelled. The shutdown also affected a number of TV shows, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, 30 Rock, 666 Park, and Gossip Girl. Taping of live shows, such as Late Night with David Letterman, had to go ahead with no audience. Of equal concern to the industry has been the drop in cinema attendance directly attributable to the storm. With almost all cinemas in the region shut on Sunday, New York's box-office takings on Monday stood at $3,000, against a usual figure around half a million dollars, according to the Chicago Tribune. Takings at Broadway theatres have been equally hard hit. However, some compensation was to be had with reports that Netflix experienced a 20% rise in the northeast US on Sunday and Monday. However, independent film-makers without studio protection are expected to be the most badly affected. Anthony Mastromauro, producer of the David Duchovny starrer After the Fall, currently shooting in Connecticut told the Hollywood Reporter: "Nothing can cover the loss of momentum, and that is what is especially damaging to smaller films like ours." | ['film/russellcrowe', 'film/film', 'film/darren-aronofsky', 'film/emma-watson', 'film/periodandhistorical', 'culture/culture', 'film/film-industry', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/world', 'us-news/new-york', 'type/article', 'profile/andrewpulver'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-11-01T13:05:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2022/oct/05/climate-crisis-made-summer-drought-20-times-more-likely-scientists-find | Climate crisis made summer drought 20 times more likely, scientists find | The climate crisis made the record drought across the northern hemisphere this summer at least 20 times more likely, scientists have calculated. Without human-caused global heating, the event would have been expected only once every four centuries. The drought hit crop production and power supplies, exacerbating the food and energy crises already sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Droughts will become even more severe and more frequent unless the burning of fossil fuels is phased out, the researchers warned. The dry conditions, assessed using data on soil moisture, largely resulted from the heatwaves that struck across North America, Europe and Asia, with lower rainfall relatively less important. The scientists said a summer as hot as that of 2022 would have been “virtually impossible” without global heating and in Europe alone there were 24,000 heat-related fatalities. The analysis examined conditions across the northern hemisphere, excluding the tropics, and in western and central Europe, where the drought was particularly severe and significantly reduced crop yields. The European summer was the driest in records that stretch back to 1950, while the northern hemisphere drought was the second driest on record, after 2012. The dry conditions caused widespread water shortages and wildfires, with a record number of blazes in Europe, the first national drought alert in China and more than half of the US being declared in drought. In the UK, temperatures hit 40C for the first time on record, shocking scientists, and hosepipe bans are still in place across much of the country. “The 2022 summer has shown how human-induced climate change is increasing the risks of droughts in densely populated and cultivated regions,” said Prof Sonia Seneviratne, at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and part of the analysis team. “We need to phaseout the burning of fossil fuels if we want to [prevent] more frequent and more intense droughts.” Dr Friederike Otto, at Imperial College London, UK, and also part of the team, said: “In Europe, drought conditions led to reduced harvests. This was particularly worrying as it followed a climate change-fuelled heatwave in [India and Pakistan] that also destroyed crops, and happened at a time when global food prices were already extremely high due to the war in Ukraine.” The scientists had already found that the deadly South Asian heatwave was made 30 times more likely by the climate crisis and that the intense rainfall, which caused devastating floods across Pakistan, was made 50% worse by global heating. In August, an analysis by the Guardian laid bare the devastating intensification of extreme weather around the world, supercharged by human-caused climate change of just 1C to date. The drought study was carried out by an international team of researchers as part of the World Weather Attribution group. It analysed soil moisture levels in June, July and August 2022 in the top metre of soil, where plants take up water. The team used weather and soil data and computer models to compare the likelihood of the summer drought in today’s heated world and in a world without global heating. The scientists found the record northern hemisphere drought of 2022 would be expected once every 20 years in today’s climate but only every 400 years without climate change. The drought in western and central Europe was made at least three to four times more likely by global heating. But they said this does not mean that climate change has had less influence in Europe as the fingerprint of climate change is harder to discern in smaller regions. The analysis is complex and carries uncertainties, but the researchers said the estimates in the study are conservative, with the real influence of human activities likely even higher. Prof Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross Red Crescent climate centre, said: “Climate change is really hitting us hard, not just in poor countries like Pakistan, but also in some of the richest parts of the world, like west central Europe, that had been considered less vulnerable. It’s playing out in front of our eyes even faster than we might have expected.” “We’re also seeing the impacts compounding and cascading across regions and sectors,” he said. For example, the drought cut hydropower production, as well as power from nuclear and coal plants, due to lack of cooling water. “That compounded a situation where electricity prices were already under stress, due to the Russia-Ukraine war and when we needed lots of electricity for air conditioning all across Europe to deal with the high heat.” “This new study clearly points to the fingerprint of climate change and should be another wake-up call to reduce emissions, but also to invest more in resilience,” van Aalst said. | ['environment/drought', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/water', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-10-05T21:00:18Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/2014/dec/26/more-to-sustainability-2015-global-events | Why there’s more to sustainability than 2015’s big global events | 2015 promises two big milestones for sustainability: the launch of the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) in New York in Autumn, and the COP21 climate talks in Paris in December. All eyes are on these processes, which promise to shape the future of sustainable economic development and climate change. For business, however, the outcomes in New York and Paris will constitute just the beginning of the story. It is no longer the case that grand international agreements set in motion binding regulations agreements for companies to simply comply with. Today change comes simultaneously from the top down, the middle out and the bottom up. As business gears up for a critical year, the wisest strategies will take all these elements into account. Top down Make no mistake, even though the SDGs and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) won’t solve sustainable development and global warming, they are crucial enablers of progress and business leaders should make their voices heard. In the coming year, individual businesses have a stake in encouraging governments to establish ambitious policies that create the right incentives for companies to shift to low-carbon models. Business for Social Responsibility has co-founded We Mean Business, a coalition of seven business organisations focused on sustainability that are are helping to advance just such policies. It is our strong hope that the SDGs will provide clear direction on the key elements of widely shared prosperity and that the Paris summit will deliver new commitments to ensure global temperatures do not exceed the 2C mark. Middle out Business also has an opportunity to help construct solutions from the middle out. Waiting for national governments to agree is a fool’s game. Indeed, France is steering COP21 towards a network of commitments from multiple sources. Business has much to offer this model, and there are already many cases of companies making essential contributions to new models and frameworks that enable faster, deeper progress. For example, dozens of companies are piloting integrated reporting as part of the International Integrated Reporting Committee. Several hundred companies have called for a price on carbon, in concert with the World Bank, with many also applying a price in their internal operations. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights has launched an informal network of companies and civil society organisations that are making that international agreement a reality through application and learning. These examples reflect a much-needed global laboratory that encourages innovation in new models – the kind of thing that would take governments much longer to establish. Bottom up Finally, the rise of the sharing economy and the circular economy are reframing the debate on sustainability. Innovation is leading to new companies, new collaborations and new ways of delivering value that decouple economic growth from the depletion of natural resources. Plenty of industries have experienced this kind of disruption already – utilities, cars, hotels and hospitality – and these examples will only multiply, changing the face of every sector in years to come. Figuring out how to maximise the sustainability benefits of these changes is the design challenge of the 21st century. As we enter 2015, the true test for any business is whether it is contributing to a just and sustainable world by using all of the resources at its disposal. This means engagement in traditional policy processes, joining diverse coalitions of action and applying the creative power of the private sector to come up with new ideas that meet the needs of a resource-constrained but thoroughly connected world. Aron Cramer is president and CEO of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox. | ['sustainable-business/series/sustainable-business-predictions-2015', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'business/business', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/cop-20-un-climate-change-conference-lima', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/aron-cramer'] | environment/cop-20-un-climate-change-conference-lima | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-12-26T07:00:10Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2018/mar/15/age-and-beauty-darwin-farewells-one-of-its-six-heritage-listed-trees | 'Age and beauty': Darwin farewells one of its six heritage-listed trees | A heritage-listed Darwin tree that survived at least two devastating cyclones, the arrival of European settlers and a Japanese bombing has died, leaving just five listed trees in the Northern Territory city. The milkwood tree in downtown Darwin was given protection in 2006 as a rare example of the vegetation that covered the Darwin peninsula before European arrival in 1869. That listing is now being withdrawn so the tree, which the NT government has checked and double-checked died of natural causes, can be cut down. The director of the NT government heritage branch, Michael Wells, said: “In the middle of last year we had reports the tree seemed to be suffering. “We got an arborist report and he said it had reached the end of its natural life. I wanted to be absolutely sure about that and I knew questions would arise … so I asked a second arborist to report to me about the tree in general. “He said there was no evidence it had been poisoned.” The tree was thought to most likely be the oldest and largest specimen of its type in the region, and was valued by the community “for its age and beauty,” according to the heritage listing. As Darwin grew around it, the tree ended its life on a private but empty block of land in a quiet south-eastern corner of the city, surrounded by apartment blocks and a hotel. Five other heritage listed trees remain, some in similarly incongruous settings. A 12m high boab, thought to have been planted in the late 1800s, stood protected while a concrete carpark for the post office was constructed around it. It marks the site of Darwin’s first primary school, and during the second world war a “daisy cutter” bomb lay unexploded within its shade for several days before it was discovered. A banyan tree in State Square is about 200 years old and “was the congregation point for the Larakia youths prior to ceremonies which took place under the nearby Tamarind tree,” its heritage listing said. | ['australia-news/darwin', 'australia-news/northern-territory', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'culture/heritage', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helen-davidson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-03-15T03:32:19Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/article/2024/may/06/farmer-confidence-nfu-union-survey-england-wales-rainfall-brexit | Farmer confidence at lowest in England and Wales since survey began, NFU says | Farmers’ confidence has hit its lowest level in at least 14 years, a long-running survey by the biggest farming union in Britain has found, with extreme weather and the post-Brexit phasing-out of EU subsidies blamed for the drop. The National Farmers’ Union warned there had been a “collapse of confidence” and that the outlook was at its lowest since the annual poll of its members in England and Wales began in 2010. Most farms are expecting to reduce food production next year, with arable farming particularly badly hit. Tom Bradshaw, the NFU’s president, pointed to extreme wet weather and the phasing-out of EU basic payment scheme (BPS) subsidies as key reasons for the downturn. “Our concern today is that if members don’t have confidence, then we as a country can’t deliver food security,” said Bradshaw. The annual survey of almost 800 farmers asks respondents to rate the prospects of their business, with the four responses all given weighted scores – very negative (-1), negative (-0.5), positive (0.5) and very positive (1). These are added up to give an overall confidence index score. The results saw short-term confidence, covering the next 12 months, score –25, while mid-term confidence, covering the next three years, hit –22. The previous low for short-term confidence was –18 in 2016, while for mid-term confidence, it was the –12 posted in 2018. England’s wettest 18-month period since the Met Office began collecting data in 1836 has left farms across the country flooded, and many unable to plant crops. The survey revealed that 82% had had their farms affected by the rain, with 30% saying they had experienced very negative impacts. Analysis by the non-profit Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) last week forecast that crops could be down by nearly a fifth as a result of the wet weather, increasing the likelihood that the prices of bread, beer and biscuits will rise. The NFU survey found that overall production intentions scored –14 over the next 12 months, the lowest since the survey began. Arable farms appear to have suffered most, scoring -35 on the production index, while mixed farms scored -17, and poultry and eggs scored –7. The BPS payments were supposed to be replaced by the government’s own sustainable farming incentive (SFI) subsidies but the rollout of these has been delayed. Respondents to the survey identified this as one of the key issues shaping the year ahead, with 86% of farmers saying it would have a negative effect. Bradshaw said: “This year we’re going to be down to 50% or less of our previous BPS payments, and this comes at a time where farmer borrowing is increasing, where the cost of servicing that debt is higher. “And now we’ve had this incredible period of weather, which has meant that whichever sector of farming you’re in, your costs of production have increased and your outputs have decreased. It is the perfect storm of events.” | ['business/fooddrinks', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'politics/tradeunions', 'society/society', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'tone/news', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'world/extreme-weather', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'profile/jack-simpson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-05-06T04:00:31Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2009/apr/26/copenhagen-climate-change-ed-miliband | Miliband calls for populist push in battle against climate change | Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, warns today that he is "fearful" that the world may miss the opportunity to halt global warming and is calling for a Make Poverty History-style popular movement to push for a breakthrough at this year's Copenhagen summit. He will travel to Washington this week for preliminary talks, amid concerns that Barack Obama's ability to back genuinely ambitious cuts in carbon emissions could be hindered by domestic political opposition. "We do need to be pushed. Political change doesn't happen simply because leaders want it to happen, but because people make it happen," Miliband told the Observer. "I don't think it's just about protesting, although people are welcome to protest against me. "We live in a world where this kind of campaigning can spread across the world - Susan Boyle appears on Britain's Got Talent and a week later 50 million people have watched it on YouTube." Miliband, who worked for the Treasury during Make Poverty History, said climate change needed a similarly passionate figurehead. "I remember Bob Geldof ringing me up - I think he thought I was Ed Balls - and saying, 'We have got to cancel 100% of debt'. At the time, 100% seemed like utopia; it wasn't going to happen. But it partly moved - even if he got the wrong Ed - because of people like him." Miliband hopes to build on last week's budget, which saw a U-turn on clean coal production and a surprise hike in petrol duty, to help to re-energise green campaigners ahead of the Copenhagen summit in December. He will shortly publish a climate change manifesto, revealing British negotiating positions, including an expectation that the west should bear the brunt of the pain of reducing carbon. "I am very fearful if we don't get the framework we need in December, because I think we will miss a historic opportunity," he added. The manifesto will be backed by new climate change projections forecasting what could happen to the UK if global warming continues, amid concerns that too many Britons still do not perceive climate change as a threat to them. "I would say that the debate on science is being won: we are moving in the right direction. The debate on 'will it happen to us?' is not a debate that is won. People think it's going to happen to someone else," Miliband said. Asked why ministers did not move to force change, for example by restricting car use, he said that most people were not unwilling to go green, but needed help and information to do so. However, he admitted that saving the planet would ultimately come at a price, adding: "Something which is quite technical, like putting a price on aviation emissions through the emissions trading scheme, means that airline prices will be higher than they would otherwise be. That's a necessity ... "But we also have to make an argument that if you can shift to this greener Britain it would be better in many ways - a better quality of life. If it's only doom avoidance, I don't actually think you are going to bring people with you." | ['environment/copenhagen', 'politics/edmiliband', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'type/article', 'profile/gabyhinsliff', 'profile/johnvidal', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-04-25T23:01:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
us-news/2021/may/15/refinery-pollution-st-croix-us-virgin-islands | EPA shuts polluting Caribbean refinery reopened under Trump | The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered an oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands to pause all operations, citing “at least four incidents” in which the facility significantly affected St Croix residents. The Limetree Bay refinery, which caused a massive oil spill in the 1980s, first reopened in February under an order from the Trump administration, after eight years idle. “These repeated incidents at the refinery have been and remain totally unacceptable,” said the EPA head, Michael Reagan, noting that residents in St Croix are “already overburdened” by pollution and other environmental harms. When the refinery reopened, it promised to be well maintained, according to Jennifer Valiulis of the St Croix Environmental Association. “That obviously [was] not happening,” Valiulis said. In the first week of May, island residents endured the latest round of noxious fumes emanating from the plant, prompting several establishments, including three schools to shut down. The national guard then found elevated levels of sulfur dioxide – a harmful, toxic gas – near the refinery. Reuters reports Limetree Bay’s own testing found zero concentrations of the pollutant. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, the refinery’s owners announced they were temporarily halting operations after a rapid series of accidents exposed neighboring communities to pollution. But on Friday, the EPA, which said the company’s failure to properly operate pollution controls violated the Clean Air Act, told Limetree Bay to stay shut for 60 days “due to multiple improperly conducted operations that present an imminent risk to public health”. In a statement emailed to the Guardian, Limetree Bay confirmed it received a public order from the EPA and reiterated that the company had voluntarily shut down production before that. “Our current focus is on investigating and cleaning up areas of the community affected by the incident,” said its CEO, Jeff Rinker, “and cooperating with the EPA in preparing the refinery for a safe and environmentally-compliant restart.” “This is a really serious environmental justice problem, and the EPA has to do a lot better,” said Judith Enck, before Friday’s emergency order. Enck oversaw the refinery as a regional administrator in the Obama-era EPA and is founder of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics. As is common with industrial facilities in the US, the majority of people living near the Limetree Bay refinery are Black or Latino, and many are poor. “To have so many incidences within the early operations of the refining is unnerving,” said Frandelle Gerard, a St Croix business leader and the head of the Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism Foundation. *** From early only, the oil refinery in St Croix had problems. The facility was built by the Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp in 1966, and by the 1970s, had expanded to become the largest in the world, churning out up to 650,000 barrels of oil a day. The EPA learned the refinery was leaking oil into St Croix’s sole aquifer in 1982 – but it wasn’t until decades later that residents were given a full accounting of the damage. In 2011, the agency released a report stating that it had recovered more than 43m gallons of spilled oil from the island’s groundwater over that 30-year period. The facility also has a history of polluting the air. The former owner, Hovensa, reached a settlement with the EPA in 2011 over alleged Clean Air Act violations. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to pay a $5.4m fine, and spend hundreds of millions on pollution controls. But the plant filed for bankruptcy and shut down in 2012 before making those upgrades. The oil refinery’s closure deeply affected St Croix’s economy, according to Valiulis. “There were a lot of people who lost their jobs and a lot of people who left the island. We haven’t really had a chance to recover from that.” The devastation wrought by Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017 only compounded the problem. The Trump administration played a large role in getting the plant back on its feet under new ownership. Near the end of Trump’s presidency, his administration helped fast-track approval to reopen the facility under new ownership – Limetree Bay Ventures. (Limetree Bay Ventures’ principal investor is ArcLight Capital Partners, which has ties to former president Donald Trump.) The plant reopened earlier this year, on 4 February 2021 – and three days later, a malfunctioning valve sent a cloud of oil into the sky over the island, drifting as far as three miles away. According to Enck, although the refinery’s new owners invested a significant amount of money into reopening the facility, the refinery hadn’t been physically updated. “This is basically a 50-year-old refinery that is having really serious operational problems,” Enck said. “The executive management of Limetree Bay sincerely apologizes for the impact to the public,” the company said in a press release, adding that the company would continue to monitor impact to the nearby community. The EPA’s emergency order is the latest in a series of developments that have cast doubt on the refinery’s future – a welcome move for locals that don’t want the island to become a pollution haven for a dying industry. This week, after the plant had temporarily halted operations, environmental groups and island residents held a virtual town hall – to which Limetree was invited – to discuss the impacts of the plant’s operation and address its lack of transparency. “People are being harmed. Our children are suffering,” St Croix native ChenziRa Davis-Kahina said during the town hall, reports the Washington Post. “Why are they being allowed to operate without monitors? Why are our officials meeting, instead of shutting them down?” “For the majority of the island’s long-term residents and natives, the time has come and gone for a refinery like this,” Gerard said. Really, she added, they want clean air, clean water, a healthy ecosystem and to build towards a more sustainable future. “The two just don’t go together.” | ['us-news/series/americas-dirty-divide', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paola-rosa-aquino', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-05-18T15:55:33Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2023/apr/21/country-diary-the-hitchcockian-mystery-of-rooks-en-masse | Country diary: The Hitchcockian mystery of rooks en masse | Phil Gates | There are only about a dozen nests in this rookery, high in the sycamores on the steep bank of the River Wear, but this morning’s cacophony of cawing came from at least 40 rooks. All winter they’ve paced pastures, mostly silent, heads down, black-suited, baggy-trousered, as though searching for something lost in the grass. Now here they’ve gathered, a swirling, exuberant flock that seems like a celebratory reunion of winter’s survivors. Visiting this rookery in spring has become something of a ritual because its sounds revive childhood memories. In the 1950s, my grandmother worked on a farm in Sussex, looking after a floristry crop called statice, an everlasting cut flower that was dried and stored in a flint-knapped barn shaded by towering elms – home to a rookery. In the school holidays I’d meet her to share lunch in the hayloft, sitting on a pile of hessian sacks, while sounds of the rookery murmured through the tiles. Hearing those discordant caws now can transport me through space and time, back to the stillness of the barn with its creaking floorboards and bundles of lavender-coloured dried flowers, where motes of dust hung in shafts of sunlight. Today, peering up into the swaying nests overhead is disorientating, so I steady myself by leaning against a tree trunk, feeling the transmitted power of the wind when the bole flexes against my back. The rooks ride the gusts, sometimes settling into what sounds like conversational cawing, often rising as a raucous flock for no obvious reason. A few bring twigs to repair nests, others seem to be here just to be sociable. Females, perched on the edge of their great heaps of sticks, fan their tails when an interloper lands too close. Down here, earthbound, there is something Hitchcockian about those dark silhouettes wheeling overhead, with their broad wings, finger-like primaries and bony dagger beaks that prise insect grubs from grassroots. But I recall the rook that perched in a tree outside my window last winter, when the rising sun sent shocks of violet, green and purple iridescence through its glossy black plumage. There is a brutal beauty about these birds, and ancient mystery in their conversations carried on the wind. