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environment/2022/apr/06/lib-dems-put-sewage-at-heart-of-campaign-as-party-eyes-blue-wall-seats | Lib Dems put sewage at heart of campaign as party eyes ‘blue wall’ seats | Sewage has become a major battleground in the local elections in so-called “blue wall” seats, where the Liberal Democrats are challenging the Conservatives, from Guildford to Cambridgeshire. The Lib Dems have put eliminating sewage dumps at the heart of their campaign, with the party leader, Ed Davey, planning to launch their fight at the River Wandle in Wimbledon on Wednesday. He is calling for a tax on sewage companies to fund the clean up of local rivers, which can see waste pumped out into the environment when there is heavy rainfall. The Tories have been under huge public pressure over the issue since the government rejected a House of Lords amendment to put a legal duty on water companies to phase out pumping waste into rivers last autumn. However, in a sign of how contested the issue has become, some Tory election material on social media has misleadingly accused the Lib Dems of “voting against a legal duty to clean up rivers”. Lib Dem MPs opposed the government’s plans in favour of stronger legal duties backed by opposition parties. A Liberal Democrat source said: “Conservative MPs are clearly running scared of the huge public backlash over sewage. Their desperate new social media tactics just won’t cut it.” The Lib Dems said internal polling commissioned by the party suggests that sewage dumping is one of the top issues likely to persuade traditional Conservative voters to no longer vote for the party. Another poll for the party showed that 36% of UK voters said they would be less likely to vote for an MP who did not support a ban on raw sewage dumped in rivers, rising to 41% of those who voted Conservative in 2019. Launching the campaign, Davey said: “Conservative MPs have voted time after time to let water companies keep on pumping their filthy sewage straight into our rivers. Rivers like the Wandle in Wimbledon, which now has the worst ecological rating possible. Meanwhile, water company bosses are pocketing millions of pounds in bonuses. All that must change. “Every vote for the Liberal Democrats counts. It sends a message to the Conservatives that they can’t keep failing our NHS. They can’t keep hitting families with unfair tax rises and they can’t keep pumping sewage into our rivers.” A Conservative spokesperson disputed the Lib Dem claims about sewage and repeated their claim that the Lib Dems had voted against government measures to clamp down on sewage discharges. “Lib Dem claims about sewage are even less trustworthy than the bar charts on their leaflets,” the spokesperson said. “While we are taking practical steps to tackle the problem, Lib Dem plans would not have stopped sewage discharges and could cost every household more than £25,000.” In fact, opposition parties, including Labour and the Lib Dems, voted for a House of Lords amendment to the environment bill last October that would have placed a legal duty on water companies not to pump raw waste into rivers, which was voted down by Tory MPs. It would have introduced a requirement for sewage companies to “take all reasonable steps to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged from storm overflows” and to “demonstrate improvements in the sewerage systems”. The government argued that its own version of the amendment was strong enough, with a promise to reduce the number of “storm overflow discharges”, and won22 Tory would-be rebels. Ministers said their plan “represents a major improvement on the status quo” and argued that “complete elimination of sewage discharges through storm overflows in England, which many are calling for more broadly, is likely to cost between approximately £350bn and £600bn”. In 2020, water companies released raw sewage into rivers more than 400,000 times over a total of 3.1m hours. The release of raw sewage via storm overflows is legal in exceptional circumstances such as extreme rain, but figures show that in many cases such discharges are happening more routinely. | ['environment/rivers', 'environment/pollution', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'politics/local-elections', 'society/localgovernment', 'politics/localgovernment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'politics/local-elections-2022', 'profile/rowena-mason', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-04-06T04:00:14Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/sep/17/dieselgate-number-of-dirty-diesels-still-growing-report-shows | Number of dirty diesels on road still growing, report shows | The number of dirty diesel vehicles pumping out toxic emissions on Europe’s streets is still rising three years after the Dieselgate scandal began, according to a new report. More than 7m such cars and vans remain on UK roads alone. There were 29m diesel vehicles whose emissions on the road were significantly higher than official laboratory-based EU limits when the diesel scandal erupted in September 2015. But that has now risen by to 43m, according to analysis by the group Transport & Environment (T&E). France has the most dirty diesels on the road, with 8.7m, followed by Germany’s 8.2m and the UK’s 7.3m. Experts say the number of polluting diesel cars will continue rising until September 2019, when new EU regulations force older models out of showrooms. The slow pace of change has been allowed to enable the manufacturers with most polluting fleets to catch up, the experts argue. “After three years, it is shocking that the number of dirty diesel cars and vans on the road today is still rising,” said Florent Grelier, at T&E. “The EU needs to take action to clean up these grossly polluting vehicles and prevent their sale or use until they are properly fixed. If not, they will continue damaging citizens’ health for decades to come.” In the UK, illegal levels of the nitrogen oxides produced by diesel engines are estimated to cause 23,500 early deaths every year. Car manufacturers were fined billions in the US and Germany, but have yet to pay any significant financial penalty in the UK for selling polluting vehicles. “Impossible-to-cheat” emissions tests show almost all new diesels on sale are still dirty. T&E calculated the number of dirty diesels on the road using data on emissions from the government investigations in the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain that followed Dieselgate, plus data from independent testers such as Emissions Analytics. Vehicles emitting more than double the official lab limit in real driving were considered dirty. T&E then used sales data to calculate the totals. “They are absolutely right about the number of dirty diesels on the road increasing and this number will go up further,” said Nick Molden, CEO of Emissions Analytics. He said the vast majority of the diesels currently on the market are four to five times above the legal limit when on the road. This would not change until August 2019 when models approved under old, flawed rules are withdrawn from sale, he said. Sales of diesel cars have plunged in the UK and Grelier said: “The only way to ensure cars are truly clean is to accelerate the shift to zero-emission technology.” However, Molden warned that dumping diesel entirely could increase the carbon emissions that drive climate change. “There were a lot of very bad diesels, but there are now some very good ones,” he said The newest diesels emit about the same NOx as petrol cars, but 18% less CO2, Molden said. Electric cars remain expensive to buy (although cheaper to run), meaning most purchasers are choosing petrol models. However, carmakers have a big challenge in rebuilding confidence in diesels, he said: “It is an uphill struggle and they have left it late in the day.” A spokeswoman for the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said: “The automobile industry has invested heavily to achieve significant improvements in emissions [in new models]. Research by also shows that the latest generation of diesel vehicles will continue to play a major role in helping reach future CO2 targets. Likewise, these vehicles will also have a positive impact on improving air quality, along with other local measures.” | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'business/automotive-industry', 'business/business', 'uk/transport', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-09-17T22:01:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2013/dec/25/southwold-suffolk-cusp-land-sea | Country diary: Southwold, Suffolk: A fragile existence on the dynamic cusp of land and sea | The Dingle Marshes reserve is a flat expanse of reeds and rushes nearly half a mile wide and running a mile along the coast. Behind the ridge are a string of saline lagoons – a rare habitat, home to some very special little anemones, shrimps and snails. Here the effects of the sea surge that assailed British coasts on 5 December are instantly obvious; a 50-metre wide swathe of reed debris sweeps along the back of the shingle ridge that tops the beach. The surge tide overtopped a 200-metre stretch of the ridge, flattening it back on to the marshes and inundating them with a metre of sea water. As the tide receded, the water tore a channel through the flattened beach. The marshes are still flooded; individual saline lagoons are indiscernible under expanses of mirror-flat water and partly submerged reeds and rushes. The dynamic power of the flood is apparent at the breach; water pours off the marsh in a broad spate, carving a meander through the beach, where steep banks of shingle erode with a clicking chatter into the torrent. The birds seem to be coping with the flux. Dunlin and redshank feed around the new water-edges and black-headed gulls, teal and wigeon forage noisily on the water. Turning over the blanket of reed debris reveals little refugees from the salty flood: aquatic insects, including saucer bugs and diving beetles, but also terrestrial flies, money spiders and huge, hairy fox moth caterpillars. A range of beetles includes the buck's-horn plantain leaf beetle – pea-sized blue Christmas baubles. Picking over the reed litter are flocks of starlings, pied wagtails and meadow pipits. A long-tailed grey bird flits away from a gorse bush on the shingle. Hopping around in the edge of the reeds, under a pair of sentinel stonechat, the broad burgundy flanks of its cream-centred breast are apparent – a Dartford warbler, rare speciality of the Suffolk heaths. To the north, Benacre broad is another important saline lagoon. While the Dingle lagoons are supplied with water from rain and seawater seepages, Benacre is supplemented with streams, but sand and shingle, piled up by the sea, dams the fresh water's egress. The surge flood also breached the Benacre shingle barrier, but here the broad has drained into the sea. Black mud seeps through the newly exposed sand, and the whole area reeks of rotten eggs, with a metallic, salty edge. The lagoons and their inhabitants are most precious – they can exist only on the delicate and dynamic cusp of land and sea. They are adapted to fluctuations in salinity, and breaches usually repair. Time will tell if the 2013 floods have created or destroyed this specialist habitat. | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/birds', 'environment/birdwatching', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'environment/winter', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'profile/matt-shardlow', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-12-25T20:59:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2023/feb/23/chris-davis-sydney-man-new-caledonia-shark-attack-remembered-by-family | Family of Sydney man killed in New Caledonia shark attack remember ‘beloved’ husband and father | The family of a Sydney man killed in a shark attack while visiting a busy New Caledonia beach is mourning their “beloved” husband and father. Chris Davis, a 59-year-old software engineer and triathlete, was swimming 150 metres from chateau Royal beach just south of Nouméa on Sunday when a shark bit him several times, according to reports. A bite on the thigh extended 37cm from the hip to the knee, causing a deep lesion, public prosecutor Yves Dupas said, according to reports. Dupas said a second bite to the upper limbs, forearm and hands was “also fatal”. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Davis was pulled from the water and taken to shore by people on a nearby sailboat. Emergency services tried to resuscitate him, but Davis died at the scene. “Chris was a senior software programming consultant … and a keen triathlete, having represented Australia several times in age group world championship events,” the family said in a statement. “We are deeply mourning the loss of our beloved husband and father.” His wife and three sons have expressed “sincere gratitude” to New Caledonian authorities for their efforts in treating Davis. They have confirmed his body has been returned to Australia, aided by Australian and New Caledonian governments. Chateau Royal and nearby beaches have since been closed, and the Nouméa mayor, Sonia Lagarde, has ordered tiger sharks and bull sharks in nearby waters be culled. New Caledonia ranks 13th in the world for the total number of shark attacks. This is the second shark attack in New Caledonia this year, after a 49-year-old swimmer was seriously injured by a shark last month, also near the Chateau Royal beach. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/sharks', 'australia-news/sydney', 'world/new-caledonia', 'environment/environment', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rafqa-touma', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-02-23T01:56:57Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2024/dec/27/weather-new-years-flights-cancelled | Severe weather threatens US flights during one of busiest travel weekends | As the US braces for one of its busiest travel weekends of the year, the threat of severe weather has already led to hundreds of flight cancellations. Tornado watches were issued in the southern states of Texas and Louisiana on Thursday, CNN reported. In Texas, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered ground stops at two airports, CBS reported. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas activated emergency response resources in the state on Thursday. “Several areas across the U.S. are being watched for potential hazardous weather spanning a few days either side of New Year’s Day,” the National Weather Service wrote in a post on X. Nearly 800 flights were cancelled in the US on Thursday and more than 90 flights have been cancelled already on Friday, according to Flight Aware. Seven flights have been cancelled preemptively for Saturday. In a video posted on X, Evan Bentley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, said a “severe weather threat” affecting east Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for this upcoming weekend is top of mind. Although the details, such as how intense the threat will turn out to be and the “exact corridor”, remain uncertain, Bentley said, “we do have an increasing concern that there are going to be a lot of storms with a severe weather threat there on Saturday. “We are expecting multiple rounds of storms with the potential for all hazards, from hail to winds to even potentially tornadoes,” Bentley said. “With it being a pretty active time of year for holiday travel we want to make sure anyone who is in that corridor or is traveling through that corridor is aware of the weather threat.” He added: “Make sure that if you’re gonna find yourself in that part of the country on Saturday that you have multiple ways to get watches and warnings and that you keep an eye on the forecast for anything that may change as it approaches.” Nearly 40 million travelers are expected to be screened by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) between 19 December and 2 January, an increase from last year, according to the TSA. Friday, 27 December, was expected to be among the top three busiest days during that period, the TSA wrote on X. The AAA projected that more than 100 million people would travel 50 miles (80km) or more between 21 December and 1 January. | ['us-news/us-weather', 'travel/travel', 'world/air-transport', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/texas', 'us-news/louisiana', 'world/tornadoes', 'us-news/mississippi', 'us-news/alabama', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/tornadoes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-12-27T16:53:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/datablog/2013/apr/04/data-journalism-guardian-rusbridger | Why data matters at the Guardian | Alan Rusbridger | Data is spoken of as a new phenomenon, one of the information era, and one at the core of revolutionising digital industries, finance and commerce - but at its core it is little more than a term for the aggregation of facts. As this, it is something that has been at the core of the Guardian for the full duration of its 190-year history, from a data table published on the front page of the Manchester Guardian's very first edition, to the quote from legendary Guardian editor C P Scott for which this book is named – that "facts are sacred". The Guardian's Datablog, and its graphics, are the modern face of our approach to data, and the best of this is showcased within this book. From graphics explaining the economy or government spending, to background information on events, to in-depth analysis of huge news events like the UK's riots of 2011, data has been a core component of the Guardian's coverage. As important to that approach is sharing the data we find and collect, and how we approach it, to allow it to be built on, analysed and improved by our readers. This has been the at the core of the Datablog since its first post in 2009, and is as important now as ever it was – and this book is our latest contribution to these efforts. We hope it's one you find valuable. More data More 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@theguardian.com • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook | ['news/series/facts-are-sacred', 'news/datablog', 'technology/data-visualisation', 'media/data-journalism', 'media/media', 'technology/technology', 'tone/blog', 'technology/free-our-data', 'type/data', 'type/article', 'profile/alanrusbridger'] | technology/data-visualisation | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2013-04-04T05:30:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2010/jul/09/iraq-marshes-reborn | Paradise found: Water and life return to Iraq's 'Garden of Eden' | Saddam Hussein's draining of the Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq – recorded as the Garden of Eden in the Bible - was one of the most infamous outrages of his regime, leaving a vast area of once-teeming river delta a dry, salt-encrusted desert, emptied of insects, birds and the people who lived on them. But nearly two decades later the area is buzzing and twittering with life again after local people and a new breed of Iraqi conservationists have restored much of what was once the world's third largest wetland to some of its former glory. The story of this once almost impossible restoration is told in an exhibition of photographs that has opened in the UK. They show the huge expanses of reeds and open water – now at least half the size of the Florida Everglades – where plants, insects and fish have returned, creating a vast feeding area for migrating and breeding birds, including the majestic sacred ibis, the endemic Basrah reed warbler and the Iraq babbler, along with most of the world's population of marbled teal ducks, bee-eaters and many more. "We call them stop-over sites, refuelling sites," said Richard Porter, Middle East adviser for the conservation group Birdlife International, who has helped train biologists and other experts for the local Birdlife partner Nature Iraq. "They are as important as the breeding and over-wintering grounds for species; if you have got to make a journey from central Africa to northern Europe and Asia, and you've got nothing to feed on, you're stuffed." The Mesopotamian marshes originally made up an area more than three times the size of Norfolk, where the exhibition is showing, in Holt. It sprawled across thousands of square kilometres of floodplain where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers divided into a network of tributaries meandering and pulsating south to the Arabian sea. They were home to more than 80 bird species, otters and long-fingered bats, and hundreds of thousands of Marsh Arabs who grew rice and dates, raised water buffalo, fished and built boats and homes from reeds. In the early 1990s, this way of life came to an abrupt end when Hussein ordered the marshes to be drained to punish the local population for an uprising after his failed invasion of Kuwait, a problem exacerbated by the continued construction of dams upstream. He ordered the area to be hemmed in by constructing around 4,000km of earthen walls that towered up to 7m above the unbroken flat landscape. The wetlands retreated to as little as 5-10% of their original size, according to a 2001 United Nations Environment Agency report. After Hussein was toppled by American forces in 2003, Azzam Alwash returned from his adopted home in the US to the area, where he had lived for part of his childhood, and learned to hunt ducks with his father while they inspected the irrigation ditches. Alwash found the local people who had stayed had already begun to break up the walls with shovels or earth diggers, and they have continued to do so. They have destroyed up to 98% of the embankments, he told the Guardian, "not because they are tree-huggers or bird-lovers, but because it's a source of economic income to them, because they can harvest reeds and sell them. They can fish and feed a family or sell them to earn extra income." Alwash, a civil engineer, set up Nature Iraq and has organised training for graduates who help with monitoring work. "We take guards with us with Kalashnikovs, but the most difficult part is the road between [the capital] Baghdad to the marsh," said Alwash. "Once I'm inside the marshes it's relatively safe." About half the original marshland has been restored - even more had been reinstated, but there was a setback last year because of a drought. Nature Iraq has now drawn up a plan to cope with the diminishing water flows from dams upstream in Turkey by channelling irrigation water back into the rivers and building a barrage to retain meltwater from the mountains and create a "mechanical flood" of water to replicate the important pulses of freshwater that wash through the marshlands every spring. Alwash and his team are also trying to tackle the problem of local poaching, although he has great sympathy with those who have few alternative sources of income, and hopes the opening of a new oil industry will help create jobs. "We have done some work in trying to educate the locals," he added. "We say: 'Go out and hunt but take less; make $10 today – you don't have to make $20, and make $10 tomorrow'. We just keep at it. You can't give up." • The exhibition runs until July 25 at Birdscapes Gallery in Glandford, Norfolk | ['environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/environment', 'world/iraq', 'world/world', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/birds', 'world/saddam-hussein', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/juliettejowit', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2010-07-09T17:26:37Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2024/feb/26/farmers-protests-brussels-eu-agriculture-leaders-riot-police | Farmers clash with riot police in Brussels as EU agriculture leaders meet | Farmers have clashed violently with police in the European quarter of Brussels, spraying officers with liquid manure and setting fire to mounds of tyres, while the EU’s agriculture ministers met to discuss the crisis in their sector. As farmers also protested in Madrid and on the Polish-German border, at least 900 tractors jammed streets in the centre of the Belgian capital, police said, with protesters throwing bottles and eggs and setting off fireworks while riot police fired water cannon. Farmers from Spain, Portugal and Italy joined their Belgian counterparts for the latest show of force by a months-long, Europe-wide movement demanding action on high costs, low product prices, cheap non-EU imports and strict EU environmental rules. The rolling protests, which on Saturday led to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, being heckled by furious farmers at the Paris agricultural fair, have unnerved leaders before European elections in June that are likely to produce major gains for far-right populist parties. Ministers were meeting to debate European Commission proposals to ease the pressure on farmers, including simplifying the bloc’s common agricultural policy (CAP) by reducing farm inspections and exempting small farms from some green rules. “We need something practical, something operational,” said the French agriculture minister, Marc Fesneau, adding that while there was room for “adjustments within the current rules,” meeting some demands “would require changing the legislation”. Fesneau said it did not matter whether the changes were made before or after the European parliament elections, but “what matters now is moving forward. We need to set a goal, lay the foundations of a CAP that reassures people.” Germany’s agriculture minister, Cem Özdemir, said the EU needed to ensure farmers could make a fair living if they opted for biodiversity and environmental measures. He said the average farmer “spends a quarter of their time at their desks” because of the EU’s “bureaucracy monster”. David Clarinval, the Belgian agriculture minister, said farmers’ complaints had been “clearly heard” but urged them to refrain from violence, while the Irish agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue said the priority must be to slash red tape. The EU should ensure that policies were “straightforward, that they’re proportionate and they’re as simple as possible for farmers to implement”, he said, underlining that “we do respect the massively important work that farmers carry out every day in terms of producing food”. The EU has already rowed back on several parts of its flagship green deal plan in an effort to appease farmers, scrapping references to farming emissions from its 2040 climate roadmap, withdrawing a law to cut pesticide use and delaying a target for farmers to leave some land fallow to improve biodiversity. The bloc has also introduced safeguards to stop Ukrainian imports flooding the market under a tariff-free scheme introduced after Russia’s 2022 invasion. The protest was farmers’ second in Brussels in recent weeks. “We are getting ignored,” said Marieke Van De Vivere, a farmer from Belgium’s Ghent region. She said ministers should “be reasonable to us, come with us on a day to work on the field, or with the horses or with the animals, to see that it is not very easy … because of the rules they put on us”. Morgan Ody, from La Via Campesina small farmers’ organisation, said that for most farmers it was “about income. It’s about the fact that we are poor, and that we want to make a decent living,” Ody said. She called on the EU to set up minimum support prices and exit free trade agreements that enable the import of cheaper foreign produce. “We are not against climate policies. But we know that in order to do the transition, we need higher prices for products because it costs more to produce in an ecological way,” she said. Farmers also protested on Monday in Madrid, blowing whistles, ringing cowbells and beating drums as they demanded that the EU cut red tape and drop some of the CAP. “The new CAP is ruining our lives,” said Juan Pedro Laguna, 46. Roberto Rodriguez, who grows cereal and beetroots in the central province of Avila, said it was “impossible to stand these rules, they want us to work on the field during the day and deal with paperwork at night – we’re sick of the bureaucracy”. Polish farmers protesting against EU regulations and cheap food imports from Ukraine blocked a motorway at a busy border crossing with Germany on Monday and plan to protest in the Polish capital, Warsaw, on Tuesday. Adrian Wawrzyniak, a spokesperson for the Solidarity farmers’ union, said that as far as he knew “there are also German farmers on the German side – the crossing is blocked from both sides. This is a show of joint solidarity.” Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Monday that farmers’ problems needed fixing at an EU level. “Poland is the first EU country [on the border with Ukraine], but in fact it is a problem of the EU as a whole, of EU agriculture as a whole, and it should be considered in this context,” he told a press conference. | ['environment/farming', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'world/belgium', 'world/germany', 'world/poland', 'world/france', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonhenley', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-02-26T15:26:16Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2015/nov/08/carbon-tax-more-affordable-than-gst-hike-to-raise-same-revenue-say-greens | Carbon tax more affordable than GST hike to raise same revenue, say Greens | The Australian Greens say a carbon tax would raise as much revenue as increasing the GST rate or broadening its base, while also reducing pollution. Greens MP Adam Bandt has said a Parliamentary Library analysis found that raising the GST rate to 12.5% would raise a similar amount to a $28/tonne carbon tax, but would cost households three times as much. Extending the GST to fresh food, education and healthcare would also raise a similar amount to the original carbon tax, yet households would pay four times as much, Bandt said. Speaking on ABC 24 on Sunday, the leader of the Greens, Richard Di Natale said his party had a fully costed economic policy to raise revenue by tackling superannuation concessions for high income earners, multinational tax avoidance, negative gearing and subsidies for fossil fuels. He said the Coalition, by contrast, was only interested in shifting the tax burden to those who earn less. “Scott Morrison let the cat out of the bag. He said that he doesn’t want to increase the overall tax intake but what he wants to do is to cut income taxes and raise the GST, which is really just a tax shift,” Di Natale said. “It’s shifting taxes away from people on higher incomes and really slugging people on lower incomes, middle incomes. “It’s particularly unfair at a time in Australian society where income inequality is growing, the gap between the haves and the have-nots is really growing in Australia.” Australian Associated Press contributed to this report | ['australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/carbon-tax', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/tax-australia', 'australia-news/australian-greens', 'australia-news/gst-goods-and-services-tax', 'type/article', 'tone/news'] | environment/carbon-tax | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-11-07T22:24:41Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2016/sep/22/ea-chief-waste-is-the-new-narcotics | Waste crime is 'the new narcotics', says Environment Agency chief | Waste crime is the “new narcotics” according to the head of the Environment Agency (EA), offering huge profits as the authorities race to catch up with the damage caused to society. Illegal waste activity costs England £1bn a year and more than 1,000 illegal waste sites were discovered last year, more than in the previous two years combined, with 662 still active as of the end of March. The offences, sometimes involving organised crime gangs, ranged from illegal dumping of household and industrial waste to massive frauds involving recycling fees and landfill tax. However, action by the EA led to almost 1,000 illegal sites being shut down last year, with fines and prosecutions doubling. “Waste is the new narcotics,” said Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency. “It feels to me like drugs felt in the 1980s: the system hadn’t quite woken up to the enormity of what was going on and was racing to catch up.” Bevan told the Guardian that waste crime can have a serious impact on communities: “When you have an illegal waste site, it will look horrible, it will smell, be noisy and there are constantly fires. “With drugs it took a while for the system to catch up and realise the damage drugs were doing. We are clear now about the damage waste crime does to communities and to the economy,” he said. “The strategy is to work with the good guys and really nail the bad guys. “We are both finding more [illegal sites] and nailing more. As the statistics show we haven’t cracked it yet and it will be a long grind, but we are making progress.” In July, a Leeds waste criminal was given a record prison sentence for any environmental crime, a seven-and-a-half year term. Terence Dugbo had defrauded the electrical waste recycling industry out of £2.2m in a scam involving almost 20,000 tonnes of waste. He was caught when seized documents revealed waste had supposedly been collected from non-existent streets and, in one incident, a moped was recorded as carrying 991 televisions and 413 fridges in a single trip. In August, a Sussex man was jailed after illegally stockpiling more than 1,200 tonnes of waste, having been arrested at Heathrow trying to board a plane to Dubai. In September a notorious Hampshire waste criminal was sent to prison for a string of offences including large-scale flytipping. Large fines have been imposed too, with a London waste company fined £1m in April in a case involving 14,500 tonnes of hazardous waste, including asbestos. “It attracts criminals because you can make a lot of money,” said Bevan. “The business model is very simple: you lease or find a bit of land, you then go and offer to remove skip loads of waste for a customer, which you dump on the land. All your money is made up front, in cash, and then you disappear.” In May 2015, a Burton upon Trent man was jailed for seven months after using the land owned by a vulnerable local couple to dump and burn large quantities of waste, leaving the site in a state of complete ruin. However, Bevan said it was also important to work with waste companies that wanted to improve their operations: “Waste companies get a bad rap, but we should recognise that most waste companies are responsible, law-abiding, conscientious and good for our communities. They take our waste away and turn it into something better and if we didn’t have them, we’d be in a bad place.” Bevan spoke to the Guardian on a visit to Orion Support Services, a company in east London that handles 50,000 tonnes of construction waste from the city each year. Its permit was suspended in 2015 after serious dust problems. However, the company has now built a £2.4m enclosed facility for sorting the waste, with a system that collects and bags 50 litres of dust an hour. “It was either that or shut up shop and go home,” said John Stride, managing director of Orion Services. “But the turnaround has been amazing and it will pay back.” Just a small percentage of the waste sorted by Orion goes to landfill, with most being recycled or burned for energy. “It just feels better now, when you are reusing it,” Stride said, adding that a neighbour who had raised a 1,000-strong petition against Orion’s operations was now “very friendly”. Overall, England is much dealing better with waste than in the past, said Bevan. Rubbish sent to landfill has halved since 2000 and household recycling reached a new high in 2015 of 45%. However, the rising recycling rate has flattened out in recent years, and the proportion sent to landfill increased slightly in 2015. “England is getting a better place to live - greener, cleaner and more prosperous,” said Bevan. “There is more to do, absolutely, but the glass is half full.” “It is in part an example of regulation working,” said Bevan, a former high commissioner to India. “I have seen an example of what happens if you don’t regulate - the Bhopal disaster. If you think regulation is bad, try not doing it.” | ['environment/waste', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment-agency', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ukcrime', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-09-22T05:01:41Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
technology/2016/apr/25/how-to-sleep-better-with-technology | How to use technology to sleep better | Of all our biological imperatives, sleep has probably suffered the most in our technology-fuelled move to an ever-faster pace of life, but it doesn’t have to. Technology can actually help you sleep better. For the last three years I’ve been using various bits of tech to analyse my sleep and to better optimise my nights. And while some will doubt the helpfulness - as well as the accuracy - of a whole new set of stats to worry about, I know I’ve felt the benefits. Here’s what I’ve found works, both to help send me to sleep faster and wake up more refreshed. Before bed: blue light filters Some would say banning all electronics is the first step to a better night’s rest. But for those of us who think that’s just a bit extreme, and would rather be able to Netflix and chill in bed, there’s a happier medium to be found. One big problem with electronics is the light that screens emit. Wavelengths at the blue end of the spectrum inhibit the production of melatonin and makes it harder to fall asleep. I use a blue-light filter on every screen I view at night, synched to turn on with sunset and off at sunrise. It has reduced the time it takes for me to get to sleep by about 20%. On mobile devices, this is relatively easy. For Android there are various apps that effectively alter the colour of the screen to the warmer, redder end of the spectrum. My favourite is Twilight. Apple recently added the Night Shift feature in iOS 9.3 for the iPhone and iPad, and Amazon’s Fire tablets running Fire OS 5 have had blue-light filtering built in for a while. Apps are also available for Windows or OS X that do the same thing. I’m yet to find an effective solution for the TV or e-reader, though for the latter you can turn off the backlight and using a red bulb in your room if that takes your fancy. Red lights Using colour-changing bulbs, such as Philips Hue, can help make your environment more closely mimic the natural world. Warmer tones can be synced to the sunset, sunrise cycle and having lights that dim automatically can help reduce the dazzling effect of standard bulbs that might wake you up. I use the LightwaveRF system of dimmable bulbs set on various timers around the house to turn down the amount of light and eventually switch off automatically. When in bed: smart alarms and lights In bed, I use two gadgets. One is a Withings Aura, which is a smart alarm clock with sensors, a colour-changing light, a speaker and an under-mattress sleep monitor. The other is the Microsoft Band 2, which is a wrist-worn fitness tracker with constant heart-rate monitoring that offers solid sleep tracking. The Aura has a red nightlight mode to help stop dazzling white light from waking you up, which I use when getting ready for bed, when reading or if I get up in the middle of the night. Light and sound show The Aura also has a supposedly sleep-inducing light and sound show. The light will simulate a sunset, starting quite bright red and slowly dimming till off. I found it kept me up more than sent me to sleep, but the sleep sounds are very effective. The sound of waves landing on the shore - there are a few to choose from - help me drift off every night. The waves steadily decreases in volume over the course of about 15 minutes. It’s soothing, blocks out background noise and data from the Microsoft Band 2’s sleep tracking function shows that I get to sleep about 15% faster with the gentle lapping as I drift off. Waking up refreshed In the mornings the Aura uses a sensor placed under the mattress to detect when I am in my lightest sleep phase so it can wake me up at the most appropriate time before my alarm goes off. I have it set so it can wake me up to 40 minutes early, and I’ve found it works. First there’s a blue light that slowly increases in brightness and then a musical tune, which is loud enough to wake me from deep sleep if needed. It can also play tracks from Spotify. Waking me up gradually with light when in a light sleep phase, rather than in the middle of deep or REM sleep, means that I wake up feeling more refreshed. I can still feel wrenched out of sleep when I’ve had a bad night but on average I feel brighter and ready to wake. The Microsoft Band 2 can perform a similar function using a vibrating alarm, which I use if I’m travelling or I’m worried that light and sound alone won’t wake me for something important. There are alternatives on the market for all this tech, some are more advanced and link in with the internet of things, others are more basic using simple timers. Getting rid of blue light, making your environment mimic nature, and being woken up a the right time for your body can really help you sleep better, feel better and have more energy. That’s what I’ve found in the last three years. Who says tech’s not good for you? Microsoft Band 2 review: one of the most powerful and useful fitness trackers | ['technology/gadgets', 'technology/wearable-technology', 'technology/technology', 'lifeandstyle/sleep', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'lifeandstyle/health-and-wellbeing', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/samuel-gibbs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-technology'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2016-04-25T08:55:27Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2022/may/22/uk-high-fuel-bills-eon-boss-michael-lewis-says | UK should expect high fuel bills for at least 18 months, E.ON boss says | Consumers will have to cope with extraordinarily high fuel bills for at least another 18 months, the boss of Britain’s biggest energy supplier has said. Michael Lewis, the chief executive of E.ON UK, called for “very substantial” government intervention to help people with escalating fuel bills, one of the biggest factors in the cost-of-living crisis. Bills could reach £3,000 when the price cap lifts in October, he said, when people would also need more gas and electricity to heat their homes. Lewis said E.ON expected almost one in five customers to struggle to pay their bills in the autumn, when price rises were “baked in”. He said 1m of E.ON’s 8m accounts were already in arrears and the firm forecast a 50% rise in October. About 40% of people were likely to be in fuel poverty, meaning more than 10% of their disposable income would be needed to pay fuel bills, he said. Speaking on the BBC Sunday Morning show, Lewis said: “I read emails from customers regularly, I listen in on calls, and frankly, some people are at the edge. They simply cannot pay and that will get worse.” He said the huge increase in the cost of gas, which also drove up the price of electricity generation, was predominantly down to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The price cap for consumer bills had a record rise last month from £1,277 to £1,971 a year and is expected to rise to at least £2,600 in October. Lewis said: “It’s a very, very significant impact and that’s why we’ve called upon the government to take more action. We do need more intervention in October and it has to be very substantial.” Double the number of households should be given the warm homes discount, and the rebate should go up from £140 to £600, he suggested, urging the government to “tax those with the broadest shoulders”. He said: “I think for the next 18 months we’re likely to see higher prices. That’s already baked in, certainly in October and probably into next year as well. I think the longer-term development depends on what happens in the war in Ukraine [and] how Russian gas flows will develop.” The E.ON boss said the drive to net zero was “the long-term way to get off gas, to get off international gas prices and to drive down costs over the long term”. Labour renewed its calls for a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas producers. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Lewis’s comments “underline how tough the cost-of-living crisis is for families, and how Conservative delays will see the situation get even worse. “The government must act now, by bringing in a windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits to cut bills.” Ministers said that they would consider such a tax among other options, although many have played down the idea. Asked directly about a windfall tax on Sunday, Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told Sky News: “We will look at all the options.” | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'environment/energy', 'business/eon', 'money/energy', 'business/business', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'environment/environment', 'money/household-bills', 'money/money', 'business/utilities', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gwyntopham', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-05-22T13:17:29Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2022/apr/09/britain-was-promised-bold-visionary-energy-policy-sold-a-dud | Britain was promised a bold and visionary energy plan. But we’ve been sold a dud | Jim Watson | These are unsettling times. As scientists have issued ringing warnings about the dangers we face from continued fossil fuel burning, an energy crisis has been triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This unprecedented double threat clearly requires an urgent response, which the government supplied last week in the form of its energy security strategy. And it includes some eye-catching headlines, particularly on the expansion of nuclear power. But does it deliver what it says on the tin? The answer is straightforward. It fails. At the heart of most definitions of energy security is reliability of supplies for households and businesses. This is usually complemented by a focus on affordability. It is no good if energy is available, but the price is too high for businesses to function or households to keep warm. The new strategy does very little to deal with the immediate impacts of high fossil fuel prices. While the government has announced some help for households via loans and a council tax reduction, this is simply not enough. The energy price cap has already risen to almost £2,000 a year and a further rise is due in the autumn. This comes on top of a wider cost of living crisis and high levels of inflation. While more money to help people pay their bills is needed, this must be accompanied by action to prevent these acute impacts in future. This means making homes more efficient and switching away from fossil fuels for heating. It is nearly a decade since effective policies for home energy efficiency were cancelled and replaced with new approaches, such as the green deal, which have failed spectacularly. As a result, the steady improvements in efficiency and financial benefits to households have virtually stopped. A new programme of home upgrades is urgently needed. This would not only reduce our dependence on gas, but would also cut bills and carbon emissions. According to many headlines, nuclear power is the “centrepiece” of the strategy. The government’s plans are ambitious, but delivery will be difficult. New nuclear plants will not have an impact for many years. The Treasury’s fingerprints are visible in the careful caveats in the strategy, including an insistence that new projects are “subject to a value for money and relevant approvals”. This reflects the long history of rising costs within the nuclear sector and the financial risks that consumers or taxpayers will be exposed to. British nuclear power programmes have been the subject of many false dawns. In 1979, energy minister David Howell announced a programme of 10 nuclear reactors over the next decade. Only one reactor was built, at Sizewell in Suffolk. In 2010, the coalition government agreed to another eight-reactor programme. That new programme has also produced only one plant: Hinkley C in Somerset, which is due to start operating in 2026. While nuclear can reduce emissions and improve some aspects of energy security, the new plans will only be realised if the industry can bring down costs. The real heart of the strategy is increased ambition for offshore wind, which is due to expand at least fourfold by 2030. This is a genuine British success story from which politicians should learn lessons. Initially very expensive, it has been supported by a series of policies by successive governments – and that has brought costs down dramatically. Pushing further with an increased target makes a lot of sense. But it will require more investment in electricity network infrastructure, not just the wind turbines themselves. The government’s willingness to learn from success has clear limits, though. When the strategy turns its attention to onshore wind and solar, logic fails. The costs of both technologies have also fallen dramatically in recent years. They get some warm words, including aspiration that solar capacity will expand by five times by 2035. There are also innovative plans for a few local communities to share the benefits of new onshore wind farms. But a target to double capacity by 2030 was taken out at the 11th hour and very restrictive planning rules for onshore wind remain. Realising these increased ambitions for renewable electricity will require further market reforms. At the moment, cheap renewable power does not translate into low bills for consumers. This is because gas plants often set the wholesale price and their costs are very high. Reforms are needed so that businesses and households can get access to the economic benefits of cheaper renewables. Reforms are also needed to ensure that there is enough flexibility in the system to deal with higher and higher shares of generation that depends on the wind and sun. Finally, what of the role of fossil fuels, which are at the root of the crisis? Plans to produce more in the UK are understandable, but are not the long-term solution to climate change or energy security. They will have very little impact on prices, but could help to squeeze out some Russian imports. The promise of a new independent study of fracking is a distraction, however. It is clear that fracking in the UK is nowhere near as easy to implement as it has been in the United States. Its contribution to gas needs will be modest at best. Industry claims that fracking could produce a large share of the UK’s gas demand are not credible, based on the evidence we have so far. In short, the government has pulled its punches and avoided measures that would have a more immediate impact on energy security – mainly by reducing the amount of energy we need to use. Instead, it has produced a mixed bag of energy supply proposals. While some are credible, a large nuclear power programme will require huge amounts of political and financial capital. History suggests that this will be very difficult to deliver. • Professor Jim Watson is director, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'uk/uk', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'type/article', 'profile/jim-watson', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/comment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-comment'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2022-04-09T18:00:07Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2013/sep/22/weatherwatch-battle-largs-vikings-storm-scotland | Weatherwatch: The storm that defeated the Vikings | Scotland used to be part of the Viking empire, but their rule came to an end 750 years ago, and the weather played a crucial part. Since the early 1100s, the Western Isles and west coast of Scotland were ruled by Norway using local stooges. But the Scottish king Alexander III was itching to get the land back and tried to buy it from Norway. When that failed, he attacked the Isle of Skye and that drew a swift response from Haakon IV, the king of Norway. In late summer 1263, Haakon set sail with a mighty fleet of some 200 ships, raided the west coast of Scotland and anchored off Ayrshire. But the Norse campaign was launched too late in the year and on 30 September a big storm blew up that battered their fleet and drove several ships aground on the coast near Largs. On 2 October a Scottish force caught the invaders in disarray on the beach at Largs, and after a big fight Haakon's troops retreated to their stronghold on Orkney. Weeks later Haakon died there and his successor, his son Magnus, had no interest in carrying on the fight. Three years later Magnus signed a treaty with the Scots that ceded the Western Isles and West Coast territories, and a few years later Orkney and Shetland were returned as well. It marked the end of the Norse rule in Scotland – and the victory is commemorated each year at the Largs Viking Festival. