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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
environment/2017/feb/26/end-uk-tax-incentives-for-diesel-vehicles-ministers-are-urged | End UK tax incentives for diesel vehicles, ministers are urged | Ministers are coming under growing pressure to remove tax incentives for diesel cars and offer compensation to motorists so they can swap to more environmentally friendly vehicles. A group of medical professionals, environmental campaigners and lawyers has written to the chancellor ahead of the budget to demand a change to the vehicle excise duty that they say subsidises diesel cars. Separately, senior Labour and Tory politicians have called for a comprehensive vehicle scrappage scheme to help people with diesel cars change to greener alternatives. The letter from campaigners, including the British Lung Foundation, Greenpeace and doctors’ groups, says toxic air poses a daily risk to people’s health – particularly the young and those suffering from lung problems. “Air pollution has ... been shown to stunt children’s lung growth, which could leave them with health problems in later life,” it states. “We all deserve to breathe clean air.” On Saturday the Guardian revealed that thousands of children and young people at more than 800 nurseries, schools and colleges in London faced dangerous and illegal levels of toxic air, much of it from diesel cars. The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, indicated the government may bow to pressure, saying motorists should be wary of buying diesel cars, adding: “We’re going to have to really migrate our car fleet, and our vehicle fleet more generally, to cleaner technology.” However, he said that diesel “was not going to disappear”. Air pollution causes 40,000 early deaths in the UK and costs the country £27.5bn a year, according to a government estimate. MPs have called it a public health emergency. The letter adds: “We know diesel vehicles, in particular diesel cars, are a major source of pollution in towns and cities ... yet vehicle excise duty (VED) not only fails to recognise this, but is still incentivising them. We are therefore asking for a revision of the VED first-year rate in your upcoming budget statement.” Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has added his voice to calls for a change in vehicle excise duty for diesel cars. He also said the government should introduce a comprehensive clean air act and a diesel scrappage scheme to compensate those motorists who bought diesel cars after being told they were more environmentally friendly. “A number of years ago Londoners and others around the country were encouraged to buy diesel cars – businessmen and women, charities, families were all encouraged to buy diesel. “We are saying to the government you need to choose a national diesel scrappage fund to help people move away from diesel ... and we would target this to the poorest families.” Judges told ministers last November they must cut the illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in dozens of towns and cities in the shortest possible time after ruling that their plans to improve air quality were so poor they were unlawful. The government has until April to come up with proposals to bring before the court. Last year the environment, food and rural affairs select committee described the situation as a public health emergency and recommended the government introduce a diesel scrappage scheme. Its chair, Neil Parish, told the Guardian he was disappointed that the advice had been ignored and called on the government to change course. Parish said: “Defra has lost again in the courts on its failure to tackle air pollution. The option of a scrappage scheme should be back on the table to help get the dirtiest diesels off our roads quickly.” He said it was vital any scrappage scheme was “focused and does not merely become a subsidy for the middle classes. Cash from the scheme should either promote ULEVs [ultra-low-emission vehicle] or incentivise public transport use.” Legal NGO ClientEarth brought the case against the government and was one of the groups to sign Sunday’s letter to the chancellor. Its chief executive, James Thornton, said: “The high court has ordered the government to take immediate action now to deal with illegal levels of pollution and prevent tens of thousands of additional early deaths in the UK. “The government needs to recognise that diesel is the primary cause of the problem, and to promote a shift to alternatives. It’s perverse that our tax system encourages people to buy dirty vehicles.” | ['environment/pollution', 'money/cartax', 'society/health', 'politics/health', 'environment/environment', 'money/motoring', 'money/tax', 'uk/budget', 'politics/politics', 'society/society', 'uk/uk', 'politics/taxandspending', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/sandralaville', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-02-26T15:26:14Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2014/oct/17/uk-is-breaking-eus-conservation-laws-on-porpoise | UK is breaking EU's conservation laws on porpoises | Britain is facing a referral to the European Court of Justice within two months unless it designates more protection sites for harbour porpoises, a threatened species in the North Sea. Harbour porpoises are the most common, and smallest, cetacean species found in UK waters. Similar in appearance to bottlenose dolphins, they are very social animals, rotund in shape with a small dorsal fin that shows above the waves. Although they are still relatively abundant, their numbers are thought to be falling fast under pressure from human activities such as fisheries bycatch, starvation, underwater noise and injuries from boats. According to the European commission, which sent the UK a warning letter on Thursday, a failure to apply the Habitats Directive to the cetaceans now could “seriously compromise their ecological character”. “Despite a large number of harbour porpoise in its waters, the UK has so far proposed only one small site in Northern Ireland [as a protected area], exposing some of the identified sites to the risk of offshore wind farm development,” a statement says. “The commission has repeatedly urged the UK to fulfil its key obligations for this species, but no further designations of sites have been proposed.” Conservationists say that important porpoise habitats should be protected in Scottish waters such as the Hebrides and outer Moray Firth, and in Welsh waters around northern Pembrokeshire and southern Cardigan Bay, in Lleyn Peninsula, Bardsey Island and north and west Anglesey. In English waters too, critical porpoise habitats could be extended across migration routes, such as the Dogger Bank in the North Sea - where the animals already receive protection in German and Dutch waters. “Where high densities of porpoises and other mobile species can be found, marine protected areas (MPAs) are required,” said Sarah Dolman, a programme manager for Whale and Dolphin Conservation. “MPAs can help to provide certainty to marine users, enable implementation of local management measures, as well as promoting conservation research and education, and so can aid protection of an often forgotten, coastal species.” In a flurry of other infringement case announcements, the UK was given two months to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from the Aberthaw power plant in Wales, while Portugal was given a court referral for inadequate waste water treatment, with a request for a €4.5m (£3.5m) lump sum fine and daily €20,000 penalty until the country complies with EU laws. The outgoing commission also sent formal notice of a court case over continued finch-trapping by Malta, the home of the EU’s new environment commissioner Karmenu Vella. That case will be closely watched, as the new EU president-elect, Jean-Claude Juncker, has instructed Vella to conduct “an in-depth evaluation of the Birds and Habitats directives” with a view to merging them in a new law that is “fit for purpose”. Environmentalists consider this a euphemism for deregulation. The spate of new infringement notices were launched as the EU concluded a public consultation on “biodiversity offsetting”, or a proposed market mechanism that would create new natural sites to compensate for destroyed forests, woodlands, and wildlife habitats elsewhere. A petition signed by 9,500 people and 60 organisations was handed in to the commission denouncing the proposal as a “license to trash”. In the UK, the scheme has already allowed plans for supermarkets, service stations and housing developments to proceed, despite community objections to the destructive effects on their local environment. Opponents say that by giving development plans green credentials that may be spurious, offsetting speeds up planning approvals in practice, and limits natural environments for flora and fauna in absolute terms. “Biodiversity offsetting commodifies nature and sends out a dangerous message that nature is replaceable,” the petition says. “Biodiversity and ecosystems are complex and unique. It is impossible to reduce biodiversity into a system of credits as envisaged by many offsetting systems. Biodiversity offsetting masks the fact that when you destroy nature, it is lost forever.” A spokesperson for Defra said: “We are committed to protecting the harbour porpoise. The species benefits from a protected area at Skerries and Causeway, and we are working to identify further potential sites for increased protection. “We are considering the Reasoned Opinion from the European Commission and will respond in due course.” | ['environment/porpoises', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/environment', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'law/european-court-of-justice', 'world/european-commission', 'world/europe-news', 'world/eu', 'uk/uk', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/arthurneslen'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-10-17T15:14:35Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2021/aug/09/ipcc-report-transforming-society-avert-catastrophe-net-zero | The IPCC report is clear: nothing short of transforming society will avert catastrophe | Patrick Vallance | The release today of the first part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report makes for stark reading. It reaffirms that anthropogenic climate change is real, present and lasting: it is now unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land to an unprecedented degree, with effects almost certain to worsen through the coming decades. The report also dispels any notion that the effects of the climate crisis are abstract or distant. Extreme events are being felt across the world, from wildfires in Australia, Sweden and north-west America to heatwaves in Siberia and Canada and the devastating drought in South Africa. Evidence has grown since the last assessment report that human activity has exacerbated extreme weather events. Without urgent action, such events will continue to get worse. Moreover, sea levels are projected to rise over this century. Rises of as much as 2m cannot be ruled out, leaving low-lying lands and coastal communities extremely vulnerable. One of the headline figures in the report is that average global temperatures in 2011-2020 were 1.1C higher compared with 1850-1900. Though this may seem like a small increase on any individual day, the increments matter in the long term. With every additional fraction of a degree increase in global warming, changes in extreme events such as heatwaves, floods and droughts become larger. The Paris agreement in 2015 was momentous in committing signatories to limiting global warming to 2C above pre-industrialised levels, and preferably 1.5C. The IPCC’s report makes plain that our goal should be to keep temperature rises as small as possible. Relative to a 2C increase, limiting temperature rises to 1.5C would reduce the risks of food and water shortages, improve prospects for endangered species and protect human health from air pollution, malnutrition and extreme heat. We must aim for that goal. Limiting global warming to 1.5C is ambitious – but is not fanciful. In the 2019 amendment to the Climate Change Act, the UK showed the intent required and committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Still, achieving that aim will be a challenge. The climate crisis is as much a rural problem as an urban one. It is both economic and human, domestic and international. This means transformation is required at every level of society: individuals, employers, institutions and international partners will need to work together to understand the trade-offs, agree compromises and seize opportunities. And just as scientists are pooling insights from diverse fields of expertise, policymakers will need to work in new ways, sharing ideas across disciplines to plot a clear path from here to net zero. This is a whole systems challenge. Tackling it will require a systemic approach. Working back from 2050, it is clear that reaching net zero requires a renewed emphasis on science and innovation. First, we need to assess the technologies already available, identify those we need at scale by the middle of the century and deploy them as fast as possible. Second, we need to rigorously monitor progress against intermediate targets to make sure we are on track. Third, we need to identify areas where practical answers don’t yet exist – where research and innovation is still required to answer specific challenges – and invest accordingly; done well, these investments can seed the industries of the future. Across all this, we need to think globally, ensuring climate innovations are affordable and that their benefits are shared equally. We must also recognise that the climate has already changed, and will continue to do so as we near 1.5C. The seas are rising, and floods and wildfires are more frequent. Again, science and engineering can help us to adapt, boosting the resilience of the most vulnerable and strengthening global food security. Existing tools can anticipate adverse events, while adjusting the design of cities, transport systems and agriculture can minimise their worst effects. Together with the Cop president designate, Alok Sharma, we will ensure that the forthcoming climate change conference (Cop26) will emphasise science and innovation, including a dedicated day of activity. We hope that one of the legacies of Cop26 will be that science is considered as important in producing solutions to climate change as it is in understanding it. Each of the IPCC’s assessment reports are an extraordinary undertaking, drawing on thousands of experts from around the world to provide the most comprehensive assessment of the present and future climate to date. They have made their mark, too. The second assessment report, published in 1995, memorably stated that “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate” and ultimately led to the Kyoto protocol committing parties to limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The fifth informed the Paris agreement of 2015. We hope that the sixth will spur similarly historic action in Glasgow in November and set the world on a safe and sustainable trajectory. Patrick Vallance is the UK government chief scientific adviser The following scientific advisers also contributed to this piece: Stephen Belcher, chief scientific adviser, Met Office; Gideon Henderson, chief scientific adviser, Defra; Paul Monks, chiefscientific adviser, BEIS; Mike Short, chief scientific adviser, DIT; and Charlotte Watts, chief scientific adviser, FCDO | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/ipcc', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'tone/comment', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'science/science', 'world/world', 'profile/patrick-vallance', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-08-09T11:43:13Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2022/feb/17/land-clearing-in-nsw-triples-over-past-decade-state-of-the-environment-2021-report-reveals | Land clearing in NSW tripled over past decade, State of the Environment 2021 report reveals | The New South Wales government has admitted that land clearing has increased threefold over the past decade, woodlands and grasslands are deteriorating, and 62% of vegetation in the state is now under pressure from too much fire. The NSW State of the Environment 2021 report, released every three years, paints a grim picture for land and freshwater ecosystems, which are under increasing threat from habitat destruction, invasive species and the climate crisis. The report provides an overview of the environmental issues facing the state including for biodiversity, waterways and the climate. The number of species in NSW threatened with extinction has grown by 18 (to 1,043) since the previous report in 2018 and 64% of mammals are now considered to have suffered long-term reductions in their habitat range. Clearing of woody vegetation increased to an annual average of 35,000 hectares between 2017 and 2019, up from 13,000 hectares between 2009 and 2015. The rate of clearing for non-woody vegetation such as shrubs and grasses was even higher. Bird populations are declining, so too are freshwater fish populations, which were singled out as being in “very poor condition” across the state. More than 70% of endangered plants, animals and habitats in the state are threatened by invasive species, with pest animals and weeds costing the state’s economy $170m and $1.8bn respectively each year. The report, released on Wednesday by the NSW Environment Protection Authority, notes that although 62% of land-based species in the state are not considered to be threatened, the number of endangered species is expected to continue to grow. Although habitat restoration and revegetation programs are in place, these are “not restoring native vegetation at the rate of permanent clearing”, the report states. “Management and conservation efforts will not be enough to save many species without addressing key threats such as habitat removal and climate change.” The report highlights the devastating effects of the 2019-20 bushfires disaster, which affected 62% of the state’s vegetation communities, which are now under pressure from too much burning. It finds that although native vegetation covers 69% of NSW, the ecological carrying capacity of this vegetation is estimated to be just 31% of natural levels in the aftermath of fires. The state’s mean temperature from 2011 to 2020 was 1.1C higher than late last century and the period covered by the report included the warmest years on record (2018 and 2019). The report states emissions in NSW were now 17% lower than in 2005. Eighty-one per cent of electricity in NSW in 2019-20 was generated from fossil fuels, a decline of 7% since the previous report in 2018. Energy consumption had fallen overall but energy use for transport, along with transport emissions, was increasing. The report also finds the amount of waste generated per person has increased by 9% and total waste was up 17%. It states 64% of all waste was diverted for recycling and the volume of litter decreased by 43% between 2013 and 2020. The state’s new environment minister, James Griffin, said the report shone a light on the environmental issues the state was facing and “challenges us to do more”. He said in the three years covered by the report the state had experienced its worst bushfire season and one of its worst droughts. “I fundamentally believe that nature underpins everything on this planet, and for that reason, this report should matter to business leaders, it should matter to environmental advocates, it should matter to academics, and to every citizen in the state,” Griffin said. “Protecting and conserving the environment requires a concerted effort from all of us, and I’m eager to work collaboratively to achieve that goal.” Penny Sharpe, the opposition’s environment spokesperson, said the state’s environment was in serious trouble. “For all the talk from the previous minister [Matt Kean], this report is an indictment on his tenure as minister,” she said. “The report is so bad that he refused to put his name to it.” Sharpe said the new minister’s tenure would “mean nothing” without serious action to protect habitat, reduce clearing and allow landscapes to recover from the fire disaster. Comment was sought from Kean. | ['environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/wildlife', 'australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-02-16T16:30:11Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2001/nov/14/cuba.socialsciences | Dr Ben Wisner: Coping with natural disasters | Hurricane Michelle was a category 3 storm. It hit land at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's southern coast, where the ill-fated CIA-backed invasion failed decades ago, with winds of 216km/hr. The storm travelled north across the island, damaging 22,400 homes and destroying 2,800. It damaged agriculture, industry and infrastructure in five provinces in the western half of the island, as well as Havana. It was the worst hurricane to hit Cuba since 1944. But only five deaths have so far been reported: four from the collapse of structures and one drowning. By contrast, when Michelle traveled through Central America in a weaker form, 10 people died and another 26 are listed as missing. More than 10,000 lives were lost in Central America during hurricane Mitch, a disaster whose fatal effects could have been largely prevented. How did Cuba save lives? The most important factor seems to be timely evacuation. Roughly 700,000 people were evacuated out of Cuba's 11m population. This is quite a feat given Cuba's dilapidated fleet of vehicles, fuel shortage and poor road system. It was possible only because of advance preparations and planning, a cadre of local personnel, trust in warnings given and cooperation with the Red Cross. In Havana the electricity was turned off to avoid deaths or injuries from electrocution, and the tap water supply was turned off in case of possible contamination. Reports say that Havana's population was advised to store water and food, and that they largely complied. They also helped clear debris which could have become dangerous if lifted by strong winds from streets. Cuban state television broadcasts included references to the 1932 hurricane that had killed more than 3,000. These preparations point to an effective risk communication system, a historical memory of past disasters actively encouraged by the authorities, neighbourhood-based organisations capable of mobilising labour and trust on the part of the general population. Havana is a city of 2m with a history of deaths due to hurricanes. In 1844, 500 lost their lives in Havana. In 1866 the death toll in the city was 600 and in 1944 there were 330 fatalities and 269 collapsed buildings. But 2001 was not the first time that preparations had saved lives. In 1996 some historic buildings were destroyed due to hurricane Lili, but no one died. Does socialism help? In 1978 I published a letter in the journal Disasters calling for a systematic comparison of socialist and non-socialist countries' success in mitigating the human impacts of extreme natural events. I contrasted the small loss of life from drowning or subsequent disease during large floods in the Red river delta of Vietnam with the estimated huge loss of life calculated by the US military planners when they were preparing to bomb the Red river's levees and dikes. I suggested researchers look carefully at preparedness, mitigation and recovery in socialist countries such as China, Cuba, the USSR, Somalia and Mozambique. Today three of these countries no longer claim to be socialist; indeed, Somalia is arguably still without a viable central government following years of civil war, and some consider Mozambique to be a ward of overseas donors. I still believe that my 1978 question is relevant to disas ter research. It is not ideological but practical. If further systematic comparative study shows that public expenditure on human needs (healthcare, education, public housing, utility subsidies for low income people) and infrastructure does save lives in extreme events, this is an important finding. I don't care whether it's called socialism or good governance. Comparisons shouldn't necessarily be among so-called communist states (contemporary or historical studies) and so-called capitalist ones. Indeed, city by city comparisons might also be very revealing. The ideological orientation of the national government may not be the most important factor. The systematic study would require a careful and precise definition of the elements one is looking for. These are mostly likely to include self-help and citizen-based social protection at the neighbourhood level, trust between the authorities and the population, investment in basic needs and social capital such as the training of neighbourhood activists, investment in capable and transparently operating government institutions for prevention and mitigation of disaster risk, investment in scientific capacity such as Havana's weather institute and public health services, an effective risk communication system and institutionalised historical memory of disasters. Cuba may not have all of these and it may not be socialism that has provided Cuba with the ability to save lives in hurricanes. It may be more complicated than that. I'd hypothesise that more people die of hypothermia each year in Scotland than in Finland as rate of population in an age group. This is not because Finland is socialist, but because of the kinds of public spending priorities in Finland associated with European social-democracy rather than the minimalist welfare apparatus left in Britain since the assault on the welfare state began in the early 80s. Whatever the reasons, Cuba has lessons for the rest of us. What a shame it is officially excluded from the Organisation of American States, and will not be represented at the upcoming Hemispheric Disaster Risk Reduction conference, where experts from the other states will talk about how to save lives. Dr Ben Wisner is a disaster expert from Oberlin College, Ohio, and a visiting research fellow at the Development Studies Institute, LSE. www.anglia.ac.uk/geography/radix | ['world/cuba', 'education/socialsciences', 'education/higher-education', 'world/world', 'education/education', 'tone/comment', 'tone/analysis', 'world/americas', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2001-11-14T02:03:25Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
politics/2017/nov/06/oxford-street-traffic-free-boulevard-london-mayor | Oxford Street could become 'traffic-free boulevard' next year | A large section of London’s Oxford Street could be traffic-free by next December under a proposal unveiled by the mayor on Monday to improve the area for shoppers. A public consultation has opened into banning all forms of transport between Oxford Circus and Orchard Street to coincide with the launch of the new Elizabeth line at the end of 2018. The £60m plan is aimed at tackling growing air quality concerns, high accident and collision rates and congestion at peak travel times. Transport for London (TfL) has been working since summer last year to reduce the number of buses operating along Oxford Street. The half-mile western section between Oxford Circus and Orchard Street would be traffic-free for east-west traffic – and buses diverted – while some north-south routes would be retained. Cyclists would be required to dismount on this route, while new and extended taxi ranks would be created near Oxford Street for cabs to pick up and drop off customers. Unveiling the blueprint with Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster city council, Sadiq Khan hailed it as “a hugely exciting moment for the capital”. He said: “Oxford Street is world famous with millions of visitors every year, and in just over a year the iconic part of the street west of Oxford Circus could be transformed into a traffic-free pedestrian boulevard. “Whether you’re a local resident, a business or shop in some of the area’s famous stores, our plans will make the area substantially cleaner and safer for everyone, creating one of the finest public spaces in the world.” The mayor said he would continue to work closely with residents, businesses and Westminster council “to ensure the plans are the very best they can be”. Residents in areas such as Marylebone are concerned about the impact of rerouting traffic. The proposals are backed by the New West End Company, which represents some 600 retailers in the area. More than 3.5 million people visit Oxford Street each week, and the Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street area contributes about £7.6bn each year to the UK economy. Its chief executive, Jace Tyrrell, said: “Removing the wall of red buses from Oxford Street will reduce congestion and improve air quality.” The plan is the first of three phases for the transformation of Oxford Street, to be followed by the stretch between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road and then between Marble Arch and Orchard Street. TFL said the first phase would cost about £60m with plans for the full revamp – funded by the government and the private sector – hopefully in place by 2021. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'politics/sadiq-khan', 'environment/pollution', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'world/road-transport', 'environment/environment', 'business/retail', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'business/business', 'politics/politics', 'money/money', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-11-06T12:48:12Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2022/apr/24/thousands-forced-to-flee-as-wildfires-sweep-through-new-mexico | One dead and thousands forced to flee as wildfires sweep across US | Wind-driven wildfires sweeping through parts of Nebraska contributed to the death of one person and injured at least three firefighters, authorities said Sunday. The person who died was in Red Willow county, in the south-west corner of the state, Nebraska emergency management agency spokeswoman Jodie Fawl said. She said she did not have details about that person or where the firefighters were injured, though she said their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. The Nebraska national guard deployed three helicopters and several support trucks to help battle the blazes. The death came as wind-driven wildfires destroyed hundreds of structures in northern New Mexico and forced thousands to flee mountain villages as blazes burned unusually early in the year in the parched US south-west. Two wildfires merged north-west of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and raced through 15 miles (24km) of forest driven by winds over 75mph, destroying more than 200 buildings, state authorities said. To the north-east, a fire about 35 miles east of Taos doubled in size to become the largest burning in the United States, forcing the evacuation of a scout ranch and threatening several villages. The wildfires are the most severe of nearly two dozen in the US south-west and raised concerns the region was in for a brutal fire year as a decades-long drought combined with abundant dry vegetation. By Saturday, five counties in New Mexico were under a state of emergency after the governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, issued one for Mora county. She had declared states of emergency for Colfax, Lincoln, San Miguel and Valencia counties on Friday. “We have a longer, more dangerous and more dramatic fire season ahead of us,” Lujan Grisham told reporters, adding that the state had 20 active fires following Friday’s “unprecedented” wind storm. Winds and temperatures in New Mexico diminished on Saturday but remained strong enough to still fan fires, and dozens of evacuation orders remained in place. Over 200 structures have burned, Lujan Grisham said, not providing specifics on locations or the numbers of homes included in that count. She appealed to residents to refrain from using fireworks or burning trash and to evacuate when fire warnings are issued. “You need to leave. The risks are too great,” she said. The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires near Las Vegas combined to burn 42,341 acres (171 sq km), an area larger than Florida’s Disney World. Evacuations expanded to half a dozen more communities, including the village of Mora, the governor said. Climate change has lowered winter snowpacks and allowed larger and more extreme fires to start earlier in the year, according to scientists. East of Taos, the Cooks Peak fire nearly doubled in size to 48,672 acres, forcing the evacuation of the Philmont Scout Ranch and threatening the village of Cimarron. New Mexico as of Saturday had the most major wildfires burning of any state, though neighbouring Arizona also had large fires, where flames stretching 100ft (30 meters) raced through rural neighbourhoods near Flagstaff this week. Elsewhere in the region, the fire danger in the Denver area on Friday was the highest it had been in over a decade, according to the National Weather Service, because of unseasonable temperatures in the 80s (26C-32C) combined with strong winds and very dry conditions. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report • This article was amended on 24 April 2022. The Cooks Peak fire is to the east of Taos, not to the west, as an earlier version said. | ['world/wildfires', 'us-news/newmexico', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/arizona', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/natural--disasters', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-04-24T17:00:44Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
food/2019/jan/19/barley-water-recipe-waste-not-leftovers-tom-hunt | How to make delicious barley water from leftover cooking water | Waste not | Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated, a skill disappearing with our great-grandmothers or a knowledge harboured only by chefs of great talent. Cooking is, or at least can be, the simplest thing in the world. It’s about having respect for ingredients and where they came from that really ups our game, allowing everyone to produce remarkable and delicious dishes with very little effort. Of course, seeking out the finest ingredients can be an expensive endeavour, so eating plenty of plants and the whole ingredient mitigates this cost. Even the cooking liquid from a simple boiled vegetable or grain can be saved and used as stock, the base of a soup or, if the boiled ingredient is of particular note, rendered delicious with nothing more than the application of a little love and a pinch of salt. Barley water Drinking the water from the grains we cook for food is the ultimate way to obtain every last nutrient from our food and waste nothing. Drinking grain water is a practice that has been around for millennia, possibly because it has long been thought to be an elixir with many health benefits that help with detoxification and nourishment. 150g barley 2 litres water 100ml sweetener – local honey, maple syrup, date syrup, xylitol or even sugar Zest and juice of 2 unwaxed organic lemons 1 sprig mint and ice, to serve Put the barley and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, turn down to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid into a jug or bowl (keep the barley to make a salad or to serve as a carb with your next meal). Add the lemon zest and your chosen sweetener to the hot liquid, then leave to cool. Once cold, stir in the lemon juice and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Serve with plenty of ice and a sprig of mint. | ['food/series/waste-not', 'food/food', 'tone/recipes', 'tone/features', 'environment/food-waste', 'environment/environment', 'food/vegetables', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/waste', 'food/softdrinks', 'type/article', 'profile/tom-hunt', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/feast', 'theguardian/feast/feast', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/feast'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-01-19T06:00:10Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2014/nov/05/progressive-ballot-initiatives-counter-current-republican-tide | Progressive ballot initiatives provide counter-current to Republican tide | By the time the confetti settled on Tuesday night, America was unquestionably, albeit not unexpectedly, a redder nation. A succession of GOP victories in the US midterm elections saw Republicans take the US Senate from Democrats. They fortified their stronghold in the US House of Representatives, where they are on the verge of securing their largest majority since the 1940s. They also won big in state capitals across the country. It was a bleak night for Democrats. But the results of more than 140 statewide ballot measures revealed some bright spots for those to the left of centre. From approving recreational marijuana to rejecting personhood initiatives, voters tended to embrace liberal causes, even in states that elected conservative leaders. Here’s a look at new laws tugging the nation back, if only slightly, to the left. Minimum wage hikes Voters in four red states, Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, resoundingly approved ballot measures to raise the minimum wage above current levels. The hikes are modest compared with the $15 protesters and activists are demanding. The measures will raise the states’ minimum wage by between $1.25 and $2.25 over the next few years. A non-binding measure in Illinois, a blue state, also passed. Significantly, voters living in one of the country’s most expensive cities, San Francisco, also approved a wage hike, raising the minimum there to $15 an hour. Recreational marijuana use Amid much fanfare, Oregon and Alaska voted to legalize recreational marijuana, joining a small contingent of US states where smoking a joint isn’t against local law. (The drug remains illegal under federal law.) Supporters hailed the twin victories as a bellwether of a national policy change on the issue. The laws permit residents over 21 to grow their own marijuana and establish a legal retail trade. Washington DC residents approved an initiative which will allow them to legally possess and grow small amounts of cannabis for personal use. Unlike those in Oregon and Alaska and the two states that already allow recreational marijuana, Colorado and Washington, the District’s measure does not set up a scheme for commercial sales of the drug. And the proposal’s fate is not entirely sealed, because the US Congress, which has significant authority over the city, can overrule its laws. In Florida, a majority of voters backed a measure legalizing medical marijuana, but that wasn’t enough to pass it – the “yes vote” came just short of the 60% threshold needed for approval. And more than 8,000 miles away, the Pacific island of Guam became the first US territory to legalise medical marijuana. Sentencing reform Californians voted to roll back sentencing laws, loosening punishments for certain crimes in an effort to curb the state’s prison population. A variety of crimes, including theft, shoplifting and drug possession for personal use, would be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors. The savings from keeping people out of prison will fund anti-truancy, mental health and drug treatment programs. Gun control Washington voters approved a universal background check measure being hailed as the nation’s toughest. The new law goes beyond what is required under federal law, extending background checks to private firearm sales and transfers in Washington state. A competing measure that would have prohibited background checks beyond what is mandated by federal law failed. Fracking Residents of a Texas town where America’s oil and natural gas boom began voted to ban fracking inside its city limits, a first for the state. Abortion restrictions Voters in North Dakota and Colorado fought off two ballot initiatives that would have expanded the rights of unborn children. Opponents of the so-called “personhood” initiatives say such laws could consequently restrict women’s access to abortions, ban certain types of birth control and possibly bar in-vitro fertilization. In Tennessee, however, voters elected to amend the state constitution so that women’s right to an abortion is no longer “secured” or “protected”. The amendment hands state lawmakers new powers to regulate abortions in the state. | ['us-news/us-midterm-elections-2014', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'politics/drugspolicy', 'society/drugs', 'society/society', 'politics/politics', 'us-news/gun-control', 'environment/oil', 'environment/gas', 'environment/environment', 'business/oil', 'business/gas', 'business/business', 'world/abortion', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lauren-gambino'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2014-11-05T19:35:25Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2013/mar/08/onshore-wind-national-trust-court | Onshore wind sector receives high court setback | The onshore wind sector received a setback last night when a judge in the high court quashed a previously approved scheme at Barnwell Manor in Northamptonshire on land owned by the Duke of Gloucester. The decision was seen as a significant victory by the National Trust and heritage campaigners. Mrs Justice Lang overturned planning permission for Barnwell Manor – just a mile from Grade I-listed Lyveden New Bield – on the grounds that the heritage issue had not been properly addressed, something the developers denied. "We are extremely disappointed that the statutory challenge has been successful," said Robert Tate, managing director of developer, West Coast Energy, which said it had already spent a "considerable amount of money" preparing its green energy scheme. But Helen Ghosh, director-general of the National Trust, said she was "delighted" that the experience of visitors to Lyveden New Bield – an Elizabethan lodge and moated garden – was closer to being safeguarded. "Clearly every legal case is different but this sets an important marker in the defence of the historic environment from inappropriate development," she said. The wind power trade association, RenewableUK, insisted this should not be seen as a precedent. "The fact that this application went to the high court shows that, at times, decisions are finely balanced and difficult to reach," said RenewableUK's deputy chief executive, Maf Smith. "The very same high court judge, Mrs Justice Lang, upheld applications for two wind farms in Norfolk in January – even though campaigners against renewable energy had tried to cite heritage issues in that case. So any attempt to claim that one single judgment sets an unchangeable pattern is incorrect." Last week RWE, one of the big six energy suppliers, also went to the high court to challenge Milton Keynes council's plan to impose a buffer zone of more than a kilometre between any turbines and residential areas. Wind farm developers admit they are increasingly concerned that since 100 backbench Tory MPs wrote to David Cameron last year calling for an end to subsidies for onshore wind, opportunities have been dwindling. John Hayes, the newly installed energy minister, said in the autumn that the UK was "peppered" with wind farms and that "enough is enough". Since then it has emerged that at least nine councils have already introduced or are considering introducing buffer zones even though the official government policy remains that local authorities should have a strategy to promote renewable energy. Meanwhile a Conservative member of the House of Lords has been pursuing a private member's bill to introduce a national buffer zone. RWE has run into problems with two wind farms, Nun Wood and Orchard Way, near Milton Keynes. Wayne Cranstone, RWE's onshore development director, said that his company was seeking clarity from the high court in a bid to prove the buffer policy was flawed and in contradiction to national policy. "We support properly implemented planning policies that provide a fair and responsible framework for the assessment of applications. The activity the industry undertakes is fundamental in helping support the UK to meet renewable energy targets, create thousands of jobs, reduce the impact of climate change and increase the security of energy supply, he said." | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/national-trust', 'uk/uk', 'law/law', 'tone/news', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2013-03-08T19:21:45Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2014/may/19/doubling-of-antarctic-ice-loss-revealed-by-european-satellite | Doubling of Antarctic ice loss revealed by European satellite | Antarctica is shedding 160 billion tonnes a year of ice into the ocean, twice the amount of a few years ago, according to new satellite observations. The ice loss is adding to the rising sea levels driven by climate change and even east Antarctica is now losing ice. The new revelations follows the announcement last week that the collapse of the western Antarctica ice sheet has already begun and is unstoppable, although it may take many centuries to complete. Global warming is pushing up sea level by melting the world’s major ice caps and by warming and expanding oceans waters. The loss of the entire western Antarctica ice sheet would eventually cause up to 4 metres (13ft) of sea-level rise, devastating low-lying and coastal areas around the world. The new data, published in journal Geophysical Research Letters, comes from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite, which was launched in 2010. It shows that the western Antarctica ice sheet is where 87% of the lost ice is being shed, with the east Antarctic and the Antarctic peninsula shedding the rest. The data collected from 2010-2013 was compared to that from 2005-2010. The satellite measures changes in the height of the ice and covers virtually the whole of the frozen continent, far more of than previous altimeter missions. CryoSat-2 collected five times more data than before in the crucial coastal regions where ice losses are concentrated and found key glaciers were losing many metres in height every year. The Pine Island, Thwaites and Smith Glaciers in west Antarctica were losing between 4m and 8m annually. “The increased thinning we have detected in west Antarctica is a worrying development,” said Professor Andrew Shepherd, at the University of Leeds and who led the study. “It adds concrete evidence that dramatic changes are underway in this part of our planet.” Professor David Vaughan, at the British Antarctic Survey and not involved in this research, said: “The increasing contribution of Antarctica to sea-level rise is a global issue, and we need to use every technique available to understand where and how much ice is being lost. Through some very clever technical improvements, [Shepherd’s team] have produced the best maps of Antarctic ice-loss we have ever had. Prediction of the rate of future global sea-level rise must be begin with a thorough understanding of current changes in the ice sheets – this study puts us exactly where we need to be.” | ['environment/poles', 'environment/sea-level', 'environment/environment', 'science/satellites', 'environment/oceans', 'science/space', 'world/antarctica', 'science/science', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-05-19T16:08:03Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