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/birds', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/philgates', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-04-21T04:30:02Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2012/jun/15/rio20-voice-nsawam-eastern-region-ghana | Rio+20: A voice from Nsawam, eastern region, Ghana | Plastic, plastic all over – in Ghana, this is our biggest problem. When we were kids, if you went to buy rice by the roadside, they would sell it you packaged in this flat leaf. You would throw it away on the ground, in two or three weeks time it will just get rotten and disappear. But now everything you buy is packaged in plastic – groundnut, salt, sugar, water. The young people eat fried rice in a plastic bag and just throw it on the ground. It is unbearable. Government after government comes to tackle this; it's a huge problem. Ghana needs to develop, but I don't know if it can be done in a way that doesn't bring destruction. Take sand, for example. As the economy here grows, there is so much building going on. But to build we have to mix cement with sand, and to get that they dig up the topsoil which has so many nutrients and keeps the greenery growing, and so the vegetation suffers. Before you buy land, they have to rip up the vegetation, and we buy the sand. So we are losing much of the greenery around. We need the greenery to absorb the carbon dioxide. Now Ghana has found oil, we are facing a whole new challenge. It should be a blessing, but it has turned into a curse for us. We should be refining the oil and exporting finished petroleum products, providing employment for the youths, but instead we are exporting the crude oil raw, importing petroleum products from other countries, and still suffering fuel shortages. Some of our chiefs have been the ones standing up for sustainable development. In Takoradi, traditional leaders have cautioned about the lessons from the Niger Delta and the threat to our land from oil. Conferences like Rio+20 have never made a difference to my life. Our politicians go to these conferences, get their per diem, lodge in five-star hotels, drink coffee and eat dinners with wine – things we will never experience – and they come back. We don't see any change. I have been a teacher since 1974, and all this time politicians have been attending conferences on education, having a nice time, and for us teachers nothing has changed. I hadn't heard about Rio+20 – it has not been reported on the news here – but it doesn't matter, because the outcome will be the same as it always is. If you want to make a difference, let the locals go. We are the people that really matter, but we are being shut out of the whole debate. | ['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 | 2012-06-15T09:22:21Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2020/mar/23/coronavirus-pandemic-leading-to-huge-drop-in-air-pollution | Coronavirus pandemic leading to huge drop in air pollution | The coronavirus pandemic is shutting down industrial activity and temporarily slashing air pollution levels around the world, satellite imagery from the European Space Agency shows. One expert said the sudden shift represented the “largest scale experiment ever” in terms of the reduction of industrial emissions. Readings from ESA’s Sentinel-5P satellite show that over the past six weeks, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over cities and industrial clusters in Asia and Europe were markedly lower than in the same period last year. Nitrogen dioxide is produced from car engines, power plants and other industrial processes and is thought to exacerbate respiratory illnesses such as asthma. While not a greenhouse gas itself, the pollutant originates from the same activities and industrial sectors that are responsible for a large share of the world’s carbon emissions and that drive global heating. Paul Monks, professor of air pollution at the University of Leicester, predicted there will be important lessons to learn. “We are now, inadvertently, conducting the largest-scale experiment ever seen,” he said. “Are we looking at what we might see in the future if we can move to a low-carbon economy? Not to denigrate the loss of life, but this might give us some hope from something terrible. To see what can be achieved.” Monks, the former chair of the UK government’s science advisory committee on air quality, said that a reduction in air pollution could bring some health benefits, though they were unlikely to offset loss of life from the disease. “It seems entirely probable that a reduction in air pollution will be beneficial to people in susceptible categories, for example some asthma sufferers,” he said. “It could reduce the spread of disease. A high level of air pollution exacerbates viral uptake because it inflames and lowers immunity.” Agriculture could also get a boost because pollution stunts plant growth, he added. The World Health Organization describes NO2 as “a toxic gas which causes significant inflammation of the airways” at concentrations above 200 micrograms per cubic metre. Pollution particles may also be a vector for pathogens, as well as exacerbating existing health problems. The WHO is now investigating whether airborne pollution particles may be a vector that spreads Covid-19 and makes it more virulent. One of the largest drops in pollution levels could be seen over the city of Wuhan, in central China, which was put under a strict lockdown in late January. The city of 11 million people serves as a major transportation hub and is home to hundreds of factories supplying car parts and other hardware to global supply chains. According to Nasa, nitrogen dioxide levels across eastern and central China have been 10-30% lower than normal. NO2 levels also dropped in South Korea, which has long struggled with high emissions from its large fleet of coal-fired power plants but also from nearby industrial facilities in China. The country has avoided putting entire regions under lockdown but is meticulously tracing and isolating suspected coronavirus cases. The changes over northern Italy are particularly striking because smoke from a dense cluster of factories tends to get trapped against the Alps at the end of the Po Valley, making this one of western Europe’s pollution hotspots. Since the country went into lockdown on 9 March, NO2 levels in Milan and other parts of northern Italy have fallen by about 40%. “It’s quite unprecedented,” said Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Service. “In the past, we have seen big variations for a day or so because of weather. But no signal on emissions that has lasted so long.” The source is not yet clear. One possibility is a slowdown of activity in Italy’s industrial heartland. Another factor is likely to be a reduction in road traffic, which accounts for the biggest share of nitrogen dioxide emissions in Europe. Peuch said satellites were now starting to pick up similar signals in other European cities that are entering into lockdowns, though the data needs to studied over over a longer period to confirm this is a pattern. Although the UK is more than a week behind Italy in terms of the spread of the disease and the government’s response, roadside monitors already show significantly reduced levels of pollution at hotspots such as Marylebone in London. Road traffic accounts for about 80% of nitrogen oxide emissions in the UK, according to Monk. For the average diesel car, each kilometre not driven avoids 52 milligrammes of the pollutant entering the air. “What I think will come out of this is a realisation - because we are forced to - that there is considerable potential to change working practices and lifestyles. This challenges us in the future to think, do we really need to drive our car there or burn fuel for that,” said Monk. | ['environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'science/science', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/infectiousdiseases', 'world/world', 'world/china', 'world/south-korea', 'world/italy', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'profile/niko-kommenda', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-03-23T12:01:50Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2016/jun/22/zombie-corals-pose-new-threat-to-worlds-reefs | 'Zombie corals' pose new threat to world's reefs | Zombie corals, which look healthy but cannot reproduce, have been discovered by researchers, dashing hopes that such reefs could repopulate areas destroyed by bleaching. Scientists have also found that a common ingredient in sunscreen is killing and mutating corals in tourist spots. The new evidence of harm to corals comes as the most widespread coral bleaching event in recorded history is sweeping the world’s oceans. Water temperatures have been driven up by a run of record-breaking hot years, caused by climate change and the El Niño phenomenon. Very warm water causes corals to lose the algae that normally live inside them and help them feed. Corals in every major reef region have already experienced severe bleaching. About 93% of the reefs on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have been affected, and almost a quarter of the reef is now dead. Corals are hotspots of biodiversity and crucial nurseries for fish, upon which 1 billion people rely for nourishment. The new research, presented at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Hawaii, sampled 327 coral colonies across the Caribbean to assess the reproductive ability of apparently healthy elkhorn coral, which is a threatened species. In some places, including two sites in the Florida Keys, the coral had no eggs or sperm and therefore zero ability to reproduce. The scientists said this indicates these elkhorn corals are are essentially walking dead and will eventually die out, dubbing them “zombie corals”. “It’s pretty discouraging,” said John Fauth, at the University of Central Florida and one of the team. “This is not good news.” However, two samples from the more remote St Croix area found the coral had 100% reproduction ability. “Basically the places with the heaviest tourism had the most severe damage,” Fauth said. Another study Fauth was part of found that oxybenzone, a common UV-filtering compound in sunscreen, is common in Hawaii, Florida and the US Virgin Islands. The chemical kills coral but also causes DNA damage in adult coral and deforms the larval stage, making normal development unlikely. An earlier study showed that the highest concentrations of oxybenzone were found on the reefs most popular with tourists. The new work found that concentrations of oxybenzone peak at the high tide. “We think aerosol sunscreen is to blame,” said Fauth. When someone sprays sunscreen on, much of it falls on the beach, he said, so the high tide comes collects the lost spray and washes it back out to sea. The research also showed the toxic effects to coral, sea urchin embryos, shrimp larvae, and fish larvae exposed to preservatives, UV absorbers and microbeads from personal care products. “We have to act now,” Fauth said. “It is simple things like not using chemicals that harm our coral. Wear rash guards or go without sunscreen during dives. And it is making a serious commitment to conservation and management of our reefs. We want to do everything we can to ensure that the underwater beauty we see today is around for generations to come.” | ['environment/coral', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/elnino', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-06-22T09:18:43Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2023/sep/15/tata-steel-seals-500m-uk-support-package-but-big-job-losses-feared | Tata Steel seals £500m UK support package but big job losses feared | The UK government has agreed a £500m support package for Tata Steel to secure the future of the Port Talbot steelworks, in a deal unions said will have “devastating consequences”, with as many as 3,000 workers expected to lose their jobs. India’s Tata group, which owns the vast steelworks in south Wales – Britain’s biggest – is also expected to inject about £725m to help it transition to greener production methods. The country’s largest steel producer, which employs about 8,000 staff in the UK, with about half based at Port Talbot, had warned that it faced site closures if a financial support package could not be agreed. “The agreement with the UK government is a defining moment for the future of the steel industry,” said Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the chair of Tata Group. “The proposed investment will preserve significant employment and represents a great opportunity for the development of a green technology-based industrial ecosystem in south Wales.” Under the agreement, the government will provide a state aid package worth up to £500m to help switch Port Talbot’s two coal-powered blast furnaces to greener electric arc versions that can run on zero-carbon electricity. Tata, which made a pre-tax loss of £279m in the UK, according to the company’s most recent annual results, is expected to cut about 3,000 jobs over the long term as a result of decarbonisation. It marks the second time this year that the government has pledged taxpayer support to the Tata Group, after it agreed in July to provide the owner of Jaguar Land Rover several hundred million pounds towards a £4bn electric car battery gigafactory. TV Narendran, the chief executive of Tata Steel, positioned the Port Talbot deal as a positive, describing it as the largest investment in the UK steel industry for decades, but confirmed that job cuts would follow. “[It] provides an optimal outcome for all stakeholders,” he said. “We will undertake a meaningful consultation with the unions on the proposed transition pathway in the context of future risk and opportunities for Tata Steel UK. We will work to transform Tata Steel UK into a green, modern, future-ready business.” Tata Steel said it would soon start a consultation on its plans, including “potential deep restructuring of the carbon-intensive, unsustainable iron and steelmaking facilities at Port Talbot”. However, the GMB union said the deal would be devastating for the steel industry and “rip the heart out” of the Port Talbot community that is dependent on the site. “This deal will have devastating consequences for jobs and workers,” said Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB. “It will rip the heart out of the Port Talbot community.” Smith added that the GMB had been calling for investment in the UK steel industry for years but said the government has “dithered and delayed until it is too late. Thousands of workers, their families and communities will pay the price.” The company said it would now be able to “ensure [the] continuity of steelmaking in Port Talbot” and that the government support meant “the project has a robust investment case”. However, Labour accused the government of failing the steel industry in a deal that uses taxpayers’ money to make mass job cuts. “Only the Tories could spend £500m of taxpayers’ money to make thousands of British workers redundant,” said Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s shadow business and trade secretary. “The Conservatives have presided over a decade of failure when it comes to steel, with 13,000 fewer steelworkers now than under a Labour government.” Tata said that the capital cost of the redevelopment on Port Talbot would cost £1.25bn, including a grant from the UK government of “up to” £500m, and could be completed within three years of gaining all regulatory and planning approvals. The government said modernising the furnaces at Port Talbot would reduce the UK’s entire carbon emissions by 1.5% – the site is the UK’s largest single carbon emitter – and “safeguard over 5,000 jobs across the UK”. The business and trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, said: “The UK government is backing our steel sector. This proposal will secure a sustainable future for Welsh steel and is expected to save thousands of jobs in the long term.” The government said it was also working with Tata Steel and the Welsh government to set up a transition board with up to £100m funding to support employees and the local economy affected by the large-scale job cuts. The company said its overhaul of Port Talbot would result in Tata Steel’s balance sheet being restructured, including the “elimination of the current cash losses in the UK”. Tata Steel also intends to invest £20m over four years to set up two innovation and technology centres, one in Manchester and one in London, focusing on research in sustainable design and manufacturing. | ['business/steel-industry', 'business/tata', 'business/business', 'uk/wales', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'politics/tradeunions', 'politics/kemi-badenoch', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'business/job-losses', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/marksweney', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2023-09-15T10:20:05Z | true | EMISSIONS |
commentisfree/2011/sep/02/reunion-boredom-courtesy-hurricane-irene | My reunion with boredom courtesy of Hurricane Irene | Charles Simic | Do people still suffer from periods of boredom even with computers, smartphones and tablets to occupy them endlessly? There's also television, of course, which in homes of many Americans is on 24 hours a day, making it harder and harder to find a quiet place to sit and think. Even neighbourhood bars, the old refuge of introspective loners, now have huge TV screens alternating between sports and chatter to divert them from their thoughts. As soon as college students are out of class, mobile phones, and iPods materialise in their hands, requiring full concentration and making them instantly oblivious of their surroundings. I imagine Romeo and Juliet would send text messages to each other today as they strolled around Verona, though I find it hard to picture Hamlet advising Ophelia to betake herself to a nunnery. These and other thoughts came to me as I sat in a dark house for three days in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Being without lights and water is a fairly common experience for those of us who live in rural areas on roads lined with old trees. Every major rainstorm or snowstorm is almost certain to bring down the lines, which, because of the relative scarcity of population, are a low priority for the power company to fix. We use oil lamps and most often candles, so our evenings around the dining room table resemble seances. We sit with our heads bowed as if trying to summon spirits, while in truth struggling to see what's on our dinner plates. Being temporarily unable to use the technology we've grown dependent on to inform ourselves about the rest of the world, communicate with others, and pass the time, is a reminder of our alarming dependence on them. "Nights are so boring!" my neighbours kept repeating. Our days were not much better, with overcast skies that made it even difficult to read indoors. All of this reminded me of the days of my youth when my family, like so many others, lived in a monastic solitude when the weather was bad, since we had no television. It wasn't in church but on dark autumn days and winter nights that I had an inkling of what they meant when they spoke about eternity. Everyone read in order to escape boredom. I had friends so addicted to books, their parents were convinced they were going crazy with so many strange stories and ideas running like fever through their brains, not to mention becoming hard of hearing, after failing to perform the simplest household chores like letting the cat out. Living in a quiet neighbourhood made it even worse. Old people stared out of windows at all hours, when they were not staring at the walls. There were radios, but their delights – with the exception of a few programmes – were reserved for the grown-ups only. Thousands died of ennui in such homes. Others joined the navy, got married, or moved to California. Even so, looking back now, I realise how much I owe to my boredom. Drowning in it, I came face to face with myself as if in a mirror. I became a spectator of my own existence, which by turns struck me as being either too real or totally unreal. I recall one day being absolutely sure that time had stopped, despite the loud ticking of the clock in my room. Everything stood still. Walking through a museum, years later, I recalled that moment in my room as I passed the statues of Greek and Egyptian gods. They looked to me as bored as I had been. I forgot who said one is bored only in paradise and not in hell. How true, I thought at the time. I remember living in a tenement on the Lower East Side in the late 1950s. The building was so noisy; there was not a chance of being bored for a second. At almost any hour of the day, one could hear several radios tuned to different stations at the same time, husbands and wives arguing, mothers shouting at their children, babies crying, drunks cursing on the stairs and tenants gabbing and laughing on the front stoops. Everybody had complaints about something or someone. My university friends idealised humanity. Not my neighbours. They had a low opinion of almost everyone in the neighbourhood. What are you studying? The old woman I was renting my room from asked me one day, and I told her: History? What kind? European, I replied. Aha, she said with a knowing look in her eye. The kings, the priests, the people being led by the nose, all scum. I didn't know what to reply. Despite her gloomy view of aristocracy, she fed me like a prince. In fact, the moment one entered our building, several ethnic cuisines came to compete for one's nose with their tantalising smells, making it impossible, even with all the typical disappointments of youth, to feel sorry for oneself for long. Still, thanks to the hurricane and the hours of darkness it imposed on me, I and many others had a kind of high school reunion with boredom. It brought about a sudden and unmistakable realisation that we are only puppets jerked this way and that way by whatever device we think we are operating. With its strings loosened for the time being, there was nothing for us to do but slump idly in some chair with our heads dangling and our smiles fixed crooked, while Irene ran around the yard beating up trees like the riot police and in the process telling us what little regard she has for us personally and everything we've done over the years to make our home more attractive. | ['commentisfree/series/guardian-comment-network', 'us-news/hurricane-irene', 'world/natural-disasters', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/charles-simic'] | us-news/hurricane-irene | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-09-02T17:23:19Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2012/oct/29/washington-dc-shutdown-hurricane-sandy | Washington DC shuts down in preparation for hurricane Sandy | Washington DC and the city's environs began to slowly shut down on Sunday night, just as the first bands of hurricane Sandy arrived in the form of light rain – but not before a weekend bout of panic buying for storm supplies. The federal government said all its offices will remain closed on Monday. The city's mayor, Vincent Gray, declared a state of emergency as well as a government shutdown. Public schools in Washington DC, and neighbouring suburbs of Virginia and Maryland, are to remain closed at least through Monday. Universities cancelled classes. Metro trains and buses, as well as commuter rail and Greyhound bus services were due to stop at midnight. Banks and shops put up signs saying they would be closed. A few diehard establishments in the city centre said they would remain open. "We'll probably stay open for people who are stuck in the hotels around here," said a manager at Old Ebbitt Grill, the historic oyster bar near the White House. Other city standards were wavering. "We're here 'til midnight then we'll see," the staff at Ben's Chili Bowl said. By about 6pm on Sunday night, there was almost no movement on residential streets. Sandy is forecast to dump between four and seven inches of rain on Washington and the surrounding areas, and is expected to trigger storm surges along the Potomac and flooding in some areas. But arguably the biggest concern for a region which regularly suffers power outages lasting several days in severe storms was the forecast for high winds of 40mph with hurricane-strength gusts of 75mph, and the threat they could bring down trees and power lines. It took the local electricity provider Pepco more than a week to fully restore power after a freak storm in June. The provider put out a call to other power companies for 2,500 additional workers, and had crews out on the street in bright yellow vests checking electricity lines at the weekend. But a lot of the utility company's customers remained nervous. There was a run on flashlights, batteries, bottled water and other storm essentials in many neighbourhoods and some attacks on Pepco's readiness. Byron Tau, a reporter from Politico tweeted: "Tweets from the future: 'IT'S BEEN 5 DAYS AND I STILL DON'T HAVE POWER, F**K YOU PEPCO.'" Many supermarkets ran out of bottled water and flashlights by Saturday afternoon. By Sunday morning, there were runs on potato chips, and there were occasional accounts of tussles in the aisles over beer and pasta. "It's horrible," said Davon Little, who manages the Giant supermarket in the Brookland neighbourhood in north-east Washington. "Yesterday the water was all out of stock. We got another trailer in, and it went out again. Now it's chips. I'm looking at the shelves and it's almost completely empty." The store was planning to open on Monday, but customers were still nervous. "The line's been going all the way down the aisles. It's crowded and there are no carts outside," Little said. "I've had two arguments over beer." On the other side of town, at the Fresh & Green supermarket in Spring Valley, shoppers were emptying the magazine racks by the checkout and resorting to energy drinks, seltzer water and alcohol when the still water ran out. "I had one guy in here today: he spent over $700 and all of it was wine except for maybe a few bits of real food he bought to wash it down with," said Jim Marsh, the bookkeeper. | ['us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/washington-dc', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/washington-state', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-29T01:07:26Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2015/jul/03/indias-climate-pledge-critically-important-says-un-climate-chief | India's climate pledge 'critically important', says UN climate chief | A strong pledge to curb carbon emissions by India, the world’s third largest polluter, will be “critically important” to a meaningful deal at the crucial UN climate summit in Paris in December, the UN’s climate chief has said. India has so far resisted calls for an ambitious target, citing the millions in the country who do not have access to energy and the need to pull those people out of poverty. Instead, it has suggested that it may make two climate pledges: one that can be achieved with domestic resources, and another that would be possible with financial and technological aid from the developed world. Christiana Figueres said India’s pledge was vital. “It is one of the very large developing countries and it will be very important to see what their trajectory on energy is going to be and, in particular, how they are planning to provide energy to 400 million un-electrified people in india.” India has promised to submit its own lower-carbon blueprint soon, but on Thursday ruled out setting a date for peaking its emissions – as China has done. Rather, the country’s pledge would be “much more ambitious” than the world expected, India’s environment minister, Prakash Javadekar said. So far, 44 countries have sent the UN their offers of emissions cuts, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), and that number is expected to double by the end of September, taking in 75-80% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Figueres praised China for its INDC which was announced last week. Beijing has promised to peak its emissions before 2030 – and curb carbon intensity by 60-65% from 2005 levels. “It shows the leadership that China has been taking for quite a while both individually in climate negotiations but also as part of a broader effort to work strategically with other countries, for example in collaboration with the US,” she said. Beijing was “pushing the envelope” on environmental measures – and the timing of its announcement during premier Li’s visit to Paris was particularly appreciated, she added. Per capita, China’s emissions at 20 tonnes are around 10 times higher than India’s. Figueres played down suggestions that the Paris deal might include measures to directly curb extraction of fossil fuels – such as an extraction cap on oil from Saudi Arabia. This would not be on the cards, she said, but pointed to statements from Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, suggesting a shift to solar energy as soon as 2040 as signs for hope. “They fully understand that they shouldn’t be using their own oil to produce electricity as it is a waste of that resource, and they know that they don’t have an eternal timeline to be using that oil. They need to be moving to understand themselves as an energy exporting country, not just an oil exporting country.” More broadly, the global oil and gas business has been stepping up its lobby efforts ahead of the Paris summit. Earlier this month, Figueres posted a response to a call from the six big European oil and gas majors for more carbon pricing, that was seen by some as her issuing a coded warning to the oil industry not to lobby against a deal at Paris. But she stressed that decisions in Paris would be taken by governments, and not corporates. “You can’t blame the fossil fuel companies for trying to use their relationships with governments for the purposes of their industry. That’s what they’re expected to do. But with the information we now have on climate change – and the effect of fossil fuels on the world’s economic and social stability, it is certainly to be expected that they will want to be a part of the solution,” she said. | ['environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/india', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'environment/christiana-figueres', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'world/delhi', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/arthurneslen'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-07-03T14:08:55Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