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-09-22T20:30:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk/2011/oct/20/lawyers-condemn-police-spies-justice | Lawyers condemn police spies who 'deceive' justice system | Lawyers have condemned what appears to be deception of the courts by undercover police and have called for fundamental reforms of the legislation governing covert operations. The revelation that a constable who infiltrated protest groups gave false evidence in court under oath triggered demands for a review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa). The Met detective constable, whose real name is Jim Boyling, infiltrated the direct action group Reclaim the Streets. He was charged with other activists for public order offences, and in 1997 gave evidence under oath in court using the name Jim Sutton – keeping the identity he had assumed for his undercover work. Boyling was acquitted along with other protesters, but one activist, John Jordan, was convicted of assaulting a police officer. Roger Smith, of the civil rights group Justice, said of the police infiltration: "This has major implications for Ripa. The mechanisms for supervision of what's going on have broken down and need to be reinforced. "There has not been a proper degree of supervision involving breaching people's privacy, and we need to dust off Ripa and fundamentally beef it up. "Clearly [the police were] out of control. It's a considerable embarrassment. [It raises the question of whether] the officer will face potential proceedings for perjury. He swore on oath he was someone else." Mike Schwarz, a solicitor with the law firm Bindmans, which represented Jim Boyling, Jordan and other activists,said the infiltration cases represented "institutionalised police corruption of the legal process". The extraordinary sequence of events suggested flagrant breaches of legal norms at several levels, he suggested. He added: "Should a police officer be allowed to instruct a solicitor on a false premise? It's not right surely for them to get access to discussions involving other defendants. Was that information fed back to his minders or the Crown Prosecution Service who were prosecuting the case? "The case also raises the question of a serving police officer giving false evidence at trial in front of a court. What about the disclosure regime? The case involving another undercover officer, Mark Kennedy, showed that evidence did not make its way to the defence." Schwarz has now written to the Criminal Cases Review Commission asking for Jordan's conviction in 1997, for which the latter got a conditional discharge, to be reviewed and overturned. In a letter about the case to the director of public prosecutions, Schwarz said: "The known evidence suggests prosecutorial misconduct in this case … in terms of proceeding with a prosecution in circumstances where the undercover officer played a major role in initiating conduct that was then prosecuted." Gordon Nardell QC, who is leading the Bar Council's working party on the operation of Ripa, said: "At the moment the law allows the police to target legally privileged communications between lawyer and client. "The Bar Council thinks that is fundamentally wrong and creates a risk of miscarriages of justice. People accused of crime must be able to speak freely with their lawyer in the knowledge that what they say is kept from the ears of the investigating authorities. "We hope to persuade the House of Lords to make amendments to the protection of freedoms bill to ban the police from covertly gaining access to privileged lawyer-client communications. "We don't know all the facts of this latest case, but what we do know indicates how serious are the problems that flow when you put a covert source in a situation where they have access to legally privileged information. "If a police officer has deliberately deceived the court, that would be a serious offence. Ripa says that authorised covert activity is 'lawful for all purposes'. But there must be limits to that. I don't think parliament ever intended that Ripa would apply to this sort of operation. This case demonstrates that something has gone seriously wrong." | ['uk/uk', 'uk/police', 'uk/metropolitan-police', 'law/law', 'world/protest', 'environment/activism', 'uk/ukcrime', 'uk/london', 'tone/news', 'uk/undercover-police-and-policing', 'type/article', 'profile/owenbowcott', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2011-10-20T19:36:09Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2020/nov/16/the-problems-of-plastic-pollution | The problems of plastic pollution | Letters | The new approach called for on waste incineration (Increase in burning of plastic ‘driving up emissions from waste disposal’, 16 November) is a welcome acknowledgment of a longstanding and growing problem. To reduce waste to landfill, the authorities needed another waste stream for unrecyclable materials, including much soft plastic and film packaging. Even now, most publicity urging greater recycling take-up mentions reduction in waste to landfill, rather than the larger problem of incineration. In addition, the proponents of incineration have been allowed to get away with the much more positive branding of “waste to energy” to speed this growth. Many local campaigns have been fought against incinerators, but these need wider backing. Mass publicity needs to be focused on reuse, reduction, repair and the circular economy. Tim Dumper Exmouth, Devon • Your report (Global treaty to tackle plastic pollution gains steam without US and UK, 16 November) does not mention the two main components of microplastics in our oceans: fragments from the washing of synthetic clothing, 35%, and tyre dust, 28%. The obvious steps to take are to move to wearing (and washing) only natural fabrics, and to move away from road transport (to rail and public transport, and more regional economies with shorter freighting distances). Alan Mitcham Cologne, Germany | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-11-16T16:32:19Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2013/nov/26/oil-extraction-amazon-tribe-reserve | Oil extraction to take place in proposed Amazon tribe reserve | Peru's state agency promoting oil and gas operations has announced that by the end of this month oil will be produced from new deposits in a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon near the border with Ecuador. The announcement was made in a press release by Perupetro stating that 'the date to start commercial extraction is scheduled for 30 November this year', and that the 'proven reserves in the lot [called Lot 67] are about 100 million barrels of heavy oil.' According to Perupetro, the plan is to start producing 6,000 barrels daily and then increase to 30,000 barrels by 2017 and 60,000 barrels by 2019. This plan has been partly confirmed by Peru's Energy Minister who said at a recent conference that production would start in December at 2,000 barrels daily. The company operating in Lot 67 is Perenco, which has head offices in London and Paris and is partnered 50% by the Vietnamese state oil company, PetroVietnam. 'We will not comment on specific dates but we have publically stated that commercial production is set to commence in 2013,' Nicolas de Blanpre, Perenco's Head of Communications, told The Guardian. However, although Perupetro's statement doesn't acknowledge it, Lot 67 is right in the middle of a proposed reserve for indigenous peoples living in what Peruvian laws calls 'voluntary isolation' (IPVI) and who could be decimated by contact with oil workers or other outsiders. The reserve was proposed 10 years ago before the oil deposits were declared commercially-viable in 2006, but it still hasn't been created. In July this year the Vice-Ministry of Inter-Culturality – the government institution responsible for indigenous peoples – revealed its support for the proposed reserve, and a Vice-Ministry spokesperson recently told a hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the proposal would be discussed on 5 December by a special cross-sector government commission focusing on IPVI. A Peruvian law from 2006 states that 'indigenous reserves' for IPVI are 'intangible', prohibiting 'any activity different to the uses and ancestral customs of its indigenous inhabitants' and prohibiting the granting of 'rights involving the exploitation of natural resources, except those for subsistence purposes of the peoples living there and those that allow exploitation to take place in a way that doesn't affect the indigenous peoples in isolation or initial contact.' However, the law also contains a loophole stating that exploitation in the reserves can go ahead if considered in the 'public necessity' – despite the fact that this loophole appears to contravene international law binding on Peru. Operations in Lot 67, as well as in neighbouring concessions also overlapping the proposed reserve, have been fiercely criticized by Peruvian and international organizations, with lawsuits filed, media statements issued, and an appeal made to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights back in 2007. In addition to exploiting the oil, Perenco is building a pipeline extension which will run from Lot 67 through the proposed reserve to an existing pipeline. Perenco defends its operations by saying that since 1995 to the present 'there has been no evidence of non-contacted tribes within Block 67', citing a controversial report which it contracted a consultancy, Daimi-Peru, to write. However, regional indigenous organization ORPIO and national indigenous organization AIDESEP have collected considerable evidence of IPVI in the region immediately surrounding Lot 67, which is split into two sub-lots. One sighting recorded by ORPIO took place in 2008 between these two sub-lots. Indeed, the existence of IPVI in this region has been explicitly or implicitly acknowledged by a wide range of government institutions, civil society organizations, companies and individuals in Peru and around the world. In addition to ORPIO, AIDESEP and the Vice-Ministry of Inter-Culturality, these include Peru's Energy Ministry, the Health Ministry, the state Ombudsman, the National Institute for the Development of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples (INDEPA), the former Natural Resources Institute (INRENA), The Field Museum in the USA, and the company, Barrett Resources, which previously operated in Lot 67 and whose acquisition by Perenco was made public in early 2008. Moreover, according to Anders Krogh, from NGO Rainforest Foundation Norway, the presence of IPVI in this region has also been acknowledged by the Council of Ethics within Norway's 'Government Pension Fund Global', as reported previously by The Guardian. The Council, says Krogh, basing his claim on several anonymous sources, has made an official recommendation to Norway's Ministry of Finance that it 'withdraw all investments' from Repsol, which operates Lot 39 almost entirely surrounding Lot 67, 'because it threatens isolated indigenous peoples living between the Napo and Tigre rivers in Peru.' Asked about the proposed reserve for the IPVI, Perenco's de Blanpre did not respond, saying instead that his company works with indigenous 'communities' – i.e. people who are downriver from Lot 67 and do not live in 'voluntary isolation'– and 'voluntarily supports and finances an extensive Community Relations Plan.' Asked if it thought that operations in Lot 67 could have serious negative consequences for the IPVI, Perupetro told The Guardian, 'Lot 67 has an Environmental Impact Assessment which has been approved by the Energy Ministry.' Names such as 'Arabela', 'Pananujiri', 'Taushiro', 'Aushiris' and 'Abijiras' have been used to refer to the IPVI in the Napo-Tigre region. | ['environment/andes-to-the-amazon', 'environment/series/guardian-environment-blogs', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'world/peru', 'world/world', 'environment/oil', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'type/article', 'profile/david-hill'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2013-11-26T16:08:00Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2010/oct/05/pakistan-flood-waters-indus-delta | Pakistan's floodwaters welcomed along Indus delta | Ali Hussain's sun-beaten face cracked into a broad smile, revealing a set of ferociously rotten, red-stained teeth corroded by years of chewing tobacco and betel nut. He had been asked his opinion of this year's flood. "We're happy with it, of course," the fisherman said, standing outside his house on the mud flats of the Indus delta. "We've been waiting for this water for the past 14 years." The curse of the rest of Pakistan has been a blessing for the delta, a maze of mangroves and shabby fishing villages at the bottom of the 1,900-mile river. Here, the fresh water that ravaged the rest of the country is bringing new life and renewal. Fishermen report an abundance of fish. Catches are up 20% in the last month, and could rise another 50% as the season progressed, said Ahmed Ullah of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, which has 5,000 members on the delta. "For other people the floods have been bad news. But for us it was the only way to defeat the sea," he said. Perhaps more significantly, the floods have brought an ecological windfall. Decades of building irrigation and hydro-electric dams further up the Indus drained the river of its force, allowing salty fresh water to infiltrate the delta. Mangrove plants on the mudflats perished – the acreage was halved between the 1950s and 2009 – while nearby farming land became uncultivable. Now the swell of fresh water – known locally as "mithi", or sweet water – has injected new life into the sagging ecosystem. The provincial government says the mangroves are growing again as the salt water is pushed back. "We have a new defence against the sea," said Mohsin Chandna, head of the Sindh coastal department, as he weaved a small boat through the creeks of the delta, pointing to thriving mangrove nurseries. A revitalised delta could, in time, turn marshes into agricultural land and herald a return of birds and other wildlife. Keti Bunder, a grotty little port that has been slowly dying over the years, could be revived. "Suddenly things are changing very fast," said Chandna. Further up the coast in Karachi, where 50,000 refugees are sheltering, doctors also see a silver lining to the flood. Although many live in squalid conditions, with poor sanitation and hygiene, Dr Nighat Shah of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Pakistan said it was a golden opportunity to improve healthcare among rural women. "Many of the women we're seeing have never been seen by a trained doctor before. It's taken everyone by surprise that this kind of poverty exists today." The greatest upside, however, may occur on the lands that have been ravaged by the floods. The enriched soil is expected to produce bumper harvests in some parts of Pakistan. "The challenge," said UN official John Long, "is how to support the people who live there between now and then." | ['world/series/indus-river-journey-pakistan-after-the-floods', 'world/pakistan-flood', 'world/pakistan', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/declanwalsh'] | world/series/indus-river-journey-pakistan-after-the-floods | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2010-10-05T08:43:52Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
film/2016/feb/17/embrace-of-the-serpent-review-ciro-guerra-colombian-amazon | Embrace of the Serpent review – dreamlike exploration of the Amazon's imperialist pollution | “You are nothing but a white!” So shouts indigenous Amazonian shaman Karamakate (Nilbio Torres) to the seemingly on-the-level but still suspicious German scientist/explorer Theodor (Jan Bijvoet) in Ciro Guerra’s enthralling, politically tinged, psychedelic, historical adventure film Embrace of the Serpent. Reversing the perspective of more familiar movies such as Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo or Roland Joffé’s The Mission, Embrace of the Serpent’s snaky crawl up the river investigates imperialism’s cultural pollution from the inside out, with the mystical Karamakate as a reluctant tour guide in two time periods. One of the film’s many exciting features is how it slowly cuts between parallel expeditions. Theodor, accompanied by a westernised local, arrives in a canoe, sick with fever. Begrudgingly, the loincloth-wearing Karamakate nurses him back to health by regularly blasting massive doses of white powder (“the sun’s semen”) up his nose. It is 1909 and Theodor is searching for something called the yakruna flower, the only thing that can cure him. Many years later (the exact date’s revelation is something of an unexpected plot turn), an American botanist, Evans (Brionne Davis), paddles up to a much older Karamakate (Antonio Bolívar) hoping to finish Theodor’s work. Evans has a book of Theodor’s final trek, which his aide sent back to Europe, as he did not survive the jungle. The book includes an image of Karamakate, which he refers to as his chullachaqui, a native term for hollow spirit. The older Karamakate is a broken man who has forgotten the customs of his own people (“Now they are just pictures on rocks,” he laments, looking at petroglyphs) but he agrees to help Evans look for yakruna. When Evans describes himself as someone who has devoted himself to plants, Karamakate counters that this is the first reasonable thing he’s ever heard a white man say. If this theme of “noble savage” seems a bit passé, know that you are in good hands with Ciro Guerra. The bulk of the film is devoted to dreamlike exploration, observing the folklore of individual tribes and learning about their greater spiritual belief system. A marvellous side trip stumbles upon a Spanish mission, both in 1909 and later. Our first visit, at the height of Colombia’s rubber wars, presents a lone, slightly sadistic priest “saving the souls” of orphaned boys with the lash and scrubbing them of their native language. Our party only dips in for the night, rowing away when things get a bit Lord of the Flies. The decades-later return shows the children grown into a surreal Apocalypse Now scenario. Their society has pieced together scraps of Catholicism and their forgotten indigenous culture creating, as a demoralised Karamakate puts it, the worst of two worlds. While this bombastic sequence (which includes a rather literal interpretation of the “body of Christ”) takes the familiar “don’t play God” attitude concerning emerging societies (a position familiar to anyone who has seen more than one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation), an earlier moment puts some spin on the notion of cultural interference. When Theodor realises his compass has been nicked by tribal children, he’s about to resort to violence to get it back. “These people navigate by the moon and stars,” he argues to Karamakate, exuding the misdirected good will of the privileged westerner. “Who are you to withhold knowledge?” Karamakate spits back. You are nothing but a white. Arriving full circle is appropriate for a film of twin voyages, and Embrace of the Serpent finds its port in a fitting but far-out place. A little post-screening research shows that the two westerners are, indeed, based on real people, even if the yakruna plant is fiction. Richard Evans Schultes’ work in the Amazon exceeded the secretive purposes shown in the film. His research led to important developments in the cultivation of rubber and medicine, and to crucial breakthroughs in psychedelics. In 1979, he and Dr Albert Hofmann, discoverer of LSD, published a book called Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers. Embrace of the Serpent is photographed in shimmering black and white save for one mind-bending scene in explosive colour. Enough can’t be said about the character Karamakate, in both his old and new versions. He’s a vision of pride and of tragedy, a sorcerer and a saint but also just a man facing the unstoppable current of history. He is wise, but not above laughing when a know-it-all white guy is acting foolishly. Good luck finding a richer, more fascinating character than he at the movies this year. When I first saw the film at Cannes (where it won the top prize at the Director’s Fortnight sidebar), it was the middle of a hot day during a sleep-deprived week. The atmospheric music, unhurried pace and the accompanying sound of water lapping against the side of a canoe had me convinced that I must have nodded off at some point during its more-than-two-hour run time. Watching the film again in New York for its theatrical release, timed for the Oscars (where it is nominated for best foreign language film), I was surprised to find that, no, I hadn’t dozed during that scorching day in the south of France. Ciro Guerra’s gorgeous picture just has that ripped-from-your-dreams sensibility, where surprising turns float alongside a story you feel like you’ve known your whole life. Embrace of the Serpent is the type of film we’re always searching for, yet seems so obvious once we’ve found it. Embrace of the Serpent is out in the UK on 10 June. | ['film/series/first-look-review', 'film/film', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'culture/culture', 'film/world-cinema', 'film/drama', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'profile/jordan-hoffman'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-02-17T17:19:28Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/blog/audio/2008/nov/25/tech-weekly-podcast-you-tube | Tech Weekly: YouTube on video rights, and dottel | Paul Carr stands in one last time for Aleks Krotoski. This week Paul is joined by our Tech editor, Charles Arthur, and Moreover Technologies' Angus Bankes. Jemima Kiss talks to YouTube's Patrick Walker about fingerprinting technology and making money from ads. Bobbie Johnson meets Telnic's Justin Hayward and learns everything he wanted to know about the dottel domain, but was afraid to ask. Also, a look at this week's top technology stories and Paul has fun sifting through your comments left on all the Guardian's tech-related blogs. Don't forget... • 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 | ['technology/series/techweekly', 'technology/blog', 'technology/youtube', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/google', 'technology/web20', 'media/digital-media', 'technology/internet', 'technology/telecoms', 'technology/startups', 'technology/technology', 'media/media', 'tone/interview', 'type/podcast', 'type/audio'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-11-25T18:04:09Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2022/jan/12/universities-are-playing-their-part-in-the-fight-for-the-climate | Universities are playing their part in the fight for the climate | Editorial | Nicholas Maxwell says that universities are doing little of practical use to solve the climate crisis (Only a culture change can end this state of climate inaction, 9 January). He and I are at the same university, but I don’t recognise his characterisation. Over at the UCL Energy Institute, we all work every day on practical applied solutions. We work for the British and foreign governments, the International Energy Agency, energy companies, local authorities, NGOs and citizen groups. We work to cut emissions from buildings, road travel, air travel and shipping. We try to write papers too – which can sometimes have big impacts on policy – but, as Maxwell says, at this juncture these have to take second place. (And we are by no means the only university group, in Britain or internationally, doing these kinds of things.) Perhaps Maxwell would like to come over and join us? Philip Steadman UCL Energy Institute • 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/climate-crisis', 'education/universities', 'education/higher-education', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2022-01-12T18:32:09Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/ng-interactive/2018/dec/21/deadly-weather-the-human-cost-of-2018s-climate-disasters-visual-guide | Deadly weather: the human cost of 2018's climate disasters – visual guide | The UN’s recent alert that the world has at most 12 years to prevent climate catastrophe was a landmark moment. Never before has the threat of irreversible damage been so close. Starting now, massive cuts in man made emissions are essential if global warming is to be kept to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. Even half a degree beyond that will significantly raise the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people, as well as dooming all the world’s coral reef systems and, probably, Arctic sea ice. Even now, at 1.1C of warming, the world’s climate is already entering dangerous territory. According to data from the Centre of Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, in 2018 so far approximately 5,000 people have died and 28.9 million have needed emergency assistance or humanitarian aid because of extreme weather. Here is a global calendar of this year’s major disasters. Scientists say these types of event are becoming more frequent and intense as emissions rise and the planet heats up. The map shows the scale of the human impact, from January to the end of November. The human impact of 2018’s climate disasters Methodology Data displayed on the map and on the impact counter come from EM-DAT: The Emergency Events Database, Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disaster, Debarati Guha-Sapir. All EM-DAT figures are estimates, based on official government figures or best-available media reports. This article includes data for meteorological, climatological and hydrological events (with the exclusion of landslides). The list includes disasters where either a) 10 people are killed, b) 100 people are affected, or c) the government declares a state of emergency or issues a call for international assistance. ‘Affected’ is defined as requiring immediate assistance during a period of emergency, i.e. requiring basic survival needs such as food, water, shelter, sanitation and immediate medical assistance. The data covers January – November 2018. EM-DAT data for the impact of weather events in December 2018 is currently under process of verification. Some November figures include preliminary estimates which may be later revised. Image credits Top composite, clockwise: Camp Fire, Magalia, California, 9 Nov 2018. Noah Berger/AP Photo Pollocksville, North Carolina, 17 Sept 2018. in aftermath of Hurricane Florence, Steve Helber/AP Satellite image of Hurricane Florence off US east coast September 13, 2018. NASA London commuters on 19 July 2016. Tolga Akmen/LNP/REX/Shutterstock Scorched earth. Clint Spencer/Getty Images Snow in Scotland, 2 March 2018. Duncan Bryceland/REX/Shutterstock Additional photos: Heatwave in Portuguese Algarve, 4 August, 2018, Carlos Costa/AFP/Getty Images Snow at bus stop, Burnopfield, UK, March 2, 2018, Photo: Ian Horrocks/Getty Images Kerala flooding, India, 19 Aug 19 2018. AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi Corn plants in Argentina, 9 April 2018. Reuters/Marcos Brindicci Photographs have been converted to monochrome by the Guardian. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/drought', 'environment/flooding', 'world/extreme-weather', 'type/interactive', 'profile/levitt-daniel', 'profile/peter-andringa', 'profile/lydiasmears', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'profile/frank-hulley-jones', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-visuals'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-12-21T06:45:20Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2011/sep/04/weatherwatch-local-authorities-climate-change | Weatherwatch: local authorities and climate change | More than 10 years ago the government instructed every local authority in England to plan for climate change. This was partly aimed at alerting councillors to the increasing dangers of river, sea and flash flooding and was also making sure planning decisions took this into account. Shortly afterwards by coincidence there was severe flooding in many parts of the UK. A recent study of 11 local authorities from the south coast to the Tees, taking in city and rural councils, has shown that over the past decade councillors have largely ignored the advice. Eight out of the nine councils in danger of river or coastal flooding have increased development in areas most at risk, and in four the rate of building in the most vulnerable areas was faster than elsewhere in their boroughs. On the coast three-quarters of local planning committees were allowing development where the coast was tumbling into the sea or sea walls likely to be overwhelmed. In urban areas five out of six local authorities are concreting over green spaces making flash flooding more likely and increasing the urban heat island effect. The government's Climate Adaptation sub-committee says local authorities are "locking in" costs for the future without any idea how the problems they create are going to be dealt with. The only bright spot in the report was that many developers had got the message. Some were building in defences, like raising the electrics above likely flood level. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-09-04T22:01:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2022/feb/28/teenager-dies-after-box-jellyfish-sting-at-queensland-beach | Teenager dies after box jellyfish sting at Queensland beach | A 14-year-old boy has died after being stung by a box jellyfish in Queensland. Mark Angelo Ligmayo was at Eimeo beach, just north of Mackay, with his family on Saturday. His father, Nick Guinumtad, told the Courier Mail that his son had been standing in waist-high water for about 10 minutes when he came running out on to the beach, entwined in more than 2 metres of box jellyfish tentacles. Surf life savers rushed to assist Mark but were unable to save him. He died later in Mackay Base hospital. “It’s hard, to see your son trying to overcome it, it’s hard, to see your son dying in front of you,” Guinumtad told the Courier Mail. He said surf lifeguards had dragged the beach for jellyfish before his son went for a swim. Surf Life Saving Queensland spokesperson Jenny Rees said volunteer lifeguards did everything they could to save Mark. “They got him out of the water and he had lots of tentacles around his legs, which they pulled off,” Rees told the ABC. “A lot of vinegar was administered and CPR was administered immediately.” Queensland police said a report would be prepared for the coroner. Mark had only recently moved to Australia from the Philippines with his mother and sister. They were supposed to move in early 2020, joining Nick Guinumtad who has lived in Mackay for several years, but the move was delayed by the pandemic. He began attending Mackay state high school this month. It is the second fatality from a box jellyfish sting in Queensland in 16 years, after a 17-year-old boy died after a sting at Patterson Point, near Bamaga in February last year. Box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) are the most venomous marine animal in the world. Their tentacles are up to three metres long covered in poison-filled darts, called nematocysts, which cause severe pain and leave whip-like marks behind. Tentacles often remain stuck to the victim and can be removed with vinegar. The stings can cause paralysis, cardiac arrest and death within minutes of being stung. They are found in warm waters across the north of Australia, from Coral Bay in Western Australia to Bundaberg in Queensland, from October to May. During stinger season, swimmers are advised to remain at patrolled beaches and not to enter the water if the beach has been closed. Swimmers are also advised to wear full-body Lycra suits, which can protect against stings. | ['australia-news/queensland', 'environment/wildlife', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/marine-life', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-02-27T22:36:44Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sport/2019/may/02/shame-on-you-chris-froome-finds-team-not-welcome-in-yorkshire | 'Shame on you': Chris Froome finds team not welcome in Yorkshire | Across the Channel, the riders of Team Sky had become used to abuse – they were spat on, lashed out at and even forced to dodge the odd bottle of urine. After winning six out of the last seven editions of the Tour de France amid a series of (never proven) doping allegations, they won over few French fans. But on home turf, Team Sky were usually guaranteed a warm reception – particularly at the Tour de Yorkshire, the brutal four-day stage race that grew out of 2014’s wildly successful Yorkshire Grand Départ. Yet at the start line in Doncaster on Thursday, Chris Froome, the team’s star rider, was greeted by boos. The four-time Tour de France winner was trying to give an interview on stage while a small but vocal group of protesters shouted “Shame on you” and “Change your sponsor” while waving placards reading “Frack off Ineos, tha’s not welcome in Yorkshire” and “On your bike, Ineos”. They refused to shut up, despite being told to button it by fans keen for the race not to be overshadowed by the demonstration. If Froome was ruffled, he didn’t show it. He and his teammates have held the party line since their team, already the best funded in the sport, was taken over by Ineos, a petrochemical company owned by Britain’s richest man, Jim Ratcliffe. The name Ineos would probably mean nothing to most Britons but it is a dirty word in many communities in Yorkshire after it bought up licences to frack for shale gas. Stage one of the Tour de Yorkshire went right by one of the sites between Campsall and Little Smeaton, seven miles north of Doncaster. “We are really grateful to Ineos for coming in and saving the team,” said Froome’s colleague Chris Lawless before the race, after his boss, Dave Brailsford, was photobombed by a protester wearing a mask of Ratcliffe with devil horns. Lawless, 23, a sprinter from Wigan, said he didn’t see any hypocrisy in being sponsored by Europe’s biggest producer of plastics – despite Team Sky last year riding around wearing shirts raising awareness of plastic pollution in the ocean. “We wouldn’t be able to live without plastic,” he shrugged, before adding: “I’m not too educated about it.” He and his teammates rewarded Ratcliffe for his reported £40m annual investment by riding on the front of the peloton all day, ensuring maximum publicity on the live TV feed, which managed to miss many of the anti-fracking banners hung up along the route. Watching the Team Ineos bus get surrounded by anti-fracking protesters before the race, British national cyclocross champion Tom Pidcock shook his head. “It’s not good for the sport, is it?” he said. Froome and the rest of his team would ignore it, he thought. “They’re used to blocking stuff out.” Pidcock, a junior and under-23 world champion, rides for Team Wiggins Le Col, sponsored by former Team Sky rider Bradley Wiggins, and is much admired by Brailsford. Protests against Ineos, he said, could potentially deter him from joining the team. “It is definitely a factor isn’t it?” he said. This was music to the ears of Dave Shaw, a Labour councillor in Doncaster, who six years ago founded Frack Free South Yorkshire. “We want the Tour de Yorkshire to see their presence as potentially damaging to their brand and for them not to invite Ineos back – and hopefully riders will jump ship. Then it would be like dominoes. It’s not good, psychologically, for the riders being stood on the podium and getting booed.” The protesters misunderstand how the race works, said Peter Dodd, the commercial director of Welcome to Yorkshire, which organises the race along with ASO, the French firm behind the Tour de France: “We just put on the race. We don’t choose the teams or their sponsors.” The UCI, cycling’s governing body, decides which teams can enter, said ASO’s Christian Prudhomme. Having watched various French protesters hijack the Tour de France, he appeared supremely unruffled about the anti-frackers targeting the Yorkshire race. “We organise live bike races, we are not in a stadium where it is closed,” he said, cheerfully. Back outside the Ineos bus, Robert Spacey wheeled up in full Team Sky kit astride a £4,000 Pinarello, hoping for a glimpse of Froome. The 65-year-old, a member of Worksop Wheelers, said he was just glad the team had found a new sponsor. If they hadn’t got a backer they would have collapsed. It’s not a cheap job, this,” he said. Dennis May, an anti-fracking campaigner and cycling fan, spent much of the morning shouting at the Ineos bus but said he felt sorry for the riders: “It’s a shame they are being used in this way by Jim Ratcliffe in order to legitimise his dirty business.” | ['sport/team-sky', 'sport/cycling', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/yorkshire', 'sport/sport', 'sport/chris-froome', 'environment/fracking', 'environment/environment', 'world/protest', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helenpidd', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/fracking | ENERGY | 2019-05-02T15:51:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2023/dec/15/country-diary-a-ghostly-freezing-day-in-the-cairngorms | Country diary: A ghostly, freezing day in the Cairngorms | Amanda Thomson | The first snows of the winter have been followed by overnights of -10C, and the trees and grasses are filigreed with a thick coating of frost. A flock of chaffinches are cooried up in a nearby birch, and I check for bramblings, a bird I’m always delighted to see. Our feeders are busy with coal, blue and great tits, goldfinches, woodpeckers and a solitary crested tit too, the latter another sure sign of winter, though I wonder where the siskins are. In the past few days there has been a flock of finches a hundred or more strong, coming and going, landing on the topmost branches of the birches and pines at the far side of the field, and I can’t tell if their restlessness is part of their modus operandi or because of our local marauding sparrowhawk. In the afternoon, the temperature rises to -7C and I go for a walk. My footsteps seem loud, and grasses, mud and leaves that have been soft underfoot are crunchy. Puddles crackle. When I stop, the place is silent and it’s easy to forget how the snow shifts the quality of light, and sound too. In this early gloaming, a soft mist envelops the valley, casting everything in a soft pink-grey. I cross hare tracks and follow mice or vole tracks that crisscross like an intricate dance, heading up towards where I know there are pinewoods, even if today they are invisible, then ghostly. I know that if I could climb to a higher point I’d be in bright sunshine and looking down on this low cloud inversion. It’s just 3.15pm, but sunset is in about 15 minutes, so I head home. The mist thins just enough to see a hint of blue above. I hear a loud chattering, then see the finches again – redpolls – in a birch just in front of me, skittering and chittering around, hanging upside down on the branches like early Christmas baubles. When I get to the tree where they were, the snow underneath is confettied with birch seeds, and I follow them to another and peer up, amazed at their acrobatics, how they disrupt the stillness of the afternoon with their movement and noise, smiling as they shower birch seeds and snow on my head. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/birds', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/amanda-thomson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-12-15T05:30:19Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2020/sep/10/bp-takes-11bn-stake-in-offshore-wind-farms-as-it-agrees-equinor-deal | BP takes $1.1bn stake in offshore wind farms as it agrees Equinor deal | BP has taken its first major step into the offshore wind industry with the purchase of a $1.1bn (£850m) stake in two US offshore wind projects being developed by Norwegian state oil company Equinor. The oil companies will also team up to develop more windfarms off the coast of the US after agreeing a strategic partnership to help corner the fast-growing market for offshore wind. Bernard Looney, BP’s chief executive, described the deal as “an important early step” in the delivery of BP’s new climate ambitions, which include a goal to develop 50GW of renewable energy by 2030. “It will play a vital role in allowing us to deliver our aim of rapidly scaling up our renewable energy capacity, and in doing so help deliver the energy the world wants and needs,” he said. BP’s move into the offshore wind industry, which is currently growing at about 20% a year, has emerged after the oil company unveiled new plans to shift away from fossil fuels and towards low carbon energy within the next decade. The company set out plans last month to grow its low-carbon investments eightfold by 2025, and tenfold by 2030, while cutting its fossil fuel output by 40% from 2019 levels. It plans to give further details on how it plans to make the shift from “oil major” to “energy company” in a series of investor presentations scheduled for early next week. Equinor, formerly known as Statoil, began its own shift towards cleaner energy sources around a decade ago by beginning to develop offshore wind projects. It is currently developing the Dogger Bank project off the Yorkshire coast alongside SSE which will be the largest windfarm in the world once it begins generating power in 2023. Equinor expects to accelerate its existing goal to grow its renewable energy portfolio to between 4 to 6GW by 2026 and 12GW to 16GW by 2035. Eldar Sætre, the company’s chief executive, said the new partnership “underlines both companies’ strong commitment to accelerate the energy transition”, and will use their combined skills to “grow a profitable offshore wind business together in the US”. The partnership will lean on BP’s experience as a major energy trader and Equinor’s track-record in developing offshore wind projects. Under the deal, BP will take a 50% stake in Equinor’s Beacon windfarm which is in an early stage of development off the Nantucket coast, and in the Empire windfarm off the coast of Long Island which is due to begin generating clean electricity by the mid-2020s. The windfarms are expected to generate enough electricity to power over 2m US homes. | ['business/bp', 'business/business', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/oil', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'uk/uk', 'world/norway', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/commodities', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-09-10T09:08:43Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/sep/11/country-diary-an-old-map-provides-new-insight | Country diary: an old map provides new insight | Some remarkable Victorians tramped over every foot of Britain to create precise pictures for posterity, though they used neither camera nor canvas. Even the unremarkable slopes beneath ancient Lord’s Wood came into focus on a certain day in 1882, when a team of men visited to grant it immortality. They marked out the meadow’s boundaries, measured its area (14.738 acres), hand-drew its crescent-shaped pond and stippled a nearby “hoofprint” that was annotated with “Old Sand Pit”. And they plotted the trees. Every scattered tree in this meadow, all 31 of them, was faithfully and accurately represented by a miniature cloud on a stick. In its attention to detail, this single field illustrates one of the greatest mapmaking achievements of the pre-digital age – the 25 inch to a mile Ordnance Survey series. And over the course of a morning, a printout of the old map in hand, I found that snapshot of the past sharpening my images of the present. Though the supposedly oval pond was choked with lush rushes and crowded by hawthorn bushes that sucked its summers dry, I could now make out its quarter-moon curvature. For the first time in years of walking this undulating field, its dips and folds concealing and revealing, I stepped a few metres off the path towards the fence and discovered the spade-sliced sheer sides of a hollow, barely a metre deep at the front edge, that pinpointed the worked and abandoned sand pit. Thrilled with this find, I zigzagged around to check how many of the field’s 31 trees had lasted. All but one of today’s had the smooth shapeliness of youth, lacking the gnarled and crooked credentials of age. But there was no doubting the exception that stood apart from its fellows in 1882, and still did today. The oak tree that was just inside the farm gate had the spreading waistline of approaching middle age and the wrinkles and burrs to match; it nevertheless towered in its maturity, perhaps 30 metres or more. It was still a couple of centuries from shedding its antlers and morphing from a tree into a monolith. I walked over, patted its trunk and wished it a happy birthday, at least 150 years young. | ['environment/forests', 'travel/travel-maps', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/summer', 'uk/ordnance-survey', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/derek-niemann', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-09-11T04:30:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2022/sep/06/california-heatwave-power-supply-deadly-wildfires | California heatwave enters intense phase bringing blackouts and wildfires | California’s power grid is facing a major stress test on Tuesday, as a historic heatwave enters its most brutal phase. With temperatures in parts of the state forecasted to hit 115F (46C), officials are asking residents to prepare for possible rolling blackouts as the heatwave reaches a boiling point. Officials said controlled power interruptions “can help maintain reliability and avoid cascading blackouts”, as people across the state crank up their air conditioners amid scorching temperatures, California’s grid operator warned. “We have now entered the most intense phase of this heatwave,” said Elliot Mainzer, president of the California Independent System Operator (ISO), which runs the state’s electrical grid. “Forecasted demand for Monday and Tuesday is at all-time record levels and the potential for rotating outages has increased significantly.” The state’s power supply could fall more than 5,000 megawatts short of its peak demand on Tuesday, forecasted for 5.30pm, Mainzer warned. Demand could reach past 51,000 megawatts – surpassing the record of 50,270 megawatts set in 2006. The California ISO (CAISO) is expected to request an elevated emergency alert by 5.30pm – one step away from ordering rotating power outages. “Outages are a significant inconvenience to those affected, but it’s preferable to manage emergencies in a controlled manner rather than let it cause a wider spread, longer lasting disruption,” according to the CAISO website. Tuesday is the seventh straight day that California has been under a statewide alert for energy conservation. Amid a punishing heatwave that began last week and is expected to continue through Friday, the National Weather Service has also issued heat advisories across the state – warning that children and the elderly are at especially high risk for heat-related illness or death. Losing power and access to fans and air conditioning could be disastrous for these populations, as well as for disabled residents using powered medical devices. On Monday, record breaking temperatures of 114F (45C) in Sacramento and 115F in parts of the Central Valley triggered warnings to stay indoors and cool during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Outdoor workers remain at elevated risk this week, authorities warned. The extreme temperatures are a result of a “heat dome” bearing over the region – a ridge of high atmospheric pressure that acts as a lid, trapping in heat. Although climate crisis doesn’t cause heat domes, scientists expect it to drive more extreme weather. Low humidity and high temperatures also elevated the risk for wildfire, turning brush to tinder. Four deaths were reported over the Labor Day weekend as some 4,400 firefighters battled 14 large fires around the state, with 45 new blazes on Sunday alone, said Anale Burlew, a deputy chief with the California department of forestry and fire protection (CalFire). In southern California, two people were killed and one injured by the Fairview fire, which started on Monday near the city of Hemet, the Riverside county fire department said. Roughly 50 miles (80km) south-east of Los Angeles, the fire had quickly spread to more than 2,000 acres by 11pm, prompting evacuations, and was only 5% contained. Multiple residential structures burned. At the California ISO’s request on Monday, four temporary emergency power generators deployed by the department of water resources in Roseville and Yuba City were activated for the first time since they were installed last year, providing up to 120 megawatts, enough electricity for 120,000 homes. The California ISO also has issued a flex alert for voluntary conservation between 4pm and 10pm on Tuesday, making seven alerts in as many days. Residents were urged to keep air conditioners at 78F (26C) or higher during the period and to avoid using major appliances such as ovens and dishwashers. In many areas, the late afternoon and evening are the hottest time of day. The California ISO also issued a stage-two energy emergency alert from 6.30pm to 8pm on Monday. The second of three emergency alert stages means that the electrical grid operator is implementing emergency energy-saving measures “such as tapping backup generators, buying more power from other states and using so-called demand response programs”, according to its website. Stage three would indicate that minimum “contingency reserve” requirements cannot be met and rolling blackouts are imminent or in progress. The use of the backup generators triggered criticism, as they would increase air pollution in already affected, disadvantaged communities. “It is unconscionable to continue making over-polluted and under-resourced communities sacrifice zones for the rest of the state,” said Olivia Seideman, climate policy coordinator at Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. High temperature itself exacerbates pollution, accelerating the formation of ground-level ozone, or smog. In southern California, officials last week issued an ozone advisory due to the heatwave, advising people to stay indoors and avoid physical exertion. Several hundred thousand Californians lost power in rolling blackouts in August 2020 amid hot weather, but the state avoided a similar scenario last summer. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, signed legislation on Friday that could allow the state’s last remaining nuclear plant to remain open beyond its planned 2025 closure, to ensure more power. Ironically, unsettled weather also brought the chance of thunderstorms over southern California and into the Sierra Nevada mountain range, with a few isolated areas of rain but nothing widespread. The storms also could produce lightning, forecasters said, which can spark wildfires. | ['us-news/california', 'world/wildfires', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/maanvi-singh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-09-06T22:46:25Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/oct/16/treasury-leak-reveals-rift-between-johnson-and-sunak-over-costs-of-zero-carbon-economy | Treasury leak reveals rift between Johnson and Sunak over costs of zero-carbon economy | Confidential documents leaked to the Observer reveal an extraordinary rift between Boris Johnson and his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, over the potential economic effects of moving towards a zero-carbon economy, with just weeks to go before the crucial Cop26 climate summit. As Johnson prepares to position the UK at the head of global efforts to combat climate change and curb greenhouse gas emissions as host of the Glasgow Cop26 meeting, the documents show the Treasury is warning of serious economic damage to the UK economy and future tax rises if the UK overspends on, or misdirects, green investment. Green experts said the “half-baked” and “one-sided” Treasury net-zero review presented only the costs of action on emissions, rather than the benefits, such as green jobs, lower energy bills and avoiding the disastrous impact of global heating. They said the review could be “weaponised” by climate-change deniers around the world before Cop26, undermining Johnson’s attempts at climate leadership on the global stage. The internal Treasury documents say that while there may be economic benefits to UK companies from swift and appropriate climate action, there is also a danger that economic activity could move abroad if firms found their costs were increasing by more than those of their overseas competitors. The leaked papers are understood to have been produced to accompany a slide show given confidentially to key groups outside government in the last month. The documents state: “The investment required to decarbonise the UK economy is uncertain but could help to improve the UK’s relatively low investment levels and increase productivity. “However, more green investment is likely to attract diminishing returns, reducing the positive impact of ever more investment on GDP. Some green investments could displace other, more productive, investment opportunities. If more productive investments are made earlier in the transition, this risk may be accentuated later in the transition.” On the risk of additional costs to companies from green initiatives, the documents say: “Climate action in the UK can lead to economic activity moving abroad if it directly leads to costs increasing, and it is more profitable to produce in countries with less stringent climate policies.” On the fiscal implications, the documents say the cost of moving towards net zero could mean tax rises because of “the erosion of tax revenue from fossil fuel-related activity”. They say: “The government may need to consider changes to existing taxes and new sources of revenue throughout the transition in order to deliver net zero sustainably, and consistently with the government’s fiscal principles.” Ed Matthew, campaign director at the E3G thinktank, said: “To governments looking to Cop26, this looks unprofessional and embarrassing. The UK is standing in front of the world at Cop26 trying to galvanise ambitious action from every country. If the government has not presented the robust economic case in favour of action, that’s going to significantly undermine those attempts.” The Treasury’s approach is also starkly at odds with that of business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and the analysis of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in a report published in July this year. On the costs of moving towards net zero, the OBR said in its report: “Between now and 2050 the fiscal costs of getting to net zero in the UK could be significant, but they are not exceptional ... While unmitigated climate change would spell disaster, the net fiscal costs of moving to net zero emissions by 2050 could be comparatively modest.” The Committee on Climate Change, the government’s statutory adviser, has also repeatedly said the costs of action are small and diminishing, at less than 1% of GDP by 2050, while the costs of inaction are large and rising. While there are concerns over how the costs could fall on poorer households, the CCC chief executive Chris Stark has made clear that ministers can choose to distribute the costs and benefits fairly, through the design of green policies. Whitehall sources said there was a belief that Sunak was keen to position himself as something of a climate-change sceptic in order to boost his popularity with Tory party members, and draw comparisons with Johnson’s green enthusiasms. “Rishi clearly sees an interest in showing he is not really down with this green stuff. He wants Boris to own the whole agenda.” A source at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy confirmed that the Treasury was “kicking back” against many of the green plans being advanced by No 10 and Kwarteng. “They are not climate change deniers but they are emphasising the short-term risks, rather than long-term needs, which is what we are emphasising.” In contrast to the Treasury’s caution, Labour committed at its recent party conference to invest £28bn extra every year until 2030 to secure a “green transition” creating good jobs with decent wages in the process. The leak comes as the government prepares to publish its long-awaited net zero strategy, and heat and buildings strategy, which will contain policies on cutting emissions and creating green jobs, including a ban on new gas boilers from 2035 and grants for householders to move to green heating. The government’s Cop26 president, former business secretary Alok Sharma, is embarking on a frantic last-ditch round of diplomacy, including with Chinese representatives, amid speculation that President Xi Jinping will not attend the talks. The US and the EU are also talking to key high-emitting countries in the final weeks before Cop26, which opens on 31 October. The Treasury said: “The government is committed to tackling climate change and the prime minister has set out an ambitious 10-point plan to help us achieve that. The Treasury is playing a crucial role in this effort, by allocating £12bn to fund the plan, setting up the UK infrastructure bank to invest in net zero, and committing to raise £15bn for projects like zero-emissions buses, offshore wind and schemes to decarbonise homes.” | ['environment/green-economy', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'politics/rishi-sunak', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'politics/conservatives', 'uk/uk', 'business/investing', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tobyhelm', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-10-16T18:12:12Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
lifeandstyle/2014/may/01/sustainable-blog-of-the-week-my-make-do-and-mend-year | Sustainable blog of the week: My Make Do and Mend Year | What inspired you to start writing My Make Do and Mend Year? I remember reading an article in a magazine about Suzy Prince, who went on a second-hand safari in May 2012, and I thought about doing a similar thing. It was a bit of a lightbulb moment and I wondered if we could do it as a family. My eldest, William, was three years old at the time and as toddlers do, he was always nagging us for new things so I wanted to see if we could counter that a little bit. I started the challenge on September 1st 2012. I did the the complete year, blogging every day and following the rules very strictly. We said we could buy food, toiletries and underwear new, as well as the children's shoes as I wanted to make sure they fit properly, but everything else had to be second-hand. The beauty of it is that you can set your own rules. We've relaxed the rules now and I don't blog as frequently. The aims of the challenge developed as it went on and it became much more about promoting a sustainable way of life, although it only started off as a interesting challenge. I think maybe I was subconsciously trying to find something to blog about. I'm really pleased with the impression the blog has had. I think it's something that captures people's attention and I've found it quite empowering. Sometimes it feels like it's you on your own but it's really empowering realising that other people feel the same and are thinking about their consumption. What challenges did you face in the first year? Christmas was quite hard work. We made 90 to 95% of the presents. It's quite hard work sitting down and trying to think of something that people will like. If you're going to but the time and effort into making something, you want to make sure they appreciate it. Men are quite hard to make things for. And then I decided that we shouldn't buy a Christmas tree. We made one out of egg boxes and other things, so that was adding another ridiculous thing into the mix. If we wanted something specific – like age-four swimming trunks or size-11 wellies – that was quite a challenge. There's always eBay but I tried to use that as a last resort. Where did you go if you needed to buy something? I spent a lot of time wandering around charity shops, and there are also repair cafes and clothes swaps. I discovered flea markets; there's a great one just outside Bath. And there were auction houses that I probably wouldn't have had the courage to go into before the challenge. We used Freecyle and Freegle but once people knew what were doing, they were very good at offering clothes and other things they could hand down. We never set out doing is as a money saving exercise, but we definitely spent less. Over Christmas, we spent hardly anything so we probably saved between £300 and £400. And then I worked out that we were saving about £150 a month, so around £2,000 over the course of the year. What are some things you have learned along the way? It was much easier that I thought it would be. I just stopped going shopping. If you don't go into shops, the temptation isn't there. If you wander around charity shops once you start thinking more about buying second-hand. It does require more time and patience but it's not particularly difficult. I genuinely think its something everyone can do – it's achievable by everybody. I learned lots of practical things, like how to patch jeans but most importantly, it was the idea of individual responsibility. If there are things you don't agree with, you do have the power to change it. We're more relaxed about the challenge now but I'm definitely more aware of what we buy. I feel guilty if I buy something new now, especially as I know you can get most things second-hand. My husband is less strict than I am but it has become a way of life and and I'm tying to persevere with it. What helps you to keep it up, keep living green and keep writing the blog? Just knowing that we're becoming more aware of living sustainably and that actually out planet has finite resources and we can't keep going they way we are. It sometimes feels a bit futile but I can only do what I can do and if it inspires people to spend a bit less than that's good. Jen blogs here and tweets here. For May, the Live Better Challenge is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. You can read more about the next challenge and pledge to cut your household waste here. The Live Better Challenge is funded by Unilever; its focus is sustainable living. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. | ['lifeandstyle/live-better', 'lifeandstyle/series/sustainability-blog-of-the-week', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'lifeandstyle/craft', 'type/article', 'profile/katherine-purvis'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-05-01T15:18:56Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/georgemonbiot/2012/aug/29/day-world-went-mad | The day the world went mad | George Monbiot | Yesterday was August 28th 2012. Remember that date. It marks the day when the world went raving mad. Three things of note happened. The first is that a record Arctic ice melt had just been announced by the scientists studying the region. The 2012 figure has not only beaten the previous record, established in 2007. It has beaten it three weeks before the sea ice is likely to reach its minimum extent. It reveals that global climate breakdown is proceeding more rapidly than most climate scientists expected. But you could be forgiven for missing it, as it scarcely made the news at all. Instead, in the UK, the headlines concentrated on the call by Tim Yeo, chair of the parliamentary energy and climate change committee, for a third runway at Heathrow. This sparked a lively debate in and beyond the media about where Britain's new runways and airports should be built. The question of whether they should be built scarcely arose. Just as rare was any connection between the shocking news from the Arctic and this determination to increase our emissions of greenhouse gases. I wonder whether we could be seeing a form of reactive denial at work: people proving to themselves that there cannot be a problem if they can continue to discuss the issues in these terms. The third event was that the Republican party in the United States began its national convention in Tampa, Florida – a day late. Why? Because of the anticipated severity of hurricane Isaac, which reached the US last night. As Kevin Trenberth of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, noted earlier this year: "Basic theory, climate model simulations, and empirical evidence all confirm that warmer climates, owing to increased water vapor, lead to more intense precipitation events even when the total annual precipitation is reduced slightly … all weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be." (h/t: Joe Romm at Climate Progress) The Republican party's leading lights either deny climate change altogether, or argue that people can adapt to whatever a changed climate may bring, so there's nothing to worry about. The deluge of reality has had no impact on the party's determination to wish the physical world away. As Salon.com points out, most of the major figures lined up to speak at the convention deny that man-made climate change is happening. When your children ask how and why it all went so wrong, point them to yesterday's date, and explain that the world is not led by rational people. www.monbiot.com | ['environment/georgemonbiot', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'environment/sea-ice', 'environment/poles', 'environment/heathrow-third-runway', 'business/business', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'uk/london', 'travel/heathrow', 'world/air-transport', 'type/article', 'profile/georgemonbiot'] | environment/sea-ice | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-08-29T09:41:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global-development-professionals-network/2014/dec/17/data-revolution-limitations-in-images | The problem with the data revolution in four Venn diagrams | In August, UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon named his independent expert advisory group, 24 experts tasked with providing recommendations on how best to use data to deliver the sustainable development goals. In a press release at the time, Ban said: “The data revolution is giving the world powerful tools that can help usher in a more sustainable future. The recommendations of the group will be important inputs to the post-2015 debate and our efforts to shape an ambitious yet achievable vision.” On 6 November, those recommendations were published in a report entitled A world that counts, a cleverly crafted motivational manifesto, but by no means a practical roadmap on how to apply a “data revolution” to the future development agenda. I have previously written about this in more detail, but essentially, the report’s key weakness is that it conflates several terms, and assumes automatic relationships between things such as “counting” and “knowing”. Using four Venn diagrams, I’ve tried to illustrate some of the main misconceptions. Not everything that counts can be counted The report strongly suggests that everything that matters can be counted. We know that this is not true. If the guiding principle for the sustainable development goals is to make decisions as if everything can be counted, the end result will be very misleading. Data is not the same as statistics The “data revolution” hype is just one of many places where the difference between statistics and data is misunderstood. Data is not the same as numbers. Data literally mean ‘what is given’, so when we speak of data we are talking about observations – quantitative or qualitative, or even figurative - that can be used to get information. To keep talking about data when we mean statistics may sound better, but it only leads to confusion. The report (pdf) calls on the UN to establish “a process whereby key stakeholders create a Global Consensus on Data”. What is that supposed to mean? That statement is meaningless if you exchange the word “data” with “observations”, “knowledge” or ‘evidence’. It can, however, make sense if you talk about “statistics”. International organisations do have a natural role when it comes to developing global standards for official statistics. Reaching a global consensus on how observations and evidence constitute knowledge is futile. More data does not mean better decisions The report also says demanding more data will lead to better decisions. That is a statement of belief, and not a theory of change. What is often thought of as “evidence-based policy” turns out to be ‘policy-based evidence’. In other words, the body of statistics we have today is a result of policy decisions made yesterday. The point is that we do not know how changes in statistics will change policy, and that uncertainty should raise the following questions: how much we should invest in numbers and what type of metrics we should invest in? There are other methods to knowing than through counting The report says: “Whole groups of people are not being counted and important aspects of people’s lives and environmental conditions are still not measured” and then this: “Never again should it be possible to say “we didn’t know”. No one should be invisible. This is the world we want – a world that counts.” I understand the enthusiasm, but I want to warn against hubris. This is certainly not the world I want but I also think it should always be possible to say: “We didn’t know”. Numbers, or the act of counting, does not guarantee objectivity nor does it always make us wiser. It is a testament to the richness of life, and the poverty of numbers, that all things cannot be counted. A version of this piece was first published on Jerven’s blog. Morten Jerven is associate professor at Simon Fraser University. Follow @mjerven on Twitter Read more stories like this: Using household surveys to start a data revolution and tackle social inequality Open data and transparency: a look back at 2013 We need a data revolution to gain an accurate picture of the jobs crisis Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow@GuardianGDP on Twitter. | ['global-development-professionals-network/series/development-2030', 'working-in-development/working-in-development', 'global-development-professionals-network/series/post-2015-development', 'global-development-professionals-network/data', 'technology/big-data', 'type/article'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-12-17T14:08:27Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2016/feb/29/former-tepco-bosses-charged-fukushima | Former Tepco bosses charged Fukushima meltdown | Three former executives from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) have been charged with contributing to deaths and injuries stemming from the triple meltdown in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Their indictment on Monday marks the start of the first criminal action to be taken in connection with the disaster, which forced the evacuation of 160,000 residents, many of whom are still unable to return to their homes. Tsunehisa Katsumata, who was Tepco’s chairman at the time, has been charged with professional negligence resulting in death, along with two former vice-presidents, Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro. The men, who have not been taken into custody, allegedly failed to take measures to defend Fukushima Daiichi, despite being aware of the risk from a tsunami. Three of the plant’s six reactors went into meltdown after a magnitude-9 earthquake triggered a tsunami along the north-east coast of Japan on 11 March 2011. The waves flooded the facility’s back-up power supply and crippled the reactors’ cooling systems, causing massive radiation leaks. Experts say prosecutors could struggle to prove criminal responsibility for failing to prevent the meltdown. The trial, which is not expected to begin until next year, could reveal information about the disaster that Tepco has yet to make public. Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, said the three former executives would plead not guilty to the charges and argue that it was impossible to predict the size of the tsunami. An independent judicial panel of citizens ruled last July that the men should go on trial, after public prosecutors had twice decided not to pursue the case. The 11-member panel, which has the power to compel prosecutors to act, said Katsumata, 75, Muto, 65, and Takekuro, 69, should be held criminally responsible for the deaths of 44 elderly hospital patients during and soon after the evacuation, and injuries to Tepco staff and members of the self-defence forces. Campaigners called the indictments “a major step”, and called on Japan to abandon nuclear power. “The people of Fukushima and Japan deserve justice,” said Hisayo Takada of Greenpeace Japan. “The court proceedings that will now follow should reveal the true extent of Tepco’s and the Japanese regulatory system’s enormous failure to protect the people of Japan. “Tepco and the Japanese regulator continue to ignore demands to disclose key details of what they know about the causes of the accident. The 100,000 people who still can’t return home deserve to have all the facts.” Of the country’s 43 working reactors, four have been restarted since last year, while the remainder are undergoing repairs and checks under stricter post-Fukushima safety regulations. Reports by the government and MPs have been strongly critical of the safety culture at Tepco, and of lax oversight by the government and regulators. Last year, the International Atomic Energy Agency pointed to a misguided faith in the safety of nuclear power as a key factor in the Fukushima accident. A 2012 parliamentary report said Fukushima was a “manmade disaster” caused by poor regulation and collusion between the government, Tepco and the industry’s watchdog. Tepco has insisted it was impossible to anticipate a tsunami of the size that struck the plant almost five years ago. The judicial panel said, however, that the executives ignored a 2008 internal report predicting that the plant could be struck by tsunami as high as 15.7 metres, adding that they had “failed to take pre-emptive measures, knowing the risk of a major tsunami”. Only last week, the utility admitted it had failed to announce that meltdowns had occurred in three Fukushima Daiichi reactors until two months after the accident. Tepco said it had been unaware of a company emergency manual that defined a meltdown as damage to more than 5% of the fuel inside a reactor. For weeks, the firm said the reactors had sustained less serious “core damage”. The nuclear and industrial safety agency, the industry watchdog at the time, also refused to describe the accident as a meltdown. Tepco only started using the word meltdown May 2011, after a computer simulation showed fuel in one reactor had almost entirely melted and fallen to the bottom of the primary containment chamber, and that two other reactor cores had melted significantly. The firm conceded its initial wording had been misleading, but insisted it had responded appropriately. “Core damage or meltdown, it didn’t make any difference in how we responded to the emergency, which was to cool the cores no matter what,” said Tepco spokesman Shinichi Nakakuki. | ['environment/fukushima', 'environment/environment', 'world/japan', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'world/world', 'world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/justinmccurry'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2016-02-29T07:52:14Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2021/nov/17/scotland-bottle-and-can-return-scheme-in-shambolic-mess | Scotland’s bottle and can return scheme in ‘shambolic’ mess | Scottish ministers have been accused of making a “shambolic” mess of their bottle and can recycling programme after admitting they no longer had a launch date for it. Scotland was expected to be the first part of the UK to introduce a compulsory bottle and can recycling scheme for retailers in July next year, but the Guardian revealed on Monday that the target date was expected to be scrapped. Legislation for the scheme was passed by Holyrood in 2019, and it had been due to start in April this year. That was pushed back to July 2022 – a date embraced by the Scottish National party and the Scottish Green party in their election manifestos this year. Lorna Slater, the Scottish Green minister in charge of delivering the scheme, confirmed on Wednesday that the government was now unsure when it would start and was urgently negotiating with retailers and producers. John Mayhew, the director of the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland, which leads the Scottish campaign for the scheme, said he was furious. “Four years ago we were promised a world-leading deposit return system,” he said. “Now Scotland looks like an object lesson in how not to deliver one of the world’s most basic and widely deployed environmental measures. Sad to say, we wouldn’t be totally surprised if it now never happened.” Nina Schrank, a plastics campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “This shambolic delay to the long-awaited deposit return scheme is embarrassing for a government which loves to shout about its green credentials. Every year of delay means millions more bottles being dumped or burned.” To derision from opposition parties, Slater said the chaos of Brexit, the problems faced by retailers during the Covid crisis and uncertainties about VAT charges on deposits had been obstacles to the scheme’s introduction. She said the Treasury has confirmed on Tuesday that it believed VAT would need to be charged on deposits, and that would make the scheme – which is based on a 20p refundable deposit for each bottle and can – unaffordable. Slater said that was “deeply disappointing”. Mercedes Villalba, Scottish Labour’s environment spokesperson, pressed Slater on why the government had dropped its July 2022 start date since VAT charges had not been a barrier to deposit-return schemes in other European countries. Slater said she was negotiating with retailers and producers “to figure out what the shortest practical time is possible to implement this scheme given the challenges around Brexit and around the pandemic. This is constant industry engagement.” Liam McArthur, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Orkney, said the scheme posed significant challenges for small rural and island businesses. “Why is the government making such a mess of delivering DRS [deposit return scheme] in Scotland?” he asked. “I’m absolutely aware of the criticality to industry of getting a firm delivery date,” Slater replied. Maurice Golden, for the Scottish Conservatives, said contracts for the scheme were “shrouded in secrecy, with a multimillion tender process hidden from the public and this parliament,” as the government had contracted it out to a private company set up by industry. The Scottish Retail Consortium, which represents major supermarkets, said it was no surprise that the scheme had been delayed as the 2022 start date was unrealistic. “Retailers will raise a weary eyebrow that after this long-postponed announcement there will be a further delay until they receive clarity and visibility on the launch of the scheme,” said Ewan MacDonald-Russell, the consortium’s head of policy. “This process has been drawn out to a pretty farcical degree and needs to be urgently resolved. A new go-live date, no earlier than 2023, needs to be confirmed swiftly.” | ['politics/scotland', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/waste', 'politics/snp', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/severincarrell', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-11-17T17:27:14Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk/2005/sep/02/oil.hurricanekatrina | Petrol to hit £1 a litre after US buys up supplies | Motorists were warned last night that petrol prices seem certain to pass £1 a litre within days after Hurricane Katrina wiped out many of the oil refineries on the US Gulf coast. As US oil companies bought up 20 shiploads of European petrol yesterday, the wholesale price of petrol on the Rotterdam spot market soared to a record of $855 a tonne (more than $100 a barrel), up more than 20% in two days and something experts said would feed through to the forecourt within days. The Petrol Retailers' Association calculated that the spot price rise could add almost 10p a litre to pump prices if it were passed on in full to consumers, something the oil companies may be reluctant to do. Prices yesterday were around 92p a litre for unleaded and 96p for diesel. Wholesale diesel prices in Rotterdam also set record highs yesterday, so the £1 a litre diesel price could be seen by the weekend and by Monday at the latest, a PRA spokesman, Ray Holloway, said. He said Esso had put up its prices to retailers by 8p a litre yesterday, which would take unleaded to £1 a litre when that fuel hits the forecourt in a matter of days, especially once VAT is added. Esso would not confirm the 8p rise but said it had raised prices by 2.5p a litre on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Shell said it was determined not to pass on the full 8p that the increase of the previous two days would imply. She said the UK petrol market was so competitive that Shell lost money on every litre of fuel it sold. BP would say only that the price of products had risen and it was monitoring the situation. Petrol prices in Britain are among the highest in Europe because of the duty and VAT charged on them but are still cheaper than Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. Pump prices in the US, where fuel taxes are much lower, have risen to over $3 a gallon (42p a litre) in many states. A White House economic adviser, Ben Bernanke, said yesterday they would rise further but then fall back as the situation in Louisiana became more stable. Hurricane Katrina forced the closure of about nine refineries in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, which together refine about 10% of America's gasoline. However, demand is slowing as the US holiday season ends. Oil prices, by contrast, fell back slightly yesterday from record highs earlier in the week. US crude futures fell below $69 after setting a record just below $71. Traders said oil supplies were not the big problem, especially as the US government on Wednesday promised to release some of the country's 700m barrel strategic petroleum reserve, some of which is stored in old salt mines in Louisiana. That was because of a disruption to crude production offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, where rigs were torn adrift by the storm. Some have since washed up onshore. But the strategic reserve contains only oil, not gasoline or diesel, hence the scramble to buy from Europe. The Treasury responded to the rising fuel price by stressing it had announced in July that a duty increase planned for yesterday would be scrapped because of high oil prices. Fuel duty, now 47.1p a litre, has not risen for two years. | ['uk/uk', 'business/oil', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'money/money', 'business/automotive-industry', 'business/business', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/ashleyseager'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-02T13:11:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2013/nov/08/typhoon-haiyan-facts | Typhoon Haiyan: is it the biggest storm ever? | What is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon? The name: in the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific Ocean, they are hurricanes. In the north-western Pacific Ocean they are known as typhoons. How big is Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) Bigger than hurricane Camille, which hit the US in 1969, and Allen in 1980, with wind speeds of at least 190 mph. The storm is 500 miles wide, wider than Katrina at its peak. Is it the biggest ever? This we cannot say because recorded history is limited to humans' ability to measure and verify wind speed and pressure. But it is the largest recorded since Allen. Is it a super-typhoon? Yes. To be classified as a hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone, a storm must reach wind speeds of at least 74 mph. If a typhoon hits 150 mph then it becomes a super-typhoon. What are the main dangers? Ferocious windspeeds and rainfall, flooding, damage to buildings, infrastructure, landslides, power cuts, and resulting food shortages all provide imminent danger to 25 million people in its path. | ['world/typhoon-haiyan', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'world/philippines', 'world/asia-pacific', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/claire-daly'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-11-08T08:32:28Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2017/jul/14/guardian-readers-making-britain-beautiful-again | Guardian readers making Britain beautiful again | Letters | In our village, we have seen both the potential and the limitations of people-led efforts to tackle litter (Letters, 13 July). The parish council and the local transition village group have worked together to both inform people about the wider environmental problems of litter, especially plastic, and to develop a network of individuals who have undertaken to keep specific roads or areas free of litter. Volunteers were provided with good-quality litter pickers (available from the Keep Britain Tidy campaign) and gloves, and a map was put up in the parish office showing the areas covered. The results have been fantastic: lots of volunteers mean that most of the village is litter-free most of the time. I am sure that Wendy Harvey’s hope that the sight of people picking up litter raises awareness and discourages (but doesn’t stop) others from dropping litter. A campaign at the local secondary school, has undoubtedly contributed as well. However, the village has two major arteries running through its outskirts – the tidal River Avon near its meeting with the Severn, and the A369 between Bristol and Portishead. Both bring in huge amounts of litter which our campaign hasn’t really touched, despite organised litter picks by groups of local people, and the huge popularity of a local nature reserve that borders a significant section of the A369. I’m convinced that more communities could follow our example, with great benefits in so many ways. But let’s not pretend that it would crack the problem: we need action by the government (eg a deposit system for plastic bottles) and by retailers, who should be doing much more to reduce the vast and unnecessary amounts of packaging – mainly plastic and not all recyclable – they use. Bob Langton Pill, Somerset • A campaign called “1 Piece of Rubbish” already exists as a network and was started in Marseilles in 2015 by Edmund Platt, a Leeds-born man. His idea was to encourage everyone to pick up at least one piece of rubbish every day and put it into the nearest bin. Since January 2016, I have been following his example. Using my free bus pass, I travel all over England and post photographs, on social media, of the rubbish I’ve collected, in an attempt to encourage others to follow suit. Picking up a piece of rubbish is an activity that costs nothing, it’s in the fresh air, it’s a little bit of exercise and it’s guaranteed to make you feel empowered to make a difference! Like your letter writer Wendy Harvey, I feel sure that, with more publicity (maybe the Guardian could champion this cause?) and the sharing of information, this campaign could flourish into a national habit and make a hugely positive impact on our environment. United, together we can make our country beautiful again. Ruth Major Oldham • I actively pick up litter on my daily dog walks (including other people’s dogs’ poo) around the streets and parks where I live. However, I strongly believe that as a society someone needs to take a policy lead in our attitudes to the environment in which we all live. I have no doubt I was influenced by the Keep Britain Tidy campaigns in the 1960s and 70s. Now more than ever we need quirky, funny public information campaigns to counter the selfish throwaway culture. Environmental NGOs need to be encouraged to take on government and big business on plastic bottles and cans fouling our parks and rivers. How about emulating a lot of states in the US who charge a tiny deposit (say 5p)? David Hirst Birmingham • Wendy Harvey’s suggestion that we all commit to doing our own little bit to tackle the current deluge of litter deserves our support, but perhaps a sensible start would be to re-employ and pay a decent wage to the thousands of road sweepers and litter pickers laid off in the name of austerity in recent years. John Mulrenan London • I like the idea of a campaign to promote litter-collecting. But please, no stickers or badges. The world is suffocating under a sea of pointless plastic toys and “promotional” freebies made in China that probably don’t even get recycled but end up in landfill. For the same reason, can we ban children’s party bags? Naomi Joffe London • Well said, Wendy Harvey. Here in my home town I have been doing exactly that every day for several years on my short walk around the corner to collect my Guardian. Add other initiatives such as hedge- and verge-trimming, snow-clearance and path-sweeping, and we may begin to restore the concept of civic pride once far more prevalent in our communities. When asked why I do it, my usual response is to quote Voltaire – “pour encourager les autres”. I am pleased to report that it is beginning to have some effect. Adrian Broome Brigg, Lincolnshire • I totally agree with Wendy Harvey that there should be a sensible national programme to eliminate litter from our streets by people being encouraged to always pick up and bin one piece of litter every time they go out. She asked for a slogan to spearhead the campaign. How about: “This is your country, why make it a mess?” The problem in the past has been that previous campaigns have been too lily-livered about emphasising the personal involvement in one’s own environment which is required to get rid of litter. Nowadays one has to shout to make people take notice, even in their own interest. Alan Braddock Horbury, West Yorkshire • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | ['environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/waste', 'society/society', 'society/communities', 'environment/recycling', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-14T17:21:26Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2012/oct/30/hurricane-sandy-drowned-new-york-city | Hurricane Sandy has drowned the New York I love | Bill McKibben | New York is the city I love best, and I'm trying to imagine it from a distance tonight. The lurid, flash-lit instagram images of floating cars in Alphabet City or water pouring out of the East River into Dumbo, the reports of bridges to the Howard Beach submerging and facades falling off apartment houses – it all stings. It's as horrible in its very different way as watching 9/11. But it's the subways I keep coming back to, trying to see in my mind's eye what must be a dark, scary struggle to keep them from filling with water. The tide at the Battery has surged feet beyond the old record; water must be pouring into every entrance and vent – I hope some brave reporter is chronicling this fight, and will someday name its heroes. For me, the subways are New York, or at least they're the most crucial element of that magnificent ecosystem. When I was a young Talk of the Town reporter at the New Yorker, I spent five years exploring the city, always by subway. This was in the 1980s, at the city's nadir – the graffiti-covered trains would pause for half an hour in mid-flight; the tinny speakers would reduce the explanation of the trouble to gibberish. It was how I traveled, though – I didn't even know how to hail a cab. For a dollar, you could go anywhere. And my boast was that I'd gotten out at every station in the system for some story or another. It may not have been quite true: the Bronx is a big and forgotten place, and Queens stretches out forever – but it was my aspiration. The subways were kind of dangerous, but also deeply democratic. Writing about homelessness, I slept with hundreds of other men on the endless A train to the Rockaways. I convinced motormen to let me ride as they turned trains around through the City Hall station abandoned decades earlier. I hung out in the control room under Grand Central with its Hollywood array of levers and lights. Imagining all that filled with cold salt water is too much. I'm an environmentalist: New York is as beautiful and diverse and glorious as an old-growth forest. It's as grand, in its unplanned tumble, as anything ever devised by man or nature. And now, I fear its roots are being severed. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/comment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'profile/mckibben-bill'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-30T02:10:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2015/nov/09/november-dull | Who said November was deadly dull? | If a prize were awarded for the dullest month, weatherwise, November would surely be the runaway winner. As the 19th century poet Thomas Hood sardonically wrote: No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, No-vember. But meteorologists might disagree. November is on average the wettest month in England and Wales, with a shade more rainfall than December or January, and four out of five of the wettest months since records began in the 18th century. November can bring extreme weather, too. November 1919 was the coldest on record, with the temperatures in Scotland plummeting to a record low for that month of minus 23C, thanks to a stream of freezing air from the Arctic. As the climate changes, we are perhaps likely to see more heatwaves than freeze-ups. Indeed the Guardian letters page frequently features flowers blooming unseasonably at this time of year. But beware: according the Victorian weather lore collector Richard Inwards, “Flowers in bloom late in autumn indicates a bad winter”, as does rising water, while thunder indicates that the following year will be a fertile one. The plethora of saints’ days in November is also fertile ground for long-term forecasts, including the view that hard weather on 11 November (Martinmas) presages a mild winter: “If the geese at Martin’s Day stand on ice, they will walk in mud at Christmas.” | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'science/meteorology', 'environment/autumn', 'type/article', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-11-09T21:30:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2011/dec/29/japan-leads-field-plastic-recycling | Japan streets ahead in global plastic recycling race | Japan is one of the most successful countries in the world for recycling plastics. In 2010, 77% of plastic waste was recycled, up from 73% in 2006 and 39% in 1996, according to the nation's Plastic Waste Management Institute. The country has passed several recycling laws to address the disposal and treatment of plastic waste since 1997, when businesses and consumers were obliged to separate plastic waste for the first time. That measure, along with better awareness off the benefits of separating out plastic, is what has had the impact. The list of plastic items that can be recycled has grown to include boxes and cases, wrappings, cups and containers, plates and trays, tube-shaped containers, lids and caps. Most is processed together, with plastic bottles and other containers treated separately. In 2006, according to the institute, Japan recycled 2.1m tonnes of plastic waste, while 4.8m tonnes undergoes so-called "thermal recycling" which includes conversion into useful chemicals and burning to generate energy. The number and types of plastic waste separation differ among municipalities, but most households are required to separate plastic wrappers and packages from polyethylene terephthalate [PET] bottles, whose labels must be torn off before they are thrown away. The law was tightened amid a rise in the amount of waste generated by Japan's 127 million people, and a shortage of landfill space. Household items such as food wrappers and PET bottle labels are clearly marked to indicate they need to be treated as plastic waste. The items are usually collected for free, on different days from regular kitchen waste. At 77%, Japan's plastic recycling rate is about twice that of the UK, and well above the 20% figure for the US, which still depends largely on landfill, according to institute spokesman Takushi Kamiya. One major driver has been the lack of space for landfill close to crowded and sprawling metropolitan areas. "Japan has been able to make progress in plastic recycling because waste-processing agencies have won the support of manufacturers," he said. Japan recycled 72% of PET bottles in 2010, compared with 48% in Europe and 29% in the US. The recycled material is used in textiles, sheeting, industrial materials and household items such as egg boxes. Large quantities are shipped to China, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia, where it is used to make toys and games. New technology is helping raise the PET-bottle recycling rate. The food company Ajinomoto recently unveiled a plastic bottle made entirely from recycled PET. The firm expects to use 4,500 tonnes of recycled PET in its drink bottles every year. Japan's plastic recycling operation would be easier if manufacturers reduced the amount of wrapping they use, said Kevin Carroll, representative director of EA International, an environmental and engineering risk management consultancy in Tokyo. "Japan differs from other countries in that it tends to overwrap," Carroll said. "You buy a bento boxed lunch and it comes in a plastic box with a lid, and then it's put into a plastic bag. Lots of other foodstuffs are the same. "There's a tremendous amount of plastic around. The real problem is with household plastic, a lot of which gets burned or buried. The amounts involved are phenomenal." Kamiya agrees that Japan needs to address the 27% of plastic waste that is simply incinerated or buried in increasingly scarce landfill sites. "We are looking at ways to deal with what's left over, but it's difficult to imagine at this stage that we'll get the recycling rate to 100%," he said. "But I think we do very well compared with other countries." | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2011-12-29T11:27:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2024/sep/27/trump-vance-mock-climate-change-hurricane-helene | Hurricane Helene blows climate deniers Trump and Vance off course again | JD Vance has been forced to cancel two campaign events in Georgia due to the threat posed by Hurricane Helene, in the latest instance of Donald Trump’s presidential bid being affected by extreme weather worsened by a climate crisis that both Trump and Vance have routinely mocked. Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, scrapped plans to make a speech in Macon, Georgia, and then hold a rally in Flowery Branch, Georgia, on Thursday due to the hurricane, which has surged across the Gulf of Mexico and hit Florida’s west coast as a category 4 storm. Hurricane Helene has threatened a storm surge of as much as 20ft along Florida’s Gulf coast, with flooding and tornadoes expected in Georgia as it sweeps inland. “Say a prayer for our friends in Florida and Georgia who are bracing for what seems to be a very bad storm,” Vance posted on X on Thursday. The Trump campaign said that Vance’s events would be rearranged “as soon as possible”, but climate campaigners claimed the Ohio senator had been hit in ironic fashion by the consequences of global heating. Vance has said he is “skeptical of the idea that climate change is caused purely by man” and called efforts by Joe Biden to address it a “green scam”. Not only is the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity the cause of 100% of warming since 1950, scientists say it is also causing hurricanes like Helene to become fiercer and accelerate more quickly. The average intensification rate of hurricanes today is nearly 30% greater than it was before the 1990s due to a hotter atmosphere and oceans, according to a study published last year. The path of Helene across the Gulf of Mexico has been exceptionally hot this year, with this increased heat made at least 200 times more likely due to human-caused climate change, according to Climate Central. Vance’s campaign cancellations expose “the dangerous hypocrisy of climate deniers”, said Cassidy DiPaola, a campaigner at the Make Polluters Pay Campaign. “Vance and Trump can run from a storm, but they can’t hide from the reality of the climate crisis they continue to deny.” Vance attended two fundraising events thrown by oil industry executives in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday. He was at a lunch hosted by Cody Campbell, co-chief executive of Double Eagle Energy Holdings and then a $100,000-a-couple dinner organized by Ray Washburne, chair of the fuel distributor Sunoco. Trump has promised the oil and gas industry a rollback of environmental rules in return for campaign donations, along with the deletion of “insane” spending on clean energy projects flowing from landmark climate legislation signed by Biden, should he return to the White House. However, the former president’s campaign has still had to contend with the scorching temperatures, as well as severe storms, that are being spurred by the burning of fossil fuels. In June, 24 people at a Trump rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, required medical attention due to severe heat, while a further 11 people were sent to hospital for heat exhaustion at a separate Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona. “I’m up here sweating like a dog,” Trump complained from the podium during the Las Vegas rally, where temperatures hit 102F (38C). “They don’t think about me. This is hard work.” Political campaigning, much like other activities such as outdoor work and recreation, is being complicated by the climate crisis, according to Jesse Keenan, an expert in climate adaptation at Tulane University. “These extreme weather events make it harder to get large groups of people together, particularly outside,” said Keenan. “People aren’t used to standing for hours outside in the sun, and to see people collapsing with heatstroke is an eye-opening experience. We are now seeing smaller, indoor events being held by Donald Trump. “Campaigns now need infrastructure such as icing, shading, first aid stations, triage for heatstroke, and that isn’t cheap. If there’s flooding, it’s hard for people to get their cars to muddy fields in rural areas, and if it’s hot onstage, it’s harder for candidates who are constantly on the move and need to remain mentally sharp. When storms hit, it can displace people, which makes it more difficult for them to vote, too.” The future tracking of storms such as Hurricane Helene could be radically different under a new Trump administration, with Project 2025, the rightwing manifesto drawn up by multiple former Trump aides, calling for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Weather Service, which currently provides free public information on weather events, to be broken up and commercialized. “Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future US prosperity,” reads the Project 2025 document, which Trump has attempted to distance himself from. Privatizing the weather service would be a “very bad idea”, Keenan said, because it would risk eliminating important extreme-weather warnings for the public if these weren’t deemed profitable by a private entity. “If you leave it to the private sector, we wouldn’t have the assurances that forecasts were being made in the best interests of the wider public,” he said. The National Hurricane Center, also part of Noaa, is “critical to coordinating evacuations and emergency response”, said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s just one example of how dangerous, deadly and disastrous Project 2025 would be if Trump were elected and it were implemented.” Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, which published the policy blueprint, on Wednesday defended Project 2025’s positions. He also dismissed the overwhelming consensus that humans are warming the planet, telling a New York Times event that “it sounds like weather to me”. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-elections-2024', 'us-news/jd-vance', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/extreme-heat', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/oliver-milman', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/extreme-heat | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-09-27T10:00:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2017/aug/08/mess-with-britain-bins-strike-birmingham | You can slash the social care budget, but don’t mess with Britain’s bins | Helen Pidd | It has been described as “a buffet for rats”. Since the end of June, Birmingham’s bins have gone uncollected because of a dispute between the unions and the council over changes to pay and working practices. Brummies have been forced to clear bags of maggot-ridden rubbish from their own streets and sluice out the bin juice from their gutters as a city-wide strike enters a fifth week. With industrial action promised until 1 September, the Labour-run council knows it must act fast. Wisely, it has hired private refuse collectors to do the rounds and pledged to get to every road by the end of the week. The British do not easily forget anyone who messes with their bins. Voters in the country’s second biggest city recently elected a Tory mayor: Labour can take no chances. Cut the social care budget to shreds, close the Sure Start centres. But interrupt waste disposal arrangements at your peril. I will never forgive Trafford council for introducing a weekly surcharge for collecting my garden waste, and if I find out which of my neighbours has pinched my grey bin (the best one! It’s for all the non-recyclables!) I cannot be held responsible for my own actions. In September 2015, Hounslow council leader Steve Curran called in police after demonstrators piled wheelie bins outside his house in west London in protest at a decision to introduce them (because they don’t roll properly on gravel paths, apparently). Some years ago I spent a few days in Sheffield’s Page Hall after the then local MP, ex-home secretary David Blunkett, warned there could be riots if integration did not improve between the local population and Slovakian Roma incomers. It quickly became clear that at least half of the locals’ beef was about rubbish, and the fact the new arrivals did not come from a culture of bin use, let alone an accepted recycling etiquette. I went back two years later to much cleaner scenes and have no doubt that the Roma would be on the frontline with everybody else now if Sheffield followed Birmingham with a bin war. Kinema paradiso I have a few firm rules when I go to the pictures: nothing over two hours, please, and do not make me suffer a film about war. The fact I willingly agreed to go and watch Dunkirk was testament not so much to Christopher Nolan’s reputation but because it meant a trip to Britain’s most charming cinema. The Kinema in the Woods in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, has been in business since 1922 and is one of the very few picture houses left to still use rear projection. The roof trusses in the former sports pavilion are too low for an image to be projected from the back of the auditorium, so films are projected from behind the screen and on to a mirror to flip the image. I thought Dunkirk was a snooze – flimsy characters and a curious failure to present the truly epic scale of the rescue operation – but I adored the Kinema. A silky curtain rose to signal the start of the main feature and during the interval an organist rose from the stage to serenade us, joined in a duet by a self-playing piano, stage right. Tickets are just £6.80 a pop. The art of bike maintenance I remain obsessed with Manchester’s dockless bike hire scheme, Mobike , which had a rocky start when much of the fleet ended up in the canal. I was delighted, then, to hear about the mother who dobbed in her son when she saw him on the front page of the Manchester Evening News trashing one of the Chinese rental bikes. She was so ashamed of her boy that she rang the police, who prescribed a dose of restorative justice: a bicycle maintenance course, to teach him how to fix the bike he broke. • Helen Pidd is north of England editor of the Guardian | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/waste', 'environment/recycling', 'uk/birmingham', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/helenpidd', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/commentanddebate', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-08-08T14:55:24Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2019/jun/21/mark-field-conservative-grabs-climate-protester-neck-far-right-cheer | Mark Field grabs a climate protester by the neck – and parts of the right cheer him on | Owen Jones | What is more shocking? That during the chancellor of the exchequer’s Mansion House speech in London, at the heart of Britain’s establishment, Mark Field, a middle-aged male Tory minister, slammed a young, female Greenpeace protester against a pillar then forcefully propelled her out, clutching her neck? That no one at this gilded dinner, full of other middle-aged, besuited, bow-tie-wearing members of the British elite, did anything? That some even reportedly applauded when he returned? That multiple rightwing commentators have not only defended this minister but called for him to be awarded a medal? That social media abounds with predominantly men cheering the minister on, offering a disturbing and all too revealing insight into what male behaviour towards women they judge to be acceptable? Field’s defence should be treated with derision and contempt. He claims that “many guests understandably felt threatened and when one protester rushed past me towards the top table I instinctively reacted”, and that “there was no security present and I was for a split-second genuinely worried she might have been armed”. The term “gaslighting” – used to describe psychological abuse in which the victim is made to doubt their recollection of events and even sanity – is often abused in political debate, but here surely is a prima facie case. Mr Field, we can see the video. No one appears threatened by a young Greenpeace activist in a red dress, and a friend of the ITV journalist Robert Peston – who was in attendance – vouches that they did not feel so. She does not “rush”, but calmly strides. She doesn’t even acknowledge Field until the moment he pushes her against a pillar. Anyone who believes a climate protester would be armed needs an urgent appointment with reality. Anyone watching the video can see not fear, let alone panic, in Field’s eyes, but rather rage: unsurprising for a man who just two months ago wrote a letter demanding the Metropolitan police adopt “a much firmer grip” on climate protesters. I can speak from personal experience. I have been repeatedly harassed in the street by far-right protesters, screaming abuse, including overt homophobia, spitting in my face and attempting to punch me. There is no comparison between those fighting the existential threat of the climate emergency and the far-right menace: the latter is a threat to minorities, women and to democracy itself, and its foot soldiers have a long history of using violence. Yet in none of these examples did I lose my temper; instead I ridiculed my aggressors, even when I was surrounded by several of them. I wasn’t at a dinner surrounded by dozens of sympathisers being approached by a peaceful, female climate protester. Sometimes, incidents should not be seen in isolation, as one-offs, but rather as flares, lighting up the ugliest features of society. First, misogyny: here is a man using physical force to coerce and intimidate a woman. Second, class privilege: here was a closed elite circle invaded by protesters – in the proud tradition of peaceful direct action that helped win many of our rights and freedoms – attempting to hold our rulers and their powerful friends to account about an existential threat facing our species. Witness the rightwing hysteria over the milkshaking of Nigel Farage – with a man convicted and sentenced to 150 hours of community service. And then imagine if a working-class black man had been filmed behaving like this. Would social media and the airwaves be full of rightwing commentators and Tory MPs defending him? Third, an increasingly authoritarian, Trumpian approach to dissent, in which critics and opponents of the Tories are routinely disparaged as “traitors”, “saboteurs” and, indeed, “enemies of the people”. Field may have been suspended, but his career is unlikely to end here. A petition demanding his sacking from the government has already attracted thousands of signatures. At the last election, his majority collapsed from 9,961 votes to 3,148: here, surely, is a priority for a righteous unseating. But this whole incident is a chilling reminder of the intersection of misogyny, Trumpian contempt for dissent and class privilege that blights our society, and which has been exacerbated by a Tory government increasingly under the spell of rightwing populism. • Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/politics', 'world/protest', 'uk/uk', 'environment/activism', 'environment/greenpeace', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'world/far-right', 'type/article', 'profile/owen-jones', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-06-21T10:44:51Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
commentisfree/2023/jul/06/china-clean-energy-revolution-coal-power | Is China really leading the clean energy revolution? Not exactly | Li Shuo | Big numbers are a hallmark of China’s economy and now its energy transition: they thrill, they mystify, and at times they contradict, at least on the surface. China’s solar capacity is now 228 gigawatts (GW), more than the rest of the world combined, according to Global Energy Monitor. And wind capacity, at a whopping 310GW, also leads the world. With another 750GW of new wind and solar projects in the pipeline, China will hit its 2030 target of 1,200GW – an unimaginable number when proposed just a few years ago – five years early. Scratching through the big numbers, two issues deserve the world’s deeper understanding. The first is that China’s successful clean technology campaign has more to do with its economic strategy than its climate commitments. The second is that, alongside its impressive achievements in renewable energy, China is also one of the world’s biggest polluters. Neither is likely to change imminently. The ability to manufacture at scale and quality, and deploy funds competitively, underpins China’s impressive growth of wind and solar, as well as electric vehicles. This is the outcome of an industrial policy that features consistent state support, highly integrated supply chains, cut-throat competition, indigenous innovation and entrepreneurship, and the economies of scale that only a country the size of China can offer. China’s EV manufacturers, for example, have been supplying millions of cars in a fiercely competitive domestic market for years, and have been boosted by government support. In contrast, their western counterparts are only beginning to enjoy a similar market scale at home. They also face stronger resistance from conventional vehicle producers. This is not to say that the rest of the world is hopeless in the face of an established clean technology giant. But other countries need to do much better in translating cutting-edge technologies into actual manufacturing. Western countries have prided themselves on innovations in the lab for so long. Failing to bring them to the factory floor or to realise that many innovations take place along the assembly line would be a grave mistake. For China, the good news is that the economic conditions that propelled its rapid clean technology growth are here to stay. Astronomical numbers are the forecast for the foreseeable future. If anything, Chinese solar and electric vehicle manufacturers will become more efficient and supply ever cheaper solutions to reduce carbon emissions nationally and globally. These opportunities are key points of leverage as the international community tries to appeal for greater climate ambition from China. Climate diplomats coming to Beijing need to help Chinese leaders realise the alignment between their economic agenda and the climate agenda. Global climate conversations in places such as the G20 and Cops will be better served if they incentivise Chinese action based on its strengths. China’s current and future domination of clean technology also raises important questions for other countries. Can they become more cost-efficient than China? Are they prepared, economically and politically, to risk the bankruptcy and failure suffered by their Chinese counterparts before many of them emerged as industry leaders? What does deglobalisation in the clean energy supply chain mean for the effort of combating climate crisis? For sound policies and a liveable planet, these questions require serious thought by world leaders, but they have so far been overshadowed by geopolitical zeal. Meanwhile, China’s rapid clean energy expansion needs to be read together with its continued expansion of new coal power. More than half of all coal the world consumed over the past decade was consumed in China, and the country’s coal fever shows no sign of waning. Just in the first quarter of 2023, provincial governments in China have already approved at least 20.45GW of new coal projects. Coal combustion is currently projected to increase at a “reasonable speed” into 2030. While the pro-growth and pro-infrastructure development mentality has boosted China’s clean energy sector, it is exactly the same logic that fuels coal development. Beijing is simultaneously becoming the biggest solution provider and the biggest troublemaker. But in the current climate crisis, the world cannot afford this trend of renewable energy and coal going head to head with one another. Currently, the percentage of China’s electricity that is generated by wind and solar is expected to grow by less than 1% a year between 2023 and 2030. At this rate, the country may achieve peak CO2 emissions before 2030, but is less likely to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, as President Xi Jinping pledged in 2020. The challenge for China is to maintain its record on clean technology but to shut off the coal pipeline. That will require decisive reforms in its power sector, where many of the rules still favour coal over clean energy sources. Technological solutions such as energy storage could also help the transition in the interim. But ultimately, the country needs to gather the political courage to stop building coal plants and start phasing them out. As for the rest of the world, global persuasion for China to shift its course on coal is critical. Climate diplomacy won’t be pain free, but it is the only way to tackle the defining global crisis of our times. Countries in the west also need to learn from China, even if there is no simple cut-and-paste solution for them. It is a blessing that a template for success exists. Refusing to learn from each other, in a world where countries are more interested in fighting one another than climate change, would be futile. Li Shuo is senior policy adviser for Greenpeace East Asia | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/china', 'environment/energy', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/electric-cars', 'technology/energy', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/environment', 'world/asia-pacific', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/li-shuo', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2023-07-06T12:58:52Z | true | ENERGY |
society/2023/may/13/single-use-vapes-sparking-surge-in-fires-at-uk-waste-plants | Single-use vapes sparking surge in fires at UK waste plants | Disposable vapes are behind a dramatic rise in fires at recycling plants over the last year, raising the risk of a major blaze releasing toxic fumes and polluting air, industry experts warn. Recycling firms are now dealing with so many vapes that they are struggling to insure their facilities. Some are now using artificial intelligence to detect vapes and their lithium-ion batteries, as well as installing thermal imaging cameras and automatic foam jets. The hazardous material dealt with at waste and recycling plants means they can potentially cause fires similar to 2020’s Bradford tyre fire which burned for a week and forced 20 schools to close and required every firefighter in West Yorkshire. Around 1.3m single-use vapes are now thrown away each week in the UK – an extraordinary rise since the first was sold in 2019 – and many are dumped by the roadside or in general waste. They contain lithium-ion batteries, which easily catch fire if broken, and some vapers have suffered life-changing injuries after theirs have exploded. Research by Material Focus, a non-profit organisation which runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, found that more than 700 fires in bin lorries and recycling centres were caused by batteries that had been dumped into general waste. Grundon, which recycles around 80,000 tonnes of household and municipal waste a year, has seen an increase in the number of disposable vapes being picked up by road sweeping vehicles, whose circular brushes usually collect leaves and stones. “They’re sold as disposable so people just throw them on the floor,” said Owen George, division manager for Grundon. “We didn’t see any about a year or so ago, but now they’re everywhere. We probably pick out 100 to 150 on an eight-hour shift. And they’re just the ones we catch.” The ones they don’t catch can end up in their non-recyclable waste stream with items such as Pringles cans, plastic wrappers and disposable coffee cups. These are chopped and packed into bales, a process that can break open a lithium-ion battery, which can then easily catch fire. Grundon has had three or four fires in the past year alone at just one site. “We’ve managed to put them out, but the frequency is really growing,” George said. “It’s not just us – it’s affecting everyone in the industry.” Grundon has installed fire detection equipment costing about £250,000 at each of its facilities. “We’ve put in thermal-imaging cameras and, in some places, we’ve got automated cannons that lock on to the fire and hit it with water and foam to put it out.” Insurers have become reluctant to cover the waste industry because of the fire risk, with premiums growing and expensive fire safety systems now a requirement. Artificial intelligence is another option. About 70% of the recycling facilities market in Europe is operated by companies who now use AI developed by Greyparrot. “We have a box that has a camera inside and we take continuous images of the waste stream, then use AI to detect and analyse those images,” said Mikela Druckman, Greyparrot’s chief executive. The system can recognise 67 types of material which can then be sorted – iron and steel can be picked up magnetically, while lighter PET plastic bottles can be blown off with a burst of air. “We’re doing several projects, mainly in Austria but now also in the UK, where we’re identifying batteries in the waste stream,” Druckman said. Justin Guest, co-founder of Archipelago Eco, which invests in recycling technology, said that banning vapes would be “a blunt instrument”, adding: “It doesn’t solve the problem because it’s not just vapes – there are batteries in so many things now. People will always get stuff and throw it away. “There will be some other consumer craze that comes along and these materials will always find their way into the waste stream. So you need safeguards, and you need technology to solve that problem.” About 138m single-use vapes are now sold in the UK each year, containing enough lithium for about 1,200 electric vehicle batteries. • This article was amended on 15 May 2023. An earlier version said that 70% of UK recycling facilities now use AI developed by Greyparrot; it is 70% of the recycling facilities market in Europe that is operated by companies who use this AI. | ['society/e-cigarettes', 'society/smoking', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'uk/firefighters', 'uk/uk', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/james-tapper', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-05-13T13:39:49Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
lifeandstyle/2020/nov/23/tree-of-the-week-this-juniper-reminded-me-that-magic-is-everywhere | Tree of the week: ‘This juniper reminded me that magic is everywhere’ | As an artist and photographer, Lena Konstantakou has always taken inspiration from ordinary things. “I love trees and the sea, so I’m lucky to live in Rafina,” she says. The beautiful port town is 16 miles (25km) east of Athens. Konstantakou, who was raised in the capital, lived and worked in London for 11 years before moving back to Greece a decade ago. She remembers feeling profoundly uninspired on her return. “I was feeling lost and nostalgic for the big city, so I started photographing the surrounding woods in order to ground myself in my new environment.” It was on one of these walks in 2011 that Konstantakou discovered this Phoenician juniper. “It’s at the bottom of a hidden path and so it’s rarely visited by tourists, but as soon I saw it it was love at first sight.” She estimates that the tree is five metres (17ft) tall and between 300 and 400 years old. “It looks like a beautiful 19th-century dress; I think it’s the way the branches elegantly drape down its back.” While the juniper’s thick branches and imposing frame form part of its appeal, its significance to Konstantakou comes down to timing. “This tree helped me to reconnect with the natural world at a time when I was desperate for inspiration, and for that I will always be grateful,” she says. “I call it ‘the magic tree’, because it has this mysterious, otherworldly quality. It’s a reminder that magic is everywhere. Whenever I see it, I feel proud to live in such a beautiful place.” Tell us about your favourite tree by filling in this form. | ['lifeandstyle/series/tree-of-the-week', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'world/greece', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/alex-mistlin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-11-23T07:00:46Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2018/apr/17/more-than-95-of-worlds-population-breathe-dangerous-air-major-study-finds | More than 95% of world's population breathe dangerous air, major study finds | More than 95% of the world’s population breathe unsafe air and the burden is falling hardest on the poorest communities, with the gap between the most polluted and least polluted countries rising rapidly, a comprehensive study of global air pollution has found. Cities are home to an increasing majority of the world’s people, exposing billions to unsafe air, particularly in developing countries, but in rural areas the risk of indoor air pollution is often caused by burning solid fuels. One in three people worldwide faces the double whammy of unsafe air both indoors and out. The report by the Health Effects Institute used new findings such as satellite data and better monitoring to estimate the numbers of people exposed to air polluted above the levels deemed safe by the World Health Organisation. This exposure has made air pollution the fourth highest cause of death globally, after high blood pressure, diet and smoking, and the greatest environmental health risk. Experts estimate that exposure to air pollution contributed to more than 6m deaths worldwide last year, playing a role in increasing the risk of stroke, heart attack, lung cancer and chronic lung disease. China and India accounted for more than half of the death toll. Burning solid fuel such as coal or biomass in their homes for cooking or heating exposed 2.6 billion people to indoor air pollution in 2016, the report found. Indoor air pollution can also affect air quality in the surrounding area, with this effect contributing to one in four pollution deaths in India and nearly one in five in China. Bob O’Keefe, vice-president of the institute, said the gap between the most polluted air on the planet and the least polluted was striking. While developed countries have made moves to clean up, many developing countries have fallen further behind while seeking economic growth. He said there was now an 11-fold gap between the most polluted and least polluted areas, compared with a six-fold gap in 1990. “Air pollution control systems still lag behind economic development [in poorer nations],” he said. But he added: “There are reasons for optimism, though there is a long way to go. China seems to be now moving pretty aggressively, for instance in cutting coal and on stronger controls. India has really begun to step up on indoor air pollution, for instance through the provision of LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] as a cooking fuel, and through electrification.” The number of people exposed to indoor air pollution from burning solid fuels has fallen from an estimated 3.6 billion around the world in 1990 to about 2.4 billion today, despite a rising population. Emissions from transport are a growing concern, however, as road traffic increases. Diesel fuel is a leading cause of air pollution in some rich countries, including the UK, but in poorer countries the often decrepit state of many vehicles means petrol-driven engines can be just as bad in their outputs, especially of the fine particulate matter blamed for millions of deaths a year. O’Keefe said governments were under increasing pressure to deal with the problems through regulation and controls, and hailed internet access as having a significant impact. “Social media has been very important, as a growing number of people have access to it and to data and discussions [on air pollution]. People now have the ability to worry about not just the food they eat and a roof over the head, but they have the means to discuss [issues] in public,” he said. Tuesday’s report reinforces an increasing volume of data in recent years that has shown how air pollution is increasing and causing deaths. More data has become available in the past decade from satellites and on-the-ground monitoring, while large-scale studies have revealed more of the health risks arising from breathing dirty air, which rarely kills people directly but is now known to contribute to other causes of death. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'society/health', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-04-17T04:00:27Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
technology/2017/oct/25/honolulu-fines-people-for-texting-while-crossing-road | Honolulu now fines people up to $99 for texting while crossing road | Our smartphone obsession has reached a new low. The Hawaiian city of Honolulu has resorted to fining people up to $99 for staring at the devices, to try and force people to look up from their phones while crossing the road. The new law gives police the power to fine people up to $35 (£26.41) for their first offence, $75 for their second and $99 thereafter, perhaps expecting it to take quite some effort to get people to take notice. The bill, which comes into force today after being rubber stamped by the Hawaiian city’s mayor in July, states that “no pedestrian shall cross a street or highway while viewing a mobile electronic device”. Mobile phones are included as well as any “text messaging device, paging device, personal digital assistant, laptop computer, video game, or digital photographic device” but audio equipment is excluded. Holding a conversation on a phone while walking is still permitted, as is using a device in an emergency, but crossing the road while texting, reading or Facebooking – as millions around the world do every day – is not. “This is really milestone legislation that sets the bar high for safety,” Brandon Elefante, the member of the city council who proposed the bill told the New York Times. While New Jersey proposed fines of up to $50 or 15 days’ imprisonment for so-called distracted walking in 2016, Honolulu appears to be the first city in the world put legislative action into force in a bid to protect citizens from the dangers of so-called distracted walking. Other cities have tried physical adjustments in an effort to change pedestrians’ behaviour. London’s Brick Lane installed padded lampposts in 2008 to help those walking into them while texting. Last year, the German city of Augsburg went as far as embedding traffic signals into the ground near tram tracks. Injuries from distracted walking are on the rise, and there’s evidence to suggest that it is changing the way people walk. A study published in the journal Plos One found that texting and walking made people adopt an increasingly cautious stepping strategy and increased the time it took them to perform various tasks. Some smartphone and app makers have also tried designing systems that use the device’s camera to show the street ahead in the background of a text conversation. Whether Honolulu’s new legislation is practically enforceable or the most effective way to change pedestrians’ behaviour remains to be seen. Together we can fight the scourge of texting while walking | ['technology/smartphones', 'technology/chat-messaging-apps', 'technology/mobilephones', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'us-news/hawaii', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-technology'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-10-25T12:14:44Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2019/feb/12/calls-for-inquiry-as-adani-confirms-it-released-contaminated-water | Calls for inquiry as Adani confirms it released contaminated water | Activists have called on the Queensland government to investigate after mining company Adani confirmed that contaminated water released into the Caley Valley wetlands during last week’s Queensland floods occurred at almost twice the rate it is licensed for. The company issued a statement on Tuesday to say investigations at Abbot Point had concluded the flood waters did not enter the Great Barrier Reef marine park area. But polluted water had entered the wetlands from an authorised release point at elevated levels it said were “minor”. The company said flood water released into the wetlands was sent for an analysis that found the volume of total suspended solids and debris material – such as soil, plant, dust and other pollutants – was 58 mg/L. Adani is licensed to release water containing a maximum of 30 mg/L in contaminants. “This is a very minor elevation in total suspended solids, following an extraordinary weather event that caused flooding and damage to much of North Queensland including many homes, businesses, and farms,” said Dwayne Freeman, the chief executive of Abbot Point Operations. “We are confident there will be no environmental impacts to the wetlands area, despite this unprecedented weather event.” He said the company would not normally release its test results but it recognised there was a high level of interest in the operations at Abbot Point terminal and it wanted “to keep the community informed and to demonstrate our commitment to operating transparently and with integrity”. It would be the second breach of Adani’s licence requirements at the site and activists called on the Queensland government to prosecute. The Queensland government took legal action against Adani last year for breaching an amended licence for the release of polluted water during cyclone Debbie in 2017. Peter McCallum, the coordinator of the Mackay Conservation Group, said the levels measured were almost twice what was allowed under Adani’s licence. “We believe that the government should, once it gathers the evidence, prosecute the company for this second breach of their licence at this site,” he said. The Australian Marine Conservation Society said it was the second time in two years that Adani had exceeded its pollution limits in the wetlands area. “This second breach in only two years shows Adani has again failed to comply with its legal obligations to protect the environment,” said Lissa Schindler, the AMCS’s reef campaigner. “Instead of running an advertising blitz to pressure the Queensland government into approving its reef-wrecking project, Adani should have been ensuring its port was able to cope with Queensland’s extreme weather events.” The department of environment and science said Adani had not applied for a temporary emissions licence to increase the amount of pollutants it could release. A spokesperson said the department had also conducted its own tests at the site last week and was awaiting results from an analysis of water samples. “DES will consider the results from the laboratory analysis along with other information in relation to the release event before making any determination as to whether or not the company has complied with the environmental authority conditions for the site,” the spokesperson said. Adani has been contacted for comment. | ['business/adani-group', 'environment/great-barrier-reef', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-02-12T07:43:35Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2022/nov/22/flaws-in-australias-carbon-credits-schemes-undermine-transparency-new-report-finds | Flaws in Australia’s carbon credits schemes undermine transparency, new report finds | Criticisms raised by a whistleblower who called Australia’s carbon credits “largely a sham” have been supported in a new report commissioned by the Albanese government. The study by the Australian Academy of Science, requested by the independent Chubb review, examined strengths and limitations of four methods used to generate Australian carbon credit units by reducing or avoiding emissions. Each of the methods – human-induced regeneration (HIR), avoided deforestation, landfill gas, and carbon capture and storage – had flaws that potentially undermined investor and community confidence in credits, the academy’s report found. One issue was whether the projects claiming the carbon cuts would have gone ahead without the granting of credits. The methods’ complexity and lack of transparency were other challenges. For instance, farmers in inland New South Wales and Queensland were being paid for limiting land-clearing for cattle grazing when the biggest factor in vegetation growth was rain. “Variable patterns in rainfall are the dominant drivers of fluctuations in woody biomass in these systems, with the proportion attributable to human activity small and variable,” the study found in its analysis of the single largest Australian carbon credit unit source at 28%. “This triggers the ‘evidence based’ offset integrity standard, as it is not clear how changes in carbon sequestration in HIR projects can be convincingly differentiated between human and climatic changes.” Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Andrew Macintosh, an Australian National University professor and former head of the government’s emissions reduction assurance committee who warned much of the carbon market was a waste of taxpayer funds, said the report findings “support our position that the carbon market has significant integrity problems that are in need of urgent attention”. With HIR projects, the regulator had “no processes for separating out the impacts of rainfall from the impacts of grazing management, meaning proponents will inevitably be credited for rainfall-induced changes in tree and shrub cover”, he said. “In simple terms, proponents will get credits for growing trees that would have grown anyway,” Macintosh said. The report also recommended such projects be limited to “areas with higher rainfall and showing clearer signals of human activity”, findings in line with his group’s views. Similarly, landfill operators were claiming credits for cutting methane emissions that were often already earning large-scale generation credits for electricity production. “Some landfill operators have a baseline under 30%, carried over from previous government schemes as part of the newness provision that allows project transitions,” the study found. “This runs counter to principles of regulatory additionality.” “This should not surprise anyone,” Macintosh said. “Our position was simple and inarguable, and the vast majority of the landfill gas sector has publicly agreed that the baselines for a significant number of projects are not fit for purpose.” A spokesperson for the department of climate change said the purpose of the Chubb Review was to “ensure Australia’s carbon crediting framework maintains a strong and credible reputation supported by participants, purchasers and the broader community”. The academy report was commissioned to provide “a rapid assessment of these methods”, and would be among “key contributions” for the review panel. Polly Hemming, a senior carbon credit analyst at the Australia Institute, said the report was “cautious” and predicted it would limit the review’s findings. “It is hard to see how the Chubb review can now do anything other than advise the government that there are manifest problems with the linchpin of its climate policy,” Hemming said, adding the report only considered four of 30-plus methods of generating credits. “The Australian government is putting considerable weight behind blue carbon and soil carbon credits without subjecting the methodology to similar scrutiny,” she said. The academy report also emphasised the need for the government to avoid rushing through legislation on the related safeguard mechanism for industry “before it can guarantee the integrity of the credits being used”, Hemming said. The academy report also said “a well-designed scheme” could bring other benefits than a “cleaner environment”, such as alleviating poverty and advancing cultural stewardship obligations of Indigenous communities. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'environment/environment', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/carbon-offset-projects | EMISSIONS | 2022-11-21T23:30:34Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2018/dec/27/country-diary-an-ancient-woodland-once-home-to-a-medieval-fish-farm | Country diary: an ancient woodland once home to a medieval fish farm | A man with two dogs spilled out of Home Wood and we fell into the kind of good-humoured conversation that runs on wagging tails and eager snouts – this deaf 15-year-old jack russell with everlasting batteries; that young brown mongrel nursing a damaged spine. Five minutes later we parted, ending my sole encounter with another human being in a whole afternoon of walking through woods and fields. Were it not for dog walkers the deserted countryside of our crowded islands would be even emptier. Yet those two terriers had just sniffed their way around the humps and ditches of a once industrialised area. Here was ground that had been filled with people at a time when the population was less than a 10th of what it is today. Home Wood was one of six ancient woodlands within three miles that probably were worked all winter by coppicers, thatchers, hurdle-makers and others earning a livelihood from the trees. The wood has also grown over and half-obscured a sizeable medieval factory-farming unit, one of the best-preserved of 2,000 or more that operated within the clay-capped counties of England. I came to the factory perimeter, a thicket of splayed sedges sprouting pendulous heads that fronted a still channel of water three metres wide. An algae-coated Forestry Commission sign facing the ditch declared “Fish stew and rabbit pie”, a succinct summary of the 13th-century earthwork’s purpose as a fish farm and rabbit warren. I looked into the moat, a western boundary only a little less than two football pitches in length. The sign spoke of a dozen fish stews beyond the moat, a series of ever deeper breeding ponds that housed all sizes from fry to full adults. But the stews (from the French estuier – to keep or enclose) were lost from sight over the far bank within a tangle of brambles and alder trees. Above the dry stretch of the moat that marked the eastern boundary was an agricultural motte, a raised bank of spoil from the ponds that archaeologists believe housed a rabbit warren. The moat penned the conies in and kept the peasantry out – lords of Northill manor guarded their winter stocks of fish and flesh. | ['environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'environment/winter', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'culture/heritage', 'food/food', 'culture/culture', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/derek-niemann', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-12-27T05:30:13Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2020/oct/09/china-says-highly-concerned-about-safety-uk-investments | China says it is highly concerned about safety of its UK investments | China has said it is highly concerned about the future openness and safety of Chinese investments in the UK after the Commons defence select committee said the presence of Huawei in UK 5G networks represented “a significant risk to individuals and government”. The committee also dismissed claims by Huawei that it was independent from the Chinese Communist party. A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said in response to the report that some in the UK should think before they speak and that the legitimate interests of Chinese companies were being damaged. “The openness and fairness of the UK market, as well as the security of foreign investments there, is highly concerning,” she said, speaking at a daily news conference in Beijing on Friday. Huawei responded to the report by saying it lacked credibility. “It is built on opinion rather than fact. We’re sure people will see through these groundless accusations of collusion and remember instead what Huawei has delivered for Britain over the past 20 years,” a company spokesman said. The Chinese foreign ministry reaction, although in line with other recent criticism of UK policy towards China, underlines the risks British and Chinese firms face as they seek to trade in each other’s markets. The MPs had admitted that “ending China’s involvement in the UK’s critical infrastructure would be a radical step with huge implications for the UK’s economy”, but they also warned that “if threats by the Chinese state continue and worsen, the government should carefully consider China’s future presence in critical sectors of the economy”. The latest comments from China are likely to add to calls for the government to use the imminent national security and investment bill to take wider powers to block new or existing foreign investments that threaten Britain’s national interest. Chinese investments in the nuclear industry and potentially HS2 are judged to be the most controversial. The Chinese reaction comes despite the select committee holding back from assessing Huawei’s presence in UK 5G as a major risk. The MPs point out the UK government’s cyber experts had been clear that the original UK plan, set out in January 2020 but subsequently abandoned under US pressure in July, to restrict Huawei to 35% of the market had been correct. The MPs also found there was no risk of Huawei being able to access UK intelligence communications through its access to 5G. The committee said the UK ministers had in effect been forced to change their position to a complete removal of Huawei by 2027 mainly due to the US decision in May to ban the use of reliable US chips in the Huawei network. That meant Huawei 5G in turn was no longer as reliable. “From our public and private conversations with the government,” the MPs reported, “we were confident that GCHQ and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) were able to appropriately manage any increased risk posed by the presence of Huawei or other high-risk vendors in the UK’s 5G. Furthermore, we recognised that whilst the risk remained manageable, it was important to remember the benefits in having a greater number of vendors involved in 5G network provision.” The NCSC told the committee there was no technical reason for the UK’s close intelligence allies – the US and Australia – to ban Huawei outright, leading the MPs to conclude that steps had been taken for geopolitical reasons. The MPs also warned of blackouts across the network if the government tried to speed up the Huawei phaseout to a date as early as 2025. In one of the most damning passages of the report, the committee said Huawei “is clearly strongly linked to the Chinese state and the Chinese Communist party, despite its statements to the contrary, as evidenced by its ownership model and the subsidies it has received. Additionally, Huawei’s apparent willingness to support China’s intelligence agencies and China’s 2017 national intelligence law are further cause for concern.” The MPs also expressed concern that the recent discussions about UK allies cooperating to form an alternative to Huawei remained hazy, pointing out that the ejection of Huawei would leave the UK with a three-company vendor market, which presents a resilience risk of its own. They said one of the three firms still active in the UK market – the Swedish firm Ericsson – was highly dependent on Chinese products. | ['world/china', 'politics/trade-policy', 'technology/huawei', 'world/asia-pacific', 'politics/politics', 'technology/technology', 'business/business', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrickwintour', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2020-10-09T12:06:06Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2008/nov/06/wind-power-vestas | Vestas expects 25% wind turbine boost next year | Vestas, the world's biggest wind turbine maker, is slowing down staff recruitment in the light of economic uncertainty but still expects to increase sales by more than 25% next year. The Danish company said its third-quarter earnings rose from €102m (£130m) to €160m, slightly below City forecasts. It was on track for sales of €5.7bn for 2008 and €7.2bn for 2009. Ditlev Engel, chief executive, said the election of Barack Obama was promising for green energy growth in America and global investment would increase its capital spend to €1.2bn next year. Planned expansion of staff would be slightly reined in for the short term. "We are going to be holding back a little bit until we see how the (global) financial problems affect the wider picture," said Engel He said employee numbers had risen by 5,000 to 20,000 this year. There has been a surge in demand for renewable energy due to fears about oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions but Vestas shares, like other renewable stocks, have lost nearly 60% of their value since the end of August on fears the financial crisis and lower oil prices would cut growth. Engel shrugged off the slump in crude values to little over $60 a barrel. He said it was clear that the long-term direction of a finite energy resource was upwards. "You have to take the long-term view because there is so much volatility around. When we presented the second quarter results, oil prices were at over $140 per barrel," he said. Governments were increasingly taking action to encourage the growth of clean power sources such as wind and solar. Vestas said it was greatly encouraged by Obama's success and said he needed to introduce plans that would give long-term certainty to renewables. Engel said he was also encouraged by policy statements from Gordon Brown, the prime minister, and Vestas was scaling up operations in the Isle of Wight, a centre of research and development. Shares in the company rose 1.2% on the Copenhagen stockmarket, having already risen strongly over the past 48 hours with political developments in the US. Jacob Pedersen, analyst with Denmark's Sydbank, said: "The share price has halved over the last few months because of worry that people will simply stop buying turbines because of the crisis, and those are worries, I think, the results have put to shame." | ['environment/vestas', 'environment/energy', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'world/denmark', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2008-11-06T13:41:31Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2013/sep/24/tesco-ventures-into-consumer-data-with-new-specialist-investment-fund | Tesco ventures into consumer data with new specialist investment fund | Dunnhumby, a customer science company wholly owned by the retail giant, launched its own Dunnhumby Ventures firm on Tuesday. The new venture capital wing will fund startups which are focused on making the best use of consumer data in a retail environment. The three initial investments, which all received between £100k-£500k in seed funding, all focus on consumer data. InfoScout users receive rewards for uploading pictures of receipts, giving the startup valuable consumer data. The Shelf has a similar strategy, exchanging discounts for information but focused particularly on fashion. Labels can identify bloggers they want to target, and bloggers can make money from tools offering affiliate links. For shoppers, the Shelf offers sale alerts, wishlists and the ability to keep up-to-date with spam-free promotions. Coherent Path claims that retailer reward schemes "focus too much on selling more of the things that a customer has just purchased”, and instead calculates how to make the user more loyal in store. That might involve finding out that people who buy thick-rimmed glasses also buy knitted cardigans and tight jeans – and then offering those people a discount on a very expensive coffee machine. “To me, it's what does each one of these entrepreneurs bring to the table which is going to make them successful,” says Dave Balter, Global Head of Investments at Dunnhumby. “We have a clear vision… but we're aware that we don't know what we don't know.” By investing in a diverse group of companies, Dunnhumby hopes to be able to catch hold of trends even before they are aware what they are. And, by owning Dunnhumby, Tesco gets the same benefits. “Last week the chief executive of Tesco, Philip Clarke, was in Boston, we spent the day with him,” Balter continues. “We toured some of the innovations that were happening in Boston like the MIT Media lab… You've got the CEO of Tesco spending his time looking at innovation, thinking about innovation, and if you look at Dunnhumby and Dunnhumby Ventures… it's in lock step.” In a blogpost announcing the launch, Balter explained Dunnhumby Ventures’ vision of redefining what it means to “run down to the corner store”. "In yesterday’s world, that would have meant hopping into your Buick LeSabre, rolling down the windows – manually – and wandering the aisles until you found the 24-roll Charmin somehow mixed in with the pet food. In tomorrow’s world, your retailer will know you like double-ply, and shop for it once every two weeks, which is why a personalised discount will appear simultaneously on your mobile phone and discreetly on the digital shelf as you wander by." It’s a vision which is shared by many of the biggest tech firms today. Google Now, the company’s digital personal assistant, learns from users’ behaviour, and can even learn that, at 6pm, they are about to leave work, and recommend them the best bus route home. But when those features were introduced, they weren’t unanimously welcomed. “There’s a fine line between cool and creepy,” was a TechCrunch headline at the time; when the feature was introduce to iOS, the New York Times ran an item on How to tell Google Now to stop peeking. Is Balter worried about a similar reaction? “I'm probably just as freaked out my big companies knowing everything about me as the rest of the world… there's no-one here who doesn't understand why people think this is important.” But, he says, the only way to get customer loyalty “is to put what you want in front of you… this is about foundations of trust. The customer has to benefit first". | ['technology/data-visualisation', 'technology/technology', 'business/business', 'business/tesco', 'type/article', 'profile/alex-hern'] | technology/data-visualisation | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2013-09-24T16:33:56Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
us-news/2017/aug/30/in-an-era-of-unwelcome-climate-records-hurricane-harvey-wont-be-the-last | In an era of dire climate records the US and South Asia floods won't be the last | The 17tn US gallons of rain (roughly 26m Olympic swimming pools) dumped on Texas by Hurricane Harvey has set a new high for a tropical system in the US, but it is unlikely to last long as rising man-made emissions push the global climate deeper into uncharted territory. Images of flooded streets in Texas are mirrored by scenes of inundated communities in India and Bangladesh, the recent mudslides in Sierra Leone and last month’s deadly overflow of a Yangtze tributary in China. In part, these calamities are seasonal. In part, the impact depends on local factors. But scientists tell us such extremes are likely to become more common and more devastating as a result of rising global temperatures and increasingly intense rainfall. Our planet is in an era of unwelcome records. For each of the past three years, temperatures have hit peaks not seen since the birth of meteorology, and probably not for more than 110,000 years. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air is at its highest level in 4m years. This does not cause storms like Harvey – there have always been storms and hurricanes at this time of year along the Gulf of Mexico – but it makes them wetter and more powerful. As the seas warm, they evaporate more easily and provide energy to storm fronts. As the air above them warms, it holds more water vapour. For every half a degree celsius in warming, there is about a 3% increase in atmospheric moisture content. Scientists call this the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. This means the skies fill more quickly and have more to dump. In Harvey’s case, the surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico is more than a degree higher than 30 years ago. Yes, the storm surge was greater because sea levels have risen 20cm as a result of more than 100 years of human-related global warming. This has melted glaciers and thermally expanded the volume of seawater. As the rain in Texas moved towards the 120cm US record set in 1978, the nation’s meteorologists have had to introduce a new colour for their charts. It may not be the last revision. “For large countries like the United States, we can expect further rainfall records – and not just for hurricanes,” said Friederike Otto, deputy director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. This is part of a wider trend. “For the globe, we’ll see heat and extreme rainfall records fall for the foreseeable future,” she predicted. She cautioned that the situation is likely to be different from country to country. Many factors are involved, but human impact on the climate has added to the tendency for more severe droughts and fiercer storms. High tides have added to the unusually harsh monsoon flooding in India and Bangladesh that has killed about 1,000 people in recent weeks and forced millions from their homes. Climatologists are able to attribute with growing accuracy the impact of human emissions on extreme weather events, but much remains uncertain. A key focus now is whether climate change is connected to the “stalling” of storms. In the US, hurricanes usually move inland and diminish in power as they get further from the sea. Harvey, however, was stationary for several days – which is the main factor in its rainfall record. Scientists have said this may be the single biggest question posed by Harvey. “I’m not aware of anyone asking this before. I’m not sure anyone would have predicted this kind of event,” said Tim Palmer a Royal Society research professor at the University of Oxford. Researchers have recently identified a slowdown of atmospheric summer circulation in the mid-latitudes as a result of strong warming in the Arctic. But Palmer said such studies of pressure patterns need more powerful analytical tools, including supercomputers. In the US, however, such research has become highly politicised. President Donald Trump claims climate change is a myth invented by China. He has announced that the US will pull out of the Paris climate treaty and cut funding for related research. “It shouldn’t be a political matter to try to understand how much more frequent events like Harvey will become in the future,” said Palmer. “It appalls me how basic science has become embroiled in politics like this.” | ['us-news/hurricane-harvey', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-08-31T08:47:35Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2019/feb/22/weatherwatch-warm-winter-sun-theres-a-word-for-that | Weatherwatch: warm winter sun – there's a word for that | Apricity is an old English word for the warmth of the sun on a winter’s day. To bask in the sun is to apricate. The air may be cold, but radiant solar heat can raise objects to much higher temperatures, especially away from the convective cooling of the wind. The word apricity derives from the Latin apricus, meaning “warmed by the sun”. To apricate also means to freshen and disinfect by exposure to sunlight. In particular, the ultraviolet component of sunlight can kill bacteria, fungi and other microbes, hence the old saying that sunlight is the best disinfectant. This is traditionally applied to laundry, but has other uses too. Some two million people worldwide rely on solar disinfection or Sodis for water purification, essentially by putting water in a plastic bottle and leaving it in the sun for several hours. This method does not remove other contaminants or guarantee that water is safe to drink, but it can greatly reduce the number of dangerous bacteria. The month of April has a different etymology. It derives ultimately from Apru, the Etruscan name for Aphrodite, the goddess to whom the month was dedicated. Her name is not connected with apricity but she probably enjoyed basking in the sun on a winter’s day as much as anyone. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/winter', 'science/sun', 'society/hygiene', 'environment/water', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-02-22T21:30:38Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2023/sep/27/uk-gives-go-ahead-to-develop-rosebank-oil-and-gas-field-in-north-sea | UK go-ahead for North Sea oil and gas field angers environmental groups | Britain has given the go-ahead to develop the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland, sparking outrage from environmental campaigners. The UK oil and gas regulator’s decision to grant the Oslo-listed Equinor and the British firm Ithaca Energy permission to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea was condemned by the Green party MP Caroline Lucas as “the greatest act of environmental vandalism in my lifetime”. “We have today approved the Rosebank field development plan, which allows the owners to proceed with their project,” the North Sea Transition Authority said in a statement on Wednesday. “The FDP is awarded in accordance with our published guidance and taking net zero considerations into account throughout the project’s lifecycle.” The field has the potential to produce 500m barrels of oil in its lifetime, which when burned would emit as much carbon dioxide as running 56 coal-fired power stations for a year. Green campaigners, including Greta Thunberg, had called on the UK government to halt the development, arguing that it contravened Britain’s plan for a net zero economy. “Rishi Sunak has proven once and for all that he puts the profits of oil companies above everyday people,” said Philip Evans, a Greenpeace UK climate campaigner. “We know that relying on fossil fuels is terrible for our energy security, the cost of living, and the climate.” Rosebank could produce 69,000 barrels of oil a day – about 8% of the UK’s projected daily output between 2026 and 2030 – and could also produce 44m cubic feet of gas every day, according to Equinor. Tessa Khan, a climate lawyer and the executive director of the campaign group Uplift, which helped coordinate the Stop Rosebank campaign, said a legal challenge could be mounted against the government. “There are strong grounds to believe that the way this government has come to this decision is unlawful and we will see them in court if so,” she said. Hannah Martin, a co-director of Green New Deal Rising, said: “Approving the Rosebank oilfield is an act of climate vandalism by Rishi Sunak and his government … but Labour has not committed to reversing this decision, despite acknowledging that Rosebank’s approval is wrong. “This position does not make sense, and there is still time for Keir Starmer to put himself on the right side of history and show leadership by committing to revoking Rosebank’s licence.” Members of Fossil Free London and Stop Rosebank protested outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on Whitehall Place. Starmer defended Labour’s position on the Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast on Thursday. “What we’ve said is no new licences to be granted when we’re in power, but we won’t revoke anything, any licences that are granted before we come into power,” he said. “I’m mindful of the fact that if there’s one thing that has killed growth in the last 13 years – and it has been killed – it’s the chopping and changing lack of strategic thinking. And therefore, as a matter of principle, we will accept, as it were, the baseline that we inherit from the government if we win that election.” Simon Francis, the coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “Hidden in the small print of the deal is that this project can only go ahead thanks to a massive tax break the government is giving to international oil and gas giant Equinor. “Households struggling with their energy bills will be shocked that the new energy secretary has chosen to hand a multibillion-pound tax break to this Norwegian firm … Figures show that more North Sea production will only give us an extra year of domestic gas, which will be charged to struggling households at global market prices.” Claire Coutinho, the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, said the UK needed to “be pragmatic”, with oil and gas forecast to still be needed for a quarter of the country’s energy needs in 2050. “We will not play politics with our energy security,” she posted on X. “The choice we face is this: do we shut down our own oil and gas leaving us reliant on foreign regimes? Do we lose 200,000 jobs across the UK? Do we import fuel with much higher carbon footprints instead? And lose billions in tax revenue? “We are a world leader at reducing carbon emissions but as much as we will be ambitious, we must be pragmatic.” The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, said: “We are accelerating renewables and nuclear power but will still need oil and gas for decades to come – so let’s get more of what we need from within British waters.” Permission to develop the field has come a week after Sunak announced a U-turn on the government’s climate commitments, including pushing back the deadline for selling new petrol and diesel cars and the phasing out of gas boilers. The Rosebank project has faced stiff resistance, with hundreds of climate scientists and academics and more than 200 organisations, from the Women’s Institute to Oxfam, joining tens of thousands of people across the UK in opposing it. The International Energy Agency warned before the UK-hosted Cop26 climate summit in 2021 that no new oil and gas exploration should take place if the world was to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures. This year, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, called on governments to halt new licences for oil and gas exploration and development. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/oil', 'business/gas', 'business/business', 'business/commodities', 'uk/uk', 'world/norway', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/fossil-fuels', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/environment', 'politics/rishi-sunak', 'politics/jeremy-hunt', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/marksweney', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/fossil-fuels | EMISSIONS | 2023-09-27T17:25:08Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2015/oct/13/lauren-singer-zero-trash-girl-green-eco-friendly-living | Why Lauren Singer, the 'zero trash girl', is my crush of the month | One early morning a few days ago, I detached myself from my sweaty toddler and crept out of bed. I made a mug of green tea, sat down at my desk and started reading about Lauren Singer. I think I’ve finally found my soulmate. Who is she? She’s a young woman living in New York City – and in some ways we’re quite similar: we make our own toothpaste and body lotion, we prefer stainless steel razors over plastic, and she’s even a fan of jars for coffee (maybe she too has a story of abject humiliation because of it.) But the real reason I have developed this embarrassingly large girl-crush is because Singer has managed to reduce her waste output so much that two years worth of her trash fits into a 16oz mason jar. Yeah. I know. Stories of eco-friendly folks like this are incredibly polarizing, so after reading that sentence you are probably feeling one of two responses: unbridled enthusiasm or blind rage. Clearly I feel the former, but I understand the rage. I do. I mean, you’re trying. You’re recycling and using stainless steel water bottles and reading a series in the Guardian by this odd Canadian woman who wants you to use baking soda to wash your hair. You are even thinking about composting (next spring! maybe!). You’re making great strides and feeling like what you’re doing might actually be making a difference, and then someone like this comes along, laps you, and makes everyone else look bad. You read this story and then look at the disposable coffee cup you hold in one hand and the plastic bag hanging from the other. You imagine the garbage bag – filled to bursting – which you finally coaxed your partner into dragging to the curb late last night. A mason jar? A puny mason jar? Jesus Christ, what’s the point? It’s easy to read stories about the extreme do-gooders and become angry. Stories about the success of others (especially in areas where we struggle) strike at our own insecurities. We feel frustrated and overwhelmed by our shortcomings – our waste, our disorganization and the crushing feeling that we are never, ever doing enough. But these stories about zero waste and people who give up their fridges? They’re firmly on one end of the environmental spectrum. On the other end lies the baby-seal clubbers, the oil-spillers, the Hummer-drivers tossing chip bags out the window as they speed around for hours with no conceivable purpose. You and I? We lurk somewhere in the middle. We use clotheslines, but we also own cars. We shop secondhand, but we sometimes forget our reusable bags. This place, this middle ground that can feel a lot like limbo, it’s a great place to be. Think of Lauren Singer & co like the inspiration pictures you have taped up inside the locker at your gym. No, you might not ever have the body of Gisele, but that doesn’t mean you stop with the sit-ups. If you focus on the differences – how the amount of waste you generate is closer to filling multiple dumpsters rather than single jars, or how you don’t live in a place like NYC with easy access to bulk shopping or top-notch public transportation – it will only serve to dishearten you. Home in on the similarities, instead. Singer works full-time, as you probably do. She lives in a small apartment. She cares about her appearance and her home, and she seems to have an active social life despite being a weirdo trash-hoarder. Her lifestyle, though extreme, is attainable because we are far more alike than not. There’s room for beauty, compromise and the occasional takeout coffee even when you forget your jar. You and I might never get there, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. (And, by the way, if you’re wondering whether I now have a picture of Lauren Singer’s trash jar pinned above my desk – yes. Yes, I do.) | ['environment/ethical-living', 'global/series/all-you-need-is-less', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/new-york', 'environment/waste', 'environment/recycling', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/madeleine-somerville'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2015-10-13T15:45:25Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk/2013/mar/02/britain-faces-more-floods-and-droughts | Droughts and floods 'will be common events in Britain' | Britain faces increasingly extreme weather conditions and urgently needs to improve its anti-flood defences and preparations for severe drought, says the Environment Agency. Its stark conclusion follows detailed analysis of weather patterns, river levels and flooding events in 2012, which revealed that some areas suffered record levels of drought before facing some of the worst flooding ever. Last year, flooding was recorded on 20% of days and drought on 25% of days, with rivers such as the Tyne, Ouse and Tone going from their record lowest flows to record highest in four months. "It was an extraordinary year and it serves as a warning for the country that we face a future in which there are likely to be more and more extreme weather events," said Lord (Chris) Smith, the agency's chairman. "We need, very urgently, to prepare plans to deal with these extremes." In early 2012, the Environment Agency issued a series of warnings about desperately low levels in rivers, reservoirs and groundwater aquifers. The previous year was one of the driest on record, and reservoirs and boreholes were at record lows for that time of year. In winter, they should have been full and the agency warned that only a downpour lasting weeks could avert a serious summer drought. Britain got its downpour, but it lasted months, with previously parched fields turned into quagmires and more than 8,000 homes flooded. "We saw environmental damage caused by rivers with significantly reduced flows, hosepipe bans affecting millions and farmers and businesses left unable to take water from rivers," said Smith. "But we also saw the wettest year on record in England." A dramatic illustration of the extraordinary changes in weather is revealed by water flow measurements in the Tyne. In March, flow was 28% of its long-term average for that time of year. By June, after months of heavy rain, the flow hit 406%. Similarly, at the Gold Bridge gauging station on the Ouse in East Sussex, flows went from 28% of their average figure in March to 310% in July. Smith said such wildly fluctuating figures indicated the desperate need to plan for feast and famine over water levels. In the case of drought management, more farmers needed to be encouraged to build small reservoirs, while agreements allowing some companies to abstract water from rivers indefinitely would have to be changed. "We simply cannot have those types of agreements any more, and we are now pressing to limit them," said Smith. New figures from the Met Office suggest that Britain could experience a severe short-term drought – such as the one in 1976 – every 10 years. Previous estimates put this figure at one in 50 years. With the population of London and the already water-stressed south-east of England set to grow by 23% by 2035, the problem of a serious lack of water is becoming acute. Although anti-flooding defences were installed last year in Nottingham and Keswick and 93 defences are due to start construction this year, Smith said far more measures would be needed. "It is money well spent. For every pound you spend on defences, you save £8 in damage caused by flooding." | ['uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/drought', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/robinmckie', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-03-02T19:49:43Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global-development/2023/jul/11/we-have-no-time-to-heal-floods-followed-by-earthquake-heap-more-trauma-on-haiti | ‘We have no time to heal’: floods followed by earthquake heap more trauma on Haiti | People living in Grand’Anse felt the impact of last month’s earthquake instantly. In a matter of minutes, the 5.5 magnitude quake that hit Haiti’s west coast on 6 June flattened houses, blocked main roads and inundated healthcare facilities with patients. At the Saint-Antoine hospital in the regional capital Jérémie, people with open wounds and dislocated joints were forced to stand in the corridors wailing, say doctors. Though the earthquake was not the strongest in Haiti’s horrific history of natural disasters, it shook the flimsiest of foundations. It cruelly came just days after flash floods had displaced more than 13,000 people and killed at least 50. “Disasters keep hitting Haiti, left and right. People have not had sufficient time to recover from previous disasters, only to be hit by flash floods, an earthquake, and landslides in a matter of days,” says Dr Didinu Tamakloe, Haiti country director for Project Hope, a humanitarian aid organisation responding to the crisis in Jérémie. Officially four people were killed and 37 were injured in the earthquake, but many were unable to reach hospitals due to landslides and blocked roads, and prohibitively expensive fuel prices. The collapse of the Haitian state in recent years means there is little help for people to rebuild their houses and lives. “The local government has no capacity to respond. Each time a disaster happens, a cyclone, an earthquake, we are left to help ourselves,” says 51-year-old Orelin Esnaille. His arm is in a sling after dislocating his shoulder during the quake. He will need help as he recovers from extensive shoulder surgery over the coming months and will have to rely on friends to feed, house and care for him. “Without work I cannot pay my children’s school fees, I cannot pay for my medication, I cannot even find money to eat,” he says. Since Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse was killed in July 2021 the country has spiralled out of control as armed gangs fight for control. The economy has been paralysed, millions are going hungry and cholera has returned. On 1 July, the health ministry reported 400 weekly cases of the bacterial disease since the earthquake, four times the number reported on 31 May. Some health centres remain just rubble after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the south of the country in 2021, while beds in other hospitals sit on cinder blocks and are tended by overworked nurses who lack basic medicine and medical supplies. “These conditions are expected to continue – and potentially worsen – throughout hurricane season,” says Brenda Rivera-García, senior director of Americares Latin America and Caribbean programmes. The NGO is currently preparing a team to send to Jérémie. “People by any legal or illegal means are leaving the country. There is no more hope,” says Flavia Maurello, Haiti country director of Italian NGO AVSI. Many NGOs have also left because the country has become too unsafe or difficult to work in. MSF has suspended its operations at its hospitals or closed centres in Port-au-Prince a number of times in the past two years. On Friday, it suspended all activities at its hospital in the Tabarre district of the capital after 20 armed men stormed the building and seized a patient at gunpoint. The organisation has said that Port-au-Prince “continues to sink into exponential violence”. About 90 gangs now control about 80% of the city, but civilians remain caught up in street skirmishes between rival factions, self-defence brigades and the police. A month after the earthquake, NGOs are warning that the mental and emotional impact of the disaster, added to the violence and previous calamities, will be felt for generations unless addressed. The cumulative trauma Haitians have experienced has made them fragile, says Hannah Mackynzie Archer, Project Hope’s monitoring and learning manager. “All this takes a toll on a person’s mental health, a community’s wellbeing and the ability to heal in an empowered way that allows you to overcome obstacles,” she says. Marie Joseph, who watched her neighbours’ house topple over, killing the three people inside, says she is constantly anxious about whenthe next tremor will come. “We do not feel safe or comfortable … we know our houses are not safe,” she says. “I knew those people that died. They were my neighbours and it is traumatic to run outside, watch their house fall and them die under it. I have no support for this. Our children grow up surrounded by trauma. The whole community feels stress … and that stress develops in other symptoms, you can’t sleep, you get sick, you can’t work, you can’t live like that … we have no time to heal.” Leaders across the world agree Haiti urgently needs international help to restore order and end the country’s abject suffering, but there is no diplomatic consensus as to how. Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has called for the UN to send troops but that would mean backing a government with little legitimacy. Previous international missions have also been mired in scandal, making diplomatic resolutions tricky. Last month, the UN official William O’Neill called for an arms embargo, saying: “The survival of an entire nation is at stake.” In the meantime, Haitians are left to rebuild their houses knowing that another disaster will come soon and there is little they can do to prepare for it. “We do not have the construction or building materials to make better housing that will not fall during an earthquake. A lot of people know that their homes are not safe, but what else can we do?” Esnaille says. | ['global-development/global-development', 'world/haiti', 'world/earthquakes', 'environment/flooding', 'society/cholera', 'society/poverty', 'society/gangs', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'campaign/email/global-dispatch', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/luke-stephen-taylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-07-11T07:00:36Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2019/jun/07/indiana-farmers-storms-trump-tariffs | Storm-battered Indiana farmers fear new Trump tariff tempest | The sun is finally shining in Indiana and the farming community is frantic. The ground is sodden. Storms and worse have swept the corn belt this spring. Memorial Day, the official start of summer, was marked by tornadoes and hail. Angie Williams and her father Bruce have just started planting on their 1,000-acre farm in Avon, Indiana. “My dad is 64 and he has never seen a situation like this. We have neighbors in their 80s who have never seen anything like this,” she said. It’s 4 June. Usually they would be done by 10 May. “We’ll be operating at a loss this year,” she said. And it’s not just the dire and turbulent weather that Indiana’s $25bn agriculture sector has to contend with. Farmers are caught up in a political storm too. Already exports of soybeans to China have all but dried up thanks to the Trump administration’s ongoing trade dispute with Beijing. Now Donald Trump is also threatening to escalate its trade war with Mexico, a major buyer of Indiana corn. Trump has threatened to impose a 5% levy on Mexican imports starting next week and has said the fees could rise to 25% unless Mexico does more to stem the flow of migrants trying to cross into the US. Mexican officials are in Washington trying to head off the tariffs. “I understand what the president is trying to do,” said Williams. “I support him, I just wish it didn’t affect us so personally.” Trump’s Mexican standoff has Republicans worried too. Republican senators who have shown little appetite for taking on Trump have come out firmly against the proposal. “I will yield to nobody in passion and seriousness and commitment for securing the border,” Senator Ted Cruz told reporters this week. “But there’s no reason for Texas farmers and ranchers and manufacturers and small businesses to pay the price of massive new taxes.” Trump for his part has said his party would be “foolish” to try to stop him. All this uncertainty has farmers rattled, said Bob Nielsen, professor of agronomy at Purdue University, as they contend with a – potentially – disastrous planting season. “This is the slowest planting season I have seen in 37 years,” he said. By now farmers have usually planted 90% of their crop but the average across the state is around 31%, he says. With better weather and a late harvest farmers could still recover from this late start but if Trump follows through with tariffs on corn “that would have a very big impact”, he predicted. It’s not just Indiana’s farmers who are worried. The state helped put Trump in the White House in 2016 and has seen its unemployment rate drop to just 3.6% since his election. But the trade disputes are worrying manufacturers, said Andrew Berger, senior vice-president of governmental affairs at the Indiana Manufacturers Association. “The biggest fear is that the replacement for Nafta [the North American Free Trade Agreement] will be disrupted,” he said. The US, Canada and Mexico are currently trying to ratify Nafta’s replacement, the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA). Trump’s new tariff threat is heightening concern that the deal will collapse, adding yet more uncertainty for businesses in the region. Mexico was Indiana’s second largest export market in 2018 behind Canada and is far more important to the state than China. On top of that Indiana imported $4.5bn worth of goods from Mexico in 2018. A 5% tariff would add $226m to those imports, 25% would add $1.1bn. Indiana’s economy may be “humming”, said Berger, but Mexican tariffs “would hit us immediately”. “Perhaps the worst part of the problem is it doesn’t even have anything to do with trade – it’s about immigration. That’s not an easily solvable issue,” he added. Manufacturers are hoping this is a bluff. “There’s a lot of skepticism about the seriousness of this, frankly,” Berger said. “There is a feeling that this is just a tactic to get [Mexico’s] attention.” But – like the Indiana weather – it’s almost impossible to predict what will happen next. “We just feel like we are caught in the crossfire,” said Williams as she headed out to her fields for another 18-hour day. | ['us-news/indiana', 'environment/farming', 'business/internationaltrade', 'us-news/us-news', 'business/business', 'us-news/us-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/news', 'profile/dominic-rushe', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-06-07T06:00:12Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
film/2023/jun/13/the-black-demon-review-daft-but-fun-giant-shark-mayhem-on-mexican-oil-rig | The Black Demon review – daft but fun giant-shark mayhem on Mexican oil rig | It would seem that megalodons are the menace of the moment. These ginormous sharks, thought to be extinct for millions of years, have been retro-spawned for entertainment purposes by the audiovisual-industrial complex – specifically in the Meg franchise but also on the Discovery Channel – because great white sharks, veterans of the Jaws movies, just don’t cut it any more. Still, in thematic terms there’s a throughline that connects most shark movies: one way or another, they’re all about the return of the repressed, with the sharks manifesting the oceanic subconsciousness’ raging, violent id that has been enraged by the human superego effort at mastery over nature. In the original Jaws, it’s not so much Bruce the shark that’s the big bad as it is the township’s greedy mayor, determined to declare the beach safe in the interests of capitalism. Directed by American Adrian Grunberg, its screenplay written by Boise Esquerra working from a screenplay by Carlos Cisco, The Black Demon effectively sticks to this well-greased formula. Yes, there’s a ginormous shark pootling around the waters along the coast of Mexico, locally known as “el demonio negro”. But the real, nefarious behemoth of the deep is a leaky oil-drilling platform offshore that was installed by a fictional conglomerate known as Nixon Oil, the name itself redolent of right-wing gringo corruption. (Which is ironic because Richard Nixon, for all his sins, was the president who started the Environmental Protection Agency.) Paul (Josh Lucas) is an engineer who works for Nixon, and as the film starts he arrives in the town nearest to the rig he supervised building years ago, with his wife, Ines, (Fernanda Urrejola) and two kids, Audrey (Venus Ariel) and Tommy (Carlos Solórzano) in tow for a family vacation while he inspects the rig. Thanks to a series of somewhat unlikely events, all of them find themselves stranded out on the rig itself while the black demon batters the decaying structure. Employee Chato (estimable character actor Julio Cesar Cedillo) helpfully explains that the demon is sent by Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain, who is mightily pissed off about the rig’s pollution of the waters, and only by making a sacrifice to the demon will Tlaloc be appeased. Of course the white man from the oil company thinks this is nonsense, so viewers versed in genre conventions will be expecting him to be humbled by either losing his own life or that of one of the people he loves. The only certainty is that Chato’s chihuahua pup Toro, a feisty little scrapper, will almost certainly survive because dogs always do in these movies. Hokey as all that is, the cast commit to it all with evident sincerity, and the banter is nearly as entertaining as the periodic scary interludes; in the latter, stunt people descend into the inky drink to try to fix doodads and whatsits that could save the party, each time risking death by shark. The oil-soaked water probably helps hide a multitude of effects’ sins, as the budget looks pretty pinched. For a film of this type, though, this is pretty fun, and it’s nice to see that the teenage daughter gets to save the day via an understanding of the chemistry of nail polish. • The Black Demon is released on 19 June on digital platforms, and on 17 July on DVD and Blu-ray. | ['film/thriller', 'film/film', 'film/actionandadventure', 'environment/sharks', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'profile/lesliefelperin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-06-13T10:00:31Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2019/nov/13/india-to-use-hydrogen-based-fuel-as-delhi-pollution-continues | India says it plans to use hydrogen-based fuel to tackle air crisis | The Indian government has said it intends to use hydrogen-based fuel technology to help combat pollution, as Delhi was once again enveloped in “severe emergency” levels of smog. Pollution levels in the capital peaked to dangerously high levels just over a week after the city endured its longest spell of hazardous air quality since public records began. The overall air quality index in the city was 494 on Wednesday morning, according to the monitoring agency Safar, almost 10 times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO). It prompted judges at India’s supreme court to once again criticise the government for failing to prevent noxious conditions in the capital and surrounding states. “In our view, little constructive efforts have been made by the government and other stakeholders to find solutions to the problem,” said the supreme court judges Ranjan Gogoi and SA Bobde. “The whole of north India […] is suffering from the issue of air pollution.” However, the solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, told the supreme court that the central government was exploring the introduction of hydrogen fuel technology – to be specially developed by Japanese experts – across the capital as an alternative to some of the polluting fuels used in factories, cars and public transport. Hydrogen fuel, which produces only water as a byproduct, is increasingly used in China, Japan and Germany as a clean energy alternative in public transport, and was pivotal in helping Japan tackle its pollution crisis. The government will submit a full report on the hydrogen fuel proposal to the supreme court by early December. One of the biggest causes of pollution, farmers in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana burning their crop stubble, has carried on unabated, despite warnings by the supreme court. So far this year, Punjab has registered 48,683 crop fires and it is the smoke from these flames alongside colder weather conditions that lock in the fumes that have been a key contributor to northern India’s pollution crisis of the past few weeks. It was into this severe pollution and thick brown smog, which limited visibility to a few metres, that Prince Charles arrived on Wednesday, on his first stop on a two-day visit to India. Top on his agenda is tackling climate change and environmental concerns. On Wednesday afternoon he met with the Indian Meteorological Department in Delhi. | ['world/delhi', 'world/india', 'world/world', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/air-pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/hannah-ellis-petersen', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-11-13T12:54:10Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/feb/22/half-of-worlds-oceans-now-fished-industrially-maps-reveal | Half of world's oceans now fished industrially, maps reveal | More than half the world’s oceans are being fished by industrial vessels, new research reveals. The maps based on feedback from more than 70,000 vessels show commercial fishing covers a greater surface area than agriculture, and will raise fresh questions about the health of oceans and sustainability of trawler fishing. The data, published in the journal Science, also shows how fishing declines sharply at weekends, and celebrations like Christmas and Chinese new year. The data also helps to explain the extreme decline in some fish stocks: the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says one-third of commercial fish stocks are being caught at unsustainable levels. But the clear impact of cultural and political events on fishing also offers hope that humans can restrain overfishing, said the report’s author, David Kroodsma. “What that means is we have control as humans to decide how we’re fishing the oceans: we’re not destined to overfish, we can control it,” said Kroodsma. Kroodsma and colleagues gathered 22bn pieces of information from satellite systems installed in the biggest fishing vessels, and some smaller ones, usually operating closer to shore. From this work from 2014 to 2016 they produced maps of where fishing activity was happening, and where it was the most intense. The blue to yellow colouring showing fishing activity covers most of the world’s oceans. Exceptions are the vast Southern Ocean, far from home and suffering extreme cold and dramatic storms; and striking black “holes” in more heavily used seas, which are either lesser-used exclusive economic zones, and “deserts” in the seas where there are too few fish and crustaceans to catch. Latest estimates have suggested the extent of fishing was even greater, but faced with such intense data and dramatic maps, the team were still stunned by how far the biggest ships roamed. “It is really surprising to look at the map and see how much fishing there is,” said Kroodsma. The research was led by Kroodsma, research and development director for US-based charity Global Fishing Watch, and supported by actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The paper is written with academics from the universities of California, Stanford and Dalhousie in Canada, plus National Geographic, SkyTruth and Google. Among other findings is that five countries account for 85% of commercial fishing measured by hours at sea. Half of that is China; other large-scale operators include Spain, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan - which is smaller than Switzerland, and with a population of just 23 million. On average, every person on the planet eats 20kg of fish each year, with the FAO’s own estimates suggesting this makes up 6.7% to 17% of protein eaten. The figure is much higher in some developing countries, however, where people on islands and in coastal areas rely heavily on fish for their energy, up to 70% of protein in some cases. The fish protein being measured is also caught in inland waters, and aquaculture, the controversial practice of large-scale fish farming, has expanded rapidly in recent years. The data - which without the satellite systems fitted on fishing vessels would have taken a fisheries’ expert 200 years working full-time to achieve - showed the “human face” of fishing, said Elvira Poloczanska of the research group, the Alfred Wegener Institute of Ecophysiology in Germany. “High-seas fisheries governance has the potential to reduce the risks from climate change - for example through international co-operation and the closure of high-seas areas to fishing,” she added. • This article was amended on 18 April 2018 to include SkyTruth in the list of companies that were involved in the research led by Kroodsma. In addition, that research was not part-funded by Google, as an earlier version said. | ['environment/fishing', 'environment/food', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/juliettejowit', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-02-22T19:00:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/article/2024/aug/21/extreme-heat-dome-arizona-texas-temperatures | Millions broil as southern US heat dome causes record highs and wildfires | A heat dome covering the US’s south-west region is affecting nearly 23 million Americans, bringing with it some of the highest temperatures of the summer and putting pressure on the electrical grid in Texas. The heat dome phenomenon occurs when strong, high pressure traps hot air over a region, preventing cool air from traveling in and causing temperatures to rise on the ground and stay high. Those in central Texas are experiencing extreme heat for a long duration, “with little to no overnight relief”, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures are expected to reach up to 110F (43C). San Antonio may experience its hottest temperature in more than 10 years on Wednesday. The dry heat is also setting off wildfires, prompting the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, to deploy additional firefighting resources to parts of the state. Abbott said: “Texans are strongly urged to take all necessary precautions and heed the guidance of state and local officials to keep their families and their loved ones safe from wildfires. I thank the Texas division of emergency management and local emergency management personnel for their work as they prepare for potential wildfires across the state.” Texas A&M forest service says wildfire activity is expected to increase across north-west and central Texas due to dry vegetation caused by triple-digit temperatures. The extreme weather is pushing the state’s already unreliable electrical grid to its limits, with many of its 27 million energy customers cranking up the air conditioning in their homes and businesses to cool down. Earlier this summer, more than 800,000 Houston residents went without power for days during a heat advisory after Hurricane Beryl downed power lines in the state. In Phoenix, Arizona, the high temperature was 112F on Tuesday afternoon – just one degree less than the record breaking temperature of 113F set in 2019. Those under the heat dome are advised to avoid strenuous outdoor activities, stay hydrated, and wear sunscreen and light-colored clothing. For those who work outdoors, it is recommended to work early or very late in the day. Extra precautions should be taken for vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly and disabled. States including Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, have set up several cooling centers in preparation for the extreme weather. Heat is the leading cause of weather-related fatalities in the US. “Approximately 1,220 people in the United States are killed by extreme heat every year,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The climate crisis, caused in part by the burning of fossil fuels, forest destruction and methane emissions, means heatwaves are increasing “in frequency, duration, intensity and magnitude”, according to the World Health Organization. | ['environment/extreme-heat', 'us-news/texas', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/arizona', 'us-news/newmexico', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/erum-salam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/extreme-heat | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-08-21T17:03:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
