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technology/2014/may/02/leapband-activity-tracker-kids-leapfrog | LeapFrog activity tracker for kids soon to hit the shelves | Kids' electronics company LeapFrog has released the world’s first activity tracker for children, the LeapBand, cashing in on both the quantified-self craze and concern around the problem of childhood obesity. What is it? The LeapBand is gamified-fitness tracker for kids with a screen that displays cartoon animals to encourage play. It looks like a large children's watch and talks to the child through a built-in speaker, hopefully getting them off the sofa. What does it do? The band’s screen displays a personalised virtual pet (a cat, dog, dragon, monkey, panda, penguin, robot or unicorn), which guides the child through a series of activity challenges and games. The more active they are the more points they win and the more games they unlock, with up to 50 activities on offer. Who’s it aimed at? LeapFrog is pitching the LeapBand at four to seven year olds, and it comes in green, pink, blue and orange to appeal to both boys and girls. Will it be fun? Some of the games promote learning, such as Pet Boogie, Pet Chef and Pet Salon, but quite a few are just silly commands, such as "walk like a crab," "spin like a helicopter" and "pop like popcorn”. The beauty is that these games can be played anywhere and without the need for any extra kit, so no footballs, hula hoops or horses required. Will it last the distance? Users will undoubtedly get bored eventually, but beyond the initial 10 activities, which when completed unlock a further 40, there’s also a free app that connects the band to a tablet or smartphone, allowing the child to compete as their virtual pet in six mini-games including archery, surfing and bobsledding. Winning a game wins a medal, and a new tracksuits for their virtual pet. The app is available for LeapFrog’s child-targeted tablet, the LeapPad Ultra, as well as the iPhone, iPad and Android. What do parents get out of it? With the increasing problem of childhood obesity, activity trackers such as LeapBand could become important tools to help encourage more active children. Parents can see how active their child has been throughout the day, exporting the information using the LeapBand's companion app in much the same way as adult activity trackers like the Misfit Shine. Will it be a distraction in school? Parents remain in control and can lock down the LeapBand for a set time period to stop it being a distraction in school. Whether children find away around that kind of lockdown remains to be seen. How long will it last? The rubber band and thick plastic housing are tough and durable, as well as being water resistant and with a battery that lasts around four to six days on a single charge. The watch is charged via microUSB, which does mean it’s another device for parents to remember to charge. How much will it cost and where can I get it? LeapBand costs £29.99 and will be on sale in the UK from August. Does my kid really need an activity tracker? Probably not. But you can guarantee that they are going to want one for Christmas. • Apple's next headphones will track heart rate and blood pressure, leak claims | ['technology/wearable-technology', 'technology/technology', 'society/children', 'society/society', 'lifeandstyle/fitness', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'lifeandstyle/health-and-wellbeing', 'society/health', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/apps', 'games/games', 'technology/android', 'technology/iphone', 'technology/ipad', 'technology/gadgets', 'lifeandstyle/toys', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-05-02T11:07:45Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
lifeandstyle/2016/aug/31/fish-plastic-pollution-ocean-environment-seafood | Fish for dinner? Your seafood might come with a side of plastic | As much as 12.7m metric tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans each year. According to the World Economic Forum, by 2050 there could be more plastic in the sea than fish. It’s clear that waste ends up in marine habitats from many different sources, from inefficient industrial waste management to plastic microfibers washed out of our clothing. But it’s less clear what the end result might be for human health. All that plastic isn’t just floating about, breaking down into increasingly microplastic particles and creating an unsightly mess: it’s also getting eaten by marine life. Fish appear to be “stuffing themselves” on plastic, which is coated in bacteria and algae, mimicking their natural food sources. Mistaking the small particles for a high energy snack, fish gobble up most small plastic particles, according to recent research. Much of that plastic ends up in the guts of fish and other marine life, and ultimately on our dinner table. While the actual plastic bits might be in the stomachs of fish, the chemical used to manufacture the plastic “may migrate into fish flesh and thus edible parts of seafood”, explains Rolf Halden, director of Arizona State University’s Center for Environmental Security. Those chemicals that have “hitched a ride on plastics” may sometimes be found “in accumulated concentrations that may be harmful to humans”, says Halden. In a study published in 2015, marine researchers bought fish at public markets in California and Indonesia and examined their stomach contents. Around one in four fish at markets in both locations had plastic particles in their guts. A previous study in 2014 found microplastics in the guts of oysters and mussels sold at supermarkets. In the case of oysters and mussels, people eat the entire organism, including the gut. Our understanding of what eating plastic-contaminated fish does to a person is still in its infancy. “We don’t know the effects,” says Chelsea Rochman, Smith Fellow in Conservation Biology at the University of California Davis and lead author of the 2015 study on microplastic contamination in fish. “Health advisories for seafood consumption already exist for established contaminants such as dioxins, PCBs and mercury,” points out Halden. “Currently there are no similar regulations for plastics and plastic-borne pollutants, as the science is still young.” While Rochman’s study looked at plastic found in the stomachs of fish, she says the next step would be to look at chemical contamination in the flesh of fish from plastic exposure to measure just how much of it leaches into the flesh of marine creatures. Fatty tissue is known to store higher concentrations of contaminants, so fattier fish, like salmon and tuna, would be expected to have higher levels of contamination from plastic exposure. Tuna and salmon are two of the most commonly consumed fish in the US. While more research is needed into human impacts, studies have already shown that when it comes to the health of fish, plastic already causes harm. Researchers have found that fish raised in waters rife with microplastics are “smaller, slower, and more stupid” than fish raised in clean water. There are some mitigation attempts being made to plastic contamination. The US banned the use of microbeads in personal care products last year, a law that won’t take effect until 2017. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also puts out advisories when some form of chemical contamination that might impact seafood is suspected in US waters. But the majority of seafood eaten in the US is imported and never tested for contamination by the EPA and other government agencies. While scientists try to pin down the damage plastic pollution is causing to marine life and those that eat it, experts agree on one thing: the amount of plastic that ends up in our waterways must be reduced dramatically. When it comes to plastic pollution, Halden says: “We can do better.” | ['lifeandstyle/series/an-apple-a-day', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'food/fish', 'food/seafood', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'food/food', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/olga-oksman', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-sponsored-content'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-08-31T19:50:27Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2015/dec/31/uk-floods-your-photos-and-stories | UK floods: your photos and stories | As 2015 comes to an end, swathes of Britain are struggling with unprecedented floods. With more rain expected, areas of northern England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are struggling to cope with the rising waters. Below, we highlight some of the contributions sent in by our readers. You can share your own stories via GuardianWitness. Earby, Lancashire It had rained for a prolonged period on Christmas Day and continued on Boxing Day. The ground around here is completely saturated and we had a fair amount of accumulated water on the roads a fortnight previous. The level in the Beck broke the record for the area according to the Environment Agency website. Due to Earby being higher up the waterbasin, there was limited disruption. Residents could clear up the next day. A few houses and businesses in town have suffered damage though. The roads were very difficult and most people were using the road over the Moor to travel. Earby Beck feeds the River Aire from memory so the water from here went on to cause serious issues later in the evening. Gut feeling is that we will flood again at some point this winter. We have had so much rainfall that the rivers and drains are reacting to amounts that would not normally be problematic. Lee Turner Bingly, Yorkshire The street is called Old Main Street and the houses all had to be evacuated. The River Aire to the left of the houses burst its banks. The photograph is of a local resident. Whilst the water has subsided there are many houses currently still badly damaged. I’m assuming people are staying with relatives or friends. Volunteers have set up Bingley Flood Centre with food, clothes and cleaning teams working hard to help the hundreds affected. The local response has been incredible. Sue Naylor Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire Leeds, Yorkshire The heaviest part of the flooding was during the 26th and 27th of December, we were confined to our building but thankfully had enough supplies. The man in the boat obviously didn’t and decided to row down the road! I even saw fish swimming on our street, never thought I’d see something like that. The area is ok now, Leeds City Council have done a pretty good job cleaning up the area. Raj Passy Preston, Lanacashire The photograph was taken in Miller Park, Preston, Lancashire which is adjacent to the river Ribble. Like most places in Lancashire, the Ribble rose to its highest recorded levels on Boxing Day, flooding the surrounding areas, including the city park. The water had reached the top of the bandstand on Boxing Day, and this photo was taken on the 27th as waters had begun to subside but the park remained heavily flooded. The park remains flooded at present, although levels are reducing, subject to further rain. We’re fortunate to live on top of a hill. Preston itself doesn’t seem to be too affected now, other than inaccessibility to the Brockholes visitor centre and flooded farmland and parks. However, nearby areas are still struggling. We have friends in nearby Croston, who were affected by the Boxing Day flooding (homes underwater), and that village continues to struggle with rain and water levels, including a broken flood defence barrier, with 3 severe warnings still in place in that village and ongoing assistance from the army. Helen Hatch Llanrwst, Wales | ['environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/storm-frank', 'uk-news/yorkshire', 'uk/wales', 'type/article', 'profile/guardian-readers', 'profile/james-walsh'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-12-31T16:54:40Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2011/may/21/weatherwatch-albert-camus | The immense melancholy of the skies | For five days, the rain had been falling on Algiers. "From the heights of an apparently inexhaustible sky, unending sheets of rain, so thick they were viscous, swooped down on the gulf. Soft and grey like a great sponge, the sea heaved in the shapeless bay. But the surface of the water seemed almost motionless beneath the steady rain. "At long intervals, however, a broad and imperceptible movement raised a murky cloud of steam from off the sea and brought it into harbour, beneath a circle of soaking boulevards. The town itself, all its white walls running with damp, gave off another cloud of steam which moved out to meet the first. "Wherever you turned when this happened, you seemed to be breathing water, and you could drink the very air," writes Albert Camus in 1953, in Return to Tipasa, collected in Albert Camus: Selected Essays and Notebooks, edited and translated by Philip Thody (Peregrine, 1970). The essay is a reflection on exile, a war memory and a meteorological mood piece on the immense melancholy of the skies. The rain, mercifully, does stop. "A liquid morning rose, dazzling over the pure sea. From the sky, fresh as a rose, washed and rewashed by the waters, reduced by each successive laundering to its most delicate and clearest texture, there fell a quivering light which gave each house, each tree a palpable shape and a magic newness. The earth, on the morning the world was born, must have arisen in such a light." | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'books/books', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'profile/timradford', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-05-20T23:05:41Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
travel/2006/dec/03/green.travelwebsites.escape | The hot topic: Travel industry accepts eco-responsibility | Major travel industry players have announced they will launch carbon off-setting schemes to counteract some of the environmental damage caused by their flights, but the industry is in a state of confusion over the problem. Lastminute.com and First Choice last week joined the growing legions of travel companies enabling customers to offset the carbon emissions of their flights via the booking pages of their websites. Customers can choose to donate to Climate Care, a profit-making organisation that runs carbon reduction projects around the world, such as erecting wind turbines in India and a reforestation project in Uganda. Next year, the Association of British Travel Agents is to join forces with the Federation of Tour Operators and the Association of Independent Tour Operators to launch its own offsetting scheme, raising money for projects in their holiday locations. While environmentalists may be relieved that the travel industry is starting to take action, there is still much confusion about what exactly should be done. 'There is no clarity at the moment,' said Lawrence Hunt of all-business-class airline Silverjet, which also announced it would offset its flights last week. 'When trying to find out what the carbon footprint of one flight is, you get 15 different answers from different carbon offset programmes.' Easyjet opposes offsetting, arguing that improving air traffic control systems and using more fuel-efficient planes would be more effective, and Lastminute.com's managing director Mark Jones has admitted carbon offsetting isn't an exact science. Speaking at ABTA's annual conference in Marbella last week, Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth argued that the industry needs one reliable system, and called for the government to put standards in place. Carbon offsetting should play a 'limited role', he said, along with more efficient energy use, a green tax on flights, an emissions trading scheme specifically for the aviation industry, the promotion of rail travel and the prevention of further airport expansion. | ['travel/hottopic', 'travel/green', 'travel/travelwebsites', 'travel/travel', 'environment/environment', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'uk/transport', 'type/article', 'profile/gemmabowes', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/escape', 'theobserver/escape/features'] | environment/carbon-offset-projects | EMISSIONS | 2006-12-03T12:24:48Z | true | EMISSIONS |
australia-news/commentisfree/2023/feb/07/the-farmers-fighting-gas-projects-in-nsw-are-politically-savvy-but-they-face-a-giant-in-santos | The farmers fighting gas projects in NSW are politically savvy, but they face a giant in Santos | Gabrielle Chan | Two weeks ago, farmers in northern New South Wales turned up on a Sunday to blockade Santos from conducting seismic testing for gas next to prime agricultural country on the highly fertile land of the Liverpool Plains. Santos called in the police and the trucks were let through after a six-hour standoff. The following day, 80-year-old Quirindi farmer Colleen Wills received a call from Santos. The company was requesting an access agreement for work on the Hunter gas pipeline project, which was approved 14 years ago in 2009. Other landholders have also heard from Santos in recent months. A few days later, Colleen received a letter from the company, seen by Guardian Australia, offering $2,500 to cover both compensation and legal advice to sign a pipeline survey agreement, on the famed “black soil plains”. In return, Santos could scope out the route for the pipeline. On current valuations, farming country around there is worth about $2,000 an acre for cattle land and up to $10,000 an acre for highly developed irrigation country. Colleen’s son Peter Wills said the compensation was laughable. To be clear, Liverpool Plains farmers are fighting against two different projects, both owned by Santos: one is the right to explore for gas and the other is to build the Hunter gas pipeline project that Santos acquired in August 2022. To get that pipeline built, the company must negotiate access with all the landholders along the route. That means if Santos does not get a landholder to sign their agreement, it defaults back to the NSW government’s authority to survey rules, which the company has described as a “last resort”. Farmers say that access will be “fraught” given landholders can just lock the gate. The thing that makes this battle fascinating is the unusual unity and the longstanding political maturity of these communities. These farms are big assets as the world hungers for agricultural land to grow food. And the local debate over whether the land is used for mining or agriculture is becoming multigenerational. There is evidence that more young adults are returning to the land. Children who stood in the early community blockades over coal and gas are now taking up the fights of their parents. These are some of the same community groups that saw off BHP’s Caroona coal project and the Chinese state-owned coal company Shenhua’s plans for an open cut mine. Liverpool Plains landholders include National Farmers’ Federation president Fiona Simson, NSW Farmers Association president Xavier Martin and the Walhallow Local Aboriginal Land Council. Walhallow chief executive Jason Allan is also on the Liverpool Plains shire council that opposes gas exploration in the area. These people know how political systems work. However, Santos has yet to fully flesh out their plans for the Liverpool Plains. In 2018, as reported by Jamieson Murphy, Santos boss Kevin Gallagher told a shareholder meeting: “We have no plans to drill wells in the Liverpool Plains.” There has been little said by the company since then. Santos did not respond to Guardian Australia’s questions. Speaking this week, Simson said seismic testing was a sign that Santos was “moving on” from their previous public position. “We engaged fully and properly in the [NSW planning] process, because we thought the process was flawed. And now 15 years later, it seems that it’s all back to square one,” Simson told Guardian Australia. “And that’s why people like me, who have been engaged for 15 years, they’re getting really angry. “We’ve had weasel words from the [NSW] government particularly, but from all sides of politics have let us down here on the plains.” When the NSW Coalition government paid Shenhua $100m in 2021 to walk away, the then deputy premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro told 2GB: “This is about banning and ending any chance of mining on the Liverpool Plains.” The Walhallow Local Aboriginal Land Council owns country on the Liverpool Plains. Jason Allan, a Walhallow Gamilaroi man, said the land council would complete its consultations, but they have heard a lot of promises. “They can give you guarantees to the cows come home, but when the cows do come home, what’s left there?” Allan said. “Both Shenhua and the BHP mine were both going to be on our traditional lands. Look, we had open dialogue, especially with BHP, but we’re not anti-mining or anti anything. We’re just anti-cultural destruction and with one comes the other.” Samantha McCulloch, the chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, said the oil and gas industry has a long history of working constructively with landholders, and the delays caused by activists demonstrated a need for a “clear runway for investment”. “We have seen long-running unnecessary delays in approvals for new fields such as Narrabri as well as misinformation spread by anti-gas activists,” McCulloch said. She said investing in new supply will “put downward pressure on prices and deliver other benefits like jobs and emissions reductions”. The problem for Santos is the “activists” are the local landholders. And they are drawing neighbours together and organising community events like the Save The Plains concert later this month, aimed at informing people of their rights. Other communities will be watching because if the people of the plains don’t win this fight, with their resources and political savvy, it would be very hard for many other communities to muster such support. Not many places have their firepower. Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community | ['australia-news/series/the-rural-network', 'environment/gas', 'business/gas', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/gabrielle-chan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2023-02-07T02:09:19Z | true | ENERGY |
politics/2009/apr/10/gordon-brown-green-policy-letters | Letters: Brown's scrappy way to go green | Gordon Brown's pledge to subsidise electric cars because "it's good for the environment" is especially disheartening (Motorists to receive grants for electric cars, 9 April). It's not strategic, it's not part of a coherent thesis, it's just a policy to keep motorists believing that the government is thinking of them. First, although it's obvious that electric cars are clean at the point of use, they are only really clean if sourced from renewable energy, otherwise you are just exporting the pollution. Second, it does nothing to help public transport and the urgency to reduce the need to travel by keeping open small shops and businesses in local shopping parades. Third, looking at the vastness of the two problems of recovery from the recession and mitigation of climate change, such cars could only ever play a small part. I'm not a big fan of Boris Johnson's plan for electric cars in London, but at least it is a plan with passion. Brown's plan is puny, with no thought for the bigger picture. Cllr Jenny Jones Green party, London assembly You cannot turn Brown green, no matter how many electric cars he hugs or vanity CO2 targets he sets. This government still doesn't even have the bottle to put a tax on plastic bags. Here in York, the city council requested virtual smart metering for 30 of our council buildings from npower nearly a year ago. To my knowledge, the electricity company still hasn't responded. Compare this with Italy, where 30 million energy customers already have smart metering. As energy champion for York, I initiated a scheme to allow residents to borrow smart meters free from their local library. The scheme started in January. Within eight weeks 600 households had borrowed smart meters, with 150 on the waiting lists. Twenty councils have inquired as to how they might copy us, with at least two already committed to copying our initiative. In local government we have given up waiting on national politicians to show leadership, and we are simply getting on with things and empowering people to understand and reduce their energy bills and CO2 emissions. Cllr Christian Vassie Energy champion, City of York council Although I sympathise with car workers who have lost their jobs, scrappage is a seriously bad idea. With the looming energy crisis, the last thing the UK should be doing is wasting resources, and scrapping an eight-year-old car seems absurd. Such a car, assuming it has had basic maintenance and care, is not much past being run in. I don't believe the improvements in fuel economy are as great as manufacturers would like us to believe and think that making a new car instead of maintaining an older one would actually increase energy use. Andrew Currie Abergynolwyn, Gwynedd | ['politics/politics', 'environment/green-politics', 'politics/gordon-brown', 'environment/environment', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2009-04-09T23:01:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2015/jun/25/google-to-convert-alabama-coal-plant-into-renewable-powered-data-centre | Google to convert Alabama coal plant into renewable-powered data centre | Google will convert an old coal-fired power plant in rural Alabama into a data centre powered by renewable power, expanding the company’s move into the energy world. The technology giant said on Wednesday that it would open its 14th data centre inside the grounds of the old coal plant, and had reached a deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority, the region’s power company, to supply the project with renewable sources of electricity. With the coal plant rehab, Google solidifies a reputation among tech companies for promoting clean energy. “It’s very important symbolism to take an old coal plant that is a relic of the old energy system and convert it into a data centre that will be powered by renewable energy,” said David Pomerantz, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace. Michael Terrell, who leads energy market strategy for Google’s infrastructure team, said the company saw clear benefits in taking over the old coal facility. “There is an enormous opportunity when you take over the infrastructure that is there – the transmissions lines and the water intakes – and use that to power a data centre that is powered by renewable energy,” he said. Outside utilities, Google claims to be the largest user of renewable energy in the US. The company says it uses 1.5% of wind power capacity in the US, and has plans to bring in more alternatives over the next year. However, the company overall still treads with a relatively heavy carbon footprint compared to Apple. About 46% of Google’s data centers are powered by renewable energy. Apple’s in contrast are powered 100% by clean energy, according to Greenpeace. Google is committed to going 100% renewable, but has no target date. Google went into the renewable energy business earlier with data centres in Iowa and Oklahoma. However, the company still has three data centres in south-eastern states which rely heavily on coal and nuclear power, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Pomerantz said the move into Alabama was so encouraging because it challenged that dominance. The company said it would be working directly with TVA to bring more wind power into the grid. “We see a lot of value in redeveloping big industrial sites like this. There is a lot of electric and other infrastructure that we can re-use,” Matt Kalman, a Google spokesman said in an email. Google is also rehabbing old industrial facilities overseas. The company repurposed an old paper mill in Finland for use of a data centre. It has already done a solar project in South Africa, and is scouting out other ways of producing clean energy cheaply. The Alabama power plant has been generating power since 1952, but was slated to wind down later this year, in part because of incoming environmental regulations, the TVA said on its website. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/coal', 'environment/environment', 'technology/google', 'technology/technology', 'environment/energy', 'us-news/alabama', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2015-06-25T16:01:12Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2021/oct/28/world-leading-scientists | World’s chief scientists urge Cop26 attendees to step up low-carbon policies | Chief scientists and presidents of the national science academies of more than 20 countries including Sir Patrick Vallance have written to world leaders ahead of the Cop26 climate summit, urging them to set out policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply, to limit global heating to 1.5C. Governments must rapidly step up their policies to deploy low-carbon energy and other technologies and address emissions from the main high-carbon sectors of the economy, as well as bring forward innovative technologies, the signatories urged. Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, said: “The first key message is 1.5C is achievable, and is absolutely what we should be aiming for. It needs action now … A clear roadmap is needed.” Their intervention, as world leaders prepare to gather in Glasgow for the biggest climate conference since the 2015 Paris agreement was signed, is intended to underline scientific advice on the dangers the world is running by allowing emissions to keep rising. Drawing on the findings of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on climate science, published in August, they noted that global temperatures were already 1.09C higher than in pre-industrial times, and that the impacts were being felt in heatwaves, excess rainfall, wildfires, flooding and droughts. They said: “With every fractional increase in warming, these effects will get worse, with all countries vulnerable.” They also called for action to help people most affected by the climate crisis to cope with its impacts. It was still possible to hold temperatures to a 1.5C rise above pre-industrial levels, they said, but it would require drastic emissions cuts in the next10 years, as well as a long-term goal of net zero carbon. “It will require rapid, urgent and sustained action and significant behavioural, socioeconomic and technological transformations,” they wrote. Vallance said: “This has got to be the decade of R&D. We have to make sure R&D and innovation are applied and scaled up. It will require intense international collaboration across every sector.” The 38 signatories are all chief scientists, presidents of their national scientific academies, or holders of some of the most senior scientific advisory posts in their countries. They represent a broad range of developed and developing countries, including the US, the EU, India, several African and South American countries, and South Korea. The chief scientist of Australia, Cathy Foley, has signed, while Scott Morrison’s government came under fire for what critics said were inadequate net zero plans. Other signatories included Paulo Artaxo, professor of physics at São Paulo University, where Jair Bolsonaro’s government has long been hostile to climate action. Notably missing from the list, however, were any scientists from China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. China’s stance, as the world’s biggest emitter, will be a key determinant of the outcome of Cop26, while fossil fuel producers Russia and Saudi Arabia have disrupted Cop agreements in the past. Prof Nicole Grobert, chair of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission, added: “Reaching carbon neutrality requires innovation, low-emission choices and active participation. Science provides solutions for improving quality of life through a fair and sustainable decarbonisation of our societies.” Dr Xavier Estico, director general of the National Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation, Seychelles, said: “History has taught us that science, technology and innovation at their best helped to bring timely solutions to challenges that seemed beyond the reach of humankind. With the lessons learned, we should all collaborate in adopting the same spirit, philosophy and attitude in combating the greatest challenge of our time: climate change.” | ['environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/science', 'uk-news/patrick-vallance', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-10-27T23:01:44Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2021/jan/25/global-ice-loss-accelerating-at-record-rate-study-finds | Global ice loss accelerating at record rate, study finds | The melting of ice across the planet is accelerating at a record rate, with the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets speeding up the fastest, research has found. The rate of loss is now in line with the worst-case scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on the climate, according to a paper published on Monday in the journal The Cryosphere. Thomas Slater, lead author and research fellow at the centre for polar observation and modelling at the University of Leeds, warned that the consequences would be felt around the world. “Sea level rise on this scale will have very serious impacts on coastal communities this century,” he said. About 28tn tonnes of ice was lost between 1994 and 2017, which the authors of the paper calculate would be enough to put an ice sheet 100 metres thick across the UK. About two thirds of the ice loss was caused by the warming of the atmosphere, with about a third caused by the warming of the seas. Over the period studied, the rate of ice loss accelerated by 57%, the paper found, from 0.8tn tonnes a year in the 1990s to 1.2tn tonnes a year by 2017. About half of all the ice lost was from land, which contributes directly to global sea level rises. The ice loss over the study period, from 1994 to 2017, is estimated to have raised sea levels by 35 millimetres. The greatest quantities of ice were lost from floating ice in the polar regions, raising the risk of a feedback mechanism known as albedo loss. White ice reflects solar radiation back into space – the albedo effect – but when floating sea ice melts it uncovers dark water which absorbs more heat, speeding up the warming further in a feedback loop. Glaciers showed the next biggest loss of ice volume, with more than 6tn tonnes lost between 1994 and 2017, about a quarter of global ice loss over the period. The shrinking of glaciers threatens to cause both flooding and water shortages in some regions, because as large volumes melt they can overwhelm downstream areas, then shrunken glaciers produce less of the steady water flow needed for agriculture. Inès Otosaka, report co-author and a PhD researcher at the University of Leeds centre for polar observation and modelling, said: “As well as contributing to global mean sea level rise, mountain glaciers are also critical as a freshwater resource for local communities. The retreat of glaciers around the world is therefore of crucial importance, at both local and global scales.” The study, titled Earth’s Ice Imbalance, used satellite observations over the 23-year period to assess ice all over the globe. Previous studies have examined parts of the world rather than making a comprehensive assessment of the data. The research team included the University of Edinburgh, University College London and Earthwave, a data science organisation, and was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council. | ['environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/sea-level', 'environment/sea-ice', 'environment/glaciers', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/poles', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/sea-level | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-01-25T09:00:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global/2012/jan/15/digital-auto-focus-defocus-technology | Autofocus and the importance of 'defocusing' | We take it for granted, but the human ability to focus instantly on particular objects in our field of vision, near or far, is a remarkable skill. As camera manufacturers have learned, it is not easy to replicate artificially. Even the most advanced digital cameras use autofocus mechanisms that are far from perfect. But now two US scientists have developed a simple algorithm that looks set to revolutionise the way autofocus works, allowing for greater speed and accuracy in digital photography. The development emerged from a study of the human eye. Johannes Burge, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas and his adviser Wilson Geisler wanted to understand how our eyes are able to focus so much more efficiently than a digital camera. Most autofocus mechanisms, Burge tells me, use contrast levels to determine how in or out of focus an image is. "The camera computes the contrast of an image, changes the distance that the lens is focused and computes the contrast again. If the contrast is higher, the camera knows it's going in the correct direction." This process of guessing and checking continues until the contrast is highest. It takes time and uses up battery power, says Burge, "and it also rests on the false assumption that best contrast equals best focus". A second autofocus system called phase detection, used by higher-end cameras, is more accurate, Burge adds, but it has problems of its own: for one, it relies on bulky and expensive hardware. The system developed by Burge and Geisler requires no before-and-after comparison, and could be incorporated into a simple point-and-shoot camera. It works by taking an inventory of the features in a scene. In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they found that humans and other animals extract key features from a blurry image and use that information to work out their distance from an object. Then the eye focuses accordingly. "Many small predatory animals use 'defocus' as their primary depth cue," says Burge. "When a chameleon tracks a fly with its eye, there are muscles in the back of the eye that determine what the focus distance is." Burge and Geisler's breakthrough is based on the same principle. Using well known mathematical equations, they created a computer simulation of the human visual system. When the simulation was presented with real photographs of scenes from nature, even though the images varied widely, the patterns of focus remained the same. The algorithm hasn't been tested in an actual camera yet, but Burge is confident that it will work – and have applications in other areas too, such as neuroscience. The pair are applying for a patent on the technology and they've already had interest from a major electronic imaging company. Later this month, they will be presenting their work at a International Society for Optics and Photonics conference in San Francisco. If their work follows through to the marketplace, a future generation of digital cameras may be able to focus accurately in as few as 10 milliseconds. This article was amended on 17/1/12 to link to the correct PNAS article | ['technology/photography', 'science/human-biology', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/technology', 'science/science', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/killianfox', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/new-review', 'theobserver/new-review/discover'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2012-01-15T17:25:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2016/jul/06/threatened-species-face-extinction-owing-to-god-clause-scientists-say | Threatened species face extinction owing to ‘God clause’, scientists say | Western Australia’s government could have the power to approve activities that could make a threatened species extinct, under biodiversity laws now before state parliament. The provision has been dubbed “the God clause” by scientists and conservationists, who say giving the environment minister discretion to effectively authorise the extinction of a species contradicts the very purpose of biodiversity legislation. It is part of the biodiversity conservation bill 2015, introduced by the Barnett government as an update to the 66-year-old Wildlife Conservation Act. Under that legislation, the environment minister may authorise a person, corporation or government authority to “take or disturb” a threatened species. If the taking or disturbance “could be expected to result in the threatened species becoming eligible for listing as an extinct species in the near future”, the minister must also get the approval of the state governor. The state opposition voted against the legislation in the WA lower house last week but it passed without their support. It is due to be debated in the upper house in August, where the Greens have said they’ll support Labor in opposing the bill unless significant amendments are made. Labor’s refusal to support the laws came after the Environmental Defender’s Office called them “illusory at best”. The environment minister, Albert Jacob, said Labor’s decision not to back the proposal was “irresponsible and short-sighted”, saying the legislation “has the right key features sought by most of the community”. It does not have the features sought by the scientific community, which is calling for an independent advisory committee on threatened species, similar to the threatened species committee included in the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Emeritus professor of environmental science at Murdoch University, John Bailey, said the legislation in its current form had the potential to hasten the extinction of WA’s critically endangered species. “Biodiversity legislation is passed to preserve wildlife and it would be odd to have a provision that has an opposite effect,” he said. “The only check and balance is that the minister needs to inform parliament when he’s exercised this particular power, and our concern is that would be after the fact.” Bailey was the chair of the state-run Conservation Commission for nine years and is considered an authority on wildlife conservation in WA. He has joined 12 other scientists, including Prof Fiona Stanley, to form the Leeuwin Group to lobby against the legislation He told Guardian Australia the broad ministerial discretion in the legislation would give developers and governments an “easy out” for approving projects that could otherwise have been challenged in court. It would also allow the minister to decide what species are most worth protecting, which meant high-profile critically endangered species, including numbats, were probably safe, while less well-known species, like subterranean fauna (fish, invertebrates), may not be. WA has 4,000 species of subterranean fauna, most of which are endemic and 40 of which are listed as threatened. “We think that the ‘God clause’ was put in there for species like the subterranean fauna,” Jenita Enevoldsen, WA director of the Wilderness Society, told Guardian Australia. “Some of those subterranean fauna have stopped mines going ahead, but they are unique species. “We don’t think it should be up to a minister to allow the destruction of a species.” Enevoldsen said the legislation did introduce some positive changes, like increasing the penalty for taking an animal from a threatened species to $500,000 and codifying threatened species recovery plans, but counteracted that by introducing other changes such as excluding fish and shellfish from the definition of fauna. The penalty for catching a critically endangered sawfish from the Fitzroy river was only $10,000, 50 times less than the penalty for killing a dolphin. The legislation also provides broad exemptions for activities that could indirectly cause the destruction of the species, such as land clearing, logging or increased carbon emissions. “So it’s illegal to go and kill a numbat but it’s perfectly legal to go and bulldoze the habitat of the numbat, or burn it, or destroy it by other means, and, in the process, kill the numbat,” Piers Verstegen, director of the Conservation Council of WA, told Guardian Australia. “But pretty much the majority of threatening processes do not occur when people go and deliberately kill native wildlife … most of it’s indirect. “If it doesn’t address any of those most serious threats then it’s not worth much as a piece of biodiversity legislation.” | ['environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'australia-news/western-australian-politics', 'australia-news/western-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/calla-wahlquist', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-07-06T00:02:16Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2006/mar/13/water.weather | In the south-east, a hosepipe ban | More than 8 million people across southeast England are to be banned from using hosepipes and sprinklers as water companies cope with one of the worst droughts on record. Thames Water announced yesterday that the ban would come into force across its supply area on April 3 and would probably last all summer. The restrictions are the first in the region for 15 years and follow more than a year of below average rainfall. Last year was the third driest since records began in 1897. Jeremy Pelczer, chief executive of Thames Water, said: "The situation is serious. The drought across the south-east has now gone on for so long that we have to be prudent and introduce measures that will make best use of limited supplies and help protect the environment." The restrictions will affect people from Kent to Gloucestershire. The company warned of more severe measures if rainfall does not increase significantly in the next few weeks. Nick Tennant, of Thames Water, said the companies could ask the government to declare emergency drought conditions; then supplies would be turned off and customers would be forced to draw water from tankers in the street. "That's very much a last resort and we hope it won't come to that," he said. Groundwater levels were "dangerously low". The company said it was spending £500,000 a day fixing holes in its leaky Victorian pipe network. Winter rain usually soaks through the soil to top up underground water flowing into rivers and boreholes. But much of spring and summer rainfall evaporates or is taken up by plants. Other water companies are considering similar action. Folkestone and Dover Water became the first in Britain to get "water scarcity" status, allowing imposition of meters for all customers. | ['environment/environment', 'environment/water', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/uk', 'environment/drought', 'type/article', 'profile/davidadam', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews2'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2006-03-13T00:07:51Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2019/dec/04/climate-change-to-steer-all-new-zealand-government-decisions-from-now-on | Climate change to steer all New Zealand government decisions from now on | A climate change “lens” will now be applied to all major decisions made by the government, New Zealand’s climate change minister has said, as floods and bushfires wreck havoc around the country in the first week of summer. Minister James Shaw said cabinet “routinely” considers the effects of its decisions on human rights, the Treaty of Waitangi, rural communities, the disability community, and gender. Now climate change will become a standard part of cabinet’s decision-making too, in a week in which the country has being battered by extreme weather events in both the North and South islands. “Decisions we take now and in the future about everything from the places we live, to how we get around, to public health, to how we relate to one another will be impacted one way or another by climate change. It’s crucial therefore that when we’re making big decisions climate change is at the forefront of our minds,” Shaw said in a statement. He said a ‘climate impacts assessment’ will be mandatory for proposals that are designed to reduce emissions, or which are likely to have an impact on greenhouse emissions greater than 250,000 tonnes a year. The Ministry for the Environment has developed a tool that can be used to estimate emissions impacts, and its effectiveness will be reviewed in mid-2020, Shaw said. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern has called the climate emergency her generation’s “nuclear free moment” and made tackling it a priority for her coalition government. Last month cabinet passed the zero-carbon bill, committing to reduce emission to net-zero by 2050. The government has also banned new offshore oil and gas exploration permits, committed to planting a billion trees by 2028, and told farmers to cut emissions by 2025 or face higher taxes. Greenpeace spokesperson Gen Toop welcomed the move but urged more action. “We really need to see more tangible policy action that will slash emissions now, especially those from the country’s biggest emitter, agriculture,” Toop said. “We need to cut emissions now. In order to do that the government must regulate industrial dairying by phasing out synthetic fertiliser use and capping cow numbers. It must support significant new wind and solar generation to power our homes, transport and economy, and it must cancel OMV’s oil and gas exploration permits,” Toop said, in reference to a fossil fuel company that has a permit to explore New Zealand’s waters. The opposition climate change spokesperson, Scott Simpson, said the announcement was a “well-meaning initiative” but how it was implemented would be the real test. “It shouldn’t just be another level of bureaucracy for decisions to go through,” he said. The environment ministry said the effects of climate change were already being recorded in New Zealand, including sea-level rise, warming ocean temperatures and hotter summers. Longer-term, the ministry said the country will experience hotter annual temperatures nationwide, more severe weather, coastal erosion due to sea-level rise, increasingly frequent flooding and higher levels of human and animal mortality. | ['world/newzealand', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/environment', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/eleanor-de-jong', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2019-12-04T01:42:21Z | true | EMISSIONS |