media-network/2014/nov/06/internet-of-things-data-security | Defining the internet of things – time to focus on the data | You could be forgiven for believing that the internet of things (IoT) is a well-defined term and that everyone is on the same page. But you would be mistaken to say the least, given the huge variety of intelligent connected devices that this term refers to. In fact, the thing about the IoT is that it could mean almost anything. In some ways it is better to think of it as the internet of everything. Topping nearly every 2015 predictions list in town, including Gartner’s renowned Strategic Technology Trends forecast, the world is beginning to acknowledge that the internet of things, is in fact, a multitude of very different things, ranging from the mundane to the life-and-death. The IoT is smart fridges, it’s the Apple Watch, it’s air traffic control technology and environment monitoring systems. It’s space satellite systems, and pacemakers embedded in the human body. But, looking beyond the clutter, from a risk and security perspective, it’s perhaps most important to focus on the data that is captured, processed, and communicated (often in real time) between these devices. As the conversation matures and the industry develops, we will need to move away from the temptation to bundle all these very different things under one generic umbrella term. Much like cloud or big data, it’s incredibly overused, and to some degree, almost too vague to be useful. We saw cloud go through a similar evolution not so long ago. Five years ago, we were talking about cloud as though it were one model. Now, largely propelled by the Cloud Security Alliance, we have the taxonomy to discuss and refer to different architectures, chiefly; platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, software as a service and even security as a service. These distinctions are important, as each requires the business using the service to negotiate a different balance between trust and control with the cloud provider. Where is the data? Who controls it? Who has access to it? And crucially, what measures are in place to protect it? There is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to security, and this certainly applies to the cloud. For businesses to take advantage of the cloud effectively, they must assess the sensitivity of the various data types within the business, so as to define the appropriate security measures to apply. Keeping secrets is much more expensive than guarding non-sensitive data – it would be madness to invest in protecting all data to the same degree. Like any big technology trend, the internet of things comes with considerable baggage, as well as some unanswered questions regarding security. It is a significant challenge to establish trust and control across this enormous range of ‘things’, particularly when they are widely distributed, and often deployed on a scale of millions, to highly untrusted locations, or are handling particularly sensitive data. The information flowing through a network of smart fridges is very different from the information generated by an air traffic control system or array of tsunami detectors. It is with this logic, and the need to have a sensible conversation about security, that we must begin to separate the IoT. Failing to do so will lead to trying to secure all data on all devices – which amounts to trying to boil the ocean. Unlocking the positive potential of the internet of things will rely on taking a data-centric approach to security – the very data that brings this network to life and makes it intelligent. The technology required to underpin this security is not new. Cryptography, used in encrypting data and proving digital identity for devices, is the centre of security for ensuring safe identification, confidentiality and integrity – the same technologies that secure nearly every website on the planet, and the payment systems we use every day. The next few years – or even decades – will be a very interesting time as the security industry works to secure the internet of things. Or rather the data of the things, wherever they might be scattered across the internet. Richard Moulds is vice president of strategy at Thales e-Security Read more stories like this: •Tips to ensure that your startup succeeds •A UK digital skills gap looms • Key challenges lie ahead for cloud TV • Advertising feature: The outlook for cloud TV in Asia To get weekly news, analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up for free Media Network membership. All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘Brought to you by’. Find out more here. | ['media-network/media-network', 'media-network/series/changing-business', 'technology/internet-of-things', 'technology/technology', 'technology/internet', 'technology/data-computer-security', 'technology/cloud-computing', 'technology/computing', 'technology/big-data', 'media/digital-media', 'media/media', 'tone/blog', 'type/article'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-11-06T07:30:04Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2005/jan/27/tsunami2004.internationalaidanddevelopment32 | G2 tsunami stories: The operational director (Switzerland) | Susan Johnson, 52, of the International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies in Geneva I got up before 5.30. I try to get a bit of a head start before the kids get up, to find a brief interlude to work before I make some effort at being a mother. I had some documents to go through - operational updates from the field and some job descriptions for senior posts we're recruiting for, new jobs that need doing as a result of the tsunami. I started work, as I do most mornings, by meeting with the head of Asia-Pacific operations in the office and a couple of other colleagues who are central to our operation in the area. We've got pretty extensive teams in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Maldives. Other colleagues will have been in earlier and made contact with people in the field. At our 8am morning meeting we round up our operational activity, what's happening in relief distribution, the production and distribution of water, and at a number of health clinics in the field, along the logistics chain that is moving people and relief goods around. After that followed an hour-long meeting with the head of African operations, the counterpart of Asia-Pacific. It has been hard to take stock of what's been going on in Sudan over the past couple of weeks. For lunch, I grabbed a bite in the canteen and met a member of the Sri Lanka review team to talk about disaster response there, because we've also been using that as a review of how our response worked. I spoke to members of assessment teams in the field in Sri Lanka and Indonesia with regards to long-term planning for future involvement. We are trying to drive planning exercises to some initial conclusion by February 7, to formulate country plans for the 12 countries involved. Right now, people are still fixed on the shorter term, getting people settled and so on. I also got paid today, so I went to the bank and paid some bills. Normally I'm here till 7 or 8 at night (and dealing with emails from about 10pm at home). The tempo has changed since the first couple of weeks, but I don't know if I'd say it's lightened up. · Interviews by: Bernard O'Riordan, Jonathan Watts, Theeranuch Saweangphon, James Meek, Jeevan Vasagar, David Ward, Eleanor Welsh, Oliver Burkeman, Patrick Barkham, Helen Pidd, Ian Sample, Randeep Ramesh, Jessica Aldred, Paul Arendt, Paul Macinnes, Leslie Plommer, Simon Hattenstone. | ['world/tsunami2004', 'global-development/global-development', 'world/world', 'world/switzerland', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-01-27T10:06:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/food-blog/leaked-ipcc-report-climate-change-global-food-systems | Leaked IPCC report must be catalyst for a reassessment of global food system | In case it wasn't already clear, there is now consensus that climate change will have a significant impact on the world's food systems. A leaked draft of the newest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) underscored the serious threat climate change poses for meeting demand for food in the coming decades. The contents of the report – though not a revelation – should be a catalyst for a complete reassessment of the global food system. Increasingly, it is not a question of if or when a changing climate will impact our food, but rather how farms and agricultural systems will choose to adapt. In a warming world there will be bursts of heavy rain and prolonged drought that will, as the UN puts it, exacerbate water shortages and shift growing seasons. Some of the biggest impacts from climate change will be felt on farms, with the UN estimating that yields of staple crops such as corn, wheat and rice could be depressed by as much as 2% each decade for the rest of the century. What all of this will actually mean for the world's hungry though, and what we can do about it is another story entirely. As awareness about the impacts of climate change increases, the debate about how to achieve climate resiliency and feed the world intensifies. We believe we cannot have these conversations without first acknowledging the role the food system itself currently plays in the crisis. Today, almost every aspect of our modern food system generates greenhouse gas emissions; responsible for one third of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions every year. Food sector emissions are largely the result of industrial livestock operations, fertiliser and chemical use, carbon loss from soils on industrial farms, and significantly, deforestation driven by a handful of corporate controlled commodities. Indonesia is now the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, just behind China and the US. This is partially as a result of clearing rainforests and peatlands to make way for industrial palm oil plantations – an ingredient now found in much of the packaged foods lining our supermarket shelves. The climate solutions from agribusiness players – such as commodity and chemical giants Cargill, Wilmar and Monsanto – are worth questioning in light of the impact these corporations have on our climate. In their PR spin, these corporations suggest that we face key tradeoffs: either accept chemicals, engineered seeds, and synthetic fertilisers as well as expansion of cropland into forests – or face more hunger. Echoing this talking point in 2008, the chair of the board of agrochemical giant Syngenta said: "The world has to choose between technology, deforestation and hunger. I can't see another way out." But this is a false tradeoff. Executives from the companies profiting from industrial agriculture may see little reason to stray from their current path, but in an increasingly resource-constrained and climate-unstable world we cannot support life unless we shift away from input-intensive agriculture that is degrading ecosystems, marginalising small farmers, and failing to eliminate hunger. So what can we do? We can move quickly and confidently toward climate-friendly farming. Protecting forests, working with smallholder farmers and promoting climate-smart agriculture can address the roots of hunger and the climate crisis. Research has shown that by using agro-ecological methods, such as organic fertilisers, crop rotations, cover crops and ecological pest management, and focusing on improving the productivity of smallholder farmer communities that already feed one third of the world, we can maintain the health of farmlands. We can also promote increased resilience to climate change impacts and meet our food needs. A global assessment by the UN special rapporteur on the right to food concludes: "… agroecology, if sufficiently supported, can double food production in entire regions within 10 years while mitigating climate change and alleviating rural poverty." We need to start incentivising – through corporate agreements, consumer demand, and policy – an agricultural system that's climate smart and pro-farmer, and at the same time reduce emissions from the industrial food sector as fast as we can. That means protecting pristine forests from soy or palm oil plantations; reducing dependency on synthetic fertiliser and petroleum-based agrochemicals; working with smallholders to improve the productivity of traditional farming systems; and addressing the rampant waste along the food chain. Today, an estimated one third of all food that could be eaten is wasted. In some countries such as the US as much as half is wasted. Just focusing on food waste reduction could feed three billion people and still leave enough surplus for countries to provide 130% of the nutritional requirements for their entire populations, according to food waste expert, Tristram Stuart. As a warming climate increasingly affects the world's farmers, agribusiness will continue to prey on fears of "not enough" to preserve their way of doing business. It's time to pursue a different path. Lindsey Allen is the executive director of Rainforest Action Network (RAN). Anna Lappé is the author of Diet for a Hot Planet: the climate crisis at the end of your fork and what you can do about it and a board member of RAN. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/food-blog', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'tone/comment', 'guardian-professional/sustainability', 'sustainable-business/climate-change', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'global-development/food-security', 'global-development/hunger', 'environment/ipcc', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/food'] | environment/ipcc | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2013-11-11T12:51:38Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2024/nov/27/albanese-kills-off-deal-with-greens-to-pass-nature-positive-law-after-intervention-by-wa-premier | Albanese kills off deal with Greens to pass ‘nature positive’ legislation after intervention by WA premier | Anthony Albanese has killed off a potential deal with the Greens to pass the government’s “nature positive” legislation after an intervention by the Western Australia premier, Roger Cook. At a press conference on Wednesday, Cook said he had spoken to the “highest level” of the federal government on Tuesday to reiterate his view that the bills in their current form “should not be progressed”. “I’m confident that that particular situation has prevailed,” he said. “I won’t go into the details of private conversations, but can I just say I’ve had conversations at the highest level of the federal government.” The prime minister was already disinclined to support the Greens’ compromise deal before Cook added his voice to those opposing it, under pressure from the mining industry and big business, and fearful of federal Labor’s electoral fortunes in WA. However, negotiations between the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and the Greens environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, were progressing this week towards a compromise that would have secured necessary support from the minor party and crossbench senators to establish a national environment protection authority. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Guardian Australia has confirmed that negotiations on the bill collapsed on Tuesday night, after the prime minister intervened to rule there should be no acceptance of the Greens’ conditions, meaning the legislation will not pass before parliament rises at the end of the week. Hanson-Young said the collapse of the negotiations was due to pressure from industry, particularly the WA mining lobby. “The Greens put a deal on the table and the government has walked away. The prime minister has been bullied by the mining and logging lobby again,” she said. “The Greens want to get laws that would actually provide some protection for nature but Labor couldn’t even entertain protecting forests and critical habitat in an extinction crisis.” The government’s legislation would have established two new agencies: an environmental watchdog to manage compliance with national environmental laws and an information agency to manage environmental data. The bills were a fraction of the reforms the government has committed to as part of an overhaul of Australia’s national environmental laws, which a 2020 statutory review found were failing to protect nature. Earlier this year, the government delayed a broader package of legislation to address the recommendations of that review until after the next election. Greens and crossbench senators had been seeking a range of amendments to strengthen Australia’s environmental protections in the meantime and had already compromised by dropping a call for a climate trigger. The amendments sought included integration of climate considerations into the environmental assessment process and closing the effective exemption for native forest logging covered by a regional forest agreement from national environmental laws. Guardian Australia understands that negotiations this week were moving towards further potential compromises on that position. Earlier on Wednesday a spokesperson for Plibersek declined to comment on Albanese’s role and pointed to the fact that the legislation remained on the parliamentary notice paper and is not being withdrawn. “The bills are listed in the Senate. The Coalition, the Greens and other senators can support them at any time,” the spokesperson said. Western Australia’s peak conservation organisation, the Conservation Council of WA, said it had written to the PM to urge the government to pass the legislation. The council said it had conducted polling that found a majority of WA voters supported stronger nature laws. Felicity Wade, the national co-convenor of Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) said “today is a hard day for true believers, vested interests won”. “The EPA was an election commitment. It has been in the National Platform since 2018 and is backed by 500 local ALP branches. It is core to our claim of caring about the natural environment,” Wade said. “The Minister had stared down the Greens. The deal on the table avoided all the contentious stuff, it was sensible regulatory reform. All of it was existing government policy.” CCWA nature program manager Rhiannon Hardwick said failure to act now risked delaying reforms for years and placing Australia’s climate and biodiversity at greater risk. “West Australians have been falsely represented on nature protection,” she said. “West Australians strongly support the protection of nature and real action on climate.” The Australian Conservation Foundation’s chief executive, Kelly O’Shanassy, said “an independent EPA [environment protection authority] is desperately needed to take the influence of vested interests out of decision making”. “The scare campaign run by the resources industry and peak business groups shows how opposed these sectors are to genuinely independent administration of national nature laws,” she said. | ['australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/western-australia', 'environment/conservation', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/anthony-albanese', 'environment/environment', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'law/law-australia', 'environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'australia-news/tanya-plibersek', 'australia-news/australian-greens', 'environment/biodiversity', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'profile/karen-middleton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-politics'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-11-27T09:42:46Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2024/apr/09/epidemic-fears-as-80-of-indigenous-amazon-tribe-fall-ill | Epidemic fears as 80% of Indigenous Amazon tribe fall ill | More than 100 Indigenous people in Brazil’s Javari valley have been diagnosed with flu-like symptoms, raising fears that the situation could escalate into an epidemic. The valley, where Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips were killed in 2022, is home to the largest population of Indigenous people in voluntary isolation and of recent contact worldwide. The Korubo people were first contacted by government officials in 1996, and they continue to live with little interaction with other Indigenous groups and local authorities. “The vulnerability of this community is extremely high; any infection can quickly escalate into an epidemic,” said Manoel Chorimpa, a local leader and adviser at OPI, an organisation dedicated to protecting Indigenous groups in voluntary isolation and those recently exposed to urbanisation. Healthcare workers operating in the territory say that of the 101 individuals from the Korubo community diagnosed with symptoms, 22 cases had progressed to pneumonia, of whom 15 were under nine years old. The community is made up of just 121 people, meaning the vast majority have been infected. In 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic also affected most of its people. To address the difficulty of providing healthcare to these communities, Pereira had proposed a health boat, which became a reality one year after his death. Currently managed by the health ministry, the unit was intended to cross the Ituí river, providing healthcare to remote Korubo villages. However, it has been parked along the banks of the Ituí River, requiring patients to travel there instead. “This has already subverted the boat’s purpose,” said Luisa Suriani, another OPI adviser. “When someone is sick and heads over, the whole family tags along, setting up camp on the riverbank, which makes it easier for diseases to spread.” One or two doctors serve in a team of usually seven, which includes a nurse, cook, and boat driver – but there is a high turnover of staff. “When we spoke to health agents, no one wanted to stay due to its bad working conditions,” Suriani said. According to the OPI advisers and a health worker who requested anonymity due to their position, the raft is too small for the team, who also contend with unbearable heat, leaks from the ceiling during rain, and loud noise from the light oil-fuelled generator. They have also faced shortages of medical supplies. Mobile videos recorded by a local professional in March showed patients seeking shelter from heavy rain under plastic tents near the health boat. “There is no decent shelter for them,” the health worker said. “There was a triage of critically ill patients who needed to stay in the camp. Many couldn’t be adequately cared for due to limited resources and poor conditions.” In addition to dealing with flu outbreaks, the Javari people have grappled with high rates of malaria and diarrhoea, worsened by the fact that less than a fifth of villages have access to sanitation. Between 2018 and 2022, 134 people died, 34% of whom were under a year old, the health ministry said. The ministry told the Guardian no deaths had yet been reported in the recent outbreak, and several patients had already been discharged to their villages. Invasions by illegal miners, loggers, fishers, hunters and drug gangs have had severe effects on the health and quality of life of Indigenous people living in the Amazon. The situation worsened under the administration of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who halted enforcement and slashed environmental budgets, leading to surges in deforestation and illegal activity in the region. Hopes for a more active stance towards the protection of the Amazon and its native peoples were reignited when the new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, took power in January 2023. His administration has established the first ministry of Indigenous peoples. However, the reality has been different. “It feels like nothing has really changed in the Javari valley since the death of Bruno and Dom, despite the global attention it received,” said Indigenous advocate Eliésio Marubo. He said that aside from sporadic government enforcement operations to dismantle illegal activities, people in the region had received minimal assistance. Marubo himself lives in fear of criminal groups acting in the area and always uses a bulletproof vest and an armoured car. “I don’t want to believe this is normal,” he told Brazilian congresspeople last year. A taskforce comprising government officials and environmental leaders is preparing a protection plan for the Javari valley. The preliminary document, obtained by the Guardian, underscores persistent illegal mining and deforestation within and around the protected area. Deforestation inside the Javari valley surged by more than 30% to 99 hectares in 2023 compared with the previous year, according to Mapbiomas, a platform monitoring land changes in Brazil. Even with the pressures of agricultural expansion and urbanisation, Indigenous lands persist as green islands in the Amazon, with less than 3% of the biome’s deforestation occurring within these protected areas. The most pressing concern in the Javari valley arises from the “significant invasion” of fishers and hunters into areas inhabited by isolated Indigenous communities, the document says. These groups have been linked to the killing of Pereira and Phillips, and five individuals accused of the crime are in prison. Several Brazilian news reports have highlighted the continued presence of invaders in the region, as Indigenous people have to navigate the same river routes as criminal groups in order to access limited medical care. | ['world/indigenous-peoples', 'world/world', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/flavia-milhorance', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-04-09T06:00:46Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
theobserver/2023/jul/02/the-big-picture-a-celebration-of-life-in-the-peruvian-rainforest | The big picture: a celebration of life in the Peruvian rainforest | In 2016, the Spanish photographer Arguiñe Escandón sent her Swiss friend and collaborator Yann Gross a postcard. The vintage recoloured print showed the 19th-century explorer Charles Kroehle in the Peruvian Amazon surrounded by Indigenous people with a huge “trophy” crocodile laid out in front of them. Kroehle was among the first western travellers to photograph Amazonian tribes, but his eventual fate is unknown. Some reports have it that he was killed by an arrow in the jungle, others say he walked off and never returned. On the back of her postcard Escandón wrote to Gross: “I hope you don’t end up like him”. The postcard was the genesis of a three-year journey the two photographers took in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest and a book, Aya (ghost), which attempted to examine the spirit of Kroehle’s travels in light of postcolonial criticism of his kind of “exoticism”, and the real environmental challenges faced by the descendants of those Indigenous people. The book is full of images like this one, which both celebrates the visual strangeness of some of the rituals the photographers encountered, and grounds it in the communities they lived among. This photograph is included in the Arles festival exhibition, Grow Up, which is devoted to the interaction of humans and the natural world. The book Aya opens with the postcard Escandón sent to Gross, and as well as photographs includes inserts of Kroehle’s letters, reports on jungle flora, photosensitive prints and other documents. The ambition was a kind of boundaryless immersion or initiation in the rainforest, as distinct from Kroehle’s assumption of a privileged frame of reference. “The idea wasn’t to romanticise the Amazon, or to present it in a dramatic way,” Gross said of their travels. The reality of simply looking was tragic and surprising enough to require no enhancement. Grow Up is at Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation as art of Arles photography festival, 3 July to 24 September. Aya is published by Editorial RM | ['theobserver/series/the-big-picture', 'artanddesign/photography', 'culture/culture', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/peru', 'artanddesign/les-rencontres-d-arles', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/timadams', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/new-review', 'theobserver/new-review/agenda', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-new-review'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-07-02T06:00:34Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2023/oct/26/a-joy-to-watch-uk-rewilding-brings-endangered-species-back-from-brink | ‘A joy to watch’: UK rewilding brings endangered species back from brink | Vast expanses of rolling hilltops may be easy on the eye. But look a bit closer and many are in fact bleak landscapes – overgrazed and mostly devoid of diverse natural life. Shortsighted agricultural practices, habitat destruction and factory farming are among the causes of an alarming biodiversity crisis in Britain, where one in six species are in danger of local extinction. Around the edges, however, local wildlife restoration projects are having an impact. Last year, 3.22% of the UK’s land was deemed to be well protected and managed, according to Wildlife Trusts, a slight increase on 2021, and councils are embracing rewilding. More and more community and private projects appear to be springing up too. The nature restoration project Back on Our Map is one of these. Working in and around the Lake District, it has restored habitats across a series of protected areas from Morecambe Bay to Grizedale Forest, reintroducing species such as the seriously endangered hazel dormouse. It released 69 of the rodents in June 2021, which have since bred, with more than 100 juvenile dormice found in subsequent surveys. There were also 64 small blue butterflies translocated from a nearby coastal site to widen the population’s geographic range. “Each butterfly was released by a young person from a local primary school,” says Anya Kuliszewski, a community engagement officer. “It was a lovely way of involving the next generation of wildlife enthusiasts.” The project has sought to diversify the groups usually involved in conservation. Volunteers have included inmates at nearby Haverigg open prison, clients of the mental health charity Mind in Furness, and special needs college students. “We have helped train 10 of the men from the prison in level 1 horticulture,” Kuliszewski says. The men have planted hundreds of the 4,000 aspen trees now growing in the forest thanks to the project. “A lot of them are then planning to carry on doing conservation volunteering when they get released,” adds Kuliszewski. In Derbyshire, where just a year ago there were a series of overgrazed knolls, there is now a meadow bursting with purple knapweed flowers that sprouted after the sheep were allowed to mimic wild grazing. The burst of flowers spawned a “massive increase” in invertebrates and insectivorous birds, including spotted flycatchers and swallows, while sightings of weasels, badgers and deer are increasing. High Leas Farm in Derbyshire had been farmed in a “low input” manner for more than a decade and last year its owners partnered with the team of ecologists to form the Woven Earth project and embarked on a process of “holistic restoration” on the 160-acre site. “We needed a phase of vegetation growth and allowing the land to restore,” says Rob Owen, from Woven Earth. “We’ve been doing small bits of reseeding but it’s mainly allowing what’s naturally there in the seedbed to emerge. Our approach sees humans as keystone species and reimagines our role in the wild, with ourselves as a valid participant. Humans are an integral part of the wild.” A tandem social farm project is inviting adults with mental health issues to take part in workshops offered by local healthcare professionals.