media/pda/2008/aug/08/guardianviralvideochart72 | Guardian Viral Video Chart | What happens when you cross "hot" Paris Hilton running for president with trees and leaves getting their freak on for Greenpeace and a bit of a spoof of Heath Ledger and Christian Bale? You get this week's Viral Video chart, that's what. First up a tear jerker. Check out the story of Christian the lion who was, bizarrely, bought as a cub from Harrods in 1969 by a couple, one of which was the wonderfully named Ace Berg. "A local vicar allowed them to exercise the cub in the church grounds," runs copy accompanying pictures of said cub getting big quick. Uh huh. Now we know where the beast of Bodmin thing started. Anyway, they release it in Africa, the lion becomes a El Jefe of a pride but goes all pussycat-soppy when Ace and partner come and visit years later. I couldn't help but keep thinking someone was going to get eaten like a scene out of "when pets go bad". Anyway, back to that fertile ground of whacky online videos that is America. First we have Paris Hilton in THAT video spoofing a run on the presidential candidacy. "I'm not promising change like that other guy. I'm just hot". And vaguely ridiculous, but that's a whole other conversation. Batman may be breaking records all over the world but this spoof of the interrogation scene ain't hitting new heights on the laughs per minute scale. Here is the closest thing we have to porn in this week's chart - or any week for that matter. Greenpeace, yes you read that right, is the unlikely organisation behind this viral about trees and leaves who, er, get erotically busy. "Come together for forests" is the strapline. See what they did there? Guardian Viral Video Chart: compiled by viralvideochart.com 1 Obama the celebrity Flitting images of Britney and Paris let you know McCain's anti-Obama tactics. 2 Obama - The One McCain at it again. Complete with Charlton Heston from the Ten Commandments 3 Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams The amazing lecture of a man with terminal cancer 4 Christian the Lion - the full story Bizarre story of lion cub bought in Harrods, raised, re-introduced to the wild, then reunited with its owners. 5 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer One for Potter fans - the first of two tastes of the trailer for the next wizard film. 6 Critical Mass bicyclist assaulted by NYPD A nasty assault caught on camera. 7 Where the hell is Matt? The crazy dancing guy is still going! 8 Obama insists inflating tyres is better than oil drilling The first of two related clips in which Obama says there are other ways of being energy efficient than drilling - sounds sensible to me. 9 Gnarls Barkley - 'Who's Gonna Save My Soul?' The latest video from the American band. 10 Official Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer The second Potter trailer in this week's chart. 11 Coldplay - Viva La Vida - Official music video The long-awaited video for the hit single. 12 Toyota's new Winglet The Japanese car company unveils a "personal transport assistance robot". 13 An anthropological introduction to YouTube A pretty dull power point presentation about YouTube... 14 Senator Barack Obama's answer to meeting energy demands Here we go again... 15 Paris Hilton runs for US president "I'm not promising change like that other guy. I'm just hot". 16 Large Hadron Rap One for science geeks. 17 ForestLove A sexy Greenpeace campaign video about loving forests. 18 Ode To Joy Beaker from the Muppets repeats his 'meep' catchphrase over and over. 19 The Dark Knight- Joker interrogation scene spoof A spoof featuring two very authentic looking Batman characters 20 Not even at $10 a gallon? More on the American energy debate. Source: Viral Video Chart. Compiled from data gathered at 18:00 on August 7 2008. The Weekly Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately two million blogs. | ['media/pda', 'technology/series/viralvideochart', 'media/digital-media', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'tone/blog', 'media/media', 'media/media-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/marksweney'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-08-08T06:00:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2024/feb/11/bishop-of-norwich-calls-for-churchyards-to-be-rewilded | ‘Places of the living’: bishop of Norwich calls for churchyards to be rewilded | Churchyards should be rewilded to increase biodiversity and to make them “places of the living, not just the dead”, a Church of England bishop has said. Local parishes are responsible for about 7,100 hectares (17,500 acres) of churchyards in England. The C of E also owns about 34,000 hectares of farmland, mostly let to tenant farmers, and 9,300 hectares of forestry. Its governing body, the General Synod, will vote later this month on a plan to increase biodiversity and encourage the C of E to develop “land action plans” at parish, diocese and national levels. Graham Usher, the bishop of Norwich, said the church must “look at how the biodiversity of this often very ancient land, with very old trees and hedgerows attached to it, can be enhanced”. He said churchyards were “quite static” places “apart from the odd hole being dug from time to time”. Usher suggested that areas of churchyards be left unmown to “allow sward and rare species of plants to grow up and flower”. He said: “My dream is that churchyards will be places of the living, not just the dead.” A paper submitted to the synod meeting in London says there is “noticeable biodiversity potential” within churchyards. However, it adds, “these places carry significance for the communities that surround them … Their significance and primary role as burial grounds mean that increasing biodiversity within churchyards needs to be balanced with public access and consideration for mourners.” The C of E’s nationally owned land has “historically been kept to augment the income for the [church], particularly in less well-off areas”, the paper says. There has been “steady movement … towards increasing biodiversity alongside evaluating and reducing carbon emissions on land holdings”. Usher said the church must work with its tenant farmers to deliver “nature-positive impacts”, adding: “When things are done that are good for nature, they tend to be good also for business and good for people.” The C of E has published guidance for parishes on increasing biodiversity. It includes leaving areas of long grass, creating wildflower areas, putting up bird and bat boxes, keeping bees and encouraging hedgehogs. Many parishes have already adopted biodiversity action plans. St Mary’s in Wargrave, Berkshire, has stopped regular mowing and strimming of grass to promote wildflower growth and provide habitat for animals and insects. It has also switched from using fuel-powered tools to a scythe to maintain the rewilded area. Mike Buckland, the “eco church” lead at St Mary’s, said: “The scythe allows more control over what is cut when we want to encourage native wildflowers to reseed as well as reducing the carbon emissions to zero and the noise impact.” Regular wildlife surveys at the church have shown an increase in flora and fauna since the rewilding began. | ['world/anglicanism', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'uk-news/england', 'uk/uk', 'world/christianity', 'world/religion', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/harrietsherwood', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-02-11T13:31:32Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2011/mar/13/japan-earthquake-tsunami-miyagi-destruction | Japan earthquake: 'The tsunami just swept my parents away' | Harumi Watanabe's last words to her parents were a desperate plea to "stay together" as a tsunami crashed through the windows and engulfed their family home with water, mud and wreckage. She had rushed to help them as soon as the earthquake struck about 30 minutes earlier. "I closed my shop and drove home as quickly as I could," said Watanabe. "But there wasn't time to save them. They were old and too weak to walk so I couldn't get them in the car in time. They were still in the living room when the surge hit. Though she gripped their hands, it was too strong. Her elderly mother and father were ripped from her grasp, screaming "I can't breathe" before they were dragged down. Watanabe was then left fighting for her own life. "I stood on the furniture, but the water came up to my neck. There was only a narrow band of air below the ceiling. I thought I would die." Watanabe is one of a fortunate few residents to survive in Shintona, a coastal town close to the epicentre of Japan's worst earthquake since records began and one of the worst affected by the devastating tsunami that followed it. The nearby bay is filled with cars, concrete and half-sunken homes uprooted from their foundations. A railway line has been ripped from the ground and twisted vertically like a garden fence. Cars and motorbikes lie broken and so roughly re-parked by the tsunami that some balance precariously on their bonnets. Emergency and media helicopters buzz overhead and the bereaved sob by the side of the road. The air is rich with the rotting smell of disaster and death. Self-defence force personnel and rescue workers search for bodies amid the mud. Their work is sporadically interrupted by earthquake alerts and tsunami warnings, but they do not have to look far. When found, the dead are wrapped in blue tarpaulins and laid on military stretchers. "We have found 50 bodies today and there'll be more," said an officer in the self-defence forces as his team took a quick lunchbreak. "We're putting more efforts into rescue elsewhere as there is very little chance of anyone surviving here." The death toll in and around this area looks certain to rise. Drive east from Sendai and there are several stretches of devastated coastline. Hundreds of bodies have reportedly been discoveredin Xintomei and Nobiru, and further round the coast in Minami Shirazu, nearly 10,000 people are reportedly missing after the town was engulfed by the tsunami. Many of the victims are likely to be elderly people, which could prove one of the defining characteristics of this disaster. After the Sichuan earthquake in China – in which an estimated 90,000 people died – the focus was on building design and the large numbers of children who died in school collapses. In Shintona, however, buildings have – for the most part – proved remarkably resilient. Several locals said the young had been able to flee quickly when the tsunami warning was issued, but that older people found it harder to run. "There are many old people here. We have evacuation drills, but people could not get to the meeting place in time. The tsunami was beyond our expectations. We must reflect on our shortcomings," said Jiro Saito, the head of the local disaster countermeasures committee. Japan is proud of having the world's longest life expectancy, which is particularly evident in rural areas. Shintona's large population of elderly people is evident in the intimate belongings now scattered in the muddy streets – 12-inch vinyl albums of Enka (Japanese blues) classics, a walking stick and tatami mats. This community is home to one of Miyagi's first care homes for elderly people. Its manager, Kiyoko Kawanami, said she was only able to confirm that 20 of the 90 residents are safe. "We don't know what happened to them. The tsunami hit while we were trying to organise an evacuation," she said. Kawanami took one group to the emergency shelter in Nobiru primary school. "On the way back I was stuck in traffic. There was an alarm. People screamed at me to get out of the car and run uphill. It saved me. My feet got wet but nothing else." The fate of the other residents remains unclear. Shigejiro Murayama had come to look for his lost brother. While his wife cried and sighed beside him, he silently progressed as quickly as he was able with a walking stick. But he had to turn back when he saw what had happened. "There is no road left," he laughed darkly. "This is a mess. Look at what has happened." | ['world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/japan', 'tone/news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/earthquakes', 'world/tsunamis', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | world/tsunamis | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-03-13T10:36:58Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/jun/28/siemens-freezes-new-uk-wind-power-investment-following-brexit-vote | Siemens freezes new UK wind power investment following Brexit vote | Siemens is putting new wind power investment plans in the UK on hold due to uncertainty caused by last week’s Brexit vote, the Germany energy company has told the Guardian. A £310m manufacturing hub in Hull that employs 1,000 people will not be affected by the decision, and should still begin producing blades and assembling turbines next year. But Siemens, one of the few firms to openly back a Remain vote, will not be making new investments until the future of the UK’s relationship with Europe becomes clearer. Juergen Maier, the firm’s UK CEO, said that an existing blueprint to export offshore wind turbine machinery from the Hull hub was now up in the air. He said: “Those plans were only beginning to happen and I expect that they will stall until we can work out exactly what the [new government’s] plan is, how we can participate in EU research programmes, and until all the issues around tariffs and trade have been sorted out.” It is unclear how much money the EU gave to the Hull project but it has put up £525m for the Beatrice windfarm project in Scotland, whose developer will be a major buyer of the Hull factory’s turbine blades. The firm also agreed a contract with a Belgian consortia which received a £250m loan from the European Investment Bank for the supply, servicing and maintenance of 42 offshore turbines. Despite this EU support, the people of Hull voted overwhelmingly for Leave in what a local councillor described as “a cry of rage”. Maier called on the government to urgently start negotiations with the wind power sector before formally notifying Brussels of a decision to leave the EU. “We definitely can’t wait until Article 50 has been triggered,” he said. “People will be holding off on major investment decisions and this is why we need to get together as soon as possible and see that a plan is put in place.” Uncertainty over Britain’s political leadership, future access to the internal market and financial volatility buffeting the pound and interest rates are all contributing to a sense of malaise. Many wind investors responded cautiously to the Leave vote, stressing the sound fundamentals of UK climate change laws, and an intent to wait and see how Brexit plays out. A spokesperson for Dong Energy, the single biggest investor in UK offshore wind, said: “We will await clarity over the implications of the vote to leave the European Union. However, we don’t believe that UK energy policy is dependent on EU membership.” Privately though, industry and EU sources expect the vote to have a detrimental effect on the energy union process of linking Europe’s electricity grids so that clean power can be transferred across borders in real-time, without need for storage. “Something is still being baked but it will now be baked without the UK expressly in mind,” a source said. There are also concerns that the EU’s target of a 27% share for renewable energy, averaged across Europe by 2030, could now be too ambitious. The UK has outperformed several EU states in attracting investors, last year taking €26bn - around half of all Europe’s wind energy investment. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/environment', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/siemens', 'world/germany', 'world/europe-news', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'world/world', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'world/eu', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/arthurneslen', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2016-06-28T13:13:22Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/nov/28/scottish-dairy-farm-aims-to-become-uks-first-to-go-single-use-plastic-free-mossgiel-ayrshire | Cut the wrap! UK dairy farm aims to be first to go single-use plastic-free | Lying in a field of grass among his herd of dairy cows, Ayrshire farmer Bryce Cunningham picks up and pretends to throw away a plastic carton of milk. This is what we want to get rid of on our farm, he says in a promotional video, as he explains his quest to become the UK’s first single-use plastic-free milk producer. After raising more than £10,000 from a crowdfunding campaign, he’s managed to replace single-use plastic cartons with 32,000 glass bottles adorned with the face of Robert Burns – who’s said to have once worked on the farmland – which he is able to wash and reuse. There are, of course, other farms selling milk in glass bottles, but Bryce is now also eliminating single-use plastics from feed, chemicals and other inputs bought onto the farm, as well as finding alternatives to plastic silage wraps used to store fodder for feeding the cows over the winter. As well as buying glass bottles, he refurbished a milk bottling machine dating back to the 1960s from a local dairy farm that had been left unused after the owner had left dairying. The milk from Bryce’s 55-cow herd, along with milk from two other organic farms that supply him, goes out to around 8–10,000 people in glass bottles across Scotland. From January, he will start trialling the supply of milk in two-litre glass containers (the milk is currently distributed in two and five-litre plastic cartons) to the 300 cafes and coffee shops he distributes to in Edinburgh and Glasgow. That was made possible after he sourced the larger containers from a manufacturer in the US as the more common one pint bottles are unsuited to food service outlets with a high turnover of milk. The bottles will come with tin screw caps that can also be washed and reused. “It is more expensive to produce milk this way because we need to employ a washer to clean the returned bottles and plastic cartons. But the idea of using glass and cutting out single-use plastic fits with what we want our business to stand for. We want to be more aware of waste and our environmental footprint,” said Bryce. Despite reports of a rise in interest in plastic-free milk, glass bottles have continued to decline to 2.1% of liquid milk sales in the UK, according to the latest industry figures. Back in 2001, glass bottles represented 22.5% of total milk sales. Dairy UK said the industry as a whole had committed to eliminating unnecessary single–use plastic by 2025. Plastic bottles of the type commonly used for fresh milk are also among the most commonly recycled items in the UK, with 76% of them recycled, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme. However, the amount of recycled material in new milk containers has fallen to around 25% as the dairy industry has been unable to compete with other non-food companies willing to pay higher prices for recycled plastics. A wholesale move away from plastic packaging would require government investment to promote innovation, said Dr Judith Bryans, chief executive of Dairy UK. “We must also bear in mind that plastic provides food products with durable and safe packaging, avoiding unnecessary food waste, and can present a more energy efficient form of packaging when compared with other types,” she added. While switching over to glass reduces potential plastic waste, the benefits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions depends on the number of times the bottles are re-used and whether the milk is sourced locally. The dairy company Arla claims that plastic milk bottles have lower total carbon emissions than glass, with reduced transport emissions per bottle because they can be packed more tightly together. Glass bottles would need to be reused at least 20 times, concluded a study by researchers at Manchester University, in order to make their carbon footprint comparable to partly recycled plastics. Bryce thinks he has already beaten that: they are still re-using the batches of glass bottles and plastics that he purchased last year. “A few of the bottles and plastic containers have been broken and had to be recycled, but most of them have gone through 52 washes now and are still being re-used.” Plastic bottles are not the only potential single-use plastic waste stream on dairy farms. Around 85,000 tonnes of silage wrap and other agricultural plastic waste is generated every year by the farm sector. Silage wrap is used by dairy farmers to store fodder and feed cows over the winter months when the grass is not growing. However, it is often contamination by soil, which makes it more difficult to recycle. In 2009, the UK government rejected calls to introduce a producer responsibility scheme to ensure all on-farm plastics were recycled. It said the size of the waste stream was too small (at 1.5% of total plastic waste in the UK) to justify such an intervention. Bryce said he was working with a local company on a biodegradable silage wrap, but that the designers currently lacked funding to bring it to market. He only sources chemicals and other inputs for his dairy from agricultural companies that will take back plastics after use. Although he’s been contacted by other dairy farmers about going single-use plastic free, Bryce does not expect a large number to follow suit. “Cheap milk in plastic containers is not going away yet, but I think we will see a second tier of milk production from smaller farms being sold directly to customers at a premium that allows them to farm more closely with nature. “We see our business being part of a revival of an old-fashioned milk industry that cuts out the big dairy companies and supermarkets and creates a more sustainable model of dairy farming,” he said. | ['environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/series/animals-farmed', 'society/plastic-free', 'environment/plastic', 'food/milk--drink-', 'business/cattles', 'uk/scotland', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tom-levitt', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-11-28T14:22:35Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
media/2012/oct/30/superstorm-sandy-gawker-huffigton-post | Superstorm Sandy knocks out Gawker and Huffington Post | Several of the most popular US news and gossip websites, including Gawker and Huffington Post, went offline overnight because of a New York power outage caused by post-tropical storm Sandy. The websites were knocked offline at about 7pm New York time on Monday after the electricity supplier ConEd cut power in parts of lower Manhattan, where many are hosted. Sandy battered the US east coast overnight with more than 10 fatalities reported and more than 7 million people left without electricity. President Obama has declared a "major disaster" in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey. Huffington Post worked around the blackout by publishing updates on Twitter and Facebook – including a hand-drawn "front page" – while the gadget site Gizmodo ran a liveblog despite the technical glitches. The Matthattan power cuts hit several other popular US websites, including Gawker and Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed said elements of its website and many stories were back online via content delivery service Akamai, which has servers around the world. The website was back online on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday Huffingtonpost.com was operating a cut-down version of its main front page. A message stated: "Due to power outages caused by Superstorm Sandy, our own website is experiencing technical difficulties. We are working around the clock to get the site back to normal. The news team, which has offices around the US and in other countries, is still monitoring everything and will be updating this page with the latest on the storm." Stephen Hull, the executive editor of Huffington Post UK, said his website turned to social networks to report on the hurricane. "Firstly, our thoughts are with everyone in the US and other countries the region who have been hit by Sandy. In the UK we are now publishing directly to Facebook, Twitter and RebelMouse to bring Huffington Post and AOL readers the same quality of service we always do," he said. "Part of HuffPost's approach is to link to other great pieces of journalism and we are doing exactly that, while creating our own content on social networks. We'd encourage everyone to start following us if they want a unique way to follow the news and keep the conversation about the impact of Sandy going." The websites appear to have fallen victim to the widespread electricity outage in lower Manhattan, which in turn affected the internet service provider Datagram, whose servers host Huffington Post, Gawker, BuzzFeed and others. Buzzfeed reported that an official at Datagram told the site: "Basement flooded, fuel pump offline – we got people working on it now. Five feet of water now." Other major media outlets were also hit. The Manhattan local news channel NY1 went off the air for a couple of hours on Monday evening, and the NPR station WYNC was forced to run on a backup generator. The Manhattan office of Guardian US, closed since Sunday, lost power at about 9pm local time. Staff maintained live coverage of the worsening storm as they worked from various locations around the city until midnight New York time, when the live blog was handed over to the Guardian's office in Sydney, Australia. Guardian US's servers are based in the UK. Several newspapers in cities affected by Sandy dropped their paywalls to offer readers breaking news on the storm's impact, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe and Baltimore Sun. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook | ['media/digital-media', 'media/huffington-post', 'media/gawker-media', 'media/media', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'us-news/us-news', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/josh-halliday'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-30T12:26:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sport/2023/jun/27/wales-players-put-in-hoods-and-doused-in-water-in-preparation-for-rugby-world-cup | Wales players put in hoods and doused in water in preparation for World Cup | Warren Gatland has revealed his Wales players were put in hoods, doused in water and subjected to the sound of babies crying as part of their psychological preparation for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup. Gatland lifted the lid on the extraordinary lengths Wales were going to when detailing a recent visit to the Green Mile army-style fitness camp in Taff’s Well. He explained how the intention was to take players out of their comfort zones and prepare them to deal with unexpected challenges but the use of such extreme techniques has raised eyebrows. “We went to the Green Mile with the army and it was a brilliant day but it wasn’t brutal,” said Gatland. “It was more from a psychological challenge that we put them through. They did some power endurance stuff, they were carrying logs uphill and then having to go into a pool. We were talking about putting them in uncomfortable positions, where it’s: ‘How do you bring your heart rate down? How do you get your composure back?’ “They did some stuff where we had them put in hoods, having water tipped over them when they weren’t expecting it. Babies crying, things going off, and it wasn’t a full day. We went there in the morning and finished about 1pm. The boys had a bit of lunch, we put some beers on – some had a beer and stayed there for about an hour and enjoyed each other’s company and had some laughs, had some photos with the guys, presented them with a jersey, it was a really good company that was a little bit different. “[Strength and conditioning coach] Huw Bennett organised it and he was worried about how it was going to go, a bit apprehensive about the day but all the feedback we got from the players was really positive. It was different and made them think about things from a different perspective, in terms of being in stressful situations, being in a game where you don’t expect things and how do you react to that. You make a mistake, you come under a huge amount of pressure, how do you get your composure back? … Trying to relate to those situations. Yeah we’ve been working hard but every day is not brutal, I can promise you that.” Gatland is not the first to turn to the military to put players through their paces before a World Cup campaign. Four years ago Eddie Jones took his England squad to an RAF base in Cornwall for a night of survival training, though there were no reports of players being put in hoods, nor subjected to the sound of babies crying. The Springboks took things to the extreme with their infamous Kamp Staaldraad (Camp Barbed Wire) before their quarter-final elimination at the 2003 World Cup. Details of what South Africa’s players were subjected to at the boot camp soon emerged, including allegedly having to withstand freezing cold temperatures while naked in a lake, crawling across gravel and into a foxhole naked while the English national anthem was played at full blast and having to kill chickens with their bare hands. | ['sport/wales-rugby-union-team', 'sport/rugby-union', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/the-breakdown', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gerard-meagher', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/wales-rugby-union-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-06-27T15:18:31Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
books/article/2024/jul/11/twelve-trees-by-daniel-lewis-review-a-global-arboreal-odyssey | Twelve Trees by Daniel Lewis review – a global arboreal odyssey | Ten fathoms deep below the Gulf of Mexico, and several miles off the coast of Alabama, lies a submerged cypress forest sprouting with sea anemones. More than 60,000 years old, the cypress trees – some of them 6ft in diameter – were buried in sediments for millennia before they were exposed in 2004 when waves driven by Hurricane Ivan scoured the sea floor. “Although the trees were dead, they were still standing in place,” writes Daniel Lewis in his global arboreal odyssey, Twelve Trees. Cypress samples brought to the surface could offer clues to the effects of climate on wood from that long-ago era, he explains. But soon after the discovery of the watery forest, salvage companies sought permits to dig up the ancient logs and turn them into furniture. For much of humanity’s history, trees have been perceived as wondrous beings: we admire them, revere them and conjure dryads from their innards. But for corporations, they’re commodities: a source of timber, rubber, fuel, toilet paper, and the absorbant fluff found inside nappies. They’re also sources of food, medicine, shade and vital habitat for birds, insects and small mammals, as well as lichens, mosses, and ferns. Most importantly, global forests absorb approximately 7.6bn tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, sequestering it in their roots, leaves, branches and trunks. A recent paper in Nature suggests that restoring and protecting fragmented forests could, over time, remove an additional 226 gigatonnes of planet-heating carbon (830 gigatonnes of CO2) from the atmosphere. Yet forests burn at a rate of 22,000 sq ft (2,000 sq metres) per minute in the Amazon, Lewis writes; in Central Africa, 10m acres (4m hectares) of trees disappear every year. Lewis, an environmental historian at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, considers our urge to both conserve and consume. His journey takes him around the world to ponder the beauty of 12 tree species, mostly the magnificent and often vulnerable, including redwood, sandalwood, baobab and ebony (though humble bonsai trees get a brief nod). In Cameroon, for example, Lewis contemplates the Central African forest ebony, Diospyros crassiflora. Its jet-black heartwood is highly prized, used to craft piano keys, guitars, door knobs and pool cues. Ebony faces threats including illegal logging and conversion of forests into grazing land or palm oil and rubber plantations. Lewis highlights an initiative to transform the growth and harvesting of ebony in Cameroon, led by Taylor Guitars, supplier to – yes – Taylor Swift. In 2011, Taylor Guitars co-founder Bob Taylor bought a dilapidated ebony mill in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé and refurbished it to supply wood for his instruments. Five years later, the company partnered with the Congo Basin Institute in Yaoundé to develop ebony tree nurseries and a community-based planting programme. The company also replants ebony and fruit trees that buffer Cameroon’s Dja reserve, a Unesco world heritage site. In 2022, Lewis reports, 27,810 trees were planted. Trees don’t live in isolation: they are important habitats for myriad plants and animals. Sequoia sempervirens, the redwood that grows in a band along the Pacific coast of North America, can reach heights of more than 100 metres. High in its canopy are soil pockets that support crickets, beetles, molluscs, earthworms and amphibians, including a wandering, skydiving salamander, Aneides vagrans. Coast redwoods can live for 2,000 years. The olive tree, though rather shorter, can also reach an impressive age: one tree in the “Noah” olive grove in Bchaaleh (northern Lebanon) was recently carbon-dated to more than 1,000 years old. Although Lewis sometimes veers into extraneous detail, he charms with occasional flights of ecstasy, as when he encounters the mighty ceiba tree, Ceiba pentandra, in Manú national park, a haven of terrestrial biodiversity in south-western Peru – “the most gigantic tree I have ever seen … with enormous buttress roots radiating out in the all directions” He touches the rough bark, circumnavigates the tree, communes with it, climbs into its branches, “trying to bring its world more fully into my own”. Many of us would like more trees in our world. They represent stability and continuity and, as Lewis notes, forests “feed the planet through a profusion of fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices and other edibles”. They offer splendour, cooling and coherence and, he says, “they need to have their own rights, and be accorded their own dignity”. • Twelve Trees: And What They Tell Us About Our Past, Present and Future by Daniel Lewis is published by Simon & Schuster (£22). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. | ['books/scienceandnature', 'books/books', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'culture/culture', 'environment/wildlife', 'books/series/book-of-the-day', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/saturday', 'theguardian/saturday/culture', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/saturday-magazine-books'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-07-11T06:30:15Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2019/oct/07/extinction-rebellion-new-protests-politicians | Extinction Rebellion has won the first battle – now it must win the war | Leo Barasi | Extinction Rebellion seems to have cracked using protests to transform public debate. But as it starts another major rebellion this week, it might find the challenge ahead is even greater. Extinction Rebellion’s April protests were an enormous success. Together with the BBC’s Attenborough documentary and the school climate strikes, they created a surge in public concern about the environment. The climate emergency is now established in the top five most important issues facing the UK today, at around the same level as the economy. Since the April protests, the government has legislated for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and Labour is moving towards a much more ambitious target. Few people could have predicted that a two-week blockade of central London would be met with so much support or have such political impact. So the natural question is whether a new round of protests can repeat the success. The fact this month’s rebellion won’t be such a novelty could make things harder. It’s the difficult-second-album problem: repeat your material and you’re boring; innovate and you may lose the magic. And with the police preparing to move faster against protesters this time, it’s inevitable that opponents of climate action will call for tougher law enforcement. But difficult though it will be for the protests to recapture the novelty and public support of the April protests, that is far from the biggest problem. Ironically, the greatest threat to the movement is its apparent success over the past six months. If the public believe the protesters have already won, continued street blockades could look unnecessary. It’s here that public opinion turns from being helpful to being a problem for Extinction Rebellion. The overwhelming majority want action to limit climate change and support a net-zero target; most even support bringing that target forward from the government’s current date. But most people’s attention stops there. Few people pay attention to the details or punish politicians who don’t have a plan. This means there’s not much incentive for politicians to go beyond simply pledging to tackle the climate crisis with ambitious-sounding targets. Take the government’s net-zero law. It would just about make the UK compliant with the Paris agreement’s goal of avoiding dangerous warming (although it is too slow for that if you consider the UK to have a responsibility to clean up faster than less- affluent countries). But the government wasn’t even on course to meet its old, weaker target; we are nowhere near meeting the new one. Or take Labour’s conference motion to meet the net-zero target by 2030. This is close to Extinction Rebellion’s demand, but the party shouldn’t get much credit for environmental saviourhood until it shows how it would deliver. Scrapping its support for Heathrow expansion will be hard enough for Labour – with the party’s union funders firmly behind more tarmac and more planes – and that would be among the simplest of the policy switches needed to decarbonise in 11 years. So apparent allies of the protesters can actually be a threat to faster climate action. Emission-cutting pledges can be useful – but if they aren’t combined with a plan they can undermine the cause by making it seem like the battle has been won. The next wave of Extinction Rebellion protests will be a success if it forces climate-friendly politicians to show their proposals. When a politician says they will stop the climate crisis from escalating, the first question that needs to be asked is: “how?” Answering that question requires politicians to expose the fact that avoiding dangerous warming will be disruptive and difficult. Many people will look for reasons to find a way out and so the debate may return to “why?” But this is Extinction Rebellion’s specialist subject: its explanation of the climate emergency may be terrifying but it is well-evidenced. This challenge – to force apparently “green” politicians to come with a plan – is daunting. But few people would have imagined that a climate change protest could occupy central London and be met with widespread public backing. The protesters might just be the people who can do it. • Leo Barasi is the author of The Climate Majority: Apathy and Action in an Age of Nationalism, published by New Internationalist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/protest', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/leo-barasi', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-10-07T05:00:52Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