global-development/2015/nov/30/paris-climate-talks-world-leaders--carbon-emissions | Can world leaders reach agreement on a deal to cut carbon emissions? | Has the moment of truth arrived? A traumatised Paris will be in lockdown this week as more than 140 world leaders, including Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping of China, fly into the city for the start of two weeks of climate change negotiations that the UN hopes will lead to a historic new global deal to reduce carbon emissions. No demonstrations will be allowed in France but hundreds of thousands of people are expected to march on Sunday in Britain, Australia, the US, South Africa, Brazil and mainland Europe. An unprecedented security operation following the terrorist attacks in Paris will see 2,800 police guarding the 40,000 delegates and diplomats and 6,000 journalists who will pack the conference venue at Le Bourget airport north of the city. A further 8,000 police will guard French borders. “Mobile units, riot squads and gendarmerie units will all be called on at an unprecedented level,” said the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, urged Parisians not to use their cars on Sunday or Monday when much of the city will be virtually impassable as world leaders host bilateral meetings in hotels and embassies. The summit, which hopes to secure a deal to hold global warming to a 2C rise, opens to a warning by World Bank chiefs that climate change destabilises countries and allows terrorism and conflict to flourish. “We are quite certain that the impact of climate change will be to destabilise countries,” Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank president, told the Observer. The bank claimed that terrorist movements such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia have taken root because of long-running droughts and growing competition for scarce resources fuelled by climate change. “Whenever there is a scarcity of water, when there is erosion of soil, people are competing for these scarce resources. That is the main source of conflict,” said Makhtar Diop, the World Bank’s vice-president for Africa. “These disputes have spawned instability that has allowed movements such as Boko Haram to take root.” Prince Charles will give the keynote speech at the summit of 195 countries and is expected to warn that there is little time to avoid climate catastrophe. The state of emergency in France, which is due to last three months, has resulted in hundreds of events around the conference being been called off. However, some demonstrators are expected to defy police in the name of free speech. Nine French climate activists have been placed under house arrest, accused of flouting a ban on organising protests. Naomi Klein, the Canadian writer and climate change campaigner, accused French authorities of “a gross abuse of power that risks turning the summit into a farce. The French government, under cover of anti-terrorism laws [is] shamefully banning peaceful demonstrations and using emergency powers to pre-emptively detain key activists.” Greenpeace said people would make themselves heard, whatever the obstacles. Jean-François Julliard, executive director of its French arm, said: “March or no march, in Paris thousands of people will use their collective imagination to project their voices into the UN climate talks. When they do so, voices will ring loud in the ears of the politicians inside.” John Jordan, a prominent British activist, said: “At the moment, a demonstration is legally defined as more than two people who share a political message. We are trying to find creative ways around these laws.” UN bodies, international charities and academics have all urged governments to act boldly. “Climate change is the defining issue for the 21st century. We estimate that it is already causing tens of thousands of deaths every year – from shifting patterns of disease, from extreme weather events, and from the degradation of air quality, food and water supplies, and sanitation,” said a spokesman for the World Health Organisation Mark Goldring, the UK chief executive of Oxfam, warned that developing countries’ economies could be wrecked by climate change – they faced losing $1.7tn (£1.1tn) annually by the middle of the century if global average temperatures rise by 3C. “World leaders need to put aside their self-interest and do what is best for the world,” he said. “That means greater cuts to emissions and more climate funding so vulnerable communities already facing hunger, floods and droughts can survive.” | ['global-development/global-development', 'environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'theobserver/series/big-debate', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/focus'] | environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-11-30T07:00:04Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2005/sep/04/hurricanekatrina.usa4 | How long will Louisiana's huddled masses have to wait for shelter? | The famous line from the poem chiselled into the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty - 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free' - has never been more poignant. A refugee crisis unprecedented in America's history is unfolding across its southern states. Up to a million people need shelter. For now, their homes are sports stadia in Texas, college dormitories in Mississippi, churches, schools, hotels, community centres and private homes. But with the draining of New Orleans expected to take up to nine months, and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, more permanent solutions must be found - and quickly. 'The scale of this disaster is so large that it is an entirely new challenge for emergency planners, and they can't do it alone,' said Rutherford H Platt, a professor of geography at the University of Massachusetts. States neighbouring the worst-hit areas of Louisiana and Mississippi have been quick to respond. In Texas, Governor Rick Perry's administration has identified about 18,000 vacant apartments that could be used to house families in the longer term. The state has already taken in more than 75,000 evacuees in 56 short-term shelters, and has at least that number again staying in hotels. With thousands more 'temporary Texans' arriving daily, officials say they need all the help they can get from anyone with accommodation to spare. Other states are hoping to convert former schools or other disused buildings into semi-permanent accommodation, but, with so many people looking for shelter, it is unlikely that everyone who has been displaced will ever be under a proper roof. After Hurricane Andrew ravaged south Florida in 1992, tent cities were erected for the tens of thousands of homeless victims by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), an exercise that will be repeated on a much wider scale now. The job of finding locations falls largely to the Army Corps of Engineers. Commanding officer Lieutenant General Carl Strock said one area of green space in the dry part of New Orleans had already been identified as a possible site for a city of 50,000. One of the biggest challenges will be providing a decent quality of life for the evacuees. Many states have said they will open up their schools to displaced children and hospitals to the sick and elderly, but many lost their jobs as well as their homes. The cost to Fema, which will eventually provide tens of thousands of mobile homes, tents, sleeping bags, food, generators and other essentials, is expected to run to billions of dollars. Nobody will yet predict how long that commitment will have to last. | ['world/world', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/mississippi', 'us-news/louisiana', 'us-news/texas', 'type/article', 'profile/richardluscombe', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-04T00:27:44Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2017/sep/22/climate-deniers-protect-status-quo-that-made-them-rich | Climate deniers want to protect the status quo that made them rich | From my vantage point outside the glass doors, the sea of grey hair and balding pates had the appearance of a golf society event or an active retirement group. Instead, it was the inaugural meeting of Ireland’s first climate denial group, the self-styled Irish Climate Science Forum (ICSF) in Dublin in May. All media were barred from attending. Its guest speaker was the retired physicist and noted US climate contrarian, Richard Lindzen. His jeremiad against the “narrative of hysteria” on climate change was lapped up by an audience largely composed of male engineers and meteorologists – mostly retired. This demographic profile of attendees at climate denier meetings has been replicated in London, Washington and elsewhere. How many people in the room had children or indeed grandchildren, I wondered. Could an audience of experienced, intelligent people really be this blithely indifferent to the devastating impacts that unmitigated climate change will wreak on the world their progeny must inhabit? These same ageing contrarians doubtless insure their homes, put on their seatbelts, check smoke alarms and fret about cholesterol levels. Why then, when it comes to assessing the greatest threat the world has ever faced and when presented with the most overwhelming scientific consensus on any issue in the modern era, does this caution desert them? Are they prepared quite literally to bet their children’s lives on the faux optimism being peddled by contrarians? “We have been repeatedly asked: ‘Don’t you want to leave a better Earth for your grandchildren,’” quipped the comedian and talk show host John Oliver. “And we’ve all collectively responded: ‘Ah, fuck ’em!’” This would be a lot funnier were it not so close to the bone. Short-termism and self-interest is part of the answer. A 2012 study in Nature Climate Change presented evidence of “how remarkably well-equipped ordinary individuals are to discern which stances towards scientific information secure their personal interests”. This is surely only half the explanation. A 2007 study by Kahan et al on risk perception identified “atypically high levels of technological and environmental risk acceptance among white males”. An earlier paper teased out a similar point: “Perhaps white males see less risk in the world because they create, manage, control and benefit from so much of it.” Others, who have not enjoyed such an armchair ride in life, report far higher levels of risk aversion. Another 2011 paper observed uncontroversially that “conservative white males are likely to favour protection of the current industrial capitalist order which has historically served them well”. It added that “heightened emotional and psychic investment in defending in-group claims may translate into misperceived understanding about problems like climate change that threaten the continued order of the system.” A paper earlier this year from Vanderbilt University pinpointed what motivates many who choose to reject climate change: not science denial, but “regulation phobia”. Most deniers accept science in general, and even pride themselves on their science literacy, however, combatting climate change means more regulations and, the paper says, “demands a transformation of internalised attitudes”. This, the authors conclude, “has produced what can fairly be described as a phobic reaction among many people”. Facing up to climate change also means confronting the uncomfortable reality that the growth-based economic and political models on which we depend may be built on sand. In some, especially the “winners” in the current economic system, this realisation can trigger an angry backlash. This at last began to make sense of these elderly engineers crowding into hotel rooms to engage in the pleasant and no doubt emotionally rewarding group delusion of imagining climate change to be some vast liberal hoax. In truth, the arguments hawked around by elderly white male climate deniers like Fred Singer, William Happer and Nigel Lawson among others are intellectually threadbare, pockmarked with contradictions and offer little more than a cherry-picked parody of how science actually operates. Yet this is catnip for those who choose to be deceived. It is, however, deeply unfair to tar all elderly white men as reckless and egotistical; notable exceptions include the celebrated naturalist David Attenborough and the former Nasa chief Jim Hansen. But their voices are often lost in the fog of denial. A century after elderly military leaders cheerfully sent millions of young men from the trenches to their slaughter in the first world war, the defiant mood of today’s climate deniers is best captured by the stirring words of Blackadder’s General Melchett: “If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through!” | ['environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'science/science', 'uk/uk', 'world/ireland', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2017-09-22T05:30:39Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
environment/2018/apr/20/magical-mushroom-mix-to-boost-regrowth-of-lost-scottish-forests | ‘Magical' mushroom mix to boost regrowth of lost Scottish forests | The return of the Great Caledonian forest that once covered much of Scotland’s highlands is being boosted with a special mix of mushroom spores that should help saplings survive better on the hills. Fungi living on the roots of trees play a vital role in the ecology, helping to break down nutrients in the soil. But trees were lost in much of the Highlands many years ago so the fungi vanished too. The new project, run by Trees for Life, is adding the spores when young trees are planted. “In the tough, windswept, environments where we plant, newly planted trees need all the help they can get – especially in their early years,” said Doug Gilbert, from the charity, at the Dundreggan estate in Glenmoriston, near Loch Ness. “This magical mushroom mixture could speed up the return of the Caledonian forest and its wildlife.” Trees for Life have planted 1.5m native trees in Glenmoriston and nearby Glen Affric since being founded 30 years ago. The new forests being established by Trees for Life allow wildlife to thrive, including pine martens and eagles. The group plants about 130,000 saplings a year, from 30 species including Scots pine, oak, birch, rowan, hazel and juniper. This year 20,000 saplings to be planted will have a pinch of the special root fungi, or mycorrhizae, added to their roots. The trees’ survival rate will then be compared with those planted without the fungi. While the use of mycorrhizae to boost plants is relatively new, it is known that young trees inoculated with the fungi suffer much less from the shock of planting. “Mycorrhizal fungi are one of our greatest allies for reforesting degraded landscapes,” said Jacob Whitson, who runs Chaos Fungorum, a business that supplies native fungi mixes for trees, and which collected the spores for Dundreggan. Experts have praised the move, with Matthew Cromey, from the Royal Horticultural Society, saying: “Having an active mycorrhizal system is very important, so it is potentially a real benefit adding them back again.” The fungi, which produce mushrooms above ground in the autumn, were collected from a patch of primeval forest that has survived on the Dundreggan estate. Almost 60 different species ended up in the mix being applied. “For a rewilding charity, which is very particular about what we plant, we didn’t want to introduce foreign fungal species,” said Emma Beckinsale, who works in the Trees for Life nursery. She said using the fungi might also mean that artificial fertiliser would no longer be needed. “It would be much better if we didn’t have to do that.” Cromey said using the fungi mix in the nursery might be even better. “I would expect that application to seedlings is more likely to give them a benefit. If they already have the mycorrhizae present when they are planted they have got a head start.” Dundreggan is also trialling this approach this year. Work to reforest Scotland have faced opposition from some groups. Supporters of deer, grouse and pheasant shooting have opposed tree planting on open moors, and some mountaineering groups are worried a loss of “dramatic open views and vistas”. But Beckinsale said Trees for Life aimed to maximise wildlife, which meant variety. “We want to create a diverse habitat, a mosaic of forest, bog and open spaces. Any change feels unsettling, but we are having better and better conversations with the local community.” Deer and grouse naturally lived in woodland, she added. | ['environment/forests', 'science/fungi', 'environment/conservation', 'science/biology', 'environment/wildlife', 'uk/scotland', 'environment/environment', 'society/charities', 'uk/uk', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-04-20T05:30:13Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2019/dec/12/ai-end-uk-use-racially-biased-algorithms-noel-sharkey | AI expert calls for end to UK use of ‘racially biased’ algorithms | An expert on artificial intelligence has called for all algorithms that make life-changing decisions – in areas from job applications to immigration into the UK – to be halted immediately. Prof Noel Sharkey, who is also a leading figure in a global campaign against “killer robots”, said algorithms were so “infected with biases” that their decision-making processes could not be fair or trusted. A moratorium must be imposed on all “life-changing decision-making algorithms” in Britain, he said. Sharkey has suggested testing AI decision-making machines in the same way as new pharmaceutical drugs are vigorously checked before they are allowed on to the market. In an interview with the Guardian, the Sheffield University robotics/AI pioneer said he was deeply concerned over a series of examples of machine-learning systems being loaded with bias. On inbuilt bias in algorithms, Sharkey said: “There are so many biases happening now, from job interviews to welfare to determining who should get bail and who should go to jail. It is quite clear that we really have to stop using decision algorithms, and I am someone who has always been very light on regulation and always believed that it stifles innovation. “But then I realised eventually that some innovations are well worth stifling, or at least holding back a bit. So I have come down on the side of strict regulation of all decision algorithms, which should stop immediately. “There should be a moratorium on all algorithms that impact on people’s lives. Why? Because they are not working and have been shown to be biased across the board.” Sharkey said he had spoken to the biggest global social media and computing corporations, such as Google and Microsoft, about the innate bias problem. “They know it’s a problem and they’ve been working, in fairness, to find a solution over the last few years but none so far has been found. “Until they find that solution, what I would like to see is large-scale pharmaceutical-style testing. Which in reality means that you test these systems on millions of people, or at least hundreds of thousands of people, in order to reach a point that shows no major inbuilt bias. These algorithms have to be subjected to the same rigorous testing as any new drug produced that ultimately will be for human consumption.” As well as numerous examples of racial bias in machine-led decisions on, for example, who gets bail in the US or on healthcare allocation, Sharkey said his work on autonomous weapons, or “killer robots”, also illuminated how bias infects algorithms. “There is this fantasy among people in the military that these weapons can select individual targets on their own. These move beyond the drone strikes, which humans aren’t great at already, with operatives moving the drone by remote control and targeting individual faces via screens from bases thousands of miles away,” he said. “Now the new idea that you could send autonomous weapons out on their own, with no direct human control, and find an individual target via facial recognition is more dangerous. Because what we have found out from a lot of research is that the darker the skin, the harder it is to properly recognise the face. “In the laboratory you get a 98% recognition rate for white males without beards. It’s not very good with women and it’s even worse with darker-skinned people. In the latter case, the laboratory results have shown it comes to the point where the machine cannot even recognise that you have a face. “So, this exposes the fantasy of facial recognition being used to directly target enemies like al-Qaida, for instance. They are not middle-class men without beards, of whom there is a 98% recognition rate in the lab. They are darker-skinned people and AI-driven weapons are really rubbish at that kind of recognition under the current technology. The capacity for innocent people being killed by autonomous weapons using a flawed facial recognition algorithm is enormous.” Sharkey said weapons like these should not be in the planning stage, let alone ever deployed. “In relation to decision-making algorithms generally, these flaws in facial recognition are yet another argument – along with all the other biases – that they too should be shut down, albeit temporarily, until they are tested just like any new drug should be.” | ['technology/artificialintelligenceai', 'technology/robots', 'technology/facial-recognition', 'technology/computing', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/henrymcdonald', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/facial-recognition | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2019-12-12T14:07:15Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/blog/2008/feb/12/atowncalledeco | A town called eco | Instead of investing in building new "ecotowns", Leo Hickman suggests it would be better to improve the efficiency of the homes we already have. Photograph: Bedzed/Peabody Trust The "eco" tag seems to be fast losing its lustre. There was a time when you could slap the "eco" prefix on to just about anything and the buying public would unthinkingly lap it up. But one area when the term now seems to have been sullied beyond practical use is housing. Most of us have watched an episode of Grand Designs in which we follow the construction of an "eco house" only to watch as the owner ends up using tonnes of concrete because an "eco" construction material would require them taking out a third mortgage, let alone a second. Another example of the corruption of the term "eco" is with the government's current promotion of its "ecotowns" policy. Within just a couple of weeks it is set to announce the location of 10 new ecotowns around the country. But what exactly is an "ecotown"? Is it like Masdar City, Abu Dhabi's £11bn show-off attempt to create the world's first "zero-carbon" city, which begins construction this week? Or is just somewhere with an above-average number of cycle lanes which offers little more than the odd sighting of a solar panel? The trouble is we don't know as no one has really spelled out in detail what an "ecotown" entails. What probably started off as an idea with the right intentions now has the strong possibility of becoming a target of ire for environmentalists, principally because local campaigners fighting against these new ecotowns say they fear they will be built on so-called greenbelt land, despite the then chancellor Gordon Brown saying last May that he wanted to see 100,000 new homes in "carbon neutral" communities being built on brownfield sites to help ease the country's housing crisis. Again, no one really knows because the plans have been shrouded in secrecy in order, so we are told, to protect "commercial confidentiality". But we can't afford to get this wrong: how we go about building new housing stock is just about the most important decision we can make if we are to meet our emissions reductions target for the simple reason that, along with transportation and heavy industry, housing accounts for the bulk of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. My own preference would be that, rather than expending all our effort on building poorly defined "ecotowns", we instead concentrate on making sure that building and planning regulations are made ever more exacting with regard to a building's thermal performance. This way we can make sure all new housing - not just that built within the boundaries of a so-called ecotown - can justifiably lay claim to the much-abused "eco" tag. But perhaps more importantly, we should follow Germany's lead and give far more attention to improving the efficiency of our current housing stock, much of which was built before the last world war. Building new eco homes is, by comparison, easy and far less urgent in terms of reducing emissions. | ['environment/blog', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/blog', 'profile/leohickman'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2008-02-12T09:45:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
world/2017/sep/11/how-britain-and-france-have-responded-to-hurricane-irma-disaster | How Britain and France have responded to Hurricane Irma disaster | Security UK: Troops are not routinely stationed in the British territories but the government has deployed some forces in response to the hurricane. It said just under 500 personnel from the three branches were in the area. The Department for International Development (DfID) said 55 police officers had been dispatched. France: A force of 410 gendarmes and 80 police officers has been deployed to keep order in the region, where troops are routinely stationed. A further 665 security personnel are on their way to the islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy. Humanitarian response UK: The government announced a £32m disaster relief fund and promised to match private donations to the Red Cross. The vessel RFA Mounts Bay has delivered six tonnes of emergency aid to Anguilla. Its crew have also supported the British Virgin Islands, the government says. Three aircraft have been dispatched with medical supplies and aid, including shelter for about 1,000 people, rations and clean water. In addition, 5,000 solar lanterns have been sent, the government says. France: An A400M transport plane was scheduled to land to supply the two French territories, with 2.2 tonnes of medical supplies as well as dozens of personnel. The French government has also supplied 85 tonnes of food and a million litres of water. Reconstruction UK: RFA Mounts Bay personnel have done some reconstruction work on Anguilla, though there has been criticism of a lack of essential equipment. HMS Ocean is also being deployed to help with reconstruction work, DfID says. France: The navy’s amphibious assault helicopter carrier Tonerre is due to set off from Toulon, carrying police vehicles, four extra helicopters to add to the five already there, and more than 200 personnel with construction supplies to get the repair work under way. A further 100 firefighters will reinforce the more than 450 people from that service and the security services already present. Political reaction UK: The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, defended the government’s response on Monday. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the claim of one father, whose daughter is stranded on Saint Martin, that Whitehall’s efforts have shown “callous disregard” for the plight of British citizens was “completely unjustified”. Senior MPs have asked the government to explain the “apparent lack of forward-thinking” by ministers. France: The government has faced criticism for its response to the crisis, which some opposition politicians have said betrayed a lack of preparation. The measures now being taken should already have been in place before the hurricane hit, they have said. However, the president, Emmanuel Macron, has won plaudits for saying he will visit the storm-damaged territories. | ['world/hurricane-irma', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'world/france', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/explainers', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-09-11T12:06:53Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2022/sep/14/us-hacking-iran-extortion-sheme-computer-systems | US charges Iran trio with orchestrating vast hacking and extortion scheme | Three Iranians have been charged with trying to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from organizations in the United States, Europe, Iran and Israel, including a domestic violence shelter, by hacking in to their computer systems, US officials said on Wednesday. Other targets included local US governments, regional utilities in Mississippi and Indiana, accounting firms and a state lawyers’ association, according to charges filed by the justice department. While the criminal charges do not say whether the alleged hackers worked for the Iranian government, a separate US treasury department statement said the hackers were affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian intelligence and security force. And just last week, the US imposed sanctions on Iran’s ministry of intelligence and its minister, accusing them of being tied to a disruptive July cyber-attack on Albania and engaging in other cyber activities against the US and its allies. A senior official said on Wednesday that Iran’s government does not discourage residents from engaging in hacking, as long as it is directed outside the country. Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The defendants, named as Mansour Ahmadi, Ahmad Khatibi and Amir Hossein Nikaein, are citizens of Iran who own or are employed by private technology companies in the country. The treasury also imposed sanctions on the three Iranians, as well as several other individuals and two organizations they said were part of Tehran’s “malicious” cyber and ransomware activity. The alleged hackers face little chance of being arrested, as they are believed to be living freely in Iran. But officials said the charges will make it difficult for them to travel or find work outside the country. According to the charges, the three men infiltrated the computer systems of a wide range of businesses and governments between October 2020 and August this year, encrypted their data and demanded bitcoin payments of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some victims, including the domestic violence shelter, opted to pay the ransom to recover their data. Such ransomware attacks have grown dramatically over the past decade, damaging scores of US companies and other organizations around the globe. Earlier this month, hackers infiltrated the systems of Los Angeles Unified, the second largest school district in the US. And in July, the US government warned that hospitals across the US have been targeted by an aggressive ransomware campaign originating from North Korea since 2021. In June last year, the justice department said it was elevating ransomware investigations to a similar priority to terrorism in the wake of a major, disruptive attack on a US pipeline company, which led to localized gas shortages on the US East coast. | ['us-news/us-news', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'world/iran', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-09-14T18:37:09Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2009/jul/12/offshore-wind-farms | Centrica and npower set to green light wind farms | Centrica and RWE npower are close to signing off on two huge offshore wind farms costing an estimated £3bn to build in further signs that the logjam holding up offshore projects is easing. It follows a government announcement in April to increase subsidies available for offshore wind projects, which are crucial for the UK to have any hope of meeting its 2020 renewable targets. Energy companies had shelved projects, blaming the credit crunch, weak pound and high construction costs for making them unviable. Centrica said that it was planning to make a final decision on whether to go ahead with its £800m Lincs project, off the coast of Lincolnshire, by the end of September. The project will generate 250mw of electricity, enough to power two cities the size of Cambridge when the wind blows. RWE npower will also decide soon whether to build its £2.2bn project in North Wales, Gwynt y Môr, which will be able to generate 750mw, making it one of the largest projects in the world. The company's renewable arm, npower renewables, is keen to press ahead and is almost certain to build the project now that subsidies have been boosted. Both wind projects were given planning approval some time ago. Under the new subsidy regime, which the government will formally consult on this week, offshore wind projects will earn two Renewable Obligation Certificates (Rocs) for the electricity they generate. Projects will only qualify if construction begins by 2011. Sarwjit Sambhi, director of Centrica power business, told the Guardian: "Following the announcement on Rocs, on the basis of our current construction cost forecasts the Lincs project is pretty close to our required hurdle rate. Provided the government consultation on the changes to the Rocs regime for offshore wind runs smoothly and there are no delays which could impact our construction contracts, we will go ahead with the project." The government is also in talks with energy companies about awarding third round licences to build giant offshore wind projects costing an estimated £50bn. Investment decisions will not be made for several years. Centrica is pressing for guarantees that the Roc regime will run beyond its current end date of 2027 to make the projects viable. There are also concerns that if a Conservative government is elected, they could scrap the system altogether and replace it with a "feed in tariff" subsidy which would guarantee offshore wind farms an above market price for the electricity they generate. Centrica also wants the government to push through its plans to streamline the planning process set out in the planning bill. Around £100bn is needed to build enough wind farms to meet the government's 2020 renewable energy targets. The government has signed up to a binding EU target to source 15% of its energy from renewable, non-fossil fuel sources. The vast majority of this will have to come from offshore wind farms. Only 5% of the UK's electricity comes from renewables today. In May, Dong Energy, E.ON and Middle East-based energy fund Masdar said they would invest £2bn to build the first 630mw phase of the London Array offshore farm, which once complete will be the largest in the world. Shell had thrown the project's future into doubt last year when it pulled out of the consortium to build it. | ['business/centrica', 'business/business', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/timwebb', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2009-07-12T14:22:28Z | true | ENERGY |
education/2019/jul/01/university-admissions-and-messy-exits | University admissions and messy exits | Letters | Bernie Evans asks a critical question about pupils from underprivileged backgrounds and suggests a more generous route into university (Letters, 29 June). We have been in this situation before, decades ago, in the context of adult education. By focusing on women’s return to learning and then access to higher education, we discovered that their children followed them. The answer seemed to lie in the home as much as school. None of my parents or grandparents went to university. After leaving school, I followed my father into shipbuilding and coal mining. After 15 years of night schools, weekend schools and university extramural classes, I gained scholarships to Ruskin College and Magdalen College, Oxford. My children both went on to university and professional careers. Those systematic pathways for adults have been lost. Alan Tuckett, an adult education specialist, has asked: “Why has England seemingly set out to destroy adult learning opportunities?” He might have added that for decades the Guardian provided systematic support and coverage of adult education. What happened? David Browning Huddersfield, West Yorkshire • There may well still be a privately educated bias in admissions to the former men’s Oxbridge colleges, but there are honourable exceptions. As a gauche, just 17-year-old in 1964, I went to Somerville (Oxford) and Girton (Cambridge) for interviews, from a tiny Pembrokeshire grammar school. I didn’t get an offer from Oxford. But two of my interviewers at Girton were scarily glamorous and intellectual Americans with no time for the British class system; another, Dame Gillian Beer, explicitly said that they always discounted for “the Roedean effect”. And yes, they did offer me a place. Dariel Francis Tunbridge Wells, Kent • During these changeover days for student-rented properties in many university towns and cities, we witness the spectacle of perfectly usable items dumped, awaiting collection and onward passage to incinerators and landfill sites. Last week in one student area I saw plastic kitchen bins and washing-up bowls, pots and pans, framed pictures, a computer monitor and a hairdryer. I can only imagine the level of needless waste across the UK. Have other communities with student populations found an answer to this? Leila Seals Sheffield, South Yorkshire • Jeremy Hunt has said he will cancel student loan debt for people who set up successful firms. What about student teachers and nurses? Are they not important enough? Ian Close Paisley, Renfrewshire • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition | ['education/administration', 'education/higher-education', 'education/education', 'education/cambridgeuniversity', 'education/oxforduniversity', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'politics/jeremy-hunt', 'politics/politics', 'politics/conservatives', 'money/money', 'education/teaching', 'society/nursing', 'uk/uk', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-07-01T16:28:45Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/sep/10/plastic-waste-set-to-beat-price-as-uk-shoppers-top-concern-study | Plastic waste set to beat price as UK shoppers' top concern – study | The number one issue for British shoppers in the next decade will be to reduce packaging and use more recyclable materials, according to new research. For perhaps the first time, the public puts environmental considerations around plastic waste above the price of goods when shopping. The research, carried out by ThoughtWorks, found that 62% of the 2,000 people surveyed were concerned with the need to reduce plastic packaging and use materials which were recyclable, while 57% said price would be a main driver for their purchases in the next 10 years. Food waste and where food comes from were also strong reasons to drive purchases; with 48% and 36% of those surveyed saying these issues affected their decision-making on what to buy and where to buy it from, according to the research. Kevin Flynn, director of retail strategy at ThoughtWorks, said the research showed the seeds of a consumer change which retailers and supermarkets would have to adapt to. He said if retailers did not listen to their consumers on issues such as reducing plastic packaging waste, the shoppers would simply go elsewhere. “What is emphatic, and a little surprising, from our research is how well people can see what’s coming next,” he said. “The days of pushing a trolley around a big warehouse, buying over-packaged goods and chasing value offers are numbered. “Consumers have more and more choice about how to shop and there will be new entrants coming into the market in the next 10 years. The whole retail industry is acutely aware that it needs to be nimble and move quickly to respond to this changing environment.” Price has traditionally been the most important factor for shoppers. But the new research comes after growing public consciousness about the scale of plastic pollution in the oceans. If nothing is done to reduce the use of plastic, the amount of waste in the oceans will triple in the next decade. According to the research, consumers are on the verge of asking more questions on where their food comes from and how it is produced: 36% of survey respondents said they will place much more importance on where the food they buy is grown, fished or reared. An additional 32% said they would seek assurance that food has been ethically sourced from a sustainable supply chain, while 18% of 18-24 year olds said people will not be eating meat in the future. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/waste', 'environment/ethical-living', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'environment/environment', 'money/money', 'uk/uk', 'environment/recycling', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/sandralaville', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-09-10T05:00:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2013/sep/18/naomi-klein-waging-ideological-warfare-climate | Naomi Klein 'waging ideological war' instead of tackling climate change | Naomi Klein is more interested in "waging ideological warfare" than tackling climate change, according to one of America's biggest green groups. In a letter to the Guardian responding to the Canadian author's recent comments that big green groups were more damaging than "climate deniers" because of their relationship with big business and lobbying for market-based fixes to global warming, Eric Pooley, senior vice-president for strategy and communications at the Environmental Defence Fund, said that she was "promoting her new book with the time-honoured tactic of saying something so outrageous that media can't help but report it". In an interview with US magazine Earth Island Journal, Klein argued that green groups' advocacy for partnering with business and adopting market measures had "steered us in directions that have yielded very poor results" and had "been more damaging than the rightwing [climate] denialism in terms of how much ground we've lost." She added: "I think if we look at the track record of [the] Kyoto [protocol], of the UN clean development mechanism, the European Union's emissions trading scheme – we now have close to a decade that we can measure these schemes against, and it's disastrous." But Pooley said: "Klein rejects our [EDF's] strategy of building coalitions with businesses because she sees climate action as a way to reform or replace capitalism itself," adding: "when faced with the choice of making progress in our fight against climate change or waging ideological warfare, we will always choose the former". He cited the EU carbon trading scheme as a success that has "driven significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions." The scheme, which launched in 2005, has struggled to put a high price on carbon emissions from industry, leading to a package of rescue reforms earlier this year. Global carbon emissions have risen rapidly since the Kyoto protocol was adopted in 1997, and are now more than 48% higher than 1992 levels. Pooley added that while he thought Klein was right to recognise a rise in grassroots environmental activism, solutions to climate change would require "a broad circle of non-traditional allies" as well as core activists. An EDF-funded study published this week found that leaks of methane from fracking wells – which would seriously undermine the climate benefits of burning shale gas rather than coal – were being effectively controlled. Pooley wrote in his letter that "natural gas is being used today, so EDF will fight for strong rules and enforcement that protect ecosystems and communities from hydraulic fracturing". Klein is currently working on a climate change-focused book, which will also be made into a film, and is due to be published next year. | ['environment/activism', 'world/world', 'world/protest', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/edf', 'business/business', 'tone/news', 'books/naomi-klein', 'type/article', 'profile/adam-vaughan'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2013-09-18T15:48:53Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2010/may/19/chris-huhne-nuclear-renewable-wind-power | Huhne 'sceptical' on nuclear power in talks with utility boss | Chris Huhne, the new energy and climate change minister, is sceptical about nuclear power but wanted to support the development of renewable energy, according to the UK's largest renewable generator. Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) said it had "good discussions" with Huhne on Tuesday. The company said he was very well-informed and fully supportive of its projects, including the huge Greater Gabbard wind farm off the coast of Suffolk which, when built, will be the largest offshore wind farm of its kind in the world. "He [Huhne] was well aware of SSE's credentials and he was keen to see us continuing with what we are doing and to ensure there is continuing inward investment in this [wind] sector," said SSE's chief executive, Ian Marchant. But the utility boss, whose company is considering whether to build a new nuclear plant near Sellafield in Cumbria with Iberdrola of Spain and GDF of France, said the energy secretary was more downbeat about atomic power. "He was sceptical on the economics of nuclear but made it clear he would allow people to make their own decisions on this and would not stand in their way if they can do it without subsidies," said Marchant. "Personally, I think being sceptical is no bad thing. The worst thing you can have is a situation where the state bends over backwards to [financially] support nuclear. Look where that got us?" he added. Huhne's party, the Liberal Democrats, orchestrated a mechanism for maintaining their opposition to nuclear power even though allowing nuclear to progress is government policy. The coalition has pledged to allow nuclear stations to be built so long as they do not involve public subsidies. SSE said it would do a lot of preparatory work on whether to go ahead with a new atomic plant before deciding in around two years' time whether such a move made commercial sense. "We would have to be able to justify a decision whether for or against to both customers and shareholders," said Marchant. In the meantime, the utility company is spending £660m this year pressing ahead with wind farms and other renewable schemes. SSE is the biggest renewable generator largely because of its hydro-electric plants but has also moved into tidal and wave power. The company also runs coal-fired power stations such as Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire but said it was putting back by two years plans to start operating the Abernedd gas-fired power station in Baglan Bay, South Wales. This is partly because industrial customers have reduced demand due to the recession, while homeowners are continuing to cut their own consumption by taking energy-efficiency measures such as insulating their houses. Domestic gas use has gone down by 3% to 5% for the last three years in a row but SSE still ran up pre-tax profits of £1.29bn for the year to end March. | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/environment', 'business/scottishandsouthernenergy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/windpower', 'business/business', 'politics/chrishuhne', 'politics/politics', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'tone/news', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2010-05-19T14:54:50Z | true | ENERGY |
