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australia-news/2023/jan/13/carp-spawning-event-fills-murray-darling-flood-waters-with-masses-of-flailing-fish | Carp spawning event fills Murray-Darling flood waters with masses of flailing fish | In creeks, rivers and flood waters across the Murray-Darling Basin, an uncountable and unfathomable number of invasive carp are turning waters into bubbling masses of flapping and flailing fish. “It’s quite a sight,” said Dr Matt Herring, an environment consultant. “I walked through one of the schools of carp a few days ago and it’s the first time I’ve trodden on fish with every step.” European carp – an invasive species introduced more than 100 years ago – are spawning and growing in huge numbers, putting smaller native fish under more pressure as the invaders known as “river rabbits” stir up water, compete for food and damage aquatic vegetation. The chief executive of the New South Wales Irrigators’ Council, Claire Miller, said this week the number of carp was “jaw-dropping”. “It looks like the water is bubbling.” Experts say while the carp boom is not good news for some native fish, there will be some winners – including native water birds. In parts of the basin around the Murrumbidgee flood plain in NSW, Herring had seen an array of water birds feasting on the carp, which was also food for the endangered Australasian bittern. “Part of me imagines if these were native fish – to see this would be wonderful. But the experience is ruined because I know these carp are recognised for doing so much damage,” Herring said. John Koehn, an adjunct professor at Charles Sturt University’s Gulbali Institute, is a native fish expert who has also studied carp for 40 years. He said the massive spawning event was not unusual for wet times and it would be months before it was known how many of the carp survived to adulthood. “There’s definitely a downside,” Koehn said. “But the pelicans are probably pretty full and predatory fish like Murray cod are having a good feed. “Golden perch populations are going berserk and a lot of wetland species are doing really well.” Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Carp began booming in the 1960s after one genetic strain escaped from a fish farm in Victoria. They are filter feeders and forage in riverbeds, damaging aquatic plants. Their feeding style causes turbidity in the water that makes it hard for some native fish to survive. Carp have spread through a river basin already heavily modified and degraded with diversions, blockages, weirs and extraction for farming. Mark Lintermans, an associate professor at the University of Canberra, led research last year on the rising risk of extinction for Australian freshwater fish. More than 20 species were given a higher than 50% chance of becoming extinct over the next decades. He said the flooding was giving carp access to more places and they would compete with native fish for food and spread parasites. “It’s not good news, but carp are as much a symptom of degradation as a cause,” he said. “This just highlights how much there is to do to save our threatened fish.” Prof Richard Kingsford, the director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of NSW and an expert on water birds, said colonies of pelicans and cormorants would also be feeding on the carp. “In a boom time in a natural system with no exotics, the native species [of fish] would have been doing well and would have exploded,” he said. “But ideally you want to drop the carp numbers down and give the native fish a chance to rebound.” Once waters start to recede, many of the carp will die as they get stuck in isolated pockets of water. Water birds don’t feed on dead fish, but Kingsford said other birds such as kites, eagles and crows would. But it was likely there would be too many dead fish to go around, he said. Dr Adam Kerezsy, a fish biologist and consultant based at Lake Cargelligo near the Lachlan River in central west NSW, has been sampling water and detecting high numbers of carp since October. He expects mass mortality among the carp in the coming weeks as water recedes. He said the carp were very visible as they are happy to come to the surface, but the flooding was also helping some native fish populations. “All the native fish have bred as well. From an ecological perspective, there are winners and losers and without something magical, we are going to have to learn to live with [the carp].” Jack Gough, the acting conservation director for the Invasive Species Council, said natural disasters that were being intensified by climate change tended to favour invasive species. “This is because they reproduce quickly, lack natural predators and are able to take over ecological niches while the native wildlife are under stress. “At the moment our agencies are understaffed and underfunded and that is undermining their ability to respond quickly to new incursions and population booms and to conduct vital research into new control techniques.” In October 2022, a six-year national project to investigate the potential to introduce a herpes virus to control the carp delivered a final report to governments. More research was needed, the report said, in particular to test the vulnerability of native species to the virus. A Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry statement said the project’s findings were being considered and any potential virus release would need more research and agreement across jurisdictions, which was ongoing but could “take several years to complete”. There remained uncertainties on the “efficiency and effectiveness of the virus” in safely removing carp that in some basin areas were 90% of the fish in the water. | ['australia-news/murray-darling-basin', 'environment/invasive-species', 'environment/fish', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/rivers', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/victoria', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-01-12T14:00:12Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2021/apr/24/biden-vows-us-will-work-with-russia-on-climate | Biden vows US will work with Russia on climate | The US will work with Russia on ways to combat the climate crisis, President Joe Biden has announced, saying he looked forward to joint efforts and was “very heartened” by the country’s call for collaboration on new technologies such as carbon removal. But though Russia’s president Vladimir Putin insisted he was “genuinely interested in galvanising international cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as to all other vital challenges”, he made no mention of reducing oil and gas supply or consumption. Putin also failed to provide any assurance that Russia would submit a new national plan on cutting carbon, a requirement this year under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Russia’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen strongly in recent years, and its status as one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel suppliers has been bolstered by a deal to supply gas to Germany, and could be strengthened still further if Putin’s attempts to drill under and find shipping lines through the shrinking Arctic ice cap are successful. Paul Bledsoe, a former US government climate official and now a consultant in Washington, said: “Russia is a climate criminal. Its emissions are out of control, growing faster than any other major emitters in the last few years, and Putin seems to want to make Russia’s oil and gas his personal fiefdom. Russia is a complete outlier in climate terms.” Putin’s presence at the White House virtual climate summit, which took place on Thursday and Friday, was because “he fancies himself as a global leader, but he stuck out like a sore thumb”, said Bledsoe. Russia was not the only country regarded as a climate villain to attend the summit. King Salman of Saudi Arabia told other world leaders: “Enhancing the level of international cooperation is the optimal solution to meeting the challenges of climate change.” But though the world’s largest oil producer has committed to meeting half of its own energy needs through solar power and other renewable sources by 2030, and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman received praise for his plans to plant 50bn trees, King Salman made no mention of reducing oil exports. Saudi Arabia has a history of obstructing agreement at successive UN climate conferences in the past three decades. As the world prepares for vital UN climate talks, called Cop26, later this year, diplomats are hoping that the pressure from the rest of the world can overcome any such attempts this time. Bledsoe warned: “Saudi was up to its usual tricks [at the White House summit]. They murmur pleasant things but then try to undermine consensus at every major juncture. We can look for them to play the same kind of blocking attempts at Cop26.” Oil producers were not the only countries with a difficult track record on climate to be courted by Biden. Brazil prevented agreement at the last UN climate conference, called Cop25 in December 2019, and president Jair Bolsonaro has overseen a return to the widespread destruction of the Amazon that is close to irreversible. At the White House summit, Bolsonaro insisted Brazil was intent on protecting the Amazon and repeated his goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. He vowed to end illegal deforestation by 2030, and double funding for enforcement, and said his efforts would result in a halving of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Few green campaigners believed him. Leila Salazar-Lopez, executive director of Amazon Watch, said: “Bolsonaro once again lied to the international community. He said he strengthened regulatory bodies to protect the environment, when in fact he weakened them. Environmental regulations have been systematically rolled back and the rates of deforestation have tripled.” Sarah duPont, president of the Amazon Aid Foundation, added: “Brazil’s promises made during the summit are considered insincere and met with great suspicion. Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has soared. Many of Bolsonaro’s new, as well as possible future, policies relax regulations around illegal deforestation and the protections of indigenous people. The expression ‘watch what they do, not what they say’ is appropriate in this case.” Bolsonaro is in talks with the Biden administration and with the UK, as host and president of Cop26, over a potential deal that could see some measure of protection for the rainforest in return for billions. Critics regard the potential deal as appeasement. Australia also used the summit to showcase its leader’s climate credentials, but omitted to make any new commitments. Scott Morrison, prime minister, said future generations would “thank us not for what we have promised, but what we deliver” and praised the country’s efforts to increase renewable energy and investments in “priority new technology solutions”. However, he failed to commit to the net zero emissions by the 2050 target that scientists say is necessary to hold global heating within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels, and which countries responsible for two-thirds of global emissions have now espoused. He also failed to make any new commitments to reduce emissions in the next decade, which was the main point of the US summit and will be crucial to the success of Cop26 later this year. Kevin Rudd, former prime minister of Australia, and president of the Asia Society, said: “The fact that the US’ target is almost twice as ambitious as Australia’s, and the UK’s is three times as much, shows just how isolated we have become.” | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/joebiden', 'world/vladimir-putin', 'world/jair-bolsonaro', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/cop26-glasgow-climate-change-conference-2021 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-04-24T06:00:29Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/blog/2011/jun/01/canada-tar-sands-carbon-emissions | Canada tries to hide Alberta tar sands carbon emissions | Suzanne Goldenberg | Barely a day goes by it seems when someone from Stephen Harper's government is not touting the benefits of the Alberta tar sands. But when it came to counting up the carbon emissions produced by the tar sands - big and growing bigger - a strange amnesia seems to have taken hold. The Canadian government admitted this week that it deliberately left out data indicating a 20% rise in emissions from the Alberta tar sands when it submitted its annual inventory to the United Nations. The deliberate exclusion does not amount to an attempt to deceive the UN about Canada's total emissions. Emissions from the tar sands were incorporated in the overall tally in the report. But it does suggest that the government is anxious to obscure the source of its fastest-growing source of climate pollution: the Alberta tar sands. Greenhouse gases from the tar sands grew by 21% in the last year reported, despite the economic receission. Even more troubling, the tar sands is becoming even more carbon intensive, with emissions per barrel of oil rising 14.5% in 2009. And overall production is set to triple by 2020, according to some projections. So that's an increasingly significant share of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions - 6.5% now and rising. "It is not as if they were left out of the total, but no matter where you looked in the report you couldn't find out what sector the emissions were from," said Clare Demerse, director of climate change at the Pembina Institute, an environmental think tank. Environment Canada told reporters it was just fulfilling UNFCC reporting requirements. It's not entirely clear what motivated the decision to obscure the data. The government reported GHG from the tar sands last year. But here are some possibilities: International image. The tar sands are becoming increasingly high profile and are a growing source of embarrassment to Canada in the international arena. No matter how popular the industry in Harper's native Alberta, it is probably not pleasant being called a climate villain or a carbon bully several times a year at Bonn and the other fixtures of the UN climate change negotiations. Timing. The government may have been concerned about jeopardising an important pipeline deal. Canadian firms are awaiting final approval from the State Department for a pipeline that would carry up to barrels of a oil a day from Alberta to the refineries of Texas. Opposition from landowners along the 1,700-mile route has already delayed the project til later this year. Last week, a group of legislators from Nebraska asked Hillary Clinton, who has final say, to delay a decision until 2012 to give them time to put environmental safeguards in place. Members of Congress are said to be preparing a similar protest letter. The PR consultant told them to. Mike De Souza, the same reporter who broke the story on the GHG reporting, has written another story suggesting that the Canadian government last year considered hiring a PR firm to help promote the tar sands. It also weighed the benefits of tar sands tourism: paid-for trips for European journalists and elected officials. "Consideration should be given to hiring a professional PR firm to help the Pan European Oil Sands Team further develop and implement a serious public advocacy strategy," the report was quoted as saying. That's my current favourite theory. The provincial and federal governments have made an enormous effort to lobby US officials on the tar sands. So what's the big deal then in burying a little factoid or two even deeper in a 567-page technical report to a bunch of UN bureaucrats? Except of course that those kind of dodges reek strongly of the faith-based/anti-reality views of the George Bush presidency, when political considerations repeatedly took precedence over evidence-based standards. As environmental groups and others have regularly noted, Harper has been too focused on the tar sands as an image problem, rather than an environmental one. Now it seems as if that approach has infected government institutions, with Environment Canada aiding the effort to obscure irksome figures and facts "It's a consistent pattern that we have seen on the part of the Harper government to really attempt to spin the tar sands," said Andrea Harden-Donahue, energy campaigner at the Council of Canadians, the country's biggest citizens' group. | ['environment/blog', 'tone/blog', 'environment/oil-sands', 'world/canada', 'world/stephen-harper', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg'] | environment/oil-sands | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2011-06-01T08:59:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2017/jul/12/want-to-fight-climate-change-have-fewer-children | Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children | The greatest impact individuals can have in fighting climate change is to have one fewer child, according to a new study that identifies the most effective ways people can cut their carbon emissions. The next best actions are selling your car, avoiding long flights, and eating a vegetarian diet. These reduce emissions many times more than common green activities, such as recycling, using low energy light bulbs or drying washing on a line. However, the high impact actions are rarely mentioned in government advice and school textbooks, researchers found. Carbon emissions must fall to two tonnes of CO2 per person by 2050 to avoid severe global warming, but in the US and Australia emissions are currently 16 tonnes per person and in the UK seven tonnes. “That’s obviously a really big change and we wanted to show that individuals have an opportunity to be a part of that,” said Kimberly Nicholas, at Lund University in Sweden and one of the research team. The new study, published in Environmental Research Letters, sets out the impact of different actions on a comparable basis. By far the biggest ultimate impact is having one fewer child, which the researchers calculated equated to a reduction of 58 tonnes of CO2 for each year of a parent’s life. The figure was calculated by totting up the emissions of the child and all their descendants, then dividing this total by the parent’s lifespan. Each parent was ascribed 50% of the child’s emissions, 25% of their grandchildren’s emissions and so on. “We recognise these are deeply personal choices. But we can’t ignore the climate effect our lifestyle actually has,” said Nicholas. “It is our job as scientists to honestly report the data. Like a doctor who sees the patient is in poor health and might not like the message ‘smoking is bad for you’, we are forced to confront the fact that current emission levels are really bad for the planet and human society.” “In life, there are many values on which people make decisions and carbon is only one of them,” she added. “I don’t have children, but it is a choice I am considering and discussing with my fiance. Because we care so much about climate change that will certainly be one factor we consider in the decision, but it won’t be the only one.” Overpopulation has been a controversial factor in the climate change debate, with some pointing out that an American is responsible for 40 times the emissions produced by a Bangladeshi and that overconsumption is the crucial issue. The new research comes a day after researchers blamed overpopulation and overconsumption on the “biological annihilation” of wildlife which has started a mass extinction of species on the planet. Nicholas said that many of the choices had positive effects as well, such as a healthier diet, as meat consumption in developed countries is about five times higher than recommended by health authorities. Cleaner transport also cuts air pollution, and walking and cycling can reduce obesity. “It is not a sacrifice message,” she said. “It is trying to find ways to live a good life in a way that leaves a good atmosphere for the planet. I’ve found it really positive to make many of these changes.” The researchers analysed dozens of sources from Europe, North America and Japan to calculate the carbon savings individuals in richer nations can make. They found getting rid of a car saved 2.4 tonnes a year, avoiding a return transatlantic flight saved 1.6 tonnes and becoming vegetarian saved 0.8 tonnes a year. These actions saved the same carbon whichever country an individual lived in, but others varied. The savings from switching to an electric car depend on how green electricity generation is, meaning big savings can be made in Australia but the savings in Belgium are six times lower. Switching your home energy supplier to a green energy company also varied, depending on whether the green energy displaces fossil fuel energy or not. Nicholas said the low-impact actions, such as recycling, were still worth doing: “All of those are good things to do. But they are more of a beginning than an end. They are certainly not sufficient to tackle the scale of the climate challenge that we face.” The researchers found that government advice in the US, Canada, EU and Australia rarely mentioned the high impact actions, with only the EU citing eating less meat and only Australia citing living without a car. None mentioned having one fewer child. In an analysis of school textbooks on Canada only 4% of the recommendations were high impact. Chris Goodall, an author on low carbon living and energy, said: “The paper usefully reminds us what matters in the fight against global warming. But in some ways it will just reinforce the suspicion of the political right that the threat of climate change is simply a cover for reducing people’s freedom to live as they want. “Population reduction would probably reduce carbon emissions but we have many other tools for getting global warming under control,” he said. “Perhaps more importantly, cutting the number of people on the planet will take hundreds of years. Emissions reduction needs to start now.” | ['environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'world/population', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'lifeandstyle/family', 'lifeandstyle/parents-and-parenting', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2017-07-12T04:45:15Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jan/10/gabrielle-giffords-rightwing-rhetoric-climate-change | 'Climate nazis': Violent rhetoric infects many US debates | Damian Carrington | The violent rhetoric and hate campaigns being proposed by many commentators as setting the context for the horrific attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, which left 6 dead and 14 injured, is far from restricted to the obvious issues of abortion, gun control and federal laws. Even the debate on climate change, where the key issues are frequently highly scientific or economic, has attracted frequent death threats to researchers and election TV ads in which a prospective Senator shoots the cap-and-trade bill with his rifle. Jared Loughner, the man charged with the attack, is widely reported to have been mentally unstable. Some commentators argue the act was his alone. But the example of global warming, where arguments rage over datasets, reveals the terrifying atmosphere that can be generated even in an area that lacks the visceral punch of issues such as healthcare. My colleague Leo Hickman reported last year on the repulsive hate mail received by climate scientists following the "climategate" emails: The scientists revealed they have been told to "go gargle razor blades" and have been described as "Nazi climate murderers". Some emails have been sent to them without any attempt by the sender to disguise their identity. Even though the scientists have received advice from the FBI, the local police say they are not able to act due to the near-total tolerance of "freedom of speech" in the US. [The late climate scientist Stephen] Schneider described his attackers as "cowards" and said he had observed an "immediate, noticeable rise" in emails whenever climate scientists were attacked by prominent right-wing US commentators, such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. What causes the rise? Publication of his email addresses on the sceptic website Climate Depot presumably helped. The comment Schneider made in July make sobering reading in the light of the Giffords attack: Schneider said the FBI had taken an interest earlier this year when his name appeared on a "death list" on a neo-Nazi website alongside other climate scientists with apparent Jewish ancestry. "The effect on me has been tremendous," said Schneider. "Some of these people are mentally imbalanced. They are invariably gun-toting rightwingers. What do I do? Learn to shoot a Magnum? Wear a bullet-proof jacket? I have now had extra alarms fitted at my home and my address is unlisted." Schneider was far from alone in the US with Michael Mann among others also reporting death threats. Phil Jones, the scientist at the heart of "climategate", also received death threats but the phenomenon is generally far less frequent in the UK. I have received a handful of threats by email and phone myself, which given my low profile is a measure of the extent of the problem. My better-known colleagues George Monbiot and Leo Hickman receive more. So it's clear that even in issues such as climate change there is an active fringe of people deploying violent rhetoric and hate mail against those with whom they disagree. Could that tip the balance between thought and action in the mind of an unstable individual? It's a worryingly plausible thought. Let me know what you think in the comments below. | ['environment/damian-carrington-blog', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'tone/blog', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'profile/damiancarrington'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2011-01-10T15:26:19Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
environment/2009/oct/10/10-10-barker-family | Making the cut for 10:10: the Barker family | The Barkers have practical reasons for cutting back on energy, ones that are common to many during this recession. The flourishing economy of their household in Warrington, Cheshire, took a knock when Louise was made redundant in December after 22 years with a tool hire firm. Earlier, husband Tim had negotiated a career break after 20 years in logistics management, to take on the restoration of a few classic Porsche 911 cars – a lifelong enthusiasm, but not one designed to bring in the family's only income. The couple have two children in local primary school – Emma, 10, and William, 7 – who are undoubtedly going to play a role in encouraging the family's planned 10% cut. Louise, echoing parents the country over, says: "They're always warning us if they think we're harming the environment – you know, we should compost that, Mum, or let's recycle that, Dad." The national curriculum is proving a highly effective agent of reform. It has already got the family thinking about other things government might do: for instance, bringing the consistent approach of the curriculum to waste bins. The Barkers, who were brought up in west Yorkshire and still have family there, have noticed the variety of waste arrangements by local authorities, different colours and purposes of wheelie-bins, and similar discouragements to well-organised, easily adopted recycling. "We went on holiday in Dorset this summer," says Louise, whose Warrington bins are grey-black for general waste, green for garden rubbish and blue for mixed recycling. "It was all different down there. We had lovely weather and a brilliant time, but we weren't sure what to put in which bin. It's a small thing, but it might help if everyone was working the same system." The Barkers don't have a record of contemplating bins. Like most households, they have planned air trips on the basis of how much their children can stand, rather than carbon footprints. They enjoy travelling the country to follow motor sport at places such as Silverstone; and they don't expect to soon see the sale of Tim's beloved Porsche 911 or their rare family car, an Audi RS2, a joint venture between Audi and Porsche in the mid-1990s. But they do know how to compost properly, and took up United Utilities' offer of a Save-a-Flush block of absorbent polymer and silicone sand, which plays the role of the old brick in the water cistern. "That's a litre saved each time you flush, and it adds up," says Louise, who like Tim has a degree in business studies. She also got interested in green but hard-headed money-saving while drawing up possible plans to run a bed and breakfast. That's on the back burner while she sets up her own business, but her research involved costing B&B essentials such as laundry. "I started reading a green ecology handbook and these things jumped out at me because they were so simple. You can put the washing machine on half-cycle; you don't have to use so much washing powder." Emma and William's routine has also changed to everyone's advantage since December. "We walk to school now," says Louise, "and it's really lovely." Instead of the car, with its last-minute scramble, they enjoy the mile-long journey – and for the parents, the mile back. There's another lesson for the government and social planners here: "It's so often a matter of finding time, isn't it?" says Louise. "We'd all prefer to do these things if we had the time. We're most of us too used to being in a rush." The Barkers are only just beginning to plan their cuts, wondering optimistically how much of their existing reforms, such as the Save-a-Flush, can be taken into account. The family are also a potential catalyst for wider change in the neighbourhood: they've been involved with school projects, including walk-to-school weeks, and word is spreading in the neighbourhood about Warrington's role in 10:10. Stand by for wider input, too: the Barker children's grandparents have long experience of running households, and of working in industrial chemistry, the merchant navy and a toffee factory. Like Emma and William, they'll no doubt be coming up with bright ideas. | ['environment/10-10', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/martinwainwright', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/10-10-update', 'theguardian/10-10-update/10-10-update'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2009-10-09T23:05:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
sport/2023/jul/29/gavi-mentor-england-pushed-by-malawi-netball-world-cup | Mentor makes difference as England pushed by Malawi at Netball World Cup | England’s Roses held firm in a testing encounter against Malawi to win 62-39 and go top of their group at the World Cup in Cape Town. Ranked sixth in the world, Malawi were always going to be the greatest challenge the Roses would face in the tournament’s preliminary pool stage, and accordingly, the Queens came out firing in the first quarter. The game’s opening passages started off goal-for-goal until the Malawians were able to capitalise on an early England error to inch ahead. Intercepts from Natalie Metcalf and Imogen Allison allowed the Roses to wrest back the lead but, with New Zealand-based shooter Joyce Mvula masterfully conducting the Queens’ attacking end, opportunities to extend the score difference were few. The ball speed generated by Malawi proved particularly challenging for England’s defenders, forcing them to settle for a 12-10 opening statement. Sensing the need for more presence in the defending end England’s head coach, Jess Thirlby, deployed 38-year-old Geva Mentor at goal keeper – like taking a vintage car out of the garage to impress your neighbours. The veteran, playing in her sixth World Cup, had an immediate impact, freeing England’s other defenders to get to work building the lead. The intensity that had defined the first quarter doubled in the second with the physicality on both sides ramping to fever pitch. Multiple bodies hit the deck during the 15 minutes with some, including Funmi Fadoju, having to return gingerly to the bench to recuperate from their knocks. The Roses, however, continued to feed their lead via shooters Helen Housby and Eleanor Cardwell, who hummed along nicely to reward the work done down the other end. Returning from the locker room 29-20 up, England took advantage of the decision by Malawi to start Mvula on the bench, putting down a punishing string of eight unanswered goals. When eventually re-entered, the Queens had more in the way of response and didn’t stop asking questions of England. Errors, coming particularly out of the Roses’ mid-court, at times hinted towards a disjointedness that teams higher up the ladder would surely pounce upon. The slickest combination of the several Thirlby tried and tested during the game, once the scoreline cushion was secured, came from London Pulse teammates Chelsea Pitman and Olivia Tchine, who played together in the final quarter. But there was no moment of let-up from Malawi. Buoyed by a pocket of fervent fans singing throughout the game, they continued to press until the game’s dying minute. Speaking post-match, Thirlby was relatively upbeat about England’s performance, saying some credit should be due for the “23-goal win against what is our toughest opponent in this group”. The head coach also conceded that connecting the mid-court to the shooting circle had been an issue for the side but insisted she wasn’t worried. “I think we just had a few really basic errors on ball placement,” she said. “I think there were a few rushes of blood to the head early; too many in that opening quarter. “Malawi did a good job of forcing us wide a little bit around the circle edge and then we weren’t necessarily on the front as quickly as we wanted to be. It’s ball placement. We won’t get away with that deeper in the tournament but I don’t also think it’s time to panic.” England were not the only team challenged by an African nation on day two, with defending champions New Zealand pushed all the way in their 54-44 win over Uganda. | ['sport/netball', 'sport/england-netball-team', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/the-recap', 'type/article', 'tone/matchreports', 'profile/chloe-merrell', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/sport', 'theobserver/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/england-netball-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-07-29T19:22:42Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2011/sep/21/times-atlas-error-scientists-mobilise | Times Atlas ice error was a lesson in how scientists should mobilise | Over the past few days, climate scientists and polar researchers from across the world have rallied, mobilised and responded to a massively incorrect press statement by HarperCollins, the publisher of the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World. According to HarperCollins, the atlas is "turning Greenland 'green' because the new edition has had to erase 15% of Greenland's once permanent ice cover". The press release issued last Thursday quickly spread across the global news, leaving many scientists flabbergasted. How on earth could the Times Atlas obtain such high number? The Greenland Ice Sheet contains 2.9m cubic kilometres of ice – enough to raise the sea level by 7 metres if it were to melt. A 15% reduction in size would be about a 1-metre rise – enough to cause flooding over a third of the Netherlands. Since flooding of this magnitude has not taken place in recent years, scepticism was immediate in the glaciological community. Something must have gone seriously wrong when the new map of Greenland was compared against the previous version from 1999. What happened next is something new. Scientists from around the world quickly expressed their frustration with the questionable claim. Jeffrey Kargel from the University of Arizona wrote on the cryolist, an email distribution list used by many students, researchers and academics, that "a number like 15% ice loss … is simply a killer mistake. This is not a scientific error, but it could be perceived as one." Graham Cogley, a professor of geography at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, replied "the claims here are simply not backed up by science", and concluded "this pig can't fly". At the Scott Polar Research Institute, seven scientists including myself issued a press statement on the University of Cambridge website explaining "a 15% decrease in permanent ice cover since the publication of the previous atlas 12 years ago is both incorrect and misleading. A sizable portion of the area mapped as ice-free in the atlas is clearly still ice-covered." Journalists at the Guardian and many other news outlets immediately picked up these concerns. Meanwhile, scientists from across the world continued the exchange of emails via the cryolist. Ted Scambos, a senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, said: "I'm worried that the importance of the changes that are going on will be lost on the public, because the true value of what the ice sheet has lost compared to this 15% number sounds very small." And he is right, because the true loss of permanent ice in Greenland from 1999-2011 is about 0.1%. This sounds miniscule. Why worry? The answer is that it is a small fraction of a very large number. The current annual loss of ice from Greenland is about 200 cubic kilometres per year. This is about 0.007% of the total ice volume, but the same as 6mm/decade in terms of sea level rise. This is a substantial number which excludes losses from other ice sheets and ice caps, and mountain glaciers, which tend to melt faster. So we should worry about climate change and its impact, not only on the Greenland Ice Sheet, but ice masses across the world as a whole. A recent study published in Nature shows a rapid decline of glaciers and ice caps in the Canadian Arctic. In Antarctica, a number of ice shelves have collapsed, exposing glaciers to the marine environment and causing them to flow much faster than their original pace. Many readers will probably already be familiar with the continuing decline of European glaciers. Yet in recent years, Greenland has been on the top of the list when it comes to large and sudden glacier change. The past ten years have seen record melt year after year. The margin of the ice sheet is clearly thinning. Numerous glaciers have retreated abruptly, exposing new lands and causing faster transfer of ice from ice sheet interior to the ocean. For glaciologists working in Greenland, climate change is very real. Atlases such as the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World can and probably will play an important role in the communication of climate change, but it is absolutely essential that the communication is based on facts and scientific evidence. The substantial consequences of making inaccurate or exaggerated claims in the climate change debate came to light after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change incorrectly stated in their last assessment report, that Himalayan glaciers could vanish before 2035. Although this mistake was not made within the actual assessment of the physical science basis of climate change, the unravelling of this mistake nonetheless lasted more than a year and was damaging not just to the IPCC, but the wider scientific community. In the aftermath of what is often referred to as 'Himalayagate', scientists are well aware that one big error can cloud a thousand truths. This is why the science community tackled the Times Atlas mistake swiftly and effectively. Yesterday, HarperCollins issued a press statement retracting the claimed magnitude of ice loss, but maintained that they stand by their maps. But to scientists, the representation of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the latest atlas, without explanatory text, will continue to be misleading. • Dr Poul Christoffersen is a lecturer at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge | ['environment/poles', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/controversiesinscience', 'science/geography', 'science/science', 'tone/comment', 'environment/sea-ice', 'type/article'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-09-21T14:51:06Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/cif-green/2010/dec/02/cancun-climate-change-summit-pacific-island-nauru | For us in the Pacific, the Cancún climate summit is about survival | Marcus Stephen | Last year, heads of state from the world's largest economies gathered at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen to show solidarity with their counterparts from smaller, more vulnerable countries in the face of the largest environmental crisis in history. The failure of the negotiations to produce a legally binding treaty, coupled with shifting domestic politics, have kept the same leaders away from this year's meeting in Cancún, lest they be associated with another breakdown in talks or accused of not putting their own country's problems first. But while climate change may have become politically inconvenient in the past year for some, the threat it poses to the world is no less real. And for few people is the danger so great as it is for the citizens of Pacific island nations. For this reason, several heads of state from our region will personally take part in the Mexico negotiations – to ensure that our interests are fairly represented and to remind the world that, for us, action on climate change is not simply a matter of politics, but of survival. The countries in our region are spread across thousands of square miles in the Pacific and include hundreds of small islands and coral atolls. The region is home to more than 8 million people, 600 distinct languages, and some of the most biologically diverse marine ecosystems in the world. As with other small island states, our low-lying terrain, remote geography, vulnerability to storms, and dependence on natural resources have made the impacts of climate change all the more severe. For example, the combination of rising seas and intensifying weather events has led to coastal erosion and the intrusion of saltwater into agricultural land and our increasingly scarce fresh water supplies. At sea, ocean acidification and coral bleaching have degraded fisheries and threaten our tourism economy. Even more concerning, a steady rise in sea level has put some of our members' islands at risk of complete inundation. Hundreds of people from Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and other parts of our region have already been forcefully displaced due to climate-related impacts, making them among the world's first climate refugees and raising a number of previously unimaginable questions: If our homes are swallowed by the sea, where would we go? What country will we belong too? Who will own our fish and undersea resources? These dilemmas are by no means isolated to the Pacific. New research has shown that the rapid loss of ice sheets could contribute to an increase in sea level of more than a meter, which would put New York, London, Shanghai and many other coastal cities at risk of severe flooding. The International Organisation for Migration has said that rising seas could lead to as many as 200 million climate-impact related refugees worldwide by 2050. So what can we achieve in Cancún? In spite of the low expectations that have been set for the meeting, we can still take a step toward reaching an agreement that helps protect millions of people in low-lying countries if progress is made in the following areas. First, governments must preserve the international character of climate change policymaking. At Copenhagen, some governments began lobbying for a system that would replace an internationally binding agreement with a patchwork of domestic regulations and enforcement regimes. Such a proposal would disenfranchise the voices of millions of people most at risk from climate change and undermine the multilateral approach that is the cornerstone of international relations. Second, the emission reduction targets proposed at Copenhagen are not nearly sufficient to prevent severe climate impacts to low-lying and coastal areas. We have joined other island states and vulnerable countries throughout Africa, Asia and the Americas in calling for emission reductions designed to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees, the level scientists say is needed to significantly reduce the risk to our islands and surrounding reefs and atolls. Third, the international community should use this opportunity to establish readily accessible sources of funding specifically dedicated to help vulnerable communities such as ours adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change. It is critical that this support be additional to previous commitments to international development aid and administered according to the highest standards of fairness and transparency. The predicament facing the Pacific's low-lying states, though seemingly far removed from the world's largest cities and capitals, is in fact just the earliest manifestation of a crisis shared the world over. A failure to do what is necessary to protect us now will eventually doom all of humanity to a similar fate. | ['environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'world/nauru', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/mexico', 'world/unitednations', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'environment/environment', 'tone/comment', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'world/world', 'world/vanuatu', 'world/papua-new-guinea', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-12-02T06:00:02Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2022/feb/25/natural-england-chair-tony-juniper-backs-biodiversity-net-gain-plan-boost-wild-areas | Natural England chair backs ‘biodiversity net gain’ plan to boost wild areas | Demand for nature is exceeding supply but new wildlife areas can be created by regulations to ensure housing estates bring about “biodiversity net gain”, according to the chair of England’s nature watchdog. Tony Juniper said the post-pandemic surge in people visiting wild places for their mental and physical wellbeing – and to walk lockdown puppies – was concentrating footfall in relatively few nature reserves, which were increasingly used like public parks. But Juniper, who has been reappointed as chair of Natural England for a second three-year term, said his agency must “increase the supply of nature”. “Part of the challenge post-lockdown – the footfall in relatively few sites – makes you wonder how we’re going to cope with that increased demand for nature when nature is depleted and fragmented,” he said. “Visitor pressures on protected sites [such as national nature reserves] is a supply and demand question.” Juniper, a former executive director of Friends of the Earth, has been credited with restoring morale – and adding a 47% budget increase this year – to beleaguered Natural England, which had been decimated by a decade of cuts. But after three years “building the picture and getting the toolkit and resources to deliver it” he said it was time for him and Natural England to deliver on “the gargantuan task of nature recovery” to help the government meet its ambitious wildlife targets. The government’s target to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 was “a big stretch”, he said. “We have targets coming on species abundance and nature recovery, and if we are going to get to those 2030 targets we need to start really hitting the ground now.” The new “public money for public goods” farm subsidy system, although not fully finalised, should help, according to Juniper, who said he was also hopeful that wildlife could be restored via biodiversity net gain, which from 2023 obliges every housing and infrastructural development to create 10% more nature than was there before. One-fifth of Tory party donations come from major developers but Juniper said biodiversity net gain was not “just a licence to trash” wildlife. “It isn’t, because we’re not abandoning anything we already have in terms of the existing protections and tests [for wildlife] that need to go through the planning system,” he said. He admitted there were “tensions” between developers providing nature-friendly spaces close to new homes or boosting wildlife in distant sites. “On the one hand we want more bigger, better, more connected nature-rich places, on the other we want to improve the environments around where people are living,” he said. Speaking during a tour of 25 acres of arable farmland acquired for restoration to wildlife-rich chalk grassland by the charity Cambridge Past, Present and Future, Juniper said it was important to plan a network of new nature-rich places close to new homes. The restoration will increase Wandlebury country park by 20% but Cambridge’s population has grown by 20% this century, with an ongoing jobs, development and population boom. “There’s limited semi-natural habitat around here so creating more of it to be able to serve that population makes sense,” said Juniper. “But doing it in the best possible way to get the biggest strategic impact is the key thing. We don’t want little pocket parks scattered all over the place randomly. We’d like to see the coherent construction of a nature recovery network which is not only taking account of biodiversity net gain but also the existing protected areas and blend that with the new agricultural schemes. It’s a jigsaw to piece together.” While Juniper has helped win an enhanced role and funding for Natural England, and said he was hopeful of “further increases this year because the work is expanding”, Natural England staff went on strike in January over a decade of pay freezes and below-inflation rises. Juniper said Natural England’s executive was doing all it could to push for more money for staff. “We’re very aware of the issues being raised by staff around pay. Since I’ve been there we’ve consistently done the maximum we could each year in terms of staff rewards and pay but the big picture is constraint – we have the rules set by the Treasury.” In his next three years, Juniper said he hoped to create more big national nature reserves and said the issue of out-of-control dogs in wild spaces was raised wherever he went. He said it was still possible to make more space for wildlife and for people. “Everyone at Natural England is convinced it’s not nature recovery or public access – it’s both. With some limits during the bird breeding season, raising awareness and management, I think we can do that.” Wild Green Wonders by Patrick Barkham (Guardian Faber, £14.99). To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. | ['environment/biodiversity', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/natural-england', 'environment/wildlife', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'society/housing', 'business/construction', 'global-development/development-data', 'society/communities', 'society/society', 'uk-news/england', 'politics/conservatives', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrickbarkham', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-02-25T07:00:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2011/dec/01/yahoo-bid-25bn | New Yahoo bid ups price to $25bn | Private equity firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are preparing a bid for all of Yahoo with Asian partners in a deal that could value the web portal at about $25bn (£16bn), a source told Reuters on Wednesday. The plan follows smaller bids made by consortia including Microsoft tabled earlier this week which valued the web portal at just $20bn. The Microsoft bid was the lower of two. The new potential bid by the consortium, which would include China's Alibaba Group and Japan's Softbank Corp, has not been finalised. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose primary interest is in buying back a 40% stake owned by Yahoo, is keeping its options open. "Alibaba Group has not made a decision to be part of a whole company bid for Yahoo," Alibaba Group spokesman, John Spelich, said on Wednesday. The potential bid for the whole company would turn up the pressure on Yahoo's board, which had intended only to sell a minority 20% stake in the company. It would also put pressure on Microsoft, which is losing money on its search deal with Yahoo where it powers the site's searches with Bing. The simplest route to making that profitable is to own a sizeable share of Yahoo; alternate owners could slow down its route to profitability. Yahoo's shares, which closed at $15.71 (£10) on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, gained 6.4% to $16.72 in after-hours trading, valuing the company at more than $20bn. That puts its share price ahead of the bid tabled by a consortium including Microsoft, which in 2008 made an audacious $44.6bn cash-and-shares bid to take over the whole company but was rejected. "Alibaba definitely wants to get its stake back from Yahoo, so whatever that can make that happen, they will try for it," said Hong Kong-based JPMorgan analyst Dick Wei, adding that Alibaba may finance the deal by taking on more debt or finding a strategic buyer. Alibaba, run by its founder and billionaire CEO Jack Ma, has ties with some of the world's most prominent private equity funds and a group of investors including Silver Lake purchased a 5% stake worth $1.6bn in early November. A bid for Yahoo at more than $20 per share would mean a deal value of about $25bn based on the 1.24bn shares outstanding, potentially making it the largest leveraged buyout in recent years. Blackstone, Bain and Softbank declined to comment, while Yahoo representatives were not immediately available to comment. Although a bid for all of Yahoo is not yet on the table, the latest twist turns up the heat on Yahoo's board, which has received at least two offers for a minority stake in the company according to people familiar with the matter. One offer came from a consortium of Silver Lake and Microsoft, and another from TPG Capital. Silver Lake, Microsoft and TPG have declined to comment. Meanwhile, private equity firm Thomas H Lee Partners is interested in buying Yahoo's US operations. Providence Equity Partners and Hellman & Friedman are also interested in a potential Yahoo deal. Thomas H Lee, Providence and Hellman & Friedman have declined to comment on the situation. Bain and Blackstone have a track record of teaming up for joint investments. In 2008, in partnership with NBC Universal, they bought the Weather Channel; in 2006 they teamed up for a $6bn buyout of Michaels Stores, the biggest US arts and crafts retailer. Internet pioneer Yahoo has seen its growth stagnate in recent years due to competition from Google and Facebook, and is currently without a permanent CEO as it tries to regain relevance. Yahoo's board fired CEO Carol Bartz in September and started a strategic review, which has been complicated by the different agendas of players with a say in the situation, including its Asian partners, co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, the board and shareholders. Yang has been exploring a deal with private equity firms to take the company private, according to sources, in part because that would represent his best chance of remaining involved with the company. | ['technology/yahoo', 'technology/microsoft', 'technology/yahoo-takeover', 'technology/technology', 'business/technology', 'technology/internet', 'technology/bing', 'media/digital-media', 'media/mediabusiness', 'media/media', 'tone/news', 'business/business', 'technology/searchengines', 'type/article', 'profile/charlesarthur'] | technology/yahoo-takeover | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2011-12-01T07:34:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