technology/2014/jun/17/eu-5g-south-korea-mobile | EU hopes 5G partnership with South Korea will drag it back into mobile lead | The European Union is forming a joint research partnership with South Korea to focus on ultrafast “5G” mobile broadband technology. South Korea is one of the most advanced countries in mobile technology usage and infrastructure, with one of the fastest mobile broadband networks currently available, and home to Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturer. "5G will become the new lifeblood of the digital economy and digital society once it is established," the EU commissioner for telecoms Neelie Kroes said in a statement on Monday. The EU estimates that a 5G internet connection will allow users to a high-definition movie in six seconds, versus up to six minutes with current 4G technology – which has only just begun to achieve substantial adoption in Europe. Current 4G technology can already achieve download speeds of 150 megabits per second, with future versions able to achieve 1 gigabit per second; 5G would offer substantially more, though no standard has been set. A common 5G standard and rollout timetable by end of 2015 “This is the first time ever that public authorities have joined together in this way, with the support of private industry, to push forward the process of standardisation,” Kroes said. Ultrafast 5G mobile broadband is still in the early stages of development, but the partnership will allow the European commission and South Korea to work towards a common standard and rollout timetable by the end of 2015. The two parties will also unify the radio frequencies used for 5G, which will make it easier and cheaper for manufacturers to make 5G smartphones and other devices as well as making it more straightforward for users to move between countries and areas. Kroes pledged to ensuring that the necessary radio bands to support the new networks would be made available. Faster, stronger, internet of things-capable Europe led the mobile competition in the 1990s, but has fallen behind the US and Asia as faster 4G networks rolled out. Kroes hopes that the partnership will propel the EU back into the lead. The 5G standard promises faster and stronger connections to cope with the expanding numbers of mobile internet users, but also the connected devices part of the “Internet of Things” – where every appliance and piece of infrastructure around the home and streets is smart and connected to the internet. The EU said it would spend €700m (£560m) on 5G research over the next seven years in December, while telecoms companies are expected to contribute over €3bn. Europe's 5G Infrastructure Association, which includes telecoms companies Alcatel-Lucent, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Orange, will work directly with South Korea’s 5G forum. • Experts play down Samsung's claims of 5G technology | ['technology/telecoms', 'business/telecoms', 'technology/samsung', 'world/south-korea', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/tablet-computer', 'technology/4g', 'technology/mobilephones', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-06-17T14:25:12Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2014/jul/15/tech-talk-samantha-payne-data-activism | Tech talk: Samantha Payne, Knowle West Media Centre | Hi Samantha, what can you tell me about the Knowle West Media Centre? The Knowle West Media Centre believes that the arts have the power to make a difference to our lives, neighbourhoods and environment. It's an arts organisation and charity based in Bristol that's been supporting individuals and communities to get the most out of digital technologies and the arts since 1996. In practice, that means providing exciting and relevant ways for people to get involved in community activism, education, employment and local decision-making. What kinds of challenges do you face in your work? A difficulty was coming up with a way to visualise the data in a form that instantly communicates the message but is also aesthetically exciting. We started looking at what other artists were doing with data and how it was being captured and visualised. Aaron Koblin's Flight Paths is my favourite visualisation because it can be stand alone art that tells a deeper story or a useful display of information. Just looking at his work makes me think about technology, art, climate change, space, the world, the future, past and present, and a million other things. What can you tell me about the Girls Making History project? This project is really close to my heart. We read in the news everyday about how women are being consistently harmed and violated both physically and emotionally, so we're working as a group to prevent that. We're trying to prototype a piece of technology that can help keep young girls safe. I'm working with a group of 13-24 year-old women who have all experienced or are experiencing domestic violence and abuse. The project is being driven from the ground up, meaning the women have complete creative control. We are developing an idea together, from branding, logos and campaign ideas, to the final prototype. Last week we were 3D printing bracelets using Sketch-Up. None of us had used 3D modelling software before, nor a 3D printer, but together with printing expert Joel Gibbard, we produced our own jewellery. We wanted to start thinking about the kind of tech we could fit into a bracelet that would send certain types of data. We'll be working closely with technologists and jewellery designers to help us reach our goal within the next few months. At a time when the arts are being asked to prove their worth, activism and campaigning aren't always top of the list – what's the power of creativity to challenge these big issues? The arts are challenging big issues all the time and using digital platforms to spread their message and gain public attention. The WomenofKWMC blog is a good local example of this. It was a small photographic series put together in a little room over three hours. The photos expressed something that caught the attention of over 80,000 people. The people who shared that Tumblr online may not think of themselves as activists but when thousands of people are blogging and sharing the same photos with the same outrage, doesn't that make them activists? A network of people who want something to change has been created. By sharing those photos, people are making a social comment, expressing a dislike of the status quo and challenging the norm. People who may have never thought of themselves as activists before are becoming them for the first time; they are sharing their opinions online and championing causes. Art and technology are aiding that activism. How did your Data Patchwork project work? We wanted to collect data but we didn't want to present local residents with loads of paper and boxes to tick. That's incredibly boring and most people would just throw the forms away. So we made a living room made out of cardboard that would "come to life" when interacted with. Each piece of furniture was a different survey question that had to be answered in different ways. For example, I made the "Rate your hate" cardboard window with artist Matthew Olden and cardboard artist Joseph Ballard. I went around Knowle West (my home) and photographed the worst bits of the area that residents had already highlighted; these photographs then made up the windows. Matthew showed us how to attach subtle electronics to the windows so that when hit with a cardboard brick, they would emit some audio of glass smashing. The project was really about starting a conversation among residents to find out what they really wanted and whether they wanted something enough to make an action towards gaining it. It was a success in my eyes because it created genuine conversation. What other digital platforms or technologies are we going to see affecting arts and culture next? Instructables! I love the site because it's a really simple way to share your arts and crafty ideas and to keep your work open source. The same goes for Thingiverse and Pinterest. I also keep an eye on Adafruit and the internet of things is also great. Sharing your art digitally is key to growth and there's a huge community of artists and makers already sharing their work tips and tricks online already. Crowdfunding and coding will also continue to affect arts and culture; social media as well. I'm also excited to see the development of 3D printing and the 3Doodler pen. These technologies make it easier for everyone to become producers rather than consumers. I think plans to open more Maker Labs will be hugely beneficial to the sector and will encourage a huge drive of producers. Knowle West Media Centre is already working on starting their own. This interview was co-commissioned with Arts Industry magazine Samantha Payne is digital media producer at Knowle West Media Centre – follow her on Twitter @sighsam Join our community of arts, culture and creative professionals by signing up free to the Guardian Culture Pros Network. | ['culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-network', 'culture-professionals-network/series/tech-talk', 'culture-professionals-network/audiences', 'culture-professionals-network/communications', 'culture-professionals-network/digital', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/culture', 'technology/big-data', 'technology/data-visualisation', 'technology/technology', 'tone/interview', 'type/article', 'profile/matthew-caines'] | technology/data-visualisation | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-07-15T06:30:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2009/dec/27/holland-barrrett-plastic-bags | Holland & Barrett bans plastic bags | Holland & Barrett health food stores are introducing a total ban on plastic bags from 1 January and calling for a tax on disposable carriers to encourage other retailers to do the same. As part of its green overhaul, the chain of 539 health stores is replacing plastic bags with paper, jute and cotton bags costing between 4p and 99p each. "Many retailers have introduced half measures such as charging for plastic bags, to encourage customers to shy away from using them. But no one has stepped up to the mark and banned plastic bags all together, until now. We're the first major retailer to take this stand and I challenge the rest of the high street to follow us and move Britain a step closer to a total bag ban," said chief executive Peter Aldis. He pointed to the effects of an Irish government crackdown on plastic bags, with a bag tax on retailers there leading to a sharp drop in throwaway carrier use. "It is rare for a retailer to call for more taxes, but I would encourage the government to follow suit here," said Aldis. Holland & Barrett customers use 7.6m plastic bags a year and nationwide the UK uses an average of 167 bags per person per year, adding up to 13,000 bags per person over a lifetime, according to the chain. The retailer has invested in a recycling centre and opted for sea freight over air freight for imported goods. In 2002, Ireland introduced a 15 euro cents tax (10p) on each plastic bag – the so-called "plastax" – and within months a 90% fall in the number of bags being used had been recorded. | ['business/retail', 'environment/recycling', 'world/ireland', 'tone/news', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/katieallen', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-12-27T19:50:40Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2021/may/27/oman-plans-to-build-worlds-largest-green-hydrogen-plant | Oman plans to build world’s largest green hydrogen plant | Oman is planning to build one of the largest green hydrogen plants in the world in a move to make the oil-producing nation a leader in renewable energy technology. Construction is scheduled to start in 2028 in Al Wusta governorate on the Arabian Sea. It will be built in stages, with the aim to be at full capacity by 2038, powered by 25 gigawatts of wind and solar energy. The consortium of companies behind the $30bn (£21bn) project includes the state-owned oil and gas company OQ, the Hong Kong-based renewable hydrogen developer InterContinental Energy and the Kuwait-based energy investor Enertech. Once online, the plant will use renewable energy to split water in an electrolyser to produce green hydrogen, which is able to replace fossil fuels without producing carbon emissions. Most will be exported to Europe and Asia, said Alicia Eastman, the co-founder and president of InterContinental Energy, either as hydrogen or converted into green ammonia, which is easier to ship and store. The facility aims to produce 1.8m tonnes of green hydrogen and up to 10m tonnes of green ammonia a year. Oman currently relies heavily on fossil fuels, generating up to 85% of its GDP from oil and gas, but its fossil fuel reserves are dwindling and becoming increasingly costly to extract. In December 2020, the country published its Oman Vision 2040 strategy, a plan to diversify the economy away from fossil fuels and increase investment in renewables. Green hydrogen could play an important role, said Eastman, thanks to the Oman’s combination of plentiful daytime sun and strong winds at night. “Oman is one of the places in the world that I’ve called the ‘future renewable superpowers’,” said Michael Liebreich, the founder of BloombergNEF, “because what you really want [to produce green hydrogen] is very cheap solar and very cheap wind.” While electrification is the most efficient way of decarbonising most sectors, it’s limited when it comes to energy-intensive industries such as steel, chemicals, aviation and shipping. Green hydrogen will be vital to help fill these gaps, said the International Energy Agency in its report published this week, which called for an end to fossil fuel investments if governments are serious about climate commitments. A wave of net zero-emissions pledges has already led to a slew of hydrogen strategies, including from the European Commission in 2020, which predicted the share of hydrogen in the EU’s energy mix would rise from 2% to 14% by 2050. Yet green hydrogen currently makes up less than 1% of global hydrogen production. The majority is still produced using fossil fuels such as gas and coal, in a process that emits about 830m tonnes of carbon annually, equivalent to the emissions of the UK and Indonesia combined. “Blue hydrogen” is a cleaner version, as emissions are captured and stored, but it is still produced using gas – and is seen by some oil companies as a way to keep using fossil fuels. One of the stumbling blocks for green hydrogen has been cost, partly because of the huge amounts of energy required. But as renewables and electrolysers become cheaper, and fossil fuel prices rise, costs could fall by up to 64% by 2030, according to research from the consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “Most green hydrogen products will not be competitive for at least another decade,” said Falko Ueckerdt, a senior scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who sees the Oman project as “a sign that investors anticipate large future demands for hydrogen-based fuels after 2030”. Oman’s proposed plant is just one in a slate of green hydrogen mega projects planned globally. Eastman said InterContinental Energy has a number of other plants in the works, including a 26GW wind and solar green hydrogen plant in the Pilbara, Western Australia. If constructed, this $36bn (£25.5bn) plant would be the world’s biggest energy project. The first phase is expected to be online by 2028. In March, the renewables company Enegix Energy announced the construction of a green hydrogen plan in Ceará state, north-eastern Brazil. Once built, which the company estimates will take about four years, the plant would produce more than 600,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year from 3.4GW of wind and solar power. “People are upping the gigawatts, and they should,” said Eastman, “there’s so much room in the market.” | ['world/oman', 'environment/hydrogen-power', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'world/middleeast', 'world/world', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/laura-paddison', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2021-05-27T08:51:07Z | true | ENERGY |
media-network/2016/jan/28/the-power-of-privacy-documentary-film | The Power of Privacy – film | In this documentary film – part of the Guardian’s Power of Privacy series, supported by Silent Circle – Aleks Krotoski travels the world to undergo challenges that explore our digital life in the 21st century. Watch her be stalked and hacked, fight to get leaked documents back, dive into open data and live in a futuristic home that monitors her every move. To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up free for Media & Tech Network membership. All Guardian Media & Tech Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “Paid for by” – find out more here. | ['media-network/media-network', 'media-network/series/the-power-of-privacy', 'technology/cybercrime', 'technology/technology', 'technology/data-computer-security', 'type/article', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures'] | media-network/series/the-power-of-privacy | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2016-01-28T10:02:55Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
sustainable-business/circular-economy-environment | Mike Biddle: Why plastic is still 'the last frontier' of recycling | This month, Mike Biddle, the founder and longtime CEO of a pioneering plastics-recycling company called MBA Polymers, stepped down as an executive at the firm, ending more than two decades of unrelenting effort to reduce plastic waste. Biddle's story is one of great success, as well as ongoing frustration. He sat down with me last week at the 2014 GreenBiz Forum in Phoenix to talk about MBA Polymers, the potential of the so-called circular economy, and why, despite all we know, the vast majority of plastics discarded in the US still wind up in incinerators, landfills or, worse, the ocean. Plastics, he says, remains "the last frontier of recycling." Biddle, who is 58 and has a PhD in chemical engineering from Case Western and an MBA from Stanford, left a good job at Dow Chemical in 1992 in the hope of solving the difficult puzzle of plastics recycling. During the next seven years, he attracted about $7m in grants and loans from the state of California, the Environmental Protection Agency and a plastics industry trade group. The money enabled him to develop a set of technologies needed to make high-quality plastic pellets – which can be used to make new products – from big, messy and mixed post-consumer waste streams, particularly electronic waste and junked automobiles. He calls it "above-ground mining." (MBA Polymers doesn't bother with PET plastics, the type used to make soda bottles, leaving that particular waste stream to the beverage industry.) Since raising its first round of venture capital in 1999, MBA Polymers has attracted more than $150m from investors. Its latest round was a Series H. Now, the company, headquartered in Richmond, California, operates recycling plants in China, Austria and in the former coal-mining town of Worksop in the UK, which together process more than 300m pounds of plastic waste per year. It also won a 2013 Katerva Award for the materials and resources category, announced today. The company has proven that the economics of plastics recycling can work, so long as there is an adequate supply of waste to be reprocessed. And closing the loop on plastics also delivers big environmental benefits. Recycling plastics not only keeps waste out of landfills and oceans, but also reduces the need for petroleum-based feedstocks, requires 80% less energy than making plastic from oil and dramatically reduces carbon emissions. Of all this, Biddle is justly proud. He considers himself an environmentalist, as well as an entrepreneur. "I absolutely hate waste," he says. But Biddle is disappointed that he has been unable to take the company further. He estimates that as much as 500bn pounds of plastics are thrown away every year, only a tiny fraction of which is captured by MBA Polymers. He's especially frustrated that the company isn't operating in the US, the country that educated him and provided the seed money for his research. MBA Polymers employs about 300 people, and all but a handful of engineers work overseas. "I'd like to create jobs here," he says. Biddle himself had been commuting to the UK. Why can't the company gain traction in the US? Building plants to reprocess plastics is expensive, and MBA Polymers cannot be sure it will get a large enough – and secure enough – supply of US plastic waste to justify the capital cost. One way to secure a more predictable supply of e-waste would be to place some of the burden of collecting it on manufacturers. That's what the EU has done. Its "extended producer responsibility" laws, which require electronics to be collected and recycled, have created a robust collection system for used cell phones, tablets, computers and other e-waste. "They primed the pump with policy," Biddle says. Besides that, Biddle would like to see the US follow other countries and require that e-waste exports to poor countries be handled responsibly. MBA Polymers cannot compete, he says, with cheap and irresponsible recyclers in places like China, Vietnam and West Africa. "People, for as little as a dollar a day, dig through our stuff and extract what they can and leave behind what they can't, which is mostly the plastics," he says. "A lot of that winds up in rivers and oceans. … We need care about how we unmake our stuff as much as we do about it's made." US recyclers, he says, could be required to audit the processing of the waste that they export. Today, "there's no downstream accountability," he says. Biddle has testified in favor the regulation of e-waste exports before Congress. The stance didn't come easily to him because, he told me, he's believes in limited government and free markets. "But I can't compete if the rules aren't fair," he says. MBA Polymers may get a big assist from China, which last year announced a crackdown on hazardous waste imports called Operation Green Fence. "They're trying clamp down as they should," Biddle says, "but enforcement is not what it should be." Biddle isn't giving up. Even though he has left MBA Polymers, he expects to keep working on recycling policy – despite his libertarian instincts. He plans to encourage businesses with access to waste streams, such as auto shredders, to recognize their value. And he has taken on a new job as president of Waste Free Oceans America, a new subsidiary of a global non-profit called Waste Free Oceans. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'environment/environment', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/circular-economy', 'profile/marc-gunther'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-02-26T15:00:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2018/jan/24/country-diary-birds-heard-but-not-seen-wenlock-edge-shropshire | Country diary: birds heard but not seen in this glowing glade | The glade filled with sunlight. It settled like physical stuff, a dusting of the inner circle and its enclosing trees with emerald snow. The green was made by sunlight on moss, on thorn branches, and across the flat ground with mossy stones and the first bristles of dog’s mercury pushing through. Outside the circle was a dark thicket of ash and hazel against an opal January sky. Much of the surrounding scrub had been downed by recent snow and gales. Last night a nameless storm came screaming as if the sky was being shoved through a letterbox. Today, shriven and clear, a new place was emerging from the wreckage. The glade was glowing with light hovering just above the trees, preparing for something to appear. “Glade” may be too romantic a name for this place; it was just a clearing in a scratchy little wood that was, until the middle of the last century, a quarry for lime-burning and rum goings-on. Rock faces looming through trees were the same colour as the ash tree trunks and the ruins of a hill, broken, burned and carted away a century or more ago. There were no birds inside the clearing but the sounds from surrounding trees of blue tits, great tits and long-tailed tits were sharp and clear like the clinking of a bag of marbles. In the years when this was an active quarry, people talked about these birds differently. In their recent book, Beckwith’s Birds of Nineteenth Century Shropshire, John and Peter Tucker have collected the work of the field naturalist William Edmund Beckwith, who died in 1892 of cirrhosis of the liver, aged 47. Beckwith was a champion of local ornithology. He wrote about the bluet tit (then Parus caeruleus, now Cyanistes caeruleus) as one of the gardener’s “worst foes”, for stealing fruit buds; great tits, Parus major, were guilty of the “grave accusation of killing bees”; long-tailed tits (then Parus caudatus, now Aegithalos caudatus) had beautifully shaped nests that earned them the name canbottle. The afternoon light began to fade; maybe the clearing in the woods was glowing for the miraculous return of species lost since Beckwith’s time, or maybe it was spiriting away those that remained. Life is as fleeting as winter light. | ['environment/forests', 'environment/winter', 'environment/birds', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulevans', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-01-24T05:30:22Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2007/nov/24/antarctica.climatechange | Cruise of a lifetime ends with passengers adrift in icy waters off coast of Antarctica | Environmental campaigners have long complained about the growth in tourist numbers polluting the once pristine expanses of the world's last great wilderness, Antarctica. But for a group of hapless adventurers bobbing around in lifeboats, buffetted by a freezing Antarctic wind as their cruise ship lurched lower in the water, it was the busy tourist traffic through the Southern Ocean that ultimately saved them. Last night, the group were recovering aboard a Norwegian tourist vessel which also happened to be cruising through the area, reflecting on an ordeal which demonstrated that more than 90 years after the Titanic, icebergs still sink ships. The drama began just before 1am. As the cruise ship Explorer was picking its way through the Antarctic sea ice, it hit what experts believe was a "growler" - a huge iceberg shorn from the Antarctic ice shelf. Despite being built to withstand such conditions the impact caused a hole in the hull and Explorer began taking on water. An emergency operation swung into action and as temperatures dipped below -5C (23F) the 100 passengers and 54 crew abandoned ship and took to the sea in small open top lifeboats. For the next four hours - as they watched Explorer sink - they waited for someone to come to their aid. Eventually, the Norwegian cruiser NordNorge appeared. Captain Arnvid Hansen said that although the passengers in the lifeboats were in good spirits when he arrived, they were cold and hungry. "It was no problem to get them on board. They were picked up from the lifeboats ... and this operation took around one hour," he said. Speaking yesterday afternoon he added: "They are in our premier lounge now having warm food and drying their clothes on board. Some are cold but none has hypothermia. We are giving them as many clothes as we can." Hansen said he was planning to head for King George Island where he hoped all the passengers would be able to land. Among those rescued were 24 people from the UK. They had been taking part in a 19-day tour, starting from the port of Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina and including the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. John Shears, from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), said he had been a passenger on Explorer and said it was well equipped to deal with the challenging conditions in the Antarctic. "I was surprised to hear what had happened. It is ice-strengthened and designed to operate down there and it runs a good safety operation," he said. According to climate scientists the area where Explorer ran into trouble is warming faster than any other part of the globe. This led to speculation yesterday that there had been a subsequent increase in the number of icebergs breaking away from the ice shelf making the waters increasingly dangerous for ships. But BAS scientists said there was no evidence to back up the theory. "Our information is that there was nothing out of the ordinary in the area at the time," added a spokeswoman. Shears said there had been a huge growth in the number of tourists visiting Antarctica in the last 10 years. But he added that its popularity as a tourist destination had made the area safer. "In this instance it was other tourist boats that came to help and that was what allowed this rescue to pass off relatively smoothly," he said. Yesterday it emerged that UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspectors had found five faults with Explorer when it docked at Greenock, Inverclyde in May. These had included missing search and rescue plans and lifeboat maintenance problems. Watertight doors were described as "not as required", and the fire safety measures also attracted criticism. But a MCA spokesman said the problems "were not huge" adding: "[They] were all rectified before the vessel sailed. It would not have been allowed to depart if everything had not been sorted out." A spokesman for Explorer said it had had a subsequent safety check in the US in October and been given a clean bill of health. Explorer, built in 1969, is regarded as one of the best-known specialist cruise ships in the world. It pioneered the tourist market for Antarctic tours and last night a spokesman for the vessel's tour company, Gap Adventures, said it had an excellent safety record. "The M/S Explorer hit a lump of ice off King George Island this morning and the impact left the vessel with a crack in the hull the size of a fist," he added. "All passengers and crew have been evacuated, they are all accounted for and are safe and well." Wish you were here? There were 6,000 visitors to Antarctica in 1992 and 30,000 in 2006/07, of which 9,693 were Americans, 4,518 British, 4,082 German, 2,756 Australian At least 58 cruise ships from 12 countries ply the southerly tourism route with almost 300 visits a year through the November-March season The Explorer conducted 12 trips in the 2006/07 season, ferrying almost 1,200 passengers to the Antarctic | ['world/world', 'world/antarctica', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'travel/travel', 'travel/antarctica', 'environment/poles', 'type/article', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'profile/matthewtaylorrsa', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2007-11-24T23:52:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2007/dec/13/climatechange.bali | We may not get carbon deal, warns Benn | A stand-off between the United States and Europe over carbon reduction targets should not overshadow the "significant" progress made on a new climate deal, Hilary Benn said yesterday. The environment secretary said the so-called Bali roadmap, which negotiators hope to produce tomorrow as the first step towards a new treaty, did not need a fixed target to be considered a success. He said: "Of course there are people who hoped it would all be sorted out this week. But the roadmap will give us the means to get where we want to go, and we haven't had that previously, and that's a significant step." The US is trying to remove a reference to 25-40% cuts in carbon pollution by 2020 for developed countries, which remained in the draft roadmap released by the UN yesterday. Harlan Watson, US chief negotiator, said: "The reality in this business is that once numbers appear in the text, it prejudges the outcome and will tend to drive the negotiations in one direction." The target is supported by Britain and Europe, which say it is necessary to avoid a 2C rise in global temperatures, and by developing countries such as Brazil and China, which want the US to show it is now serious about global warming. Germany's environment minister Sigmar Gabriel said the Bali conference would be meaningless if it did not set clear targets. He said: "I do not need a paper from Bali in which we only say, 'OK, we'll meet next year again'. How can we find a roadmap without having a target, without having a goal?" The roadmap aims to set the framework and timetable to agree a successor to the Kyoto protocol, the existing global treaty to regulate greenhouse gases, which expires in 2012. The dispute came as heads of government and senior ministers took charge of the discussions for the first time, after a series of speeches that urged the world to quickly impose deep cuts in emissions, to head off scientific predictions of rising seas, worsening droughts and famines, and melting ice sheets. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, urged countries not to "betray our planet and our children". But he said it might be "too ambitious" to include fixed emission goals in tomorrow's roadmap. Benn said the talks had agreed progress on how to avoid deforestation and how to help poor countries adapt to the consequences of global warming. He said a "clear majority" of countries had agreed to launch formal negotiations on a new treaty. Sources said Saudi Arabia, a regular obstructor at such talks, was still holding out. Talks on a way to transfer clean technology from rich to poor countries collapsed late on Tuesday night, but Benn insisted they could be revived. China highlighted its efforts to control emissions despite rocketing economic growth and energy use. Xie Zhenhua, vice-chairman of the National Development Commission, said $20bn (£9.7bn) had been invested this year in renewables. He said rich countries should "show political will" by committing to cut emissions. Musical interlude A formal session to open the high-level section of the UN climate talks was interrupted by an invitation to enjoy one of the Indonesian president's songs. Heads of government squirmed in their seats as the song's video, complete with smiling children and burning forests, was beamed on to a screen and an aide urged them to sing along. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a minor pop star in Indonesia. Asked if he had enjoyed the performance, Hilary Benn said: "I've enjoyed all of it so far but I don't plan to sing." | ['environment/bali', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'type/article', 'profile/davidadam', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews4'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2007-12-13T10:19:51Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2020/nov/30/uk-farmers-reform-subsidies-british-agriculture | The UK's farmers face upheaval, but a reform to subsidies is needed | Simon Jenkins | This is a good week to start a revolution. With Brexit now on the brink of deal or no deal, Britain could yet retreat behind a wall of tariffs and protectionism. But if a free-trade deal is done and borders stay open, the way is clear for British agriculture to be transformed utterly. Today a seven-year transition plan has been announced by the environment secretary, George Eustice. It switches the money, currently £2.4bn a year, pumped into farm support from merely subsidising an industry to safeguarding the countryside and supporting good food and animal welfare. As the plan goes out to consultation, it will face a hundred reservations, but freed from the EU’s longstanding, anti-conservation agricultural policy it is emphatically in the right direction. Within a decade, taxpayers will stop paying farmers on the size of their farms, now roughly £233 per hectare and comprising a third of farm incomes. This has been a massive distortion in favour of rich landowners. By 2028 farms are expected, says Eustice, to be “sustainable businesses that do not need to rely on public subsidy”. But lest that leads to arable degradation and the erosion of nature, and further exacerbates the climate crisis, the present subsidy is to be redirected to what the plan rightly called “public goods”. What these are and how to assess their value will not be easy. Money is to go on disease eradication, nature protection, air and water quality, tree planting, robotics and biodiversity. Subsidies will help farm startups and business diversification. How they will also be spent on “enhanced beauty and heritage” is a mystery, but a welcome one. The transition will be painful and doubtless bitterly argued, but by 2025 two-thirds of all subsidies are intended to have gone from acreage payments to public goods, and by 2028 all of them. To encounter such sensible and public-spirited ambitions from a modern Whitehall is impressive. The green and farming lobbies have given the plan a cautious welcome. Its proposals tally with those of the progressive Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, which reported in July 2019. Equally impressive is the acknowledgment that the 72% of the UK’s land area currently being farmed is a source of pleasure and concern to the generality of British people, and should be safeguarded as such. This perception is wholly absent from last summer’s development white paper from the planning minister, Robert Jenrick, which seemed aimed at concreting over the 72% as soon as possible. We must pray that Eustice stays in place to carry his plan into implementation. Its real proof will be in the eating. Britain’s oldest industry is about to face upheaval. Farmers are going to lose, or at least have redirected, much of their income in just a few years. Many will find it hard to adjust and will suffer the same fate as local publicans in the current government devastation of small businesses. Unlike publicans, farmers are at least being paid to change. So change they must. Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'politics/george-eustice', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/simonjenkins', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-11-30T16:00:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2016/mar/16/berta-caceres-nelson-garcia-murdered-copinh-fellow-activist | Fellow Honduran activist Nelson García murdered days after Berta Cáceres | Another indigenous activist has been murdered in Honduras amid an escalating wave of repression against the relatives and colleagues of renowned campaigner Berta Cáceres, who was murdered less than two weeks ago. Nelson García, 38, an active member of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (Copinh) was killed on Tuesday after a violent eviction carried out by Honduran security forces in a nearby Lenca indigenous community. García was shot dead in the face by unidentified gunmen as he returned to his family home in Río Lindo, north-west Honduras – about 100 miles south of La Esperanza where Cáceres was murdered at home on 3 March. García spent the morning with the Río Chiquito community where more than one hundred police and military officers helped evict dozens of families from land which local politicians claim doesn’t belong to them. Their simple timber houses and crops were destroyed using heavy machinery yesterday morning, according to Copinh. Cáceres co-founded Copinh 22 years ago amid growing threats to Lenca territory from loggers, farmers and state-sponsored projects. Last year, the activist won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her opposition to one of the region’s biggest hydroelectric projects, a cascade of four dams in the Gualcarque river basin, including the Agua Zarca dam. The river is sacred to the Lenca people and the proposed dam would cut-off food and medicine supplies to nearby communities. Cáceres was shot dead at her home after suffering years of intimidation and threats against her life linked to her activism. Since then, there has been growing fears for the safety of her colleagues and family members who have been subject to harassment and intimidation by the authorities. According to Copinh, eight of the organization’s nine coordinators in La Esperanza have since been interrogated for up to 12 hours at a time on numerous occasions without being properly informed of the reasons for their questioning. Aureliano Molina, one of the group’s leaders, was detained hours after the killing and released 48 hours later without charges. A few days later, several unidentified men driving cars without number plates circled Molina’s home and tried to gain entry to conduct an illegal search. The comings and goings in various Copinh offices, including the community radio station and a women’s shelter, have been subject to illegal monitoring since the murder. In addition, police officers were observed photographing protesters last week at a march in La Esperanza demanding justice for Cáceres. One of her daughters has also reported being followed by plainclothes armed men in the capital, Tegucigalpa. “We demand an end to the persecution, harassment and the war against Copinh members,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday. “We demand justice for our dead colleagues from the Honduran government and an end to impunity.” Amnesty International is among several international human rights groups to raise the alarm about the welfare of Mexican activist Gustavo Castro Soto, who witnessed the murder of Cáceres and suffered gunshot wounds himself, as he has been prevented from leaving Honduras. An urgent request made on 5 March by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights for safety measures to protect Copinh members, Soto and Cáceres’ family has so far been ignored by the Honduran government. Copinh and Caceres’ daughter Bertha have called for an independent investigation into the activist’s death. Honduras is the most dangerous country in the world for environmental defenders with 101 murdered between 2010 and 2014, according to the NGO Global Witness. | ['world/honduras', 'world/americas', 'environment/environment', 'environment/activism', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nina-lakhani'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2016-03-16T19:34:01Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
business/2009/sep/03/power-workers-vote-for-strike-action | Power station and refinery workers vote for strike action | Some of Britain's largest refineries and power stations face being shut down after workers voted to stage official action over the hiring of cheaper foreign labour. The result of the ballot – to be revealed tomorrow to the employers, including BP and Shell – follows months of "wildcat" action sparked by the use of foreign contractors at Lindsey refinery in Lincolnshire. The vast majority of 7,000 of GMB union members at seven sites, which include the nuclear complex at Sellafield and BP's North Sea gas pipeline, have voted in favour of industrial action, the Guardian has learned. They want employers to allow unions to carry out full audits of the contracts of all 30,000 workers. Unions accuse companies of reneging on national collective pay deals by hiring workers, often from overseas, on lower wages. Fellow union Unite, which represents the remainder of the workforce, has also been balloting its members. It is expected to announce the result next week, but members are also understood to have balloted overwhelmingly in favour of action. GMB will wait for the result of Unite's ballot before taking action. Union officials will meet employer representatives for talks, but workers' leaders are determined to take action to prevent the further erosion of the principle of collective pay bargaining. Employers counter that being prevented from hiring foreign staff for lower wages than agreed under collective pay deals obstructs the movement of labour in the European Union. Employment lawyers said that companies could attempt to overturn the ballot in the high court, which would make the planned industrial action illegal. Victory for employers would seriously undermine the union movement by limiting the use of its ultimate sanction, the right to strike. Marc Meryon, a partner specialising in industrial relations law at Bircham Dyson Bell, said: "This is a conflict between two rights in European law: one is the freedom of movement of labour and the other is the right to go on strike. Employers are likely to have been taking advice over whether unions can have a lawful strike over employing foreign contractors on lower wages." Wildcat strikes swept Britain's construction and energy industries at the beginning of the year after Total hired about 100 Italian and Portuguese contractors at its Lindsey refinery. Total insisted it was paying them the same wages but British workers questioned why they were not employed instead. The use of foreign labour became more of a flashpoint in March when it emerged that power firm Alstom was paying Polish construction workers at its Isle of Grain plant, in Kent, £4.50 an hour less than their British counterparts. The Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA) said at the time that the "incident resulted from a misinterpretation". The ECIA, which will meet representatives from GMB and Unite , did not return calls from the Guardian. The seven sites at risk are: BP's Forties pipeline facility at Grangemouth; the Ineos refinery at Grangemouth; Sellafield; Shell's refinery at Stanlow; RWE's power plants at Staythorpe in Nottinghamshire and Aberthaw in South Glamorgan; and Chevron's refinery in Pembroke. The unions are negotiating a new three-year pay deal. Employers are said to have agreed to the principle of setting up a national skills register which unions believe would identify what type of training in Britain is most needed. Unions also want a unemployed workers' register which companies must use to fill vacancies. Employers are said to have also agreed to allow unions to audit their workforces' pay, "except in exceptional circumstances" which unions believe is an unacceptable caveat. "We don't trust them anymore," said one union source. Employers are required to pay the minimum wage to foreign workers but many circumvent collective pay agreements by using subsidiary companies to hire them on a lower wage. | ['business/oilandgascompanies', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/oil', 'politics/tradeunions', 'business/bp', 'business/royaldutchshell', 'world/eu', 'law/law', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/timwebb', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2009-09-03T18:22:41Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2018/oct/04/climate-change-deforestation-global-warming-report | Scientists say halting deforestation 'just as urgent' as reducing emissions | The role of forests in combating climate change risks being overlooked by the world’s governments, according to a group of scientists that has warned halting deforestation is “just as urgent” as eliminating the use of fossil fuels. Razing the world’s forests would release more than 3 trillion tons of carbon dioxide, more than the amount locked in identified global reserves of oil, coal and gas. By protecting and restoring forests, the world would achieve 18% of the emissions mitigation needed by 2030 to avoid runaway climate change, the group of 40 scientists, spanning five countries, said in a statement. “We must protect and maintain healthy forests to avoid dangerous climate change and to ensure the world’s forests continue to provide services critical for the well-being of the planet and ourselves,” the statement reads. The intervention comes as the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gathers in South Korea ahead of Monday’s release of an eagerly awaited report on how the world can avoid warming of 1.5C (2.7F) beyond pre-industrial levels, an aspirational target of the landmark Paris climate deal in 2015. It is expected the report will focus on required changes to the energy system, rather than forests. “In responding to the IPCC report, our message as scientists is simple: Our planet’s future climate is inextricably tied to the future of its forests,” the scientists’ statement pointedly concludes. Trees and other vegetation currently absorb around a quarter of the CO2 humans are adding to the atmosphere, softening the potential impact of climate change. While the world won’t lose all of its trees, large tracts of tropical forests, which hold a vast amount of carbon, are still being lost in the Amazon, central Africa and Indonesia. Warming temperatures are also fueling huge fires in forests in higher latitudes, as witnessed this summer when much of northern Sweden was aflame. “The forest piece of the conversation is often lost and I don’t think the IPCC report will highlight it enough,” said Deborah Lawrence, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia and a signatory of the statement. “We almost take forests as a given but we lose forest every year, which means we are diminishing them as a carbon sink. “Deforestation has been massively reduced in the Amazon, but that hasn’t happened elsewhere. As countries get more peaceful in Africa we could lose more tropical forests, which really worries me.” The IPCC’s report is expected to mention the need for as-yet unproven technology to burn vegetation and bury the resulting emissions underground or directly suck carbon from the air as a way to meet the 1.5C target. The statement by Lawrence and other scientists warns the former strategy, known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (Beccs), is untested and risks wiping out huge areas of rainforest in order to make way for plantation timber for energy. “It breaks my heart to think we’d lose half our tropical forests for plantations just to save ourselves,” Lawrence said. “It’s horrifying that we’d lose our biodiversity to avert climate change. Losing tropical forests is not somehow cheaper than putting up wind farms in the US or Sahara.” Lawrence said a steep drop in emissions to zero by 2040 would negate the need for “negative emissions” technology that would damage forests’ ability to suck up carbon, maintain local water supplies and weather patterns and provide a home for a riot of birds, mammals, insects and other creatures. “We will have a hotter, drier world without these forests,” Lawrence said. “There needs to be an international price on carbon to fund the protection of forests. And countries with tropical forests should maintain large chunks of forests to stabilize rainfall for agriculture and keep a predictable regional climate.” The prospects for averting at least 1.5C of warming appear dim, however, with a co-author of the upcoming IPCC report warning last week the world is “nowhere near on track” to meet its Paris commitments. | ['environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/paris-climate-agreement', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/oliver-milman', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-10-04T13:00:24Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/2016/apr/21/peru-farmer-wins-battle-newmont-mining-corporation | Peruvian farmer wins David-and-Goliath battle against US mining giant | As owner of some of the largest and most lucrative gold mines in the world, Newmont Mining Corporation is used to getting its own way. Not in Peru though. In a David-and-Goliath battle, community activists have, so far, succeeded in seeing off the creation of a $5bn (£3.8bn) open-caste mine next to a pristine lake. At the centre of that battle is Máxima Acuña de Chaupe, a 47 year-old subsistence farmer who owns an 60-acre plot of land precisely where Newmont’s local joint-venture, Yanacocha, wants to dig. Acuña’s refusal to sell up, despite huge pressure and persistent threats, has effectively stalled the proposed Conga mine. A spokesperson for Newmont has said that it does not anticipate developing the mine in the foreseeable future. As Newmont’s shareholders gather at the corporation’s Denver, US, headquarters, mother-of-four Acuña has been in San Francisco to receive the prestigious Goldman Environment prize. Of the prize’s six winners this year, she is among three involved in resisting land grabs by private companies – a stark indication of the rise in land-related conflicts around the world. Acuña’s resistance is testimony to her own resilience. Her refusal to sell up has resulted in claims of physical assault, surveillance and being taken to court multiple times. Despite judicial support for her land claim, Newmont’s joint venture has “peacefully” destroyed all her crops twice in the last few months. But, with all due respect to Acuña’s dogged determination, responsibility for stopping a multibillion-dollar mine does not fall to her efforts alone. Credit must also be given to the network of national and international campaign groups that have mobilised in support of her cause over recent years. “Solidarity is essential. It’s the only way of bringing a counterweight to the power of economic might and the power of corruption,” says Mirtha Vasquez, a lawyer with Peru-based charity Grufides, which offers legal assistance to landholders threatened by extractive projects. Such solidarity expresses itself in a variety of ways. A human rights observer working for the Belgian charity Catapa recently spent a month at Acuña’s family home working as a human rights observer. The charity also ran a successful cowfunding campaign late last year to raise money to buy Acuña’s some cows to supplement her income. Another charity coming to the aid of small landowners such as Acuña is Front Line Defenders. This Dublin-based campaign group offers grants of up to €7,500 (£5,907) to cover the cost of satellite phones, CCTV, temporary rehousing and other measures required for landowner’s personal security. It also offers training to build up the campaigning and communications’ capacities of local non-profits. “One of the tactics that they [corporations] use is to divide and conquer by pitting communities against one another. And because a lot of these communities aren’t plugged in technologically, it’s very easy for misinformation and disinformation to spread,” says Adam Shapiro, head of campaigns at Front Line Defenders. Direct advocacy is another way international non-profit groups can have influence. This time last year, Acuña’s lawyer Vasquez attended Newmont’s annual shareholder meeting at the invitation of the charities Earthworks and EarthRights International. Similarly, Frontline Defenders has brought Acuña’s case to the attention of institutions such as the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights. Raising international awareness and public support is arguably where the impact of global solidarity networks really kicks in. In the age of the internet and social media, the ability for marginalised voices to be quickly amplified is vast. In February last year, for example, Acuña’s story was tweeted, shared on Facebook and emailed as part of a World Day of Action dedicated to her. Social media has revolutionised the reach of campaign groups, says Hannibal Rhoades, European co-ordinator for Yes to Life, No to Mining, a global coalition of 55 charities and non-profit networks. “A good newspaper article could be shared maybe 10,000 times, say, but if you get a video out there [online] that touches a cord and is used at the right time you can get millions of views,” he says. Global corporations are litigious beasts, however, and can be quick to sue land rights activists for defamation. Getting your facts right is therefore essential. Leng Ouch, another winner of this year’s Goldman Environment prize, has dedicated most of his adult life to precisely that end: digging up hard data on corporate collusion that is leading to the destruction of Cambodia’s rainforest. Information revealed through the investigative efforts of Ouch and his colleagues at the Cambodia Human Rights Task Force contributed to a national moratorium on new land concessions in forest areas. It also helped mobilise international campaign groups such as Global Witness to launch investigations of their own. The law can be used in support of land rights activists as well as against them. Acuña’s ability to prove the legality of her land claim in court is what’s fundamentally prevented her eviction. All too often marginalised groups lack secure land rights, however, leaving them vulnerable to counterclaims by companies. | ['sustainable-business/series/role-business-development', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'world/peru', 'environment/mining', 'environment/land-rights', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'tone/features', 'profile/oliver-balch', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2016-04-21T11:25:52Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2012/jun/27/colorado-waldo-canyon-fire-air-force | Colorado firefighters battling Waldo Canyon fire get help from US air force | As Colorado's fierce Waldo Canyon fire continues to burn and displace families in the Colorado Springs area, small crews of locally stationed air force reservists have been tasked with battling the flames from the sky. For some, like loadmaster Chris Linquistit of the US air force reserve command's 302nd airlift wing, it means fighting a fire that threatens their hometown. "It's numbing," he told the Guardian. "It's hard to watch your home burn." About 32,000 Colorado Springs residents were being evacuated on Wednesday. "It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine," Governor John Hickenlooper said after flying over the blaze. "It's almost surreal. You look at that, and it's like nothing I've seen before." Stationed at Peterson air force base, the 302nd has provided a crucial tool in combating the fire; two massive C-130H aircraft equipped with modular airborne firefighting systems, or Maffs. Two more of the specialized aircraft have been provided by the Wyoming air national guard's 153rd airlift wing. Together the four planes represent half of the nation's elite firefighting tankers. The hulking C-130Hs are considered a last resort in combating fires. Their use requires that all other options – including private aircraft – have been exhausted. On Sunday the National interagency fire center – which provides guidance for US fire agencies – informed the 302nd that their equipment and capabilities were needed. "They requested that the aircraft be ready to fly by Monday," said Ann Skarban, chief of public affairs for the 302nd. Shortly after noon on Monday, the mission was launched. The first stop was a tanker base in Pueblo, Colorado, where the planes were filled with a special flame retardant known as Phos-Chek. The Maffs tanker system allows the plane's crew to drop 3,000 gallons of the substance in under five seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide. Maffs crews are made up of six members: a pilot, a co-pilot, a flight engineer, a navigator and two loadmasters. Once the retardant load is dispersed the aircraft can be refilled and back to the mission in less than 12 minutes. Air-bound firefighters have compared the high-stakes refuelling process to Nascar pit stops. According to a US forest service report, the planes cost $6,600 an hour to fly. The mission of the planes is to stop the spread of the flames by creating suppression lines, allowing ground personnel to move in and provide containment. To do this the aircraft are forced to fly low, hugging close to the earth, often barrelling through clouds of smoke. On Tuesday, the crews completed their first full day of operations. The planes are limited to daylight hours, meaning they make as many runs as possible before the sun goes down or the smoke gets too thick. After roughly seven hours of dropping retardant, refuelling, then repeating the process, the planes had to pull out due to low visibility at 4pm Tuesday afternoon. It was at the time that high winds pushed the flames over a mountain ridge, turning the Waldo Canyon fire into an inferno that forced the evacuation of more than 32,000 residents, including the air force academy, and destroyed an unknown number of homes. The reservists in Colorado Springs have a history of battling such conditions. In 2008 the 302nd responded to fires in California, while 2011 was a record season for Maffs operations, with missions launched in Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Still, Colorado's wildfires, the Waldo Canyon fire in particular, present an unique challenge to the crew members stationed at Peterson. "This is their hometown," Skarban said. "They're extremely professional. They work diligently and very hard on every task they're given." "But I know for many of them, this is home," she said, noting that some members of the crew live in the city's evacuation areas or have friends and family that do. "It means a lot to them," Skarban said. This is Linquist's first year fighting fires, and he admits it has been difficult. But, he said, he is grateful for the opportunity to help protect his community. "It's one of the most satisfying missions I think that I've ever been on," he said. "I'm very happy that they brought us in." The blaze is just one of over half dozens wildfires to take hold in Colorado in recent weeks, fuelled by exceedingly dry conditions, record heat and unpredictable winds. In northern Colorado, just outside the city of Fort Collins, the High Park fire has burned 87,284 acres, displaced over 11,000 people and led to at least one death. It is the second largest fire in the state's history. The local sheriff's department hopes to see all evacuees returned to their homes within the next two days. | ['world/wildfires', 'us-news/colorado', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-military', 'tone/news', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/colorado-wildfires', 'type/article', 'profile/ryan-devereaux'] | us-news/colorado-wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-06-27T17:59:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2022/mar/15/is-battling-back-to-back-disasters-distracting-us-from-fighting-the-climate-crisis | Is battling back-to-back disasters distracting us from fighting the climate crisis? | Jeff Sparrow | Environmentalists once saw abstraction as the biggest obstacle to climate action. How, they wondered, could one focus the public on the distant future? Today, we confront the opposite problem, with the very immediacy of the crisis generating a strange paralysis. When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that global heating made extreme flooding more common, its new report at the end of February spurred relatively little discussion – in part because of the water covering swathes of Queensland and New South Wales. As tinnies plucked desperate residents from the deluge, who could give due weight to the warning from Prof Brendan Mackey, one of the IPPC authors, that the science clearly projected “an increase of heavy rainfall events?” The urgency of rescuing flood victims muffled the impact of a document that the UN secretary general, António Guterres, described as “an atlas of human suffering”. It also diverted attention from a previous manifestation of that suffering: the 2019/2020 Black Summer fires that burned out 84m acres of land and killed at least 33 people. That crisis remains far from resolved, with more than half of the $2.74bn pledged by the Morrison government to bushfire recovery still unallocated. Yet, as the scale of recent flood damage becomes more apparent, the Black Summer survivors might legitimately wonder as to whether they’ll be remembered or not. On Twitter, the chief executive of Greenpeace, David Ritter, has compiled a helpful list of scientific warnings connecting fossil fuels, atmospheric warmth and rainfall. In 2007, for instance, the Garnaut climate change review predicted “longer dry spells broken by heavier rainfall events”; in 2015, scientists found that global warming increased the frequency of La Niña events; in 2016, the Department of Energy and the Environment published a State of the Climate report which warned of more intense floods. A comparable dossier might be assembled about bushfires, beginning with the 2003 report that explained how “climate change throughout the present century is predicted to lead to increased temperatures and, with them, a heightened risk of unplanned fire.” In 2007, the IPCC warned that “heatwaves and fires are virtually certain to increase in intensity and frequency”; in 2008, the National Inquiry on Bushfire Mitigation and Management explained that “fires’ frequency, intensity, and size are expected to increase under climate change”. But despite all of that, in 2017, Scott Morrison chose to borrow a “prop” from his friends at the Minerals Council of Australia to wave in the House of Representatives. “This is coal,” he laughed. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared. It won’t hurt you!” A few years later, the same Scott Morrison stood in a ruined Lismore and mused: “Australia is getting hard to live in because of these disasters.” With the right climate policy we might have transitioned away from fossil fuels under conditions of relative stability. Instead, we’ve allowed the symptoms of ecological breakdown to proliferate so greatly as to render addressing underlying causes increasingly difficult. “I’ve never seen so many natural disasters …” said the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk. “[M]ore cyclones, more floods, a couple of year ago … we had the catastrophic fire event in central Queensland.” But even as Palaszczuk acknowledged the role of the climate crisis in the recent catastrophes, she doubled down on her state’s output of fossil fuels. “Queensland is lucky,” she said. “We have coal, we have gas, and we have huge renewable investment, which is going to really rapidly increase over the next 10 years.” One presumes that, with a multibillion-dollar flood bill looming and many of its citizens homeless, the state doesn’t want to forgo the mining revenue on which it has traditionally relied. What an illustration of the mess in which we find ourselves – reliant on coal to pay for the damage coal brings! In a different context, the sociologist C Wright Mills outlined what he called “crackpot realism”, a political consensus perfectly reasonable on its own terms but utterly deranged from the perspective of the species. Most scientists attribute the proliferation of pandemics to environmental degradation: deforestation and uncontrolled urbanisation increase the likelihood of pathogens crossing over from animals to humans. So, logically, Covid-19 should have spurred a ceasefire in the war on nature. But that’s not what happened. Carbon emissions have now rebounded to their highest level in human history, as, in response to the Covid downturn, politicians relied on coal to reboot their economies. The same “crackpot realism” manifests in relation to Ukraine. As the British academic Helen Thompson notes, it’s been obvious for decades that “addressing climate change would be constrained by geopolitics, and that choices about which new energy sources to develop would have geopolitical consequences.” The west’s refusal to quit fossil fuels thus facilitated Russia’s imperial ambitions. Paradoxically, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has now emboldened those most committed to further pollution. The Nationals’ Matt Canavan, for instance, say that the war means Australians should “stop trying to save the planet by building a green economy, and instead defend Australia by rebuilding our industrial base.” If we once hoped that real-world manifestations of the climate emergency would, in and of themselves, force world leaders to change, we should quit kidding ourselves. It’s now clear the reverse holds true: that each fresh environmental calamity sends the wealthy and the powerful, like dogs returning to their vomit, to the cheap profits of the carbon economy. As disaster chases disaster, we need to hold our leaders’ feet to the flames – and, for that matter, to the water. That means drawing the links between global heating and the proliferation of “one-in-1000-year” occurrences and insisting on climate action, even (or perhaps especially) amid economic and political uncertainty. Yes, the “crackpot realists” of the political class will scoff. They’ll say we’re naive and dismiss us as utopians. Mills had a response to such people. “[P]recisely what they call utopian,” he said, “is now the condition of human survival”. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/jeff-sparrow', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-03-15T16:30:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/blog/mandatory-carbon-reporting-cbi-simple-accessible | Make carbon reporting mandatory, but keep it simple | Making carbon reporting mandatory offers businesses a great opportunity to save energy and money. To save anything you need to measure the usage first. At CBI, we call this 'measure to manage' – you can only change what you can see. The government has to decide on making carbon reporting mandatory by April 2012, in accordance with the Climate Change Act of 2008. The CBI is in favour of mandatory reporting and has called on the government to implement the act. Carbon reporting will make it easy for any firm to see the energy they are using and understand how to take action to reduce it. Of course, many businesses haven't been waiting for the government's permission to do this. Nine in 10 FTSE 100 companies currently take part in the Carbon Disclosure Project making their emissions public. But when you count all FTSE companies, the figures drop to 22%. The government needs to make sure they don't interfere with those already voluntarily reporting and provide a simple and accessible scheme for those who aren't. In May 2009 the CBI published a report looking at a common business approach on GHG reporting. The report showed that the best way was to ensure business sees carbon reporting as an opportunity, not another regulatory burden. This is an opportunity for the government to simplify existing regulation and do away with cumbersome approaches, such as the CRC performance league table. We also need to ensure any reporting done for a company in the UK can slot in to the work they are doing globally. To disaggregate international data would introduce cost and complication that will only succeed in turning companies off. Government must look to make business action as easy as possible by making compliance quick and painless. We're not ignoring the upfront cost, but we believe there are significant savings to be made in the long-run if the government gets this right. Rhian Kelly is director of business environment at the CBI This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/low-carbon', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'tone/blog', 'sustainable-business/climate-change', 'type/article'] | sustainable-business/low-carbon | EMISSIONS | 2011-07-05T16:05:57Z | true | EMISSIONS |
sport/2009/mar/03/geoff-lawson-sri-lanka-attack | Cricket: Former national coach Geoff Lawson warns of bleak future for game in Pakistan | The former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has said the attacks in which five Sri Lankan players were injured in Lahore this morning will put an end to any hopes of international cricket in the country in the foreseeable future. Lawson was speaking after gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lanka team bus on the way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore ahead of the third day of the second Test. Thilan Samaraweera, Ajantha Mendis, Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Thushara were injured, Sri Lanka's sports minister, Gamini Lokuge, has confirmed. Reports also suggest five policemen were killed when the team bus was fired upon by the unidentified gunmen 100 metres from the stadium. "I am shocked, and very, very sad," Lawson, the former Australia fast bowler who coached Pakistan until last October, said. "It was an honest belief we held [that sporting teams would not be targeted by terrorists], and it is tragic that this has happened. I have been looking at the footage on TV and I know that area very well. I have a lot of friends over there and have been in contact. "Cricket won't be played in Pakistan for the foreseeable future. Pakistan look like they will become a wandering cricket team now. They will be playing at neutral venues, because you can guarantee that there won't be games there. Obviously, there is no chance of the Champions Trophy or the World Cup going ahead there." | ['world/sri-lanka-cricket-team-attack', 'sport/sri-lanka-cricket-team', 'sport/cricket', 'sport/sport', 'world/pakistan', 'world/srilanka', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'sport/iccchampionstrophy', 'sport/icc-champions-trophy-2009', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'type/article'] | world/sri-lanka-cricket-team-attack | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2009-03-03T08:45:12Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
food/2019/oct/22/ofm-awards-2019-best-producer-jess-ladies-organic-milk | OFM Awards 2019: Best producer – Jess’s Ladies Organic Milk | It’s like the milk I remember drinking as a child,” is what Jess Vaughan’s customers tell her when they inevitably come back for more. In an industry that views milk as a cheap and homogenous commodity, sloshing down the motorways in vast tankers, Vaughan has blazed a trail in turning the output of her British Friesians and Brown Swiss into cult ingredients. As well as the milk, her cream, yogurt and kefir are revered for their rich, untampered flavours. Vaughan’s secret? “A small herd of happy cows,” she says, but there’s more to it than that. As the third generation of her family to run Hardwicke Farm, near Gloucester, Vaughan knows the land and her ladies (as she affectionately calls the herd) intimately. Many of them are descended from the first three cows her grandparents began farming with in 1955: Bluebird, Gypsy and Glow-Worm. Alongside her father, Mike, with help on bottling days from sister Sophie, and milking assistance from a newly recruited cowman, she controls the journey of her products from udder to bottle. Much of the flavour of the milk is governed by the grass itself, Vaughan tells me as she practically vaults over a five-bar gate to introduce me to the 75-strong herd. “Lots of people outside agriculture think that grass just grows, but you do treat it as a crop,” she says. The farm gained organic certification in 1999 and the land, from the grass and clovers for chomping to the soil beneath them, benefits from “a full organic cycle”. Fields are rotated, with some reserved for red clover which is fermented as silage for winter feed. The ladies themselves appear to be living the bucolic dream; grazing and rearing their calves amid jaw-dropping views of the Cotswolds and the spire of Gloucester cathedral rising in the distance. “A few of them are on their summer holidays,” she says, “taking three months to just chill out round the farm.” All the calves are kept with their mums until they’re fully weaned, she says. “We had about six arrive in the last two weeks.” She points out Roo, just 12 days old and growing well. Once the males are weaned, they’re bought by a nearby farmer friend to rear for meat, and will never face stressful cattle markets. There’s nothing intimidating about walking among this friendly herd of ruminating beasts, lolloping about as proprietorially as pets. Tigger, so-called because of her unusual stripes, is still going strong at 16 years old whereas, on average, says Vaughan, “dairy cows don’t often get much beyond five. Our average is 15, but then they’re not pushed in their production.” They don’t have their first calf until they’re three and a half – a good year later than standard practice. Vaughan grew up on the farm, only leaving briefly to study agriculture and animal science at Aberystwyth University. When she returned in 2002, she recalls, “the organic market was flat on the floor”. The family had no choice but to sell their organic milk into “conventional supply at about 15p a litre, which was not sustainable”. Her dream for the family to bottle and sell their milk direct to the public was perhaps their only hope of being able to stay afloat. “In 2006 we set about converting the shed on the farm to a bottling plant,” she says. Much like the bijou milking parlour, the bottling production line is so dinky that you could imagine Wallace and Gromit operating it. “It’s semi-automatic but it’s also semi-chaos,” she says. The raw milk is first gently pasteurised, but at a lower temperature and for less time than regular milk. It isn’t homogenised, which is when fat molecules are broken down so the cream can’t separate – a process that prolongs shelf life but destroys flavour. Their whole milk, which they call breakfast milk, flies off the weekly stall at nearby Stroud Farmers’ Market, its taste as good as identical to that of its raw state. The creamy yogurt contains no added sugar or stabilisers, and the kefir comes in both “skinny” and full-fat versions. Chefs love Jess’s Ladies’ cream not only for its taste but its viscosity and tendency not to split in cooking. “We used to supply the Fat Duck and lots of famous restaurants, but it was just getting it there,” says Jess. While the products are currently mostly sold at farm shops and Co-ops in the south-west and Midlands (where they plan to introduce refillable glass bottles), new distributors have now made nationwide shipping possible, starting with overnight kefir deliveries, ordered online. As we talk, we pass a pair of cows nuzzling each other. “They love each other,” says Vaughan. “There’s research showing that cows can’t remember any more than eight individuals, so in big herds you’ll find little pods of cows who know each other.” Next we pass an old girl of 18. “You do get very attached to them because you have them as long as a family dog, and you’re with them every day,” she says. Vaughn feels no need to capitalise on her success and scale up: “We don’t want to risk dumbing down what we already do.” And besides, she adds, “We’ve got plenty enough milk to be doing what we want.” Hardwicke Farm, Glos, GL2 3QE; theladiesorganicmilk.co.uk | ['food/series/observer-food-monthly-awards-2019', 'observer-food-monthly-awards/ofm-awards', 'food/food', 'environment/organics', 'food/milk--drink-', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/features', 'environment/farming', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/amyfleming', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/foodmonthly', 'theobserver/foodmonthly/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-food-monthly'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-10-22T07:01:11Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/grogonomics/2019/mar/17/the-rba-has-sounded-the-climate-change-alarm-time-to-sit-up-and-take-notice | The RBA has sounded the climate change alarm. Time to sit up and take notice | Greg Jericho | On Friday tens of thousands of school students around the country took to the streets to voice their anger over inaction on climate change. It came three days after the assistant governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia warned about the impact of climate change on our economy. This week really should mark the end of the line for anyone within politics or the media being able to spout climate-change denialism without being met with scorn and jeers. It also should mark the time when boldness and verve becomes the norm for any climate-change policy. For most people with common sense, our current climate-change policy debate remains utterly frustrating. The problem is there are some in the conservative media and politics who, either due to gross stupidity or a willing desire to fake stupidity, are determined to continue that frustration. Now one might wonder why someone would actively choose to peddle lies merely to get a gig in the Liberal party or on some unwatched show on Sky News, or to be paid to write poorly some column or blog for News Corp papers. But at this point, who cares? Those people have tied themselves to the rotting carcass of climate-change denialism for reasons of profit. We should not now pretend that their views are not redolent with the putrid stench of obtuse irrelevance – an irrelevance made abundantly clear when on Tuesday the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, Guy Debelle, delivered a speech titled “Climate Change and the Economy”. It was a landmark speech that sets a precise point from which you can say you are with reality or you have thrown in your lot with idiocy and avarice. The RBA is not an institution given to radicalism, and so when one of its most senior members states that “both the physical impact of climate change and the transition are likely to have first-order economic effects” it’s a big deal. Central bankers don’t talk about impacts on the economy lightly or just to please protesting school kids. They only address climate change because they have assessed it has and will continue to have real impacts on the economy. What Debelle had to say was quite sobering. He stated that “we need to reassess the frequency of climate events ... and our assumptions about the severity and longevity of the climatic events”. This, he noted, is not news to the insurance industry. Those companies whose entire profit is based around risk have long been factoring in climate change, because unlike the denialist crew who get paid to be ignorant, insurers actually have to factor in reality when assessing risk. The Reserve Bank also has to factor in risk and Debelle noted that there are many forces affecting our economy and financial stability, but “few of these forces have the scale, persistence and systemic risk of climate change”. Debelle also noted the difficulties we face are not small. He acknowledged the difficulties with the transition to a lower-carbon-intensity world will clearly depend upon “whether it is managed as a gradual process or is abrupt”. But he suggested “the trend changes aren’t likely to be smooth. “There is likely to be volatility around the trend, with the potential for damaging outcomes from spikes above the trend,” he said. Central bankers prefer to say 10 words of fudge than two of bluntness. So when a central banker starts talking about “damaging outcomes” that’s the time to sit up and take notice. He also noted that, just in case you were thinking we only need to worry about more droughts and extreme heat events, there is also the problem “where two (or more) climatic events combine to produce an outcome that is worse than the effect of one of them occurring individually”. And that is bad because “combined with the increased volatility, this increases the likelihood of non-linear impacts on the economy”. That is, we can’t just say climate change could have a linear impact on our economy – where it reduces growth by a set percentage each year. Rather, the impact could get progressively worse over time. Debelle acknowledged that we have always had to deal with droughts and cyclones. He noted that “the current drought has already reduced farm output by around 6% and total GDP by about 0.15%” and that even if we return to average rainfall it will continue to weigh on the economy through this year. So we know weather affects the economy. But Debelle noted that climate change is a trend, not a cycle like weather, where you experience good and bad times. “What if,” Debelle asked, “droughts are more frequent, or cyclones happen more often?” The shock to the economy “is no longer temporary but close to permanent”. Permanent shocks to the economy, damaging outcomes, first-order economic events. At this point anyone still spouting denialist bile in newspaper columns or on the campaign trail needs to be treated like an anti-vaccer at a healthcare expo. It also means our major political parties need to step up. The Liberal party will most likely need a major defeat (or two) before facing reality, but the ALP also needs to realise that now is not the time for timidity – which Shorten displayed with his rather weak support of the student’s strike on Thursday. Leadership requires boldness – a boldness now supported by very clear warnings from our most sober economic institution. The RBA cannot do anything to limit climate change; it can only assess the risks and act appropriately. It is up to governments to take action and it is time to leave the lies and vindictive ignorance of climate change deniers, in the media and in politics, behind us. Our central bank has warned of inaction. Our children this week took to the streets to demand action. It is time for our governments to deliver. | ['business/grogonomics', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/australia-economy', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'australia-news/reserve-bank-of-australia', 'australia-news/australian-education', 'world/protest', 'australia-news/liberal-party', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/banking', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/greg-jericho', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2019-03-16T21:02:51Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
politics/2013/dec/22/my-first-year-house-of-lords-jenny-jones | My first year in the House of Lords | I was at the Green Gathering, a hippy fest, when I heard I had been appointed to the House of Lords. Quite honestly, I had never believed until then that the coalition government would give the Green party a peerage. I couldn't see what was in it for them. I'm still staggered I'm here. The introduction ceremony was a quick hurdle to jump: seven minutes in the chamber, wearing fake-fur robes, borrowed for the day. I felt a touch hypocritical, swearing my allegiance to the Queen, all of her progeny and all of her unborn progeny, and so on. I'm not a republican – I think the royal family perform a wonderful ceremonial function – but I am an atheist, and I also find the idea that the royal family has any power over the government staggering. The Green party's line on the House of Lords is that we should replace it with a fully elected chamber. It's also our policy to engage with parts of the political system that don't sit easily with us, so there was never any doubt that we would take the seat. But as the first Green ever appointed to the House of Lords, it feels as if I am working out how to do everything for the very first time; like going to a new school and not taking any of your friends with you. I had an induction on my first day, during which I met the clerk of parliament, who runs the house, and Black Rod, who does the security and rules. I was given some advice, and a little booklet explaining some of the protocol, but that can only ever give a broad‑brush feeling. I'm constantly breaking little rules I don't know exist. Recently I was politely told off for allowing my guest to stand on the blue carpet outside the chamber. As I found out, there is quite a complex set of rules associated with that carpet. I've also never seen the dress code written down, but I have been advised that I probably shouldn't wear a cardigan. I have since worn one, though – pushing at the barriers, you know! Many people have told me that the best thing to do for the first year at the House of Lords is to come in, listen to the debates, learn the dialect and the formulae, and not go at it too bull-in-a-china-shop. So far, I've spoken only twice, about policing, just to vent my fury, really, and only with about 20 people there. I asked one Labour peer, who has been incredibly supportive, for feedback on one of my speeches, and he said I hadn't got the hang of how much flattery was necessary. He said you can't flatter the house enough. Second, he felt that my mentioning the student protests happening as the debate took place was fine, but possibly "a bit current". Bits of this have been painful. Every time I am called m'lady I feel a mild stab. But I have been struck by how welcoming and friendly everyone is. Having been on the London assembly since it started in 2000, I am used to the cut and thrust of politics, but I haven't seen that here. I've also been surprised by how small–L liberal people are. Because you're here for life, unless you commit a crime, people are freer. There's also a huge range of expertise – many peers have spent their lives as judges or doctors or filmmakers. So when legislation comes here – sometimes quite cobbled-together and written by civil servants – it is examined by forensic, expert minds. Perhaps the other peers are waiting to see whether I can be trusted before they approach me to work together on specific issues, as that hasn't really happened yet, but I do feel I am starting to see a glimmer of hope that there will be opportunities for Green policies. I'm certain there must be other people here who care about the same things that I care about – road deaths, climate change, air pollution, fracking – who I can work with. Still, I don't think I'll ever fit in. That's not to say I won't feel at home here, and it's not to say that I won't engage as fully as I possibly can, but as long as there is just one of me I will always be some sort of outsider. | ['politics/jenny-jones', 'politics/green-party', 'politics/lords', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/politics', 'environment/environment', 'world/series/my-first-year', 'tone/features', 'tone/interview', 'type/article', 'profile/hannah-marriott', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2013-12-22T18:00:01Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/article/2024/jul/21/destiny-in-our-hands-the-indigenous-australians-joining-the-renewable-energy-transition | ‘Destiny in our hands’: the Indigenous Australians joining the renewable energy transition | Wind turbines may pay the way for Nari Nari man Jamie Woods’ grand ambitions for his people. “We’ve always said we want the destiny in our hands,” says Woods, the chair of the Nari Nari Tribal Council and land manager of Gayini, a vast property in south-western New South Wales that was returned to the NNTC in 2019. Within Gayini’s rich landscape of biodiverse floodplains and Indigenous heritage, Woods envisages a cultural centre to train budding bush rangers. In surrounding regional towns, he speaks of Indigenous-led social programs to divert teenagers from entering the youth justice system, or to counter stubborn rates of suicide – particularly high among First Nations people. Now, moving “at the pace of trust” with the windfarm developer Kilara Energy, Woods says the revenue from hosting turbines on the land may help those plans be fully realised. “We have big ideas,” he says. “This industry will help us get there quicker.” After years of negotiations, the NNTC has entered into an equity agreement with Kilara Energy, which is preparing an environmental impact statement of a 74-turbine windfarm on land that extends across Gayini’s southern boundary. If the project is approved by the state government, like any landowner the NNTC would receive turbine rental payments, said to be about $40,000 per turbine annually. But unlike conventional agreements, the NNTC will also share a stake – and a say – in the development. “We drew a line in the sand and decided we want to be in the driving seat for anything that is to be done on our managed lands,” Woods says. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter It’s a novel partnership that, according to Andrew Thomson, the chief executive of Kilara Energy, will forge a pathway for First Nations co-ownership in Australia’s energy transition. “We still have far too many disadvantaged Indigenous communities around Australia … when you look at health, housing, workforce participation, there’s still a big gap,” Thomson says. “The renewable sector, in my view, has an opportunity to help address some of that reality.” ‘Real economic benefits’ Prof Heidi Norman, a Gomeroi woman and researcher at the University of New South Wales, agrees. “Aboriginal people have never been big actors or beneficiaries, or been able to exercise agency,” she says. “Here is a new moment where … real economic benefits could be advanced.” Unlike the mining and fossil fuel industries, which are geographically restricted, wind and solar farms are widely distributed across regional Australia. That means more First Nations groups have the opportunity to access the economic benefits of the energy transition, Norman says. That doesn’t guarantee that all projects will get up. “They say the time between the idea of a project and cutting the ribbon is the valley of death. Most projects in all likelihood will fall over,” Norman says. “We have to be realistic about what is possible.” Commercial agreements between traditional owners and energy proponents are confidential and vary greatly depending on the development’s scale but can include rental or one off payments, co-ownership, employment and training opportunities or community benefit funds. The latter is available to the wider community and standard practice in any renewable development. In the case of the Kilara Energy windfarm, Thomson says a portion of the community fund would be allocated to support local Aboriginal communities. A complicating factor in these partnerships is the type of land tenure held by the First Nations peoples. As freehold owners of Gayini, the NNTC are in a strong position to negotiate. Other Indigenous groups may have weaker or no rights to negotiate, depending on whether they hold freehold land, exclusive possession native title, or a weaker form of native title. Those without recognised tenure have no legal rights to be consulted if projects are being developed on their country, beyond mandatory Aboriginal heritage surveys. Ultimately, Norman says the principles of free, prior and informed consent must guide any partnership. The First Nations Clean Energy Network was formed in 2021 and tracks renewable energy projects with First Nations ownership. Projects range from small renewable microgrids in remote Indigenous communities to large-scale projects, including a $3bn green hydrogen plant in Western Australia that is undergoing feasibility studies. “We’re trying to lift the aspirations of our community about what we can expect from this industry,” says the network’s director, Yorta Yorta woman Karrina Nolan. According to the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, just 1% of renewable energy projects in Australia involve some form of First Nations equity. In Canada, considered the gold standard for First Nations participation in the transition, it’s one in five developments. In June Bowen said the transition will have failed “if First Nations people aren’t at the centre of it”. Addressing the National Press Club this week, he said Indigenous participation “should be the norm, not the exception”. Norman says the Albanese government is “playing catch-up” after a decade of climate inaction by the previous government. But with Indigenous engagement built into a raft of the government’s transition policies, including the draft First Nations clean energy strategy expected to be finalised by the end of the year, she expects this to accelerate. Norman has also run workshops with Aboriginal land councils in NSW to discuss renewable energy opportunities in the region. She says there’s a “well-placed caution” about the industry among Indigenous leaders after decades of ad hoc Indigenous policy and “false horizons”. “We have to go into this with our eyes wide open,” Norman says. “But the Canada experience shows us there is something here. I really think that this is a once in a many-generations opportunity.” Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community | ['australia-news/series/the-rural-network', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/indigenous-australians', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/aston-brown', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2024-07-20T20:00:47Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans/2013/nov/04/undercover-police-and-policing-women | Verdict in women's case against undercover police out tomorrow | Guardian Undercover Blog | The judgment in the latest round of the women's legal action against the poilice is due to be made public tomorrow morning. It is due to be handed down at 10.30 am in court 71 in London's high court. The long-running legal action is being taken by ten women on the grounds that they were duped into forming long-term relationships with undercover police officers. They are being represented by Harriet Wistrich of Birnberg Peirce and Jules Carey of Tuckers solicitors. The background on the latest phase of the lawsuit can be found here and here. Much legal argument revolves around the police's contention that they have the legal power to authorise their spies to start sexual relationships with people they were sent to spy on. Yet, as Green politician Jenny Jones argues here, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, has also been insisting that sexual relationships between the undercover spies and their targets is forbidden. She calls this a "Janus-faced approach." Elsewhere, in recent postings, Eirlys Rhiannon, writes here about the aridity of the arcane legal argument, while Jane Fae examines the case as a whole here. | ['uk/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans', 'tone/blog', 'uk/undercover-police-and-policing', 'lifeandstyle/women', 'world/surveillance', 'law/uk-civil-liberties', 'environment/activism', 'world/espionage', 'uk/ukcrime', 'uk/metropolitan-police', 'world/bernard-hogan-howe', 'law/law', 'type/article', 'profile/robevans'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2013-11-04T14:52:32Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2015/feb/21/aceh-residents-use-koinuntukaustralia-campaign-to-offer-to-repay-australian-aid | Aceh residents use #KoinUntukAustralia campaign to offer to repay Australian aid | Enraged citizens from the tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh, Indonesia, have started a movement to collect coins to “pay back Australia” in a backlash against provocative statements by the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott. Venting their anger on Twitter under the hashtag #KoinUntukAustralia, or Coins for Australia, Acehnese have taken to the social network in droves to lambast the Australian leader. Posting a photo of a 1,000 rupiah coin (worth less than 10 cents in Australia) stuck to a piece of paper with six zeros cheekily added next to it, one Twitter user Nikita Paradisa asked: “Is it enough? Ur bank account please, Mr Tony Abbott.” As diplomatic efforts have ramped up to save Australians Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, from imminently facing an Indonesian firing squad, Abbott controversially suggested that Indonesia should “reciprocate” for the $1bn pledged in tsunami aid by sparing the lives of the two Australians. A notoriously proud people, the Acehnese say the Australian prime minister should be ashamed of his comments and they will gladly return the money. “We never asked for their aid, they offered it to us as courtesy,” Dina Handayani, 27, a Banda Aceh resident and civil servant told the Guardian. Conceived initially between friends during a heated discussion at an Aceh coffee shop, postgraduate student Burhanuddin Alkhairy, 26, told the Guardian his friends started the Twitter hashtag as a way to get their message across to the Australia PM. “We regret the link the Australian prime minister made between tsunami aid and the execution of the drug dealers, they are two very different things,” Alkhairy said. “This is our moral protest to his statement.” The Acehnese, he said, were angry that Abbott would suggest that aid pledged after the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami – a disaster that killed more than 170,000 people in their province alone – would be offered conditionally and retroactively. Alkhairy says his group never intended to take to streets and actually collect coins but the movement has inspired others to do just that. One Muslim Student Action Union group on Friday set up a post in a main street in the capital to collect donations. “We are ready to return the funds, and we ask that the death penalty continues to save the young generation of Aceh and Indonesia,” said Aziz Darliz, a member of the student group. Pictures on Twitter showed that collections continued in Banda Aceh on Saturday with volunteers holding boxes with pictures of the Australian flag stuck on the side asking motorists for donations. “This movement needs to be serious,” said annoyed civil servant Handayani, “It should not just be happening on social media but in real life. We should collect the coins and send them to Abbott.” Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has attempted to smooth over any fallout from Abbott’s comments, but in Jakarta the remarks have not been well received either. “Threats are not part of diplomatic language,” was the spiky reply from the foreign ministry earlier this week. “We do not respond to statements that are emotional, by nature threatening. No,” the Indonesian foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, told reporters at the presidential palace on Friday. Indonesia has been forced to justify its use of the death penalty, arguing that capital punishment is in line with international law and is necessary to counter the country’s purported “drug emergency”. Sentenced to death for their role in the Bali Nine heroin trafficking ring, Chan and Sukumaran are next in line to be shot dead by an Indonesian firing squad. The executions were postponed last week, but officials have stressed the delay is only temporary. Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, said on Friday the executions were delayed for technical reasons only, while the attorney general has emphasised that “nothing whatsoever” will prevent them from going ahead. | ['world/indonesia', 'world/bali', 'world/bali-nine', 'australia-news/tony-abbott', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'world/tsunamis', 'world/tsunami2004', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kate-lamb'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-02-21T06:37:57Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2007/may/20/energy.nuclearindustry | Brown's vision for a nuclear Britain | Gordon Brown is to face down sceptics in his party and give the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power stations, which will be built across the country. In a move immediately condemned by environmental organisations, the Prime Minister-elect will give the green light to the plans that will show that he is backing Tony Blair's support of the nuclear industry. Boosted by a new poll, which shows Brown pulling ahead of David Cameron on the issue of competence to run the country, the Chancellor will signal his support this week for a dramatic renewal of the nuclear power programme that will see the building of up to eight new stations, possibly within 15 years. Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, who is a close Brown ally, is understood to have been told that the Chancellor will offer his unequivocal backing for the government's energy white paper, to be published on Wednesday. Darling will make clear that Britain will have to embark on a major renewal of nuclear power if it is to guarantee power supplies while delivering a 60 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. 'This is a really urgent problem,' Darling told The Observer A major push to harness wave power and build hundreds of new wind farms - many of which will be based offshore - are also likely to be approved. 'A mix of energy supply is right,' Darling said of his plans to boost low-carbon energy, particularly offshore projects where there are fewer planning hurdles. Although Darling insisted that no formal decisions had been made, it is clear that nuclear and wind will provide a significant part of future energy needs. He said: 'The global demand for energy is going up. We've got to come to a decision one or way or another this year. If you didn't do anything [then in 10 to 15 years] you'd come perilously close on very cold days or very hot days to seeing interruptions in supply.' Greenpeace last night condemned his plans. A spokesman said: 'Reaching for nuclear power to solve climate change is like taking up smoking to lose weight. Is it a simple answer? Yes. Is it an effective answer to the climate change crisis? Absolutely not.' Brown was given a taste of a potential rebellion by his own MPs last night when a former environment minister expressed unease. Elliot Morley, the MP for Scunthorpe, said: 'Nuclear may or may not have a role to play in the new energy mix. My worry is that this will direct resources and investment away from new low-carbon technology, growth in renewables and energy efficiency. I am not sure nuclear is the best investment at this moment.' Most of the new nuclear plants are likely to be built on the sites of ageing power stations. 'It is more likely than not that they would be on existing sites,' Darling said. 'However, that does not mean every existing site is appropriate. Because of advances in technology I suspect you'd probably need fewer sites than you would in the olden times.' Darling said Britain was in a 'race against time' to shore up its energy supplies because nuclear power plants, which currently generate 19 per cent of electricity, are due to be phased out. By 2020, if nothing is done, the figure will fall to 7 per cent. Alongside this, many of the largest coal plants will have to be closed to comply with European Union regulations. Officials judge that without a significant new power station building programme this combination of coal and nuclear closures will force Britain to rely on environmentally unfriendly gas-fired power stations and imports from unstable regions such as the Middle East and Russia for up to 90 per cent of its energy. A strong opponent of nuclear power when he was first elected to Parliament 20 years ago, Darling says he now believes that Britain has no option but to remain nuclear. 'I respect the views of someone who says they don't want nuclear in any circumstances whatsoever. Fair enough. Right, tell me what the alternative is. If there was an easy answer that had low carbon, no cost, no eyesores somebody would have found it. ' A new Ipsos MORI poll gives Brown a clear lead in competence at running the economy and Britain's public services. A majority of people, 54 per cent, believes Brown is better placed to run the economy, compared with 27 per cent for Cameron. | ['environment/energy', 'politics/politics', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/green-economy', 'type/article', 'profile/robinmckie', 'profile/nicholaswatt', 'profile/olivermorgan', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2007-05-20T14:59:29Z | true | ENERGY |
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