media-network/2015/aug/18/open-data-save-lives-emergency-services-disaster-relief | How open data can help save lives | When somebody has a heart attack, the first thing you do is make them comfortable. After calling an ambulance, you locate a defibrillator. Finding a defibrillator can spell the difference between life and death. It’s essential they’re located in easy-to-reach places, and using open data can make sure that they’re positioned in areas where people are most at risk of heart attacks. Last October, Trafford Innovation and Intelligence Lab helped the mayor of Trafford to decide where to place defibrillators around the city by analysing open data. A group formed comprised of consultants in public health, a data specialist, a paramedic, and local organisations. Together they looked at open-data indicators that would help them to decide where to place 15 defibrillators: mortality rates, obesity levels, rates of cardiovascular disease, and levels of physical activity in the area. Jamie Whyte, head of the Trafford Innovation and Intelligence Lab and a member of Trafford Council, said the group was able to help save lives by using purely open data to analyse the best places to locate the new defibrillators. They crowdmapped the locations of existing units, in GP surgeries, schools, and sports centres, drew up a list of places with no defibrillators, and merged the two datasets. Nigel Shadbolt, the chairman of the Open Data Institute, says open data can be vital in life-threatening situations. He explains how Ushahidi, a data management system, gathers information from a crowd and transforms it into easy visualisations that can show what happened during an incident. It came to prominence during the 2013 Kenyan general elections, when it helped to expose killings during the campaign. Ushahidi has since been used in emergency relief campaigns, including during the Nepal earthquake. It allows emergency servicesto make decisions based on facts rather than guesswork, something that’s especially important when resources are scarce. Shadbolt explains how collecting the data relies on the power of the crowd. “There’s a basic information layer, which is then supplemented by people adding more data into it. For example over 48 hours 4000 volunteers worked in Kathmandu to map roads that had been destroyed during the earthquake.” This helped emergency services reach victims. The most interesting thing with providing raw data, says Shadbolt, is that you provide the information and the apps “think” about it when a situation arises. “The whole genius of the web is that you don’t even know how the data you put up will be used. For this reason it’s best to collect more information than you think you might ever need.” Emma Thwaites, a spokesperson for the Open Data Institute, explains that data layering is where open data can have the most impact. “That’s when you can really see where the black spots are. Overlay air pollution, crime stats, and fuse the data together, and you can see the likelihood of the most dangerous things. From this you can work out where to position your ambulances, or fire stations. Data helps you to find the epicentre.” As well as benefiting the local community, open data can also be used to help individuals. Samuel Diserens is moving from Camberwell in south east London to Barnes, in west London. The move is prompted partly by the high crime stats in Lambeth. “I used data from Police.uk to research somewhere where gun crime, drug dealing, and stabbings weren’t so common, and by sifting through the raw data happened upon Barnes. He found out that in just one month 186 crimes were reported in Camberwell, whereas in Barnes there were just 72. Amy Jones has used open data to keep her as safe as possible. She’s a cyclist who regularly relies on accident data to avoid blackspots, and she credits open data provided by TfL for helping her to become aware of the worst spots for cycling deaths. The data showed every bike accident that happened in London between August 2010 and July 2011. From this she learned that the junction just before Blackfriars Bridge was the most dangerous location on her route, and that most bike accidents occurred at 8am. Jones decided to make her commute two minutes longer by taking side streets, and left home slightly earlier each morning to avoid the big crush of cyclists, buses, and cars. “Changing my route has potentially saved my life. I breathe in less pollution from main roads and I’m less at risk from crashing, thanks to the the data provided by TfL.” Whyte is currently working on a project that targets areas in Trafford that have a low uptake of cervical cancer smear tests. He’s using a mixture of open and closed data (from GPs and open census data) and as a result has seen a 10% uptake of screening. He says: “[The] public sector needs to use open data – it’s own and national stuff – to help inform how it delivers services. And if in doing that it can generate more data and release that as open data then great. I don’t know whether this will save lives: I wouldn’t want to make that kind of bold claim, but it’s definitely a good thing!” Shadbolt, is certain that open data can save lives. “Absolutely it can, and in ways we don’t recognise all the time. All the accident data, traffic blackspots, emergency situations? That’s us using data to save lives.” To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up free for Media & Tech Network membership. All Guardian Media & Tech Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘Brought to you by’ – find out more here. | ['media-network/series/open-data-economy', 'media-network/media-network', 'technology/big-data', 'technology/series/big-data-development', 'technology/technology', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'profile/eleanor-ross'] | technology/big-data | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-08-18T08:48:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
cleantechrevolution2009/low-carbon-generation | The low-carbon generation | Engineers and scientists are being reinvented by green expectations. They're being prised away from their test tubes and undergoing a radical transformation. Overhaul complete, they are the superheroes who will protect us from the onslaught of climate change. As an engineer myself, I am pleased with the politicians' new-found faith in our potential - even if it has been dictated by a change in circumstance rather than forward planning. Only a year ago, it was the financial services sector which would secure Britain's future wealth. Engineering meant Brunel, Stephenson and the heroes of yesteryear, rather than the cutting-edge and energy-efficient technology that is today being developed in the labs of companies such as Rolls-Royce (currently working on energy efficient "open rotor" engines which may decrease greenhouse gases from aviation by a third). But are we being set up for a fall? Can technology truly offer all that is being demanded of it - a great performance combined with low carbon emissions? Is it really within our reach? My optimistic response, based on personal experience, is, yes, of course. Here at Dyson, we have long understood that there is little point in a machine that doesn't perform. However, good performance hasn't been at any cost. Instead, Dyson engineers strive to bring together performance and efficiency - even if this means re-thinking the fundamentals. For us this means, cyclones, air knives, energy-efficient motors and, but most crucially, going against the grain. However, my confidence that engineering can come up with the goods is tempered by the knowledge that developing new technology is a lengthy and laborious process. It was 15 years before I perfected my vacuum. And Dyson engineers have been working on our new motor technologies for over a decade. If we apply the same thinking to large-scale, sustainable infrastructure (which we must), how do politicians expect us to reduce carbon emissions by 80% over the next 40 years? How do we make these targets tangible? First, we need to secure the workforce. The number of young people taking up science and engineering is in decline. Yet it is this generation which is most environmentally literate. Let's channel their genuine concern for the planet into coming up with prototype solutions in design and technology at school and beyond. Already there are great sustainable design ideas coming out of universities. Graduate engineers we have recently recruited at Dyson worked on designs including an energy efficient water boiler, a portable solar charger, a micro wind turbine suitable for urban areas, biodegradable cutlery, recycled composites and waste-free disposable nappies. Industry and academia must take the opportunity to nurture and incubate these ideas into production. Finally, the government must step up to the mark - with competitions, funding and support so that the most promising technologies are fast tracked and the intellectual property secured. In 2005, only 1.3% of the UK's energy was generated by renewable sources, well below almost all our European counterparts. Yet, as an island, we command 50% of Europe's tidal power. The government needs to put the right money in the right place, now, to ensure engineers can pull the rabbit out of the hat and create a sustainable future. James Dyson is an inventor and industrialist | ['cleantechrevolution2009/launch-supplement', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/carbon-challenge', 'theguardian/carbon-challenge/carbon-challenge'] | theguardian/carbon-challenge/carbon-challenge | EMISSIONS | 2009-07-08T23:01:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
sport/datablog/2012/jun/25/olympics-data-journalism | Olympics data: all our statistics, data journalism and visualisations in one place | As soon as the first Olympic events begin in a month's time, we will be assaulted by data of every kind - results, medal tables, venue details; and that's without the statistics-based stories we will see on transport chaos, terror threats, logistical challenges and tourism. It's a feast of numbers, but where can you get the key facts? We wanted to provide one place to explore and discuss the key facts around the big issues. And we've extracted those datasets for you from top sources: including the International Olympics Committee. Here you will find the key data - plus great visualisations from the Guardian's graphics team. And, this year, top graphics agency Graphic News have allowed us to share their graphics of the event, which cover every sport and every possible issue. You can find guides to track and field events, water sports and ball games - plus their enviable set on the logistics of the Olympics. When the results come in - we will have those in a format you can use, too. It's just a start - and we will be adding to it every day. What else would you like to see? Let us know in the comments below or email us at data@guardian.co.uk. NEW! Buy our book • Facts are Sacred: the power of data (on Kindle) More open data Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian World government data • Search the world's government data with our gateway Development and aid data • Search the world's global development data with our gateway Can you do something with this data? • Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook | ['sport/series/london-2012-olympics-data', 'news/datablog', 'sport/olympics-2012', 'media/data-journalism', 'tone/blog', 'uk/uk', 'technology/data-visualisation', 'sport/olympic-games', 'type/article', 'profile/simonrogers'] | technology/data-visualisation | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2012-06-25T12:15:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/2014/feb/10/weatherwatch-careful-what-wish-for | Weatherwatch: Be careful what you wish for | Right now a powerful jet stream is pummelling the UK with rainstorm after rainstorm. For some of us, the only way to cope is to dream of a lovely warm summer. But we need to be careful what we wish for; new research shows that warmer summers will make intense deluges more likely. Everyone knows that warmer air can hold more moisture: 7% more moisture for every one degree rise in temperature, to be precise. But observations of rainfall gathered by Jisk Attema and his colleagues at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) show that rainfall intensity increases at twice that rate, with rainstorms pouring 14% more water down on us for every one degree the mercury rises. Using a computer model to simulating these rainstorms, Attema and his team show that the atmospheric instability associated with the warmer air is responsible for the super-showers. Mid-latitude locations, including much of the United States and Europe, are likely to experience the worst of this effect. Writing in the journal Environmental Research Letters, they describe how mid-latitude annual rainfall totals may not be significantly greater in the future, but the likelihood of furious convective showers will be much higher during the summer months. The same shower in the two-degrees-warmer world could be 25% more ferocious. "There will be greater probabilities of local flooding and water damage. Also traffic safety (water on roads) will be affected, and soil erosion," says Geert Lenderink, also from KNMI. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'environment/flooding', 'uk/weather', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'type/article', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-02-10T21:30:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/sep/09/air-pollution-causes-3m-lost-working-days-per-year-in-uk-says-cbi | Air pollution causes 3m lost working days per year in UK, says CBI | Polluted air in the UK causes 3m working days to be lost every year owing to people getting sick or taking time off to care for sick children, new research suggests. Cutting air pollution and meeting the World Health Organization standards would benefit the economy by about £1.6bn a year, by improving productivity, according to the analysis carried out by the CBI. About 17,000 premature deaths of working age people each year would be prevented by meeting the guidelines. Workers would also see more pay, with about £900m a year in extra wages from the increased time at work. The £1.6bn economic uplift does not include the reduced costs to the NHS and social care budgets, estimated at £157m a year, which would also result from lower sickness rates. Rain Newton-Smith, chief economist of the CBI, said employers and the government should aim for a “green recovery” from the coronavirus crisis, by investing in public transport and energy efficiency. “Not only is there a clear moral responsibility to address air pollution and the impact it has on human health and the environment, there’s also a striking economic rationale,” she said. “With air pollution hitting the balance sheets of businesses across the country, and cutting the earnings of their employees, cleaning up our air would help us to lead healthier and more productive lives, while delivering a green jobs boost for the economy.” The government has been pushing people to get back into the office, following the sharp rise in people working from home during the coronavirus lockdowns, with warnings of job losses if they fail to return. Ministers are motivated by concern over the loss of business to companies, from public transport providers to sandwich shops, that rely on people in offices. Jane Burston, executive director of the Clean Air Fund, which commissioned the report from CBI Economics, said this call could be counterproductive unless the government and local authorities made it easier for people to use cleaner modes of transport. Data compiled by the group found a 25% reduction in NO2 emissions in London during the morning rush hour and a 34% fall at evening commuting times, during the lockdown. “Encouraging people into their cars will increase pollution,” Burston warned. “The government needs to consider that building back the economy is not just about going back to the physical office. The consequences for air pollution are consequences for the economy, and the economic benefits [of reducing air pollution] are significant.” The report found that work absences alone related to poor air were costing Britain about £600m a year, owing to people missing work from poor health but also from taking time off to look after children, who are among the worst affected by air pollution. Jacob West, director of healthcare innovation at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Adopting ambitious World Health Organization guidelines could not only add years to our life, but also benefit the country’s finances. These encouraging figures should give the government confidence to embrace tougher air pollution limits in the environment bill.” The government’s environment bill has been delayed, but is set to return to parliament this autumn. However, as currently written it will not contain new targets on air pollution. Any binding new targets, to take over from the EU’s regulations, will not be set out until late 2022, after a consultation. A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The World Health Organization has praised our clean air strategy as an example for the rest of the world to follow, and we continue to take robust and comprehensive action to tackle emissions in the UK. But we know there is more to do, which is why through our landmark environment bill we have committed to setting ambitious targets to improve air quality in the long term, and address the concentration of damaging fine particulate matter.” | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'business/cbi', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-09-08T23:01:01Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk/the-northerner/2011/oct/20/durham-coal-mining-beaches-clean-up-european-landscape-awards | Durham's former 'black coast' wins European praise for clean-up | The county Durham coast still has economic problems a-plenty, as described in a Guardian Northerner blog post yesterday. But it gets a welcome boost today. The Council of Europe's Landscape Awards, now in their second year, have given an accolade to the huge, patient clean-up of what used to be called the 'black coast'. Literally black, from coal-mining, the lovely stretch of beaches and headlands between Sunderland and Hartlepool has seen 1,300,000 tonnes of mining waste removed and the subsequent ten-year regeneration of wildflowers, marine life and outstanding views. The scale of the challenge will be familiar to anyone who watched the iconic Michael Caine film Get Carter or Alien 3 which both used the grim old beaches for bleak scenes. Mining waste was simply dumped beside the sea, leading to the secondary 'industry' of seacoaling, or scavenging the spoil for burnable lumps, like a particularly grubby form of beachcombing. You can watch a short film about how the landscape was transformed utterly, here: The transformation was Britain's entry for the Council of Europe award after it won the UK version of the competition in November last year. The European prize and runners-up awards – one of which has gone to the Durham Heritage Coast – were set up to promote the value of outstanding landscape to the social and economic health of local communities. Vitally needed around the former pit villages and towns along the coast, many of which are still isolated and with little new employment to replace coal-mining, the Heritage Coast was described by the European judges as "an excellent model for the regeneration of degraded coastal areas." It was up against rivals from 14 other countries and was pipped to the top prize by the Carbonia Project in Sardinia, Italy. Jo Watkins, President of the Landscape Institute which organises the UK contest, says: It is right that we recognise the importance of landscapes and their value to society. Just look at what has been achieved in Durham – an extraordinary transformation that is contributing on so many different levels. It just shows what can be achieved when the full potential of a landscape is realised. Niall Benson, Durham Heritage Coast officer for the partnership of councils and agencies which support the regeneration, welcomes: This strong endorsement of all the hard work undertaken by the Durham Heritage Coast Partnership and the local communities along the coastal strip. It's an achievement for which everyone involved should feel justly proud. | ['uk/the-northerner', 'tone/blog', 'weather/durham', 'uk/newcastle', 'uk/sunderland', 'environment/coal', 'environment/mining', 'environment/environment', 'environment/blog', 'society/society', 'world/europe-news', 'law/council-of-europe', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk-news/north-of-england', 'type/article', 'profile/martinwainwright'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2011-10-20T14:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2006/nov/01/energy | Power firm buys into European wind energy | International Power (IP) has made a significant move into the renewable energy field with the 567m (£379m) purchase of wind farms in Germany and France. The British company, which operates six domestic gas and coal-fired power plants, has bought the 436MW of wind capacity from Christofferson Robb & Company (CRC). "This acquisition provides us with an immediate, scale renewable business in Europe, together with a significant pipeline of development opportunities," said Philip Cox, the chief executive of IP. "We look forward to working with CRC to grow the portfolio and enhance the renewables skill base within our business," he added. Up till now IP has owned only one wind farm with 46MW capacity at Canunda in southern Australia. · Email business.editor@theguardian.com | ['environment/energy', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'money/money', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/green-economy', 'type/article', 'profile/terrymacalister'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2006-11-01T12:57:33Z | true | ENERGY |
global-development/2023/mar/21/drought-caused-43000-excess-deaths-in-somalia-last-year-half-of-them-young-children | Drought caused 43,000 ‘excess deaths’ in Somalia last year, half of them young children | A new report released by the Somalian government suggests that far more children died in the country last year due to the ongoing drought than previously realised. The study estimates that there were 43,000 excess deaths in 2022 in Somalia due to the deepening drought compared with similar droughts in 2017 and 2018. Half of the deaths are likely to have been children under five. Up to 34,000 further deaths have been forecast for the first six months of this year. Released on Monday by Somalia’s federal health ministry together with Unicef and the World Health Organization, the report was compiled by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Imperial College London, who looked at retrospective estimates of mortality across Somalia from January to December 2022. Accurate statistics are difficult to compile from a population spread across remote areas, and with about three million people displaced from their homes. The highest death rates are thought to be in the regions of south-central Somalia, including Bay, Bakool and Banadir, that are the worst hit by drought. Somalia’s health minister, Dr Ali Hadji Adam Abubakar, found cause for optimism that famine had so far been averted. “We continue to be concerned about the level and scale of the public health impact of this deepening and protracted food crisis in Somalia,” he said. “At the same time, we are optimistic that if we can sustain our ongoing and scaled-up health and nutrition actions, and humanitarian response to save lives and protect the health of our vulnerable, we can push back the risk of famine for ever.” If this did not happen, he said, “the vulnerable and marginalised will pay the price of this crisis with their lives”. “We therefore urge all our partners and donors to continue to support the health sector in building a resilient health system that works for everyone and not for the few,” said Abubakar. For the first time, a prediction model was developed from the study. A forecast from January to June 2023 estimates that 135 people a day might also die due to the crisis, with total deaths projected at being between 18,100 and 34,200 during this period. The estimates suggest the crisis in Somalia is far from over and is already more severe than the 2017-18 drought. Wafaa Saeed, Unicef’s representative in Somalia, said he was saddened by the grim picture of the drought’s impact on families, but added: “We know there could have been many more deaths had humanitarian assistance not been scaled up to reach affected communities. “We must continue to save lives by preventing and treating malnutrition, providing safe and clean water, improving access to lifesaving health services, immunising children against deadly diseases such as measles, and providing critical protection services.” There have now been six consecutive failed rainy seasons in the climate crisis-induced drought, which coincides with global food price rises, intensified insecurity in some regions, and the aftermath of the pandemic. The study is the first in a planned series and was funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. | ['global-development/global-development', 'world/somalia', 'world/world', 'world/middleeast', 'world/africa', 'campaign/email/global-dispatch', 'global-development/food-security', 'environment/drought', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tracymcveigh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-03-21T11:53:26Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2018/dec/01/peterborough-council-apologises-over-waster-recycling-stickers | Peterborough council apologises over 'waster' recycling stickers | Peterborough city council has apologised for offending residents after thousands of stickers reading “waster” were put on bins as part of a recycling campaign. Dozens of households said they were insulted by the stickers depicting a red sad-face emoji on their black wheelie bins. The company behind the scheme also apologised after it emerged the labels were not recyclable. Bins in the Orton Malborne and Sugar Way areas are part of a trial of 7,000 homes where waste recycling levels will be monitored over six months, with the stickers intended “to help communities think twice about what they could recycle”. Positive green stickers, which feature a smiling emoji and the word “recycler”, are due to be sent out next week as part of a campaign by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), which is supported by the local council. One person wrote on Twitter: “@WRAP_UK @PeterboroughCC when will you be arranging for the removal of the wasteful and hugely offensive ‘waster’ stickers from bins?” Another said: “@WRAP_UK thanks for my ‘waster’ sticker plonked on my bin this morning! The whole street has one. Is the sticker recyclable? As an avid recycler I’m miffed!” More conventional images of a recycling heart and rubbish truck will also be tested in the Castor, Ailsworth and Hampton areas of Peterborough. In a statement on Facebook, Peterborough city council said: “We apologise to residents for any offence the emoji bin sticker may have caused – and we appreciate we should have communicated better with residents and local councillors.” A spokesman for Wrap, which manages the Recycle Now campaign in England, added: “Most people in Peterborough recycle; however, there are still improvements that can be made to ensure that all recyclable items are collected. The trial is testing methods which will help residents to remember to put the right things in the right bins. “It was intended that a green ‘recycle’ sticker with a happy face emoji would be stuck on recycling bins, and the following week a red unhappy ‘waster’ emoji would be stuck on residual waste bins as a reminder to recycle. “Recycle Now has learnt that there was an operational issue which meant that the stickers went out in the wrong order, and that residents were delivered the red ‘waster’ sticker in the first instance. We understand how this may cause confusion and offence for residents and apologise for this.” | ['uk-news/peterborough', 'environment/recycling', 'uk/uk', 'environment/waste', 'society/localgovernment', 'type/article', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'society/society', 'tone/news', 'profile/nadeembadshah', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-12-01T14:41:12Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2012/nov/02/the-beauty-of-wind-farms | Letters: The beauty of windfarms | Research says renewable energy will overtake nuclear power by 2018 (Windfarm sector grows despite Tory opposition, 30 October), but the government seems about to announce a set of subsidy levels and deployment targets that are radically biased against onshore wind and in favour of nuclear power. Various sources have suggest the government is likely to set the "strike price" to be paid for nuclear power at around £100 per MWh of electricity generated. Yet, onshore wind is likely to get no more than £80 per MWh under the government's electricity market reform. There is also talk that a cap will be announced on windfarm deployment to satisfy anti-windfarm Tories. This smacks of giant political bias in favour of nuclear rather than wind power. If onshore wind was paid £100 per MWh we could have a lot more onshore windfarms – but the government clearly prefers to have nuclear if it can. How can they justify such a policy? This is contrary to public opinion, which gives more support to wind power than nuclear. We hear claims that Hitachi's nuclear reactors will be "reliable" – even though half of the advanced boiling water reactors (promoted by Hitachi) being operated work for less than half the time. At least you can predict windspeeds in advance with some accuracy, which is more than you can say for nuclear power stations which suddenly go offline without warning. Dr David Toke Senior lecturer in energy policy, University of Birmingham • Once again Simon Jenkins (In the wind turbine debate, who dares utter the B-word?, 2 November) expounds his condescending view that we should all agree that wind turbines are inherently ugly and blots on the landscape. The only reason he can see the view from Mam Tor, or anywhere else for that matter, is because our ancestors cut down all those beautiful trees to make charcoal, build mills, houses and ships. Also visible in the Peak District and Cornwall are the remains of lead and tin mines now deemed worthy of preservation and restoration as part of our industrial heritage. In their heyday I'm sure Simon would have objected to their ruin of the landscape had he been able to write rather than having to fill a tub with ore to earn his crust. Many people find the sight of wind turbines beautiful and a heartwarming indication that at least we are trying. I would love to see a wind farm from my kitchen window on the edge of the Dales National Park. In view of the latest long-term pollution figures from Fukushima, turbines are distinctly more attractive than further nuclear development. Duncan Grimmond Harrogate • On-shore wind farms change the character of the countryside. They transform the soul-nurturing nature of the rural landscape into a restless semi-industrial scene with the introduction of artefacts which speak of our stressful hi-tech world. This is a very serious loss for the indigenous population and moreover, in the long term, tourists will realise that much of what they came for has gone. The correct place for wind farms is off shore where the wind is. Jim McCluskey Twickenham, Middlesex • Despite what Simon Jenkins may think, it is simply not the case that the planning system does not try to deal with aesthetics. In Cornwall, at least, the council's landscape officers are consultees for every wind turbine application. They may not use the B word, but they have no hesitation in using phrases such as "the proposal will adversely impact the existing landscape character of the locality". The same landscape officers will extol the merits of the redundant 19th-century industry that litters the countryside using adjectives such as iconic. The problem with beauty is that it is in the eye of the beholder. To me, wind turbines are structures of beauty and my view is shared by many; to Jenkins, wind turbines are ugly and his view is shared by many. For a large proportion of the population, however, wind turbines are greeted with the same indifference they display towards pylons: they accept that, if we want to benefit from modern technology, we will inevitably see some manifestation of the industry that supplies it. Bob Egerton Cornwall councillor, Truro | ['environment/windpower', 'tone/letters', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2012-11-02T21:00:00Z | true | ENERGY |
politics/2019/apr/17/labour-bank-england-green-mandate-john-mcdonnell-carney | Labour hints at giving Bank of England green mandate if elected | The Bank of England’s powers to tackle climate change risks in the financial system could be given an overhaul to reflect the scale of the “emergency” facing the planet, John McDonnell has said. Speaking after Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, used an article in the Guardian to warn financial firms that they faced an existential risk from global warming, the shadow chancellor said Labour was exploring ways to retool Threadneedle Street. Welcoming Carney’s intervention in a tweet on Wednesday, McDonnell appeared to suggest that more action was required to meet the challenges of climate change. McDonnell has been examining various ways to reshape the Bank’s mandate, which is set by the government, should Labour come to power. He has previously focused on giving Threadneedle Street greater powers to direct the lending of commercial banks into more productive sectors of the economy, and away from property speculation. Labour is also considering ways to funnel more investment into green industries and technologies, which will encompass how the role of government and other agencies, such as the Bank, can be used to tackle climate change. The party has already said it would rewrite the Treasury’s green book, the manual for government spending decisions, and that the Office for Budget Responsibility, the tax and spending watchdog, would be mandated to consider climate risks in its economic forecasts. The Bank said on Wednesday it would disclose an assessment of how it managed climate-related financial risks as part of its 2019-20 annual report, a regular update on its work, which will come out next year. Carney said the central bank would adopt the framework of the taskforce for climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD) – a G20 initiative calling on commercial banks to disclose their lending to companies with carbon-related risks – to publish details of its own risks from climate change. “We need to lead by example and by providing such disclosures, we will be playing our part to secure the transition to sustainable financial system,” he said. Campaigners have argued that the Bank could do more to tackle risks from climate change, including forcing the mandatory disclosure of carbon-related assets, rather than asking banks to consider doing so. Threadneedle Street could also force banks to set aside more money to protect from losses on carbon assets, or encourage them to lend to green projects by reducing the amount of money they are required to set aside. Rob Macquarie, an economist at the lobby group Positive Money, said: “Central banks have a crucial role to play in decarbonising the financial system, but continually present their mandates as a restriction against adopting certain climate-friendly policies. We therefore welcome moves from the Labour party.” | ['business/bankofenglandgovernor', 'politics/john-mcdonnell', 'politics/politics', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'business/mark-carney', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/labour', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/richard-partington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-04-17T16:46:41Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2019/oct/08/extinction-rebellion-activists-glue-themselves-to-home-office-and-dft | Extinction Rebellion activists glue themselves to DfT and Home Office | Extinction Rebellion activists have glued themselves to the Department for Transport and the lobby of the Home Office in another day of protests, with further action planned at other government department buildings as hundreds face arrest. About 200 protesters camped on the streets of central London on Tuesday on the second day of the campaign group’s planned two-week shutdown of the heart of the capital in protest at the lack of action to tackle the climate crisis. Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Trafalgar Square and Smithfield market, as well as several roads in Westminster, were blockaded by activists on Monday, with a focus on the areas around parliament in an attempt to force politicians to heed their warning. On Tuesday, protesters who remained faced arrest after being issued with warnings by police. Under the section 14 notices, which were handed out to tents at about 7.30am, the activists will be allowed to demonstrate in a specified location – Trafalgar Square. Those who do not comply with the order and move their belongings will be arrested, though many camping on the corner of Horseferry Road and Marsham Street, near to the Home Office, intend to stay. Many activists had no plans to move their tents to Trafalgar Square. One activist in his 20s said: “They came round and told us that we should be moving on. I don’t think we are going to move on. It’s not a risk if you know you’re going to be arrested. It’s something I’ll do if I need to. “We’ve got extremely good legal support and it’s a very well set-up organisation so I feel like I’ll be supported all through the way. An arrest doesn’t mean a conviction.” Another young activist added that there was no pressure from the movement to protest in a particular way. “Just because you’re being arrested doesn’t mean you do or don’t support Extinction Rebellion any more than the next person,” she said. “There are people within this group that support this group very much and they won’t be getting arrested, but they support everybody.” The group had glued themselves to the Department for Transport with other plans for activity at other government departments planned for throughout the day. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, has criticised the Extinction Rebellion activists, dismissing them as “uncooperative crusties” who should stop blocking the streets of the capital with their “heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs”. Johnson made the remarks at the launch of the final volume of a biography of Margaret Thatcher written by his former boss at the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore. | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/activism', 'world/protest', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/london', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/sarah-marsh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-10-08T12:33:03Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
global-development-professionals-network/2015/jul/08/what-energy-shortage | What energy shortage? | If we were able to capture and use the energy from just two minutes of sunlight falling on the earth, it would be enough to fuel our cars, light and heat our buildings, and provide for all of our other electricity needs for an entire year. Simply put, we humans are not facing a shortage of energy. We are facing a technical challenge in capturing it and delivering it to consumers; and one of the most efficient ways to meet that challenge is to invest in better ways to store it. Many of the world’s problems today can be traced to energy use, from conflicts over oil supplies and concerns about greenhouse-gas emissions to lost productivity and output stemming from shortages and blackouts. In many of the poorest parts of the world, the lack of energy stifles economic development. Globally, more than 1.3 billion people have no access to electricity; and some 2.6 billion have no access to modern cooking facilities. More than 95% of these people are in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia, and 84% live in rural areas. During the run-up to the recent presidential election in Nigeria, for example, a woman was asked what she wanted the candidates to deliver. She replied with a one-word answer: “Light.” Electricity, a basic commodity, would allow her to continue to work and her children to study. Unreliable or unavailable energy is a problem in much of Africa and the Indian sub-continent, as well as some other parts of Asia. According to a report by the International Energy Agency, improvements to the energy sector could provide the equivalent of a decade of growth in some of the poorest parts of the world. Our global energy crisis has been aggravated by a lack of innovation. According to a study by the United States government’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, more than 60% of the energy we use is lost between the time it is generated and the time it is consumed. This includes the inefficiency in converting fossil fuels to electricity, losses during transmission, wasteful consumer behavior, and the need to maintain a reserve to prevent blackouts. A new wave of innovation is required, one that can eliminate waste, reduce pollution, and broaden access to energy around the world. That means focusing on efficiency-boosting technologies such as wireless communication, machine-to-machine communication, smart metering, and better production management. Renewable energy sources, including solar and wind power, are well positioned to contribute to energy needs in both mature and emerging economies. But, because the sun does not always shine, and the wind does not always blow, energy from these sources is unstable and intermittent. And this will continue to be a problem unless, and until, we are able to store power from renewable sources efficiently. Studies by the US Western Electricity Coordinating Council have found that finding better ways to store energy could cut total waste by about 18% and boost the efficiency of electricity use by up to 11%. Better energy-storage methods would also make it easier to deliver electricity to hard-to-reach areas that are currently underserved, as well as help make the best use of often-scarce sources of power. One well-tested method for storing energy is to use excess capacity to pump water into reservoirs, so that it can be used later to power turbines when demand is high. But this approach is practical only in mountainous areas, making it unsuitable as a mass-market solution. Promising areas of research include grid-scale batteries with the ability to charge and discharge tens of thousands of times and data analytics to optimize the use of the batteries and make the grid as efficient as possible. It is not enough to generate energy. We must also use it efficiently, and the wide-scale adoption of state-of-the-art storage technology will be an essential part of the solution. Ensuring that the world’s energy supplies are stable, efficient, accessible, and affordable will take time. But breakthroughs are on the horizon. Our task is to keep our sights there. Jostein Eikeland is founder and CEO of Alevo. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2015. Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow@GuardianGDP on Twitter. | ['global-development-professionals-network/series/energy-access', 'working-in-development/working-in-development', 'environment/energy', 'environment/energyefficiency', 'environment/solarpower', 'technology/technology', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/comment'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2015-07-08T13:43:43Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2015/dec/08/best-wedding-ever-ullswater-villagers-guests-rescued-after-three-days | 'Best wedding ever': Ullswater villagers and guests rescued after three days | Sam and Samantha Thompson have more reason than most couples to remember the day they got married. At midnight on Saturday, when they expected to bid their friends and family farewell to spend their first night as husband and wife, the legal professionals from Hull found themselves stranded by the flooding in Cumbria, along with their 70 guests. For many of those trapped by Storm Desmond, rescue couldn’t come soon enough. But for this party holed up at the Inn on the Lake in Glenridding by Ullswater, the flood waters’ retreat meant the end to what had essentially amounted to a 70-hour lock-in. Some guests were unable to return to their own lodgings as water levels rose, and ended up sleeping on sofas for three days in their wedding outfits. In the words of one guest leaving the hotel on Tuesday morning, it was “the best wedding ever”. Another looked genuinely sad to be waving goodbye to hotel staff. “I don’t want to go home,” she said mournfully. “We will remember this forever.” Glenridding was cut off after the A592 lakeside road flooded and a landslide hurtled down from Catstye Cam, an outlier of Helvellyn, which poured boulders through the village, smashing through the tourist information centre and flooding every property in its wake. Though most properties had power during their three-day isolation, phone and internet connections went down when Pooley Bridge collapsed at the north end of Ullswater, taking with it all of BT’s communication cables. On Tuesday 200 engineers were working to restore the service, with one local angler using his fishing line to help the repair operation. Only on Monday did Mountain Rescue manage to evacuate the most vulnerable from the village, using rescue boats and 4x4s equipped with snorkels to power through water over a metre high. While the wedding bash was in full swing on Saturday, the Thompsons’ wedding guests were largely oblivious to the scale of the drama developing outside, though some noticed the lake water did seem to be lapping up dangerously close to the orangerie steps. It was touch and go whether the wedding would take place, with the registrar stuck down the road in Aira Force as the water levels rose at lunchtime on Saturday. But George Smith, the hotel’s wedding planner, was determined the ceremony take place, driving his Land Rover through water a metre deep in order to pick up the registrar, along with the flowers. The hairdresser didn’t make it; nor did the DJ. But the Wi-Fi only conked out late on Saturday evening, meaning the bridesmaid was able to run a Spotify disco as the lights flickered on and off during the storm. On Sunday the wedding party worked off their hangovers by helping villagers build a dam to divert the flooded beck into the stream so the clear-up operation could begin. “It was brilliant,” said Samatha. “It’s really brought our families together. It’s been so good to spend time together. We’ve made our own fun – Sam and I played Mr and Mrs, we put on a pub quiz, played charades, sang, drank.” Packing to leave on Tuesday, Sam said he wanted to thank the hotel staff and villagers for their hospitality. “On our invitations we asked guests to donate to Mountain Rescue instead of giving us gifts, and we are so glad we did. We’ll be donating too, and thinking about everybody in Glenridding who isn’t as lucky as us, leaving today.” Elsewhere in the village, a popular location for ramblers tackling Helvellyn along Striding Edge, residents seemed a little dazed but in good spirits. They were keen to tell stories of derring-do – such as the 18-year-old lad who carried an ill woman from her home during the worst of the storm, wading through waist-high water and then returning for her dog – and the irrepressible community spirit, which ensured all 400 residents and guests stayed safe during the worst flooding since Keppel Cove dam burst its banks on the hills above in 1927. On Tuesday morning the Ramblers Bar had been turned into a free shop, supplied by soldiers from the 2nd battalion Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, who had kipped overnight in Carlisle Castle. With drinking water contaminated, bottled water was in high demand. Baby wipes, nappies, paracetamol, juice and bread were also available free. The Guardian hitched a lift into the village with Lynn Iredale, practice manager at Glenridding health centre. “It was horrendous. We’ve never had anything like it. It was much worse than in 2009. People are saying it’s not been as bad since 1927, when a dam at the Keppel Cove tarn burst,” she said. Inside the health centre on Tuesday, GP Lucy Dickinson noted how important it had been to the village to offer medical support during the storm and its aftermath. “Today there was supposed to be a public meeting of NHS England in the village hall to discuss whether this practice should be closed, after the government cut our funding in half,” she said. “The meeting has obviously been cancelled now but we need to get the message out that we offer an essential service, not just in a crisis like this, but every day of the year.” Ullswater in December was always a bit of a risk, conceded Samatha, 31. “But Sam wanted a winter wedding and I wanted to get married as soon as possible, and we both wanted to get married here, so that was that.” | ['uk-news/storm-desmond', 'uk/lake-district', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/helenpidd', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-12-08T16:14:30Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