sport/2018/apr/08/commonwealth-games-gymnastics-gold-max-whitlock-georgia-mae-fenton | Max Whitlock falters as Georgia-Mae Fenton takes gymnastics gold | Georgia-Mae Fenton took a risk by not buying her mum a birthday present in the hope a Commonwealth title would be an acceptable substitute. Her gamble paid off as she won gymnastics gold to take back to Kent as a belated gift for Lisa, which will surely mean more than a pot plant or a box of chocolates. “It’s my mum’s birthday and I was like: ‘What can I get her as a present?’ and I thought: ‘Let’s just do my bar routine really good,’” Fenton said, “She’s not come out here but she’ll be watching from home. My mum was the one who introduced me to gymnastics because I was doing cartwheels all the time at home and she took me somewhere I could do it safely, so I want to say thank you to her.” The England women’s team is missing many of its star names, with Claudia Fragapane, Ellie Downie and Amy Tinkler all absent through injury, but Fenton rose to the challenge, making it two English golds in 10 minutes by producing a polished routine on the uneven bars to win with 14.600. The 17-year-old’s victory and Courtney Tulloch’s gold on the rings restored glory to the English gymnastics team after Max Whitlock suffered two shocks in the space of an hour. The double Olympic champion was reminded how it feels not to win, first on the floor, where a ragged routine resulted in him finishing sixth and, more surprisingly, on the pommel horse, his favourite apparatus, where he had to settle for silver. Alongside building an enviable medal collection, Whitlock often talks of wanting to leave a legacy in the sport through increased success for young British gymnasts but he perhaps did not bargain on being usurped by one of them so soon. Specifically Rhys McClenaghan, an 18-year-old from Northern Ireland, who, as a nine‑year‑old, watched Whitlock compete at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi – and on Sunday beat him to gold on the pommel horse. “Obviously, Max is one of the best gymnasts that has lived,” McClenaghan said. “I remember watching him as a kid and to be competing against him now is incredible but I’m up there with him now and I’ve overtaken him.” He later tweeted: “Coming for that world title next, Max.” The teenager’s confidence is admirable but Whitlock insisted he would use defeat on the Gold Coast as motivation for the European championships in Glasgow and world championships in Qatar later this year. “I will learn a lot and get a lot of fire back in me,” Whitlock said. “It may be what I needed to really push me to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I look up to Usain Bolt and Mo Farah because they are legends. To retain a title is much harder than chasing one, there is a lot more pressure.” “It’s one of those things. We’re human and mistakes happen. I knew I was going to get a low score because I did a repetition move and the deduction was going to be big.” Tulloch, 22, qualified top and was first out in the rings final. His score of 14.833 was not surpassed as he won his second gold medal of the week to add to the team title. He also offered words of consolation to Whitlock. “It’s one of the best routines I’ve ever done,” he said. “I got silver last year at the Euros and to come away with two gold medals is fantastic. Max is an amazing role model. Today he made a few mistakes but he will bounce back. You can’t write off Max.” Miller breaks British hammer record Nick Miller had double the reason to celebrate his Commonwealth gold by becoming the first Briton to launch the hammer more than 80m, a mark that also surpassed the best his coach, a former international thrower, ever managed. The 24-year-old, who won silver in Glasgow four years ago, broke his own British record with a throw of 80.26m at the Carrara Stadium on the opening afternoon of athletics on the Gold Coast. He broke the Games record, which had been 77.53m set by Stuart Rendell in Melbourne in 2006, and now has bragging rights over his Swedish coach Tore Gustafsson, who once threw 80.14m. “I thought I could throw 80m, it is the distance every hammer thrower wants to make,” Miller said. “The best part is that I beat my coach. We joked for years that I’d throw over his best and when 80.26m came up, it was one up on him.” Meanwhile, the basketball arena played host to a proposal when the England forward Jamell Anderson asked Georgia Jones, who plays for the women’s team, to marry him. Both sides had earlier triumphed, with the women’s team beating Mozambique and the men annihilating Cameroon. | ['sport/commonwealth-games-2018', 'sport/gymnastics', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/commonwealth-games', 'sport/sport', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/martha-kelner', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/commonwealth-games-2018 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-04-08T12:23:07Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2015/dec/04/are-rich-countries-selling-the-developing-world-short-on-climate-change | Are rich countries selling the developing world short on climate change? | Poor countries at climate talks in Paris have railed against an attempt to water down assistance promised to help them overcome the climate crisis they did not cause. Rich countries are committed to provide $100bn (£66bn) to developing countries by 2020. More than any other, this figure will decide the fate of the talks billed to stop climate change. On Wednesday, US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern had told a press conference that donor countries were “well on the way to beating that pledge”. Stern said a “conservative” report compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a thinktank sponsored by the richest countries on Earth, in October “showed on the basis of 2014 numbers we are around $62bn, probably a little bit more than that”. For the period between now and 2020, he said: “There have since that time been a number of pledges made both by individual countries... I think if you look at all of those pledges, plus what the OECD have already totalled up... we are at a pretty high number, both where we are now and where we’ll be over the next few years.” And yet the problem of the $100bn is not whether it will be reached – it almost certainly will – but how. There is an almighty gap between how the developing and developed worlds define what counts as adequate climate assistance. Within the monies the OECD counted as climate finance was a vast range of loans, grants and aid relabelled as climate-related, much of which developing countries do not see as assistance but investment. On top of this, the OECD model adds in the private capital “mobilised” by the trickle of public cash. For example, Germany and France have promised to increase their 2020 finance to $4.47bn and $4bn respectively. Yet despite the similar numbers, grant-making Germany is seen as a leader and money-lending France a villain. For developing countries, loans are a particularly problematic aspect of this methodology. Gambia’s environment minister, and representative of the least developed countries group, Pa Ousman Jarju said: “We cannot take loans to pay for climate change and take that as climate finance. For us it needs to be grant-based finance because we are not responsible for what is happening.” Stern’s upbeat analysis was scorned by Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, the South African chair of the Group of 77 and China, who speaks for the poorest 134 countries in the negotiations. She called the OECD report a “mirage” that was being used to create the illusion of a finance process on the right track. “We had been asking for work to be done by the [UN] standing committee on finance. An institution of the convention. And every time we asked, those requests were refused,” said Mxakato-Diseko. Instead, she said, wealthy countries had elevated the methodology of a thinktank to de facto UN climate policy, without consultation. “We woke up to find that we had a report that was telling us that we were accomplishing [$100bn]. We were not aware of that report. We were not aware that countries had mandated that report,” she said. Oxfam’s climate policy adviser Jan Kowalzig said: “It’s deeply concerning that a donor-driven methodology like that of the OECD is being used to champion rich country climate funding [as being] at a pivotal stage in sealing a climate deal. The system is far from perfect and, critically, is based on donor countries’ choices on what and how to count, allowing funding levels to look higher than they actually are.” There is just one day of talks left before negotiators must hand over a workable draft to their various ministers for the second phase of deal-making. For the US, using the OECD methodology puts the talismanic $100bn within reach, defusing an issue insiders say has become utterly intransigent. A second tortured sore is the balance between funding for “adaptation” – coping with the effects of climate change – and “mitigation”, carbon cutting interventions. Mitigation tends to attract vastly more finance because its profile – renewable energy, forestry, agriculture - comes with readymade business models and can convince private capital to provide additional help. Because of this, mitigation attracts roughly three quarters of all climate finance. Adaptation, much of which involves improving infrastructure, offers no such ready profit model and generally requires grants. The African negotiating bloc has called for adaptation finance to reach $32bn a year by 2020. But Kowalzig said that even with new pledges, public adaptation money was only likely to amount to $5-8bn per year in 2020. “If today’s public adaptation finance were divided among the world’s 1.5 billion smallholder farmers in developing countries, they would get around $3 each year to cope with climate change – the price of a cup of coffee in many rich countries,” he said. | ['environment/series/eco-audit', 'environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'business/oecd', 'business/global-economy', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'profile/karl-mathiesen'] | environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-12-04T12:55:38Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
australia-news/2019/nov/21/victoria-issued-code-red-bushfire-warning-amid-thunderstorm-asthma-threat | Australia fires: record-breaking temperatures fuel bushfires across the country | Record-breaking spring temperatures helped spark and fan bushfires across the country on Thursday. In Victoria, 100km/h winds fanned more than 60 fires as an unprecedented heatwave moved north to south, drawing comparisons with the “worst conditions you’d see in February or March” from the state’s emergency services minister, Lisa Neville. “This shows us what the risks will be in summer around Victoria, so we still have a long way to go to be ready,” she said. Emergency services crews were equipped and trained for the difficult forecast summer but she was concerned about residents in bushfire-prone areas being properly prepared. “One of the things we felt earlier this year out of the fires that happened over the summer was that there was a level of complacency,” she said. A fire near Yorketown on South Australia’s Yorke peninsula on Thursday was sparked by a network power fault, local authorities said. The blaze forced the towns to be evacuated, destroyed homes and crops, and injured more than 30 people. At least 11 properties were affected but the full extent of the losses was not yet determined. The Yorke peninsula’s mayor, Darren Braund, said many residents had taken shelter overnight in the Edithburgh town hall but had been told to leave. “People are very worried, a lot of anxious people, hoping their properties are OK,” Braund told the Adelaide Advertiser. “There were warnings throughout the night from Country Fire Service. All of a sudden the wind changed. From what I understand, the fire jumped containment lines. That’s when it got very dangerous.” Victoria’s most extreme bushfire warning – code red – was issued for the central and northwestern regions, and a fire ban was imposed across the state. Melbourne’s maximum temperature of 40.9C matched the 1894 record for the hottest November day. Laverton was the hottest place in Victoria at 44.3C. In Mildura, a thick haze of red-earth dust blanketed the city – the regular duststorms a consequence of drought – and in the west of Victoria more than 80,000 homes were left without power after a network failure which also sparked a fire. A storm which moved across the state caused widespread damage. The state emergency services received more than 1,600 calls for assistance, 1,300 because of fallen trees. Fires continue to burn across New South Wa;es. Already this season, six people have died and 612 homes have been destroyed. The Rural Fire Service said there were 59 bush and grass fires across the state at 5pm, and 29 still had to be contained. Only one, at Bora Ridge in the north of the state, is at emergency warning level. There are no total fire bans in place in NSW for Friday, but there is a high fire danger forecast and warm weather is set to continue. The smoke haze which blanketed Sydney is expected to remain, but will clear overnight and tomorrow morning with a wind change. Forecasters are expecting the smoke to return at the weekend. The Bureau of Meteorology said a number of areas in South Australia broke November heat records, including Lameroo at 44C, Murray Bridge at 45.3C and Nullarbor at 46.6C. In Tasmania, Hobart equalled its hottest November day, and the statewide top temperature of 38.3C at Campania was just 0.2C lower than the November record for any place in the state. Two fires continue to burn. Cooler conditions heading into Thursday evening were expected to help contain all bushfires still being patrolled by firefighters in Victoria. However, Emergency Victoria encouraged people to stay alert. A fire near Ballarat that was at emergency level was also downgraded to a “watch and act” warning. The fire was heading towards Dunac, but water-bombing from helicopters and aircraft helped contain it. “It was horrific … There was branches coming down all over the place, the wind was blowing, it was hot,” a farmer from Dunac, Tom Davies, said. “For a fire day you wouldn’t have got much worse.” Davies has lived and worked in the Dunac area all his life, but cannot remember another day like this ever happening so early in the summer. “No, I don’t think so. For a serious fire like we’ve just had, I think this would be about the earliest I’ve seen it,” he said. “Generally you don’t get a day like we’ve just had until after Christmas.” | ['australia-news/bushfires', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'australia-news/south-australia', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/melbourne', 'australia-news/health', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/ben-doherty', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-11-21T22:23:58Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2019/dec/14/if-only-saving-the-planet-was-as-easy-as-planting-a-tree-before-speeding-off-in-our-suvs | If only saving the planet was as easy as planting a tree before speeding off in our SUVs | Catherine Bennett | There is one thing, still, that we all agree on. Trees. Everybody loves trees. In theory, anyway. So long as the trees don’t interfere with a prime view, or foundations, or a luxury housing development, like the ancient – but inconvenient – Bethnal Green mulberry in London, which Crest Nicholson got permission to dig up. Or the massacred Sheffield planes. Or the 30 Thameside trees that Boris Johnson and Joanna Lumley hoped to fell, as twin visionaries of the Garden Bridge (failed, at a public cost of £43m). But the collective dendrophilia means that imperilled trees, like tragic puppies and kittens, make headlines. As the Daily Mail has illustrated, a demonstrable affection for trees does more than bring different factions together, it advertises, on the part of the tree enthusiasts – in this case the Rothermeres – a reverence for nature and the planet that does not, even from the creatives who bring us Mail Online, look instantly risible. The organisation is running an inspirational “tree angel” campaign, urging readers to help plant a million more trees, with a view to beautification and addressing climate change: “Britain is committed to becoming a ‘net zero’ emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050 – and to do this we will need to plant millions more trees.” The good news continues. Celebrities and influencers, including Lumley, queue up to commend the Mail and proclaim their own love of trees. “Trees are our ancestors and protectors,” said Ms Lumley, which must gladden the trees’ hearts. Better one sinner that repenteth. Prince Charles is another supportive name, taking time between pointless flights and shuttling between his seven or so homes, to endorse a scheme that represents a “major opportunity”, he says “to help lock up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and prevent global warming”. Perhaps more persuasively, Clive Anderson, president of the Woodland Trust, has congratulated the paper on its lurch into planet-saving: “I am all for trees.” Before the election, the prime minister, having left the Channel 4 climate debate to a more capable ice block, found time to assure Mail readers that their tree planting would be “a vital part of our response to climate change”. And especially vital for the party – endorsed by the Mail – that is committed to spending £28.8bn on road-building: ie encouraging, not restricting, transport emissions. Following the Conservative victory, no tree angel need worry about frequent-flying levies, or public transport nudges, or disincentives on acquiring a new, pay-later, SUV that emits a quarter more CO2 than a medium-sized car. Last week, financing packages were cited as one reason that sports utility vehicles outsell electric cars in the UK by 37 to one, and threaten our ability to fulfil EU emissions targets. Globally, SUVs are the second biggest cause (after power) of the rise in CO2 emissions. The beauty of organised tree planting as a demonstration of environmental concern is its essential conservatism. No behavioural changes are involved. People will still let your thuggish SUV out at city junctions. Actually, planting trees for the planet is the probably the closest most of us will ever come to feeling like the frequent flier and busy package holiday escort Stanley Johnson. We may not be able to spell Pinocchio or spawn a Boris, but with one sapling and a trowel we can experience what it is to call oneself a committed conservationist without sacrificing anything larger than a plastic straw. Learn from Stanley. After sucking up to some Extinction Rebellion protesters, the supposed conservationist said he saw no need to stop flying. Ever. “I justify my flying pretty often on the basis I’m going there to do some speech about the environmental problems or write about the animals.” Admirers of Stanley could argue that his shamelessness is no worse than Prince Charles’s serial hypocrisies, and may be more honest than claiming, as celebrities repeatedly do, that their emissions have been rendered harmless by tree planting or some other mysteriously purifying scheme. Long since George Monbiot tellingly compared offsetting with the medieval sale of indulgences, their popularity as a flygskam cure seems undimmed, including among the most prominently agonised. The model Bella Hadid confides, for instance, that she has recently donated 600 trees to obliterate three months’ worth of flying. Paul McCartney offsets. So does EasyJet. Greenpeace described the airline’s scheme as “jumbo-sized greenwash”. It’s not clear that offsetting, even if the relevant projects do not fail, is as effective in reducing aviation emissions as frequent flyer levies would be, or even social pressure to fly less. Why would the proposal that emissions can be magicked away by new trees not be used to validate yet more flying and more complacency about industry emissions, neutered and otherwise? The Mail’s angel campaign, basically a seasonal offsetting special, looks similarly unlikely to threaten the status quo, especially from a paper that remains a safe space in which to argue (with supporting quotes from the coal baron Matt Ridley) that global warming could be “a boon”. The campaign’s lead endorser, the prime minister, produced the election’s weakest manifesto on the climate crisis. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine a conservation campaign with more appeal to phony or reluctant environmentalists. Much as soaring sales of SUVs make “a mockery” of the push for electric cars, according to the UK Energy Research Centre’s Prof Jillian Anable, inaction or lack of seriousness on their CO2 emissions exposes the limitations of tree planting. “We have been sleepwalking into the [SUV] issue,” she said. “We must start to phase out the most polluting vehicles immediately.” That said, all credit to the Mail, formerly one of the world’s least tree-friendly communities, for its model exercise in greenwashing. If it leads to less in-house denigration of Greta Thunberg – “a somewhat distressed kid having a textbook teenage strop” (Sarah Vine) – so much the better. • Catherine Bennett is an Observer columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'tone/comment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'media/dailymail', 'media/pressandpublishing', 'media/national-newspapers', 'media/media', 'media/mail-online', 'media/newspapers', 'technology/internet', 'media/digital-media', 'culture/joanna-lumley', 'type/article', 'profile/catherinebennett', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/comment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-comment'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2019-12-14T18:00:29Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2007/sep/22/recycling | From Scotland to the Channel Islands the cry goes up: 'Banish the plastic bag' | When the small Devon town of Modbury became the first in Europe to reject plastic bags in its shops six months ago cynics said traders and the public would soon tire of their experiment and go back to oil-based polyethylene normality. Anything but. Not only has the self-imposed ban by the 40-odd shopkeepers held firm with the public accepting alternatives, but now 50 other cities, towns and villages are following Modbury and are in the process of ditching the eponymous symbol of the throwaway society. They range from London, where the 33 boroughs last week proposed a city-wide ban on all throwaway bags starting in 2009, to the islands of Mull, Arran and Guernsey, which are racing to become the first plastic bag-free island in the world. Some of the initiatives come from individuals, others from councils, and many from shopkeepers themselves. All were inspired by Modbury and Rebecca Hosking, the young wildlife camerawoman whose outrage at the pollution of Pacific ocean marine life by plastic bags led to Modbury changing. Second after Modbury has come Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, a former mill town in the Pennines, which stopped handing out plastic bags two weeks ago after four women calling themselves the Bag Ladies convinced nearly all the town's 104 traders that plastic was passé. Britain uses nearly 17bn bags a year, or 300 for every man, woman and child, but the Bag Ladies - an IT consultant, an ambulance technician, a massage therapist and a climate change consultant - found they were pushing an open door. "We could hardly find any opposition at all to people not using plastic. They all said it made sense," said Louise Marix-Evans, one of the women, yesterday. "We sent a leaflet to all 6,000 households in the town, and we talked to all the traders and the Co-op supermarket. We showed them a film about the damage they do and only three were hostile. Since then, one has come round. We said we would be happy if 80% of the town shops changed but it's way more than that." The switch is taking place gradually, with some shops running down their stocks and others offering a mix of string, corn starch and cotton bags. "Some are asking for a contribution but plastic is definitely on the way out in Hebden Bridge," says Ms Marix -Evans. "It's a no-brainer. They are not greatly loved, sometimes they're useful, but we've all had enough of them. People want to do stuff. " North Berwick, near Edinburgh, may be next. The seaside town of 7,000 people has sent out questionnaires to households and of the 400 replies 98% approve a switch. "It's very difficult to find anyone opposing a change. They almost want the change from plastic to be imposed on them, they want someone to take the lead," said Robin MacEwen, a retired civil servant in the Scottish Assembly's justice department. "I think the politicians have been slow to detect this and would get a lot of support if they took more action." Less ambitious, but following the French model where supermarkets have stopped using flimsy plastic bags, is the Amberley stores and post office in West Sussex. Next week Roger Townsend, one of the shop's trustees, will deliver a biodegradeable cotton bag to all 300 households in the area and stop offering plastic. "Frankly, asking everyone whether they approve would be going over the top," he said. "Let's be bold and take the initiative," said Chris Hogwood, a spokesman for the 33 London councils who last week launched a consultation on whether to ban bags completely, or put a levy on them, as in Ireland. "Lots of people want an outright ban. There's no reason it cannot work in the capital. It's crazy that other cities can do this," he says. Back in Modbury, Ms Hosking says her small West Country revolution is now complete. "There's no way Modbury is going back. It's been a total success and being plastic bag-free is now very much the norm for us all. To the point that if we go shopping in another town and are offered a plastic bag it's quite a shock to the system. "But for me the best thing that's happened is news of Modbury in the Guardian made it back to Hawaii and the island of Maui, where I filmed some of the most upsetting footage of plastic bags killing marine animals. In the past three months Maui has been in the process of passing the first stages of a bill to make the island and its 125,000 residents plastic bag-free within three years." Six easy steps 1 Do it yourself, or with a group. Don't rely on councils or supermarkets. 2 Get the trust of the traders. Approach them directly. A handout is not enough. 3 Gauge public support to encourage supermarkets and multiples to take part. 4 Learn about what plastics are doing to the environment. 5 Research every type of alternative bag on the market. 6 Set a date. Rebecca Hosking www.plasticbagfree.com | ['environment/environment', 'environment/recycling', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews4'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2007-09-22T14:13:47Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2018/may/23/world-weatherwatch-spring-brings-wildfires-storms-and-ash-plumes | World weatherwatch: Spring brings wildfires, storms and ash plumes | Eastern Russia has been experiencing widespread and intense spring wildfires, thanks to a drier than normal autumn and winter, leading to parched vegetation. As of 17 May, nearly 700 fires had been recorded across 40 territories with about 400 considered extinguished, according to the Russian Federal Forest Agency. As stated by the Global Fire Emissions database, the Amur Oblast region has experienced the most fires per month since 2008. An outbreak of strong thunderstorms caused an estimated five deaths in the north-east US on 15 May, during the first occurrence of severe spring storms for that region this year. Strong winds, hail and heavy downpours caused most of the damage, although there were also reports of tornadoes in New York state. Many places were struck during the busy evening commute, which enhanced the disruption. The Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has been periodically erupting since early May, and the latest, on Tuesday, sent its plume an estimated 9,000ft (2743 metres) into the sky. Last week, stronger eruptions produced an ash cloud as high as 30,000ft, prompting aircraft warnings. Given the unpredictability of volcanic eruptions, there is no sure way of knowing when the effects of lava, ash and toxic gases will cease. | ['world/volcanoes', 'world/russia', 'environment/spring', 'world/wildfires', 'news/series/world-weatherwatch', 'us-news/hawaii', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'weather/usa', 'weather/russia', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-05-23T20:30:32Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2014/jul/02/german-cities-bottle-collectors | German cities accused of freezing out poverty-stricken bottle collectors | As the streams of fans moved towards the Brandenburg Gate to watch Germany's World Cup matches, few noticed the men and women standing with bags and carts by the entrance to the fenced-off arena, collecting empty bottles. Nadine, a pregnant 20-year-old, had been stationed at the west entrance near the Victory Column since midday, and her shopping trolley was half full. Empty glass and plastic bottles can be redeemed at German supermarkets for eight to 25 cents (6-20p) an item. "Twenty euros should be in it for me today," she said. Asked why she was collecting bottles, Nadine replied: "There are private reasons. But let's just say, I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't have to." In recent months, these Pfandsammler (deposit collectors) have become increasingly controversial, with some cities accused of trying to push them out of their centres. Hamburg now has 160 solar-powered bins that squash rubbish, allowing them to be emptied less frequently. Stuttgart has installed bins that store waste underground. The effect in both cases is the same: collectors can no longer reach inside for bottles. Stephan Karrenbauer, a social worker, said the move in Hamburg was part of a deliberate strategy to cleanse the city centre of unwanted social elements, something the council denies. "If you don't have any money in Hamburg, you've got three options: you can go begging, sell Hinz & Kunzt [Hamburg's equivalent of the Big Issue] or start collecting bottles. So if you block up the bins, you are pushing a lot of people into abject poverty," he said. In response to the public criticism, the city has since installed "bottle shelves" on some of its bins, allowing passersby to leave empties for the collectors, and similar designs are being tested elsewhere. A spokesperson for the Hamburg's public cleaning services claimed that the shelves had been a great success – though critics question whether six holders per bin are likely to make a difference. In Berlin, where one in seven citizens lives on the verge of poverty and there is no ban on drinking alcohol on public transport, bottle collectors have been a social phenomenon since the 2006 World Cup. Yet this year most of the big public screenings do not allow people to bring their own drinks, and bottle collectors are often barred by security staff. "You can forget it this time," said one man collecting bottles outside the Brandenburg Gate. "In the past, you could earn a fortune." But Germany's Pfandsammler resonate on a wider political level. Hard-working, orderly and environmentally friendly, workers in the bottle-recycling sub-economy embody some of the more positive values associated with Germany. Some argue, however, that they stand for a new social class whose existence the government is trying to deny: people with irregular incomes or who are on basic state benefits, who need top-ups to survive in what is nominally Europe's richest economy. Many are pensioners. "Politicians don't even recognise this group – they just ignore them," said Sebastian Moser, a researcher at the Max Weber Institute in Lyon, who last year wrote a doctoral thesis on the Pfandsammler phenomenon. As an exception, he mentioned the leftwing Die Linke party, which ran a poster campaign during last year's election that read: "Instead of collecting bottles: €1,050 minimum monthly pension!" The controversy in Hamburg, Moser said, was indicative of the state's growing neglect of people whose lives were precarious. Citizens were left to compensate for the public sector's retreat. He talked of a privately run website called pfandgeben.de, which puts collectors in touch with people who want to get rid of bottles they have amassed at their home or office. From an ecological perspective, Germany's bottle deposit scheme – implemented in 2003 in the face of opposition from manufacturers – is generally seen as a success. A 2010 environmental agency report said the scheme "leads to less rubbish on our streets and squares". But it made no mention of the informal economy that has grown around it. After spending two-and-a-half years interviewing collectors in several cities, Moser concluded that money was rarely their sole motive. "For many, it is an attempt to escape from loneliness. Finding bottles and returning them gives people the kind of recognition they no longer get from their job or family. If the state wants to help, it should think about how it can integrate those whose social support system has collapsed." As the Berlin crowds cheered on their team, a pensioner ambled away with a bin bag full of bottles on her back. "In the past, my husband and I used to go collecting together, but since he's died I've had to carry them by myself," she said. "I'm alone now, but when you're out and about collecting bottles, you get chatting with people." | ['world/germany', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/philip-oltermann', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-07-02T16:44:54Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
global-development/guardianwitness-blog/2015/may/22/uncovering-unheard-voices-of-brazil | Uncovering unheard voices of Brazil... | I wrote last summer about our plan to run citizen reporting programmes in different parts of the world. The aim is to train marginalised people and communities to bring forth burning issues and stories that, perhaps, the national and international media are overlooking. In June we visited South Africa, and October India. Now we’ve just returned from Brazil. Twenty people came from all parts of the country to take part in a two-day workshop. The training covered storytelling, evidence-finding, verification, ethics, social media and the ways participants can connect to us directly through digital platforms such as GuardianWitness. The stories they brought in were extraordinary, covering indigenous rights in the Amazon, Olympic relocations, young people in the favelas, sex workers during the World Cup, and life for Bolivian and Syrian migrants. One of our trained citizen reporters, Luis Adorno, collaborated with our Latin America correspondent Jon Watts on a murder story in Sao Paulo. We plan to use their work as part of a big piece on violence across Brazil. ‘A Year in a Favela’ will chart the period immediately before the Olympics, with our newly trained citizen reporters in Maré, Alemão and Rocinha delivering monthly updates. We have also commissioned a ‘How I Go to School’ video series with children from rural areas in Brazil. Several participants said education was their priority, especially the problems that many children face getting to school. One landless worker told us of students who had to walk for two hours across a river after their old school was shut down. Favela residents described long bus journeys even to reach city schools. Indigenous groups spoke of the challenges faced by children who have to go by boat through the forest. Our correspondent is in touch with citizen reporter Tonico Benites in order to plan a visit to Guarani Kaoiwa for a feature article about Brazil’s other indigenous people, and how they are not the photogenic jungle-dwellers of the world’s imagination, but live in much worse conditions. Finally - for now - we also commissioned an opinion piece about the threat posed by miners and loggers to the village of Itaituba. These workshops showed us that there is still a great deal out there, sadly, which the national and international media are not covering. You just have to let people tell their stories... | ['global-development/global-development', 'global-development/environmental-sustainability', 'society/society', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/yasir-mirza'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-05-22T13:58:17Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/cif-green/2010/feb/03/hacked-climate-emails-sceptics-funding | Climate scientists have long been targets for sceptics | Fred Pearce | Many of the researchers caught up in the "climategate" saga have spent years in the firing line of sceptics. And they have felt the heat. In late 2006, I interviewed a number of them for an article in New Scientist magazine, which focused on how the propaganda war was shaping up prior to the publication of the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment the following year. Kevin Trenberth had suffered abuse for publicly linking global warming to the exceptional 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which culminated in hurricane Katrina. He told me: "The attacks on me are clearly designed to get me fired or to resign." Ben Santer of the Lawrence Livermore laboratory in California, and formerly of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, was attacked for his role in writing the 1995 IPCC report, which claimed to see the hand of man in climate change. He said: "There is a strategy to single out individuals, tarnish them and try to bring the whole of science into disrepute." Prof Mike Mann of Pennsylvania State University, fresh from his battle over the hockey stick in 2001, said: "There is an orchestrated campaign against the IPCC." Funding trails to some of the more prominent sceptics also emerged at that time. Steve McIntyre, who runs the influential sceptic blog Climate Audit was free of financial conflicts of interest, but it emerged that prominent sceptic Patrick Michaels received hundreds of thousands of dollars in "consultancy" fees from the Intermountain Rural Electric Association, a coal-burning electric company based in Colorado. A leaked letter from the company's general manager, Stanley Lewandowski, said: "We believe it is necessary to support the scientific community that is willing to stand up against the alarmists." The funding of climate sceptics has a long and probably ongoing history. In 1998, I revealed in the Guardian leaked documents showing that the powerful American Petroleum Institute (API) was planning to recruit a team of "independent scientists" to do battle against climatologists on global warming. The aim was to bolster a campaign to prevent the US government ratifying the Kyoto protocol. The API's eight-page Global Climate Science Communications Plan said it aimed to change the US political climate so that "those promoting the Kyoto treaty on the basis of extant science appear to be out of touch with reality". The leaked document said: "If we can show that science does not support the Kyoto treaty … this puts the US in a stronger moral position and frees its negotiators from the need to make concessions as a defence against perceived selfish economic concerns." Its first task was to "identify, recruit and train a team of five independent scientists to participate in media outreach". It is not clear if the plan went ahead, but the policy objective was achieved. | ['environment/hacked-climate-science-emails', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'environment/kyoto-protocol', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'tone/comment', 'politics/freedomofinformation', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/fredpearce', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2010-02-03T15:40:52Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
environment/2023/dec/11/chris-packham-calls-for-halt-to-catastrophic-expansion-of-scottish-salmon-farms | Chris Packham calls for halt to ‘catastrophic’ expansion of Scottish salmon farms | Naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham has called for a halt to the expansion of the Scottish salmon farming industry, as official figures suggest salmon mortality in the country’s farms hit record levels this year. Packham, the president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), described the growing industry as “catastrophic” for fish welfare and Scotland’s environment. Animal rights campaigners welcomed his calls for better regulation, enforcement and a halt to the growth of the industry. But they said his comments highlight the “untenable position” of the RSPCA’s welfare stamp of approval scheme for salmon farms. The RSPCA received £700,000 in membership and licence fees in 2022 from salmon farmers and producers as part of its RSPCA Assured scheme. Nearly 100% of Scottish farmed salmon is produced under the scheme. Rachel Mulrenan, Scotland director of WildFish, said: “Any public figure making a commitment to raise awareness of the issues with salmon farming is positive. But this dual role that the RSPCA is playing is unhelpful. RSPCA Assured should not be certifying salmon farms, it interferes with the work of the organisation to raise awareness of action needed. The certificate is a proxy for good environmental performance and welfare, but this is not matched on the water. Look at the mortality numbers this month alone.” The latest figures, published by the Fish Health Inspectorate , show that 13.5 million salmon mortalities were reported by Scottish farms from January to October this yearC, compared with 11.5 million during the same period in 2022. That year saw salmon deaths on farms almost double, due to growing levels of disease, parasites and jellyfish swarms. Don Staniford, of the $camon $cotland campaign, said: “Packham is raising a legitimate issue. The latest data from October shows the highest level of mortality in salmon farms. If their own president is raising the issue then the RSPCA’s position is untenable.” In a newsletter to supporters of Animal Equality (AE), Packham urged them to donate to the charity to halt the expansion of the Scottish salmon farming industry. “Millions of fish are dying prematurely, parasites and diseases are out of control, and Scotland’s natural environment is suffering as farm waste blights the seabed,” Packham wrote. He said he was “speaking as a leading campaigner” for animal protection and broader ecological conservation. “Escapes and interbreeding with wild fish is leading to compromised fitness and increased sea-lice risks for wild populations,” he said. An RSPCA spokesperson said that Packham’s letter to AE supporters was written in a personal capacity, adding that his role at the charity was “non governance”. In a statement, the RSPCA said: “We are proud to have Chris Packham, a passionate campaigner for animals, as our president and we share his desire to create a better world for all animals. “The charity created the world’s first welfare standards for salmon produced in the UK, in response to the absence of specific legislation. They have raised welfare conditions globally and are continuing to drive positive change.” All standard breaches and cases of high mortality were looked into and members suspended to allow investigation and appropriate action taken to rectify failings, the spokesperson said. It had not been necessary to permanently exclude any members, but the RSPCA would not hesitate to do so, if a farm could not rectify problems. While there had been “significant progress” to improve the lives of farmed salmon there were still “significant challenges and we are working hard to tackle them”, the spokesperson added. The RSPCA would publish new welfare standards to include further improvements around health, welfare and slaughter next year. Dr Iain Berrill, head of technical at Salmon Scotland, which represents the salmon farming industry, said: “Chris Packham has a significant platform, so it is disappointing that he has included several misconceptions used by anti-salmon activists in this letter.” Berrill insisted that Scottish salmon farmers provide the “highest welfare standards” anywhere in the world, independently certified by RSPCA Assured. He said: “While no farmer wants to lose any animal, the care our farmers are able to provide means that survival rates for farm-raised salmon – which spend up two years in the sea – are significantly higher than their wild cousins, with average monthly survival rates of around 97%.” A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Salmon farming in Scotland is a highly regulated industry subject to a number of fish health, environmental and local authority planning controls. The industry is subject to stringent animal health and welfare legislation. The vast majority of salmon farms in Scotland are members of the RSPCA assurance scheme and are regularly checked for compliance. “We recognise an increase in mortality, which has largely been associated with earlier climate events and we expect producers to drive mortality to the lowest possible levels.” | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/environment', 'campaign/email/global-dispatch', 'environment/fish', 'politics/scotland', 'uk/scotland', 'tv-and-radio/chris-packham', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/karenmcveigh', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-12-11T10:45:21Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