“A lot of the problems we face is because of our breakdown in relationship with nature, and not having the opportunity to participate in it,” says Owen. “We are trying to rewild with people.” Other campaigns have called for action to begin at home. In East Anglia, the conservation group WildEast calls on homeowners and landowners to allow “a little land to do its own thing” through not mowing, ploughing or planting flower beds on some of their land or garden. “We have had about 2,000 pledgees, covering 8,500 acres,” says Argus Gathorne-Hardy, from WildEast, a farmer-led rewilding movement. “The idea is to create a model where nature happens everywhere.” A parallel campaign in Felixstowe has seen an area the size of two tennis courts in effect become a sprawling, unjoined network across local people’s back gardens, allotments, window boxes and balconies. Each member of the conservation network Felixstowe Community Nature Reserve is asked to allocate at least three square yards of land to pollinator-friendly plants, ponds, hedgehog homes, and other wildlife-friendly features. Local people are also encouraged to “simply leave part of their garden, or allotment to grow wild, and to let nature weave its own micro-ecosystems,” says Gathorne-Hardy. In south-west England, the local authority in Truro, Cornwall, established a team of countryside rangers about five years ago to increase wildlife prevalence on council-owned land. The planting of new trees in woodland areas has led to the growing prevalence of the wasp spider in the area. There have also been increased sightings of bright orange fritillary butterflies, and birds such as firecrests, gold crests and buzzards. “One of the meadows in Coosebean Woodland is now a real hotspot for butterflies and spiders,” says Ben Slattery, the lead countryside ranger. “We are seeing increases of wildlife now our sites are being managed specifically to increase wildlife.” The community has come together to conduct biological censuses known as bioblitzes, to litter pick and to help the rangers with maintenance, alongside locally run bat tours and talks on nature. “We have seen new species arrive and numbers of local species grow,” says Eleanor Atkins, a volunteer. “It is a joy to watch the seasons change in this natural oasis.” | ['environment/rewilding', 'society/communities', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'environment/biodiversity', 'uk/uk', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/mattha-busby', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-10-26T12:00:23Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2019/dec/15/how-do-you-transform-an-entire-economy-the-firm-taking-on-the-climate-funding-problem | 'How do you transform an entire economy?' The firm taking on the climate funding problem | A growing number of governments, including of every Australian state, Britain and the European Union, have set targets of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Few have mapped how to get there. It is a similar story in the corporate sector. Businesses are under increasing pressure from investors and shareholders to back up claims they are committed to the goals of the Paris agreement. Take BHP, one of the world’s 20 big emitters: it has set a mid-century net-zero emissions target but is yet to explain how it will reach it, and plans to invest more in oil and gas than climate solutions. Martijn Wilder, long-time head of Baker & McKenzie’s global climate law and sustainable-finance practice and a founding board member of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, has seen up close the divide between the decision-making that goes into setting targets and establishing rules at United Nations climate talks and that drives spending decisions. Having moved in both diplomatic and investment circles, he found people in each who wanted to tackle the climate crisis but had little comprehension of how the other worked. The gap prompted him to leave a guaranteed stable future at the law firm, where he spent two decades, to set up Pollination, an ambitious – and, he and fellow founder Tony O’Sullivan say, unique – global climate advisory and investment firm. They say they will work across five areas: infrastructure investment, merchant banking, venture capital, non-profit work and an advisory arm. Two months after starting operation, the client list of their advisory business includes BHP, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, New Zealand’s a2 Milk Company and the NSW government. Wilder says the firm’s goals are to bring together experts who can break down barriers to the transition to a clean future, and redirect capital that has been committed but not to climate solutions. “Climate change is the central issue of our generation, but we’ve got this funding problem,” he says. “Families don’t know where to go [with their money], big investment funds can only write cheques of $1bn – what do you do with that? – and governments either don’t want to invest or it takes a lot of time, and are often restricted by legal barriers.” Beyond infrastructure, they say they want to back investments that protect natural capital and water security. Wilder says creating markets for climate adaptation and resilience will require coming up with financial solutions that could, for example, protect a reef or a mangrove, support a new technology that improves soil fertility or better manage water use. He says an increasing number of corporate players are talking about the climate emergency, but not moving quickly enough. Referring to the work of the task force on climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD), a global body that aims to highlight companies’ exposure to risks related to the climate crisis, Wilder says many companies are attempting what he describes as “TCFD light” – acknowledging the issue, not yet matching it with action. But he believes the movement is in the right direction and picking up pace. “Any board anywhere in the world that thinks in 2019 that it should not be assessing climate risk will put its directors at significant exposure,” he says. “It is just no longer tenable for a board not to do that.” O’Sullivan, a former Australian head of investment banking at Lazard, says there is evidence investors, businesses and governments are increasingly turning their mind to what net-zero emissions means, pointing to a warning by the governor of the Bank of England that major corporations have two years to agree to rules for reporting climate risks before global regulators make them compulsory. He says the solution has to be more than “just building another solar farm”. “If you come out, as a lot of governments have done, with a deadline that says, ‘I’ve got 30 years to turn around an economy which has been based on fossil fuels for the last 200 years’, how do you transform an entire economy in that period?” O’Sullivan says from his base in London. “We really feel the advice we’re giving is going to transform governments and corporates.” Pollination’s management team includes Patrick Suckling, who until recently was Australia’s environment ambassador, and Rob Jesudason, the former chief financial officer of the Commonwealth Bank. Senior advisors include Sam Mostyn, chairwoman of Citi Australia, James Cameron, the founder of green merchant bank Climate Capital, and Christof Kutscher, the global chairman of AXA Investment Managers. The firm has offices in Sydney, London, New York, Chicago and Paris. Wilder says they want to extend into Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai and, eventually, China. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2019-12-14T19:00:31Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/2021/may/26/california-windfarms-coast-biden-administration | California could launch the west coast’s first commercial offshore windfarms | California has taken a major step towards launching the first commercial offshore wind energy program on the west coast, a project that would open the state’s waters to hundreds of floating turbines and could eventually power 1.6m homes. The state announced an agreement with the US government on Tuesday that would open federal waters off California’s central and northern coasts to new windfarms, and put the state and the country in a better position to meet ambitious climate targets. “California, as we all know, has a world-class offshore wind resource, and it can play a major role in helping to accelerate California’s and the nation’s transition to clean energy,” said Gina McCarthy, the White House’s national climate adviser. The new projects, if approved and built, would provide a major expansion of offshore wind power in the US. Currently, there are just two working offshore windfarms – off Block Island in Rhode Island and off Virginia – but more than two dozen others are in development. The announcement is part of Joe Biden’s plan to create 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. California separately set a goal to produce all electricity by 2045 through renewable energy resources and zero-carbon generating facilities. The plan includes floating 380 windmills across a nearly 400 sq-mile (1,035 sq km) expanse of roughly 250,000 acres north-west of Morro Bay. The agreement comes two weeks after the Biden administration announced a $3bn project off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts that would power 400,000 homes with 84 turbines. Another proposed project, Ocean Wind, off New Jersey would create 1,100-megawatts of power. Those windfarms would be dwarfed by the scale of the California projects. The California windfarms would produce a combined 4.6 gigawatts, with the Morro Bay operation providing two-thirds of that output. State officials have spent years trying to advance plans for wind development and California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, noted that the Trump administration inhibited those efforts. He praised the plan, saying that developing offshore wind would be a “gamechanger to achieving California’s clean energy goals and addressing climate change”, and promised to expedite the state’s environmental review process to hasten production. He also said he included $20m in his revised budget proposal this month to invest in the project. “We value process but not the paralysis of a process that takes years and years and years that can be done in a much more focused way,” Newsom said. The US has lagged behind Europe on developing offshore wind power, and advocates of the plan have cited their successes as examples. But the plan is not without opposition and key obstacles remain. For one, the Pacific Ocean is far deeper than the Atlantic, where infrastructure can be built directly on to the seafloor. California’s wind energy will have to rely on floating turbines, and the technology is still fairly new. Fishermen are also concerned that construction and operation of projects on this scale could disrupt the ecosystem. They claim that they were not consulted on the impact the locations could have on their industry. “We feel we’ve not been invited to have a seat at the table. We feel we’re on the menu,” said Mike Conroy, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. The area off Morro Bay is a fishery for tuna and swordfish and he is concerned that the floating turbines could change migratory patterns of whales and other species. If blue and humpback whales, for example, are forced closer to shore, it could bring closures of Dungeness crab fishing. Opposition is also expected from coastal property owners who have expressed dismay over the impact floating turbines may have on their ocean views – and ultimately their property values. The project is expected to take years to establish, as the interior department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees this kind of development, will process and respond to public feedback on the plan. But, some of those hurdles have already been handled. The Department of Defense, which resisted California’s attempts to develop a wind energy program in the area for years, due to its use of the area for training and operations, is now on board. Environmental groups, including Audubon and the Natural Resources Defense Council, which have expressed concerns about how the plan could impact wildlife, also issued statements in support of the project with the caveat that fish, seabirds and marine mammals are protected. The Environmental Defense Center, which was founded in Santa Barbara after a massive offshore oil spill in 1969, echoed that sentiment, calling for minimal harm to species and coastal communities. With support from those groups, the Department of the Interior plans to finalize the site next month, and could open leasing by next year. “Today’s announcement reflects months of active engagement and dedication between partners who are committed to advancing a clean energy future,” said the US interior secretary, Deb Haaland, in a statement. “The offshore wind industry has the potential to create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs across the nation, while combating the negative effects of climate change.” Agencies contributed | ['us-news/california', 'environment/windpower', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2021-05-26T20:03:14Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2014/jun/17/new-emojis-announced-unicode | More than 250 new emojis announced by Unicode | More than 250 new emoji characters will be coming to smartphones and computers, after the announcement of Unicode 7.0 by the Unicode Consortium, the industry body devoted to the development and promotion of software standards. Among the new characters are animals, including a chipmunk and a dove; symbols for weather, such as a thermometer and a tornado; and some "miscellaneous" symbols, including the euphemistically named "raised hand with part between middle and ring fingers" – perhaps better known as the Vulcan salute from Star Trek: While the descriptions and reference designs for the new symbols are set by Unicode, the actual implementation can vary widely between device manufacturers. In contrast to emoji as they ship on smartphones and modern operating systems, the unicode images are never in colour, and are usually little more than simple line drawings. It is likely that some manufacturers will make the most of the update to fix other long-standing issues with emoji. In March, Apple apologised for only having two non-white faces in its implementation of the characters, and promised to include more in a future update, after a petition pointed out the lack of people of colour in the company's default set. "Of the more than 800 emojis, the only two resembling people of colour are a guy who looks vaguely Asian and another in a turban," the petition argued. "There's a white boy, girl, man, woman, elderly man, elderly woman, blond boy, blonde girl, and, we're pretty sure, Princess Peach. But when it comes to faces outside of yellow smileys, there's a staggering lack of minority representation." Unicode version 7.0 does also include additions outside the realm of emoji. The consortium says that "major enhancements were made to the Indic script properties," and also adds "the new currency symbols for the Russian ruble and Azerbaijani manat" and "23 new lesser-used and historic scripts… extending support for written languages of north America, China, India, other Asian countries, and Africa." | ['technology/technology', 'technology/internet', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/android', 'technology/ios', 'technology/iphone', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/software', 'technology/mobilephones', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-hern'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-06-17T08:52:18Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2010/oct/27/harrison-ford-conservation-nagoya | Harrison Ford calls on US to ratify treaty on conservation | The actor Harrison Ford has called on the United States to ratify the international treaty governing conservation and urged consumers everywhere to shop more responsibly in order to limit the impact on the natural world. Ford was speaking in Nagoya on the fringes of a crucial United Nations conference to establish a global action plan to protect the natural world. But the US – the world's biggest economy and consumer – is not taking a full part in the discussions because Congress has refused to ratify the UN Convention on Biological Diversity that the former president Bill Clinton signed in 1993. "It's a matter of political will," Ford told the Guardian. "I'm not sure what objections the US has to taking the necessary steps. I know it's difficult to get things through Congress these days, but what needs to be done is have the president prioritise this process of congressional advice and consent on this treaty so we can be signatories." With the Senate in blocking mode and US public opinion swinging against big international negotiations to protect the environment, this will be difficult. But Ford – a director of the US-based NGO Conservation International – says the cost of not signing will be ultimately felt in people's wallets and wellbeing because nature provides clean air, fresh water, carbon sequestration and food security. "The economic benefits of biodiversity are recognised," he said. "If we can get the message across to the voting public that their interests are not being served by being outside the convention, they might make their dissatisfaction known." Ford has made a substantial fortune from starring roles in blockbusters such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Patriot Games, but he did accept that he was part of a "Hollywood lifestyle" that has accelerated over-consumption. "I don't do celebrity endorsements," he said. "My work with Conservation International is a good use of whatever celebrity I might have to draw attention to important problems. I have the same responsibility as everyone to reduce consumption and to teach children to respect the environment." In previous interviews, he has said his interest in the environment arose from a sense of stewardship over the land that he felt after buying a ranch in Wyoming. He has donated nearly 400 acres of the ranch to the Jackson Hole Land Trust. In Nagoya, he is advocating Conservation International's goals to expand protected areas to 25% of the world's land surface and 15% of the oceans. "I care because I'm a father and I'm seeing the world around me degraded and misused and wasted for short-term profits," he said. "I think this is among the most important of the things I'm involved in. Time is short and nature is at a tipping point." | ['environment/nagoya', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/environment', 'film/harrisonford', 'film/film', 'tone/news', 'world/japan', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanwatts'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2010-10-27T09:45:59Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2018/apr/25/world-weatherwatch-hawaii-is-flooded-as-oklahoma-suffers-wildfires | World weatherwatch: Hawaii is flooded as Oklahoma suffers wildfires | Hawaii was inundated with more than half a metre (2ft) of water in 24 hours, as thunderstorms deluged the island last week. This was caused by a plume of low-level moisture spreading northwards, which bumped into a strong upper-level trough. This trough enabled warm surface air to rise beyond the average height of the trade wind inversion, generating instability and intense thunderstorms. In Kauai, heavy rains triggered landslides that isolated communities, with more than 500 people airlifted to safety. Fanned by dry, warm and windy conditions last week, Oklahoma saw two large wildfires. Oklahoma is no stranger to such conditions, but the state is facing a severe drought, and the fires burned through dry grass, destroying several buildings and causing two deaths. Last weekend, a storm system delivered up to 2.5cm (1in) of rainfall across much of the southern plains, helping to contain the fires. Central and northern India have been reeling as temperatures have reached 40C in recent days. High pressure over the Arabian Sea strengthened, intensifying heat inland, with night-time temperatures staying above 27C. Thunderstorms brought some relief as contrasting humidity in advance of the monsoon collided with cold Himalayan air. •A panel of Weatherwatch contributors will be taking part in Freak Weather in History, at the British Library on Wednesday 2 May, at 7pm •This article was amended on Thursday 26 April to correct the byline. | ['news/series/world-weatherwatch', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/meteorology', 'us-news/hawaii', 'us-news/us-weather', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-04-25T20:30:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sport/2024/oct/14/cricket-womens-t20-world-cup-what-we-have-learned-so-far-in-uae | Women’s T20 World Cup: what we have learned so far from early stages in UAE | Spin to win? Is the UAE the spinner’s paradise we were all led to believe? Five of the top 10 leading wicket-takers in the tournament so far are seamers – including Australia’s Megan Schutt (eight wickets) and Annabel Sutherland (seven). When Australia v India came down to the wire on Sunday, with India needing 14 runs from the final over, it was Sutherland who the stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath turned to. The all-rounder was the embodiment of composure, giving away only five runs (while taking two wickets) as Australia held firm. England have thrown the kitchen sink at their four-pronged spinner strategy on the basis that “they all do something a bit different”, but one thing they have not done (so far) is take many wickets. The one concern coming out of their 10-wicket thrashing of Scotland on Sunday was their inability to take a single Scottish wicket in the powerplay. England might have three wins from three matches so far, but a lack of penetration will make life tough in higher-stakes games. Mind the gap to Australia Talk that the infamous “gap” between Australia and the rest is narrowing seems to have been premature. In 2018 and 2020, they actually lost one of their group-stage matches; this time around, there has barely been a wobble in their perfect 4/4 record. Even during their standoff against India on Sunday – which Australia won by a mere nine runs – the momentum never quite swung against the reigning champs. Australia’s one concern is the foot injury which the captain Alyssa Healy sustained while batting against Pakistan. Despite Cricket Australia refusing to rule her out of the rest of the tournament – a statement issued on Sunday said she would “continue to be assessed over the coming days” – she was last seen hobbling out of the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in a moon boot. The calling-card of this Australia side has been squad depth – if Healy is ruled unfit for finals, they may just need it. It’s a bowlers’ tournament Who would be a bowler? The answer, apparently, is most people – if they were playing their cricket in the UAE. Long boundaries and a low, slow pitch at Sharjah has made batting in this tournament very tricky indeed: the average first-innings total is just 122 (compared to an overall average of 140 at all grounds over the past two years). In last year’s World Cup, 57 sixes were struck; so far this tournament, we have only seen 25. England, who have played all their matches at Sharjah so far, have comfortably won all three of them but have cleared the boundary rope just once. It’s all a bit retro – 10 years ago, in the pre-professional era, England went an entire T20 World Cup without scoring a single six – but in 2024, the concern is casual viewers who prefer their T20 cricket explosive rather than gritty might have already turned their TVs off. Dew has not mattered, but heat has When the men played their World Cup in the UAE in 2021, there were complaints that winning the toss was tantamount to winning the game, due to the increased difficulties of gripping the ball as dew descended. Surprisingly – perhaps because this tournament is being played several weeks earlier than the men’s one was – dew is yet to play a role. The win percentage is pretty evenly split between teams who choose to bat first (45%) and teams who opt to bowl (55%). England’s initial training was done in rainy Loughborough, allowing their bowlers to practise gripping a sopping wet ball. But it was actually the two weeks immediately pre-tournament in a heat-acclimatisation camp which have proved critical. “I wouldn’t have played like that if I hadn’t been in Abu Dhabi for two weeks,” Maia Bouchier said of her match-winning 62 not out from 34 balls against Scotland, scored in 40 degree heat at Sharjah. Meanwhile one unnamed Scotland player apparently vomited into her own arm mid-innings against Bangladesh, suggesting that this tournament is proving to be as much a physical endurance test as it is a test of cricketing skills. There are actually two Groups of Death Group A (containing Australia, India and New Zealand) was termed the Group of Death as soon as the draw became known, so it was unsurprising that qualification came down to New Zealand’s clash against Pakistan on Monday. In a strange twist, India were left having to cheer on Pakistan, after earlier losses to New Zealand and Australia put them on the verge of elimination. The real shock has been Group B, initially felt to be relatively straightforward for England. Not so. England have enjoyed three solid wins, against Bangladesh, South Africa and Scotland – but still need to beat West Indies in Group B’s final game on Tuesday to guarantee a semi-final spot. It could be a nervy affair. | ['sport/womens-t20-world-cup-2024', 'sport/women-s-t20-world-cup', 'sport/england-women-cricket-team', 'sport/womenscricket', 'sport/cricket', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/the-spin', 'type/article', 'tone/key-takeaways', 'profile/raf-nicholson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/womens-t20-world-cup-2024 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-10-14T13:35:36Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jan/13/uk-waste-management | Muck and money: the UK's waste management is rubbish | Damian Carrington | Muck and money go together. This centuries-old English proverb provides a handy five-word summary of a new report on how the UK deals with its waste - not very well - and how to change that. Let's start with a statistic: the UK dumps about half of its municipal rubbish into landfill sites, while Germany buries just 1% in holes in the ground. The jaw-dropping difference is not just the German love of recycling, it's also that it uses much of the suitable waste to generate power. That's turning muck into brass. In the UK, we are burying money. So today's report from the Institution of Civil Engineers of Civil Engineers usefully plots out how the UK could move to a "circular economy", where waste is seen as a raw material. ICE waste and resource management expert Jonathan Davies, of SKM Enviros, says: "In a world driven by carbon reduction and global competition for resources, it is time for the UK waste industry to evolve from a disposal sector into a 'supply' sector that unlocks the real economic value of materials in a low carbon fashion" The report's main conclusions won't quicken your pulse, but are sensible: • more quality as well as quantity of recycled materials • more investment in recycling and energy-from-waste plants The press conference was a bit sharper, especially in criticising the government. Alan Whitehead, Labour MP and member of several green committees and groups, said the coalition's localism-driven changes to planning were a "real worry" and that he saw "no sign of energy-from-waste being incorporated into policy". Davies added that planning applications for waste facilities were seen as "lengthy, costly and unpredictable". He described the coalition's actions as "unfortunate". There's lots of policy wonkery in the report - you're welcome - but two things caught my eye. The first is how to tackle the idea that anything other than chucking as much as possible into the ground is not in fact an "authoritarian mix of state intrusion and race-fixated social engineering", as the Daily Mail sees it. Reducing council tax bills is a powerful counter-argument, as is allowing residents to share the benefits of better waste management: An obvious example would be the provision of heat for community facilities such as swimming pools sited near combined-heat-and-power plants. Local fears can be dealt with to the satisfaction of all sides, as shown in a parallel context here: Scottish villagers stun developers by demanding extra turbine. The other interesting idea raised was to use the twin towns that most UK conurbations have to show better waste management in