id stringlengths 16 182 | title stringlengths 6 152 | body stringlengths 284 6.92k | tags stringlengths 50 917 | extracted_from_tag stringclasses 177 values | category stringclasses 10 values | date stringdate 1998-09-29 21:43:09 2024-12-31 13:00:45 | use bool 1 class | label stringclasses 10 values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
commentisfree/2018/feb/01/killer-whales-talk-brave-new-world-cross-species-chat-wikie-orca-mimic | So killer whales can talk. Welcome to a brave new world of cross-species chat | Jules Howard | A bridge in cultures has occurred. A cognitive chasm between intelligent creatures has been crossed. Of all the spectacular times for you to be alive, you happen to have been born in an age when killer whales started talking to the damn dirty apes who were willing to listen. Though this sounds like some sort of sci-fi dream/nightmare, I am here to assure you that this is real. Remain calm, but stay vigilant around all marine mammals at this time. We may be in for a rocky time, as you shall discover. Let us begin by examining the facts. First, it’s true. As you may have heard by now, a captive killer whale called Wikie, housed at Marineland in Antibes, France, is uttering noises that mimic the human sounds “Hello” and “Bye-bye” as well as “One, two, three” plus, apparently, the haunting word “Amy” – the name of its trainer. Predictably, within hours of the release of the scientific paper, Wikie has become something of an online celebrity. This week, after the news broke about Wikie’s great feat, a number of vocal animal welfare charities were calling for her release from captivity. This troubled me a little. Really? I thought. Is that really a good idea? Killer whales (like all dolphins) are adept at horizontal learning, after all. They copy one another. They have sounds for objects, possibly names. They have dialects. They transmit behaviours. In other words, they have culture like we do. Might the once captive Wikie somehow spoil their untamed wildness with her newly learned human vernacular? What if this captive dolphin, somehow released into the wild with a human greeting (“Hello!”) should corrupt the wild dolphins it comes across? What then? I dread to think, but the idea is entertaining to consider so let us do just that. Let us imagine pods of wild dolphins screaming “Goodbye” at boatloads of tourists that encroach on their hunting grounds each year. Imagine them saying “Bye-bye” to trawlers. Imagine them ruining countless nature documentaries by screaming “Hello” to BBC camera crews while filming. And what if Wikie and her kind later develop sarcasm? Can you imagine, in an age where our oceans become bereft and depleted of nutrition, the words “So long and thanks for all the fish!”, delivered in a sarcastic tone? In a perverse sort of way, I suspect Douglas Adams would have laughed long and loud at this idea. And then wept. But there are positives to this possible cross-species dialogue, and perhaps it is this potential that we should focus on. Imagine a non-human animal that could speak up – in human words – against the degradation of a vast ecosystem like that of the oceans? In such a world, perhaps modern politics would find itself a new enemy in marine mammals like Wikie. One can imagine, for instance, in some alternative universe, a language-endowed Wikie being invited to speak at Davos or some other God-awful international event. One can imagine the soundbites (“Amy?”); the 7.45am BBC Breakfast interview; the cosy press conferences with Wikie, wide-eyed in a giant blow-up birthing pool in front of the cameras, next to a shady foreign president secretly plotting her kind’s political downfall while sipping imported water from a non-recyclable plastic bottle. (While writing this it strikes me how, in moments like these, just how so many of us would side with these talkative killer whales). But alas, such imaginative scenarios are just that – imaginative. You knew this bit was coming. It is time to burst the bubble about this female killer whale. Wikie has a kind of magic about her, but it is not yet a two-way conversation. She is a mimic, pure and simple and she is hungry for her fish rewards. In the same way as a 14-year-old can armpit-fart his way through Bach’s Fifth Symphony to achieve 1,000-plus views on YouTube, without ever truly knowing Bach, this killer whale has hit upon a neat trick for reward by exhaling in a measured way that sounds a little like human voice. But that doesn’t make the science hogwash. Far from it. It’s a beginning. And all scientific journeys have a beginning. We’ll need wild, untainted, unspoiled populations to test ideas on. We need to get away from fish rewards. We need to move away from captive research. This is a start. It’s not the end. They may one day talk with us, but not like this. And so, in my wildest dreams it won’t be a “bye-bye” or a “hello” that curries favour with an intelligent species such as the killer whale, but a word of more depth: a word like “friend” or “partner” or “respect”. And further down the line maybe we could manage something else. Dialogue. Truth. Meaning. As of recent times, these are no longer uniquely human concepts when it comes to zoology. Welcome to the brave new world. You happen to be alive in it. But who else is listening? Increasingly, we shall get to decide. Bye-bye, or hello: you and I get to choose. • Jules Howard is a zoologist and the author of Sex on Earth, and Death on Earth | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'science/animalbehaviour', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/environment', 'science/biology', 'science/science', 'science/language', 'world/world', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/dolphins', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/jules-howard', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-02-01T12:19:47Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2015/dec/16/weather-watch-metdesk-philippines-typhoon-melor-nona-us-new-zealand | Typhoon Nona paralyses central Philippines | The very mild start to winter across the UK and the rest of Europe has been mirrored on the other side of the Atlantic. Much of northern and eastern US, along with parts of Canada, have had temperatures of around 10-15C – above average for this time of year. Last weekend was particularly warm, with dozens of date-temperature records broken. Further south in the US an active storm system in east Texas spawned an outbreak of tornadoes last Saturday, damaging more than 50 homes and derailing a train. Meanwhile, a powerful typhoon this week crossed the central Philippines bringing damaging winds and torrential rain. Typhoon Melor, called Nona in the Philippines, made landfall Monday after rapidly intensifying in strength. This slow moving typhoon weakened, then re-intensified again before passing just to the south of Manila, and lingering close to south-west Luzon on Wednesday. The typhoon led to maximum sustained winds of about 145mph at its peak, but the strongest winds affected only a comparatively small area. Heavy rainfall was more widespread, and due to the typhoon’s rather slow forward speed, much rain occurred even as the storm weakened, with more than 300mm of rainfall in places. Power supply was cut to large areas of the central Philippines and almost 800,000 people were evacuated from the storm’s path. Parts of New Zealand’s South Island were hit by severe summer thunderstorms on Sunday. Tornadoes caused damage to crops, and Christchurch got a large amount of hail along with torrential rain and flooding in places. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'science/meteorology', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/tornadoes', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/philippines', 'world/newzealand', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-12-16T21:30:32Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2018/sep/12/world-weatherwatch-intense-threats-from-hurricane-florence-typhoon-jebi | World weatherwatch: Intense threats from Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Jebi | The hurricane named Florence is expected to hit the east coast of the US, between North Georgia and South Virginia on 13 September. Florence began life as “tropical depression 6”, intensified to a tropical storm over the following few days and to a hurricane on 5 September. It then weakened, but since has been undergoing re-intensification and is expected to return to hurricane strengthbefore landfall, with a forecast intensity of category 4. Meanwhile, Japan has been recovering from the impact of Typhoon Jebi, which made landfall there on 4 September. Jebi was the strongest cyclone to strike Japan since Yancy in 1993, and it brought widespread damage from strong winds and flooding. At Kansai international airport, located on a constructed island, runways were submerged. More than 600 injuries and 11 deaths in Japan have been attributed to the storm. Torrential rain and flooding has also affected Guangdong province in China. Although this was not directly associated with a tropical storm much of the region had more than 100mm or even 200mm of rain in the days leading up to 1 September. Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated by the local authorities. | ['world/hurricane-florence', 'weather/japan', 'news/series/world-weatherwatch', 'us-news/us-weather', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/japan', 'science/meteorology', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-09-12T20:30:04Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/mar/20/country-diary-swelling-buds-await-springs-starting-gun | Country diary: swelling buds await spring's starting gun | In drizzly rain, the view southwards from Pinnock hill, with hedges and woodland receding into the distance, faded like a series of watercolour washes: burnt umber, through sepia, to Payne’s grey on the horizon. Despite February’s freakish weather, with its false promise of spring, there was no sign yet of the pale green tint that appears in tree crowns when buds start to burst. But in woodland beside me sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) buds had begun to swell a little, doubling in size since I stood here last week. They are elegant shape-shifters and slowly their squat winter profile, encased in tight green scales, broadens and elongates, becoming as streamlined as a rifle bullet, blushed with purple, until internal pressure becomes irresistible and pristine leaves tumble out. Miniature leaf primordia were deep inside all winter, pre-packaged, ready for inflation. With the first surge of sap, a conjurer’s sleight of hand, the sudden transformation begins and bare twigs become a green canopy as translucent as stained glass: the magic of spring. Sycamore is an introduced species, a native of eastern Europe. Nearby, I found red-berried elder (Sambucus racemosa), another alien species, which arrived in the 16th century at about the same time as ubiquitous sycamore, but is mostly confined to northern England and Scotland. I sometimes come here at the tail end of winter, impatient to see its precocious response to the slightest hint of spring. Today it was already in leaf, with flower buds that seemed only a few days away from opening. In its native North America, red-berried elder inflorescences are visited by hummingbirds; here bumblebees collect their pollen and nectar, and the scarlet berries that follow in July are soon taken by birds that disperse them in their droppings. It may have originally been planted along this woodland edge as game cover. Botanists classify plants like these, introduced by people since 1500 and forming self-sustaining populations, as neophytes. As time passes, these integrate, accumulate their own dependent fauna – 99 insect species in the case of sycamore – and acquire their own significance in the cycle of the seasons. On this grey day these two provided welcome reassurance of imminent spring, long before primroses had unfurled their petals. | ['environment/forests', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'environment/environment', 'environment/plants', 'environment/spring', 'lifeandstyle/gardens', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/north-of-england', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-03-20T05:30:06Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2019/aug/19/gran-canaria-wildfire-triggers-thousands-of-evacuations-canary-islands | Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people | About 9,000 people have been evacuated from their homes on Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands, where firefighters are battling a wildfire that has burned more than 23 square miles of land. More than 700 firefighters supported by 11 helicopters and five aeroplanes are struggling to contain the fire, which began on Saturday near the town of Tejeda and is advancing on several fronts, propelled by a combination of high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity. The head of the Canary Islands government, Ángel Víctor Torres, described the blaze as voracious and an environmental disaster, and said it had been “neither contained nor controlled”. The head of the local emergency services, Federico Grillo, said the fire’s main front was “impossible to extinguish” and that firefighting efforts were concentrated on containing the right-hand flank, where there are a large number of homes. The left-hand side had been stabilised, he said. He said the front was vast and that “whatever we do in the west, depends on the east, which could send the flames back and reignite what we have extinguished”. The fire has so far affected the central part of the island rather than coastal areas busy with tourists in the summer months. The area is mainly mountainous and criss-crossed by ravines, making much of it inaccessible. Grillo said the flames had reached heights of 50 metres (164ft) as the fire devoured swaths of Tamadaba natural park, where he said it had “an open road”. He said the fire had made the only land access to the park impassable and that trying to fight it on the ground would be suicide. “We’re not going to be able to do anything in that area, where the situation is really bad,” Grillo said. High temperatures, strong winds and low humidity were forecast for the rest of the day. About 40 people are trapped in a cultural centre in Artenara, which has been cut off by the fire, authorities said. Nine municipalities were evacuated on Sunday night. Local officials have asked central government and the Red Cross for as many as 600 beds to accommodate people displaced from their homes. Those remaining at home have been told to stay away from their windows as the heat may cause the glass to explode. There have been no reports of injuries, but Grillo said a large number of homes had been affected and many destroyed. The head of Gran Canaria’s authorities, Antonio Morales, said he believed the fire had been started intentionally, but the cause has not been conclusively established. The blaze comes barely a week after another that began near Artenara destroyed 3,700 acres. Spain’s acting agriculture minister, Luis Planas, flew to the island to review the situation. Torres said the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and King Felipe had also called to express their concern. | ['world/spain', 'world/wildfires', 'world/europe-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stephen-burgen', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-08-19T11:16:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2013/apr/03/vito-nicastri-assets-seized-mafia | Assets worth €1.3bn seized from Italian businessman 'with mafia links' | Anti-mafia investigators in Italy have made their largest confiscation of assets to date: €1.3bn (£1.1bn) worth of property, cash and alternative energy companies owned by a man known as the "king of wind". In a decision hailed by Italy's anti-mafia police chief as unprecedented, a court in Sicily ordered the definitive confiscation of assets first seized and frozen in September 2010 from Vito Nicastri, 57, a former electrician and businessman believed to have close ties with the Cosa Nostra. Among the assets were 43 companies, 98 properties, 66 bank accounts, credit cards, investment funds, cars and boats. Most were located in Sicily and in Calabria, the southern region of Italy that is home to the 'Ndrangheta criminal organisation, but the investigation also reached northern Lombardy and Rome. Investigators said Nicastri, who made his name as an alternative energy entrepreneur, had "high-level" contacts in the mafia and invested money made from criminal activities. "This is a sector in which money can easily be laundered," Arturo de Felice, head of Italy's anti-mafia agency, told SkyTG24. In separate comments, De Felice described the confiscation of the assets as "unprecedented". Police said Nicastri had close ties to Matteo Messina Denaro, a Cosa Nostra kingpin who has been on the run since the early 1990s. "Matteo Messina Denaro is behind many businessmen considered above suspicion who manage and take care of the assets of the real boss of Cosa Nostra," tweeted Ivan Lo Bello, vice-president of business lobby Confindustria. "The fight against money laundering is fundamental to the crushing of the mafia." Italian police said the confiscation of assets would impact "in a significant way" on the economic power of Messina Denaro. "We are talking about productive businesses, which will now go to the state; in this particular economic context that we are living in, it's not to be sniffed at," said De Felice. Nicastri has been placed under surveillance and told to remain in his home town of Alcamo, on the west coast of Sicily, for three years. | ['world/italy', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'world/mafia', 'world/organised-crime', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/lizzydavies', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2013-04-03T17:02:38Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2014/dec/09/blackphone-app-store-opens | Blackphone launching world’s first privacy-focused app store | Privacy-first smartphone company Blackphone is launching its own app store for users concerned about privacy and security. The Blackphone app store will be available in January and will monitor apps to make sure they do not snoop on users. “We’ll have a few degrees of vetting,” Blackphone chief executive Toby Weir-Jones told the Guardian. “We’ll validate that the apps will do what they intend – call it the Apple model. If you have an app to manage your social media accounts and it wanted access to your microphone and your camera we might ask why and get on a first screening.” Several apps have been caught spying on users through leaky permissions systems, accessing unconnected features of smartphones, including an Android torch app that silently sent user location and device data to advertisers, which sparked and investigation and subsequent fine from the US data privacy regulator. “But we’re not intending to replicate a mass-market app store right now,” said Weir-Jones. “We’re not going to do games or have our own versions of social network apps. We’re much more interested in a private marketplace with quality apps with things that have a broad alignment with our privacy and security focus.” Most Blackphone users currently use Amazon’s app store ; despite being based on Android the Blackphone doesn’t have access to Google’s Play Store with its million or more apps. The company hopes that the Blackphone app store will help foster innovation, and provide the apps necessary for corporate users as well as user privacy. . “We want to… reach a wider audience that cares about usability, that cares about intuitive use as well as privacy benefits,” said Weir-Jones. Along with the app store, Blackphone is also launching new software from Canadian firm Graphite Software called Spaces, which allows users to split their work and private life into two isolated containers on one phone. A private life “space” could contain a user’s social networks and other private information, while the work space could contain work data. The two spaces are entirely separate, meaning apps in one cannot see or access the other, but the user can switch between the two or more spaces without rebooting the phone. Opening up the market These two new features form part of Blackphone’s continued push for corporate users, seizing on the decline of BlackBerry as the primary, security-focused brand for company smartphones. Weir-Jones says corporate users can open up the consumer market. “The large bulk of our sales will be to enterprise-minded buyers,” said Weir-Jones. “But those people also tend to be quite influential – they go home and talk to friends and family about their devices. Security technology inherently has a high cost to users, such as restrictions on the types or number of apps or being forced to adopt systems that are difficult to use, but Blackphone wants to tackle this. “We need to do a better job as an industry at removing the excuses for not using secure and private software,” said Weir-Jones, who admits that Blackphone is unlikely to reach 90% of the market any time soon. “It’s not a light switch and it won’t happen overnight; it requires a lot of effort and education.” • Blackphone: can a mobile ever truly be hack-proof? | ['technology/smartphones', 'technology/apps', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'world/privacy', 'technology/data-computer-security', 'technology/mobilephones', 'technology/android', 'world/surveillance', 'type/article', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-12-09T08:00:01Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2023/may/24/energy-firm-sse-reports-near-doubling-of-annual-profits | SSE to invest £40bn in green energy as profits almost double | SSE has set out plans to invest £40bn in clean energy over the next 10 years as it reported a near-doubling of its annual profits compared with the year before thanks in part to its fossil fuel power stations. The Perth-based FTSE 100 company said it would carry out its record-breaking green energy plan by investing “far in excess of its earnings” after making an adjusted pre-tax profit of £2.18bn for the 12 months to the end of March, up from almost £1.16bn the year before. The sharp increase in full-year profits came as earnings from its gas-fired power stations surged almost fourfold to £1.24bn for the last financial year, up from £331.1m the year before. SSE has sought to downplay the soaring fossil fuel profits in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which triggered a jump in global energy market prices that has ignited calls for a windfall tax on the excess profits made by power generators and oil companies. It did not face higher taxes on its profits from gas-fired power stations because the government’s energy generator levy focused on renewable power. But SSE’s renewables business made a fraction of the profit that its gas plants made last year, rising to £580m from £568.1m the year before, meaning it was required to pay only £43m under the levy. Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE’s chief executive, justified the low levels of tax by arguing that the UK’s energy crisis “was a gas crisis” and that its investments would help the UK move away from a reliance on gas. SSE made “profits with a purpose” that would accelerate its plans to invest in renewable energy and reinforce the UK’s electricity grid to help speed up the UK’s climate agenda, he said. The company has not ruled out overseas investment as part of its £40bn 10-year plan. Phillips-Davies told journalists that the company would consider investing in the US but he expected Europe to remain SSE’s core market. “Action, not just ambition, is what is needed to provide lasting solutions to the problems of climate change, energy affordability and security – and, with a record-breaking investment programme, that is what we are delivering,” he said. SSE runs gas-fired power stations alongside hydroelectric plants and windfarms and an electricity transmission business. The company set out a five-year plan to accelerate the UK’s net zero ambitions in 2021 by spending £12.5bn. It has increased its spending by 40% to £18bn and extended the plan to 2027. The new plan will include a 50% increase in capital spending for its regulated electricity networks, a 40% increase for its renewable electricity generation and a 10% increase for its low-carbon flexible thermal generation and other businesses. “Through delivery of our societally aligned strategy we are accelerating the build-out of renewables, reinforcing the networks needed to decarbonise, providing much-needed flexible generation, and working hard to ensure no one is left behind in the transition to net zero,” Phillips-Davies said. | ['business/scottishandsouthernenergy', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'business/utilities', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2023-05-24T12:52:47Z | true | ENERGY |
lifeandstyle/2012/may/27/katharine-whitehorn-nothing-is-what-it-seems | Katharine Whitehorn: Nothing is what it seems | "Each mortal thing does one thing and the same," said Gerard Manley Hopkins. That isn't true of manmade things. Bottles become candle holders; little shots gleaned from airlines are refilled with the emergency booze without which rail journeys, queuing for tickets, demos and making speeches to girls schools should never be attempted. Newspapers, they say, will soon be obsolete; it's true they already wrap the fish in something else and there aren't so many open fires that need drawing up with a broadsheet – but newspapers may never die while there are still cat-litter trays to line. Honor Tracy wrote of happily decaying Irish houses where the broken front doorbell had been replaced with a trumpet; Scarlett O'Hara's dress was made from curtains. Pillowcases are useful in summer hotels, I gather, for bringing the contents of the bedroom minibar down to the poolside. But the best example of secondary use I know of is a teacher who gave out her boring worksheets to her pupils to take home and make paper aeroplanes, and gave top marks to any child who succeeded in making one fly. We were good at using things for other things long before we ever called it recycling; you could say all civilisation is the art of using something natural for an unnatural purpose – like the man who first thought to carve a goose quill to make a pen. | ['lifeandstyle/series/katharine-whitehorn-column', 'environment/recycling', 'books/gerard-manley-hopkins', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/katharine-whitehorn', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/magazine', 'theobserver/magazine/regulars'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2012-05-26T23:07:22Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/may/22/exploitative-conditions-germany-to-reform-meat-industry-after-spate-of-covid-19-cases | ‘Exploitative conditions’: Germany to reform meat industry after spate of Covid-19 cases | The German government has announced a series of reforms of the meat industry, including a ban on the use of subcontractors and fines of €30,000 (£26,000) for companies breaching labour regulations, as slaughterhouses have emerged as coronavirus hotspots. A number of meat plants across the country have temporarily closed after hundreds of workers tested positive for Covid-19 in recent weeks. This week more than 90 workers were reported to have fallen ill at a plant in Dissen, Lower Saxony. Following an outbreak at a plant in Coesfeld, where more than 270 of 1,200 workers tested positive, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia announced mass testing of industry employees. An outbreak at a plant in Bavaria in the district of Straubing-Bogen coincides with numbers of infections reaching the “emergency break” level of 50 cases per 100,000 residents. States passing this point are allowed to reimpose lockdown restrictions. “The corona outbreaks have not surprised us at all,” said Jonas Bohl, from the German Food, Beverages and Catering Union. “Rather the surprise was that they took a while to emerge. The people not only work closely together but more importantly they live together, in very cramped conditions where there is no possibility to keep social distance.” As in Ireland, the UK and the US, meat plants in Germany have been accused of failing to adequately protect workers. Hubertus Heil, Germany’s minister for work and social affairs, said the high number of infections showed that better health and safety was “urgently needed” in the industry. This week the government announced a series of new measures to increase health and safety protection for workers, and reform the system of subcontracted labour. Of the roughly 90,000 staff employed by major meat plants in Germany, an estimated two-thirds are hired through subcontractors, according to Fair Mobility, a civil society organisation supporting eastern European migrant workers in Germany. From 1 January 2021 the use of subcontractors will be banned and large meat processing companies will only be able to use workers they directly employ. A crack in the cheap meat model “[It is] quite a historic moment,” said Christine Chemnitz, head of agricultural policy at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. “The meat industry can no longer take advantage of exploitative labour conditions in the slaughterhouses. It is an important crack in the production model of cheap meat from Germany.” The German Association of the Meat Industry announced its support for additional health and safety measures, but argued that the ban on subcontracted labour was “discriminatory” and questioned how far it could be implemented. It also rejected criticisms that the coronavirus outbreaks illustrate an industry-wide problem, and outlined its own five-point improvement plan. Bohl, from the food and catering union, argues that although hygiene was tightened on many factory floors due to coronavirus, German meat plants didn’t do enough to address the transport and accommodation issues workers faced. Two Romanian former employees of a Bavarian slaughterhouse told the Guardian they were “not at all” surprised at the outbreaks. “There were houses where you could find even 20 people,” said *Alex. “It takes one asymptomatic person in one house to spread the virus to everyone else. You could not isolate alone in a packed house.” Bohl said the subcontractors often made extra money by renting out cheap buildings – such as former army barracks or office spaces – to a large number of workers. ‘We were like modern slaves’ Former slaughterhouse worker *Lucas said that during his employment with a subcontractor there were sometimes as many as five people to a room and conditions were “terrible”. “In the first house we had cockroaches and mice and in the second house the room was full of mould and we had no heat – in November – until they brought an electric heater.” According to Fair Mobility, shifts of 12–14 hours are not uncommon in the industry. Lucas said people were pressured by subcontractors to work beyond contracted hours or risk dismissal. “We were like modern slaves,” he said. “You weren’t allowed to get sick, if you got sick there was a very good chance you’d lose your job.” While German slaughterhouse employees also worked through the pandemic, migrant workers are frequently isolated from the German community and institutions around them, and often lack access to information in their own language, said Chemnitz. The workers have become even more vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic, Bohl said. “They have a lot of fear about their health, but also about their futures and money. It’s often not clear who pays for this period when they can’t work.” While it depended on the subcontractor, Bohl feared some would not be paid if they were unable to work during the pandemic. “It is always that people are kicked out when they get sick but especially during corona,” said Guido Grüner, from ALSO in Oldenburg, a civil society organisation providing advice for many slaughterhouse workers. In recent weeks he had witnessed workers with a doctor’s note to stay off work being let go, especially if they were within their probation period. “The conditions [of the job] make people sick and have done for a long time. Corona is just a magnifying glass, showing things that people already knew but had closed their eyes to,” said Bohl. “This is an industry that is really living from weak working conditions and cheap salaries,” said Chemnitz, adding that a strong agricultural lobby and Germany’s role as a major meat producer have held the system in place. * Names have been changed • We want to hear from you about your experiences and stories from inside the farming industry. Please get in touch. You can contact us at: animalsfarmed@theguardian.com | ['environment/series/animals-farmed', 'environment/meat-industry', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'world/germany', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/farming', 'environment/food', 'science/infectiousdiseases', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/holly-young', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-05-22T16:21:27Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2018/jan/16/uk-green-energy-investment-plunges-after-policy-changes | UK green energy investment halves after policy changes | Investment in clean energy plunged further in Britain than in any other country last year because of government policy changes, new figures show. The amount companies spent on green energy in the UK rose during the years of the coalition government (2010-2015) but has now fallen for two years in a row under the Conservatives, according to analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). While investment in wind, solar and other renewable sources slumped by 56% to $10.3bn (£7.5bn) in the UK, worldwide spending climbed 3% to $333.5bn (£242.4bn), the second-highest level on record. Alan Whitehead, shadow energy minister, said: “The government’s green rhetoric is nothing more than empty promises. Their ideologically-driven policy lurches away from clean solar power and onshore wind has spooked investors. “Whilst saying they have ambitions to be a green government their actions point in the opposite direction with renewables support slashed at the same time that fracking has been given the go ahead.” Caroline Lucas, Green party co-leader, said the UK figures were damning. China led the global charge, with investment jumping by nearly a quarter to $132.6bn, a new high. The amount of solar installed in China increased by more than three-quarters on the year before as costs fell. Worldwide, solar took the lion’s share of spending on renewables, at $160.8bn, followed by windfarms. Jon Moore, chief executive of BNEF, said: “The 2017 total is all the more remarkable when you consider that capital costs for the leading technology – solar – continue to fall sharply.” Investment increased by 1% to $56.9bn in the US, the second-biggest market for clean technologies, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to favour coal and nuclear power. However, spending also fell in Germany, Japan, India, Norway, Turkey and Taiwan. The fall of 56% in the UK was the steepest decline, far out-stripping the decrease of 26% for Europe as a whole. Around half of the UK spend, $4.8bn, was a final investment decision by Ørsted of Denmark on a single huge offshore windfarm, the Hornsea 2 project off the Yorkshire coast. Another big green energy firm, npower’s parent company, Innogy, said the UK was still an attractive place to invest, but there had been a stop-start approach to support from government. Paul Cowling, director of wind energy offshore at Innogy SE, said: “It’s just very lumpy. You have this very sort of cyclic type of approach that government have had in the past.” The German firm is planning to spend €3.5bn (£3.1bn) on renewables over the next three years, with the UK billed as the company’s second-biggest market. Cowling confirmed that the company would be competing for a slice of the £557m pot of government subsidies for offshore windfarms that will be auctioned next year. BNEF said that while the promise of future subsidies showed the government was behind the sector, it agreed with Innogy on the need for greater clarity on what ministers want over the next decade. “What’s needed when we hear from investors and developers is more transparency from the government. When you compare the Netherlands and Germany there’s more transparency up to 2030 on [wind power] capacity through competitive auctions,” said Keegan Kruger, wind analyst at BNEF. Kruger added that he expected the trend in UK investment to continue downwards until around 2020, when it would likely stabilise because of new investments in offshore windfarms. As well as solar parks and windfarms, the BNEF analysis counts clean technology investments as including smart grids, energy efficiency and battery storage projects. It also includes biomass, waste-to-energy schemes, marine energy and small hydro projects but excludes large dams. A government spokesperson said: “The UK has reduced emissions on a per person basis faster than any other G7 nation and the government is committed to a low carbon future for the UK with clean growth at the heart of our industrial strategy.” • Follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk, or sign up to the daily Business Today email here. | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'environment/green-economy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2018-01-16T13:35:16Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2018/sep/18/school-run-air-pollution-children-black-carbon | UK children inhaling toxic air on school run and in classroom | Children in the UK are being forced to breathe dangerous levels of toxic air as they make their way to and from school – and even once they are inside their classrooms, according to new research. The findings from academics at Queen Mary University in London reveal that young children were absorbing a disproportionate amount of tiny black carbon particles during the school day with potentially devastating health consequences. Amy Gibbs of Unicef UK said the results were deeply worrying: “Every day, thousands of children across the UK are setting off on a toxic school run that could impact [on] their lifespan and contribute to serious long-term health problems.” The research is based on results of about 40 children who were given monitors for a 24-hour period. It found a disproportionate amount of tiny black carbon particles – largely from diesel vehicles – were absorbed as children made their way to or from school. There were also worrying results for the amount of black carbon absorbed in classrooms and playgrounds. Prof Jonathan Grigg from Queen Mary University led the study and said the findings underlined the need for a radical and urgent clean up of the nation’s air. “We know that black carbon has long-term health implications for young people and this shows that they are absorbing a disproportionate amount of these toxic particles during the school day, whether that be walking along a busy road or sitting in a car breathing in diesel fumes or even in the playground or classroom.” The findings are the latest to highlight the huge toll the UK’s air pollution crisis is taking on the nation’s health – from a rise in asthma deaths to a reduction in intelligence. On Sunday new evidence emerged showing that toxic air – already strongly linked to harm in unborn babies – travels through pregnant women’s lungs and lodge in their placentas. Children and babies are known to be particularly vulnerable and last year the Guardian revealed that hundreds of thousands of young people are being exposed to illegal levels of damaging air pollution from diesel vehicles at schools and nurseries across England and Wales. Tuesday’s research found that children are exposed to more than 60% of the air pollution they take in each day during the school run and while at school even though it accounts for only 40% of the time. It focuses on black carbon, tiny particles that are one of the most dangerous for health as they can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream and potentially the brain. Gibb said that for babies and children, exposure to black carbon during these critical stages of development can stunt lung and brain growth and cause lifelong health problems. Many schools are doing what they can to tackle the problem – from banning parents driving to school to moving entrances away from busy roads. But Gibbs said it was unacceptable that the burden for a public health emergency should be falling on parents, children and individual schools. “We cannot afford to continue to overlook this invisible but serious threat,” she said, adding that “change is possible if the government acts now.” “It is critical that it sets out a clear strategy with sufficient funding to protect children from the harmful effects of toxic air, when and where they are proven to be most at risk.” The government has been defeated three times in the high court because its plans to tackle air pollution have been deemed too weak and has been widely criticised by green groups and clean air campaigners. Cities around the country are starting to draw up plans to tackle air pollution but activists say it requires a concerted national strategy with a diesel scrappage scheme and clean air zones.Air pollution causes 40,000 premature deaths a year and has a devastating impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands more people. Last year MPs said air pollution – which costs the NHS and social care services £40m a year – was a public health emergency. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'uk/london', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'education/schools', 'education/primary-schools', 'education/secondary-schools', 'education/education', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-09-18T05:01:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2007/jun/12/bagsofversatility | Bags of versatility | A shopper laden with plastic bags. Photographer: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire. Plastic, it seems, is no longer our bag: Anya Hindmarsh's I'm Not a Plastic Bag was a sell-out success, a market town in Devon has stopped providing normal plastic carriers in its shops and now We Are What We Do is calling for a plastic-bag free Christmas. But wait - if the plastic bag is banned, where will we put our soggy umbrellas? Puerile maybe, but everyone seems to have forgotten that plastic bags can be useful and that we tend to recycle them in the home. Not only do we reuse them as carriers, they also line our bins and prevent the mess from muddy shoes being trailed around the house. There are countless other uses for the humble plastic bag that we take for granted. Can we really do without? Do you want a Christmas free of plastic bags? | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'commentisfree/series/openthread', 'type/article'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2007-06-12T12:30:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