society/2010/jan/27/local-authority-rubbish-cleanup-bnp | Eyesore rubbish vies for importance with BNP on local politics agenda | On a freezing Friday morning, Dagenham MP Jon Cruddas, whose primary concern is fending off the BNP at the next general election in a seat where it is already the second largest party on the local council, has chosen to hang out with the bin men at Barking and Dagenham council's new project, Eyesore Gardens. Cruddas, who has penned many words on the rise of the BNP and how Labour must reconnect with the white working class, has now taken up the dirtiest form of street-fighting because, in Dagenham, rubbish – and your stance on it – is the kind of issue that can get you noticed. Standing in the fog, watching a concrete yard being cleared of junk, Cruddas is approached by the son of an 80-year-old constituent who lives in a house along the road. "You won't remember, but you got her her first wheelie bin," he tells Cruddas. "Hers was the first in the street and she was worried sick it was going to get nicked." Did she chain it up? "Nah, she kept it in the hall." Cruddas's constituency has a problem because no matter how much people value their bins, Dagenham has got progressively more filthy. The houses on the estates built in the 1930s for workers at the Ford car plant were once "des res". Now, the houses are largely rented, through which short-term tenants flow in and out, chucking away the previous tenants' soft furnishings. The area is now remarkable for its inside-out properties: two or three mattresses, three-piece suites and rolls of carpets in front gardens, while wildlife takes over indoors – with rats, pigeons nesting in the eaves, and moss thriving on carpets. "If the mattresses outside aren't enough," says the leader of the local council, Liam Smith, "then look for the pigeons sitting on the roof. It means vermin living up there. Get your eye in watching that programme, A Life of Grime." Two months ago, Smith decided to get involved, and his officers were given the task of scouring the statute books to make the clean-up possible. "It used to be that if you were unhappy with a garden near you, you would ring up the council and say you thought the people next door had rats, because you knew you'd always get a reaction [to that]," says one of Smith's officers, who has worked for many councils around the country, trying but failing to get similar schemes off the ground. "The pest control people will go out and see you've not got rats, so they go back and do the paperwork, but feel they should pass it on to the environmental health team. They then go out to the property and also see that it's not really their business, so they go back to the office and send it to the planning team, who say, 'Well, it's not really urgent, but we'll serve a notice.' So, four or five officers and three months later, it may or may not get solved." Now Dagenham council uses three different pieces of existing legislation to enable its officers to go out and take control. The footsoldiers on the new frontline are the eight members of the Eyesore Gardens team. Wearing fleeces with the project name on the back, they tour the estates, putting notices through the doors of houses with unsightly front gardens. While posting one notice through the letter box of a property with building waste in its front garden, they are asked by a neighbour: "Can't you do anything about this one? It just looks so, well, they're just chucking everything out." "The owner is recently deceased," a team member explains. But the neighbour counters: "No, no, no. That was in June. Not recent." Get on with it, the neighbour is saying. Which is what the team will do. If no action is taken by the tenants within 28 days, Eyesore Gardens' members come along with a rubbish truck and oversee the clear-up of the garden. They bill the landlord for the cost of the work, and if it is not paid, they take matters to court. Owners can be fined up to £2,500, and have that amount, as well as the cost of the clear-up, plus interest, docked from the price of the property when it is eventually sold. Over a four-week period, the team visited around 160 houses and removed a total of eight tonnes of rubbish from the gardens. "We're not after Kew Gardens," Smith says. "But, equally, we don't want Steptoe's front yard." Like a bushfire "It's the best thing the council has ever done," Cruddas says. "You open your door, you see your front garden, and if it gets cleaned up it is a signal about the whole neighbourhood. It's like a bushfire through the area and it re-establishes your responsibility to your local community. " What has most pleased those involved in Eyesore Gardens is how rarely they have had to take legal action. "I promised the leader of the council that within three months there would be 30 prosecutions" says one of the environmental health officers in charge of the project. "But there's no way we'll meet that because people are complying." The council helps people to do it themselves. For those more able but less equipped, there are visits by a "tool library", from which, on the presentation of a library membership card, residents can hire shovels, clippers or hoes to attack their front garden themselves. "Some people might think that's your liberal right to drop all your stuff in your front yard," Cruddas says. "But [at what stage] does your liberal right collide with the community's right to have a clean and tidy environment?" | ['society/society', 'society/localgovernment', 'society/communities', 'politics/localgovernment', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/allegrastratton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/societyguardian', 'theguardian/societyguardian/societyguardian'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2010-01-27T00:05:16Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/blog/2011/sep/08/artificial-island-pacific-sea-levels | Artificial island could be solution for rising Pacific sea levels | John Vidal | Sea levels are rising so fast that the tiny Pacific state of Kiribati is seriously considering moving its 100,000 people on to artificial islands. In a speech to the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum this week, President Anote Tong said radical action may be needed and that he had been looking at a $2bn plan that involved "structures resembling oil rigs": "The last time I saw the models, I was like 'wow it's like science fiction, almost like something in space. So modern, I don't know if our people could live on it. But what would you do for your grandchildren? If you're faced with the option of being submerged, with your family, would you jump on an oil rig like that? And [I] think the answer is 'yes'. We are running out of options, so we are considering all of them." Kiribati is not alone. Tuvalu, Tonga, the Maldives, the Cook and the Solomon Islands are all losing the battle against the rising seas and are finding it tough to pay for sea defences. Kiribati faces an immediate bill of over $900m just to protect its infrastructure. But history shows there is no technological reason why the nation could not stay in the middle of the Pacific even if sea levels rose several feet. The Uros people of Peru live on around 40 floating villages made of grasses in the middle of Lake Titicaca. Equally, the city of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec predecessor of Mexico City that was home to 250,000 people when the Spaniards arrived, stood on a small natural island in Lake Texcoco that was surrounded by hundreds of artificial islands. More recently, Holland, Japan, Dubai, and Hong Kong have all built artificial islands for airports, or new housing. The mayor of London Boris Johnson has a vision of a giant international airport in the middle of the Thames estuary with five runways to replace Heathrow. Kiribati could also take a lesson from the Maldives, where the rubbish of the capital city Male and the hundreds of tourist islands, is sent to the artificial island of Thilafushi. It's growing about one square metre per day. Neft Daslari, Stalin's city in the middle of the Caspian sea, is still operational after more than 60 years. At its peak it housed over 5,000 oil workers 34 miles off the Azerbaijan coastline. It began with a single path out over the water and grew to have over 300km of streets, mainly built on the back of sunken ships. Kiribati could emulate Spiral Island in Mexico. This was constructed by British artist Richard "Rishi" Sowa on a base of 250,000 plastic bottles. The island was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005 but is being rebuilt. With millions of tonnes of rubbish already floating in the Pacific, and plans to collect it, Kiribati could solve two problems in one go. But Tong's imagination has been stirred by a more futuristic vision. It's possible he's seen the "Lilypad" floating city concept by the Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut. This "ecopolis" would not only be able to produce its own energy through solar, wind, tidal and biomass but would also process CO2 in the atmosphere and absorb it into its titanium dioxide skin. Bangkok architects S+PBA have come up with the idea of a floating "wetropolis" to replace eventually the metropolis of Bangkok. They say that Bangkok is founded on marshes and with sea levels rising several centimetres a year and the population growing fast, it's cheaper and more ecologically sound to embrace the rising seas than fight them. Stranger still could be the German architect Wolf Hilbertz's idea for a self-assembling sea city called Autopia Ampere. Hilbertz plans to use the process of electrodeposition to create an island that would build itself in the water. It would begin as a series of wire mesh armatures connected to a supply of low-voltage direct current produced by solar panels. The electrochemical reactions would draw up sea minerals over time, creating walls of calcium carbonate on the armatures. Islands have always fascinated political utopians, and now the billionaire hedge-fund manager and technology utopian Peter Thiel, has linked with Patri Friedman, a former Google engineer and grandson of Nobel prize-winning free market economist Milton Friedman to envisage a libertarian floating country. Their idea is to build a series of physically linked oil-rig-type platforms anchored in international waters. The new state would be built by entrepreneurs and have no regulation, laws, no welfare, restrictions on weapons or moral code of ethics. Eventually, millions of "seasteading" people would live there. Plans for a prototype are said to have been drawn up for the first diesel-powered, 12,000-tonne structure with room for 270 residents. Eventually, dozens – perhaps even hundreds – of these could be linked together, says Friedman who hopes to launch a flotilla of floating offices off the San Francisco coast next year. In the end, it depends on money, which is in short supply for poor countries. If the world puts up several billion dollars – as Tong and his people would probably prefer – it would be technically possible for Kiribati to stay where it is. Realistically, though, Australia, New Zealand and larger Pacific states are likely to be leaned on heavily to provide land for the Kiribatians and the world can expect a series of evacuations over the next 30 years. | ['environment/blog', 'environment/environment', 'environment/sea-level', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/sea-level | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-09-08T15:47:31Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2012/may/14/green-politics-movement-editorial | Green politics: a movement in search of a voice | Editorial | Voting blue to go green was always going to require a leap of faith, and six years on from David Cameron coining that slogan it sounds a hollow ring. His government has a few worthwhile initiatives on energy saving and green investment, but these are not being pursued with any oomph. As soon as green building regulations got branded a conservatory tax, they were meekly dropped. Another rethink is under way on airport expansion, binning the principled stance briefly taken in opposition. The chancellor has taken to cynically rousing the Tory party against "burdensome" green tape. And a recent long-promised set-piece intervention by the prime minister himself turned out to be no more than brief remarks. This is one area where the Liberal Democrats are putting up something of a fight – witness Nick Clegg's robust speech which answered George Osborne's tendency to treat green growth as an oxymoron, by pointing to the vibrancy of a green economy that's expanding at 4% a year. The Conservative mainstream, however, is making a crude calculation – that in hard times like these, voters are little interested in the future of the planet, and will smile on politicians who downgrade such lofty matters in favour of the here and now. Labour's quietude on matters environmental suggests that it, too, believes there are few votes here. The oddity, however, is that a steadily growing band of the voters themselves are pushing the planet centre-stage. It is still a smallish band, to be sure, but in this month's local elections the Green party advanced a little on every measure. It put forward 943 candidates, and the indications are that they chalked up a respectable average of approaching 10% in these contests. In wards that they had fought previously, they inched forward 0.7 percentage points compared with last year, and by 1.4 points against the baseline of May 2008, the pre-recessionary moment when most of the same seats were last contested. The party picked up a handful of extra councillors to add to its total of over 130 across England and Wales, and its sister party in Scotland made parallel advances. Meanwhile, in London, mayoral candidate Jenny Jones pushed the Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick into fourth place. Mr Paddick's humiliation was not any indictment of the Lib Dems' reasonable showing on the natural environment, but a reflection of the wider political one. Just as reactionary voters use Ukip to send an indignant signal of "none of the above", there are progressives who do the same thing with the Greens. The Liberal Democrat brand was previously attractive to refuseniks across the spectrum, but it has been tainted by association with the coalition. That should enhance the opportunistic prospects for a shrewdly led Green operation. Shrewd leadership, though, has often been in short supply. It is not just the cranky policies, such as a health service for animals, that occasionally pop up in party platforms, denting credibility. It is also that – as in the Occupy movement – there are purist elements who buckle at the very idea of any individual assuming to give direction. Indeed there was no leader until Caroline Lucas took up the role in 2008. Without leadership, previous Green advances have proved flashes in the pan: during an earlier brief period of Lib Dem misery, they briefly shot out of nowhere to claim 15% of the vote in the 1989 European elections, but soon sank back into obscurity. One important reason the party might have hoped its current advances would prove more enduring is Ms Lucas's plausible public face. After four years, however, Ms Lucas has decided to hand on the reins. The Green hope must be that a leadership contest will give exposure to energetic activists with experience of local government, and uncover someone else with a talent for taking the message beyond the tribe. With their uneasy relationship with modernity, the Greens will never be to everyone's taste. But their central mission has never been more important – an anonymous collective cannot make the case; a convincing figurehead must be found. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'politics/green-party', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/liberal-conservative-coalition', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/politics', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'tone/editorials', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2012-05-14T21:08:16Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
books/2022/nov/15/the-climate-book-created-by-greta-thunberg-review-an-angry-call-for-action | The Climate Book, created by Greta Thunberg review – an angry call for action | Being Greta Thunberg is no picnic. Still not yet 20, she has fame but not wealth and an army of obsessive detractors who cannot seem to decide whether she is a puritanical fanatic, a gullible puppet or an attention-seeking hypocrite and therefore call her all three. What they hate most, I think, is her effectiveness. A teenager from Sweden has succeeded in dramatically escalating the discourse around the climate emergency. Global heating is not a dire possibility but a present reality; reducing it is no longer just a question of looking after the planet but of preserving human civilisation in a recognisable form. Thunberg is unusual (but should not be) in speaking and behaving in a manner appropriate to what the science tells us, ripping away the standard sticking plasters of reassurance and consolation to leave only raw urgency. She is often dismissed as a Cassandra but, of course, the whole point of the Cassandra story is that she was right. The Climate Book coincides with COP27, just as the UN environment agency has acknowledged that there is “no credible path” to keeping global heating below 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. The current figure is 1.1; at the present rate of carbon emissions, it could go as high as 3.2 by the end of the century. As Thunberg writes: “Hope is something you have to earn.” Thunberg’s first book was a slim jeremiad called No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, but there is nothing small about her latest (cue jibes about paper consumption). This time she takes on a curatorial role, convening a kind of supergroup of scientists, activists and authors, each of whom contributes a short essay about the mess we’re in. Big names such as Margaret Atwood and Naomi Klein mingle with veterans who have been raising the alarm for decades. Amid all the maps, graphs and hair-raising statistics, Thunberg’s connective essays give the book an angry moral pulse. The crisis cannot be addressed, she writes, without talking about “morality, justice, shame, responsibility and guilt”. She is not in the feelgood business. Given the facts the writers are working with, the book is relentless and somewhat repetitive. The cumulative effect of all this writing about heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, floods, epidemics, species extinctions and melting ice sheets walks a fine line between galvanising and paralysing. Most people avoid climate news because it is liable to induce an overwhelming sensation of hopelessness and impotence, given the knowledge that the people with the power to minimise disaster (“avert” is no longer the right word) continue to make weak promises based on rigged figures. The Swedish journalist Alexandra Urisman Otto describes how, while researching a profile of Thunberg, she “went from ignorance and unconcern – straight down into the abyss of despair”. Then she became a climate reporter. First grief, then action. For George Monbiot, rewilding “could be our best defence against despair”. What some readers, even those who recycle diligently and drive electric cars, may find hard to take is the book’s political prescriptions: systemic change, including an end to the obsession with economic growth. The phrase “green industrial revolution”, embraced by both Labour and Conservatives, inspires only contempt from Thunberg. When some parts of the world are suffering from the emissions produced by wealthier parts, Thunberg argues, avoiding the question of injustice would be dishonest. And the truth is that if governments, journalists and citizens had acted appropriately as recently as the year of her birth, then the transition to sustainability could have been much smoother. Such is the price of denial. A fundamental rethink of how we live may be a tough sell, but, as David Wallace-Wells outlines, the global response to Covid-19 proves that we can rise to an emergency if the will is there. Who is The Climate Book for? Those who have pitted themselves against scientific reality are unlikely to read it, and committed climate activists will know most of this already. It will make a dispiriting Christmas present. Still, it is a valuable resource for anyone who wants an ironclad summary of the problems, combined with some credible remedies. One phrase from entomologist Dave Goulson seems to summarise all 464 pages: “It is not quite too late.” Emphasis on the quite. • The Climate Book, created by Greta Thunberg, is published by Allen Lane (£25). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply | ['books/scienceandnature', 'books/series/book-of-the-day', 'books/books', 'tone/reviews', 'books/margaretatwood', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'books/naomi-klein', 'environment/greta-thunberg', 'culture/culture', 'profile/dorianlynskey', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/new-review', 'theobserver/new-review/books', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-new-review'] | environment/greta-thunberg | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2022-11-15T07:00:16Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
business/2022/mar/09/irish-dairy-beef-farmers-urged-grow-crops-grain-shortage-fears | Irish dairy and beef farmers urged to grow crops amid Ukraine shortage fears | Irish dairy and beef farmers are being urged to start growing crops, as agriculture ministers from G7 countries including Britain’s George Eustice prepare to meet on Friday to discuss grain shortages and food price volatility amid the war in Ukraine. There are rising fears that consumers will face price hikes on staples such as bread in addition to rises in fuel, with grain supplies disrupted by the conflict. Ukraine, once known as the breadbasket of Europe, said on Wednesday it was banning exports of rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, sugar, salt and meat for the rest of the year. Together with Russia it supplies 30% of global wheat and barley, fuelling fears of shortages not seen since the second world war when consumers in Britain were encouraged to plant vegetables in gardens, yards and on rooftops. Government data shows Ukraine supplies 20% of the UK’s cereals. Vikki Campbell, a market specialist at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), said the price of wheat futures – grain to be bought on 22 May – had gone up on six consecutive days. On 18 February, days before war, wheat was trading in London at £220 a tonne, but had surged to £289.50 when the market closed on Tuesday. “We do know that supply chains are going to be facing extra costs. Fuel is going up for everyone and processing costs. If we look at a load of bread, wheat makes up 10% of the cost of a loaf you get in the supermarket with 90% coming from other parts of the supply chain, and we know other parts of the supply chain, such as fuel, have not been shielded,” she said. Ronald Kers, the chief executive of 2 Sisters Food Group, the UK’s biggest chicken producer, said the cost of raising a chicken had increased by 50% since last January and he forecast food inflation would exceed predictions. Kers said: “Before this war began, 4-5% food inflation was being forecast by mid-2022. But we now could see a hyper-inflationary environment at closer to 10-15% - more than it’s been for 50 years - if this conflict isn’t resolved quickly.” Campbell said the market was already squeezed by shortages caused by drought in the US and Canada last year. The AHDB said the price of fertiliser had also shot up as it relied on natural gas. The Irish agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue, asked farmers to grow more crops to offset food supply issues caused by the Russian invasion. Farmers are urging the government to issue €2,000 (£1,670) vouchers to help them fertilise the land for crops and winter fodder. Irish farming is dominated by beef and dairy producers, with 60% of grain imported. “Food security is really important over the next number of weeks and months and it is something we have to work together on,” he told RTÉ. Pressed on weekend reports that farmers would be instructed to grow grain – the first time this would have happened since the second world war – McConalogue said: “I think one of the most economical things that any farm can do is consider planting some grain this year and they should look at that and consider their options.” | ['business/fooddrinks', 'world/europe-news', 'world/ireland', 'environment/farming', 'science/agriculture', 'food/food', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'business/business', 'uk/uk', 'politics/george-eustice', 'world/ukraine', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisaocarroll', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-03-09T13:59:28Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2022/jul/06/apple-to-launch-lockdown-mode-to-protect-against-pegasus-style-hacks | Apple to launch ‘lockdown mode’ to protect against Pegasus-style hacks | Apple is launching a “lockdown mode” for its devices to protect people – including journalists and human rights activists – targeted by hacking attacks like those launched by government clients of NSO Group using its Pegasus spyware. Apple will roll out the setting in the autumn and believes it would have prevented previously known spyware attacks by closing down technical avenues for digital espionage. It said the lockdown mode was intended for users who face “grave, targeted threats to their digital security”. The news is a sign of how the proliferation of mercenary spyware, or tools that can be used by government clients to hack into any phones and remotely control them, has become a major business concern for Apple and other phone makers. While for years Apple appeared to play down the threat to its clients posed by Pegasus and other spyware, including by emphasising that such hack attacks affected relatively few users, supporters of the company’s latest move say the new function acknowledges the seriousness of the threat. The protections offered by lockdown mode include blocking most message attachments, blocking incoming FaceTime calls if the user has not previously called the initiator or sent a request for a call, and blocking access to an iPhone when it is connected to a computer or accessory when locked. Ron Deibert, the founder and head of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School, said the new setting would “definitely” make it more challenging for clients of NSO Group and other companies to successfully target individuals, and compared it to the introduction of two-factor authentication. “In other words, it’s introducing some security measure that reduces functionality and user experience in exchange for security. And … we hope other platforms would do something similar,” Deibert said. “We’ve seen the big tech platforms start to address the threats raised by the mercenary spyware industry. We definitely applaud and welcome that.” He added that if the new setting was adopted by users, it would “completely reduce the possibility of getting inside and exploiting some flaw in applications or other bits of software” that make it possible for spyware such as Pegasus to infect a phone. When an iPhone or other handset is infected with Pegasus, the user of the spyware can in effect take over that phone, accessing messages, pictures and location. The software can even turn a phone into a remote listening device. Apple does not disclose the number of its users subjected to Pegasus-style hacks, but its devices have been victim of highly targeted attacks in 150 countries. Pegasus is a hacking program developed and licensed to governments around the world by NSO Group, an Israeli company. It can infect phones running iOS or Android and can be delivered via “zero-click” attacks, which do not require any interaction with the phone’s owner to gain entry to the device. Apple, which is suing NSO in the US, said the new mode was designed for users at risk of being targeted by some of the “most sophisticated digital threats, such as those from NSO Group and other private companies developing state-sponsored mercenary spyware.” It described the mode – which will come with iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura in the autumn – as an optional measure for a “very small number of users”. Apple is offering a reward of $2m (£1.7m) to anyone who can find a way round the new setting. It also announced it is making a $10m grant to the Dignity and Justice Fund, a funding initiative established by the Ford Foundation to help it expose and investigate targeted cyber-attacks. NSO has said it investigates all credible allegations of abuse against its government clients and that its spyware is only meant to be used to target serious criminals such as paedophiles and terrorists. | ['technology/data-computer-security', 'technology/apple', 'technology/iphone', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/technology', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/mobilephones', 'business/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/danmilmo', 'profile/stephanie-kirchgaessner', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-technology'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-07-06T17:17:43Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
theobserver/2017/mar/26/observer-letters-overseas-aid-kenya-drought | Overseas aid is most effective when local communities can help | Letters | I am from Marsabit in northern Kenya and have seen how the drought has left pastoralist communities with no other choice but to rely on aid. It was heartening to read that the UK’s development secretary, Priti Patel, has pledged more support to East Africa (“Patel to defend aid budget as famine crisis spreads”, News). There is no doubt that this money will save lives, but for it to be as effective as possible the aid response must be locally led. There has been a growing realisation of the need to empower local organisations and communities, with international aid agencies working alongside. This approach is at the heart of UK aid agency Cafod’s response to this devastating drought. Our long-standing, trusted church partners harness indigenous knowledge, contacts and expertise. Our partners know, for example, that a vulnerable family left with nothing will share food aid with a neighbour, because communities sustain each other during good and bad times. Local organisations are there before, during and after a crisis and plugging into their systems will help support the transition from humanitarian response to longer term development. James Jirm Galgallo Humanitarian capacity development officer Cafod The dumbing down of science I doubt if many practising engineers and scientists will agree with the tenor of your article regarding the alleged success of scientific coverage on Radio 4 (“BBC must now do for the arts what it has done for science, says R4 culture boss”, News). The majority of the “new wave” of presenters on Radio 4 are science academics or journalists. Prefacing one’s name with “Dr” or “Professor” might impress undergraduates, but it is useless within engineering R&D departments. I listen to Saturday Review every week and have yet to hear Tom Sutcliffe cracking jokes about a play or film. Why does supposed science have to be diluted to the level of The Archers’ Christmas pantomime, with programmes such as The Infinite Monkey Cage? Thankfully, television understands the importance of engineers. I applaud individuals such as Sam Lovegrove (Shed and Buried) and Guy Martin (Channel 4), who put self-promotion on the back burner. Dr Lawrence Jones Liverpool Luther’s antisemitic legacy Peter Stanford eulogises Martin Luther (“Five centuries on, Martin Luther should be feted as hero of liberty and free speech”, In Focus) and asks: “What’s not to celebrate?” I suggest Luther’s murderous sentiments towards Jews and Anabaptists. In Luther’s 65,000-word treatise, On the Jews and Their Lies, he advises Christians on what to do with this “rejected and condemned people”: “First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools…[and] I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed…that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them… that their rabbis be forbidden to teach on pain of loss of life and limb… that safe conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews” and so on. At least he stopped short of calling directly for the killing of Jews. The Anabaptists were not so lucky. For their heresy of believing that people should not be baptised at birth, but only when they were ready to affirm their faith for themselves, Luther declared that they should be put to death. There is no doubt about Luther’s immense courage in exposing corruption within the church, but I believe the good he did is counterbalanced by his legacy of anti-semitism and intolerance of heresy. David Simmonds Woking Surrey Incompetence and Brexit David Olusoga has exposed the “dangerous nostalgia for something that never existed” (Comment), yet this nostalgia has a long history. In 1950, Lord Hinchinbrooke addressed the Conservative Club at Oxford with phrases such as “the Empire will stand by us” or “our own and kin”. Olusoga also turned on the Brexiters, that group leading us into unknown territory. I was shocked that David Davis told the House of Commons Brexit committee that he has no idea about the future of Britain after Brexit. In the 18th century, such incompetence would have been followed by impeachment, so why not now? William Robert Haines Shrewsbury SNP suffers twisted logic The SNP has made a case for another independence referendum, in part because Scotland voted 60/40 to stay in the EU and that by the UK leaving it would deny the people their right to remain (News). Much of Scotland south of the M8 voted overwhelmingly in 2014 to remain in the UK, as did Edinburgh. Indeed, areas such as the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway voted No to independence by almost 2 to 1. If the people in these areas vote No again, using the SNP’s logic over the Brexit vote, they must surely be allowed to stay in the UK, even if the majority of Scots vote Yes. Stephen Bower Belvedere, Kent | ['world/kenya', 'global-development/aid', 'tone/letters', 'environment/drought', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/comment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-comment'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-03-26T00:05:15Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2022/aug/25/escaped-python-hampshire-home-reptile-safe | An escaped 18ft python found its way into a Hampshire home – it’s more common than you think | Paul Rowley | Few things strike fear into the heart of the average person like big snakes. So, when an 18ft (5.5 metre) Burmese python found its way into the home of an unsuspecting family in Hampshire on Tuesday, I imagine the photos made for disturbing viewing. I say “imagine” because I’ve always loved snakes – I keep 170 of the most deadly reptiles in my role as senior herpetologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. So how does an 18ft python find its way on to your roof? Often people buy pythons as babies, when they are just a few feet in length. But then they grow. And, without wanting to state the obvious, pythons are strong. Many could easily push an enclosure lid open, which is why best practice is to keep them locked securely. Some bigger snakes could even crack the glass of their tank and, with the summer’s balmy weather demanding windows are left open for months at a time, snakes could easily find themselves slipping out for a gander around their local neighbourhood. In this case, the python in question was owned by a neighbour, but it’s not clear how it escaped. It’s also true that some owners, knowing how many people are scared of snakes, might not tell their neighbours about their new pet. But responsible ownership is crucial – if a snake of that size decides to wrap you up, there’s not going to be much you can do about it, aside from poking it in the eyes or other vulnerable areas, and hoping for the best. Some keepers find a squirt of hand sanitiser to the snake’s mouth can buy them enough time to get away, but it’s unlikely a member of the general public would have a bottle to hand at exactly the right time. It’s hard to say how often snakes escape, and it’s true that it’s a more common phenomenon for smaller, non-venomous species such as corn snakes and rat snakes to enter ducting or pipes, or communal attic spaces in terraced houses. It may be tempting to make light of these seemingly freak incidents – after all, how likely is it for a python to pay you an unannounced visit – but it’s important not to scoff at the risk big snakes could pose to the public. And even the most experienced of keepers can get caught out. Residential ownership of pythons is certainly an issue of growing concern among some of my peers. In 2020, it was thought that more than 500 venomous snakes were kept as licensed pets in the UK. But anyone can own many of the large constrictor snakes (which aren’t venomous), including Burmese pythons, making them much more difficult to track, and more widespread. In real terms, escaped pythons can be more dangerous than the venomous snakes I care for. A bite from a cobra could be deadly, but normally you would have time to raise the alarm and locate some anti-venom. But if a python made its way into a bedroom and grabbed a child, by the time the parents got up there, it could be too late. As for a python lurking in your garden? That would be a very dangerous scenario for your dog, or your neighbour’s cat. So what should you do if you find a python in your bedroom? Stay back, don’t approach it and don’t antagonise it. Call the RSPCA or local reptile society as they will have people who can deal with them. You would be surprised at the distance from which they can strike. Reptiles can make great pets for people who can’t own a dog or a cat because of rental restrictions or work commitments. But to dismiss their very real danger would be foolish. Paul Rowley is a senior herpetologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/snakes', 'environment/wildlife', 'lifeandstyle/pets', 'uk/uk', 'environment/reptiles', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'uk-news/hampshire', 'profile/paul-rowley', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-08-25T14:32:05Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
science/2009/mar/20/ethical-living-food-animal-welfare | Andy Miah: We're all activists now | Amid all the great changes afoot in the world, a trend is emerging that is as pervasive as it is critical. I call it an "ethical turn", a surge in popular activism, broad democratic demands and institutional reforms that mark a new era of ethical concern in our daily lives. The furore over bankers' financial arrangements and the need for tighter monetary regulations is just one area where the ethical turn has come to light. Everyone from the rightfully indignant public to ministers and celebrities has joined calls for greater accountability. With luck, we are now on the cusp of truly ethical economic reform. The ethical turn has emerged as a powerful movement in popular culture. Celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver have attempted to transform society by urging schools to provide nutritious meals, meanwhile teaching the rest of the nation to cook for ourselves. We are encouraged to ditch fast food, TV dinners and pre-chopped, pre-cooked supermarket foods, and to rediscover the joys of cooking. In doing so, we will regain not only the pleasure of making meals for ourselves, but the social benefits that come with it. We may even find our sense of taste again. Reality television has now been joined by ethical television. In BBC3's recent show, Kill it, Cook it, Eat it, participants and viewers were asked to re-engage with their inner carnivore by taking part in the slaughter and butchery of animals before feasting. The underlying message is clear: by facing up to the realities of the food we buy and eat, we develop a more finely honed morality towards animals. Others are taking up the idea. Artist and activist John O'Shea is developing what he calls the "Meat Licence Proposal", which requires people to have killed an animal before they are allowed to eat one. The licence works on a species level. If you've killed a fish, you can eat fish, but if you want to eat beef, you need first to have killed a cow. The environmental movement is surely the most public arena where the ethical turn has come into play, and here, the sense of public conscience is growing. Today, failing to recycle is stigmatised, but tomorrow, we may feel ashamed of how many flights we take, a shift that would transform our view of the well-travelled citizen. Dealing with climate change is clearly a pressing obligation, but speaking at the first Natural Economy Northwest Green Lecture recently at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool, green campaigner Jonathon Porritt emphasised how much more we have to do in the UK to come close to being ethical in this field. Of course I'm not trying to claim the ethical turn is only at work in Britain. President Obama's emphasis on "mutual responsibility" encompasses the development of science and technology. From stem cell research to internet privacy, there has been a tremendous backlash against moves to limit our freedoms. In the recent controversy over Facebook's new "terms of service", ethically aware members appealed to the ideology of social media and convinced Facebook to revert to its original policy. It worked this time, but ethical issues will arise again in the world of social media. Overwhelmingly, the ethical turn seems a force for good, but there are substantial hurdles it is likely to encounter. Undoubtedly, we must take responsibility as individuals for making the world a better place, but too often, governments and companies undermine individual actions by doing too little themselves. For individuals to have their greatest impact, those in power need to radically rethink how they can make it easier for us. It is neither adequate nor reasonable for us simply to use fewer plastic bags when shopping for groceries. We need to distinguish between what individuals can do, and what governments and companies must enact to allow us to make a difference. We need to democratise ethics and find a way to put it at the heart of our organisations and daily lives. We need transparency to understand the labels on our food, the privacy settings on our computers, and the difference between fair trade and ethical trade. Above all, we need to cultivate an ethical awareness that can identify bad practice before it becomes catastrophic. A middle class ethical crisis will do wonders to raise awareness of broader social injustices. It might even help us find the right moral ground for our times, which will be critical when science and technology create fresh ethical dilemmas that cut across society in fundamental ways. Inevitably, an ethical conscience has already found its way into the branding of multinational corporations. That alone should tell us that a new era of ethical vigilance is upon us. However, if we are not careful, we will empty ethics of its value. This is why the ethical turn cannot be about ethics for ethicists. It involves recognising the many ways in which an ethical conscience is becoming a part of our daily lives, from what we wear and who made it, to asking fundamental questions about emerging technologies and their implications. | ['science/psychology', 'science/science', 'science/food-science', 'science/agriculture', 'world/ethics', 'tone/comment', 'world/animal-welfare', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'business/business', 'environment/activism', 'type/article', 'profile/andy-miah'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2009-03-20T17:33:29Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2015/sep/07/paris-climate-talks-could-fail-warns-francois-hollande | Paris climate talks could fail, warns Francois Hollande | The president of France, Francois Hollande, has warned that the global climate change talks scheduled for Paris this December will fail unless nations make a much greater effort to reach agreement – and that the result could be millions of new refugees fleeing climate disaster. “There is a risk of failure,” he told journalists, after a meeting on the issue of providing financial assistance to poor countries affected by climate change. “If we don’t conclude [with a successful agreement], and there are no substantial measures to ensure the transition [to a climate-affected world], it won’t be hundreds of thousands of refugees in the next 20 years, it will be millions.” His warning comes after an inconclusive week of UN negotiations in Bonn, and ahead of a crucial meeting of world leaders later this month in New York. Hollande has staked his political capital on a successful outcome in Paris, where countries will meet in the hopes of hammering out a global agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to come into force from 2020. But as pre-Paris talks stalled in Bonn last week, with only five official negotiating days to go before the Paris conference begins, negotiators are left with a mountain to climb before a text suitable for agreement by governments can be crafted. Many observers are pinning their hopes on the UN general assembly in New York later this month, at which world leaders are expected to adopt a new set of “sustainable development goals” that will address social issues such as healthcare, education and gender equity. But there will also be ample opportunity for them to discuss climate change, and instruct their negotiating teams to clear the roadblocks from a potential Paris agreement. The French, as hosts, have launched a concerted diplomatic effort this year, aimed at forging an agreement that could determine whether the world stays within the 2C of warming that scientists have warned is the limit of safety, beyond which global warming is likely to become irreversible and catastrophic. Targets on emissions curbs, to come in from 2020 and last until 2025 or 2030, have been tabled by most of the world’s major developed and developing economies. Countries responsible for about two-thirds of the planet’s current emissions have now made pledges, which the French government has hailed as a massive achievement. Critics, including many civil society organisations, have pointed out that these pledges are still inadequate to cut emissions in line with scientific advice. But the French view is that, even if the pledges are not enough in themselves, the Paris conference will still be a success if it can create a mechanism by which, through regular revision of countries’ commitments and a ratcheting up of pledges, the scientific goal can be reached. But Hollande warned that this would still take a great deal more effort on ensuring that finance is available for the task, from both public and private sources. Developing countries were promised, at the last major global climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009, that they would receive at least $100bn a year in financial flows to help them cut emissions and cope with the effects of climate change. However, there is still no agreement on what should happen to financial assistance after 2020, which is a major sticking point at the talks. Hollande told journalists: “There will not be an agreement if there is no firm commitment on financing.” Hollande’s mission at the UN assembly in three weeks’ time will be to persuade world leaders to translate into action the “political will” which many of them have professed to see the Paris talks succeed. | ['environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/francois-hollande', 'world/france', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-09-07T14:54:19Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2019/jun/27/extinction-rebellion-highlight-climate-emergency-at-glastonbury | Extinction Rebellion highlight climate emergency at Glastonbury | Nearly 2,000 festival-goers have joined climate change campaigners Extinction Rebellion to stage a procession across the Glastonbury site, paying tribute to indigenous people who have led the fight against global heating. Waving flags bearing the extinction symbol, which was seen across central London earlier this year when Extinction Rebellion protests brought the city to a standstill, the crowd marched for about an hour in the scorching afternoon sun on Thursday from the festival’s park stage to its stone circle. Speaking to the crowd on the second day of the 49th Glastonbury festival, Dr Gail Bradbrook from Extinction Rebellion, said: “[Extinction Rebellion] is not a protest. It is not a campaign. It is a rebellion. We are in active rebellion against our government. The social contract is broken, the governments aren’t protecting us and it’s down to us now.” Bradbrook said people were waking up to the climate emergency. “This is not a slow movement of change. It’s a shift in the consciousness of each of us. “It is a collective shift. It involves facing grief and trauma and undoing our numbness and our narcissism and our indulgence that we have in this privileged western society.” The procession was part of a push to have environmental issues front and centre at this year’s festival. This includes the well-publicised ban on single-use plastics on site with vendors having to strictly adhere to the policy, and attendees have been encouraged to bring their own water bottles and fill them up at one of the 800 taps on site. Rosie Rogers, an activist from Greenpeace, told the crowd there was a long way to go in the fight against climate change but that she was “hopeful”. “I feel hopeful that all of us in all of our different movements and identities can come together and truly unite for what is the fight of our life to defend this planet,” she said. “And I also feel truly grateful for the brothers and sisters all over the world, especially those in the global south, the Amazon and other places, who have given so much to protect this planet.” Kurukindi, a Kichwa Amazonian Shaman activist and part of the Wisdom Keepers, a group of indigenous leaders from around the world, spoke to the crowd with the help of a translator. “We love our friends. We love our children,” he said. “And that love needs to extend to the planet that we are on and the earth beneath our feet.” Jenny Bleasdale, a 60-year-old civil servant from Exeter who joined the procession, said she was at the end of her tether with the failure of political parties to “grasp the nettle of the climate emergency”. “We need to pass on the message and there needs to be some hope attached to it otherwise people won’t even bother,” she said. Naomi Scott, 24, an activist with Extinction Rebellion in Scotland, said Glastonbury was the perfect place to spread the group’s message. “There are 250,000 people here and we need everyone out on the streets in October, so it’s amazing to be able to walk though this festival. It’s a really amazing platform to spread the message.” As the sun set over Worthy Farm on Wednesday evening, in a corner of the Tipi Field the Wisdom Keepers performed a ritual to officially open the 2019 edition of the festival. Stood in a circle around a fire, hands clasped together they took turns to say blessings and prayers. The 12 tribal elders were invited by Emily Eavis specifically to christen the festival, claiming their loftier aim was “to catalyse festival culture for climate awareness”. The idea is that as the planet moves towards a potentially catastrophic environmental situation, indigenous cultures can offer solutions and alternative ways to live sustainably. “Everything runs smoother when you’ve got an elder in the house,” said Jarmbi, an aboriginal leader from northern New South Wales who is part of the group. “Someone who has screwed up, fixed it and come back. We need to show people what is missing. There are elders here who can talk about tribal life and how its structured the way it is and why it works. That’s part of the wisdom that is missing.” Ben Christie, the group’s UK liaison, said that the Wisdom Keepers and their traditions are crucial in the modern world. “These cultures are palpably more sustainable, more harmonious, more equitable. We’re at that point in our culture where we’ve ran out of ideas and it looks like a bit of a car crash. “It’s not exoticism, saying, ‘Oh God you’re all great and we’re crap.’ They’ve got lots of missing pieces which we need to learn from.” | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/environment', 'music/glastonbury-2019', 'culture/festivals', 'culture/culture', 'music/glastonbury', 'music/music-festivals', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/frances-perraudin', 'profile/lanre-bakare', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-06-27T18:20:27Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2022/mar/28/scandal-in-plain-sight-charities-call-for-help-for-ukrainian-seasonal-workers | ‘Scandal in plain sight’: charities call for help for Ukrainian seasonal workers | Lawyers and campaigners have called on the government to take urgent action to help thousands of Ukrainian seasonal farm workers who were in the UK when the war started and have been left at risk of destitution, abuse and exploitation here. Ukrainians made up by far the largest proportion of workers in the UK on seasonal worker visas in 2021. Of the 29,631 visas issued under the T5 seasonal work scheme, 19,920 – 67% – were given to Ukrainians. The Scottish Refugee Council estimates that there are up to 6,000 in the UK. While the government has announced two schemes to allow Ukrainians to come to the UK – the family visa scheme and the community sponsorship scheme – Ukrainian farm workers who are here on six-month visas do not qualify for either. The Home Office has extended the seasonal farm worker visas until the end of 2024 but workers are tied to their employer, cannot seek alternative work outside the farming sector and have no recourse to public funds. They do not have the right to bring family members to the UK from Ukraine. Graham O’Neill, the policy manager at the Scottish Refugee Council, is calling for this group of temporary workers to be immediately moved on to the Ukraine family scheme, which has more rights attached to it. “We regard the UK government’s lack of action … at this traumatic time as a scandal in plain sight,” he said. Focus On Labour Exploitation (Flex) and other organisations have written to the home secretary, Priti Patel, and the immigration minister Kevin Foster raising concerns about the plight of Ukrainian farm workers and calling on government to make policy concessions in order to safeguard them. Lucila Granada, the chief executive of Flex, said: “We want to see the safety and wellbeing of this group of Ukrainian workers prioritised. They should be given permission to work outside the agricultural sector and they should be given recourse to public funds.” Jennifer Blair, a barrister and co-founder of the Ukraine Advice Project, said that about 1,000 Ukrainians had sought legal advice from them, including many farm workers. She said this group had been “particularly badly impacted”. James Seddon, a Lancashire leek farmer, said he had four Ukrainians working for him – couples who were desperate to bring their children to the UK but were unable to do so. “We will do anything we possibly can to try to help,” he said. “For Ukrainians currently here on farm worker visas the amount of work they have access to depends on the kind of farm they are working on. Those where farms cannot supply them continuous work because of the kind of crops grown are particularly struggling.” Poor working conditions and exploitation among seasonal farm workers is well documented. Earlier this month, the Work Rights Centre published a report about exploitation of farm workers in the UK on seasonal work visas. Many of the workers facing exploitation on farms are Ukrainian. One of the Ukrainian farm workers they are supporting, Oksana (no her real name), an IT worker in Ukraine, obtained a visa to come to the UK in August 2021 for a few months to earn some money, with her partner, a medical student. They were given work on a berry farm but were exploited and given work only intermittently. They complained about the exploitation but nothing was done so they left the farm and are living undocumented, working without permission in cleaning and construction respectively. The Home Office does not allow applications to the family or community sponsor visa schemes from within the UK so the couple are stuck. Oksana said she was “lost and torn” between staying undocumented in the UK or returning to Ukraine to help fight. The Home Office declined to comment on the visa situation for Ukrainian workers. A government spokesperson said: “We are moving as quickly as possible to ensure that those fleeing horrific persecution in Ukraine can find safety in the UK, setting up both the Ukraine family scheme and now the homes for Ukraine scheme, which allows those without family connections to come here.” | ['environment/farming', 'uk/immigration', 'global-development/workers--rights', 'world/ukraine', 'world/refugees', 'uk/uk', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/dianetaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-03-28T05:00:45Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