australia-news/2015/jul/14/post-2020-emissions-target-unlikely-to-win-bipartisan-support-bill-shorten-says | Post-2020 emissions target may not win bipartisan support, Bill Shorten says | Bill Shorten has signalled Australia’s post-2020 emissions reduction target may not win bipartisan support if Tony Abbott forces Australia into “the path of lowest common denominator” in Paris later this year. The opposition leader told reporters on Tuesday bipartisanship was important on emissions reduction targets, but not at any cost. The signal from Shorten comes as the Abbott governmentmoves to formal consideration of the post-2020 emissions reduction target it will take to United Nations-led climate talks in Paris, which start on 30 November. The expectation, ahead of a final cabinet decision, is that Australia will ultimately adopt a similar position to the one adopted by Canada in the global process, which is a cut of 30% on 2005 levels by 2030. The Australian reported on Tuesday that the Abbott government is considering adopting emissions reductions of between 15% and 25% on 2005 levels by 2030. Government sources said on Tuesday a decision had not yet been made but Australia’s final position would likely be in that ballpark. While that target certainly won’t win praise from climate groups, the prime minister is already on notice from backbenchers that the government’s post-2020 targets in Paris will be the subject of robust internal debate when the party room considers the issue in August. The government was expected to unveil its position for Paris either this week or next but the prime minister said on Monday the policy would need to be cleared by both cabinet and the Coalition party room, which doesn’t meet until August. Australia’s current emissions reduction target to 2020 is a bipartisan position. But the Labor leadership is currently under pressure from the ALP membership to immediately sign on to post-2020 emissions reduction targets recently recommended by the Climate Change Authority. The Climate Change Authority says Australia should reduce emissions by 30% by 2025 on 2000 levels, and aim to reduce carbon pollution by 40% to 60% by 2030 – which is a significantly more ambitious position than the one being contemplated by the Abbott government. Shorten will face a motion at the looming ALP national conference attempting to lock the parliamentary party in behind that stance. Asked on Tuesday whether he would seek a bipartisan position with the government on the new 2030 target, Shorten told reporters: “There’s no doubt that it’s important to have emissions reduction targets being bipartisan, but it is also important therefore that Mr Abbott doesn’t force Australia into the path of lowest common denominator.” “Mr Abbott loves to talk about bipartisanship so long as it’s agreeing with him; the issue here is that we need to have renewable energy as part of our energy mix in the future,” the Labor leader said. The Climate Institute meanwhile blasted any target for Australia that would involve a 15 to 25% cut. It says a cut of that order would put Australia in the worst position of any developing nation in the current UN process. “Both a 15 or a 25% target would be big fail on both climate action and competiveness grounds,” said Climate Institute deputy chief executive, Erwin Jackson. “These targets would leave Australia languishing at the back of the pack at best, and, at worst, the most pollution intensive developed economy,” he said. “While other countries are taking serious steps to limit pollution and modernise and clean up their economies, Australia would continue to loss its competitive position in a world moving to zero carbon economy.” | ['australia-news/bill-shorten', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/katharine-murphy'] | environment/cop-21-un-climate-change-conference-paris | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-07-14T08:56:09Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2022/dec/23/discovered-in-the-deep-the-jaw-dropping-gulper-eel-and-its-super-stretchy-skin | Discovered in the deep: the jaw-dropping gulper eel and its super-stretchy skin | Compared with the enormous size of their jaws, gulper eels (Eurypharynx pelecanoides), also known as pelican eels, have one of the tiniest skulls of any animal. The enormous jaws allow them to swallow whatever prey they happen upon in the vast space of the deep sea, where food is hard to come by. “The upper and lower jaw are so big that when its mouth is closed and folded up it’s almost half the length of its body,” says Yi-Kai Tea, a Chadwick Biodiversity Fellow at the Australian Museum in Sydney. “The head is right at the tip.” The metre-long gulper eels live at depths of more than 7km under the surface, although typically they are found in the midnight zone at about 1,000 metres. Their jaws unfold to immense dimensions, like an umbrella. “A lot of these deep-sea creatures are so intractable that they often come with schematic drawings of how they work,” says Tea. “Their anatomy is so far removed from what is normal, it’s hard to imagine what they’re actually like.” Pelican eels were one of the many deep-sea fish found on a recent expedition to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean, exploring little-known waters around giant underwater mountains. Tea was a fish expert on board, part of the team that slowly dragged a four-metre-long beam trawl net just above the seabed, as far as 6,000 metres down. After four or five hours the net would come back up to the ship and the team would sort the catch. “That’s the fun thing about being on an expedition like that … you never really know what is coming up in those nets,” says Tea. “It’s really just the luck of the draw.” As well as their massive mouths, gulper eels also have incredibly stretchy skin that can accommodate an enormous gulp of food. A young gulper eel showed just how stretchy they can be, when it was caught on camera in 2018 on the flanks of a seamount 1,425 metres underwater in the Papahānaumokuākea marine national monument near Hawaii. Inflated with water, it looked like a black balloon with two beady eyes. Then it folded its skin away and swam off with sinuous waves of its snaky body. It remains a mystery what that particular fish was up to. Perhaps it was trying to look big and scare off the noisy, bright submersible that was filming it, or perhaps it was just stretching its muscles. “I don’t think anyone really knows,” says Tea. The Cocos (Keeling) expedition was the first time Tea saw a fresh, net-caught gulper eel and witnessed its incredibly black skin, which soon fades in preserved museum specimens. “They’re so intensely, deeply black it looks weird and fake,” says Tea. “It’s almost as if you’re looking into a black hole,” he says. “That really blew my mind.” A recent study revealed how gulper eels and other deep-sea fish engineer their ultra-black skin. Melanin pigments are arranged in such a way that photons of light bounce between them, like a ball pinging around inside a pinball machine, and few escape. More than 99.7% of the light that falls on the skin gets absorbed, making gulper eels almost as black as the artificial superblack coatings constructed from carbon nanotubes that suck in light and let next to none back out. Ultra-black skin helps gulper eels avoid being illuminated by their bioluminescent prey, such as lanternfish, which have glowing lights along their bellies. “It doesn’t want to be seen, it wants to be well hidden,” says Tea. “The outer blackness of its skin helps it to blend in well in its surroundings.” | ['environment/series/discovered-in-the-deep', 'environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/helen-scales', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-12-23T08:00:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2023/mar/28/country-diary-i-swim-on-behalf-of-the-life-in-this-river | Country diary: I swim on behalf of the life in this river | Amy-Jane Beer | I’m just five minutes from the car when I hear the first rumbles of thunder. I could probably get back before the heavens open. But it’s months since I’ve been in the Dales, and the promise of time with the river has been sustaining me all week. So I continue. Ten minutes later, my commitment is wavering. I’m splodging through a deluge that is washing the last of the snow from hollows, slipping on mud, glad of my wellies but regretting the jeans. Do I really want to swim? It’s an act of faith to keep going. Faith and a hint of rebellion. The Wharfe was recently listed as one of the most polluted rivers in England, yet part of it, at Ilkley, is also an official swimming site. For its name to be synonymous with filth is an outrage. Even this stretch in Grassington, miles upstream from the better-known polluted part, is not completely safe. Still, I swim, at my own risk and at least partly in protest. After all, I have a choice whether or not to be in this river, but the life that exists in it does not. The mood of the water matches my own: dark and choppy. Rain hammers on my hood, forcing my head down so that my eye is caught by a swatch of colour at the water’s edge. It’s a sherd of bright blue china. I ruminate on broken plate, broken river, broken system, broken trust. A trickle of curlew song, fluid as rain, brings my gaze skyward, and up there is another fragment of blue. By the time I reach the rocky constriction of Ghaistrill’s Strid, with its mossy islet and tumult of white water, the overhanging sycamores glitter with sunlit raindrops, and a chaffinch delivers his version of water music – a cascade of notes with a musical trip at the bottom. My swim is short – the water still carries the bright bite of snow – but the sun is warm enough that I can potter on the rocks afterwards, air-drying for the first time this year. The next thing to make me look up isn’t a sound, but an inkling. A barn owl is sliding over the water at head height – perhaps the darkness of the storm has roused it early. It turns its alabaster doll-face and we’re present to each other for an unfathomable moment. A lucky break, a break in the clouds, a breakthrough. • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/rivers', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/birds', 'environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/amy-jane-beer', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-03-28T04:30:06Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2024/jan/19/deep-sea-coral-reef-atlantic-coast | Largest known deep-sea coral reef mapped off US Atlantic coast | Scientists have mapped the largest known deep-sea coral reef, stretching hundreds of miles off the US Atlantic coast. While researchers have known since the 1960s that coral is present off the Atlantic, the reef’s size remained a mystery until new underwater mapping technology made it possible to construct 3D images of the ocean floor. The largest yet known deep-sea coral reef “has been right under our noses, waiting to be discovered”, said Derek Sowers, an oceanographer at the non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust. Sowers and other scientists, including several at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration federal agency, recently published maps of the reef in the journal Geomatics. The reef extends for about 310 miles (500km) from Florida to South Carolina and at some points reaches 68 miles (110km) wide. The total area is nearly three times the size of Yellowstone national park. “It’s eye-opening – it’s breathtaking in scale,” said Stuart Sandin, a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who was not involved in the study. The reef was found at depths ranging from 655 feet to 3,280 feet (200 to 1,000 meters), where sunlight doesn’t penetrate. Unlike tropical coral reefs, where photosynthesis is important for growth, coral this far down must filter food particles out of the water for energy. Deep coral reefs provide habitat for sharks, swordfish, sea stars, octopuses, shrimp and many other kinds of fish, the scientists said. Tropical reefs are better known to scientists, and snorkelers or divers, because they’re more accessible. The world’s largest tropical coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, stretches for about 1,430 miles (2,300km). Sowers said it’s possible that larger deep-sea reefs will be discovered in the future since only about 25% of the world’s ocean floor has been mapped in high resolution. Maps of the ocean floor are created using high-resolution sonar devices carried on ships. Deep-sea reefs cover more of the ocean floor than tropical reefs. Both kinds of habitat are susceptible to climate change and disturbance from oil and gas drilling, said Erik Cordes, a marine biologist at Temple University and co-author of the new study. The Associated Press contributed reporting | ['environment/coral', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-01-19T20:32:43Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog/fashion-industry-letting-down-disabled-disability-cost-beauty | Fashion industry is letting down people with disabilities – to its cost | The fashion industry operates on a singular vision of beauty. Carefully policed boundaries exclude those who are not extremely thin, tall and white. But there is another beauty barrier hidden by its very obviousness – that of ablism. While pressure is increasing on the industry to become more diverse in terms of size and race, inclusion should also embrace people with disabilities. Calling on fashion to break with its narrow prerequisites are campaigners including Michael Shamash, a former chairman of the Restricted Growth Association, Paralympian Stef Reid and Kelly Knox, a London model who was born without her left forearm. "Most people, disabled and non-disabled are not represented by adverts, magazines or television programmes," said Shamash at Ablism in Fashion, an event organised by Better Lives at London College of Fashion. "The construction of beauty is such a narrow one. In this rigid hierarchy, disabled people often don't get the chance to be valued as stylish and elegant." There have been some recent steps towards diversity, for instance designer Carrie Hammer selecting role models including Danielle Sheypuk, a wheelchair-user, to model her designs at February's New York Fashion Week and Knox and Reid starring in the 2013 Debenhams diversity campaign. Yet change is not consistent. As Knox explains: "I am disabled by the attitudes in the fashion industry, not by my missing arm." Much of the old guard remains resistant to change. British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman declared this month that she is bored of being told to set a more inclusive beauty standard and that "nobody wants to see a real person on the cover of Vogue". While Shulman has been repeating this line for years, there is no evidence to back up her assertions and in fact studies have shown that diversity increases people's intention to shop. With 10 million disabled people living in the UK, Shamash says fashion may be ignoring disabled people at their peril. "We live in an age where there is so much negative publicity and policies about disabled people that act to restrict our potential. Yet despite this disabled people are vocal, visable, living independent lives and in some cases have disposable income." Yet it is not, he says, a question of cost benefit analysis or increasing profits for corporations: "There is a moral justification to this. Inclusion is not just about healthcare, housing, transport, education – it is equally about identity and self-worth and how you express it. It is this that makes access to style so important." This is an area where fashion could have a positive, innovative impact. "At its heart, fashion should be about forward thinking and new forms of expression," says Reid. "Fashion has never been about normalcy." For Reid the coverage of the 2012 Paralympics by Channel 4 – using the slogan 'Thanks for the warm up' – showed how shedding old paradigms can allow people with disabilities to be treated with respect and admiration. She dreams of hearing the following conversation between two directors or photographers or stylists: "Hey, I hear you were assigned to the able-bodied model. Gosh, sorry about that – how boring." These campaigners are also carrying a revolutionary message. "I like the way I look," says Shamash. "And I like the way I appear, and I am interested in the way I look and appear." This sentiment is almost unheard of in the fashion industry. It makes for a striking statement, one that is at odds with an industry that could not exist if we all reached this state of self-acceptance. It is reinforced by Knox: "We all should be proud of who we are, we should never feel we are not beautiful enough, skinny enough, perfect enough. Perfection doesn't really exist. True beauty lies in embracing your individuality. I believe it is our birthright to feel comfortable in our own skin, to celebrate individuality and never feel the need to conform to the ideals and stereotypes that fashion sets for us all." This is a dangerous sentiment for an industry that runs on telling people they are too fat, too old, too ugly, too dark or so last season. To paraphrase Gail Dines: imagine how many industries would go bankrupt if people (and especially women) were allowed to really love their bodies. There is serious power in this message of self-acceptance and diverse beauty. Inclusivity is not about cost-benefit analysis, or a moral duty towards those less well off, rather it is something our society urgently needs. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox • This article was amended on 10 April 2014. An earlier version described Michael Shamash as chairman of the Restricted Growth Association. He is a former chairman. | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog', 'sustainable-business/fashion', 'world/disability', 'business/business', 'fashion/fashion', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'sport/paralympics', 'tone/features', 'sport/olympic-games', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/sustainable-fashion', 'profile/tansy-hoskins'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-04-02T13:12:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
film/2021/aug/09/red-soil-review-father-daughter-eco-thriller-chemical-factory | Red Soil review – father and daughter clash in heartbreaking eco-thriller | Co-produced by the Dardenne brothers, this eco-thriller from French-Algerian director Farid Bentoumi smartly sidesteps the didacticism of its environmental advocacy. Interwoven into the suspenseful whistleblower tale is a tortuous father-daughter relationship, making this compact film a heartbreaking watch. Arkalu, a giant chemical factory and the film’s “villain”, is an ominous yet unavoidable presence in a modest French town. The glue that binds Nour (Zita Hanrot), a young staff nurse, to this edifice extends beyond her office hours. Not only does her brother-in-law work there, but her father Slimane (Sami Bouajila) also acts as the workers’ veteran representative. Thus, when Nour discovers the plant’s toxic dumping ground, which causes numerous workers to develop cancer, her struggles to bring the company to justice are at once internal and external. Besides railing against the powerful Arkalu, she also faces disapproval from Slimane, who has absolute faith in the corporation as a crucial job provider for the community. Considering that Red Soil moves through familiar beats of the genre – think Erin Brockovich or Dark Waters – what sets it apart is the emotional tug-of-war between father and daughter, beautifully portrayed by stellar acting from Bouajila and Hanrot. Instead of passing judgment, the film remains understanding of Slimane’s conservatism, which stems from a desire for financial security among working-class people in a precarious society. The film’s dump site – a vast, muddy patch of land stained with a striking red hue – is especially eerie as this is the real-life tainted ground surrounding the Gardanne power station in the south of France. The fact that this station is still in operation despite the reported hazards might render the film’s trust in the power of investigative journalism naive, yet it also adds a degree of credibility and awe to the poisonous, but strangely beguiling, landscape. • Red Soil is released on 16 August on digital platforms. | ['film/film', 'film/drama', 'environment/pollution', 'world/france', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/environment', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'tone/reviews', 'profile/phuong-le', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-08-09T11:00:03Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2017/jan/16/paris-vehicle-pollution-sticker-scheme-comes-into-force | Paris vehicle pollution sticker scheme comes into force | Drivers in Paris must display an anti-pollution sticker in their vehicles or face fines in the latest attempt by the French authorities to improve air quality. The sticker scheme, which became mandatory on Monday, includes cars, lorries, motorcycles and scooters, and bans some vehicles from the city during weekdays. It follows numerous spikes in pollution in which smog has descended over the French capital, forcing traffic reduction measures and the introduction of free public transport on the worst days. The six different coloured Crit’Air (air criteria) stickers indicate the age and cleanliness of a vehicle. Certain vehicles – including petrol and diesel cars registered before 1996; vans registered before 1997; pre-2000 scooters and motorbikes; and lorries, trucks and buses from before 2001 – are banned from the city between 8am and 8pm. Foreign-registered vehicles have been given until March to obtain their stickers, which cost €4.18 each, payable online. The scheme was unveiled last year and stickers have been available since July. The French government announced 1.4m Crit’Air stickers had been ordered through the official website, but a police check carried out across Paris last week found only one in 50 vehicles stopped had the sticker. About 600,000 vehicles are estimated to drive in and around the city every day. Those found without stickers can be fined €68 for cars and €138 for lorries. Other cities in France have anti-pollution sticker schemes, but Paris has chosen to make it permanent. The authorities say that in the event of high pollution it will make it easier to ban less clean vehicles from the city, instead of banning half of all cars depending on the registration plate, as has been done up until now. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has made it clear she will continue her campaign to reduce by half the number of cars in the city by making life increasingly difficult for motorists. City hall plans include closing roads to traffic and pedestrianising areas of the capital as well as an eventual ban on all diesel vehicles. “More cars means more pollution, fewer cars means less pollution. It seems obvious but in this post-truth age there are those who would argue that fewer cars means more pollution. We prefer to stick to the truth,” Hidalgo told journalists last week. Experts dispute the estimated number of premature deaths caused by air pollution in France, but Hidalgo said there were about 40,000 a year. “The lead particles are found not just in the lungs, but the heart and brain, especially those of children. So we will continue to try to make Paris a city where people can breathe.” | ['world/paris', 'environment/pollution', 'world/road-transport', 'world/france', 'cities/cities', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/kim-willsher', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-01-16T15:52:52Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/blog/2010/dec/06/reader-faq-climate-change | The ultimate climate change FAQ: Keep your questions coming | Duncan Clark | Last week we launched The ultimate climate change FAQ, a collaborative project designed to create the best and most useful online guide to all aspects of climate change. We kicked off by inviting readers to submit questions that they wanted to see answered – and to tell us how they would like to see the project develop. The response was fantastic. Hundreds of people submitted questions (more on those in a second) and various people got in touch to offer expert advice, help with fact-checking or suggestions for partnerships. A few commenters such as DavidCU and SimonCBCooper encouraged us to link up with Skeptical Science in some way, since that site has already done such a good job of creating clear explanations about various aspects of climate science, with the facts footnoted back to peer-reviewed scientific papers. Happily, Skeptical Science has just joined the Guardian Environment Network, which paves the way for using some of their content in the FAQ. Inevitably, not everyone was 100% convinced of the value of this whole project. For example, bananachips asked what a team of journalists without training in climate science could add to the debate. I replied that we were enlisting experts to help with questions of science, and that what we hoped to offer was a group of people are who good at absorbing a complex topic and presenting the facts in a clear and balanced way. Generally, though, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, with a great haul of thoughtful and articulate questions that run the gamut in terms of topic and complexity. Fittingly, given our plan to eventually assemble our answers into a browsable background guide, some readers encouraged us to start right at the beginning with the most fundamental question of all: what is the climate? • "Is there a difference between 'climate' and 'weather'?" Kate Durbin • "Is there any qualitative difference between weather and climate, or is climate merely weather considered over a long period?" Tiresias At the other end of the scale are questions about specific parts of the climate system and the various phenomena that can affect it. To pick out just one example: • "What is 'the Odden feature' and what effect does it have upon the Gulf Stream?" John Maher Perhaps inevitably, given the bone-chilling cold snap we're currently experiencing in the UK, there were a few questions about if and how such freezing weather can be reconciled with a warming world: • "Why are winters getting colder if there is climate warming?" SWDoughty • "Do the cold winters suggest that melting polar ice is sucking heat out of the weather?" James Greyson And there were quite a lot of questions about the basic workings of and evidence for man-made warming, too. For instance: • How do we know whether increasing greenhouse gas levels cause global temperature rise, or vice versa? There seem to be examples of both in the geological record. Archipet • With or without human intervention, there has been climate change in the past. How can scientists be sure the current climate change is attributable to manmade causes? josekyle All of which are crucial questions that I'm sure we'll answer soon. But we said at the outset that we wanted the FAQ to be about more than just the science of global warming, so it was good to see questions touching on issues ranging from economics… • What are the estimated economic costs to the UK and global economy of failing to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions and allowing climate change to continue? And, how do the costs of a transition to a low-carbon economy compare to these forecasts? Iain Vincent …through to national security: • Is it true the Pentagon regards climate change to be a serious threat to the national security of America? @futheist There were also a great spread of questions about targets and solutions, both at the macro and micro levels: • How does the political goal of 2 degrees relate to the science target of 350 ppm? fitzpaul • Is nuclear power a viable alternative to wind/solar-generated energy for the UK? Val Clements • What are the five most effective steps we as western consumers can take to cut our environmental footprint? Does the purchase of green electricity from a retailer really make a difference? Does recycling, riding instead of driving, buying local organic produce change anything? sean spain That's just a small sample, obviously. I'm in the process of digesting the rest to understand which topics were the most frequently mentioned. That will help us decide where to focus our energies during the first stage of this project. My next post will be our first answer. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who submitted a question and got in touch to offer help. This whole project is starting to feel like it has a real momentum behind it. For those who haven't yet posted a question – or who did so and have subsequently thought of another – we still want to hear from you. Here's the form again: | ['environment/series/the-ultimate-climate-change-faq', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'environment/climate-change-scepticism', 'technology/crowdsourcing', 'technology/technology', 'tone/blog', 'environment/blog', 'world/world', 'tone/resource', 'type/article', 'profile/duncanclark'] | environment/climate-change-scepticism | CLIMATE_DENIAL | 2010-12-06T11:43:50Z | true | CLIMATE_DENIAL |
environment/2023/mar/03/global-seed-vault-svalbard-virtual-tour-aoe | Svalbard’s mysterious ‘doomsday’ seed vault offers glimpse inside with virtual tour | Jutting out of the permafrost on a mountainside on Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, the entrance to the world’s “doomsday” seed vault is worthy of any James Bond movie. Surrounded by snow, ice and the occasional polar bear, the facility houses 1.2m seed samples from every corner of the planet as an insurance policy against catastrophe. It is a monument to 12,000 years of human agriculture that aims to prevent the permanent loss of crop species after war, natural disaster or pandemic. The Global Seed Vault in the Norwegian Arctic, which opened in 2008, is closed to the public and shrouded in mystery, the subject of numerous internet doomsday conspiracy theories. Now, to celebrate the vault’s 15th anniversary, everyone is invited on a virtual tour to see inside the vast collection of tubers, rice, grains and other seeds buried deep in the mountain behind five sets of metal doors. The deep-freeze, designed to last for ever, is co-managed by the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust and NordGen, the genebank of the Nordic countries. The seeds could hold answers to agricultural challenges posed by climate crisis, invasive species, pests, changes in rainfall patterns and rampant biodiversity loss are studied, and it opens three times a year to accept new deposits from other seed banks around the world. Scientists say they hope people will learn more about their work through the virtual tour – without running the risk of falling prey to a polar bear. “It is a bit like being in a cathedral. It has high ceilings and when you’re standing inside the mountain, there’s hardly any sound. All you can hear is yourself,” says Lise Lykke Steffensen, executive director of NordGen, which is responsible for the day to day operation of the vault. “When you open the door [to the collections], it’s -18C – the international standard for conserving seeds – which is very, very cold. Then you see all of the boxes with seeds from all of these countries. I’ve been so many times and I’m still curious.” After the Aleppo seed bank was destroyed in the Syrian civil war, the vault was used to replenish seeds for the first time by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, a regional hub based in Aleppo to study crops from the cradle of civilisation where agriculture first began. Research into the resilience of these crops and plant species could be vital as the planet heats in the coming decades. Away from the panoramic view of the Arctic night from the vault’s entrance, the virtual tour takes you down a long tunnel deep into the mountain. Eventually, you arrive at the “cathedral”, home to the three seed chambers, each of which can store nearly 3,000 seed boxes. Each species is sealed in an aluminium airtight bag and kept in its country’s box. As you make your way between what look like the shelves of a DIY warehouse, you can click on a country’s box to find out more. In theory, the seeds are safe, although the entrance to the facility flooded with meltwater in 2017 after a heatwave in Svalbard. The island is the most rapidly warming part of the planet but experts say the deposits are buried so deep in the permafrost that they will be safe for centuries. Seeds are replaced every few decades and if the cooling system ever failed, it would probably take hundreds of years for the temperature inside the vaults to rise above zero. “The virtual tour gives everybody the opportunity to look inside. We think that is a general question of transparency and accountability to the broader public,” says Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Crop Trust. “What is secured inside the vault is one of the most important global public goods we have on Earth. But we need to protect them, secure them and to make sure that they are conserved in perpetuity.” This week, the vault welcomed first-time deposits from Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia and Benin, alongside wild strawberry varieties from a German research institute. Plants such as these could be key to helping humanity feed growing populations in a warmer world, says Schmitz. “These wild strawberries are amazing. They have proved simply by their ability to survive in nature for millions of years that they are robust,” says Schmitz. “They can withstand changes in climate, they can withstand harsh situations with hardly any soil and that is exactly what plant scientists and breeders are interested in. Today, we can start breeding from varieties that are resilient to harsher climates.” • The headline of this article was amended on 6 March 2023 because the virtual tour is not the first glimpse inside the seed vault as an earlier version said. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/plants', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'science/agriculture', 'environment/conservation', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/environmentnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-03-03T10:12:30Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2021/dec/03/how-better-air-could-save-tens-of-thousands-of-lives-uk-pollutionwatch | How better air could save tens of thousands of lives a year in UK | Improving the air that we breathe is an opportunity for our politicians to save lives and for each of us to have better health. In September the World Health Organization (WHO) revised its guidelines for air quality. Following this announcement, two studies have estimated the health benefits from implementing these guidelines across Europe. The first study came from the European Environment Agency. It found at least 177,300 early deaths in 2019 could have been avoided if EU countries met the new WHO guidelines. The UK would have saved 17,200 people in 2019, representing nearly half of the 35,700 pollution-related deaths that year. The second study was carried out by Barcelona’s Institute for Global Health. It focused on more than 1,000 European cities. These are home to 168 million people. Here, 109,000 early deaths could have been avoided in 2015 if the new guidelines had been met for particle pollution. Another 57,000 early deaths could have been prevented if the new guidelines for nitrogen dioxide were achieved. Prof Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, who led the European cities study, said: “Our cities are hotspots of air pollution, but also the places for the quickest and best ways to reduce it. Cities are generally more conscious of the problem and more agile in taking decisions. “We urgently need to shift private car use to public and active transportation. We can do this by introducing new urban models like the 15-minute city, superblocks or car-free neighbourhoods.” Much has been achieved already. Between 2005 and 2019, the health burden from breathing polluted air across the EU reduced by almost a quarter of a million early deaths a year. For the UK, the change was an additional 21,060 avoided deaths annually. The two studies show what could be achieved by more ambitious action. The benefits are not only a reduction in early deaths. Prof Bert Brunekreef from Utrecht University, a member of the WHO Guideline Development Group, said: “Even in relatively clean countries, exposure to air pollution leads to serious health effects. These include premature deaths, but there also effects occurring throughout life: from low birthweight and pneumonia among young children to asthma, heart disease and lung cancer later in life. “It will take major efforts, sustained over a decade or more, to achieve the new guidelines. We must remember that the previous WHO guideline for particle pollution was initially seen as unachievable, but it has now been reached, or is within reach, in many densely populated areas in the world.” | ['environment/series/pollutionwatch', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'society/health', 'uk/uk', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'society/society', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/gary-fuller', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-12-03T06:00:35Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
uk-news/2018/mar/22/sheffield-tree-protester-arrested-for-playing-plastic-trumpet | Sheffield tree protester arrested for playing plastic trumpet | A tree protester in Sheffield has been arrested for blowing a plastic trumpet and setting off a rape alarm after accusing council contractors of “raping the trees”. The 57-year-old woman was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of causing intentional harm or distress following a complaint from a member of the public, and she received a court summons, South Yorkshire police said. A video posted online shows the woman telling a police officer she brought a rape alarm “because they are raping the trees”. Scarcely audible among the sound of chainsaws, the woman can be heard asking a police officer which law she is breaking by playing her red plastic trumpet. As the officer walks away, the woman can be seen apparently playing a quick toot on the instrument, before she is taken away by officers to cries of “shame” from onlookers. She can then be seen arguing with officers about why it is a criminal act to “play my musical instrument”, before the high-pitched sound of a rape alarm cries out. Officers then confiscate her trumpet and put her in the back of a police van. The dispute over the felling of trees has become so toxic that this weekend the Sunday Times cited it as the reason Sheffield no longer made its list of the best places to live. The woman with the rape alarm was one of a number of protesters accused of breaking the law while trying to protect trees on Wednesday. A 49-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence and accepted a fixed penalty notice, police said. A 65-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing work under section 303 of the Highways Act 1980. A number of other people at the site were also reported on summons under section 303, South Yorkshire police said. A 61-year-old woman was taken to hospital after being injured in the protest. Police called the Yorkshire ambulance service and she was taken to casualty “as a precaution”, the force said. It said in a statement on Wednesday: “Earlier today, due to the peaceful nature of the protests, police resources were withdrawn from the site. However, only a short time later a breach of the designated safety zone temporarily stopped work, and a number of people were observed gathering on the road. “Due to the breach, and safety concerns associated with people standing on a live highway, a number of officers were sent back to the site until the tree work had completed.” Thousands of street trees in the city are being felled and replaced with saplings as part of a PFI highways maintenance contract. Campaigners object to what they say is the unnecessary removal of healthy trees. | ['uk/sheffield', 'uk/uk', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'uk-news/yorkshire', 'world/protest', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/helenpidd', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2018-03-22T09:39:49Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2009/sep/24/bananas-litter-hikers-mountains-scotland | Hikers: eat bananas – but take your skins home | I have climbed Ladhar Bheinn, one of Scotland's finest peaks. The view was glorious. And I threw a banana skin at it. I have stood on the magnificent Aonach Eagach ridge and gazed down on Loch Achtriochtan. And I threw a banana skin at that, too. In fact, there are few mountains in Scotland I haven't thrown a banana skin on. Forget all those energy drinks: nothing gets you up a ben like a banana. What's more, they come in handy biodegradable wrappers. So I'm practically doing the mountain a favour, feeding the eco-cycle of nature. But apparently I'm not. The John Muir Trust, which protects many of Scotland's wild places, has just given banana-skin chuckers a stern ticking off. The trust estimates that there are now 1,000 banana skins strewn across Ben Nevis. Walkers, it seems, don't realise that it takes ages for a banana skin to degrade: two years, in fact. This comes as a shock. I have tutted my way round the litter-strewn shores of Loch Lomond and chased Mars Bars wrappers grabbed by the wind. Now I find that I am part of a "significant minority, who are littering and spoiling the experience for everyone else". And it gets worse. According to Keep Scotland Beautiful, orange peel, another of my happily jettisoned waste products, is pretty bad too. Still, at least I've never left a glass bottle. They last 1 million years, apparently – though I wonder how they know. A load of rot: how long your litter takes to biodegrade Paper bag - 1 month Apple core - 8 weeks Orange peel and banana skins - 2 years Cigarette end - 18 months to 500 years Plastic bag - 10 to 20 years A plastic bottle - 450 years Chewing gum - 1 million years From Keep Britain Tidy (keepbritaintidy,org) | ['environment/waste', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'travel/scotland', 'uk/scotland', 'travel/walkingholidays', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'news/shortcuts', 'profile/andrewgilchrist', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2009-09-23T23:05:02Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2009/mar/04/pakistan-sri-lanka-cricket-attack | Editorial: Pakistan - A failing state | It is often said that two things bind a country as diverse as Pakistan: Urdu and cricket. After yesterday's shootout on the streets of Lahore, the list has shortened further. The attack on the coach carrying the visiting Sri Lankan team spelled not just the suspension of international cricket - or indeed any international sport in Pakistan. Pakistan has also just lost its last great link with the outside world. A link that had survived military dictators, a nuclear standoff and the decades of conflict with India has just fallen victim to an audacious commando-style raid outside a stadium in one of Lahore's leafier suburbs. Analysts are not exaggerating when they say that the attack poses existential questions for the Pakistani state. If the state can not protect a visiting cricket team from well-aimed and well-prepared terrorism, what can it do? Not since the Munich Olympics have athletes been specifically targeted - and the ramifications of yesterday's attack spread just as wide. No group has claimed responsibility for the actions of 14 masked and heavily armed men who arrived in rickshaws and all escaped. But the similarities with the attack in Mumbai which claimed 170 lives are evident and legion, and the possibility that the second major headline-grabbing hit could be the work of a hardline Islamist organisation like Lashkar-e-Taiba, on which Pakistan has only just started to crack down, is obvious. India lost no time yesterday in saying so. If this shooting does not galvanise Islamabad to take action nothing will. Asif Zardari has made an inauspicious start as president. He has locked himself into the otherwordly luxury of his official residence with a handful of advisers, while mayhem reigns in the country outside. If there is a government in power, it is not obvious to its citizens. Barely 100 miles away from Islamabad, he has just surrendered a large swath of territory in the Swat valley to the Taliban. Pakistan's foreign minister pleaded in Washington this week that the deal was not as bad as it sounded. The sharia law that Swat will now be subject to is said to be milder than the traditional kind. But acceptance of sharia by the residents who remain in the valley (half have left) should not be viewed as the triumph of Islamist clerics, but rather as a sign of their lack of faith in the state's ability to protect them. Closer to home, all bets are off with Mr Zardari's former coalition partner and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, after the decision by the supreme court to uphold a ban on Mr Sharif's contesting elections due to a past criminal conviction. Was the supreme court right to uphold the judgment? Its ruling was legally consistent. But was the unreformed court acting independently of the president? Probably not. But by refusing to work with the president, Mr Sharif is also responsible for the fallout. All he will achieve is more popularity in a state which his party already controls, but not in Sindh, Baluchistan or the North-West Frontier Province. Mr Sharif's political ascendancy bodes ill for the unity of the federation. All of which makes the job of Richard Holbrooke, Barack Obama's envoy to the region, a whole lot more complicated. It is hard enough to devise a multinational plan which involves three nations acting in concert to dampen a growing insurgency. It is harder still when two of the nations, Pakistan and India, are regional rivals and rarely far from conflict. It is next to impossible if one key player, Pakistan, starts to fissure into parallel states. Washington and its previous satrap in the region, the ousted president Pervez Musharraf, are far from blameless. But if a flawed but still democratic ruler in Pakistan cannot seize control - if he cannot be seen to be acting in Pakistan's own interest - then other forces will move into the vacuum. The alternative is oft foretold: regime change scripted or enacted by the army. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/pakistan', 'world/sri-lanka-cricket-team-attack', 'world/world', 'tone/editorials', 'world/srilanka', 'world/india', 'sport/sri-lanka-cricket-team', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply'] | world/sri-lanka-cricket-team-attack | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2009-03-04T00:01:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2023/apr/18/scientists-discover-pristine-deep-sea-galapagos-reef-teeming-with-life | Scientists discover pristine deep-sea Galápagos reef ‘teeming with life’ | Scientists operating a submersible have discovered deep-sea coral reefs in pristine condition in a previously unexplored part of the Galápagos marine reserve. Diving to depths of 600 metres (1,970ft), to the summit of a previously unmapped seamount in the central part of the archipelago, the scientists witnessed a breathtaking mix of deep marine life. This has raised hopes that healthy reefs can still thrive at a time when coral is in crisis due to record sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification. It also showed the effectiveness of conservation actions and effective management, they said. “They are pristine and teeming with life – pink octopus, batfish, squat lobsters and an array of deep-sea fish, sharks and rays,” said Dr Michelle Taylor, a marine biologist at Essex University and co-leader of the expedition in a human-occupied vehicle, HOV Alvin, a submersible able to take two scientists to depths of 6,500 metres. “This is encouraging news,” said José Antonio Dávalos, the environment minister for Ecuador, which owns the Galápagos. “It reaffirms our determination to establish new marine protected areas [MPAs] in Ecuador and to continue promoting the creation of a regional marine protected area in the eastern tropical Pacific.” The country is collaborating with its northern neighbours Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia on a regional marine corridor initiative, which aims to protect and responsibly manage the ocean. Operated by Taylor and Dr Stuart Banks, of the Charles Darwin Foundation in Ecuador, HOV Alvin explored unknown regions of the reserve using state-of-the-art sampling capabilities and visual upgrades that included improved high-quality still and ultra-high-definition 4K video-imaging systems. Prior to this discovery, Wellington Reef, off the coast of Darwin Island in the far north of the Galápagos archipelago, was thought to be among the few structural shallow coral reefs in the islands to have survived the destruction wreaked by an El Niño event in 1982-83. The find shows that sheltered deep-water coral communities have probably persisted for centuries in the depths of the Galápagos marine reserve, supporting rich, diverse and potentially unique marine communities. “These newly discovered reefs are potentially of global significance – a ‘canary in the mine’ for other reefs globally – sites which we can monitor over time to see how pristine habitats evolve with our current climate crisis,” Taylor said. Banks said the reef helped scientists “reconstruct past ocean environments to understand modern climate change”. It could also help understand the role of MPAs in the carbon cycle and fisheries. “It’s very likely there are more reef structures across different depths waiting to be explored,” he said. A newly established MPA, the Hermandad marine reserve, now connects a chain of seamounts in Ecuadorian waters to offshore marine environments such as Costa Rica’s Cocos Island national park. Scientists say the underwater mountains are migratory routes for marine life and require special measures to protect foraging grounds and sustain responsible fisheries. Dávalos said the discovery was another reason to achieve the commitments of the Global Ocean Alliance 30x30, which aims to protect at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. HOV Alvin is owned by the US navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), as part of the US National Science Foundation-funded National Deep Submergence Facility. It was also financed by the Natural Environmental Research Council in the UK. Taylor and Banks are also part of an international group of scientists onboard the US navy-owned and WHOI-operated research vessel RV Atlantis, which is undertaking the Galápagos Deep 2023 expedition. | ['environment/series/seascape-the-state-of-our-oceans', 'world/galapagos-islands', 'environment/coral', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'world/ecuador', 'world/americas', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/elnino', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/dan-collyns', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/global-development'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-04-18T11:54:51Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2015/dec/03/hoverboards-explosion-risk-product-recalls-trading-standards | Hoverboards impounded at UK ports over explosion risk | Trading standards officers are warning Christmas shoppers to be cautious before buying a hoverboard – tipped to be one of this year’s most popular gifts – after thousands were impounded at UK ports after testing revealed they were at risk of exploding or bursting into flames. The futuristic gadget – also known as a self-balancing scooter, eboard or swegway – is selling fast in the runup to Christmas, but there have been reports that poor quality, imported versions are a fire hazard. At the weekend, high street retailer Halfords issued a recall of its own-brand model, the Air Runner Balance Board, after it was found that some of the £499 products – marketed as a children’s “ride on toy” – had been sold with a mains plug and charger that did not comply with British standards. In November the wholesaler Costco issued a safety notice over Air Runner hoverboards sold in their UK stores, warning of unsafe plugs which pose an electrocution risk. Meanwhile, UK Trading Standards have revealed that more than 17,000 hoverboards imported from beyond the EU have been examined over the last seven weeks, of which over 15,000 (88%) failed basic safety checks. Officers at UK ports, airports and borders have reported a huge spike in the number of the items arriving in recent weeks, with testing revealing safety issues with the plug, cabling, charger, battery or the cutoff switch within the board, which often fails. Many of the items detained and sent for testing were found to have non-compliant plugs without fuses, which increases the risk of the device overheating, exploding or even catching fire. A large proportion of the items which failed had significant safety issues and such large numbers have been sent for testing that many specialist laboratories are full to capacity and additional staff training is under way to help meet demand. Different designs of hoverboard have flooded the market and high-end models costing hundreds of pounds have become the new favourite toy of the likes of Brooklyn Beckham and Lily Allen. Usain Bolt was even spotted riding one through Heathrow in September. Demand is so high that John Lewis has already sold out and does not expect to be able to replenish its stock in time for Christmas. Fire brigades in London and Buckinghamshire have been called out to fires caused by the battery pack or charger overheating and having no safety cutoff function, while a Kent family suffered £25,000 of damage to their house after a hoverboard exploded in their kitchen. There have been many incidents elsewhere in the world and in the US on Tuesday an exploding hoverboard was blamed for causing a serious house fire in Louisiana after being used for just one day. In the UK, National Trading Standards – in conjunction with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute – is urging consumers to be vigilant this Christmas and avoid putting households at risk with unsafe products. Lord Toby Harris, chair of National Trading Standards, said: “Our teams at sea ports, postal hubs and airports have seen a significant spike in the number of unsafe hoverboards arriving at national entry points in recent weeks and are working round the clock to prevent dangerous items from entering the supply chain.” He said the suspicion was that “most of these products are being imported for onward sale domestically as Christmas approaches. We urge consumers to be on their guard when purchasing these products and advise you read our product safety checklist to help ensure you are not purchasing a dangerous item.” Leon Livermore, chief executive of the CTSI, said: “Criminals and irresponsible manufacturers will often exploit high demand and attempt to flood the market with cheap and dangerous products. Some products that are made abroad, principally for the overseas market, are not fitted with the correct plug and fuse for use in the UK. As a minimum consumers should check that the three-pin plug on the device states it is made to BS1363. If it doesn’t include this information, then don’t buy the product.” | ['technology/technology', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'technology/gadgets', 'uk/uk', 'business/retail', 'business/business', 'money/money', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/rebeccasmithers', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2015-12-03T00:01:14Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
