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world/2019/nov/29/brazils-president-claims-dicaprio-paid-for-amazon-fires | Brazil’s president claims DiCaprio paid for Amazon fires | Brazil’s president has falsely accused the actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio of bankrolling the deliberate incineration of the Amazon rainforest. Jair Bolsonaro – a populist nationalist who has vowed to drive environmental NGOs from Brazil – made the claim on Friday, reportedly telling supporters: “This Leonardo DiCaprio’s a cool guy, isn’t he? Giving money for the Amazon to be torched.” The spurious accusation – for which Brazil’s president offered no proof – came 24 hours after Bolsonaro made a similarly unsubstantiated claim in a Facebook live broadcast. “Leonardo DiCaprio, dammit, you’re collaborating with the burning of the Amazon,” Bolsonaro declared, accusing the actor of being part of an international “campaign against Brazil”. Bolsonaro’s unsubstantiated allegations relate to the controversial arrest on Tuesday of four volunteer firefighters whom local police accused – also apparently without evidence – of setting fire to the forest in order to boost fundraising efforts for an international NGO. The firefighters were released on Thursday amid widespread public outrage at their treatment and questions over the police investigation. On Thursday Bolsonaro’s politician son Eduardo claimed on Twitter that DiCaprio had donated $300,000 (£230,000) to “the NGO that set fire to the Amazon” and accused the conservation group WWF of paying the NGO about £13,000 for photographs of the burning forest. WWF’s Brazil office rejected those claims. “WWF Brazil rejects the attacks on its partners and the lies involving its name, including a series of lie-based social media attacks such as the purchase of photographs linked to a donation from the actor Leonardo DiCaprio,” it said in a statement. In August – as huge fires swept through the Amazon region sparking an international crisis – DiCaprio pledged $5m to help protect Brazil’s rainforests. Bolsonaro, who took office in January, has repeatedly expressed animosity towards environmental campaigners, NGOs and foreign leaders who have spoken out in defence of the Amazon and criticised his stance on the environment. During a visit to the region in 2018 Bolsonaro told the Guardian: “This cowardly business of international NGOs like WWF and so many others from England sticking their noses into Brazil is going to end! This tomfoolery stops right here!” Bolsonaro’s attack on the Hollywood actor sparked ridicule and anger among opposition politicians and activists. “How desperate,” tweeted Randolfe Rodrigues, a senator from the Amazon state of Amapá. “Our negligent and incompetent president – responsible for an environmental dismantling unprecedented in our country – wants to blame DiCaprio but won’t blame his own administration which is incapable of taking a single step without destroying something.” Ivan Valente, an opposition congressman, tweeted: “Bolsonaro’s delirium knows no bounds. Accusing Leonardo DiCaprio of paying for the Amazon to be ‘torched’ is pathetic. But their deliberate lies are also revealing.” One Brazilian created a webpage to attribute blame for the South American country’s various ills to a cast of Hollywood stars. In it Tom Hanks was blamed for Brazil’s high taxes, Penélope Cruz for unemployment, Daniel Radcliffe for impunity, Johnny Depp for deforestation and Kate Winslet for its education crisis. Harrison Ford found himself charged with responsibility for Brazil’s Kafkaesque bureaucracy while the government debt was the fault of Adam Sandler. | ['world/jair-bolsonaro', 'world/brazil', 'environment/deforestation', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'film/leonardodicaprio', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tomphillips', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-11-29T19:59:50Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2010/aug/13/corus-wind-power-teesside | Corus plans to open wind farm business on Teesside | Steelmaker Corus is to develop a new £31.5m offshore wind farm business, creating up to 220 jobs on the site of its mothballed plant in Teesside. The new facility will be located on the vast 3,000-acre site in Redcar, bringing much-needed cheer to the town, which was battered by the loss of more than 1,000 jobs when the Teesside Cast Products business was shut down earlier this year after more than 170 years of steelmaking in the area. It will produce the steel structures used to fix wind turbines to the seabed known as monopiles. Geoff Waterfield, chairman of the Corus multi-union committee, said: "It is absolutely fantastic. We are so due a bit of good news. People have been through very hard times and we deserve this good news today. Companies like ours should certainly be looking at renewable energy, as projects will require a huge amount of steel and the north-east has been earmarked for that. But it is a new area for Corus and it is a little bit of a gamble. This is a good opportunity for the government to give some support to Corus that was not forthcoming earlier in the year." Talks over the sale of the Redcar plant to Thai industrial group SSI have been under way since May and unions hope a deal will be sealed imminently. The proposed development will not affect negotiations. "We are still in a strange sort of limbo state as we are waiting for the news on the main event," Waterfield said. The government has approved plans to build thousands of offshore wind turbines and Corus believes that around 6m tonnes of steel will be needed for the foundations and towers. Kirby Adams, Corus's outgoing chief executive, said: "This is one of a wide range of new employment and business opportunities which Corus is working on in Teesside. It also follows recent recruitment at our Hartlepool and Skinningrove plants, as well as at our South Yorkshire and Scottish plants." The Teesside plant was mothballed after a consortium of international investors pulled out of a 10-year contract. Adams, who is leaving after 18 months for "personal reasons", has been heavily criticised for his handling of the affair. He was attacked by unions earlier this month when Corus's owner, Tata Steel Europe, revealed that company's the highest paid director – almost certainly Adams – received more than £2m last year. According to the GMB union, Corus has cut 6,000 jobs across Europe since he joined the company, which has now returned to profit after pre-tax losses of £662m in the first nine months of last year. | ['business/corus', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/tata', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'tone/news', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/ruthsunderland', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2010-08-13T17:23:01Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2008/jan/19/recycling.japan | Japanese paper firms admit recycling lies | The reputation of Japan's paper industry lay in tatters yesterday after the market leader, Oji Paper, admitted it had lied for more than a decade about the amount of recycled paper it used. The revelation comes days after the country's second-biggest paper company, Nippon Paper Group, admitted it had made similarly false claims. Oji Paper said the amount of recycled paper in its copy and printing paper was as high as 50% when the real figure was between 5% and 10%. The firm's envelopes contained, at most, 30% of recycled paper, although consumers had been led to believe it was as high as 70%. Some products contained no recycled material at all. "We had let the ratio of recycled paper fall amid rising shipments while the amount of recycled paper did not grow," Oji Paper's president, Kazuhisa Shinoda, told reporters in Tokyo. Shinoda said he would not resign over the scandal but apologised for misleading consumers. The fabrication, he said, had "betrayed public trust and we apologise to our clients and customers". Nippon Paper's president, Masatomo Nakamura, said he would take responsibility for the scandal and resign. Oji Paper and Nippon Paper are among five firms accused of misleading customers about the recycled-paper content of product lines, including millions of new year's greetings cards. The scandal dragged down shares in paper companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nippon Paper's shares plummeted 10% to 267,000 yen (£1,269) after Fuji Xerox and other firms said they would stop selling its products. Shares in Oji Paper dived 4.7% to close at ¥476. Japan's fair trade commission is expected to decide soon whether the companies can be prosecuted under mislabelling laws. | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'world/japan', 'business/business', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2008-01-19T09:55:31Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk-news/2019/jan/29/gchq-spy-centre-falls-foul-of-law-over-environmental-permit | GCHQ spy centre falls foul of law – over environmental permit | The UK government’s internet surveillance centre, GCHQ, may be aware of many things, but the need for an environmental permit for its backup power generators is not among them. The site’s generators do not have the necessary paperwork and so are being run unlawfully, it has been revealed. GCHQ – Government Communications Headquarters – in Cheltenham is the secret services’ listening station and in 2013 Edward Snowden revealed to the Guardian the vast amount of data it harvests from fibre-optic internet cables. As a result, GCHQ’s data centre is one of the largest in the UK. Big data centres require a robust back-up electricity system in case of power cuts. These are provided by an array of diesel generators that emit exhaust fumes when in use. For some years, those above a certain small size require permits from the Environment Agency, under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), which regulates air pollution. However, trade publication The Ends Report discovered that GCHQ has failed to obtain such a permit. The Environment Agency (EA) confirmed this to the Guardian and said it was investigating the matter. The EA said it was the responsibility of generator operators to apply for such permits. GCHQ had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. The data centre sector appears to have only recently realised the need for permits. But a number of centres have obtained permits in the past couple of years, including Digital Realty’s in Woking and, in London, Telehouse’s facility and Thomson Reuters’ Docklands Technical Centre. “While one might expect government data centres to set an example in compliance it appears that they are lagging behind commercial operators,” said Emma Fryer at technology industry association techUK. “I doubt that this is a case of ‘do what I say, not what I do’. I suspect it may be down to lack of awareness,” she told The Ends Report. Diesel farms are highly polluting ways to generate power but at data centres they are rarely used, except for testing. The IED regulations were developed primarily to cover emissions from always-on power stations, not units used only occasionally. “While it is absolutely essential to address local air quality issues, applying the IED in its full glory to emergency standby plant that is barely used is disproportionate,” said Fryer. She said it can cost over £100,000 to gather the data needed to obtain the permit. | ['uk/gchq', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'uk/uksecurity', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-01-29T16:54:48Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2021/jun/27/a-feather-in-their-cap-rspbs-victory-that-saved-millions-of-birds | A feather in their cap: RSPB’s victory that saved millions of birds | A hundred years ago, conservationists scored a remarkable victory in the battle to protect the planet’s wildlife. Members of the newly formed Royal Society for the Protection of Birds persuaded MPs into passing the Plumage Act, banning the import of exotic bird feathers used to make ladies’ hats. Dozens of avian species were rescued from extinction as a result, an early victory for the RSPB, which had been set up by female activists who were appalled by the slaughter of egrets, ostriches and flamingoes to make modish headwear. A century ago, fashion – not shooting or habitat loss – was the main killer of birds, and in their campaign against “murderous millinery” the society lobbied shopkeepers, politicians and royalty to bring such practices to a halt. The RSPB’s female founders even hired men to carry placards through London streets to highlight “this evil trade”. Next month, the RSPB will celebrate the centenary of its success in halting this grim commerce. “It was a crucial victory,” said Beccy Speight, chief executive of the RSPB, last week. “It demonstrated what you could achieve with strong campaigning and careful planning – lessons they learned, in part, from the suffragette movement. It showed we could make changes, and that really built up confidence within the society.” Today the RSPB is one of the most important conservation organisations in the world, though its strength is going to be tested severely in the next few years, Speight added. “We are now facing far greater threats to our wildlife as climate change takes a grip and nature is eroded around us.” Speight was speaking at one of her society’s main reserves, Lake Vyrnwy, on the edge of the Snowdonia national park in Wales, a home to peregrine falcons, redstarts and wood warblers. Here, RSPB conservationists are battling to restore the area’s vast peatlands by removing non-native plants and blocking old drainage ditches in order to restore water levels on the hills. Inch by inch, over the years, peat levels will be restored at Lake Vyrnwy. Carbon will be retained in the peat and prevented from leaching into the atmosphere, while protection will be provided for rare plants and bird species. It is a relentless, complex process that typifies the society’s work today and reveals how its operations have changed over the century. “When the Plumage Act was passed, we probably then thought: yes, we have done it,” Speight said. “We have halted the pointless slaughter of birds and we can sit back and enjoy their presence. “Since then, however, we have been learning that it is not so simple. All sorts of other factors affect birds’ fates – global warming, intensive farming, pollution, pesticides and spreading human development also have huge impacts.” Over the century, the combined effect of these increasingly powerful influences has been horrific, she added. One recent study showed that over the past 50 years, Britain’s bird population has declined by more than 40 million, with some species being brought close to extinction: turtle doves and golden orioles, for example. However, it is the fate of the nation’s common birds that most alarms Speight. “Birds like the starling, the sparrow and the curlew were once commonplace. A few decades ago, they were ubiquitous. We had millions of them. Now they are in real trouble. When I was a student in Newcastle, you couldn’t hear yourself think for the sound of starlings in the evening. Today there is silence.” This year, a series of critically important conferences – including the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, and the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow – will determine how well humanity copes with the ecological crisis that threatens to engulf the planet. Specific measures and laws – not promises – will have to be hammered out, and the expertise of conservation groups such as the RSPB will be vital in securing a hopeful outcome. This will not be an easy task, given the urgency of the planet’s problems as ice caps melt faster and faster, sea levels rise, temperatures increase, deserts spread, coral reefs disappear and weather systems become more erratic. “It took two decades of campaigning to get the Plumage Act passed,” said Speight. “We don’t have anything like that time to act now. We have already wasted years and years when we should have been tackling the crisis so there is now a desperate urgency to the problems we face. We have until the end of the decade at the very latest.” There is a major lesson to be drawn from the Plumage Act and from subsequent RSPB campaigns, she added. “Legislation matters. When someone tells me they don’t think policy and lobbying to make changes in law really count for much, I am quite emphatic in my response. Laws set the framework that allows change to happen and holds politicians to account for the promises they have made.” Only three of the 20 main pledges that were made by politicians in 2010 were actually fulfilled by 2020, Speight said – because they had not been set in domestic law. They were just promises. “That is why we are pushing so hard to get a very clear targets set in the forthcoming environment bill, which is supposed to halt the decline in species. For unless we get clear, legislative targets it will just be fine words and rhetoric. That is what the Plumage Act tells us today.” | ['environment/rspb', 'environment/birds', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/biodiversity', 'type/article', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'fashion/fashion', 'tone/features', 'profile/robinmckie', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/focus', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-06-27T08:30:19Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2024/oct/09/tornado-warning-florida-hurricane-milton | Seven tornadoes hit Florida in advance of arrival of Hurricane Milton | Seven tornadoes have hit Florida in advance of Hurricane Milton, the National Weather Service in Miami said on Wednesday. Hurricanes and tropical storms have the ability to produce tornadoes. The National Weather Service said there had been 53 tornado warnings issued by 3pm ET on Wednesday, 41 of which were issued by the weather service in Miami. The weather service said on X that it had “received reports of structures damaged in Lakeport” on Wednesday as the “most recent tornado-warned storm moved through the area”. The service said it was the second tornado to impact Lakeport, an unincorporated community about two hours from Miami, on Wednesday. A tornado was captured on video tearing through Fort Meyers, crossing over the major I-75 highway as cars were still driving. Hurricane Milton has been downgraded to category 3 but is still a grave threat to Florida, officials said. The tornado watch will remain valid until Wednesday evening at 9pm ET and covers parts of south Florida including Miami, Key Largo, Tampa, Port St Lucie, Jupiter Farms, Sebring, Sebastian, Sarasota, North Port, Cape Coral and Bonita Springs, according to the agency. Videos and pictures posted online showed several of the spotted tornadoes growing in size as they move across south Florida. The agency also warned that isolated hail up to 0.5in in size is possible, along with isolated gusts of wind traveling up to 70mph (112km/h). Approximately 12.6 million residents face potential exposure to the tornadoes, in addition to 2,424 schools and 170 hospitals. The tornadoes come as Hurricane Milton is expected to double in size as the “storm of the century” by the time it makes landfall late on Wednesday or early Thursday. The record storm is expected to bring up to 15ft (4.5 metres) of storm surge along the coast of Florida as the state continues to reel from the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene a few weeks ago. | ['us-news/hurricane-milton', 'us-news/florida', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/tornadoes', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/extreme-weather', 'us-news/miami', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/maya-yang', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-09T21:18:54Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/may/09/runaway-consumption-2tn-drinks-containers-being-used-every-year | Runaway consumption: 2tn drinks containers being used every year | People around the world are using almost 2tn plastic and glass drinks bottles, cans and cartons each year, according to research. The findings, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), reveal that global sales of drinks containers are set to reach 1.9tn in 2019 – up from 1.6tn in 2015. It came as the Scottish government announced plans for a deposit return scheme for glass, plastic and aluminium drinks containers of all sizes on Wednesday. The CPRE welcomed the move, praising the Scottish government for “its leadership and ambition”, and called on other countries to follow suit. Last year, the UK government committed to introduce a deposit return system in England. It is consulting on what the scheme should include. Samantha Harding, the litter programme director at the CPRE, said the government must reject industry lobbying efforts and implement a robust programme. “We will be urging environment secretary Michael Gove to build on Scotland’s ambition and go one better, by making sure every drinks carton is also included within England’s deposit system,” she said. Harding said introducing an all-encompassing deposit system would not only boost recycling rates to close to 100%, but also make the producers of drinks packaging “rightly liable for the cost of every piece of packaging they create”. “This will encourage them to use more recycled materials, which will reduce waste, slow down the depletion of natural resources and move us one step closer to the circular economy that our planet so desperately needs,” she said. There is growing concern about humans’ devastating impact on the environment. This week, the world’s leading scientists warned human activity, including runaway consumption, was driving a huge decline in the Earth’s natural life-support systems, threatening civilisation. Harding said: “With global sales approaching 2tn, it is clear that the consumption of drinks cans, bottles and cartons has reached epidemic proportions. Without immediate action, our countryside and environment will continue to pay the price for the careless actions of those producing these products.” She added: “We stand united with campaigners from all across the globe, calling for worldwide deposit return systems to tackle the environmental crisis caused by drinks containers.” The group has called an international day of action on Thursday, with organisations from 25 countries across five continents to release a series of aerial photographs and videos of messages written on hillsides, beaches and buildings calling for a clean planet. Harding said the stunt was aimed at raising awareness of the environmental impact of drinks packaging and would increase pressure on governments to extend, update or introduce a deposit return system in each country. In a joint statement, the Clean Planet campaigners said: “The scale of the pollution problem requires immediate global action. Now is the time for every government around the world to stand up and take action against the environmental devastation caused by drinks cans, bottles and cartons – we cannot wait any longer for a clean planet.” In 2017, a Guardian investigation found 1m plastic bottles were bought around the world every minute, with the number expected to jump by 20% by 2021, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change. | ['environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/plastic', 'uk/uk', 'uk/scotland', 'world/world', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-05-08T23:01:27Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2023/jan/02/insulate-britain-and-just-stop-oil-vow-to-continue-disruptive-action | Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil vow to continue disruptive action | Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil have doubled down on their commitment to disruptive climate “civil resistance” after Extinction Rebellion announced new tactics prioritising “relationships over roadblocks”. “It’s 2023 and XR has quit,” Just Stop Oil said in a statement. “But it’s 2023, and we are barrelling down the highway to the loss of ordered civil society, as extreme weather impacts tens of millions, as our country becomes unrecognisable … there is now a need to face reality. “We must move from disobedience into civil resistance – this is what the nurses and paramedics are doing. They are on the frontline of the harm being wreaked on us and have said no more.” Insulate Britain said its supporters remained prepared to go to prison. “Insulate Britain supporters remain committed to civil resistance as the only appropriate and effective response to the reality of our situation in 2023,” its statement said. “In the UK right now, nurses, ambulance drivers and railway workers are on strike because they understand that public disruption is vital to demand changes that governments are not willing or are too scared to address.” In recent years, XR has led its supporters into blockading London streets and bridges for days, smashing bank headquarters’ windows and spraying fake blood on the Treasury. But on Sunday, the group announced “we quit” in a new year resolution to “prioritise attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks”. Since its radical start, XR has become comparatively more moderate. It has called for 100,000 people to take to the streets of Westminster in April, but cancelled its last series of protests in London after the queen’s death. Recent demonstrations at private airfields led to no arrests. Trials continue of XR supporters involved in direct actions over previous years. On the other hand, over the past year, supporters of the Just Stop Oil campaign have smashed petrol pumps, blockaded oil terminals, glued themselves to the streets of London, zip-tied their necks to goalposts at Premier League football matches and thrown tomato soup over one of the world’s most famous oil paintings. More than 2,000 arrests were made during JSO actions, and 138 of its activists have been held behind bars either awaiting trial or while serving a sentence this year. According to the group, 12 are currently in jail. In a column for the anarchist news website Freedom, Jan Goodey, a university lecturer serving a six-month sentence for climbing a gantry over the M25, said the household energy crisis had vindicated Insulate Britain’s use of disruptive tactics to demand home insulation. “Words of hope and encouragement are ineffective and irrelevant; it is action, resistance, and solidarity that work,” he wrote. One activist who has campaigned with both XR and Just Stop Oil said he was conflicted about XR’s announcement, which may attract more supporters but at the risk of effectiveness. “My concern is our lack of time,” he said. “If we don’t actively, noisily push for change now, later may prove way too late to save anything. Another said it appeared XR was repositioning itself as a more moderate group, as flank groups such as Just Stop Oil monopolised and radicalised more extreme direct actions. James Ozden, the director of Social Change Lab, said XR’s repositioning could allow it to take advantage of awareness raised by radical protests, without being implicated in their unpopularity. “As Just Stop Oil continues to organise more disruptive protests, it’s likely we’ll see a radical flank effect, whereby radical tactics increase support for more moderate groups, such as Extinction Rebellion. “This synergistic relationship is likely to benefit the overall climate movement, as people can join groups that appeal most to them.” | ['environment/just-stop-oil', 'environment/insulate-britain', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/activism', 'world/protest', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damien-gayle', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2023-01-02T17:23:25Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
global-development/2015/aug/25/un-ethiopia-need-food-aid-after-poor-rains | UN says 4.5 million Ethiopians now in need of food aid after poor rains | The number of Ethiopians who will need food aid by the end of this year has surged by more than 1.5 million from earlier estimates, according to United Nations agencies. After failed rains, some 4.5m people are now projected to require assistance, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) , the World Food Programme and the UN children’s agency, Unicef, said. This is an increase of 55% on initial projections of 2.9 million, and means donors must urgently provide an extra $230m to meet these needs. Gillian Mellsop, Unicef representative and acting humanitarian coordinator, said donors had been generous but more was needed to prevent unnecessary human suffering. “The situation facing us today marks a significant change in our plans, requiring the scaling up of assistance, now,” she said. Ethiopia is one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, with nearly double-digit growth every year for the last decade, but failed rains have had devastating consequences for food supplies for its 96 million people. “The belg rains were much worse than the National Meteorology Agency predicted at the beginning of the year. Food insecurity increased and malnutrition rose as a result,” said David Del Conte, Ocha’s acting head of office in Ethiopia, referring to the short rainy season that stretches from February to April. Areas normally producing surplus food in the central Oromia region were also affected by shortages, and lack of water has affected livestock there and in other pastoralist areas, the agencies said. In its August report on Ethiopia, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet), said unusual livestock deaths and unseasonal migration were continuing and livestock prices and demand had fallen sharply. There was very little rain during the first three weeks of July, and the June-to-September rainfall was well below average in most eastern, central and southern crop-producing areas. Dry conditions would be exacerbated by the start of the dry season in September and October, it added. “With continued high cereal prices, low livestock prices, and no expected increase in other income sources, poor households will be unable to purchase sufficient quantities of food and [will] have food consumption gaps. Acute malnutrition prevalence is likely to increase,” Fewsnet said. Meteorologists have also warned that the El Niño weather phenomenon, marked by a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, is now well established and continues to strengthen. Models indicate that sea-surface temperature anomalies in the central Pacific Ocean are set to climb to their highest in 19 years. El Niño can lead to scorching weather across Asia and east Africa, and heavy rains and floods in South America. The UN cautioned that the anomaly could further affect Ethiopia’s kiremt rains, which stretch from June to September. “A failed belg followed by a poor kiremt season means that challenges could continue into next year,” said John Aylieff, WFP’s Ethiopia representative. Ethiopia is heavily dependent on agriculture, which accounts for almost half of its gross domestic product. Around three-quarters of its population are farmers, with many involved in subsistence farming, rain-fed farming or livestock production. While the poverty rate fell from 39% to 26% between 2005 and 2013, nearly 20 million people live below the UN poverty threshold of $1.25 (£0.80) a day. The economy is expected to grow by 9.5% in the fiscal year to June, according to the World Bank, rising to 10.5% in 2015-16. | ['global-development/global-development', 'global-development/food-security', 'world/ethiopia', 'world/africa', 'global-development/malnutrition', 'world/world', 'environment/drought', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-08-25T12:25:38Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2013/may/21/why-oklahoma-tornado-so-dangerous | Why was the Oklahoma tornado so dangerous? | What is a tornado? Tornados form under "supercell storms", which are very active cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds. Beneath supercells, air rises rapidly through the atmosphere, and through a shearing process begins to rotate and form a tornado vortex. How powerful was the Oklahoma tornado? Tornadoes are measured on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale from zero (weak) to five (very strong). The UK Met Office said the tornado that struck Moore city in Oklahoma on Monday was EF5. The power of tornadoes is often estimated after the event by assessing the devastation left behind. How large was the tornado? The width of the spinning air column varied from 100 metres to around two miles (3km). How common are big tornadoes? Moore has been struck by major tornadoes at least four times in the past 15 years, in 1999, 2003, 2010, and on Monday. The 1999 storm featured the strongest winds ever recorded, at 317mph. Why are tornadoes common in the region? The stretch of land through Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas is known as Tornado Alley for a reason. Here, the environment is perfect for spawning supercells and tornadoes. They form when cool and dry air that blows over the Rocky Mountains meets warm and moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. Why was this tornado so dangerous? The tornado was one of the most powerful ever seen, but other factors combined to make it so devastating. It touched the ground for 45 minutes, which is long for a tornado, and did so in an urban area, when schools and offices were filled. Are tornadoes getting stronger with climate change? "Tornadoes are too small-scale for current climate models to simulate, so it is not possible to say very much about how strength and occurrence might alter under climate change. But climate change means warmer temperatures and more moisture and that is providing more energy for the types of storms that produce tornadoes in a warmer climate," says Suzanne Gray at Reading University. Does the UK get tornadoes? About 30 to 40 tornadoes strike Britain each year, but they are far weaker and shorter-lived than those in the US. They cause little or no damage. A rare exception was the tornado that hit Birmingham in 2005, which damaged trees, houses and cars, and injured 19 people. | ['us-news/oklahoma-city-tornado', 'world/tornadoes', 'us-news/oklahoma', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/us-weather', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'science/meteorology', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'profile/iansample'] | us-news/oklahoma-city-tornado | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-05-21T12:27:19Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
lifeandstyle/2023/jun/04/should-i-worry-about-pesticides | Should I worry about pesticides? | Pesticides are far from being a new invention. In the Odyssey, Homer describes how Odysseus “cleanses all pollution” by applying sulphur, while Pliny the Elder recommended using arsenic as an insect-killer, as well as mixing it with boar’s liver to cure “carbuncles upon the generative organs”. We have since learned a lot more about what has an adverse effect on our health, while modern science can mix chemicals in combinations the Romans and Greeks could never have dreamed of. So, just how bad are today’s pesticides – and what can you do to mitigate their effects on your health? To be clear, plenty of pesticides don’t pose any risk to humans. Caffeine is an insecticide, produced by plants for self-protection; many of us glug down a dose that would be fatal to mosquito larvae three times a day. The first real question is: how worried should you be about the less natural stuff going on your food? “The most important thing to understand is that pesticides and their use are carefully regulated in the UK,” says Prof Michael Eddleston, a clinical toxicologist who sits on the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides. “Therefore, the amount of pesticide in and on food grown in the UK is likely to be low and not dangerous. Crops imported from abroad may be contaminated with higher amounts of pesticides, but supermarkets do their best to reduce contamination and to remove hazardous pesticides from the food production chain. So, overall, the direct risk to our health is probably low.” One problem is that pesticide safety evaluations examine only the toxicity of individual chemicals. There is little understanding of how mixtures of chemicals behave, so the long-term effects of consuming small amounts of several pesticides as residues in food – and the possible combined effects of these residues with other environmental contaminants – are not well understood. “The general thinking is that risks from very low concentrations are small, since healthy adults are able to process and excrete toxins pretty efficiently,” says Eddleston. “But children and unhealthy adults may be more vulnerable.” What should you do? The benefits of organic food are not clear-cut. One recent study in the US found that levels of glyphosate (a probable carcinogen) found in participants’ bodies dropped 71% after just one week of switching to organic. But, of course, even “natural” pesticides can be nasty. Arsenic and nicotine are natural, but banned for use as pesticides. There is some evidence that organic food is healthier generally, but that might be related to other factors, such as its nutrient profile. Running your apples and broccoli under the tap isn’t a surefire solution. The UK’s Food Standards Agency notes that “washing … may help remove residues of certain pesticides”, but when pesticides are used in the germination process (when the seeds are being planted), washing later won’t do anything to help. The same is true of peeling, but, in any case, doing this removes some of the food’s nutritional value, which may cause more problems than it solves. Perhaps the biggest concern about pesticides isn’t for us as individuals, but rather humans as a collective. “Insecticides kill off-target insects [insects that they aren’t intentionally trying to kill], affecting biodiversity, which is hugely important for future food production and the planet,” says Eddleston. “Insecticides, fungicides and herbicides also harm the soil microbiome, which is essential in making nutrients available to plants and in breaking down organic matter: two functions that are fundamental for the sustainability of food production and soil conservation, which in turn is an essential component of climate change mitigation.” This means that we need to reduce pesticide use, in the UK and globally, through “integrated pest-management” tactics, such as producing pest-resistant crops and rotating crops to deter insects, says Eddleston: “This needs to be accelerated and pesticide use further reduced worldwide. This will not only improve food safety, but also ensure the continuity of food production, which currently and in future largely comes from land-based production. Pesticides kill indiscriminately and the world needs biodiversity for its future.” Even Odysseus, not the world’s biggest softy, would probably approve. | ['lifeandstyle/series/should-i-worry-', 'environment/pesticides', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/health-and-wellbeing', 'environment/farming', 'world/world', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-production'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-06-04T14:00:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
politics/2017/jul/10/what-is-euratom-and-why-does-it-matter | What is Euratom and why does it matter? | Dan Roberts | Of all the many European collaborations threatened by Brexit, the UK’s participation in the European atomic energy community, Euratom, might seem an odd subject for Tory rebels to pick for their first fight. But the government’s policy on leaving this nuclear safety and research watchdog provides an unusually clear-cut example of the economic pain of taking back control – and one for which there is unusually limited political justification. “Initially created to coordinate the member states’ research programmes for the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” explains the official legal summary, “the Euratom treaty today helps to pool knowledge, infrastructure and funding of nuclear energy. It ensures the security of atomic energy supply within the framework of a centralised monitoring system.” What’s special about Euratom compared with other EU regulatory agencies? Unlike the dozens of other, equally sensitive, regulatory arrangements for industries such as aviation or pharmaceuticals, Euratom has been singled out for special treatment because it is not technically part of the EU. Instead, the treaty that established this body to coordinate Europe’s civil nuclear energy industry was born in parallel with the birth of the European economic community in 1957. Britain’s participation in this largely untouched relic of atomic camaraderie therefore required a separate legal relationship with the European court of justice to enforce it. Since Theresa May has committed the country to severing all ties with the ECJ, it also required a separate clause announcing our intention to leave in the article 50 legislation that triggered the start of the two-year Brexit process in March. What is at risk if the UK does quit as proposed? For the nuclear industry, rapid departure from Euratom without a clear replacement spells disaster. Scientists have warned that British power stations may not be able to source nuclear fuel if it cannot be legally transported across borders. The shipment of medical isotopes used in scans and cancer treatment is also said to be jeopardised. European workers on shared research projects, such as experimental fusion reactors, face an equally uncertain future without Euratom’s separate guarantees of freedom of movement. Some critics have claimed that abrupt exit means that by 2025 “you could be doing your writing by candlelight on a typewriter” as the future of Britain’s nuclear industry hangs in the balance. Calmer voices argue that arranging new rules to ensure safety and govern shipments should not be that hard; just that it is likely to take much longer than the 20 months remaining. But the cost of any short-term chaos is hard to justify given that nobody ever complained about the minor compromises imposed by Euratom on British sovereignty in the first place. Instead, it provides an embarrassing example of the unintended consequences of the prime minister’s hard red line on dealing with the ECJ – something even a former special adviser to the Brexit secretary has described as dangerously “absolutist”. Is this the first of many regulatory rows? More such awkward disentangling is almost certain to follow as Britain decides whether to leave other European regulatory agencies. But, these questions are currently shrouded in political fudge with the government officially undecided on what happens. So, for now at least, Euratom provides a taste of these many battles to come. The defection of just seven Tory MPs could be enough to give Theresa May’s fragile minority government a potentially fatal dose of radiation. | ['politics/eu-referendum', 'politics/article-50', 'politics/conservatives', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/dan-roberts', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2017-07-10T12:45:32Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2007/apr/06/ipcc.climatechange | Q&A: IPCC report on impact of climate change | The report published on Friday by the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) is the second of three volumes that will together make up the group's fourth assessment report on the state of the planet. Over more than 1,500 pages, scientists analyse what impact climate change will have on wildlife, habitats and communities around the world and what can be done to reduce the problems and threats faced by different countries. Who has written it? The report is the work of hundreds of scientists who have reviewed scientific, environmental and socio-economic papers on the impacts of climate change. The scientists form the IPCC's second working group, which has been chaired by Professor Martin Parry of the Met Office and Osvaldo Canziani. Their work has been commented on and added to by the representatives of more than 100 governments around the world. The wording of the completed report, and a 21-page summary for policymakers, is being approved this week at a conference in Brussels. What will it say? The report is expected to warn that a scarcity of water, food and land brought about by climate change could lead to tension between nations and even war. Millions of people around the world will be affected by drought or flooding, with many forced to leave their homes in search of water, or find safer places to live away from rising sea levels. It is expected to say that rising temperatures predicted in the IPCC's last report will lead to more hunger in Africa and more heatwaves in the US. The heat could melt glaciers in the Himalayas and further damage Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Agriculture may be affected around the world, with many countries seeing a reduction in the amount of food they can produce, although some such as Canada and Russia may initially be more productive as their climate warms. The outlook for wildlife is ominous, according to Reuters, which says a draft version of the report warns that 20-30% of species are likely to be at risk of extinction if the global average temperature rises by 1.5-2.5C. What happens next? Next week the IPCC will hold regional briefings around the world to explain the observed and predicted impacts of climate change on each region. The IPCC will publish one more paper before its fourth assessment report on November 16. The Mitigation of Climate Change report will be released on May 4 in Bangkok, then details from it and the other two reports will be brought together in the Synthesis Report. The IPPC says this final report will pay more attention to the integration of climate change with sustainable development than its last assessment report, published in 2001. It will also focus more on the relationships between mitigation of the threat of climate change and adaptation to the problems it could cause. | ['environment/ipcc', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'tone/resource', 'type/article', 'profile/hilaryosborne'] | environment/ipcc | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2007-04-06T15:38:17Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