global/2023/sep/12/how-have-you-been-affected-by-the-flooding-in-libya | How have you been affected by the flooding in Libya? | As many as 20 000 are thought to have died after catastrophic flooding in Libya following torrential rains brought by storm Daniel over the weekend. Rescue workers in the devastated city of Derna have appealed for more body bags amid fears of an epidemic due to the large number of bodies under the rubble and in the water. We want to hear about how people in the region are coping with the flooding. How have you and your loved ones been affected? We would also like speak with people who are helping in the relief effort. This Community callout closed on 3 November 2023. You can contribute to open Community callouts here or Share a story here. | ['world/libya', 'type/article', 'world/africa', 'world/middleeast', 'world/world', 'tone/callout', 'world/libya-flood-2023', 'campaign/callout/callout-libya-flooding', 'profile/guardian-community-team', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-communities-and-social'] | campaign/callout/callout-libya-flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2023-09-12T12:46:58Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2019/apr/21/facial-recognition-big-techs-toxic-gateway-app-smartphone-facebook-unregulated | Facial recognition is big tech’s latest toxic ‘gateway’ app | John Naughton | The headline above an essay in a magazine published by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) caught my eye. “Facial recognition is the plutonium of AI”, it said. Since plutonium – a by-product of uranium-based nuclear power generation – is one of the most toxic materials known to humankind, this seemed like an alarmist metaphor, so I settled down to read. The article, by a Microsoft researcher, Luke Stark, argues that facial-recognition technology – one of the current obsessions of the tech industry – is potentially so toxic for the health of human society that it should be treated like plutonium and restricted accordingly. You could spend a lot of time in Silicon Valley before you heard sentiments like these about a technology that enables computers to recognise faces in a photograph or from a camera. There, it’s regarded as universally beneficial. If you’ve ever come across a suggestion on Facebook to tag a face with a suggested individual’s name, for example, then you’ve encountered the technology. And it’s come on in leaps and bounds as cameras, sensors and machine-learning software have improved and as the supply of training data (images from social media) has multiplied. We’ve now reached the point where it’s possible to capture images of people’s faces and identify them in real time. Which is the thing that really worries Stark. Why? Basically because facial-recognition technologies “have insurmountable flaws in the ways they schematise human faces” – particularly in that they reinforce discredited categorisations around race and gender. In the light of these flaws, Stark argues, the risks of the technologies vastly outweigh the benefits in a way that is reminiscent of hazardous nuclear materials. “Facial recognition,” he says, “simply by being designed and built, is intrinsically socially toxic, regardless of the intentions of its makers; it needs controls so strict that it should be banned for almost all practical purposes.” There are two levels of concern here, one immediate and the other longer-term but perhaps more fundamental. The short-term issue is that the technology is currently only good at recognising some kinds of faces – mostly those with white complexions – and has difficulty with people of colour. Whether this is “insurmountable” (as Stark maintains) remains to be seen, but it’s alarming enough already because it provides a means of “racialising” societies using the charisma of science. The longer-term worry is that if this technology becomes normalised then in the end it will be everywhere; all human beings will essentially be machine-identifiable wherever they go. At that point corporations and governments will have a powerful tool for sorting and categorising populations. And at the moment we seem to have no way of controlling the development of such tools. To appreciate the depths of our plight with this stuff, imagine if the pharmaceutical industry were allowed to operate like the tech companies currently do. Day after day in their laboratories, researchers would cook up amazingly powerful, interesting and potentially lucrative new drugs which they could then launch on an unsuspecting public without any obligation to demonstrate their efficacy or safety. Yet this is exactly what has been happening in tech companies for the past two decades – all kinds of “cool”, engagement-boosting and sometimes addictive services have been cooked up and launched with no obligation to assess their costs and benefits to society. In that sense one could think of Facebook Live, say, as the digital analogue of thalidomide – useful for some purposes and toxic for others. Facebook Live turned out to be useful for a mass killer to broadcast his atrocity; thalidomide was marketed over the counter in Europe as a mild sleeping pill but ultimately caused the birth of thousands of deformed children, and untold anguish. In the end, we will need some kind of control regime for what the tech companies produce – a kind of Federal Apps Administration, perhaps. But we’re nowhere near that at the moment. Instead (to continue the pharma metaphor) we’re in the pre-pharmaceutical era of snake oil and patent medicines launched on a gullible public by unregulated and unscrupulous entrepreneurs. And as far as facial recognition is concerned, we are seeing services that effectively function as gateway drugs to normalise the technology. FaceApp, for example, used to offer a “hot” filter that lightened the skin colour of black users to make them look more “European”, but had to abandon it after widespread protests. It still offers “Black”, “Indian” and “Asian” filters, though. And, interestingly, Apple’s latest range of iPhones offers FaceID – which uses facial-recognition software to let the device identify its owner and enhance its “security”. The subliminal message of all this stuff, of course, is clear. It says that facial recognition is the wave of the future and there’s nothing to worry our silly little heads about. Which is where Stark’s plutonium metaphor breaks down. Nobody ever pretended that that wasn’t dangerous. What I’m reading The politics of laughter A comedian for president? William Davies has written a perceptive essay on the subject of politics and comedy for the openDemocracy website. Now you see it… Ever wonder how astronomers found supermassive black holes? A lovely student essay on the subject by Mark J Reid, winner of a competition run by Harvard University, can be found on nautil.us. What fresh hell is this? Great reporting in Wired by Nicholas Thompson and Fred Vogelstein last week on a year of chaos in Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook empire. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'technology/series/networker', 'technology/facial-recognition', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/facebook', 'technology/iphone', 'technology/technology', 'world/surveillance', 'world/world', 'tone/comment', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/johnnaughton', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/new-review', 'theobserver/new-review/discover', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-new-review'] | technology/facial-recognition | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2019-04-21T06:00:52Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2024/sep/27/country-diary-spotted-regal-sawflies-make-moves-to-repel-me | Country diary: Spotted regal sawflies make moves to repel me | Clare Stares | Throughout the summer, two potted hazels have stood proudly in front of our bay window. Drawing back the curtains one morning, I immediately noticed that something didn’t look quite right – on some branches all of the leaf blades had been chewed down to their veins and midribs. When I went outside to investigate, I discovered hundreds of spotted regal sawfly (Nematus septentrionalis) larvae clinging to the foliage. At first glance, the 10mm-long green and black-spotted creatures could easily be misidentified as butterfly or moth caterpillars – but they had a clear distinguishing feature. In addition to their three pairs of forelegs, they sported six pairs of bright yellow prolegs, while Lepidoptera larvae have a maximum of five pairs. While a few smaller individuals hid away on the underside of the leaves, most of the larvae were gripping the leaf edges and steadily munching their way inwards. They swayed hypnotically as they fed, a defence mechanism intended to confuse potential predators. When I extended a finger towards them, they reared up in unison, curling their bodies into an S shape in an attempt to repel me. Sawflies are not flies. They belong to the order Hymenoptera, which includes wasps, bees and ants. In German, they’re known as Blattwespes, a more apt name meaning leaf wasp. Part of the sub-order Symphyta, they are the most primitive insects within the order and are believed to be closest to the ancestral form that all Hymenopterans evolved from, with the oldest sawfly fossils dating from the middle to late Triassic. There are about 500 species found in Britain. Many are specialists, feeding on a single or limited number of plant species. Despite the spotted regal sawfly’s reputed preference for alder and silver birch, my two mature weeping birch trees had been spared, but the leaves of a small pussy willow had also been stripped to their skeletons. From a gardener’s perspective, it seems difficult to comprehend the purpose of these destructive gluttons. But adult sawflies are pollinators of crops and flowering plants and, though it looks unsightly, the damage their progeny cause is mainly cosmetic and doesn’t have any adverse effects on the plant’s long‑term health. • Country diary is on Twitter/X at @gdncountrydiary • Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at guardianbookshop.com and get a 20% discount | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/insects', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/plants', 'environment/forests', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/claire-stares', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-09-27T04:30:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/2017/apr/19/pollution-killing-children-clean-air-bill | Pollution is killing our children. Here’s how we can save them | Geraint Davies | Every weekday, millions of primary school children across the UK put their lives at risk. Break time brings relief for busy teachers and is often met with screams of delight as children run out onto the playground. But in many of our major cities, tens of thousands of children in hundreds of schools, nurseries and colleges are at risk as they inhale diesel pollution breaching EU air quality standards. Across the UK, more than 40,000 people die prematurely from diesel pollution, at a cost of £20bn each year, according to the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Paediatrics 2016 report. Now 50% of new cars are diesel, with each car producing many times more fumes than laboratory tests had previously indicated. The VW scandal has shown that the motor industry cannot be trusted and the royal colleges’ report finds that babies and children are particularly at risk. Foetuses in pregnant women exposed to air pollution are more likely to suffer effects to their lungs, heart and neurological development. Children in “clean air zones”, areas where the air quality problem is most serious, have a 10% reduced lung capacity and have more respiratory problems, together with effects on their nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems. This leads to physical and mental health problems in later life. The government has compelling evidence to act now. Instead it fears the backlash of diesel drivers who bought their cars in good faith and are still encouraged to do so by lower vehicle tax rates. The public-health risks of diesel particulates have been well known since the days of Margaret Thatcher. However, the impact of nitrogen oxides and the scale of underestimated pollution from lab tests compounded by the sheer volume of cars has now become a public-health catastrophe. That’s why the demand for a new Clean Air Act grows. Meanwhile, the supreme court has demanded that the government produces a clean air strategy, to fulfil our EU air quality obligations. Today, I publish my clean air bill to give shape and ambition to the government’s plan. Britain needs to take bold leadership. We already know that four capital cities – Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City – have plans to remove diesel vehicles by 2025 and that the markets are investing in zero-emissions futures. Tesla, founded in 2003, produces just 76,000 electric cars and is valued at $49bn (£38bn) – $3bn more than Ford, founded a century earlier, which produces 6.6m vehicles. The clean air bill is a route map to reach World Health Organization air quality standards by tackling emissions in our cities, ports and airports. It provides the signals and incentives for consumers and producers to change their behaviour to do so. Rather than penalising diesel car-owners who bought in good faith, the bill calls for recall and refit of cars, fiscal incentives and scrappage schemes largely funded by manufacturers for drivers to switch to vehicles that produce fewer – or ideally, zero – emissions. It provides for a national electric and hydrogen refuelling network and gives local authorities a responsibility to measure and publicise pollution levels, in particular close to vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. Councils will have powers to restrict access or introduce pollution charges if communities so wish, based on local evidence. What’s more, new powers are proposed to combat diesel pollution belching into communities from idling ships in port by requiring a switch to port-provided electric power. The bill also addresses freight transport, pollution at airports and “cheat devices” installed on cars. Overall, the bill aims to make our right to clean air a reality. Our first duty as parents is to protect our children. Break time, walking to the shops and football in the park shouldn’t be life-or-death decisions beyond our control. They needn’t be. For the sake of all our children, let’s do something about it now. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/pollution', 'society/health', 'society/children', 'politics/transport', 'world/road-transport', 'business/car-scrappage', 'tone/comment', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'society/society', 'type/article', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/geraint-davies', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-04-19T14:29:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2018/apr/20/michael-gove-cotton-bud-ban-wipe-out-plastic | Gove’s cotton bud ban is feeble. This is how we can wipe out plastic | Susanna Rustin | At least two decades after cotton buds (known in my childhood home as “ear cleaners”) became well known as a public health hazard, never, ever to be placed anywhere near ears, the government has announced plans to ban them, maybe next year. Low-hanging fruit and all that, but like the 5p plastic bag charge introduced in 2015, this is a bit feeble. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good news: because they are small, hard and pointy these nasty pieces of plastic are dangerous for marine creatures, who sometimes eat them, and the sooner we get rid of them the better. The same goes for coffee stirrers and plastic straws, 8.5bn of which are thrown away in the UK each year. I blame dentists for my late conversion to straw-hating: they recommend straws (well, mine did) because sugary drinks are conducted more directly to children’s throats, bypassing teeth. Blue Planet’s footage of albatross nests full of trash may have been (literally) the last plastic straw for my family, but in any case paper ones work fine (although someone may need to invent one sharp enough to pierce the foil-covered straw-hole in juice cartons). However, if Michael Gove’s crackdown on not-very-useful single-use plastic items doesn’t go far enough, what are the items that any plastic-restricting environment secretary should seek to ban? 1) Packaging that doesn’t include recycling instructions We know the basics: tins, glass and paper yes; plastic film no. But what about those trays that fish comes in, with no information on them? Manufacturers and retailers should be forced to label every piece of packaging, including lids and fastenings – so we know what to do with them. No more hovering around bins, tormented by the fear of contamination. 2) Plastic film We use more than a million tonnes a year of the stuff, most of which isn’t recycled. We can’t eliminate it overnight, but please can we start trying to reduce its use – and invent biodegradable alternatives? 3) Plastic forks More ubiquitous than ever, as salads and other non-hand-held lunch options proliferate, these are so obviously dreadful – never more so than when they come in plastic packets with knives and napkins no one needs – that they must be stopped. Biodegradable alternatives only, or cleverly designed portable, reusable ones. (These exist but mainly in camping shops – we need them on display at checkouts across the land.) 4) Plastic bottles The government has announced a deposit return scheme (you stick bottles and cans into a reverse vending machine, it spits out cash), and the Glastonbury festival has announced a ban. We need to go further, faster. Drinking fountains must become the standard in public and private places. Now! 5) Rubbish labels on rubbish bins One day I will do an experiment and watch public recycling bins get emptied and sorted. My hunch is that contamination is virtually universal, and these bins don’t work. Some people can’t be bothered to sort their litter, but it’s not all our fault. Standing there with a plastic spoon, a coffee cup with plastic lid, a greasy sandwich packet with a film lid, a napkin and a plastic pot – with no tap to rinse off any food residue – it’s not obvious what to do. Suggestion: taps (see above) located so that they could also be used for rinsing. 6) Councils with different recycling rules This is tricky, because a healthy waste market ought to mean plenty of competition, with the councils who buy these services able to shop around. But for ordinary people it’s confusing, as some authorities collect mixed recycling while others demand stringent sorting; and what is deemed recyclable varies too. For people who live and work in different local authority areas (extremely common in and around London), it’s hard to keep track. We need homogenisation. 7) Plastic cups, including coffee cups Reusable and biodegradable alternatives only (see cutlery, above). 8) Arctic oil exploration Some people think recycling is a displacement activity for people who can’t really bear to shrink their carbon footprints. But while fussing over plastic forks in an airport lounge before boarding a long-haul flight might not be strictly rational, I disagree. Plastics are made from natural gas and crude oil. The problem of plastic pollution is linked to fossil fuels. By supporting the protection of the Arctic – where David Cameron once hugged a husky and Donald Trump is currently pushing exploration – Michael Gove could send a signal that the UK government’s concern about pollution is real. • Susanna Rustin is a Guardian writer and editor | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'politics/michaelgove', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/susannarustin', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-04-20T13:56:54Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2018/sep/12/world-weatherwatch-intense-threats-from-hurricane-florence-typhoon-jebi | World weatherwatch: Intense threats from Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Jebi | The hurricane named Florence is expected to hit the east coast of the US, between North Georgia and South Virginia on 13 September. Florence began life as “tropical depression 6”, intensified to a tropical storm over the following few days and to a hurricane on 5 September. It then weakened, but since has been undergoing re-intensification and is expected to return to hurricane strengthbefore landfall, with a forecast intensity of category 4. Meanwhile, Japan has been recovering from the impact of Typhoon Jebi, which made landfall there on 4 September. Jebi was the strongest cyclone to strike Japan since Yancy in 1993, and it brought widespread damage from strong winds and flooding. At Kansai international airport, located on a constructed island, runways were submerged. More than 600 injuries and 11 deaths in Japan have been attributed to the storm. Torrential rain and flooding has also affected Guangdong province in China. Although this was not directly associated with a tropical storm much of the region had more than 100mm or even 200mm of rain in the days leading up to 1 September. Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated by the local authorities. | ['world/hurricane-florence', 'weather/japan', 'news/series/world-weatherwatch', 'us-news/us-weather', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/japan', 'science/meteorology', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | world/hurricane-florence | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-09-12T20:30:04Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2023/nov/02/jaguar-land-rover-reports-record-revenues-but-warns-it-will-miss-uk-electric-car-targets | Jaguar Land Rover reports record revenues as sales increase | Britain’s largest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, has reported record revenues amid continued strong demand for its Range Rover and Defender models, but said it would only hit UK electric car targets via a series of loopholes. JLR, owned by India’s Tata, revealed on Thursday it had made revenues of £13.8bn between April and September, up 42% on the previous year. In the latest quarter revenues hit £6.9bn, while profit before tax rose year on year to £442m. It also reported its fourth consecutive quarter of profit for the first time in six years, after a difficult period in which it wrote down the value of big investments in China and then had to cope with the coronavirus pandemic and a global shortage of computer chips. The company still has an order backlog of 165,000 cars but that was a marked reduction from its peak of more than 200,000. It said that demand for its Range Rover SUV, the smaller Range Rover Sport and the more rugged Defender remained strong, particularly in China. Adrian Mardell, the manufacturer’s chief executive, said he expected revenues to hit a new record in the second half of its financial year, before an expected drop in demand from April onwards. Initially on Thursday, Mardell said JLR would face a further hit from fines related to the UK government’s zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which would require 22% of total UK sales next year to be electric cars. Failure to meet the target could result in fines of £15,000 for every non-electric vehicle produced over the threshold. However, JLR later corrected Mardell’s comments, saying the company in fact expects to avoid most of the fines because of loopholes that give manufacturers leeway by making plug-in hybrid vehicles, which combine a petrol or diesel engine with a battery, and which lower carbon emissions if regularly charged by users. The company will also be able to use overcompliance on the targets in later years to offset non-compliance in early years. JLR expects 70% of its sales will be battery electric in 2027, compared with the ZEV mandate target of 38%. JLR expects a small ZEV mandate fine related to the cars it sells in 2025 to commercial fleets, which are counted separately. After a series of delays to its electric plans, the carmaker sells only one zero-emission vehicle, the lauded but ageing Jaguar I-Pace, and its first electric Range Rover will start deliveries towards the end of 2024. JLR was likely to offer deals on the I-Pace in 2024 to encourage more buyers, Mardell said. Mardell said JLR would be ready to meet the ZEV mandate on its own terms in 2025 and 2026, when it would have to hit 28% and then 33% electric sales in the UK. JLR is spending £15bn on switching gradually to electric vehicles. Tata will provide the batteries for JLR’s belated transition to electric cars from a £4bn factory to be built in the UK. Mardell said JLR would start receiving those British batteries towards the end of 2026. | ['business/automotive-industry', 'business/jaguar-land-rover', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/electric-cars', 'technology/motoring', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jasper-jolly', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2023-11-02T17:55:47Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2016/may/22/shell-blocking-hydro-dam-project-on-thames-teddington-lock | Club owned by Shell tries to block local hydropower scheme | Shell is involved in blocking the development of a renewable energy project in a legal battle between a private club owned by the company and a community hydropower scheme on the river Thames. The scheme at Teddington lock and weirs has won planning permission and defeated a judicial review from the Lensbury club, but the club is now seeking to appeal against the judicial review decision. The latest legal moves came just as Shell created a separate division, New Energies, to invest in renewable and low-carbon power. Despite Lensbury’s objection, its environment policy states: “We are looking into sustainable methods to produce a large proportion of our electricity.” The Teddington and Ham hydro project is run by a co-operative of local volunteers who have raised £700,000 so far from local residents. It would have three reverse Archimedes screws and generate enough electricity to power 600 houses. The site is by the bank of the Lensbury, which was formerly a staff club for Shell employees and is now a hotel and private leisure club. The Lensbury is wholly owned by Shell and its five named directors are all “oil company executives” according to filings to Companies House, including Mike Napier, executive vice-president of external communications at Shell. “Shell needs to think very hard about what this is doing to its reputation,” said Stephen Knight, Lib Dem councillor for Teddington ward and a member of the London assembly. “An international oil company is using its financial muscle to try to block a community hydropower scheme. This sends all the wrong messages about big oil companies trying to block the development of renewable power.” Jono Adams, one of the volunteer directors of the hydro project, said: “It is extremely frustrating that the planning process is being dragged out. There is a local and national will to get this sort of scheme up and running.” The scheme must start operating by March 2018 to receive the green energy subsidy payments it has been awarded by the government. Adams said the scheme, which was granted planning permission by Richmond borough council in September, had addressed local concerns about noise, visual impact and flood risk. “It’s a beautiful part of the world and people were very concerned that there would be something like an industrial generator on the site and it would be very noisy,” he said. “But actually the noise created will be completely drowned out by the [existing] noise of the water.” He said the scheme would be no larger than the existing weirs and would actually lower flood risk, because unlike the weirs, the hydro screws could be lifted entirely out of the waters when the Thames was running high. The Lensbury’s corporate and social responsibility policy states: “The Lensbury is committed to reducing its carbon footprint in all areas of our operation.” Adams pointed out that the hydro scheme could be used to power the club, saying: “If we did get a private wire into the Lensbury, it would get a great deal on energy and it would be supporting a local renewable energy scheme, so it would be great PR.” Lacy Curtis-Ward, chief executive of the Lensbury, said: “It may be all too easy to paint the Lensbury as environmentally unfriendly Luddites [but] this could not be further from the truth.” She said the Lensbury supported the development of a hydro scheme design that would “work for all stakeholders”. “It is expected the development [approved by Richmond council] will impact the hotel and conference business, as well as member numbers,” said Curtis-Ward. She said the noise assessments accepted by the council were “incorrect”. Curtis-Ward said she would consider the offer of a private electricity line: “Yes, of course, if and when the developers come up with a plan for a hydro scheme that will not damage our business.” A spokesman for Shell said: “Lensbury Ltd is a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum Company Limited, but its directors carry out their duties independently from Shell and act only in the interests of Lensbury Ltd.” Knight said the legal costs being incurred by Richmond council in contesting the judicial review were also an issue. “This legal battle with is costing local taxpayers’ money. This is because Shell is using rules designed to help communities challenge governments over environmental matters to limit its obligation to pay the council’s legal costs in this battle. This is shameful.” Curtis-Ward said the Lensbury’s use of a “protective cost order” was “what any commercial company would do”. | ['environment/hydropower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'business/royaldutchshell', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-05-22T22:09:43Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2020/jul/06/wuhan-residents-stay-indoors-record-rain-china-coronavirus | Wuhan residents told to stay indoors again after record rainfall | People living in Wuhan, the central Chinese city that bore the brunt of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, have been told stay indoors once more after record rainfall prompted authorities to raise the city’s emergency response to the second highest-level. A prolonged period of heavy rain is the latest disaster to strike China, where people are only just recovering from the coronavirus outbreak. State media have been accused of downplaying the severity of the floods, emphasising the heroic efforts of emergency workers by publishing prominent images of soldiers rescuing trapped residents. Residents waded waist-deep along waterlogged streets in Wuhan, filled after a record 426mm (16.8 inches) fell between Sunday and Monday morning. Authorities raised the four-tier emergency warning to level two on Monday, predicting more severe weather in the coming days. The country is braced for more flooding, after weeks of what has been for some regions the heaviest rainfall in decades triggered severe flooding and mudslides in almost every province, affecting more than 20 million people and resulting in direct economic losses of at least £4.7bn. China’s national weather service has issued rainstorm warnings for more than 31 consecutive days. “This has rarely been seen in recent years,” the state-run People’s Daily wrote on Weibo. At least 121 people have died or gone missing and more than 875,000 people have been forced to relocate, according to China’s ministry of emergency management. But internet users have questioned why the rains have received so little attention. “Why does our official media say nothing about the severe floods in the south of our country,” one user wrote on Weibo. Another said: “The topic of flooding is like a tattoo – covered up.” Mingbai Zhishi, an independent social media account or “self media”, wrote: “The floods raging in the south will not be quiet, but unlike in the past, the media are not rushing to report it. It really is quiet.” Several areas of Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, have already flooded. Torrential rain in Jingmen flooded shops and supermarkets. Helen Hai, 25, in Changyang county east of Wuhan in Hubei province, described driving and passing landslides and rocks falling along the mountain roads. The windscreen wipers were useless against the fast and constant downpour. “It was like driving blind, like driving in the water,” Hai said. The rains, which flooded areas like hers last weekend, were unceasing. “The rain poured non-stop from morning until night. It was very frightening and I feel it is very unusual.” Elsewhere, in the city of Tongren in Guizhou province in the mountainous south-west, the floods formed a giant waterfall in the city centre. In Chongqing, in Sichuan province, more than 100,000 people were evacuated as dozens of homes were destroyed. On 29 June, after weeks of heavy rains and floods, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, gave his first public statement on the crisis, calling on the country to “put people first and value people’s lives most in the fight against the floods”, according to the official news agency Xinhua. Experts say officials are also obscuring the danger of the dams in rivers across southern and south-western China where the floods have been the worst. “This is their tradition. They never disclose how the disaster is made or why it has happened,” said Wang Weiluo, a Chinese hydrologist and outspoken critic of the giant Three Gorges hydroelectricity plant. “Most people think floods are caused by extreme weather but it is mainly caused by the discharge of reservoirs and the result of flood control works,” he said. Wang believes the actual losses may be greater than official reports. The recent example of the coronavirus outbreak, where authorities at first did not disclose the risk of contagion and punished whistleblowers such as Li Wenliang, a doctor, is instructive, according to Wang. “Blocking information is the beginning of a disaster. Any flood starts when the information is blocked. Just like Li Wenliang said: ‘A healthy society should not only have one voice.’ “In China, there is only one voice of the central meteorological station and when that one is wrong, everyone gets the wrong information.” Hai is not surprised that the authorities would want to downplay the crisis. “It is very common. They have been doing this for a long time, not just with flooding but also other problems,” she said. “It is hard for me to judge the government data but I tend to expect the real situation is worse than they claim.” | ['world/china', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/world', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lily-kuo', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-07-06T12:06:50Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2012/may/21/peter-gleick-cleared-heartland | Peter Gleick cleared of forging documents in Heartland expose | A review has cleared the scientist Peter Gleick of forging any documents in his expose of the rightwing Heartland Institute's strategy and finances, the Guardian has learned. Gleick's sting on Heartland brought unwelcome scrutiny to the organisation's efforts to block action on climate change, and prompted a walk-out of corporate donors that has created uncertainty about its financial future. Gleick, founder of the Pacific Institute and a well-regarded water expert, admitted and apologised for using deception to obtain internal Heartland documents last February. He has been on leave from the institute pending an external investigation into the unauthorised release of the documents, although it is not entirely clear what the investigation entailed. That investigation is now complete, and the conclusions will be made public. It was not immediately clear the findings would allow Gleick to make an early return to his job at the Pacific Institute. However, despite the official leave, Gleick has remained professionally active, appearing at public events and accepting speaking engagements. He delivered an Oxford Amnesty lecture on water in April. The leaked Heartland documents included a list of donors and plans to instill doubts in school children on the existence of climate change. They brought new scrutiny to the efforts by Heartland to block action on global warming, and to the existence of a shadowy network of rightwing organisations working to discredit climate science. In the aftermath, Heartland lost a number of corporate donors, beginning with the General Motors Foundation. The disclosure GM had funded Heartland work unrelated to climate was embarrassing for a foundation publicly committed to action on climate change. The thinktank also tried to capitalise on Gleick's actions, devoting a section of its website to Fakegate, as it termed the sting, and appealing for donations to combat what it called leftwing bullying. Following the expose, Heartland acknowledged most of the documents were genuine. But the thinktank claimed the most explosive document, a two-page strategy memo summarising plans spelled out in detail elsewhere, was a fake. Heartland also accused Gleick of forging the document and published findings of computer forensics experts that the memo did not appear to be a genuine strategy document. Gleick, for his part, has consistently denied forging the document. | ['environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'science/science', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2012-05-21T15:01:46Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