media/2011/apr/13/us-cinemas-films-video-on-demand | US cinemas threaten not to show films in video-on-demand dispute | US cinema chains are threatening to banish some films from their screens in response to a contentious video-on-demand plan by several Hollywood studios to allow new releases into living rooms within weeks of their big screen debuts. Four of the six major film studios – Universal, Sony, Warner Bros and Fox – plan to make new releases available to rent online just two months after their cinema debut. New releases will be available to rent for $30 (£18) under the premium VoD proposals, set to be introduced in the US later this month. Cinema owners have reacted angrily to the plans, which could significantly reduce the box office potential of new releases . The National Association of Theatre Owners (Nato), which represents the largest cinema chains in the US including Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Theatres, said it will fight the move. John Fithian, chief executive of Nato, told the Financial Times on Tuesday that cinemas were prepared not to screen blockbusters made by studios involved in the premium VoD plan. "Let's say you're Regal Cinemas and it's a busy weekend with a couple of big pictures opening," Fithian said. "If it's 50-50 between this picture and that picture and you have a partner that respects your [business] model and another one that doesn't, you're going to give the screen to the partner that respects your model." Fithian added that Regal and Cinemark, which own more than 7,000 cinemas in the US, had already begun to scale back promotion of films made by studios involved in the premium VoD venture. Sony's Just Go with It, a comedy featuring Adam Sandler, will make history as one of the first films to be offered on the new on-demand service, according to the US entertainment trade magazine Variety. Film studios have long wanted to reduce the four-month period of exclusivity enjoyed by cinemas. It is seen as a way to offset a decline in physical DVD sales, while also helping to combat internet piracy and initiate a radical change in film viewing habits. However, not all of the big six studios are on board. Fithian confirmed Paramount Pictures has privately expressed opposition to the shorter window. It was previously reported that the studio behind Shutter Island and Jackass 3D had concerns over internet piracy. Paramount's opposition could give it the upper hand when it goes head to head with rival studios this summer, with big-name releases such as Transformers 3 and Super 8 set to go up against Warner's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and Fox's X-Men: First Class. Disney, the other Hollywood major, has yet to reveal its hand over the premium VoD plan. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook. | ['media/video-on-demand', 'film/film-industry', 'media/mediabusiness', 'film/film', 'business/business', 'media/media', 'culture/culture', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'profile/josh-halliday'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2011-04-13T10:40:51Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2021/sep/22/dixie-fire-moonscapes-recovery | The Dixie fire is almost out, but its inhospitable ‘moonscapes’ remain | After more than two months, the battle to contain the Dixie fire – a behemoth blaze that swept nearly 1m acres, leveling mountain towns and blackening the conifer-covered landscape – is nearing its end. But even after the fire crews pack up, threats remain for the plants and animals that call this area home. Scientists are warning that the severity of today’s wildfires is making the recovery process increasingly challenging, sometimes for years after the flames are put out. The American west has evolved alongside fire, which is a natural part of the landscape. But fueled by warmer, drier conditions and an overabundance of parched vegetation, blazes are increasingly burning more ferociously, consuming nearly everything in their path. The size but also the severity of today’s wildfires is a growing concern. Fires that exhibit erratic behavior and burn with more intensity are more likely to leave behind only patches of living landscape. “There is the extent of the fire and there is the intensity of the fire. When you get these big intense fires, you mostly kill those animals,” said ecologist Brad Shaffer, the director of the UCLA La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science. “If you don’t kill them then when they come back and it’s just a big ash field, there are no plants and therefore no insects. They starve to death.” In these high-severity burns, vegetation on the forest floor is consumed by the flames, and shrubs and stumps are reduced to ash. The soil itself changes, and even beneath the ground, tree roots are burned. These moonscapes can take between five and 10 years to regenerate – far too long for some species to wait. Scientists are also finding that some landscapes remain permanently changed and trees struggle to grow where they once flourished. Surviving animals, faced with reduced populations after a fire, may resort to inbreeding, ultimately reducing their resilience while the climate becomes less hospitable. “What you are creating is analogous to an ocean that has a few little islands on it,” Shaffer said. “It is very hard to move across that super burnt landscape in a short amount of time.” For small animals, like the lizards and amphibians he specializes in, “you have to wait for it to come back”. Shaffer, who is studying how ecosystems recovered in the Woolsey fire, which burned in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in 2018, says research on the issue is still unfolding. But without mitigation, some animals may not be able to adapt. “It’s a very nasty feedback loop,” Shaffer said. “The result is small, isolated, genetically inbred populations that are often extremely compromised, with less resilience to catastrophic challenges associated with climate change and with little chance of recovery.” It’s still unclear what’s been left in the footprint of the Dixiefire. The Burned Area Emergency Response (Baer), specialized crews with the US Forest Service staffed by engineers, biologists, archeologists and other highly trained experts, are deploying into the cooled parts of the Dixie scar to assess the damage. While the official prognosis is yet to come, Brian Rhodes, the deputy director of fire and aviation management with the US Forest Service, says he is optimistic some areas may have been spared the worst. “There are definitely pockets of high severity but not as broad as one would expect,” he said. “Generally speaking I would anticipate it being a mixture of high severity, moderate severity and maybe in some places low severity.” Still, researchers have found that fire severity overall is trending in a more dangerous direction. “We are seeing an increase in the proportion of area burned at high severity with climate change,” said Camille Stevens-Rumann, an assistant professor at Colorado State University who studies fire ecology and recovery. The hot, windy days when high-severity burning is likely have defined the 2021 fire season, and helped fires like the Dixie evade containment efforts for weeks on end. Those conditions also make it more difficult for forests to heal the ways they once did. Healthy fires tend to burn low to the ground, creeping through the bases of trees and clearing the undergrowth. Severe fires shoot flames hundreds of feet high, scorching the canopies and overcoming natural defenses evolved across centuries. When older trees succumb, seedlings struggle. “Rather than having some standing trees helping shade the ground and keep it cooler and more moist, it’s just this large expanse of black charred earth which can make it difficult for trees to establish,” Stevens-Rumann said. “There’s a lot of concern about whether these forests are going to have a longer-term conversion, moving away from a forested ecosystem to something else,” she added, explaining that, on this trajectory, once-forested landscapes could soon shift to become shrub-covered chaparral, which is more flammable. Chaparral landscapes, in turn, could convert to grasslands. This could also mean big changes for the animals that live there. “If we had the spotted owl or another endangered species that is used to a dense dark forest, they are not going to use the shrubland ecosystem in the same way, or perhaps at all,” she said. “We are changing the habitat for a lot of different species.” Climate change is the main culprit in increasing the intensity of fires but it has not acted alone. A long history of suppressing natural fire – the kind needed to keep forests healthy – has only made the problem worse. Officials are embracing and implementing badly needed mitigation tools, including forest thinning and prescribed burning, but scientists have said that more urgency and action is needed to slow the changes already under way. “The more preemptive action we can really do to stop that next large, high-severity fire is the best way we are going to maintain forests across our landscape,” Stevens-Rumann said. “A lot of times that’s fighting fire with fire.” | ['world/wildfires', 'us-news/california-drought', 'environment/environment', 'environment/drought', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | us-news/california-drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-09-22T10:00:39Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2011/mar/12/weatherwatch-tim-radford-clouds-fog | Weatherwatch: Lessons from the clouds | William Cobbett was riding from Botley in Hampshire to London, on a beautiful summer's day in 1808 when he saw a cloud of dust. "Soon after there appeared to rise another cloud of dust at the same place, and that then disappeared, and the spot was clear again. "As we were totting along a very smart pace, we soon came to this narrow place, having one valley to our right and the other valley to our left, and there, to my great astonishment, I saw the clouds come one after another, each appearing to be about as big as two or three acres of land, skimming along the valley on the north side, a great deal below the tops of the hills; and successively, as they arrived at our end of the valley, rising up, crossing the narrow pass, and then descending down into the other valley and going off to the south, so that we who sate there on our horses, were alternately in clouds and in sunshine," he reports in that peripatetic classic Rural Rides, in a passage spotted by a reader, Carolyn Fisher of Lincolnshire. "It is a universal rule that if there be a fog in the morning, and that fog go from the valleys to the tops of the hills, there will be rain that day, and if it disappear by sinking in the valley, there will be no rain that day. "The truth is that fogs are clouds, and clouds are fogs. They are more or less full of water; but they are all water; sometimes a sort of steam, and sometimes water that falls in drops." | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/timradford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-03-12T00:53:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2015/apr/29/business-council-chief-calls-on-mps-to-end-disruptive-policy-reversals | Business council chief calls on MPs to end disruptive policy reversals | The head of the Business Council of Australia, Catherine Livingstone, has called for politicians to restore confidence in government process and chastised leaders for claiming election mandates for “disruptive policy reversals”. In a wide-ranging speech which called for a 10-year policy plan, Livingstone said the electorate’s loss of confidence in the “governance model” needed to be addressed before any major policies areas could be discussed. “This loss of reputation and trust in our governance model has profound implications for our democracy,” Livingstone told the National Press Club on Wednesday. “We are already experiencing the first order effects: one-term governments, minority governments, poll-to-poll decision making and disruptive policy reversals, with newly elected governments claiming as ostensible mandates what is actually an expression of underlying cynicism and frustration.” On coming to power in 2013, Tony Abbott claimed a mandate to remove the carbon tax and emissions trading scheme. She said governments of the day needed to give evidence of “respect for process, particularly the cabinet process” as well as community consultations for policy changes. Livingstone, who is the chairwoman of Telstra and has chaired the CSIRO, also urged non-government members to engage in constructive debates. “No one has given the opposition, minor parties and independents the mandate to obstruct,” she said. Two weeks before the Coalition’s second budget, Livingstone said discussions around expenditure and the intergenerational report did not address the context for the changing economy, “the extraordinary disruption that is now upon us”. She said such disruption was evident because previous assumptions no longer held, for example debates around secular stagnation, countries issuing bonds at negative interest rates and weak investment in spite of very low interest rates. Livingstone posited that at the heart of disruption of economies was “mass connectivity” which was fragmenting supply chains and disrupting business models. She used examples of new businesses like Uber, Airtasker and AirBnB, which have allowed people to earn money in different ways but have also removed income security and long-term spending commitments. In the US, 40% of the workforce or 53 million people freelance through such business models, she said. “While we are debating the minimum wage and penalty rates, jobs are moving to Airtasker or being replaced by machines,” she said. Other examples of the changing global environment included growing momentum in the “sharing economy” and advances in artificial intelligence which allows machines to learn. As a result of these changes, Livingstone said Australia could not necessarily rely on old tenets of improving productivity and participation as well as increasing population to drive economic growth. For example, Australia’s population has grown fastest among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development economies (at 25% since 2000). But in contrast to past business leaders, Livingstone said increasing the population could be a “drag” on growth unless the government addressed infrastructure planning, design and liveability issues, housing affordability and environment preservation. “If these aspects are not integral to a discussion of population policy, an increasing population may result in a net cost and hence drag on growth,” she said. “[Productivity, participation and population] are an example of how our lack of nuance, lack of sophistication, lack of granularity and lack of context in policy design are letting us down. Nothing short of a philosophical and mindset shift is required.” She outlined the policy challenges in health, education and ageing and urged governments, oppositions and all sectors of the community to agree on a philosophical approach to avoid “damaging and costly policy reversals”. Livingstone called on politicians to include the whole community in the debate. “Instead of dealing in hollow assertions of certainty, this leadership must admit to doubt while providing hope,” she said. “Don’t try and second-guess what the reactions going to be.” | ['australia-news/australian-politics', 'business/business', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-budget-2015', 'technology/internet', 'world/globalisation', 'australia-news/tony-abbott', 'environment/carbon-tax', 'environment/environment', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gabrielle-chan'] | environment/carbon-tax | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-04-29T07:02:33Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
politics/2019/feb/19/michael-gove-vows-to-uphold-food-standards-after-brexit | Michael Gove vows to uphold UK food standards after Brexit | The environment secretary, Michael Gove, is to pledge that British food standards will not be lowered “in pursuit of trade deals”. In an address to the National Farmers’ Union annual conference on Tuesday he is expected to also vow to minimise the risk that food producers will be left at “competitive disadvantage” in the face of cheaper imports that are below EU standards. His words follow a recent warning from senior figures in the US that if the UK chooses after Brexit to adhere to EU regulations, which ban chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef, then trade talks will be difficult. There have also been warnings that high tariffs on beef and lamb imposed after the UK’s departure could wipe out some farmers who rely on exports to the EU. Gove will tell farmers: “We have been clear that we will not lower our standards in pursuit of trade deals, and that we will use the tools we have at our disposal – tariffs, quotas and legislation – to make sure standards are protected and you are not left at a competitive disadvantage.” The government is to announce its proposals for tariffs in a no-deal scenario this month. Gove’s words suggest that those plans do not entail zero tariffs. Minette Batters, the NFU president, who has been highly critical of Gove in the past, will use her speech at the conference to call for a high-level expert commission to be set up to make sure imported food meets the same standards as British produce after Brexit. “When I say standards, I mean all of the high standards British farmers observe – often at considerable expense – in protecting the environment, safeguarding animal welfare and providing safe food,” she is due to say. “Mr Gove has said that over his dead body would British standards be undermined. I don’t want it written in blood. I want it written in ink. “The issue of maintaining our food standards is critical. Which is why I am asking for a high-level commission to be convened, bringing together government officials, industry representatives, civil society groups and experts in food and farming.” Batters has frequently expressed concern that the government does not take the consequences of Brexit to the agriculture and horticulture sector seriously enough. Last year she warned that exporters would in effect be locked out of the EU for up to six months if no deal was struck. She is deeply concerned that in such a scenario the government would put trade deals ahead of farmers and says her proposed commission could deliver critical parliamentary scrutiny of terms of negotiations with other countries. “This commission needs to be charged with producing a report before the end of the year. Critically the commission would need to make recommendations on how future trade deals should be scrutinised at a high level by parliament and industry, and the government would need to act on those recommendations,” Batters is to say. “Warm words are nice but we need firm commitments and clear actions.” | ['politics/trade-policy', 'environment/farming', 'business/fooddrinks', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'politics/michaelgove', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisaocarroll', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-02-19T00:01:54Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2003/sep/18/naturaldisasters.travelnews | Slow shore exit as Hurricane Isabel flies in | At the pace of a jogger and with the strength of a heavyweight boxer Hurricane Isabel finished its journey across the Atlantic last night, picking up speed as it neared the Carolina coast, threatening to batter the eastern seaboard with winds of 110 miles an hour. In Surf City residents woke to clear blue skies, the banging of plywood against beach house windows, and the latest radar from the Weather Channel telling them that Isabel was moving north-northwest at a fairly steady nine miles an hour - and heading straight for them. As shops put out the last of their water, batteries and torches, and let fate take its course, there was only one question worth asking: are you staying? Those who remained were doing so not out of bravado but because of past experience. Referring to visits by former hurricanes - Bertha, Fran and Floyd - as if they were troublesome relatives, they said they had decided it made more sense to stay put. "It gets pretty gnarly around here at hurricane time," said Sharon Jordan at the supermarket. "But I was here for Bertha and Floyd so we know what to do, and I don't think this will be quite as bad." Bill, a local council employee, drove from one fire hydrant to another placing markers near them so they could be found if they became buried in shifting sands. He was planning to leave town but only because of prior engagements. "I'm in a bowling league and I don't want to get trapped here and miss my game. But I don't think it's going to be as bad as Floyd." Officials fear that many may be underestimating this hurricane, as it has moved from the maximum category five on the Saffir-Simpson scale to a strong category two. "People still need to understand this is a very formidable hurricane," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Centre, in Miami. "Its track has been consistent." Mr Mayfield said Floyd, only a category two storm, had caused 56 deaths and damage of up to £3bn in the US. "This storm can cause a lot of damage and loss of life." Motels insisted that visitors staying on overnight had to sign away their rights to electricity and claims for damage. Between religion and light rock, the local radio stations gave notice of schools and colleges that would be closed and churches that had cancelled services. In the lifestyle section of the local paper there were tips on "hurricane cuisine". But by the afternoon Isabel's only calling card, beyond the fear and the satellite images, were the huge waves pounding the 120-mile-long chain of islands that fringe the coast of North Carolina. But even the great waves did little to impose a sense of urgency, instead testing the more adventurous surfers as they bobbed around on the sea, waiting for a crest to pose a real challenge. "It's the best surf of the year," said Jason, from Fayetteville. "You can't just go home without at least trying it." "Surf's up!" proclaimed one of many messages scrawled on plywood shutters on some of the islands to the north. Another said: "Issie, you put me in a tissy." Still, most people, including Jason, seemed now to be leaving, forming a slow convoy of motor homes, SUVs, and trailers hauling boats, going inland and to higher ground. More than 100,000 people who live or were taking a holiday on the shoreline were handed evacuation orders. The thought was that the full force of the hurricane would not strike inland until tomorrow afternoon, although heavy rain has already been pounding the outer banks. Isabel was projected to move next through Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and as far as New York. Governors of North Carolina and Maryland joined their counterpart in Virginia in declaring a state of emergency. With winds extending 145 miles from the storm's centre, the census bureau said it could affect 50 million people across 13 American states. "People recognise this is the real deal. This is, in terms of predictions, perhaps the worst storm we've seen in decades," said Virginia's governor, Mark Warner. Officials in Pennsylvania and Maryland were also concerned about the possibility of flooding after a wet summer. "There is just nowhere to put the water," declared Ed McDonough, a spokesman for the Maryland emergency management agency. | ['world/world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'travel/travel', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/garyyounge'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2003-09-18T09:51:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2012/feb/08/glaciers-mountains | The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows | The world's greatest snow-capped peaks, which run in a chain from the Himalayas to Tian Shan on the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, have lost no ice over the last decade, new research shows. The discovery has stunned scientists, who had believed that around 50bn tonnes of meltwater were being shed each year and not being replaced by new snowfall. The study is the first to survey all the world's icecaps and glaciers and was made possible by the use of satellite data. Overall, the contribution of melting ice outside the two largest caps – Greenland and Antarctica – is much less than previously estimated, with the lack of ice loss in the Himalayas and the other high peaks of Asia responsible for most of the discrepancy. Bristol University glaciologist Prof Jonathan Bamber, who was not part of the research team, said: "The very unexpected result was the negligible mass loss from high mountain Asia, which is not significantly different from zero." The melting of Himalayan glaciers caused controversy in 2009 when a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change mistakenly stated that they would disappear by 2035, instead of 2350. However, the scientist who led the new work is clear that while greater uncertainty has been discovered in Asia's highest mountains, the melting of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern. "Our results and those of everyone else show we are losing a huge amount of water into the oceans every year," said Prof John Wahr of the University of Colorado. "People should be just as worried about the melting of the world's ice as they were before." His team's study, published in the journal Nature, concludes that between 443-629bn tonnes of meltwater overall are added to the world's oceans each year. This is raising sea level by about 1.5mm a year, the team reports, in addition to the 2mm a year caused by expansion of the warming ocean. The scientists are careful to point out that lower-altitude glaciers in the Asian mountain ranges – sometimes dubbed the "third pole" – are definitely melting. Satellite images and reports confirm this. But over the study period from 2003-10 enough ice was added to the peaks to compensate. The impact on predictions for future sea level rise is yet to be fully studied but Bamber said: "The projections for sea level rise by 2100 will not change by much, say 5cm or so, so we are talking about a very small modification." Existing estimates range from 30cm to 1m. Wahr warned that while crucial to a better understanding of ice melting, the eight years of data is a relatively short time period and that variable monsoons mean year-to-year changes in ice mass of hundreds of billions of tonnes. "It is awfully dangerous to take an eight-year record and predict even the next eight years, let alone the next century," he said. The reason for the radical reappraisal of ice melting in Asia is the different ways in which the current and previous studies were conducted. Until now, estimates of meltwater loss for all the world's 200,000 glaciers were based on extrapolations of data from a few hundred monitored on the ground. Those glaciers at lower altitudes are much easier for scientists to get to and so were more frequently included, but they were also more prone to melting. The bias was particularly strong in Asia, said Wahr: "There extrapolation is really tough as only a handful of lower-altitude glaciers are monitored and there are thousands there very high up." The new study used a pair of satellites, called Grace, which measure tiny changes in the Earth's gravitational pull. When ice is lost, the gravitational pull weakens and is detected by the orbiting spacecraft. "They fly at 500km, so they see everything," said Wahr, including the hard-to-reach, high-altitude glaciers. "I believe this data is the most reliable estimate of global glacier mass balance that has been produced to date," said Bamber. He noted that 1.4 billion people depend on the rivers that flow from the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau: "That is a compelling reason to try to understand what is happening there better." He added: "The new data does not mean that concerns about climate change are overblown in any way. It means there is a much larger uncertainty in high mountain Asia than we thought. Taken globally all the observations of the Earth's ice – permafrost, Arctic sea ice, snow cover and glaciers – are going in the same direction." Grace launched in 2002 and continues to monitor the planet, but it has passed its expected mission span and its batteries are beginning to weaken. A replacement mission has been approved by the US and German space agencies and could launch in 2016. • This article was amended on 9 February 2012. The original sub-heading read "Melting ice from Asia's peaks is much less then previously estimated" as did the photo caption and text: "Melting ice outside the two largest caps - Greenland and Antarctica - is much less then previously estimated". These have all been corrected. | ['environment/glaciers', 'environment/environment', 'environment/mountains', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/world', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'world/asia-pacific', 'tone/news', 'environment/sea-level', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/sea-level | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-02-08T18:10:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2005/oct/27/hurricanes2005.weather | Mexico counts Wilma cost in lost dollars and beaches | Tens of thousands of bedraggled tourists, including 8,600 Britons, stranded in the Yucatan peninsula for nearly a week after Hurricane Wilma, are finally boarding planes to go home. But reconstruction of the battered Caribbean holiday region will take much longer, say local officials. Many streets remain flooded and power lines are down. Emergency supplies are only just getting to some of the more isolated areas, and houses in the poorer districts have been rated as beyond repair. With its 140mph winds and surge flooding over two days, Hurricane Wilma damaged even the sturdiest hotel complexes in Cancun, although many buildings escaped with just blown out windows and soggy interiors. Damage to the tourism infrastructure in the less-developed parts of the coast, known as the Maya Riviera, as well as on the islands of Cozumel and Isla Mujeres, has yet to be assessed. But signs that Wilma may also have washed away entire beaches are perhaps the storm's most worrying legacy for a population almost entirely dependent on tourism. Last year the riveria and Cancun received 8 million tourists. Eloan Galindo, Cancun's environmental spokesman, told Bloomberg news agency that 90% of the city's famous white-sand beaches had gone; there was "only sun and rocks". But other officials said it was impossible to assess the beaches until the tides returned to normal. Although few people are yet willing to hazard a guess at the repair costs of the hurricane, figures are circulating on the losses incurred while the tourism industry is shut down. John McCarthy, director of the National Fund for Tourism, told reporters the sector would lose $15m (£8m) a day. The Cancun hoteliers alone estimate their daily lost revenue at $7m. The area has not faced such a crisis since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, but Wilma, locals say, is much worse. The president, Vicente Fox, who visited at the weekend, said he hoped that 80% of the infrastructure would be up and running for Christmas and New Year when hotels are usually full. Most estimates, however, put that point at three or four months further on. Cancun, built in the 1970s, together with the Maya Riviera, represent Mexico's premier holiday destination bringing in about a third of the national tourism revenue. Last year the 20.6 million foreigners who visited Mexico spent close to $11bn. The government is already lobbying the Interamerican Development Bank for a $500m loan on the hoteliers' behalf. While the Mexican authorities were praised for their storm preparations that helped keep the death toll to single figures, their handling of the aftermath has not gone so well. The police took days to re-impose law and order in Cancun. | ['world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/mexico', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/jotuckman', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international1'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-10-26T23:03:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/grogonomics/2020/jun/02/yes-australias-emissions-are-falling-but-its-a-hollow-boast | Yes, Australia's emissions are falling – but it's a hollow boast | Greg Jericho | The latest greenhouse gas emissions data released on Friday were a mixture of some good news combined with the sorrow of how far we have to go and how much time we have wasted. Once the carbon price was removed in 2014, Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions took off – rising ever higher under the lack of climate change leadership of Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison. In less than two years under the carbon price, Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.4%, and in the same time after the carbon price was repealed they rose 2.8%. By September 2018 our emissions, excluding “land use”, were 5% above the lowest point achieved during the carbon price period and were the highest they had even been. And so it is good news that finally our emissions are falling – and falling quite quickly: But that good news comes with a couple of caveats. The first is that even with the recent falls, Australia’s annual emissions still remain nearly 4% above the low point of March 2014: Secondly, the main reason for the fall in emissions is the large introduction of renewable energy in 2018. But as Adam Morton noted last week, that was driven by the national renewable energy target, which “was filled last year and has not been replaced”. Morton also notes that a Reserve Bank research paper published in March found that “investment in renewable energy has moderated from its recent peak and is likely to decline further over the next year or two”. So the good news is decidedly muted. We should note that the emissions produced by the bushfires over the summer do not count towards the total account. It is assumed the trees will grow back, and thus, unlike logging, it is not technically a land use measure. Land use of course has a long history of being used for very dodgy purposes. We alone get to count it towards our Paris target of 26% below 2005 levels, which makes our task absurdly easier: Excluding land use, Australia’s 2019 emissions were 4.5% above 2005 levels, but when you include it, our emissions have fallen 13.3%! Land use is also subject to some pretty bizarre measurement changes. This time last year the government estimated that in 1990 (the base year for our Kyoto target, which in turn affects our Paris target) Australia emitted 172.9Mt of CO2; now the government estimates it was 183.2Mt. It’s amazing that we can discover, nearly 30 years after the fact, that we had emitted 6% more than we once thought: When you exclude land use, the government’s target of a 26% cut from 2005 levels becomes a mere 12% - absurdly small, and pointless. And yet even that looks beyond this government. There has also been some silly reporting of this latest release, suggesting it shows we are on track to meet the 26% cut target (when including land use). The Australian’s Graham Lloyd, for example, led his report stating, “Australia is halfway towards meeting its 2030 Paris agreement target for greenhouse gas emissions”. That is true enough, but you could have almost said the same thing six years ago. At the end of 2013 we were 47% of the way towards the 2030 target, now we are 51% of the way. Bragging about being halfway is like getting driven in a car to the 20km mark of a marathon, waking slowly for 1,500m and then boasting that you have run half a marathon. And it ignores that we also need to increase the pace to achieve the final half of the 26% cut: But we must always remember that it is not just about the target, but the path there – every year’s worth of emissions adds to the overall total. That is why a 50% cut by 2030 is so important – it not only leads to a lower level, it reduces the amount of greenhouse gas we emit from now until 2030. A 50% cut target would see us emit around 880Mt of CO2 less between now and 2030 than we if we did actually reach the current 26% target – equivalent to around 20 months’ worth of current emissions: But had we continued on the path we were on from 2009 to 2013, things could have been so much better. Not only were we on the path to a 59% cut in emissions, we would have emitted just over 2,000Mt less of CO2 by 2030 – or just under four years worth of current emissions. Not cutting emissions now only means needing to cut more later, and at a certain point no matter how much we cut, it won’t be enough. • Greg Jericho writes on economics for Guardian Australia | ['business/grogonomics', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/paris-climate-agreement', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/greg-jericho', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2020-06-01T17:30:48Z | true | EMISSIONS |
us-news/2017/jan/18/dakota-access-pipeline-protesters-police-used-excessive-force | Dakota Access pipeline activists say police have used 'excessive' force | North Dakota law enforcement and the national guard have responded to the latest Standing Rock demonstrations with an aggressive show of force, according to indigenous activists who fear that police violence will escalate after Donald Trump’s inauguration. Firsthand accounts from Native Americans fighting the Dakota Access pipeline – a large number of whom remain at Standing Rock – along with live footage from the clashes on Martin Luther King Jr Day, suggest that police in riot gear deployed pepper spray, tear gas and other “less than lethal” weapons against unarmed people, in some cases leading to serious injuries. Some fear that the harsh police tactics at two demonstrations – which activists insist were peaceful – are a sign that law enforcement may be gearing up to clamp down on the massive protests that are likely to emerge if Trump, as expected, moves to approve the oil pipeline. “It’s gratuitous. It’s just so excessive,” said Irina Lukban, a 22-year-old who said she was hit in the head by the shield of a national guard soldier and likely suffered a concussion. “It’s incredible to see that amount of force.” The standoffs with heavily armed officers – broadcast for hours on numerous Facebook live streams – offered a reminder that the fight is far from over and that law enforcement is still closely monitoring and impeding the activities of demonstrators camped near the construction site. Police, who arrested 16 people in the last two days, have continued to defend their actions, claiming that activists were trespassing and rioting. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has long claimed that the $3.7bn pipeline threatens its water supply and sacred sites, won a major victory last month when the Obama administration denied a key permit for the pipeline corporation. But Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday, is an investor in Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the pipeline operator, and a vocal supporter of the project. He also selected an ETP board member as his energy secretary. Over the last month, it has been relatively quiet at Standing Rock as many activists, who call themselves water protectors, have left the camps, though some have remained in place through the cold winter. At the height of the actions in the fall, law enforcement was repeatedly accused of mistreating Native Americans with mass arrests, inhumane jail conditions and a militarized force. On Monday, a day of national protests in honor of Martin Luther King Jr, activists said they engaged in peaceful walks toward the pipeline drill pad and to the Backwater bridge, which has been at the center of numerous clashes. The tribe has argued that law enforcement’s refusal to reopen the bridge has damaged its economy and cut off access to emergency services. At the bridge, police eventually fired rubber bullets and “copious amounts of tear gas”, according to Nataanii Means, a 26-year-old member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, who filmed the confrontations. “It was a lot of violence for unarmed water protectors that had a barricade between them and the police,” said Means, who posted footage showing one man who appeared to have a suffered a significant eye injury. After facing extensive tear gas, he added, “I fell on all fours. I was vomiting. I couldn’t see.” Johnny Dangers, a photographer who frequently posts live videos from Standing Rock, captured footage of police near the pipeline drill pad. “They’re ramping up,” he said in an interview, noting that he has not previously seen the national guard take such an “offensive” approach. “They just started pushing into people.” Dangers’ video at one point showed a line of police holding large shields, with some pointing weapons and shooting what appear to be rubber bullets directly at activists feet away from them. Lukban, who arrived two weeks ago, said the action were centered on prayer, but that she was quickly hit with pepper spray and a shield in the same part of her head. “I don’t understand why anybody who is praying would be pepper sprayed or shot in the face,” she said, adding that children and elders were present. Rob Keller, spokesman for the Morton County sheriff, said the individuals arrested face a range of charges, including trespassing, rioting, fleeing, assaulting an officer and preventing arrest. Other than pepper spray, he declined to identify the munitions used, but said in a statement: “Less than lethal weapons were used when the protesters were given multiple orders and warnings to move back.” Keller said police have not received reports of serious injuries, but said an ambulance was called to assist two people arrested – one with a “minor cut” and one affected by pepper spray. The sheriff’s office also published video of activists cutting a “security fence” and claimed some threw the wire at police. William Prokopyk, spokesman for the national guard, said the shields are used to protect soldiers from “objects”, adding in an email, “These National Guard Soldiers received training on how to safely handle aggressive behavior in a controlled, not violent manner in an attempt to defuse the situation.” LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a Standing Rock tribe member who owns land where one of the main camps is located, said she knew of at least 10 people who were injured, adding, “There’s a lot of trauma.” The violent clashes have erupted as lawmakers in the Republican-led state legislature have introduced several bills aimed at restricting anti-oil protests. One particularly controversial proposal would shield drivers from liability if they “unintentionally” injure or kill protesters blocking a public road. Means said he feared police would be emboldened to escalate tactics after Trump steps into office, but added that indigenous people would continue to respond with peaceful actions. “We’re acting in prayer,” he said. “I don’t know why they keep reacting in violence.” | ['us-news/dakota-access-pipeline', 'us-news/north-dakota', 'environment/oil', 'business/oil', 'business/commodities', 'environment/energy', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sam-levin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2017-01-18T18:57:14Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2022/dec/06/just-stop-oil-suella-braverman-climate-breakdown | Just Stop Oil’s message to Suella Braverman: threaten us all you like – we’re not listening | Indigo Rumbelow | It’s a strange paradox. The tougher that Tory home secretaries talk, the faster law and order seems to break down. Whoever’s in the role – Grant Shapps, Priti Patel, Suella Braverman – the same rhetoric grinds on, day after day: cracking down, clamping down, demanding tougher action. Now the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has joined in, reportedly launching “Operation Get Tough” and demanding the police use all the new powers available to them through the latest sweep of anti-protest laws. Who’s listening? Certainly not us. Just Stop Oil knows first-hand that the legal system is collapsing. Some of our supporters’ cases can’t even be heard until 2024. Many of my friends will spend this Christmas in prison, most held without a trial, on remand. Jan Goodey, the first person to be convicted under the government’s new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, was sentenced to six months in prison just last week, the first of many protesters who will probably be criminalised for caring. Instead of facing up to the challenge of ending new oil and gas, the government would prefer to silence the alarm bells. Braverman talks tough to hide the reality of the collapsing justice system. After 12 years of tough talk on law and order, we have less of it than ever. About 75% of prisoners reoffend within nine years of release, and prisons are so full that some male inmates have been held in police cells. Meanwhile, women and people of colour are at risk from the very law enforcers who are supposed to keep them safe. The faster law and order breaks down, the more Braverman ramps up the rhetoric, desperate to hide the cracks in case anyone notices. Well, Suella, we’ve all noticed. We’ve noticed you haven’t cut crime; instead you’ve filled prisons close to breaking point. You can’t clamp down on floods and you can’t arrest your way out of wildfires. The only way for ordinary people to salvage any hope of a stable, ordered society is to break the spell of the rhetoric and expose the decay this government is trying to hide. When a kind, peaceful, brave man like Jan Goodey is sentenced to six months in prison for taking part in a Just Stop Oil action, the violence, thuggery and corruption of our government is exposed for all to see. The rightwing press might try to prop up this con, celebrating an eco-loon getting what he deserves, but this fiction looks increasingly weak and desperate. The reality of climate breakdown is inescapable, and something that most people in Britain are worried about. So what can we do? As ordinary citizens, we have a duty to resist injustice. Sometimes this may involve breaking the law in order to expose the rot at the core of the system. In Britain we’re immensely privileged to have a legal profession that is able to speak out and join us in rescuing the rule of law from chaos and collapse. This autumn, more than 170 lawyers signed a powerful open letter stating that breaching the Paris Agreement will directly threaten law and order. “A stable climate is the foundation for a stable civilisation and the rule of law,” they wrote. “Breaching the 1.5C Paris temperature goal thus threatens disorder and the end of the rule of law.” So it is an absurdity for Braverman and Sunak to rant about law and order while they issue licences for new fossil-fuel exploration. That’s why no one is paying attention. There’s absolutely no alignment between what they say and what is really happening. They use words the way an amateur magician uses misdirection, trying and failing to distract us from the government’s core purpose: to pursue short-term power and profit, no matter what the cost. Let them posture away. Once you’ve seen through the show, the words are easy to ignore. For us, the tougher the rhetoric, the more encouraged we feel. We know it’s a direct reflection of how hard the government needs to work to cover up its betrayal of the public. And as ordinary citizens witness the betrayal, they’re increasingly taking matters into their own hands. The result is a resurgence of justice itself – taking place before our very eyes as the government rants on in the background, ignored, failing and desperate. So join a Just Stop Oil talk online or in your area and stand up to injustice with us. The time is now. Indigo Rumbelow is an activist with Just Stop Oil Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/just-stop-oil', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'politics/rishi-sunak', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/indigo-rumbelow', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/just-stop-oil | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2022-12-06T08:00:05Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