news/2011/oct/19/weatherwatch-tornado-london-britain | Weatherwatch: Britain's earliest recorded tornado | Say tornado, and many of us think of Dorothy and her dog Toto, being whirled off by a tornado in the Wizard of Oz. But "tornado alley" in the Great Plains of the US is not the only place to see a tornado: surprisingly the UK has the most tornadoes per unit area in the world, with around 30 tornadoes recorded every year. Most British tornadoes are not as dramatic as their US counterparts, usually doing no more than whipping a few tiles off a roof. But occasionally they pack a punch. The largest tornado known in the UK is also the earliest. On 17 October 1091 (23 October when adjusted to today's Gregorian calendar) London was hit by a vicious tornado. Historical records tell of the wooden London Bridge being demolished, along with 600 houses (mostly wooden). Furthermore, the church of St Mary-le-Bow, in the city of London, was smashed to pieces, with four rafters driven more than six metres into the ground. Two men are reported to have lost their lives. Judging by the accounts of the damage, meteorologists have assigned the 1091 tornado T8 (severely devastating) status on the tornado scale (which runs from T0 to T10). Wind speeds would have been up to 240mph (385km/h). If such a tornado were to hit London today we could expect to see cars hurled along the street, houses smashed and skyscrapers twisted. Luckily T8 tornadoes are rare in the UK – and let's hope it stays that way. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/tornadoes', 'type/article', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-10-19T22:05:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/ethicallivingblog/2007/nov/14/eurostargetsthegreenthumbs | Eurostar gets the green thumbs up | Greenpeace climbers display a banner showing their support of the Eurostar. Photograph: Rose/Greenpeace/PA And so we're off. After years of anticipation and months of media build-up about the engineering spectacle, champagne bar and Britain's first 300kmph train, Eurostar's first high-speed service from St Pancras left today at 11.01. I'm writing this on the journey, and by the time you read this it will have taken me just two hours and 15 minutes to arrive in Paris - less than the time taken for the next "old" high-speed service from St Pancras to Sheffield. Unlikely as this might sound days before the UN publishes its latest assessment of climate change, the 11:01 from St Pancras is arguably this week's most important story in Britain. There are valid misgivings about spending £5.8bn on speeding up journeys between three cities for a relative elite. But who can put a price on the energy and pizzazz injected into the the environment debate? As the UN will remind us, this debate is still largely dominated by grim predictions, guilt and the attendant invocation to denial and reduced consumption. But a growing number of people and organisations have recognised the message is a turn off at best; at worst it's an invitation to a very gloomy party. This summer Forum for the Future, the thinktank led by the government's sustainability advisor, Jonathon Porritt, published an 'aspirational' vision of a low carbon future. Interestingly, a bevy of so-called environmental thought leaders couldn't offer any good enough ideas. But the report team suggested long-awaited self-drive cars, the techno wizzadry of clothes which recharge your mobile phone on the move and a return to the romance of airships. But perhaps the most important and exciting contribution to the new green - or clean as the marketing men prefer - was from Hollywood star-turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a speech to a high level UN conference in September (watch it here on YouTube) the republican governor was inspired, bullish, hopeful and, with refreshing honesty, even greedy about the prospects of "renewing the climate of the planet". "Clean tech" was the next economic revolution on which the world's seventh biggest economy was built, he said. "Billions and billions of dollars" will be invested; the "brightest scientists" and the "smartest venture capitalists" were working on this. "Something remarkable is beginning to stir, something revolutionary, something historic and transformative," he declared. Schwarzenegger is not without his critics, but his proselytising certainly highlights the reluctance and back-peddling of our own government. Today's launch was not perfect: building workers were still onsite, shops not yet open and there was talk before the train left about picketing it on arrival. But, if anything, it added to the fizz and anticipation. This almost felt like a new beginning, not just for St Pancras and Eurostar, but the environment movement in Britain. Greenpeace even launched a massive banner at the station emblazoned with the word 'yes' in three metre high letters. "You can have high levels of comfort, convenience and a low-carbon footprint," said Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, the organisation which has "partnered" Eurostar. There are still those who would argue we should simply travel less. But this was no longer the only message. "I don't think the Friends of the Earth message is we should sit in the dark, be cold or not travel, the message is we should have high quality lives in a low-carbon way," added Juniper. | ['environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'uk/transport', 'uk/uk', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/green-living-blog', 'business/eurostar', 'type/article', 'profile/juliettejowit'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2007-11-14T17:02:48Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2020/nov/14/uk-expected-to-ban-sale-of-new-petrol-and-diesel-cars-from-2030 | UK expected to ban sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 | Boris Johnson is understood to be planning to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars within a decade, with reports that the ban will be brought forward by five years. It follows the prime minister moving the cut-off date from 2040 to 2035 in February. Johnson is expected to announce the measure amid a raft of new environmental policies next week, according to a report in the Financial Times, which attributes the news to industry and Whitehall sources. The government hopes the policy will energise the market for electric cars in the UK and help the country achieve its climate targets, including reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050. Scientists, academics and campaigners have urged governments and businesses to be more ambitious, calling on them to work to “restore the climate” to as safe a level as possible. Environmental activists signed a letter on Friday, stating: “The climate crisis is here now. No matter how quickly we reach zero emissions, the terrible impacts of the climate crisis will not just go away … As such, no matter how quickly it is done, solely cutting emissions is not enough.” Despite rising popularity, with demand more than doubling over the last year, electric cars still only make up around 7% of new vehicles bought in the UK last month, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show. The organisation has previously called for the government to commit to significant long-term incentives for electric vehicle purchase and to set fixed targets on charging infrastructure, arguing that higher prices and concerns about charging are keeping sales down. The government is expected to provide around £500m funding for charging infrastructure from next year, according to the newspaper’s report. Johnson has been reportedly putting together a 10-point plan to jump-start the low-carbon economy and set the country on track to meet the target of net zero emissions by 2050, amid international pressure to produce a detailed plan as host of the next UN summit on the climate crisis, Cop26, which was postponed to next November. Meanwhile, following Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the US, the Labour party has been pressing the government to intensify Britain’s efforts to tackle the climate emergency by bringing forward a multibillion pound “green recovery” plan. The news also follows criticism that the UK is not adequately funding its efforts to fight the climate crisis, despite the prime minister’s promises to put environment at centre of post-Covid strategy. Research by the IPPR thinktank found the government is investing only 12% of the funds needed to tackle the climate emergency and the growing threat to nature. | ['environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'environment/electric-cars', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'technology/motoring', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/clea-skopeliti', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2020-11-14T17:29:46Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/article/2024/jun/07/great-lakes-shipping-emissions-climate-change | ‘All these problems are solvable’: Great Lakes shipping fights to cut emissions | It’s just after 9.30pm on a Thursday night in late May when a conveyor belt begins dumping 21,000 tons of road salt into the cavernous hull of the MV Mark W Barker at a dock in Cleveland. As the first US-flagged freighter to be built on the Great Lakes in nearly 40 years, the 639ft (195-meter)-long ship – launched in 2022 – is the only vessel of its kind in the region powered by cleaner, “tier four” marine engines that meet the federal Environmental Protection Agency rules governing hydrocarbons and particle matter emissions. “We operate on the Great Lakes exclusively,” says Katie Wells, the manager of environmental stewardship at the Cleveland-based Interlake Maritime Services, which operates more than a dozen large vessels on the Great Lakes, including the MV Mark W Barker. “We never leave here. “A lot of our crews are from the area, so there’s a vested interest in the future of the lakes.” Shipping on the Great Lakes and around the world finds itself in the spotlight today as emissions targets set by the International Maritime Organization – the global regulatory agency – mean the industry must find a way to decarbonize by 2050. That means painful changes lie ahead for the Great Lakes, a region home to more than 34 million residents and some of the largest cities in North America that, for over a century, have served as the industrial backbone of the US. Today, per-capita greenhouse gas emissions in the Great Lakes are 20% above the national average. To help spur the drive to net zero, US government funding has prompted several Great Lakes ports to start making changes. The port of Cleveland on Lake Erie is set to spend $32m on upgrades as it pursues a goal of becoming the first zero emissions port on the Great Lakes. Meanwhile, the port of Monroe in Michigan has been awarded $11m in federal funding for its Lake Erie Renewable Energy Resilience Project, an effort that would, in part, see a wharf built exclusively for transporting wind energy cargo. Last year, the port of Detroit launched a decarbonization project that it hopes would eliminate carbon emissions produced at the port by 2040. Further west, the port of Milwaukee’s administration building is already entirely powered by a wind turbine that sends tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of energy back into the electricity grid. However, while ports have benefited from government help, ship operators and companies say that opportunity has not been extended to them. “They’ve put billions of dollars into this [port] funding stream, and the vessels that call on these ports are not at all part of that,” Wells, of Interlake Maritime Services, lamented. “That’s just a miss, unfortunately.” Shipping is regarded as one of the most efficient ways of transporting bulk goods – 90% of global trade is conducted by ships. The 21,000 tons of road salt being transported by the MV Mark W Barker, which has been designed to also carry containers, was destined for Green Bay, Wisconsin. Transporting the same cargo by road would take 828 semi-trucks using 560 miles of roads and highways, contributing to emissions and congestion in major metropolises such as Chicago and Milwaukee. To transport the same volume of salt by train would require 206 rail cars, which are already in short supply. But finding the right fuel sources and infrastructure is holding back ship owners and operators. “Evolving technology and energy choices [and] vessel designs that impact how existing ships can be retrofitted to accommodate different fuel options” are among the significant challenges vessel owners face in their decarbonizing efforts, Mark Fisher of the Council of the Great Lakes Region – a non-profit that works with governments and other parties in the US and Canada – recently told the Guardian. Renewable diesel made from vegetable oils, industry experts say, could serve as a future marine fuel source, but that’s in short supply. Biofuels sourced from feedstock waste could be another. “There’s a lot of risk associated with trying new technologies,” Wells said. “Any repowering [of vessels] comes with huge costs.” What’s more, the EPA-required tier four marine engines used by vessels elsewhere are reported to have run into real-world problems. On land, inadequate refueling infrastructure is seen as another impediment to reaching net zero on the Great Lakes. Many docks that ships load and unload at are privately owned and therefore have few – if any – refueling facilities. Still, with global shipping emissions targets pegged to be 20% to 30% below 2008 levels as soon as 2030, solutions are expected to coalesce quickly. And in some ways, shipping on the Great Lakes is already ahead of the game. Because the lakes are freshwater and not saltwater, ship hulls have been known to remain in operation for close to a century – meaning that, unlike ocean liners, the same vessels can be refitted repeatedly with cleaner, more efficient engines once that technology becomes viable. At Cop27, held in Egypt in 2022, the Canadian and US governments agreed to form a Green Shipping Corridor Network for the Great Lakes and St Lawrence Seaway to better serve governments, businesses and other operators on the Great Lakes battling to meet emissions targets. “All of these challenges are solvable,” said Fisher, of the Council of the Great Lakes Region. “But it will require a tremendous amount of collaboration between government, the marine industry, and technology and energy providers.” | ['environment/shipping-emissions', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/ohio', 'us-news/michigan', 'world/wisconsin', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephen-starr', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2024-06-07T11:00:49Z | true | EMISSIONS |
sustainable-business/2014/sep/03/top-10-tips-csr-managers-2015-budget-approved-business | Top 10 tips for CSR managers who want their 2015 budget approved | The last quarter of 2014 is a month away and corporate social responsibility managers are wringing their hands in advance of programme planning and budget approval for the next fiscal. Ironically, although corporate social responsibility costs are minuscule compared to virtually any other line item in a company’s budget, spending in this area is scrutinised closely. There are two reasons for this. Executives are hard-wired to improve value, but pinpointing the return on investment of “social” spending is virtually impossible. At the same time, CSR has become a proxy for social licence to operate and not allocating adequate resources in this area is seen as a risk. Decision-making in the face of opposing priorities is never easy but CSR managers often lack the tools, metrics and capacity to assess their program’s performance. As a result, their positions and budgets are particularly vulnerable. If you find yourself in this situation, here are ten practical ways to help demonstrate your value and get your 2015 budget approved. 1. Start with the assumption that the person you report to accepts that CSR is necessary but is highly skeptical of its value relative to other parts of the business. 2. Demonstrate that your initiatives align with the priorities of the CEO. While the resources allocated to CSR are small, few aspects of business have the potential to get the attention and support of the company’s most senior leadership. Use this to your advantage. 3. Secure the support of finance. This is the toughest internal stakeholder group and the one whose opinion matters most at this time of year. Try asking your finance team how they would approach assessing and improving the business and social value of CSR. 4. Indicate the value of every aspect of your program that is quantifiable (eg a successful cause marketing program) but don’t assign metrics to pieces that are subjective – these assumptions will be questioned and your business case won’t be seen as credible. 5. Find out how your initiatives are influencing the stakeholder group that matters most to your company’s growth. For example, if you are a B2B company you should know whether or not your CSR initiatives are influencing the acquisition of new customers or leverage of existing relationships. 6. Show how CSR costs are being leveraged. This could include providing data or statements from other managers that substantiate the value of CSR initiatives and also external examples such as how an NGO has managed to secure more private or government support as a result of your company’s involvement. 7. Stay away from generic metrics of business and social value – executives want to know how value is being delivered specifically in your company. What’s happened elsewhere is interesting but doesn’t carry enough weight. 8. Get people involved. There’s nothing more powerful than creating opportunities for executives to have direct experience with the stakeholders who benefit from your company’s programs. 9. Commit to delivering more value. This could involve eliminating unnecessary corporate philanthropy, re-negotiating agreements with non-profit partners and reducing the time and money spent on CSR reports. Executives don’t expect managers in this area to make hard calls so use this as an opportunity to demonstrate that you have what it takes to do this. 10. Be innovative – take your program to the next level. Work with your product development team to develop a prototype for a new socially responsible product. Initiate a pilot program with a key non-profit partner to support hiring objectives. Spend time with your company’s sales force to understand their needs and how you can help. Paul Klein is the president and founder of Impakt, which helps corporations and civil society organisations become social purpose leaders. He serves on the advisory council of the centre of excellence in responsible business at the Schulich School of Business. Read more like this: Linking CSR performance with pay sends clear sustainability signal Jaguar Land Rover and HSBC using CSR to ensure brand success in China Bain’s 50% stake in Toms shoes shows faith in socially-minded business Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/communication', 'sustainable-business/strategy', 'business/corporate-governance', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'sustainable-business/series/careers-in-sustainable-business', 'business/business', 'tone/blog', 'type/article'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-09-03T14:48:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
technology/2015/aug/13/samsung-galaxy-s6-edge-plus-note-5 | What Samsung needs to get right with the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Note 5 | Samsung has just launched not one but two phablets, as it attempts to keep its large-screened smartphone crown. But in its war with chief rival Apple, its home country competitor LG, and Chinese upstarts such as Xiaomi, Samsung has to get some critical things right, as the bar has been raised for quality, price and speed. Simplified and bloat-free software Samsung’s software is notorious. For years it applied heavy skins or modifications to the native Android experience provided by Google. Most manufacturers did, but Samsung’s was particularly garish, sluggish and bloat-ridden. The company has made strides with recent smartphone releases, cutting back on superfluous features, making its designs more attractive, and making its apps, which often duplicated functionality with those built into Android, optional downloads. The S6 Edge+ and the Note 5 are good opportunities to show that Samsung can create software that adds value, particularly for the curved edges and the stylus. The curved screen of the smaller, 5.1in S6 Edge provided little in functionality, becoming an aesthetic choice rather than a functional one. On the smaller screen they did not detract from the experience, but on a larger device that is more difficult to hold, those touchscreen edges could be a hinderance. Samsung has to make applications that add to the experience – and encourage others to follow suit. Likewise with the Note 5’s stylus, Samsung has to create a reason for a user to actually take it out and put tip to screen, rather that leave it buried within the device never to be touched. The problem Samsung has to overcome is how to make these features worthwhile and not simply added bloat that slows down the device and its software updates, which are vital to keeping a device secure and current. Sheer speed One thing Samsung achieved with the S6 was the smartphone’s raw speed. It is still the fastest smartphone I have used to date. Both the Note 5 and the S6+ must maintain that snappiness but they must also have decent battery life. Battery life is a primary pain point for most of the smartphone-using community. A large smartphone that only lasts one day is not good enough anymore. Sony and others have devices that last in excess of two days with general usage. Samsung’s response was to provide rapid charging via cable and wireless charging built into the S6, not longer battery life. Traditionally Samsung’s Note series has longer battery life, the S6 Plus and Note 5 must continue that trend. Premium materials that can’t be bent Samsung’s high-end devices command a significant premium over lower-cost Android rivals. The Korean company has bet on bleeding-edge technology to make the £600 investment in a smartphone worthwhile, but the majority of Samsung smartphones over the last five years have been made of plastic, rather than premium-feeling materials such as metals and glass. Samsung’s Galaxy Alpha series was the first of its smartphones to have metal frames, followed by the Note 4, and later the S6, which also has a glass back. Samsung’s design must keep up with its technology to be able to compete in the high-end smartphone market. Build quality is crucial as devices have shrunk in thickness while their screen sizes have continued to grow, leading to a decrease in rigidity. Apple’s 5.5in iPhone 6 Plus “bendgate” illustrated the problem, but was not alone. Samsung’s large but thin devices could also be bent within pockets. Samsung claims its new aluminium frames are 1.7 times stronger than the Note 4, I suspect it won’t be long before someone puts that to the test. The Galaxy S6 is arguably the best smartphone the Korean company has ever made, but even it has not sold in the numbers Samsung needed it to. Apple reportedly attracted more Android switchers than ever with its bigger iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, showing the latent demand for big smartphones. Developed nations, including the UK and US, are near the smartphone saturation point, which means these two new phablets will be crucial for keeping Samsung on top. The company has to convince buyers they’re worth upgrading to. Whether they do remains to be seen. • Phablets take bigger share of US smartphone market as trend spreads • Samsung Galaxy S6 review: the iPhone killer • Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge review: curves for pleasure, not function | ['technology/samsung', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/phablets', 'technology/android', 'technology/apple', 'technology/xiaomi', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'technology/mobilephones', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-08-13T15:00:15Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2012/jun/28/colorado-wildfires-wreck-homes-weather | Colorado wildfires wreck homes but officials hope for break in weather | More than 340 homes in Colorado Springs have been destroyed by wildfires, the city's mayor said on Thursday, in the first official indication of the destructive fury unleashed by the flames. The full extent of the damage to Colorado's second largest city is bound to be higher, officials have said. With the losses to homes to date, the fire was already ranked the most destructive in the state's history. But wind and weather conditions on Thursday began to turn in the firefighters' favour. "We have had the first break in the weather in the days since we have been here," said Rich Harvey, the fire incident commander. "We are going to go after it today aggressively." In a further sign of confidence, the authorities lifted a number of evacuation orders on Thursday night, allowing residents to return home for the first time in days. As of Thursday night, 346 homes on 35 streets were known to be destroyed. City officials summoned residents to a meeting to offer further details. The Waldo Canyon wildfire, which started on Saturday, is the most serious of dozens of wildfires across the American west. President Barack Obama is due to tour the devastation and visit firefighters on Friday. For the 32,000 peopled ordered to leave their homes in the western neighbourhoods of the city threatened by the fire, the last hours and days have been a time of anxious waiting for news on the state of their neighbourhood. Over the last few days, residents from some of the most damaged areas have congregated at lookout points hoping to get a glimpse of their homes. Other evacuees have turned up at police roadblocks, trying to retrieve medicine or belongings or check on their homes. Officials had earlier refused to comment on the extent of the destruction, saying neighbourhoods were still too enshrouded by smoke, or too dangerous to approach. But among the thousands of evacuees there was anxiety, fuelled by aerial images of destroyed neighbourhoods broadcast by local news. On Thursday morning, the city's mayor, Steve Bach, confirmed for many what will be their worst fear: that their homes and everything in them had been lost. "We now know that hundreds of homes have been destroyed," he told a press conference. Officials have said about 21,000 homes and other buildings are within reach of the wildfire, which exploded past containment barriers on Tuesday night and rushed down from the hills towards populated areas. Steve Cox, a former fire chief who is advising the city's mayor, conceded that Bach had been speaking only of homes burnt to the ground. Many others could be partially damaged by flames or smoke. The picture emerging from the fire zone is mixed – thanks to the efforts of firefighters, Bach said. "Yes, there has been a lot of loss of property. But there has been a lot of property that was destroyed, homes destroyed, and right next to them are homes still standing," he said. Much of the destruction within the city limits occurred in the space of a few hours on Tuesday night when the wildfire exploded past containment barriers. Some people in areas in the path of the flames were given less than an hour to move out. Others, who were at work when the fire broke through, never got a chance to return home. By Thursday morning, the fire has expanded to some 26 sq miles, or more than 18,000 acres, but fire officials said no new homes were burnt overnight and that they had made "good progress" during the course of Thursday laying down defensive lines. The earlier losses had been unforseeable, Bach insisted. Firefighters had no way of anticipating such rapid changes in wind speed or direction. "This is a fire of epic proportions," he said. "It's an act of God." | ['us-news/colorado-wildfires', 'world/wildfires', 'us-news/colorado', 'us-news/us-news', 'tone/news', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-06-28T16:42:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global-development-professionals-network/2017/mar/15/promote-wastewater-resource-world-water-day | Live Q&A: How can we turn wastewater from nuisance to resource? | Reducing, treating and reusing wastewater are important routes to achieving sustainable access to water for all, but the practices have not yet caught on. Globally, the majority of wastewater is not collected and in developing countries, 90% flows untreated into rivers, lakes and coastal zones. This threatens the safety of drinking water for people living in those areas, as well as their health and food security. But wastewater is a valuable resource. When it is safely treated and reused, the health and wellbeing of consumers, farmers and other users are protected, and the strain of securing sustainable water access is reduced. So what are NGOs doing to promote ways to save water – and to treat and reuse it – in the global south? Why is so little wastewater treated and reused today? Are changes in behaviour needed? And how can farmers - the biggest users of water worldwide – be encouraged to reduce and reuse? Join an expert panel on Wednesday 22 March from 3-4.30pm GMT, to discuss these questions and more. Panel Pritha Hariram, programme manager, water supply & sanitation services, International Water Association, The Hague, Netherlands, @PrithaHariram, @IWAHQ Pritha works to afford service providers, regulators and financial institutions with best practices in achieving universal access and improved service delivery of water supply and sanitation Christopher Corbin, programme officer, pollution prevention, UN Caribbean Environment Programme, Kingston, Jamaica, @cristojc, @UNEP_CEP Chris is responsible for the pollution programme, including wastewater projects, for the UN Environment’s Caribbean programme Zenia Tata, prize lead, Water Abundance XPrize, Los Angeles, US, @zenia_tata, @xprize Zenia designs prizes to address failures in the global development sector and has 10+ years of experience in water-related issues – from irrigation tech to safe drinking water Prince Antwi-Agyei, independent consultant - water and sanitation, NHance Development Partners Limited, Kumasi, Ghana Prince has a PhD in environmental sanitation and health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Marlos De Souza, water platform secretary, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome, Italy, @marlosOz Marlos is secretary of FAO’s water platform. He has a PhD in water resources management and an MSc in water quality. Sarah Dickin, research fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, @seiresearch, @sarahdickin Sarah’s research focuses on health and environmental challenges related to water and sanitation. She recently contributed to a book, focusing on how recovering resources from wastewater can contribute to achieving many SDG targets Arjen Naafs, technical adviser, WaterAid South Asia, London, UK, @Arjen_Naafs, @wateraid Arjen has 15 years of experience in the water and sanitation sector, and has worked as a hydro-geologist in South Asia and Africa Shrey Goyal, director & co-founder, Sustainable Growth Initiative, New Delhi, India, @ShreyGoyal, @ThinkSGI Shrey is a cofounder of the Sustainable Growth Initiative which works on climate change action, energy security, and social equity. The live chat is not video or audio-enabled but will take place in the comments section (below). Want to recommend someone for the panel or ask a question in advance? Get in touch via globaldevpros@theguardian.com or @GuardianGDP on Twitter. Follow the discussion using the hashtag #globaldevlive. | ['global-development-professionals-network/series/water-in-development', 'working-in-development/working-in-development', 'environment/water', 'global-development/access-to-water', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/sustainable-development-goals', 'type/article', 'profile/katherine-purvis', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2017-03-15T14:26:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2008/aug/05/france.naturaldisasters | Tornado kills three people in French town of Hautmont | The bodies of a man and a woman were pulled from the wreckage of their home yesterday, after a tornado tore through northern France, ripping off roofs, overturning cars and destroying dozens of houses. The couple were believed to be the deputy mayor of Hautmont, which was at the epicentre of the tornado near the Belgian border, and his wife. Earlier the body of an elderly woman was also discovered. She was thought to have died when her home collapsed on top of her. Thirteen other people were injured. Firefighters, medics and police searched two residential streets in the area yesterday to establish whether anyone else was buried under the rubble. High winds and torrential rain lashed the region on Sunday night as the tornado swept through an area of about four square miles in less than two hours. "The roof was torn off my house, all the windows were broken and the wall between mine and my neighbour's house was destroyed as well," Leon Denoyelle, 75, a resident of one of the worst-hit parts of Hautmont, told AFP. "In the street there are no more roofs and the shutters have all gone." An unidentified resident told Reuters they heard a "noise" and then the "windows blew open". "The window panes that were open broke, and then it was done. It was done and everything was a disaster; it's a disaster," the resident added. Another local said: "Well, I live across the street. I have my health, but the rest - you work all your life and in two minutes, everything is ruined." Television footage showed one house that appeared to have been sliced in two, with all its floors open to the elements. Bricks and other debris also lined the streets. Mystery surrounded the death of another Hautmont resident, a 76-year-old man who apparently killed himself after his house was demolished by the storm. | ['world/france', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'world/europe-news', 'world/tornadoes', 'type/article', 'profile/lizzydavies', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | world/tornadoes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2008-08-04T23:01:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2020/may/13/russian-hacking-attack-on-bundestag-damaged-trust-says-merkel | Russian hacking attack on Bundestag damaged trust, says Merkel | Angela Merkel has said Russian hacking attacks on the Bundestag in which her emails were seized harmed efforts to build a trusting relationship with Moscow. Merkel told the German parliament on Wednesday that she had been pained to learn of the 2015 hack and the perpetrator. The news magazine Der Spiegel reported last week that an investigation by German intelligence authorities found that agents in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service carried out the attack. Moscow has denied all allegations that it has hacked foreign governments. Merkel was responding to a question from Tabea Rößner, an MP with the opposition Green party, about her views on the outcome of the investigation. Merkel said she was pleased that investigators had found out who was responsible for the attack and were seeking to make arrests. “I take it very seriously,” Merkel said. “I may very honestly say it pains me. On the one hand I make an effort on a daily basis to have a better relationship with Russia. But when you see on the other hand that there is hard evidence that Russian powers are behaving in that way, then of course it’s an area of tension … that remains inside me. That is unpleasant.” Asked by Manuel Höferlin, of the pro-business Free Democrats, to clarify her use of the word unpleasant, which he said was inadequate, she answered: “Unpleasant is just one part of it, but I also find it outrageous as well. Of course it damages any sort of trusting collaboration.” She said other parliamentary colleagues had also been affected by having their emails hacked in the attack, and would also find it outrageous. She said what she called Russia’s hybrid warfare was “a strategy … which we need to keep an eye on and which we cannot suppress.” It has always been suspected that the hack five years ago, which paralysed Germany’s parliament for several days, was used to acquire sensitive data that was later used in an attempt to destabilise the political system in the run-up to federal elections of 2017. IT experts from the FBI and German intelligence authorities have gathered evidence showing that the attack was carried out by the hacker collective APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, working for the GRU. The same group is believed to have been behind the hack attack on the Democratic party in the run-up to the US presidential elections in 2016. Specific focus for the attack is now on Dimitri Badin, an agent for the GRU who is believed to have led the spying operation. Germany’s general prosecutor has put out a warrant for his arrest. Merkel said Germany would take the appropriate measures just as it had when sanctions were introduced against Russian diplomats following the murder last summer in Berlin’s Tiergarten park of a former Chechen insurgent, which Germany believes was a contract killing carried out on behalf of the Russian state. | ['world/germany', 'world/russia', 'world/angela-merkel', 'technology/cyberwar', 'technology/hacking', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kateconnolly', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2020-05-13T15:07:52Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2015/jun/11/great-barrier-reef-meets-criteria-for-in-danger-listing-by-unesco-say-lawyers | Great Barrier Reef meets criteria for 'in danger' listing by Unesco, say lawyers | Degradation of the Great Barrier Reef overwhelmingly meets the criteria for an “in danger” listing by Unesco, according to a joint report by environmental lawyers from Australia and the US. The report challenges a draft UN ruling, ahead of a final decision by the world heritage committee in Germany this month, not to proceed with a listing that requires only one of eight criteria to be met. The analysis, by lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) and US-based Earthjustice, uses existing scientific reports to argue the reef meets five of those criteria used under world heritage guidelines. They include two forms of “specific and proven imminent danger”: A “serious decline in endangered species” including coral, dugongs, dolphins and sharks. “Human encroachment ... that threatens the integrity of the property”, including industrial port development, dredging and run-off. The report argues there are another three forms of “potential danger”: “Major threats through planned development projects”, including the expansion of Abbot point coal port. “A management plan that is lacking, inadequate or not fully implemented”, with Unesco itself calling for a concrete funding framework for Australia’s conservation plan this year and; “Threatening impacts of climate change” including ocean acidification and its effect on coral. The report says the reef arguably meets a sixth criteria in the “severe deterioration of the natural beauty or scientific value of the property”, including through a 50% drop in coral coverage and diversity in recent decades. It says the only criteria the reef clearly does not satisfy are threats by armed conflict or a change to its legal protective status. EJA lawyer Ariane Wilkinson said an “in danger” listing in June or in 2017 if stronger action were not taken “remains a real possibility”. “Six of eight possible red flags have been raised. Since when is two out of eight a good mark?” Earthjustice attorney Martin Wagner said: “If the World Heritage system is to have any value, it must address the most serious threats to the most iconic examples of world heritage.” “If any site falls into this category, it is the threatened Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef on the planet and one of its richest and most complex ecosystems,” he said. “The world heritage committee should step up to ensure that this unique and threatened part of humanity’s world heritage is not lost forever.” The lawyers called on the committee to “significantly strengthen” its ruling and force Australia’s hand as custodians of the natural wonder including through a “world heritage in danger” listing. Their report argues that the Australian government should be forced to improve its Reef 2050 conservation plan through “quantitative targets for ecosystem health” and annual checks on its progress. The government has welcomed the draft ruling as an endorsement of its conservation efforts, particularly its targets to cut pollution of reef waters through run-off from grazing and cane farming. The day after the draft decision on 31 May, the federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, cited water quality improvements when asked for examples of “real world achievements”. The federal environment department on Thursday rejected any suggestion that Hunt knew the contents of a Queensland auditor general report casting doubt on the evidence of those improvements beforehand. A department spokeswoman told Guardian Australia that the draft report was sent to bureaucrats on 28 May but the first Hunt was aware of its contents was when it was tabled in Queensland parliament on Wednesday. Questioning by Greens senator Larissa Waters in Senate estimates last week revealed the Australian government in the lead up to the decision spent $140,000 on a reef tour for Unesco staff, delegates from world heritage member countries, ambassadors and technical advisers. It also spent $88,000 on a reef trip for international journalists in March. The government invited mining lobby group the Queensland resources council – but no conservation groups – to brief both delegations. | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/world', 'world/unesco', 'type/article', 'profile/joshua-robertson'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-06-11T12:00:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2016/jun/28/british-fishermen-warned-brexit-will-not-mean-greater-catches | British fishermen warned Brexit will not mean greater catches | British fishermen have been warned that, despite the promises made by the leave campaign, they cannot expect to be granted greater catches after the UK leaves the European Union, and they may face increased economic turmoil. Fishermen will have to remain within their current catch quotas while the UK is still a member, and even if new arrangements are negotiated after a Brexit, they will not necessarily be more generous, fisheries chiefs and campaigners have warned. British fishing fleets will still be bound by international agreements on fish stocks that must now be worked out, and which may not be to their benefit. “Promises have been made and expectations raised during the referendum campaign and it is now time to examine if and how they can be delivered,” said the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations. “Unfortunately, perhaps, the UK’s geopolitical position means that it is not politically or legally possible just to ringfence most of our fish resources, in the way that, for example, Iceland can. The reality is that most of our stocks are shared with other countries to some degree or other. “We can certainly seek to renegotiate quota shares, as well as access arrangements, but it is realistic to expect that there will be a price. Who will pay that price is a critical question.” The cost could, in theory, be subsidised by the government, or it could be borne by consumers, though this would depend on the price of fish to be imported, if UK fisheries are to remain competitive. The effects on fishing fleets are likely to vary across the UK. Many fishermen currently benefit from EU subsidies to help them buy better boats with new nets that help to preserve fish stocks, for instance by allowing juvenile fish to swim clear. A spokesman for the European commission told the Guardian: “It is far too early to speculate on this question [of what will happen to fisheries]. That will be addressed in due course, once negotiations with the UK begin on its withdrawal agreement as well as on the agreement concerning its future relationship with the EU. For the time being, nothing changes.” Although there are only about 11,000 people directly employed in fishing in the UK, nearly half of them in Scotland, which voted to stay in Europe. The industry was made a touchstone by Leave campaigners. Nigel Farage, of Ukip, led a small flotilla of fishermen up the Thames days before the vote, to be greeted by rival boats led by Bob Geldof, leading to a charged encounter. The murdered Labour MP, Jo Cox, sailed to the Houses of Parliament in a dinghy on the same day, with her husband and two young children, bearing a Remain flag. Scottish political leaders have been adamant that they should not bear the brunt of any disadvantage arising from renewed negotiations on fishing after a Brexit. Angus MacNeil, the Scottish National party MP, tweeted: “Met a young fisherman last night livid about Brexit - he has just bought a fishing boat with EU grant help!” The New Economics Foundation, which closely follows EU fishing policy, warned that fishermen should not bargain on any quick change. “Those communities and fishers hoping for an immediate end to EU quotas will be sorely disappointed. In reality, there will be years of renegotiations, and given the small size of fishing compared to other industries, there is little chance it will be seen as a priority,” said economist Griffin Carpenter. Other green campaigners called for ministers to draw up a plan for sustainable fishing following the UK’s departure from the EU. Trevor Hutchings of WWF-UK said: “The government must deliver a coherent plan for maintaining and conserving the marine environment as a whole. This must recognise that fish stocks do not respect national boundaries. Effective management will rely on international cooperation.” Will McCallum, head of oceans at Greenpeace UK, pointed out that the Westminster government, rather than Brussels, was in charge of allocating the EU-agreed fishing quota, and had chosen for years to give most of it to a handful of large corporations rather than to the smaller fishermen who have most to lose. He said: “Leaving the EU has often been held up as a magic pill for the UK’s fishing industry. But now we’ve voted to leave, it is far from plain sailing. One thing is clear: the UK government cannot settle back into its old habit of privileging a handful of large companies to the detriment of the UK’s small-scale fishermen. It wasn’t the EU that gave almost two-thirds of the entire fishing quota of England and Wales to just three companies - it was the British government.” Scotland’s fishermen are likely to face further uncertainty, as calls for a new referendum on independence have raised the prospect that it could remain a member of the EU. Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said: “The result of the [EU] referendum brings both opportunities and challenges. It is vital that we have clarity from the UK and Scottish governments on their future intentions for fishing.” Vote Leave declined to comment. | ['environment/fishing', 'environment/environment', 'environment/food', 'environment/marine-life', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'uk/uk', 'uk/scotland', 'world/eu', 'politics/politics', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-06-28T09:05:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/jul/16/gas-giant-chevron-falls-further-behind-on-carbon-capture-targets-for-gorgon-gasfield | Gas giant Chevron falls further behind on carbon capture targets for Gorgon gasfield | Gas giant Chevron has fallen even further behind on targets to capture and store CO2 at its mega gas project in Western Australian, but has refused to say by how much. The company also confirmed on Friday it had bought and surrendered 5.23m tonnes of CO2 offsets to make up for the failure to meet its 2021 target at its CCS project at the offshore Gorgon gasfield in Western Australia. Almost all of those carbon offsets related to overseas projects to reduce emissions, with only 200,000 tonnes bought from Australia’s domestic market. The WA government has given Chevron a target to capture at least 80% of the CO2 from the gas produced at Gorgon and then inject it into a geological formation two kilometres below Barrow Island, off the state’s north-west coast. Conservationists and an energy analyst said the company’s latest admission was further proof that the Gorgon project “wasn’t working”.” The $3bn Gorgon project is the only operating carbon capture facility in Australia and is one of the world’s largest. The state government-set target for Gorgon to capture and store 80% of the CO2 from the gas is calculated on a five-year rolling average and in July last year Chevron said it had fallen 5.23Mt short. Chevron was liable for capturing CO2 at its plant from July 2016, but technical problems meant injection didn’t start until August 2019. Between that late start date and July 2021, 5.5Mt of CO2 was stored. On Friday the company said the latest five-year average would see it needing to buy more offsets, but would not say how many. This would be disclosed later in the year, the company said, but the shortfall related to delays in getting the project up and running. Chevron owns 47% of the Gorgon LNG project with partners ExxonMobil (25%) and Shell (25%). Maggie Wood, executive director of the Conservation Council of WA, said Chevron had “inadvertently become the poster child for all that is wrong with carbon capture and storage”. “CCS simply does not work,” Wood said. Wood said a fundamental problem with offsets was that they “don’t stop carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere and having severe impacts on the climate”. Chevron’s CCS plant extracts CO2 from the gas after it has been drilled. But the vast majority of emissions come once the gas is burned overseas. Bruce Robertson, a gas industry finance analyst at the thinktank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said: “The bottom line here is that the Gorgon CCS plant was enormously expensive and it doesn’t work.” “If you’re only capturing about 50% of the CO2, that means you’re letting the rest of it go [into the atmosphere]. We’re supposed to be reducing emissions but these projects are emissions-intensive. We have our foot to the floor when we should be trying to produce less- and lower-emitting gas.” The Guardian asked Chevron how much it had paid for the 5.23Mt. “For commercial reasons we are not disclosing the cost or specific transaction details of the carbon credits acquired and surrendered,” a spokesperson said. Surrendering an offset means the buyer pays for carbon credits that relate to projects that save emissions but then cancels, or “surrenders”, them instead of holding them as an asset or selling them. According to data from the Clean Energy Regulator, between the 12 January and 2 July, Chevron surrendered 202,570 Australian carbon credit units (ACCU) – with each unit equaling one tonne of CO2 from a domestic project. The company confirmed these related to its shortfall at Gorgon, with the rest falling under two categories of carbon offsets bought from overseas markets. A Chevron spokesperson said: “While we sought to maximise the amount of ACCUs, the market is relatively small and has seen unprecedented levels of trading and volatility in the last six to 12 months, making it challenging to acquire significant volumes without distorting the market further.” Hugh Grossman, executive director at carbon market analyst Reputex, said the previous government’s decision to allow Australian carbon offset projects to break government contracts had seen prices for ACCUs fall. This effectively added supply to the market, which would make it easier for any carbon offset buyer – including Chevron – to buy Australian offsets in the future. Prices for ACCUs in the first six months of 2022 averaged $39 per tonne, Grossman said. | ['environment/carbon-capture-and-storage', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'business/chevron', 'australia-news/western-australia', 'environment/gas', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/carbon-capture-and-storage | EMISSIONS | 2022-07-15T20:00:49Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2017/jun/30/fukushima-nuclear-crisis-tepco-criminal-trial-japan | Fukushima nuclear disaster: former Tepco executives go on trial | Three former executives with the operator of the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have pleaded not guilty to charges of professional negligence, in the only criminal action targeting officials since the triple meltdown more than six years ago. In the first hearing of the trial at Tokyo district court on Friday, Tsunehisa Katsumata, who was chairman of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) at the time of the disaster, and two other former executives argued they could not have foreseen a tsunami of the size that knocked out the plant’s backup cooling system, triggering a meltdown in three reactors. “I apologise for the tremendous trouble to the residents in the area and around the country because of the serious accident that caused the release of radioactive materials,” Katsumata said, bowing slightly. Prosecutors alleged that the 77-year-old, along with his co-defendants, Sakae Muto, 67, and Ichiro Takekuro, 71 – both former Tepco vice-presidents – had been shown data that anticipated a tsunami of more than 10 metres in height that could cause a power outage and other serious consequences. A report by a government panel said Tepco simulated the impact of a tsunami on the plant in 2008 and concluded that a wave of up to 15.7 metres (52 feet) could hit the plant if a magnitude-8.3 quake occurred off the coast of Fukushima. Executives at the company allegedly ignored the internal study. The three men – charged with professional negligence resulting in death and injury – have since retired from Tepco. The company, which faces a multibillion-dollar bill for decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi, is not a defendant in the trial. If convicted, the men face up to five years in prison or a penalty of up to 1m yen (£7,000). Although there are no records of anyone dying as a result of exposure to radiation from the plant, prosecutors alleged the executives were responsible for the deaths of 40 elderly people who were evacuated from a hospital near the plant. The Fukushima plant had a meltdown after the tsunami, triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake, hit the plant on the afternoon of 11 March 2011. The tsunami killed almost 19,000 people along the north-east coast of Japan and forced more than 150,000 others living near the plant to flee radiation. Some of the evacuated neighbourhoods are still deemed too dangerous for former residents to return to. “They continued running the reactors without taking any measures whatsoever,” the prosecutor said. “If they had fulfilled their safety responsibilities, the accident would never have occurred.” Muto challenged the allegation by the prosecution that he and the other defendants failed to take sufficient preventative measures despite being aware of the risk of a powerful tsunami more than two years before the disaster. “When I recall that time, I still think it was impossible to anticipate an accident like that,” he said. “I believe I have no criminal responsibility over the accident.” Investigations into the accident have been highly critical of the lax safety culture at Tepco and poor oversight by industry regulators. Prosecutors considered the case twice, and dropped it both times, but a citizens’ judicial panel overrode their decision and indicted the former executives. Outside the court, Ruiko Muto, a Fukushima resident and head of the group of plaintiffs, said: “Since the accident, nobody has been held responsible nor has it been made clear why it happened. Many people have suffered badly in ways that changed their lives. We want these men to realise how many people are feeling sadness and anger.” | ['environment/fukushima', 'world/japan', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2017-06-30T10:35:33Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jul/07/green-economy-tax-treasury-growth | Treasury trolls told 'green' and 'growth' can go together | Damian Carrington | The trolls of the Treasury, my unflattering term for the people who are the primary obstacle to green ambition in the UK, have had an unwelcome light shone into their dark world. A damning report from MPs exposes their fossilised thinking on green growth and green taxes in particular. The central charge of the report, from the environmental audit committee, is that "the UK's finance ministry has undermined public trust in green taxes by appearing to use them as a revenue raising tool rather than a serious attempt to change environmentally damaging behaviour." It cites in particular the cutting of a penny from fuel duty in the last budget, which I called "shaking an impotent fist at rising global prices", while providing no extra money to support public transport. There are more examples in our news story. The chair of the EAC, Joan Walley, has a solution: "The Treasury should start to rebuild trust in environmental taxes by ring-fencing some of the revenues raised from fuel duty to cut soaring train and bus fares." She is quite right. Consider the contempt in which many motorists hold speed cameras, or "government cash machines", as they like to call them. The evidence that speed cameras save lives is incontrovertible, yet the failure to use the revenue to cut the costs of motoring means a righteous fury can take hold and destroy reason. The report could have also mentioned the straight smash-and-grab with which the Treasury converted the revenue-neutral carbon reduction commitment into a tax. But, as important as the tax issue is, the real sting of the report is in the broadside it delivers against a battery of Treasury policies. • Subsidies for new nuclear power: The government denies these exist, but the report states: "The government's definition of a 'subsidy' in relation to nuclear ... does not hold up to scrutiny. Nuclear will be subsidised in the same way as renewable energy sources, which have no adverse environmental impacts, and nuclear will benefit the most." • The bank that can't borrow: The green investment bank "could be a driver for the green economy but preventing it from borrowing will limit its impact on renewables and the support it can provide for the Green Deal. Fresh consideration should be given to when ... the bar on the Bank's lending powers might be eased." • Green growth: The Plan for Growth "did not provide the much needed step change to aid the transition to a low-carbon economy, and in some areas - e.g. the zero carbon homes standard - the Government has taken a backwards step. The forthcoming Roadmap to a Green Economy must dispel any suggestion that a green economy is an 'add-on' rather than an integral part of the Government's sustainable development plans." Ouch. Those I talk to in and around government repeatedly cite the Treasury, and its politically-astute chancellor George Osborne, as the roadblock to a world-leading green economy. The department sits obstinately in the way, brandishing the outdated orthodoxy that "green" and "growth" cannot be paired. Some of the trolls protest: "We're pretty radical compared to most finance ministries," one told me. But with China, Germany, Korea and others racing ahead towards the low-carbon economy that represents the only sustainable economic future, that's just not good enough. | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'tone/blog', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/green-politics', 'business/business', 'business/blog', 'politics/economy', 'business/economics', 'business/economicgrowth', 'business/economic-recovery', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-07-07T12:21:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2024/sep/23/a-novel-way-to-get-rid-of-all-our-unwanted-stuff | A novel way to get rid of all our unwanted stuff | Letter | Twenty-five years ago, when I lived in Barcelona, it had a brilliant scheme for getting rid of unwanted articles (Councils in England to get revised guidance on ‘middle-class fly-tipping’, 22 September). Each barrio had one night every month when you could put your stuff out on the pavement – first to be picked over by your neighbours, then by people coming back from a night out, when you invariably picked up something you didn’t want, and then the professional pickers with vans. In the early hours, the pavement would be cleared by binmen and washed by the nightly cleaners – job done. The answer is to have only one night in each area, which is well known so people visit especially for it. Recycling is a cause for reward and celebration, not fines. And for goodness sake, leave class out of it. Jane Swan Delabole, Cornwall • Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays. | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'world/barcelona', 'society/localgovernment', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'world/spain', '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 | 2024-09-23T17:09:26Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2007/sep/20/carbonfootprints | Matt Prescott on personal carbon trading | A progressive climate change solution, or a pain in the arse personal intrusion? Personal carbon trading is an idea that could result in a division of opinion of fuel tax proportions, if managed poorly. It is currently still only a kernel of an idea being developed by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Understandably, everyone has a different carbon footprint. The absence of a local train station may make you a heavy car user, for example, or you may need to visit your distant family for an important event. On the other hand, does that stag party really need to be in Tallinn? With a personal carbon trading scheme, everyone would have a carbon allowance. If you needed more credit, you could buy more, but the application of an allowance would make people consider which high carbon behaviours they could chop. The market price would be determined by supply and demand, with the total amount of carbon capped. So the more people that buy, the higher the price and the greater the incentive to reduce. Last night, RSA CarbonLimited was in Manchester with 60 members of the public to explore the idea of personal carbon trading in a public demonstration. The group, drawn from people pledging through Manchester Is My Planet (Mimp) to cut their emissions by 20%, could be characterised as keen greens. Participants registered their personal carbon emissions at rsacarbonlimitedcities.com and were placed in a league table. At the town hall, they received their personal carbon allowance - their carbon credits, ready for trading. In line with existing proposals, all participants received the same carbon allowance. In an initial demonstration, Mike Reardon, of Manchester City Council, chose to 'green' his lifestyle rather than buy surplus credits from Peter Fell, of Manchester University, but the council's environmental expert, Sarah Davies, attempted to trade with Mimp's Keith Boxer. He reluctantly traded while musing about the possible future value of the credit he handed over. The group of Mancunians then had a go themselves. Through a mixture of pledges to change their behaviour and a number of trades, they managed to simulate a 23% reduction in their average allowance. This suggests that this community could live within a tightened carbon emissions allowance, with the trading market enabling some people to maintain a larger carbon footprint for now. The major hiccup with the idea proved to be that the Manchester group blocked the trading market - many of them didn't want to sell, at least not to that SUV-driving bloke opposite. Perhaps the other pilot groups will react in the same way - but in the real world, sellers wouldn't know the identity of buyers, so surely our simulated price of £100 per tonne would provide an adequate incentive. · CarbonLimited will be coming to a city near you to further develop the idea of a personal carbon trading scheme. To get involved, visit rsacarbonlimited.org | ['environment/environment', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/ethical-living', 'global-development/fair-trade', 'world/world', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'type/article'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2007-09-20T15:30:07Z | true | EMISSIONS |
world/2005/jan/04/tsunami2004.jonathanwatts1 | Survivors face years of recurring nightmares | Psychologists are warning that mental health problems caused by last week's tsunami could prove harder to resolve than the physical damage caused. Some survivors say they are plagued by recurring nightmares about walls of water, many locals are afraid to return to beachside homes, and officials warn that suicide rates could rise dramatically as parents struggle with feelings of guilt at losing children. "Many of the survivors I've spoken to are unable to control their emotions; they cry uncontrollably," said Karine Le Roch, clinic psychologist with the American Refugee Committee. "In extreme cases, they suffer severe sleeping disorders because they are so afraid to go to sleep." Psychologists estimate that 20-30% of people who face traumatic events eventually develop symptoms, such as alcohol abuse, lack of concentration at work and an inability to develop close relationships. After the Bam earthquake in Iran last year, about half of the population were surveyed for mental health problems. Around 50% of those screened - nearly 27,000 people - were found in need of psychosocial help. Ms Le Roch worked in Bosnia for two years, but says the mental trauma caused by the tsunami is different. "With a natural disaster like this, there is a feeling of helplessness - they think, 'why make long-term plans, when I can die all of a sudden?' " Although the Thai government has offered to build temporary beachside housing, many refugee families are refusing to come down from the hillsides. Others are afraid to go back to jobs on the sea. Ali Theeranuch Saweangphon, a guide for snorkelling tours to Koh Phi Phi, saw three customers die, and saved two others who were severely injured. "I'm frightened to go into the water," she said. "I'm terrified that I might see a body down there." | ['world/world', 'world/tsunami2004', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanwatts'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-01-04T00:01:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/jul/26/renewable-energy-australias-first-hybrid-wind-solar-farm-gets-funded | Australia's first hybrid wind-solar farm to be built near Canberra | Australia’s first large-scale hybrid wind and solar farm is set to be built near Canberra, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) providing a $9.9m grant. The money would go towards the $26m cost of building a 10MW solar photovoltaic plant alongside the existing Gullen Range windfarm. Goldwind, one of the Chinese companies that will build and operate the project, said the solar farm was expected to generate about 22,000 MWh of electricity in the first year of operation, enough to supply about 3,000 homes. Building the solar farm on the same location as the windfarm meant 20% could be saved from the construction costs of the solar farm, said Ivor Frischknecht, the chief executive of Arena. Arena recently commissioned an investigation into the costs and benefits of hybrid solar and windfarms. It found that besides huge cost savings – achieved mostly because the grid connection was able to be shared by the two generators – the two energy sources were often complementary, producing peak outputs at different times of both the day and year. That meant they combined to create a more reliable energy source. “Co-location provides more continuous energy generation as windfarms tend to generate more energy overnight whilst solar only generates during the day,” Frischknecht said. “Gullen windfarm generates more power in winter and the new solar farm will generate more in summer.” Frischknecht said he hoped that, by building the first example of a combined solar and windfarm, others would follow. “This is the first project of its type in Australia, so the lessons learned will be invaluable,” he said. “It has the potential to provide a blueprint for future projects and cement industry confidence in the approach.” Since the costs of connecting the solar farm to the grid were almost eliminated, there was less need for the farms to be very large just to recoup those costs. He said that meant the co-location strategy could unlock medium-scale PV projects. The project is expected to be completed in July 2017. It will be built and owned by two Chinese companies – Goldwind and Beijing and Jingneng Clean Energy – which own and operate the existing wind farm. After the Arena grant of $10m, another $10m is being lent to the project by National Australia Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, leaving the existing windfarm to fund the remaining $6m. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'australia-news/canberra', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/michael-slezak', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-07-25T20:00:53Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2012/nov/03/new-york-sandy-problems-remain | New York's lights come back on but gas and transit woes continue for region | The lights were back on in lower Manhattan early on Saturday as New York began to approach normality five days after superstorm Sandy passed through. Power has been restored to about 70% of customers who lost it, according to mayor Michael Bloomberg's office, while New York governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday that 80% of subway service had been restored. Power company Con Ed said that in the pre-dawn hours it managed to turn the power back on for residents in New York City neighbourhoods including Wall Street, Chinatown and Greenwich Village. Just 11,000 customers in Manhattan were still without service, following what the power company described as the worst natural disaster it had ever had to contend with. But beyond Manhattan, serious problems remain. Some 3m homes in the north-east remained without electricity and drivers continued to struggle to fill up their cars at gas pumps across the region. The death toll in the US from Sandy's destructive winds and floods has risen to 102, adding to the scores of people killed in the Caribbean. In a bid to ease the plight of those still suffering the effects of Sandy, the administration gave the green light for the government purchase up to 12m gallons of unleaded fuel and 10m gallons of diesel. The gas is being sent to New York and New Jersey this weekend. Hours of queuing up at the pump has already spilled over into anger in isolated instances. In the New York City borough of Queens, a man was accused of pulling a gun during a confrontation with a motorist over allegations he cut in line. The gas shortage has also led to fears that the cleanup operation could be hampered, with rescue and emergency services amongst those hit. In New Jersey, governor Chris Christie put in place gas rationing to make scarce stocks last longer. Under the "odd-even" plan license plates ending in different numbers would be eligible to fill up on different days. After days of touring devastated communities, Barack Obama is due get back on the campaign trail for the first time on Saturday, with an appearance on the stump in Ohio, a key battleground state. The Democrat has had to walk a fine balance in recent days, not wanting to be seen prioritising his re-election over duties overseeing the clean-up operation. Ahead of returning to the campaign trail, Obama is due to meet with homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano and director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Craig Fugate to discuss the emergency response to the storm. In his weekly radio address on Saturday, Obama focused on the measures put in place to get the north-east region up and running again. "Our number one concern has been making sure that affected states and communities have everything they need to respond to and recover from this storm," he said. But we warned that the "recovery will be a long, hard road for many communities". "There's a lot of work ahead," he added. Indeed, despite the return of power to much on Manhattan, power firms continue to struggle to restore lines for hundreds of thousands of customers. In New York, some 908,000 homes are without electricity, with the Long Island Power Authority alone reporting outages affecting 460,000 families. In New Jersey, more than 600,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity Saturday. Meanwhile, modeling has suggested that the US may have been hit with a bill of $20bn in insured damage and $50bn in loss of economic activity as a result of super storm Sandy. But with the lights back on in lower Manhattan, many New Yorkers shut out from their offices for a week look set to commute to their workplace on Monday under a familiar glow. | ['us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/us-weather', 'us-news/new-jersey', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/andrew-cuomo', 'us-news/michaelbloomberg', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/matt-williams'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-11-03T15:07:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2021/feb/15/the-guardian-view-on-boris-johnsons-role-laundering-the-tory-brand | The Guardian view on Boris Johnson's role: laundering the Tory brand | Editorial | Boris Johnson prefers wordplay to policy detail. That will be a problem going forward. No amount of verbosity can mask the complex, often clashing set of socio-economic needs and interests that need to be reconciled to make effective policy in a deeply divided Britain. The four tasks that will define Mr Johnson’s government are minimising the economic and health fallout of the pandemic; making good on the promises of Brexit; putting the country on the path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions; and fixing a Britain broken since the global financial crisis. No one would would oppose the ends, it is the means that matters. Mr Johnson’s response has been, mostly, to launder his reputation in either green soapsuds, the warm waters of “levelling up” or the steamy fug of new technology. Last year, he claimed that by 2030 Britons would fly in zero-carbon jets and be transported by hydrogen-powered trains through a land of plentiful housing. The most substantial policy to come out of the pandemic so far is to reward failure. Ministers – who have made a hash of lockdown timings, test and trace, and the procurement of personal protective equipment – aim to seize back control of the NHS, which has successfully managed the crisis and the vaccine rollout. In environment, the prime minister has produced policies that are pale shadows of their rhetoric. Last week, it emerged that hundreds of millions of pounds were withdrawn from the government’s green homes grant programme – undermining its flagship scheme for a green recovery. There is a well-founded suspicion that Mr Johnson has caved to lobbying from corporate party donors. The prime minister’s pledge to ban gas boilers from new homes by 2023 – which would have imposed costs on developers – was first made, then withdrawn and finally replaced with a later date. His promise last year to scrap taxpayer support for fossil fuel projects overseas would not have pleased big oil. Perhaps that is why we have yet to see the end of British interest in 17 such endeavours, including a major Brazilian offshore oil scheme that will contribute the same emissions as 800,000 cars annually. The prime minister owes his position to Brexit, but this was a campaign, not a way of governing. It was remarkably successful in permitting Mr Johnson to pose as a breaker of taboos that he, as a Thatcherite Tory, had worked hard to construct, without having to specify in detail the boundaries of – and therefore his accountability in – a new policy regime. Brexit had its roots in an economic model based on spatial and income inequality, despite aligning with a conflict over values. Leaving the EU was a signal, its supporters were told, that international economic policy would be subordinated to more equitable domestic priorities. Yet, as Labour’s Lisa Nandy spotted in last year’s budget documents, Mr Johnson plans to “level up” the red wall with a model that has failed communities for the past 40 years. After decades of failure by pro-market reforms, the only way for a Tory government to create a low-tax, low-regulation state seems to be under the cover of another project – Brexit – and by parachuting ideological soulmates into positions of power. It is why the OECD should not be led by the Australian rightwinger Mathias Cormann, whose pro-coal ideological vandalism led to the removal of the country’s carbon emissions trading scheme. Britain faces an unequal recovery from the pandemic in the coming months, with the rich and old out consuming, while unemployment rises and the young are left to struggle with higher debt. When he was just a follower of a doctrine, Mr Johnson could claim that if things went badly he or his creed weren’t entirely responsible. But he posed as a leader with a new gospel. The prime minister should not be surprised if the public, sooner or later, judges him wanting and abandons his temple for another church. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/politics', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'society/nhs', 'business/oecd', 'politics/health', 'politics/economy', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/editorials', 'tone/comment', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2021-02-15T19:02:02Z | true | EMISSIONS |
global-development-professionals-network/2014/may/06/indira-gandhi-india-climate-change | Climate change and poverty: why Indira Gandhi's speech matters | In the early 1970s human-induced climate change was still a matter for the academy. A link between climate change and the burning of fossil fuels had been mooted but debate would not move into the political sphere for more than a decade. Even so, concern for the environment was growing. It was a decade since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring had popularised the idea that poisoning nature would damage humanity. The Club of Rome had published its Limits to Growth thesis emphasising the finite nature of the world's resources, and drought was ravaging the African Sahel, causing starvation among some of the world's poorest people. Urged on by Sweden, the UN held the first global conference on the human environment (UNCHE) in Stockholm in June 1972. The discussion was dominated by pollution, deforestation and whaling. But the meeting, in particular a speech made by the then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, was a foundation stone for much of the co-operation, disagreement and politics that would develop around climate change. As today, many of the impacts of environmental exploitation were being felt in the global south. Yet the conference encountered resistance in these countries. "Developing countries were considering boycotting the conference. They thought this new concern of 'environment' was one for the rich and would distract from their main concerns, which were the relief of poverty and continuing development," Maurice Strong, the UN diplomat who chaired the Stockholm summit, told the BBC in 2012. Gandhi used her platform to express the inextricable goals of poverty alleviation and environmental protection. "There are grave misgivings that the discussion on ecology may be designed to distract attention from the problems of war and poverty," she said. "We have to prove to the disinherited majority of the world that ecology and conservation will not work against their interest but will bring an improvement in their lives." Then, unknowingly, she threw the future climate change movement under a bus. "We do not wish to impoverish the environment any further and yet we cannot for a moment forget the grim poverty of large numbers of people," she said. "Are not poverty and need the greatest polluters?" This statement has echoed down the halls of climate change debate ever since. Gandhi was referring to the realities of life below the poverty line. Her message: who can care for the environment when their basic needs are not being met? "The environmental problems of developing countries are not the side effects of excessive industrialisation but reflect the inadequacy of development," she said. We now know this to be untrue, in part. The 1970s drought in the Sahel was at first blamed on deforestation by local tribes. The real trigger was changing ocean currents caused by excessive industrialisation and climate change. Gandhi's words have been consistently manipulated to shift the focus of responsibility for environmental degradation on to the world's poorest people, says Chaitanya Kumar of 350.org. "It's the need of the poor [to raise themselves up] that is the biggest polluter. That's how it's seen by a few people." Much of the climate debate revolves around how the developing world can lift itself from poverty without pushing the world into dangerous global warming. Developing countries look at the historical emissions of the rich and say the burden of carbon reductions should lie with the main offenders. Rich countries worry that the rise of the middle class in China, India and Brazil will create an impossible growth in carbon emissions. On this, Gandhi was prescient: "On the one hand the rich look askance at our continuing poverty - on the other, they warn us against their own methods." But her words must be seen as both seminal and hypocritical, says Kumar. Gandhi's own poverty alleviation efforts in India revealed a lack of will to really tackle poverty or environment issues, instead she focused on middle-class interests. The conference in Stockholm also gave birth to the concept of global environmental co-operation. The final declaration of the meeting called on all nations to take responsibility for the environment and encouraged a collegial approach. "While most of the conference's accomplishments were mainly rhetorical, its ultimate success was that environmental policy became a universal concern within international diplomacy, and the conference's motto of 'only one earth' became iconic for the modern environmental movement," says Andreas Greiger of the Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society in Munich. This philosophy led to the creation of the UN Environment Programme . The UNEP, along with the World Meteorological Foundation , founded the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. The IPCC process, however flawed, is now the leading driver of action and accountability for climate change. The greatest legacy of Stockholm however was to couple the destiny of the poor with that of the environment and bind nations to a communal endeavour. But it was susceptible to the hubris and politics that continue to bedevil its progeny. Editor's note: What are the conferences, speeches, reports, partnerships or rifts that have defined the climate change movement? Email Holly Young to contribute to our new series on defining movements - holly.young@theguardian.com Read more stories like this: • Defining moments in climate change: hope and crisis in Copenhagen • The first climate justice summit: a pie in the face for the global north • Typhoon Haiyan was just the start – prepare for an ever stormier future Join the community of global development professionals and experts. Become a GDPN member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['working-in-development/working-in-development', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'global-development-professionals-network/series/climate-change-defining-moments', 'world/india', 'world/indira-gandhi', 'society/poverty', 'global-development-professionals-network/policy-advocacy', 'type/article', 'global-development-professionals-network/series/climate-change', 'profile/karl-mathiesen'] | global-development-professionals-network/series/climate-change-defining-moments | GLOBAL_CRISIS | 2014-05-06T15:09:00Z | true | GLOBAL_CRISIS |
environment/2019/oct/28/fortnightly-green-waste-collection-would-cost-victoria-500m-for-four-years | Fortnightly green waste collection would cost Victoria $500m for four years | Fortnightly collections of food and garden waste in Victoria would cost the state more than half a billion dollars over the next four years, a parliamentary budget office costing for the Greens has revealed. As the state searches for ways to tackle an ongoing waste and recycling crisis, the Greens party has called on the state Labor government to consider providing a fortnightly collection service for food and other green waste. According to an Infrastructure Victoria report last week around 35% of the weight of household bins was food and other organic waste. Dozens of councils in Victoria are experimenting with food-waste recycling, most recently with Darebin council charging people who want a green 120-litre bin just over $50 per year to collect organic waste fortnightly. To extend the program across the whole state – and cover the cost for the service and the need for new waste-processing centres – would set the state back $514.7m, according to the Victorian parliamentary budget office, out to 2022-23. Providing bins, operating expenses, and the new waste-processing facilities accounts for $451.2m of this cost, while the office said there would be a $63.5m decline in the landfill levy due to less waste ending up in landfill. The Victorian Greens environment spokesperson, Ellen Sandell, argued the funding could come from the state’s sustainability fund, which she said was not being spent on environmental projects. In the environment department’s annual report, released this month, it revealed the state government’s sustainability fund is sitting at over $400m, and $194m was spent on grants in the previous year. “The landfill levy was established in law to support environmental programs, but the Labor government is instead stockpiling it to prop up their bottom line,” Sandell said. “We need investment in solutions now, and giving everyone new bins for kitchen waste so that it can be turned into compost for our farms and gardens is really a no-brainer.” A solution proposed by an interim report released by Infrastructure Victoria this month was for households to be provided up to six bins for waste, divided into general waste, organics, plastics, paper and card, glass and metals. “Victoria’s current commingled system does not produce sufficiently clean streams to support end markets for recycled materials,” the report noted. Part of the confusion is that of the 79 councils in Victoria there are many different systems for recycling and people are unaware of what they should be doing. A survey conducted as part of the report found people were confused about what can go in which recycling bin. | ['environment/recycling', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/victorian-politics', 'australia-news/australian-greens', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/josh-taylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-10-28T05:13:05Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2024/oct/08/hurricane-milton-strength-intensity-explainer | Hurricane Milton: what causes such intense storms? | The speed with which recent hurricanes have been intensifying in strength is alarming climate experts, officials and residents facing these huge storms. More than a million people were told to evacuate as Hurricane Milton hit Florida’s west coast. Milton is the third fastest-intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic Ocean, the US National Weather Service has said as experts warn the climate crisis is fueling more powerful storms. When will Milton make landfall? Milton made landfall on Florida’s central Gulf coast late on Wednesday as a category 3 storm. Forecasters said Milton will remain “an extremely dangerous hurricane”, and the National Hurricane Center warned of “life-threatening storm surges, extreme winds and flash flooding”. Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip so he could remain at the White House to monitor Milton, warned that it “could be one of the worst storms in 100 years to hit Florida”. How strong has Hurricane Milton grown? With swathes of the US south still reeling from the disastrous Hurricane Helene, the rapid advance of Hurricane Milton caught many off guard. Within barely a day, Milton went from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane, the strongest possible rating, with its winds hitting 180mph as it barreled across the Gulf of Mexico toward the heart of Florida. The storm underwent “rapid intensification”, which is when a storm increases by at least 35mph (56 kmph) over a 24-hour period. Milton’s blistering pace obliterated this benchmark, accelerating by 90mph in around 25 hours, according to the research group Climate Central. It later receded to a category 3. “This is nothing short of astronomical,” said Noah Bergren, a Florida-based meteorologist. “This hurricane is nearing the mathematical limit of what Earth’s atmosphere over this ocean water can produce.” How did it get so strong so quickly? As hurricanes form, their strength is determined by a number of factors such as thunderstorms and wind shear that can disrupt the tight circular organization of the storm. A key determinant of rapid intensification, though, is the heat content of the ocean and atmosphere. Hotter air and water provides greater energy to a storm, making it spin faster and ladening it with more moisture that is then dumped onto communities in torrents of rainfall, causing flooding. Crucially, the Gulf of Mexico has been reaching record temperatures for much of this year, with its waters likened to a bathtub over the summer. The core of Milton is passing over some exceptionally warm water, around 3F to 5F (2C to 3C) hotter than average for this time of year. Milton is being turbocharged by excess heat, much like Helene was just two weeks ago. What causes such intense storms? While hurricanes have always formed in this part of the world, scientists are clear that global heating, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is likely making storms faster, stronger and wetter. A study published last year found that tropical cyclones in the Atlantic are now around 29% more likely to rapidly intensify compared to the period between 1971 and 1990. Separate research has found that natural variability alone can’t explain the increases in rapidly intensifying storms, pointing to the role of climate change. Milton joins a growing list of storms that have quickly accelerated into catastrophic, life-changing hurricanes in recent years, such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Hurricane Laura in 2020, Hurricane Ida in 2021 and Hurricane Ian in 2022, which underwent two different rounds of rapid intensification. In total, there have been as many category 4 or 5 Atlantic hurricanes to hit the US since 2017 as there have been in the prior 57 years. “We are witnessing a genuinely extraordinary and regionally quite deadly and destructive period for extreme weather in the United States,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. “And, quite frankly, the fingerprints of the climate [crisis] are all over what has transpired in recent weeks.” What does this mean for the risks people now face? For those on the west coast of Florida, a state that has seen its population boom over the past decade, the one-two punch of Helene and Milton is set to be disastrous, requiring months or even years of rebuilding and piecing together shattered lives. Longer term, the reach of the climate crisis, including more intense storms, will only increase as global temperatures continue to rise. This means not only more death and destruction, but also portends a fundamental shift in where it is considered “safe” to live, as climate impacts hit supposedly benign regions and insurers pull out from covering homes and businesses amid mounting financial losses. The climate crisis has forced its way onto the US presidential election agenda in the most spectacular, and grim, way possible. | ['us-news/hurricane-milton', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/explainers', 'profile/oliver-milman', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | us-news/hurricane-milton | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-09T18:00:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2023/oct/09/microplastics-clouds-study-mount-fuji-mount-oyama | Microplastics detected in clouds hanging atop two Japanese mountains | Microplastics have been found everywhere from the oceans’ depths to the Antarctic ice, and now new research has detected it in an alarming new location – clouds hanging atop two Japanese mountains. The clouds around Japan’s Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama contain concerning levels of the tiny plastic bits, and highlight how the pollution can be spread long distances, contaminating the planet’s crops and water via “plastic rainfall”. The plastic was so concentrated in the samples researchers collected that it is thought to be causing clouds to form while giving off greenhouse gasses. “If the issue of ‘plastic air pollution’ is not addressed proactively, climate change and ecological risks may become a reality, causing irreversible and serious environmental damage in the future,” the study’s lead author, Hiroshi Okochi, a professor at Waseda University, said in a statement. The peer-reviewed paper was published in Environmental Chemistry Letters, and the authors believe it is the first to check clouds for microplastics. The pollution is made up of plastic particles smaller than five millimeters that are released from larger pieces of plastic during degradation. They are also intentionally added to some products, or discharged in industrial effluent. Tires are thought to be among the main sources, as are plastic beads used in personal care products. Recent research has found them to be widely accumulating across the globe – as much as 10m tons are estimated to end up in the oceans annually. Humans and animals ingest or inhale large amounts of microplastics, which have been detected in human lungs, brains, hearts, blood, placentas, and feces. Their toxicity is still being studied, but new research that exposed mice to microplastic points to health issues, like behavioral changes, and other studies have found links to cancer and irritable bowel syndrome. Waseda researchers gathered samples at altitudes ranging between 1,300-3,776 meters, which revealed nine types of polymers, like polyurethane, and one type of rubber. The cloud’s mist contained about 6.7 to 13.9 pieces of microplastics per litre, and among them was a large volume of “water loving” plastic bits, which suggests the pollution “plays a key role in rapid cloud formation, which may eventually affect the overall climate”, the authors wrote in a press release. That is potentially a problem because microplastics degrade much faster when exposed to ultraviolet light in the upper atmosphere, and give off greenhouse gasses as they do. A high concentration of these microplastics in clouds in sensitive polar regions could throw off the ecological balance, the authors wrote. The findings highlight how microplastics are highly mobile and can travel long distances through the air and environment. Previous research has found the material in rain, and the study’s authors say the main source of airborne plastics may be seaspray, or aerosols, that are released when waves crash or ocean bubbles burst. Dust kicked up by cars on roads is another potential source, the authors wrote. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tom-perkins', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-10-09T11:00:08Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2017/sep/09/hurricanes-irma-jose-caribbean-anguilla | Hurricane Irma blows in: ‘You could see trees being flung around’ | I was born in 1998 and have never witnessed anything of this magnitude. I was in the studio when the winds started increasing around 1am, but it really started picking up drastically about 2am. By 4am the winds were so strong that the shutters were completely blown away. The men who were in the studio (a producer and a presenter) had to hold up a board in front of the window so that the pressure in the room would not get to the point where the window would explode. All the while we had to keep on announcing on air and taking 911 calls. One woman who phoned in said the pole outside her house was sparking and she was afraid that it would catch fire. One man said he had a baby in the room with him and he was not sure what to do. He was helpless, saying: “Help me, help me.” I told him to get into the bathroom – that was the advice we were given. The pressure in the studio was similar to that in an airplane. You had to keep unlocking your jaw; you kept opening your mouth to release the pressure. The walls were vibrating. We had to put a garbage bag over the door to protect it. Then the system went down and we went off air and that’s when I decided to share what was happening on Twitter. I got a voice message from my mother saying the hospital where she worked was flooding and the roof was being blown away and her voice was shaking so much. I called her and couldn’t get a response. I was pacing the hallway trying to catch myself because I was so overwhelmed about what could have happened to my family, about the helplessness I was feeling when people were calling in with their emergencies and the tears they were crying. At one point I let out a yelp as there was a loud crash outside and I thought it was a projectile coming through the window. I was standing in front of an exposed window and, while there was someone with a board in front of the window, it was feeble. If something had decided to fly at that window there’s no way we would have lived. You could see trees being flung from one point to another. My co-worker’s car was moving across the parking lot to the grass, windows were smashed, things were flying. When I came out of the station there were no leaves on any trees. You could not recognise your own island. Everything was destroyed, everything was flattened. Galvanised roofs were blown out. There’s an ABC supply store close by, a huge store, and the roof was torn off and everything was piled on top of everything else. It’s a mess. When I walked around I started to cry because the hurricane has taken it all away. We’ve just celebrated our 50-year anniversary and I feel like now we have to say: “OK, we start again, we have to rebuild all of that.” Right now it’s just about survival. We do not have electricity and there is no running water. We have water and food, but we’re not sure how long we will have enough. Listening to the chief minister on Radio Anguilla, he was saying the focus is not on the infrastructure, it’s on the people who are homeless. People are stealing. There is looting going on, a lot of bad people are taking advantage of the weaknesses of others, but that does not represent the Anguillan mentality. The majority of people are mostly trying to come together to help each other out. So many people who have lost their homes now have to rely on a friend or relative just to find a place to sleep. A lot of people are willing to open their doors right now. People are in a panic here. Hurricane José is coming. Here, it has been officially downgraded to a tropical storm but it’s still a category 4 and we’re expecting it around 1pm today [yesterday]. We are afraid of the impact because we are starting from a point of weakness. We will mourn with our island, it’s such a beautiful place and it gives us so much back. There are some people who are considering relocating, a lot of people who say they never want to experience this again and want to live in a part of the world that is not impacted by hurricanes. But that is what life is like here. Some people have to live with tornadoes. We live with hurricanes. Nisha Dupuis was talking to Jamie Doward | ['world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricane-irma', 'world/hurricane-jose', 'weather/caribbean', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/jamiedoward', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | world/hurricane-jose | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-09-09T23:05:21Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2012/nov/08/climate-change-severe-models | Climate change 'likely to be more severe than some models predict' | Climate change is likely to be more severe than some models have implied, according to a new study which ratchets up the possible temperature rises and subsequent climatic impacts. The analysis by the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that climate model projections showing a greater rise in global temperature were likely to be more accurate than those showing a smaller rise. This means not only a higher level of warming, but also that the resulting problems – including floods, droughts, sea level rise and fiercer storms and other extreme weather – would be correspondingly more severe and would come sooner than expected. Scientists at the NCAR published their study on Thursday in the leading peer-reviewed journal Science. It is based on an analysis of how well computer models estimating the future climate reproduce the humidity in the tropics and subtropics that has been observed in recent years. They found that the most accurate models were most likely to best reproduce cloud cover, which is a major influence on warming. These models were also those that showed the highest global temperature rises, in future if emissions of greenhouse gases continue to increase. John Fasullo, one of the researchers, said: "There is a striking relationship between how well climate models simulate relative humidity in key areas and how much warming they show in response to increasing carbon dioxide. Given how fundamental these processes are to clouds and the overall global climate, our findings indicate that warming is likely to be on the high side of current projections." Extreme weather has been much in evidence around the globe this year, with superstorm Sandy's devastating impact on New York the most recent example. There has also been drought across much of the US's grain-growing area, and problems with the Indian monsoon. In the UK, one of the worst droughts on record gave way to the wettest spring recorded, damaging crop yields and pushing up food prices. The new NCAR findings come just weeks ahead of a crucial UN conference in Doha, where ministers will discuss the future of international action on greenhouse gas emissions. The ministers will have to take the first steps to a new global climate treaty, to kick in from 2020, but so far have shown little sign of urgency. The next comprehensive study of our knowledge of climate change and its effects will come in 2014, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change publishes its fifth assessment report. Before that, next September, the first part of the report will deal with the science of climate change and predictions of warming. There has already been increasing evidence of a warming effect this year – the Arctic's summer ice sank to its lowest extent and volume yet recorded, and satellite pictures showed that surface ice melting was more widespread across Greenland than ever seen in years of observations. Experts have predicted that the Arctic seas could be ice-free in winter in the next decade. The International Energy Agency warned earlier this year that on current emissions trends the world would be in for 6C of warming – a level scientists warn would lead to chaos. Scientists have put the safety limit at 2C, beyond which warming is likely to become irreversible. Given this year's extreme weather, the results of the NCAR may not surprise some. But for scientists, narrowing down the uncertainties in climate models is a key activity. "The dry subtropics are a critical element in our future climate," Fasullo says. "If we can better represent these regions in models, we can improve our predictions and provide society with a better sense of the impacts to expect in a warming world." | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'tone/news', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/drought', 'environment/sea-level', 'environment/sea-ice', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-11-08T19:00:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2017/apr/11/painting-a-new-picture-of-the-little-ice-age-weatherwatch | Painting a new picture of the 'little ice age' | The cause of the so-called “little ice age”, when frost fairs were held on the Thames and there was a run of cold winters, has puzzled scientists. These uncertainties have given American sceptics opportunities to claim that global warming is nothing more than a natural variation in the climate. However, new research by the Royal Astronomical Society shows that the period between the 16th and 19th centuries may have had cold winters but it also suffered scorching summers, so it was not an ice age at all. At most the average temperature during this period was half a degree centigrade lower across the Northern Hemisphere, whereas during actual ice ages it was down 8C. Close examination of the data also reveals that not all the winters were cold, so the natural variability of the climate continued throughout the period. The causes of the slight cooling were a combination of lower solar activity, volcanic eruptions and manmade changes to the landscape. Solar activity is again on the wane now, but this will not save us from rises in temperature. Greenhouse gases that have been pumped into the atmosphere in the last 160 years have already pushed the temperature up by 1C and it will continue to rise. While a frost fair on the Thames is probably now a most unlikely occurrence, the scientists point out that the fairs stopped in the first place not because the weather got warmer but because London Bridge was replaced in 1825. Until then the low arches and large supports trapped ice as it flowed down the river – allowing the river to freeze over upstream. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/meteorology', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-04-11T20:30:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2019/jul/28/flooding-reported-across-uk-after-half-a-months-worth-of-rain-falls-in-24-hours | UK weather: flooding across UK with half a month's rain falling in 24 hours | Half a month’s worth of rain fell in just 24 hours across parts of England over the weekend, leading to flooding and travel disruption. Forecasters said parts of the north-west saw 40mm to 50mm of rain between 11am on Saturday and 11am on Sunday, with 52.2mm recorded at Greenfield near Oldham. Meteorologist Helen Roberts said the monthly average rainfall for the north-west in July was 89.5mm. “This is a lot of rain to fall in the space of 24 hours, especially given the rain has been very consistent and there have been heavy bursts within it,” she said. The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for rain across parts of the Midlands and the north-west of England until midnight on Sunday, with the Environment Agency also issuing flood warnings across the two regions, as well as for the east of England. Northern Ireland and south-west Scotland were also subject to rain warnings. The wet weather came after record temperatures, thunderstorms and heavy rainfall wreaked havoc on the transport network. On Sunday, there were a number of cancelled flights at Gatwick and rail passengers faced delays after flooding on tracks, while cars in the north-west were left almost entirely underwater by floods. Firefighters were called to the village of Mountsorrel in Leicestershire just after 8am following reports that rising water was threatening a number of properties. Leicestershire fire and rescue service said two bungalows and a block of flats were evacuated while crews pumped water out of the affected homes and gardens. Flooding was also reported on train tracks between Manchester Victoria and Southport, with rail users warned to expect delays, and the line was reopened within two and a half hours. A section of the A555 Manchester airport relief road was shut in both directions, according to traffic data firm Inrix, which cited reports of trapped vehicles amid flooding up to 90cm (3ft) deep. Greater Manchester police tweeted a photograph of a crashed Lamborghini, which demolished a section of barrier after its driver lost control on standing water. The driver fled on foot before police arrived. “A very expensive mistake,” police said. “They don’t make very good boats!” Heavy showers and thunderstorms could return to parts of the UK on Monday and into Tuesday, while temperatures were likely to return to normal for the time of year. | ['uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/mattha-busby', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-07-28T16:14:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk/the-northerner/2012/jan/11/highheadhydro-saddleworth-h2ope | Share offer for UK's first 'reservoir power' community turbine | While battles continue in many parts of the north against wind turbines, with David Hockney doing his bit for protesters in the Wolds, a quieter form of energy is making progress. The UK's first community-owned 'high head' power system is getting closer to becoming a reality in the Pennine villages which make up Saddleworth, an area rich in historic exploitation of hillside rivers through dams. It is one of these, Dove Stone reservoir, which will power around 45 local homes if Saddleworth Community Hydro can raise £120,000 for a turbine through a newly-launched share subscription. The mechanics are simple: United Utilities regularly lets water out of the reservoir into the river Tame – the 'high head' – and it is this controlled flow which will drive the turbine. It is the first time that a water company has teamed up with a community group to harness 'reservoir power' in this way, although controlled run-offs are used for other micro purposes including the creation of temporary white-water canoe runs. Although less often in the headlines than windmills, hydro schemes provide roughly half of the UK's alternative energy generation and the reservoir potential is vast, from mighty Kielder in Northumberlan downwards. The Saddleworth system is akin to Archimedes screw turbines which are appearing increasingly in northern upland villages. Whenever I take the A65 up through Settle, I stop to watch the one by the bridge to Giggleswick in fascination. The Guardian Northerner has also previously reported on share-raising like Saddleworth's for Archimedes schemes on the Goyt above Stockport and in Wensleydale. Surplus power from Dove Stones is expected to raise money for other local green causes in a community renowned for its initiative. Bill Edwards, who is leading the project, is enticing anyone to invest, even if Saddleworth is merely a distant name on a map. He says: It's taken a good few years to get the project this far, and there's been real interest from all over the country. I've invested and it feels really good to say that I own part of a hydro electricity plant that's producing green electricity. Even better to know that as well as getting a return on my investment, I'll be helping fund local environmental projects with any surplus monies. The minimum investment is £250 and the maximum £20,000 and directors hope to be able to offer 4% interest from the project's second year. In addition, shareholders with more than £500 worth of shares can apply for EIS tax relief at 30%, so anyone buying £1000 worth of shares will be spending only £700. The project was welcomed by United Utilities when the details were first put to the firm. Chris Matthews, head of sustainability, said: It's a terrific idea, and one we are very keen to support. We've been extremely impressed by the professionalism of the local residents, who came to us with a well- researched and thought-out plan. We're now looking forward to helping them make the scheme a reality. Saddleworth Community Hydro is an Industrial and Provident Society and will be run on a one-member, one-vote basis. A share prospectus can be downloaded here, from the website of the excellent group h2ope - Water Power Enterprises. | ['uk/the-northerner', 'tone/blog', 'environment/water', 'business/unitedutilities', 'environment/environment', 'environment/blog', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'science/energy', 'technology/energy', 'environment/windpower', 'artanddesign/hockney', 'type/article', 'profile/martinwainwright'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2012-01-11T07:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2009/sep/03/in-praise-of-north-pole-adventurers | In praise of… reaching the north pole | Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, did not quite make it to the north pole this week on his journey to the Arctic to highlight the effects of climate change, though he came close. These days, expeditions across the great expanse of ice and water have become relatively routine. One hundred years ago this month, however, a battle was under way between two Americans, both claiming credit for getting there first (though the Inuit may have beaten both of them). The injustice is that one, Robert Peary, became famous as a polar hero, though he probably did not make it. The other, Frederick Cook, has all but been forgotten, though his efforts were the greater and his claim convincing. At first, all seemed to go well for Cook. On 2 September 1909 the New York Times gave its first four pages to reports of his success. He said he had reached the pole in April 1908, before being trapped through the winter in a cave on a remote island, emerging to break the news late the following year. But within days of its first story the New York Times splashed with news that Peary had got there first instead. He won the media war ("the story of the century", claimed one breathless journalist) but he never produced convincing proof. Whether Cook was honest is unknown: Peary refused to carry his rival's records home on his ship, and no one has ever found them. For a century, Cook's claim has been dismissed. Now, on the anniversary, it is being re-examined. Perhaps neither made it; but if one did, it was surely Cook. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'commentisfree/series/in-praise-of', 'tone/editorials', 'environment/poles', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2009-09-02T23:05:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2022/aug/05/we-want-plastic-to-become-taboo-the-rise-in-reusable-water-bottles | ‘We want plastic to become taboo’: the rise in reusable water bottles | With recent scorching temperatures forming an undeniable illustration of the climate crisis, consumer habits have been marked by an attendant interest in items relating to sustainablility. Among the most popular of eco accessories is the reusable water bottle. This summer, the bigger and more motivational your bottle, the better. In 2021, the global reusable water bottle market was valued at $8.64bn. This is expected to increase by 4.3% in 2022. A number of factors are at play, including a return to work coupled with heightened concern over plastic pollution and its potential to leach into water and food. Research shows that 75% of adults in the UK are concerned about the impact of the climate crisis. Among 2022’s success stories is Hydroflask, a favourite among Gen Z, whose 1.8-litre stainless steel bottles have contributed to a sales increase of 19% since last year. Bestselling “gorpcore” brand Nalgene, whose 909ml bottles are made from BPA-free plastic, is widely considered the bag-for-life of reusable bottles. Though the company was unable to disclose sales figures, Elissa McGee, Nalgene’s general manager, says they have seen “persistent demand since the pandemic as daily routines and travel returns to more conventional patterns”. The Hydrojug, another BPA-free shatterproof tankard that comes with a neoprene sleeve, has people carrying around a massive 2 litres of water and became famous after its appearance on Big Timber, a reality TV series on Netflix about a Canadian lumberyard. By comparison, the diminutive 1.1-litre stainless steel Adventure Quencher Travel Tumbler, made by venerable US brand Stanley, which specialises in camping gear, routinely sells out in the US (it reportedly has a 135,000-strong waiting list). Never slow to ride the wave of a trend, Khloe Kardashian is known to favour her two-litre resuable jug – some of which come with mindful affirmations scrawled down the side to encourage you to drink. The surge in popularity of these reusable vessels has also brought about water bottles that come with accompanying apps that monitor your intake and chastise you when you miss your goal, as well as smart bottles that cost £180 to keep your tea warm (as used by Rishi Sunak), these rainbow-hued bottles have turned hydration into a competitive sport. City to Sea, a Bristol-based nonprofit organisation that campaigns to prevent marine plastic pollution at source, has overseen the placement of 35,000 refillable water stations in stations, airports and beaches this year, an increase of 10,000 from 2019. Founder Natalie Fee thinks the spike in huge refillable bottles has as much to do with the recession as the climate. “Despite an obvious dip during the pandemic [we have since seen] a huge increase in awareness over the heatwave – from a health and staying-hydrated perspective, [but also] from a cost of living one.” Fee says the large bottles “are a bit weird but I can see why it’s happening”. In recent years, the status water bottle – stainless steel, BPA-free plastic or made from partially recycled materials and rendered in candy-colour hues – has become the go-to signifier of eco-credentials among young people. Keen to capitalise on the green pound, high-end brands followed suit – Prada’s £75 “milk urn” remains one of the most popular reusable water repositories on the market. Put simply, “the messaging is if you carry a reusable bottle you care”, says Nina Schrank, head of the plastics campaign at Greenpeace. “It helps if they look good, aesthetically. People will be more inclined to carry them about.” But despite a renewed interest in bottles made from materials such as stainless steel, global plastic use is expected to increase by almost 4% by 2030. Schrank is alarmed that plastic remains the dominant material. The health effects of BPA-free plastic, which is widely used in refillable water bottles, remains open to debate in bodily health and the environment. “Reusable stainless steel bottles are the best material, and while they’re becoming more prevalent they’re not yet displacing plastic ones” she adds, agreeing that cost is also a factor – plastic will always be cheaper than Prada. “What we want is for plastic bottles to become a bit of a taboo – like smoking.” | ['environment/ethical-living', 'fashion/fashion', 'environment/water', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/morwennaferrier', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-08-05T22:00:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2022/mar/16/uk-can-eliminate-need-for-russian-gas-this-year-research-shows | UK can eliminate need for Russian gas this year, research shows | The UK could eliminate all need for imports of Russian gas this year through a combination of energy efficiency, expanding renewable power generation and a campaign to help people change their behaviour, research has found. Information campaigns played a strong role in changing people’s behaviour during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many people are unaware of the savings they could make in energy use through small changes that make no difference to their comfort but can cut bills substantially. For instance, turning down thermostats slightly and adjusting the “flow” temperature on condensing boilers could reduce annual heating bills by more than 15%. The flow temperature governs the heat of water sent to radiators but does not reduce the room temperature, and turning it down could save up to 8% of annual costs, while turning down thermostats could save about 10%. A comfortable room temperature is 18C to 21C, but many people set their thermostats at 22C or above. These measures, along with better insulation, switching to heat pumps and using more energy efficient appliances, could cut imports of Russian gas to the UK by 80% this year and save about £150 on the average household bill, according to the green thinktank E3G. The remaining 20% could be eliminated by generating more power from renewable sources, such as new windfarms and solar panels. Colm Britchfield, researcher at E3G and co-author of the report, said: “With government support, ordinary UK households can play a huge role in cutting Putin out of our energy system.” The shift can be accomplished using existing policies and mechanisms, if they were pursued more thoroughly, the research found. For example, four government initiatives that currently help insulate houses and public buildings – the local authority delivery scheme, home upgrade grant and public sector and social housing decarbonisation funds – are expected to be worth about £3.4bn from 2022 to 2025. E3G suggests that if the local authority delivery scheme alone – which supports the installation of heat pumps and energy efficiency measures for low-income households – was boosted by £1.8bn, it could cover 120,000 to 180,000 of the UK’s coldest homes. E3G’s researchers only looked at gas use, but any public information campaign could also target petrol and diesel use, as better driving habits can make a substantial difference to fuel costs. Russia is a minor supplier of gas to the UK, making up only about 3% of the market, as most of Britain’s supply comes from the North Sea and Norway, but reducing imports could help with the global effort to put pressure on Vladimir Putin. Cutting gas use would also ease the cost of living crisis amid soaring fossil fuel prices. The government is working on the final details of a new energy security strategy, to be unveiled soon, that will boost renewable energy generation and could make planning permission for windfarms easier to obtain. Separately, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will set out measures to ease the cost of living in a spring statement next Wednesday. On Monday, a group of 33 charities, thinktanks and civil society groups wrote to Boris Johnson, Sunak and the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, to call for £3.6bn for insulation grants for all households, and an extra £4bn by 2025 to install heat pumps in place of gas boilers. A government spokesperson said: “We recognise people are facing pressures with the cost of living – which is why we’re providing support with the cost of living worth over £21bn across this financial year and next including a £150 council tax rebate from April and a further £200 energy bill discount in October to cut energy bills quickly. “There will continue to be ongoing demand for oil and gas over the coming decades while we transition to low carbon energy. We will continue to explore all options to maintain security of supply during this transition and will shortly set out our energy security strategy to supercharge our renewable energy and nuclear capacity as well as supporting our North Sea oil and gas industry.” Pedro Guertler, programme leader at E3G, said: “The UK government must act now to permanently convert fossil gas dependency and profits into reduced living costs for all. The government has the tools to make big gains on security through energy efficiency measures for households this year. We must seize the opportunity at the spring statement.” | ['environment/energy', 'business/gas', 'environment/gas', 'world/russia', 'uk/uk', 'world/ukraine', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2022-03-16T06:00:24Z | true | ENERGY |
global-development/2012/aug/30/world-bank-global-hunger-warning-drought | World Bank issues hunger warning after droughts in US and Europe | The World Bank issued a global hunger warning last night after severe droughts in the US and eastern Europe sent food prices to a record high. Damage to crop harvests from exceptionally dry weather this year raised sharply the Bank's food price index taking it above its peak in early 2011. The Washington-based bank blamed the drought in the US for the 25% price rise of maize and 17% price rise in soya beans last month, adding that a dry summer in Russia, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan lay behind the 25% jump in the cost of wheat. "Food prices rose again sharply threatening the health and well-being of millions of people," said World Bank group president, Jim Yong Kim. "Africa and the Middle East are particularly vulnerable, but so are people in other countries where the prices of grains have gone up abruptly." The bank said food prices overall rose by 10% between June and July to leave them 6% up on a year earlier. "We cannot allow these historic price hikes to turn into a lifetime of perils as families take their children out of school and eat less nutritious food to compensate for the high prices," said Kim. "Countries must strengthen their targeted programs to ease the pressure on the most vulnerable population, and implement the right policies." He added that the Bank was spending $9bn this year supporting agriculture and pledged that help to poor countries affected by food price hikes would continue. | ['global-development/hunger', 'business/worldbank', 'world/world', 'business/economics', 'business/global-economy', 'business/business', 'society/society', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/drought', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/larryelliott', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-08-30T18:27:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2018/dec/15/galilee-mine-plans-understated-water-impact-government-report-says | Galilee Basin mine plans understated water impact, government report says | Coalmines planned in the Galilee Basin – including Adani’s Carmichael mine – understated the likely impacts on surrounding water resources, a federal government scientific report has found. The bioregional assessment report into the cumulative impact of coalmine proposals was published quietly last week. It was compiled by experts from the CSIRO, Geosciences Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology and the federal environment department. The report modelled information from seven of 17 proposed coalmines in the Galilee and found there was a greater than 95% chance that they would cause hydrological changes to the Belyando River Basin. Those cumulative impacts “extend farther than previously predicted from impact assessments of individual mines”. Conservation groups say the report shows that Adani’s Carmichael plan and other mines have been approved and supported based on inadequate environmental information. “It’s clear from this analysis that mining the Galilee Basin will have a very significant and irreversible impact on our water resources,” Carmel Flint from Lock the Gate said. The report found that a 20cm or greater drawdown was “very likely” across an area of near-surface aquifers covering 2,820 sq km. The development of coalmines could potentially have water impacts across an area of up to 14,030 sq km and 6,285km of streams. The report also found that water access rights near the village of Jericho were potentially impacted. “Of the 241 ecological assets potentially impacted due to modelled additional coal resource development, 148 are considered ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’,” the report said. “These include potential habitat of 12 threatened species and two threatened ecological communities.” There are 17 proposals for coalmines and coal seam gas projects in the Galilee but researchers could only model the cumulative impacts of seven that were furthest advanced in the environmental planning process. Adani’s Carmichael mine has been a flashpoint for the pro and anti-coal debate, in part because it has been considered a critical step towards the broadscale development of a new coal basin in the Galilee. Adani announced last month it would proceed with a slimmed-down version of Carmichael. Supporters, including the Queensland Resources Council and the federal resources minister, Matt Canavan, have said the announcement paves the way for the further development of the Galilee. The Queensland government’s transparent royalties framework, which has been used to offer Adani a royalties deferral deal, is also predicated on the notion that support can be offered to the “first mover” in a resource basin that would encourage future development. “Adani’s hypocrisy is breathtaking – they want to get a royalty deferment on the grounds they are opening up the Galilee Basin to mining but don’t want to consider the extreme cumulative water impacts of the other coalmines that may follow if they do,” Flint said. “As this gruelling drought continues, accompanied now by heatwaves and catastrophic fires, it would be beyond reckless to proceed with these dangerous projects. “Farmers and communities need assurances that governments will act now following this assessment. “The Queensland government should get started immediately and reject Adani’s groundwater dependent ecosystem management plan based on the extended water impacts identified in this assessment.” The groundwater plan has not been approved by the Queensland government. Adani has claimed approval is imminent, but there is no statutory timeframe for this to occur. Adani said in a statement the Carmichael project had been “subject to a wide range of independent assessments, technical studies, public consultations and reviews over eight years” “In response to assessment of the environmental and socioeconomic impact of the mine, the Australian and Queensland governments endorsed an environmental impact statement and set out the conditions under which the project must be operated. “These conditions, along with the other legislation and regulations, provide a strict and comprehensive regulatory framework to govern mine operations and ensure impacts are managed responsibly.” | ['environment/water', 'environment/carmichael-coalmine', 'business/adani-group', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/coal', 'environment/mining', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/ben-smee', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2018-12-14T22:30:46Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/oct/07/risk-of-uk-power-cuts-this-winter-has-increased-says-national-grid | Risk of UK power cuts this winter has increased, says National Grid | The risk of power cuts to factories and homes this winter has increased, the National Grid warned, as the business secretary prepared for a crunch meeting with industry bosses concerned the energy crisis may force them to scale back production. The price of gas and electricity has soared in recent weeks, leading to the collapse of multiple energy suppliers and prompting warnings of higher costs for consumers, factory shutdowns and increased pollution as plants switch to dirtier but cheaper fuels. The unfolding energy crisis has coincided with the Grid’s annual assessment of Great Britain’s resilience to disruption to electricity supplies, with the key “margin” figure falling to its lowest in five years. The Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) said the amount of reserve electricity supply that could be called upon was expected to be 6.6% of demand, but could fall as low as 4.2%. It said it believed there was enough slack in the system to avoid blackouts affecting households and factories. But it said that conditions had worsened since a prediction it made in July, after a fire knocked out a high-voltage subsea power cable importing electricity from France. Half of the 2GW cable is expected to be unavailable until March. Planned shutdowns at gas plants and the retirement of two nuclear reactors are also factors in the tighter margin for the winter. The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, is due to meet leaders from industries such as steel, glass, ceramics and chemicals on Friday, but is expected to tell them to forget about receiving any extra assistance. While factories are not expected to face electricity blackouts, they say they need help with costs. Some of the most energy-intensive industries have issued a plea to the government for financial support to help them cope with soaring energy prices. They say the cost of electricity could force factory shutdowns, production slowdowns, and switches from gas to more polluting energy sources such as fuel oil, potentially causing embarrassment ahead of the upcoming Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow. Shadow business minister Ed Miliband said the gas price crisis was “made in Downing Street”. “The UK is particularly vulnerable to increases in gas prices because the government allowed our gas storage facilities to close, blocked onshore wind, cut solar subsidies, stalled our nuclear programme and because of their total failure to deliver a long-term plan for energy efficiency.” On Thursday, the Grid said that the UK would have to outbid European countries to get hold of gas over the winter, indicating further pressure on prices. Energy advisory group Cornwall Insight has said the average dual fuel bill could rise by as much as 30% next year if gas and electricity prices continue to soar and more suppliers go bust, reaching £1,660 annually. While the government has imposed an energy price cap, the ceiling rises regularly in line with costs faced by suppliers, who have been battered by soaring wholesale prices. So far this year, 12 suppliers have collapsed, with many more predicted to go to the wall by the end of the year. Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of energy regulator Ofgem, told an industry conference on Thursday that the watchdog needed to be “more focused on business models and the risk they carry” in future. Speaking at the same event, Kwarteng said the government “will not bail out failed companies, there cannot be a reward for irresponsible management of businesses.” Some small suppliers have been criticised for setting up shop with risky business models that meant they weren’t properly “hedged” against rising gas prices. Officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are understood to be considering measures to speed up the UK’s transition to renewable energy to reduce reliance on gas, including more frequent windfarm auctions. Boris Johnson this week pledged to remove fossil fuels from electricity generation by 2035. While coal has been all but phased out of power generation, gas can still account for more than 50% of supply on windless days when the sun isn’t shining. Kwarteng said on Thursday that reducing reliance would involve boosting wind power, gas plants that use carbon capture and storage to reduce carbon emissions and “at least” one nuclear project. The government is expected to rubber-stamp French state-owned energy company EDF’s plans for a the Sizewell C reactor in Suffolk but has yet to find a developer for Wylfa Newydd, on Anglesey. Officials are drawing up plans to overhaul the way nuclear power stations are funded, to make them more attractive to private investors. Kwarteng said “the volatility of the gas price has shown that we do need to plan strategically, and I think net zero helps us do that, for a secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system.” Gas prices have soared across Europe but have been particularly high in the UK, reaching record levels above £4 per therm. The International Energy Agency said on Thursday that Russia could help ease the crisis, telling the Financial Times that the Kremlin was able to increase gas flows into Europe by up to 15%. Russian president Vladimir Putin has said Europe’s “mistakes” are to blame for the crisis, rather than any reluctance in Moscow to open gas taps. However, he used the opportunity to highlight regulatory delays in Europe to the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline, saying the planned connection could help bring down prices. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/nationalgrid', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'money/energy', 'money/household-bills', 'uk/uk', 'business/gas', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rob-davies', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2021-10-07T18:06:13Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2005/jan/05/debt.indianoceantsunamidecember2004 | Japan backs Brown debt plan | Japan today threw its weight behind Gordon Brown's plans to offer debt relief for countries hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami. Japan's expression of support has given a big boost to the chancellor's efforts as Tokyo normally takes a conservative position on debt issues. Mr Brown yesterday expressed confidence that Japan and the US would put a freeze on debt repayments that would save Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the countries worst affected by the tsunami, $6bn (?3.1bn) a year alone. As president of the G8 industrial nations and the EU this year, the UK is seeking to push debt relief for poor countries in Africa. Mr Brown said there was no reason why generosity towards the tsunami victims should preclude debt relief for sub-Saharan Africa. While backing UK calls for debt relief, the Japanese finance minister, Sadakazu Tanigaki, drew a distinction between debt reduction, which Tokyo does not favour, and a debt freeze or moratorium. "Considering the fiscal situation of each country, naturally they may ask for a debt moratorium and I think we would like to grant it," Mr Machimura told a news conference. He added, however, that no requests for debt reduction had been made and Tokyo did not think such a step was appropriate. Tokyo has already promised $500m, about a quarter of the total global aid pledges of $2.3bn for the tsunami victims in the biggest humanitarian relief effort since the second world war. The possibility of an immediate freeze on debt payments was first suggested by the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, and Mr Brown is now running hard with the idea. Germany today increased its aid commitment to €500m (?352m) from €20m. The idea of a debt moratorium is expected to figure prominently in discussions at an emergency aid summit in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, tomorrow. The group of creditor nations known as the Paris Club also plans to discuss proposals for debt relief at a meeting next week. The Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, welcomed the suggestion of debt relief and said any debt rescheduling would benefit his country's economy as it recovered from the disaster. He said he wasn't sure what form debt relief might take, "but even a rescheduling will still be a good opportunity", Mr Yudhoyono told reporters. Not everyone is on board with the debt relief plan. The Australian prime minister, John Howard, said, while he would consider any debt proposal, he was concerned any move to forgive debt or freeze repayments would not help those most in need. "There is no guarantee that if you do it, what is forgiven or what is the subject of a moratorium will end up going in aid," Mr Howard said in Canberra. "The debts are not normally owed by the people who need the assistance. It is usually owed by other organisations. And you have no guarantee that if you provide a debt moratorium, debt forgiveness, that that money ends up where it should." Australia is one of 19 permanent members of the Paris Club, which reaches its decisions on debt relief by consensus. The Paris Club last November forgave 80% of Iraq's $39bn foreign debt and interest repayments. Mr Howard might well cite a report from the ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, to back up his point. S&P said in a statement: "At this stage, Indonesia has the capability to service its domestic and foreign debt. The devastation of outlying provinces by the Indian Ocean tsunami did little to detract its debt-servicing ability." Indonesia's overall Paris Club debts total $47.8bn and the country was due to pay $3.1bn in principal and $1.3bn billion in interest in 2005. Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India and Somalia, all badly affected by the tsunami, have $272bn in combined external debt. More than 145,000 people were killed across south Asia by the December 26 tsunami, triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Indonesia suffered the most devastation, with more than 94,000 killed, most in the Aceh province of northern Sumatra, while more than 30,000 were killed in Sri Lanka. | ['business/business', 'world/debt-relief', 'world/tsunami2004', 'money/money', 'global-development/global-development', 'type/article', 'profile/marktran'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-01-05T13:36:46Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