lifeandstyle/2009/sep/01/envelope-liners | How to make envelope liners | So many things for a wedding can be made at home: fascinators; jewellery; even the dress itself. The internet is packed, like a register office just before the ceremony, with wedding craft tutorials. Once Wed hosts a range of DIY projects (I plan to use some for my big day, but I can't tell you which as it will spoil the surprise). 100 Layer Cake, Project Wedding and design concepts by Zoë Lingard have really inspired me while I've been planning my wedding. But beware: it's all too easy for craft to become a stress point for the bride-to-be, and things made by hand don't always save you money. I'm adamant that weddings don't have to cost a fortune. And it's the tiny touches that can make a wedding personal. So pick your craft projects carefully: they should be simple and thrifty. A great example is the envelope liner, which is a quick and easy way to make a plain invitation look unique. It's also a nice nod to history, as envelope liners used to be used when mail was hand-delivered on horseback, and needed to be protected from the weather. How long will it take? It doesn't take long if you do the marking up, cutting out, and pasting in batches. What you need Envelopes Paper, to line the envelopes (put that pile of wedding magazines to good use) Double-sided sticky tape Guillotine or scissors Cardboard, to make a template What to do Click here to follow our step-by-step picture guide 1. Take a piece of card slightly narrower (we're talking millimetres) than the width of the envelope, and slightly shorter (about 1cm) than the height of the envelope from the tip of the flap to the bottom. 2. Make your template: place the card inside the open envelope. Fold over the top two sides of the card from the highest point of the envelope's flap, so that the card follows the same angle as the flap, but about 1cm lower. Use a guillotine (or scissors) to cut off the excess card. 3. Trace around your template on to your lining paper, fitting in as many outlines as you can possibly can. Consider reusing old paper, for example tissue paper, paper bags, old maps, pictures from newspapers and magazines, or pages from an old book you no longer want. 4. Use a guillotine (or scissors) to cut out the envelope liners. 5. Slip a liner into each envelope, and stick down the top two edges to the triangular flap using double-sided sticky tape. Job done! Now you just need to finalise the guest list ... Have you personalised stationery, or made your own wedding paraphernalia? Let us know in the comments section below. | ['lifeandstyle/series/making-time', 'lifeandstyle/craft', 'lifeandstyle/weddings', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'money/saving-money', 'money/money', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'tone/features', 'tone/resource', 'lifeandstyle/stationery', 'type/article', 'profile/sallycamerongriffiths'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-09-01T10:23:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2014/apr/02/koalas-may-disappear-in-areas-affected-by-offset-scheme-says-foundation | Koalas may disappear in areas affected by offset scheme, says foundation | Australia’s environmental offset system is “ridiculous” and must change to prevent the koala being wiped out in several areas of the country, according to the Australian Koala Foundation. The koala has seen much of its habitat cleared for urban expansion and industry, with the marsupial also considered particularly vulnerable to climate change. It was listed as vulnerable in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in 2012. In a submission to a Senate inquiry into environmental offsets, the foundation called for a change to the system whereby the government can approve a development if the proponent promises to “offset” the destruction of native habitat by safeguarding equivalent habitat elsewhere. Critics claim the system allows for the destruction of irreplaceable vegetation, dooming the animals that rely upon it. Deborah Tabart, the chief executive of the foundation, said there was “so much wrong” with the idea of offsets. “Think about it from the point of view of a koala,” she said. “Your tree has been chopped down. What are offsets going to do for you? “You have a pretty good chance of getting hit by a car or mauled by a dog as you are pushed out of your home. If you can manage to survive the initial eviction, you still have to figure out where you are supposed to go to find this new offset area, this promised land. “And then, once you have managed to get to this reservation, it’s still going to be years before the new trees are of any use to you, and even longer before the ecosystem is completely restored, if ever. I mean, who thought this up anyway? It is ridiculous.” Tabart said she was concerned by the government’s recent record, such as the approval of a large coal mine, owned by Clive Palmer, which will raze the Bimblebox nature reserve in Queensland. “The development proponents are exaggerating the value of what they are proposing, and government isn’t putting the right price on the risks of what they are being sold,” she said. A University of Queensland study has found that “smart” planning of roads and forested areas is needed to maintain the genetic diversity of koalas and ultimately ensure the species’ survival. The research mapped out how tree cover and roads affected the gene flow of koalas across south-east Queensland. Researchers found healthy dispersal of koala genes “dropped rapidly” once the percentage of forest cover fell below 30%. Areas with little or no forest cover had rates of gene flow three times lower than areas where forest cover was 100%. While koalas spend most of their time in trees, they do move between areas to mate, thereby spreading genetic diversity – a crucial process for the survival of the species. “Koala numbers have dropped massively over the past 15 years in south-east Queensland, and further urbanisation will affect them more,” said Jonathan Rhodes, the co-author of the report. “We also found that the presence of highways reduces gene flow dramatically compared to areas without roads. “To keep, create or maintain connections between koala populations, at least 30% forest cover should be planned for. “It’s vital that koalas are able to move across the landscape and that we do all we can in urban planning to ensure we do not isolate their habitats.” | ['environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/oliver-milman'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-04-02T03:51:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2017/jan/13/price-of-salmon-leaps-50-as-sea-lice-epidemic-worsens | Salmon retail prices set to leap owing to infestations of sea lice | You may never have heard of Lepeophtheirus salmonis, and you’re unlikely to have spotted one, because they are usually less than 1.5cm long, but the humble sea louse is creating waves that are about to wash on to your dinner plate. Balanced on blinis, tucked into bagels or crafted into sushi, salmon has become an everyday luxury in the UK. But fans of seafood may be forced to take it off the menu as prices are expected to soar because of a surge in sea lice hitting production. Wholesale salmon prices leapt as much as 50% last year after severe problems in Norway and Scotland with the tiny parasites, which feed on the blood and tissue of salmon. The problem followed a supply shortage caused by a deadly algae bloom in Chile, the world’s second biggest producer of farmed salmon. Global supplies of Atlantic salmon fell nearly 9% last year and are expected to fall during the first half of this year as lice problems worsen, according to fish industry analysts at the Norwegian bank Nordea. The top five salmon farms in Norway, the world’s largest producer of salmon, produced 60,000 tonnes less fish than expected last year, about a 6% drop, according to Nordea. In Scotland, production dropped 4% to 171,722 tonnes in 2015. It was forecast to improve last year but the target is unlikely to be reached because of the sea lice and amoebic gill disease, a potentially fatal illness caused by another parasite, which arrived in the UK five years ago. Both pests have become more common on fish farms in recent years, with experts blaming warming sea temperatures associated with climate change. The parasites– a tough marine cousin of the wood louse – attach themselves to the skin, fins or gills and feed on the fish. One major international producer, Marine Harvest, said the volume of salmon it produced in Scotland had slumped by 16%, or 1,500 tonnes, in the summer, partly because it accidentally killed 175,000 fish while trying to treat them for lice using a device called a thermolicer. The device, which immerses fish in a warm bath, is one of a number of methods fish farmers are trying to control sea lice as an alternative to chemicals. Other methods include the hydrolicer, which bathes fish in fresh water, and employing “cleaner fish” such as wrasse and lumpsuckers, which eat the lice. New legislation on the control of lice comes into force in Scotland this year, after a similar move in Norway, where farmers are trying tarpaulin “skirts” around the upper parts of sea cages containing the salmon in a bid to stop sea lice larvae from getting in – or out. Lance Forman, owner of H Forman & Son, a smoked salmon curer which supplies several major supermarkets, said he had been forced to put prices up three times last year as the cost of the Scottish farmed salmon had gone up as much as 100%. “It’s been crazy,” agreed Scott Unwin, of Bobbys Fish, a Billingsgate trader. He estimated that prices had gone up by as much as 50% in the past four to six months and said supplies were short. “I’ve been at Billingsgate 30 years and I’ve never seen it so bad,” he said. Forman said prices in supermarkets had risen by only about 17% in the past year because suppliers and retailers had absorbed some costs rather than pass them all on to shoppers. “There’s also shrinkflation. Shops know customers only want to pay £4 for a pack and so rather than put the price up they make the packet size smaller,” he said. Industry analysts say price rises have been slow to filter through to supermarket shelves because fish is generally bought on six- to 12-month contracts and salmon is one of a basket of items targeted in the supermarket price war with discounters Aldi and Lidl. Major supermarkets keep prices down on luxuries such as salmon, especially at Christmas, to try to tempt shoppers through their doors. But signs are emerging that prices are now on the way up. Morrisons highlighted the pressure on salmon prices last week while market research firm Kantar Worldpanel pointed to fish prices as a key contributor to the first period of food price inflation since September 2014. • This article was amended on 18 January 2017. An earlier version said Chile was the world’s biggest producer of farmed salmon, and Norway the second largest. This has been corrected to say Norway is the world’s largest producer, and Chile the second biggest. | ['business/fooddrinks', 'food/fish', 'environment/farming', 'environment/fishing', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'food/seafood', 'environment/marine-life', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'food/food', 'environment/conservation', 'business/business', 'uk/scotland', 'world/norway', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sarahbutler', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-01-13T18:03:38Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2021/sep/10/nsw-can-absolutely-stop-using-coal-power-by-2030-energy-minister-says | NSW can ‘absolutely’ stop using coal power by 2030, energy minister says | New South Wales can “absolutely” stop using coal power by 2030, the state’s energy and environment minister has said, as he declared it will not appeal a landmark court judgment ruling that regulators must do more to protect it from the climate crisis. Asked on the ABC’s Radio National whether NSW could meet a UN call for wealthy countries to phase out coal by 2030, Matt Kean said it could, pointing to the state plan to build 12GW of renewable energy and 2GW of energy storage that was passed by parliament with multi-party support last year. He said the federally backed Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project would also help. “We absolutely can meet the target,” he said. “We have the biggest renewable energy plan that has been legislated in the nation’s history right here in NSW and that means as our coal-fired power plants reach the end of their lives over the next decade they will be replaced with renewables.” Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning NSW gets nearly 70% of its electricity from burning black coal. The state has five coal-fired plants, only two of which – Liddell and Vales Point – are officially scheduled to close this decade. Kean’s comment suggests he believes the other three – including the Mount Piper plant, which is not scheduled to close until 2043 – will stop operating much earlier than planned. It is consistent with analyses that have found coal plants across the country may shut early as they were increasingly being priced out of the market by cheap solar energy. Not for the first time, Kean’s position appears at odds with the federal energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, who has backed an Energy Security Board recommendation to introduce a “capacity market” to ensure there is enough “dispatchable” energy – power that can be called on when needed – available to support variable renewable energy sources. Taylor has said the capacity market would be “technology neutral”, but could help keep existing generators – coal – “from shutting down too early”. Kean said last month he was “carefully examining” the ESB advice to ensure its proposals worked alongside the state’s plans to substantially increase renewable generation and new sources of dispatchable generation, such as pumped hydro and batteries, and would not increase costs for consumers. Kean also told the ABC he and the board of the Environment Protection Authority had accepted a judgment by the state’s land and environment court last month that the agency had a duty to develop objectives, policies and guidelines to protect the environment from climate change. It was the first time a court found an Australian government agency was failing in its duty to address global heating and must take action to address greenhouse gas emissions. It followed a legal challenge by the group Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action. Kean said he wanted to use “all the levers within government” to do what the court found was necessary. “We’ll be doing everything necessary to give that full effect,” he said. Kean was asked about reports this week that the Australian government had pressed the UK to remove specific climate targets from a trade deal. He said pressure was mounting on Australia “from our trusted friends and allies” to do more on the climate crisis. “It is starting to impact on our ability to trade into international markets and grow our economy,” he said. “For too long, Australian politicians have been complaining about the cost of taking action on climate change, but now we’re seeing the very real prospect of very significant costs from not taking action on climate change because those countries that are taking strong action – like the UK, like [member countries of] the EU, like the United States – they all do not want their efforts on decarbonisation to be in vain.” The UN’s assistant secretary general for climate action and special adviser to the secretary general, Selwin Hart, warned in a speech on Monday that the climate crisis would “wreak havoc” across the Australian economy if coal was not rapidly phased out. Kean said Australia was experiencing climate change through worsening bushfires and more severe droughts, but there were more “enormous opportunities” in job creation if governments acted to address the issue. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/coal', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2021-09-10T01:31:20Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2017/sep/12/britains-responsibilities-after-hurricane-irma | Britain’s responsibilities after Hurricane Irma | Letters | We should all reflect with deep sympathy on the circumstances imposed on the people of the Caribbean in the wake of Hurricane Irma and seek ways to contribute to disaster relief (Report, 12 September). In the Caribbean deadly and destructive hurricanes are almost an annual phenomenon at this time of year. Yet despite major improvements in forecasting, disaster management and higher levels of construction standards, we are still witnessing tragic outcomes. The UK has substantial interests in the Caribbean, both current and historical. No doubt this Conservative government in particular will have taken notice of the massive damage to the British Virgin Islands where many billions of pounds in British offshore funds are harboured. The BVI’s business model of 0% tax on the thousands of offshore funds and companies registered in Tortola may need to be revised in order to find millions for recovery funding. But it is the human tragedy that should drive British government concerns. Caricom (the Caribbean single market) has established the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) with disaster resilience, training and shared resource management as goals. The UK government should have substantial stored emergency equipment and supplies in the region. The Department for International Development should have develop a strategic relationship with CDEMA offering regular funding, training and resources. Support for CDEMA has come from Canada, Japan and the EU; what is the UK contribution? But there is more. The images of massive infrastructure damage show that board and zinc sheet buildings have been destroyed, while concrete and steel buildings remain standing. The insecure wooden dwellings, shops and churches belong to poor black people, while the wealthy (and virtually all of the white population) dwell in more secure structures. This is a social disaster created not by hurricanes but by history, with Britain and its empire making that history in the Caribbean. Yes, there are others complicit in this history but Britain has direct responsibility for Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands – and it has historical responsibilities to Antigua, Barbuda and the Bahamas. Caricom has asked for talks with the UK government on slavery reparations. A well-funded Caribbean hurricane disaster management and relief organisation would be a good first step for the British government. Thom Cross Carluke, South Lanarkshire • Everybody surely has great sympathy and concern for the local people of the Caribbean islands devastated by the recent hurricanes. But it is beyond satire to hear the governor of the British Virgin Islands call for the UK taxpayer to provide massive funding for reconstruction. It is surely now appropriate to impose a windfall tax on companies and individuals who do not reside on the stricken islands but shelter their wealth there paying no income, corporation, capital gains, inheritance, wealth tax of any other form. Colin Burke Manchester • The hysterical media reaction to Irma is fake. Over 7,000 people died in the Flora hurricane in the Caribbean in 1963, and the great Barbados hurricane of 1780 killed 20,000-plus. In 1980 Allen tore through at 190mph, faster than Irma, killing 269, and Hurricane Mitch killed 11,000 in central America in 1998. Although Irma is dangerous there have been many others more deadly. Over the past decade, hurricane activity has been at its lowest for decades in the region. Terri Jackson Bangor, County Down • When the defence secretary welcomed the multi-billion pound aircraft carrier to Portsmouth his statement defending the massive investment against critics included that the vessel would be utilised for humanitarian aid. It can carry hundreds of tons of supplies, vehicles, helicopters and troops, and could act as a mobile hospital and communications centre. So what is it doing languishing in Portsmouth when it should be in the Caribbean? Richard Coates Hayling Island, Hampshire • Like Bill McGibben (Do you really need more warnings about climate change?, 11 September), I first wrote about the likely impact of global warming in 1989 (in an editorial for the Lancet). Like many others, I assumed that once matters were explained clearly, people would change their ways. This turned out to be a delusion: we have an almost unlimited capacity to deny the obvious if it requires a fundamental reappraisal of our world view. This is linked to the way we deal with our own mortality. Everyone knows that they are going to die, but very few contemplate the reality of death unless they are close to the end. Humans are treating global warming the same way. They know it’s coming, but not just yet. Dr Robin Russell-Jones Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | ['world/hurricane-irma', 'tone/letters', 'world/world', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'weather/caribbean', 'weather/index/northandcentralamerica', 'global-development/aid', 'society/society', 'global-development/global-development', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | world/hurricane-irma | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-09-12T17:51:42Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2022/dec/05/a-medieval-approach-to-managing-covid | A medieval approach to managing Covid | Brief letters | Blind ignorance is no way to “manage the disease” (Former vaccines chief sounds warning about UK pandemic readiness, 30 November). The withdrawal of free lateral flow tests, and no way of reporting a positive test even if you do buy some, is a medieval approach to public health. Our household of three (including a 93-year-old with dementia) have all had Covid, and are still suffering the after-effects two weeks later. Perhaps we should daub a cross on our door? Jane Seymour Sheffield • Re hoarding (You be the judge: should my gran throw out her hoard of reusable bags?, 2 December), when I was helping my late 80-year-old aunt get ready to move house, I found a drawer chock-a-block with paper bags and balls of string. In the corner was a small cardboard box. I opened it and said: “What on earth?” “It’s my father’s teeth,” my aunt said. “They might come in handy.” Kaye McGann Standlake, Oxfordshire • Tim Dowling’s predicament of being lost backstage (I’m trapped in the dark. Will anyone come and find me?, 3 December) mirrors that of Spinal Tap, who wander purposefully through a maze-like basement shouting “Rock’n’roll!” while above them the crowd resorts to a slow handclap and booing. At least he did not suffer the fate of any of their drummers. Tim Jones Hoylake, Merseyside • The extent of the decline of Christianity in this country (Letters, 1 December) came home to me when I read of a woman wishing to buy a crucifix. She asked the shop assistant for “the cross with the little man on it”. Tom Stubbs Surbiton, London • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'science/infectiousdiseases', 'environment/recycling', 'society/older-people', 'music/spinal-tap', 'music/music', 'world/christianity', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-12-05T17:27:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2018/jun/28/deluge-of-electronic-waste-turning-thailand-into-worlds-rubbish-dump | Deluge of electronic waste turning Thailand into 'world's rubbish dump' | At a deserted factory outside Bangkok, skyscrapers made from vast blocks of crushed printers, Xbox components and TVs tower over black rivers of smashed-up computer screens. This is a tiny fraction of the estimated 50m tonnes of electronic waste created just in the EU every year, a tide of toxic rubbish that is flooding into south-east Asia from the EU, US and Japan. Thailand, with its lax environmental laws, has become a dumping ground for this e-waste over the past six months, but authorities are clamping down, fearful that the country will become the “rubbish dump of the world”. The global implications could be enormous. A factory visited by the Guardian in Samut Prakan province, south of Bangkok, which was recently shut down in a raid for operating illegally, illustrated the mammoth scale of the problem. Printers made by Dell and HP, Daewoo TVs and Apple computer drives were stacked sky-high next to precarious piles of compressed keyboards, routers and copy machines. Labels showed the waste had mainly come from abroad. For locals, it is unclear why Thailand should be taking this waste. The Samut Prakan factory sits in the middle of hundreds of shrimp farms and there were concerns it was poisoning the landscape, with no environmental protections or oversight in place. Paraton Gumkum, 32, who owns a nearby shrimp farm, described the smell that enveloped the area when the factory was operating. “I wish that Thailand would say no to the e-waste trash. I am worried because it contaminates the air and the water with dangerous chemicals,” he said. “We have been very worried that the chemicals will leak into our shrimp farm.” Until the beginning of this year, China was a willing recipient of the world’s electronic waste, which it recycled in vast factories. According to the UN, 70% of all electronic waste was ending up in China. But in January, having calculated that the environmental impact far outweighed the short-term profit, China closed its gates to virtually all foreign rubbish. It has prompted something of a global crisis, not just for e-waste but plastic waste as well. Asian nations such as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia stepped in. Chinese businessmen have set about attempting to open about 100 plastic and e-waste recycling plants across Thailand since January. However, after five months in which e-waste imports have increased to 37,000 tonnes so far this year (more is thought to have entered illegally), Thailand has become the first south-east Asian nation to follow China’s example and crack down on the legal and illegal e-waste coming in. “We already have too much electronic waste here in Thailand. It is not our burden to bring this pollution from the rest of the world to the next generation of Thai people,” said Thailand’s deputy police chief, Wirachai Songmetta. Songmetta, who has led raids on more than 26 illegal e-waste factories in recent weeks, described some of the recycling set-ups as “frightening”, with primitive and contaminating methods used to extract valuable metals from the electronics while the rest is thrown into vast incinerators that pump out toxic smoke. “These factories have been polluting the environment because of all the heavy metals in the e-waste like lead and copper, which can poison the soil and the water,” he said. “They also burn the plastic, which brings toxic fumes into the air. So it is very dangerous for the Thai people living near these factories.” While the word recycling implies doing good for the planet, in fact most of the e-waste recycling plants involve a dirty and toxic process to extract lead and copper that does huge amounts of environmental damage. The plastic in e-waste, such as computer screen casings, also contains high amounts of flame retardants that are poisonous if burned or recycled into cheap food packaging, as is happening in some of the factories. Thai customs officers are now pushing back 20 containers of e-waste a day that are landing in Thai ports, and in the next two months the government plans to pass legislation to bans foreign e-waste and plastic waste from entering Thailand. But with countries such as the US and the UK already relying on south-east Asia to pick up the e-waste and plastic waste slack in the wake of China’s ban – in the past four months alone, UK exports of plastic to Thailand have risen fiftyfold – this presents a problem. In Hong Kong and Singapore, where most of the world’s e-waste is sent before it is bounced to less-developed countries, there is already a backlog of e-waste in shipping containers. If south-east Asian countries do not take it, it has nowhere to go. Jim Puckett, of the Basel Action Network, which works globally to tackle the problem of toxic waste, said that in the short term a ban by Thailand would “inevitably lead to countries resorting to perverse ways to get rid of their e-waste, probably dumping it in terrible places and incinerating it all.” But he emphasised that in the long term a ban on e-waste imports across the region was “extremely necessary”. “Places like America and Europe need to realise they are going to have to start recycling their own electronic waste and stop sweeping the negative effects from north to south,” he said. “If a crisis does hit, hopefully this will make these countries think hard about how to be cleaner and more efficient about this waste we are producing on such an enormous scale, and finally take some responsibility.” Additional reporting by Navaon Siradapuvadol | ['world/thailand', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/news', 'profile/hannah-ellis-petersen', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-06-28T08:33:50Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
business/2018/dec/18/carmakers-criticise-unrealistic-eu-plan-slash-vehicle-emissions | Carmakers criticise 'unrealistic' EU plan to slash vehicle emissions | An EU agreement to cut emissions from cars by over a third by 2030 has faced opposition from Europe’s car industry for being “unrealistic”, as well as criticism from environmental groups for being insufficient to achieve climate change targets. EU countries will aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by 37.5% by 2030 compared with 2021, while emissions from new vans will have to be 31% lower. There was also an interim target of a 15% cut for cars and vans by 2025. Europe’s car industry reacted with fury, saying the commitment was driven purely by political motives and “totally unrealistic”. Erik Jonnaert, the secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which represents companies such as Renault and BMW, said the targets “will be extremely demanding on Europe’s auto industry”, with a “seismic impact” on jobs. The agreement on Monday night, which aims to spur the move towards electric vehicles and other alternatives to diesel and petrol, was described by European policymakers as a compromise between environmental concerns and representatives of countries with large car industries that had pushed for a much smaller cut, including Germany. Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission’s vice-president for energy union, described the move as “another credible step in the implementation of the Paris agreement but also another decisive step in support of the long-term competitiveness of European industry”. Europe is aiming for the transport industry to be climate neutral in the second half of the century, while countries including France and the UK have announced plans to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. Carbon emissions from the EU’s transport sector increased by 28.3% between 1990 and 2016, according to the European Environment Agency. However, the take-up of electric vehicles in Europe has been relatively slow, with political pressure to keep the cost of motoring low spilling into widespread protests in France. Electrically chargeable vehicles made up 1.5% of all cars sold in the EU last year, according to ACEA. Transport and Environment, a Brussels-based thinktank, said the reduction in emissions would not be enough to limit climate change. Under the Paris agreement countries including the EU member states have committed to limit global warming to well below 2C (35.6F) and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C. Greg Archer, T&E’s clean vehicles director, said: “Europe is shifting up a gear in the race to produce zero-emission cars. The new law means by 2030 around a third of new cars will be electric- or hydrogen-powered. That’s progress but it’s not fast enough to hit our climate goals.” | ['business/automotive-industry', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/air-pollution', 'world/eu', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jasper-jolly', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-12-18T14:19:13Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2005/sep/02/hurricanekatrina.usa2 | EU offers oil supplies to US | The EU today offered to provide oil to the US if requested as America ran short of fuel after the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina. Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said the US administration had approached several EU member states individually for help. "Whatever they ask for, it will be given from the reserves of oil that the different [EU] countries are providing," Mr Solana said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Wales. EU foreign ministers also discussed offering humanitarian help for victims of Katrina after what the US president, George Bush, described as one of the country's worst natural disasters. The storm, which is feared to have killed thousands of people, damaged US rigs and refiners when it ripped through the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week. Oil prices soared to levels not seen in real terms since 1980, the year after the Iranian revolution. Americans preparing to hit the road for the Labour Day holiday weekend face petrol shortages, closed stations and rising prices. Mr Bush, who has been criticised for the slow federal response to the aftermath of Katrina, has urged the US - the world's biggest consumer of energy - to conserve fuel over the coming days. "Americans should be prudent in their use of energy during the course of the next few weeks," he said. "Don't buy gas if you don't need it." The International Energy Agency, the body that would coordinate any release of oil stocks, said it was still awaiting a report on the damage caused by Katrina before making a decision. "We're still consulting with all our members and the damage assessment is still going on," a spokeswoman for the IEA, the energy watchdog for 26 industrialised countries, said. The IEA would be able to alleviate petrol shortages by agreeing to release petrol and other products that could either be sent to the US or used to reduce European imports. It would take at least 10 days for EU petrol to reach the US after a decision had been taken. The IEA last ordered an emergency release in January 1991 as US-led troops expelled invading Iraqi troops from Kuwait. IEA members hold around 4.1bn barrels of public and industry oil stocks, of which roughly 1.4bn are government-controlled for emergency purposes. The White House has already taken a number of steps to boost oil supplies. It has released crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserve, eased environmental regulations on motor fuels and waived a shipping law to allow foreign-flagged ships to move petrol between US ports. The US could take months to recover from Katrina, which struck a key area for oil production and refining at a time when the industry is already running at maximum capacity to satisfy two years of exceptionally strong worldwide demand. "My feeling is that the pressure on the gasoline market is much more severe than we first imagined," Tetsu Emori, the chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo, told Reuters. "With damage to refineries looking more serious than after Hurricane Ivan last year, I don't see prices falling far soon." Soaring US petrol prices - up more than 20% from only a week ago - have attracted dozens of tankers from Europe, but most of those supplies will not arrive until October. In morning trade, US crude oil was down 46 cents at $69.01 (£37.54) a barrel, having hit an all-time high of $70.85 yesterday. London Brent crude was down 34 cents at $67.38 a barrel. | ['us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'business/oil', 'business/business', 'world/eu', 'money/money', 'politics/politics', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'profile/marktran'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-02T12:27:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sport/2018/apr/14/commonwealth-games-england-women-relay-lorraine-ugen-100m | Late call-up Lorraine Ugen anchors England to Commonwealth relay gold | A long jumper by trade, Lorraine Ugen rarely covers more than 40m down the runway but she stepped into England’s 100m relay squad with less than 24 hours notice and anchored them to Commonwealth Games gold. Ugen is the British record holder and world indoor bronze medallist in the long jump and has not run a relay for almost four years. But an injury to Corinne Humphreys, who had run in the semi-final, meant Team England coaches asked the 26-year-old to step into the team. After just 10 minutes of practice with the baton she ran the final leg, holding off the double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson to secure victory for the English quartet in 42.46sec ahead of Jamaica and Nigeria. “I found out yesterday I was on the team,” Ugen said. “I did my first exchanges in the warm-up area and it went pretty well. We didn’t have hours, we had minutes, 10 minutes I think. I didn’t feel too nervous. I was only going to accept it if I felt I was capable of doing the job. They gave me a really big lead and all I had to do was hold it. All I said was: ‘Hold it, hold it, hold it’. The last time I did a relay was at university, a good few years ago.” Ugen, whose 100m personal best is a respectable 11.42, had been disappointed to finish fourth in the long jump final earlier in the week and this was her first gold medal at a major championships. Dina Asha-Smith showed no signs of weariness after winning 200m bronze, receiving the baton from Asha Philip and opening up a lead over Jamaica. She handed over to Bianca Williams and by the time Ugen took the baton England had a sizeable advantage. But Thompson, the 100m and 200m champion at Rio 2016, gobbled up the metres and it required a dip on the line from Ugen to hold on to gold. Asher-Smith said: “That is testament to Lorraine’s mental strength and amazing talent, to come in here against a world-class field with minimal practice and get a gold medal. We knew Lorraine is a very good sprinter and she knows what she’s doing. After the men did it, we knew we couldn’t embarrass ourselves. Anything they can do we can better.” Just before the women’s triumph England’s men also won gold, a title that helped partially alleviate the disappointment felt by Zharnel Hughes after he was disqualified from the 200m for obstructing another runner. Hughes said it had been a week of mixed emotions. “I’m still a gold medallist,” he said. “I’m really happy with that and proud of it. I told them, ‘Just get me the baton and I’ll do what I have to do, it’s going to be redemption’, and it was just that.” The squad of Hughes, Reuben Arthur, Richard Kilty and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, none of whom featured in Great Britain’s world championship relay title last year, won in 38.13sec. England’s netball team set up a final against Australia on Sunday after a historic and thrilling victory over Jamaica. Jo Harten netted the winner with one second left on the clock to send England into the final against Australia, the No 1 side in the world. They were six down at half-time but recovered to win 56-55 and reach a global final for the first time since 1975. England have never won a major title but their coach, Tracey Neville, said they proved they would put up a good fight. “What a comeback for our girls,” she said. “As a player I only dreamed to be in this situation but I was never good enough. It’s great to live my dream through these and they’ve just done so well.” | ['sport/commonwealth-games-2018', 'sport/commonwealth-games', 'sport/athletics', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/sport', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/martha-kelner', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/sport', 'theobserver/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/commonwealth-games-2018 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-04-14T13:47:55Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/dec/31/carbon-bomb-queensland-reveals-big-jump-in-land-clearing | ‘Carbon bomb’: Queensland reveals big jump in land clearing | Queensland landholders are clearing the equivalent of about 1,000 MCGs a day, including endangered ecological regions, according to state government data that raises new doubts about the accuracy of Australia’s carbon emissions claims. The Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (Slats) for 2018-19 showed landholders cleared 680,688 hectares of woody vegetation, or about 0.7% of Queensland’s total. • Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Improved accuracy of remote sensing make precise comparisons with earlier years difficult. The government had said the 2017-18 clearing rate was 392,000 hectares. About 84% of 2018-19 land clearing destroyed vegetation that was at least 15 years old, the new report said. The great bulk of the deforestation, or 88%, involved land with less than 50% tree cover. The report said 3% was in ecosystems “identified as of concern”, while less than 1% of the clearing involved endangered ecological communities. Stuart Blanch, a WWF Australia conservation scientist, said the figures were “a real shocker”, deliberately released ahead of New Year’s Eve to stir up the least attention. The data also suggests Australia’s carbon emissions are worse than reported, he said. “It’s a carbon bomb for the Queensland and federal governments because it shows we are vastly underestimating carbon emissions from land clearing,” Blanch said. “That’s going to really jeopardise our net zero commitments and any 2030 abatement targets. “We’re a massive land-clearing nation. Queensland has got the vast majority of it, and the vast majority of that is for beef.” Guardian Australia sought comment from the Palaszczuk and Morrison governments. In its 2021 projections update, the federal government predicted Australia’s carbon emissions in 2030 would be 30% below 2005 levels, beating the 26-28% reduction pledged at the 2015 Paris climate summit. That estimate, though, included recent years when the land sector was deemed to have absorbed more carbon dioxide than it released. In 2019, for instance, the sector contributed a net negative 25m tonnes of CO2 equivalent, that report said. Blanch, though, said Queensland’s new dataset, which assessed changes in vegetation down to 10 sq metre satellite imagery, were three times more accurate than that used to compile the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory figures. In 2018, for instance, the federal government estimated 2018 national land clearing to be just under 370,000 hectares, well shy of the 680,000-plus hectares reported by Queensland alone in 2018-19. As Guardian Australia reported last month, an analysis by Queensland researcher Martin Taylor showed earlier technology used to compile Slats was already detecting large areas of land clearing that was not picked up by the federal survey. Glenn Walker, a senior campaigner for Greenpeace, said the Slats data was “extraordinary, horrifying figures” that showed Australia remained one of the world’s fastest deforesting nations. “Behind these figures are millions of killed and maimed native animals like koalas and huge amounts of carbon emissions from burning and rotting trees,” Walker said. “Clearly the current laws aren’t working and the beef sector isn’t taking this issue seriously. This should be a huge wake-up call to act fast before we lose more precious bushland and wildlife.” The new data also indicate changes by Queensland Labor to tighten land-clearing regulations eased by the former Liberal National government under Campbell Newman were failing, Blanch said. Areas deemed to be so-called “category X” that remain excluded from the 1999 Vegetation Management Act accounted for just over 70% of the total cleared area, the government said. Costly efforts to reduce the amount of silt washing into the Great Barrier Reef region also appear to be undermined by the land clearing. About one-third of the 2018-19 deforestation, or 217,419 hectares, occurred in catchments flowing into the reef region. About 85% of that clearing remains exempt from the law changes introduced by Labor in 2018 as category X, Blanch said. The report also showed remnant clearing increased by 58% in the important Brigalow Belt in 2018-19 from the previous year to 35,550 hectares. “The Brigalow Belt supports the highest bird diversity of any bioregion in Australia and is home to at least three species of reptiles that do not occur anywhere else in the world,” Blanch said. “So the spike in clearing here is particularly heartbreaking. “It’s very disappointing the Queensland government sat on this data. They knew it was bad news and they buried it.” The deputy premier, Steven Miles, said on Thursday a group of scientific experts would be assembled in early 2022 to better understand the study results and find ways to help avoid clearing or whether other measures were needed. | ['environment/deforestation', 'australia-news/queensland', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-12-30T16:30:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2014/dec/19/uk-energy-auction-coal-nuclear-generation | £1bn subsidy in energy capacity auction will boost coal and nuclear power | Consumers will need to stump an extra £1bn a year in 2018 to encourage power stations to stay open and keep the lights on, the government confirmed on Friday. A “capacity market” auction undertaken this week by National Grid has ended with a price of £19.40 per kilowatt (kW) being agreed as a subsidy. EDF, the owner of the UK’s existing nuclear fleet, is one of the major provisional winners but other “big six” firms such as E.ON, npower and SSE have also succeeded. The government wanted 48.6GW of power to be guaranteed to be available during 2018. It expected to encourage new gas-fired power stations to be built under new 15-year contracts. In fact 68% of the capacity is to be provided by existing power stations and only 5% by new build. More controversially nearly 19% of the power will come from either coal or biomass. The decision to allow coal plants to bid in the auction has been highly controversial because it potentially extends the life of heavy carbon-producing generation which is bad for global warming. But EDF’s nuclear fleet is also providing 16% of the capacity. This will also be a bonus for Centrica which owns 20% of this EDF-operated business. Centrica has also had two gas stations included. 