australia-news/2024/apr/09/tanya-plibersek-plans-to-reject-a-13bn-development-at-moreton-bay-why-was-it-so-controversial | Tanya Plibersek plans to reject a $1.3bn development at Moreton Bay. Why was it so controversial? | The environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, has indicated she plans to reject a proposal for a $1.3bn residential, shopping and marina development at Moreton Bay in Queensland. Walker Corporation’s Toondah harbour project proposed to develop an area of internationally significant wetland that is habitat for migratory birds including the critically endangered eastern curlew. Plibersek’s announcement looks set to end an almost decade-long battle by conservationists and community groups to protect the site, with longtime campaigners the Australian Conservation Foundation hailing it as a “landmark decision for nature and people”. What is the development? The property developer Walker Corporation proposed developing an area of the Moreton Bay wetland, south-east of Brisbane, into a residential and commercial complex with more than 3,000 luxury apartments. The development would transform the area with shops, high-rise buildings and a 200-berth marina. From the beginning the project attracted fierce opposition from environment groups and residents concerned about its impact on the wetland. Moreton Bay is listed under the Ramsar convention, an international treaty set up to halt the global loss of wetlands and protect the ecological character of sites recognised as having international importance. Walker Corporation’s proposal would develop on an area of the mudflats at Moreton Bay and carve out more than 50 hectares of the Ramsar site. Why are the wetlands significant? The wetland is important habitat for migratory species, such as the critically endangered eastern curlew, which feeds and recuperates at Moreton Bay after its annual migration from the northern hemisphere. The site is a stopover for three other migratory birds – the great knot, the lesser sand plover and the bar-tailed godwit. The area is not just a haven for migratory birds. Moreton Bay is habitat for humpback whales, dolphins and six of the world’s seven species of marine turtles. The site is one of the most important shorebird habitats in Australia and its sea grasses make it significant habitat for dugongs in Queensland with herds of more than 100 animals recorded. “The planet is interconnected and this is a particularly important part of it,” said Kelly O’Shanassy, the Australian Conservation Foundation’s chief executive. “It’s an important part of the world because of the wildlife that live there permanently or visit there.” Why was this development so controversial? The fuse for the most recent debate about this site was lit in 2013, when the Queensland government declared the area a priority site for development. Because of its potential impact on a Ramsar site and threatened species, Walker Corporation’s proposal required assessment under Australia’s national environmental laws. Had the former federal Coalition government accepted the initial advice from the federal environment department, the project never would have made it this far. In 2018, the ABC revealed documents showed the former environment minister Josh Frydenberg had rejected advice from the federal environment department in 2016 that the project was “clearly unacceptable” because of the impact it would have on the wetland. Instead, the former minister sent the project to the next stage of the assessment process. Walker Corporation made a $225,ooo donation to the Liberal party in 2016 but Frydenberg said at the time his decision had nothing to do with donations. Documents obtained subsequently by Guardian Australia revealed Frydenberg had proposed delisting an area of the wetland after he was lobbied by the developer. The decision to proceed to the next stage of the environmental assessment was also contrary to advice from the attorney general’s department, which warned it could put Australia in breach of its international obligations. Walker Corporation later modified its proposal to try to make improvements and better integrate the development with the wetland. Samantha Vine, the head of conservation and science at BirdLife Australia, said if the project was approved she feared it would have set a precedent for development within Ramsar sites not only within Australia but also internationally. “It would have sent a troubling signal that these areas are open for business,” she said. Vine said Plibersek’s proposed decision “vindicates” the environment department’s original advice to Frydenberg. What has the reaction been to Plibersek’s proposed decision? Environment and community groups have called the announcement a win for the environment and people power. “This draft decision is a testament to people power. More than 24,500 people have directly contacted Minister Plibersek, urging her to reject this proposal,” O’Shanassy said. “Thousands have taken to the streets calling on the Albanese government to save Toondah. “The truth is a proposal for a massive real estate project on a Ramsar wetland should have been rejected when the department recommended that to then Minister Frydenberg in 2015.” Conservationists said the Toondah harbour controversy also provided a “very clear” argument for strong new national environmental laws, including strict national environmental standards and an independent Environment Protection Authority that enabled a “fast no” to proposals with unacceptable environmental impacts. The Albanese government is consulting environment and business groups on new laws that are expected to be introduced to parliament this year. | ['australia-news/queensland', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/tanya-plibersek', 'environment/conservation', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/birds', 'type/article', 'tone/explainers', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-04-09T00:41:57Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2019/jan/22/the-darling-river-fish-kill-is-what-comes-from-ignoring-decades-of-science | The Darling River fish kill is what comes from ignoring decades of science | John Quiggin | The mass death of fish in Menindee Lakes is a disaster that has been a long time in the making. The story goes back to another disaster on the Darling River, a massive outbreak of blue-green algae that poisoned hundreds of kilometres of the river in 1991 and 1992. The outbreak was a dramatic illustration of decades of warnings from scientists and economists that too much water was being extracted from the river. The first response was the imposition, in 1995 of a cap on extractions. The cap was meant as an emergency measure to prevent further disasters while a long-term policy was worked out. Nearly 25 years later, it is still in effect. The cap is supposed to be replaced later this year by a system of sustainable diversion limits, worked out on the basis of scientific evidence. But a litany of disastrous policy failures, of which the fish kill is among the more dramatic outcomes, cast doubt on whether this schedule can be met. The sustainable diversion limits were worked out in a massive scientific and economic exercise as part of the Murray-Darling Basin plan, launched by the Howard government in 2007. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats in charge of the plan mishandled the politics, failing to rule out compulsory cutbacks in irrigators’ water rights, even though it was obvious that the only feasible option was to buy rights back from willing sellers, who were, and are, plentiful. This opened space for a scare campaign from industry lobby groups, with rowdy meetings at which the draft plan for the basin was publicly burned. Despite these missteps, the Rudd-Gillard government managed to achieve agreement on a compromise plan that was acceptable to irrigator groups, while securing significant flows of water for the environment and for downstream water users, particularly in South Australia. The cost-effective part of the scheme, buybacks from willing sellers, remained in place, while irrigators were mollified by massive assistance for projects aimed at enhancing the efficiency of on-farm water use. Legislation implementing the deal was passed with bipartisan support. All of that changed after the 2013 election. Within its first 100 days, the Abbott government reversed the Labor government’s declaration of threatened ecological communities in the Murray-Darling Basin as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. In terms redolent of the culture wars to come, science-based environmental policy was described as green tape. Worse was to come with the appointment of Barnaby Joyce as the minister for water, a position held in the previous LNP government by Malcolm Turnbull. A multitude of actions Joyce took as minister, from blocking water buybacks to cutting the allocation of water to the environment were so damaging as to seem deliberately designed to destroy the fragile ecosystems of the Murray-Darling Basin, and to produce outcomes like those we see today. His successor, David Littleproud, has been no better. Joyce’s policies were reinforced by the NSW Primary Industry department, also run by National party ministers. As has been shown in a series of shocking reports on large-scale water theft, the department has been either acquiescent or complicit in undermining the basin plan. Many of the worst cases have involved large-scale cotton producers. It is, however, a mistake to focus on particular crops and industries when the problem is one of systemic mismanagement. An equally serious development is the politicisation of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, established to manage the basin plan, but now little more than an advocate for the destructive policy agenda of the LNP. As well as supporting cuts in environmental allocations, the MDBA permitted systematic mismanagement by the New South Wales government.. In February, the MDBA rejected a declaration by leading scientists and economists expressing concern that funds allocated to infrastructure projects were being wasted while failing to meet our international obligations to preserve wetlands. In part, this is the usual story of powerful financial interests triumphing over the public good. Irrigation lobbyists benefit from a larger irrigation sector, whether or not individual irrigators are doing well. And some large irrigators have benefited greatly from cheap water and publicly subsidised infrastructure investment. The crucial factor, however, is the continuous culture war in which Joyce and Littleproud are on the frontline, along with the majority of LNP MPs and virtually all of the rightwing intelligentsia. Among the perceived enemies of the culture warriors are environmentalists and scientists, correctly seen as largely overlapping groups. So, in rejecting scientific evidence as a basis for water policy, Barnaby Joyce made it clear that his primary concern was to “make sure we don’t have the greenies running the show”. The central front in this culture war is climate change. Joyce is an overt sceptic, while Littleproud is on record as stating that he “doesn’t ‘give a rats’ whether climate change is man-made” . Events like the Menindee fish kill bring home the cost of treating the environment as a cultural battleground. The culture warriors’ policy amounts to listening to what scientists say we need to do, then doing the opposite. This is a guaranteed route to global disaster. John Quiggin is a professor of economics at the University of Queensland and a signatory of the Murray-Darling declaration. His latest book, Economics in Two Lessons, will be published by Princeton University Press in April 2019 | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'australia-news/murray-darling-basin', 'food/fish', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'environment/drought', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'environment/environment', 'environment/water', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/john-quiggin', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-01-22T04:27:13Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/apr/29/electric-vehicles-on-worlds-roads-expected-to-increase-to-145m-by-2030 | Electric vehicles on world’s roads expected to increase to 145m by 2030 | The number of electric cars, vans, trucks and buses on the world’s roads is on course to increase from 11m vehicles to 145m by the end of the decade, which could wipe out demand for millions of barrels of oil every day. A report by the International Energy Agency has found that there could be 230m electric vehicles worldwide by 2030 if governments agreed to encourage the production of enough low-carbon vehicles to stay within global climate targets. The IEA’s first global report on electric vehicles has found that sales in the first quarter of 2021 were more than 2.5 times higher than in the same months last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a string of recessions across global economies. Despite the economic slowdown, which caused the global car industry to shrink by 16% last year, a record 3m new electric cars were registered around the world last year, to bring the total to 10m electric cars. There are also approximately 1m electric vans, heavy trucks and buses. The increase in electric cars is closely watched by the energy industry and is expected to have significant implications for oil companies, which rely on the demand for transport fuels to support the profits they make from producing crude. Under the world’s existing climate policies, electric vehicles could remove the need for more than 2m barrels a day of diesel and petrol by 2030, and save the equivalent of 120m tonnes of carbon dioxide. If governments increase their ambition for electric road transport to align with global climate targets electric vehicles could displace about 3.5m barrels of oil a day, almost doubling the carbon savings. The electric vehicle boom also has multibillion-dollar implications for the global automotive industry. The IEA said consumers spent $120bn on electric vehicles last year, up 50% from the year before, as carmakers offered 370 electric models to the market, an increase of 40% compared with 2019. The race to corner the electric vehicle market is expected to gain pace as 18 of the 20 largest carmakers – representing 90% of the global automotive industry – prepare to increase the number of models on offer, and increase the number of electric light-duty vehicles from their production lines, the report adds. “Current sales trends are very encouraging but our shared climate and energy goals call for even faster market uptake,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director. The report says producing enough electric vehicles to put the world on course to meet its climate targets would be a “formidable challenge” and calls for “stronger ambition and action from all countries”. Birol said: “Governments should now be doing the essential groundwork to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles by using economic recovery packages to invest in battery manufacturing and the development of widespread and reliable charging infrastructure.” The IEA expects advances in battery technology and mass manufacturing of electric cars will continue to reduce their cost – and decrease the need for government subsidies. But the 2020s will also need government policies that promote the introduction of low-carbon medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and greater investment in installing fast-charging infrastructure. | ['environment/electric-cars', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'technology/technology', 'technology/self-driving-cars', 'technology/motoring', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2021-04-29T05:00:21Z | true | EMISSIONS |
world/2008/sep/08/cuba.naturaldisasters | Hurricane Ike weakens to category 2 storm as it moves over Cuba | Hurricane Ike weakened to a category two storm today as it moved across Cuba towards the capital Havana, with its winds and storm surge destroying houses and toppling trees. More than 900,000 Cubans have been evacuated to shelters or higher ground in an attempt to escape the hurricane's full fury. Ike had earlier raked the Bahamas and worsened floods in Haiti, which have already killed at least 319 people. Ike made landfall late yesterday as a category three storm, but weakened by this morning. At 5am (10am BST) Ike had maximum sustained winds near 105mph (170kph) with the US National Hurricane Centre predicting the storm would further weaken as it moves through central Cuba today. The hurricane is likely to hit Havana early tomorrow. But its storm surges still threaten communities along most of the north-eastern coast of the island, which has been deluged with rain, according to Cuba's National Meteorological Institute. State television broadcast images of the storm surge washing over coastal homes in the eastern-most city of Baracoa. It said huge waves surged over buildings as tall as five stories and dozens of dwellings were damaged beyond repair. In the provincial capital of Camagüey, municipal workers boarded up banks and restaurants before heavy rain started falling. As the hurricane's eye passed just 20 miles (35 km) south of the town, the roaring wind blew apart some older buildings of stone and brick, leaving behind only piles of rubble. "I have never seen anything like it in my life. So much force is terrifying," said Olga Alvarez, 70, huddling in her living room with her husband and teenage grandson. "We barely slept last night. It was just 'boom, boom, boom'." Weather forecasters predict Ike could enter the Gulf of Mexico next, with Louisiana among the likely targets. The Hurricane Centre today issued a tropical storm warning for the Florida Keys. On Florida's Key West, tourists and residents were ordered to evacuate ahead of Ike's expected arrival tomorrow. The hurricane is forecast to make landfall later between the Florida Panhandle and the Texas coast, with New Orleans and southern Louisiana once again at risk. Many residents there are still returning after fleeing Gustav, a storm that in the US failed to deliver the punch it once threatened. "Our citizens are weary and tired and have spent a lot of money evacuating from Gustav," said Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans. "My expectation this time is it will be very difficult to move the kind of numbers out of this city that we moved during Gustav." Ike first slammed into the Turks and Caicos and the southern-most Bahama islands as a category four hurricane, damaging 80% of homes with winds of up to 135mph. Thousands rode out the storm in shelters and there are no reports of casualties so far on the low-lying islands. The Foreign Office last night advised against all but essential travel to Cuba. Authorities at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, on Cuba's eastern tip, closed beaches and banned cars from roads. The cells holding terrorism suspects were hurricane-proof, said military officials. Last week's storm wreaked billions of dollars of damage on Cuban agriculture and homes, leading Fidel Castro, the former president, to compare its impact to a nuclear bomb. Ike also brought further devastation in Haiti, killing 48 people and destroying the last bridge into the port of Gonaives, where people are short of food. The latest casualties brought Haiti's death toll from four tropical storms in less than a month to 306. Although rain stopped by late afternoon, large areas remained vulnerable to flooding because rivers were swollen from last week's tropical storm Hanna. | ['world/cuba', 'world/natural-disasters', 'weather/cuba', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'world/americas', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/davidbatty'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2008-09-08T13:17:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/apr/25/mps-to-debate-planning-bill-to-protect-homes-from-surface-flooding | MPs to debate planning bill to protect UK homes from surface flooding | Moves to protect more households from the threats of surface flooding and sewer overload will be debated in parliament on Monday, with the government facing possible defeat in a key vote. Surface flooding is a growing problem, with at least 20,000 sewer overflows occurring in the UK a year. It is caused by the overloading of Britain’s antiquated sewer and drainage networks, and the concreting over of large swaths of land which leaves water with nowhere to be absorbed. With the government promising hundreds of thousands of new houses in the next few years, this problem is likely to accelerate. At present, housing developers are able to connect new homes to existing sewage and water networks without having to upgrade them, which puts new houses and nearby existing ones at the threat of overload and flooding, and the unpleasant effects that come from sewage outflows. An amendment to the housing and planning bill, to be discussed in the Lords on Monday, would remove this right and require builders to use “sustainable drainage systems”, which can include incorporating vegetation and other features to allow water to be naturally absorbed. The government opposes the amendment, but a cross-party group of peers may muster enough votes from rebel Tories to defeat ministers. Baroness Parminter of the Liberal Democrats, Baroness Barbara Young of Labour and the crossbench peer Lord Krebs tabled the amendment, which also has the support of water companies and expert bodies such as the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT). Richard Benwell, head of government affairs at the WWT, said the bill was a test of whether the government was serious about tackling flooding. “Building new homes that are naturally resilient from the outset is much more affordable than dealing with the consequences later, and can do wonders for water quality and nature,” he said. Parminter told the Guardian: “We see this as a vitally important step in cutting down the risk of surface water flooding. [At present] there are big let-out clauses for housing developers, as they don’t have to put measures in place that would help prevent flooding, and that is putting people at risk.” The Home Builders Federation, which represents developers, said it was not taking a definitive position on the amendment. A spokesman told the Guardian: “The industry will continue to engage with all the relevant authorities and water companies to agree surface water drainage strategies for new developments in a way that meets the proposed amendments to surface water requirements.” Legislation to cut down surface water flooding has a long history. After the Pitt review in 2008 of the disastrous floods of 2007, the Flood and Water Management Act of 2010 made provisions for the use of sustainable drainage systems, and an end to the automatic right to connect new homes to existing sewage networks. However, these provisions were never implemented, and instead a voluntary system asking developers to follow these practices was put in place. But water experts say this has not worked: an analysis by the Committee on Climate Change’s sub-committee on adaptation found that of 100 planning applications in areas of flood risk, less than than 15% were going to incorporate sustainable drainage measures. While it is impossible to say how many of the tens of thousands of cases of homes every year that suffer surface water flooding are affected by newly built housing, the problem is set to increase if housebuilding picks up as the government plans. The bill overall is aimed at encouraging the construction of 300,000 new homes a year. The Environment Agency, which publishes maps showing the risk of surface flooding across England, found that two-thirds of the 55,000 properties affected by flooding in 2007 were because drains, sewers and ditches were overwhelmed with water, and in London nearly all flooding was owing to surface water overload. A majority of the insurance claims made annually on flooding are now because of surface water. If the UK’s new homes are built without regard to surface drainage and sewage networks, the result could be disastrous, said Parminter. “If you buy a new house, you have the right to expect that it will be built to the highest standards,” she said. “People would be shocked to find that they could be liable to flooding because of the failure [of developers] to take these basic measures.” | ['environment/flooding', 'politics/planning', 'money/property', 'money/money', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-04-25T08:17:29Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
culture/2023/nov/06/uk-museums-agree-to-collective-action-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis | UK museums agree to collective action to tackle the climate crisis | National and regional museums across the UK have agreed to take collective action on the climate crisis, including managing collections more sustainably and using their position to engage audiences with the issues. Representatives of museums, organisations in the sector and funders took part in the first UK Museum Cop at Tate Modern in London last week. Among those attending were museums and organisations from Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, Leeds, Derby, Liverpool, York, Sheffield and London, as well as national bodies from England, Wales and Scotland. Leading museums and galleries, including Tate, have ended sponsorship deals with fossil fuel companies over recent years under pressure from environment campaigners. The British Museum, which did not take part in the Museum Cop, announced this year it had ended its sponsorship deal with BP after 27 years. In a statement described as a “first ever joint commitment for collective action”, museum leaders said they felt a “responsibility to speak out about the climate and biodiversity crisis”. Museums are “institutions with a long-term view. Many have collections relating to the Earth’s five previous mass extinction events, and we are now in the midst of the sixth, the Anthropocene. UK museum leaders feel they have an ethical obligation to take action to alleviate that damage,” the statement said. They pledged to use their “collections, programmes and exhibitions to engage audiences with the climate crisis and inspire them to take positive action”; to manage collections sustainably; to develop and implement decarbonisation plans; and to increase biodiversity in museums’ green spaces. Maria Balshaw, the chair of the National Museum Directors’ Council, which organised the Cop, and the director of Tate, said: “Museums and galleries have a unique perspective as institutions that have to take a long-term view with their mission to preserve collections and stories for the long future. “The conference agreed a series of vital actions to reduce the environmental impact of museums and show how they can inspire positive action for our public.” Nick Merriman, chief executive of the Horniman Museum and Gardens in south London and chair of the Cop, said: “Museums have a special place in the debate about the climate and biodiversity crisis because they can take a long-term view, beyond the short-term cycles of politics and economics. “The fact that the whole museum sector has come together to stress the urgency for action is hugely significant. We will now work together to implement the actions we have agreed.” The conference called on UK politicians and businesses to accelerate action on climate change “before it is too late”. It recommended urgent changes to planning laws and increased investment to ensure the sustainability of heritage buildings, and for all museums to adopt a “greener option first” principle in all areas of practice. Environmental sustainability should be included in training and apprenticeships in the sector, the conference said. | ['culture/museums', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/fossil-fuels', 'uk/uk', 'artanddesign/tate-modern', 'environment/environment', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/harrietsherwood', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/fossil-fuels | EMISSIONS | 2023-11-06T05:00:29Z | true | EMISSIONS |
cities/datablog/2017/feb/13/most-polluted-cities-world-listed-region | Pant by numbers: the cities with the most dangerous air – listed | Billions of people in cities around the world are exposed to dangerous air, but pollution levels vary widely – and the fast-growing cities of Asia and Africa are the worst affected. We’ve broken down data from the World Health Organization on ultra-fine particles of less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5s) region by region. Paris’s air may have almost twice as many PM2.5s as WHO recommended levels (18 micrograms per cubic metre compared with 10µg/m³) – but Delhi’s air contains 122µg/m³, while Zabol, Iran, is the worst at 217µg/m³. Tetovo in Macedonia – a city of 50,000 near the Kosovo border – has the worst PM2.5 air pollution in Europe, according to the WHO data. Once Turkey is included, that country claims eight of the top 10 spots in the most polluted European cities. The most polluted cities in the US and Canada are dominated by California. The highest ranking goes to the small cities of Visalia and Porterville, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in an agricultural valley known as “America’s salad bowl”. Elsewhere in North and South America, Coyhaique in Chile ranks worst. Wood burning and lack of rainfall are thought to be contributing factors. Bamenda in Cameroon tops the pollution list for Africa. Every city in New Zealand and Australia at least matches the WHO’s recommended 10µg/m³. Selected cities Paris banned cars from the centre in response a spike in bad air at the end of last year, while London last month issued its first warning of “very high” pollution. In a global context, PM2.5 pollution levels in major European cities appear relatively low. Lima in Peru comes out worst for major cities in North and South America. Los Angeles just breaks WHO guidelines. Kampala in Uganda ranks worst for major African cities. The Indian capital Delhi remains the worst major Asian city for PM2.5 air pollution. Riyadh in Saudi Arabia ranks the worst in the Middle East. PM10 pollution Ranking the 20 worst cities in the world for pollution of PM10s – which are larger but considered slightly less dangerous than PM2.5s – puts Onitsha in Nigeria in clear last place. The fast-growing port and transit city recorded PM10 levels almost 30 times the WHO recommended level of 20µg/m³. • The table above headed “10 worst in the United States and Canada” was amended on 7 March 2017. An earlier version included Courtenay, Canada, with a figure of 17 micrograms per cubic metre. That was the figure recorded in the World Health Organization database for the PM2.5 annual mean in Courtenay in 2013, but the WHO now says it was incorrect and that the correct 2013 figure is 11 micrograms per cubic metre. Guardian Cities is dedicating a week to exploring one of the worst preventable causes of death around the world: air pollution. Explore our coverage here and follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion | ['cities/cities', 'cities/series/the-air-we-breathe', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'news/datablog', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/nickmead', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/cities'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-02-13T11:00:11Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/article/2024/jul/12/lower-air-pollution-may-help-preserve-older-peoples-independence-study | Lower air pollution may help preserve older people’s independence – study | Reducing air pollution may help elderly people to live independent lives for longer, research has found. Dr Boya Zhang, of the University of Michigan, who is one of the authors of the study, said: “Air pollution is linked to worse health – more lung disease, more heart disease, shorter life expectancies and more likelihood of dementia. Knowing that air pollution increases our risk of poor health as we age made us wonder if exposures might also impact how people can care for themselves in later life.” The researchers started by looking at the lives of 25,314 older people in the US from 1996 to 2016. Each person was living independently when they were enrolled in the study and was interviewed every two years. After an average of nine years, 40% of subjects needed help at home because of health or memory problems, or had had to move into a care home. The change from being independent to needing care was linked with local air pollution levels during the previous 10 years, especially in those over 75 years old. This relationship was strongest for particle pollution from transport and for nitrogen dioxide. The researchers estimated that 730,000 people a year in the US lose their ability to live independently due to traffic pollution. This was approximately 15% of the total number of people who lost their independence, at an annual cost of $11.7bn (£9bn). Dr Sara Adar, who led the study, said: “Our results provide evidence that the damage done to our bodies by air pollution may alter how well we are able to care for ourselves as older adults. Taking action on air pollution will not only enhance the quality of life for older adults but also reduce the healthcare burdens on society.” She added: “This research supports the recent lowering of the US national ambient air quality standard for particulate matter. It also suggests that exposure to traffic-related pollution may be particularly important for health as we age.” While the US study focused on outdoor air pollution, researchers in China have focused on air pollution inside people’s homes. They found that switching from clean fuels to solid fuel led to an increased risk of needing care. Compared with people who used clean energy sources, those burning solid fuel had a 40% increased need for physical care such as help bathing and dressing. They were also 70% more likely to need help with other things such as shopping, managing money and medication. | ['environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/air-pollution', 'society/older-people', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-07-12T05:00:45Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2022/nov/16/pippa-woods-obituary | Pippa Woods obituary | The Devon farmer Pippa Woods, who has died aged 96, campaigned on behalf of small, family farms. A leading light in the Small Farmers’ Association from its start in 1979, she did much to raise awareness of the problems of such producers. Farms all around her were being sold off to non-farmers with higher incomes – not to be farmed, but for the sake of their beautiful farmhouses – and the land was being divided so that farms were getting bigger while the community of farmers was getting smaller. As prices soared, it was increasingly difficult for young people to get on to the bottom rungs of the ladder. The government favoured large farms, but she argued that there was a limit to the advantages of greater size, both in production and profitability, and the social and environmental effects were rarely considered. When the Common Agricultural Policy, or the government, or the National Farmers’ Union seemingly ignored the situation of the small farmer, Pippa was aware of developments and eager to fight their corner. In the pages of Farmers Weekly she argued for the capping of farm payments, in the hope that the government or the NFU might to some extent divert them away from those with abundant hectares and livestock. Beyond Britain, she noted how “powerful global traders have engineered a situation where all the farmers of the world are competing against each other to sell their crops, usually at below the cost of production”, with the result that they had to cultivate more, and so over-produce. The solution she saw as family farming related to the income levels of particular countries rather than globalisation: “Free trade is bad, not good, for world prosperity ... the principle of food sovereignty should be the basis of every nation’s agricultural economy”. She may not have succeeded in influencing capping levels, but as well as saying things, she could do them, as when she rejected the constantly publicised ambition of ever higher milk yields from her cows. In consequence they lived longer and had an average of six lactations, instead of the average of three and a half expected of cows that gave higher yields. Her approach was prescient: she cared about animal welfare and about the environment before it was normal or fashionable. As far back as 1960, she planted primrose seedlings and wild flower seeds in the naked patches left by hedge removal and road widening. She constantly went on lobbying expeditions to London, and when environmental stewardships came to underline the importance of the farmer in relation to the natural world she was able to see her long-held concerns addressed in public policy. Born in Yorkshire, Pippa was the daughter of Sir Philip Hendy, the director of the National Gallery, London, in the postwar period, and his wife, Kythé Ogilvy, a London county councillor. Pippa studied at Dartington school, Devon, and enjoyed helping out on its farm. In 1940, when she was 14, she went with her mother to the US for the duration of the second world war. Back at Dartington four years later she was involved with harvesting and hedging. In 1946 she married Bob Woods, manager of the school farm, and for seven years they lived in Sudan, where Bob was an agricultural officer, at which point they had two daughters, Gill and Helen. In 1954 they were able to buy Osborne Newton farm, Kingsbridge, Devon, and for its 112 acres acquired Ayrshire dairy cows. When the Ayrshires did not do well, they used the then innovative artificial insemination to cross with British Friesians, which had the reputation of being the milkiest cows. They learned as they went along, using grants to help with new buildings, fences and roads, and did a great deal of the work themselves, including building a milking parlour. Pippa began a very successful egg business that grew to 1,000 hens, keeping the young birds on grass in movable arks, and the layers in barns. The young woman who collected and cleaned eggs also acted as childminder for David, Pippa and Bob’s youngest child. But when, in the 1960s, the industry took to the battery farming of hens, the price of eggs plummeted. Pippa had done most of the lambing when they had 60 sheep, but after they gave them up in the 1970s, they specialised in dairy cows. Bob, who had taken all the main decisions, died in 1976, and from then on Pippa took over, David later becoming a partner. Early on the Small Farmers’ Association became the Family Farmers’ Association, with Pippa as its chair. By the 90s, her farm had nearly doubled in size to 204 acres. When Farmers Weekly interviewed her in 2014, the international year of family farming, she pointed out that David was running the farm with 60 suckler cows and up to 140 beef cattle, but with no regular help; previously the farm had supported four people working full-time. Multinationals had made the situation of the family farmer demonstrably worse. In 2016 she was appointed CBE for work in the rural community. She is survived by her three children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. • Pippa (Philippa) Woods, farmer and campaigner, born 24 August 1926; died 4 October 2022 | ['environment/farming', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'science/agriculture', 'science/science', 'global-development/food-security', 'society/society', 'tone/obituaries', 'type/article', 'profile/jacqueline-sarsby', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/obituaries', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-obituaries'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-11-16T17:41:46Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/jan/14/feed-supplier-to-uk-farm-animals-still-linked-to-amazon-deforestation | Feed supplier to UK farm animals still linked to Amazon deforestation | A major supplier of animal feed is still buying soya and corn from a farm linked to deforestation in the Amazon, despite having pledged to clean up its global supply chains. Cargill, a giant agricultural multinational that sells feed to British chicken farms, buys crops from a farm growing soybeans on deforested land in the Brazilian Amazon. An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Greenpeace Unearthed, Repórter Brasil and Ecostorm uncovered Cargill’s links with the Brazilian supplier farm, Fazenda Conquista. The farm in the Brazilian Amazon was responsible for eight sq km of deforestation since 2013, with multiple forest fires recorded in 2020. Its trading with Cargill includes supplying soya, and the farm has signed a deal to deliver 5,700 tonnes of corn to the company this year. It is not known whether the crops in question were grown on a recently deforested part of the farm. The findings raise questions about Cargill’s due diligence process. The company has pledged not to buy soya beans from land deforested in the Amazon after 2008, and last year committed to moving faster to eliminate “commodity-driven deforestation”. But Cargill has also been repeatedly linked to deforestation. In 2020, the Bureau and Unearthed reported 800 sq km of deforestation and 12,000 fires since 2015 on land used by Cargill soya suppliers in the Cerrado, another protected biome in Brazil. The company exports thousands of tonnes of Brazilian soya to the UK each year for use in animal feed. Campaigners said the findings highlighted the hidden environmental costs of cheap meat. “Meat chickens are the most intensively farmed animals in the UK with over a billion slaughtered each year,” Lindsay Duncan, the campaigns manager at World Animal Protection UK, said. “The growing demand for cheap chicken leads to the growing demand for soy, causing large-scale deforestation and devastating environmental degradation, which destroys the natural habitats of millions of wild animals.” As much as 80% of all soya grown across the world is fed to livestock. The UK imported about 3.5m tonnes of soya beans in 2019, with roughly half of that ending up in chicken feed. About a quarter of the UK’s imported soya comes from Brazil, and the vast majority of that is traded by Cargill. Cargill said: “We are committed to eliminating deforestation from our supply chains in the shortest possible time, and we are accelerating our efforts.” Responding to the findings about Fazenda Conquista, the statement continued: “If fire has been used and has impacted the native forest or any irregularity is confirmed, we will take the appropriate measures.” The state of the land in question before 2013 is disputed: Fazenda Conquista’s management said in a statement that the farm had permission from the local environmental agency to carry out a “controlled burn” on the land because it had originally been deforested in the early 1980s. However, satellite imagery shows that the forest had been regrowing since then, and Brazil’s deforestation monitoring programme flagged the clearing in 2013 as deforestation. The local environment agency, Sema, confirmed it had authorised a burn on the farm in 2012 to clear pasture with some degree of regeneration. But the agency said no licences for full deforestation inside the farm had been authorised, and admitted that although it had lacked high-resolution satellite imagery prior to 2019 to identify real-time deforestation, a recent analysis suggested there had been deforestation within the property. Sema said it would investigate further. In an independent analysis of satellite imagery, the NGO Aidenvironment also deemed the land to have been deforested. This year the farm will be blacklisted under the Soy Moratorium, a voluntary industry agreement that bars the trade in soya beans on Amazon land deforested after 2008. The Working Group for Soya, which oversees the moratorium, said it had identified an area of deforestation that had been sown with soya in the last planting season. A reporter from the Bureau visited the farm this year and saw soya beans growing on the land. Destruction of the Amazon rainforest has serious consequences for the climate, with experts fearing the biome might soon cross a “tipping point” at which it begins to shift from lush rainforest into a drier savannah, releasing large quantities of stored carbon into the atmosphere. According to Brazil’s space agency, Amazon deforestation soared 22% over the 12 months to July last year. Major British food companies have adopted “zero deforestation” certification schemes to tackle the problem but “dirty” soya linked to deforestation continues to enter supply chains. | ['environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/forests', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/farm-animals', 'environment/farming', 'world/world', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/andrew-wasley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/environmentnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-01-14T08:00:02Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2023/apr/02/was-i-wrong-to-be-so-bullish-about-ai | Was I wrong to be so bullish about AI? | Brief letters | We are currently hearing a lot about AI (This gung-ho government says we have nothing to fear from AI. Are you scared yet?, 31 March). As a former dairy farmer, I thought the AI man was the chap who visited on request to artificially inseminate our cows to get them in calf. With the current use of the initials meaning something rather different, I now wonder what he was actually doing. Kevin Caveney Glastonbury, Somerset • In the fiercely competitive world of Guardian letter writers, will the letters editor spike submissions judged to have used AI (Elon Musk joins call for pause in creation of giant AI ‘digital minds’, 29 March)? I confirm I haven’t used AI to pen this epistle. Sam White Lewes, East Sussex • To help those of us who have difficulty comprehending these things, you could usefully have told us how many Waleses might fit into the black hole (Ultramassive black hole discovered by UK astronomers, 29 March). Jim Golcher Towcester, Northamptonshire • It would perhaps assist Gerald Wells (Letters, 31 March) if so-called stately homes were given the more illuminative description of mansions of exploitation. George Marshall St Leonards, East Sussex • How many of the enthusiasts for e-scooters to reduce car use will eventually realise that even a late running, poorly maintained and crowded bus is still a lot better at keeping the rain off (E-scooters: a tale of two cities as London and Paris plot different paths, 31 March)? Geoff Reid Bradford • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section. | ['technology/artificialintelligenceai', 'environment/farm-animals', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'technology/computing', 'technology/technology', 'science/black-holes', 'science/astronomy', 'world/slavery', 'uk/national-trust', 'uk/transport', 'science/space', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-04-02T15:47:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2005/feb/23/tsunami2004.johnaglionby1 | 'This is my life for the moment' | Before the tsunami Mohammed Amin Ismail rarely made a cup of coffee. Now he can't remember how many he has made in the last 24 hours. "I used to be a stonemason but it was obvious there would be no work after the tsunami ... I had to do something to make some money," he said. Noticing that Nusa's two coffee shops, the heart of any Acehnese village's social scene in a society that does not drink alcohol, had been washed away, Mr Amin decided to fill the much-missed void. "I had 500,000 rupiah (£29) of savings and borrowed another 500,000 rupiah from a friend," he said. "We opened on January 25 and it has been great." The menu is not sophisticated, but there are almost always at least half a dozen men slurping away, exchanging gossip. Mr Amin keeps costs down by scavenging for firewood and using his relatives as staff. But profits are still small - averaging out at 25,000 rupiah (£1.40) a day. "If I get work again as a stonemason I'll let my kids take over," he said. "But for the moment it's my life." | ['world/world', 'world/tsunami2004', 'type/article', 'profile/johnaglionby'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-02-23T00:05:19Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2009/jul/22/asda-cheap-bike | Bikes: buy cheap, buy twice | Earlier this month, Asda boasted that it was to start selling "the cheapest bicycle in the UK". Having bought into the notion that to get a half decent new bike you had to pay at least £300 for it, I was intrigued to find out what you'd get for less than a quarter of that amount – Asda's adult machines cost just £70. And so it was that I have spent the past month juddering around London on a 26in British Eagle 18-speed women's mountain bike in a patronising purple shade. My first outing on the Purple Eagle ended on a sour note when the handlebars started turning in an entirely unhelpful and counter-intuitive way every time I rounded a corner. The headset was horribly loose, and I had no tools on me to fix it. Herein lies the first problem with buying what bike snobs refer to as a BSO (bike shaped object): you have to build it yourself. The Eagle comes in bits, meaning you have to attach the pedals, front wheel, handlebars and saddle to the frame. Asda's PR folks made mine, but the lesson is the same. Are you sure you know how to put it together properly? If not, you can either take it to your local bike dealer and hope they won't laugh you out of the shop when you ask them to do it for you (and if they oblige, you'll pay at least £20 for it). Or you can risk getting it wrong. The best-case scenario is that, like me, you end up walking home. Let's not contemplate the worst case. The second problem was the grip-shift gears, which are operated by twisting the end of the handlebars. Very quickly I wished that British Eagle had concentrated on getting three gears right rather than making 18 substandard ones. Every time I went over a speed bump I changed gear; even on the flat there was always an irritating clicking sound which spoiled every ride. On the scale of annoyance, it was rather like being at the cinema and having someone kick the back of your seat all the way though the film. To test the bike properly I decided to take it on a grand tour of north London's Three Peaks: Crouch Hill, Highgate Hill and Muswell Hill. Yorkshire folk will no doubt dismiss these bourgeois mounds as mere hillocks, but tackling them on my weighty (18kg), graceless machine felt like I was scaling Pen-y-Ghent on a pedal-powered tractor. The good thing about mountain bikes is that they have super-low gears, but as the Purple Eagle could never stay in any gear for long, I may as well have been on a single speed. After 40 miles or so of gentle bimbling, I took the bike into my local bike shop, Two Wheels Good, and got the owner, Jonathan Boyce, to give it a once over. He groaned as I wheeled it in – "We see these a couple of times a week and so often the repairs cost more than the bike," he said, adding that he gave me "four to six weeks" before the bike was too jiggered to ride. Jonathan's advice for those on a budget is to scrape together £100 to buy a decent secondhand bike rather than waste money on the Purple Eagle or any of its relatives. Here are some of the flaws Jonathan noticed: 1. The Purple Eagle is a ladies' bike. So why the men's saddle? 2. The components are rubbish and made out of the biking equivalent of a supermarket own-brand. The derailleur, gear shifts and more are made by a brand that sounds like Shimano but isn't. It's even written in the same font. 3. The brakes are made from plastic, rather than more expensive aluminium, and so will flex and bend, wasting energy. 4. The handlebar stem is the old "quill" style (instead of attaching to a steerer tube it fits directly into the headset and screws onto the forks), rather than an a-head stem. 5. The rear derailleur is hooked onto the axle, rather than bolted straight to the frame, making it almost impossible to adjust the gears properly. 6. The cheap plastic pedals will "simply fall apart before long". 7. The rear wheel was badly out of true. 8. The front wheel wasn't round, and was wobbling about the place as if the bearings have already gone. Apparently this shouldn't happen on a decent bike until you've done at least 1,000 miles. But the biggest problem I had with the Lumbering Eagle was that it was horrible to ride. Every time I was due to set out on it, I cast a jealous glance at my lovely, nimble racer and prepared myself for the unpleasant ride ahead. This is the real downer with cheap bikes: they put you off cycling. | ['tone/blog', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/asda', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'business/supermarkets', 'uk/uk', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/bike-blog', 'type/article', 'profile/helenpidd'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2009-07-22T14:07:12Z | true | EMISSIONS |