news/datablog/2010/nov/12/pakistan-haiti-aid-good | GOOD's guide to Pakistan v Haiti – which disaster got more aid? VISUALISED | The earthquake in Haiti last January was devastating: estimates of the death toll are nearly 250,000 and millions of people were displaced. Coverage of the disaster galvanised the world, with televised charity benefits and mass texting of donations to the Red Cross. Eight months later, massive flooding struck Pakistan. While it killed only 2,200 people, the economic effects were devastating, displacing more than 21 million people. Yet many thought the world's reaction was muted in comparison to Haiti. This is look at how countries and major organisations around the world responded to both disasters (through September 30). A collaboration between GOOD and Deep Local. What's going on? This is part of a new partnership between Datablog and GOOD. They'll be using our data to make infographics about important topics in global development, which you will be able to find on both our site and GOOD. Download the data • Aid to Haiti • Aid to Pakistan World government data • Search the world's government with our gateway Development and aid data • Search the world's global development data with our gateway Can you do something with this data? • Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter | ['news/datablog', 'tone/blog', 'world/pakistan', 'world/pakistan-flood', 'world/haiti', 'technology/technology', 'global-development/development-data', 'global-development/aid', 'global-development/poverty-matters', 'world/americas', 'tone/graphics', 'type/graphic', 'type/article'] | world/pakistan-flood | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2010-11-12T10:05:04Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2020/jul/21/plan-that-tackles-recession-and-climate-change-could-create-80000-jobs-report-says | Plan that tackles recession and climate change could create 76,000 Australian jobs, report says | Nearly 80,000 jobs could be quickly created through a stimulus plan that aims to rebuild the Australian economy from recession while tackling the climate crisis, an analysis commissioned by the Climate Council says. The report by the consultants AlphaBeta says 76,000 positions could be created over three years through nearly $22bn of combined public and private investment. It focuses on 12 areas including creating large-scale renewable energy projects, restoring degraded ecosystems, better dealing with organic waste, retrofitting inefficient public buildings and expanding electric vehicle networks. It found 70% of the jobs would be in construction and administrative support roles, 42% would be based in regional areas and nearly a third would require little training. The AlphaBeta work joins research commissioned by other advocacy and non-profit organisations that have proposed stimulus programs that would also cut greenhouse gas emissions rather than reinforce fossil fuel industries. Andrew Charlton, a director with the consultancy and a former economics adviser to then prime minister Kevin Rudd, said the research highlighted stimulus projects that prioritised economic recovery, but would also leverage private investment and accelerate the shift to clean energy, a move that would reduce costs in the long-term. “If you can spend the money in that way you’re doing the taxpayer a big favour,” he said. The analysis suggested investment in pilot-scale green hydrogen developments would be of the most benefit to the economy, yielding $4 of private spending for every public dollar invested. Large solar and windfarms would unlock $3 for every dollar spent, while electric vehicle infrastructure, improving waste collection and smaller, community-scale energy and storage projects could create $2. AlphaBeta said the jobs plan could be tailored to meet the different needs of states and territories. In New South Wales, the best opportunities were in building public transport infrastructure and big renewable energy plants; in Victoria, it was utility scale clean energy and organic waste management. Ecosystem restoration was identified as a leading job creator in all other states and territories, often alongside clean energy. The result would be a cleaner Australian economy, which is currently 43% more emissions-intensive than the OECD average. The country emits more per unit of GDP than each of the European Union, Japan, the US and Canada. Significant figures from across the community, including business leaders, unions and the welfare sector, have pushed for a green recovery from recession. Several groups have suggested work-intensive programs to improve the energy efficiency of Australia’s substandard housing and building stock. A report by Beyond Zero Emissions, an energy and climate change thinktank, found practical projects to decarbonise the economy could on average create 355,000 jobs a year for five years. The Morrison government has not yet made low-emissions investments a priority in its response. The energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, called for a gas-fired recovery, and the National Covid-19 Coordinating Commission has strongly backed expanding the gas industry while giving little consideration to renewable energy, but the idea of a green recovery has won more support from some state governments. Charlton said the AlphaBeta work differed from Beyond Zero Emissions’ report by focusing solely on what could be delivered immediately. “Our real lens here is an economic lens. How do we use the imperative to rescue the economy to support some of the long-term challenges? It’s saving the planet by saving the economy,” he said. Amanda McKenzie, the Climate Council’s chief executive, said the AlphaBeta plan would put the country “on a practical, jobs-rich path and focuses on areas most in need”. “It sets us up for the future by creating jobs and tackling climate change,” she said. “It’s a win-win solution.” | ['australia-news/series/the-green-recovery', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/australia-economy', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/energy', 'australia-news/business-australia', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-morton', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2020-07-20T22:09:30Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/mar/28/pollutionwatch-myth-inconvenient-youth-climate-change | Pollutionwatch: time to dispel the myth of the inconvenient youth | In 2007, an article in the Wall Street Journal appeared with the headline “Inconvenient youth”. A pun on Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, it described parents being badgered by their children to drive less or install low energy lighting to help climate change. It even included tips and strategies for fed-up parents to deflect these suggestions. A new study challenges this narrative. In 2015, a poster competition for Utah schools was launched to encourage teens to consider the air pollution implications of their driving privilege and to learn strategies to preserve air quality. Although the competition was directed at the teenagers, it soon became clear that they were talking to their parents and encouraging them to change behaviour too. Changes included stopping engine idling, joining short trips together or walking instead of driving. In later rounds, researchers began to focus on this parent-teenager interaction. In contrast to the pessimistic Wall Street Journal article, only 6% of parents said the information from children was as annoying or irritating. The clear majority were proud of their child’s clean air actions and were motivated to change themselves. Let’s hope our politicians are as open in listening to the thousands of school children taking to the streets each Friday. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-03-28T21:30:03Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2019/jul/13/living-walls-bloom-cities-tackle-air-pollution | Battle for clean air is sending our gardens to new heights | When Andrea Carnevali’s son started at St Mary’s Catholic primary school in Chiswick he was alarmed to find that pupils were sometimes kept indoors at break times, despite a large playground. The reason was the nearby six-lane A4 road, which has up to 100,000 vehicles thundering past the school each day. As evidence mounted about the impact of poor air quality on children’s health, the headteacher restricted time outside. Carnevali and other parents decided to take action. Within months they had crowdfunded almost £100,000, and last month a 126-metre “living wall” of 12,000 plants was installed as part of a clean-air initiative at the school. They hope the wall – designed to trap exhaust particles, absorb sound and increase biodiversity – will transform one of London’s most polluted schools into one of its greenest. “We’re immensely pleased,” said Carnevali. “The council is monitoring changes in air quality, and we hope for a 40% improvement – but even 10% would be good.” St Mary’s living wall is one of many being installed around the country by local authorities and private developers. Tennis fans may have noticed two enormous living walls flanking the giant outdoor screen at this year’s Wimbledon championships. And they are increasingly a feature of hotel and retail developments. A stunning vertical garden graces Elephant & Castle underground station in south London, part of a plan to improve air quality at one of the capital’s busiest road intersections. In a variation on a theme, “living lamp-posts” were installed this month as a trial in Ebury Street in Belgravia, central London. They will be monitored for air quality improvement for a year; if the pilot is successful, it could be extended to some of the other estimated 494,000 lamp-posts in central London. In Hull, the council is considering a proposal to transform Whitefriargate, a historic thoroughfare now blighted by empty shops, with vertical gardens. “Demand is definitely growing. There’s been a steady rise in interest over the past two years, and a noticeable increase since the beginning of this year,” said Calvin Dalrymple, a living wall consultant with ANS Global, one of the country’s leading suppliers, and the creator of St Mary’s living wall. “It’s being mainly driven by local authorities, but also a greater awareness in the private sector of the need for sustainable architecture.” According to Benz Kotzen of the Green Roofs and Living Walls Centre at the University of Greenwich, “we need every tool to try to improve things, and there just isn’t enough capacity in urban environments to create green infrastructure at ground level. “It’s no longer good enough to have a building facade that just keeps out the weather. In the future, building facades will need to be much more functional – cleaning the air, collecting energy and improving biodiversity.” Vertical gardens could also be used to grow food, he said, adding that herbs, strawberries, tomatoes and rocket did particularly well. Living walls range from simple wire structures to support climbing plants to sophisticated modular systems, using soil or hydroponic manmade substrate, and solar-powered irrigation. The cost ranges from £200 to £800 per square metre. The main challenge with maintenance was working at height, said Kotzen. “Growing plants vertically is no more difficult than horizontally, but all gardens need maintaining.” Not everyone is a fan of the trend towards vertical gardens. “They’re not a solution, except for the wealthy,” said Mick Crawley, professor of plant ecology at Imperial College London. “There are much cheaper and more effective ways of improving air quality.” Local authorities struggling to pay for essential services would be better advised to plant trees, he said. London’s first living wall, installed in 2005 by Islington council at a children’s centre at a cost of £100,000, withered and died within four years after the irrigation system failed. “Living walls will die if they’re not designed properly and maintained,” said Dalrymple. “There are four key things to longterm sustainability: correct water management, correct substrate, maintenance and plant selection taking into account shade, wind and elevation.” With between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths in the UK each year attributed by Public Health England to long-term exposure to air pollution, living walls are expected to become more common. But the benefits go beyond improvements to air quality. Lucy Dunhill, who is behind the Hull proposal, said: “Visually, Whitefriargate is very depressing, with boarded-up shopfronts and very bad acoustics. Your eyes are not drawn up, you keep your head down when you walk along Whitefriargate.” Her green walls plan will, she hopes, “become an attraction in itself as well as improving the environment”. Andy Wayro, landscape design manager at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, said its living walls were aesthetically pleasing, had reduced noise and connected people to nature. “The feedback from players and the general public has been really positive,” he said. At St Mary’s in Chiswick, children have been planting a section of the wall with wild strawberries, thyme, rosemary, sage and lavender, using wooden markers to allow them to monitor growth. “The children adore it, and so do the teachers,” said Carnevali. “Apart from any environmental benefits, they say it makes them happier and calmer.” | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/greenbuilding', 'cities/green-cities', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/harrietsherwood', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-07-13T13:00:58Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/apr/06/pollutionwatch-lockdown-boosting-air-quality-we-can-do-more-coronavirus | Pollutionwatch: lockdown is boosting air quality but we can do more | We are staying in to “flatten the curve”, cutting the peak Covid-19 demand on health services. An article in the British Medical Journal also urges us to “lower the baseline”, reducing other demands on health systems to allow resources to be focused on the epidemic. Examples include reduced speed limits, as introduced on the Isle of Man, while UK traffic is back at levels last seen in the 1950s and wider lockdown measures may have averted a serious smog at the end of March. But we should do more. Residents of British Columbia have been told to stop outdoor fires. UK local councils are also urging people not to have bonfires to dispose of rubbish and recycling as they stay at home and get on with spring cleaning and tidying gardens. Bonfire smoke can enter homes of vulnerable people who have to stay indoors. Brighton and Hove council has also appealed for people to stop using fireplaces and stoves. UK data shows the continued impact of these on local air quality. With everyone at home, exposure to air pollution from these fires will be even greater than normal. So please, no bonfires or barbecues, and, unless it is your only source of heating, no fires or stoves. | ['environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'environment/air-pollution', 'science/science', 'uk/uk', 'world/road-transport', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-04-06T20:30:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2017/jun/23/iran-nuclear-chief-us-support-saudi-arabia-ali-akbar-salehi | Iran nuclear chief warns US over support for Saudi Arabia | The head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation, one of the architects of the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, has warned the US to stop upsetting the regional balance of power by siding with Saudi Arabia. Writing in the Guardian, Ali Akbar Salehi said “lavish arms purchases” by regional actors – a reference to the Saudi purchase of $100bn of US arms during Donald Trump’s recent visit to Riyadh – would be seen as provocative in Tehran and that it would be unrealistic to expect Iran to remain “indifferent”. Salehi, an MIT graduate scientist who has also served as foreign minister, was the second most senior Iranian negotiator, dealing with technical aspects, during nearly two years of talks between Tehran and six of the world’s major powers that led to the final nuclear accord in Vienna in July 2015. Although Trump has promised to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran”, he has not so far taken any concrete steps to scrap it. Last month, two days before Iran’s presidential election, his administration announced that it was continuing to waive nuclear-related sanctions under the agreement despite Washington toughening up its overall Iran policy. Salehi said it was possible to rescue the deal’s engagement if it was met with reciprocal gestures. “Often following hard-won engagement, some western nations, whether distracted by short-sighted political motivations or the lucrative inducements of regional actors, walk away and allow the whole situation to return to the status quo ante,” wrote Salehi, who is also a vice-president of Iran. Salehi warned of “chaotic behaviour” and “further tension and conflict” if the other side disregarded Iran’s security concerns, failed to adhere to its commitments and insisted on what he called alternative facts including ideas such as the “clash of civilisations”, “Sunni-Shia conflict”, “Persian-Arab enmity” and the “Arab-Israeli axis against Iran”. His article comes at a time of simmering tensions in the Middle East, where relations between Tehran and Riyadh, which are on opposite sides of many regional conflicts such as the wars in Syria and Yemen, have deteriorated. Trump’s first post-election foreign trip to Riyadh tilted the regional balance, and contributed in part to the diplomatic isolation of Qatar by Saudi Arabia and its allies, who have accused the tiny emirate of funding terrorists and appeasing Iran. Meanwhile, in Syria, Iran-backed militias and a coalition of forces led by Washington have collided a number of times in recent weeks while fighting Islamic State. “Stoking Iranophobia” or failure to deliver on promises under the deal would jeopardise engagement, Salehi wrote. “We would all end up back at square one,” he cautioned. “Unfortunately, as things stand at the moment in the region, reaching a new state of equilibrium might simply be beyond reach for the foreseeable future.” Salehi urged the outside world to take heed of the results of last month’s Iranian presidential election and the message Iranians sent, but he said “engagement is simply not a one-way street and we cannot go it alone”. | ['world/iran', 'us-news/us-foreign-policy', 'world/saudiarabia', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'world/middleeast', 'us-news/trump-administration', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/arms-trade', 'type/article', 'profile/saeedkamalidehghan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2017-06-23T05:00:15Z | true | ENERGY |
artanddesign/2024/nov/20/a-bornean-orangutan-on-a-fearless-quest-for-figs-tim-lamans-best-photograph | A Bornean orangutan on a fearless quest for figs: Tim Laman’s best photograph | I was following orangutans in Borneo with my wife, Cheryl Knott, a primatologist who has spent 30 years working in Gunung Palung national park, in the Indonesian part of Borneo. I am a biologist by background, and did my PhD research in rainforest ecology in Borneo, before I went into photography and film-making. I saw so much destruction in the rainforest back in the 90s, and it dawned on me that I could publish scientific articles that maybe 10 people would read – or an article in National Geographic that 10 million people would see. I was getting increasingly serious about my photography while working on my PhD when I got funding from the National Geographic Society for field research. Through that connection, I was able to show them my pictures and eventually I published an article in the magazine about my work, which in turn meant I was able to get an assignment to document Cheryl’s orangutan PhD. This fruiting fig tree was unique, in that it didn’t have any branches connecting it to other trees, so the orangutan had to climb right up the roots growing on the trunk to reach the canopy. I had been thinking about getting a picture like this for years: a wide shot looking down on an orangutan in its habitat. I was on the ground when one first passed me and I thought: “OK, it’s going to come back tomorrow – there’s a lot of fruit there.” I went and got my gear, climbed the tree and rigged up three camera mounts with different viewpoints. While it was still dark the next morning, I put the cameras up and, over the next three days, another two orangutans visited. I had a remote control on the ground so when the orangutan was climbing, I triggered the camera. Had I been up the tree myself, I would never have got the shot. I do a lot of bird photography, often from hides. You effectively have to make yourself invisible to get a shot. But that doesn’t work with orangutans. I’ve built hides up in the canopy where I’m totally camouflaged and birds, gibbons and monkeys all come, not noticing me. But an orangutan always knows you’re there. They are not aggressive toward people, generally. I’m drawn to them because they’re one of the great apes – our closest relatives – but they’re much harder to photograph and study than, say, chimpanzees or gorillas, because they spend very little time on the ground and don’t live in social groups. This image won me the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award in 2016. I think its success is due to the perspective. Most of the orangutan pictures I’ve taken have been with a long lens from down on the ground, or from a hill with an eye-level view. So being able to get a wide shot looking down – that’s probably what captured the judges’ interest. There are so many great wildlife photographs out there: to win, you need to shoot something in a unique way. I do all kinds of nature photography, from underwater to big mammals to insects. But if I had to pick one thing, birds are my biggest passion. You have to be patient, keep trying new things and put in the time, waiting for the animals to show up, for good light, all that stuff. There are definitely frustrating moments: like trying to photograph a bird of paradise, sitting in a hide for a week, and they never come back. Or you don’t get any good behaviour to capture. Or it rains. There can be times when you spend a week, get nothing and have to give up. But it beats sitting in an office in front of a computer all day. Tim Laman’s CV Born: Tokyo, Japan, 1961. Trained: “Trained in field biology, self-taught in photography.” Influences: “Fellow Harvard biology grad student Mark Moffett turned his PhD research on ants into a National Geographic article, which inspired me to do the same with my research in the Borneo rainforest. And many National Geographic photographers whose work I admired in the 70s and 80s, especially David Doubilet and Mitsuaki Iwagō.” High point: “Publishing my first story in National Geographic in 1997, and winning Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2016.” Low point: “Usually about 3.30am when the alarm goes off, before I get ready and then have to hike, climb or whatever to get into position before sunrise for a day trying to photograph wildlife.” Top tip: “Wildlife photography is all about getting to know your subject and spending time in the field. So even if it means getting up at 3.30am, it’s worth it. You’ll never get the shot if you aren’t out there.” • This image features in 60 Years of Wildlife Photographer of the Year: How Wildlife Photography Became Art, published by the Natural History Museum (£40) | ['artanddesign/series/mybestshot', 'artanddesign/photography', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'culture/culture', 'environment/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/amyfleming', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/arts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-production'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-11-20T16:55:10Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2014/dec/30/bushfire-threatens-homes-near-toodyay-east-of-perth | Bushfire threatens homes near Toodyay, east of Perth | Homes were under threat from an out-of-control bushfire burning near the town of Toodyay, east of Perth, on Tuesday evening and emergency services have reported property loss. The state’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services issued an emergency alert for residents in Toodyay near Salt Valley Road, Challeon Lane, Panorama View, Hoddy Well Road and Sandplains Road on Tuesday afternoon. Emergency services received reports of the fire at 1.37pm. It moved quickly to the south-east. Watch-and-act alerts have been issued for other areas in Toodyay. The fire department said it was too late for people in the areas under emergency alert to evacuate. They were advised to shelter in a room of their home that had two exits and ready access to water. “You must shelter before the fire arrives, as the extreme heat will kill you well before the flames reach you,” the alert said. A spokesman, Russell Jones, told ABC radio in Perth that some structures were are already believed to have been destroyed in the fire, but it was too early for him to confirm if the structures were sheds or houses. A Seven News reporter, Rebecca O’Donovan, who was in a helicopter above the fire, said it appeared two sheds had been destroyed. Jones said winds at Toodyay were gusting up to 25km/h. “It’s giving the firefighters some work.” He said people in the area needed to remain vigilant. “Be well aware of the situation around you,” he said. “If you are currently in the area, please don’t take your situation for granted. It may be clear where you are now but please stay vigilant. About 100 firefighters were battling the blaze. Jones said water-bombing aircraft would also be in use. The fire danger index rating for Toodyay and other areas surrounding Perth was severe, with temperatures soaring to 39.3 degrees before midday. Areas of the central wheatbelt and central west were listed as in extreme fire danger, and a total fire ban was in place. Toodyay is about 85km east of Perth in the Avon valley and frequently experiences bushfires. A 2009 bushfire destroyed 38 homes in Toodyay. That fire began on 29 December. In January 2014 a bushfire in Parkerville, a suburb in Perth’s eastern hills, destroyed 55 homes. The Toodyay fire was one of three burning in Western Australia on Tuesday. A small fire in Rockingham, 50km south of Perth, began at 1pm but was under control on Tuesday afternoon and not threatening homes, and a fire in Wellington national park, near Harvey in the state’s south-west, has been burning since Christmas Eve. | ['australia-news/bushfires', 'world/wildfires', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/western-australia', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/calla-wahlquist'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-12-30T09:10:08Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2021/aug/31/hurricane-ida-louisiana-mississippi | Hurricane Ida leaves trail of destruction as road collapse raises death toll to four | Two people died and at least 10 were injured when their vehicles plunged into a deep hole where a highway collapsed after Hurricane Ida blew through Mississippi. Torrential rain may have caused the Monday night collapse. The deaths in Mississippi took the toll from Ida to four. In Louisiana, one person died in floodwaters and one was killed by a falling tree. In Slidell, Louisiana, crews were searching for a 71-year-old man whose wife said he was attacked by an alligator in the floodwaters. She pulled him to the steps of the home and paddled away to get help, she said, but when she returned, he was gone. New Orleans woke to a second day without power on Tuesday after Ida ripped through south-east Louisiana, causing severe damage and widespread outages. Residents turned to concerns over evacuation and resources. As the temperature nudged 90F (32C), the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a heat advisory, saying: “The absence of some basic services amid high heat indices can make the situation very acute.” Hundreds of thousands sweltered with no electricity and no tap water. People cleared rotting food from refrigerators. Neighbours shared generators and used buckets of swimming pool water to bathe or to flush toilets. Long lines formed at the few gas stations that had fuel and generator power to pump it. Authorities had provided little concrete guidance on when power might return, but energy provider Entergy has warned it could be up to three weeks. “I can’t tell you when the power is going to be restored,” Louisiana’s governor, John Bel Edwards, told reporters on Monday. “I can’t tell you when all the debris is going to be cleaned up and repairs made. But what I can tell you is we are going to work hard every day to deliver as much assistance as we can.” The governor said 25,000 utility workers were on the ground to help restore electricity, with more on the way. Gen Daniel Hokanson, chief of the national guard, said “more than 6,000 national guard members from multiple states” were “assisting with rescue and relief efforts” in Louisiana, Mississippi and surrounding areas. In Mississippi, authorities said the drivers who died on Monday night may not have seen that the roadway had disappeared. “Some of these cars are stacked on top of each other,” said Cal Robertson of the Mississippi highway patrol. Seven vehicles were involved, including a motorcycle. A crane was brought in to lift them out of the hole. WDSU-TV reported that state troopers, emergency workers and rescue teams responded to Highway 26 west of Lucedale, about 60 miles north-east of Biloxi, to find both the east and westbound lanes collapsed. Robertson said the hole was about 50ft to 60ft long and 20ft to 30ft deep. The identities and conditions of those who survived the accident were not immediately released. More than 8in of rain fell in the area during Ida, according to the National Weather Service. Ida blasted ashore on Sunday as a category 4 storm, one of the most powerful ever to hit the US mainland, knocking out power, blowing roofs off buildings and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River. In Mississippi’s south-western corner, entire neighbourhoods were surrounded by floodwaters and many roads were impassable. Several tornadoes were reported, including a suspected twister in Saraland, Alabama, that ripped part of the roof off a motel and flipped an 18-wheeler, injuring the driver. Joe Biden met virtually on Monday with Mississippi’s governor, Tate Reeves, along with Louisiana’s Edwards, and mayors from cities and parishes most affected by Hurricane Ida. The president received an update on the storm’s impact and discussed how the federal government can provide assistance. “We are closely coordinating with state and local officials every step of the way,” Biden said. On Tuesday the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped rain from Gulf coast states into New England. Weakened to a tropical depression with top sustained winds of 30mph, Ida was centered over northern Mississippi and Tennessee. The NWS said flash flooding was most likely in central Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and western Maryland, where 6in to 10in could fall. Forecasters also warned of higher wind gusts, and said Ida was most likely to spawn tornadoes in eastern Alabama, western Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. Meanwhile, forecasters have identified a new storm system out to sea. Kate was loosely organized and should remain far from shore in the central Atlantic, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. Forecasters said another tropical depression was forming off the coast of Africa, blowing across the Atlantic a couple of hundred miles west-south-west of the coast of Guinea. | ['world/hurricanes', 'us-news/mississippi', 'us-news/louisiana', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/laughland-oliver', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-08-31T18:18:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/nov/18/amazon-deforestation-at-highest-level-in-a-decade | Amazon deforestation 'at highest level in a decade' | Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade, according to new government data which highlights the impact the president, Jair Bolsonaro, has made on the world’s biggest rainforest. The new numbers, showing almost 10,000 sq kms were lost in the year to August, were released as emboldened farm owners scuffled with forest defenders in Altamira, the Amazonian city at the heart of the recent devastation. The assault on the planet’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink by land-grabbers, agribusiness, miners and loggers is accelerating. In the year until 30 July 2019, 9,762 sq kms were lost, an increase of 29.5% over the previous 12 months, the Brazilian space agency INPE said. The clearance rate – equivalent to about two football fields a minute – is the fastest since 2008, pushing Brazil far off course from reaching its Paris agreement goals to cut carbon emissions. The annual numbers are compiled with information from the Prodes satellite system, which is considered the most conservative measurement of deforestation. Although less steep than the rise suggested by monthly alerts from the Deter system, it confirms an upward trend that Bolsonaro and his ministers said was a “lie”, which the former head of the space agency was fired for repeating. Environmental groups blamed the government for “every inch of the increase because it weakened environmental protections, supported loggers and encouraged land-grabbing”. “It is no surprise this is happening because the president has defended environmental crime and promoted impunity,” said Adriana Ramos of the Socio-environmental Institute. The monitoring NGO, the Climate Observatory, said the rise was the third highest in history (after 1995 and 1998), and was likely to continue. “Proposals like legalising land-grabbing, mining and farming on indigenous lands, as well as reducing the licensing requirements for new infrastructure will show that the coming years will be even worse,” Carlos Rittl, its executive secretary, said. “The question is how long Brazil’s trading partners will trust its promises of sustainability and compliance with the Paris agreement, as forests fall, indigenous leaders are killed and environmental laws are shattered.” The increasingly confrontational tactics of rightwing ruralistas (farming, timber and mining interests) were evident at a civil society gathering in Altamira, in Pará state, on Monday morning. The meeting – titled Amazon: Centre of the World – brought together hundreds of forest guardians and their supporters, including indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire, riverine communities, quilombolas, environmental activists, academics, artists, Catholic bishops, nuns and European visitors from Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future. They aim to draw up a forest manifesto that would put nature and the Amazon at the heart of the international debate about the climate and biodiversity crisis. Many powerful interests in this region do not want global attention on their activities. “I call upon landowners, loggers and businessmen to block this document,” said a rallying message from one of the organisers of a counter-demonstration. “This is very important for Brazil.” Dozens of farmers and landowners attempted to disrupt the opening by surging forward, waving Brazilian flags and chanting nationalist slogans. They were rebuffed by indigenous warriors in war paint and women’s groups who formed a human barrier between the speakers and the hecklers. Police intervened to calm the situation, but with the protesters hoping to boost their numbers later in the day, tensions continued. | ['environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/conservation', 'world/jair-bolsonaro', 'world/world', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-11-18T16:13:38Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/mar/11/down-to-earth-radiators-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine | Can turning down our radiators turn up the heat on Vladimir Putin? | This piece first appeared in Down to Earth, the Guardian’s climate crisis newsletter. Sign up here to read more exclusive pieces like this and for a digest of the week’s biggest environment stories every Thursday Turning down the thermostat by 1C might not sound like much of a gesture when thousands of people are being killed in Vladimir Putin’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, but it may be one of the few ways by which ordinary people in Europe, and around the world, can make an impact on the horrific events. Europe is highly dependent on Russian gas, which makes up 45% of EU gas imports. And with prices sky-high – partly because of Putin’s actions – an estimated $500m a day is pouring into Russian coffers to fight the Kremlin’s war. If Europe wants to stop Putin, sanctions are needed, but so too are alternative sources of energy. The Ukraine war has starkly revealed a truth that governments failed to learn from throughout the climate crisis: that energy is a matter of national security, and getting off fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable power is a source of strength. Putin tightened the flow of Russian gas to Europe by about a quarter in the months leading up to his invasion, and prices have soared in response. He has used Russia’s dominance of Europe’s gas market as an “economic and political weapon”, the chief of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said last week. The global energy watchdog laid out a 10-point proposal showing how Europe could reduce its consumption of Russian gas by about a third, including advice to consumers to turn down their thermostats by only 1C, from an average of 22C to an average of 21C – a level that maintains comfort and that most people will barely notice, but which will save about 10bn cubic metres out of the 155bn imported annually from Russia. Other measures could save more: ramping up renewable energy; insulating homes; a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies that have enjoyed a bonanza amid high energy prices, with the proceeds used to reduce bills for hard-pressed consumers; and delaying the planned closure of several nuclear power stations. All these are likely to be needed, and more. There is a serious danger, too, that governments will seek return to the coal-fired power stations they were phasing out – though they should note that about half of the coal used in the EU is imported from Russia. European countries are now re-evaluating their energy systems as a matter of urgency, and the results will help determine how the bloc tackles the climate crisis. Ironically, amid all this: Russia, if it wanted, could make a massive difference to the climate crisis, and at no cost. The IEA also found, in a separate report, that Russia is one of the biggest emitters of methane, the main component of natural gas, through its ageing and poorly constructed fossil fuel production infrastructure. Simply plugging those leaks – which would be profitable, because more gas could then be sold – could go a long way to help reduce temperature rises by 0.2C in the 2040s. But a country willing to slaughter today’s children with bombs and bullets is unlikely to balk at killing tomorrow’s through climate breakdown. | ['environment/series/down-to-earth', 'world/ukraine', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'world/russia', 'world/vladimir-putin', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/newsletters'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-03-11T10:20:47Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2012/mar/20/us-imposes-tariffs-chinese-solar-panels | US to impose tariff on Chinese solar panels in victory for domestic makers | The Obama administration, which regularly champions America's clean energy industry, has delivered modest support for home-grown solar panel makers complaining of unfair competition from China In a much-anticipated decision, the commerce department on Tuesday said it would impose tariffs of 2.9% to 4.73% on Chinese-made solar panels, after finding the Beijing government was providing illegal subsidies to manufacturers. The commerce department could impose heavier penalties in May, when it is due to decide whether China is dumping solar panels at prices below their actual cost. But Tuesday's move did not suggest the Obama adminstration is willing to risk a trade war with China in support of struggling solar panel manufacturers. Domestic solar panel makers, who had requested the tariffs, welcomed the decision, saying it had helped expose unfair Chinese trade practices. "Today's announcement affirms what US manufacturers have long known: Chinese manufacturers have received unfair and WTO-illegal subsidies," Steve Ostrenga, an executive who is a member of the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, said in a statement. "We look forward to addressing all of China's unfair trade practices in the solar industry." Solar installation companies, whose business relies on Chinese-made panels, expressed relief that the small tariffs would not drive up costs. "This is a huge victory for the US solar industry and our 100,000 employees," said Jigar Shah, president of the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy. "Given all our expectations, this is really good news." But there were some suggestions that the Obama administration was sending a mixed message on its support for the renewable energy industry. Some industry executives had hoped for a greater show of support from the administration – even at the risk of causing a trade rift with China. Obama, in the White House and on the campaign trail, has regularly held up the renewable energy industry as an example of American innovation – noting that solar power was invented at Bell Labs. But China has now taken the lead, with more than 700 manufacturers of solar panels. A few of those Chinese companies have acknowledged receiving cheap loans and other government support. But low-cost solar panels are also helping some sections of America's clean energy industry. The energy secretary, Steven Chu, who was grilled on his department's support for solar power in Congress earlier Tuesday, proudly noted during his testimony that America overtook China in clean energy investment last year. The US made $56bn in clean energy investment in 2011, overtaking China, which invested $47.4bn. Much of the US investment represented the tail end of the 2009 recovery act funds. What Chu left unmentioned, however, was that the growth of the US clean energy industry was led by the plummeting costs of Chinese-made solar panels, which brought solar farms closer to the cost of electricity generated from fossil fuels. American imports of Chinese solar panels have grown exponentially in recent years, from $21.3m in 2005 to $2.65bn last year. But cheap Chinese solar panels have also put American solar panel makers out of business – and proved a political embarrassment for the Obama adminstration. The most high profile failure – and the one with the biggest political fallout – was the collapse of Solyndra, which declared bankruptcy after receiving half a billion dollars in department of energy loans. Another loan recipient, Evergreen Solar, embarrassed the administration by announcing plans to move production from Massachusetts to China because of lower costs. The company ended up going bankrupt. However, those failures still provided fodder to Republicans in Congress and candidates seeking the party's nomination to attack Obama for his support for clean energy. | ['environment/solarpower', 'us-news/obama-administration', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'tone/news', 'world/china', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2012-03-20T23:39:00Z | true | ENERGY |
global-development/2019/oct/16/how-do-we-feed-the-world-without-destroying-the-planet | How do we feed the world without destroying it? | Bob Geldof | Hunger is the most awful and profound expression of poverty. It exists in every country. It is something that most people can identify with on some perhaps primordial level. The fear of hunger is etched into our DNA, passed down the generations from hungry, scared ancestors. It is in our bones. It is in my Irish bones. First, the good news. For several decades global hunger has been decreasing. This is mostly thanks to the sweat and ingenuity of the 500 million smallholders who produce 80% of the food consumed in the developing world. It is also thanks to the work of exceptional NGOs, to economic growth and to the innovation of businesses all along the supply chain. It’s thanks, too, to the support of governments and international organisations. And to increased political stability in some places. But there is very bad news. More recently hunger has started to increase. Again. On World Food Day on Wednesday, 820 million people face chronic hunger. That’s the equivalent of the population of the US and the EU combined. This is daily, frightening, fatiguing, persistent hunger. Day after day, 820 million people will not get enough to eat. Night after night, famished mothers and fathers put their children to bed with empty stomachs. I suspect this shocks no one these days. Just as I suspect the spectre of climate crisis evokes yawns. Yet the two are inextricably linked in a kind of existential tango happening too slowly for us to register. The increase in global hunger is in part triggered by the climate emergency. There have been more floods, more droughts, and more frequent, fiercer storms. Small farmers are being hit first and hardest as once-in-a-century extreme weather events become almost routine. At the same time food production is a major cause of climate change, whether it be the methane gas production of cows or the tearing down of forests to grow crops. So, humanity faces a profound challenge. How do we feed the world without destroying it? From next year there will only be 10 years left to achieve the sustainable development goals established by UN member states. If these goals are to be more than bureaucratic niceties and political platitudes, there must be immediate and powerful action to stop the goal of zero hunger going into reverse. The German government aims to catalyse the global response. Next June it will host an international event to push for action to boost agriculture and tackle hunger in low-income countries, while staying within the environmental boundaries that our planet can cope with. More power to them. Those who attend will need to confront the challenge of underperforming agricultural development and the weaknesses of the international system. That means getting hard cash to the smallholder farmers who are too often bypassed by funding that goes either to governments or big business. It means leveraging government and private investment all along the supply chain and learning from what works and what doesn’t. The Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme, which we successfully fought for alongside President Obama, will be critical. It has resulted in a decade of experience in encouraging increased impact from the international system in exactly the way we need. In the face of the dual challenges of climate change and hunger, it is perhaps more relevant today than at its inception. Whatever happens with Brexit, the German gathering will be an opportunity for us to come together to tackle one of the great 21st-century challenges. It’s a century that has stumbled to begin. It is finally taking shape, but is still a plastic thing. It will see mind-boggling technologies emerge and profound cultural shifts. But what’s the point if we can’t beat humanity’s oldest foe, hunger? Surely it is a modest thing to suggest that next year would be an excellent time to start doing just that. | ['global-development/hunger', 'global-development/global-development', 'global-development/sustainable-development-goals', 'society/society', 'world/world', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'science/agriculture', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/bob-geldof', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2019-10-16T06:00:13Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
business/2022/oct/01/climate-and-cost-of-living-campaigners-descend-on-london-on-same-day | Just Stop Oil activists blockade four London bridges | Thousands of supporters of Just Stop Oil have blocked four bridges across the Thames. Protesters blocked Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge with sit-down protests after marching from 25 points around the centre of London. Just Stop Oil’s activists said protesters would converge on Westminster, where a crowd led by a samba band had already gathered in Parliament Square. Hundreds had earlier sat on Westminster Bridge, blocking traffic, and moved after police warned them they would be arrested if they stayed. Among those sitting on Westminster Bridge was Esme Garlake, 26, from London. “I think we are at a real turning point now where the inequalities in our society are so obvious,” she said. “Today is the day of the energy bills [price rise] coming out and so different groups and grassroots movements are starting to realise that we have to come together to demand social change and climate action.” Garlake was sat next to her mother, Marilyn Garlake, 59, from Oxford, who said she saw synergies between activism for the climate and cost of living crises. “A tipping point is being reached now,” she said. “If you look at what’s happening with the cost of living crisis and the climate crisis, everything is coming together, and we have a government that is refusing to take the action that’s needed and making the situation worse.” The climate activists took to the streets in London as cost of living campaigners Enough Is Enough also held rallies. The protests come as 200,000 union members walked out of work, with rail unions RMT, Aslef and TSSA, and postal workers’ union the CWU, striking over pay and conditions. Enough Is Enough, which has been supported by senior figures in the RMT and CWU, as well as prominent leftwing MPs, claims 800,000 people have signed up to support its demands. It has called for pay rises above inflation, cuts to energy bills, a massive drive to build new homes, support for people who cannot afford food, and more taxes on the richest. Its campaign comes as the government has slashed taxes on the highest earners, and has hinted about massive real-terms cuts to benefits. On Saturday, the group held rallies in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Norwich. Just Stop Oil has come into the autumn after a spring and summer of non-violent civil disobedience protests against England’s fuel distribution network. As part of a coalition of groups, including Insulate Britain, Animal Rebellion, and Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project, it has broadened its demands from an end to all new oil infrastructure to include more taxes on the rich and support with energy bills. Corbyn, the former Labour leader, drew rapturous applause as he denounced the government’s plans to cut taxes for the richest and benefits for the poorest. “Our strength is our organisation, our strength is our unity,” Corbyn said. “So let’s stand up for what we believe in.” Dave Ward, the general secretary of the CWU, said the campaign would pressure the Labour party “into the right place to stand up for working people”. “Everybody’s job who cares about people in this country to have a fair deal for everything, we have got to build collectivism,” Ward said. “Are you ready for that? Enough is enough. Let’s get out there: let’s protest, let’s rally. We are going to make change.” Figures within the Enough Is Enough campaign have told the Guardian there was no coordination between the two groups before Saturday’s protests. | ['business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'world/protest', 'environment/environment', 'politics/tradeunions', 'politics/politics', 'environment/extinction-rebellion', 'uk-news/rmt', 'politics/jeremy-corbyn', 'environment/activism', 'environment/just-stop-oil', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damien-gayle', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2022-10-01T16:36:08Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