45% comes from gas fired plants and less than half a percent by those promising demand side reduction. Energy secretary Ed Davey said the auction had been a great success and would act as a guarantee to keep the lights on. He estimated it would add £11 to the average household energy bill in 2018/19. “This is fantastic news for bill-payers and businesses. We are guaranteeing security at the lowest cost for consumers. We’ve done this by ensuring that we get the best out of our existing power stations and unlocking new investment in flexible plant,” he said. Many of the contracts have been awarded for only one year. These are provisional results of the auction. All capacity agreements are subject to final confirmation from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which is expected no later than 5 January 2015. The final price below £20 per kW is way down from the £75 kW price where the auction started on Tuesday. The price is gradually reduced in a series of bidding sessions leaving only those able to offer low cost generation. Nuclear is well known to have very low operating costs. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/edf', 'business/nationalgrid', 'business/utilities', 'business/centrica', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'business/eon', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2014-12-19T10:04:08Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2019/sep/01/hurricane-dorian-bahamas-us-flooding-florida-south-north-carolina | Hurricane Dorian: millions evacuated from coastal US as category 5 storm hits Bahamas | Millions of coastal US residents from south Florida to the Carolinas were evacuating inland on Monday as Hurricane Dorian – a category 5 monster storm with gusts above 200mph – continued to tear apart the northern islands of the Bahamas. Dorian, the most powerful cyclone to strike the Caribbean in modern times, was predicted to start moving west and towards the US mainland later on Monday after spending the day parked over Grand Bahama island, scouring it with devastating wind and rain. Officials said the storm was continuing to cause terrible damage in the Bahamas, where it made landfall at lunchtime on Sunday, its sustained 175mph winds tearing apart buildings and ripping off roofs, and destroying or severely damaging at least 13,000 homes, according to the Red Cross. The hurricane, which brought “catastrophic winds” and a storm surge above 20ft to the Caribbean island nation, also claimed its first recorded fatality, an eight-year-old boy who drowned on Abaco Island. Mandatory evacuation orders were issued in the US ahead of Dorian’s expected midweek march up the east coast, with National Hurricane Center experts warning of “life-threatening storm surges and dangerous hurricane force winds” even if it follows its forecast track of remaining out at sea. “It is still possible for the hurricane to deviate from this forecast and move very near or over the coast,” Richard Pasch, a senior hurricane expert at the NHC, said. In South Carolina, Governor Henry McMaster announced the evacuation of eight coastal counties, affecting more than 800,000 residents, adding to earlier orders issued for large numbers of counties along the coasts of central and north Florida and Georgia. Rick Scott, the former Florida governor and now a Republican US senator for the state, said that even storm surges of seven feet that are predicted to affect the state’s east coast, whether the hurricane makes landfall there or not, were almost unprecedented. He was concerned that people were not taking the storm seriously and that they should evacuate, where recommended, and prepare elsewhere. “I want everyone to stay alive … this is not the time to take a chance … I do not want to lose anyone [in Florida] and it’s the same in Georgia and the Carolinas,” he told CNN. Later on Sunday, on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, footage emerged of floodwaters reaching halfway up the sides of family homes with parts of the roofs torn off. The island chain’s homes are built to withstand winds of at least 150mph (241km/h). Americans should “pray for the people in the Bahamas”, Donald Trump said from Washington as south-eastern US states looked on nervously. The Bahamian prime minister, Hubert Minnis, said in a nationally televised news conference that a “monster storm” was battering the region. “This will put us to a test that we’ve never confronted before,” he said. “This is probably the most sad and worst day of my life to address the Bahamian people. I just want to say as a physician I’ve been trained to withstand many things, but never anything like this.” The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said Dorian made a second landfall at 2pm ET (1800 GMT) on Sunday, hitting Great Abaco island with large waves and winds of 185mph with higher gusts. That was tied for the strongest Atlantic hurricane landfall on record, with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. As hundreds hunkered down in schools, churches and other shelters, Bahamian authorities made a last-minute plea for those in low-lying areas to evacuate. Reporters in the Bahamas said hundreds of residents of lower-lying islands, including Grand Cay and Sweeting Cay, had ignored mandatory orders to go. “Once the winds get to a certain strength we’re not going to to be able to respond,” Don Cornish, head of the Bahamas national emergency management agency, warned in a pre-storm briefing. “We may not have the resources to come after persons who are in harm’s way.” On Monday, the storm, which had been moving west at 8mph, was basically stalled over the islands. “It’s going to be really, really bad for the Bahamas,” a Colorado State University hurricane researcher, Phil Klotzbach, told the Associated Press, adding: “Abaco is going to get wiped.” On Sunday morning, a significant change to the forecast by NHC experts brought the cyclone much closer to Florida’s south-eastern coast by Monday and Tuesday, prompting new hurricane and tropical storm force watches from just north of Miami to Sebastian inlet, 100 miles north of West Palm Beach. Dorian’s predicted path would then take it north, skirting the US coast towards Georgia and the Carolinas. The increasing strength of the storm makes this the fourth consecutive year that at least one Atlantic cyclone has reached category 5, according to the NHC. Hurricane Matthew in 2016 followed a similar offshore track to Dorian’s expected path yet still caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage and 47 deaths in the US from wind, storm surge and significant inland flooding. In 2017 Irma and Maria tore through the Caribbean, the latter blamed for more than 3,000 deaths in Puerto Rico, and last year Hurricane Michael wrecked areas of the Florida Panhandle that are still struggling to recover. The Associated Press contributed to this report | ['world/hurricanes', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'world/bahamas', 'world/americas', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/florida', 'us-news/south-carolina', 'us-news/northcarolina', 'us-news/us-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'world/hurricane-dorian', 'world/extreme-weather', 'profile/richardluscombe', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-09-02T14:12:51Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/oct/09/labour-pledges-to-create-70000-more-jobs-in-offshore-windfarms-corbyn | Labour pledges to create 70,000 more jobs in offshore windfarms | Jeremy Corbyn will unveil plans to create another 70,000 jobs in offshore windfarms part-owned by the public as his party gears up for an election manifesto focusing on a green industrial revolution. The Labour leader will visit a windfarm on Wednesday as he launches his commitment to a further 37 offshore windfarms. They would be built with a mixture of public and private finance as Labour members voted for stringent targets of net-zero emissions by 2030 at their autumn conference. Under the party’s 10-year plan, the UK’s capacity for wind energy would increase by fivefold and benefit from an £83bn investment. Corbyn will also promise to give the public a controlling 51% stake in all new windfarms, with 20% of the profits for the taxpayer being invested back into coastal communities and 80% of public profits to be reinvested into decarbonising the economy and tackling climate change. Before the visit, Corbyn said: “The full scale of the environment and climate emergency cannot be ignored. As scientists and activists have made clear, we need immediate and radical action to have any hope of keeping temperature rises to a manageable level. “We know the big polluters and banks won’t take the necessary action. So the next Labour government will kick-start a green industrial revolution, protecting our planet and creating hundreds of thousands of high-wage, high-skill unionised jobs across the country and delivering investment for communities that have been held back for decades. “Labour’s 10-year plan will provide the massive public investment needed to radically reduce our emissions and secure a future for our planet.” Labour said the finance model would be joint-venture partnerships between publicly owned Regional Energy Agencies (REAs) and existing offshore wind developers. The Conservatives questioned why private investors would want to put money into windfarms part-owned by the government. Kwasi Kwarteng, a business minister, said: “Why would any investor put money into a nationalised windfarm? While Labour joins disruptive protests, it’s Boris Johnson and the Conservatives who have outlined practical steps to achieve our world-leading net-zero target, including delivering a major increase in offshore wind at record low prices, expanding electric vehicle use and making all new homes energy efficient.” | ['environment/windpower', 'politics/labour', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/uk', 'politics/jeremy-corbyn', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rowena-mason', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2019-10-09T06:15:13Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2014/dec/09/south-sudan-peace-talks-economy-casualty-of-war | South Sudan peace talks stutter as economy becomes casualty of war | South Sudan was born from decades of conflict, after two long civil wars in which well over two million people died. Well before the joyous celebrations of independence in 2011, its people had grown accustomed to the fear and trauma fighting brings. But the civil war which broke out a year ago in December 2013 has shocked even the South Sudanese. Conservative estimates suggest well over 10,000 people have been killed since fighting began. The latest figures, published 1 December, estimate 1.9 million have been displaced. “This time is worse than before”, says David Riing, a young man who lost relatives in the fighting. Before independence, in the decades of conflict with Khartoum, “people were not heavily armed – guns were not there,” he says. But this new civil war has pitched two heavily armed factions of the national army against each other, supported by civilian militias. “I know how bad it was before, but I believe it is worse now. People are being targeted because of their ethnic [group],” Riing says. ‘Extraordinary acts of cruelty’ The civil war is rooted in the political disagreements and ambitions of South Sudan’s leaders, but in a country where politicians have ethnic power bases, the war has exacerbated ethnic tensions considerably. In their report on the escalating violence, Human Rights Watch said that “extraordinary acts of cruelty” were being perpetrated by both sides of the conflict. Riing, along with thousands of others, fled to a UN base in the capital Juba when the first bullets started flying last December. Riing is from the Nuer, the same ethnic group as the former vice president-turned rebel leader, Riek Machar. Government troops killed large numbers of Nuer, most of them civilians, in the very first days of the fighting. Since then the largely Nuer rebels have carried out several massacres, often targeting civilians from President Salva Kiir’s ethnic group, the Dinka, or people suspected of supporting the president. In April hundreds of people were slaughtered in Bentiu, in July more than 50 patients were killed in hospitals in Bor and Malakal in multiple and sustained attacks, Medecins Sans Frontieres reported, and major towns like Malakal are all but unrecognisable now, with weeds growing over burnt-out huts and markets closed down. Millions are now teetering on the edge of starvation. In South Sudan every year large numbers of people struggle to get enough to eat before harvest; the period from May to August is known as the “hunger gap”. This time, Toby Lanzer, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, says “all indicators show that in all the conflict areas people are likely to run out of food much much earlier”. Dwindling resources South Sudan’s economy has been one of the casualties of the war. At independence, the country produced 350,000 barrels of oil a day, in the Unity and Upper Nile states, both near the newly drawn border with Sudan. Oil accounted for 98% of the government’s revenues. However in the early days of the civil war the rebels overran many of the oilfields in Unity, and they have threatened to attack the Upper Nile oil facilities too. The authorities say daily production is now at 160,000 barrels a day. The blow to the economy has been considerable, and the government spends much of its dwindling resources on the war effort. “Economically it’s a disaster for the country and its citizens,” says Edmund Yakani, the coordinator of South Sudan’s Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation, a non-governmental organisation. “Poverty is very high.” Peace talks South Sudanese all over the country are desperate for the war to stop. But peace talks led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa have stuttered. The mediators want Kiir and Machar to sign a peace deal and set up a transitional government to take the country to free and fair elections. Despite efforts to involve a broader section of South Sudanese society, the talks have shrunk to a squabble between the warring parties over the terms of a power-sharing deal. If an agreement is signed, the rebel leader Machar would become prime minister. The major hold-up now is just how much power he would have. His supporters want him to be an executive prime minister, with President Kiir a figurehead. The president’s camp will not accept this. The rebels are meeting in Pagak, on the border with Ethiopia, to iron out their position. Rebel commanders such as Peter Gadet, a soldier famous for switching sides from the SPLA and taking his loyal forces with him, have flown in from the various areas in rebel hands. It’s not yet clear whether Machar has complete control over all the rebel forces, and whether he could persuade them to accept a deal. The government, too, seems less willing to accept compromises after it held its own consultations in Juba. “I don’t believe the government is ready to sign that agreement with the rebels,” says Riing, a Machar supporter. Influential figures among the government and the rebels may not be ready to make peace. “There seem to be people on both sides who think conflict is a viable way forward,” says Lanzer. The intergovernmental authority has threatened sanctions, but these are linked to renewed conflict, not a failure to sign a peace deal. As the first anniversary of the conflict approaches, South Sudan is at a critical point. The rainy season is almost over, making widespread fighting more feasible. Already there have been clashes in Fangak in Jonglei state last week. A failure to sign a deal would undoubtedly result in further fighting, bringing back the spectre of famine. Yet even an agreement would not be enough to end South Sudan’s problems. “Power-sharing could lead to more violence,” Yakani believes, adding that the current conflict has left South Sudanese much more divided – and at risk of further fractures. | ['world/south-sudan', 'world/sudan', 'world/series/the-sudans-after-the-divide', 'world/series/guardian-africa-network', 'global-development/conflict-and-development', 'world/refugees', 'environment/oil', 'world/africa', 'tone/analysis', 'environment/energy', 'world/middleeast', 'world/series/guardian-world-networks', 'type/article', 'profile/james-copnall'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2014-12-09T18:07:17Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2003/nov/15/science.environment | Shrinking ice in Antarctic sea 'exposes global warming' | Australian scientists yesterday revealed new evidence of global warming, suggesting that sea ice around Antarctica had shrunk 20% in the past 50 years. The research published in the journal Science traced the pattern of sea ice in the Southern Ocean as far back as 1840. "Between 1841 and 1950 there was very little change but there is a marked decline in sea ice distribution since 1950 of around 20%," said the lead author, Mark Curran. The change is important because sea ice - the area around the poles where seawater is frozen into layers no more than a few metres thick - is regarded as a crucial indicator of climate change. Unlike the ice caps over Greenland and Antarctica and the icebergs they spawn, the size and thickness of the sea ice have little direct effect on worldwide temperatures and sea levels. But scientists believe it is responsible for the movement of global ocean currents which ensure land masses such as Britain (via its warming Gulf Stream) are kept at certain temperatures. In winter, pack ice covers an area of more than 7 million square miles around Antarctica, shrinking to 1.5 million square miles during the southern hemisphere summer. At its greatest extent, the ice field is bigger than Russia. Several studies in recent years have shown that sea ice around Antarctica has increased since the 1970s, but Dr Curran said that the short timescale of those studies failed to take longer-term trends into account. "Until now, records have relied to a large degree on satellite observations since the 1970s. Thirty years is a very short time over which to draw any conclusions," he said. A Nasa satellite study released last week showed that the growth of pack ice since the end of the 1970s was preceded by a period of shrinkage between 1973 and 1978. The break-up of the Arctic pack ice in recent years has also highlighted concerns about the implications of sea ice decline. The evidence is taken from ice cores bored out of the Law Dome, a mound of compressed snow from the Antarctic mainland more than half a mile deep, which carries a climate record stretching back 90,000 years. Compacted snowfall forms annual layers in the ice similar to tree rings. The scientists worked out the extent of past sea ice by measuring the amount of methane sulphonic acid (MSA), produced by marine algae, in the ice cores. MSA-producing algae is linked to sea ice, so the quantity of the chemical in any year's snowfall gives a clue to the extent of that year's pack ice. "We have only just scratched the surface of this so far," said Dr Curran. "It's only when we start going back into the earlier layers that we'll start to find out whether the changes since 1950 are the norm or an exception." The new findings are startlingly similar to contentious research published in 1997 based on whaling records. Before the banning of commercial whaling in 1987, ships often moored close to the Antarctic pack ice while taking their catch, allowing researchers to retrace the extent of the pack ice by examining the positions of whaling ships. Scientists see Antarctica as a barometer of climate trends, with many of the indicators pointing towards global warming. Average temperatures on the Antarctic peninsula have risen 3C in the past 50 years, and the Antarctic ice shelves have retreated dramatically. B15, which at more than 4,000 square miles was as big as Jamaica and the world's largest iceberg when it calved from the Ross ice shelf in 2000, split apart during storms last month, giving rise to two smaller bergs . | ['world/world', 'education/science', 'environment/environment', 'world/antarctica', 'education/higher-education', 'education/research', 'education/education', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'environment/sea-level', 'type/article', 'profile/davidfickling'] | environment/sea-level | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2003-11-15T08:53:06Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2013/jan/02/chris-christie-republicans-sandy-relief | Christie lambasts House Republicans over Sandy bill: 'Shame on Congress' | The plain-speaking governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, embarked on an extended tirade against his own party members in Congress on Wednesday, raging against what he described as the "toxic internal politics" of House Republicans. Christie, a high-profile Republican who is among the potential candidates for a run at the presidency in 2016, used invective against his own party usually only heard in attacks from Democrats. Although he was specifically angry over the House's failure to vote on a compensation package for victims of hurricane Sandy, he expanded his rant to criticise House Republicans in general and the House Republican Speaker John Boehner in particular. In the face of heavy criticism from Christie and other Republicans, Boehner scheduled a vote on the aid package for Friday. Christie, speaking at a 40-minute long press conference before that announcement, reflected widespread criticism, mainly on the left but also among independents and many Republicans, that the Tea Party-backed Republicans in the House are a disruptive influence, creating chaos in Washington. "Americans are tired of the palace intrigue and political partisanship of this Congress, which places one-upmanship ahead of the lives of the citizens who sent these people to Washington DC in the first place," Christie said. He added: "America deserves better than yet another example of a government that has forgotten who they are there to serve and why." Referring specifically to the failure to act on the hurricane Sandy package, he said: "Shame on you. Shame on Congress." Christie said that, historically, lawmakers in Washington did not play politics with disaster relief, but in the present atmosphere, everything was the subject of gamesmanship. "They are so consumed with their internal politics, they've forgotten they have a job to do," Christie said. "Everything is the subject of one-upmanship. It is why the American people hate Congress." His anger over hurricane Sandy was echoed by other governors and members of Congress from the north-east. Even before Christie's remarks, the showdown over the fiscal cliff fully exposed the extent of the divisions within the Republican party. Republicans in the Senate, dominated by moderate members who have held their seats for a long time, voted as a largely cohesive unit on Tuesday in favour of the fiscal cliff deal. There were only five rebels, two of them senators who are Tea Party favourites: Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. In contrast with the Senate, the House, whose membership is backed to a greater extent by the Tea Party, was deeply divided. Only 85 Republicans voted for the fiscal cliff deal, with 151 against. The divide was geographical as well as ideological, with a large bloc of those voting in favour predominantly from the more liberal north-east and those against from the more conservative south. At the press conference, Christie said Republicans had failed in their duty by not passing the hurricane Sandy package. Republicans, conscious of keeping down federal spending, have questioned measures in the package that they regard as wasteful. "Last night, the House of Representatives failed that most basic test of public service and they did so with callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state," he said. "There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their Speaker John Boehner," he added. He described Boehner's decision to cancel the vote on the aid package as disappointing and "disgusting". Christie is a popular figure and his reputation grew over his handling of hurricane Sandy, in particular his bipartisan posture and his willingness to put aside politics to work with president Barack Obama, even though the White House election was looming. He could struggle to win support among fellow Republicans in mid-west states such as Iowa, where the first of the caucuses are held, because his views on abortion, gun control and immigration are regarded as too liberal. Rubio, who voted against the fiscal cliff deal, is among the present favourites. | ['us-news/chris-christie', 'us-news/republicans', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/john-boehner', 'us-news/house-of-representatives', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'us-news/us-congress', 'us-news/us-senate', 'us-news/tea-party-movement', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/ewenmacaskill'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-01-02T22:20:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2021/apr/20/ocean-rogue-waves-monster-mystery-finally-solved | Ocean rogue waves: a monster mystery finally solved? | Rogue waves, towering at least twice as high as the other waves present, seem to appear at random. Their rarity makes them difficult to study, and for years they were considered a sailors’ myth. They are especially common off the east coast of Africa, making this a fruitful area for rogue wave research. A key factor is the how the fast-running Agulhas current runs south and collides with ocean swells running north from the Southern Ocean. The current modifies the shape and height of the waves, tending to make them steeper and amplifying them. The effect varies depending on the angle between the current and the swell. This interaction may produce a “swell train” of waves moving together, which can contain a small number of extreme waves. While it is difficult to observe rogue waves directly, it is now possible to measure average wave height from space with a radar altimeter. This allows scientists to observe what happens under various conditions and test their computer models against reality. Even in this one small and well-studied region, rogue wave formation is not well understood. But ships in the area are still being damaged or sunk by monster waves, and being able to predict when and where they are most likely to form could save many lives. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/environment', 'world/africa', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-04-20T05:00:33Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
film/2022/apr/04/the-loneliest-whale-the-search-for-52-review-a-crack-team-goes-on-a-wild-cetacean-chase | The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 review – a crack team goes on a wild cetacean chase | The world’s loneliest whale was discovered in 1989 when his mating call was picked up by US Navy underwater surveillance designed to detect Russian submarines. The frequency of the whale’s singing, at 52Hz, was much higher than other large whales. Was this guy the first of his kind, or the last? Could other whales understand him, or was the 52 a lonesome wanderer, crossing the ocean looking for love, singing into the darkness? The story went viral in 2004 after an article in the New York Times, inspiring hashtags – #TheSaddestThingEver! – and back tattoos. Now comes this documentary, directed by Joshua Zeman and executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (he’s much easier to find than the whale, frequently sighted onboard a yacht with a supermodel). Zeman charters a boat called Truth and assembles a crack team of oceanographers to solve the mystery of the 52. Spotting the whale will be harder than looking for a needle in a haystack, warns one of the experts – and this is a film raised a fair few notches by the wonder of geekery, the absolute joy of seeing scientists living and breathing their work. It’s no spoiler to say that a feeling of anticlimax is here from the start – though to be fair to Zeman, he does get a bombshell at the end. Before that, he fills out his film with some interesting backstory: beginning with a brief history of whaling, and including an upsetting sequence showing how noise from container ships in the Pacific interferes with whales’ ability to communicate, creating an entire ocean of lonely whales. Best of all is an interview with the environmentalist Roger Payne, whose hit 1970 album Songs of the Humpback Whale taught us how to love the whale. As he says: nobody cared about saving the whale until they realised whales can sing. Still, if the 52 is watching the message is loud and clear: stay the hell away from humans. • The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 is available on 4 April on digital platforms. | ['film/film', 'film/documentary', 'film/leonardodicaprio', 'environment/whales', 'environment/cetaceans', 'culture/culture', 'environment/environment', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'profile/cathclarke', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-04-04T12:00:36Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2021/jul/08/high-impact-wildlife-projects-aim-to-restore-habitats-across-england | ‘High-impact’ wildlife projects aim to restore habitats across England | Restoring a kelp forest off the Sussex coast, creating new habitat for heat-sensitive butterflies and connecting fractured wetlands for the reintroduction of beavers are among 12 new projects receiving funding to help the UK tackle climate change, the Wildlife Trusts has announced. Planting new seagrass pastures in the Solent, expanding salt marshes on the Essex coast and restoring peatlands in Cumbria, Durham, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Somerset are some of the “high-impact” schemes that the nature charity said will help mitigate the impact of global heating on land and at sea. Alongside the projects, backed by nearly £2m of funding from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, researchers will investigate how best to protect the UK’s ecosystems and biodiversity from rising temperatures, while also paving the way for the reintroduction of locally extinct species in some cases. One project in East Anglia will work with Cambridge University researchers to understand how micro-habitats in chalk grassland can be created to protect temperature-sensitive butterflies like the small blue, the chalkhill blue and the Duke of Burgundy. Another in Derbyshire will restore woodlands in the Derwent Valley and, if successful, could lead to the reintroduction of the pine marten and red squirrel to the area. Funding will also go to a project off the Sussex coast championing the restoration of 200 sq km of lost kelp forest. John Hughes, a development manager at Shropshire Wildlife Trust, which is benefiting from funding for a project to restore fragmented wetlands known as the meres and mosses in the West Midlands, said he hoped the schemes would encourage the public to support the large-scale restoration of ecosystems. “If you want to inspire people, you do something like a beaver release. It’s not about the individual animal. It’s about explaining that nature has many of the answers to the problems that we face. Beavers are a wonderful solution to so many problems that beset wetlands in this country,” Hughes said. The industrious rodent helps maintain wetlands and prevent downstream flooding by building dams, also supporting the amphibians, insects, plants and fish that share their habitat. Natural England require beavers to be fenced in under current reintroduction rules, although a record number are expected to be released this year. Dr Gwen Hitchcock, a senior monitoring and research officer for the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, said the funding would enable further research into how to protect native insect species from a changing climate. Her trust’s project will test different butterfly bank designs in chalk grassland to encourage insect abundance in rising temperatures. “Butterflies have very limited ways of influencing their own body temperature. Research has showed that larger, paler butterflies are better able to protect themselves from extreme temperatures, but darker and smaller species – particularly specialists – find it harder,” she said. “Depending on how much the climate changes, it may be that all of our species end up relying on particular habitat features. The aim of this study is to work out which features are going to be the best for them.” Other projects include an effort to create a new nature reserve in South Lakeland, Cumbria, and to establish the county’s first paludiculture project to grow sphagnum moss, which hold up to 20 times their weight in water and aid the formation of peat. Another in Devon will create a nature-based solution centre on a farm to show how nature can help reverse the impacts of intensive agriculture. A Nottinghamshire project will work with farms to create a network of restored habitats for pollinators and farmland birds. New funding for the Yorkshire wildlife trust will help scale up the Great North Bog project, which aims to put more than 4,000 hectares of upland peatland under restoration management. Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, said the 12 schemes were focused on both climate change mitigation and adaptation. “We urgently need to be thinking about how we can let nature help in tackling the climate crisis [and] how it can help with adaptation. A lot of that is about holding water back in the landscape: recreating our wetlands, restoring our peatlands and reintroducing beavers,” he said. “We know there is a lot of eco-anxiety and sometimes people feel we are not changing fast enough. If we can establish large-scale projects and actually start to turn things around, we can demonstrate what can be done in the UK.” Laura Chow, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “We’re delighted funding raised by our players is helping the Wildlife Trusts restore habitats across the country that play a key role in accumulating and storing carbon.” | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-07-08T06:01:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/oct/30/climate-change-already-damaging-health-of-millions-globally-report-finds | Climate change already bringing disease, air pollution and heatwaves | The health of hundreds of millions of people around the world is already being damaged by climate change, a major report has revealed. Heatwaves are affecting many more vulnerable people and global warming is boosting the transmission of deadly diseases such as dengue fever, the world’s most rapidly spreading disease. Air pollution from fossil fuel burning is also causing millions of early deaths each year, while damage to crops from extreme weather threatens hunger for millions of children. The findings, published in the Lancet journal, come from researchers at 26 institutions around the world, including many universities, the World Health Organization, World Bank and the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO reported on Monday that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere made a record jump in 2016 to hit a concentration not seen for more than three million years. “Climate change is happening and it’s a health issue today for millions worldwide,” said Prof Anthony Costello, at the World Health Organization and co-chair of the group behind the new report. It follows a related report in 2009 that warned that climate change was the biggest danger to global health in the 21st century, an assessment repeated in the new report. But Costello said acting to halt global warming would also deliver a huge benefit for health: “The outlook is challenging, but we still have an opportunity to turn a looming medical emergency into the most significant advance for public health this century.” “Our scientists have been telling us for some time that we’ve got a bad case of climate change. Now our doctors are telling us it’s bad for our health,” said Christiana Figueres, who as the UN’s climate chief negotiated the Paris climate change agreement and also co-chaired the new report. “Hundreds of millions of people are already suffering health impacts as a result of climate change,” she told the Guardian. “Tackling climate change directly, unequivocally, and immediately improves global health. It’s as simple as that.” One of the most striking of the 40 indicators assessed by the researchers was a huge increase in the number of people over 65 exposed to extreme heat. This rose by 125 million between 2000 and 2016 and worries doctors because older people are especially vulnerable to heat. “There is no crystal ball gazing here, these are the actual observations,” said Prof Peter Cox, at the University of Exeter, UK. He said the 70,000 deaths that resulted from the 2003 heatwave in Europe looked small compared to the long-term trends: “We were alarmed when we saw this.” Most of the increase in exposed people resulted from rising temperatures, but the number of older people is also rising, creating a “perfect storm”, Cox said. The report also found that hotter and more humid weather was increasingly creating conditions in which it is impossible to work outside. In 2016, this caused work equivalent to almost a million people to be lost, half in India alone. The report also found that climate change has increased the ability of dengue fever to spread, because the mosquitoes and the virus they carry breed more quickly. Dengue is also known as “breakbone fever” due to the pain it causes and infections have doubled in each decade since 1990, now reaching up to 100m infections a year now. Dengue was used as an example in the report and the researchers suggest global warming will also increase the spread of other diseases such as schistosomiasis. Air pollution is known to cause millions of early deaths every year but the new report highlights the 800,000 annual deaths related solely to coal burning. The good news here, said Prof Paul Wilkinson, is that coal production peaked in 2013 and is now falling. “We are seeing the first turn [in the trend] but we have a long way to go,” he said. “It is a health dividend we are ignoring if we do not act.” The impacts of climate change are not limited to poorer nations, said Dr Toby Hillman, at the Royal College of Physicians, but also affect developed nations like the UK. He said air pollution kills about 40,000 in the UK each year and criticised low government funding levels for cycling and walking. Hillman also noted other impacts, such as sharp increases in mental health problems after extreme weather events like flooding. The new report highlighted imminent threats as well, such as the loss of crops to increasingly hot and extreme weather. “We are going to see millions more undernourished children as a result of that,” said Prof Hugh Montgomery, at University College London (UCL). Montgomery said the potential benefits of climate change appeared to be small in comparison to the damages: “We are not ducking the potential benefits, we just find it hard to see what they are.” Cox said it was not clear that global warming will actually reduce winter cold spells, which cause early deaths in higher latitude countries, because changes happening in the Arctic can exacerbate cold snaps. Prof Georgina Mace, also at UCL, said the evidence for a warmer climate increasing food production was often very localised and short term: ”Overall the overwhelming pattern is negative.” Clare Goodess, a climate researcher at the University of East Anglia and not part of the Lancet report, said: “The indicators reveal some stark warnings for human health, as well as some glimmers of hope, [and] the key messages appear robust. The attribution of [climate change] temperature trends to human activities is now unequivocal, so the urgency of addressing the issues raised by this report is not in doubt.” | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'society/health', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/pollution', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'world/dengue-fever', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-10-30T23:30:09Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2018/jan/25/hurricane-harvey-costs-storms | Harvey was second-most expensive US hurricane on record, official report says | It was officially a monster year for deadly US storms in 2017 with Hurricane Harvey the second most expensive hurricane on record and the final costs of Irma and Maria, both human and financial, yet to be added, according to government figures released on Thursday. Hurricane Harvey was Texas’s most deadly in a century, killing 68, and two locations endured 5ft of rain when the tempest made landfall last August, flooding downtown Houston. All but three of the deaths were from freshwater flooding. The storm overall caused an estimated $125bn in damage. That makes it second only to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina in financial cost. Katrina devastated New Orleans and vast areas of Louisiana and Mississippi and ended up costing $161m, when adjusted for inflation. Harvey was the first of three gigantic hurricane-strength storms to hit the United States in 2017. Official tallies on Irma, which hit Florida hard, and Maria, which decimated Puerto Rico, both in September, are still being compiled by the National Hurricane Center, which issued its latest report on Thursday. Hurricane Harvey spawned 57 tornadoes inland and 18 different parts of Texas were deluged with more than 4ft of rain. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime event for so many people,” said the center’s hurricane specialist Eric Blake, lead author of the report. “I think the flooding in the Houston metropolitan area is really unparalleled.” The government issued a range of estimates for the damage, from $90bn to $160bn, with a midpoint of $125bn. Harvey’s maximum winds on landfall were 133mph, making it a category 5 storm. But the really big numbers in the report were related to the torrential, relentless rain that battered the region. Government meteorologists calculated that much of the Houston metro area experienced a flood with “less than a 1-in-1000 (0.1%) chance of occurring in any given year”. “It is unlikely that the United States has ever seen such a sizeable area of excessive tropical cyclone rainfall totals as it did from Harvey,” the report said. The year was the hottest on record that did not include the El Niño weather pattern, and matched the record year for the most billion-dollar weather events, with climate experts saying global warming is intensifying disasters such as the triple series hurricanes. | ['us-news/hurricane-harvey', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/hurricane-irma', 'world/hurricane-maria', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joannawalters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/hurricane-harvey | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-01-25T22:53:17Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2016/oct/24/brazil-amazon-environmentalist-murder-luiz-alberto-araujo | Murder of Brazil official marks new low in war on Amazon environmentalists | It was just after sunset in Altamira, a small town nestled on a curve of the Xingu river in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, when Luiz Alberto Araújo, the secretary for the environment on the city council, arrived home with his family. Before he could get out of his car, two men on a motorcycle pulled up and the passenger shot seven bullets into the 54-year-old, who was still sitting in the driver’s seat. The killer got off the bike, opened the car door and shot him twice more. Araújo slumped on to his wife, who was seated beside him. Neither she, nor his two stepchildren, were injured. No attempt was made to steal anything. The killing, on Thursday 13 October, had all the hallmarks of the sort of assassination that is common in the lawless Pará state, in the eastern Amazon, where illegal logging, clandestine mining and modern slavery are rife. More than 150 environmental activists have been killed in Brazil since 2012, with studies showing the country accounts for half the global toll of such murders. Many of those killed, including the high-profile cases of Chico Mendes, Dorothy Stang and Zé Claudio Ribeiro da Silva, were campaigners. But Araújo was a government official, and advocates say his murder is a rare and worrying development. “The killing of Luiz Alberto Araújo marks a new low in the war waged against environmentalists in the Brazilian Amazon,” said Billy Kyte, campaign leader at the NGO Global Witness. “It sends a message that no one is untouchable. “The government must urgently protect activists under threat and hold to account those responsible for this killing spree. Until prosecutions are made and protection is guaranteed, this deadly spiral of violence will continue unabated.” Araújo’s home, Altamira, is a municipality in Pará, one of the poorest states in Brazil, with a land area larger than Greece but a population of just 110,000. His work was a cross-section of the region’s environmental woes, from the battle against deforestation – which has risen by 24% in Brazil, recent figures show – to the consequences of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, which has been built nearby. Araújo, who colleagues described as studious, serious and highly competent, had become used to receiving death threats. He had moved from a similar role in São Félix do Xingu, a neighbouring municipality, for that reason, they said. “Without doubt he was afraid,” said Marcelo Salazar, of the Socio-Environmental Institute in Altamira, who worked with him. “He never said anything but anyone who works with the environment in Amazon towns will have a little bit of fear. “It was a professional killing, there was no fight,” he added. “You have to be very careful with this work [combating deforestation] – and who you denounce.” Araújo’s department this year granted a licence to a vast gold mine, called Esperança IV, in Altamira. Last month federal inspectors shut it down and fined its operators 50m reais ($16m) for breaching restrictions which barred the mine from any deforestation. Mercury and other pollutants were also leaking into the river Curuá, poisoning the food chain of the Kayapó indigenous tribe, inspectors said. Araújo also reported the operators of Belo Monte, the fourth largest hydroelectric dam in the world, to federal prosecutors after his team found masses of dead fish. Norte Energia, the operator, was eventually fined 35m reais ($11m) for the death of 16.2 tons of fish during the filling process of its reservoir. “He was assiduous in passing us this information,” said Ubiratan Cazetta, a federal prosecutor in Pará. Earlier this year, federal inspectors in Altamira also busted a deforestation operation that had used modern slaves to clear 112 sq miles of forest, although officials played down Araújo’s involvement in the investigation. The civil police in Xingu are investigating his murder. The detective leading the inquiry, Vinicius Sousa, said closed-circuit television footage was being analysed and his family and friends interviewed. Araújo’s environmental work and the inspections carried out by his secretariat were being considered as a possible motivation for his killing, he added. | ['world/brazil', 'world/world', 'world/americas', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-10-24T10:00:12Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2008/aug/05/recycling.japan | Climate change: Quest for zero waste community in remote Japanese village | It was not that long ago that life in Kamikatsu revolved around the state of the rice crop and the number of tourists arriving to soak in the restorative waters of the local hot spring. Now the tiny village, in the densely wooded mountains of Shikoku island in south-west Japan, has a new obsession: rubbish. Since 2003 Kamikatsu's 2,000 residents have been part of a so far unheralded ecological experiment that, if successful, could force bin men across the country to look for new jobs. Urban Japanese householders, who balk at having to divide rubbish into flammable and inflammable items, bottles and cans, should spare a thought for their counterparts in Kamikatsu. Here, household waste must be separated into no fewer than 34 categories before being taken to a recycling centre where volunteers administer firm, but polite, reprimands to anyone who forgets to remove the lid from a plastic bottle or rinse out an empty beer can. At stake is Kamikatsu's quest to end its dependence on incineration and landfill by 2020 and claim the title of Japan's first zero waste community. An hour's drive from the nearest city and 370 miles from Tokyo, the village was forced to change the way it managed its waste in 2000, when strict new regulations on dioxin emissions forced it to shut down its two incinerators. "We were no longer able to burn our rubbish, so we thought the best policy was not to produce any in the first place," said Sonoe Fujii of the village's Zero Waste Academy, a non-profit organisation that oversees the scheme. Despite initial opposition, the zero waste declaration, passed by the village assembly in 2003, has spawned an unlikely army of ecowarriors. When Kikue Nii is not tending her impressive allotment or catching fish from the river at the bottom of her garden, she is up to her elbows in garbage. "At first it was very hard work," said the 65-year-old, as she emptied another bowl of vegetable peelings into the electric garbage disposal unit next to her back door. In the corner of her garden, more kitchen waste sat in a conventional composter, waiting to help nurture a new supply of tomatoes and spring onions. "I was working when the scheme started and found myself spending my lunch break dealing with our rubbish," she said. "It took ages to sort everything into different types. But it comes naturally now." However, she draws the line at her husband's empty beer cans: "They are his responsibility," she said. That Nii and her neighbours struggled in the early days of the zero waste campaign is understandable, given the daunting myriad of rules. Glass bottles must be relieved of their caps and sorted by colour. Plastic bottles for soy sauce and cooking oil must be kept separate from Pet (polyethylene teraphthalate) bottles that once contained mineral water and green tea. All bottles, cans and even plastic food wrappers must be washed thoroughly; newspapers and magazines have to be piled into neat bundles tied with a twine made from recycled milk cartons. Any waste that is not composted is taken to the village's zero waste centre. Early one recent morning a trickle of cars turned into a deluge as residents arrived at the centre to drop off their rubbish on the way to work. The site can accommodate a dizzying array of items, from bottles, cans and newspapers to crockery, batteries, nappies, cigarette lighters, ballpoint pens and an improbably large number of broken mirrors. Anything in good enough condition to be reused ends up at the Kuru Kuru recycling store, where residents are free to drop off or take home free of charge whatever they like, mostly clothes, crockery and ornaments. All but a few categories of rubbish are recycled. Wooden chopsticks are pulped and made into paper, and cooking oil reappears in fertiliser. But for other items, such as shoes, futons and carpets, the only option remains incineration. Glass and ceramic ware and light bulbs are buried in landfills, while batteries have to be shipped hundreds of miles to a recycling plant on the northern island of Hokkaido. Critics point out that some of the composters use electricity and that most residents of Kamikatsu, spread out over an area that ranges from 100 metres to 800 metres above sea level, have no choice but to take their rubbish to the zero waste centre by car. "We're still some way from reaching our zero waste goal, but the difference is amazing compared with a few years ago," said Yasuo Goto, a 75-year-old retired farmer who works part-time as a caretaker at the centre. His optimism is supported by data showing that Kamikatsu's recycling rate has soared from 55% a decade ago to around 80% today. Five years after the scheme's inception 98% of the population uses home composters, which, with government subsidies, cost a modest 3,000 yen (£14) each. "I can't say with absolute confidence that we will reach the target, but we're doing our best to make it happen," said Fujii. To stand any chance of reaching its 2020 goal the greenest citizens still have a public relations battle to win. Local reaction was mixed when the village first mooted the idea of spearheading Japan's zero waste movement. There were complaints that the regular cycle of sorting, washing and disposing of rubbish would prove too much for the village's ageing population. A recent poll showed that 40% of residents were still unhappy about at least one aspect of the zero waste policy. "We still have opponents, particularly because almost everything has to be washed," Fujii said. "All we can do is talk to the doubters and explain why what they're doing is so important. I think consciousness is growing that this is a good thing; that it's not just the right thing to do, but the only thing to do." | ['environment/recycling', 'world/japan', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'environment/landfill', 'environment/incineration', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2008-08-04T23:01:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2009/jan/08/response-waste-recyling | Response: Yes, we can recycle: our crisis is about quality, not quantity | Is your leader column trying to discourage readers from recycling by concluding that "Britain is alone in Europe in trying to recycle so much" (Rubbish answers, 2 January). You quote a pro-incineration study which says that "the combustion of dry waste, and the anaerobic digestion of organic material could between them meet up to 17% of Britain's energy needs by 2020". As a professional recycler I have to ask: given that 85% of what goes in our bins is recyclable or compostable, and at best estimates we capture only around 33% of this, why on earth are we even talking about combustion? Our recycling still lags far behind many parts of Europe - let's sort that out first. You are right to assert that "we have become better at collecting waste" but miss a crucial stage in the process by, in the same sentence, continuing "but not at treating it once it has been bundled up". That is the problem - we are increasingly collecting our materials in the wrong way and have ended up bundling rubbish, not individual materials. We have then tried to find buyers for this mixed material masquerading as paper, or glass, or plastics, etc. It is not a recycling crisis, it is a quality crisis. The "paper mountains" that were once sent abroad are in fact paper plus plastic, glass, food waste, nappies - all mixed in. British paper mills actually import waste paper from Europe because they cannot get good quality sources here. The Chinese simply got fed up with buying low-quality material from a relatively small supplier. And there is actually a shortage of glass of the quality that can be made back into bottles and jars. Again this is because of the low quality of material emerging once it has gone through what you quite rightly describe as overly "complex collection services". Nowhere else in Europe, for example, does anyone send the glass they collect to road aggregate. We have arrived at this point not, as you imply, down to a lack of reprocessing capacity in the UK, but because too many local authorities were given poor advice and chose recycling schemes that took no consideration of the end market for the materials. Where collections mix everything together in wheelie bins or sacks, they contaminate one another and you get problems and the resulting waste mountains. By contrast, local authorities who invested in systems that maintained the quality of the materials collected are still finding buyers. Limiting the range of materials collected in each container, or better still having them sorted by trained collectors as they are put on to the trucks, maintains material quality. Your call for "Britain to develop a bigger domestic recycling industry of its own" should be listened to by government; but it will only work if those charged with collecting our waste supply materials that can actually be used. That truck with the guys sorting your materials while still in your street is, in fact, the best system around - chances are those materials are being recycled responsibly. There are still many good authorities out there. • Mal Williams is chief executive officer of the Cylch-Wales Community Recycling Network mail@cylch.org.uk | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-01-08T00:01:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