science/2017/jan/05/how-ice-creates-mini-mountains | How ice creates mini-mountains | On a cold day, bare earth crunches underfoot. This is because ice needles have formed, pushing the soil upwards, and the pressure of a footstep crushes them down again. In frozen regions, a similar effect on a grand scale produces unusual hillocks known as pingos. Pingos can be as much as 50 metres high. They typically start in old lake beds. Freezing water forms into a lens shape and expands as it becomes ice. As more water is added and the ice mass becomes larger, the ground above is gradually forced upwards into a mound. This can grow at the rate of a few centimetres a year. Pingos are conspicuous landmarks in otherwise flat landscapes, and useful vantage points for spotting caribou herds or whale offshore; the name comes from an Inuit language. A quarter of the world’s pingos are in Canada’s Northwest Territories, where there is a National Landmark dedicated to preserving them. Pingos meet their end when they expand so much that the crust above them breaks open. Sunlight melts the ice, water flows out, and the pingo collapses. This leaves what looks like a miniature volcanic crater known as a pingo scar. A rash of craters appearing in Siberia in 2014 were initially thought to be the result of meteorite strikes or underground gas explosions. Pingo collapse turned out to be a more likely explanation. Geologists have identified ancient pingo scars in Ireland and in Norfolk, remnants of Britain’s glacial adolescent pimples. | ['science/geology', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/world', 'science/meteorology', 'uk/uk', 'environment/glaciers', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2017-01-05T21:30:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/mar/24/uk-firm-to-stop-using-british-pork-after-post-brexit-border-problems-helen-browning | UK firm to stop using British pork after post-Brexit border problems | A UK food company whose products appear on the shelves of the country’s largest supermarkets has decided to stop using British pork in its sausages because of the post-Brexit complications of moving meat across borders. After two disastrous attempts since January to send British pork to Germany, where it is made into 75 tonnes of organic sausages annually, the firm behind Helen Browning’s Organic says it has been forced to drop its support for UK farmers and switch to Danish suppliers. “The cost, the complexity, and the sheer time and effort it takes to manage an export, it’s just not worth it,” said Vicky McNicholas, the firm’s managing director. Helen Browning’s Organic, which is named after the Wiltshire farmer who founded the business, supplies beef and pork products to some of Britain’s biggest retailers including Sainsbury’s, Ocado, and Abel and Cole, and is about to launch at Tesco. The news will come as a further blow for British pig farmers, who have warned the government about the “unprecedented challenges” the industry is facing, because of problems exporting pigs and pork to the EU and Northern Ireland since Brexit. The latest government statistics show UK food exports to the EU have decreased by at least 45% since 1 January. Many smaller food producers have been “shut out” of sending produce to the EU since Brexit, according the Food and Drink Federation, which has analysed the figures from HM Revenue & Customs. Beef exports decreased by 92% in January, down from £40m in the same month last year to £3m, while pork exports fell by 87% and lamb and mutton by 45%. All of these meat products feature in the UK’s top 10 exports to the EU. A Guardian analysis of information from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) shows that since Brexit meat exports now require a 26-step process, which is fraught with bureaucracy and generates a mound of paperwork. For two decades, Helen Browning’s Organics sausages – which account for about a quarter of its sales – have been manufactured in Germany because of, according to the company, a lack of a suitable factory in the UK. The vast majority (85%) of its sausages, representing 300,000 packets of sausages annually, were re-exported to Britain to be sold to UK consumers. Before Brexit, borderless trade with the EU meant the firm fcould easily send pork to its Bavarian factory. That has changed since 1 January, when customs controls were introduced. Both shipments of meat the company sent to the EU since then were held up at French customs for several days, which is problematic for perishable goods such as meat. In addition, each load cost the firm £3,500 more to send than in December 2020, adding around 25p to the cost of each £3.99 packet of sausages. As a result, the company has decided to source the pork for its sausages in Denmark, but this has already meant the loss of some UK customers, who only sell British meat. “This is a huge step to take. We’re all about supporting British farmers. It goes against everything that we want to do. It doesn’t sit comfortably with us,” McNicholas said. “There is a knock-on effect for us of all these decisions. It’s not as simple as just using EU meat. We have to change packaging and labelling,” she added. McNicholas said she was also concerned by the government’s decision to delay the introduction of import controls on EU goods, including meat, until 1 January 2022, because she said this meant trade was easier for EU businesses sending goods. “It is not a level playing field. We have to bring the sausages back into the country, and they just arrive,” she said. Other meat producers have also stopped exporting to the EU since January, according to a member survey conducted by the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA). The trade body found that meat exports reached only between 30% and 40% of pre-Brexit levels in the first six weeks of the year. Peter Hardwick, a trade policy adviser at the BMPA, said “The involved and complex procedures required to export have led to a doubling of the costs of exporting as well as doubling end to end delivery times. These risk a longer term, possibly permanent, reduction in trade with the EU.” | ['environment/meat-industry', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'business/fooddrinks', 'business/business', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'environment/food', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/joanna-partridge', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-03-24T14:57:38Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2015/feb/09/shetlands-viking-windfarm-cleared-by-supreme-court | Shetland's Viking windfarm cleared by supreme court | A massive onshore windfarm on Shetland which is expected to be one of the most productive in the world has been cleared to go ahead after a final legal challenge failed. The supreme court in London has rejected an appeal against the 103-turbine Viking windfarm scheme by community-based campaigners Sustainable Shetland, after a three-year-long legal battle. Sustainable Shetland went to the supreme court after appeal judges in Edinburgh overruled a judicial decision in October 2013 that the scheme breached the EU birds directive, by threatening nesting populations of the endangered whimbrel. Lady Clark, the judge in the 2013 case, had also found against Viking Energy because it did not have an electricity generating licence – a technical issue which was later dropped by the protesters. The Viking scheme, first unveiled in 2009, expects to exploit Shetland’s highly-exposed location and substantial winds coming off the north Atlantic, after it is built on about 50 square miles of moorland north of Lerwick on the island group’s main island. While Viking’s opponents are furious about the visual and environmental impact of the scheme, which will have turbines up to 145m high, the renewables industry points to a small windfarm north of Lerwick at Burradale which holds a world record for its consistent electricity generation. The five turbine scheme has never dropped below a 50% load factor or output level. Viking Energy, which is co-owned by energy giant SSE, hopes to start feeding power onto the national grid by 2020 but it first has to confirm it will receive a higher basic price for its electricity promised by Ed Davey, the UK energy secretary. It also needs a major new interconnector to export that power from Shetland to mainland UK. After reducing its original size to meet environmental concerns, Viking hopes to have a capacity of 370MW but has consents for up to 457MW – enough to power at least 175,000 homes. The supreme court refused Sustainable Shetland leave to appeal to the European court, but the campaigners said they would review their legal options. In a statement, the group said it was very disappointed with the “distressing” ruling. “Our opposition to the windfarm – and its dire implications for the Shetland community and environment – remains undiminished,” they said. Alan Bryce, chairman of Viking Energy, said the firm was delighted with the ruling. “We can now concentrate on developing what would be one of the world’s most productive wind farms, to generate renewable energy and significant income for the Shetland community,” Bryce said. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'uk/scotland', 'uk/uk', 'business/scottishandsouthernenergy', 'business/energy-industry', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/severincarrell'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2015-02-09T12:33:12Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2016/aug/11/solar-and-wind-cheaper-than-new-nuclear-by-the-time-hinkley-is-built | Solar and wind 'cheaper than new nuclear' by the time Hinkley is built | The government expects solar and wind power to be cheaper than new nuclear power by the time Hinkley Point C is completed, its own projections show. Theresa May’s government last month made a surprise decision to delay a deal on Hinkley, prompting a renewed look at what alternatives could power Britain if ministers this autumn fail to back new reactors in Somerset. An unpublished report by the energy department shows that it expects onshore wind power and large-scale solar to cost around £50-75 per megawatt hour of power generated in 2025. New nuclear is anticipated to be around £85-125/MWh, in line with the guaranteed price of £92.50/MWh that the government has offered Hinkley’s developer, EDF. On previous forecasts, made in 2010 and 2013, the two renewable technologies were expected to be more expensive than nuclear or around the same cost. This is the first time the government has shown it expects them to be a cheaper option. The figures were revealed in a National Audit Office (NAO) report on nuclear in July. “The [energy] department’s forecasts for the levelised cost of electricity of wind and solar in 2025 have decreased since 2010. The cost forecast for gas has not changed, while for nuclear it has increased,” the NAO said. The NAO cited the forecasts as coming from the energy department in March 2016. The department said the NAO had been provided with an early draft of its report, and the full version would be published soon. Niall Stuart, chief executive of the trade body Scottish Renewables, said: “These numbers speak for themselves: onshore wind and solar will be significantly better value than all other large scale sources of power in the UK by 2025. “It is time to start backing the two technologies to deliver the clean power we need to hit our climate change targets and the cheap electricity required to keep bills down for consumers.” Molly Scott Cato, a Green party MEP, said: “These latest figures confirm what many of us have been saying for years: that the Hinkley project is a dud. “The cost of renewables is tumbling and Hinkley will become a giant white elephant as it struggles to compete with cheaper renewable options. Research has shown that solar power would be a less costly way of generating the equivalent amount of power, and now the government’s own projections show that onshore wind too will be cheaper than nuclear by the time Hinkley is built.” Since coming to power in May 2015, the government ended onshore wind subsidies and allowed communities to veto turbines near them, as well as axing and cutting various subsidies for solar. Government data published on Thursday showed that renewables generated 25.1% of the UK’s electricity in the first quarter of this year. Around half of that came from on and offshore wind combined. At the weekend, high winds in Scotland helped windfarms match the entire country’s electricity needs for a day. Scotland has some of the biggest onshore windfarms in the UK, and a target of generating 100% of electricity from renewables by 2020. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'environment/energy', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2016-08-11T10:31:31Z | true | ENERGY |
business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2023/nov/16/uk-offshore-wind-subsidies-price-gas | UK offshore wind is no longer a bargain. But it’s still better than the alternatives | Nils Pratley | The good news is that the government has an offshore wind strategy again, something that was in doubt after the last auction flopped by producing no bids from developers. The maximum price the state is prepared to pay for a windfarm’s output for 15 years has been set at £73 a megawatt hour for the 2024 auction, a level that should be high enough to grab attention in boardrooms and spark some bidding action. The bad news, of course, is that £73 is a mighty leap from £44, the price that generated the big thumbs-down, and these subsidies end up on our bills. Yes, we all know about higher interest rates and inflation in everything from steel to the cost of transporting turbines to the North Sea. But a 66% increase? What’s more, since the £73/MWh figure is expressed in 2012 terms (a fact the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero failed to mention in its press release), we’re really talking about £100 in current money. That is roughly the current wholesale price for energy – a price dictated by dirty fossil fuels. Offshore wind’s status as a cheap technology that will outcompete its rivals, regardless of net zero virtues, has suffered a blow. But, before throwing up our hands in despair, a bit of nuance is needed here. First, that headline £73 figure is a maximum. The actual price will be set by competitive bidding. Alistair Phillips-Davies, the chief executive of the FTSE 100 firm SSE, one of the big players in the offshore game, said he “fully” expected the auction to clear at “a far lower price”. One hopes he’s right. He probably will be. Second, a related point: the government was in a bind of its own making. One auction flop is embarrassing; two would look like sheer incompetence. It would send a message to the offshore wind industry to erect its turbines in Germany or somewhere else. Thus setting a high theoretical maximum, while hoping the actual outcome is lower, was the only practical option. Third, if the UK is to hit its target to have 50 gigawatts of offshore capacity by 2030, a tripling from today’s levels, the government has to be prepared to take a long view and ride the bumps. The real cost-killer for developers, beyond the materials, is stop-start policy-making that ties up capital inefficiently. A show of commitment to offshore wind was essential. None of which should give the industry a free pass. The current crisis – witness the woes of Ørsted in the US and Siemens in blades – is not just financial. There is a strong sense that firms have been obsessed with pushing technological boundaries when they would have been better advised to nail down a design and then chip away at making it cheaper. But a competitive auction process, which has served the UK well since the birth of renewable energy, remains the best mechanism for sorting winners from losers. It would be no bad thing if some developers discover they are uncompetitive in today’s world and are forced to restructure. Offshore wind, then, is less of an outright bargain than it seemed a few years ago when every clearing price at auction came in lower than expected. But, on a 10-year outlook, the technology still looks attractive price-wise compared with gas – even when one includes the considerable costs of hooking up projects to the grid. The shallow waters of Dogger Bank and other places remain the UK’s best resource in the decarbonisation game. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/nils-pratley-on-finance', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/nilspratley', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2023-11-16T13:21:26Z | true | ENERGY |
local-government-network/2014/jun/04/lessons-from-us-local-government-fracking | Lessons from the US: the benefits of fracking for local government | Oil and gas production from shale has grown rapidly in the US, with important implications for local government. After interviewing more than 100 experts and analysing local financial documents and tax policies across eight US states, we assessed what financial benefits and costs the burgeoning industry can have for local government. Broadly speaking, shale oil and gas production has had positive financial effects for most local governments in the regions – though there are drawbacks too. As prospects for shale gas development have grown in the UK and across the Atlantic, we have watched with interest and our observations may help inform local policies for the UK if that industry moves forward. Local government revenues from fracking Oil and gas production raises revenue in a variety of ways for US local government, but policies vary substantially from state to state. In some states, local authorities tax oil and gas production directly, while in others state government collects a tax on production and allocates the revenue back to local government. Local government revenue may also rise through sales taxes resulting from increased local economic activity, fees paid for local services or from leasing public land for oil and gas production. For many local governments in the US, these sources have brought millions or tens of millions of dollars into public coffers. In the UK, local, regional and national tax policies differ, but it would be valuable for each level of government to analyse how shale might produce new revenue streams and how that revenue might be allocated. Local government costs from fracking One of the leading costs of shale development is road damage, especially for rural areas where roads are designed for light traffic. In parts of North Dakota and Texas, road repair costs associated with the shale industry have been very large. But there are ways to manage this issue. In regions where local authorities partnered with oil and gas companies to repair roads damaged by industry truck traffic, government costs for road repair have been limited. This was the case throughout much of Arkansas, Colorado and Pennsylvania. Population growth Another concern for local communities was the results of rapid population growth associated with the sudden development of a local oil and gas industry. If population growth outstrips local government's ability to effectively provide basic provision such as sewer and water systems, or law enforcement, it could stretch their ability to fund other local priorities or services. We found that demand did increase in many regions where oil and gas production had surged, but most of this growth has been manageable and is often offset by new revenues associated with taxes and other sources. This was not the case, however, for some rural areas of the western United States, including parts of North Dakota, Montana and (during the late 2000s) parts of Colorado and Wyoming. When oil and gas production surged in these areas, the few cities where workers migrated shouldered rapid and challenging population growth. Implications for the UK Councils in the UK considering the implications of shale gas production can conclude they would need to find additional revenue to manage increased demand for services. Whether this revenue comes from business rates or elsewhere, the income would need to arrive in a timely manner so local authorities could manage capacity issues promptly as they arise. Council partnerships with oil and gas operators could substantially limit costs for UK authorities, especially to fund road maintenance and repair. The greatest local financial challenges in the US have tended to arise in rural regions (where there are less than two to three people per square km) where roads are not designed to handle heavy traffic and population centres are few and far between. Regions in the UK with shale deposits may not share the same challenges as they are not so sparsely populated – but other societal or geographical characteristics could present other, different issues for councils to solve. This footnote was amended on 13 June 2014 to make clear that the Sloan Foundation funded the report. Daniel Raimi is an associate in research with the Duke University Energy Initiative. Richard Newell is Gendell professor of energy and environmental economics and the director of the Energy Initiative. Click here to read the Shale Public Finance report, which was funded by the Sloan Foundation. • Want your say? Email sarah.marsh@theguardian.com to suggest contributions to the network. Not already a member? Join us now for more comment, analysis and the latest job opportunities in local government. | ['public-leaders-network/public-leaders-network', 'public-leaders-network/local-government', 'tone/analysis', 'tone/blog', 'environment/fracking', 'environment/shale-oil', 'society/localgovernment', 'society/public-finance', 'us-news/us-politics', 'type/article'] | environment/fracking | ENERGY | 2014-06-04T08:52:43Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/aug/03/ipcc-land-use-food-production-key-to-climate-crisis-leaked-report | We must change food production to save the world, says leaked report | Attempts to solve the climate crisis by cutting carbon emissions from only cars, factories and power plants are doomed to failure, scientists will warn this week. A leaked draft of a report on climate change and land use, which is now being debated in Geneva by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), states that it will be impossible to keep global temperatures at safe levels unless there is also a transformation in the way the world produces food and manages land. Humans now exploit 72% of the planet’s ice-free surface to feed, clothe and support Earth’s growing population, the report warns. At the same time, agriculture, forestry and other land use produces almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, about half of all emissions of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, come from cattle and rice fields, while deforestation and the removal of peat lands cause further significant levels of carbon emissions. The impact of intensive agriculture – which has helped the world’s population soar from 1.9 billion a century ago to 7.7 billion – has also increased soil erosion and reduced amounts of organic material in the ground. In future these problems are likely to get worse. “Climate change exacerbates land degradation through increases in rainfall intensity, flooding, drought frequency and severity, heat stress, wind, sea-level rise and wave action,” the report states. It is a bleak analysis of the dangers ahead and comes when rising greenhouse gas emissions have made news after triggering a range of severe meteorological events. These include news that: • Arctic sea-ice coverage reached near record lows for July; • The heatwaves that hit Europe last month were between 1.5C and 3C higher because of climate change; • Global temperatures for July were 1.2C above pre-industrial levels for the month. This last figure is particularly alarming, as the IPCC has warned that rises greater than 1.5C risk triggering climatic destabilisation while those higher than 2C make such events even more likely. “We are now getting very close to some dangerous tipping points in the behaviour of the climate – but as this latest leaked report of the IPCC’s work reveals, it is going to be very difficult to achieve the cuts we need to make to prevent that happening,” said Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. The new IPCC report emphasises that land will have to be managed more sustainably so that it releases much less carbon than at present. Peat lands will need to be restored by halting drainage schemes; meat consumption will have to be cut to reduce methane production; while food waste will have to be reduced. Among the measures put forward by the report is the proposal of a major shift towards vegetarian and vegan diets. “The consumption of healthy and sustainable diets, such as those based on coarse grains, pulses and vegetables, and nuts and seeds … presents major opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” the report states. There also needs to be a big change in how land is used, it adds. Policies need to include “improved access to markets, empowering women farmers, expanding access to agricultural services and strengthening land tenure security”, it states. “Early warning systems for weather, crop yields, and seasonal climate events are also critical.” The chances of politicians and scientists achieving these goals are uncertain, however. Nations are scheduled to meet in late 2020, probably in the UK, at a key conference where delegates will plant how to achieve effective zero-carbon emission policies over the next few decades. The US, the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, will have just had its presidential elections. A new Democrat incumbent would likely be sympathetic to moves to control global heating. Re-election of Donald Trump, who has called climate change “a hoax”, would put a very different, far gloomier perspective on hopes of achieving a consensus. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ipcc', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'science/agriculture', 'type/article', 'profile/robinmckie', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2019-08-04T08:00:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2022/dec/08/jungle-trek-first-ever-photo-congo-bouviers-red-colobus-monkey-aoe | Lost and found: how a jungle trek led to first photo of fearless, fluffy-cheeked monkey | “They have a nice black eyebrow, but I especially liked the fluffy white hairs on their cheeks.” For Congolese primatologist Gaël Elie Gnondo Gobolo, seeing Bouvier’s red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus bouvieri) for the first time “was an unexpected moment, like being in a dream”. No one knew the monkey still existed in the Republic of the Congo. Assessments for the IUCN in 2008 and 2016 classified it as critically endangered, with a note saying it was “possibly extinct”. There had been no recorded sightings since the 1970s until Lieven Devreese, a primatologist from Belgium, led a two-month expedition in 2015. Gnondo Gobolo was a biology student at Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville, Congo’s capital, at the time and accompanied him. Devreese hoped not only to find the Bouvier’s red colobus but also to take the first photograph of the species. The expedition, with financial support from four European organisations (Primate Conservation Inc, GaiaZOO, Apenheul, and La Vallée des Singes), headed to northern Congo and the 457,200-hectare (1,130,000-acre) Ntokou-Pikounda national park. “It took us a day travelling down the river to reach the village of Ntokou, where we got permission to enter the forest and found a team of local Mbendjele trackers and eco-guards who know the area,” says Devreese. “To enter the park, we travelled for a day in a pirogue up the Bokiba River. Because it was near the end of the rainy season, the river had inundated large tracts of forest. We had to wade through waist-deep mud and cross a swamp covered with spiny raffia palm leaves. “One of the teams of Mbendjele people found the monkeys and came back to alert us. It took 45 minutes of walking through virgin rainforest at high speed to get to the location, hoping the tracker who stayed with the monkeys hadn’t lost sight of them. “It was very intense and exhausting, tackling all kinds of stinging lianas, not to mention the heat and lack of water, because we’d only planned to be out in the forest until noon. I felt great relief when I heard the chattering of the red colobus monkeys nearby. Then we saw an adult female with an infant clinging to her belly through an opening in the canopy. Finding them was a special experience.” The team observed about 20 monkeys in the lower canopy. “Being able to take the first photograph of this species was proof that there’s still much to learn and discover in these forests,” says Devreese. The monkeys made a big impression on Gnondo Gobolo, who is now a community assistant in Ntokou-Pikounda park. “There are 18 different species of red colobus monkey, of which the Bouvier’s red colobus have beautiful black hands and feet,” he says. “I’ll always remember their curious behaviour when we found them in the forest. We were able to observe them for almost an hour, and at one point an adult female with her infant that we had in our view closed her eyes to take a quick nap. Unfortunately, this fearless behaviour towards people poses a serious threat to them.” Since the rediscovery, Bouvier’s red colobus has been reclassified as endangered. Proof they still exist has aided conservation efforts, with WWF and the government of the Republic of the Congo agreeing to co-manage Ntokou-Pikounda park. “The joint WWF-government team works with Indigenous people and local communities to manage this exceptional expanse of tropical rainforest,” says park director Victor Mbolo. Seeing such solid results from the rediscovery is the reward for days wading through swamps, says Gnondo Gobolo. “I feel profoundly happy to have contributed to the success of the mission. These monkeys require special protection. For me, they represent the pride of Congolese biodiversity and Ntokou-Pikounda park.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/lost-and-found', 'environment/environment', 'environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'world/congo-brazzaville', 'world/africa', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/graeme-green', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/environmentnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2022-12-08T16:00:06Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/dec/05/oceans-under-greatest-threat-in-history-warns-sir-david-attenborough | Oceans under greatest threat in history, warns Sir David Attenborough | The world’s oceans are under the greatest threat in history, according to Sir David Attenborough. The seas are a vital part of the global ecosystem, leaving the future of all life on Earth dependent on humanity’s actions, he says. Attenborough will issue the warning in the final episode of the Blue Planet 2 series, which details the damage being wreaked in seas around the globe by climate change, plastic pollution, overfishing and even noise. Previous BBC nature series presented by Attenborough have sometimes been criticised for treading too lightly around humanity’s damage to the planet. But the final episode of the latest series is entirely dedicated to the issue. “For years we thought the oceans were so vast and the inhabitants so infinitely numerous that nothing we could do could have an effect upon them. But now we know that was wrong,” says Attenborough. “It is now clear our actions are having a significant impact on the world’s oceans. [They] are under threat now as never before in human history. Many people believe the oceans have reached a crisis point.” Attenborough says: “Surely we have a responsibility to care for our blue planet. The future of humanity, and indeed all life on Earth, now depends on us.” BBC executives were reportedly concerned about the series appearing to become politicised and ordered a fact-check, which it passed. The series producer, Mark Brownlow, said it was impossible to overlook the harm being caused in the oceans: “We just couldn’t ignore it – it wouldn’t be a truthful portrayal of the world’s oceans. We are not out there to campaign. We are just showing it as it is and it is quite shocking.” Brownlow said much of the footage shot of albatross chicks being killed by the plastic they mistake for food were too upsetting to broadcast. The programme also filmed on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, witnessing the worst bleaching event in its history. Climate change is causing ocean temperatures to rise, bleaching the corals vital as nurseries for ocean life, and waters are warming rapidly in Antarctica too. Jon Copley, from the University of Southampton and one of many scientists appearing in the final episode, says. “What shocks me about what all the data shows is how fast things are changing here [in Antarctica]. We’re headed into uncharted territory” Carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning also dissolves in seawater, making it more acidic. Prof Chris Langdon, at the University of Miami, says it is “beyond question” that the problem is manmade. “The shells and the reefs really, truly are dissolving. The reefs could be gone by the end of the century.” The noise from shipping, tourism, and fossil fuel exploration is also revealed as harming sea life. Steve Simpson, at the University of Exeter, who works on coral reefs in southeast Asia, says: “There is a whole language underwater that we are only just getting a handle on. They use sound to attract a mate, to scare away a predator. You hear pops and grunts and gurgles and snaps.” He shows the noise of motorboats distracting saddleback clownfishes from warning against a predator attack. The Blue Planet 2 team found plastic everywhere they filmed, even in the most remote locations such as South Georgia island, an important breeding site for wandering albatrosses. There, Lucy Quinn from the British Antarctic Survey says many chicks are killed by plastic fed to them by their parents, including one young bird whose stomach was punctured by a plastic toothpick. Overfishing, which remains prevalent around the world, is also addressed. “Every night thousands of miles of fishing lines laden with hooks are set – there is enough, it is said, to wrap twice around the world,” says Attenborough. But the programme also highlights some success stories, such as the revival of sperm whales off Sri Lanka and herring stocks off Norway after bans or restrictions were put in place. Attenborough also visits Trinidad, where the conservationist Len Peters has transformed the prospects of the giant leatherback turtles who come to the island to lay their eggs and whose numbers have fallen catastrophically in recent decades. “I grew up in a house where turtle meat was normal,” says Peters. But his work to end turtle hunting and encourage tourism has seen numbers rise from 30-40 to more than 500. Quinn says the oceans are of vital importance for the whole world: “The oceans provide us with oxygen, they regulate temperature, they provide us with food and energy supplies. It is unthinkable to have a world without a healthy ocean.” Daniel Pauly, who leads the Sea Around Us programme at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and was not involved in Blue Planet 2, endorsed its stark conclusion. He said vast, subsidised fishing fleets were scraping the bottom of the barrel and that ocean acidification could be terminal for many species. Pauly also warned of the dangers of plastic attracting toxic chemicals and then being eaten: “They become poison pills.” Pauly said the question facing humanity now was simple: “Are we going to fight for the oceans or not?” The final episode of Blue Planet 2 is at 8pm on BBC1 on 10 December in the UK. The full series will then be available online via the iPlayer, including in ultra HD and high dynamic range, the first time the BBC has provided such content. | ['environment/marine-life', 'environment/oceans', 'environment/fishing', 'environment/coral', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damiancarrington', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-12-05T06:30:09Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/aug/22/huge-scale-of-water-leaks-exposes-a-broken-private-model | Huge scale of water leaks exposes a broken private model | Letters | Rather than describing the 1tn litres of water lost to leaks last year in terms of Olympic swimming pools (Report, 19 August), why not relate it to usage? The lost 1tn litres is equivalent to the total annual water consumption of 18 million people – 30% of the population of England and Wales. Apart from the social and environmental implications, this should give water company shareholders pause for thought. Any other business that was letting around a quarter of its finished product go to waste instead of selling it would be facing serious questions about its management, not paying big executive bonuses. Toby Morse Bristol • It is revealing that water companies have paid out £72bn in dividends while taking on debt of more than £50bn (Water company CEOs try to woo me, but I’ve got only one message for them: do your jobs, 20 August). Simple arithmetic suggests that if they were in public ownership and charging the same rates, they would have had £22bn extra to invest in infrastructure and no need to borrow. Did they borrow in order to pay juicy dividends? Michael Miller Sheffield • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['environment/water', 'business/utilities', 'environment/environment', 'politics/privatisation', 'business/business', 'politics/economy', 'politics/politics', 'environment/drought', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-08-22T17:06:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2012/feb/26/conservatives-opposed-coalition-policy-wind | Anti-wind power MPs may have Cameron's backing | The letter, signed by more than 100 Tory MPs opposing their own government's policy on wind power, was embarrassing for No 10. And yet the presence of two of the leadership's most loyal MPs – Nadhim Zahawi and Matthew Hancock – also invited speculation that the move may have been sanctioned at the very top of the party. Chris Heaton-Harris, the Tory MP who collected the signatures of more than half his party's backbenchers, as well as those of two Lib Dem, one Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and two Labour MPs, denies any involvement or blessing from the prime minister or chancellor. But according to one Lib Dem government insider, in the "realpolitik" of coalition politics, the leadership does not need to ask MPs to voice opposition in order for backbenchers to know that their trouble-making is welcome. Whatever happened in this case, there are good reasons why David Cameron and George Osborne may have been happy to see the letter make headlines. It is prudent to have a confident rightwing asserting itself, to counter suggestions that the Lib Dems have undue influence on government policies, despite being the minor coalition partner. More pertinently, with regular headlines – fair and unfair – about the cost of the government's energy and climate policies being added to electricity and gas bills, there must be concern among senior ministers about subsidies for wind and other renewables. Add to that the frustration that a large proportion of wind turbine investment and jobs seems to be going overseas when the British economy is struggling, and it is helpful to have ground prepared for a possible policy shift. The attractions of the "anti-wind" letter are emphasised by the apparent difficulty in organising a counter-demonstration of support. Heaton-Harris took just three days to collect his signatures; weeks later, nobody has got an equal number of MPs to sign support for onshore wind – although a group of pro-renewable interests is mustering backing from more predictable interests, including renewable companies and environmental campaigners. Heaton-Harris now believes he has enough support across the political spectrum, including at least 10 Labour MPs, to form an all-party group – a permanent reminder to ministers of the opposition on all sides, not least his own. In a letter of reply last week Cameron staunchly defended the government's support for wind power as one of many sources of energy, citing "hard-headed" reasons such as reduced reliance on imported gas and job creation. But he played down the importance of targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and to increase renewables to 15% of all energy used by 2020. Significantly, Cameron listed the other elements of a "balanced" electricity mix as "gas, nuclear, cleaner coal and other forms of renewable energy". It reflects the vision emerging from industry planning documents: one in which the biggest boom in new energy for the rest of this decade is wind power, followed by more than 12GW of new gas power and perhaps two new nuclear power stations – and beyond that maybe more reactors. These scenarios lend credence to the notion that influential voices in the government are arguing that, to insure the UK against a future in which renewable energy cannot be deployed fast enough to meet the country's ambitious targets, more gas-fired power would be a relatively cheap and reliable way to ensure enough generating capacity to meet demand. Ministers have also suggested raising the cap on emissions from new power plants, potentially reducing the amount of expensive carbon capture and storage equipment required for coal power. Meanwhile, electricity market reforms propose a guaranteed minimum price for future electricity to ensure that energy generators will risk building reactors, while technically meeting the coalition pledge of no nuclear "subsidies" because the payments would be available for all kinds of generation. Longer term, both these moves help the government go beyond 2020 targets and meet promises to cut greenhouse emissions by up to 80% by the middle of the century. But opening so many new fossil fuel power stations and any nuclear reactors would be controversial with others including the environmental lobby and Lib Dems opposed to nuclear power. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'business/energy-industry', 'politics/liberal-conservative-coalition', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'politics/politics', 'business/business', 'politics/davidcameron', 'tone/analysis', 'type/article', 'profile/juliettejowit', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2012-02-26T20:00:09Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2019/aug/28/tropical-storm-dorian-puerto-rico-latest | Hurricane Dorian spares Puerto Rico and heads for eastern coast of Florida | Hurricane Dorian caused limited damage in the northern Caribbean as it left the region and gathered strength late Wednesday, setting its sights on the US mainland as it threatened to grow into a Category 3 storm. Puerto Rico, which had braced for the worst, seemed to be spared any heavy wind and rain, a huge relief to many on an island where blue tarps still cover some 30,000 homes nearly two years after Hurricane Maria. The island’s 3.2 million inhabitants also depend on an unstable power grid that remains prone to outages since it was destroyed by Maria. Power outages and flooding were reported across the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra after Dorian hit St Thomas as a Category 1 storm. “We’re happy because there are no damages to report,” Culebra’s mayor, William Solis, told the Associated Press, noting that only one community lost power. Donald Trump began the day by insulting and taunting Puerto Rico and its residents, who are US citizens, on Twitter. “Puerto Rico is one of the most corrupt places on earth,” the president wrote in part. “Their political system is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt. And by the way, I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico!” Florida officials said Wednesday that they are preparing for the hurricane to make landfall somewhere along the state’s eastern shore. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, declared a state of emergency and urged residents to take precautions in anticipation of a possible Labor Day strike. Dennis Feltgen, a Hurricane Center meteorologist in Miami, said Dorian may grow in size and could land anywhere from south Florida to South Carolina on Sunday or Monday. “This will be a large storm approaching the south-east,” he said. County governments along Florida’s east-central coast are distributing sandbags and many residents are rushing to warehouse retailers to load up on water, canned food and emergency supplies. Trump declared an emergency on Tuesday night and ordered federal assistance for local authorities in Puerto Rico. But in a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump, a climate crisis denier, seemed to complain about Puerto Rico’s exposure to storms, and escalated a long-running feud with Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital. The two established a combative relationship after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria almost two years ago, when US aid was slow to arrive and Trump offended many during a visit. On Tuesday night, Cruz said that Trump should “get out of the way”. “Three thousand Puerto Ricans did not open their eyes this morning because this racist man did not have it within him to do his job,” Cruz said on CNN. “So get out of the way, President Trump.” Cruz was referring to the death toll from Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in September 2017. An official report criticized the Trump administration’s slow response to the devastation from the storm, which destroyed the island’s power grid and decimated its agriculture and tourism industries. On Tuesday morning, Trump had tweeted about Dorian, and seemed to complain about the cost of hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, which have fallen far short of restoring the island. “Wow! Yet another big storm heading to Puerto Rico,” Trump wrote. “Will it ever end? Congress approved 92 Billion Dollars for Puerto Rico last year, an all time record of its kind for ‘anywhere’.” Trump’s tweet contained multiple falsehoods. While Congress has allocated $42.5bn for disaster relief for Puerto Rico, the island had received less than $14bn through May, according to federal data. And in any case Trump’s headline amount of $92bn would not qualify the Maria relief package as “an all-time record” for the costliest tropical cyclones, according to the federal government’s own figures. Spending on recovery for Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas and Louisiana in the same storm season as Maria, has so far cost $125bn. Since Maria, Puerto Rico has struggled with political turbulence leading to the recent departure of the governor, Ricardo Rosselló. Earlier this month, the territory’s supreme court overturned the swearing-in of Rosselló’s successor, Pedro Pierluisi, and the former justice secretary, Wanda Vázquez, became governor. | ['us-news/puerto-rico', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/extreme-weather', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'world/hurricane-dorian', 'profile/tommccarthy', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-08-29T06:13:57Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2018/mar/15/what-to-do-with-those-divested-billions-the-only-way-is-ethics | What to do with those divested billions? The only way is ethics | Divestment has become a trillion-dollar topic in recent years – boycotting companies considered harmful has never been more popular: Israeli exporters, arms makers, and fossil fuel producers, among others. Across the world more than 800 institutions, with total investments valued at $6tn, have committed to divest from fossil fuels. But where do investors put their money instead? Are companies that benefit thriving? In short, is ethical investing making a difference? Definitions of this sector vary, as do monikers – ethical, environmental, sustainable. But they can be broadly categorised as “socially responsible investment”, or SRI. Among the many estimates of the power of private investment, the most plausible is that this kind of investment jumped to 10% of private funds under management in recent years, after slumming along at long-term levels of below 4%. Institutional investors are also getting in on the act: two decades ago about £300m a year was considered “socially responsible” investment; today it is, by one estimate £23bn. And yet this is still a drop in the ocean compared to all global funds under management, estimated at about $85tn (£60tn). Green bond issues are expected to double this year, but will still be less than one percent of the global bond market. Despite being comprehensively overshadowed by conventional investment, however, there is sober but considerable optimism about the future of SRI. Proactive investors – and the wider public conscience – are pushing governments, and in turn regulators, to demand better practices from business – cleaner air, less obesity, reducing use of fossil fuels. “I would not feel comfortable gaining from somebody else’s misery,” explains company owner and private investor Rebecca Hughes. Institutions too are heading in the same direction: nearly 80% of investors across 30 countries told last year’s Schroders’ Global Investor Study that sustainability had become more important to them over the last five years. “While profitability remains the central investment consideration, interest in sustainability is increasing,” said Jessica Ground, Schroders’ global head of stewardship. “But investors also see sustainability and profits as intertwined.” UBS’s Doing well by doing good report claims more than half the UK public would pay more for goods or services with a conscience. Many more people will want better ethical standards, even if they don’t want or can’t afford to pay for them. “It’s in my upbringing: you treat others in the way you’d like to be treated,” says Hughes. More active financial investors are also taking the issues seriously. Several have indices to track the value of shares in companies which are not doing ‘bad’, or actively doing ‘good’. One is Morgan Stanley, whose two environmental, social and governance (ESG) indices – also covering weapons and women’s progress – were worth $62bn by last summer. UBS reckons “impact investing” – where investors actively seek out companies doing good – is a “force to be reckoned with”. One of the key reasons is the other big driver of the sector: shareholders no longer have to choose between their conscience and profits. Hughes’s £170,000 increased in value by 26% last year – notably more than conventional investments. “It started driven by values, it’s now definitely [driven] by value,” says Simon Howard, chief executive of the UK Sustainable Investment Forum. While Richard Mattison, CEO of environmental data firm Trucost, says investors such as pension funds now see such investments as a “no brainer”. Is this sea-change having any effect on the issues that investors want to improve? Shareholders and the wider public have won many causes in recent years – reductions in unsustainable palm oil, reduced packaging, new coal plants ditched, high street shops such as Sports Direct embarrassed over treatment of workers. But some of the biggest winners on the stock markets last year were bêtes noires of ethical investors – tobacco, car makers and aerospace and defence companies. Energy stocks have risen by one third in the last two years. And in November 2017 scientists revealed global carbon dioxide emissions, which drive climate change, reached a record high. However, ever-rising demand to invest in companies pioneering and popularising technologies to create carbon-free energy, reduce waste landfill sites, reduce aircraft noise and other improvements to living standards, should make a considerable difference over time. At the same time, existing companies, across the spectrum, from manufacturers to media, are being forced – by regulators, investors and public opinion – to reconsider how they will do business in 10 or 20 years’ time, especially with regard to carbon emissions. “This is going to reverberate across every part of the economy,” says Andy Howard, Schroders’ head of sustainable research. “This is going to be painful for some [but] there are big opportunities for people who get it right.” In the meantime, says Hughes: “If I’m investing into a company that’s helping the environment, or helping women, I’m happy with that. That’s all you can ask of anyone.” This article is part of a series on possible solutions to some of the world’s most stubborn problems. What else should we cover? Email us at theupside@theguardian.com | ['world/series/the-upside', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/fossil-fuel-divestment', 'money/ethical-money', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/green-economy', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/juliettejowit', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-special-projects'] | environment/fossil-fuel-divestment | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2018-03-15T07:00:16Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
news/datablog/2021/mar/23/these-animated-graphs-show-how-extreme-nsw-record-breaking-flooding-floods-and-rainfall-is | These animated graphs show how extreme NSW's record-breaking flooding and rainfall is | Flooding in NSW has forced the evacuation of at least 18,000 people, with areas on the mid-north coast receiving as much as 890mm of rain in the past week. The flooding on the mid-north coast is the worst since 1929, according to the emergency services minister, David Elliott. Here, you can see the flooding and rainfall in context with historical data (or at least as much as is available), with some areas breaking longstanding records for river heights. This chart shows the maximum river height in metres for each day in 2021 overlaid on the daily river height for as many previous years as were available from WaterNSW’s water monitoring network. You can use the drop-down menu to switch locations. You can see, for example, how the Hastings River in Port Macquarie has peaked at 12.1m, higher than the February 2013 floods: This is a level not seen since 1888, according to the Port Macquarie News. Here’s the view of rainfall in the same format, which is good for showing days with extreme rainfall against historical extremes. You can hover or tap the lines after the animation is finished to see which year the data is from. However with flooding, the issue is not necessarily a single heavy day of rain, but sustained heavy rainfall over time. Here, you can see the cumulative daily rainfall for 2021 against the historical trend. This chart takes all the available rainfall data and plots the median rainfall for a given day of the year, and also lines for the 10th percentile (below this line would be the 10% of driest days for this location) and the 90th percentile (above this line would be the 10% of wettest days for this location). Where the 2021 line is above the median, that means it is wetter than normal for that day of the year. When the line is above the 90th percentile, that means it is much wetter than normal – it is wetter than 90% of all of the values for that day of the year in the historical dataset. This shows, for example, that Katoomba in the Blue Mountains was tending towards a relatively normal year until mid March, and that rainfall in Port Macquarie began to get unusually wet from late February onwards. Update 24 March I’ve added Penrith, Cessnock and Castle Hills to the rainfall charts. If you’d like to suggest a location for inclusion that has a good amount of data either in the BoM’s database here or WaterNSW’s database here you can email me at nick.evershed@theguardian.com. | ['news/series/the-crunch', 'news/datablog', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'type/article', 'tone/analysis', 'australia-news/australia-east-coast-floods-2021', 'profile/nick-evershed', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-data'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-03-23T01:08:27Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sport/2020/feb/21/australia-india-womens-twenty20-world-cup-match-report | Australia bamboozled by Yadav as India cause upset in T20 World Cup opener | The Women’s Twenty20 World Cup started off with a major upset as Indian leg-spinner Poonam Yadav derailed Australia in Sydney, with the hosts and reigning champions eventually bowled out 17 runs short with a ball to spare. Yadav was denied a World Cup hat-trick by a dropped catch, and another wicket when the ball bounced twice on its way to the stumps, but she still finished with four wickets for 19 across her four overs, having completely trashed Australia’s chase. Initially India’s total of 132 after being asked to bat looked well short, with a speedy outfield and lots of gaps making up for a pitch that was playing a little slow. That total looked even more comfortable just short of the halfway mark of the innings, when opener Alyssa Healy brought up her half-century from 35 balls, and Australia had 67 on the board for the loss of two. Healy had been struggling for runs in the recent tri-series with England and India, but her irrepressible character meant she was never likely to let that worry her. She started her innings with 15 of the first 16 runs, going inside-out over cover as she always does in her pomp, and even with Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning giving up catches cheaply, it didn’t seem of great concern with Healy having dominated the scoring and the strike. But Yadav’s introduction in the 10th over changed the game. Her fourth ball slipped from her hand to give Healy a comfortable full toss, with the Australian keeper cool enough to camp back and pull it over the midwicket rope. But the next ball dipped and landed perfectly, with Healy unable to handle the loop so that she chipped back a return catch. From there, Yadav was in her stride. She cuts a singular figure on the field: barely a metre and a half tall, seeming impossibly tiny from the grandstand, and evoking thoughts of a more amateur style when she loops up her slow, high leg-breaks. But she has been very much a fixture of India’s shift to a successful modern team, with her skill in variations, turn, and landing the ball making her a deceptively difficult prospect. In her second over Yadav unleashed a string of wrong’uns that ran through Australia. The delivery turned away from the left-handed Rachael Haynes, who was stranded trying to reach the pitch of the ball and was comfortably stumped by Taniya Bhatia. Ellyse Perry has the best defence in the world, but the right-hander also walked at Yadav and was bowled first ball as the googly turned back through the gate and took leg stump. Then came Jess Jonassen, another lefty, whose thick edge from a push went fractionally too high and wide for Bhatia to comfortably get the gloves to it. A hat-trick was deflected into the dirt. But the Australians were rattled, and both Yadav and Bhatia shook off the disappointment, teaming up again in Yadav’s third over to remove Jonassen via an edge from a sweep at another googly that turned across the batter. Yadav’s time in the air had everyone’s timing in a mess. Australia still had Ash Gardner and Annabel Sutherland, two of their sweetest strikers of the ball, with 51 runs needed from six overs. With Gardner hitting and clearing the boundary over the next couple of overs, a recovery still looked on. But Bhatia ended that with a brilliant stumping from seamer Shikha Pandey, collecting the ball out wide near the return crease and diving into the stumps. Yadav returned to bowl Gardner with a drag-down that kept very low, but replays showed it had bounced twice before reaching the crease. Under recent law changes that was now a no-ball. But Gardner couldn’t score from the free hit, and Yadav finished the over without the wicket, but having conceded only three singles and the extra. With 27 needed from two overs and three wickets in hand, frantic hitting and running saw Australia fall away. With the bat, India had Deepti Sharma to thank for what ended up being a defendable total, as she calmly assembled an unbeaten 49 after a fast start soon became 47 for 3. This Indian batting side looks most comfortable in the chase, with a set target ahead of them, but batting first can look lost for a plan. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana were going at 10 an over through the first four, but Mandhana aimed a huge sweep shot at Jonassen’s first ball of the day without even a look, and missed to be plumb leg before for 10. So often her captain Lanning’s go-to when situations are getting out of hand, Jonassen pulled the scoring back beautifully. Verma holed out against Perry after a fast 29 from 15 balls, then Jonassen had India’s key Harmanpreet Kaur stumped for two. With India’s batting frailties starting at number seven, Deepti and Jemimah Rodrigues (26 from 33) had to play a sensible accumulation game and hope that a modest total would be enough. As it turned out, thanks to first-night nerves and one brilliant bowling performance, it was. India take first points in Pool A, with Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka to come. | ['sport/womens-world-t20-2020', 'sport/womens-world-twenty20', 'sport/australia-women-s-cricket-team', 'sport/womenscricket', 'sport/cricket', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/matchreports', 'tone/news', 'profile/geoff-lemon', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-sport'] | sport/womens-world-t20-2020 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2020-02-21T11:25:35Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
australia-news/2015/jul/15/leaf-letters-fan-mail-melbourne-trees-pours-in-around-the-world | Leaf letters: fan email for Melbourne's trees pours in from around the world | Trees in Melbourne have been receiving fan mail from around the world since the city council’s project to assign an email address to each one received worldwide publicity. A recent article in the Atlantic Monthly is the latest to fuel the global response to the scheme, with some letter writers expressing their admiration, intense homesickness and making suggestions such as to “keep away from fire”. The 70,000 trees are mapped in a project called Urban Forest Visual, with each tree assigned an identification number. City of Melbourne councillor Arron Wood said their original intention was to help residents report tree vandalism or branches dropping – instead “people began sending emails professing their love for trees”. Since launching in May 2013, the website has received more than 3,000 emails to individual trees. The emails have come from as far afield as Russia, Germany, the US, Britain, Hungary, Moldova, Singapore, Brazil, Denmark and Hong Kong. Some of the trees’ fans have never set foot in the city: Brush Box (ID 1039919) 14 July 2015 Hello, dear Tree. I read about this wonderful project and suppose to write you from another side of Earth - Russia. I hope you have a good care and don’t sick. One day we will meet, may be. Other writers have attempted to make contact with compatriots: English Elm (ID 1032245) 14 July 2015 Are you and your fellow English Elms enjoying the Ashes series as much as we in England are, and are you giving the native Aussie trees some stick over their team’s performance? And some have provided sage advice for their tree: Chinese Elm (ID 1289990) 19 February 2015 Hi tree, My Name is Tina I’m from Germany. I like trees all over the world, you know. Let me tell you something about German trees. They live in huge woods and because it rains often in Germany they almost never suffer from draught. This might sound heavenly to you but believe me Germany is not heavenly in winter - it’s freezing cold and quite dark. I wish I could come and tell you more about them but Australia is damn far away from here. Keep away from fire! Sending you best wishes from Germany The most popular tree is a 13m-tall golden wych elm (ID 1028612) on Punt Road estimated to be about 70 years old. The tree has received seven emails to date, including this one on 30 January: Hi tree on the corner of Punt Road and Alexandra Avenue and that little street that goes up the side, How are you? How old are you? I’ve always wondered about you ever since my slightly strange driving instructor (who always smelled like cat food and peppermints) told me you were his favourite tree. I hope they don’t knock you down. The project is part of a wider push to revitalise Melbourne’s greenery, with aims to double canopy cover from 20 to 40% by 2040. Wood believes this will cool the city’s summertime temperatures by 4C. More than four in 10 of Melbourne’s trees will be lost over the next 20 years due to old age. Having planted 12,000 new trees in the past four years, the city is on track to replace those trees and increase canopy cover. Wood is pleased with the project’s success. “We know that Melburnians are passionate about their trees, parks and gardens. We were surprised and delighted to find that many people all over the world feel the same way.” | ['australia-news/melbourne', 'environment/forests', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/monica-tan'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2015-07-15T08:31:35Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2022/jul/25/fears-island-ireland-faces-new-carve-up-mining-companies | Fears island of Ireland faces ‘new carve-up’ by mining companies | Environmentalists on the island of Ireland say they fear a “new carve-up of the island” over coming decades, with mining concessions now covering more than a quarter of all land on both sides of the border. More than 25% of the total land area of Northern Ireland is covered by mining concessions, according to government statistics, while the figure for the Irish republic has in the past couple of years been even higher at 27%. The prospecting licences covering these areas grant mining companies permission to survey and assess sites, as well as carry out exploratory work that includes digging tunnels, pits, taking rock samples and carrying out chemical analyses. Those areas compare with an estimated 7.7% coverage of Scotland, 6.4% coverage of Wales and 0.2% of England – based on approximate calculations of data held by the Coal Authority and the crown estate. Figures released by the devolved Department for the Economy indicate more than a quarter of land in a number of Northern Ireland’s 11 local authority areas are covered by prospecting licences and that 69.1% of the local authority area for Derry and Strabane, by the land border with the Irish republic, is covered by such mining concessions. The same department has since 2016 awarded 13 prospecting licences to firms seeking to extract gold, silver and diamonds, among other precious metal and mineral deposits. A further four licence applications are under consideration, prompting Northern Ireland’s biggest party, Sinn Féin, to call for a moratorium on new licences. Campaigners fear contamination of waterways, “engineered” social division and the threats to “ancient and existing ways of life” posed by prospective mining schemes. “The extent of mining concessions coverage in Ireland represents a new carve-up of the island,” said James Orr, the director of Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland. Lynda Sullivan, a member of Communities Against the Injustice of Mining, an all-island network of groups resisting mining and other forms of industrialised extraction, said: “Extractivism is a form of neocolonialism – it works along the same dynamics as colonialism, targeting and exploiting the marginalised. “There is a whole array of impacts that come with mining … along with the environmental devastation, it’s also about the social breakdown that comes with mining: the ‘mining’ of the community that comes before the mining of the land. It’s about the destruction of livelihoods and of ancient and existing ways of life that comes with the industrialisation of rural areas.” Industry bodies such as the Institute of Geologists of Ireland (IGI), however, say Ireland has long been subject to significant mining exploration work and must ensure it remains open to this activity in order to help facilitate the transition to a “green economy”. “Much of the country has been subject to mineral exploration since the 1960s with thousands of prospecting licences having been issued across Ireland (north and south),” said Emer Blackwell, the chair of the IGI’s mineral information working group. “At one point Ireland was the leading producer of zinc in Europe and among the top 10 producers in the world.” Blackwell said the “output is essential to maintain our living standards and facilitate the move to the green economy,” adding that €550m of annual investment driving this work has supported a “thriving indigenous industry” in the Irish republic that extends to about 1,400 regional jobs. Much of the grassroots opposition to new mining ventures in Northern Ireland and the border area has centred on an application to mine gold and silver in the Sperrin Mountains, County Tyrone, brought by the Canadian company Dalradian Gold. Considered a test case for other prospective sites in the surrounding area, the firm has been carrying out exploratory work in the Sperrins since 2009. A public inquiry into the mining proposals has been announced. The role of the crown estate in facilitating this work in Northern Ireland has been the subject of some controversy over recent months, sparking demonstrations and requests to stop awarding further concessions. The estate, which also holds rights to gold and silver deposits in England, Scotland and Wales, grants options to take mining leases once planning conditions have been satisfied. The question of the gold and silver deposits’ ownership has been raised by Fermanagh and Omagh district council, which last year formally requested the estate consider divesting its present rights to gold and silver deposits in Northern Ireland. A spokesperson for the crown estate said: “We deliver 100% of our net profits to HM Treasury. The crown estate does not grant exploration rights for mining of gold or silver.” A spokesperson from the Department for the Economy said: “The department considers its current licensing regime is sufficiently effective. In over 50 years of operation there has been no evidence of environmental, economic or other issues that would deem a moratorium necessary while the review is ongoing. “The department is not therefore considering the suspension of licensing at this time, as there is no indication that it would benefit the review process and would most likely be subject to legal challenge. It is also important to note that suspension of mineral licences by the department would not impact gold or silver exploration or extraction, as these are licensed by the crown estate commissioners.” | ['environment/mining', 'world/ireland', 'uk/northernireland', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'uk/uk', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tommy-greene', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2022-07-25T11:47:01Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2020/nov/01/uk-will-not-import-chlorinated-chicken-from-us-ministers-brexit | UK will not import chlorinated chicken from US, ministers say | The government has finally vowed not to allow chlorinated chicken or hormone-fed beef on British supermarket shelves, defying demands from the US that animal welfare standards be lowered as part of a future trade deal. The international trade secretary, Liz Truss, and the environment minister, George Eustice, have also revealed the government will put the recently established trade and agriculture commission on a statutory footing with a new amendment to the agriculture bill. “We are announcing today that it will be made a statutory body which will give independent advice on trade deals as they go through parliament,” they said in an article in the Mail on Sunday. The move is a significant U-turn for the government, which had rejected Lord Curry’s amendment to the bill to strengthen the commission’s role and legally ban any food that does not meet British import standards post-Brexit. The commission, on which the National Farmers’ Union and the Food and Drink Federation sit, will now be asked to produce an independent report on the impact on animal welfare and agriculture of each free trade deal the government signs after Brexit. Their recommendations on whether to accept or reject the deal will then be laid in parliament at the start of the 21-day scrutiny period under the terms of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act process. Truss and Eustice also gave the clearest commitment yet to ban US meat from animals not raised to British standards. “Chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef are already banned in the UK, and we will not negotiate to remove that ban in a trade deal,” they said. Donald Trump’s ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, dismissed fears over chlorine washes earlier this year, saying they were the “most effective and economical way to fight food-borne illness”. He also said last year that the row was presenting the British public with “a false choice”, and that “inflammatory and misleading terms like ‘chlorinated chicken’ and ‘hormone beef’ are deployed to cast American farming in the worst possible light”. The National Farmers’ Union president, Minette Batters, declared the move to put food standards into primary legislation a “landmark moment for the people of the UK, for our countryside and the future of the food on our plates”. The U-turn over the agriculture bill comes days after Boris Johnson met Batters for a private meeting over food standards. She said the prime minister had responded to the NFU petition, which had been signed by more than a million people, and the campaign by animal welfare experts, environmental charities, politicians and celebrities including Jamie Oliver and Joe Wicks. “It was clear to me how much he personally cares about this issue. I am delighted that he has led the government to draw a line in the sand and commit to the 2019 Conservative manifesto commitment not to undermine our farmers in future trade deals,” she said. The consumer group Which? welcomed the move to make the trade and agriculture commission a statutory body, but said consumers should be directly represented. The government’s food tsar, Henry Dimbleby, has recently said the health sector should also be represented after there was evidence of an increase in consumption of sugary foods in Mexico after a trade deal with the US enabled an advertising blitz by the US confectionary industry. | ['politics/trade-policy', 'world/food-safety', 'environment/farming', 'politics/eu-referendum', 'world/animal-welfare', 'business/fooddrinks', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisaocarroll', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-11-01T17:50:53Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2016/nov/29/a-blow-to-state-schools-and-the-solar-industry | A blow to state schools and the solar industry | Letters | Many state schools struggling to help disadvantaged pupils (Report, 22 November) are facing a further demand on their shrinking budgets. Prudent schools that have invested in solar panels to reduce their electricity bills now face a retrospective six- to eight-fold hike in their tax rates, if the government gets its way. This would be socially divisive, as it will apply to state schools but not to the private schools that have charitable status. The higher rates will also apply to businesses and other organisations that use solar electricity internally. This is yet another blow to the solar industry, already reeling from four separate subsidy cuts since May 2015. UK solar had been expanding exponentially, creating many new jobs and reducing both the wholesale price of electricity and our carbon emissions. Emeritus Professor Keith Barnham London • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | ['environment/solarpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'education/schools', 'education/education', 'education/private-schools', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-11-29T19:47:55Z | true | ENERGY |
uk/2010/dec/07/mistletoe-vanish-20-years-national-trust | Mistletoe could vanish within 20 years, says National Trust | Conservationists warn today that mistletoe, favourite plant both of pagans and stealers of Christmas kisses, could vanish from the nation's halls and doorways within 20 years. The National Trust fears that the decline of traditional apple orchards, where mistletoe thrives, may lead to the parasitic plant disappearing – or becoming much harder to obtain. It is leading a campaign to prompt orchard owners and gardeners to think about nurturing the plant and wants householders to make sure they buy sustainably sourced mistletoe. The trust says that in the cider heartland – Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire – traditional orchards have declined dramatically in the past 60 years. Many that survive are not tended, hastening the death of the trees and then the plant. Jonathan Briggs, an environmental consultant and a leading mistletoe expert, said: "Mistletoe is doing well right now. Those older orchards are probably yielding more mistletoe than they used to because it's not being controlled. "But because the mistletoe is not being controlled, fast forward 10 or 20 years and the orchards won't be there. The mistletoe will accelerate the trees' deaths and it seems inevitable that we will have a shortage of mistletoe in 10 or 20 years." Briggs - who keeps mistletoe in his house in Gloucestershire all year to ward off evil spirits - said mistletoe would migrate to bigger, non-orchard trees and so become harder to reach. This could turn it into a much more expensive product or prompt people to rely on cheaper foreign imports. "A Christmas kiss could become more expensive," he said. Peter Brash, an ecologist at the National Trust, said it would be a "sad loss" if mistletoe declined or became harder to buy. "Mistletoe is part of our Christmas heritage and has a special place in a wonderful winter landscape," he said. Brash said people should check where their mistletoe came from. "Ensuring your mistletoe comes from a sustainably managed, British source is good news all round. You will be supporting a small, homegrown industry, while helping to ensure a future for mistletoe and the creatures that are dependent upon it." As well as brightening up the house at Christmas time, mistletoe provides winter food for birds such as the blackcap and mistle thrush. It also supports six insects, including the rare mistletoe marble moth, some sap-sucking bugs and the affectionately named "kiss-me-slow weevil" (Ixapion variegatum). | ['environment/endangeredspecies', 'uk/uk', 'environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/christmas', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/plants', 'science/science', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/endangered-habitats | BIODIVERSITY | 2010-12-07T06:00:06Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2023/may/04/cargill-faces-legal-challenge-us-over-brazilian-soya-supply-chain-deforestation | Grain trader Cargill faces legal challenge in US over Brazilian soya supply chain | The world’s largest grain trader, Cargill, is facing a first-ever legal challenge in the United States over its failure to remove deforestation and human rights abuses from its soya supply chain in Brazil. ClientEarth, an environmental law organisation, filed the formal complaint on Thursday, accusing Cargill of inadequate monitoring and a laggard response to the decline of the Amazon rainforest and other globally important biomes, such as the Cerrado savannah and the Atlantic Forest. The case, which was submitted under the guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, argues that Cargill’s “shoddy due diligence raises the risk that the meat sold in supermarkets across the world is raised on so-called ‘dirty’ soy”. ClientEarth says this breaches the international code on responsible business conduct. The lawyers behind the complaint have stressed the urgency of the issue because Amazon degradation is approaching a tipping point, after which scientists say the rainforest will turn into dry grassland, emitting vast amounts of carbon dioxide. The Amazon’s sister biome, the Cerrado, has already lost half of its tree cover. The lawyers say they hope the legal challenge will raise standards at Cargill – which is the biggest privately owned company in the US, with revenues last year of $165bn (£131bn) – and set an example across the industry. Laura Dowley, a lawyer at ClientEarth, said: “Cargill has vast resources at its disposal to implement due diligence. The technology is already there. We aren’t asking it to do anything it doesn’t have the resources to do. We hope it will show leadership.” Cargill has promised to be “deforestation-free” in the Amazon and Cerrado by 2025 and completely eradicate deforestation from all its supply chains by 2030. The company says it has put in place a sophisticated monitoring operation at ports, warehouses and other points in its supply chain. ClientEarth said it identified several shortcomings in this system, including a lack of environmental due diligence on: Soya beans bought from third-party traders, which make up 42% of all Brazilian soya Cargill purchases. Soya beans owned by other companies that passes through Cargill ports. Indirect land use change. Soya sourced from the Cerrado savannah. Soya sourced from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. ClientEarth also cites reports alleging Cargill suppliers have been involved in rights violations of Indigenous, Afro-Brazilian and other forest-dependent communities. Cargill told the Guardian it had not seen the full complaint but it had an “unwavering commitment” to eliminate deforestation and conversion in South America. In line with this, it added: “We do not source soy from farmers who clear land in protected areas and have controls in place to prevent non-compliant product from entering our supply chains. If we find any violations of our policies, we take immediate action in accordance with our grievance process.” The company’s website notes: “Cargill is committed to transforming our agricultural supply chains to be free of deforestation by 2030. Our policy on forests lays out our overarching approach to achieving this target globally across our priority supply chains. It is founded on our belief that farming and forests can and must coexist.” A spokesperson added that Cargill was also “strongly committed” to protecting human rights in its operations, supply chains and communities. However, journalists revealed last year that one of Cargill’s soya suppliers grows crops on land deforested and burned in the Brazilian biome. In 2020, the Guardian and partners uncovered evidence that Cargill supplied Tesco, Asda, McDonald’s, Nando’s and others with chicken fed on imported soya linked to thousands of forest fires and at least 300 sq miles (800 sq km) of tree clearance in the Cerrado savannah. Similar reports were broadcast this year by Sky News. | ['environment/deforestation', 'law/human-rights', 'world/brazil', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/farming', 'environment/forests', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/conservation', 'world/americas', 'environment/environment', 'law/law', 'world/world', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-05-04T04:01:39Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2010/mar/25/china-drought-emergency-food | China sends emergency food to drought-stricken provinces | China has sent 1.4m tonnes of emergency grain supplies to drought-stricken southern provinces that are struggling to cope with the worst drought in decades, the local media reported today. Authorities say well digging and other relief efforts may also need to be widened as the normally lush and humid region undergoes a dry spell that threatens wildlife, crop production and hydropower generation. The drought has left 18 million people and 11m livestock in Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Chongqing without adequate water, according to the ministry of civil affairs. As Yunnan is home to several of Asia's biggest rivers, including the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween, the downstream impact of a prolonged drought is of concern to almost a billion people. The economic damage is already estimated at 24bn yuan (about £2.4bn) and with more than 7m hectares of farmland affected, including China's biggest horticulture base, the amount could rapidly grow unless there is rain. Thousands of water trucks have been sent to the affected area, but in the Himalayan foothills, residents of at least one remote village are having to walk more than 20 kilometres each day to get water. The authorities have blamed changing weather patterns that have curtailed the rainy season. According to Chen Zhenlin, the spokesman for China's meteorological administration, the average daily temperature in Yunnan over the past six months has been two degrees higher than normal, while the province has had only half the rainfall of an ordinary year. Both are at levels not experienced since the 1950s. Environmental activists said the government had worsened the problem by encouraging the widespread clearing of forest for rubber and eucalyptus plantations, which are far less capable of conserving water than the original trees. "This has caused significant water and soil erosion and intensified the drought in these regions," said Yu Xiaogang, director of Green Watershed, a local NGO. "We need to review this issue and come up with solutions, otherwise we would face more serious drought problems in the future." Villagers in Nongtai, a remote corner of Guangxi region, are having to walk six hours a day through the mountains to fetch water for their families, according to the Global Times. Most of them are over 60 years old because all the young and middle-aged adults in the community have left to do migrant work in cities. With the drought spreading, the government has spent 2.6bn yuan on emergency measures. According to People's Daily, authorities have dispatched tens of thousands of water trucks and strengthened irrigation systems over an area of a million hectares. The Pearl river delta – the nation's industrial hub – is also being affected. The lake at the source of the Pearl is down to less than a quarter of its normal volume. Hydroelectric dams, which normally generate almost a third of the province's electricity, are underpowered because of low reservoir levels, trimming 10% from supply capacity. | ['environment/drought', 'environment/water', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/china', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'environment/summer', 'world/asia-pacific', 'type/article', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2010-03-25T15:47:27Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/oct/26/country-diary-royal-fern-is-monarch-of-its-own-boggy-kingdom | Country diary: royal fern is monarch of its own boggy kingdom | It’s no coincidence that the A64 to York runs along the top of a glacial moraine – once the only dry route across a vast fen. Askham Bog is a remnant of this saturated landscape, hemmed on three sides by the road, a golf course and a park-and-ride plaza. Some estimates put biodiversity here at 10% of all British species – extraordinary for a suburban reserve less than half a kilometre square. If developers have their way, though, the fourth side will become a housing estate likely to cause irredeemable damage to the hydrology of the site. Today, though, there’s plenty of standing water and a stubborn, urchin wildness. Not even trees are permitted to grow too big for their boots here: the saturated ground won’t support giants, so the woodland comprises multi-stemmed alder, birch, holly and modest oaks, several of which list unbecomingly at 45 degrees or more. The matrix is thick with mosses, lichens and fungi, and emphatically hostile to heavy bipedal movement. The monarch of this little kingdom is a royal fern, Osmunda regalis, with a base about 80cm across – far wider than any tree on the site. A sign suggests that Osmunda might refer to Osmundr, a sparsely documented Saxon deity homologous with Thor, or Osmund, a wary waterman who hid his children among the fronds to protect them from invading Danes. This individual is not so much royalty as timelord. The five centuries of growth implied in its girth make it arguably one of the oldest living things in York, yet you could easily miss it – the shock of deciduous fronds is taller than I am, but more shambolic than grandiose. Perhaps that’s why, when seized by an urge to offer a respectful greeting, I blurt an absurdity: “Gronda gronda, Rangdo” – the correct form of address for the cantankerous aspidistra-king of Arg in the 1980s TV gameshow The Adventure Game. Ducking beneath the fronds to examine the mossy base, I find a world where tiny lives are lived lightly: spiders on tiptoe, alder leaf beetles with gleaming midnight-blue wing-cases, a cluster of gnats that whirl up at the intrusion of my fingers, and a miniature fairy fungus with a cap no bigger than a baby’s fingernail. Osmund’s children, sheltering still. | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/plants', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'uk-news/yorkshire', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/amy-jane-beer', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-10-26T04:30:40Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/collaborating-competition-business-sense-sustainability | Why collaborating with the competition can make business sense | Businesses are engaging in varied models of collaboration to improve their own, and society's resilience. Businesses banding together to learn from each other is nothing new: think of medieval guilds or chambers of commerce. More recently, business-led corporate responsibility coalitions have galvanised action on economic regeneration, social inclusion and responsible business practices. Business in the Community, for example, has got member companies to act on issues such as employability, homelessness and mental health in the workplace. General corporate responsibility coalitions have been supplemented by coalitions focused on particular sectors, or on specific issues including water or human rights. Some of the leading international corporate responsibility coalitions such as Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), CSR Europe and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development are involved in specialist coalitions such as Better Coal (BSR), looking at CSR in the coal supply chain; European Automotive Working Group on Supply Chain Sustainability (CSR Europe); and The Tire Industry Project, which looks at the environmental impact of tyre making and use. Major companies are using technology to improve the profitability and sustainability of their extended supply chains. For example, 2degrees, an online community for sustainability professionals, provides knowledge-sharing platforms for companies such as Tesco and Asda Walmart. These have virtual meeting spaces, online match-making between people seeking solutions and solutions-providers, and virtual libraries of practical knowledge and contacts. They are backed up with sophisticated user-profiles of participating suppliers and individual employees. Companies from different sectors can find synergies: Barclays and GSK, for example, recently announced a partnership to provide financing for medicines in low-income African markets. In some cases, companies are collaborating with competitors as well as NGOs and public sector bodies, to address specific problems. Refrigerants Naturally, for example, brings together Coca-Cola, Pepsico as well as Red Bull and Unilever in an alliance with Greenpeace and Unep to develop more sustainable refrigeration technologies. Confronted with a plethora of corporate responsibility coalitions, multi-stakeholder initiatives and ad hoc co-operative ventures, businesses need to strategically prioritise engagement with collaborations where they can contribute and learn the most. A specialist NGO, The Partnering Initiative, suggests that there are four partnership skills: understanding other sectors, technical knowledge of partnering, people and relationship skills, and, underpinning it all, a mindset for partnering. Companies such as Microsoft, BG Group, Shell and Nestlé have integrated partnership training into their executive development programmes. Competition will stimulate innovation in sustainable products, services and business models. However, as Unilever's Paul Polman has observed: "In areas where big breakthroughs are needed, we must step up joint working with others." David Grayson is director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield University School of Management, and co-author with Jane Nelson of Corporate responsibility coalitions: The past, present and future of alliances for sustainable capitalism. The social impact hub is funded by Anglo American. 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/sustainable-business', 'sustainable-business/collaboration', 'tone/blog', 'business/business', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'sustainable-business/series/social-impact', 'type/article', 'profile/david-grayson'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-08-04T17:14:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