world/2024/oct/30/we-were-trapped-like-rats-spains-floods-bring-devastation-and-despair | ‘We were trapped like rats’: Spain’s floods bring devastation and despair | The gratitude that greeted Tuesday’s dawn downpours was short-lived in Utiel. When the longed-for rains finally reached the town in the drought-stricken eastern Spanish region of Valencia, they were merciless in their abundance. “People were very happy at first because they’d been praying for rain as their lands needed water,” said Remedios, who owns a bar in Utiel. “But by 12 o’clock, this storm had really hit and we were all pretty terrified.” Trapped in the bar, she and a handful of her customers could only sit and watch as Spain’s worst flooding in almost 30 years caused the Magro River to overflow its banks, trapping some residents in their homes and sending cars and rubbish bins surging through the streets on muddy flood waters. “The rising waters brought mud and stones with them and they were so strong that they broke the surface of the road,” said Remedios, who gave only her first name. “The tunnel that leads into the town was half-full of mud, trees were down and there were cars and rubbish containers rolling down the streets. My outside terrace has been destroyed – the chairs and shades were all swept away. It’s just a disaster.” By Wednesday afternoon, the death toll in Valencia and the neighbouring regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucía stood at 95 . Utiel’s mayor, Ricardo Gabaldón, told Las Provincias newspaper that some of the town’s residents had not survived the floods, but was unable to provide an exact number. Hours earlier, Gabaldón had told Spain’s national broadcaster, RTVE, that Tuesday had been the worst day of his life. “We were trapped like rats,” he said. “Cars and rubbish containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to 3 metres.” People in the town fear some of the dead may have been older people who were unable to escape the flood waters. Remedios said: “Anyone who could get to higher ground did, but there were some old people who couldn’t even open their front doors and they were trapped there inside their own houses.” Residents of La Torre, on the outskirts of Valencia city, were confronted by similar scenes on Wednesday morning. “The neighbourhood is destroyed, all the cars are on top of each other, it’s literally smashed up,” Christian Viena, a bar-owner in the area, told the Associated Press by phone. “Everything’s a total wreck, everything is ready to be thrown away. The mud is almost 30cm deep.” Spain’s meteorological office, Aemet, said that more than 300 litres of rain per square metre (30cm) had fallen in the area between Utiel and the town of Chiva, 30 miles (50km) away, on Tuesday. In Chiva, it noted, almost an entire year’s worth of rain had fallen in just eight hours. The ferocious rains have come as Spain continues to experience a punishing drought. Last year, the government approved an unprecedented €2.2bn (£1.9bn) plan to help farmers and consumers cope with the enduring lack of rain amid warnings that the climate would only get worse, and more unpredictable, in the future. “Spain is a country that is used to periods of drought but there’s no doubt that, as a consequence of the climate change we’re experiencing, we’re seeing far more frequent and intense events and phenomena,” the environment minister, Teresa Ribera, said. As Wednesday wore on, a distressing picture of the human and economic damage began to emerge. Spain declared three days of national mourning. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the entire country felt the pain of those who had lost their loved ones, and urged people to take every possible precaution as the torrential rains moved to the north-east of the country. The defence minister, Margarita Robles, said 1,000 members of the military emergencies unit had been deployed to help regional emergency services. In a sign that more bodies could be trapped in the mud and in houses, she also offered mobile morgues. One man used a phone call to RTVE to plead for any news of his son, Leonardo Enrique Rivera, who had gone missing in his Fiat van after going to work as a delivery driver in the Valencian town of Riba-roja on Tuesday. “I haven’t heard from him since 6.55 yesterday,” said Leonardo Enrique. “It was raining heavily and then I got a message saying the van was flooding and that he’d been hit by another vehicle. That was the last I heard.” Esther Gómez, a town councillor in Riba-roja, said workers had been stuck overnight in an industrial estate “without a chance of rescuing them” as streams overflowed. “It had been a long time since this happened and we’re scared,” she told Agence France-Presse. As the search for the dead continued, experts warned that the torrential rains and subsequent floods were further proof of the realities of the climate emergency. “No doubt about it, these explosive downpours were intensified by climate change,” said Dr Friederike Otto, leader of world weather attribution at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. “With every fraction of a degree of fossil fuel warming, the atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to heavier bursts of rainfall. These deadly floods are yet another reminder of how dangerous climate change has already become at just 1.3C of warming. But last week the UN warned that we are on track to experience up to 3.1C of warming by the end of the century.” There were similar, if differently expressed, sentiments in Utiel on Wednesday. “There was one guy here with me yesterday who’s 73, and he said he’d never seen anything like this in all his years,” said Remedios. “Never.” | ['world/spain', 'environment/flooding', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/drought', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/water', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tone/features', 'profile/samjones', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-30T17:41:11Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
weather/article/2024/aug/11/greek-officials-advise-staying-in-with-windows-shut-due-to-fires-near-athens | Greek officials advise staying in with windows shut due to fires near Athens | Greek authorities have warned people to stay indoors with their “windows closed” as more than 400 firefighters battled to contain blazes on the outskirts of Athens that were forcing the evacuation of entire communities, including at the historic site of Marathon. Huge clouds of billowing smoke had by mid-afternoon on Sunday darkened the skies above the capital as 10 groups of “forest commandos” backed by water-bombing aircraft, helicopters and fire engines tried to douse flames fanned by gale-force winds of up to 80-90km/h on Sunday. Volunteers had also joined the fight near the village of Varnava, about 35km (21 miles) north of the city. “Forces are being continually reinforced but they face flames that in many cases exceed 25 metres [in height]”, said the fire brigade spokesperson Vassileios Vathrakogiannis. While one fire in western Attica had been brought under control, a second blaze north-east of Athens was still not contained. By nightfall the inferno was reported to be racing eastwards with the efforts of water-dropping planes stymied by the powerful winds. At least 10 communities around Varnava had been evacuated and firefighters were expected to continue their efforts throughout the night. Some people battled to save their houses from the fire by trying to douse the flames. Authorities ordered residents of the historic town of Marathon, 40km east of Athens, to evacuate towards the beach town of Nea Makri because of a fire burning since Sunday afternoon. Health officials urged people to limit their movements and stay inside, saying the thick smoke had seriously affected the quality of the air across the Attic basin. By 4pm the skies above the Greek parliament in central Syntagma Square had turned a yellowish brown as ash clouds pushed by the winds travelled southward. At least eight people were taken to hospital with respiratory problems. The prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, cut short his holiday and returned to Athens on Sunday evening to deal with the crisis. Unprecedented temperatures – June and July were the hottest on record – after the warmest winter ever have turned Greece’s terrain into a tinderbox, environmentalists have said. Greek temperatures are forecast to peak at 39C (102F) on Monday, with the highest readings expected in the country’s west. In a first this summer, Greece registered a week-long heatwave before mid-June, a sign of the accelerated pace of climate breakdown. At least 10 tourists, including the respected British nutritionist and TV presenter Dr Michael Mosley, are reported to have died earlier in the summer from heat exhaustion suffered as they took walks in blistering temperatures. Mosley is believed to have died barely two hours after he set off on a walk from a beach on the remote island of Symi in temperatures topping 40C. Greece has been hit by hundreds of wildfires in recent months. Sunday’s strong winds are showing no sign of waning and meteorologists predicted the days ahead were likely to be critical. At least half of the country is expected to be under a “red alert”, a reflection of the heightened danger of wildfires due to the weather. Speaking to the state broadcaster, ERT, the Athens Observatory’s research director, Kostas Lagouvardos, said: “What makes the situation so dangerous is the prolonged drought and very high temperatures that have lasted for so long.” Agence Frence-Presse contributed to this report | ['weather/athens', 'world/wildfires', 'world/greece', 'world/world', 'weather/greece', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helenasmith', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-08-11T18:49:42Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2007/jan/31/whatsyourlegacy | What's your legacy? | Cycling along the Regent's Canal through east London at the weekend, the scene was delightful - well, semi-delightful. The coots and moorhens, present in number, were bobbing and diving, looking almost joyful at the astonishing January warmth. They were bobbing and diving amidst plastic Lucozade bottles, Chinese take-away containers and the like, but they didn't seem to mind. A solitary swan - perhaps its partner, who's usually here, was having an away-day in some cleaner bit of local park - breasted imperiously through the accumulation of plastic carrier bags in the corner of a dock, still a pristine white, testament to the effectiveness of avian preening and stain-proofing. I was contemplating the concept of "legacy" - a concept much in the news of late, as Tony Blair does a Dame Nellie Melba, running around the world making his final, final, really final any-day-now, bows, in frantic search for some, any, "success" that will provide a comfortable headline for his memoirs. And there's a legacy here, in the now not-too-dreadfully-dirty waters of the canal, left by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Londoners who had a drink, snatched a meal, then chucked its remnants into a drain or gully, to be washed or blown here. Most of this plastic will survive - smashed into pieces perhaps, but essentially unchanged in form - for thousands of years. Hopefully most of it will be scooped up by the British Waterways boats that ply these waters like miniature basking sharks, metal jaws open wide. But then it will progress only a little down-river to the great fetid mounds beside the Thames past which I recently also cycled. They are on the north bank, opposite Erith, on the end of the "scenic" London loop walking route. So here is, waiting perhaps for some future archaeologist, one Londoner's legacy to history. Imagine the museum label. "Tom Smith, lived in London c 2007, threw Coca-Cola can into the canal." Not perhaps what one would wish for posterity. Yet I'm not picking on this Tom Smith, or even more generally on the litter-bugs who taint the canal - that's the legacy of nearly all of us who've lived in the west in the 20th and 21st centuries. My own? Well I spent the best part of a decade around rural New South Wales working and studying hard, and living almost entirely on microwaved meals - that must be several thousand plastic trays in dumps around various country towns. Then in Bangkok - not quite so bad perhaps, since I often ate out with proper plates and metal cutlery - but plenty of, probably horribly durable, foam containers for my khow pad talay (fried rice with seafood) from the restaurant downstairs, for those nights I felt like eating in with BBC World. Now? Well I try pretty hard to reduce this legacy. I get a weekly organic delivery fruit and veg box, its contents nearly all in brown paper that goes into the worm farm. I've given up - well almost given up, except for the occasional night when it's 10pm, I'm tired, dinnerless and walking past Sainsbury's towards an empty fridge - the microwave meals approach. But still, each week there's a bag of rubbish - rubbish that will be around in wasteful form long after I've gone. By bulk it is mostly milk and juice cartons: yes they should be able to be recycled, but where are the facilities? I've thought about getting a juicer, but given that I hardly survive mornings now, would I really be able to manage that at breakfast? And wash up the complicated gizmo afterwards? But there's more. From the Ocado order, the plastic tray from the mushrooms. I forgot they came that way. The metal bottle of hair mousse - probably should be recyclable, but who knows how or where? Cotton buds: their plastic stalks will probably be threatening some earthworm millennia hence. (And that's without thinking of the damage done by the six pints of water needed to produce the cotton for each - some dried-up lake in Africa or eastern Europe goes on to the legacy tally...) The fact is that it simply is not easy to say "stop, this won't be my legacy". You might write the great 21st-century novel, or become a member of the first Green government of England and Wales, or even make some amazing scientific discovery like the cure for the common cold, yet this, your other, physical, polluting legacy will most likely outlive that. In the museum constructed by a successor species, millennia hence: "Plastic fruit tray, c 2007. Relic of Homo sapiens vastans. Perfectly preserved. Astonishingly wasteful." | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'profile/nataliebennett'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2007-01-31T09:32:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
society/2021/feb/13/covid-bike-and-walking-schemes-do-not-delay-ambulances-trusts-say | Covid bike and walking schemes do not delay ambulances, trusts say | Low-traffic neighbourhoods, popup cycle lanes, widened pavements and other walking and cycling schemes introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have not hindered ambulance response times, a series of freedom of information requests has revealed. Ambulance trust responses to FOIs submitted by the charity Cycling UK revealed that no such schemes were implemented without the relevant trust’s knowledge and that no delays to emergency response times had been identified because of them. Four of the 10 UK trust responses expressed support for measures to boost walking and cycling for health, prevent road traffic injury and to protect the environment. Emergency measures to make active travel safer were implemented to avoid a rush to private cars as public transport capacity was reduced by coronavirus. However, some raised concerns the measures could lead to delays to emergency services. Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK, told the Guardian: “What those freedom ofinformation requests have revealed is that there is no evidence to support the argument that cycle lanes delay ambulances. “It wasn’t just one of those cases where it was left unclear by a vague freedom of information response; they were very clear: they don’t have any problem with them, and they support these schemes.” However, that was not how it was reported in the media last year, added Dollimore, referring to reports in the Daily Mail and Telegraph that ambulances were being delayed. The FoI requests, which were submitted in November, asked ambulance trusts to identify any active travel schemes introduced without their consultation, any that caused emergency response delays and any outstanding problems relating to such schemes. The trusts were also asked whether they supported the principle of such active travel measures, or their withdrawal. Ten of the 12 UK ambulance trusts responded, two of whom said they did not hold the relevant information. Seven of the other eight that answered all questions said they were not aware of any problems with active travel schemes or concerns about delays from drivers. Several trusts added that they worked with councils on schemes’ designs to mitigate problems. Only East of England ambulance trust described a problem with a locked barrier in Cambridge, although Cambridgeshire county council said no lockable barriers were installed in its Covid walking and cycling response and suggested this could be part of past counter-terrorism measures, adding that alternative routes were available. Four ambulance service trusts – East Midlands, London, South Central and Yorkshire – expressed explicit support for active travel schemes in their FoI responses, while spokespeople for West Midlands and North West told the Guardian they supported such schemes and were not aware of any causing delays. No trust supported the withdrawal of measures. A West Midlands ambulance service spokesperson said: “To date, our crews have not reported any detrimental issues caused by the changes to road layout whilst responding to 999 calls. However, should such a situation arise, we are confident that we would work with the relevant council to resolve these. “We are supportive of LTNs [low-traffic neighbourhoods] due to the health benefits in the same way as we are a supporter of Birmingham city council’s green air zone that is due to come into force this year.” A North West ambulance service spokesperson said: “Our ambulance crews are advanced drivers and trained to deal with a range of conditions including traffic congestion … we welcome any traffic arrangements that promote road safety and reduce the amount of accidents that occur, and we work with councils to find a compromise over any road layouts or changes that may cause us difficulties.” David Williams, the deputy director for operations at East Midlands ambulance service, said: “We welcome the introduction of cycle lanes because they are there to help keep cyclists safe and therefore help prevent road traffic collisions.” Research has found that having protected cycle lanes reduces the odds of cycling injuries by 40%-65%, while LTNs have been found to reduce injuries for all road users by 70%. Analysis of fire service response times in LTNs in north London between 2012 and 2020 found no evidence of delays within the schemes and slight improvements to response times on boundary roads. Dollimore said: “There should be engagement and consultation, but I think one of the lessons for local authorities also is not to be panicked into reacting and pulling out schemes, or thinking that schemes don’t work on the back of, say, sensational media reports.” “The claim that cycle lanes were causing mayhem and disaster for ambulances was manifestly untrue.” | ['society/emergency-services', 'lifeandstyle/cycling', 'environment/air-pollution', 'society/society', 'society/nhs', 'society/health', 'society/localgovernment', 'politics/transport', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/laura-laker', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-02-13T08:00:08Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
news/1999/sep/15/marktran1 | Wake-up call of nature | Mother nature is not showing her maternal side. Fresh from inflicting earthquakes that killed tens of thousands in Turkey, she now threatens to hurl Hurricane Floyd, one of the most powerful storms seen in the Atlantic, at America's east coast. Florida has been spared, although 2 million people had to be evacuated in one of the state's biggest peacetime emergencies. But Floyd is now on a collision course with Georgia and South Carolina. At over 400 miles in diameter, with winds of 155 mph, Floyd has already ravaged the Bahamas, uprooting trees, wrecking buildings and severing power lines. Hurricanes may appear to be blind freaks of nature, but scientists believe that global warming has made them more frequent. The lethal whirling dervishes occur when hot and wet tropical air collides with cooler and dry air. As the earth's temperature rises, the scope for such collisions increases. Worse, hurricanes exacerbate climatic change, literally sucking carbon dioxide from the sea's surface and pumping it into the atmosphere, adding to global warming. Scientists call it a "positive feedback" mechanism; in layman's terms, a vicious circle. Hurricane Floyd's appearance reinforces warnings contained in a United Nations environmental report released today. It says that time is running out to stop worldwide damage and that, in the case of ecosystems like tropical rainforests, it is already too late. The UN environmental programme report foresees a number of "full-scale emergencies," including worsening water shortages, reduced agricultural productivity through the loss of topsoil and unwanted growth of vegetation along sea-coasts and of algae at sea, caused by the heavy application of fertilisers. President Bill Clinton, who spoke on the impact of global warming during a visit to New Zealand, backed the report. He said that without urgent action the world would be increasingly vulnerable to environmental crises. "Unless we change course, most scientists believe the seas will rise so high they will swallow whole islands and coastal areas," Mr Clinton said. It is richly ironic that Mr Clinton is sounding the clarion call for urgent action. The US and industrialised countries gobble up most of the earth's resources and they are the world's biggest polluters. As Mr Clinton acknowledged, the US is the main offender, producing more greenhouse gases than any other country. The international community agreed on a plan of action at the Rio summit in 1992 and participants pledged to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions. But US manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors fought tooth and nail against radical emission targets, forcing governments to retreat from pledges made at Rio. It is not just the world's most advanced countries that are at fault. Developing countries see environmental constraints as hampering their economic advancement. The UN report calls on the developed world to cut its use of natural resources by 90% to give the rest of the world a chance to emerge from poverty. That is a pipe dream. But at least governments should try and stick to the more modest goals set in Rio. Unless countries take their environmental commitments seriously, the world can expect to see more "monster" storms like Hurricane Floyd. Even in the absence of death and injury, these forces of nature create massive economic disruption when thousands of millions of people have to be evacuated. Mr Clinton said people must realise it is no longer necessary to build economies on oil and coal. But he - and his successor - will have to take on entrenched economic interests to spread the word. Related story Floyd now set to target Carolinas Miss American pi Pity the poor Miss America judges, caught between the forces of modernity and tradition. The judges wanted to move with the times by allowing divorced women and women who have had abortions to compete. Former Miss America winners and state pageant leaders immediately went ballistic, insisting that the changes would destroy the "high moral standards" Miss America embodies. Miss America officials beat a hasty retreat, saying they might junk the proposed changes. These would have dropped the requirement that contestants swear "I am unmarried" and "I am not the natural or adoptive parent of any child," thus opening the doors to divorces or women who have abortions. Pageant officials said the new rules were supposed to bring contestant contracts into compliance with New Jersey anti-discrimination laws. But Miss America beauty contests are already anachronistic and irrelevant. The judges might as well bring down the curtain on the whole event. Useful link Miss America | ['world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/marktran'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 1999-09-15T15:48:36Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2021/aug/10/ipcc-report-shows-possible-loss-of-entire-countries-within-the-century | IPCC report shows ‘possible loss of entire countries within the century’ | Global heating above 1.5C will be “catastrophic” for Pacific island nations and could lead to the loss of entire countries due to sea level rise within the century, experts have warned. The Pacific has long been seen as the “canary in the coalmine” for the climate crisis, as the region has suffered from king tides, catastrophic cyclones, increasing salinity in water tables making growing crops impossible, sustained droughts, and the loss of low-lying islands to sea level rise. These crises are expected to increase in frequency and severity as the world heats. The warnings come as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its landmark report on global heating on Monday, which showed that greenhouse gas emissions needed to be halved to limit heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – a target that was included in the Paris Agreement only after sustained lobbying by Pacific island leaders. “The [IPCC] report is very alarming,” Satyendra Prasad, Fiji’s ambassador and permanent representative to United Nations, said. “It comes out exceeding where we all thought the estimates were … it brings forward some of the catastrophic scenarios that we have been thinking about in the Pacific of sea level rise, loss of low-lying lands, and possible loss of entire countries within the century. The timelines for these things will certainly be brought much closer.” The IPCC report presented five scenarios based on varying levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. Under the high and very high emissions scenarios outlined in the report, global heating is predicted to reach 3.6C and 4.4C above pre-industrial levels respectively, by the end of the century. Even in the intermediate scenario global warming of 2C would be extremely likely to be exceeded. The report found that every additional 0.5C of global warming causes clearly discernible increases in the intensity and frequency of heatwaves, heavy rainfall, droughts and extreme weather events. Prasad said the impact of global heating had been felt across the Pacific for years. “Catastrophic floods and storms have been occurring with considerable frequency: once in 50- to 100-year events have been happening every 10 years. Immediately one can conjecture that catastrophic cyclones, super cyclones, prolonged drought, will become much more frequent and much more intense across the Pacific small islands,” he said. A new report by Greenpeace Australia Pacific has highlighted the stark climate injustice faced by the Pacific region, which is one of the lowest carbon-emitting regions in the world, responsible for just 0.23% of global emissions, yet has suffered some of the earliest and most severe impacts of rising global temperatures. “If we look at what those impacts are, probably more than anywhere else, the Pacific is most hit,” said Dr Nikola Casule, head of research and investigations at Greenpeace Australia Pacific. “We’re going to see more salinity, we’re going to see sea level rise … [that] would mean that significant parts of places like Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, just become uninhabitable.” Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Joseph Sikulu, Pacific managing director of climate activist group 350.org, said that the IPCC report was “very sobering and alarming, but it’s not unexpected. You could tell already from the lack of leadership and ambition there has been globally on climate change, this was the direction we were heading in.” Sikulu said the alarming reality warned of in the IPCC report, and the devastating real-world examples of the climate crisis playing out around the world – wildfires in the US, heatwaves in Canada, fires in Siberia, Turkey, and Greece, floods in China – are things that the Pacific has been warning about for years. “That’s what we have been talking about for decades, because the climate crisis was at our doorstep long before it reached everybody else,” he said. “The Pacific has always been viewed as the canary in the coalmine, signalling this crisis. Our reality has been used to highlight the climate crisis for decades … The conversation is shifting, everybody is now understanding the reality of the climate crisis, that’s why it’s import to centre frontline communities more than ever.” | ['world/series/the-pacific-project', 'world/pacific-islands', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/fiji', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/ipcc', 'environment/environment', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kate-lyons', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/pacific-news'] | environment/ipcc | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-08-09T17:30:05Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/commentisfree/2020/feb/21/the-guardian-view-on-the-blue-whales-comeback-an-oceans-glory-restored | The Guardian view on the blue whale’s comeback: an ocean’s glory restored | Editorial | “Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.” Captain Ahab’s splenetic, dying declaration of defiance, as Moby Dick destroys his whaling ship and sends it below the waves of the Pacific Ocean, is among the most famous passages in Herman Melville’s extraordinary novel. In reality, such triumphs of the hunted over the hunter were a fantasy in the brutal world of industrial whaling. The biggest cetacean of them all, the blue whale, had all but disappeared from the Southern Ocean by the time a ban on hunting it was introduced in 1967. Sightings of the largest mammal ever to live on the Earth had been vanishingly rare in the region since then. Not any more. A survey of coastal waters around the island of South Georgia in the sub-Antarctic, has yielded remarkable, uplifting results. In just over three weeks, in the krill-rich waters of what was once their principal feeding ground, the movements of 55 Antarctic blues were recorded by the British Antarctic Survey. The finding was described as “truly, truly amazing” by one cetacean specialist. It suggests that when a comprehensive audit, due in 2021, is carried out, there is a good chance that the species will prove to be in full recovery mode, as are humpbacks and other whales in the southern hemisphere. The blue whale belongs to the category of “charismatic megafauna” – a rather unattractive way of describing those animals which capture the public imagination and help drive environmental and biodiversity campaigns. Three years ago, the Natural History Museum installed a 25m skeleton of a blue and named it Hope, intending to inspire new generations to build a sustainable future. There has been criticism of this kind of approach, some of it on the grounds that the fate of creatures with less obvious appeal can be ignored. But the return of the world’s most majestic ocean travellers to southern waters should serve as a showpiece for wider possibilities of conservation. Ecological wrongs can be righted, or at least mitigated, with sufficient will and organisation. The more general comeback of the whale – for which environmental campaigners should take a great deal of credit – can be an inspiration for victories yet to be won. It could also, conceivably, act as an added spur to action on the climate emergency. Twenty-first century Captain Ahabs are limited to a few stubborn whaling outposts these days; but warming oceans, which disrupt food chains and migratory rhythms, are becoming a lethal threat. Of the 55 blue whales identified, some were seen but others were only heard through recorded audio. Their song recalls somewhat the deep, resonant sound of a tuba. The music of the southern seas was not the same without these orchestral manoeuvres in the dark. We must ensure the Antarctic blue is back to stay. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/environment', 'tone/editorials', 'environment/whales', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'profile/editorial', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-02-21T17:55:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
politics/blog/2009/feb/05/lib-dems-heathrow-land | Lib Dem frontbench owns huge plot of land on Heathrow site | We know the Liberal Democrats' transport spokeswoman, Susan Kramer, joined ranks with Emma Thompson and Alistair McGowan to join Greenpeace's campaign and buy land at Heathrow (this you remember was one of the attempts to stop the development of the third runway). Now I'm told it wasn't just her; she persuaded the entire Lib Dem frontbench to buy some of the plot of land. The Lib Dems' top team, from Clegg downwards, now owns a chunk of southern England half the size of a football pitch in west London. That's prize real estate. I have asked whether it will be declared in the register of member's interests. All I got was a giggle. | ['politics/blog', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'environment/heathrow-third-runway', 'politics/politics', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/transport', 'uk/transport', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'tone/blog', 'tone/news', 'world/air-transport', 'type/article', 'profile/allegrastratton'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-02-05T15:33:12Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2021/nov/06/brazil-climate-crisis-amazon-trees-forests | Will Brazil seize the climate opportunities in the carbon-storing Amazon? | Luís Fernando Guedes Pinto | Science is clear: climate change is unequivocal, and a result of human activity. The planet is already 1.1C warmer than pre-industrial levels and on a route to reach 2.5C or more this century, which could be catastrophic. The poorest and the most vulnerable populations will suffer more and earlier. Climate change will bring droughts, floods, extreme temperatures and hurricanes that may become more intense and frequent overtime and impact billions of people. The rise of sea levels, lack of water and food, and regions becoming unfeasible to live may generate massive migrations in a planet already closing frontiers. That is the bad news. The good news is that we can mitigate such a catastrophic route and deliver a safe planet to our children and the next generations. We need to achieve it in the next three decades. Time is short, the challenge is huge, but it is attainable. The two major challenges will be ending the burning of fossil fuels and halting deforestation. If, for some countries, fighting climate change is a constraint, for others it is an opportunity. Brazil is among those that can contribute to the planet and foster its own development based on a green and sustainable economy. The country hosts two of the most important and diverse tropical forests in the world: the Amazon and the Atlantic forest. Almost 20% of the Amazon (73m hectares) was cut in the last decades, while 88% of the Atlantic forest (115m hectares) disappeared since the arrival of the Europeans in 1500. We must stop the deforestation of the Amazon before it reaches the tipping point to become a savanna. The 20% deforestation threshold could shift the largest tropical forest of the world into a source of carbon emission, rather than a sink, affecting the climate, the largest reservoir of freshwater, and one of the richest areas of biodiversity on the planet. It would also affect a high number of indigenous groups. Despite the increase in deforestation in the last years, Brazil has successfully controlled it in the past. From 2004 to 2012, deforestation in the Amazon decreased 80% due to coordinated public policies to reduce illegal foresting, create protected areas and restrict the expansion of soy and cattle. At the same, food production by large farmers increased and smallholder farming was strengthened; it was a win-win situation that was then abandoned by the current Brazilian federal government. Getting back towards zero deforestation of the Amazon is one of the greatest contributions Brazil may offer to the world, in addition to guaranteeing resilience to remain a global food producer. However, the climate emergency asks more. Restoring the Atlantic forest, sequestrating large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, could be a second major contribution. Doing so would protect biodiversity, conserve water and mitigate climate change, and at a low cost compared to other regions of the planet. Restoring 5m hectares of native trees to protect the springs and streams of the Atlantic forest does not compete with food production. It will also contribute to water supply and hydroelectricity generation, ameliorating potential water crises and risks of electricity shortage for a biome that hosts 70% of Brazilians and generates 80% of the national GDP. Planting 10m hectares of trees to replace degraded pastures would create a dynamic forest economy with timber and ecosystem services, and create many new jobs. Public policies, a sustainable value chain of commodities like sugar, orange juice, pulp, cocoa and coffee, and the carbon market may attract investments at the speed and scale demanded by the climate emergency. The success of such a foresting project could be a benchmark to the world during the decade on ecosystem restoration declared by the UN. Some places in the world are uniquely positioned to fight climate change, protect nature, and foster economic growth at the same time. Brazil should not, and cannot, miss this opportunity. Luís Fernando Guedes Pinto is the knowledge director of SOS Mata Atlântica | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/climate-aid', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'type/article', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-opinion'] | environment/climate-aid | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-11-06T10:24:30Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2022/apr/20/uk-consumers-able-to-track-renewable-energy-hourly-under-new-plans | UK consumers able to track renewable energy hourly under new plans | Consumers will soon be able to check where their energy is coming from hourly, and get a discount on bills if they use electricity when renewables are in surplus. Under plans by the startup Granular and energy giants including Elexon and National Grid, energy companies will allow UK consumers to track their power source. This could help the country reduce emissions, as it will be easier for people to choose energy companies that are transparent about exactly how much renewable energy they use. Because there are times of day when renewable energy is less available – for example when it is less windy or sunny – consumers could be incentivised to use power when it is in oversupply by offering a discount on their bills. This could lead to less gas being used. The current system is based on annual matching, in which the energy provider looks at the previous year’s energy use and matches it with the equivalent amount of renewable energy, but there is a growing trend to move to hourly matching instead. Companies including Google and Microsoft have been calling for the move as it could lead to organisations being able to definitively say they use renewable energy 24/7. It will also increase consumer demand, say experts, as they will be able to choose more renewable options. This is likely to lead to companies investing in renewables, and in battery technology for more efficient storage. Toby Ferenczi, a co-founder of Granular, said consumers could be seeing this change by the end of the year. He said: “Long term, what this is enabling an acceleration towards a completely carbon-free grid as it is harnessing consumer spending power to source energy from carbon-free sources each hour. “This drives investment in not just renewables but in energy storage and flexibility. Eventually customers will be able to buy green energy from their energy supplier by the hour.” He said the method could allow people to get discounts on their bills. “It’s an incentive for load shifting and demand response so we want to provide a revenue stream for people who do that – renewable energy should be cheap when it’s in oversupply and more expensive when undersupplied, so it would give an incentive for consumers to shift their demand towards when it’s oversupplied.” | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/gas', 'money/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-04-20T10:11:59Z | true | ENERGY |
sport/blog/2022/jul/18/from-tadhg-beirne-to-rodrigo-fernandez-rugby-union-top-players-from-the-july-tests | From Beirne to Fernández: rugby union’s top players from the July Tests | Robert Kitson | Tadhg Beirne (Ireland) Ireland’s historic first series win in New Zealand was a huge collective effort but Beirne’s blue headguard was everywhere. As recently as 2015 the versatile forward was delivering pizzas and being overlooked for a senior contract at Leinster. A thigh injury in the Six Nations also hampered him but in the last two Tests in New Zealand he was superb, snaffling turnover and lineouts and also making crucial yards. Inspirational. Peter O’Mahony (Ireland) While there were plenty of pivotal Irish performers none set the all-or-nothing tone better than the passionate O’Mahony. His tears at the final whistle reflected not merely the joy of series victory but the prodigious physical effort needed to claim it. His classic second Test sledge to the All Black captain, Sam Cane – “You’re a shit Richie McCaw” – summed up Ireland’s collective refusal to back down. Freddie Steward (England) Hard to believe he is still in his first international season. Dominant in the air throughout the series in Australia he was the rock upon which England’s series success was built. His fine tackle on Marika Koroibete was a crucial moment in Sydney, as was his well-taken try. Deserves a rest after 32 games this season but will only get better. Tommy Reffell (Wales) Had not even played in a Test before he travelled to South Africa with Wales. There are plenty of good back-row forwards in Wayne Pivac’s squad but the 23-year-old was a constant menace to the Springboks at the breakdown and was his side’s only try-scorer in the third Test defeat. Having rapidly emerged as a key man at title-winning Leicester, his star continues to rise. Davit Niniashvili (Georgia) Georgia will always cherish the day they recorded their first win against a tier one nation, their breakthrough moment coming with a 25-19 success against Italy in Batumi on 10 July. The all-action Niniashvili, still a teenager, was the star of the show and has a penchant for making scything breaks. Plays his club rugby in France for Lyon and looks destined to cause trouble for many future opponents. Rodrigo Fernández (Chile) Perhaps the try of the month was the stunning individual effort scored by Fernández in the first leg of his country’s 2023 World Cup qualifier against USA in Santiago. The fly-half is an elusive runner and another fine break set up Santiago Videla for a key score in the second leg as Chile edged through 52-51 on aggregate. Will be fun to watch in England’s pool next year. | ['sport/rugby-union', 'sport/england-rugby-union-team', 'sport/ireland-rugby-union-team', 'sport/georgia-rugby-union-team', 'sport/wales-rugby-union-team', 'sport/blog', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/robertkitson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/wales-rugby-union-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-07-18T09:00:08Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
travel/2001/jan/22/netjetters2000sam.netjetters | From: Oliver (22 Jan) | Dear Milly, Darling Harbour in Sydney is a nice place to hang out in your free time. Some of the job centres in Sydney give out work very early in the morning; you have to be there at 5am and they hand out work. At this time of the year there are jobs in the grapefield up at Mildura where you pick sultanas; I did this a few years ago and lived in a tent for three months. It was really nice, quite quiet but lots of fun working with people, and getting to see lots of wildlife, too. On the way up to Cairns there are lots of great places to go. One really beautiful place is Brampton Island; I think it's off Rockhampton or somewhere like that. When you get to Bali, try to get out of Kuta after a couple of days and get up to ubud (craft area) and a huge volcano called Mount Batur. You can stay in the caldera in a village with a hot spring right next to a big lake. In the early morning people climb the volcano to see the sun come up; it's wonderful. On the other side of the lake is a village of the indigenous people of Bali - they put their dead in cages. I heard it's very exciting but didn't go. Oliver Blackbourn | ['travel/netjetters2000sam', 'travel/netjetters', 'travel/travel', 'travel/netjettersblog', 'type/article'] | travel/netjetters2000sam | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2001-01-22T19:00:36Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/article/2024/may/20/public-parks-lifeline-summer-councils-revenue | Britain’s public parks are a green lifeline – stop fencing them off for the summer | Rebecca Tamás | My local green space, Brockwell Park in Brixton and Herne Hill, south London, is an oasis of calm in the busy city. Friends catch up in the walled garden, where wisteria trails over pillars and roses and bluebells explode from the earth. In the community garden, local people work together to grow vegetables and run sessions to connect nature-deprived children to the land. In the centre of the sometimes crushing metropolis, this park means everything to me – it keeps me sane, and it gives me hope. But this green lifeline is, every summer, taken away, as I await the arrival of the park’s music festival season with dread. As huge metal walls go up, dividing us from the green, and HGVs begin flattening the grass and soil, I feel a genuine sense of horror. A large part of the park is cut off for weeks, and our community’s heart is pulled out as people stream into events whose expensive tickets most people living round here could never afford. And the same is happening in shared green spaces all over the UK. Recently, Lambeth council admitted it had expedited the felling of 22 trees in Brockwell Park, despite the fact that many of them are home to nesting birds. Local people have risen up to protest against it, suspecting that biodiversity and wildlife are being sacrificed to make the events possible. The rural, working-class poet John Clare responded to the mass enclosure and privatisation of common land that took place in the 19th century; writing that where once “the field was our church” and there were “paths to freedom and to childhood dear”, now “A board sticks up to notice ‘no road here’.” Clare may have been pushed into a breakdown by the loss of his connection with nature, showing us just how precious these intimacies can be. Natural spaces aren’t just areas to relax in – they are profoundly necessary to our wellbeing and our mental health. As we confront a worsening climate crisis, it has never been more important for people to connect with nature, to learn to love it and recognise its benefits, so that they will want to protect it. Yet in the UK, one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, it is getting harder and harder to forge vital connections with our planet. In recent years there has been an upsurge of environmental activism in the UK, with campaigners fighting for the right to wild-camp on Dartmoor in Devon, and trying to save their local rivers from the onslaught of sewage that makes them dangerous to swim in. This activism has focused on the right that every human has to connect with nature. Yet, for a majority of British people who live in cities, moors and rivers feel distant. For them, local parks are the only regular contact with the natural world that they have – and now even this accessible connection is at risk. Urban parks, once protected havens for humans and wildlife alike, are being privatised, with access to their spaces sold to promoters in what amounts to a new form of enclosure – as all over the UK, huge areas of parks are cordoned off for music festivals. Not only are these precious spaces taken away from the community, the wildlife within them can be damaged too. In Glasgow, residents have complained about TRNSMT at Glasgow Green and gigs in Bellahouston Park leaving “1,000 wildflowers” destroyed and footpaths broken up. In Newcastle, damage to Leazes Park has left locals “heartbroken”, saying that the events were “no good for wildlife”, and “no good for people”. In Wolverhampton, residents have been up in arms about the potential for festivals in Bantock Park to cause littering, as well as bringing noise pollution and unmanageable crowds. The problem is devastating and endemic. In my local borough, Lambeth, more than one in three households live in social housing, often with little or no access to green space. Urban parks are our community’s lungs, where children and teenagers can explore, be with their friends and connect with nature in some of the last free, shared spaces that exist in neoliberal Britain. I’ve seen teenagers burn off energy in the basketball court, play football under the flow of apple blossom, or sit on the grass catching up. Families of all backgrounds set up outdoor birthday parties, with trestle tables full of snacks, as nearby, people turn an unused bowls green into a volleyball court. When the park’s swans finally finish nesting and give birth to cygnets, the neighbourhood group chat lights up with pictures and heart emojis. On my commute through the park I listen for robins, wrens, dunnocks, sparrows, long-tailed tits, blackcaps, blackbirds, starlings, chiffchaffs, mistle thrushes and redstarts; making sure to keep an eye out for frogs crossing the path. Rich locals can spend time in their private gardens or go away for holidays in rural beauty spots – while the most disadvantaged in our area are left without. Defending urban green spaces is just as crucial as keeping sewage from our rivers, and fighting for the right to camp on the moors – because it is within urban parks that our vital love for nature can be kindled. However cash-strapped UK councils are, these spaces should be sacrosanct. After all, what is the point of local government if it acts against the interests of the very people it’s meant to serve? We need to fight these new enclosures now, before we too are left cut off from what matters most. Rebecca Tamás is a writer of environmental nonfiction and a poet. Her most recent book is Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'travel/parks-and-green-spaces', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/wildlife', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'environment/access-to-green-space', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/rebecca-tam-s', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-05-20T10:00:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2023/jan/14/queensland-urged-to-end-its-failing-shark-nets-and-drum-lines-program | Queensland urged to end its ‘failing’ shark nets and drum lines program | Scientists are urging the Queensland government to remove shark nets and traditional drum lines from coastlines, saying “ineffective” lethal methods are inhumane, amid criticism of the state’s use of federal money for measures at the Great Barrier Reef. Lawrence Chlebeck, a marine biologist at Humane Society International, said Queensland’s lethal shark control program is “failing” on both environmental and public safety fronts and should be “discontinued”. “Queensland still does not remove shark nets during whale migration season. This is why we see numbers like 15 humpback whales caught in nets last year,” he said, adding that New South Wales makes such removals. “There are better ways to protect the public and those better ways don’t involve the killing of marine wildlife.” Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup In 2019, Humane Society International won a legal challenge to stop the state government from using lethal drum lines in the Great Barrier Reef marine park. The judgment ordered so-called Smart drum lines to be trialled as soon as possible and other non-lethal alternatives be introduced. Following the decision, the Queensland government launched a non-lethal shark control program in the marine park from September 2021 until January 2023. The federal government committed $5m towards the program in 2020 – with $1.9m allocated to replace old drum lines with Smart catch-and-alert ones. But as of 1 December, the Queensland government has only spent $505,000 on replacing the drum lines. Dr Leonardo Guida, a shark scientist at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said catch-and-alert drum lines use satellite technology to notify contractors when an animal is caught, allowing them to relocate or release it. He said the new drum lines were a step in the right direction, as they kill fewer marine animals. However, he believes there are better and cheaper methods available. “You don’t actually need catch-and-alert drum lines to tag and release sharks. It’s an expensive process,” Guida said. “[Western Australian] fisheries tag and track sharks without needing the drum lines.” Guida said Queensland has been slow to adopt non-lethal methods, despite the evidence to back them, due to “political cowardice”, adding that shark nets and traditional drum lines were “outdated”. “In recent memory, there have been two fatal shark bites at beaches [over the past decade] with lethal shark control in Queensland.” Guida said the state should follow WA’s example and use non-lethal methods, like drones and electronic deterrents, that are more effective. The Queensland government has allocated $6m over three years towards a drone trial on beaches in the south-east, but Guida says it doesn’t go far enough. “NSW has been using drones for five years now … Queensland’s drone trial report says they work,” he said. “I understand the need for trials. But when the results come through, why are we reinventing the wheel while we’re delaying removing shark nets and drum lines and fully implementing a modernised safety solution?” State Greens MP Michael Berkman said there was no evidence the shark control program has reduced the risk of shark bites. “The state government has had millions of dollars sitting there for years to comply with the 2019 Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision,” Berkman said. “They’re still running a lethal shark control program … across Queensland and have only installed catch-alert drum lines at a handful of beaches. “I want to know what the government is doing with all this money and why they’re refusing to replace nets and drum lines with genuinely non-lethal alternatives like electric deterrents.” The acting minister for agricultural industry development and fisheries, Scott Stewart, said the government stands by its program. “Protection of human life will always be the top priority of the shark control program and the Palaszczuk government,” he said. Stewart said the drum line trial “was never intended to include replacement of all traditional drum lines during the trial period” and results “will be carefully examined before any further rollout is considered”. “We are investing $1m per year into innovation in the shark control program [including deterrents], but we will not make changes unless we are convinced they will be safe and effective in Queensland conditions.” | ['australia-news/queensland', 'environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/sharks', 'environment/conservation', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/eden-gillespie', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-01-13T14:00:16Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2015/may/11/weatherwatch-come-what-may | Come what come May | The merry month of May is not always quite as pleasant as it sounds: after March winds and April showers we might expect a period of more settled weather. And yet for farmers and gardeners alike, a drop of rain is often welcome. Weather folklore confirms this, as in the French proverb “Rainy May marries peasants” – presumably because rain at this time of year produces a better harvest later in the summer. But not, perhaps, if that harvest is grapes, for another proverb maintains that “rain in the beginning of May is said to injure the wine”. Cool weather may also be advantageous, and there is a Scottish proverb that says: “A cold May and a windy, a full barn will find ye.” But the French caution that “in the middle of May comes the tail of the winter”, a warning especially relevant to gardeners, whose spring plants can yet be damaged by late frosts. Two years ago, in May 2013, this was born out at the end of the coldest spring for more than 50 years. After a particularly chilly March, followed by a slight recovery in April and early May, the second half of the month saw temperatures stay well below the long-term average, making 2013 the coldest May since 1996. Yet the three following months, from June to August, saw the warmest, driest and sunniest summer since 2006. This seemed to confirm – at least for that year – the ancient belief that cold springs are often followed by hot summers. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'science/meteorology', 'type/article', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-05-11T20:29:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2023/dec/12/floods-and-environmental-flows-a-boon-for-south-east-australias-waterbirds-survey-shows | Floods and environmental flows a boon for south-east Australia’s waterbirds, survey shows | Widespread floods and environmental flows have been a boon for waterbirds, with annual surveys in eastern Australia recording more than half a million birds. But researchers say long-term declines in populations persist and the effects of El Niño and drying across eastern Australia are showing, with the total area of surveyed wetland habitat decreasing over the past year. Scientists have conducted the eastern Australian waterbird survey annually since 1983 to monitor continental-scale changes in the distribution and abundance of waterbirds and their breeding, as well as change in the extent of wetland habitat over time. During this year’s survey – the 41st – researchers observed increased numbers of waterbirds, counting 579,641 individuals, the seventh-highest figure in the survey’s history. The boost in numbers came after three La Niña years and widespread breeding of waterbirds throughout eastern Australia in 2021 and 2022. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The director of UNSW’s Centre for Ecosystem Science, Prof Richard Kingsford, said it showed the “importance of the widespread flooding and environmental flows that we have seen in the last three years”. But he said three of four major markers of waterbird health – total abundance, number of species breeding and area of wetlands surveyed – continued to show significant long-term decline. “The results are still showing a long-term decline and so the long-term loss of waterbirds has not been reversed,” Kingsford said. The scientists found waterbirds were most abundant in the temporary wetlands of the Georgina-Diamantina River system in north-western Queensland, with Lakes Mumbleberry and Torquinnie supporting more than 180,000 waterbirds. There were also more than 50,000 waterbirds south of the Coorong, in South Australia, in the south-east wetlands. Kingsford said waterbird numbers in the Lower Lakes and Coorong were higher than in previous years, with breeding of several thousand straw-necked ibis, Australian pelicans and pied cormorants observed in their usual breeding sites. “This long-term data is critical to identifying trends in the health of rivers and wetlands and it is important that we continue to track these changes so that we can identify the problems and solutions,” he said. “It allows us to work out the extent of human impacts within the natural cycles of our river systems.” Kingsford said implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin plan, which aims to bring the basin back to a healthy and sustainable level, would be critical. Legislation that amended and strengthened aspects of the plan passed the federal parliament during the final sitting weeks for the year. Despite the lift in numbers of waterbirds recorded in the 2023 survey, the researchers observed that the effects of El Niño – which is associated with hotter and drier conditions – were already evident on waterbirds and their habitat. The scientists recorded little breeding activity overall in 2023 and the area of wetlands surveyed had decreased to 192,083 ha, a significant fall from 326,768 ha in the flood year of 2022 and well below the long term average of 281,209 ha. The Macquarie Marshes in New South Wales was one area where there had been less flooding than in the previous year. According to the survey report, relatively low numbers of waterbirds were observed at this site and no breeding colonies were recorded. October rainfall was 65% below the 1961 to 1990 average across Australia and the researchers said many of the large wetlands surveyed in 2023 were drying out. “Breeding species’ richness and abundance decreased considerably compared to the previous year, with breeding abundance falling by an order of magnitude to slightly below the long-term average,” said Dr John Porter, a senior scientist from the NSW Department of Environment and Planning and the survey’s coordinator. | ['environment/birds', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/water', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'environment/elnino', 'australia-news/south-australia', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-12-11T14:00:38Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2018/jan/04/coral-reef-bleaching-the-new-normal-and-a-fatal-threat-to-ecosystems | Coral reef bleaching 'the new normal' and a fatal threat to ecosystems | Repeated large-scale coral bleaching events are the new normal thanks to global warming, a team of international scientists has found. In a study published in the journal Science, the researchers revealed a “dramatic shortening” of the time between bleaching events was “threatening the future existence of these iconic ecosystems and the livelihoods of many millions of people”. The study examined 100 tropical reef locations across the world, analysing existing data on coral bleaching events as well as new field research conducted on the Great Barrier Reef after the longest and worst case of bleaching caused by climate change killed almost 25% of the coral. “Before the 1980s, mass bleaching of corals was unheard of, even during strong El Niño conditions,” said lead author Prof Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. “Now repeated bouts of regional-scale bleaching and mass mortality of corals has become the new normal around the world as temperatures continue to rise.” The study found that time between bleaching events had diminished five-fold in the past 30 to 40 years, and was now too short to allow for a full recovery and was approaching unsustainable levels. While mass bleaching events used to occur about once every 27 years, by 2016 the median time between them had shrunk to 5.9 years. Only six of the 100 sites had escaped bleaching. “Our analysis indicates that we are already approaching a scenario in which every hot summer, with or without an El Niño event, has the potential to cause bleaching and mortality at a regional scale,” the paper said. Globally, the annual risk of severe and moderate bleaching had increased by almost 4% a year since the 1980s, from an expected 8% of locations to 31% in 2016. The Western Atlantic remained at highest risk but Australasia and the Middle East saw the strongest increases in risk of bleaching. Hughes said he hoped the “stark results” would prompt stronger action on reducing greenhouse gases. In May scientists warned that the central goal of the Australian government’s protection plan was no longer feasible because of the dramatic impact of climate change. Friday’s paper also determined the link between El Niño and mass bleaching events has diminished as global warming continues. Prior to the 1980s mass coral bleaching on a regional scale was “exceedingly rare or absent” and occurred in localised areas stretching tens of kilometres, not the hundreds of kilometres affected in recent times, the paper said. These local bleaching events were largely caused by small-scale stressors like unusually hot or cold weather, freshwater inundation or sedimentation. Then global warming increased the thermal stress of strong El Niño events, the paper said, widening the impact of individual bleaching events. Now, they are occurring at any time. “Back in the 80s it was only during El Niño events that waters became hot enough to damage corals and induce them to bleach,” co-author Andrew Baird, a professor at James Cook University, told Guardian Australia. “But now it’s 30, 40 years later and we’re seeing those temperatures in normal years.” Baird said it was difficult to know if the current conditions were reversible but “the window to address it is diminishing”. “It’s impossible to know if this is the end of coral reefs but it might be,” he said. “We really need to get on top of climate change as soon as possible.” There have been several large-scale and devastating mass bleaching events in recent years. The 2015-16 event affected 75% of the reefs studied by the researchers, who said it was comparable to the then unprecedented mass bleaching of 1997-98, when 74% were affected. “Interestingly one of the first papers that effectively drew attention to the issue – back in 1999 – suggested that by 2016, 2017, 2020, we would be seeing bleaching annually,” Baird said. “That’s pretty close to what’s happening unfortunately. “Some of these earlier works were quite prescient in their prediction and unfortunately we didn’t pay enough attention back then.” The study follows a discovery late last year that 3% of the Great Barrier Reef could facilitate recovery after bleaching – a finding the researchers at the time suggested was akin to a life-support system but small enough not to be taken for granted. On Friday scientists announced that a major outbreak of coral-eating crown of thorns starfish had been found munching the Great Barrier Reef in December, prompting the Australian government to begin culling the spiky marine animals. The predator starfish feeds on corals by spreading its stomach over them and using digestive enzymes to liquefy tissue. “Each starfish eats about its body diameter a night, and so over time that mounts up very significantly,” Hugh Sweatman, a senior research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science told ABC radio. “A lot of coral will be lost,” he said. The crown of thorns were found in plague proportions in the Swains reefs, at the southern edge of the Great Barrier Reef, by researchers from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The authority already killed some starfish at Swains reefs in December and said it would mount another mission in January. There have been four major crown of thorns outbreaks since the 1960s in the Great Barrier Reef but it recovered each time because there were always healthy populations of herbivorous fish. The outbreaks are usually triggered by extra nutrients in the water but the reason for the current outbreak was unclear, Sweatman said. Additional reporting by Reuters Help support our independent journalism with a monthly or one-off contribution. | ['environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'type/article', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/coral', 'environment/marine-life', 'tone/news', 'profile/helen-davidson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-01-04T19:00:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2020/mar/16/planning-applications-for-uk-clean-energy-projects-hit-new-high | Planning applications for UK clean energy projects hit new high | The number of new renewable energy projects applying for planning permission reached a four-year high in the UK last year as energy companies raced to meet the rising demand for clean electricity. There were 269 planning applications for new wind, solar and bioenergy projects in 2019, up from 204 the year before, according to an analysis of government data by energy consultancy PX Group. The jump in applications last year was the biggest annual increase in recent years and 75% higher than the number of annual planning submissions made three years ago. There were just 154 submissions in 2016, rising to 185 in 2017. The consultancy said there was a growing appetite among energy companies for new renewable projects to help cut carbon emissions and reach the UK’s climate goals. Clean energy developers are also able to roll out more projects due to falling technology costs and greater support from financiers, who view renewable energy as a lucrative investment. Geoff Holmes, the chief executive of PX Group, said: “It goes without saying that as more of these projects get off the ground, the faster the UK can get to a point where clean, green sources provide an even greater share of the UK’s energy. “Of course, there is a lag time between submitting plans to councils and projects becoming fully operational, so more projects being in the pipeline is not a quick fix.” Planning submissions for clean energy projects are expected to rise in the years ahead due to the government’s decision earlier this month to lift a block against subsidising onshore wind projects that was put in place almost five years ago. From next year, onshore wind developers will be allowed to compete for subsidies at auction alongside solar power developments and floating offshore wind projects, the government said last month. There has been a sharp decline in the number of new onshore windfarms since the block was put in place by David Cameron in 2016. The rollout of new onshore wind capacity fell to its lowest level since 2015 last year, prompting warnings that the UK risked missing its climate targets. Under the new plans, windfarm developers will need to comply with tough new proposals on community consent to qualify for the auction process, and projects planned for England will also need the consent of the local community through existing planning codes. Some renewable energy developers, including Scottish Power, began plans for a big expansion of onshore windfarm projects in anticipation of a government U-turn on support for wind power projects. The chief executive of Scottish Power, Keith Anderson, said the decision to back onshore wind was “one of the first clear signs that the government really means business” on reaching its climate targets. Earlier this week, the global energy watchdog warned that governments will need to use climate policies and economic stimulus packages to support the ongoing rollout of clean energy despite the global economic slowdown triggered by the coronavirus outbreak and a crash in oil market prices. Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, said governments “should not allow today’s crisis to compromise the clean energy transition”. “These challenging market conditions will be a clear test for government commitments. But the good news is that, compared to economic stimulus packages of the past, we have much cheaper renewable technologies, have made major progress in electric vehicles and there is a supportive financial community for the clean energy transition,” he said. “If the right policies are put in place there are opportunities to make the best of this situation,” he added. | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'business/business', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/biofuels', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-03-16T07:01:19Z | true | ENERGY |
weather/2009/jan/12/weatherwatch-weather | Weatherwatch: 12 January 2009 | Britain has the best and least exploited on-shore wind resource in Europe. Oxford councillors hope they can begin to change that by becoming the first local authority in England to take advantage of the government scheme to erect wind turbines on public land. The government's Partnerships for Renewables will pay for the erection and maintenance of the turbines, and rent for the sites, while providing green electricity for around 5,000 homes. Oxford is in a hollow surrounded by hills from which the dreaming spires can be viewed. It is fiercely proud of its heritage and at first glance seems an unlikely place to provide sites for five 400ft high turbines. But this environmentally advanced council's Labour, Liberal Democrats and Green members (there are no Conservatives) are agreed on the turbines as one arm of the city's blueprint for a "Cleaner Greener Oxford". The city is far from the windiest parts of Britain so if turbines are viable on the hills around Oxford they would demonstrate to every council in the UK there is a money-making renewable energy option available for their taxpayers. It will take a year of trials of wind speed in the three chosen locations to be sure the turbines will be commercially viable but there is optimism on all sides. And if Oxford, with its heritage skyline, can opt for wind power, then the city hopes it can demonstrate to England's more backward local authorities the enormous potential of this resource. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2009-01-12T00:01:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2005/may/27/japan.sciencenews | Dining out on a 4,000-year-old custom | From the size of the menu at Kujiraya, it is hard to believe commercial whaling has been banned for almost 20 years. Just about every cut is on offer at this popular Tokyo restaurant, from deep-fried chunks of chewy red meat to slices of raw heart and tongue. Given the chance, aficionados will happily tuck into cartilage and daintily arranged offerings of small intestine and testicles. Pro-whalers point out the mammal once accounted for almost half of all meat available to the average household before the arrival of beef and chicken. These days, eating out at one of Japan's few whale restaurants is a treat, but the flesh is making a comeback. This year whale burgers and fritters appeared on school menus in parts of Wakayama, traditional centre of Japan's whaling industry. Though cooking methods have become more sophisticated, eating whale is a Japanese custom that, some say, began 4,000 years ago. Devotees therefore regard the 1986 moratorium as a direct attack on their culinary heritage. As Shigeko Misaki, of the Japan Whaling Association, put it: "Just as Australians have the right to eat kangaroo, we have to right to eat whale." | ['environment/environment', 'world/japan', 'environment/conservation', 'science/science', 'world/world', 'environment/whaling', 'tone/news', 'environment/whales', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/life', 'theguardian/life/features'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2005-05-27T11:41:54Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2020/nov/16/the-problems-of-plastic-pollution | The problems of plastic pollution | Letters | The new approach called for on waste incineration (Increase in burning of plastic ‘driving up emissions from waste disposal’, 16 November) is a welcome acknowledgment of a longstanding and growing problem. To reduce waste to landfill, the authorities needed another waste stream for unrecyclable materials, including much soft plastic and film packaging. Even now, most publicity urging greater recycling take-up mentions reduction in waste to landfill, rather than the larger problem of incineration. In addition, the proponents of incineration have been allowed to get away with the much more positive branding of “waste to energy” to speed this growth. Many local campaigns have been fought against incinerators, but these need wider backing. Mass publicity needs to be focused on reuse, reduction, repair and the circular economy. Tim Dumper Exmouth, Devon • Your report (Global treaty to tackle plastic pollution gains steam without US and UK, 16 November) does not mention the two main components of microplastics in our oceans: fragments from the washing of synthetic clothing, 35%, and tyre dust, 28%. The obvious steps to take are to move to wearing (and washing) only natural fabrics, and to move away from road transport (to rail and public transport, and more regional economies with shorter freighting distances). Alan Mitcham Cologne, Germany | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-11-16T16:32:19Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2019/oct/04/rescuers-free-whale-humpback-calf-tangled-in-net-off-sydney-beach | Whale calf rescued in Sydney was entangled in shark net from Queensland | The humpback calf freed from netting in waters off Sydney’s northern beaches is one of an unprecedented number of whale entanglements this migration season. The tired and distressed calf, swimming south alongside its mother, became entangled in a shark mesh panel from Queensland’s shark control program. It dragged the net for hundreds of kilometres before it was cut free on Friday morning. The calf, which appeared to have part of the net stuck in its mouth, was first reported to authorities earlier this week after it was spotted at Scotts Head on the mid-north coast. Rescuers lost sight of the animal until it was seen again overnight off Sydney. The Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) said the number of whale entanglements in NSW this season was unprecedented and there had only been a handful of successful rescues. “The number has been incredibly high,” said ORRCA president Jacqueline O’Neill. “There has been close to 40, if not just over 40. Last year, we had just over 20.” O’Neill said the spike is likely largely due to the explosion in the number of humpback whales following stricter whaling laws, and because the migration season now runs almost year-round. Shortly after the calf was freed on Friday morning, the NSW Department of Primary Industries released a statement laying the blame on the Queensland government. “The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) can confirm the whale was definitely NOT entangled in its SMART Drumlines,” it said in a statement. “The whale was entangled in a shark mesh panel from the Queensland shark control program which it has carried down the coast from Coolangatta or Noosa.” Lawrence Chlebeck, a spokesman for Human Society International, said the latest entanglement was entirely avoidable. HSI took the Queensland government to court over its shark control program in the Great Barrier Reef National Park and won. “They continue to use methods that are unable to protect swimmers and yet kill our precious marine wildlife. It needs to end,” he said. | ['environment/whales', 'environment/marine-life', 'australia-news/sydney', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/oceans', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-10-04T04:13:10Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2024/oct/22/florida-flesh-eating-bacteria-deaths | Florida reports 13 deaths from rare flesh-eating bacteria after hurricanes | Thirteen people have died from rare flesh-eating bacteria infections in Florida this year amid a spike in cases related to hurricane activity in the state. Florida health authorities said there have been 74 confirmed cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections in 2024, compared with 46 cases and 11 deaths in 2023. Vibrio vulnificus are “naturally occurring bacteria in warm, brackish seawater”, requiring salt to live, according to the Florida department of health. Authorities attributed the surge to Hurricane Helene, which last month lashed Florida with breakneck winds and historic storm surge. The storm then traveled into southern Appalachia, ravaging western North Carolina with deadly flooding and landslides, killing about 100 people there. “In 2024 Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties experiences unusual increase due to the impacts of Hurricane Helene,” the department said. Hurricane Milton struck Florida as a powerful category 3 storm on 9 October; at least two dozen were killed by the storm, many in relation to a tornado outbreak that unfolded before landfall. Florida health authorities said “Vibrio bacteria, commonly found in warm coastal waters, can cause illness when ingested or when open wounds are exposed to contaminated water.” “After heavy rainfall and flooding, the concentration of these bacteria may rise, particularly in brackish and saltwater environments,” they added. Once infected, Vibrio vulnificus can prompt the breakdown of skin and soft tissue, USA Today said. To prevent the infection from spreading, medics might have to amputate the infected limb, though the infection can prove deadly. This is not the first year that cataclysmic weather has prompted a Vibrio outbreak in Florida. In 2022, there were 74 cases and 17 deaths; health officials noted that Collier and Lee counties saw “unusual increase due to the impacts of Hurricane Ian”. While some Vibrio infections do lead to necrotizing fasciitis, the severe infection in where flesh around an open wound dies, public health authorities believe that a type of Streptococcus is actually the most common cause of this condition in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some experts have balked at the use of “flesh-eating” to describe severe Vibrio infection, noting that it cannot destroy healthy and intact skin even with prolonged exposure. | ['us-news/florida', 'us-news/hurricane-helene', 'us-news/hurricane-milton', 'us-news/us-news', 'society/health', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/victoria-bekiempis', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/hurricane-milton | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-22T20:39:40Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2024/jan/10/sperm-whales-live-in-culturally-distinct-clans-research-finds | Sperm whales live in culturally distinct clans, research finds | Sperm whales live in clans with distinctive cultures, much like those of humans, a study has found. Using underwater microphones and drone surveys, Hal Whitehead, a sperm whale scientist at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Canada, examined the sounds the animals made and their feeding habits and found they organised themselves into groups of up to around 20,000. The paper, published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, said the clans were defined by variations in their vocalisations – distinctive, morse code-like sequences of clicks known as “codas”. Acting like human dialects, these enabled Whitehead and his colleagues to establish the existence of seven such clans in the Pacific Ocean – with a total of 300,000 sperm whales. “This is a huge number for culturally defined entities outside modern human ethnolinguistic groups,” Whitehead said. The clans might meet but they never interbred, he added. Their sense of identity appeared, in human terms, almost tribal, recognising and maintaining their differences while being of the same species. Sperm whales have the biggest brains on the planet. The animals can reach 15 metres in length, weigh up to 45 tonnes, and are able to dive for up to two hours in search of food, mostly squid. They are present in oceans around the world. Whitehead noted that the clans appeared to be “almost entirely female-based”. Males visited females occasionally and for only a few hours at a time. Their “only important transfer is of sperm”. Designated females undertook “alloparental” care, looking out for calves while their mothers dived for food. While underlining how different whales were from humans, the paper suggested intriguing correspondences. Sperm whale society appeared to use consensus, rather than top-down leadership, to reach communal decisions. With thousands of animals travelling at the same time, searching for fast-changing food sources and constantly aware of predators (killer whales will prey on sperm whale calves), these debates can be very important. Whitehead said he had seen whales “taking up to an hour or more to make a 90-degree turn” as they tried to agree where to go. The democracy of whales was a “slow and messy” business, Whitehead observed, just like our own. He said he believed that studying the evolution of these large populations would give clues to “human social evolution at the largest scales” in ways that “have few parallels elsewhere”. The study suggested there may be evidence of how human activity had affected the whales. Sperm whales were widely hunted in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. In the 20th century alone, 700,000 died in hunts carried out by Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, Russia, Japan, Canada and Australia, among other nations. Up until 1971, sperm whale oil was used in the automatic transmissions of most American cars. Population numbers have recovered since the 1982 moratorium on the killing of great whales. But as sperm whales can reach up to 80 years in age, it is possible that individuals may retain traumatic memories of 20th-century hunts, the paper suggested. Whitehead told the Guardian that genetics in populations subjected to “intense modern whaling” showed evidence of reduced fertility and fragmented family units. Even the physical size of the animals had reduced. Whitehead, who has been studying sperm whales at sea since 1985, said he liked the term “whale nations” as a way to express the scale of the separate clans. He looked to human history and prehistory, as a way of understanding the whales’ evolution, comparing a discrete whale clan in a closed area, such as the Mediterranean, to that of the human population on an isolated island, such as Australia. Conversely, in larger areas, such as the Pacific, where two or more clans share the same environment, “culture is the only tenable explanation for the differences between clans”, like a country shared by humans speaking different languages. Whitehead acknowledged that research into the whales’ deeper prehistory – since the species evolved 24m years ago – may be as difficult as the study of human prehistory. But he said he believed “patterns in genetics and linguistics, coupled with measures of environmental change” could reveal “an extraordinary amount”. “I suppose one could say that [the whales’] history starts when we humans started writing about them,” he said. “The prehistory of sperm whales is likely to be fascinating, but will be much harder to picture than for humans.” | ['environment/whales', 'environment/marine-life', 'science/science', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/philip-hoare', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-01-10T00:01:15Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2022/jan/05/filipinos-count-cost-of-climate-crisis-as-typhoons-get-ever-more-destructive | Filipinos count cost of climate crisis as typhoons get ever more destructive | A few days before Christmas, Super-typhoon Rai – known locally as Odette – ravaged the Philippines. The morning after the onslaught, on my way back to Iloilo City from San Jose, Antique, I could see the ocean still boiling; houses blown away and great trees knocked down, making roads impassable. The sights were terrifying. Lost lives continue to climb two weeks on. Vast numbers of buildings were destroyed – from houses to schools; food crops lost to flooding. At first, I did not know what to feel – anger, helplessness? Later, I knew what I wanted: climate justice. On average, 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines each year and they are growing progressively more destructive. The culprit is greenhouse-gas emissions from human activities. The Philippines contributes less than 0.4% to the climate crisis; the global north is responsible for 92%. The Philippines pays the price for problems produced in the north. In 2019, the Philippines made a strong statement to the world when it sent 1,500 tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish back to Canada. However, Cop26, heralded as the world’s last chance to avert disaster, was seen as a failure by many climate activists. Commitments were not delivered. The final agreement saw a watered-down stand against coal, and prioritised profits over people and the planet. Despite the Philippines’ small part in the worsening climate crisis, the threat to the country is huge. Rising sea levels from global heating will submerge parts of the country, creating thousands of climate refugees. Drought and flooding will hit agricultural production and destroy ecosystems. The risk and intensity of health emergencies, such as dengue and diarrhoea, will increase. The Philippine government romanticises the suffering of the affected communities to conceal inefficiency and inaction with its “Filipinos are resilient” rhetoric. When my family and I lived in a slum above a river in Iloilo City, we would leave our shanty houses before a typhoon made a landfall and shelter in a nearby chapel. When the storm had passed, some of us would be grateful to see our houses still standing. Others would be saddened to see theirs blown to bits by the wind or taken by the waves. There was no resiliency here. Families would have to start from scratch, rebuilding their homes, only to see them destroyed again by the next typhoon. We lived in fear and carried the trauma from the danger the calamities posed. On 17 December, I learned that my cousin, a freshly graduated seafarer, was missing with at least 10 other crew members of the tugboat M/V Strong Trinity, after the typhoon hit the port city of Cebu. According to the owners, the boat had sought shelter, but the wind and waves were too strong and washed away the tugboat and those on board. The coastguard has found no trace of the vessel, so far. Citizens were quick to point to the ill-preparedness of the government, saying it had not learned the lessons from Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, one of the strongest typhoons on record to hit land – despite the fact that this time round there was a system to disseminate information about the storm’s arrival through text messages, social media and on news channels. However, the role of media has been curtailed in the country. The regional stations of the Philippines’ biggest broadcaster, ABS-CBN, which were on the frontline during previous natural disasters, have not been in service since 2020 due to what many see as a politically motivated denial of their franchise renewal. Telecommunications were interrupted. Filipinos were left in the dark waiting for news. People created Facebook groups with updates on the hardest-hit areas, information on missing people, and appeals for help. Facebook news feeds were flooded with posts from those in need. People wandered the streets with signs saying they were hungry and thirsty. Many died of dehydration. Flooded cities have become ghost towns; houses have been buried by landslides. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has declared a state of emergency in several cities and towns where power and water supplies are still cut off; more than 5.4 million people were affected. More than half a million have been displaced. Last week’s official figures put the death toll at 397 with 1,147 injured and 83 missing. There were more than 535,000 houses destroyed and €350m (£290m) of damage caused to agriculture and infrastructure. People from communities in “danger zones” are unable to return. Despite years of such disasters, natural defences have not been protected. Dams have been built on ecologically important rivers; dolomite mining continues, and new coal-powered plants are still being built. A few days after the typhoon, a four-year ban on open-pit mining was lifted to help economic recovery, disregarding the contribution of mining to the typhoons and rainfall that are battering the economy in the first place. The Philippines has elections in May, when Filipinos must choose a leader who has an unwavering will to tackle the climate crisis by demanding accountability from the global north and strengthening the country’s defences. Poor countries and poor communities remain the victims of anthropogenic climate injustice. The process of ending the human activities responsible is weak and slow; there is only disaster risk-reduction management and mitigation in place. As long as the world does not address the root cause of this crisis, we will not be prepared for what is coming. Donations can be made online by credit card, debit card or PayPal, or by phone on 0151 284 1126. We are unable to accept cheques. Sign up for a different view with our Global Dispatch newsletter – a roundup of our top stories from around the world, recommended reads, and thoughts from our team on key development and human rights issues, delivered to your inbox every two weeks: | ['global-development/global-development', 'world/philippines', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/extreme-weather', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'world/typhoon-haiyan', 'environment/drought', 'environment/environment', 'inequality/inequality', 'world/internally-displaced-people', 'world/natural--disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-01-05T07:15:35Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/nils-pratley-on-finance/article/2024/sep/03/nice-auction-but-ed-miliband-is-still-a-long-way-from-his-2030-targets-for-offshore-wind | Nice auction, but Ed Miliband is still a long way from his 2030 targets for offshore wind | Nils Pratley | It was a “record-setting auction” and “a significant step forward in our mission for clean power for 2030”, trumpeted the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, enjoying the contrast with last year’s auction flop under the Tories in which precisely zero bids were received to build offshore windfarms. Miliband was claiming credit when it wasn’t entirely due, of course, because this year’s competition was designed well before the general election. Some version of success was guaranteed from the moment the last government said it was prepared to pay up to £73 a megawatt hour (in 2012 prices, confusingly) for offshore wind, a mighty leap from the £44 level that produced no takers in 2023. At the higher level of incentive, developers were bound to come out to play again. But Miliband is right about the return of a general feelgood vibe around renewables, which may owe something to his vote of confidence in the contracts-for-difference (CfD) regime as an effective price-discovery mechanism for renewables. The winning bids for offshore wind settled at £54/MWh and £58/MWh (again in 2012 numbers), better than expected. Even when one converts the numbers to today’s prices to get £75/MWh and £82/MWh, that equates to a shade under the current wholesale electricity price of £84/MWh. The lovely low prices of 2022 aren’t coming back, but offshore wind remains a credible workhorse of a renewables-heavy power system. Last year’s inflation shock in supply chains seems to be subsiding. But here’s the very large qualification: Miliband’s target of having 60 gigawatts of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 is still a long way from being credible. Just do the back-of-the-envelope arithmetic: there is about 15 gigawatts of capacity operating today; add the projects commissioned in Tuesday’s auction result plus those already under construction and you still only get to a grand total of about 27 gigawatts. Getting to 60 gigawatts by 2030 – all of it operational – looks a stretch and a half. “More action is needed to stay on track with ambitious 2030 targets,” says the energy consultancy Aurora. You bet. The next two auctions would have to secure 28 gigawatts of capacity between them and next year’s budget for offshore wind would have to be doubled to £2.5bn, thinks LCP Delta. One big constraining factor here is supply chains. The UK is not alone in pushing hard to add offshore capacity, and most of the kit is sourced in competitive international markets. It is welcome news that the Japanese company Sumitomo Electric is building a £350m subsea cable manufacturing plant on the Cromarty Firth, but few blades and turbines are produced domestically. It is not easy to accelerate meaningfully the pace of rollout of windfarms (and, critically, the rate at which they are connected to the grid). The government knows that, of course, thus Miliband indicated that he is working on plans to expand the CfD system and “other energy policies” to get more renewables connected sooner. But, at this stage, that is merely a hint that contracts could be signed outside the existing renewables setup, whether via GB Energy or some other vehicle. In the absence of details, the consensus view in the renewables industry is roughly this: the offshore show is back in business, but 60 gigawatts by 2030 probably won’t happen. | ['business/nils-pratley-on-finance', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'politics/edmiliband', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'politics/politics', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nilspratley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2024-09-03T17:55:52Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2021/sep/29/insulate-britain-activists-block-m25-by-glueing-themselves-to-road | Police say charging M25 climate protesters ‘difficult’ | Police have claimed it is “very difficult” to bring charges against environmental activists after 27 members of Insulate Britain were arrested for blocking a roundabout at a junction with the M25. Lisa Townsend, Surrey’s police and crime commissioner, said the police were receiving “an enormous amount of flak” over their response but she insisted officers were “doing their utmost to prevent the disruption”. It comes after the same junction was targeted twice in six hours. On Wednesday morning, police arrested 11 people who had glued themselves to the road on a roundabout at junction 3, the Swanley Interchange in Kent, at about 7.30am. The group returned at 1pm when a further 16 arrests were made for the same offence. All 27 people are being held in custody. Insulate Britain, which is calling on the government to insulate all UK homes by 2030 to cut carbon emissions, has continued to block the M25 despite the government obtaining an injunction prohibiting protesters from doing so. The high court injunction obtained by the government means anyone blocking the motorway could be found to be in contempt of court, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison or an unlimited fine. But Townsend said: “It has been very difficult for the police because if they charge the protesters with a relatively minor offence, it is likely to be discontinued. “If they try to elevate the charge to a more serious one, they are finding it is not reaching the necessary threshold. “The public deserves to see a response from all parts of the criminal justice system and it is unfair for the police to be blamed if people do not end up before the courts.” Insulate Britain, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, said in a statement: “We are going nowhere. You can raid our savings. You can confiscate our property. You can deny us our liberty and put us behind bars. “But shooting the messenger can never destroy the message: that this country is going to hell unless you take emergency action to stop putting carbon into the air. Boris get on with the job.” Wednesday was the seventh day that the group has targeted the M25. The activists have become noted for their tactic of blocking London’s orbital motorway and other major roads as they try to draw greater attention to the climate crisis. Specifically, they have called for ministers to fully insulate all homes in the UK within a few years. They argue that the act would not only reduce the UK’s climate emissions, it would also help tackle fuel poverty, which the latest official figures show affects more than 3m households in England alone. Last Tuesday, the high court granted an injunction preventing protesters from disrupting traffic on to or along the M25 after several protests. The activists also targeted roads leading to Dover and a judge granted a further injunction last week. The activists claimed the campaign, which entered its third week on Monday, has been carried out by 115 people and resulted in more than 400 arrests. While Insulate Britain’s methods have been heavily criticised by some, academics and policy experts have suggested there is support for the end the activists seek. Experts have seen properly insulating homes as “low-hanging fruit” in the effort to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions. Last week, Jess Ralston, an analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, told the Guardian a 2017 study had found the initial cost of the work would be dwarfed by the financial and social benefits it brought. Kent police tweeted: “The Swanley Interchange roundabout at J3 of the M25 has now reopened following an earlier protest, which has resulted in us arresting 11 people. Delays remain in the area whilst the backlog of traffic clears. Thank you for your patience.” Activists welcomed a pledge by the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, to insulate every home that needs it in Britain over the next decade. One woman glued to the road said: “That’s excellent news. Let’s get the Labour party in. “It would cut UK emissions by 15%, it’s the easiest thing to do.” Another woman added: “When will the Conservatives do the same thing?” As well as targeting the London ring road, protesters have blocked other important routes including the A1(M) and A20 near the Port of Dover. | ['environment/activism', 'uk/london', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/insulate-britain', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-09-29T18:36:05Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