news/2020/mar/09/weatherwatch-how-the-dutch-are-trying-to-rainproof-their-cities | Weatherwatch: how the Dutch are trying to rainproof their cities | Could we live with heavy rains without big floods? The Dutch have learned that building more flood defences against intense rainfalls is not enough and they are now “rainproofing” urban areas. Rainfall in the Netherlands has increased by 26% over the past century and grown more intense, leading to more flooding. Schemes are now being tried out in urban areas to catch, hold and slowly release rainwater from big downpours to reduce floods. Public spaces such as Benthemplein in Rotterdam are being turned into water plazas with shallow basins that turn into lakes in heavy rains; the plazas are also planted with vegetation and in dry weather are used as parks and sports venues. In Amsterdam, hard paving in some streets has been replaced with vegetation or porous paving that lets water seep more slowly into the ground. Rain gardens have been carved out of parking spaces, designed to gather water with pathways, stepping stones and beds of plants that do well in wet ground. Roof gardens are also being used to store water in crates, covered by a filter and soil on which plants are grown. And people are being encouraged to remove paving from their gardens, grow more plants instead, and build ponds to hold excess water. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/netherlands', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-03-09T21:30:14Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/apr/27/british-windfarms-boom-dong-energy-danish-firm | British windfarms a boom for Danish firm | Booming profits from British windfarms have more than made up for declining oil and gas revenues at Dong Energy, a state-owned Danish utility which says it is transforming itself from a high to low-carbon power producer. Dong, the biggest single investor in UK offshore wind projects, including the huge London Array windfarm off Kent, reported first-quarter profits of Kr 8bn (£836m), a sum that was up 35% on the same period last year. Henrik Poulsen, Dong’s chief executive, said the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy was gathering speed with no more spending planned for new oil projects not already begun. “The world will continue to need fossil fuels for a quite a time yet but the bigger trend is towards renewables and this is probably accelerating,” he said. “We see ourselves as a leader in offshore wind and bioenergy.” Dong’s profits from renewables were Kr3bn, with Kr2bn from oil and gas, plus Kr1bn from the electricity grid system it operates in Denmark, the company reported. Earnings from renewables, mainly offshore wind, had risen by more than 50% but the group profits were also bolstered by almost Kr2bn of disposals. The group, which is 76% owned by the Danish state, promised to be listed on the stock market in Copenhagen within 12 months. JP Morgan and other investment banks have been hired to sell the stock. Dong, which employs 900 staff in Britain, has installed 2.2GW of its 5.1GW offshore windfarm capacity. The company has just taken a final investment decision on the Hornsea 1 facility off the coast of Yorkshire, which will be the largest offshore windfarm in the world when it is completed in 2020 at a cost, some analysts believe, of up to £3bn. Poulsen said he was confident that his company could reach UK government goals of bringing down costs, to survive comfortably on 15-year contracts at £85 per MW-hour by the mid 2020s. That would make it significantly cheaper to obtain power from new offshore windfarms than from the controversial new nuclear power station, Hinkley Point C, for which subsidies of £92.50 for 35 years had been promised. “I am sceptical of new nuclear,” said Poulsen. “The track record of new reactor projects in Finland and France is massive delays and budget overruns. The economics are doubtful and then there is the moral hazard of leaving nuclear waste for future generations.” | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'world/denmark', 'environment/environment', 'environment/biofuels', 'uk/uk', 'uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/oil', 'business/gas', 'business/business', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/terrymacalister', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2016-04-27T16:04:16Z | true | ENERGY |
sustainable-business/carbon-offsetting-can-benefit-business | Carbon offsetting can benefit business as well as communities | Our first opportunity to get involved in this more integrated style of offsetting, bringing social benefits as well as carbon benefits, came when we helped to get a clean cook stove project off the ground in Uganda. At the time there was no recognised system for measuring the carbon reductions from this type of project, so ClimateCare developed a methodology that now enables the carbon reductions to be calculated and independently verified. Financing options can be quite complicated and for this project we gave seed funding and then purchased the emissions [in the form of voluntary carbon credits] for the first four years, which enabled the stoves to get on to the market. We've since become involved in the LifeStraw [water filter] project in the Busia region of Kenya, helping to provide 700,000 people with safe drinking water. With any project like this, it's essential to ensure that local communities are engaged in how to use these technologies. So there are local people who educate the villagers in how to use the LifeStraw filters properly. As part of this, they also gather and record data about usage patterns. They can then check that the technology is being used correctly, while also providing us with validated information about how many people are benefitting. In terms of our corporate communications, it's obviously important that this data is reliable. This is quite a new field, so it's important when choosing a provider of offsets that they understand the market and have expert local knowledge. It's vital they have integrity too. This space is about collaboration and working in partnership with other organisations on the ground. That's quite a big difference from more conventional offsetting. It means offset providers need to build trust with agencies and others so that they can develop the right kind of relationships. As told to Oliver Balch. This content is brought to you by Guardian Sustainable Business in association with ClimateCare. Produced by Guardian Professional to a brief agreed and paid for by ClimateCare. All editorial controlled and overseen by the Guardian. | ['sustainable-business/series/in-focus-carbon-finance-for-development', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'type/article', 'profile/oliver-balch'] | sustainable-business/series/in-focus-carbon-finance-for-development | EMISSIONS | 2014-01-22T07:00:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2013/oct/28/conservation-groups-hold-crisis-meeting-to-stop-handover-of-approvals | Conservation groups hold crisis meeting to stop handover of approvals | Environment groups are holding an emergency meeting in Sydney on Monday to plan legal challenges and community campaigns against the Abbott government’s moves to hand over environmental decision-making to the states. The memorandum of understanding signed 10 days ago by the prime minister, Tony Abbott, the environment minister, Greg Hunt, and the Queensland premier, Campbell Newman, and the Queensland environment minister, Andrew Powell, “looks like a straight handover of approval powers,” said the chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Don Henry. The MOU states that Queensland must “ensure that matters of national environmental significance are separately identified and assessed, taking into account commonwealth guidelines, plans and policies” and that the state assessments must “meet commonwealth standards”. The Commonwealth pledges to avoid “to the greatest extent possible … imposing additional conditions”. The MOU is intended as a template for legally-binding bilateral agreements between the commonwealth and each of the states - fulfilling the Coalition’s election promise to create and environment assessment “one-stop shop” and to remove “green tape”. In a statement announcing the MOU had been signed, Abbott said it would “slash the growing burden and duplication of red and green tape which is a handbrake on investment in Queensland because two sets of environmental approvals cause delays to projects and investment across the state and the country.” “The one-stop shop does not replace any state or federal environment laws – it simply streamlines the process, ensuring just one application, instead of two, needs to be made. “That means the same strict environmental standards but ensures swift decisions and more certainty, whilst increasing jobs and investment in Queensland. State governments already administer environmental law and should be able to make environmental approvals on the Commonwealth’s behalf while maintaining the same strict standards.” The plans are enthusiastically backed by the conservative states. But the environment groups say recent actions and decisions taken by state governments showed that the federal government needed to retain the final decision-making power and take responsibility for its international legal obligations. These included state support for: • massive port developments along the Great Barrier Reef, • logging and shooting in NSW national parks, • grazing in NSW, Victorian and Queensland national parks, • logging in Tasmanian world heritage areas • huge coal developments in Queensland’s Galilee Basin • the decision by the Queensland government to revoke the phase-out of sand mining on North Stradbroke Island and instead extend it to 2035 with fewer restrictions. “There does not appear to be a veto power for the commonwealth in what has been proposed. We believe it is illegal for the commonwealth to wash its hands of its responsibilities,” Henry said. “This is absolutely an emergency situation ... and the only recourse will be community action and the courts ... my advice to the corporate sector is to be careful what they wish for. They only need to look at (the proposed gas processing plant at) James Price Point. The state government was incompetent and it lost three court cases.” The James Price Point plant was eventually shelved in favour of a floating processing plant, but remains the favoured option of the WA premier, Colin Barnett. “We will not stand aside and see our hard won national environmental laws weakened,” Henry said. The meeting of environment groups comes as the Minerals Council of Australia (MC) unveils a new idea on Monday to further “streamline” environmental approvals. The Minerals Council of Australia chief executive, Mitch Hooke, is proposing an online searchable database for up to date scientific information on each region, so every new development proposal did not have to repeat the same time-consuming analysis. “The proposal complements the federal and state governments’ 'one-stop-shop' approach and is specifically designed to improve industry and community confidence in the project approval process – confidence which is being undermined by the excessive amount of time, effort and money wasted meeting overlapping, duplicating regulations which add little if any value to environmental protection,” Hooke said. The Australian Conservation Foundation has already written to the director of Unesco, Kishore Rao, arguing the proposed handover of federal decision making powers “places the world heritage values of the Great Barrier Reef at grave risk.” “Previous Queensland governments have tried to allow oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef and major developments on Great Barrier Reef Islands. The Commonwealth Government has had to step in to protect the values of the reef on a number of occasions. The World Heritage provisions of Australia’s federal environmental laws provide these protections, ensure the national interest is pursued in decision-making, and make sure the national government is able to meet its obligations under the World Heritage Convention,” Henry wrote on the day the Queensland and federal governments signed the MOU. “The Queensland Government will make decisions from a Queensland perspective. It is responsible to the population of Queensland, not Australia as a whole. We believe there is a very high danger that the Queensland government will undertake environmental approvals on the Commonwealth’s behalf that will threaten the universal values of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Queensland government is not a party to the World Heritage Convention and as such its decision-making will not adequately reflect the responsibilities of the Australian government as a signatory to the World Heritage Convention.” “We urge you to write immediately to the Australian Prime Minister expressing the concern of the World Heritage Committee and reminding the Australian government that the Committee is currently considering the potential of an endangered listing for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and that any weakening of the application of federal environmental laws in Australia will be considered by the committee in this context.” It is understood the Wilderness Society, the World Wildlife Fund and several state-based environmental organisations were involved in the Monday meeting. | ['australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/great-barrier-reef', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lenore-taylor'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2013-10-28T03:16:14Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/southern-crossroads/2013/sep/26/climate-change-denial-ipcc-report-australia | Denial abounds in Australia as IPCC report lands | Alexander White | On the eve of the release of the fifth assessment report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, major Australian news outlets spread misinformation and rehash debunked conspiracy theories. In one case, a headline by Murdoch-owned The Australian was so distorted and the denialism so blatant that it was forced to issue a correction. Serious current affairs ABC program, 7:30, repeated tired and disproven conspiracy theories about 'Climategate' in a story about the IPCC report. Rather than focus on the serious message from the report — that we now have "slam dunk evidence that burning fossil fuels is the cause of most of the temperature increases of recent decades, and warn that sea levels could rise by almost three feet by the end of the century if we don't change our ways" — the ABC decided to focus on "calls" by "some scientists" to reform the UN panel and a years-old debunked story on "Climategate". 7:30 program reporter Hayden Cooper decided on Thursday night to focus on "Climategate": "The credibility of the organisation has been challenged during the past decade. London-based author and journalist Fred Pearce covered what became known as "Climategate", the leaking of emails from scientists at the University of East Anglia, which raised questions about honesty behind the scenes." There is no mention in this story of the facts about the leaked emails, and Cooper simply repeats the discredited accusations against now vindicated climate scientists. Obviously, the news values of major news outlets in Australia focus on conflict, scandal and controversy. There is no news values in a story about the cause and dire risks of climate change. We've known for decades that our planet is warming and that temperature increases are primarily caused by human activity. It's old news, so the IPCC report has no news values. So news outlets, like The Australian, focus on manufactured scandals and climate change denialism. The Australian is enormously influential, particularly in shaping how other media outlets cover stories. For several years now, papers from the Murdoch-owned News Corp, such as The Australian and the Wallstreet Journal, have had an unspoken editorial policy to heighten reporting on scientific uncertainty involving climate change, promote misleading or non-credible spokespeople, disparage climate scientists or climate science, and, most recently, cherry pick facts, according to a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (pdf link). The Crikey website reported a year ago that a study by Australian academic Robert Mann "found The Australian contained a high number of articles from those who denied the science of climate change, while commentary from those who had been published in academic journals on climate science was rare." It is unsurprising, but disappointing, that the focus of the ABC's 7:30 program story on the IPCC report focused on Climategate, rather than the more serious and pertinent story. The results of this journalistic and editorial posture is now evident through the words and actions of the new Australian government. For the past three years, The Australian has cheered at the demonisation campaign waged by now-prime minister Tony Abbott against climate action and the chief mitigation policy of carbon pricing. One of the first acts of the Abbott government was to announce the disbanding of the Australian Climate Commission. The commission's role was to provide independent information to the public about climate science, and the international action being taken to reduce carbon emissions. The Abbott government has declared that it will introduce legislation to abolish the carbon price at the next sitting of the parliament. These decisions by Mr Abbott make headlines in Australia, not because of the gross moral negligence of attempting to hurl Australian down a path to become a fossil-fuel dependent nation with no climate change policy, but instead because the abolished Climate Commission relaunched as a non-profit in, as reported by the AAP, "defiance" of Abbott. The news values are there. Conflict, scandal and controversy. The deadly serious issue of Australia's climate policy and of the impact of global warming barely rates a mention. If you are interested in what the IPCC report says, the Guardian has some excellent coverage. And if you want specific Australian analysis, I do recommend you visit the Climate Institute's dedicated page. | ['environment/series/guardian-environment-blogs', 'environment/environment', 'environment/southern-crossroads', 'tone/blog', 'environment/ipcc', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'profile/alexander-white'] | environment/ipcc | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2013-09-26T14:03:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jan/25/price-nature | Can you put a price on nature? | Damian Carrington | How much is a bluebell worth? Or a rabbit-riddled down? Or a walk through a squelchy marsh buzzing with birds? Or the nation's population of otters? These are the tough questions that need to answered if biodiversity offsets – also called conservation credits – are to help stop the inexorable decline of the UK's natural environment. The prime minister, David Cameron, and the Conservative party are enthusiastic, as we reported previously. The Conservative election manifesto (p96) said: "We will pioneer a new system of conservation credits to protect habitats." Now the one thing everyone agrees on is that the current protections for nature and wildlife in the UK are not working. Creatures and plants are vanishing forever every year and developers are eating up land piece by piece. So a seminar on conservation credits yesterday, organised by the parliamentary office of science and technology, was a very useful examination of the pros and cons. And the issue is a live one. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is now working on conservation credit proposals to go into the forthcoming Natural environment white paper (You'll have to be quick to have your say: the deadline for comments is the end of January). Defra's Bronywn Jones set the scene. "The current arrangements are not working well. In particular they do not capture the cumulative effect of small losses." She said benefits of being able to offset the destruction of habitat in one place with restored or protected habitat in another included the following: pooling credits would enable bigger, more resilient and strategically sited habitats; making the damage economically visible means it could be accounted for; a market for credits would bring forward new conservation projects. She said the crux issue of placing a value on the lost habitat was "not to put a £ sign next to it", but to develop a points system through which habitat types and quality could be compared. She said the responses received so far had been broadly positive and could foresee a county-scale pilot going ahead. David Hill set up the Environment Bank Ltd to sell credits to developers. He said current on-site wildlife provisions, ie next to the new houses or factories, were "good habitats for shopping trolleys but little else", and said he should know as he'd spent 25 years designing them. He saw the credits as a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for long-term funding for coherent habitat protection, plus income for landowners and fewer delays for developers. Less certain was Michael Oxford, from the Association of Local Government Ecologists. Some local authorities were very keen, some very sceptical, he said. One issue "with offsetting is removing people's connection with nature by moving it away," he noted. "And how do you capture the value of people's access and enjoyment? Last to speak was environmental consultant Jo Treweek, who said it was possible to operate conservation credits well, but also to do them badly. She pointed out that even though the UK is formally committed to halting biodiversity losses, the current system, even when done well, leaves uncompensated habitat losses. But here's the crux: Defra is suggesting a voluntary scheme – all the other speakers insisted it must be mandatory if it is to offer real protection. If not, then it's not a even a market for conservation credits, it's just voluntary aid, said Hill. As ever, money seems to be the key. The much-cited Lawton review, which found England's nature reserves, national parks and protected areas were not providing protection, said between £600m and £1.1bn is needed to help rebuild nature in England. The UK's vast budget deficit means that money won't be found, so the conservation credit idea is attractive: developers and those who buy their houses bear the costs. But to really work, according to the experts I heard, it has to be compulsory. That appears to be an ideological leap too far for the government. So will conservation credits be better than the existing failed system? Does Nature have a price? I'd really like to hear your thoughts, and make sure you send them to Defra too. (Note: I'm away on Wednesday but will reply to your comments on Thursday – thanks.) | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'tone/blog', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2011-01-26T10:20:09Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/2015/jun/19/phones4power-using-mobile-phones-to-run-micro-grids-in-africa | Phones4Power: using mobile phones to bring affordable electricity to Africa | Kenya-based business SteamaCo is harnessing the power of mobile to bring affordable electricity access to rural, off-grid communities. SteamaCo’s smart technology allows solar micro-grid owners to monitor their performance remotely and capture consumer payments via mobile money platforms, thereby overcoming the traditional challenges of keeping grids working reliably and profitably. This simple but fundamental transition stands to make investment in solar micro-grids a truly compelling prospect, bringing electricity to millions and giving local entrepreneurs the tools to thrive. SteamaCo’s transformative approach has been recognised at a global level by clean energy charity Ashden – the company has just won both the Ashden International Gold Award and Business Innovation Award. Tapping into the mobile revolution Speaking at this month’s Business of Energy event in London, SteamaCo co-founder Sam Duby said the company was “standing on the shoulders of giants” by harnessing the explosive popularity of mobile money platforms in Kenya. Some 25% of Kenya’s GDP now flows through M-Pesa, the country’s flagship and ubiquitous mobile money platform. Meanwhile, mobile internet use in Africa is predicted to grow at double the rate of the rest of the world over the next five years. “The world is getting smarter and we’re just one of a number of companies tapping into this growing ‘internetisation’ to bring change to people’s lives,” enthused Duby. “Developing communities have traditionally been viewed as too poor to use sophisticated energy services, but we aim to show that is simply not the case.” Referring to smart thermostat startup Nest, now owned by Google, he said: “We call ourselves ‘Nest for the rest’. We’re using the same type of technology and the same intelligent processes to catalyse major social and environmental benefits.” Having experienced the challenges of running micro-grids – small-scale power grids operating independently or in conjunction with a central grid – Duby and co-founder Harrison Leaf now focus entirely on developing smart tools for grid owners to operate successfully. And the time is right for remote electricity monitoring technology, Duby believes, as solar energy becomes more affordable and a rapidly industrialising continent seeks more power, against a backdrop of insufficient energy infrastructure. So how does it work? Grid owners and operators install SteamaCo’s hardware at their power stations and monitor the technical and financial performance of grids remotely – and in real time – via cloud-based software. They can troubleshoot and address problems, such as dips in battery voltage, before they become serious, as well as identify spare capacity that could be directed to other uses, like water-pumping, and check customers’ power usage against their remaining balance. Meanwhile, customers get flexible access to electricity. They top up their credit and check their balance as they would a pay-as-you-go phone. Importantly, all data, including notifications to top up, is sent via SMS messages, making it possible to operate in some of the most remote, rural regions. Having won its first customer in 2013, SteamaCo is now supporting 30 grids (26 in Kenya and four in Tanzania, Benin and Nepal) that provide a total of 120kW of power to 1,000 homes and small businesses. Among the owners of the first grids are energy heavyweights E.ON and PowerGen. SteamaCo plans to expand further in Kenya and beyond. “SteamaCo’s technology stands to tip the balance in expanding access to electricity by making micro-grids an investable proposition,” explains Dr Anne Wheldon, renewable energy expert and Ashden judge. “Investors can see there’s a clear mechanism in place to manage grid maintenance and capture payments transparently.” Additionally, the flexibility of the SteamaCo platform means it could even be used to connect people to the mains grid. Should electricity regulators approve the idea, a micro-grid using SteamaCo technology could buy a connection from the mains grid, and share the cost with its users. With the cost of a single grid connection in Kenya typically around $700 (£440) – a figure far beyond the means of most people – this could make electricity affordable for millions of families. A connection to SteamaCo’s micro-grid currently costs around $10. Cheap power for families and entrepreneurs “Affordability is crucial to expanding access to electricity in developing communities, and doing so in an equitable way,” explains Wheldon. “Paying per unit of electricity used means people can buy power in line with their earning patterns and domestic needs. It makes electricity for the poorest possible.” And with 1.2 billion people worldwide lacking access to electricity, there is real potential here for technologies of this kind to help alleviate poverty and support sustainable development. What’s more, gaining access to a reliable source of energy stands to unleash a wave of entrepreneurial activity. SteamaCo has already seen evidence of this in Kenya, where people have launched all kinds of businesses since connecting to their local micro-grid. Hairdressing salons, water pumping stations and mobile phone charging kiosks are thriving, says Duby, while one technician is offering radio repair services, saving locals a 200km round trip to the nearest town. | ['sustainable-business/series/role-business-development', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'technology/mobilephones', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'world/kenya', 'environment/energy', 'world/africa', 'environment/environment', 'global-development/global-development', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'technology/telecoms', 'type/article', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'profile/katharine-earley'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2015-06-19T09:44:19Z | true | ENERGY |
sport/2018/apr/04/australian-cycling-eyes-redemption-on-gold-coast-after-olympic-calamity | Australian cycling eyes redemption on Gold Coast after Olympic calamity | Kieran Pender | Change is in the air at Cycling Australia’s High Performance Unit, nestled in a leafy suburb near the Adelaide hills. Australia’s track cyclists went to Rio de Janeiro in 2016 with the Australian Olympic Committee expecting at least three gold medals. They return with none – one silver and one bronze were all the team had to show for four years of effort and millions of dollars in funding. The response was swift. A major staffing overhaul, a revised training regimen and even a branding refresh – the unit is now officially known as the Australian Cycling Team – have been overseen by new performance director Simon Jones. Jones moved to Adelaide in early 2017 from Team Sky, where he was head of performance support and innovation. He had previously been a coach with British Cycling. According to several sources within the Australian set-up, the sweeping changes wrought by Jones have earned him the nickname “Hurricane”. Others are more complimentary – one rider describes him as “strict but reasonable and knows how to win”, while another says “everyone is very positive about the change”. Ultimately, Jones and his colleagues will be judged for Australia’s performance on the velodrome, and the team faces their first major test this week at the Commonwealth Games. The preliminary signs are positive. Australia topped the medal tally at the 2017 UCI Track World Championships in Hong Kong, with Jones just months into the job. Despite sending only four riders to the 2018 edition in Holland, with Cycling Australia controversially electing to minimise pre-Gold Coast distractions, the quintet returned with six medals, including two golds. Sprinters Matthew Glaetzer and Stephanie Morton were in superb form at the World Championships, while Cameron Meyer – a nine-time world champion – remains dominant in the points race. Australia’s male and female team pursuit squads are also both gold medal chances on the Gold Coast, notwithstanding fierce competition from New Zealand, Canada and England. While several senior riders retired post-Rio, including legendary rider Anna Meares OAM, the healthy contingent of young athletes in Australia’s track squad suggests a bright future for the national team. The male endurance squad is particularly youthful, with Kelland O’Brien, Alex Porter, Samuel Welsford and Nicholas Yallouris keeping the average age close to 20. Australia will also be looking for medals on the road. While the timing of the Games midway through the European Classics season means that many of the country’s best cyclists are unavailable, both the male and females squads contain medal contenders. Queenslander Katrin Garfoot is an obvious favourite in the time trial, having won the national time trial title for three consecutive years and placed third at the world championships in 2017. Current national champion Shannon Malseed and star sprinter Chloe Hosking provide exciting options in the road race, while Mitchelton-Scott contingent Sarah Roy and Gracie Elvin could also find themselves in contention. The men’s squad, meanwhile, brings a mix of youth and experience to the Gold Coast. Twenty-four-year-old Alexander Edmondson, surprise winner of the national road race crown in January and a Commonwealth Games champion on the track, will be hoping to add to his burgeoning medal collection. Among his team-mates will be veteran road captain Mathew Hayman, Callum Scotson – a strong prospect in the time trial – and Meyer, who will back up from his track efforts to ride the road race. Steele von Hoff adds a feel-good element – the affable sprinter broke his neck mere hours after being selected in February, but an expedited recovery has seen him retain his place. Rounding out the cycling disciplines, mountain biking couple Rebecca and Daniel McConnell will be hoping to improve on their respective bronze medals at Glasgow 2014. Australian cycling has an impressive history at the Commonwealth Games. Not since Auckland 1990 has the Australian team failed to top the combined track and road medal tally. This is partly because the British cycling juggernaut is divided into its constituent parts at these events – England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man compete under their own flag – but it is nevertheless a record that Jones and his charges will be keen to maintain. Almost two years on from the calamity in Rio de Janeiro, Australia’s cyclist are hoping that the Gold Coast provides a happier hunting ground for medals. As the results-obsessed machinery of Australian sport looks towards Tokyo 2020, the next two weeks will be instructive as to whether the much-hyped reform of the nation’s high performance cycling program is more than skin deep. | ['sport/commonwealth-games-2018', 'sport/commonwealth-games', 'sport/cycling', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/kieran-pender', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-sport'] | sport/commonwealth-games-2018 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-04-03T18:00:02Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
politics/2022/nov/12/devastating-impact-tony-blair-hits-out-at-pms-slashing-of-overseas-aid | ‘Devastating impact’: Tony Blair hits out at PM’s slashing of overseas aid | Cuts to overseas aid under Rishi Sunak are having a “devastating impact”, leaving poor and vulnerable people around the world with “very little” help from the UK, former prime minister Tony Blair has warned. Sunak slashed overseas aid from 0.7% to 0.5% of the UK’s GDP during his time as chancellor, and since becoming prime minister last month he has continued a redirection of overseas aid to programmes within the UK. “The big problem on our development aid budget now is, number one, we’ve cut it. That cut is having a devastating impact on programmes, for example in Africa,” Blair said in an interview with the Observer. “But secondly, of the money we have, a large part of it has now been siphoned for Ukrainian refugees and others. Therefore, the actual amount of money that we’ve left for pure development in places like Africa now is very little.” This is leaving poor countries with large holes in their development plans, he warned. “For a lot of these countries, Britain was a world leader in development. We set up the Department for International Development. We went to 0.7% of GDP,” he said. “Now we’ve retreated from that over these past two or three years and, of course, it’s got a big impact on Britain’s reputation with these countries.” He also warned against backsliding on climate commitments, as the government is seeking to license new oil and gas fields in the North Sea, amid gas prices sent soaring by the war in Ukraine. “The UK, like all other countries, is going to want to look after the energy needs of its people – I understand that,” he said. “The UK is generally regarded as a leader in the climate area, but it’s important to keep it that way. “It’s a reputation we have only achieved through having strong policy and we need to keep it strong.” A bigger windfall tax on the profits of fossil fuel companies, and an accelerated programme for renewable energy including onshore wind, were vital, he added. “Keir [Starmer] and the Labour party have got exactly the right idea, which is to realise that you can put together the concept of green energy and a whole new economic and industrial niche for Britain.” Blair, whose Institute for Global Change seeks to help developing country governments, was speaking on the sidelines of the UN Cop27 climate summit, which this weekend reached its halfway point. Nearly 200 governments are meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, in Egypt, to set out in detail how they plan to limit global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, and to provide financial assistance to poor countries suffering the worst of the climate crisis. So far, although more than 100 world leaders attended last week, and 45,000 delegates remain, there has been little progress on pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and little new money for climate finance. The most contentious issue at the talks is “loss and damage”, referring to the most devastating impacts of extreme weather, which already afflict some countries. Pakistan was hit by record floods in August and September that left 20 million people in need of humanitarian aid, while in Africa droughts worse than any for 40 years have left almost 150 million facing extreme hunger. Some activists have called for developed countries to pay “reparations” to the poor world for these impacts, to compensate them for the harm done by their greenhouse gases over decades. Blair warned strongly against this. “If this becomes a broad and a legal argument over reparation, it’s going to become extremely politically difficult,” he said. Terms such as reparations, liability and compensation have specific legal meanings, and signing up to an agreement containing such terms would leave developed countries open to potentially unlimited payments in future, he said. “The problem is, you’re not going to get developed countries to agree something with a legal framework around that [reparations],” he said. “It’s extremely difficult to see how you’d do it. We shouldn’t let that argument get in the way of the clear obligation to help fund the adaptation needs – which, effectively, are the loss and damage.” He said loss and damage should be seen as developed countries providing assistance to the poor, and fostering finance from the private sector. “The basic thing is, there is a moral obligation on the developed world, which has created the problem of climate change, to help finance both clean energy in the developing world, and adaptation [to the impacts of extreme weather],” he said. “That’s the best way of looking at this.” Blair warned that the global 1.5C target was in danger. “That’s incredibly difficult,” he said. “Look, we can keep it as an ambition, but this is why we’ve got to get practical because, if we’re to meet it, we require an acceleration and a transformation [to a low-carbon economy]. You need more examples of actual practical plans.” Helping poor nations to lift people out of poverty was key, he added. “The only way you’re going to have any chance of getting near 1.5C is if you’re providing practical proof that it’s possible for countries to make this transition,” he said. “The central point about climate change is that, as the developed world’s emissions go down, the developing world’s emissions are going up. In the developing world, they’re going to develop. You cannot say to an African country that has not caused this problem, ‘You can’t develop’. So the only question is, can you help them develop sustainably?” | ['politics/tonyblair', 'global-development/aid', 'politics/politics', 'environment/climate-aid', 'environment/cop27', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/cop27 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2022-11-12T19:00:48Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/shortcuts/2019/aug/20/why-carbon-offsetting-is-not-the-panacea-harry-and-meghan-might-think-it-is | Why carbon offsetting is not the panacea Harry and Meghan might think it is | Elton John has attacked the criticism of the use of private jets by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – reportedly four journeys in 11 days – by saying he not only paid for the plane, but also paid to offset its giant carbon emissions. “We ensured their flight was carbon neutral,” he tweeted. The world of carbon offsetting flights – where you can pay to have the equivalent of your emissions “cancelled out” by projects that lower or remove emissions, such as reforestation or renewable energy – is not clearcut. While some argue it is better than doing nothing, others say it allows frequent flyers to assuage their guilt and the aviation industry to grow. “The idea that you can fly ‘carbon neutral’ is very misleading,” says Roger Tyers, a research fellow at the University of Southampton, who studies attitudes to offsetting and recently made a work trip to China by train. “A plane that flies today emits carbon today. It’s very hard to know how fast an offset can remove that amount of carbon from the atmosphere.” It is possible to be appalled by the tone of the attacks on the couple, on Meghan especially, while wondering if the pair couldn’t have made better choices, given their influence and professed concern about the climate crisis. And where is the comparable fuss about the use in the past year of chartered planes by Prince Charles, who recently said global leaders must act within the next 18 months to avert climate catastrophe? In the past year, the royal family’s emissions from “business travel” have doubled. All of us need to rethink our consumption of flights, not simply try to buy our way out with offsetting. Offsetting, says Tyers, is better than it was about a decade ago “when you had lots of stories about the money getting lost in the world of carbon finance. It’s much tighter now and money generally does go to [things like] reforestation projects.” However, he says, “it is questionable whether it will deliver what we need within the timescale necessary. And the cultural signal that it gives off – that you can have your cake and eat it – is problematic.” | ['environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/carbon-capture-and-storage', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'tone/features', 'news/shortcuts', 'music/elton-john', 'uk-news/meghan-duchess-of-sussex', 'uk/prince-harry', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/eminesaner', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | environment/carbon-offset-projects | EMISSIONS | 2019-08-20T15:04:59Z | true | EMISSIONS |
technology/2014/sep/04/sphero-ollie-robot-app-skateboard-tricks-tony-hawk | A skateboarding robot? Sphero’s Ollie gets halfway there | Connected-toy company Sphero has a new robust little robot that can zip across the floor at 14mph, hit ramps and do tricks, all controlled with a smartphone. Ollie is the follow up to the company’s Sphero robotic ball and focuses on the core “driving” experience while adding precision gyroscopic control for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater-style mid-air tricks, taking the play from the screen into the physical world. It can spin, flip, drift and jump, rewarding players with points on the smartphone app based on the difficulty and execution of the trick, just like a skateboarding game. “When we looked at the overall stats for Sphero, we saw lots of people just simply wanted to drive it,” explained Ian Bernstein, the co-inventor of Sphero, to the Guardian. “While driving of the features they used a lot was the main boost button, because they wanted to go even faster, which is where the idea of Ollie came from.” Ollie takes the idea of Sphero, a highly manoeuverable robotic ball that’s controlled via a Bluetooth smartphone, and gives it wheels for more directional travel and grip while maintaining the precise but easy to use control via a smartphone app. Reinvention of the remote-controlled car The little wheeled robot is a reinvention of the classic remote controlled car that has just two wheels and can drive at up to 14mph (6 metres a second) up to a range of 30m from the smartphone. It has several different tyre options that change the handling of the robot providing more grip or allowing it to power slide, and lasts about an hour’s continuous racing on a two-to-three-hour charge. Ollie went from prototype to product in a little under a year, with the first created from Sphero cast-off parts. “We pulled out the motors and rubber wheels from a Sphero and put them in-line,” explained Bernstein. “Then we 3D printed some bigger wheels and a frame and in an afternoon we had the first prototype for Ollie.” The product was then refined to be as robust as possible, surviving 100 drops of 1.5m onto concrete, while being built for speed. With a small ramp of around 10cm Ollie can jump at least 1.5m in the air. Ollie uses a Bluetooth low-energy wireless connection to the smartphone, but it can also enable the little robot to talk to its surroundings. The company is currently planning an intelligent ramp that has its own leaderboard, tracking player points as Ollie hits the ramp, as well as some race-track style gates for competitive racing. As with Sphero, Ollie is more than a simple remote control robot and can be hacked on a software and hardware level. Players can use Sphero’s coding apps to programme moves, dances, routes and anything else they fancy, or 3D print accessories to fit onto the outside of the robot like camera mounts, jousting sticks or mohawks. Ollie will cost £79.99 and will be available from 15 September, with smartphone apps available for Android, iPhone and iPad. • Robotic ball Sphero points to a new era in computer games: Tech Weekly podcast | ['technology/gadgets', 'technology/smartphones', 'technology/robots', 'technology/iphone', 'technology/android', 'lifeandstyle/toys', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'technology/apps', 'games/games', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-09-04T12:30:26Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2023/sep/22/populism-has-polluted-the-fight-for-clean-air | Populism has polluted the fight for clean air | Letter | Your interview with Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, for whom I act as a solicitor in claims arising from her daughter’s death, highlights the clear need for an urgent and precise response to address the risks to health from exposure to air pollution (How anti-Ulez campaigners misused air pollution finding in Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah death, 16 September). The politicisation of London’s ultra-low emission zone makes a mockery of the strengthening scientific consensus that poor air quality causes severe health conditions. History will judge harshly the failure to heed these warnings. In an era of polarisation, some issues rise above the popularity contests of today’s political discourse. Unless we act swiftly to use our better understanding of the threats to human health through air pollution, we risk an increased number of deaths and significant economic damage. The “enormous health costs” of air pollution could reduce global gross domestic product by 6.1%, according to the World Health Organization. We need cross-party consensus on the implementation of measures to reduce air pollution, with adequate funding to facilitate them, including helping people with low incomes to buy less polluting vehicles. The urgency calls not simply for the training of coroners and medical professionals or the installation of more pollution monitors, but most importantly for definitive action by those in power. The shocking backlash faced by Sadiq Khan in response to novel and brave measures is absurd when set against the reality of the scientific evidence. Short-term political slogans used to gain advantage in the run-up to an election will result in an unacceptable cost to us all. Nancy Collins Partner, Hodge, Jones & Allen • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/low-emission-zones', 'uk/london', 'politics/sadiq-khan', 'politics/london', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'environment/pollution', 'society/asthma', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-09-22T17:04:21Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