fashion/2019/jul/17/zara-collections-to-be-made-from-100-sustainable-fabrics | Zara clothes to be made from 100% sustainable fabrics by 2025 | The owner of high street fashion chain Zara has announced that all of its collections will be made from 100% sustainable fabrics before 2025. Inditex – which was named the world’s third largest apparel company this year by Forbes – said its other brands, including Zara Home, Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear, will also follow suit. The commitment to a more responsible future was made on Tuesday at its annual shareholders’ meeting and makes Zara, which accounts for 70% of Inditex’s group sales, the first international high street store to make such a commitment, reports WWD. It is one of several ambitious targets to be announced. By 2025, 80% of the energy consumed in Zara’s headquarters, factories and stores will be from renewable sources and its facilities will produce zero landfill waste, the company said. By 2023, it promised, the viscose used will also be 100% sustainable. Pablo Isla, the chief executive of Inditex, said: “We need to be a force for change, not only in the company but in the whole sector. “We are the ones establishing these targets: the strength and impulse for change is coming from the commercial team, the people who are working with our suppliers, the people working with fabrics. It is something that’s happening inside our company.” The group was named the most sustainable retailer by the Dow Jones sustainability index from 2016 to 2018, and is owned by Spain’s richest man, Amancio Ortega. Isla insisted this week that despite Inditex’s presence on nearly every main high street around the world “the opposite of a fast-fashion company”, adding: “We operate with a different model. We make our own patterns, work with our own factories, keep low levels of inventory, have local sourcing and manufacturing and don’t have promotions in stores.” Last year, annual sales grew 3% to €26.1bn. Inditex is already in the middle of a serious sustainability drive. Since 2015 it has collected more than 34,000 tonnes of used stock, after it installed clothes banks in more than 800 stores in 24 regions. A service picking up used clothes from customers’ homes has proved effective in Spain, Beijing and Shanghai and will be extended to London, Paris and New York. The company has partnered with charities, such as the Red Cross, on redistributing the used stock and is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to find feasible ways of fibre recycling. It has committed to disposing of unused items responsibly and has promised that its factories will no longer discharge hazardous chemicals at any stage of the supply chain by 2020. The promises come as fashion companies are under increased scrutiny from consumers, who are demanding ethical production practices and responsible retailing, particularly concerning excess levels of stock and the disposal of unwanted garments. The recent news that the UK government rejected parliamentary environmental audit committee proposals, including a tax of 1p per garment to help curb the throwaway culture and mandatory environmental targets for brands turning over more than £36m a year, caused outrage. The government’s report Fixing Fashion also proposed a nationwide ban on incinerating or sending to landfill clothes that can be reused or recycled. The government said it would consider the proposals by 2025, saying: “We believe that positive approaches are required to find outlets for waste textiles rather than simply imposing a landfill ban.” | ['fashion/fashion', 'fashion/fashion-industry', 'environment/waste', 'environment/landfill', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/scarlett-conlon', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-fashion'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-07-17T13:14:47Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk-news/2016/jul/28/hinkley-point-c-should-the-18bn-nuclear-power-station-be-built | Hinkley Point C: should the £18bn nuclear power station be built? | If EDF decides to go ahead with the construction of an £18bn nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset it would be controversial. A debate has raged about the merits of the project for a decade, with the following some of the key arguments for and against. For Britain needs to keep the lights on Hinkley Point C will be the first nuclear power station to be built in Britain for a generation. It will provide 7% of the country’s electricity for almost 60 years, helping to ensure that the UK produces enough energy to meet its needs. A better option than fossil fuels The government wants to phase out polluting coal by 2025, with nuclear offering a lower-carbon option that produces enough electricity to fill the gap created by closing existing plants. Construction is privately funded The £18bn cost of Hinkley Point C is being borne by EDF, which is 85% owned by the French government, and China General Nuclear Power Corporation, which has agreed to take a 33% stake in the project. Furthermore, the project is expected to create 25,000 jobs in the UK. Against Cost to consumers Although EDF and China are funding construction, UK households will subsidise their work through the price they pay for electricity. The government has agreed a strike price - a guaranteed price for the electricity generated by Hinkley Point - of £92.50 per megawatt hour. This is significantly above wholesale electricity prices and most renewable energy sources, where costs are falling thanks to new technology. Safety and environmental impact The 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster led to Japan and Germany announcing that they would shut down all of their nuclear reactors. Japan has subsequently restarted some, but Germany still plans to close all its plants permanently by 2022. Concerns remain about how to deal with nuclear waste, and France’s nuclear safety authority has found weaknesses in a reactor EDF is building in Flamanville, which is the same design as Hinkley Point C. Delays and cost overruns In 2007, EDF’s chief executive, Vincent de Rivaz, said Britons would be cooking its Christmas turkeys on new nuclear power by 2017. Hinkley Point C, however, is now not expected to be completed before 2025. Even that deadline and the £18bn budget could be optimistic. EDF’s project in Flamanville is more than three times over budget and years behind schedule. EDF’s workers in France have campaigned for Hinkley Point C to be delayed or scrapped amid fears it could ruin the company’s finances. | ['uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/energy', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-ruddick', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2016-07-28T13:45:50Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2020/dec/22/flood-alerts-england-wales-heavy-rain-forecast-yellow-weather-warning | Flood alerts issued for England and Wales as heavy rain forecast | Flood alerts have been issued across England and Wales ahead of heavy rain forecast for the run-up to Christmas, as the Met Office issued a weather warning after downpours over the weekend. A yellow weather warning for rain in mid and south Wales, as well as southern England, is in place from 6am on Wednesday until 6am Thursday, with 50mm to 70mm of rain expected to fall in south Wales. Disruption to travel and power lines is expected, and officials have warned people to stay alert for potential flooding. The Environment Agency has also issued eight flood warnings for areas where heavy rainfall is expected, including in areas close to Keswick campsite in Cumbria, the River Don and Dutch River at West Cowick in east Yorkshire, Cogenhoe Mill caravan site in Northamptonshire, between Worcester and Gloucester along the Severn, and parts of Wareham in Dorset. Sixty-eight flood alerts, for places where flooding is possible, are also in place across England and Wales. Clearer skies are expected for much of Scotland and Northern Ireland, where temperatures will be cooler and a sprinkling of coastal showers are expected. Simon Partridge, a Met Office forecaster, said: “We’ve had quite a lot of rain in recent weeks across much of the southern half of the UK, so at the moment the ground is quite saturated and river levels are already fairly high. “There is a risk of localised flooding within the warning area, and there will be dangerous driving conditions as well. “Parts of the south-west in particular have already seen some flooding earlier in the week, so this is really just going to add to the current issues in some of those places.” A number of flood warnings and alerts were in place across south Wales last weekend after torrential downpours. Natural Resources Wales said it was advising people to watch out for flood alerts and warnings in the run-up to Christmas Day, and reminded people not to attempt to walk or drive through flood water. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are expected to be cold but dry, welcome news to many people across the country hoping to meet up with loved ones outside owing to coronavirus restrictions. “Although there won’t be a white Christmas with snow, there will be a very widespread frost across much of the UK first thing on Christmas Day morning,” said Partridge. | ['uk/weather', 'environment/flooding', 'uk/wales', 'uk-news/england', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jessica-murray', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-12-22T19:20:35Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
technology/2015/jun/13/kickstarter-ecocapsule-sensorwake-screenstick-lumigraphe | Five things we love: from scented alarm clocks to eco-capsule homes | GET CREATIVE Using fashion and crafts to teach tech skills Enthusing kids, and girls in particular, about electronics can be tough, but creative technologists Nicole Messier and Joselyn McDonald think they have the answer. Tapping into the zeitgeist for wearable tech, they’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign to create kits and workshops that teach electronic design through fashion, art and craft projects. Their “blink blink creative circuit kits”, which will ship in December if the funding goal is reached, include tools, materials, online video tutorials and a booklet of project ideas, most of which seem to involve putting LEDs into things. Pledging $35 (£23) will get you started with light-up origami. GAMING Stick-on stick offers a handle on the action The imprecise virtual gaming controls used on smartphones and tablets are fine for your typical button-masher, but are pretty irksome for flight simulators and other antics where accuracy is paramount. Screenstick is a gadget that clings to the screen of your device using suction cups while a soft, conductive pad – linked to an aluminium joystick – presses on areas of the touchscreen resulting in a highly sensitive controller. It has two different stick types and costs $24.90 (£16.25). PHOTOGRAPHY Get hipster-tastic shots with camera obscura If you’re looking to add an artsy flair to your photographs without resorting to Instagram, try out the Lumigraphe camera obscura – an updated take on a centuries-old concept. Light passes through the box’s front lens and is projected upside-down on to the inside-back of the chamber. To capture the image, the Lumigraphe simply uses your smartphone. A nifty companion app can then be used to fix the orientation of the image, and also offers a glut of other video-tweaking tools. The results are hazy, dream-like photographic shots befitting any hardcore hipster. Currently up for crowdfunding on Kickstarter, backers can get a Lumigraphe of their very own for €90 (£65) with shipping expected to be launched in December. FRAGRANT ALARM Wake to the scent of croissants and coffee Though Smell-O-Vision didn’t catch on, French inventor Guillaume Rolland is scenting success with his “olfactory alarm clock”: the SensorWake Kickstarter campaign smashed through its €50,000 (£36,500) goal in just four days. Choose from a selection of odour capsules, including espresso, hot croissant and peppermint, and when the morning hour cometh a tempting waft will be pumped out by the clock which, allegedly, is enough to rouse you from your slumbers. Still open for funding, backers pledging €80 (£52) or more will get their hands on a SensorWake when it ships in November. GREEN LIFE Eggsterrestrial living in the Ecocapsule When aliens land, chances are they’ll arrive in something that looks like the Ecocapsule: an environmentally friendly portable house from Bratislava-based company Nice Architects. An energy independent pod powered by a wind turbine and solar panels, the capsule is shaped to optimise rainwater collection, while filters ensure the water can be put to good use. The pod can apparently be “shipped, airlifted, towed or even pulled by a pack animal” making it portable whatever your horsepower. A prototype was unveiled at Pioneers Festival in Vienna last month, and the first consumer Ecocapsule is expected to go on sale in 2016, with pricing yet to be released. | ['technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'tone/features', 'games/games', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'education/education', 'technology/photography', 'type/article', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/observer-tech-monthly', 'theobserver/observer-tech-monthly/observer-tech-monthly'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-06-13T09:00:04Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2022/may/15/breaking-climate-vows-would-be-monstrous-self-harm-warns-cop26-president | Breaking climate vows would be ‘monstrous self-harm’, warns Cop26 president | Failure to act on the promises made at the Glasgow Cop26 climate summit last year would be “an act of monstrous self-harm”, the UK’s president of the conference will warn today in Glasgow. Alok Sharma, the cabinet minister who led the UK-hosted summit that ended with agreement to limit global heating to 1.5C, will say that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and rising energy and food prices, have changed the global outlook drastically in the six months since. But responding to those changes by reneging on climate commitments would only result in worse damage, he will say. “The current crises should increase, not diminish, our determination to deliver on what we agreed here at Cop26, and honour the Glasgow climate pact,” he is expected to say. “[World leaders must show that] though the world has changed, our resolve has not.” Sharma is returning to Glasgow on Monday to mark six months since Cop26 ended. Nearly 200 countries have agreed to develop new commitments this year to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the 1.5C goal, which requires roughly halving carbon levels by 2030, according to scientific advice from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Though Cop26 made important progress – all the world’s big economies have now committed to net-zero goals, compared with a handful before the UK took on its Cop26 role – it fell short of producing national plans, called nationally determined contributions (NDCs), that add up to the 2030 target. But countries agreed to return this year to the Cop27 conference in Egypt in November with strengthened commitments. Sharma urged countries to “pick up the pace” and make fresh commitments in line with stark warnings from the IPCC in new reports published this spring, and after recent extreme weather such as the heatwaves that have struck India and Pakistan. “The window of time we have to act is closing fast [and] we must urgently adapt and reduce emissions, because current targets are not enough,” he will warn. “Every country must respond to the call to revisit and strengthen their NDCs, and they must do so in 2022. The Glasgow pact calls on countries to look again at their NDCs, not at some vague point in the future, but this year, in 2022,” he will say. Many climate experts have told the Guardian they are concerned that the war in Ukraine, soaring prices for energy and food, and governments responding by increasing fossil fuel production, are imperilling the Cop26 promises. The Guardian has also uncovered evidence of nearly 200 “carbon bombs” – oil, gas and coal mega-projects, proposed or under way – that would destroy any chance of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Experts have warned that the answer to these crises is to move much faster away from fossil fuels. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said: “I believe we have the chance to make this a historic turning point, towards a cleaner and more secure energy system.” Failure to cut emissions will result in some of the world’s biggest cities running out of water, a report from the charity Christian Aid warned on Monday. London, Sydney, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town and Phoenix are all in danger of running out of water as the climate crisis takes hold, according to the report, entitled Scorched Earth: the impact of drought on 10 world cities. Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London, who studied the 2018 drought in Cape Town, warned: “Changing rainfall and higher temperatures – the result of greenhouse gas emissions – are making drought more common and more severe in parts of the world. As we saw in Cape Town, this can add up to catastrophic water shortages even for some major cities.” Nushrat Rahman Chowdhury, co-author of the Christian Aid report, said: “Drought is not new, but its intensity and frequency have increased over the last 30 years due to global warming. It is a real danger; it threatens lives and livelihoods of some of the poorest people in the world, who have done the least to cause the climate crisis.” | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/cop27', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/alok-sharma', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2022-05-15T21:58:40Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2013/jan/15/hmv-record-chain-digital-dvd | HMV record chain was beset by digital downloads and cheap DVDs | If HMV was going to fail it was always going to be after a Christmas sales surge, when the tills were as full of cash as they were ever going to be and when the shelves were depleted of stock. Such timings are critical to creditors, and unprecedented January sale discounts were a clear sign that the end was nigh. It remains to be seen whether the administrators Deloitte can find a buyer for a part or all of the business. Looking back at the company's recent history it appears it was perhaps a minor miracle that HMV remained a going concern for so long. Take a look at this share price chart. Stock market investors twigged two years ago that the business contained next to no value for shareholders. Indeed, as far back as June 2011 HMV's chief executive at the time, Simon Fox, said the business had some way to go before it had a "full, credible, equity story" for shareholders. This, despite big revisions to its borrowing agreements with Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. In 2011, in the spring and early summer, these two banks, both partly state owned, could have pulled the plug. They did not. But nor, quite rightly, did they re-capitalise the business to rude health. In fact, from that moment onwards HMV was to limp on as a corporate creature all but controlled by its debt commitments. A zombie. Wind the clock forward a year and, in the wake of the busy Christmas 2011 trading spell, the company was again on the brink. The two banks' deliberated: should they call in HMV's unsustainable loans, or should they "extend and pretend"? At this point, clearly worried suppliers, such as film houses and record labels, rode in to join the rescue party. If RBS and Lloyds were prepared again to loosen HMV's lending terms, then the DVD and CD suppliers would take on some of the ailing retailers solvency risk. A backroom deal was done. Shareholders were told little of it, but that didn't matter; they were effectively out of the picture already. Asked if the intervention of suppliers meant an equity story was finally resurfacing, Fox was grim-faced: "I don't thing we can quite say that." Like hapless souls stuck in the first circle of Dante's inferno, without hope, HMV shareholders were to live on in desire. HMV's two lenders issued a joint statement on Tuesday noting they had "provided significant support to HMV over the past two years, as it has sought to reshape and restructure its business in the face of extremely difficult trading conditions". Sounding like corporate undertakers, they sombrely reflected: "Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of management, lenders and suppliers, it has not proven possible to avoid a formal insolvency process." For now, few are asking whether two years of forbearance was in the best interests of these financially stretched banks, or indeed of their largest shareholder, the taxpayer. Small companies will gripe that they see little of this kind of tolerance from these and other lenders. Certainly, when the future of a high-profile, big employer is at stake the decision making of a state-owned bank looks to be, let's say, complex. In their hearts, who at RBS or Lloyds really thought a strategy of diversifying into faddish, outsized headphones was likely to offset the elemental forces stacking up against HMV's core business of DVD and CD sales? The growth of digital downloads, the recession and competition from supermarkets were all eroding its business performance. By far the biggest impact, however, was the explosion in popularity of mail order websites such as Play.com, Amazon, and Tesco.com. For almost a decade these companies exploited a loophole in EU tax rules to ship DVDs and CDs at VAT-free prices from the Channel Islands – thereby undercutting HMV. In 2005 HMV sought to copy the model, establishing a warehouse of its own on Guernsey. The ambition was to increase online sales to 20% of total sales in three years. They never got close, in part because Play.com poached HMV's top web executive, Stuart Rowe. Remarkably, whenever the Guardian wrote about the tax loophole damaging HMV's business, the company complained. Why were we reporting on these inconsequential matters? The Labour government ignored the issue also; it too attacked the Guardian's campaign against the VAT loophole. But George Osborne, the chancellor, did attempt to close it down last year, acknowledging in the Commons that the VAT-free Channel Islands trade, worth more than £500m a year, amounted to "exploitation that has left our high-street music stores fighting a losing battle". It wasn't until this measure had been announced that Fox, who has since departed to Trinity Mirror, finally spoke publicly to voice his frustrations about the disadvantages facing HMV stores as they tried to compete with offshore VAT-free websites. Despite a near monopoly in many towns, HMV stores were seeing sales slump year after year, even at paper-thin margins. Fox said: "Unfortunately, [Osborne's] legislation closes down low value consignment relief [LVCR] only from the Channel Islands. It remains to be seen what our competitors will do, but undoubtedly there'll be a temptation to go to Switzerland or wherever … the closing of LVCR rules is a good thing, but the way it has been implemented doesn't necessarily solve anything." As the Guardian has reported recently, some large websites have quickly found ways to circumvent Osborne's crackdown on VAT avoidance. A quick search on the internet shows HMV.com, which has closed its Guernsey warehouse and returned its mail order operations to the UK, is regularly more expensive than other traders. Until this VAT avoidance is dealt with more firmly HMV's 240 high-street stores will stand little hope of a meaningful life after administration. The chancellor promised to act against other jurisdictions if the VAT-free sites relocated away from the Channel Islands. They are now calling his bluff. Will he respond? | ['business/hmvgroup', 'uk/uk', 'business/retail', 'business/musicindustry', 'media/digital-media', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'business/business', 'music/music', 'technology/technology', 'business/blog', 'tone/blog', 'media/mediabusiness', 'media/media', 'type/article', 'profile/simonbowers', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2013-01-15T17:23:34Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2016/oct/26/dong-energy-considers-sale-oil-and-gas-assets-focus-windfarms | Dong Energy considers sale of oil and gas assets to focus on windfarms | The biggest windfarm operator in the UK is considering selling its oil and gas business, four decades after it was set up to manage Denmark’s North Sea oilfields. Dong Energy, which is majority owned by the Danish government, said it had appointed JP Morgan to perform a strategy review that could result in the sale of the oil and gas business. Offloading oil assets would result in the company, whose initials stand for Danish Oil and Natural Gas, focus on wind power instead, completing its transformation from fossil fuels to renewables. Dong did not say whether selling its oil and gas operations would result in a change of name and added that it had yet to decide on the division’s future. The company floated on the Copenhagen stock exchange this year, saying it would use the flow of cash from oil sales to fund ongoing investment in renewable energy projects. But on Wednesday, Dong said it might now look to raise funds more quickly by selling the division. Any sale could help it cement its position as the UK’s leading exponent of wind power. Dong has stakes in windfarms that can produce more than 2.2GW in total, equivalent to about 4% of the UK’s predicted peak demand of 52.7GW during cold weather. It has plans to add a further 1.5GW of wind power capacity, including the Hornsea 1 project 55 miles off the coast of Grimsby, which would be the world’s largest offshore windfarm. | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'world/denmark', 'uk/uk', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/windpower', 'business/business', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'profile/rob-davies', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-10-26T16:29:21Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2010/nov/04/osborne-green-investment-bank-structure | Chancellor aiming to reveal structure of green investment bank by Christmas | George Osborne said today he hoped to outline structural details of the government's green investment bank before Christmas, insisting that he wanted to "get it right" to ensure it was a success. The chancellor told the Treasury select committee that the bank will be set up "as soon as possible", as he insisted that the planned business model was now at an advanced stage. The bank is expected to help fund clean energy projects such as windfarms. The chancellor shed a little more light on the planned green investment bank as he gave evidence on his spending review in a two–hour session with MPs. Stewart Hosie, MP for Dundee East, suggested to the chancellor that the green investment bank may not be up and running until 2013 or 2014, prompting Osborne to say he expected it would be operational before then. "I want it to get up and running as soon as possible," he said. He said the government was in the process of trying to find the best business model to leverage private sector money, without which he said the project would effectively fail. He told MPs there was no "off the shelf" business model that could be picked up by the UK government. Osborne told the cross-party panel of MPs that the £1bn earmarked for the bank in the spending review was a "backstop". He has also set his sights on a share of the receipts from future asset sales. Last month, the climate and energy secretary, Chris Huhne, told the Guardian he was considering selling off the UK's stake in a uranium enrichment company that could raise around £1bn, though no decision has been taken. But Osborne said the crunch would be securing private money, which was the "whole purpose" of the bank. "The thinking is pretty advanced but this is the something new for the United Kingdom, so we want to get the model absolutely right and it involves not just a discussion within government, which is quite easy to have. But to make sure this is actually going to work, this is going to get private sector capital. If we launch something and then it doesn't attract private sector capital then it won't be a green investment bank, it won't have succeeded." He said he wanted to "get it right" so that the bank "delivered the goods". | ['environment/green-economy', 'environment/green-jobs', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/politics', 'tone/news', 'politics/georgeosborne', 'environment/green-investment-bank', 'type/article', 'profile/helenemulholland'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-11-04T17:06:13Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
science/audio/2014/mar/31/science-weekly-podcast-knowledge-rebuild-world-scratch-lewis-dartnell | Science Weekly podcast: how to rebuild our world from scratch | This week on the show Alok Jha meets Lewis Dartnell to discuss his new book The Knowledge: How To Rebuild Our World From Scratch. Lewis argues that a handbook of key scientific principles and practical tips will be all you need as a survivor of an apocalyptic breakdown of society. Ian Sample, the Guardian's science correspondent, is joined in the studio by Nicola Davis, Observer Tech Monthly's commissioning editor, and Adam Vaughan, Guardian environment site editor, to rake over the latest science and environment news. They discuss the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, out this week, the discovery of a new dwarf planet in the solar system that hints at the existence of a Super Earth we can't see, and why Caledonian crows are so clever. Oh, and we bid a fond farewell to Alok, who is off to join ITV News as their science correspondent after a decade at the Guardian – many of them spent presenting this podcast. We're going to miss him. Subscribe for free via iTunes to ensure every episode gets delivered. (Here is the non-iTunes URL feed). Follow the podcast on our Science Weekly Twitter feed and receive updates on all breaking science news stories from Guardian Science. Email scienceweeklypodcast@gmail.com. Guardian Science is now on Facebook. You can also join our Science Weekly Facebook group. We're always here when you need us. Listen back through our archive. | ['science/series/science', 'science/space', 'science/science', 'books/scienceandnature', 'books/books', 'environment/ipcc', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/animalbehaviour', 'type/podcast', 'type/audio'] | environment/ipcc | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-03-31T06:00:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
us-news/2024/oct/11/harris-trump-hurricane-relief | Harris accuses Trump of ‘playing politics’ with hurricane disaster relief | Kamala Harris has accused Donald Trump of “playing politics” with disaster relief amid growing criticisms that the former president has tried to exploit Hurricanes Helene and Milton with a flurry of lies and disinformation as he bids to gain the edge in the race for the White House. The US vice-president’s comments came amid increasing evidence that the two storms, which have left a trail of death and destruction in several southern states, are threatening to upset the calculus for next month’s presidential election. Asked at a town hall meeting in Las Vegas organized by Univision, the US Spanish-language TV network, to address complaints about the federal government’s response, Harris aimed pointed comments at Trump, although without naming him. “In this crisis – like in so many issues that affect the people of our country – I think it so important that leadership recognises the dignity [of those affected],” she said. “I have to stress that this is not a time for people to play politics,” she added, as she campaigned in the swing state of Nevada on Thursday. Harris’s comments followed a full-frontal attack on Trump – who has falsely accused the White House and Harris of, among other things, deliberately withholding aid from Republican areas and diverting funds to illegal immigrants – from Joe Biden. The US president accused Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, of spreading “outright lies”. “They’re being so damn un-American with the way they’re talking about this stuff,” Biden told journalists at the White House on Thursday. Addressing Trump specifically, he said: “Get a life, man. Help these people.” Trump and his running mate, the US senator for Ohio JD Vance, have maintained a drumbeat of criticism of Biden and Harris accusing them of deliberately engineering an inadequate response to Hurricane Helene in Republican voting areas, after the storm ripped through Georgia and North Carolina – two swing states vital to the outcome of the 5 November election – even while fellow Republican politicians have praised the recovery effort. The former president has called the rescue operation worse than the response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas in 2005 – killing 1,400 – and left an indelible stain on the presidency of George W Bush. “This hurricane has been a bad one, Kamala Harris has left them stranded,” he told a rally in Juneau, Wisconsin. “This is the worst response to a storm or a catastrophe or a hurricane that we’ve ever seen ever. Probably worse than Katrina, and that’s hard to beat, right?” Harris has taken some time away from the campaign trail this month to participate in White House situation room conferences and meet staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), which has led the response to the hurricanes. Helene was the deadliest since Katrina. Some Democratic strategists have voiced fears that the need to respond to the twin storms is depriving Harris of vital time in her quest to defeat Trump as the campaign enters its final weeks. Deanne Criswell, Fema’s director, has called the onslaught of disinformation and conspiracy theories “absolutely the worst I have ever seen” and warned that it is hindering relief efforts. With polls showing the election race tighter than ever, Trump has focused particular attention on Harris. “She didn’t send anything or anyone at all. Days passed. No help as men, women and children drowned,” he told a rally in Pennsylvania. He has put special emphasis on North Carolina, where polls show the two candidates neck-and-neck and which has a Democratic governor, Roy Cooper. Some Republican politicians have condemned the spread of misinformation but generally without naming Trump. Harris also told CNN on Wednesday. “It is dangerous – it is unconscionable, frankly, that anyone who would consider themselves a leader would mislead desperate people to the point that those desperate people would not receive the aid to which they are entitled,” she said. | ['us-news/us-elections-2024', 'us-news/kamala-harris', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'us-news/hurricane-helene', 'us-news/hurricane-milton', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/us-news', 'campaign/email/the-stakes-us-election-edition', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/roberttait', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/hurricane-helene | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-11T16:11:40Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2020/jul/15/uk-launches-first-online-service-for-groceries-in-reusable-packing | UK launches first online service for groceries in reusable packing | The UK’s first online shopping service that delivers food, drink and household essentials from leading brands in reusable packaging is to launch on Wednesday, aiming to kickstart moves to reduce single use plastic that stalled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Loop – already established in the US and France and due to be rolled out to Japan, Australia and Canada next year – is one of the most ambitious attempts yet to eliminate plastic waste from the household shop. It is backed by major consumer goods companies such as Unilever and PepsiCo, who have created eco-versions of popular brands – including Coca-Cola, Heinz and Persil – to sell via the website. Customers can place online orders for goods that normally come in single-use plastic packaging. They will be delivered instead in durable, refillable containers that can be collected from the doorstep and cleaned for reuse up to 100 times. Heinz’s tomato ketchup, for example, will be delivered in its patented glass octagonal bottles which were designed 130 years ago. The new service, which is billed as the “milkman reimagined”, aims to change the way households shop and consume amid concern about the global single-use plastic binge. At the start, 150 products from 35 major brands will be on offer, with more to be added. At first shoppers will only be able to buy from the Loop website but a partnership with Tesco – which will absorb the platform into its own business – aims to eventually put dedicated aisles in its stores. The Loop scheme is run by the recycling company TerraCycle, which is initially testing it in a major national trial. Key to the scheme is online ordering, which has surged since the outbreak of the pandemic. Prices will be comparable to the equivalent plastic container, but with returnable deposits for the refillable containers. Progress in reducing single-use plastics in the UK has stalled since the outbreak of coronavirus, due to the increased use of masks, gloves, visors and disposable wipes amid fears of contamination and as recycling rates plummeted during lockdown. | ['business/packaging', 'business/fooddrinks', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'uk/uk', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-07-15T05:00:02Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