us-news/2020/feb/18/americas-recycled-plastic-waste-is-clogging-landfills-survey-finds | America’s 'recycled' plastic waste is clogging landfills, survey finds | Many plastic items that Americans put in their recycling bins aren’t being recycled at all, according to a major new survey of hundreds of recycling facilities across the US. The research, conducted by Greenpeace and released on Tuesday, found that out of 367 recycling recovery facilities surveyed none could process coffee pods, fewer than 15% accepted plastic clamshells – such as those used to package fruit, salad or baked goods – and only a tiny percentage took plates, cups, bags and trays. The findings confirm the results of a Guardian investigation last year, which revealed that numerous types of plastics are being sent straight to landfill in the wake of China’s crackdown on US recycling exports. Greenpeace’s findings also suggest that numerous products labeled as recyclable in fact have virtually no market as new products. While the report found there is still a strong recycling market for bottles and jugs labeled #1 or #2, such as plastic water bottles and milk containers, the pipeline has bottomed out for many plastics labelled #3-7, which fall into a category dubbed “mixed plastics”. While often marketed by brands as recyclable, these plastics are hard for recyclers to repurpose and are often landfilled, causing confusion for consumers. “This report shows that one of the best things to do to save recycling is to stop claiming that everything is recyclable,” said John Hocevar, director of Greenpeace’s Oceans Campaign. “We have to talk to companies about not producing so much throw-away plastic that ends up in the ocean or in incinerators.” In a news release accompanying the report, Greenpeace threatened to file federal complaints against manufacturers who mislead the public about the recyclability of their packaging. Jan Dell, the founder of the Last Beach Cleanup and the leader of Greenpeace’s survey team, said the point of the report “was not to kill recycling, it was to show which products are recyclable and which are not”. She emphasized that bottles and jugs are indeed worth recycling, but said “our findings show that many items commonly found in beach cleanups – cups, bags, trays, plates and cutlery – are not recyclable. In America’s municipal recycling system, they are contaminants.” The US recycling economy was upended in 2018 when China enacted bans on imports of most US recycling, leaving recycling companies at a loose end. The report chronicled how dozens of cities – stretching from Erie, Pennsylvania, to San Carlos, California, – have either stopped taking mixed plastics or are sending them to landfill. The report noted that recyclers often report “mixed plastics” as having negative value – in other words, they cost money to get rid of. Additionally, it cited federal studies that have estimated that fewer than 5% of these products get reprocessed into new products. Martin Bourque, the director of the Ecology Center, which handles recycling for Berkeley, California, told the Guardian that the city is spending about $50,000 a year attempting to recycle material that largely isn’t recyclable. Berkeley pays to send its mixed plastic to an extra sorting facility in southern California – and half of it still gets thrown out, he said. “Let’s just get real about what is recyclable,” he said. “Now instead of making money [by reclaiming valuable recyclables], we’re paying $75 a ton to subsidize these brands and packagers, who make all this stuff.” The report claims that advertising this almost-impossible-to-recycle plastic packaging as recyclable violates the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides, which state that “marketers must ensure that all reasonable interpretations of their claims are truthful, not misleading, and supported by a reasonable basis”. Asked to comment on the report’s findings, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, which represents brands trying to improve packaging, acknowledged the recycling industry was facing disruption but said that new US processing capacity was being developed to enhance the recyclability of products. “I think our industry is rebuilding and adding capacity and that’s a good thing,” said Nina Goodrich, the director of the coalition. “We should be processing our material at home.” Kelly Cramer, who leads the organization’s efforts to create a standard labeling system for products, said the organization is now advising consumers to “get to know their local recycling program” by checking locally with their waste services provider to see if packages are recyclable. “It’s perfectly acceptable to be disappointed that we have a fragmented, difficult to understand recycling system,” Cramer says. “We have always told people when packages aren’t recyclable and should be left out of the bin to help prevent contamination in the stream. For example, 3s and 7s have always been labeled not recyclable in our program history. Given the problems with our recycling system and the complexity of packaging, the most effective strategy might be challenging the companies that aren’t labeling their packaging at all.” Kate Bailey, a manager for Eco-Cycle Solutions which runs the recycling program in Boulder, Colorado, said that her organization has found outlets that will process most of its mixed plastic, because its hi-tech machinery and devoted customer base gives it the ability to sort the material into unusually clean bales. But she said this is a challenge for many recyclers, especially since these materials currently fetch record low prices. She hopes the problems that China’s decision has caused for the domestic recycling market will lead to long-term improvements in the US. “The silver lining is that we’re starting to have some conversations about who should be paying for recycling,” she said. “Turning to cities and residents to pay for recycling is not the way it should be going.” “We [the recyclers] are the scapegoats, but we don’t control how products are made,” she said. “If manufacturers are going to make these products, they should be buying them back. They can be the ones closing the loop.” | ['us-news/series/united-states-of-plastic', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/erin-mccormick', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-02-18T17:23:46Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/blog/2009/jul/23/easyjet-climate-change-claims | Greenwash: easyJet's carbon claims written on the wind | You probably weren't watching BBC3 at 4am on Monday morning. Not if you had a job to go to in the morning, anyhow. So you probably missed a nice little programme called Britain's Embarrassing Emissions. It door-stepped the budget airline easyJet about claims on the company's website that it is greener than a hybrid car. Or, more particularly, that its emissions were less than those of a Toyota Prius. It's greenwash, of course. As, I discovered, are several of its other environmental claims. The crux of the matter is the company's website, which highlights a graph showing that its emissions "based on one person" are 95.7g/km, whereas those for a Prius are 104g/km. As the programme pointed out, this is not comparing like with like. EasyJet doesn't say so, but its "typical comparison" is very atypical. It assumes that the plane is full and its emissions are shared out among all the passengers, while the Prius is presumed to have only one occupant. EasyJet may succeed in its aim of completely filling up every flight (though it is not true in my experience). But all British official stats on car emissions reckon on an average of 1.6 passengers in a car. Eastjet presumably didn't follow this convention, because it would show even a full easyJet flight emitting 47% more per passenger-kilometre than an averagely full Prius. And of course a full easyJet flight would emit close to for four times as much per passenger as a full Prius carrying four people. In the programme, which I'm guessing was filmed recently, the hapless easyJet spokesman appeared to promise to try and get the website changed to reflect reality. Not so far, it hasn't. The greenwash persists. And if the claims are repeated in any of easyJet's advertising perhaps someone fancies contacting the Advertising Standards Authority... But the environment pages of easyJet's site contain other slippery claims. They repeatedly proclaim that "aviation's carbon dioxide emissions... only account for 1.6% of global greenhouse gas emissions", citing as the source Lord Stern's famous review of the economics of climate change. But the company ignores the next sentence in Stern's text, which says that "the impact of aviation on climate change is greater than these figures suggest because of other gases released by aircraft... for example water vapour". These emissions roughly double the effect, says Stern. So make that 3.2%. Oddly enough, easyJet's seems seems not to trust its headline claims. Its own report on corporate and social responsibility quotes a figure of 3.5% contained in a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1999. In any event, both Stern and the IPCC report are out of date. Stern's data come from someone else's report in 2005, which in turn cites data for 2002. Since when global aircraft emissions have grown by about 40%. And IPCC scientists now quote a figure for aviation's contribution to global warming of almost 5%. Whatever aviation's true contribution to global warming, it is not 1.6%. What else does easyJet offer to reassure its growing number of passengers that it is green to fly? Naturally, since it doesn't fly to the US, the company flags up how flying to Europe is better. So it says in big letters: "Flying from London to Nice produces 10 times fewer CO2 emissions than flying London to Miami." Leaving aside the ugly English, I am not sure this stands up. Since easyJet doesn't fly to Miami, we can't check the stat on its own carbon calculator. But a couple of others I went to, including Climate Care, show the difference at a bit over eight times. The comparison is misleading in a more important way, however. If I need to get to Miami, I have little choice other than to fly. Whereas if i need to get to Nice, I can catch a train. It might take a bit longer, but it will save on carbon. Thanks to the nuclear power-running Eurostar and the French railways, my emissions would be, very roughly, one-tenth those of flying. With easyJet or anyone else. | ['environment/series/greenwash', 'environment/blog', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'travel/travel', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'business/easyjet', 'type/article', 'profile/fredpearce'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2009-07-23T07:00:01Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2010/jun/17/true-costs-nuclear-power | Letters: The real costs of nuclear power | Paul Spence says the nuclear industry expects to pay the full cost of decommissioning a new generation of nuclear power stations (Response, 15 June). But his words about "our full share of waste management and disposal costs" were carefully chosen. The consultation document reveals that EDF considers their full share of these costs to be around 20% of the total. As our report Nuclear Power? No Point! highlighted last year, nuclear is only responsible for 4% of the energy consumed in the UK. More energy can be saved by energy conservation measures in homes and businesses. Focusing on the nuclear industry takes resources away from building new renewable capacity, which, given sufficient political will, could provide more than enough electricity for the UK. Darren Johnson Green party spokesperson on Trade and Industry • EDF's claim that they "have not asked for subsidy for new nuclear" is not all that it seems. The nuclear industry, owned by British Energy (in turn owned by EDF), will be receiving huge sums of windfall profits under government proposals for a floor price on carbon emission allowances. British Energy will greatly expand its profits for no increase in nuclear power production, all subsidised by electricity consumers. Based on Royal Academy of Engineering analysis (a pro-nuclear source) a carbon floor price of £30 per tonne is likely to lead to electricity price increases of around 2.5p/Kwh. Given that British Energy produces (according to their website) around 50 TWh per year, this would give them annual windfall profits of around £1.25bn a year. Many argue that the "floor price" would have to be higher than this to make new nuclear power stations profitable. A floor price of £50 per tonne would give EDF windfall profits (at 50 TWh a year) of over £2bn a year. Indeed British Energy and EDF are already receiving hundreds of millions of pounds a year of subsidy by another name through existing levels of carbon prices. Dr David Toke Senior lecturer in energy policy, University of Birmingham • Paul Spence's defence of new nuclear power stations based on the assertion that they won't be a financial burden to the public ignores the taxpayer's liability in the event of a "new Chernobyl". No insurance company will offer cover for such an event or the consequences of a terrorist attack or any other less serious but still unquantifiable risk. In its determination to sanction new nuclear power plants, the government is underwriting these risks; without such an undertaking no commercial company would even contemplate building a new nuclear power station. No hidden subsidies? Eddie Dougall Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/nuclear-waste', 'environment/environment', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2010-06-16T23:05:02Z | true | ENERGY |
technology/2017/mar/03/10-most-influential-wearable-devices | 10 most influential wearable devices | Wearable technology is arguably the most exciting area of consumer technology at the moment, but its beginnings go a lot further back than you might expect. Abacus Ring, 17th century The abacus made of silver and placed within a ring, a relic of the Qing Dynasty that ruled China between 1644 to 1912, reportedly could be the earliest known form of wearable technology that wasn’t simply something pinned to clothing. The ring was a fine piece of jewellery with tiny beads less than 1mm in diameter requiring something akin to a pin to move around, according to the Chinese government-backed China Culture, making it likely more decorative than a daily tool. Pedometer, 1780 Leonardo da Vinci reportedly envisioned a mechanical device for counting steps, but it wasn’t until 1780 that a Swiss man by the name of Abraham-Louis Perrelet modified his self-winding watch mechanism to measure steps and the distance travelled when walking. The pedometer we know today, and the 10,000 steps goal, were defined by Dr Yoshiro Hatano in Japan after research showed that was the required total conducive to creating a proper balance of calorie intake and exercise. Exoskeleton, 1965 Many might remember the Caterpillar P-5000 Powered Work Loader from James Cameron’s sci-fi classic Aliens in 1986, but prototypes of a machine capable of boosting a person’s strength existed as early as the late 1800s. Arguably the first version of what we might recognise today as an exoskeleton – a machine that could move with a person – was the US armed forces Hardiman project with General Electric ran between 1965 and 1971. Hardiman was meant to allow a person to lift 680kg, but while the machine moved, its motions were violent meaning testing with a person inside never progressed and the project was shelved. Digital watch, 1972 The first mechanical digital wrist watches were available in the 1920s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the first digital electronic wristwatch was developed. The Hamilton Watch Company partnered with Electro/Data to create the Pulsar, an 18-carat gold, red LED watch available in 1972 at $2,100. That’s more than $12,000 (£9,600) today. Bluetooth headset, 2000 Synonymous with minicab drivers everywhere, the first Bluetooth headset wasn’t available until 2000, although the Bluetooth 1.0 specification was set in 1999 with the first Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone and headset shown off that year by Ericsson. Danish technology company GN Netcom (now known as Jabra) sold its first Bluetooth headset in 2000. Plantronics – maker of the headset through which a certain US astronaut uttered the words “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” – followed suit in 2001 and Nokia in 2002. GoPro, 2004 The first GoPro Hero, introduced at the San Diego Action Sports Retailer tradeshow, was sold by company founder Nick Woodman, shipped in 2004 and used 35mm film. A digital version with 10-second video capability was released in 2006, which led to the GoPro’s dominance of the wearable video camera market. Pebble, 2012 The Pebble could be hailed as the second coming of the smartwatch, after Microsoft’s Spot system, and is arguably the most influential in the last 10 years. The original Pebble was a Kickstarter success in 2012, generating $10m in pledges – a record at the time – and went on sale in US electronics retailer Best Buy in 2013. The Pebble showed there was a repeating demand for smartwatches, revisiting Kickstarter for the Pebble Time ($20m in pledges) and the Time 2 ($13m), but the company eventually wound down and its assets were bought by fitness tracker-maker Fitbit. Google Glass, 2013 The notorious Google Glass was a prism-based, head-mounted display stuck to a camera and a glasses frame, that was intended to give the wearer at-a-glance information floating just above their right eye. It was announced in 2012, launched in the US as an early-adopter prototype called the Explorer Edition costing $1,500 in 2013, and was opened up to a wider audience in 2014. The UK version cost £1,000. While wearing them was an interesting experience, the social stigma of having a camera strapped to your face saw a backlash from those around Glass wearers. It was eventually shelved in its current form in 2015. Google Cardboard, 2014 Launched at Google’s annual developer conference called I/O in 2014, Cardboard was born from a side-project by a group of Google engineers and made into a free virtual reality app you could download on your smartphone and slot into a holder you could attach to your face. The big difference here is that the holder was literally made out of cardboard. Google released the designs so anyone could make one and so virtual reality could be done on the cheap. Since then the Cardboard headset has been upgraded once, the software has improved and it’s become an ubiquitous medium for marketers and educators. Spectacles, 2016 After the privacy outrage that caused Google Glass to be shelved in 2015, you’d think that strapping a camera to your face wouldn’t be the most advisable product, but that’s exactly what Snapchat’s Spectacles are – a camera mounted in a set of sunglasses. It takes 10-second circular videos and fires them to your phone so you can send them to your Snapchat friends. It costs $130. They were initially available only from a few vending machines, but now are available to buy online in the US. If these get past the privacy invasion stigma that plagued Google’s efforts, maybe there’s hope for smartglasses yet. | ['technology/wearable-technology', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/snapchat', 'technology/google', 'technology/google-glass', 'technology/virtual-reality', 'technology/alphabet', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/samuel-gibbs', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-technology'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-03-03T08:00:40Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/sep/20/rich-countries-not-providing-poor-with-pledged-climate-finance-analysis-says | Rich countries not providing poor with pledged climate finance, analysis says | Rich countries will continue to miss a longstanding pledge to provide poor countries with $100bn a year in climate finance for the next four years, new analysis suggests on the eve of a crunch meeting of world leaders at the UN on Monday. The promised cash is seen as essential to gaining support from developing countries for a global climate deal to fulfil the 2015 Paris agreement, with only six weeks go before vital UN climate talks, called Cop26, to be hosted in Glasgow this November. However, current pledges and announced plans from developed country governments will amount to only about $93bn to $95bn a year in climate finance by 2025, according to Oxfam. More than 30 world leaders have been invited to a vital meeting on Monday on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York. Co-hosted by António Guterres, the UN secretarygeneral, and Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, the meeting will focus on climate finance. A Whitehall source told the Guardian the aim of the meeting was to bring together the leaders of big economies with the leaders of poor countries that are likely to suffer most from the climate crisis. Some of the world’s poorest countries will have the chance at the meeting to demonstrate how vital it is both for more funding to be made available, and for large economies – including China – to cut their greenhouse gas emissions faster. Poor countries need climate finance to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of extreme weather. They were promised in 2009 that $100bn a year would be provided, from public and private sources, from 2020 to 2025. Data from the OECD on Friday showed that climate finance reached only $80bn in 2019, falling $20bn below the 2020 target. Oxfam’s projections, which build on the OECD data, show that recent pledges to increase those amounts in the next four years are still inadequate. Alok Sharma, the UK cabinet minister who will preside over the Cop26 talks, said: “There is no excuse: delivering on the $100bn goal is a matter of trust. Climate finance is key to unlocking emissions reductions and action to adapt to climate change across the developing world. “We have seen little progress and the OECD report shows clearly how much further there is to go. Achieving the $100bn goal is one of my biggest priorities and ahead of the UN General Assembly I am repeating my call for developed countries to step up their climate finance pledges.” Nafkote Dabi, global climate policy lead at Oxfam International, said: “The pandemic has shown that countries can swiftly mobilise trillions of dollars to respond to an emergency – it is clearly a question of political will. We are in a climate emergency [that] is wreaking havoc across the globe and requires the same decisiveness and urgency. Wealthy nations must live up to the promise made 12 years ago and put their money where their mouths are.” As well as trying to wring higher pledges of cash from donor countries, the UK and the UN will also hope to persuade some of the world’s biggest emitters at the meeting to strengthen their pledges on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade. It is not yet known whether Xi Jinping, president of China, will attend Monday’s meeting, which will be a hybrid of in-person and virtual. China – the world’s biggest emitter, responsible for more than a quarter of global carbon output – is now the focus of frantic diplomacy from the UK and the US, as the country has yet to submit formal plans to the UN on emissions cuts ahead of Cop26. At last year’s virtual UN general assembly, Xi surprised the world by setting a target of reaching net zero emissions by 2060 and ensuring the country’s emissions peak before 2030. Bernice Lee, research director for futures at the Chatham House thinktank, warned that another dramatic announcement from China was unlikely at this year’s UN general assembly but said that there were encouraging signs from the country, as many provinces were peaking their emissions. The UN published a report on Friday showing that current emissions pledges from all countries fall far short of the halving of carbon dioxide needed in the next 10 years to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, the tougher of two targets in the 2015 Paris agreement. On current national pledges, emissions would rise by 16% by 2030. The issues of climate finance and greater ambition on emissions cuts from China are closely linked. China is not a beneficiary of climate finance, but likes to be seen as a leader to developing countries. At previous Cops – conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, parent treaty to the Paris agreement – building coalitions of vulnerable countries, for whom climate finance is essential, has been a key factor in persuading China to increase its efforts. | ['environment/environment', 'world/unitednations', 'uk/uk', 'environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-09-19T23:01:48Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
sport/2022/oct/14/wallaroos-brim-with-confidence-after-belying-amateur-status-at-rugby-world-cup | Wallaroos brim with confidence after belying amateur status at Rugby World Cup | Daniel Gallan | For half an hour, romance had trumped realism. As Australia romped to a 17-0 lead over New Zealand, with 19-year-old Bienne Terita scoring two tries in only her second Test, and the evergreen Sharni Williams cutting holes in midfield in her fourth World Cup, we began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, conventional wisdom could be suspended and give way to something magical. Maybe a rag-tag group of amateurs could beat one of the sport’s powerhouses. Maybe money wasn’t the key ingredient to success. Maybe a World Cup title in one code could shift the paradigm in another. “We were obviously buzzing at the time,” Terita said after breakfast at the team hotel in Whangarei, North Island, where the Wallaroos will take on Scotland in their second match of the campaign on Saturday. “We knew there was a long way to go but we thought we could hold [the lead]. We were playing so well, executing perfectly. Everything was going according to plan.” But, to paraphrase Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until Portia Woodman gets the ball. The Black Ferns winger scored the second of her three tries seven minutes after the restart to restore parity at 17-17. Six minutes later, Australia were down to 13 players when Ivania Wong and then Shannon Parry were shown yellow cards within seconds of each other. “That made the job difficult, but that’s footy, sometimes it comes down to the rub of the green,” Williams said. “But we’re not looking for excuses for the result.” The final score of 41-17 was a consequence of more than just a 10-minute spell with two players in the sin-bin. The closing stages saw a relentless stream of black waves wash over flailing bodies in gold. It was clear one side had more in the tank than the other. That’s understandable given the dynamics of the two squads. New Zealand are fully professional and benefit from a year-round regime that allows for adequate rest and recovery between training sessions and after matches. The Wallaroos are comprised of teachers, physiotherapists and labourers. Their recovery time is often spent on their feet attending to their day job. Williams and Terita are the exceptions. They’re contracted with Rugby Australia’s sevens programme and enjoy all the advantages of a full-time rugby life. It is no coincidence that they are also World Cup champions, having lifted the title in Cape Town last month. “You don’t think of those things when you’re on the field,” Williams said. “But I guess it does show what’s possible with proper investment and support. We’re hoping that our success can rub off on the squad. But not just this squad. The Wallabies as well. We were flying the flag for Australian rugby. We showed that we can win tournaments. “That is what you try to embrace, that winning mentality. We try to get other people to believe in what they’re capable of. When you don’t play a lot of footy constantly, it can be easy to put limitations on yourself. That is what BB [Terita] and I bring. We train every single day. We’ve got the belief because we know what is possible.” Williams is not only a potent weapon from outside centre, capable of unlocking defences with a well-timed run against the grain or sending the ball wide at pace. She also considers herself a key communicator in the team, a bridge between what has come before and what the future holds. At the last World Cup in Ireland in 2017, Williams played at university grounds in front of a few thousand people. On Saturday, she took part in an exhibition that set the attendance record for a women’s rugby match as more than 40,000 fans packed Eden Park. “I find myself talking a lot about, ‘back in my day’,” Williams says, affecting an older voice far beyond her 34 years. “I’m so proud of where the game is right now. We’ve been talking about this stuff for a long time. It’s amazing to be living it. Women have been playing rugby since before the war. If they’re still around I reckon they’re super proud as well.” Terita is conscious of this heritage but represents a new generation, stating her intention to “stay in the moment”, eager to entertain to the cacophony of a full stadium, appealing to an audience beyond the imaginations of her forebears. She is active on Tik-Tok, dancing to hip-hop beats and goofing around with her friends. “I try to get the other girls to get involved,” she said, wryly. “Especially the older girls. Mostly because they hate it. I find that funny. I love getting girls who wouldn’t normally do it. Because it gets them out of their comfort zone. I love bringing lots of positivity off the field. We play a free flowing style on the field so it’s important we also have a lot of fun off it. I think that’s part of my role.” Her primary task is scoring tries. She’s proved she can do that. If she can do so again her side has every chance of beating Scotland and then Wales the week after and qualifying for the quarter-finals. “We’re confident,” Williams says. “We know we can win big games. BB and I have done it before.” | ['sport/womens-rugby-world-cup-2021', 'sport/australia-women-s-rugby-union-team', 'campaign/email/the-breakdown', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/sport', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'sport/blog', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/daniel-gallan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-sport'] | sport/australia-women-s-rugby-union-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-10-14T01:00:22Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/2014/jul/17/wonder-world-climate-mosquito-bay-puerto-rico | This wonder of the world has turned off. Are you worried about the climate yet? | Hugh Ryan | Even before I was a travel writer, I approached sights described as "magical" with a good deal of skepticism. Too often, I have been promised miracles and delivered slights-of-hand – the usual bravura and bluff of tourism. The bioluminescent bay in Vieques, Puerto Rico was one of the few places that made good on its promises. Maybe the only one. By day, the warm shallow bay looked unremarkable, even somewhat dingy compared to the crystalline waters of nearby Caribbean beaches. But at night, the flash and spark of the tiny phytoplankton in this Mangrove lagoon filled me with literal awe. It was like living lightning. Since January, however, the bay has gone dark – and no one knows why. Theories abound, as a number of articles have explored in the last few months: too much human usage, or strong winds that have disturbed the bay's infinitesimal inhabitants. Like many rare ecosystems, bioluminescent bays are fragile, and the shifting patterns of both weather and tourism can affect them greatly. But it's been hard not to notice what's been missing from these discussions: climate change. This oversight is particularly glaring given that this isn't the first of Puerto Rico's bioluminescent bays to go dark in the last year. Grand Lagoon – just a ferry ride away from Vieques in the town of Fajardo – went out for most of last November. The same explanations were debated then: unprecedented extreme weather events, or run-off from several nearby construction sites. No doubt either – or both – were contributing factors. But somehow, the conversation (at least in the media) never seemed to connect what was happening in Fajardo with global environmental concerns. Given the ever-increasingly serious warnings about climate change – which 97% of climate scientists now agree is caused by human activity – it would seem to merit at least a small place in the popular discussion of these back-to-back mysterious ecological collapses. Scientists who specialize in bioluminescent plankton have – to little fanfare – already warned us that these creatures are endangered. Two years ago, Dr Michael Latz, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told New Scientist magazine that "as global warming changes ocean flows, these micro-organisms are increasingly at risk". Scientists at Canada's Dalhousie University showed that, since 1950, the worldwide population of phytoplankton has declined by 40% due to the rising sea surface temperatures caused by a warming planet. We also know that the indirect effects of climate change have dangerous ramifications – the likes of which we are only just beginning to comprehend. Those strong winds and extreme weather events that have buffeted the bays? Increased sea surface temperatures – driven by climate change – may contribute to them as well, as we know from studying hurricanes. "The intensity, frequency, and duration of North Atlantic hurricanes ... have all increased since the early 1980s" reports the 2014 Third National Climate Assessment: "The recent increases in activity are linked, in part, to higher sea surface temperatures." Like a pot being brought to boil, the seas are heating up. The first time I visited Vieques in 2006, tour operators encouraged me to swim and kayak in the bay, but told me to avoid the motorboats, since their dirty engines created diesel-fuel dead zones. Since then, locals have developed new conservation guidelines: no swimming or touching the water with your skin at all – things I wish I had known not to do. But these and other protections have done nothing to save the bay's famed bioluminescent organisms. But this isn't just about one or two tourist attractions on small islands in the Caribbean. Bioluminescent bays are rare because they are much more fragile than your average marine ecosystem. Like canaries in the proverbial coal mine, their loss is a warning that hardier creatures and more common shores will be endangered soon. I was taught in elementary school that we live in a world with five oceans – an idea that feels laughable now. There is only one ocean – the world ocean, a vastness that ignores the political demarcations of maps and men. Its problems cannot be solved piecemeal, and more and more studies suggest that we might not "solve" them at all. Long before we detonated the first nuclear bomb or undertook a Cold War, nature invented the idea of mutually assured destruction – and she might just hold true to her end of the bargain. If we are to do anything to begin to address the problem we have created, it will require a clear-eyed look at its true magnitude, and an understanding of the interconnectedness of our world – and its waters. Environmental concerns must be integrated into personal, political and commercial decisions on every level. We can no longer pretend that our trash disappears forever when it hits the wastebasket, or that we are not implicated in the environmental degradation of the far-away countries who now supply our ravenous need for consumer goods. The phrase "think globally, act locally" might be mocked for its utopianism, but it's a mantra we need to heed when it comes to the environment. Otherwise the lights will continue to go out, in Vieques and around the world. I don't even have a good picture of the Vieques bio bay to remember it by – like all real magic, it looks shoddy in reproduction. Perhaps, like the Grand Lagoon, it will come back, at least this time. But how often must nature flip the switch before we start paying attention? | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/environment', 'science/biology', 'us-news/puerto-rico', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/hugh-ryan'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-07-17T11:15:12Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2013/oct/17/killer-whales-menopause | Killer whales experience menopause – just like humans | Just like humans, killer whales experience menopause – and the rare evolutionary trait improves their offspring's chances of survival, according to experts. Killer whales are one of only three species able to continue living long after they have stopped reproducing. This allows mothers to spend the rest of their life looking after their offspring. Scientists are investigating why the animals evolved this trait. Researchers, from Exeter University and York University, have secured funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to analyse a dataset of more than 550 killer whales recorded over 30 years. The dataset, compiled by the Centre for Whale Research in the US, contains birth and death dates as well as details of the genetic and social relationships in two populations of killer whales, which share their menopausal trait with only humans and pilot whales. "Our main aim is to understand why these killer whales have a menopause strategy that's so similar to humans. Female killer whales stop reproducing in their 30s or 40s but live until they are 90," said Dr Darren Croft of Exeter University, a lead investigator on the study. The researchers believe the reasons for the menopause in killer whales lie in their unusual social structure. Male and female offspring continue to live with their mothers for the duration of their mothers' life, with males returning to their mothers' sides after mating with females in other family groups. The mothers take a leading role in the whales' 40-strong family groups after they stop producing eggs, and share their expertise of when and where food will be available with their younger relatives. "The possible benefits of menopause for killer whales are that the mothers can care for their children and grandchildren and avoid reproductive competition with their daughters," said Croft. In a previous study, published in the journal Science last year, the researchers showed adult males have a 14-fold increase in mortality risk the year after their mother dies. They hope to once again look at postmenopausal mothers' effects on their sons' survival chances and test the idea that competition for resources puts pressure on females that have already had offspring to stop reproducing. "We will look at how the social structures and social behaviour of the whales influences the evolution of menopause and the animals' survival," said Dr Dan Franks of York University, who is also leading the study. | ['environment/whales', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'science/evolution', 'science/biology', 'science/science', 'science/zoology', 'tone/news', 'science/animalbehaviour', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'profile/mark-riley-cardwell'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2013-10-17T05:00:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2015/aug/26/green-group-asks-corruption-watchdog-to-investigate-queenslands-acland-mine | Green group asks corruption watchdog to investigate Queensland's Acland mine | An environmental group has asked Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission to investigate links between $1m in political donations and a coalmine proposal days before it was due to receive environmental approval. Lock the Gate Alliance lodged a complaint with the CCC on Monday over the former Newman government’s handling of a proposed mine expansion at Acland on the Darling Downs, which the government originally said would not go ahead. But the former Liberal National government subsequently reversed its opposition to the mine amid lobbying by proponent New Hope Corporation, which gave along with its parent company about $1m to the federal Liberal party. Lock The Gate president Drew Hutton said a probe by the CCC needed to take place before an environmental authority was granted under the Palaszczuk Labor government, whose election pledges included an inquiry by the watchdog into links between government approvals and donations. “[Labor] promised a new era of accountability and transparency in Queensland and that has to start now with the Acland coal project,” Hutton said. “There is a cloud hanging over this project and the community cannot have any confidence that it has been approved on its merits until a thorough inquiry has been completed. “Basic accountability demands that election promises by the Queensland ALP are delivered before this controversial project is approved.” A spokesman for New Hope said in response on Tuesday that the donations were made “because of federal issues at the time”, namely Labor’s carbon and mining taxes “which negatively impacted the mining industry”. He said New Hope’s only contribution to the state LNP was $3,400 to attend lunch functions with a Queensland federal candidate and then premier Campbell Newman. Australian Electoral Commission records show the federal Liberal party contributed $3.2m to the state LNP over the same period that the federal party received its donations from New Hope and its parent company Washington H Soul Pattinson. The New Hope spokesman said: “Business donations to political parties in Australia are common practice and all donations are fully declared on the publicly available donation registers.” New Hope in October last year separately obtained environmental approval for another coal project, Colton Mine, near Aldershot, which it bought from a mining startup that had its own application knocked back in 2010. The company’s lobbying efforts included entertaining the LNP’s energy and environment ministers in a corporate box for a Wallabies rugby game in 2013 as well as gifts to mining department staff and former premier Newman, who received an “authentic miner’s lamp and shirt” in 2012. Newman and other senior government figures sued Alan Jones for defamation over the broadcaster’s criticisms of the treatment of Acland in light of the donations. The lawsuits were later dropped. New Hope director Bill Grant also gave $2,000 to an election fund for LNP MP Ian Walker, who briefly oversaw the project application as acting state development minister in 2013 and whose daughter subsequently worked for the company. Walker has denied any impropriety. Environmental authorities for mines are issued by the environment department independent of state ministers. The Palaszczuk government restored community legal objection rights stripped by its predecessor, which opens the way for a land court challenge to an environmental authority granted to New Hope. | ['australia-news/queensland', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-political-donations', 'environment/coal', 'environment/mining', 'business/mining', 'australia-news/queensland-politics', 'australia-news/liberal-national-party', 'australia-news/liberal-party', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/campbell-newman', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joshua-robertson'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2015-08-25T21:35:37Z | true | ENERGY |
society/article/2024/jun/05/london-nhs-hospitals-revert-to-paper-records-in-wake-of-russian-cyber-attack | London NHS hospitals revert to paper records after cyber-attack | A cyber-attack thought to have been carried out by a Russian group has forced London NHS hospitals to resurrect long-discarded paper records systems in which porters hand-deliver blood test results because IT networks are disrupted. Guy’s and St Thomas’ trust (GSTT) has gone back to using paper, rather than computers, to receive the outcome of patients’ blood tests. Synnovis, which analyses blood tests for GSTT, is still undertaking the work, despite being hit on Monday by a large-scale ransomware attack that has caused serious problems for the NHS. A GSTT clinical staff member said: “Since the attack, Synnovis have had to print out the blood test results when they get them from their laboratories, which are on site at Guy’s and St Thomas. “Porters collect them and take them up to the ward where that patient is staying or [to the] relevant department which is in charge of their care. The doctors and nurses involved in their care then analyse them and decide on that person’s treatment, depending on what the blood test shows. “This is happening because Synnovis’s IT can’t communicate with ours due to the cyber-attack. Usually blood test results are sent electronically, but that’s not an option just now.” The disclosure came as more details emerged about the impact of the latest hacking incident to hit the NHS, which Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said had been perpetrated by Russian cybercriminals. The attack, thought to be by the Qilin gang, has forced seven London hospitals run by GSTT and King’s College trust to cancel undisclosed numbers of operations, blood tests and blood transfusions and declare a “critical incident”. Between them the trusts provide acute and various forms of specialist care for 2 million people across six boroughs in south-east London. The Guardian can reveal that – despite previous denials – the hack has also affected the South London and the Maudsley (Slam) trust, England’s largest provider of mental health services. Prof Ian Abbs, GSTT’s chief executive, said in a letter to trust staff on Tuesday evening that the “very significant incident” was having “a major impact on the delivery of services at our trust, King’s [trust] and primary care services within south-east London”. Dozens of GP surgeries across the region have also had their ability to request blood tests and receive the results affected, sources said. Abbs said that a wider range of services hasbeen affected beyond those which the NHS had acknowledged. “It is also affecting other hospital, community and mental health services across the region,” he added, making a reference to the Slam trust. Martin said the attack on Synnovis had led to a “severe reduction in capacity” and was a “very, very serious incident”. Russian-based cyber hackers have “done automotive companies, they’ve attacked the Big Issue here in the UK, they’ve attacked Australian courts. They’re simply looking for money”, he added. Meanwhile, a leading expert in IT security warned that the attack could mean blood test results which the NHS is using to guide patients’ care have been “manipulated”. John Clark, a professor of computer and information security at the University of Sheffield, said: “Patient safety is of paramount concern and the accuracy of results is essential, so it is important to stress that unless it is known what has happened to the system, the accuracy of any stored data cannot be ensured. “Determining whether stored data has been manipulated may simply not be possible and tests may have to be rerun and results re-recorded.” Hackers could also cause mayhem for NHS trusts by targeting their appointments booking systems, he warned. The outsourcing to companies of more and more functions previously undertaken by government departments and agencies has increased the latter’s vulnerability to cyber-hacking, he said. “Many services are outsourced by government agencies, including the NHS,” Clark said. “Connectivity with such external systems radically increases the number of entry points for attack on services provision and the systems that combine to provide them.” A separate source confirmed to the Guardian that the Qilin group was the assailant. It is understood there is no indication of the attack having spread, despite Synnovis having contracts with other NHS trusts around the country. Martin said that the attack appeared to have been made as disruptive as possible in an attempt to secure a ransom. “It does look like a targeted operation, designed to hurt so they would have to pay up,” he said. The tech company behind Synnovis, Munich-based Synlab, was hit by a ransomware attack in April from a different group – known as BlackBasta – and does not appear to have paid a ransom. Typically, ransomware gangs extract data from the victim’s IT system and demand a payment for its return. Data from the hack of Synlab’s Italian branch was published online in full last month, indicating that no ransom payment had been made. It is not illegal in the UK to pay ransomware gangs, although it is against the law to pay ransoms if the affected entity knows or suspects the proceeds will be used to fund terrorism. Martin said most ransomware gangs operate within Russia, albeit without direct influence from the Russian state. “Most of these groups are Russian-hosted and tolerated, but not directed by the state. Russia is a giant safe haven for cybercrime,” he said. Qilin is known as a ransomware-as-a-service group, meaning it hires out malware to fellow criminals in exchange for a cut of the proceeds and also vets who is targeted. Last year victims of ransomware attacks paid out a record $1.1bn to assailants, according to the cryptocurrency research firm Chainalysis, double the 2022 total. Ransomware gangs typically demand payment in cryptocurrency, which they find easier to move across international boundaries and can be less traceable if certain exchanges are used. The average ransomware payment over the past year has risen 500% to $2m (£1.6m) according to Sophos, a British cybersecurity company. | ['society/nhs', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/cybercrime', 'society/health', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/deniscampbell', 'profile/danmilmo', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-06-05T19:39:51Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