culture/2024/mar/18/idris-elba-reveals-dream-of-building-eco-city-on-island-off-sierra-leone | Idris Elba reveals ‘dream’ of building eco city on island off Sierra Leone | Idris Elba has shared details of his “dream” to turn an island off the coast of Sierra Leone, the country where his father was born, into an environmentally friendly smart city. The actor is working with his childhood friend to develop Sherbro, which is roughly the size of the Isle of Man, after the island was given enough autonomy by the west African nation’s government to allow the work to go ahead. “Originally, we went there thinking how could we bring tourism to the most incredible 19 miles of beachfront,” Elba told the BBC. But his friend Siaka Stevens said it became apparent Sierra Leone was not yet prepared for such an influx of tourists. Instead, the pair – who grew up together in east London – decided to embark on a more ambitious project. Their company, Sherbro Alliance Partners (SAP), has reached agreements with the Sierra Leonean government, as well as several major firms, to build an eco city as a public-private partnership. They have agreed a deal with the energy company Octopus to build Sierra Leone’s first windfarm on the island, which lacks mains electricity and is a two-hour ferry trip from the mainland. Elba said a sustainable approach to developing the project would be central throughout the development. Equally important will be respecting local culture and sensibilities, with Elba expressing his hope to create a “culturally diverse international city that blends African tradition, dynamism, and pride with state-of-the-art infrastructure and services”. “The character of the island hopefully will remain intact. It’s a beautiful, green part of the world and we don’t want to disturb that,” he said. He added: “It’s about being self-reliant, it’s about bringing an economy that feeds itself and has growth potential. I’m very keen to reframe the way Africa is viewed … as an aid model. This opportunity is completely different.” He and Stevens have defined three key principles for the project. Among them is developing “based on African cultural values and principles, which prioritise community, collaboration, and respect for nature”. They also said they planned to design the infrastructure in a way that was adaptable to “changing social, economic and environmental conditions” and to follow “eco city principles”, such as building in a way that is “environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and resilient to climate change”. Stevens said that the development on the island would be “fuelled by clean energy sources”. The pair said they had also sought to consult residents of the island; saying they have each visited several times to meet local leaders. Last month, Lloyds of London announced it was to take up a role in the project, but said at the time that Stevens and Elba’s company was still in the process of putting together feasibility studies with the government of Sierra Leone. Elba and Stevens have said they hoped to break ground on the project within about a year of those studies starting, but they have stressed that this is a process that is likely to last decades. Feasibility is a key question for the project, for which SAP reportedly hopes to raise billions of dollars from various sources. The US-Senegalese singer Akon is another artist who announced a plan to build a futuristic city in his ancestral homeland. The first phase of his project was due to be completed by late last year. But, as the Guardian reported in December, the project has been beset by delays and controversy – with only a youth centre and the shell of what is planned to be the “welcome centre” having been built so far. While Akon received praise for the planned city’s Afrofuturistic aesthetic, there has been scepticism as to whether it will ever come to pass, fuelled by a lack of detail around the plans. Elba, for his part, has been clear about where his strengths lie. “Never in my lifetime would I have thought I could build the foundation for a new smart-city … I’m not qualified for that. But I am qualified to dream big,” he said. “It’s a dream, you know, but I work in the make-believe business.” He added: “Part of me wants to build that beautiful retirement home for my mum.” The actor told the broadcaster his late father would probably think the dream too big. But he said he would be proud, and tell his son “If you’re going to do it, make sure you do it properly. You do it good, you do it with all your heart because that’s the best you can do”. | ['culture/idris-elba', 'world/sierraleone', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2024-03-18T14:06:33Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2020/jun/07/omission-of-air-pollution-from-report-on-covid-19-and-race-astonishing | Omission of air pollution from report on Covid-19 and race ‘astonishing’ | The failure to consider air pollution as a factor in the higher rates of coronavirus deaths among minority ethnic groups is “astonishing” and “wholly irresponsible”, according to critics of a Public Health England review. The PHE report released on Tuesday confirmed the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from ethnic minorities but did not mention air pollution. Minorities in the UK, US and elsewhere are known to generally experience higher levels of air pollution, and there is growing evidence around the world linking exposure to dirty air to increased coronavirus infections and deaths. Scientists said air pollution should “absolutely” be considered and that it could have a double effect, with long-term exposure weakening lungs and hearts and short-term exposure potentially making viral infection more likely. Before the pandemic, air pollution was estimated to cause 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK, about the same number as the official UK coronavirus death toll to date. “I find it astonishing that they didn’t look at air pollution,” said Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, a World Health Organization advocate for health and air quality. Her daughter Ella died in 2013 from a severe asthma attack that medical experts have now linked to spikes in air pollution. “Air pollution is linked to diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and those with underlying health conditions are dying more from Covid-19,” she said. “So I expected the black and minority ethnic community to come out worse, because health inequalities are worst in the BAME community, let alone adding a lethal respiratory virus. “Some people will say air pollution in itself is racism because, yet again, it disproportionately affects black people – Covid-19 has just made it more obvious.” Geraint Davies, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on air pollution, said: “It is wholly irresponsible for PHE not to correct for air pollution and occupation. The review therefore wrongly projects the idea that [minority ethnic] communities may be more susceptible to coronavirus, when it should instead say they are put into harm’s way by living in more polluted areas and by being overrepresented amongst frontline workers.” Prof Jonathan Grigg, of Queen Mary University of London, a member of the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, which advises the government, said: “Air pollution absolutely should be part of the consideration. It’s entirely plausible [and] we should at least ask the question. “You might get a double hit” from long- and short-term exposure to dirty air,” he said. “[Exposed groups] will have a vulnerability due to air pollution coming into Covid, so it will contribute to some extent, but it is difficult to say to what extent.” Prof Francesca Dominici, of Harvard University in the US, also said pollution was an important factor. “We have a large body of evidence that health risks associated with air pollution exposure are higher among ethnic minorities.” Her research has shown that even a small increase in previous pollution exposure is linked to an 8% rise in Covid-19 deaths. The PHE report was heavily criticised for a lack of recommendations on how to reduce the disproportionate impact among people from ethnic minorities and for removing a section detailing responses from third parties, many of whom highlighted structural racism. On Thursday the equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, rejected claims that “systemic injustice” was the reason for the disparities. Scientists say it is unlikely that any genetic factors play a major role. Badenoch said it was clear “that much more needs to be done to understand the key drivers of the disparities”, and said PHE did not make recommendations because the data needed was not available. On Friday the Equality and Human Rights Commission said it would carry out an in-depth analysis and develop urgent recommendations to address the loss of lives of people from ethnic minorities. A PHE spokeswoman said: “The review looked at factors including age, sex, geography, ethnicity, occupation and deprivation. These were set out in the terms of reference for the work. To further understand the disparities, PHE’s work will be complemented by studies to be undertaken in response to a research call.” Winston Morgan, a toxicologist and clinical biochemist at the University of East London, said: “The fact that we can map death rates from Covid-19 on to almost all other negative societal outcomes is all the evidence we need to know the main problem is with structural racism. “A simple genetic cause linked to race does not make scientific sense. The data shows the affected groups transcend the classical definitions of both race and ethnicity. That is not to say when we examine all the data in the future we will not find a very tiny sub-population with a mutation which makes them more susceptible. But many find it easier to use race rather than racism as an explanation, partly because you can link it to something inherent in the victims.” Dominici said: “I really doubt that genetic factors play a bigger role than environmental and societal factors and racism.” Issy Bray, a health statistics expert at the University of the West of England, said: “We cannot rule it out, as other diseases do affect certain ethnic groups for genetic reasons, eg sickle cell anaemia. However, it is already clear that the relationship between ethnicity and risk of coronavirus is at least partially explained by a range of societal factors, and it is these inequalities that we should be tackling.” The scientists said the influence of air pollution could be singled out if carefully analysed alongside other important factors such as population density, deprivation, occupation and obesity, ideally using data on individuals. Bray said smartphone apps that monitor symptoms could be useful by providing large amounts of personal and location data. | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'society/health', 'politics/health', 'world/race', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'society/society', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-06-07T10:00:49Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2012/oct/03/tucker-carlson-obama-fox-news-bombshell | Tucker Carlson's Obama video: the Fox News 'bombshell' that fizzled | Michael Wolff | One of the things about watching cable television – that is, actually focusing on it, studying it, rerunning the online clips – is how stupid the people on it can seem. This is undoubtedly because most people on television are not all that smart (and why should they be?). And because when you have to talk for the sake of talking – which is the job at hand – your blather quotient is going to increase. And, too, because no matter how much practice you have at blathering and how much boilerplate you can regurgitate, unscripted moments can be as rough on cable heads as on politicians. But, perhaps most of all, you get revealed when your talking points are weak. Tucker Carlson, who has been retailing a 2007 video of an Obama speech about post-Katrina reconstruction, is a pleasant, charming, often humorous, B-level political commentator. He has managed to become modestly well-known without quite succeeding at any job he's held. After unsuccessful tries at print journalism, and after being bumped as a conservative commentator from MSNBC and CNN, he now has a conservative website. His shocked-shocked curation of the 2007 video most generously comes under the heading of "it's hard to make a living". The principal charge here is that Obama seems to suggest that the delays in reconstruction after Katrina might have something to do with the fact that so many of the people in New Orleans are poor, powerless, underrepresented, and, as it happens, black. Carlson's view, which has been echoed now by Drudge, and much of the Fox line-up, is that this dangerously, insidiously, and rudely sets black Americans against white Americans. According to Fox, critics are saying these "are racially charged remarks that promote class warfare". Pay no attention to the fact that the critics are primarily Fox itself. But that is not the notable part. The notable part is how poorly, and sheepishly, just this side of red-faced, the Fox commentators are making this case. Carlson's interlocutor on the morning show Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy – not, in any situation, television's brightest bulb – can hardly manage a coherent sentence ("municipality, or state, or local government, or something like that", he says, focusing on the issue of relief administration). He goes from notes, to prompter, to listening to the producer in his ear, in an effort to somehow figure out just exactly what the issue is here – and, hoping against hope, not to be humiliated by it. Carlson himself, with freshly-dyed hair, seems just to smirk and look sidewise, while he accuses the then senator of, five years ago, "whipping up fear and paranoia". Indeed, the outrage and umbrage – most of all, it seems, about Obama "cadence" – deflates as it is uttered. In a remarkably short cycle, it was Fox itself that, having primed this bombshell, then defused it. Fox's Sean Hannity acted as straw man and allowed himself to be demolished by Fox's Juan Williams, the network's designated defender of the president. Similarly, Greta Van Susteren had the Tea Party Congressman Allen West pooh-poohing the whole affair. In part, this is a concise demonstration of the Fox method: not just a toxic polemic, but one that they carefully test and calibrate. In this instance, floating it out there and then pulling it back in, with some reflexive grumbling about liberal bias. And, in part, it is a measure of the franticness at this point in the campaign and of how little the Republicans have to work with. On the other hand, why not try it? The only downside is that everybody looks even stupider than usual. But there is no real cost in that. | ['commentisfree/series/michael-wolff-media-modern-life', 'media/fox-news', 'media/fox', 'tv-and-radio/us-television', 'us-news/barack-obama', 'world/race', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'media/media', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'us-news/republicans', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'us-news/new-orleans', 'type/article', 'profile/michael-wolff'] | us-news/hurricane-katrina | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-03T17:21:56Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2007/dec/10/soundsgreatdoesntitthe | Blow by blow | Sounds great, doesn't it? The government plans to get 33 gigawatts of electricity from offshore wind installed around the British coast by 2020, taking advantage of the huge amounts of wind that blows over these islands. That's almost half of the current 76 gigawatts of installed generating capacity we have now, consisting almost entirely of gas, coal and nuclear generation. But scratch the surface of the government's bold-looking announcement and the gloss starts to come off it, and rather rapidly. For a start, it mirrors one made five years ago by this same government. Since when, very little has happened. We now have only around 400 megawatts of wind power installed, a third of one gigawatt, so roughly 1.2% of where the government wants to be by 2020. Sure, five gigawatts are planned but have yet to be built, five years on. And the Thames Array, now finally through the planning process, will be the world's biggest wind farm when it is finally built. But even it is only one gigawatt, a long way from 33. The industry secretary John Hutton's announcement that the UK would soon have more offshore wind than world leader Denmark is completely bogus since Denmark, like Germany, has lots of onshore wind power, many times the installed capacity that the UK has. The problem with offshore wind is that it is very expensive and difficult to build. Currently, it is highly unlikely that anyone from the private sector will step forward to build offshore wind on the scale the government has laid out. Onshore wind makes far more sense cost-wise but seems doomed to be held up forever in the planning process because so many people object to seeing turbines on coastlines. The government has announced a destination it would like to get to without laying out a route map. It would have to, for example, increase the payments to offshore wind under its current, flawed, renewables obligation scheme. But we have heard nothing of that from Mr Hutton. I was leaked a paper from officials in Mr Hutton's department in the summer showing they knew the UK had no chance of meeting its 20% renewables by 2020 target, set by the EU, and advised ministers to undermine it. If Mr Hutton's plan was so easy to carry out, why would the officials think the way they do? And if the government really believes half of our electricity could come from wind in just 13 years, how come it is telling us that we need to build new nuclear power stations? Currently these turn out about 12 gigawatts of the UK's 76, only about one-third of the promised wind power. We need a lot more action than words from this government before we believe what they want us to. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'environment/windpower', 'type/article', 'profile/ashleyseager'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2007-12-10T16:30:44Z | true | ENERGY |
news/2011/jul/06/weatherwatch-cloudbuster | Weatherwatch: Wilhelm Reich's cloudbuster | While many methods have been proposed for weather control, few have been quite as peculiar as the cloudbuster invented by Austrian psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich. This device manipulates Orgone Energy, a cosmic life force which also happens to hold clouds together. It resembles the chi of traditional Chinese belief and has yet to be detected by orthodox science. The cloudbuster is a set of hollow tubes pointing to the sky and "earthed" by a connection to water. It can supposedly form or disperse clouds and cause or prevent rain. Reich's theories attracted considerable media attention. In 1953, blueberry farmers in Maine offered to pay Reich if he could end a drought that threatened the crop. Reich set up his cloudbuster and operated it for just over an hour; the next morning it started raining, and the crop was saved. Sceptics suggested this was coincidence. Reich still has his disciples, and there are instructions online to build your own cloudbuster. The modern version is more sophisticated than Reich's. Although physically it looks like copper pipes standing in a paint pot filled with "double terminated quartz crystals," it is said to automatically restore atmospheric balance and end drought without the need for a human operator. This makes it much safer than the original. Reich warned his cloudbuster could drill holes in the sky and produce prolonged rain or even cause tornadoes if used by an unskilled practitioner. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'environment/drought', 'type/article', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-07-06T22:08:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2017/may/02/britains-energy-supply-is-in-jeopardy-after-brexit-warn-mps | Britain's energy supply is in jeopardy after Brexit, warn MPs | The future of Britain’s power supply has been jeopardised by Brexit and the government must act urgently to ensure nuclear power stations stay open, MPs have warned. The influential Commons business, energy and industrial strategy committee said that any gap between the UK leaving a European atomic power treaty and entering into secure alternative deals would “severely inhibit nuclear trade and research and threaten power supplies”. The cross-party group of MPs said it shared the nuclear industry’s concern that it would take more than two years to hammer out a new deal for regulating nuclear power stations and trade. It urged the government to delay exit from the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) or set up transitional arrangements, which may need to be longer than the three years proposed by the European parliament. In a stark warning, Iain Wright, the committee’s chair, said: “The impact of Brexit on Euratom has not been thought through. The government has failed to consider the potentially severe ramifications of its Brexit objectives for the nuclear industry. Ministers must act as urgently as possible. The repercussions of failing to do so are huge. The continued operations of the UK nuclear industry are at risk.” The committee’s report echoed a warning from nuclear energy lawyers that leaving Euratom without a new deal would see the trade in nuclear fuel grind to a halt and could ultimately force Britain’s reactors to switch off. A former government adviser had told the committee that the UK nuclear industry would be “crippled” if new nuclear cooperation deals are not agreed within two years. The Euratom treaty promotes uniform safety standards, cooperation and research into nuclear power. Justin Bowden, national officer of the GMB union, said the committee’s warning “yet again emphasises our government’s lack of anything that could be called a coherent energy policy. “In a world outside of the European Union, energy self-sufficiency is common sense and nuclear, alongside gas, will be fundamental in that reliable mix,” he said. “Decisive action must take place now. The electorate will not forgive politicians of any political party who fail in their duty to maintain the electricity supply.” Wright said: “The prime minister has made it politically unfeasible to remain in Euratom long term. The government now has a responsibility to end the uncertainty hanging over the industry and ensure robust and stable arrangements to protect trade, boost research and development, and ensure safeguarding of the highest level.” The government argues that the UK must leave Euratom following Theresa May’s triggering of article 50 on 29 March, but the committee notes that legal opinion is divided. MPs are concerned that in the long run, the UK will become a “rule taker” – complying with but unable to influence European rules and standards. The committee warns that if UK standards diverge too far from those in the EU, Britain could become a dumping ground for energy-inefficient products. MPs are also worried that Brexit could distract the government from achieving emissions reduction targets, enshrined in domestic law. The committee’s report recommends maintaining access to the internal energy market and retaining membership of the emissions trading system until 2020 at least. Alternatives include retaining unrestricted energy trade between the UK and the EU, or seeking third party access to the market. The University of Cambridge suggested that energy cooperation could be reframed as an issue of security rather than trade, and an energy security treaty could be established with neighbouring countries. “We believe that membership of the internal energy market has been beneficial to UK and EU consumers and has helped provide flexibility and certainty to the supply of energy,” MPs said. “We therefore agree with the government’s intention to retain as free as possible access to this market and the intention to remain an influential player on energy in the EU. “While there are undoubtedly weaknesses in the operation of some EU policies on energy and climate change, notably the EU emissions trading system, the secretary of state, Greg Clark, acknowledged that cooperation with EU partners was generally mutually beneficial. The UK has consistently been a driver of high standards and ambitious climate change targets.” | ['business/energy-industry', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'world/eu', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/juliakollewe', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2017-05-02T11:35:31Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2020/apr/08/scientists-create-mutant-enzyme-that-recycles-plastic-bottles-in-hours | Scientists create mutant enzyme that recycles plastic bottles in hours | A mutant bacterial enzyme that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours has been created by scientists. The enzyme, originally discovered in a compost heap of leaves, reduced the bottles to chemical building blocks that were then used to make high-quality new bottles. Existing recycling technologies usually produce plastic only good enough for clothing and carpets. The company behind the breakthrough, Carbios, said it was aiming for industrial-scale recycling within five years. It has partnered with major companies including Pepsi and L’Oréal to accelerate development. Independent experts called the new enzyme a major advance. Billions of tonnes of plastic waste have polluted the planet, from the Arctic to the deepest ocean trench, and pose a particular risk to sea life. Campaigners say reducing the use of plastic is key, but the company said the strong, lightweight material was very useful and that true recycling was part of the solution. The new enzyme was revealed in research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. The work began with the screening of 100,000 micro-organisms for promising candidates, including the leaf compost bug, which was first discovered in 2012. “It had been completely forgotten, but it turned out to be the best,” said Prof Alain Marty at the Université de Toulouse, France, the chief science officer at Carbios. The scientists analysed the enzyme and introduced mutations to improve its ability to break down the PET plastic from which drinks bottles are made. They also made it stable at 72C, close to the perfect temperature for fast degradation. The team used the optimised enzyme to break down a tonne of waste plastic bottles, which were 90% degraded within 10 hours. The scientists then used the material to create new food-grade plastic bottles. Carbios has a deal with the biotechnology company Novozymes to produce the new enzyme at scale using fungi. It said the cost of the enzyme was just 4% of the cost of virgin plastic made from oil. Waste bottles also have to be ground up and heated before the enzyme is added, so the recycled PET will be more expensive than virgin plastic. But Martin Stephan, the deputy chief executive at Carbios, said existing lower-quality recycled plastic sells at a premium due to a shortage of supply. “We are the first company to bring this technology on the market,” said Stephan. “Our goal is to be up and running by 2024, 2025, at large industrial scale.” He said a reduction in plastic use was one part of solving the waste problem. “But we all know that plastic brings a lot of value to society, in food, medical care, transportation. The problem is plastic waste.” Increasing the collection of plastic waste was key, Stephan said, with about half of all plastic ending up in the environment or in landfill. Another team of scientists revealed in 2018 that they had accidentally created an enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles. One of the team behind this advance, Prof John McGeehan, the director of the Centre for Enzyme Innovation at the University of Portsmouth, said Carbios was the leading company engineering enzymes to break down PET at large scale and that the new work was a major advance. “It makes the possibility of true industrial-scale biological recycling of PET a possibility. This is a very large advance in terms of speed, efficiency and heat tolerance,” McGeehan said. “It represents a significant step forward for true circular recycling of PET and has the potential to reduce our reliance on oil, cut carbon emissions and energy use, and incentivise the collection and recycling of waste plastic.” Scientists are also making progress in finding biological ways to break down other major types of plastic. In March, German researchers revealed a bug that feasts on toxic polyurethane, while earlier work has shown that wax moth larvae – usually bred as fish bait – can eat up polythene bags. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2020-04-08T15:00:20Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2017/jun/13/melodious-encounter-family-redstarts-sussex | Melodious encounter with a family of redstarts | The wind crashes through the tree tops, like the sea breaking on the shore, the great pines and silver birches that encircle the heathland swaying and shimmering. A red admiral butterfly rises from the heather, but it is snatched up by the wind and tumbles away too quickly for me to follow it. I walk along the muddy track that threads between the trees. Where only last week the ground had been dry and parched, offering very little moisture to thirsty animals and birds, now all the pools are replenished with just one day’s heavy rain. I stop to watch three goldfinches drink from a puddle in front of me. There is movement in the scrub on one side of the path. Small birds – goldcrests and blue tits – hop from branch to branch. There are other, larger birds moving through the cover of the young birches. I can just hear their calls above the wind – rising “seeps” and soft chattering. They look like warblers at first, perhaps chiffchaffs, but then one, and another, then a third appear in the open and I see that they’re redstarts. The lead bird is grey on top with buff underparts, the other two are more mottled – an adult female and two recently fledged birds. The youngsters are calling, following the adult through the bushes, begging her for food. She comes back to feed them. I inch forward for a closer look, but as soon as I do, another bird emits louder rising calls from above me. I look up to see what’s sounding the alarm. It’s a male redstart, with grey head and back, white forehead, black face and throat, and orange breast. Redstarts aren’t common in Sussex, with most breeding pairs found in Ashdown Forest, but at least one pair have returned to this heathland in recent years, and have bred ever since. The male calls three more times, then segues into its song – a tuneful rattle followed by a short, complex phrase of tweets and whistles, like a linnet’s song. It sings again, then flies off, following the others into the trees. Follow Country diary on Twitter: @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/birds', 'environment/birdwatching', 'environment/butterflies', 'environment/environment', 'environment/insects', 'environment/wildlife', 'uk/uk', 'environment/summer', 'environment/forests', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/rob-yarham', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-06-13T04:30:47Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
global-development/2014/sep/11/tropical-forests-illegally-destroyed-commercial-agriculture | Tropical forests illegally destroyed for commercial agriculture | Increasing international demand for palm oil, beef, soy and wood is fuelling the illegal destruction of tropical forests at an alarming rate, according to new analysis that suggests nearly half of all recent tropical deforestation is the result of unlawful clearing for commercial agriculture. The report, by the Washington-based NGO Forest Trends, concludes that 71% of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2012 was due to commercial cultivation. Of that deforestation, 49% was caused by illegal clearing to make way for agricultural products whose largest buyers include the EU, China, India, Russia and the US. The global market for beef, leather, soy, palm oil, tropical timbers, pulp and paper – worth an estimated $61bn (£38bn) a year – resulted in the clearance of more than 200,000 square kilometres of tropical forest in the first decade of the 21st century, the report says. Put another way, an average of five football fields of tropical forest were lost every minute over that period. As well as having “devastating impacts” on both forest-dependent people and biodiversity, the destruction of tropical forests for commercial exploitation has, according to the study, released an estimated 1.47 gigatonnes of carbon each year – equivalent to a quarter of the EU’s annual fossil fuel-based emissions. The study, Consumer Goods and Deforestation, says two countries – Brazil and Indonesia – account for 75% of the total area illegally cleared over the period. The countries are leading producers of agricultural commodities such as palm oil, which is used in cosmetics and household goods; soy, used in animal feed; and wood products destined for packaging. It suggests that at least 90% of deforestation for agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon is illegal, mainly because the legal obligation to preserve a percentage of natural forest in large-scale cattle and soy plantations was ignored. The report does, however, concede that much of the damage was done before 2004, when the Brazilian government embarked on a successful drive to reduce deforestation. The NGO estimates that 80% of the deforestation in Indonesia was illegal, with most of it cleared for palm oil and timber plantations. Similar patterns were seen in other parts of Latin America and Asia, as well as in Africa. According to the study, 90% of the licences granted to clear millions of hectares of forest in Papua New Guinea were issued through corrupt or fraudulent means, while in Bolivia the production of soy – 75% of which is exported – has been the chief driver of illegal deforestation in its Amazon region. It suggests that almost 40% of palm oil, 20% of soy, nearly 33% of tropical timber, and 14% of beef traded internationally comes from land that had been illegally razed. “We’ve known that the production of agricultural commodities is a principal driving force behind deforestation, but this is the first report to show the outsize role that illegal activities play in the production of hundreds of food and household products consumed worldwide,” said Michael Jenkins, the president and CEO of Forest Trends. He said that although increased agricultural production would be needed to meet the demands of the emerging global middle class, the world needed to wake up to the effect it was already having on tropical forests. Jenkins added: “Urgent action is needed to help countries where these agricultural products are being grown, both for governments to enforce their own laws and regulations, and for businesses aiming to produce commodities legally and sustainably.” If the trend is to be reversed, says the report, governments, corporations and investors will need to act quickly and in partnership. It urges producer countries to simplify land laws – and make sure they are respected by investors. It calls on consumer countries to ensure that the goods they buy have been legally and sustainably sourced. Companies, meanwhile, ought to make sure they buy and trade only legally produced commodities and refuse to do business in countries where legality cannot be guaranteed. The report’s author, Sam Lawson, said allowing commodities from illegally cleared land “unfettered access” to international markets was undermining tropical countries’ efforts to enforce their own laws, adding: “Consumer countries have a responsibility to help halt this trade.” | ['global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'global-development/natural-resources-and-development', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/environment', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'world/indonesia', 'world/asia-pacific', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/samjones'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-09-10T23:01:24Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/2014/oct/22/business-resource-malaria-programmes-borneo | Why business is an ‘untapped resource’ for malaria control programmes | Malaria is often associated with Africa, but the disease is rampant in the Asia Pacific region too. In countries such as India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea, almost 30m cases are reported every year, resulting in an estimated 42,000 deaths. The region’s national governments would do well to look at the experience of Sabah on the island of Borneo. Cases of malaria in the Malaysian province have dropped from a high of 49,192 in 1994 to 2,032 in 2011. At the root of the rapid decline lies an informal, yet highly effective, partnership between the state-led Malaysian Malaria Control Programme (MCP) and companies operating in palm oil and rubber sectors. Since 1991, MCP has been building links with many of the state’s 1,074 plantation estates, leading to joint cooperation around key interventions such as indoor residual spraying and the distribution of insecticide-treated nets. “In large districts with remote populations, malaria control officers struggle to meet deadlines for bi-annual IRS (indoor residual spraying) coverage because of the time required to travel to rural areas,” states a recent research paper in the Malaria Journal. Resource commitments and divisions of labour between MCP’s district offices and plantations differ hugely. The most engaged plantations go as far as to construct office buildings and living quarters for MCP’s rural outposts, as well as providing equipment, electricity and help with transport. All participating plantations, whatever their level of involvement, cover the costs of spraying and net distribution as a minimum. In return, MCP provides training on malarial prevention, as well as assistance with screening new workers and advising on appropriate treatment if and when a worker should become infected. “Most communications between partners are informal and ad-hoc, occurring on a daily or weekly basis,” the researchers note, adding that MCP’s programme officers aim to physically visit most participating plantations on a weekly basis where possible. The motivations for the private sector to engage with the government’s malarial programme range from the ethical (ie worker care) to the economic (ie avoiding lost productivity). Very often, the partnership strikes up after a plantation has experienced a malarial outbreak. Risk of infection is comparatively high as up to 45% of the sector’s workers come from neighbouring Indonesia and the Philippines, where malaria is endemic. Managing a cross-sector relationship is not without its difficulties. The most frequent source of tension occurs around the allocation of scarce resources. Government officers state that educating plantation management on the importance and benefits of malaria control is a time-consuming business, while estate owners complain that logistical support can be tricky during peak production periods. Still, the results are impressive. In 2011, only 107 cases were reported across all Subah’s plantation estates. Among the “best practices” identified by the researchers are the importance of frequent communication between the two partner entities, the engagement of top-level management, and the formal recognition of plantations’ achievements. “Partnering with the commercial sector has been an essential operational strategy to support malaria elimination in Sabah,” the independent analysis of the partnership concludes. “Private industry is an untapped resource for malaria control programmes regionally.” Read more stories like this: Business and academia join forces to tackle UK food security How partnerships can pay for business and rural workers Advertisement feature: Unilever seeks innovative startups for sustainable living hack The sustainable living hub is funded by Unilever. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/series/sustainable-living', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/governance', 'tone/blog', 'society/malaria', 'business/business', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'environment/palm-oil', 'type/article', 'profile/oliver-balch'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-10-22T12:53:15Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2014/jan/26/beware-internet-of-things-fridges | Beware The Internet of Things | Stuart Heritage | Right now, hordes of fevered scientists around the globe are pulling all-nighter after desperate all-nighter. They haven't changed their clothes for weeks. The walls of their laboratories are speckled with fist-sized craters, each marking a different failure. Their marriages are in ruin, their children strangers to them. And it's all because Back to the Future: Part II was set less than two years from now. "Damn it, Bob," one jaundiced, coffee-stained boffin is yelling at his semi-comatose colleague. "These people were promised hoverboards. If we don't have a working hoverboard in production by Christmas, there will be riots. These animals will have our heads." Bob shrugs. He's too exhausted to care. He has been at this since 1989. He can't remember what the sky looks like any more. He's going to be torn limb from limb by a mob of strangers furious that science hasn't met the fanciful advances hinted at by popular culture 25 years ago, and he's OK with that. His colleague hasn't given up, though. He strikes upon an idea. If he can't deliver a hoverboard then maybe, just maybe, he can invent something so completely revolutionary that it makes people forget about Back to the Future. He spitballs the most outlandishly futuristic ideas he can think of. "Drones that deliver your online shopping!" he says. "No, a phone that you can wear on your wrist! No, that's pointless. Wait, I've got it! An iPad that's exactly like the iPad you already own, but very slightly thinner!" Then Bob murmurs: "an internet of things". His colleague looks up, suddenly interested. "What? An internet of things? Bob, what's an internet of things? That's just four meaningless words in a row. What does that mean?" Nobody knows. But it's the best idea anyone's had and time is running out. And this is how the internet of things came to be. The internet of things – or The Internet of Things to be more precise, because your phone already autocorrects "internet" to "Internet" so it may as well start doing the same with the word "things" – is the next big thing. That's what everyone at this year's CES tech expo in Las Vegas kept parroting, at least. It'll be the biggest thing since the Industrial Revolution, they said. It'll be bigger than the current internet, or The Internet of Cat Photos and Complaining About Train Companies on Twitter, as it'll soon be known. The Internet of Things will change the way we think about everything for ever. That's quite a boast for something that, as far as I can tell, is a way to make fridges bleep whenever you run out of yoghurt. For the uninitiated, The Internet of Things is a network of objects that, although passive now, will soon spring to life and begin communicating with each other. To use one example, imagine that your morning meeting has been postponed. Soon your phone will be able to read the email telling you this and update your calendar, which will in turn alter your alarm clock to give you extra time in bed, your boiler to start heating water later than normal, your coffee machine so you don't wake up to a mug of cold muck and your car to start melting the ice on your windscreen in time for your later commute. This is inescapable. It's already happening. By 2020, more than 30bn devices will be connected to The Internet of Things, all chattering and synergising and secretly preparing for the day when everything you own will join as one and murder you. Of course, the murder thing is probably just a wild overreaction on my part. In actual fact, The Internet of Things has already produced some cool-sounding devices. There is the tennis racket kitted out with motion sensors to help you improve your game. There's the parking sensor that directs your satnav to an empty spot. The basketball that, when bounced on the floor, automatically tells your home entertainment setup to start playing basketball-related content. The bridge that tells people when it's about to collapse. The smoke alarm that switches itself off and works in conjunction with your electrical outlets to burn you to death in your sleep because it has become jealous of your capacity for love. The remote cave that fills itself with bears and poisonous snakes whenever it detects that someone has started sleeping in it because they've convinced themselves that their entire house has grown sentient and suddenly turned against them. All sorts, really. It'll be fun. Obviously, The Internet of Things still has a few kinks to iron out. Just because you bounce a basketball on the floor, it doesn't necessarily mean that you automatically want to listen to (I Know I Got) Skillz by Shaquille O'Neal all the way through. And all the personal data that this network produces will be so vast and intimate that it's genuinely rather frightening. But, look, we're not getting a hoverboard any time soon. A kettle that keeps trying to kill you is the next best thing. We should probably just get used to it. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'technology/internet', 'tone/comment', 'technology/ces-2014', 'technology/ces', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/internet-of-things', 'type/article', 'profile/stuart-heritage', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-01-26T20:00:03Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2005/oct/07/hurricanes2005.weather | The deadly aftermath of a hurricane called Stan | Rescue workers and soldiers were yesterday struggling to reach isolated villages across Central America and southern Mexico cut off or destroyed by Hurricane Stan and related storms. At least 162 people died throughout the region, most buried under mudslides or drowned by rivers converted into raging brown floods. Many thousands more were holed up in shelters. Authorities pleaded with people to put life before property and head for safety. Stan, a category one hurricane, entered Mexico from the Atlantic on Tuesday, moving slowly southwest across the country and triggering storms further south in Central America. It was downgraded to a tropical depression on Wednesday. While the force of the storms has not been dramatic compared with the powerful winds packed by Hurricane Katrina and Rita in the United States, they have unleashed large quantities of rain capable of devastating this largely poverty-stricken region. The rain is forecast to continue for the rest of the week, raising fears of further landslides and floods. Greenpeace blamed rampant deforestation for exacerbating the disaster, and called on governments to do more to protect woods and mangroves. Although not directly in Stan's path, Central America has been the hardest hit. Guatemala's government said that 79 people had died and the total was likely to rise. The area around Lake Atitlan has been one of the hardest hit, with rescuers digging out 15 bodies so far. Whole families were unaccounted for in the hill town of Tecpan to the west after more than 30 houses were buried under mud, tree trunks and rocks. Villagers told Reuters they feared provoking another landslide if they dug too deep to search for bodies. There were also rumours that hundreds had been buried under banks of mud in a remote western region that rescuers had yet to reach. At least 62 people died in neighbouring El Salvador, with some 40,000 waiting out the rain in shelters. The government warned of forced evacuations of vulnerable areas. Among those already ordered to move were residents of Santa Tecla, just outside the capital. Officials are concerned that parts of a mountain alongside the town could collapse, as it did during an earthquake in January 2001. The authorities said some 70% of this tiny country has been damaged by the storms, with many roads blocked, including the Panamerican Highway, complicating access to remote areas. Additional worries were caused by the increased activity of the Santa Ana volcano, forcing authorities to evacuate the area. Nine people were reported dead in Nicaragua, among them six Ecuadoreans heading for the United States in a boat. The storms also reportedly killed four people in Honduras and one in Costa Rica. For Central America, the storms brought back memories of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 that killed some 10,000 people. Mitch was also not particularly powerful, with the heavy downpours over days proving far more destructive than the winds. Most of the damage in southern Mexico, as Stan passed by, has been concentrated in the states of Veracruz and Chiapas, with 13 people reported dead. Television pictures showed people running for their lives as the river Coatan that runs through the city of Tapachula carried away fridges, tables and chairs from collapsed houses. Local authorities reported more than 2,000 homes destroyed. | ['environment/environment', 'world/hurricanes', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/world', 'world/mexico', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/jotuckman', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international1'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-10-07T16:20:14Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2012/feb/25/peter-gleick-leave-pacific-institute-heartland-leak | Peter Gleick on leave from Pacific Institute over Heartland leak | Peter Gleick, the scientist behind the sting on the Heartland Institute, has announced he is stepping down – at least temporarily – from the institute he has led for more than 20 years. In a brief letter on Friday evening, Gleick asked the board of directors of the Pacific Institute to grant him a "temporary short-term leave of absence", while it investigated his use of deception to obtain sensitive documents from Heartland, which he then leaked to the press. It was the longest public statement from Gleick since he admitted posing as a Heartland board member to obtain confidential documents. But on his twitter feed on 21 February, he thanked his defenders: "To all those sending kind words and thoughts, I deeply appreciate them," he tweeted. Gleick makes his exit after days of ferocious debate about his tactics in exposing Heartland, a rightwing thinktank with a core mission of spreading disinformation about climate change. There is parallel pressure being put on Heartland to come clean about its mission and its funding – specifically the influence exerted by the single anonymous donor who has given it $14m. An email chain released by Heartland earlier on Friday suggested it was child's play for Gleick to obtain what the institute described as sensitive materials – once he assumed the identity of a board member. The chain shows no indication that Gleick was ever challenged in his requests for information – not even when he asked for the email and phone numbers of board members. Heartland would not respond to requests for comments on whether it passed the numbers to Gleick, or what sort of security procedures it had in place for materials it regarded as sensitive. The successful phishing expedition, which netted donors' lists and fundraising plans, turned Gleick into an intensely polarising figure. Some embraced Gleick as a democratic hero, others worried that he had lost the moral high ground claimed by science. But there was wide consensus that Gleick's admitted use of deception to obtain the materials from Heartland could overshadow the professional reputation of an internationally recognised water expert. In his request for leave, Gleick said he was hoping to insulate the Pacific Institute, which he helped found in 1987, from the furore over Heartland. "I believe it is critical for the board and the institute to have the opportunity to fully review the facts of the situation in order to confirm the truth of the statements I have made regarding my actions and to reach a careful and appropriate conclusion," Gleick wrote in the letter. "My first priority is to protect the institute's ongoing mission and work. I believe such a leave would allow the institute staff to continue to refocus on its work, while permitting the Board to conduct a full and fair review and determine an appropriate course of action." That investigation now goes beyond Gleick's admitted use of deception to obtain the Heartland documents. He is also now being accused of fabricating a two-page strategy memo which closely follows the documents authenticated by Heartland. Gleick said he was sent the two-page memo anonymously, and he launched his sting on Heartland to try and verify its contents. Heartland maintains the memo is a fake. But Heartland's claims about the documents are now being challenged by the Democratic congressman Ed Markey, who is demanding the thinktank declare the authenticity, or otherwise, of every document released by Gleick. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'us-news/us-news', 'science/science', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2012-02-25T02:44:00Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