other parts of Europe works well. Overcoming the fears of such terrors as the Daily Mail's "slop bucket" is crucial. Davies points out the astonishingly wide gap between the best and worst recyclers in the UK. Staffordshire Moorlands district council tops the pile, with 62% of household waste recycled. Lewisham council is at the bottom*, with a miserable 16%. Do you actually like landfill tips, Lewisham? Bringing the stragglers up to the level of the best would make a huge difference, Davies rightly says. So what are the schemes that work and that people find acceptable? Staffordshire collects using three bins and two types of bag. Lewisham has a recycling blog. *Note: Rock bottom council Ashford uses energy-from-waste instead of landfill. • This article was changed on 13 January to 'Institution of Civil Engineers' instead of 'Institute of Civil Engineers' | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'tone/blog', 'environment/environment', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2011-01-13T07:00:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/aug/24/tropical-invaders-the-meds-warming-seas-put-native-species-in-hot-water | Invasive fish push westward as the Mediterranean Sea slowly becomes tropical | Pasquale Tuccio docks his small, blue and white wooden boat at the old pier on Linosa, one of Italy’s tiny Pelagie islands in the strait of Sicily. Inspecting his gillnet, he finds a slipper lobster, some sea bream, a bunch of parrotfish – and about six rabbitfish. Unlike his fellow fishers, who toss rabbitfish back, Tuccio will take them home for his cat. The fish have venomous spines, however, and he still remembers his first encounter with them. “I got stung only once,” Tuccio says. “I hope it won’t happen again. It was so painful.” Rabbitfish Siganus luridus – also known as dusky spinefoot – is a tropical species, native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. After the Suez canal opened in 1869, the rabbitfish entered the eastern Mediterranean, making its way into Greek waters by 1964. It has since moved into the central Mediterranean, where it has found an abundance of its favourite food: algae. In more recent years, the rabbitfish has been multiplying in the waters around Linosa, where it devours underwater vegetation. Researchers have found it as far west as France. Siganus luridus is not swimming westwards alone. Among the more than 70 tropical fish that taken up residence in the Mediterranean, the lionfish (Pterois miles), silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus), blue-spotted cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii) and the Golani round herring (Etrumeus golanii) have been spotted in increasingly western waters. As the sea warms and becomes saltier because of human-induced global heating, fish from tropical latitudes are finding a more welcoming habitat in an area that, at least nominally, is temperate, not tropical. “This is also happening in other parts of the world,” says Fiona Tomas Nash, a marine ecologist at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies. “In Australia, Japan, South Africa, you are seeing these tropical fish expanding to temperate areas – and it’s clearly related to warming.” While snorkellers might welcome these tropical visitors to the Mediterranean, marine scientists are concerned about threats to biodiversity, public health and fisheries. A shift from temperate to tropical would, and does, affect the whole Mediterranean ecosystem. Rabbitfish, for example, eat so much that they transform algal forests into barren wastes, destroying important nursery habitats for native species. Some fish coming through the Suez canal are even more harmful. In 2005, off south-east Greece, a fisher spotted a lone silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus). A few years later, it was everywhere around the islands – from Crete to the Dodecanese and the Cyclades. In 2017, a silver-cheeked toadfish was caught off Ceuta, near Gibraltar; others have been seen off the coast of Catalonia. Poisonous to eat, they also rip through fishing nets to raid the catch of squid, cuttlefish and other commercially valuable species. “We know very little about potential predators [of the silver-cheeked toadfish], even in native habitats,” says Paraskevi Karachle, an ichthyologist at Greece’s Hellenic Centre for Marine Research who studies alien species. “In the Mediterranean we have recorded a few, such as Caretta caretta and groupers, as well as recent observations of cannibalism.” In a bid to control their numbers, researchers are experimenting with possible uses for the silver-cheeked toadfish, such as fish meal for the aquaculture industry, or extracting its toxin for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. But the viability of these applications is uncertain. “Until 20 years ago, tropical species were confined to the eastern sections of the Mediterranean,” says Ernesto Azzurro of the Italian National Research Council, who, along with Manuela D’Amen at Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, has assessed the risk of species invasion into the Mediterranean under future climate scenarios. “Scientists had theorised back then the existence of a new biogeographical province, which on the west side did not extend beyond the strait of Sicily.” However, in the 21st century, so-called Lessepsian invaders – as the Indo-Pacific migrants are called, after Suez canal developer Ferdinand de Lesseps – have emphatically crossed that theoretical border. Between 1985 and 2006, the temperature of the Mediterranean rose by about 0.4C each decade, adding pressure to already overfished native species while favouring fish that thrive in warmer waters. Future climate scenarios from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, when applied to species distribution models, show how the western Mediterranean will become increasingly habitable for tropical fish, as will the south Adriatic and south-west Italian coast. The newcomers may change, too, as they adapt. Some scientists argue that the lionfish – spotted off Apulia, Italy, and Albania in 2019 and 2020 – might expand its temperature range, coping with the colder winter waters of certain Mediterranean areas, as has happened with lionfish in the US. Humans, too, are adapting. While in Linosa rabbitfish may be fit only for Tuccio’s cat, in Cyprus, where it has been around a while, it is considered a delicacy and fetches €25 (£21) a kilo. Meanwhile on Kastellorizo, in the Greek Dodecanese islands, it is skinned, deep-fried and served with a splash of vinegar. The thinking is that if you can’t beat them, eat them. “The Mediterranean is suffering tropicalisation and this will continue,” says Nash. Efforts to create marine-protected areas and to restore ecosystems to make them more resilient to global heating and invasions may help, she says, but they are unlikely to reverse the trend, especially without full cooperation among states. “Nature doesn’t know about borders, right?” “Even under the best scenario, these invasions will continue,” says Azzurro, who is also working with marine protected areas to engage communities in monitoring biodiversity shifts. “Ours will be an increasingly tropical sea.” | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/fishing', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-08-24T05:30:24Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/jun/25/orange-roughy-campaigners-call-for-limit-to-trawling-of-species-after-breeding-age-of-73-revealed | Breeding at age 73: new details of endangered orange roughy’s life cycle prompt calls to limit fishing | Ocean campaigners say that a New Zealand fishing fleet that trawls for orange roughy in waters off Tasmania should be “sent back” in light of new data about the vulnerable species. Orange roughy is an endangered deep-sea species which, under Australia’s environmental laws, can still be fished in approved fisheries. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) manages orange roughy stock as though the fish reaches maturity and breeds at 27 to 32 years of age. But campaigners say a new assessment of orange roughy in New Zealand suggests that age could be much higher which could have implications for the ability for populations to recover after fishing. New Zealand’s fisheries management assessed populations in one of its orange roughy fisheries and found that the age of breeding was “unexpectedly high” with only 50% of stocks spawning by 55 years old. The age at which 95% of stocks were breeding was 73.3 years. The concerns have been raised as the new environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, travelled to Lisbon for the UN oceans conference. Plibersek has said she wants Australia to take a global leadership role in ocean protection. The sustainable fisheries manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Adrian Meder, said the newly released data should prompt a “precautionary” response from the AFMA, which allows permits for fishing of orange roughy in two areas off Tasmania. New Zealand vessels have begun arriving in Tasmania and the AFMA said it had granted one boat approval to trawl for the species this year. “It has real implications for the ability of these fish populations to support industrial fishing,” Meder said. “It means that the fish are capable of doing potentially a lot less breeding in the years they’re out in the ocean before we catch them.” Meder said sustainable fisheries practices typically tried to ensure that fish populations had a chance to start replacing themselves before they were caught. But he said the AFMA had not incorporated the new data into its management of this season’s orange roughy fishery in “any meaningful way”. “If the science is correct, we’ve just invited New Zealand based boats and crews to catch these fish, do decades-lasting damage to our diminished orange roughy stocks and our deep-sea coral reefs, and ship almost all their catch straight to the US and Europe,” he said. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Karli Thomas, a New Zealand-based ocean advocate with the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, said deep-sea trawling put fish and other species, including deep-sea corals, at risk. She said orange roughy was already a species that was known to be vulnerable and easily overfished. “If you look at the state of the stocks and the concerning science that’s coming out of New Zealand, no country would let New Zealand trawlers into their country to be trawling for this species,” she said. “It’s going to be very urgent that other stocks get assessed because this information about the basics of a life cycle of a species has implications for anywhere that it’s fished.” A spokesperson for the AFMA cautioned that the data was specific to one orange roughy stock on the east coast of New Zealand. “There are often regional differences in life history characteristics for fish stocks, so the findings should not be considered applicable to all other orange roughy stocks,” the spokesperson said. They said there had been comprehensive data collection for orange roughy stocks in Australian since the 1990s and over many years it had shown that most of the fish that were gathering to breed were between 20 and 40 years old. “The life history characteristics of fish stocks are routinely reviewed and, if necessary, updated,” they said. Orange roughy in Australia have been managed under a stock rebuilding strategy since 2006 to allow populations to recover from historical overfishing. The populations are managed as six stocks. The two stocks that are considered sustainable have catch limits in place. Targeted fishing of the remaining four stocks is prohibited. The AFMA spokesperson said the authority approved “an application for one New Zealand boat to be deemed as an Australian vessel to fish for orange roughy on the Cascade Plateau and the east coast of Tasmania in 2022”. They said it was subject to catch limits and would also “contribute to our understanding of these stocks by collecting important biological and acoustic data to inform future assessment models”. | ['environment/fishing', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/fish', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/tasmania', 'world/newzealand', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/oceans', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-06-24T20:00:55Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2017/dec/19/weatherwatch-snow-squishiness-avalanches | Weatherwatch: the squishiness of snow | Many of us in the northern hemisphere have had our first taste of winter snow now, and a reminder of what strange stuff it is. Sometimes it is stretchy and malleable – perfect for making snowmen; at other times it is crisp and brittle, snapping under your feet. Sometimes it is a mix of both. This variation is why avalanches are so hard to predict. But measuring the squishiness of snow may help. Scientists estimate squishiness (officially termed elastic modulus) by measuring how much force is required to squash snow by a set amount. So the denser the snow the higher the elastic modulus (because more force is required to deform dense snow). But laboratory experiments have produced widely scattered estimates of elastic modulus. “This is because it is very difficult to deform snow without breaking it,” says Bastian Gerling from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos, Switzerland. Gerling and his colleagues have been investigating two other ways of measuring snow squishiness: firing sound waves through snow (and measuring their speed), and using a scanning and computer simulation technique. Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, they show that both the scanner technique and the sound waves outperformed traditional lab experiments and produced consistent measurements of elastic modulus. Better still, the low cost and portability of the sound wave equipment opens up the possibility of measuring snow squishiness out on the hills. For scientists this could be a real boon, enabling them to better understand and predict avalanches, and improve their interpretation of seismic measurements, used to examine glaciers and ice caps. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/avalanches', 'world/snow', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-12-19T21:30:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
travel/2016/may/06/road-trips-fire-pits-secrets-of-bbq-nashville-tennessee | Road trips and fire pits: discovering the secrets of BBQ in Nashville | My partner Sam and I wanted to discover the secret of American barbecue. We gave up our jobs in the UK and busked our way from California to the deep south. The US version of a barbecue is quite different to ours, it’s all about smoking meat in a “pit” for a long time at low temperatures. Everyone thinks Nashville is a little honky-tonk town in the middle of Tennessee. It’s actually quite a commercial place, the beating heart of all the major record companies – there are cowboys walking around with guitars and Stetsons, but they tend to be commercial artists. And it’s not just country music – Jack White from the White Stripes has his main studio there. Broadway, the main strip, is cheesy and tacky, but great for a laugh. One of the most famous bars is Tootsies, known for craft beer and moonshine. Every bar in Nashville has live bands, and the musicianship is unbelievable, even at the smallest joints. The Ryman Auditorium is one of my favourite places. It’s where the Grand Ole Opry used to be broadcast from, the famous country and western radio show. Now it’s an amazing venue where you can catch the best up-and-coming artists – the acoustics are fantastic. On our quest to find the best barbecue in Tennessee, we discovered Puckett’s. This fantastic joint in Leiper’s Fork, just outside Nashville, has a massive custom-built smoker outside, and meat is served off the pit. American barbecue is a male-dominated scene, so as women we were a bit of a novelty. Lots of chefs shared their secrets and recipes. It’s wood smoke that gives the meat flavour, so you might use apple or cherry wood for chicken, oak or hickory for beef. It’s not marinated; you dust it with dry rub, and oil activates the flavour. We fell in love with the side dishes, too: mac’n’cheese, smoky beans, all sorts of salads. Craft beer is huge in America. In some bars, even on Broadway, you’ll find 200 types. The choice is overwhelming. Prop yourself at the bar and work through them. I recommend Fat Cow, brewed in North Carolina. Lots of older, retired musicians live in Franklin. In this quaint little town 30 miles from Nashville, you’ll find everyone from Glen Campbell’s drummer to the harmonica player for House of Blues. It’s in the middle of amazing countryside and we hung out there like proper hillbillies. The Natchez Trace Parkway runs through Tennessee, with breathtaking views. You can stop at a diner in one of the little towns en route for a bite and a beer, then move on. Or it’s about a four-hour drive to Memphis. You really do need a car to explore the US. We fell in love with ribs in Memphis – the best are St Louis pork ribs with Memphis dry shake at the Charlie Vergos Rendezvous restaurant. And there’s so much to do there, from Gracelands to the Martin Luther King museum. Nashville is the home of the cowboy boot. I bought my first pair of handstitched boots at Tony Lama. You can pay from $200 to $2,000. There are thousands to choose from in all colours, short ones, long ones … Then you’ve got to decide the toe: a classic round C, a winklepicker, or a J, which is somewhere in between. People from Nashville are super-friendly. Don’t be surprised if you end up staying in people’s houses and making new friends – that’s the kind of hospitality you get in the south. You can go there with a plan, but the plan is subject to change because you meet some amazing people … and they’re likely to pass you around their friends. Our restaurant, Hang Fire Southern Kitchen is in the old Pumphouse in Barry. We’ve brought a taste of the deep south to the deep south of Wales, giving people the most authentic barbecue experience we can. Beyond that, though, there are no similarities – the two places couldn’t be more different! • The Hang Fire Cookbook (Quadrill, £20) by Samantha Evans and Shauna Guinn is out now. To buy a copy for £16 including UK p&p, go to bookshop. theguardian.com | ['travel/nashville', 'travel/series/why-i-love', 'travel/travelfoodanddrink', 'travel/usa', 'travel/northandcentralamerica', 'travel/travel', 'music/country', 'food/american-food-and-drink', 'music/music', 'culture/culture', 'food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'books/food', 'tone/interview', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/janedunford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/travel', 'theguardian/travel/travel', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-travel'] | travel/nashville | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2016-05-06T10:45:58Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
sport/2024/oct/20/south-africa-new-zealand-women-t20-world-cup-final-match-report-cricket | New Zealand win T20 World Cup after Melie Kerr’s heroics stun South Africa | New Zealand secured a maiden T20 World Cup title, defeating South Africa by 32 runs after a mammoth effort from the all-rounder Melie Kerr, who was named player of the tournament. After top-scoring with 43 from 38 balls, Kerr was rendered barely able to walk because of cramp brought on by the Dubai heat, but nevertheless she snatched the wickets of Laura Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch at both ends of the 10th over, turning the match on its head. It is New Zealand’s first global trophy since 2000, and comes off the back of a miserable run of form which included a 5-0 T20 whitewash against England in July. But on Sunday in Dubai everything somehow clicked for the Kiwi underdogs. Here was vindication at last for the self-styled Kiwi “grandmas” – the 37-year-old Suzie Bates, the 35-year-old Sophie Devine, and the 34-year-old Lea Tahuhu – who have battled for years with barely a sniff of World Cup success (New Zealand last appeared in a World Cup final in 2010) and for whom this was very likely a final chance at World Cup glory. Bates said: “This means everything to us. When you play team sport you want to be a world champion. We’ve fought our way back to the top. There’s been some dark times when we couldn’t get a win leading into this World Cup and we questioned ourselves as leaders. But Sophie’s been outstanding leading this team.” Devine said: “I started to let myself dream a little bit last night about what it would be like to hold the trophy up in front of that team. It’s hard to put into words what it means not just for me but for some of the players within this group and for New Zealand cricket as well – it’s been a long time between drinks.” Kerr was the star, finishing with figures of three for 24, but this was a team effort: Brooke Halliday joined her in a 57-run fourth-wicket stand built on blood, tears but mainly sweat, with plenty of hard running between the wickets. Then, after South Africa raced to 58 for one after eight overs in pursuit of their 159-run target, Tahuhu piled on the pressure by sending down five consecutive dot balls. A frustrated Wolvaardt tried to hit out, only to be caught on the ring. Five balls later Bosch – so dominant on Thursday in the semi-final against Australia – feather-edged to Izzy Gaze behind the stumps, and Devine appealed to DRS, overturning the original not-out decision. Bates proved, as ever, a safe pair of hands at cover, holding on to three catches, while there were also wickets for the young spinners Fran Jonas and Eden Carson, and three for the seamer Rosemary Mair, as South Africa’s run-chase petered out. “Coming to a World Cup, everyone starts back at zero and it’s everyone’s game,” Devine said. “The important thing about this group is that it’s not always the person that takes the wickets or the catches – it’s the teamwork, it’s working hard for your mate out in the middle.” Sent in to bat by South Africa, New Zealand came out all guns blazing, reaching 50 for one in the opening seven overs before South Africa pegged them back. Bates celebrated becoming the most-capped player in women’s internationals (334 appearances) by scoring 32, enjoying easy pickings through the leg side, but was bowled by Nonkululeko Mlaba shuffling across her stumps to sweep. Devine then added just six runs before an opportune DRS review by South Africa showed Nadine de Klerk had struck her in line. But the Kerr-Halliday partnership allowed New Zealand to rebuild, as did some ill-discipline by the South Africans, who sent down 10 wides and three no-balls. They did manage to see off Halliday and Kerr in successive overs at the death, but were penalised for a slow over rate which meant they were allowed only three fielders out during the 20th over. That enabled Maddy Green to send the penultimate ball of the innings sailing over the boundary rope for the first six of the innings: 16 runs came off the over, and the momentum swung firmly back to New Zealand. | ['sport/womens-t20-world-cup-2024', 'sport/new-zealand-women-s-cricket-team', 'sport/south-africa-women-s-cricket-team', 'sport/women-s-t20-world-cup', 'sport/womenscricket', 'sport/cricket', 'campaign/email/the-spin', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/matchreports', 'profile/raf-nicholson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/womens-t20-world-cup-2024 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-10-20T18:21:26Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
politics/2009/mar/27/heathrow-third-runway-threat | Heathrow third runway plans dealt massive blow | The chances of a third runway being built at Heathrow airport have been dealt a serious blow after a government document warned that BAA cannot lodge a planning application for the project before the next general election. The Conservatives — who are well ahead of Labour in the polls — have pledged to block a new landing strip at the UK's busiest international airport. The admission gives a Tory administration ample time to draft a new aviation policy that will block BAA's plans. According to a presentation by the Department for Transport, seen by the Guardian, BAA is not expected to seek planning permission for a third runway until 2012. The last possible date for a general election is 3 June 2010 and BAA's best hope for expanding Heathrow is to submit an application by then. However, executives at the airport group have conceded that it will be impossible to compile the plans and data necessary for an application by that date. Under the DfT timetable, any BAA planning application is likely to be submitted under a Tory administration that has vowed to obstruct Heathrow's expansion. The DfT presentation deals a further blow to BAA's ambitions by conceding that the government document that must underpin a planning request for major infrastructure, a national policy statement, will not be ready until 2011. A national policy statement is a key guide for any planning decision by the Infrastructure Planning Commission, the newly created body that will evaluate a Heathrow proposal. Anti-expansion campaigners said the DfT document confirmed that the odds of Heathrow getting a third runway were diminishing. "There is no way that BAA can get planning permission before the next general election. The chances that a third runway will never be built are increasing all the time," said John Stewart, chair of the Hacan ClearSkies campaign group. Plans to expand Stansted are also in doubt after the Competition Commission questioned whether BAA ought to push ahead with plans for a second runway at the Essex airport. The government has postponed a public inquiry into a second runway at Stansted while it considers the implications of a commission investigation into BAA. The commission recommended this month that BAA ought to sell Gatwick, Stansted and one of its Scottish airports. A BAA spokesman said the group had yet to confirm a schedule for submitting a planning application for a third Heathrow runway. A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Following the decisions announced in January, it is now for BAA to develop and submit a planning application, the timing of which is entirely for them to decide." | ['environment/heathrow-third-runway', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/environment', 'politics/transport', 'uk/transport', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'politics/conservatives', 'business/business', 'tone/news', 'world/air-transport', 'politics/general-election-2010', 'type/article', 'profile/danmilmo'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-03-27T11:14:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
sustainable-business/womens-blog/2016/may/16/tampons-not-for-toilets-flushing-fab-little-bag-periods | Tampons aren't for toilets: biodegradable bag hopes to fight the flushers | “Everyone knows that horror story of wrapping a tampon up in toilet roll and trying to smuggle it out your friend’s bathroom,” says Martha Silcott, inventor of Fab Little Bag, a biodegradable bag designed to make it easier for women to bin their tampons. Silcott, a former City worker turned entrepreneur, surveyed hundreds of women and girls before launching her product on something we don’t usually talk about: the monthly, often messy matter of getting rid of used tampons. She found 40% chose to bin, 60% were flushers. My own quick poll of colleagues in the office and friends on WhatsApp also revealed divided opinion. While some said they flush freely, others were fiercely anti-flush (one friend simply messaged 🙅), and a few didn’t realise flushing tampons was even possible. There are 9.3 million women using tampons in the UK, and the average woman will use roughly 11,000 tampons in her lifetime. Yet on sites such as Netmums and Reddit there are still entire threads trying to get to the bottom of how best to dispose of them. Neil Dhot, head of corporate affairs at water utility company Water UK, sets things straight: “toilets are only for poo, pee and (toilet) paper.” Tampons expand in water which means they can block toilets as well as sewers by getting stuck to other things like twigs or rubbish. Sewer blocks are nasty and expensive to fix, ultimately adding costs to water and sewerage bills. Water UK estimates it spends £90m a year clearing blocked sewers. Plus there’s the danger that, especially during floods, tampons sent into the sewage system can end up in rivers and on beaches. Wary not to come across like the period police, Dhot stresses: “we don’t in any way want to sound preachy to women about what they should and shouldn’t do ... but we just want people to be aware that our actions in the spur of the moment can unfortunately have unintended consequences.” Sanitary products generally feature a symbol somewhere on their packaging illustrating correct disposal. Boots own brand tampons tell consumers to wrap them in a sanitary disposal bag and put them in household waste. A spokesperson for Tampax says its packaging also informs consumers about the right disposal of the used tampon (not to flush). It was sitting on the toilet having given up flushing and feeling frustrated with the “loo roll wrap” technique that Silcott came up with the idea of Fab Little Bag - a small opaque bag that can be used with one hand and sealed so the tampon is stored securely. Made from 35% organic material (currently sugar cane waste), she says the bag will biodegrade in 12-18 months, which was important for her “because the last thing this world needs is more plastic.” The tampon inside will decompose according to its own criteria (this can take around six months) but Silcott dreams of finding a chemical to coat the inside of the bags with which would “eat” the tampon. She says most people are open to change when they realise the impacts of flushing tampons, but that the awkward alternatives - wrapping the tampon in toilet roll or tying it up in a flimsy non-biodegradable transparent nappy sack - aren’t especially appealing. Silcott hopes her bag will convert flushers to binning. Launched in November last year, the bags feature in subscription boxes such as Pink Parcel, Sanitary Owl and Dollibox and are sold in Waitrose, Wholefoods and Ocado. Costing £2.99 for 20 bags, Silcott admits the product won’t be for everyone: “Some people will not want to spend a penny more on periods, and I understand that.” But she believes that for others the bags will make periods that little less painful, with hopes for the future of taking the idea to developing countries where sanitation is poor and the stigma around periods a challenge. Tampons themselves are problematic from a sustainability perspective. The production process requires turning wood pulp into soft, cotton-like fibres which is resource and chemical intensive, while plastic applicators linger in landfills. There are more environmentally friendly options such as the organic cotton tampons Natracare, and alternatives such as reusable pads and the Mooncup, but these remain niche. | ['sustainable-business/series/circular-economy', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'environment/waste', 'global-development/sanitation', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'society/menstruation', 'lifeandstyle/women', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'profile/hannah-gould', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-05-16T12:20:36Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