sustainable-business/2014/aug/20/nhs-cost-environment-savings-targets | Circular economy principles help NHS meet cost and environmental targets | Dr Terry Tudor, senior lecturer in waste management, University of Northampton Due to changing demographics, the health and social care system in the UK could become one of the largest sectors of the economy over the next 50 years. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility (pdf), health spending will rise from 6.8% of GDP in 2016-17 to 9.1% of GDP in 2061-62. A big part of this system, the National Health Service (NHS) is one of the largest organisations in the world, with two million staff catering to a population of 52 million. The delivery of its services has a significant impact on the environment. The NHS, for example, is responsible for approximately 25% of all public sector greenhouse gas emissions in England. There are a number of reasons for growing engagement with the sustainability agenda, including increasingly stringent legislation and targets for costs savings. Healthcare waste has been included as one of the eight priorities in the waste prevention plan for England and the NHS is expected to have achieved efficiency savings of £15–20bn over 2011–14. Under the government’s Climate Change Act, NHS organisations have a commitment to meet a 10% reduction in carbon emissions by 2015 from a 1990 baseline. They are also expected to hit the mandatory governmental targets for emission reductions of 34% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. They are mandated to include sustainability and climate change in their annual reporting to Monitor, the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts and the Department of Health. Tackling these environmental issues is a huge and complex task but improvement can realise significant financial, social and environmental dividends. The issue is how stakeholders can work together to make these initiatives work better. James Dixon, waste manager and sustainability lead, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust As a waste manager in a large organisation whose priority is patient care, convincing people of the need for efficient use and disposal of resources can be challenging. For example, it took over a year to get mixed recycling bins introduced to clinical spaces. You have got to pick your battles and celebrate your successes in the hope they spread. The terms “disposable” and “single use” are swear words to a sustainability professional, but they are often critical in a healthcare setting to reduce the spread of infection. There is, however, a tendency to extend this beyond necessity. It is important that we challenge this wherever possible, working with clinicians to make balanced decisions. We are getting there. In the last three years we have made over £800k of waste-related savings in our trust. This was achieved mainly by bringing together a number of waste and recycling contracts into a single one with tight sustainability focused specifications. This saved money and incentivised compliance with the waste hierarchy, tripling the rate of recycling and eliminating waste to landfill. NHS Trusts across the country are having to find millions of pounds worth of efficiency savings. Shifting to a circular economy can help achieve this, freeing up funds for patient care. Alexandra Hammond, associate director, sustainability, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust In healthcare, far too many high value items such as furniture, unused medical products and pharmaceuticals end up as waste. A long-standing frustration in waste management has been measurement. For years, it was common for healthcare providers – and most public and private companies for that matter – to be presented with a waste invoice without clear or broken-down analysis of volumes or types of waste removed. We are addressing this at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust by working in partnership with Bywaters, a waste services provider. Through staff education, regular auditing of waste streams, and the implementation of a department-specific tagging system for waste, the trust is revolutionising its approach to waste management. A small weighbridge at the Guy’s site – which spends nearly £500,000 on waste each year – will provide the team with a full understanding of where waste is coming from. This information can be used to engage staff and motivate them to reduce their waste. For those high value items that used to sneak into the waste, there are measures in place. If furniture is damaged the waste team, in partnership with Bywaters, provides in-house repair. When furniture is no longer needed in departments, an in-house sharing programme allows departments in need to request and receive the items free of charge. Since it began about five years ago, this programme has saved the trust hundreds of thousands of pounds. We waste resources at our economic, ecological and social peril. Using common sense and maximising the lifecycle of a product is simply good business. Dr Terry Tudor, James Dixon and Alexandra Hammond will be involved in the panel debates at Birmingham’s RWM conference in September More like this: Guilt-free takeaway coffee in a paper cup: is there such a thing 10 things you need to know about MP’s report on circular economy Advertisement feature: Quiz: how much does the world waste? The circular economy hub is funded by Philips. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['society/nhs', 'business/healthcare', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/waste-and-recycling', 'sustainable-business/resource-efficiency', 'business/corporate-governance', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'tone/comment', 'type/article'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-08-20T06:00:07Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2020/dec/14/sizewell-c-government-talks-nuclear-power-station-edf-suffolk | Sizewell C: government reignites £20bn nuclear power station row | The government has reignited a row over Britain’s nuclear energy ambitions by agreeing to restart talks with EDF over plans to build a reactor at Sizewell C in Suffolk. The talks could lead to the government taking a direct financial stake in the project before the end of the current parliamentary term in 2024, and using a new financial model that would make the public liable for cost overruns. The formal negotiations over the £20bn nuclear plant will hinge on whether the French state-owned EDF can prove it has learned lessons from its Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset, and that a successor plant would offer the public value for money. If it succeeds it may be offered a multi-billion-pound deal that allows it to charge energy customers for the cost of construction while it builds the reactor, effectively putting bill payers on the hook for delays or cost overruns. Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow business secretary, accused the government of “kicking big decisions into touch” and failing to offer a “definitive statement today one way or the other on financing, costs or an overall plan”. The decision to restart talks is also expected to reopen a debate over whether nuclear energy can offer good value for money, and whether the UK needs new nuclear reactors to help meet a steep rise in demand for low-carbon electricity to power a boom in electric vehicles, induction hobs and heat pumps. Sizewell is “a vital next step” in the UK’s efforts to secure new low-carbon electricity as older nuclear reactors prepare to shut down, according to the Nuclear Industry Association. It added that “an appropriate financing model” would help cut costs and unlock major benefits for the UK economy. The decision to restart formal negotiations follows a hiatus in talks that have been dogged by concerns over cost, and the involvement of China General Nuclear Power (CGN), which owns 20% of the project. But environmental campaigners, including Greenpeace, have warned that nuclear reactors are “unnecessary” and expensive compared with renewable energy combined with battery storage technology. The community group Stop Sizewell added that the reactor posed a risk to the natural habitats along the Suffolk coast and the nearby Minsmere nature reserve. “It’s good to see the government is determined to shift away from fossil fuels and create thousands of green jobs but building more nuclear power stations is not the way to do it,” said John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace. “While ministers have been talking to EDF about Sizewell C for years, the offshore wind industry has got on with the job and delivered. If discussions with the majority French-state-owned company ever progressed, the UK public will need to stump up billions of pounds in advance. This money would be far better spent on a flexible grid that can handle the shedloads of cheap renewables increasingly powering the UK,” he said. The government said it would only consider playing a greater role in the Sizewell project if there was “clear value for money for consumers and taxpayers”. It is also planning to back a new generation of small modular nuclear reactors, or “mini nukes”, which can be built at a lower cost. The fresh Sizewell talks were announced alongside industry-wide plans to cut carbon emissions from the energy system while keeping a lid on energy bills and helping to create 220,000 new jobs in the next 10 years. Alok Sharma, the business and energy secretary, said the energy white paper released on Monday will transform the government’s “climate ambition into climate action” through a “decisive and permanent shift away from our dependence on fossil fuels”. The energy white paper also included proposals to cut energy bills, replace fossil fuel boilers, introduce a new emissions trading scheme in the UK and support the North Sea extraction industry in moving away from oil and gas. Sharma added: “At every step of the way, we will place affordability and fairness at the heart of our reforms – unleashing a wave of competition so consumers get the best deals possible on their bills, while protecting the vulnerable and fuel poor with additional financial support.” | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/edf', 'business/business', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/suffolk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'business/sizewell-c', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2020-12-14T19:07:51Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2020/sep/21/dozens-of-pilot-whales-feared-stranded-in-tasmanias-macquarie-harbour | At least 25 whales dead and more than 200 stranded in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour | At least 25 pilot whales have died and more than 200 are stranded at Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast in what is believed to be one of Australia’s worst beaching events. A government marine conservation team was assessing the health of the whales late on Monday after they became stranded in three spots in and outside Macquarie Heads, near the town of Strahan. Nic Deka, incident controller from Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, told reporters it appeared from the air that about 25 of 30 whales stranded near Ocean Beach, outside the heads, have died. It was unclear how many in two larger groups on sandbars several hundred metres apart off the heads and inside the harbour were dead. Deka said there were about 270 whales stranded across the three sites. “They are in water. It’s very difficult to see how many might be deceased or what condition they’re in,” he said. Authorities hope to launch a rescue mission for surviving whales early on Tuesday, when there would be an outgoing tide. Tasmania is a known whale stranding hotspot as the mammals pass it to and from Antarctica. Deka said beachings were not uncommon in the area, but it was the first in at least 10 years. A department spokeswoman said a decision would be made on whether help was needed from the public once the whales had been assessed. In the meantime, police urged people to stay away and leave the local boat ramp clear for rescuers. Meanwhile, in a more positive development, a humpback whale that took a wrong turn into a crocodile-infested Northern Territory river has swum free after more than two weeks in the murky waterway. It’s the first time a humpback has been spotted in Kakadu national park’s remote East Alligator River, with reports placing it 30km inland. Kakadu national park manager and zoologist Feach Moyle said the whale managed to navigate its way out of the maze of shallow channels back into Van Diemen Gulf over the weekend. “It made its way out on the high tides and we’re pleased it appeared to be in good condition and not suffering any ill effects,” he said in a statement on Monday. Experts weren’t sure why the humpback swam up the muddy tidal river and didn’t migrate south to Antarctica for its annual feed. | ['environment/whales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/world', 'australia-news/tasmania', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-09-21T03:06:40Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/blog/2011/sep/30/rmit-in-car-entertainment | Drive time: RMIT's new in-car entertainment system | Researchers at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia and Germany are developing an in-car entertainment system that aims to solve the age-old "Are we nearly there yet?" problem with the aid of motion controls and holographic displays. Tentatively titled Enjoyable Interactions in the Rear Seat, the project will attempt to mix holographic displays and off-the-shelf motion sensing technology similar to gaming systems like the Microsoft Kinect and the Nintendo Wii to create a variety of rear-seat applications designed for use on long car trips by both adults and children. Dr Steffen Walz, director of RMIT's Games and Experimental Entertainment Laboratory (GEElab), says the idea for the project came from looking at cars not as mere means of transport, but rather as symbols of personal freedom. The joy of traffic jams? "Where's the fun in driving if you're constantly stuck in traffic jams? What we're trying to do is find ways to entertain people during the journey itself, so they focus less on reaching their destination quicker and more on enjoying the car itself. The kind of technology we're trying to develop, particularly holographic displays, will work very well in the confined, cocoon-like space of a car." The system would use a combination of sensors built into the rear seat armrests and screens built into the backrests to create three-dimensional images controlled purely by upper-body gestures. Walz envisions a range of applications for the system, from motion-controlled video games to office programs that would allow passengers to check email and perform video calls without a keyboard or any kind of remote control. On a broader scale, Walz says the system could also be used for social applications, educational programs that teach children about their immediate surroundings, and even a matchmaking application that would scan passing vehicles for potential dates. Putting pen to paper Walz, who runs GEElab from Germany, and his team have been commissioned to build the prototype for GEElab's industry partner Audi, who jumped onboard early to sponsor the project. The team has already conducted a dry prototype test run – pens and paper – with a group of children, asking them imagine all kinds of educational applications that they could control with their fingers and hands. Most of these scenarios involved simple word-association games, and tasks that required children to pick an object from real life (one they would see while sitting in the car) and answer questions about that object. While Walz believes such applications would provide educational and social benefits for children, he also acknowledges that some parents may criticise the system on the grounds that it has the potential to hinder human contact. Passenger focus "I have a 22-month-old daughter and I would never build something that would break down communication between her and me," he says. "I envisage this as something that will engage all passengers in a collaborative manner. We're trying to think of this as something that will encourage communication and interaction between families, as well as educating children." This involves developing educational applications to allow parents in the front seat to set tasks that require a combination of real-world and virtual puzzle-solving and interaction. Walz and his team are also thinking about the problem of motion sickness, but have yet to find a solution for inclusion in the finished product. While there are no current plans to commercialise the prototype, Walz estimates the system could start appearing in passenger cars in the next five years. "We'll certainly have something to show for ourselves in the next couple of years, but technology like this takes a long time to develop. In an ideal world, this kind of in-car system will revolutionise driving and even help fix things like car sickness. If no one wants to use it, then we fail. But that's just how science works." | ['technology/research', 'technology/blog', 'technology/technology', 'technology/motoring', 'tone/blog', 'games/games', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'culture/culture', 'type/article'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2011-09-30T10:27:53Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
world/2014/sep/15/opposition-to-bougainvilles-panguna-mine-higher-than-media-suggest | Opposition to Bougainville's Panguna mine 'higher than media suggest' | A survey of Bougainville villagers has revealed strong opposition to the proposed reopening of the mine which was at the centre of the island’s decade-long civil war. Media reports had suggested there was support for the Panguna copper and gold mine as a source of national revenue, with a referendum looming on the island’s independence from Papua New Guinea. The mine has been closed since 1989. The Jubilee Australia research foundation conducted the survey in 10 villages or hamlets around the Panguna mine at the end of 2013, and found “near universal” opposition to the reopening, as well as unhappiness and mistrust of the consultation process. The mine – majority owned by Rio Tinto’s Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) – has been central to Bougainville’s economy since the 1970s, but dissatisfaction with the way it was run and its environmental and social effects escalated into a civil war between 1988 and 1998. It’s estimated as many as 15,000 people died by the time of the 2001 peace agreement, which included a deferred referendum for full independence, scheduled to occur between 2015 and 2020. The Jubilee report, Voices of Bougainville, found continued resentment and mistrust of the PNG defence forces, Australia and BCL because of their roles in the conflict, and that this has led to mistrust of discussions around reopening the mine. The report found a “sizable majority” of respondents felt that lasting peace had not been restored, despite an end to the violence. Smaller groups felt the peace process was an initiative to serve the needs of Australia or Papua New Guinea. Respondents were also “deeply critical” of recent consultations about the mine, which they said had not fully included affected communities and certain demographics such as young people, women and elders. “Others felt that there had been misleading statements in the media about the enthusiasm of Panguna residents for the mine reopening, and about what the reopening would mean,” the report said. “We’ve been getting such a strong message from the media, but hearing things on the ground was quite different,” Jubilee’s chairman, Luke Fletcher, told Guardian Australia. Fletcher conceded there was always the chance of self-censorship among respondents, and that the surveyed villages still had some connection to the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, but said the research was strong. “I think we felt that the results are so clear that even if there has been a bit of self-censorship the picture we’ve got is certainly enough to question the main narrative.” Fletcher suggested particular groups were pushing for an early referendum and this was likely to be linked to discussions around reopening the mine. “Our feeling is that this urgency is one of the reasons why there is some pressure being placed on landowners to make a decision quickly,” Fletcher said. “Once Bougainville gets its independence, Bougainvillians might have more of a say in their future,” he said. “It seems plausible to see the push to get an agreement in before the referendum as a push for certainty, both for people in Bougainville as well as outside interest groups, for example BCL.” The Greens leader, Christine Milne, Labor MP Melissa Parke and independent MP Cathy McGowan will launch the Voices of Bougainville report in parliament next month. Milne said it was “increasingly apparent” that Australian mining companies were not consulting local communities, that they were “making deals” with governments and that as a result local people had suffered. “The civil war in Bougainville should really remain very front and centre in people’s minds, because there is no doubt that the mine was front and centre to that whole war erupting,” she told Guardian Australia. “It’s pretty apparent the local community don’t want it, they see the environmental impacts and the social impacts, they don’t trust that they would ever see any benefit from the mine, because they haven’t in the past.” In August, Rio Tinto announced it would be reviewing its options in BCL after the Bougainville parliament passed a bill stripping the company of seven exploration licenses and its special mining lease for Panguna. BCL chairman Peter Taylor told the ABC the legislation was confusing and described it as a setback. “It may be that Rio Tinto decides to pursue its investment, it may not, but I can’t speculate.” Bougainville president John Momis said the legislation gave BCL the first right of refusal on the mining licence, but no more. “If we didn’t [cancel the licences], the landowners and the ex-combatants wouldn’t have allowed BCL to come back,” Momis told ABC. | ['world/papua-new-guinea', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/mining', 'business/rio-tinto', 'world/asia-pacific', 'business/mining', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'world/bougainville', 'profile/helen-davidson'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2014-09-15T03:08:43Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2021/nov/05/you-may-bring-shame-to-your-family-australia-launches-campaign-to-stop-seasonal-farm-workers-absconding | ‘You may bring shame to your family’: Australia launches campaign to stop seasonal farm workers absconding | The Australian government has launched an aggressive campaign to prevent Pacific Islander farm workers from fleeing their jobs as new figures reveal more than 1,000 seasonal pickers absconded in the past year. The campaign warns pickers they may “bring shame to their families” if they run away from their jobs and they risk having their visa cancelled. “You may not be able to work in Australia again (this may include your family and community members)”, one campaign poster reads. “You may damage the relationship between your country and the employer, and you may bring shame to your family’s reputation.” It comes as Australia’s seasonal worker program is hit with claims it has subjected people to “inhumane conditions”, with a class action being built against the government. Each year thousands of migrants from the Pacific Islands are brought to Australia to work on farms picking fruit and vegetables under the program. In the last financial year, 1,181 workers on the program attempted to run away from their employers, which are normally labour hire companies, according to the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE). That is compared to 225 the previous year. A DESE spokesperson said the number of people who absconded was not as large as it appeared, as some may have returned to work. “[There are also] workers who have reconnected with the SWP and have since been redeployed to another placement,” the spokesperson said. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which is responsible for the campaign poster, has been approached for comment. Alison Rahill, executive officer of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney’s Anti-Slavery Taskforce, said 80% of the workforce were tied to labour hire contractors, which often meant they were working in poor conditions. She said the focus should be about why an employee would want to leave in the first place. “We’re never concerned about why a worker is leaving an employer,” Rahill said. “Finding out if there were threats, intimidation and abuse. All of the reasons that would contribute to a worker wanting to leave an employer.” She said the poster, which is available to download on the government website in six different Pacific languages, would exacerbate the “fear” that workers would feel. Rahill said workers were often treated poorly and living in isolation without proper food and accommodation. “They’re left with no choice but to run away. They’re given no choice.” Proponents of the program argue it delivers benefits for both Australian farms and the workers. Workers from these countries are often poor and have limited English. For many, it is a way to build a better life. “We really want to go there to work for our family future,” said one worker in Samoa, who is awaiting approval. But others argue the isolation of the workers and the nature of the industry has led to widespread exploitation. Sydney lawyer Stewart Levitt is building a class action against the government over the program. Workers are meant to receive $900 a week for their work, but Levitt said this was rare and some were left with only $300 a week after their employers made excessive deductions. This can include $200 a week to share a shipping container or room with six other people, he said. “They’re paying through the nose to live with six people in one bedroom, with an outdoor toilet,” Levitt said. “We have payslips where people are being charged $14.80 for water.” He said workers were subjected to “substandard and inhumane conditions” but many were too scared to come forward. “Because of the intimidation and terror that’s been struck, it’s hard to get anyone to come forward. They’ve been told there are repercussions,” Levitt said. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'world/pacific-islands', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/farming', 'australia-news/industrial-relations', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'world/modern-slavery', 'profile/cait-kelly', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-11-05T09:00:43Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2021/feb/01/us-louisiana-cancer-alley-biden-climate-orders | The US ignored Louisiana’s ‘cancer alley’ for decades. Will Biden finally take action? | Robert Taylor | For five years I have fought against the polluters who have poisoned our community in Louisiana’s “cancer alley”, or as we call it now, “death alley”. And for decades our fight has been ignored by the US government. This makes President Joe Biden’s decision to reference “cancer alley” earlier last week, as he signed new climate and environmental justice orders, a meaningful and great moment. But for me the distance between seeing Mr Biden address our problems directly, and anything actually coming to fruition, is a long gap. And I will have to wait to see some direct results. For too long we have been failed by every layer of government, from the president, to congressional representation, from our state governor, to our state environment agency. All of them have failed us miserably. I have lived my whole life in Reserve, Louisiana, on a block a few hundred feet from a chemical plant emitting the “likely carcinogen” chloroprene. It is the only location in the country to emit the compound and it makes my neighbourhood, and others nearby, endure the highest risk of cancer due to airborne pollution anywhere in the United States. The plant was operated for half a century by DuPont and now by the Japanese company Denka. These corporations have always done what they wanted, regardless of the harm they have done to my community. We have had no way of protecting ourselves. And all my community has ever asked if for is basic safety and decency to preserve our health and the air we breathe. And while it is welcome for the president to talk about investment in clean energy, this plant is poisoning us right now. I believe the new president could act on this straight away. He could make sure the EPA continues to monitor chloroprene emissions at sites around the plant. The agency had been doing this since 2016 but will stop monitoring next month. Their recordings showed that chloroprene levels regularly exceeded the 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter recommended by the EPA as a tolerable level. And the president could urge the EPA to adequately enforce the 0.2 recommendations, making them not just guidelines, but an enforceable limit on the toxic air pollution here. It is difficult to describe the effect their pollution has had on me and my family. In one word, it is horrible. I look at my poor daughter now, ill with a rare intestinal disease linked with chloroprene exposure. She moved to New Orleans to escape the pollution and is totally incapacitated. And my wife, diagnosed with cancer, moved to California to avoid the toxic air, where I visit her regularly. But I think also about my neighbours, aunts and brothers – because these people can’t move. Forced to live there and breathe this poison so these companies can make maximum profit. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/louisiana', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-opinion'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-02-01T11:00:05Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/03/climate-change-real-bequest | Climate change – our real bequest to future generations | Dean Baker | It is remarkable how efforts to reduce the government deficit/debt are often portrayed as a generational issue, while efforts to reduce global warming are almost never framed in this way. This contrast is striking because the issues involved in reducing the deficit or debt have little direct relevance to distribution between generations, whereas global warming is almost entirely a question of distribution between generations. Seeing the debt as an issue between generations is wrong in almost every dimension. The idea that future generations will somehow be stuck with some huge tab in the form of the national debt suffers from the simple logical problem that we are all going to die. At some point, everyone who owns the debt being issued today, or over the next two decades, will be dead. They will have to pass the ownership of the debt to someone else – in other words, their children or grandchildren. This means that the debt is not money that our children and grandchildren will be paying to someone else. It is money that they will be paying to themselves. There are certainly issues of intra-generational distribution. If Bill Gates's grandkids own all the debt, then there will be a serious issue of income inequality 50 or 60 years out – but that is not an intra-generational issue. Of course, some of this debt will be owned by foreigners. The interest and principle payments by our grandchildren will make the country as a whole poorer. However, the foreign ownership of US financial assets, including government debt, is determined by our trade deficit, not our budget deficit. Those who proclaim themselves concerned that our grandchildren will be stuck making huge payments to the Chinese or other foreigners should be focused on reducing the value of the dollar. A more competitively priced dollar will be the key to getting our trade deficit closer to balance and reducing the outflow of dollars each year that are used to buy up US financial assets. The main factor that will determine the economic wellbeing of our children and grandchildren will be the strength of the economy that we pass down to them. This will depend, in turn, on the quality of the capital and infrastructure we pass onto them, along with the level of education we give them, the state of technical knowledge we achieve and the state of the natural environment. If we cut the deficit by making spending cuts that affect our progress in these areas, we will be making our children worse-off, not better-off. Of course, leaving their parents unemployed for long periods of time will not improve our children's wellbeing either. If the deficit has little to with the wellbeing of our children and grandchildren, global warming has everything to do with it. We run the risk of handing them a planet without many of the fascinating features that we had the opportunity to enjoy (for example, coral reefs that are dying, plant and animal species that are becoming extinct, landscapes that are being transformed). Far more seriously, we face the likelihood of handing them a planet in which hundreds of millions of people risk death by starvation due to drought in central Africa, or through flooding in Bangladesh and other densely populated low-lying areas in Asia, as a result of human caused global warming. The guiding philosophy on this issue in the United States is pretty much that we can inflict whatever harm we want on people elsewhere in the world because we are powerful and they are not. This is certainly true today, but will it still be true 60 or 70 years from now? Do we expect that the United States will still be able to act unilaterally without regard to the consequences that our actions have on the rest of the world? Before anyone tries to answer this question, they should consider that the International Monetary Fund's projections show China's economy surpassing the US economy before the end of the next presidential term. And China is not the only country whose growth is substantially outpacing ours. The point is not that we should worry about an invasion from hostile powers, but instead, that we should not imagine that we will be able to inflict great harm on the rest of the world with impunity. In other words, our children and grandchildren may well be forced to pay a substantial price for the damage caused by our greenhouse gas emissions today. Those who want to worry about questions of generational equity might start to wrap their heads around combating global warming. Global warming threatens to do far more damage to the wellbeing of future generations than the social security and Medicare benefits going to baby-boomers, no matter how much the deficit hawks try to twist the numbers to claim otherwise. | ['business/economics', 'business/business', 'business/useconomy', 'business/useconomicgrowth', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'society/public-finance', 'us-news/us-news', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/drought', 'type/article', 'profile/deanbaker'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-01-03T13:00:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2015/nov/11/country-diary-wenlock-evans-autumn-leaf-fall-colours-chestnut-spiritual-decay-beauty | Leaves turning fiery like metal blades in a forge | Sweet chestnut leaves reddened against the sky before the weather came: a moment of fire and glass before they flew. The long, saw-edged, leaves of the sweet or Spanish chestnut, naturalised in Britain since the iron age, had all the autumn colours in them. Some were still green, but the cells where the leaf stalk attached to the branch were forming a dam, blocking the flow of sap and nutrients between leaf and tree. Each leaf was now on its own although still attached. As photosynthesis used up the remaining chlorophyll, sugars in the leaf began to react with proteins in cell sap to make pigments: xanthophyll is yellow, beta-carotene is orange and anthocyanin is red. These pigments were strengthened this year by a bright, mild autumn; cold but not freezing, bright but short days. For their moment the leaves held the light to become as effulgent as stained glass, then fiery as metal blades in a blacksmith’s forge, hammered on an anvil. For each leaf, there was a moment when the dam in the stem broke and it left the tree. This individual falling felt, to me, full of meaning: leaving and loss, mortality and decay. It was melancholy but also full of beauty and wonder. There had been a steady but gentle rain from the trees for weeks. Drifts of leaves to kick through brought back memories. Down one lane the scent of leaves mixed with something I couldn’t identify, but it immediately transported me through decades to an emotional and physical place I had forgotten. Leaf fall is about recurrence, a signifier in the temperate world of a rhythm that is as psychospiritual as it is sensual and deeply mammalian. It is bulking-up-for-winter time, foraging for food and aesthetic sustenance, a creative burst. When the jet stream spun these storms in, wind and rain roared through the trees, thrashing out leaves. The ground is full of colour: ochre, gold, copper, blood-red leaves still holding light in their pigments, glistening wet. The beauty of rot and the making of soil is also the falling of wonder into memory. | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/autumn', 'science/biology', 'environment/forests', 'science/psychology', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/paulevans', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-11-11T05:29:08Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/social-media-green-tech-sustainable-communities | Social media and green tech helps create sustainable communities | Recent flooding and other extreme weather events are the most obvious signs that unless we live more sustainably we will face increasingly biblical consequences. Literal storms have arrived within a dreadful economic climate, leading to cuts that threaten the social care, health and other services that an ageing and unhealthy population relies on in increasing numbers. Industrialisation and hi-tech financial markets helped get us into this mess. Now technology, if used to empower people and communities, holds the key to creating a sustainable future. Take waste as an example. It was not so long ago that all waste was chucked into one bin that would be emptied into a giant landfill site, poisoning land, water and air. Now in London, Lambeth council runs a system where food waste is collected separately to be anaerobically digested creating fuel and compost for farming. Recyclables are sorted at a high-tech plant for use as new materials while the small amount of waste that is left over is incinerated to create energy. Since November, when this new system was rolled out with a social media campaign, recycling has increased by 34% and waste is down by one third or 8,000 tonnes. None of this would be possible without residents feeling they are part of a collective effort, doing their bit by separating waste for everyone's benefit. Meanwhile in the same south London borough an unlikely challenger to the 'big six' energy companies is rising from some of the poorest social housing estates in the country. Brixton Energy, a co-operative owned and run by local residents and workers, has placed hundreds of solar panels on the roofs of blocks of flats. Investors get a 3% return for financing the set-up costs and local people benefit from jobs, training and money back on their service charge. Social media has helped Lambeth council recruit hundreds of 'green champions' to support communities to take action to improve their environment. The borough now has 60 environmental groups and 150 community food growing projects reducing pollution and traffic whilst encouraging people to work together, learn new skills, exercise and produce healthy food. This is part of the area's efforts to improve the health of residents and technology has an important part to play. In Singapore three million patients, or 60% of the population, are seen by doctors through remote consultations on digital media. In the UK, telemedicine is nothing like as widespread but it is improving access and outcomes while also cutting costs and waiting times. Across the country, councils and the NHS are investing in telecare and telehealth services which use technology to help people live more independently at home. As well as digital consultations they include personal alarms and health-monitoring devices. Sensors can check whether a person has had a fall, got back into bed safely, has a high heart rate, blood pressure or blood sugar level and alert a family member, warden or health and social care service. Nearly everyone wants to stay in their own home as long as possible and technology makes this possible for longer which also saves the taxpayer the cost of residential care. From generating green energy and improving recycling to enabling independence and reducing isolation technology has great potential to help our communities become more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. The trick is to ensure that such technologies are used to connect people in a common endeavour and that those who most need it, the poorest and the oldest, are not excluded through lack of resources or support. Edward Davie is communications and engagement officer for the NSUN network for mental health and and chair of Lambeth council's health and adult social services scrutiny committee 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', 'sustainability/community', 'society/communities', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'technology/technology', 'media/social-media', 'society/localgovernment', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/technology-and-innovation', 'profile/edward-davie'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2014-02-10T07:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2012/oct/31/new-york-stock-exchange-opens-sandy | New York Stock Exchange opens to trading after historic closure for Sandy | New York mayor Michael Bloomberg rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday as Wall Street got back to work after a historic two-day closure in the wake of hurricane Sandy. Stocks rose initially as a traders got back to work following the exchange's first weather-related closure since 1888. But amid light trading volumes the rally had lost its momentum before lunch and ended the day flat at 13.096, down about 10 points (0.08%). Bloomberg's appearance, taking time away from a heavy schedule in the wake of Sandy, showed how important the opening of the exchange is to the city. But some veteran Wall Streeters remained nonplussed. Asked by financial news channel CNBC how important it was that the exchange had opened again, Jack Bogle, chairman and founder of Vanguard Group, said: "Well, I wouldn't put it high on my priority list. You know ,we've now gone four consecutive days without any trading and the sun still came up this morning." "If it had gone on a few more days, it wouldn't have bothered me," said Bogle. New York's exchanges have been closed during earnings season and some big news from some of the US's largest companies. Apple jettisoned two key executives this week and it closed down $8.74 at $595.26 (down 1.45%). Ford closed at $11.16, up 8.24% as investors took in better-than-expected car sales and higher profit margins. Shares in companies expected to benefit from rebuilding rose including Home Depot and Caterpillar. Insurance companies dipped as investors started to calculate their share of the eventual cost of the massive cleanup. As trading resumes there looks likely to be a battle between the exchanges and their clients. The NYSE has originally planned to keep trading electronically even as it prepared to close Wall Street's trading floors. But banks and brokerages complained that the plan was too complex and would entail sending staff into work as the storm approached. Christopher Nagy, an exchange and trading-firm consultant who formerly sat on the board of the Philadelphia stock exchange, said: "The closure was an example of the complete and utter failure of NYSE to put a proper plan in place." He said Sandy was the first real test of NYSE's emergency plans since 9/11, and that the decision to halt all trading rather than to move to all electronic trading looked more political than practical. "The NYSE only processes 11-12% of the total market share that trades," he said. "It's a glorified TV studio," he said. Jamie Selway, managing director at ITG, a brokerage firm, who participated in many of the industry calls ahead of the storm, said it was clear that people were now looking to assign blame. "But to me that is secondary," he said. "Given the loss of life and that an eighth of Manhattan is underwater, a two-day closing is not a bad trade-off." "There is no question we absolutely have to refine the plan for next time," he said. | ['us-news/new-york', 'business/stock-markets', 'us-news/michaelbloomberg', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'business/business', 'business/useconomy', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/dominic-rushe'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-31T21:09:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2011/jun/30/fukushima-children-radiation-tests-caesium | Fukushima children test positive for internal radiation exposure | Trace amounts of radioactive substances have been found in urine samples taken from children from Fukushima city, raising concerns that residents have been exposed internally to radiation from the stricken nuclear power plant 37 miles (60km) away. Tests were conducted in May on 10 children, aged between 6 and 16, by a Japanese civic group and Acro, a French body that measures radioactivity. All 10 tested positive for tiny amounts of caesium-134 and caesium-137. The chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said he was concerned by the findings and the government would thoroughly examine the results. The Fukushima network to save children from radiation said it was certain the readings were due to radiation leaks from the power plant, where workers are still struggling to stabilise reactors that suffered core meltdowns after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Acro's president, David Boilley, said the results suggested a strong likelihood that children living in or near Fukushima city had been exposed to radiation internally. According to the survey, 1.13 becquerels of caesium-134 per litre of urine were found in an eight-year-old girl – the highest reading for that isotope. The highest reading for caesium-137 – 1.30 becquerels – came from a seven-year-old boy, Kyodo news agency said. Richard Wakeford, an expert in radiation exposure at the Dalton Institute in Manchester, said he was not surprised that caesium had been found in Fukushima city residents, given the distance and direction the radiation plume had travelled. "What we're seeing here is residual caesium that will be around for quite a while," he said. "But, given