us-news/2019/sep/05/trump-hurricane-dorian-alabama-map-sharpiegate | 'Sharpiegate': Trump insists Dorian was forecast to 'hit or graze' Alabama | Unable to let a good fight with the media go to waste, Donald Trump insisted again on Thursday that his warning that Alabama could be hit by Hurricane Dorian was accurate. The National Weather Service (NWS) has said it was not. Dorian, meanwhile, moved back up to category 3 strength, threatening life-endangering storm surge and flooding in the Carolinas and prompting evacuations there and along the coast of Georgia. It had left at least 20 people dead after pounding the northern islands of the Bahamas. Among critics of Trump’s behaviour one leading enemy-cum-nemesis, fired FBI director James Comey, wrote: “Americans are in harm’s way and the president is laser-focused on … covering up a small mistake he made. Narcissism is not leadership. America deserves better.” Undeterred, the president tweeted his fury, a day after he displayed a National Hurricane Center (NHC) map in the Oval Office which appeared to have been altered with a Sharpie, or marker pen, to show the storm’s predicted path reaching into the Yellowhammer state. Trump insisted later on Wednesday that his original briefings on Dorian showed a “95% chance probability” that Alabama would be hit. Asked if the chart showing a government weather forecast had been altered – which would be a crime under US law – he said: “I don’t know, I don’t know.” The incident prompted scorn and hilarity online, with some christening the scandal “Sharpiegate”. On Wednesday night, Trump demanded apologies from the media. On Thursday morning, typically unabashed, he tweeted: “In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama [and] Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida [and] to the Gulf. “Instead it turned North and went up the coast, where it continues now. In the one model through Florida, the Great State of Alabama would have been hit or grazed. In the path it took, no. Read my FULL FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] statement. What I said was accurate! All Fake News in order to demean!” Later, he repeated his insistence that “Alabama was going to be hit or grazed” before the storm changed path, and claimed: “The Fake News knows this very well. That’s why they’re the Fake News!” Saying Alabama had been predicted to be “hit or grazed” was nonetheless a downgrade from Trump’s initial tweet about the state, which counted it among states likely to be “hit (much) harder than anticipated”. Trump also retweeted a map from last Wednesday which showed outer strands of the storm crossing the Georgia-Alabama line. The map was produced by the South Florida water management district and contained in its caption: “NHC Advisories and County Emergency Management Statements Supersede This Product. “This map should complement, not replace, NHC discussions. If anything on this graphic causes confusion, ignore the entire product.” The first warnings of Dorian’s potency began to spread across the media late last week. The NHC map showing the forecast path of the storm which Trump displayed in the Oval Office was published last Thursday. It can still be seen online. It does not show the hurricane reaching Alabama. Regardless, on Sunday, Trump tweeted: “In addition to Florida – South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!” Shortly after that, the National Weather Service tweeted: “Alabama will NOT see any impacts from Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east.” On Thursday morning, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg told CNN he felt “sorry for the president. And that is not the way we should feel about the most powerful figure in this country. “This is humiliating,” he said. “This is an embarrassing moment for our country.” | ['us-news/donaldtrump', 'world/hurricane-dorian', 'us-news/alabama', 'us-news/us-weather', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/martin-pengelly', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/hurricane-dorian | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-09-05T15:25:27Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2020/jan/21/easyjet-reports-strong-first-quarter-as-thomas-cook-collapse-attracts-passengers | EasyJet reports strong first quarter boosted by Thomas Cook collapse | EasyJet said it was on course for a strong winter, after reporting a leap in revenues for the last quarter of 2019, partly boosted by the demise of Thomas Cook. Passenger numbers grew by 2.8% year on year, despite widespread disruption from strikes in France during which 871 flights were cancelled between October and December. The airline said that robust demand and slow capacity growth, with only 1% more seats flown, contributed to an increase in revenue per seat of almost 8.8%. It ascribed about one-fifth of that growth to the collapse of rival Thomas Cook last September. While it traditionally struggles to make money through the winter months, easyJet said it was on target for losses “better than 2019” in the first half of the financial year, despite an increased fuel bill. Johan Lundgren, easyJet chief executive, said the airline had “made a strong start to the year with continued positive momentum”. EasyJet shares rose 4%, making it the top riser on the FTSE 100 on Tuesday. The results were met with relative approval by the company’s founder and main shareholder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, previously a thorn in the side of the airline’s management. In a letter to fellow shareholders, he said that as the slow growth in the number of seats flown had led to higher revenues, “I’m pleased to see in today’s Q1 results that my theory about airline economics remains true”. He said he was optimistic but believed dividends should have been significantly higher, and therefore would have cast a “token vote” against the re-election of the chairman, John Barton, as “constructive criticism” at the upcoming annual meeting. Meanwhile, Lundgren said the airline had benefitted from its decision to offset the carbon emissions from all flights since November. He said: “Nine million customers have flown net-zero carbon flights with us and our offsetting programme has been received very positively by customers, staff and other stakeholders.” Lundgren said that, according to easyJet’s internal research, those customers who were aware of its offsetting policy reported more overall satisfaction with their flight than those customers who did not know. He added: “We’re clear that it is an interim measure and we are looking for new technologies to reduce the emissions in the first place.” The airline has partnered with Airbus and Wright Electric in schemes to develop sustainable planes and inform how they would work commercially. He said Wright remained hopeful of developing a scaled-up electric passenger plane within a decade, a few years ahead of Airbus forecasts. Lundgren said: “The aim is for a 150-seater short-haul plane to be on the market by the end of the 2020s, based on the acceleration of battery technology … The exploration is fascinating and we are pleased and excited. We are working with Airbus to see how planes will work in the kind of fleet we have – with the infrastructure of the airport, can we achieve it with the turnaround times we have. There are a lot of issues, but there are very promising developments.” | ['business/easyjet', 'business/theairlineindustry', 'business/business', 'business/thomascookgroup', 'business/travelleisure', 'environment/carbon-offset-projects', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gwyntopham', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/carbon-offset-projects | EMISSIONS | 2020-01-21T14:56:34Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2010/jun/20/tony-hayward-bp-oil-spill | Tony Hayward's worst nightmare? Meet Wilma Subra, activist grandmother | The long table at the back of Wilma Subra's office in rural Louisiana is covered with stacks of paper, several of which look in danger of sliding into a heap on the floor. There are legal briefs, chemical lab reports and government memos. But if Subra had to sum up each stack in a single phrase, it might come down to this: public good versus toxic industry. The paperwork generated by the oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is beginning entirely to take over another whole room. Subra's phone began ringing the morning after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, with calls from friends and neighbours who had men on the rig. More calls came in when the southerly winds coming off the Gulf brought headaches, nausea and breathing difficulties to people on the coast. These days, the phone rings constantly. "I've gotten 300 to 400 complaints," she said, ticking off the names of Louisiana's coastal localities on her fingers. "Headaches, dizziness, stinging eyes, some chest pains … They come in at night very sick, but they need that job, so they go out again the next morning." Subra began making space for another towering stack of papers. Over the past 30 years, the chemist has used her expertise on dozens of occasions to defend local communities against Louisiana's powerful oil and gas industry. The potential danger to human health from the millions of barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf for the last two months is only just beginning to command public attention. Members of Congress pressed BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, last week on reports that hundreds of workers had fallen sick from oil fumes, and asked if the company was prepared to pay their long-term health costs. Hayward said it was up to the independent manager of the $20bn (£13.5bn) claims fund. Subra was already on the case. She and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network have been using the courts and political connections to compel BP to provide respirators and other protective gear to workers out on the boats fighting the spill, and to protect vulnerable populations on land. "I am not being impacted, but a lot of people are being impacted. They need help in understanding what is going on," she said. Subra has met regularly with Obama administration officials visiting the Gulf. Earlier this month, she testified before a committee of Congress investigating the spill and its after-effects. History has shown responders to oil spills often suffer headaches and other symptoms, and in the long term are at higher risk of central nervous system damage, kidney and liver damage, and cancer. Early reports from this spill are patchy but suggest a growing number of workers have suffered after laying booms or operating skimmers. In addition, US worker safety regulations do not apply more than three miles offshore, leaving workers based near the ruptured well exposed. A lesser woman might be discouraged. But such evasions are familiar to Subra after half a lifetime of doing battle with big industry. Her first big fight was in her local parish. In those days, there was so much gas leaking into aquifers that you could set tap water on fire. She has worked on natural gas drilling in Texas and Wyoming, has helped communities living near polluted shipyards in San Francisco, and covered the potential impacts of importing Italian nuclear waste through New Orleans. She has trained people in rural areas to monitor emissions from refineries and chemical plants, so they can sound the alarm if air quality deteriorates to dangerous levels. She encouraged them to keep logs of symptoms and report powerful odours. "The science background was critical. Looking at all the environmental issues, you had to understand what the impact meant, and put it in terms the government agencies could respond to." Her advocacy on environmental and health issues for local communities – fishermen, trappers, native American tribes – led CNN to call Subra another Erin Brockovich. The comparison to Brockovich, a beauty queen turned consumer advocate who seeks the spotlight, embarrasses Subra, a soft-spoken grandmother who attends mass and wears her hair in a bun. Brockovich spent three days in Louisiana earlier this month, looking for clients. "I was doing this long before she was around," said Subra. She blushes when asked if she sees herself as an activist. But she said she accepts that publicity and politics are crucial to a winning cause. She sees herself as a technocrat. "I am not the one screaming and beating my fists on the table," she said. "But I am sure a lot of the companies consider me an activist. They figure if Wilma wasn't there, the communities would not be able to represent the information." Others employed by industry may have come to a similar conclusions. Subra said she is used to the occasional snub at church social events. And four years ago, a gunman in a passing car fired a single shot at her office. Subra moved her desk away from the window. With this spill, she sees two clear areas of danger. On the frontline are workers out on the water, directly exposed to crude, to the toxic chemicals from the more than 1m gallons of dispersant, and to the fumes from the burning of oil carried out near the sunken rig. Then there is the general population, which is facing a lengthy exposure to tiny airborne particles of crude oil. "A lot of people are thinking that if the well stops flowing, these issues are going away, but they are not going to go away for a very long time," she said. And neither will the stack of papers in Subra's office. | ['environment/bp-oil-spill', 'environment/oil-spills', 'environment/oil', 'business/tony-hayward', 'business/bp', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/oil', 'us-news/louisiana', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2010-06-20T19:27:30Z | true | ENERGY |
business/2010/oct/25/bp-gulf-of-mexico-oil-field-sale | BP sells four Gulf of Mexico oil fields | BP has raised $650m (£413m) by selling four oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico, the latest in a series of asset sales following the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The oil giant announced this morning that Marubeni Oil and Gas, a Japanese company, has agreed to buy the four sites. The deal comes just seven months after BP acquired them as part of a wider $7bn deal with Devon Energy. The mature fields, called Magnolia, Merganser, Nansen and Zia, are currently producing a total of 15,000 barrels of oil a day for BP. The company explained that it is selling them because it is more interested in exploring for new prospects in the region. "When BP acquired Devon's Gulf of Mexico assets it was clear that these four fields did not fit well with the rest of our business in the region," said Andy Hopwood, BP executive vice-president for strategy and integration. "We therefore decided they would be of more value to another company than to BP." BP had not previously said how much it valued the fields, but a company spokesman said the agreement showed that the oil field sector was a "sellers' market". The proceeds of the sale will be put towards its target of raising between $25bn and $30bn to pay for the Deepwater oil spill. "This is another brick in the wall [towards that target]," the BP spokesman said. In recent months BP has also sold assets in Colombia, Venezuela and Vietnam, bringing in more than $11bn, and has signalled interest in selling assets in Alaska. Today's deal is expected to be finalised early next year. BP will remain the largest producer of oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico, where its current net production totals around 400,000 barrels of oil a day. BP's new chief executive, Robert Dudley, is expected to pledge to make BP the safest company in the oil industry when he speaks at the CBI's annual conference later today. Last week Dudley announced that staff bonuses will be linked to safety targets. • This article was amended on 26 October 2010. The original listed Alaska among areas where BP has recently sold some of its holdings. This has been corrected. | ['business/bp', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'business/business', 'environment/bp-oil-spill', 'environment/oil', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/graemewearden'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2010-10-25T09:26:46Z | true | ENERGY |
artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/jan/27/david-cameron-bonfire-of-building-regulations-future-homes | What Cameron's bonfire of the building regulations will do to our homes | David Cameron was at the centre of a political storm in November, when an unnamed source suggested that the PM regularly marches around Number 10 saying: “We have got to get rid of all this green crap” – a statement that Downing Street was quick to say it “did not recognise”. But it might recognise it today, after Cameron's speech to the Federation of Small Businesses, which could have had “getting rid of the green crap” as its tagline, followed by “what else can we throw on the red tape bonfire while we're at it?” Cameron boasted of presiding over the “first Government in modern history to leave office with fewer regulations than when it entered,” before revealing plans to tear out vast chunks of the rule book that govern the size and quality of our new homes. He plans to cut around 90% of thousands of pages of “over-zealous rules”, reducing over a hundred “overlapping and confusing standards” for new homes to less than 10. The detail of precisely which standards are facing the axe has yet to be announced, but reports suggest it will include regulations that specify the minimum size of windows, as well as demands for on-site renewable energy sources and some councils' minimum room sizes. The Code for Sustainable Homes, the environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes, is also likely to be in the firing line. These reforms, the government claims, will save around £500 for every new home built – equating to £60m extra profit per year for the house-builders. The rationalisation of multiple conflicting guidelines might be welcomed, but the unstoppable thirst for spatial deregulation represents a worrying direction in a country that already boasts the smallest new-build homes in Europe – and some of the meanest postage-stamp window sizes found anywhere in the world. The average British home has shrunk by 40% in the last 80 years to only 76 sq m – compared with 115 sq m in the Netherlands and 137 sq m in Denmark. Even famously compact Japanese homes average at 92 sq m. National minimum space standards, common elsewhere in Europe, are what is needed – not carte blanche for developers to make homes even smaller than a London Tube carriage. Cameron's logic goes that reducing regulations will somehow “free up” benevolent house-builders to bring forth the long-awaited bounty of new homes, the provision of which has fallen to the lowest level since the 1920s. But red tape is not what is holding them back. Research has shown that house-builders are sitting on hundreds of thousands of plots of land that already have planning permission, a game of “land banking” that forces values into the stratosphere. In turn, these artificially inflated land prices lead to more units built on each site, meaning smaller homes with non-existent gardens and squeezing out any hope of design quality. The news has been greeted with fury by the UK Green Building Council. “The Prime Minister’s boasts of ‘slashing 80,000 pages’ of environmental guidance is utterly reprehensible,” said UK-GBC chief executive Paul King. “It is the same poisonous political rhetoric from Number 10, devaluing environmental regulation in a slash-and-burn manner. These words are not only damaging and irresponsible, but misrepresent the wishes of so many modern businesses, both large and small.” The announcement is the latest product of Cameron's “Red Tape Challenge”, a bizarre crowd-sourced exercise in deciding which regulations should be kicked out, Big Brother-style, along with his introduction of scorecards to show quite how many rules his government has managed to banish. It will only be when sifting through the ashes of the great policy bonfire, having presided over an era of the shoddiest house construction the UK has ever seen, that he might realise how useful some of that “green crap” was. | ['artanddesign/architecture-design-blog', 'artanddesign/architecture', 'artanddesign/design', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'society/housing', 'society/society', 'politics/planning', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'environment/environment', 'environment/green-politics', 'uk/uk', 'cities/cities', 'type/article', 'tone/blog', 'profile/oliver-wainwright'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-01-27T14:12:23Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
uk/2011/jan/24/undercover-police-met-spy-unit | Undercover police officer warns against giving Met control of spy unit | The first undercover police officer to infiltrate the environmental movement has warned against allowing the Metropolitan police to take over the unit responsible for monitoring "domestic extremists". Peter Black, who was undercover for four years, said it would be a "terrific mistake" if Scotland Yard were given control of the secretive unit, which has been running spies in protest groups. He spoke out as the acting head of Scotland Yard was due tomorrow to be summoned to a parliamentary committee to apologise for misleading it over the presence of undercover police at the G20 protests. Tim Godwin, acting commissioner of the Met, will have to explain why Commander Bob Broadhurst, in charge of policing the G20 rally, erroneously told the home affairs select committee that no undercover police were at the 2009 protests. The Guardian revealed this month that, contrary to police assurances, PC Mark Kennedy, a Met officer who was undercover for seven years, was present at the London rally during which the newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson died. Black, a former Met officer, was initially deployed against environmental activists protesting against the M11 link road. His deployment lasted from 1993 to 1997. Undercover policing has been thrown into turmoil after revelations in the Guardian in the last two weeks, leading to three formal inquiries and admissions from police chiefs and ministers that something had gone "badly wrong". Concerns have focused on police spies being run by an Association of Chief Police Officers unit not accountable to the public. Control of this unit will now go to Scotland Yard, reportedly to its counter-terrorism command. Black, who is using the alias he adopted while undercover, said this plan "would be a terrible mistake". This unit started life under the Met and remained that way until 1999. Virtually all the complaints that are now emerging about the use of undercover officers to tackle domestic extremism concern the Met. Black said: "Past experience shows that the Met is simply not accountable enough to take control of this unit. There is a danger that the resource will not be properly managed and that the issues that are raising concerns will continue to do so." It was while the unit was under the control of the Met's special branch that concerns were raised about the psychological effect of such long-term deployments and whether enough was being done to secure the welfare of those in the field. Black took part in many demonstrations and was attacked by uniformed officers on numerous occasions. Five undercover police in the protest movement have been identified. Four are accused of having inappropriate sexual relations with activists they spied on, behaviour "never officially sanctioned". Black, who is the officer referred to as Officer A by the Observer, told the newspaper that undercover officers routinely used sex as a tactic, with the approval of commanders, to glean information. Meanwhile, protesters blockaded the main entrance to Scotland Yard in a demonstration against undercover police officers having sex with members of groups they had infiltrated. Anna Jones, one of the 35 protesters, said: "These women were not able to give informed sexual consent." | ['uk/police', 'uk/uk', 'environment/activism', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'uk/undercover-police-and-policing', 'type/article', 'profile/robevans', 'profile/tonythompson', 'profile/paullewis', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2011-01-24T20:03:11Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
sustainable-business/2016/oct/26/plastics-food-packaging-microplastics-waste-ocean-pollution-compost-snact-tipa-nestle-usda | Compostable and edible packaging: the companies waging war on plastic | Last year Ilana Taub’s startup prevented more than 50 tonnes of apples, bananas, blueberries and raspberries from going to landfill by creating snacks from surplus fruit. But, says the co-founder of Snact, they kept being asked the same question: “why were we selling it in plastic packs?” The London-based company now has a solution. In partnership with Israeli packaging company Tipa, Snact has launched packaging that takes six months to break down in garden compost. “We have found a way of being disposable without causing environmental damage,” says Taub. Each year at least 8m tonnes (pdf) of plastic end up in the ocean and it is predicted that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea. “It’s crazy, when you think how much plastic has invaded our lives,” says Taub. “It’s easy and [food] safe, but not feasible in the long run. We need to find alternatives.” However, more sustainable alternatives have proved controversial. Earlier this year the UN’s chief scientist, Jacqueline McGlade, described biodegradable plastics as “well-intentioned but wrong” since those that end up the oceans do not have the right conditions to break down. Other plastics, including so-called oxo-degradables (pdf), break down into microplastics, which are also thought to be highly damaging if they find their way into the ocean. Now a new generation of plastic makers is working to tackle the global plastic waste crisis head on by developing home-compostable plastics. As well as Snact wrappers, Tipa produces zip-up bags, sold in the US, which take as little as three months to fully break down, and packaging for everything from T-shirts to Dutch carrots. The company is currently undergoing trials with several UK manufacturers. A major obstacle to the uptake of home-compostable plastics, however, is cost. “It is more expensive than traditional plastic, so tends to be used where it fits into the ethos of the product – deluxe, green or organic,” says Andy Sweetman, marketing manager at Futamura UK, which produces home-compostable NatureFlex. There is also the issue of consumer understanding and uptake. Snact’s packaging leaves consumers in no doubt with its “this bag is compostable!” messaging, but not all companies make it clear. According to Sweetman, for example, who says Futamura has hundreds of companies using its home-compostable packaging including Nestlé UK for its Quality Street wrappers, not all its customers promote the environmental credentials of their packaging. Beyond plastics you can stick on your own compost heap (or in industrial composters), manufacturers and scientists are also exploring other alternatives. US Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers recently revealed a prototype edible plastic film made from the milk protein casein which guards food against oxygen. USDA research chemical engineer Laetitia Bonnaillie says the result, for which a patent is pending, could potentially contain flavours or micronutrients in the future. Since it was announced in August, three companies have contacted Bonnaillie seeking industry trials. “The companies want to move very fast, [...] although from our experience it usually takes longer,” she says. Ultimately, tackling packaging waste is about more than just new materials, argues Rob Opsomer, who leads the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s new plastics economy drive. “Shifting towards new materials that enable recycling or composting is one of several strategies to redesign packaging applications,” says Opsomer. Even if something is biodegradable, however, we don’t want to encourage littering or mismanagement, says Jenna Jambeck, associate professor of environmental engineering at the University of Georgia: “We want all our materials kept in a circular management system to recapture the valuable resources in them.” | ['sustainable-business/series/circular-economy', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/plastic-bags', 'business/small-business', 'environment/waste', 'lifeandstyle/compost', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'science/materials-science', 'science/science', 'food/food', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'profile/senay-boztas', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-10-26T10:50:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
world/2023/apr/12/only-2-of-new-zealands-large-lakes-are-in-good-health-bleak-report-finds | Only 2% of New Zealand’s large lakes are in good health, bleak report finds | In tourism adverts and on movie screens, Aotearoa has sold its pristine landscapes, churning alpine waterfalls and bright jade-braided rivers to the world, under the tagline “100% pure New Zealand”. A new report, however, reveals the dire state of many of the country’s fresh waterways: contaminated by thousands of sewage overflows, flooded with nutrient pollution, blooming with toxic algae, risking public health and rendered unswimmable to the communities that have lived by them for years. The ministry of environment report found just 2% of large lakes were in “good or very good” health. More than half – 55% – of the country’s total river length showed “moderate or severe impairment” from organic pollution or nutrient enrichment – typically caused by effluent and runoff from farming, and 45% of rivers were unswimmable, due to campylobacter infection risk. The report “unflinchingly identifies the appalling state of lowland freshwaters of Aotearoa,” Mike Joy, a senior freshwater and governance researcher at Victoria University of Wellington, said. Prof Jenny Webster-Brown, president of the Freshwater Sciences Society, called it “dismal”. The report “should be able to galvanise the stewards of our environment into action,” she said. “We know what needs to be done to reverse these trends.” Sewage overflows emptied into freshwater systems at a rate of more than 11 a day. Wastewater service providers reported more than 4,200 overflows due to wet weather events, or blockages and failures during dry weather between July 2020 and June 2021. “People’s health is put at risk by pollution from sources such as wastewater overflows and livestock runoff,” the report concluded. Dr Tim Chambers, a senior public health research fellow at the University of Otago, said the results were “sobering”. Behind many of the results lies New Zealand’s rapid intensification of dairy farming, to feed its export markets. The dairy industry now forms a significant chunk of New Zealand’s economy, accounting for about 3% of GDP and 20% of total exports in 2020 – around $17bn of export revenue each year. “Aotearoa has experienced one of the highest rates of agricultural land intensification over recent decades internationally,” Chambers said, with dairy cow numbers almost doubling nationally from 3.4m in 1990 to 6.3m in 2019 – with some South Island regions “seeing 10-fold and 16-fold increases during this same period”. The enormous expansion of dairying land has required extensive irrigation and fertiliser use, particularly in the dry, windy plains of the South Island. Over the same decade, irrigated land has doubled, with about 75% of this increase attributable to dairy intensification. That combination: irrigation pulled from the rivers and nitrogen or phosphate-based fertilisers washing back downstream has had a substantial impact on rivers, wetlands and lakes. While there have been significant efforts under way by farmers to reduce runoff, the overall growth of farms has been offsetting many of those gains. The report concluded that while efforts to “reduce fertiliser use and keep stock out of waterways helped to reduce the amount of phosphorus and sediment reaching our rivers … because the number of farms grew, it’s estimated the total amount of nitrogen reaching rivers increased.” New Zealand’s Labour government has made a number of commitments to return the country’s rivers to health since it was elected in 2017 – but those efforts appear to bearing limited fruit, with more waterways in decline than improving. Between 2001 and 2020, 56% of rivers were getting worse, and 25% were improving, the report found. For lakes, the report looked at the decade to 2020 - when 45% got worse and 36% improved. Most New Zealand communities are based around waterways, where they are a source of food, recreation and beauty – and their degradation is altering the way New Zealanders live, as bodies of water become poisoned and inaccessible. Those effects are particularly pronounced for Māori, who maintain intimate relationships to waterways, regarding them as ancestral connections. The degradation of waterways was also heavily affecting bird and fish populations that depend on freshwater for food and habitats. About two-thirds of freshwater native bird and fish species were either threatened with extinction or at risk of becoming threatened, the report found. Natasha Lewis, deputy secretary for joint evidence, data and insights at the ministry for the environment, which produced the report, said the impact of damage to waterways was already significant: “When they’re degraded, it affects ecosystems, communities, people’s lives, and things that are important to New Zealanders from all walks of life,” she said. | ['world/newzealand', 'environment/farming', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/tess-mcclure', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/new-zealand'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-04-11T23:17:56Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2023/sep/08/biggest-clean-energy-disaster-in-years-uk-auction-secures-no-offshore-windfarms | ‘Biggest clean energy disaster in years’: UK auction secures no offshore windfarms | No new offshore windfarms will go ahead in the UK after the latest government auction, in what critics have called the biggest clean energy policy failure in almost a decade. None of the companies hoping to build big offshore windfarms in UK waters took part in the government’s annual auction, which awards contracts to generate renewable electricity for 15 years at a set price. The companies had warned ministers repeatedly that the auction price was set too low for offshore windfarms to take part after costs in the sector soared by about 40% because of inflation across their supply chains. The government’s “energy security disaster” means the UK may miss out on billions in investment and may also push up bills for working households, the Labour party said. Up to 5 gigawatts of offshore wind was eligible to compete, which could have powered nearly 8m homes a year. That would have saved consumers £2bn a year compared with the cost of using electricity generated in a gas power plant, according to the industry group Renewable UK. The government confirmed on Friday that only 3.7GW of new clean energy projects secured a contract, in a significant blow to the UK’s clean energy targets. The winning projects include solar farms, onshore windfarms, the first geothermal schemes and a record number of tidal power. Nevertheless, the absence of giant new offshore windfarms will make the UK’s climate targets far more difficult to achieve. Industry insiders said the three offshore wind developers behind these plans – SSE, ScottishPower and the Swedish company Vattenfall – were forced to sit out the bidding after ministers refused to heed their warnings. The industry warnings intensified after Vattenfall said in July that it would cease working on the multibillion-pound Norfolk Boreas windfarm because rising costs meant it was no longer profitable. Keith Anderson, the chief executive of ScottishPower, said: “This is a multibillion-pound lost opportunity to deliver low-cost energy for consumers and a wake-up call for government. “We all want the same thing – to get more secure, low-cost green offshore wind built in our waters,” Anderson said. “But the economics simply did not stand up this time around.” Ed Miliband, the shadow energy security and net zero secretary, said: “The Conservatives have now trashed the industry that was meant to be the crown jewels of the British energy system – blocking the cheap, clean, homegrown power we need. “Ministers were warned time and again that this would happen but they did not listen. They simply don’t understand how to deliver the green sprint, and Rishi Sunak’s government is too weak and divided to deliver the clean power Britain needs.” Sam Richards, the founder and campaign director of Britain Remade, which campaigns for economic growth in Britain, said the “catastrophic outcome” of the auction was “the direct result of the government’s complacency and incompetence”. He said: “This will condemn consumers to higher bills than necessary and means Britain loses out on vital jobs and billions in investment.” Graham Stuart, the energy and climate change minister, said the government was delighted that the auction had secured “a record number of successful projects across solar, onshore wind, tidal power and, for the first time, geo-thermal”. Stuart said the government would work with the offshore wind industry to retain the sector’s global leadership. The government has been heavily criticised for its record on green energy policy, which has included blocks on onshore wind, the solar industry, and low levels of home insulation. Greenpeace described the outcome of the latest auction as “the biggest disaster for clean energy policy in the last eight years” because it risked jeopardising the UK’s plan to triple its offshore wind power capacity by 2030, and cast doubt on Britain’s climate targets. Richard Sandford, the co-chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council, said lessons must be learned so future auctions could bring forward new offshore windfarms. “It’s clear that this year’s auction represents a missed opportunity to strengthen Britain’s energy security and provide low-cost power for consumers,” he said. “Our plans to accelerate the growth of this innovative sector in the years ahead remain ambitious and undimmed. We will continue to work with ministers to build up a world-class domestic offshore wind supply chain around the UK, creating tens of thousands of jobs and attracting billions in private investment, as well as providing further opportunities to export our products and expertise globally.” Solar power made up half of the clean energy capacity to win at the auction. Almost 1.5GW of onshore wind capacity secured a contract in the auction, the tidal power sector secured a record capacity of more than 50MW. There were also three winning projects for geothermal power for the first time, totalling 12MW of capacity. | ['environment/windpower', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'business/scottish-power', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2023-09-08T15:20:47Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2018/aug/29/world-weatherwatch-hurricane-lane-brings-severe-flooding-to-hawaii | World weatherwatch: Hurricane Lane brings severe flooding to Hawaii | Hurricane Lane battered Hawaii during the latter part of last week, bringing severe flooding and strong winds to an island state typically protected from serious tropical storms by relatively low sea surface temperatures. However, in part due to a developing El Niño, warmer than normal waters in the equatorial central and eastern Pacific helped to support the development of Lane. After producing more than one metre (3ft) of rain in places, strengthening winds caused a disruption to the hurricane circulation, and Lane was downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday night. As communities continue the struggle to recover from devastating flooding in the coastal south-west of India, there are stark contrasts elsewhere, with a lack of monsoon rainfall bringing the threat of drought. While the flood-hit state of Kerala has a rainfall surplus of about 40%, parts of Tamil Nadu in the south-east of the country have deficits of 20% to 60%. Large areas of wildfires continue to ravage the Canadian province of British Columbia, despite some relieving rainfall over the weekend. The area of burned land this summer stands at about 809,000 hectares (2m acres), the third highest on record for a wildfire season. | ['world/hurricanes', 'us-news/hawaii', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/drought', 'world/wildfires', 'weather/canada', 'weather/index/asia', 'environment/environment', 'world/natural-disasters', 'weather/index/northandcentralamerica', 'world/world', 'science/meteorology', 'news/series/world-weatherwatch', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-08-29T20:30:37Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
commentisfree/2019/may/16/my-mum-zero-waste-icon-drink-squash-old-yoghurt-pots-adrian-chiles | My mum is a zero-waste icon – she made us drink squash from old yoghurt pots | Adrian Chiles | Some ideas are so obvious that it can only be their very obviousness that has stopped them being thought of before. A charity called Hubbub suggests that we take our own plastic containers along when we buy takeaway food. To incentivise us, we should get a discount on the food we buy. I agree with every aspect of this, other than that I personally wouldn’t want a discount. Because I would be only too happy to show off my absolutely world-class Tupperware collection on a daily basis. This is the moment I have been waiting for. I will be very pleased to pass on my discount to the customer behind me in the queue. They will want the money to buy themselves some better containers, for once they’ve seen mine, their whole bodies will throb with envy. I go back a long way with plastics. My mum is from Zagreb, born and raised in what was the Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, where plastic products were cherished. The notion of single-use plastic – single-use anything, for that matter – didn’t really exist. As the Croatian writer Slavenka Drakulić points out in her masterpiece, How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed, nobody had any choice but to be environmentally sound: everything had to be recycled or, more accurately, re-used. And my mum didn’t leave that habit at home when she came to Britain to meet my dad, have children and set up home in the West Midlands. I never recall drinking squash from anything other than old yoghurt pots as a kid. Why, they even had a little groove about a centimetre up from the bottom, a perfect guide to how much concentrate to put in there before adding water. To this day, my mum’s plastic pot collection is unrivalled. Week after week, the recycling collector man walks up her drive, peers into the bin, shakes his head and walks away sadly. Empty again. Inside, the kitchen shelves groan with pots and tubs, some years old. Only yesterday I covertly binned an ice-cream tub so old I could no longer read what flavour it once held. Her habits were passed down a generation to me. For years I tried to throw away little plastic pots but my hand shook as it hovered over the recycling bin. Disposal seemed disloyal to my mum, the planet and everything in between. Then, one day last year, rummaging through my own collection of the stuff, I dislodged a key piece in this game of plastic pot Jenga and the whole edifice came down, pots and tubs bouncing all over the kitchen floor. This had to stop. I filled two recycling bags. At 50 years of age, I felt as if I had reached adulthood. I have transferred all my love to Tupperware. I counted 24 empty examples in various sizes this morning, along with 24 matching lids. Furthermore, at each washing I remove the plastic seals from the lids and clean those separately. If, mysteriously and upsettingly, I can’t find a lid for a tub, or a tub for a lid, the offending piece is stored in my widows-and-orphans box. Sometimes a missing tub or lid turns up and there is an emotional reunion with no small ceremony. These things are important to me. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/plastic', 'tone/comment', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/adrian-chiles', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-05-16T06:00:35Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/may/02/weatherwatch-may-1935-saw-unusually-wintry-conditions | Weatherwatch: May 1935 saw unusually wintry conditions | It has not been a great spring – so far, at least – but temperatures have been more or less normal: unlike those of May 1935. The month in which King George V celebrated his silver jubilee started well, with fine, sunny weather, and highs of 23C. But in the middle of the month, the weather switched rapidly from spring-like to wintry conditions, with temperatures plummeting and widespread frost on the night of 16 May. This caused severe damage to fruit and vegetable crops, especially in the orchards of Kent. The next day, there were also unseasonal snowfalls, with up to 15cm (six inches) falling on the higher ground in Scotland and northern parts of England. This then accumulated in snowdrifts up to one metre high, blocking roads across much of Yorkshire, and causing disruption as far south as Devon and Cornwall – snow even reaching the normally very mild Isles of Scilly. Race meetings were cancelled, as was a golf tournament in Lancashire. The Times boldly declared that this was “A Return to Winter”, but fortunately the snow soon melted, to be replaced by the usual unsettled weather and showers. | ['environment/spring', 'environment/winter', 'science/meteorology', 'uk/weather', 'news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-05-02T20:30:21Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2018/may/01/melbournes-water-supply-at-risk-due-to-collapse-of-forests-caused-by-logging | Melbourne's water supply at risk due to 'collapse' of forests caused by logging | Melbourne’s water supply is at risk because decades of logging and forest loss from large bushfires has triggered the imminent collapse of the mountain ash forests in Victoria’s central highlands, ecologists have said. The Victorian government was warned of the likelihood of ecosystem collapse by Australian National University researches in 2015. New research led by Prof David Lindenmayer of ANU, published in PNAS journal on Tuesday, has found the ecosystem has already begun to undergo a “hidden collapse”. Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning A hidden collapse meant that while the ecosystem may appear superficially intact, the lag time in recovering old-growth mountain ash forests — the linchpin in preserving mountain ash ecosystems — “means that collapse is almost inevitable”. Even if there were no additional logging and no significant bushfires for the next 50 years, modelling by Lindenmayer and his co-author, Chloe Sato, showed the number of hollow-bearing trees in 2067 would be at best less than 10% than the number of hollow-bearing trees in 1997. The number of hollow-bearing trees had already more than halved since 1997, the modelling showed, while numbers of greater glider had declined 65% and numbers of critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum had halved. Guardian Australia revealed this month that the Victorian forest agency VicForests had begun logging Barjag Flat, a nationally significant hotspot for greater gliders. Lindenmayer said if drastic measures were not immediately taken to halt or greatly reduce native logging operations in mountain ash forests, the forest may not be able to recover from the level of projected collapse in 2067 and would instead be replaced by an open acacia woodland. Either option — a young and growing mountain ash forest or an acacia woodland — would be potentially disastrous for Melbourne’s water supply, he said. The majority of Melbourne’s water catchments are in mountain ash forests, which are either protected in national parks or in state forests where logging is either allowed or has previously occurred. If those forests have been damaged or are still growing, Lindenmayer said, they draw 12 megalitres more water per hectare per year than forests that are more than 100 years old. More than 98% of the mountain ash forest in Victoria is no more than 80 years old, and most of those in key catchment areas are less than 80. In the Upper Thomson catchment, which feeds Melbourne’s largest water supply dam, the Thomson reservoir, about 61% of the trees have been logged. “That’s a serious issue because two-thirds of all the rainfall in that catchment falls on one-third of the area and that’s the ash forest … that’s called an own goal,” Lindenmayer said. “The value of the water that flows into the water catchments is about 25.5 times higher than the value of the timber cut from those same catchments.” An economic analysis published by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub found that economic contribution of the water supply to the Victorian economy was $310m, compared with $12m from the native timber industry. “My hope is that at some stage people will wake up and say, ‘Oh my god, that’s the water supply for 4.5 million Melburnians,’” Lindenmayer said. “Is it appropriate to compromise the water supply of soon-to-be Australia’s largest city?” He said the situation would be worsened if the federal government introduced new Regional Forestry Agreements to replace the rolled-over short-term agreements, which are due to expire in March 2020. “The new RFAs are going to be even more disastrous because what they will do is lock in a guaranteed level of saw long supply … which isn’t really sustainable,” he said. “The RFAs don’t take into account other values like water or tourism ... it’s nonsensical. It doesn’t make any sense to me.” | ['environment/endangered-habitats', 'environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/melbourne', 'environment/water', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/wildlife', 'australia-news/bushfires', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/calla-wahlquist', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2018-04-30T19:00:20Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2019/sep/21/extinction-rebellion-protesters-in-dover-could-face-arrest | Extinction Rebellion: 10 arrested at Dover protest | Ten people have been arrested during an Extinction Rebellion climate change protest in Dover aimed at “blockading” the port. Activists were reported to have glued themselves to streets and were told they could face arrest if they left a designated area. A video shared on social media just before 11.30am showed a handful of protesters sitting and lying down in front of a long line of cars on a section of the A20, with reports that they had superglued themselves to the street. Protesters were told they risk arrest if they tried to block the eastbound lanes giving lorries access to the ferries. Emma Arnold, one of the protesters, claimed on Twitter that she had been told by police that she would face arrest if she left an area that had been cordoned off for the demonstrators. A spokesperson for Kent police said: “A designated section of Townwall Street was closed to traffic to allow people gathered to safely and peacefully protest between 11am and 3pm. The closure is expected to be lifted in the late afternoon. “Disruption has been kept to a minimum, with a large majority of attendees staying within the designated area. A brief closure was enforced on the A2 Jubilee Way shortly after 11am due to a small group of people obstructing the carriageway and they were safely removed within around 15 minutes. “Traffic moving in and out of Dover remained flowing throughout the day, with some levels of expected congestion. Ten people have been arrested on suspicion of public order offences and they remain in custody as enquiries continue. Ch Supt Andy Pritchard said: “Disruption from the protest has been kept to a minimum due to the work of our the officers and partners. The force is grateful to everyone who cooperated with efforts to ensure the rights of the protesters, and the wider public, were respected and it is pleasing we haven’t seen levels of disruption greater than what could be reasonably expected.” Two lanes at the busy Kent port were fenced off and taken over by the environmental activists amid a heavy police presence, according to the Press Association. Chris Atkins from Extinction Rebellion Dover urged the government to “tell the truth and act now”. Atkins said: “As climate change develops, millions of ordinary Britons will face the real and growing threat of food shortages, hunger and starvation. “Extreme storms and floods are already causing major crop failures across the world, with high temperatures also hitting livestock agriculture. This crisis may seem far away now but given the dependency of the UK on food imports we are extremely vulnerable.” An Extinction Rebellion spokesman said the group had assessed that the four-hour blockade from 11am would not cause any disruption to vital supplies such as medicine. He added: “Extinction Rebellion appreciates the blockade will directly affect ordinary people and businesses, but we feel the action is necessary in order to call the government to action.” | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/protest', 'uk/uk', 'world/road-transport', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jedidajah-otte', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-09-21T15:07:44Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2023/jan/05/population-growth-is-a-key-driver-of-climate-breakdown-and-biodiversity-loss | Population growth is a key driver of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss | Letter | Damian Carrington catalogues the environmental events of 2022 (Environmental review of 2022: another mile on the ‘highway to climate hell’, 30 December), which he sees as symbolising the “climate breakdown that humanity is careering towards”. He rightly notes that it’s not just our climate that’s breaking down catastrophically, but nature wholesale – with the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Living Planet report 2022 (it would be better titled the Dying Planet report) recording a 69% loss of all wildlife populations over the past half century. Over that same 50-year period, our human population has more than doubled – a key driver of both climate change and biodiversity loss conspicuously absent from the article. Not least the event of humanity topping 8 billion last year on 15 November. Carrington ends by noting the death of James Lovelock, the brilliant scientist behind the Gaia hypothesis and someone who did not shy away from highlighting inconvenient facts, who once said: “Those who fail to see that population growth and climate change are two sides of the same coin are either ignorant or hiding from the truth. These two huge environmental problems are inseparable and to discuss one while ignoring the other is irrational.” Robin Maynard Executive director, Population Matters | ['world/population', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-01-05T17:45:04Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/datablog/2013/mar/28/government-data-change-world | Can government data change the world? Join our debate to find out | We think data should be at the heart of policy - and we'd like you to help us debate the key issues. Google and The Guardian Datablog - in partnership with the Open Knowledge Foundation - are co-hosting a series of events around the big issues in data, transparency and policy. We want to get at the key datasets behind the stories, bringing them to life and drawing on the expertise of those who know the numbers inside out. And we're running a competition too to visualise the best. Our panel includes: • Nick Hurd, Cabinet Office Minister • Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Southampton, the co-founder and Chairman of the Open Data Institute. • Paul Maltby, Cabinet Office Director for Transparency and Open Data • Stephan Shakespeare, CEO, YouGov • Rufus Pollock, Co-founder, Open Knowledge Foundation • Simon Rogers, editor of the Guardian Datastore and Datablog will chair the debate This rather awesome panel will answer questions including: • How genuine are government drives for transparency and open data? • What more should governments be doing to become genuinely transparent? • Can open data change the world? • How can the media help transform the debate? • Can open data help transform government too? This is a unique opportunity to leverage the power of the open Web to encourage more developments in open data, data-driven policymaking and active civic engagement. Will you be part of it? We're hosting the event at the Guardian offices at Kings Place in London on April 25 16 at 6:30pm BST and would love you to join us. • You will be able to view the live stream of the debate HERE NEW! Buy our book • Facts are Sacred: the power of data 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@theguardian.com • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook | ['data/series/google-data-visualisation-competition', 'news/datablog', 'media/data-journalism', 'technology/data-visualisation', 'technology/technology', 'politics/government-data', 'media/media', 'media-network/media-network', 'working-in-development/working-in-development', 'global-development-professionals-network/technology', 'global-development-professionals-network/data', 'type/article', 'profile/simonrogers'] | technology/data-visualisation | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2013-03-28T16:30:00Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
uk-news/2016/sep/12/worlds-first-large-scale-tidal-energy-farm-launches-scotland | World's first large-scale tidal energy farm launches in Scotland | The launch of the world’s first large-scale tidal energy farm in Scotland has been hailed as a significant moment for the renewable energy sector. A turbine for the MeyGen tidal stream project in the Pentland Firth was unveiled outside Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. After the ceremony, attended by Nicola Sturgeon, the turbine, measuring about 15 metres tall (49ft), with blades 16 metres in diameter, and weighing in at almost 200 tonnes, will begin its journey to the project’s site in the waters off the north coast of Scotland between Caithness and Orkney. The turbine will be the first of four to be installed underwater, each with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts (MW), in the initial phase of the project. But the Edinburgh-based developer Atlantis Resources hopes the project which has received £23m in Scottish government funding will eventually have 269 turbines, bringing its capacity to 398MW, which is enough electricity to power 175,000 homes. Maf Smith, the deputy chief executive of the lobby group RenewableUK, said: “New technology like this will be powering our nation for decades to come.” The first minister called on the UK government to end the uncertainty around subsidies for similar schemes, warning that a failure to do so risks causing irreparable damage to the marine power industry. Sturgeon said: “I am incredibly proud of Scotland’s role in leading the way in tackling climate change and investment in marine renewables is a hugely important part of this. “MeyGen is set to invigorate the marine renewables industry in Scotland and provide vital jobs for a skilled workforce, retaining valuable offshore expertise here in Scotland that would otherwise be lost overseas.” Tim Cornelius, the chief executive of Atlantis Resources, said: “Today marks a historic milestone not just for Atlantis and our project partners, but for the entire global tidal power industry. “It gives me enormous pride to have reached this juncture after 10 years of tireless work, preparation and planning by everyone associated with this project. This is the day the tidal power industry announced itself as the most exciting new asset class of renewable, sustainable generation in the UK’s future energy mix. “This is an industry that is creating jobs and Scotland is the undisputed world leader of this high growth sector.” Smith said the MeyGen project is a “major step forward in terms of scale” and provides “a great boost in maintaining Britain’s pole position” in the renewables sector. “The fact that the first turbine was assembled at what was an oil and gas fabrication yard illustrates the opportunities offered by renewables,” he said. “The official launch of the largest tidal stream energy project in the world marks a significant moment in the commercial development of marine power.” Jenny Hogan, the policy director for the trade body Scottish Renewables, also highlighted the “potential of tidal generation to make a significant contribution to the UK’s growing need for clean electricity, and to deliver further investment and jobs to the UK”. She added: “However, this is still an incredibly young technology, and future development is absolutely dependent on continued support from Holyrood, Westminster and Brussels, who have all played a vitally important part in the growth of the sector to date.” Meanwhile Fabrice Leveque, the climate and energy policy officer at the environmental body WWF Scotland, said: “It’s great that Scotland is now home to the world’s first large-scale tidal stream farm. It comes hot on the heels of Shetland tidal devices exporting power to the National Grid for the first time and the testing of the world’s most powerful tidal turbine off Orkney. “This underlines what we already know, that Scotland has 25% of the EU’s offshore wind and tidal power potential.” | ['uk/scotland', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'politics/nicola-sturgeon', 'politics/politics', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2016-09-12T19:24:51Z | true | ENERGY |
lifeandstyle/2017/nov/15/donut-mug-review-kitchen-gadgets-rhik-samadder | Kitchen gadgets review: the Donut Mug – an unsettling setting for a brew | What? The Donut Mug (£16.99, Firebox.com). Clay-fired vessel, shaped as punctured ring torus and decoratively glazed, with handle. Imitates doughnut. Why? Someone finally pitched Cruller Intentions, starring Reese, with a spoon. Well? I never met a doughnut I didn’t like. Ring or filled, posh or high street, they speak to me. A Krispy Kreme with a peanut butter centre is basically my religion. So, I’m drawn to this strange mug. The idea of stirring a brew, dreaming of doughnuts, isn’t horrible. And it’s arguably clever: think about the visual pun of the glaze, crucial to both pottery and doughnuts. The porcelain paint here is applied in the happy slapdash of fauvism, woozy pink icing and Technicolor sprinkles capturing the narcotic quality of childhood memory. I pour in hot water, add teabag and observe. Uh-oh – problems. To create the striking hole that runs through it, the mug houses the absence’s counter-form: a diabolo-shaped, Anish Kapoor-like ceramic structure, occupying most of the space inside. The teabag has to slide round one side of this, glowering in the corner. Also, the mug’s front lip (which arrives chipped) is styled as though “a bite’s been taken out of it”. In practice, this means an uneven surface, hard to drink from. An alternative take on the mug suddenly suggests itself: is it just crap? I resort to holding the handle directly in front of me, and tipping up the cup by its shortest edge, the behaviour of a madman. Why not drink from the backside, you ask? First, I like holding mugs in my left hand, freeing my right to do what it does best (typing veiled complaints to colleagues over email). Second, there’s something about the back of this particular mug I don’t like drinking from. Hard to put my finger on. I can put my finger in it, though; the ring hole, with sloping walls, is also present on the flesh-coloured rear. A leaky trail of pink paint has dribbled through from the front, giving the unfortunate impression of … well, it’s an unfortunate impression. Hmm. The website calls this key feature “a curiously enticing hole”. It is a hole, and it is curious; enticing is a bit of a reach. Sucrose, yet so far, this unsettling doughnut ultimately disappoints. Sad! Any downside? While not hundreds and thousands, £16.99 is a lot of dough. Counter, drawer, back of the cupboard? There’s no sugar-coating it. 1/5 This article contains affiliate links to products. Our journalism is independent and is never written to promote these products although we may earn a small commission if a reader makes a purchase. | ['lifeandstyle/series/inspect-a-gadget', 'food/tea', 'food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'lifeandstyle/homes', 'technology/gadgets', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/rhik-samadder', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/g2', 'theguardian/g2/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-g2-features'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-11-15T12:11:19Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/article/2024/jul/17/country-diary-feeding-time-for-the-swallows-and-martins | Country diary: Feeding time for the swallows and martins | Derek Niemann | Summer westerlies blow across the open fields, and swallows and martins know where to go. Though they are genetically close cousins, tripping off the tongue as a matched pair, such tricky conditions see these birds feed in quite different ways. House martins play the role of day-flying bats, but without the onboard hi-tech of echolocation. They flock where insects swarm and see what is invisible to us. A dozen or more are carving the air behind a long, bushy shelterbelt, in the lee of the wind, plaiting each other with flight paths that keep them bound together and apart. Here there may be midge leks or an emergence of flies from the trees and bushes, the insects shielded from turbulence. Either way, the martins are seizing their moving opportunities with open beaks. I stand before the trees and the martins cut in front and behind me, pure white rumps blazing as bum beacons. Their flight is all effort and rest, a frenetic beating of wings to rise, then a descending swoop. A diligent scientist once recorded 49.9% of house martin flight as flapping time and, apparently, food is usually taken on the up. Up and down they go until eventually they melt away from the far end of the belt. Further down the path is a flower-filled fallow field where a thousand cowslips bloomed in the spring. The ground must right now be releasing a flush of insects, for a flock of swallows flies to and fro, skimming the tops. They chase with steady, shallow beats, the merest flicks that propel them at speed. Last week I saw one over a close-mown stately home lawn, its wingtips dipping no more than a few centimetres above the ground. Thirty times a minute it risked a strike, a fall, a broken wing, certain death, yet still it stayed low. At last, these swallows, like the martins before them, are sated, and depart, presumably to their nests. Throat pouches must be full with balls of insects mixed with saliva. Will their 10-minute foraging trips be enough to fill four or five hungry little mouths? • Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary • Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024 (Guardian Faber) is published on 26 September; pre-order now at the guardianbookshop.com and get a 20% discount | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/birds', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/derek-niemann', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/wildlife | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-07-17T04:30:12Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2021/dec/01/drax-is-expected-to-profit-from-uk-energy-crisis-until-2023-biomass | Drax is expected to profit from UK energy crisis until 2023 | The owner of the Drax power station is expected to profit from Britain’s energy crisis until 2023 and will plough billions into doubling its production of wood pellets for burning by 2030 despite mounting opposition from environmentalists. The FTSE 250 energy company’s shares hit seven-year highs on Wednesday after it told investors it aimed to invest £3bn by 2030. Part of that investment would be directed towards doubling production and sales of biomass pellets, which Drax uses at its North Yorkshire power plant as an alternative to burning coal. Its claims that electricity produced in this way is “carbon neutral” is disputed, with green groups saying burning biomass produces emissions that contribute to the climate crisis. Drax will fund the expansion plans using its own cash as it prepares to profit from record high energy market prices in its long-term contracts over the next two years. The company’s is valued at £2.43bn after its share price rose on Wednesday morning from 564p to more than 606p, its highest since October 2014. Drax told investors its profits for the current financial year were likely to be at the upper end of market expectations. It said this was despite the company not being “a significant beneficiary” of the record gas and electricity prices that have forced factories to close and energy suppliers to almost 4m UK households to go bust. Most of Drax’s electricity generation is sold via long-term contracts, meaning its earnings this year will rely more heavily on market prices a year or two ago than recent historic highs. However, the company has managed to increase its earnings for this year by selling some electricity on a short-term basis and agreeing to fire up its last coal-burning units to help keep the lights on in September and again in November. It is expected to close both coal units by next September. Drax will also be able to hike up the price of the electricity it generates for long-term contracts for 2022 and 2023. In addition, the company will continue to benefit from subsidies worth hundreds of millions of pounds to generate biomass electricity through the government’s renewable energy scheme. The company has already received billions through the scheme, including £800m last year. This is despite growing environmental concerns over biomass electricity. Questions about the method have also been raised within financial circles. The financial services firm Jefferies told its clients in October that bioenergy was “unlikely to make a positive contribution” towards tackling the climate crisis and was “not carbon neutral, in almost all instances”. Will Gardiner, Drax’s chief executive, said criticisms of the company’s claim that it was on track to becoming “carbon neutral” were a “mischaracterisation of reality”. He added that Drax’s long-term strategy – which involves fitting its biomass burners with carbon capture technology to generate “carbon negative” electricity – was backed by the UK government, and would play “a unique piece” in energy transition efforts globally. “We’re excited about the opportunities ahead, and we have a lot of work to do,” he said. | ['business/draxgroup', 'environment/biomass-and-bioenergy', 'business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2021-12-01T15:28:37Z | true | ENERGY |
voluntary-sector-network/2016/jan/11/floods-hebden-bridge-yorkshire-volunteers | How Hebden Bridge flood volunteers 'became an anchor' for victims | “It was like a disaster movie,” says Sian Rogers, describing the floods which struck her home town on Boxing Day. “I was at home watching it all happen; water streaming past and a rescue helicopter flying overhead. It was unbelievable.” Hebden Bridge, along with other small towns along West Yorkshire’s Calder Valley, was deluged when the River Calder burst its banks after a night of heavy rain, leaving homes, businesses and schools standing in up to 6ft of water. “There were a lot of phone calls back and forth about what to do,” says Rogers, a Calderdale council manager who works closely with the Hebden Bridge Community Association, a charitable organisation that runs the town hall. “In the end we decided to open [the hall] in case anyone needed help.” Nobody imagined just how much help was going to be needed, or offered, in the days to come. The town hall soon became a volunteering centre for those wanting to assist victims of the flooding. “When we opened the doors on the 27th we just weren’t expecting the sheer volume of people wanting to volunteer,” says Rachel Rickards, chair of the community association. “We thought maybe we’d be able to provide hot drinks and somewhere for people to charge their phones, that sort of thing, but it soon became apparent that it was going to be much, much bigger than that. It has been very humbling.” Since the day after Boxing Day, the hub has co-ordinated hundreds of volunteers, with queues forming outside the building early each morning. Many were locals but help came from all parts of the UK and from charities such as Khalsa Aid, the Red Cross and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association. Before long, volunteers were running a food bank, dishing out hot meals and cups of tea, helping with grant forms, providing legal advice, counselling, and other therapies. Throughout the floods, the hall has provided a safe place for flood victims to come and simply be. One volunteer’s IT expertise proved crucial. They created an online database to match people in need of support with those willing to give up their time to aid the town’s recovery. The system successfully matched hundreds of distressed home and business owners with skilled people willing to give up their Christmas holidays. At one point, there were six structural engineers working for free, along with electricians, plumbers, builders, van drivers and other tradespeople. Those coordinating the volunteer effort also sent out hundreds of members of the public to clean up the filth left when the waters receded. “At first it was simply about identifying immediate needs and deploying people as quickly as possible,” says Rogers. “But after the initial emergency it became about working together in a coordinated way to make sure everything got done and nobody was allowed to fall through the cracks.” The organisers agree that this worked remarkably well thanks to daily briefing sessions and avoiding having any one particularly dominant voice. As volunteer Jason Elliott puts it: “Nobody was in charge, we just all realised the gravity of the situation and played to our strengths. It has worked so well because we all left our egos at the door and got on with it.” Volunteers made sure that information about the rapidly-altering situation was kept up-to-date. Posts as simple as “no more baked beans thanks” or “desperately need more face masks and rubble sacks” helped make sure the right aid arrived. But they didn’t fall into the common trap of assuming everyone affected would have access to social media so going door-to-door to check on vulnerable people proved crucial. Although still busy with the flood clean-up, those organising the volunteer effort are looking to the future, talking about how to keep the energy and momentum going in the months to come – with plans for several community events underway. They are also putting together a flood response kit – a box of information to be used in the event of another similar crisis. Imogen Money, whose house was badly flooded, sums up what the hub meant to her. “It became an anchor,” she says. “It was wonderful to turn up and see so many faces from the years being so supportive. But it was also overwhelming; just so many people and so much help.” For more news, opinions and ideas about the voluntary sector, join our community. | ['voluntary-sector-network/volunteering', 'voluntary-sector-network/voluntary-sector-network', 'voluntary-sector-network/voluntary-sector-network-blog', 'society/voluntarysector', 'society/society', 'society/charities', 'society/volunteering', 'society/communities', 'voluntary-sector-network/community-action', 'environment/flooding', 'uk-news/yorkshire', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/features'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-01-11T07:15:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2020/jun/29/us-joins-summit-on-global-green-recovery-from-covid-19-crisis | US to join summit on global green recovery from Covid-19 crisis | The US is to join with other major powers including China, India and the EU in formulating plans for a global green recovery from the coronavirus crisis, in the only major international summit on the climate emergency this year. The idea of a green recovery to prevent a dangerous rebound in greenhouse gas emissions to above pre-Covid-19 levels has been gathering steam, but few governments have yet committed to plans. If they fail to do so in the next few months, the economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis risks locking in high carbon emissions that would lead to climate catastrophe. Next week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) will host an online summit for the world’s biggest economies as well as developing countries, covering 80% of global emissions. It aims to set out plans for boosting renewable energy, energy efficiency and other emissions-cutting projects that would generate tens of millions of “shovel-ready” green jobs around the world to replace those lost in the pandemic. Dan Brouillette, the US secretary of state for energy, will attend, along with China’s energy minister, Zhang Jianhua, the EU commission’s vice-president, Frans Timmermans, and the UK’s business secretary, Alok Sharma, who is president of the UN Cop26 climate talks, now postponed to next year. Key to success will be that governments can sign up to green recovery plans even if – like the US - they are sceptical on the climate crisis. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA, said: “Even if governments do not take climate change as a key priority, they should still implement our sustainable recovery plan just to create jobs and to give economic growth. Renovating buildings, for instance, is a job machine.” Birol fears a rerun of the recovery after the financial crisis of 2008, when emissions declined sharply in the recession but quickly returned to levels much higher than before, as governments invested in coal-fired power plants, constructed inefficient buildings, and rolled out road-building schemes. “To halt the rebound, we need to put emissions into structural decline,” he said. That can be done by renovating buildings to use less energy, constructing wind farms and solar plants – which now produce power at a lower cost than fossil fuels – as well as building out broadband and other telecoms networks, and the infrastructure for electric vehicles, which cut down on air pollution as well as carbon dioxide. Research has already found that pursuing a green recovery would create more jobs and a greater return on investment in both the short and the long term than a return to business as usual. The IEA summit on 9 July will be the only major meeting of governments to discuss the climate crisis this year, because the UN Cop26 summit has been postponed to next year due to the pandemic. US participation is crucial, because the White House is pulling out of the Paris agreement, with effect from 4 November, the day after the presidential election. Birol warned that unless governments put in motion plans for a green recovery within the next few months, the opportunity created by the lockdowns – which resulted in a 17% plunge in emissions in April – will be lost. Emissions are already rebounding faster than experts expected. If governments invest in high-carbon infrastructure to restart their economies, as many are already doing, the world will be on track for more than 3C of global heating, which would be catastrophic. “What kind of energy choices we make now will determine the decades to come,” Birol told the Guardian in an interview. “This will be critical for energy and climate change. If we see a rebound like 2008, the chances of reaching our climate goals will be much slimmer, if they exist at all.” The IEA plans to invite civil society groups from around the world to the July summit, as well as the chief executives of more than 70 global energy businesses, to gain broad backing for a green recovery. Birol said the IEA meeting would provide a vital “bridge” between the Covid-19 shock and next year’s UN climate talks. Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia and other major emitters will also attend. There was no time to be lost, he said, as those with vested interests against a green recovery were already working behind the scenes. “I am sure there are people who would not want to see this [green recovery], who want to see an unsustainable recovery plan.” | ['environment/green-economy', 'world/coronavirus-outbreak', 'environment/environment', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/carbon-emissions | EMISSIONS | 2020-06-29T10:41:27Z | true | EMISSIONS |
environment/2009/sep/14/edf-john-hutton-nuclear | Nuclear advocate John Hutton in talks to take EDF job | The former business secretary John Hutton, who championed the government's push towards a new generation of nuclear power stations, is in talks with French-owned nuclear energy company EDF about joining their group as an adviser. Hutton, who is to leave parliament at the next election, served as business secretary from 2007-08 and announced the government's decision to build new nuclear reactors. As business secretary in September 2008, he also oversaw the £12.5bn sale of British Energy, the nuclear generator, to EDF, which is 83%-owned by the French state. | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/environment', 'politics/politics', 'business/edf', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'profile/allegrastratton', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2009-09-13T23:44:37Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2020/mar/21/rare-andean-bears-flock-to-cloud-forest-to-feast-on-wild-avocados-aoe | Rare Andean bears flock to cloud forest to feast on wild avocados | Deep in the Maquipucuna cloud forest, two hours drive from Ecuador’s capital, Quito, rare Andean bears come together for a few weeks each year to feast on the wild avocados ripening atop mist-shrouded trees. According to ecologists, this small community is growing, bucking the trend of a vulnerable species in decline across South America. The gathering, similar to those of grizzly bears at salmon rivers in Alaska and Canada, is turning what experts know about this normally reclusive, solitary creature on its head. “Throughout the Andes, because of habitat loss, we would expect to see a population in decline,” said Rebeca Justicia, a conservationist and co-founder of the Maquipucuna Foundation and reserve. “But locally we have seen a spike in the population. We are even seeing mothers with cubs, which is very unusual.” There are believed to be fewer than 10,000 of these bears left across the northern Andes. Listed as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature red list, they face an increasingly uncertain future due to habitat destruction and hunting. Justicia set up the Maquipucuna Foundation with her husband, Rodrigo Ontaneda, 30 years ago. They were instrumental in persuading many local communities to stop ranching and timber farming and lobbied for protection of the wider Chocó-Andino Pichincha region, which was finally declared a Unesco biosphere reserve in 2018. “When we started our project, it was very hard to see a bear,” said Justicia. “We heard, anecdotally, there were bears here and that people hunted them.” Andean or spectacled bears, which have earned global attention thanks to the fictional Paddington Bear, are hunted for parts used in the international wildlife trade – gall bladders, used in oriental medicine, can fetch as much as $150 (£116) and there is a large market in Ecuador for bear paws. Justicia spotted her first Andean bear in 2008. Since then, she says, she has recorded 40 different bears, based on photographs taken in the 6,500-hectare (16,061-acre) Maquipucuna reserve, identifying individuals from unique facial markings. Other experts have counted up to 19 bears in the forest in a single year. “We see an unusually high number of bears during the wild avocado season because they congregate around this abundant source of food,” said Justicia. “The small avocados have very large quantities of fat and oil and that is hard to get in a vegetarian diet. They can come and feed for weeks.” Little is known about these creatures. Their chosen territory, in dense cloud forest and the high Andes, the fact they may cover up to 10km in a single day, as well as their timid and solitary natures, makes them difficult to study. But the bear gatherings are helping ecologists understand more about them. Two Andean bears from Maquipucuna, filmed in 2017, were recently featured in BBC’s Seven Worlds, One Planet series, climbing trees to get at the fruit. “Generally, all bears are solitary,” said Justicia. “The first year we realised this place was different was in 2008. The next year, it went crazy, we saw females with cubs. One February we realised how many bears came together and we began to record them.” Each Andean bear needs around 1,000 hectares of territory, so the reserve itself would only support six individuals. Justicia compares the gatherings to those of Alaskan grizzlies that come together at salmon rivers. The bears arrive in the dry months, from September to December, but it is unpredictable, because the avocados do not ripen at the same time every year. “We still don’t know how the bears decided to come to Maquipucuna,” said Justicia. “But we are learning more and more every year.” Santiago Molina, a bear expert from San Francisco University of Quito, has carried out his own study of bear numbers in a 65,000-hectare region within the metropolitan district of Quito. His analysis of camera traps has led to an estimate of around 65 bears in the entire region, an area including Maquipucuna but 10 times the size. Molina is sceptical of the numbers recorded by Justicia, although he recorded 19 bears in the reserve in one season in 2009 and said 15 were spotted within two months in 2017 inside the reserve boundaries. He is both excited and worried about the rising numbers of what he describes as “Quito’s bears”. The proximity to human populations brings its own dangers. “This is new,” said Molina, whose work led to the creation of the Andean Bear Corridor, or Corredor del Oso Andino, by the Quito government to protect the bears’ habitat. “It is changing the whole concept of bears. Five years ago, people did not believe there were bears in this area, in the Quito corridor. Before, the bears we studied were in the highlands, the grasslands, not forests, and bears were known to be solitary animals.” Those bears living in the forest exhibit different behaviour from highland bears, he said. They are known to hunt, dispelling the myth they are mostly vegetarian. “I have video of a bear hunting a deer – that was a myth for years,” said Molina. “I suspect most of the bears living here have already tasted meat, from feeding on meat left around, for instance when a cow dies. Bears have good scents and are very opportunistic.” “Now we hear of bear-human conflicts. It is a population under threat,” he added. He is starting a project in the Yunguilla community, with the international association for bear research and management, to help farmers reduce the chance of bears coming into contact with their cattle and crops. “We have an opportunity to address this. If we don’t do that we are going to lose the population in the forest.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'world/ecuador', 'world/americas', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/karenmcveigh', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-03-21T08:00:32Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
travel/2000/dec/18/netjetters2000sam.netjetters1 | From: Dirk Robertson (18 Dec) | Dear Milly, Good luck and keep safe. On my travels all over the world I used to contact the British consul or ambassador's office before I arrived in a country. It meant that if there was a problem they were already familiar with you and you did not have to introduce yourself when you were under stress. Also it meant many an invite to an excellent party at the embassy in each country or valuable meetings with other Brits already living there. You can start your letter with "I would like to pay my respects to H.M. Ambassador whilst I am visiting..." etc. Good luck and enjoy yourself. Merry Christmas | ['travel/netjetters2000sam', 'travel/netjetters', 'travel/travel', 'travel/netjettersblog', 'type/article'] | travel/netjetters2000sam | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2000-12-18T19:04:33Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2023/mar/29/peru-amazon-illegal-mining-deforestation-monkey-sanctuaries-aoe | ‘A second chance’: Peru sanctuaries help rescued monkeys back into the wild | “She used to fight every time I tried to feed her, but she recognises it’s me now,” says Cinthia Pariguana-Garriazo, a veterinary nurse at Taricaya eco reserve. It is 6am, and she is coaxing a squealing baby spider monkey called Rain into accepting breakfast – a syringe filled with liquefied fruit and medicine. Rain is fed every four hours and requires regular physical contact with Pariguana-Garriazo, her primary carer. Over the next few months, she will be gradually introduced to solid food and to other spider monkeys and her contact with humans will dwindle. From there, it’s a long process of rehabilitation before her release back into the wild. Juveniles can expect to stay at Taricaya for at least three years. Taricaya is one of two rescue centres in Peru’s Madre de Dios region, one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. It is a dream destination for wildlife lovers, with 8.5m hectares (21m acres) hosting the world’s greatest concentration of bird species, as well as healthy populations of jaguar, tapir and ocelot. But despite its ecological significance, the area has faced extensive destruction over recent decades, with an estimated loss of 130,000 hectares of tree cover between 2000 and 2020, according to Global Forest Watch. Illegal gold mining is particularly problematic. The promise of riches has attracted thousands of migrant workers, who clear swathes of forest in search of tiny flecks of the precious metal. Mercury is often used to separate the gold from other minerals, and an estimated 185 tonnes of it seeps into the region’s rivers, soil and lakes every year. On the frontline of this environmental crisis are the species who call the Peruvian Amazon home. “Usually it’s incidental,” says Fernando Rosemberg, director at Taricaya, who left the mining industry to work in conservation more than 20 years ago. “When miners go deep into the forest they can stay there for weeks. They might survive off the bushmeat from poaching monkeys. If they find the babies, they are kept as pets.” Rain was found being traded in a market and was confiscated by local environmental police before being brought to Taricaya. Spider monkeys were locally extinct until 2010, when Taricaya began reintroducing them to the wild. Two hours upstream by boat is Amazon Shelter, the region’s other sanctuary. It is run by Magali Salinas, who quit her job 17 years ago and bought a plot of land on the outskirts of the region’s capital, Puerto Maldonado. “When the animals come to us they can be in a terrible condition,” says Salinas. “Many of them don’t make it.” While Taricaya has a programme specifically for spider monkeys, Amazon Shelter focuses on howler monkeys. “After they poach the mothers, the miners might carry the babies in their pockets or feed them human foods like fried chicken,” says Salinas. The juveniles who reach her care are usually traumatised. “They see their mothers killed in front of them, so we have to earn their trust.” While the sanctuaries work on the rehabilitation and release of the animals back into the wild, the environmental police service, Serfor (Servicio Nacional Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre), is responsible for rescuing them. “The most common pets we find are primates,” says Rodrigo Espinoza, a wildlife forestry specialist at Serfor. “People seem to like them because of their closeness to humans.” The problem, he says, is that while monkeys can make good pets as babies, as they grow older they become more aggressive. Adolescent animals are either confiscated or handed in voluntarily when the owners realise how difficult it is to care for a grown animal. Some are killed. Espinoza’s team also confiscates wildlife parts found at urban markets. Skins, shells and teeth are common, despite their commercial trade being illegal in Peru. The sanctuaries aim to eventually release all animals back into the wild. With some, such as sloths and porcupines, it is just a case of relocation and release. But with primates it is more complicated. “It’s a lot of work because monkeys are social,” says Rosemberg. “We have to teach them the skills they would have learned from their mothers.” Monkeys are slowly introduced to each other to form small groups, replicating the social dynamics in the wild. Volunteers devise activities that require the monkeys to use tools that would normally be learned from other family members. Once a group is ready for release, the animals go through extensive health checks to ensure they don’t pass on diseases to local species. A suitable forest location is carefully chosen for release, away from the territories of existing monkey troops, which could result in clashes. Since 2009, Taricaya has released more than 400 animals into the wild, but the team sees no letup in their work. “We are not stopping mining, poaching or habitat loss,” says Rosemberg, “but at least we can give the animals a second chance.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'global-development/global-development', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/deforestation', 'world/peru', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'world/americas', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-03-29T05:30:26Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/13/nuclear-industry-us-welfare | Stop the nuclear industry welfare programme | Bernie Sanders and Ryan Alexander | The US is facing a $15 trillion national debt, and there is no shortage of opinions about how to move toward deficit reduction in the federal budget. One topic you will not hear discussed very often on Capitol Hill is the idea of ending one of the oldest American welfare programmes – the extraordinary amount of corporate welfare going to the nuclear energy industry. Many in Congress talk of getting "big government off the back of private industry". Here's an industry we'd like to get off the backs of the taxpayers. As, respectively, a senator who is the longest-serving independent in Congress and the president of an independent and non-partisan budget watchdog organisation, we do not necessarily agree on everything when it comes to energy and budget policy in the US. But one thing we strongly agree on is the need to end wasteful subsidies that prop up the nuclear industry. After 60 years, this industry should not require continued and massive corporate welfare. It is time for the nuclear power industry to stand on its own two feet. Nuclear welfare started with research and development. According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, since 1948 the federal government has spent more than $95bn (in 2011 dollars) on nuclear energy research and development (R&D). That is more than four times the amount spent on solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biofuels, and hydropower combined. But federal R&D was not enough; the industry also wanted federal liability insurance too, which it got back in 1957 with the Price-Anderson Act. This federal liability insurance programme for nuclear plants was meant to be temporary, but Congress repeatedly extended it, most recently through 2025. Price-Anderson puts taxpayers on the hook for losses that exceed $12. 6bn if there is a nuclear plant disaster. When government estimates show the cost for such a disaster could reach $720bn in property damage alone, that's one sweetheart deal for the nuclear industry! R&D and Price-Anderson insurance are still just the tip of the iceberg. From tax breaks for uranium mining and loan guarantees for uranium enrichment to special depreciation benefits and lucrative federal tax breaks for every kilowatt hour from new plants, nuclear is heavily subsidised at every phase. The industry also bilks taxpayers when plants close down with tax breaks for decommissioning plants. Further, it is estimated that the cost to taxpayers for the disposal of radioactive nuclear waste could be as much as $100bn. Even with all of those subsidies, the private sector still will not agree to finance a new nuclear plant, so wealthy nuclear corporations recently secured access to $18.5bn in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees. Maybe the Wall Street banks agree with the Congressional Budget Office, which estimated the risk of default on nuclear loans at above 50%. The nuclear industry's financial troubles are not new. In the 1960s and 1970s, 100 reactors were cancelled because of cost overruns. Things were so bad Forbes called it "the largest managerial disaster in business history". Despite this history, some want to dramatically increase federal loan guarantees for nuclear plants. It is shocking that the nuclear industry continues to receive so much federal support at a time of record debt. Of course nuclear subsidies benefit some of the wealthiest and most powerful energy corporations in America, which may explain the persistence of nuclear welfare. For example, Exelon, which takes in $33bn in revenue annually, is the leading operator/owner of nuclear reactors in the US. Entergy, with revenues of more than $11bn annually, is the second largest. Together, these two companies own or operate almost one-third of US reactors, and based on their revenue they are doing pretty well. Why do they need endless federal welfare for their industry year after year? Will it ever end? Well, as secretary of energy Steven Chu confirmed at a recent Senate hearing, without federal liability insurance and loan guarantees, no one would ever build a new nuclear plant. Whether you support nuclear energy or not, we should all be able to agree that with record debt, we cannot afford to continue to subsidise this mature industry and its multibillion-dollar corporations. If the nuclear industry believes so fervently in its technology, then it and Wall Street investors can put their money where their mouth is. Let's let them finance it, insure it, and pay for it themselves. • Follow Comment is free on Twitter @commentisfree | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/energy', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-politics', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/berniesanders', 'profile/ryan-alexander'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2012-04-13T13:00:40Z | true | ENERGY |