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/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-06-10T15:41:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/jan/23/donald-trump-tariffs-solar-panels | Donald Trump's tariffs on panels will cost US solar industry thousands of jobs | Donald Trump’s decision to impose a tariff on imported solar panels will cost the US solar industry about 23,000 jobs this year and risks slowing the growth of clean energy that would help address climate change, renewable energy advocates warned. Trump has imposed a 30% tariff on foreign-made solar cells and modules, with the White House expressing alarm at a huge rise in imported components “spurred on by artificially low-priced solar cells and modules from China”. But solar installers warned that the tariff, which will reduce to 15% within four years, will cost US jobs rather than protect them. The Solar Energy Industries Association said 23,000 jobs would be lost in 2018, pointing out that most solar manufacturing in the US revolves around making parts for cheaper imported panels, rather than the cells and panels themselves. The installation of panels accounts for around 130,000 further jobs. “It boggles my mind that this president – any president, really – would voluntarily choose to damage one of the fastest-growing segments of our economy,” said Tony Clifford, chief development officer of Standard Solar, which finances and installs panels. Bill Vietas, president of RBI Solar, which makes mounting systems for panels, added: “The US solar manufacturing sector has been growing as our industry has surged over the past five years. “Government tariffs will increase the cost of solar and depress demand, which will reduce the orders we’re getting and cost manufacturing workers their jobs.” Trump has long complained that China has an unfair advantage over the US on trade and his stance has been backed by two companies that claim cheap imports have hit American solar manufacturing. Last May, Suniva, a bankrupt US module manufacturer with a Chinese majority owner, lodged a complaint with the International Trade Commission that stated it had suffered “significant harm” due to imported cells and modules. The US arm of SolarWorld joined the petition in order to seek a tariff. Juergen Stein, chief executive of SolarWorld Americas, said he “appreciates the hard work of President Trump”. “We are still reviewing these remedies and are hopeful they will be enough to address the import surge and to rebuild solar manufacturing in the United States,” he said. Environmental groups have decried the move as the latest attempt by Trump to stymie the shift to clean energy and wean the US off the fossil fuels that cause dangerous climate change. Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, tweeted that the tariffs will “raise Americans’ electric bills and hurt our environment”. But while the tariffs may provide an unwelcome hurdle for the US solar industry, the cost of the technology and installation has dropped so precipitously in recent years that the industry could emerge relatively unscathed. The cost of installing solar panels on rooftops has fallen by more than 70% since 2010, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Solar now accounts for around 1.4% of US utility-scale electricity generation, up from virtually nothing in 2007. | ['environment/solarpower', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/business', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'business/economics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/oliver-milman', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2018-01-24T07:33:32Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2021/feb/14/drones-police-england-monitor-political-protests-blm-extinction-rebellion | Drones used by police to monitor political protests in England | Police have used unmanned drones to monitor political protests, including those held by the non-violent Black Lives Matter movement, research shows. Police also used drones in 2020 at animal rights protests, Extinction Rebellion and anti-HS2 demonstrations, and in one instance, an extreme-right protest. Campaigners say the police’s expanded use of drones is happening with the rules not clear and next to no debate. Police say that is not the case. The campaign group Drone watch used freedom of information requests to ask police forces to detail their use of drones at protests from January to October 2020. The Surrey, Cleveland, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire and West Midlands forces said they had used drones at BLM protests. Cleveland at three BLM events, Gloucestershire at two BLM protests and one lockdown protest, and West Midlands at three BLM protests. In south-west England, the Devon and Cornwall force and Avon and Somerset police used drones at 15 events including protests and public disorder incidents. Both forces declined to say at which protests drones had been used. Police were criticised for using drones during the first coronavirus lockdown, when they were used to monitor walkers in the Peak District in Derbyshire. Polling for Drone watch by Yonder claims to show public concern about drone use when they fly beyond where a human can see them. Of 2,000 people questioned, 60% were worried about the effects on privacy and civil liberties, and 67% said they were concerned about the safety implications. The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for the police use of drones, assistant chief constable Steve Barry, said: “Police use drones at protests to help inform policing tactics to keep everyone safe. Their use is well regulated and governed by the surveillance commissioner and information commissioner guidelines.” Chris Cole of Drone watch said: “Police are adopting this new surveillance technology with little oversight or consent from the public. There seems to be little control over how the data is being gathered or stored with alarmingly worrying replies from the police indicating they do not understand what rights the public have in regard to accessing data.” The use of drones in the UK is set to expand, and not just by the police. Companies such as Amazon also plan to use them more. Cole said: “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Despite serious public concern, the government is planning to liberalise airspace regulations to enable a whole raft of public agencies and private companies to operate drones freely in our airspace. Before that happens, it’s vital that there is a proper public debate about the limits of drone use and comprehensive privacy controls are put in place.” Rosalind Comyn, the policy and campaigns manager at Liberty, said drone use was part of an alleged general assault on the right to protest. “Protest is a key way we can all fight for a better society and stand up for what we believe in. “Recent years have seen a concerted attack on the right to protest from police and government, which particularly threatens people who are already marginalised and cut off from having their voices heard. “Increased mass surveillance, whether through drones or other developing tools like facial recognition, is designed to intimidate and control, and ultimately silence dissent.” | ['uk/police', 'technology/drones-non-military', 'technology/technology', 'world/surveillance', 'world/protest', 'world/black-lives-matter-movement', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'uk/hs2', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'world/animal-welfare', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/vikramdodd', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-02-14T18:17:35Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
football/2021/jun/16/sickening-handling-of-benjamin-pavard-head-blow-criticised-by-brain-injury-charity-headway-euro-2020 | Uefa ‘satisfied’ France treated Benjamin Pavard correctly after Gosens collision | Uefa has said it is ‘satisfied’ the French medical team did not breach a concussion protocol by allowing Benjamin Pavard to continue playing against Germany on Monday night, despite the player claiming he had been knocked out. After discussions between the governing body and France’s team doctor, Uefa says it has concluded that “a loss of consciousness did not occur”, when the Bayern Munich player collided with Germany’s Robin Gosens. “Uefa has received detailed information from the French FA medical team on the course of events and is satisfied that the actions taken by the medical team were in line with the concussion protocol”, a statement read. “According to the reports that we received from the team doctor, it seems that a loss of consciousness did not occur. The team doctor did not find any reason to suspect a concussion either on the pitch or after thorough assessment made by a renowned specialist in this field in later follow-up.” Speaking after the match Pavard said he had been “a little knocked out for 10 to 15 seconds” following the incident. A new Uefa protocol, which was signed by all 24 nations competing at Euro 2020 insisted that if the team doctor “has any doubts about unconsciousness or signs of concussion, he should remove the player from the field”. However the protocol made clear that such a decision rested only with the doctor and that their assessment should be followed even if a player or a coach disagreed. Uefa said that Pavard will continue to be closely monitored by medical staff over the coming days. France’s next match in Group F is against Hungary on Saturday. The decision to allow Pavard to play on against Germany was “sickening”, according to a leading brain injury charity. The chief executive of Headway, Peter McCabe, said Pavard should have been taken off. “It was plain for all to see that Pavard was unable to protect himself from the fall,” McCabe said. “Pavard’s later statement that he lost consciousness confirms the seriousness of the incident. “We have continuously been told that football’s concussion protocols are fit for purpose and that temporary concussion substitutes are not necessary. But here we have yet another example where it is simply not credible to suggest that a concussion could not be ‘suspected’ or a possible consequence of the impact. However, after a brief on-pitch assessment the player was allowed to continue. “Furthermore, it appeared that the referee [Carlos Del Cerro Grande of Spain] was attempting to speed up the medical team and usher them and the player off the pitch, rather than allowing them the time they needed to assess the seriousness of the injury. “The way this incident was handled was sickening to watch. Uefa has to come out and immediately explain how it was allowed to happen and what action it will now take to ensure something similar does not occur in the future.” Uefa said it was in contact with the French federation over the incident. The governing body chose not to include Euro 2020 in the trials of permanent concussion substitutes currently being operated by the rule-making International Football Association Board. It did, however, asks nations sign up to a new protocol on the treatment of head injuries. The international players’ union, Fifpro, said it had made contact with Uefa to establish why the protocol had apparently not been followed. The head coaches and team doctors of all 24 nations signed up to the protocol, which agreed to the use of new video technology to assess injuries and includes the following, apparently definitive, statement: “We confirm that if a player of our team is suspected of having suffered a concussion, he will be immediately removed from the pitch, whether in training or match play.” | ['football/france', 'sport/concussion-in-sport', 'football/football', 'sport/sport', 'football/euro-2020', 'football/european-championship', 'football/uefa', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/paulmacinnes', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/concussion-in-sport | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2021-06-16T11:46:16Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2020/oct/10/investors-and-graduates-flock-to-uks-burgeoning-windfarms | Investors and graduates flock to UK's burgeoning windfarms | The Hywind offshore windfarm stands 15 miles off the coast of Peterhead, and firmly on the cusp of Britain’s most dramatic energy revolution since the discovery of North Sea oil. The world’s first floating windfarm was one of the first low-carbon energy projects developed by Norway’s state oil giant Equinor, and today is one of the best performing windfarms ever built. “On a super-clear day you might just be able to make them out from land,” says Equinor’s Stephen Bull, of the turbines floating above the ageing crude oil pipelines which criss-cross the North Sea. The government hopes that within the next 10 years there will be enough offshore turbines to power every home in Britain, including more world-leading floating windfarms. Boris Johnson last week set out plans to use offshore wind power as the backbone of Britain’s carbon-neutral energy future, calling for 10 times the existing offshore wind capacity by 2030, or 40GW, including 1GW of floating turbines. The plan to become the “Saudi Arabia of wind power” is one of the most ambitious British industrial endeavours since oil rigs began populating the North Sea in the 1960s. It will require the equivalent of one turbine to be installed every weekday for the whole of the next decade, and £50bn of private-sector investment. But within the industry there is little doubt that it can be done. Investor appetite has been whetted by years of falling costs, guaranteed returns and growing political support. The sector has already exceeded expectations in recent years to emerge as one of Britain’s great modern industrial success stories – and it is ready to do so again. The catch? It needs government ministers to translate the rhetoric to reality. “We are very keen on doing more floating offshore projects in the UK,” says Bull. “We absolutely welcome the 1GW target from the government, but we could easily get up to 2GW if we have the right government support.” As part of the government’s plan, it has promised £160m to upgrade Britain’s ports to manage the giant turbine blades as they pass through on their way to sea. Better ports bring benefits to local communities and help to establish supply chains which can act as an economic multiplier for the benefits of offshore wind. But the industry’s concerns centre on the government’s auction of project contracts, which guarantee a set revenue stream for their clean electricity via energy bills. The reverse auction has delivered record low prices which are unlikely to raise household costs. And the next one will be held in the spring. But there will need to be many more over the next decade to meet the government’s targets, and they will need to be far bigger too. In return for having the gates opened to more offshore projects, the industry has promised to play a major role in the government’s bid to “build back better” from the coronavirus crisis as part of a green economic recovery. The upcoming auction alone, which will include onshore wind and solar power for the first time in four years, could secure more than £20bn of investment and create 12,000 jobs. Jasmine Allen, 20, is an apprentice at SSE, which is building the world’s largest offshore windfarm alongside Equinor at Dogger Bank off the coast of Yorkshire. She is one of many young people entering the renewable energy industry for whom the government’s new offshore wind targets could guarantee a long-term career. “I think it’s fantastic,” she says. “I think it will open up new jobs, better the areas where the projects are, and create new opportunities for people to build careers.” Increasing the pace and scale of project auctions also bolsters Britain’s burgeoning supply chain of manufacturers and engineers. They will have the confidence to make long-term investments, take on more work, and reap the benefit of a growing industry. Eishar Bassan, 23, is a graduate trainee at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, a company responsible for building some of the largest wind turbines in the world. She is working on the Neart na Gaoithe windfarm, about nine miles off the east coast of Scotland, where turbines with 80-metre-long blades will spin to generate enough electricity to power the whole of Edinburgh. The prime minister’s offshore wind pledge was welcomed by colleagues, she says. “It’s ambitious, and really exciting. But there were also people being kind of cynical, like, ‘I hope the government actually pulls through and delivers’,” she adds. Bassan is one of many young engineering graduates who have chosen to work in Britain’s renewables industry in part because it will help tackle the climate crisis and create a carbon-neutral economy by the UK’s target date of 2050. “I just hope that [the government] recognises that the climate emergency is real and it’s happening right now. We need to fight – in this generation, and the next generation and the next generation – for net zero,” she says. “In 10 years’ time I definitely still want to be here, and be able to use what I’ve learned to help lead the development of these windfarms. It’s how I can help stop climate change. “I’m just hoping that the government has some substance behind this plan, to actually execute the things they promise.” | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/green-jobs', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/business', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-10-10T15:00:39Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/article/2024/aug/08/the-guardian-view-on-wind-energy-and-the-uk-labour-plays-catch-up | The Guardian view on wind energy and the UK: Labour plays catch-up | Editorial | In its pomp during the 1970s, Ardersier port near Inverness was a behemoth of Scottish industry. During the North Sea oil and gas boom, thousands worked on one of the largest rig construction sites in the world. Disused since 2001, the port is making a triumphant comeback, to be reconfigured as a giant hub for the turbines that will harness wind power off the Scottish coast. If Sir Keir Starmer’s government is to achieve its goal of fully decarbonising electricity by 2030, this huge investment project in the Highlands will need to be matched by similar ambition elsewhere. Wind energy is fundamental to meeting Britain’s net zero commitments, generating growth and reducing energy costs. But under Rishi Sunak, the sector suffered a lost year in 2023, when the government failed to award a single offshore wind contract. In July, the Climate Change Committee estimated that by 2030, the number of annual offshore and onshore wind installations needed to at least triple and double, respectively. A month into this parliament, Labour has already demonstrated that it means business. On her first day in office, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced that the National Planning Policy Framework would be amended to eliminate clauses that amounted to a de facto ban on new onshore windfarms. Meanwhile, the new publicly owned company, Great British Energy, has announced a partnership with the crown estate – which owns the majority of the seabed surrounding Britain’s coastline – that will help accelerate the deployment of fixed and floating turbines. Crucially, the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Ed Miliband, has boosted to record levels the budget for this year’s summer auction of renewable energy contracts, which in 2023 attracted no offshore wind bidders after the government set the price too low. Taken together, these early moves amount to a step change on wind energy that gives substance to Sir Keir’s stated determination to transform Britain into a “clean energy superpower”. Nevertheless, enormous challenges remain if wind is to play its part in achieving Labour’s target date for clean power. Tripling offshore wind generation within the next six years is likely to entail still more generous financial guarantees to attract developers, who are being heavily courted by the United States and European Union member states. Mr Miliband’s hiked budget was a good start, but much more fiscal firepower will be required. The politics of pylons will also be treacherous. Fully accessing wind power will rely on the government’s ability to support a massive expansion and upgrading of the country’s power networks. By 2030, five times more electricity infrastructure will need to be installed than in the last three decades. As Labour invokes centralised planning powers to fast-track construction and override local objections, it will need to find creative ways to incentivise and win consent from communities. That will require offering an inspiring vision as well as tough talk about hard choices. In a new report, the Royal Academy of Engineering invokes the sense of mission that informed the work of the vaccines taskforce. Fully exploiting the British Isles’ most obvious natural asset is environmentally and economically the right thing to do, and Mr Miliband has made a very good start. But compared with the challenges ahead, so far it’s been a breeze. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/labour', 'politics/politics', 'environment/environment', 'business/energy-industry', 'type/article', 'tone/editorials', 'tone/comment', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2024-08-08T17:40:26Z | true | ENERGY |
lifeandstyle/2014/may/02/what-do-you-want-to-know-about-composting-live-chat | What do you want to know about composting? - live chat | Composting can be intimidating to many modern gardeners. Most of us have fallen out of the habit of tending to a compost heap – it seems quicker and easier to reach for a bottle that can be tipped into the watering can. However, you don't necessarily need a garden to compost. It is one of the simplest ways to turn your food and garden waste into a resource. Instead of waiting for your local council to collect it, or worse, throwing it into a rubbish bag, "waste" can be transformed into a magical substance that adds nutrients and fibre to your soil. It's a win-win situation. What was discussed How to get started with composting if you're a complete beginner What your compost should look like How to compost without a garden What you should and shouldn't add to your compost The panel Alys Fowler, author and weekly gardening columnist for The Guardian Carl Legge, blogger and author of The Permaculture Kitchen Jonathan Adler, from Get Composting David Garrett and Kate Newman from Garden Organic John Walker, award-winning blogger and author of How to Create an Eco Garden | ['lifeandstyle/live-better', 'lifeandstyle/series/live-better-reduce-reuse-recycle', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'lifeandstyle/gardeningadvice', 'lifeandstyle/compost', 'environment/food', 'food/food', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'profile/katherine-purvis'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-05-02T17:33:32Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2009/jun/25/rubber-bands-royal-mail | Keep Britain Tidy returns 13,000 rubber bands to Royal Mail | More than 13,000 discarded red rubber bands will be sent back to the Royal Mail by an anti-litter campaign after being scooped off the streets by members of the public. In one of the biggest exercises of its kind, people throughout the UK collected the bands - dropped by postmen on pavements and in doorways - after a national campaign by Keep Britain Tidy. In April the organisation warned postal workers they could face on-the-spot fines of up to £80 (rising to £2,500 if a case went to court) if they were caught dropping the familiar red bands, which are used to hold bundles of letters. It asked people to collect any bands found on pavements and driveways and the charity is now set to bounce them back to Royal Mail in a giant see-through envelope. Dickie Felton of Keep Britain Tidy said: "We were amazed that our campaign caused such a commotion. We received hundreds of letters stuffed with red rubber bands from across the country. Clearly people are fed-up with posties carelessly throwing these bands on the floor. We accept that dropping an elastic band is hardly the worst littering offence in the world, but nonetheless it is litter." Felton said the bands were an eyesore when strewn on the ground, but also posed a serious choking danger to pets and wildflife. Keep Britain Tidy is now set to return all 13,000 rubber bands to Royal Mail in a giant envelope to highlight the scale of the problem and allow them to be reused. Royal Mail currently spends an estimated £1m every year replacing rubber bands. Felton added: "We are pleased that Royal Mail has acknowledged that this is a problem. Our campaign was covered in Royal Mail's internal newspaper Courier and we hope that Royal Mail continues to communicate to employees that dropping rubber bands is unacceptable." Keep Britain Tidy has also today written to Royal Mail's chief executive with the offer of a meeting to further discuss the problem and ways to tackle it. | ['environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'uk/uk', 'business/royal-mail', 'type/article', 'profile/rebeccasmithers'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-06-25T11:04:58Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2012/jul/27/greenland-ice-sheet-melt | Greenland's ice sheet melt: a sensational picture of a blunt fact | Jonathan Jones | This is the most frightening picture you will ever see. The information expressed visually here can be summed up in three words: change or die. So let's take a closer look. These two juxtaposed images of Greenland are based on observations by satellites monitored by Nasa. The view on the left synthesises their collective view of this inhospitable landmass in the Arctic Circle on 8 July 2012. That on the right shows what Greenland looked like to the same satellites on 12 July, just four days later. A huge amount of ice has melted in an extremely unusual Arctic heatwave. It's important to appreciate the colour coding of this visible science. Areas marked in white are places where no surface melting of the Greenland ice sheet has taken place. Areas in pale pink were seen by just one satellite to undergo surface melting. Areas in dark pink were seen by two or three satellites to undergo surface melting. Let's also be clear about what "surface melting" means. The Greenland icecsheet has not vanished. Parts of it are two miles deep: the entire area it covers is six times bigger than Britain. That's a vast quantity of ice. Every summer, parts of the surface of this immense frozen world melt. Temporary lakes even appear on top of the ancient ice mass. Such activity on the surface of the ice sheet has been observed to be growing. But nothing prepared Nasa scientists analysing satellite data this month for the information visualised here. According to these images, 97% of the surface of Greenland's frozen interior saw a sudden summer melt this month. That is a spectacular departure from the expected. It has happened before – in 1889. Glaciologist Laura Koenig, part of the Nasa team interpreting the data, said that ice cores show this kind of warm summer effect causes unusual melting about every 150 years, so "this event is right on time … but if we continue to observe melting events like this in upcoming years, it will be worrisome." I am going out of my way to stress the cautious view of these spectacularly contrasting images of Greenland. The ice sheet has not vanished, it just went soft at the top. Even this massive area of surface melt can be seen as a one-off summer event recurring twice every three centuries. But … we know this is not the only evidence that the Arctic is losing ice. This picture of sudden change does not come out of the blue, or the white. It is the kind of thing alarmists have been predicting for years. Yet here it is, blunt fact. It is the sceptics who are irrational, revelling in delusion. Here is the reality, clear as day. The effects of global warming caused by human action are worryingly visible here. But what effect will this clear and spectacular evidence have? When it comes to climate change the human ability to ignore evidence is as terrifying as the facts themselves. How is our technological ability to record and transmit information so far in advance of our ability to respond to our growing knowledge? Already, teams of deniers are probably poring over this latest iceberg of data chipping away until they can melt its credibility – just that tiny bit that legitimates governments in their paralysis and inaction. Nasa could perhaps have designed this visualisation a bit less sensationally. To a casual eye, the use of white in the first picture might make it look as if the ice sheet itself has disappeared. If it does, we will not need satellites to tell us. This is about events on the surface of a vast and deep layering of ice. But once you look at the colour coding and absorb what it means it is a mapping of potential catastrophe. The picture is clear. Can we bear to look? And can the evidence of our eyes make us act? | ['commentisfree/series/framing-the-debate', 'environment/poles', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'science/nasa', 'science/space', 'world/greenland', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'tone/comment', 'environment/sea-ice', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanjones'] | environment/sea-ice | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-07-27T11:02:13Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2012/sep/16/weatherwatch-arctic-sea-ice-breakup | Weatherwatch: Arctic sea ice breakup is bad news for polar bears | Last week Arctic sea ice contracted to its smallest extent, before sub-zero temperatures arrived and the ice-sheet began to grow again. According to Norwegian scientists it set a new record, measuring 3 million sq km, 0.6 million sq km less than the previous record (set in 2007). This breakup is exciting for those hoping to sail the Northwest Passage but bad news for others, including polar bears. Closer to home, does Arctic sea ice have any bearing on our weather? Pinning down exact causes for individual weather events is not possible, but a warming Arctic may explain some of our weather trends. The jet stream – the high level winds that bring much of the UK's weather – is influenced by the temperature gradient between the equator and north pole. A warmer Arctic reduces the temperature contrast, which weakens the jet stream and makes it more likely to meander. Larger meanders increase the chances of big wet storms being spun up, and spat out north of the meander, as we've seen in the UK this summer. Meanwhile, lying south of a giant meander brings hot dry weather, as much of the US experienced this year. Scientists don't yet know why, but a meandering jet stream appears more likely to get jammed in position, bringing weeks and weeks of the same kind of weather. And whether it is constant sunshine or deluges of rain, being stuck under a jammed jet stream is no fun. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'world/arctic', 'environment/sea-ice', 'type/article', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | environment/sea-ice | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-09-16T21:30:04Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2022/oct/07/keep-our-community-safe-gunnedah-pushes-for-nsw-inquiry-after-four-severe-floods-in-12-months | ‘Keep our community safe’: Gunnedah pushes for NSW inquiry after four severe floods in 12 months | The mayor of a New South Wales town that has been hit by four severe floods in 12 months has called on the state government to hold an inquiry into flood mitigation. The Gunnedah mayor, Jamie Chaffey, said he put the issue to the state water minister, Kevin Anderson, whose electorate of Tamworth includes the Gunnedah shire council. “What we’re calling for is the state government to fund a competent third-party organisation qualified to complete a flood mitigation study of the shire that will come out with a list of recommendations on how it can be done,” Chaffey said. Previous flood mitigation studies, including one undertaken by engineering firm SMEC in 2000 after the 1998 floods, only investigated the towns of Gunnedah and Carroll, not the whole shire and surrounding areas. A proposal to build a levee and undertake voluntary buy-backs of houses in low-lying flood zones was considered, but never implemented. Some local homes were elevated in 2007 under the NSW government’s voluntary house raising scheme, which provides subsidies for lifting the floor height to or above the flood planning level. But locals say more needs to be done. Gunnedah residents are still recovering from last year’s floods, which coincided with the end of Covid lockdowns and followed closely on the heels of severe drought, heaping multiple disasters on already struggling farmers. “I really feel for a lot of those primary producers now who are at the same stage as they were last November: very close to a crop,” Chaffey said. “We’re very, very close for the likes of canola setting seed, and other crops are maturing; and [now] there’s the concern about, ‘Am I going to be able to get this crop off?’” While Chaffey said farmers appreciated the rain and know that flooding follows drought, heavy falls during spring and summer can drown crops in the field and cut the roads that would get them to market. Coalmines, another major industry for the district, are often only accessible by dirt roads which turn to mud. Gail Paddison operates Chaffey’s Mower Clinic (no connection to the mayor) in Rosemary Street, Gunnedah, with husband Ken and son Thomas. The business was hit by floods in November 2021, and nearly inundated again last month. During the 2021 floods their premises were filled with half a metre of mud. “It’s fairly acidic,” Paddison said. “It took the finish off the floor.” Paddison estimated the cost of repairing the damage at between $10,000-$15,000 to resurface their car park to safely operate a forklift in. She gave a rough business loss of “anywhere between $90,000 to $140,000” over the last few floods. The mower clinic has a flood plan in place, but moving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock to higher ground is tricky with only three staff. Paddison said she believed a levee along the south edge of the river could save her business and the homes surrounding it. But she said that mitigation works for Gunnedah shouldn’t make things worse for others. “You look at other towns with levee banks, great, but what is that going to mean downstream from us?” she said. “It’ll be very interesting to see what solutions there might be.” Chaffey, who is also a farmer, said flooding costs primary producers “tens of millions of dollars in crops lost, and millions of dollars in cleanup and restoration works”. “That’s why I’m saying, with the support of the state government, we need a professional organisation that has the skills and ability to come in, do an assessment, and put on the table some options and recommendations that we can work with other tiers of government to keep our community safe,” he said. Anderson acknowledged receipt of a letter from Chaffey about eliminating future flooding in Gunnedah, and said in a statement to Guardian Australia that as the local member he will continue to work alongside local home owners, businesses and farmers as they recover. “Noting floodplain management falls under the remit of local government, I have contacted the minister for emergency services to request that the NSW government review Gunnedah shire council’s flood preparedness,” he said. This week, the Bureau of Meteorology issued another flood warning for the Namoi River catchment, which includes Gunnedah shire. 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', 'campaign/email/the-rural-network', 'environment/flooding', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'world/extreme-weather', 'type/article', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-10-06T16:30:34Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2021/nov/05/former-nsw-deputy-premier-reveals-plans-to-rule-out-three-sites-for-new-coalmines | Former NSW deputy premier reveals plans to rule out three sites for new coalmines | The NSW Nationals are moving to rule out new coalmines in more of the state, with former deputy premier John Barilaro revealing he was planning to ditch three major regions set aside for new coalmines. The former NSW Nationals leader resigned from politics last month, but his successor has indicated he is likely to follow through on Barilaro’s plans. Barilaro told Guardian Australia he had asked the Advisory Body for Strategic Release about how to remove the areas – each abutting the Wollemi national park to the west and the east – from the government’s long-term plan for coal. He said there was little chance they would be developed. His intention was to announce in December that the Hawkins-Rumker, Ganguddy-Kelgoola and Wollombi areas would be excised as prospective new coalmine sites. However, Barilaro brought forward his own exit after the abrupt resignation of premier Gladys Berejiklian ahead of her attendance at the Independent Commission against Corruption hearings. Barilaro’s disclosure comes after his successor Paul Toole declared he was planning to make changes to the areas earmarked for coalmines at NSW estimates this week. When asked about the Hawkins-Rumker region, he replied that he intended to take “a proposal to my colleagues to rule it out”. Guardian Australia approached Toole’s office about whether he also planned to rule out mines at Ganguddy-Kelgoola and near the historic town of Wollombi but did not get a direct response. “The reports considered by the ABSR will be publicly released once a government decision is made, in line with the Guidelines for the Strategic Release Framework,” a spokesperson said. This Hawkins-Rumker decision, which would have brought a big mine close to the town of Rylstone on the Wollemi’s western edge, was “consistent with the Future of Coal Statement which sets out the NSW government’s proactive and balanced approach to the future of coal mining in the state”, the spokesperson said. Barilaro said it was important to end the “mental anguish” imposed on communities near mine proposals that would never proceed. “We know, pragmatically that for these industries, there is just no way in the world a standalone greenfield coalmine will actually start in this state in five or seven years’ time,” he said. “You might as well just end that anxiety today, and that’s what I was doing.” “I don’t want to leave politics with people just thinking I was a coal baron and anti the environment,” he said. “I wanted to kill off any standalone greenfield coalmines, and the only ones that we would consider would be the extensions to existing mines and only because that infrastructure was in place.” The news that Barilaro was preparing to ditch all three big areas came as a surprise to the Minerals Council. “In terms of the other areas [than Hawkins-Rumker] we’re not aware of any changes planned for the Strategic Statement on Coal that was released last year,” chief executive Stephen Galilee said. “However, as I’ve said previously, we’re not aware of any companies seeking to explore in the Wollombi area.” Georgina Woods of the Lock the Gate alliance welcomed comments that Wollombi and Ganguddy-Kelgoola were earmarked to be removed from the “threat list”. “It seems unlikely there will be new greenfield coal exploitation in NSW at this point, but we are very concerned about the expansion of coal exploration and mining by Peabody near Wollar and by Whitehaven Coal in one of the remaining areas on John Barilaro’s Strategic Release process list, an area south of Narrabri known as Gorman North,” she said. “Putting any rural community in the path of new coal exploration at this point creates distress and inhibits investment in the energy and industry of the future.” Greens spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said: “The deputy premier [Toole] cited economic and social concerns as to why he intends to rule out opening up [Hawkins-Rumker] for coal. He needs to apply his same logic to all coal and gas projects in the planning pipeline including the Ganguddy-Kelgoola release area.” “Opening up new coal areas is incompatible with the Paris commitment of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees,” she said. Barilaro’s intervention comes as the NSW Labor party steps into campaigning mode, announcing on Saturday it will introduce a private member’s bill seeking to legislate a net zero emissions target by 2050. Announced in Bega, one of five NSW seats due to hold byelections in the next few months, by opposition leader Chris Minns, the plan will seek to put pressure on a Coalition government which has trumpeted its own ambitious emissions targets. The Coalition government in NSW has already committed to halving its emissions by 2030, a target underpinned by clean energy legislation passed with multi-party support last year which will see the state build 12 gigawatts of clean energy and 2GW of energy storage in the next decade. | ['australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'australia-news/national-party', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/coal', 'environment/national-parks', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/john-barilaro', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'profile/michael-mcgowan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2021-11-05T19:00:12Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2008/nov/18/climatechange-greentech | Britain talks down geoengineering as a solution to climate change | Research into drastic solutions to climate change such as cloud seeding, sun shades in space and ocean fertilisation risks hampering global climate negotiations by giving some countries an excuse for not agreeing to short-term emissions reductions, a UK government minister warned today. The remarks by Joan Ruddock, a minister in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, appear to be a thinly veiled dig at the Bush administration, whose delegation attempted to insert a section into last year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on developing technology to block sunlight and cool the planet. The proposed text referred to it as an "important insurance" against the impacts of climate change. Speaking to MPs on the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills select committee, Ruddock was defending the government's unwillingness to fund research into so-called geoengineering – large-scale, untested interventions that either soak up carbon dioxide or prevent sunlight warming the planet "The concern is that people who don't want to enter into agreements that mean they have to reduce their emissions might see this as a means of doing nothing, of being able to say, 'science will provide, there will be a way out'," she said, "it could be used politically in that way which would be extremely unfortunate." She added that funding research on such projects would deflect engineers away from more pressing solutions to climate change such as carbon capture and storage – extracting carbon dioxide from the emissions put out by fossil fuel power stations and injecting it underground. The science minister Lord Drayson added that many of the proposals – such as launching huge mirrors into space, adding particles into the atmosphere to deflect light or seeding algal blooms in the ocean using iron fertiliser – were extremely costly and had risks that were poorly understood. "Some of the projects that are being postulated under geoengineering do strike one as being in the realm of science fiction," he said. But Steve Rayner, professor of science and civilisation at the Said Business School in Oxford, pointed out that not all options were expensive. Some such as iron fertilisation would be within reach of wealthy individuals - he called them, "a 'Greenfinger' rather than 'Goldfinger'." Currently, the research councils – which decide how public science funding is spent – do not fund any projects into geoengineering directly, although the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has allocated £3m for an "ideas factory" into potential projects next year. According to Dr Phil Williamson at the University of East Anglia, who wrote the Natural Environment Research Council's submission to the select committee hearing, around £50m of the government's research spend is peripherally related to geo-engineering. The select committee's chair, the liberal democrat MP Phil Willis, said he was disappointed with the government's position of adopting only a "watching brief" over the emerging field. "That seems to me a very very negative way of actually facing up to the challenge of the future," he said. "It's a very pessimistic view of emerging science and Britain's place within that emerging science community." He said government should support many different avenues to tackling climate change. "There have to be plethora of solutions. Some of which we do not know whether they will work, but that is the whole purpose of science." But the chief scientific advisor to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Prof Bob Watson, said that funding should be focussed on the most immediate solutions. "I think the question is whether [geoengineering] is the highest priority at the moment given scarce resources. "First [priority] is actually putting investment into current technologies and pre-commercial technologies such as carbon capture and storage," he said, "Clearly I think this is something which has to be move quickly. I would call it an Apollo-type programme... we need to go in parallel and try multiple approaches simultaneously." He advocated that the EU, US and Japan work together on research into CCS. Some scientists and engineers will also be disappointed with the government's dismissal of the field. In the introduction to a collection of scientific papers published by the Royal Society in September on the topic Prof Brian Launder of the University of Manchester and Prof Michael Thompson of the University of Cambridge wrote: "While such geoscale interventions may be risky, the time may well come when they are accepted as less risky than doing nothing... There is increasingly the sense that governments are failing to come to grips with the urgency of setting in place measures that will assuredly lead to our planet reaching a safe equilibrium." · This article was amended on Thursday November 20 2008 to clarify that the figure of £50m mentioned in the piece is the per annum spend by the UK's research councils, not the total government spend. It covers research on climate modelling, carbon capture and storage and 'geoengineering relevant' research work. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbon-capture-and-storage', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'education/research', 'education/education', 'uk/uk', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'technology/technology', 'environment/geoengineering', 'type/article', 'profile/jamesranderson'] | environment/carbon-capture-and-storage | EMISSIONS | 2008-11-18T15:37:06Z | true | EMISSIONS |
commentisfree/2023/sep/13/the-guardian-view-on-libyas-floods-humans-not-just-nature-caused-this-disaster | The Guardian view on Libya’s floods: humans, not just nature, caused this disaster | Editorial | The devastation wreaked by floods in eastern Libya is nothing less than apocalyptic. In Derna, where two dams burst after torrential rains, a wall of water deluged the city and sliced out the land from beneath its inhabitants. Entire neighbourhoods were swept into the sea, which is now dumping bodies along the shore. More than 6,000 have died there, and 10,000 people are said to be missing, but because entire families were washed away, there may be no survivors to report some losses. With other towns and settlements inundated, too, tens of thousands are displaced. The horror and despair of Libyans is matched by their fury at the rival governments that have split the country and pursued power and profit while ignoring the people’s needs. Storm Daniel is a natural disaster, wrote Elham Saudi, the director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya, but the ensuing catastrophe “is manmade: corruption; lack of infrastructure; impunity; shutting down frontliners in civil society … Be angry at a system that has enabled this tragedy.” It is too soon to say whether, or how far, Storm Daniel’s terrifying impact is related to the climate crisis. But it is clear that global heating is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, including flooding. In the last fortnight alone, Hong Kong has seen its heaviest rainfall since records began in 1884, with metro stations inundated, and in Greece, torrential rain triggered landslides and infrastructure collapse. These scenes, like the summer’s extreme rainfalls in China, the US and Spain among others, are a warning of what awaits many more of us, and highlight the need for mitigation measures as well as slashing carbon emissions. Libya shows the disastrous consequences when governments not only fail to protect their citizens but also put them into greater danger. Muammar Gaddafi’s corrupt regime has been followed by more than a decade of revolution, civil war and political deadlock. Essential infrastructure has not only been neglected – one of Derna’s dams had reportedly not been maintained since 2002 – but also plundered by the powerful and their cronies. Even when disaster loomed, the authorities in eastern Libya, controlled by the warlord Khalifa Haftar, failed in their most basic duties. As Anas el Gomati of the country’s Sadeq Institute has pointed out, this is not like the earthquake that struck without warning in Morocco last week, killing at least 2,900 people. Officials saw Storm Daniel’s impact in Greece and had days to plan an evacuation. Some people were apparently told to leave, but others were reportedly ordered to stay at home even as water swelled behind the dams. In the aftermath, with children crying for help in the wreckage, rescue and relief efforts continue to be hampered by politics as well as the destruction of essential infrastructure. There is widespread cynicism about the willingness of the internationally recognised government in Tripoli and Mr Haftar’s rival government to truly put the suffering first. Key figures in civil society, precisely the people who might mobilise relief efforts, languish in jail while their compatriots need them. But there is also anger that most other governments appear slow to respond to this catastrophe. Vast fossil fuel reserves and regional security objectives have encouraged foreign powers to meddle in Libya. The EU has given the country hundreds of millions of euros to curb migration, ignoring appalling abuses by the Libyan coast guard. Is it now willing to help ordinary Libyans? France, which has done so much to bolster Mr Haftar, has a particular responsibility to ensure a strong European response. Libyans have good reason to feel that they have been failed by the international community as well as their own leaders. Now more than ever, they need real support. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/libya-flood-2023', 'world/libya', 'world/muammar-gaddafi', 'world/extreme-weather', 'global-development/humanitarian-response', 'world/africa', 'world/middleeast', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/editorials', 'tone/comment', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | world/libya-flood-2023 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-09-13T18:20:46Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2021/jul/01/french-court-orders-government-to-act-on-climate-in-next-nine-months | French court orders government to act on climate in next nine months | France’s top administrative court has ordered the government to take “all necessary additional steps” within the next nine months to enable it to reach its climate crisis targets or face possible sanctions, including substantial fines. The Council of State said in a final ruling published on Thursday, with no possibility for appeal by the government, that France was not on track to meet its goal of achieving a 40% cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2030. “The Council of State therefore instructs the government to take additional measures between now and 31 March 2022 to hit the target,” it said. A spokesperson said it would assess the state’s actions after the deadline, which falls days before the first round of presidential polls in which Emmanuel Macron is expected to seek re-election, and could issue a fine if it considered it necessary. “This ruling by the Council of State is historic: for the first time in France, the state has been ordered to act for the climate,” said Damien Carême, an MEP and former mayor of the northern coastal town of Grande-Synthe, which brought the case. “I hope this will bring an end to the lethargy, hypocrisy and cynicism ... Behind the government’s fancy speeches, there is a lack of action and ambition which is putting our joint futures in danger.” A former environment minister, Corinne Lepage, who represented the town, also hailed the ruling as “historic”, while a campaign group including Oxfam France and Greenpeace France said the “noose is tightening on the government”. Greenpeace France hailed what it called “a clear ultimatum issued in the face of the government’s inaction over climate change”. The rate of decline in greenhouse gas emissions in France between 2015 and 2018 was about half as fast as needed to meet its 2030 target. The office of the prime minister, Jean Castex, said the government took note of the decision and “reiterates its determination to reinforce its climate actions by accelerating emission reductions even more”. It has already promised to announce extra measures “allowing us to fulfil our goals” this autumn. Macron has been criticised for failing to meet France’s Paris agreement targets on the climate, with the independent High Council on Climate repeatedly warning the government was falling short of its commitments. In November 2020 the Council of State ruled that France’s climate goals were binding, subsequently giving the government an extra three months to prove its climate policies would allow the country to meet its goals. | ['world/france', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'world/emmanuel-macron', 'environment/paris-climate-agreement', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonhenley', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2021-07-01T17:58:24Z | true | EMISSIONS |