the circumstances, the levels quoted in the survey are not particularly alarming." Wakeford said ingestion could be prevented by avoiding contaminated food and milk, but added that produce contaminated at levels acceptable to the government would inevitably go on sale. The discovery came days after health authorities in Fukushima began checking internal radiation doses among all 2 million of the prefecture's residents, a 30-year project that will cost an estimated 100bn yen (£777m). In separate tests, radioactive caesium and iodine were found in the urine of 15 residents from two towns located 19 to 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. While none had exceeded the maximum allowable dose of 20 millisieverts a year, experts voiced concern over the presence of caesium-137, a byproduct of nuclear fission with a half-life of 30 years. "This won't be a problem if they don't eat vegetables or other contaminated products," Nanao Kamada, professor emeritus of radiation biology at Hiroshima University, told reporters. "But it will be difficult for people to continue living in these areas." From September tens of thousands of children living in Fukushima city are to be given dosimeters to measure their exposure to atmospheric radiation. Environmental groups have called for pregnant women and children to be evacuated from the city. Children are thought to be at greatest risk because they have more time to develop thyroid and other cancers. "At least parts of the population that are sensitive need to be evacuated, and the remaining people who decide to stay for various reasons need to be given proper support and information," said Jan Beranek, head of Greenpeace's energy campaign. Wakeford said: "I wouldn't say immediate evacuation is required because this is not a sudden burst of radiation. It's long-term, protracted exposure. The Japanese government's biggest problem is deciding on what kind of external levels of exposure are acceptable once the crisis has moved out of the emergency phase." | ['world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'world/japan', 'world/world', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'tone/news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/fukushima', 'type/article', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-06-30T14:47:31Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2024/apr/02/thames-politics-drowning-effluent-sewage-boat-race-england-water-industry | Look at the Thames and know the time for metaphors is over: our politics is drowning in effluent | Marina Hyde | Fire up a Chariots of Fire-style theme tune for the speech of the defeated Oxford captain in last Saturday’s Boat Race, beamed edifyingly around the world: “We had a few guys go down pretty badly with E coli,” declared Lenny Jenkins (the university’s boat club itself says it can’t be that specific on precisely what caused the gut-rot). Having shared a few of the nauseating details, Jenkins concluded: “It would be a lot nicer if there wasn’t as much poo in the water.” Yup, a country that once painted a quarter of the world pink now regrettably advertises itself as mostly brown – encircled by its own effluent and pumping it furiously through its river veins just to be sure. As metaphors go, it is on the nose in all senses. And so to Thames Water, steward of the river on which that internationally famous race is rowed – a firm that is £18bn in deliriously structured debt, has had to be extensively threatened to spend so much as 30p on infrastructure investment, spent years being used as a cash cow for shareholders, and has pumped human waste into the Greater London area of the river for almost 2,000 hours already this year. Despite this rapacious shareholder-facing culture, its current foreign investors have now apparently judged it to be “uninvestable”. Thames Water’s relatively new CEO, Chris Weston, must be struck by that feeling that plagued Tony Soprano. “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor,” the mobster judged. “I came too late for that – I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.” This isn’t the line Chris Weston is going with in public, chirping to the Sunday Times: “I think the water industry, the characteristics it has, as a regulated monopoly, is very attractive to some types of investors.” He should probably tell that to the ones walking away, even as Thames has spent much of the past five years trying to get Ofwat to let it raise bills, most recently by up to 40%. Ofwat is of course the water industry’s “regulator” – if I could do double sarcastic airquotes, I would – and perhaps the only entity more full of shit than the rivers and seas it’s supposed to give one about. Civic-minded individuals such as the campaigner Feargal Sharkey or groups including Surfers Against Sewage have made all the running and worked long and tirelessly to push this issue into the public consciousness, and from there to outrage. The part that Chris has correctly said out loud, however, is that back in 1989 the water industry wasn’t privatised in any true sense of the term – in fact, the Conservative government of the day held a sale of monopoly rights. State assets were parcelled out into private hands, and those who picked up these monopolies have spent decades doing grotesquely well for themselves at the expense of the captive nation that is stuck with them. They are in effect oligarchs, and even if they can’t boil their enemies in vats of scalding water like their Russian counterparts, they can certainly make them swim in seas of sewage. As Sun Tzu said: “If you wait by the river long enough, the turds of your enemies will float by. I say ‘long enough’ – 30 seconds should probably do it.” You hear a lot about how the water industry was privatised for ideological reasons, but surely few ideologies could be more universally shared than the one that should see them renationalised. Namely: “I strongly believe that pumping raw sewage into our seas and rivers is both literally and qualitatively shit.” Come on – this really is the great unifier. In an atomised and polarised age, you can’t knock the sheer percentage of people who would – right now – be able to put all their other differences aside and unite behind the idea of that one. The public didn’t back water privatisation at the time it happened, and they sure as Shirley back it even less now. Plenty of Conservatives will gladly tell you that privatising utilities was always madness, for reasons ranging from economic and civic to national security, and Britain is far from the only place around the world where water privatisation has demonstrably not worked. The public is also not stupid and knows very well that it’s going to be on the hook for the various firms’ massive debts, one way or another. If Thames is currently £18bn in debt and heading for collapse, the £15bn that is the estimated cost of renationalising the entire sector starts to look like long-term good value. Quite why Keir Starmer has rowed back on Labour’s previous pledge to renationalise the water industry is unclear. Presumably the best way to look like you’re responsible with money is to present yourself as the continuity candidate, letting calamitously run monopolies spray it everywhere then demand that consumers of that luxury product, water, foot the bill yet again. That said, at the current rate of malfunction, Thames Water’s crisis will be upon us sooner than any general election. Yet where is the sense of urgency? Last year the government gave the water companies until 2050 to stop dumping sewage into seas and waterways. Incredible, really, when targets are this low-bar that hitherto the companies have still failed to clear them every time. Someone – anyone! – is going to have to think what to do about this wretched wallygarchy. Those in charge ought to be long past the point of looking busy and simply holding their noses. Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'business/thames-water', 'business/water-industry', 'sport/boat-race', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'sport/rowing', 'environment/pollution', 'uk-news/england', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/marinahyde', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2024-04-02T12:38:25Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
sustainable-business/2016/may/27/outdoor-clothing-paramo-toxic-pfc-greenpeace-fabric-technology | UK outdoor clothing company rejects toxic PFCs | On 16 January, professional climbers David Bacci and Matteo Della Bordella set off to climb Mount Fitz Roy in Patagonia. They chose the mountain’s heavily exposed East Pillar, the hardest route of the lot. The pair endured brutal weather but eventually finished the climb. Bacci, who volunteers for Greenpeace, didn’t just want to use the climb to prove his alpinist credentials; he wanted to show that it’s possible to tackle the toughest mountain conditions in “PFC-free” clothing. PFCs, or perfluorinated compounds, are a staple in many fabrics used for outdoor clothing. They are popular with the industry’s big brands because they create a porous outer layer that allows impermeable, waterproof materials to breathe, while making surfaces repel water and oil. Yet PFCs are also linked to a number of worrying health conditions. Laboratory studies have found links to reproductive problems in animals. PFCs can also last indefinitely in the environment and find their way into the animal food chain. Páramo is one of the few PFC-free outdoor brands currently on the market. In a demonstration of industry leadership, the apparel company came out publicly earlier this year to support Greenpeace’s call for an end to the use of this toxic chemical in outdoor gear. “Greenpeace wanted to point out the irony that those [companies] that supposedly loved the outdoors were still polluting it,” says Catherine Whitehead, marketing executive at Páramo. “We’ve been talking to Greenpeace for the past couple of years and that came to fruition with us agreeing to sign up to its Detox campaign.” Páramo uses an alternative fabric technology, invented by its founder. In that sense, it has a head-start on its industry competitors. The company has also taken steps recently to ensure all its garments are fully recyclable. Páramo shows that it is “absolutely possible” for outdoor brands to produce high-performance gear without using hazardous chemicals, says Cecilia Preite Martinez, a spokesperson for Greenpeace’s Detox campaign. “Páramo is setting the highest standard in the whole outdoor sector and this example should encourage bigger brands to take the lead for a toxic-free future,” she adds. Eyes will certainly be on Páramo to ensure that it meets its new commitments. By the same token, public interest is now squarely focused on the likes of North Face, Mammut, Jack Wolfskin and Patagonia to up their game and follow suit. Páramo is the 2016 winner in the bold move category of the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards. | ['sustainable-business/series/gsb-awards-2016', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/gsb-awards', 'sustainable-business/series/sustainability-case-studies', 'environment/greenpeace', 'fashion/fashion', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/guardian-sustainable-business-awards-winners-2016', 'sustainable-business/series/bold-move', 'profile/oliver-balch', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/greenpeace | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2016-05-27T04:00:22Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
media/pda/2008/oct/28/telegraphmediagroup-digitalvideo | Telegraph signs up Onion video for US election | The Telegraph website will be basking in the shared glory of the brilliant Onion News Network as the US Presidential election climaxes in the next week. Telegraph.co.uk has signed a deal with the video distribution site myvideorights.com to publish 18 films by The Onion's spoof 24-hour TV station from its very Brass Eye-esque 'War for the White House' series. Thirteen are live now and five more will be added in the next week. Onion News Network director Will Graham and Onion general manager Julie Smith talked at the Guardian last month about the network, how it values high production values over volume of content and how they deal with the fallout when their slick spoof pieces get taken a bit too seriously. | ['media/pda', 'media/telegraphmediagroup', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'tone/blog', 'media/media', 'type/article', 'profile/jemimakiss'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2008-10-28T12:40:04Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/2024/feb/15/weatherwatch-seabirds-ride-out-winter-storms-in-middle-of-ocean | Weatherwatch: seabirds ride out winter storms in middle of ocean | Birders – especially those who, like me, live in western Britain – eagerly anticipate autumnal gales and storms, which arrive most years from the Atlantic Ocean to the west. These often bring migrating seabirds close inshore for a few hours, usually either side of high tide. Some unfortunate individuals may be driven inland, in what ornithologists call a “wreck”, after which they often perish. In recent years, as a result of global climate breakdown, this storm season has extended well into the winter – as happened this January. Storms Isha and Jocelyn arrived in rapid succession, causing widespread damage, power cuts and deaths. Seabirds tend to fare very differently during winter storms compared with autumn ones. By now, most are well out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where they are able to ride out the high winds without any risk of crashing into the land. This would explain the almost total lack of unusual seabird sightings so far this year. There has been one notable weather-related sighting, though: of a mammal rather than a bird. A beluga whale – a small white cetacean from the Arctic – turned up on Shetland, after a run of strong northerly winds. This is just the fifth individual ever seen there, and the same species as an individual nicknamed Benny, which found a temporary home in the Thames estuary in December 2018. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/birds', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-02-15T06:00:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2024/apr/12/australia-could-reach-an-ambitious-emissions-cut-of-up-to-75-by-2035-advisers-tell-labor | Australia could reach an ‘ambitious’ emissions cut of up to 75% by 2035, advisers tell Labor | Australia could meet an “ambitious” target to cut national greenhouse gases by at least 65% and up to 75% by 2035, according to an initial assessment by the Albanese government’s climate advisory body. The Climate Change Authority has been commissioned to advise the government on a 2035 target and plans to cut emissions from electricity and energy, transport, industry and waste, agriculture and land, resources and buildings. In a consultation paper released on Thursday, the authority nominated a 65-75% cut compared with 2005 levels based on an initial assessment of scientific, economic, technological and social evidence. The chief executive, Brad Archer, said this target range “would be ambitious and could be achievable if additional action is taken by governments, business, investors and households”. Labor is expected to announce its 2035 target before the next election. Some experts have questioned whether the country will meet its legislated 2030 target – a 43% cut – after a slowdown in the rollout of large-scale renewable energy, though government projections have suggested it is possible. The authority’s preliminary proposal broadly lines up with an agreement reached at the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai, which recognised that limiting heating to 1.5C required “deep, rapid and sustained” cuts equivalent to a 67% global reduction by 2035 compared with 2005 levels. Developed countries that have already emitted more than their “fair share” of carbon pollution, such as Australia, are likely to face calls to make deeper cuts to help reach this goal. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The Investor Group on Climate Change, representing members with more than $35tn in assets under management, endorsed the authority’s proposed range. The group’s policy director, Erwin Jackson, said it was “very positive” that the authority was “focused on a 2035 target that is aligned with limiting warming to 1.5C and also with the highest possible level of ambition”. “Investors globally will be looking closely at Australia’s target to see that it is serious about achieving what it has said it wants to achieve, which is to align with 1.5C,” Jackson said. “Investors are looking to all governments to commit to targets along these lines because a volatile climate means a volatile economy.” Australia’s three biggest states, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, have each already set a 2035 target of at least 70% cut. But Western Australia is a likely drag on the national commitment, having significantly increased its carbon pollution as it backs ongoing expansion of its emissions-intensive gas export industry. The climate change and energy director at the Australian Industry Group, Tennant Reed, said it had been clear for a while that any logical analysis would lead to Australia adopting a 2035 target in the authority’s proposed range. He said the scale of the cuts needed were likely to “take some people aback”, but it was “hard to escape numbers in that range if you’re looking at the physics, at the states’ [commitments] or the diplomacy”. Australia’s emissions are 25% below 2005 levels, according to the government. Reed said given the slow turnover of vehicles and buildings, reaching a 65-75% reduction target by 2035 would require rapid action to build on existing federal and state policies, not just changes next decade. A spokesperson for the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said Australia was within striking distance of its 2030 emissions goal and had policies to boost reliable renewable energy, increase access to cleaner cars and reduce industrial emissions. They said the authority was consulting with the community and would not make a recommendation until later this year. In a speech on Thursday, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, again signalled next month’s budget would include a green industry policy to help the country compete in a global race for clean investment. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'world/chris-bowen', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2024-04-11T15:00:27Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2015/apr/25/australia-public-enemy-number-one-of-un-climate-talks-says-nobel-laureate | Australia 'public enemy number one' of UN climate talks, says Nobel laureate | Australia is emerging as “public enemy number one” of the United Nations climate change negotiations to be held in Paris in December, according to a Nobel laureate of medicine speaking from a sustainability symposium in Hong Kong. Prof Peter Doherty is representing Australia at the symposium, held every three years and which is being attended by 11 other laureates from around the world, who will sign a memorandum detailing their recommendations for making major cities sustainable. The four-day symposium ends on Saturday afternoon, and Doherty said a clear message had emerged from his peers, who hold expertise across specialities including climate, economics and business. “People are saying informally that Australia and Canada are emerging as public enemy number one for the Paris talks on climate,” Doherty said. “No other names are being mentioned. Australia is seen as very much out of touch and out of sync with what’s happening globally.” On Tuesday, the independent Climate Change Authority (CCA) recommended Australia increase its commitment to cut 2000-level emissions by 2020 from 5% to 19% if it wanted to be taken seriously at the Paris climate change talks, a suggestion the environment minister, Greg Hunt, described as “onerous”. Meanwhile the prime minister, Tony Abbott, has directed $4m to start a climate consensus centre fronted by political scientist and climate change contrarian Bjørn Lomborg. Canada has also been criticised for climate change inaction, and for failing to mention climate change in its economic action plan. But it was clear that many countries, particularly in Asia, where 21 of a forecast 37 megacities are expected to be within 30 years, were “ambitiously and aggressively” taking steps to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, Doherty said. Large cities contributed disproportionally to climate change, he said, with roughly 75% of CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels coming from cities. It meant designing new buildings to be energy efficient, and focusing on public transport rather than building new roads, would be key measures for major cities in trying to curb global warming, he said, with up to 80% of the population expected to be living in large cities by 2050. “Too often the focus is on mining and other big polluters, which is important, but so is rapid urbanisation,” Doherty said. But he said it may be tough to get the Australian government to endorse and adopt the symposium memorandum, which will urge governments to make climate change mitigation in major cities a focus of climate change policy. “I don’t think we’re going to get far with the present government leadership, but when [communications minister] Malcolm Turnbull was leading the party he was quite willing to sign on to a carbon trading scheme, so there are those people open to the evidence,” Doherty said. “There’s been a lot of discussion here about how science has to operate more effectively in the political sphere than it’s doing currently, and that’s been a challenge globally. “It’s cut through in Europe because they’ve had major, catastrophic climate events such as flooding, while in Britain, better relationships have been established between science and government, and I think that’s to do with London being the major political and economic centre, and there being senior scientists within the House of Lords, so all the people who need to be talking to each other are in one place.” Doherty said he became interested in climate change science because of the direct impact on health, such as increased heat stress from heatwaves, and indirect effects, such as hunger due to unpredictable severe weather patterns, or the spreading of insect-borne diseases such as malaria from the tropics to other regions. While he believes these were risks the government were failing to address, he did not believe the scientific community, especially in Australia, was deterred by its evidence being rejected. “They know if they put their head up, they’ll be attacked, and they’re used to being slammed” he said. “These are robust, tough people. The difference between people like me and the person running the government is I’m interested in evidence, insights, solutions and solving problems, and he is interested in ideology and looking backwards. But we won’t be deterred.” | ['environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/unitednations', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/environment', 'world/hong-kong', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'world/canada', 'world/asia-pacific', 'australia-news/greg-hunt', 'australia-news/tony-abbott', 'australia-news/coalition', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'cities/urbanisation', 'australia-news/malcolm-turnbull', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/melissa-davey'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-04-24T22:41:44Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2014/aug/20/snp-accused-exaggerating-north-sea-oil-reserves | SNP accused of exaggerating North Sea oil reserves by up to 60% | Sir Ian Wood, the most influential figure in the Scottish oil industry, has accused Alex Salmond's government of exaggerating North Sea oil reserves by up to 60%. Wood, the billionaire founder of the oil services firm Wood Group, said the first minister's administration had also overestimated North Sea oil income over the next five years by up to £2bn a year or £370 per person, raising serious questions about Salmond's public spending plans. Revealing himself as an opponent of Scottish independence, Wood said North Sea oil reserves would begin to decline sharply within 15 years, raising questions about the future of the Scottish economy, jobs and its balance of payments if voters backed independence. In a wide-ranging interview with the industry website energyvoice.com, Wood also said an independent Scotland would likely lose the UK's heavy subsidy of the new windfarms and marine energy plants it needed to hit Salmond's target of generating 100% of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2020. That raised questions for younger Scottish voters in September's referendum, he said, as Salmond has repeatedly predicted there were up to 24bn barrels of oil equivalent (bboe) still to be extracted – at the top end of estimates used by the industry body Oil and Gas UK. Based on that 24bboe figure, Salmond and the Yes Scotland independence campaign have repeatedly cited the potential value of Scotland's oil reserves as £1.5tn, a figure dismissed as fanciful by the Treasury and other economists. Wood said he believed the "best outcome" would be 15 to 16.5bboe left to extract. That is in the mid range of Scottish government predictions, leaving Scotland dependent on shale oil and gas imports from England from 2030 onwards. "The offshore oil and gas industry cannot figure significantly in Scotland's medium-term economic calculations," Wood said. "Young voters in the referendum will only be in their 40s when they will see the significant rundown in the Scottish offshore oil and gas sector, and the serious implications for our economy, jobs and public services." Although other economists have backed Salmond's predictions about the strength of Scotland's economy under independence, including Sir Donald Mackay, a former chairman of Scottish Enterprise, Wood's intervention is a blow to Salmond. One of Scotland's most respected industrialists, Wood was the author of a major UK government-commissioned study into maximising North Sea production earlier this year, which was lauded by Salmond. He also chaired an employment commission for the first minister. Wood is also a dominant figure in Aberdeen, the centre of the UK's oil industry, where he offered to donate up to £75m for a public park redevelopment in the city centre, which was heavily backed by Salmond's Scottish National party. Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor and head of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, said Wood's analysis "fatally undermines" Salmond's oil predictions and "blow apart Alex Salmond's plans for funding schools and hospitals." Darling added that it was "devastating for his ridiculous claims on pensions and on jobs". Fergus Ewing, the Scottish energy minister, said Wood's predictions were more generous than those of the UK government's Office for Budget Responsibility, but Scotland was wealthy enough to live without huge oil revenues. | ['business/oil', 'business/commodities', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/business', 'business/energy-industry', 'politics/snp', 'politics/scottish-independence', 'politics/scotland', 'politics/politics', 'uk/scotland', 'politics/alexsalmond', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/severincarrell', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2014-08-20T18:27:06Z | true | ENERGY |
healthcare-network/2012/feb/07/cutting-carbon-emissions-nhs | Live discussion: cutting carbon emissions in the NHS | Hospitals can save lives, but they can be bad for the health of the planet. Many inhabit older buildings that aren't energy efficient and haemorrhage money on fuel and electricity bills. The NHS spends around £600m on its annual energy bill, which also represents 3% of the UK's total carbon emissions. According to figures from the carbon reduction commitment (CRC) league tables, published last November, 2.7m tonnes of CO2 were emitted by the NHS from its electricity use between 2010-2011. While a recent survey suggested that around a third of the public believed the NHS should be more environmentally efficient even if it were to cost the health service money, many argue that better efficiency would save money in the longer term, releasing more cash for services, and deliver on a national target to reduce carbon emissions by 2050. So what should the NHS be doing to cut its emissions? Are trusts coping with the CRC challenge? What carbon reduction strategies have hospitals successfully implemented? What problems do trusts face in their bid to become more environmentally friendly, and how should they be tackled? Join us by leaving your comments for our panel and tweeting us at @gdnhealthcare. Panel David Pencheon is director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit. He has previously worked as director of the NHS Eastern Region Public Health Observatory and joint director of public health. Prior to that he was a clinician in secondary care. Trish Marchant is energy and environment manager at Medway NHS foundation trust. The trust has spent over £3m on combined projects to reduce emissions since 2010. Tony Grayling is head of climate change and communities at the Environment Agency and author of Saving carbon, improving health: a draft carbon reduction strategy for the NHS in England. Simon Rigby is divisional director of clinical support at Musgrove Park hospital. The hospital's energy efficiency plans are set to cut carbon emissions by over 40% and save the trust £17m over the next 20 years. Larissa Lockwood leads the Carbon Trust's NHS Carbon Management Programme. She has previously worked at the NHS SDU and managed the Sustainable Development Commission's Healthy Futures programme. Martyn Jeffery is director of estates at Royal Free Hampstead NHS trust, which installed a new energy centre in 2010, providing heating and hot water for the hospital and reducing carbon emissions and making savings around £850,000 each year. This live discussion is designed and managed by the Guardian healthcare network to a brief agreed with the Carbon Trust, sponsor of the Guardian Sustainable Business low carbon hub. This article is published by Guardian Professional. Join the healthcare network to receive regular emails and exclusive offers. | ['healthcare-network/healthcare-network', 'sustainable-business/low-carbon', 'healthcare-network/policy', 'healthcare-network/england', 'healthcare-network/efficiency', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/jessica-fuhl'] | sustainable-business/low-carbon | EMISSIONS | 2012-02-07T10:23:01Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2020/jul/24/country-diary-a-tree-that-speaks-of-trauma-and-redemption | Country diary: a tree that speaks of trauma and redemption | Carved into a boulder beside the footpath was a dedication. Lady Riverdale, wife of a Sheffield steel baron, wanted it known that she had gifted the 16 acres of Froggatt Wood I was standing in to the National Trust in memory of her parents. She handed it a jewel of inestimable value, although the landscape has changed a lot since 1931, the date of her endowment. Trees have sprung up liberally, many thin and weakly, pale imitations of the grand old specimens that she would have known, riding like galleons on this green ocean of change. Near two mossy gritstone gateposts was a gnarled oak with fissured bark; a little further away was a spreading beech whose lower boughs had curved elegantly, dipping close to the ground. Its canopy was vast, a billowing cloud of foliage. Both trees bore the marks of their long lives: the oak with its kind’s strange angularity in its limbs, the beech with its sinuous flow. Neither had faced much interruption to their normal expression. It was another story near Lady Riverdale’s inscription, one of trauma and redemption. The beech here had sprung up beside a small stream, sinking its roots into the thin soil of the rocky bank. A strong wind had long ago tipped it over on to one of its branches. New roots had grown from this to compensate for the lost originals, clamping the distressed tree to the ground. This prone branch offered me a comfortable daybed from which to admire its determined recovery. From where I lay, I saw how the branch had grown upwards in a smooth arc for some 60ft. Another branch at right angles was almost as long. Linking them was an odd root-like structure that looped like a hairpin. A sucker had grown though the gap this made, like threading a needle. This brave tree was all limbs and no trunk, tripping over its legs. Beeches are well known for their extraordinary plasticity. Wordsworth, during his stay at Alfoxden in Somerset, saw a beech bough that had rooted itself twice, “which gave to each the appearance of a serpent moving along by gathering itself up into folds”. But I can’t remember having seen anything like this before. | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'environment/plants', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/eddouglas', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-07-24T04:30:05Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2021/jun/08/britain-future-archaeologists-discover-plastic-coated-coastline-sea-levels-rise | Will Britain’s future archaeologists discover a plastic-coated coastline? | Eleven metres under the sea at Bouldnor Cliff, off the Isle of Wight, is a revealing archaeological site where our ancestors lived 8,000 years ago. The finds, which divers discovered when a lobster excavated flint tools from a burrow, include a large number of wooden objects that showed early settlers made platforms next to the sea and built boats. The wood, which survived only because of waterlogged anaerobic conditions, is fast disappearing because of tidal erosion. The finds also give insight into diets including burnt hazelnuts and show wheat arrived in Britain 2,000 years earlier than previously thought. This was a time when Britain was still part of the continent and the Channel an inhabited valley. Sea levels were rising sharply as the huge ice sheets from the ice age melted. After millennia of stability, sea levels are rising again and we are losing glaciers and ice sheets ever faster in response to heating of the atmosphere caused by humans. Scientists are discussing whether the rise will be one or two metres this century. If there are still marine archaeologists in another 8,000 years, living on what will be a much smaller island and looking for our former coastline, they will not have to search so hard for our civilization – it will be marked by layers of plastic. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk-news/england', 'environment/sea-level', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/archaeology', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-06-08T05:00:12Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2005/mar/31/indianoceantsunamidecember2004.naturaldisasters | Indonesia admits slow response to quake | Indonesia's government today admitted that it had been slow to deliver food and water to victims of Monday's earthquake. As rescuers continued to pull survivors from the rubble left by the disaster, Bachtiar Chamsyah, the country's social affairs minister, was confronted by angry residents of Gunung Sitoli, the main town on Nias island, to the north of Sumatra. He later acknowledged the government had responded slowly to the crisis, saying: "The problem is distribution - we admit the distribution has been slow. We can understand that people are dissatisfied but, thanks be to God, the situation is getting better." Gunung Sitoli was today still without power and running water as islanders and rescuers searched collapsed buildings for survivors, bodies and belongings, with aftershocks continuing to shake the area. Survivors said they were suffering because of the lack of food. Sheltering under a tarpaulin on the grounds of a mosque in the town, Yusman Gule had no water to mix with his dried food. Instead, he fed his six-year-old daughter, Yumni - who lost an ear, broke an arm and suffered badly crushed fingers in the quake - with just the powder. "Don't leave us here to die," Mr Gule said. "It's difficult to find food. All we can do is beg." There was a sign of hope amid the devastation as rescuers today pulled a 13-year-old girl alive from a collapsed five-story building in Nias, where she had been trapped for 52 hours. Apart from scratches and bruises, the girl was unhurt. Meanwhile, a group of 11 western surfers who had been missing since the quake struck were found alive by a search helicopter, the Swedish foreign ministry reported. The tourists - three Britons, two Swedes, two Canadians, two French, an American and a German - were found on the island, a popular destination for surfers. "They're feeling well, considering the circumstances," a Swiss foreign ministry spokesman said. "They've been sleeping outside. I'm not sure what they've eaten, but I guess it's coconuts." The Red Cross said the search for survivors would continue, as it did after the December 26 tsunami. "In Banda Aceh, people were found alive after six days," a Red Cross official said. The government today lowered its predicted death toll to between 400 and 500 people, but the UN increased its estimate of deaths to 624. Earlier in the week, the Indonesian vice president predicted the toll could reach 2,000, and the government today said 279 bodies had been buried so far. In pouring rain, the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, toured Gunung Sitoli, visiting a mosque and praying with a Catholic priest at a church being used as a makeshift morgue. The UN today sent a landing craft carrying food to Nias from the nearby Aceh province, where aid workers were assisting local engineers in their efforts to restore water and power. "I hope that within two days there will be running water," the UN relief coordinator François Desruisseauz said. However, there were grim reminders that, for many, help would arrive too late - a blackened head protruded from a wrecked building as Indonesian troops began working with cranes and bulldozers to move rubble. Foreign military help began arriving on the island yesterday when two Singaporean helicopters landed to distribute food and water. Japan and Australia also planned military missions, and an Australian military transport flight packed with medical supplies headed to the quake zone today. The US state department spokesman Adam Ereli said US naval and medical ships were heading towards the battered islands. Monday's quake struck under the sea off the west coast of Sumatra island and registered between 8.2 and 8.7 magnitude. December's 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which triggered the catastrophic tsunami, struck further northwest along the Sumatran coast. | ['environment/environment', 'world/tsunami2004', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/indonesia', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/world', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/earthquakes', 'type/article'] | world/tsunami2004 | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-03-31T11:27:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2021/jul/22/great-britain-faces-risk-of-winter-blackouts-system-operator-warns | Great Britain faces rising risk of winter blackouts, system operator warns | Great Britain faces its greatest risk of blackouts for six years this winter as old coal plants and nuclear reactors shut down and energy demand rises as the economy emerges from Covid-19 restrictions. National Grid’s electricity system operator, which is responsible for keeping the lights on, said it expected the country’s demand for electricity to return to normal levels this winter, and would be braced for “some tight periods”. The system operator published a surprise report warning that the tight electricity supplies recorded last winter could be tighter in the winter ahead due to “uncertainty” over the country’s power supplies. It said that in some scenarios the “margin” of forecast electricity supplies might exceed demand by 5.3%, the tightest margin recorded since the winter of 2015-2016, when National Grid was forced to ask businesses to reduce their electricity usage to keep the lights on after a spate of breakdowns at coal plants. National Grid has traditionally published its forecasts for the winter in September but surprised the market on Thursday by issuing a preview report. “Following tighter margins in winter 2020-21 compared to previous winters, we have decided to publish an early view of the margin for winter 2021-22. We believe this will help to inform the electricity industry and support preparations for the winter ahead,” it said. The system operator issued a string of official warnings that electricity supplies were under pressure last year, despite a 3-4% slump in energy demand as people stayed away from offices, pubs and restaurants during the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK was forced to rely on its last remaining coal power plants to meet demand during cold, still periods when demand was high and wind speeds low last winter. This year it could be more difficult to cover the loss of a sudden outage at a power plant, subsea power cable or low wind speeds due to the closure of older nuclear plants. The system operator has assumed that the Dungeness B and Hunterston B nuclear power stations will not be available for the full winter, and that the Baglan Bay, Severn Power and Sutton Bridge gas power stations will remain unavailable. “While we remain confident there is sufficient supply to meet peak demand, we should prepare for some tight periods during the winter” because there “is still some uncertainty” about electricity supplies, the electricity system operator said. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/nationalgrid', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/coal', 'environment/energy', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2021-07-22T20:41:49Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/oct/14/insulate-britain-pauses-roadblocks-to-give-pm-chance-to-do-the-right-thing | Insulate Britain pauses roadblocks to give PM ‘chance to do the right thing’ | Insulate Britain has said it is pausing its roadblock campaign for 10 days, in a letter to the prime minister calling on him to “get on with the job” of insulating Britain’s homes. A spokesperson for the group said the decision was taken midway through last week, to give the government time to consider its demands. Its five-week campaign of direct action has caused disruption on motorways and busy roads in and around London. “We are hearing that ministers are talking about it and we want to give the government a chance to do the right thing,” the spokesperson said. In its open letter to Boris Johnson, the group said: “Ahead of Cop26, Insulate Britain will suspend its campaign of civil resistance until Monday 25 October. We invite you to make a meaningful statement that we can trust, a statement that the country wants to hear: that your government will live up to its responsibilities to protect us, to defend law and order; that your government will take the lead needed to insulate and retrofit our homes; that it will ‘get on with the job’ so families can feed their children and keep their homes warm.” Since 13 September, Insulate Britain has staged 13 days of direct action on the M25 and M4, major arterial roads in London, as well as around the port of Dover. Police have made hundreds of arrests, although the group says it has only about 120 active members. With its strategy of repeated and concerted civil disobedience, it had hoped to provoke the authorities into holding members on remand so that the UK would have “climate prisoners” being held when the Cop26 climate summit opens in Glasgow at the end of the month. However, despite some having been arrested 10 or 11 times, no members are on remand. The government has responded by taking out injunctions against the group, banning it from protesting on specific sections of the strategic road network, which Insulate Britain has defied. Breaching an injunction can lead to charges of contempt of court and a jail sentence. On Tuesday a return hearing at the high court in London for three injunctions was adjourned for a week so that they could be heard alongside a fourth. Mr Justice Lavender said he could use that hearing to timetable any trial for those found to be in breach of the injunctions. | ['environment/insulate-britain', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damien-gayle', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-10-14T13:16:57Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2013/jan/29/queensland-floodwaters-peak-new-south | New South Wales braces for river peaks as Queensland counts flood cost | A fourth person has died in flood-affected areas on Australia's east coast as communities across the states of New South Wales and Queensland count the cost of a second major flood disaster in as many years. A three-year-old boy – the youngest victim – died from injuries sustained when a tree fell on him and his mother as they were looking at rising floodwaters in Brisbane on Monday morning. The child's 34-year-old mother, who is pregnant, remained in hospital with several broken bones and head injuries. Across two states, tens of thousands of people have been isolated by rising floodwaters. In Queensland the focus remained on the city of Bundaberg, 190 miles (300km) north of Brisbane and home to 100,000 people. Bundaberg's Burnett river peaked on Tuesday, surging into 2,000 homes and about 200 businesses. Hundreds of residents, including 131 patients from the Bundaberg hospital, had earlier been airlifted to safety as the waters moving at 40 miles an hour threatened to rip houses from their foundations. One house was reported to have been swept away. "This is the centre of the floods crisis here in Queensland," said the state's premier, Campbell Newman, who visited the city. "I've seen the city from the air, I've seen perhaps even more extraordinary sights than we saw two years ago in south-east Queensland," he said, referring to the devastating floods of 2011 in which an area the size of France and Germany combined was inundated. In the state's capital, Brisbane, home to more than 2 million people, the Brisbane river peaked on Tuesday at below predicted heights and well below the levels of 2011. Boats and pontoons that had been ripped from their moorings floated towards the river mouth but residential homes were largely spared. The city faces another problem: a shortage of clean water. The river is four times as muddy as it was in the 2011 floods, according to Newman. "The effect of that is to cause the treatment plants to have to shut down," he said. Residents have been asked to restrict water use to cooking, drinking and showering as the city will need to survive for the next couple of days on about half of its usual treated water supply. Further south in the state of New South Wales at the city of Grafton, 370 miles north of Sydney, the Clarence river peaked at record levels and nearly 40cm above its previous highest level in the 1890s. "This is the biggest flood in the history of Grafton," said the state premier, Barry O'Farrell, as he praised the work of volunteer emergency services who moved more than 1000 people out of danger. More than 40,000 people have been isolated by floodwaters in northern New South Wales as a result of the torrential rain from the remains of ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, which formed at the top of northern Australia last week. In many towns the next few days will be about cleaning up and getting in supplies, but other communities further downstream towards Sydney will anxiously wait for the rivers that run through them to reach their flood peaks. Sydney escaped the worst of the bad weather but huge waves were recorded across many of the city's beaches and swells of up to eight metres out to sea. The wet weather follows a summer of unprecedented heat across large parts of Australia. Just over a week ago emergency services were issuing fire warnings and battling many blazes across huge areas. Sydney experienced its hottest day on record in January, peaking at 46.5C (115.7F). Parts of the southern state of Victoria are still on bushfire alert. Australia's climate commission says global warming is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. But asked whether people on Australia's east coast should expect this, the New South Wales premier dismissed the question. "If the question is about climate change go and ask me another day," Barry O'Farrell said. "Let's not turn this near-disaster, this episode that has damaged so many properties and other things, into some politically correct debate about climate change. Give me a break." | ['world/natural-disasters', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'type/article', 'profile/alison-rourke'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-01-29T08:13:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.