technology/2014/may/07/microsoft-smartwatch-samsung-fitness | Microsoft developing smartwatch to rival Samsung with fitness focus | Microsoft is working on a smartwatch focused on fitness, heart rate and health to rival Samsung’s Gear, a recently published patent reveals. The “Wearable Personal Information System” patent application filed in 2012 describes a small device with a screen that clips into a band for use as a smartwatch, but that can also be detached and inserted into other fitness equipment becoming a personal fitness recorder. The smartwatch will track a user’s position and route via GPS, measure movement with motion sensors and measure heart rate using optical sensors, similar to those found on other fitness trackers and smartphones capable of measuring heart rate. 'With Nokia's device business it makes perfect sense' “Microsoft’s been in the watch space for a while, the Spot platform from 2004 was innovative and quite exciting at the time, and now it owns Nokia’s mobile device business, it makes perfect sense that Microsoft would have a team working on wearables,” explained Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight talking to the Guardian. “With smart wearables, the wrist is the path of least resistance because it is the most widely accepted place to wear technology at the moment, due to the position of the watch being there.” Other applications beyond fitness functions including a music player, alarm clock, messaging and phone call apps are also described. Microsoft would likely include other more recently developed applications, including its Bing search, Cortana voice assistant and Skype too. The patent details special docks into which the smart module could plug into, like a stand that turns the watch into a bedside alarm clock while charging it overnight. 'Smartwatches will be essential for Christmas' “Smartwatches will be essential for mobile phone companies, particularly as we move towards Christmas. Manufacturers will have to have a wearable that can be bundled with their flagship smartphones,” predicted Wood. “The challenge is that we’re now seeing a market that is completely swamped with smartwatches, so what can Microsoft offer that others can’t?” Microsoft will have to combat Google’s upcoming Android wear platform, that offers a customised version of Android for smartwatches and other smart wearable devices, as well as Samsung’s Tizen-powered Gear 2 smartwatch and the long-standing Sony Smartwatch line of devices. Apple has also long been expected to enter the smartwatch market, although that has yet to happen. “Microsoft has three options here. It could create something completely standalone, something that could work cross-platform with Android but optimised for Windows Phone, or something just for Windows Phone, but that would require something so disruptive it would entice users to switch platforms for the smartwatch which is a very, very tall order,” explained Wood. Discarded within six months Smartwatches and smart wearables have yet to become mainstream devices, with many being bought but discarded within six months because they do not offer a compelling reason to consistently use them. Many are put off because of the added maintenance a smart wearable requires as yet another device to charge at night, along with their smartphones. Some, like the Misfit Shine, have combated poor battery life by using non-rechargeable batteries, offering a usable life of around four to six months per battery, although their functionality is limited. Samsung’s recently released Gear 2 and Gear Fit smartwatches offer battery lives of around three to four days, and while they are improved still do not offer a compelling use case to justify their £250 and £170 cost. 'This is the next battleground' Like smartphones, smart wearables and smartwatch patents could play a major role in the future, of which Microsoft undoubtedly has a library associated with its Spot work from the early 2000s. Others “This is the next battleground; if wearables take off and we start talking about 10s to 100s of millions of devices sold, then patents are going to matter as it starts to become high-stakes like we are currently witnessing with patent rows over smartphones,” concluded Wood. • 2014 is the year of the smartwatch, even if no one is buying them | ['technology/microsoft', 'technology/smartwatches', 'technology/wearable-technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/windows-phone', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-05-07T13:47:22Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2019/may/28/treated-like-trash-south-east-asia-vows-to-return-mountains-of-rubbish-from-west | Treated like trash: south-east Asia vows to return mountains of rubbish from west | For the past year, the waste of the world has been gathering on the shores of south-east Asia. Crates of unwanted rubbish from the west have accumulated in the ports of the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam while vast toxic wastelands of plastics imported from Europe and the US have built up across Malaysia. But not for much longer it seems. A pushback is beginning, as nations across south-east Asia vow to send the garbage back to where it came from. Last week the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, threatened to sever diplomatic ties with Canada if the government did not agree to take back 69 containers containing 1,500 tonnes of waste that had been exported to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014. Canada had refused to even acknowledge the issue for years but as the dispute escalated, Duterte declared that if the government did not act quickly, the Philippines would tow the rubbish to Canadian waters and dump it there. “The Philippines as an independent sovereign nation must not be treated as trash by a foreign nation,” said presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo. The rhetoric was symptomatic of a wider regional pushback that began last year when Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam all introduced legislation to prevent contaminated foreign waste coming into their ports. On 23 April a Malaysian government investigation revealed that waste from the UK, Australia, United States and Germany was pouring into the country illegally, falsely declared as other imports. Enough was enough, said Yeo Bee Yin, the environment minister. “Malaysia will not be the dumping ground of the world. We will send back [the waste] to the original countries.” She has been as good as her word. Five containers of illegal rubbish from Spain discovered at a Malaysian port have just been sent back and on Tuesday Yeo announced that 3,000 tonnes of illegally imported plastic waste from the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, France and Canada would be returned imminently. Many believe this is the only way that countries, mainly in the west, will finally be forced to confront their own waste problems, rather than burdening developing countries. Only 9% of the world’s plastics are recycled, with the rest mostly ending up rotting in landfills across south-east Asia or illegally incinerated, releasing highly poisonous fumes. Campaigners in Indonesia found last year that illegal rubbish imports were being used as furnace fuel in a tofu factory. “It is the right move by the Malaysian government, to show to the world that we are serious in protecting our borders from becoming a dumping ground,” said Mageswari Sangaralingam, research officer at Consumers Association of Penang and Friends of the Earth Malaysia. She said significant amounts of plastic waste coming into Malaysia was “contaminated, mixed and low grade” which meant it could not be processed and has ended up in vast toxic waste dumps. An environmental injustice The problem began for south-east Asia in early 2018 after China stopped accepting plastic waste and recycling from the rest of the world due to environmental concerns. The outright ban was problematic: in 2016, China processed at least half of the world’s exports of plastic, paper and metals, including enough rubbish from the UK to fill 10,000 olympic swimming pools. In the wake of China’s ban, private corporations handling waste for national governments began scrambling for other countries to bear the burden. With most of the rubbish channelled through Hong Kong, south-east Asia, which was nearby and had lax regulation, became an attractive alternative destination for the rubbish. Malaysia has borne the brunt of the re-directed waste. According to Greenpeace, imports of plastic waste to Malaysia increased from 168,500 tonnes in 2016 to 456,000 tonnes in just the first six months of 2018, mainly coming from the UK, Germany, Spain, France Australia and the US. The environmental and social cost has been high. A report by Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) detailed how across sout-east Asia, the influx of toxic waste has caused contaminated water, crop death and respiratory illnesses. In recognition of the damage being done, the Basel Convention, a multilateral agreement about the handling of waste globally, was amended this month to prohibit unrecyclable and contaminated plastic waste being imported into developing countries without their consent. However, it will only come into effect in 2020 and not all south-east Asian countries are signatories. Yet even as south-east Asian governments start to crack down on the problem, the waste just keeps on coming. In Indonesia, 60 containers of foreign hazardous and toxic waste have been sitting in a port in Riau Island for the past five months. Last week, crates of shredded municipal garbage from Australia turned up in the Philippines labelled as fuel in at attempt to bypass customs regulations. Philippine customs officials confirmed they were working on sending it back. Beau Baconguis, Plastics Campaigner of GAIA Asia Pacific, pointed out how developed countries in the west were still only willing to take back their own rubbish “begrudgingly” . “It’s their waste so these countries should be responsible for it,” said Baconguis. “To us, it’s an environmental injustice for poorer countries to take the waste of richer countries just because they don’t want to deal with it. So hopefully when their rubbish is sent back, finally these countries will be forced into action on their own doorstep.” | ['environment/plastic', 'world/malaysia', 'world/indonesia', 'world/philippines', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/hannah-ellis-petersen', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-05-28T00:00:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2022/jun/16/lismores-residents-are-living-in-limbo-on-the-frontlines-of-the-climate-emergency | Lismore’s residents are living in limbo on the frontlines of the climate emergency | In the Northern Rivers, we live amid post-flood brokenness. For months, we’ve been crushed by incessant rain and the thick, low cloud of La Niña. Of the year’s 24 weekends, it has rained on 19. Someone is counting rainy days, yet time here has stalled. Shops are abandoned, and people are camping in the shells of houses without walls or kitchens. The cold is closing in – even cardboard is hard to come by, because it can be used as makeshift insulation. The Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation, set up to lead the reconstruction, doesn’t yet exist. It won’t come into effect until 1 July – 17 weeks after the floods hit. Instead, we have inquiries. Different inquiries collecting the same horror stories: emergency services were inundated, there’s a catastrophic housing shortage, families live in tents without water or cooking facilities. (The latest SES figures say more than 4,000 houses are uninhabitable and a further 10,849 damaged.) An independent New South Wales flood inquiry led by a former police commissioner and scientist is examining response times, preparedness, emergency resources and recovery. It won’t report to the premier until 30 June. A NSW Upper House committee is also investigating responses to major flooding, while the federally funded Lismore Flood Mitigation Study – looking at how to reduce future floods – was held up because a contract signing between the CSIRO and the National Recovery and Resilience Agency was stalled by the change of government in Canberra. It’s now been three months since Marcus Bebb was plucked from the roof of his submerged South Lismore home, yet he still feels stranded. Bebb is caught between committing to a rebuild of the family house (so his wife and three teens have a home) and waiting to find out if the NSW government will announce a property buyback. The premier, Dominic Perrottet, has said he will adopt recommendations from the independent inquiry, including proposals for relocating homes. “I’m stuck in limbo,” Bebb says from the caravan he and his wife sleep in at Lismore showground. Their teens have a second van. He is insured, but reluctant to start fixing the extensive damage to his house. “If the government finally decides that we are going to do a NSW Northern rivers buyback scheme, where does that leave me?” he asks. The sentiment on the ground is that government botched the emergency and now it’s botched the recovery. We are the canary in the coalmine – a forewarning that most of Australia doesn’t have systems to deal with severe weather events. Lismore only has a population of 27,000 and affected villages like Coraki and Woodburn are smaller, but what happens when a perfect storm – floods or fire – exacerbated by climate change hits a heavily populated area in the Hawkesbury, Adelaide Hills or western Victoria? Will the emergency response and recovery be any better? It is hard to convey the current Lismore experience. Only about 20% of businesses have reopened. Many people have exhausted their savings trying to repair properties. “I don’t think – bureaucratically – it’s understood, the scale of the trauma,” Lismore’s mayor, Steve Krieg, told the upper house hearing. Every time I drive through town I’m reminded of CS Lewis’s description of “grey town” or purgatory in The Great Divorce. “I had been wandering for hours in similar mean streets, always in the rain and always in evening twilight. Time seemed to have paused on that dismal moment when only a few shops have lit up and it is not yet dark enough for their windows to look cheering,” he wrote. “And just as the evening never advanced to night, so my walking had never brought me to the better parts of the town … I found only dingy lodging houses, small tobacconists, hoardings from which posters hung in rags, windowless warehouses, goods stations without trains … the whole town seemed to be empty.” Is it a stretch to say that this new climate change reality feels like purgatory? | ['australia-news/new-south-wales', 'environment/flooding', 'australia-news/new-south-wales-politics', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/natural--disasters', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2022', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/christine-tondorf', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-06-16T03:24:41Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2024/oct/09/inmate-evacuation-hurricane-milton-jail-prison-florida | Several Florida jails and prisons refuse to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton | Several Florida jails and prisons are refusing to evacuate their residents ahead of Hurricane Milton despite being in the evacuation zone of the storm. Manatee county jail, which has 1,200 incarcerated people and is located on the south-east side of Tampa Bay, in the path of the hurricane that was roaring towards it across the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, will not be evacuating, a representative of the jail told Newsweek on Tuesday. The jail falls within the Zone A evacuation area, the outlet further reported. Those in Zone A could face a storm surge of up to 11ft and are supposed to be evacuated first, according to the Manatee county evacuation guide. “We do not issue evacuation orders lightly,” said the Manatee county public safety director, Jodie Fiske, Newsweek reported. “Milton is anticipated to cause more storm surge than [Hurricane] Helene. So, if you stayed during Helene and got lucky, I would not press my luck with this particular system.” Hurricane Helene hit north-western Florida near Tallahassee less than two weeks ago and the impact in the state and in many states further north, especially North Carolina, remains massive. But a deputy with Manatee county jail told Newsweek that the jail would reportedly be stocked with sandbags and other supplies and in the event of flooding residents would be moved to the top floor of the jail. The Guardian could not reach a representative of the jail for comment. Multiple jails and prisons in hurricane-hit states have previously failed to evacuate incarcerated people during a natural disaster, despite being located in a mandatory evacuation zone. In South Carolina, at least two prisons were not evacuated during Hurricane Florence in 2018. “In the past, it’s been safer to leave them there,” a spokesman for the South Carolina department of corrections said, the BBC reported. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hundreds of incarcerated people were left in the Orleans parish prison for four days during the deadly storm. Those incarcerated were left locked in their cells amid rising flood waters and without food or water. Other Florida jails and prisons have also said they will not evacuate during Milton. Correctional facilities in the counties of Sarasota, Hernando, Pasco, Charlotte and Lee will also remain in place during the storm, according to 10 Tampa Bay, a local outlet. Family members of those incarcerated are worried about their loved ones’ safety. Julie Reimer, a Florida resident, told 10 Tampa Bay that she had relatives in both the Charlotte correctional institution and Hardee correctional institution. Reimer, who is being identified by her maiden name due to fears of retaliation, said she was told by officials in both jails that they would not be evacuating. “They said their buildings are able to sustain a storm like this,” Reimer said to 10 Tampa Bay. “They seem to think this storm is not serious.” Reimer told 10 Tampa Bay: “When my son was sentenced, he was not given a death sentence,” she said. | ['us-news/hurricane-milton', 'us-news/florida', 'us-news/us-prisons', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/us-weather', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gloria-oladipo', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/hurricane-milton | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-10-09T18:03:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2024/oct/28/gerry-foley-obituary | Gerry Foley obituary | My father, Gerry Foley, who has died aged 88, was an expert on energy use and conservation, first as a civil engineer and then as a senior research fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in London. His first book, The Energy Question (1976), challenged the prevailing 1970s notion that existing patterns of energy production and consumption could continue indefinitely, and he followed up with studies on coal, oil, gas and nuclear power, as well as one of the first books on global heating, Global Warming: Who Is Taking the Heat? (1991). Gerry was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, but was brought up in Sligo in the Irish republic. His father, Ted, had been a member of the IRA during the Irish war of independence before becoming a civil servant in the fledgling Irish Free State, and his mother, Kathleen (nee McIvor), was a housewife. After attending Summerhill school in Sligo, Gerry studied engineering at University College Cork in the mid-1950s and became a fully qualified civil engineer at Leeds University before taking up his first job with Harris & Sutherland in London. In England he met Lanna MacCarthy, a teacher, and they married in 1961. At Harris & Sutherland Gerry helped with the structural design of many of the brutalist architectural projects that characterised the period, including the Commonwealth Institute in London and the Essex and Birmingham University buildings. However, in 1971 he lost his job after objecting to the firm’s decision to work in South Africa; a brave stand given that he had recently become a father of two children. He then found part-time work teaching at the Architectural Association, within which he established a programme looking at energy use in buildings. That work brought him into contact with Gerald Leach, the science correspondent of the Observer, with whom he struck up a friendship and professional collaboration. They both joined the IIED in the late 70s – Gerry as a senior research fellow – and co-wrote a number of publications for that body on energy issues, including A Low Energy Strategy for the United Kingdom (1979). By the mid-80s Gerry had gradually eased himself out of the IIED and into consultancy work, which took him increasingly into the field of international development, particularly in relation to energy production and use. He advised the World Bank, various UN agencies, a handful of international donors and a number of governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In retirement he became an Alexander Technique trainer. Lanna died in 2017. He is survived by his children, Katie and me. | ['environment/energy', 'theguardian/series/otherlives', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'business/energy-industry', 'global-development/access-to-energy', 'world/ireland', 'uk/northernireland', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'education/universityofleeds', 'type/article', 'tone/obituaries', 'profile/conorfoley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/obituaries', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-obituaries'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2024-10-28T16:40:13Z | true | ENERGY |
global-development-professionals-network/2014/sep/09/green-skills-training-climate-change-tackle-southeast-asia | Now climate change is affecting jobs NGOs need to nurture 'green-skills' | Climate change is making it more difficult for young people in south-east Asia to find a job, according to a report released on Monday by Plan International (pdf). Livelihoods in countries such as Indonesia, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam are dependent on ocean and coastal environments for food, building materials and medicine. These countries face frequent extreme weather – intense rains, droughts and cyclones – and are exposed to floods and rising sea levels. Ikun, a 14 year old who lives in Lembata, a village in Indonesia, has first-hand experience of the effects of climate change on job security. “The effects of climate change are failed crops. Out of a field, farmers can only harvest one bag of corn, because the leaves turn yellow … and fishermen can’t sail, because fishermen heavily depend on the wind direction.” According to the report, green-skills training could help to tackle the effects of climate change in these countries. ‘Green skills’ are the skills needed to work in an environmentally friendly way, and have been shown to improve productivity. However, as most young people in developing countries don’t have access to sustainable work practices, the report argues that all NGO-led training programmes should involve green elements to equip the next generation with skills to tackle the effects of climate change. “Young people across the world are concerned about the impact of climate change and want to do something about it,” says Kelly Hawryshylyn, Plan International’s disaster resilience adviser. “Helping young people acquire green skills strengthens their ability to find a job, lift themselves out of poverty and have control over their future.” Sven Harmeling, climate change advocacy coordinator for Care International, says: “Building knowledge and skills, particularly among women, is just as important as trialing new seeds and fertilisers when it comes to tackling the impacts of climate change. In Asia, Africa and Latin America, our work to improve people’s resilience to climatic conditions shows that integrating climate risks across development programmes is a no-brainer – particularly around the issue of food security.” So, at what level should green-skills training work? Hawryshylyn says: “We are working with multiple stakeholders, including government, the private sector, media, donors, schools and of course the people in the communities where we work, to make sure that green skills are prioritised.” As the people whose jobs are most likely to be affected by climate change, young women could benefit the most from environmental training. “As women are often the main food producers, NGOs should provide training so they can work as effectively as possible to improve their chances of growing enough food in the face of increasingly extreme and erratic weather,” says Robin Willoughby, Oxfam’s policy adviser. Harmeling adds: “To be truly effective, new green skills must go hand in hand with promoting gender equality and the equal participation of men and women in all development programmes from the outset.” An issue with this approach is training: often teachers in these countries lack knowledge of green skills and, according to the report, most feel ill-equipped to deliver training. It is therefore essential that international NGOs embrace green-skills training in their work if they wish to combat the effects of climate change on the world’s most vulnerable. With greater knowledge and understanding of the issue, young people in developing countries are empowered to make their work more sustainable and ensure greater job security for future generations. Read more like this: Climate change threatens to put the fight against hunger back by decades Seen but not heard: does it matter what children say about climate change? Top ten books on the climate change movement From our partner: The dream team v climate change Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow @GuardianGDP on Twitter. | ['working-in-development/working-in-development', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/indonesia', 'world/thailand', 'world/vietnam', 'environment/drought', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/sea-level', 'society/unemployment', 'society/youth-unemployment', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/water', 'society/youngpeople', 'type/article', 'profile/charlotte-seager'] | environment/sea-level | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-09-09T14:54:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2011/apr/06/japan-nuclear-fukushima-leak | Japanese nuclear engineers plug Fukushima leak | Engineers battling to contain the crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant appeared to have turned an important corner last night after they stopped highly radioactive water from leaking into the ocean from one of the facility's crippled reactors. Workers struggling to halt the leaks successfully used a mixture of sawdust, newspaper, concrete and a type of liquid glass to stem the flow of contaminated water near a seaside pit, said the plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco). Earlier efforts involving cement, an absorbent polymer and rags were unsuccessful in plugging the leak, which was discovered on Saturday, while radiation of more than 7.5 million times the legal limit for seawater was found just off the earthquake-hit plant. In a sign of Tepco's desperation, it breached its own regulations on Monday by beginning an intentional discharge of 11,500 tonnes of less contaminated water into the Pacific to make space for the highly radioactive liquid that was seeping out in an uncontrolled manner. The company still needs to pump contaminated water into the sea because of a lack of storage space at the plant and will continue to release the 11,500 tonnes of low-level radioactive water until Friday. "The leaks were slowed yesterday after we injected a mixture of liquid glass and a hardening agent and it has now stopped," a Tepco spokesman told Reuters. A 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit Japan's northeast coast on 11 March, leaving 28,000 people dead or missing and thousands homeless. It is the country's worst catastrophe since the second world war. Samples of the water used to cool the plant's reactor No 2 were emitting 5 million times the legal limit of radioactivity, officials said on Tuesday, adding to fears that contaminants had spread far beyond the disaster zone. Workers are still struggling to restart cooling pumps – which recycle the water – in four reactors damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. Until those are fixed, they must pump in water from outside to prevent overheating, and meltdowns. In the process, that creates more contaminated water that has to be pumped out and stored somewhere else or released into the sea. The government is considering restrictions on seafood for the first time after contaminated fish were found. India is the first country to ban food imports from all areas of Japan over radiation fears. Tepco has offered "condolence money" to those affected in the Fukushima region, but one city rejected the compensation and local mayors who came to Tokyo to meet the prime minister, Naoto Kan, demanded greater assistance. "We have borne the risks, co-existed and flourished with Tepco for more than 40 years, and all these years, we have fully trusted the myth that nuclear plants are absolutely safe," said Katsuya Endo, the mayor of Tomioka. He was one of eight Fukushima prefecture mayors seeking compensation and support for employment, housing and education for the tens of thousands of evacuees. A total of 60,000 tonnes of highly contaminated water remains in the plant after workers poured in seawater when fuel rods experienced partial meltdown after the earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11. | ['world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'world/japan', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/world', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/fukushima', 'type/article', 'profile/benquinn', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2011-04-06T00:46:50Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2013/aug/22/privatising-railways-disaster-renationalise-labour | Privatising the railways was a disaster. It's time to renationalise | Caroline Lucas | "No direction", "dithering", "rudderless". Ed Miliband isn't the first opposition leader to hear this kind of language as an election looms, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that his MPs are queuing up to offer him friendly encouragement to fill the policy vacuum. Clearly, it's not easy being in opposition, knowing that every policy announcement can and will be used against you by the government and a hostile media. But that's why politics requires courage. Labour now has some fantastic opportunities to get behind progressive policies that would resonate with its traditional support and with voters. One in particular is about to pull into the station. With the dreadful news last week that rail fares will go up by an average of 4.1% next year (and sincere sympathies to you if you're one of the many passengers who will be hit much harder than that), it's surely time for Labour to accept that privatisation of the railways was a disastrous failure that it should have reversed when it had the chance. With the prime minister's former speechwriter, Ian Birrell, leaping to the defence of privatised services and talking about record levels of passenger satisfaction, surely now is the time for Miliband's team to sign up to a policy that would genuinely distinguish him from the coalition. The shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, sounds as if she wants to head in that direction. She recently criticised the government's determination to re-privatise the East Coast service, calling it "bizarre and dogmatic". East Coast, she noted, makes one of the highest payments to the public purse, receives the least subsidy and is the only route on which all profits are reinvested in services. So why doesn't Labour go the whole way? The Rebuilding Rail report, published last year by Transport for Quality of Life, offers a superb analysis of the mess Britain's railways are in. It finds that the private sector has not delivered the innovation and investment that were once promised, that the costs of back-room staff have massively increased, and that the costs of train travel rose by 17% between 1997 and 2010 (while the costs of travelling by car fell). It conservatively estimates that £1.2bn is being lost each year as a result of fragmentation and privatisation. The irony is that some of the biggest profiters are the state-owned rail companies of our neighbours: Deutsche Bahn, for example, owns three UK franchises. Birrell seeks to paint opponents of privatisation as dewy-eyed nostalgists. But the modern, efficient, clean, affordable services enjoyed in other parts of Europe offer a much better blueprint than our own past. The solution the Green party is proposing is for our railways to be brought back into public hands, with passengers having a greater say in the development of the system. The government would take back individual franchises when they expire, or when companies fail to meet their conditions. The enormous savings generated could and should then be reinvested in rail infrastructure, and to reduce the soaring cost of fares. My private member's bill sets out the process to make this happen, and is due to have its second reading in October. I've written to Maria Eagle asking if Labour will get behind it. As a policy for Labour, it's unlikely to play well in the Mail and the Telegraph. But I suspect many of their readers – particularly those reading their papers while jammed up against a fellow commuter on an overcrowded, overpriced train – might be more receptive. And certainly there are many rank and file Labour MPs, many of whom are already backing the bill, who are desperate to see their leader prove himself as the conviction politician he says he is. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'uk/rail-transport', 'politics/transport', 'uk/transport', 'politics/politics', 'politics/green-party', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/environment', 'politics/labour', 'tone/comment', 'politics/caroline-lucas', 'uk/uk', 'politics/edmiliband', 'uk/east-coast-mainline', 'type/article', 'profile/carolinelucas'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2013-08-22T16:30:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
politics/2014/feb/18/insurers-accuse-miliband-false-hopes-flood-payouts | Insurers accuse Miliband of raising false hopes for UK flood victims | A furious insurance industry branded Ed Miliband as irresponsible and accused him of raising false hopes when he suggested that insured victims of the floods should receive payments within weeks. Insurers also challenged claims by the Labour leader's office that Miliband had recently met senior executives in the insurance industry, saying they had been seeking a meeting with him for some days. An Association of British Industry source said Miliband was "sending out the worst possible message" to people who had to come to terms with the impact of the recent floods. "Making claims in these situations can be a long and sometimes difficult process," the source said. The industry's anger followed Miliband's meetings with flood victims in Somerset when he said: "What these families want to know is that they don't have to wait for months on end to receive insurance pay-outs or wait over a year to get back in their homes." He added it was necessary to ensure payments were paid within weeks of people submitting claims. But the person speaking from the ABI said: "It is pointless to give false hope. It is bordering on the irresponsible." Senior executives have met ministers at the Cabinet Office, including Oliver Letwin, minister for policy, to assure they have capacity to process claims. But insurers stressed there was no point trying to process claims for houses that were still flooded, or liable to further flooding. The industry insisted emergency payments were being made at the fastest rate possible. Typically loss adjusters were arriving within three to seven days after access to properties became feasible. Insurers said the number of claims being examined was a 10th of the level following the 2007 floods, but it acknowledged that the number would rise. At the industry summit insurers resisted pressure to switch helplines to local networks rather than keep premium rate numbers. Which? demanded the end of such lines, citing the Environment Agency's decision to alter its flood helpline from an 0845 to an 0345 number. Insurers argued that affected households were being contacted, including by email. Meanwhile, the industry is opposing any government move to extend a special flood insurance scheme due to come into force in the summer of 2015. The industry-wide scheme, known as Flood Re, is designed to keep premiums down in the 1-2% of homes at highest risk of flooding, with the premium capped according to council tax bands. This scheme excludes leaseholders, small businesses, properties built after 2009 and about 2,500 wealthy properties in the H council tax band. The insurance companies assured ministers that there had been no evidence of insurers raising premiums for flood risk properties in advance of Flood Re starting in 2015. The industry has defended the exemptions as the best way to keep the total cost of the scheme down, but ministers said they would review the position. Leasehold properties should be excluded, the industry says, because freeholders are legally responsible for buying building insurance for their leaseholders (on commercial rather than domestic terms, and commercial properties are not covered by Flood Re). Michael Dugher, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, derided the industry meeting as a PR stunt, pointing out that no cabinet minister had attended. Speaking after an hour-long evening meeting of the emergency committee Cobra, Greg Barker, the energy minister, said the army was being switched from protecting properties to helping with the clean-up. He said: "Over a million people have been reconnected to energy networks in a matter of days of the storms." The next task was to help homes still without power due to the floods where it is currently too dangerous to reconnect. Barker said the prime minister was "still on it, to a micro level", adding that the worst of the weather was now over. Meanwhile, the Fire Brigades Union warned that firefighters were being hampered in flood rescues by unsuitable equipment and a lack of staff and training. The union said waterborne infections had become widespread among firefighters drafted in to tackle the floods wearing equipment ill-suited to water. Some firefighters were using ageing or deteriorating boats, the union said, while other crews are wading into swollen rivers without dry suits or specialist vehicles. The FBU general secretary, Matt Wrack, said the floods response was also hampered by budget restrictions caused by government funding cuts. "A very troubling picture is emerging of understaffed operations, badly equipped firefighters and inadequate training severely hampering their work and creating greater risk for firefighters and the public," he said. | ['politics/edmiliband', 'environment/flooding', 'money/homeinsurance', 'business/insurance', 'politics/oliverletwin', 'politics/cobra', 'world/natural-disasters', 'uk/firefighters', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'business/business', 'tone/news', 'money/insurance', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'type/article', 'profile/patrickwintour', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-02-18T20:50:52Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2013/jul/12/coal-seam-gas-project-environment | NSW coal seam gas project tests Rudd's commitment to 'water trigger' | A huge coal seam gas project in New South Wales is emerging as a test case, pitting Kevin Rudd's promises of lower gas prices and "streamlined" environmental processes against Labor's recent pledges to protect the environment. Gas producers are demanding the prime minister rescind Julia Gillard's final environmental law: the requirement that the federal government assess the impact of coal seam gas wells on the water table. Santos is ready to begin drilling 18 CSG exploration wells near Narrabri in New South Wales, including in the Pilliga forest, to prepare for a planned 400 well CSG project it says could provide one quarter of NSW's gas needs. The project has been nominated by federal sources as one that could be sped up by better environmental decision-making to help increase gas supply and reduce prices, in line with the plan outlined by Rudd in Thursday's national press club speech. The company argues its exploration plans, a pared-back version of its original exploration intentions in the state's north-west, should not require a full, and possibly lengthy, federal environmental assessment under the commonwealth government's long-standing legal powers to protect endangered species or the recently added powers to consider the cumulative impact of CSG wells on the water table. "Our view is that the exploration work should not trigger a full EIS [enivronmental impact statement] but the final decision is up to the government and we have referred it to them to get some clarity upfront," a spokesman for Santos said. But environmental groups strongly disagree, demanding the project be subjected to a full EIS for its impacts both on threatened species and on water, and suggesting the new "water trigger" powers might "save" the Pilliga forest from CSG drilling. They say the environment department has received 1900 submissions in the 10 days it allowed for public comment on the proposal. "Of course it should have a full EIS. There are three threatened species at risk, the koala, the south-eastern long-eared bat and the pilliga mouse and there are concerns about groundwater because the drilling method being used hasn't happened in NSW before," said Newcastle campaign manager Naomi Hogan. A report commissioned by Santos found the plans would have "no significant impacts" on the water table, but an assessment cited by The Wilderness Society found the Pilliga sandstone aquifer had "a significant population of stygofauna – delicate ancient microscopic underground organisms that filter the groundwater and that are vulnerable to extinction from groundwater changes and mining activities". The hydro-ecologist who conducted that study, Dr Peter Serov, said "Santos' plan to start drilling by September is completely unacceptable" and the independent scientific committee set up to examine the water impacts of CSG mines should have time to conduct a full investigation. A decision on whether a full EIS will be required must be made by the federal environment minister, Mark Butler, within 10 days, although he could seek extra time. The gas industry says the commonwealth should not have given itself the water approval "trigger" at all. The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association's director of external affairs, Michael Bradley, said a "good start" for Rudd to make good his pledge to reduce green tape and increase gas supplies would be "rescinding the water trigger legislation". The so-called "water trigger", championed by independent MP Tony Windsor and agreed to by the Gillard government, added the water impact of CSG wells and large coal mines as a "trigger" for federal approval under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. It was passed just weeks before Gillard was ousted as prime minister. A spokesman for Butler said the commonwealth had "no plans" to change the water trigger. The Santos project is in the federal electorate of Parkes and borders Windsor's New England electorate. Rudd's "seven-point plan" to improve economic productivity outlined in his press club speech included the need to reduce power prices, in part by increasing the supply of gas, and also to reduce the "regulatory impost" on business from environmental assessment procedures. But he was careful to say he wanted "one single integrated assessment system even if we have two different decision points". Environmentalists are not necessarily opposed to a system under which the commonwealth retains final decision-making powers over issues of national environmental significance, even if assessments are delegated to the states. Such a plan was last year proposed by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. The Coalition has promised to hand to the states both assessment and decision-making powers, under conditions agreed with the commonwealth. | ['australia-news/kevin-rudd', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'environment/coal', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/mining', 'type/article', 'profile/lenore-taylor'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2013-07-12T08:44:46Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2020/sep/18/up-a-tree-everything-takes-longer-hs2-campaigners-protest-high-above-parliament | 'Up a tree everything takes longer': HS2 campaigners protest high above parliament | Sixteen days ago, two HS2 campaigners climbed the trees in Parliament Square to protest against the controversial high-speed rail project, and their feet haven’t touched the ground since. Larch Maxey, 48, and Eli Rose, 26, sleep, eat and wash 15 metres (50ft) up in the air above the constant stream of buses, cars and lorries that loop around the square in the centre of London at all times of the day. “The hardest thing about being here is the noise,” said Maxey, a former sustainability lecturer and now full-time tree protector. “The traffic and sirens are constant pretty much every night.” An elaborate contraption of ropes and pulleys keeps their covered hammocks securely suspended between branches and allows them to move around, as well as collect supplies from the ground. “The first day was a little bit nerve-racking, just going to bed 50ft in the air. I can’t say I’ve done that before. But you get used to it quite quickly,” said Rose, who learned to climb only a few days before she ascended the trees in Westminster at the start of Extinction Rebellion’s two-week action. “I’ve been completely overwhelmed by the generosity and support of everyone who’s come to bring us food and water and supplies, and just support the campaign.” It’s those on the ground who have the real “heroic jobs” said Maxey – while food is sent up, the pair’s waste has to come down and be disposed of in a nearby public toilet. They never get bored, they say, filling their time chatting to passersby, reading books, meditating, working on their phones, or simply carrying out daily tasks such as washing and organising. “Up a tree everything takes about four or five times longer than you would normally expect,” said Rose. Before this, the pair were based in the protection camps activists have set up along the HS2 line, occupying trees due to be felled to make way for the line. Earlier this month, HS2 secured an injunction to bar protesters from land where work is being carried out, this time in Colne Valley, Hillingdon, after accusing protesters of climbing over or cutting fences, climbing trees and sitting on machinery. The ruling came on the day HS2 officially announced the formal start of the project, which it says will increase investment in the north by improving connectivity, and get more cars off the roads by shifting freight, and passengers, to rail. But protesters say it will cause vast environmental destruction, could eventually cost billions of pounds, and is providing an unnecessary service in a post-coronavirus world of home working. Compared with their experience on these more rural camps, the Parliament Square occupation has been a much easier ride for the pair. Although a number of the protesters who first ascended the trees on 2 September were arrested, those such as Maxey and Rose who managed to firmly establish themselves in the branches have largely been left to their own devices, and the police who used to guard the tree trunks have gone. The view from the top is very different as well. “Looking at parliament every day gives me motivation to keep going because we’re right here in front of them, asking for a future,” said Rose. “But there is an element of annoyance because they’re continuing to ignore us even though we’re on their doorstep with a solution.” Maxey said he was determined to stay put until there was more widespread support in parliament for the climate and ecological emergency bill, a private member’s bill put forward by the Green MP, Caroline Lucas, which has the backing of 64 MPs. “To avoid societal collapse, we need this kind of action, we need this bill,” said Maxey. “We’re going to keep going until until we get some clear movement on it.” For both, HS2 is just one glaring example of a much wider problem causing dangerous levels of global heating. Rose said: “The reason I’m up here is because I want children. If we don’t act, there will be food shortages, drought and hunger. It’s going to be a be horrible world and I’m going to have to bring my children into that.” | ['uk/hs2', 'uk/rail-transport', 'uk/transport', 'uk/uk', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/environment', 'world/protest', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jessica-murray', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2020-09-18T10:23:50Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