uk-news/2013/dec/27/uk-storm-thousands-homes-without-power | UK's second major storm in days leaves thousands of homes without power | Thousands of homes are without power and many more threatened by flooding after the second major storm to hit the country in days, which saw wind gusts of more than 100mph and heavy rain falling on to already saturated ground. Forecasters warned that yet more strong winds and rain are on their way for the south-east of England at the start of next week. The winds, which saw a peak gust of 109mph recorded at Aberdaron on the north Wales coast, sent trees crashing on to power lines, leaving tens of thousands without electricity, principally in Wales, Cumbria and the south of Scotland. Another 5,000 homes lost electricity supplies in Northern Ireland, with 45,000 more cut off in the Republic of Ireland. Power companies dispatched teams which restored power to tens of thousands of households. However, by late on Friday an estimated 10,000 homes were still without electricity in England and parts of Wales, with around 3,000 of these, in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, without electricity since Christmas Eve or earlier. The Energy Networks Association said repairs in the south-east had been hampered by flooding and the aim was to reconnect most people by Saturday. A spokesman said: "We know it's been a horrendous situation for these people, but the floodwaters are receding which means we can now carry out the repairs." Some of those affected remained angry. Corinne Willson said she and her mother had been without power at her mother's home in Smeeth, near Ashford, Kent, since Christmas Eve morning: "My mum has recently had cancer, so this was meant to be a nice Christmas for her, hosting Christmas. She was really disappointed and stressed out." Scottish Power said the storm had knocked out electricity supplies for more than 20,000 of its Welsh customers, with supplies reconnected to all but about 5,000. Another 3,000 homes in Scotland, mainly in Dumfriesshire, remained affected. A Scottish Power spokesman said: "The main problem is the wind is still very strong, which means there is some work we can't do, for example at heights." While the north and west endured the strongest winds, those further south and east faced renewed flood concerns. Although the rainfall was less strong than that seen on Christmas Eve, it fell on to ground that had already been inundated. The Environment Agency had 39 flood warnings in place, which urge those affected to take immediate action, the majority in south-east England, mainly in Kent and Surrey, and the Midlands, with 11 separate warning along the river Severn. The Met Office warned that while the winds and rain were due to ease in many areas into the weekend they were likely to return from Sunday evening, with some gale-force gusts. A Met Office spokeswoman said: "The wind is likely to be in exposed areas, so if there are any weather warnings they are more likely to be for rain. The forecast totals are not high but it will be falling on to ground that is already saturated. We have seen river levels rise very quickly today already." The new storm brought a certain amount of travel chaos, though nothing on the scale of Christmas Eve, in part because relatively few people were travelling. Airports remained largely unaffected, aside from some early disruption to flights into Dublin and the Isle of Man. However, rail services saw significant problems as operators sent out teams to clear trees and other debris from lines before trains could run. Southeastern rail ran no services at all before about midday, while mainline trains for East Coast and Virgin saw delays. Services from London to Portsmouth were re-routed after embankment damage closed the line for up to a week between Petersfield, in Hampshire, and Haslemere, about 15 miles away in Surrey. There were a number of delays on the roads, again caused mainly by debris blown by the winds, and police urged drivers to be particularly cautious. | ['uk/weather', 'environment/flooding', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'uk-news/kent', 'profile/peterwalker', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-12-27T18:04:26Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/feb/26/call-to-end-logging-of-protective-native-forests-in-wake-of-bushfire-crisis | Call to end logging of ‘protective’ native forests in wake of bushfire crisis | A group of forestry and climate scientists are calling for an immediate and permanent end to the logging of all native forests across Australia as part of a response to climate change and the country’s bushfire crisis. In an open letter, the group said forestry workers involved in logging in native forests should be redeployed to support the management of national parks. A briefing document to back the letter, coordinated by The Australia Institute thinktank, argues logging in wet eucalypt forests promotes more flammable regrowth. Dr Jennifer Sanger, a forest ecologist who is in Canberra today to deliver the letter told Guardian Australia: “As we face this climate crisis, we see our forests are worth far more standing. “We have to start taking this climate emergency more seriously and protective native forests is a simple step we could take and in my mind, a logical call.” Some experts told Guardian Australia they disagreed, saying it could effectively rule out one potential response to managing forests in the face of climate change. Among the signatories to the letter are University of Tasmania’s distinguished conservation ecologist Prof Jamie Kirkpatrick, James Cook University ecologist Prof Bill Laurance, and Prof Tim Flannery, of the University of Melbourne. The letter says: “We write to ask you to respond to the climate, fire, drought and biodiversity loss crises with an immediate nationwide cessation of all native forest logging.” Large old-growth trees are important for capturing and storing carbon, the letter said, adding that native forest logging “is heavily subsidised by our taxes, which can be better spent on fire mitigation”. Government data shows that 5m hectares of native forests are open to logging and that annually, 73,000 hectares are harvested. According to the briefing document, 12% of logs harvested in Australia come from native forests, and an end to native forest logging would directly impact 3,250 workers. “The best economic use for native forests would be to leave the forests intact and push for inclusion in a carbon trading scheme,” the document said. When wet eucalypt forests are cleared the regrowth and understorey is drier and more flammable, according to the document. Species that live in forests make up 80% of all Australia’s threatened species. Sanger added: “Native forest logging just isn’t beneficial. It is not profitable, and there are not a lot of jobs that rely on it. “Ecologically [forests] are under a lot of stress from other impacts, including climate change and habitat destruction, and it does not make sense to be logging these forests.” The call to ban native forest logging comes after the government announced a Royal Commission into the bushfire crisis that focuses on adapting to climate change, with measures including the use of hazard reduction to be investigated. Prof Rod Keenan, the University of Melbourne’s chair of forest and ecosystem science, told Guardian Australia he did not agree that all native forest logging should cease. “The letter proposes a simplistic solution to a complex problem. Current timber harvesting is not the problem,” he said. Native forest logging had declined over the last 20 years and was heavily regulated to protect habitats, he said, “so the environmental benefits of such a ban are unclear”. He argued a ban would have “significant social and economic impacts for local communities” that had already been hit hard by fires. He said: “The suggestion we can supply all our wood requirements from plantations is also incorrect. We have a large trade deficit in wood products, there is no immediate replacement for native timbers to industry and the plantation estate has taken a significant hit from recent fires. “The industry will need to adjust to recent fire impacts and adapt to a changing climate. New types of silviculture, including timber harvesting, can be part of the solution in reducing the impacts of future fires. “Rather than knee-jerk decisions, we need to keep all options on the table as we work through the best responses to these catastrophic fires.” Prof Peter Kanowski, an international forest governance expert at the Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society, said he also could not support a ban on native forest logging. “We need to protect populations of plants and animals post-fire, and we need to organise any timber harvesting cognisant of that,” he said. “But beyond that, we have to think differently about a much more adaptive and integrated approach to how we manage forested landscapes in the future under climate change.” He said that banning native forest logging would “be precluding options that we should not be precluding”. The Australian Forest Products Association declined to comment on the open letter. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-02-26T02:16:18Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk/2012/nov/24/rain-pours-down-on-saturated-britain | Rain pours down on saturated Britain | The misery continued for thousands of householders and travellers as torrential rain once again pounded down on parts of the UK this weekend. More wet weather is on the way, but the Met Office says it may be replaced by a fresh hazard – ice and snow – later in the week. Up to 60mm of rain is expected, much of it falling on ground already flooded after days of atrocious weather across southern England, the Midlands and Wales. Alerts were in place at notorious flood-risk hotspots including Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire and Upton upon Severn and Evesham in Worcestershire. Eight flood warnings were in place for the River Avon in the Midlands and four for the River Severn. The Environment Agency believes around 400 properties in England and Wales have been flooded so far. It has sent out warnings to 9,000 homes and businesses. In all, 44 warnings (indicating flooding is expected) and 155 alerts (warning that flooding is possible) were in place as darkness fell on Saturday. In Hertfordshire, police were searching for a man who is believed to have fallen into a canal in Watford after getting separated from his friends in fog. The 50-year-old was walking along a towpath in the early hours of Saturday. Fire crews searched the waist-deep canal but could find no sign of him. An elderly man feared drowned in the River Thames at Sonning in Berkshire remains missing. The south west of England and parts of south-east Wales were bearing the brunt of the rain on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Eddy Carroll, the Met Office's chief forecaster, said: "The current very unsettled run of weather is set to continue, with further spells of wet and windy weather expected across the country over the next few days. Further rain moving in from the west on Sunday continues the risk for further flooding and travel disruption. "Strong winds may add to the potential for travel disruption, especially across southern Britain. Winds gusting to 50 or 60 mph are expected across southern counties of England with severe gale or possibly storm force winds over the English Channel." The Met Office said it expected the weather to become drier and colder in most areas by the middle of the week, and overnight frost could bring the risk of some icy roads after the recent rain. It said that snow was possible in Scotland and northern and eastern England next weekend. So far the only confirmed fatality has been a man who suffered a heart attack after being trapped in his vehicle when it became wedged under a bridge in Chew Stoke, near Bristol, but tales of motorists stranded in the floods continue to emerge. Three elderly people were rescued from their car when it was swept down a swollen river near Alcester in Warwickshire on Friday. The silver Vauxhall Corsa was carried for more than 500 metres before a local farmer managed to bring it to the water's edge, West Midlands ambulance service said. Firefighters using rescue boats pulled the two women and one man out of the windows. They were treated for shock and hypothermia. Darron Burness, the AA's head of special operations, said on Saturday: "With more heavy rain forecast across the Midlands, Wales and the south-west, road conditions in the affected areas are likely to only get worse as the ground is so saturated. Even if you think you know your local roads, don't be complacent, as flash flooding continues to be a real risk and is catching people out." Work to clear a landslip at Mevagissey harbour in Cornwall has been completed, but the high winds and rain have meant very few fishermen have ventured out. Harbourmaster Hugh Bowles said: "Obviously fishing is completely weather-dependent, so it really does have an impact on fishermen wanting to get out on the water, particularly those with smaller, under-10-metre boats." Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service pumped 1m litres of water from fields below the Grand Western Canal near Tiverton after it burst its banks. Network Rail said trains were likely to be suspended between Exeter and Bristol until Monday because tracks have been flooded. John Curtin, head of incident management at the Environment Agency, said: "We would urge people to continue to be prepared for flooding, sign up for Environment Agency flood warnings, keep up to date with the latest situation, and stay away from dangerous floodwater. "Our teams have been out around the clock over the last few days to minimise the risks and prepare for flooding, and we are continuing to deploy teams across the country to keep communities safe." It was not only humans who were struggling with the conditions: a one-year-old monkey at the Wild Futures monkey sanctuary near Looe in Cornwall had to be resuscitated after falling ill in the wet weather. The sanctuary has been badly hit by the conditions: trees have been brought down by the wind and parts of the centre flooded. The poor summer had already meant the charity was £60,000 worse off than last year. Hayley Dann, its fundraising manager, said: "It has been a really horrible couple of days." | ['uk/weather', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-11-24T17:13:20Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sport/2024/feb/02/captains-run-jenkins-takes-his-place-in-rich-welsh-history-of-young-leaders | Captains’ run: Jenkins takes his place in rich Welsh history of young leaders | There was a buzz in the Cardiff air on Saturday 3 February 1968. Elsewhere in Britain the slump in the polls of Harold Wilson’s Labour party after a disastrous devaluation of the pound occupied minds. But in the pubs and rugby club bars from Aberavon to Ynysybwl the fevered talk was all about a certain young Welshman: Gareth Edwards, elevated to national captain at the age of 20. Scotland, the visitors to the Welsh capital that day, had better brace themselves for the coming storm. Fast forward 56 years and the echoes of that giddy moment are as plain as the red dragon emblazoned on a bottle of Brains beer. A Labour government may be on the way in this time and step forward Dafydd Jenkins, a raw 21-year-old lock, freshly minted as national captain by the Wales coach, Warren Gatland, for the Six Nations. And who should come calling first? Scotland, of course. The fans may still be singing Tom Jones’s Green, Green Grass of Home: “Yes, they’ll all come to meet you.” Not since Edwards began forging his rugby legend in a terse 5–0 defeat of Scotland at Arms Park have Wales paraded a younger captain. They have turned to youth before, and in the not-too-distant past. Sam Warburton became Wales’s second youngest captain after Edwards at the age of 22 and 242 days when he led his country against Barbarians on 4 June 2011. Granite-tough Warburton, later to captain two British & Irish Lions tours, led Wales during the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand. There, at 23, he guided his country to within one point of the final, this despite the cruellest of red cards 18 minutes into the semi-final at Eden Park when a tip tackle on Vincent Clerc was his final act on the field. France won 9-8 and many in Wales wept at the perceived injustice. Warburton’s appeal reached beyond the game: he was mates with a superstar of Welsh sport, Gareth Bale. They went to the same Cardiff school – Whitchurch high – and there was plenty of the footballer’s reflected stardust to go around. For Jenkins there is extra vibe to his first test as leader in being mentioned in the same breath as Edwards, who captained Wales 13 times in an 11-year international career. The Edwards era dovetailed with the red-shirted greats: Barry John, Phil Bennett and, poignantly given his death two weeks ago, JPR Williams. In that time, he and Wales won the then Five Nations Championship seven times, three grand slams among them. Even with Will Rowlands and Adam Beard alongside Jenkins, this callow Welsh side – almost half the 34-strong group have cap totals in single figures – have many a mile to travel to reach touching distance of that honour roll. Expectations are tempered these days in a proud rugby nation, with Taulupe Faletau, Dan Biggar, Liam Williams and the NFL-bound Louis Rees-Zammit all missing. Jenkins, though, is saying all the right things. “I think a lot of people are underestimating what this team can do. They have in the past and as a country we have proven people wrong time and time again.” The recent Wales captains Jac Morgan (skipper at 23), Dewi Lake and Ken Owens have offered congratulations after Gatland’s elevation of Jenkins. Warburton, too, sent his best wishes. Plus, there is some Wales lineage to add to the mix. Jenkins’s father, Hywel, gained Wales A recognition, while his grandfather played alongside Edwards at junior level. The portents are there for any Wales fan wishing to delve deeper. “My mum’s dad played in the same team as Gareth Edwards – Welsh schoolboys – and went on to play for Aberavon. My father played for Llanelli,” says Jenkins. “I like trying to lead by example on the field and around the training pitch. The 9s and 10s are great talkers and there are other leaders within the team, so I just try to do my bit on the pitch and hopefully people follow. You try and lead with your actions. There is no point telling other people what to do when you are not doing it yourself.” Still canny Gatland clearly sees something special in the young man who plays his club rugby in the English Premiership and now leads his country barely a month after his 21st birthday. Jenkins first captained Exeter at 19 and this season has steered the club into title contention and the Champions Cup knockout phase. He is also highly rated by Rob Baxter, the Exeter rugby director, who knows a thing or two about mining talent gold. Wales will hope for history to repeat itself. | ['sport/wales-rugby-union-team', 'sport/six-nations-2024', 'sport/rugby-union', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/the-breakdown', 'sport/sixnations', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/andymartin', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/wales-rugby-union-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-02-02T12:25:14Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/mar/08/shining-through-dutch-artist-paints-farming-in-a-new-light-to-boost-crops-aoe | Shining through: Dutch artist paints farming in a new light to boost crops | By day, the field of leeks looks like any other. But, as the sun sets, blue and red light, mixed with invisible ultraviolet (UV) radiation, transforms the scene into a multicoloured landscape. This LED light show is not just for effect. For a couple of hours every evening the lights are shone across the 20,000sq metre field in Lelystad in the Netherlands in a bid to make the leeks grow better. In a light installation that brings art and science together, four solar-powered units emit a tailor-made spectrum across the leafy vegetables. The product of two years’ collaboration between Dutch artist and designer Daan Roosegaarde and plant biologists, Grow showcases a “light recipe” that helps crops grow better by effectively lengthening sunlight hours. “Light is all about communication, and plants are super-sensitive to it,” says Roosegaarde. For decades, red and blue light has been used in greenhouses and, more recently, in vertical farming operations to improve plant growth and maximise yields. Now it is being applied to crops growing outside. Prof Jason Wargent is a plant photobiologist working with Roosegaarde to preprogramme the plants using light. “Light acts as an informational cue,” says Wargent, chief science officer and founder of New Zealand-based startup BioLumic. By delivering bespoke combinations of specific types of UV to seeds or seedlings, internal mechanisms can be triggered to increase productivity at a later stage while enhancing the plants’ ability to protect themselves against pests and disease, he explains. “UV is very specific in terms of the biology that it targets inside the plant, so it triggers things that other lights wouldn’t. It’s a secret, invisible, but potent treatment,” he says. With an estimated global population of 9 billion to feed by 2050, according to the UN, the pressure to increase agricultural productivity is intense, yet many pesticides and fertilisers can result in pollution once released into the soil and waterways. Wargent suggests that light recipes could be “the next great revolution in agriculture”. “Farmers need a diverse set of tools now to increase yields. This clean alternative could help reduce the need for agricultural chemicals which themselves are costly and time-consuming to develop, and can pollute the environment once applied,” says Wargent. “We’re unlocking the plant’s ability to do things, to flower and grow, with a programmable light recipe but without the penalty.” In the BioLumic lab, UV treatments are applied at the very start of a plant’s journey. They may be applied for seven days for a seedling or just a few minutes for a seed but, once exposed to that burst of radiation, the knock-on effects will last the plant’s lifetime, says Wargent. One step on from Grow, Wargent envisages that an extra stage of light treatment could be integrated into the agricultural processing of seeds before they’re sent to the grower. This year, BioLumic is carrying out extensive field trials of light recipes on US soya bean crops and making light recipes commercially available. Back in the leek field in Lelystad, the precision lighting design directs beams horizontally across the field. Nothing beams up and the display is localised for just a short time each evening so as not to disrupt wildlife, according to Roosegaarde, who supports the Dark Sky Movement, which aims to reduce light pollution globally. Roosegaarde hopes that a tour of 40 countries in which he will recreate his artwork – once Covid allows – will push light science to develop even further. “From the rice fields in China to the wheat fields in the US, we can create a light recipe to suit local food production and create an experience that reconnects people with where their food comes from,” he says. Roosegaarde says he receives hundreds of emails every day from farmers as far flung as Peru and Italy wanting to engage with the project. Light recipes alone won’t solve food security issues but he hopes they will be a welcome addition to the toolbox. He says: “By triggering curiosity for the future, this could speed up the necessary transition.” The Grow project is just the latest in a series of works by Roosegaarde that tackle environmental problems, including an award-winning smog-filtering tower, a smart highway that charges throughout the day and glows at night, and an art installation that enables visitors to interact with light-emitting algae. His studio is currently working on a project called Urban Sun, which aims to “clean coronavirus in public spaces”. “There is so much great science and technology but it’s hidden,” says Roosegaarde. “My job is to activate it and shine a light on it.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pesticides', 'environment/farming', 'world/netherlands', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'science/agriculture', 'science/science', 'technology/technology', 'business/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/anna-turns', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-03-08T07:30:25Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2021/sep/13/california-wildfires-biden-trip-climate-crisis-links-extreme-weather | ‘It’s a reality’: Biden calls for urgency in California as climate crisis fuels wildfires | Joe Biden travelled to California on Monday to survey wildfire damage as the state battles a devastating fire season that is on track to outpace that of 2020, the state’s worst on record. The president is using the trip to highlight the connection between the climate crisis and the west’s increasingly extreme wildfires as he seeks to rally support for a $3.5tn spending plan Congress is debating. Biden pointed to wildfires burning through the west to argue for his plan, calling year-round fires and other extreme weather a climate crisis reality the nation can no longer ignore. The president’s visit to California is part of a two-day tour of the west including stops at the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho and Denver, Colorado. While in California, the president also campaigned with the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election on Tuesday. Speaking alongside Newsom ahead of a tour of wildfire-damaged areas in northern California, Biden said the huge blazes that had rocked the state this summer “are being supercharged by climate change”. “It isn’t about red or blue states. It’s about fires,” the president said. “Scientists have been warning us for years that extreme weather is going to get more extreme. We’re living it in real time.” Newsom, who spoke before Biden, warned that California was “dealing with extremes the likes of which we’ve never dealt with in our state’s history”. During his earlier visit to Boise, Idaho, Biden echoed the comments he made last week while surveying the damage caused by Hurricane Ida, stressing that the perils of the climate crisis are a bipartisan issue. “It’s not a Democrat thing, it’s not a Republican thing. It’s a weather thing,” the president said. “It’s a reality. It’s serious. And we can do this. We can do this. And in the process of building back, we can create jobs.” The president argued for spending now to make the future effects of the crisis less costly, as he did during recent stops in Louisiana, New York and New Jersey, all states that suffered millions of dollars in flood and other damage and scores of deaths after Hurricane Ida. Aiming to boost support for his rebuilding plans, the president said every dollar spent on “resilience” would save $6 in future costs. He said efforts must go beyond simply restoring damaged systems and ensure communities can withstand catastrophic weather. Just before his visit on Monday, Biden issued a disaster declaration for California in response to the Caldor fire, which has destroyed 782 homes, scorched 342 sq miles and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands in the Lake Tahoe Basin. In August, Biden approved another disaster declaration to provide aid after the River fire and the Dixie fire, the largest single fire in California history. Wildfires in California this year have leveled entire towns, killed one person and burned 2m acres. California and several other western states experienced their hottest summers on record this year as the climate crisis fueled deadly heatwaves. Experts have said that without dramatic action to combat the climate emergency and reintroduce fire into the landscape, California and the American west will continue to endure devastating fire seasons. “All evidence would suggest a business as usual scenario where we keep warming the climate and we don’t rapidly scale up our efforts to get fuels out of the forest, we’re going to see a lot more wildfire and a lot more extreme wildfire. The science is clear on that,” Marshall Burke, an associate professor in the department of earth system science at Stanford, told the Guardian last month. The Biden administration in June laid out a plan to step up its investments to combat the west’s wildfire crisis, after facing criticism the federal efforts are underresourced and understaffed. The plan includes hiring more federal firefighters and using new technologies to detect and address fires quickly. The spending plan, which faces skepticism from centrist Democrats, includes climate provisions such as tax incentives for clean energy and electric vehicles, investments to transition the economy away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources such as wind and solar power, and creation of a civilian climate corps. Biden recently declared a “code red” moment for the nation to act on the climate crisis while visiting a New York City neighborhood damaged by Hurricane Ida. “Folks, the evidence is clear: climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, to our economy,” he said during the New York visit. “And the threat is here; it’s not going to get any better. The question: can it get worse? We can stop it from getting worse.” Joan E Greve contributed reporting | ['us-news/joebiden', 'us-news/california', 'world/wildfires', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/gavin-newsom', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/dani-anguiano', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-09-14T01:50:36Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/apr/05/extinction-rebellion-to-step-up-campaign-against-banking-system-climate-crisis | Extinction Rebellion to step up campaign against banking system | Extinction Rebellion is planning to step up its campaign against the banking system with a series of direct action protests and debt strikes in the coming weeks aimed at highlighting the financial sector’s role in the escalating climate crisis. Last week the group targeted Barclays Bank’s headquarters in London and the Bank of England as well as high street branches across the UK as part of its Money Rebellion protest. One of XR’s founders, Gail Bradbrook, broke the windows of the Barclays branch in her home town of Stroud to kickstart the campaign. “This is an escalation in tactics,” she said. “As the suffragettes said, better broken windows than broken promises. What do we need to do to shake the system, to change the system that is killing us … I literally do not know what else to do.” A recent report found that the world’s 60 biggest banks have provided $3.8tn (£2.75tn) of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate deal in 2015, and that Barclays provided the most among all European banks. XR said more direct action protests were planned for this week as part of a campaign that will also involve debt, tax and mortgage strikes. One group of activists have taken out loans totalling £4,000 from Barclays that they are refusing to repay and have instead donated the money to the human rights group Survival International. Later this month XR is planning to launch a tax strike during which campaigners will withhold a percentage of theirs – about 3.5% from business or income tax. The money, which the group has calculated is the percentage the government spends on “harming the planet”, will be withheld for a year, and if by that time ministers have not met the group’s demands – including telling the truth about the climate emergency and cancelling “destructive projects” – the money will be donated to Wilderlands, a project to support nature in the UK. Bradbrook said it was time to “challenge a system that has destruction baked in and incentivises harm”, adding that it was being critiqued not just by protesters but by the “World Economic Forum, the Economist magazine, IMF … Prince Charles”. She continued: “It is no longer seen as radical and ridiculous to say the political economy needs to dramatically change. It has become a mainstream conversation … I think anyone saying we have to have what we’ve got because there are no better ideas has either got their eyes closed or they are just pushing the agenda of business as usual because themselves or their paymasters are making too much money.” XR, which came to prominence in April 2019 when thousands of people blocked sites across London for days, said it was finalising plans for action in the buildup to Cop26, the international climate meeting being held in Glasgow in November. “XR’s job is to keep the pressure up on the climate and ecological crisis and the inter-related justice issues and we will carry on doing that,” said Bradbrook. “There are many rebels that want to see Cop do as well as it can, so creating the pressure on the streets can help.” But she said the “Cop process” had so far failed to bring about the changes that were required to address the huge challenge of the climate and ecological emergency. “We need to look at the systemic issues around why we are failing to act and why we are carrying on killing our life support system,” she said. In response to Barclays being targeted by XR, a spokesperson for the bank said: “We have made a commitment to align our entire financing portfolio to the goals of the Paris agreement, with specific targets and transparent reporting, on the way to achieving our ambition to be a net zero bank by 2050 and help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.” | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'business/banking', 'environment/activism', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-04-05T06:00:28Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
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