environment/2015/sep/16/hand-made-village-near-magna-carta-memorial-dismantled-by-bailiffs | Hand-made village near Magna Carta memorial dismantled by bailiffs | Eco-activists who lost a court battle to use ancient land rights to remain in their woodland village squat near where Magna Carta was sealed 800 years ago have been forced to leave the area by bailiffs who dismantled the three-year-old site. The hand-built homes of 30 people, including a family with young children, are being dismantled with chainsaws, local people said. As the rain fell, teams of bailiffs removed activists who had climbed into oak and sycamore trees or dug themselves into the soil in an effort to stay in the woodland on Coopers Hill, Surrey. Three men are in custody after activists clashed with bailiffs and police. A 22-year-old Essex man was arrested on suspicion of two counts of criminal damage, as was a 24-year-old man from Egham, suspected of a public order offence. Another man is suspected of obstructing a police officer. One woman was taken to hospital with minor injuries, which activists said were sustained trying to climb a fence in order to retrieve her belongings. The villagers, who call themselves Diggers after Gerrard Winstanley’s band of 17th-century activists who also fought for public rights to disused land, claimed they had a right to the 25-acre site under laws laid down in Magna Carta, the Forest Charter and in common law. The group constructed the site in 2012, building an off-grid existence they described as “a reaction to the increasingly stressful experience of living in mainstream society and from a desire to reconnect with the land and our ecology.” But the high court rejected their appeal to stay on the site, which is owned by property developers Orchid Runnymede, with Mrs Justice Simler saying that the developer’s rights as landowners were paramount. The woodland where the eco-village had been built is adjacent to the Magna Carta memorial meadow, owned by the National Trust. Peter Phoenix, an activist who had been living at the camp, said he was particularly upset by the destruction of the group’s beloved “longhouse”, a community hub where shared meals were cooked and where residents played music. He said he noticed police and bailiffs enter the site around 8am, claiming none had served him with the proper paperwork, an allegation the landowner denies. “They came with dogs, they’ve taken chainsaws to the houses, and they’ve got climbers who are here to get people out of the trees in the woodland,” he said. “We might have to leave now, but we will never, ever give up. I’ve got used to being pushed out over the last 25 years, but we have to fight for these rights, because people have fewer and fewer rights in this country now.” Phoenix claimed people had been prevented from returning to collect their possessions, including a mother with young children. He said there were no immediate plans to return to the site, but the activists would regroup and make a new strategy. “We’ve got to pick up the pieces and work out a strategy, because this place will soon be fully fenced off and secured,” he said. “But if anyone knows of land we can live on, farm and build our homes, they can get in touch.” Orchid Runnymede said the squatters had been given advanced notice in writing of the eviction, and that the villagers and the structures they built were in breach of the law. The company said in a statement that it was “surprised that having exhausted all legal avenues, the squatters have not taken steps to remove their belongings and leave the site peacefully.” The developers said the eviction was still ongoing and all structures were being dismantled. Though some of the activists claimed on social media that their homes had been set on fire, the landowner vociferously denied any deliberate fires had been started by bailiffs. “Our information is that this action was taken by a member of the squatters themselves,” a spokesman for Orchid Runnymede said. “Such action is not and would never be taken by or on behalf of the landowners for obvious reasons on an area of land where site works are planned in accordance with planning permissions.” Developers are planning a private estate on the land, a care home and units of affordable housing, as well as buildings for student accommodation on the site of the former Brunel University. Surrey police said they attended the woodland while the bailiffs executed the high court eviction order. “This is a civil matter where the landowners and bailiffs have primacy,” a spokesman said. “Police do have a legal duty to assist bailiffs executing an order of the high court.” | ['environment/activism', 'society/squatting', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ecotowns', 'uk/uk', 'environment/greenbuilding', 'society/housing', 'society/society', 'society/communities', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jessica-elgot'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2015-09-16T18:24:49Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2012/oct/28/hurricane-sandy-powerful-storm-perspective | Hurricane Sandy: 10 statistics that place this powerful storm in perspective | Hurricane Sandy is barreling its way up the Atlantic ocean on its way for a collision course with the northern mid-Atlantic. The storm has set off panic among residents from Washington, DC, to New York City. You keep hearing meteorologists and public officials use phrases "amazing", "historic", and "never seen" to describe the storm. There's a chance that people view this storm as overhyped. I, however, feel that most of the warnings are well deserved. Why? Here's a list of 10 statistics that will likely make this storm one to remember. 1. 90 degrees – Usually when a storm makes it up to the northern mid-Atlantic latitude, it's already way out to sea. Sandy would do the same thing except there's a giant high pressure in the middle of the Atlantic forcing it to make a sharp 65 degree turn to get up to the southern New Jersey latitude. Then, it will make a 90 degree right turn upon landfall. 2. 12 feet – The biggest fear from this storm in the New York City area is the storm surge. Right now anything from 6 to 12 feet seems quite possible. The greatest storm surge in modern history at Battery Park was 10.5 feet in 1960. Irene's storm surge was a little over four feet in New York. That's why you're seeing evacuations in New York. 3. Nine inches – The greatest rain amounts will be in southern New Jersey into Delaware and eastern Delaware. We could see half a foot of rain extend from Washington, DC, to Philadelphia. This will lead to flooding all over the place. To put this amount into perspective, six inches of rain is double the Philadelphia October monthly average. 4. 80 miles per hour – We're talking about hurricane force wind gusts into New York City with sustained winds of 50 miles per hour likely. And 40 mile per hour sustained winds are possible all the way from Buffalo, New York, to Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, DC, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This will likely cause massive power outages over a wide area. 5. 951 millibars – Sandy's extremely low pressure ensures that the storm will be long lasting, massive in scope, and windy all over the place. The lowest low pressure to ever hit New Jersey was 961 millibars. The pressure in New York City right now is 1007 millibars. Hurricane Isaac, which hit New Orleans earlier this year, had a minimum low pressure of only 968 millibars. 6. Two feet – Most of us are concentrating on the rain and wind, so it's easy to forget that there will be snow with this storm. The mountains of West Virginia above 3000 feet could see one to two feet of snow. There are also likely to be some snowflakes falling into central Ohio, though any accumulations there should be far less. 7. 36 hours – Most storms of tropical origin see their winds diminish quickly upon landfall. Sandy isn't going to stop with tropical storm force winds until well into Wednesday. It may already be near Buffalo at this point. Rainfall over 3+ inches will follow this wind line. Rain could continue in Philadelphia until early Wednesday. That's why we're seeing so many watches and warnings of many different types all over the place. 8. 3000 flights – More than 3,000 airline flights have already been cancelled because airports from Washington to New York are shutting down. Amtrak is also ending service. Even the unflappable New York City public transportation system is closing at 7pm on Sunday. Transportation will be at a standstill in the east. 9. 60 million – Because of all the factors listed above, many people will be affected in one way or another. Students including in New York City will have at least one day off from school. All told 60 million people is about 20% of the United States population. 10. Two years – We're now seeing two years in a row with a hurricane-like system heading into the New York City area. We're also witnessing two years in a row of massive late October storms. Whether I agree with it or not, this will lead to discussion over whether we're witnessing the first impacts of climate change. | ['us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/new-jersey', 'us-news/washington-dc', 'us-news/virginia', 'us-news/pennsylvania', 'us-news/maryland', 'us-news/delaware', 'us-news/connecticut', 'us-news/hurricane-irene', 'us-news/hurricane-isaac', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'tone/news', 'profile/harry-j-enten'] | us-news/hurricane-isaac | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-28T20:29:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
us-news/2016/aug/17/louisiana-floodwaters-recede-relief-recovery | Louisiana floodwaters begin to recede but thousands remain in shelters | Floodwaters in Louisiana have begun to recede, but the horror of the disaster continues to mount: on Wednesday afternoon more than 30,000 people had been rescued from the flood, 40,000 homes were affected and 6,000 people remained in shelters. At least 11 people have died. As some residents get a first glimpse of their destroyed homes, reunite with loved ones and connect with friends via social media, the scale of the trauma is coming into view. The American Red Cross reports that the flood is the worst natural disaster to hit the United States since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. “The Red Cross is mounting a massive relief operation, which we anticipate will cost at least $30 million and that number may grow as we learn more about the scope and magnitude of the devastation,” Brad Kieserman, vice-president for disaster logistics for the Red Cross, said in a statement. Barack Obama has declared the flood a major disaster, with 20 of the state’s 64 parishes damaged. Scattered reports of looting have emerged, and Governor John Bel Edwards said some parishes will enforce curfews at night. And the floods could have an impact well beyond the region; Exxon Mobil Corporation slowed production at its Baton Rouge oil refinery, the fourth-largest refinery in the US. The rainstorm was just that – rain – and so it crept up on residents without the alarms and warnings that accompany a hurricane. It began in the Florida panhandle and worked its way west along the gulf coastline, never swerving south to gain strength in the gulf, and never turning north to die over land. Eventually it came to a stop over south Louisiana and gushed rain for days, sometimes at a rate of three inches an hour. Southern Louisiana is a flat, low-lying plain so there was nowhere for the water to go; once the rivers filled, the water went cascading across the landscape, sometimes rising a foot an hour as people scrambled to keep their children and pets safe. As the floods sneaked up on residents, they did likewise to the national consciousness. Charities and media organizations are mobilizing now, but locals say that for days they felt abandoned by a country distracted by political turmoil. “This event doesn’t serve an entertainment purpose or make a political statement. It doesn’t pit liberal against conservative, black against white, it doesn’t showcase incompetence of government or a president’s lack of compassion or caring about a particular race or class,” said Julie Ralph, who lives in Saint Francisville. Ralph started her own relief campaign, creating a shopping list on Amazon where people can buy necessities – toothpaste, soap, toilet paper – and have it shipped to her home in Saint Francisville, from where she has been driving throughout the flooded areas to deliver the supplies. “People keep saying it’s like Katrina but it’s not. I grew up with hurricanes and you at least have some warning. With this, there was none. People didn’t even have time to get their shoes,” she said. That self-reliance also took the shape of what local people are calling the “Cajun Navy”, an armada of boats belonging to local hunters and fishermen. They used social media to coordinate and in the first few days of the storm they rescued tens of thousands of people stranded in homes and cars. As more official rescue groups arrived, they encountered resentment when they told the locals their services were no longer needed. “Attn Cajun Navy I love y’all and appreciate everyone answering the call and heading towards the water,” one of the local organizers, Jared Serigné, wrote on Facebook. “Unfortunately we did not get an official statement on whether our help is needed or not. At this point I do not recommend assembling large groups and heading into flooded areas. From all accounts, you will just get turned away.” Even so, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), W Craig Fugate, said at a news briefing on Tuesday evening that help was on the way for the 60,000 people who have registered for Fema assistance. “Irregardless of what it may be getting in the national coverage, we know this has been a significant impact here in Louisiana,” he said. | ['us-news/louisiana', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/flooding', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthew-teague', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-08-17T19:49:05Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2018/may/09/world-weatherwatch-dust-storms-in-india-driven-by-downbursts | World weatherwatch: dust storms in India driven by downbursts | An intense dust storm swept across north India last week, owing to a surplus of moisture over the Bay of Bengal in the east colliding with destructive winds carrying dust from the west. India is no stranger to dust storms but this one was made worse by the exceptionally strong winds, known as downbursts, which developed within a cluster of thunderstorms. This occurred as falling precipitation evaporated before it reached the ground and subsequently cooled the surrounding air. This cooler air then blew radially and intensely towards the ground, produced powerful straight-line winds, and kicked large amounts of dust up from the surface, with speeds of more than 75mph recorded. Pakistan has been sweltering in record-breaking heat recently as temperatures reportedly hit 50.2C (122.4F) on 30 April, narrowly beating the previous year’s record of 50C (122F) – the highest temperature ever recorded across the continent. A “heat dome”, or area of high pressure, enveloped the country and prevented the hot air from escaping as it continued to cyclically warm at the surface. Record-breaking rains also lashed the Italian island of Sardinia, as more than 160mm (6.3in) of rainfall occurred within two days last week. That was more than four times the average monthly rainfall for May, and rivers broke their banks, triggering severe floods and landslides. | ['news/series/world-weatherwatch', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/india', 'science/meteorology', 'world/pakistan', 'world/italy', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-05-09T20:30:53Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2021/jan/11/campaigners-condemn-killing-of-minke-whale-trapped-in-nets-in-japan | Campaigners condemn killing of minke whale trapped in nets in Japan | Animal welfare campaigners have condemned the killing of a trapped minke whale off the coast of Taiji, a town in Japan best known for its annual dolphin cull. The young whale, which had been trapped inside nets since 24 December, was killed early on Monday morning before being taken ashore wrapped in blue tarpaulin, according to the Humane Society International (HSI). Ren Yabuki, an animal rights activist who filmed the whale throughout its 19-day ordeal, said fishermen tied a rope around its tail fin and forced its head beneath the water, where it took around 20 minutes to die. Death in such situations usually occurs because the whale clamps its blowhole shut and suffocates. “Oh, no! The fishermen have killed the minke whale now,” Yabuki can be heard saying as he continued to film. “I’m so sorry … oh, no.” HSI said it was “devastated” and “horrified” by the whale’s death, days after it and other animal welfare groups had called for its release. “We feel saddened by this dreadful outcome. It is soul-destroying to think that by merely lifting the net three weeks ago, this poor animal could have been swimming free instead of being trapped in prolonged distress only to be harpooned and butchered for commercial sale in local markets,” HSI’s animal welfare programme manager, Georgie Dolphin, said in a statement. The local fishing cooperative said last week it would attempt to free the whale, which measured about four or five metres in length, but added that the animal’s size and strong tidal currents could make that impossible. Yabuki, the director of the Japanese NGO Life Investigation Agency, said he had witnessed fishers make only one half-hearted attempt to free the animal soon after it became trapped. Japan abandoned its “scientific” whaling programme in the Antarctic after years of international pressure, but resumed commercial whaling in its own waters in July 2019. This year Japanese whalers will be permitted to catch up to 383 large whales, including 171 minkes, HSI said. “While we mourn the tragic passing of this animal, we know that a similar brutal end comes to many more whales off the coast of Japan every year. They are the silent victims of Japan’s continued commercial whaling” Dolphin said. “What was rare was for it to be witnessed.” Taiji, located in a remote part of the Pacific coast, attracted global attention after the 2009 release of the award-winning documentary The Cove, which followed fishers as they pursued dolphins in the town’s annual “drive hunts”. Some of the animals are spared and sold to aquariums and marine parks for huge sums, while others are slaughtered for their meat. Taiji’s fishers have defended the dolphin cull, telling the Guardian that hunting cetaceans was part of the town’s heritage and a vital source of income for the local economy. • This article was amended on 12 January 2021 to correct the description of how the whale was killed. | ['world/japan', 'environment/whales', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-01-11T07:54:47Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/jul/19/plastic-pollution-risks-near-permanent-contamination-of-natural-environment | Plastic pollution risks 'near permanent contamination of natural environment' | Humans have produced 8.3bn tonnes of plastic since the 1950s with the majority ending up in landfill or polluting the world’s continents and oceans, according to a new report. The first global analysis of all mass–produced plastics has found that it has outstripped most other man-made materials, threatening a “near permanent contamination of the natural environment”. The study by US academics found that the total amount of plastic produced – equivalent in weight to one billion elephants – will last for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. And with production expected to accelerate over the coming decades, campaigners warn it is creating an environmental crisis comparable to climate change. “We are increasingly smothering ecosystems in plastic and I am very worried that there may be all kinds of unintended, adverse consequences that we will only find out about once it is too late,” said Roland Geyer, from the University of California and Santa Barbara, who led the project. In 1950, when plastic was first mass produced, the report found 2m tonnes was manufactured. That figure has risen to 8.3bn in 2017 and is projected to reach 34bn by 2050. “We are on this enormous growth trajectory – there is no end in sight of the rate of this growth,” said Geyer. He added that even academics who worked in the same field were unaware of the “sheer dimensions” of the crisis. “Combined with this huge growth rate it makes me very concerned. We should look at the numbers and ask as a society, is this what we want, can we not do better?” Last month a Guardian investigation revealed that a million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and that number is expected to jump another 20% by 2021. And earlier this year scientists found nearly 18 tonnes of plastic on one of the world’s most remote islands, an uninhabited coral atoll in the South Pacific. Another study of remote Arctic beaches found they were also heavily polluted with plastic, despite small local populations. And scientists have warned that plastic bottles and other packaging are overrunning some of the UK’s most beautiful beaches and remote coastline, endangering wildlife from basking sharks to puffins. Experts warn that some of it is already finding its way into the human food chain. Last August, the results of a study by Plymouth University reported plastic was found in a third of UK-caught fish, including cod, haddock, mackerel and shellfish. But Geyer said he was also concerned about the impact of plastic pollution on land-based ecosystems. “There is much more attention paid to how plastics are interacting with marine organisms but there is much, much less known about how plastics interact with terrestrial organisms – I would suspect there is something equivalent going on and it might actually be worse.” This new study found that growth in plastic production has been driven largely by packaging and the rise of single-use containers, wrapping and bottles. It found some of the only materials to outstrip plastic production over the past 70 years are used in the construction sector, such as steel and cement. “Roughly half of all the steel we make goes into construction, so it will have decades of use – plastic is the opposite,” said Geyer. “Half of all plastics become waste after four or fewer years.” To visualise the scale of the problem Geyer said he had carried out a “thought experiment”. “If you take the 8.3bn tonnes of plastic and spread it out as ankle deep waste – about 10 inches high – I calculated I could cover an area the size of Argentina with it. That is the world’s eighth largest country.” The study found that in 2015, of the nearly seven billion tonnes of plastic waste generated, only 9% was recycled, 12% incinerated, and 79% accumulated in landfills or the environment. Geyer said: “What we are trying to do is to create the foundation for sustainable materials management. Put simply, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and so we think policy discussions will be more informed and fact based now that we have these numbers.” | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-19T18:00:03Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2024/apr/29/washout-winter-spells-price-rises-for-uk-shoppers-with-key-crops-down-by-a-fifth | ‘Washout winter’ spells price rises for UK shoppers with key crops down by a fifth | UK harvests of important crops could be down by nearly a fifth this year due to the unprecedented wet weather farmers have faced, increasing the likelihood that the prices of bread, beer and biscuits will rise. Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has estimated that the amount of wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape could drop by 4m tonnes this year, a reduction of 17.5% compared with 2023. The warnings come as farmers have borne the brunt of the heavy rainfall and bad weather experienced over the winter, with the UK experiencing 11 named storms since September. In England, there was 1,695.9mm of rainfall between October 2022 and March 2024, the wettest 18-month period since records began in 1836. This has resulted in planted crops either being flooded or damaged by the wet weather, or farmers not being able to establish crops at all. Tom Lancaster, a land analyst at ECIU, said: “This washout winter is playing havoc with farmers’ fields leading to soils so waterlogged they cannot be planted or too wet for tractors to apply fertilisers. “This is likely to mean not only a financial hit for farmers, but higher imports as we look to plug the gap left by a shortfall in UK supply. There’s also a real risk that the price of bread, beer and biscuits could increase as the poor harvest may lead to higher costs. “To withstand the wetter winters that will come from climate change, farmers need more support. The government’s green farming schemes are vital to this, helping farmers to invest in their soils to allow them to recover faster from both floods and droughts.” The ECIU analysed data from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) from March, which looked at the amount of land set aside for crops, but also Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) data looking at crop yields in 2020, the next wettest year in recent times. It estimated that all wheat produced would decline by 26.5% compared with 2023, while winter barley would drop by 33.1% and oilseed rape would reduce by 37.6%. According to the ECIU, production of spring barley and spring oats will increase by 27% and 23% compared with last year, with farmers giving more area to spring crops due to the difficulties around planting and growing winter crops. Earlier this month, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) called for more help to protect farmers from flooding, saying it was undermining the country’s food production and food security. The NFU vice-president, Rachel Hallos, also said this month: “People should be in no doubt about the immense pressure UK farm businesses are under thanks to this unprecedented and constant rain. “It’s no exaggeration to say a crisis is building. While farmers are bearing the brunt of it now, consumers may well see the effects through the year as produce simply doesn’t leave the farm gate.” Some farms in places including Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire were badly affected by persistent rain since October, meaning they have not been able to plant any crops, while the wet weather has significantly depleted the amount other farms have been able to plant. Colin Chappell, an arable farmer from Lincolnshire and member of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), said the wet weather had had a massive impact, with virtually no crops being successfully drilled this winter. He said: “While it’s now dry enough to plant some fields, some of them are so bad I don’t think they’ll get drilled this year.” Last week, the head of Associated British Foods – one of the UK’s biggest bread makers, which owns Kingsmill and Ryvita – warned of potentially higher prices if the rise in cost of domestic grains is not offset by larger harvests abroad. | ['environment/food', 'business/fooddrinks', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'business/inflation', 'business/associatedbritishfoods', 'uk/uk', 'business/economics', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jack-simpson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-04-29T04:00:23Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
money/2021/oct/07/uk-energy-bills-could-rise-30-in-2022-warn-analysts | UK energy bills could rise 30% in 2022, warn analysts | Energy bills could rise by as much as 30% next year if gas and electricity prices continue to soar and more suppliers go bust, according to a new report. The research firm Cornwall Insight is forecasting that the energy price cap, set at a record £1,277 a year from 1 October, is going to have to be significantly boosted in spring 2022 as the energy crisis continues. The firm expects the energy price cap to be put up by about 30%, to about £1,660, by the industry regulator. Ofgem has said that if gas prices rise, or stay at such elevated levels, it will have to push the price cap up when it is reviewed on 1 April. “With wholesale gas and electricity prices continuing to reach new records, successive supplier exits during September and a new level for the default tariff cap, the Great British energy market remains on the edge for fresh volatility and further consolidation,” said Craig Lowrey, a senior consultant at Cornwall Insight. Nine suppliers have collapsed in recent weeks after finding themselves unable to maintain price promises in the face of soaring wholesale gas prices. It is predicted that more could follow. In a separate warning, the founder of the green energy supplier Ecotricity said it “doesn’t make sense” to have a retail price cap but not a wholesale one, and accused the government of “killing energy companies right now”. Dale Vince told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s illogical to hold prices at one end of the supply chain and not the other end, and the natural consequence is companies going out of business. “The government currently have closed their eyes and ears to this and said they don’t care, they’re not going to help energy companies but that kind of misses the point because they’re killing energy companies right now.” Vince said nationalisation of the sector should be considered. | ['money/energy', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'money/money', 'money/household-bills', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'business/business', 'business/gas', 'business/commodities', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/oil', 'uk/uk', 'business/ofgem', 'business/regulators', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/marksweney', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2021-10-07T08:29:24Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2013/aug/16/senate-inquiry-coalmine-buffer-zones | Senate inquiry calls for buffer zones around coalmines to protect health | The government needs to do more to monitor air quality and consider potential health impacts such as asthma and emphysema when approving new coalmines, a Senate inquiry has found. The bipartisan report has recommended that real-time data on air quality should be provided before any new mine development, and that trains carrying coal should be covered, to ensure that coaldust doesn’t escape and potentially cause respiratory and other problems in nearby residents. The committee also called on the government to assess the cumulative health impact of nearby coalmines before approving new mines and supported calls for “buffer zones” around houses, although it didn’t specify a certain distance, which currently varies according to state. Particles released from coalmining have been blamed for a number of diseases in people, including asthma, emphysema, heart disease and stroke. Dust released from coal wagons has prompted complaints from residents of Newcastle in NSW, while the committee heard of community concern in Anglesea in Victoria, where a coalmine was permitted to be placed within a kilometre of a school, even though the state bans any new wind farm within 2km of housing. One submission from a resident of the mining town of Jondaryan in Queensland told the committee: “We get burning eyes, a burning tongue, a sore throat and burning throat. I am a bit croaky, that is from coal. “We also suffer from itchy skin, ringing in the ears, ringing in your brain. Sometimes at night, you go to sleep and your brain is swishing like it is running around in your head.” In its submission, Asthma Foundation New South Wales cited NSW government research that found that nearly 40% of 9- to 15-year-olds in the Hunter Valley and New England region, which has several mines, suffered from some form of asthma, well above the national average of 10%. The NSW Minerals Council said that covering coal wagons would be expensive and have no significant impact on air quality near rail lines, while the Minerals Council of Australia pointed out that not all harmful airborne particles are created by the coal industry. “You need to look at the composition, the size and the very nature of those particles,” it said in its submission. “For example, if it is a rock it is not going to go very far. If it is dust, depending on prevailing weather conditions, it will go a certain distance but then it will drop out – especially if it is coarser particles. If it is ultrafine particles, they are not sourced from mechanical digging.” Greens senator Richard di Natale, who participated in the Senate inquiry, told Guardian Australia that air quality monitoring in Australia was inadequate. “The standards we have are weak and in some cases non-existent,” he said. "Monitoring is a complete dog’s breakfast and is back to front. We have handed monitoring over to industry, rather than independent bodies, and we set different standards for the city to those people living in a small town next to a mine. “You just have to go to houses in Brisbane or Newcastle and see that people have a layer of coaldust on their clothes and curtains. All the evidence shows that coaldust contains a carcinogen, but we have been blinded by the financial windfall of coalmining.” The Greens are looking to increase pressure on miners, unveiling a new plan on Thursday to safeguard the Great Barrier Reef which, the party claims, is threatened by the resources sector. A $176m “rescue package” for the reef was unveiled by party leader Christine Milne. The money includes an extra $100m for the Reef Rescue program, which reduces harmful run-off onto the coral ecosystem, and $16m to identify areas where no coastal development should take place. “It’s incredibly short-sighted of the old parties to be tearing up the Great Barrier Reef for the sake of exporting hundreds of megatonnes of coal that will significantly increase global warming,” Milne said. “Labor and Tony Abbott just cannot be trusted to protect the environment.” “The Greens plan will stop new dredging or offshore dumping of dredge spoil in this World Heritage area, protect the pristine areas of the reef and put an end to damaging port expansions like Abbot Point.” | ['environment/mining', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/oliver-milman'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2013-08-16T08:31:00Z | true | ENERGY |
us-news/2022/nov/10/nancy-pelosi-cop27-republicans-climate-crisis-hoax | Pelosi accuses Republicans of treating climate crisis like ‘it’s all a hoax’ at Cop27 | Nancy Pelosi has accused Republicans of treating the climate crisis like “it’s all a hoax” while at the Cop27 climate talks in Egypt, where the US delegation is attempting to remain upbeat about continued progress on dealing with global heating despite uncertainty over the midterm election results. Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, made a surprise appearance at the climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday. The trip may be one of Pelosi’s last as speaker, with most forecasts predicting Republicans will eke out a narrow majority in the House. There has been “shall we say, a disagreement on the subject” of the climate crisis between the parties, Pelosi said at Cop27, adding that Republicans have said “‘Why are we having this discussion? There is no climate crisis. It’s all a hoax.’ We have to get over that. This is urgent, long overdue. “So we cannot just have any political disagreement or the power of the fossil fuel industry cramping our style as we go forward with this, but to show a path that gets us to where we need to be,” Pelosi said. Pelosi’s appearance at Cop27 comes at a critical point for the future of democracy in the US and the future of the planet. Joe Biden was able to pass the country’s most significant piece of climate legislation this year because Democrats have the majority in both the House and the Senate. With that set to change, the mounting anger at the US for obstructing meaningful global climate action, despite being the world’s largest polluter and richest country, may only get worse. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida who chairs the House subcommittee on the climate crisis, predicted Republicans would axe her committee should they gain power. “They have not really been partners in tackling the climate crisis, and it’s inexplicable because the world’s top scientists tell us we are running out of time,” Castor said. Biden will appear at Cop27 on Friday and a delegation of his cabinet members have already descended upon Sharm el-Sheikh to stress to other, skeptical, countries that the US, which has swerved erratically on climate policy over the years and under Donald Trump completely abandoned the crisis, will still be engaged on fighting global heating even if Republicans do secure Congress. “I think the United States is seen favorably here based on the actions taken in the last two years,” Michael Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), told the Guardian. Regan, who appearing at a number of events at Cop27, cited the inflation reduction act, which includes more than $370bn in climate spending, and the administration’s actions to promote environmental justice. “Polls suggest climate change isn’t a top-tier issue, but most families are focused on keeping a roof over their heads and putting food on the table … so it’s not surprising some issues were registering a little higher than climate change,” Regan said of the midterm elections. “But climate change hasn’t fallen off the list, it’s still a top priority. You don’t even have to trust scientists any more, you just have to look out of the window or put on the news. People are smart enough to see this isn’t some long-term conspiracy theory.” Faced with inconclusive midterm election results, the mood among many veteran climate activists and negotiators from developing countries is one of indifference, as they have seen little difference between the Democrats and Republicans over the past three decades when it comes to the most crucial climate issues like finance and market solutions. Representatives of developing countries have criticized the US at Cop27 for repeatedly failing to deliver promised funding to help them deal with the crippling impacts of floods, fires and droughts, as well as transition to clean energy. Poorer nations are pushing for “loss and damage” finance to help them cope with the climate crisis. John Kerry, the US climate envoy, has admitted that further funding would be unlikely should Republicans gain control of Congress. “The main difference is that at least the Democrats don’t deny climate change, and of course it matters inside America as without the Democrats the Inflation Reduction Act would not have passed, but on the global stage it makes no difference,” said Meena Raman, a climate policy expert from Third World Network and adviser to developing countries at the Cop summits. “It’s the same negotiators, the same blockages, the same bullying, and even now the planet is burning, the US doesn’t change and gets what it wants. It continues to deny its historic responsibility, emphasize the private sector and loans, and uses China as the bogeyman to distract attention away from its unfulfilled pledges.” US greenhouse gas emissions are rising, with plans to vastly expand gas production and fines for oil companies which don’t up extraction. Asad Rehman, director of War on Want and a coordinator of the climate justice groups at Cop27, said: “We are faced with a choice of Republicans who are climate denialists whilst the Democrats are mitigation denialists – happy to speak about the climate emergency but it’s simply hollow words. “From Bush to Biden the USA continues to block real finance, tinker with its emissions and are sacrificing billions to climate catastrophe while expanding fossil fuels which will sacrifice billions to climate catastrophe.” | ['us-news/nancy-pelosi', 'environment/cop27', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-midterm-elections-2022', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/republicans', 'us-news/democrats', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/oliver-milman', 'profile/nina-lakhani', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/cop27 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2022-11-10T17:08:05Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
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