lifeandstyle/2021/mar/12/experience-im-a-tree-hugger | Experience: I’m a tree hugger | When I was very small, my grandfather used to wheel me in a pram through the local park on the way to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Looking up at the trees helped me get to sleep. So maybe I’ve always been on a wooden wavelength. I’ve spent all my adult life working with trees, and the past 14 years working at the RBGE as a curator. Recently, our fundraising team was looking for novel suggestions to raise money to help save the giant redwood avenue at our site in Benmore. Some of the staff suggested I do a sponsored tree huggathon. They knew I’d been a tree hugger since a very early age. When I was small, it was enough to be hugging a birch tree or something pretty tiny that I could reach around with my wee arms. As I grew up, the trees I hugged grew bigger, too. Still, I wasn’t sure people would be interested enough in an old man hugging trees to donate money. But my colleagues thought it was inspired. So I agreed to hug 350 trees, of as many different varieties as I could find, in a year. My approach to the challenge was improvised. I wouldn’t plan what to hug – it was just cometh the hour, cometh the tree. Weather was not a factor – in the winter months there were some fantastic trees to hug: paperbark maples, Tibetan cherries with glossy sheens, dogwoods with their signature, fiery red bark. Hugging trees in the snow is especially enriching: you’re acutely aware of the life coursing through them, a sense of them withstanding the elements. In summer, I’d find a scenic spot and lock my arms around one, with the sun streaming through the branches and backlighting the bark. My tree hugging technique is based on a simple principle: making maximum contact. This means wrapping my arms as far round as they’ll go (sometimes a stern stretch for a man my age), and then leaning into the tree. To fit the challenge in every day, I had to give up some meetings, but that was a welcome development. Whenever I got the itch, I’d head out with my colleague, a photographer. It was practically a tree-hugging fashion shoot, with us going on a trek in search of the next tree that spoke to us. At points my colleague, who usually takes serious scientific photographs, struggled to keep a straight face, and I couldn’t help feeling self-conscious – but I just got on with it. I was struck by how different the experience was with each tree. The most tactile ones stood out, particularly the small giant redwoods. That was in June, when we’d had weeks and weeks of dry weather. You were getting an almost Californian scent from the resin. That transported me. Another highlight was a hybrid wingnut. If you’re familiar with Lord Of The Rings, it looks a bit like an Ent, the talking tree of Middle-earth, because of its craggy features, which are like faces in the bark. Admittedly, there were a few raised eyebrows from passersby. Some people had a quiet chuckle; maybe they thought it was a quaint Scottish custom. I was the butt of a fair few tree jokes among my family, regularly being called barking mad, but everyone understood it was for a good cause. If you’ve never hugged a tree, I strongly recommend it. Getting up close to one makes you appreciate their fantastic structure. If you were to set humans a challenge to create such a wonderful mechanism, they would never be capable of doing it. My dream tree trip is going to California to see the giant redwoods. I wouldn’t be able to hug those, I would just stand back and marvel at them. Closer to home, however hilarious my hugging seemed, I’m delighted that we managed to raise more than double the original target to help save our own resplendent redwoods, which were planted in 1863 by a wealthy American. Tree hugging is a wonderful way of reconnecting with nature on a deep level. That’s something I think we all need more of, with the frenetic pace of modern life. Tree hugging can help us slow down; to appreciate the wee things in life. Above all, trees can teach us patience. Their lifespans are longer than ours, so they help us to connect with a different sense of time. • As told to James Ware Do you have an experience to share? Email experience@theguardian.com | ['lifeandstyle/series/experience', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/forests', 'environment/environment', 'uk/scotland', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/weekend', 'theguardian/weekend/starters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/weekend'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-03-12T10:00:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2014/jul/30/kenya-drought-food-starvation | Drought in northern Kenya: 'Today you are rich, tomorrow you have nothing' | Jessica Hatcher | This time last year, Samuel Aboto had 600 goats; today, he has none. "I am not exaggerating – everybody knew my goats," he says as he shelters from the sun under a thatch of reeds. Twenty-six months of drought has hit pastoralists in northern Kenya hard, and Aboto is facing the fourth poor rainy season in a row. The last good rain in Nayanae'angikalalio, central Turkana, was between March and May 2012. Two weeks ago, there was one small shower. Aboto points to an outcrop across a few miles of tawny sand and scrub. "There," he says, jabbing with his finger. A line of camels cross the horizon, the only animals the land can currently support. Aboto, who has four scrawny sheep remaining, draws a comparison to three years ago, when drought triggered a famine in Somalia and almost 4 million Kenyans were at risk of starvation (pdf). "It was almost the same as this," he says. "That was a combination of lack of grass and disease; this time it's just drought." The findings of a Kenyan nutrition survey, published this month by the health ministry in consultation with the UN and NGOs, have alarmed experts. In the most vulnerable arid and semi-arid regions, which span about 80% of the country, one in four children is acutely malnourished and requires medical attention. Overall malnutrition rates in Turkana, Baringo and Mandera counties, and in the west of Wajir, have deteriorated significantly, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). A malnutrition rate of more than 15% is classified as a critical emergency by the World Health Organisation; in many parts of Kenya it exceeds 20%. "The survey found truly alarming levels of malnutrition," says Challiss McDonough, a WFP spokeswoman. In Turkana Central, the rate of moderate and severe acute malnutrition is 60% higher than a year ago, according to Kenya's health ministry. Last year, 17% of those surveyed – pregnant women, nursing mothers and under-fives– were acutely malnourished. That proportion has risen to 29%. Aside from drought, numerous factors are affecting access to food in Kenya's arid north, where the majority of people are pastoralists. Rapidly increasing populations have piled pressure on resources, and people have become less mobile. During a dry spell, herders once moved freely across the borders of Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda in search of fresh pasture. These days, national and regional boundaries, and the proliferation of small arms along them, have made it risky to do so. Cattle raiding is out of control on some borders. "Conflict in the south and east [of Turkana County] is not traditional cattle rustling. It has become commercialised. There are businesses; men and women waiting to load [the cattle] and take them to market," says the deputy county governor, Peter Lokoel. It must be understood, he says, that conflict is contributing to malnutrition rates across the county, especially either side of Turkana's southern border. "Today you are rich; tomorrow you have nothing," he says, referring to the clashes between raiders in Turkana and Pokot. As herds dwindle, men in Turkana are increasingly relying on their wives, many of whom sell charcoal or handmade jewellery and baskets. They buy maize flour and oil with the few hundred shillings (only a few dollars) they earn. "The quantities are very small: that's what's hurting the most. Food cost 50 cents or a shilling during the first president's era. These days, you pay hundreds and get nothing," says Rodha Lokirion, an elderly woman who lives in a village 10 miles north of Lodwar, the capital of Turkana County. In Lodwar, 2kg of maize costs about 180 shillings ($2.14); in outlying areas, it can cost more. Residents say the decrepit road that connects Lodwar to the rest of Kenya has contributed to high food costs. For a trader to travel 300km (186 miles) by bus to Kitale, the first town south of Turkana, it takes about six hours and costs 1,600 shillings – approximately what the average Kenyan earns in a week, according to the World Bank. "It's very expensive. When the road is good, the journey would be two to three hours," says Michael Emekwi Peikan, 31, who scrapes a living by driving a rented motorbike taxi. On Lake Turkana, one of the region's few reliable sources of protein, fish catches are dwindling. "A lot of people are now engaging in fishing. They lack proper gear, so are putting a lot of pressure on the shallow waters that they are able to access," says Billy Kapua, projects manager at Friends of Lake Turkana, a community-led environmental trust. The shallower waters are critical for breeding fish. "If the government could scale up support for fishermen to make the deeper waters accessible, that would help." An aquifer below Turkana, which raised hopes of drought relief when it was announced last year, will yield nothing in the short term, Kapua says. There are resources and enough capacity to bolster the relief effort until the end of September, according to WFP, but the country could be hit by a severe funding shortfall thereafter. Jessica Hatcher reported from Turkana with the assistance of a grant from the Pulitzer Centre for Crisis Reporting | ['global-development/global-development', 'global-development/hunger', 'global-development/malnutrition', 'global-development/pastoralism', 'world/kenya', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'environment/drought', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/jessica-hatcher'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-07-30T05:59:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2020/sep/16/scottish-green-hydrogen-scheme-gears-up-to-fuel-ferries-buses-and-trains | Scottish green hydrogen scheme gears up to fuel ferries, buses and trains | Scottish Power’s wind and solar farms will soon help produce green hydrogen to run buses, ferries and even trains as part of a pioneering strategic partnership to develop the UK’s nascent hydrogen economy. The renewable energy company, owned by Spain’s Iberdrola, will work alongside companies that specialise in producing and distributing the zero-carbon gas. Hydrogen is expected to play a major role in helping the UK to meet its climate targets. Scottish Power will use the clean electricity generated by a major new solar farm planned for a site near Glasgow to run an electrolyser, owned by its project partner ITM Power, which will split water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The third company within the partnership, BOC, specialises in compressing and distributing gases and will help transport the hydrogen gas to councils, factories and transport depots across the country. “Green hydrogen is something that everyone is talking about,” said Lindsay McQuade, the head of renewables at Scottish Power, “but we wanted to do something about it. This is a pioneering partnership which brings together skills from all the companies involved.” The hydrogen gas can be used in place of methane-rich North Sea gas to run power plants, heavy machinery and transport vehicles without adding to the greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating the climate crisis. Scottish Power’s first project will be based near a new solar farm that it plans to build near the site of the largest onshore windfarm in the UK: Whitelee, south of Glasgow. The site is also expected to be equipped with a “super battery”, which can store and release clean electricity when it’s needed. The plans are expected to be replicated across the country using Scottish Power’s windfarms, solar panels and battery installations to use renewable energy when it is at its cheapest to run the electrolysers that create hydrogen. “Our revolutionary approach – which really will be a game-changer – fully supports the large-scale transformation needed to replace heavy diesel vehicles with cleaner, greener alternatives,” McQuade said. She said that by working with industry leaders such as ITM Power and BOC the partnership would be able to offer the operators of heavy vehicle fleets and industry “a packaged solution that brings all of the pieces of the jigsaw together – production, distribution, supply” from as soon as 2022. “All they have to do is provide the vehicles,” she said. | ['business/scottish-power', 'environment/hydrogen-power', 'technology/energy', 'environment/energy', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/green-economy', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'technology/technology', 'business/utilities', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2020-09-16T06:00:15Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2015/jan/12/last-generation-tackle-climate-change-un-international-community | We are the last generation that can fight climate change. We have a duty to act | Ban Ki-moon | This year the UN marks its 70th anniversary. Sadly, there is little time for reflection or celebration. More pressing are the competing demands and challenges fuelled by an upsurge in conflict, disease and human suffering. These compel the international community to step up and provide the leadership needed to tackle them. Ebola continues to plague west Africa. For some of the affected countries, struggling to overcome the effects of bitter civil war, the outbreak has been a major setback for development. We are beginning to see some improvements. During my visit to the region in December, I was deeply moved by the efforts of local Ebola responders and health workers from across Africa and the world. But rebuilding shattered lives and economies will require significantly more resources and long-term commitment. As conflicts raged and extremism rose, 2014 pushed the UN’s humanitarian, peacekeeping and diplomatic efforts to the limit. More than 100 million people needed assistance. An unprecedented number of UN troops and police are deployed in highly volatile security environments. The elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons programme was a major achievement, but the conflict continues to inflict immense suffering and will soon enter its fifth year. As bitter winter conditions set in, millions of refugees are in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance. The presence of thousands of foreign terrorist fighters there and in Iraq has added a further volatile dimension. Groups responsible for atrocities have capitalised on a legacy of atrocious governance towards disenfranchised populations. Our response to brutality and extremism cannot be limited to military action, important as it is. We must address the conditions that give rise to such poison in the first place. In the same vein, those conducting military actions against terrorists must be sure that such efforts fully observe human rights. As we have seen time and again, failure to do so can end up serving as a recruiting agent for terrorists. Elsewhere, the recent appalling terrorist attacks in Paris show how vulnerable any society can be. Countries in Europe and elsewhere have witnessed a deeply worrying escalation of tensions between communities and within societies. Giving in to hatred and sowing division only guarantees a spiral of violence – precisely what terrorists seek. We must not fall into that trap. Addressing discord in a manner that solves, rather than multiplies, the problem may be the greatest test our human family faces in the 21st century. There is a long list of other hot-spots – stretching from Nigeria to Yemen, from the rise in fighting in Darfur to the transition in Afghanistan. Conflict in Ukraine has endangered security and stability in Europe, and reanimated the ghosts of the cold war. Israelis and Palestinians must ease the explosive situation in Gaza and the West Bank, and move away from confrontation and towards a negotiated settlement. But in a year marked by turmoil, UN member states have also proposed an initial draft set of sustainable development goals that will guide anti-poverty efforts for the next generation. Further negotiations will begin this month and culminate at a special summit in New York in September with the adoption of a development agenda that can help tackle inequality, empower women and girls, and promote shared prosperity. Climate action took on significant momentum with major announcements by the EU, the US and China, and a successful climate conference in Lima, Peru, that kept complex negotiations on track. We must aim high: for the adoption of an ambitious and universal agreement in Paris in December to keep the rise in global temperatures below the dangerous threshold of 2C. Ours is the first generation that can end poverty, and the last that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. In this 70th anniversary year in which we renew our commitment to the goals and principles of the UN charter, the international community must rise to the moment. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/cop-20-un-climate-change-conference-lima', 'environment/environment', 'world/unitednations', 'world/world', 'world/ban-ki-moon', 'tone/comment', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'profile/bankimoon'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-01-12T08:00:02Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2010/jun/25/bp-oil-spill-bill-latest | BP share slide as oil spill bill climbs to $2.35bn | Shares in BP hit a 14-year low this morning after the oil giant revealed that its bill for containing and cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – the worst in US history – had climbed to $2.35bn (£1.57bn). The shares dropped 6.8% at one stage and later traded down 6.3% at 304.5p, making BP the biggest faller on the FTSE 100. Five-year BP credit default swaps, which insure the company against debt default, widened 19 basis points to 555 points. The latest cost estimate is up from a previous figure of $2bn. It includes $126m already paid out in claims to those affected by the disaster, mainly workers in the fishing industry. So far, nearly 74,000 claims have been filed and more than 39,000 payments have been made. The bulk of the cost covers wages paid to 37,000 people involved in efforts to capture oil at the blown-out well in the Gulf and the clean-up operation on the shore. It has emerged that the oil company has ordered clean-up contractors to pay out wages to workers suspected of claiming for work they have not done. Rear Admiral James Watson, the federal on-scene co-ordinator for the oil spill, admitted that there had been "instances of fraud". Under intense pressure from the White House, BP agreed to set up a $20bn independently administered fund to pay for the clean-up and meet compensation claims last week. The oil giant said this morning that work on two relief wells, designed to kill the leaking well, and measures to improve the capture of oil, were on track. A new containment system will start operating next month. The company had to reinstall an oil-siphoning cap on the blown-out well and resumed collecting crude yesterday after an accident led to oil flowing unhindered into the ocean for 10 hours on Wednesday. So far, 364,500 barrels of oil have been recovered from the ocean. | ['business/bp', 'environment/bp-oil-spill', 'business/oil', 'environment/oil', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'environment/oil-spills', 'business/business', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/juliakollewe'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2010-06-25T09:07:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2022/nov/05/lula-brazil-globalised-greed-cop15-aoe | Lula’s victory in Brazil is a relief but it won’t solve the problem of globalised greed | The Secret Negotiator | We are a month away from Cop15 and money is on my mind. The election of President Lula da Silva in Brazil is good news for the chances of success in Montreal. But optimism must always consider reality: huge financial resources are needed to halt the destruction of the planet’s ecosystems, and we are still very far from a credible plan for raising the necessary funds. Across the globe, almost without exception, nature is worth more dead than alive. That is the unfortunate truth. There is not yet a mechanism for tilting the playing field in favour of biodiversity and the climate, something I am sure will come up frequently at Cop27, too. To change that, we need to tackle two key issues: rural poverty and globalised greed. Rural poverty is, in many ways, the easier problem to fix. Wildlife conservation is often most successful where there is a financial incentive for communities to protect it. We need ways to support this, without asking the poorest to bear the cost. In Brazil, the short-term economic incentives to clear trees for agriculture have not disappeared with the election of Lula. That is true of Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia – everywhere – and the world will need to come together to tip the balance in favour of nature. There are no profits on a dead planet, as even the international financial sector belatedly seems to have realised. The “natural capital” case for protecting nature is clear and strong. The problem, however, is one of cashflow: people are poor and hungry now – they can’t wait for the huge gains to accrue in the long term. That is why I think the proposal by African countries for a 1% retail levy on all products that rely on nature is worthy of serious consideration at Cop15. Protecting ecosystems is expensive. Choosing not to drain wetlands or hunt wildlife frequently comes at a cost to communities living alongside them while benefiting the rest of humanity. Paying people to protect ecosystems would be recognition of how these communities look after a global good on behalf of us all, and the money would come directly from consumers. Without a secure and steady flow of money, we are in danger of agreeing a list of targets in December, heading home for the Christmas holidays, then finding that we cannot afford to implement them. The second, more complicated issue is that of globalised greed. Overconsumption of the world’s resources is a major driver of biodiversity loss, and not all humans are equally to blame. Citizens in rich, western countries are living lives that planet Earth cannot sustain, the elites of all countries are emulating these unsustainable lifestyles, and we are collectively suffering the consequences of this avarice. So far, mentions of overconsumption have been watered down or challenged in UN talks. But if we are to reach a final agreement that really tackles the drivers of biodiversity loss, it must include references to the unsustainable use of nature by the world’s rich. Scrutiny of beef companies with links to deforestation or firms that use palm oil from destroyed orangutan habitat have produced real-world changes. This must now happen at a global level. Money alone will not solve all the problems with implementing this agreement, but without money hardly any will be solved. We are still pitifully short of the multi-billion dollar package we really need to make this decade’s global biodiversity framework a success, and broken funding promises by developed countries in UN climate talks have caused widespread mistrust. It is time for that to change. In a series of dispatches ahead of the Cop15 UN biodiversity conference in Montreal in December, we will be hearing from a secret negotiator who is from a developing country involved in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework negotiations. | ['environment/series/the-cop15-secret-negotiator', 'environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/series/the-road-to-kunming', 'global-development/series/opinion--global-development-', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'environment/cop15', 'profile/the-secret-negotiator', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-11-05T12:00:09Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2022/jan/05/pfas-forever-chemicals-anti-fogging-spray-wipes | High levels of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found in anti-fogging sprays for glasses | Anti-fogging sprays and cloths often used to prevent condensation on eyeglasses from wearing a mask or on face shields may contain high levels of potentially toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, according to a new study led by Duke University. Researchers tested four of the top-rated anti-fogging sprays as well as five top-rated anti-fogging cloths sold by Amazon. In all nine products, experts found fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) and fluorotelomer ethoxylates (FTEOs), two types of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS have been dubbed as forever chemicals due to their longevity in the environment. “Our tests show the sprays contain up to 20.7 milligrams of PFAS per milliliter of solution, which is a pretty high concentration,” said study lead Nicholas Herkert, a postdoctoral researcher at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Exposure to some PFAs – perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) in particular – have been linked to cancer, thyroid disease, fertility complications and other health problems. Herkert noted that FTOHs and FTEOs have not been studied extensively, so scientists do not know what health risks they could pose, but research currently suggests that FTOHs inhaled or absorbed through the skin could break down in the body and become toxic, long-lasting PFAs. The FTEOs used in all four anti-fogging sprays were also analyzed in the new study and exhibited substantial cell-altering toxicity and conversion to fat cells during lab tests, said Herkert. “It’s disturbing to think that products people have been using on a daily basis to help keep themselves safe during the Covid pandemic may be exposing them to a different risk,” said Heather Stapleton, a distinguished professor of environmental chemistry and health at Duke. Stapleton initiated the study after reviewing the ingredients in a bottle of anti-fogging spray she bought for her 9-year-old daughter. Stapleton noted that the other eight products did not have their ingredients listed, making it virtually impossible to tell if they contained toxic chemicals until they were analyzed using equipment from her research laboratory. This study, conducted by Herkert and Stapleton with researchers from Duke University, Wayne State University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is only the second ever to focus on FTEOS. The researchers published their peer-reviewed study on 5 January in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Herkert and Stapleton said that more research would be needed to expand on initial findings, with larger studies involving tests on living organisms being the next step. Studies that include a larger sample size of sprays and cloths could also help identify other unknown chemicals being used in these products. “Because of Covid, more people than ever, including many medical professionals and other first-responders, are using these sprays and cloths to keep their glasses from fogging up when they wear masks or face shields,” said Stapleton. “They deserve to know what’s in the products they’re using.” | ['us-news/us-news', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'science/science', 'environment/pollution', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/pfas', 'profile/gloria-oladipo', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-01-05T14:00:35Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2009/sep/18/britain-nuclear-privatised-babcock | Britain's nuclear caretaker privatised in Babcock sale | The body responsible for decommissioning and cleaning up Britain's fleet of nuclear power stations was sold today in the latest privatisation of part of the UK's nuclear industry. UKAEA, the commercial arm of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, has been bought by Babcock International Group for £50m. Business secretary Lord Mandelson claimed the deal "generates good value for taxpayers", but opposition politicians have previously voiced concerns over the sale. UKAEA is currently carrying out decommissioning work at Dounreay in Scotland, Winfrith in Dorset, and Harwell in Oxfordshire. It also operates training programmes, and offers consultancy services to other countries. It has been on the market for almost six months. Babcock, which is listed on the FTSE 250 index, already runs the UK's only nuclear refuelling facilities for its nuclear submarine fleet, at Devonport in Plymouth. "The high level of skills and expertise in UKAEA will further accelerate the growth of our nuclear business," said Babcock's chief executive, Peter Rogers. Back in March, when Mandelson put UKAEA up for sale, the shadow energy secretary, Greg Clark, said it could be a short-term move to bring cash into the government's books. "The government has awarded contracts worth millions of pounds to UKAEA for decommissioning nuclear power stations and is reliant on the company to deliver them. The government must have cast-iron guarantees that any buyer will not hold the taxpayer to ransom for further payments for decommissioning Dounreay, Harwell and Winfrith," Clark warned. The task of cleaning up after more than half a century of nuclear power is expected to cost Britain at least £83bn. The size of the challenge was underlined last year when the firm operating the Sellafield nuclear site appealed for former workers to come forward if they remembered where they had deposited nuclear waste. UKAEA's waste management expertise could also be valuable when the next generation of UK nuclear power stations begins operating, possibly in 2017. British Energy, which runs eight nuclear power stations, was privatised in 1996, but had to be rescued by the taxpayer in 2002. It was taken over in 2008 by France's EDF, which plans to build four new reactors. | ['business/utilities', 'business/babcockinternationalgroup', 'politics/privatisation', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'politics/peter-mandelson', 'environment/energy', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/graemewearden', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2009-09-18T10:04:20Z | true | ENERGY |
politics/2024/feb/06/keir-starmer-labours-28bn-green-investment-desperately-needed | Starmer ‘unwavering’ over Labour green pledge despite claims party dropping it | Keir Starmer has said Labour’s policy pledge to spend £28bn a year on green investment is “desperately needed,” as he re-opened an issue that has become a source of tension in the party. Starmer and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, were planning to ditch the pledge, party sources had said as recently as last week, while the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury all but confirmed the move a day later. However, comments from Starmer broadcast on Tuesday morning were welcomed by advocates of the pledge as a “recommitment” at a time when other senior party figures had declined to use the figure. The Labour leader said in an interview with Times Radio that he had been “unwavering” in relation to the party’s green energy plans and denied he was “scaling back” policies as this year’s general election looms. “We’re going to need investment, that’s where the £28bn comes in. That investment that is desperately needed for that mission,” he said “You can only understand the investment argument by understanding that we want to have clean power by 2030 … We need to borrow to invest to do that. “That’s a principle I believe in and I’m absolutely happy to go out and defend. And of course, what we’ve said as we’ve got closer to the operationalisation of this, is it has to be ramped up, the money has to be ramped up … and everything is subject to our fiscal rules.” Zoë Billingham, the director of the IPPR North thinktank, said on X after Starmer’s comments emerged: “It’s reassuring that @UKLabour have recommitted to their £28bn green investment pledge. It a cornerstone of meeting climate goals & regional growth.” Opposition to watering down the £28bn commitment has come from across the spectrum, uniting Labour MPs from the party’s left with others in the centre, while business leaders have also thrown their weight behind it. They included Jürgen Maier, the former UK head of Siemens, the German industrial giant and major investor, who said last week that the proposed investment of £28bn a year in the low-carbon economy was an “absolute minimum”. Labour sources have said the party would keep the core mission of investing in green infrastructure, as well as already announced plans such as the creation of GB Energy, a publicly owned clean energy company, and a mass home insulation programme. But they added that the party would in effect cut its green ambitions by about two-thirds, given that the previously announced schemes are set to cost just under £10bn a year by the end of the parliament. Starmer’s language contrasted with the approach taken in a series of media interviews after speeches by Reeves and Starmer to a conference in London attended recently by hundreds of business executives, in which the shadow chancellor was repeatedly asked about the £28bn figure and declined each time to back it. Asked 10 times during an interview with Sky News, Reeves said of the plan: “I think what people need to know is that the fiscal rules are the most important thing for me … I know the importance of economic and fiscal stability and that will always come first.” | ['politics/labour', 'politics/keir-starmer', 'uk/uk', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'politics/politics', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/benquinn', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2024-02-06T10:47:29Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2008/aug/06/yahoo.yang | Yahoo admits true scale of shareholder rebellion against Jerry Yang | Yahoo has been forced to admit shareholder opposition to CEO Jerry Yang's re-election to the board of directors last week was much stronger than it first reported. The company blames a vote counting error by a third party company for under-reporting the opposition to Yang and chairman Roy Bostock, both of whom received about twice as many negative votes than the numbers announced on Friday after the Yahoo annual meeting. Broadridge Financial Solutions, the company that counted shareholder votes, has admitted it made a mistake. Instead of 14.6% withholding their votes in Yang's reelection to the board, the real amount was 33.7%. The percentage of shares withheld for Bostock almost doubled to 39.6% from 20.5%. The errors – blamed on "a truncation error [that] occurred in reporting share numbers that exceeded eight digits" – did not affect the outcome of the election but they justified the request by Yahoo's largest shareholder, Capital Research Global Investors, for a recount after it suspected its decision to withhold support for Yang was not reflected in the results. Capital and others withheld their votes in protest at how the board handled takeover negotiations with Microsoft, which wanted to buy the company in a deal worth about $42bn (£21.5bn). Yahoo finally withdrew from negotiations in June. On Friday, the dissidents won concessions. Carl Ichan, a corporate raider and proponent of the takeover, was elected to the board as part of a previously agreed truce between him and the company. He also will be able to recommend two additional members. Icahn saw his election to the board as a compromise as he realised he could not win a proxy fight to remove the whole board. If Microsoft – or another potential buyer - returns to the negotiating table, Icahn will be in a stronger position to influence the outcome. As Icahn noted on his blog: "The board has agreed in the settlement agreement that any meaningful transaction, including the strategy in dealing with that transaction, will be fully discussed with the entire board before any final decision is made." Although the voting error did not change the results, experts are hinting that Bostock may be forced to step down as support for him is particularly weak. He received a smaller percentage of votes than former CEO Terry Semel did last year. Semel resigned from his position six days later and stepped down from the company's board in January. The news of the voting glitch was announced after the markets closed on Tuesday. When trading began Wednesday morning, the company's share price dropped a fraction to about $19.70, which is about $1 above their 52-week low. They traded as high as $34.08 earlier this year, after Microsoft went public with its takeover plans. | ['technology/yahoo', 'technology/internet', 'technology/yahoo-takeover', 'media/digital-media', 'technology/technology', 'tone/news', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'media/media', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'profile/johnsterlicchi'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-08-06T15:06:48Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2015/jun/19/ferrero-accused-nutella-youre-really-spoiling-us | You're really spoiling us: has Ferrero been wrongly accused over Nutella? | It is not often that government ministers urge their citizens to boycott a specific product. But that is just what the French environment minister Ségolène Royal did with Nutella this week – claiming that the palm oil it is made from contributes to deforestation and does “considerable damage” to the environment. Cue irritation from the Italian company Ferrero that makes the chocolatey spread and a backlash from Royal’s opposite number in Italy. Industry observers including Greenpeace and WWF also leapt to the defence of the company, pointing out that it has in fact led the industry in cleaning up its act and goes much further than most competitors on responsible sourcing of palm oil. The company has met its commitments to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the voluntary mechanism for controlling the practices of the industry, a year ahead of time. This means it can trace 100% of its palm oil from RSPO registered oil mills. Royal was flagging up a real issue but chose the wrong company to put in the stocks. “Ségolène Royal opened her mouth but didn’t engage her brain,” said Scott Poynton, founder of the Forest Trust, an NGO that works closely with Ferrero and other companies on their palm oil supply chain. “It’s a shame that she chose Nutella. Ferrero are the leaders. If all the companies in the palm oil industry operated like Fererro, the palm oil industry would not have the reputation that it does.” Following the counter-blast Royal tweeted to offer “one thousand apologies” and said she would “flag up the progress” the company had made. But the row has served to highlight the link between palm oil and deforestation and the less-than-perfect efforts by the industry to clean up its act. The RSPO is the key measure of progress for much of the industry. According to Duncan Brack, a researcher at the Chatham House thinktank, around 60% of the global trade is conducted by companies who either operate within its standards or have indicated plans to fall into line by 2020. But many believe the standard set by the RSPO is too weak and, against this yardstick, progress amounts to going nowhere fast. At the beginning of June a host of US corporations, including Walmart and Starbucks, called on the RSPO to toughen up its standards. The roundtable’s coverage of the industry is impressive, said Brack. But “in terms of the robustness of the system itself, clearly it could be better”. “I’m not a great fan of the RSPO,” said Poynton. “Ten years ago people sat around a table and came up with the lowest common denominator standard. That’s rubbish.” Marcus Colchester, a senior policy adviser for the Forest Peoples Programme, said the issue was with ensuring that voluntary commitments to the RSPO were followed. “We are trying to make this mechanism work but we’re not happy that it is working yet. There’s a lot of work to be done to ensure compliance.” One problem with the RSPO is that its mills are not the source of deforestation. This happens in the plantations that supply the mills. The RSPO does not require mills to trace every palm fruit back to its source. “Ferrero’s responsibility does not stop at certification,” said a spokesperson for the company, which has gone beyond the RSPO and developed its own palm oil charter. According to Poynton, Ferrero now traces 98% of its palm oil right back to the plantation. It is the first company to go this far. But Ferrero does not buy its palm oil direct from these plantations. And while its own supply chain might be in order, their business can still indirectly support bad practice. Corporate middlemen govern much of this vast trade. Colchester said the RSPO had not succeeded in stopping human rights abuses across the supply chain. “The RSPO standard is meant to stop land grabbing, unfortunately RSPO members are still taking land without the consent of communities,” he said. Like most buyers, Ferrero keeps its suppliers secret. “They are not able to say that the companies they are taking product from are yet fully compliant,” said Colchester. These suppliers still had “a long way to go” before they could be considered sustainable and ethical, he said. | ['environment/palm-oil', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'world/france', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/blog', 'profile/karl-mathiesen'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-06-19T10:28:49Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2022/jan/19/growth-in-rooftop-solar-slows-due-to-lockdowns-and-supply-chain-issues | Growth in rooftop solar slows due to lockdowns and supply chain issues | Rooftop solar took a hit in 2021 with the industry growing a third less than expected thanks to lockdowns and supply chain disruptions, despite still showing strong growth overall. More than 3m households and small businesses across the country now have solar panel systems installed, with the milestone reached in November. According to registration data provided by solar consultancy company SunWiz, 3.24GW of new solar capacity was added across the country last year, representing 10% growth on the previous year. These figures include small rooftop systems of less than 100MW registered by homeowners and small businesses, and do not include large, industrial-scale solar installations. Queensland now has the most installed capacity, with 4,483MW, closely followed by New South Wales (4,256MW) and Victoria (3,839MW). Australia continues to lead the world for solar installations with a total installed capacity of just under 17GW nationwide. The growth rate was lower than in previous years, with 2021 bookended by a surge in installations in March and December, and a drop off in between. Warwick Johnston, managing director at SunWiz, said the third-quarter slump was caused by the pandemic as lockdowns stopped installers from entering people’s homes, while supply chain problems meant wait times and shipping costs grew. He expected these issues to continue in 2022 but for demand to remain strong, as people sought to upgrade their old solar systems to generate enough capacity to support an electric vehicle in the future. “There’s 8.5m dwellings in Australia and we’re reaching a significant fraction of them already,” Johnston said. “Even in economically uncertain times people find that solar is as good an investment they can make. “It’s a safer bet than betting on crypto.” Separate data provided by Tristan Edis, an analyst with Green Energy Markets, showed photovoltaic solar upgrades were much stronger in 2021, and were anticipated to grow through to 2025. Edis said while previous forecasts had anticipated 3,600MW of installed capacity in 2021, roughly a 15% increase compared with 2020, he agreed lockdowns had “put a big dampener on the market”. Despite these short-term constraints, he said it was possible there was an “underlying slowdown” at work as states wound back solar feed-in tariffs that pay people for electricity fed into the grid. “The economics for solar systems have deteriorated across most states over the past two years as feed-in tariffs have been dropping at a faster rate than the purchase cost of a solar system, plus retail electricity prices have begun declining as well,” Edis said. “We have been expecting this would eventually flow through to reduced demand for solar systems, although this slowdown has not come as quickly as we had originally expected, but there are signs that it is now taking place.” Edis said while supply chain issues and a bump in the price of solar panels from manufacturers in China may dent sales in 2022, this was only a “temporary phenomenon” that “shouldn’t affect things beyond this year”. John Grimes, chief executive of the Smart Energy Council, said the industry was still bullish about its prospects. While the anticipated 15% growth rate seen in previous years may continue to be throttled by supply chain issues in 2022, he said demand remained strong. “People trust in solar now. There’s no question about whether it works, or ‘will it cut my power bill?’ – those things have been resolved. The industry’s mature,” Grimes said. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning “If you take the cost of a solar system … over its 20-year life period, the effective cost you’re paying is .5c per hour. If you were a typical customer, say in Sydney, you’d be paying .35c per hour. “All in all, we expect growth year on year. The question at the moment is really how big is that growth going to be.” | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/royce-kurmelovs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-01-18T23:38:42Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2015/dec/27/2015-rainfall-temperature-sunshine | The weather in 2015 | 2015 was a notably wet year in the north-west of the UK, culminating in the disastrous floods in Cumbria and southern Scotland in early December. The period from May to July brought remorseless rain and low temperatures to Scotland too. However, although the year as a whole was cool in the north (with average temperatures in the south), new high UK temperature records were set in July and November. Provisional figures suggest that December will have been the mildest for centuries in England and Wales. Daytime Temperatures The average Central England Temperature for 2015 was provisionally 10.2C, 0.4C above the 1981-2010 average. The first 11 months of the year were mostly cool in northern parts of the UK, but close to average in the south. In December, mean temperatures were nearly 6C above the 1981-2010 average in a few places in southern England. The average Central England temperature for December was provisionally around 9.5C, 5.4C above average, clearly beating the previous record of 8.1C set in 1934 and 1974. By contrast, northern Scotland was about 2C above average. New UK monthly records were set on 1 July at Heathrow (36.7C, the highest temperature of the year) and on 1 December at Trawscoed in Ceredigion (22.4C). Rainfall The year’s rainfall was dominated by heavy rain over the west of Scotland, north-west England and Snowdonia at times, notably in January, March and December. Scotland had a very unsettled spell between May and late July with very few dry days. The moisture-laden south-westerly winds in December gave exceptional rainfall totals with over 700mm recorded in the Lake District and Snowdonia. Honister Pass, Cumbria, set a new record for 24-hours rainfall in the UK with a total of 341mm in the 24 hours to 6pm on 5 December. In contrast, parts of London and the Home Counties were drier than average between February and June. Sunshine Sunshine for the year was mostly just below average. The sunniest month for the country as a whole was April, especially in the north-west, though in the south-east of England, June was marginally sunnier. May was unsettled and failed to provide the usual sunshine totals, and the next two months continued in a similar vein in north-western parts. September was quite fine and dry, but sunshine was scarce in the last two months of the year due to the persistence of moist south-westerly winds bringing sub-tropical cloud north-east across the North Atlantic. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-12-27T21:30:09Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2020/oct/12/weatherwatch-hitlers-plan-for-intuitive-meteorologists | Weatherwatch: Hitler's plan for intuitive meteorologists | “Weather prediction is not a science that can be learned mechanically,” said Adolf Hitler in October 1941. Germany had invaded Russia, and forecasting was becoming an important issue. Hitler, who had not completed secondary school, believed weather prediction required a particular knack, rather than instruments and scientific models: “What we need are men gifted with a sixth sense, who live in nature and with nature – whether or not they know anything about isotherms and isobars.” The Führer wanted to recruit a corps of natural talents and install telephones in their rural shacks. They would call in forecasts based on their feelings and German lore, interpreting the signs from clouds, birds, insects and plants. This plan, though never carried out, may have caused some frustration among the Wehrmacht’s scientific weather services. Their operations included meteorologists, weather ships and unmanned weather stations in the Arctic. The Luftwaffe had 12 weather reconnaissance squadrons flying converted bombers as accurate forecasts were vital for planning military operations. Hitler’s comments indicated he was moving away from scientific expertise and towards a more intuitive approach. The first snow fell in western Russia on 7 October but no winter clothing was issued. The catastrophe for the German military that followed suggests that sometimes it pays to listen to the experts. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/meteorology', 'world/adolf-hitler', 'world/secondworldwar', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-10-12T20:30:49Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global-development/2023/sep/07/a-ban-on-used-clothing-imports-isnt-the-answer-uganda-must-find-homegrown-solutions | A ban on used clothing imports isn’t the answer – Uganda must find homegrown solutions | Bobby Kolade | “Stop buying secondhand clothes, these clothes are for dead people.” At the opening ceremony of the Sino-Uganda Mbale industrial park in late August, our president announced an unexpected ban on imported secondhand clothes. The audience responded to Yoweri Museveni’s rhetoric with laughter. A dead white person’s clothes being packed and shipped to Uganda is a compelling image with which to galvanise the masses. But secondhand clothes don’t come from the dead. That’s not how fast-fashion systems work. People don’t die quickly enough for fast fashion, only trends do. The announcement is a harsh slap in the face for the communities across Uganda whose livelihoods rely on the secondhand trade. Importers, market vendors, upcyclers, fashion designers, artists and waste managers have for decades found creative ways to make a living out of fast-fashion waste. Seven years have passed since the last ban on secondhand clothes was proposed by the East African Community. During that time, Chinese interests in the region have been consolidated, with new highways, airports, railways and seaports built in strategic locations under China’s belt and road initiative. At the same time, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which offers preferential trade treatment to Ugandan products entering the US market, is nearing its 2025 expiry date. While Rwanda implemented a secondhand clothing ban in 2016, Uganda backed out under pressure from the US, which is – unsurprisingly – one of the top suppliers of secondhand clothing to the country. I don’t believe a ban is the answer. The supply chain can’t be dismantled within the president’s now-expired seven-day deadline. According to the Uganda Dealers in Used Clothing and Shoes Association, there are more than 4 million Ugandans directly and indirectly active in the used-clothing and textiles supply chain. Orders for secondhand clothes from suppliers in China, the US, Canada, the UK, Turkey, Australia and the UAE have already been placed before the end-of-year holiday season. Under the proposed ruling, would the containers en route to Uganda be sent back? Will the 50,000 vendors at Owino Market in Kampala be compensated, or sent home? What happens to all the small businesses upcycling secondhand clothes? Painful as it is to acknowledge, secondhand textiles are a valuable source of tax revenue for our country. A ban is a vote for economic suicide. Independent reports and studies over the years have suggested that a gradual phase-out scheme is the only feasible long-term solution, and I agree. If only we could ban the importation of torn and stained clothing. Only in an unjust, waste-colonial world are Ugandan importers blindly forced to purchase bales of white shirts with yellow-green armpits. A ban can only work if the affected communities are consulted and alternatives and timelines are collectively designed. Communities know what they need – let’s listen and co-create with them. Large foreign investment is a national priority. Chinese companies are given land by the Ugandan government to build industrial parks. With tax exemptions and preferential treatment for importing machinery and raw materials, Uganda is lucrative for them, while local startups struggle to break even under the weight of bureaucracy and taxes. I’m reminded of the preferential treatment the British protectorate offered Asian people during colonial rule. New textile facilities such as Rong Sheng Garments and Kyoga Textile Company at the industrial park look impressive on paper, but how sustainable are they in practice? Are they breeding grounds for exploitation? As a nation, our capacity to redesign, reuse, upcycle and remake has developed into a culture and a visual language – why not develop smaller industries around these circular ideas as opposed to replicating unprogressive models of production and working environments. There are local alternatives which may not create 2,000 jobs at once, but are replicable in eco-friendly settings in rural areas. Support Ugandan silk farmers; reintroduce hand-weaving to rural women’s groups; restructure and empower the cotton industry so it can rebound to its former glory; invest in hemp and bamboo fibre production. Raw material production should always be at the core of any textile industry, and with the abundance of resources in Uganda, we have the potential to excel at sustainable fibre production. Before my company Buzigahill launched its Return to Sender line in 2021, our mission was to produce clothes for the local population using Ugandan cotton. After years of research, we conceded: Uganda’s textile industry lacks the capacity to substitute secondhand clothes. Instead, we now redesign secondhand clothes and redistribute them to the global north. Waste is already a commodity. If the global north is exploiting our ecosystems by selling us low-quality clothing, sometimes damaged and unwearable, their investments should focus on creating the capacity to transform the waste where they have suffocated local markets over the past five decades. We strongly support the Ghana-based Or Foundation’s campaign, Stop Waste Colonialism, to “to support a justice-led transition from a linear to a circular economy” by making the global north accountable for its fast-fashion waste through the extended producer responsibility fund. For too long, Ugandans have looked outwards for role models. We have been coerced into an inferiority complex. Yet the solutions are already within. They are at Owino Market and at Buzigahill. They are in the soil and the rains. They must be supported and nurtured, not threatened by our government and imported ideas. • Bobby Kolade is a Ugandan fashion designer, founder of Buzigahill and co-host of the Vintage or Violence podcast | ['global-development/series/opinion--global-development-', 'global-development/global-development', 'fashion/fashion-industry', 'world/uganda', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'world/africa', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'world/world', 'campaign/email/global-dispatch', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-09-07T06:00:19Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/jan/15/warming-oceans-force-leatherback-turtles-on-longer-journeys-to-feed | Warming oceans force leatherback turtles on longer journeys to feed | Leatherback turtles are making exhausting journeys, in some cases nearly twice as long as usual, from nesting to feeding grounds, because of rising ocean temperatures and changing sea currents. After nesting, turtles must move to cooler waters to feed, but higher temperatures mean some are having to swim further to reach suitable areas, according to research from Greenpeace and the French Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, part of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. The researchers tagged 10 nesting female leatherback turtles last year on the Yalimapo and Remire-Montjoly beaches of French Guiana, and then tracked their migration through the north Atlantic. Some of the turtles were found to have swum as far as Nova Scotia in north-east Canada and to France to find new feeding grounds for the jellyfish which form their main diet. Though small in scale, the research provides an insight into how some marine species are being forced to adapt to the warming oceans. This week scientists warned that ocean temperatures had reached record levels with the last five years, which were the five hottest on record. Warming oceans pose clear dangers to human life as they lead to more intense storms and rising sea levels, but the impact of the increasing frequency of heatwaves at sea on marine species is much less studied. There is evidence that some species, including commercially important fish such as cod, are migrating towards the poles in search of cooler waters, but more research is needed for a fuller picture. In another stark example of the dangers to marine life from human actions, one turtle followed was found dead on a beach in Suriname only 120km (74 miles) from the starting point, drowned after having become enmeshed in a discarded fishing net. Estimates say more than half of all sea turtles have ingested plastic. The animals also face threats from overfishing, though they are mainly bycatch rather than targets. The beaches of French Guiana were once abundant turtle nesting grounds, but now the eggs laid there are only a small fraction of those laid 30 years ago. Last year, the complete absence of leatherback turtles from a beach in a nature reserve in Nicaragua also raised alarm. “Sea turtles survived the extinction of the dinosaurs, but they might not survive us,” said Will McCallum, a campaigner at Greenpeace. “Human activity has put such severe pressure on sea turtle populations around the world that six out of the seven species are threatened with extinction. Without urgent action the situation will only get worse.” | ['environment/marine-life', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-01-15T00:01:48Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2020/apr/24/church-fund-urges-other-exxonmobil-investors-to-sack-board-over-climate-inaction | Church fund urges other ExxonMobil investors to sack board over climate | The Church of England’s investment arm has urged shareholders in ExxonMobil to vote against re-electing the oil company’s entire board for failing to take action on the climate crisis. The Church Commissioners and New York State Common Retirement Fund have written to fellow ExxonMobil investors ahead of an annual shareholder meeting on 27 May, hoping to support for the protest votes, which include forcing ExxonMobil to disclose its lobbying activities and their cost . “Our voting intentions are, again, a measure of our profound dissatisfaction with ExxonMobil’s approach to climate change risks and the governance failures that underpin it,” the letter said. “As the world, ExxonMobil’s peers and investors confront the climate emergency, ExxonMobil is carrying on as if nothing has changed. It is crystal clear to us that ExxonMobil’s inadequate response to climate change constitutes a broad failure of corporate governance and a specific failure of independent directors to oversee management,” the letter added. A report released last year found that ExxonMobil would need to slash its oil production by 55% by 2040 to meet global climate targets and avoid driving temperatures 1.5C higher than pre-industrialised levels. The C of E holds a small stake in Exxon, worth about £7m compared with the oil company’s market value of more than $183bn (£146bn). However, the Church Commissioners have proven to be influential shareholders regardless of their size. Last year, ExxonMobil appealed to US regulators and successfully blocked a C of E-led resolution that would have forced the oil firm to disclose its emissions reduction targets. In protest, the C of E called for ExxonMobil to install an independent chairman, and it gained 40% backing. The Church Commissioners have again filed a resolution calling for the chief executive and chairman roles – held by Darren Woods – to be separated. But Exxon is again at odds with the Church Commissioners voting plans. The oil giant is recommending that investors vote in favour of re-electing all of its board members, but is recommending they reject the shareholder resolutions, including the lobbying report. A Guardian investigation last year found that Exxon had spent €37.2m (£32.4m) lobbying the EU since 2010, according to data released though the EU’s transparency register. That is more than other major oil companies including shell and BP, which spent €36.5m and €18.1m respectively on lobbying Brussels officials to shape EU climate policy. It also recently emerged that ExxonMobil met key European commission officials in an attempt to water down the European Green Deal in the weeks before it was agreed, according to a climate lobbying watchdog. ExxonMobil was not immediately available for comment, but in a document released ahead of its AGM it said that its position on key issues and lobbying were publicly available on its website and that it followed all applicable disclosure laws. The company also defended the board’s approach to the climate crisis, saying it “routinely reviews environmental stewardship and discusses issues related to the company’s business, including the risks related to climate change”. ExxonMobil has rejected calls for an independent chairman, saying that the rest of the board was already made up of independent directors and that the change would not improve oversight or be in shareholders’ best interest. | ['business/exxonmobil', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/investing', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'business/oil', 'business/commodities', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/anglicanism', 'environment/environment', 'business/corporate-governance', 'environment/fossil-fuel-divestment', 'world/religion', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kalyeena-makortoff', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/fossil-fuel-divestment | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2020-04-24T13:58:48Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
media/pda/2008/sep/30/digitalvideo | Adobe denies security problem with Amazon video service | By Joseph Weisenthal Last Friday, Reuters filed a story with the title: "Hole in Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) software allows free movie downloads". The allegation, backed up by famed security expert Bruce Schneier, was that the company had taken a shortcut to boost the speed of online movie streams from Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN), resulting in a security flaw that allowed viewers to get free movies. Of course, several other places picked up the story and ran with it. Anyway, the story isn't closed. Adobe denies it took a shortcut or that it bears any responsibility. In a blog post, Adobe's Kevin Towes lays out a fairly technical argument for why the Reuters story contained misinformation and why its technology (in this case, its Flash Server) is secure. However, it does acknowledge that certain pieces of malicious software can allow a user to steal movies if something is misconfigured. And here lies the rub: In many of these cases, where multiple web services interact, there's no company actually at fault. It's just a matter of getting everyone to work together. From paidContent: • Interview: MediaNews' Singleton on what's ailing newspapers: It's the economy, not the internet • Industry Moves: MSFT's Mehdi upped to lead much of online services- but not as president: report • Yahoo reorgs Connected Life division; next phase focused on making money on mobile • Bailout bill dies: weakness hits everyone; GOOG closes bBelow $400; AAPL off nearly 20% • NBC Sports: 12m hours of Olympics video served across all digital platforms From paidContent:UK: • BSkyB/ITV ruling in full: Murdoch's appeal fails, 'will review' findings • Carsonified sells Dropsend web app to boost its coffers • Evening Standard gets yet another rethink; ThisIsLondon sidelined • Europe wants to spearhead 'Web 3.0' - whatever that is… • Earnings: interactive gamer NetPlay TV growing fast | ['media/pda', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'tone/blog', 'media/media', 'type/article', 'profile/paidcontent'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-09-30T07:55:49Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/jul/13/how-truth-gets-lost-in-the-bbcs-search-for-balance | How truth gets lost in the BBC’s search for balance | Letter | What now appears to be the most important feature of public debate is that two sides of a question are presented. As George Monbiot points out (How the BBC let climate deniers walk all over it, 8 July), this has major shortcomings if we have no means of placing “two sides” in a wider context. Knowing who funds an organisation is a very small but relevant part of that context. The national broadcaster and all journalists have a responsibility to foreground the bare bones of a debate – if the weight of evidence with regard to the origins and effects of global heating is well established, then this needs to be explicit in the questioning. Simply resetting the interview to neutral, apparently for the sake of “balance”, creates a false baseline from which we cannot assess the veracity of what is being argued. We are in a hostile environment for reasoned debate. What can we do? We can require our journalists and their organisations to help us avoid drowning in ignorance before we have even been able to make an effort to understand the challenges that we face. Paul Hartley Witney, Oxfordshire • 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', 'media/bbc', 'media/media', 'environment/environment', 'world/activism', 'environment/activism', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-07-13T17:18:59Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2021/nov/08/french-couple-wins-legal-fight-wind-turbine-syndrome-windfarm-health | French couple who said windfarm affected health win legal fight | A French court has recognised “turbine syndrome” after a couple complained their health was damaged by living near a windfarm. In what is believed to be the first judgment of its kind in France, Belgians Christel and Luc Fockaert were awarded more than €100,000 in compensation by the judge in Toulouse. The couple claimed they experienced a range of health problems including headaches, insomnia, heart irregularities, depression, dizziness, tinnitus and nausea for more than two years, insisting these were caused by six wind turbines set up 700 metres from their home at Fontrieu in the Tarn, southern France. The turbines had been installed in 2008. However, it was reported that the couple’s health problems started five years later. The Fockaerts believed this was because woodland between their property and the nearest turbine was cut down. They singled out the noise, which they said was “comparable to a washing machine continually turning”, and the “white flashing lights” on the turbines, as particularly detrimental to their health. “We didn’t understand straight away, but little by little we realised the problem came from the turbines,” Christel Fockaert said. “The turbines flash every two seconds … we had to have outside lights to counter the effect of the flashes.” The couple moved away from the area in 2015 and said their health problems disappeared shortly afterwards. Doctors failed to find any health problem, but a court expert said turbine syndrome had been previously identified by scientific research. However, an Australian study found sickness attributed to wind turbines is more likely to have been caused by people getting alarmed at the health warnings circulated by activists. Researchers said it was “essentially a sociological phenomenon” and that giving it a name like “wind turbine syndrome” and “vibro-acoustic disease” was a key feature in its spread. Other peer-reviewed studies in Europe, Canada and the US have also debunked the alleged “syndrome” – that is not medically recognised – suggesting it is adverse publicity, opposition to the turbines or the power of negative expectations and suggestions that might be making people feel sick. The Fockaerts’ case was originally thrown out of court in January last year but they appealed, saying the judge had ignored the experts’ reports they had commissioned and instead had gone to see for themselves but had spent only an hour at the site of the complaint. The energy companies Sasu, Margnes Energie and Sasu Singladou Energie, which run the park, were ordered to pay €110,000 in compensation to the couple and were reported to have since changed the lights and speed of the six turbines. Alice Terrasse, the couple’s lawyer, told French television: “It’s an unusual case and as far as I know there has been no precedent.” The ruling is expected to spark a flood of complaints, but Terrasse warned against others seeking to profit from the Fockaerts’ victory. “This case cannot be reproduced. This (wind) park caused an unusual nuisance because of its configuration but each case is different and should be examined differently.” She added that the judgment should serve as a warning to those companies setting up windfarms to reflect carefully on their impact on the local population. Emmanuel Forichon, of the environmental collective Toutes Nos Énergies - Occitanie Environnement (All our Energy - Occitanie Environment) said the ruling was “important and brave”. “We already consider environmental issues and biodiversity, and occasionally the impact on landscapes, but not enough the issues of human health. This could create a jurisprudence and, above all, make the regulations evolve,” he said. | ['world/france', 'environment/windpower', 'world/world', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kim-willsher', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2021-11-08T11:04:30Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2018/jun/13/lets-go-with-the-grain-of-tidal-power | Let’s go with the grain of tidal power | Brief letters | Further to your travel feature on the Greek island of Leros (9 June), may I recommend to your readers Four’s Destiny: A Wartime Greek Tragedy by Michael Powell, a fictionalised account centring on Leros. Powell weaves a clever, powerful story around some fascinating wartime history. We follow four young men, one each from England, Germany, Italy and Greece, as the second world war changes their lives and destinies. Ruth Samuels Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire • Re the proposed Swansea Bay tidal power lagoon (Letters, 11 June), the tidal-powered grain mill on the River Lea at Bromley-by-Bow in London was economic from the 1700s to the 1930s – and without the super-efficient bearings common in today’s machinery. Such small-scale hydro-powered generators (tidal and river) should be all over the country – they’d provide work and be far less expensive than nuclear. But some city slickers won’t be so able to extract their rent from localised generation so it won’t be approved by UK’s present government. Robin Le Mare Allithwaite, Cumbria • Unlike Pat Ellacott (Letters, 11 June), I find Feast a most helpful and attractive magazine. To have Thomasina, Yotam and Felicity all together is inspiring for an avid cook like me. A bonus is a retreat from an obsession with east London pop-up cooks, and a refreshing focus on the world as a whole. Matt or glossy – it doesn’t matter. Good recipes do. Janet Mansfield Aspatria, Cumbria • In addition to VW Beetle owners waving to one another (Letters, 12 June), do you remember when the AA man on his motorbike and sidecar would salute if he noticed you had a metal AA badge on the front of your car? Chris Jones Bewdley, Worcestershire • As your style guide makes clear, unless Kim Jong-un and President Trump were passing notes, they would have been using interpreters, not translators (Report, 12 June). Alun Pugh Gellifor, Vale of Clwyd • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | ['environment/hydropower', 'books/fiction', 'culture/heritage', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'tone/letters', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/wave-tidal-hydropower', 'culture/culture', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'books/books', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2018-06-13T16:43:56Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/nov/25/real-beacon-battery-tech-company-lists-on-uk-market-in-first-for-university-of-sydney | ‘Real beacon’: Australian company developing zinc-bromide battery technology lists for $285m | A developer of new low-cost, fire-resistant battery technology spun out of the University of Sydney is set to list on the London Stock Exchange. The company, Gelion plc, will be the university’s first market listing anywhere when it is scheduled to begin trading on the bourse’s Alternative Investment Market on November 30. It raised £16m ($30m), giving the company a market capitalisation of £154m ($A285m), and allowing Gelion to accelerate the research and production of new storage products, primarily zinc-bromide batteries. While the combination was originally patented in 1889, the university team led by Prof Thomas Maschmeyer created a zinc-bromide gel that they claim is a safer, longer-lasting and cheaper form of storage than the dominant lithium batteries. “It will not catch fire. If anything, it puts it out,” Maschmeyer said, detailing some of Gelion’s advantages. “It has that high temperature operation window [up to 50C] and it’s really super safe, recyclable and has a really low environmental footprint.” By contrast, lithium batteries are more of a fire hazard and perform less well in heat, requiring temperature controls and other engineering work, he said. Lithium now dominates the battery market because of its relatively high energy density, making it suitable for mobile applications from smartphones to electric vehicles. Other forms of storage, such as thermal energy or compressed air, are also vying for a share of a market that Bloomberg New Energy Finance this month predicted would grow from 17 gigawatts in 2020 to a cumulative 358GW by the decade’s end. So far, Gelion’s total sales have totalled about $1m as it prepared demonstration products using its Endure-branded battery. The company plans to use the funds raised from listing to expand its manufacturing site in Fairfield in Sydney’s west, and to start producing batteries in India. “I can see that Australian manufacturing actually being very substantially upgraded into potentially a gigawatt-hour a year capability,” Maschmeyer said. Gelion’s strategy hinges largely on convincing existing makers of lead-acid batteries to retrofit their operations to use zinc-bromide instead. Such a conversion to produce a 1GW-hour annual output would cost about $US16m ($22m), compared with an estimated $US76m for a rival EOS Energy to start a zinc-bromide plant from scratch, or $US135m for a similar-sized lithium plant, he said. Once zinc-bromide batteries can be produced at even a modest scale, their cost of operation will prove to be 25% less than lithium because they don’t need fire-suppression systems or airconditioning, Maschmeyer predicted. “The system costs go down, down, down, and so already at a low level of manufacturing, we are competitive,” he said “We don’t need 10GW hours [of scale] to get the manufacturing cost down.” Maschmeyer, who will step down as Gelion’s executive chairman, but remain its principal technology adviser, said the firm had chosen London over a Sydney listing in part because of tax incentives in the UK. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Australia is also a more risk-averse market with investors still spooked by the polarised debate over climate action unleashed during Tony Abbott’s election in 2013. “The climate wars of the Coalition have, you know, really hurt that whole investment climate and led to investment uncertainty, and everybody hates uncertainty,” he said. “It wasn’t a huge difference at the end of the day, but it was enough of a difference for us to go to the UK.” Li Daixin, a China-based storage analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance based, said a zinc-bromide battery “intrinsically has a lower energy density and lower charging/discharging rate [than lithium batteries] and thus has a much narrower application scenario”. “Also its further cost reduction is harder because of the lack of economies of scale,” Li said. “It mainly targets some stationary storage applications that require long-duration systems. So I don’t think it can be taken as a rival to lithium and instead could be complementary in the storage market for some application scenarios.” Other technologies in Gelion’s pipeline include developing silicon and sulfur additives that can improve lithium battery performance. This technology would be licensed to existing battery markers rather than the company trying to produce them. “We’re just making the lithium ion and lithium sulfur batteries more energy dense and less prone to thermal runaway waste,” Maschmeyer said. “So we’re not eating into the same markets [as zinc-bromide]. They’re completely separate markets.” The company expects to break even by early 2024. The listing will help boost current staff in Australia from 30 to 45. The University of Sydney’s 5% share in Gelion will be reduced to 3% after the listing dilutes its holding. The university’s support showed “what’s necessary for a startup to go all the way to listing and they’re putting their money where their mouth is,” Maschmeyer said “They’ve just been a real beacon.” This story was amended on 25 November 2021. The headline previously stated the company had listed. It is due to list on 30 November 2021. It also stated the company raised £154m ($A285m) when the correct figure was £16m, with the University of Sydney’s share reduced from 5% to 3%. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'business/londonstockexchangegroup', 'business/business', 'australia-news/sydney', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2021-11-25T08:00:04Z | true | ENERGY |
money/2017/sep/11/uk-diesel-car-value-pollution-vauxhall-audi-bmw-price | UK diesel car values dive by up to a quarter amid pollution crackdown | The value of some used diesel cars has dropped by as much as 26% since the start of this year amid a crackdown on older vehicles. Second-hand Vauxhall, Audi and BMW diesels have fallen most in price, according to research by the car-buying website Motorway.co.uk. The average used Vauxhall Corsa with a diesel engine has slumped in price from £2,160 to just £1,592 since the start of 2017, a drop of 26%. The average used diesel car fell in value by 5.7% between the first quarter of 2017 and the third quarter, while used petrol car values rose by 5%. Motorists are increasingly worried that diesels could become near-worthless in years to come as cities ban the dirtiest polluting vehicles. Next month the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is introducing a £10 emissions surcharge – also known as the toxicity charge, or T-Charge – on top of the existing £11.50 congestion charge that is expected to hit around 10,000 pre-2006 cars, with diesels likely to be most affected. Other cities in the UK have also debated following London, with plans mooted for parts of Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton. Air pollution is believed to cause almost 40,000 premature deaths every year in the UK, with the British government warned this week by the UN that it has violated its obligation to protect people’s lives and health. Over the past couple of years there has been a constant stream of negative news for diesel vehicle owners, from the VW emissions scandal to new scientific evidence on diesel’s impact on air quality. But Motorway.co.uk said the data shows that it was not until the second half of this year that diesel values began to slide. “The trends point to this drop accelerating further as the year progresses,” it said. Major corporate car buyers are already ruling out any further purchases of diesels. Uber, which has about 40,000 London drivers, said this week it will cease using diesel cars in London by the end of 2019 and the vast majority of rides will be in electric or hybrid vehicles by then. BT, which is one of the biggest UK corporate buyers of cars and vans, said this week it will phase out diesel and petrol-only engines in its fleet of nearly 30,000 vehicles, to be replaced by hybrid or electric-only vehicles. However, big changes to fuel duty that would have hit diesel drivers have failed to materialise. Earlier this year the prime minister, Theresa May, promised she would not punish drivers of older diesel cars who were encouraged to buy the polluting vehicles under the Labour government. May said in April that motorists who were urged to switch from petrol to diesel under Tony Blair’s government would be taken into account in future plans. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'money/motoring', 'business/automotive-industry', 'money/money', 'technology/motoring', 'technology/technology', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrickcollinson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-money'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-09-11T17:22:24Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2019/jul/18/uk-energy-saving-efforts-collapse-after-government-slashes-subsidies | UK energy-saving efforts collapse after government subsidy cuts | Efforts to end fuel poverty and energy waste by making the UK’s draughty homes more efficient have collapsed by almost 85%, according to new government data. The report, published on Thursday, shows that the number of energy efficiency upgrades undertaken each month has fallen to 10,000 on average for the six months to the end of May. This compares with an average of 65,000 a month in 2014. The latest figures show that in May about 10,000 properties benefited from energy efficiency measures, such as loft insulation or boiler upgrades, down sharply from about 30,000 in the same month in 2015 and 2016. At this rate it would take 96 years for the government to reach its own targets to reduce fuel poverty, according to the charity National Energy Action. Peter Smith, a director at the fuel-poverty campaign group, said the progress was “a fraction” of what was required to ensure 1.2m homes are renovated each year until 2035 . “This is exceptionally disappointing,” he said. “Based on this dire progress, it would take over 96 years to help all the fuel-poor households who currently live in homes with solid walls.” The report has emerged following a stark warning from MPs last week that the UK has “no chance” of meeting its climate-crisis targets without a major overhaul of energy-efficiency programmes. A select committee report found that public investment in energy efficiency has shrunk in recent years, even though it is the cheapest way to cut carbon emissions. It said the government risks undermining its own climate targets unless it treats energy efficiency as a national infrastructure priority. Rachel Reeves, the chair of the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, said ministers have “continued to sit on their hands” despite the consensus support for energy efficiency. “If the government lacks the political will to deliver energy efficiency improvements, how can we expect it to get on with the costlier actions needed to tackle climate change?” she said. The report blamed a lack of public spending for the falling number of home insulation installations, which have plummeted by 95% from 2012. Households in England have been hardest hit since the former prime minister David Cameron reportedly told aides in 2013 to “get rid of all the green crap” levied on energy bills. Energy efficiency is “not only crucial for tackling climate change but are vital for lowering customers’ energy bills and lifting people out of fuel poverty”, Reeves said. The committee said ministers must urgently establish a central national fund to help low-income, vulnerable and fuel-poor households insulate their homes. Ed Matthew, from climate-crisis thinktank E3G, said energy efficiency must be “mission critical” for the next prime minister. “The UK has no hope of reaching net-zero emissions unless the government, including the Treasury, makes energy efficiency an infrastructure investment priority,” he added. The BEIS said: “No one should be cold in their own home. To eradicate fuel poverty, we are driving £6bn into energy efficiency and £300m each year to help 2m low-income households get money off their winter energy bills – while our energy price cap protects households from rip-off deals. “This is part of our wider commitment to achieve net zero emissions while also cutting home energy bills, and to ensure all homes are at least EPC Band C by 2035.” | ['environment/energyefficiency', 'society/fuel-poverty', 'environment/energy', 'money/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'money/household-bills', 'money/money', 'uk/uk', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'society/society', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'society/poverty', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2019-07-18T17:16:01Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2021/may/27/weatherwatch-ana-becomes-first-storm-of-the-atlantic-hurricane-season | Ana becomes first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season | Ana became the first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season at the end of last week. It obtained tropical storm status with maximum sustained winds reaching 45mph. This is the seventh year in succession where the first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season has formed before the official start of the season which is 1 June. The earlier formation of storms is largely down to sea surface temperatures reaching 27C – the level needed for tropical storms to form – earlier in the year due to climate change. There was tragedy in Gansu province, China, where 21 people died during an ultramarathon event on Saturday. The previous day had been hot, but on the day of the race temperatures dropped significantly and there was heavy rain and hail. This caused a landslide on the mountainous route, which has a maximum altitude of more than 1,000 metres. Parts of the Arctic Circle in north-west Russia at the end of last week had heatwave conditions, with temperatures more than 20C above average. The town of Nar’jan-Mar reached 31.7C on 20 May. High pressure in eastern Russia and low pressure across western Europe allowed a southerly airflow to develop across western parts of Russia, bringing in the unusually hot air from Asia. | ['world/hurricanes', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/oceans', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-05-27T05:00:20Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2023/apr/17/uk-bidding-renewable-energy-green-jobs-joe-biden | UK ministers review bidding process for funding new renewable energy projects | Ministers are considering an overhaul of the bidding process to fund new renewable energy projects in an effort to create green jobs, amid Joe Biden’s subsidy race. The government said on Monday it has begun a review of the “contracts for difference” (CfD) scheme, which is used to determine the price of electricity from offshore wind and solar farms, with the aim of adding factors such as how many jobs they create to the regular auctions. The move comes partially in response to the net zero review by the former energy minister Chris Skidmore and amid a global race to provide greater subsidies for renewables projects following Biden’s $369bn (£297bn) Inflation Reduction Act package. Ministers are under pressure to boost the domestic supply chain for renewables projects and speed up Britain’s transition away from fossil fuels with the aim of reaching net zero by 2050. Under the CfD scheme, the government awards 15-year contracts for low-carbon power generation projects such as solar and offshore windfarms. Renewable energy generators bid for contracts to produce electricity, but the government can set a limit on how much capacity it wants in the auctions and can cap how much cash it provides as incentives. The CfD system aims to give investors certainty over the levels of returns they can receive, amid wild swings in the price of power – as witnessed during the energy crisis. Now, officials will examine whether the scheme can be revamped to reward developers that offer undertakings on more than just providing a certain amount of power within an agreed price range. Prices for consumers have consistently fallen as technology to build renewables projects has improved over the past two decades. The government said in a statement that, beyond cost, the reforms could result in “non-price factors” including “supply chain sustainability, addressing skills gaps, innovation and enabling system and grid flexibility” being included in the bidding process. It said developers that invested in long-term supply chains may be able to cut their carbon footprint and train up technicians to work on even larger projects needed in future. The energy minister, Graham Stuart, said the government wanted to “maximise” the potential of the CfD scheme “to improve energy security and ensure renewable energy developers can make the necessary investment in supply chains and innovation”. Adam Berman of the trade body Energy UK welcomed the move and said it could help give investors greater certainty given that “inflation, commodity price increases, and pressure from international competition mean that the UK will have to continue working hard to pull in the investment required to reach our net zero and energy security goals”. Ed Miliband, the shadow net zero secretary, said: “Under the Tories, too many jobs in our renewable industries have been lost overseas. We need to learn from president Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to deliver good jobs in our communities, but this government is refusing to do so. “Labour will seize this opportunity for Britain – creating good jobs, lowering bills and delivering energy security.” Josh Buckland, a partner at consultancy Flint Global and former energy adviser at the business department, said: “Given British consumers ultimately bear the cost of support for green electricity through their bills, its right that government is looking to ensure households get maximum value for what they are paying, including unlocking more investment in UK supply chains.” This year’s auction got under way last month with a budget of £205m to allocate to projects in England, Scotland and Wales, including £35m for emerging technologies such as a geothermal energy and floating offshore wind. The results are expected in late summer or early autumn. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2023-04-17T11:18:20Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2023/oct/17/malawi-swelters-in-record-heat-with-temperatures-nearly-20c-above-average | Malawi swelters in record heat with temperatures nearly 20C above average | Malawians endured the country’s hottest weekend on record, with temperatures reaching nearly 20C above the seasonal average. The heatwave began last Thursday with the government warning people to stay out of the sun, to keep hydrated, and avoid alcohol and caffeine. Some school buildings in the south of the country were evacuated, and children were taught in the shade of playground trees. By Saturday, parts of Malawi saw a maximum temperature of 43C (109F), compared with an average of nearly 25C (77F) for the time of year. The temperatures had dropped by Monday, but in an advisory last week the country’s Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services warned of a “prolonged period of hot and uncomfortable weather” throughout October. Kick-off for Malawi’s Super League football matches was delayed for 30 minutes in an attempt to avoid the worst of the heat. Players were encouraged to take regular water breaks during matches. Malawi experienced similar heat in November 2020, when a temperature of 37C was recorded. Experts are pointing to climate change as the cause of the extreme weather; global temperatures in 2023 have been the hottest on record. “Even under the trees, there is still a hot breeze,” said a teacher at Jombo community secondary school in Chikwawa district, southern Malawi. “It’s very uncomfortable but we’ve not suspended classes, although students are struggling [to learn] due to too much heat.” Elsewhere in the country, people have heeded the weather bureau’s recommendation to drink plenty of water throughout the day, “even if you don’t feel thirsty”. The bureau also said: “Avoid alcohol and caffeine, as they can cause dehydration. Dress appropriately: wear light, loose-fitting clothing, and use sunscreen to protect your skin from harmful sunlight. Use hats, umbrellas and sunglasses.” It also warned of serious health risks to vulnerable groups, such as elderly people, young children and those with health conditions, though there have not yet been any reports of rising hospital admissions or deaths. • This article was amended on 17 October 2023 to provide more precise temperature differences. | ['global-development/global-development', 'world/malawi', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'environment/extreme-heat', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/extreme-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/charles-pensulo', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/extreme-heat | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-10-17T06:30:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2023/dec/05/coalition-to-have-sizeable-contingent-at-cop28-despite-peter-dutton-jibe-at-climate-change-ministers-attendance | Coalition to have sizeable contingent at Cop28 despite Peter Dutton jibe at climate change minister’s attendance | A significant contingent of Coalition MPs – including federal opposition frontbenchers Paul Fletcher and Bridget McKenzie – will fly out to the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai funded by two ginger groups. Despite Peter Dutton last week making fun of the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, during an interview on 2GB for travelling to the United Nations-led international climate change conference and “incurring all those emissions”, a significant delegation of Coalition MPs will also attend the summit and associated events. The travel is being facilitated by the Coalition for Conservation and Environmental Leadership Australia. As well as McKenzie and Fletcher, the group includes Liberal senators Andrew Bragg, Maria Kovacic and Dean Smith as well as New South Wales Liberals Matt Kean and Kellie Sloane and Queenslanders Sam O’Connor and Steve Minnikin. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Australia has backed a pledge at Cop28 to triple global renewable energy capacity and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. But Australia did not sign up to a commitment by 22 countries, including the US, Canada, Japan and Britain, to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050. McKenzie, a former agriculture minister and currently the shadow infrastructure minister, will attend nuclear events associated with Cop28 and also speak at a forum designed to mobilise global support for climate responsive agriculture. She told Guardian Australia: “If we are serious about climate change then we need to be serious about the solutions to ensure energy security in a low emission future. “Logically, until alternatives are found, this surely includes nuclear.” Fletcher, the shadow science minister, told Guardian Australia he looked forward to learning “more about the wide array of technologies being developed and deployed, including nuclear and renewable technologies, as well as key transition fuels like natural gas”. “As we transition towards net zero, the role of science and technology is critical,” Fletcher said. He pointed to the work of Australian companies doing “amazing work” to develop those technologies such as SunDrive in southern Sydney, Newcastle’s Minerals Carbon International and Jupiter Ionics at Monash University in Melbourne, and said he hoped to learn about others at Cop28. Coalition for Conservation is supportive of nuclear energy. Environmental Leadership Australia is technology agnostic. Anna Rose, the chief executive of Environmental Leadership Australia, said on Monday the group was “focused on building bipartisan support for climate solutions”. “Over the past four years we have established strong, constructive relationships with Liberal and National party politicians at both federal and state levels [and] we’re thrilled to be taking political leaders to Cop28 in Dubai where they will discuss with global counterparts how other nations are reducing carbon pollution and developing the new industries and jobs of a future, zero-emissions economy,” she said. Bowen will fly to Dubai for the event’s final week, when ministers will attempt to wrangle a consensus position on how to lift action to tackle the climate crisis in the face of rising geopolitical tensions. Australia was represented at the opening plenary by its climate change ambassador, Kristin Tilley. The shadow climate minister, Ted O’Brien – who has led the Coalition’s push to embrace nuclear energy in opposition – will also attend the summit. In the Senate on Monday, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, was asked by the shadow climate minister, Simon Birmingham, whether she agreed with the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the US special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, that nuclear energy was an essential component of reaching net zero emissions. Wong said some of Australia’s allies had “chosen to go down the nuclear path, but that is not the approach Australia has taken”. Asked why Australia had not signed the nuclear pledge at Cop28, Wong said most of the signatories were countries with nuclear industries although “a number of countries that have nuclear energy industries did not sign the pledge and Australia joined 117 other countries to sign a pledge to triple global renewable energy capacity, which reflects … the priorities of the government”. Wong noted the opposition was “very, very, very committed to the nuclear path”. “I understand Mr O’Brien has said he would be happy to have [a reactor] in his electorate,” Wong said. “That’s a matter for him … but we will focus on the form of energy which is the cheapest form of new energy, which is renewable energy, rather than what is frankly an ideological agenda from those opposite.” Nuclear electricity is banned in Australia. The Australian Energy Market Operator’s blueprint for an optimum grid, the integrated system plan, found it could overwhelmingly run on solar and wind, with firming support from batteries, pumped hydro, virtual power plants and some fast-start gas generators that would be turned on only when needed. | ['australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/cop28', 'australia-news/liberal-party', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/national-party', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/katharine-murphy', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/cop28 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2023-12-04T14:00:44Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2009/may/20/wind-farm-opens-scotland | Europe's largest onshore wind farm open and ready to expand | Europe's largest onshore wind farm, which is already powerful enough to meet Glasgow's electricity needs, is to expand by more than a third as part of a major green energy initiative by Scottish ministers. The first minister Alex Salmond announced that the 322MW Whitelee wind farm south of Glasgow had been given permission to increase its capacity to 452MW, as he officially switched on the wind farm this morning. The disclosure came as plans for an even larger scheme, to build a vast community-owned 150 turbine, 540MW scheme on Shetland, were lodged with the Scottish government. Both projects would significantly boost Salmond's plans for half of all Scotland's electricity to come from green sources by 2020. The interim target – to generate 31% of electricity from renewable sources by 2011 – has already been surpassed, officials said. Salmond said Scotland had the theoretical potential to generate 60 gigawatts of green energy, ten times the country's peak demand, because of its geographical position. "The Scottish government is committed to taking full advantage of our 25% share in Europe's wave and windpower capacity," he said. "We are determined to get rid of harmful emissions from our environment while capitalising on the vast economic opportunities our natural advantage in renewable energy poses." The scheme on Shetland is being submitted to ministers later today by Viking Energy, a joint venture between Scottish and Southern Energy, which owns the UK's largest hydro-electricity plants, and an offshoot of the local council, Shetland Charitable Trust. If it wins ministerial approval, the scheme could alone supply 20% of Scotland's electricity needs. Shetland has the highest and most consistent wind speeds in the UK, making it a prime site for green energy developers. However, the Viking windfarm is proving highly controversial. Despite five years of planning, negotiations with residents and redrafting of the scheme, more than 2500 islanders, over 10% of the population, have signed a petition opposing the project. Campaigners with Sustainable Shetland argue the 150-turbine scheme, which will dominate the desolate hills and moors in the centre of Shetland's mainland, would significantly damage peat bogs and destroy the area's scenic value. A group spokesman said it would effectively industrialise the semi-wilderness area. "The concern is that the project is too large for Shetland. It is located on some of Shetland's most inaccessible hills with the deepest peat and that will have huge environmental implications," he said. "That would include the question how the windfarm will affect tourism, how it will affect property prices and how it will change any perception of Shetland." Shetland Charitable Trust insists the project will greatly benefit the islands' vulnerable and isolated economy, bringing in direct profits, wages and community investments of up to £37m a year. That would outstrip the island's income from the Sullom Voe oil terminal on Shetland, which has been crucial in giving Shetlanders the best standard of living of any of Scotland's island groups. The islands' main power station is run on diesel, which has to be imported specially be tanker. In a unique deal brokered in 1973, Shetlanders received £80m in a part-share of all oil landed at Sullom Voe until 2000. The oil fund's value has fallen to £180m in the recession, but over the last 25 years, £200m has been spent on maintaining excellent roads, and building facilities such as sports and swimming centres, and old people's homes. The oil fund no longer receives money from Sullom Voe, and with North Sea oil running out, Shetland faces much tougher economic times, becoming more reliant on fishing, agriculture and tourism. David Thomson, Viking Energy's project officer, said: "Shetland is a fragile economy and we have to take every opportunity we can to diversify the economy. This is one of those very rare circumstances when something we can do is both good for Shetland but also for the rest of the nation. It's a win-win scenario." Apart from securing ministerial approval, the Viking wind farm will also need a £500m, 600MW sub-sea cable laid from Shetland to export the electricity to the UK mainland. The tendering process for that interconnector is now underway; without it, the wind farm would be pointless. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'uk/scotland', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/severincarrell'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2009-05-20T10:24:04Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2024/apr/20/thousands-protest-canary-islands-unsustainable-tourism | Tens of thousands protest against Canary Islands’ ‘unsustainable’ tourism model | Tens of thousands of people are protesting across the Canary Islands to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelago’s tourism strategy and a freeze on visitor numbers, arguing that the decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for residents. The protests, which are taking place under the banner “Canarias tiene un límite” – The Canaries have a limit – are backed by environmental groups including Greenpeace, WWF, Ecologists in Action, Friends of the Earth and SEO/Birdlife. “We’ve reached the point where the balance between the use of resources and the welfare of the population here has broken down, especially over the past year,” said Víctor Martín, a spokesperson for the collective Canarias se Agota – The Canaries Have Had Enough – which helped to coordinate protests on Saturday across the eight islands. Eleven members of Canarias se Agota have already been on hunger strike for a week to protest against the construction of two large luxury developments in southern Tenerife, which they describe as illegal and totally unnecessary. Police said 20,000 people had turned out for the demonstrations, but organisers put the figure closer to 50,000, Spain’s TVE public television said. “We are not against tourism,” Rosario Correo, one of the protesters, told TVE. “We’re asking that they change this model that allows for unlimited growth of tourism.” Protesters also gathered in Madrid and Barcelona to show their support for the rallies in the Canary Islands, public television said. Last year, 13.9 million people visited the islands, which have a population of 2.2 million. Tourism accounts for about 35% of the archipelago’s GDP – bringing in €16.9bn in 2022 alone – but local people say the industry is stressing natural resources and pricing them out of the rental market. Figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute show that 33.8% of people in the Canaries are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, the highest proportion for any region except Andalucía. Martín said the regional government’s continuing focus on tourism at a time when the climate emergency was leading to cuts to water supplies made no sense. “Demand is rising in urban areas where there are more tourists,” he said. “We’ve had a very dry winter and a water emergency’s already been declared on Tenerife. “There are going to be restrictions if there’s not more rain this month but it’s 36C here right now. This is all unsustainable and it means that we won’t even be able to keep normal levels of tourism going. And yet the authorities and the businesses here are trying to stick with this model.” The housing situation in many parts of the archipelago was also dire because of high prices, low wages, a lack of public housing and the continuing cost of living crisis, Martín said. “I realised we’d reached the limit when I saw people who were working as hotel maids or waiters were living in shacks. “Wages are so low that they don’t cover the basic costs of living, especially in the current crisis, which is global, but has been felt keenly in the Canaries because we have to import practically everything.” He insisted the protest movement was not anti-tourist, pointing out that many people in the Canaries had known and liked generations of families from countries such as the UK and Germany. “The problem isn’t the tourists,” he said. “It’s a model that was built around, and with the connivance of, a business class that doesn’t want to listen to what needs to be done, and with a political class that serves that business class instead of serving all the citizens.” He said a complete rethink of the Canaries’ tourism model could not wait. “What we’re asking is very simple. Given that tourism is the main economic activity and the cause of all these problems, we want an immediate halt to these two mega-projects,” he said of the Tenerife developments. “We also want a tourist moratorium that will lead to a study of the load each island can take and which will determine whether we’ve already passed the critical point. In areas where there’s an overload, we want to see a stage of degrowth of economic activity to benefit natural resources. Otherwise, you have an existing model that only benefits a very few people.” Martín said a proper study of the problems the Canaries suffer from could have global repercussions. “This rethinking of the tourism model could put the Canaries on the map as an example of sustainable tourism development,” he said. “We could be known for something positive instead of something negative.” Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canary Islands, has said his administration is already taking action. “All the actions this government has taken have been based on a revision of this model,” he told reporters this week. “The Canaries tourist model has been a successful one, but obviously, as with anything, there are things that could be perfected.” Over-tourism has become a major issue in many Spanish cities and regions, triggering protests and backlashes in Barcelona, and leading the authorities in Seville to consider charging visitors to explore the Andalucían city’s famous Plaza de España. | ['world/spain', 'world/protest', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'news/overtourism', 'environment/series/overtourism-and-the-climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samjones', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/worldnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/series/overtourism-and-the-climate-crisis | GLOBAL_CRISIS | 2024-04-20T14:32:02Z | true | GLOBAL_CRISIS |
environment/2022/jan/05/uk-towns-and-cities-hit-by-flash-flooding-51-times-since-2007 | UK towns and cities hit by flash flooding 51 times since 2007 | Flooding over the past 14 years has caused major disruption to towns and cities, schools, hospitals and care homes, a study reveals. The analysis shows towns and cities have been hit by flash flooding 51 times. Fifteen hospitals and 68 schools have also suffered from rising flood waters, which have caused major disruption to patients and to children. The analysis, carried out by the Conservative-leaning thinktank Bright Blue, says that with increased flooding due to the climate emergency, the government must do more to improve the resilience of communities, businesses, and other infrastructure. Using a form of artificial intelligence called Natural Language Processing (NLP), the data was collected by analysing archives of thousands of local, regional and national newspapers. The report comes after the devastation caused by Storm Arwen last October, when members of the public were left without power for more than a week. Storm Arwen was one of the worst in a generation. Electricity poles snapped and wires came down across large swathes of the country. The north-east of England, the Wye Valley, the Lake District, Aberdeenshire and Perthshire were among some of the worst-hit areas. The analysis shows that the impact on essential services such as power, which was dramatically highlighted by Arwen, is a threat linked to flooding for the last 14 years and will continue to be to in future as climate impacts increase extreme weather events. Since 2007, according to the analysis, there have been at least 12 instances of flooded electricity substations, in at least one case leading to power cuts that were problematic for emergency response and community resilience, and at least five instances of damage to gas pipelines due to the bridges supporting them collapsing. Working with the NGO ClimateNode, the authors produced the data in an interactive map of storm impacts. Bright Blue said the analysis revealed that the UK was not adequately prepared for the increasing risk posed by flooding as the climate changes. Particular areas of concern are: Urban drainage: heavy rainfall puts drainage and sewerage infrastructure under strain, even exceeding their limits, and contributing to flooding in some cases. Hospitals: at least 15 experienced flooding causing disruption or imminent risk of disruption to patient services or hospital support services, Schools: a least 68 schools have suffered sufficient water entering buildings to disrupt lessons, or school transport; 22 suffered at least significant damage and seven severe damage and Care homes: nine care homes and four retirement complexes have been flooded. Major disruptions to social care included carers unable to reach elderly people in rural areas; loss of power, hot water and heating in care homes. Helen Jackson, associate fellow at Bright Blue and the report’s author, said: “The disruption caused by Storm Arwen highlights the need to make our infrastructure resilient to extreme weather, and be more preventive and less reactive. “Many towns and cities in the UK are seeing repeat episodes of flash flooding affecting households, businesses, and transport systems. We need to recognise this trend and do much more to ensure our urban drainage and sewer systems can cope with heavy rainfall as the climate changes. This should include limiting the spread of impermeable surfaces in our cities and ensuring basic measures like drain cleaning are not overlooked.” The report called for the government to support and fund an ongoing programme of research to identify and monitor risks associated with extreme rainfall in urban areas. It also said government should conduct a civil resilience exercise for an extreme rainfall event in a major UK urban area, incorporating significant infrastructure failure. Ryan Shorthouse, the chief executive of Bright Blue, said: “Flooding is one of the most serious climate-related challenges that this country is facing and will continue to face as the climate changes further in the coming years. “The impact of flooding is already being felt deeply in communities across the UK. The UK government can and must do much more to better improve the resilience of local communities, businesses, public services, and critical infrastructure to flooding.” | ['environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-01-05T06:00:34Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2016/mar/23/edf-refuses-to-set-timetable-for-decision-on-hinkley-point-reactor | EDF refuses to set timetable for decision on Hinkley Point reactor | EDF Energy has insisted it will take a decision to go ahead with new reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset but was unwilling to say exactly when despite being pressed by exasperated MPs. The French government, which owns 85% of EDF, has previously said it was aiming for the start of May but Vincent de Rivaz, the chief executive of the UK arm of EDF, was unwilling to set a timescale. “I can’t give you this morning a precise date. I just have to give the one provided by the [French] economics ministry,” said de Rivaz after repeated requests to name a date by MPs on the energy and climate change select committee. The endless delays in setting a firm date for the final investment decision is seen by critics as a potent symbol of the nuclear industry’s inability to build power stations on time and on budget. De Rivaz was forced to defend the record of his company and French nuclear engineering more widely over a nine-year delay at a new plant in Finland and six years at Flamanville in France. The pressure on EDF came as a succession of expert witnesses at the select committee hearing lined up to pan the Hinkley project saying it should be scrapped for costing too much. Peter Atherton, a utility analyst with Jefferies investment bank, said the French had got a “great, great deal” from the UK bill paper via the government’s subsidy regime, adding “once it’s operational that power station is going to be gold”. Simon Taylor, a specialist in nuclear financing and a lecturer at Cambridge University, said Hinkley “looks poor value for money” and it would be best if the French government pulled the plug on it. “It would preserve the rest of the nuclear options in the UK, as it would not cast any doubt on the UK’s underlying commitment. but if the UK cancels the project it could jeopardise all the other projects in the pipeline.” Doug Parr, policy director from Greenpeace, said there were cheaper and cleaner ways of meeting energy security and carbon targets via renewable energy and storage. “If it is built, it will be an act of political will of the UK and French governments ... [it was now] beyond any commercial logic.” But de Rivaz repeatedly insisted that the scheme to provide 7% of Britain’s electricity would go ahead and that it was in the interests of consumers, investors and the government that it did so. But he admitted a 35% fall in wholesale power prices over the last six months had put more pressure on the company’s balance sheet and that EDF and the French government were still working on a variety of fixes, such as the sale of assets and swapping cash for equity dividends. “Hinkley Point C will go ahead. That’s good news for the UK. It has been a long road. The project has successfully passed a huge number of regulatory, commercial and operational milestones.” | ['uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'uk/uk', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'business/edf', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/terrymacalister', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2016-03-23T14:23:02Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2021/oct/28/late-monsoon-rains-bring-floods-and-landslides-in-nepal-and-india | Late monsoon rains bring floods and landslides in Nepal and India | Late monsoon rains have caused significant damage in parts of Nepal, as well as the Indian states of Uttarakhand and Kerala. Landslides swept away homes, bridges and roads after heavy rain and flash floods. Uttarakhand saw some of the heaviest rainfall, with more than 300mm recorded in 24 hours. Almost 200 people are known to have died and dozens are unaccounted for. The Indian monsoon typically runs until September but was delayed this year. Meanwhile, a deep area of low pressure named by Météo-France as Storm Aurore brought strong winds and heavy rainfall to parts of Europe last week. Four people were killed in Poland, and power outages and transport disruption were reported in France, Germany and the Netherlands. There were 250,000 homes left without electricity in France, and the Deutsche Bahn cancelled all long-distance trains in Germany’s populous North Rhine-Westphalia state. After relentless and exceptional drought conditions across the US Pacific coast, the past few days have seen some relief for parts of California and the Pacific north-west in the form of heavy rainfall and snowfall thanks to a category 5 atmospheric river. Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow regions of air that transport large quantities of water vapour through the atmosphere. Despite the wet conditions, a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drought taskforce foresees drought conditions continuing well into 2022. | ['news/series/world-weatherwatch', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-10-28T05:00:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2015/dec/28/yorkshire-flooding-north-south-divide-york-leeds-london-south-east | North-south divide cited as factor in Yorkshire flooding devastation | The government has been accused of neglecting its duty to protect northern England from flooding, with one Yorkshire newspaper claiming it would be “unthinkable” that the floods that have affected Leeds, York and Manchester in recent days could ever be seen in London. The Yorkshire Evening Post fulminates against the government, arguing that ministers would never have allowed the capital or the south-east to be devastated by floods. It said in an editorial: It remains the case that such events, like those witnessed in this city, are unthinkable in London and much of the south-east, where state-of-the-art flood defences have long been in place. The Yorkshire Post also brought up the north-south divide when it accused the government of mouthing platitudes. The prime minister repeatedly used the word ‘unprecedented’ to describe this winter’s storms. Yet every fortnight brings ‘unprecedented’ levels of new flooding and the same pious platitudes from politicians, such as the environment secretary, Liz Truss, whose rhetoric is increasingly economical with the truth. The north-south divide was also picked up by Judith Blake, the council leader in Leeds, who said: I think we’re beginning to feel that very strongly. At that time there were other flooding events in the north that didn’t get anywhere near the support that we saw going into Somerset. David Cameron sought to deflect such criticisms when he visited York. The prime minister insisted that £100m had been spent in Yorkshire on flood defences since 2010, with plans to invest another £280m. He rejected allegations of a north-south divide in funding for flood defences: That’s not the case. We spend more per head on flood defences in the north of England than we do in the south of England, and here in Yorkshire, we are almost trebling the amount we will be spending in the current parliament. What matters is that we spend the right amount in the right places, and that’s what our review will make sure is happening.” | ['uk-news/yorkshire', 'society/north-south-divide', 'society/society', 'uk/uk', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'uk/york', 'uk/leeds', 'uk-news/storm-desmond', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/marktran'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-12-28T15:05:42Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
technology/article/2024/jun/19/beats-solo-buds-review-apple-budget-earbuds | Beats Solo Buds review: Apple’s budget earbuds rock | Apple’s latest Beats-branded earbuds offer the sound, fit and Android-loving features of its popular Studio Buds but in a smaller, much cheaper and longer-lasting package. The Solo Buds follow in the footsteps of last year’s Buds+, offering full integration with Apple’s various devices and Google’s Android, making the best of both platforms. But Beats has cut a few features here and there to reduce the price to £80 (€90/$80/A$130), which is half the cost of the brand’s other true wireless buds. They look remarkably similar to the Studio Buds and Buds+, keeping the compact pill shape but with a little refinement in the shape that touches fewer parts of my ear for even greater comfort. They feel light and fit very well, with a range of four sizes of earbud tips included. A hidden button just above the “b” logo handles playback controls and access to your phone’s voice assistant, or adjusts volume. They do not pause the music when you take them out of your ears, as happens with AirPods, however. Unlike most earbuds, the Solo Buds do not have a battery in their case from which they charge when not in use. Instead, each earbud contains a beefy battery that lasts for a good 18 hours of playback between charges. The case still recharges the earbuds when connected to a USB-C cable, but without an onboard battery it is 40% smaller and 55% lighter – making it much more pocketable. The earbuds play a chime when charging or put into pairing mode in lieu of an indicator light on the case. Specifications Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, SBC, AAC Battery life: 18 hours Water resistance: none Drivers: 8.2mm Earbud weight: 5.7g each Earbud dimensions: 16.7 x 18.5 x 18.9mm Case weight: 22g Case dimensions: 34.7 x 66.1 x 23.7mm Charging: USB-C Great for Android or iPhone As with the recent Studio Buds+ and Solo 4, the big advantage of Beats is their extensive cross-compatibility with Android and iOS. They have greater integration with an iPhone than their competitors, access to controls through quick settings, and instant pairing that only needs to be done once to use them across your iPhones, iPads, Macs and other Apple products. You also get the option of audio sharing to use two sets of headphones with one device. For Android or Google devices, they support many of the same features, including instant pairing, syncing and switching between Google devices, plus spatial audio with compatible Pixel devices. The Beats Android app offers controls, battery widgets, settings and other features. The earbuds also integrate into Apple’s and Google’s Find My systems, so you can locate them if you misplace them, regardless of platform. Good sound but no noise cancelling One of the big things that has been cut to reach a cheaper price is noise cancelling, so the Solo Buds rely entirely on the silicone earbud tip to block out the outside world. With music playing, they do a reasonable job, but they cannot cut out the rumble of the commute quite like the Buds+. They do, however, have the same drivers as Beats’ more expensive earbuds and therefore sound very good for the money. They produce a great, easy-listening sound with decent bass that is balanced well with the treble and high notes. The buds sound good across a range of genres and never sound shrill or tinny. They have solid separation of tones but lack a bit of detail here and there, so won’t trouble the very best in the business. No equaliser or other adjustments are available, and they also lack the spatial audio tech from the company’s higher-priced buds, which makes movies and TV shows less immersive watched on Apple devices. The Solo Buds are compatible with Google’s spatial audio system on Pixel devices, however. Call quality was very good in quiet or noisy street environments, successfully blocking background noise from getting on to the call, although my voice sounded slightly compressed. Sustainability Apple does not provide an expected lifespan for the batteries, but they should last in excess of 500 full-charge cycles with at least 80% of their original capacity. Apple will offer an out-of-warranty “battery service”, but does not publish environmental impact reports for accessories such as headphones. The company offers trade-in and free recycling schemes, including for non-Apple products. Price The Beats Solo Buds cost £79.99 (€89.95/$79.99/A$129.95). For comparison, the Beats Studio Buds cost £160 and Studio Buds+ cost £180, the Apple AirPods 3 cost £169, the Fairphone Fairbuds cost £129, and the Nothing Ear (a) cost £89. Verdict The Solo Buds are a set of great budget earbuds that tread the line between Android and Apple platforms better than competitors. They get far more than just the basics right for only £80, with good sound, very long battery life, a tiny case and a very comfortable fit. Full integration into an iPhone is only something an Apple-made product can manage, and they offer very similar on Android using the Beats app. There are a few things missing compared to the brand’s more expensive buds and some competitors, with a lack of noise cancelling being the biggest, which may be a deal-breaker for some. They also have no hands-free Siri support and no water resistance rating or Apple spatial audio. But these are things you might be able to overlook for the price. The battery is not replaceable and the earbuds are not repairable, ultimately making them disposable and losing them a star. Pros: good sound, cross-platform compatibility with enhanced features for iPhone and Android, great battery life, tiny case, small and comfortable for extended periods, solid button controls, lower cost. Cons: no noise cancelling, no Apple spatial audio, do not pause music on removal, not repairable. | ['technology/headphones', 'technology/apple', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/bluetooth', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'profile/samuel-gibbs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/consumer-tech--commissioning-'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-06-19T06:00:28Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2023/mar/06/household-products-chemicals-carbon-footprint-emissions-washing-up-liquid-laundry-tablets-uk | Huge carbon footprint of chemicals in UK household products revealed | Chemicals used in everyday household items from washing-up liquid to laundry tablets are a huge hidden source of carbon emissions, according to a report. The thinktank Green Alliance is calling on UK ministers to lead a green revolution in chemical manufacturing to cut the carbon footprint of everyday consumer products. In a report on Monday, it said the chemicals used to manufacture washing-up liquid and the plastic bottles to contain it were responsible for the same annual carbon emissions as about 40,000 cars. The production of laundry tablets and their breakdown in sewage works contributed the equivalent emissions of 600,000 cars a year, the report said. Fossil fuels are often the main ingredient in many of the chemicals used to produce everyday products, and the fuels also generate the energy required to make them. Chemicals are used in more than 90% of everyday products including paint, fertilisers and plastics. About 70% of emissions from UK chemical manufacturers come from burning fossil fuels on site to process chemicals such as ammonia and ethylene. Liam Hardy, a policy analyst at Green Alliance, said: “The chemicals used in everyday products are a huge hidden source of carbon emissions. What we need now is for the government to help British manufacturers make their production processes greener. “This should not only help to reduce our carbon footprint and make the UK a science leader but can also safeguard good jobs in our industrial heartlands.” The report calls for ministers to support the electrification of the chemical sector by offering access to cheap renewable power and incentivising plants that move away from fossil fuel as an energy source. It also urges the government to improve the reuse and recycling of products, and to increase innovation funding to help the industry move away from fossil fuels as a chemical ingredient. The chemical industry has a target to reduce emissions by 90% by 2050. Jonathan Hague, the head of clean future science and technology at the consumer goods company Unilever, said the UK must address energy and non-energy emissions from chemicals based on fossil fuels if the country is to achieve net zero. “We have set ourselves ambitious goals to halve the greenhouse gas impact of our products per consumer by 2030 … we’re eliminating virgin fossil-derived chemicals from our laundry formulations and innovating new ingredients with low end-of-life emissions. But we know we can’t do it alone,” he said. | ['environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'environment/fossil-fuels', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2023-03-06T12:13:46Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/article/2024/jun/15/alaska-capital-juneau-limits-cruise-ship-passengers-record-visitors | Alaska limits cruise ship passengers in capital city after 1.6m visitors last year | Alaska’s capital city is to limit the numbers of cruise ship passengers arriving at the port amid concerns over tourism’s growing impact, but a leading critic of the industry has said further measures to protect Alaskans’ quality of life are needed. Located on the Gastineau Channel in southern Alaska, Juneau has a population of 32,000 and last year received a record 1.65 million cruise ship passengers – a 23% increase from the previous high. While many businesses encourage the bonanza of tourist dollars, other people are bothered by buzzing helicopters, crowded streets and hiking trails, and damage to the local environment. Seeking to balance the economic benefits against the effects of high numbers of visitors, the city reached an agreement last week with the Cruise Lines International Association in Alaska that will limit daily cruise passenger arrivals to 16,000 from Sundays to Fridays and to 12,000 on Saturdays. Juneau’s tourism manager, Alexandra Pierce, said: “The city’s position is that we do not have room for cruise growth with our current infrastructure and we have negotiated the daily passenger limits to bring down our busiest days.” The agreement aimed to hold cruise passenger numbers roughly steady while the city worked on improving infrastructure, she said. “Cruise tourism is important for our local and regional economies and we need to be good neighbours while also finding the balance between concerned residents and the local livelihoods that depend on the visitor industry,” Pierce said. A former gold-rush town set near an imposing glacier, amid lush rainforests, towering mountains and abutting a pristine waterway that is home to humpback whales, Juneau has become Alaska’s most popular port for cruise ships. Karla Hart, a Juneau resident and longtime critic of the cruise industry, remains concerned that the daily visitors allowed under the new agreement could still see arrival records broken over the course of the 22-week cruise season. “The city’s direction to the staff was to hold the number or somewhat reduce it, and yet we now have a negotiated agreement that, if you do the math, would let us have 2.5 million cruise-ship passengers,” she said. Instead, Hart is backing a local referendum proposal for “ship-free Saturdays”, a policy that would prevent ships with more than 250 passengers stopping in Juneau one day a week. “Our ballot initiative is really looking at providing some quality-of-life protection for the community that we can tangibly see and feel one day a week by not having the cruise ships in our port,” she said. The cruise industry is booming after the pandemic, and the ships are getting bigger. Some vessels are now able to carry close to 6,000 passengers, with insiders saying the industry is still far from reaching the limits of how big they can get. In January, the world’s largest cruise ship to date, Icon of the Seas, was launched. It towers 20 decks above sea level, carries more than 7,000 passengers and crew, and has the world’s largest waterpark on a ship. Juneau is not the only city concerned about the growing social and environmental impacts of cruise ships. Venice and Barcelona have restricted access, while Amsterdam has introduced a day tax on passengers. Hart said: “Air and water emissions from the cruise ships are a big concern, as well as ship strikes and climate change. The list goes on.” • This article was amended on 17 June 2024. Owing to an editing error, an earlier version said that Venice had banned cruise ships from the city’s lagoon; this is no longer the case, though they cannot enter the Giudecca canal. | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'us-news/alaska', 'travel/cruises', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'travel/travel', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/campbell-macdiarmid', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-06-15T07:00:14Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2024/sep/13/more-than-80-of-eu-marine-protected-areas-are-ineffective-study-shows | More than 80% of EU marine protected areas are ineffective, study shows | Most of Europe’s marine protected areas, set up to safeguard species and habitats, will not meet conservation targets as they provide only “marginal” protection against industrial activities such as dredging, mining and bottom trawling, a study has revealed. Low levels of protection in 86% of marine protected areas (MPAs) have left the EU far from reaching its 2030 biodiversity targets, which are designed to reduce the risk of species’ extinction, researchers said in a paper published in the One Earth journal. The EU aims to protect 30% of its seas by 2030, with 10% “strictly” protected from damaging activities. “It is the first assessment of where we are in terms of protection,” said Juliette Aminian-Biquet, the paper’s lead author, a researcher at the University of Algarve, Portugal’s centre for marine sciences. “This shows that we are at the very beginning of protecting our oceans.” The paper concluded that reaching the EU’s 10% strict protection target will require “radical changes” to the regulation of activities in its marine sanctuaries. The highest coverage of marine sanctuaries in the EU was in Germany (45% of national waters), with France and Belgium not far behind. The highest levels of “strong protection”, also defined as highly or fully protected areas, for instance sanctuaries that allow no extractive activities or infrequent fishing, were found in the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. The European country that performs best at keeping destructive activity at bay in its protected areas is Slovenia, although the overall number of MPAs it has in its waters is relatively low compared to other countries, said the report. The low levels of protection in most MPAs are a result of the “flexible” nature of EU directives, researchers found. “For MPAs to provide the expected social and ecological benefits, their role in regulating human activities to limit their negative impacts should be questioned,” the authors said. “Getting the EU to do anything on this topic is extremely difficult, as regulation would need to be legally binding,” said Aminian-Biquet. “It is going to be up to individual states or regional authorities to take action to meet these targets.” A spokesperson for the European Commission said: “The commission takes note of the very recent publication and its key summary findings”, and said it had called on member states to manage all MPAs in line with relevant directives and EU commitments to protect 30% of marine and coastal areas by 2030. They added that the 2023 EU marine action plan recommended member states phase out bottom trawling in MPAs by 2030. The phase-out was rejected by the European parliament in January and most EU states have not yet set out measures on bottom trawling, with the exception of Greece, which became the first country to ban bottom trawling in MPAs earlier this year, and Sweden. | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/marine-life', 'world/eu', 'environment/environment', 'environment/conservation', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/fishing', 'world/world', 'environment/biodiversity', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/karenmcveigh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-09-13T06:00:50Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/emma-brockes-blog/2014/feb/27/posh-pay-for-toilet-new-york | The call of nature transcends class. Access to toilets, unfortunately, doesn't | Emma Brockes | Many years ago, I went to Venice to interview Meryl Streep about her role in The Devil Wear's Prada. The film festival was on and the city overrun with attendees wearing wristbands, permitting them varying levels of access to venues. One of these was a toilet in the suite reserved for the interview, which, Ms Streep was assured as she entered the room, was off-limits to anyone who was not Meryl Streep. Feudal systems come and go, but the exclusive bathroom clause goes on forever. And so to Manhattan, where a proposal to open a series of members-only public toilets this year has been largely well received. Tired of begging for the bathroom key at Starbucks? Or picking the busiest restaurant, where you hope you can slink to the back without being noticed? Then you'll welcome a company called Posh Stow and Go, which promises the city's "first luxury restroom facility". If, like London, New York is essentially a private corporation at this point, here at last is the executive washroom. Paying for toilets isn't a new thing, as anyone stuck for change at King's Cross station knows, or who has dared enter those booths in Paris, where urban legend has it that someone got trapped overnight and was doused in hot bleach sluicing down from the ceiling. And it's an age-old problem, starting in infancy, when every outing ends with you weeing between open car doors in the carpark, while your mother insists "no one's looking" and then screams, "mind my shoes!" You grow up and understand you have a choice in life: to hold it in, or, given the dearth of public toilets in most cities, find an alternative. With this in mind, the new company would seem like a sensible idea. It fills a gap in the market and offers several services at once: there is a left luggage facility and – heavens! – "even baby-changing stations," which tells you it's not run by a woman. The emphasis, however, has been on the toilets. "I'm a germaphobe," said Wayne Parks, the founder, to the New York Post last week, "and I don't like dirty bathrooms – it grosses me out. But these are great because they're cleaned after every use." A wild guess here, but no one likes a dirty bathroom, just as no one likes shitty housing, or being poked in the eye with a stick. It's not Wayne Parks's fault, but his enterprise comes at a time when the city has never felt more stratified, nor more vulnerable to the resale of basic services as luxuries. The New York Observer recently canvassed a bunch of real estate developers about a requirement, by law, to reserve a proportion of their multi-billion dollar developments for use as affordable housing. Most howled with fury and, refusing to be named, espoused a position characterized thus: "We don't ask Hermes to produce a line of cheap polyester ties, or Thomas Keller to offer a dollar menu at Per Se … Why shouldn't those who can't afford the going rates in Manhattan just live somewhere else?" Quite. Why should those who can't afford it have anything at all? And, by the way, who wouldn't want to live in a city peopled exclusively by tourists and hedge-fund managers? The toilet thing is trivial but it's sometimes the trivial things that stand out; the silly frustrations and difficulties once thought to constitute universal human experience but are now experienced only by those without means. (Who should probably have their own public toilets because, you know, they have bad hygiene habits). The toilets in King's Cross station are 30p. In Brooklyn, pay-as-you-go booths at the perimeter of Prospect Park are 25c. These facilities are run by their respective cities, whereas the new company is of course a private venture and has done everything in its power to make it seem like you are joining the lavatorial equivalent of Annabel's: charging an annual membership fee ($15), issuing exorbitant three day passes ($24), and even flattering patrons that they got past the rope in the first place: "only a limited number of memberships will be sold so as to provide the best possible experience." It's a serious business signing up and, in the cancellation policy, commitment-shy members are reassured that, "this contract may be cancelled if you die". Your heirs will not be pursued by Posh Stow and Go for a settlement. Clearly, as our mothers always taught us, it is better to go before you leave, but if you are caught short in Manhattan and are nowhere near the departments stores, my tip is the Equinox gym chain, where if you make a knock-kneed dive past the counter, the nice staff don't generally ask for your membership card. Or you can join an exclusive toilet club. Call me picky, but that kind of place grosses me out. | ['commentisfree/emma-brockes-column', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/us-news', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/waste', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/emmabrockes'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-02-27T11:30:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2019/jun/11/vancouver-east-west-market-plastic-bags-shaming-customers | Grocery store urges customers to rethink plastic with embarrassing bags | If concern over the climate crisis or revulsion over the contamination of the food chain are not enough to change consumer behaviour, one grocery store is hoping that another emotion may persuade people to shun single-use plastic bags: shame. Customers who don’t bring their own bags to the East West Market in Vancouver will instead have to carry their grocery home in bags reading “Wart Ointment Wholesale” or “Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium”. David Lee Kwen, the shop’s owner, insisted that the plan wasn’t to embarrass customers. “We wanted to give them something humorous, but also something that made them think at the same time,” he told the Guardian. “It’s human nature not to want to be told what to do.” Kwen initially hoped that a fee on single-use bags would discourage their use. But when the five-cent a bag charge failed to stop people using plastic, he tried a different approach. The bags are meant to force customers to think twice about consumption habits. In a social media post, the store points out that millions of plastic bags are used once before being discarded – and are part of growing problem of plastic waste. Like countries around the world, Canada is grappling with a deluge of plastics which cannot be recycled and instead end up in landfills. Earlier this week, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announced plans to ban single-use plastics in 2021, including grocery bags, plastic cutlery and straws. Kwen admits there may have been an unintended consequence to the bags: “Some of the customers want to collect them because they love the idea of it,” he said. But he still believes the plan is working. “Even if you have the bag, you have to explain its origin to your friends. And then, we’ve started a conversation.” The bags, which Kwen has run in limited numbers of 1,000, cost customers five cents. It costs extra for him to print the newly designed bags so he’s hopeful customers instead opt to bring in their own. In the meantime, he plans to transfer the images on the plastic bags to canvas bags. “It’s a double-edged sword. We wanted to address an issue, but we’ve also made something popular, so it’s turned out great.” | ['world/canada', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'world/americas', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/leyland-cecco', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-06-11T18:57:30Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2007/aug/04/aweakamericaisaweakendeu | A weak America is a weakened Europe | America's power has been so overwhelming for so long that many think it has survived George Bush's presidency unscathed. That this is untrue is demonstrated by those, from Russia's Vladimir Putin and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez to Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, who are exploiting America's loss of standing and influence. This is no cause for schadenfreude. On the contrary, it is high time for friends of the United States, particularly in Europe, to realise that America's weakness undermines their international influence as well. The evidence of America's weakness is clear enough. At the height of America's power, Russia had resigned itself to the apparently unstoppable encroachment of Nato on the Soviet Union's former sphere of influence. President Putin tolerated a US presence in central Asia to assist in the campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan and raised no serious objections when the US trashed the anti-ballistic missile treaty prohibiting strategic missile defenses. America, eager to bring both Ukraine and Georgia into Nato, felt scant need to consider Russian concerns, convinced that the Kremlin would have no choice but to bow to the inevitable. That was yesterday. Today, Putin seeks to regain the influence Russia lost in previous years. He is skillfully playing the anti-America card across Europe while putting pressure on the Baltic states, a clear warning not to extend Nato any further. In Ukraine, political forces resisting closer strategic links to the west have gained ground. And the Kremlin is aggressively portraying the planned establishment of a modest US missile defence installation in Poland and the Czech Republic as a threat to Russia's vital security interests. Or consider Iran, another power exploiting American weakness. Only a few years ago, Iran's government seemed sufficiently in awe of the US to inch toward an agreement on its nuclear program that would have interrupted, and perhaps even halted, its enrichment activities. There was talk of possible bilateral contacts with the US, which, if successful, would have ended almost three decades of hostile relations. Today, Iran's enrichment program is going ahead despite the United Nations security council's warnings of new sanctions, while Iranian officials publicly ridicule threats of US military action. These examples reflect the same message: America is losing clout around the world. The Bush administration is internationally exposed in both the arrogance of its concepts and the limits of its power. It lacks support at home and respect abroad. Never since the US became the world's predominant power during the second world war has there been a similar decline in its international influence. Even during the Vietnam war and following its humiliating withdrawal from southeast Asia, there was never any serious doubt about America's authority and ability to deal with what was then the central strategic challenge, the cold war. In today's interdependent world, however, it is no longer the number of nuclear warheads that bestows influence, but a country's ability to get others to go along with policies that it regards as serving its major interests. Bush's America has forfeited that influence - in the Middle East, in Asia and Africa, and in much of Europe. Many in the US like to think that this is a temporary state of affairs that will vanish with the election of a new president and Congress in 2008. But they are neither sufficiently aware of the damage done nor realistic enough about the chances of Bush's potential successors - many of whom initially supported his adventurism - to revive the trust and respect their country once enjoyed. To achieve that will take more than a new face in the White House. It will require years of hard work to reconcile America's resources and requirements, and to ensure that its initiatives can once again be seen as designed not to serve narrow US ideologies, but to advance a fair international order. The result of protracted US weakness is also a weaker Europe. In the heyday of American dominance, European governments profited doubly: they were part of a powerful west and courted as a potential counterweight to US dominance by third countries. If they dissented from US positions, this did not seriously impair the west's strategic efficacy because American power was more than sufficient to compensate. That arrangement no longer works. If European governments today distance themselves from America, as their citizens frequently demand, they will both antagonise and further weaken the US. At the same time, they will undermine their own international influence, allow others to play off Europe against America, destroying as well what chance remains for rebuilding the west with a reformed America. European leaders, even when they are unhappy over US positions, therefore need to combine forceful support for the transatlantic community of interests with discrete, if firm lobbying in Washington not to strain it to the breaking point. Whether they can successfully perform this difficult act, remains to be seen. Fortunately, Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Gordon Brown understand the challenge, and at least some parts of the Bush government seem aware of the problem. In the long period of American weakness, European leaders will have to demonstrate statesmanship for the west as a whole. It is a role for which decades of US supremacy have scarcely prepared them. In cooperation with Project Syndicate, 2007. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/george-bush', 'us-news/us-elections-2008', 'world/russia', 'world/iran', 'uk/military', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/world', 'world/iraq', 'us-news/us-politics', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2007-08-04T11:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2020/oct/07/intensive-farming-worldwide-threatens-paris-climate-accord-report-says | Intensive farming worldwide threatens Paris climate accord, report says | The spread of intensive farming is threatening to jeopardise the world’s chances of meeting the terms of the Paris agreement on the climate crisis, as the increasing use of artificial fertiliser and growing populations of livestock are raising the concentration of a key greenhouse gas to levels far beyond those seen naturally. Nitrous oxide is given off by the overuse of artificial fertilisers, and by organic sources such as animal manure, and has a heating effect 300 times that of carbon dioxide. Levels of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere are 20% higher than in pre-industrial times, with most of that increase coming from farming. Emissions of nitrous oxide are growing at a rate of 1.4% a year, outstripping the forecasts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and left untrammelled would put the world on track to exceed the 2C warming limit set under the Paris agreement, according to a paper published in the journal Nature. Hanqin Tian, a professor at Auburn University in the US and lead author of the study, said: “The dominant driver of the increase comes from agriculture and the growing demand for food and feed for animals will further increase global nitrous oxide emissions. There is a conflict between the way we are feeding people, and stabilising the climate.” Current rates of nitrous oxide emissions were consistent with 3C of global heating above pre-industrial levels, the researchers found. Artificial fertilisers make up about two-thirds of the emissions of nitrous oxide from farming. The gas is released when microbes in the soil break down the excess fertiliser, particularly in boggy or over-wet ground where there is less oxygen. Farmers can reduce the amount of nitrous oxide produced by simple measures such as targeting their fertiliser use more carefully, avoiding excess and using fertiliser only in the right weather conditions. “We have the tools to reduce this problem,” said Parvadha Suntharalingam of the University of East Anglia, the co-author of the paper. “This is not insurmountable. But these practices need to be adopted more widely. We don’t have to sacrifice production, just make sure it is managed more carefully.” Brazil, China and India are showing the highest growth in nitrous oxide emissions, owing to their rapid adoption of intensive livestock and grain farming, according to the Nature study. Emissions from the US have remained relatively stable, despite farm output growing. Europe is the only region to have reduced nitrous oxide emissions, but most of these falls have come from requirements on industry, such as nylon factories. Emissions from farming have fallen more slowly, but measures to reduce the harm from fertilisers have now been adopted in some EU countries. The gas also poses a threat to the ozone layer, which has been recovering in the last 30 years since the gases mainly responsible for its depletion – chlorofluorocarbons – were phased out under the 1987 Montreal protocol. Nitrous oxide breaks down in the stratosphere to react with ozone, and is now the leading source of ozone depletion. Nitrogen fertilisers have been a boon to farmers, as nitrogen in the soil is essential for plant growth. However, synthetic fertilisers are now cheap and are easily misused and overused, and there are few restrictions on their deployment around the world. About a third of the nitrous oxide emissions from farming are from livestock manure. These can also be reduced by the management of slurry in large facilities and by changes to how manure is used as a fertiliser, such as injecting slurry into the soil instead of spraying it. Nitrogen run-off from farming also harms rivers and lakes, and ammonia – from fertilisers and manure – is a leading cause of air pollution. Although nitrous oxide is one of the six greenhouse gases covered by the 1997 Kyoto protocol, it has received less attention in recent years as the focus has been on carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. Nitrous oxide is better known as laughing gas, after its experimental use by Humphry Davy at the turn of the 19th century. It has therapeutic uses but is sometimes misused. It also has some industrial uses as a propellant and is a byproduct of nylon manufacture, but can be extracted from flue gases at the factory. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/farming', 'society/nitrous-oxide-laughing-gas', 'environment/ozone-layer', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-10-07T15:13:32Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/oct/21/exclusive-lost-rainforest-could-be-revived-across-20-of-great-britain | Lost rainforest could be revived across 20% of Great Britain | Temperate rainforest, which has been decimated over thousands of years, has the potential to be restored across a fifth of Great Britain, a new map reveals. Atlantic temperate rainforest once covered most of the west coasts of Britain and Ireland, thriving in the archipelago’s wet, mild conditions, which support rainforest indicator species such as lichens, mosses and liverworts. Today, it covers less than 1% of land, having been cleared over thousands of years by humans and is only found in isolated pockets, such as the waterfalls region in the Brecon Beacons and Ausewell Wood on Dartmoor. Two maps released by Lost Rainforests of Britain, and shared exclusively with the Guardian, show both what exists today and what could be revived in the future. The map showing the remaining fragments of rainforest in England, Wales and Scotland was compiled with the help of the public, scientists and geolocation specialists. The second map shows that more than half of Wales and nearly all of western Scotland – as well as large parts of Cornwall, the Lake District and other pockets north of Manchester – have suitable climates for temperate rainforest. Guy Shrubsole, an environmental campaigner who runs the Lost Rainforests of Britain campaign, said the 18,870 hectares (46,628 acres) that survive in England could double in size within a generation if they were allowed to naturally regenerate, spread by ecosystem engineers such as jays, which have been shown to support forest regrowth. “I think the map gives a sense of hope that 20% of Britain has the right climate for temperate rainforest,” said Shrubsole. “It is highly likely that that area would have been once covered with rainforest thousands of years ago. Ultimately, I think that’s something we need to take inspiration from and look to the past to think about what we need to be bringing back in future. “I don’t necessarily think we could cover all of the 20%. But I do think we could allow those existing fragments that we have identified to expand in size.” The organisation commissioned a YouGov poll, which found that 93% of the British public support protecting the country’s rainforest, while 85% back its expansion and 80% think public funding should support its restoration. Ecologists say that invasive species, pollution and grazing by livestock have damaged temperate rainforest in the UK, but substantive protection and careful tree-planting could see the rare ecosystems naturally generate. Previous analysis by Lost Rainforests of Britain found that 73% of England’s remaining fragments of temperate rainforest are not designated as sites of special scientific interest, despite their importance for biodiversity. Shrubsole has been encouraging members of the public to help him identify and map remaining fragments of rainforest. The RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust and the Woodland Trust have backed Shrubsole’s campaign, writing to the new environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, last month to urge him to better protect what remains and expand the rare habitat, which is also found in Chilean Patagonia, Alaska and Japan. In the letter, seen by the Guardian, leading wildlife NGOs urged the government to ensure all of England’s rainforests are put under protection to help support its commitment to protect 30% of the country, a key draft target for an international agreement on biodiversity that will be negotiated in December at Cop15 in Montreal. It also calls on the government to adopt a specific rainforest strategy to protect England’s ancient woodlands, working with landowners and farmers to help naturally regenerate the areas in accordance with the latest science. As well as Shrubsole, the letter was signed by Ian Dunn, chief executive of Plantlife; Katie-Jo Luxton, global conservation director at the RSPB; Rosie Hails, the National Trust’s nature and science director; Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts; and Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project. The government has previously said that much of the country’s temperate rainforest is protected and that it is committed to its safekeeping. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/wildlife', 'uk/uk', 'uk/scotland', 'uk/wales', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/environmentnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-10-21T06:00:16Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2009/aug/05/korst-garbage-free | US couple embark on quest to live garbage-free for one year | If you want to save the planet, don't count on your cat. An American couple who set out to live for a year without producing more than a single small carrier bag of rubbish have discovered it's far, far easier for humans to adapt to a greener way of life than felines. Appalled by their country's throwaway culture - the average American throws out about 4.5lbs (2kgs) of rubbish every day - Amy and Adam Korst, a couple living in a small logging town in Oregon, embarked on a personal quest last month to drastically reduce their household rubbish. "As environmentalists, I feel like we are bombarded by so many different messages: buy local, buy organic, do all these things. And at the end of the day you don't really see the difference it has made," said Amy Korst. "But if Adam and I can get our total garbage output down to 5lbs at the end of the year, we'll have really made a difference." The initial adjustment was easy - at least for the human members of the household. As well as a wholeheartedly embracing recycling, the Korsts gave up junk foods such as crisps because of the packaging. They brought their own cups to the local coffee shop, and turned down straws for their iced mochas. They even found a company that would recycle their used toothbrushes. But the Korsts simply could not persuade their eight-year-old cat, Lexy, to switch to biodegradable kitty litter. "The older cat would have nothing to do with it. She held it for about two days and would not go into the litter box," said Adam. "We do not have a green cat. We tried hard with her, but she is pretty stubborn. She is not going to change for us and we have to allow her to have the lifestyle she is used to." Otherwise, the secret to garbage-free living is organisation, said the Korsts. Adam, a photographer at a local weekly paper, and Amy, a high school english teacher, did extensive research to find out where to buy items with minimal or recyclable packaging, and where to find recycling options beyond those included with their town's standard rubbish collection. They ordered toothbrushes made out of recyled plastic yoghurt containers, and found a company that accepts wine corks for recycling. They sought out a recycling depot for used electronics, in case any of their appliances break down in the coming year. The couple also visited farmers markets and local food producers to ask about buying in bulk, or bringing their own reusable containers. The hardest part - aside from the cat - was figuring out what to do with packaging from toiletries and medicines. The project is part of an expanding genre documenting experiences in greener living. In the scale of their aspirations, the Korsts are midway between novelist Barbara Kingsolver, who wrote a book about her family's year spent eating only food produced locally to their Virginia farm, and Colin Beavan, who got rid of his refrigerator during his year as No Impact Man. The couple, who are blogging about their experiences at www.greengarbageproject.com, also hope to write a book. Even before the stand-off with their cat, the couple were seeking to find the middle ground. "If you go too extreme, people aren't going to listen," Adam said. "We wanted to tell people: 'yes, you can still live with your luxuries and the things you want to live with, but just be more conscious of it'." In terms of time investment, Amy said their new lifestyle means grocery shopping - which now requires several stops - takes about two hours a week, instead of one. The couple also spends a good deal of time each day sorting out their multiple recycling piles. The local authority collects basic recyclable materials like newspapers, tin cans, and some plastic bottles. The Korsts have another bin that holds items they take to a recycling depot such as aluminium foil and milk cartons. Yet another bin holds glass items. Then they keep a separate pile for items designated for burning such as dryer lint, and they compost vegetable peeling. Meat scraps and animal hair gets buried in the woods. Four weeks on from the start, the rubbish accumulated by the Korsts fits easily into a shoe box: a dog squeaky toy that got run over by a lawn mower, packaging from flea medication, a razor blade, a couple of pieces of plastic tape, and the blister packaging from an allergy pill. But both insist the project has not taken over their lives, and that their new lifestyle will be sustainable, long after their year of living garbage free is up. "I think we are mostly going to stay with this lifestyle. I think there will be a few exceptions - like we will probably go and buy a bag of chips," said Adama. "But 4.5lbs a day of garbage is just so much and now , on my own, I am making a difference. It's a fabulous feeling and I don't think that either one of us is going to want to let this go." | ['environment/waste', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/food', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-08-05T17:05:44Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2013/may/22/nature-uk-politics-wildlife | The anti-nature narrative in UK politics is hard to fathom | Tony Juniper | More than half the wildlife species found in our islands are declining, under an assault of development, air pollution and chemical attack. Bumblebees, wildflowers, songbirds and butterflies are among the more obvious casualties. Perhaps even more troubling than freefall declines in red squirrels, harbour seals, hedgehogs, starlings and all the others, is the fact that the crisis facing the living fabric of our environment is hardly mentioned in politics. And not only have ministers recently turned their attention away from the protection of nature, they have presented efforts to protect it as the enemy of growth, development and business. George Osborne's claim that laws to protect rare species are a 'ridiculous burden on business', Owen Paterson's championing the cause of Bayer and Syngenta in opposing the moratorium on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides and Michael Gove's attempts to downgrade education about our relationship with the natural environment are recent cases in point. With this in mind we can confidently guess that the government's on-going review of EU environmental laws is not intended to strengthen the protection of nature in these islands. And when it comes to how we approach specific decisions that affect the natural environment, it seems we must doubt the extent to which we can rely on evidence-based policy. Today, policy-based evidence gathering is more common, seen for example in the proposed cull of badgers. And so-called Zombie infrastructure schemes, such as the proposed M4 motorway extension across the Gwent Levels, killed more than a decade ago because of its unacceptable environmental cost, are now back on the agenda. All of this is predicated on the idea that looking after nature is somehow against the interests of people and the economy. It would be sad, rather than bad, if they actually had a point, but the evidence says the opposite. Material presented in the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, a major study commissioned by government, is a good place to start. Among many other things, this comprehensive stock-take of nature in our islands found the benefits derived from improved river water quality (mostly down to EU rules) were found to be about £1.1 billion per year, while the value of coastal protection provided by wetlands was estimated to be about £1.5 billion per year. The amenity value of inland wetlands added a further £1.3 billion per year. Upland peat bogs were assigned multi-million pound value, seen in their contribution to flood risk reduction, water purification and huge carbon storage. The 2012 report of the Independent Panel on Forestry (established in the aftermath of doomed forestry privatization proposals) found that the value of the publicly-owned forestry estate in England was about £400 million per year, delivered on the back of an investment of £20 million. All these values have conservation benefits too. As politics has gone into reverse on conservation, there are glimpses of good news, in the work of The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and other conservation groups behind the State of Nature report, who through practical work on the ground support nature's recovery and help people deepen their contact with it, and in ways that leaves us all the better for it, including economically. But the positive impact is being overwhelmed, as nature is sucked into an ideological vortex based on a fundamental lack of understanding of our dependence on it. The deeply misjudged anti-nature narrative that has become embedded in political discourse is hard to fathom. Not only is it unscientific it is hard to see whom it is meant to appeal to. It's certainly not progressive and forward-thinking companies. Most ministers lack any serious scientific education, but perhaps they could at least use their classical training to compile the Latin names of the species declining on their watch. • Tony Juniper is a campaigner, writer and environmental advisor. His latest book, What has nature ever done for us?, is published by Profile Books. | ['environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/birds', 'environment/bees', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'type/article', 'profile/tonyjuniper'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2013-05-22T08:00:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/oct/31/superstorm-sandy-power-painted-nation | How the power of superstorm Sandy is painted into a nation | I spent the night that Sandy hit pinned to the ground. Or that was how it felt. Rain lashed so hard it seemed the entire east coast of America was being spreadeagled by nature and asked some searching questions. As it turned out, Washington DC, where I was, got off comparatively lightly – the capital was terrorised, then allowed to leave relatively unharmed, unlike New York, unlike Atlantic City ... But that was not how it looked as the hurricane slowly ground its way towards shore and any doubt that a disaster was on its way evaporated. No one knew where it would make landfall, and Washington DC was right in the danger zone. The weekend was surreal. "You'll have a perfect view of the hurricane," joked a hotel employee as I checked into my room on the 10th floor. In fact, I had a perfect view of the leafy Washington district Georgetown, the setting of the horror film The Exorcist. Cue its theme, Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, on the iPod. At the great National Gallery of Art in Washington, eerie American paintings portray the power and menace of a wild, untamed natural world. The sense of nature as a savage beast is deeply painted into a nation that hacked its history out of a vast continent of forests and deserts and giant rivers. John Singleton Copley's early American masterpiece Watson and the Shark depicts the terrifying plight of a man who has fallen into the sea and is about to be attacked by a huge predator: while his friends on the boat seem paralysed by terror, two seamen perform a brave rescue. In the same museum hang sublime scenes of woozy mountains and flaming skies by the Hudson River School of 19th-century American landscape artists. Then again, there is Jackson Pollock's Lavender Mist, that kept dragging me back to lose myself in its swampy vapours. I got the metro on Sunday evening as the first drops of rain hit Washington. That evening it was announced the metro system would now close down, as would federal government offices, schools … People should stay put, preparing for Hurricane Sandy to make landfall. The power centre of the USA was hunkering down. As it happened, I had to be somewhere, so I got to ride through the empty streets in a limo (oh yes), as the rain pounded down. By early afternoon the wind was up and the deluge was like spears, harpoons, gunfire from the skies. If rain could kill … And it can, and it did … But not where I was. Instead, it just smashed and battered and raged and the winds howled. It started to get in the building, through windows and ceilings. It was icy cold. Next morning, the hammering had suddenly gone. I woke to a view of a city still in lockdown, but still there. Still no transport and nothing open. I walked through the drizzle and fallen branches to the White House. The surprisingly intimate classical mansion glistened under a Confederate sky as water was blotted by fallen leaves. It was the aftermath of a battle that America knew it would lose. The Hudson River artists would have loved this scene. Nature can, after all, be as lurid as it looks in American art. | ['artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog', 'artanddesign/art', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/culture', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'us-news/washington-dc', 'us-news/us-news', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanjones'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-31T16:24:42Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2007/oct/24/endangeredhabitats | Sale of the sanctuary | How do you save the Amazon rainforest? Easy. All you need is a bit of cash and a computer. Then go to the site of Cool Earth and, with a click of the mouse, you can "Add to cart" half an acre of endangered rainforest for just £35. Cool Earth claims this will keep locked up 130 tonnes of CO2 - "the same as the annual carbon footprints of 10 British families" - and protect 400 unique species. So far, the site says, more than 31,000 acres have been saved. One of Cool Earth's main supporters is Johan Eliasch, the Swedish-born businessman and Tory funder chosen by Gordon Brown to be his forest adviser, with the task of looking at mechanisms that stimulate "deforestation avoidance". Besides selling the odd half-acre on the website, Eliasch says he is persuading fellow millionaires to follow his example by buying chunks of rainforest. He claims to have bought 400,000 acres, and it is this land that is being offered for sale on the site. But is this really the best way to save the rainforest? Brazilians, especially the military, have always been touchy about foreign designs on the Amazon. And news that foreigners are buying up large swaths of their rainforest, for whatever reason, has infuriated Amazonians. In Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, the director of one NGO involved with small-scale sustainable development projects says: "Johan Eliasch is not welcome here." The problem with Eliasch's "green colonialism" is the implication that Brazilians are not capable of saving the rainforest from destruction, and ignoring the many organisations already in the field, particularly those of the original inhabitants of the rainforest. Yanomami Indian leader Davi Kopenawa, on a visit to the UK to raise support for indigenous health needs, says: "The forest cannot be bought. It is our life; we have always protected it." He is not alone. The Alliance of Forest Peoples, which represents indigenous groups and the many communities that live sustainably from the forest, says the way to save the forest is to protect the indigenous and extractive reserves, where satellite data shows deforestation has largely been held at bay so far. Indigenous reserves alone cover a fifth of the Brazilian Amazon. For the many environmental organisations with years of experience in Amazon campaigning, the only answer is to stop all deforestation. Nine of the biggest green NGOs - including Greenpeace, WWF, Friends of the Earth and the Nature Conservancy - and leading Brazilian organisations such as ISA, for indigenous peoples, and the Amazon Institute for Environmental Research have put forward a seven-year plan to reduce deforestation to zero by 2015. An area the size of France - almost a fifth of Brazil's Amazon region - has been deforested, mostly in the last 40 years. Zero deforestation would bring a huge reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions that make Brazil one of the top five climate polluters in the world, and stop the loss of biodiversity. The NGOs believe the key is economic, so that standing forest has more value than what replaces it. They want the government's generous financial incentives, historically channelled into destructive practices such as cattle ranching and crops, to be redirected to "environmental services" - a plan that is supported by three of the nine state governors of the Amazon region. Of course, the key player is the Brazilian government, and the problem is that it speaks with many voices. Its powerful works minister, Dilma Roussef, leads the "developmentalist" sector demanding infrastructure, roads and dams. Environment minister Marina Silva advocates a mosaic of giant conservation units and environmental safeguards before the infrastructure. Yet her ministry is behind a controversial new "forests for hire" scheme to allow selected Brazilian logging companies into areas of previously out-of-bounds national forests. The idea is that it will be easier to control such logging, but the voracity and ruthlessness of Amazon loggers make critics liken it to putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop. Domino effect The proposal by agriculture minister Reinhold Stephanes that deforested Amazon land should be used for sugar cane production has caused another uproar. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had promised that Brazil's booming ethanol production would not threaten the rainforest, but the influential biofuel lobby will plant sugar cane wherever it can, and experience with other boom crops, such as soya, suggests the problem will be the domino effect - high sugar cane prices will push less profitable crops on to cheaper land. A new factor is about to be introduced into the equation: climate change. Rainfall in Brazil's major agricultural regions is influenced by the rainforest. Destroying the Amazon could trigger drought in other regions and seriously affect crops. That vital connection is about to be made clear - with discreet but vital support from the UK government - in a report called the Economics of Climate Change. "It will be a sort of Brazilian version of the Stern report," says an informed insider. Almost 20% of the Amazon rainforest has already been cleared, and scientists believe that 40% is the tipping point. The race against time to find ways of stopping deforestation has begun. · coolearth.org · Email your comments to society@theguardian.com. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication" | ['environment/environment', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/forests', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/societyguardian', 'theguardian/societyguardian/societyguardian'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2007-10-24T09:51:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
politics/2022/nov/22/uk-plans-for-sunsetting-eu-laws-post-brexit-not-fit-for-purpose | UK plans for ‘sunsetting’ EU laws post-Brexit ‘not fit for purpose’ | The plans for discarding EU-derived laws following Brexit have been called “not fit for purpose” by the government’s own independent assessor. Under new legislation that was the brainchild of the former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, thousands of laws copied from the EU to Britain’s statute book will be “sunsetted” by the end of next year if they are not each signed off by ministers to be kept. These include legislation on workers’ rights, such as maximum working time directives and maternity pay, and habitat protections that save endangered animals from development threats. The retained EU law bill (REUL), which threatens up to 4,000 pieces of legislation, has previously been described as “reckless” by legal experts who say it is badly designed and gives unprecedented powers to ministers to personally decide which laws should stay and which should go. The bill has been criticised by legal experts, who have said it gives ministers unprecedented and “undemocratic” powers to make or ditch laws without consultation. Unions, worried it could trigger a wave of deregulation of workers’ rights, say it is a “countdown to disaster”, while the Green party MP Caroline Lucas told MPs the bill was irresponsible and “ideologically driven”. The government’s independent regulation watchdog, the regulatory policy committee (RPC), has looked at the impact assessment for the plans and described it as “not fit for purpose”. “The bill proposes sunsetting more than 2,400 pieces of retained EU legislation (REUL) on 31 December 2023, unless, before then, a departmental review proposes retention of, or changes to, the legislation, or delays the sunset until 2026,” says its report. “No impacts for changes to individual pieces of REUL have been assessed at this stage. We asked the department to commit to assessing the impact of changed and sunsetted legislation, for RPC scrutiny in the future, but the department has not made a firm commitment to do so.” It suggests the government has not addressed the impact of sunsetting these laws on those who will be affected by them, explaining: “As the independent Better Regulation watchdog, it is our view that those affected by regulatory change should reasonably expect the government to properly consider the impacts of such changes. “We are not assured that the impact of changing or sunsetting each piece of REUL will be calculated or understood under proposals currently in place – particularly where no related secondary legislation is required.” The watchdog has also criticised the sunset clause, which gives a deadline for all the laws to be assessed then either amended, discarded or kept. It says the government has not given sufficient reasoning behind the decision to put this deadline in place. The assessment reads: “[The government] must provide a stronger argument for why the sunsetting of REUL is necessary, as opposed to merely setting a deadline to complete the review and change of REUL, including appropriate and robust evidence to support this position.” Alice Hardiman, the RSPB’s head of policy in England, said: “We have been saying for months that the retained EU law bill is not fit for purpose and now the UK government’s own regulatory policy committee is saying the same thing. The far-reaching and devastating environmental implications of this poorly thought through piece of legislation would impact so many areas of our lives that the government should do the decent thing and withdraw it now.” A government spokesperson said: “The regulatory policy committee’s rating of our impact assessment for the retained EU laws bill is disappointing but keeps with ratings of many other enabling bills. Naturally with the immense scope of the freedoms this bill will enable, and the various sectors and departments it involves, it is difficult to quantify impacts in the impact assessment at this time. “The government is committed to taking full advantage of the benefits of Brexit, which is why we are pushing ahead with our retained EU law bill, which will end the special legal status of all retained EU law. This will allow us to ensure our laws and regulations best fit the needs of the country, removing needless bureaucracy in order to support jobs, whilst keeping important protections and safeguards.” | ['politics/eu-referendum', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'politics/jacob-rees-mogg', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/wildlife', 'global-development/workers--rights', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-11-22T15:40:11Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2017/jan/15/fischer-energy-joins-uk-retail-market-with-100-renewable-offer | Fischer Energy joins UK retail market with 100% renewable offer | The ranks of the 40-plus energy companies jostling for householders’ business will swell on Monday with the launch of a new supplier that delivers electricity from windfarms. Fischer Energy hopes to sign up 40,000 customers in the first year to its single variable tariff, with renewable power bought from Denmark’s Dong Energy. The new entrant arrives less than two months after the collapse of another small supplier, GB Energy UK. Experts have raised concerns that the retail energy market is approaching saturation point and question the wisdom of consumers signing up for a variable tariff at a time of rising wholesale prices. Keith Bastian, Fischer’s chief executive, said he had been motivated to start the company because of the inequality of multiple tariffs, and that offering a single tariff would reduce confusion. “That will in effect put the customer first,” he said. “They can buy the energy knowing it’ll be a fair price. It won’t be the cheapest, we can’t guarantee that, but it will be fair.” The supplier, a family-owned business based in Leicester, would not risk GB Energy’s fate by “going down the road of a race to the bottom” on price, Bastian said. He added that while the company would be on comparison sites, it would not pay commissions to them. The company, which has around 25 employees, is also going up against some long-standing green energy suppliers such as Good Energy and Ecotricity with its pledge to supply 100% renewable electricity. “Green energy is the only way forward. Burning carbon fuels is not the solution,” Bastian said. It is not yet clear whether Fischer will stand out against the Big Six and a crowded landscape of smaller players. “They’ve talked about it being a unique offering with one tariff that’s fair for all. Well there are a number of suppliers doing that. You take Bulb, they have one tariff and renewable electricity,” said Stephen Murray, an energy expert at Moneysupermarket. He said the comparison site had noticed that since GB Energy’s demise, customers were erring towards more established players such as British Gas, EDF, npower, E.ON, ScottishPower and SSE. Ofgem says there are currently 44 active suppliers in the retail market. “I think we’re getting there [near saturation point]. If a supplier comes with a unique and innovative approach then great, but I’m not sure what that approach is at the moment,” Murray said. Joe Malinowski, the founder of The Energy Shop comparison site, said: “I think the market is way over-saturated with new entrants. It doesn’t need another one, and what they’re doing is not unique.” He also echoed Murray’s concern about single variable tariff: “The problem with having a variable tariff in a volatile market is you have to keep raising the price.” Fischer is due to publish details of its tariff on Monday, when an Edinburgh couple also launch a crowdfunding effort to raise £450,000 to set up a new energy supplier later this year that would offer greater transparency. David Pike and Karin Sode say Our Energy will share its salaries and accounts with customers. | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'money/energy', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'money/household-bills', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2017-01-15T16:49:38Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/2018/aug/23/hawaii-hurricane-lane-floods-earthquakes-volcano | Hawaii braces for Hurricane Lane in year of floods, quakes and volcanic eruptions | Hawaii has weathered its share of natural disasters in 2018 – first flooding on Kauai, then volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on the Big Island of Hawaii – and things aren’t over yet. Now, residents on the islands are stocking up and bracing for gale-force winds, waves and rain as Hurricane Lane heads their way. The rare category 4 hurricane comes just two weeks after another, Hurricane Hector, threatened to pound the island chain, but passed to the south, inflicting almost no damage. But preparations for Lane felt different, and with good reason. On Tuesday, the storm was briefly upgraded to category 5, and the state issued an emergency declaration that closed public schools and government offices. By Wednesday, businesses, parks, golf courses and zoos were also preparing to close as evacuation shelters were opening. On Tuesday night, Lane, which on Wednesday had 155 mph winds, became one of only two recorded category 5 hurricanes to pass within 350 miles of the Big Island. The last was Hurricane John in 1994, according to the National Weather Service, although that storm never made landfall. Some residents on Oahu said they were now recalling the damage done to their island in 1992 by Hurricane Iniki, which caused six deaths and $3.1bn of damage. On the island of Kauai, which was the hardest hit by that storm, more than 1,400 houses were destroyed. “Just because it’s sunny in some places right now doesn’t mean people should think they’re safe,” Bob Burke, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said on Wednesday afternoon. Around the islands, residents prepared for the storm. Midday lines for gas ran outside of parking lots as residents rushed to refuel their cars. Meanwhile, most of the big-box stores that residents rely on – including Target, Safeway, and Costco – were sold out of bottled water. Other emergency supplies, such as generators, battery-powered radios, and candles, were also sold out. In some stores, even canned food was sold out. By Wednesday, Lane had been downgraded to a category 4 storm but still warranted hurricane warnings for Hawaii and Maui islands – which will be the first hit as the storm moves north-west. Oahu and Kauai were under a hurricane watch. Some businesses said they planned to close early Wednesday until further notice, or made preparations for high winds. In Kahului, Maui, where residents often feel the bluster of normal offshore tradewinds, employees at Ulta Beauty had boarded up the store’s floor length front windows with plywood. The island’s $17bn tourism industry is also being affected by the storm. On Tuesday, Hawaiian airlines began offering travel waivers to anyone traveling to or from the islands from 21 to 26 August. “Our lines have been busy,” Tara Shimooka, a spokesperson for Hawaiian Airlines, said. The hotels that host the state’s 9.1 million annual visitors were also making preparations. A security manager at the Royal Hawaiian hotel in Waikiki, Oahu, said that the hotel had a “40-page” hurricane plan that the staff was being briefed on, and that some guests who had planned to check out and fly home had already extended their stays. Based on current predictions, hurricane-force winds could hit the Big Island by late Wednesday afternoon. Maui is expected to be hit next, followed by the islands of Oahu and Kauai. According to Burke, the storm is expected to have peaked already, and to gradually diminish in strength over the coming days. But he also cautioned that the storm was unusual. “That makes it hard to predict,” he said. On the Big Island, emergency warnings about the Kilauea volcano’s eruptions have been replaced by warnings about Hurricane Lane. Residents of the easternmost part of the island have faced lava flows and earthquakes since May. In the last few weeks, lava flows had begun to slow and volcanic eruptions that had shaken the island – sometimes with hundreds of earthquakes daily – had become less frequent. Like some residents on the Big Island, Kauai residents are still recovering from the last disaster. Between 13 and 16 April, Kauai and Oahu were hit by record rains that totaled 50in in 24 hours. The rain caused serious damage, compromised 532 homes and required some residents to be rescued by boat. At a press conference, Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, recommended that Hawaii families have a two-week emergency supply of food and water on hand. | ['us-news/hawaii', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/breena-kerr', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-08-23T09:00:39Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
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