business/2023/apr/11/boss-uk-most-polluting-water-firm-united-utilities-shares-steve-mogford-retiring | Boss of UK’s most polluting water firm made £1.4m from shares before retiring | The chief executive of the UK’s most polluting water company made £1.4m from the sale of shares in the business before his retirement, the Guardian can reveal. Politicians have called for water companies to be taxed to the extent that they cannot pay huge sums to CEOs after it was revealed that Steve Mogford of United Utilities retired on 31 March and in the months beforehand sold his shares for just under £1.4m. According to Environment Agency data, the most polluting water company in England last year was United Utilities. One of the company’s pipes spilled sewage into the River Ellen, near the Lake District, for nearly 7,000 hours last year. The data also showed that 10 of the country’s 20 pipes that spilled the most sewage in 2022 were owned by United Utilities, which provides water to the north-west and Lake District. The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “As the sewage scandal runs on, top chiefs at water companies are racking up millions of pounds in bonuses. This is a disgrace. Water companies shouldn’t be allowed to get away with pumping thousands of hours of filthy sewage into our rivers and waterways. We need the Conservatives to stop sitting on their hands, tax water companies and end this scandal.” Megan Corton Scott, a political campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “We are the only country in the world to fully privatise our national water supply. This gave monopoly powers to the water companies with no conspicuous accountability and little commercial incentive to do anything but collect bill payments. People have no choice but to give them their money in exchange for performance that is, frankly, well below bog standard. “The theory that the innate decency of the companies’ management would ensure an acceptable level of service has been completely disproven. The results are in and allowing water companies to mark their own homework doesn’t work. Either the government accepts that reform is needed and gives regulators the funding, the legal powers and the spine they desperately need, or our water industry will continue to stink.” Water company bosses have made huge sums from salaries and bonuses in recent years, despite the continuing sewage scandal. Last year, it was revealed that the boss of Anglian Water, which had one of the worst pollution records in England, was given more than £1m in pay and bonuses. The shadow environment secretary, Jim McMahon, said: “The Tory sewage scandal has allowed water bosses [to] profit from failure, whilst our villages, towns, and cities across the country have been treated as open sewers. “In the absence of a serious government plan, Labour has brought forward our water quality bill to clean up the water industry once and for all. Labour’s proposed legislation would enforce mandatory monitoring and automatic fines at the point of dumping, ambitious targets that end the sewage scandal by 2030 and deliver accountability for negligent water bosses.” Figures also showed the annual bonuses paid to water company executives rose by 20% in 2021 despite most of the companies failing to meet sewage pollution targets. On average executives received £100,000 in one-off payments on top of their salaries during a period in which polluted water was being pumped for 2.7m hours into England’s rivers and swimming spots. The analysis of water companies’ annual reports found their bonus pool for executives stood at an average of more than £600,000 per company. In total the 22 water bosses paid themselves £24.8m, including £14.7m in bonuses, benefits and incentives, in 2021-22. The former boss of Thames Water has been handed £2.8m since leaving the company, despite being sacked for leakages and fines while in charge. United Utilities has been contacted for comment. | ['business/utilities', 'business/unitedutilities', 'environment/water', 'business/executive-pay-bonuses', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helena-horton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-04-11T10:37:26Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2022/jun/06/why-the-four-day-working-week-may-worsen-the-climate-crisis | Why the four-day working week may worsen the climate crisis | Briefs | I agree that a four-day working week could have many benefits (Thousands of UK workers begin world’s biggest trial of four-day week, 6 June), but helping to mitigate the climate crisis is unlikely to be one of them, as people may well use their longer weekends to fly abroad, without the need to take any days off from work. Rachel Meredith Long Marston, Warwickshire • Those of us who farm regeneratively do use fertilisers, we simply don’t use artificial ones (The regenerative farm working to improve soil without fertilisers, 3 June). There are lots more food producers like us – big and small – than is generally recognised. Local demand for our naturally grown produce is increasing all the time. Charlotte Barry Camel Community Supported Agriculture • Boris Johnson may be trying to drag us back to imperial units, but there is no need for the Guardian to help him out. The graphic with your report (UK to send long-range rocket artillery to Ukraine despite Russian threats, 6 June) tells us that the M31A1 rocket has an overall weight of 302kg, and contains an explosive warhead of 200lb. What’s wrong with 91kg? Peter Sharratt Knutsford, Cheshire • Isn’t the expression “working royals” something of an oxymoron (Queen’s absence strikes symbolic note as royals gather at jubilee service, 3 June)? Lyn Rowland Paul, Penzance • I have just heard the news that Antony Gormley is to become a German citizen. Does this mean that those of us left in Britain will be officially Gormless? Helena Putnam Walker Farnham, Surrey • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'business/productivity', 'world/air-transport', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'environment/farming', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'world/ukraine', 'uk/monarchy', 'artanddesign/gormley', 'world/germany', 'politics/politics', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'uk/uk', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-06-06T16:39:31Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2019/jul/18/anthony-albanese-warns-pm-dont-play-politics-with-drought-funding | Anthony Albanese warns PM: don't play politics with drought funding | Labor leader Anthony Albanese has urged the Morrison government to avoid “playing politics” with drought funding, saying Labor would support “any level” of funding the Coalition names, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of another portfolio. The government’s $5bn “future drought fund” was knocked back in the last parliament, after Labor announced it would not support any moves to take funds from the Building Australia Fund to pay for it. At a drought forum in Dubbo, Scott Morrison said one of the first priorities for the government when parliament resumes next week would be to reintroduce, and pass the bill. “That drought fund needs to pass the parliament,” he said. “If Labor doesn’t support it, then, we will work with the crossbench as we did on income tax cuts, where they were opposed leading up to that vote, and we ensured they were able to be passed,” he said. Labor, under leader Bill Shorten, had previously labelled the money pool, designed to keep drought-stricken communities afloat while waiting on the rain, a “slush fund” which robbed communities of other vital funding. Albanese, speaking at the same forum, said Labor was prepared to support “any level of cash that the government believes should be injected into communities”, but not at the expense of other areas. “Our concern with the legislation that was introduced last time was that it took money from the Building Australia Fund, that is an essential component of Infrastructure Australia and the idea that we would depoliticise infrastructure funding in this country in order to fund drought funding,” he said. “I say to the government, don’t play politics with this. It is too important. Just stop it. Provide the funding, with appropriations, as you should. And we’ll back it. Any level you want, done. It can go through in an hour.” The statement was greeted with applause. Morrison also plans on moving forward with plans to make it an offence, punishable by up to 12 months imprisonment, for anyone who encourages or promotes trespassing on farms, or private land, either online or through publications. “There will be legislation to deal with ensuring that cowardly keyboard warriors who incite criminal behaviour of people invading farms, that they will be classed as criminals as well,” he said. “We expect support on that.” Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick told Sky News on Thursday his party would be voting for the additional trespass penalties. Fellow crossbench senator and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is also in favour of the move, giving the government the support it needs to pass the bill even if Labor opposes it. Labor will hold a shadow cabinet meeting on Monday where it will finalise its positions on the coming legislation. The latest Bureau of Meteorology drought update showed “significant decline” in autumn and winter rainfall, with much of south-eastern and south-western Australia experiencing the lowest rainfall in the past 20 years. Rainfall for the next three months is predicted to follow that trend, with the BoM anticipating a drier than average quarter for most of the nation. | ['australia-news/rural-australia', 'environment/drought', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/scott-morrison', 'australia-news/anthony-albanese', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/nick-xenophon-team', 'australia-news/labor-party', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/liberal-party', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/amy-remeikis', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-07-18T04:21:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/commentisfree/2023/apr/04/a-whale-sleeping-vertically-they-look-like-they-could-stop-time | A whale: sleeping vertically, they look as though they could stop time | Helen Sullivan | Blue whales are the largest animal ever to have lived – including the dinosaurs – which also makes them the largest animal ever to have slept. All that sleep! A whole whale’s worth, in vast, cold water, the ocean a closed eye, salty and dark. To watch a whale sleeping is to feel as though they have turned the world around them into sleep, that they are suspended in sleep itself, in the liquid that fills your bones when you turn off the light. Sperm whales sleep vertically, in groups, suspended impossibly, the way an object might be suspended only in a dream. They look like planets, their orbit suddenly stopped. They look as if they could stop time. And maybe they would, if they ever slept for longer than 20 minutes, or closed both eyes. Blue whales evolved back into the sea from land mammals, in “one of the most dramatic transformations in mammalian evolutionary history”. The land mammal was the pakicetus, which looked like a possum’s head sewed on to a stray rat-dog’s body by a twisted butcher in a slimy Eocene cave. No wonder it decided to move back to the ocean. The blue whale-to-be returned to the water as dorudon, 4.5 metres long and with a tail that moved up and down, not side to side. Then it grew and grew and grew, eating krill – eating trillions upon trillions of fullstops worth of sleep. The sperm whale’s brain is the largest of any animal. The blue whale’s heart, the size of an armchair, beats, on average, once every 10 seconds: much more slowly when diving, faster at the surface. Blood rushes through its veins and the whale’s enormous body shakes slightly. “Weeks I couldn’t sleep. Years I couldn’t waken,” writes David Baker in his poem Whale Fall. The title is the term for a dead whale that sinks to the bottom of the ocean, where it creates an entire ecosystem – a world, a galaxy – that can last for more than a century. The whale’s carcass rests on the sea bed; the living whale rests on nothing. Far, far above them Ishmael climbs under the covers: With the landless gull, that at sunset folds her wings and is rocked to sleep between billows; so at nightfall, the Nantucketer, out of sight of land, furls his sails, and lays him to his rest, while under his very pillow rush herds of walruses and whales. Helen Sullivan is a Guardian journalist. Her first book, a memoir called Freak of Nature, will be published in 2024 Have an animal, insect or other subject you feel is worthy of appearing in this very serious column? Email helen.sullivan@theguardian.com | ['environment/series/the-nature-of', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/whales', 'environment/environment', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/cetaceans', 'science/evolution', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/helen-sullivan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-opinion'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-04-03T15:00:23Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/aug/24/brazil-abolishes-huge-amazon-reserve-in-biggest-attack-in-50-years | Brazil abolishes huge Amazon reserve in 'biggest attack' in 50 years | The Brazilian president Michel Temer has abolished an Amazonian reserve the size of Denmark, prompting concerns of an influx of mineral companies, road-builders and workers into the species-rich forest. The dissolution of the Renca reserve – which spans 46,000 sq km on the border of the Amapa and Para states – was described by one opposition senator Randolfe Rodrigues of the Sustainability Network party, as the “biggest attack on the Amazon of the last 50 years”. Conservationists said it will open the door for mining companies to enter Renca – the Portuguese acronym for the National Reserve of Copper and Associates – which was set up in 1984 and encompasses nine protected areas. More than 20 domestic and multinational firms have expressed an interest in the region which is thought to contain deposits of gold, copper, tantalum, iron ore, nickel and manganese. The government said the reserve is being abolished to attract foreign investment, improve exports and boost an economy that has been struggling to emerge from its deepest recession in decades. It claimed the change of status would not affect conservation areas and indigenous territories in the region, but Amazon activists warned commercial exploitation by big companies in the past has been followed by illegal land grabbers, artisanal miners and road builders. Christian Poirier of Amazon Watch said Temer’s decision had to be seen in the context of wider efforts by his government to erode protected areas, weaken environmental licensing, and diminish indigenous rights in the interests of wealthy supporters in the extractive industries. “The abolition of Renca will wreak havoc on the forest and indigenous communities in the interests of the small group of economically powerful groups who are keeping Temer in power,” he said. “This is the largest assault so far in a package of threats.” “A gold rush in the region will create irreversible damage to local cultures,” warned Mauricio Voivodic, executive director of WWF-Brazil. “In addition to demographic exploitation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and water resources, this could lead to an intensification of land conflicts and threats to indigenous peoples and traditional populations.” Since plotting the impeachment of his running mate Dilma Rousseff last year, Temer has moved rapidly to unravel environmental protections to please the powerful agricultural and mining lobbies. The only pause in this policy came earlier this year when Temer vetoed a bill that would have opened up swathes of forest to development. At the time, the president said he was responding to an appeal on Twitter by the supermodel, Gisele Bündchen. But Temer has since approved several similar measures, including the latest one this week, which prompted an angry response from Bündchen. “SHAME! We are auctioning off our Amazon! We can’t destroy our protected areas for private interests,” she tweeted. | ['environment/amazon-rainforest', 'world/brazil', 'environment/environment', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/conservation', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-08-24T17:07:02Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2007/dec/16/recycling.waste | Trendy trees add to waste mountain at Christmas | Traditional Christmas tree trimmings involving a box of mismatched baubles, homemade paper chains, and a string of fairylights with a broken bulb dragged from the loft have been ditched, with families buying new decorations each year - a trend which is creating an environmental timebomb, according to green campaigners. In recent years people have bought into the idea of themed, colour-coordinated decorations which are updated each year. Two years ago there was a penchant for black trees; last year the cool colour for baubles was silver; this year classic colours are back, although 'antique gold' is the new gold and platinum is the new silver. Tinsel is out. Yet these festive fashions are adding to the growing burden of waste and using up vast amounts of energy and chemicals. 'Toxins and energy: they are the big things,' said Stuart Bond, head of research and metrics for the environmental charity WWF. 'It's people somewhere else in the world or people who have not been born who will pay the costs for these things, while we're happily putting up our decorations. A decoration would last 30 to 50 years if it was looked after and cared for. If you felt the negative effects, the externalities of production and manufacture, you'd be more mindful about it.' Christmas has become an annual opportunity for environmental campaigners to wring their hands about the cost of the huge consumption, be it energy, food or packaging. Some estimates claim that an extra three million tonnes of waste is generated at Christmas in the UK alone. Christmas trees have already come under critical fire for the environmental damage that they can generate - mostly to wildlife habitats through mass tree plantation and the associated use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Now it is the turn of Christmas decorations, says Bond: 'There's a sense of obsolescence, both planned on the part of manufacturers and perceived obsolescence; unless you're keeping up with the Joneses, you're a nobody.' Christmas trees were popularised in Britain by the royal family in the mid-19th century. In recent years the traditional spruce fell out of favour to make way for firs, largely because people believe they do not drop their needles. It was only a matter of time before decorations fell victim to the whims of taste. 'The trend aspect has only really come about in the last five years - probably as people are more used to fashion trends and translating this into their home,' said Francesca Colling, spokesman for Woolworths, which sells £10m of Christmas decorations every year. Two years ago the incipient fashion became a stampede when John Lewis sold out of black Christmas trees in mid-November. This year, the department store says, hot items include upside-down plastic trees. These originated in New York, where floorspace is tight in most apartments: the topsy-turvy spruce allows decorations to hang freely and out of the reach of small children. 'Oriental splendour' decorations, partly in tribute to next year's Olympics in Beijing, are popular, and so, once again, are traditional colours. Woolworths reports that tree-top angels are losing ground to stars. John Lewis is stocking no tinsel this year, while Woolworths has a small range. But not everybody has been sucked in: Woolworths still gets letters from customers saying they are using decorations they bought 15 years ago, said Colling. 'If you enjoy following the trend and updating your look each year, we would recommend storing decorations safely until a trend comes back round and you can re-use them,' she said. Eco-friendly tree tips · Buy British trees certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. · Buy 'living' trees and replant in the garden (and remember to water during the summer). · Recycle your tree after Christmas. · Remember: an artificial tree is for life, not just for Christmas. Eco-friendly decorations · Use old, misshapen ones from the loft. · Make your own. · Check out 'free' websites such as Freecycle. · Look for secondhand and Fairtrade decorations in charity shops. | ['environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/series/tread-lightly', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/christmas', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'profile/juliettejowit', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2007-12-16T15:24:49Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
sustainable-business/jaguar-land-rover-carbon-cutting | Jaguar Land Rover: tackling carbon from start to finish | Jaguar Land Rover is cutting carbon emissions on a major scale across its business, with an ambitious goal to reach zero emissions by 2020. The carmaker aims to be sustainable across all it activities, including product development, manufacturing and logistics, with carbon reduction playing a central role. Its carbon offsetting programme, which is one of the motor industry's largest, has offset 5m tonnes of CO2 emissions in the past five years. In developing its products, Jaguar Land Rover scrutinises the environmental impact of every component, from its beginning as a raw material to the end of its life. The company invests heavily in designing cars with lower tailpipe emissions, developing fuel-saving technologies and researching more efficient, sustainable components. Some 85% of the new Range Rover is made from recyclable materials. A dedicated team identifies ways to improve energy efficiency and cut carbon emissions across the company's manufacturing sites. Through a range of smart energy-saving initiatives, Jaguar Land Rover cut CO2 emissions by 27,000 tonnes between 2010 and 2012, saving £4m in the process. Working with its logistics partner DHL, Jaguar Land Rover cut carbon emissions from the vehicles transporting its cars and components by 26% in four years. The companies' joint Mission Emissions project included driver training, new ways of filling trailers, introducing speed limiters and reducing the number of journeys made. Finally, the company is using a far-reaching carbon-offsetting programme to balance the emissions being produced by its production lines and by customers on the road. In all, 5m tonnes of CO2 emissions have been cut in five years. All 50 of the offset projects Jaguar Land Rover has invested in either contribute to improving the health and economic wellbeing of people in developing countries or to protecting the environment. Jaguar Land Rover has reduced its overall impact on the environment by 25% over the past five years. Katharine Earley is a copywriter and journalist, specialising in sustainability The Guardian Sustainable Business Sustainability Case Studies contain articles on all the initiatives that met the criteria for the GSB Awards, demonstrating elements of genuine innovation and forward thinking. Become a GSB Member for regular updates from the network | ['sustainable-business/series/carbon-case-studies', 'sustainable-business/series/guardian-sustainable-business-awards-longlist-2013', 'sustainable-business/series/sustainability-case-studies', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'type/article'] | sustainable-business/series/carbon-case-studies | EMISSIONS | 2013-05-30T10:06:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2022/jun/10/smart-meters-are-not-just-dumb-but-a-scandalous-waste-of-money | Smart meters are not just ‘dumb’ but a scandalous waste of money | Letters | Re your article (Energy bills: why are so many smart meters in Britain turning ‘dumb’?, 4 June), I am the manager of a residential estate in the North Downs in Surrey, an area notorious for erratic mobile coverage. From the outset this was a recognised problem with smart meters; boosters were attached, to no avail. As the first of the smart meters were being installed, to great fanfare from the government, the engineers knew a second generation of meters was already being rolled out because the first did not remain smart if the supplier was changed – something the public were unaware of, since they were being exhorted to do just that by the government. Things have gone steadily downhill since then. Smart meters are an absolute scandal – millions were spent, yet the majority here are now useless. We have to read almost all of them and are frequently required to provide dated photographs for all phases plus the total, on each meter – sometimes four photos for each reading – since the power companies don’t trust customers to provide accurate readings. Another example of taxpayers’ money wasted on a government fantasy, with unproven technology rolled out nationwide with an almost entirely negative result. The money would have been better spent continuing to employ meter readers instead of devolving this increasingly irksome task to customers. John Curtis Kingswood, Surrey • I was so pleased to read your article on the problems with smart meters and note that it’s not just me suffering from this shambles. I eagerly await my fourth visit from British Gas to un-dumb my meters. At present my “in-house display” clocks my gas consumption at £47,662.06 per hour – this being an improvement on the £1.5m it reached last month, with my electric meter recording a tariff of 34.935p per kWh (my contract states it is 19.783p per kWh). I have requested that my old meters be put back in, but am told that I would have to pay for both the meters and the installation. As a final flourish of sheer incompetence, I have just received an email congratulating me on “choosing to go smart”. They have missed out the most important bullet point. The one that says “Doesn’t work”. Ray Chalker London • Those who wrote to Guardian Money are lucky, as at least they can read a meter. After EDF pressured me into having one installed in April, my gas meter has just been blank, which is apparently because the meter is more than 10m from the electric meter and because one is on the front of the bungalow and the other on the side, and there is a wall between them. So why did EDF go ahead and install them, and how do I check that the figures they say I have used are correct? Andrew Pearson Clehonger, Herefordshire • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['environment/energy-monitoring', 'environment/energy', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'environment/ethical-living', 'money/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'money/household-bills', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-06-10T16:47:48Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/blog/2010/aug/02/brazil-climate-change-sergio-serra | Funding, infighting and forests – the Brazilian view on climate change | Damian Carrington | The "sherpas" return to Bonn today to continue the backroom negotiations on a global deal to tackle climate change. The talks, under the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), face many challenges, not least the recent news that the US Senate has put on indefinite hold any meaningful climate change bill. For an insider's view of the talks, I was fortunate to meet Brazil's special ambassador for climate change, Sergio Serra, during a recent trip to Brasilia. We spoke on the same day as the news came from the US Senate, so I emailed him after for his reaction. He thinks the next big meeting, in Cancún, Mexico, a year after the Copenhagen summit, is now dead as far as setting targets to cut greenhouse gases – aka mitigation – are concerned. He said: "As for the (bad) news from the US Senate, they are not that surprising. Of course, this will affect the negotiations: We will definitely not be able to close a deal in Cancún, at least not a complete deal as regards mitigation targets, because most of the other developed countries will only commit to a final figure once they know what the US's is going to be. But we hope we can still reap some "deliverables" in Cancun, such as the fast-track financing." The money, for Serra, is the key: "Most important is the financing. The fast-track financing, which is a very positive development, is on three years [2010-2012] – one of those years is already here. It will be a very interesting step towards rebuilding confidence, if we have a commitment on fast-track financing. Some countries say the [proposed deal] is unambitious, the $30bn over three years. It won't save climate change in developing countries but it's a good start, especially for adaptation. By 2020, financing is expected to be $100-200bn a year. The G77 [negotiating group of developing countries] want a much bigger figure than this – 1-1.5% of GDP - but this will never materialise. The figures that are there now are not bad." The Cancún meeting in November also hopes to make progress on combatting deforestation. That's a topic very close to the heart of Brazil, home of the Amazon rainforest, where the destruction has been falling recently. But Serra said he didn't expect Brazil to benefit as much as others from the funds aimed at making trees worth more alive than dead - a scheme known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Redd). "If you are talking about money, of course it will help us [reduce deforestation]. But personally, I think whatever money comes from the Redd scheme, grants, public funds, markets, it will mostly go to poorer countries with tropical forests like Congo. I am talking realistically. And even if no money comes from Redd, President Lula said in Copenhagen that we would do it ourselves anyway." Serra does add wryly that Lula's comment was "off-the cuff", not what we in the UK might call a "costed promise". Perhaps inevitably for a diplomat, he sees the falling public interest in the talks as both good and bad. "There were huge expectations [in Copenhagen], almost irrationally huge. The focus of the media and public in the negotiations, the fact is that has diminished. So that it is good as there is not so much pressure, but if there is no pressure from public opinion, the conference will not deliver as much." We also talked about whether Brazil is a developing country. That is crucial as the UNFCCC talks splits nations into developed and developing countries, with firm obligations on the former but not the latter. But some have wondered whether the fast-emerging economies like China, India and Brazil should be in a new category inbetween the two. Not Serra: "Yes Brazil is a developing country. We have many millions below the poverty line. We still have a literacy problem." He immediately deploys the counter-argument – citing "the historical responsibility of industrialised nations for all the carbon already in the air". But he acknowledges that things will change in the future. "Of course this is a dynamic thing – China will overtake us, but they will have much less historical responsibility." He also chides the US over what he sees as double standards on the "monitoring, reporting and verification" of pledges to cut emissions. "The US is pressuring countries like Brazil, India, China and South Africa much more on MRV than they will apply to themselves. Their numbers have to be accounted for internationally, just as our actions will be." Lastly we talk about the benefits – and problems – of the consensus-based decision-making of the UNFCCC, where all 192 nations need to agree for measures to be adopted. The agreement at Copenhagen, the accord, did not achieve this and was merely "noted" by the UN. "One bad consequence of the Copenhagen accord was some people saw it as an undemocratic result. Five or six countries were very vocal, 120+ have signed the accord, but still 60-70 have not signed. We do not think the Accord is the real answer, it is a step. We will get nowhere unless we focus on getting a transparent and inclusive process. Serra then gives an insight into the mind-bending nature of international diplomacy: "It is a big challenge to get a consensus. But consensus is not exactly the same as unanimity, you only can't be opposed. Countries can contribute to the consensus by their silence. Consensus provides a legitimacy for the results, we are talking here of a very complex thing, climate." | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/forests', 'environment/deforestation', 'tone/blog', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'world/world', 'environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2010-08-02T15:27:10Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
science/2008/jun/29/agriculture.oil | The green gauge | Going up Foxes beware Let's hear it for the mighty alpaca. Prince Charles claims he lost zero lambs at Highgrove this season thanks to the presence of four alpacas Leading lights It will still be possible to get your name in lights on Broadway, it's just that they'll be in energy-saving LEDs. Hot on the heels of the musical Wicked, Broadway is to get its emissions in order Sugar and spice... Taking a break from the promotion of luxury goods, Victoria Beckham has been spotted perusing organic lavender at a farmer's market in LA Going down Put a sock in it In a desperate bid to cut emissions, the Japanese government is advising housewives (can't men do their own washing?) not to separate their husband's socks from the normal wash. The country that washes everything together lowers its emissions Scam merchant US weather forecaster John Coleman, who considers global warming a 'scam', has found someone to blame for high oil prices: Al Gore What a load of rubbish Estates in Hackney have long been feted for their high recycling rates and composting schemes. Not any more. Recycling collections have been disbanded and labelled a fire risk | ['science/agriculture', 'business/oil', 'us-news/algore', 'world/japan', 'stage/broadway', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/series/greengauge', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'culture/culture', 'stage/stage', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/magazine', 'theobserver/magazine/features'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2008-06-28T23:01:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2017/jul/09/summer-sunshine-ozone-smog-pollutionwatch | The downside of summer sunshine | The hottest June day in the UK since 1976 caused widespread summertime smog across southern England and the Midlands. Sevenoaks in Kent and Lullington Heath, East Sussex, measured the greatest ozone level for 11 years; reaching eight on the UK government’s ten-point scale for the first time. The winds then turned westerly and carried our polluted air eastwards to create problems over Germany. Ozone can take days to form in the atmosphere. It therefore spreads across very wide areas. To reduce the worst impacts, Paris once again banned the oldest vehicles from its roads and, in a targeted approach, restrictions were placed on industries that emit volatile hydrocarbons that contribute to ozone formation. In a re-run of the 2003 heatwave, smoke from the tragic forest fires in Portugal spread over France and reached the UK during the hot weather. Ozone in the stratosphere protects us from the sun’s harmful UV, but breathing the ozone that forms at the ground is very harmful. Health guidelines are set assuming eight-hour exposure, based on studies of schoolchildren in summer camps. A new study of 60m elderly people in the US showed the health impacts from breathing ozone over many years in outdoor air, even at levels below current US standards. Health impacts of air pollution are dominated by exposure to particle pollution and nitrogen dioxide, leading to the much quoted figures of around 40,000 early deaths yearly in the UK. According to European Environment Agency, including ozone exposure would add around 700 early deaths to the annual tally. | ['environment/summer', 'environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ozone-layer', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-09T20:30:33Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2008/nov/20/climatechange-poznan | Indigenous people should be included in climate change talks, say campaigners | UN climate change talks are excluding communities who will suffer the most from changing weather patterns, according to a report released today. The report, released by Minority Rights Group International (MRG), says that the voice of indigenous and minority communities must be formally recognised in the climate change talks that begin in Poznan, Poland, on December 1. MRG said that "time is running out" for indigenous communities to get countries to acknowledge that they should be included in the Copenhagen negotiations in 2009 when a new climate deal is expected to be agreed. Unlike the international Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the multilateral environmental treaty signed by 192 states, does not mention the impact of climate change on indigenous or minority communities. Indigenous people around the world are often at the frontline of climate change, living in ecologically sensitive areas and reliant on natural resource for survival. Campaigners say that the impact of climate change already threatens many of these communities. Arctic Inuit people have seen their land disappear as the polar ice caps melt, farmers in East Africa are facing severe food shortages due to persistent drought, and Miskito tribes in Nicaragua are seeing their livelihoods threatened by unseasonal flooding. "Governments have a natural resistance to focusing on particular groups in broad international negotiation, but the reality is that indigenous communities will suffer the most," said Mark Lattimer, executive director at MRG. Political and social discrimination faced by many indigenous communities in their own countries means that not only are they the hardest hit, but are also least likely to benefit from the distribution of relief aid in climate-related disasters, according to MRG. "We saw this in India when the Dalit community, who were the most affected by the recent flooding in Bihar, were turned away from relief aid distribution lines and left without any assistance," said Lattimer. "We can't rely on national governments to represent the voices of people that they themselves sideline and ignore." The report calls for a formal mechanism to be included at the Poznan talks, which would enable indigenous and minority communities to participate in the UNFCCC process. It wants a working group to be established to make formal recommendations, which countries would be obliged to consider. "The irony is that indigenous communities are already facing the fall-out from climate change, so their input in the international debate could be of immense use in developing adaptation and mitigation strategies on climate change," said Lattimer. MRG acknowledges that the UNFCCC has made some steps to recognise the role that indigenous communities can play in the climate change debate. In its 2007 Bali Action Plan, it recognised the needs of local and indigenous communities must be addressed when actions are taken to reduce emissions from deforestation and soil degradation. The UNFCCC insists that indigenous and minority groups do have a voice within the international climate change process and have been given an official "constituency" status along with other civil society groups. "Indigenous peoples organisations are entitled to attend official proceedings, to apply for a slot for a side event and to request for individual meetings with chairs of the negotiation bodies," said a UNFCCC spokesperson. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/poznan', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'type/article', 'profile/anniekelly'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2008-11-20T11:17:56Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2022/jun/08/clover-moore-urges-sydney-renters-to-take-up-green-energy-to-meet-net-zero-target | Clover Moore urges Sydney renters to take up green energy to meet net zero target | Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, has urged renters and apartment dwellers to do their bit to help the city reach net zero by switching their energy supply to renewable sources. Moore’s plea comes amid spiralling energy costs and increased pressure on household budgets, with the New South Wales Tenants Union noting while many renters wanted to make green choices, it was not always a simple equation. The lord mayor said the city of Sydney has reduced emissions in its own operations by 70%, nine years ahead of council’s 2030 schedule, but meeting its goal of net zero by 2035 would require residents doing their part. “Many of our residents believe they can’t go renewable if they are renting or live in an apartment block, but there’s more to renewable electricity than just putting solar panels on the roof,” Moore said. “Switching to GreenPower is the single biggest and, probably easiest, thing you can do to help tackle the climate crisis. “It may seem an odd request to make of the residents and business owners to change electricity plans, but to achieve the city’s goal of net zero by 2035 we must reduce emissions not only in our own operations but also across the broader local government area.” GreenPower is a government-managed scheme that lets households buy certified renewable energy through electricity retailers. It involves paying an extra tariff for each kilowatt hour of energy consumed; based on the average NSW consumption for a household of three it costs about $5 a week. Council switched to 100% renewable electricity in 2020. A survey by council found a third of residents who were not already using a GreenPower accredited plan did not know what they were, and about 12% did not trust electricity companies to use the money to fund renewable energy generation. The Clean Energy Council’s chief executive, Kane Thornton, agreed that switching plans was a good option for people who can’t install solar. “When you choose GreenPower, you’re helping to drive Australia’s clean energy transition,” he said. “The greater the demand, the more renewable energy is added to the grid, helping to support Australian jobs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” Erskineville renter Alice Gonnet, 33, said there had been a “small” extra cost when she compared certified green plans against traditional energy offerings, but she had decided it was worth making sacrifices in other areas of her life. “I have to do my best to have the least impact on the planet,” she said. “I see people eating UberEats every day – I’d prefer to cook and have sustainable power.” But not everyone has extra cash lying around, and cost pressures on renters are increasing, according to the NSW Tenants Union’s chief executive, Leo Patterson Ross. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning “Most people are conscious that they could be doing something different, something better for the environment, the question is, are they empowered to do that?” he said. “Do they have the ability to make changes that really impact energy consumption, that also doesn’t put them in harm’s way or significantly increase their costs so that they’re having to forego other essentials?” Patterson Ross said the onus should be placed on owners and governments to raise the standards of rentals so they were more energy-efficient. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'australia-news/sydney', 'environment/energy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tamsin-rose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-state-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-06-07T17:30:05Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2021/sep/07/weatherwatch-how-forecasting-played-role-in-ultramarathon-disaster | Weatherwatch: how forecasting played role in ultramarathon disaster | One word in a weather forecast could mean the difference between life and death. In May, ultramarathon runners were crossing a stretch of the Yellow River Stone Forest Park in north-west China when the temperature dropped suddenly and they were struck by gale-force winds and freezing rain. The runners were wearing only shorts and T-shirts. They had foil blankets for protection from hypothermia, but these were insufficient and 21 runners died of cold and exposure. Chinese media were outraged because the bad weather had been predicted. A study into the catastrophe concluded that the problem lay with the process of turning weather forecasts into public communication. Weather forecasts drive impact forecasts which in turn drive weather warnings. Analysis in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences noted that while meteorologists did predict a “high impact event”, this would not normally have presented a significant hazard, and so did not lead to safety warnings. The disaster happened because on this particular day the area was occupied by hundreds of lightly dressed runners who were at much greater risk of exposure than locals. What seems a linguistic nuance, the distinction between high impact and high risk, led to the tragic deaths of 21 people. Chinese authorities say they will strive for better weather communications and hazard assessments in future. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'lifeandstyle/ultrarunning', 'world/extreme-weather', 'sport/marathon', 'world/china', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-09-07T05:00:22Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2014/oct/07/signs-of-autumn-share-your-photos-and-videos | Signs of autumn: share your photos and videos | October is the month when autumn foliage is at its most colourful in the UK, north America and parts of Europe. We’d like to find out how vibrant the signs of Autumn are where you are. Is the foliage colour at its peak or just beginning to turn? Show us where the best autumn colours can be seen this year by sharing your photos and videos. Do let us know where and when the images were taken, either in the description box or by using geo-location. You can submit by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ button on this article. You can also use the GuardianWitness smartphone app or the new Guardian app and search for ‘GuardianWitness assignments’. We’ll publish the best contributions on the Guardian site. GuardianWitness is the home of user-generated content on the Guardian. Contribute your video, pictures and stories, and browse news, reviews and creations submitted by others. Posts will be reviewed prior to publication on GuardianWitness, and the best pieces will feature on the Guardian site. | ['environment/autumn', 'environment/forests', 'community/series/guardianwitness-assignments', 'uk/weather', 'us-news/us-weather', 'type/article', 'profile/caroline-bannock'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-10-07T14:09:24Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
politics/2009/sep/28/ed-miliband-councils-10-10 | Ed Miliband calls on all Labour councils to sign up to 10:10 | Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, today called on all Labour councils to sign up to the 10:10 campaign and cut their carbon emissions by 10% by next year. Labour-run Manchester city council last week became the biggest local authority to sign up, following 27 others, including Oxford, Coventry, Wirral and five London boroughs. But Miliband said he would be working closely with the Local Government Association, which represents 423 councils in England and Wales, to get all councils and Labour groups on board to support 10:10. "Let's make the transition to low carbon part of our vision of a different kind of country: more prosperous, more secure and fair," Miliband told the Labour conference in Brighton. "Fundamentally, we are the people to deliver on this vision because of the society we believe in, because we understand the role of government and markets." The 10:10 campaign, supported by the Guardian and the Observer, requires participants to cut their carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010. Since it was launched on 1 September more than 20,000 people have signed up as well as 1,000 businesses, 500 bodies such as schools, and individual politicians including the entire cabinet, shadow cabinet and Lib Dem frontbench. 10:10 aims to build up enough numbers to strengthen the climate change secretary's resolve to commit the UK to big emissions cuts when he attends December's UN talks in Copenhagen. Gordon Brown said last week he would be at the summit and he urged other world leaders to attend. The UK will host a preliminary session in London next week. In another drive to localise the initiatives to slow down climate change, Miliband announced a £10m pot for communities who want to pioneer green technology. And in his speech to the conference, Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, promised a £14m programme to create cycling hubs at 10 major stations including Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, and London St Pancras, Victoria and Waterloo. Pledging to deliver a "cycling revolution", he said: "We do not have to choose between being green and being free – but only if we create a green transport system for the future." | ['politics/labour-conference-2009', 'politics/labourconference', 'politics/labour', 'politics/edmiliband', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/politics', 'environment/environment', 'environment/10-10', 'tone/news', 'uk/uk', 'society/localgovernment', 'politics/localgovernment', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'profile/allegrastratton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-09-28T18:08:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2007/dec/18/australia.japan | Japan and Australia on collision course over whaling | The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, today set his country on a diplomatic collision course with Japan with reports that he plans to send an armed vessel to monitor a controversial whaling expedition to the southern ocean. Rudd's Labor government is negotiating with the cruise ship firm P&O to send a vessel equipped with machine guns and powerful cameras to track the Japanese fleet, the Sydney Morning Herald said. The Japanese fleet left port for the Antarctic last month vowing to slaughter more than 1,000 whales in its biggest ever "scientific" hunt. The hunters plan to kill 935 minke and 50 fin whales, but it is their intention to slaughter 50 humpbacks - a protected species since 1963 - that has most angered Australia, Britain and other anti-whaling nations. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986, but Japan is permitted to slaughter whales for scientific research that it insists is necessary to learn about the mammals' reproductive and migratory habits. It has slaughtered an estimated 7,000 minkes in the past 20 years, leading critics to dismiss the annual expeditions as commercial whaling in disguise. Australia's previous prime minister, John Howard, criticised the hunts but Mr Rudd is openly considering tracking the whalers, despite the potential damage this may inflict on the countries' deepening military and economic ties. "We take seriously Australia's international obligations on the proper protection of whales," he said last week at the UN climate change summit in Bali. Rudd is expected to outline his anti-whaling policy later this week. Reports in the Australian media suggest that Mr Rudd has not ruled out sending the Australian navy to track the whalers to gather evidence for a possible legal challenge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Japanese officials called on Australia, an important regional ally, to act with restraint. "There is nothing illegal about Japan going into Australia's backyard and hunting whales, even the humpback," a foreign ministry spokesman told the Guardian. "Give the depth and breadth of our bilateral ties, I would ask the Australians to put our whaling activities into context. I understand their concerns, but would ask that they do whatever they decide to do in the calmest possible fashion." Despite a dramatic decline in domestic consumption, the meat from the whales ends up in Japanese supermarkets and restaurants, and the proceeds are used to fund future hunts. Privately, some Japanese officials wonder why their government is prepared to risk its international standing to protect an industry that generates only about 7 billion yen (£30m) in annual sales of whale meat from its offshore and Antarctic hunts. Campaigners have mounted a legal challenge to Japan's whalers. The Humane Society International has asked Australia's federal court to force the government to ban whaling in the sanctuary, where whale watching tours generate an estimated A$300m (£125m) a year. Nicola Beynon, a Humane Society spokeswoman, said a court ruling in the anti-whalers' favour would compel the Rudd administration to take action. "They will be required to stop the hunt," she said. "And if the government's not prepared to do that ... the Australian public will be expecting them to find some other means of stopping the hunt." Japan, however, says it does not recognise Australian sovereignty over the waters and that it would ignore any court order to end the hunt. The P&O vessel, the Oceanic Viking, is manned by a private crew but would include customs officials, surveillance equipment and two .50-caliber machine guns if dispatched to track the whalers. The Japanese fleet, which left the southwestern port of Shimonoseki on November 24th, is expected to reach the sanctuary within days. | ['world/world', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/japan', 'environment/whaling', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/whales', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'environment/hunting', 'profile/justinmccurry'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2007-12-18T17:32:43Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2012/jul/10/american-tradition-institute-climate-science | Rightwing US thinktank uses FoI laws to pursue climate scientists | The ultra-conservative American Tradition Institute has expanded its legal pursuit of climate scientists, using transparency laws to try to flush out potentially damaging emails. The strategy – used to seek records from prominent scientists such as Michael Mann – is seen by scientists as an excuse to try to dig up embarrassing or damaging communications that could be used to discredit climate science. Now for the first time the media is being drawn in as well, with ATI seeking the release of scientists' communications with specific journalists. The list of news organisations targeted by the request includes the New York Times, the Associated Press, Frontline and the Guardian. Earlier requests focused on exchanges between scientists. "We view this as a new chapter," said Jeff Ruch, a lawyer working with the Climate Science Legal Defence Fund. "Before they were going after interactions between individual scientists. This is basically a spying operation to see who are you talking to, but presumably the idea is the same: to find material that is potential of use in discrediting a scientist." Christopher Horner, the director of ATI's environmental law centre, deployed the new tactic for the first time last week, in a 5 July 2012 open records request to two scientists at public universities in Texas. Horner, who holds posts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute as well as ATI, has led the legal pursuit of climate scientists through open records laws. He has sought access to communications from Michael Mann, the author of the hockey stick graph, the Nasa climate scientists James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt, and this year, Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University. Hayhoe turned came to public prominence when Newt Gingrich, the former Republican presidential candidate, decided to cut a chapter she had written for a forthcoming book on the environment. She and Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, were targeted again last week when Horner demanded their universities turn over all of the scientists' email exchanges with specified journalists dating back to 1 November 2009. Horner also asked the scientists to hand over communications with the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has also been involved in defending climate scientists, as well as Richard Ades, who has served as a public relations consultant to scientists. The two universities are complying with the request. Horner told the Washington Examiner – a freesheet owned by the conservative billionaire Philip Anschulz – that his decision to target contacts between scientists and journalists was prompted by a front-page article in the "You might be surprised to learn that the Texas A&M email production shows the academics actually forwarding their email discussions outside their circle. To New York Times reporters, for example," he wrote. Scientists and campaign groups describe Horner's records requests as a "fishing expedition", aimed at trying to damage climate science. Ruch said such motivated use of transparency laws was on the rise – and not only by conservative groups such as ATI. This year alone, his organisation, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, had heard from seven other scientists who had been subject to open record requests after appearing as expert witnesses in court cases involving mountaintop coal mining. Last month, a pair of oceanographers accused BP of infringing on their academic freedom by demanding the release of email related to the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Meanwhile, some public universities have begun to fight back against such requests. Penn State University, where Mann now works, is not bound by open records requests. Other public universities are moving in the same direction. Horner defended his use of transparency laws, arguing the scientists' objections were themselves political. "Our motivations are surely whatever Greenpeace's were when pioneering these requests," he said in an email. "The truth is, they see no problem with using transparency laws this way. They only have problems with people they do not like using them as such." At the very least, such open records requests are a distraction, said Hayhoe. "These types of requests are disruptive. They require a lot of attention to respond carefully and they take away time spent doing teaching, mentoring, or doing research. For a scientist who is happiest working in a lab or on a computer it is frightening to be accused of things that are completely without basis." At the other extreme, such records requests represent an escalation of efforts to politicise climate science, said Dessler. "At some level it's really dirty tricks what these people are doing. They are not using the open records request in any way it is meant to be used," said Dessler. "It's certainly reasonable to get a record of what transpired – how a decision was made, how a contract was awarded, why a university president was fired. But they are not trying to use it to figure out how decisions are being made. What they want to do is to find something embarrassing, something they can use in a political debate." | ['environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'science/science', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'politics/freedomofinformation', 'politics/politics', 'tone/news', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2012-07-10T15:36:16Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