commentisfree/2021/jun/30/canada-temperatures-limits-human-climate-emergency-earth | Canada is a warning: more and more of the world will soon be too hot for humans | Simon Lewis | The climate crisis means that summer is a time of increasingly dangerous heat. This week in the Pacific north-west, temperature records are not just being broken, they are being obliterated. Temperatures reached a shocking 47.9C in British Columbia, Canada. Amid temperatures more typically found in the Sahara desert, dozens have died of heat stress, with “roads buckling and power cables melting”. Another heatwave earlier in June saw five Middle East countries top 50°C. The extreme heat reached Pakistan, where 20 children in one class were reported to have fallen unconscious and needed hospital treatment for heat stress. Thankfully, they all survived. Additional warming from greenhouse gas emissions means that such extreme heatwaves are more likely and scientists can now calculate the increase in their probability. For example, the 2019 European heatwave that killed 2,500 people was five times more likely than it would have been without global warming. In most places, extreme heatwaves outside the usual range for a region will cause problems, from disrupting the economy to widespread mortality, particularly among the young and old. Yet in places in the Middle East and Asia something truly terrifying is emerging: the creation of unliveable heat. While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C when humidity is low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor soaking ourselves can cool us. What matters is the “wet-bulb” temperature – given by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth – which shows the temperature at which evaporative cooling from sweat or water occurs. Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb temperature beyond 35C because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water. A 35C wet-bulb temperature was once thought impossible. But last year scientists reported that locations in the Persian Gulf and Pakistan’s Indus river valley had already reached this threshold, although only for an hour or two, and only over small areas. As climate change drives temperatures upwards, heatwaves and accompanying unliveable temperatures are predicted to last longer and occur over larger areas and in new locations, including parts of Africa and the US south-east, over the decades to come. What can governments, companies and citizens do? First, cut off the supply of ever more extreme heatwaves by halving carbon dioxide emission this decade, then reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Second, prepare for the inevitable heatwaves of the future. Emergency public health planning is the initial priority: getting essential information to people and moving vulnerable people into air-conditioned locations. Heatwave forecasts should include wet-bulb temperatures so that people can learn to understand the dangers. Plans should account for the fact that heatwaves intensify structural inequalities. Poorer neighbourhoods typically have fewer green spaces and so heat up more, while outdoor workers, often poorly paid, are especially vulnerable. The rich also buy up cooling equipment at high prices once a heatwave is underway and have many more options to flee, underscoring the importance of public health planning. Beyond crisis management, governments need to invest in making countries function in the new climate we are creating, including the extremes. In climate policy terms this is known as “adaptation”. Of paramount importance is energy supplies being resilient to heatwaves, as people will be relying on electricity for cooling from air-conditioning units, fans and freezers, which are all life-savers in a heatwave. Similarly, internet communications and data centres need to be future-proofed, as these are essential services that can struggle in the heat. Beyond this, new regulations are needed to allow buildings to keep cool and for transport systems, from roads to trains, to be able to operate under much higher temperature extremes. Many of these changes can meet other challenges. Retro-fitting homes to be energy-efficient is also the perfect opportunity to modify them to also keep us cool. For example, installing electric heat pumps to warm houses in the winter means that in the summer they can also be switched to run in reverse to work as a cooling system. Cities can be kept cooler with green roofs and more green spaces, which also make them better places to live. The final task is future-proofing agriculture and the wider ecosystems we all ultimately rely on. Heat can cause havoc with crop production. In Bangladesh, just two days of hot air in April this year destroyed 68,000 hectares of rice, affecting over 300,000 farmers with losses of US$39m (£28m). New heat-tolerant varieties of crops need developing and deploying. The alternative is higher food costs and food price spikes with the increased poverty and civil unrest that typically accompanies them. Given these immense challenges how are governments doing on climate adaptation? Very poorly. The Paris agreement on climate change obliged countries to submit their adaptation plans, but only 13 countries have done so. One of those is the UK, but government plans were judged by its own independent advisors to have “failed to keep pace with the worsening reality of climate risk”. The Glasgow Cop26 climate talks will need to put the spotlight on adaptation planning and funding for vulnerable countries. To curtail the impacts of ever more ferocious heatwaves, reducing emissions will need to go hand in hand with adapting to the swelteringly hot world we are creating. Stabilising the climate by 2050 is well within the timeframe of one working lifetime, as is adapting to allow us all to prosper in this new world. There is no time to lose. Simon Lewis is professor of global change science at University College London and University of Leeds | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-aid', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'world/canada', 'world/pakistan', 'weather/index/middleeast', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/simonlewis', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/opinion', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-06-30T14:35:54Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2020/jun/25/environment-groups-urge-nippon-paper-to-scrap-victorian-timber-from-supply-chain | Environment groups urge Nippon Paper to scrap Victorian timber from supply chain | More than 40 environment groups have called on Japan’s Nippon Paper Group to remove timber logged in Victoria’s native forests from its supply chain in the aftermath of bushfires and a landmark judgment that found a government forestry agency repeatedly breached conservation regulations. It comes as a legal injunction halted VicForests’s operations in a further 14 coupes in the state’s central highlands and amid growing pressure for a statutory review of Australia’s national environment laws to reconsider the industry-wide exemption for logging. Nippon Paper Group is the owner of the Opal Australian Paper mill in Maryvale, Victoria. In a letter to the company, 41 environment groups, including the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, The Wilderness Society and Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, detailed their concerns about the company’s supply chain and called for a rapid transition to products sourced from plantations and recycled fibre. They stressed the bushfire disaster exacerbated loss of habitat for endangered species already being threatened by native forest logging that Nippon Paper Group “has a direct stake in”. “Due to the unprecedented and catastrophic fires, native flora and fauna, and forest ecosystems are under immense stress, and many animals have been pushed closer to extinction as a result of the fires,” the letter said. “Post the 2019-20 bushfires, there is growing support for the protection of Australia’s native forests from logging.” The groups said in Victoria, where logging was focused on supplying Nippon Paper Group, more than 200 threatened and rare species had more than 50% of their known habitat burnt in the fires. “These forests need to be allowed to recover from bushfires, rather than be ground up to supply paper mills,” Gemma Tillack, the forest policy director of the Rainforest Action Network, said. The letter also noted last month’s federal court judgment, which found VicForests had breached the code of practice in its regional forestry agreement, a bilateral agreement between the state and federal governments. As a result of this, the court found logging by VicForests was not exempt from national environment laws and the agency had breached threatened species protections. The groups alleged the presence of Victorian native timber in Nippon Paper Group’s supply chain was a breach of the company’s policy to ensure its timber was harvested “in compliance with relevant laws”. “Nippon Paper Group needs to stop supporting illegal practices and driving species extinction in Victoria by severing ties with repeat offenders, VicForests,” Pete Cooper, a marketing campaigner for The Wilderness Society, said. State and federal governments are under increasing pressure over the continued logging of native forests. Habitat loss is a driver of extinction and the resumption of logging in unburnt forest in Victoria and New South Wales before the full effect of the bushfires on threatened species is known has angered conservationists and some state MPs. On Thursday, the NSW government revealed it had dropped a plan that could have opened new areas of the state’s protected old growth forests to logging. In Victoria, activists have successfully gained multiple legal injunctions since January that temporarily halt native forest logging because of concerns about threatened species, including the greater glider. The interim report from the review of Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act is due next week. Guardian Australia has sought comment from Nippon Paper Group. | ['environment/logging-and-land-clearing', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'world/japan', 'environment/endangeredspecies', 'environment/conservation', 'world/asia-pacific', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-06-25T18:02:38Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2017/dec/19/michael-gove-haunted-by-plastic-pollution-seen-in-blue-planet-ii | Michael Gove ‘haunted’ by plastic pollution seen in Blue Planet II | Cutting plastic pollution is the focus of a series of proposals being considered by the UK environment secretary, Michael Gove, who has said he was “haunted” by images of the damage done to the world’s oceans shown in David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II TV series. The government is due to announce a 25-year plan to improve the UK’s environmental record in the new year. Gove is understood to be planning to introduce refundable deposits on plastic drinks bottles, alongside other measures. The environment secretary is also understood to be considering a proposal to encourage retailers to use fewer types of plastic, as well as another to move councils towards a standardised recycling policy. The current patchwork of regimes means many types of plastic are not collected from households, depending on where in the country those households are. Together, the two measures will seek to ensure that a greater proportion of the packaging used in the UK can be recycled. Gove wants an improvement in the rate of recycling, which has reportedly been slipping recently. “The secretary of state wants to make recycling as easy as possible for households. That is why we will look to accelerate making local authority recycling schemes as consistent as possible through the resources and waste strategy,” a spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said. The department indicated Gove was planning to overhaul the system of recycling targets to focus more on environmental impact than on the weight of material collected. And the drinks bottle deposit scheme would form part of an expected attack on single-use plastics, such as straws and coffee cups, which will seek to reduce the overall amount of plastic being used. The news came as a coalition of animal welfare and environmental charities warned that more than 100,000 tonnes of plastic packaging would be thrown away and not recycled this Christmas. The charities, which include Friends of the Earth, the RSPCA, the National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts, estimated that the UK would use 300,000 tonnes of card packaging. Gove has told journalists he was moved by the scenes in Blue Planet II, which featured marine life struggling to cope with the amount of plastic litter pumped into the seas and oceans by humans. According to the Times, he is planning to shift the focus of recycling targets towards materials such as plastic and aluminium by moving away from the weight-based measurements favoured by the EU. Those have led to some councils showing more willingness to collect heavier – though not necessarily as environmentally damaging – materials, such as grass clippings. Gove reportedly hopes that, by shifting the focus on to environmental impact, he can convince councils to concentrate on collecting the other materials. Moreover, he plans to encourage councils to standardise what they do and do not collect from households, to end the regional disparities across the UK that are believed to be caused by differing contracts between local authorities and waste firms. The environmental campaign group Greenpeace welcomed the proposals, which are due to be formally set out next year. Its spokeswoman, Louise Edge, said: “It’s a good sign that Michael Gove is thinking about a multi-pronged approach which includes cutting disposable plastic at the source while also making it easier for people to collect and reuse it.” Martin Tett, from the Local Government Association, told BBC News the standardised recycling regulations would not work on their own. “What we need is packaging that is easily recyclable – this would not only make waste disposal easier for our residents, but save considerable amounts of money and energy, while protecting our environment,” he said. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'politics/michaelgove', 'politics/politics', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/oceans', 'media/bbc', 'media/media', 'tv-and-radio/documentary', 'tv-and-radio/factual-tv', 'culture/television', 'tv-and-radio/tv-and-radio', 'tv-and-radio/educational-tv', 'culture/culture', 'environment/waste', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kevin-rawlinson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-12-19T09:57:50Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2023/jan/03/lula-protect-amazon-brazil-bolsonaro | Can Lula save the Amazon? His record shows he might just pull it off | Andre Pagliarini | This week, as Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was preparing to be sworn in for an unprecedented third term, a key concern was whether the weather would allow him to wave to assembled supporters in Brasília from an open-top convertible, as is customary. It certainly marked a departure from the more serious concerns that had haunted the transfer of power between him and his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, in previous weeks. Thousands of Bolsonaro followers, after all, had refused to accept the outcome of last year’s elections. Many camped outside military barracks urging the armed forces to intervene, committing serious acts of vandalism in the nation’s capital. Thankfully, their pleas came to nothing – Bolsonaro unceremoniously left for Florida on the last day of the year – and Lula is officially back. No president in Latin America’s largest nation has ever won three elections, a testament to the former metalworker’s enduring popularity and political relevance. Lula faces many challenges, particularly given the scorched-earth nature of Bolsonaro’s policies. In this context, his first measures after taking office assume special symbolic importance, setting the tone for what observers at home and abroad might expect from this new administration. This brings us to the fate of the Amazon rainforest. In his inaugural address to congress, Lula said, “Our goal is to achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon and zero greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity matrix, in addition to encouraging the revitalisation of degraded pastures.” Implicitly criticising Brazil’s major agricultural producers, which are overwhelmingly responsible for environmental degradation, Lula insisted: “Brazil does not need to deforest to maintain and expand its strategic agricultural frontier.” Among the first decrees he signed were measures strengthening environmental protections and fighting deforestation – one repealed a Bolsonaro initiative that effectively made illegal land-grabbing easier. During his time in office, Bolsonaro did almost nothing to enforce the country’s stringent environmental protection laws. This was in part because he had little incentive to – major agricultural interests formed a key part of his political constituency. Lula’s new measures also called on his environment minister Marina Silva, whose office was notably renamed Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, to present new guidelines for the National Environment Council, which had been undermined by Bolsonaro. A major challenge for Lula will be balancing Brazil’s economic interest in a vibrant agricultural sector, which has become key to the country’s foreign trade portfolio in recent decades, with the need to rein in the deforestation that has cleared thousands of acres of jungle to create new pastures for cattle. Agricultural interests are a major political force in Brazil. The fact that such interests so overwhelmingly supported Bolsonaro, a president who represented a direct threat to Brazil’s democratic order, will make threading this particular policy needle very difficult for Lula. How to deliver on environmental protections while not further alienating agricultural interests that already distrust him? At least for now, Lula shows no signs of giving ground to the actors driving so much of the country’s deforestation. On his first day in office he also signed a measure recreating the Amazon Fund, which works as a mechanism for foreign governments to help pay for preservation efforts. As the Guardian reported last November, the fund was effectively paralysed under the previous administration; some 3.2bn reais (£490m) that had already been donated were frozen. The devastation of the Amazon rainforest that Bolsonaro allowed to happen was perhaps the most critical development driving a wedge between Brazil and much of the world in recent years. While leaders in western Europe and the United States fretted about Bolsonaro’s disregard for the world’s largest tropical rainforest, Bolsonaro accused them of seeking to undermine Brazilian sovereignty. Lula’s new move has already garnered a pledge from German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who attended Lula’s inauguration, of €35m (£31m) for the Amazon Fund. More is likely to follow. The moves on the environmental front represent what is likely to be Lula’s strategy in his third term: marrying a commitment to strengthening democracy and easing inequality at home with a reassertion of Brazilian relevance in global affairs. During Lula’s previous stint in office, Brazil emerged as a world leader on matters of poverty reduction, wealth redistribution, and environmental protection. Under Lula, for instance, deforestation plummeted by a stunning 70%. The message of the incoming administration is clear: Brazil is back as a reasonable and effective player on the international stage. Lula’s return was celebrated – implicitly and sometimes explicitly – by various foreign leaders eager to see a Brazilian government committed to creative, bold and effective public policy and international engagement. But it won’t be easy. Lula must deliver on the immense promise represented by his third term in office. Brazil’s standing on the world stage and the continued vitality of Brazilian democracy might just depend on it. • This article was amended on 4 January 2023 to correct an error in a currency conversion. Andre Pagliarini is an assistant professor of history at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He is working on a book about the politics of nationalism in modern Brazilian history | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva', 'world/brazil', 'world/americas', 'world/world', 'world/jair-bolsonaro', 'environment/deforestation', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/andre-pagliarini'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-01-03T14:00:45Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2011/dec/07/warren-buffett-invests-in-solar-energy | Warren Buffett to buy Californian solar power farm worth $2bn | The billionaire investor Warren Buffett has agreed to buy a solar power farm in California worth $2bn (£1.3bn). Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings will take over Topaz Solar Farm, which is expected to produce enough power to run 160,000 homes when it is up and running in 2015. The farm, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, is the world's second-largest photovoltaic plant under construction and is expected to generate 550-megawatts of electricity or about half the power of a nuclear reactor. The deal comes hot on the heels of a string of green energy investments by the famous investor. MidAmerican, which is part of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway empire, is the largest wind energy provider in the US where it operates more than a dozen wind farms. MidAmerican sealed the deal for Topaz on Wednesday, a day after the seller, First Solar, failed to secure a US government loan guarantee for the project. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but First Solar's difficulties securing funding for the vast project suggests Buffett probably got a good deal. First Solar will continue to build the farm on behalf of Berkshire and it is due to open in early 2015. Greg Abel, chief executive officer of MidAmerican, said: "[Topaz] demonstrates that solar energy is a commercially viable technology without the support of governmental loan guarantees." Analysts suggested Buffett is moving from wind to solar power to take advantage of lucrative tax breaks. Gerard Reid, an analyst at Jefferies, said: "The reason for the move from wind to solar is very simple. Tax credits for wind in the US expire at the end of next year, while solar ones run till 2015." In February Buffett, the world's third-richest man, said he was keen to make a fresh wave of "major acquisitions". "Our elephant gun has been reloaded, and my trigger finger is itchy," he told investors in his annual letter to shareholders.Last month he ended his moratorium on investing in technology, taking a $12bn (£7.5bn) stake in IBM, the 100-year-old tech firm. Berkshire Hathaway has been buying shares in IBM since March and now owns 64 million shares, or about 5.4% of the outstanding stock. | ['business/warrenbuffett', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'environment/green-economy', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/rupertneate', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2011-12-07T17:58:23Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2016/jan/06/scotland-warned-to-expect-further-heavy-and-prolonged-rain | Scotland warned to expect further heavy and prolonged rain | Flood-weary communities across central and north-east Scotland have been told to expect further heavy and prolonged rain as the Met Office upgraded its weather warning for Thursday to amber, meaning residents should “be prepared”. With 25 flood warnings still in place from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) on Wednesday night, residents of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee and Perthshire were advised to get ready for further disruption as water fell on already saturated ground and river levels rose. Aberdeenshire, one of the areas worst affected by last week’s storms and the subsequent flooding, was finally able to switch from emergency response to recovery mode on Wednesday as the rains eased. In the devastated village of Ballater, children were returning to school after the festive break, and the local council pledged to find temporary accommodation for those families unable to return to their sodden homes by Thursday. Elsewhere, local councils have been working hard to repair transport links. A controlled explosion to break up the 150-tonne boulder which forced the closure of the road through the Rest and Be Thankful in Argyll was carried out on Wednesday afternoon. The rock was deemed unsafe after being loosened on the hillside, 175 metres above the carriageway, during last week’s storms. The road remained closed on Wednesday night because limited daylight stopped contractors carrying out a full safety assessment of the slope until Thursday morning. Police Scotland said they have been encouraged by a number of potential sightings of a missing camper who was feared swept away by the swollen river Dee. Terence Kilbride, 48, originally from Warrington, is thought to have been camping in the area and was reported missing on Monday. Two bags containing his belongings were washed up near Bridge of Dee on Saturday. Structural engineers from Aberdeenshire council have visited Abergeldie Castle, which was left teetering on the edge of the river Dee after the bank it stood on was almost entirely eroded by floodwater. Stones have been added to the river to divert fast-flowing waters away from the remaining land around the 16th century tower house, near the Queen’s residence in Balmoral, which was evacuated on Sunday. | ['uk/scotland', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/libbybrooks', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2016-01-06T19:21:54Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
travel/2018/jan/14/belize-bans-oil-activity-to-protect-reef-diving-tourism-belize-barrier-reef | Belize bans oil activity to protect its barrier reef | Some good news for the new year: in what has been called a huge step forward in protecting oceans and marine life, the Belize government has announced bold legislation to end oil activity in all of its waters. The move is designed to protect the fragile Belize Barrier Reef world heritage site, the second-largest in the world after Australia’s and home to 1,400 species, including endangered hawksbill turtles, manatees, rays and six threatened species of shark. Belizean prime minister Dean Barrow’s decision to impose an indefinite moratorium marks the first time a developing country has taken such a major step to protect its oceans from oil exploration and extraction – and will help safeguard Belize’s important dive tourism sector. “The decision is hugely significant,” said Chris Gee, of charity WWF-UK, which was part of an international campaign. “It indicates that Belize, a developing country, is prepared to put its people and environment first.” Oil-related damage, such as a spill, could have impacts as far afield as Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras and affect the lucrative tourism industry. Unesco inscribed the Belize reef – a 190-mile-long section of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System – as a world heritage site in 1996. Tourism and fisheries support half of the country’s population – around 190,000 people – either directly or indirectly. “The reef is critical not only for the tourism industry, which employs one in every four Belizeans, but it also serves as a ‘barrier’ against storm surge and beach erosion, which will only increase with climate change,” said Dana Krauskopf, owner of Hamanasi Adventure and Dive Resort south of Belize City. Belize is one of the most exciting dive destinations in the world: three of the Caribbean’s four atolls are found in its waters, including Lighthouse Reef atoll, location of the famous Blue Hole (described by ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau as one of the 10 greatest dive sites in the world), as well Glover’s Reef, also a world heritage site. “Legislation to stop offshore oil drilling in Belize is an extremely wise decision,” said Ralph Capeling, co-owner of Splash Dive Center in nearby Placencia. “The economic potential of the reef clearly exceeds the value of any potential discoveries.” There’s hope that Belize’s decision will inspire other countries. “As an avid diver for over 35 years, I think it would be remarkable for other countries to follow Belize’s lead, and take positive steps like banning offshore oil exploration and drilling,” said John Searle, owner of Sea Sports Belize in the capital. “I was stunned to learn that President Trump recently decided to make moves to open up previously protected areas off the coast of the US to oil exploration and drilling. I guess he must have a very short memory. Can someone please tweet #deepwaterhorizon?” | ['travel/belize', 'travel/diving', 'environment/environment', 'environment/oil', 'tone/news', 'travel/series/on-the-radar-travel', 'travel/travel', 'travel/northandcentralamerica', 'travel/caribbean', 'type/article', 'profile/graeme-green', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/travel', 'theguardian/travel/travel', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-travel'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2018-01-14T10:00:24Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2011/jul/07/india-india | India: Gharials return to banks of the Chambal | We realised how lucky we were to see one of the remaining gharials in the Chambal river in Uttar Pradesh in northern India: they are now only found here and in Nepal, there being just 200 adult breeding pairs left in the wild. I could just see the characteristic tremendous bulbous knob on the end of the male gharial's long fine snout, as he glided past in the fast river. My friend David has a real empathy for these reptiles. "Do you know that they get gout too!" he says, amazed, as he nurses his sore foot and winces in pain, while we read a report about the mysterious deaths – seemingly from gout – of many of these reptiles. We wonder if the sick gharials also suffered from incredibly sore joints like humans experience from the disease, a form of arthritis. Over four years ago, more than 20 gharials were found dead on the Chambal. They seemed to have been poisoned – dying from kidney failure and gout from eating contaminated fish from polluted rivers. "What a horrible death! Poor gharials," sympathises David, as we imagine the sick reptiles suffering. But a few weeks later we hear some welcome news. The new breeding centre further up river, in the Sheopur district, is proving a success. More than 1,000 baby gharials from more than 40 mothers have hatched in the last month. On the drive back on the bus we talk to a few locals who are very excited about the gharial babies. One young boy tells me thousands have been born; a young woman tells me that there are tens of thousands. "You have to see the babies diving in the water," urged one boy. The small crocodilians have become local celebrities. Families are now taking picnics on the river at weekends to see the gharials play and feed. I read reports about the gharials in the local paper. The rangers have begun a public relations drive to protect the young reptiles, explaining that they are harmless to people and that they only ever eat fish. They have never eaten a person or even a dog, says the owner of the guesthouse on my last day. "They are nice animals – they would rather go hungry," he adds, nodding wisely. I just hope the gharials will grow to adulthood and continue to thrive. | ['world/series/letter-from', 'world/india', 'travel/india', 'environment/environment', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/rivers', 'type/article'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2011-07-07T09:49:53Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2015/jun/22/weatherwatch-when-hurricanes-hardly-happen | When hurricanes hardly happen | June marks the official start of the North Atlantic hurricane season, and so far it’s been fairly quiet, with just two tropical storms to date. No one knows what lies in store, but if the last 10 years are anything to go by, Americans can relax. The last major hurricane (category 3 or higher) to make landfall in the US was Wilma in October 2005. Previously the longest hurricane drought lasted eight years, between 1861 and 1868, and the current patch without hurricane landfall is the longest since records began in 1851. Are hurricane patterns changing, or has North America just had an exceptional run of good luck? To answer that question, Timothy Hall, of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and Kelly Hereid, who works for Ace Tempest Reinsurance in Stamford, developed a computer model to simulate North Atlantic weather over the years 1950 to 2012, and ran the model 1,000 times. Their data suggested that, typically, a quarter of all North Atlantic tropical cyclones make landfall in the US and that on average a nine-year hurricane drought is likely to occur every 177 years – rare, but not unheard of. The results, which are published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, suggest that the current hurricane drought is mostly serendipity. Looking at the current season, El Niño is taking hold in the Pacific, increasing the chances of strong winds over the Atlantic and making it harder for hurricanes to form. In which case, North America’s run of luck may continue for one more year – fingers crossed. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'world/hurricanes', 'environment/elnino', 'type/article', 'profile/kate-ravilious', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-06-22T20:30:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
australia-news/2019/oct/31/sydney-shrouded-in-bushfire-smoke-as-melbourne-swelters | Sydney shrouded in bushfire smoke as Melbourne swelters | Smoke from fires burning in northern New South Wales has triggered health warnings for Sydney and other parts of the state, with conditions expected to persist into the weekend. It comes as parts of Victoria were forecast to reach their hottest October day on record and Melbourne was set to record its hottest October day since 2015. Air quality in the lower Hunter, eastern Sydney, western Sydney and north-west Sydney has been classed as hazardous, with NSW Health urging people with respiratory conditions, in particular, to take precautions, including staying indoors and protecting the eyes, nose and throat to avoid irritation. More than 70 bush and grass fires have been burning in the north and north-east of NSW. Smoke from an out of control bushfire in Port Macquarie and other fires on the mid-north coast, far-north coast and the New England region has contributed to the haze blanketing large parts of Sydney. Hundreds of koalas are feared to have died in the fire near Port Macquarie, which has burned more than 2500 hectares, including a koala breeding ground. Jordan Notara, a senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology said the smoke was likely to remain in eastern parts of the state until later on Sunday or early on Monday, when the next front is expected. In Victoria, maximum forecast temperatures on Thursday were more than 10 degrees above average in some areas. Melbourne was forecast to reach 35C, its hottest October day in four years. Sale, in the Gippsland region, was also forecast to reach 35C , its hottest October day since records began in 1945. The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast very warm overnight temperatures in the low to mid 20s and a second day of temperatures in the mid 30s across the state on Friday. Fire danger ratings in Victoria will reach severe on Friday with the potential for strong and gusty northerly winds. There is also potential for hazy conditions in the state on Friday due to dust. A cool change is forecast for the weekend. South Australia is also experience heatwave conditions, with temperatures in the mid 30s in Adelaide. Ceduna was forecast to reach 41C. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'australia-news/australia-weather', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'australia-news/victoria', 'australia-news/sydney', 'australia-news/melbourne', 'environment/environment', 'environment/air-pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/lisa-cox', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-10-31T04:08:52Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2014/jun/30/extreme-weather-official-advice-rewritten-to-remove-climate-change-link | Extreme weather official advice rewritten to remove climate change link | The government has been accused of significantly watering down its official advice on extreme weather after removing mention of links between climate change and events such as bushfires and heatwaves. A document on the Department of Environment’s website, aimed at informing the public on how climate change is influencing dangerous weather, has removed an explicit reference linking the two. A previous version of the document opened with the statement: “There is a growing and robust body of evidence that climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. “Australia has experienced an increasing number and intensity of heatwaves, bushfires, flooding and droughts in recent decades.” An amendment to the page removes these lines in favour of a general explanation of what extreme weather is. The page goes on to acknowledge that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is “changing” and that “some studies” show a link to climate change, but stresses that it is “difficult to isolate the role of climate change in any given event”. As Guardian Australia reported in October, the previous version of the departmental advice contradicted Tony Abbott’s view that any link between bushfires and climate change was “complete hogwash”. The prime minister, speaking in the wake of the widespread New South Wales bushfires last year, also said Christiana Figueres, the UN’s climate chief, was “talking out of her hat” for linking rising temperatures to increased bushfires. Amanda McKenzie, a former government official and now chief executive of the Climate Council, told Guardian Australia the amendment had led to “softer language” on the link between climate change and extreme weather. “Lives and communities are at risk from bushfires so it’s very important that communities and firefighting services are prepared for changes that we are already seeing,” she said. “There is a common misconception that Australia has always had extreme weather so we should not be concerned now, but we are already seeing more forceful, extreme weather. Bushfires have increased in south-east Australia in the past 30 years, and we’ve just had our hottest 12 months on record. “The evidence is absolutely unequivocal on the link. We know bushfire conditions are getting worse. We have to take the government on its word that it takes climate change seriously but there have been inaccurate statements made around extreme weather and it’s critical the public is provided the right information on these matters.” Asked why the advice was changed, an environment department spokeswoman said: “During the past few months, we have been finalising the transition of content from the former climate change website to environment.gov.au. “The Department of the Environment’s website is constantly updated. The change you identified was made by the department to ensure the website information remained consistent with the approach taken by the IPCC in its fifth assessment report.” The IPCC assessment, released in March, stated there was a “medium to high confidence” that extreme weather events are “projected to increase in many locations” in Australia. Australia is at risk from “increased damage to ecosystems and settlements, economic losses and risks to human life from wildfires in most of southern Australia”, according to the IPCC report. In addition, “projected increases in heatwaves will increase heat-related deaths and hospitalisations, especially among the elderly”, while coastal areas will be at risk from erosion, landslides and flooding, owing to weather pattern changes and sea level rises. Kellie Caught, climate change campaigner at WWF, said: "The link between global warming and extreme weather events is clear. In fact, the IPCC fifth assessment report strengthened its assessment on the link between some extreme weather events and global warming. "It’s important that the Australian public are informed on the science of global warming and climate change from the leading experts such as the IPCC, especially given global warming poses a risk to society, our economy and environment.” The Greens leader, Christine Milne, said: “Regardless of whether Tony Abbott’s global warming denial is filtering top-down through the public service, the clear link between climate change and the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is undeniable. “The link is the global scientific consensus. No amount of watering down of language or silencing the public service will change the urgency of strong and sustained action to reduce greenhouse pollution.” | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/wildfires', 'australia-news/tony-abbott', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/oliver-milman'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-06-30T05:28:55Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2018/aug/20/the-australian-mining-threat-to-south-africas-wild-coast-photo-essay | South Africa's Wild Coast under threat of mining – photo essay | Xolobeni is a cluster of rural communities on the eastern coast of South Africa. Tourists know the beautiful and rugged area as the Wild Coast. The people of Xolobeni are mostly self-sufficient, living off the land and fishing in the sea, and often only travelling the two hours to the closest shops once a month to buy sugar, oil and other basic provisions. Nokwakha Mboyisa is one of the members of the community who have written a protest postcard. The Xolobeni community has been fighting against proposed titanium dune mining in the mineral-rich sand of the Wild Coast for nearly 20 years. For more than a decade, Australia’s Mineral Commodities Limited has sought to scoop an area of dunes measuring 22km x 1.5km from Xolobeni’s coast, despite repeated rejection of mining by the community. The company now says it has divested from the Xolobeni mining project. However, community members have written postcards addressed to the company, and to South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources, expressing their opposition to any mining proposals. Clockwise from top: Vezokhwakhe Ndovela is concerned about the water quality in his community, Fakazile Joyce Ndovela about the produce they get from the land. The people of Xolobeni say they stand to lose everything. Should mining proceed it will displace hundreds of people from their ancestral land, cut off their access to the sea, pollute surrounding villages, grazing lands and water sources, and destroy grassland, estuarine and marine ecosystems. They say it will necessitate the relocation of ancestral graves, severing the Amadiba people from their cultural roots. Clockwise from top: Mashayina Mthwa, Phinkinkani Ndovela, Mashayina Mthwa’s handwritten postcard. On 23 April the Amadiba Crisis Committee, represented by Richard Spoor Inc and the Legal Resource Centre, took the Department of Mineral Resources to court. They requested that the court rule that no licence to mine the area can be granted without the community’s consent. The court’s ruling is pending. On 3 August the moratorium was extended for two years by the minister of minerals and resources, Gwede Mantashe. The residents believe the application is likely to resume when the moratorium expires. Postcards from Xolobeni is for sale, with all profits going back to the Xolobeni community. The book contains a selection of nine postcards, blank on the back, and these can be removed and posted in support of the community. | ['environment/environment', 'artanddesign/photography', 'environment/mining', 'artanddesign/artanddesign', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'world/southafrica', 'world/africa', 'business/mining', 'artanddesign/series/guardian-picture-essay', 'type/article', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-pictures-'] | environment/mining | ENERGY | 2018-08-19T20:08:06Z | true | ENERGY |
uk-news/2018/oct/01/activists-call-for-halt-to-nuclear-mud-dumping-off-wales | Activists call for halt to 'nuclear mud' dumping off Wales | An eclectic group of activists including scientists, surfers and a member of the Welsh band Super Furry Animals is attempting to halt the dumping of “nuclear mud” excavated as part of the vast Hinkley Point C construction project. The activists are appearing in court in Cardiff on Tuesday to try to obtain an injunction to stop 300,000 tonnes of sediment from the power station site in Somerset being disposed of a mile and half from the Welsh capital. If the legal action does not succeed, a Welsh assembly member, Neil McEvoy, is calling for boat owners to form a “people’s flotilla” to take direct action and blockade a sandbank called Cardiff Grounds, where the mud is being dumped. McEvoy has already boarded a barge disposing of the mud to try to block the operation. Campaigners claim the mud has not been tested properly and could contain particles that may pose a health risk. They have dubbed the sediment “nuclear mud” and nicknamed the sea off Cardiff “Geiger Bay”, a play on “Tiger Bay”, the old slang name for the city’s docklands. One of their main concerns is that the sediment could be washed ashore in a storm. EDF Energy, which is building Hinkley Point C on the English side of the Bristol Channel, along with the Welsh government and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) have insisted the mud is safe. The legal action is being financed by crowdfunding and is being fronted by the keyboard player from Super Furry Animals, Cian Ciarán, who said he was angry and sad the mud was already being dumped at Cardiff Grounds. He told the Guardian: “I’m involved as a Welshman and a concerned earthling. I felt compelled to play a part. I felt at a loss over the lack of action by the Welsh Labour government and the apathy of NRW. This is about reasonable people asking reasonable questions.” Ciarán said he did not have faith in the international standards that EDF, by which the Welsh government and NRW said they were bound. “They try to convince us that the mud is safe and there’s nothing to worry about but I can’t take the nuclear industry’s word for it. “The Welsh government has had ample opportunity to stop it but they haven’t. They’ve put their heads in the mud rather than sand.” Ciarán said he had been out to Cardiff Grounds to view the mud dumping at close hand. “I felt angry, saddened, desperate. Potentially it’s causing irreversible harm,” he said. Among those backing the objectors is the Emeritus Prof Keith Barnham, a distinguished research fellow in the physics department at Imperial College London, who argues it is possible that large amounts of uranium and dangerous levels of plutonium could have reached the mud when cooling water from the decommissioned Hinkley Point A was discharged. Surfers from the Gower peninsula to the west of Cardiff were among those who joined a demonstration against the dump at the Welsh assembly last week. At the demonstration, McEvoy, the independent assembly member for South Wales Central, called for boat owners to contact him to try to form a “lawful blockade” of the dumping ground. “We must make this out-of-touch Labour government listen,” he said. “The dumping should never have started and must be stopped.” EDF said the mud had been tested by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), an executive agency of the UK government, in 2009, 2013 and 2017, and the levels of radioactivity were found to be so low that they equated to “not radioactive” under British law. A spokesperson said: “The mud is typical of sediment found anywhere in the Bristol Channel and no different to sediment already at the Cardiff Grounds site. It poses no threat to human health or the environment.” EDF says it is dredging mud and sediment from the seabed ahead of the drilling of six vertical shafts for the cooling water system. It says Cardiff Grounds is the only suitable site large enough to handle the amount of the type of sediment it is dredging. John Wheadon, the permitting service manager for Natural Resources Wales, said: “Every element of the application was considered thoroughly including testing of the sediment from the dredge sites by independent experts in accordance with international standards and guidelines, and advice from health experts. We’re confident the proposed activity will not harm people or the environment.” A Welsh government spokesman said: “All tests and assessments concluded the material is within safe limits, poses no radiological risk to human health or the environment and is safe and suitable to be disposed of at sea.” • This article was amended on 1 October 2018 because an earlier version described the physicist Emeritus Prof Keith Barnham as a physician. This has been corrected. | ['uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'uk/uk', 'uk/wales', 'uk/cardiff', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'business/energy-industry', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2018-10-01T06:00:15Z | true | ENERGY |
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