uk/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans/2011/dec/16/legal-action-over-police-spies | legal action over police spies | Birnberg Peirce and partners have commenced legal action against the Metropolitan Police on behalf of eight women who were deceived into having long term intimate relationships with undercover police officers. The five undercover officers* were all engaged in infiltrating environmental and social justice campaign groups between the mid 1980's and 2010 and had relationships with the women lasting from seven months and the longest spanning nine years. The women assert that the actions of the undercover officers breached their rights as protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, including Article 3 (no one shall be subject to inhumane and degrading treatment) and Article 8 (respect for private and family life, including the right to form relationships without unjustified interference by the state). The women are also bringing claims for deceit, assault, misfeasance in public office and negligence, and seek to highlight and prevent the continuation of psychological, emotional and sexual abuse of campaigners and others by undercover police officers. After deceiving at least one woman into having a relationship with him, one of the officers, Bob Lambert, went on to supervise other undercover officers who had long term intimate relationships with campaigners. This, and the extended period in which these relationships were undertaken confirms that recently exposed police spies were not 'rogue officers', but were in fact part of an unacceptable pattern of engaging in long term intimate relationships (including embedding themselves in extended families) as part of the infiltration of environmental and other activist groups, which seems to have been condoned at high levels. Through their collective experiences the women have identified a pattern that covers more than two decades of police operations and is therefore indicative of systemic abuse of female political activists involved in a range of different groups. Officers are given extensive training in how to spin tales, groom, deceive and embed themselves deeply in protest movements. After the women formed loving relationships with these men, they disappeared when their posting ended, leaving the women to cope with the trauma of not knowing whether or not the person they were in love with would return, not knowing if they should be worried or angry and trying to discover what was real and what was not. In one case where the officer re-appeared, his training enabled him to create a new deceit and further abuse the woman who had been left in a state of shock and trauma. The responsibility for the lasting damage this caused goes right back to the undercover operation by the Metropolitan police and the training they gave him in the art of duplicity. The subsequent discovery that the men they had loved were in fact undercover police officers spying on them and others they knew was a horrifying experience, leaving the women with both a sense of violation and difficulties in trusting others and their own judgement. Discovering that the fundamentals of the relationship were lies has left them trying to comprehend how someone they shared dreams with, knew so intimately and trusted so deeply had never actually existed This abuse has had a severe and lasting emotional impact on those affected. Quote: "We believe our case highlights institutionalised sexism within the police. It is incredible that if the police want to search someone's house they are required to get the permission of a judge, yet if they want to send in an agent who may live and sleep with activists in their homes, this can happen without any apparent oversight!" "We are bringing this case because we want to see an end to the sexual and psychological abuse of campaigners and others by undercover police officers. It is unacceptable that state agents can cultivate intimate and long lasting relationships with political activists in order to gain so called intelligence on those political movements." So far twelve inquiries have been set up in relation to undercover officers, however none of them are focussed on the human rights abuses perpetrated by the unit, none is independent and none of them are open and transparent. * The five undercover officers are Mark Kennedy, Jim Boyling, Bob Lambert and two others who have not yet been exposed, known when undercover as John Barker and Mark Cassidy. | ['uk/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans', 'tone/blog', 'uk/mark-kennedy', 'environment/activism', 'world/surveillance', 'uk/ukcrime', 'law/law', 'world/protest', 'type/article'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2011-12-16T19:45:19Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
commentisfree/2024/mar/22/1000-varieties-banana-lack-of-diversity-extinction | There are more than 1,000 varieties of banana, and we eat one of them. Here’s why that’s absurd | Dan Saladino | The meeting of the World Banana Forum last week in Rome didn’t make many headlines. But what was under discussion there has serious implications for everyone. The ubiquitous yellow fruit is the proverbial canary in the mine of our modern food system, showing just how fragile it is. And the current plight of the banana should serve as an invitation to us all to become champions of food diversity. When you peel a banana, you’re on the receiving end of a near-miraculous $10bn supply chain. One that sends seemingly endless quantities of a tropical fruit halfway across the world to be among the cheapest, most readily available products in supermarket aisles (on average, around 12p a banana). But, incredibly, there’s no inbuilt backup plan or safety net if the one variety that most of the global trade depends on starts to fail. The most striking point made at this year’s forum came in a seemingly innocuous comment in the event’s opening speech. The director general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, Dr Qu Dongyu, questioned why, with more than 1,000 known varieties of banana, the world mostly depends on just one, a species called the Cavendish. That needs to change, he said, hinting that we are all part of the problem. Most people don’t question why every banana they’ve ever eaten looks and tastes pretty much the same. Most of us will never try a blue java from Indonesia with its soft, unctuous texture and flavour of vanilla ice-cream, or the Chinese banana that is so aromatic it’s been given the name go san heong, meaning “you can smell it from the next mountain”. The demand for low-cost, high-yielding varieties has resulted in vast monocultures of just one type of globally traded banana, and this is true of many other crops as well. Homogeneity in the food system is a risky strategy, because it reduces our ability to adapt in a rapidly changing world. Unlike wild bananas, which grow from seed, every single Cavendish is a clone, the offspring of a slice of the plant’s suckers growing below ground. This means it has no way of evolving, so it can’t adapt to new threats that arise in the environment. Panama disease, also known as fusarium wilt, is whipping through monocultures of Cavendish bananas in Asia, Australia, Africa and, most recently, in Latin America and the Caribbean, the source of 80% of the world’s traded bananas. Just a few spores carried on a spade or even on clothing is all it takes to contaminate a plantation, and growing the Cavendish on that land is no longer an option. One solution in the face of this devastating disease is to use genetic modification or gene-editing to develop bananas with greater resistance. James Dale, a professor at Queensland University of Technology, spent decades working on a modified version of the Cavendish designed to be “highly resistant” to the variant of Panama disease that’s attacking the Cavendish. But Dale believes it’s not a magic bullet. The long-term answer, he thinks, is to bring greater diversity into the food system. During the research for my book Eating to Extinction, a conversation with Dale proved revelatory. Monocultures do not exist in nature, he told me, and we need to learn lessons from this. Much greater diversity used to exist in the global food system. But in introducing a smaller number of highly productive crops, this diversity was lost. In response to this, scientists at the UK’s leading crop research centres, the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) in Cambridge and the John Innes Centre in Norwich, are working to bring diversity back into the fields using genetics from heritage varieties that were pushed to the brink of extinction by modern varieties. Scientists are looking at other precarious crops, such as coffee, which is made up of varieties that emerged from just a handful of plants sent around the world in the 18th and 19th centuries. The climate crisis is making the future of the coffee species we depend on – arabica and robusta – look bleak. This is why botanists at Kew have identified viable and delicious alternatives from the more than 120 other coffee species around the world. The most promising is Coffea stenophylla, a species found in Sierra Leone that almost went extinct in the 1950s. At a policy level, there are reasons to be optimistic. At Cop15, held in December 2022 in Montreal, 196 countries signed up to the Global Biodiversity Framework. The headline pledge is to save 30% of nature on land and sea by 2030, part of which includes urgent action to “halt extinction of threatened species”. Less well known is the fact that these threatened species also include domesticated ones, referring to the 7,000 or so plants humans have used for food over millennia. And there are farmers’ initiatives such as Wildfarmed, which is experimenting with a wider range of wheat varieties. The flour is already finding its way on to the high street through major retailers and nationwide pizza chains. Meanwhile, in the east of England, Hodmedod’s, a business set up by three food and farming researchers, is looking back to what was grown in Britain during the iron age and reviving neglected varieties of grains and pulses, including carlin peas and emmer wheat. But if Qu Dongyu is right that a big problem is the lack of “acceptance by retailers and consumers of different varieties”, we all need to step up. We need to let it be known that we want greater diversity. This rallying call could be as simple as buying a variety of bean or pea we haven’t tried before, an unusual type of wheat, or even – if one were to appear in store – a different banana. Dan Saladino is a food journalist, broadcaster and author of Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'food/food', 'environment/biodiversity', 'food/fruit', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/dan-saladino', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-03-22T12:00:29Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2019/mar/03/only-a-third-of-australias-plastic-packaging-waste-gets-recycled | Only a third of Australia's plastic packaging waste gets recycled | Only a third of Australia’s plastic packaging waste ends up being recycled, according to a new report. The study, conducted by the University of Technology Sydney and commissioned by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), tracked different kinds of packaging waste in the 2017-18 financial year. It estimated that only 56% of all packaging waste in Australia was recovered and recycled. Of that, 72% of paper packaging was recycled, but only 32% of plastics. All figures in the report were estimates, with a margin of error that varied from 3% to 17%. According to the report, an estimated 72% of aluminium was recycled, and 54% of metal generally. This means more than 600,000 tonnes of plastic packaging – out of 900,000 tonnes used – was not recycled last year. PET, HDPE and PVC plastic had even lower recycling rates at below 30%. The report also said Australia exported a high percentage of its waste to other countries to recycle, instead of processing it domestically. The APCO chief executive, Brooke Donnelly, said Australia needed to boost its domestic recycling industry and create a “circular economy” – where manufactured goods were consumed, reused and recycled. “Of all packaging that is collected for recycling, 19% is getting exported,” she said. “That’s a significant portion. “The general consensus, from both government and industry, is to move towards the circular economy. It is conceptually a wonderful thing but is very difficult to translate that into operation. “We’re really good at collecting it and sorting it, let’s find more ways to reprocess it here and find domestic solutions.” Last year, a Senate inquiry into recycling heard that Australia’s domestic recycling industry was “immature” – according to a joint submission from 10 local councils. This week’s report recommended that the low plastic recycling rate could be improved with better separation (both at the kerbside level and beyond), superior sorting technology and increased manual sorting. Donnelly said manufacturers also had to do more to make sure their products and packaging were easily recyclable. “It’s a little bit of everything. We need to educate consumers better about what bin you are putting your packaging waste in, there needs to be investment in better technology in the recovery stage. And there needs to be work around brands and manufacturers designing packaging around the end of life of their product.” She said manufacturers needed to make packages so they were more recyclable, such as having clear labelling about how it could be recycled, or using less plastic entirely. According to the report, Australians created 2m tonnes of paper waste, and recycled 1.5m tonnes. Overall, 4.5m tonnes of packaging waste were produced last year, and 2.5m tonnes were recycled. Donnelly said there were still some data gaps in the recycling statistics, and that in future years the industry and researchers should work on getting further information and better data. This article was amended on 4 March 2019 to correct a statistic on how much packaging collected for recycling is exported. | ['environment/recycling', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'profile/naaman-zhou', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-03-02T20:16:44Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
media/2019/jan/11/guardian-to-be-first-national-newspaper-with-biodegradable-wrapping | Guardian to be first national newspaper with biodegradable wrapping | The Guardian’s print edition will no longer be sold in plastic packaging, becoming the first national newspaper to switch to biodegradable wrapping. The Saturday edition of the paper contains a large number of supplements which are currently packaged in polythene to meet the demands of retailers and ensure they reach readers. From this weekend, the Weekend magazine, the Guide, Feast, and Review will instead be wrapped in a material based on potato starch, which readers are encouraged to compost or put in their food waste recycling bin. The packaging does not contain any genetically modified material. The change will increase production costs for the Guardian but is part of the newspaper’s plan to reduce plastic waste, following feedback from readers. The change will be phased in across the whole of the country over the coming months, starting this weekend for readers in London, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Readers within Greater London who use the Guardian’s home delivery service will also find the weekday edition of the newspaper is now wrapped in potato starch packaging rather than plastic. The change comes as the print editions of the Guardian and Observer increase their prices for the first time in three years. The price of the Guardian’s weekday edition will increase by 20p to £2.20, while the cost of the Saturday edition will increase by 30p to £3.20. The Observer will also cost £3.20 following a 20p increase. Subscribers to the print edition will be unaffected by the price rise. Editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said: “Investigative reporting is difficult, costly and time-consuming. Thanks to the support of readers who buy the Guardian, the Observer and the Guardian Weekly in print, subscribe to our digital premium app, or make financial contributions to the Guardian, we are on the path to financial sustainability. “But the economic conditions for newspapers remain very tough. Sales of all newspapers are in historic decline; advertisers increasingly spend their money with technology giants rather than publishers; and the costs of printing, paper and distribution continue to rise.” Guardian News and Media, the publisher of the Guardian and Observer, is aiming to break even by the end of the current financial year, aided by increased contributions from readers. | ['media/theguardian', 'media/media', 'media/national-newspapers', 'media/newspapers', 'media/pressandpublishing', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'media/katharine-viner', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jim-waterson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-01-11T15:53:46Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2024/apr/04/global-deforestation-rainforest-climate-goals-brazil-colombia-agriculture | Global rainforest loss continues at rate of 10 football pitches a minute | The destruction of the world’s most pristine rainforests continued at a relentless rate in 2023, despite dramatic falls in forest loss in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon, new figures show. An area nearly the size of Switzerland was cleared from previously undisturbed rainforests last year, totalling 37,000 sq km (14,200 sq miles), according to figures compiled by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland. This is a rate of 10 football pitches a minute, often driven by more land being brought under agricultural cultivation around the world. While Brazil and Colombia recorded large drops in forest loss of 36% and 49% respectively, under the environmental policies of presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro, those falls were offset by big increases in Bolivia, Laos, Nicaragua and other countries. Canada also experienced a record-breaking loss of forest due to fire, losing more than 8m hectares (20m acres). Mikaela Weisse, director of Global Forest Watch at the WRI, said: “The world took two steps forward, two steps back when it comes to this past year’s forest loss. “Steep declines in the Brazilian Amazon and Colombia show that progress is possible, but increasing forest loss in other areas has largely counteracted that progress,” she said. “We must learn from the countries that are successfully slowing deforestation.” Changes in land use – of which deforestation is a central component – is the second-largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions and a main driver of biodiversity loss. Preserving rainforests is essential to limit global heating to 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels, according to researchers. Experts have warned that continuing deforestation means governments are dangerously off-track when it comes to meeting their climate and biodiversity commitments. At the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, governments agreed on the need to halt and reverse the loss and degradation of forests by 2030, after a commitment by world leaders at Cop26 in Glasgow to end their destruction this decade. But the new figures show that the world is a long way from meeting this target, with little change in global forest loss for several years. While Brazil had significantly slowed its rate of forest loss, the country remained one of the top three countries for losing primary rainforest, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bolivia. Together, they accounted for more than half of the total global destruction. Bolivia recorded a major surge in forest loss for the third consecutive year – despite having less than half of the forest of other major rainforest countries such as the DRC and Indonesia – driven largely by the expansion of soya farming. Laos and Nicaragua lost major chunks of their remaining untouched rainforest in 2023, clearing 1.9% and 4.2% respectively in a single year, which researchers said was because highly fragmented forests in countries that had already been cleared extensively can often be more quickly erased. In Laos, agricultural expansion is being fuelled by demand from China for commodities, while in Nicaragua, cattle ranching and expanding agriculture are to blame. Despite the lack of overall progress in the figures for 2023, researchers said the world could learn from the examples of Brazil and Colombia to meet deforestation targets. Prof Matthew Hansen, a specialist in remote sensing at the University of Maryland’s geography department, said: “I really believe the only way to maintain standing forests is a compensation fund for conserving standing rainforests. “Germany has floated the ‘Fair Deal’, which is meant to pay rainforest countries in this manner. Norway has engaged with Gabon in a similar way, using carbon sequestration as the measure. Couple that approach with robust governance and civil society engagement, and it might work,” he said. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/deforestation', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'world/colombia', 'environment/conservation', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-04-04T06:00:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
uk-news/2018/oct/25/uk-refusal-cooperate-belgian-hacking-inquiry-condemned-gchq-belgacom | UK refusal to cooperate with Belgian hacking inquiry condemned | The UK government has been accused of endangering diplomatic relations with Belgium after its “exceptional” refusal to cooperate with an inquiry into GCHQ’s alleged hacking of Belgacom, the country’s biggest telecoms company. For at least two years ending in 2013, the British intelligence service was probably spying within the state-owned company’s networks on the instruction of UK ministers, according to leaks from a judicial inquiry presented to Belgium’s national security council this week. When asked by the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office to cooperate with the investigation into the alleged hacking, the UK Home office is said to have refused, claiming: “The United Kingdom believes that this could jeopardise our sovereignty, security and public order.” According to the Belgian newspaper De Standaard, the prosecutor’s office regarded the response as “exceptional between EU states, and something that could lead to a diplomatic incident”. Sophia in ’t Veld, a member of the European parliament’s committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs, tweeted in response to the media report: “Remarkable attitude towards other European countries, pre or post Brexit.” The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, declined to comment. The GCHQ operation, if proven, would be the first documented example of an EU member state covertly hacking into the critical infrastructure of another. The Belgian investigation into the alleged hacking was launched in response to claims made by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden five years ago when he leaked 20 slides exposing GCHQ’s hacking targets, which included Belgacom, now known as Proximus. Codenamed Trinity, the Belgian inquiry found evidence of hackers swiftly covering their tracks following Snowden’s leaks but also unambiguous evidence of the British intelligence services’s involvement, it is alleged. The investigation discovered spy software installed remotely on Belgacom’s computers from three internet protocol addresses registered in the UK to front companies. When Belgian investigators approached GCHQ for help in identifying those behind the IP addresses, it declined to cooperate. The spies, working under the codename Operation Socialist, were said to have targeted the computers of Belgacom employees working in security and maintenance through the use of fake LinkedIn messages. There was a particular focus on the Belgian company’s subsidiary unit, Belgacom International Carrier Services, which handles phone and data traffic in Africa and the Middle East. It was reported that the British espionage operation was also seeking to target communications made between roaming smartphones. The interception could have also provided access to communications at Nato headquarters in Brussels and at key European institutions including the European commission, European parliament, and the European council. The prosecutor’s report is said to have concluded that there was not enough evidence to prosecute any individual. The Belgian prime minister at the time of the alleged hacking, Elio di Rupo, promised to take “the appropriate steps” if the high-level involvement of a foreign country was confirmed. The Belgian government, a majority shareholder in the telecoms company, has spent €50m (£44m) on improving its security after the hacking scandal. A GCHQ spokesman declined to comment. | ['uk/gchq', 'world/belgium', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'uk/uksecurity', 'technology/hacking', 'world/espionage', 'business/telecoms', 'technology/telecoms', 'us-news/edward-snowden', 'us-news/the-nsa-files', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/daniel-boffey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-10-25T10:39:52Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/2021/oct/12/weatherwatch-protecting-uk-roads-from-melting-in-heatwaves | Weatherwatch: protecting UK roads from melting in heatwaves | The Met Office has confirmed the heatwave that started on 7 August 2020 broke records in terms of maximum temperatures reached and duration. One striking effect was that some roads melted like chocolate, resulting in ridges, ruts and other permanent damage. Roads will generally stay solid up to about 50C, which sounds sufficient as the air temperature never rises that high. However, the dark road surface absorbs sunlight and gradually heats up during the afternoon. A sunny day in the high 20Cs can be enough to soften tarmac but this depends very much on the exact angle to the sun and the wind conditions. When roads did melt, some local authorities responded by sending out gritters. While these might be a surprising sight in summer, they were loaded with granite dust to make the soft bitumen less sticky and more stable. The industry introduced a new standard for surface material, adding polymer modified binders to the hot asphalt, in response to the 1995 heatwave. These additives help the material resist temperatures up to 80C. However, they are expensive and are used only on the busiest roads. One simpler solution may be a dressing of polymer binders added to the surface of vulnerable roads to help prevent future melting. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/summer', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-10-12T05:00:09Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2022/aug/24/its-easy-to-forget-that-lockdowns-saved-lives | It’s easy to forget that Covid lockdowns saved lives | Brief letters | I can only assume that none of the rightwing commentators who blame the economic crisis on lockdown lost anyone who was near and dear to them during the pandemic (Reheating old grievances about lockdown won’t keep pensioners warm this winter, 23 August). Sadly, it reminds me of graffiti on a road sign in south Warwickshire over 50 years ago: “Only the selfish vote Tory.” Bob Forster Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire • It’s no surprise that the big grain firms are profiting from people’s hunger (Record profits for grain firms amid food crisis prompt calls for windfall tax, 23 August). I’m no Marxist, but Karl Marx put it well: “Capital is dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks.” Sue Ward Newcastle upon Tyne • Simon Fairlie’s statement on abundant tree cover in west Dorset (Letters, 21 August) needs clarifying. The West Dorset constituency has tree cover of 1.3%, while tree cover in North, South and Mid Dorset is around 11%, 23% and 10% respectively. Peter Redman Puddletown, Dorset • Double thanks, Guardian. I steer clear of reviews when watching a recorded TV series. But you’ve printed a letter (23 August) giving the plot away for Marriage and I was going to watch it tonight. Gary Bennett Exeter • I’ve never seen our dog shed tears (Letters, 23 August), but he’s had a little howl every morning on waking up and remembering that our grandson has gone home after his summer holiday with us. Ian Grieve Gordon Bennett, Shropshire Union canal • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'politics/conservatives', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'politics/politics', 'environment/forests', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'society/poverty', 'books/karl-marx', 'culture/television', 'lifeandstyle/dogs', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-08-24T15:57:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2022/aug/10/death-valley-floods-climate-crisis | Record Death Valley flooding ‘a once-in-1,000-year event’ | Recent severe rains in Death Valley that flushed debris across roadways, damaged infrastructure and carried away cars are being described by meteorologists and park officials as a once-in 1,000-year event. The arid valley was pelted with roughly an inch and a half of rain on Friday, near the park’s rainfall record for a single day. The storm poured an amount of water equal to roughly 75% of the average annual total in just three hours, according to experts at Nasa’s Earth observatory. Hundreds visiting and working in Death Valley national park were marooned and all roads continue to be impassable, according to park officials. The waters have receded, leaving behind thick layers of mud and gravel, but those who were stranded were able to exit the park earlier this week, aided by park service personnel. Daniel Berc, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Las Vegas, described the deluge as a historic “1,000-year event”, with a 0.1% likelihood during a given year. But events like this one, once thought to be exceedingly rare, are on the rise. Scientists are finding that weather extremes, fueled by the climate crisis, are becoming more likely in the American west, which continues to be mired in drought. Periods of dryness are expected to be broken with strong, destructive storms as the world continues to warm. Described as “a land of extremes”, the desert basin is the driest place in North America and is known for temperatures that have climbed higher than any other place on Earth. No injuries have been reported but aerial searches are being conducted by the California highway patrol and naval aircraft, the National Park Service said in a statement, to confirm that vehicles are not still stranded in remote areas of the park. In a statement, the park superintendent, Mike Reynolds, said it would “take time to rebuild” and noted that officials were still working to assess destruction from the storm across the roughly 3.4m acres and more than 1,000 miles of roads in the park. While the storm did not break Death Valley’s all-time record for daily rainfall, it did break records for this time of year, as August generally produces just a tenth of an inch of rain. Nasa satellites were able to capture the storm’s effects, showing a belt of blue across the typically brown terrain. “This week’s 1,000-year flood is another example of this extreme environment,” Reynolds said. “With climate change models predicting more frequent and more intense storms, this is a place where you can see climate change in action.” | ['us-news/california', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural--disasters', 'world/world', 'us-news/climate-crisis-in-the-american-west', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gabrielle-canon', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | us-news/climate-crisis-in-the-american-west | GLOBAL_CRISIS | 2022-08-10T18:50:40Z | true | GLOBAL_CRISIS |
australia-news/2022/jun/20/energy-wake-up-call-rural-power-hacks-keeping-the-farm-gates-open | Energy ‘wake-up call’: rural power hacks keeping the farm gates open | When dairy farmer Paul Mumford milks his herd outside Yarram in Victoria’s South Gippsland early in the morning and late in the afternoon, he’s keenly aware it coincides with peak energy use for the rest of the population. “That doesn’t sit extremely well with the natural flow of the energy use from the grid, because those times are when children are going to school, households are waking up and using energy before and after work,” he says. The president of United Dairyfarmers of Victoria, Mumford says energy is one of the biggest costs for dairy farmers. It’s just not an option to milk 200 cows by hand, and milking the cows twice a day is imperative for his animals’ welfare. A year ago the property lost power for six days in two separate wind storms. “I survived OK because my farm has onsite power generation which connects to my tractor,” he told Guardian Australia. The turning spline on Mumford’s diesel tractor creates a power take-off that turns a generator and creates energy for his dairy shed. However, he says the power outage caught his neighbours out, two of whom had to bring their herds to Mumford’s dairy operation to be milked. He says there’s been an expectation that the electricity would always be there, but for his area the storms were a “big wake-up call”. “Because it’s mandatory to milk cows regularly twice a day, [the storms] left a whole lot of farmers vulnerable.” Mumford says farmers are generally looking at reducing the risk of power outages and shortages to their business, and on-farm power generation is a big part of that. ‘An expensive endeavour’ While energy costs are hitting agricultural industries hard, their vulnerability to energy supply has seen farmers develop unique hacks – and rediscover old ones – to keep the power going without the grid. Ash Salardini, the chief economist at the National Farmers’ Federation, says that dairy, intensive horticulture and irrigation are the industries most exposed to wholesale market prices, which have gone up anywhere between 100% to 140%. Salardini says while irrigation is better placed to manage their electricity use as they can pump water at different times, horticulture and dairy are more vulnerable because they need to regulate their produce at certain temperatures. “Imagine how much electricity your fridge uses. Now imagine you have to cool down 300,000 litres of milk. That’s an expensive endeavour,” Salardini says. He says for intensive horticulture’s climate-controlled greenhouses, “that’s the equivalent of running a reverse-cycle conditioner in an area that might be the size of 50 football fields.” According to Salardini, before the current energy crisis, a typical dairy farmer would have been paying $150,000 in electricity costs a year, but the annual cost would now be up to $250,000. Whether farmers feel the effects of the price spikes immediately depends on when their contract is due to be renewed. ‘A confluence of factors’ Kevin Coady, a wheat farmer outside Dubbo in the New South Wales Orana region, still has a petrol-driven generator he says was more common for farmers to have 20 years ago when blackouts were more frequent. “Nearly everyone on a farm had a back-up generator back then,” he says. However, he says the blackouts don’t occur as often anymore and generators are not as common as they used to be. Yet Salardini says regional areas have often been more liable to energy shortages and farmers can lose an entire day or week’s worth of work if they don’t have refrigeration. According to him, more farmers are turning to on-farm sources of renewable energy including solar, batteries and even biodigesters, which turn waste to energy. Moxey dairy farm at Gooloogong, west of Cowra in the NSW central west, moved to address rising electricity costs back in 2018 by using the gas from cow manure to generate 100% of its power needs. Salardini says farmers are some of the biggest users of photovoltaic energy. Justin Jarrett, the co-owner of See Saw Wines in the central tablelands’ Orange region powers his winery during the day using solar energy. He doesn’t currently have storage capacity for the energy, but tells Guardian Australia that battery storage is the operation’s next step. Salardini says that energy efficiency measures also need to be considered alongside power generation. Stuart Crossthwaite, a dairy farmer in the Kiewa Valley in north-east Victoria, conducted an energy audit, finding that 40% of his dairy’s energy use is to heat hot water for cleaning, 40% to cool the milk and 20% to run equipment. Crossthwaite realised that a heat exchanger method would allow him to use the heat from the milk to warm the water that cleans his dairy. As much as farmers try to keep electricity costs at bay, Salardini says the rising cost of energy is just one factor that is pushing farm gate prices up. Other cost pressures include fuel and freight price hikes and the impact of workforce and workforce shortages. “That’s why we are seeing food price inflation in the supermarkets,” he says. “It’s a confluence of factors, but electricity price is definitely one of them.” | ['australia-news/series/the-rural-network-victoria', 'australia-news/series/the-rural-network', 'australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/farming', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/natasha-may', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-06-19T17:30:13Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
women-in-leadership/2015/apr/02/the-rise-of-the-conscious-consumer-why-businesses-need-to-open-up | The rise of the conscious consumer: why businesses need to open up | The general election is a matter of weeks away and every vote is to play for. But what if we could vote every day? In some ways we already do: every time we spend our cash we are making an active choice about the companies we support and the practices we endorse. Today, when corporations can be more influential than entire states, where we put our pounds is where the power lies. The problem is the world of business can be opaque and supply chains are murky, so it is difficult to confidently make an informed choice. Consider this: the retail manufacturing industry is the second most polluting industry on earth, second only to oil. According to Annie Leonard, an expert in overconsumption, only 1% of the materials used to produce our consumer goods are still in use six months after sale. Somewhere, the value of craftsmanship and of provenance has been lost. Price and speed are trumping value. However, the tide is turning. Increasing awareness around these issues has led to a rise in what is known as conscious consumption, a movement of people who seek out ways to make positive decisions about what to buy and look for a solution to the negative impact consumerism is having on our world. This is a growing tribe: a third of UK consumers claim to be very concerned about issues regarding the origin of products. A study from YouGov and the Global Poverty Project revealed that 74% of those surveyed would pay an extra 5% for their clothes if there was a guarantee workers were being paid fairly and working in safe conditions. If you’re thinking that 5% doesn’t sound like a lot, consider the fact that the fashion industry could take a staggering 125 million people out of poverty by adding only 1% of its profits to workers’ wages. Issues such as equal pay, environmentally conscious manufacturing processes, prevention of counterfeit goods, human trafficking, responsible farming practices and overproduction of goods are all at the forefront of consumers’ minds when making these choices. Greenwashing and a token CSR [corporate social responsibility] marketing campaign are no longer enough. In an increasingly open, digital world where authenticity is the buzzword of choice, businesses must keep up with growing demands for ethical behaviour and transparency in everything from employee rights and gender discrimination to the supply chain. In studying for my PhD, I researched product supply chain transparency in depth, looking at technologies to improve information about products and the global network of people and resources that fuel them. I believe technology is the key to dealing with the challenges created by consumerism. Open data, social networks and mobile tech can change the game. Groundbreaking technologies could enable transparency in supply chains, which is why this year I have embarked on turning my findings into a social enterprise to empower businesses to take steps to being open. I strongly believe that information about supply chains, about materials and processes can be an inspiring part of a brand and product’s story. We are at the start of a long journey but if we are going to tackle the huge impact our current production levels are having on the world, we must begin by understanding where our products come from. So if you’re deciding who you want to run the country, take time to think about the votes you place every day and the impact they might have on the world. Jessi Baker is the founder of social enterprise, Provenance | ['women-in-leadership/women-in-leadership', 'women-in-leadership/equal-pay', 'women-in-leadership/entrepreneur', 'environment/overconsumption', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'environment/green-economy', 'tone/blog'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2015-04-02T08:30:25Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/jun/05/the-planet-is-on-edge-of-a-global-plastic-calamity | The planet is on edge of a global plastic calamity | Erik Solheim | Plastic pollution has grabbed the world’s attention, and with good cause. More than 100 years after its invention, we’re addicted. To pass a day without encountering some form of plastic is nearly impossible. We’ve always been eager to embrace the promise of a product that could make life cheaper, faster, easier. Now, after a century of unchecked production and consumption, convenience has turned to crisis. Beyond a mere material amenity, today you’ll find plastic where you least expect it, including the foods we eat, the water we drink and the environments in which we live. Once in the environment, it enters our food chain where, increasingly, microplastic particles are turning up in our stomachs, blood and lungs. Scientists are only beginning to study the potential health impacts. That’s why we urgently need consumers, business and governments to step up with urgent, decisive action to halt this crisis of consumption of single-use, throwaway plastics. If we do that, we’ll also help fight climate change, create a new space for innovation and save some species in the process. Since we began our love affair with this now ubiquitous material, we’ve produced roughly nine billion tonnes of plastic. About one-third of this has been single-use, providing a momentary convenience before being discarded. The straw in your average drink will be used for just a few minutes, but in the environment, it will last beyond our lifetimes. In your shopping trolley, a plastic bag will be used for less than an hour, but when they find their way to the ocean they kill more than 100,000 marine animals a year. Whales have been washed up in Norway and Spain choked with indigestible shopping bags – part of the 13m tonnes of plastic litter that end up in the ocean each year. Unlike other environmental challenges, sceptics are hard-pressed to refute the reality of what we can see with our own eyes. Instead, the counter-narrative aims to undercut the urgency of efforts to beat plastic pollution – sometimes by painting the problem as a waste management issue, as if we had infinite landfill space. But let there be no doubt: we are on edge of a plastic calamity. Current projections show that global plastic production will skyrocket in the next 10-15 years. This year alone, manufacturers will produce an estimated 360m tonnes. With a booming population driving demand, production is expected to reach 500m by 2025 and a staggering 619m tonnes by 2030. So the next time you see scenes of plastic choking a river or burying a beach, consider double that impact in just over 10 years. Avoiding the worst of these outcomes requires more than awareness, it demands a movement. A wholesale rethinking of the way we produce, use and manage plastic. That’s why United Nations Environment is now focusing on a simple yet ambitious goal: beat plastic pollution. First, citizens must act as both responsible consumers and informed citizens; demanding sustainable products and embracing sensible consumption habits into their own lives. Individuals are increasingly exercising their power as consumers; turning down plastic straws and cutlery, cleaning beaches and coastlines, and rethinking their purchase habits. If this happens enough, retailers will get the message and look for alternatives. The private sector must then innovate by adopting business models that reflect responsibility for the downstream impact of their products, and bring about scalable alternatives. Ultimately our plastic problem – much like the state of the global economy – is one of design, both in the plastics themselves and the linear economic model that makes throwing things away profitable. Public and private investment in the fields of green design and green chemistry need to be increased and manufacturers must be held to account for the life cycle of their products. And finally, governments must lead by enacting strong policies that mandate responsible design, production and consumption of plastics. Kenya has banned throwaway plastic bags recently, and the result is that its stunning national parks are even more attractive and city drains are less blocked, helping reduce flooding. Rwanda has done it too, making Kigali one of the world’s cleanest cities and the kind of place people choose to live and do business. Those who say there are more important environmental crises to tackle are mistaken. In today’s world, protecting our environment is not about choosing one issue above another. The deeply interconnected systems that make up the natural world defy such a narrow-minded approach. Beating plastic pollution will preserve precious ecosystems, mitigate climate change, protect biodiversity, and indeed human health. Confronting this crisis of convenience, is a fundamental battle that must be fought today as part of the broader struggle for a sustainable tomorrow. | ['environment/plastic', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-06-05T05:00:39Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.